The village burned. This was a rural community in East Africa, Kenya. I was here to test the might of Enkai's protection. I found it lacking. Which I suppose made sense. To be fair to it, the Abrahamic faiths have dominated this land. There is only so much protection such a minor deity can offer. This leaves rural places like this open to be picked on by creatures.

Devils were far too prominent. And I'm not just talking about the strays.

Felun ( Stray Devil )

Lv 8

Tier 0

This could be a troublesome fight.

Kaito ( Human )

Lv 13

Tier 1

[ Stats ]

Vitality 2

Strength 1

Charisma 0

Intelligence 1

Luck 3

Wisdom 0

Agility 2

Aptitude 1

Magic 1

Finesse 2

stats have tiers, and level is just how many tiers all your stats are. Tier 0 stats means those stats are still within normal human range. It'd be strange, but technically, a level 8 at tier 0, could have a single stat maxed out. The tiers start at 0, and end at 8.

Tiers of an individual are different. They are more like dividing classes that don't have any strict meaning, a summation of your worth to the universe, I guess.

[ Observation ]

Allows the user to see details about an individual within their effective range, based on user level vs victim level.

My level is only slightly higher than this stray, so I can't see his stats. Which is problematic. I can sense a fair presence of magic from this thing, so it's magic power shouldn't be too important. But with 8 stat points, the right distribution could see me killed here. 3 points in Agility, 2 In Strength, 2 in vitality, and 1 point in magic to account for what I'm sensing.

"Go away, idiot." The stray commands, with a sneer.

He has slimy black hair, going down his exposed back, wrinkled, leather like, dark red skin, no clothes. He was hard to look at.

"You seem rather fond of conflict." I reply, tightening the grip on my short blade.

[ Magical Bronze Short-Blade ] Tier 1

"I prefer when my food can't fight back. What is the church even doing here?" Felun asked, a grimace on his face.

in Kenya, the Abrahamic faiths have taken majority, but still, Maasai is popular enough here, that the Church faction has almost no presence. Especially in this rural location. That means basically no priests, holy soldiers, or angels are looking out for these people.

it's a good place for scum like this to treat as a playground. But he's mistaken, I'm not with the church, I just dress the part, it's useful.

I jump back and launch a low powered spell at the Stray.

[ Magic Slash ]

A simple spell used to send an arc of magic at a target. Scales with Magic and with proper usage of a bladed weapon as a medium.

Magic Slash is one of the two combat spells I can cast without a chant.

Felun dodges the attack and growls. That looked relatively easy for him, so I'm assuming an Agility of at least 2.

He responds by running at me, his left arm erupting into flames.

"Fire, how original." I grunt, jumping back and preparing another Slash.

My last attack was a reaction test, this one, will be the real deal. It's a pain, but I have the habit of keeping Holy Water on me.

[ Magical Telekinesis ] Lv (1/2)

Use magic to create telekinetic force. Potency scales with Magic, usage scales with Aptitude.

I've tried to get some kind of dominion over water, but I've had no success so far. So good old Telekinesis will have to do.

I won't have time to recoat my weapon, so let's get risky. I can go ahead and apply 1 point to Aptitude for this guy, since he's capable of using fire magic. That leaves at most 5 points unaccounted for.

I dive forward, arm swinging to shoot a Skash at Felun. The Holy water telekinetically coating my blade is fused into the slash, most of my magic going into the attack.

The stray lunges to his right, but gets hit in the chest anyway, being sent flying backwards.

I run towards him, as the devil screams in pain, his voice gurgling.

Looking down, I can see that he's clearly dying. Good, whatever his stat spread, he mustn't have had more than 2 Vitality. The flames that were covering his arm earlier are gone.

Deciding to not waste any time, I swiftly cut his throat and jump over him, Incase of any final attacks.

0.1% Xp Progress rewards

(20.1% XP)

I get 1% for killing enemies on my tier, and it doubles for every tier higher. I'd get 128% for killing a being of the highest Tier. Killing the strongest god, would level me up once, plus a little more. But for every Tier below me, the XP reward is divided by 10. It would take 1000 Tier 0s to level up. And when I'm Tier 2, It'll take 10,000 Tier 0s. If I was a Tier 7 being, it'd take 1 billion Tier 0s to get 1 level. Though, 1 billion human kills would be pretty easy at Tier 7, ignoring all the other entities that would be pissed at you for going that far.

The down side to my Sacred Gear, is that I don't get little gains. Training and pushing myself definitely makes progress for me. I've gotten a stat from training already. But I don't get any benefit from the training until that stat has gone up a tier.

I can improve my skill at magic, to an extent, but something about Aptitude relates to Magic skill, so there's only so much magic training can accomplish.

For these reasons, it's probably best to put my early levels towards heavy stats like Strength, Vitality, Agility, Magic, and Aptitude. It's not that the other stats don't matter, but every stat point will be harder to earn as I gain tiers.

I'd rather be a boring Tier 7 being, than a weak Tier 7, unable to grind enough to Level up.

There are people who have seen me kill this devil, it's probably best I leave. Hiding the supernatural from people isn't my job, so maybe the church will clean up this mess, to protect secrecy.

1 week later

"You've been busy, Christian." I hear from behind me.

The chair I was previously sitting on, falls to the ground. I turn and there stands a Red skinned woman, in a black and red dress, with clear African design. She's smiling, her lips and teeth a pure black, her dark puffy hair hanging slightly over her forehead.

? ( ? )

Lv ?

Tier 4

Well, that's a first. I stop reaching for my weapon, it'd likely be useless. The only way I can harm this woman is if she has sone kind of ridiculous stat spread. 8 Charisma, 8 Finesse, 8 Wisdom, 8 Luck, and 8 Intelligence, would be the type of insane build that I'd maybe, be able to beat. 8 Luck probably makes you untouchable.

"Why have you spent so much time here, boy?" She asks me, while lifting up my chair from the floor.

Even if I'm not being given a name, I'm fairly confident I know who this is.

"I meant no offense, Enkai." I bow. The woman grins.

"And none is taken. It was a long time since you've been able to call these lands your home, and I sense no close blood ties to this region. Why are you here?" She asked again. Id best answer this time. And I've never called anywhere in Africa home, so she must be referring to my bloodline.

"This is easy grounds for lowly devils to hunt. And thus, easy grounds for me to hunt devils. I won't bother you for long." I speak truthfully. It was never my intention to stay here long anyway.

She shakes her head.

"I don't mean to rush your farewell. It's just odd, that's all. And this isn't an admonishment, but you've been giving us some extra work, boy. You don't do any clean up." Enkai sits at my table.

"I figured it would force the Church to take a more active hand. It wasn't my intention to increase your workload." I begin to relax.

"Hm, you are strong, for a human. Nothing grand...but you are clearly dedicated. Why do you hunt devils so zealously?" Enkai lays her head upon her hand, elbow leaning on the table.

Wait, her? I stop and take a good look at Enkai. She clearly notices, and is able to guess my thoughts, as for a second, the woman before me flickers. A pure Ebony skinned man, wearing a red and black robe, with a pony tail of red hair, appears, and swiftly the woman is back.

I guess divine beings can do that sort of thing.

"I figured it'd be easier to talk in this form." Enkai explains.

I nod, seeing the reasoning.

"I hunt all creatures that pray on humanity. Devils are simply a growing abundance. Even if they're former humans." My arms rest upon the table.

"I see, a crusader for humans, than. A noble cause. I have a gift, a thank you for your time spent helping my people. I've bigger concerns than some Strays, so assistance is appreciated." Enkai said, before a bright red and gray striped whip appeared on the table.

[ Damu Whip ] Tier 2

This whip, created by Enkai, will do more damage, the more exposed a victim is, and the more they bleed. The wielder will gain an amount of life force for every strike, and for any blood the whip makes contact with.

Holy shit.

"Thank you, I gladly accept this." I grab the whip and start thinking of ways to apply magic to this.

"That spell of yours is interesting. Analyst magic. So you know everything about the whip?" Enkai asks me.

"I believe so." I respond, not even caring she noticed my observation. After repeating the information to her, she nods.

"That is correct, use it well. Grow stronger, and change your faith, and you'll have a spot as my champion waiting for you. He does not often give people here sacred gears, and I'm never able to defend the few users we are rarely gifted by your God. Craftsman ship is not my strong suit, so a weapon of that level is the best I can do." Enkai explains.

"I understand, and will keep your offer in mind. Another reason I'm here is to be low key, somewhat. It's not safe to stay in one place, as an active gear user." I stand, as Enkai leaves her seat. She waves, and disappears.

This is only a little bit before DxD canon.

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