The Esper Devil ( Esper OC X Highschool DxD )

by Esper-from-beyond

The era of heroes is over, with the hero association almost extinct and espers now living in secrecy, the talented son of a legendary esper couple starts attending a school which is under the control of devils. Raised with the mentality that all demons and evil spirits are enemies and carrying an enormous power that is still unknown to most devils, how will he fit in this new life?

44. Meeting the unknown

"So my technique didn't work... I couldn't suppress it..."

I say letting go of the Hakuryuukou's armor as he speaks the last bits of the chant

... No, that's wrong

It did work, I could feel myself suppressing the curse

I just wasn't strong enough

Even though I made all of those restrictions, even though I investigated so much... to hold back a curse strong like a Heavenly Dragon...

Am I still going to lose?

I feel myself losing strength, I fall down and everything becomes shrouded in darkness as my consciouness begins to feel hazy

{You know it's your fault, right?}

Yeah, I know...

Hold up! What?

"W-who is it?"

From the darkness surrounding me, comes a voice

A familiar, yet weird voice, as if it's in reverb

{To fight an enemy you know it's strong while you still can't control your 100%, how stubborn and proud can you be?}

I shake my head, still trying to keep my thoughts together and make sense of what's happening

"I know, in my 100 state I am-"

The voice immediately cuts me out

{That's right, you are still too weak! However... if you get hurt, I get hurt. So maybe I should awaken you... just a little. You are still not prepared to release it all yet}

He (?) says in a mysterious tone

"W-wait a minute, who are you?!"

I say, desperate and scared as my head feels like it's been juggled around while I try to grasp what's happening, but the voice cares little to my words, replying amused

{It matters not for now, all you need to know is that I am power. And as you know, power has it's price. I'll collect my payment when time is due, but the exact time... kukuku, I'll make that a surprise}

The voice states omeningly as it fades away

"Hold up! I still- AGHHHHHH!"

Forcefully ending the conversation, an overwhelming pain courses through my body, I try to kneel on the floor only to realize that there is no floor, only emptiness in here

I've been floating this entire time!? Where the hell am I?

After the painful jolt fades away, I'm left wandering in the dark, with my mind still all over the place.

Is this also it's doing? Or am I just tired?

I walk... or at least the closest thing to a walk you can do when there's no floor, or wall... or anything

This place gives me shivers, I feel like I could be consumed by the darkness at any moment if I slip for good

I wander, holding dearly into my sense of self untill I finally hear something

(Ta...!)

"Uh... w-what?"

I speak faintly, trying to listen to it

The voice echoes through the nothingness untill it becomes a familiar voice

(Tachan! Please, stop!)

I feel my eyes wide as the adrenaline pulls me from my near slumber

"A-Ayumu? Ayumu, where are you?!"

I desperatly turn my head, trying to find my friend, however, there's no sign of her

"Ayumu!"

Shouting, I increase my pacing, trying to find the source of my friend's voice and suddenly, a bright flash appears in front of me

"W-what the hell?"

A bright spot of light in the middle of all this darkness is created and stands idle as if invinting me towards it

"A-Ayumu?"

I speak to it, trying to get an answer

(Ta...chan!)

The sound is muffled and choped, but I can definitely recognize Ayumu's voice!

I immediately reach towards the light and as soon as I touch it, the brightness seems to suck me in, my confusion gradually disappears as I find myself back to where I was before passing out.

Inside the field created by one of Vali Lucifer's mates. However, the scenery this time is completely different...

Vali Lucifer is on the ground, on his knees right before me... covered in blood.

"H-how... is this even..."

I hear him say in disbelieve while staring at the ground

[The Juggernaut Drive was... suppressed?]

Even the legendary Albion seems completely shocked

"W-what did you said, Albion? The Juggernaut Drive?"

I hear a male voice and turn my head to see Arthur, Ayumu and the descendant of Sun Wukong standing there.

"No fucking way..."

The monkey boy says in awe

I stare again at Vali, covered in wounds and blood at my feet, it's true!

"I... I did this?"

Even I am at disbelieve at the sight

"H-How?"

I ask myself, but before I can ponder any further, an immense exhaustion takes me over and I stumble, trying miserably to stand up only to inevitably fall down

"Tachan!"

Ayumu's worried voice reaches my ears as she rushes over to grab me before I reach the ground

"Thank you... Ayumu. Ughhh!"

I barely have time to thank her before I start puking a black liquid out of my mouth

"Are you alright?!"

She asks desperately trying to wipe my mouth, I grab her hand with the little strength I have left, trying to stop her

"N-no, it's alright"

This thing is not blood, it's residue from suppressing the curse

"Fuck, h-how the hell did that guy do this? He's a fucking monster!"

Arthur and Bikou discuss

"That doesn't matter now, we gotta take Vali somewhere so he can heal"

With his sword, the elegant boy cuts a rift in space and starts dragging Vali in

"H-hey! Hold up over there!"

Ayumu exclamates trying to stop them from leaving, but I raise my hand

"I-it's okay... we can't stop them now"

Ayumu shakes her head fiercely, I see tears starting to form in her eyes

"It's not okay! We have to get you a healer!"

I shake my head

"N-no, we can't, the Association can't know about this."

Ayumu looks confused as I hand her a phone

"Call Liliana... just tell her I'm wounded."

"Li-Liliana?"

"Please, Ayumu, things will become clearer with this, trust me"

Ayumu stares for a moment before she starts to go through the phone

However, a voice calls our attention first

"Tatseyo-san! Tatseyo-san!"

Recognizing the voice immediately, I turn my head and see a small girl with green hair rushing towards us

"A-Aya-chan? What are you doing here, didn't I told you to go home?"

I ask, but before any answer can be given, she stops in a halt after Ayumu turns to her

"A youkai?!"

Ayumu creates a flame within her hand, making Aya-chan freeze in fear and my eyes wide in panick

"Stop, she's friendly!"

I shout, making Ayumu turn to me even more confused

"Friendly?"

She asks, the fire on her hand disappearing and Aya-chan continuing her run towards me

"I-I'm sorry, I just couldn't stay there while Tatseyo-san fought, so I followed you "

She kneels by my side right next to Ayumu, who looks at her puzzled

"I'm going to call Liliana-ane, she'll bring Galard-san with her, please hold in there!"

Aya-chan says standing up and activating a magic circle

I sigh in relieve

"Thank y- bluuurghhh!"

I puke once again and feel my consciousness starting to fade, once again, causing Ayumu to panic

"Tachan! Hold in there!"

I take her hand and say

"Please, Ayumu... no matter what happens, trust Liliana."

Before I pass out, I hear another familiar voice, but aside from relieve at her appearance, the despair in her voice makes me feel incredibly guilty

"Tatseyo!"

Afterword: Glad you enjoyed the last chapter's fight and noticed Ayumu's increasing jealousy and all the techniques I'm referencing from other animes.

Though I would like to say that, as weird as it sounds, the orbs that Tatseyo uses are not actually based on Naruto's "Truth Seeking Orbs" as some stated.

Not that they aren't similar, but I have to admit that I stopped watching Naruto Shippuden before midway (yeah, I'm a heretic), so I didn't knew about their abilities untill now that I searched on the wiki. Tatseyo's orbs were actually based on Sirzechs ability to control his Power of Destruction, Dalk from Bleach and Cao Cao's Seven Treasures

About power level: In this fic, many characters have their power levels unchanged, but some will have to be more "limited" as to draw a line in what they can or cannot do. In my humble opinion, Saitama can definitely stand up to GR and Ophis if it's just in strength, but Saiki is another story.

You see, Kusuo's power in his own anime is VERY inconsistent. He states to already be poweful enough to destroy the moon when he was a kid, he managed to brainwash the entire planet's population in an instant and teleport the entire section of an island from edge of the globe to the other, however, he struggled to stop a volcano whose firepower was only going to destroy Japan, which is a fairly small country that Sona herself stated that a Maou could destroy rather easily, he also had trouble to deal with the cat-cannon his brother built, which only had the destructive power to destroy a forest at it's max. Because of that, I think that even though Kusuo is very powerful with all the abilities he has, when it comes to firepower alone, I think he is "only" somewhat higher than Heavenly Dragon class, but not on the same level as Saitama or GR. I can argue that ?% Mob is actually stronger when it comes to raw strength, being at least Transcendental class. Regarding Garou, I believe he's at Heavenly Dragon class (when monsterfied, of course)

You can disagree with me in the comments of course, since these are all things that I see based on each of their feats, I could be forgetting or ignoring something.

About Ayumu's relation with "Kill La Kill" and "Fire Force": I absolutely love Kill La Kill and I'm glad you noticed Ayumu's battle gear is an indirect reference to it, I also watched the first season of Fire Force and I'm hyped for the next one (too bad it got delayed because of covid). I'm planning to base some of her future powers in this anime as she trains and grows.

About Jojo abilities: I've been trying to be very careful with how much Tatseyo's abilities can interfere "internaly" with his enemies, gotta remember that the more powerful the enemy is, the less your powers can influence him, that's why Tatsumaki couldn't throw Saitama around and Tatseyo's telekinesis was stopped by [Half Dimension]. The idea of using his energy manipulation to make someone's senses berserk has gone through my mind and you reminded me of that, but Araki himself "forgot" this ability because it was too OP. If I make something like that with a character that can use long distance attacks, Tatseyo would basically one-shot enemies by making their senses go berserk and render then unable to aim correctly, because in the DxD verse, a single mistake is pretty much deadly depending on the level of the battle. If I'm going to use this ability, then I need to come up with some way that it has limitations in order to not become too OP that it can be used as an easy solution to everything.

And making "inorganic matter into organic and vice versa" is also possible, Mob was shown to be able to convert matter into energy in his fully released state. But if I'm going to do this, then it'll be much further, when Tatseyo has a better grasp of his powers and abilities.

About the Toaru series: I'm still not done watching all the seasons and I might have to read the LN, but so far from what I've seen, if I use the Toaru verse here most of the characters will have to be seriously buffed. Misaka is one of the strongest characters and she almost lost a fight to a single mecha, the only ones I see winning a fight against DxD characters without receiving any new buffs are Accelerator and the Dark Matter guy.