Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.
Kyoto, Japan
–Yasaka–
Her tails swishing behind her, she paced along the floors of her office, her mind wracked with anxiety about the happenings in her city. Sure, technically, she was still beholden to the Shinto, as was reminded to her whenever she had the misfortune of meeting her patron Gods, but that was all that it amounted to these days.
Technicality.
Once the rose tinted glasses were lifted from her eyes, somewhere along her third century, she realised that the Shinto Gods looked at them as nothing more than tools. All Youkais were just instruments in the eyes of the Shinto, to make sure that their goals were fulfilled, regardless of the cost incurred to the Youkai.
All she got was a set of orders, and then no one else to share the burden of knowing that the people she ordered to do something were not going to come back alive. Sometimes, she hadn’t even known what had happened to them. Such was the fate that befell the Youkai who looked up to her for guidance and leadership.
It was the reason she stopped butting heads with Nurarihyon, as the whole reason she resented the man was that he had openly disregarded some direct orders from the Shinto, most of the time without any consequences whatsoever. Why was he allowed to disagree with them and not her?
Why was he allowed to operate freely, without anything truly tying him down, when she had to be one who was latched to the Ley lines running beneath her, forever trapping her to this land? She could still leave, but anything more than a month and the powerful wards that keep the place and her people protected start unravelling, and as expected, the Shinto had made it abundantly clear that they will not be lifting one finger to help her people.
Sure, they might descend and make sure the supernatural was not revealed to the mundane world, but helping her people? No, they were apparently higher than that.
So, why? If the Youkai were beneath their notice, not even worth protecting in case of a catastrophe, did they choose her city to be the one to host the first diplomatic meeting between the Church and the Shinto in decades?
Her mind went to the cause of this whole thing. A half Youkai, half human youngling, fortunate enough to be blessed with the best of both the races.
Usually, humans were regarded as the lowest of the supernatural factions, simply because of the effort required to bring a decently talented human to a sufficiently powerful level, only for them to die decades later due to their short lifespan. On top of that, humans with sufficient talent were few and far between, which was unusual because of their sheer numbers and the speed at which they reproduce.
But there was one thing that no supernatural member could deny about humans. Their ingenuity and their determination. Simply put, there was nothing quite like a determined human. She supposed that it came from a number of factors, but it resulted in quite an interesting phenomenon.
Humans, when they put their mind to something, they commit to it. Once humans were made aware of their place in the supernatural totem pole, they either fell into despair or turned into very determined machines who rested only because they had to, and grew as strong as they could be, resulting in some truly powerful humans.
Alas, recent events had robbed humanity of many of its most powerful and talented members.
Dismissing the ugly tactics of the Devils from her mind, she focused on the boy who was somehow blessed enough to have the single tone dedication and desperation that was common in humans, as well as the physical gifts that came with being a Youkai.
They still didn’t know exactly what flavour of Youkai he was, but they knew he was one. It was in his very blood. Unfortunately, his other side was far more pronounced than a Youkai.
Akihiko was a young man, only in his 20s, a child in Youkai years, and yet, an adult in human lifespans. He looked absolutely normal, yet one scan would reveal that he was some flavour of Youkai.
Yet, the ears were cat-like, the prehensile tail and the retractable claws were something else, not to mention the nose. All features that he could hide at will and summon when needed. Even individually, if need be.
He was also as strong as her in her four tail form, if she could gauge it roughly, and that was not something that could be taken lightly, neither by her nor by the Shinto.
Now, if that were all, the happenings in her city would not exist. The youngling, born half human, was apparently eligible to be granted one of God’s gifts. A relatively lesser known Sacred Gear that had manifested only a few times since God began handing out weapons as if they were candy, not knowing that in the near future, his creations would be stolen right from under his nose by the Devils.
He was granted a Sacred Gear.
Penance Halo.
It was a high tier Sacred Gear, yes, but that alone should not have resulted in the current disaster that was just bubbling in, once again, in her city. It has the ability to brand someone. The brand in and of itself is not harmful.
The interesting thing is what it does to the target. As far as she could tell, it gave the target an aversion to all that is Holy, in the same breath as a devil.
Yes, even if the target was a demigod, immune to the biggest advantage that the Angels had, the Sacred Gear could make them just as vulnerable to Holy Light as Devils of all beings. Understandably, such an ability was a big boon to the Church, allowing them to use their full fighting prowess even against beings that had no issue weathering their light.
Even with that, the Shinto Gods had right over him, simply because he was a Youkai and, more importantly, born and brought up in Japan. But no, the youngling just had to be a devout Christian.
Apparently, he spent over a decade in some remote corner of Japan, praying to God, and the Shinto ignored him because he was, well, just a Youkai. They didn't even inform her! She could have taken him in and properly trained him.
But noooo! He had to grow up on his own, mingling with humans, and still, he managed to become as strong as he is now. Imagining what heights he could have reached with proper training, she sighed as her mind went back to the crux of the issue.
The youngling wanted to be associated with the Church, but he didn’t want to leave Japan or even be forced to be in Japan all his life. He was powerful, yes, but not to the point that the higher ups of two factions had to schedule a meeting in person to sort the whole issue without coming to blows.
The Church wanted to take him in as an exorcist for obvious reasons, and the Shinto wanted him in the Youkai faction.
A complicated issue, if there was ever one.
It was obvious that the Shinto only wanted the youngling simply to spite the Church, and also because they did not want to lose anything, even if it was just a tool in their eyes. The Church also wanted him because of how his Sacred Gear manifested.
The Sacred Gear took on the appearance of a halo behind the youngling’s head. She could certainly see the appeal of parading around such a member of the Church, if only to increase the number of faithful, even if they did not use the youngling’s offensive ability.
Shaking her head, she was able to, once more, go to the makeshift church they’d had to build to convince the youngling to come stay in her city until they got this whole thing sorted out, only for the door to be opened on its own.
Tamamo, a Youkai who’d served her mother and had recently come out of semi retirement to help her handle the influx of issues that came with a large number of Exorcists, Priests, and Youkai flooding the city. Her brows furrowed at the look on Tamamo’s face.
The next words uttered by her only served to make her slump on herself, even as she got ready to meet yet another volatile factor that might just be the thing that lit up her entire city on fire.
“We have a devil in the city. Peak High Class or maybe Low Ultimate Class.”
What was Serafall doing?! Wasn’t she assured by the Shinto themselves that the Devils wouldn’t dare set foot in Japan for the entire duration of the meeting?!