With Sona, as long as he demonstrated ability, joining the Student Council had been entirely possible.
With Rias? Without talent, without being a Devil, what were the chances of joining the Occult Research Club?
Sorry, but that would've been a joke.
In short, through a single chess match, Takeyo had successfully secured his place in the Student Council.
One year after joining, just now, Takeyo had finally activated his system!
[Ding!]
[Download complete! Congratulations to the host for activating the Divine Sign-In System!]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for checking in! Sign-in rank: King!]
[Sign-in location: The head of the Infinite Dragon God Ophis.]
[Time limit: 1 hour.]
"Are you serious?!"
Takeyo's personality was normally extremely calm, but even he nearly lost his composure at this revelation.
The head of Ophis? Wasn't she supposed to be under the protection of the Khaos Brigade? Was the system actually expecting him to break into an organization filled with heroes and Old Satan faction members just to get himself killed?
"I think I need an explanation," Takeyo muttered.
[Ding!]
[The sign-in location is a place the host must be capable of reaching within the given time limit.]
[Please pay attention to your surroundings.]
"Fine." Takeyo sighed deeply. "But what exactly does this sign-in rank mean?"
[Ding!]
[Sign-in ranks are divided into five tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and King. Rewards scale proportionally with rank.]
[Higher-ranked sign-ins have progressively lower appearance rates.]
[Daily check-ins accumulate progress. The more consecutive daily check-ins completed, the higher the probability of triggering advanced sign-ins.]
"So... this is the highest possible rank?"
Takeyo swallowed hard. He had to admit, his heart was racing.
[Correct.]
Danger and opportunity always walked hand in hand.
Besides, in Ophis's eyes, he would be no different from an ant. So... it should be fine, right?
Takeyo tried to reassure himself.
"Whether or not I can complete this sign-in is secondary. What matters is what happens after I actually meet Ophis."
Takeyo decided to first calculate the distance he could realistically cover within one hour.
Starting from Kuoh Academy as the center point, if he ran at full speed, he could manage approximately fifteen kilometers per hour. That meant anywhere within a fifteen-kilometer radius of the academy gates was theoretically reachable.
Accounting for winding roads and obstacles, an irregular perimeter quickly took shape in his mind.
Since childhood, Takeyo had possessed extraordinary calculation and memory abilities. He effortlessly projected the entire map of Kuoh into his consciousness.
Then, after several seconds of mental processing,
Takeyo opened his eyes.
"The highest vantage point around here should be there."
He immediately broke into a run, heading toward a bell tower in the distance.
That location would give him the widest possible view of the area.
His breath came in sharp, controlled bursts as he pushed his body to its limits. Upon reaching the bell tower, Takeyo silently began substituting variables into his mental calculations.
Factors affecting the probability of Ophis appearing...
He incorporated everything he knew about Ophis's personality as depicted in the original High School DxD storyline. He factored in the regular flow of foot traffic throughout Kuoh. He recalled every facility, every landmark, every detail stored in his memory about the town's layout.
This level of computational ability might well have been Takeyo's greatest talent.
In an ordinary world, he would have undoubtedly become a world-class prodigy. In fact, his current net worth was already quite impressive. But High School DxD was a world teeming with gods and monsters, a world where power ruled supreme.
Perhaps someone of average ability could be obliterated in a random conflict, their memory erased from the minds of everyone they'd ever known, and even proof of their existence wiped clean from history itself.
"Alright. These locations are the most probable."
Within one minute of concentrated thought, Takeyo had successfully narrowed down the potential locations. For someone with his abilities, this was hardly difficult.
One minute passed.
Three minutes.
Ten minutes.
Takeyo watched silently from his elevated position atop the bell tower, scanning each location with methodical precision.
Then suddenly, his eyes widened.
He found her.
"There!"
Without hesitation, he descended from the bell tower and sprinted toward his target.
Several minutes later, Takeyo finally laid eyes on her.
No, calling her a "her" seemed inadequate. She was, more accurately, a loli.
A small dragon loli, standing perfectly still as she stared intently at a large prize machine inside a game arcade.
Her skin was pale and flawless, her long black hair cascading down her back like a silken waterfall, contrasting beautifully against her Gothic lolita dress. She wore simple black shoes on her slender feet, and her hair made her appear even more petite than she already was.
In her eyes, those gray, emotionless eyes, there flickered something Takeyo hadn't expected.
Takeyo, who was well-versed in psychology, instantly identified the emotion. It was desire.
Following Ophis's unwavering gaze, Takeyo spotted the object of her fixation: a claw machine.
'Seriously? Is this really that cliché? Can a being as powerful as the Infinite Dragon God actually be captivated by a stuffed toy in a claw machine?'
Takeyo couldn't help but internally groan at the absurdity.
Still, after a brief moment of consideration, he walked toward the machine.
Ding.
He exchanged a single coin at the front desk, just one.
Inserting the coin into the claw machine, a cheerful jingle played as the mechanical claw began swaying from left to right.
"This is the moment..."
Claw machines like these were typically rigged.
The shop would set a specific payout threshold. Before reaching that value, no matter how many times someone tried, the claw's grip would inevitably loosen at the last second.
The more unscrupulous establishments would set the threshold to one hundred, meaning the claw wouldn't hold anything securely until after a hundred failed attempts.
Click.
Sure enough, just as the claw was about to exit with the prize, its grip released.
Thud. At that precise moment, Takeyo gave the machine a subtle shake.
The toy that had been swaying from side to side suddenly gained just enough momentum,
And dropped perfectly into the prize chute.
Ophis's gray eyes widened ever so slightly, a hint of envy flickering across her otherwise expressionless face as Takeyo calmly retrieved the stuffed toy from the machine.
This kind of calculation was child's play compared to predicting where Ophis would appear. It was the difference between a college-level math problem and elementary school arithmetic.
Ophis's gaze remained utterly calm.
Yet it never left the toy in Takeyo's hands.
Beneath that unblinking stare, Takeyo slowly walked over and stopped directly in front of her.
"Is this what you want?" Takeyo asked with a gentle smile.
Ophis, perhaps the single most powerful entity in all of High School DxD. Of course, that power came with immense danger.
"..."
Without speaking, Ophis simply nodded.
The warm light of the setting sun filtered through the arcade windows, illuminating her pale, delicate feet. For a brief moment, she seemed ready to step forward, but then stopped herself halfway, as though uncertain.
The soft glow slid across her small form like running water, bathing her in a faint, ethereal radiance.
"You've been watching this for a while now. Do you really want it?" Takeyo asked again, his tone kind.
"...Yes."
This time, Ophis nodded again, this time with certainty.