Jun returned to his small cabin.
The room was narrow, only enough for a simple bed, a low wooden table.
Once the door closed, he let out a long breath.
There was a tightness that did not come from wounds or physical exhaustion — but from something deeper. Something that always surfaced every time he had to leave a place.
The survivors from earlier… Tomorrow, they would no longer remember him.
Those memories would fade, erased gently by the mechanisms of the world that gave him no choice.
Jun leaned his back against the wooden wall, closing his eyes for a moment.
"…Annoying," he muttered softly.
Then a thought struck his mind.
Was the world he was standing in right now… also a floor of the Tower?
It was not the first time the question appeared. But this time, it felt heavier. Too many events that — at a glance — had patterns similar to what he had once experienced inside the Tower.
But he dismissed it immediately.
No.
From the beginning, this was different.
He obtained all of this because he was chosen in an interdimensional competition — a brutal selection to reach the peak of the Tower of Babel, a place said to contain something capable of affecting the entire multiverse.
This was not a world created by the Tower.
This was the real world.
'Haah…'
Jun sighed again, this time deeper.
'The Akashic System I received… I thought it was just a gift from that ROB so I could survive in the DxD world. Turns out it was only a ticket into an even greater mess.'
He smiled faintly, bitter.
'Now the survival level has already entered… hell mode.'
There was no answer. No notification. No system responding to his complaints.
Jun straightened his clothes, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes.
His body immediately rested — not because he was weak, but because he knew when to stop.
...
Morning came with soft light that slipped through the small cabin window.
Jun slowly opened his eyes, his mind already clear. As soon as he sat up, a message appeared on his phone.
Akeno had departed to the Underworld. She would not be around for a while.
"…I see," Jun murmured.
There was no disappointed expression. Only acceptance.
The day suddenly felt empty.
No urgent mission. No cosmic threat that needed to be handled. No Tower forcing him to move.
At last, he returned to his old routine.
Jun sat cross-legged beneath a plum tree in the backyard of his residence. Petals drifted down gently, carried by the morning wind. He meditated, calming the flow of Qi in his body, letting his Demonic Qi and will exist in perfect balance.
From time to time, he trained. Basic sword movements. Breathing. Focus.
Until—
His attention shifted.
In the distance, along a rather quiet road, he saw a young girl walking alone.
Her hair was long, a mix of black and dark pink. Her eyes — when they briefly caught the light — were a sharp dark pink. She wore the girls' high school uniform of Kuoh Academy: a neat blazer, black skirt, blue ribbon, and a chest-binding strap wrapped around her in an unusual way.
What drew Jun's attention was not her appearance.
But… her age.
The girl looked like she was still in middle school.
And someone was following her.
The distance was maintained carefully. Not too close, not too far. His steps were steady, too trained to be just an ordinary passerby.
Jun narrowed his eyes.
"…A bit suspicious."
He stood, moved without a sound, and followed from afar.
A few minutes later, they arrived at an old dojo located in a secluded area. The building was still well-maintained, yet clearly rarely used. There was no one else around. Too quiet.
Once the girl stopped—
The stalker moved.
Without warning, a sword appeared in the stalker's hand, as if pulled from nothingness. He attacked with a fast, lethal slash.
Jun, who was observing from a tree branch, almost stepped in.
But—
Clang!
The girl reacted with a speed that did not match her appearance. From inside her school bag, she pulled out a wooden sword and blocked the strike with surprising precision.
"You!" the girl shouted, jumping back.
"Hahaha… so we finally meet face to face like this, Zekka Miyamoto!" said the stalker, his voice full of mockery.
'Hmm… Miyamoto?' Jun thought.
Zekka slashed her wooden sword, forcing her opponent to retreat a few steps. The hoodie worn by the stalker shifted open, revealing the face of a woman with short indigo-colored hair.
"Who are you!?" Zekka snapped.
The woman chuckled lightly.
"So… you still don't know, huh. Even though our ancestors share a long history."
"Who!?" Zekka shouted again.
"In that case, let me make you remember my name." She stood tall, her eyes glowing with pride. "My name is Rina Sasaki!"
Jun let out a small sigh from atop the tree.
His expression was flat.
'Wow… what am I even watching right now,' he thought.
Down below, Zekka clenched her teeth.
"I have nothing to do with you," she said coldly, though her breathing was slightly unstable. "Why did you suddenly attack me like this?"
Rina did not reply.
There was no verbal mockery.
Only movement.
In an instant, Rina's body shot forward. The cracked dojo floor scattered dust as her foot struck down, and the sword in her hand gleamed sharply, far different from the wooden blade Zekka held.
The first clash rang loudly.
KRAK—!
Zekka's wooden sword cracked.
She stepped back half a step, her eyes widening slightly, then retreated again as Rina pressed forward without giving any room. Slash after slash struck her defense — fast, precise, and without the slightest hesitation.
Zekka blocked, twisting her wrist, trying to redirect the attacks—
But the wooden sword could no longer endure.
With a single diagonal slash, Rina shattered the wooden blade completely. The fragments scattered and fell to the ground with a light sound that felt unbearably heavy to Zekka.
Rina stopped right in front of her.
"A wooden sword?" she mocked softly. "You're seriously defending with that?"
Zekka stepped back again, her hands empty, her chest rising and falling. She did not answer.
Rina smirked.
"Or…" her voice lowered, full of provocation, "…are you really that weak?"
Rina's gaze hardened.
"You still haven't brought out your Sacred Gear."
Zekka jolted.
"What…?"
Her eyes widened, and for a moment, the cold composure she always maintained collapsed. She stared at Rina with an expression of shock and wariness mixed together.
"You knew?" she murmured softly.
Rina let out a small laugh, her laughter cold and full of certainty.
"Of course I knew," she said. "If not, I wouldn't bother coming all the way here."
She raised her sword slightly, and at that moment—something changed.
The air around the blade trembled.
The sword that had previously looked like an ordinary weapon now emitted a faint light, the engravings along its blade lighting up one by one. A symbol in the shape of a Chariot star appeared clearly at the center of the sword, pulsing slowly like a heartbeat.
"Allow me to introduce," Rina said proudly, "my Sacred Gear—Exodus Chariot."
A strange pressure spread throughout the dojo.
From atop the tree, Jun narrowed his eyes slightly.
Below, Zekka felt chills crawl across her skin. Not merely from fear, but from resonance—the Sacred Gear within Rina was clearly resonating with something inside her.
Yet she still did not move.
"I don't want to use it," Zekka said softly, almost like a plea to herself.
Rina frowned.
"Still stubborn?" she said coldly.
Without waiting for an answer, Rina attacked again.
This time, there was no mercy.
Her sword sliced through the air, and the pressure from the swing alone was enough to send Zekka flying backward. The girl's body slammed onto the dojo floor, rolling several times before stopping with a choked breath.
Rina leapt, swinging her sword down from above.
Zekka lifted her arms to protect herself—too late.
The blade struck the ground beside her head, a large crack spreading across the dojo's stone floor. Dust burst upward, and Zekka coughed harshly, her ears ringing.
"Stand up," Rina said coldly. "Or I'll end this here."
Zekka staggered, but forced herself to stand.
Her legs were visibly trembling, her breathing ragged, yet her eyes still stared at Rina with stubborn resolve. Her hands clenched tightly, her nails nearly digging into her own palms.
She was truly cornered.
But just as Rina was about to step forward—
"D-Don't…!" Zekka shouted, her voice shaking yet full of strain. "Don't destroy this dojo!"
In the very next second—
Light burst from her chest.
Not a gentle glow, but a powerful flash that radiated in all directions, making the surrounding air tremble. A strange pressure spread outward, pushing away dust and fragments of stone.
"Hoo…?" Rina instinctively pulled back her sword and slashed toward the light.
However—
CLANG!
The strike stopped against a layer of transparent energy as hard as steel. The shockwave forced Rina to jump several meters back, her feet landing firmly against the ground.
"What is that…?" she muttered, her eyes narrowing.
Up in the tree, Jun tilted his head.
"What even is this…," he muttered flatly.
The light slowly dimmed.
Zekka's clothing at her chest had torn from the burst of energy—not revealing her body, but something else.
A sword hilt.
The blade was still concealed, as if embedded within a space that shouldn't exist.
Jun stared at it for several seconds.
"…Seriously," he murmured softly. "Why does it always have to come out of the chest? I swear… the author of this world has a weird obsession."
Zekka grit her teeth.
Her hand trembled as it reached toward the sword hilt.
"Lend me your strength…" she whispered. "Tensei."
For a moment—silence.
Then a voice echoed directly in her mind.
[I've been waiting for this for so long!]
The voice was full of enthusiasm, almost too cheerful for such a dire situation.
Energy surged outward.
The sword finally emerged in full, pulled from that strange space where it had been hidden. Light wrapped around Zekka's body, but instead of erasing her clothes, the energy formed a protective mantle-like layer, enveloping her in glowing symbols.
The wind swirled.
Dust scattered.
Zekka stood upright—her posture transformed.
The pressure she now radiated was completely different.
Rina raised an eyebrow, then gave a faint smile.
"…So you finally decided to come out," she said. "Your Sacred Gear."
Zekka gripped the sword tightly.
The Tensei Sword trembled lightly, as if unable to contain its excitement.
[Let's go! I've been dying to hit something!]