Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but High School DxD

Ren patted his pistol and bluffed his way through it.

"Ordinary firearms can hardly harm members of the Five Great Houses. They're even less effective against disciples at elite level or above."

Walpurgis reminded him.

"It's fine. At the very least, they can cause some interference."

Ren pulled a rocket launcher from behind his back.

At the sight of the bulky weapon, Walpurgis and the surrounding witches fell silent for a moment.

No one knew where Ren had pulled it from, but that thing... would indeed be effective.

"When do we start?"

Ren asked.

Seeing how eager Ren was, Walpurgis fell silent for a moment.

As Jaucusta's chief disciple, she had met many people, but someone as unusual as Ren was a first for her.

She did not quite understand.

Could it be that everyone in the Hero Faction was a war fanatic like Ren?

"At midnight. We'll launch an attack on the Inner Shrine of the Five Great Houses. My master, Jaucusta, has also contacted the local yokai. They'll launch the first attack, and we'll follow behind to deal with the strong fighters of the Five Great Houses."

Inner Shrine

As a member of the Hero Faction, Ren had made contact with the mages of Oz, but he could also tell that they regarded him as little more than cannon fodder.

Whether he survived the coming battle would depend entirely on his own strength.

Of course, Ren had no intention of truly acting as cannon fodder. He would simply wait until both sides were locked in a fierce battle before stirring up some trouble.

After all, in the chaos of a melee, no one was likely to pay much attention to him.

Night fell.

The mages of Oz arrived in Nara Prefecture through a teleportation array.

There was a special place within Nara Prefecture known as the "Inner Shrine."

Although the headquarters of the Five Great Houses were all in Tokyo, their ancestors had originated from Nara. Thus, this place was an important stronghold jointly established by the Five Great Houses.

Quite a few important affiliated figures lived here.

Members of Void Cicada had already been lying in wait nearby, and the yokai had gathered as well.

Ren quietly stood at the very back of the group and put on the Superman Glasses.

Sure enough, the moment he wore them, his presence dropped drastically. The mages were also too preoccupied with the approaching battle to pay attention to him.

After all, in their eyes, even if he had malicious intentions, there was little he could do alone.

The Inner Shrine was not located anywhere particularly special.

It stood deep within an uninhabited forest. Combined with the barrier that drove people away, only those associated with the Five Great Houses normally set foot here.

They had learned of this stronghold from members of Void Cicada who had been expelled from the Five Great Houses.

Ren remained at the back of the group.

Before long, a tremendous roar rang out, and the land where the Inner Shrine stood suddenly shook violently.

Everyone's hearts jolted. This meant the battle had begun.

Just as Walpurgis had said before.

Leading the charge were the local yokai forces that had contended with the Five Great Houses for many years.

However, they were not Yasaka's faction, which Ren knew of, but the Eight Hundred and Eight Tanuki, a famous yokai group from Shikoku that had existed since ancient times.

Unlike the cute tanuki in photographs, though, these transformed yokai stood nearly two meters tall.

The bizarre, quadrupedal creatures crawled swiftly across the ground, tearing through roads and forests at great speed. Ominous yokai aura radiated from their entire bodies.

Yet the yokai, charging forward as though they were ancient soldiers launching a suicidal siege, slammed one after another into an invisible wall.

That wall was the barrier set up around the Inner Shrine.

As far as Ren knew, there were five layers of barriers protecting the Inner Shrine, and each was sturdier than the last.

Even Fallen Angel executives would find it difficult to break through them easily.

But yokai were clearly not the thinking type. When they realized the small fry had been stopped by the first barrier, a deafening roar rang out, and a gigantic monster roughly ten times larger than the tanuki yokai appeared.

It stood over twenty meters tall, its body covered in short fur. Its muscles were knotted and swollen, and flame-like yokai aura poured from its entire body, sending chills down the spine.

Then the monster spat out an enormous mass of fire. The first barrier soon cracked and shattered under the scorching heat.

The flames even surged toward the second barrier in one go, making it tremble continuously.

At that moment, another yokai force rushed out of the forest. They looked like hairless gorillas, but their bodies were even larger than the tanuki yokai, standing a full three meters tall. Their skin was blue or red, their bodies packed with muscle, and they wore simple armor or cloth garments while wielding crudely made weapons.

At their head was a monster nearly six or seven meters tall, with two horns growing from its head and a club in its hand that radiated ominous yokai aura.

The appearance of this yokai helped Inugami Gyobu, the tanuki yokai commander, shatter the Inner Shrine's second barrier.

Amid shrill screams, several exorcists were sent flying by the terrifying force and smashed heavily into distant buildings, instantly losing their lives.

The war had officially begun.

At the same time, the system's voice rang out in Ren's mind.

[Optional Mission: Defeat the great yokai Inugami Gyobu and Onra. Rewards will be determined by the amount of damage inflicted by the host. The higher the damage, the richer the rewards!]

[Optional Mission: Assist the yokai in breaking through the five barriers of the Inner Shrine. Random reward *1]

At that moment, all the exorcists in the Inner Shrine had their attention firmly fixed on these two formidable yokai forces.

The exorcists immediately chanted spells, formed hand seals, or wielded khakkharas to cast techniques, launching attacks at the approaching yokai.

Flames, water pillars, earthen walls, and other attacks struck the yokai one after another.

Although many yokai were blasted away, their numbers were immense, so it did not make much difference.

Ren had been watching from the rear the entire time.

After all, he had noticed that neither the mages of Oz nor the members of Void Cicada had made a move yet, and the traitors among the Grigori were nowhere to be seen.

The yokai forces quickly entered close combat with the exorcists of the Inner Shrine.

Although the yokai were unstoppable at first, once several successor heads of the Inner Shrine wielding the power of spirit beasts, as well as several people possessing Sacred Gears, joined the battlefield, the scales of victory gradually tipped toward the Inner Shrine.

In addition to the spirit beast vessels known as the "Four Gods," the Inner Shrine's high-end combat force included four Sacred Gear users who housed the "Four Fiends" within their bodies.

Although Ren did not know why these four Sacred Gear users had not been expelled by the Five Great Houses, their presence was clearly bad news for the yokai.

Ren was not especially familiar with supporting characters from the side stories, but since this world even had trash like Muzan, minor changes did not matter much.

The number of yokai grunts rapidly dwindled under the combined assault of the Four Gods and Four Fiends. Seeing this, the mages of Oz and the members of Void Cicada could no longer remain still.

They emerged from their hiding places and joined the massive melee.

"Inugami Gyobu, and Onra, why would great yokai as powerful as you attempt to attack this place? I want to know the reason!"

Suzaku Himejima, whom Ren had met once before, said coldly.

This attack had been premeditated.

Outside the private grounds of the Inner Shrine was another barrier that cut off all forms of communication. It was likely the work of the witches who had been causing trouble recently.

Hearing this, the tall tanuki leader laughed heartily. "You still dare ask for the reason? There are too many yokai who harbor hatred for the Five Great Houses to count! How many monsters have had their homes raided and their clans exterminated by you? How many have been sealed away? We simply did not act before because we lived in an era where it was inconvenient to attack. But now, whenever we find an opportunity, we will take the initiative just as I have!"

Treasure of Uji

Rumble!

The battle continued.

The exchange between Suzaku Himejima and Inugami Gyobu did not last long.

The two sides had accumulated grievances for far too long. They were enemies who would not rest until one side was dead, so it was impossible to talk either faction into retreating.

Inugami Gyobu's yokai aura surged wildly. By himself, he held back most of the Inner Shrine's top combat forces.

The Four Gods spirit beasts led by Suzaku Himejima and the hosts of the Four Fiends Sacred Gears were separately dealing with the two commanders, Inugami Gyobu and Onra.

Meanwhile, the mages of Oz who had entered the battle forced out another opponent hiding within the Five Great Houses.

She was a woman dressed in a pure white mage's robe. As the strong winds raised by the battle swept through the thigh-high slit of her skirt, a pair of sleek black stockings could vaguely be seen.

The woman wore a pointed witch's hat, and long golden hair like wheat stalks flowed out from beneath its brim. Her features were proper and beautiful.

"To think I'd run into Glinda's disciple here. What a surprise."

The elderly mage Jaucusta narrowed her eyes, her tone somewhat pleased.

At that moment.

Perhaps in response to her words.

Visible white frost spread through the air around them, and the frigid atmosphere was utterly out of place for the current season.

The source of that chill was the blonde girl confronting Jaucusta.

Her name was Lavinia Reni.

Her parents had tragically died in an accident when she was young. She was later adopted by Glinda, the Southern Witch of Oz, then sent to the Gray Mages organization for further study after growing up.

Afterward, her mentor had been attacked by the Eastern Witches of Oz. In order to find her mentor, she had been hunting the witches of Oz ever since.

Lavinia had fought Jaucusta a few years ago, but the latter had escaped. This time, she would not let these people leave so easily.

"The look in your eyes is terrifying enough that I can hardly believe you're Glinda's disciple."

Jaucusta mocked her lightly.

"...You people made me this way."

Lavinia's eyes were filled with hatred.

"Tell me where my master is!"

Hearing this, Jaucusta still smiled. "I can tell you about your master, but first, you have to agree to come with me, Ice Princess."

After saying that, her figure vanished from where she stood.

As a fellow mage, Lavinia naturally knew Jaucusta had not gone far. She immediately activated her magic and flew after the traces Jaucusta had left behind.

Though she knew there might be a trap waiting ahead to stop her, Lavinia also knew she could not avoid it.

Walpurgis was left behind.

Leading the mages of Witch's Night, she wore a delighted smile.

"Now, let's make a mess of things!"

With that, she raised her hand. A magic circle formed above her palm, then immediately spat out fireballs of extreme heat.

Fireball.

It was the most basic of offensive spells.

Although humans could learn the magic used by devils, most mages were not particularly accomplished in magic.

The mages who had come with Walpurgis might all have been able to fly through the air, but their overall strength was actually about the same as the rookie exorcists of the Five Great Houses.

Thus, the outcome would ultimately be decided by the clash between the high-end combat forces.

All of Tokyo had descended into chaos.

At least in Ren's eyes, the current situation looked like Britain's Stargazy pie.

Of course, Ren had his own objectives as well.

There were two missions: one was to deal with those two great yokai, while the other was to assist them in breaking through the barriers of the Inner Shrine.