Reincarnated into a Multiverse, but High School DxD

Just as they were about to finish eating, Lavinia seemed to sense something and frowned slightly.

"There seems to be an unusual energy fluctuation in the woods."

Ren had sensed it too, though not as clearly as Lavinia, who was a mage.

"Should we take a look?"

"I'll go."

Ren said.

He had nothing better to do anyway. He might as well see whether he could trigger a new system mission.

Though the chances were slim. This place lay directly between Kyoto and Kuoh Town, on the border between the two factions, and few plot-relevant characters ever appeared here.

In the woods.

A pitch-black cat was curled up in the grass, carefully licking the wound on its hind leg with its red tongue.

Its bewitching golden eyes occasionally scanned its surroundings, as though it were wary of something.

Before long, perhaps because its injuries had drained its strength, the black cat lowered its head back onto the grass and began to purr softly.

But just as it was about to fall asleep, it seemed to sense something and vigilantly looked around. In the end, however, it found nothing.

It was not until a shadow blocked the sunlight filtering through the treetops that the black cat noticed an uninvited guest approaching.

A Quick Grab

"Meow?"

Since she did not sense any magic power she found repulsive, the black cat did not react aggressively even upon seeing the newcomer.

She merely let out a soft meow, hoping to win the human's favor.

This trick had never failed her before.

Naturally, the one who had found this place was Ren.

Before approaching, he had activated Breath Concealment EX. After all, it was obviously abnormal for there to be such an unusual magical energy fluctuation here.

And just as he had expected.

Although there was only an injured black cat beneath the shade of the trees, Ren quickly discovered the black cat's true nature with the help of his system panel.

[Character: Kuroka]

[Race: Nekomata]

[Status: Injured]

[Description: A black-haired cat-eared girl, Hakimi, once a test subject in the Nabelius Family branch's secret research into artificial Super Devils. After her master intended to use her younger sister as an experiment, she killed her master and escaped alone, becoming a stray devil. She is currently wanted.]

[Note: Before gaining recognition, she is very prone to getting agitated and hissing!]

"..."

After reading the panel, Ren was somewhat surprised.

It was one thing to get involved with the Five Great Houses in Kyoto.

But he had actually run into Kuroka while she was fleeing for her life after leaving Kyoto.

Thinking about it carefully, though, it was only natural to encounter her here.

Just as the system description said, Kuroka had become a wanted stray devil after killing her former master. On top of that, her biological mother was a Japanese yokai, so it was no surprise that Kuroka would make Japan her territory.

And about a hundred kilometers ahead was devil territory. If Kuroka had encountered a devil pursuit squad before reaching it, then everything made sense.

At the same time.

Two new system missions appeared before Ren.

[Mission: Leave No Survivors]

[Objective: Kill the stray devil Kuroka and hand her corpse over to the devil faction.]

[Reward: Nabelius Family Favorability +10, Random Reward ×2]

[Mission: Cat Rescue]

[Objective: "Treat the injured stray devil Kuroka."]

[Reward: Kuroka Favorability +30, Random Reward ×1]

They were two optional missions, but their objectives directly conflicted with each other.

After reading them, Ren chose the second one without hesitation.

If Kuroka truly were some utterly wicked stray devil, Ren would not mind sending her on her way himself.

But knowing her background, he naturally would not lay a hand on an innocent kitty.

Ren's moral standards were very flexible, but that did not mean he had no bottom line.

Besides, Kuroka was a fairly important character in High School DxD. She was the biological older sister of a member of Rias's peerage named Koneko.

One black catgirl and one white catgirl—giving them up would be far too wasteful.

"I didn't expect to get so many surprises before even reaching Kuoh Town."

Ren muttered to himself.

Before getting involved in the relevant plot, he had scarcely had any opportunities to interact much with prominent women from High School DxD.

But ever since accepting Griselda's request to protect Asia, his luck with women seemed to have become endless.

Ren did not think much of it.

After all, in the world of High School DxD, anything involving women would not seem strange no matter how absurd it was.

For example, people with dragon-type Sacred Gears attracted women. Then there was the Breast God from another world, the original protagonist's Breast Word Translator, Clothing Break, and other skills that were ridiculous in their own right.

Still in cat form, Kuroka continued meowing weakly at Ren.

Yet Kuroka had already begun to grow wary inside.

Under normal circumstances, humans who saw her fell into only two categories.

One was cat lovers who immediately tried to pick her up, while the other was passersby who took one look and left.

When she encountered the former, Kuroka would usually avoid them.

But this time, her leg had been injured because of the pursuit squad, making it difficult for her to move.

More importantly, she had specifically come to this forest to rest, so why was she still running into troublesome humans?

And come to think of it, any human appearing in a forest without warning was suspicious to begin with!

With that thought, Kuroka instantly became alert.

But before she could react, she suddenly felt a large hand grab the scruff of her neck and lift her off the grass.

What a fast grab!

Gifted with exceptional talent, and as a nekomata possessing the strongest power among her kind, Kuroka had been able to kill her High-class Devil master before even becoming a stray devil. After growing for some time since then, her strength was now comparable to that of a pure-blooded High-class Devil.

Even injured, she should not have been unable to avoid an ordinary human.

Yet Kuroka was still completely stunned.

Even now, she had not figured out how this human had grabbed her by the scruff so easily.

But just as Kuroka was about to unleash her magic power and blast the human away, Ren lifted her by the scruff and brought her before his face.

"Don't hiss at me just yet. I'm here to help you."

"Meow?"

"I know your background. You became a stray devil because of your younger sister Shirone. I can help you with this."

After Ren spoke, he saw Kuroka stop struggling and knew that he had struck a nerve.

For Kuroka, the most important person in her life was undoubtedly her younger sister Shirone.

In the original story, she repeatedly tried to take Koneko away, but all her attempts ended in failure because the misunderstanding was never cleared up.

Only after she joined the protagonist's harem was the misunderstanding finally resolved.

"How do you know about that, meow?"

The black cat stared directly into Ren's eyes, her tone carrying a hint of agitation.

"I have my own sources. But if you want to see Shirone again, you can only listen to me. You don't want anything to happen to your sister, do you?"

"Meow?!"

"Oh, I misspoke. What I mean is, if you carelessly expose your identity, Shirone will only be dragged down by you."

"..."

The moment Shirone was mentioned, Kuroka immediately calmed down considerably.

"How do you plan to help me?"

"You don't need to worry about that. You only need to know that I have a way to let you meet Shirone. But before then, you must follow my instructions in everything. If things go smoothly, you'll be reunited with Shirone."

Hearing that, Kuroka fell silent.

She did not trust the human before her.

But he knew the details about both her and Shirone.

If she fled now, Kuroka could not predict what would happen to Shirone.

She had considered killing this human in an instant, but abandoned the idea when she remembered how effortlessly he had seized her by the scruff.

"You'd better not be lying to me, or the consequences will be serious, meow!"

Kuroka threatened in a low voice, but making threats with the mannerisms of a cat only made her seem too adorable.

After reaching an agreement, Ren brought Kuroka back to the car.

Lavinia raised an eyebrow slightly. She had already seen through the black cat's devilish nature, but since Ren had brought her back, he naturally had his reasons.

"Asia, heal her."

After saying that, Ren placed Kuroka before Asia.

As the green glow healed the wound on her leg, the notification for completing the mission arrived as well.

A Commonplace Skill

[Mission: Treat the stray devil Kuroka has been completed.]

[Reward Obtained: Skill—Sky Dance Technique]

[Skill: Sky Dance Technique (The Crane School's signature secret art. Enables aerial movement by releasing the "ki" within one's body.)]

[Note: Modified to consume the user's own energy for flight. You can fly even without ki.]

As the system notification faded, Ren felt a new skill appear within his body.

This was the basic flight technique from the Dragon Ball world.

In the early stages, only Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu of the Crane School could use it. It was a secret art the Crane School did not pass down, but by the middle stages, it had become practically universal. Any notable character could use it.

A commonplace skill, but unexpectedly useful.

After all, Ren had not been able to fly before this.