Reincarnated into a Multiverse, but High School DxD

He had wondered before what he should do if he encountered one of those cowardly enemies who flew in the sky and only dared to attack from afar. Now, he no longer had to worry about being kited.

Now that he had a new skill, he naturally needed to try it out for himself.

With a thought, Ren felt his body break free from gravity's restraints and nimbly float into the air.

Seeing Ren suddenly rise into the air, Lavinia's eyes widened slightly. Looking at Ren, whose body showed no magical fluctuations whatsoever, she exclaimed, "What kind of power is this? A human can actually fly without relying on external power?"

In today's world, where all sorts of powerful races stood side by side, humans could be said to be at a natural disadvantage compared to other races.

Their physical abilities and innate powers were completely incomparable to those of gods, devils, and the like.

Although some humans possessed formidable strength.

For example, the various heroic figures who had displayed their glory throughout history.

But for one thing, they did not stand out when compared to powerful gods and Demon Kings. For another, upon closer examination, one would find that most humans had divine backing of some kind.

For someone like Ren to reach this level through his own power alone, without using magic or the various abilities of other races, could be called unprecedented and unlikely to ever be surpassed.

"Maybe it's because I'm a genius and figured it out on my own."

Ren shamelessly passed off the system's reward as his own talent.

After all, his relationship with the system no longer distinguished between his and its. What belonged to the system belonged to him, and what belonged to him was still his.

"You two rest here for now. I'm going to take a look around."

With that, Ren flew into the sky.

Since the birth of humanity, people had always been obsessed with the dream of flight.

Ren was no exception.

He quickly mastered the Sky Dance Technique rewarded by the mission.

Although he still could not circle the Earth in a few minutes like those Saiyan protagonists in Dragon Ball, he had at least reached this world's average level.

However, Ren quickly discovered the downside of flying.

If he flew too fast, the wind against his face genuinely hurt, and his hairstyle was also a major problem.

After one lap, Ren's hair had turned into a slicked-back style.

"I wonder how those guys keep their hair from getting messed up while flying. Do they just slather on an insane amount of hair gel?"

After flying a few more laps, Ren returned to the two girls once he had gotten his fill.

After Asia healed Kuroka, she had remained in her cat form and was cradled in Asia's arms.

When she saw him return, she gave a soft meow in greeting.

At least this human was still somewhat trustworthy for now.

"Lavinia, can you set up a barrier that prevents aura or energy from leaking out?"

After taking a lap around the sky, Ren remembered his Sacred Gear, the Cross of the Purple Flame Sacrificial Lord.

Its basic ability was to capture and bind powerful souls, using soul power to unleash greater might.

And Ren happened to have the souls of three great yokai on hand.

They were Shuten-doji, Ootakemaru, and the Jade-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox, Tamamo-no-Mae.

The reason Ren had not let his Sacred Gear absorb them back in Kyoto was to prevent the Five Great Houses from noticing anything suspicious.

But now that they were hundreds of kilometers away from Kyoto, with a barrier added on top of that, Ren could safely sacrifice the souls of those three great yokai.

"I can, but what does Mr. Ren intend to do?"

Lavinia asked doubtfully.

Ren then explained the reason to her.

After hearing it, Lavinia's expression immediately became extremely complicated.

It took her a while to react before she said softly, "When I left the Inner Shrine, Vermilion Bird said that the treasures sealed in the Inner Shrine's altar had been stolen. The remains of Japan's Three Great Yokai, large amounts of gold and silver, as well as precious historical texts and relics, had all vanished without a trace."

"Because of Satanael's attack, I thought they were the ones who did it. But I never expected... the culprit was actually you..."

"Vermilion Bird even asked me if I knew who had stolen the treasures. She suspected you, but I told her that you weren't that kind of person..."

It was obvious that Lavinia felt rather resentful right now.

"I don't like the way you put that. What do you mean, stole? If I hadn't been there, Satanael would have taken all those things. I was merely minimizing the losses for the Five Great Houses. After all, if the remains of the Three Great Yokai fell into those bad guys' hands, the consequences would be unimaginable. It might even bring disaster upon the Five Great Houses!"

"They're much safer in my hands than in the Inner Shrine."

Ren said this without changing expression.

"..."

Lavinia stared at Ren for quite some time.

For Mr. Ren to say something so high-sounding, his skin really was impressively thick.

Still, he was right about one thing.

If the remains of the Three Great Yokai had really fallen into Satanael's hands, nothing good would have come of it given that fallen angel executive's personality.

"It will take around ten minutes to set up the barrier, Mr. Ren. Please wait a moment."

After saying that, Lavinia found an open area. She took out her staff and began channeling magic power to inscribe a magic circle.

Although she did not yet know what Ren planned to do, she decided to set up the strongest barrier possible first.

Soon.

After Lavinia activated the magic circle, a barrier capable of isolating all aura completely covered an area five kilometers in radius.

"The barrier should last for about five hours. Is that enough?"

"More than enough."

Ren nodded.

He then had everyone step back before releasing his Sacred Gear.

A deep purple cross rose and fell before him.

He glanced at the panel from the corner of his eye and discovered that the progress bar for Balance Breaker had already risen to ten percent. At this rate, Ren would be able to activate his Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker in less than a week.

Compared to every Sacred Gear user in history who had awakened Balance Breaker, this speed... was practically rocket-powered.

Even within the Hero Faction, the heroic descendants who possessed Sacred Gears or Holy Swords could only activate subspecies Balance Breakers.

No longer letting his thoughts wander, Ren took the wooden box containing the remains of the Three Great Yokai out of his storage space.

The instant they left the storage space, the yokai remains began to stir restlessly.

Another One Arrives

Like the eerie whispers that often haunted a protagonist's ears in horror movies and games, strange murmurs began endlessly circling Ren's ears.

The underground altar of the Inner Shrine had at least possessed barriers and talisman seals that kept their souls asleep.

But after the Inner Shrine's barrier was shattered, and the seal on the underground altar was destroyed as well, the great yokai swiftly awakened from their slumber.

Ren had heard these whispers back then.

An ordinary person would have been scared senseless on the spot, then mentally controlled into becoming a walking corpse, following the great yokai's will and helping them revive.

But Ren was unaffected.

So-called mental control and corruption had no effect on him whatsoever.

Instead, because he found it a little annoying, he directly fished Shuten-doji and Ootakemaru's two heads out of the wooden box, then began slapping their faces from both sides.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

Ren's hands became afterimages as he delivered dozens of resounding slaps in just a few seconds.

The world immediately fell silent.

"I was originally considering whether to spare you, but you chose death yourselves."

Although Ren had never intended to let them go in the first place, they were already at his mercy and still dared to resist. Were they really not taking him seriously?

Upon hearing those words.

Shuten-doji and Ootakemaru, who had been slapped senseless, finally snapped out of their daze.

As great yokai, being humiliated by a mere human like this, combined with the resentment they had accumulated after being sealed for a hundred years, had made them hate humans to the bone.

Once they came to their senses, yokai aura shot into the sky from each of their heads.

Ren's slaps had completely enraged the three great yokai. Though they had originally needed all sorts of materials to revive, their resentment now forcibly skipped the process of creating physical bodies. Even at the risk of damaging their origins, they intended to materialize their souls and grind the human who had insulted them into dust.

Fortunately, Lavinia's barrier had already covered the area. Otherwise, this disturbance alone would have attracted a large crowd.

If he had done this back in Kyoto, he might have summoned both the Five Great Houses and the yokai world.

Then.

"Be absorbed!"

Ren gave a soft shout.

The cross floating before him released a cluster of purple flames.

All three yokai had been immensely powerful yokai kings in life. Each of them was even stronger than Inugami Gyobu and Onra, who had previously attacked the Inner Shrine.

Even though only their souls remained, they still retained seventy to eighty percent of their peak strength.

Such power was enough to destroy an entire town.

Yet the moment they came into contact with the purple flames, they felt unbearable pain. No matter how they used their yokai power to dispel them.

The purple flames clung to them like bone-deep parasites and could not be removed.

They could only watch helplessly as the flames continuously crawled across the surfaces of their souls and invaded their deepest depths.

During this process.

It was not that they could not resist, but the Cross of the Purple Flame Sacrificial Lord possessed an immensely powerful special effect against targets that existed only as souls.

As long as its wielder was strong enough.

Souls lacking sufficient strength could only obediently be bound.

The screams of the Three Great Yokai were unbearably noisy to Ren.

They seemed to have understood their fate. The ferocity vanished from their faces, replaced by pitiful, submissive expressions as they begged Ren for mercy. They promised that if he would put away that strange purple cross, they would be willing to acknowledge Ren as their master.

"Don't worry. You'll still have no choice but to regard me as your master afterward."

Ren was not foolish enough to negotiate with these three cunning old great yokai.

Though doing this would cost him something, what Ren needed more than avoiding losses was guaranteed obedience once and for all.

"Go in peace."

As his words fell.

The purple flames surged in brilliance, and their blazing heat completely engulfed the souls.

The holy, purifying power contained within the flames utterly suppressed the brutal savagery of the Three Great Yokai.

Their voices grew quieter and quieter until they finally disappeared altogether.

By then, Ren had completed the binding of their souls.

At that moment, Ren could clearly see three miniature phantom figures of yokai before the cross.

Flame-like rivets fixed them to crosses formed of purple fire.

They looked both ferocious and pitiful.

With the Three Great Yokai successfully contained, Ren could already sense that the aura emitted by his Sacred Gear had increased severalfold.

"Finally over."

Ren let out a breath, then finally put away his Sacred Gear in satisfaction and walked toward the two girls and one cat watching him anxiously from afar.

"Those three just now were the legendary Three Great Yokai, meow? Their yokai aura was so intense, meow! You human... did you kill all three of them just now, meow?"