Chapter 1: Digital Awakening
Marcus Webb had exactly three things going for him in life: a killer jump shot, an encyclopedic knowledge of anime that would make most otaku weep with envy, and the ability to sleep through his morning alarm with Olympic-level consistency.
The eighteen-year-old senior at Roosevelt High was currently demonstrating that third talent as his phone buzzed angrily on his nightstand, the screen flashing 7:45 AM in accusatory red digits. His room was a testament to controlled chaos—basketball trophies sharing shelf space with manga volumes, a gaming setup that had consumed three months of part-time wages, and posters ranging from NBA legends to his favorite anime series plastered across navy blue walls.
"Marcus! You're going to be late again!" His mother's voice carried up the stairs with the precision of a heat-seeking missile.
He groaned, one brown hand emerging from beneath his comforter to slap at the offending phone. His fingers found the device, and he cracked open one eye to glare at the screen. Friday. Last day before spring break. He could practically taste freedom.
"I'm up!" he called back, his deep voice still rough with sleep. He sat up, his short fade slightly mussed, and stretched his six-foot-two frame. The mirror across from his bed reflected back a lean, athletic build earned through countless hours on the court, dark brown skin, and eyes that his grandmother always said were "too clever for his own good."
Marcus went through his morning routine on autopilot—shower, brush teeth, throw on his usual fit of joggers and a hoodie. He was halfway through a bowl of cereal when his phone buzzed again. This time, it wasn't his alarm.
**\[UNKNOWN APP INSTALLED]**
He frowned, nearly dropping his spoon. He hadn't downloaded anything recently. Marcus unlocked his phone and found a new icon on his home screen—a strange symbol that looked like a fusion between a medieval crest and a digital circuit board. The icon pulsed with an eerie blue light.
"The hell?" he muttered, tapping it despite every internet safety lesson screaming at him not to.
The screen went black. Then, lines of green code began cascading down like something straight out of The Matrix. Marcus's heart rate kicked up a notch. Was this a virus? Had he just bricked his phone?
Then, a voice—feminine, artificial, yet somehow warm—emanated from the device.
**\[GREETINGS, MARCUS WEBB. YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED.]**
"Selected for what? A scam?" Marcus looked around his empty kitchen as if someone might jump out and yell "gotcha!" His mom had already left for her shift at the hospital.
**\[NEGATIVE. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AS A CANDIDATE FOR DIMENSIONAL TRANSFER. ANALYSIS OF YOUR SOUL WAVELENGTH INDICATES 99.7% COMPATIBILITY WITH THE DIGIMON SYSTEM INTEGRATION PROTOCOL.]**
Marcus laughed, but it came out nervous and strained. "Okay, this is some elaborate prank. Did Jamal put you up to this? Very funny, man."
**\[THIS IS NOT A PRANK. IN THIRTY SECONDS, YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO AN ALTERNATE REALITY DESIGNATED AS: HIGH SCHOOL DXD UNIVERSE. THE DIGIMON SYSTEM WILL SERVE AS YOUR INTERFACE FOR GROWTH, COMBAT, AND... RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.]**
"High School DxD? Wait, you mean the—" Marcus's eyes widened. He knew that series. Knew it very well. The world of devils, angels, and fallen angels. The world of Sacred Gears and Rating Games. The world that was absolutely, definitely, one hundred percent fictional.
His phone began to vibrate violently, the blue light intensifying until it filled his entire kitchen with an otherworldly glow.
**\[TWENTY SECONDS. PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE TRANSPORTATION PROCESS IS PAINLESS.]**
"Wait, hold up! I have school! I have—" Marcus stumbled backward as the light expanded, forming a circle of intricate digital patterns on the floor around him. His cereal bowl clattered to the counter, milk splashing across the granite. "This isn't real. This can't be real!"
**\[TEN SECONDS. INITIATING DIGIMON SYSTEM BINDING.]**
A surge of energy shot through Marcus's body, and he gasped. It felt like lightning and ice water had been injected directly into his veins. His phone disintegrated into particles of light that swirled around him, merging with the glowing circle.
**\[FIVE. FOUR. THREE.]**
"Mom's gonna kill me," Marcus whispered, which was possibly the most mundane thought to have while being transported to another dimension.
**\[TWO. ONE.]**
**\[TRANSPORTATION INITIATED.]**
The world exploded into light and sound. Marcus felt himself being pulled apart and reassembled at the molecular level, stretched across impossible distances, compressed through spaces that shouldn't exist. He tried to scream, but he had no mouth. He tried to think, but his thoughts scattered like startled birds.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.
Marcus crashed onto solid ground, his hands and knees hitting what felt like grass. He gasped, sucking in air that tasted different—cleaner somehow, with an underlying current of something he couldn't quite identify. Energy? Magic?
"Okay," he panted, slowly pushing himself up. "Okay, okay, okay. Not dead. That's good. That's a start."
**\[TRANSPORTATION SUCCESSFUL. WELCOME TO THE HIGH SCHOOL DXD UNIVERSE, MARCUS WEBB.]**
The voice was back, but now it seemed to come from inside his head rather than from a phone. Marcus looked around wildly and found himself in a park. Not just any park—everything about it screamed "Japan," from the architecture visible in the distance to the cherry blossom trees swaying in the breeze.
"This is insane," he muttered, running a hand over his face. His hand. He looked down at himself, patting his chest, his arms. Still him. Still wearing his hoodie and joggers. "I'm actually here. I'm actually in—"
**\[INITIATING DIGIMON SYSTEM INTERFACE. PLEASE STAND BY.]**
A translucent blue screen materialized in front of Marcus's face, and he yelped, stumbling backward. The screen followed his movement, staying centered in his vision.
**\[DIGIMON SYSTEM - STATUS SCREEN]**
**NAME:** Marcus Webb
**AGE:** 18
**RACE:** Human (Reincarnated Traveler)
**LEVEL:** 1
**TITLE:** None
**STATS:**
- **STRENGTH:** 12
- **VITALITY:** 11
- **AGILITY:** 14
- **INTELLIGENCE:** 13
- **WISDOM:** 10
- **CHARISMA:** 15
- **LUCK:** 8
**SKILLS:** None
**PARTNER DIGIMON:** None (Egg in Inventory)
**HAREM MEMBERS:** 0
Marcus blinked. Then blinked again. "Did that just say... harem members?"
**\[CORRECT. THE DIGIMON SYSTEM HAS BEEN SPECIFICALLY CALIBRATED TO ASSIST YOU IN NAVIGATING THE HIGH SCHOOL DXD UNIVERSE. AS YOU ARE AWARE, THIS WORLD OPERATES ON DIFFERENT SOCIAL AND SUPERNATURAL PARADIGMS THAN YOUR ORIGINAL REALITY. DEVILS, ANGELS, AND FALLEN ANGELS EXIST HERE, ALONG WITH VARIOUS OTHER SUPERNATURAL ENTITIES.]**
The system continued, and Marcus found himself listening despite his growing sense of unreality.
**\[IN THIS WORLD, POWER IS PARAMOUNT. DEVILS ORGANIZE THEMSELVES INTO NOBLE HOUSES AND COMPETE THROUGH RATING GAMES—FORMALIZED COMBAT TOURNAMENTS. MANY POWERFUL BEINGS MAINTAIN PEERAGES OR HAREMS AS DISPLAYS OF STRENGTH AND INFLUENCE. THE DIGIMON SYSTEM WILL HELP YOU BUILD POWER THROUGH PARTNERSHIP WITH DIGITAL MONSTERS AND ESTABLISH MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH POTENTIAL HAREM MEMBERS.]**
"Hold on," Marcus held up a hand, his mind racing. "You're telling me I'm supposed to build a harem? Like, actually?"
**\[AFFIRMATIVE. THE SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE QUESTS, REWARDS, AND GUIDANCE TO FACILITATE BOTH COMBAT GROWTH AND RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, ALL RELATIONSHIPS MUST BE GENUINE. THE SYSTEM CAN CREATE OPPORTUNITIES BUT CANNOT FORCE AFFECTION. YOUR CHARISMA AND ACTIONS WILL DETERMINE YOUR SUCCESS.]**
Marcus sat down heavily on a nearby bench, trying to process everything. High School DxD. He was in High School DxD. The anime where the protagonist, Issei Hyoudou, became a devil and built his own harem while fighting in supernatural battles. A world where the Three Factions—Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels—had been at war for millennia before reaching an uneasy peace.
A world that was extremely dangerous if you didn't have power.
"Okay," he said slowly, his natural adaptability kicking in. Marcus had always been good at rolling with the punches, at adjusting his game plan on the fly. It's what made him a good point guard. "Okay, let's say I believe all this. Let's say I'm really here. What's my first move?"
**\[TUTORIAL QUEST AVAILABLE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEGIN?]**
A new screen popped up:
**\[QUEST: FIRST STEPS IN A NEW WORLD]**
**OBJECTIVE 1:** Hatch your Partner Digimon Egg
**OBJECTIVE 2:** Explore Kuoh Town
**OBJECTIVE 3:** Locate Kuoh Academy
**REWARDS:** 100 EXP, 1x Beginner's Gift Box, System Shop Unlock
Marcus took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. His grandmother always said he was too curious for his own good, too willing to jump into things without thinking them through. But she also said he had a good heart and a strong spirit.
"Alright," he said, standing up and squaring his shoulders. A grin slowly spread across his face—the same grin he wore when his team was down by ten with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. "Let's do this. Accept quest."
**\[QUEST ACCEPTED. GOOD LUCK, MARCUS WEBB. YOUR ADVENTURE BEGINS NOW.]**
Marcus looked out at the unfamiliar Japanese town stretching before him, cherry blossoms drifting on the wind, and felt a surge of something he couldn't quite name. Fear? Excitement? Anticipation?
Maybe all three.
He'd read enough light novels and watched enough isekai anime to know the tropes. The overpowered protagonist, the beautiful girls, the epic battles. But this wasn't fiction anymore. This was real. The air felt real. The ground beneath his feet felt real. And somewhere in this town, the characters he'd watched on screen were living their lives, unaware that someone from another world had just dropped into their reality.
"High School DxD," Marcus murmured, shaking his head with a mixture of disbelief and growing excitement. "Mom's definitely gonna kill me when I get back. But until then..."
He pulled up his inventory screen with a thought, finding a single item: a digital egg pulsing with soft light.
"Let's see what kind of partner I'm getting."
As Marcus Webb took his first steps into Kuoh Town, the Digimon System hummed with approval. The game had begun, and the pieces were moving into place. In a world of devils and angels, a young man from another reality was about to make his mark.
And maybe, just maybe, find something he'd been missing in his old life—a purpose that went beyond the next game, the next episode, the next day.
The adventure was just beginning.