Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:1-7
♥︎────────➴────────♥︎
Askr Renjou, 16 years old, second-year student at Kôtôgakkô. Ever since he was little, he had been having the same bizarre dream.
He saw the fangs of a wild dog, heard a booming noise like thunder, heard a woman's scream and then… sirens. After the sirens, the dream shifted. He stood before a figure so majestic that his eyes could find no way to comprehend her form. Her voice, sweet like a mother's, told stories.
Not bedtime stories, but epic myths of how the world once was, in the age when heroes still walked among men. In the age when beautiful, enchanting women guided warriors to victory against evil—or to their destined death.
In that same era, the goddesses held absolute power. Mothers of the earth, embodiments of birth and fertility, their worship far surpassed anything seen today. Yet the cult of "Him" gradually caused all other gods to be forgotten, their power fading before the hegemony of Shem-Ha Mephorash.
Still, as long as faithful devotees remained, the goddesses fought on until the last hero fell.
"The next one is you. Dictate the ideal world according to your vision. You are the hero of your own story."
The next image was strange. He relived every battle, every hero guided by a different lady or goddess on their journey. Then he saw that every single one of those heroes had his face.
After the confusion, the young man always woke up.
He knew what the first part of the dream meant. It was the hero's journey and the death of his mentor. The loss of his mother kept trying to open doors for him—doors he refused to walk through, refusing to move forward and heal.
And the call to adventure, denied to him by the world since childhood, always came from that feminine figure in his dreams. It was as if something vast was trying to communicate—something too great for his brain to process. And so he simply woke up when the system failed, beginning another ordinary day.
He had moved from Tokyo to a smaller, quieter city. His aunt and uncle thought the change would be good for Askr's mood. He was… apathetic. It was as if he had already accepted any fate life threw at him, never caring about the future, never chasing dreams, always ready to die at any second. The maternal love ripped away from him too early had left that scar.
It didn't take long—between waking up and spending a few minutes staring at the white ceiling—before someone knocked on his bedroom door.
"Akkun! Breakfast is on the table! Don't be late for your first day at the new school!"
The voice belonged to his aunt, Sumireko Ogawa. When Askr lost his only family, Sumireko and the Ogawa household had taken him in. He was never officially adopted, but he saw her as a figure of respect. Not as his mother—no one could replace her—but as a similar maternal presence.
When he got up and looked in the mirror, there he was: young, natural blond hair, blue eyes, and a handsome face. The truth was, Askr probably had European blood somewhere in his veins.
As he came down the stairs, he saw his cousin Sae Ogawa and his aunt Sumireko waiting for him at the table for asagohan. Sae was small, about 14 years old, with slightly rebellious brown hair—short but a little voluminous—like his mother's. Sumireko was an adult woman with shoulder-length brown hair tied back in a bun. She was slightly tall by Asian standards, and what caught men's eyes most were her curves. Even after giving birth to a son, she didn't look old at all.
"Bro Ask, there's green tea on the table! Come on, we gotta be strong for the first day!"
"Mou, Sae-kun, at least say good morning to Akkun!"
Realizing his mistake, Sae dramatically slapped a hand to his head in fake despair.
"I-I forgot! Bro, good morning! Hehe!"
"Don't worry about it. Good morning, Sae-kun, Sumireko-san."
"Akkun, you can call me Mom, you know? I'm not my sister, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind! A young man needs a real family!"
Sumireko's voice was full of energy. She looked at Askr expectantly. He opened his mouth, thoughtful, almost letting the word slip… but stopped.
How can she ask that? All these years she avoided it, but moving to a new city is enough for her to try to take my mother's place? How insensitive can you be…? No. That's wrong. Sumireko-san is just a good woman. She wants us to be a family and is using the new city as a fresh start… Even if it hurts, maybe I'll say it—just to make Sumireko-san happy for now.
"Okay. Good morning, Sae-kun and… Mom."
"Ahn! Akkun! Mom is so proud!"
Her extroverted personality was amazing. Sumireko jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around him in a big hug. Askr didn't move. He didn't dodge it, but he didn't return it either.
He simply waited until she finished, then sat down, glancing around as if searching for something.
"Hmm…"
"Your uncle left earlier. He had a sudden business trip. You know how it is—this photographer life pays well, but the jobs take him far away."
"I see. I hope he's okay."
"I know, it's annoying, right? Right after we moved… Nothing we can do about it."
Askr held the teacup with both hands, staring at his own reflection in the greenish liquid. His uncle had never been close to him or the family; he didn't know how to feel. He had at least lived with his mother until the day she was taken. As for his father… he had never even seen him. Askr's father had abandoned the family the moment his mother got pregnant. That, combined with his uncle's constant absence in Sae and Sumireko's lives, had planted a seed of misandry in him.
Men who can't be there for their families are trash.
The only exception was Sae—the boy he had watched grow up since childhood.
When he brought the cup to his lips, he grimaced.
"What's wrong, Bro?"
"Akkun?"
Askr looked at them with lowered eyes. His reaction had clearly been more exaggerated than he realized.
"…The tea just got cold."
"Mou, I always tell you not to let it cool, Akkun! You get lost in thought and the food loses its flavor…"
"Don't scare me like that, bro!"
"Sorry, Sae-kun, Sumi-… Mom."
♥︎────────➴────────♥︎
The walk to school would have been long on foot, but the fast Japanese public transport got Askr there quickly.
Kuoh Gakuen. Once an all-girls academy, it had recently gone co-ed. The ratio of girls to boys, however, was still ridiculous. Plenty of guys had chosen the school for one reason only: to get a girlfriend. With so many single girls and so few boys, it should be impossible not to find one, right? That thought ran through the minds of most male students.
Honestly, what was Sumireko-san thinking, sending me here?
He didn't have many suspicions, but his aunt had really pushed for him to attend this academy. She wanted her normally quiet, thoughtful nephew to experience a change of pace in a completely different environment. It would be good for him—after all, heroes should be surrounded by heroines! She always said things like that. She was a bit of a jokester.
Standing in front of the academy, Askr sighed. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets—a habit he could never break that had become part of his body language. He watched students arriving, some alone, some in groups.
Friends greeted each other happily. The school looked nice.
There used to be an old building, but when it opened to boys, a new one was built and the old one was reserved for special use by certain students and teachers.
Speaking of the old building, as Askr looked toward it, he spotted someone. He had never seen her before—he was new here—but there was no way his eyes could miss how different she was from everyone else.
The first thing that came to his mind when he saw her standing on that veranda, wind dramatically blowing through her hair, was:
Red.
The deepest, richest red. A hair color that shouldn't exist in nature, a rarity that became breathtaking when paired with its owner. She was an older girl, probably a third-year senpai, radiating a strong Onee-san aura.
Askr didn't know it, but she was extremely famous at this school. He showed no visible reaction when their eyes met. His stoic expression stayed perfectly in place. Always.
But the senpai, noticing he was watching her, simply smiled and waved gracefully. Askr snapped back to reality and continued walking. He had to find someone in the staff room.
Moving through the corridors, a new student's presence couldn't go unnoticed. People whispered about who he was and which class he would join. His foreign looks were too striking—even though there were at least two other foreigners at Kuoh Gakuen.
When he finally reached the teachers' room, Askr knocked twice and entered.
"Excuse me. I'm here to see Kojima-sensei."
Inside, several teachers were preparing for class. One in particular looked up at him. She seemed… gloomy.
She looked like a typical teacher: white button-up blouse perfectly fastened, formal blue skirt, and pantyhose covering her legs completely. Medium bust, young face. Her dark brown hair was tied in a neat bun per school regulations, and her caramel-colored eyes were beautiful—but her expression was pure irritation.
"Late."
"S-sorry… I had trouble sleeping…"
"You young people need to sleep properly. Staying up late playing games will ruin your studies. You're Renjou-kun, correct? Sign here, please."
She handed him a clipboard and a pen.
Askr lowered his head and sighed, completely defeated.
There was no arguing with a teacher who had already built the entire story in her head. He took the clipboard and signed.
"What a surprise—your name is foreign. How do you pronounce it?"
He stepped closer without being invited and sat in a nearby chair, only for Kojima-sensei to stand up immediately since they were already late.
"Why are you sitting? Let's go straight to the classroom. Explain on the way."
"Sure… The old Norse pronunciation is Ás-kur, but in Japanese it would be something like Asukuru."
"Old Norse… Impressive."
Askr sighed again. There was no way to dodge that kind of question. He had European features but an Asian surname. That was because—exactly as he had said—his father disappeared the moment his mother became pregnant, so he took his mother's surname, Renjou. He looked almost exactly like his father and barely like his mother, which always bothered him.
Apparently, even after the man vanished, Askr's mother still loved him deeply and, in an extravagant gesture, gave her son a mythological name. Askr was the name of the first man in Norse mythology, found by Odin alongside his partner Embla. They had nothing, yet received blessings from the gods.
"My mother was a bit… extravagant…"
"Nice to meet you, Renjou-kun. My first name is Kana, by the way."
They walked a little longer until they reached the second-year classroom, 2-B. The teacher entered and began the introductions. Then the blond boy stepped inside. The moment he did, every eye in the room turned to him with excitement. Somehow he felt murderous intent from a few spots, but he continued after Kojima-sensei gave him permission. Maybe the others were just annoyed by his looks. He practically looked like a European prince.
How do I do this? Should I stay quiet like usual? That would just make me seem weird… It's a new school; it would suck if I ended up isolated for not being charismatic enough. Screw it—I'll act.
"Nice to meet you all. My name is Askr Renjou. I'm from Tokyo and I'll be in your care."
He smiled—a fake smile, but to everyone else it looked completely genuine. The truth was Askr wanted to avoid any problems caused by antisocial behavior. His last school had been the same.
Back in elementary school, problems had consumed his mind and he couldn't enjoy school life. Once he entered high school he started acting, copying the popular kids. Maybe neither his quiet personality nor this one was the real him, but he kept the mask on anyway.
"I have a question!"
A girl raised her hand enthusiastically.
"Oh, Katase-chan. Go ahead."
Kojima-sensei allowed it, so Katase continued.
"Are you a foreigner, Renjou-kun?"
"A-apparently my father is European, but as you can see, my surname is Japanese…"
"Ehh… That's weird. You didn't take your father's name, Renjou-kun?"
A brown-haired girl beside her asked, puzzled.
"N-actually… I never knew my father. Only my mother."
That caused a ripple of commotion and pitying sighs around the room. He had said too much. He should have been more careful. At least, that's what Askr thought to himself.
"All right, Askr… hmm, you can sit over there. There's an empty seat by the window."
Without further delay he sat down. Classes began right after. Luckily, some girls kindly showed him their notes and helped him catch up on the material they were already studying.
♥︎────────➴────────♥︎
The bell rang—it was finally break time! The moment to relax, eat, and chat with friends. Some students headed to the cafeteria to buy snacks, others went up to the roof. Many stayed in the classroom, opening beautiful homemade bentôs made by their mothers.
That would have been Askr—if he hadn't been instantly surrounded the second the bell rang, bombarded with question after question. When a girl asked something he answered quickly, but when a guy spoke he pretended not to hear or cut them off with some random comment. No one really noticed until the crowd finally dispersed, but Askr's misandry was something even his acting couldn't completely hide.
His bentô was on the desk. When he opened it, a delicious aroma rose from the thermal box. There was even a message written in ketchup on his omurice: "Grow strong! ♡"
"Woah, your mom really loves you. Mine never did anything like this after I left elementary school."
The person speaking was the guy sitting next to him. The girls had already warned Askr not to get involved with him. Apparently he was some kind of delusional pervert.
Well, maybe Askr was similar in his own way—he appreciated female beauty—but he never let it show. His social mask always hid those problematic thoughts. Someone who couldn't even hide his own mask… this guy just seemed dumb.
"My mother cares a lot about my growth. I'm not going to complain about something made with love."
Renjou quickly picked up his hashis and started eating.
"Oh, I guess I didn't introduce myself. I'm Hyoudou Issei."
"Yeah, I know. They told me not to get involved with you."
"Hein?! Come on, man! Just because you're an ikemen you have to be so blunt?! I know my reputation isn't great lately…"
Issei slumped his head onto the desk, lamenting the image he had created in the girls' minds. The blond boy didn't seem to care much, which made Issei think the new student already hated him. Another ikemen to compete against, another guy for people to make weird stories about.
He even overheard a strange comment from Katase that irritated him.
"Oh no, Hyoudou is trying to seduce Renjou-kun. What a shame!"
"Shut up! I was just greeting the guy who's gonna sit next to me for the rest of the year!"
Askr shrugged. In the end, his acting had gone to waste once again when he got associated with something weird. At least for now, no one seemed to want to avoid him or treat him as a bullying target.
"I was just repeating what I heard. I don't personally think that, but the rumor seems pretty set. Anyway, I'll be counting on you from now on."
"Seriously, dude… It's only natural for a guy to love boobs. These people don't know anything. Well, I'll be counting on you too…"
It was just polite formality; it didn't necessarily mean they would become friends. Yet somehow both of them felt something strange in the other's presence—like there was more to it that no one could see. Not even they understood it.
♥︎────────➴────────♥︎
By the end of the school day, students poured out of the building. Some were already planning to hit the arcade nearby and even invited Askr, but he politely declined. Honestly, he had no patience for hanging out with boys his age. Not yet. Maybe someday, but not on the first day.
He would need to plan, study more, maybe learn the games the local arcades had. He was actually really good at RPGs and strategy games—the kind that weren't just about grinding one overpowered character.
Askr used to play every kind of RPG or game with RPG systems, mastering their mechanics. His favorites were always titles that featured mythology or heroes. A game he had loved recently was Valkyrie x Love—or just Val x Love, as players called it. The story followed an Einherjar joining Valkyries to save the world from threats coming out of Hel.
Not only was it a male-oriented game with a clear harem theme, it also had deep mythology. In some parts it even left the Norse setting and traveled to other mythologies and eras. Whoever made Val x Love was probably really smart.
Still, he felt disappointed in certain areas. Val x Love relied on strengthening the Valkyries through the power of love, but the Einherjar himself had a weakness—he couldn't fight on his own. It was also frustrating that the game limited itself only to the Valkyries. Even when it visited other mythologies, there was no way to interact with the girls from those worlds; it stayed focused only on the main cast.
Askr hoped that would change with Val x Love 2, but the leaks gave him little hope. If he could, he would storm the developer's office and slap the devs himself. They needed to understand what their audience actually wanted.
By the time he finished thinking, night had already fallen and he had slowed his pace. Walking through the darkened city, Askr Renjou sighed. A new city… a new beginning.
Far from Tokyo's noise, but still wearing his social mask.
On his way home, he heard a commotion coming from a nearby house. He hadn't understood the noise clearly, but the house stood a little apart from the others.
Should I call the police? Sounds like trouble… Nah, forget it.
He shrugged. It wasn't his problem. He kept walking. Incredibly, the house was right beside the street he was following, so he would pass it anyway—even if he had planned to ignore it.
Initially… Because what happened next would not let this foolish boy pretending to live an ordinary student life stay still.
The first thing he heard was a loud crash, like thunder, and then—
"N-Nooooooooooo!"
A scream. A female scream. It's here. It's happening right next to me. A woman is in danger right beside me, and I was ignoring it. No, no, no. Mom, forgive me!
Askr Renjou, already spiraling into the start of a panic, drew air into his lungs, bent his knees, and leaped over the wall into the property.
Everything was pitch black. As he moved forward, his foot stepped on something soft.
It was… a corpse. A dog's corpse. It looked like it had been shot—probably the family guard dog. But that didn't matter to him.
"PLEASE!"
Another female scream. He stopped hesitating and ran. The front door was slightly ajar; he kicked it open with all his strength, revealing a bizarre scene.
On the wall, a man hung crucified upside-down, surrounded by blood that ran down his lifeless body. Anyone would have vomited at the sight—Askr's own stomach churned—but he had to keep going.
Pressed against the wall nearby was a young blond girl dressed as a nun, with green eyes. The one pinning her there was a man dressed like a priest, but wearing strangely combat-ready clothes. His hair was pure white and his eyes blood-red. With one hand he held the nun's arms against the wall; with the other he pressed what looked like a gun between her legs, lifting her skirt.
"I can't kill you, but I can still rape you, right?! A priest raping a nun—that's hilarious even for me, Freed Sellzen-sama."
"Noooo! Please! Please, no!"
The girl screamed in pure terror, horror written across her face. Askr Renjou's mind raced at lightning speed, analyzing everything he had just witnessed.
Screams in a house at night. A dog shot dead. A man crucified upside-down in a grotesque ritual. And now a priest trying to rape a desperate young nun. It looked like a scene from a horror movie.
Askr Renjou, having seen it all, took one step forward. He didn't even try to be quiet—he couldn't think that far. Instantly, both the nun and the priest turned toward him.
The priest was about to see who had intruded, a smile already forming on his face. Maybe he had been waiting for someone.
But when he turned his head…
Red[1].
That was the only thing his retinas registered before his head fell cleanly sliced at eye level.
Witnessing the scene one last time, the nun's vision went black.
The final thing she saw was the blood-splattered face of the cold, blond killer.
[1] Well, this is Chapter One, after the prologue. I've already written most of this first arc and I'm just putting the final touches on it. I hope you guys enjoy my return, to those who were already following me. To those who just arrived, I hope you like it and get used to my writing style. I chose, for aesthetic and cultural reasons, to use Japanese honorifics instead of localizing them to Eng. I think it looks cooler and gives that Japanese light novel vibe. Once again, I want to remind everyone that High School DxD is merely the background setting for the story. I will use arcs, characters, and so on from the original work, but I'll make changes. I'll also be doing crossovers in this story with other animes that have similar mythology-themed elements.