Harbinger of Ruin: Ch.1(Potential Replacement)

Pain.

Agony.

Can't breathe.

Vision fading.

Lungs burning.

Body shutting down.

Pain.

My eyes shot open as I felt a burning pain in my chest, gasping for air while looking around at the snow all around me.

Even though I should be feeling it, my body was not numb at all as I felt the pain subsiding, looking down only to be surprised at the child-like chest with a jagged scar in the middle.

'W-Wha…what is going on?' Was this a game of VR? Did my friends finally got me back for that prank?

Looking at the rest of my body, I was heavily concerned at the sight of the small child-like body that I had, clenching my hands and watching in fascination as the body responded for my thoughts.

If it was not for the fact that I could feel the cold even though it did not bother me, I would have thought that I was in a hyper-realistic VR simulation.

'That could still be the case…but first I need to get the hell out of this cold!' I frowned as I stood up, a bit wary and scared of the darkness of the night before my eyes widened as I heard the sound of rubble falling far in the distance to my right.

It was either walk into the darkness and pray to whatever god was looking over me that I made it to civilization…or walk over to the rumbling noise and hope that there are people there.

'…Nope.' I thought with a frown as I turned and began walking away from the noise, knowing for a fact that I don't want to head over to what sounded like a building collapsing in on itself.

That usually meant that explosives took it down and to my biased mind, explosives meant terrorists.

Nope, I'm fine with taking my chances in the dark forest while also figuring out just what the hell is going on.

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“What…the fuck?” Horror and shock was in my tone as I stared at the building in front of me, the emotions more meant for the numerous bodies of children lying in scarlet red snow in front of the entrance of the building.

To the right of the building laid large chunks of the wall in the snow and I decided to stay as far away from that side as I saw some kind of sickly green gas floating out from the hole in the wall.

Despite my original plan to not come here, I had made it about a few feet before a piercing howl froze me in place and I quickly spun around to walk in the opposite direction, rather wanting to take my chance with the terrorists instead of letting myself get eaten alive by wolves.

“O-Okay. Just…just find a phone. Any kind of phone will…will do,” I muttered as I slowly shuffled forward towards the building, taking slow steps around the bodies to make sure I didn't desecrate them.

'D-Don't know who you all are, but leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, okay?' I thought with a shaky smile as I finally made it to the front doors, looking at how parts of the metal frame was dented in places as well as how one of the glass doors had shards of glass lying on the floor.

'Don't call out for anyone. Just find a phone and get out.' I thought with a shaky breath as I walked into the building, letting out a relieved sigh at the heat even though I didn't exactly feel the cold when I was outside.

My child feet slapped against the tiled floors as I walked down the only hallway of the building, glancing through the viewing windows on the doors of the numerous rooms only to curse as each one was completely empty.

It wasn't until the sixth door that I finally saw something inside the room, taking a deep breath and twisting the knob before pushing the door open while hiding next to the doorframe.

Waiting a few seconds just in case something came out, I took a quick few glances while turning the light before sighing in relief as I saw nothing in the room other than a desk filled with paperwork and a telephone.

Taking a step inside while closing and locking the door behind me, I looked cautiously around at the room while making my way towards the desk, not wanting someone to jump out and tackle my lights out from my blind spot.

'Okay, no one has tried to knock me out so far. I guess it's clear…not.' I did not let my guard down even as I picked up the phone before frowning as I realized that I did not know where the hell I was.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the papers before frowning as I pulled one closer, the first entry catching my attention right before I froze as I read it.

Holy Sword Project: Excalibur Fragment Synchronization.

Today was the first day of testing to see whether or not the test subjects were capable of holding it.

Unfortunately, none had the Holy Affinity required to do so and a few of the weaker ones didn't make the night.

Excalibur Nightmare is proving as hard to find a user for as usual as the blade will only acknowledge those with the right attributes and I'm going to make sure that with this project, the right person is born.

While the words did confuse me for a bit, the words 'Holy Sword Project', 'Excalibur Fragments' and 'Excalibur Nightmare' were words that sounded far too familiar to not make sense.

After all, I just watched the second season of the anime it was from last night along with having finished every other season so there was no way I could miss terms used in High School DxD.

'Wait, is…is this that isekai thing? Does…does that mean I died?' Surprisingly, the thought that I died didn't even bother me as much as I expected, shaking my head to stop myself from going down that slide before frowning as I looked at the phone.

'W-Would the number I have in mind be one that would work worldwide? I guess there's only one way to find out.' I thought as I dialled the number, praying that it would work as I heard it ringing and ringing before my eyes widened as I heard someone picking up.

“Emergency services, how may I help you today?”

“H-Hello. I'm in this dark forest and I-I don't know how I got here.” This child-like body was very susceptible to emotions as I could feel the tears brimming, but I quickly forced them back with a shaky breath as I heard nothing but silence on the other side.

“Kid, listen to me. Can you find any paper in the room along with a pen?” The man asked and I frowned as I looked around, already pulling one of the papers on the table near me while pulling open drawers before smiling as I saw a pencil lying in one of them.

“I-I have a pencil and a paper, but it's already written on.”

“That's okay. I'm going to need you to draw the following for me. Can you do that?”

“I can.” I nodded and followed the man's instructions as I began to draw some sigils of sort all around the edges of the paper, biting my tongue slightly as I finished the drawings.

As I finished them, I fell back with a yelp as the paper went up in flames, watching as the fire rose up high like a cocoon before being dispelled by a man with black hair that had a gold fringe and dressed in a maroon coat sitting on the table.

The moment he noticed me, he smiled as he stood up and knelt down in front of me, only looking amused as I quickly flipped the pencil in a reverse grip while readying myself to stab the shit out of him.

“It's okay, kid.”

“Y-You the guy from the phone?” I asked, blinking as the man nodded before looking between the phone and him.

'Why does he look so familiar? Like I'm supposed to- That's fucking Azazel!' I exclaimed in my mind, struggling to keep the shock from showing on my face as Azazel raised an eyebrow

“H-How did you do that?”

“Just a simple teleportation spell.”

“…What?” Despite the fact that I knew I was in an anime, the words still bewildered me and Azazel noticed as he frowned, with me quickly backing up as he reached out before my eyes widened as light gathered on his palm and drew my attention.

“Take a quick n-!” Before he could finish his sentence, the light on his palm in the form of some kind of magic circle flashed brightly and I felt my consciousness sinking into a deep slumber.

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Azazel sighed as he watched the kid's eyes glaze over and pass out, creating a thin layer of light to catch him before laying him softly on the floor.

As he did, the Fallen Angel frowned as he walked over to the desk in the room, sifting through the documents on top of it before shaking his head with a sigh as he managed to figure out most of what was happening.

From what he can see, the boy was part of a large group that formed the Holy Sword Project, led by a now-excommunicated priest Valper Galilei in order to create more soldiers that are able to wield powerful Holy Swords.

However, it seems that he has been using less than ethical means to create these Holy Sword wielders, a few of which included slicing the kids open that died during the process in order to figure out how he can make the surviving ones stronger.

Unfortunately, the Church had gotten word of his experiments so he decided to erase all evidence of the project to make sure he was innocent, which included killing all of the kids here along with everyone that worked under him.

'However, it appears that this young boy was saved by his friends most likely and decided to hide away before he called for help.'

“Hah, survival of the fittest and unfortunately for you, kid, you were the fittest.” Azazel muttered with a soft look in his eyes as he picked the boy up, a large magic circle appearing all of the paperwork and sealing them all away as the same circle floated down from the table and he stepped on it.

He would have burned it all away, but the boy might want to learn why his friends and family most likely were killed while he was spared.

'Hopefully, Vali doesn't try to fight him first chance he gets.' Azazel thought with a sigh as the circle under his feet glowed brightly, the world around him warping and twisting as the circle flashed once.

The next moment, the room was left as empty as the others in the building as Azazel and the boy in his arms were whisked away through space and time to the man's home.

A/N: I know I'm busy with the rewrite already, but this is the other one I said I had in mind that I want to do as the rewrite.

It's at the same starting point as the Unholy Wolf, but it's also a very different one as we're not a devil this time. Tell me if this one has a good start or not and then tell me which one you all like better.

I just wanted to at least try this one out before I decide to replace the first rewrite I did just in case people like the other one.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!