The Maniac of DxD (Highschool dxd insert/ semi-crack): Chapter 37

Elisa ran for her life.

Within the maze that is the Kyoto back alleys, the Devil flew close to the ground to keep away from the heavily warded skies of the city, maneuvering at high speed to avoid obstacles and sudden twists and turns.

All the while, she continuously tried to activate the communication magic circle, trying to contact her comrades and superiors, only for the magic circle to fail without connecting to anyone.

With gritted teeth and curses filling her heart, the High-Class devil of the Old Satan faction flew as quickly as she could to escape her pursuers, knowing that she would face a gruesome end if the Youkai caught her.

“Damned animals, wagging their tales beneath us in one movement and then biting our hands the next, Shalba-sama made a mistake joining hands with these abominations.”

“Oho!? That’s some juicy info you got there, devil.”

Shock ran through the woman’s mind as she screeched to a grinding halt as those words were whispered into her ear.

Pulling her demonic power into her hands, she formed blades of energy and sliced through the air around her randomly, trying to find who had managed to not only keep up with her speed but also casually break through her defenses like that.

“WHO IS THERE!? COME OUT YOU COWARD!!”

“That’s not very nice, is it? Girl. Besides, aren’t you a proud devil that is ‘unrivaled within the High-class’? why not show your power and find me yourself? Heheh~”

Chills passed through her spine as fear and anger consumed her mind as she heard those words from around her.

“….I said those words to Elijhah. You bastard! What did you do with him!!”

“Is that concern I hear in your tone? How intriguing. I thought you devils were ‘above such petty and human emotions’. Then again, the boy did squeal like a pig until I was done with him. I wonder how your voice will sound when I break you~”

“Y-You!”

The devil felt her heart break as she heard the cruel words of the being hiding near her. While she had never admitted it, she loved Elijhah and had been waiting for him to make a move, as was expected since she held a higher rank than he.

But now, if what this monster said is true, she will never know if he held the same kind of feelings.

Tears streamed down her face as she flooded the space with her demonic power, trying to pinpoint the location of her pursuer, only to come up empty-handed once again.

“How crude. The way you handle your power is so amateurish. Even the boy was much better than you with his arms and legs cut off.”

“S-Shut up! I-I’ll kill you-Huh!?”

For a second, her rage, hatred, and sorrow-filled sobs were replaced with pure confusion as a coconut rolled to her feet.

But that did not last long as eldritch energies erupted from the coconut and directly attacked her body and soul.

The devil did not even have the time to scream before she was directly absorbed into the coconut thanks to the enchantments on the coconut that acted similarly to the kind of enchantments made during ancient times to contain Jinn within various objects.

Like a twisted imitation of Pokémon, where the owner of the coconut caught a Devil inside a fruit instead of a Pokémon within a Pokeball.

It was only when the devil was completely trapped within the fruit that the alley twisted, revealing Maniac Ren, grinning maniacally at the coconut, while his student, the current Red Dragon Emperor, Issei Hyoudou, gave his master a disturbed gaze.

“….You are really scary when you get into the role of a villain, Shishou.”

“It is called method acting, Issie. You should learn it as well. It is very useful to deal with egoistic or cautious people. When people believe that you are far too insane to gain any benefit from, you will find that you have gained a lot of freedom from all kinds of trouble.”

“….Does that mean that your insanity is an act?”

“No really. I really am insane, it's just that, when I am on the job, I just dial up the factor to the extreme and project it outwards to intimidate my targets.”

“….Once again, you are very scary.”

Maniac Ren grinned at his student’s words.

“Thanks for the compliment. Now, let’s get back to Yasaka-Hime with the prisoner.”

“She is the last one, right?”

“Yup. We have already caught all the others while the Karasu-Tengu are cleaning house with the info we got from interrogating the other devils.”

Issei gave a weird glance towards his teacher and asked the question that had been plaguing him since this fight began.

“Shishou, why did you lie to that devil like that? The devil called Elijhah was sedated and administered with Senjutsu by the Yokai to extract information. He was never tortured and killed, nor did you take off his arms and legs or make him squeal. What gives?”

“You have much to learn in the art of mental attacks, my dear student. What I said was meant to weaken her mental defenses to such a degree that she would not even have any time or mental clarity to resist that containment spell. And given the way she could not even put up any defenses before she was captured, the tactic clearly worked.”

“……I need to say this again. You are very, very scary, Shishou. I pity anyone who has you as their opponent.”

“Like yourself?”

“What!?”

The shocked and terrified look on his apprentice made Maniac Ren grin even more.

“Just because we cracked this case in a single day and we are returning to Kuoh tomorrow, does not mean that I will go easy on your training after we get back. You still haven’t unlocked the balance breaker yet. An unacceptable progress for someone claiming to be my student.”

“Fuck you! Ddraig says that I am the fastest of his wielders to create a variant of my own based on the Boosted Gear and to reach High-Class!”

“And yet, you have yet to gain the Balance Breaker. Unworthy of calling yourself my student. If you don’t unlock it within the next week, I am throwing you into a herd of Undine in the Familiar forest. I heard it's mating season for them this time of the year.”

“….You’ll have to catch me first! Ddraig!!”

“I got your back, partner! Boost!!”

Issei shot forward with all his might, leaving sonic booms in his wake as he disappeared into the night. All the while, Maniac Ren laughed in amusement and contentment while his skin blackened and fiery veins started to appear beneath the skin. Combined with his blood red sclera and jet black pupils, he painted quite the intimidating look.

“You want to start your training early? Fine by me, my student.”

With speeds surpassing the Red Dragon Emperor, the Maniac shot towards his student while laughing maniacally, making many a Youkai shoot awake from their sleep with sheer fear running through their bodies because of the mania in his voice.

That night, hundreds of complaints reached the Kyoto palace, making Yasaka clutch her head in embarrassment and exhaustion while the master-student duo continued their rampage across Kyoto.