The Maniac of DxD (Highschool dxd insert/ semi-crack): Chapter 27

Within the vast halls of Valhalla, the uproarious laugh of a certain god rang out as the various Valkyries and Einherjar stood watch over its halls.

For the past few years, such noises had become commonplace for the various gods and warriors of the Nordic faction, becoming accustomed to the amusement of their leader.

However, there were a few gods who did not appreciate this new habit.

It was one such god that walked with thundering steps through the halls, headed straight for his Father.

His long crimson hair and beard trembled as his thunderous steps filled the hall, his armor clacking with his every step while his very presence filled the air with the divinity of lightning, storms, and strength.

Thor Odinson, son of Odin Allfather, and the God of Thunder, fumed as he walked into his father’s private room where the Allfather took the form of an old man with a monocle, watching the livestream of a certain someone and laughing his ass off.

Watching the figure of Maniac Ren on the screen, chasing after a poor human boy while wearing the form of a grotesque humanoid female figure, made the God of Thunder even more annoyed than he already was.

“Still watching that brat!? What is so good about him? Father?”

“He is funny and entertaining! More than I can say about any of you lot, you battle maniacs!”

“He is messing with the various forces of the world. There will come a day when he faces the consequences of his actions, and it will stop being funny for everyone at that point.”

Thor meant every word he said.

Ever since the human had broken into Valhalla and tried to make off with his hammer, Thor had been rather cross with Maniac Ren. However, the god was not blind.

He knew that what the human had achieved was something extraordinary and not something that is seen every day.

More importantly, the boy had clashed with Mjolnir, even if he had only used a fraction of his strength, and lived to tell the tale.

That, more than anything, deserved respect from the God of Strength.

That was why he spoke those words to his father. Because he knew that what Maniac Ren had been doing throughout the years had earned him a lot of enemies. Enemies that would not hesitate to use underhanded means to get back at him, like the cowards they were, instead of going straight at him like true warriors.

To Thor, he felt it would be a shame to lose a human with such potential to a dagger hidden in the darkness instead of a proper fight.

Odin smirked at his son’s words and turned towards the God of Thunder.

“I know, and I bet he knows that truth as well. Hence his preparations and his livestreams.”

“….I do not understand. His livestreams are a way for him to publicly out his enemies, that much I can understand, but what preparations are you talking about?”

“Tell me, my son. How do you think he always manages to sneak into places he is not supposed to?”

Thor looked confused at that question.

“Isn’t it because he is very stealthy? I mean, not even our Valkyries managed to detect him when he snuck into our vaults, which is saying something since they can even detect Loki when he is up to his usual mischief.”

“There is that, but his stealth is not the only strength he has, and neither is it his skill set.”

Suddenly, Odin, the old man who likes to laze around and have fun, was replaced by Odin All-Father, the leader of his Pantheon and the one known as the All-Knowing.

This sudden shift in his persona caused Thor to stand straight instinctively.

“Tell me, what is it that every pantheon and faction in the world depends on to gain information about others? Things that they should not know yet know it nonetheless?”

“….Spies.”

“Correct. Now, what does a Faction that does not want its involvement in others' affairs to be known use most of the time as their direction of attack?”

“Proxies, allies, or mercenaries.”

“Good. Now, final question, what do such factions do when all methods fail and the only option left is open confrontation?”

“Leverage their connections with others and use that along with their personal strength to suppress any would-be enemies.”

Odin gave Thor a gleeful but serious look before changing the screen to show the various video recordings of Maniac Ren’s exploits in the past.

The first video played, showing Maniac Ren gleefully speaking about the various scandals from The Underworld, The Grigori, The Angelic faction, and even the Shinto Faction.

Things that no one should know, things that were never noted down in either physical or digital form and only ever passed down orally, yet somehow made their way to this madman.

“How would he gain such information? How would he know secrets that no one but the holder of said secret and their direct subordinates should know?”

Thor had his answer instantly.

Spies.

And given the intensity and devastating potential of many such secrets that Maniac Ren held hostage for benefits from the various factions, these spies must be in quite high places across the world.

Odin once again changed the screen, playing the video of a battle at the gates of Heaven where the entire army of Angels was engaged by a literal horde of Stray Devils.

While the Devils were not strong enough to breach the gates, thus causing devastating damage to the home of the Angels, they were not so weak that the Angelic faction could simply toss a few angels at them and be done with it.

While all of this was happening, Maniac Ren gleefully filmed himself sneaking into the Vaults of Heaven and pilfering a lot of their stuff before he was discovered by Gabriel.

Ignoring the following attempts made by Maniac Ren to flirt with the clueless Gabriel, Thor felt his mind race as he watched the human's actions.

This time, Odin did not even have to ask a question since Thor knew exactly what his father was implying with the video.

Ren used proxies in the video. Somehow, he managed to group together a ridiculously high number of Stray Devils to distract the Angels and then pilfer their wealth for himself.

Watching his son’s shifting expressions, Odin changed the video once again, this time showing the video of Maniac Ren’s fight with Zeus.

While Ren had not recorded the fight, only its beginning where the King of Olympus wore a dumbfounded expression when Ren’s illusion of a beautiful women fell off and he made off with Zeus’s symbol of power, and then the end of the fight which showed a severely injured Ren and a moderately damaged Zeus, the very fact that the human walked out alive was enough proof that despite his anger, Zeus was not foolish enough to kill the human.

This straightaway implied that whatever connections Ren held were enough to deter an enraged king of gods from a very old Pantheon.

Odin looked at Thor seriously once he noticed that his son had caught on to what he was trying to imply.

“Maniac Ren, or rather, Izayoi Ren, is a man of many faces. My son. He is a foe that no one should underestimate because he shows his insanity so openly. Because he is a very, very, cunning human. Behind that insanity, which is real by the way, is a calculating mind that is frankly terrifying for a human.”

“That is why it is in our best interest to always keep an eye on his actions and make sure that none of our people ever cross his path even accidentally, lest we invite the same kind of political disaster as the Devils did.”

“And what better way to keep an eye on him than to watch his daily livestreams? Especially now, when he has finally managed to keep himself in one place, and even took in a disciple of sorts?”

“WHAT!?”

Every other thought fled the God of Thunder’s mind as he heard those worrying words, making he glare at the screen as it switched back to the live stream and showed the human boy still running while screaming in terror as big, fat tears rolled down his eyes and snot flowed like rivers from the sheer fear he felt.

All the while, Maniac Ren continued running after him, still in his terrifying disguise.

Odin grinned and pointed towards the boy.

“That boy, Hyoudou Issei, has a sacred gear. But most importantly for us, and most damningly for him, he has managed to catch the interest of Maniac Ren. Enough to make Ren take him in as a disciple of sorts and train him to be as insane as him.”

Odin giggled at the dumbfounded look on his son’s face.

“The boy in question does not know this fact yet since Maniac Ren only spoke about this decision at the start of this livestream, but I think we should start preparing for a dynamic duo of insane warriors and maniacs running around the world from now on.”

“……I wish Ragnarök would claim us sooner rather than later. At least then, I won’t have to witness this insanity anymore.”

“HAHAHAH!!”

Odin’s uproarious laugh and the depressed sigh of Thor rang out in the room as the Valkyries guarding the room felt like they had heard a few groundbreaking secrets today.