Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The Abandoned Church

[A/N: Looking back on my earlier chapters, I feel that chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 aren't quite up to standard. I'm not satisfied with them, so I'm planning to re-write some parts; maybe I'll change a few events entirely.]

. . . . .

Kuoh Town, Japan.

Along the edge of Taiheiyo Forest lay a small but prosperous town. It was well-known for its enormous town square surrounded by many restaurants and shopping malls.

The town square was consistently crowded and filled with tourists, as numerous people from nearby cities had come here to enjoy themselves. In the center of the square, there laid a giant clock tower where many people could be seen passing by and taking photos.

Although Kuoh Town seemed like a very populous place, this wasn’t the case for all areas within the town. One such area was a large, white building that laid on top of a small hill. It had a tall spire which allowed it to be noticed from far away.

This building was notoriously known as the abandoned church. It was rumored that in the past, this church had been a lively place but following the death of a priest this area was mysteriously abandoned.

Amid the night, two figures could be seen conversing outside the church.

“Ugh, this is the worst. No way! Standing guard is the most boring thing ever.”

This high-pitched voice came from a short blonde-haired girl with blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a black Lolita dress with white frills, white thigh-high socks, and black shoes. Her hair was styled into twin tails with a large black bow on top.

“Mittelt, shut up and stop complaining. It’s your turn to stand guard tonight. You need to remember our mission.”

A tall woman was standing beside the short Lolita girl with an annoyed expression. She had a buxom figure with navy blue hair that obscured her right eye. Her clothing was skin-tight, consisting of a maroon miniskirt and matching top that was semi open at her chest.

The blue-haired woman continued, “Don’t act rashly. We need to stay undercover for the time being. Take note of anyone who comes, but only kill if necessary.”

“Hmph! It’s not like we get any visitors anyway.”

“Just do as you’re told. Our plan is destined to succeed on the condition that everyone does their part properly.”

. . . . .

As the sun rose from the east, the streets of Kuoh Town were exponentially becoming more and more crowded. One particularly busy area was the food court. It was a relatively large and enclosed area filled with tables and chairs, where numerous people could be seen stuffing their faces with Japanese delicacies and foreign food.

It was a little noisy and chaotic at this time, as almost all the tables were filled up. Some people were sharing tables with strangers to find a spot to eat.

One such table consisted of a skinny brown-haired otaku with glasses and a short blue-haired boy.

“You little shit! You’ve spilled water all over my limited-edition Dragon Boy Z comic!”

Not too far away from this table, a young man with short black hair and caramel brown eyes was eavesdropping. To make himself seem less suspicious, he was posing as an edgy teen with his arms crossed and back leaning against the wall.

‘It seems that sound waves can bounce off my dark energy.’

Naturally, this black-haired young man was Chekhov. He had just arrived at Kuoh Town this morning after spending the night in Taiheiyo Forest, skimming through memories.

When he arrived, Chekhov had noticed that his soul’s power had increased by a considerable amount. It had taken 10 hours to fully digest a human child and an adult deer with his former soul strength.

Additionally, he had found one valuable detail relating to the supernatural. A few years ago, Kurou’s grandmother was suffering from a chronic illness and was magically cured after visiting a nun.

Chekhov had previously thought this world was very similar to the world he originated from. Yet, things now seemed to be very different. Chekhov had thus decided to go to the most crowded area in Kuoh Town to try eavesdropping on random conversations.

‘At first glance, this technique seems very useful, but it’s only practical for eavesdropping. It requires time and precision to construct and maintain the tunnels, otherwise the sound waves will be distorted.’

Chekhov continued eavesdropping for the next thirty minutes, but he didn’t get any information that he was looking for.

‘Things aren’t adding up. This world must have supernatural powers hidden in the dark.’

Chekhov uncrossed his arms and took out his phone. Through an internet search, he found a datasheet containing Kuoh Town’s bus routes and timings.

‘I might have to take a small road trip today.’

. . . . .

A medium sized public bus was moving through the streets of Kuoh Town. Posing as an inconspicuous passenger, Chekhov was taking mental notes of significant landmarks and eavesdropping over conversations.

A few seats in front of him, a girl with long brown hair and a slender figure was talking quietly on the phone.

“Murayama. Please tell the instructor that I’ll be late for kendo practice.”

“What??! …You’re going to be late too?”

‘Murayama. That name sounds familiar, I feel like I’ve heard it in my previous life.’

Chekhov looked at the back of the girl’s head again, but he couldn’t quite remember where he heard that name from.

‘It might be a coincidence; I’ve read and watched countless amounts of manga and anime when I was in my early teens.’

Chekhov tried listening into other people’s conversations, but as expected, he didn’t find any valuable information.

Fifteen minutes later, the bus arrived at a seemingly quiet and peaceful neighborhood. The houses were all similarly rectangular shaped, painted white, and made up of two stories.

This was Chekhov’s stop. Within sight was the entrance to a small but verdant forest consisting mostly of broadleaf trees.

After stepping down from the bus, he began slowly treading toward the forest. He wasn’t in a rush, as it would make himself more suspicious. Within a few minutes he reached the forest entrance and stopped momentarily, carefully observing his surroundings.

Unlike the Taiheiyo Forest, this one had many signs of human activity. Many trees were neatly cleared, creating a wide and smooth path that faintly sloped upward for several kilometers, leading directly toward the abandoned church after a few twists and turns.

Although the sun was still high up in the sky, Chekhov still felt that the forest exuded a dangerous atmosphere.

Immediately releasing an immense amount of dark energy from his soul, Chekhov began scanning the area around him for any dangerous activity. At full force, his transformed soul was powerful enough to pick up dark energy fluctuations within a 500-meter radius.

‘I can produce enough dark energy to safely execute a wide-scale scan every 5 minutes while never dropping below half my energy capacity.’

One of the biggest advantages to Chekhov’s transformed soul was its exceptional energy capacity and energy regeneration rate. He was confident that he could easily win a battle of attrition against any evenly matched adversary.

‘Nothing unusual spotted.’

Stepping inside the forest entrance, he slowly and cautiously trod along the cleared-out path. Five minutes later, he conducted a wide-scale scan again. By repeating this process for an hour, Chekhov walked uninterrupted to the point where the base of the abandoned church was within direct sight.

‘There are too many objects inside the church. I’ll have to switch to a low-scale precise scan of each room when I go inside.’

During the next few seconds, he continued to step forward toward the church doors, then stopped in front of the entrance. At this juncture, he could peer inside and observe the entire nave.

Chekhov closed his eyes once more, preparing for the last wide-scale scan. The next moment an immense amount of dark energy was released into all cardinal directions.

‘Something is heading toward me. It’s fast.’

He swiftly opened his eyes with full alertness. Preparing to fight, Chekhov was planning to abruptly turn around and catch his attacker by surprise with a continuous barrage of concentrated dark energy waves.

With a swift horizontal swipe of his arm, he could send off a highly concentrated dark energy wave that would potentially disrupt and sever the internal organs of a regular human. If he did this continuously, the effects were estimated to multiply.

This was best employed as a mid-range attacking technique. From afar, the waves would be too dispersed to deal any significant damage, and from point blank he would be susceptible to any melee skills.

‘Once it moves into range of my concentrated waves, I’ll immediately attack.’

However, Chekhov noticed something unusual. Instead of speeding up, his attacker was slowing down while approaching him.

He decided to act as if he didn’t notice any movement.

Chekhov stood still for a while and then feigned an innocent expression as he looked inside the church’s nave.

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At that moment, he heard a sweet, high-pitched voice.

“Are you looking for someone?”

Chekhov turned around, pretending to be surprised.

However, he was truly taken aback for an instant when he saw her appearance. Standing in front of him was a short blonde-haired girl with blue eyes, clothed in a Lolita dress.

‘Twin tails, black frilly outfit, blue eyes, blonde hair…’

Realization came to him as today’s events were beginning to clear up: the girl on the bus, the nun with healing magic, the abandoned church, and the name of this town.

‘There’s no doubt about it. This is the High School DxD world.’

High School DxD was a series of the light novels that Chekhov had read in his past life. If it was his previous self, he would instantly recognize the world when he heard the name “Kuoh Town”.

Although his transformed soul prevented memory loss, it did not give him perfect memory recollection. His soul strength was not strong enough to instantly recall a memory from the eons that he had lived.

‘I don’t need to worry about Mittelt. She’s a low-class Fallen Angel with mediocre strength. I’m confident I can kill her one-on-one. The only Fallen Angel that I need to have full caution for is Raynare.’

‘Furthermore, I don’t think they’ll randomly kill regular humans when their plan is only at the beginning stages. Their top priority right now should be to stay undercover.’

Chekhov decided without hesitation that his best option is to leave. He didn’t want to risk getting encircled by multiple Fallen Angels or Raynare.

He didn’t deny that his soul power would rise if he devoured Mittelt. Rather, in his perspective, the benefit-to-risk-ratio was too low. With his knowledge of the future, he was confident that he would be capable of devouring her anyway.

“Uhm... Y-yes, I’m looking for a priest.”

Chekhov put on an act of nervousness.

“My mother is ill. I was hoping there would be a priest here that could bless her.”

Coincidentally, this statement was true. His mother had adopted him when she was already at an old age. At the present, she was even older. It wasn’t uncommon for people in their 70s to fall ill.

For a moment, Mittelt’s expression showed slight surprise, but then she responded back with a neutral face.

“Sorry, but there’s no priests in this church anymore.”

‘She’s not a bad actor as well, she wants to kill me but is suppressing it under orders.’

Chekhov stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking back with his head slightly lowered.

“Yeah, I figured. This place looks deserted.”

‘I should be able to leave just like this.’

As he walked past her, Mittelt asked one last question.

“What’s your name?”

Chekhov was about to give her a fake name, but he stopped himself at the last moment. A scheme had begun to form in his mind.

He turned to his right, facing her with a friendly smile.

“Chekhov Serebya.”

. . . . .

Mittelt stood in her place as she observed the black-haired young man turn around and continue walking.

‘I hate guard duty. The one time I look away some ignorant kid wanders in.’

Although Mittelt thought of Chekhov as an ignorant kid, she was inwardly cautious when talking to him. She could faintly feel a sense of danger from him.

‘He’s fully human, so he can’t be from the Gremory household. I hate those devils and their stupid ugly faces.’

‘His aura is super weird. I can feel his Sacred Gear, but I’ve never felt anything like it before.’

As Chekhov almost disappeared from her view, Mittelt gazed at his back one last time.

‘Chekhov Serebya… I’ve never heard of him. I need to forward this to Raynare.’

. . . . .

Chekhov had walked for two kilometers with his hands in his pockets and head slightly lowered. He wanted to keep his guise until he was completely sure no one was watching.

‘One more wide-scale scan to be safe.’

A tremendous amount of energy was abruptly released into all directions. He had executed multiple wide-scale scans over the course of 20 minutes, as Chekhov was extra cautious for what he was planning to do next.

‘There was no abnormal movement in four consecutive scans. I should be alone now.’

Chekhov’s walking speed slowed down to a halt. He removed his hands from his pockets and raised his head back up.

All humans in this world have a chance to be endowed with a Sacred Gear, so Chekhov wanted to assess if he possessed one as well.

However, humans can’t sense their own Sacred Gear until it is awakened. In order to forcefully awaken his Sacred Gear, Chekhov had to use his desire as the key.

‘My true desire…’

He tilted his head up and gazed directly into the bright sky. His surroundings appeared to blur, and ripples formed in the air. Taking one step forward, Chekhov had found himself in a land of fire.

The ground was made up of compact dark gray soil, stained with the blood of countless corpses. Screaming could be heard from every direction, only to be drowned out by the black sky.

Chekhov turned to his right. Within ten meters, there was a man impaled to a cross by rivets on both his hands and ankles. Blood was trickling down the left side of his face from a dark red stub where his ear should have been. He seemed to be hallucinating, his eyes looking upward as if he had seen a ghost.

The man was crying and pleading, only to be inexplicably set on fire by an invisible force. The man’s shrieking could be heard for a few minutes before it eventually died down. All that was left was his charred black body.

A ghostly red face appeared behind Chekhov, staring at him with a bloodthirsty smile. It was the size of a small house, floating 4 meters into the air.

The floating red face spoke with a stentorian voice.

“This is the place where all evil souls will perish! Since I’m feeling a little merciful today, I might give you the chance to take back your sins for a quick death.”

Chekhov turned around and looked upward. He resolutely stood against the floating face, his caramel brown eyes unwavering. He revealed a slight smile as he replied.

“I only live for my true self. Whether I receive a painless death or meet my endless suffering, I will never have any regrets.”

Chekhov further raised his head upward to peer at the vastness of the void black sky. At this moment, a thin golden ring embedded with a black diamond on its top materialized on his index finger.

While raising his right arm above his head, Chekhov pointed his index finger at the sky.

‘Disintegrate.’

The sky abruptly shattered into black pieces, and purple cracks were forming in the air. Large pits could be seen as the black pieces intensely smashed into the ground. However, Chekhov was not in a state of trepidation. He calmly took one step forward, causing his surroundings to blur yet again.

A few seconds later the blurring ceased, and Chekhov was back in the forest.

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