"You two don't have to accompany me to the ORC." I told my new housemates as we walk through the hallway of the old school building with a single destination in mind, the ORC club-room.

My male classmates were howling like wolves when Argento and Hyōdō entered, which something that I've expected from guys that can't easily control their hormones. Thankfully, my housemates didn't say that they were living under the same roof with me and I had to help them deal with the pusher males. Other then that, classes were just its usual boring thing.

When school was over, I told the duo to go home ahead of me since I had to play my part of being under the watch of the Devils in the ORC but they (mostly Asia who decided while Hyōdō just tagged along) decided to accompany in order to see the other group of Devils in the school and to see the old school building.

"Then's no point in making Asia change her mind, Kōjiro." Hyōdō replied with an amused smile on her face while glancing at her best friend "Once she sets her mind into something, she's doing it while ignoring your complaints but apologies as she does it."

"Mo... You don't have to say it like that, Isane." Argento replied with a pout, while I looked at the blonde with a raised eyebrows out of curiosity. The way Hyōdō described her best friend's hard headedness reminded me of a few characters, but I can't seem to remember their name for some reason... Weird, I'm not that forgetful when it comes to anime characters, so why am I-

"Is that the ORC room?" I was snapped out of my thoughts with Hyōdō's question, which made me turn towards what she's looking at to see that it's indeed the door to the Occult Research Club.

Walking ahead towards the door, I knocked on it 3 times before walking in the club-room without hearing permission from anyone inside. I instantly noticed the dazed expression on Gremory's face, the type of face that some parents make when they discover that their daughter is pregnant... Ok, that might not be the best way to describe it but that was the first thing that came to my head thanks to a memory of my uncle making that face back when my cousin told him that she was pregnant, and this was before she was married.

So the Riser Arc is about to begin? I honestly thought that it would start next week, but I guess that the heir of the House of Phenom's arrival (alongside his peerage) happening earlier is thanks to me messing around with the canon events: Refusing to be turned into a Devil, Killing the Fallen Angels and their lackeys instead of Gremory, preventing the heiress of the House of Gremory to have either the [Sekiryūtei] or the [Hakuryūkō] in her possession, and interacting with Sitri-san more then her rival. Plus, no one has to go through the few breather contracts (Which involved a bunch of weirdos for human standards) before Riser's arrives to meet up with his fiancé and 'convince' her to go along with the marriage proposal.

But the real question is... Will Gremory actually train to make her group and herself stronger than in canon during that time, since she doesn't have her [Pawn] in the board nor does she have the power (in numbers and in her own ability) to overcome her fiancé, his healing factor and his peerage?

Or will she lose just like in canon, due to lacking serious manpower in only having 3 available servants (Gasper Vladi isn't allowed to play yet for obvious reasons) and the strength to fight against the 'Immortal' and 'Undefeated' Riser Phenex and his team of fetish themed girls?

While I don't actually care about what's going to happen to the House of Gremory if their heiress wins or to Gremory herself if she loses, it would be great if she doesn't want me anymore after the whole ordeal... Because it would be stupid if she still wants me after the main reason why she desires me as her servant is over, unless she's into people (especially guys) who are hard to get to make her capture far more satisfying. Whatever the reason, I really hope that she gives up on me-

"Ara, I didn't expect that you have two new company coming over with you, Kōjiro-kun." I was snapped out of my thoughts when Himejima called out to me, which made me turn towards what she's looking at to see her smiling at me but I can see that it's a bit forced... Must because of the crosses around my housemates' necks, which also gave away that they're from the Church "Good afternoon, my name is Akeno Himejima." None the less, the [Queen] of Gremory greeted my companions with a bow "I'm the Vice President of the Occult Research Club."

"My name is Asia Argento." Argento said smiling before giving the [Queen] a bow as well "It's nice to meet you, Himejima-san."

"I'm Isane Hyōdō." Hyōdō said with a slight tense body, but not too obvious that everyone can see it.

"Kōjiro-kun, can I ask your relationship with your two friends?" Himejima asked curiously with a smile on her face.

"They're my new housemates, having moved in just a few days ago," I gave a typical response of any dense harem protagonist, having no reason to give away my real intention on why I took them in "The reason why they're here is to see the Occult Research Club and the old school building with their own eyes."

"I see..." Himejima-san said with a slight nod "Kōjiro-kun, do you mind if I talk with you for a moment outside?"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hybrid wants from a bastard like me... Is she going to ask me for help with Gremory's problem? That's the only reason that I can think of why she would ask to speak with me in private. Well, I guess that I wouldn't lose anything if I fulfil her request.

"So, what do you need from me?" I asked once the [Queen] and I are a few feet away from the door.

"Please... Help Rias."

"Explain."

"Have you heard about the marriage between the heirs of the House of Gremory and the House of Phenex?" Himejima-san asked, which I shook my head in order to play as the slightly clueless type. I mean, it would be weird if I give a yes when I presented myself as someone who has a bit of info of the supernatural world "It was an agreement between the heads of the two Houses before Rias was even born, where Riser Phenex will be engaged to Rias Gremory. They did it in order to preserve the line of Pure-Blooded Devils due to the major loses during the Great War."

"I see... So that's why Gremory wants me in your group." I said in fake realisation since I already knew why Gremory wanted me in her peerage "I take it that she doesn't like the guy."

"That's putting it mildly. Rias hates her fiance with a passion, and refuses to marry him." Himejima-san said, and I just gave an understanding nod, despite already knowing about that part "She begged her parents to let her be free from him until she finishes her studies in the human, meaning she still had three or four years at best before she has to marry him... Until a few hours ago." Himejima-san than took a slight glance from the door "She received a message from her father, the current head of the House of Gremory, telling her that the marriage date has been forwards in a few days."

"Can't she just give up her right as the heiress?" I suggested sarcastically, giving her the 'runaway in order to escape responsibility' scenario that actually works in some stories "That way, she wouldn't have to be put into a situation where she doesn't want to be in and her parents can find a more willing person to take the responsibility."

"That's a very cliché, but workable option..." Himejima-san replied (and I'm not sure if my sarcasm flew over her head) before letting out a sigh "But impossible for Rias to do or even think of doing. She's the heiress of the House of Gremory, so she lived in a life of luxury from birth compared to us..." I couldn't help but nod at the indirect way of saying that Gremory is spoiled "And you know that it's very hard for people to adjusting to a reality that they no longer live so carefree like before."

"She can either accept her responsibilities as the heiress and marry her fiancé or fight for her freedom..." I trailed off while crossed my arms, looking at Himejima-san with a fake frown "So you want me to help her in case she does the latter, which will happen based on your explanation of her situation and story."

"That's right... She's the type of person that doesn't want her freedom to strip away and will fight for it until the bitter end." Himejima-san then looked at me with pleading eyes "So please, help us if that comes."

"...What makes you believe that I can help the ORC?" I asked with a raised eyebrow "In case you need a reminder, I'm just a human with a passable CQC experience and can use a bit of magic. And before you say about my solo victories against Kiba and Tōjō, the big bee guy and the Fallen Angels stationed in Kuoh Church, I was only able to win those battles thanks to the fact that all of them underestimated me."

"...Call it a woman's intuition, but I feel that you're hiding your real strength." Himejima-san said looking at me with a calculating gaze "You have a power that the Fallen Angels, the ones stationed here that you killed without leaving a scratch on you, regarded you as a threat to them."

"You know that it's pretty illogical to fully trust your instincts," I said, refusing to truly answer her question since she's right. I possess the powers of 8 legendary heroes, with my own growing arsenal becoming stronger as I practice with them "Your instincts can sometimes lead you to make a horrible mistake, instead of thinking of another possible option for that outcome."

"I know that it's crazy... But there are times that you just to follow your instincts to win or live." I couldn't help but snort mentally at her words, finding it a bit hypocritical that she said that when she refused to use her Holy Lightning during the [Rating Game] against Riser in canon "Do I need to pay you so that you would agree?"

"...Just let me think about in a day or two." I said with a slight sigh, finding her pushy attitude to be weird since I don't remember her act like before... But I can tribute as this parallel version's hidden quirk "Knowing your [King], she's probably do something drastic that will buy her some time before her marriage."

"...Thank you for considering my request, Kōjiro-kun." Himejima-san said with a slight bow towards me before she and I made our way back to the club room, with a glance at each to keep this conversation to ourselves.

When we got back in the room, I saw that Hyōdō and Argento were chatting away on a couch while Gremory continued to stare at space... Well, at least they aren't trying to get a response out of the redhead because it's useless.

...I could use this as an opportunity to get out of 'club activities' early for some grinding. I don't have any homework to do today, and Gremory isn't really in a good state to actually think properly that I can convince her to let me (and by extension, Argentina and Hyōdō) go early.

"Gremory," I called out to the redhead while towards her deck, not caring of the stares that I'm getting from the others in the room. When I didn't get a reaction from the heiress, I snapped my fingers a few times in front of her face before calling to her again... And when that didn't work, I played my last card.

I grabbed her ahoge, not her cheeks or nose like in many comedy anime, and began to tug on it. Not enough force that I would rip it out, but enough that the pulls would certainly shock her out of her funk.

"Owowowow!" Gremory shouted as she finally woke up from her trance state before slapping my hand away with a slightly pained and a very annoyed expression "What the hell are you doing!?"

"I called out to you twice, and you didn't respond at all." I replied with two fingers up in the air before pointing at her ahoge in a gun fashion "So I had to torment you to get a reaction by pulling your hair, instead of going with the 'pulling your cheeks or nose' trope that friends or lovers do to each other."

"That wasn't very nice of you, Kōjiro-kun." Himejima said, while I saw that she was staring at me with half-lid eyes that was holding back the angry within them while having a strained smile on her face... So we're back to the facadé again? I don't mind since it would make things easier for me in the end "Suddenly pulling on Buchou's hair to get her out of that trance."

"Would you liked me to kiss her?" I asked the Yamato Nadeshiko without looking at her, which surprised her and Gremory since they never expected me to make such a suggestion "...Just joking, I would never do that to someone that I don't have any feelings for, no matter how pretty they are or what is their social status."

"...What do you want?" The redhead asked signed, having no respond to my flawed idea of getting someone out of their funk or the fact that I've indirectedly rejected her before she could make a confession... That just shows that her mind isn't fully with us right now.

"To go home early." I said, getting straight to the point "It's pretty obvious that you're not mentally well, and I don't want to make things worse in any way by staying here." I then moved my head closer to her where she and I could kiss at any moment, but my eyes showed nothing but coldness that I prevented her from moving at all... And after that crappy edgelord line that I delivered a few days ago, she got the idea that I'm not someone that would do something so imitate to someone I don't like "And before you say anything about me being worried, you can kick that out of the window because I couldn't care less if you're captured by an enemy of yours and become their toy for the rest of your life." And I'm not being sexist or anything because I would say this line to anyone that I don't care, regardless of gender, age or race.

"...Fine, you can go." Gremory replied without any emotion in her voice, with surprised me a bit because I've never seen her so lifeless, before gesturing towards the door with her bangs casting a shadow over her eyes "I'm not in the mood to have anyone outside in my peerage to be in the ORC right now, especially a bastard like you."

I nodded with a mental smirk, my little plan to leave early to the level up nearly finished. All I need to do is send my two companies back home and let them have the place for the night, which is the easiest part of the plan.

I'll have to go to a different place to grind since I wouldn't want Hyōdō and Argento to suddenly wonder where I went while in the house... And I just have a place in mind.

- a few hours later -

"1248," I muttered to myself with a small smile after killing another ghoul with a Hamon charged slash, watching the monster's body turn to ash in a similar fashion to the Zombie dying in JoJo, as I stand inside the abandoned green house where I destroyed Bob and killed his bees-

!?

I ducked and rolled back just in time to evade a ghoul that jumped at me from behind, before I quickly stabbed the thing... Right up the ass.

"...1249." Was all I could say before the Ghoul turned to ash, which made me smile a bit.

...I don't know if the battle-hungry guys like Berserker or Rider at fault for influencing me or it's my own growing hunger for a good fight, but I've become a bit too happy to be in the battlefield and killing enemies in anyway. Honestly, it comes to the point that the only time that I feel relaxed and carefree is when I'm killing monsters. I'm not too far (yet) to the point that I've become a complete sociopath, but it's a noticeable change of my stoic/scumbag personality.

...I wonder what time it is. I took out my phone to check the time while killing another ghoul that tried, and failed, to kill me from right before blinking at what I saw:

10:49 pm

...I've here for nearly three hours? Damn, I didn't expect that I would lose track of time that fast. I honestly thought that I was just a here for an hour at best "Well, I better get home now. [ID Escape]."

*Wrong Buzzer*

[Denied]

I blinked, a bit surprised at the [Denied] pop-up since this is the first time that this happened from all the times that I've used [ID Escape]... If the Skill isn't working, then-

!?

I jumped to my right just in time to dodge a swift attack from my back, but I had to quickly block a few more attacks while moving back. Getting a good look at my attacker, I blinked slightly when I saw a human-being standing there. A slender girl with long white hair with decorative marks around a paled face, near her eyelids and across her forehead, red eyes with a black sclera and a bare hourglass figure... With the six tentacles coming out of her back ruining her appeal.

"...Interesting." I said while staring at the Boss Ghoul, a grin slowly forming on my face as I grip [Yubashiri] a bit more tightly from slight anticipation "I expected someone uglier, but you'll do finely as my first boss opponent."

After I said that I charged at the Boss Ghoul without a clear plan in mind while charging up my katana with Hamon while the Boss Ghoul didn't say anything, but the tentacles from its back moved to attack me at an impressive speed that I'm having a hard time to reduce the distance between us. I powered up my body with [Reinforcement] and coated myself with [Busoshoku Haki] for some extra protection before hopping from side to side at times in order to dodge the tentacles while parrying at a few moments that I couldn't evade a tentacle thanks to [Kenbunshoku Haki].

Eventually, I was able to get close enough to the Boss Ghoul for my sword to reach her and I went to stab her at the heart... So colour me surprised that not only did the Boss Ghoul blocked my attack with a single hand, but it seems to have a great deal of resistance to my Hamon since said hand didn't turn to ash. Whatever the case, this opponent isn't going down unless I power-

[-61 HP]

*CRASH!*

[-27 HP]

...I blinked when it finally dawned to me that I've been sent flying before crashing through a wall, my head bleed and my left side is tingling a bit. I was honestly surprised that I couldn't see that attack and that I took some major... Damage?

"...So this is what feels like to actually take damage?" I asked myself after spitting out a bit of blood, the feeling of surprised turned into excitement along with a few other emotions that I don't fully understand, as a mad grin slowly forming on my face before I did something unexpected...

"Hehehehe... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I laughed...

It's probably the loudest but most honest laughter that I've done... It was the first time that I've ever let out such a laugh before since I arrived in this world, and for the completely wrong reason in most-

-!?

I stabbed a ghoul from my left that had the guts to attack me through the head, killing it instantly "Can't let a guy have a laugh..." I muttered out loud with a few chuckles escaping my mouth while pulling my sword out of its head as I got up slowly just in time to see a new horde of ghouls surround their boss, who seem to be communicating with them in their own language "Well, it's fine by me... I'll just have to kill you all as compensation!"

*Ding!*

You have gained a new Skill through a special action!

[Mad Enhancement] - Passive - Rank: C+ - MP cost: 0.8 per second

Description: The Class Skill that characterises a Berserker, raising basic parameters and strengthens one's physical abilities in exchange for hindering mental capacities and/or in exchange for their sense of reason. In some cases, it also affects and/or seals away some techniques, Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms. At Rank C+, Rank up for all parameters except LUCK and MAG, but lowers the Ranks/LvLs other Skills by 1/10 in exchange.

"Well, it's about damn time that this Skill came," I muttered to myself before the grin earlier came back while I closed the pop-up and faced the horde-Did it just became bigger than before? Well, not like it matters since I have more things to kill now... But I have to do it a bit quickly.

Time to unleash the beast once more.

"INSTALL BERSERKER!" I declared after pulling out the [Berserker Class Card], which caused me to be covered in an eerie darkness instead of the usual bright light. While inside the darkness, I can hear voices, telling me to just let go a killing spree and all kinda of horrible things to do... Which I fully intend to do.

Once I free from the shadows, I'm no longer wearing my slightly ruined uniform but crimson Chinese uniform fitting for a general with a halberd taller than me in my left hand. I smirked before "▂▂▃▃▅▅ーーー！！" I let out what can be best described as a monstrous howl and then charged at the horde with reckless abandon, my power-up and weapons making easier work on the horde than I was in my base form.

I found it amusing when I first discovered that the soul in the [Berserker Class Card] is Lu Bu Fengxian, since I have the soul of original Cao Cao's former superior and the man that he betrayed, and there's currently a living person that share's the same name... I'm definitely going to have fun trolling DxD's Cao Cao when the time comes we're going to clash while in this form before killing him. While Cao Cao never really did anything against me, I know that we will stand against each other at one point due to our own beliefs and plans-

-!?

I turned around and managed to block the incoming tentacle attacks with [Fangtian Huaji] before slicing off one of them with [Yubashiri]... With just regenerate quickly than I expected.

"▃▃▅▅！" I once again roared, this time pissed that the bitch interrupted my inner thoughts, before charging at her while killing all that stood in my way from her... But it was useless, as I couldn't even get a near her to even strike her with my weapons due to how fast her tentacles are now compared to earlier, preventing me from moving forward with the other Ghouls won't stop bothering me. It was starting to irritate me greatly since I can't seem to kill such a frail-looking opponent

So I had only one option left.

"▅▅ーーー" I growled before jumping back about 3 meters away from the Boss Ghoul while sheathing my sword, summoned the bow and made the halberd into a large arrow in order to use Lu Bu's NP, [God Force]. Taking aim at the Ghouls, who seem to realise the danger that they're in if they let me fire... But it's useless.

"▂▂▃▃▅▅-▂▂▃▃▅▅■■■■ーー！！" I let out an incoherent screech before letting the arrow fly at them at a speed far faster than anyone here can dodge, hitting the Boss Ghoul at the centre-

*BOOM!*

-And causing an explosion that pretty much destroyed the entire warehouse, leaving nothing but myself in the wake of its destruction. I'm not damaged by the explosion of [God Force] for some reason, but I didn't bother to think it since it's sometimes useless to question things that are beneficial to you.

*Ding!*

Congratulations! You have levelled up to LvL 46!

*Ding!*

Congratulations! The [Berserker Class Card] has levelled up to LvL 20!

I simply closed the pop-up while getting out of Install Mode, feeling very drained from using the 1 of the Strongest Servant forms in my disposal and using his NP, before using [ID Escape] to leave the Dungeon.

When I was sure that I'm out (showed by the fact that the building was restored), I made my way back home to get some sleep and mentally prepare myself for tomorrow... I'm pretty sure that a lot of stuff will happen tomorrow.