Chapter 1: Ashes and A New Dawn
Pain wasn't supposed to follow death.
Ren remembered the impact—shoving the little girl out of the way, the honk of the truck, the screech of tires that never had a chance to stop. Then silence. Then cold.
And now… this.
The world returned to him in fragments: a piercing ache in every muscle, the coppery taste of blood, and the smell of earth, sharp and raw. Dirt caked his fingers. He groaned as he tried to move, but his limbs didn't feel… right.
They felt smaller. Lighter. Alien.
He opened his eyes to a canopy of trees painted in the dim gold of evening, their leaves rustling with a wind that carried a thousand unfamiliar scents—wet moss, wildflowers, the faint musk of animals he couldn't name.
Ren tried to speak, but what came out was a strangled whimper.
[System Booting…]
[Species: Lesser Kitsune (Stage 1 - One Tail)]
[Welcome to the Evolution System.]
"What... the hell?" he managed, his voice high-pitched, almost yipping.
He scrambled to his feet—paws, he realized, paws—and stumbled back until he hit a tree trunk. His breath came in fast, short gasps. Looking down, he saw russet fur covering his body, thin legs ending in claws, and a bushy tail twitching behind him.
A fox. He was a goddamn fox.
"No no no, this isn't—this can't be real," Ren murmured, his voice now audible in his head rather than aloud. "Is this some kind of sick joke? Am I dreaming?"
But the System continued, indifferent to his panic.
[Species Level: 1]
[Tail Count: 1]
[Skills: Flame Wisp (Lv.1), Keen Senses (Passive), Spirit Drain (Lv.1)]
[Special: Evolution Points: 0 | Soul Stability: Fragile]
[Mission: Survive for 7 Days to Stabilize Soul Integration.]
Ren's heart—or whatever passed for one in this body—hammered in his chest.
He looked around, his ears flicking unconsciously as they picked up the chirp of birds, the rustle of something slithering in the underbrush. He wasn't just in another body. He was in another world.
And not just any world. As his senses adjusted, he felt it—faint traces of demonic energy in the air, power he wouldn't have recognized before, but now somehow could. A whisper of memories stirred in his mind—red-haired devils, holy swords, and supernatural battles fought beneath the façade of a Japanese high school.
High School DxD.
Ren closed his eyes.
Of course. The perverted anime with absurdly powerful devils and fanservice. But this? This was no harem comedy.
It was real. And if he didn't want to die a second time, he needed to act fast.
It took hours to get used to walking. Four legs were hell. He tripped over roots, crashed into bushes, and more than once fell into a puddle trying to catch a bug that startled him.
It would've been funny if he weren't starving and terrified.
Ren's thoughts drifted as he curled up beneath the roots of a tree that night, watching the stars filter through the leaves. His fur helped keep out the cold, but it couldn't touch the chill that came from inside.
I died. I really died.
And no one would remember. No funeral. No mourning. His mother, his little sister—did they even know what happened?
Tears threatened, but he bit them back. What good would crying do?
[Soul Integration: 12%]
He glared at the floating text. "What does that even mean?"
[Your soul has not fully bonded with your new form. If integration fails within 7 days, existence will be terminated.]
Ren barked out a dry laugh. "So I get hit by a truck, die a hero, and now I have a week to survive as a magical fox or I'll be erased from reality?"
Silence.
"Right. Of course. Thanks, disembodied voice."
He didn't sleep.
By the second day, he'd figured out Flame Wisp—barely. It let him conjure a flickering ball of heat, more like a candle than a weapon, but enough to scare off a crow that tried to peck at his tail.
He also realized just how weak he was.
He couldn't hunt. His fox body was faster than a human's, but not skilled. He chased a rabbit and nearly broke his nose when it zigzagged and he faceplanted into a tree.
Worse, the forest wasn't empty.
On the third night, he heard growling—low, guttural, unnatural. A beast stepped into the moonlight, its body stitched together from parts that didn't belong: dog, bear, snake. A Stray Devil.
Ren's blood ran cold.
[Warning: Threat Level High. Escape Recommended.]
He didn't need to be told twice.
He ran, darting through underbrush, slipping on leaves, claws scrabbling for purchase on rocks. The stray gave chase, snarling, its mismatched limbs thundering behind him.
I'm gonna die. Again.
Something burned inside him—a desperate, wild instinct.
He turned mid-run, heart pounding, and summoned all his fear, anger, and pain into a Flame Wisp. This time, it sparked brighter, hotter—then burst from him in a wave.
The stray shrieked, blinded by fire.
Ren didn't wait to see if it survived. He ran until his legs gave out, collapsing near the edge of the forest.
When he woke, it was to the scent of vanilla and the hum of magic.
A girl knelt nearby, pale-haired, golden-eyed, and expressionless. Her hand was warm on his fur.
"You're not an ordinary familiar," she said softly.
Ren blinked.
Koneko Toujou.
Behind her, the red-haired heiress watched him with curiosity and calculation.
"Well, what do we have here?" Rias Gremory murmured, eyes narrowing. "A fox with devil energy and a hint of something… older."
Ren tried to move, but pain lanced through his side. The stray must've clipped him.
Rias stood over him now, her voice kind but firm. "You've seen the darkness of this world already, haven't you? Do you want to live, little fox?"
He met her gaze.
He didn't trust devils. But he didn't want to die either.
So he did the only thing he could.
He wagged his tail once.
[Quest Complete: Survive 3 Days - Bonus Evolution Point Earned.]
[Soul Integration: 34%]
[You have entered the orbit of House Gremory.]
And for the first time since waking in this body, Ren felt something strange and dangerous stir inside him.
Hope.