After his spar with Yuki and earning a brand-new Trait, Satoru was in a remarkably good mood.
He headed toward his classroom, and the rest of the day went by surprisingly peacefully.
In fact, it felt so peaceful that it almost seemed like a normal day in this crazy anime mash-up world.
The key phrase being almost normal.
As he stepped out of the academy building, he was greeted by a tall, slim, middle-aged man.
The stranger had short, unkempt brown hair, pale skin, glasses, and was dressed in a simple buttoned-up shirt with brown pants.
To any bystander, he looked like a completely ordinary guy.
Once again, the key phrase was almost.
Behind that unassuming exterior, the man was hiding an absurd, overwhelming amount of power.
For the very first time, Satoru felt completely outmatched.
He instinctively knew that if a fight broke out, nothing in his arsenal would save him.
Instead of panicking, he stared directly into the man's eyes and waited for him to speak, fully aware that this encounter was no coincidence.
"Sharp instincts, son," an amused voice called out, making Satoru's mind go instantly blank with a single thought: What the fuck?
"Alright, Satoru-kun! ...Man, Sapphire is going to kill me for not naming you what she wanted," the man said with a light chuckle.
"Anyway, let's go grab some lunch. I have something very important to tell you."
Listening to him, Satoru was hit with a strange sense of déjà vu.
The guy gave off a strikingly familiar vibe—almost as if Satoru knew him from both this life and his past one.
Fucking shitty mash-up world.
Satoru thought bitterly.
I literally just became a devil. Give me a damn break!
Don't tell me the main plot is starting already?
Is it really too much to ask for a few peaceful slice-of-life chapters?
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"Why Oyakodon?" I asked, staring down at a bowl of the quintessential "man of culture" meal.
The parent-and-child bowl...
I knew the name strictly referred to the relationship between the chicken and the egg, but I couldn't stop my dirty mind from wandering down the mother-daughter route.
Focus, I told myself. It was better to pay attention to what the guy sitting across from me was about to say.
"It's a limited-time offer," the man replied, gesturing toward the food.
"Now's your only chance! If you don't eat it now, you'll regret it later."
Honestly, that was pretty solid advice. Regrets are a bitch, and if you ever get the opportunity to indulge in an Oyakodon, you shouldn't waste it...
Wait, that sounded wrong. Whatever.
"Could you get to the point already? And who are you, anyway?"
I asked, lifting the bowl to my mouth.
Before taking a bite, I paused just long enough to finish my thought.
"Besides, I'm certain I'll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy Oyakodon in the future—and I'll savor every single one."
I went back to eating as the man's voice grew a little more subdued.
This was it: the moment I'd finally get the big reveal about my hidden background.
Pffft... Who am I kidding? That's not actually going to happen... right?
Well, guess what?
Lady Luck and Mistress Fate seemed to be whispering in my ear, telling me to turn into a complete degenerate and bend them both over.
Because everything in this world was spiraling completely out of control.
So, what did I end up discover from this man?
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"So... let me get this straight," I said, setting my chopsticks down with a heavy sigh.
"You're telling me my real name is Basara Toujou?"
Yeah—that Basara Toujou. The absurdly rare four-race hybrid: part Human, Hero, Devil, God, and Dragon.
"That's right, son," Jin replied, taking a calm sip of his tea. "I'm Jin Toujou, the strongest warrior of the Hero Clan—and your father."
As it turned out, he was the son of Raphaeline—and Sapphire Gremory, the aunt of the current Devil King Lucifer.
How any of that worked—or why he had two mothers in the first place—was completely beyond him.
I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Okay, fine. But what about the parents I grew up with? The ones I thought were dead?"
"Fake memories," Jin said bluntly.
"Implanted to protect you. I had to seal your real childhood memories away until you were ready. Just moments ago, while we were talking, I lifted that seal."
From the faint memories of his past life, he vaguely recalled something about a fetus transfer from his devil mother to his goddess mother.
From the man, he came to know that...
"During the Devil Civil War, Sapphire got pregnant with you," Jin explained, his tone growing serious.
"Because of the war and some severe complications, your fetus was transferred from your devil mother, Sapphire, to your goddess mother, Raphaeline. You stayed inside Raphaeline's womb for years until you were finally born roughly eighteen years ago."
And to top it all off?
His childhood memories had been sealed away, replaced by implanted fake memories of growing up with his "dead" parents.
And the seal had just been broken by Jin—his new dad.
...Weird.
"And where is my Goddess mother now?" I asked.
"Sealed away in the Divine Realm," Jin sighed, a shadow of regret crossing his face.
"I thought I was getting pretty strong," I muttered, staring into my half-empty tea cup.
"Turns out I'm nowhere near strong enough to walk sideways in this crazy world."
Jin gave a short, quiet laugh. "Nobody starts at the top, kid. Especially not with the target you had on your back."
"Let me guess," I said, rolling my eyes.
"The classic protagonist setup? Powerful enemies were coming after me, so you hid me among humans with a fake identity to keep me safe for a few years?"
"Hit the nail on the head," Jin replied, taking a slow sip.
He almost asked why they didn't just hide him in the Underworld under the protection of the Gremory family, but he held his tongue.
He had a strong feeling the answer would only give him a massive headache and spark an even bigger infodump.
Looking back, that Cursed Spirit from the other day was actually lucky.
If Satoru had lost control like he used to as a child, there wouldn't have been a fight—just a massive crater where the curse once stood.
Still, things wouldn't have played out this way if he hadn't proactively trained to get stronger so quickly, nor if he hadn't joined his cousin's peerage.
Yeah, Rias is my cousin...
Because his devil mother, Sapphire, was the daughter of Chysis Gremory and the aunt of Rias, that made Rias his direct cousin. He decided to cross that bridge when he got to it.
For now, a more pressing issue was bugging him: why hadn't his status screen shown any of these absurd powers?
When he asked his dear old dad about why he didn't feel any hero, devil, dragon, or divine power inside him.
Jin smiled slightly, reaching across the table.
"Because your body couldn't handle all of it at once without tearing itself apart. I placed heavy seals on your core."
"Your real power is only meant to leak out gradually as your vessel adapts. Honestly, you don't even need to train—given enough time, you'd just naturally turn into a walking calamity."
Hearing that made everything click.
The system Traits he had been gaining weren't creating new abilities out of thin air; they were simply unlocking and stabilizing his original sealed power piece by piece.
"Since you're adapting so fast, let's see where you're at,"
Jin said, resting his hand gently over my chest. "I'll release just a fraction of the seal and check how much raw power your body can comfortably handle right now."
A warm, surge-like heat erupted from the center of my chest, flooding every nerve ending in my body.
Instantly, translucent blue text boxes began flashing rapidly across my vision.
[System Notice]
Acquired Trait — [Banishing Shift] (Red)
Effect: A unique, overpowered ability that redirects any incoming physical, magical, or spiritual attack into a "zero dimension," reducing it to absolute nothingness while completely ignoring conventional durability.
Acquired Trait — [Brynhildr] (Red)
Effect: One of the strongest cursed demon swords. Acts as a physical medium to channel and stabilize the power of [Banishing Shift].
Acquired Trait — [Hero] (Purple)
Effect: Grants superhuman physical conditioning, master-tier swordsmanship, and high-speed movement mechanics. Passively provides heavy resistance to low-class magic and a high-tier healing factor.
Acquired Trait — [Devil King / Demon Lord] (Gold)
Effect: Grants direct access to Royal Devil Bloodline abilities—primarily Gravity Magic (Banyuusekiryoku)—allowing you to manipulate gravitational forces to crush or pin down opponents.
Acquired Trait — [Dragon King] (Red)
Effect: Your soul rejects absolute laws, granting the conceptual ability to split, repel, or erase forces that oppose your path.
Acquired Trait — [Togami (High-Lineage Divine Tribe)] (Red)
Effect: Bestows a Divine Aura and Divine Protection, completely shielding you from absolute corruption, mental interference, and demonic abysses.
I stared at the glowing notifications hovering in the air, feeling the staggering weight of the power surging through my veins.
I took back every bad thought I had five minutes ago.
Well... I fucking love this world.
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[Satoru Mikami / Basara Toujou]
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