Chapter 1. Well... This is my life now

The Underworld is a realm that goes by many names, the Netherworld, Hell, Helheim, Yomi, Diyu, Naraka, Duat, Kur, and many others. It is the same size as Earth, but unlike the mortal world it has no oceans, only lakes. Which means there is a lot more landmass in comparison. It is for the most part, the home of two of the Biblical Factions, the Devils and the Fallen Angels. But, it is also the home of the Gods of Hell.

The devils are primarily ruled over by the Four Great Satans, also known as the Four Yondai Mauo or Four Great Demon Lords. After the death of the Original Satans at the end of the Great War, they were replaced by the currently strongest devils available, who also performed great deeds during the war. Those being Sirzechs Lucifer (formerly Sirzechs Gremory), Ajuka Beelzebub (formerly Ajuka Astaroth), Serafall Leviathan (formerly Serafall Sitri) and Falbium Asmodeus (formerly Falbium Glasya-Labolas). Each Satan holds a different responsibility over devil society. Satan Lucifer occupies Domestic Affairs, Satan Beelzebub controls the Technology Department, Satan Leviathan keeps track of Foreign Affairs and Satan Asmodeus orders Military Affairs.

However, before the New Satans were chosen, the de-facto leader of the devils was Zekram Bael, the First Great King of the 72 Pillars and the very first head of the House of Bael. Currently however, he is the leader of the Great King Faction, also known as the Council of Elders. An order made up of all the oldest devils who were involved during the Great War. They are the ones who hold responsibility over the affairs that happen within the remaining 32 Noble Houses of devil society. They usually make the final decisions regarding ownership of territory as well as engagements between younger devils of the families.

On the other side however, we have the fallen angels lead by Azazel, their Governor General, who is also known as the Blazer Shining or Darkness Blade Governor among the fallen angels of the Grigori, an organization created by Azazel and the other Cadre Fallen Angels. The Grigori are known as The Watchers of the Children of God, and that is primarily what they do. The Fallen Angels of the Grigori have a deep interest in recruiting humans that wield Sacred Gears. Also known as God's Artifacts, they are items with powerful abilities bestowed upon humans by the God of the Bible. By his side, Azazel is joined by Shemhazai, Co-Founder of the Grigori and the first Vice Governor General of the Fallen, and Baraqiel, the Lightning of God and second Vice Governor General of the Fallen.

Finally, we have the Gods of Hell, also known as the Chthonic Deities. A sub-faction that was formed after the end of the Great War. The war was devastating for not just the Biblical Factions, but also all the others. With numerous Pantheons losing the lives of several of their gods, causing things to go unbalanced, especially in the Underworld. To counteract this, the Rulers of the Underworld and the God-Kings came up with the idéa of forming a new pantheon that would be located in the Underworld and be made up of only gods that had a connection with death and the afterlife. This was to make it easier for them, as they usually dealt with souls of the deceased and other dark forces connected to the realm.

They are lead by the Ten Chief Gods of the Underworld, or the Ten God-Kings of Hell, which consists of Hades, Hel, Izanami, Enma, Yama, Osiris, Ereshkigal, Scathach, Mot and Mictlantecuhtli.

This council of gods was formed in order to make it easier for the factions to deal with the overabundance of deceased souls that wandered the realms after the great war. This would allow them to aid each other by lending their forces to one another, like Hades giving the Spawns of Nyx free rein, Izanami and Enma letting the Shinigami spread out to all pantheons to lend their aid, and the formation of a sub-species of gods called the Grim Reapers who would aid all the God-Kings of Hell.

However, it is not only these races that reside within the vast Underworld, there are numerous species of creatures residing all across, some having even migrated from Earth and the other realms, like the dragons, youkai, giants, asuras, dark elves, all the different fauna residing in the familiar forest and of course, Vamp- "STOP! STOP! MY HEAD'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!!"

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A white haired devil wearing a red hoodie is seen rolling on the ground in agony while holding his head. The young man finds himself somewhere in the middle of a forest, by the side of a lake and underneath an ominous purple sky. Obviously, because of the discolored sky, the boy figured that he was far from home and decided to ask the robotic voice in his head where he was. The result? His mind was bombarded with a brief history lesson that gave him way too much information all at once, resulting in the stop, drop and roll headache he is currently experiencing.

"Note to self; be careful what you ask for from the System." Ajita Viné murmured as the headache finally stopped.

"Ok, let's not panic. Nothing is going to get done if I panic like I'm at a disco."

Standing up, he took a quick look at himself. Like already mentioned, he wears a stylish red hoodie, with a golden star on his left shoulder. He wears grey sport pants with a belt-like accessory attached, and black and white lace-up shoes to go with it. Overall, he looked casual and yet stylish. In fact, he would even say that he looked quite handsome, maybe even cute.

"Well, at least one good thing came out of this. Now if only that wasn't followed up with at least 10 negatives." He looks back at the blue screen floating in front of him, taking a closer look at the mission that he was given by this Gacha Reward System.

{Mission: Dhampir Maiden in Danger!}

{Description: A young fair blood sucking maiden weilding a powerful artifact is being abused by her very own flesh and blood in her Royal Family's castle. Infiltrate the Tepes Vampire Clans VERY heavely guarded fortress castle and save Valerie Tepes like a prince in shining armour!}

{Rewards: 1 Potential Future Wife and 1 SR Draw.}

{Secret Reward: ???}

"So I really am in DxD?" Ajita couldn't help but sigh in resignation. Don't get him wrong, he loves the world and the characters of the work of Ichiei Ishibumi like any other weeb. But if you really took a moment to think about it, you'd realize that it's not the safest world to live in.

A world where all mythologies and folklore are real? Sounds like a nightmare. We are talking not just devils that enslave humans through contracts, but gods capable of creating natural disasters just by throwing a temper tantrum. Along with dragons and other beasts capable of ending the world if they wanted to. Who would willingly want to live in a world where that is a possibility? However, this was not the reason why Ajita was thinking that this situation was bad. No, the reason was more personal.

"But... Who is Valerie Tepes again? That name does sound familiar and important, but I can't put my finger on it as to why."

Ajita Viné never read the Lightnovels of Highschool DxD, only the first 2 seasons of the anime and some parts of the manga. Any additional information that he possesses is only because of him reading through the DxD wiki page.

"Her last name is Tepes, so I assume she's a vampire. Because Vlad Dracula Tepes and all that. Is she perhaps that friend of Gasper Vladi that I've heard people mention? Also, I don't remember there ever being something like the Chthonic Deities in DxD? Shit! Am I in an AU? Should I have read more of the fanon wiki pages of DxD as well? Is this world following canon or fanon? Did the Nekomata Massacre happen in this world?! If so, then any hope of peace between devils and youkai can be thrown right out the window!"

The red hood devil was so busy rambling out loud in a growing panic, that he did not notice the obvious growling threat that was stalking towards him from the woods. He continued to ramble out loud as a large black boar with six red eyes and four brutal looking thorn covered tusks, was stalking towards him while his back was turned. He only noticed when the starving animal suddenly rushed towards him while growling, causing the ground to shake because of its large frame as it closed in on the youth. Ajita turned around just in time as the demon pig jumped, like all pigs do, towards him.

"Dammit! I'm dead already!" On pure reflex, or perhaps instinct, Ajita extended his hands towards the animal in an attempt to stop it from skewering him. As his hands made contact with the beast's head, he felt a tingling sensation appear at the tip of his fingers and glowing cracks began appearing all over the monster's body, before it suddenly burst into a red mist and liquid, leaving nothing else behind but a traumatized devil.

...

Ajita sat there in shock, as the blood stained his clothing and he looked at his hands in a mix of trepidation and overwhelming relief. This was his first taste of the Viné Clan's demonic power, Re-Maker, also known as the Power of Reconstruction.

"Ok, I'm okay. I'm covered in liquified demon hog and I want to vomit. But, the smart survivalist in me knows that the smart thing to do is to hold it in and try to see if I can figure out the other half of this power."

He lightly places his hand on his left blood cover shoulder and pictures the pig being put together again. The tingling sensation in his fingers comes back and he can feel his clothes instantly becoming dry again. As for the boar, the result was a twitching, bony and noise making meatball that might as well squeal "kill me!"

"Nope, can't hold it in!" Our protagonist then proceeded to empty his stomach of whatever was within it.

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After some practice, Ajita managed to not only make himself a campfire with some practice of his power on close by trees, turning them into manageable dry sticks to burn. But he also managed to turn a boulder into a temporary shelter, which was nothing more than a small cave, and the boar into consumable chunks of meat. After really absorbing everything that's happened so far, our protagonist knows that dwelling on unnecessary details at this point is useless.

As much as he wants to know why he can't remember his previous name, or any other personal details of his background, he's come to accept that it is the System that removed his memories so that he wouldn't be stuck in the past and be depressed about it. Which in all honesty, he's thankful for. But he can't help but be filled with a sense of loss and uncertainty as to what he should do now. He only knows some basic information about the supernatural, devil society and the other factions of the Underworld. As well as some basic schooling from what he must assume is knowledge from his old life. Which only makes him curious about how old he was when he died and how he died.

"Judging by my body, I should be a teenager. Maybe around 15 or 16? Seems like a safe bet. First off, I need to know where in the Underworld I am. If I'm in Fallen Territory, then I'm screwed, and depending on which Devil House's territory I'm at, I might again be screwed."

He took a bite out of the juicy red meat and hummed in appreciation of the taste. Despite lacking spices, it was not bad. Ajita used Re-Maker to reshape the bones of the boar into makeshift skewers to pierce the meat with, as well as making sure there weren't any parasites or other stuff in the meat.

"Safe to say, devil magic is BS. When they said that it was powered by imagination, they were not lying. Kind of makes it all boring in a way, but at the same time I'm glad it's not too difficult."

He swallows the last chunk of meat, before pausing to look at the pile of bone skewers he made. Despite his short frame, somewhere around 165 cm or 5 feet 5 inches, he managed to eat the entire boar. His best guess is that using his demonic power drains a lot of mana and as a result, requires him to consume a lot of food.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can use these bones as makeshift weapons?" He pondered as he looked at the sharp white skewer. He paused as a sudden realization hit him.

"Hey System! How much time do I have to complete this mission?" It did not even take a second before the blue screen suddenly popped into existence in front of him.

{The last opportunity to complete the given mission is within 39 days, as it is that many days until Marius Tepes invites Rizevim Livan Lucifer into his castle to experiment on Valerie Tepes' Sacred Gear.}

{Failure to complete the mission will result in the loss of many lives, both innocent and not, and Valerie's fate to remain unchanged. As well as the host losing his chance to form several connections with important individuals of this world.}

That... is way worse of a consequence than he thought. He knows who Rizevim Livan Lucifer is, not personally of course, but he knows that he's the main antagonist for the majority of DxD, that he's related to Vali Lucifer in some way, and that he will be responsible for a lot of the major events that happens in the future of this world. Which means that Ajita has a chance already to make some major changes in the world, if he can rescue Valerie. 

"How in Go-OW!-Satans name am I supposed to rescue her?! Other than my demonic magic, which is pretty broken not gonna lie, I possess no skills that would be required for me to possibly infiltrate a fortress castle that belongs to a noble house of bloodsucking privileged pricks. Even with a little more than a month worth of time there is no-What is that?"

Ajita suddenly notices some type of notification mark on the blue screen, at the top right corner of it is what looks like a square shaped present with an exclamation mark on it. Thinking for a second that this screen functions in a similar manner to a touchscreen, he pressed the notification and receives the following.

{Congratulations! You know the basics of the Underworld's Factions.} 

{You're rewarded with one Rare Draw.}

{Congratulations! You survived and killed your first hostile encounter.}

{You're rewarded with one SR Draw.}

{Congratulations! You used your Clans demonic power for the first time.}

{You're rewarded with one Rare Draw.}

{Congratulations! You've made shelter and a camp by using your Clans demonic power.}

{You're rewarded with one SR Draw.}

{Congratulations! You've eaten a demonic beast and figured out how to safely consume it without suffering from deadly side effects.}

{You're rewarded with one SSR Draw.}

...

...

"Well... This is my life now."

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Words from the Author: As you can tell, this chapter began with a bit of world building to present some of the AU elements of this fic. Since this is going to be a multi-crossover and wanted to expand on certain elements that weren't in DxD canon.

The Ten God-Kings of Hell is mostly based on the Shiwang, or Ten Kings of Hell, from Chinese-Buddhist Mythology. Since this is a world where all mythologies are real in some way or form, I wanted to expand on it a bit and I really like the concept of the Gods that are connected with death, the afterlife or the underworld, all working together in some way.

So in this AU, after the Great War, a new Pantheon of only Death Gods was formed. And its leaders are:

Hades the Greek God of the Dead and Lord of the House of Hades.

Hel the Norse Goddess of Death and the Ruler of Helheim and Niflheim

Izanami the Primordial Shinto Goddess of Creation and Death

Enma the Buddhist King of Hell

Yama the Hindu God of Death, Justice and the Lord of Naraka

Osiris the Egyptian God of Fertility, Agriculture, the Afterlife, the Dead, Rebirth and Resurrection

Ereshkigal the Mesopotamian Goddess of Kur and Queen of the Underworld

Scathach the Celtic Warrior Goddess of Death, Shadows and Martial Arts

Mot the Canaanite God of Death and the Underworld

Mictlantecuhtli the Aztec God of the Dead and Ruler of Mictlan

You might have already seen some odd choices here. First: while King Enma of Buddhism is based on King Yama of Hinduism, and sometimes they even share names, they are treated and written as completely different beings. As such, that's why they are two seperate beings in this fic. But, I imagine that in the world of DxD, people sometimes confused the two with eachother because they tend to work together and share eachothers duties. Which would be a logical reason for why humans and other supernaturals that don't know them personally would think that they are the same person.

Second: I know that traditionally, Scathach is not a goddess. However, in some parts of Scottland, she is referred to as a Goddess of Death and she was adopted as a goddess in Norse Mythology through Skadi, though Skadi is a different goddess in this fics canon. I also just wanted an excuse to potentially put Fate characters here, what better way to do it than with both Scathach and Ereshkigal.

Lastly; the reason why Angra Mainyu is not a member of the Ten Kings is because he has never been a death god or a god associated with the Underworld traditionally. He is in Zoroastrianism the Spirit of Chaos, Evil, Darkness and Destruction. In other words, a being of pure evil. If you were to look at it from the perspective of the other gods, I highly doubt that more than half of them would have been fine with a god like him being a part of their pantheon.

I also imagine that a lot of pantheons suffered heavy losses after the war, which is why only certain gods were available to become members of the 10 Kings.

Hopefully you guys also like this concept. See you next chapter!