DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 10

This chapter is meant to explain the mechanics of the world and how it works. It is not necessary to read to enjoy the story, so feel free to skip this chapter if you are not interested in the lore/history of the world.

Think of this as something similar to the stats guide in Fate/Stay Night.

...

The Devil's Guidebook For The Newly Reincarnated

Evil Pieces Classification:

Class: King/Queen/Rook/Knight/Bishop/Pawn

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: N/A

Endurance: N/A

Agility: N/A

Mana: N/A

Luck: N/A

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

Ranking:

There are five main Rankings E, D, C, B & A

Note that the gaps between ranks are large. So much so that it's more than possible for a fighter to defeat multiple opponents of a single rank beneath him.

E = The base value and it is estimated to be 10 times more powerful than an average human.

D = High-Class Devils

C = Ultimate Class / 8-10 winged Angel

B = Maou Class / 12 winged Angel / Lower gods

A = Super Devil / Greater Gods / Evil Dragons

Ex = The 'Ex' rank is applied when the power cannot be classified in the normal system. While it can be applied to extremely powerful creatures such as the Great Red, it also includes abilities that are simply too unique or esoteric in nature to be properly measured. Examples include 'Time Travel' or Curses or Abilities that grow more powers the stronger the enemy it is used on.

'+' = The plus sign indicates that under certain circumstances, a Stat may exceed the designated rank by up to, but no higher, than one rank.

For example, a Bishop's speed may increase from an E Rank to a D Rank when flying in the air if the Devil in question was a highly skilled flyer. In such a case, a rank of E+ would be awarded.

'++' indicates that the Stat may increase by two ranks, while '+++' by three.

'-' = The minus sign indicates that the Stat doesn't completely qualify for its rank either due to it being too weak for the rank yet too strong to justify a lower ranking, or has a flaw or weakness that prevents it from completely qualifying for the Rank.

For example, a Knight may have a C rank in endurance, but due to the inherited weakness of the legs for Knight classes, the Devil's legs may only qualify for a D rank in endurance. In such a case, a rank of C- would be awarded.

The gaps in power between Ranks also increase as they get higher. For example, the difference in strength between E and D rank is many times smaller than the difference between B and A.

Racial Traits:

Devil's Luck: All devils are blessed (or cursed) with the Luck Of The Devil.

A Devil's luck is influenced heavily by how powerful the Devil in question is. An extremely powerful Devil will result in luck that can rival a Dragon's. It will attract other powerful beings to the Devil as well as potential mates of the opposite gender, and will often allow the Devil to stumble upon the most unusual situations.

There have been documented cases in the past where powerful Devils have either stumbled on a damsel in distress on the way home for work or even have found themselves accidentally walking into the middle of a Cthulhu summoning rituals involving the sacrifice of virgins while taking a random late-night stroll (each of the four current Maous have reported experiencing both of these events).

Whether such luck can be considered a blessing or a curse depends on the Devil's personality. Those who seek battle or adventure will see it as a blessing. While those who wish for peaceful lives will look upon it as a curse.

It is rumoured that the Maou Falbuim Asmodeus has the potential to one day become a Super Devil with enough training but refuses to do so in fear of what would become of his life if he was to gain the luck of a Super Devil. Such was his fear of receiving such luck that it is believed to be one of the attributing factors to his famed laziness.

While the Super Devil Sirzechs Lucifer, who is considered to be the strongest Devil alive, is banned from every casino in the Underworld due to his absurdly monstrous luck. He had at one point been known to experience consecutive winning streaks in games of pure chance such a roulette.

An extremely weak Devil's luck, however, will have no notable difference from an ordinary human's.

Flight:

All Devils are cable of flight.

Though Devils Reincarnated from species without wings tend to be less skilled flyers than their natural-born counterparts as they lack the innate instincts of flying, all Devils can eventually become skilled flyers given enough time and practice.

Weakness to Holy and Light elements:

Due to being classified as 'Dark' beings; all devils have an inherited weakness to 'light'. Holy magic on the other is not naturally harmful to devils but artificially made to be so.

It was said that before the original Satan was cast out from Heaven for defying God, he bore none of the innate weaknesses Devils currently carry towards Holy magic and was even able to wield Holy magic himself. But that all ended with his fall.

The Holy element is an artificially created element. Unlike the other natural elements such as light and fire that existed since the creation of the earth, Holy was brought to existence in the world through the will of God and is thus is considered to be a reflection of God's will.

As God has rejected all Devils, due to his anger at the Satan's betrayal, so has the Holy element rejected devils in turn.

While Light and Holy magic are often incorrectly considered to be the same, there is a significant difference between the two despite their resemblance. It is why crosses and Holy water are harmful to Devils despite not containing any Light element within them.

Please note, that attacks that are made up of both Holy and Lights elements are extremely dangerous to devils. An Angel's light spears contain both Holy and Light elements while the light spears of Fallen Angels only consists of Light element. It is for this reason that Heaven was still considered a dangerous threat to Hell, despite the existence of two Super Devils and the substantial increase in the number of devils thanks to the creation of the evil piece system.

Silver Tongue:

All Devils are blessed with a Silver Tongue.

This ability allows them to understand all spoken languages, even ones that are not human-based. As long as it can be spoken through a human's mouth, it can be understood. Though this only works with face-to-face communication. The magic behind this ability requires both parties to be physically present to function.

When communicating over the over long distances by non-magical means, such as through the telephone, this ability will have no effect. However, the 'Silver Tongue' will allow Devils to learn the language they are speaking in at a prodigal rate, enabling Devils to achieve near-native proficiency in under a year when immersed in an environment where they are continually forced to speak said language. Which is the reason why many older Devils are able to naturally communicate in dozens of different tounges.

There are however two flaws with this ability. Written languages are effected and thus must be learned naturally. Expressions and idioms that don't have an exact match in a language that the devil naturally knows will fail to translate, or worse, are translated incorrectly.

Take heed of the second flaw as it has been known to lead to disaster.

A well-known example of this occurred approximately three thousand years ago, during the reign of King Solomon the wise. A High-Class devil of the now extinct Naberius Clan named Alcaeus was able to successfully establish a contract with the King, who was considered the most influential human of the time.

While the precise details of the contract were lost to time and war, what records remain showed that the family profited heavily from it.

Unfortunately, the entire thing ended in disaster after a translation error. Alcaeus despite thoroughly researching the king's culture in order to negotiate properly, never bothered to take the time to learn to speak the language naturally.

At the time, it was customary to start a conversation with casual personal matters, such as the health and wellbeing of one's children, before leading the conversation to more professional matters such a business and trade. It was apparently meant to demonstrate that you cared about a business partner's wellbeing instead of just simply their money. A common conversation started was news about was one's family.

During this particular conversation, King Solomon's mother was brought up and Alcaeus naturally tried to pay the King's mother a compliment. That was when disaster struck.

While the exact words he had intended to say were lost to time what he actually ended up saying was well recorded. According to first-hand accounts from attending Ministers and the King himself, Alcaeus ended up calling the King's mother a 'hot piece of ass'. While historians believe that this was likely a result of a translation error of the spell, it didn't matter in the end for poor Alcaeus.

The King was understandably so enraged by what he perceived as a Devil trying to seduce his mother that he promptly chopped his head off.

Let this be a lesson to all you new Devils. Be careful when using a language you're not familiar with. You never know when you may end up making a pass on someone's mother. You might end up losing your head when you least expect it.

Creatures of the Night:

Devils are nocturnal creatures.

They have more energy and strength during the night, while daylight leaves them drained and lethargic. Devils, like most nocturnal creatures, are also gifted with excellent night visions allowing them to see even in the darkest of nights.

Devil Magic:

All Devils are capable of casting and using a form of magic only available to Devils. Unlike human magicians that utilize their knowledge of equations and runes to cast spells, Devils can cast spells through the power of their imagination alone.

In the most basic sense, all a Devil has to do to cast a spell is to will their magic into the form they desire. For example, if a Devil wished to cast a ball of fire all he needed to do was pour out their magic and will it into the form of a flame.

While there are of course limitations in essence, with enough training and practice, a Devil may cast any feat of wonder they set their mind to. And unlike humans, magic is instinctive to all Devils, even Reincarnated ones.

There have been documented cases where newly Reincarnated Devils were successfully able to use magic without any aid or instruction.

Shape-Shifting:

Devils are born with the innate ability to shapeshift their form, though only to a very limited extent. While it cannot be used for extreme changes, such a growing an extra limb, it can be used to alter one's appearance.

Most notably, Devils are cable of adjusting their appearance to make them appear either younger or older than their actual age. This is the reason why Devils thousands of years old may appear to be in their mid-twenties.

While changing the colour of one's hair and skin is not possible, Devils are capable of removing or shifting the fat in their body. Finding an obese Devil is rare thanks to this ability. It would take a truly obscene amount of food for a Devil to become fat.

A recent trend among younger Devils is to shape their fat into muscles or curves to improve their appearances. Do note however that even if you shape your fat to look like a muscle, you will not gain any actual strength.

Reinforced body:

Devils, like all magical beings, gain their physical strength from their magic. All Devils, both born and reincarnated, have an almost instinctive ability to automatically reinforce their body with magic to harden and strengthen it. This is the source of a Rooks strength and the Knights speed.

Yet why do the Bishop, the piece with the highest magical ability, do not enjoy these benefits?

The reason for this phenomenon is due to the amount of Mana a Bishop's body can handle.

Fortunately Devils, unlike human mages, have nothing to fear from infusing their body with too much Mana as their minds are able to instinctively regulate the amount, blocking them from going over their bodies limit.

Some unfortunate Devils in the past, in an attempt to gain more power, have attempted to overcome this limit by shutting down their minds' ability to block the flow of Mana. They theorized that their body may be capable of handling far more Mana than they were currently utilizing, thus by removing these mental blocks a Devil would be able to reach unprecedented levels of strength.

All Devils involved in these experiments have died with rather predictable, and messy, results.

It was a common trait for most magical creatures with high Mana reserves to lack a body capable of utilizing said reserve to the fullest. As a matter of fact, almost every known species fell under this category. A good trait to have, all things considered, as anyone with a body that was capable of handling their complete reserves would drain their body of Mana almost immediately. A rather fatal weakness.

Although there are exceptions to this rule.

The most notable of these are the Nekoshou. A rare sub-species of Nekomata (humanoid Cat Yokai) that despite having only above-average magical reserves, are blessed with bodies that are capable of wielding massive amounts of Mana. So much so, that if an average Nekomata tried using their body to their maximum capacity they would drain through their entire magic supply in a matter of seconds.

Fortunately for them, Nekoshous had developed a way to circumvent this particular issue.

Nekoshous are fundamentally different from other Nekomata breeds in that they are capable of wielding Senjutsu. Senjutsu allows them to absorb the life energy, more commonly known as chakra, from the world around them into their bodies. Using Chakra as a substitute for Mana, they're then capable of using their bodies to its maximum potential.

Unfortunately due to recent events, Nekoshous have become a rare and mostly unwelcome species in the Devil community (for more information please look up the information in the chapter on Yokai Races).

Some newly Reincarnated Devils with high magical reserves have occasion been found to have trouble controlling their newfound strength and end up crushing anything they hold. Never fear though as this period rarely ever lasts long, and they as soon naturally find themselves adapting to their newfound strength.

It is however advised that these Devils be isolated from normal human and refrain from handling fragile valuables until they have learned to restrain their power. It an unfortunately common occurrence for these newly incarnated Devils to end up hurting themselves and the people around them during this time.

Curse of the 7 Sins:

Devils, due to their very existence being an embodiment of sin, are especially suitable to the seven 'deadly' sins from the bible.

These are:

Lust

Gluttony

Greed

Sloth

Wrath

Envy

Pride

Most, if not all, Devils embody at least one of these sins. Some represent several.

However, if it was simply a matter of being 'sinful', the 7 sins would not be known as a curse. The problem lay in the tendency Devil's have of losing control of themselves while indulging in these sins.

There have been cases of Devils who embodied Gluttony spent every waking moment eating whatever food they could get their hands-on, not sparing the time to do anything else, not even bathing. While a Devil who embodied Wrath would attack anyone over the slightest insult, even just something as minor as numbing into them in the middle of a crowded street could set them off.

In an effort to limit the effect of these sins, Pure-Blooded Devils (who are especially susceptible to the 7 sins) tend to pick one of the 7 sins and deliberately indulge in it in a controlled manner.

For example, a Devil who chooses to indulges in Lust would often create a harem of women (or men) out of their Peerage members and act out their lust on said Peerage, but only on their Peerage. By conditioning themselves to limit their desires on their Peerage/harem they eventual train themselves to only indulge in their lust only on them, thus preventing their weakness from acting out in another unpleasant manner.

It also the reasons why harems are such a common thing in the Devil community.

Please note, that due to the low birthrates in the Devil community, homosexuality is highly frowned upon and is considered by many to be a betrayal of one's duty as a Devil, especially in the Pure-Blooded community which has been dying out in recent years.

Bisexually, however, is a completely accepted and even an encouraged practice as long as it was an act of lust, not love.

Another example of using a Peerage to limit a deadly sin is Greed. Some Devils, after setting their sights on a particular individual to join their Peerage, would go to extreme lengths to capture their heart's desire. Lying and deceiving a potential peerage member is a common occurrence, and even arranging their death by a third party then 'saving' them by reincarnating them with an Evil Piece is not an uncommon occurrence. The Greed for the targets may cloud the mind of even the most ethical of Devils.

In a twist of irony, that very same Greed ends up making those Devil the very best kind of masters to serve under, as their Greed would never allow them to ever let any of their Peerage members go. The lengths that these Devils would go to make they Peerage members happy so that they'll willingly stay with them for all eternity can defy all sense of reason.

The Gremory Clan is especially renowned for their Greed when it comes to their Peerage. It's been said that they're willing to their peerage as family in their effort to keep them happy.

When the Maou Sirzechs Lucifer was still a Gremory, was said to have desired Grayfia Lucifuge, his current wife and Queen, so badly that he had begun romancing and courting her in the very peek of the Civil War. Furthermore, he later ended up leading a charge deep into enemy territory for the sole purpose of retrieving her when her family locked her away to prevent the two from meeting.

While Reincarnated Devils may to not show any particular disposition to these sins at first, given time, they will, one and all, succumb to them in time. The effects of the 7 sins have been noted to grow as the newly made Devil's abilities develop. The stronger the Devil, the more easily they would fall to temptation.

While Devils as whole embrace these sins, partially because they enjoy it and partially because it tends to infuriate their Angel counterpart so much, it is considered a sign of weakness for a Devil to succumb to one of these sins. Devils are expected to be in control of their sins, not allow their sins to control them.

This was the reason why the Maous are traditionally expected to take a single mate rather than a harem. As the leaders of all Devil-kind, they are expected to set an example on how Devils, even ones as powerful as them and thus more susceptible, can resist the most common temptations, lust.

The three most common Sins among Devils are Lust, Greed and Pride.

Stats:

Please note that the following information is based on the base parameters of a newly Reincarnated Devil with a standard King as a master.

Stats can vary greatly depending on the strength and skill of the Reincarnated Devil, the number of Evil Pieces used in the reincarnation process and the pure magical ability or raw strength of their King.

Stats can also change over time with training.

Class: Knight (Base)

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: E

Endurance: E-

Agility: D

Mana: E-

Luck: E

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

Class: Rook (Base)

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: D

Endurance: D

Agility: E-

Mana: E

Luck: E+

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

Class: Bishop (Base)

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: E-

Endurance: E-

Agility: E

Mana: D

Luck: E

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

Class: Pawn (Base) - single pawn piece

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: E-

Endurance: E

Agility: E-

Mana: E-

Luck: E-

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

Class: Queen (Base)

Master:

Official Rank:

Race:

Strength: D-

Endurance: D-

Agility: D-

Mana: D-

Luck: D-

Sacred Gear/ Ability/ Weapon: N/A

For newly initiated Devils, these ranks may appear to be rather low but that is only because they fail to comprehend the true meaning behind them.

Even a Devil with an E Rank in Strength will have enough strength to crush a human's skull with their bare hands and bench press several times their weight. While a Devil with a D rank in Magic may have enough power to destroy a building, one with a B rank in Magic will have enough power to destroy a small country several times over.

The gaps in Ranks are huge so never underestimate an opponent, even one with a 'mere' E rank in Strength. You may end up getting your hand crushed if you're not careful.

Do not be discouraged if you find yourself with an unusually low rank (Pawns I'm looking at you here), Devils are creatures that can live for hundreds of years and as long as they train their strength will never stop growing. Unlike humans, Devils have practically no uppers limits to their power. As long as you continue to train, you will continue to grow.

There is a reason why the strongest Devils in the Underworld are centuries old. No matter how talented you are, nothing can replace the strength gained through years of training and experience. Even the Maou themselves were once considered weak.

As the Strongest living Devil Sirzechs Lucifer said:

"Power earned will always surpass power given."

Personal Skills:-

Every individual has certain skills that can benefit them either inside or outside of combat. Personal skills should not be mistaken with Racial Traits, which are available to everyone from that particular species, or Inherited Power, which is magic, passed down through blood such the Power of Destruction.

Examples of Personal Skills are Swordsmanship (one's skill in wielding the sword) and Charisma (The natural talent to lead and inspire either individuals or groups)

While most Personal Skills are positive in nature there do exist negative skills, such as the 'Natural Berserker' Skill (where one losing himself in the heat of battle and becomes incapable of higher thought).

Personal Skills are just as important, if not more, than an individual's Stats. Stats can be considered a measure of physical capability, then Personal skills can be considered as the talents that can effectively make use of your physical capabilities.

Sacred Gears:-

Also known as God's Artifacts are items bestowed upon humans by God.

They are powerful objects that grant humanity supernatural abilities that would have been otherwise impossible for them to gain. There are thousands of types of Sacred Gears around the world, each with a variety of effects. Some are supportive in nature, such as healing Sacred Gears. Others are more combat-oriented and grant their wielder the strength to fight supernatural beings head-on.

There even exist Sacred Gears that are able to kill gods.

These are the Longinus, named after the spear that slew the Son of God, and thirteen of them were gifted upon mankind. Be advised that if you ever find yourself facing a Longinus wielder in battle, run. Just turn around and run. Nothing short of an Ultimate-Class Devil can take down even the weakest trained Longinus wielder.

(And for those of you foolish enough to disregard my sound advice and attempt to try and fight a Longinus user in battle anyway. Keep in mind that when you die, and you will die, your soul will not end up in Heaven as by being reincarnated into Devils you are no longer eligible to enter those pearly gates. You are going to end up in a far darker place. So do your forsaken soul a favour and just run.)

God gifted humanity these Sacred Gears to protect them. He heard the suffering of his children, how died by the millions at the hand of the Supernatural, and moved by their plight he acted. That is why he forged the Sacred Gears, to grant humanity the power to fight back against the monsters of the world.

For they are his divine gifts, a holy blessing which he intended to bestow upon mankind and only mankind.

Naturally, as Devils, we try to fuck up God's plans whenever we can.

Devils would often go to great lengths to recruit Sacred Gears wielders into their peerage, not only because they tend to make exceptionally powerful Devils compared to normal humans, but because there is nothing funnier for us Devils to see one of God's well-crafted plans get shafted, as the very weapons he created to hinder us, make us stronger instead.

Rumour has it that Michael almost had a heart attack when the first sacred gear user was reincarnated as a Devil.

Furthermore, there is one other key thing to note about Sacred Gears.

At one point in the past, it had been widely believed that Sacred Gear users were randomly selected. It was theorized that once the host of a Sacred Gear dies, the Sacred Gear will instantly transfer to a newly conceived human and latch onto its soul.

The theory, however, was disproven after Sacred Gears researchers found that the Gears can take up to ten years to find a host and be born back into the world (due to their existence multiple version of the same Sacred Gears and the time it took for their wielders to awaken them, it took centuries of research to discover this fact).

It is now known that Sacred Gears are paired up with the souls of individuals that match them the most. Healing Sacred Gears, as an example, would never end up with a soul that enjoys violence and combat, even though such a Sacred Gear would be extremely useful for any warrior. Instead, they would always pair up with people that have a kind and gentle nature, they type that would desire nothing more than to help others (many of these people would have eventually become doctors or healers even if they never awoken their Sacred Gear).

This is most evident with Dragon based Sacred Gears, where every wielder of such gears in recorded history all shared similar characteristic to that of a dragon. They were all proud individuals with confidence in their strength, if not outright arrogance, and an insatiable lust for battle.

The current wielder of the Divine Dividing Sacred Gears, Vali Lucifer, is a prime example.