---
Kuoh Academy, Afternoon – Student Council Office
The late afternoon sun slanted through the tall windows of the student council room, casting golden rays across the polished floor. Sona Shitori sat at her desk, posture perfect, her fingers interlaced atop a folder labeled in bold letters: "Subject: Kaizen."
Kaizen stood silently across from her, his arms crossed, the gentle hum of Gearflow Intuition quietly feeding him streams of data from his surroundings.
"It's unusual for someone like you to remain unaffiliated for this long," Sona began, voice measured and cool. "Given your power level, most factions would be scrambling to recruit you."
Kaizen offered a faint smile. "I don't make it easy."
"That much is clear," she said, pushing the file toward him. "We've been monitoring your activities, Kaizen. I know about your duels with Riser and Kokabiel, your training with Akeno, and your… interactions with Rias."
"Let me guess," Kaizen replied, flipping the folder open. "You want to know which side I'm really on."
Sona's gaze sharpened. "Don't misunderstand me. I don't question your actions—but I do question your motives."
Kaizen looked her in the eye. "Then let me make it simple. I'm not here to take sides. I'm here to stop something."
"Something?" she echoed. "What do you mean?"
Kaizen paused, as if deciding how much to reveal. "The multiverse isn't as stable as people believe. Worlds are colliding. Forces that shouldn't exist here are trying to breach the veil. And I'm not the only traveler."
That caught her attention. "Others like you?"
He nodded. "Some are worse. Much worse. And one of them… is already here."
---
Elsewhere – Dimensional Rift
A ripple tore through the fabric of reality in a place not meant to be seen. A figure stepped through the rift, draped in a tattered cloak of blackened feathers, its face obscured by a mask of bone.
It looked toward the direction of Earth—the DxD universe—its voice a mere whisper to the void:
"So… Kaizen is here too. Perfect."
---
Kuoh Academy – Courtyard, Sunset
Kaizen exited the council building, his thoughts heavy. The conversation with Sona had confirmed something he already suspected—he was running out of time. The balance of this world was delicate, and the more involved he became, the more likely it was to tip.
He barely made it a few steps before a familiar presence fell in step beside him.
"You've been busy," Akeno said softly, her voice playful but tinged with concern.
"I could say the same about you," he replied.
She smiled but didn't deny it. "Rias is planning something. Big. She hasn't told me what, but she's been tense lately."
Kaizen looked to the sky, the orange light bleeding into the horizon. "Kokabiel was just the beginning. There's more coming. Worse than him."
Akeno studied his expression. "You've seen it, haven't you? The future."
"Not the future," he said. "Just… the pattern."
She stopped, placing a hand gently on his arm. "And where does that pattern lead?"
He met her gaze, eyes calm and ancient. "To war."
---
Rias Gremory's Office – Same Time
Rias stood at her desk, fingers lightly tracing the rim of a summoning circle etched into a darkened scroll. The candlelight flickered, casting shifting shadows along the walls.
"Kaizen," she murmured. "Who are you really? And why… does part of me want to trust you so much?"
The door creaked open behind her, and Koneko walked in silently.
"He's different," the petite neko said without preamble. "But not bad."
Rias turned. "You feel that too?"
Koneko nodded. "He's like… something old pretending to be young."
A flicker of a smile touched Rias's lips. "Old souls tend to find young wars."
---
Later That Night – The Occult Research Club
Kaizen sat alone in the main room, the lights dimmed and the familiar scent of incense curling through the air. He stared at the ancient gear-like object in his hand—the mysterious artifact that first reacted when he arrived in this world.
Gearflow Intuition had been growing stronger. More detailed. As if something—or someone—was trying to reach out through it.
Then, a voice echoed in his mind. Not the AI.
But a presence.
"You've begun to remember. Good. You'll need it."
Kaizen's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
"A fragment of what you lost. And a warning."
Images flashed in his mind: worlds crumbling, fire and feathers, a throne in ruins. And at the center, a shadow… with his face.
"They're coming for you, Kaizen. You must choose. Protect this world… or preserve yourself."
He clenched the gear tightly, the whisper fading.
But the weight of the warning remained
---
🌌 Midnight – Kaizen's Dimensional Pocket
Inside the private dimensional pocket Kaizen used for deep meditation and training, the atmosphere was both serene and unreal—floating stone platforms drifted across an endless star-lit sky, glowing softly under his feet.
He sat cross-legged, focusing on the gear-shaped artifact glowing in front of him. The strange voice he had heard earlier still echoed faintly in his mind.
"A fragment of what you lost..."
Kaizen allowed his consciousness to reach deeper into the artifact, past its material shell, and into the quantum memory layered beneath. It responded to his touch—not as technology, but as a living mechanism bound to his very being.
Click.
The gear turned.
And his mind flooded with memories—not full, but pieces. He saw a girl crying in a dying world, her eyes the same violet as a flame that never extinguished. He saw his hand reaching out, again and again, across countless realities.
He had done this before. Saved worlds. Changed them. But something always followed him—a shadow that twisted the good he did into something worse.
The AI's voice returned:
「WARNING: Memory fragment integration exceeding safe cognitive threshold. Proceeding may destabilize anchor to host reality.」
"Proceed," Kaizen whispered.
His body trembled as golden light surged through his veins, temporarily igniting his true nature. His irises spun like gears, glowing with multiversal essence.
Kaizen's hidden power—Eidogear Ascendance—was awakening.
---
⚔️ Morning – Kuoh Academy Forest Perimeter
The next day arrived with tension so thick it bled through the trees near Kuoh Academy's warded boundary. Sona Shitori had summoned a small gathering of key figures—Rias, Akeno, Tsubaki, and Kaizen—after detecting a distortion spike near the dimensional veil.
The distortion rippled again.
And then something stepped through.
A humanoid shape, cloaked in black and red, its body leaking multiversal static like radiation. Its face was covered by a featureless mask, and its voice crackled with malice.
> "Ahh… finally. I've found you."
Kaizen stepped forward, shielding the others with a raised hand. "You're not from this world."
The figure tilted its head. "And neither are you, brother."
The silence hit like a thunderclap.
"Brother?" Akeno echoed, eyes wide.
Rias narrowed her eyes. "Explain. Now."
Kaizen's fists clenched. "He's not my brother by blood… but he's one of us. A Wanderer—one of the corrupted ones."
The enemy reached into the air and pulled a jagged, gear-shaped blade from the void.
> "I am Kael, bearer of the Shattered Cog. I am what you could have been, Kaizen… had you chosen power over mercy."
Kael rushed forward, moving at speeds beyond any devil or fallen angel. Kaizen met him head-on. Their clash lit up the forest like a thunderstorm made of steel and fury.
---
🌪️ Battle – Kaizen vs. Kael
Kael was strong. Too strong.
His every move tore rifts in the air, striking with jagged temporal echoes. Kaizen countered with precision, flowing like water but striking like a hammer. Sparks flew from their limbs as they moved with speed and grace that left even Akeno speechless.
Kael's blade scraped Kaizen's arm, drawing multiversal energy instead of blood.
"Still hesitating?" Kael taunted. "Still pretending to be a hero?"
Kaizen's eyes flared gold. "No. Just saving my strength."
Eidogear: Phase I – Unlocked.
Golden circuits laced across Kaizen's skin, gears spinning at his shoulders and wrists like a living machine. The ground around him bent under the pressure of released energy.
He struck back—this time forcing Kael back.
Rias shouted, "The dimensional barrier is collapsing!"
Sona activated a containment field, but it would only last minutes. Kaizen knew what he had to do.
"I'm taking him with me," he said to the group. "I can't let this place be destroyed because of him."
"No!" Akeno stepped forward, her lightning flaring. "You don't have to fight alone!"
Kaizen turned, his eyes filled with something more ancient than sorrow. "Yes, I do. This is my past catching up to me."
He raised his hand, and a portal began to form—a one-way gate to a null zone where time stood still.
Kael laughed. "Running again?"
Kaizen smirked. "No. Just cleaning up my mess."
The two vanished into the portal, which slammed shut behind them like a coffin lid.
---
⏳ A Few Hours Later – Occult Research Club
The group gathered silently, the room tense with worry. Rias sat with her hands clasped together, unable to hide her frustration. Akeno, for once, wasn't smiling. Koneko nibbled a cookie, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"He saved us," Tsubaki said softly. "But he left alone."
"Kaizen always comes back," Issei said with rare seriousness. "He's too stubborn not to."
Sona folded her arms. "We'll scan all dimensional layers for signs of him. He's not gone… just displaced."
Rias clenched her fists. "He better come back."
Akeno added, quietly, "Because when he does… I'm going to kiss him and punch him in the face."
Everyone blinked.
She looked away, cheeks flushed. "In that order."
---
🌠 Final Scene – Dimensional Null Zone
In a frozen space of gray and lightless dust, Kaizen floated above an unconscious Kael, battered but alive.
His body glowed softly—Eidogear: Phase I still active. He winced as he looked at his reflection in the fractured void.
"Still not strong enough," he whispered. "But I will be."
And somewhere, faintly, he felt the warmth of bonds formed in this world—people who believed in him, waited for him.
A place that felt, strangely… like home.
---
End of Chapter 14