*Ring~ *Ring~
I heard the alarm clock.
"It's morning already?!"
I yelled as I looked at an hour.
My name is Nagumo Hajime, just your average high school student at Kuoh Academy, there is nothing particularly special about me, except...
"You are rather energetic for someone who just pulled an all-nighter"
I can see a spirit no one else can.
I sighed and looked at the spirit claiming to be me from an alternate reality, I, of course, believe non of what he says, I mean really? an alternate version of me? aside from having same hair and eye colour we are nothing alike, he's at least fifteen cm taller than me, has arms twice as thick as me, the dude's muscular, and has an aura that is a mix of a war veteran and a delinquent.
I sighed again and looked away, I've already concluded that this guy is just part of my imagination and I don't have time for this right now, I have to get ready for school, I don't need to wake up because I haven't even gone to bed yet.
"I see you still think I'm not real, huh"
"Of course not, I haven't gone crazy, you know?"
I said as I changed into school uniform
"haven't gone crazy, you say yet you still talk to me as if I'm real"
"Well, maybe I'm going crazy, but not crazy enough to believe whatever the hell you're telling me"
"A fair point, anyone who would believe me without a question would be a god damn idiot, regardless, go to the doctor then, trust me, no amount of medication will make me disappear"
By now I'm already dressed and went downstairs.
"I hate being in hospitals, the queues pure suffering for me"
I said and entered the kitchen, as always my parents aren't here, we never really have breakfast together because of their work, my mother is a shoujo mangaka and my dad is a game developer, it's not uncommon for them to pull all-nighters to meet the deadlines and sleep in the next morning, so this kinda thing is not surprising, I often helped them with their work, I have knowledge and skills in both fields, I've already decided what I'm gonna be in the future.
"So you're just going to ignore my existence ?"
"That's the plan, yes"
I may seem rude, but it really unbelievable story, if I get things right, just like in Norse mythology there are nine worlds, in his reality at least, in all of them there are world trees connecting them, but there's also another world, a world of origin, an eternal world where every possibility is converging, in this world there is another tree that supports the nine worlds, apparently, the alternate me wanted to explore this world, but doing it himself would be too dangerous, so he made a pseudo soul, synchronized it with himself, stuffed it in a golem and sent it to the world of origin, there some weird mumbo jumbo of spiritual things happened, the pseudo soul became an actual copy of an alternate me and was yeeted to this reality, which is a completely different dimension from his.
That's basically it, cool story, but no sane person would believe it.
"Hmph suit yourself"
"If you're telling the truth then prove it, show me some magic or something"
I said
"spellcasting is not my speciality, what little I can do by myself is impossible in this form"
"You can't prove it, is what you're saying"
I deadpanned
"I could reconstruct your body and make it stronger with metamorphosis, but that too is not my speciality, if I tried anything with that weak body of yours you could die, on that note you should start working out, never know when what future might bring"
"I'm no athlete and I've never gotten into a fight, so I'll pass on that workout, anyway about the first part, is it absolutely impossible?"
I asked out of curiosity, I wonder what more my mind can conjure up.
"If I tried really hard, then I could, but that much effort isn't worth it for me, you seem to be content with your life anyway"
"Yeah, I guess so"
The walk to was uneventful as usual.
At school I saw the perverted trio doing their thing, I don't have any strong feelings about the, though I was friends with one of them, Hyoudou Issei, in middle school, we had a... trade of sorts going on, I would lend him my dad's games before they even released and in return, he would lend me some... things I'm not really proud of, it's part of my dark history along with all the chunni things I did then.
That's all in the past though, I'm a year older than him so once I went to high school we no longer talked with each other.
The classes were the same as always.
After the lunch break the price of pulling an all-nighter finally caught up to me and I fell asleep, I'm in the same class as the school's idol, Rias Gremory, so nobody really cared about me sleeping through lessons.
.
.
.
I woke up with a yawn, looking out the window I saw that it was already dark outside
'Shit! I slept too much!'
I cursed in my mind as I quickly grabbed my things and ran out of the classroom
"Damn it! couldn't somebody wake me up?!"
I unintentionally said that out loud
"Some of them tried, but you didn't even budge"
Said my alternate self with a bored voice.
Ignoring him, I looked at my phone only to see more than a dozen missed calls from my parents and even more texts.
"Man, this will be such a pain..."
My parent's usually don't nag me, but even they will be worried if I come home this late.
'I'll take a shortcut'
I thought and ran into an alleyway.
"Stop"
Surprised by the lack of emotion in his voice I ground to halt
"What... why"
I said in between pants.
He looked at me with a blank face
"Get out of here and do it fast"
Before I could question any further I felt slight tremors from the ground
"What..."
'is happening' is what I wanted to say, but words died in my mouth when I saw 'that'.
'That' was six meters, Quadro pedal monster with a human upper body attached to it.
The bloodlust from it was apparent even to me.
Without a second thought I ran away from it, now clearly understanding what he meant, all while my head was filled with how such a monster could exist, it couldn't be real, right? there's no way it is, monsters don't exist.., right?
All the logic dictated that I was right, but the reality differed from any answer the logic gave me.
I felt a slight impact on my back and fell down, I could feel a warm feeling spreading on my abdomen while my limbs progressively got cold.
I didn't need to check what it was that gave me the warm feeling for I already know, it's my blood leaving my body, soon to bleed out.
My mind is growing hazy, I'm losing consciousness, but...
'Like hell, I'm going to die here!'
I forced my body to move, the only thing occupying my mind was how to survive.
'I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet! I can't die yet!'
I was thinking the same thing like a broken record
"You ran away the second you saw something that could clearly to kill you, that's a good instinct, not everyone can do that"
I could faintly hear my 'alternative self' saying something
"Even though you are half dead you still desperately cling to life, heh even if it's a different reality we are the same person after all"
His words barely registered in my head
"I can't save you like this, but I'll at least make sure that you won't become this monsters food"
What is he talking about
"You know you could survive if you heeded my advice and started to work out, I could reconstruct your body just enough to get through this, but 'you reap what you sow' as the saying goes, right?"
He just had to add insult to the injury, damn it!
"Well, that slowpoke won't give us any more time... now, go beyond and break your limits! so your parents have at least body to mourn"
He said those words like some sort of drill sergeant, but that's not important.
'break your limits'
For some reason the moment he said these word my body was overflown with power
"A rare skill manifested in those who broke through their limit, 'Limit Break!' triples all parameters"
He pointlessly commented.
I felt greater than ever! with this I could...!
I stopped that train of thought's, I was feeling fine for now, but my wound is still bleeding, when this rush of power ends I'll die... he said that, right?
'so your parents have at least body to mourn'
I'll have enough power to get away, but soon will die a dogs death, the only solace I can find here is that at least my corpse will be identifiable...
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! GOD DAMN IT ALL!!!
.
.
.
My power dried up, I can't hear the monster any more, I can't hear anything at all for that matter, a slight sense of sight is the only thing I have left.
My mind is going blank, I can't think straight anymore.
'Ah... so this is what dying feels like...'
My vision started to darken, soon I'll see no more.
But before I completely blacked out I think... I saw someone walking towards me.
.
.
.
.
.
"WHOA!"
I woke up with a jolt.
My head hurts, I started to massage it
"Was that a dream...?"
I muttered to myself
"No, that was all real"
I heard the familiar voice of my alternative self.
I looked at him, his smug face was really annoying.
It could all be a dream... this guy telling me it was really doesn't mean much if he himself isn't real, but... it all felt too authentic, I know myself, I could never have that kind of realistic dream and I still feel the phantom pains.
"Believe me now?"
The smugness was overflowing from his voice.
'I don't have any comeback to that... I'll just ignore it completely!'
Deciding on that I started awkwardly
"So... what the hell happened yesterday?"
From this day on, I feel like my world is going to turn upside down.
A/N: Hello everyone! this is my first fanfic on this site, hope you liked it.
this is a crossover I wanted to see for a while now, I decide to use pre-fall Hajime as the main character, because using post-fall wouldn't let me make him join Rias's peerage, for personal and logical reasons.
Now I know MC joining peerage is as unoriginal as it could get, but I've really wanted to write this kind of story for once, also on account of this being Arifureta x DxD crossover, which is rare, plus using a pre-fall Hajime already makes this story somewhat original, right? or only I think so?
Anyway, I wanted to tell you other reason on why I'm using a pre-fall Hajime, other than for him to join peerage, here it is: Guns and missiles are cool and I'll be using them in this story, but I don't want to take everything from the original work, I want to do something more, dare I say, original?
Well, that's it for now, see you next time!