— — — — — —
The moment they entered the underground prison, Azazel, ever the tinkerer, immediately sensed that something about the massive "tree" was off.
Akeno and Baraqiel, who knew more about the situation, recognized the people buried beneath the roots at a glance.
The man at the center, his face still wrapped in bandages… wasn't that Suou Himejima, the head of the Himejima family?
No. Former head, now.
Looking around, the others nearby were all familiar faces too. Direct members of the Himejima family. And not just any members, but the core fighters.
"This is a battery factory."
Ryo spoke casually, a faint smile on his face. "To be more precise, it's a reincarnation battery workshop."
"Reincarnation battery? What's that supposed to mean?"
Confusion spread across the group.
Everyone looked lost, except for Azazel. His eyes lit up instantly.
"Enough talk. Just watch."
Ryo didn't bother explaining further. Instead, he signaled to a crow tengu waiting nearby.
The tengu wheeled forward an ordinary human.
A volunteer.
A cancer patient, drawn here by the benefits offered by the yokai, willingly becoming part of the first batch of "test subjects."
The man was pushed up to the largest section of the gray-white trunk.
Then, without ceremony, he was shoved inside.
Five seconds passed.
A man crawled out of the trunk, like a chick breaking out of its shell.
Same face.
But now, a pair of black wings spread from his back.
Ryo nodded, satisfied.
"That's basically the result."
"… "
Silence.
Total silence.
Azazel didn't speak. Neither did Baraqiel. Even Akeno was frozen.
It was like someone had cast a mute spell over the entire room.
That's it?
That's all?
Throw a person in, and they come out a Fallen Angel?
Are you kidding?
Was this some kind of illusion trick meant to fool them?
Even faking things should follow some kind of logic!
At least pretend there's some science behind it!
"Why is everyone so quiet all of a sudden?"
Ryo frowned slightly.
He'd demonstrated the entire process. The setup, the "equipment," the subject… it shouldn't be that hard to grasp, right?
"Um… Ryo, could you explain what just happened?"
Azazel was the first to recover. His expression was… complicated.
He pointed at the gray trunk.
"What's the principle behind this thing? How does it work? Why does throwing someone in turn them into a Fallen Angel?"
He paused, clearly struggling. "This… this doesn't follow science. It doesn't follow theology or magic either!"
By the end, his face had turned red, like his pride as a researcher of artificial Sacred Gears had taken a hit.
Then again, he specialized in Sacred Gears, not biology. Maybe getting stumped here was only natural.
Still… what exactly was going on?
He could vaguely guess that the Himejima family members buried in the roots were acting as some kind of "battery," but beyond that, he was completely lost.
"Simply put… actually, that's hard to simplify."
Ryo started to explain, then paused.
What was simple to him might be completely outside their understanding.
So he adjusted his wording.
"Think of this 'tree' as a machine that rewrites the essence of life itself. I call it a Spirit Rank Imprinter. It modifies the fundamental nature of a living being."
"The Fallen Angel you just saw is a human whose essence has been rewritten."
"In terms of lineage, he's now a complete Fallen Angel. As far as I can tell, there's no difference between him and any existing one."
To put it plainly…
Every living being had a core essence. And in some places, altering that essence was nothing new.
Take the Evil Dragon clones of Azi Dahaka. Or Algol's demonization techniques.
Even in the DxD world, there were the Evil Pieces.
Same principle.
The technology wasn't even particularly hard to replicate, and there were plenty of examples to draw from.
Algol had mentioned it briefly in a letter. Ryo tinkered with it a bit, and this "tree" was the result.
And he'd built it remotely, directing the yokai. If he'd done it personally, it would've been faster. And stronger.
But for now, two-winged Fallen Angels were more than enough. No need to go overboard.
He wasn't about to start mass-producing ten-winged ones. That would throw the entire Fallen Angel faction into chaos.
After all, even Baraqiel only had ten wings.
Ryo finished his explanation.
And once again… Silence filled the room.
No one spoke.
A full minute passed before Rias, the only true outsider here, turned to Akeno.
"Did you understand any of that?"
"…I did."
Akeno nodded.
With that explanation, if she didn't understand, she'd be an idiot.
But as she stared at that gray tree, casually producing Fallen Angels in seconds…
She couldn't help but feel like maybe she really was an idiot.
So the useless elders of the Himejima family… could be used like this?
That was a new way to treat your enemy.
But honestly, she didn't believe a word about "modifying life essence."
If anything, she'd sooner believe Ryo had hacked into the system of the Creator God, stolen the blueprint for creating Fallen Angels, and recreated it himself.
That was at least more believable.
After all, angels, fallen angels, and devils all originated from that incomprehensibly powerful God.
Believing that He had the full production method? Sure.
But believing Ryo could mass-produce Fallen Angels using a handful of captured humans?
Anyone who saw this would lose their mind trying to make sense of it.
Even the devils' Evil Pieces required a medium to function.
And those could only be made by Ajuka Beelzebub, a transcendent genius. No one else could replicate them.
That was why the Rating Game system was called a noble's game.
Only high-ranking devils, especially pureblood nobles, had access to Evil Pieces.
And even they had to wait their turn.
Rias herself only got hers early because she was the sister of a Satan.
Ordinary devils?
Wait until adulthood.
There were fewer than a thousand pureblood devils.
And even they had to queue up.
That alone showed how limited Evil Piece production was.
But Ryo's machine?
It was exactly what it looked like.
A factory.
Throw a person in, wait a few seconds, and out comes a brand-new Fallen Angel.
Crackle.
Akeno and Baraqiel's eyelids twitched.
They both saw it clearly.
The newly transformed Fallen Angel had sparks of lightning dancing in his hand.
Lightning. That was Baraqiel's signature ability…
.
.
.