High School DxD - Volume 5 Chapter 5.1

Riven was nothing but a powerless runt until necromancers razed his village and butchered his sister before his eyes. As his blood soaked the dirt, his Sigil ignited, granting him a gift. He can die and reform, a cycle that resets with every rank he climbs.But fate wasn’t done screwing him.In the catacombs beneath the ruins, he found the Death Ledger—a death contract that bound him against his will to hunt those who’ve cheated death across dimensions. Historical legendary heroes and villains.From the noble King Arthur to the conqueror Genghis Khan and the fabled king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, together with Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler.Every mission is a gamble. Fail once, and the Ledger brands him a death-cheater, turning him into prey for the same immortal fugitives he hunts. And the reward? He gets to keep them as his undead summons.His enemies will not stop coming. They want the Ledger, the Sigil, his power. To survive, he will wield death itself, growing stronger with every soul he claims, because in a world this savage, only the relentless rise.[-Congratulations, you have successfully killed Alexander the Great and claimed him as your summon...you can start on the path of evolution-] The words, scrawled in blood, burned across the page of the Death Ledger.

I am the best when it comes to taking divergent paths. With just a flip of my hand, I shall take the path less commonly travelled. I search far and wide, only to find myself unbeatable and unrivaled. So now I ask, who else can match my awesomeness?

Acting tough is second nature to me and I am a lone wolf.

The road is long and winding but I shan’t feel lonely as long as I am able to act tough!

Life and death bore me and I do whatever I deem fit.

“Young man, way back when I started acting tough, you were still learning how to put on your underpants!” Xu Que thus decided to take the path of acting tough. He decided to act tough every single god-damned day. If he wasn’t acting tough, he was scheming for the best way to act tough!

Starting from today, I am retired. But what should I be doing? I neither have the skills, nor the mind to do business, my only advantage is this pair of hands which have taken this world. What a headache…

Note: The usage of the term “retired” here doesn’t mean retiring from old age, work etc. It’s a specific term to refer to not involving oneself in the affairs of a certain society.

- Description from Novelupdates

To rise from defeat; to revive amidst the dissipation.