Afterword Kuro

Afterword
Hi, there everyone. This is AdamantiumBladez, but I that is too much of a tongue tie for you, then you can feel free to call me Adam, Adamant, AB, or Bladez. Any of those is fine by me.

I questioned whether or not to write an afterword, because it has no real contribution to the story, but then I thought that it was an important way for the author to talk to the readers and give some inner explanations that maybe were not best covered in the volumes. So, I decided that I would end up writing one for the ends of each volume.

This is my second attempt at writing this afterword: I wrote a starting one that I was unable to finish since I was running late and when I got back onto a computer it had been deleted and I decided not to pursue the old version. (Astarothfan, I don't blame you, so no hard feelings.)

So anyways, moving on to what this section is suppose to be talking about. My series: High School ShielDxD.

The title itself was basically just a cut-and-paste of the original series title, but I added in 'shield' to the title because that is what Zenjirou's role in the story is aiming to be. If you have already the first volume, then you should already be aware that his Sacred Gear is a support type more than it's an offensive type, and his best offensive is his defense, which makes more sense and it's something I put a lot of thought into when I was creating the main characters and the story.

Speaking of which, if you hadn't already guessed, the main characters (Zenjirou and Akane's Peerage) are all based on the known members of Rias' Peerage at the end of Volume 1;
 * Zenjirou/Issei
 * Akane/Rias
 * Masako/Akeno
 * Takeshi/Kiba
 * Suzue/Koneko
 * Kumi/Asia

While I used this as a starting point, I wanted to start off the characters filling in different roles, and while they are the same numbers as Rias' peerage, their overall personalities have been swapped over and a mix and blend of multiple characters, like how Zenjirou is closer in personality with Gasper with his stuttering when he's panicked but is also his own character in other ways (like his more level headedness when it comes to perverted things, but still has some urges beyond his control.)

I bet you were surprised that Zenjirou declined becoming a devil at the end of the first volume. Well yes, that was the idea. Since he wasn't killed essentially, he had no real reason as of yet to join the peerage, and I just felt that it would make for a better story to see how a normal human would try to hang around devils and fighting with them while not being as powerful as them. There are plenty of strong humans who could go toe-to-toe with devils, like the Hero Faction for best example, and I just wanted to show Zenjirou getting stronger on his own terms without requiring the need to be reincarnated.

Another thing that probably spiced things up was Saraqiel. Well, truth be told, he was originally suppose to be a minor character that would appear and then grow after Volume 2, but I thought it would be better bringing him in earlier just to show the comparison in strengths that Akane's peerage has against one of the Grigori. Saraqiel is based on the Grigori member, Arakiel, but I altered his name slightly because I merged aspects with another angel that I was originally going to name him after until I realised that there was already an angel and fallen angel that had the same names (Sariel and Sahariel). This will have a big role to play in the future, rest assured.

Based on the fact that Saraqiel and Akane's peerage are on good terms, you can probably guess roughly that this takes place sometime after Volume 4. Those who paid closer attention would have also realised that since this takes place after the summer that it is also past Volume 5. I will eventually reveal where exactly in the timeline that this takes place in, but not just yet.

While I'm on the subject, I will say that while some characters will cross over, I will be using characters that have either been mentioned or are completely original mostly. If the plot demands it, then they can appear, but other than that, more of less it will be occupied by OCs.

So, about the series I am writing. I will tell you all right now:

I WILL ONLY BE WRITING THE FIRST ARC, BUT NOT THE WHOLE THING STORY (. . . and possibly the second arc but no promises)

What I mean is, while I can safely say that I will be finishing off this arc I am currently writing, I am saying that I know myself too well and that I have planned too far ahead for me to write while I will be interested in it. So in order to save you all the trouble of wondering what happened when I suddenly drop off the face of the earth one day because I exhausted my concentration on finishing this story.

Right now, I have made and laid out how I want the story to go down, and I have constructed a plan for Five Arcs:
 * Arc 1: The Great Armament (Vol. 1-3)
 * Arc 2: The Plague Dragon (Vol. 4-7)
 * Arc 3: The Golden Inferno (Vol. 8-14)
 * Mini Arc: The Miscellaneous Tails (Vol. 15-16)
 * Arc 4: The Shining Knight (Vol. 17-20)
 * Arc 5: The Earthbound Light (Vol. 21-25)

So, the story I am basically setting up, and the way that the characters are introduced are based on this time frame. I know how it will end, and I know which characters will play important roles, so I can best insert them in an out as I see fitting. I won't be filling in the rest of the arcs until I have finished in the first arc, because I want to prevent spoilers just until I have finished what I intend to write.

Just like all good heroes, Zenjirou's journey will be hard and he will climb to the top eventually (by top, just the top within the boundaries put in place, there is no way he could ever reach the limits set by any of the Rookie's Four). There will be comedy (if I manage to write anything funny), tragedy, history, and a lot of interesting characters that I intend to introduce later on (but I'm not making a guarantee that all of you will like them, much like with the ones I have already introduced.)

Next volume coming up will show some similar features that you will remember from both Volumes 2, 3 and 5, that I have mixed up a bit to see how well it turns out, and the main villain of the series will appear. Try and guess who.

If you have any other questions about the first volume or anything related to the future of the series, leave a comment at the bottom of any of my pages or my talk page and I will answer it (though spoilers will be limited in explanation).

Thank you, and thanks for reading. Let's see where this goes.

AB.