Digital Devil Story: Warrior of the Demon City

by Aya Nishitani

  DIGITAL

  DEVIL

  STORY

  Warrior of the Demon City

  by Aya Nishitani

  Translated by Masakado

  AN

  INTRODUCTION

  Recently I got a hold of the original Digital Devil Story trilogy by Nishitani Aya. It's a horror-scifi book written in the 1980s that has a cult following, and spawned one of the largest Japanese RPG series around, Megami Tensei. (Which is also the title of the first book) I've always liked that series and was glad to get a chance to read where the whole thing spawned from.

  However, I noticed there's not a lot of information about the original book in English; almost all the information is on the series of video games. It's not surprising that the book never made it over here as it's a niche title even in Japan, and —it needs to be said— somewhat trashy fiction.

  So, I've decided to start translating the book. I've translated lots of stuff before, but never a novel, so I thought I'd just try my hand at it; also this will hopefully be good practice for the Kentei exam I'm planning on taking in December. I'm not the world's most fantastic translator, so if you have the original and have any suggestions for improvement, let me know. My ultimate goal is to translate all three of the Digital Devil Story novels: Reincarnation of the Goddess, Warrior of the Demon City, and Demise of the Reincarnation. Realistically it'll be a miracle if I even get through the first book without losing interest, but you never know.

  So, for those that are interested, this blog is a place to put my translations. Hopefully doing so doesn't violate any copyrights. (If you can demonstrate otherwise, let me know and I'll take the translations down... maybe replace them with plot summaries or something) And of course, in the (very unlikely) event that an official translation comes out, this entire blog will be pulled immediately. My translations are going to come out slowly, whenever I have free time, so don't get too pissed if you want the next chapter immediately —though you can feel free to nag. :)

  Note that this is not stellar fiction. It's very beer-and-pretzels horror, and there is some awkward writing in some parts, though it gets better the further you progress. This is not terribly surprising though, as apparently this novel started as a random story posted on a BBS. However just because the writing is not great doesn't mean it's not entertaining. :)

  This translation is from the Favorite Edition, which was re-released in the past few years.　If you're interested you can buy it here at Amazon Japan. It's all in Japanese, of course, but if you enjoy this translation please consider buying it to show your support to the publisher. I've never seen the original edition, but from the first sentence of the book I can tell that it's been updated somewhat. Plus, it's got pictures. :)

  Enjoy!

  Taken from http://ddstranslation.blogspot.com.ar/2006/08/introduction_16.html

  PART 1:

  RETURN

  CHAPTER 1

  In Massachusetts, there is an old port town called Salem. In the nineteenth century, it flourished as a fishing harbor, but its fate fluctuated along with the American fishing industry, and currently less than a tenth of the population at the apex of its prosperity lived there, now eking out a meager existence in the food processing industry. In the center of the town, the now boat-free canal, filled with muddy water, flows out into the bay. Along this canal, the rays of the summer sun reflected off of the white paint peeling off the boards of old houses, relics of the town in more prosperous times.

  On one block of these houses stood a cheap brick hotel, built before the First World War, yet still standing despite not being renovated even once. On the second floor, there was a room. This room was devoid of furniture other than a bed and telephone, and the only sound to be heard inside was that of the rattling of an ancient GE air conditioner's compressor. The man in this room ignored it, though, and focused on working with the handheld computer in front of him. He was probably close to fifty years old, wore a black cloak over a yellowed old flaxen robe, and worn leather boots on his feet. His shoulder-length silver hair fit the medieval sorcerer's garb he wore perfectly.

  The man's name was Isma Feed. He was the younger brother of Charles Feed, the famous engineer and magical researcher of MIT. In contrast to his elder brother, who founded his organization, ISG, so that alchemy and magic could further science and society, Isma's purpose in life was to master dark sorcery and the black arts for nefarious ends. People that knew Isma were deathly afraid of him. To be sure, as he was hunched over the display, his eyes darting across the screen like a hawk, Isma certainly resembled a demon in demeanor.

  Isma's handheld computer was connected to the telephone jack, and was communicating with ISG's (International Satanist Garden) AI, Craft, online. Scrutinizing the latest data that Craft was giving him, Isma narrowed his eyes in thought, and his long, bony fingers tapped the keyboard.

  > IS THAT TRUE?

  > MAYBE.

  The artificial intelligence responded immediately.

  "....."

  With a deep breath, Isma cut the connection to the AI.

  "It's tough to believe at face value, but there doesn't seem to be any doubt that a young boy in Asia really did succeed in summoning a demon with a computer." As he murmered, somebody knocked on the door.

  "Come in." Turning off his handheld computer, Isma turned his head toward the door, still leaning against the back of his chair. As he did, the elderly innkeeper opened the door with an awkward bitter smile on his face.

  "Please excuse me. There is someone here who insists on seeing you..."

  Not letting the old man finish, a huge sharp-eyed man entered the room, motioning the old man to leave with the barrel of his drawn handgun.

  "The great magician Isma Feed. I've finally found you." The man's voce was laden with barely concealed hatred.

  "You're...James, from the FBI, are you not? I applaud your efforts in finding my whereabouts, but this is certainly a rude manner in which to greet me. I presume you intend to arrest me--on what charges, may I ask?" Isma slowly stood up, a sarcastic smile on his face.

  "As you may know, we're not famous for our subtlety down at the FBI. And if I were to cite each and every one of your crimes, it would take all day." Despite the strength of his words, the man's voice trembled ever so slightly, as if being intimidated by Isma's stare.

  "Come quietly. I don't want to have to drag your corpse around." Bluffing, the man cocked his postol and pointed the barrel at Isma's chest.

  "Well, dealing with your corpse wouldn't bother me one bit..." Isma's pale blue eyes glittered with cold light as he stared at the man.

  Despite his seemingly overwhelming advantage in the situation, the man could not speak, and simply met Isma's gaze. Silence filled the room, and a large bead of sweat trickled down his temple. Presently Isma started walking toward the man, his robe dragging on the floor behind him as if wiping it clean.

  "Stop! Don't come one step closer!" Crying out in a dry voice, the man readied his handgun and took a step backwards.

  "James, if you wanted to take me on, you should have called for backup first. Of course, one person or three people, the result would still be the same."

  Isma's cold eyes glimmered. As they did, the barrel of the gun slowly started to move on its own, sweeping across the filthy wall as if to wipe it clean.

  The man grabbed his right hand with his left, trying his utmost to stop it. But as if being twisted by a powerful, invisible hand, his right hand slowly but surely pointed the gun at his face.

  "Stop, please stop. Argh..." The sour, chilly taste of the
barrel of the gun filled his mouth, forcing his saliva and cries down his throat. As both his hands fought each other for control of the gun, the man bent backward and looked up at the ceiling.

  BANG!

  The low sound of the gunshot shook the room, and the man fell backward, spilling his blood and brains on the floor through the hole in the back of his head.

  "Joseph, as usual, please clean up afterwards." Taking a glance at the mangled body, Isma spoke to the elderly innkeeper cowering in the corner.

  "I am going to Japan. This time, it may end up being a long trip." Crushing globs of brain and blood under his leather boots, Isma disappeared through the door, leaving reddish-black footprints behind him.

  CHAPTER 2

  Tokyo, Kuniritsu.

  Now summer vacation, the plaza of Jusho High was empty. The blazing sun, now slightly less fierce, quietly illuminated the building. As if trying to avoid its rays, housewives and students walking by the rows of gingko trees along University Avenue cast curious glances in its direction.

  A week ago, the school's CAI room had been destroyed, and the entire class that had been in a lesson there had vanished.

  "The entire class colluded together to destroy the facility, and then ran off somewhere." That was the explanation their instructor, Ohara, had given. But nobody could have even imagined the truth behind the incident, which was like a symbol of the growing violence that had been going on inside the school.

  One of the seniors at the school, Nakajima Akemi, with his handsome feminine looks, had had a tendency to be an object of jealousy amongst the other male students. Blessed with genius computing ability, Nakajima had discovered the similarities between computer theory and magical theory, and succeeded in summoning the digital data of the demon Loki with his computer. Using Loki's power, Nakajima had attempted to exact revenge on other students who had wronged him. Living inside the CAI room's computer as a digital construct, Loki had granted Nakajima's wish by taking control of the students attending lecture there.

  Meanwhile, in secret, Loki had achieved a physical body on his own, and Nakajima started becoming a threat to him. The beautiful teacher Ohara, who had been given to Loki as an offering, was enthralled by the demon's charm, and learned to operate the demon summoning program in Nakajima's stead. Soon Loki had slipped from Nakajima's control, and became a maneating beast that started brutal killing sprees. Feeling a deep responsibility for the results caused by his curiosity and desire for vengeance, Nakajima summoned the demon beast Kerberos and challenged Loki. He was defeated, but an unlikely ally had appeared in the battle.

  It was the Japanese goddess Izanami, who had possessed Shirasagi Yumiko, a transfer student with a crush on Nakajima. In the indescribably harsh battle, the CAI room had been reduced to ruins. And Izanami teleported the wounded Nakajima and Yumiko to Asuka, the place of her burial. Loki too headed to Asuka in hot pursuit.

  Of course, nobody could possibly have known the true circumstances of the incident, and only the surface end results made it to the mass media in a typical sensationalist manner.

  "Elite Class Destroys Classroom and Disappears!" That, and similar titles, were what were making the headlines of the weekly papers.

  Until the police had concluded their investigation, the CAI room in question was off limits. Though it had faintened considerably, a stench that was difficult to withstand still wafted through the rubble-strewn room . The machine room, miraculously undamaged, separated from the rest of the classroom by cracked plate glass, had a suspicious figure lurking in it. Deep red fingernails massaged the terminal's keyboard. The LED light of the disk drive flashed busily. It appeared to be copying either a long program or huge amount of data. As the copying finished, filling ten large 8-inch floppy disks, the woman breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Professor Ohara, are you done yet?" Reluctantly opening the door, the janitor looked around the area before sticking his head into the machine room.

  "If they find out I let you in here I could get in big trouble."

  "I'm really sorry. I'll be done in just a minute." As the woman spoke in a nasal tone, the janitor grudgingly pulled his head back. Softly clicking her tongue, she returned to her typing. A message displayed on the screen.

  > PROGRAM "DEMON" DELETE YES OR NO?

  The computer was asking whether or not she wanted to delete one of its programs.

  > YES

  Slowly entering the command, the woman pressed the Return key. As she did, the magnetic tapes of the host computer emotionlessly spun and clattered, before soon grinding to a halt. That instant, the demon summoning program that Nakajima Akemi had written vanished without a trace from the Jusho High computer system.

  Resting his elbows on the concrete fence surrounding the school building, Isma Feed stood like a shadow. He was dressed like he was in Massachusetts, draped in a black cloak over a yellowing flaxen robe, and wearing black leather boots. Despite his unusual appearance, the people passing by him on the street appeared to be paying him no heed at all. It was not as if they were avoiding him deliberately; rather, it was as if they did not even realize that he was standing there. Isma had surrounded himself in a magical field. The ability to hide one's presence with a magical field was thought to be the speciality of the Japanese Onmyojis, but its roots were actually far older, and had been mastered by ancient Mayan magicians far earlier. For Isma, who was a descendant of those same magicians, hiding his presence was an easy task. But his eyes, turned to the school building, were full of discontent.

  I can't sense anything. There seems to be no doubt that the boy named Nakajima summoned a demon, but I can't feel any demonic presence...

  Isma had noticed the similarities between computer theory and magical theory years ago. He had thought the reason that it was so difficult to summon demons into the human world was that it was easy for the weather and the earth's magnetic field to interfere in the environment needed to successfully perform a summoning. Therefore, he theorized that if he was able to create a strong magnetic field inside a computer, it would be possible to eliminate said outside influences and thus was attempting to do so himself. However, upon learning from the ISG databanks that a young man in Japan already succeeded in doing so, he immediately flew to Tokyo.

  Looks like I'm just going to have to take the time to search out Nakajima Akemi myself.

  Disappointed, Isma slowly turned around and started to walk away, when he heard a pleading voice say "Professor, please keep all this a secret..." Turning around, he saw an ordinary-looking middle-aged man calling to a woman carrying a large bag. The woman waved her hand irritatedly and started walking toward Isma.

  She was a very alluring woman. Her beautiful symmetrical body--one that could easily be that of a model--emitted feminine charm. Her hot yet somehow dark gaze could not help but kindle desire in any man that saw her. But that was not all; Isma sensed something from Ohara that set off his instincts as a magician. A smile formed on Isma's lips as his eyes traveled up and down her body.

  A demon really DID come to the Assiah world. The demonic life within that woman's body is the proof.

  Isma blinked twice, three times rythmically. Perhaps it was a gesture to drop the magical field surrounding him, but Ohara stopped in her tracks as if struck by lightning.

  Ohara's love for Loki was special. She had been given as an offering to the demon Loki by Nakajima Akemi in June. At the time, the digital Loki had made love to her in a virtual world. The voluptuous Ohara was no stranger to sex, but the intense, nearly-fatal ecstacy she felt from sleeping with a demon had brought out the innate feminine devilishness within her to its umost extremes. Soon Loki materialized, gaining the ability to take form in the human world. Ohara belonged to him heart and soul, and she became impregnated with his child. But after chasing Nakajima to Asuka to kill him, Loki had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Believing that it would be impossible for a demon as powerful as Loki to be
defeated by one as weak as Nakajima, Ohara had tried to use the demon summoning program over and over again, but she had gotten no response from Loki. Instead, the only one that appeared was a different demon calling himself Set.

  Furthermore, the critical CAI room had become off-limits after the incident there, so she couldn't use the computers there freely any longer. Finally Ohara had copied the demon summoning program, but she had no idea how and where she could run it to find Loki, and while mulling over what to do next, she noticed Isma and stopped in her tracks.

  "Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." The words of the spell that Loki had cast left Isma's lips.

  "Who are you...?"

  Ohara was entranced by the mysterious blue, shining eyes of this oddly-dressed foreigner. Isma closed those eyes halfway, whispered "Let's go" and silently started to walk. As if being pulled by an invisible line, Ohara followed after him.

  CHAPTER 3

  That night, a man entered the Seito Plaza Hotel, a hotel amongst the high-rise buildings by the west exit of Shinjuku station, known for having large numbers of foreign guests. Short, bald, with a red face, he seemed out of place. But his body gave off a glittering energy, and the other guests all turned toward him as if on cue as he passed. Jogging past the lobby, the man headed to the elevator.

  His name was Shimazaki Ryunosuke. He was an infamous tycoon, known for his shrewd buying and selling of conglomerates using foreign capital. In a single day, the more than three hundred companies under his control were said to make over 50 billion yen. Shimazaki was also known to have deep connections with the current ruling political party. Who could he be visiting here, alone and without his secretary? Spat out by the elevator as it stopped at the fifteenth floor, Shimazaki stopped in front of the door to froom 1504.

  "Loki is a demon. A demon can't die!" Shimazaki heard the hysterical cries of a woman, and he slowed a bit. Doubtfully pulling a memo out of his pocket and checking to make sure he was at the right room, Shimazaki reluctantly knocked on the door.