Shin Megami Tensei Gaiten - Hato no Senki



Shin Megami Tensei Gaiten - Hato no Senki (真・女神転生外典 鳩の戦記, lit. "Shin Megami Tensei Apocrypha Hato's Battle") is a manga within the Shin Megami Tensei series.

Plot
Hato no Senki was serialized within Monthly GFantasy and created by Shinsuu Ueda, who was also responsible for the manga versions of Megami Ibunroku Persona and Majin Tensei. It is comprised of three volumes.

It tells the story of a young man named Hato Yokoyama that plays a game called DDS-NET where players can fight against demons. There he encounters a Pixie he assumes to be an event NPC being attacked by other demons and protects her. When the game prompts him to kill her to receive an item, he refuses and is disconnected from the game to discover a strange symbol on his hand. This symbol teleports him to an area where he meets a mysterious princess who claims she's lived in that place since she was born. Hato assumes she's an NPC as well.

Cu Chulainn appears as her knight, assuming Hato is another demon. His demeanor changes when he discovers the symbol on Hato's hand and realizes that Hato is the Messiah. He asks Hato to become his ally in protecting the princess. While they're deciding on a name for the princess, Hato is awoken to discover a demon summoning program on his computer.

Still assuming the occurrences within game to be a special event, Hato tells his classmates before a Nue is summoned directly into his classroom hunting for him. His classmates assume it's CG until it bites one and a strange man appears searching for Hato. In the midst of the conflict, Hato remembers the summoning program and accesses it on his cellphone. Through this, he summons Pixie to the classroom. Before Pixie can do anything, though, another girl enters the classroom, activates a symbol on her own hand, and casts a fire spell to drive the nue back.

They clash with the young man outside of the school when they're attacked by more demons. The young man turns on the nue and destroys it with his bare hands, revealing a marking on his hand as well. He introduces himself as Akira Saitou. The demons flee and in chasing them to learn who sent them, they discover some students that appear to be acting strangely. Hato follows them to encounter a Lilim who is after Pixie as well. Cu Chulainn appears to aid him and defeats Lilim and the Legion she calls for help.

Distraught over a friend's death from the battle, Hato realizes this is no longer a game and Cu Chulainn reveals DDS-NET is tied to the Makai. Cu Chulainn returns to the princess, but leaves a memory stick to summon Cerberus with Hato. The girl introduces herself as Mana Hasebe. In returning to the school, they discover the teachers to be in a listless state and the students in a panic. Hato hurries home and discovers his mother's bloodstained cellphone. Looking for help, he encounters a young man that introduces himself as Chiaki Katsuraza. He claims having heard Hato possesses an icon on his hand, he had to introduce himself as another icon-bearer.

When Hato finally encounters his mother, she's shrouded in a sheet. He reaches out to touch her only to find her head has been severed and her body laid out by demons only to trap him. He summons Cerberus to destroy them. He's then attacked by another person with a symbol on their hand, but before he can fight back, Saitou appears to stop them. Others aligned with Saitou's Chaos side appear and though Hato accuses them of having something to do with his mother's death, their kindness regarding helping him bury her makes him think again. And in covering her body, he finds a feather on her.

He's called by Mana, who asks for him to help her save her mother. Saitou joins him in coming to help. He mother is listless like the teachers from before. She says she remembers a rumor in DDS-NET that might help her mother. But, when Mana and Hato enter the game, they discover monitors displaying destruction around the world. Mana encounters someone who might be able to help and they go to meet her. She introduces herself as Lisa Asakura and introduces them to a priest that is looking after similar cases. She asks them to support their efforts and Hato expresses concern over the feather he found on his mother's body and the rumors he heard from those aligned with chaos. Lisa calls them lies, but is interrupted by Saitou, who has found bodies hidden away within the church. She accuses him of being at fault when Chiaki appears and destroys the floorboards to expose more bodies.

Lisa finally admits that an angelic being directed her to take energy from people to help keep the priest alive. She calls forth demons to prevent Hato and the others from getting in her way when the priest appears to stop her. He appears to be hurt by the power gathered there and a Cherub appears. The Cherub calms Lisa and offers the icon-bearers a chance to aid him, but Mana protests that she won't be fooled by angels again and attacks.

They fight Cherub and Cu Chulainn appears to defend Hato. After the fight, Cu Chulainn collapses and they're drawn into DDS-NET by a magic circle where they're greeted by the princess and Scathach. Together, the two women help bring Cu Chulainn back to consciousness. While discussing the events during which they acquired their icons, angels penetrate the area in search of the princess. Hato calls Cerberus to defend him.

After driving the angels back, Scathach sends Hato, the princess, and the others back to their world. They're attacked almost immediately after returning by more angels and a young girl using high level ice skills. Mana fights back and when the girl attempts to flee, one of Saitou's companions kills her. The girl's companion arrives, angered by her death and prepares to fight when Mana, shaken by the girl's death asks why they have to keep fighting when all she wants is to save her mother. The young boy explains that the sickness is a result of the greatness of the sins of adults. He fights against Hato and the others until the princess joins in and defeats him.

At this point, Hato is temporarily drawn into a dimensional interstice where he sees Beelzebub at the center of DDS-NET's servers and a strange blonde man that comments that that is the true form of the listlessness the adults have experienced. Hato's confused, but the blonde man encourages him to draw his own conclusions. He then thinks further back to a time in his childhood where he was made fun of for his name and his father explained that he was named as such because of the story of Noah's ark, because he wanted Hato to become someone who could bring hope to humans even in the darkest of times. Hato comes back to consciousness to find the other young man still alive and when Cu Chulainn prepares to attack, Hato stops him. He explains what he saw and says that he wants to discover what the truth behind DDS-NET is.

At this point, the series ends as it was discontinued.