as a devil and says that as a result of his death at the hands of Yuuma, she has reincarnated him as a devil, making him her faithful servant in the process. Story arcs Ishibumi has grouped the light novels into story arcs. The first arc, titled , ran through the first two volumes. is the second story arc and follows volumes three through six. follows volumes seven through twelve. The fourth arc, , follows volumes fourteen through twenty-one. The fifth and final arc of the series, , starts at volume twenty-two and ends at volume twenty-five. The author has announced a sequel to the series, which began on July 20, 2018. The light novels also feature a series of side stories set in between the main storyline and are often compiled into volumes. So far, three short story collections (Volume 8, Volume 13 and Volume 15) have been published. Production Ishibumi had previously worked on a horror genre series two years prior to the publishing of the first light novel for High School DxD. In the volume 1 afterword, he mentions that he changed his writing style, and wanted to develop one in the school-life, love-comedy, battle, and fantasy genre. His main character Issei was made into a lecherous guy at the request of his editor. For the first volume, he made Rias a second lead character and heroine, and Asia to be the second heroine. Some of his characters are loosely referenced from the Bible, non-fiction books, and mythology. He created a world where the war between the three main factions (Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels) is over, and where many famous angels and devils have already ceased to exist. He also added characters and legendary beasts from a variety of places from Norse mythology to Japanese Youkai. The concept of Balance Breaker was to represent a super-powered version of the character's Boosted Gear, and he likens this to the Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball and the Bankai in Bleach. Ishibumi intended to make the shounen-style light novel series that teenagers would be embarrassed to buy, yet was concerned that it might get an age restriction. In each of his afterword sections in the light novels, he makes numerous references to Oppai (breasts) and notes when he tries to make his characters more erotic. Media Light novels High School DxD began as a light novel series written by