《God succession system》 Chapter -1 - Beginning Alex was walking down the street minding his own business. Suddenly there was a cry for help nearby. "Help I''m being robbed!" Alex thought about it for a moment, and reluctantly decided to help. He lived by the philosophy that you treat others the way you want to be treated. Meaning that he would help hoping they would help him in return someday, though it had never happened. Alex went down the alleyway the call came from and found a girl being mugged. "You! Turn right around and you''ll live another day!" The robber called out while pointing a gun at him. Alex sighed, and replied, "Do you really mean that? This is a simple mugging, that means you go to jail for what a few years? You kill me and you''re looking at life, is that worth it?" The robber suddenly faltered as he considered Alex''s words. Alex thought the situation was settled, until he saw the robbers hand started shaking while the gun was still pointed at him. "Hey, let''s calm down he-" he was suddenly cut off as the robber accidentally fired the gun and hit him. Alex was confused for a moment, before realization hit him the same moment the pavement did. The girl screamed, but he could barely hear it as his consciousness drifted further away. He thought he heard another bang, but wasn''t sure. *** A moment later Alex was in a space, surrounded by hundreds of people. They were all talking amongst themselves. Alex was confused for a second until he remembered being shot. "WHA- WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" People around him looked at him with sympathy, and said, "Looks like a fresh one over here. Look here buddy, you alright?" Alex didn''t understand what was going on, but after a few moments he started calming down as he grasped the situation. Seeing he calmed down the other people lost interest in him, and went back to their previous conversation. As Alex thought about what was going on, he thought back to the various manga and light novels he has read over the years and a theme they seemed to like, reincarnation. As he thought of this, Alex grew a little excited. He was sad at not being able to see his family again, but if he dwelled on it then he would have a hard time adapting to his next life. He waited patiently for the god that would reincarnate them, as he looked around at the other people. He didn''t mind the fact that there were others, as some novels had multiple people reincarnating at a time. After several hours passed, an old looking man with a long white beard appeared and spoke to the gathered people. "Greetings. I am one known as a god. After several hundred millennium of existing, I am now looking for my successor. To ensure I choose the best one I have gathered a thousand of you, and will have you participate in a game for the next few hundred years. You will each have a system, and choose three powers to accompany you in your new lives. After you familiarize yourself with your new systems, you will be sent to a world of your choosing, or one randomly decided. There you will be able to grow in peace for the next twenty years before being able to traverse worlds freely. You will need to either acc.u.mulate more powers, or master the ones you choose over the others. Your chances of succeeding will depend on your capability to use your new powers, or your ability to subdue others to follow you. Now then, examine your new systems and choose your powers for a little while, I''ll be back to send you all on your way in an hour." And with that the God disappeared leaving everyone gapping at the spot he was in before. Alex just shrugged and went with the flow, before activating his new system. What he saw was the usual setup with general information, stats, and slots for his abilities. Alex decided that he did t want all the extra information and limited it to just show his general information and lists of his abilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Age-???? Lvl- 0 Abilities / / / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Satisfied with that Alex looked at the other functions, and saw that there was also a shop, and interface for things such as friends and a mailbox. He opened the shop first and saw that there were different slots for abilities. A notification showed up to inform him about the shop. [notice, the shop function is only available for a limited time. After reincarnation the shop will only open whenever user reaches the hundred level milestone. Some abilities and objects will also only be available when user reaches the age of five to avoid overloading newborn bodies. Exceptions will be basic bloodlines, and only one bloodline will be available per person. Depending on the bloodline chosen, to avoid unnecessary complications others will ignore any abnormalities as a result of said bloodline. ] Alex was stunned for a moment before deciding that he needed to choose a bloodline ability so that he might be able to get a jumpstart on the others. He needed to focus on ensuring the best foundation for himself, while also maximizing potential in the future. Suddenly he heard the others shouting in excitement at the abilities they were choosing, such as specific attacks from anime, weapons, and so on. Alex snorted at their stupidity. After he spent several minutes choosing his abilities and place and time he wanted to be born, he felt as if that as long as he put in the effort towards training in the future he wouldn''t lose to just anyone. He then checked the other options, and was surprised that he had a friend request. Alex opened it and saw a pretty looking girl that looked vaguely familiar. He was wondering where he new her from, when the woman herself walked up to him. "Um, I wanted to thank you for before, and I''m sorry I got you killed..." Alex suddenly slapped his own forehead and recalled why the girl looked familiar, she was the one who was being robbed when he died! His eyes suddenly became sharp, and he asked her, "Why are you here? Don''t tell me that guy killed you too?!" She nodded and explained what happened after he died, "After he shot you, he decided that he was already in too deep, and another body won''t make much of a difference." Alex was mad at the guy, but calmed himself when he thought about the life he was going to live from now on. Especially that if he used his abilities right he would be escorted by countless beautiful ladies in the future. "Don''t worry about it, think about the lives we get to live from now on!" The woman looked confused for a moment, then declared with passion, "Yes! I already decided that I''ll stop people like that in the future! I don''t really care about this game, and the friend function said that you can''t fight those listed as your friend so would you consider accepting?" Alex thought about it and decided that he didn''t have any real reason to refuse. The two chatted for a bit and decided that after the twenty years they would meet up. Then the time they had ran out. Alex ensured that he was being sent to his requested destination, and was filled with excitement. *** In another worlds Japan, in a a place called Kuoh town, a new baby was being born. "It''s a boy, congratulations!" "My handsome baby boy, I''ll name you Alex." As everyone was fawning over the new baby, no one seemed to notice that he had the tail of a monkey. Chapter 1 - Five years old A woman walked up the stairs of their house to her sons door. She opened it and looked at the bundle of blankets on the bed, and said to him, "Get up Alex, you don''t want to miss you own birthday do you?" At her words, the boy sat up quickly and looked excited. "That''s right I''m five today!" The woman laughed, and said, "That''s right, so get ready quickly and come down for breakfast sweetie." The woman closed the door to her sons room, and walked back downstairs. The boy, Alex was excited for his birthday, but not for the reason the woman thought. He quickly leapt out of bed. Anyone looking at this boy would notice three distinct things that were different about him compared to other boys. The first and most obvious was the tail that extended from his backside. It was about three feet long, and when he finished getting ready he curled it around his waist like a belt. Then there was his black hair. It stood up in crazy spikes all over his head marking him among the daycare teachers as some kind of young delinquent. But no matter who attacked his head with a comb or brush, it never went down. Finally there was the fact that as far as five years olds were concerned, he was completely ripped. There wasn''t a single ounce of fat on the boy''s body. As soon as he was able to, he had started doing minor workouts, and even got some of the other kids at daycare and parks to help him in the name of "playing". He was also notorious for getting into fights with the elementary and middle school students that came to bully the daycare kids. Even when they beat him up, he would turn around and return the beating the next day. He had already earned the nickname among the older kids of the ''revenge demon''. Part of the reason he was so violent was the bloodline that Alex chose. He went with the Saiyan bloodline, because genetically they were the perfect warriors. Every time Alex suffered a defeat, as long as he didn''t die he would become even stronger for it. They were able to grasp fighting styles with ease, and perhaps the biggest factor, there was no real limit to their fighting potential. There was also the benefit of using energy attacks, and the super Saiyan form, but that would be a lot further into he future. The downside was that saiyans were extremely violent. He had been able to suppress the violent nature to an extent, but when he got into fights it would come out. Alex was excited because since today was his fifth birthday, he would once again be able to access the system and start using his two other abilities. The only reason he was able to use his Saiyan powers until now, was because it was a bloodline ability. The system also limited the use of bloodline abilities, by limiting each person to only one through the system. However, Alex had found a way to bypass the system to an extent. As far as he was concerned, bloodlines would be the key to his future growth, as they would only increase his potential. ''Open system'' he thought to himself. The same screen he recalled from five years ago popped up in front of him, except it now showed that he had three deliveries in his inbox. Before Alex could open them though, the image of a strict looking office woman popped up in his system, shocking him. ''Who the hell are you!?'' ''Good morning, and happy birthday. I''m your watcher, an angel if you will. I''m here to watch over you, and assist you while you grow. Everyone part of this game has one of us with them. My name is Lauren.'' Alex was speechless for a moment, before moving on. He opened the first of his messages, and it was his next choice from the shop. Suddenly a beautifully decorated wooden box appeared in his hands. Alex smiled as he opened the box, and looked down at the sixteen Crimson chess pieces. This had been the way he found around the system. He was restricted to choosing only one bloodline, but by choosing the evil pieces from the high school dxd world he would not only be able to have fifteen servants following him to other worlds, he would also be able to turn himself into a devil. In the series, there was a ritual that a high class devil needed to perform to become a "King", but Alex wasn''t part of devil society. As a result there needed to be a king piece added to the set to accommodate him, and each piece would turn the user into a devil while keeping their original body. Alex was excited to think about it now, a saiyans battle potential with a devils magic. He put the box under his bed to use the piece later when he didn''t need to worry about interruptions, and turned to his next message, his third choice. He opened the message and, [DING! A new update has been detected for users system, install now?] Alex smiled once again, and selected to install the new update. His third option was for the job leveling system from The Death Mage That Doesn''t Want a Fourth Time series. As he didn''t have access to a job changing station, the system allowed him to change jobs whenever he reached level one hundred in his current job. As he doesn''t have a job yet, it currently read [jobless]. The reason that he made this his third choice, was that the job system would allow him to access unique abilities depending on his actions, and he would be able to increase his capabilities as long as he had the corresponding job. Even if he couldn''t use magic well as a devil, just having the [mage] job would help him increase his magic capabilities tremendously. His first choice when he could choose jobs though, was hopefully a blacksmith job, so that he could make his own weapons for the future. Alex then turned to the last message, but didn''t open it. He was too busy trying to not dance with joy, as he won his gamble. The world he had chosen, was the world of high school dxd. There was the potential to get another ability here at birth, known as the sacred gear. The problem with this though, was that only humans would be able to be born with sacred gears. However, Alex was informed that even if he chose a bloodline that affected him physically, he would mostly be ignored in order to ensure there was no complications. Alex thought, ''would this apply to the sacred gear system as well?'' He had several reasons for choosing the dxd world, but one was the possibility of receiving a sacred gear as an automatic fourth ability due to it not being part of the system. As he was a "human" according to the world, he managed to fool the sacred gear system. Alex was extremely excited, and opened the message from see what sacred gear he got. He suddenly froze, and mentally screamed, ''WHY THE F.U.C.K DO I HAVE ISSEI HYOUDOUS BOOSTED GEAR!!!???'' Chapter 2 - Three bloodlines? Alex was in shock over the current situation. He had only hoped for a sacred gear from the dxd world, but he never expected that he''d get a Longinus, let alone the actual ability of the main character of the series. He knew that rather sacred gears would grow with the user, and had no actual limits, so he wasn''t too picky about what one he would get. Suddenly he had a thought, ''would issei still have his boosted gear in the future?'' ''Nope, there''s only one real boosted gear in existence. If you received it from the system then he would still be able to receive it, but since you got it from the real sacred gear system he will no longer be able to use it or be relevant.'' Alex was surprised at the sudden voice, then he remembered Lauren. At that moment he recalled that he was supposed to be downstairs eating breakfast with his parents for his birthday. He decided to wait to merge with the boosted gear until that night after he did the evil piece. Alex spent the day as any five year old would on their birthday, he received lots of presents from his parents, and there was a party later with other kids from the daycare. After a hectic day, he returned to his room exhausted, but still anxious to use his new evil spice and boosted gear. As the boosted gear was already connected to his soul, all Alex had to do was accept the item in his messages and he would be able to use it, especially since he already laid a minor foundation for his future powers. So he decided to use the evil piece first, and pulled out the box he stashed under his bed. Alex grabbed the Crimson King piece, and sat cross legged, while holding onto the chess piece. Soon there was a dim flash of light, and the piece disappeared, at the same moment a pair of bat like wings extended from Alex''s back indicating he was now a devil. Alex held out his hand to experiment, and a bright orange magic circle appeared before a small flame ignited. He looked at the circle and wonder what determined the color. ''As a Saiyan your magic circle was originally yellow to match the super Saiyan transformation, due to the influence of the boosted gear though, a deep red was added changing the color to a bright orange.'' Lauren answered his question in his head. Alex extinguished the flame, and tried a few other small spells until he was satisfied with his magic capabilities. He then opened up his messages again and looked at the boosted gear. Alex chose to accept the boosted gear, and as he felt the power merge with his body completely a red gauntlet formed on his left hand. He closed his eyes, and great dragon appeared before him. the dragon, Ddraig said as he accessed Alex''s memories. Alex was silent as Ddraig processed the information in the memories including the events that take place in dxd in a little over ten years. After several minutes, Alex nodded mentally to confirm Ddraig''s words. What he had seen was that in the very near future he and his eternal rival Albion will put aside their differences and essentially become friends. The main reason was actually Ddraig''s original host in the series, issei. When issei became known as the oppai dragon, the mental impact had practically destroyed Ddraig''s pride. As they were recognized as the two heavenly dragons, both Ddraig and Albion suffered due to issei, and reconciled due their grievances as a result, as well as due to the unusual growth of their hosts powers. Ddraig was silent for a moment before saying, Alex smiled at the powerful dragon that was now his new companion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 5 Level- 12 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devil transformation Boosted gear Job- jobless (0) Previous job history-none ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 3 - Disciple Alex was now eight, and he had his tail wrapped around a sturdy tree branch and was doing pull-ups with it. He had learned from the original dragon ball series that while the saiyans tail was their weak point, it could also be trained to prevent that. Besides his physical strength, Alex was focusing on training his dragon body and boosted gear so that there would be less questions when he fought in the future. Being the red dragon emperor was a lot easier to explain than some random devil, or even a stray. As he was training, Alex suddenly got a notification. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Age- 8 Lvl-15 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- jobless (100) Jobs available- apprentice Mage, apprentice martial artist, hatchling draconian warrior. Previous jobs- none ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex smiled as he was finally able to choose his first job. (A.N. For new readers I originally tried to keep issei relevant for comedic value as a sidekick, and to pass the unwanted girls to, but no one wanted that so I kicked him in a later chapter. I kept getting shitty comments and reviews anyways though because people would only read to this chapter, so I cut it and didn''t rewrite it.) Chapter 4 - First job Alex didn''t know exactly when it happened, but he was now able to choose his first job. He was sad that he wasn''t able to practice blacksmithing to gain the job, but he looked at the three options, apprentice Mage, apprentice martial artist, and hatchling draconian warrior. Alex figured that the apprentice Mage option would help his Devils magic, and possibly some other magic systems in the world. The apprentice martial artist was self explanatory, and would probably give a giant boost to his general strength and martial arts capabilities. The hatchling draconian warrior was what caught Alex''s eye though. He figured the hatchling was the dragon version of apprentice, and the draconian warrior would refer to him training his dragon abilities. Suddenly his mother was calling him to go home. Alex figured it would be best to choose his job at home in case there was any complications. So he went home with his mother, telling her about his "new friend". After dinner and a quick bath, Alex was back in his room with barriers placed to warn him of any interruptions. Though he wasn''t too skilled in magic yet, he was able to at least place barriers to alarm him when someone was coming. He looked at the three options again. Alex was leaning towards hatchling draconian warrior due to him specially training his boosted gear, but he didn''t know what that would entail specifically compared to the other two. Eventually he decided to bite the bullet, and chose hatchling draconian warrior. A moment after choosing the option, a notification dinged in his head. [NOTICE!! Strength increase, defense increase; added skills dragons breath and dragons scales.] Alex looked at his system to see the changes, minus the stats. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Age- 8 Lvl- 15 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- hatchling draconian warrior (1) Previous job history- none Skills- Dragons breath- (1) Dragons scales- (1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex was excited for a second, and focused inside of himself. A moment later he slowly breathed out and a small amount of flames left his mouth. He made sure that he didn''t get carried away since he was in his house, but Alex was excited in his heart. Ddraig suddenly spoke up as well. Lauren soon spoke up as well, even though she rarely talked to him. ''Indeed, I wasn''t sure about this job system at first, but it seems like it was a good choice.'' Alex was also glad at the dragon scales ability. Not long after waking, Ddraig informed Alex that he should never use both the super Saiyan transformation and the boosted gear simultaneously. Both abilities were designed to forcibly increase his power, but when adding them together it would overpower and destroy his body. With the scales though, he would have a type of armor even when he didn''t use the balance breaker. As Alex thought about the scales, a red layer of them formed on his body. Alex marveled at how his body became reptilian, before he willed it away. The only problem was that it would be hard to train in the future do to how much it stood out. After he practiced a bit with his new abilities, Alex moved on to an ongoing project. One way he wished to train was with increased gravity like Goku and Vegeta, however he didn''t have Bulma to make him a nice training room. So he could only rely on the flexibility of the Devils magic. This was one of the few things Lauren came out for, as he needed her help to figure out how to make this formation work. He needed to increase the gravity of his room, but needed to do so without risking destroying the house. After thinking for several moments, a magic circle expanded from below him. Alex could feel the downward strain on his body getting stronger as he increased the gravity within the circle. However, a moment later he heard something groan and a small crack formed on the ceiling. Alex quickly let go of the magic, and swiftly leapt into bed when his barriers alerted him to someone coming. His mother opened his door, and looked into the room with a worried look. She thought she heard the house groaning, and was worried about it collapsing or something. When she looked into Alex''s room, his lights were out and he was sleeping soundly in his bed. At her opening the door, Alex sat up and looked over at her while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What''s going on mommy?" She just smiled, and said softly, "Nothing baby, I just came to check on you. Goodnight." "Goodnight mommy." As she left Alex let out a sigh of relief. He really needed to find his own place to practice soon. He thought about the mountainsides not far from his house, and wondered if he might be able to make a hideout there. He amused himself with using his dragons scales ability for a while before finally going to sleep. Chapter 5 - First battle "998, 999, 1000!" Alex was saying as he finished his push ups. He was now twelve and finishing his training for the day. He was in the middle of a wooded area and there were two magic circles, one above him and another below him. After a while of trial and error, he managed to figure out a gravity spell to train with, but he needed to be away from buildings to use it. He was only able to use five times the normal gravity, but his strength was increasing at a greater rate than it was before. When he thought about how Gohan was able to use the super Saiyan at his age, and he wasn''t even at Gokus level yet when he was this age made him feel inferior. The problem he was facing was that there weren''t any battles for him, while the two of them faced countless battles. He was also growing frustrated that his level stagnated at fifteen, and his job level was stuck right before reaching one hundred. It was due to his fights with the bullies and delinquents that he managed to get them up so fast, even if he didn''t kill them, but now they weren''t enough for any progress. He did manage to get his dragons breath and scales up to levels four and three. He figured out a way to form scales on a small part of his body, and leveled it by forming them under his clothes to protect himself during fights. He managed to level his breath just by practicing it, and trying different ways of using it. After dinner, Alex was thinking about how to further increase his strength when a news report came on. It was about a potential killer in the area, as there had been disappearances with only a bit of blood left at the sights the people vanished at. He started thinking about it, when suddenly Ddraig spoke up. When Alex heard Ddraig''s words, he had to fight not to smile. This could be a good chance for him to increase his strength, and jump the last couple of levels he needed to get his next job. He quickly looked at the calendar to check the lunar cycle. He had expressed a "love for astronomy" so that his parents would buy a couple things for him to keep track of the lunar cycles. They were concerned though, since he was always "scared" of the moon. They weren''t too far off though, except he was scared for them and not himself. If he looked at the full moon, there was a good chance he would destroy a good chunk of the country, let alone the city when he went ape. He was somewhat curious how a battle between him and Devils would be at that point though. He shook the thoughts out of his head, and focused on the current objective. There wasn''t a full moon that night, so Alex went to bed early. After he was sure his parents went to bed, Alex snuck out of his window and left to track down the stray devil. When he started getting closer, he activated his boosted gear and started the boosts. He wanted to be prepared instead of waiting after the battle started. His gear was nothing like the small gauntlet that only covered his wrist and forearm seven years ago. It already covered his whole hand, and was a little past his elbow. He wasn''t able to use balance breaker yet, as he needed the strength and a catalyst. When both his senses and Ddraig confirmed he outside the building the stray was in, Alex took a deep breath, and walked right in. It was some kind of storeroom as there was a lot of empty space. For a few seconds there no sign of any life, except the boosted gear going every ten seconds. Suddenly a giant centipede appeared, with the head of a man. "What''s this? Supper came to me tonight. You look awfully tough though, I''ll have to properly tenderize you." As the stray was talking Alex got into a battle stance. The stray suddenly surged forward, but the gauntlet suddenly shouted . As it got closer to the boy, it saw him open his mouth and the the last thing it saw or heard was the roaring flames that soon consumed it. *** Alex sat a ways away from the building that he fought at, as he watched it burn to the ground. He was sweating a little. Weren''t his flames a little TOO powerful? He had torched the centipede almost instantly, and because he made the flames so intense they quickly spread to the building itself. Or maybe it was the twenty boosts he transferred to them? Either way, he wasn''t going to get enough practical battle experience this way. He did level a little bit though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Age- 12 Lvl- 16 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- hatchling draconian warrior (100) Jobs available- apprentice Mage, apprentice martial artist, draconian warrior, apprentice pyromage Job history- none Skills- Dragons breath (5) level up! Dragons scales (3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex looked at his new job option and asked Lauren, ''Is the system mocking Me?'' He could swear she was trying hard not to laugh, now that he thought about it this was probably the first time he heard her laugh. ''The job system chooses new jobs based on your actions, if you used ice magic more often then you might get a ice based job. Since you practiced your fire breath so much it appears you qualify for the firemage job now.'' Alex didn''t buy it, but didn''t say anything back. He thought for a moment and chose his new job, apprentice Mage. [NOTICE! Magic power increase, magic resistance increase, new skill learned Devils charm] Chapter 6 - Kuoh academy It had been three years since Alex fought the stray devil. As he got older he gained more freedom in his life, and now with how he was able to travel around the city he was able to find more chances to fight. When Alex wasn''t fighting he was polishing his magic so that he could use it for training. After his initial success with gravity magic, he used the boosts from apprentice Mage to further the technique, finally being able to apply increased gravity to his very arms and legs. He had even managed to gain the gravity magic skill, but with how low it was he couldn''t use it in any battles. He used his increasing freedoms trying to find possible opponents to level himself, but was finding it increasingly hard to find any. He mainly would use his flying and speed to travel to nearby areas looking for strays and roaming monsters that would threaten people. He had a couple of close calls though due to exorcists arriving in some places and him hiding to keep from being exercised. Due to him not having any background, Alex would easily be considered a stray or rouge devil, and be exterminated. There were times that mortal police would catch him traveling, but he managed to get out of those situations easily due to his Devils charm. He was also trying to work on reaching balance breaker, but due to the lack of stimulus he was unable to activate it. Ddraig said that though he understood Alex''s rush, he should be a bit more patient since he was stills years or even decades ahead of all his previous hosts. He was now fifteen, and ready to enter high school. As this was the first year Kuoh academy was going coed, he was one of the VERY few boys in the school. Alex was also excited, because he would now get a chance to meet Rias, Akeno, and the Sitri house members. Alex wondered if he should try to add Sona to his harem in the future due to her potential as a strategist. He was concerned though, due to the fact that he was still trying to lay low until the main story starts in two years. If he was careless then it wouldn''t be hard for Rias and the others to detect his powers. He knew that the Devils will most likely use just as much prejudice against him as the church if they found him in the wrong circ.u.mstances. But his Saiyan blood demanded a challenge, and so he was going to try to get close to and possibly "date" Rias within the next two years. He knew that even if he achieved it they wouldn''t actually be dating, as she still had the engagement to Raiser. He at most would be a distraction from her future commitments. It was actually during the future encounter with Raiser that he was planning on revealing himself, but hopefully only as the red dragon emperor. All this and more we''re going through his head when he was busy fighting yet another group of enemies. This time he found a group of thugs that somehow got their hands on magic, and magic items. He knew they were recently acquired as they didn''t seem to know how to use them. The most dangerous though, was the modified gun that church exorcists sometimes use. They fired light bullets, and as a devil he was still weak to light. Thanks to all his strength training, as well as his dragon scales, he was able to deflect the bullets but that didn''t mean that they didn''t hurt like hell. With how much he got hit, Alex knew he was going to be covered in bruises the next day. He pretended to be weaker than he actually was, due to the fact that with light being his weakness he was able to level his scales easier. It was only when he got the notification that the skill leveled up that he finished dispatching the thugs. Alex looked at the weapons they had, and wondered where they got them from. He wondered if he was looking at some early activities of the Chaos Brigade, a terrorist group that mainly attacked the alliance that would form in the near future. There was a pretty good chance this was them testing a few things secretly before making a move in two years. His blood started boiling at the thought of the strong enemies he would get to face in a couple years, he was now able to understand some of Goku''s thoughts during dragon ball with wanting a good fight. He looked at his arms and legs, and decided it was time to increase the gravity on them. The magic circles appeared, and Alex increased the amount from the ten he had it on, to fifteen. Now each of his arms and legs were under the strain of fifteen times the normal gravity. Plus his normal training routine where he was now using up to twenty times the normal gravity. He also checked the status screen as his job as apprentice Mage had finally hit one hundred. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Age- 15 Lvl- 18 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- apprentice Mage (100) Jobs available- Mage, apprentice martial artist, draconian warrior, apprentice pyromage, demonic charmer, gravity user. Job history- hatchling draconian warrior Skills- Devils charm (3) Dragons breath(7) Dragons scales (6) Gravity magic (2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex decided to hold on the Mage and gravity user jobs for the meantime, as his magic was adequate for his current training. He also ignored apprentice pyromage, and apprentice martial artist as his Saiyan bloodline would give him the same benefits as the job. Since the main battles started in two years, he decided it would be best to continue training with draconian warrior. After choosing the job, he felt the expected boost to his physical abilities, and heard the notification. [NOTICE! Boost to strength, defense, and speed, new skill dragons glider] Alex was thoughtful at his new skill. He activated it and a pair of dragons wings appeared behind him similar to his Devils wings. He decided they would be useful as he can still fly while not revealing the Devils wings, and he thought that the higher the skill the faster the flying speed. He tried them out as he flew home for the night before starting high school the next day. As Alex walked through the school, rumors followed him. He still had the crazy hair, and due to his ripped body and known history for fighting, he already had a reputation as a delinquent. The only exception were the few people that he had helped in the past with bullies or thugs. He walked to his classroom, and smiled when he looked in it. In a group were four girls, three with black hair, one with Crimson. /Authors Note So a few things, first do you guys want an instant jump to the main story with a summary next chapter of the next two years, or do you want a few more chapters before getting to the main story? Second I kinda left issei in the air about if he was going to stay even though I made the effort to give him a chance, so I''ll just ask you guys what you think. A) issei stays B) issei gets written out Thanks all!\ Chapter 7 - Delinquent? Alex was thinking to himself, wondering how to get closer to Rias. It has been a couple months since they started school, and every attempt he made at approaching her resulted in him getting shot down. He stopped after the third time so that he wasn''t harassing her, but he didn''t stop thinking of ways to get closer. Part of the problem that Sona pointed out, was that he was a "delinquent" who would only have bad ideas about Rias. He thought this was funny considering that any bad ideas he had were to specifically wait for two years anyways, especially since she still looked somewhat immature compared to how she looked In the series. Part of the reason he focused on getting a relationship with her was to avoid conflict with the three factions later. If he was in a relationship with a high class devil, then they wouldn''t consider him as dangerous an existence due to not being connected to any of them. But he decided that he first had to fix this delinquent image he had. There were several people that didn''t consider him one, but they were mainly the ones that knew him growing up. Since people were more willing to believe what they wanted based on his image, they ignored the words of others and his actions. The only thing Alex actively did that confirmed their thoughts was that he didn''t back down from bullies and thugs. Other than that, he still held to his ideas from his previous life where you treat other with kindness and they''ll do the same. That was why when he saw an entire group of guys trying to force their way onto campus, he only sighed and went to see what was going on. As the school used to be all girls, they would have to deal with undesirable people trying to take advantage and hit on them. They would usually be forced to leave by the student council and kendo club, but this time there was around twenty people there. ''What is this a gang war or something?'' Alex thought to himself. When suddenly Ddraig spoke up, Alex only sighed again at Ddraig''s words. He was trying to fix his image and here they were trying to destroy it. He walked up the group and asked, "Is everything all right here?" The current president said sharply, "This doesn''t concern you, we are trying to handle the situation properly." Alex''s eyebrow twitched at her rude response, and he looked at the guys who then flinched at his presence. One stepped forward with a metal bat, which only made Alex think ''seriously?''. He pointed at the kendo club captain and said, "She hit us with that damn stick of hers, it''s only fair that we get a hit back with our own. Either that or she could compensate for our hurt feelings tonight, her and that group behind her!" Alex only sighed at the situation, and thought to himself ''how many times have I sighed now?'' Before replying to the thug. "Well I know you guys have grudges against me as well, so how about you do your hit against me and we''ll call it even?" The thugs looked surprised at Alex''s idea, and the president and kendo club members looked concerned. He may have been a delinquent, but was still a part of their school. Alex was thinking that this might actually be a good chance to raise opinions of himself, if he managed to handle the situation "properly" then it might help remove his delinquent image. The thug didn''t say anything, and just swung the bat at his head all of a sudden. With Alex''s defenses it wouldn''t even come close to hurting him, but he swung his head with the bat so that it looked like it did. He then passed the bat to the next guy who swung at him as well. Alex thought that if he was going to have to deal with all of them it was going to be tiring, but he should just grin and bear it. After several people "hit" him though, the captain of the kendo club tried to stop them. "That''s enough! He''s been hit enou-" but her words were cut off as the current one swinging tried to hit her instead for interrupting him. Suddenly the bat stopped, and everyone looked and saw Alex holding it. He stopped it a mere few inches from her, and she looked pale at the beating she nearly just took. Alex though, after having taken several swings of the bat didn''t look like he had actually been hit at all. He then said calmly, "President, I tried to deal with this situation "properly", but it seems as if they won''t allow that. I''ll ask that you keep out of this, as I show them what happens to those that mess with the girls at this school." As Alex spoke he tightened his grip on the bat, warping the metal. The president only nodded with a pale face. He then gave the thugs a beating so bad that they would never again dare come close to Kuoh academy, he let them live though. After the situation was resolved, Alex got rid of the bat hoping no one noticed that he warped the metal, and that none of the ones from the supernatural side of things noticed his strength. Suddenly the present and the club captain came up to him. ""I''m sorry for treating you so badly!"" They said in unison. Alex only raised an eyebrow, and said, "It''s alright, I just don''t like bullies. It was probably my fault they brought so many to create problems to begin with." He then noticed that there was a small blush on the faces of the girls who witnessed the conflict. When they saw Alex stand up for them they realized how much they wronged him with their opinions. The kendo club members especially seemed affected as he "took a beating" for them. He realized that his actions might have been a little too effective. But he was glad for it as later he was called out to, "Alex right? Do you have a bit of time later? Want to go get something to eat?" Alex turned and saw the speaker was Rias. He didn''t know why she was suddenly interested in him but simply said, "Sure, I don''t have anything going on" Chapter 8 - Meeting rias It was after school and Alex was sitting at a cafe with Rias Gremory. As he looked at her he noticed that though she was still immature looking compared to the series, she still had the appearance of high society as she ate. The two ate for a while, before she finally talked about why she asked him out. "I''m restarting the Occult Research Club at school, would you like to join?" ''That''s what it is!'' Alex thought to himself. He guessed that she noticed the fight earlier, and wants to see if he would make a good servant. As he got hit with the bat several times yet isn''t noticeably injured, and fought with twenty people with ease she probably thinks he''d make a good rook. Alex smiled slyly, and replied, "I''m not really looking into any clubs at the moment, though I do appreciate the offer. I want to keep my afternoons open." As it was the time that he usually trained he was speaking the truth, but there was also that fact that besides already being a devil, he wasn''t here to become someone else''s servant. Rias looked reluctant for a moment, before turning on her Devils charm and saying, "I would really like it if you reconsidered, it''s only me and Akeno there right now." As Alex was also a devil that possessed the charm, he was completely unaffected. "Though I''m not against the idea of spending more time with you, as I said I would have to decline your offer." Rias was shocked as she noticed that her charm didn''t work at all. She used her Devils senses to see what made Alex so unique, but couldn''t sense anything. The reason for this was that Ddraig was actively trying to conceal Alex''s powers. A high class devil was no match for a heavenly dragon, even a sealed one. She eventually decided that he was simply descended from a hero or something, and wanted him even more. "You said something about spending time together, what did you have in mind?" If he wouldn''t join her club, then she needed to keep an eye on him someway. Alex smiled, as he figured he knew what she was thinking. He then said without any shame, "I would like you to become my girlfriend." For the second time she was shocked, but for the first time she showed it. She then weighed her options, she was technically engaged, but never agreed to it. Her main concern was Raiser attacking the human that dared laid hands on "his" woman, as she didn''t like the idea of others being hurt due to her whims. She eventually decided that as long as things didn''t get too far, it wouldn''t be too risky, as she was trying to recruit a new member for her peerage. "Let''s go on an few dates first, and I''ll consider becoming your girlfriend." She said as she didn''t want to seem desperate or easy. Alex smiled as his idea worked, but to Rias it just seemed as if he was happy to be dating her as he had tried approach her a few times already. They spent the next hour or so talking and getting to know each other. After they finished talking, they gave each other their numbers and left. As Rias had to go back to the school, Alex decided to act the role of boyfriend and escorted her back. After escorting her back to the old school building, he then started walking to his training area. He kept his senses alert for any signs of being followed as he was sure Rias would be trying to keep an eye on him. Sensing nothing he returned to the same place he trained everyday, and created the magic circles to increase gravity. He then activated his dragons wings and was trying to keep flying while gravity tried to force him down. *** At the same time Rias was sitting in her new club room in deep thought. Akeno brought her some tea, and noticed from her demeanor that the negotiations didn''t seem to go well. "So we don''t have a new member? I thought he walked you all the way back?" Rias only smiled bitterly, and replied, "Nope, it seems as if I actually have a boyfriend now. Devils are considered the ultimate conman, but I think this time I was the one conned." Akeno was shocked at her friends words, as she also knew about the engagement. But she also considered about how this man might surprise her like he did earlier. She had heard the rumors and judged them to be accurate based on his looks, but the only reason she cared was because he kept trying to approach her master. It wasn''t until today that she realized that she was hasty in her opinion, and she couldn''t forgiven herself for that most, after all she herself had that "filthy" part of her. She then said, "Are you at least going to try and keep and eye on him?" Rias nodded and said, "That''s part of why I accepted. He''s not normal, I even tried to use my charm and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Even if I use my familiar to spy on him I doubt it''ll work for long. The best plan I have at the moment is to keep an eye on him and hope I don''t chase him off to someone else." Akeno nodded, and continued preparing the tea. Chapter 9 - Breaking the perverted trio It had been a year since Alex and Rias started dating. In that time her curiosity of him had only grown, but she was unable to figure out anything about him. What Rias didn''t realize was that the more time she spent with Alex, the less she wanted to make him her servant, and the more she started actually caring about him. To everyone else, she was Rias GREMORY, not Rias the girl. Alex didn''t treat her like that, so she started to genuinely care about him, to the point that after a few months together she gave him her first kiss. She was worried though, as she would have to deal with her engagement sooner or later and break off this relationship. Alex however was well aware of the situations that were concerning her. He could tell that though Rias started to care about him, she wasn''t completely open to him. The reason being that she still didn''t act like she did in the series once she developed her feelings for issei, she still had her air of composure. He had also gotten a bit closer to Akeno, and when their second year started, Kiba. They all still tried to keep their identities from him though, as even though he was Rias''s boyfriend, he was still "human". Alex''s attention was taken by something else though, as he once again met issei. It appeared that issei had completely forgotten about how Alex could use ki, and stopped training like how Alex told him to. As he already decided, Alex was going to leave him alone since he didn''t take the branch he offered to this world, but apparently issei had other plans. "Um Alex, those three are causing trouble again. Could you please help us?" The young girl asked him. She was a member of the kendo club, the frequent victims of the perverted trios peeping. Alex only shook his head, and went to follow the girl to the kendo club. The girls knew that issei and the other two were waiting for them, and so they waited outside the changing room for Alex to show up. After the incident that led to him dating Rias, Alex had become the go to guy for when someone was bugging you. The kendo club in particular, as they were the ones who almost suffered the most during that incident. Alex had also developed a closer relationship with the club, from occasionally going to learn swordsmanship. It was a far cry from actual battle techniques, but it was as good a starting point as he could find. He had quickly picked up the concept though, and within a week there wasn''t anyone in the club that could match him, only raising their opinion of him higher. As he approached the building, he could see the three of them fighting over the hole. Alex once again shook his head, and cleared his throat. Hearing him, the three slowing turned their heads and saw him standing there. They were about to run when he said, "As of this moment I''m talking to you, if you run then I''m going straight to punching." The three quickly kneeled in front of him. He looked at the three of them, each were calculating the best way to get out of this mess. "Day after day, why? If you guys acted civilized then there would be girls willing to be with you, you know? Instead you creep them out and push them away, then you cry into the air about how you all want girlfriends." Almost everyone in the school had been able to hear them crying out about the "injustice", yet as far as he could tell none of them actually tried to do anything about the situation. The three then did the usual, they talked about how he wouldn''t understand them, and about how they will never try to hide their true desires. As they continued their speeches, the kendo club girls just became more disgusted with the three of them. However, issei added a new part in his that was his last mistake. "-and I will get to fondle those great tits of Rias Gremory!" Alex''s eyebrow twitched at his words, while the kendo club went silent even the other two started becoming scared. It took a moment, but issei seemed to realize his blunder. Alex however, had a giant smile on his face that didn''t seem to have any bad intent whatsoever. He very discreetly used his Devils charm on the three. "You know, I think I''ve been too hard on you three. How about this, I''ll look up a few girls I know about, and I''ll introduce you. If I''m lucky then each of you might even get two girls each!" They each became excited as Alex''s words, and didn''t doubt him at all due to his charm. He then arranged with them a place to meet the girls later, and walked away to go find them. He knew that the person he wanted should be in this area, but he would have to try to find them. It took him a while, but using magic he managed to find the person he wanted, and she agreed to meet the men he wanted to introduce her to. She had even agreed to call five of her friends to meet with them. He brought them to the place he arranged with issei, a karaoke lounge/hotel. They booked three rooms for each of the men they were going to meet, and Alex told them to go ahead and wait in the lounge for them to arrive. "And remember, they are very shy when they''re actually in front of a girl, so you might have to be a little forceful. I''ll send them in when they get here, and you enjoy yourselves with them tonight." A few minutes later the perverted trio arrived. "Alex, thank you for setting this up for us!" Issei said. Alex couldn''t help but think ''you were declaring you wanted to fondle my girlfriends tits earlier, and now you''ve completely forgotten about it?'' But he didn''t say anything and simply said, "It''s alright, you know I might not have been to understanding, having a girlfriend and all. Hahahahahahaha. So there are six maidens waiting in this room for you three, and they are very eager to meet all of you. Issei, make sure you ask for Mil-tan. She seemed very interested in you when I told them about you." Issei and the others seemed very excited, until Alex opened the door. "ARE THESE OUR DATES TONIGHT?!" A very deep voice sounded from the open door. The looks of excitement on the perverted trio turned to horror instantly. Alex swiftly stood behind them so none would be able to escape, and said, "Yes they are, remember I said they''d be shy, i mean look they''re all speechless. Now enjoy yourselves tonight." After finishing his words Alex pushed the three horrified boys into the room, and walked away. ''I try to help you get a harem, I try to help you live out your fantasy, and you declare you want to molest my girlfriend right in front of me?'' Alex didn''t fell even a shred of guilt at his actions. A few days later he convinced himself he was imagining it when he saw the three walking awkwardly in the school, and when they started massaging their butts. Unsurprisingly, there weren''t any more harassment issues after that. Chapter 10 - "Yuuma" Another year after "dealing" with issei and his partners in crime, Alex was sitting in the ORC room socializing with the members. He wasn''t a member himself, but he was dating the president of the club so he was allowed. He had also finally met Koneko, the last member of Rias''s peerage besides Gasper. Unlike issei who she disliked due to his perverted nature, she had actually warmed up pretty quick to Alex. Alex was getting noticeably more excited each day, as the main story events would be starting any day. Though there was one thing that was dampening his excitement, as they carried their relationship on, Rias was starting to become more distant. Alex knew it was most likely due to the impending situations with Raiser, even if it wasn''t an issue at this point in the series, Rias wasn''t actually in a relationship at this time. So the situation probably seemed more dire due to Alex''s existence. But since he "didn''t" know about these events, he could only pretend to be ignorant. As it got to the time for the "club activities" Alex needed to leave. Truthfully it was time for them to do their Devils job, and since Alex was still supposed to be ignorant about it he could only leave. He didn''t mind though as he needed to train still. Rias was sitting at her desk, and she got up as Alex walked over. "It''s time for the super cool stuff you guys won''t tell me about, so I have to go." He placed his hands on her h.i.p.s and pulled her close for a kiss. They had kissed plenty of times now that it was standard for the two of them. A few seconds later they split, and Alex left after she said her farewells. As he started walking home, he started thinking clearly about the upcoming events. Who should he help, what shouldn''t he change? These thought and more we''re going through is head as a pretty girl walked out in front of him. Alex looked up and had to practically pinch himself in order not to react to the situation. There was pretty girl with black hair and purple eyes looking at him with interest. He pretended not to notice though and kept walking. Even though she didn''t call out to him yet, the girl didn''t expect to simply be ignored. She froze for a second, and ran to catch up with him before saying, "Um, excuse me. You''re Alex aren''t you?" Alex stopped and turned to look at the girl. She almost had a pleading expression on her face and would''ve made him feel bad about ignoring her, if he didn''t know what she actually was. "What do you want?" He acted as if he could care less, he wanted to see how far she would take her act. She actually looked as if she was sad about him seemingly not caring about her. Tears actually started forming in her eyes. "I, I, I wanted to talk to you so bad. I even worked up my courage to speak to you. Please listen to what I have to say." The tears started to flow down her face as if she was genuinely upset. Alex didn''t say anything as he waited to hear her. He had to fight not to start laughing. Seeing he wasn''t going to say anything, but was still waiting for her to speak, the girl said suddenly, "I''ve been watching you for a while, and I think Ive started to like you. Please go out with me!" The girl turned increasingly red with each word, and by the time she got to the last bit she rushed to say it all at once. She stood there with her eyes closed as if she was waiting for his reply. "Hahahahahahaha!" Alex was laughing so hard he couldn''t breathe, he had to grab his knees to keep standing. As it was getting later in the day there weren''t very many people around, but the few that were looked at him like he was a lunatic. The girl genuinely started crying at this point as her loud sobs echoed with his laughter. As Alex started getting his breath back, he quickly told the girl, "Stop the act, I can''t take much more!" The girl looked confused as she stopped crying. She tried to cover it by continuing the act. "What do you mean act?! I actually like you and this is how to treat a young girls confession?!" Her face really flushed from her crying, she now had indignation in her eyes at being laughed at for confessing. But, she now couldn''t help the small fear in her heart that she was being played with. Alex turned around, and started walking away while still occasionally giggling. "If you''re serious about your feelings Yuuma, I''ll see you at the arcade in a few days." The girl was confused at the mans words, then she realized that she never told him her name. As the man walked out of sight, she rippled and disappeared. But before she left she couldn''t help the thought that she might be in trouble. Alex was still trying not to die of laughter, thinking about that famous bitch Raynare crying the way she was. He didn''t have any real sadist tendencies, but she was one of the worst people in the series. He recalled that her actions had actually traumatized issei for several volumes of these series, and she had quite the disgusting personality, rivaled in his opinion only by a small handful of people. Alex continued to walk to his training area, as he pondered what to do with her. Chapter 11 - Asia After he ran into Raynare, Alex kept an eye on the arcade to see if she showed up like he said. However she never did. He kept his senses peeled and knew that she was still in the area, but it seemed as if she was laying low until she could decide what to do about him. Alex also thought that she might be waiting for Asia so that she could steal her sacred gear. As he recalled Raynare thought she would rise in the ranks of the fallen angels with it, she might think that if he''s a threat she would need it to face him. Though she acts tough to those weaker than her, she was actually a coward to those stronger. The days passed as he still saw no sign of her. He was once again in the club room eating snacks and drinking tea. Suddenly, Rias came and sat down next to Alex and leaned against him. She seemed stressed out about something, so he put his arm around her and started rubbing her shoulder. "Anything you need to talk about?" She just sighed and said, "Family stuff, I hope it gets resolved soon, but it probably won''t be." She left it at that. Alex could only think to himself ''not much longer and I''ll get to beat the shit out of Raiser for her.'' They sat there like that until it was time for Alex to leave. After he left Akeno and the others looked at their master with worry in their eyes. They had never seen her acting like this, and knew she was depressed about having to break her relationship with Alex soon. Alex on the other hand was walking towards his training area, thinking about what he would do regarding both Raynare and Raiser. As far as Raiser, he intended to at the very least break him mentally, and leave him that way. Alex didn''t believe in redemption arcs. Raynare was another matter altogether, as it would be a matter of letting her live or still killing her. After thinking it over he decided that he''ll still kill her to prevent any issues later. As he was walking, Alex suddenly saw a young girl walking around with the attire of a church sister. She was trying to ask directions, but due to her not speaking Japanese well no one bothered with her. It was times like this that Alex was grateful for the Devils power of languages, as it will also be usable in the other worlds. He walked up to the girl and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with miss?" And as he expected when she turned towards him he saw a beautiful girl with straight blond hair and green eyes. She looked surprised for a moment, then smiled greatly and asked, "You can understand me? I''m so glad, it must be gods will that we met this day. ''Please God bless this person in front of me with good fortune.''" The expected pain came when she finished her prayer, but Alex just grinned through it not even daring to flinch while thinking, ''gods dead you know? Well even if I don''t tell you, you''ll figure it out in the near future.'' He then repeated his question. "oh yes, I''m sorry for getting sidetracked, I''m going to the church in this area but got lost and no one will help me." She became somewhat depressed when she got to the end of her sentence, Alex only sighed, and pointed to her suitcase. "I''ll carry that, just follow me and I''ll lead you there." Without waiting for her to reply he picked up the suitcase and started walking. Asia stood there for a moment, looking at him, before realizing she was getting left behind and tried to catch up. They made small talk the way until the church, then Alex got a deep sense of foreboding and felt chills all over himself. Since he was trying to stay off the radar, he had also actively avoided churches like this until now. Then Asia spoke up, "This far''s ok, thank you Alex. If God wills it then we''ll meet again someday, I hope we can meet and be friends. Goodbye." Alex also said his goodbyes and watched her walk away. He then walked to his training area, but instead of training like he was going to, he was simply warming up for the raid on the church that night. He wasn''t going to wait for the ritual, he wanted to get rid of Raynare and pass Asia onto Rias. He looked at his status for the first time in a while, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 23 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- draconian warrior (95) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage Skills- Dragons breath(9) Dragons scales(7) Dragons glider(6) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex looked at his status and hoped that he would get his next job after the fight that night. He was also excite that his dragons breath will reach the max soon at level ten, and hopefully evolve into a more advanced skill. He was still sad that he hadn''t been able to start forging, as he couldn''t find any way to be taught the skill. He had no experience and wouldn''t know the first thing about building a forge, or smithing sword. Leaving these thoughts behind, Alex flew off towards the church when the sun started going down. Dark had settled when he arrived, and he started thinking about how he wanted to attack. He activated his boosted gear, and started the boosts while he waited. While he was trying to plan though, he could feel the power from the ritual, and realized that they were starting earlier than he thought. Alex panicked for a second, and said to Ddraig, ''Stop suppressing my powers, I''m going to use the it as spotlight and draw Rias here to clean up after I leave.'' Ddraig listened to what he wanted, and Alex went forward to start the raid. Rias looked up from her desk the same moment Akeno became alerted. They had both felt a powerful aura nearby. "Akeno call back Kiba and Koneko, we''re going to investigate." Akeno nodded and said, "Their at their jobs at the moment, it''ll take about ten minutes for us to arrive there." Rias nodded and decided to wait for her peerage. She didn''t want to walk right into whoever this was unprepared. Chapter 12 - Church raid Before Alex reached the doors of the church, he dispelled the gravity magic on his arms and legs. He marveled at how light he felt for the first time in years. He tested his new unrestricted strength, by smashing in the doors. Of course the only one present was Freed, the white haired lunatic was surprised Alex appeared, and started laughing. "So you walked right in here for us to deal with personally? How kind of you to make our job-" that was as far as he got, due to Alex using his speed and sinking his fist in Freeds stomach. Freed started coughing blood, before he got launched through the back wall. Alex didn''t even bother looking to see if he survived. He then activated his scales to prevent Asia from recognizing him, and tore apart the alter to reach the bas.e.m.e.nt where the ritual was ongoing, and headed downstairs. When he got there he saw Asia chained to a cross, and quite a few enemies between him and her. Raynare was there of course, and she only looked slightly surprised to see him. "As I thought, there was more to you than there seemed. But you''re too late, I will take this girls power and you won''t-" once again his opponent wasn''t able to finish, due to him using his speed to pass all the people she had instantly and sinking his fist into her gut. She crashed into the back wall, but unlike Freed who still went flying, she only formed a crater in it due to being under ground. All the priests then open fired on him with their modified guns, and the other three fallen angels created spears of light to throw at him. He wondered if they were aware that light based weapons were best to use on him, or if they were simply all the priests had. Alex didn''t bother worrying about the bullets due to his scales, but he caught the spears of light as they were about to hit him. When he caught them, smoke started rising from his hands indicating the light damage. It wasn''t lost on all the priests and fallen angels, so Alex decided ''what the hell, they''re all about to die anyways.'' He spread his Devils wings and created magic circles around the entire room. Everyone present was forced to their knees as the gravity pushed them down. "How''s the ten times regular gravity?" They all struggled to stand while he spoke, and Raynare called out behind him, "You''re a devil? One of those disgusting beings?" Alex didn''t say anything, and simply walked over to her. She tried to crawl forward, but found it impossible due to both the damage she took and the increased gravity. He stepped behind her, grabbed her wings and pulled. "KYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" she screamed bloody murder in the bas.e.m.e.nt, as he ripped off both of her wings. Alex then collected a feather, and approached the other three fallen angels to do the same. Storing them away, he finally approached the cross that had Asia. She had a single magic circle above her head to protect her from the effects of the gravity. She seemed to have passed out, but he made sure that she still had her sacred gear. After collecting her, Alex used his magic to make a hole in the ceiling up to the church. He used his Devils wings to fly up, and looked down the hole. He opened his mouth and blew out a sea of flames down the hole into the bas.e.m.e.nt below. His flames had powered up so much to this point that even the rock melted as the under ground was turned into a sea of flames. He flew to the front of the church, and placed Asia down on the grass. At this moment he noticed the presence of four Devils coming, and knew it was Rias and the others. Alex swiftly had his powers suppressed again, and quickly moved away from the clearing. As Rias arrived at the place they felt the powerful aura at, she saw a church being burned to the ground, and the aura vanished right before they arrived. She walked forward and saw the girl laying in the grass. The girl was dressed in a thin gown, which Rias recognized as a typical ritual attire. It didn''t take long for her to put together the clues of what happened here, the only thing she was missing was who destroyed the church and saved the girl? "Akeno, put out the fire then take her back to the club room and examine her. Kiba, Koneko, search the area and see if you can find who it was that destroyed the church building and the people inside." They quickly moved to follow her orders, but they couldn''t find any evidence. After searching for almost an hour they still couldn''t find anything, and Rias decided to call it a night. As they were about to leave though, Koneko stopped and started smelling the air. Due to the fire and smoke she wasn''t able to get any noticeable scents, but for a brief second she thought she smelt something familiar. It was gone almost instantly though so she dismissed it and left with the others. Alex was hiding nearby, watching the way things went. Once he saw the other leave, he let out a sigh of relief. He got a little concerned when Koneko seemed to realize something, but she ended up leaving with the others. Alex then checked his status. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 24 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- draconian warrior (100) Available jobs- Mage, apprentice martial artist, senior draconian warrior, arsonist, gravity user, demonic charmer, holy enemy Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage Skills- Dragons breath(10) level up! Dragons scales(8) level up Dragons glider(6) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(7) level up! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Alex saw his new jobs available his first thought was that he somehow inherited the curse of Vandalieu to mostly get evil sounding jobs. Even his option for apprentice firemage vanished only to be replaced with arsonist. And what was that holy enemy?! He fought enemies of the church, why is he now considered their enemy as well?! Lauren was laughing her ass off, she didn''t even try to hide it this time. Ddraig was also snickering at his luck, and took a few minutes to compose himself before saying seriously, Alex couldn''t find any arguments to Ddraig''s words, and accepted the arsonist job. [NOTICE! Magic power increase, new skill fire manipulation added, existing skill dragons breath has evolved to dragon gods breath] Chapter 13 - Raiser It had been a week after the church raid. Alex was sitting in the ORC room, while Asia brought him a bit of tea. She had recognized him from when he showed her the church, but not from the fight thankfully. It only took a few days after the fight for them to meet again, and he noticed instantly that she now carried the aura of a devil. Relieved that everything worked out, he was now just waiting for the fight with Raiser. One thing that concerned him was Koneko giving him strange looks throughout the week. He pretended not to notice, but he now knew she suspected his involvement at the church. Since he was planning to reveal himself soon anyways, he decided not to let it worry him. Soon however, Akeno came and whispered something into Rias''s ear causing her to sigh. "Alex, there''s something I need to talk to the club members about, can you go ahead and I''ll meet up with you later?" Alex nodded and left as she asked. Not long after, a magic circle covered in flames appeared and a handsome arrogant looking young man appeared immediately after. The members arranged themselves, while the man took a seat, Rias then pointedly sat across from him. Akeno appeared pushing a cart with snacks and tea, which she then served to their guest. "No matter how many times I come to the human world it''s always so filthy. I don''t understand how you can live in this filth Rias." She looked disgusted at the man calling her by name, but bore it as she had to. "What do you want Rasier? The arrangement isn''t for another few years after I finish collage. There''s no reason for you to be here." Raiser sneered at her words. "So cold towards your future husband? Well no matter, the arrangements been changed. We''re getting married right away." Rias stood up in anger and demanded, "Why?! There''s no reason to move up the marriage and it''s not as if there''s a risk of running out of time anyways!" Raiser was about to say something, but at that moment another magic circle appeared. This time it was a beautiful woman with silver hair in a maid outfit. She gave a somewhat cold look at Raiser for stirring up trouble, and said, "Raiser, this situation will be handled by the house of Gremory. Even though you are her fianc¨¦, we do not wish for you to be stirring up trouble for no good reason." Rasier only laughed at Grayfia''s words and said, "Stirring up trouble? What about Rias, who is apparently flaunting herself around with another guy, and a lowly human at that?" Raiser said as he pulled out some photographs of a familiar man with spiked hair. Rias''s complexion turned pale instantly and said, "What about him? I''m already planning to break the relationship off tonight anyways. There not anything wrong with a bit of fun while I''m in the human world is there?" She said as if Alex meant nothing to her. Raiser only laughed and said, "Very convincing, Ive never heard of "a bit of fun" going on for two years though. We also found that you started your relationship almost as soon as you started high school. The members of the Pheonix house are concerned that were not being taken seriously if my fianc¨¦ runs around with another guy the moment she left the underworld." From there the argument continued until the rating game was decided on. Rias was also forced to terminate her relationship with Alex permanently to preserve the reputation of the Gremory house. After Raiser and Grayfia left, Rias soon followed with tears in her eyes at the thought of how her night with Alex was going to go. Koneko looked concerned for her master, and whispered her suspicions about Alex to Kiba, who then decided to quietly follow her. Later Alex was on his date with Rias, he noticed that her mood was considerably worse today, and tried to take her places that would cheer her up. When they were walking through the park, night started to fall. Rias suddenly turned to Alex and said, "If I was in trouble would you come to save me not matter what?" Alex was surprised at her question. He asked, "What like Prince Charming on a white horse?" She looked a little embarrassed at his words, but nodded. "Nope" Alex said immediately, causing her to go into brief shock before he finished talking. "I''m not really the hero type, I would say I''m the dragon that kidnaps the princess type, then falls for the princess." Rias was stunned at his words, then managed a small smile for the first time that night. She recalled all the fight she gets into, though he might see like a hero to some, she suddenly realized that his words were more accurate than she originally thought. Alex smirked at how she didn''t actually realize how true his words were. Rias then had the image of him carrying her away from Raiser, but knew it could never happen. She steeled herself for her next words. "I''m sorry but I have to break up with you." She didn''t wait for his response, but used her wings to fly away, revealing her devil identity. Alex was stunned at the sudden development, but then said, "You can come out now." Kiba walked out from the trees. He''s was on edge as Alex seemed to know he was there the whole time. Alex further surprised him with his next words. "Do you care for your masters happiness?" Kiba didn''t respond right away from shock, but then said a moment later, "Of course I do, as her knight my very life is for her and her goals." Alex smiled in response to Kiba''s words and said, "I''ll explain who I am and why I hid myself properly later, if you want your master to be happy then help me get into the underworld when you lose the rating game." Kiba wasn''t sure how to respond to Alex''s words, but decided that it would be better to bet on him than Raiser. The two formed their temporary pact that night, before Kiba left for training the next day. Alex also started training, to kick Raisers ass. Chapter 14 - Balance breaker Alex had continued training for a little over a week, while waiting for Kiba to contact him. His goal was to reach balance breaker before the fight with Raiser, but even though he had long reached the required strength, he also needed a stimulus to activate it, a sort of change. As for the super Saiyan form, he still had a ways to go before obtaining that one. He was disappointed in himself for not reaching the deadline he had set. The majority of his status also stayed the same considering it was taking longer to level each skill nowadays. The only thing he made any real progress on, was the flame manipulation skill. It allowed him to control flames, even if they weren''t his own. He had started to use fire magic and manipulate it into various forms to learn control. This was all the real progress he had made, until he received a letter from Kiba. His letter said that they lost the match like Alex predicted, and the envelope contained a sheet of paper with a magic circle on it to help him get to the underworld. He then told his parents that he was staying over with a friend, and made his preparations to go into battle. The reason he was being so cautious about this fight, was that he wasn''t sure if Raiser would be the only one he had to fight as he was an outsider. Using the magic circle, Alex finally arrived at the underworld for the first time. Kiba had been unable to arrange for the jump to go into the palace the party was in, so Alex was in the city nearby. He was thinking about how he was going to attack, when they played a broadcast of the rating game. He watched out of curiosity, and saw some things he predicted, others he didn''t. For instance, Rias lost of course, but it appeared Raiser gave his peerage direct orders not to retire any of Rais''s peerage. Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, and Asia, were all dragged to the spot that Rias had challenged Raiser. Raiser then directly threatened to murder every member of her peerage if she didn''t submit to him. Deaths in the games did occasionally occur, but they were counted as accidents. He recalled Raiser tried this same tactic with issei in the series. Rias of course submitted in order to preserve their lives. Raiser then walked over to her and wrapped one of his arms around her and started fondling her right then and there. He then used his other hand to grab her chin and lifted her mouth to meet his. Something in Alex snapped at that moment. [Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!!!!!!!!!] *** Rias was in the dressing room wearing the dress they had picked out for her. It was designed to match the house of Pheonix. She had dead eyes as they got her ready for the engagement party. Part of the reason was because of the fact that Raiser had purposely humiliated her publicly. The other was the fact that he had also came and told her that after the party was over he was going to make sure she knew she was his woman when he took her purity. Of course she would have to continue playing her part for this farce. For good measure Raiser had also threatened Alex if she ever failed cooperate. But she didn''t know how long she would be able to continue acting like this. How many thousands of years would she have to be with a man that made it his goal to make her miserable? She then thought back to how Alex said that he was like a dragon that would kidnap the princess, instead of a hero that saved her. She desperately wished that was the case right now. She was then told that it was time, and left to join the party with what she hoped was a passable act. Sirzechs watched as his little sister joined the engagement party with dead eyes. She tried to look as if she was enjoying herself, but he knew better. He had hoped that there would be a good alternative to Raiser, someone she would want to be with, but there''s was only that human that she went to school with. He also noticed that there was something unique about him, but he figured that if he was that impressive then Rias would have made him a member of her peerage already. The fact that she hadn''t meant that he would more than likely fall short of expectations. At that moment one of his men came to him with a report, there was someone breaking into the castle and headed towards the party. He wondered what kind of idiot would try to crash the party that even had a maou in attendance. He was about to ask Grayfia to intervene, when the doors suddenly crashed open. A swarm of guards attacked the intruder, but we''re all defeated almost instantly. Sirzechs looked and saw what looked like a youth in dark red armor, radiating an oppressive energy. The helmet disappeared, and he had a look of surprise on his face as he recognized the youth. "GET YOUR FILTHY F.U.C.K.I.N.G HANDS OFF OF MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF FRIED CHICKEN!!!!!!" Chapter 15 - Fried chicken Rias was surprised to see someone crash the party, it might''ve been the part she found the most enjoyable until she saw the face under the helmet. "Alex?" Suddenly he disappeared, reappearing right next to her. A second later there was a concussion of notice and wind, as Raiser who was right next to her got blown away. Alex took her into his armor cladded arms, and said loud enough for everyone present to hear, "I told you I''m not a hero, I''m a f.u.c.k.i.n.g dragon." He then pressed his mouth against hers. Unlike the kiss Raiser forced onto her that nearly made her sick, she melted into Alex''s embrace. Everyone was in shock of the situation, until Raiser reappeared. "Hey! Whose woman do you think you''re kissing? It was already generous of me not to initially kill you, but apparently you want to die." At his words dozens of the Pheonix household guards appeared and surrounded Alex, he couldn''t help but notice that there weren''t any Gremory house guards though. Alex wrapped one arm around Rias, and flapped his dragon wings to crash through the roof, going outside. The guards followed them, and soon they were surrounded in the air. "Kill them!" At his words the surrounding Devils created their magic circles, and a barrage of attacks flew towards them on all sides. Alex wrapped the two of them in his dragon wings, and with the enhanced defense balance breaker granted, endured them all. Seeing they were still alive, Raiser came forward once again. "Do you even realize what it is you''re doing? Rias needs to be with a devil, for the future of the devil races and houses. It was even her own family that allowed the marriage in the first place!" "Shut up." Alex said with deadly calmness. Raiser looked as if he had been slapped, but apparently Alex wasn''t done. "You think I''ll acknowledge the opinions of those that treat their family as nothing more than a breeding stock to be sold? " every member of the Gremory household felt as if their faces were slapped as well. Sirzechs as well looked as if he was being forced to swallow something bitter. He had wanted to help his cute little sister, but even his position isn''t all powerful. He had actually started to admire this young man who bravely did what he couldn''t. Alex actually knew all of this and didn''t blame Sirzechs, but he currently had a part to play. "Even if it''s not me, it has to be someone within the devil race, the Gremory family can''t continue as half-breeds due to your own selfishness." Alex then smiled, if the problem was that he wasn''t a devil, then it meant that he just had to reveal one of his cards. His dragon wings swiftly disappeared, only to be replaced by a pair of Devils wings much to the surprise of everyone present. Magic circles appeared over the entire area that they were fighting in, and suddenly with the exception of Alex, Rias, and Raiser, all the others fell to the ground. "So the problem is that I''m not a devil, huh?" Alex said with a smile as Raiser became considerably paler. Rias looked at Alex with more confusion with each passing moment from within his arms. "From one Devil to another, I Alex, challenge you Raiser Pheonix to a battle to the death!" Before Raiser could reply, Grayfia flew up and said, "Though Maou Sirzechs Lucifer will allow a duel for the hand of his little sister, he does not want any unnecessary taking of lives." Alex only sneered at her words, and pulled up part of Rias''s dress, revealing a cut along her ankle. "Raiser Pheonix personally ordered an attack on the heiress of the Gremory family, Rias Gremory. His exact words were to kill her, and her blood was spilt as a result. The only remaining child to inherit the Gremory household, or the third son of the Pheonix family, who is more important?" Grayfia paled at the realization, and the other Devils immediate started swaying their opinion against Raiser, due to the fact that Alex''s words were true, they all heard Raiser give the order to kill the two of them. Grayfia had an angry expression on her face for a brief moment, before returning to her impartial face. She looked to Sirzechs, who nodded his head in approval. Raiser on the other hand realized that the situation was quickly going against him due to his own carelessness. Rias was released from Alex''s arms, and he quickly moved to position across from Raiser. "I guess you''ll have to learn the hard way, the Pheonix are the kings of fire! These flames of ours are hot enough to burn the scales of a dragon. Experience them personally!" Raiser summoned his wings of flame, and a large scale fire attack rushed towards Alex, engulfing him in the process. Raiser started laughing as if he won, until he noticed his flames doing something unexpected. "Is that all the self proclaimed "kings of fire" have?" Alex asked calmly from the middle of the fire storm. The flames Raiser used to attack him then started moving a in a weird way, as they began to take a form, and eventually became a serpent of fire flying in the sky. Before Raiser could react, the serpent shot forward, and wrapped around him. Even though he was the supposed "king of fire" he was unable to escape the fire serpent. As it held him there, Alex''s armor started to shout, [BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST TRANSFER!] He shot forward and was right in front of Raiser, and opened his mouth. What came out weren''t the flames of a dragon, or Pheonix, but the flames of a God of dragons. Raisers screams of death weren''t even heard over the roar that lit up the night sky, and raised the surrounding areas temperature by several degrees. By the time the flames died down, there wasn''t even ash left as the third son of the Pheonix family died. "ALEX!" Rias shot forward and reentered Alex''s arms as the duel ended, even though it was only a moment after it started. She kissed him once again, and he said, "I have something better in mind than kissing." And without even paying attention to the others watching them, Alex picked her up in a princess carry, and flew away with her. Chapter 16 - Bishop As the youth flew off with his little sister, Sirzechs could only sigh at the situation. Not only did the Pheonix family lose the marriage agreement, they also lost one of their children. Though he also had to commend the brains of the youth, Alex, as he turned the situation against Rasier by pointing out that he ordered both Alex and Rias to be killed. As Raiser essentially tried to murder the heiress of the Gremory family, they won''t be able to cause as much noise. He then looked over at the family in question, and noticed that while most were fuming with rage, there was one, the daughter that looked to where Alex and Rias disappeared with sparkling eyes. He recalled her name was Ravel, and a thought occurred that this might be easier to settle than he expected. He then asked his wife and queen, Grayfia, to follow the two in secret. Ravel, the girl in question was watching Alex fly away with Rias and she recalled all the stories she used to love. The ones where a hero would save a princess, though he announced that he wasn''t a hero, that was all Ravel could see him as. She then wondered if she''ll see him again in the future. Finally the two in question, were flying away from the party with smiles on their faces. Alex decided that before sealing the deal, he would need to come clean with rias. He then formed a magic circle and pulled a decorated wooded box out from it. After opening it, Rias saw the fifteen evil pieces sitting inside. With even more questions in her mind, she tried to ask Alex, but he beat her to the punch. "I want to tell you all of my secrets, but I can''t due to reasons. If you accept my bishop piece though, then I''ll be able to share them with you." One of the restrictions on the players of the game was that they couldn''t freely share their circ.u.mstances, but the way around this was if the person in question was contracted in a way to allow traveling with the player. If Rias accepted his bishop piece, then he would be able to share his story and take her with him when he left the dxd world. But he couldn''t explain that until she accepted it. As she looked at the bishop though, Rias could help the hesitation in her heart. Accepting this would mean possibly giving up all her dreams, and ambitions. However she recalled that an hour ago she wasn''t able to follow them anyways, even if she accepted it then there was still a chance of her being able to. She also thought of everything Alex just did for her, not accepting was like saying she didn''t trust him. She then accepted the evil piece without a second thought. Alex smiled and explained, "You don''t have to worry, it won''t effect following your dreams. That piece will only help you in the long run actually." After that Alex explained everything about himself to her, including the reason he waited so long to do so. Rias was in shock about Alex''s history, the other worlds, and the fact that she would now be able to follow him to these other worlds. Taking her lifespan into consideration, she would have more than enough time to follow Alex and fulfill her dreams. In fact going with Alex would help her fulfill them as she would get to learn from these other worlds as well. She also felt warm in her heart when Alex told her that part of the reason he came to this world to begin with was to meet her. He coolly avoided mentioning that in another world thousands of people had seen her n.a.k.e.d on tv though. As they had continued flying all this time, Alex now felt that they were far enough away from the party, and couldn''t feel anyone following them. He found a small lake within a forested area, and landed. {A.N. I haven''t written 18+ scenes before so go easy if it''s not good.} They hadn''t even landed yet, when Alex had her out of the Pheonix dress, and he burnt it to ashes. Standing in the middle of the forest in nothing but her underwear, he noticed that these matched the dress, and they swiftly joined it to becoming ashes, leaving Rias standing n.a.k.e.d. He admired her n.a.k.e.d form as he swiftly joined her. When he removed his underwear, her eye''s went wide at his size. He could understand her surprise, as it was different than his size of earth. He had a theory that it was an affect of the Saiyan bloodline, as it would also explain why chi chi and bulma stayed with Goku and Vegeta. Rias then practically tackled him, as they started kissing in the buff. He enjoyed the feeling of her skin on his, as he brought her down to the ground on top of her. After kissing for several minutes, he then started making his way down her body, kissing all the way. He stopped at each of her n.i.p.p.l.es, leaving each one slick with his saliva. He then continued further down, until he reached her hidden valley. Finding the start of a spring, he attacked her with his tongue until it became a river of moisture. "Please.." She begged him. He moved back up to seal her mouth with his, as he prodded her with his tip. Alex then slowly entered her, stopping at a barrier, before it then broke with an almost audible pop. Rias gasped at the sudden intrusion, and he slowly went further until he could no more. Due to the slight tears in her eyes, he waited until she gave him the OK, before he started moving his h.i.p.s back, then went forward with more speed. "AHHHH" she gasped at the motion, then he repeated the action. With each time faster than the last, Rias''s voice got louder with each thrust, until she was m.o.a.ning without restraint. As Alex picked up speed the sound of flesh smacking became audible, and Rias wrapped her legs around him. He thrusted for almost twenty minutes, until he couldn''t hold it anymore, and he spilled his seed inside of her while Rias gave her loudest m.o.a.n yet. He then rolled over so that she was on top of him as the two cuddled on the grass. Alex wasn''t concerned about getting her pregnant, due to the fact that Devils had a very low reproduction rate. Even if they were together every night it could take years, or even decades before having a child. They both then fell asleep in each other''s arms, exhausted both physically and mentally from the day''s events. Chapter 17 - Awkward When Alex woke the next morning, Rias was still on top of him, and a beautiful silver haired woman was staring down at them. Grayfia seemed to be glaring at the "indecency" of the two, and Alex started shaking Rias gently to wake her. "Rias, I think we have some company." At first she didn''t react, but when his words seemed to register, her eyes shot open and she turned to see Grayfia. Rias then quickly tried to get up off of Alex, but the situation was made even more awkward due to the fact that he was still inside of her. She quickly summoned a blanket to cover herself with, turning just as red as her hair all the while. Considering the two even took baths together, Alex assumed the embarrassment was from the obvious evidence of their activities the night before. "Next time you decide to engage in acts of exhibitionism, please remember to at least put barriers up so that others won''t happen upon the heiress of the Gremory family in such a state." Rias''s face was coming worse with each word Grayfia said. Alex didn''t know wether to laugh or cry, and just hoped she wouldn''t notice him, but of course things didn''t go his way. "And you, the master of the Gremory house has decided to allow you continue your relationship with Rias, but do not go thinking stunts like last night are acceptable. It is especially bad that you brought her to a place like this for a first time. Plus there is the fact that you did indeed kill a high class devil of the Pheonix family, and opened up the possibility of future conflicts with them. Thanks to you pointing out that Raiser tried to kill Rias we avoided the worst case, but they are still against you." She reported what Alex expected more or less. Though as she said there are unavoidable details regarding Raiser, plus Alex knew about the upcoming conflicts in the very near future, so he wasn''t too worried. "The master and lord Sirzechs are taking care of the aftermath, so the two of you are free to return to the human world, but you will need to answer for your actions in the near future." Saying her piece, Grayfia then left by magic circle, leaving the two alone once more. The situation turned awkward even when it was just the two of them due to Grayfia''s words. Rias summoned clothes for the two of them, and after they dressed Alex decided to talk about a few things with her. "The things I told you last night, I can''t repeat them to anyone else unless they also become members of my peerage. I already promised Kiba that I''ll explain things later, so I need to coordinate a story with you before we go back." Rias only nodded at his words, as the trauma from Grayfia was still extremely fresh. After they decided on a cover story, Alex then wanted to try something. "Rias, try to think of a screen in front of you that displays various bits of information, or think mentally "status"." She did as he asked, and to both of their surprise, a screen popped up in front of her that they were both able to see. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Age-17 Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- jobless(100) Jobs available- destruction Mage, Mage, demonic charm master, demonic arts user Job history- none Skills- Destruction magic (9) Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm (9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rias was confused on what all this was so also had to explain it to her. He was also asking Lauren about it, ''As she is your servant now, she has access to parts of your system such as the job function. Each servant you acquire will have the same privileges, and will be able to grow alongside you in the way of their choosing.'' When he heard her words, he became excited as it essentially meant that all the girls that follow him will have unlimited growth as long as their jobs continue leveling. Alex looked at her jobs and skills again and wasn''t really surprised, even with her command loyalty skill. He recalled that none of her servants had ever dared go against her, unless there were bigger things going on like Kiba''s agenda in the third volume. He finished his explanation to her about the various benefits of the jobs, and pushed her to choose one to test it out. "Um ok, I''ll go with destruction Mage." [NOTICE, magic power increased, skill destruction magic has increased and evolved into superior destruction magic] "Try it out." Alex said who had heard the notice since she was connected to his system. A moment later Rias blasted out destruction magic on a level she had never done before. A entire section of the forest disappeared, and she was left standing there gawking at the amount of destruction she had caused. She only smiled bitterly though, because of course she only got this power after her rating game with Raiser. After trying out her new powers, the two used a magic circle to return to the human world. They jumped a little ways away from the ORC room, and walked the rest of the way back talking about various things. One thing rias brought up was living together. Alex suddenly found it awkward, due to the fact that he recalled the entire female cast moving into issei''s house soon after this point. Rias laughed at his face and said, "If you want, you can move into the female dorm my family arranged for my peerage members. There''s only Akeno, Koneko, myself and recently Asia living there." Alex agreed without trying to sound too eager, as it would also help him add them to his harem eventually, but he didn''t want to use his evil pieces on them and use them all up in this world. Chapter 18 - Moving Alex laid on his bed thinking as he spent his last night in his parents house. He felt weird, he should''ve felt something leaving his parents, but he also didn''t really think of them as his parents. He figured he was still attached to his parents from earth, and wondered for the first time in a while what they were doing. But that was one of the restrictions they had, no inquiring about their old lives. He then turned his attention to a problem Rias pointed out, the only concern she had with world hopping later on was leaving her peerage behind. He was also concerned due to the fact that he planned to add them to his harem eventually. He wouldn''t be able to protect them from other world hoppers when he left, and he didn''t greatly like the idea of leaving them behind. So he decided to ask Lauren, ''Any suggestions Lauren? Ways I''m not limited in people to bring with me that don''t involve constantly enslaving everyone?'' Lauren was silent for a moment, before replying, ''You can always check the shop, even if you can''t get anything right now you can always see if anything matches what you want.'' Alex was surprised, as he thought the shop was inaccessible until he reached the hundred level mark. Lauren heard his thoughts and explained, ''Just because the buying unction is locked, doesn''t mean you can''t "window browse". Though it wasn''t explained, it was made this way for those who like to plan ahead properly.'' Alex was surprised, and for the first time since before he reincarnated opened the shop. He searched through the various options, and looked specifically for abilities to help his current problem instead of powers. He knew that being able to bring helpers with him would help more than suddenly acquiring a single power. Suddenly, he found something that seemed perfect for several reasons. Forget just a harem, he could keep and entire country or army this way. He then started designing a plan to align with the events in dxd for this new power, Asora from Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu. Just as he was thinking about raising his level to get this power faster, he got a call from Rias as if fate was on his side. "There''s a stray devil nearby, do you mind helping us exterminate it?" Alex swiftly accepted and left to help them, a fire for growing stronger burning in his eyes. *** The next day after exterminating the stray (that was so pathetically weak Alex wasted his motivation) Alex was moving the few things he wanted to keep to the Gremory family girls dorm. He only had a couple boxes as Rias said that all the furniture was already provided. She originally wanted to move him into her room, but Grayfia appeared and put her foot down about the two officially sharing a room, so he got one on the same floor. He figured it didn''t matter, because she was probably going to be sleeping with him anyways, and if any of the other girls wanted to be with him then they weren''t invading her actual space. Each room had a small personal bathroom with a shower, but there was also an inside and outside bath room for the whole house if they preferred(obviously peeper proof). There was a kitchen on the first floor, where the baths were also, and a lounge room. He also made some suggestions based off the renovations made to issei''s house in the series for future situations, even though he never told her what actually happens in the future. With how she knew that he was aware of situations she wasn''t, Rias took his suggestions seriously. Asia and Koneko didn''t seem to know what to make of the situation of him living with them, but Akeno seemed to have a mischievous glint in her eyes. Alex recalled it was after the situation with Raiser that she actually became interested in issei as well. Asia on the other hand didn''t seem to know what to make of the fact that he was the one who saved her. She did however start being more proactive in being closer to him, but she didn''t seem to be at the level of "love struck" or something yet. Alex also became a member of ORC finally as he now knew he wouldn''t have as much time for training, and it would actually benefit him to train with the club members. As such, the ball tournament was also going to start soon, so he knew that the Kokabiel event was also going to happen and Kiba getting his holy demonic sword. He then checked his status. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 32 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- arsonist (76) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior Skills- Dragon gods breath(2) Dragons scales(9) Dragons glider(6) Devils charm(5) Fire manipulation(5) Gravity magic(8) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His levels went up after the fight with Raiser and the Pheonix family guards, but he needed to level faster, and he thought Kokabiel would be a perfect leveler. Alex then recalled that he didn''t know if he killed Freed or not, he wondered if he''ll be present during the conflict. He also recalled that he''ll get to meet Irina and Xenovia for the first time soon, at least he knew that besides being strong he won''t have much issue adding Xenovia to his harem. Then Alex''s door opened, and a certain Crimson haired woman came in wearing a thin nightgown. He smiled as she dropped it revealing her lack of undergarments and knew that it was going to be another long night. {A.N. So about the future power, I added that so that people had a general idea of the others getting to stay with the mc, and for the record when I asked about potential peerage members I wasn''t talking about those already over powered. Im looking for girls that still have room for growth, and those listed will still be in the harem so don''t worry.} Chapter 19 - Holy swords As the ball tournament drew closer, Alex convinced the members of Rias''s peerage to assist him in training. Now he was actually getting real training with swords from Kiba, who was terrified of Alex''s growth. Alex still didn''t have his own sword to use for combat though, and wondered if he would actually get the smithing capabilities he originally wanted. As for the members of the peerage, when they saw how much stronger Alex was than them it seemed as if a fire was lit under them, and are more proactive in order to catch up with him. Alex was pleased with this, cause it meant that they might be able to handle certain events better in the future. The fun started after the tournament passed though. "Everyone please be ready, we have guests." Rias said with a small amount of distaste. ''Must be Irina and Xenovia'' Alex thought silently, and saw them walk in a few moments later. The peerage members were standing behind Rias as her servants, while Alex sat beside her on the couch. Akeno was serving the tea and snacks of course. As they sat down though, Alex noticed Kiba''s expression turn from confusion to shock, then a killing intent spread through the room. He only rolled his eyes at him, and kept silent for the moment. After the greetings were observed Irina suddenly spoke. "I''ll just get straight to the point, the holy swords from Excalibur have been stolen. We were sent to bring them back, and to pass on a message to the Devils in the area to stay out of it." Alex thought they were quite blunt about it, and he could see Rias''s brow twitching in annoyance at her words. In order to attempt to defuse the situation he asked, "Who stole them? If the situation is bigger than a simple theft then you very well need our help. Which do you think would be the better situation, going solo and possibly letting them get what they want, or teaming up and achieving your goals while swallowing a bitter pill? If the situation escalates then how would the church explain to the Devils if something happens to Rias?" Alex''s words obviously had assumptions in them, but it had the desired effect due to the fact that they knew Kokabiel stole the swords. Their faith was powerful, but when he called into question the possibility of escalating tensions between the factions, they started wavering in being left alone. The church had to maintain its pride, but the Angels also wanted to avoid another war. The two walked away for a moment and talked to each other about Alex''s words, while Rias gave him a look. He winked at her and she understood this situation was bigger than she thought. After a few moments of talking, the two walked back over. Xenovia looked as if she had eaten a bug and Irina looked uncomfortable. "The swords were stolen by one of the leaders of the fallen angels Kokabiel, as there is the chance of what you said happening, we will work with you if you insist." Rias was surprise at the change in attitude they had and looked at Alex again. But what truly caught her attention was the fact that the one they were fighting was Kokabiel. "We will help this situation, and in order to prevent conflicts we can simply act separately and move when one group finds a lead." The temporary alliance was established, but the only one not pleased was of course Kiba. But before he did something stupid, Alex stopped him. "Stop Kiba, either you can act on impulses now and possibly screw everything up, or wait and get what it is you want." Alex''s words were calm, but he included a pressure to emphasize them. The two church girls looked at him wide eyes at his power, and Rias looked concerned. With Alex''s pressure he reluctantly stepped down, but the hate in his eyes don''t go away. Xenovia and Irina sent a glare at Asia, and left without further incident. That night instead of training, Kiba went out for patrol with Akeno, Rias with Koneko, and Alex with Asia. It didn''t take long to get the call from Xenovia saying Irina was beaten, and that she was chasing Freed who stole her sword. Alex and Asia then ran to the location where they said they were headed, the school of course. As he arrived the Sitri peerage was already arriving, meaning Alex met most of them like Saji for the first time. Sona looked at Alex weirdly, as this was the first time they were face to face since the engagement party, when he revealed himself. Alex just winked at her, causing a small blush and outcry from Saji in the background. The other members just glared at him for ignoring the situation. After the argument about calling Sirzechs, they marched forward into battle. Kiba of course looked agitated still, so Alex said to him, "I understand you have problems with Excalibur, so I''ll stay out of the fight for the time being. However if you look as if you need help, then I won''t hesitate to step in." He told him this in order to justify himself not acting immediately. He also wanted Kiba to acquire the holy demonic sword, and knew that resolving the situation was the best way to do so. Kiba gave Alex a weird look, as he didn''t tell him about his past, but continued walking with rage in his eyes. {A.N. So I realized that I goofed the info regarding the evil pieces. After some research Rias is now a bishop, and a shoutout to mickpass for keeping me accurate!} Chapter 20 - Kokabiel Alex stood nearby and watched as the events he expected to happen did. Kokabiel summoned the Cerberus to fight them, Rias used her powered up abilities and blew them away surprising Kokabiel, but other than that everything stayed similar. Kiba tried to get justice for his comrades death, and Balba laughed at him for it. He then threw the crystal to Kiba, who managed to obtain balance breaker. After defeating freed who was apparently alive alongside Xenovia, Kokabiel then announced to everyone be to try their best to defeat him. It was only when he announced that God died that Alex stepped up. "I guess that I''m needed now huh?" Everyone looked at Alex and noticed how he seemed to be unaffected by the news of gods death. Kokabiel also reacted, "Hey, is this the red dragon emperor? Is it your turn to try and defeat me now?" Alex was calm at his provocation, no, he was shaking with anticipation. This was the first true opponent that might challenge him. [WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!] He activated his armor, and his aura started oppressing everyone present. Kokabiel was shocked for a moment, before an expression of excitement showed on his face. "HAHA, THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! SHOW ME RED DRAGON, SHOW ME THE FIGHT I CRAVE!" Alex complied, by speeding forward and giving a punch to his face. Kokabiel caught it, but was pushed back several feet in the process. While they were locked together, Alex removed his face guard and bathed him in dragon God flames. Kokabiel was burned, but wasn''t to the point of being seriously injured. He then tried to summon a massive spear of light to pierce Alex, who caught it with his gauntleted hands. He coated his hands in scales before hand, but even with the scales and gauntlets he was still being burned by the light element. He then applied every bit of his strength, and shattered the light spear. Kokabiel started laughing like a mad man from his fight with Alex. He shook his head and simply said, "I guess I won''t win this fight while being restricted, will I?" At his words the entire battlefield went silent. Even Kokabiel shut up as he registered that Alex said he fought him with a handicap. Before anyone spoke Alex removed the gravity magic he had reapplied to his hands and feet. Before anyone reacted he disappeared and reappeared behind Kokabiel and kicked him in the back. Meanwhile as they watched Alex go all out for the first time, everyone watching was reflecting on their own lack of strength. Xenovia especially was effected. Rias however watched with pride and self doubt as she thought about if she even deserved to fight by his side in the future, and resolved to be able to compete with even her brother before her and Alex left the world. Unaware of the fires he had started in everyone, Alex was physically overwhelming kokabiel. He wasn''t the only one who got hits in however, as he had taken a few smaller spears of light at this point as well. He decided that he needed a slight edge to finish the fight, [BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST TRANSFER!] Alex''s strength made a monstrous leap as he transferred the boosts to his own physical capabilities. He now easily over whelmed Kokabiel and even began ripping his wings off. He then kept one feather like with Raynare, and was about to finish it, when of course Vali showed up. "That''s quite enough do you think? I''ll take him from here. Kokabiel, Azazel ordered me to bring you back for acting out too much." He then knocked Kokabiel out, and threw him over his shoulder. He also collected Freed before turning back to Alex. "It''s good to see my rival is strong, I look forward to our battle someday." Alex smiled at the thought of facing Vali in the near future. "I do as well, but there are also some things we possibly need to talk about, especially our dragons." Vali didn''t answer, but took off. Alex watched him go, and then turned to everyone still present. "I don''t know about all of you, but I could use a bath and a bed." They only gaped at him, and his lack of tension from fighting a leader of the fallen angels. No one knew why, but Alex seemed to be in an especially good mood the entire way back to the dorm after cleaning up the situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 40 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- arsonist (100) Available jobs- Mage, martial artist, senior draconian warrior, gravity user, demonic charmer, holy enemy Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior Skills- Dragon gods breath(3) level up! Dragons scales(10) level up! Dragons glider(6) Devils charm(5) Fire manipulation(6) Gravity magic(8) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex was in a very good mood as defeating Kokabiel shot his level up to forty, and he was able to choose a new job. He thought for a moment, before choosing senior draconian warrior. He then received the notification, [NOTICE, strength and defense stats have increased greatly, existing skills dragon gods breath, and dragons glider have increased, and dragons scale has evolved into dragon plate scales.] After getting the notification, Alex used his scales and noticed that they became more plated, kinda like his balance breaker. He wondered how long before no attack would work on him. After heading back to the dorm, Alex showered real quick and went to bed, only to be joined by Rias. As they played under the covers he thought to himself, ''fighting strong people during the day, and having a beautiful woman sharing my bed at night. Can life be any better than this?''. It was a few days later that Xenovia ended up becoming Rias''s new knight. Chapter 21 - A busy day Several days after the fight with Kokabiel, and a few after Xenovia joined Rias''s peerage and moved into the dorm, Alex awoke and immediately noticed two things. The first was that his member was in something warm and moist, the second was that when he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was a panty covered crotch in his face. It took him half a second to confirm Rias was still asleep next to him, the other half was going through the list of "suspects". After he believed he knew who the "culprit" was, he swiftly removed her last line of defense and enjoyed the meal. She shivered at his touch, and confirmed his suspicions by saying, "Ara ara, you''re rather eager in the mornings, huh alex? Though I''m not one to talk." He didn''t answer her, but Akeno didn''t seem to mind considering what his mouth was currently doing, and went back to her own "meal". It only took a few minutes before they both finished, he into her mouth, and her onto his face. After taking another minute to clean up, she then turned around and said, "Ufufu, how about we go even further?" But Alex simply shook his head and replied to her hurt look, "If we did we''re both probably dead." At that moment they both looked to the side and saw the now awake Rias glaring at them. "Oh don''t mind me, just keep doing what you want as if I''m not even here." She said with fury in her voice. Alex sighed, he had told her that he wanted to be accompanied by numerous girls in the future, but apparently this and that are two different things. While they started bickering, Alex quietly slipped away and entered the shower. After a few minutes Rias joined him and started sulking, until he scrubbed her body for her, inside and out. After the shower he went down to the kitchen, and joined the rest of the residents for breakfast. Rias then announced to everyone, "As a thanks for the Sitri group, we''re going to be cleaning the school pool today for them, and we''ll get be the first ones to use it later." As the girls were talking amongst themselves, Alex was thinking to himself, ''First Akeno, then Rias, and now it''ll probably Xenovia later. Today''s a very "active" day.'' Later they were all cleaning the pool, Kiba was with them, but said that he had something else to do later so he wouldn''t be joining them while swimming. Alex suspected training of course. Once they were done cleaning, Rias had Akeno fill it with magic and they all started playing. Rias and Akeno restarted the earlier argument by competing for him to rub sunscreen for them. Asia and Koneko busied themselves by playing around the pool, but they occasionally looked over in interest. Later Alex said he was going to search for Xenovia, and went into the building. He found her contemplating something, and asked her what was wrong, knowing completely well what was on her mind. "I''m somewhat lost, the church was everything to me, but now I have nothing. I asked Rias what I should live for, and she told me to love by my own desires." Alex nodded, aware of which direction this was going. She stood and faced him directly, "Please have a baby with me!" Alex looked surprised, then agreed right before she attacked him with her lips. As she was kissing him, he swiftly released her of her swimsuit, leaving her in the nude. Xenovia looked anxious, as this was her first time, and Alex slid his fingers down her body to stimulate her. She then started m.o.a.ning as his fingers worked her, and he pushed her towards a wall, and pinned her against it. Instead of resisting though, she wrapped her legs around him for support and she seemed to become even more excited, and was soon ready to receive him. She gasped at the foreign object entering her, before her cheery was popped. As with Rias he gave her a minute to adjust to the pain, before he started thrusting. Soon the entire room was filled with the sounds of their m.o.a.ns as they became engulfed in pleasure. After a while they both finally reached their limits, and he did as she originally wanted and sprayed his seed inside of her. As they both came down from their high, the door burst open and Rias and Akeno appeared. He didn''t know who was the most pissed, Rias who caught him screwing another woman, or Akeno who wasn''t able to that morning. He then had to endure them both ranting at him, until he pacified Akeno by promising to be with her soon, and Rias that night. Asia and Koneko where outside still, and were completely ignorant of the events that just took place. Chapter 22 - Big brother Several days after the pool event Alex woke up tangled in limbs. He had Rias on one side, and Xenovia took over the other with her insane sleeping style. After catching them together at the pool, Rias said that she wanted one more night of having Alex to herself. She then started to be more open to having Xenovia with them, though she didn''t really like it. The first night with both of them was quite interesting. Alex got out of bed and started cleaning the room, he was amazed that there were more girls clothes on the floor than his. He also opened the window and let the room air out a bit. His actions eventually woke Rias and Xenovia, who asked what he was doing while rubbing the sleep from their eyes. "Aren''t classroom visits soon? What''ll happen if families come over and the place isn''t properly clean?" Though due to to the lack of said families for most of the girls this wouldn''t usually be a problem, but Rias instantly recalled the morning after her first night with Alex with Grayfia and instantly joined him in cleaning. Apparently he scared her so bad she didn''t even stop to put on clothes till he reminded her. Alex however, was planning for when Sirzechs would most likely be coming over. Alex thanked his sense of timing when later that day in the club room, both Sirzechs and Grayfia arrived. It was his first time officially meeting Sirzechs, and Alex swiftly apologized to prevent any animosity. "Sorry for calling you out before, but I wanted to make a point." Sirzechs laughed at Alex''s words and hastily said, "No no, you were right. I was also looking for a way to get my cute little sister out of that situation, and if I knew you were the red dragon emperor then things might''ve gone a little better. I have been negotiating with the Pheonix family on your behalf, but we''ll talk more about that during the summer, you will be returning with Rias right?" Sirzechs asked all of a sudden. If he was part of her peerage then it wasn''t even a question, but he wasn''t so there was a good chance he wouldn''t. Alex swiftly responded, "As I said I wanted to make a point before, if none of the Gremory family holds it against me than I''ll be more than happy to return to the underworld with Rias. I intend to spend most, if not all of it in intense training though." Alex was speaking the truth, since the youth Devils will mostly be training for the rating games then he would be doing intensive nonstop training as well, just not for the games. Sirzechs nodded at his words, and was also impressed with his drive for strength, as long as he didn''t enter the route of a tyrant. They spent the rest of the time in the club room talking about the upcoming conference meeting between the three factions. Soon they entered the talk of boarding, and Sirzechs and Grayfia ended up spending the night in the dorm, Sirzechs in Alex''s room and Grayfia in Rias''s. Rias sent a silent thank you to Alex for cleaning in the morning. As they were laying down, Alex on the bed and Sirzechs on the floor, he suddenly said to Alex, "Truly, thank you for helping Rias, she does seem to be very happy now. I''m a rather useless Maou, not even being able to make my sister happy." "Indeed." Was all that Alex said. Sirzechs flinched and said, "You really don''t care about me being a Maou, do you?" Everywhere Sirzechs went was people trying to appease the Maou, always being overly polite or fearful. Alex didn''t do any of that, and actually seemed to look at him as equals. Sirzechs found this interesting. Alex simply shrugged and replied, "Well I crashed a party you most likely had a part in, then I kidnapped your sister and took her purity, wouldn''t it be kinda useless to care about you being a Maou at this point?" Alex said, he didn''t even try to hide his relations with Rias, mostly because Grayfia already knew and most likely reported it to the family. Sirzechs didn''t know if he should laugh or cry at Alex''s blunt words. "As long as you act the part when needed, I don''t care how you act around me in private. I also wouldn''t mind being called "big brother" you know." Alex smiled, and didn''t say anything as he turned over and went to sleep. Sirzechs smiled bitterly and went to sleep as well. They then spent the next few days showing Sirzechs around the city, and essentially playing around. Alex knew he was gathering ideas for the underworld, and helped him to experience what he could. After a few days of this he and Grayfia left until the classroom visit and conference meeting. It was a few days until the meeting that a silver haired guy was standing around near the school. Alex recognized him immediately and walked towards him while keeping a straight face. As he got closer the guy went to say something, but Alex got to it first, "What can I do for you, vanishing dragon Vali lucifer?" He was noticeably on edge after Alex used his last name. Vali then adopted a smile and replied confidently, "Fufufufu, if you even know who I really am, then you might be a worthy opponent. I look forward to nothing more than a good fight, what will you show me when we fight red dragon emperor?" Alex''s Saiyan blood was boiling to fight Vali, but he held it in and said, "When the heavenly dragons fought, they were so far above that not even God or Maou could stand against them. Let''s wait until we reach the same stage, and do our names proud." Vali was stunned for a moment, Alex knew he would have a hard time waiting for a good fight, but he knew his words about reaching the top weren''t a joke and smiled. "Very well, I''ll be waiting for you at the top red dragon." Saying that he turned around and walked away. Alex couldn''t help laughing to himself that even when he challenged him Vali was overconfident. Chapter 23 - Serafall leviathan It was during the classroom visits, Alex was trying not to start laughing Rias''s embarrassment. Her father and brother were very obviously filming her from the back of the room. Alex though didn''t have to worry about his parents due to him doing everything he could, even using his Devils charm to cut contact with them. Later during a break he was walking through the hallways when it looked as if there was a photoshoot. Alex recognized the subject being photographed, and walked forward. He watched her taking several poses for a few moments before Rias joined him and started face palming. Then Saji had appeared and started trying to control the situation for the student council. He then tried to reprimand the girl, but Alex walked forward and put his hand on Saji''s shoulder, much to his distaste. "For future reference, I would recommend looking into the identity of people before reprimanding them, right Serafall Leviathan?" At first Saji didn''t care too much for what Alex was going to say, but when he heard the later part, he became quite pale. The girl, a Maou, one of the ones ruling the Devils, looked at Alex with shining eyes. She was curious about this new dragon devil who identified her with a glance, but before she could, Saji freaked. "Th-th-THE MAOU?!" He was in shock that this was the older sister of the woman he loved. Just as he shouted out, Sona herself appeared with Rias''s father, brother, and Grayfia in tow. Her eyes widened at her sister, then Serafall shouted with glee, "FOUND YOU SONA! Why didn''t you welcome your big sister? I was so lonely when my Sona didn''t show up, I almost wanted to destroy heaven!" She then flew at Sona only to be dodged by her. Sona was quite red faced and almost had tears in her eyes as she said, "This is the area I watch over, please have a care of how you act here otherwise it will hurt my image. Please change that outfit and watch your behavior!" Serafall was devastated by Sona''s words and declared, "If Sona doesn''t like big sis, then I''ll be sad and have to take out my feelings on the Angels and fallen angels!" At that moment Sona looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else, so Alex decided that this might be a chance. He quickly moved to be beside Sona, and whisked her into a princess carry, and said, "This princess doesn''t seem to want to be here, so this dragon will perform his signature move and kidnap the princess." And with that Alex ran off with the brilliantly red Sona and left the dazed Serafall behind. She then registered what happened and started grumbling to herself, "This pesky dragon ruined my yuri yuri moment with my Sona, should I track him down and destroy him?" As her words were heard throughout the group several people tried to talk her down to no avail, until she found a slip of paper in her skirt that she didn''t notice. Once she read the message she called down a bit, and looked towards where Alex disappeared with her sister once again, except she had a weird glint in her eye. Meanwhile Alex was drawing quite the looks as he went through the halls while having the president of the school in a princess carry. Sona was still completely red faced and cursing him to put her down. He finally did so when they were alone and quite a ways away from the others. "W-w-why did you do that?! Imagine what people might think of me after this! What about big sis? She''s going to kill you now you know!" Alex then chuckled lightly, and said, "What''s this, is the kidnapped princess worrying about the dragon that stole her?" When she heard his words Sona once again turned completely red and shouted, "OF COURSE NOT! But I don''t want to hear it from Rias when my sister kills her boyfriend, and by the way, why are you acting like this when you''re dating her? It''s like you''re a completely different person compared to the last two years." Alex then laughed again, and said "Rias knows I want to be surrounded by several women and has started to accept it. I spent the last two years purposely laying low so that I didn''t get picked up by those with nasty intentions. And about your sister I already did something to pacify her so don''t worry, you should worry about yourself right now." As he talked he was getting closer, Sona who just noticed this tried to regain her composure and started trying to act "cool" again. "If you take another step closer, i won''t hold back even against you." Though she started to regain her composure, Alex still heard a bit of shakiness in her voice. He stopped taking steps, and stood still. But he was so close now that they could feel each other''s body heat and he could tell her heart was racing. Before she could react he quickly stole a peck on her cheek, and ran off shouting, "Next time, I won''t give back the one I "kidnap"." Sona just stood there with a hand on her cheek as if she couldn''t figure out what just happened, until a moment later when her face turned the reddest it had been until now. Alex was satisfied that he left a deep enough impression on both of the girls for the future. He then continued back to his class, where he noticed that both Rias and her brother were gone. He then remembered that he was about to meet the trap that was terrifying for several reasons. Chapter 24 - Scary trap Alex returned to the dorm with everyone, and Akeno and Asia started cooking dinner for Rias''s family while her father got to know Alex a little better. Alex swiftly apologized like he did with Sirzechs, and once the conflicting topics were over with he got along with Zeoticus pretty well. They chatted for a while, and Alex had to explain about how he couldn''t meet with his parents due to him cutting contact in order to protect them. It was partially correct, as he didn''t want the people who raised him in this life to suffer even though he didn''t consider them his real parents. After visiting for a while Zeoticus left with his son and Grayfia, and the day ended without further incident. The next day they were in front of a door with seals on it, as they were about to open it. Behind the door was Gasper Vladi, a half vampire that was turned into Rias''s bishop. Alex wasn''t too sure of the half vampire, due to the fact that his sacred gear was actually a potential Longinus. He got chills when he read about Gasper truly using his power for the first time. As expected when Rias opened the door the room was dark and a sudden shout rang out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I DON''T WANT TO COME OUT!! LEAVE ME IN HERE WITHOUT PEOPLE!!!!" Alex knew to expect it, but it was still shocking to see him in person. If it wasn''t for the fact that he didn''t have anything against Gasper, he might''ve tried pawning him onto issei for the laughs. The trap coward in the corner away from everyone while Rias tried to comfort him. "You don''t have stay here anymore, we have some new friends now." But of course Gasper wouldn''t budge on staying here as a shut in. He then fled to a cardboard box. After a bit of conversation, they were now watching Xenovia and Koneko chase Gasper with durandal and garlic. Alex was trying not to laugh at the situation while Asia looked upset at the other bishop. When Alex thought of that, he wondered what Rias thought of it since she was also a bishop now? It was during this time that a cool looking man walked over and started asking them. "Hey this is the Gremory peerage right? Is the holy demonic sword user here right now?" Everyone looked confused until Alex said, "It''s Azazel right? Nice to meet you." Once the name Azazel came out of his mouth, everyone got into a battle stance while Alex was still standing there. Azazel was looking surprised however, Alex didn''t think he''d ever get tired of just knowing things about people already. Alex then walked up Azazel with mock irritation, "So quick question, why is it I always seem to have fallen angels trying to kill me? First four of your people tried to kill me and the twilight healing user Asia, then Kokabiel tried to kill all of us." As he spoke Alex took out the feathers he had collected from those he killed. Seeing the feathers Azazel looked unbothered, and said, "I didn''t tell them to kill you, just to watch over you so that you didn''t become a threat. And didn''t you already solve the issue with Kokabiel, I even sent Vali but you already resolved it." Alex was actually just going through the motions, but he needed something from Azazel so he pushed the subject. "That doesn''t change the fact that several people were going to suffer and die due to your negligence with your people. I believe I''m owed a favor for cleaning up your messes." Azazel sighed as he knew he wouldn''t get out of this and said, "Depends on the favor, tell me first and I''ll decide." Alex already knew what he needed and said, "I want you to build me a pair of glasses and contacts that filter out moonlight." Azazel was confused at the weird request, as he didn''t know what Alex had against moonlight of all things. Alex however was wanting this for quite a while, since he wouldn''t be able to participate whenever there was a battle during the full moon. He even still had his tail wrapped around his waist, he still couldn''t believe that Akeno and Xenovia never asked about it. "What do you need protection against moonlight for?" Azazel asked out of curiosity. Alex however shook his head and said, "I don''t need to answer your question, I''ll just consider past conflicts square with this." Azazel sighed, it wouldn''t take much work to use an item with the function of filtering sunlight they were working on, and modify it for moonlight. But while he wouldn''t tamper with the products to test him, he would keep and eye on him. He then left after mentioning using Alex''s blood, and Gaspers training continued. Alex already knew about the blood, but was hesitant about it. He wasn''t just a dragon and devil, he also had Saiyan blood, what would happen if Gasper drank it? He was curious, but also knew he needed to be cautious at the same time. Chapter 25 - Ascalon Alex was walking up several steps to a shrine. He was surprised that he didn''t prevent this event from happening, as he wasn''t really weak like issei was. He figured it was still a friendly gesture from the Angels side. As he reached the top, he found Akeno in her shrine maiden outfit, after a quick compliment to her, she led him to meet Michael for the first time. As Alex laid eyes on him, he felt true pressure for the first time. Sirzechs and Azazel had elements related to his both being from the underworld, but Michael was a completely holy being, as a devil he was the only one Alex met that came close to scaring him. "It is nice to meet you, red dragon emperor Alex. I am Michael, current ruler of heaven. I hope that by giving you this gift you could be an ally of heaven in the future." Not far from Michael was ascalon, the dragon slaying holy sword. As far as a first weapon, Alex knew he could do a lot worse, and unlike issei he planned to actually use this weapon. He gripped the sword in his hand, and could feel the energy reacting to him. After getting the sword to recognize him as the new owner, he stored it into a separate space like Xenovia with durandal. "That concludes our business, I hope you''ll forgive me for leaving so soon." After bidding goodbye to Michael, it was only Alex and Akeno left in the shrine. She prepared some tea for the both of them, and Alex started drinking. Alex decided that there was something he needed to get out of the way. "I know about you being Barakiel''s daughter." Her hands froze with what she was doing and she looked at Alex with a bit of fear. Alex simply shrugged and said, "I don''t care." Akeno sighed in relief, but still asked, "Really, this dirty blood of mine, you don''t mind? I have the blood of both the Devils and fallen angels in me. Don''t you hate them for their actions?" Alex shook his head and explained, " the ones with Asia acted on their own, and Kokabiel was deranged. I can''t hold the entire race responsible for the crimes of five of them. And besides, you are you, I am me. Should the entire devil race be held accountable for my actions?" Akeno smiled at his words, and was surprised a moment later when Alex kissed her. Freezing at her first kiss, Akeno returned it a moment later. She couldn''t help but laugh at herself for messing up the order, she already had his member in her mouth before she even kissed him. As they kissed, Alex smoothly started untying her shrine maiden outfit, not that the maiden title will be appropriate for her much longer. Akeno didn''t notice until he slid the cloth off of her and revealed that she was only wearing a pair of silk panties. Alex laid her back on top a table and slid his hand beneath the silk, and started preparing her. Several minutes later she soaked the underwear, and Alex finally removed them for the main event. Akeno was staring at him as he removed his own clothes, and soon was n.a.k.e.d alongside her. He then moved between her legs and spread them apart revealing the contents, and aiming his member at the entrance, penetrated her for the first time. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" Akeno cried out softly, as her chastity was taken. Alex then buried himself as far as possible, before swiftly pulling out and thrusting back in. Akeno couldn''t believe that he didn''t give her time to adjust, but was actually enjoying it as he filled her. Alex did go slowly at first, but picked up pace quickly before they were both m.o.a.ning and sweating from the action. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts were bouncing back and forth as he pounded her until he grabbed them and started playing with them. As she had her b.r.e.a.s.ts played with as he pounded her Akeno didn''t last long until she climaxed, but Alex didn''t have enough yet and she had to endure another round until he finally finished in her. The two collapsed from the exertion, and he laid against her while she still laid on the table, not even bothering to pull out yet. He learned this wasn''t a good thing though, as Akeno wrapped her legs around him and said, "Fufufufufufu, we''re still going, right darling?" He then had to make her finish several more times before going home and having to satisfy both Rias and Xenovia. Akeno also wanted more and he had her join them later that night and had to deal with all three at once. Alex was starting to wonder if his stamina would hold out. [NOTICE! New skill obtained, endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina!] Chapter 26 - Terrifying new skill When Alex woke the next morning the first thing he did was untangle himself from the pile of bodies and take a shower. It wasn''t until he had the water running on him that he looked at the notification he received the night before. He had been about to sleep when he got it so he didn''t see what it was. ""Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina"? Do I laugh or cry at this?" He asked in frustration. Both Lauren and Ddraig were laughing their asses of, if they even had any. Alex then thought to Ddraig, ''why are laughing? Isn''t it almost like a return of the oppai dragon?'' After a few moments Ddraig calmed down and said, Alex shook his head and decided that this skill would probably be useful for all of his women in the future and stopped thinking about it. As the next couple days went by leading up to the conference, Rias and the other two grew concerned. They had noticed that even though all three of them were with Alex every night, he wasn''t getting tired after pleasing all of them. They then conspired to try his limits out, to their own demise. "Alex, all there is to do tomorrow is training with Gasper, tonight go for as long as you want." Rias said with a seductive tone with Akeno and Xenovia flanking her. Alex took them up on their offer, and didn''t even notice how long he was screwing them until the sun started glaring in his eyes, signaling morning. It wasn''t till this point that he looked at the three women, and saw the devastation he caused. Once he stopped to look out the window, they all started passing out due to exhaustion. All Alex felt was sleepiness from not sleeping the whole night. He suddenly felt sorry for them after he lost control, and cleaned them up before tucking them in and going down to breakfast. "Where''s everyone, breakfast is almost ready and we have training to go to." Asia asked him when he got to the kitchen, with Koneko watching him. Alex grew anxious before finally admitting, "They''re all asleep after I lost control last night." Both of the widened their eyes at his words and Asia turned beet red, while Koneko muttered, "Beast" Alex couldn''t help but think to himself, ''but they told me to, I only did as they asked.'' But kept quiet since he didn''t want to mention his ''endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina'' skill to anyone. After an awkward breakfast, the three of them left to meet Kiba and Gasper at the old school building. To Alex''s surprise, the Sitri peerage also joined them for a rare joint training. Sona looked around though and asked, "Wheres Rias, Akeno, and the new knight, Xenovia?" Alex looked uncomfortable until Koneko answered for him, "This beast lost control last night and they''re sleeping it off." Kiba and Gasper went wide eyed at her words, and the entire Sitri peerage joined them, but all the females almost had an interested look in their eyes. The only exceptions were Tsubaki, and Sona who went red at the thought, and was only made worse when Alex winked at her. Saji also noticed this though and almost blew up at Alex. They then trained with both groups, and Alex surpised everyone when he suggested using absorption line on Gasper to control his powers. Saji wanted to argue, but was prevented from doing so after Sona told him to listen. The training was uneventful after and the females all returned to the dorms for dinner. Saji decided to continue training because he wasn''t as welcome at the dorm, and he wanted to get stronger than Alex. After having Asia cook dinner, they were all sitting around talking when Rias, Akeno, and Xenovia all came downstairs. They were about to greet them, but froze at the sight. All three were walking bow legged, and seemed to have trouble standing. Alex once again felt guilty and went to help, only to have them say, "We asked for to to keep going until you wanted to stop. I can only be blamed for my lack of wariness at your capabilities." They then ate a little, and slowly went back upstairs to go back to sleep. Alex realized that he would probably be sleeping alone tonight for the first time in a while. Because he was watching the three leave with concern, he didn''t notice the almost predatory look in the Sitri peerage eyes. Sona face palmed at her members actions. What Alex also didn''t know, was that his actions that day helped Rias make a decision. She had learned the hard way that she would most likely never be enough for Alex, and that she might have to be a little proactive in building his harem. She decided this because her body might break down if she continued trying to keep him to herself. Akeno already accepted being the mistress, and Xenovia was mostly trying for a baby, so they didn''t mind more women as long as he paid them attention. Chapter 27 - Conference After their mishap, the three girls didn''t try to test Alex''s limits again, and their time together was a bit milder. Alex was determined to keep his new skill a secret, and he was terrified at the prospect of one, or several of the girls following him in the future getting it. The recovered just in time for the conference, which Rias informed him that they all were attending with the exception of Gasper. He expected this, and wasn''t sure of what to do about this situation due to the fact that he gets used in an attack later. Eventually he decided to go with the original situation so that he at least knew what would happen, it was better than them using a bomb or something if gaspers not around. As they entered the conference room, Alex saw Serafall and Sirzechs, Azazel and Vali, and Michael and Gabriel sitting at a table. He took his seat next to Rias, and the conference began right after Sirzechs introduced them, "My sister Rias and her peerage, Sona of the house Sitri, and Alex the red dragon emperor, all involved parties of the attack from Kokabiel several days ago." After being introduced the conference began, and the major leaders began discussing the political talk. Alex tried to follow what he could to gleam information for the future, which wasn''t lost on the leaders. After a while the talk turned to the attack, and Rias was asked to report about the incident. When she finished Azazel explained what happened after Vali took him, "Since he acted independently and tried to ignite war once again, he was sentenced to eternal freezing and won''t be around anymore. The decision was agreed on by the organization. Now that we got that out of the way, let''s agree on peace shall we?" Azazel caught everyone off guard with his suggestion, and Alex was probably the only one that knew he was being genuine in his suggestion of peace. From what he understood Azazel was one of the ones trying the hardest for peace throughout the series, he even took the blame for the incident that led to Ophis being split, and gave up his authority as Governor General. After the initial surprise wore off, everyone agreed that peace was for the best and Azazel brought up another topic, "Even though we agreed on peace, I want to know what the two dragons here think." Of course Vali said that he simply wants to fight strong people, and after he answered everyone looked to Alex. Rias was the only one that knew his goals, but Alex decided to say it in a downgraded version. "I simply want to travel and fight powerful opponents, while being escorted by several beautiful women." Everyone looked surprised at his words, and there was a few awkward looks when he winked at Sona, Serafall, and Gabriel when he said beautiful women. Sona looked slightly angry with a slight blush on her face, when Serafall saw that she had a pouty expression, and Gabriel didn''t seem to know what to do in the situation. The guys in the meeting laughed awkwardly, while Azazel gave him the thumbs up and Rias didn''t say anything at his side, remembering what would happen if she prevented other women from being at his side. At that moment there was a peculiar feeling, and time stopped in the conference room for some of the people. The ones stopped were Asia, Koneko, Akeno, and Sona, while everyone else was powerful enough not to be stopped or had an item to prevent it like xenovia''s durandal. Alex walked to the window, and saw the expected Kaos Brigade gathering outside. To the surprise of everyone present he then said, "So the Kaos brigade is already here, shall I go say hello?" When they registered his words, everyone looked outside and noticed the gathering magicians. Sirzechs and Michael looked confused until Azazel clarified while giving Alex a weird gaze. "The Kaos brigade are a group that opposes the peace of the three factions, we only knew about them recently and identified that their leader is Ophis-" he didn''t get any further though before Alex interrupted, to prevent some issues in the near future. "Is there a guarantee that Ophis personally leading the brigade? If it''s just a situation that they gathered under her then it may be more that they''re using her." At Alex''s words the leaders became thoughtful for a moment before deciding to handle the current situation first. They discussed that Gasper is being used, and the talk of freeing him from their control started. "I want to go get him, he''s my servant so it''s my responsibility." Alex shook his head though and said, "We can''t have the leaders fighting, so let''s have it where the vanishing dragon, Rias and I go out and engage the enemy. While the two of you continue fighting, I should be able to get to the old school building and save him, worse case senecio I could use my blood to help him power up." Rias looked reluctant, but decided to listen to Alex due to the information he had. What he didn''t say was that this would also be a good leveling moment for her, with all of the magicians out there to practice on. Vali didn''t seem to like the idea, until Alex mentioned, "While doing that, if the boss of the people here comes out then Vali might be able to handle him, if not I hope he could hold on until I return." As he heard Alex''s words Vali showed an irritated expression, and went out to engage the enemy. He knew Alex was purposely trying to agitate him, but his drive for a good fight was in full throttle. Rias joined him before Sirzechs could protest, and started destroying entire swaths of enemies with her recently upgraded destruction magic. As the two of them went wild, Alex left towards the old school building to save Gasper. Chapter 28 - Cliche While Vali and Rias took the attention of the people outside, Alex went into the ORC room to save Gasper. When he arrived there were several magicians present that seemed surprised at his arrival. "Impossible! How did they let one in? No matter, it won''t be too hard to deal with one person." Alex sighed at the cliche lines from antagonists that think they''re completely in charge. He wondered if they even did any research about who was here, if so they wouldn''t talk about him being "one person". He didn''t pay them any mind and said to Gasper, "Hey Gasper, how long to you plan to be caught? Let''s hurry up and get out of here." He just started crying though, as expected of the shut in. "I''m just in the way, like this time. You should just kill me so that I''m not a problem anymore!" Alex sighed once again at his words. He looked at Gasper as if he''s bored and said, "What about Rias? She wants to keep you, and if I didn''t tell her to fight outside she would''ve come here herself. Or do you not care about helping her?" Alex knew that Rias''s command loyalty skill level wasn''t just for show, as everyone of her peerage has always been devoted to serving her. As he expected, at his words Gasper became conflicted, Alex took out a knife. Part of the reason for his actions was that Rias''s peerage would follow him into other worlds through Asora. Worst case scenario was that depending on the person he could be up against entire armies in the future so he needed all of his followers to be capable. If Gasper failed to live up to his expectations, then he''ll just resolve the current situation then work on him later. He cut his hand and flung it out, sending the drops of blood across the room onto Gaspers face. "If you truly want to abandon Rias, then just sit there and I''ll resolve the situation. If not then use what you have and become part of our strength." Of course the magicians just sat there as they talked, and didn''t do anything about Alex''s blood going to Gasper. Alex would''ve almost asked for more competent opponents, if it weren''t that they were perfect cannon fodder for grinding levels. Gasper licked the blood on his face, and there was a sudden burst of energy and he disappeared. The magicians started freaking out, and decided the best course of action was to attack Alex. He just stood there, and all of the spells they threw at him suddenly froze in the air. "I see you." Was all that was heard from the dozens of bats flying above everyone, as he then froze all the magicians as well. Alex then simply tied them up, and left them until they could be collected. After that the power of his blood ran out, and Gasper returned to normal. Alex sighed in relief when he didn''t notice any distinct side effects of his Saiyan blood. If he had taken a closer look though, he probably would be noticed Gasper looking a little less girlish. The two then headed outside, where Vali was talking about him defecting to the Kaos brigade. Rias thankfully had retreated back to Sirzechs side, and Vali was explaining the situation to Azazel while a tan skinned woman wearing glasses was beside him. Alex recognized her as Katerea leviathan. Alex had arrived just in time to watch Azazel take out a dagger. "Hey, let me take a shot before revealing your trump card, alright?" Azazel looked surprised at Alex''s words, but conceded to them and stepped back. Alex looked at the two in the sky, and activated balance break. He flew up to their level, and said to Vali, "I suppose we''ll have to have a match now before our real one later, right?" Vali grimaced at Alex''s words, and replied, "I guess we''ll get to use it for a comparison when we do. How far we go, from this point to then." Alex nodded and said, "Just let me take care of the hentai tentacle lady first, consider it my appetizer before fighting you." At Alex''s words Azazel started laughing, and Katerea glared at him as if she was going to enjoy killing him. Alex had a thought and asked Azazel, "Did she already use the snake?" Everyone looked surprised at his words, but no one was more than Katerea. She then took out a bottle with a snake in it from her dress. ''Huh, guess she hasn''t used it yet'' Alex thought to himself. She then used it , probably as a precaution for fighting him, and Azazel after. Sensing her power growing, he was starting to get pumped for the fight. "I''ll be getting back Katerea, if nothing else I guess you''ll be useful for me to see his abilities before hand." She shot a look of disgust at vali''s words, and turned back to Alex with nothing but confidence in her gaze. "I heard you''re a devil, but you don''t seem to be an actual part of the new Maou faction. I suppose the others would want me to extend an invitation to the red dragon emperor, but I don''t feel like it. I think I''ll just kill you before moving on to the imposters." At her words Alex felt like asking something before fighting. "Quick question, why do you think you''re superior when you have to use Ophis''s snakes to be able to compete? Isn''t the fact that you have to use them proof that you''re actually inferior?" At Alex''s question Azazel laughed out loud again, and Vali also looked at her in a questioning way, since he didn''t ever use the snakes while preferring to use his own power. Katerea however looked livid at his words, and simply started to attack. Alex simply dodged all of the tentacles she shot at him, and pulled out ascalon. He rushed through all of her attacks before arriving right in front of her. Katerea looked shocked at his speed and Alex calmly said, "I may use magic a lot, but I do mainly train my physical abilities you know." And he plunged ascalon into her gut. After stabbing her he reached in with his hand and pulled out the snake, causing her power up to end. He then grabbed her by the throat and threw her to Azazel, "I think we can take this one prisoner, the holy power should''ve weakened her quite a bit." Azazel quickly took her to Sirzechs in order to keep the prisoner from dying, and Alex turned back to Vali. "Please tell me you''ll be a bit better than her." He said plainly, but his actions were anything but plain as he got into a battle stance. Chapter 29 - Saiyan vs lucifer Alex got into a battle ready position across from Vali, who was also getting ready with an insane smile on his face. Alex figured he probably had one on his as well though. Several magic circles appeared around the two of them, and they fired at each other. As the barrage continued pieces of their armor was being chipped off as neither one was trying to defend. It became a battle of endurance, until Alex suddenly shot forward once again and aimed a punch at vali''s gut. After dodging Vali also aimed a kick at Alex, who caught it with his arm. Using the grip he now had, Alex then launched a barrage of punches with one arm, while his other held Vali in place. Vali then launched another volley of magic attacks, while also kicking with his other foot to dislodge himself from Alex''s grip. The two separated, and looked at each other while trying to think of how to gain the advantage. Each one had several parts of their armor destroyed, but the damage was repaired in seconds for both of them. Alex then breathed in deeply, before his sacred gear shouted out, And a torrent of flame poured out of his mouth, blanketing the entire sky with a sea of flames. After doing so he suddenly felt his power drain as he then heard, ''Damn, divine divider." Alex thought as Vali appeared from the flames with only a little soot on his white armor. ''He must have taken my power to defend himself'' Alex thought to himself. Vali had a massive grin on his face from the battle, and Alex couldn''t help himself and started laughing. After controlling himself, Alex and Vali squared off again, and rushed at each other. Their fists collided, causing a great boom to echo across the battle ground. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! After separating, the two backed up from each other, and repeated. They continued in a punching match, trying to overpower the other. Alex was enjoying himself so much, he nearly missed Ddraig''s warning. Alex was confused for a moment, before realization hit him and he closed his eyes. Due to losing his vision, he couldn''t tell where vali''s next punch was going, and he only threw up his arms to guard. After getting hit, Alex was thrown back into the ground causing a giant crater to form. He then stood up and brushed himself off, all while keeping his eyes closed. ''Is it out?'' He asked Ddraig. It was a full moon that night, but since he needed to be present at the meeting, he decide to chance it because of the cloud cover. He also hadn''t asked Azazel about the items yet because he couldn''t see an appropriate time to, but was regretting it now. It appeared that the shockwaves from their fight had caused the clouds to disperse. He then turned to Azazel, since Vali stopped fighting due to Alex''s weird behavior. "Do you have the items I asked for the other day? I need them right now." Azazel could only gape at the situation. He then pulled a wood box out of nowhere, and passed it over to Alex. Alex couldn''t see, so it took him a moment to get the box and open it to find what he needed. He could only feel around, but he eventually found the glasses, and hoped they would work. After he got them onto his head, Alex turned and looked directly at the full moon for the first time since he was reborn. After several second ago by, he let out a sigh of relief, and thought to himself, ''at least they work, now I can fight during the night of a full moon. I better be careful though, so that they don''t accidentally break or something.'' Vali was just standing by waiting, as he wanted to continue his battle with Alex. However, right after he put the glasses on another figure appeared. As he looked at the moon for the first time, he saw them approaching before stopping near Vali. "Yo Vali, aren''t we supposed to go fight the northern gods? I came to get you since everything got botched here." The newcomer was wearing ancient Chinese armor, and carried a staff with him. Alex laughed internally at the situation. He just realized that it was quite something that he has a Saiyan bloodline, and met this worlds version of Goku. Bikou looked a over at Alex and said, "So this is the current red dragon emperor? I wanna fight him myself now, mind if I have a go at him Vali?" However Vali just glared at Bikou before saying, "He''s my rival Bikou, I won''t hand him over to anyone else." When Alex heard that however, he suddenly felt chills go up his spine. He recalled that it wasn''t only girls issei attracted, and he started to truly worry about his future. Vali then turned and said to Alex before disappearing, "Our fight was interrupted, but let''s meet again at the peak of the world like you said. I''ll be waiting for you there." With that Vali vanished and the situation was ended. Alex let out a sigh of relief, and released his armor before collapsing. This was his hardest fight to date, and he was already anticipating the next one. After that, the big shots started the cleanup, and Sirzechs and Serafall started preparations to imprison Katerea. They planned to gain information from her about the old Maou faction, and Alex hope that some of the more drastic situations won''t be as bad. He just hoped that he didn''t do any irreversible damage by letting her live. Then it was time for them to leave, but Alex called out to Michael before hand. "Hey, I want to ask something. Can you let these two be able to pray without taking damage?" Alex pointed to Asia and Xenovia and asked because he didn''t see any harm in it, and he figured it would also make the two develop more feelings for him in the long run. As he thought, Xenovia looked at Alex with a bit more passion after he said that. Michael ended up agreeing, since both of the girls stated that even knowing God was dead they would still pray. After that the nights problems came to an end, the the night was far from over for Alex and the three girls in the dorm. Chapter 30 - To the underworld Alex woke up, and the first thing he did was untangle himself from the limbs in his bed as usual. It had been a while since the attack of the conference, and now it was time for them to leave for the underworld during summer break. With his waking as the signal, the other three people on the bed started waking as well. """Good morning Alex.""" Alex didn''t know what it was, but having three n.a.k.e.d beautiful women say good morning while getting up from the same bed made him feel satisfied. Xenovia especially, after the conference when she became able to pray again, started trying to appeal to Alex more. He knew that she was doing so because unlike before where the only concern was getting pregnant, she now started developing feelings for him. They made their way downstairs after dressing, and Akeno started making breakfast. During breakfast Rias made the announcement, "Today were leaving for the Gremory territory in the underworld. I already sent a message to Kiba and Gasper, and they''ll meet us at the train station around noon." Everyone acknowledged her words. Before going back to eating. Alex looked over and saw Koneko sighing and looking a little depressed. He recalled that she was depressed around this time because she felt like everyone was leaving her behind in terms of capabilities. He already decided to work on his strength and combat during the training, and thought that Koneko might make a good training partner. He could also use the chance to make her accept her heritage that she kept trying to reject. After breakfast everyone left to the train station, only to meet Kiba, Gasper, and Azazel. Azazel became a teacher at the school right after the conference, in order to train them in using their sacred gears. He was also going with them to the underworld for business while they were there. Rias led them to the Devils underground station, and they boarded the train to depart. During the trip, Alex was sitting still and trying to focus on his surroundings. During his fight with Vali he had to close his eyes due to the full moon, and became defenseless because of it. He knew it was possible to sense his surroundings in such a way that he didn''t actually need to see, but he never trained this so he decided to start now. The girls saw him seriously training and decided to leave him alone. This was also why he thought Koneko would make a good partner, as a user of senjutsu, which was essentially this worlds ki would help him be able to sense it better. He also hoped to train in touki in order to increase his physical capabilities. When she noticed what Alex was trying to train, Koneko gained a conflicted look because she was constantly trying to avoid using this power. After an hour of traveling, they finally arrived at the Gremory territory. Alex opened his eyes for the first time, and follow the others out of the train. There was an entire crowd of people waiting to receive them, with both servants and soldiers. As they stepped off of the train a chorus of welcomes sounded out and fireworks were shot off. They here herded into some carriages, and they headed off to the Gremory castle home. As they exited the carriages, a familiar silver haired woman greeted them. "Welcome home lady Rias and Alex, and her peerage members." After Grayfia finished her greeting, a small boy ran over. "Sister Rias! Welcome home!" Rias picked up the small boy and hugged him, while also greeting him. She then turned to Alex and said, "Alex this is Millicas Gremory, my brothers son and the heir next in line after me. Millicas, this is my boyfriend Alex." Millicas looked at Alex and said, "Nice to meet you Alex, I am Millicas Gremory." Alex smiled at him and replied, "Nice to meet you Millicas, I hope to get along with you as your future big brother." Millicas smiled at Alex''s words, and turned back to visit with Rias. After that they made their way to the main doors of the castle. When they entered there was a beautiful woman that looked the same age as Rias walking over to greet them, "Welcome home Rias." Rias smiled and replied, "I''ve returned mother." After they greeted each other, her mother looked at Alex and smiled while saying, "It''s a pleasure to meet you. I''m Rias''s mother, Venelana Gremory. You must be the young man who interrupted the engagement party and made off with my daughter, Alex." Alex smiled back at her and said, "Indeed, it''s a pleasure to meet you as well. I am Alex, the current red dragon emperor, and Rias''s boyfriend." Venelana looked pleased at Alex''s introductions, and then asked, "Have had any training in high society Alex?" He shook his head. "None, but I am aware that I would have to know in order to avoid embarrassing Rias in front of the other high society Devils." Venelana nodded her head and looked at Rias approvingly, as if to say the man she chose wasn''t a total loss. "I''ll arrange it so that you can take a few lessons while you''re here, dancing, eating, and a few others for the future." Alex nodded as he didn''t want to cause an argument, and he figured he would have to try to work out a schedule to maximize his training. He also figured that some of the things he would learn would be useful in the other worlds, as the etiquette is usually similar. After they got settled, they had dinner together and finally the day came to an end. Chapter 31 - Youth Devils meeting (A.N. I realized that I nearly skipped the youth Devils meeting, so I cut out the last sentence where it said they gathered for training last chapter.) The next day they all gathered with Rias as she announced what they were doing. "Today were going to meet with the other youth Devils. I want all of you to keep calm and despite whatever they might say don''t overreact." Alex couldn''t help but notice she looked at him when she said it. And so they loaded up into a train and left for the meeting. As a young devil with a promising future as the red dragon emperor, Alex was also allowed in the meeting. The entire time they traveled, there were several low and mid class Devils that cheered for Rias as the princess. Alex couldn''t help but feel superior that she was his woman. After several hours of traveling, they finally arrived at the city Lucifaad. They then traveled to the biggest building in the city where the next generation of high class Devils, and the current leaders of the devil worlds were gathered. When they were about to reach the waiting room, Alex saw several young people gathered outside. The leader of the group came over and greeted Rias. "Rias, it''s been a while, you seem to be well." Rias smiled at the man and greeted him before turning to Alex for introductions. "This is my cousin, Sairaorg Bael. He''s from the Bael family of the Great King." Alex nodded at her words, Sairaorg had actually been one of his favorite characters in the series. Though he was quite excited to meet him, Alex looked completely calm as he reached out his hand, "Alex, the red dragon emperor. It''s nice to meet Sairaorg." Alex and Sairaorg sized each other up when they shook hands, and had a small competition with their grip. Both of them had mostly trained with their body, and so they were actually quite alike. Alex had Saiyan blood so he focused on strength training, while Sairaorg was born "defective" and couldn''t use the power of destruction that is required in the Bael family. As a result he trained his body to the extreme, and became known as the strongest of the youth Devils. After ending their small competition, Sairaorg turned back to Rias and explained why he was waiting outside in the hallway. "It''s getting pretty idiotic in there. Diodora Astaroth and Seegvaira Agares arrived, but Zephyrdol Glaysa-Labolas came and things started devolving. I knew something like this would happen, but no one listened to me." Sairaorg sighed and opened the doors to a chaotic situation. There were three groups in the room, two facing off as if they were about to come to blows, and a third sitting to the side drinking tea as if they didn''t notice the conflict going on. One side was a group of evil looking people, that were the dictionary definition of delinquents. On the other was a group that looked relatively normal led by a woman. "You need to loosen up Seegvaira, it''s because you''re like that that you''re still a v.i.r.g.i.n. All the sisters of Maou are like that, perhaps I need to do an opening ceremony for you, eh?" Alex''s brow twitched, as his words could also be directed at Rias and Sona. The two continued glaring at each other, and Sairaorg stepped forward. Sairaorg stopped and faced the delinquent side, Zephyrdol. "We''re about to start out meeting, knock it off or I''ll be your opponent." Alex then said, "What he said." The two gave off a battle aura that oppressed most of the people there. It appeared that Zephyrdol didn''t take their words seriously though, as he then provoked, " for the failure of the Bael family-" BOOM Zephyrdol flew back and hit the wall, creating a crater at the same time. His servants then tried to rush forward to attack Sairaorg, who just said, "Just help your master. All you''ll do by fighting me is waste time and effort. He needs to be ready for the meeting." As he gave off a pressure, the servants then went back to Zephyrdol to get him ready. Sairaorg gave a few more orders, and the hall was back in order and they were sitting down for tea until they were called. The five people left then did introductions of themselves. "I''m Seegvaira Agares, of the archduke family." The woman from the fight before introduced herself. "Sairaorg Bael, of the Great King family." Sairaorg introduced himself. "Sona Sitri, next head of the Sitri family." Sona Introduced herself to to the others. "Rias, the next head of the Gremory family." "I''m Diodora Astaroth, heir of the Astaroth family." Alex looked at Diodora with obvious distaste, as he recalled everything this bastard did, and does in the future. His expression wasn''t lost on Rias and Sona, who both looked at him with caution and some concern. He then spoke up from his seat in between them, "The red dragon emperor, Alex." The three that didn''t know him nodded their heads in recognition. Diodora looked at Alex in confusion, as he had felt some hostility against him, but didn''t know the exact reason for it. The six of them exchanged pleasantries over their tea, until eventually someone came and announced that it was time for the meeting to start. Chapter 32 - Dreams Alex followed the other six Devils into the wide room, that had several high class Devils seated above them and the four Maou above them. With Zephyrdol recovered enough even though his face was still swollen, the seven of them lined up in front of the high class Devils. Alex was standing in between Sona and Rias, and the one in the center started talking. "Good it seems you have all gathered, you are all here so that we may get a look at each of your faces, the faces of the future of the underworld. We also have the intention, of having each of you display your capabilities resulting in your pedigree, or in rarer cases luck, by competing against each other." Alex couldn''t help but frown at the obvious jab directed at him, he was pleased that Sirzechs had a similar reaction. He then spoke up, "However, first we would like to hear your hopes and dreams, that we would better understand what our new generation strives for." Sairaorg immediately stepped forward and declared, "I would like to become Maou." Everyone started talking at his declaration, as there had never been a great King leaving his house. Alex thought this was a good idea from Sairaorg though, as he recalls a future discussion with the original Bael. He states that it would be impossible for Sairaorg to inherit his house regardless of his strength, due to not inheriting the power of destruction. Rias then declared her dream. Originally she wanted to lead her house and win in the rating games, but after meeting Alex, "I want to climb the hight of strength, and never lose again no matter what." There were a few murmurs at her goal, but it was relatively normal so they didn''t make much noise. They then went through the other three, before Alex said, "I never imagined joining the devil world, so I''ll just say what I said at the peace conference, I just want to travel and fight powerful opponents while surrounded by beautiful women." There obvious signs of disappointment from the higher ups, but Sirzechs and the other Maou didn''t seem to mind Alex''s goal. The only exception was Serafall who was still pouting as she recalled his actions at the conference. After Alex was the last one, Sona. "I want to create a school for the rating games, that doesn''t discriminate based off of rank or privileges." Only a second after she finished her words, and the high class Devils started laughing. They had also dropped insults such as how she was a dreamer, and how impossible her dream was. The only ones not laughing were the other young Devils, and the Maou. Rias had a bitter face at the rejection of her friends dream. As they started calming down, Alex suddenly spoke up outside everyone''s expectations. "May I ask something?" The higher ups were surprised for a second, but gave him the go ahead since he probably didn''t have much to say anyways. "If I understand correctly, Sona''s dream is to build a school for all to attend regarding rating games, right?" Sona nodded her head at Alex''s words, with a look of confusion on her face. "Does that also include those who are not Devils, that have an interest in participating in rating games now that we are at peace with the other factions?" The entire hall was suddenly silent. Sona then widened her eyes and nodded her head once again, with an idea of what Alex was trying to say. He then continued, "Then by saying that it''s impossible, is that also referring to the other factions participating? If so then wouldn''t that go against the peace agreement that the Maou arranged and were also attacked for? Isn''t that the same as saying the agreement itself is also impossible?" Alex was trying to put words into the higher ups mouths, as they wouldn''t be able to easily deny Sona''s dream if it conflicted with the Maou''s interest. Serafall also seemed to understand Alex''s motives, and for once appreciated his actions, as it supported her Sona. She then piped up, "That''s right, do you intend to deny our efforts for peace? There are several people in the other factions with an interest in the games, and would like the privilege to compete in them. If all of our schools only allow high class Devils, then how do you propose they learn about them? My Sona''s school is needed for the peace of the future!" The higher ups didn''t know what to say, as a result Sirzechs suddenly spoke up, "If this is the case, then shouldn''t we have a game to decide? How would you like to fight each other, Rias, Sona?" The two in question looked surprised, then faced each other with a confident look. "I don''t intend to lose, Sona." "I could say the same, it seems like fate that my first rating game is against you, Rias." After that was decided, they matched up the rest of them. Alex was surprised to find that he was included as well, considering that he didn''t have a peerage. Sirzechs looked surprised as well, but kept silent. Alex figured that it was some form of revenge from them for before. The match ups were Sona vs Rias, Zephyrdol vs Diodora, and Alex vs Seegvaira. As the odd one out Sairaorg was given a free pass for this round, much to his displeasure. They would be held at the same time, so Alex would be fighting Seegvaira at the same time Rias was fighting Sona. "Today is the 27th of July, we''ll have the games on the 20th of August. That gives you a little more than twenty days to prepare. Use the time until then smartly." After Sirzechs declared those words, the meeting came to an end. After the meeting was over, they were about to head back to the Gremory castle when Sirzechs joined them. "I have business there, so I was going to go back with the rest of you." After his explanation, they all got onto the train once again and returned back. After arriving at the castle though, as Alex and the rest were about to head back to their rooms Sirzechs called out, "Alex and Rias, I''m afraid that my buisness includes the two of you. Please join me." They followed after Sirzechs, curious what he wanted with them, when he opened a door and Alex saw a group of people, he nearly gulped. "The Pheonix family greets Maou Sirzechs." Chapter 33 - Pheonix family Alex was surprised to see the Pheonix family waiting for them. What also surprised him was that Ravel had a bit of a blush on her face after looking at him. He thought that she wouldn''t develop feelings for him like she did issei, due to the fact that he killed her brother, apparently that didn''t matter much to her. Alex and Rias sat down opposite of the Pheonix family members, what looked like Ravels mother, and maybe her brother? They then introduced themselves. "I''m the lady of the house Pheonix, this is my son Ruval, and my daughter Ravel. We came to discuss with you the matters of my other sons death." Alex was somewhat curious, as he thought the Pheonix family would hate him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Alex, the current red dragon emperor. I am sorry about your son, but the previous situation forced my hand." Lady Pheonix nodded, though he doubted that she accepted it. "As a mother, I only want the best for my children. That is why we agreed to put down thoughts of revenge, and reach an agreement. The final decision we made was that you cost us an heir, so you need to provide us a new one. That is why my daughter Ravel is here, we would like you to take her as your second wife, but your children will be part of the Pheonix family." Alex had several parts he wanted to retort at, but he had a role to play so he milked it. Killing intent spread through the room, and the people present looked surprised at Alex''s reaction. He glared at lady Pheonix and said, "One of the reasons I fought Raiser, was because I disagreed with Rias being sold to him like livestock. Do you think that doing the same thing to your own daughter would appeal to me? I don''t like when others are forced into marriages they don''t want, even to myself." Everyone present was shocked at Alex''s words, but felt relief since Ravel was the one who expressed interest at the relationship. Sirzechs was about to mention this when Ravel beat him to the punch, "Actually mr. Alex, I wanted to be married to you..." Ravel said as her face became a deeper shade of crimson. Alex looked confused at Ravels words, so that she would continue. "Um, you see... I always liked stories about heroes, and seeing the way you saved Rias made me remember them... I thought you looked like a hero saving his princess, so I wanted to be closer to you..." As she finished her words Ravel looked as if she was about to pass out at the embarrassment. Alex smiled at her, and apparently that was the killing blow, and she exited the conversation. Looking away from Ravel who passed out, Alex cut the killing intent and continued the conversation. "If Ravel wishes for the marriage, then I don''t mind taking her as a second wife. I do however have a couple conditions about the situation if you don''t mind." Lady Pheonix nodded her head as she figured that would be the case, and Alex continued, "For the marriage, I want to wait until Ravel finishes high school. And for the kids, I don''t mind them being part of the Pheonix family, but I refuse to have them shipped off to the family and raised away from me." Alex stated this, as he knew they would be traveling to other worlds in the future. Though he didn''t plan to add Ravel to his peerage, if his idea worked she would still travel with him, and he could rely on her to manage things while he was away. He also didn''t like the idea of the Pheonix family possibly planting ideas into the heads of any kids he might have. Lady Pheonix looked conflicted for a moment, then nodded her head in agreement once again. She couldn''t help thinking to herself, ''well, I''ve now sold my only daughter off to the man that murdered my son''. But she felt that Alex was a good man, and she hoped that he would meet her expectations, and that they met under different circ.u.mstances. They exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Alex got to know his new mother, and brother in law better. Ruval was almost like the complete opposite of Raiser, who reveled in his authority and oppressed others. After a while Ravel woke back up, and almost passed out again when she was told that Alex was her new fianc¨¦. It was then discussed that she would be returning to the human world with them, and attending their school as a first year. After the Pheonix family left, Alex returned to his room for the night, but Rias was called to talk with her mother. "So Rias, my understanding is that Ravel is to be Alex''s second wife?" Rias nodded her head in acknowledgment. Venelana continued, "Have you thought about your position?" Rias was confused at her mother question, and asked her to clarify. "What do you mean mother? Even though we haven''t gotten engaged yet, I will be Alex''s first wife." Venelana nodded, but then said, "And how many other women will follow him? How many are already sleeping with him, and how many more will there be in the future? You can''t just be passive in this situation. As the first wife you need to manage your husbands harem like I do your fathers, or the situation might get out of control. Though you might not be able to control the amount of women around him in the future, you should try to control their actions somewhat, so that there isn''t chaos." Rias thought seriously on her mothers words. Chapter 34 - Training begins The day after he met Ravel, Alex gathered with the rest of the ORC in front of Azazel. Surprisingly Ravel joined them, trying to be of help to her new fianc¨¦. Her original intention was to become his bishop, but since she learned that he didn''t intend to have a peerage she would only be able to help him from the sidelines. Azazel started speaking, "So from now until the games I intend to have each of you undergo intense training. Rias!" Rias looked up as Azazel called her name, "Yes!" "As you were born as a high class devil you''ve enjoyed having high specs right from the start. That''s why I devised a basic training regimen for you, follow this exactly and focus your extra effort in learning. As a king grows they need knowledge more than power, the ability to make swift decisions, and to properly analyze the situation." Rias nodded her head at Azazel''s words. One thing Alex told her to work on was her capability to lead, as it would be the best way to utilize her command loyalty skill. Her magic and destruction will only increase with use in battle, so she needs to focus on the other things she needed at the moment. Azazel then turned to Akeno. "Akeno, I watched the recording of your battle against Raisers queen. All I can say is that you need to accept your own blood, otherwise you will only be holding yourself and your king back. Even in the rating games that are comprised only of Devils at the moment, the power of lightning, and not thunder is invaluable."Akeno didn''t say anything and looked bitter at his words. She looked at Alex who only nodded his head slightly, and she sighed. Azazel then looked at Kiba. "Kiba, you need to learn how to use you new balance breaker. Attempt to activate it for a whole day, and I''ll teach you how to handle sword sacred gears. I understand you''ll be learning from your master?" Kiba nodded and said, "Yes, I intend to relearn everything from scratch." Azazel nodded and turned to Xenovia next. "You need to work on your control of durandal better. By training with holy swords you will naturally become better at controlling them." Xenovia looked confused at his words, but also nodded as she needed to learn how to better handle durandal as he said. He then spoke to Gasper, "Gasper, the biggest problem with you is your fear. If your mind and body is unstable then you won''t be able to properly handle your sacred gear. I devised a training program for shut ins, and to help train your physical body better." Gasper looked scared at Azazel''s words, but still said, "YYYYYEEEEESSSSS! I will try not to be scared anymore!" But his words weren''t very convincing when he tried crawling back into the box. After talking to Gasper it was Asia''s turn. "Asia, you need to learn how to increase the range on your twilight healing. If someone''s across the battle field and needs healed then what will you do? But you also have the problem of being too kind, and so your ability wouldn''t discriminate from friend and enemy. As such we need to work on finely directing your healing so as not to include enemies." Asia looked surprised at Azazel''s words involving improving her healing, but looked determined to improve herself. He then turned to Koneko, "Koneko, you have the same issue as Akeno, if you refuse the blood in you then it will only hurt you in the long run." She looked depressed at his words, but then Alex stepped forward. "I''ll train her, I intend to do an intense muscle training program for the next few weeks, while also training senjutsu. It''s not too hard for her to join me, if she thinks she''s capable." Koneko looked surprised at his words, but also looked determined. Azazel also looked surprised, but decided to give in. His program for Alex was to increase his base capabilities, and learn more about his sacred gear so he let it go as he could always focus on his sacred gear later. What Azazel didn''t know was that Alex was already aware of different ways to use the boosted gear, it was only a matter of developing them. Alex then asked Azazel, "Azazel, is the space I asked about ready?" Alex had asked for a sealed space to use his gravity powers in, with the needed equipment and supplies that he wouldn''t need to leave until the training was done. Azazel nodded and said to Alex with a smirk, "You even asked for preparations made for two people, were you thinking about training Koneko from the start?" Alex then surprised him and everyone else when he confirmed Azazel''s words. "As our fighting styles are essentially similar, I figured it would be best to introduce her to my training style. I also intend to do something for Kiba and Xenovia as well." The two in question looked confused, until Alex applied magic to their feet and found them extremely heavy after. They looked at Alex for an explanation. "I increase the gravity on my body for training, it''s what i intend to use with Koneko as well. For the two of you I only increased the gravity on your feet. As knights your best trait is your speed, after your training I''ll remove the gravity, and if you managed to be able to run just as fast as before then imagine your speed after I remove it." After they heard Alex''s words the two knights eyes went wide open at the realization. Alex and the rest though had a laugh after seeing them trying to walk around with increased gravity. Azazel turned to Alex and asked, "And how much do you use on yourself?" Alex was thoughtful for a second, and said, "Currently, I have about ninety times the normal gravity on me. Those two only have about ten times." At Alex''s words everyone went silent, until Rias asked, "Just out of curiosity, did you have this increase of gravity during your fights before?" Alex froze for a moment, and realization dawned on his face. "Yea I guess. I forgot to remove it before fighting Raiser, Kokabiel, and Vali. Hahahahahahaha." No one else was laughing. While recalling Alex''s capabilities during those fights, they became afraid of seeing him fight with no restrictions. Ravel then piped up, "Um, is there anything I need to do? I want to help as well..." Alex looked surprised for a moment, then recalled that Ravel excelled as issei''s manager in the series. Knowing that background work would be best for her, he said, "I don''t know any details about the ones I''ll be fighting, can I ask you to research for me while I''m training?" Ravel became excited suddenly, and said, "I''ll do my best! Ill also get together the rest of them so that you''re ready for all of them!" Alex nodded at her words, pleased that he had someone capable to help him. Chapter 35 - Fight me After they confirmed their training schedules, Alex and Koneko used a magic circle to arrive at the place he wanted. It was an underground training space like they use later in the series. There were several different training machines sitting around, and a living area divided off from the training area. Alex looked around, and started making a magic formation. Koneko was curious, and asked, "Is this for the gravity you were talking about before?" Alex nodded and explained. "I usually only use it on myself, but with the equipment and another person to train with, I''m going to expand it to the whole room. I''m going to make it where the whole room is under ten times the normal gravity, with what I already have on myself, I''ll be training under one hundred times normal gravity. You and the equipment will be ten times heavier however. We''ll focus on familiarizing ourselves with the increase and area today, then tomorrow we''ll start the actual training." Alex didn''t notice his verbal slip about Koneko being heavy, but she didn''t let it bother her as she understood his intentions. While setting up the gravity increase, Alex also looked at his and Rias''s status''s for the first time in awhile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 55 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- martial artist(0) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior Skills- Dragon gods breath(5) Dragon plate scales(3) Dragons glider(7) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(9) Fire manipulation(6) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(5) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Age-17 Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- destruction Mage (70) Job history- none Skills- Superior destruction magic (3) Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only issue he saw was that Rias''s level didn''t go as high as he hoped from her recent battles, but he figured that was because she mainly fought small fries and needed better opponents before her level goes up as fast as his. Alex on the other hand chose the martial artist job because he figured it would benefit him learning ki sensing and senjutsu the most. He was quite pleased to find that not only was Katerea enough for a job change, but he also went up to level 55 for beating her. She wasn''t the descendant of a Maou for nothing. One thing Alex was hoping for, was that similar to the death Mage series he and Rias would also gain job levels from those serving them. However there hadn''t been enough hard battles to confirm if this was the case. He hoped with the rating games he would be able to confirm it. As he finished with the gravity increase, Koneko noticed right away the difference in her body when she was forced to her knees. This however made her more defiant, when she struggled to adjust without using her powers. This was the case even more when she saw Alex walking while only slightly bothered by the increase. It was noticeable that he was affected, but nowhere near as much as her. Remembering that he was under ten times the amount she was, her determination went even higher. Alex looked at her and said, "Remember today is to adjust, tomorrow is when we start training." And he just relaxed and examined the rest of the area while she struggled to adapt. The next day Alex led Koneko in several morning warm ups, then got into position. She had seemed to adjust relatively well with the change, even though she was definitely still affected by it. Her movements were still slow and she struggled to do some exercises, but Alex knew that as she worked the better she''ll adapt. "Alright, now that we''re done warming up, don''t hold back and fight me." Koneko was about to slowly move into position, when she noticed that Alex was putting a blindfold on. She got angry and demanded, "Are you looking down on me?!" Alex couldn''t see her, but still shook his head and explained, "I''m training, if I have to close my eyes in a future fight then I''ll be beaten. This is as much for my training as yours, and besides think of it as a handicap until you adjust better the gravity." Koneko could only accept his answer, and started forward to try and get an advantage. Her movements were slow, but she still got up to him and punched. Because she was moving slowly Alex was able to detect Koneko''s movements, and dodged them. She then set up another attack, which connected but didn''t do anything due to the difference in strength. This continued, and over time Koneko was starting to adapt, until Alex suddenly kicked at her and it connected with her stomach. Koneko flew back and almost started puking from the kick. When she managed to recover, she looked at Alex and saw him glaring at her after he removed the blindfold. "I thought I told you not to hold back." Was all he said. Koneko was confused, she was trying her best. But then she realized what he meant, and shook her head. "I won''t use that power. I''m not my sister." Alex continued glaring at her, and said, "How do you intend to get stronger if you refuse that part of you?" Koneko then glared at him as well and replied, "You don''t understand, my power might kill everyone I care about, I don''t need that kind of power!" Alex continued glaring at Koneko as he recalled her story. Her sister was a reincarnated devil that awakened her inner power and became strong before going crazy and killing her master. That was the story that they came up with and that Koneko believed, however the real thing was different all together. Her sister Kuroka had learned that her master was going to force Koneko to become his servant as well due to his l.u.s.t for her power, and body. As a result she killed him and fled, but was unable to bring Koneko with her. Alex couldn''t tell her this right now though, so he tried something else. He summoned his gauntlet, and showed it to her. "This is the dragon sleeping inside of me. In its history almost all of its previous owners became drunk on their strength and lost control in pursuit of power. You have one instance that you might not completely know about, and I have a whole history, ''I don''t understand''?" When Koneko heard his words she looked away in shame. Alex possessed an item that was one of the most dangerous in existence, he would understand what she thought more than anyone, she regretted her previous words. She also caught something else he said, he mentioned that she might not completely know about the matter with her sister, did that mean that she didn''t lose control due to her power? When this thought entered her head she wondered if she was actually crippling herself for a misunderstanding. She sat there in contemplation for several minutes before standing again. Her cat ears and tail suddenly popped out and she faced him again. "That''s more like it. " Alex said as he felt some power coming from her. Before they started again however, she asked, "If I lose control, will you help me?" Alex was surprised that she still believed she would lose control, but decided her thoughts wouldn''t be so easy to change his fast. "Don''t worry, I''ll beat some sense into as many times as I have to before you finally get it." Koneko smiled for the first time, but immediately got serious again and charged him. In this manner they practiced for the next few weeks, Koneko never lost control once, further cementing the idea that she never truly understood what happened then. Chapter 36 - New heights For the next few weeks Alex and Koneko trained together constantly, she was working on her senjutsu and Alex his ki sensing and strength as he used his own gravity to increase to 110 as soon as possible. First they did stretches and workouts, then they would spar for most of the day to increase their stamina and fighting. When it was four days until the games, three until the party, Alex called their training to an end. He had agreed to spend the last couple of days learning etiquette from Venelana before the party. "Alright, today''s the last day of training, I want you to give me your best shot after I release the gravity." Alex planned to spend the last day fighting without the gravity so that Koneko would understand how much stronger she became easier. When the gravity in the room released, she rushed forward, amazed by the increase in her speed but not showing an opening. The two traded blows as they tested each other, Koneko couldn''t believe the increase of her abilities, and Alex was satisfied seeing her growth. His main concern was the lack of issei at this point, as his presence was pivotal for the games. So he focused on helping Kiba and Xenovia by adding gravity to their legs, and Koneko by personally training her. He hasn''t checked on the other two yet, but Koneko''s difference was staggering. "Enough." Alex said as he called the spar to an end. He didn''t want to push her too far, and he had his own goals before going back. Koneko stopped the fight, breathing deeply with a large grin on her face. Alex was surprised that he got her to open up so quickly, but assumed it was because the burden of the possibly going out of control was mostly gone. She looked at Alex and said, "Thank you very much for helping me, both with getting stronger and with my own problems!" Alex nodded and said, "Don''t worry about it, your strength is Rias''s strength. And I thought it would be better if you smiled more often." Koneko''s smile only widened at his words. She then started preparing to leave, when Alex said, "You go ahead, I want to try something out and it''s better if I''m alone. If I''m not there in an hour, can you check on me?" Koneko looked surprised at his words, she struggled with something for a moment before saying, "Of course, I''ll be back in an hour." She then left with a worried expression on her face, but she also believed in him and decided to return in exactly an hour. Seeing her leave through the magic circle, Alex let out a sigh and said out loud, "I''m finally trying this." He couldn''t help feeling a little giddy at the thought, he was finally going to try every little boy''s dream, the super Saiyan. Ddraig said with uncertainty. He didn''t agree with Alex trying to rush the super Saiyan transformation, but Alex replied, ''Of course, what will I do when I encounter Samael who is the enemy of dragons, or Rizevim who cancels out sacred gears? Both are your natural enemies so I need to have a back up.'' Ddraig didn''t say anything back but still seemed to disapprove. Though she didn''t say anything Alex could tell that Lauren thought similarly as Ddraig. Alex dispelled the extra gravity as he needed all of his strength for this, and focused. The key to unlocking the super Saiyan was two things, they needed to reach a certain threshold of power, and needed to feel intense rage. Goku managed it when he saw Frieza kill his friends one by one while also promising to kill his son Gohan, Vegeta managed it when he became engaged at the thought of Goku managing it but not being able to do so himself. Alex hoped that by being able to train in the 110 times normal gravity allowed him to reach this threshold, and he decided to use the same trigger from him attaining balance breaker. He recalled Raiser feeling up Rias and stealing her lips, even now the thought caused him intense rage, and he fueled even more by recalling what Rias told him after he saved her, that Raiser planned to deflower her after that party if Alex didn''t save her. He felt the intense hatred fill his entire body, and the urge to kill Raiser appeared once more. Once the rage fueled his body, Alex went to the old Saiyan fallback, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" (three episodes later.) He yelled for all that he was worth, and continued yelling. He willed the power to fuel his body, the rage to take over. Several minutes of this and Alex started feeling a sense of power in him. Lightning started crackling, and the structures around him started to fracture. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" He started to feel a sense of lightness to his body, even though he already removed the gravity. The power flowed through his body, and a sudden shockwave blew out from him. Alex stopped screaming, and examined himself for the first time since he started. The rage was still there, he never felt the Saiyan drive for aggression this powerfully. He wanted to smash those who dared to anger him. Alex turned to a now broken mirror, and confirmed what he already suspected. His spiked hair that none could tame was standing on end and had a golden color to it. His eyes turned a light blue, compared their normal dark brown. And his clothes all seemed to be a noticeable shade lighter than they were supposed to, due to the golden aura surrounding him. His tail as well had turned a golden color to match his hair. Alex lifted his leg, and stomped on the ground with power, causing a new crater to form under him. He looked at himself once again, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA! I ACTUALLY DID IT, I ACTUALLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G DID IT!" He screamed with excitement at his new prowess. Ddraig congratulated him, but didn''t truly seem pleased with his new capabilities. Alex spent the rest of his time before Koneko checked on him testing his new strength. He needed to master this power to make true use of it. He could already feel his stamina draining at a noticeable rate. When there was less than ten minutes left, Alex decided to try an experiment. Ddraig''s voice roared in his head. ''ALEX LISTEN TO HIM, ALL YOUR PROGRESS TO THIS POINT WONT MEAN ANYTHING IF YOU DESTROY YOURSELF!!!!'' Lauren also yelled at him. Alex then told both of them, with more than a bit of annoyance at their insistence. ''You both know the beings I need to fight in the near future, they will literally be gods. I need to know my limits to be able to properly fight them.'' Alex said while ignoring their protests, and he summoned the red gauntlet. (A.N. So with the super Saiyan transformation, I''m going with the most common numbers I found stating that the forms multiply his power by 50, 100, then 200. And I also eliminated the levels for the followers because they were pretty much useless. Alex is the only one with levels now, and they are more of milestone markers for the shop, not a measure of power.) Chapter 37 - Recovery When Koneko left the training area she found Rias and Asia waiting for her. Rias stepped forward and hugged her saying, "Welcome back, I''m glad you seem to have been able to accept yourself more." Due to Koneko''s ears and tail still being visible. Asia also stepped forward and said, "Welcome back Koneko, I''m glad you''re all right." She had noticed that Koneko seemed depressed and was glad she got better while training. The two girls then noticed that Alex didn''t seem to be combing and asked Koneko, "Where''s Alex? I thought the two of you would be arriving together." Koneko looked concerned for. Moment, and said, "He''s stayed to try something, he asked me to go ahead and check on him if he doesn''t come back in an hour." Hearing her words both of the girls became worried, and decided to wait for him, or go and get him in an hour. As the minutes ticked by they became increasingly worried. As they waited the last few minutes, they suddenly felt a surge of power. They couldn''t identify where it was coming from, but it felt oppressive and overbearing. Only a second later the power disappeared. There were still a couple minutes, but Rias was too anxious to wait and they went to the training area. What awaited them was a scene of destruction. There was a crater in the ground along with several large cracks, the equipment was destroyed and the furniture ruined. They didn''t worry about any of this though, as the thing that seized their attention was Alex laying down in a growing puddle of his own blood. *** When Alex awoke, he didn''t know what happened immediately and focused instead on the several women surrounding his bed. "Don''t do that to me again!" Rias cried as she pulled him into her arms. "Don''t make me a widow before we even marry!" Ravel cried out with tears running down her face. The rest of the girls made similar comments about now how reckless and irresponsible he was. Alex couldn''t help but agree. Ddraig said in his head. Lauren seemed to feel the same thing as he didn''t listen to their warnings. Alex didn''t say anything to the two, promising to speak to them later before turning back to the girls. According to them Rias, Asia, and Koneko found him in a puddle of his own blood with several lacerations all over his body. The lacerations appeared to have gone from inside the body out, and he had blood flowing from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Alex knew what happened, he tried to combine the boosted gear and super Saiyan and his body simply couldn''t handle the power. "I don''t know what you were doing, but if I didn''t have Asia with me you probably wouldn''t even have made it. I''m won''t ask you to reveal everything you''re training to us, but at least take us into consideration." Rias said with tears falling from her face. Alex held her face and brought her closer and kissed her. "I''m sorry, that was why I told Koneko to get me if I didn''t return in an hour, in case something happened." Even with his words they didn''t seem convinced. It appeared that Alex had only slept for a day, thanks to the healing that Asia provided. He also felt more power in his body, thanks to his Saiyan blood making him stronger after being in a near death state. It took the girls several hours to calm down, and when they finally left he started his conversation with Ddraig and Lauren. Ddraig said immediately. ''Agreed'' Lauren also immediately agree with him. He only smiled bitterly at their words. But he also felt a sense of accomplishment as he now knew his limits. He had made it to three boosts, before his body almost exploded on the third boost. According to Lauren, the super Saiyan power up multiplied his strength by fifty, the super Saiyan 2 was double that at a hundred, then the super Saiyan 3 was double that at two hundred times his base power. His first boost doubled his multiplied power, and put him at the same level if he had gone to super Saiyan 2, he then felt a serious feeling of discomfort due to his body not handling the extra power well. The second boost put him at a super Saiyan three level, and he had stared bleeding from his tear ducts, nose, and ears. The third one had doubled the power of a super Saiyan three, and put him at four hundred times his original power. He didn''t even hold this for a second before his body started breaking down and exploding outward from the excess power, and he instantly dispelled it before blacking out. Alex was disappointed that he wasn''t able to increase his strength even further, but he was also excited that he now knew he could use a boost, or even a second one if need be for future battles. Seeing Alex wasn''t willing to put aside combining the two powers, Ddraig and Lauren just sighed. After they discussed the details Alex then laid back down, and closed his eyes to sleep, already thinking of ways around the power limits. Chapter 38 - Side effects After waking the next day, Alex reported to Venelana for his dancing lessons. She seemed to be pretty annoyed that he missed his lessons the last two days from being injured, but accepted that he would at least learned how to dance before the party. His experience in dance was limited, but with his high specs he was able to get the basic rhythms down quickly. "One two three, one two three, good very good. You''re quite the dancer Alex." Venelana said while acting as his dance partner. "Thank you." Alex said politely. The party was that night, so he was glad that the lessons would be fresh in his mind. The two continued for a couple hours until Venelana decided that he was good enough to not shame Rias. After the lesson finished Alex was taken away to prepare for the party. When night was falling he was dressed in a black suit and went to a waiting room for the others. Kiba was the first to arrive, and this was the first time Alex saw him since they split up for training, he hadn''t seen Gasper yet either but figured he was with the women changing into a dress. The two started discussing their training, and Alex removed the extra gravity from him so that he was able to adjust himself before the games the next day. He had already removed xenovia''s the day before. After they talked for a while, they noticed the girls coming and Alex turned to greet them, but froze out of shock. Standing there with the girls unsurprisingly was Gasper in a dress, the surprising part was that he now stood just short of Alex and was almost as wide with raw muscle, but still had the same girlish face. "Gasper... What happened?" Alex asked with some hesitation, a theory already on his mind. Gasper started to cry at Alex''s question, and the girls started to comfort him. Lauren then spoke up in his head, ''It''s possible that your Saiyan blood effected his body to stimulate muscle growth, though I barely detect any power from him so it seems to be mostly bulk. I recall Azazel mentioning a body strengthening training for him, the residual effects of your blood must have manifested themselves then. Saiyan men are typically more masculine, and regardless of his dressing habits Gasper is in fact male.'' As Alex listened to Lauren''s words he felt a sense of guilt, and started trying to think of a way to return him. Sadly according to Lauren chances were that the effects couldn''t be reversed unless he learned how manipulate his appearance the same way most Devils do as they get older. He thought for several minutes, until he recalled part of Lauren''s words, ''You said Saiyan men, the women were not as muscular right? Is it possible that he''ll return to normal by turning him into a woman?'' Alex recalled a short dxd story where Kiba used a ray gun made by Azazel to turn into a girl to appeal to issei once, and wondered if it might work here. He quickly called up Azazel and explained the situation. Azazel was surprised Alex knew about his joke ray gun, but agree to bring it since there was still a bit of time before the party. He then explained his theory to everyone, and they agreed to wait for Azazel. Several minutes later he appeared and called out to them, "Yo, I have the ray gun. I still want to know your source for all your info Alex, but I''ll focus on this first." Azazel then pointed the gun at Gasper, and a moment later he was the normal Gasper, well he was most likely missing something but as normal as he could be in this situation. They then put out a mirror for Gasper, "I- I''m normal again! But I''m normal as a girl..." Gasper seemed as if he lost more than Alex thought. Alex then turned to Azazel, "Is there anyway to change him back without being a girl?" Azazel looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I can''t say, I''ll look into a few things but won''t promise anything. Worst case he has to keep using the Ray Gun each time the effect runs out. He''ll be able to manipulate his appearance when he gets older, but until then his options are limited." Gasper looked depressed at Azazel''s words, but seemed determined to learn how to alter his appearance. Alex couldn''t help thinking, ''You already are more of a girl than boy to begin with though...'' But didn''t say anything, as he also felt guilty due to this being his fault. After the situation settled Azazel decided to travel to the party with them since he was already there. He called someone and told them that he was at a different location, and to pick him up there. Several minutes later, a giant dragon came out of the sky and landed in front of where they gathered. He looked at Alex and said, "Greetings Ddraig, it''s been how long has it been now?" A light appeared on Alex''s hand and Ddraig''s voice spoke out, "Tannin, it''s been a long time indeed. My host already knows about you so I''ll just introduce you, this my current host Alex." Tannin looked at Alex and said, "It''s an honor to meet you current host of Ddraig. I''ve already heard of your strength, maybe we''ll get a chance to spar someday." "That would be a great honor." Alex said honestly. He then looked at Azazel, wondering how he arranged him to be a ride. Azazel smiled back and said, "I said I wanted to introduce him to the current wielder of Ddraig, this seemed like the best time to chat in the near future since you''ll be returning to the human world right after the games." Alex nodded in understanding. They all climbed up onto tannins back and he took off. Chapter 39 - Party As they flew to the party Alex spent the time talking with Tannin. As they both had a warrior mentality they got along well, and eagerly discussed sparring in the future. They also discussed Tannins reason for becoming a devil, being able to compete in the rating games and acquiring the territory where the dragon apples grow. They eventually arrived at an area for Tannin to land, then took a car the rest of the way. Arriving at the hotel, they took the elevator to the top floor where the party was. "I thought I was prepared for it, but as I expected a high society party is quite oppressive." Alex said as everyone''s eyes went to them as they walked out of the elevator. "Indeed, well as the heiress of the Gremory family and the red dragon emperor, it''s only understandable that we''ll attract attention. Lets make the rounds now so that we can get the introductions out of the way." Rias said as she led Alex to the first of the many highs class Devils he needed to meet. Though he didn''t managed to take Venelana''s high society lessons, he at least was able to prevent embarrassing himself and Rias. After they made their rounds Alex went to get some refreshments, while Rias and Akeno went to talk to some female Devils. Kiba was soon surrounded by fan girls, and Asia, Xenovia, Koneko and Gasper waited around the food table. Ravel was accompanied by a member of her brothers peerage, Isabella. She then came over to greet Alex, "You look radiant Ravel. " he said in all honesty. Alex had also paid similar compliments to Rias and the others after the situation with Gasper finished. Ravel was beaming at his words, and replied, "And you look handsome at the moment." Alex decided to tease her for her words a bit. "So do you mean I''m not usually handsome?" Ravel spluttered at his words as she tried to correct herself, Alex laughed it off and said, "I''m only teasing you Ravel, thank you for your compliment." Ravel looked pleased at his words, but before she could say anything else she was called away by someone else. Meanwhile across the room, Rias and Akeno were talking with other female Devils. "Rias tell us about your Alex, i know your in a relationship with him, but I also heard there''s others plus he''s also engaged to the Pheonix families Ravel." "What do you expect me to say?" Rias asked with a healthy blush as she already expected what they would ask. Not disappointing her expectations, "I mean in bed, he already has several women and says he''s actively trying for more, does that mean he''s quite the monster in bed?" Rias was speechless at her bluntness, though she already expected the question but thought she would have more reservations. Before she could say anything though, Akeno spoke up seemingly without any shyness. "Well let''s just say that going at his own pace all night, three of us weren''t enough. We even spent the whole next day and night sleeping it off while he was completely unfazed." Rias''s face started to turn Crimson at her revelations, but all the other female Devils turned to Alex with a predatory gaze. At that moment Alex couldn''t help but notice that he was receiving looks, from the group of female Devils that Rias and Akeno were talking to, while Rias had a healthy blush on her cheeks. He was able to guess what the conversation was, based on the predatory looks he received and the level of the blush on Rias''s face, and wondered what made Rias discuss such topics at the party. He then spotted a familiar figure a ways away, and went over to her. "Greetings Sona, I wish you luck in the games tomorrow." Sona Sitri jumped at Alex''s words, and turned to him with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Is that something you say to someone about to fight your girlfriend?" Alex shook his head, and while subtly moving closer replied, "It''s not wrong to wish a classmate luck, besides its not like the game will make you two enemies." Sona sighed at his words, realizing that the person she occasionally talked to the last two years now seemed more like a playboy. She backed away from him, with a slightly deeper blush and replied, "Perhaps you are the one I should be wishing luck, having to fight a whole peerage singlehandedly. Though it might also be my fault you have to anyways, thank you by the way for sticking up for me." She said, before some other Devils called for her attention and she fled the conversation with Alex. He smirked at her reaction, and knew he would have to push her a littler further, but not too much before she started accepting him. Alex continued talking to various figures in the party, and spotted someone he didn''t expect to see here. "Greetings lord Michael, and lady Gabriel." He said to the two seraphim. Michael and Gabriel smiled at Alex and returned his greetings. Michael then said, "I suppose I should wish you fortune tomorrow, I hope your match goes well." "Will you two be watching it? I hope I don''t show a disappointing scene in front of the lovely Gabriel." Alex said, as he took her hand and kissed it. Michael raised an eyebrow but didn''t say anything to Alex''s words and actions, while Gabriel didn''t seem to understand that he was trying to appeal to her. "Yes we will be watching it, since many factions are thinking of possibly joining the games in the future. I hope you do well." Alex smiled at her words and said, "If the beautiful Gabriel says that then I have to be sure to perform my best. Watch me especially ok?" Gabriel agreed to, before they had to move on as well due to them being busy as the top members of heaven present. Alex continued to move around the room and greeted people. It didn''t take long though, before the girl he was keeping an eye on slipped out of the room. Alex excused himself and followed Koneko to the elevator. (A.N. Two things, I''m not too sure about Gabriel''s personality except that she''s naive, so I''m mostly just winging it with her. And I decided on four candidates for Alex''s peerage, between the queen are Ingvild leviathan, or Roygun Belphegor. And I already have the second bishop in mind so between the first pawn are Valarie Tepes, and Kuroka. Comment which ones you want between them.) Chapter 40 - Kuroka As he watched her leave the party, Alex followed Koneko and saw her get onto the elevator. He got onto the next one, and unsurprisingly was joined by Rias. "And where do you think you''re going?" She asked. "To pick a fight." Alex replied simply. Rias looked confused, but since he decided not to alert anyone trusted his judgment and went with him. When they reached the bottom floor they saw Koneko leave the hotel. When she saw it was Koneko that Alex was following, Rias became much more concerned. Though they quickly lost sight of Koneko, Alex had been training with her while practicing his ki sensing, he couldn''t lose her even if he wanted to. After walking through the woods after her for several minutes, the two same to a clearing where they saw Koneko talking to an older woman wearing a black kimono with black hair, cat ears and a tail. "Oh, what have we here, Gremory and the red dragonyan?" After she mentioned them Bikou stepped out from the tree line where he was hiding. "Yo red dragon, get any stronger since then? Vali would probably like to know, but I also want to try a crack at you." Alex got annoyed when Bikou mentioned his last fight with Vali, as he was forced to stop until he didn''t have to worry about the moon. Kuroka then also spoke up, "Hey Bikou, we didn''t come to fight, I just wanted to see the party Nyan. But I might as well take Shirone with me now that I have her back. Though I suppose we might have to kill the two of them if they do something troublesome Nyan." It seemed as if Kuroka wasn''t willing to fight them just yet, but changed her mind at the last moment. She then made the barrier trapping them all in that section of the forest. At that moment, "I heard that Rias Gremory and Alex were seen leaving the party, but to think I''ll be caught in a barrier." Tannin said from the sky. "Oh if it isn''t the blaze meteor dragon, Tannin." Bikou looked even more excited at the thought of fighting both Alex and a former dragon King. "Oh the descendant of the original sun Goku, I suppose you''ll be my opponent." The two then flew off to start their own fight, while they were though Alex kept hearing monkey this and monkey that. He couldn''t help thinking, ''doesn''t that apply to me as well?'' After they left, Kuroka then spoke up again, "Well then I''ll take Shirone back and be on my way, as for the monkey I''ll just leave him here." Rias stood in front of Koneko and said, "After you left this girl went through hell, all her emotions were killed thanks to her being blamed for your actions. I won''t let you take her." Kuroka glared at Rias and replied, "I want her to use her power, I can teach her to use it better than you, you know nyan." Koneko was about to say something but Alex stepped forward, "Cut the bullshit." All three looked surprised at his words, but before they could say anything he continued. "You love her more than anything, don''t pretend otherwise. And tell her the truth, the reason you killed your master wasn''t losing control, it was to protect her from his perversion and experiments." All three were stunned at Alex''s words, but none more so than Kuroka. "How do you know that?" She asked with genuine confusion. Rias didn''t say anything as she was aware of his background, but to Koneko the suspicion he placed in her was clicking into place. Alex replied to Kuroka, "I know things, it''s what I do. But I also know that you deserve to be punished for leaving her to face the punishment for what you did." Though she was confused at his words, Kuroka also grew mad that he called her out on her lies, and for saying she deserved punishment. She made several copies of herself and surrounded them. "I don''t know how you knew those things, but don''t think it''ll stop me from taking care of you." Her verbal tick completely gone from fury, Kuroka''s clones started to attack them. Alex dispelled the gravity on himself, and rushed to one. His fist stopped a few mere inches from her face, and the trees behind collapsed from the pressure. The clones disappeared and the one he nearly punched collapsed from fear. "I''ve also been practicing senjutsu since my fight with Vali, don''t think I''ll be tricked by your little look a likes. I''ll leave you for now, but next time you need to seriously discuss these things with Koneko. I said that you deserve punishment, I think it''s enough that you will have to wait a while longer before truly reuniting with her." Kuroka looked as if she was about to say something, but a sudden tear in the air stopped her from doing so. A man stepped out wearing a suit and glasses, and holding an oppressive holy sword with another one strapped to his back. "Arthur pendragon." Alex said, much to everyone''s surprise again. He shrugged and said, "I told you, I know things." Arthur looked at him with curiosity, before turning to Kuroka and Bikou who returned from his fight covered in soot, with Tannin right behind him. Arthur then said to his comrades, "Seriously, what are you two doing here? I came because you were taking a while, but we need to leave now. Red dragon, please give my regards to the holy demonic sword user and the wielder of durandal." The two looked as if they wanted to argue, but didn''t as they all disappeared into the tear. Kuroka gave one last look of concern at Koneko, not hiding her feelings for once, and a look of interest at Alex. Alex turned to Koneko who looked as if she wants to ask him what he was talking about, but he said, "What happened is between you and your sister, I shouldn''t have said as much as I did but I thought it was the best way to avoid unnecessary issues. We''ll probably see her again in the near future, so question here then." Koneko nodded at his words, with a new determination on her face. Alex and the others then made their way back to the party where they informed the higher ups of what happened. Due to the attack the party was cancelled. Chapter 41 - Facing Seekvaira After the party was cancelled there was an emergency meeting between the higher ups of the alliance. "The Devils were too careless, what a blunder." The vice-governor of the fallen angels Shemhaza said. Azazel didn''t say anything, but secretly agreed inside. They were going over the info from the reports, and future precautions. Since Tannin was away from them at the time, and Rias and Koneko kept quiet about it, they at least didn''t get the info that Alex revealed during the conflict. There were several people already unnerved about his unreal level of secret knowledge, but thanks to him they also arrived at the conclusion that the Kaos brigade was mostly using Ophis, and that she didn''t actually want the things they were doing. This didn''t change the fact that for the moment they saw her as an enemy though. As they were talking, the door to the meeting room opened and an elderly looking man with an eye patch and a warrior woman wearing armor walked in. Everyone present froze as the name of the old man sounded throughout the room, "Odin." Then suddenly Azazel spoke up, "Hey geezer from the north, how have you been?" Odin looked at Azazel and didn''t seem to take offense to his words before saying, "Hey fallen brat, playing friends with your enemies now? Or are you planning something from the side again?" Before Azazel could respond however, Odin''s attention was taken by the magical girl Maou. "Oh Serafall, what is that you''re wearing?" Serafall stood and took a pose, "This is a magical girls outfit you know! ????" the current leviathan Maou said to the northern God. As he was trying to examine her, the female warrior stepped forward and said, "Lord Odin think about your image, if the knew you were doing this then Valhalla will cry you know?" Odin looked exhausted with his attendants words and said, "This is why you can''t get a boyfriend, so stuffy." The girl then broke down crying, Odin ignored her and turned back to Azazel and Sirzechs, "So I heard that not only are you making your little sisters fight, the red dragon emperor is going to solo a whole peerage? You Devils really deserve the name don''t you?" After Odin changed the topic the rest of the meetings attendees started discussing the next day''s games. *** The next day Alex was preparing for his fight. Azazel was briefing Rias''s team for their fight against Sona, and Ravel was reporting the information she found about Seekvaira to Alex. He was truly grateful for this, because he couldn''t remember that much about her from the series. However, Ravel mentioned her ability, and Alex immediately got excited. The reason was that the ability of the Agares house she belonged to was time manipulation. If Alex managed to get her to cooperate with him then he might be able to make his own hyperbolic time chamber in the future. The other piece of choice information that Ravel gave him, was that she was a huge mecha otaku. If he played his cards right he could bribe her with mechas from other worlds in the future to cooperate with him. When the time came, Alex went to the magic circle in the Gremory castle with Rias and the others. They would be going to their fight first, and Alex would be leaving after them. They each said their encouragement to each other. Akeno looked at koneko with a look of determination. It appeared that after hearing about her using her nekomata powers that she sealed, Akeno also gained the determination to use her powers as well. After wishing each other luck, Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, Xenovia, Asia, and Gasper all left through the magic circle. A moment later Alex stepped onto it as well, and after a flash of light appeared in a cave. He looked at his surroundings, and saw that he was in a mountainous area. As he was observing the area, a voice he hadn''t heard before introduced themselves as the arbitrator,can''t explained the rules. "The arena is a wide forested mountainous area, with the base of Seekvaira Agares in the north, and the base of the red dragon emperor Alex in the south. Pawns will need to reach the opponents base to promote, and the game will continued until one side gives up, is completely defeated, or the king is defeated. The game will start after thirty minutes." Alex sighed at the rules, it was a basic game but Seekvaira was known for strategizing. As he was the only one on his side, he decided it would most likely be best to fly up into the air and challenge them head on instead of going through any traps singlehandedly. It would be harder for them to surprise attack him as well. He spent the rest of his thirty minutes going through the information Ravel gave him, then the game began. "Balance break!" ... Nothing happened. Alex frowned and tried again. "Balance break!" ... ''Ddraig what''s going on?'' Ddraig simply replied, Alex was dumbfounded. ''Consequences for what?!'' Ddraig just sighed and explained. Alex had a feeling of dread at Ddraig''s words, and summoned his gauntlet for the first time since his experiment. The red gauntlet appeared as normal, but the jewel was dim, and it displayed a number in it. ''WAIT I CANT USE THE BOOSTED GEAR FOR A WHOLE MONTH?!!!'' Alex shouted in his mind. Ddraig confirmed his question and Alex asked, ''When were you planning on telling me?'' Alex didn''t know wether he should laugh or cry. He figured it wasn''t anything he could cry over though, and headed out to the middle of the sky to meet his opponents. He decided that he could use this time to use his other skills more, plus for the truly drastic situations he always had the super Saiyan. As he was flying he suddenly heard the announcement, "Seekvaira Agares peerage members except the king, retired." Alex was confused, but after he reached the spot he was going to wait, Seekvaira was also on her way so he didn''t have to wait long for answers. "What gives?" He asked when she got close enough. Seekvaira sighed at his question and replied while rubbing her temples. "There''s no other way to truly fight you in these games. You''re not weak, there would be the chance of me losing even with my peerage. If you beat all of us then my standing would plummet to the bottom for losing to a single person. If we won, it wouldn''t be without casualties and my standing will still drop from having such a hard time beating a single person, plus it will be said we only won by ganging up on you. Challenging you myself only puts my personal capabilities into question. I win I appear stronger, I lose then I simply lost against a legendary dragon." Alex was surprised at her words, but was also conflicted. On one hand he would have an easier time in this game, on the other he lost the chance to fight a whole group of people. It would''ve been nice to challenge himself a little. He couldn''t change it though since they were already retired, and got into a battle position. Seekvaira was already forming various magic circles around her, and Alex decided to fight the same way. When his spells rushed at her they suddenly slowed down to a crawl. Alex realized that this was her time manipulation. He then decided to see how far she could push it, and created more magic circles and started preparing his fire breath. She then loosed her own at him so he covered himself in his scale plates, and they mostly bounced harmlessly off of him. She was dumbfounded at his plated scales, as it wasn''t his normal balance breaker, and was slow to rest to the next barrage of spells. Barely catching the spells, she was caught off guard by the sudden rush of flames at her. Though he didn''t power them with his boost, they were still the flames of a dragon god. It was under these that Seekvaira was unable to keep up and all the spells broke free from her time manipulation and rushed her at once. "Seekvaira Agares King retired. The winner is the red dragon emperor, Alex." The announcement sounded out. Chapter 42 - Deal After Alex finished his fight he was taken to an infirmary to have any injuries tended to. All he had was a couple scratches, but Seekvaira took a while longer. He was waiting he started watching the match between Sona and Rias, even without issei though Rias doing good. With his help for Kiba and Xenovia, they were able to move at faster speeds than they should have. Koneko was devastating the opponents with the skill she honed sparring with him, and her strength went through leaps and bounds after experiencing the difference in gravity. One thing that surprised him though was that Rias seemed to have been trying to become more accustomed to using techniques as well as power. He recalled that the two Gremory siblings had used their destruction in completely different ways in the novel, Sirzechs focused on technique, while Rias focused on overwhelming power. Now it seemed that Rias was trying to use both, which Alex found quite encouraging. Before the match was over, Seekvaira had been released from her treatment, as her injuries actually weren''t that bad. She seemed surprised to see Alex waiting for her. "To what do I owe the honor?" She asked with some respect, now that she had tasted his prowess personally, even without the boosted gear. "I want to discuss working together with you on a project." Alex said. His hope was to use her time manipulation for a training room, where he could also add his gravity manipulation. He MIGHT be able to use time magic with enough practice like he did gravity, but it would be immeasurably harder. Seekvaira looked surprised for a moment, then she started glaring at him and coldly said, "I see, and is this your way to add me to your harem? Well I refuse as I don''t wish to be one of many." She then was about to turn and walk off, but Alex grabbed her arm. She turned back in fury, but he said, "While I won''t deny you if you want to be my woman, I''m not after that right now. I''m after your time manipulation. I want to try to utilize it for something and need your help for it." She was surprised when he said he wasn''t after her as a woman, and was slightly conflicted as she felt he thought she wasn''t good enough to go after even when she denied him before. For some reason this irked her and she asked with a still somewhat cold attitude, "Well, what do you want my help with? And why would I want to help you?" Alex sighed in relief as she seemed willing to listen to him now. He then explained his idea to apply it to a room to make the time flow faster in there than the outside for training purposes. Seekvaira seemed genuinely interested in the idea, but still asked, "But why would I help you? My time manipulation is the pride of my family, why would I give it away?" Alex already had an answer for her, "How about mechas that you haven''t seen before? Though I can''t promise them right away I could always give them to you in the future." As she heard his words Seekvaira''s eyes went wide and she tried to keep control of herself as she asked, "And what kind of mechas would you be able to give me? I don''t imagine it would be anything you already have." Alex shook his head and said, "That information is confidential. If you want to know then you''ll have to work with me, and continue working with me in the future. As I said before I don''t really mind if you''re my woman or not." He couldn''t tell her what it was he could give her, because they would be from other worlds. But if she followed him long enough then she would naturally find out. Seekvaira looked conflicted at his words and seemed to be seriously considering the matter. She then decided, "Let''s make it a pact, I''ll work with you in exchange for new mechas in the future. Then there''s no backing out." Alex smiled and readily agreed. By the time they were done talking the match between Rias and Sona seemed to be finishing. Same as in the original fight Rias lost Gasper, Asia, and Xenovia, but didn''t seem to be as desperate as she was in the novel. The rating she got wasn''t too good, but she won. Alex decided to stay around the infirmary to congratulate her when she arrived. He looked over to the fight between Diodora, and Zephyrdol, and saw Diodora suddenly get stronger and beat Zephyrdol. Alex frowned at the scene, and Seekvaira said beside him, "How did he get that strong? I don''t remember him being that capable." Alex didn''t say anything, as he started thinking of ways to deal with Diodora in the near future. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his name being called, "Alex, I heard you won!" Rias followed by Akeno came up to Alex and they both hugged him. Seekvaira seemed uncomfortable at the situation and quickly dismissed herself after passing her contact info to Alex. The two girls looked suspicious at Seekvaira''s behavior, but Alex shook his head and said, "I just need her help for something, I''ll tell you more about it later." They looked suspicious, but didn''t say anything. They already agree not to get in Alex''s way of other girls, their bodies wouldn''t survive otherwise. Soon both Kiba and Koneko joined them as they waited to hear about the three that retired. As they were waiting an old man with an eyepatch and a woman wearing armor appeared and started walking towards them. They stopped when they reached Alex and the old man started staring at Rias''s b.r.e.a.s.ts in and obviously perverted manner. Alex stepped forward and with his gravity dispelled went to flick the old mans head, which he unsurprisingly dodged. "Hey Odin, get your eyes off my girl. If you don''t then I might have to take out some anger on you." The old man, Odin looked surprised at Alex''s words and started laughing. "Ah youth, the young ones never seem to know their own worth. I''d ask if you knew who you were threatening, but considering you identified me on sight I''d say you already did." Alex nodded and said, "You''re Odin the chief of the northern gods and Valhalla. And the old man who''s ass I''m going to kick if he looks at my women with perverted eyes again." Odin laughed again at Alex''s words, but he didn''t know that with both the super Saiyan and the boosted gear, even if he died in the attempt he would be more than capable to take on at least a couple gods. After saying a few words the old man started to leave, but Alex stopped the girl and said, "If you have any boyfriend troubles in the future my bed is always available." In a teasing manner. The girl turned Crimson at his words and Odin starting laughing harder than before. She started sputtering, not even being able to say anything while Odin said, "There you go Rosswiesse, a new boyfriend for you. Now you can brag to the other Valkyries about it. Hahahahaha." He finally took his leave while dragging the still stuttering Rossweisse with him. Chapter 43 - Return Alex was now on the return train home. There hadn''t been much going on after the games finished. There were some medals given to players that did well, but of course Alex didn''t get any. Since Ravel was going to move in with them to be close to Alex she had also joined them on the trip home. He was sitting in between Rias and Asia when suddenly Rias spoke up, "Oh yea, I also had the dorms renovated while we were in the underworld. I don''t know what the current layout of the building is, but now the baths a lot larger, there''s an indoor pool downstairs, and a training room. Here''s also a lot more rooms for anyone that also starts living there." Everyone looked confused but happy at the renovations, but Alex knew that Rias added them because he suggested it. She also put together the hints for more rooms to mean more women living there in the future, but as she already learned her lesson she didn''t mind that. Suddenly Koneko walked over to Alex, sat in his lap and kissed his cheek before saying, "Nyan!" Though Alex already decided not to touch her until she got older, he couldn''t deny the cuteness just then. There was also quite the reaction from all the girls around the train, as Rias and Akeno didn''t think that even Koneko would apparently fall for Alex. Asia looked conflicted though, and Alex knew the things about to happen so he asked her, "Did you also want to be with me Asia?" She looked shocked that he called her out though, and said shyly, "Um, I was kinda wanting to. I started to like Alex, but I didn''t know what to do about it, and I didn''t think I would be able to do the same things as president and Akeno." Alex smiled at her and before she could react, leaned over and kissed her. Asia was surprised and Alex simply said, "Just because you''re not sure about doing those things, doesn''t mean you can''t say you like me. We can always wait. Let''s just be closer for right now." Alex said so because he was somewhat concerned about corrupting Asia. Unlike Xenovia who understands matters between men and women, Asia was completely pure until issei and her friend Aika perverted her. There was also the fact that she was trying to compete with Rias in the beginning. He also let Koneko know his intentions to wait with her like Ravel until she got older. She didn''t like it, but agreed to grow up before moving their relationship. Both girls were in a happy mood for the trip back, and they passed the trip in relative enjoyment. As Alex was getting off the train though, he saw the person he didn''t want to waiting for them. Diodora Astaroth was waiting on the platform at the Kuoh town station. He started to approach Asia when he saw her leave the train, but Alex stepped forward instead. "May I help you?" He asked with hostility behind his smile. Diodora looked confused, as he recalled Alex also being somewhat hostile to him before. But he out on a disgusting smile and said, "I just wanted to talk with Asia Argento if you don''t mind." Alex smirked at him and said, "If it''s about you getting her kicked out of the church, don''t worry about it." Diodora flinched, and the girls who had also joined them by now also seemed concerned at the situation. Asia had a look of confusion, and asked, "Are you the one from that time?" Diodora didn''t say anything and revealed the scar on his chest. He then said, "Even though you left a scar, you saved my life. I believe that it was fate that we met, please become my wife." Everyone except Alex was shocked, and Asia also looked shocked at his sudden proposal. Alex stated laughing, and said, "Man you got some guts, proposing to another guys girl right in front of him? Do you think I''m not going to say anything?" Diodora looked confused, until Alex leaned over and pressed his lips against Asia''s. She as surprised at first, but melted into the kiss, and their tongues started to tangle with each other. There was a small stream of saliva connecting their mouths when they separated, and Asia had a passionate look in her eyes. Alex turned to Diodora and said, "If you understand now, scram!" Diodora didn''t say anything. But gave Asia one last look and left. Everyone was thinking about the previous incident, and so there wasn''t too much excitement to explore the remodeled dorm when they returned. Alex and Rias were cuddling in bed after some s.e.x, and she asked him, "So why so hostile to Diodora? I noticed it when we were at the meeting, but today as well was unexpected." Alex thought for a moment, before explaining. "Him getting Asia kicked out of the church wasn''t a coincidence, it was intentional. He has a fetish for breaking church girls, and became entranced with her from the moment he first saw her. He found out about her healing being twilight healing, and used it to purposely get her kicked out. Then he planned to pick her up and turn her into his toy, but she was taken by the fallen angels first, then you." When Rias heard his words he face twisted into immediate disgust as she suddenly regretted not taking action against him. "Hey, is that the face you make while in bed with me?" Alex said suddenly. Rias looked embarrassed, and calmed down. But she couldn''t help but to say, "I want to do something a both him though, if he keeps this up then it might ruin our relationship with heaven, and there''s Asia to consider." Alex nodded and said, "Don''t worry, I plan to take care of that bastard soon enough." Rias looked at Alex, and realized that he hadn''t told her the whole truth. He hadn''t, as he left out the part where Diodora betrayed the alliance and joined the Kaos brigade. He understood somewhat what was going to happen, and didn''t want change things so unexpected developments occurred. After this the two eventually got into a better mood, and went back to their previous activities. Chapter 44 - Shidou irina Two weeks had passed since Diodora proposed to Asia and as expected he had sent love letters and gifts to Asia almost daily since then. After what Alex told her though, Rias destroyed all the gifts and letters without a trace, but she at least told Asia about them before hand though. She listened to Alex''s advice about waiting to tell Asia about diodora''s real aim, as it could cause unnecessary conflict and consequences. This morning was no exception, after a quick session with Akeno in the shower, both went downstairs to see a dark red flash of light meaning another gift had met its end. "Another present? That man sure is persistent, didn''t anyone tell him that''s not attractive?" Akeno said with a slight frown. She also found the current situation distasteful, especially after Rias announced that Diodora was not to be trusted. She didn''t say the exact reason, but they could all tell that something was going on. Asia looked conflicted, as she was exceptionally caring and didn''t hate Diodora, but also seemed troubled at the situation. Instead she tried to apologize for his actions. "Uhm, I''m sorry for troubling everyone-" But Rias cut her off. "Don''t apologize Asia, you didn''t ask for him to send these things. Diodora just needs to learn that he won''t always get what he wants." Alex then piped up, "Yeah, a creepy stalker is all that guy is, so don''t let it bother you Asia. If he takes it too far then I''ll just have to teach him a lesson though." Alex''s words would normally be taken as a joke, but the small amount of aura that radiated off of him wasn''t. After the discussion ended, the group then left for the first day back to school. As per the usual they were joined by Kiba and Gasper, who was still using the Ray gun to turn into a girl. He had tried to turn back once, but his new appearance didn''t change, if anything he seemed to be even bigger. As the group approached the school Alex could sense a familiar presence, and said to the second years, "Looks like you''re getting a new classmate." They just looked at him in surprise. After he thought about it for a moment he recalled this was Ravels first day, and mentioned to Koneko, "Hey Koneko, would you mind looking after Ravel in school? She might not be used to the new environment." Koneko frowned but agreed, but Ravel saw the frown and asked, "What are you frowning about thieving cat?!" She had called Koneko this ever since she started to hang around Alex. As Ravel saw it she was the first to enter a relationship with Alex, so she likened Koneko to a thief, even though Koneko knew him longer. Koneko looked at her and replied, "Useless piece of fried chicken." Copying Alex''s insult to Raiser when he killed him. Alex didn''t mind the insults, because even though they didn''t seem to like each other, Koneko and Ravel actually develop a love-hate relationship with each other. The two in question then started a glare off with each other, but didn''t actually argue more than that. After school that day, They were all in the club room and Ravel was talking about her first day at school. After a while though, Azazel showed up with someone else in tow. "Hi everyone, remember me?" Irina Shidou walked into the clubroom, shocking everyone except the second years. Azazel then smiled and explained, "You all already know her, but Irina was sent by heaven so that they also have a presence here. After kokabiel''s attack, and the conference this areas become important to the alliance." After Azazel''s word, Irina spread a set of pure white feathery wings and explained, "That''s right, I''m an angel sent by heaven! I''ve received the power of the Angels from lord Michael after the creation of the brave saints! Like the Devils chess pieces, we used the card system I am lord Michaels ace!" Irina declared proudly while also displaying her halo and wings. After the initial greetings were over, Xenovia then asked Irina, "So Irina, what happened with the childhood friend you were talking about before?" Irina showed a sad face and stated, "I tried to his house to talk to him before, but he wasn''t the same person. He was really scared, and wouldn''t leave his room when I tried to talk to him." Though Irina didn''t tell anyone his name, Alex knew she was talking about issei. After the incident a year ago, whenever the trio got bold and acted out Alex arranged another date with the wannabe magical girl, Mil-tan and her friends. After several "dates" they eventually even quit school and all became shut ins scared of interacting with women. He decided not to mention this to Irina though. Suddenly Xenovia spoke up, "If the guy you were interested in wont talk to you, then why not Alex?" Irina then looked over at Alex with interest, and Alex was pointedly showing interest in something else, to hide the fact that he could hear what they were talking about. She then asked Xenovia, "Would that be ok? Aren''t you with him? And would he want me?" Xenovia smiled and answered, "That''s the thing, he stated that he wants to be with several women so I''m sure he wouldn''t reject you. Plus with his capabilities the three of us currently with him already agreed that we need more women, or our bodies won''t hold out. And think about it, with how strong he is imagine the strength of his children." When Irina heard that, she like many others started showing an interest in Alex, the perverted angel. Later it was decided that she would also be moving into the dorm, which earned Rias some looks as it now seemed as if she knew they have more people moving in with them. Later after taking Irina on a tour around the dorm, all the girls were relaxing in the remodeled bath. "Ahhhhhhh. This is nice. I can''t believe I can take a bath here everyday now!" Irina said with delight in the outside bathing area. After the remodel, the baths were larger and there was also some shower stands nearby. They were also decorated to look like a hot springs, even though they weren''t. Just as the girls and Irina were relaxing though, the door opened and Alex walked into the bath. Another change after returning from the underworld, was that Alex would now take baths with all of the girls. Ravel Asia and Koneko were shy in the beginning, but they all realized that they would be in a relationship with Alex eventually so they got used to it. Irina was another story though. "Eeeeeeekkkkkkkk! What are you doing here?!" She demanded as she squatted down in the water to hide herself. When Irina looked around at the other girls though, she saw they didn''t react to Alex''s intrusion, and even looked happy he was there. Xenovia then said from beside her, "Unless you want to take baths alone, I would recommend getting used to Alex being here. It was already decided not to alienate him because the majority of the girls here are in a relationship with him anyways." Xenovia then also went to help wash Alex''s body, leaving Irina to sulk alone. Chapter 45 - Offer Not long after Irina transferred, they started getting ready for the sports festival. Alex wasn''t too interested in it though he was however helping various people get ready for it. It was during this that he finally met the perverted glasses girl, Aika Kiryuu who was also the church trios best friend. "Greetings there senior." She said while also obviously examining him. Her gaze stopped around his crotch, and Alex said, "Like what you see perverted Girl? Or is your "scouter" malfunctioning?" What Alex was talking about was Kiryuu''s supposed ability to use her glasses to measure a mans manhood even through his clothes. He recalled she claimed to use it on issei to see if he was suitable for both Asia and Rias before. He also knew that she found out about Devils before any other humans in issei''s life, and even started to learn magic to be able to help Asia and the others in the future. Kiryuu looked surprised at Alex''s words, as she didn''t think he knew about her scouter ability, and said, "Ufufufufufufu, as expected of the number one Casanova in the school, and yes I did like what I saw, I liked it very much. From what I heard from Xenovia though, you''re more than capable enough to handle the girls around you. I almost want to try you out myself." Alex wanted to comment that he wasn''t a "ride", but he decided that there would probably be several women who would disagree with him. He was also somewhat interested in her, as except for Akeno''s s&m tendencies that she hasn''t actually revealed yet, none of the girls around him could be labeled perverts. So he only replied, "If you want a try then wait your turn. You might get lucky someday. Just try not to corrupt those three too much ok?" Aika looked surprised that he actually said that he''d consider her, and laughed at him telling her not to corrupt the church trio. After few more suggestive remarks from her, Kiryuu left to find her friends, but not before Alex slipped a summoning circle into her pocket. He figured there would be no harm if she found out about them this soon, and considering she even went out of her way to learn magic as a human, might even be a possible pawn for Rias in the future. Later he went to the club room, where they were discussing future matches. They were told that their next match would be revealed to them that day, and were anxiously waiting to hear about it. However a possibility that none of them considered was suddenly shouted out by Gasper. "what if we have to fight Alex?! I don''t know if I could do that!" At Gaspers words everyone suddenly looked worried about the next match. Azazel chuckled at the idea, and Alex thought it would be interesting even though all of the girls seemed to go pale at the thought. As they all had this thought though, a magic circle appeared in the corner of the room. "Astaroth." Alex muttered in distaste. Everyone became tense seeing the magic circle, and Diodora appeared. He looked around the clubroom until his eyes fell on Asia, and he smiled. "Hello my beautiful Asia, I came to see you." Asia looked uncomfortable when he called her "his", and Rias frowned. Rias Alex and Azazel sat on the couch, while Diodora moved to sit across from them. The others gathered to the side, as they were present as Rias''s servants, and Irina and Ravel were guests. Before Rias said anything, Diodora got right into what he wanted. "I''ll get to the point, I want to trade you for the bishop Asia Argento." He said casually and started pulling out a form of his servants for her to choose from. But when Rias was handed the paper, she destroyed it with the power of destruction without even looking at it. Diodora looked surprised at the hostility that even she was starting to show him, and Rias said, "I don''t even need to bother because I have no intentions of trading my cute servants." Diodora looked surprised and asked, "Is it that you want to keep her healing ability?" Rias nodded, but also said, "That is true, but I have also come to adore Asia as a person. I even started to think of her as a little sister." Both Diodora and Alex were surprised at her words. Alex knew that she thought this way in the series, but didn''t know when she started thinking this way this time. Asia also looked moved to tears, which showed she also didn''t know Rias thought of her like this. Diodora nodded, and stood as if he knew he wasn''t going to get her this time, and walked over to her. "Asia, it seems as if you have to wait a while longer to be with me, but don''t worry I won''t give up. I''m not sure if you''re aware, but I''ve also come to realize that your current master has been destroying the gifts I''ve been sending you. Just tell me when you want to leave and I''ll find someway to get you away from her." Alex wanted to vomit at his words, he made it sound like Rias was selfishly keeping Asia from leaving regardless of her wishes, and that she actually wanted to be with him. He was a about to say something when, SLAP!!! Asia smacked Diodora across the face for badmouthing Rias. He was surprised this still happened, as it took Diodora calling issei filthy for it to happen originally. He was still smiling though, even though Asia was glaring at him with tears eyes. Alex stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, "I think it''s time for you to leave." Diodora smacked Alex''s hand away, and said to everyone''s surprise except Alex''s, "I don''t want a filthy dragon to touch me." SMACK!!! Diodora''s other cheek suddenly matched the first one as Asia smacked him once more. Alex was surprised, Asia smacking Diodora was already a badass moment for her, but smacking him twice was completely golden in his book. "Alex is not filthy!" She declared with actual tears running down her face, but Alex guessed they were tears of fury, as he didn''t think he ever saw Asia as mad as she now. Diodora''s smile finally faded, he looked at Alex and declared, "When we eventually fight, I will defeat you. I won''t do something as foolish as retiring my peerage like Seekvaira, I look forward to beating you." Alex didn''t say anything as Diodora left, he felt that it would mean that he even bothered putting him into same category as himself. Instead he was thinking of how to deal with him. He''ll probably go to Sirzechs and Azazel about him being a traitor, to plan before his and Rias''s rating game. They should also prevent Asia''s abduction this time around, was what Alex thought. He and Rias suddenly got the message about their next opponents. YOUTH DEVILS NEXT ROUND Sairaorg Bael vs Zephyrdol Glaysa-Labolas Sona Sitri vs Seekvaira Agares Red dragon emperor Alex vs Diodora Astaroth Rias Gremory- no opponent Alex felt all the plans he was trying to make go out the window. Chapter 46 - Warning After the message about Diodora being Alex''s next opponent, the entire ORC started watching recordings of him fighting. They saw the same thing Alex did at the infirmary, Diodora getting a power up to fight Zephyrdol and beating him. As they isn''t have their own fight to worry about, everyone started trying to help Alex plan for his. After brainstorming for a couple hours, everyone then had to start their Devils job, and Irina had to report to the church. This left Alex wandering around town for a while thinking. ''I was trying not to mess up too much, so that I could still predict events, but it seems like my presence alone will change things. I wonder what else I''ve changed regarding future events.'' As Alex was thinking this, he stopped at a vending machine. As he was about to get what he wanted though, he detected two familiar presences. He ordered two more drinks, and tossed them to the ones hiding in the shadows. "If you''re going to just stand there, why not have a drink?" The two people stepped forward, and Alex saw both Vali and Bikou. "Yo red dragon, how you been?" Bikou said casually. Alex shrugged and said, "Same as always, constantly training." Vali smiled at Alex''s words, anticipating the fight they''ll finish in the future. He suddenly turned serious though and said, "I came to warn you about your next opponent, the heir of Astaroth-" but before he could finish, Alex interrupted him. "You talking about him being part of the Kaos brigade, right?" Both Vali and Bikou were stunned at his words, Alex didn''t think he''d ever get tired of that. He then explained his made up story, "It was kinda obvious, the sudden power up he got during his last fight. I don''t know who might''ve noticed but it was just like Ophis''s snakes from before." He didn''t mind saying this to the two of them, as they didn''t seem to work with the other members of the Kaos brigade that much. The fact they came to warn him also meant they didn''t mind if action was taken against Diodora. Before they could say anything though, a giant shadow appeared, causing both to go on alert. "NYO" "Is it some kind of nekomata?" "Maybe some kind of cat-troll?" Alex was struggling to hold in his laughter at their reactions. The one who intruded on the conversation was the same plague issei was ruined by, the wannabe magical girl wearing cat ears, Mil-tan. Vali turned to Alex and said, "You already know what I wanted to say, so I''ll return for now." The two then awkwardly left, keeping an eye on Mil-tan as they did, causing Alex to finally unleash his laughter. After biding farewell to the "maiden", Alex then started his return to the dorm. When he opened the front door though, "Welcome home master." Akeno said to him while wearing an e.r.o.t.i.c maid costume. Not only were her b.r.e.a.s.ts out in the open, but the skirt was high enough that due to the lack of panties, she was completely on display. Alex smiled at her exhibition, and sn.a.k.e.d his hand under her skirt to grab her ass while saying, "So my little servant, where''s my dinner? Don''t tell me I have to eat you instead?" Akeno shivered, as his finger found its way inside her. She then said, "The cooks are preparing masters dinner, please follow me. But I''ll also accept it if master wants me for dessert." She then led the way reluctantly, as he removed his hand from her. Alex followed her into the kitchen, where he was greeted by Rias and Ravel in n.a.k.e.d aprons. Ravel had a deep blush on her face, as even though they bathed together, she never displayed her body to Alex the way she was currently. Rias however was completely without shame as she even directed her rear at him when she bent over, giving Alex quite the view. He had to remind himself about what he told Ravel however, when she copied Rias with her deepest blush yet. The two presented Alex with some dishes they made, which he was more than happy to divulge in. The three were fawning over him as he ate though, displaying their lack of attire whenever they moved to clean food from the corner of his mouth. After the first couple of times he was unashamed to admit the food being left to cleaned purposely left there after that. He then noticed that Akeno disappeared at some point, only to feel someone start opening his pants. He looked down and saw her grasp his manhood, before looking up at him and saying, "It is this lowly maids job to ensure her master is pleased." Before she engulfed his entire member into her mouth. He then sn.a.k.e.d his free hand at Rias''s ass, and did the same thing as with Akeno with his finger going inside her. He was eating his dinner with one hand, had the finger of his other inside the girl to his left, and another girl had his member in her mouth. He didn''t think life could get much better at this moment. Ravel was fidgeting at the side, but recalled his words about waiting for her to mature, and didn''t try to do anything. After he finished eating, Akeno rose from her kneeling position with a white substance at the corner of her mouth, which she used her finger to wipe off and stuck in her mouth to swallow. She then turned Alex the other way on his chair and said, " please look the other way as dessert is prepared." And he heard Rias and Ravel moving around behind him. Alex was enjoying their actions a lot, so he did as asked. Only a couple minutes went by before Akeno turned him back around. What he saw was Xenovia n.a.k.e.d, laid out on the table with various pastries on her body. Ravel then stepped forward and declared, "I hope you like the dessert h-husband. Home made pastries." Alex was actually looking forward to Ravels sweets, as she was famous for them in the series. He then took the chopsticks offered to him, and took the the first one off one of Xenovia''s n.i.p.p.l.es. After he ate the sweet, he turned to Ravel and said, "It is quite good, but I better not leave the plate dirty." He then leaned forward and sucked the n.i.p.p.l.e he cleared of any crumbs left behind, earning a m.o.a.n from Xenovia. He then repeated this process for every pastry on her body, at every location. Xenovia had a flushed face when he was done, but immediately after the girls whisked him to the bath. Alex then enjoyed the experience of having the girls strip him, and lead him to the bath. There he saw both Koneko and Asia waiting for him, in see through swimsuits. He then had the awkward yet exciting experience of both girls washing every corner of his body. As he already told them that he was waiting for them to mature like Ravel, they avoided doing anything too questionable. After the bath with the two girls, Alex returned to the lounge and found that Rias and Akeno got into an argument about who would attend him that night. He found this quite interesting, as they had both been "relieved" of the outfits they wore, and were wrestling in the buff. Alex enjoyed the show for a bit, before he finally had enough and whisked the two away to his room for the night, where m.o.a.ns were heard not long after. Irina returned later with no idea what transpired while she was away. Chapter 47 - Fight, start! In the last couple days before the match started Alex became very annoyed. It leaked somewhere that Diodora proposed to Asia, though not the details about why, and during an interview they mostly asked questions about the two of them fighting for her hand. Alex tried to assure them that it wasn''t true, but that was the propaganda that spread anyways. The gifts also became more frequent, even though Diodora stated that he knew Rias destroyed the first ones. After several hectic days, it was finally time for the match. They were currently waiting on the Gremory castle bas.e.m.e.nt before Alex transported. As they didn''t have a match, the rest of the ORC was going to be watching. Each of the girls came and hugged Alex, while also giving him words of encouragement. "Good luck." Akeno said. "Be strong." Koneko told him. "Fight well." Xenovia declared. "Be safe." Ravel whispered. "Be careful." Asia said almost with tears in her eyes. She blamed herself for the recent events, even though Alex kept trying to explain she wasn''t to blame. Kiba Gasper and even Irina had some words for Alex, before it was finally Rias right before he left. Surprising her, Alex pulled her close but didn''t whisper nice things, instead saying, "Whatever happens, don''t let Asia out of your sight. Diodora should be trying something." Rias was shocked at his words, but didn''t say anything, barely giving him a nod that she understood. After the two separated, Alex went to the magic circle and left. When he could see the area he was in, he wasn''t surprised to see the rock pillars of what looked like a shrine. A moment later however, several magic circles started appearing around him, and a grin spread on Alex''s face as he checked his status before starting the slaughter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 60 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- martial artist(30) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior Skills- Dragon gods breath(5) Dragon plate scales(3) Dragons glider(7) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(9) Fire manipulation(6) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(5) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex was annoyed that his level didn''t go up much after firing both Kuroka and Seekvaira, but Lauren assured him it was because they were becoming increasingly hard at the higher levels. His martial artist job went up thirty levels though. He decided not to worry about it though, as he was nearing a thousand mobs to farm for his levels, as the magic circles continued to form around him. He suddenly received a hologram call from Azazel. "Alex, the game has been taken over, we''re about to send you reinforcements before they seal the area you''re in." Azazel was about to send Odin, who agreed to go into the arena to help Alex if the fight they predicted happened. The space was sealing though, and they were limited on time even for communicating when, "Don''t bother." Azazel thought he heard wrong for a moment. "Did you say don''t bother? We''re facing an army on our side, you must have at least dozens on yours." Alex casually answered, "It''s more accurate to say it''s about a thousand. They''ve got me completely surrounded, the poor bastards." Azazel couldn''t believe what he was hearing, isn''t this guy worse than Vali? Before he could say anything Alex spoke up again, "I haven''t had a real test for my strength, and they just so happened to prepare the perfect test subjects, wouldn''t it be rude to not accept them? Just focus on your side, and I''ll clean up here." At that moment the hologram cut off, as the arena became isolated. But Azazel couldn''t help thinking Alex had some kind of golden aura before it cut out, must be his imagination. He turned back to the opponents in front of him, and explained the situation to those beside him. "Alex said he''ll be fine on his own, but I can''t help but worry. Let''s clean up here and go help him as soon as possible." The people around him, Sirzechs, Grayfia, and even Rias and her group also showed signs of concern, and got into battle ready positions. In the distance Odin was already devastating the enemy with his spear Gungnir. They each then started fighting their own enemies. Meanwhile in the arena, Alex was enveloped in a golden aura and his hair started standing on end. He also unwrapped his tail, as all the witnesses will die soon anyways. The Devils of the old Maou faction that surrounded him started murmuring among themselves at his transformation, it wasn''t the one they expected. Soon, Alex heard some perverse laughter above him. "Fufufufufufufufufu, so what is this? Instead of your armor you styled your hair differently? And that tail, are you some kind of beast as well as a filthy dragon? No matter, they of the Kaos brigade have gathered here to kill you, as you have been deemed too dangerous to continue existing. I think they''re fools for fearing a worthless being like a dragon." Diodora shouted from above Alex, as if being there made him feel superior to him. Alex just glared at him, as the transformation raised his rage, the rage at Diodora''s actions that he had been holding back, to the max. He then said, "Oh yea, when the old Maou faction finishes killing off Sirzechs, I''m having them bring Asia to me so I can finally have her. I also promised them they could have his little sister to play with, as a form of revenge on the current Maou. Maybe they''ll let you live so you can watch as they defile her." Diodora then started his disgusting laughter again, unaware that his every word dug his grave deeper, and deeper. "I''ll be waiting inside, if you manage to escape these outside then ill be more than happy to be the one to capture you, if you manage to get past my servants of course. He''s all yours." He declared to the surrounding Devils, as he disappeared into the shrine. Alex looked at the surrounding Devils, and a sadistic smile spread across his face. Chapter 48 - Massacre Alex suddenly shot up into the air above everyone, not for a sense of superiority like Diodora, but to get a better angle for his aiming. As he had also dispelled his increased gravity, he was so fast his movements were inconceivable. He then created several magic circles around him, and summoned large amounts of demonic energy, and started the fire in his belly. As Alex made his preparations, the old Maou faction also prepared when they found him. As large amounts of demonic energy shot towards him, Alex summoned his plate scales while preparing his attacks. He failed to notice that his scales also had a golden sheen with the usual red. With his natural defense, and the increase from the scales, Alex didn''t even get so much as a scratch. He then unleashed the various elemental magic attacks, his own demonic energy, and breathed out a torrent of flames that blanketed the area. His single wave of attacks, wiped out several hundreds of the old Maou faction Devils. Those that were left alive were in a state of shock. As he was the red dragon emperor, they didn''t think he would be a threat without his armor, but they were wrong. Before they could react Alex summoned Ascalon while wielding magic in his other hand, and started to slaughter the survivors. His movements were so fast that none were able to react until they were already dead. The ground became a lake of blood, as hundreds met their end in moments. It was only when there were a couple hundred left that they seriously started trying to escape, or pleading with this monster to let them live. Alex had no mercy to spare, these people came to kill, why should they not expect the same to be done to them? They still tried to beg him though, "Please, let us live! It was Shalba, he made us attack you. He wa-" the Devils words were cut off with his head. The others saw that, and tried to at least take this living disaster with them as they could not escape the sealed area either. It only took a few minutes to silence these ones as well. When Alex finished with the slaughter, he turned to the entrance to the shrine, where Diodora waited. He paused though, and a smile kept onto his same once more. Of course a thousand Devils would max his job level. Alex chose his new job swiftly, and started making his way to the doors. [Available jobs- Mage, master martial artist, draconian tyrant, gravity user, demonic charmer, holy enemy, berserker, sword user Job selected, draconian tyrant. NOTICE! Strength marginally increased, defense increased, new skills added, dragons claws, intimidation. Skills dragons glider, dragon plate scales, and dragon gods breathe increased.] Didora was waiting in the main hall of the shrine for the fighting to be done. He was completely confident that Alex would be killed by those outside. Even if he wasn''t, there was still all of his servants to get through, plus Diodora had already used Ophis''s snake. He was completely confident that there wasn''t a threat, until the doors to the hall blasted off the hinges and were destroyed. Alex casually walked into the hall, but as he did so there was an almost godlike level of pressure coming from him. His golden hair and aura were still present, but he was also now covered in red-gold scales, and his hands had turned to claws. Though Diodora didn''t know it, Alex was also making full use of his new intimidation skill, helped by the fact that he carried the severed heads of Diodora''s servants by the hair. They were the only ones he sympathized with, as they were all victims of Diodora''s perversions, that didn''t mean he wouldn''t use them to make a point though. "Come help me!" Diodora called into a communication magic circle, thinking there would be several people outside that would help him. No one answered. He looked up again, and saw Alex right in front of him before flying back from his kick. When Diodora hit the wall behind him, it caused a crater to form from the impact. He puked a mouth full of blood, before lifting his head at the figure walking slowly towards him. He started forming barriers to keep him out, but Alex shattered them one by one. He then put a hand out and several magic circles started forming around it, "I WONT BE BEATEN BY A WORTHLESS DRAGAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGG" Alex interrupted Diodora''s words by severing the arm he had thrusted out with Ascalon. As Diodora screamed with pain at the wounds, Alex then copied what he did with Katerea, and used the blade to cut out the snake he used to power up. Unlike Katerea though, Diodora wasn''t able to handle the holy energy from the wound, and was dying on the ground slowly. Alex just stood there and watched as Diodora bled out. "Well, well, well. So this is how the relative of the pretender dies." A voice called out from behind them. Alex turned and saw Shalba Beezlebub. "It appears all the leaders of the old Maou faction came to die today." Alex said, as he planned to kill Shalba to prevent certain events in the near future. He already knew that Sirzechs would be taking care of the other leader, the heir of Asmodus. He then surprised Shalba by rushing forward with Ascalon. Shalba used a device and shot a beam of light at Alex in order to escape. After Alex dodged, he noticed Shalba in a different location, who then used hundreds of insects to create magic circles. The circles then fired hundreds of random elemental and demonic magic attacks, which were the first real damage Alex had taken, even with the scales. He started breathing heavily, as he had now used the super Saiyan form for quite a while while also fighting opponents numbering over a thousand. "So this is all the current red dragon emperor amounts to? To think we lost all of those people to you. Pathetic." Chapter 49 - Shalba As Alex breathed heavily, he stared at Shalba. For the first time since coming to this world, he felt pressure during a fight, and loved it. His blood was pounding, practically a cheer to overcome the opponent in front of him. Shalba just stared at him, ready to give the killing blow, when suddenly Alex stated laughing. "What you laughing about? Did you go insane or something?" Shalba demanded. Alex shook his head and said, "Of course the hardest fight I''ve had so far, is you, the worthless one who''s only pride is who your daddy was." Shalba''s face became ugly at Alex''s words, and he sneered. "Of course a lesser being would say that. I have the pure blood of the original Maou after all! What can those of the lower class be but jealous?" Alex was dumbfounded, why would he be jealous of a Maou bloodline, he was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Saiyan! This alone would let him use the powers of a god in the future. And even if he wanted a Maou bloodline, it would''ve been easy if he didn''t already choose a Saiyan. Alex just started laughing again, this time at Shalba''s stupidity. "Why would I want the shitty blood of a Maou? I already have something much better!" Shalba looked livid at Alex''s words, he dared to refer to the Maou''s blood as "shitty"? And what did he mean by something better, was it the boosted gear, or something else? Shalba calmed himself after a moment, he must''ve been referring to the boosted gear, it was pathetic for the lesser beings to cling to their precious sacred gears. He then used his insects to prepare many magic circles to kill this thorn in their side. "Enjoy your last moments, after I deal with you all the pretenders and their families are next." Alex got serious, and set himself. He knew that he wouldn''t be able to dodge all of the magic attacks, so why not go through them? He hardened his scales, and prepared his new claws while getting ready to lunge forward. The same moment Shalba shot the demonic energy and elemental magic attacks, Alex surged forward with all his speed. Shalba was shocked to see Alex move towards his attacks, but reasoned he was simply insane like he originally thought. As Alex met the first of the magic attacks, he swung his arms out to brush as much of them aside as possible, but had to take the next ones as a result. He used fire manipulation to divert the fire attacks, but arrows of ice pierce his flesh, blades of air sliced him, and bolts of demonic energy bombarded him. His scales were pierced, slashed, and shattered. It was the most intense pain he ever felt, outside of trying to fuse super Saiyan and boosted gear. It was because of all this, that Shalba did not imagine Alex emerging from the tide of his attacks and plunging his claws into his belly. Shalba gasped at the pain, and Alex ripped the snake that he had ingested out painfully. He then smashed it, and gripped both of Shalba''s arms, before kicking him with as much strength as he could. It was still enough to fling Shalba back while tearing both of the arms that Alex still had off. Shalba crashed into the side of the building, and fell to the ground. He was unable to even help himself with the loss of his arms, and for the first time, he looked at Alex with fear. Alex was walking slowly towards Shalba, summoning Ascalon in order to give the killing blow. He reached Shalba, and lifted the blade before he swung it at his head. CLANG!!!!!!!! Both were surprised by the sudden noise. There was a dimensional tear next Shalba, and a lance was stuck through it to block the sword. As soon as Alex saw the lance, he knew exactly what it was, there was only one lance that would pressure him as much as that one was right now. Before either could react the tear opened wider and Shalba was pulled in, away from Alex. He guessed that it was Georg that opened the sealed space, he might''ve been the one to seal it in the first place. After Shalba disappeared Alex had no reason to keep his super Saiyan form active, and dispelled it. Feeling fatigued, he then walked over to Diodora, who was trying to crawl away with his one arm left. Alex still carried the sword, and as he approached Diodora he raised it. Diodora only saw the shadow of the blade, right before it fell on his neck. *** Rias and everyone else hurried into the rating game site. They had finished the main battle, and were going to meet with Alex. During the fight Rias also had the chance to choose her second job from all the enemies she killed, but only registered it long enough to choose her next job, before getting back into the fight. She would investigate more after verifying Alex''s safety, which she thought he would be safe since the status was still working. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Age-17 Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- destruction Archmage (15) Job history- destruction Mage Skills- Superior destruction magic (6) level up! Extinguished star (1) New! Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As they reached the area Alex fought in, everyone present was dumbfounded, all that awaited them was a sea of blood and gore. Bodies littered the entire area in pieces, and there were craters all over from the high powered attacks. As they traveled closer to the shrine, they finally found Alex. He was sitting on the steps waiting for them, the severed head of Diodora sitting next to him. Chapter 50 - Dragons Alex was sitting on the steps of the shrine when everyone found him. Ignoring the blood that covered him, Rias and the girls flocked to him and practically jumped on him. While they were all trying to confirm his well being, Asia saw Diodora''s head sitting next to him. Seeing her conflicted look, as she believed she saved his life in the past, Alex then said to her, "Don''t worry about him, there''s a lot you don''t know. I''ll be sure to tell you later when all this is done, ok?" Asia looked confused, but agreed. Almost immediately after, Alex felt a few presences approaching, and turned to Vali, Bikou, Arthur, and a small girl dressed in gothic clothes he recognized as Ophis. Seeing the approaching people, everyone including Azazel and Sirzechs went on guard, except Alex. "Hey worthless rival, I thought you were a battle junkie so why are arriving only when the battles over?" Vali smirked at Alex''s question, and Bikou started laughing. Everyone around him looked at Alex questioningly at how casual he was towards Vali. "Got held up escorting a VIP." He answered casually. At his words Ophis stepped forward, and started examining Alex. Truth be told she unnerved him, Ophis was one of the few beings he understood that he would never be able to beat while she was at full power during his time in this world. "Ddraig-" "Alex." Alex said suddenly interrupting Ophis. She looked surprised at his interruption until, "My name is Alex, my partner is Ddraig." Ophis looked confused for a moment, until it seemed like she got it and corrected herself, "Alex, how did you defeat Shalba with Ddraig being sealed?" The moment the words left her mouth Alex started sweating, and everyone looked at him in confusion, as he never told anyone the boosted gear was on a cool down. Ophis continued though, "Strange... Very strange. I watched the fight, because I was informed you were unusually strong, but I don''t recall Ddraig glowing like that before. And you coated yourself in scales besides Ddraig''s, very strange..." Alex wasn''t too sure how to answer her questions, but thankfully he was spared from answering that moment when the sky started to fracture. Ophis turned to the break open the sky, Alex completely forgotten now. There in the sky above them, was the god-emperor of dragons, great red. Alex thought he was prepared to see it, but he grossly underestimated the size, and power he could feel from it. Ophis stood still, then raised her hand as if it was a gun, and said, "I will return to silence." Then disappeared a moment later. Vali and the two with him nodded to each other, then Arthur made another tear in the space next to them. He then turned to Kiba and Xenovia, "Kiba Yuuto, Xenovia Quarta, I look forward to a fight with each of you one day, as fellow holy sword users." He then entered the tear he made with Bikou following behind him, Vali turned to Alex and nodded, before joining them. That left Alex with the others in the game space that was quickly fading. *** Alex found out later what happened while he was fighting, though most of it he already knew. The army of the old Maou faction was taken care of by the higher ups of the collective powers present. Sirzechs killed one of the leaders, Cruzerey Asmodeus; and he and Azazel tried to reason with Ophis. Her terms though were complete obedience, and control over the dimensional gap around the underworld. No fight broke out though due to Ophis''s indifference and confidence in beating them, not that she was wrong. He also found out that since Diodora didn''t kidnap Asia like in the original novel, it was agreed that the ones fighting would try to take her for him. As a result, many of the opponents aimed for her specifically, and it made everyone else''s job easier since they knew who they were going for. Speaking of Asia, her Alex and Rias sat down and explained the events leading to her expulsion from the church. Alex lied and said that Diodora told him this before their battle started. When Asia heard about her past she started crying, but after several minutes stopped and said, "I shouldn''t be sad, if that never happened then I never would''ve met Alex and the president. I shouldn''t look only at the bad of things, but also the good, as it''s only through suffering that we rise!" Alex was surprised, he never heard her talk like this in the original series. He wondered if it was due to the fact that he didn''t look after her as much as issei did. After all the annoying things were done with Alex slept for an entire day from the exhaustion of his fight. He woke up alone in his bed, but didn''t mind it since the girls let him rest. He made his way to his bathroom, and entered the shower. As the warm water washed over him, Alex thought about what he learned during the last fight. It was only the second time that he used the super Saiyan, and it was obvious that he wasn''t even close to mastering it, of course. He started thinking of training to use the form properly, since he would need it for the future. At that time he heard someone enter the shower. He wasn''t focusing, so he assumed it was either Rias or Akeno. He was surprised when a moment later a smaller pair of b.r.e.a.s.ts than he was expecting pressed against his back. Alex turned and saw the blonde haired green eyed Asia hugging onto him. A moment later she said, "I asked Kiryuu what a woman does when she wants to advance her relationship, and she told me the specifics about it, about s-s.e.x." Her face turned red at her last words and Alex sighed. He then turned to her and said, "Asia, I don''t mind having s.e.x with you. But you are pure and naive, I don''t want to think that I took advantage of it and pressured you into s.e.x. But if it is what you want, then I''ll be more than happy to oblige." Asia looked happy at his words, as Alex leaned down and sealed her lips. As the water continued running over them, he kissed her for several minutes. When he removed his mouth, Asia said, "I want to have s.e.x with you." Without answering, Alex then moved his mouth to kiss her neck. Alex moved down with his mouth, from her neck to her collar, to her b.r.e.a.s.t, then her n.i.p.p.l.e. As he sucked her n.i.p.p.l.e Asia let out a cute m.o.a.n before he switched to the other one. Once he was done with her n.i.p.p.l.es, Alex moved down even further. To her belly, then down until he reached the fork of her legs. Asia''s back was against the walls of the shower, as Alex raised one of her legs and his tongue entered her slit. "Aaaahhhhhhh" Asia m.o.a.ned again, as her hole was teased for the first time in her life. Alex maneuvered his tongue expertly, and within minutes Asia experienced her first ever climax. Believing she was adequately prepared, Alex moved back up to seal her lips again, while pressing his manhood against the same hole his tongue was just in. When she felt the hot object press against her nether region, Asia looked scared for a moment, before steadying herself and nodding her head to signify she was ready. Alex then inserted himself into her slowly. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Asia let out her loudest m.o.a.n yet, as she was penetrated. Alex felt the barrier in her give way, before he buried himself into her. Asia looked pained, but after getting used to the pain, she nodded her head again to say he could move. Alex pulled himself out, and thrusted back into her. Asia continued m.o.a.ning, and her b.r.e.a.s.ts started bouncing with the movement. Alex thrusted in and out for several minutes, going faster and harder with time. Asia''s voice grew louder almost with each thrust, until she was screaming with pleasure. It didn''t take long for her to climax once more, with Alex finishing as well, filling her with his seed. The water was still falling on them as Asia came down from her high, before Alex turned it off and moved them both to the bed. There he continued to work her until It was well into the afternoon. As Alex laid in his bed with the n.a.k.e.d Asia cuddling up against him, he couldn''t help but think that right after he resolved himself to train, he didn''t even really get out of bed today. Chapter 51 - Awkward, the sequel It had been a week since Alex took Asia''s first time. In that time he had worked on training the super Saiyan form whenever he had a spare moment. Those around him didn''t know what he was working on, as he insisted on training in secret so that his trump card wasn''t exposed more than it already was. Ophis saw him use it, Shalba escaped him while he used it, and Cao Cao used his spear to save Shalba, so it was highly probable that he knew about it as well. In the week that he worked on it he managed to increase the amount of time he was able to use it slightly, while also easing the stamina burden minutely. Rias had insisted on taking a break for the day today though, so he started watching tv in the lounge. Rias had something to do in the ORC room, so she went to take care of that. Asia Xenovia and Irina went to hang out with Kiryuu, and Ravel went to investigate pastry shops for inspiration, while Koneko went with her to be a sampler. This left Alex and Akeno alone in the house. He originally thought she would want to do something together, but she surprised him by saying she needed to do something in her room. He should''ve known that wasn''t really the case though, as it was only a little bit later that his view of the tv was blocked by her n.a.k.e.d body. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh." Her unrestrained m.o.a.ns echoed though the house as she bounced on his member. It only took a minute for her to free his manhood and mount him with her back facing him. Her ass grinded on his lap while she bounced on his member repeatedly. Her tits were bouncing just as much, until Alex reached around and grabbed hold of them. He played with her n.i.p.p.l.es and Akeno m.o.a.ned even more. It only took a few more minutes for them both to climax, as he filled her with his shot. Akeno let her body rest against his as she finished her own climax, and Alex still played with her tits. A few minutes later, Akeno crawled off of his lap, and kneeled in between his legs. Without any hesitation, she then took his member while it was still covered with both of their fluids, and cleaned him with her mouth. Alex suddenly had the realization that Akeno used her mouth more than the other three girls. She worked him with her tongue, until he neared his next climax. Akeno then took him out of her mouth and said, "Let''s try something new. Fufufufufu." And his second load exploded all over her face and tits. Alex looked at her, covered now in his seed, and thought it actually looked pretty hot. Akeno then stood up and said, "I better go clean up before anyone gets home, don''t want to make any messes." As she walked away, Alex saw a line of white fluid going down her inner thigh. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and sighed in contention. He suddenly heard a shout, "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And dodged at the last second, as a bolt of lightning blasted the couch he was on to ashes. Alex felt danger and dodged again, only for the tv to get the blast this time. He looked up and saw a familiar looking man, purple in the face hurling deadly lightning attacks at him. He sighed as he didn''t want to meet Barakiel, Akeno''s father like this. *** A few minutes earlier Barakiel stood outside of the dorm building, still deciding if he should knock or not. Standing behind him was the chief of the Norse gods, Odin, and his Valkyrie attendant Rossweisse. He was assigned to guard the old God while he was in Japan, and he was to work with the Gremory household as well. The reason Barakiel hesitated was due to his daughters hatred of him. He couldn''t blame her of course, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t care for her. He finally gave up an knocked. Even several minutes later no one answered. He tried again, again now answer. Barakiel focused his senses and noticed that his daughter and one other were present in the house, but he couldn''t tell who they were or what they were doing. That''s weird, Rias Gremory should have gotten the notice about their arrival. After thinking for a moment he turned to Odin and said, "I''m going to go in and let them know we''re here. It''s a girls dorm do please wait out here, Rosswiesse, can I leave lord Odin to you for a moment?" Since his job required protecting Odin, Barakiel didn''t like leaving him outside, but he also didn''t want to lead him into a girls dorm unannounced. Rosswiesse was a stranger or he''d send her in, and he might be pardoned due to his daughter living here. As expected Rosswiesse looked as if she didn''t agree to Barakiel''s suggestion, but she also knew Odin''s perverted nature so she waited out there with him. Barakiel walked into the house and closed the door behind him. After taking a few steps into the house, the first person he came across was his daughter. Unfortunately for both of them she was currently buck n.a.k.e.d. Barakiel would normally advert his eyes to preserve his daughters dignity, but his gaze was drawn to her face and b.r.e.a.s.ts, not out of perversion, but due to the suspicious white fluids that coated her face and b.r.e.a.s.ts. Both of their faces changed, while Akeno''s face became Crimson not from embarrassment, but fury; Barakiel''s face became purple from fury. Before saying anything however, she acknowledged her lack of attire, and swiftly ran up the stairs to dress. Unfortunately this also showed Barakiel the same fluid running down her inner thigh. It was obvious where that fluid came from, and his fury reached a peak and he honed in on the only other presence in the building, the obvious "culprit", before shouting while releasing a blast of lightning, "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The boy dodged his attack. And Barakiel readied another one. He then saw the boys disgusting thing was still hanging out of his zipper, still wet and shiny from being coated in his daughters saliva. His rage and shame reached levels he never thought possible as he attacked again. Alex dodged all of his attacks for the next several minutes, not wanting to retaliate against Akeno''s father. Barakiel was obviously holding back his attacks though, as he could have easily vaporized the whole building if he really wanted to. After what felt like a long time, but was only a few minutes, Akeno finally returned down the stairs fully clothed, and jumped in front of Alex to stop her fathers attacks. He froze and they both started a glaring game, until a sudden thump grabbed their attention. All three turned to see Odin and Rosswiesse had entered the house due to the noise, and Rosswiesse was collapsed on the floor. "S-s-s-so indecent..." She muttered even while unconscious. Odin laughed and said, "Well it seems you are properly equipped to handle all these women boy, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!" It wasn''t until this moment that Alex noticed his member was still out. He awkwardly put it back in his pants, wondering if their first meeting could have gone worse. Chapter 52 - Father and daughter An hour after the incident, Alex was sitting in the ORC club room with the rest of the members. It turned out that Rias''s work there today was about the upcoming mission to protect Odin, but he wasn''t supposed to arrive for several days. Rias was working on a form with Grayfia, Alex and Azazel were sitting on the couch, the rest of the members were standing respectfully in the corner with Irina and Ravel, and Barakiel Odin and Rosswiesse were sitting on the couch across from them. Akeno was serving tea, but her usual calm atmosphere was gone, and she kept sending dirty looks to her father. A cup was placed in front of Rias, Alex, Azazel, Rosswiesse, and Odin, Barakiel was completely ignored. It was complete silence, but Alex could feel the killing glare he received from Barakiel, even ough he just acted as if it wasn''t happening. A few minutes later Grayfia brought the form the two were working on to Barakiel. "Lady Rias, this is?" He said before he looked at it. Rias just smiled and replied, "Of course it''s the bill for all the furniture you decided to destroy. It''s all being replaced already, but we decided that it wouldn''t be good if the one who decided to invade my current home, attacked one of the residents, and reduced most of the interior to ash didn''t repay some compensation." Barakiel grimaced at Rias''s words, as he had no excuse for himself. He then shot another dirty look at Alex, but decided that he''ll deal with him later, as the current situation was more important. Odin started speaking, "I''ve come to visit Japan, and apparently it has been decided that you''ll be my guards. This is my personal guard you''ll be working with, her name is Rosswiesse and she''s a pitiful v.i.r.g.i.n girl." At The first half of Odin''s introduction Rosswiesse bowed her head in greeting, but hearing the second part she practically fell off the couch. "L-l-lord Odin! That''s not something they need to know! And I didn''t choose to be pitiful v.i.r.g.i.n, wwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." She started crying, and Odin just shook his head. Everyone looked uncomfortable except Alex who said when she started calming down, "I told you, I''d me more than happy to help with your boyfriend issues. My bed is always welcome to beautiful women." At his words killing intent radiated from Barakiel and Rosswiesse turned red enough to shame Rias''s hair, while shouting, " I DIDNT ASK YOU!!!!!!!!!! And what are you doing, waving that thing around in the middle of the day!? You are nothing but an indecent, worthless, pervert!" Alex laughed at her words, and replied, "Weren''t you the one crying about being a v.i.r.g.i.n just now? And you instantly criticize the one who offered to help you with that problem? Wow, are all Valkyries so unreasonable?" Rosswiesse just stammered at his words, as she didn''t know how to reply. Odin laughed at her expense, and Azazel chuckled along with him. Soon the three of them left as Azazel took Odin to a titty bar, and Rosswiesse followed to keep an eye on Odin. Barakiel was left behind with the rest of them, and turned his glare from Alex, and looked at Akeno with a softer expression. "Akeno-" "Don''t call my name!" She snapped as he tried to talk to her. Barakiel''s face hardened at her words, and continued, "I heard that you were seeing the red dragon emperor, and earlier today-" Akeno practically shouted, "THAT DOESNT CONCERN YOU!" "I don''t want my daughter to be treated bad, and what happened earlier proves my point! Look at what he had you doing in the middle of the day, in the middle of the dorm where there''s no privacy!" Alex decided to keep quiet about how the one who acted was Akeno herself, and he just received what she offered. Plus he didn''t mention the various plays and orgies that have been happening recently, including the time he lost control and the three of them needed an entire day to recover. He then continued, "I only want what''s best for you as father-" "Don''t pretend to be a father, a father wouldn''t leave me and mother like you did. If you wanted to be a father then why did you leave my mother to die?" The room was silent at Akeno''s words, as no one wanted to interfere. Alex sighed inwardly. He knew the root of Akeno''s hatred wasn''t because of her mothers death exactly, it was because he was never around. She reasoned that if he stayed around more often then he would have protected her and her mother, but because he had to leave for his responsibilities the two of them were attacked. As a result Akeno''s mother lost her life before Barakiel showed up and killed the attackers. Without waiting for a reply, Akeno turned and walked out of the room. Both Rias and Grayfia sighed at the situation, and Barakiel seemed embarrassed from arguing in front of everyone. after that they all dispersed, and Alex decided that he was going to train anyways to clear his mind. *** "Haaaaa!" Alex thrusted his fist out, and turned to kick an imaginary opponent. He was training with the super Saiyan form, and trying to increase his mastery over it. After he went through the motions with increased gravity, Alex then dispelled the form and extra gravity, leaving himself at his new usual 125 times normal gravity. He then summoned the gauntlet, and saw the timer indicated a week left. Alex sighed at the situation. If his guess was correct, then the countdown would end either during, or after the fight with Loki. He felt as if he developed the usual protagonist luck for things to happen at the worst possible moment. Deciding that he couldn''t do anything about it, Alex then pulled out Ascalon, and went through the motions with the sword. Chapter 53 - Loki, round one It had been several days since they started guarding Odin. Everyone was pretty annoyed at having to follow him all over the country, to various establishments and places of amus.e.m.e.nt. Everyone except Alex. He knew that one of the day''s real soon would end with a battle with a God, and he didn''t want to get caught unaware. He had been tense after the first couple days, a couple of the girls noticed it and thought it was because he was missing training, but Rias and surprisingly Azazel noticed that wasn''t the case. Azazel had long noticed Alex''s knack for knowing things he shouldn''t, and he didn''t believe he wouldn''t be this tense unless he was aware something was about to happen. As curious as he was about it, he didn''t want to call attention to him more than he already did during the current conflicts. Azazel also had the same thoughts as Alex, if too many people were aware of the things about to happen then they might change things and accidentally cause the worst case scenario. Almost as if on cue, the carriage they were all riding in stopped, and Sleipnir let out a cry. Alex''s face hardened he swiftly dispelled the extra gravity on himself, and stood to exit the carriage. Seeing the way he reacted to the situation, everyone else in the carriage was instantly on edge. As they left the carriage, everyone saw a handsome man with evil looking eyes. "Nice to meet you all, I am the evil God Loki." Alex''s face didn''t change, but everyone else''s did. He was thinking, with both Loki and Fenrir, Alex didn''t think he would be able to keep his super Saiyan secret anymore. Azazel stepped forward, "What can we do for you, mr evil God whose far from home?" Azazel''s words sounded polite, but he was anything but. Loki casually answered, "I just came to punish the foolish chief who left our homeland and is trying something as dangerous as cooperation with others." Hearing his words, Azazel dropped all premise of being peaceful, and asked with a glare, "Tell me, are you part of the Khaos brigade?" Loki scowled and replied, "Don''t lump me with those fools, our actions may seem similar, but I''m not a terrorist." Azazel nodded, and got into a battle stance. Alex got Ascalon out and prepared, while a huge amount of holy power attacked Loki from another source. Everyone looked over and saw Xenovia with durandal out. However there was voice from where she attacked. "The holy power of durandal, not yet able to take on a god I''m afraid." "Then how about this?" Alex said as he appeared behind Loki and swung Ascalon at him. Loki dodged with an expression of slight surprise, as Alex was now coated in a golden aura and the pressure coming off of him was immense. Everyone else noticed this as well, and displayed different levels of shock before returning their attention to the current battle. When Alex saw his attack miss, he then Swung himself around and aimed his foot at Loki instead. He caught Alex''s attack with his hand, but Loki was actually pushed back a little before Alex swiftly moved himself away. He didn''t want to have Loki keep him in his grasp too long, even if he didn''t specialize in combat Loki was still a god. "Amazing, this energy coming off of you is incredible. Is this a new power of the red dragon emperor?" Alex was surprised as Loki gave him the perfect excuse if he spun it right. Before he could say anything though, Loki spread his robe and said, "With the amount of battle power here then I might as well bring it. Come to me my cute son!" A grey wolf started forming in Loki''s robe, and the thing Alex wanted to avoid most appeared. Azazel made an sound of surprise and ordered everyone to get back, but Alex took a position to fight it. This was the one thing that his Saiyan instincts didn''t encourage him to fight, as it meant almost certain death. "ALEX DONT BE STUPID!!!!!!" Azazel shouted at him, but Alex simply replied, "One engages it, and the others prepare; no one engages it and it picks us off one by one. Don''t waste the time I''m buying you!" Azazel had a look of resignation, before giving the orders to prepare. Alex and Fenrir faced each other, the seconds ticked by like hours to him, each recognized the opponent. As if they arranged it before hand they both suddenly rushed forward at the same time. "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!" "AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" They both shouted at each other, and they attacked as they passed the other. Both Alex and Fenrir turned to once again look at their opponent. Fenrir had a small cut along the shoulder that Alex gave it, but it was obviously Alex''s loss as his left arm fell to the ground below. Everyone stood and gaped in shock, until Alex shouted, "KIBA MY ARM, ASIA PREPARE TO HEAL ME! THE REST OF YOU PREPARE TO ATTACK IT!" They suddenly remembered they weren''t spectators in this fight, though Loki had moved back and was watching the show. They each moved to do as Alex ordered, Azazel and Barakiel launched attacks with Rosswiesse at Loki, while the Gremory peerage moved to assist against Fenrir. Alex''s main goal was to buy time, there was no way that guy wasn''t going to show up. He rushed forward once again while having only one arm, to keep fenrir''s attention on him as the others attempted to assist. Right as he was about to reach it though, Vali didn''t disappoint him. [HALF DIMENSION!] The space around Fenrir distorted and Alex swiftly moved back away from it. A white streak moved through the sky, and Vali wearing his armor appeared behind Fenrir. The wolf tore apart the distorted space though, and turned its attention to Vali before, "Both the red dragon emperor, and the vanishing dragon. I''ve been entertained enough for today, Odin, if you continue this foolishness then I''ll return on the day of the meeting. That time my son will have your throat." The two disappeared, and everyone relaxed visibly. At least until they remembered that Vali and his team were present. Alex don''t react though, as Vali approached him. "What''s this rival, can''t win against a dog?" Alex smiled bitterly before replying, "I went against a god killer and only lost an arm, I think I did pretty well myself." As he said that though he felt sour inside. How would he manage in the future if he struggled here and now? Now that the initial battle passed, Alex planned to spend the rest of the time until the meeting in closed door training. As he thought about this Kiba approached with his arm and a green light appeared as Asia tried to reconnect it. Then Vali said something that surprised everyone except Alex, "Against a god and a god killer, how about the two heavenly dragons team up?" Chapter 54 - Preparations After getting his arm reattached, Alex and the others returned to the club room and met with the student council to discuss the cooperation Vali proposed. Of course everyone was against it, until Azazel stated that Sirzechs and Michael approved it so that Odin''s meeting was successful. Alex didn''t really pay attention to the discussions, as he was debating the best way for him to train before the next fight. He would only have about one to two days before then, so how would he be able to maximize the benefits before then. He then recalled someone, and sent them a message before turning back to the meeting. "The main issue is how to develop any countermeasures against them, I''m planning to ask the dragon King Midgardsormr. He''s also Loki''s son so he should be able to give us info to combat his father and brother." As Azazel finished talking Alex decided that he didn''t want to spend time getting information he already knew and spoke up, "Aren''t there chains we could use for Fenrir, and what about Mj?lnir for Loki?" Azazel gave Alex an incredulous look, and replied, "If you''re referring to the magic-chain Gleipnir, then we already decided that it wouldn''t work. As for Mj?lnir, I seriously don''t think that Thor would lend us a gods weapon." Alex just shrugged and said, "There''s no replicas? And isn''t there a way to improve the chain to hold Fenrir? The dwarves or elves would be able to do it, won''t they?" Everyone looked at Alex with confusion, until Odin spoke up. "I see what you mean Azazel brat, this child is a little too insightful about various things. Indeed there''s a replica of Mj?lnir that the dwarves and dark elves have, and the same dark elves might be able to improve Gleipnir. Geez, I''ll send word so that we''ll have them available for the fight, and I''ll lend the hammer to you red dragon." Alex nodded as he went back to thinking of the best way to increase his strength. After the finer details were discussed, the major powers went their way and that left the Gremory group, Vali team, and student council. Akeno sat by herself, obviously still affected by the fight with her father. Bikou picked a fight with Rias, even though he didn''t start the "switch princess" craze this time the two still fought. Irina , Kiba, and Xenovia were discussing the last Excalibur, "ruler" with Arthur. Vali sat by himself reading what Alex recalled was a book about Norse magic to use against Loki. Suddenly he felt someone grab onto his back, and heard a "nyan" in his ear. Alex turned around and saw Kuroka clinging onto him, causing all the girls to suddenly look alive. "Nyan, you''re quite manly you know, not even flinching when you lost an arm. You''re quite strong too, how about giving me a child? Nyan." Alex suddenly had a thought, he didn''t need to meet with his contact until the morning, and he intended to go for Kuroka eventually. He swiftly built an idea and replied to her, "Ok, but I have a condition." Kuroka looked surprised, but said, "I don''t know what you want, but I won''t spy on Vali for you or anything nyan." Alex shook his head and said, "It''s not that, but I do need to talk to you in private about it." Kuroka looked excited at what she thought "private" meant, and Alex swiftly took her back to the dorm, and more specifically his room. As they left Bikou laughed and said to Vali, "Hey look at that, should have taken the chance when she offered it Vali." Vali looked up and said, "I''m not too bothered by it, I was the one to turn her down before." Bikou then turned to Rias and the per girls and said, "What about you guys? She''s about to steal your man." Rias just smirked at Bikou, confusing him, until Asia, Xenovia, and even Akeno looked up and they felt the same thing as Rias, "If she thinks she can take him, then she''s welcome to try. Something tells me that no matter how many women Alex has in the future, he''ll always be the last one to finish at night." Sona and the others were surprised at how daring Rias''s words were, but they had the intended effect when Bikou realized she wasn''t exaggerating when the other three confirmed them. He then looked away in shame, and both Vali and Arthur raised an eybrow when they heard Rias boasting of Alex''s prowess. *** Meanwhile Alex and Kuroka were arriving at his room. He turned to close and lock the door, while also placing several barriers to ensure privacy, as he didn''t wan the others to accidentally hear what he wanted to talk with Kuroka about. When he turned around however, she had already dropped her kimono, revealing her lack of undergarments and the neatly trimmed black patch right above her crotch. When she saw him looking at her, Kuroka smiled mischievously and sat on the edge of the bed, while also spreading her legs apart for Alex to get a better look. Alex raised an eyebrow, and said, "While I would like to get started right away, I do need to discuss something with you, we''ll go for the next several hours after that." Kuroka looked surprised that he remained composed while she displayed herself, and felt a little hurt at his apprentice lack of interest. Alex noticed this and explained, "I have four women that I''m currently sleeping with, I''m sorry to say that I''m a little immune to some antics." He then sat on the bed next to her, and pulled something out. Kuroka was dumbfounded at what he offered her. In Alex''s hand, was a single Crimson queen piece. "Why do you have this? I though you didn''t get the evil pieces?" She asked, her verbal tick gone. Alex then replied, "I can''t tell you, unless you accept it. Once you do then you''ll understand the secrecy, and this doesn''t mean I want you to spy on Vali, I want you to get stronger while with him." This was Alex''s idea, Kuroka would still be traveling with Vali for quite a while, and fighting strong opponents while doing so. This would be a good chance for her to raise her job level, and with the coming fight she would be stronger with the attribute increases. After a moment of hesitation, Kuroka accepted the evil piece, and felt a surge of power at the queen attributes strengthened her. Her eyes started practically glowing at the new power, until Alex broke her out of her current state, and started explaining. He told her about being from a different world, and his plans to go to other worlds in the future. However Kuroka looked concerned when he mentioned that, and said while slightly glaring, "What about Shirone?! I refuse to leave her behind again!" She didn''t even try to hide her true feelings, because Alex already proved he knew about their past. Alex shook his head quickly and said, "I plan to take her with me as well, but through a different method." Kuroka looked pacified at his words, and stood to moderately test her new capabilities, apparently forgetting she was still n.a.k.e.d. Alex smiled and said, "Don''t say it around others, but say status." She looked confused, but said, "Status!" And the screen appeared in front of her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Abilities- Youkai Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job history- jobless(100) Jobs available- Archmage, martial artist, poison user, space Mage, time Mage apprentice, thief, illusion apprentice, elementalism Skills- Stealth(7) Poison mist(2) Ki manipulation(7) Kasha (4) Touki(6) Illusions(2) Space magic(2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [NOTICE! Job selected poison user, magic increased, learned skill poison claw] (A.N. So I originally made Kuroka a pawn, but when I made her status I realized she would probably make a better queen as she is already capable in pretty much every aspect. And about the super Saiyan issues, I stated a few items already that Alex is severely weak compared to Goku and Vegeta. It doesn''t help that Toriyama is extremely inconsistent with the strength of his characters. Compared to Goku and Vegeta who spent their entire lives battling organizations and such, Alex could only fight in secret until recently and used shortcuts to achieve the super Saiyan as he already knew how to achieve it, while Goku and Vegeta blundered around until they found it. I''m aware that it''s supposed to a planet buster level of strength, but that level was only displayed for the basic super Saiyan once against Frieza. After that it kinda got degraded, and that''s what I''m building off of, so don''t picture planet busting Goku, but maybe goten and trunks during the buu saga.) Chapter 55 - New training Kuroka was amazed at this job system she now had, and was trying out her new skill. From each of her finger tips a green point formed, claws made of poison. She was admiring it when she suddenly felt herself being grabbed from behind, and pulled back onto the bed. It wasn''t until this movement that she recalled why she originally left with Alex, and grinned at his actions. "We can''t have kids right away, but that doesn''t mean we can''t practice." He said to her. Kuroka''s grin widened at his words, and she pressed her mouth to his, obviously getting excited. Alex responded in kind, while also removing his clothes. He grabbed her b.r.e.a.s.t with one hand, while his other sn.a.k.e.d its way down her body, past the tuft of hair, and finally reached her already wet groin. He slid his finger inside while kneading her b.r.e.a.s.ts with his other hand, causing her to m.o.a.n slightly. "Nyan..." Alex moved up slightly, and grabbed one of her ears with his mouth, and nibbled on it gently. This made Kuroka even more responsive as she began grinding against his hand. Her two tails wrapped around his arm, and Alex unwrapped his own tail and curled it with hers. Soon she was more than ready, and Alex stopped giving his attention to her ears and b.r.e.a.s.ts. He positioned himself between her legs, and she spread them eagerly as she awaited being penetrated. He placed the tip at her soaking entrance, and started plunging forward slowly, "NyyyyNYYYAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!" She m.o.a.ned out with her tick, as he buried himself into her depths. A moment later however, Kuroka surprised Alex by flipping him over and straddling him. Alex was now looking up at her as she started moving her h.i.p.s back and forth, and her b.r.e.a.s.ts started swinging with her movements. He reached around and grabbed her ass, and started massaging the flesh as Kuroka moved. Her tails danced behind her, as she continued riding him. After a few minutes of this Alex decided to be a bit more proactive and started bucking his h.i.p.s with her movements, earning more m.o.a.ns from her as he started hitting deeper inside. She then leaned forward and tried to pin his hands as she brought her mouth to meet his again. He could feel the points of her b.r.e.a.s.ts squishing against his chest as she started fighting his tongue with her own. Alex continued thrusting his h.i.p.s even from his position until they both reached climax. "NNNYYYYYYAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!" Kuroka practically screamed out as she felt the hot fluid filling her insides. She collapsed against him, trying to rest before the next round, until Alex rolled her over and stated moving once more. She was surprised that he continued, but soon got back into the movements. The two continued for quite a while, until they collapsed and fell asleep. Alex removed the barriers he placed before falling asleep, in case there was an emergency. *** The next morning Alex felt woke shortly before meeting the person he needed to, but felt someone crawling around on him. He lifted the blankets and saw the n.a.k.e.d Koneko crawling onto him. Alex made an annoyed look, and asked, "What are you doing Koneko?" She looked up at him with teary eyes and said, "You only want big sister, but am I not good enough?" Alex sighed as he should have seen this coming. He then grabbed Koneko by her shoulders and held her back, and explained to her, "Koneko, you are too small right now. It''s not that you''re not good enough, but if you get pregnant then there''s a good chance you would get seriously hurt. Or in the worst case scenario both you and the baby won''t survive. I want to wait until you''re more mature, ok?" Koneko didn''t look as if she agreed with Alex swords, but had to acknowledge the truth behind them. She then became determined to grow up faster and left the room, but while still n.a.k.e.d. Alex shook his head at her actions, and got up to go see the person he was meeting. Kuroka was still asleep at his side, as he pushed her quite a bit the night before. He got up and after showering made his way downstairs. In the kitchen was Rias and Asia getting breakfast ready. He explained his intentions for training to the two of them, and soon left after eating to the training room. He wasn''t there for long before the magic circle he was waiting for appeared, but when he saw there was a second person, and who that person was, Alex started sweating. Standing in front of him was Seekvaira Agares, and who Alex guessed was her father, the current lord of Agares. His idea was to Seekvaira modify the time in the area he was training, and extend the time for him. He didn''t expect her father to also come though. "Greetings to the lord of Agares, might I know the reason for your visit?" Lord Agares looked Alex up and down, before saying, "My daughter said that she had an appointment today, but when I heard it was the red dragon emperor the I decide to use the chance to meet you myself." Alex wasn''t sure what think of the situation, but if he managed to get the current head of Agares to assist him as well then he would be better off. He explained what he wanted to the two of them, but before he brought it up the lord Agares offered to help. "I see, would you like my help? It shouldn''t be too hard to set a formation that only lasts for the next twelve hours, and as you already apparently have an agreement with her then my daughter would be the one to maintain it." Both Alex and Seekvaira looked at him in surprise, as neither of them thought he would do that. Seeing their expressions, lord Agares explained, "You intend to fight Loki, for the sake of our alliance, correct?" Alex nodded. "Then if a few minutes of my time helps you be able to defeat him and ensure more ally''s join us then it is a small matter." Alex was now excited and led the way to the sealed room where he would be training. Lord Agares looked at it for a moment then said, "I''ll modify the time so that it flows at about, 100 times faster for the next twelve hours, that''ll give you about another fifty days. After I set it then Seek will maintain it for the rest of the time, and alert you when the time is up. I can''t believe that we''ve had this power in our family all this time and never thought about using it like this." Like this Alex entered the area, and with the supply of food he had stored just in case of extended training sessions, he was set. As Alex felt the area seal, he activated super saiyn. His abilities with it were still far too inferior, and he now had the next fifty days to train. One thing that was good about getting Kuroka her stats the night before, was that it allowed him to learn that there was a ki manipulation skill, and he was now determined that before he left the space he''ll have the skill himself. Chapter 56 - I refuse Alex looked upon the place he spent the last fifty days and saw the slice marks and craters from his training. He had taken a week to learn the ki manipulation skill, and has only gotten better since then. Instead of increasing his power during super Saiyan, he focused on reaching complete mastery, but while he made significant progress knew he was still a long way from it. His body felt completely different, as he had upped the gravity to 175 times normal gravity by now. He only had a couple hours left until the time ran out, and went through each of the moves he had been practicing until then. At first he started by transforming into a super Saiyan so that he had a surplus of ki, then tried to condense it outside of his body. When he was able to do so with ease, he then moved on to doing it in his normal form so that he was able to do it with less ki flowing through his body. After that Alex tried to "throw" it so that it was a ki blast, and started blasting entire areas with ki. It wasn''t long until he started trying to control the ki to take various forms, such as a destructo disk, once he had it outside his body. A couple days of that and he finally managed to get the ki manipulation skill. From there he focused on manipulating the ki and increasing his skill for the rest of his time. Once he started learning how to better control his own ki, Alex realized part of the reason why his super Saiyan form seemed weaker was his lack of ki control allowing most of the excess ki to escape from his body. Once he figured out how to condense it somewhat, his physical capabilities soared even though he didn''t completely master it, and there was still a lot of excess. Another benefit of training was that the cool down for his boosted gear ended, and he was able to use it again. Alex also took the time to try several things with both the boosted gear and the super Saiyan, much to Ddraig''s displeasure even though Alex held himself back. Now he was about to leave in just a couple hours, and Alex had one last thing he wanted to try, another childhood fantasy. He took both of his hands, and placed them at his side, "KA-" *** Seekvaira had been standing outside the room for the last twelve hours, and had spent that entire time wondering what her father was thinking by coming himself. Though she doubted him lying about wanting to help with ally''s, she knew he wasn''t that good natured that he''d go out of his way to come all the way here and help someone he never met get stronger. It was when she was still thinking on this, that the entire surrounding area started shaking, and Seekvaira nearly fell over from it. She looked towards the area where Alex was supposed to be training, and felt a bit of worry, not for him, but because she let her mind slip for a moment when the shaking started and lost control over the time formation. She knew he would only have a couple hours left, practically seconds for her, but she still didn''t like failing what she was doing. As she was thinking this, a figure appeared and she recognized it as Alex. He was covered in dust and coughing, but that wasn''t what she focused on, his aura was completely different from when he went in. It was denser, more controlled, and it held strength more than anything. She wondered what the hell did he do in those fifty days to turn into a monster? "Sorry, I tried something out and had a bit of an accident." He said with an apologetic expression. Seekvaira froze as she realized the significance of what he just said, Alex CAUSED that phenomenon to happen. She couldn''t believe this, twelve hours was all it took in real time, and there was this much difference. She resolved herself to be much better at using her time manipulation in the future if it could help her peerage like it did for Alex. She realized with a shock that this must be what her father wanted, her to see the impact their time capabilities if used correctly. She always thought it was useful mostly in combat, but was now believing otherwise. She also resolved to never make an enemy out of Alex and to stay on his good side. Alex went back not aware of the spark he had created, and returned to the dorm to find the girls waiting for him. He was quite surprised to find Kuroka and Koneko sitting together, but everyone dropped what they were doing and stared at Alex in shock at the difference he managed in just twelve hours. He tried to hug them but, "Go shower now." Was all Rias said with a frown on her face. Alex realized that he didn''t get a chance to shower for the time He was training. He grabbed Kuroka, and dragged her upstairs into the shower with him, leaving the rest of the girls to start discussing once he left the room. Once Alex was in the shower, he rinsed himself off while Kuroka started washing him, then once he was clean enough took her from behind as she started her cute m.o.a.ns. He knew that the Vali team would be leaving during the battle, and wanted to get some time with Kuroka in before that. When he first entered her after his fifty day dry spell Alex almost instantly creamed her. He wondered if he was growing addicted to s.e.x, but decided not to worry about it. "Haaaa, haaaaaa, haaaaaaaaaa, NYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!" She cried out as Alex pounded her, before releasing his load into her. He then turned her to face him and pinned her against the wall, as she watched him with l.u.s.t filled eyes. They were at it for nearly an hour, before they both left the shower. It was almost time for bed, but Kuroka surprised him when she told him where she was going to be sleeping. "I''ll be staying with Shirone tonight. Today we talked about various things, she decided to forgive me for leaving her behind, and I told her the details about what almost happened. Truly, thank you." Kuroka said as she kissed him again, before running off out the door. Alex went to lay down in his bed for the first time in nearly two months. Most likely because everyone knew there was going to be a big battle the next day, no one came for a night visit, not that he was complaining after using Kuroka to get his fix earlier. Not long after he had this thought though, Alex heard his door open. He turned to look at the visiter, "Alex, do me." Akeno said plainly as she stood there at the edge of his bed in her birthday suit. Normally Alex would agree, even after earlier, but Akeno''s eyes were dead as she asked him. He sighed and turned back over and said, "No thanks, goodnight." Akeno looked shocked at his words, and asked, "Why?" Alex sighed again and turned back to face her, before explaining. "Normally I would say yes, but you don''t want s.e.x, you want to get comforted because of your father." Akeno don''t know how to react to his words, then asked, "Then what should I do?" Alex then opened his blankets while saying, "While I won''t have s.e.x with you like this, that doesn''t mean I won''t try to help you. Let''s just sleep, and we''ll see how you''re doing in the morning." Akeno hesitated, before crawling into Alex''s blankets, and curling up next to him. He wrapped his arms around her, and started drifting into sleep again before, "What should I do, about Barakiel?" She asked suddenly. Alex thought for a moment, then said, "Why not try to find the real reason you claim to hate him? Just imagine if something happened to him and you never got the chance to make up." She suddenly turned to look at Alex with distress and shock on her face, as she never actually thought of something happening to her father. Seeing that Alex raised an eyebrow at her, and said as his face became sad, "See, no matter how much you claim to hate him you don''t want him to leave you. Take it from me Akeno, enjoy your time with your father, because you never know when you wake up one day and he''s not there anymore." As Alex talked he thought about his own parents, not the ones he left in this life, but the only ones he considered his parents on his home world. He knew that even if he won and became a god, he would most likely never see them again. Akeno was confused, as Alex''s parents were alive in this very city, but didn''t say anything as she considered his words. Leaving those words Alex went to sleep while holding onto Akeno. She however was awake for the next several hours, before falling into an uneasy sleep. Chapter 57 - Before the battle When Alex awoke the next morning Akeno was still curled up next to him. He smiled and gently shook her awake, "Funyan?" She said while waking up, before she could do anything Alex sealed her mouth with a kiss and said, "Good morning, I''d let you sleep in but we have some things to take care of today." When she heard his words Akeno suddenly appeared less sleepy and a focus appeared in her eyes. The two got up and she left for her own room to get ready. As she did do Alex could tell that she was in a better mood than the last couple of days and hoped that he helped the issue she had with Barakiel. It was at rare moments like this that he considered issei''s Pervy powers useful, but he was also glad not to have them. He made his way downstairs a while later to find her now making breakfast with a smile. Rias and the others showed up a few minutes later, and also noticed the difference. "You said something to her, didn''t you Alex?" Rias asked with a grin. Alex just shrugged noncommittally, and started eating when his plate was put in front of him. After breakfast, he pulled both Kuroka, and Rias up to his room. After placing several barriers to ensure privacy, started talking to them. "Rias, I made Kuroka my queen." When she heard his words Rias raised and eyebrow and Kuroka just smirked at her. She started glaring at Alex, and he just said, "You are almost exclusively a magic user, while shes already proficient in almost every aspect, plus she rivals an ultimate class devil in magic. I think she qualifies." Rias started grumbling but didn''t say anything, Kuroka looked as she was going to start teasing her, but a look from Alex stopped her. He then continued, "Since you both have access to my system, I think it''s time we discuss what we can do before the battle tonight." They both suddenly looked sharp, and Alex asked Lauren what he wanted before continuing. "We can send messages to each other, so with this we can keep in contact even while Kuroka''s with Vali." And to prove his point Alex sent her a quick message simply saying hello. Kuroka was surprised, and swiftly tried sending something back. When Alex confirmed he received her message, she then got a mischievous look in her eye, and ran off to the bathroom. Alex and Rias were both confused, until he received another message from her. When he opened it his screen was suddenly covered with a nude picture of her. Alex''s face started twitching, as he didn''t even know you could take pictures with the system, and the door to bathroom opened to reveal a laughing Kuroka. "I love this thing!" She declared, causing Rias to become even more confused, until Kuroka explained and Rias got a weird light in her eyes as well. Alex couldn''t believe this, he was trying to have a serious discussion about a power that isn''t usually seen in this world, and Kuroka was trying to turn it into a s.e.x chat for his harem. He figured it fit her personality though. After getting the situation under control he went back to the previous discussion. "Kuroka, while you''re with Vali I want regular updates on your strength, just when you get a job change or something would be fine. Don''t worry I don''t want you to spy on him for me, but when I leave this world you''re coming with me, understand?" He expected her to be annoyed at him "ordering" her, but she actually smiled and clung to his while saying, "Of course I understand, as long as you keep your promise and ensure I stay with Shirone." Alex nodded and said, "While she won''t be with us constantly, I''m trying to make it so that I don''t leave anyone behind. But I have another two years to work out the kinks, ok?" Kuroka smiled again, before turning to Rias and asking, "By the way, you gave Shirone her new name, correct?" Rias nodded and said, "After she was left behind I intended to have her start over, and gave her a new name for that reason." Kuroka nodded, while also feeling guilt at leaving her. Then she surprised everyone by asking, "Do you mind if I take the name Toujou as well?" Rias didn''t seem to know how to respond, while Alex smiled. After a moment Rias also smiled and said, "If you don''t make me regret it, then yes, if you want to you can have the name Toujou." Kuroka smiled and started humming to herself. They continued the conversation for a little bit, then they started getting ready for the battle that night. *** A little after dark, Alex stood on top of a building with the rest of the participants of the battle. The plan was to be teleported to the location they''ll fight with Loki when he arrives. They had the ORC, Irina, Ravel, Barakiel, Tannin, and the Vali team on standby. The student council was in charge of activation the teleportation, and Saji was kidnapped by Azazel at some point, and they only heard he would be arriving later. Alex tried not to snicker when he recalled what they do to him. He held the replica of Mj?lnir in his hand, unbelieving that it wasn''t as heavy as he thought. Soon a distortion formed above them, and Loki and Fenrir appeared from it. He looked down on them and said, "You didn''t heed my warning, now you will suffer for it." But before he did anything the area distorted, and they suddenly found themselves in another area altogether. While Loki was trying to figure out what happened, everyone was already preparing to attack, the battle had started. Chapter 58 - Loki Alex looked at Loki and Fenrir, and turned to the others by his side. He said to Vali, "Want to try first, or go together right away?" Vali looked at Alex and said with indifference, "I''ll try alone, give you a chance to see how far ahead I am." He then shot forward while his team surrounded Fenrir. Alex hung back and watched, once the chains were set around Fenrir and trapped it, Loki let out a smirk. "Even if you try that it''s pointless. Come out and help your father, Sk?ll, Hati, kill them!" He spread out his cloak and two wolves that looked a little smaller than Fenrir appeared. The Gremory group and some of the Vali group moved to fight them, while Vali himself moved towards Loki. The two started a clash of magic, as Loki mostly, formed defensive barriers and Vali used the Norse magic he just learned. Alex was just watching for the moment, as he wanted to have Rias and Kuroka gain job levels. But if it looked as if anything he didn''t want to happen was about to he wasn''t going to hesitate to step in. A few moments later when the two wolves were also being pressured, Loki also sent out his five mass produced Midgardsormr. Rias started summoning her extinguished star, while koneko and Akeno protected her and Asia, meanwhile Kiba and Xenovia cooperated on fighting Sk?ll. Kuroka was busy maintaining the chains on Fenrir, while Arthur and Bikou focused on Hati. Rossweisse tannin and Barakiel worked together against the mass produced Midgardsormr. That left Vali fighting against Loki with magic. The two went back and forth with their fight, Vali''s attacks breaking on Loki''s barriers, while he also dodged Loki''s attacks. Alex then heard a cry of pain, and looked to see the extinguished star consuming a mass produced Midgardsormr, as the giant sphere of pure destruction moved around the battlefield. Loki then launched another attack what what seemed like Vali, but after he dodged Loki''s attack continued going until it hit the chained Fenrir, freeing it. He then decided to add more opponents by summoning more mass productions. Alex decided he had enough, and flew up while also activating balance breaker. He then used the surplus of energy to create several here''s of ki, and then manipulated them into the shape of disks. Destructo disks flew around the battlefield, making short work of several mass productions. At that moment he heard Vali cry out, and turned to see him being eaten by Fenrir. He was in its mouth and was fighting against being swallowed, while also bleeding heavily from the many injuries inflicted by fenrir''s teeth. He was debating on helping, when another cry caught his attention, and he turned to see Hati move to attack Akeno. Barakiel moved to take the attack head on, in order to protect his daughter. Right as he saw the mouth of teeth about to tear him apart, a red gauntleted fist appeared and smashed Hati''s head. The wolf flew away from them, causing both father and daughter to look at Alex with amazement. At that moment Akeno recalled what Alex said to her just the night before, that she should enjoy the time she had with her father. She clung to her father with tears in her eyes and said, "Don''t do something like that again!" Barakiel didn''t seem to register her words and actions right away, but then hugged her in return and replied, "I won''t lose you like I lost your mother." The two started having a complete father daughter bonding moment, until, "You two do realize we''re currently in the middle of a fight, right?" Alex said as he continued fighting off the returning Hati. When they recalled that they were in the middle of a battlefield, the two had a look of resolution in their eyes, and joined hands to summon a storm of lightning. Alex decided that was the perfect moment to end the fight, as he saw Kuroka teleport Vali and Fenrir away. He picked up the hammer for the first time, and thunder flashed everywhere along with Akeno and her fathers lightning. He then super charged his booster, Alex transferred all the charged energy to the hammer, and summoned a barrage of thunder onto every opponent still active. Loki used yet more mass productions as a shield, but still received some of the thunder. Any of his creations that were still alive were dealt with by Alex''s destructo disks, then he suddenly shot forward and sucker punched the still stunned Loki with senjutsu, severely damaging his inner energies. By this point the only remaining force from Loki''s side was Fenrir who was taken away by the Vali team, and Loki himself. Everyone from the same side as Alex was gaping at him, wondering why he didn''t do that to start with. The man in question flew over to Loki, as he had some business with him. ''Ddraig, in the series issei used the flexibility of the boosted gear to fuse part of albions power with himself, is what I have in mind possible?'' When Ddraig saw Alex''s plan, he didn''t know which one of the two possessors was crazier. ''If I lose life force I could always have Kuroka perform Bouchuujutsu with me. But seriously, is there a way to hold it separately, so that I could use it when needed?'' Alex asked. Ddraig groaned at Alex''s joke as he pondered for a moment, until he replied, Alex smiled, and gripped one of Ddraig''s jewels in his armor. After some painful pulling for a few seconds, he managed to pry it free. Alex then kept the jewel in his right hand, while his left was placed on Loki''s chest. He then felt for Loki''s inner energy as he looked for what he had in mind specifically. Suddenly he touched upon something foreign to him, something no human should ever posses. Alex smiled and through the use of the sacred gear, the power created by God to respond to the users feelings, maneuvered the energy into the jewel. When Loki regained enough consciousness to realize what Alex was doing, he started to panic. "NO! YOU CAN''T, NO MORTAL CAN TAKE A GODS POWER!" He looked to Alex with fear for the first time, as Alex drained his divinity into the jewel, out of Loki forever. This was his idea to counter the need for five other saiyans for the Saiyan God form, though from what Ddraig said it was still likely years before he would touch upon it. If he already had a spark of divinity, then he might be able to use the form repeatedly. Or as Ddraig was saying, he would be able to fuse the power with the boosted gear and become a divine dragon of sorts. Either option still seemed as if it were many years away. Leaving only enough for Loki to be left as demigod of sorts, he then stood and turned after storing the jewel away. As he was about to declare job down, the rampaging dragon form Saji suddenly arrived. Chapter 59 - Aftermath After beating Loki, Alex saw Saji arrive on the battlefield as well, in his berserk dragon mode. He sighed as he watched Saji rampage while looking for opponents, as he dint have a good enough relationship with the guy so he couldn''t connect with him the way issei did. Not coming up with any better ideas, Alex used his speed to swiftly move rig next to Saji''s head. "Sorry about this buddy." He then slammed his fist down on Saji''s head, and caused a crater to form under him from the impact. Being knocked unconscious, Saji then started reverting to his normal form. Everyone let out a sigh of relief that the fight was over, and that they didn''t have to fight their own comrade. He then saw Barakiel and Akeno making their way over, and Barakiel asked, "If you could kill him, why let him live?" Alex shrugged and said, "I don''t think the mythologies would take kindly to me if I started killing gods, even the evil ones. We can turn him over to Valhalla and they can deal with him." Barakiel nodded at his words, then his expression turned even more serious, "I have to ask, do you truly care for my daughter?" Akeno turned red at her fathers question, and Alex just laughed lightly and replied, "If I didn''t, then I wouldn''t have bothered with her in the first place you know? I may not seem like it, but I like to think I don''t just chase any woman that crosses my path." Barakiel looked relieved at Alex''s words, and a little annoyed at them at the same time. After that Sona came and collected Saji, and Rosswiesse arranged for Loki to be picked up and taken away for his crimes. They later heard that the meeting went well, but everyone was concerned as the Vali team had also disappeared when the fight was over. Alex wasn''t too worried though, he knew they were busy taming Fenrir and wasn''t too concerned as he was also aware that he most likely wouldn''t fight Vali in a life or death fight in the near future. He also expected Kuroka would contact him soon, or maybe just get ahold of him for fun. They returned to the manor that night quite content with the way things ended, no major injuries, and most importantly no deaths. As the one who did most of the work, Alex was relaxing in the bath while the girls spoiled him. Akeno was clinging onto his back, pressing her b.r.e.a.s.ts against him. Asia was clinging onto his right arm, trying to bury it in her moderate b.r.e.a.s.ts, while Xenovia took his other arm. Rias of course was on his lap, making sure she took all the advantages the position gave her. Sitting to the side was Irina, who was slowly getting used to being n.a.k.e.d around Alex, and Koneko, and Ravel, fuming at not being able to join in. Alex felt bad leaving the other three out, but he isn''t want to tease Koneko and Ravel when he said he wouldn''t take them until they matured, and he didn''t want to risk Irina falling before rather baby making room was created. Later Alex was a about to go to bed, when he said the group of girls, "I''ll just be with Akeno tonight, I want to make up for last night." When she heard his words Akeno blushed as she recalled her actions the night before, but didn''t hesitate to follow him up the stairs. After going into his room Akeno tried to start hanging onto him, Alex grabbed her by the waist, and threw her towards the bed. After landing Akeno swiftly removed her clothes, and Alex was also finished stripping by the time he reached the bed. He crawled up to her, and planted his lips over hers while his member lined up with her already soaking entrance. As he entered her, the two started the first of the many rounds of lovemaking that night. *** Several hours later, the two started to fall asleep. Once Alex fell into slumber, he was unaware of the discussion of the two going on inside of his head. ''Ddraig, tell me have you also noticed it?'' Lauren asked the other entity that existed inside Alex''s mind. He stirred and responded to her question. there was the sudden mental image of Lauren nodding, as she tried to scan what happened to Alex. There were several factors for why his performance could have been hindered. During the fight with Shalba they all assumed it was his inexperience with the super Saiyan, but even after training he was being overpowered by Fenrir. But they also weren''t sure if it was a bad thing, as due to his weakness Alex focused on maintaining and controlling his transformations, and learning proper ki control. The main problem though, was that there were two beings monitoring him from the inside, who would be able to cripple him without them knowing? ''Im running several checks, but there''s nothing here. I don''t know what to think.'' Lauren was the most shaken, as there shouldn''t be anything in this world that could escape her notice. Suddenly, Ddraig seemed to have an idea, At Ddraig''s words the two thought of two beings that could represent "nothing", and both were capable enough that Alex would never even threaten them. They simultaneously agreed not to tell Alex until they could identify what exactly happened, so that he didn''t do something stupid. Chapter 60 - New resident When Alex woke the next morning the first thing he did was check the status of himself and the girls. His job leveled after fighting Loki, but he didn''t have the time to check it after the fight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 17 Level- 85 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- draconian tyrant(100) Available jobs- Mage, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, demonic charmer, holy enemy, berserker, sword user, divine nemesis Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist Skills- Dragon gods breath(7) Dragon plate scales(6) Dragons glider(8) Dragons claws(3) Intimidation(3) Ki manipulation(4) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(9) Fire manipulation(6) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Abilities- Youkai Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- poison user(20) Skills- Stealth(7) Poison mist(4) Poison claw(1) Ki manipulation(7) Kasha (4) Touki(6) Illusions(2) Space magic(2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- destruction Archmage(70) Job history- destruction Mage Skills- Superior destruction magic (7) Extinguished star (2) Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After thinking for a few minutes Alex decided to choose the expert martial artist, due to him wanting to master using ki, and to better use his super Saiyan in the future. [NOTICE! Strength increased, agility increased, skills ki manipulation and intimidation increased!] He was confused as to why intimidation increased, but decided it might be related to using ki to pressure opponents. When he looked at Rias''s and Kuroka''s job level, he was concerned due to the lack of real leveling opportunities for the two of them. He hoped that Kuroka would level while with Vali, but Rias was a back liner, maybe if he let the Gremory group fight without his help she would go up in levels faster. He then turned his attention to the new job he acquired, "divine nemesis". Alex sighed, he didn''t think beating one God was enough to earn him that job, but maybe it had something to do with taking his divinity? When Alex thought of this he hoped that he didn''t make an enemy out of every god out there. As he was thinking about this, he received a couple messages from Kuroka. He opened the first one up and read it, "Hey, sorry about leaving you behind but we had things to do, nyan. I''ll come and visit again soon so you won''t be lonely, nyahahahaha." He shook his head at her words, but was curious about the second message. He opened it, and his first thought was he should''ve known. It was a video of Kuroka, "Nya, this is to make sure you don''t miss me too much while I''m not there nyan." Then it started a strip show of her, as she slowly and sensually removed her kimono. Letting it pool around her ankles, Kuroka then sat down and spread her legs, and started slowly moving her fingers to pleasure herself. She buried her middle finger clear to the base, and let out several m.o.a.ns, consisting of her cat like m.o.a.ns, and his name. After several minutes she made herself climax, then looked to the screen again, "I hope you enjoyed that, but not as much as the real me, Nya." The video cut off, and Alex was left laying there severely aroused. He did the only thing he could do in that situation, he woke Akeno next to him, and took his arousal out on her. *** Later both Alex and Akeno went downstairs after satisfying themselves, and showering after. Akeno was ahead of Alex and as soon as she entered the kitchen said out of surprise, "Oh my, what brings you here Rosswiesse?" To the Valkyrie sitting at the table, pretending she didn''t see her crying her eyes out. Rossweisse lifted her head and bawled as she explained to them, and the rest of the buildings occupants that had already gathered, "Th-th-th-THAT OLD GEEZER ODIN LEFT ME BEHIND!!!!" And continued to sob hysterically. The gathered girls and Alex just shook their heads, until Rias walked up to Rosswiesse with shining eyes and said, "If you can''t go home, then why not stay here? I''ll be more than eager to welcome you into my house, and I''m not sure if you''re aware, but there are great benefits available as well." And handed her a brochure about becoming a devil. Rosswiesse stopped crying, and started looking through the handout. Her face got progressively brighter as she did though, and by the time she got to the end of it she was practically beaming. Rias was already holding out the rook evil piece, and Rosswiesse nearly took her hand with it. After completing the transformation, she turned to everyone and said, "I''m a new member of your group, please take care of me from today forward as my esteemed seniors." She made a formal introduction, and bowed. But after doing so she started muttering in a creepy way about how Odin will pay the next time he met her. Almost as if it was pre arranged, a package was delivered right at that moment as well. Akeno went to receive it, and brought back what looked like a disk. It was placed on the table and magic hologram was then projected, of Odin. "Hello my v.i.r.g.i.n Valkyrie, I''m sure you''ve noticed by now that I already left and didn''t take you with me. The reason for this is that you''re too stuffy, and I wanted you to have some time with your boyfriend. Red dragon kid, take this time to teach this worthless v.i.r.g.i.n many things, especially in the bedroom. Well that''s all, until next time." The message cut out just like that, leaving everyone gathered around stunned. Rosswiesse was gapping like a fish, as she turned to look at Alex. He then turned to look at her, and said straight faced, "Should we go to the bedroom right now? I want to make sure my girlfriend is properly taken care of you know." Rosswiesse didn''t say anything, as she promptly passed out on the spot. Chapter 61 - Birthday Three days after the fight with Loki, Alex woke to find the usual video message from Kuroka, and surprisingly a message from Lauren saying she wasn''t available that day. She wished him a happy birthday, and that he should try to stay out of trouble that day while she wasn''t here. Kuroka''s was the usual newly shot video of her pleasuring herself, most likely so that he didn''t "forget" her. She sent him one every morning. When Alex thought about how it was his birthday, he wasn''t too excited but was looking forward to the next two years going by, so that he could travel to new worlds. There wasn''t anyone in his bed that morning, so Alex was alone when he showered and dressed for the day. He made his way downstairs to find the girls waiting with Kiba, Gasper, and the Sitri peerage, and they all shouted, "SURPRISE!" At him with poppers and streamers everywhere. Alex smiled and started laughing, even if he didn''t care about his birthday, it didn''t mean he didn''t like everyone planning a party for him. Each of the girls, besides Irina and Rosswiesse, gave him a kiss and they all started greeting him. The Sitri peerage tried to do something similar, but Sona kept them from doing so, leading them to tease Sona about taking him for herself. "How about it, do I get a birthday kiss?" He joined in teasing her. The student council president''s usually cool face started turning red, and she reached out to shake his hand. Alex played along, but when he gripped her hand he quickly dragged her in closer and stole her lips for the first time. When they realized what happened, most of the girls started cat calling the two of them. Sona''s eyes widened as she had her first kiss, and she tried to break free from him for the first second, before melting into the kiss. Alex grabbed her waist and pulled her even closer, to the point that their bodies were leaning against each other. It was only a couple seconds, but Sona seemed to remember their surroundings, and started to panic. Her face turned even more red when she saw how close the two of them were. "DONT DO THAT! I don''t want to betray Rias!" Sona practically screamed, as she backed away from him. Alex could tell she enjoyed the kiss, but she felt as if she was betraying her friend by accepting him. Rias smiled and stepped towards Sona, who expected her to be mad. "It''s ok Sona, believe it or not I actually think you two look good together. I already know I''m not enough for Alex, but I would prefer someone I already approve of over some random girls." Sona didn''t know what to say to Rias''s words, but when she said she "wasn''t enough" Sona recalled the tales her peerage were spreading about him. She looked at the surrounding girls, and was surprised to see Xenovia, Asia, and Akeno specifically all nodding. Rias then also mentioned, "There''s a fifth girl, but she''s not here right now. All of us have "suffered" at his hands and accept that there''ll be more." Sona was dumbfounded, her own friend was scouting her to be fellow lovers with her boyfriend. She was spared from answering however, when the front door opened, and Azazel walked in. "Happy birthday Alex! I brought you something." He then held out a box with a bow on it. Alex opened it and saw a pair of what looked like sunglasses. He looked at Azazel, since he already had what he needed for the full moon. "Those aren''t just for the full moon, they have all kinds of other functions built into them. Try them on and I''ll walk you through them." Alex put the glasses on, and Azazel explained that he needed to twist the temple part. When he did so, his vision changed to heat vision. Alex was surprised, and Azazel kept explaining, "They have heat vision, inferred, and a few other functions. Try twisting them all the way." Alex did so, and while,looks at the girls saw their clothes disappear. His brow twitched as he realized Azazel gave him X-ray glasses. Then he was called out to, "So what do you see?" Rosswiesse asked, drawing Alex''s attention. He didn''t have a habit of peeping, but that didn''t mean he didn''t appreciate what he saw. He didn''t try to hide it, as he told her, "I see the nice little patch you have down there, the carpets do match the dr.a.p.es." She was confused for a second, before turning beat red and tried slapping him. Alex caught her hand and said, "I didn''t do it on purpose, if you want to blame someone blame Azazel." Rosswiesse widened her eyes, and turned to Azazel with a variety of elemental magic attacks forming. He suddenly started sweating, and said, "Wait, the furniture was just replaced right? You don''t wan-" At that moment Rosswiesse unleashed the several spells she prepared at him, destroying several pieces of furniture as well. It only took a second for her to realize that she would have to replace what she destroyed though, and she immediately regretted her actions, until, "Don''t worry Azazel, I''ll make sure you get the proper bill." Rias said with a fake smile on her face. She wasn''t going to hold Rosswiesse responsible, as the rest of the girls felt the same way. They all shuddered at the thought of someone besides Alex wearing the glasses. "How despicable." Sona said, drawing Alex''s gaze while he forgot he still had the X-ray function still on. He accidentally looked for a second, before switching the X-ray function off. The movement wasn''t missed by the Sitri peerage, and Sona turned just as red as Rosswiesse a second ago, while the rest of the girls seemed to be trying appeal to him. Before anyone said anything though, "So Alex, why do you try to avoid moonlight?" Azazel asked suddenly. Alex thought for a second, before deciding he used his super Saiyan several times in front of others already, so there wasn''t much harm in explaining this as well. "I turn into a monster, and go berserk." Everyone just stared at him, obviously not believing him. He shrugged and said, "It''s true, if I see moonlight then I''ll turn into a ten story tall monster and start destroying everything and everyone around me. I literally spent my whole life avoiding moonlight because of this." "Bullshit." Was all Azazel said. Alex thought for a moment, it was a week until the second years went on their trip to Kyoto. He was planning to go a couple days ahead of them and prevent Asaka''s kidnapping, so he had five days before his next big action. "If you don''t believe me, then I might be able to prove it. There should be a way for me to replicate moonlight, so if you take the necessary precautions, and keep it a secret then I''ll prove it in two days." Before anyone said anything, a voice said, "Ok that''s sounds great. I was planning to have you and Rias do something soon anyways so we''ll do both at the same time." Sirzechs and Grayfia appeared out of nowhere. Alex''s brow twitched, but if the event Sirzechs was planning was the same as he thought, then he''ll at least have the four Maou present while going berserk. It was as good of a fail safe as he could get, as long as they didn''t kill him. After making the plans the party continued, which is why Sirzechs and Grayfia appeared in the first place. Several hours later everyone went home, and the private party with the girls began. It ended on a nice note, with Alex dragging all four of them upstairs for some fun. All in all, it was a decent birthday. Meanwhile Lauren was... Chapter 62 - Lauren Lauren sighed as she leaned back away from her desk. She just sent the message to Alex and was about to get ready for the meeting. Now that they were at the two year mark before the competition really started, they were going to have a meeting to see what the other competitors were capable of. They had access to the information to start with, but they could choose wether or not they looked at it. The meeting was so that they had to compare the difference of their candidates with the others. She looked round her office, in a spare room of her home. It was a modern looking building that any successful businessman would want, but it was in the middle of a divine realm. Each of her coworkers, "angels", had their own domain in the divine realm. Hers was a high end modern home, with an office that she preferred to work in. Others would have their divine realms be wherever they wanted, some were on a beach lounging in hammocks all day while working on their tablets, others would be in the middle of the jungle, or on top of a mountain. If they didn''t like how their domain was, or wanted a new one then it could be changed whenever they wanted. It was a few more hours until the meeting, so Lauren decided to relax in one of her hot springs until then. She walked up to a dial on the wall leading to her back yard, and turned it, causing the scenery to change. It continued warping until it stopped at a Japanese bamboo forest. She grabbed her own tablet, so that if there was something she needed to do it was still with her, and started walking along the path into the forest. While walking she felt herself calming, especially when she thought about relaxing in her hot springs. Though Lauren usually had a strict attitude, she loved natural hot springs. She would always use her vacations to visit other worlds and try out any hot springs there to use in her own domain. After a few minutes of walking, she arrived at a steaming pool of water. She walked to the stand with towels nearby, and started stripping. Lauren''s figure was one that combined with her business suit, made her look like the stereotypical s.e.xy secretary. She didn''t care about this though, and entered the hot water to enjoy herself. She was only in the water for about three minutes, when she felt someone invading her domain. She knew who it was, and only groaned while they shot towards her. She felt them getting closer, until, "BAAAAANNNNNNNNNZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!" The person screamed as they cannonballed into the hot spring. Lauren didn''t even flinch as they did this, and only said, "How many times have I told you Jennifer, don''t jump into my hot springs." The girl who looked like she was only about thirteen, but had an amazing chest, then pouted as she complained, "And how many times have I told you Ren, call me Jenny!" Lauren sighed once more before opening her eyes, and looking at the the little girl with bright pink hair. "I believe the amount of times you''ve told me matches the amount of times I''ve told you my name isn''t Ren. And I still I can''t believe you''re still using that form after how many hundreds of years?" The girl in front of her fit the typical anime girls style to a tee. Jenny had gotten obsessed with anime for some reason a few thousand years ago, and had been trying to copy it ever since. After a moments thought, Lauren realized she was almost a carbon copy of Serafall. Jenny then stood in the water, and without any shame, struck a pose. "Don''t tell me you don''t like this cutesy form? I mean I''m adorable!" Lauren sighed once more, and said, "If you call yourself "cute" or "adorable" then you just look obnoxious. Back to the serious topic, how''s your candidate?" Jenny looked slightly more serious, though she was still somewhat obnoxious, and started saying, "Anne''s still doing amazing! It''s a waste that she doesn''t want to be part of the competition, but I guess that means your guy will be better off when she joins him. The world she ended up on is primitive, but that means that the impact she''s having on it is huge. She introduced several concepts that the inhabitants haven''t even touched on yet, and has been actively healing and even fighting the surrounding monsters. On top of all that shes been building houses and walls to protect the ones following her. Due to this she''s being hailed as a goddess even though she''s only eighteen." Lauren nodded as she looked up Anne on her tablet. She saw that the girl had chosen quite interesting powers, such as master herbalist guide, a power that grants the user complete knowledge of any plant they see, including any alchemical uses. With this she helped the natives of her current world advance in agriculture and making medicine, as well as poisons that work only on monsters. Telekinesis, with this she was able to help with building new homes and such, as she was able to lift and move many times the amounts of the other people. And finally Sky dragon slayer magic, this was interesting since it was a healing power, but also directly supports and attacks. With this arsenal at her disposal Lauren could understand how she became known as a goddess in a primitive world. They continued talking until it was time for the meeting and started getting ready to leave together. Jenny got out of the springs, and after dressing started to put her pink hair up, causing Lauren to sigh once more. Her hair was only down to just past her shoulders, but she would put it up into two pony tails that fanned out at the sides. It was all an effort to complete the anime girl look. When Lauren stood up Jenny started giggling slightly at the sight, causing Lauren to glare at her. "Still find it funny huh? I''ll get you back for this one of these days." A few hundred years back Jenny decided to play a prank on Lauren, by magically tattooing several hearts across her ass. Normally this wouldn''t mean anything bad, but for some reason even after changing her form several times Lauren had been unable to get rid of the hearts. Even the one who put them there, Jenny, was unable to remove them, so the only solution was to have someone else examine and remove them. Lauren instantly rejected this idea, as she didn''t want someone, or possibly multiple someone''s examining her ass. The two then went to the meeting to discuss the remaining competitors. *** Many, MANY, hours later Lauren was finally back at her own home. She didn''t like what she was told about the others. Some of them had died already, not too depressing, but there were others that had actually taken over the world they had gone to. This was concerning, especially since some of them were worlds that Alex planned to go to. However they were forbidden to reveal any information about the others to their assigned person. The purpose of being able to get the others information is so that they would know the best way to advise their candidates for the future, while also keeping all the information they needed from them. It was a contradicting order for them, probably a way to test them as well as the ones they had to guide to see which ones were the most successful. Lauren was massaging her temples at the frustration, and returned to her desk to see what she missed that day. Chapter 63 - Trials Two days after his birthday, Alex and Rias traveled to some ruins in the Gremory territory. Rias was noticeably nervous, as the two arrived outside the ruins and waited for whoever was going to show up. Alex already expected it, but was still dumbfounded when five people dressed in power ranger suits jumped out of nowhere and posed as an explosion went off in the background. """""We are the satan Rangers!""""" "I am Satan red!" "Satan blue!" "I guess I''m satan green." "Magi- uh, Satan pink!????" "Satan yellow..." They then posed again as another explosion went off. Rias was dumbfounded while Alex just recorded the whole thing with his phones camera. He then put the phone away, and walked towards the Satan Rangers. He then said to them, "I understand I should expect as much from the four of you, but Grayfia, wouldn''t your in-laws cry if they saw you like this?" Satan yellow, or Grayfia, then shuddered as if Alex''s words really effected her, he almost thought she was going to start crying. He specifically called her out, because she seemed to be the only one embarrassed doing this, while Sirzechs and Serafall were still doing poses. He then looked at the other two, Falibium Asmodeus, and Ajuka Beezlebub, and simply shook his head before walking back to Rias. The five of them didn''t really know how to react, and Rias looked as if she wanted to run away from this situation. "Now um, there will be four trials in the ruins, led by each of us. Pass the four trials and prove your bonds with each other!" Satan red declared, and they all disappeared. Both Alex and Rias didn''t know what to say, and simply started walking forward. Soon the two of them arrived at an open area, where Satan pink was waiting for them. "The first trial is for you two to... DANCE!????" She declared cheerfully. Some music started to play, and Alex and Rias decided to give in, and started dancing. Thanks to the fact that Venelana taught him at least a little bit of dance, Alex avoided making a fool of himself. The two continued for the whole song, before finishing elegantly. Satan pink was clapping enthusiastically as they finished, and said, "Yay! The two of you passed, now onto the next trial!????" Alex and Rias then walked past Satan pink, but as they did so Alex reached back and slapped her ass. She turned around and glared at him through her mask, as if she was trying to kill him with her glares, with how strong she was it might''ve actually been possible. Rias just gave him a look after he did so, and they kept walking. Alex suddenly had a thought, how was Serafall going to react when she found out about his kiss with Sona? Questions for another day. They kept walking until they reached another open area, with a table and dishes on it this time. Satan green, or Falibium, was waiting there this time. He obviously didn''t want to be there, indicated by his many yawns. There were a couple others there this time, who were to set the dinner table. "Yawn... This trial is about table manners. Simply eat and points will be taken away if you''re not using your manners right. Begin." The two sat down and started eating. Even though he changed some things, Alex expected some things like this would still happen. So ever since Ravel moved in he had her and Rias help him train for these trials, even if he didn''t say why. That was why even though he didn''t receive any formal training, Alex was still able to finish with a decent mark. "With this the trial is done. Yawn, now you can go to the next area." Rias hugged Alex out of happiness, and the two continued. They soon reached the third open area, with another table set up with some papers on it. This time it was Satan blue, Ajuka Beezlebub, waiting for them. He then pointed at the papers and said, "This is a written test about the devil world, and the history of Gremory house. You have an hour to finish as much as possible, begin." Alex sat down and started to write down the answers. This was also something he had Rias especially help him with, even if the knowledge would be mostly useless after leaving the world. After an hour passed, the test finished and blue started grading their answers. "Rias Gremory passes with perfect marks, Alex missed a couple things, but still passes with a high score." Alex let out a sigh of relief, and they were able to continue. The last trial was originally a fight with Sirzechs, but Alex wasn''t sure if that was going to still happen since he talked about revealing his great ape form. As they continued walking, they both arrived at a colosseum area, with red and yellow in the center. Up in the stands were the three other Satan Rangers, the ORC, Azazel, and even the student council. ''Is it that big a deal for my great ape form to be revealed?'' Alex thought to himself as he looked up at the audience. Red was still doing poses, and yellow was slightly shaking her head next to him. As Alex approached, he then said, "This was originally the part where we fight so that you may demonstrate your feelings for Rias, but I am told that we will do something different today. Instead this trial will be about proving yourself by exposing even your most hideous, monster out form, to the woman you love! Are you ready?!" Alex sighed at the situation. He then turned to Rias, "Go to the stands, I don''t want you anywhere near me when I transform. And don''t take anything I do to heart. I won''t be able to control myself, I should eventually in theory, but this is my first time transforming so I bet it''ll be impossible." Rias nodded, pale at the thought that Alex would attack even her. She then flew off, and Alex sighed as he thought about how to do this. He recalled that Vegeta used a ball of energy to replicate the moon, and formed one in his hand. He then threw it up into the air. Alex then looked at the orb of energy in the sky intensely, as he waited for some sign of the transformation. The minutes ticked by, and still nothing. No one made a single noise as they all waited. He was starting to think he messed it up somehow, when he suddenly felt a jolt go through his body. Alex''s consciousness then went dark. Chapter 64 - Oozaru Azazel was reclining back on the stands he was sitting on with his eyes closed. It had been about ten to fifteen minutes since they started watching Alex attempt his transformation, and all they had done so far is watch him stand there. He didn''t blame him though, according to Alex the transformation would take place on the full moon, but it wasn''t the full moon so that meant he had to experiment to use a form he usually avoided. Azazel couldn''t help but think though, what was he that transformed during the full moon that was so dangerous? The only beings he could think of were werewolves, but while they were strong, it wasn''t to the level Alex was concerned about. While Azazel was in thought he suddenly heard some gasps around him, and he opened his eyes to see what was happening. Alex was still in the middle of the arena, but he had started to sprout brown hair all over his body, his arms and legs started bulging and he started to grow at an impossible rate. Everyone present, Maou, Angel, devil, fallen angel, we''re all dumbfounded as they watched what looked like a ten story ape appear in the middle of the colosseum. "RRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!" The ape bellowed out a challenge to all those around it. It glared at them with glowing red eyes filled with hate. Rias didn''t know what to do, Alex mentioned that he never used the form before so she thought he might not attack he even though he said to stay away. She flew out in front of the apes nose, and shouted out to it, "ALEX! ITS ME, RIAS! I KNOW YOU HAVE TO STILL BE IN THERE!" The ape looked at her for a brief moment, and Rias thought he words might have gotten through to it, until it raised its hand and swung it down at her like she was a fly to swat. She froze unable to comprehend that he would actually attack her, and right when everyone was about to move to save her, Rias disappeared. She reappeared a short ways away, in Kiba''s arms after he used his speed to save her. The apes attack still went down, until it reached the ground and the force of the attack caused the whole area to shake as if it was an earthquake. "I don''t think he''ll listen to us president!" Kiba said as he summoned his holy demonic sword. Everyone else also got into a battle stance, even though it was obvious they didn''t want to fight him. The four Maou, Azazel, and Grayfia didn''t move though, as they were to be a last resort. Alex warned them ahead of time to destroy the energy ball that he used to transform, but it looked as if the ape was protecting it instinctively. So they would have to try and cripple or beat him to get to it. Kiba rushed in attempt to slice the major muscles in its body. He first aimed for the Achilles'' tendon, behind the ankle. He darted around the apes feet, focusing on not getting squashed. When he reached it he slashed with all of his strength, and darted away before seeing the damage he caused. Kiba was stupefied, not only did he not manage to sever the tendon, he thought he barely, if he even did at all, broke through the the fur and skin. He didn''t have time to really examine the area he attacked, as he then had to dodge the stomping feet of the ape. The ground shook once more, each time it''s foot connect with the earth. They then decided to focus on long range attacks, and started bombarding it with magic. Rias using magic besides destruction, as she didn''t want to gouge out entire bits of Alex''s flesh. Akeno was crying as she fired holy lightning at him, Rosswiesse was bombarding him with her elemental attacks, Sona was using her family''s specialty over water, Irina was firing spears of light at him, and the other members of their peerages were providing support, or were attempting to divert his attention so that the others wouldn''t get attacked. None of the attacks even seemed to tickle him though. He was about to move towards Rias once more, when a voice shouted out, "Senior, over here!" It then turned to face a small girl with her cat ears and tail out, facing him down. She also had tears in her eyes as she tried to divert his attention away from Rias. Alex froze for a second, and they all thought that Koneko''s words got through when Rias''s didn''t. At least until his hand swung out once more, except this time it connected with the nekomata, and sent her flying away from the field. Rias had tears in her eyes, as Asia went to ensure Koneko''s safety and she ordered, "To the air, we''ll figure out another way to attack h-him." She almost choked up when she called the ape "him", as she didn''t want to think of this thing that even went as far as to hurt Koneko, Alex. The others then followed her words, and flew into the air to figure out what to do next. It followed them with its glowing red eyes, as it debated how to best get to these annoying pests. The six spectators watched the fight with cold eyes. None of them blamed Alex, but themselves, especially Azazel, for pressuring him to make the change for their own curiosity. They watched as the ones fighting him gained distance so that they were safe until they could find a way to change him back, was what they all thought. "What in gods name is that?!" Azazel cursed, as the ape opened its mouth and a massive beam of light was fired, annihilating everything in its path. Everything it touched was destroyed, and the places on the ground it hit were gouged out and a new ravine was created. They all gaped at this monster, that seemed to have endless surprises. Azazel recalled that the ultimate form of the boosted gear was juggernaut drive, but when he watched this thing work he wasn''t sure Alex would never need it. Everyone moved further away from him, not that it actually mattered as it tried firing another beam. This time as well everyone managed to dodge it, as it was a relatively narrow attack. "The rest of us will divert its attention, while Kiba goes and tries to destroy the energy ball, understood?!" Rias declared to those present. """""""YES!!!!!""""""" Everyone shouted to her. But right as they were about to put their plan into action, the ape revealed yet another surprise. They were well out of its range by now, but as they finished their discussion a sound they didn''t expect filled the air. WWWHHHOOOOOOOSSSHHHH WWWHHHOOOOOOOSSSHHHH There was now a pair of red scaled wings protruding from its back, as it flapped them trying to take to the air as well. Each flap of its wings created winds equal to hurricane gales, as it slowly but surely started to rise. The girls then started to put their plan into motion, as they stared to bombard it once more with ranged attacks. Then a large amount of light spears flew past them and attacked the ape. Contrary to all of their attacks so far, this one seemed to do some actual damage. They turned to see Azazel attacking as well from behind them. "It''s time this farce was finished." He said as more spears were created. As they were about to hit it though, another change occurred as the ape became covered with large scales that easily deflected the spears of light. Kiba tried to sneak past it, but the ape then turned to face him, and he was suddenly frozen with fear. What they don''t know, was that the ape was instinctively using each of the skills Alex had acc.u.mulated over the years, dragons glider, plate scales, and now even intimidation. Before they could make sense on what was happening, the ape started to take a deep breath. "It''s another beam, scatter!" Rias shouted, but Azazel was doubtful. He then recalled a move Alex liked to use, that he even used to kill Rasier with. "BARRIERS NOW, ITS NOT A BEAM!!!!" They were confused at Azazel''s words, until they saw the flames rising from the back of the apes throat, and they all turned pale. However as the flames shot towards them, a great barrier made of water saved them. As everyone let out a sigh of relief, they saw the Maou Serafall leviathan take a stand between them and the ape. They also saw Sirzechs as he moved as well. He held out his hand, and a dense amount of destruction condensed, into a single black sphere. "Ruin the extinct" The sphere then shot forward and started to target specific area on the apes body, ignoring any and all defenses. Several holes opened in the wings, and the scales protecting the body did nothing, as the sphere flew in and out of its body, destroying all the major tendons and ligaments it came into contact with, eliminating the apes movement. It fell back to the ground, causing the biggest earthquake yet. The sphere of destruction then shot towards the ball of energy, and destroyed it entirely. A moment later, they all witnessed the apes body shrinking as it transformed back into Alex. It only took a moment for Asia who had already returned with Koneko, to run forward and start healing the injuries left by Sirzechs attack. They all gathered around the nude figure of Alex and thought to themselves, what would he be capable of if he controlled that? Chapter 65 - Planning When Alex opened his eyes he was instantly rushed at by several girls. They grabbed onto him and hugged him as if they were about to lose him. He looked at them and wondered what he did, as he had no memory. He saw Sirzechs and the others a short ways away, and Koneko laying on the ground, covered in nasty bruises. He felt a rush of guilt, even if he had no control over himself at the time. Then he finally looked around the colosseum, and saw that it was practically destroyed. As he looked around the girls were still hanging onto him, and the Maou started walking over, "What actually happened?" He asked Sirzechs who had taken off his mask by now. Sirzechs sighed and started explaining, according to him Alex had attacked everyone and went on rampage. He had expected that, but he didn''t expect what Sirzechs said next, "Is it normal to breath fire, or use a dragons wings or scales while transformed?" Alex was shocked at his words and asked Ddraig earlier than he was planning. He had ask Ddraig and Lauren to pay attention to his mental state and not interfere whole he was transformed the first time, as then they would be able to say if they could help him regain his sanity in the future. He asked him, ''Did I really start using my skills?'' Ddraig sighed and said, Alex was dumbfounded, he never expected that he would be able to use skills. As he thought about this he realized that the form would be a lot more convenient in the future if his skills were still usable. He then asked Lauren, ''So is it possible for you two to help regain my mentality?'' Lauren answered, ''It should be, but we''ll need to practice a bit first, so I wouldn''t advise trying any time soon. As you asked we didn''t interfere, but I think it''s possible that while your mind is shut down and the animal instincts take over, we might be able to stimulate your consciousness since we have direct access to your mind.'' Alex thought about Lauren''s words, and noticed that Sirzechs was still waiting for him to answer his question. "I have a few different abilities, thanks to my boosted gear. They don''t require using the gear to use, so it''s possible that I instinctively used them while transformed. All I should''ve been able to use power wise, is the beam." Sirzechs nodded and then asked, "You mentioned before being able to control it in theory, are you sure?" Alex nodded and explained the conversation he just had with Ddraig and Lauren leaving out the parts involving Lauren. When they heard that Ddraig might be able to help him regain consciousness, everyone let out a sigh of relief. He looked over at Koneko once more and asked, "Koneko, is she ok?" Asia said, "She was worse when I found her, I think it was her rook trait that saved her life. I healed most of the injuries, so the bruising should fade soon." Alex stood and made his way over to her. As he approached she opened her eyes slightly, Alex gently took her hand in his, and said, "I am so sorry Koneko, would you please forgive me?" Koneko smiled slightly, and replied, "Senior warned us, there''s nothing to forgive. It was our own curiosity that got the better of everyone." Asia went and kept using twilight healing on her, and Alex felt relieved that Koneko didn''t hate him now. He didn''t want to think of how Kuroka might react when he found out though. Suddenly Azazel said behind him, "I''ll let the school know if you need a leave of absence if you need a few days to recover." Alex shook his head and replied, "I actually have something to do in a couple days, so no tha- well I might still need it to leave town for a few days." Alex was about to deny him, but stopped himself. It was just a couple days until he went to Kyoto, so he would still need the leave of absence. However Azazel and everyone caught his words. "What is it you need to do? It could wait a while cant it?" Alex shook his head and tried to explain without giving anything important away, "I''m going to kyoto ahead of the school trip, to meet with the the eastern youkai. There''s some things I need to discuss with the leader, Yasaka." Sirzechs and Azazel looked thoughtful for a moment, until both he and Rias said at the same time, "Then you should take Rosswiesse." "Serafall should go as well." Everyone looked at them curiously, and the two siblings started explaining, especially since Serafall didn''t seem to like the idea of going with Alex. Sirzechs said, "Serafall is in charge of foreign relations, if there''s something important you need to talk with the the eastern youkai about, then she should be there as well." Serafall grumbled, but couldn''t say anything against his words. Rias then explained as well, "Rosswiesse used to attend Odin while he visited foreign leaders, she''s used to being in these situations and could possibly help advise you so that''s there''s no mistakes being made." Alex thought for a moment, and said to the two of them, "The things I need to do are really important, I won''t say anything now and I''ll explain when I feel like it. In other words the two of you, yes even you Serafall, need to listen to what I say. Don''t worry I won''t try to order you around though." He added the last part because Serafall seemed as if she was going to argue with him. Sirzechs then said to her, "Considering Alex probably wouldn''t move unless it was important, it''s not too much of a condition. You said you wouldn''t explain it to us, but I do want you to answer this, how important is this trip?" Before he gave his support to Alex he need to know it was necessary. Alex simply said, "If we want the cooperation of the youkai in the future, then I need to go." Sirzechs nodded and accepted Alex''s reasoning. Chapter 66 - To Kyoto A couple days later and it was time for Alex to leave for Kyoto. While he was preparing to leave, Rias Akeno, Koneko and Ravel were all waiting with teary eyes to say goodbye, as they wouldn''t see him until the school trip ended. Alex planned to return with the trip students, as he wanted to spend a couple days relaxing there after fighting. "I''ll make sure to bring back several souvenirs, and don''t worry." Rias couldn''t help but worry because she suspected that he was going to fight. But she said, "Well you got a former protecter of a god, and a Maou there with you, so just don''t do anything stupid and I won''t have any reason to worry." Alex chuckled at her words, and as if summoned Rosswiesse suddenly appeared from her room as well. She seemed the most nervous about going, as she couldn''t help but think of this trip as the two of them spending time alone, even though serafall was going. She had been teased regarding Alex as her boyfriend several times by now, and was even starting to think that was the case. This thought was interrupted, when there was a knock at the front door. Rias opened it to reveal a magical girl. "Magical girl Levia-tan, ready to go to Kyoto!????" Serafall said as she struck a pose. Rias had a smile on her face and Alex just smiled. Since Sirzechs handed him Serafall for the next couple days, the he''d take the time to improve his relationship with her. She seemed to have gotten over the grievances from before, and was in a good mood to go to Kyoto. *** The three of them were now in car that Rosswiesse was driving down the highway. Alex was sitting the other front seat, while Serafall took the entire back seat. Alex was looking at the country out the window with interest, so he didn''t notice Rosswiesse looking at him from the side with a slight blush. It was one of her dreams to go on driving date with a guy, and with the two of them in the front it was starting to feel like her dream, "I can''t wait to go Kyoto, and maybe the youkai will show us the best hot springs!????" Serafall suddenly said from the backseat, popping Rosswiesse''s thought bubble. The three continued on their way, and apparently the Maou''s excitement let her hold an entire conversation even with Alex, who harassed her a couple times in the past. After a few hours of driving the three finally arrived at Kyoto. They stopped, and Rosswiesse asked Alex, "So where is the youkai leader at? Do you know how to get to them?" Alex shook his head and replied, "I was just gonna visit a few places until I could find a youkai to point me, the way." The other two looked at Alex as if he was an idiot, and Rosswiesse looked to Serafall instead. She then puffed out her chest and exclaimed, "Not to worry, Levia-tan knows where the inner Capitol is! Just go that way!????" she declared, and Rosswiesse stared following her directions. They soon arrived at an isolated torii, and several people with the ears of animals came to greet them. Serafall stepped forward, now wearing a kimono, Alex had no idea when she changed. "Good afternoon, I am the Maou Serafall leviathan, this is the rook of Rias Gremory Rosswiesse, and finally the one we made the trip for, the red dragon emperor, Alex. We would like to talk with your leader, Yasaka, about possibly cooperating with the alliance." The usual playful atmosphere around her was gone, the one standing in front of them was entirely a Maou. The one who came to greet them, a woman with the ears of a fox, then said, "We are honored to welcome the Maou leviathan, our leader and princess wait to meet you in the inner Capitol. Please, follow me." The woman then turned and walked through the torii, and the three then followed her. After stepping through the arch, Alex definitely felt as if he was in another world. There were houses looking as if they belonged to ancient Japan around him, and there were various beings surrounding them, and watching. Alex saw what he could only assume were kappa, tanuki, and a few other of the weirder youkai, like one with a long neck, or one eye, he even saw a dancing lantern. They all whispered around them as they walked, "Are those Devils?" "Devils are rare here." "That ones powerful, I hope she doesn''t try to do anything." "Wait, look at that one, isn''t he-?" "A Devil, dragon, and something... Else?" "What is he?" Words like these followed them the entire way to palace like building. As Alex heard them talk about him, he started sweating a little, they could sense his Saiyan blood? Even if they didn''t know what it was he didn''t like this. They entered the palace like building, and were escorted to a meeting room. In the room was a beautiful, busty, blond woman wearing a kimono, and what looked like a smaller version standing next to her. As they entered the room the two bowed slightly and she said, "Welcome to the inner Capitol, I am Yasaka, leader of the eastern youkai." Then the little girl next to her said, "I am Kunou, princess of the eastern youkai." After they introduced themselves, the two girls stepped forward. "I am Serafall leviathan, one of the four Maou of the underworld." "I am Rosswiesse, former Valkyrie of Valhalla, and currently a rook of the heir of Gremory house, Rias Gremory." After Rosswiesse introduced herself Alex stepped forward, "I am the red dragon emperor, Alex. It is a pleasure to meet you, Yasaka, leader of the eastern youkai." Yasaka nodded at Alex''s greetings, but looked at him curiously. " I heard about the current red dragon emperor being a devil, but haven''t heard anything about you being part youkai." Alex''s face twitched, and he resigned himself as he unwrapped his tail. He then said to her, "I''m somewhat unusual, but I didn''t think I qualified as a youkai." As far as Alex knew, when Goku was created he was based off of a youkai from ''journey to the west''. But with the other worlds wasn''t sure if that applied, but based off of this worlds logic that didn''t have aliens known as Saiyans, he now guessed he would qualify as a youkai. He wasn''t sure about this before, and Koneko never seemed to react to him so he thought it wasn''t the case. Maybe it was a side effect from trying to repress her own origins? Yasaka continued to look at him curiously, and said, "I''m not sure, but I get a similar feeling from you as Sun Wukong and his descendants. No matter, you came for a reason, and we should discuss it before we get into the confusing topics. Now, what can I do or you red dragon?" Both Serafall and Rosswiesse stared listening attentively, they didn''t bother with the youkai talk, after all they saw him go ape, but we''re interested in why he would make a trip like this. Alex took a small breath and said plainly, "In the next day or so, you are going to be kidnapped." Chapter 67 - Yasaka When everyone heard Alex''s words, they didn''t know what to think. Rosswiesse and Serafall were dumbfounded that he came here to say that, and Kunou was indignant that someone would say that to her mother. Yasaka was just surprised, before her eyes became sharp and she asked, "Is there any basis for your words?" Alex nodded his head, he couldn''t tell people how he actually knew these things, so he made up a story. "I ran into a group of the Khaos brigades hero faction members the other day. They all fled, but I managed to get one and he told me about a plan to use you and your connection with the Leylines around Kyoto to summon great red." While Yasaka was thinking about Alex''s words, Serafall and Rosswiesse were looking at him strangely. They knew he was lying about where he got the information, but recalled the demands he made when they joined him to Kyoto, so they both kept silent. "Is there a chance that their plans have been changed due to a leak happening?" Yasaka was thinking that if Alex was told this by someone from the inside of the hero faction, they would possibly cancel their plans. But since Alex made up the story, he knew that it wouldn''t be changed. "It''s doubtful, they plan on capturing someone in the same league as a Maou, they wouldn''t change too much if their plans got leaked I would think. And I never got specifics, so we know it''s coming, just not when or where." Alex was truthful this time, he didn''t recall when or where Yasaka got kidnapped in the series, so they could only have their guard increased. She nodded her head and asked, "So what would you like to do about it?" Alex replied, "I would like to personally guard you for the next several days, so that I could combat them while you run away." Yasaka smiled and turned to Serafall, "Is this the will of the Maou? To have the red dragon be my guard?" Serafall looked uncomfortable, as it now looked like they were trying to interfere with her protection, but she couldn''t blame Alex as he wasn''t the one who asked to bring her. She fully intended to contact Sirzechs and Azazel after this though. "Yes, we wish to cooperate more with the youkai groups, and hope that us extending our hands will be a gesture of our good will." Yasaka nodded, and replied, "Very well, I''ll have rooms prepared for each of you, and you must be tired after the trip so I''ll also arrange for a visit to some of our hot springs. Red dragon, I plan to attend a meeting with messengers of Sakra tomorrow. If there is a plan to kidnap me it will most likely take place then. I will trouble you and the rook of Rias Gremory to escort me." Alex nodded, as he figured that she was correct. Rosswiesse also nodded her head, as she wanted to do her party to help as well. Serafall then spoke up, "I will also take part of the meeting and escort, in order to ensure nothing happens." "NO!" Alex said suddenly, shocking everyone. He then stated, "They are most likely going to be led by the user of the "true Longinus", the holy spear. It''s bad enough that the leader of the eastern youkai is being risked, we can''t risk one of the Maou as well." Everyone looked at him in surprise, and then Rosswiesse said, "I agree, we have to ensure the protection of lady Yasaka, we can''t fight properly if we have to protect multiple VIPs." Serafall looked as if she was going to cry, she could actually override the twos opinions if she wanted, but their reasons were justified. She decided that she''ll mention this to Sirzechs as well, and possibly ask for backup. As they were being taken to their rooms, Yasaka looked at the back of the young man who offered her his protection. She was quite surprised that he came all the way here, out of his way, to protect her. It was even more surprising that he was offering to do so against the most powerful weapon against Devils like him. Kunou was also looking at the man, she didn''t like that at first that he said something was going out happen to her mom out of nowhere. But when the talks progressed she realized that he was trying to help her, and that he was going it be in danger to do so. *** A couple hours after meeting Yasaka, Alex was relaxing in a hot springs. He had never been to one before, even after being in Japan for the last eighteen years, and was happy to finally get to enjoy one. He had always wanted to since hot springs were a staple part of almost every anime and manga out there at least once. The springs were connected to his room, that branched with the rooms of Serafall and Rosswiesse. He was wondering what they were doing, when the doors opened and the two walked in, n.a.k.e.d of course. "Yay a hot springs!????" they walked over until they saw Alex already in the water. Serafall showed a frown at him, and Rosswiesse freaked out. "Wh- wh- wh- what are you doing here!?" She screamed as she pulled a towel around herself. Serafall didn''t seem to mind, then again she was someone who would flash her panties while in her magical girl outfit. Alex just shrugged and said, "I was here first, and why are you covering yourself I already saw you n.a.k.e.d before." Rosswiesse turned even redder when she recalled the incident with the glasses during his birthday, but he made the situation worse with his next words. "And besides, isn''t it normal for a guy to see his girlfriend n.a.k.e.d?" Rosswiesse looked as if she was going to pass out at this point, but Serafall then said, "What about me? I''m not you girlfriend yet you seem to have a hard time keeping your eyes off of my body." Alex smiled and said, "Yes now, but what about the future?" She looked mad at him and said, "What you want me to be with you in the future?! The only one for me is my Sona!" Alex the smiled an evil smile and said, "But Sona''s also going to be my girl. Don''t you want to share the same bed as her?" At his words a single drop of blood fell from her nose into the water. "Servicing the same guy as you both wear magical girl outfits," a few more drops of blood fell into the water. "Sona dancing around saying ''magical girl son-tan!????'' before you grab her skirt." There was almost a constant stream of blood now. "Your hands go inside as you pull down her panties, and search the insides of them yourself, finding a stream of moisture. Then the two of you slowly and s.e.xily strip each other while I watch, and then make your way to me as I caress both of your bodies." This was as far as he got before Serafall had a an explosion of blood come out of her nose, and the water around her turned a darker shade of red. Alex and Rosswiesse then had to spend the rest of the night taking care of the passed out Serafall, and he became the first person to nearly kill a Maou with words. Chapter 68 - Cao Cao The next day Alex and Rosswiesse were preparing to leave with Yasaka. Ever since she woke up Serafall wouldn''t look Alex in the eyes, not due to being "love struck", but because every time she did she would recall the fantasy he told her the night before. She was so distracted by it, the thought never crossed her mind that he was the one who took care of her n.a.k.e.d body after passing out. This was what Alex wanted, since he told her such a fantasy she would now associate her relationship with Sona, with him as well. The final attack would come later. "Are you ready to leave red dragon Alex, and rook Rosswiesse?" Yasaka asked while waiting with her guards. The two nodded and went to join her. Serafall was going to stay behind with Kunou like they agreed, and wait for the potential backup. When he heard that the situation might require backup, Alex wondered if Sun Wukong and yu-long would be the ones coming. They then left the inner Capitol, and got into a waiting limo. Alex was sitting across from Yasaka, who was starting at him a bit. "Tell me Alex, what is the secret behind you being part youkai? I''m curious why I haven''t heard about it before meeting you." Alex wasn''t sure how to answer, but after a second said, "As I said before I was unsure if I even qualified as a youkai. There''s a couple nekomata that''s close to me and they never said anything about it either. I guess you could consider me a mutation, or something?" Yasaka nodded and didn''t say anything, leaving Alex to think by himself. He then asked Lauren, ''Could me being like a youkai have something to do with me transforming before? Or has it always been that way and I just didn''t know?'' Lauren was silent for a few moments, before answering. ''Its most likely because you transformed. You never did before and besides the times you used the super Saiyan never really used your Saiyan lineage much. Using the Oozaru form for the first time might have triggered it.'' Alex was thoughtful for a moment then said, ''Does that mean that I might have another job based off of it now?'' ''It''s possible, yes.'' Alex started thinking even more. Due to his origins being out there now, Alex didn''t even bother hiding his tail. Rosswiesse watched his tail sway around him, completely annoyed at the fact that she seemed to miss it until now. It was also unusual to see it around him. He noticed her looks and asked in a teasing manner, "What, don''t like that your boyfriend has a tail? If I were you I''d be more concerned about my "other" tail." Rosswiesse was confused, until she got the reference and turned red once more. While Alex was laughing his ass off, she decided to try to get him back, and grabbed his monkey tail. Alex suddenly seized up, as it was the first time his tail was gripped. He trained to eliminate its weakness, but that didn''t mean that he was used to people grabbing it. He decided to tease her even more. "Pl-please wait until we''re alone. You know it''s too sensitive dear..." Hearing his words Rosswiesse swiftly released his tail, thinking it was a "sensitive" spot now, and turning even redder. Yasaka laughed lightly seeing their interactions, and couldn''t help feeling a little jealous, as she wanted someone to interact with her like that as well. They continued to talk for a while, getting to know each other. As they did Yasaka was approving of Alex more and more. Suddenly they drove through some mist, and the other people and cars around them disappeared. Alex was suddenly alert, and looked around through the car windows. The others noticed his wariness and prepared to fight, while Yasaka looked at him curiously, as she would''ve fallen into this trap if it wasn''t for Alex. "Dimension lost, another Longinus. Rosswiesse, I''m going to engage the enemy, you stay back and protect Yasaka. If I need your help then I''ll call you." Rosswiesse nodded with a grim expression on her face, all traces of the earlier argument gone. He got out of the car, and saw three people looking down on him. A white haired guy with several swords on his waist, a small boy, and a good looking guy with dangerous feeling spear in his hand. "Greetings to the current red dragon, I am Cao Cao, the current user of the true Longinus. I am also descended from the hero Cao Cao, Cao Mengde. This is the current user of annihilation maker, Leonardo. And this is Seig, the descendant of the hero Siegfried." Alex smiled back and said, "Greetings, I am Alex, and as you apparently know the current red dragon emperor. Might I ask what the hero faction wants here?" Even though he asked Alex already knew, and Cao Cao just confirmed him a moment. "We have an experiment to hold, and for that we require the nine tails in the car. Don''t worry, when we beat you we''ll get plenty of good data for future experiments." Alex laughed, and replied, "You think I''m going to be beaten by three guys, two of which seem as if they''re only good at swinging around their "spear" and "swords" in front of others?" The three looked at him with venom, and Alex heard some snickers from the car behind him. Cao Cao then said the boy next to him, Leonardo, "Do it." The boy nodded and the shadows under them warped, turning into hundreds of beasts. Alex frowned, and watched as Cao Cao and Seig then similarly got ready to fight. Seig sprouted a third arm from his back, and wielded three swords, while Cao Cao simply readied his spear. Contrary to all of their expectations, Alex smiled. He then summoned several magic circles, and flames sprouted across the battlefield. Everyone expected this to be an attack, but the flames started moving in a wired way, and to the amazement of those present, warped themselves into the space of serpents. There were now several dozen flame serpents to combat the monsters made by annihilation maker. He then drew Ascalon, and went into balance breaker, under his armor he formed his scales, then for good measure applied ki around himself, and started using his intimidation. The shadow monsters on the other side started to cower slightly, when their master Leonardo felt it. He then started increasing the gravity in the surrounding area slightly, but not at a rate that they would notice. Alex looked at Cao Cao, and smiled once more. "Let''s dance." Chapter 69 - Heroes After making his preparations, Alex waited as Cao Cao rushed him. He brandished his spear and aimed directly at Alex''s heart, only for Alex to use Ascalon to swiftly redirect it, and he sank his fist into Cao cao''s stomach. The young hero nearly vomited blood from the impact of the hit, until Alex was forced to move back to avoid Sieg''s attack. After using the brief pause to recover, the two looked at Alex, and readied themselves once more. Neither seemed to realize that they were steadily getting heavier. As Alex fought the two at once, the flame serpents that he created were busying themselves with keeping the shadow monsters occupied. The shadow monsters would use moves they learned from fighting various factions, and shot beams of light at the serpents. The serpents however were made from flames, and would reform almost instantly from the fire around them. From the limo everyone was dumbfounded from the fight, as Alex held back all the opponents singlehandedly. They watched as Seig and Cao Cao rushed him at once this time, and Rosswiesse felt a moment of terror as she watched their weapons sink into Alex''s chest. She was about to scream, until she noticed that Alex didn''t even seem to react from being stabbed. Then he seemed to fade, and everyone heard laughter above them. "Hahaha, after image technique, I''ve always wanted to use that one. Taste this." His hands started glowing, as Alex then spammed ki blasts on the two on the ground. The two screw annoyed, and swung their weapons, effectively slicing apart the ki attacks or rendering them powerless. They were about to ready themselves for another attack, when, After hearing that a great roar of flame descended on them, as Alex used dragon gods breath. They both jumped and tried to get out of the way, only to see most of the shadow monsters being destroyed, and the flame serpents growing even larger. Suddenly Cao Cao felt large amounts of ki going towards them, and swiftly used his spear to repel the next attack. They could only defend the large number of destructo disks flying at them, until they were destroyed by his spear once more or deflected to the surroundings. "I''ll have to thank you Cao Cao, you kindly provided this place for me to fight without worrying about the surroundings." Cao Cao was sweating at Alex''s words, he excelled at close combat and hand to hand, but Alex was spamming long range and area of effect attacks one after. He then said to Seig, "Let me fight him on my own." Seig was surprised to hear Cao cao''s order, but still stepped back as Cao Cao rushed Alex once more. The two then engaged in a high speed duel of close combat, with Alex being in position where if Cao Cao got a direct stab with his spear then he was dead, and if he managed a good hit on Cao cao, then he''ll be similarly defeated. Cao Cao was glad his deduction was correct, he noticed that Alex focused on area of effect attacks when he and Seig fought him at the same time. His thought was that he could stand a chance at winning in close combat, but the fight was proving harder than he thought. Not only was he unable to hit Alex, he also felt as if he was getting heavier as the fight dragged on. Suddenly, it clicked. Cao Cao then fell back and said to his comrades, "We''re retreating, he''s been increasing gravity so the longer this is dragged on the harder it is for us. Next time red dragon, we''ll bring the rest of our forces. Until then." When Alex heard his words he swiftly dispelled the fire serpents, before finding himself back in the real world. He sighed at failing to actually beat them, and returned to the limo where Rosswiesse and Yasaka were waiting. As soon as he entered, "Are you alright?!" "That was quite the performance." The two girls said, Rosswiesse was concerned for him while Yasaka complemented him on his fight. Alex smiled bitterly and said, "I let them get away, but at least I drove them off. But I suppose I could''ve done worse against one whose among the strongest humans. But I suppose if he brought the rest of the Khaos brigade then I''ll be in trouble. At least the second years are arriving tomorrow, and Serafall said something about backup, so the next time will be the last." Everyone was dumbfounded as it sounded like Alex was putting himself down for not beating them all singlehandedly, when he forced them all to retreat. As they were trying to make sense of him, Lauren suddenly said, ''Tell the truth, you were going easy on them. Your capabilities are a lot higher than Cao cao''s, even if he''s at the peak of humans.'' Alex laughed mentally, and explained, ''He''s studied martial arts all his life, I felt as if he''s the one I could polish my technique against best. And I wasn''t trying to kill him, maybe Seig, but not Cao Cao. Hell be necessary for the future, especially after I leave this world and others would probably come. The world would most likely need heroes then.'' Lauren didn''t say anything, as she recalled what she learned from the meeting. It was very likely that people would have similar goals as Alex, and would come here to attack and take those they want. If not then to terrorize the rest. Alex was right, the world would need people left behind to fight them. They would need heroes. Chapter 70 - Rosswiesse After the fight they returned to the inner Capitol, and Yasaka sent a message to the messenger she was going to meet about the attack. They were now in a meeting about the future conflict that Cao Cao promised. "Azazel said that they''ll be here tomorrow, and there''s reinforcements mobilizing to help us. That means that as long as there''s no attack until then we should be ok. So we have any idea of their numbers?" Serafall asked those who were present during the attack. Alex spoke up, "There was only three members of the hero faction, and the assistance of the user of dimension lost, but with annihilation maker there''s no telling the amount of opponents we''ll face. They said they''ll bring the rest of their forces, so we have no idea how much there''ll be." She nodded at Alex''s words, and started relaying the information to Azazel. They talked a bit more, before going to their rooms for the night. Alex was relaxing once more in the hot springs. He decided that any permanent residence he has in the future definitely needs one for everyday use. He was thinking back to the fight, he needed more experience fighting martial artists. Alex decided that since there''ll be more people to take the edge off of the attacks he''ll focus on Cao Cao, and go easy to learn more martial arts during the fight. Since there''ll also be reinforcements, then he won''t have to worry too much about actually winning the fight. It was this moment that someone entered the hot springs again. "You again?! Why do you always enter when we want to?" Rosswiesse asked with hostility as she covered herself again. Alex sighed and said, "Why should I base my schedule around you guys? Shouldn''t the one in the wrong be you, who walks in as if it''s your own place without checking?" Rosswiesse didn''t know how to reply, and just moved towards the other side of the water before saying, "Fine, just don''t ogle me while I''m in here." Alex smirked, and moved across the way to sit next to her, causing her to fl.u.s.ter even more. "Wh-wh-what are you doing moving over here?!" Alex simply said as if it was obvious, "If you don''t want me to ogle you, then I shouldn''t sit on the other side. If I''m next to you then I have to go out of the way to turn my head to look at you." Rosswiesse was astounded at Alex''s shamelessness. She was about to say something before he suddenly leaned over and sealed her lips. Rosswiesse froze, as Alex took her first kiss. She didn''t know how to react, until she simply slapped him. "HOW DESPICABLE!!!" Alex simply looked at her strangely, and asked, "Am I not good enough?" Causing Rosswiesse to stall for a moment. He then continued, "You always talk about wanting a boyfriend and losing your v.i.r.g.i.nity, yet you don''t like being near me. I may not seem ideal since I have several girls I''m interested in, but that doesn''t mean I don''t care for them." Rosswiesse thought for a moment, why didn''t she accept him? She thought about him and couldn''t find anything to really disagree with, except the many girls around him. As she was thinking, Alex grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap. Before she could say anything he looked her in the eye and said, "If you don''t like this then stop me." And sealed her lips once more. At first she wanted to pull away from him, but she wanted to find out if she really liked him or not, and didn''t. As the kiss went on Rosswiesse started to feel as if she liked it, and even wrapped her arms around his neck. It wasn''t until this point that she realized that she was sitting in his lap while they were both n.a.k.e.d. She could feel his manhood under her butt, and it was getting bigger and harder. She then decided to fix their positions, and turned so that her legs went on either side of him while facing him, as she now straddled Alex. Alex could feel her own nether regions rubbing against his rod, but didn''t act on it and continued the kiss. He knew that Rosswiesse''s biggest issue was her own shyness, and was one of the last ones to be a love interest in the original story due to this, so he simply needed to push her to accept his advances. It was this point that he could feel her start to move her h.i.p.s back and forth, he wasn''t inside her but could feel she was grinding against his member. Their kiss broke apart and Rosswiesse started panting, as a l.u.s.tful look appeared in her eyes. Alex moved his hands from her waist to her ass, and started to massage it. As this went on for several minutes, Rosswiesse could feel herself reaching her climax, and then let out a small m.o.a.n, "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" As her body started to convulse. Alex didn''t do anything as he let her adapt on her own. As it looked as if she calmed down, Alex then whispered in her ear, "How would you like to graduate from being the v.i.r.g.i.n Valkyrie?" She looked at him in amazement, before nodding her head. Alex then changed their position, and laid her on her back under him. He then positioned himself at her entrance, and looked her in the eye, "I''m going to go now." She nodded agin, not wanting to speak. Alex then started to push forward, before he suddenly had a brief fear of the rooks defense applying to "that" as well. He hoped that wasn''t the case, and continued pushing forward until he broke the barrier. Rosswiesse grimaced, while Alex silently sighed in relief. He let her adjust for a few minutes, before saying, "I''m going to start moving, if it''s uncomfortable let me know." Again she only nodded her head as Alex started to pull out, before gently slamming himself back in, earning him a m.o.a.n. He continued slowly thrusting, before picking up speed. Only a few minutes later the hot spring was filled with the sounds of the two m.o.a.ning and slapping of flesh. He then moved so that they were back in their sitting position, and not scrapping Rosswiesse''s back against the ground. Once in this position Rosswiesse also started moving her h.i.p.s, and was starting to be proactive in finding her own pleasure spots. They went like this for several more minutes, before they finally climaxed, Alex shooting his load into her depths. The two were coming down from their high, and Alex laid her back on the ground before going to get some towels or something for the mess. At that moment, "Ah, nothing like a nice bath after a stressful day!????" Serafall then froze, as she saw both Alex and Rosswiesse in the bath. Except this time Rosswiesse was laying on her back with her legs spread, and some white fluid was spilling out of the opening, and Alex was standing nearby with his thing coated in fluids as well. The next thing Serafall saw was the floor rushing up to meet her, and she spent her second night in Kyoto passed out as well. Chapter 71 - Preparing for the attack The next morning they had to deal with grumpy Maou, who wanted to know why she had such a headache. "Why does my head hurt, did I hit the floor again or something?" Alex and Rosswiesse looked away at her words and they both said, ""No idea."" Serafall looked at them suspiciously and pointed at Rosswiesse while saying, "I don''t know what happened, but I have the feeling that you betrayed me or something. Oh well I''ll find out later, for now we need to prepare for the next fight." She then stood and a magic circle spread out from under her, causing her body to shine for a moment then leaving her wearing a magical girl outfit. She opened her eyes and made a pose while saying, "That''s better, magical girl Levia-tan????, reporting for duty!" She then left, presumably to find Yasaka, leaving the two alone. Alex looked at Rosswiesse, who turned bright red and looked away. He smiled at her reaction, and grabbed her hand while saying, "What''s wrong Rose? You seem a little fl.u.s.tered." She flinched at his words, and started stuttering, "W-w-we d-d-did t-t-THAT last night! How else am I supposed to react?! Oh, what am I supposed to do now?! How am I supposed to face the other Valkyries?" She then started crying. Alex smiled bitterly, before leaning over and pecking her lips once again, effectively getting her to stop. He then said, "You can just show them your amazing boyfriend, and ask them if they have one to show off as well." Alex knew that not having a boyfriend was a trait shared by all the Valkyries, and knew that at most they''ll be jealous of Rosswiesse for having one when they don''t. They then finished their breakfast, before Rosswiesse left to got meet the second years, and Alex went to stay near Yasaka and Serafall. They didn''t believe that the hero faction will attack the inner Capitol, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He walked in to hear them discussing plans. "And I say it''s a bad idea!" He heard Serafall saying to Yasaka. Yasaka shook her head, and replied, "It''s better than staying here and waiting for them to force their way to me. I won''t allow the other youkai to be victims for me." Alex could have a decent idea what they were discussing, Yasaka wants to go out and draw the hero faction out of hiding, and Serafall didn''t want to risk her. He then spoke up, "I think it''s a good idea." They looked at him, Yasaka with gratitude, and Serafall with irritation. He then continued, "When the others get here then we can have them also act as escorts, maybe have Yasaka act as guide for us around Kyoto." They considered his thoughts, Serafall still thought it wasn''t a good idea, but they decided to go with it so that the situation would be over with instead of just waiting. She then decided to go take a bath, since she felt like she hadn''t had one for a couple days, leaving Alex and Yasaka alone together. At first the two didn''t say anything, until "Thank you by the way, I wouldn''t have stayed safe if you hadn''t gave us the warning." Alex tried to wave away her gratitude. "It''s alright, as long as we prevent any damage the Khaos brigade wants to cause. I should actually be thanking you for believing me when I didn''t have any proof to my words." She chuckled lightly, and started moving closer. "Yes, but you came all the way here, and even put yourself at risk just to protect me. Watching you fight them was very inspiring." At this point she was sitting right next to Alex, and was leaning closer slowly but surely. Alex realized what she was doing, and said with a grin, "If you put it at way, then I''ll be more than happy to accept your thanks." Yasaka smiled, before pressing her lips against his. They then started a battle with their tongues, as Alex pulled her onto his lap. He reached his hand into her kimono, and started feeling the mountainous b.r.e.a.s.ts she was concealing in there. As they were getting a little more passionate, the door opened. "They''re here mom!" Kunou walked in with Rosswiesse, Azazel and the second years from the trip. When they saw Alex making out with Yasaka, they all froze. "M-mom, what are you doing?!" Kunou asked her mother. Rosswiesse had a look of betrayal, while the other girls had looks that said "of course", and Azazel was giving the thumbs up. Of course at that moment Serafall walked in as well, and pointed at Alex with realization, "THATS WHAT IT WAS, I SAW YOU AND ROSSWIESSE AFTER YOU WERE TOGETHER LAST NIGHT!!!" Causing everyone to look at him and Rosswiesse with amazement, and Azazel gave him another thumbs up. *** A couple hours later after the initial awkward situation, they were getting ready to leave to tour around Kyoto. Yasaka would act as their guide like Alex said, and hopefully her being around, even with all of them would draw out the hero faction. What surprised Alex somewhat, was that Kiryuu was also with them. "Ufufufufu, surprised senior? I learned about Devils a few weeks ago when I found a flyer in my pocket." He looked at Azazel questioningly, who only shrugged. "She''s part of the same group as Asia, Xenovia and Irina. We can''t have her wander around by herself, so we''ll at least keep her close to Yasaka." Alex sighed, and didn''t say anything, not that he could being the one who gave her the flyer in the first place. So they walked around Kyoto to see the different sights. Alex was quite happy to be able to walk around the city, except for the fact that he was constantly on the watch for an attack. Finally, after a few hours of walking around, right when it was about to get dark, they were all surrounded by mist. Chapter 72 - "Training" Once the mist vanished, Alex saw several people standing in front of them. There was Cao Cao, Seig, Leonardo, a blond woman he knew was called Jeanne, a guy wearing Mage robes he thought was Georg, and a big muscular man he guessed was Heracles. He then spoke to the others, "Azazel you and the Sitri peerage focus on protecting Yasaka and Kiryuu but provide support when needed, Kiba and Xenovia should take Seig since he uses demonic swords, Irina take the blonde because she uses holy swords, Rosswiesse the guy in mage robes is a genius with magic so he''s yours, I''ll take Cao Cao, Leonardo, and the buff guy. You all read the report I put together about them so be careful, they all use sacred gears." They all looked at him and nodded, then turned to their opponents. Xenovia pulled out her new durandal, with Excalibur attached to it with alchemy, and swung it to create a massive holy aura attack. "The first strike wins." She said simply, as the attack devastated the entire area. Alex sighed, as the dust cleared to show the enemies still standing behind a shield of mist as if nothing happened. He looked at Xenovia, and said, "I was trying to prevent us from losing any stamina we might need for the fight, I already knew that attack wouldn''t work." She looked sheepish at his words and didn''t say anything. Then they heard movement from the other side. "That attack, I feel like I might get a good fight from you now, user of durandal." Sieg said with excitement. "So that was a taste of the holy power of durandal and Excalibur?" Georg said as if he saw something mildly interesting. "Oh, I hope miss angel is as entertaining!" Jeanne said with enthusiasm. Leonardo didn''t say anything, and Heracles just grinned at Alex with anticipation. Everyone started towards their own fights, and Alex dispelled his extra gravity and activated balance breaker as Heracles started running towards him. Heracles then readied a punch while he covered himself with his explosive aura, and Alex used his dragons scales under his armor. The two met head on, and as their fists met there was a shockwave. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A crater was formed and Alex was covered in an explosion from Heracles sacred gear. The hero was grinning as he held his arm, bloody from the force of the hit, expecting to see Alex''s mangled body. What he didn''t expect, was that Alex was not only fine, but launched a counter attack and kicked him back with all his strength before bathing him in dragon gods flames. As the flaming hero flew back, Alex looked at Cao Cao, and simply said, "Next." The spear user didn''t smile, as he prepared to engage Alex a second time. Leonardo then started to create his shadow monsters, while Cao Cao moved to attack Alex. He summoned Ascalon, and used one hand to fend off the spear, and the other for creating flame serpents to combat Leonardo''s shadow monsters. Once he was sure the shadow monsters were held in check, he turned his attention to Cao Cao. Alex then engaged in a battle of martial prowess with the hero, using the sword only to defend against the spear. As the two traded blows the battles around them continued. Unlike the original series, the Sitri peerage took part in the current battle and provided support when needed. As a result they were slowly but surely gaining ground on the other heroes. Jeanne used her ability to summon a giant dragon made of holy blades, and Irina was backed up by Saji who went into dragon king mode. Sieg was holding off both Kiba and Xenovia, until they were helped by Sona''s knight Tomoe, who was able to keep his third arm busy long enough for Kiba to deal some damage. Rosswiesse was still going strong against Georg, as it was a magic genius against another genius. The two were trading massive amounts of magic attacks back and forth constantly, however Georg was slowly gaining the advantage until Sona''s bishops Momo and Reya stepped in. That left her rook and Azazel to provide protection for Yasaka, Asia, and Kiryuu, who looked ecstatic at the fight before her. While they were slowly gaining ground against the other heroes, Alex was still trading blows with Cao Cao. ''Why do I have a bad feeling about this fight?'' Cao Cao couldn''t help but think, as they continued trading blows against each other. He already knew that the gravity wasn''t increasing like the fight before, but still couldn''t displace the bad feeling he was having. There was something off about the blows Alex was dealing against him. Cao Cao looked back at Heracles, wondering when he''ll get up, before it clicked. "There''s no weight to your attacks." He said to Alex as they separated. Alex smirked and held up his hands as he said, "Alright, you got me. I wasn''t fighting serious." Cao Cao was dumbfounded at Alex''s words, and couldn''t help but ask, "Why are you not fighting seriou- wait! Now that I look back your skills have been increasing during the time we''ve fought. Don''t tell me, you''ve been using me to train?!" Cao Cao couldn''t believe the words coming out of his own mouth, but as he saw Alex continuing to smirk at him, he knew he made the right guess. As his words spread across the battlefield, everyone else looked back at them with confusion, until Alex explained, "All the strength I have is useless unless I apply it correctly. There''s no master martial artists around me, so I purposely drew out our fight to learn as much as possible. Now then, shall we keep going "teacher"?" Cao Cao was conflicted, he used the spear but was blocked with the sword. His martial arts were useless, so how was he supposed to keep the fight going? As he was thinking about this, an unfamiliar magic circle spread near the battle field, and a young girl appeared followed by a giant golem. At the same time a noise penetrated the battlefield, as a tear opened up from the dimensional gap. As it did an oriental green dragon emerged from it, with the small figure of an elderly man riding it. Alex grimaced, it appeared his training time was up. Chapter 73 - Monkeys As the four new arrivals settled, everyone has stopped fighting to watch what was happening. The elderly man that was on the dragon turned to Cao Cao and said, "First you interfere with my talks with the Kyuubi leader, and now here you are trying to kidnap her again. You terrorists are getting quite annoying." Cao Cao laughed and replied, "To be called annoying by the first generation Sun Wukong, I am honored." Son Wukong snorted and said, "Wait right there and I''ll "honor" you some more." Before Cao Cao could reply Seig jumped up and rushed the old monkey. "HAHA, The first generation Wukong, this is a worthy opponent!" He swung his swords and tried to attack the old man, just to get flung back with a simple jab of the mans staff. Seeing that the rest of the hero faction started to get ready for battle, with Jeanne giving Heracles Phoenix tears. Cao Cao looked at Sun Wukong, and then Alex, and said to his teammates, "We''re retreating, we were getting pushed back by the red dragon and his team, now there''s a dragon King and the first generation here, we don''t stand a chance. We''ll compile the data from this fight and learn from it. This time red dragon Alex, I''ll learn from you." After leaving his words the hero faction disappeared into the mist. Everyone started relaxing, except for Saji who was still rampaging in dragon form. "Yu-Long, go and deal with Vritra, I want to talk with these ones over here." "HEY, don''t just go ordering a dragon around, you''re just a damned old man!" Sun Wukong pondered for moment then said, "Then how about I give you your fill of Kyoto food?" The dragon then got excited, and faced Saji, "Let''s go Vritra!" And they started fighting over there for a while. Sun Wukong then turned to Alex and the rest. "We have a while yet before this space collapses, so let''s talk while we can." Everyone agreed and they started their discussion. Le Fay tried to slip away now the situation was over, as she didn''t expect that the first generation Wukong and a dragon King would show up. But the old monkey pointed at her and said, "Before you go, be sure to tell that brat that I''m gonna find him!" She nodded and swiftly left via magic circle. Seeing that she left, Alex zoned out now that his job was done, and was watching the two dragons fight. Then he heard himself being called, "Red dragon!" "Yes!" Alex replied, wondering what''s they needed him for. Sun Wukong looked him up and down curiously, and asked, "Are you one of mine?" Alex didn''t know what he meant, but after a second realized it and shook his head. "I told Yasaka, think of me as something like a mutation or something. While there several similarities between us, there''s no relation whatsoever." Wukong nodded his head as he continued looking Alex top from bottom, then said, "I heard that you went easy on Cao Cao for the sake of training, is that true.?" Alex nodded and explained, "I have large amounts of strength, and tried to practice martial arts growing up but didn''t have any way to truly train. As far as I''m concerned my strength doesn''t mean much if I don''t master it." The old monkey had a twinkle in his eye, and he said, "Show me." Alex didn''t know what he meant, and asked, "Show you what?" "Show me the limit of your strength, show me what it is you want to master." Once he understood what Wukong was asking for, Alex grinned. Everyone started getting nervous, as they recalled the last time Alex showed them something. Alex and the old monkey then separated, and faced each other. He then surprised everyone by removing his armor. "What is that? I never heard of a boosted gear user not using his armor." Alex didn''t say anything, and focused rage on himself. After a second he became covered in golden aura, and his hair stood on end. He then said, "This aura is another way I get stronger, this is only the first form of it and it''ll only get stronger in the future." Alex then rushed the old monkey. He sent a fist as fast as possible at him, only for Wukong to dodge with minimal effort. As a result all the copied buildings behind him were quickly reduced to rubble from the air pressure of the attack. Alex then responded with a kick to get him, only for him to swiftly dodge the attack once more. Alex decided to try and destabilize the old monkey, and slammed his foot on the ground. The result was that the entire area shook, and a crater formed under their feet. He then tried to hit the nearby monkey, but was once more avoided, and earned a hit on the head from the staff. It didn''t hurt Alex, but he didn''t like feeling ridiculed. They then began a dangerous game of cat and mouse, as the separate space was being destroyed from Alex''s missed attacks. Off to the side Yu-Long finished pacifying Saji, and also started watching the show. Alex was beginning to get frustrated, as he constantly tried to hit the old monkey was was avoided every time. Wukong on the other hand was extremely impressed with Alex''s strength, he was aware that if a single hit did land he wasn''t confident in shrugging it off. But he also noticed that as Alex was explaining, there was little mastery over his movements. When Wukong imagined his capabilities when his strength was mastered, he shivered. Though it seemed as if they had been "playing tag" for a while, it was actually no more than a couple minutes, and the space seemed as if it wouldn''t hold on much longer. Finally, "That''s enough." The old monkey said, as Alex stopped his fist a mere inch away from his face. Wukong didn''t even flinch, as Alex released the form and they both returned to the others. He then looked Alex up and down and said, "How would you like me to train you boy?" Alex and the others were dumbfounded at Wukong''s offer. He then started to explain what he learned from the chase with Alex, "First as you already explained there''s little mastery in your skills, so we''ll need you to eliminate the extra movements and focus on skill and efficiency. There''s also the bad habit of you projecting your next attack with your aura even though you don''t mean to, it was because of this that I was able to sense and avoid all of your attacks. In all I would teach you how to properly fight with your body, how to use your ki, and senjutsu." Alex was dumbfounded, as he never expected that Sun Wukong would take an interest in him like this. He swiftly accepted as he would never get a good chance like this, at least unless he went to the dragon ball world in the future. "Very well, I have several things I need to attend to though due to the terrorist attacks lately. We''ll meet once a week, and I''ll give you exercises that I want you to focus on when we don''t meet." And like his they discussed a few more details about training before the space finally collapsed. They then dispersed to their respective areas. The second years returned to their hotel, and Alex Rosswiesse and Azazel returned with Yasaka to the inner Capitol where Serafall was waiting. Chapter 74 - Continuation After they finished all the discussions Alex was relaxing in his bed thinking about the previous events. Wukong said that they''ll meet in a week for their first official training session, and until then he gave Alex several talismans to use for practicing proper ki control until then. They would turn into a target that measures his ki attacks, and he would have to hit them in a certain way before they moved on in training. Azazel also mentioned that the next rating game was decided, Rias and Sairaorg will fight next, and then right after the winner will fight Alex. This was considered fair due to the fact that Alex was attacked in his last game and was participating alone. He also thought about the next day''s activities and got excited. Now that the Khaos brigade issues were dealt with he was going to tour Kyoto with the second years and return with them. As he was thinking about this, he heard his door open. Alex looked up and saw the outline of a woman with several tails behind her. He smiled at Yasaka, as she walked slowly up to his bed and leaned over to whisper, "How about we continue what we were doing before?" Alex didn''t say anything, and just dragged her into his bed and started kissing her. She was laying on top of him, before sitting up and started removing her kimono, revealing her massive b.r.e.a.s.ts to his eyes. Alex started kneading them with his hands, as he stared at her greedily. He leaned forward and continued their tongue wrestling match, as he helped her remove her clothes. A few moments was all it took before the two were n.a.k.e.d and she immediately inserted his member and started riding him with vigor. "Aaahhhhh aaaaaahhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She was panting as she rode him. Alex had to admit, he didn''t mind the feel of a milf and was more than happy to return her energy. The two kept going, with Yasaka reaching climax several times before Alex finally did. He leaned up and sealed her lips once more, as his seed entered her. She shivered at the feeling, and was coming down from her repeated climaxes, until Alex flipped her and continued moving. "You didn''t think I''ll only have one shot do you?" He practically growled into her ear, causing her to laugh in glee at his stamina. The two continued going well into the night, until Yasaka finally had to admit defeat. *** The next morning he went to have breakfast with Yasaka walking right next to him. This wasn''t lost on both Rosswiesse and Serafall, as well as the fact that Yasaka was supposed to be in a completely different building. Serafall gave him a look of exasperation, while Rosswiesse turned red, as she knew exactly what Yasaka experienced the night before. Both tactfully avoided the subject, and continued eating. Yasaka then said, "Since the risk is gone, I would like to continue acting as your guide around Kyoto, it''s the least I could do after all you done for me." Serafall snorted and muttered, "It seems like Alex did a lot more than he was supposed to." Everyone heard her but no one decided to correct her. As they sat down Alex then said, "Rosswiesse and I plan to return with the students, so we''ll go to their hotel tonight and ride with them in the morning. How do you plan to return Serafall?" She snorted again at his concern, and said, "Well I have my own way, so don''t worry about me." Alex smirked and said, "Well I would obviously worry about one of my future women." She then turned red at his words, both in anger and embarrassment as she recalled the fantasy he told her. Rosswiesse turned her head the other way, and Yasaka laughed before saying, "So Serafall will be one of my sisters in the future? I look forward to getting to spend more time with you in the future." She then turned an even deeper shade of red at Yasaka''s words, but didn''t say anything as she hurried to finish her meal and leave. After that The three finished their meal and after being joined by Kunou, left to join up with Kiba''s group that included Asia, Xenovia, Irina, and Kiryuu. As Alex walked around Kyoto he was quite relaxed as he wasn''t waiting for an attack today. They visited several places of significant history, and places of spiritual power. After walking around for the whole day, they parted with Yasaka and Kunou and returned to the hotel. Alex then went around by himself and looked for souvenirs for the girls that stayed home, before going to the bath. It was different experience, bathing with a bunch of guys instead of the girls, not that he''d like to repeat the experience too often. He was on his way to his room when Asia stopped him and said, "Um, there something that we need to talk to you about for a bit. Can you come with me?" "Sure what''s up?" Alex asked as he started following her. Asia didn''t say anything, and he grew somewhat suspicious until he walked into the room she was sharing with Kiryuu, and saw both Kiryuu and Xenovia waiting n.a.k.e.d. The door closed behind him and he turned to see Asia shrugging off the gown she was wearing as well. He then heard Kiryuu say from in front of him, "I''ve been waiting for this senior, we''re not going to let you sleep tonight." Chapter 75 - Leaving Kyoto Alex looked at the three n.a.k.e.d girls, and smile widened on his face. He started stripping, and when he was finished he slowly walked over to Kiryuu and Xenovia. As he reached them he grabbed Xenovia in one hand, and Asia in the other and started playing with their asses while his fingers worked their way inside them. This left his front open for Kiryuu, who immediately got onto her knees and with a look like it was Christmas, took his length into her mouth. She smirked when she recalled the other twos warnings about sleeping with Alex, that his stamina was never ending. She assumed that being "pure" church girls they simply lacked experience, and she who was used to going hours with her toys would fair better. No one knew what she was thinking though, as her mouth continued to engulf Alex''s rod while making several obscene noises. As she worked him with her mouth, Alex was swapping between kissing the other two as his fingers worked them. After several minutes, he released inside kiryuu''s mouth, and the two girls also climaxed from his hands. Kiryuu stood, and wiping her mouth turned her ass towards him and bent over while spreading herself open. "F.u.c.k me like I''m your bitch!" Alex grinned at her words, as the other girls were usually milder, and positioned himself at her entrance. Asia and Xenovia decided to let Kiryuu have some time with him to herself, and started playing with each other to the side. Alex was amazed at how wet Kiryuu was, as he plunged his entire length into her at once. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in ecstasy, as she was invaded by a guy for the first time in her life. Alex didn''t feel any resistance when he entered her, so he immediately started thrusting with passion. She started panting as she felt pleasure none of her toys ever brought her, and knew she would get addicted to it as he pounded her. Alex looked over and got even more excited when he saw Xenovia and Asia in a 69 position, and Kiryuu couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw the two of them. She didn''t have the luxury of focusing on others though, as she felt felt something fill her even more as Alex shot his seed into her. Kiryuu couldn''t take the feeling, and climaxed as well from being filled. Alex then pulled out of her, and left her alone as he moved over to the other two girls. By the time he was finished with the two of them, Kiryuu was ready for another round. She surprised him with what she requested though, "I want to try it here now!" She said as she showed him were she wanted it next. Alex smiled as he thought about the soon to be new experience, and willingly complied to her wishes. Azazel was walking around doing room checks. His job was to make sure none of the kids were going into the others rooms. He soon arrived at the rooms that Xenovia and Irina, and Asia and Kiryuu were sharing. He then noticed that Irina was in her and Xenovia''s room by herself, and there were four presences in the other one. Recognizing one of them as Alex, Azazel grinned and thought to himself, ''Isn''t that guy a little too over powered when it comes to women?'' As he thought about how he apparently got Rosswiesse, possibly Yasaka, and now the three of them at once on this trip. As he was about to walk away he suddenly heard from the room, "YES! F.U.C.K MY ASS!" And stopped. He shook his head at their carelessness and placed a soundproof barrier before leaving. *** As promised Alex didn''t sleep that night, but he made sure that Kiryuu was awake to accompany him all night when the other two knew when to call it quits. As a result the three of them were getting ready while Kiryuu was laying passed out on the futon with large amounts of white fluids flowing from both of her lower holes. Both Asia and Xenovia shook their heads while thinking, ''We warned you.'' And also got her ready as Kiryuu couldn''t even function properly at the moment. She managed to wake up and get to the train station, but was hobbling the whole way, and couldn''t seem to sit properly. She glared as she saw Alex didn''t even seem effected by the fact that he screwed her all night, except that he appeared to simply not have enough sleep. As soon as the train started going she passed out, while also making sure her ass wasn''t in an uncomfortable position. Irina was in an obviously bad mood, as she was forced to be left out all night due to the risk of falling. She wondered if she could join in the fun one day, but also couldn''t seem to let go of her childhood friend. She then thought of the time she kissed him in his sleep as kids, and wondered if she''d get the same feeling if she kissed Alex. The guy in question decided to get some sleep while the train was going, as he figured he would have a similar night as the last one once he returned to Rias and Akeno. As they finally arrived at the Kuoh town station a few hours later, he woke and exited the train to see the four girls waiting for them. Before Alex could say anything he was suddenly tackled by the four of them, and his lips attacked. """"We missed you!"""" The four girls said at once, as they tried to take his lips after Rias released them. As this went on the students getting off of the train and the other passengers looked over in disbelief as four hot/cute girls flocked to one guy. Then it got even worse when the new cute teacher, and three more girls got off of the train and flocked to him as well. What they didn''t notice was even more girls, the four from the student council, and a couple others, were also looking over with envious gazes. Once they returned to the dorms, Alex handed out the souvenirs he brought, but was then forced upstairs by Rias and Akeno like he previously thought. Chapter 76 - Monkey see, monkey do A week after returning and a lot seemed to happen before Alex''s first training session with Sun Wukong. After comforting Rias and Akeno, he found out that during his time in Kyoto there had been riots occurring in the Gremory territory, giving Rias a chance to max her current job and choose her next one. He also received a report from Kuroka a few days later stating that she chose a new job recently as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Toujou Abilities- Youkai Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- space mage(25) Job history- poison user Skills- Stealth(7) Poison mist(6) Poison claw(4) Ki manipulation(7) Kasha (5) Touki(6) Illusions(2) Space magic(4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- destruction lord(20) Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage Skills- Superior destruction magic (9) Extinguished star (4) Aura of destruction (1) Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He was surprised seeing that Rias got the aura of destruction ability, but when she demonstrated it Alex realized it was nothing like Sirzechs. Sirzechs transformed into his super devil form and destroyed almost everything around him when he used his, Rias''s was simply able to coat herself in destruction itself, and harm her surroundings. It was a good deterrent for those who used close combat, and a timely addition before her match against Sairaorg. As for Kuroka, she was still sending him daily videos, but he had no idea what she was fighting to boost her skill levels the way she was. He was looking forward to seeing her again when Ophis would want to study him, though he wasn''t sure about seeing Ophis again. Aside from that Rias''s group was focusing on their training, and since they might have to face Alex they were training separately. If Alex was being honest with himself, he didn''t believe he would be facing Rias''s group. In the original they barely won when they had issei, but now not only do they not have him, Rias was still short her eight pawns. He believed they would do better than before, but Sairaorg would still win. There was also the fact that he really wanted to fight Sairaorg. He had spent his own training time with the talismans Wukong gave him, and mastering his ki, thanks to this his ki manipulation skill went up. He had also contacted Seekvaira about using time manipulation while he was training with Wukong, and surprisingly both of them agreed. She had trained her time manipulation to be able to fit twelve hours into a single hour, this meant that the two-three hours Wukong would train him turned into a day and a half. Both of them were quite pleased with this. For the first session he had Alex start by going through several exercises, and showing the results of using the talismans. After verifying he was in fact improving his ki control, they moved onto actual combat. Now the two were flying around the training room while trading blows and Alex was causing several craters and cracks to form from his excessive use of strength. He lowered his gravity to one hundred times, so he was also trying to adjust his strength. "HA! You can''t catch me like that!" "Come on now I''m not getting any younger." Wukong taunted him, as he chased him around the room. Alex was growing frustrated at his taunts, but was paying attention to his every move, studying the way Wukong reacted and moved. At the moment Wukong was only dodging Alex again, saying that he didn''t need to react to Alex since he wouldn''t hit him anyways. They would only fight seriously when Alex didn''t give him a choice. Alex studied the way Wukong didn''t leak any ki in his movements, and tried to replicate it. As a result his next punch slightly connected when Wukong couldn''t read the ki. "Did you actually graze me?! So you can improve!" He said to Alex with a grin, but was secretly surprised. He didn''t expect Alex to grasp the way to mask ki that swiftly, as they had only been sparing for six hours. He had also noticed that his movements were getting sharper at an unbelievable level. He then smacked him in the head with his staff again, only for Alex to brush it off and continue. This was the other thing that amazed him, his staff was several thousands pounds so each hit was enough to kill an ordinary person, yet Alex simply brushed them all off. They continued for several more hours, Wukong not needing to stop and Alex not wanting to call it quits. As they went on Wukong also noticed that Alex''s movements were starting to differ, and he managed to get a real hit on him. Wukong recoiled from the hit, not actually hurt but simply surprised that he managed it, and watched Alex curiously. They continued to spar, and he noticed what seemed different from before, Alex was starting to copy him. This made Wukong shudder inside, as he never expected Alex would start to mimic his own movements and learn them. As they went on this became more apparent as Alex was starting to get more hits on him. Soon he called an end to the sparring match. "That''s enough, let''s finish for now." Alex was surprised, but didn''t disagree. He did ask though, "Shouldn''t we use the rest of the time we have left?" They still had over twelve hours left, and Alex thought they shouldn''t waste time. Wukong shook his head and said, "You''re improving at a faster rate than I expected. Since we''re further ahead than I thought there''s no need to keep going, and you can use this time to relax. Relaxation is just as important as training." Alex recalled hearing the same thing before, so he didn''t argue. They exited the training room, and met a surprised Seekvaira outside. "That was fast." Was all she said. She had expected them to keep training for the whole time, not to leave early. Wukong nodded and said, "He''s ahead of schedule so I decided to call it quits for the day. You''re also free to return." She then nodded and after giving Alex a weird look, left via magic circle. Wukong turned to him and said, "Keep up your training with the talismans, and I''ll see you next week." Alex nodded and watched the old monkey leave. Chapter 77 - Interview A couple days later Alex was in a dressing room waiting to start an interview about the next matches. There was going to be him, Rias, and Sairaorg being interviewed at once. He was wearing a suit with a tie, and his color scheme was designed to match Rias due to them being a couple, even though they had the possibility to be opponents soon. Ravel was the one currently fussing over his looks, and trying to make sure he was prepared to speak in front of people. "Make sure you don''t stutter or say "um" a lot, and speak loudly and confidently." Alex smiled as she went on, and leaned over and kissed her cheek, causing her to freeze. He then said, "I''ll be fine, you already helped me to prepare for the questions they''ll most likely ask, and chances are they''ll mostly focus on Sairaorg and Rias since they''re the only confirmed fighters so far." Ravel sighed at his words, but didn''t say anything. After a few more minutes, "Mister Alex, we''re about to start." The attendant said, causing Alex to wink at Ravel before following him out to the studio. He was directed to sit on a small couch next to Rias, while Sairaorg was sitting on a chair and the host was at his desk. Once the cameras were ready he put on a big smile and and said, "Welcome back! We are now interviewing the three top contenders in the youth Devils rating games! First is the one known as the strongest youth devil, heir of the great King family, Sairaorg Bael! Then you have the younger sister of the Crimson haired Maou, and the heiress of the Gremory group, Rias Gremory! Last but certainly not least, the one who''ll duke it out with the winner of the first two, the current red dragon emperor, Alex!" At his words there were tons of cheers from the audience behind the cameras. Alex had one hand around Rias''s shoulders, and was waving with the other one, while Rias and Sairaorg were doing the same. He was almost sure he didn''t imagine several guys glaring at him for being so close to Rias. After the applause died down the announcer then started speaking again. "Now then the ones who''ll be fighting first, Rias and Sairaorg, what do you think about the upcoming match against each other, your own cousin?" Sairaorg then answered, "I wish to show all the strength that my fist has, I have no intention to restrain myself even against my own cousin to do that. Plus I would never expect she would hold back against me, to do so would be to disrespect each other." Rias nodded at his words and continued, "Indeed, I have no intention of holding back. With my adorable servants, we will defeat any who stand in our way." The audience was excited at their words, and the host turned his next question towards Alex, "So red dragon, who do you think will be facing you after the match?" Everyone became quiet at his words, and Rias and Sairaorg also looked at him curiously. Alex sighed, and hoped he wasn''t digging himself into a hole. "I''m not sure yet, I am aware of the strength of Rias''s peerage, so I know they are not easy to defeat. However I know nothing about Sairaorg''s group, so it is hard to be certain. However, regardless of who I fight, even against my own woman, I will not hold back. It would be disrespectful I believe, to hold back my strength against those trying their hardest, regardless of our relations." Hearing his words, Rias smiled slightly, and tucked up closer to him. Seeing how close the two of them were, even after declaring war, the audience went nuts. Then host then asked, "Of the two though, which one do you want to fight?" They all became silent again, and Alex looked at Sairaorg with shining eyes and said, "Of course the one I want to fight the most is someone who also talks with their fists. Regardless of how the matches turn out, Sairaorg Bael, I will fight you someday, and show you the one who has a stronger fist." It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, as Sairaorg smiled and started laughing with glee. "Well then, I guess I have to ensure Rias loses so that we can see who has the stronger fist! Hahaha!" The atmosphere turned excited as the match between the two became anticipated. Rias looked concerned until Alex clarified, "Just remember, if you beat Rias I''ll most likely be out for revenge. You better bring all of your strength, I know about your secret weapon, and I won''t accept a win if you don''t use it." Sairaorg looked surprised when Alex said he knew about his secret weapon, and knew he was talking about his pawn. Instead of being concerned about that though he was growing even more excited for their match. The interview continued for a while, before they finally ended it and they got to leave. By the time it was over everyone was even more excited for the matches, and couldn''t wait for the next several days to pass. Alex didn''t think he''d need it, but was also grateful for having one more session with Sun Wukong before the match. He already decided not to use the super Saiyan, as even though he wasn''t trying to keep it secret anymore, he didn''t want to advertise it on a live broadcast. He felt as if he was cheating Sairaorg, but got over it as he would hopefully be able to have a rematch in the future. Chapter 78 - Meditation It had been a few days since the interview, now the day before the match, and Alex was once more training with Wukong. As before they had Seekvaira using her time manipulation, and had spent the first several hours going over various physical and ki exercises. They then moved onto sparing, but unlike the first time Wukong was fighting back. He was once more amazed at the speed of which Alex was learning, and he was saddened by the fact that he had no teacher until now. "Get up, you don''t have time for naps!" He shouted as Alex peeled himself off the floor after he had used his staff to knock him down. Alex immediately righted himself and rushed Wukong once more. He knew Alex wasn''t using his full strength, but didn''t say anything because he knew that if he did he wouldn''t be learning as well if he did. "HAAAAAA!" Alex shouted as he tried to hit the old monkey once more. Wukong barely avoided his attack, and immediately used Alex''s momentum against him to throw him across the room. Alex quickly righted his posture and attacked once more. The two went on like is for nearly an entire day, with Alex improving bit by bit. Finally with only six hours until the training ended, Wukong called a halt again. "That''s enough, I don''t want to tire you out before your match. You''ll spend the rest of the time here meditating so that your body can recover. I''ll also help you learn a way to help the ki flow through your body while you''re doing that." Alex didn''t say anything, and just sat down and started concentrating on the ki energy within him. When he started Wukong placed his hand against his back, and started explaining, "When you circulate ki this way, it can help you recover lost ki from fights faster, and can help manipulate and remove any harmful substances in your body." When Alex heard this he was overjoyed, as he now potentially had a way to fight Samael''s poison if it was used against him in the future. As he closed his eyes he felt the energy in his body flowing in a certain way, and felt it being restored. Wukong on the other hand was amazed when he felt the amount of energy in Alex''s body, and struggled to help control it. He shivered in anticipation of the day Alex could utilize his full strength, but also noticed that for some reason full access was being blocked. He was curious about this, but decided not to mention it since what Alex already did have access to was so overwhelming, much to Ddraig and Lauren''s relief. They continued with the meditation for the rest of the six hours. When Alex started to get the hang of how to manipulate his ki this way Wukong stopped guiding him and was simply observing. Alex entered a deep state of consciousness, as his mind was further drawn inward. Once their time was up Wukong stirred Alex from his meditation, and the two exited the training area. "Welcome back." Seekvaira said when she saw the two leave. She was feeling complicated as she wanted Sairaorg to win, but was helping Alex to train. Since she was no longer needed, Seekvaira swiftly left. Wukong then turned to Alex and said, "I''ll be there to watch tomorrow as well, after all what kind of teacher am I if I miss my own students matches." Alex felt honored that Wukong was putting aside his anti terrorist actions for the sake of supporting him. But before he could say anything, "This is for you as well." He said suddenly summoning and holding out another staff. Alex took the staff in his hands, and nearly dropped it in surprise when he felt the weight. After getting used to it he started to swing it around and handled it with ease. Wukong nodded in approval and said, "That staff weighs several thousand pounds, so it''ll be a good weapon when you get used to handling it. I wouldn''t recommend trying it out during your match, but if you need it then you have it. Afterwords I''ll start training you to use this as well." Alex looked at the old monkey and said, "Thank you, truly. I''ll make sure to live up to the expectations you''ve placed in me." Wukong nodded and said, "Just put the effort in for training, and don''t go down a similar path as the holy spear user." Alex nodded, as he never planned to use his strength to terrorize innocents. The old monkey left soon after, and Alex spent the rest of his evening relaxing his body. He felt very relaxed when he was cuddling with a n.a.k.e.d Rias after having s.e.x. He had one of his arms wrapped around her, and he suddenly thought, "I wonder if this counts as sleeping with the enemy?" She laughed at his joke, before curling up closer to him. She then said, "I don''t know what to hope for. If I win then I just have to fight you after, but I don''t want to lose." Alex shrugged and said, "Just do whatever, but I won''t accept it if you purposely throw in the towel." She suddenly sat up and looked at him with indignation, which he found funny with her b.r.e.a.s.ts swaying under her. She didn''t seem to notice though, and said, "I would never give up!" While giving him a slight glare. Alex simply grabbed her and pulled her close again, before saying, "I know you wouldn''t, you''re too stubborn." He then sealed her lips with his while she still had a slight glare. She soon melted again though and their activities progressed once more that night. Chapter 79 - Meeting gods Right before the match started Alex and the entire ORC were on a lift headed to Agreas, the floating devil city. Though he didn''t show it, Alex was very excited to see the floating islands with waterfalls, as floating islands were part of most fantasy worlds in movies. After arriving at the islands, they were then shuttled into some limos to be taken to a hotel until the games started. As they entered the lobby, he noticed a group with a very sinister aura that started watching them. He squinted his eyes, and Azazel said, "Lord Hades, I didn''t think a skeleton geezer like you would show up!" Hades looked at Azazel with his eyeless sockets and said, "Damn crow, you''re all making so much noise up here I was curious. Or do you plan to get rid of me like Loki?" Before Azazel could answer Alex spoke up, "As long as there''s no reason to then nope." Both looked at him with shock, before Hades realized that the one he was looking at was the one who beat Loki. His eyeless sockets seemed to squint, and he said, "Welsh dragon, I recall the last time you rampaged in hell with the white one. I hope you don''t kick the bucket today, I didn''t come here to take your soul after all." Hades then walked off with the rest of the grim reapers that came with him. Azazel sighed then slightly glared at Alex, "I suppose you have your reasons for acting the way you did, but I''m going to say it anyways, don''t antagonize that guy!" Alex shrugged at his words, but pretended to listen. What Azazel didn''t know was that Hades directly starts to take hostile actions against the rest of the factions. Starting with temporarily giving Samael to the hero faction, he also starts to experiment with creating super Devils in the future. He decided to do something about Hades in the near future, and turned to the next people to arrive, a couple of buff dudes with mustaches came over and said, ""We''re here Azazel!"" Azazel sighed and said, "Welcome, to the top of Greco gods Zeus and Poseidon. I always wish Hades was as easy to get along with as you two." The two then started talking about how Azazel was still single. Alex was looking at Zeus weirdly, as he recalled Zeus was pretty much the God of being horny, as most myths started with him not keeping it in his pants. Suddenly Rosswiesse shouted out, "ODIN!" And the rest turned to see Odin being escorted by a new Valkyrie. Rosswiesse was so angry that she looked as if she was about to blow a gasket, until Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She then turned red from embarrassment, and both the Valkyrie and Odin went wide eyed. The Valkyrie then exclaimed at Rosswiesse, "So what lord Odin said was true, you went and got yourself a boyfriend Rosswiesse!" Rosswiesse turned even redder when her former colleague called her out on it, and Odin added fuel to the flames. "So the v.i.r.g.i.n Valkyrie did it huh?" Rosswiesse then surprised everyone present by shouting out, "IM NOT A V.I.R.G.I.N ANYMORE!!!" They all froze as Rosswiesse''s words echoed throughout the room. Realization dawned on her, and she then squatted down and tried to hide herself. However her words had been enough to shut both Odin and the other Valkyrie up, and the two left swiftly as if fleeing. Alex felt sorry for the new girl that had to escort the perverted old man. After that they left to their room, though Rosswiesse practically fled there, and they all started warming up even though there were several hours left until starting. Ravel soon approached Alex and handed him a box. "Nice." Was all he said as he looked inside. Alex then left to a changing room, and soon emerged wearing his new combat uniform. He had based it off of Goku''s uniform, but it had a couple changes. The color for one, instead of orange Alex had it made a dark red, as the red dragon emperor. He also had the crest on the back made to look like a dragon and monkey fighting, for his dragon powers and Saiyan blood. He also didn''t have the usual accessories Goku did, like the weighted boots, wristlets, and shirt. Since it showed off his muscles the girls around also nodded their heads in agreement. As for the uniforms of the others, Rias, Koneko, Kiba, and Gasper were wearing their academy uniforms. Akeno was wearing miko robes, Rosswiesse her Valkyrie armor, Xenovia her bondage looking church outfit, and finally Asia was wearing her saint''s robes. As the Gremory group continued warming up, Alex started meditating like how Wukong taught him. As he entered his trancelike state, time didn''t seem to flow the same, after what only felt like a few minutes it was time for the first match to start. Alex and the rest made their way to the stadium. He then separated with the others, as they went to the arena entrance, and Alex was called to sit with the VIPs. He was curious about this, but went to the VIP area where he found The four Maou, Michael and Gabriel, the gods he met previously, Wukong and Yu-Long, Tannin, and several others he didn''t recognize. The two dragons were in a mini form, which Alex had to admit made them look quite cute. When he saw him enter, Sirzechs called him over, "Alex over here." And pointed to the seat next to him, that was also next to Wukong. He sat there and asked, "I thought this area was only for VIPs?" Sirzechs laughed and said, "I just wanted to watch the match with my future brother in-law. After all the one fighting is my sister, your girlfriend." Wukong nodded and added, "And this way i can also give any advice to my student after watching them fight before its your turn." Alex nodded and sat between the two, as Azazel''s voice sounded out, and announced the beginning of the match. Chapter 80 - The match Once the match started they announced the Arbitrator, and commentators. The arbitrator was someone Alex didn''t recall, but learned was number seven in the rating games rankings, Rudiger Rosenkreutz. The announcers were the ones who trained both teams, Azazel who trained Rias''s team, and the number one in the rating games ranking, Diehauser Belial, who trained Sairaorg''s. They then started speaking, "Good afternoon to you all, I am the current Governor General of the fallen angels Azazel." "And I am the current champion, Diehauser Belial. I hope for a good match between the three groups today, and we have a small announcement. Due to the current terrorist activities there has been a severe shortage of Phoenix tears, but thanks to the kindness of the Phoenix family we have been graced with three bottles, one for each team." Once they heard about the Phoenix tears being supplied the crowd went nuts, anticipating an even better match. As Alex heard they even had one prepared for him, he decided not to use it. They then announced the rules for this match, stating that it was dice figure. Dice figure was a game where each captain rolled a die, and the combined values represented who could fight. A single pawn was one, bishops and Knights were three, rooks were five, and the queens were nine. They then explained that the values for the Kings weren''t set, but we''re equal to individual value. It was decided that Sairaorg was equal to twelve, and Rias was an eight. After the announcements were done, the match began. The first value was three, and the ones sent out were Kiba, and a knight from Sairaorg''s side riding a demonic looking horse. After the introductions the two clashed. Due to the horses speed being higher than his, Kiba stood his ground and weathered the attacks. After a while he then used a new move, his subspecies balance breaker, Glory-Drag Knights. It didn''t take long for him to end the match after that. The next round had a value of ten, so Rosswiesse and Koneko got matched against a knight and rook from Sairaorg''s side. After the round started Koneko turned into her two tails nekomata form, and attacked the rook. The rook was a member of one of the remaining Devils houses, famous for its members high strength and defense, and the knight was part of an extinct house, but also processed a sacred gear due to his human heritage. His sacred gear allowed him to increase gravity in his field of vision, but since Alex also learned how to manipulate gravity Rosswiesse wasn''t too affected due to training together. However it didn''t mean much, as Koneko was still defeated at the end along with the rival rook and bishop. When Alex saw her small figure being pummeled, he felt some rage build in him. He already tried to prepare himself to see them defeated, but it was something else watching it happen in front of him. "The current numbers are that three losses from Sairaorg Bael, and one from Rias Gremory." The arbitrator announced. After that the next round started, and a value of eight was thrown. This time Xenovia and Gasper went out to fight. The ones that met them were two guys, a bishop and a rook, both from extinct devil houses. Not long after the battle began Sairaorg''s bishop used his sacred gear to seal Xenovia''s ex-durandal. As a result she hid until the seal faded, and Gasper used his/her own body as a shield. Once the seal faded Xenovia used a powerful holy attack to eliminate both of the opponents at once. As a result similar to the previous round, the Gremory group lost one person while Sairaorg''s lost two. When they showed a close up of Rias''s team, everyone now had tears in their eyes due to Gaspers actions. The next round they rolled a twelve, so Akeno and Kiba went out. Akeno and the opponents queen swiftly started a battle of magic, with each side trying to overwhelm the other. Kiba went against the bishop, and used his gods speed to dodge her attacks and eventually managed to deal a decisive blow. He then joined the other fight and it quickly became one sided, but right before her defeat the opponents queen created another hole, but this time a bright light shot out and struck Akeno, resulting in a double retiring. The next round was another twelve, but instead of sending out his pawn like many thought, Sairaorg came out himself. His opponents were Kiba, Xenovia, and Rosswiesse. The three battled Sairaorg with everything they had, eventually even managing to remove one of his hands. However it was not enough, and they were all retired, one after another. By this point Alex had watched Koneko, Akeno, Xenovia, and Rosswiesse all fall, as well as Kiba and Gasper. He was gripping the arm rests of his seat so tightly that they had long since cracked. The only good thing was that he was forced to use the Phoenix tears for his hand. The final straw, was when Sairaorg requested a one one one between kings to finish the match. Rias accepted, as all she had left was Asia to send out. He then watched as Rias was overpowered, and beaten to the point where none could recognize her. She had used her power of destruction and aura of destruction, but Sairaorg''s speed made it nearly impossible for her to hit him, and his defenses ensured the smallest amount of damage possible was dealt to him. Once she was defeated, the arbitrator announced, "The winner is, Sairaorg Bael!" And the audience started cheering at the announcement. After several minutes they finally calmed down, and he announced, "In one hour the match between Sairaorg Bael and the red dragon Alex will start, and we will then have our strongest youth devil!" Once more the audience went crazy at his words, remembering the action was not yet done for the day. At his words Alex stood, and left the viewing room to prepare for the fight. *** When they watched Alex leave, everyone in the vip area let out a sigh. They could all feel the rage radiating off of him, and were looking forward to the show he would put on now. One of the gods, Zeus, then turned to those gathered and asked, "So who do you all think will win?" Before anyone could answer Wukong spoke up. "The red dragon of course." They were all surprised at his frankness in answering, and Hades spoke up, "You''re just playing favorites. We all know you''re training the boy." But as his words were spoken the old monkey started laughing, causing them all to be confused. He then explained, "Indeed I''m training him, so that means I know his strength the best. Tell me, how strong do you all think he is?" None could answer him, as they hadn''t seen him go all out before. The old monkey laughed once more and said, "At the upmost, if he is lazy, it will take a year for him to surpass me. If he continues to train diligently, it''ll only take a few months before he does. However in terms of raw physical strength, he already has." He was actually belittling Alex''s talent, as he didn''t truly think it would take that long. He had reviewed Alex''s previous fights, in the fight against Loki not only was he a God that specialized in very powerful magic, but there was the presence of the god slayer Fenrir. It was no wonder he was being held in check at the time. In his fight against Cao Cao, though Alex stated that he was holding back for the sake of combat training, Cao Cao possessed the holy spear, had he landed one real hit against him Alex would''ve died. He entirely believed that Alex would shine the most in this fight, a power strength fighter against another one. When they heard his words none could speak. They all knew that in his youth it took a mountain being dropped on Wukong to subdue him, if Alex had already surpassed him physically then how strong was he? The four Maou who witnessed him transform also kept silent. They all started to eagerly anticipate the next match. *** The next hour seemed to go by swiftly. Alex had gone to the infirmary to see the girls, and the rage inside him grew when he saw their injuries. After seeing them he turned and walked towards the arena, a fire burning in him. Once the hour was up it was time for the match. Alex was teleported to a separate space, and he saw Sairaorg and his pawn standing opposite him. Sairaorg saw the determination in Alex''s eyes, and knew he couldn''t take this fight lightly. The arbitrator then announced, "Welcome all, to the final match for the strongest youth Devils! We now have the last two contenders facing off, the heir of the house of the great King, SAIRAORG BAEL!" At his words the audience erupted with cheers, remembering his victory in the last match. He then turned to Alex, "And his opponent, the red dragon emperor, the man looking for revenge for his women, ALEX!!!!!" At these words several people started cheering, and Alex could hear a certain group in the stands. "Let''s go, cheer for Alex!" "Do your best darling!" "B-b-beat him HUSBAND!" He looked over and saw Irina, Yasaka with Kunou, and Ravel cheering for him. Ravel even went as far as calling him husband in front of everyone, even though she was still shy about admitting it in front of others. Alex felt a little of the rage in him trickle away, but the majority of it was still there. The announcement rang out, "The final fight of the day, START!" Alex dispelled the extra gravity on himself, and said to Sairaorg. "Put the armor on, if not you will lose before you get a chance to." Everyone was confused by his words, until Sairaorg and his pawn said at the same time as Alex, """Balance break!""" Sairaorg was then covered in golden light, and his pawn disappeared. When he was seen again, Sairaorg was wearing a golden armor with the motif of a lion and Alex was wearing his usual red. The two looked at each other for a second, then they both disappeared. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!" A blast echoed out, as the fists of the two collided. Sairaorg who was wearing golden armor, and Alex in red. They had met directly in the center of their previous positions, and the force of their collision had destroyed their surroundings and opened a crater under them. They were there for a second, then they disappeared again. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM Explosions echoed all around the arena as the two met time and time again. Until the replay was slowed down the majority of the audience couldn''t tell what was going on, due to not being able to keep up with their speed. This continued for several minutes, until both of them appeared in their original starting positions. What everyone saw left them stupefied, Sairaorg was holding one of his arms, and there was blood dripping off of it while Alex seemed completely unharmed. Alex then started walking forward, prompting Sairaorg to get into a ready stance once more. Alex then disappeared, and reappeared right in front of Sairaorg, before sinking his fist into his gut. BOOM The resulting impact was heard throughout the stadium. No one moved, as Sairaorg bent over from the attack and Alex suddenly brought up his knee into his face. He then jumped and spun around to land his foot against the side of his face. This went on for several minutes, until finally the light surrounded Sairaorg and he started to retire. Before he could he was about to hit the ground, but Alex caught him, all his rage now forgotten, and said, "It''s lonely at the top, I''ll keep waiting for the day you catch up and we''ll have a rematch." When he heard his words Sairaorg smiled, but disappeared before he could say anything. *** Back in the vip room Wukong was looking around smugly. "I told you, this match up especially showed how powerful he is. His biggest problem until now, is the lack of a good teacher. He has only been utilizing small fractions of his strength, and it''s only through proper instruction that he can master it." No one answered the old monkey. He then turned to Sirzechs and said, "Tell me Sirzechs,have you ever seen him use that golden form with the balance breaker?" The red haired Maou could only shake his head. At Wukong''s words those who had seen or heard of Alex''s golden hair form suddenly had a thoughtful look, as they contemplated how strong this youth actually was. Chapter 81 - After the match Once Sairaorg disappeared Alex was transported out of the arena and was met with several reporters. His brow twitched at how he wasn''t getting to see how the girls were, and answered as curtly as he could so the he could leave as soon as possible. After fleeing the reporters he went back to the infirmary, and saw the girls up and walking around. When they saw him they all rushed him. """""""ALEX!!!""""""" If it was someone else he would''ve fallen from their tackle. He looked around and saw several of them still had bruises, but seemed to be fine otherwise. He wrapped his arms around them and staring with the only uninjured one, Asia, kissed each of them until he made his way to Rias. After separating from her lips he said, "I won." She looked a little bitter, probably from losing against Sairaorg so badly, while Alex seemed beat him so easily. She quickly hid her dissatisfaction, and said, "I know. We all regained consciousness when your match started, thanks to Asia''s help." Alex nodded and kissed Asia once more, for healing them after the match and speeding their recovery. They then discussed their matches, with Rias talking about things they all needed to work on in the future. Kiba soon walked over as well, and said to Alex, "I feel conflicted, if we trained with you we might''ve won, but then we would''ve had to fight you instead." Alex didn''t say anything, and Rias also looked conflicted. To change the subject he looked around and asked, "Where''s Gasper?" Gasper was the only one of the Gremory group not present, and at Alex''s words everyone looked saddened, and Rias explained. "He''s still recovering, since he was the one beaten the most out of all of us." Alex nodded at her words, and felt sorry for the little gender bender, but at the same time he recalled the powers he''ll awaken in the near future and shivered involuntarily. They continued discussing future training, until door opened agin and Azazel and Sirzechs walked in. Sirzechs sat down and simply said, "Kiba, Akeno, it''s currently being discussed that the two of you''ll get a promotion." Everyone froze at his words, and Kiba and Akeno suddenly stood to attention. He then continued explaining, "Due to all of the incidents you''ve been involved with, as well as the current ratings of your strength, it was decided by the Maou and the higher ups. The next mid-class promotion takes place in about two weeks, there''ll be a written test, a report you''ll have to hand in, and finally a practical." When Sirzechs stopped talking the two bowed and said, ""We give thanks to the Maou for this opportunity."" He waved away their words, and said, "It''s alright, just make sure to study well and don''t let Rias down." The twos looks became even more serious, and they practically shouted, ""YES!"" After that Sirzechs left and they started discussing the match with Azazel as well. Rosswiesse was quiet to the side until, "I think I''m going to return to my homeland for a while." Everyone was shocked at her words, but Alex said, "To train yourself?" She nodded at his words and explained, "I want to better master the traits of the rook, and increase my firepower as well. But there''s the midterms coming up at the school so I''ll wait a week until I leave, so that I can prepare the tests." Alex smile and said, "So you mean I have a week to enjoy your body before you leave?" She then turned bright red at his words, but didn''t say anything against them. Then a small voice started speaking, "I-I-I also want to start training as well!" They all looked over and saw the still bandaged Gasper in the doorway. To work on him his body had been returned to that of a guy, so he was currently ripped, Alex couldn''t help thinking he looked even bigger than before. But they all knew by now that all his muscle was useless, and just for show. At his words Azazel nodded and said, "We grigori study sacred gears, so if you want our help our doors are always open." Gasper looked scared at Azazel''s offer, but didn''t refuse it. While everyone else started talking about their efforts for training, Alex was mentally preparing himself to meet Ophis again. He knew she would most likely show up in the next week or so, so he decided to stock up on snacks for her before then. Then the door opened once more and several women walked in. "We came to check up on all of you!" "Ufufufufu, that fight was so manly." "You two looked so cool! Like a couple action heroes!" "I baked a cake everyone, let''s eat now that the matches are over with." Irina, Yasaka, Kunou, and Ravel walked in. Alex started sweating at Kunou''s words, and hoped Azazel wouldn''t take much notice of them. Yasaka stood not too far from him, and her tails would occasionally drift his way to brush against his arms, much to the annoyance of the other girls. They continued talking for a while, before they all left to return home. Alex didn''t want the girls to exert themselves the night after they were beaten so badly, so he slept alone. They all had the next day off, so he decided to sleep in for once and rest a little. apparently the girls decided that he wouldn''t get much rest the next day though, when he walked downstairs and saw what they were doing. There was Rias, Akeno, Asia, Xenovia, Rosswiesse, Koneko, Ravel, and even Kiryuu, all dressed in some form of s.e.xy clothes. Rias then spoke up, "We wanted to do something a little special since you won yesterday. So please, spend the day enjoying each of us." Alex didn''t need to be told twice, as he immediately started walking towards the "feast". Chapter 82 - "Feast" Alex slowly walked towards the gathered girls while removing his own clothes, and taking in their attire, or lack of. Akeno was in a see-through miko outfit that was short enough that the lack of underwear was apparent. Xenovia was looking somewhat awkward in a bondage outfit similar to her combat gear, except the crotch and b.r.e.a.s.ts were completely exposed. Rosswiesse was beat red while simply wearing s.e.xy see-through underwear. Kiryuu was wearing her school uniform, but was missing her skirt and panties; instead she had a couple devices strapped to her legs, with cords running up to her crotch and possibly her ass. He then turned his attention to Rias and Asia, who seemed to be presenting themselves as a combination in n.a.k.e.d aprons. The other combo was Koneko and Ravel in s.e.xy maid outfits, who Alex looked at weirdly since he said he wasn''t going to touch them yet. Rias noticed his looks and explained, "We already had to wait until Irina left to report to heaven about something, we can''t just kick them out for the day or have them locked in their rooms. They''ll be present but not actually participating with you." The two looked sad her words, but Alex nodded in confirmation. He also noticed a suspicious box off to the side but didn''t say anything about it. He then turned his attention to the first girl he was after, causing Rosswiesse to turned even redder. He moved towards her and grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her close. He started kissing her while his hands ran along her ass, before he slipped them to the sides of her see-through panties, and pulled the strings on them. When the small cloth fell to the floor she stiffened, and Alex lifted her and sat her on the counter. He slipped his hands between her legs and started playing with her wet slit, earning him a few m.o.a.ns. He used his other hand to remove her s.e.xy bra, leaving her the first to be completely nude. Her left n.i.p.p.l.e then disappeared into his mouth, where he felt it growing stiffer by the second. It only took a few more moments before she was ready for penetration. In one swift movement he entered her, causing the biggest m.o.a.n yet. "AAAHHHHHHHH!" And he started to piston inside of her. Her legs wrapped around him as she felt the pleasure. It only took moments before he managed to cream pie her, leaving Rosswiesse to lay back on the counter with his s.p.e.r.m flowing out of her. He then turned his attention to the other girls, and was amazed at what he saw. Rias was sitting on a chair with Asia''s head buried in her crotch, Ravel and Koneko were entertaining each other with their hands, and Akeno was playing with Xenovia with a toy. He then turned his attention to the only one without a partner, Kiryuu. She smiled when she saw him looking at her and strutted forward. "You know senior, I mostly wanted someone to make my first time memorable, but you completely broke me. How do you plan to take responsibility for this?" She smirked, while he smiled and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Turn around and bend over, and I''ll show you." She shuddered at his words, and swiftly did as he said, spreading herself open as she did so. Alex saw that his guess was correct, and saw one cord entered her soaking slit, and the other led into her wrinkled anus. He then teasingly tugged on both cords, but didn''t remove them. Finally with an audible, POP A small vibrating device popped out of her, and Alex aimed himself to enter the same hole. She shuddered at his prodding, until she felt his entire length fill her ass. "YYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!" She screamed in joy, as her ass was pounded with a fury. The other girls turned to look at her, as they were curious about how anal felt so good. Alex was enjoying the unusual tightness as well as the vibrating sensation from the other toy, as kiryuu''s ass gripped his rod like a vice. It wasn''t long until he exploded into her as well, with Kiryuu climaxing as she felt the burning sensation in her ass. Once Alex removed himself from her, Kiryuu immediately turned around and took his length into her mouth, relishing the taste of her own ass. Once she had cleaned him, Alex turned to the next girl, while Kiryuu went and started eating out Rosswiesse. He turned to the combination of Xenovia and Akeno, and made his way over to them. When Akeno saw him she smiled, and pushed him down. After that she mounted him and rode him cowgirl style, while Xenovia positioned herself above his face, and sat. He proceeded to eat out Xenovia while Akeno rode him, taking as much of him into her as possible. The two girls were panting up a storm, before they leaned forward and started making out above him, while playing with each other''s tits. Alex was unaware of this, as his face was still buried in Xenovia''s ass and he continued eating her out. It didn''t take long until Akeno as well got her fill of his s.p.e.r.m, and removed herself from his still standing rod. Xenovia stood as well, and Alex followed her, before bringing her into his embrace and entered her while they were still standing. The two were screwing while still standing, and Alex watched as Akeno got out something from the box. He paled as he saw her put on a strap on, and started covering the toy with lubricant. She snuck up behind Xenovia, and Alex slowed his movements as Akeno started penetrating Xenovia''s ass. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The blue haired girl screamed as she was penetrated in both holes at once. She didn''t reject it though, and raised her legs to wrap around Alex, leaving her only support the two rods in her. As she continued screaming Kiryuu looked up from Rosswiesse''s crotch, and seemed to be jealous of the double penetration Xenovia received. Soon Xenovia got her fill as well, as she also experienced her first orgasm from having her ass penetrated. As he pulled out from her, the white fluid followed and both Xenovia and Akeno had it running down their legs. They then got onto their knees and started cleaning him together. Once they finished Alex turned to the last two to receive his attention, while Koneko and Ravel had removed each other''s clothes and we''re going full on with each other, looking at him as they did so. He instead turned to Rias and Asia, who had removed their aprons and were pleasing each other. Alex then moved them so that Rias was pinning Asia down with their legs spread. He then rubbed his length between the twos, effectively teasing both of them. It didn''t take long until his member slipped into Rias''s slit, and he started to pound her while she kissed Asia beneath her. After a few thrusts, he pulled out however and immediately plunged himself into Asia right below her. After thrusting a few times into her he did the same and reentered Rias. In this manner he alternated between the two, until both were filled by him. They both lay there, his seed flowing out of both of them, and he suddenly heard his name being called. "Alex, you aren''t done with us yet, are you?" He turned and saw the rest of the girls, ready for the next round. They then continued for many, many hours that day. Chapter 83 - Ophis After going a few rounds Alex didn''t push the girls too far, since they were still recovering. The exception to this was Kiryuu, who didn''t seem to mind even though she spent the entire next day recovering. Several days after their little "feast", Azazel came over and had something to discuss with them. "There''s someone I''m inviting over tomorrow, and I want to make sure none of you have ANY hostility whatsoever." When she heard this Rias narrowed her eyes, and said, "Judging from the way you''re acting I would say they''re from the Khaos brigade. The Vali team?" He sighed and said, "You could say that, the important thing is that NO ONE SHOWS ANY HOSTILITY!" He emphasized again, before taking his leave. After he left Alex noticed that Koneko looked as if she had a fever, and started sweating as he recalled she went into a mating season around this time. He hoped Kuroka would fix her before she tried something drastic. Alex also made sure there were plenty of sweet snacks for Ophis. *** The next day Alex made sure he was the one who answers the door when the visitors knocked, and the second he did something black rushed him. "NYAN! I''m back Alex! Did you miss me?" Kuroka seemed to be trying to smother him as she clung onto him. He hugged her back, as he looked at the ones behind her. There was a young blond girl, wolf, and another young girl dressed in a gothic fashion. He set Kuroka down, and looked at her, while everyone who came to investigate started gaping. "Nice to see you again Ophis." He said calmly. Rias turns to Azazel who was behind them in rage. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" She then went on to rant for several minutes, until she suddenly took a breath and said, "You''re the one who''s been working the hardest for alliances, if you brought her here then there must''ve been a reason. Explain it." She didn''t ask, she ordered him to explain what was going on. He then started talking, "She essentially has some questions for Alex, and there are other reasons she''s here. Since she basically has no ill will besides against great red there''s no harm to hear her out." After saying that they all ended up sitting in the living room and Akeno was serving tea. Alex also set out a bowl of sweet snacks in front of Ophis, and sat across from her. She then surprised everyone by simply starting to eat the snacks, before turning to Alex and asked, "Will Ddraig continue being a heavenly dragon?" Everyone except Alex froze at her question, and he simply said, "That all depends on the future. I have no intentions to stop being one, but I can''t promise I might grow into something more." His answer only made them all even more confused, until his gauntlet appeared and Ddraig also spoke up. Ophis looked questioningly at both the gauntlet and Alex, before saying, "I want to watch this possessor, and see what it is that Ddraig says is "interesting"." Alex shrugged and said, "I don''t mind as long as you don''t cause problems, and as long as Rias doesn''t disagree." Rias looked at Alex questioningly, and said, "If he says he doesn''t mind then I won''t argue." She agreed. Azazel let out a sigh of relief, and everyone else didn''t seem to know how to react. Like this Ophis, Kuroka, Fenrir, and Le Fay started staying there temporarily. The first thing Alex did, was drag Kuroka upstairs for their "reunion", that lasted the entire rest of the day. That night the two finally emerged from Alex''s room, and rejoined the others for dinner. LeFay had a deep blush on her face when she thought about what the two were doing the whole day, and it was obvious from the way Kuroka was slightly hobbling. The rest of the residents however didn''t even react, as this was pretty much par for the course by this point. What they didn''t know was that Alex had also explained his suspicions about Koneko to Kuroka, and she said that she''ll take a look at her later. The entire time they were at dinner Ophis didn''t take her eyes off of Alex, which he pretended not to notice. It was an awkward meal for the others with Ophis and the members of the Vali team there, until Le Fay said to Alex, "Um, by the way, we saw your fight with Sairaorg and I thought it was really good." She said with slightly shining eyes to Alex. Alex was surprised, as he thought she was mainly attracted by oppai dragon in the series, and said, "Thank you, so does that mean the rest of Vali team watched as well?" Both Kuroka and Le Fay looked uncomfortable at his question, and said, "When he saw your fight, Vali was quite surprised and started doing all the training he could to catch up." Alex smiled at her words, and looked forward to the day he and Vali would have their rematch. Ion they finished their dinner, and after their bath Alex returned to his room. Not long after Kuroka entered, and Alex smirked and said, "What, back for more?" She smiled and replied, "I would be if you didn''t go so hard earlier." He smiled at her words and said, "Well what else did you expect, I missed you and those daily videos didn''t help much." She laughed when he mentioned the videos, but turned serious a moment later. "I looked at shirone, and she''s not in a mating season." Alex was surprised, but when he thought about it her words made sense. Originally Koneko was affected by issei and Rias dating, but Alex and Rias had been for years now, plus he already moved so far in his other relationsh.i.p.s as well. He looked at Kuroka curiously and she answered, "She''s in a growth season, in other words a growth spurt." Chapter 84 - Growth spurt When Alex heard her words he momentarily blanked, and thinking of Koneko growing thought of the light novel dxd image of her in what was "shirone mode". He was curious about this and asked, "What do you mean growth spurt?" Kuroka shrugged and answered, "I''m sure you noticed how shirone looks underdeveloped, she would likely go through a late normal growth spurt within the next couple years, but due to the stimulus she received here it triggered early, nyan. As a result her physical body and powers will take a leap over the next week or so, and she will end up going into a mating season a couple time due to the hormones in her body, but by the time it finishes she''ll look her own age or even maybe a little older, nyan." Alex nodded when he heard her words, and thought about her future body that wouldn''t lose out to even Rias. He then recalled something else Kuroka said, "Wait she''ll still go into a mating season?" Kuroka nodded and explained, "When we go into a mating season regularly we simply want to mate and create offspring, it can be controlled when we get older, but in this case I can''t do anything about it because it might effect her growth spurt, nyan." Alex rubbed his temples when he heard her words. He recalled that even Kuroka knew that Koneko''s mating season was bad for her body originally, and was the one who helped her during it. If she said she can''t do anything about it she was telling the truth. She seemed to notice his concerns and smiled before saying, "Don''t worry, I''ll be here to help her control herself somewhat, Nya. Besides you should be happy, after this you''d probably get to enjoy both us sisters together, nyan." Alex smiled bitterly at her words, and said, "I''ll probably still wait for her to at least get into her second year at school, but at least now we know she''ll actually grow." His words were in reaction to the series, as she didn''t even grow after knowing issei for over a year, even though she was supposed to be so different in her mature body. Then again it might''ve just been the writer wanting to keep a young looking girl around. After the discussion was over, contrary to her earlier words Kuroka then jumped him, and the two were joined by Rias not long after. *** Over the next couple, days Kuroka stuck to Koneko like glue, and Ophis stuck to Alex the same way. He didn''t let it bother him, as long as she didn''t pick up strange habits from the girls. By this time it was obvious to everyone there was something up with Koneko, and several times Kuroka would randomly take her out of the room, presumably due to being in a temporary mating season. As her time at the dorms lengthened, everyone also started to realize that their earlier opinions about Ophis were off the mark, and she was actually just very pure, and naive. "Want some candy?" Alex asked as he held out a lollipop. Ophis took it and placed in her mouth before saying, "Thanks." And they all looked on in amazement as the dragon God, leader of the the terrorists, their enemy, sucked on a lollipop and played a game with Alex. Irina and Asia also seemed to understand Ophis''s personality, and started to act normally around her as well, playing cards and such with her. As this went on Akeno and Kiba focused on their studies for the test in less than a week. Alex was wondering if he should worry about the attack during the test, and had Rias and Kuroka meet him in his room. "I know I don''t share events that I know about, but his time I''m gonna break that rule." They looked at each other in surprise and became serious. Alex then started to explain, "After the mid level test, the hero faction led by Cao Cao are most likely gonna attack us using Samael. With this they''ll try to steal Ophis''s power and take down me and Vali." When they heard his words both girls started emoting a slight killing intent, until Alex waved them down and continued. "After that Shalba will show up again and initiate a high level terrorist attack on the underworld. I''m not telling this to you so we can prevent it, but so that we can answer the situation properly when it happens." They sighed and nodded at Alex swords as they both understood what he was worried about, if they actively started changing events then it might change it so that instead of say one person dying several people died. He wanted to keep things as predictable as possible. Rias then asked, "So do you have a plan for samaels poison?" Alex nodded and said, "The meditation method Wukong taught me is supposed to help maneuver and remove harmful substances, as well as replenish ki, it should at least help me fight the poison until I could get someone to help me." He also had one more training session with Wukong before then, so he planned to learn more about that method during that time. The only problem he could think of was if Ophis wanted to watch him train with Wukong as well. Like this they spent the rest of time before the test getting ready in their own ways. Thankfully Ophis understood when he said she couldn''t follow him to train with Wukong, and spent the time with Irina and Asia instead. When he returned after a "couple hours" she could tell his aura was a little different though and grew even more curious as to how he changed even that much so fast. Like this the day of the promotion test finally arrived, and surprisingly the biggest issue that morning was the changes in Koneko. Chapter 85 - Day of the test Everyone gathered at the door of the dorm the day of the test, including Azazel and Ophis''s group. The only exceptions were Gasper who went to the grigori institute, and Rosswiesse who went to her homeland to train. So when Koneko arrived everyone was dumbfounded at the changes that happened to her overnight. She had grown taller and had filled out in various areas of her body, the most noticeable was her bust that was now slightly bigger than Asia''s. She wasn''t done growing, but the good thing was that according to Kuroka she was now done with her sudden growth spurt. "With this she should start growing normally, it''s strange seeing my own sister grown so much compared to a week ago Nya." Koneko looked shy at the looks her new body earned her, and said, "I''m sorry for the trouble I''ve caused, please continue to take care of me." And she slightly bowed, causing everyone to look awkward at her stiffness. Before anyone said anything Ravel appeared behind her and grabbed her new b.r.e.a.s.ts, causing Koneko to cry out, and she said, "I bet you''re happy now, getting bigger overnight and getting closer to being with Alex!" Koneko turned red at her words, and everyone looked at Alex curiously to see his reaction. "I already said I won''t touch her until she''s at least a second year, so she''s still got some growing yet to do." Koneko looked a little down that he wouldn''t accept her yet, but looked eager to finish her first year of high school and start her second. They then moved on to the day''s schedule. The plan was for Kiba and Akeno to go to take the test while everyone else waited at a hotel. It was also planned that Ophis would be taken to visit Sirzechs after this for new negotiations, but Alex, Rias, and Kuroka were the only ones aware this wouldn''t happen. A couple hours later when Kiba and Akeno finished they were sitting around a table eating and waiting for them to arrive, while Ophis, Kuroka, Le Fay, and fenrir were close by with a barrier to hide with. Azazel was drinking, even though Alex and the other two tried to convince him not to, and they were now glaring at him slightly. After a while Kiba and Akeno joined them. "I already expected it, but the practical was quite easy." Kiba said with a sigh. Azazel laughed at his words and said, "Of course, you''ve been practicing with the red dragon emperor, so if those small fry are a challenge then there''s something wrong." The two nodded but Akeno said, "Still expecting it and seeing it are two different things." As the three were discussing the test Asia spoke up, "Um, so what should I do about my ability? I would like to achieve balance breaker if it''ll help everyone more." Azazel shook his head and stated, "Your twilight healing is already top tier, it wouldn''t make much difference if you reached balance breaker. Your only real weakness is your lack of defense in battle. Perhaps a familiar would help?" Rias nodded and said, "She has a pact with a Sprite dragon, so she might actually be a good tamer, or pact master." Alex nodded at their words, the dragon was caught slightly before the match against Rasier so he wasn''t there for it, but he had seen it around the dorms quite a bit. Unlike issei it seemed the small dragon like Alex. He also knew that she was able to form a pact with the pervy dragon Fafnir in the future, along with several mass produced evil dragons. He was also curious if she would be able to make pacts with dragons in the worlds he''d visit in the future. Suddenly at that moment they experienced a familiar feeling, and were surrounded by and eerie mist. Once it disappeared the people around them also disappeared, leaving just them and Ophis''s group. Alex frowned and Kuroka made her way over and said, "You were right, they ignored Vali nyan." Much to everyone''s confusion except Rias and Azazel, who heard the plan from Vali. Kuroka then explained, "We knew someone was after Ophis, so we sent her here with the three of us while Vali tried to draw them out, apparently it didn''t work." At her words everyone was even more on alert, and started looking for enemies. When they left the restaurant they found two people, waiting for them in the lobby of the hotel. Alex greeted the two, "Nice to see you again, Cao Cao, Georg." Both of them nodded and Cao Cao returned his greetings. "Red dragon. I saw your match against the heir of Bael, it made me shudder when I thought that I fought you as well." Alex smiled. He was training with Wukong now, besides not trying to kill him Alex no longer had a reason to hold back. Cao Cao then turned his attention to Ophis. "So you are here Ophis, I thought so." Ophis simply asked, "Cao Cao is the one after me?" He nodded and explained, "Yep, we need you, but not your current self. But before we get into that lets test this out." He suddenly lunged at her with his spear and aimed right for her stomach. However right before it reached her Alex appeared right next to her and gripped the handle of the spear. Everyone present looked shocked, as smoke started rising from Alex''s hand as it gripped the holy relic. Cao Cao smiled and said, "How about trying this then; shine, the spear that destroys the gods." And an intense light erupted from the spear while Alex gripped it, he suddenly summoned his balance breaker and Kuroka and Le Fay put up resistances to protect those behind them. When the light died down Alex''s armor on his right arm was destroyed, and his entire arm was charred from the holy light, but he didn''t take more damage than that. While they were all stupefied he suddenly surged forward and kicked at Cao Cao, who used the handle of his spear at the last moment to block, but was still sent flying back a short way. This was all the time he needed before his armor regenerated, and he said, "Asia please heal me." She was startled before he was suddenly enveloped in green light. As that happened Kuroka and Le Fay said from behind them, "And done, transfer complete!" At that moment Fenrir vanished and in its place Vali appeared, ready to fight. He looked at Cao Cao and said, "So you did come here Cao Cao, no matter we''ll deal with you now." Cao Cao however remained calm, and said to Georg, "Both the heavenly dragons and the infinite dragon God are present, it''s time to summon the dragon eater." Georg looked surprised, but started summoning their secret weapon. Vali however sneered and asked, "What a dragon slaying sacred gear or somethings?" Cao Cao was about to answer but Alex beat him to it. "No, it''s a being that is the ultimate weapon against any dragon or serpent, something that is called the manifestation of the hatred of God himself." At Alex''s words Azazel suddenly looked outraged and Alex continued, "Samael." As the word left his mouth the being in question appeared, nailed to a cross and crying out in pain, resentment, suffering, and every negative emotion out there. Chapter 86 - Dragon eater The being on the cross let out another m.o.a.n while they all took in its pathetic appearance. It''s top half was like a Fallen angel, while its bottom half was that of a eastern dragon. It was bound by various restraints and had nails plunged into its flesh all over its body. As they all took in the appearance of Samael, it''s aura washed over them, causing several people to shudder in revulsion. Alex could feel even Ddraig practically shuddering inside him, and Lauren was warning him not to be stupid in this fight. Azazel turned to Cao Cao and said, "I can''t believe you actually released him, and that death God also participated in this!" As he said the hero faction could only release Samael with the cooperation of Hades, so his involvement was undeniable. As they were talking Alex started boosting his sacred gear, but Cao Cao ignored this, confident in his victory now that they revealed Samael. "We humans would have to at least go this far to fight the terrifying beings like dragons that terrorize us, and of course lord Hades allowed us to use him, with heavy restrictions. With this infinite with finally become finate, eat her." At his order Samael''s tongue shot out, but at that moment Alex stopped boosting and transferred everything he saved to Ascalon. The sword shone with a light as never before and cracks formed along its surface from the immense power, as he sliced at the tongue. Its defenses resisted for a brief second, then amazingly broke through and severed the tongue, bathing the sword and showering Alex in his blood. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Alex screamed in pain, as the poison ate away at his armor instantly and penetrated his skin. It entered through his pores and instantly started traveled through his body, causing his entire body intense pain at the same time. As this happened everyone watched stupefied, before Asia rushed to his side with tears forming in her eyes, but she didn''t say anything and simply started healing his wounds. Vali turned towards Cao Cao and at the same time as Azazel and shouted, ""BALANCE BREAK!"" While Vali was covered in his white armor, Azazel became covered in his golden armor. As the two prepared for battle everyone else also started to get ready, and Cao Cao smiled and said, "One is down, so the other heavenly dragon, Governor General of the fallen angels, members of valid team, the Gremory team, and a full power Ophis, I don''t know if I should be overjoyed at this fight or concerned. However I shouldn''t be holding back here should I? BALANCE BREAK!" At Cao Cao''s words seven orbs formed around him and started flying around. While Asia was trying, and failing, to heal him Alex struggled to get out, "Be careful of those orbs, one can break weapons, make things fly, redirect attacks, and another can stop the attacks of women'' that''s all I know though." He recalled only those attacks from the original series, Cao Cao was able to fly thanks to one, Xenovia had to have ex-durandal repaired, Kuroka took Vali''s attack while protecting Koneko, and the last one was just stupidly specific. Cao Cao looked surprised at Alex knowing his balance breakers abilities, but decided to fight anyways. While all of this was going on Ophis was looking at Alex with even more intensity. He had protected her not once, but twice, and got hurt doing so both times. This was unusual to her, as well as other two who played cards with her. She didn''t care about the fight because she could win if she decided to, but that one thing on the cross was weird. She decided to help Alex after he got hurt, and stepped forward. "I will help you." Was all she said as she placed her hand on his body. Alex suddenly felt strength returning to him, but the effects of Samael''s poison were still there, as even though Ophis was a god she was a dragon so she was unable to do anything about it. As Alex stood he looked around the battlefield. The orbs looked the same so even if he told them their abilities it was nearly impossible to tell which one did what. The girls stayed to the back line, to avoid having their attacks being stopped, and Azazel, Vali, and Kiba took the front. Azazel was tying up Samael so that it didn''t attack Vali, while he and Kiba attacked Cao Cao. Kiba was doing the direct fighting with Cao Cao, while Vali was keeping the orbs occupied. When he saw Alex getting up Cao Cao sneered, and said, "Time to go Georg, Hades wants to get Ophis, well let him take things from here. Let''s see them take on an army of grim reapers, and let''s bring Seig here as well. Can you replicate the transfer magic?" Georg nodded and said, "I''ll need a second because I only saw it once, but it should be doable." Cao Cao nodded, then smiled evilly. His spear shot forward and impaled Azazel from the side, resulting in him falling to the ground as his blood sprayed everywhere. Then instead of blocking he simply dodged all of Kiba''s attacks. Vali grew furious and tried to get revenge, but with Samael being freed of Azazel''s interference it sent out another attack at Vali and easily defeated him. The girls launched a volley of attacks at them, but they were all eliminated, except Rias''s which was sent back at Asia and Irina. Everyone was surprised at that moment as Ophis stepped forward and intercepted the attack. It didn''t hurt her, but they were all shocked she helped them. As Cao Cao was about to attempt to leave a ripple appeared, and Shalba Beezlebub appeared while holding onto Leonardo, and a army of grim reapers appeared behind him. Before Cao Cao could say anything he disappeared and was replaced by Seig, who didn''t seem to understand the current situation. Before anyone could speak, Shalba spoke up, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have come to take the heads of the heavenly dragons!" Everyone was stupefied at his words, and before they could react he brought forward Leonardo, who was currently under his control. Using a ominous magic circle the boy screamed, as he was forced to use balance breaker and his shadow expanded. What appeared was the massive head of a monster, and it was followed by several more smaller monsters before they disappeared into a magic circle made by Shalba. He then declared, "This is my gift to the underworld, complete and utter annihilation!" He then turned to the fallen Vali and Alex standing a little ways away. "And now for the two of you!" Behind him the army of grim reapers readied themselves, and Seig, and Georg quietly collected Leonardo and left. Alex looked at the fallen body of Vali, and Azazel, and he said to the others, "Leave, Ophis helped with my strength so I''ll deal with things here, this space also won''t last much longer so get out and help those two!" They didn''t say anything, but looked at him in concern. When Kuroka went forward to collect Vali, Shalba tried to stop her, but Alex shot forward and grabbed his arm. "No you don''t!" He then kicked the insane devil, and sent him flying back. Even though he said he''ll take care of things he was still weakened by Samael''s poison. Using these few seconds they collected the injured ones, and as they left Rias turned back to him and said, "Come back to me." Alex looked back at her and replied, "Always." He then turned to the opponents in front of him. After everyone left he suddenly heard a voice behind him, "Should I help as well?" He turned in surprise and saw Ophis still there behind him. He then demanded, "You''re the one they want, what are you still doing here?!" She simply looked at him and replied, "You got hurt protecting me, and are fighting because they want me, I simply want to help." Alex waved away her words and said, "It''s what friends do so don''t worry about it." "Friends?" She tilted her head and looked confused. Alex didn''t pay attention to her though and turned back to the army in front of him. They rushed him, so Alex spammed ki attacks and dragon God breath attacks. As he eliminated some of them they started being a bit more wary, and he started a bunch of boosts. He breathed out a super powered flame breath, that incinerated large amounts of the army and melted even the ground and buildings around them. Ophis looked around as she took in the power of the current red dragon. As most of the army was destroyed Shalba appeared once more. "Damn you! I wanted Vali''s head, but I suppose just one of you will warm for now." He then shot out a large amount of magic arrow attacks at Alex, who also threw a destructo disk at him. Shalba''s eyes widened in fear as he was sliced right down the middle from head to crotch, and cut into two. As he died his attacks hit Alex, including several that were coated in Samael''s poison. By this point the rest of the grim reapers had fled, and Alex fell to the ground as he was once more poisoned. He cursed his own stupidity for letting things get to this point, and swore to destroy Hades after this. He could feel the pain once more spreading in his body, and started to meditate like Wukong showed him. He tried to maneuver the poison and isolate it so that he could remove it later. As he did so Ophis approached him, and the space continued to collapse. "Are you going to be ok?" She asked him with a small amount of concern. Alex smiled and said, "Of course, I just need to focus for a bit. Say Ophis, instead of returning to the dimensional gap why not just stick with us?" She looked confused at his question, and asked, "Why would I do that?" Alex replied, "Because it wouldn''t be as lonely, and we could be your friends." She started contemplating this words and said, "You said I was your friend earlier, what does that mean?" "It means we could talk to each other, eat snacks, and play games together, like before." She considered for a moment and said, "I would like that." Alex smiled again, then said, "Ok let''s do that, but now I need to focus due to the poison in me. Please promise me that you won''t fight anyone that doesn''t wish to harm us." He knew great red would appear any moment, and needed to make sure he wasn''t destroyed in their fight. Ophis nodded and said, "I won''t fight, I promise." Alex nodded and started his meditation, trying to isolate the poison in his body. Ophis didn''t know what else to do, but the place around them was fading so she sat in his lap like she saw some of the girls in the dorms do. She sat there and waited as he tried to fight the poison in his body, even though she could feel his life fading as the poison destroyed him from the inside. At that moment the space collapsed and she looked up to see a giant red dragon. (A.N. I realize this entire scene probably feels like a mess, trust me there were a lot of technical things that were hard to shorten, as i didn''t want to spend like ten chapters on this one scene. Chapter 87 - New powers Kiba was wondering the Gremory castle, worrying about his master. Ever since they left Alex behind two days prior Rias had been sinking into deeper despair. They were all worried about him, but Rias and Kuroka seemed especially bad for some reason. The two of them were locked up in Rias''s room simply saying "status, status, status" over and over again. He had no idea why they were saying that, but judging on the way they repeated it, it must have been something to do with Alex. He looked at the screen displaying the news in the devil world and grew nervous, they all wanted to go and help, but their master was so unresponsive that they couldn''t. The worst part was that with each passing day that the two were like that, everyone else started sinking into deeper despair regarding Alex as well. "He''s ok, right?" Koneko asked him, with tears forming in her eyes. She had been affected most by the way her big sister reacted, and so was the one believing the most that he was gone. "Of course he is, nothing could kill that guy!" They heard a voice behind them, and turned to see Sun Wukong. He had come to heal Vali after being poisoned by Samael, and hear the current status of his student. The Vali squad was behind him, and he turned to Bikou and said, "You could stand to learn from him you know." Bikou sighed at his ancestors words, and didn''t say anything. They all then turned back to the screen and listened to the news. According to them there were thirteen monsters released by Shalba, twelve bandersnatches, and the biggest one was called a jabberwockey. They were each wreaking havoc in the underworld with the jabberwockey making its way to the Capitol of the Maou territory, Lilith. Even when ultimate class Devils were dispatched they did no more than tickling them. Meanwhile Rias and Kuroka were in her room muttering the same thing over and over again. "Status, status, status." But no matter how much they repeated it the now familiar screen never appeared. It had vanished not long after they left Alex behind, and both Rias hand Kuroka had long learned that they could use it to determine if Alex was alive or not. If it vanished then that could only mean one thing. After two days of this someone suddenly entered the room. They briefly looked up and say a small monkey like figure. He strode over and looked at the two of them and declared, "I should really scold my disciple when I next see him, choosing such useless women to be around him." When they heard his words both girls looked at him curiously, though the light had yet to return to their eyes. He then continued, "Instead of having faith that he''ll return to you, you immediately assume he''s dead, and instead of doing something about it, you sit here and mope. So what are you if not useless?" At that moment a small light returned as they were both insulted. Before they could say anything however, [testing, testing. System functions now returning, connection is reestablished, we are sorry for the inconvenience.] Both of them were dumbfounded, and immediately became fully alert as they pushed a message through, ignoring the monkey in front of them. *** When Alex opened his eyes once more he was on a red landscape and the sky was a bunch of different colors. "So I ended up in the dimensional gap regardless, huh?" He said out loud. He suddenly looked around in a small panic, and saw Ophis sitting a little ways away. He let out a sigh of relief, and said, "Are you alright Ophis?" She nodded her head and replied, "I promised not to fight, so I didn''t." Alex didn''t need to ask what she meant, as he looked around and saw he was riding a giant red dragon. He was actually very pleased she listened to what he asked her, because he didn''t want to wake up in a battlefield. Alex looked at his body and was pleased with what he managed, at first it seemed as if he wasn''t going to be able to fight the poison, but he suddenly got a surge of strength and forced it to submit. He didn''t know where the strength came from, but was pleased it came when it did. Ddraig suddenly said in his mind. Alex was confused and asked, ''What do you mean my own strength?'' But this time Lauren answered, ''Soon after the fight with Loki we noticed that you were weaker than you should have been, but there was nothing to determine what crippled you. Ddraig then mentioned what maybe "nothing" was the clue for us, to think he was right. It turned out the one who restricted your strength was great red, the dragon born from illusions.'' Alex was stunned at her words, but also thought they made sense. He didn''t think super Saiyan would be omnipotent in the dxd world, but he did seem to be weaker than he should have been. Now that he thought about it he felt ashamed that he didn''t notice it sooner. Ddraig spoke up, Alex felt a little better at his words, but still asked, ''But why did great red cripple me?'' Lauren answered once more. ''Ddraig asked him that as well, and the answer actually surprised us. When you combined the boosted gear and super Saiyan he detected your power, and investigated your dreams when you passed out. He learned about what you have planned, but also that you were severely lacking in training. He then placed blockers so that when you noticed your weakness you would continue training the basics and reach your ideal level of strength. I have to say his idea worked beautifully.'' Alex was dumbstruck at her words, but she didn''t let him recover before her next bombshell. ''Oh by the way, congrats on making level one hundred Alex.'' When he heard her he froze, and suddenly looked at his status to see that she wasn''t lying. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 18 Level- 100 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Job- expert martial artist(100) Available jobs- Mage, master martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, demonic charmer, holy enemy, berserker, sword user, divine nemesis, ape lord Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist Skills- Dragon gods breath(9) Dragon plate scales(6) Dragons glider(8) Dragons claws(3) Intimidation(4) Ki manipulation(7) Devils charm(5) Gravity magic(10) Fire manipulation(7) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When he saw that he was level one hundred Alex leaped with joy, "YYYEEEEEESSSSSSSSS! Finally I''m there!" He swiftly went to the shop and bought Asora. Once it was bought he suddenly felt different, and saw it was added to his abilities. He then also chose his next job, and went with ruthless draconian tyrant. [NOTICE! Asora added, strength increased, defense increased, dragons glider, claws, and plate scales were replaced with draconian form.] When Alex heard his new ability he was surprised, and activated it. He was suddenly covered in scales and his hands and feet changed to claws, and his tail changed to become more reptilian. A pair of wings opened on his back, and he felt a pair of horns grow on his head. Ophis''s eyes opened wide at his new form, and Alex was amazed at his new forms look. As he was looking at his new powers he suddenly got another notification, [connection reestablished with subordinates] He wondered what this meant, until Lauren clarified and Alex started sweating. ''When you were busy meditating, you were fighting Samael''s poison, great red removed the blockers, you reached the limit of your current job, and you reached level one hundred, the system couldn''t keep up and cut off some functions. In other words it removed your subordinates until some of it could be fixed when you woke up. He didn''t like what this might be mean, and asked, ''Does this mean-'' ''Yes they''ve most likely thought you were dead for the last couple of days.'' Alex was sweating at her words, and before he could react, received video calls. He opened them and instantly, "ALEX ARE YOU OK?!" Rias screamed from the screen. Kuroka was right next to her, and they were both listening to hear from him, until they saw what looked like a humanoid dragon looking back. (A.N. Squeezed one more chapter out since the last chapter kinda sucked. And for anyone curious this is the point he pretty much becomes a true super Saiyan.) Chapter 88 - Return When Rias and Kuroka saw a humanoid dragon looking back at them all their words froze. It looked confused for a moment then realized what was wrong and changed back into the Alex they knew. As he looked at them he saw that they were in a building and said, "I''m fine but where are you?" The two looked uncomfortable at his words and replied, ""Gremory castle..."" Alex''s brow twitched and he said, "Isn''t there a terrorist attack right now, why are you guys still there?" He wasn''t playing stupid, he could see their red and puffy eyes from crying. Though he felt bad for making them worry but the situation was bad right now and they were needed. Rias then said, "But we thought we lost you!" Alex sighed and said, "If I did die your saying that you would just sit there and mope, instead of going out and doing something about it, like repaying my killers or something?" Once again they looked uncomfortable at his words, and Alex continued, "Just go and do your parts, I''m in the dimensional gap with Ophis and great red so I''ll be back soon, but I''m not sure when." The two nodded, now feeling shame at their lack of action, and swiftly left. Neither of them realized they left a very confused monkey behind them. After the video call with them ended Alex turned and recalled that Ophis was next to him. He suddenly had a bad feeling as he didn''t try to hide the call, until, ''Wait, what?'' Alex was confused, did she now know about his background? Lauren answered his unspoken question, ''Yep, she was listening to the conversation of Ddraig and great red and learned about your origins from that.'' Alex felt his brow twitching again and asked, ''Ddraig and the two girls I understand, but isn''t the secrecy rule a little loose if both Ophis and great red know about it now?'' Lauren seemed to mentally shrug but didn''t reply. He then turned to Ophis and said, "With the new power I have I can take others with me to other worlds, would you like to go and see it while I deal with the opponents Shalba left and Cao Cao? I''ll go and get you once the fighting is done." Ophis looked interested and nodded her head. The two then disappeared into a cloud of fog. Alex reappeared a couple hours later after leaving Ophis in Asora for the time being , and sat on great reds head. He tried to familiarize himself with his newfound strength before he started fighting again. This went on until great red started growling, and a giant crack appeared in the space, beyond it Alex could see a city, and a giant beast about to approach it. Alex smiled at his new tester for his strength, and a golden aura wrapped around him, and his gauntlet appeared on his arm. *** Grayfia was leading the group to fight the jabberwockey, and they weren''t making any headway on it. All the damage they dealt was repaired almost instantly, and it was also spawning smaller monsters that would try to spread and destroy the surroundings. As she was thinking of a way to deal with it a deafening noise sounded through the area, and she looked up to see a giant crack forming in the sky. Appearing from it was a giant red dragon, that had an oppressive, yet familiar aura on its head. "Great red, and... Alex?" She murmured out loud as the duo came closer. She could then see Alex glowing in his golden transformation on top of great reds head, before he suddenly disappeared. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!! A shockwave spread throughout the area as Alex reappeared when he hit the jabberwockey, and sent it flying back a short ways. Grayfia and the rest of her husbands peerage were dumbfounded, as Alex then got under it and started throwing it up into the air BOOM BOOM BOOM Over and over he hit it, launching it further and further into the air, before he disappeared again and reappeared at the ground. Alex then placed his hands together at his side, one gauntleted, and started saying, "KAAAAAAA, MEEEEEEEEEE," The jabberwockey turned to face him while in the air and its mouth opened as it started to prepare to breath fire. "HAAAAAAA, MEEEEEEEEEEE," A sphere of light appeared in his hands that started growing in intensity before, It suddenly grew in size and light before he finally finished. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The sphere of light shot up towards the jabberwockey as it bellowed flames in retaliation, only to be swallowed entirely. As the light faded all trace of the jabberwockey vanished, and it disappeared from existence. In its place was a hole to the dimensional gap, left by the intensity of the attack. Grayfia was dumbfounded at the situation, a being she and the rest of her peerage couldn''t defeat, Alex eliminated in mere moments singlehandedly. Before anyone could say anything, The gauntlet restarted and Alex flew up into the air, and closed his eyes. As this happened several ki spheres started forming around him, and started growing in intensity. They finally stopped at eleven, the same number of bandersnatches left after Serafall eliminated one, and the gauntlet kept boosting. Once it finally reached twenty two boosts, Once more the ki spheres around him started glowing dangerously, and Alex opened his eyes and said, "Search and destroy." As his words finished the spheres shot out, and traveled in different directions. After a few moments the ground started shaking as each sphere found its target and destroyed it. Grayfia started sweating at the difference in level, as Alex made his way over. "I''ll leave the smaller monsters to you, I''m gonna head into the city to find Rias and the others." At his words she regained her composure and said, "Of course, thank you for your help." Alex nodded and before he left turned to great red who had watched the whole thing and was starting to return to the dimensional gap, suddenly, "Zoom Zoom Iyaaan. Zoom Zoom Iyaaan!" Alex was dumbfounded, while Grayfia and the rest looked at the giant dragon curiously and wondered what it was trying to say. Alex then asked Ddraig, ''Did it learn about that from my dreams as well?!'' The dragon sighed and said, The two didn''t talk about it anymore, and turned to go to the city. Chapter 89 - Reunion As Alex approached the city Lilith he was able to sense the aura of the ORC, Sairaorg, and the student council. Kuroka wasn''t there, but Alex recalled that the Vali team went to Hades realm to raise hell. When he arrived he found that things were pretty much the same as he expected, Gasper was passed out, most likely from activating his balance breaker, Heracles was defeated, and Jeanne was holding a kid hostage. The main difference though was that Seig''s body was also present, but Kiba was holding onto his swords. As Alex landed he looked around and asked, "So what''d I miss?" Before he was rushed by all of the girls, even Sona walked over with a smile. While this was happening Jeanne was looking outraged that they were ignoring her, until Alex vanished and reappeared fight in front of her. When she tried to use the knife, "I think I''ll take care of that." He grabbed the blade of the knife with one hand and held it still, while his other hand reached out and he flicked her forehead. After getting flicked with his strength Jeanne abruptly passed out, and collapsed. He turned to the shocked watchers and said, "What, shouldn''t you focus more on restraining her?" Reminded by his words they moved to place restraints on her and Heracles. As they did so a voice spoke from above them. "So they have been defeated, and you returned red dragon. To think you would instantly defeat all the bandersnatches and the jabberwockey, or should I say as expected of you?" Alex didn''t say anything and just let Cao Cao continue speaking. A moment later, another tear appears in the air and a grim reaper appears. "Greetings from Hades everyone." Cao Cao looked surprised and asked, "Pluto, what are you doing here?" He skeleton looked directly at Alex and said, "I was told to retrieve Ophis no matter what, and the red dragon is the last one to see her. I came here to interrogate him." When Alex heard his words he felt his brow twitching, did they think he was that weak? Before he said anything Vali also appeared. "Leave this grim reaper to me, I want to vent on something and he seems to be the most convenient, my team is already trashing Hades palace." Alex stepped back and let Vali fight, but said as he did so, "I have a future proposition for you Vali, so we''ll have to talk in the near future." Vali looked surprised and looked away from his fight to ask, "What kind of proposal?" Alex smiled and said, "The chance to fight opponents that you''ll never have the chance to otherwise." When everyone heard his words, except for Rias, they were all confused and wondered what he meant. Vali though had his eyes glowing at them and said, "I''ll hold you to that, but I need to finish this first." He then turned back to Pluto, and entered balance breaker, juggernaut drive. What happened after that could only be described as a one sided slaughter. First he disarmed Pluto, then he stated beating him, after that he used a new move and continued halving Pluto until nothing remained. Once this was done though a sweating Vali dispelled his armor. His new ability was overpowered, but severely drained him, not that Alex could talk. After that Alex turned to Cao Cao, "I guess it''s our turn." Cao Cao smiled, and activated his balance breaker. The seven orbs started flying around and he got into a battle stance. Alex smiled, as he disappeared once more and reappeared right behind Cao Cao. Before Cao Cao could react Alex punched him in the back, and he was sent flying into the ground. Cao Cao recovered and flew off in the other direction. Alex summoned several ki spheres, and thanked the fact that the city was evacuated before he bombarded the area with ki blasts. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM They exploded all over the city as Cao Cao tried to avoid them. He used one sphere to redirect an attack back to Alex, but he simply slapped it away, causing an explosion behind him. Cao Cao then used another sphere to make several knight like beings, and had them swarm Alex to try and outnumber him. As they attacked him it appeared their attacks simply passed through him. Cao Cao glared as he saw that, and said, "After image technique again?" Before Alex appeared right behind him once more and tried to attack, but at that moment another sphere approached them, and Cao Cao smiled. Suddenly Alex felt an intense impact and was thrown backwards. He quickly stabilized himself and glared as he suddenly remembered that an orb used a destructive power. Alex decide to get a bit serious and reactivated super Saiyan. "That golden form, from what I understand it increases your power, it appears I''m in troub-" that was as far as he got, when Alex''s fist buried itself into his stomach. Cao Cao was stuck in what seemed like a silent scream as his insides were pulverized. He fell to the ground and started puking large amounts of blood. He then looked up at Alex who landed next to him and said, "It appears I have nothing left but truth idea to use." When Alex heard that his brow twitched but he didn''t do anything. Truth idea was essentially considered the will of God left in the spear. Alex wasn''t concerned though as he had good intentions for this world while Cao Cao had only ever terrorized it. The spear tip started opening and an intense glow started shining over the area, before it suddenly stopped and dimmed once more. Cao Cao looked incredulous at the development, and Alex simply said, "My intentions are to protect this world from those who will come and terrorize it, you have only inflicted fear and terror on it. It''s no wonder the spear chose my dream over yours." Cao Cao looked thoughtful at his words, and started thinking seriously. He suddenly started laughing and said, "To think, an "evil" devil has ideals like that of a hero more than I who is descended from one." At that moment some mist appeared and a battered Georg appeared, missing an eye, arm, and his leg looked ruined. He gripped Cao Cao with his other arm and said, "Let''s go Cao Cao, the others are headed here and we can''t win." Cao Cao nodded and they started to make their escape. Alex didn''t try to stop them, because he knew Indra would step in and deal with them later. After they fled everyone reached where Alex was and he repeated what happened for all of them to hear. Then he returned to the Gremory castle with them before finally going home. Chapter 90 - Asora After beating Cao Cao, Alex heard about Sirzechs and Azazel going to confront Hades, but didn''t actually fight him. He knew it was going to be like that anyways, and was actually happy as it meant that he would get to destroy Hades himself, after he set his other plans in motion. First he wanted to focus on something else. After returning home they had another "feast" to celebrate Alex''s return, and were also joined by Kuroka when Vali team was done in Hades palace. The next day they all slept in, but around noon he woke Rias, Kuroka, and Ravel and dragged them out of bed. "What is it?" Ravel asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She and Koneko didn''t actually participate again, but they were still present. At that moment the four of them were enveloped in mist, and the other three immediately became alert. Kuroka said, "Georg again?! They already recovered!" But when the mist disappeared they were in a forested area with no signs of civilization to be seen. Alex smirked at the three and said, "Nope not Georg, but me." They looked confused for a second before Kuroka and Rias connected it, and started brightening up. Kuroka then said, "You got a new power?!" Alex nodded, and turned to the still confused Ravel. "Don''t worry, there''s a lot I haven''t told you about myself sadly, but I hope that since I can tell you now you''ll forgive me." He had already confirmed that the so called restrictions on discussing the other worlds didn''t apply here, and started explaining everything about his background. Ravel looked enlightened when he caught her up to speed and didn''t hold the secrecy against him, but did look a little bitter that he didn''t add her to his peerage. He then started explaining about Asora for all of their benefit. "First about this power, you could say it''s similar to dimension lost, but instead of creating temporary spaces this is all permanent. It''s called Asora, in the world it came from it''s a special attack used by a dragon that specializes in illusions called Shen, the invincible. It would show their victim either a vision that brings them joy, or one that brings them horror. However the dragon was beaten by a human and formed a contract with them, which ended with them becoming the humans slave, though willingly. "After that happened the ability evolved and became a separate world tied to the human, and increased with his power. When they established that the world could sustain them they started migrating beings into it, and created their own country. That is why I got it, so that we can migrate those that wish to here, and those like Rias''s peerage can follow us to other worlds since it''ll be tied to me. But I can''t just leave them in a deserted forest, so I came up with another idea." He then explained his plan to the three of them, and if their wicked grins were something to go by, they all agreed to it. At that time some branches rustled, and a small girl dressed in gothic clothes appeared and declared, "I, have arrived!" Alex didn''t react, but Rias, Kuroka, and Ravel all jumped at Ophis''s sudden appearance. He smiled and walked forward, before rustling her hair and said, "Sorry if you were lonely while you were here. But we''re back at the dorms so it should be safe for you to come out now. By the way how was it here?" One of the reasons Alex brought them here was also to retrieve Ophis, and ask her opinion on the place. She closed her eyes contently and said, "It''s quiet here, peaceful, but also lonely." Alex nodded and said, "If everything goes right there''ll be several people moving here in the near future, I''d like it if you came with us." She nodded her head in agreement, but didn''t say anything. They then discussed a few other things, and Alex confirmed, and taught them the way to enter and exit Asora so that he wasn''t the one who would need to bring them every time. He had confirmed that while he can teach others to come and go as they pleased, they wouldn''t be able to while he was in worlds that they didn''t originate in, except his peerage. This meant that while Rias and Kuroka would be able to enter and leave as they please when he goes to the next world, Ravel would only be able to do so in the dxd world, and would need one of them to let her out in another world. Once they returned to the dorms Rias and Ravel started working on what Alex wanted to start his plans, while Kuroka went to rejoin Vali team after promising to start teaching Koneko senjutsu and youjutsu. Alex on the other hand was getting in touch with those he needed to talk to, and set a meeting with them the next day. *** "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice, I hope you understand the request for this meeting to be top secret will become apparent soon." Alex said as he smiled at those seated in front of him. There was Sirzechs and Serafall from the Devils, Michael and Gabriel from the Angels, Azazel and Barakiel from the fallen angels, and finally Yasaka and Wukong from the eastern and western youkai factions. On Alex''s side was Rias and Ravel, who was passing out the doc.u.ment she made the day before. Alex sat and observed their reactions as they read what he wanted to do. There were several different reactions to his intentions, but for the most part they seemed to agree before they finally started the discussion. "While I do like the idea of creating a country of mixed races to help promote cooperation, how do you plan to do this mass migration plan? First of all where do you plan to migrate everyone to?" Azazel asked when he was done reading. This was Alex''s idea, migrating several hundreds or thousands of people from each faction and move them to Asora. They''ll focus on the non combat roles, while Alex will create several combat groups from ones he wanted to recruit. He didn''t mention the exact location of where he wanted to move the people to, and started explaining his story, "While I was in the dimensional gap with great red we came across a new dimension like heaven, the underworld, and the human world, not settled by any people. I learned the way to get there before leaving, and can teach a select few how to do so. But the exact secrets aren''t something to share carelessly, and I want to avoid evil intentions as much as possible, which is why I requested representatives from each faction that''ll live there." This was the best way to go about it that he thought of. He''ll choose representatives that''ll be in charge of their respective faction, and once in Asora he''ll explain the whole story while the others will simply know the bare minimum. He knew it was a long shot to get them to believe him, but, "I say we place our trust in him, if it wasn''t for Alex then who knows what would''ve happened this last time." The one who spoke up was Michael of the Angels, who Alex didn''t expect. Surprisingly pretty much every other person agreed as well. However Michael asked, "Though I do want to know about this, ''Angels might not fall'', what do you mean by that?" His words were sharp, as this was a current issue in heaven. Alex had learned through Lauren that since gods system didn''t exist in Asora then Angels wouldn''t fall, he included that in the information as a theory so that the Angels would be more willing to accept. He then explained this to them, but made it seem as speculation. Then Michael responded with, "I see, if this is true then it needs to be tested. If I recall my ace-" " I''ll do it." Everyone looked in surprise at the speaker, Gabriel. They all knew Michael was about to suggest testing this with Irina, but for some reason Gabriel volunteered. She then clarified, "I don''t want to start using our people, especially the new additions as test subjects. If we risk this and someone falls it makes it seem as if we view our reincarnated Angels as disposable. The biggest impact would be if someone in a higher position tests it, and if it''s true then I''ll also become the representative once it''s confirmed." Michael wasn''t sure how to respond, he didn''t want to risk one of the seraph, but understood her point. But he also wanted to make sure she knew what she''ll be getting herself into, especially since he notice Alex''s eyes getting sharper when she volunteered. "You realize that it probably means doing naughty things with Alex right?" He wasn''t going to suggest something else, Alex discovered Asora, he would most likely be the one to test it, and doing l.u.s.tful activities was better than turning evil. She hesitated for a moment and nodded, and said, "If it helps our people live better lives then it''s a small sacrifice. Though if you don''t mind I would like some time to prepare myself." She said the last part to Alex, and he nodded in agreement. He actually was wanting to somehow make Gabriel his woman, but wasn''t sure how to succeed. Though he felt bad about seemingly forcing her into it, she volunteered so he didn''t refuse her, the least he could do is let her prepare herself mentally. After that they continued discussing some things, the rest of the representatives were Serafall who immediately volunteered when Alex mentioned the possibility of Sona being there in the future, Barakiel since he knew his daughter would most likely follow Alex, and finally Yasaka who explained that she was already loosening her connection to Kyoto''s Leylines after the last incident and would be able to leave the area permanently in the near future. They agreed to meet in three days for Alex to escort there and inspect the area personally. This gave them time to set the groundwork for the immigrants and Alex would be able to deal with Hades before then. Chapter 91 - Hades It was the day after meeting with the higher ups of the factions, and Alex was ready to go after Hades. He already decided that it''ll just be him and his peerage, meaning him Kuroka and Rias, neither had any objection. After meeting up with Kuroka once more they followed her lead into Hades''s realm. *** Hades was in his palace trying to get the damage caused by Sirzechs fixed. He had heard of the Maou''s alternate form and was anxious to see it, but didn''t realize that it would cause such damage to his palace at the same time. He was annoyed that nothing worked this time, he didn''t get Ophis, and those damn so called heroes couldn''t even kill those heavenly dragons. As he was thinking this he suddenly felt the ground shudder. "What was that?" He asked a subordinate. They shook their skeletal head and didn''t answer him. Hades took up his scythe and went to see what it was, when his doors blasted open. Hades didn''t even flinch as his palace was invaded, and watched as one of those damn dragons walked right in as if he owned the place, flanked by two women. One of women Hades recognized when she helped invade his territory the other day, and he glared with his eyeless sockets and asked, "To what do I owe the displeasure heavenly dragon?" Alex sneered at him and went super Saiyan while also summoning his gauntlet to start the boosts. "I''m here to remove a tumor." Hades seemed to laugh in response and said, "Are you aware of the consequences if I was removed? Though I doubt you''d be able to do so. But I was just thinking about how annoyed I was you didn''t kick the bucket before, so I''ll just say it was self defense when those annoying crows and bats ask why I killed you." Alex smiled and at that time he got to his third boost. At that word Alex''s aura exploded and the cracks Sirzechs formed grew as the room was flooded with his power. He had checked with Ddraig before hand, and with all his extra training he could now take three boosts, and last about twenty seconds before his body started breaking down. His boosted gear also won''t go into a cool down until he got to five boosts, due to it modifying itself during the last cool down. When Hades felt the power coming from Alex all his c.o.c.kiness disappeared, and for the first time in his many millennium of existing, felt fear. He readied his scythe and when Alex walked towards him swung it at him expecting it go through him and take his life force. Instead Alex raised his arm and a metallic clang rang throughout the room. CLANG!!!! He couldn''t believe it, his scythe was supposed to be unblock able. He looked to see if there were any reinforcements, but saw that the two girls were holding them all off at the entrance to the room. At that moment Alex disappeared, and Hades felt some kind of pressure in the middle of his skeletal body, before he was blown back and slammed into the wall behind him. His bones cracked and shattered, and shards went flying everywhere. He then felt the same thing on both of his arms and legs as they were all destroyed. "Now then, how about this?" Hades heard Alex talking above him, and looked up to see him holding a jewel before he placed his gauntleted hand on his body while holding the jewel in his right. Hades then felt his power draining away as Alex took his divinity. As the last of it drained away Alex dispelled the boosted strength he had before running out of time, and called out, "Kuroka, your turn." The cat girl then ran over with a smile, as she summoned her kasha wheel, and Alex produced another of his boosted gear jewels. He then turned to the girl, "Are you sure you can do it?" She laughed and said, "If I couldn''t then I would be a disappointment wouldn''t I, nyan?" This was the second time Hades felt fear, and he used the last of his strength to demand, "WHAT ARE DOING TO ME?!" Alex smiled bitterly and said, "Well even if we killed you then there''s a chance you''ll just resurrect later due to the influence you have over death, or possibly your allies using the holy grail. This way we can ensure you can''t come back, since you wouldn''t actually die." As Alex finished speaking Kuroka stepped forward and held the jewel, as she started working on sealing him into it. He then made his way to the door, to help Rias with holding back the grim reapers. The only reason she held out this long was because she was simply sitting there with extinguished star blocking the door. After Kuroka finished sealing Hades she handed the jewel to Alex, and the three left after he stored it away. And just like that the land of the dead was deprived of its ruler. *** Meanwhile Ravel had returned to the underworld, and was currently undergoing a ceremony. Her mother placed a crown on her head and the Maou Beezlebub summoned the monument, and said, "Will the lady of Phoenix step forward." Ravel stepped up to the monument and reached out her hand while enveloping it with her aura. Once she touched the monument she became registered as a king, and Maou Beezlebub held out a box with fifteen chess pieces in it. As she received her evil pieces she thought about what led her here. She started as her brothers bishop, but after Alex killed him she transferred to her mother and hoped to become his bishop in the future. But then she heard that he had no interest in having a peerage, and started to lose hope until she became his fianc¨¦ instead. But then the other day she learned about his plans for the future, and what he wanted to achieve. Ravel decided that her thoughts were too small, and if she wanted to help him then she needed to step forward. She contacted her mother the same day Alex told her about Asora, and told her about her decision to become a king. She also had candidates for her peerage in mind, as her brother was kind enough to leave them behind for her. They may not be worth much in a fight compared to Rias''s peerage, but she''ll train them hellishly if she has to, and do everything she can to be of use to him. Chapter 92 - Asora immigration plan start! For the next two days after defeating Hades Alex spent his time exploring Asora to better familiarize himself with the terrain. But the supernatural world was abuzz with news about Hades disappearance, as the grim reapers gave no word on what actually happened. Even though Azazel gave him accusatory looks Alex didn''t say anything, as removing a god on his own authority was a serious problem. Like this he was a now waiting for the invited people to arrive at the dorms before showing them Asora for the first time. Rias and Ravel were waiting with him, and while they were waiting Alex asked, "So when will the vampires be here?" He was referring to the request Rias sent them to meet regarding Gaspers powers. She shook her head and said, "There''s apparently some kind of power struggle going on there, so it''ll take about two weeks before they arrive." Alex nodded and was thankful he had some down time before going to Romania. He then looked at Ravel, when he returned from Hades palace he felt that there was something different with her, but she insisted on it being a surprise. He was thinking about what Ravel could be surprising him with, when there was finally a knock at the door. Rias went to open it and let the guests in. "Greeting Maou leviathan, seraph Gabriel, lady Yasaka, and Barakiel, it seems you do know how to knock." The first three smiled at her greetings, but Barakiel frowned at the jibe, not that he felt it was undeserved. They all turned to Alex and Barakiel said, "Well we''re all here, are we going?" Alex shook his head and replied, "There''s a couple more people I''m waiting for, it should only be a few minutes." They were curious about who else he would invite considering his wish for secrecy, until the door was knocked on again. Rias let them in and everyone was surprised before going on alert against the newcomers. The first was Sairaorg Bael, but he wasn''t the one they reacted to, that was the Vali squad that walked in behind him. "What''s the meaning of this red dragon?" Barakiel asked him as he glared at them with hostility. Alex sighed, he expected something like this so he didn''t let it get to him. The Vali team was essentially the enemy of every major faction at the moment, including the Khaos brigade, so it was understandable that they would be alert against them. He simply said, "I''ll explain everything once we arrive, so calm down until then." They didn''t seem to be willing to understand, but Alex didn''t give them time to as they were all engulfed by mist a second later. Similar to Kuroka and Rias, they first thought of Georg and went even more alert until the area they ended up in was a forested area. Alex then stepped forward and said, "Welcome to Asora." The ones gathered looked around with wonder, while Sairaorg and the Vali squad looked at Alex with confusion as he didn''t explain what he called them for. Alex then started explaining to the whole group. "I will explain in a moment, but before I do you all need to swear to secrecy, as the information I''m about to tell you can''t be leaked outside us." Vali looked annoyed and said, "Why should I swear anything to you?" Alex shook his head and explained, "It''s not to me, just that you won''t talk to others about what I''m about to tell you without permission." They all looked conflicted for a moment before eventually giving in and swearing. Once that was done Alex then started, "This is Asora as I already said, it is a world tied to my soul and will travel with me when I go to different worlds in the near future." As they heard Alex''s words they didn''t react at first, until the reality of what he said sank in and he was bombarded with questions. He smiled as he answered their questions, including about why they couldn''t talk about this to anyone. Then Barakiel asked, "What about your immigration plan? Where does that fit in?" Alex nodded and continued explaining, "I plan to take those who wish to follow me with me to the other worlds in the future. However the problem is that I can''t just throw them in here and leave them until I need them, so I decided to attempt to immigrate those of the factions who would like to live here and form my own country. The problem with this is that there needs to be high levels of secrecy, and anyone who comes will have to be willing to completely leave behind their old lives." Most of those gathered looked conflicted, but Barakiel was turning red and asked, "Wait so are you planning on turning those that follow you into your soldiers?!" They all looked sharp at his words but Alex shook his head. "I want mostly non combatants to follow me. The fighting forces is the reason I invited Sairaorg and Vali here, as I figured they would like to fight other people from different worlds." At his words Vali''s eyes became sharp, and he started releasing an aura in anticipation, but Sairaorg looked concerned. "I don''t think I can go, I have my commitments here." Alex nodded in understanding, but then said, "Are those commitments to the people that turned their backs on you after I beat you?" At his words Sairaorg looked uncomfortable. What Alex said was true, after being beaten by him he was thrown away by all of his supporters as they didn''t want to waste resources with a loser, and he was also starting to lose his position as heir of his family. Alex then spoke up, "Not only could I use your fighting potential, I believe you''ll want to follow me by your own will when I tell you this next part. The worlds I plan to visit have completely different methods of healing compared to this world, including potentially diseases." When he heard Alex''s words Sairaorg eyes became sharp as he understood his implications. Alex was saying that by going there was a chance of curing his mother of her disease that left her comatose. He was conflicted in his choice, before finally giving up and saying with a small smile, "You win, I''ll go. I guess I better start training myself again so that I can stand against people from other worlds." Alex smiled and turned to Vali who immediately said, "I have things to do here, but once that''s done I''ll also go. However I don''t want to be under your control." Alex nodded his head and replied, "Asora only exists because of me so I can''t have people being too independent, but as long as you don''t do anything too outrageous and are willing to assist with some fights when I ask then I have no problem." Vali smiled at their understanding, and started to look forward to the different fighting styles he''ll see in the future, as his team behind him also started to get excited. He didn''t know it, but Alex planned to settle things between them before leaving so that it was indisputable who was stronger. Then he turned his attention to the other four, "As for the rest of the immigrants, as I said before I mostly want non combatants. At most a few thousand people who can research new magic and technology from other worlds, who can farm and industrialize. Basically I want to turn this place into a real functioning country, one that''ll welcome new residents from worlds we go to in order to increase our strength, and is free from the discrimination of the past as the residents won''t belong to one race." As Alex spoke they all started getting eager looks in their eyes even though they were anxious about doing this a moment before. They all saw the results of sharing technology between the three factions, what would happen with a world where technology from many of the worlds out there was combined? The four of them started discussing between themselves to determine what they wanted to do. After a while they then said, "We would like to explore this area for a while if you don''t mind. Once we can tell if this place can truly sustain us then we''ll agree to what you said." Alex consented to what they asked, as they were unable to contact or leave Asora before he taught them the way to enter and exit. They all then started leaving in order to explore, with Rias and Ravel leading them around, while Sairaorg and the Vali group also took off and started to explore. Alex was just going to relax, until he noticed that there was still someone present. "Is there something else Gabriel?" The beautiful angel looked at Alex and said with a bit of nervousness, "While they are doing that, I would like to confirm if your claims that Angels can''t fall in this world are accurate." Chapter 93 - Gabriel When Alex heard Gabriel''s words he couldn''t help the predatory gleam that appeared in his eyes as he asked her, "Are you sure?" She nodded her head hesitantly and said, "I already said, even if its not the entire race, it''s a worthy sacrifice if my people can be happy." Alex got closer to Gabriel and she took a step back, until her back was against a tree. Alex put his arm against the tree effectively pinning her to it. He took this as a good sign, as she didn''t try to resist his actions and he said to her, "If you offer then I''m going to accept, but I hope you''ve prepared yourself." He had expected her to take longer before working up the courage to approach him, but she didn''t back down and continued to look him in the eyes. Alex wrapped one of his arms around her and the two disappeared as he sped them away to a more private location. Before Gabriel realized it they were at a small waterfall and the first thing she thought was how beautiful it was. While she admired the scenery Alex was placing barriers to ensure their privacy, and sent messages to Kuroka and Rias to keep the others away. Once he had finished Alex approached Gabriel, who was wearing a female business suit with a skirt, once more and turned to face him. She took in a deep breath and said, "I already prepared myself, so do to my body as you wish." Alex was surprised at her words, as she seemed to think he was just going to please himself using her body. He smiled bitterly and said, "I don''t think you understand, an angel doesn''t fall because they simply do naughty things." As he spoke he grabbed her waist and found the zipper to her skirt. "They fall because when they do naughty things they feel pleasure doing so." When he whispered his words into her ear he was slowly pulling the zipper to her skirt down. He then found her mouth with his and the seraph suddenly had her first kiss. As he stole her lips he finished pulling her zipper and her skirt fell to the ground, revealing her pure white cotton panties. When he broke the kiss and looked down at them his first thought was that they definitely fit a pure follower of God. She seemed to blush at his probing eyes, until his hand slid from her waist to caress the front of her panties, causing her to shudder as her crotch was stimulated for the first time in her millennium of existence. Alex only barely caressed her, before he moved his hands to the top of her outfit and started removing it. Gabriel didn''t resist his movements, as she felt waves she never experienced before with his every move. Soon she stood there in nothing but her bra and panties, and Alex was admiring the view that was provided. It didn''t take long for the bra to join the rest of her clothes, and Alex saw the most heavenly b.r.e.a.s.ts in heaven. He leaned in for another kiss as his hands would barely stimulate her b.r.e.a.s.ts, once more causing her to shudder at the unfamiliar stimulation. Once he finished kissing Gabriel he moved down and kissed her neck, then her collar, he then moved his way down slowly and teasingly until he finally reached the peak of one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, and took the pink n.i.p.p.l.e into his mouth. Gabriel''s knees suddenly felt weak as her n.i.p.p.l.e was stimulated for the first time and she once more felt waves of unfamiliar pleasure going through her. Suddenly Alex stopped sucking her teat and she looked down in confusion until she felt her other n.i.p.p.l.e enter his mouth. Unable to endure it anymore Gabriel wrapped her arms around his head and tried to bury him in her chest as she let out a m.o.a.n, "aaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Alex smiled with her n.i.p.p.l.e still in his mouth, as she really started to feel the pleasure. He then removed her n.i.p.p.l.e from his mouth and continued working his way down her body. Gabriel didn''t want him to stop teasing her n.i.p.p.l.es, but she couldn''t help but think that when he reached where he was going she would feel even better, if he just didn''t go so painfully slow. As Alex''s mouth reached her panties he didn''t go straight for her crotch again, but went to the side and worked his way to her inner thigh. He worked his way even slower down her thighs, making sure to stimulate her as much as possible. He then switched to the other side and started working his way back up, until he reached her crotch again. Alex smiled at he saw a small wet mark in the middle of her perfectly white panties, before he placed his lips there and after many antagonizing moments kissed her there above her panties. She shuddered once more, before his hands went to the straps and started working her last defense down her legs, finally revealing the treasure garden of the most beautiful woman in heaven. Alex was surprised to see that she didn''t have even a hint of any hair down there, and was completely smooth. He admired it for a moment before he kissed it once more on the bare flesh. Gabriel shuddered once more as her slit was directly stimulated and her suspicions that she would feel even better were soon proven true when Alex''s tongue started to probe her lower lips. He used his tongue and started to explore every nook and cranny of Gabriel''s p.u.s.s.y as the Angel felt pleasure at intensities she never thought possible. Alex suddenly felt the back of his grabbed as she seemed to be trying to push his face and tongue even deeper to feel more. It was this moment that he knew she was almost ready, and he started to lay her back on the ground. As Gabriel laid down she felt Alex move her legs so that they were completely spread, and he started working her with his tongue even more until finally the Angel shuddered like never before, and experienced her first ever orgasm. "SOMETHINGS COMING!!!!!" She shouted out as her body convulsed as it never had before and she came. Alex smiled, she was finally ready. He then started stripping himself as Gabriel was recovering from her first ever orgasm, and moved back to face her when she came back to her senses. He then said to her, "Gabriel the real thing starts now, are you ready?" At his words she looked down and noticed the hot rod poking her crotch, and suddenly felt fear at the thing about to penetrate her. She reconfirmed her resolve, and simply nodded her head. Alex smiled and started kissing her, as his shaft started to penetrate her, and entered the tightest hole he had ever been in. Alex almost had to struggle to continue going as Gabriel''s p.u.s.s.y practically tried to tighten to keep him out. She herself was grimacing from the pain she was feeling as the chastity she protected for several millennium was being broken, and Alex suddenly broke her barrier. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" She cried in pain as her cherry was popped. Alex stopped moving as he tried to let her adjust, before several minutes later she gave him the nod to continue. Alex smiled and kissed her again, before he continued invading her depths with his member. Once he felt he could go no further, he started to pull out before thrusting forward. "Aaaahhhhhh!" Gabriel m.o.a.ned, with a small amount of pain and pleasure. He pulled out once more, and thrusted in again. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" He noticed that seemed to be more pleasure than pain this time, and repeated his actions. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" This time there was no mistaking it, she simply felt pleasure. Alex was amazed she was feeling it this fast right after having her chastity being taken, and wondered if it was the lack of pleasure in her life until now. As he was thinking about this she looked into his eyes, and he saw a fair amount of l.u.s.t as she practically panted, "More..." Alex was more than happy to answer her request, and started to thrust with passion. As he pumped into her Gabriel''s m.o.a.ns echoed throughout the entire area, blocked only from the outside by his barriers. The two continued until Alex felt himself nearing climax, and he finally pumped his s.e.m.e.n into her deepest depths and she tightened in response as she also reached her second orgasm. "YEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!" She practically yelled, as the two came down from their high. Alex didn''t want to push her right after losing her purity, and was about to pull out and start dressing, but, "More, please!" Gabriel wrapped her arms and legs around him, and begged for more. Alex was dumbfounded, but smiled and decided to agree to her request and proceeded to continue pounding her. Surprisingly she didn''t let him go for the next several hours. Chapter 94 - Magical girl Several hours after they started Alex finally called it quits because Gabriel looked as if she was about to pass out. He was surprised she lasted so long for her first time, and contributed it to her high capabilities. The woman in question was still laying on the ground, legs still spread as his s.e.m.e.n poured out from between them, a testimony of all the times she had him finish in her. Any grace as an angel or dignity as a seraph was completely gone, and her face was one of desire. He was really surprised that she liked s.e.x so much, but was excited because since she would be moving here in the future it was pretty much confirmed that she would be his woman. His only concern was that she''ll fall after leaving Asora if her desire wasn''t held in check. He then recalled they were supposed to be experimenting if she''d fall or not, and said, "Gabriel, would you mind summoning your wings, so that we can see if you fell or not." She looked surprised, as if she had completely forgotten the reason she gave herself to him to begin with, and immediately summoned twelve golden angel wings. She looked surprised that they weren''t black, as she knew that with the amount of pleasure she experienced it wouldn''t be strange for her to fall ten times over. "It''s true, we can''t fall here." She whispered in amazement, and turned to Alex with tears forming in her eyes. Alex nodded as he already knew that was the case, and moved onto the other topic he wanted to discuss with her. "Gabriel, you can''t fall here but if you still feel l.u.s.t after leaving then you''ll probably fall when we return. So please try to control yourself when we leave." She had a slight blush as she recalled the things she said while he was in her, but also felt she would be addicted to the pleasure he showed her. Seeing her internal struggle, he then said, "Just two years, you only need to be able to last two years before we leave and you''ll be in Asora almost full time. We''ll f.u.c.k like rabbits then." Once he rationalized the amount of time she''ll have to control herself Gabriel felt a lot better, two years was nothing to her compared to her lifespan. She had also acknowledged that Alex would be the only man she would be with, she may like s.e.x but that didn''t mean she''ll sleep with any guy when she got horny. Like this the two started to get ready to return to the group that was already waiting for them. *** Rias was waiting with the others for Alex and Gabriel after they decided they had seen enough of Asora. Everyone was in good spirits about the immigration, and we''re looking forward to what the country they were going to build will look like. At that time Alex and Gabriel appeared, and everyone turned to greet them before seeing the state the two were in. The ones who were at the meeting before suspected what they were doing, while Kuroka and Rias knew exactly what they were doing as Alex let them know, but seeing the reality was another thing. Alex was holding Gabriel in a princess carry and her hair and clothes were a complete mess, she also had a look of complete infatuation on her face as she looked up at Alex. Rias, Kuroka, and Ravel weren''t affected as they knew the amount of girls around him will only increase in the future, but the others were quite effected when they realized that he actually managed to win over Gabriel. Barakiel was probably the most effected as not only his daughter, but the one every fallen angel had been desiring for millennia had also fallen for him. Serafall was right behind him as she realized that his words about her becoming his lover might also prove true since he even managed to capture Gabriel''s heart. As he put Gabriel down Alex noticed the way Serafall seemed to be feeling and smiled as he used his speed to appear in front of her before she could react. She tried to take a step back, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, as her face developed a slight blush from her previous thoughts. "What''s wrong, thinking about how you''re going to be my woman as well in the future?" Her blush developed even more as he guessed what she was thinking, and his face moved slowly towards hers. He then said, "You know always try to make my women happy, if you''re mine then I''ll do the same for you." He whispered in her ear as she shuddered from his words. "And what would you do to make me happy?" She asked him as she tried to resist his words. Alex smiled and said, "I already told you, you''d be able to share my bed with Sona, plus all the other girls around me." Alex figured that is Serafall was yuri for Sona then maybe the allure of the other girls would help draw her in, plus he had a secret weapon. "Plus with the worlds I''ll visit I''m sure there''s some way to make you and a few others real magical girls." When he said that her eyes snapped at him with new sharpness in them, as she contemplated his words. As this was going on everyone was watching, waiting to see if he would be able to seduce a Maou after a seraph. Gabriel was somewhat conflicted as she watched the guy she gave her purity to start seducing another woman instantly, but decided not to be bothered with it as she already knew he had many other women. "Are you serious?" Serafall asked after thinking his question over for a moment. Alex nodded and said, "I have a couple ideas, but if that doesn''t work then there''s probably a way we can do it with the acc.u.mulation of different magics from the other worlds." He wasn''t lying, he could think of two possible methods right off the top of his head. There was the pactio of the negima world, it would give the contracted person a tool and uniform to strengthen them. Alex figured that what they got would reflect their personality, and it wouldn''t be too much of a stretch for Serafall to get items related to magical girls. The other method was visiting Vandalieu in the death Mage world. He created magical girl staffs and passed them to others in that world, plus it was where he got his job system. It wouldn''t be hard for him to take Serafall to ask for a staff and use the system there to get her a magical girl job. After contemplating his words Serafall suddenly smiled at him and declared, "HUSBAND!" Before planting her lips against his. Alex smiled through their kiss, knowing she was just using him to get what she wanted, but it was enough. With time she would most likely truly fall for him so he didn''t mind. Their kiss broke after a few minutes, and Rias stepped up, "Um, I know you''re being lovey and stuff, but should we begin talking about the settlements?" Alex laughed awkwardly at the situation with the surrounding people, who were looking at him in amazement. They then started discussing the details of the immigration to Asora. As Alex said they limited it to about two thousand people per faction, enough to create a city and to run it, but small enough to be easier to manage. Ravel volunteered to be the one who managed most of the affairs with it, as she was able to enter and leave Asora already and it gave her something to focus on. As the talks went on it was several more hours before they finally left and started working on the massive project they started. (A.N. The two worlds mentioned are being considered for future worlds, just not right away so don''t assume those will be the next ones he goes to.) Chapter 95 - Hot springs pt1 BOOM BOOM BOOM Explosions echoed as the two people rushed each other repeatedly, trying to gain an advantage. Wukong was trying to gain an advantage over Alex''s strength, and Alex was trying to outmaneuver Wukong''s techniques. He was still training Alex, as all of Alex''s strength meant nothing if he didn''t learn proper technique. As Alex threw a punch at him Wukong would slip to the side and smack him upside the head with his staff. After a while Alex drew his own staff and the two began fighting with their staffs, and Alex swore to never think that sentence again. This went on until there was only a few hours left before their training was up. As was the usual Alex spent this time meditating, while Wukong watched over him. Alex suddenly said, "Thank you truly, if you didn''t teach me this meditation technique I would''ve died from Samael''s poison." Wukong smiled and said, "It was no problem. I''m just glad I decided to teach it to you so early instead of waiting." They don''t say anything more until he was done meditating and time was up. As they walked out of the training room Seekvaira was waiting for them as usual. Alex nodded to her and said, "Thank you again for taking the time to assist us Seek." She twitched at the use of her fathers pet name for her, but didn''t say anything. Alex then continued, "We''re going to a hot springs tomorrow, would you like to go as well so that I can show my thanks?" She twitched more noticeably and said, "No thank you, I''m sure you''ll try to do something like "washing my back" to thank me and I don''t wish for that." Alex smiled bitterly since he wasn''t planning anything of the sort but didn''t bother trying to correct her, if she didn''t want to go to a hot springs then that was her choice. After saying their farewells both of them soon left and Alex went to prepare for the trip the next day. It had been a few days since he took Gabriel''s first time, and he had suggested to Rias going to a hot springs to relax after everything that''s happened recently, to which she was more than happy to agree. The ones going were the Gremory group, Irina, Ophis, Ravel, Alex, and surprisingly the Sitri group. Azazel would be going to "chaperone" but they all knew he just wanted to drink while in a hot springs. The next morning they all gathered in front of the dorms except for Azazel and Rosswiesse, who were picking up the cars. Soon they pulled up in their respective cars, Azazel in his blue hot rod, and Rosswiesse in a wagon. She opened the door and said, "We used magic to expand the space in here, so climb in unless you''re riding with Azazel." Pretty. Much everyone went straight to Rosswiesse''s car, while Alex, Ophis, Xenovia, and Yura, Sona''s rook. The three girls went to the back seat with Ophis in the middle, while Alex was in the front. A touch screen then appeared after they all buckled showing different functions the car had. After a second Azazel started a rocket function, and they took off. After a while he turned to Alex with a lewd grin on his face and said, "So I heard you slept with Gabriel already, I have to know, how was it?" Alex sighed at Azazel''s question and said, "I don''t like to screw and tell, so sorry." Azazel frowned and said, "I''ll pay you with something, I have a whole lab full of things. If not then I could always make it." Alex considered his words for a second, then said, "One item and a car just like this and you have a deal." Azazel smiled and they shook on it. However all Alex said to him was that Gabriel''s body was even more beautiful than he thought, and that she unexpectedly turned out to be a nympho. He didn''t say any concrete details but thankfully it seemed enough for Azazel, and Alex was looking forward to his new items in the near future. Nearly three hours later, even with Azazel''s rocket functions, they arrived at the hot springs. It was a special hot springs exclusively for the supernatural community. When they walked in Alex was surprised to someone there. There was Grayfia who he expected, and a second woman who he didn''t know and seemed to be there by herself. She was wearing a suit with a skirt similar to Gabriel the other day, and had a stern look on her face, while also being beautiful enough to be the target of several men''s s.e.xy secretary fantasies. However he couldn''t shake the sense of familiarity he felt from her. "Here''s your key miss Ren, please enjoy your stay with us." The lady behind the counter said. "Thank you." The woman, Ren, said curtly and walked away without even giving them a glance. While Rias and Azazel checked them in Alex was trying to figure out where he met her before, until Akeno grabbed one of his arms. She had a mock pouty expression as she said, "You have what fifteen girls here with you and you''re staring at yet another one that''s not with us, you''re quite greedy aren''t you?" At her words almost all of the girls looked over and narrowed their eyes. Alex smiled bitterly and said, "It''s not that, I keep having a sense that I know her. I''m just trying to figure out where." However his words just made them narrow their eyes even more, and he started sweating at their accusatory glares. He did notice that Azazel seems to have the same opinion he did about her looks, and his gaze followed her until she disappeared. After Rias finished checking them in they all split to their rooms before getting ready to enter the hot springs for the day. Chapter 96 - Hot spring pt2 After getting settled Alex immediately went to the mixed bathing onsen. On his way he passed Saji, who glared at him with bloody tears as he realized where he was going. He heard from Rias that it was discussed on the way that none of the guys would enter the mixed bath, and there was only their group and that Ren girl so there was no risk of the girls being peeped on. As he was about to enter the changing room he bumped into Grayfia, who had a small tinge of red in her cheeks. Alex had to fight from smiling as he knew she had been drinking. "Oh Alex, are you going in too?" "Yes, I decided to go in and enjoy the hot water before the girls enter." She nodded with a small smile on her face, and followed him in. Alex then had the obviously arousing experience of watching the queen of the underworld strip right in front of him. It was especially stimulating to see her crotch had a small crown of silver hair above it. She didn''t seem to mind his gaze, and waited for him to undress before going in. After leaving the changing room they sat down next to each other at a wash station and started scrubbing their bodies. Alex had to admit his eyes went to her tits more than a couple times. While he was enjoying this situation, he was also a little concerned as he didn''t know what Grayfia would consider too far. Once they were done with most of their bodies, Grayfia moved behind him and said, "I''ll get your back, then would you get mine after I''m done?" Alex smiled and replied, "It would be my pleasure." She then took a cloth and started scrubbing his back. He didn''t know if it was on purpose or not, but Alex could''ve sworn he felt a couple hard points brush against his back a few times. Once she was done he moved onto her back, and started admiring her flawless skin. Done with that the two then moved onto getting into the actual water, and started to relax. The two were just enjoying the silence and hot water, until the door opened and an entire crowd of girls came in. "Alex and big sister?!" Rias said suddenly, while the rest of them behind her stared in shock. Alex sighed and decided to defuse the situation, he recalled that originally at this point Rias and Akeno decided to fight Grayfia and pretty much ruined the trip. "Hurry up and wash up, the waters nice." Seeing how casual Alex was the girls calmed down, and started to wash themselves. Alex was amazed that beside the ones in the dorms, the Sitri group with Sona and Tsubaki also came in. He grew quite interested with watching each of them washing their bodies, earning several red faces from the Sitri group, before they finally joined him and Grayfia in the onsen. Ophis copied the rest and washed her body, before simply diving into the water and started swimming in it. Grayfia already took Alex''s right side, so Rias took his left, and to everyone''s amazement she dragged Sona to take his lap. Sona was so red it wouldn''t be strange for someone to think she was about to pass out, as the first time she exposed her body in front of a guy she was made to sit on his n.a.k.e.d lap, and felt something poking her butt under her. She immediately tried to stand up and move away, but Alex wrapped his arms around her abdomen, and pulled her closer so that she was leaning against his chest. He then whispered in her ear, "What''s wrong, I''m not going to eat you, yet." She shivered as she heard his words, and the thing under her butt also got bigger and harder. She didn''t have anything to worry about though, as Alex was going to wait until he could have her and Serafall before really eating her. That didn''t mean he wasn''t going to take a few benefits, as he suddenly sealed her mouth with his and started wrestling with her tongue. Sona gradually got absorbed in the kiss, as Alex moved his hand and started fondling her modest b.r.e.a.s.ts, and used his other one to caress her butt. Even though she put her there, Rias didn''t like being left out so she grabbed onto Alex''s side and tried to bury it in her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Grayfia then did the same on the other side. So Alex had the queen of the underworld clinging to his right side, the heiress to a noble family on his left, and finally another heiress on his lap being fondled by him, while they were all in the nude. He then broke the kiss with Sona and moved his mouth to Rias and started wrestling with her tongue. Rias grew absorbed in the kiss, and didn''t seem to mind that she was tasting her friends saliva. Contrary to her own expectations, Sona felt a sense of loss when he stopped kissing her, and without her realizing started grinding her butt against the thing below her. He then stopped caressing Sona with his left hand, and wrapped it around Rias before moving it down until he found her ass, and worked his fingers into her from there. He then did the same with the girl on his right. He was enjoying the feeling enveloping the fingers of both hands, while Sona was grinding on him below. After several minutes of this he broke off the kiss with Rias, and turned to the girl to his right and started a match with her tongue. Every girl watched as the four people became engrossed in their own world, envious of those involved. Alex continued working the girls to his left and right, while Sona worked on him and herself. This went on for several more minutes before all four reached climax, as Alex felt the sensation on his fingers of both hands tighten, Sona let out a small husky m.o.a.n, and he felt himself shoot into the water. It wasn''t until this point that Alex stopped kissing the girl to his right, and looked into the face of the underworlds queen. He suddenly felt as if a bucket of cold water was dumped on him. He got into his own rhythm and completely forgot the woman next to him was a married women. A woman married to one of the most powerful people in the underworld and the mother of his child. As she saw the look he had on his face she quickly sobered and thought about what they just did. It didn''t take long for to extract herself from his hand and flee the bath. Now that the show was over everyone else also recalled Grayfia''s identity, and the situation turned awkward. Alex soon left the bath and went back to his room more than a little worried about what just happened. He was so distracted that he didn''t realize he went a room too far, and walked in on the only other visitor of the inn, who had apparently just left her own private onsen as she was walking around n.a.k.e.d. It only took a second for Alex to take in the view of the woman, Ren. Her figure was perfect to say the least, wide h.i.p.s, large b.r.e.a.s.ts, nice ass. She took one look at him, and immediately turned to hide herself. "KYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!" She cried out as she ran for a towel, giving Alex the perfect view of her ass. He immediately slammed the door closed and went into the right room this time, feeling even worse now than he did a moment before. However as bad as he felt he couldn''t help but recall the figure of Ren, and the part that showed how freaky she must be, the heart shaped tattoos on her ass. Chapter 97 - Hot spring, the last chapter Lauren was panicking as she wrapped herself with a towel, and immediately grabbed her tablet to see what happened. As she watched the replay of the last hour she didn''t know what to think. But when she went to the present and saw Alex recalling her n.a.k.e.d body, and more specifically the tattoos on her ass, she felt mostly embarrassment and regret. There was no restrictions on actually meeting their contestant they were assigned to, but they could not provide more aid than they did from their domain, and almost all of her coworkers didn''t because they felt it was beneath them. She decided that meeting Alex face to face would be a nice change of pace even if she was going to stay in her domain for pretty much the entire time she worked with him. When he decided to visit a hot springs she thought it was the perfect chance to do so, and immediately traveled to this world. She used the name Ren because even if she met Alex she couldn''t reveal herself to others so easily, and was waiting for a chance when he was alone. Now however she didn''t have the guts to meet him face to face, especially when she looked at her tablet again and saw him once more recalling her ass. She got dressed as quickly as possible and pretty much fled the inn. *** Alex was trying to figure out what to do, he fingered and made out with the wife of Satan, then barged into a random woman''s room when she was n.a.k.e.d. Grayfia could be argued that she was drunk, but he didn''t think that would sit well with Sirzechs. As for the Ren girl, he was already surprised he wasn''t getting called out for being a molester or something. He sat there thinking for a while, but nothing still happened, and finally he left his room to knock on her door. He decided to try to apologize and see if she''ll be understanding, who knows she might be ''really'' understanding. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Hello?" He called out at the door, but no one answered. He then went to the front desk to see if she was there lodging a complaint about him, but saw no one there. He then walked up to the receptionist, "Excuse, do you know where the other guest is, Ren, the one by herself?" The receptionist looked surprised and replied, "She just left, in quite a hurry too. I hope she wasn''t upset with us or something." Alex felt even worse, as he know thought he ran out a random woman during her holiday. Soon his mind was occupied with something else, as Rias entered his vision. She sighed when she saw him and walked over, "I talked to big sister, and she said that what happened is her fault so don''t feel bad about it." He was surprised, and was about to argue but Rias shook her head and said, "She drank some alcohol, and she becomes a bit troublesome when she drinks. Considering that she came to keep an eye on us, it was her irresponsibility that led to it." Alex decided to keep his mouth shut and just accept this as he wasn''t now at fault. He was especially surprised that the one that seemed to be doing the reprimanding was Rias, as it was usually the other way around. It also helped that he knew she did something similar with issei in a short story, but obviously not to that extent. Rias then continued with a face almost as red as her hair, "And I guess it''s partially my fault. Neither of you were doing anything bad until we came in, and I instigated things with Sona." Her voice got a it smaller and she looked away at the last part, but Alex smiled wickedly and pulled her closer before saying, "If you''re at fault then I guess I need to "punish" you tonight. Once it''s time for bed come to my room with Akeno." She looked away with a red face but nodded slowly. They then relaxed for the rest of the day, and Alex felt better now that the situation with Grayfia was settled. They had a table tennis tournament, used massage chairs, and generally spent the evening relaxing. That night he spent with Rias and Akeno like he promised, except he was only with Akeno. As her "punishment", Rias had to watch as Alex screwed Akeno all night, and could only please herself when he would barely touch her, just enough to get her excited. As a result she went to sleep feeling very unsatisfied, but didn''t complain. The next day they packed their stuff and got ready to leave. Alex thought this trip was quite eventful, and didn''t know if he should consider it a good thing or a bad thing. Grayfia had already left before they woke up, and no one said anything about it. Saji looked as if he was trying to murder Alex with his glares, leading Alex to think one of the girls leaked what he and Sona did in the bath together. He smiled back at Saji, and gave him the numbs up in response, Alex could''ve sworn he saw Saji puke a little blood after that. The most eventful thing on the way back was Azazel''s crazy driving as they rocketed home. He and Alex talked about the details for the car he was going to get him, and Alex was quite excited to see it. There was the same three in the back seat as before, and when Alex looked back to heck on them was surprised to see Ophis asleep and muttering about killing great red. Then Alex heard Xenovia start an interesting conversation with Yura. "So Yura, how come none of you guys ever try to make a move on Alex? I see that you all want to but you never do." Yura smiled bitterly, and replied, "We talked about it a while back, and decided that well only move after our king. Once she really becomes his woman then we''ll start to go on the attack." Alex heard their conversation, and was curious about what led to such a discussion in the first place. However he was looking forward to the day Sona became his even more, as it seemed as if he''ll get to finally have her female peerage members at the same time. Chapter 98 - Pacts A few days after the hot spring trip Alex was in the training area with the rest of the Gremory group, sparring against Kiba, Xenovia, Koneko, and Rosswiesse all at one time. Alex had long since stopped keeping track of how much gravity he placed on himself, and kept it at a point to limit himself to what he perceived was about ten percent of his real strength. As a result the combination of the others was showing quite well, he used his staff to fend off the attacks of the sword users Kiba and Xenovia, answered Koneko''s senjutsu attacks with his own ki reinforcement attacks, and Rosswiesse''s spells with his own. He was focusing on having to fight multiple opponents with different fighting styles, to better his own multitasking. He was also surprised at the progress they were all making, Kiba was further outnumbering Alex by using his drag knights equipped with the swords he got from Seig. Xenovia was trying to master the new ex-durandal, that has been improved with Excalibur ruler after Arthur gave it to her during what was now called the demonic beast riot. Koneko''s strength and senjutsu control had improved greatly after her growth spurt, and after a couple training sessions with Kuroka had started to use minor youjutsu spells. Rosswiesse was using the defensive spells she recently learned while in Asgard to their full effect while also spamming elemental spells at him. The thing that was annoying to all four of them was that while they seemed to be somewhat at an advantage they were still unable to corner him, that and the fact that they knew he was limiting his strength and could wipe them out easily if he really tried. A little ways away was Rias and Akeno sparring as well. After the scolding she received from Alex when she thought he died, Rias was doing everything she could to get stronger. Though he didn''t treat her like it, she was his servant, and if she couldn''t support him properly then there was no use for her. After a while of this they wrapped up the training, Akeno and Rias drew a draw due to the fact that Rias couldn''t use her most powerful destruction moves, and Alex simply decide to fight back and wiped the floor with them. Once he was done he looked over to the side and saw Ravel, who was writing something down like she was taking notes about their training. Rias then called for all of her peerage to gather, and Asia and Gasper who were providing assistance with water and such came over. When she heard Rias, Ravel however took off on her own, leaving Alex to once again wonder what she was up to. Once they gathered she then said, "After this we''re all going to the club room, and we''re going to meet with the head of the magicians association about forming pacts with magicians. Though due to some circ.u.mstances I would like you all to wait a few weeks before making any pacts." They were all confused, but nodded their heads at their kings words. Alex had discussed it with Rias and they decided to wait until some of the work in Asora was done before explaining the situation to them. As such it would be troublesome if they formed pacts that lasted until after he planned to leave, unless it was with a magician that would be going with them, but he doubted that. Though the current situation didn''t involve him, Alex decided to go with them to meet the magician association head. They gathered in the ORC clubroom and were discussing the possibilities of being contracted with magicians, though the main ones benefitting are the magicians, Devils did pacts as a form of business. Suddenly a magic circle appeared and a holographic image of a man with red and blue hair with matching eyes appeared. He turned to Rias and said, "Ah lady Rias, you are becoming a beautiful woman like your mother, how are you?" Rias smiled at the man and said, "Thank you for the compliment, lord Mephisto Pheles, and I have been well." The two exchanged pleasantries before Azazel arrived and took his attention. Once the talk got back on track he then said, "Sorry for taking a while, I''ll transfer the application forms to you now lady Rias." Once he said that another magic circle appeared and a giant stack of papers dropped from it. When they moved that one another stack replaced it, then another. Finally they stopped and his said, "Those were the applicants for lady Rias, I''ll now send the ones for the rook Rosswiesse." At his words everyone became stunned before, yet more papers started falling. Then they had to go through a similar process for each of the members. It was obvious that there were people the magicians wanted more than others, the order went Rias, Rosswiesse, Asia, Kiba, akeno, Xenovia, Koneko, then finally Gasper with the least. The reason was because as a king Rias would have many people wanting to form a good relationship with her, plus they believed there would be extra benefits. "Now then I''ll start transferring the red dragons as well." Mephisto said, stunning Alex before the largest stack of papers yet started falling. His brow twitched at the nearly endless stack of paper, before it finally stopped after several minutes. Everyone else was stunned as well, and they turned to look at Mephisto who shrugged and said, "Of course there''s a lot looking to form a pact with you, you beat every opponent in the youth Devils rating games that you went against by yourself, and then single handedly ended an event that terrorized the entire underworld. I''d be surprised if any of the youth Devils of their peerage got more applicants than you." Alex shook his head and said, "I''ll inform you now, I''m not planning to form a pact with any magicians, now or in the future." As he said this Alex recalled issei made a pact with Le Fay, and she would probably be the only one he could make one, if he wanted to, with as well since she''ll most likely leave in the future with the Vali team. Mephisto shrugged again and said, "Well the applications are there if you changed your mind. With this the only one left who I haven''t contacted is lady Sona, but she wants to wait until her new peerage members are decided." Then Mephisto looked around a bit as if he was looking for someone, and asked, "Is the lady of Phoenix house present? I have something I would like to warn her about." "No she isn''t, but I could pass whatever you need to warn her about." When Alex thought about what Mephisto wanted to say, he briefly recalled there being a part where Ravel, Koneko, and Gasper where kidnapped in the series at one point. He suddenly cursed himself as he didn''t remember much about that point in the series, except that it had something to do with Phoenix tears. Mephisto nodded as he recalled Alex was her fianc¨¦, and explained, "This is top secret, but It appeared that remnants of the Khaos brigade are coming into contact with members of the Phoenix house, and there have been reports of Phoenix tears being sold on the black market. We''ve investigated this and found that they were counterfeits, but they''re working almost as well as the original. Take care of your woman red dragon." With that Mephisto disappeared and the magician pact meeting came to an end. Chapter 99 - Elmenhilde Finally the day the vampires came to visit came, and Alex wasn''t too excited for it. He recalled they wanted to take Gasper to use against his own childhood friend Valerie Tepes. The ones taking part in the meeting were Rias as the one who requested it, her peerage, Azazel as the former Governor General, Sona and her queen Tsubaki, and finally the queen of Gabriel and someone like an older sister to Xenovia, Griselda Quarta. Since this was the first time they met she bowed her head, and introduced herself, before turning to Alex. "It''s an honor to meet you red dragon Alex, who is apparently not only the man of Xenovia, but also my king Gabriel. Its surprising that there was someone who managed to woo her, though it has been a little troublesome lately." Alex laughed awkwardly at Griselda''s words, as he knew she was talking about Gabriel''s newfound love for s.e.x. Griselda then also took a more serious look and said, "Seriously though, thank you for helping to look after Xenovia." Xenovia turned red at her words, but Alex just waved them off and said, "It''s nothing, she''s a pleasure to have around." Griselda narrowed her eyes at his words, but didn''t say anything as with the setting sun they noticed the arrival of some cold presences. At their arrival Kiba left to greet them while everyone else got into their respective positions. Rias was at her desk with her peerage behind her, Sona was standing next to her with Tsubaki behind her, Griselda was sitting on an extra chair with Irina behind her, Azazel was sitting on the couch as comfortable as he could be, and Alex was sitting next to him. A few minutes later Kiba returned with the guests, a group of three vampires walked in behind him, a guy and a girl in suits that looked to be bodyguards, and a doll like girl between them wearing a dress that belonged to the Middle Ages. She sat in front of Rias and said, "Greetings to Rias Gremory, the next heir to the house of Gremory. I am Elmenhilde Karnstein of the Camilla faction." Rias smiled politely and replied, "Greetings Elmenhilde, I hope you don''t mind me cutting to the chase, but why has the Carmella faction that has been ignoring us suddenly come out to talk?" Elmenhilde looked straight at Gasper and said, "We wish to borrow Gasper Vladi formerly of the house of Tepes." Everyone except Alex was surprised and Rias had a slight frown to her face. He one most effected by this news though was Gasper himself, as he couldn''t understand why he was suddenly wanted back. Rias then said, "I''m sorry but I''ll have to trouble you explain step by step why it is the Carmella faction want him." Elmenhilde then started to explain, "Recently the Tepes faction has apparently gotten their hands on a Longinus sacred gear user who''s also a half. The Longinus they are in possession of is the Sephiroth Graal." When her heard her words Azazel immediately became more alert, and said, "Of course it''s one of the holy relics, something that can be considered the ultimate healer that can turn around the principle of life itself." Elmenhilde nodded and continued explaining, "The Tepes faction is using it to become ultimate beings that can''t die. They have not yet succeeded but they are close to it, and they have obtained bodies that are hard to destroy. By doing so they have abandoned their pride as vampires, and have also started attacking our side and induced casualties, they need to be executed." She then looked at Gasper and said, "That is why we intend to borrow Gasper Vladi who is from the Tepes faction, along with his power." Rias''s eyes became sharp at her words, and she asked, "I see, and what is his power?" "Every now and then a vampire is born who surpasses normal vampires, this is becoming more true with the half''s in this day. Gasper is one such being. The one who possesses the holy grail is another half by the name of Valerie Tepes." When he heard that Gasper looked as if he was about to cry, as she was his only friend when he was younger. He then said, "Though I want to help Valerie, I don''t want to go back." Elmenhilde simply replied by saying, "I have prepared a doc.u.ment. It states the interest the Carmella faction has in talks with the alliance regarding a truce." The doc.u.ment she handed over simply stated that by handing over Gasper they will be open to peace talks, resulting in glares from Rias, Griselda, and Azazel. The idea was that if they refused these terms for the sake of one person it looked as if they were picking who they wanted an alliance with. It was a cowardly way of handling things, but it was effective. Though Alex wanted to interrupt this involved too much politics, plus the vampires would be seeing the error of their ways soon enough. After leaving a bad taste in everyone''s mouths Elmenhilde took her leave while stating that one of her servants will be left in town for contact. Right after she left Gasper spoke up, "I-I''ll go! I want to help Valerie, I owe her from before!"everyone looked at Gasper warmly, but Rias shook her head and said, "I''m going to go and sit down with the the house of Vladi themselves. It will also give me a chance to see what''s going on over there with my own eyes." At her words everyone else looked ready to go as well until, "I want everyone else to stay though. We can''t show up with this much fire power, and there''s the risk of someone attacking this town while we''re away." They looked concerned, but Alex pointed at Kiba and said, "You''re taking this guy at least thought, no discussion. And if I find out anything happened to my woman while you''re there I''ll raze the entire vampire nation to the ground." Rias blushed at his words and the rest of the girls started giggling somewhat, Azazel made a motion like he was barfing in the background though. Normally Alex would go with her, but he knew people would attack the town in the near future for Ravel so he didn''t. Alex let out a sigh and thought about how annoying everything was getting. Chapter 100 - Magicians attack It had been a couple days since Rias left with Kiba and Azazel, since that time Alex was on alert of the attack he knew was coming any day now. He was sitting on the roof of the school with Kuroka and Le Fay, waiting. The two and Ravel were the only ones who knew since they were also the only ones who were aware of his circ.u.mstances. The rest just thought Alex was being paranoid, but didn''t dismiss his actions as they knew they must be necessary. At first Kuroka only listened to him because he asked her to as her king, but when he made a comment about preventing Koneko''s kidnapping as well she immediately started emitting a killing intent, while keeping her poker face. He was sitting there while the second years were having p.e., when suddenly he felt hostile presences invade the area. His eyes became sharp and he said to the equally alert Kuroka, "I''ll go and deal with them, you stay and guard the building, Le Fay notify the others that there are visitors." The two nodded and set to what he told them, as Alex went towards the intruders. His glare narrowed as he realized they targeted the second years. When they realized what was going on, Irina and Xenovia started working to protect the students as they sensed Alex approaching, except two. "What are you doing here?!" "This is private property, we can''t have random cosplayers here!" The two from the kendo club, Murayama and Katase, started to attempt to interrogate the trespassers. The three magicians they attempted to confront just sneered at them, and started forming magic circles. When Alex saw this he removed his limiters and sped over to them to block the attack. The two girls were surprised to see him instantly appear, right before there was a sudden flash of multiple colors from their elemental magic attacks. Alex took all the magic attacks, and only got one scratch in return. When the two girls saw that little bit of blood, theirs drained from their faces. He continued glaring at the three aggressors, who also had the blood drain from their faces when they saw that their attacks didn''t even tickle him. "Se-nior?" One of the girls said, as they saw him protect them with his own body. He didn''t register their words, and walked towards the three magicians. The two girls then watched as Alex proceeded to beat the three "cosplayers" within an inch of their life. Once Alex was done he turned to them and said, "If you see anymore of these people don''t approach them, they are dangerous and will kill you without hesitation." The two didn''t know how to respond, but eventually nodded their heads. They trusted the senior that they practiced with for over a year before he joined the ORC. He then gave them his number, in case they met anymore magicians. After that Alex made his way around the school, taking out several magicians in the process. Any that got inside the school were defeated by Kuroka, and because they didn''t get what they were after this time the attack continued until it was obvious that it was useless to continue. Soon the attack ended, and Alex delivered the magicians he caught to the outside of the old school building where the ORC was located. There he met with the student council and the rest of the ORC members to interrogate the captives and discuss what to do next. "They were after Ravel Phoenix, and attacked the place that no one should have had access to." Sona said plainly. They all nodded gravely, as it now seemed they had a traitor. Alex knew otherwise, but wasn''t sure about how to explain it. They then turned their attention to the captives Alex brought, he couldn''t help but notice that none of the ones Kuroka fought were brought alive. He then grabbed the nearest magician that he knocked out, and started slapping him until he woke up. Alex forgot that he removed his limiters, and accidentally slapped the man so hard he snapped his neck. Everyone looked with widened eyes, as Alex continued to awkwardly hold the mans collar. "Oops... Maybe the next one." He then grabbed the next guy and instead of slapping him, simply flicked his forehead. "AH, OUCH!" The man screamed, he then tried to rub his forehead where he was flicked, before noticing his hands were bound and he was currently held captive. He started glaring at Alex and the rest, and said boldly, "Try your worst." Alex glared back at him. He suddenly smiled evilly, and started cracking his knuckles. He reached out to grab the magician who suddenly started Pauling at Alex''s sadistic smiling. But right as Alex was about to grab him again, RING RING RING His cellphone started to ring. Alex looked at the caller and was confused as he didn''t recognize the number. He hesitatingly pressed the accept button and said, "Hello?" Suddenly a familiar female voice said from the other end, "Senior? Plea-" but that was as far as she got, before her voice cut off and another person started speaking. "I''ll assume this is the red dragon emperor, I am the one who sent the magicians to retrieve the lady of Phoenix." When he heard the man, Alex felt a sudden rage as he realized what must''ve happened. The man continued and confirmed his thoughts. "Since we were unable to get our hands on the Phoenix girl, we tried something else. We couldn''t help but notice the two girls you protected earlier, and that you seemed to be quite familiar with them. They''ll be waiting here with me until the Phoenix girl comes alone, after that they''ll all be returned after we have a chance to examine her." Alex fought to keep his emotions in check, and said, "Where?" He was told the location to send Ravel, and was then told, "Keep in mind she comes alone, if there''s even the scent of an ambush then we''ll disappear and there''ll simply be two newt test subjects for us. You have an hour." The call cut off, and Alex felt like kicking himself for his carelessness. He was so focused on ensuring Ravels safety that he didn''t bother making sure none of the other students were taken. As a result Murayama and Katase were captured after he left them. He then turned to the others and told them the situation, after doing so he turned to Ravel and said, "I have an idea, but it''ll put you in the most danger." She looked at him with determination, and a said, "I''ll do it." Chapter 101 - Retaliation Murayama and Katase were scared, they had never been in this kind of situation before and didn''t like it. They were in a white room with the people who kidnapped them, numbering well over a hundred, a man with silver hair, and finally the worst of all, a giant dragon like person covered in dark green scales. Thankfully the people didn''t do anything to them, but they were told the truth about those at their school, about the existence of beings known as Devils and magicians. It was hard to believe, but with everything in front of them, especially the giant dragon person, it was hard to refuse. "GRAAH! Why can''t I fight that shit Ddraig?" The giant dragon person yelled. The silver haired man sighed and explained, "I already told you Grendel he''s too unpredictable, Hades offended him and a few days later his domain became a mess. When we investigated it due to our alliance with him we found that he had disappeared. You will fight eventually, we need the data, but when we have more control over the situation." The dragon, Grendel, snorted in response, but didn''t say anything else. The silver haired man turned to them and said, "It''s almost the appointed time, for your sake she better show up." The two didn''t say anything. A person in this situation would normally hate the beings that they didn''t understand, and according to the people that took them the very person they looked up to and hoped would save them was a monster. But when they looked at the way these people did things and the interactions with their senior in the past they still wanted him to come. Suddenly there was a glowing circle, and one of the new students at their school, Ravel Phoenix, appeared. She took one look at them and let out a sigh of relief. "I''m glad the two of you are ok, don''t worry everything is going to be alright." At her words the two felt relief and ran over to her, but the man in the silver hair spoke up, "I hope you''re not going to try anything, this space is sealed so no one can come save you, and you can''t escape. Just be cooperative and let us examine your body." Ravel shivered at his words, but smiled a moment later. At that moment some mist appeared and wrapped around the three of them. The silver haired guy realized something must be wrong, and shouted, "Grendel, get them!" Grendel smiled at getting to do something and rushed forward to attack the girls, only for his fist to be grabbed by a vice like grip. *** When Murayama and Katase opened their eyes again they were in a different building surrounded by their classmates, the student council, a few others from school, and a woman with many fox tails. Seeing they were ok the student council president let out a sigh of relief, and said, "I''m glad the two of you are ok." She then bowed her head at them and continued, "I hope you will forgive us for not being able to protect you." The two didn''t know how to react, but before they could say anything, a circle of fog opened in midair and they could see what was happening in the room they were just in. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing, a red humanoid looking dragon was grabbing onto the one they saw before, and was glowing with a golden light. After recalling what the person before said, they then noticed some of the facial features matched their senior. *** Alex looked at Grendel while his grip on his arm was getting tighter, accompanied by the sounds of crackling bones. Instead of showing fear or pain, Grendel was grinning like a maniac at Alex''s obvious rage. He then said, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I heard Ddraig was really strong now, but I didn''t realize you wouldn''t even flinch after my hit!" Alex''s glare didn''t falter, as he strengthened his grip even more before shattering Grendel''s arm. The psychotic dragon didn''t even flinch, and immediately leaped back to take in his opponent. Alex had decided to experiment with combining the super Saiyan and draconian form, and the result was that his usual dark red scales had turned a golden red and his strength had gone up even further. With the combination of his natural defenses and now the scales Alex seriously doubted that Grendel''s claws or the magicians spells could harm him now. His glare still fixated on Grendel, Alex disappeared and reappeared behind him. Before anyone could tell what happened Grendel was suddenly being blasted in several different directions from the multiple times Alex hit him. He then turned his attention to more than a hundred magicians that were about to finish casting their spells at him. As the multitude of magic attacks rushed him, Alex didn''t do anything but stand there. He was soon bombarded with hundreds of ice chunks, wind blades, fire blasts, and water jets. The attacks resulted in a massive cloud of smoke, allowing the magicians who believe in their victory before the smoke cleared. There in the center was Alex, as if nothing happened. He then started walking forward, in no noticeable hurry before he disappeared again, and reappeared in the midst of the magicians. Suddenly there was a giant shockwave as he began his attack. All the spectators could only stand there and watched as he slaughtered all the magicians he could get his hands on. Meanwhile the numbers of the opponents didn''t seem to go down at first, thanks to the multiple monsters they summoned, before Alex swiftly dealt with those as well. He didn''t use any area of effect attacks, as he didn''t want to damage the equipment in the lab for investigation. As a result it took a few minutes to deal with them, before he turned to notice that Grendel and the silver haired man disappeared. He was surprised at he figured he didn''t need to worry about Grendel escaping since he would want to fight him. He decided that the silver haired man, Euclid Lucifuge, most likely grabbed him and left while Grendel was recovering from his earlier attack. As he finished dealing with the magicians, he looked at the space that was now collapsing. He went to the lab equipment and wrapped it with mist as well as he reentered Asora. *** Sona watched as Alex rejoined them, conflicted in her emotions. She had wanted to attack with both groups to utilize the power of numbers, but Alex butted heads with her and wanted to go alone to cut loose. She didn''t think this was smart, but yielded, and was ready to help at a moments notice before she saw the evil dragon Grendel, and how Alex singlehandedly massacred all of them. She tried not to think about it, and turned her attention to the two girls they saved. At the school they used the grigori machine to wipe memories to deal with the witnesses. Thankfully there wasn''t much they needed to wipe, but it had the defect of not wiping emotions experienced from the memories. For the two in front of them, she suspected that wiping their memories would do more harm than good, as they would most likely never forget the feeling of danger they were in. Chapter 102 - Coming clean When Alex returned to Asora he felt bitter at Grendel and Euclid escaping, but when he recalled that they would most likely use the holy grail to revive either one once more, he decided not to worry about it. He then dispelled his transformations and looked at those gathered. Due to the severity of the situation Alex had brought the rest of those who didn''t know about it to Asora, now he had to answer to the more than a dozen people present who wanted an explanation. He looked at them all, Rias''s peerage minus Kiba, Irina, Sona and her peerage including the two new members Bennia and Loup Garou, and sighed while Yasaka and Ravel watched him with interest from the background, before he started talking. "First thing first," and from there he explained his whole story. Through some had looks of disbelief, especially Sona, they eventually settled with just glaring at him slightly. Alex felt awkward as they seemed to take it hard that he kept something so big from them, but he said, "I was planning to tell you all in a couple weeks at the most. I wanted to wait until this place was more settled." As he said that they looked around at the new settlement around them. It had been roughly two weeks since Barakiel, Yasaka, Serafall, and Gabriel started immigrating their people here. There were only about a hundred of each race so far, but with the technology available to each faction there was already a decent sized settlement with modern homes. From what Alex understood, the four made a system where one stays in Asora for a week to watch over its progress, and the other three scout new additions. He then turned to Sona and Akeno, "Barakiel and Serafall already know by the way, they represent their faction here and run things in my place." Everyone looked even more shocked at his words, and both of them felt a sense of being wronged. Then Akeno spoke up, "Does Rias know?" Alex nodded and said, "I told her the night I saved her from raiser, and Kuroka our first night together, because they were both added to my peerage. But because there is a rule about secrecy, that for some reason is very loose, I couldn''t tell the rest of you until I brought you here." Once he explained that they felt a little better, but then Sona asked, "Are you planning on trying to take us with you?" Alex nodded and said, "Yes, I want to bring everyone with me." Sona frowned as her dream was to open a rating game school in the underworld. If she went with Alex then her dream would be over, and despite how she tried denying it she did end up falling for him. Knowing what she was thinking Alex said, "I plan to add rating games to Asora since it''s a good way to simulate war games, plus it''s very entertaining. Since I''ll be going to worlds that don''t know about it, then won''t I need some kind of school to teach them?" At his words she started beaming, and looked thrilled that she could follow her dream even if it wasn''t in the underworld. But she said, "I''ll still try to create one here to start though, it''ll be good practice and if it gets traction in the underworld then it''ll help here as well." Alex nodded, pleased she was happy. He then turned to Rosswiesse, "There''s also many people I plan to invite to Asora in the future, maybe they could receive training to become Valkyries?" At his words she also became bright eyed, as one of her dreams was to train Valkyries in the underworld. Suddenly Koneko asked with suspicion in her eyes, "And how many more women do you plan to add to your harem from these other worlds?" The other girls were suddenly quiet at her question, and realized they were mad at him for the wrong thing. He suddenly realized what was happening, and after a brief awkward moment said, "Well let''s take a look around shall we? I haven''t looked to see some of the progress they''ve made for a while." They knew he was avoiding the subject, but didn''t pursue it, while making a mental note to interrogate him later. He then led the girls around while also making notes to send the lab equipment he brought back to the Phoenix family. He knew what was there, clones of the members of Phoenix family. The place they decided to start building was next to a river, and was only a few miles away from the ocean. Alex was excited about this, as they were able to go to the beach and since there were animals in Asora, fish. The town was also at the base of a mountain, that evened out to a plateau. What caught Alex''s eye was that there was something being built up there. "What''s going up there?" He asked Yasaka, who joined them. She smiled and said, "That''s your future manor, it''s also being built to house up to at least a hundred people, or women." At her words almost all the girls looked excited, as they thought about moving into such a place in the future. Yasaka then continued, "All the planning is being taken care of by Ravel though, as she wants us to focus on the immigration and building the town." At her words Alex sent an appreciative look at Ravel, who looked away with red cheeks. They continued walking around Asora, with the girls throwing out suggestions for it, which Alex accepted with gratitude. After a while Sona seems to realize something and turned to Alex with a serious expression. "I got distracted by all of this, but we need to discuss what happened earlier." Alex''s smile faded. She was right, they got distracted by Asora and needed to discuss the current situation. Chapter 103 - dragons and servants Once they remembered about the more serious matters Alex moved everyone to the dorms, and they went down to the indoor pool area to fit all of them. As they all sat at some tables near the pool, they noticed Ophis and Fafnir nearby playing with Asia''s Sprite dragon. Alex knew she made a pact with Fafnir, but that pact relied on her giving him her panties, something Alex planned to remedy soon. After they got seated he looked around and said, "First thing first, I know things I shouldn''t due to my background. That doesn''t mean I''m gonna act on all of it, and I''m not gonna share my knowledge unless I think it''s necessary, understand?" They all looked conflicted, but Sona nodded her head and agreed. Seeing she did so without hesitating the rest agreed as well, since they knew she was the smartest out of all of them. Alex nodded when they agreed and he moved onto the next thing, "The second thing is the secrecy, I''m not too sure how strict the secrecy goes, but we can''t spread it outside of Asora. So don''t go blabbing." This was easier for them to agree on, and he finally moved onto the more urgent matters. "Now that that''s cleared up lets talk about you two." The ones he was looking at was Murayama and Katase, who was still with the rest of them. They turned red with all the eyes on them, but Alex asked them suddenly, "What would you like us to do? We can remove the memories if you want, but it won''t erase the emotions you went through. Alternatively you can live with what you went through and know there''s things out there." They looked conflicted with what he said, and were silent for several moments. Suddenly both looked up with fire in their eyes, and they said, "I don''t want my memories to be wiped, but I also don''t want to just move on and pretend it didn''t happen." Seeing this Sona smiled, and pulled a couple things out of her pocket and placed them of the table. Looking at the game pieces the two girls looked confused, but the rest had looks of understanding. Sona then said, "These are called evil pieces, they turn humans into Devils. The two of you have good characters, and you have at least a little experience with combat through kendo, would you like to join us as Devils?" The two looked at the pieces with more awe now that they had an idea what they were, and hesitantly asked, "What would it mean if we became Devils?" Sona answered them, "Firstly, since its me offering you their pieces it''ll mean you''ll become my servants, though it''s not as bad as it sounds. Secondly, you''ll become part of our devil society and gain our powers, along with several other benefits." They were thinking about for the next few minutes, during which Xenovia looked at Bennia and Loup Garou and asked, "While they''re thinking about that, how about an introduction president, we were kinda rushed before." Sona widened her eyes in realization, and said, "Yes I apologize, this is my new rook Loup Garou, he''s now joining the Kuoh college." The man in question simply nodded his head in response. Sona then addressed the little girl in grim reaper attire. "This is my new knight Bennia, she is a former grim reaper-" But that was as far as she got before Bennia came forward and bowed to Alex, who was confused as he recalled she mostly liked issei due to oppai dragon. But her next words surprised him. "Thank you for doing something about lord Hades, I was tired of the way things are done down there with him and my shitty dad. When I thought about what I wanted to do after lord Hades was defeated I decided I wanted to help the one who beat him!" He looked at Sona, who nodded at her words. Alex said to her, "I see." She nodded enthusiastically, and continued, "But I heard you don''t intend to have a peerage so I was disappointed, until I heard about one of the women close to you having openings in her group." Alex understood what she was getting at from there, and didn''t need anymore explanation. At that time Murayama and Katase spoke up, "Um, if you''re alright with us president, we would like to accept your offer to become Devils!" Everyone was surprised they agreed so quickly and Sona asked, "Before I accept you I would like to know, why accept my proposal?" The two looked at the. With determination, and said, "We don''t want to be in that kind of situation ever again, regardless of how slim the chances. If we didn''t learn about this then we may have been ok, but we know now, and I don''t like thinking about how I was useless." Seeing the determination in their eyes, Sona smiled. She then gestured to the two evil pieces, "Ok then I''ll accept you. But a bit of explanation about the evil pieces, the ones I''m offering you are called pawn pieces. Each piece has a specialty attached to it, speed for a knight, strength and defense for a rook, magic power and support for a bishop, and an all rounding of all three for the queen. As pawns you''ll be able to use promotion, which means that when you receive my permission in battle you''ll be able to promote to any piece besides the king, which is me." When Sona finished her explanation the two reached out and took the two pawn pieces, and activated them, becoming Devils. Alex nodded, and moved on to the next subject, "Now about who attacked us." When they heard him everyone''s eyes sharpened as they hung onto every word. "They are the remnants of the Khaos brigade, and call themselves Qlippoth. Currently they are being led by the son of the original lucifer, Vali''s grandfather, Rizevim Lucifer, who is using the holy grail to revive the ancient evil dragons. The one I fought before was Grendel who was defeated by the original Beowulf. He''s such a battle maniac that when I crushed the bones in his arm he didn''t even flinch, but laughed with joy. I didn''t expect that he would flee earlier, but I guess Euclid Lucifuge was the one behind that since he most likely would''ve stayed until I tore him apart." Everyone felt overwhelmed at the sudden rush of information. As they were trying to process it, Xenovia asked, "If he''s a dragon, how come you didn''t use Ascalon?" They all looked up at her question, and most of them recalled that they hadn''t even seen the blade for quite a while. Alex smiled bitterly, and pulled the blade out of the separate space for them to see for themselves. When he did everyone in the area flinched and Ophis and Fafnir looked over with intensity at the hostility. The blade now had several fractures running along the surface, and was stained with a black substance. It was giving off an intense pressure, filled with many negative emotions and an intense hatred. Akeno recognized the aura along with everyone else who experienced it, and said with distaste, "Samael!" Alex nodded, and started explaining, "When I tried to protect Ophis I knew Samael''s defense would''ve destroyed it, so I super boosted it to prevent that. As a result it took too much energy and started to fracture from it, and it became drenched with Samael''s blood after severing his tongue. The blood seems to be seeping into the cracks, and integrating into the blade somehow, possibly because Ascalon was already a dragon slayer as well. I don''t really know what to do with it, and all of the people who could fix it are in heaven, so I''ve been keeping it in the separate space." After talking about everything happening, everyone felt quite a bit of fatigue. There was the magician attack, Alex fighting Grendel and the rest of the magicians, finding out about his origins and Asora, and now everything he told them there after all of that. Everyone decided that they needed to sleep on the information he gave them, and went their separate ways. Murayama and Katase went with Sona so that she could give them the rundown on Devils life from now on. Like this the very busy day ended. Chapter 104 - Ravels peerage A little over a week since Rias left, Alex was sitting at the table eating his breakfast on a day off. He was thinking about what to do until Rias called them, when Akeno walked in. He smiled at her and said, "Good morning, here for some breakfast?" She suddenly had a naughty smile and said, "Yes, but perhaps I should have an appetizer first?" Then she got down and started crawling under the table. He just smiled as she started undoing his belt, then his rod was pulled out and was engulfed in something warm and moist. He smiled as Akeno started sucking him under the table, and Ravel walked in. He immediately put on a poker face as she started talking to him. "Do you have anything to do today Alex?" Alex normally would have thought she wanted a date, but she had her business face on. He nodded to her and said, "Nope, why what''s going on?" "I have something I want to show you in Asora, it might take a while so I wanted to make sure I wasn''t interrupting anything." As she was talking everyone else was entering the kitchen, and Akeno was still blowing him under the table quietly. They started talking about the days plans, when someone knocked on the door. Ravel went to answer it, and Sona walked in with Murayama and Katase behind her. "Good morning everyone." The two mirrored her greetings, then Sona looked around before asking, "Is Akeno around, I was thinking of asking her something." At her question everyone started looking around, wondering what was taking her so long to come down. Alex smirked, while Akeno continued sucking. He then said, "She should be arooound somewhere." He struggled to get out, as he filled Akeno''s mouth with his s.e.m.e.n. Everyone started looking at him funnily, until Akeno crawled out from under the table while smirking. All of the girls living in the dorms just sighed when they understood what was going on, while Sona''s entire face twitched, and Murayama and Katase turned completely red after thinking about it for a moment. It didn''t help that there was something white dribbling down her chin. She wiped it off with her finger and stuck it in her mouth to ensure she didn''t miss any of it, before turning to Sona and asked, "You said you needed something Sona?" The student council president sighed at the situation, and said, "I was going to ask you to assist with teaching these two how to magic, they have basic combat instincts with swordsmanship, but using magic is proving somewhat difficult." Akeno nodded and replied, "Of course, I don''t have anything to do today so it''ll be fine." Sona smiled form gratitude, and Ravel said, "Then would the four of you like to accompany Alex and I? I have something to show him that the two of you might like to see as well." They were all confused, but agreed, then the five soon left for Asora after they all finished breakfast. When Alex set foot on Asora for the first time since fighting the magicians just a few days prior, he noticed that progress was even further ahead, and once more praised the technology of the alliance. Ravel used a magic circle to teleport them, and they suddenly found themselves in an underground room like their training facilities. When Alex looked around he saw several people he never expected to meet. "HAAA!" A couple women were sparring, one was wearing a mask covering half her face, and the other was wearing a Chinese style uniform. A little ways away from them was another group of girls sparring, and another group a little ways away form. Alex recognized them of course, they were the peerage of Raiser Phoenix whom he killed. He was confused, until Ravel stepped forward and started to explain. "They''re my peerage, I became a king and used my pieces on them since they no longer belong to my brother." At her words the girls suddenly looked over and made their way until they were standing before them. Though they had a look of respect towards Ravel, Alex couldn''t help but notice that they didn''t seem to like him, which was understandable given the circ.u.mstances. Ravel en continued speaking, "I decided to become a king because when you told me about your goals, what you wanted to achieve, I decided I couldn''t stay passive. I needed to become more active in helping you, and I needed people who followed me to do so." Alex smiled at her words, and looked at all those present. "This is good, since they''re in Asora I would guess they know everything?" Ravel nodded and said, "I''m training them so that they''re stronger to be able to help, my hope is that they''ll be on par with Rias''s peerage someday. They''ve already gotten a lot stronger in the recent days, the training program I''ve been using isn''t for the games but for real combat." Alex nodded, but then the queen, Yubelluna stepped forward and said, "We haven''t forgotten what you did to our master, and I refuse to let you have my body!" Alex was confused until Ravel spoke up awkwardly, "Word about your "exploits" with women are famous, just Gabriel alone would make you a legend, but you''ve also managed to get a Maou to agree to be one of your women, the daughter of one of the grigori leaders, several high class devil family daughters. Not to mention everyone else." Alex''s brow twitched at her words, from his understanding that meant they believed he would try to "claim" them since they were Ravel''s peerage. He looked at Yubelluna and said, "I don''t just "claim" people or force them. If you don''t want to be with me then I won''t force you." Instead of calming down, she seemed to get even madder, and said, "I think I speak for all of us when I say I would like to test the results of our training." Alex sighed, and conjured a chair to sit on and said, "Fine then, I''ll sit here, and if you can make me budge, then you win. Name your terms, you have an hour." She along with the rest of Ravels peerage seemed to seethe with fury at his casualness at their rage, and Yubelluna looked back at all of them, they all nodded and she said, "If we win then not only will you''ll never touch us, but you''ll never touch another woman, if you win then we''ll be yours all you want." Alex arched an eyebrow, was she stupid? He practically said he had no interest in them, yet they seemed to think they needed to go to such extremes to ensure their safety. If they thought they were in that much danger why become Ravels peerage in the first place? He simply agreed to their terms, and they all rushed him. The rooks Xuelan and Isabella came first, Alex simply held up his arms and blocked their attack, before flicking them both on the head. Even the rooks defense couldn''t prevent the welts that formed from his merciless forehead flicks. The two knights Siris and Karlemine appeared right behind them and swung their swords, only to be caught and held by Alex''s finger. He then flung them both away. For the next hour they pulled the same thing over and over again, and they never once touched Alex. When the hour was nearing its end, the only bishop Mihae and Yubelluna combined their magic to attempt to blast him with a large magic attack. Alex simply sat there and waited, before a massive explosion engulfed him. The girls smiled in celebration at their victory, until the fire began moving in a strange way. Suddenly it rushed out at and engulfed all of them instead. When the flames and smoke cleared, there was fourteen n.a.k.e.d girls standing there. Since they seemed to act out, Alex decided to shame them a bit and only burnt their clothes. They all stood there for a moment, then knelt down to cover their shame while screaming. Alex didn''t react and simply continued sitting there, while the five girls behind him sighed. At that moment the timer went off, signaling their loss. Alex looked at them and said, "As I said I have no interest in those who don''t want to be with me, and I don''t agree with using force to satisfy myself. Hopefully this lesson will show you not to be too eager to start a fight, and not to underestimate your opponent. Back to training." As Alex said, he never once seemed to try and ogle the women, making them doubt their actions until then. At that moment Alex and Sona received calls from Azazel. Chapter 105 - To Romania Alex was currently sitting in a car headed to the Tepes faction of the vampires. When they received the call from Azazel, he told them about how Rias and Kiba were apparently captured in the Tepes territory, and there was a coup d''¨¦tat leading to Valerie becoming the next king. Though the word captured was used, it was more along the lines of being guests that weren''t allowed to leave. Though he knew things weren''t that bad, as even when they blocked Rias''s communication they couldn''t block the system messages. Currently with him was the Gremory group, Irina, Loup Garou, Bennia, and Azazel, who was explaining the current situation. "Everything is in quite a mess right now. There are several nobles who were unhappy with the government of the Tepes side, and it was them that teamed up with the Khaos brigade. It appears they were lured with the promise of becoming truly immortal with the power of the holy grail, and overcoming their weaknesses. Plus I''ve been hearing about the person directly leading the Khaos brigade, and it''s one of the worst possible people." Alex nodded but wasn''t really paying attention, he was trying to fill in the blanks for the current situation. As far as he could remember Rizevim''s goals were to resurrect trihexia, and to terrorize the other world. That other world was first contacted due to Issei''s perversion reaching a God of b.r.e.a.s.ts, but Alex never contacted them so he figured that wasn''t Rizevim''s current goal. As he was thinking they reached the gondola that would take them to the Tepes territory. "All right here we are, this will take us through the barriers to the Tepes Capitol." Azazel announced, as they all entered the gondola. Alex was sitting and tried to enjoy the view somewhat before reaching their destination. He looked out the window and saw snow covered mountains as far as he could see, others would say there isn''t much to look at, but he found it quite beautiful. He then noticed Xenovia pull out a notebook, and smiled when he recalled her goals in the near future. Alex smiled as he moved to sit next to her and asked, "So what are you working on?" Xenovia looked at him in surprise, and said, "I want to get better at Japanese vocabulary, as there''s something I want to do." Alex smiled again and said quietly Incase she didn''t want to advertise it, "Does it have something to do with wanting to be the next student council president?" She looked at him sharply before recalling what she learned about him recently. Xenovia sighed at the fact she couldn''t keep it a secret from him, and said, "Yes, I''ve never got to experience a normal school experience, and wanted to give back to the school that let me be able to." Alex nodded in contemplation, but he couldn''t really understand her view point as he was going through high school for the second time, and depending what worlds he went to in the future might go through it once more. He didn''t want to pop her bubble though and said, "I don''t think I''ll be a good tutor, but I''ll support you as much as you need." She looked at him with shining eyes, and leaned against him before replying, "Then I''ll take you up on that." Alex smiled once more, before recalling something, and he started smirking, he then whispered in her ear, "You know the student council presidents supposed to set a good example for the rest of the students, I don''t think having a child as a high schooler would be one though." She suddenly sat up and looked devastated at the thought, before Alex pulled her back towards him while laughing quietly, and said, "Don''t worry, we''ll still have many years after finishing school in the next couple to have as many kids as you want, even if it''s not right away." She sighed in relief, and went back to studying her notes while having a small smile on her face. A while later they reached the end of the gondola trip, and got off, only to be questioned in order to verify their identity before entering their territory. After that they were all shuttled into some carriages, by which time both Bennia and Loup Garou had slipped away, much to the vampires discomfort. They were led through the Capitol of the Tepes faction, and Alex saw that the people''s lives didn''t seem to be affected by the change in government much. After a while they finally arrived at the castle, and went inside. "Alex! Everyone!" A familiar Crimson haired woman jumped into his arms, as Alex wrapped them around her. Then for the first time in a while she stole his lips. As the two were celebrating their reunion Kiba walked over, and started greeting everyone. It was this moment Alex realized Kiba was the only one of the Gremory group that still didn''t know about his past. He decided to let the young swordsman know in the near future. While everyone spent a few minutes catching up, Alex spread his senses out to see if those he expected were here. He could feel an immense power in the throne room ahead, which Ddraig helped him identify as Crom Cruach. With what he felt, Alex determined that without his transformations Crom Cruach would be the biggest threat to him, but with them he wouldn''t be too hard to beat. He wasn''t too worried about him though, as the dragon was almost as pure as Ophis and had an honorable streak a mile wide. He then sensed another presence, one that he deduced was Rizevim lucifer. He was suddenly brought back to himself, when a servant arrived and announced, "The new king of the Tepes faction will see you now." Chapter 106 - Marius, Crom, and Rizevim, oh my They filed into the throne room, and saw several nobles standing here and there, while a woman around twenty sat in the throne and a young looking man was standing not too far away. Alex turned his attention to the woman on the throne, Valerie, and felt angry at what he saw. He thought he learned this by now, but it was still shocking to see how words on a page never did justice. Her eyes were empty and hollow, and the smile she had was nothing to be happy about, as it only inspired pity. As they approached the throne she looked at them and spoke, "Hello, I guess I am the new head and Queen of the Tepes family, Valerie. Oh my Gasper you''ve gotten quite big!" She said as her gaze narrowed onto Gasper. He was currently in girl form, and grimaced as he looked at her. He forced a smile on his face and walked forward. "It''s good to see you Valerie." She smiled in response to hearing him, and looked at everyone surrounding him before saying, "It looks like you''ve got quite a few friends Gasper, thank you all for taking care of him." Suddenly she faced another direction and started talking in a language that none of them could understand, even with the Devils translation abilities. Azazel immediately told everyone not to look at the place she was speaking, especially Asia, Xenovia, and Irina, while Alex frowned and asked Lauren, ''She''s speaking to the souls of the dead, right?'' Lauren sighed and responded, ''You could say that, the holy grail in this world actually allows one to touch upon the principle of life itself. Some of the ones it contacts are even those from other worlds, which is why it not only drives the user to insanity, but is also one we watch over closely. Even if you look for it in the shop you can''t find it, just because it''s one of the few powers we deemed too dangerous to mass produce. Though there''s several powers that can bring back the dead if used right, the Sephiroth Grail is one of the most dangerous. It''s no wonder Rizevim was drawn to it during his research to other worlds.'' When Alex heard her words he was dumbfounded, and a quick search of the shop proved that she was right and it wasn''t there. At that moment, "Valerie, it''s not nice to focus on the "others" while we have guests. Greetings to our esteemed guests, I am Marius Tepes, fifth in line for the throne and current mayor of the temporal government, while also heading the sacred gear research department. I am also Valerie''s brother if you''re wondering about pedigree." Alex narrowed his eyes at the speaker, Marius. Azazel also narrowed his eyes, and asked, "I see, then I''m guessing that you''re one of the ones who started the coup d''¨¦tat, so why did you go through with it?" The man smiled evilly and simply said, "I simply wanted to research the sacred gear Sephiroth Grail as much as I wished, and my father and brothers were in my way so I had them removed. There was no other reason." Azazel was gaping in disbelief, while the nobles were fl.u.s.tered that he put it so bluntly. Valerie on the other hand just continued to smile, as if she couldn''t register that he pretty much admitted she was his guinea pig and puppet. Gasper looked as if he was about to cry, while Xenovia was about to take out her durandal and attack the man, until Alex put his hand on her arm and stopped her. She looked at him in disbelief, until she saw where his gaze was. Her action caught everyone else''s attention, and they looked there as well, and saw the person leaning against the wall. There was a guy with long hair colored both gold and black, to match his eyes. The right being gold, and the left being black. Though he was looking at them his gaze was completely focused on Alex, as an intense pressure was felt. It was obvious that he wanted to fight Alex at once, but unlike Grendel he was holding himself back since it wasn''t part of his current mission, yet. Alex could say without any hesitation the feeling was mutual. He then said to the man, "May I presume the Crescent Circle Dragon, Crom Cruach?" Everyone looked surprised at Alex''s words, but the man continued looking at him and simply said, "Red dragon emperor, I anticipate the day we can fight." Alex smiled and nodded in response. Right after that Marius called an end to their meeting and they were escorted to away to meet with the head of the Tepes family, Gaspers father. As they were walking down the hallway, they came face to face with an elderly looks man with silver hair. Though this was the first time Alex met him, he recognized him almost instantly, due to the similarities with his grandson, Vali. "Rizevim lucifer!" Azazel choked out when they saw him. The man had a creepy look of joy when he saw them, and said, "If it isn''t uncle Azazel, and the sister of the current lucifer, and also the current red dragon? My, my, my, thing are sure to be interesting here soon." Aazazel continued glaring before asking, "Why''re you, the one who disappeared during the Devils civil war, here now? are you planning on getting revenge like the other Maou descendants?" Rizevim laughed at Azazel''s words, and said, "No, no,no, I have something much more entertaining to do now, that''s why. Should I tell you uncle Azazel, or no?" And like that the man was debating with himself while Azazel continued glaring at him, before he finally decided to say, "I think I will, say uncle Azazel, did you know there''s other worlds out there?" Azazel and Kiba were the only ones to react, as they were the only ones still in the dark about Alex''s past. But neither of them or Rizevim noticed this and he continued, but his next words sent a chill down Alex''s spine, "You see there was a man researching the multiverse theory while also being a magic knowledge genius, I happens to come across him a few years ago and after killing him looked over his research. According to his research there exists other worlds out there, with their own people and gods, but he never succeeded in contacting or doc.u.menting them. I dismissed his theories until I found one partially juicy piece of information, eighteen years ago he picked up an anomaly within the human world that didn''t match any existing data from those who exist here, in other words a visiter from another world!" While Azazel was confused at Rizevim''s words, Alex could feel a cold sweat going down his back, and some of the girls started looking at him. Rizevim continued, "But almost immediately the signal disappeared and the man was never able to find it, almost as if it camouflaged itself or left. I was disappointed that no results were ever reached, but took the equipment he had in the lab to study further later, and I''m glad I did because there was another hit, just less than a month ago." At this point even Alex was confused, as there shouldn''t be any other world travelers for nearly two years, unless there was something Lauren wasn''t telling him. The woman in question was sweating herself at her blunder, as she was sure it was her visit that he picked up; and she also made a note to send to her boss about the progress this world was making, as it was even more advanced than she ever thought. After telling them all of this Rizevim started walking past them, and left them there to think about his words. Chapter 107 - Revelations Alex walked along the streets of the Tepes Capitol, dressed in only his combat attire as if the cold and snow held no effect on him. It had been several hours since his meeting with Rizevim, and he had been trying to decide with Lauren on what to do. He asked Lauren if what Rizevim mentioned was mere coincidence, since he mentioned someone entering the world within the last month, ''Is it possible it was a fluke? I mean no other world travelers would be here already, right?'' He heard Lauren sigh in his head, and she admitted, ''No it''s not a fluke, and yes there''s still a little less than two years before they start moving. The one he noticed was me, I traveled down there for a day for some business and returned. I didn''t bother too much to hide my presence because I didn''t know someone had the technology to detect other world visitors.'' When Alex heard her words his brain stalled for a moment, and after a few minutes he exclaimed, ''WAIT YOU CAN COME DOWN HERE?! Why didn''t you tell me, I didn''t even know you had a real body!'' She sighed once more, and lied, ''I had business that can''t be discussed with you, so don''t question it. While we can visit our candidates in person most of us choose not to, and it''s safer for us to stay her in our domains.'' In truth she was actually too embarrassed to meet Alex face to face now, especially since her image already came to his mind when they talked by coincidence. He put the matter out of his mind for the moment, and wen track to the previous topic. ''So what do I do? Should I eliminate him before he takes his research too far?'' He felt the mental image of her shaking her head, and said, ''No, I sent a memo to my boss, the one who started this competition to see what he says about this. While the travel between worlds isn''t prohibited, having malicious intentions while doing so is. Though Rizevim intended to do so in the first place, none of us would''ve figured that he''d get far enough to detect us entering or leaving the world, even though he used someone else''s work to do so. While you may be asked to take care of it, I want to see what he says first.'' Alex felt a sense of being overwhelmed at her words, first he found out she had a real body, and now the one who started all of this, one who could be said to rule all of these universes, was being contacted. However her next words made him carry a sense of disappointment towards such a person. ''This, I can''t believe this! He said that it''s not a problem and to "see what happens". I guess that means you have the green light, but I thought he would care more about this!'' Alex didn''t understand what was going on, but took that to mean he had permission, and turned towards the castles throne room where he detected the two strongest auras, and charged. *** Crom Cruach stood in the throne room with the other two people, Euclid, and Rizevim, while they discussed what they were doing. Rizevim was using magic to suspend a ornate cup in mid air so it didn''t touch him, and held it out to Euclid. "The red dragon most likely already onto us, so take this and go start our next stage, the idiot Marius still doesn''t realize I already took it from the girl. The red dragon will most likely kill me or attempt to do so, so use it to bring me back, oh I can''t hold back my excitement from the thought of coming back from the dead to surprise him." Euclid took the cup, but looked surprised as well, "I thought we''ll take more time before the next stage?" Rizevim shook his head and said, "That red dragon is special, judging from the way he and the rest of the Gremory''s reacted when I mentioned it earlier, I think he''s the visiter who''s from another world. In that case we don''t know what he might know about us, while he''s busy dealing with me and Crom Cruach here, get the mass produced dragons away and start the next phase at the same time. Don''t worry, the Devils most likely already know I''m here, and will turn their attention away from the underworld." Euclid looked conflicted with his lords orders, but nodded anyways, before he left through a magic circle. As soon as the light from the circle vanished, the throne rooms doors were blasted open. In walked Alex with the form of a dragon, radiating an intense pressure. Crom Cruach stepped forward, and without any words of challenge, the two lunged at each other. When their fists collided a massive shockwave spread through the throne room, fracturing the entire room. Alex was stunned, as even though he wasn''t in super Saiyan, Crom Cruach''s strength was precisely equal to his own. Though not nearly as much as super Saiyan, his draconian form did increased his strength quite a bit. If he wasn''t intending to kill Rizevim, then he would''ve really enjoyed this fight. Alex activated super Saiyan, and attacked once more. Seeing the increase in his strength, Crom Cruach smiled and said, "If things were different, then I would enjoy this fight a lot more." Alex smiled in response and replied, "I was just thinking the exact same thing." Before grabbing Crom Cruach''s head faster than he could react and slamming his knee into his face. As the dragon fell to the ground, Alex turned to Rizevim, who practically squealed in excitement. "Oohhhh, that look you''re giving me, I think I just creamed my pants. So it won''t be my grandson that kills me, but his rival, I think that''s the best part of all this!" The two faced each other, and as Rizevim prepared to attack, suddenly saw Alex disappear and felt something sink into his gut. As he started puking his own intestines, a claw gripped his face, and started squeezing. *** After he killed Rizevim and reduced the body to ashes, Alex left to find the others. He walked out of the throne room, to see an entire army of mass produced dragons disappear, and the Gremory group along with Azazel and Vali ran up to ask what was happening. Chapter 108 - What is happening? As everyone ran over to him, Alex was in a bad mood. First he couldn''t find the holy grail on Rizevim, and now he saw the mass produced evil dragons disappear, meaning that instead of simply not getting it yet, he must have already passed it off to someone else. Since they were supposed to move in about two days, this also mean they were changing their plans quickly. As he was dealing with Rizevim, Crom Cruach also disappeared, but Alex wasn''t too concerned with that as he wasn''t actually evil. When he reached him Azazel demanded with rage on his face, "What happened?!" Alex frowned at him, since it seemed he thought he had something to do with the current situation. He then spat out, "I killed Rizevim, but he didn''t have the holy grail on him. They used it on the vampires of the Tepes and Carmella factions that wanted to be rid of their weaknesses, to turn them into mass produced evil dragons. Now they have an army, several powerful evil dragons, the holy grail, AND chances are Rizevim will be revived since he must''ve already passed it to someone else." At his words were several looks of confusion, and in Vali''s case, rage. He stormed up and said, "YOU ALREADY KILLED HIM?!" Alex didn''t let this get to him, as he knew one of Vali''s main goals was to kill his grandfather. He laughed and said, "Didn''t you hear me? They have the holy grail, and it seemed as if they expected me. Chances are you''ll get to see your grandfather again, so don''t worry, you''ll get your shot." Vali looked conflicted at his words, but before he could say anything more Azazel came forward again, "What do you mean they have the holy grail? They can''t extract it without killing Valerie, and she''s right here." At his words Valerie stepped forward, she looked a little better and more in control with her actions, as her brother was most likely one of ones turned into a mass produced dragon, but most of the emptiness was till there. Alex turned to Azazel and said, "It''s a subspecies, she has three holy grails in her body. Rizevim already extracted one, which is part of the reason she''s so bad right now; and Marius was going to extract another soon, which would have rendered her comatose." At his words Azazel looked as if he had an epiphany, and started muttering to himself. Gasper stepped forward, and asked, "Is she going to be alright?" Alex sighed, but smiled and said, "Yes, as long as we can retrieve the other grail that they took, it should help her. It might also help her if there''s a strong guy she can depend on." As he heard his words Gasper looked both relieved, yet conflicted. He still hadn''t shown her his "real" form yet and still looked like a girl, but the look of determination showed in his eyes, as he decided to be come a reliable man for her. Alex was called conflicted though, as it was during the would have been fight that Gasper reached balance breaker. Maybe they could get him to try next time. He then turned to Azazel, "While we try to get the grail they took, perhaps a fragment of the original would help her recover faster at the moment?" Azazel looked as if he had another epiphany, and started talking to himself again. At that moment the Sitri magic circle appeared, and Loup Garou, Bennia, and Elmenhilde showed up. The vampire in question looked around with a devastated look on her face, as now even her own faction betrayed the vampires. Alex looked at her and said, "I could have been worse, they could have started killing the rest of the vampires before leaving." If it was even possible, she turned even paler at his words. They started the preparations for returning to the Carmella faction, as they now had no reason to stay here. "Valerie, come with us, I''ll help you get better, and we can do many things outside. We can walk in the sun, go swimming, go to amus.e.m.e.nt parks, and tons of other stuff." Rias and everyone else also said they''ll do many things with Valerie, and Gasper looked at Alex but didn''t say anything, as if wondering if she could go with them in the future. Alex nodded his head slightly, and a smile spread across Gaspers face. But as they were about to leave, someone came out of the castle. Gasper looked at his father, and paled, but filled himself with resolution, and stepped forward, "I''m no longer a member of the house of Vladi, or the vampires, I''m a guy of the Gremory family." And with just that turned and left him standing there, not saying anything. *** The next two days were quite uneventful, as they waited for the damages of the vampire nation to be totaled, and for words from the alliance, which was taking an unusually long time. In that time Alex caught Kiba up on Asora, and decided to wait for Valerie until she was more stable, or moved there full time. Elmenhilde and the other vampire went through quite a personality change, as if the situation of their own clansmen turning on them and getting turned into mass produced evil dragons humbled them. After the two days though they heard from the alliance, and what Alex heard caused him to go into shock. "THEY STOLE AGREAS?!" Azazel shouted while talking to the magic hologram Sirzechs. Everyone was dumbfounded, but Alex himself couldn''t believe it. That wasn''t supposed to happen for a while, but as he thought about what happened here and how they moved, he realized something, they were purposely changing things so he couldn''t predict them. As he realized that he looked at Rosswiesse in concern, he knew they would go after her soon for her knowledge about trihexia''s seals, and as he thought there was also the attack on heaven soon. (A.N. So in case you haven''t noticed I''m speeding things up a bit, one reason is because the dxd world is taking a long time. So I want to ask you guys, I already decided trihexia will be the last antagonist before leaving, after that will just be slice of life chapters, and the Azazel cup. So do you guys want the Azazel cup? If not then even though it''ll still be here it won''t be focused on, and just referenced every now and then during the slice of life chapters, maybe the more important events like the start and ending will be written, but not every part.) Chapter 109 - Dxd and a hero Alex was currently sitting in Asora facing the four representatives, Gabriel, Serafall, Yasaka, and Barakiel, as well as Rias, and Sona, with their respective peerages, and Sairaorg and the Vali group. It had been a couple days since they found out Agreas was taken, and Alex planned to tell them what he could. "So I originally said I won''t share information unless I decided I had to, now is that time."everyone started talking as they realized what he meant. Alex then continued, "First of all, the stealing of Agreas wasn''t supposed to happen for quite a while, and changing the vampires into mass produced evil dragons was supposed to happen a few days later. However we they changed all of this, which tells me that something is driving them to change their plans. My first guess is myself, as Rizevim has touched upon my entrance into this world, and has probably guessed I''m the visiter." As they absorbed the information he gave them, Barakiel asked, "Why just us though, why not present it to the rest of the alliance, or to the anti terrorist group to begin with?" At Barakiel''s they all looked at him again, but Alex shook his head and replied, "Because they don''t know the specifics about me, and even with as loose as things have been recently I would like to keep it that way. And I can''t guarantee what I say anymore, so I want you all to listen to what I''m about to tell you, and keep your ears to the ground for anything. First of all is Rosswiesse." When she heard him mention her, Rosswiesse had a shocked look while Rias''s eyes became sharp. "As someone who not only researched trihexia, or 666, but also came up with ways to seal it, they''ll be after you. Plus there''s Euclid Lucifuge''s obsession with his sister Grayfia, who he claims you''ll look like, he''ll try to recruit you if he gets the chance." Rosswiesse had a look of determination at his words, and the rest of the Gremory peerage gave her words of encouragement. He then turned to Gabriel, "Next is that at some point they''ll most likely assault heaven, he''ll want a fruit of wisdom, and a fruit if life." Gabriel looked confused and said, "But neither fruit has grown since God died, there''s no reason to assault heaven for them." Alex grimaced, and said, "Actually, he assaults heaven just for fun. The fruits are located in purgatory, which also allows one to access heaven. Apparently Lilith stole them while the tree still produced them." Gabriel frowned at his words, and wrote down what he said in a notebook. Barakiel then spoke up, "If you know their in purgatory then shouldn''t we got and get them before he does?" Alex shook his head, "First it''ll require a pass from the grim reapers that live there, and possibly guidance on how to get there from them. I already eliminated Hades, but here''s a good chance the remaining grim reapers would help Rizevim just to spite us, I doubt they would do the same for us. Plus Rizevim most likely knows where to go, we''d have to search the entirety of purgatory to find them, I don''t want to waste our time." Everyone thought about what Alex said with solemn expressions, before a small alarm rang out, signaling the meeting Azazel arranged at Kuoh academy. *** Alex now stood at the school along with Azazel, Rias, Sona, Sairaorg, and Seekvaira and their peerages, the Vali team, sun Wukong and yu long, Dulio, Griselda, and Irina from the heaven side, and finally slash dog from the grigori. Azazel looked at all of those gathered, and said, "All of you should be aware, but the world now faces an unprecedented threat. Never before has there been an instant when every mythology, and faction in the world is threatened. As a result we need a response team to answer this threat. We have representatives from heaven, the fallen angels, Devils, youkai, dragon kings and heavenly dragons, and finally humans. There should be no faction with a negative response to our forming, due to the threat, and diversity of our team." As they heard his words everyone nodded their heads as they looked around, then Azazel continued, "First and foremost though, we need a leader. For that I propose Dulio as the leader, and Wukong as the sub leader." It took a moment, but Dulio registered what Azazel said and freaked out, while Wukong simply chuckled. "Wai-wai-wait! I''m not fit to be the leader!" Azazel just shrugged and said, "But we need someone with a good image, we can''t use a fallen angel or devil, as they have the historical image of being "evil". The same could be said for the dragons and youkai." Dulio couldn''t form a decent argument, and ended up becoming the leader. Azazel then turned to Vali, "And Vali, due to your teams past of being with the Khaos brigade, the other factions won''t trust you. To counter this the geezer Odin is offering to adopt you, as no one would go after the Chiefs son." Vali looked a little conflicted with this, but eventually agreed. After that they decided a name, the DXD, and Alex looked around while thinking that this group may hopefully be enough. Even though he planned to take most of them, the ones remaining and several others might be enough, to fight the terrorist threats both from this world, and from the other ones. *** Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, as he was finally out of the realm of the dead that Indra sent him Georg and Leonardo to. "HAHA! You got out of there quicker than I thought! Or should I say as expected?" Cao Cao laughed bitterly, and said, "For the one who sent me down there to say that, you really are horrible ?akra. So, what did I miss?" The god laughed again and said, "Talk about timing, how about you join them then? A former terrorist joining an anti terrorist group, if Vali didn''t beat you to it I''d say it was the peak of irony." Cao Cao sighed again as he contemplated the gods words. Chapter 110 - Date with the Sitri sisters It had been a few days since the forming of the dxd, and Alex was starting to lose it. He was becoming mentally drained due to the constant waiting for when Rizevim would strike again, and almost wanted them to do something just to get it over with. Though he wasn''t losing focus with his training, it was getting more noticeable to the girls that the waiting was starting to get to him, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. They decided that spending a day just relaxing with one or two of them was just what he needed, the question was who would be the lucky girl? Rias had decided that it should be someone who hasn''t spent much time with him yet, and immediately eliminated herself and the majority of the dorm inhabitants. That left Ravel and Koneko, Gabriel, Irina, Yasaka, or Sona and Serafall. Yasaka had an interview with some youkai for immigration, so she was sadly eliminated, Irina said she would give up her chance so she was likewise eliminated. Ravel and Koneko would''ve gone, but Kuroka was being a spartan trainer to Koneko, since they learned that their sealing technique was needed to fight the resurrection of the holy grail. As for Gabriel, she was currently prohibited from meeting Alex outside of Asora besides for emergencies, due to the fact that last time she did she nearly fell instantly. That left the Sona and Serafall pair. However to avoid the awkwardness of escorting both of the sisters at once, Serafall would have him for the morning, and Sona for the afternoon. "Yay! Onwards to our date!????" Serafall declared as she marched him out the door of the dorm. Alex was smiling wryly as he didn''t expect them to do this, and to start with Serafall of all people. She walked him down the street, arm wrapped around his, humming to herself. He asked her, "So where do you want to go? I don''t really have anything in mind since I wasn''t expecting this." She shook her head cutely however, and said, "I already planned it, so don''t worry about a thing!????" Alex smiled bitterly and asked, "Isn''t the guy supposed to be the one who escorts the lady during dates?" She shook her head cutely again and said, "That would defeat the purpose of having you relax for the day. I already planned it out, first the movies!????" She then dragged him to see the new magical girl milky movie, which he wouldn''t have minded if it wasn''t full of children, and he was likely the oldest on watching it(besides Serafall, but he didn''t need to think too hard to know not to say it). Instead of focusing on the movie however, he watched how Serafall reacted to it. Each of her reactions to every scene when milky saved the day, or when she was in trouble were quite cute. He had to say though, her best reaction was when he wrapped his arm around her. He didn''t try any pervy stuff, but was just holding her closely. She didn''t seem to mind, which was quite the difference from when they first met, and actually snuggled up closer to him. After the movie, Serafall was talking about it excitedly while they were walking down the street, going to get some lunch. "-and the scene when milky used her powers to save the day! Oh, I thought she looked so cool!????" Alex started laughing quietly at her antics, not minding the passerby''s giving both of them weird looks, especially since she was in her magical girl getup(it was as if she didn''t even register that it was December). While talking she eventually led him to a burger place, and the two sat down for lunch. As they started eating she suddenly looked a little more serious, and said to him, "I was thinking of changing my name back to Sitri after permanently moving to Asora." Alex froze slightly mid bite, before asking, "How come, don''t you like being leviathan?" She sighed and said, "It''s not that, but by going into Asora permanently and leaving the world, I''ll be giving up my title of Maou anyways. I just thought that rather than being the Maou leviathan, I would like to be the older sister more since I''ll be able to." Alex looked at her in surprise, before she continued, "Ive also put her through too much, the burdens of growing up to take over the house should have been mine, but I left it all to her so I could take the position of Maou. That''s part of why I dote on her all the time, and why I always cause trouble for her, because I want more fun in her life since she''s always serious." Alex smiled when he heard her words, as he could see that even if Sona always ends up embarrassed by her sisters actions, she would probably be the most devastated if she changed. He took her hand, and said, "Don''t worry we have many more years to make her happy, but don''t forget, I''m also going to do the same for you Serafall Sitri." When she heard him use her family''s name, she showed a radiant smile and leaned over to kiss him. The two didn''t separate for several minutes, before they finally remembered they were in the middle of a diner. When Alex looked around he saw several people turn away, obviously admiring the young couple. After they finished eating, they started walking until they reached a park, and walked until they reached a fountain. Serafall then turned towards him, back in Levia-tan mode, "It''s almost time for son-tans date now, you treat her right you hear! When you''re done take her right here as well, I''ll be waiting." Alex raised a brow, but before he could ask what she meant, Serafall disappeared in the mist of Asora. He smiled again, and turned to go meet Sona. When he saw her at the meeting area he stalled for a moment, she was dressed in a pink coat with floral patterns on it, and had a light blush on her face as she waited for him. He felt bad for making her wait, and walked over to her. "Hey, sorry about the wait." She smiled when he called out to her, and said, "You were with big sister, so don''t worry about it. Let''s go then shall we?" Alex didn''t say anything, and just linked their arms while she started leading the way to her destination. As they walked Alex asked, "So how is the school going? You''re making one before moving to Asora right?" She suddenly sighed and replied, "I gave up on the underworld school, until we return from the other worlds at least. Even if I did establish it, we would leave right after, and it would be left to the mercy of those who don''t want it in the first place. My hope off that by the time we can return, they''ll be more open minded." Alex had a bitter feeling, as he didn''t want the political topics to be brought up. It seemed as if Sona realized as well, and quickly tried to change the subject. The talk turned to plans after graduating in the spring. Sona told him about how she intended to still attend the college until they left. Alex didn''t intend to go to college though, as he already did in his previous life. He intended to spend his remaining time after graduating preparing, and depending on how things go, participating in the Azazel cup tournament. He didn''t mention this though, as he had to leave some surprises. As they were talking they reached their destination, and Alex saw it was an indoor aquarium. He was surprised, until he recalled the Sitri specialty was water. Together the two walked around, admiring the many types of fish and marine life they had. As they were leaving a while later, he saw a gift shop and quickly ran inside after saying he''ll be right back. When Alex came back out, he saw a couple guys surrounding Sona. His brow twitched as he wondered if this was some kind of template, before recalling he was inside an anime world. He walked over right when one of the guys reached out to Sona, who had kept a straight face the entire time of course, and grabbed their arm. The guy turned to glare at him, and Alex said, "That''s my woman you''re harassing, I''d appreciate it if you left us alone. If not, then I''ll have to get a little impolite." The guy was about to say something, before he felt his arm getting squeezed tighter, and tighter. Alex barely used any of his strength, just enough to intimidate the guy. He turned to his friends, with some sweat running down his brow, "Let''s go, it''s not worth our time here." And they took off. He then turned to Sona, who was smiling at his actions, and how he referred to her as his woman. Alex held out what he got her, and her smiled got even wider. It was a simple cell phone strap, but he figured it was a nice little reminder of their first actual date. "Thank you." She said simply, as she put it on her phone. Alex smiled at her acceptance of his gift. He didn''t focus on anything too eye catching, as if either Sona or Rias for that matter cared then they wouldn''t have canceled their engagements to high class nobles. The two continued walking around a while, before going to dinner. Sona led him to a nice, yet simple restaurant, where the two had some pasta. She turned Crimson when Alex tried to imitate the move from the lady and tramp, but went through with it anyways, earning even more looks than he did earlier with Serafall. After their dinner, he then took the lead, as they walked around in the rapidly cooling evening. He led her to the spot that Serafall indicated, but didn''t say anything about it. Once they reached it, he suddenly pulled her into his arms, and looked her in the eyes. "I know I may not be the best at times, but I swear I''ll make you as happy as possible. I''d say the happiest in the world, but there''s a few girls might not like that." She smiled at his joke, and said, "I''d love that, thank you." And she leaned forward for the kiss this time, as the two closed their eyes and thei lips met for the next several minutes. They were so absorbed in the kiss that they didn''t notice the mist swirling around them, before opening their eyes and finding themselves inch at seemed to be a grand entrance hall. Standing nearby was Serafall in her magical girl outfit, and a mischievous/lewd grin on her face. Chapter 111 - Sitri sisters Alex looked at the obviously scheming Serafall, and narrowed his eyes. "What are you thinking of doing sister?" Sona demanded, but Serafall just chuckled and answered, "What normally happens after a date Son-tan?????" Sona then started turning pale, then blushed, then paled again, as if she couldn''t decide how to react to her sisters words. It didn''t help that Serafall''s eyes were glued to Sona, and there was a drop of blood coming out of her nose. Alex then decided to ask what he felt like was an obvious question, "So before we get to that, where are we?" He knew they had to be somewhere in Asora, but the building they were in didn''t seem familiar to him. Serafall took her eyes off of Sona for the first time, and said, "We''re in your new home, Misty Manor. There''s something more important to do right now, so we''ll do the tour tomorrow.????" she then stepped forward and produced a strip of cloth, before saying, "First you need to put this on, then I''ll lead you to the room!????" Alex raised an eyebrow at the cloth in her hand, and replied, "I don''t have that kind of fetish, so no thanks." She looked confused for a moment, then realized what it seemed like she was trying to do. She quickly shook her head, and explained, "This is to keep you from seeing what the manor looks like until tomorrow, and because I have a surprise planned.????" Alex wasn''t sure if he should pretend to hear that she muttered that she wanted to be the first one to have the surprise or not, as he wondered what it was she was planning. With some reluctance, he put he blindfold on and followed as Serafall led him through his new house. Several minutes later he was made to sit down on what felt like a bed, and she led Sona away. Once they were away from Alex, Sona turned to her big sister and glared. They didn''t plan this, and she was sure she wouldn''t like the "surprise" she mentioned. Once Serafall closed the door they went through, she asked her, "What''s really going on big sister? When you first met him you couldn''t stand him, and now you plan on sleeping with him with me tonight?" Serafall arched an eyebrow at her little sister, and replied, "I have a personal interest in this you know, plus why are you mad Son-tan, did you plan to have him to yourself tonight?????" she asked with half a smirk, but Sona could tell she was serious about not letting them be alone for the night. She then picked up on something her sister said. "What do you mean a personal interest?" Serafall then admitted, "If I''m with him then I could be with my adorable little Son-tan as well! Plus, he said he might be able to make me a real magical girl in at least one of the worlds he plans on going to!????" Sona was dumbfounded at what she heard, and practically shouted, "You mean he pretty much bought you?!" She hoped her sister would deny it, but after thinking about it for a moment she nodded her head, and said, "Yep, that''s exactly what happened!????" Sona didn''t know if she should laugh or cry, someone bought the Maou as one of their many women, with her and the promise of being a magical girl. All thoughts about it were blown out of her head however, when she saw where they were. They were in what seemed to be a walk in closet, and there were even curtains for changing rooms. What made her pause however, was what they were changing into. "Sister, do I really have to?" Sona asked, almost pleading. Serafall just smiled, while a few drops of blood escaped her nose. She then declared, "Yep! Oh I can''t wait to see my beautiful Son-tan in it!????" Serafall then entered her own world, as Sona grabbed her outfit grudgingly, and to Serafall''s dismay, fled behind one of the curtains. At first she was devastated, but when she recalled what they''ll be doing in a short while, got over it and grabbed her own outfit. *** Alex was waiting with the blindfold on, for several minutes. He had laid back on the bed, and was counting the seconds until they returned, when they walked back into the room, and Serafall said, "3, 2, 1! Take it off!????" Alex removed the blindfold, and saw what he expected, but it was definitely an amazing sight. Both of them were in matching magical girls outfits, and as Alex took off the blindfold they started moving in a quick dance, ending with a pose while both said, ""Now presenting, magical girls Son-tan and Levia-tan!????"" Alex was dumbfounded at the display, as he watched the two dance in perfect sync as if they rehearsed before hand, even if they weren''t gone that long. If he was more attracted to magical girls, Alex was sure he would''ve had blood bursting from his nose as well by now. Looking at Serafall''s outfit showed she wasn''t able to resist Sona''s charm, as there was already a few spots of blood on the top. Alex made to stand up, but Serafall rushed forward and pushed him back down, confusing both him and Sona before saying, "Ah ah ah, I''ll go first with Son-tan, you just sit back and watch the show.????" Both of them were dumbfounded, as Serafall walked back over to Sona, with a predators gaze. Sona didn''t know what to do, as her own older sister approached her. But when she looked and saw the intense gaze Alex had towards the two of them, she didn''t fight it as her sister finally reached her, and stood on her toes to plant her lips on hers. As the two started making out, Sona then felt her mouth being invaded by Serafall''s tongue. She hesitated for a second, before allowing her tongue to have full access to her mouth, and began wrestling with it using her own. Alex watched with growing arousal as the two sisters continued making out, starting a war with their tongues. Serafall then started moving her hands down, and reached Sona''s skirt before her hands disappeared inside. Sona''s panties were worked down her legs, before they ended pooled around her ankles. Sona then gasped, as Serafall''s fingers worked their way inside her. Serafall smiled as she turned to Alex and said, "Now I''m the first one inside Son-tan.????" He was stupefied, as she declared victory over him. He thought back on it, even though things got heated at the hot springs he never actually entered her. So Serafall won this round, but her cherry still belonged to him in the end. As he smiled Serafall frowned, guessing his thoughts but didn''t say anything. She instead turned back to Sona, and set to removing her top as well. Soon Sona was standing there in nothing but her skirt, and Serafall started kissing her body, making her way down it. Soon her head disappeared under the skirt, Sona froze again, before she suddenly shuddered, as Serafall''s tongue entered her lower lips. As she felt the foreign sensation, she looked over at Alex once more, and saw that not only did he have a look of arousal, but his pants were being strained by the package inside. She suddenly felt waves approaching her, and grabbed her sisters head and pulling her closer, deeper, as she experienced her first climax of the night. She then turned crimson in embarrassment, as her sisters head reappeared, with her face soaked in fluids. Serafall stood swiftly, and sealed her lips once more, allowing Sona to taste herself on her mouth. Once they separated Serafall was about to request Sona do the same for her, but were interrupted, "Eh em!" They both turned to see Alex now relieved of his own clothes, towering and ready as he looked at the two sisters. He then said with a wicked grin, "You may have had the opening act Serafall, but this is supposed to be my show." Chapter 112 - Misty manor Alex awoke having a sister on each side, Serafall on the right, Sona on the left. It wasn''t that they both wanted to cuddle with him, it was to keep Serafall from smothering her sister during the night, not that Alex left her with enough energy to do so in the first place. She was hesitant at first to go all the way when it actually came time to do so, but when he mentioned doing Sona first she became resolute. Since he drove them so hard, Alex decided not to move so they get some rest, an turned his attention to his status. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 18 Level- 125 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Asora Job- gravity user(5) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant Skills- Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(4) Intimidation(6) Ki manipulation(8) Devils charm(5) Gravity manipulation(1) Fire manipulation(8) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After he reached level one hundred, his progress slowed a lot. Apparently this is a function to keep them from growing too fast, which he could understand when he thought about some of the powers they had access to. As he was thinking about this, both of the girls started to stir and moved off of him. Recalling Serafall''s words about touring the manor today, Alex decided to use the chance to clean up while they slept off the soreness of the night before. He looked around the room properly for the first time, and his brow twitched at what he saw. The bed he was laying on stretched from wall to wall, easily capable of fitting around twenty people. There were four doors in the room, and checking them showed one was the hallway, one was a giant walk in closet filled with all sorts of women''s clothes, the third was another closet, another walk in but more modest with men''s attire, and the final one was the bathroom. He entered the bathroom and his brow twitched again, the shower was big enough to allow roughly ten people to use it at once. And there was a tub that could almost be a considered a small pool. He couldn''t help but wonder, ''how many people are they planning on moving into my room?'', as he already figured out it was his new room. He showered quickly and left the bathroom, only to find Ravel and two of her peerage members waiting for him. They turned toward him when he opened the door, and while Ravel wasn''t fazed, the two other women went wide eyed at his n.a.k.e.dness. "Are you serious?" "Not even lord Raiser could compare..." Alex didn''t mind their words, and made his way to the closet. A few minutes later he reemergence completely dressed, and asked Ravel, "So what''s going on?" Leaving the two women dumbfounded at his composure. Ravel answered while the two on the bed started to stir. "We arranged to start the tour around 8, but when no one came downstairs I figured something like this happened and came to investigate." Alex nodded, and the Sitri sisters suddenly noticed there was a small audience. Serafall didn''t seem to mind, but noticing the obvious evidence of the s.e.x the night before, Sona swiftly covered herself with a crimson face. Alex turned his attention on Ravel, and said, "Should we wait for them?" Serafall chuckled in a self mocking tone, before saying, "We still need to properly clean up, and recover. Don''t worry about us, we''ll join when we can." Alex and Ravel nodded, and she led him down to the kitchen. Waiting down there was Rias, and her peerage minus Kiba and Gasper, Gabriel and Irina, Kuroka, Ophis, and Sona and the rest of Ravels peerage. Ravel said to them as they arrived, "Sorry, it''s as we thought, and the other two will be resting a while." Every girl that had slept with Alex nodded in understanding, causing his brow to twitch once more. He decided to focus on the food waiting on the table though, and started digging in. Once he was done with his breakfast, Ravel took the lead around the new manor. "We arranged the house so that it could fit any women we speculated you''ll pick up in other worlds, as well as the rest of us." At her words Alex could feel a few glares on the back of his head, but chose to ignore it. Ravel then pulled out a blueprint, and said, "The central part of the building is somewhat a commons area, with the kitchens, living rooms, and a few other areas. The two wings are the more private areas. They mostly have bedrooms, but there''s also a library, and a few spare empty rooms in case we need them for something else. The underground has several levels, an indoor pool, training room, and a storage area. We also decided to add a vault for any valuables, artifacts, and relics we come across in the other worlds. Still in the works are the add ons to the roof, and various items behind the manor, we''re thinking a greenhouse, another pool, and the hot springs is already complete." When she finished speaking, Alex couldn''t believe it. He looked over the plans for the house, and was still taking in that it was his own manor. He then walked around the place, eager to explore his new home, and familiarize himself with it. She led him around, and while they were walking the girls started claiming their own rooms. Due to the size of the rooms, some like the church trio decided to share, and surprisingly Kuroka and Koneko. Ophis of course took a room next to his, but none of the girls decided to say anything about it. There were a few things Alex found curious though, like an underground area Ravel didn''t explain, that was coincidentally next to Akeno''s chosen room. He decided not to ask when he saw the anticipatory look she had while looking at the door, and judging how Ravel looked away, he guessed it was planned this way on purpose. When they ended the tour it was already well past lunch, and the Sitri sisters finally joined them, while receiving knowing looks from most of the other girls. Sona was especially getting jealous looks from her own peerage. Ravel then pulled out other blueprints, and showed Alex plans to build other houses not too far from his, for other people planning to move there, like Vali, Barakiel, and Sairaorg, as well as Gasper and Kiba. He also mentioned how he wanted a meeting hall somewhere close by, where they could discuss properly about the worlds he planned to go to. Chapter 113 - Holiday plans After they finished touring the house, Gabriel walked up to Alex with a large smile on her face, and held up her hand to show off what seemed to be a bracelet. "That looks very nice." Alex said, but Gabriel''s smile widened, and she asked, "Do you know what this is?" When Alex honestly shook his head, she explained, "It''s to temporarily prevent angels from falling. It won''t work for extreme things like s.e.x, but it''ll prevent Angels from falling due to minor things like feelings, meaning we can now see each other when we''re not in Asora!" Alex was surprised. When he thought about it, the Angels did come up with some anti falling technology around this time, but it was a baby making room for Irina and issei to make children. They probably just made this in response to Gabriel nearly falling whenever she saw him outside of Asora, and to limit Angels that fall due to mild "evil" tendencies. "That''s amazing Gabriel, I take it that means that we can go out outside of Asora now?" She nodded with a happy face, but Alex suspected that their dates will still end inside Asora, though he decided not to point this out. He then asked her, "Speaking of heaven, I was wondering about making a visit there to ask about repairing Ascalon." By this point everyone knew about ascalon''s current condition, and Gabriel had a thoughtful look on her face, before saying, "We have been working on technology to allow devil visitors lately, it should be finished around Christmas. So does that mean you''re going to spend Christmas with me?" At Gabriel''s words every girl went on alert, until Alex said, "Sure, but it''ll be your funeral." He then turned to look at the rest of the girls, and when Gabriel followed his look she saw everyone present glaring at her. She quickly looked away, then said, "You know, I think it''ll be better to spend Christmas in the manor with everyone else this year, to properly celebrate it. Plus, it''ll be the first holiday after the manor was finished." Several of them started nodding at her change in words, but the glares didn''t leave their faces. *** A few days later Alex was thinking about how to best progress after the recent events now that his head was somewhat clearer. He wasn''t sure if Rizevim would act the same in original series, as he most likely suspected Alex was aware of his plans. Or, he could do the same things anyways, since he was insane to begin with, and caused terror simply for fun. Thinking this, Alex decided to simply follow the original progress of the story, as he didn''t know where Rizevim was with Agreas, but he would also try to prevent other unnecessary conflicts, like the church revolt. He recalled that it was started due to the grudge of several church warriors, and a miracle child, half human and half angel. He knew they were ones that lost loved ones due to the conflicts with Devils in the past, but he also knew they weren''t the only ones that lost loved ones because of the conflicts. As he thought about that, Alex sent a message to Ravel asking for some information. As far as most people are concerned, especially in this world, Devils are undoubtedly evil existences, Rizevim was the perfect example of this. But after the original Maou died that no longer seemed to be the case, and they simply turned into another side. The same could be said about Angels and fallen angels, as the war after God and the Maous deaths wasn''t about good versus evil. If one removed the titles of Devils and Angels after their deaths, then it simply became one side versus another, and neither side could be considered good, or evil, or at least that''s what Alex thought. Though if he prevented the revolt, then Xenovia would lose the chance to combat Vasco Strada, he didn''t think it was that bad a thing, as it might be possible for Strada to tutor her in wielding Durandal after. One of his biggest concerns though, was the betrayal of the current champion of the rating games, Diehauser Belial, over his cousins death. He was also unsure about fighting him, as his "worthless" power was just too much of a cheat. Alex didn''t know what it would effect as far as his own abilities, like his strength, or his super Saiyan, but the only way he could think of to combat it was to use his speed to defeat him before he could use it. A knock on the front door of dorm brought him back to the current situation. He was currently waiting in the living room of the dorms with Rias and Sona, waiting for a certain someone. He got up and went to the door, opening it to let Kiryuu in. She looked at him with expectation and l.u.s.t in her eyes, and asked, "So senior, what did you call me here for today?" Alex just shook his head at the pervert (not that he could talk) and said, "Business actually, a couple people want to talk with you." She looked surprised, and had a bit of disappointment on her face when she realized it wasn''t a booty call. Alex''s brow twitched, as he led her to the living room where the other two were waiting. She was mildly surprised when she saw who was waiting for her, then Alex opened the conversation, "So, a little birdie told me that you''re currently learning, or trying to learn, magic." Kiryuu sighed when she thought she realized what this was about, and sat down to start explaining, "I felt annoyed that everyone was out doing dangerous things, yet I just stayed back even when knowing about it. So I thought that by learning magic I could try to help those three in some way, but it''s proving to be a bigger pain than I thought." Rias and Sona nodded at her words, knowing she was talking about Asia, Irina, and Xenovia, and Rias spoke up, "Then how would you like to join our ranks?" Kiryuu froze for a moment, before asking, "What do you mean?" Sona then explained, "I''m sure you''re aware to an extent of the evil pieces, I have one pawn left, and Rias still has all of hers. We''re asking, would you like to become one of our pawns, become a devil, and join us?" Kiryuu stalled at the question, and was silent for several minutes. She knew they weren''t offering this lightly, and that becoming an entirely different species was a serious thing. She then asked, "What would happen if I accepted?" Rias and Sona both then pulled out a pamphlet and started acting like a salesman. They then started explaining the different benefits of becoming a devil, and what kind of life she would expect after this. After several moments, Kiryuu then stated, "But while I have been learning magic, I''m not powerful enough, or have some kind of ability that would help me keep up with everyone." Sona then spoke up, "Which is why I''m also here, my team doesn''t specialize in power, but strategy. As someone who is learning magic, you could be a decent help to our strategies, and support us from behind. Though I will mention that during any near future rating games there is the chance of going against Rias''s team, and Asia and Xenovia." Kiryuu thought uncharacteristically seriously about this, before finally answering, "Then I''d like to join you president. As you said I would probably help the most when being part of a strategy and supporting, even if I would have to go against them in games later. But there''s not only the games, so I''ll place more importance on those times." Sona smiled, a held out a pawn chess piece. Kiryuu took it, and a second later Devils wings sprouted from her back. She then said, "We''ll have a welcome party for you and my other new members since we haven''t been able to yet, let''s do it tomorrow, I''ll also invite Rias and her group." They all agreed and started talking about future training programs to help Kiryuu increase her magic capabilities, since she was now able to use Devils magic. After while they finished those talks, and the day started to come to a close. Alex then stood up, and grabbed Kiryuu before throwing her over his shoulder. He then turned towards the stairs. "What are you doing senior?!" She demanded, Alex then answered with a smile, "Didn''t you come over expecting this? I hate to not meet expectations." At his words she stopped resisting, and Alex turned to the other two, who were completely flabbergasted. "So, you two going to join us?" Rias shot up instantly, while Sona hesitated, before Rias grabbed her hand and dragged her after them. Chapter 114 - Early present As Christmas approached A festive mood enveloped the entire dorm. The girls hung decorations throughout the building, and a couple even started wearing santa or elf themed outfits for fun. Though it seemed as if the elves and Santa''s were naughtier than the others. Alex was enjoying the atmosphere, when he wasn''t helping to train the new members of Sona''s peerage, while placing his concerns at the back of his mind for a while. He also heard that Ravel had her peerage decorating misty manor, but it was supposed to be a surprise for the rest of them. So Alex just got a new house, but was now kicked out for the moment. He didn''t let it bother him however, and just enjoyed his time before the holidays. He was busy helping set up a tree with the church trio, when rias walked over. She looked a little concerned, but before Alex could ask she started explaining. "We have a couple guests coming over, please be on your best behavior, and try not to provoke them into a match." When he heard her caution him, Alex immediately started running through lists of people she would be worried about. At the top were her parents, Sirzechs, and Grayfia, but he wouldn''t fight any of them(unless Sirzechs was angry about the hot springs situation). He then continued thinking of other people she would be concerned about, but couldn''t think of any right away. A while later his curiosity was quelled, when someone knocked on the door, and Alex opened it to see a giant man with spiked orange hair, followed by a skinny man with slanted eyes and a mix of blonde and black hair. Alex had a suspicion when he saw them, but when he saw the bottle in the Giants hand a second later, he knew his guess was correct. Before he could say anything, Rias appeared and said, "Welcome Surtr and Macgregor." Alex nodded in understanding as his guess was confirmed, these were a couple of Sirzechs servants, one of the rooks Surtr second, a clone of a Norse giant, and the only bishop Macgregor Mathers. He didn''t recall specific details about them from the series, but had looked into them a bit a while back. They both turned to Rias and said, ""Princess, you have become even lovelier since the last time we saw you."" As they greeted Rias Alex recalled her warning. About provoking them, and smiled at how she could see right through him. Even now, he was fighting the urge of wanting to fight Surtr, as he would be a good one to challenge his strength. Instead he bowed slightly, and said, "It''s an honor to meet both of you, I am Alex." They both quickly shook their heads and said, "Don''t bow to us young master, it''s not fitting." Alex shrugged, and loosened up. He knew they seemed to place importance on official ranks, as they always referred to issei as "waka", or young master. Rias then asked, "So what brings both of you here? It''s rare for even just a couple of you to get together." At her question Surtr turned to Alex and said, "I wanted to give young master something, an early Christmas gift if you will." As he spoke he activated a small magic circle and what looked like a toy ship appeared. Alex realized what it was right away, with his eyes shined in anticipation, and when he saw that Surtr smiled and said, "This is a Norse ship called Skithblathnir, it was a masterpiece of the same tribe that created Mj?lnir for Thor. It will grow and change with your aura, and I''m curious what form it''ll take with such a unique red dragon emperor." Alex was truly thankful for this gift, as it would be great to have a reliable form of transportation in the other worlds. He asked for the car from Azazel, but there would be certain situations it wouldn''t be convenient for. "Truly, thank you Surtr." The big man laughed at Alex and said, "Think nothing of it young master, I simply thought that since you wished to travel with your women, then you needed to have something to travel in! And don''t get teary on me, it isn''t manly!" As Alex and Surtr talked, Rias turned to Macgregor and asked, "So how come you accompanied him Macgregor?" The skinny man laughed slightly at her question, and said, "Why I came to ensure Surtr didn''t start any trouble with the new young master of course! I heard he was quite the fighter, so I worried what would happen if they weren''t supervised, a specially after the beast riot." Rias nodded at his words, as she was concerned about the same exact thing. However surprisingly the two got along really well without getting to fight, and Alex got to test his capabilities at drinking alcohol that night. (A.N. Using a really roundabout way to post, but still somewhat able to manage. For those who didn''t see my comment last chapter, webnovel f.u.c.k.i.e.d up the app for some reason, and I can''t post there anymore. Don''t know how often I''ll post due to it, also depends on if what I am using works, but I''ll try to stay active. Ps. Any name ideas for the Skithblathnir? I''m kinda bad at names. Chapter 115 - discipline When Alex awoke the next morning, he experienced his first ever hangover in this world. He recalled getting along with Surtr well, and the two started drinking together, but then after several drinks he finally blacked out. Alex looked around to find he was on the couch instead of his bed, and with a horrible headache, went to go get some water from the kitchen. There he found Rias with Macgregor and Surtr, as well as the rest of the dorm residents. "Well good morning." Rias said with an smirk at how he was feeling. "Morning..." Alex replied noncommittally, as he started going through the cupboards for a cup. The rest of the girls started snickering at how Alex looked at the moment, as it was rare for them to see him so affected by something. After he got some water, Surtr started laughing and said, "HAHA, I wasn''t sure at first, but you sure can drink young master, even for a high schooler!" Even though he was quieter than usual, Alex still felt as if he was shouting in his ears. He mentally swore to get a power that would let him not get drunk, or at least a hangover, in the future. He soon dismissed himself to go shower to get rid of the alcohol smell, and was joined happily by Asia and Xenovia. Nearly an hour later, he reemerged a new man. Alex was feeling a lot better, and Asia and Xenovia returned with him, practically glowing for different reasons. The two members of Sirzechs peerage coughed awkwardly, and Surtr said, "So young master, I hear you''re quite proud of your strength." At his words Alex smiled, but Rias and Macgregor looked as if the apocalypse was about to happen. Alex remembered Rias''s warning from the day before, but when Surtr brought it up himself, he was unable to resist. "You''re damn straight I am!" Surtr laughed with a twinkle in his eyes, and asked, "How about a competition then?" Alex''s smile widened, but he decided to listen to Rias''s warning, to an extent. "You''re on, but it has to be small. How about arm wrestling?" Surtr laughed at Alex''s suggestion, and answered, "Of course we have to keep it mild, if not then old Macgregor would tell on me to big sis!" Alex smirked when he heard that, and a certain silver haired maid came to mind when he heard ''big sis''. Though they were glad there wasn''t going to be a real fight, Rias and Macgregor were still worried, and moved everyone to the Gremory training area. In the underground space, Macgregor had summoned a sturdy table, and everyone was getting ready to watch the match. Alex was on one side of the table and Surtr was on the other, staring each other down with grins a mile wide on both of their faces. They both placed their right arms on the table, and grabbed each other''s hand. Rias was not too far away with a small flag, "Ready, set, GO!" Immediately a crater formed from the opposing auras, and cracks tarted spreading as they increased their strength. It was like that the two started their match of strength. Alex was being pushed back slowly by Surtr, before he started pushing Surtr back gradually. Surtr then started evening things out, and they got stuck in the middle, trying to beat the other. Surtr grinned despite the obvious strain, and said, "I''ll not lie young master, you''ve definitely got strength!" Alex grinned right back, before replying, "You as well Surtr, the only other person to match me in strength recently, was Crom Cruach!" The two continued like this, the cracks from their pressure spider webbing out even more as time went on. Alex and Surtr both turning red, as they strained to oppress the other. If Alex wanted to, he could have easily overwhelmed Surtr with his super saiyan, draconian form, or even his newly upgraded gravity manipulation. However what was the point of using those? What fun would there be in matches like these if he decided to take the route of easily overwhelming all of his opponents with abilities they didn''t have? Alex did doubt for a second that Surtr had similar abilities that would increase his strength, but he knew he had the same thought and didn''t use them. This was purely a match of raw strength, no abilities, and they both loved it. At least until, "What exactly is going on here?" A cold female voice filled the space. Macgregor paled instantly, and Surtr faltered for a second, before Alex slammed his hand through the table, and into the ground below them. Surtr had obviously lost, but he didn''t care about that when he looked at the owner of the voice a second ago. Standing there, behind everyone witnessing the match, was the same silver haired maid Surtr and Macgregor feared so much. Grayfia stood there calmly, but had a sharp look in her eye as she looked at the three perpetrators in front of her. Her eyes focused on Macgregor, Surtr, and then finally Alex himself. The first two instantly went into a sieza position in front of her, while Alex was looking back calmly. Everyone gulped as they saw him defy her, and Grayfia''s glare intensified, before Alex slowly started walking to the side of the the two. He then slowly got into a sieza next to them, then looked back at Grayfia without even a hint of nervousness. Seeing him finally in position, she turned to the other two first, and said, "First of all, I would like to ask why it is two members of the lucifer group decided to make the trip to the human world together, then freeload for the night at the current home of the Gremory heiress." The two gulped, and Surtr said, "Big sis, it''s like this, I wanted to give the young master a present for the holidays. But I figured it wouldn''t be very appropriate to interrupt his and the princess''s holiday together, so I made a trip in advance." Macgregor nodded and said, "And you know sis how this guy causes trouble, so I accompanied him to ensure he design start anything troublesome while here." Surtr glared at him, but Macgregor acted as if he couldn''t see it. Grayfia nodded in contemplation, before saying, "If you simply wished to deliver a present Surtr, then why did you need to invade the lady''s home for the entire night?" At this Surtr started sweating, and knowing Macgregor would rat on him if he lied, said, "Well, the toung master and I got talking, then we got drinking. By the time I noticed how late it was, the princes offered us a room for the night." Grayfia''s glare intensified even more, and she asked, "So you happily handed alcohol to someone who is merely in highschool?" At her words Surtr gave up trying to explain, and simply waited for his punishment when he returned to the underworld. She then turned to Macgregor, and said, "And you Macgregor, you stated that you came to prevent him from causing trouble, yet let him give a minor alcohol, then you stood back as the current situation happened?" As the words fell Macgregor didn''t say anything, and simply hung his head, and waited like Surtr for his lecture upon returning. She then turned to Alex. "And you, are to be the husband of the next head of Gremory, not a drunkard who is a worthless muscle head!" Her words grew with intensity with each one, before Grayfia was nearly shouting at the end. As they saw that, Rias, Surtr, and Macgregor all turned deathly pale, and Rias was secretly worried that she would become a widow before she was even married. Alex however, was completely calm before her, which secretly unnerved Grayfia. Though she didn''t consider herself some kind of tyrant, it was unnerving to see someone not buckle under her reprimands, as even Satan himself wouldn''t properly raise his head in front of her lectures. Alex calmly replied, "I don''t see how drinking for one night makes me a drunkard, but if I do develop the habit then I''ll accept a lecture to put me straight. And to the claims of me being a muscle head, I won''t deny the thrill of a good challenge, but we did downgrade our competition to merely arm wrestling instead of a full on fight." As he looked her in the eye, and talked back with composure, everyone present reacted as if a legendary battle was about to take place. Surtr and Macgregor started talking bets, and Akeno and Koneko lamented the lack of popcorn, as Alex and Grayfia stared each other down. Chapter 117 - Opportunity It was just a few more days before Christmas, and Alex was few towns over with Kuroka and Irina to shop last minute before the holiday. "Nyan, we really should go out more Alex." Kuroka said as she clung to his arm and rubbed against him. Alex chuckled slightly, and replied, "Sure, there should be some more free time after the holidays, I''ll take you out then." Kuroka smiled when he said that, and happily said, "Then I''ll hold you to that, though I think I should prepare to face the fury of the others. Nya." As she spoke Alex caught a dirty look from Irina. He wasn''t sure if she was mad at the flirting in front of her, or at being excluded. "Damn couple." ''Ah, the first one.'' Alex thought to himself. But he didn''t hear what she asked herself inside her head. ''What should I do?'' Irina was conflicted, on one hand she wanted to get closer to Alex like everyone else, but on the other she felt like she was just going with the flow. She didn''t even think about it until Xenovia called her out on it when she mentioned it. Plus there was her first love, kiss, and childhood friend to think about. It was because she was thinking about this she didn''t notice the attack headed right at her, until Alex grabbed her. "LOOK OUT!" He shouted as he wrapped her up in his arms and dodged the attack. "Wai- what?!" She said in confusion, as she didn''t realize what was happening. Then she saw one of the eight dragon heads pulling back from the area she was just standing in. It took her another moment to realize she was pressed up against Alex''s warm body, and Kuroka was in attack mode. Alex turned to Kuroka with a glare, "Take care of Irina, I''ll take him." She nodded at him, and Alex released the fl.u.s.tered Irina from his arms. He then turned to see a man with long black hair, and a sword with a dragon that had eight heads connected to it. The man glared at Irina with intensity and said, "When I kill you girl, you can blame your father. I''ll tell him before killing him as well, that since he took the person I cared for the most in this world, I took the one most precious to him as well. Remember the name of your killer, Masaomi Yeagaki." Alex glared at the man and didn''t say anything, while Irina was dumbfounded at his declaration. He didn''t say anything more, and the dragon heads moved towards Irina and started their attack. Alex nodded mentally at Ddraigs words, and brought out the staff Wukong gave him, before destroying every head. It only took a second before they all regenerated, so Alex destroyed them again. He turned to Kuroka, "Try to purify the sword, it''s a holy sword so you should be able to." She nodded at his words, and summoned her kasha wheel with black flames that held the power of purification. While Alex distracted the heads, she burned them with her flames, but the power and malice in them was too much for her powers, and they still regenerated. From behind her Irina shot several spears of light at Masaomi, who was then protected by the heads. Alex then said to Kuroka, "The heads use a deadly poison, if they keep regenerating then they''re bound to get one of us eventually. Take Irina and get out of here until help arrives, I''ll hold him back since I have the meditation technique." Kuroka looked conflicted for a second, then said, "Don''t die Nya." And grabbed Irina before she could protest and vanished. Alex turned back to Masaomi, who watched Irina''s departure with purpose in his eyes. Alex then formed several ki spheres around him, before unleashing them at Masaomi and the sword. The dragons tried to protect him as Alex predicted, and were all destroyed once more leaving him vulnerable to the next attack, that was a destruction disk that took off his arm. "AAAHHHHHHH!" The man screamed as he grabbed his stump of an arm, and glared at Alex with murder in his eyes. With is sword on the ground, Alex swiftly sent another destructo disk, and took his other arm for good measure. Being disarmed(Alex tried not to laugh at that one) Alex approached the man with caution. He learned from when he eliminated Rizevim, and was going to bring him in alive. He kept his eyes on the sword the whole time, watching for if it came to life once more. But thankfully without Masaomi controlling it he didn''t seem to need to worry about it. The man in question was glaring daggers at Alex, with tears in his eyes from the pain of both his arms being removed. "You''ll pay for this, and I will have revenge on Shidou Touji for killing me and Cleria." Alex sighed at his words, and said, "I know, you loved her, but she was a devil and you were an exorcist. It was wrong what he did, but the fathers sins don''t belong to the child. And even if he was at fault, I can''t let one of those around me sad by not doing nothing. So I think I should also ask, would getting revenge like this make Cleria happy, or would it make her sad?" As the words left Alex''s mouth, the look of hatred faltered on his face, before returning a second later. Alex sighed again, and stepped forward to finish capturing him, before feeling a sudden sharp pain on the bottom of his foot. He lifted his foot for a second, and pulled out what stuck him, and started sweating instantly. "Well, shit." Alex muttered, as he looked at the tooth that just pierced his foot even through his shoe. Almost instantly his head started swimming, and he felt a little dizzy. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Who would''ve thought this would''ve happened red dragon, stuck with Yamata''s fang right when you thought you won! That''s a riot!" Rizevim Lucifer and Euclid Lucifuge appeared in his field of view, before retrieving the sword and Masaomi''s arms. Rage filled Alex, and he activated super Saiyan. As the power filled him, his head cleared a little and he took a battle stance, before the effect of the poison returned, and his vision started blurring again. Rizevim looked surprised at this and said, "Well look at that, even being filled with some of Yamata''s poison he''s unstoppable! We better flee here, or he''ll kill me again. Until next time red dragon!" And the three of them vanished from Alex''s view, right before he also collapsed. He struggled into a sitting position, and started trying to meditate to neutralize the poison. It wasn''t as powerful as Samael''s, but it was a close second. Suddenly Ddraig spoke up, When Alex heard what Ddraig wanted him to do, his first thought was that it was insane to try, but the second thought was that success was built on top of insanity. He then started trying to meditate again, but focused on what Ddraig said to try instead. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes, was Kuroka and Irina returning with the rest. Chapter 118 - Skill training That night after encountering Masaomi, and Alex was still meditating to combat the poison. He was sitting cross legged, while also sweating as if it wad the middle of summer, but was clammy and cold. They had moved him to the dorms, but their first choice was to take him to heavens specialists to help him fight the poison, but Vali was also present since Kuroka called him. When they suggested it Albion appeared, and said that Ddraig told him not to let them take him, because Alex was trying to do something with the the poison. This left them all confused, but they could only sit there and wait as he tried fighting the poison by himself. *** ''I know I compared it to Samael before, but it''s still quite horrifying to look at.'' Alex thought as he looked at the huge blob of poison in front of him. What he was seeing was not really the physical image, as little more than a drop or two of poison entered him. Instead it was more of a mental image of the potency of the poison, as it constantly tried to fight his control and destroy his body. ''Are you both sure this would work?'' He asked Ddraig and Lauren for the hundredth time. What he was about to attempt was extremely dangerous with even mild poisons, let alone one of the most potent poisons in this world. ''Indeed, plus you have a higher chance of succeeding due to your job system. As long as you control the amount of poison properly, and prevent it from contaminating your soul, it should work.'' Alex sighed mentally hearing their words, and looked at the blob poison once more. His goal was to try and gain a poison resistance ability using Yamata''s poison, allowing his body to slowly adapt to very small amounts of it at a time. The process itself was very dangerous, and would''ve been impossible to attempt if he had taken in more poison than he actually had. After he spent his time collecting all the poison in his body in a single place, he was going to release it into his body in very tiny amounts, and allow his body to slowly adapt to it without letting it overly contaminate him, or his soul. The reason they were trying it with Yamata''s poison instead of a milder one, was because if he managed to adapt to this one, then he would be able to resist most poisons after this. He then separated a part of the large blob no bigger than his mental hand, and spread it throughout his body. Instantly he felt an intense pain, as it spread through him. Alex was growing less confident by the second, as felt the damage just a small amount, of the small amount of poison tried to do to his body. It caused a brief lapse in his concentration, and he nearly lost control of all of it. ''That was close!'' He said to himself. ''Concentrate!'' Lauren reprimanded him for losing concentration, and Alex wanted to shout at the injustice, but couldn''t while trying to fight the poison. After what felt like hours, the pain started to subside, and Alex pulled out a little more poison to spread. He then repeated this process another ten times, pulling the same amount of the poison each time. Finally, [Notice! Poison immunity skill acquired!] The sudden notification caught him by surprise, and he nearly slipped in his control once more. This earned him another reprimand from Lauren, but Alex didn''t pay attention. Since he couldn''t actually check the new skill personally, he asked Lauren, ''Poison immunity, does that mean that I''m now immune to all poisons? That was easy!'' Lauren sighed, and said, ''No it doesn''t mean you''re immune to any poison except maybe the weakest ones, think of it as more of a poison resistance skill. You''ll only be truly immune to poisons when it gets to level ten, though what''s here isn''t enough to get that high, this poison is potent enough that you should get it to a high level if you manage to get through all of it.'' Alex grimaced slightly at her words, and was immediately reminded of when he was a kid being told to eat his vegetables. He then turned to the blob again, not even looking smaller than when he started, and sighed once again. He then pulled out a slightly bigger amount of the poison, and started over. *** It was finally Christmas Eve day, but there was no festive mood in the dorms as all the girls waited still for Alex to wake up. Spending several days in a meditative state, they had watched as his condition slowly improved, as he had stopped sweating and had returned to normal temperature. They were just waiting for him to wake up now, and were soon joined by Irina''s dad Touji. "Papa, what are you doing here?" Touji sighed at his daughters question, and replied, "I came because of what happened, and to give you something for the holidays." Irina didn''t seem to know how to react to his words, and asked, "That man said that he wanted to kill me, to get to you. What happened papa?" Touji groaned as he tried to come up with an answer, then said, "I''ll be here a few days, let''s wait until after Christmas to talk about it so we don''t spoil the holidays anymore. Plus we should wait for Alex to recover before talking about it, shouldn''t we?" Rias nodded at him, and said, "Plus I just received word the Bael house is sending someone as well in three days as well." Touji nodded and said, "Then we''ll talk about it then, as long as he doesn''t try to attack once more." Everyone agreed somewhat somberly, then Irina piped up, "Well it looks like Alex is getting better, and we don''t him to wake up to a gloomy house. Let''s cheer up and start getting into the holiday spirit!" At Irina''s words everyone nodded and started trying to get pepped up. Not long after, Alex opened his eyes. Chapter 119 - Not a chapter So its getting tedious to write nowadays, but I''m not really wanting to give up because of things I have planned. I''m thinking of just jumping to the graduation and recapping the few volumes between that point. Then it''ll just be the Azazel cup and waiting for the last year to pass before the other world. Chapter 120 - Graduation Rias stood at the back of the auditorium, waiting for the ceremony to start, and reminiscing about the last three years, the last year especially. She recalled how it wasn''t long after starting high school she met Alex, thinking he was simply a delinquent. She then grew interested in him after he defended some of the girls in the school, and tried to scout him into her peerage. From there her life with him snowballed, he "scammed" her into becoming his girlfriend, then after two years he revealed all of his secrets when he saved her from a life as Raiser''s pet wife. She then joined his peerage, and gave all of herself to him. After that her life just continued to become more intense, from fighting Kokabiel, to start of the Khaos Brigades attacks, to even facing off against a god and a god killer. Then after a few more conflicts, she thought she lost the person she dedicated her everything to, when he got infected with Samael''s poison. Not only did he come back to her then, but he even singlehandedly ended the disaster the devil world itself was experiencing. Then he fought the evil dragons, helped the vampires, and even fought to overcome poison once more, this time was that of Yamata no Orochi, and he even gained the ability to be almost immune to poison after that. Rias was brought back to the present when the ceremony began. She started walking down the center of the auditorium with the rest of the seniors, including Alex, Akeno, Sona, and Tsubaki. As she walked, she heard the applause of those who came to support them, their family and friends. Rias saw her father and mother standing there, while he recorded her with a camera. Barakiel was crying as he watched Akeno walk, much to her shame, and Serafall tried to make a big uproar for Sona, before she sent a stern look at her older sister. Then Rias saw her own older sister, Grayfia, along with her nephew Millicas. They stood alone, to the side, and Rias was saddened when she thought of the reason, and the events leading up to it. After recovering from the poison, they went to heaven to have Ascalon fixed. Alex then requested a talk with the miracle child, Teodoro Legrenzi, in order to come to an understanding before he started a revolt. Though Teodoro refused to listen at first, Alex offered an alternative of him fighting two exorcists of Teodoro''s choice. As a result, he faced the two veteran exorcists Vasco Strada, the former wielded of Durandal, and Ewald Christaldi, the former wielder of several fragments of Excalibur. Though neither was able to stand up to Alex independently, both were able to stand toe to toe with him until he activated draconian form and increased the gravity in the area. After the fight, Alex then presented Teodoro with files of dozens of devil children that had been orphaned as a result of church hostilities in the past, to show he and the rest of the church weren''t the only ones to suffer the previous wars. After that those that wanted to revolt in the church quieted down a bit. After that they were lured to a specific area in the underworld, just to witness Rizevim and Euclid escape once more with trihexia and the evil dragons Apophis, N¨ªeh?ggr, A?i Dah¨¡ka, and the user of incinerate anthem Walaberga. Leaving behind Grendal, Ladon, and Masaomi wielding the sword with Yamata no Orochi. With both Kuroka and Koneko armed with Alex''s sacred gear jewels, they managed to seal Grendal, and Ladon, while Irina fought and purified Yamata no Orochi with the Hauteclere she received from her father on Christmas, and Masaomi was taken into custody. A few days later they responded to trihexia attacking every faction simultaneously, by splitting into seven different bodies, with a different person leading some of them at attacking. Alex responded to the one attacking Japan, that also had Rizevim and Euclid both with it. He fought with the both of them and the single head of trihexia, killed Rizevim and Euclid while he also recovered the holy grail. However the recovery capabilities of trihexia were simply too much for Alex. He powered up as much as possible, and threw every attack he could at it, but it regenerated every time. He even used an attack he called a "Kamehameha", but it still regenerated. He almost went into juggernaut drive, but her brother stopped him before he could. They then enacted a plan to seal several high ranking members of each faction with trihexia, and fight it within a sealed space, that none of them would be able to leave until it was dead. Grayfia was then forcefully knocked out, and left behind by her brother to stay with Millicas. The ones gone were her brother Sirzechs, Falbium Asmodeus, and their peerage minus their queens. Michael and Raphael went along with their brave saints, minus their aces. Several major gods like Odin, Thor, Zeus, Poseidon, and many more. Finally from the Gregory side only Azazel went. Rias was then brought out of her thoughts once more, when it was time for them to get their diplomas. Then Xenovia started giving her speech as the next student council president, and was followed by Sona giving hers as the former president. Once she was done, the entire audience in attendance erupted into applause, as the graduation ceremony was finished. The rest of the day passed in a daze for Rias, as she was congratulated by everyone around her, especially her parents. She was then surprised when instigated by Kiba, he Koneko and Gasper referred to her as "big sister" for the first time, as she was no longer their president. That night they had a small party with all of those involved in this town, her and her peerage, Sona and her peerage, Ravel, and Irina. After that, she and Akeno dragged Sona and Tsubaki upstairs, to prepare for their own "celebration" with Alex. Even though it was four against one, they of course still lost. And Alex didn''t let them go until it was sunrise, even poor Tsubaki even though it was her first time. Before she fell asleep, Rias watched the sun through the window, and couldn''t help feeling as if the first chapter of her life was officially done. (A.N. As I said I''m just skipping to this part, and gave a rough summary of what happened since the fight with Masaomi and Yamata, while I also tried to incorporate it into the story. From here it''s the Azazel cup, and then the next world.) Chapter 121 - New dxd Only a couple days after the graduation, and Alex was sitting in the living room of the dorms with several people, as they waited for more to show up. The current attendees, were Rias, Sona, Ravel, Sairaorg, Vali, Dulio, Valerie, and Wukong. Yu Long was also present, but in mini dragon form. As they waited they were chatting about the news that was released right before the graduation. They had announced that in order to better foster peace between the factions, they will host a tournament that individuals who still hold hostility against each other can fight in. This way they could settle their grudges, and it was a way to allow those who wanted to fight strong opponents to do so without causing conflict. It was named after the person who originally started it, but left to fight Trihexia. It was appropriately called the Azazel Cup. "So do you plan to participate?" Vali asked Alex with a gleam in his eye. At the question Sairaorg, Dulio, and Wukong all paid more attention. Alex laughed lightly, and replied, "I''m planning on it, but I haven''t put together my entire team just yet. I''m got a few people in mind, and I might ask one or two from those gathering today." At his words Vali looked even more interested, while Sairaorg looked ready for a rematch against him. Wukong laughed and said, "Well I suppose I should use this tournament to see if my disciple is ready to surpass me." At his words Vali, Dulio, and Sairaorg looked even more interested, as they all anticipated a fight against the elder monkey. The others didn''t look so thrilled, but with the exception of Valerie, they were all participating as kings in the tournament as well, even Ravel. She then spoke up, "Im planning to participate, but mostly as a form of training for my peerage. As they are now, I don''t harbor any real hope of placing very high, but that doesn''t mean we can''t see where we stand. And, I''ve even got some help for the tournament as well." As she finished her words, Ravel looked over at Valerie, who smiled in response as she had accepted the position of Ravel''s last bishop for the tournament. The piece itself was still empty though. The conversation was then brought to an end, when the people they had been waiting on arrived. After welcoming all the new arrivals, Alex then transported them to Asora, where they were joined by the four representatives, and they were able to start what he wanted to talk about. He looked out among all those present, and knew that they would be the best hope for keeping this world safe from the future travelers. Sitting in front of him was every current Longinus possessor, including the former Khaos brigade members Cao Cao, Leonardo, and Georg, as well as the recent Longinus possessor Lint Sellzan, who now possessed incinerate anthem after Walburga died with the evil dragons. There was also Dulio, Tobio, Lavinia, Valerie, Vali, Sairaorg, and the possessor of two Longinus, Mitsuya Kanzaki. Every one of the rookies four was present along with Sairaorg, Rias, Sona, and Seekvaira. Then two members of the current dxd, Sun Wukong, and Yu Long. And finally the newest addition, Vasco Strada of the church. Serafall, Yasaka, Barakiel, and Gabriel stood to the side until they were needed. They all looked at Alex with curiosity, wondering why he called them there, though the ones who were in the know already knew. Alex took a deep breathe, and started talking, "Welcome all of you, and thank you for coming. I asked each of you to come here today, so that we can prepare for the potential crisis starting in a little over a year." At his words several of those that didn''t know what he was talking about were severely confused, while the others were listening intently, waiting for him to continue. "You see I''m part of a group that was given the chance to participate in a very dangerous game. It involves moving between worlds to fight the other contenders, and the last one left gets a prize. Part of the game, is that when we fulfill certain conditions we can receive amazing powers. For a basic example, given enough time I could slowly collect a perfect replica of all the Longinus powers for myself." As he stopped to let his words sink in, everyone had different reactions. The first to speak up was Cao Cao. "Wait, are you saying that there could be multiple people out there with the "true Longinus"?" Alex nodded and replied to everyone''s dumbstruck looks, "Yes, I didn''t get my boosted gear that way, but it is possible that you could face a whole group of holy spear users at once in the future, though as I said that''s just one possibility. There could be a small army of boosted gear users, divine dividing users, or there could just be an entire group of different Longinus users together. Or the even bigger possibility, there could several people with abilities that outclass even the Longinus." As these words sank in, there was a lot of different reactions in the room, some like Vali who would follow him, were looking pumped to fight them, Cao Cao looked as if he was thinking of the possibilities while also looking excited. Wukong then asked, "Why would they want to come here?" Alex then coughed awkwardly at the question, and said, "Possibly for one of the same reasons I did." They all continued to look confused, until Alex pointed at Rias. He then explained, "Some of the worlds we have information about prior to going there, though it was in form of entertainment. This world was one of those worlds, and was famous for having tons of beautiful women. Though I plan on taking many of them with me, there''s the possibility of several people coming here to find them, and depending on their personality, they might go on a rampage when they find that they''re not here anymore." When they heard his reasoning for the other travelers, as well as his own reason for coming here, many of the people gathered looked at Alex with varying degrees of amazement. Then Vasco Strada asked, "So why are you informing us of this?" Alex nodded at his question and answered swiftly, as if he was eager to change the subject. "I wish that after I leave, those of you that stay will protect this world from them. Think of it as a new wave of terrorists, requiring a new dxd. But due to the circ.u.mstances around this, you can''t tell anyone in the world. At the moment we are in my personal world, so we can talk about this, but once you return you can''t tell anyone." They were all silent as they absorbed what he told them, and as Alex expected, some were actually anticipating when they would get here so they could fight them. Georg then asked, "So are there different types of magic in these other worlds?" Alex nodded as the expected question came. He already figured that one or two would want to investigate the other worlds more than stay and fight, but Alex was already a step ahead of him. "First of all, only those who are willing to follow me will go with me. Though a couple of those already going don''t fall under that category, I plan to remedy it before leaving." At his words Vali smirked, as he knew Alex was referring to him. Alex then continued, "I do plan to return someday, and with the information we bring back you should be able to study it then. I already have two capable magic researchers going, so there''s not really the need for another one. Plus with those arriving, they should use different magic than here, so if you pay attention you should be able to pick something up." Georg didn''t look satisfied with Alex''s words, but he didn''t argue against them other. Tobio then asked, "So you''re taking some people with you?" At this everyone looked somewhat interested, and Alex replied, "The ones going already are Rias, Sona, Ravel, and Sairaorg with their peerage, Vali and his team, Valerie, and the four here with me. I won''t argue taking one or two more, but we can''t simply abandon the world and leave it defenseless, plus I already said that I''m in charge once we leave." Everyone took in this additional information, then they were surprised when someone spoke up. "I would like to go as well." They all turned to see Lavinia raising her hand. Tobio looked surprised for a brief second, and Vali looked conflicted as someone that was like his older sister volunteered to go with them. As if knowing what he was thinking, she looked at Vali and smiled before saying, "I wish to look after Va-kun when he leaves, as I know he''ll probably submerge himself in either fighting or training if he''s not looked after." Alex had to stifle his laughter as Vali gave him a death glare, but several other people tried to keep from laughing as well, making him sigh in resignation. He was about to try and persuade her to stay, when Alex interrupted him. "I would also like it if you can come Seekvaira." Everyone looked at her in surprise, as of all of those there they didn''t expect him to pick her out. Seekvaira herself didn''t seem to know how to react, and simply asked, "Why?" Alex answered her, "Because with your time abilities and strategic capabilities I think you''d be the best person to run the training facilities we''re building. Plus as several of the worlds will have mechas instead of magic, you''d probably love to be there as well." When Alex mentioned her weakness of mechas, Seekvaira was undergoing an obvious struggle, as she contemplated going and staying. Eventually she looked over at Sairaorg, who was also leaving, and replied, "Very well, I''ll go with you. I''ve also been looking into how to better create training programs, since you showed me that it''s better to use my time manipulation for that." Alex sighed in relief that she agreed to go, and started discussing the other important details they needed to know. After a while Alex returned them all to the human world, and they all went their separate ways. But all of them had decided to do as Alex asked, not for noble reasons like it was the right thing, not to protect each other, not for justice, but because none of them liked the idea of invaders from other worlds doing as they pleased in their own world. Before they left though, Alex called back a couple of them. "Vasco, Lint, can I talk to you in private for a moment?" The two then followed Alex, Ravel, and Valerie into another room, slightly curious what he wanted to talk to them about. Chapter 122 - Recruitment A week after forming the new dxd, Alex was currently in a meeting with someone he was surprised, yet not surprised to see again. Sitting across from him, was the doll like girl Elmenhilde Karnstein of the vampires Camilla faction. He had suddenly received a call stating she wanted to meet him, and he was curious what she wanted to say, though he had a rough idea when he recalled her from the series. And as he half expected, the moment she saw him, she became fl.u.s.tered and tripped over nothing. He recalled that in the series, even though she originally seemed to hate issei due to his low status, the next time she was introduced after the conflict in the vampire territory, she seemingly fell for him. The weirdest part was how random it was, as there was pretty much no development between the two before that. Alex couldn''t say much about it though, and even though there was a slight blush on her face after tripping, she was now sitting as if the picture of elegance. After giving we greetings, she then cut to the chase. "I''ve heard that you intend to compete in the Azazel cup, is that right?" Alex nodded and said, "There are several people competing in the cup I''ve always wanted to fight, so I see this as a chance. Plus there are other things that I basically need to take care of." As he said that Alex recalled that Tiamat would more than likely try to force him retrieve the treasures that Ddraig lost her. He then ignored the dragon crying in his mind as he focused on his conversation with Elmenhilde. When she heard his response, she nodded, and said, "Then I would like you to allow me to join your team." When he heard her, Alex was already thinking, trying to best place her within his team. He wasn''t against the idea, as she was a pure breed vampire so she should be quite powerful if she tried. After thinking for a few moments he replied, "Let me finish putting together my roster, and I can see where to best put you. Until then you should focus on training. I could also use someone capable of doing research on those who we are going to be up against, would you like that role?" As Ravel was leading her own team, Alex didn''t have someone to gather intelligence. It wasn''t as if it was a big deal right now before the Cup, but would be very essential during the preliminaries and the main tournament. At his words Elmenhilde smiled and said, "Thank you for accepting me for now, and I''ll start training right away!" They then discussed what she would need to work on, before they moved onto housing, as she wanted to live closer to her team. After that Rias joined them and they discussed the housing problem, and concluded that she would move into the dorms as well. After that was settled Alex had another meeting to attend to, one he was quite looking forward to. He was now in a underground area below the town, looking at a western dragon that seemed to be trying to lower itself as much as possible. It was quite comical to see a dragon pressing its head against the ground the way he was. Alex looked at the dragon and decided to feign ignorance. "To what do I owe the pleasure, mr..." When the dragon saw him falter at its name, it suddenly apologized, "I''m so sorry, I''m the third son of the meteor blaze dragon Tannin, Bova. I came to make a request of you, red dragon emperor Alex." Alex nodded his head and waited for Bova to continue. After realizing he needed to say what he wanted, Bova quickly stated, "If possible, I would like to become your vassal!" Alex had to fight the urge to laugh, as the first thing that came to his mind with Bova''s request was someone confessing, except you had to replace vassal with boyfriend/girlfriend. He calmed himself, then said, "You do know that I''m not really a high class devil, I don''t own land, nor do I have any real authority." Bova enthusiastically nodded his head, well as much as he could with it pressed against the ground, and replied, "I know, but you are also the main one who has been on the front lines when any conflicts start. With your popularity rising, and your relationsh.i.p.s with various noble devil family daughters, it''s only a matter of time before you are going to rise in power regardless. Though that''s not why I wish to follow you, I wish to carve my own future not tied to my father and brothers, and grow even more powerful than him." Alex could understand where Bova was coming from, and guessed that was part of why he was labeled a delinquent by others. He knew Bova had an inferiority complex about his father and brothers. He then said, "How about fighting for me during the upcoming Azazel cup, and I''ll consider making you my subordinate?" At his words Bova almost cried tears from happiness, and said, "Thank you very much, I''ll do everything I can to ensure your victory, and to never shame your name!" Alex thought his gratitude at essentially being made a servant was little over the top, but it wasn''t his place really to criticize. He was excited however, if Bova continued to serve him then he''ll have an actual dragon following him into the other worlds. Ophis and Fafnir didn''t count, as he was teaching Ophis not to fight, and Fafnir would only listen to Asia, and was a worthless pervert. Alex then spent the rest of his time until the start of the Cup trying to recruit more teammates. He already had both of his rooks and Knights, and he spent that much time trying to convince a certain someone to become his bishop, and searching for another certain someone to be his pawn. By the time there was only a week until the opening ceremony, he only had his queen and one pawn position open. The reason he hadn''t filled his queen yet, was because he was waiting to see if someone would contact him, though they hadn''t yet. He was starting to think he needed to find someone else, when they contacted him and asked to talk to him. Chapter 123 - Grayfia pt1 Grayfia sat in her room, watching the recording Sirzechs left her with many mixed feelings. Ever since he left her she was becoming more and more lost with time, not from reliance on her husband, but from how she was being surrounded by enemies. Before they met she was part of the Lucifuge family, that served the great and noble house of Maou Lucifer. After the previous Maou died during the war, it was obvious that his son should succeed him, or so they thought. A group of usurpers rose up, and declared themselves the new Maou, the foolish pretenders. A civil war broke out, and they fought over who would rule the Devils. She was obviously part of her family''s side, and supported the rightful Maou that should rule. It was during this time she started clashing with one of the leaders of the traitorous faction, a crimson haired man that was trying to steal the name of Lucifer for himself. They clashed over and over, neither one coming out over the other. After a while the enmity she felt toward him turned into grudging respect, then it turned to admiration, and then without her knowing, it turned to love. The next thing Grayfia knew, she was sneaking away to secretly meet with him for a lovers rendezvous. After a while of this she ended up defecting, and joined his side with the pretenders. She turned against her family, her little brother Euclid, for the love she felt for this man. Soon after defecting the new Maou faction won, and four new Maou were appointed. The old Maou faction as they became called, were banished to the ends of the underworld. The Crimson haired man became her husband, and she gained a new family with the Gremory''s as her in-laws. But it wasn''t to last, as she was then suspected of possibly being a spy for the old Maou faction, and was being isolated. Thankfully her husband defended her, but the suspicion never left her. So she decided to become a servant to protect herself and her husband, and became his queen piece. Soon the suspicions quieted down, and their happiness returned. After many years went by, her mother and father in-law had another child, a crimson haired girl named Rias. As she looked down on her in her crib, Grayfia promised herself to be a better sister to her than she was able to be for her brother, who was long thought to have perished in the war. It wasn''t long after that she found herself expecting her own child, and their son was born, her little Millicas. Though she wished to be called mother by him more, Grayfia knew she couldn''t be more than a servant to him beside her rare days off. Though she was happy with those, as rare as they were, and grew content with her life. She even watched as her precious little sister also fell in love, even though she didn''t approve of the man in question at first. Then her opinion changed, as he proved himself time and again in combat as a terrorist group appeared. Then her happiness became threatened, when it came to light that the son of Lucifer she supported in the past reappeared, along with her little brother. Suspicion was thrown to her once again, and she was forced under house arrest to prevent any betrayal she might do. After a while her husband managed to calm those that questioned her, and she was able to resume some of her duties, though not all of them. Soon a plan was started to seal trihexia should it be released. Though it would require her to separate from her son for what was assumed to be thousands of years, she knew it would be the best way to rid herself of the suspicions placed on her for all these years, and to stay with her husband. However when it was time to leave, Sirzechs used a spell to put her to sleep, and left her behind, even though they had sworn to be together forever. Left with her was a recording explaining why he did what he did, but at first she was too bitter to watch it. After a couple weeks she finally did, and felt bad for blaming Sirzechs so much. It was an apology for placing her in a situation for most of her life where those around her were filled with suspicion towards her, and him stating that one reason he left her behind was that Millicas would need his mother more in the coming years. So Grayfia tried to separate her work and private life more, to be more of mother to her son. However she never expected that the "suspicions" against her would return with a vengeance after the threat was gone. After Diehauser Belial revealed the corruption behind the king piece during the release of trihexia, a massive restructuring of the current devil government started. However some of those that were desperate to hold their positions suddenly had the thought, ''Grayfia Lucifuge no longer has her protector!'' and started trying to use her as a sacrifice in a last ditch effort to keep their power. Though the suspicion against her was nothing new, there was now no Sirzechs to protect her from them. She tried to fight their suspicions, but they soon started gaining momentum, and tried to state that she''ll attempt to revive the old Maou faction now that Sirzechs wasn''t here to keep her in check. Though her mother and father in-law, Ajuka, and Serafall tried to defend her; Ajuka was too busy attempting to run the current government by himself, Serafall was busy working on a secret project and there were rumors circulating that she''ll step down as a Maou soon anyways, and even though the Gremory''s were a noble family, there was only so much power they had. However the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse, when the suggestion came up to remove Millicas from her custody. They stated that she would most likely attempt to turn him into a puppet Maou in the next generation, and rule through him. It was a baseless theory, with no real substance, but those that wanted to keep their power supported it in their desperation. This was the last straw for her, but she was stuck in a dilemma, if she actually fought back it was like proving them right, if she did nothing then the situation could escalate even further. She could run with him until the situation was brought under control, but it would turn the two of them into fugitives if she did that. The only solution Grayfia could come up with was a backer, someone who could protect her and Millicas. But there were precious few of those available. She soon thought of a certain individual however, someone who possessed immense power, and was an individual in the devil society, not yet actually part of any groups. She had requested to the Gremory''s not to inform Rias or Alex what was happening, but now it seemed as if she might have no choice. There was a sudden knock on the door, and it opened to reveal the one she hoped would be her escape from this nightmare. "I''m here Grayfia, what do you need?" Alex asked as he walked in. (A.N. Obviously I over dramatized things, but I figured her joining Alex would be more acceptable this way. Chapter 124 - Grayfia pt2 When Alex walked into her room, he found Grayfia sitting on a couch awaiting his arrival in her maid outfit. He noticed she seemed extremely stiff however, and became serious. She then stood and said, "Please sit on the other couch, I''ll get the refreshments." Alex nodded and sat on the couch opposite her. A few short minutes later, and there was a tray of tea and various snacks sitting on the table between them. After sharing greetings with each other as well as small talk, Grayfia seemed to become even more serious, and started explaining why she asked him to see her. "The reason I asked you to come here, is because I need your help. I''m sure you''ve heard of the suspicions placed against me due to my former allegiance to the old Maou faction?" Alex nodded and said, "Yes, I heard that you and Sirzechs started your relationship after fighting against each other on the battlefield, and that it became quite the favored love story after that. Then when we reported that Euclid was alive, they immediately suspected your involvement and placed you under house arrest." Grayfia nodded and said, "That is a small amount of the problems Sirzechs and I faced, but you get the general idea. The issues started when we first married, and that is why I became his queen evil piece. They were simply reignited when Euclid was confirmed to be alive, and the flames have been fanned ever since. After Sirzechs left, those who are about to lose power over the issue involving the king pieces have tried to use the same argument as a last ditch effort to keep their power. Now they are also trying to draw Millicas into the dispute, and are trying to take him from me under the argument that I''m trying to turn him into a puppet Maou like his father." Alex didn''t know what to say in response to her words. He didn''t know if the reasons she tried to make issei a Maou in the series were the same, as it was never clarified why she desired to, but he could imagine that this might have something to do with it, and why she tried to hide her identity as "Bina". He then became angry, as she was a simple mother trying to live peacefully with her son, yet they were trying to sacrifice her and her son for their own gain. However Alex had no intentions of becoming a Maou, and asked her, "As much as I want to help you, and I will, what is it you''re trying to ask me to do?" Grayfia looked as if she struggled for a very brief second, and said, "I would like to serve you, and make you a Maou." He sighed as she said exactly what he expected, but Grayfia sighed at his reaction for a very different reason. She already knew that Alex didn''t have any drive for positions of power, and had announced exactly that to the devil world as a whole during the youth Devils meeting. But she also knew that this is what made him the ideal candidate, as he wouldn''t become corrupt in the pursuit of power. She then said, "I understand that amassing power isn''t an interest for you, but I wish that you''ll understand. In the future I believe the entire underworld will wish for the same thing, and I wish to help you achieve it." Alex started laughing slightly at her words, and Grayfia narrowed her eyes in annoyance. After laughing he then said, "And why would I want to do that?" She breathed in and tried to calm herself, and replied, "Because it is the pinnacle of power in the devil world, beside the great kings. And I believe-" Alex then interrupted her, "No no no, what I mean is why would I want such a low class position that won''t even exist in my eyes?" At his words Grayfia looked dumbfounded, and tried to process what he just said. She knew that the Maou were considered more of a figurehead by those like the great king who were in power, but the actual authority they had wasn''t small. She then tried to imagine what he might be aiming for that a Maou would be considered "low class". The only thing she could arrive at were positions like a ruler over all the gods and factions that currently exist like a dictator. But that didn''t fit his image, so she was severely confused, while the smile on Alex''s face grew wider. "Would you like to know what I''m planning to do?" Grayfia closed her eyes, and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. She then asked, "So what are your plans for the future? What are you aiming for, that the Maou don''t even exist in your eyes?" Alex smiled again and said, "To know the answer to that question, you''ll need to work with me, but the conditions of doing so are your choice. So there are two options for you to choose from when it comes to working together, the first one is a normal work relationship where you follow and work for me, but our relationship stays as a boss and employee. The second one," Alex then stopped his words and placed something small on the table in between them. Grayfias eyes widened once more, when she saw a pawn evil piece. Alex then said, "I already gave away my queen so I''ll have to apologize, but I figured a pawn that doesn''t specialize in any attribute would be best for you, instead of changing your way of fighting with knight, rook, or bishop piece. I won''t lie, I wouldn''t deny a physical relationship with you Grayfia. If we decided to go with first option, then our relation will stay purely professional, but if you decide to accept my evil piece then you''ll also become my woman. I won''t force you, if you want to today, or tomorrow, or five years from now. I''ll give you as long as you need to get over Sirzechs." Grayfia had no idea how to respond to Alex''s proposal, and contrary to his expectation, her eyes grew even bigger. He then continued explaining, "The differences to each proposal is that with the first one is like your current position, serving the entire house as the head maid if you wish to keep that position. The second option is exactly like when you served Sirzechs, you''ll follow me into battle and serve my house, while also being my woman. In both situations you and Millicas will stay under my protection, and I swear he will never be exploited, or harmed by others." As he finished talking, Grayfia was stunned as she picked up and examined the evil piece. So many questions filled her head, but according to Alex whichever choice she made wouldn''t impact if she heard the answers, so she just focused on the choice in front of her. As she thought about it, she was struck by a sudden realization, she was thinking about it! She was shocked by this, as she should''ve immediately denied his offer and stayed faithful to her husband, but part of her couldn''t deny that she still felt bitter towards him. Her feeling had eased after she finally watched the recording, but it had returned in full force without her noticing after the suspicions started again, and they started targeting her son. She then couldn''t help but to ask herself, accept the evil piece, become Alex''s woman and move on from Sirzechs; or deny it and stay faithful towards the man who left her alone to deal with those who are trying to destroy what she cared about most? He might not have done it on purpose, but the current issue wouldn''t have developed if she wasn''t around for them to target. There was also the fact that regardless of what option she chose, even if she stayed with him, she wouldn''t see him for at least ten thousand years, and that was if they defeated trihexia ahead of schedule. As Grayfia thought about accepting his evil piece, Alex sat there and waited, and waited. He sat there for what felt like, and what he confirmed were hours, as Grayfia pondered the hardest choice in her life. As he waited Alex couldn''t help but be reminded that he did something similar to Rias when they first met. Night had fallen by the time Grayfia started talking again. "I''ll accept." Was all she simply said, as she activated the evil piece and became his servant. Alex smiled, but wiped it off his face as it looked as if she was about to cry. He stood to help her, but Grayfia raised her hand to stop him and said, "Even if I declined, serving you for the next several thousands of years before seeing him again would most likely change things anyways, at least now I''m making the choice ahead of time. And Sirzechs said in the recording he left me, he wanted me to become happy with life even though he wasn''t here. Though I doubt he meant moving on from him, I also doubt he would expect me to suffer just to remain faithful to a man I won''t see again in all that time, or possibly ever." Alex sighed at Grayfia''s explanation, and couldn''t deny her words. It was very possible that his life could end while fighting trihexia, as anything could happen. In other words, it was possible that Sirzechs could die at any moment, or even he already has, and Grayfia wouldn''t even know for thousands of years. It was even possible that she''d stay waiting for the rest of her life if the fight never ended. He knew he hadn''t died yet, but who knew what would happen in the future? Alex agree with her though, as he couldn''t imagine making a girl wait that long for him, and he would want her to simply be happy. He then said to her, "I suppose I''ll start explaining now." And launched into the explanations of his past, and his future intentions. He also stated that Kuroka was the one he gave his queen piece to, and Grayfia''s face became stern in response. He imagined that Kuroka would suffer quite a bit in the near future. When he got to a separate world he controlled called a Asora, Grayfia became interested and he explained further, "It''s also where I would send Millicas, and he''ll be safe as we travel around in the other worlds. As my pawn you''ll be able to transfer back and forth whenever you want, so you could see him anytime while we travel. Plus, he''ll probably have many friends from those we meet in the other worlds, and that will probably join us then as well." Grayfia smiled when she heard this, as it meant that her son would grow up in a world without the corruption of the Devils government. As they continued talking, she found that her decision to ask Alex for help was the right one, and her impression of him was actually improving with every minute. They even confirmed that she would be his queen in the Azazel cup, under another name though. A certain thought haunted her mind though, Alex had said that she didn''t need to accept him until she was ready, but she felt that if she kept putting it off she''ll forever have the shadow of a thought that she''ll return to Sirzechs someday if she waited. She then steeled her heart, and stood up. "What''s wrong?" Alex asked as he saw the look on her face. Grayfia didn''t say anything, and simply undid something on her maid dress, that then fell to the floor, leaving her standing there in her black bra and panties. He looked amazed at what he saw, then looked at Grayfia with a look of confusion, and concern. She then explained, "If I wait, then it''s possible I''ll forever harbor the hope that I''ll return to Sirzechs someday. I already agreed to become yours, so make it a fact tonight." Chapter 125 - Grayfia, the final chapter As Alex looked at Grayfia who had stripped to her underwear, he was filled with a large amount of concern, and obviously desire. He then asked her, "Are you sure?" With a serious expression, to which Grayfia nodded and said, "As I said, I want to prevent fostering the idea that if I wait to be with you, I''ll eventually be with Sirzechs again." Alex nodded as he stood, the he approached the s.e.xy milf. He grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her closer, as she shuddered under his hands. It wasn''t from disgust though, and against her own expectations, she could feel a small amount of anticipation as his lips moved closer to hers. When they kissed, Grayfia couldn''t help but recall the time at the hot springs, except this time she was sober and brought herself to this point knowingly. Alex also recalled the hot springs, as they started tangling their tongues during their kiss. It took several minutes before they separated, yet unlike the last time neither panicked. Alex''s hands slid up from her waist, and reached her bra strap, before they swiftly removed the cloth and left her standing in nothing but her panties. She also removed his shirt, and when she leaned forward for another kiss, he felt the pointed tips of her n.i.p.p.l.es pressing against his chest. The stiffness was an obvious indicator of her arousal, and as they separated the second time, Alex picked her up, and cleared the table before placing her down on it. She then laid back as he moved in for another kiss, and then he moved down to take her n.i.p.p.l.e in his mouth, rolling the point with his tongue before moving onto the next one. Once both of them were adequately stimulated and coated with his spit, he moved even further down. He then grabbed the band of her panties, the last line of her defense, and started lowering them down her legs. Once they were off of her legs, Grayfia was dressed in nothing but her stockings. Alex then grabbed the back of her knees, and spread them open, resulting in her laying on her back with her legs in a perfect M shape. His eyes moved to her slightly spread p.u.s.s.y, that was crowned by her silver hair. He then kneeled in front of it, and used his fingers to spread her slit open even more, causing the beautiful maid to turn Crimson, before using his tongue to explore every nook and cranny of her crotch. As she felt the sensation of his tongue moving around and exploring her p.u.s.s.y, Grayfia shivered in pleasure, and let out a small m.o.a.n. Alex kept up his attack on her for several minutes, before her body started convulsing and Grayfia reached her first climax of the night. As she was climaxing, Alex stood and swiftly removed the rest of his own clothes, so they were both n.a.k.e.d. He then laid over her, and kissed her once more. Grayfia seemed to be greedy during their kiss, as the taste of her own fluids filled her mouth. She then felt something brushing up against her crotch again, and looked down to see his rod standing ready for attention. It prodded her opening, and Alex looked into her eyes, "Are you ready?" He asked her. Grayfia just nodded, as she prepared herself for penetration. She felt the foreign object start entering her, slowly, until his full length was inserted into her. Grayfia shuddered at being penetrated by another man than Sirzechs, but swiftly pushed the thought from her mind, and focused on the man on top of her. After burying himself into her, Alex then pulled out, and thrusted in once more. "Ah!" Grayfia m.o.a.ned once more as Alex thrusted into her, before he repeated the action. He then kept thrusting, and Grayfia started moving her h.i.p.s as if to help him go deeper into her. Soon her legs were wrapped around him, and she reached an orgasm once more. As she tightened around his rod, Alex felt himself reaching climax as well, and managed a few more thrusts before he finally came. Grayfia then felt the burning sensation of Alex''s s.e.m.e.n being sprayed into her, and tightened her legs around him even further, as if trying to push him in even more. Alex waited as Grayfia recovered from her latest climax, and when she seemed ok to continue, flipped her around so that he was sitting and she was riding him while sitting in his lap. This didn''t deter her however, and she happily started grinding her h.i.p.s, before she quickly picked up in speed. Alex used this chance to start kneading the flesh of her ass, earning him another positive response from her. This continued for another twenty minutes, before she was once again filled with his seed. They then moved to another position, and continued. Several hours later found them both laying on one of the couches, Grayfia laying on top of him after riding cowgirl style. He was still inside her, but neither were too interested in moving at the moment. She then said to him, "Don''t expect me to do that all the time, but now I understand how you managed to drive all those girls crazy." He chuckled at her words, and said, "Yeah well, it helps that no matter how many are at once they can''t seem to get an advantage." She looked at him through narrowed eyes, and said, "If I didn''t know any better, I''d say that was a challenge." He smirked and said, "Perhaps you should try to prove me wrong next time." She snorted, and said, "I''m just worried about how to explain this to Rias." He smiled at her words and said, "She just wants to see you happier now, and I plan to do just that. Though I will say it would probably be weird to her at first." Grayfia smiled, but didn''t stay anything. The two just laid there, enjoying the contact with each other until they fell asleep. Chapter 126 - Awkward, red hairs revenge It was only a few hours later when Grayfia awoke, still laying on top of Alex, who was still inside her. She sat up and looked down on his sleeping face, and smiled. She then leaned forward to gently kiss him, savoring the moment of tenderness. It was this moment that the door behind her was opened, and Alex awoke. Both of them turned back, and saw both Rias and her mother Venelana standing there, staring at them both. Rias fell to her knees with dead eyes, and said, "I know I suspected it, but to think big sis..." She continued muttering, and Venelana covered her mouth while saying, "Oh my..." Softly. Grayfia''s face was rigid, as she slowly got off of Alex. When she did though, there was a small ''pop'' as his member exited her. Though her cheeks turned quite red, Grayfia ignored it and summoned a towel to start cleaning herself, before there was a flash of light and she was dressed once more. She then turned to Venalana as if nothing happened, and said, "I apologize for the unsightly appearance, now is there anything you need mistress?" If it wasn''t for the redness on her face, Alex would''ve thought she wasn''t bugged by what happened at all. He on the other hand simply sat there, still in his own birthday suit. Venelana looked between him and her as if she was trying to make sense of what happened, and Rias was still on the floor with dead eyes. *** Only a little bit later, the three of them were sitting on the couches(clean ones) and Grayfia was once more preparing tea and snacks for them. After the food was settled, she sat down besides Alex, and the two looked across the table at Rias and her mother. Rias looked a little better now, and Venelana was waiting for them to start explaining what happened. Alex looked at them, and started talking. "First of all I think we should catch Rias up on the recent news regarding her sister, then we can talk about our "activities" last night." Venelana narrowed her eyes at his words, suspicious he was trying to avoid the situation, but seeing that he seemed casual at the moment, dismissed the thought. Rias on the other hand became serious when she heard something was happening to her sister, and a small fire lit in her eyes even though they were dead a moment ago. As Grayfia told her about how things had been for her the last two months since Sirzechs left, Rias became noticeably angrier before she finally stood suddenly, and proclaimed, "This is unbelievable! They can''t do this!" None of them spoke and waited until she was done talking, before Grayfia said, "Indeed, the only options I believed I had were to fight, run, or accept what they were trying to do. But then I asked Alex for his assistance, and he arrived to discuss it yesterday." At this moment Alex spoke up and said, "Venelana, we decided on a course of action, but because of what it requires you might not want to be here when we discuss it." Rias''s mother looked mildly offended, and said, "And why is that? I''m sure that you can share the details of what you''ve "discussed" with my daughter in-law with me." Alex shook his head, and replied, "It''s not I don''t want to, but that our next actions aren''t going to be accepted. Instead of asking you to cover for us, I would prefer you can truthfully say that you don''t know anything. As for our relationship, just think that I pushed her into it." Venelana looked reluctant to do as he asked, but Grayfia said, "I made the decision. I''m aware it could be considered that I''m betraying Sirzechs, but the fact is I''m alone right now, and I''m practically considered a widow now anyways. If you wish then I''ll tell you more about it later, but Alex is right. I already brought you and the master enough trouble, I don''t want to have you lying to the higher ups for me as well." Venelana didn''t say anything, but stood and walked over to Grayfia, who stood as well. She then pulled her into her arms, and said, "Always know that we care about you Grayfia, and that we''ll support and miss you." For the first time Grayfia leaked a few tears from her eyes, and hugged her mother in-law back. After couple moments they released each other, and Venelana left the room. Once Grayfia sat back down, Alex said, "First things first, I made Grayfia my pawn." Rias stalled for a second, then started alternating her view back and forth between them, as if she couldn''t believe what she just heard. She then narrowed her eyes at Alex, and said, "So it''s not enough that you slept with her, but you made her your servant as well?" Alex just shrugged, knowing Rias wasn''t really angry. Grayfia then spoke up, "I made the decision myself, I already offered him my services to begin with. Accepting the pawn piece was just another factor." Rias sighed when she heard her big sisters answer, then turned to Alex and asked, "So what is it you''re planning to do to help her?" Alex and Grayfia both then started explaining what they discussed the night before. "We''re planning to essentially escape with Millicas, but unlike when she considered it before,p when she had no place to go, this time we have Asora to utilize. The entire Maou government could search, and they''ll never find them." Grayfia then continued, "Indeed, then I''ll help with the going ons in Asora, and Millicas will adjust to life there away from the corrupt devil governments." Rias nodded when she heard their answers, and sighed in relief. She was actually glad her sister will join them in traveling the other worlds, even though she didn''t know how to feel about her officially leaving her older brother, and sharing Alex with her. They then discussed a few more details, before Rias suddenly asked, "By the way big sister, what kind of job did you get?" Grayfia looked confused for a few minutes, then Alex explained. "One perk of me giving you an evil piece is that you can use some of the same functions I can, including what''s called a job function. Say stays now, and it should pop up." Grayfia looked hesitant to say it out loud, and felt that she''ll simply look foolish, but said it anyways. "Status!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Abilities- Natural born devil Immense demonic power Job-jobless(100) Jobs available- warrior maid, Mage maid, shield maid, naughty maid, maid terror Skills- Housework(5) Bedroom skills(3) Immense magic(10) Magic control(8) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She was quite amazed at what she saw on there, until she noticed some of her available jobs and skills. "What the hell is this?" She demanded, and Alex was amazed to hear her swear, as he didn''t think he''d ever hear that. He then pulled up her status himself to see what she was apparently offended at, and almost laughed out loud. It was often said that maids usually performed "night service" for their master, but this was the first time he''d seen it taken literally. The fact that it appeared for the strait laced Grayfia was even better, though Alex knew that if he laughed he was a dead man. "Well, it''s kinda hard to say what skills or jobs you''ll be offered when you first activate your status. A lot of it seems depend on your capabilities before getting it." Alex then went on with every excuse he could come up with, but Grayfia didn''t seem to buy it. Eventually she chose her new job, and they discussed what to do in the near future even more. STATUS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 18 Level- 150 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Asora Job- pyromaniac(15) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, sword user Skills- Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(6) Intimidation(8) Ki manipulation(9) Devils charm(5) Sword technique(2) Gravity manipulation(4) Fire mastery(2) Flame immunity(1) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) Poison immunity(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Abilities- Youkai Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- Archmage(30) Job history- poison user, space Mage, thief Skills- Stealth(8) Poison mist(8) Poison claw(6) Ki manipulation(8) Enlarged magic pool(5) Kasha (8) Touki(7) Illusions(5) Space magic(6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- Archmage(10) Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage, destruction lord, Mage Skills- Superior destruction magic (10) Magic control(4) Enlarged magic pool(2) Extinguished star (7) Aura of destruction (5) Command Loyalty (10) Devils charm(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Abilities- Natural born devil Immense demonic power Job-shield maid(0) Skills- Housework(6) Bed skills(4) Immense magic(10) Magic control(8) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) Iron defense(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 127 - Maid vs cat, first round That night they took Millicas and left for misty manor. With how Millicas didn''t find their actions weird, Alex suspected that Venelana might have said goodbye or something to him. Once they arrived Alex and Rias led them both in a tour of the manor. "All these here are rooms for future occupants, and this is the kitchen and one of the common areas. There''s also a library and training area so Millicas can keep up his schooling once we find a tutor." Grayfia nodded, pleased with the manor and that it was so accommodating. She eventually settled on the room next to Yasaka, as they both had children, and those rooms were built with an add on for those with kids, or future kids. The tour soon came to an end however, when Millicas started yawning as it was way past his usual bedtime, and they walked into the room where Kuroka was at. It was a lounge room that had a tv in it, but that wasn''t the problem, it was Kuroka laying around snacking while in her kimono. Except it was very loose, and thanks to her usual carelessness and lack of underwear, various parts of her body were exposed that little kids shouldn''t see. Grayfia immediately slapped her hand across Millicas''s eyes(without hurting him) and said, "Rias, would you please take Millicas to his new room, I think I need to have a few words with our "queen"." Rias immediately picked up Millicas and left the room, but she looked reluctant to do so, and miss the show. Kuroka, who didn''t seem to hear what Grayfia said, suddenly noticed them and got up as if to go to Alex. Grayfia stood between them however, and said, "I would like a few words with you Kuroka, if you don''t mind." Kuroka looked at Grayfia, and said, "Oh yay, a new servant right? Don''t worry, I''ll help you as your senior! Nyan!" Kuroka seemed to notice Grayfia was his new servant, but Alex wasn''t sure she noticed the glare in Grayfia''s eyes. He intended to stay out of this, as he felt it was going to happen eventually, plus it seemed as if it would be entertaining. As he thought, Grayfia suddenly vanished, and reappeared next to Kuroka, and pinched one of her cat ears, before saying, "Do you not think that this kind of behavior, lounging around exposed as if an exhibitionist, makes our "king" look bad? Plus there are several other people that live here as well as a couple children. When more arrive here in the future do you plan to still act like this?" Kuroka was wincing at the pain in her ear and said, "That''s quite the authority a servant seems to think she has, or is that maid outfit just for show? Nya. Tell her Alex!" The man in question was simply looking up at the chandelier in the room, as if he suddenly found it interesting. Grayfia started dragging her away by her ear, and Kuroka just looked as if he betrayed her. Alex then returned to his own room, where Rias joined him after leaving Millicas. *** The next morning found Alex sitting in the kitchen having breakfast with the rest of the current residents of the manor, Rias, Akeno, Ravel, Le Fay, Serafall, and soon Yasaka and Kunou joined them. The rest were staying at the dorms for the time being, as it was more familiar to walk to school from there than travel from Asora. They were chatting about their plans for the day, college for Rias and Akeno, high school for Ravel and Le fay who was a first year, and middle school for Kunou while Yasaka and Serafall had work. Soon Kuroka appeared as well, but looked dead tired, and seemed to be walking funny. She laid herself over Alex''s lap, and said, "That mean maid spent all night lecturing me, then she spanked me! Tell me she''s not staying Alex! Nyan!" Alex wanted to laugh at her predicament, and asked, "Did she really spank you?" Kuroka nodded with teary eyes, and disregarding the rest who were eating, she pulled up her kimono and displayed her cherry red ass for them. Alex admired her ass for a while, for various reasons, and noticed marking that looked like a magic circle, meaning that Grayfia most likely used magic power to spank her. Kuroka once more disregarded the rest, and said with mischief in her eyes, "Maybe you should rub it so it feels better. Nya." Alex smiled with mischief in his eyes as well, and started rubbing her ass, Kuroka then hummed in pleasure, before she started purring. The rest were getting annoyed with the display, until they noticed Alex had an evil smile. Kuroka then felt his hand leave and started to get disappointed, before suddenly, SMACK "NYAN!!!!!!" Alex smacked her ass, adding to the redness. She rolled off his lap and started rubbing it herself, while glaring at him slightly with her teary eyes. At that moment Grayfia arrived with Millicas. She took one look at the current situation, and said, "Did she mention how the reason the spanking began was because the phrase "gray haired granny" was used?" Alex and everyone else looked at Kuroka in amazement, and she slinked off before she became more embarrassed, though Alex was sure he heard her swearing revenge. Alex then said, "Changing the subject, Millicas, have you met Kunou before?" At his words the small fox girl was gently pushed forward by her mother. Millicas reached his hand out and said, "Hi, I''m Millicas Gremory, a devil. It''s nice to meet you." Kunou looked shy at first, but slowly reached out her hand and said, "I''m Kunou, a kitsune." Since she didn''t offer anymore to say, Millicas asked, "Do you want to play later? I''m new here so I don''t know what there is to do." Alex smiled at him, even though Millicas was a prodigy at learning and magic, he was still a kid at heart. After their breakfast the two took off to play, and the girls went their separate ways for the day. Alex stayed with Grayfia, and discussed plans for the Azazel cup, and the disguise and alias she would use. It was less than a week until the cup began. Chapter 128 - Opening ceremony Rias stood in the stadium looking out at all the other teams, amazed at who was participating. There were several gods attending as kings, Indra and Mahabali for the most extreme example, plus those who were participating as pieces, like Typhon''s team that had Apollon, Vidar, and Artemis in it. There was even Sun Wukong''s team, that was filled with the the original members of the story "Journey to the West". She then heard some of her team members talking behind her. "There''s a lot of people here, right president?" The new addition just for the tournament, Ouryuu Nakiri asked Xenovia. He was a temporary pawn of her team, that was also part of the new student council under Xenovia. He was the next head of the Nakiri clan, while he also inherited the sacred beast Huang Long, and surprisingly he took five pawn pieces. Xenovia nodded to his question and said, "Indeed, but I can see some people we know, there''s the former president over there, as well as Ravel, and I can see Sairaorg and Vali over there." As she spoke someone else spoke up, "Theres also the trump card of heaven, Dulio, over there president." This speaker was the noble pure breed vampire also on the student council, Millarca Vordenburg. Similar to Nakiri, she was also a temporary pawn, however she only took one piece. This left Rias with only two pawn pieces missing for the tournament. Then Akeno spoke up, "But I don''t see Alex anywhere, also I don''t see anyone who could be his queen present either." Rias was silent, as she was aware that her sister was most likely going to be Alex''s queen, but didn''t share that information due to the current circ.u.mstances. It had been a week since she and Millicas disappeared, and the higher ups were still looking for both of them. Then Kiba spoke up, "But it''s amazing that they changed the rules so much for this tournament, we can even change our pieces if we wanted." Rias smiled at him and asked, "Does that mean you want to be a rook Kiba?" The handsom knight grimaced while he shook his head and said, "I''m fine, with my instincts I don''t think I could just stand there and trust my defense." Rias smiled again, and looked around once more for Alex. It wasn''t much longer when people started pointing at something in the sky. When Rias looked up as well, her face started twitching when she saw what was coming. Flying in over the stadium was a giant ship with the figurehead of a dragon as well as a scale-like pattern on the sail. Several people were standing on the deck, and they all jumped off when they were over the stadium, while the ship shrank to the size of a toy. As they all landed, whispers spread throughout all the participants when they saw it was Alex. Standing to his side was what seemed to be a woman, who was wearing both a mask and a cloak, so it was hard to see her identity. Behind him was a group of four people and a giant dragon. "Hey, sorry we''re late." Was all Alex said as he walked up to them. Rias glared at him slightly for showing off, but smiled after a moment, before asking, "So what was the point of arriving while riding here on Zenith?" Alex smirked at her question. By Zenith she was obviously referring to the familiar he got from Surtr before. He then replied, "I simply wanted to make a flashy entrance. Theatrics and performance can go a long way, now people would remember us simply because we stood out during the opening ceremony." Rias groaned when she heard his reasoning, but didn''t say anything more. At that moment several people walked over. "Of course the one I want to beat would make this kind of entrance." Cao Cao said as he arrived. "I''m looking forward to our rematch, this time it won''t be so one sided." Sairaorg declared. Vali also made his way over with Kuroka behind him, "If you lose to either of these two then I''ll be sorely disappointed in my rival." Alex laughed at Vali''s words and replied, "I''ll expect to see you in the final round, and we''ll settle the fight we started before." Hearing his words Vali had a giant smile, as he was filled with anticipation. Everyone then dispersed as they waited for the opening ceremony to start. Alex looked back at his team, confidence in his eye. Out of his eight team members, six were present. The other two were his hidden cards, so he didn''t bring them as only the king or queen was needed for the opening ceremony. His queen was of course Grayfia, but she wore a mask and had the alias Bina Lessthan. Since the government was currently looking for her they also turned her hair brown for during the games. His rooks were Bova, the son of Tannin, and Vasco Strada of the church. Bova was practically weeping with joy when Alex confirmed him as part of his team, and swore to follow him forever. Strada was hesitant at first due to his age, though he actually wanted to help Alex as thanks for resolving the negative feelings of those in heaven without any bloodshed. Then Alex asked Valerie about regressing his age a bit as that was the way Rias convinced him, but found out she was part of Ravel''s team. She was more than happy to help him though, and Ravel said since she wasn''t Valerie''s master she couldn''t stop her. Then his knights were the possessor of incinerate anthem, Lint Sellzan, and the ace of Michael, Irina. As reincarnated Angels they were both users of light attacks, and with their training they were both capable sword users. However Lint also used a gun that fired light bullets, while also possessing the purifying fire of incinerate anthem. Irina had also gotten a promotion from heaven to a four winged angel, even if she couldn''t be considered a powerhouse, she was still strong compared to the average person. Then his present pawn was Elmenhilde, the pure blood vampire. His other pawn, who was currently going as Mister Black, had taken six pawn spots compared to the eight he originally thought, so he gave one of the extras to Elmenhilde and was left with one more. Finally left was his only bishop, who was using the alias Miss Sapphire for the time being. From what Alex understood in the rules, the idea of one person using two pieces had been abolished, and they would only use one spot unless they were God class beings. The main example of this was Kuroka, who originally was worth two bishop pieces, but for the tournament she was worth only one. The exception to this was the pawn pieces, as it would be a disaster if the powerful people only got put into pawn positions, and they all promoted to queens. For example Ouryuu took five spots as he was worth that much, instead of just one to make room for four more equally powerful people. They could also switch current servants to another position for the duration of the match. For example Kiba could register as a rook, and once the match started he would have his knight traits removed and they would be replaced with the power of a rook. Once the match ended they would be switched back. Alex was thinking about this and other rules when a voice echoed out, "WELCOME ALL TO THE OFFICIAL START OF THE AZAZEL CUP!" Chapter 129 - Joker It had been two weeks since the start of the Azazel cup, and in that time Alex had won three matches. The first two were easy wins, while the third was relatively close. The third wasn''t a normal fight match like the others, it was a rampage ball game, meaning that their fighting capability didn''t really matter much. Since Alex didn''t want to reveal Mister Black and Miss Sapphire in such a minor match, it was just him and the six others vs a whole team of sixteen. As the opposing team was used to working together, and with their superior numbers, they quickly had a lead in points. It wasn''t until Alex decided to "fight dirty" and injure them that he managed to take the lead. The rules were that normal retiring didn''t work, meaning that when one retires they get sent back into the game after a penalty time, with their injuries. Once the other team started slowing down with their injuries, he managed to overwhelm them. This however led to many criticisms about how his team played, on top of how little Alex actually participated in his matches. Alex was trying not to participate personally as much as he could, because he wanted to take he chance to experience commanding others in battle instead of just fighting all the time. His thoughts were that if a leader always had to personally fight, then he failed as a leader. He also wanted Bina, aka Grayfia, to retire as many of the opponents herself as possible, in order to level up her job as much as she could. Rias and Kuroka were told the same thing even though they were on other teams, because Alex placed more importance in preparing for the other worlds than winning the tournament. Because of this, Grayfia already had a job change, Kuroka was about to get another one, and Rias was on her way to one as well. Grayfia''s new job was Mage maid, as she thought it would suit her best, and she didn''t want to pick the vulgar sounding naughty maid, or the somewhat insulting maid terror. They were now sitting in the dorms living room with the rest of the residents as they announced the next major games. Alex was sitting on the couch with Rias on one side, and Sona on the other, while the rest of the girls were sitting around them, and Grayfia was standing behind him. Though he never said anything about being her master, Grayfia had insisted on acting like it, and after "officially" starting her new position only referred to him as master, even when they were in bed. He had to admit, he liked the "bedroom skills" skill, something that scared Rias and Kuroka. Suddenly the tv said, "And here we see the next match ups for the Azazel cup." They then went through a list of various teams that put their names in for the matches, eventually they also showed Rias''s and everyone else''s names for matches, but they were against various high class, or ultimate class Devils he didn''t know. Finally the list reached the bottom, and the two names Alex was waiting for appeared, Red Dragon Alex''s team vs trump card of heaven Dulio''s team. Everyone except Alex was surprised, though he was moderately surprised as well, as he wasn''t sure if the same match ups would happen since he hadn''t faced Barakiel yet. Seeing it was confirmed that he would face Dulio however, Alex felt more than a small amount of anticipation. "This is quite the match up." Ravel said in surprise. She had actually been doing better than anyone expected, which Alex thought was due to something he recalled her mother said to issei at one point, that Ravel had the nature of supremacy. She had all wins as well, and the critics were even saying she handled her brothers team even better than he did. Everyone except Alex agreed with her words though, as they thought that the major match ups would be later in the tournament. Another match up revealed was Sairaorg vs Cao Cao, leading them all to think that the higher ups were starting to get serious with the match ups. Irina then said, "So we''re facing my fellow Angels next, may The lord forgive me for turning my blades against them, but I don''t intend to hold back!" What Irina said was kinda all over the place, but Alex agreed with her statement. As everyone started discussing the next matches, the person himself showed up not long after it was announced. "Forgive my intrusion Rias, Alex. I just wanted to come talk before the match in a couple days." Dulio said as they all sat on the couch, drinking tea Akeno brought them . Alex waved away his words and said, "Don''t worry about it, we were all part of dxd together. It''s interesting that we''ll have a chance to test each other soon though." As Alex said that he had a glint of anticipation in his eyes. Dulio''s eyes matched his, as they both anticipated the fight. Alex then asked, "Oh yeah, have you decided what you want to wish for if you win the tournament?" The main prize of the tournament was a wish to the king of the winning team, if the wish wasn''t something large then the other members would get to have their wishes granted as well. Alex knew Dulio''s wish had something to do with modifying the sacred gear system, but was feigning ignorance. Dulio looked surprised at his question for a moment, then laughed slightly before saying, "I''m planning on wishing for the tastiest food I can. I''m sure you''ve heard about how I travel to taste good food a lot." Alex smiled at his words, with a knowing glint in his eyes. They talked for a while along with Sona and the rest of the dorm residents, before Dulio had to leave. Later Alex called a meeting with his members to discuss their next match. He was discussing the different concerns with fighting Dulio''s team. He turned to Irina and Lint, "I''d say the two of you need to be the most careful, it''s possible that you can be used in a brave saints formation even though you''re not on their team." Everyone started muttering at his words, while Irina looked concerned, and Lint looked interested in what he said. He then continued, "I''ve also heard that they''re being advised by one of the top ten in rankings in the rating games, Rudiger Rosenkreutz. We should expect that they''ll use specialized tactics for each of us, and try to unbalance us in every way they could." They continued the meeting until Ravel called Alex away, "Um Alex, there''s someone here to see you." As Alex returned to the living room, he was somewhat surprised to see a certain someone waiting for him. The woman with bright pink hair and horns on her head stood, and said, "It''s nice to meet you red dragon Alex, I am Roygun Belphagor, the former number two of the rating games." Chapter 130 - Match start! Alex extended his hand to the pink haired devil and said, "Nice to meet you Roygun, I''m the red dragon emperor, Alex. To what do I owe the pleasure?" As she shook his hand Alex could tell Roygun was sizing him up, and he could see appreciation in her eyes. From what he recalled she had a preference for younger men. She then said, "I came at the request of Ruval, the eldest son of the Phoenix family. He asked me to deliver the game data I''ve recorded on jokers team to Ravel''s fianc¨¦, though I can''t act as an adviser." She then snapped her figures, and a pile of papers appeared. Alex nodded and said, "Thank you, this is very much appreciated." He then recalled what he knew about Roygun. She was one of those who were incriminated of using the king piece in the rating games, but she had only used it for fun. She then assisted with fighting and apprehending those who also used the piece, and tried to rebel after being exposed. She then smiled, and said, "If you want to say thanks," she suddenly stepped forward so that the two were really close together, and continued, "Then I can think of a few ways you can, especially with your cute face." Alex smiled in response, and Ravel groaned in the background at her attitude. She then glanced at the calendar nearby, displaying that there was only around a month until her next birthday, the day she and Koneko decided to stop waiting. Alex didn''t notice this while he was smirking at Roygun, and said, "Are you sure, if you let me sink my claws into you I can''t guarantee of letting go." Roygun smiled at his words, but said, "As much as I''d love to, I can''t." She then stepped away from and turned to go. "I''ll be watching you red dragon, very closely." She then walked out of the front door, while swinging her h.i.p.s a little. As he watched her leave, Ravel narrowed her eyes before clearing her throat. "Ah-hem! Alex, I think this data needs to be thoroughly examined by someone on your team. Should I call Elmenhilde over?" Alex looked back at her words, and said, "That''d be great, call Bina over as well, I''d like to get her impute too." Ravel nodded and went to get both women. Though Grayfia''s current situation was known to every girl in misty manor, her being Bina wasn''t. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust them, but that it was a fact that a secret was better kept in less people knew about it. Even on his own team, the only person he told her identity to was Miss Sapphire, though he was sure pretty much everyone both in the manor and on his team suspected it was her. They then spent the rest of the night going over the data together, before turning in. *** A few days later was the match, and Alex arrived with both Miss Sapphire and Mister Black for the first time. He only planned to reveal one of them, but the other was there in case they were needed. Both were wearing cloaks like Bina, but unlike her they didn''t wear masks. As a result the audience was in an uproar, as he hadn''t brought either of them out for any of his previous matches. Both teams finished walking out onto the field as they cheered, and the announcer said, "Welcome to today''s match! Today we have the trump card of heaven, vs the red dragon emperor!" The audience got even louder at their introductions, and both Dulio and Alex raised their hands to wave at them. After a few minutes a giant roulette wheel started spinning that would determine the game that they will play. A few seconds later it stopped, and that announcer shouted out, "What a surprise, it''s Board Collapse! For those who don''t know the rules of this game, it''s a standard fighting match, but the sides of the arena slowly collapses until there is very little room to maneuver! Due to this the amount of room to hide, or ambush becomes even more limited and the chances of evading attackers decreases!" As the announcer explained the rules the audience got even louder, as they anticipated the fight ahead. The two teams were soon teleported to their respective areas, and given thirty minutes to strategize. They were in a city-like landscape, and Alex''s base was in the south in a library, while Dulio''s was in the north at a mall, and in between them was a series of skyscr.a.p.ers. Alex found a couch on the library to sit at, and started thinking how to best counter any strategies Dulio might have. The main problem he had was that he didn''t know when the stage would collapse, so he couldn''t plan around it, unless he removed the areas of the arena first. He looked at Mister Black, then laid out the map of the area they were provided. *** Thirty minutes later the game started, and Alex''s team spread out the way they were told to. He had stationed himself at the top of the library with only Mister Black and Miss Sapphire still with him. He waited for a while as they moved into position, then after a small wait the sounds of battle started echoing throughout the arena. Soon they faded away as Alex''s team did as he instructed, and once a few seconds passed, he turned to Mister Black and said, "It''s your turn, once you do this Dulio should be drawn out and you can fight him to your hearts content. Remember, aim where I specified and try not to hit our own people." The cloaked man nodded and said, "I understand, as long as they aren''t in my way then I won''t hit them." He then walked off, leaving Alex with his brow twitching in irritation. After a few seconds however an explosion rang out, and entire sections of the game field was destroyed at once. Almost immediately after it the arbitrator sounded out, then was followed by the announcer, "Joker Dulio''s rook, 2 Knights, and bishop retired." "AMAZING, TO THINK THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER BLACK, WAS NONE OTHER THAN THE EVIL DRAGON CROM CRUACH!" As the announcer said, the one floating there after destroying entire areas of the arena was none other than Crom Cruach after removing his robe. It had taken a while for Alex to find and convince him to join his team, but he eventually accepted in the end. As everyone tried to take in this new information, someone with ten white angel wings flew up to meet Crom Cruach. It was none other than Dulio himself. "It appeared that in order to fight Alex, I''ll have to get past you first." Crom Cruach nodded his head, and replied, "Joker of heaven, you''re one of those I always wanted to fight as well. Let''s make this an interesting fight." At his words, both took a stance in front of each other, and readied themselves as the announcer shouted out once more, "Get ready folks, as were about to see two "trump cards" duke it out. On one side we have the trump card of heaven, the joker Dulio. On the other we have one of the hidden factors in the red dragons arsenal, Crom Cruach. It was for moments like this that this tournament exists folks, as we watch these two powerhouses go at each other." As to be expected the crowd went crazy after his words, but Dulio and Crom didn''t even seem to register them, as they continued staring each other down. Chapter 131 - Trump card vs trump card Grayfia looked up at the two above her as she proceeded to the area she needed to wait with Strada and Lint. Now that they narrowed down the area available to the other team, she was waiting to start fighting them once they appeared. The ones left on the other side was the queen, Diethelm Waldseem¨¹ller, one rook and one bishop. They suspected that the ones left were Nero Raimondi, and Griselda Quarta, Xenovia''s former guardian. As they waited the sounds of battle started overhead, meaning the entire battlefield was going to become dangerous soon, especially if Dulio activated his balance breaker. Soon there were entire areas of the battlefield turned to ice, or were set aflame. Right after this however they became alert, as the ones they were waiting for arrived. "No way, we''re against teacher Strada?" Nero said as he looked at the man who taught him how to use the sacred fist. Strada smiled as he now had another chance to "teach" one of his former students. "It is a pleasure to meet you miss queen of the red dragon." The man with a beard, Diethelm said. As Grayfia looked at him she knew she would need to defeat him swiftly due to his ability to heal. She then received a message through her system from Alex saying she could promote. One thing they discovered in these games was that the pieces Alex used on them wasn''t overwritten like the others, as his were unique to begin with. Because of this she could still use the promotion ability of her pawn piece, but they had to keep it quiet so they didn''t get in trouble for cheating. She then silently promoted to knight, as speed would serve her better against him because of his healing. "Irina didn''t come this time?" Griselda asked as she looked at Lint, who simply laughed lightly in return. The six people squared up against each other, rook vs rook, Queen vs queen, and knight vs bishop. While keeping a wary eye on the battle happening above them, they started their own fight. *** Alex stood atop the library watching as things unfolded. He was itching to get out there and fight Dulio himself, but was holding himself back from it. As the fights went on, any skyscr.a.p.ers left from Crom''s earlier attack were soon knocked down, covering any remaining areas with thick clouds of dust, until wind from Dulio''s sacred gear blew it away. Soon there was a thump nearby as nova returned with both Elmenhilde and Irina on his back. They all looked up and saw that Dulio and Crom Cruach seemed to be evenly matched at the moment, so Irina asked, "Should we go help him? It''d be better to have all of us going against Dulio at once if we can." Alex shook his head and said, "It''s Crom''s fight, plus one of his conditions for joining my team was that we don''t intrude on his fights. He considers it an insult if someone tries helping him in a fight. Besides, even if he does get defeated, then Dulio will be exhausted so it won''t be much effort before victory, just be careful as those on their last legs are the most dangerous opponents." Irina nodded at his words, as it would be extremely embarrassing if they had Dulio almost defeated, only for him to manage to get an attack on Alex and snatch away victory from them. At that moment the sounds of battle above them died down, as the two paused in their fight, presumably to catch their breath. *** "You''re pretty strong joker, it''s truly an honor to fight you on the battlefield." Crom Cruach said as he looked at his opponent. Dulio laughed and replied, "I can say the same to you Crom Cruach, it''s been a while since I enjoyed a fight this much. If you don''t mind my asking though, why did you join the red dragons team?" At this Crom showed a very rare smile, and instead of answering, asked in return, "First tell me this, how strong would you say we are compared to each other?" Dulio was caught off guard at the question, and replied, "I don''t know, I would say we''re either even with each other, or very close to it." Crom nodded and said, "Indeed, what if I told you that each of my fights with the red dragon were almost instant defeats?" At his words Dulio froze, and his gaze turned to Alex, who was watching this fight from a ways away. Crom then continued talking, "After he defeated me in the vampire territory, I left Rizevim and continued my training, but then he appeared before me to recruit me for the tournament. I challenged him once more and he said that if he won then I would have to join his team. I was defeated as easily as the time before that." Dulio was speechless at his words, and didn''t know what to think at his claims. At that moment, "Joker Dulio''s queen, rook, and bishop retired." He looked down and saw that the last of his comrades was also defeated, leaving him alone in the fight. Dulio then started laughing, and said to Crom Cruach, "I guess this match is my defeat, even if I beat you then I have to face the rest of your team, including the mysterious Miss Sapphire and the guy you say is a lot stronger than you. But I don''t want to end our fight just yet, so let''s continue." At his words Crom showed a small smile once more, and didn''t say anything as the two restarted their match. At the library Alex and the rest just watched with excitement at the fight continued above them, not caring about the collapsing ground around them. After what seemed like a long time, Dulio was covered with the light of retirement, and the announcement rang out, "King Dulio has retired, red dragon emperors win!" Chapter 132 - Dragon God It was a few days after the match with Dulio, and people were still talking about it. Since Alex won without participating himself, and without another of his teammates participating, it was quite the discussion as Dulio''s team was one of the stronger ones without taking the teams with gods themselves into account. Alex''s own standing shot up, and the negative critics started being quiet. However, while everyone was in an uproar about the match, Alex was simply calmly walking through a small forest situated next to his manor, with his ever present maid, and an evil dragon silently following behind him. There were a couple areas that were somewhat forested around the house, one was simply a regular forest with trees, and the other one that Alex was currently in was a bamboo forest. At the center of this one however was a shrine dedicated to the resident dragon God, Ophis. When he thought about it a bit, Alex realized he was pretty unique to have a god living in his home, with a shrine dedicated to them next to his house. He recalled that there was one or two series based off a plot like this. As he rounded the last corner before the shrine, Alex noticed someone was already there. When she noticed him a smile appeared on her face and she said, "Ara ara, what brings you here Alex?" He smiled in return when Akeno greeted him, and said, "Crom wanted to meet with Ophis, and this is usually where she is. Plus I wanted to visit my favorite shrine maiden." She smiled again, before retorting, "Your favorite shrine maiden who isn''t a maiden?" Alex chuckled lightly at her words, and they both recalled the day she was no longer considered a maiden. While Crom didn''t seem to care about what they were thinking, Alex''s ear was suddenly grabbed by Grayfia, and she said with a stern face, "I believe we have some business to attend to here, or do you intend to simply daydream about filthy things?" As he heard her words, Alex started to laugh slightly since he recalled the "filthy"things they did just the night before. As if she suddenly realized it as well, Grayfia released his ear with a slight red tinge on her cheeks. He then turned back to Akeno, who was also started laughing a little, before she said, "Ophis is over there, there were a couple of visitors today so she''s eating what they brought." Alex nodded his thanks, smiling at how his idea was working. Because of those related to shrines like Akeno, Yasaka, and Kunou, he suggested building a shrine close to the manor for them, but then the question came up regarding who the shrine would be for. He then thought of Ophis, and decided to use this as a chance to improve her image with the people of Asora, even though they were already told about how she wasn''t bad. Though it took a while, the residents eventually started warming up to her, and when they learned she liked sweets, started bringing her some to eat as "offerings". After a while some of the children that migrated also started playing with her, like Kunou and Millicas had in their free time. The two in question were currently in the middle of their lessons, which is why she was currently sunbathing by herself, while eating her offerings. As they approached she looked up, and saw Crom Cruach behind Alex. Before Alex could say anything, Crom got into a battle position and said, "Ophis, fight me!" Ophis simply looked at Crom Cruach with an expressionless face, and replied, "Impossible, I promised not to fight." Crom Cruach looked surprised at her rejection, and asked, "Is it truly impossible?" Ophis nodded in confirmation, and offered him a piece of candy that someone brought her earlier. Alex tried really hard not to laugh at the interaction between the two dragons, as Crom hesitantly ate the piece of candy. He had requested two conditions from Alex when he joined his team, the first was no interference when he fought, and the other was a chance to meet with Ophis. Now that Alex had revealed him to be part of his group, he decided to fulfill the second condition. Though he knew Crom would want to fight Ophis, he wasn''t worried since she took her own words seriously, and she promised him she wouldn''t fight anymore. He felt a little bad though, as even though she promised she wouldn''t fight he knew she would defend those she had a good opinion of. As such if someone did manage to invade Asora, he knew she would more than likely act as a last line of defense for the people there, especially since they''ve started warming up to her and brought her stuff. Because of this he felt like he was taking advantage of the pure dragon God. *** A little while later they left the shrine, and after sending Crom back, Alex was enjoying his time in one of the lounges with the church trio and Kiryuu. He currently had Xenovia on one side, Kiryuu on the other, and Asia was on his lap. Off to the side was Irina who was pouting, since she felt like she was being left out, because she technically wasn''t his woman yet. Even after all this time she had yet to take that final step, even though the other three kept trying to push her to do so. The four of them continued flirting with each other, with Alex caressing and pinching them, while her temper grew worse. Eventually she was about to blow her top, when she noticed Kiryuu looking her way with a smirk, and she said to Alex, "Since you''ve got us all riled up, let''s take this upstairs where there''s some privacy." Alex smiled at her proposal, and was about to accept, when she said, "But give us a few minutes to get ready, then come up. I want to try something out." Alex wasn''t sure what to think at her words, as who knew what this pervert would cook up this time. He didn''t object though, and with a smirk she took off with the other two, and surprisingly dragged Irina along. He smiled as he could guess what she was trying to do, and laid back to wait while they prepared. After several minutes he went up to his room, and when he opened the door, he didn''t see the rest of the girls, just Irina. She was sitting on the bed dressed in see-through negligee, with only a pair of pure white panties under it. He could see the two pink protrusions under the fabric, that almost seemed to match the shade of her face as she blushed furiously. She then stuttered, "P-p-please t-take care of me t-tonight!" Chapter 133 - Irina Alex arched an eyebrow at how Irina was presenting herself, and wondered where the other three were at. A second later he noticed their presence in the walk in closet, and that they seemed to be spying on them to see if Irina would go all the way. He shook his head slightly at their actions, before walking closer to Irina. Her blush deepened as he approached, and she let out a little squeak as he picked her up in a princess carry. He looked at her, and asked, "Are you ready?" Though a part of her wanted to say no, even more of her was tempted to say yes, as she was getting quite frustrated with always being left out. After a seconds hesitation, she nodded her head in confirmation. A smile spread across Alex''s face, but contrary to her expectations, he didn''t turn towards the bed. In the closet Kiryuu, Xenovia, and Asia watched through the cracked door, as they hoped their friend would finally take that step. They watched as Alex picked Irina up, and then, turned away from the bed. They were confused about this until they saw him turn their way, and smirk. Both Alex and Irina then disappeared instantly, leaving behind a storm of clothes as he somehow stripped himself while holding Irina in a princess carry. They heard a door slam shut in the room, and poking their heads out from the closet, saw the door that slammed was the bathroom door, with a pair of still warm white panties hanging from the door knob. The three smiled bitterly, and proceeded to get ready themselves while Alex and Irina were busy in the bathroom. As for Irina, she was still in a princess carry, so she was confused at how both she and Alex were both already n.a.k.e.d. She didn''t notice the scenery change for a second, then grew even redder at the instant stripping, and that now she was alone with him. She then asked shyly, "W-why are we in the b-bathroom?" Alex smiled gently at her and replied, "Well I still haven''t showered or bathed yet today, and besides, you don''t want you precious first time to be a show do you?" At his words she turned even redder, which made him wonder if there was a limit to how red she was going to get. He then decided to add to her embarrassment, and kissed her. When Irina felt the soft sensation against her lips, her mind blanked for a second before she processed she was being kissed. Though it wasn''t the first kiss in her life, it was her first one with Alex, and she faltered for a second before melting into it. As they kissed Alex made his way into the shower, and set her into a standing position so he could turn on the water. When he put Irina down though, she wrapped her arms around his neck, as if to keep the kiss going as long as possible. After he somehow turned the water on, Alex grabbed her waist and pulled Irina against him, pressing the points on her b.r.e.a.s.ts against his chest. His hands then wandered to her soft yet firm butt, and he started kneading the flesh. As they progressed, Irina felt something hard and hot pressing against her, and finally broke the kiss to look down and gulped when she saw the rod that would soon penetrate her. It was bigger than when she would see it occasionally in the bath, and she found it hard to believe that this thing has actually been inside most of the people around her, including Asia. After a few seconds hesitation, and against Alex''s expectations, she then started to kneel down until she was eye level with his standing pole. Irina gulped again, and leaned forward to take the tip into her mouth. Alex inhaled slightly, and said, "You don''t have to do that you know." She then released the head, and said shyly, "Kiryuu said that guys really like this, and that I should try it before the main part to get you more excited." Alex''s brow twitched, and he decided to teach that pervert a lesson later. As he was thinking about that, Irina took the head into her mouth again, and started making her way slowly down his shaft. As she did so, he could feel her tongue caressing it with better skill than he thought possible for an amateur. She then stopped partway down, and moved her head back until only the head was left, then made her way back down the shaft. She repeated this process several times, while also slowly gaining momentum, and taking in a little bit more into her mouth each time. Soon, against his expectations, she had managed to fit his entire length into her mouth, and was blowing him like a pro. Alex grabbed her head and started running his fingers through her wet hair, while she deep-throated him. It didn''t take much longer before he reached his limit, and he filled her mouth with his release. As she didn''t know when he was about to ejaculate, Irina was surprised at the fluid that suddenly filled her mouth, and nearly gagged on it. She managed to control herself though, and steadily swallowed everything he shot into her mouth. After she finished swallowing everything she stood back up, and Alex smiled at her, while using his thumb to wipe away the white fluid smearing her bottom lip. He then said, "Now I''ll take care of you." And started kneeling himself, until he came face to face with her perfectly smooth slit. He placed his hand behind her knee, and lifted it so that her leg was resting on his shoulder, giving him better access. As he looked at her nether regions he only had one thought, that it was definitely the p.u.s.s.y of an angel. Like Gabriel, Irina had never received proper stimulation before, as it was considered an evil thought that would lead to an angel falling. Alex used his fingers to peel apart the never before touched area, and licked. When she had his manhood in her mouth, Irina had felt an itch she never had before in her groin, and had resisted the urge to "scratch" it. When he touched her with his fingers, she shivered as sensations she never experienced before ran through her. Once his tongue invaded her though, she nearly went into shock at what her body was feeling for the first time, and let out a restrained m.o.a.n. "NNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Her body continued to shiver at the sensation her p.u.s.s.y was experiencing, and to experience more, she grabbed Alex''s head like he did hers, and tried to force him closer until he was nearly suffocating. He didn''t mind though, and continued eating her out with relish, while she tried to cope with the pleasure her body felt. To feel more she recalled Kiryuu telling her that her b.r.e.a.s.ts would feel good when being groped, and while she kept one hand on Alex''s head, she moved her other one to her own b.r.e.a.s.ts and started playing with it. Soon Irina could feel some kind of pressure building, and between Alex eating her out, and playing with her own b.r.e.a.s.ts, the pressure finally reached a summit. Like a damn bursting, she let out a deep m.o.a.n and intense waves wracked her body as she experienced her first ever climax. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN!" When Irina reached her climax she had wrapped her leg around his neck, and her hand had increased in pressure on the back of his head, effectively trapping him. Alex simply waited for her to release him before continuing, before several minutes later, she finally realized she was essentially suffocating Alex in her crotch. Irina quickly released him, and as he stood apologized with a red face, "I''m so sorry, I don''t know what came over me." He simply laughed it off and stepped closer once more before he replied, "It doesn''t matter, but now I hope you''re prepared, because it''s getting hard to keep waiting." She nodded at his words, wondering what actual s.e.x would feel like if just the foreplay felt so good. Alex gently pushed her against the wall, and lifted her leg once more before positioning himself at her now ready entrance. He then slowly started entering her, inch by inch, until he reached the barrier symbolizing her purity. A moment later it was broken, and Irina groaned while Alex buried more of himself into her. He gave her a few minutes to adjust after, and started moving once again when she gave him the OK. He started pulling out, and thrusted back in, enjoying her tightness as he slowly pistoned into her. As the minutes went by she gradually felt more pleasure than pain, then she started m.o.a.ning once more with his thrusts. After a few more minutes she started getting uncomfortable with her leg held up, so Irina motioned for him to put it down and reluctantly had him pull out. She then turned around and placed her hands against the glass wall while presented her ass to him, and said, "I think you can do it this way too, it might be a bit more comfortable." Alex was dumbfounded that she wanted to do it from behind right away, but was happy to oblige, as he entered her once more. As he did her this way, Irina looked up and noticed a mirror through the wall she was leaning against, and wondered if the girl she saw in it was really her. Her face had a really perverted look, and her b.r.e.a.s.ts were swinging back and forth as Alex pounded her, and the sound of flesh smacking accompanied each thrust. She soon felt the pressure building again, and watched her own face as she climaxed from being penetrated by him for the first time. While from the resulting tightness Alex didn''t last much longer either, and promptly filled her w.o.m.b with his seed. As she recovered from her second climax of the night, Alex reached around and started playing with her b.r.e.a.s.ts, exciting her once more. *** Roughly an hour later the two finally left the bathroom, only to be dumbfounded at the sight that greeted them. Currently Asia was between Xenovia and Kiryuu, while both were pleasuring her with their fingers. The problem was that while Xenovia''s were stimulating her normally, it didn''t take much thought to see that Kiryuu''s were in an entirely different spot than normal. Asia was m.o.a.ning as she reached climax, and Kiryuu laughed as she said, "See Asia, you did like it in the butt. Since Alex is joining us maybe you can try the real thing now?" As she said this Asia turned towards him and had an expecting look in her eyes. Alex''s brow twitched, and he decided her definitely need to punish Kiryuu for both feeding Irina information she didn''t need to know yet, and giving Asia a weird interest. Irina paled as she placed both hands on her own butt, as if she was worried she was also going to be made to try it. In the end Alex convinced Asia to wait to try the new experience, and true to his words, he made sure Kiryuu wouldn''t be able to walk normally the next day. Though thinking back on it, she probably wanted that to begin with. Chapter 134 - A day in Asora 1/2 The next morning Alex awoke surrounded by the entire church trio, all of whom started waking up when he started moving. Kiryuu was off to the side passed out while laying in a position that was very unlady like, extremely sore from Alex''s actions the night before. Mere minutes after they woke up the door opened, and Grayfia walked in followed by two members of Ravel''s peerage. Most of her peerage had been given various roles in the manor, and the ones following Grayfia were Marion and Burent, maids that worked under her. Alex and the three girls got off of the bed(he had to pick up Kiryuu) and the two started changing the sheets, while the rest of them put on some robes and left to go to the manor''s hot springs with Grayfia following her master. After a quick bath the four girls went to get ready for school, while Alex went straight to breakfast, where he found Rias, Akeno, Ravel, and Le Fay. A little after he started eating, Ravel started highlighting some of the things he''d focus on during the day. "The other manors are about done, with only a few last minute finishing touches being made. Some of the residents have already moved in, or are in the process of moving." Alex nodded and said, "I''ll go and take a look later to see how they are doing, and if there needs to be any improvements." Ravel smiled, and went through a few other things that he''d have to look into. She and Grayfia seemed to have split the roles of his attendant, Ravel focusing on running the items related to the manor and Asora, while Grayfia was more personal and followed him to assist in whatever he needed. Ravel didn''t like this at first, as Grayfia would inevitably be spending more time with him than her, but gave in when it was pointed out that she would have more responsibilities than Grayfia, effectively being more useful. Alex''s schedule for the day consisted of meeting with each of the representatives, checking on the manors for Vali''s team, Seekvaira, and Sairaorg, and checking the training area underground. He had been more active in running Asora in recent days, as he didn''t attend university like the others, and wanted everything to be ready when it was time to leave. Rias and the others had expressed interest in leaving school to be of more help, but Alex shot them down because they would be living in Asora full time in a little over a year anyways. While Ravel outlined his schedule for the day, Grayfia wrote down everything she said to ensure he didn''t forget anything. Once she was done though, Le Fay then spoke up, "Um Alex, that person also said they''d be ok to meet you today as well. They''ll be teleporting to Japan later to meet at a cafe, this is the place and time to meet her." She then handed him a slip of paper, which after reading Alex said, "Thanks Le Fay, I''ll make sure to meet her on time." When he said "her" the rest of the girls became curious, and were almost tempted to investigate who he was meeting. Alex noticed their reactions and smiled before saying, "You guys don''t need to worry, it''s a potential resident of Vali''s manor, not ours. Le Fay wanted me to do her a favor by hiring her to work in their manor, but I''ll need to meet her later." They let out an almost audible sigh of relief at his words, and became cheery again. They all acknowledged that he''ll add several more girls to his harem, but that didn''t mean they accepted him collecting every girl he saw. Soon the church trio and Kiryuu arrived for breakfast as well, with Kiryuu walking bow legged due to the previous nights activities. They continued having breakfast while chatting away about various things, before the girls finally had to leave for the day. He gave each one a swift peck on the lips as they left, with Le Fay getting one on the cheek. Alex soon left for his own duties, with Grayfia right behind him, as they flew through the sky towards one of the taller buildings in the city below. He landed in front of the closest one, a multi leveled building with the symbol of Serafall leviathan on it, the main workplace of the Devils representative. What somewhat confused him, was the larg construction project right beside it that wasn''t there before. He entered the building and was promptly met by a secretary in a sharp suit, who said, "Miss leviathan is currently on the top floor discussing the plans for the new building next door, should I notify her of your arrival sir?" As everyone in Asora knew him the secretary didn''t dare try to keep him from meeting with Serafall. Alex shook his head at her and said, "I''ll just head on up and surprise her, thank you for your help." The woman nodded, and as they passed Grayfia also paid her a brief nod before leaving, bringing a smile to the woman''s face. As the top floor was only five floors up. It didn''t take Alex and Grayfia long to reach it through the the elevator. He had wondered why the building was so short before, but Serafall said it was because there was no need for a skyscr.a.p.er yet due to the low amount of personal, and that it would just be a waste of resources. He arrived at the main meeting room, to see Serafall talking to about twenty people about the new building. After a few minutes the meeting was dismissed, and the people went back to their work areas. When Serafall left the meeting room the first thing she saw was Alex waiting for her, to which she simply said, "Let''s go to my office." Alex raised an eyebrow as he followed her, she was completely in business mode. He decided to mess with her a little, and pinched her butt when she walked past him. Serafall jumped a little, and glared at him before continuing to her office, earning a small chuckle from both Alex and surprisingly Grayfia. One thing he had come to learn about Serafall was that she was only accepting of their relationship if Sona was involved. For example, she was very lovey during their date, but only because she was planning the night activities with Sona later. If Alex mentioned inviting her and Sona to his room later, she would immediately turn into a loving girlfriend. After they entered her office she sat down and turned to him before asking, "So what''s up?" Alex shrugged and said, "I''m just going around and checking with the representatives, seeing if there''s anything of concern. So what''s up with the new building next door?" She then smiled and said in her normal manner, "It''s the new studio for my show, Miracle????Levia-tan!????" there was then a flash of light and the suit she was wearing changed into her magical girl outfit. Alex''s brow twitched and he asked, "So you''re making an entire studio just to continue your show after we leave the world?" She nodded enthusiastically and said, "Currently we have to record any shows being aired in the underworld, or the human world, then bring them here to show. Once we leave however we can''t do that, so I decided to create a studio so that we can keep making my show!????" Alex sighed, understanding about her intentions, but confused on one thing. "Why just stop at your one show though? Or do you plan to suffocate people, with Miracle????Levia-tan?" She looked confused and asked, "So what do you want?" He simply replied, "I don''t mind continuing your show, just make others as well if you can. There won''t be any new shows unless we make them here, so you''ll pretty much own the entertainment industry, just have some variety." Surprisingly she seriously started contemplating his words, as if she never realized that she''d basically own the entertainment industry in Asora. The two continued talking for a while, then Alex left to find Barakiel. As the fallen angels new research facility was just a few blocks over, Alex simply walked the distance. Once he entered the building he was once again directed right to Barakiel, and headed to the top floor of the building. He went to Barakiel''s office, and opened the door to find him eating from a lunchbox with tears running down his face. Alex smiled and stood back to let him finish eating, figuring that the food was from Akeno, as it was the only food he could think of that would make Barakiel react in such a way. After a few minutes he finished eating, and turned to Alex before saying, "Sorry for the wait, I was enjoying a early lunch. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Alex could tell that Barakiel was trying to act professional since Alex was technically his boss in Asora. "I just came to check up on things, make sure everything is going well, father." He slipped that in just to throw Barakiel off a little. As Alex expected he froze for a second, then threw away the professionalism from before and shouted, "Who''s your father?!" Rejecting Alex with everything he could. Alex laughed silently as Barakiel went on about all the things he''d do to Alex if he could, though they both knew he never would, it would make Akeno sad after all. Finally Alex said, "Alright, alright, so how''s the new manor?" Stalling once again at the change in topic, Barakiel realized Alex was simply messing with him and tried to fix his composure. He then replied, "It''s good, a little big, but I could probably have a few of the guys move in as well. I ended up naming it Stormy Manor." Alex nodded, having heard most of this from Akeno previously. What he didn''t hear Barakiel say though, was that he already modeled a room for Akeno, in the hope she would occasionally stay with him. They talked about a few more things, before Alex left to move on to talk to Gabriel, then Yasaka. Chapter 135 - A day in Asora 2/2 After leaving Barakiel''s office Alex walked a few more blocks over and went to the office of the angels in Asora. As before he was led to the top floor, where Gabriel was in her office waiting for him. She had a smile on her face as he walked in and said, "Hello Alex, what can I do for you today?" He couldn''t help but notice she had a small light of anticipation in her eyes, but he disappointed her and said, "I''m just making rounds today, seeing if there''s anything I need to address." When she heard him Gabriel smiled again and said, "There''s not much to report, just that the Angels are happy to finally be in relationsh.i.p.s without the worry of falling." Alex nodded, as he recalled the trouble Angels would go through to be in relationsh.i.p.s before due to god''s system. If he recalled right, just the act of having s.e.x involving Angels was a several hour long process just to prepare and purify themselves, then they needed to be within a special barrier, and even when they moved on to the actual experience both parties must possess nothing but pure feelings for each other. Even after the whole process, if they felt anything like possession, or excessive l.u.s.t, they could fall. It was no wonder they decided not to use this approach to trying to increase their own numbers. The two of them chatted a little more, before Alex started to leave. When he was about to though, he saw Gabriel looking a little sad. She had gotten better at controlling herself lately, but Alex didn''t want to accidentally trigger her. He then tried something that he figured was pretty tame, and started patting her head. She immediately smiled, and closed her eyes in contention. Though he couldn''t do anything at the moment, he decided to spend the night with her later. After leaving Gabriel, he then made his way to Yasaka''s office. Unlike the others that worked in office buildings, she was in an older style Japanese building, similar to the one Alex stayed in before. Once he arrived however, he learned that she was actually out and wouldn''t be back for a few hours. Instead of trying to hunt her down just to find out there weren''t any issues, he decided to head to his appointment he made through Le Fay. A few minutes after leaving, he and Grayfia were surrounded in mist, and found themselves in the dorms. Then the only person in the dorms at the moment, Elmenhilde, jumped as Alex and Grayfia(who already changed to Bina) randomly appeared. She then said, "Alex you scared me!" He smiled apologetically, and replied, "Sorry, we have some business in town today so I came by. Any new news regarding the tournament?" As he asked about the tournament she suddenly became serious, and said, "Yes, they''re announcing the new matches tomorrow night. I was just putting together a list of those that won their recent matches, since we might be facing them next." Alex nodded, and thanked her for her hard work. The two then left and traveled to the cafe Le Fay wrote down. Even though he was arriving a little early, Alex immediately noticed the one he believe he was supposed to be meeting, a girl with black hair wearing maid attire, already sitting at a table. Her name was Elaine Westcott, a maid in service to the Pendragon family. Alex was surprised as he never heard about her in the original series, but after hearing about her from Le Fay, wondered if she was set to make an appearance in a later volume than he was able to read. Le Fay had told him she was her personal attendant, and the one who taught her how to use magic. The last thing, and the most surprising, was that apparently she was also in love with Arthur, who held mutual feelings for her. However the current head of the Pendragon family didn''t approve of their relationship, so Arthur left to protect her. Since she and Arthur were following him through Asora, Le Fay asked him to bring her with them so that she and her brother could be together. (A.N. Found Elaine randomly on the wiki, and after reading her summary decided to throw her and Arthur a bone. From my understanding she appears in volume 5 of the DX side volumes, which has yet to be translated or added to Baka tsuki. Ps. Who knew Arthur was a fan of culture?) He then approached her and asked, "Would you be Elaine by any chance?" The girl looked at him with some intrigue, before bowing slightly and saying, "I am indeed Elaine, you must be the red dragon emperor the young lady told me about." Alex raised a brow at her introduction, and felt that she was the same as Grayfia. He then turned to her and said, "Bina, place a few barriers for some privacy." She nodded and said, "Of course master." Before setting to her task. After a few minutes she was finished and Alex turned back to the patient Elaine, saying, "Now let''s begin our discussion." Elaine nodded and said, "I''m here because the head of the house of Pendragon wished to confirm his daughter''s living conditions, and her well being. By the way, I do not see her here." Alex was mildly surprised, as it seems Elaine didn''t have any idea what Le Fay called her for, besides simply for him to meet with her. He then started talking, "About their living conditions, I was hoping you would assist with that. Le Fay and Arthur are going to be living under some unique circ.u.mstances in the near future, away from the influence of the pendragon family, and she wanted me to extend a hand to you as well." Elaine seemed confused for a moment, and had to think for several seconds before she gave up and asked, "What do you mean living away from the Pendragon''s influence?" Alex smiled and said, "To know the details would require you joining them, but one instance of freedom would include not having restrictions on romantic partners." This time she was stunned as she suddenly realized what Alex was trying to do. After a few minutes she said, "Let me talk to the young lady, and if she confirms everything you''ve said then I might consider your proposal." Depending on the person it could be argued that Elaine''s loyalty was too flexible for considering Alex''s offer, but since she would be following the children of the Pendragon family, she didn''t consider this to be the case. Grayfia placed the call to Le Fay, and she soon left the school to join them at the cafe. Not long after Le Fay showed up, and Alex was back in Asora being followed by two maids. Elaine had followed him directly into Asora, knowing that bringing the matter up with the current family head would result in immediate refusal. Alex then led her to one of the newly built manors, the future home of the Vali team. Upon reaching the doors he rang the bell, wondering if at least one of the Vali team members was here to look at the house, instead Alex was greeted by a beautiful older woman with blonde hair. He was so what surprised to see her, and said, "Hello Lavinna, are you the only one here?" She smiled a little at his words and said sadly, "Yes, Vali and the rest of his group haven''t shown up yet, so I just started working on the house myself. Whose that behind you?" Lavinna asked as she noticed Elaine. Alex smiled and said, "The other girl that''s going to be living here, she''s a servant of the Pendragon family, and Le Fay''s teacher, Elaine Westcott." At his words Elaine bowed and said, "It''s a pleasure to meet you lady Lavinna, I hope we get along well." After introducing the two girls, Alex left to see to the other new residents of Asora, Sairaorg and Seekvaira. As they left Grayfia said, "She seems like a decent maid, I look forward to working with her in the future." Alex smiled as he heard her praise Elaine, knowing she saw the similarities between the two of them. Soon he reached the manors of Seekvaira and Sairaorg, located fairly close to each other. They both had their servants moving their things in, and seemed to be somewhat excited to move to Asora. Both manors had been made to house not only them, but the entirety of each of their peerages, as they would obviously be following them. When they saw him approaching, both of them walked towards him, stopping when Sairaorg said, "This is pretty nice, even if it''s smaller than my family''s castle I''ll enjoy having a place to myself even more!" Alex laughed at his words, and joked while glancing at Seekvaira, "But the place might not belong to only yourself in the future you know." Sairaorg seemed confused at his words, while Seekvaira''s face very subtly twitched, and she glared at him with a small hint of red on her cheeks. Sairaorg then said, "So what about the training area, you''re in charge of that, right Seekvaira?" She immediately cleared her face of the glare, and redness, and said, "Yes, and according to Alex''s wishes there won''t be any problems with the different teams using it." Alex nodded as he recalled a previous discussion they had. He had wanted everyone to start using the training facility as soon as possible, but they were conflicted about participation in the tournament, and the conflicting teams. It was decided that general training would be ok, but there were also several private areas for secret training that none could intrude on. The four of them then used a transportation circle, and arrived at a massive underground area. It was like a normal training area in the underworld, but it also had several branching areas for training with privacy. Seekvaira looked around the area she would be in charge of, and started writing notes of things she needed to prepare, and marking areas for whatever she had in mind. Ever since she was shown how effective slowing time was for training, she devoted herself to learning how to reach the best results using it to train her team. While the others may have stronger team members, hers would have the most training. After inspecting the area with the two of them, Alex and Grayfia left to head to the last area he needed to go to. He soon arrived outside the last manor he needed to visit, the one belonging to both Rias''s and Sona''s male peerage members. As neither group had very many men, they simply moved into one building together with those they cared about. Currently living there was Kiba, Gasper, Saji, and Loup Garou, then there was also Valerie and Kiba''s girlfriend Tosca. Tosca was another survivor of the church''s holy sword protect with Kiba, and managed to survive being disposed of due to her barrier sacred gear. However it also put her into a deep sleep, and halted her age, so even though she was the same age as Kiba, she only looked to be twelve or thirteen. She recently awoke, and was turned over to their custody after Alex settled the matters with the church members. As Rias still had all her pawn pieces left to use, any men who joined her peerage in the future would most likely move there as well. He then spent a while visiting with Valerie, as she was the only one not attending school, and confirmed that they did indeed like the manor. After he finished visiting with her, Alex returned to his own home, and found Kuroka in one of the lounges. He then unceremoniously plopped down onto the couch, and laid his head in her lap. Kuroka laughed at him and said, "Have a long day working Nyan? You should be more like be and relax more!" Grayfia snorted, and retorted, "Not everyone can afford to act like a lazy stray cat." Kuroka''s brow twitched at her words, and she was tempted to snap back. She never forgave the spanking Grayfia gave her, and longed to find the chance to get her back. It was also the reason she took Alex''s words about using the tournament to increase their job levels seriously, as she wanted to pass up Grayfia, then return the spankings, except she would do it in front of everyone and humiliate her. Grayfia ignored Kuroka who was plotting revenge, and sat down on the couch as well, before pulling Alex''s legs into her lap to massage them. Seeing this Kuroka''s brow twitched again, and she immediately fixed her posture so that she was facing Grayfia, and started massaging Alex''s chest. He found this quite enjoyable as well, as her b.r.e.a.s.ts were dangling in his face. The two then started competing with each other in massaging him until Kuroka tried to strip, earning a paper fan attack from Grayfia, another thing Kuroka swore to get revenge for. Soon everyone started returning from school and their Devils job, and they had dinner. As they ate many of them shared the things they experienced while doing their Devils jobs, like Koneko cosplaying, or an artifact Rias looked at for someone. After that they all had a bath, then everyone started dispersed into their rooms for the night, while those still living in the dorms transferred over. When Alex opened the door of his room, he took one look at the inside, and smiled. There waiting inside was the combination of Yasaka, Gabriel, and Grayfia. As she was the only one that looked excited, Alex suspected Yasaka was the mastermind, but she and the two other were also wearing cosplay. She was in a s.e.xy kimono that was too short to actually cover anything, Grayfia was somehow convinced to wear a naughty maid outfit, even though she refused to accept the job, and Gabriel was wearing a naughty priestess outfit. The latter two girls looked embarrassed dressed the way they were, so Alex didn''t let them suffer long, as he thoroughly enjoyed the night. Chapter 136 - Next matchup As the next couple weeks went by Alex faced a few more opponents in the games, and was still undefeated. The major matches though, was the Sona vs Ravel, and soon the Rias vs Vali match. Rias''s match against Vali was being hyped up quite a bit, and since Alex removed Hades a while back, there were no issues surrounding this match like the novel. He also noticed that the team with Vienne and Balberith wasn''t participating as well, since more than likely neither existed anymore after Hades couldn''t experiment with Lilith''s body. The part of the fight he was interested in though, was Koneko vs Kuroka. In the novel Koneko surpassed Kuroka and won, but this time around Kuroka has been benefitting from Alex''s job system, and Koneko has also undergone some major growth, in more than one area. With the match of Sona vs Ravel, it was a battle of strategy more than a fight, as both girls focused on outwitting each other. It ended up lasting for quite a while, as both tried to manipulate their opponent into situations that would out the other at a disadvantage. Sona finally won using her superior tactics, and the power of the dragon King through Saji. The bad part was that he still couldn''t control the power, and went on a rampage, ending up costing his team points. Since the fight over Sona''s school didn''t happen he never managed to achieve balance breaker, and since the advances in Alex''s relationship with Sona weren''t a secret, Saji had seemed to lose all motivation for getting stronger. Normally Alex wouldn''t let this bug him, except Saji was a part of one of his women''s strength, and having him like this made him a liability. The way Alex saw it he had two ways to deal with this, he could either eliminate him and be done with it, or he could give Saji a new drive for strength. The first would be the quickest and easiest, but it would leave a bitter taste in his mouth to kill off one of his girls servants simply for the sake of convenience. After thinking for a bit, Alex stood from his seat in the new game room, and went to find Sona. After a few minutes he found her in the library, where she was reading books on strategy of course. "Ah-hem." She looked up when she heard the noise, and smiled when she saw him standing there. She marked her spot in the book and closed it before asking, "Is there anything you need?" While trying not to seem too eager. Alex nodded and said, "I want to talk about Saji in the last match." The smile on her face melted, and she looked a little depressed. "I don''t know what to do about that child. He was once one of my most eager to improve, but now he seems to have lost all motivation for getting stronger." Alex sighed quietly, as he knew Sona was clueless in this regards. The reason he forced himself so much to appeal to her before was mostly because of her denseness to romance, a factor that worked strongly against Saji. From what Alex could tell Sona was the only one not aware of Saji''s feelings in the novel, even after he nearly died to protect her dream. He then said, "Let''s get him and go to the training area, I''ll try to see what I can do." Sona nodded, and followed him as they went to collect Saji from the house he shared with Kiba and the others. His face twitched when he saw Alex and Sona, but grudgingly followed them. They then arrived in the training area, and Alex led them to one of the private rooms. Once there, Sona moved back a ways, knowing that if they came to the training area things were going to get violent. Alex then turned to look at him, and said, "What''s with that face Saji, a proud servant of Sona Sitri and a possessor of one of the dragon kings shouldn''t be making a face like that." Hearing that Saji looked at Alex with anger, and said, "What about it?! I may possess the power of a dragon King, I may be a servant of the family of Sitri, but I''ve had each of my dreams taken from me! What''s left for me to care about?!" Alex sighed, then flashed forward and kicked Saji in the gut, sending him flying back into the wall. Saji then started coughing up blood, and Alex said coldly, "If there''s nothing left for you to care about, then you wouldn''t mind me just removing you right?" Sona''s eye twitched at Alex''s words, but didn''t move since she knew he wouldn''t just kill one of her servants. Saji on the other hand, showed some fear at Alex''s words, and looked to the side to see his master just standing there, watching. His mind started racing, was he really going to be removed just like this? Alex continued, "You can''t be with the woman you love, and instead of either moving on or supporting her happiness you mope? You can''t fulfill your dream, so you give up completely?" When Alex threw each of these facts into his face Saji also felt that it was pathetic. Then he said, "What am I to do then? The woman I long for loves another, and the dream I followed is over!" Alex shook his head, and asked, "Does that mean that you just intend to ensure its harder for your master to follow her dream? She needs your help to do so, and yet you haven''t made any progress to help her, in fact she''s lost some prestige thanks to you." As he said that Alex flashed forward again and kicked Saji once more. Though he was still kicked backward, Saji now had a small fire in his eyes at Alex''s words. He hated being ridiculed like this, but he hated what Alex said even more, he was hindering his masters dream. He knew it was his fault they lost points in the match against Ravel, it was his own inability to control his powers. Yet instead of trying to fix this, he just moped because he couldn''t be with his master. Alex then kicked him again, and again. With each kick Saji was showing more motivation, and was more determined to resist him. As she watched her servant being beaten up by her lover, Sona could also see that Saji was beginning to show some signs of regaining the fire he used to have. After being kicked by Alex several times, Saji continued getting back up. Alex then said, "Just stay down, it''s what you''re good at." Saji showed a look of defiance, and shouted, "I won''t, I am the pawn of Sona Sitri! I house the dragon King Vitra in my body, and I refuse to be a burden any more!" At that moment Saji''s body was enveloped in a black aura, and black flames started covering his body. Suddenly both Alex and Sona heard, "BALANCE BREAK!" And the flames turned into a black armor with what looked like tentacles coming out of it all over his body, with black flames. Alex smiled. He was sure that since Saji was most likely feeling inferior compared to him the last year, it would take inspiring confidence in him to trigger his balance breaker. Behind him Sona also had a radiant smile on her face as she watched her servant grow. *** Several hours later Alex was in the dorms watching for his next match to be announced with his team. After Saji reached balance breaker, he spent the next couple hours sparing with him to temper his abilities with his armor. He then grudgingly thanked Alex for his help, even though he didn''t forgive him for stealing the one he loved. Alex was brought out of his thoughts by the announcements on the tv, and smiled as he looked at the match ups. With the exception of Miss Sapphire who wasn''t present, the rest of his team made various comments of shock, while Crom practically shivered in anticipation. His next match was against a group he expected, and was excited to fight, the team led by Typhon, King of the monsters, along with the three gods Vidar, Appolon, and Artemis. One of the exciting things was that both Vidar and Appolon were now the chiefs of their mythologies since Odin, and Zeus left. As he thought about the next match, the doorbell suddenly rang. When Alex went to open the door, he found a familiar pink haired, horned devil waiting for him. Alex smiled and asked, "What brings you here Roygun?" The pink haired devil didn''t say anything, and simply snapped her fingers. Suddenly several magic circles appeared, and many hooded figures appeared in front of the dorms. They all then kneeled down, and Roygun said, "I Roygun Belphagor, wish to join under the red dragon emperor alongside my peerage, and I wish for a chance to join your team in the tournament." Alex smiled and said, "I like your determination, but if I said I may never participate in the games again, would you still follow me?" He knew Roygun mostly just wanted to participate in the tournament, and that she felt the games were all she had to live for. That was why he wanted to clarify with her that by following him she may never get to play again after the tournament ends. Surprisingly without any hesitation, she nodded and said, "I understand, and still wish to follow you. Even if you don''t participate in the games, you must have great plans in store for yourself. I believe that my experience fighting in the games as the former number two would be of great assistance to you. Please, let me join you!" Alex smiled, as he gained another subordinate. Chapter 137 - Sisters As the match between Rias and Vali got closer, Alex noticed that Koneko and Ravel seemed to be getting more and more conscious of him. He knew that he promised to make them his when they matured and became second years, but he couldn''t just say "now you match what I want, so let''s f.u.c.k", and mature they had. After her growth spurt Koneko continued to mature to the point that her figure now looked like Xenovia or Irina, but her bust was now even a little bigger, something both girls would complain about occasionally since hers used to be almost nonexistent. As for Ravel, she always had a big bust but it seemed she spent the last year growing into it, and was developing a figure similar to her mother''s. What Alex didn''t know was both girls were contemplating when to finalized their relationship with him as well. Their original plan was to move during Ravel''s birthday in the beginning of June, but then the match up against Vali''s team was revealed. After seeing that Koneko had a fire in her eyes, and she told Ravel apologetically, "I want to test myself against big sis first, and prove my growth." After seeing the fire in her friend''s eyes Ravel just sighed, and said, "I understand, you better win for both our sakes then cat." Though her words were somewhat harsh, Ravel smiled as she said it. The two then continued to wait with anticipation until the day of the match. *** Alex sat in the private viewing box with Rias''s parents, Venelana and Zeoticus. When they all sat down at first it was somewhat awkward, since Venelana knew some of the details of the situation regarding Grayfia and Millicas. Thankfully neither asked about them, and they simply made small talk until the game started. Also sitting with him was Ravel, who said she wanted to cheer on her friend. Everyone else was sitting in the other viewing areas, meanwhile Grayfia and Millicas were watching from the dorms. As the two groups walked out onto the field, the announcer shouted out, "WELCOME TO TODAYS MATCH! TODAY WE HAVE RIAS THE HEIRESS OF GREMORY, VS THE DESCENDANT OF THE PREVIOUS MAOU, VALI LUCIFER!" As they were introduced the audience went crazy, as they anticipated a match between the descendant of the previous lucifer, and the sister of Sirzechs lucifer. Following Rias was her queen Akeno, her rooks Koneko and Rossweise, her Knights Kiba and Xenovia, bishops Asia and Gasper, and finally her temporary pawns Nakiri, and Millarca. On Vali''s team was his queen Fenrir, his rooks were Gogmagog and Zue Bajie, his knights were Arthur and Sha Wujing, bishops were Le Fay and Kuroka, and finally his only pawn was Bikou. After being introduced they moved onto the game selection, and a screen showed the symbol for the different games, before it finally stopped on the symbol for a standard match. After that the teams were transported to their bases, and were given time to decide their strategies. After a couple minutes Venelana turned to him and said, "Obviously our daughter and several of her teammates are your lovers, but isn''t the bishop on the other team one as well?" Alex nodded in confirmation. "Kuroka, Koneko''s older sister." Venelana nodded in understanding, recalling the incident that led to her daughter acquiring Koneko as her servant in the first place. They continued talking, until the announcement rang out that the match was starting. Normally everyone''s attention would be taken by Rias or Vali, but Alex was looking for Kuroka and Koneko, knowing that it was inevitable the two would fight. Soon the viewing screen showed two girls, one black haired and the other white haired, facing off. *** "Nyan, here we are Shirone, facing each other." Koneko looked at her older sister, the one she thought had betrayed her for years until Alex told her otherwise. "Big sis, I will defeat you and surpass you today!" Kuroka smiled and said, "Can you do it? Big sis has been teaching you, but also I haven''t been idle either. Nya" with her words as the trigger, the two sisters took their positions, and started the fight. Immediately Koneko rushed in while Kuroka created several barriers in between the hem and tried to gain some distance. She then started activating several types of youkai, demonic, and senjutsu magics to attack. Koneko covered herself in Touki while growing her second tail, and started smashing her way through all of the attacks. She sped herself up and started breaking through Kuroka''s barriers, before engaging her sister in close combat. Kuroka covered herself on Touki as well and the two started an exchange of blows. As Koneko was more suited for close combat and her sister magic, normally it would be normal to think Koneko would have the advantage. However Kuroka was also benefiting from the fact that Alex''s queen piece wasn''t overwritten, and was utilizing the increase of her physical parameters as well as the magic ones. As a result Koneko was being forced back, before Kuroka teleported herself farther away and started preparing more spells to use against her. Before Kuroka unleashed the spells she was preparing, Koneko sighed, and was suddenly covered in a huge amount of Touki, before her two tails suddenly spilt to form a third. With the extra tail her physical abilities powered up even more, and she rushed to meet her sisters attacks head on. Using her increase speed, Koneko weaved through all the attacks, and charged directly for Kuroka, who activated several barriers to stall her. Koneko broke all the barriers once more, and attacked Kuroka again. The two engaged in close combat once more, and this time Koneko started pushing Kuroka back. Seeing her little sisters growth, Kuroka smiled, and leapt back before saying, "You truly have become strong Shirone, but big sis won''t go down just like that!" A sinister looking mist suddenly surrounded Kuroka, and her hands were suddenly tipped in green points. Koneko instantly summoned her kasha wheel to purify the poisoned air around her, as Kuroka rushed in once more. Koneko had the advantage in physical strength, but thanks to the job system Alex gave her, Kuroka had abilities she never would. As far as she was concerned, Koneko already beat her, but there was the match to think of, so Kuroka had to go all out against her. "Don''t think badly of me Shirone." Kuroka said as she slashed with her claws, effectively poisoning Koneko. Once the poison entered her blood Koneko started slowing down, her vision started blurring, and everything started to fade. She tried to purify the poison in her body, but was being overwhelmed by both it, and the poison in the air working against her at once. Kuroka used the chance to land several Touki infused attacks, and the light of retirement started to shine on Koneko. "Rias Gremory rook retired." The arbitrator announced, stunning the entire audience. As Kuroka watched the spot where her little sister vanished, she muttered to herself, "If it wasn''t for Alex, big sis would''ve lost. I''ll admit, you already passed me up Shirone." Before she turned back to the fight. *** Alex watched the match, as complicated feelings swirled within him. Both girls were powerful in their own rights, but he agreed with Kuroka even if he didn''t know she said it, the reason Kuroka won was due to the evil piece he gave her. After thinking about it for a few moments, he pushed the thoughts from his head, and turned his attention back to the rest of the game. Though the two sisters had split from the rest for their private battle, everyone else was relatively close to the same area. Rias''s team was slowly being pushed back, against the overwhelming strength of the Vali team. Eventually Rias was forced into a corner, and due to the advice of her team, willingly surrendered the match. "THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS THE VANISHING DRAGON, VALI LUCIFER!" Chapter 138 - Victors privilege After the match Alex went down to the infirmary to see Rias and the others. Rias had taken a few injuries, but it was most likely nothing was more damaged than her pride. He arrived at her room, and found her sitting in the bed after a check up. When she saw him she smiled bitterly, and said, "I didn''t want you to see me lose." He smiled and replied, "I''d rather see you lose and take a few injuries than win and suffer greatly for it." She smiled bitterly at his words again, but he could tell she liked that he cared for her. All those that took injuries were also in their beds, but Alex passed his gaze over them until he saw the one with Koneko. She was sitting up, and looked at him with an expression like she didn''t know what to do. Alex walked over to her, and said, "That was a good fight Koneko-" "DON''T!" She said suddenly, cutting him off. Alex frowned, not knowing why she was so upset. While he knew she didn''t want to lose to Kuroka, wasn''t she being a little dramatic? Before he could say anything else, Kuroka walked in, and went straight for Koneko''s bed. She looked at her little sister, and said plainly, "It was my loss Shirone, you definitely beat me. Nyan" Koneko and everyone else was dumbfounded at her words, until Koneko said, "I don''t want to be pitied!" Kuroka shook her head in response to Koneko''s words, and explained, "The only reason I beat you was because of the strength I received from Alex. You could tell because even I haven''t managed to unlock three tails. Nya." At her words Koneko stalled, and didn''t say anything for a few seconds. She then said to Alex, "Senior, please let us talk alone." Alex arched an eyebrow, but didn''t say anything as he left the room. Kiba, Gasper, and Nakiri took the hint for girls talk as well, and swiftly followed him. *** After everyone was released to go home they all gathered in Misty Manor, and discussed the match while also having dinner. Kuroka was sitting on Alex''s lap, taking the "victors" seat, while Rias and Ravel sat to either side of him. Alex found this somewhat funny, except he found this made it a little hard to eat since Kuroka was in the way. He let her be though, since she would try to feed him while sitting there. She did try to be a little mischievous while she was at it though. "Nnnhhhhh" She said as she held piece of food in her mouth. Alex smiled at her antics, and took the food into his own mouth, kissing her in the process. Rias looked as if she was about to blow a gasket next to him. Not only did she lose to the team Kuroka was on, but now she was taking liberties with Alex right in front of her. She wasn''t the only one though, as almost every girl around them burned in irritation, and with jealousy. However strangely Koneko and Ravel didn''t let her antics get to them, and simply ignored her throughout dinner. After dinner they took a bath, and then Kuroka practically dragged him to his room, where she instantly removed her kimono. She then immediately jumped on him, and planted her mouth against his, as she also started trying to remove his own clothes. Once they were both n.a.k.e.d Kuroka went straight to the bed, and crawled onto it on all fours while pointing her butt at him. She then slightly shook her ass invitingly, tail dancing above it, waiting for him to ravish her. Alex smiled, crawled right up to her, and didn''t hesitate in entering her already dripping honey hole. "Nyaahhhhhnnnnn!" Kuroka m.o.a.ned as started pounding her. She then wrapped her tail around his waist along with his own, as if to keep him from separating with her. Alex then grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her up so that she was leaning back into him, and started playing with her b.r.e.a.s.ts while he pounded her. She then became even more vocal as he pinched her n.i.p.p.l.es, rolling the little points between his fingers. Kuroka started shuddering as she reached her first climax, tightening around his rod at the same time. After a few seconds, she then pushed him slightly, and said, "Now this Nya." And positioned herself so that she was on top of him, and started riding like a pro. This went on for a while, until Kuroka came once more, the tines causing Alex to c.u.m as well. Once she felt him fill her insides, she climbed off of him, and moved down to his still erect pole. She then took her tongue, and started licking up and down as if to clean him. Alex just laid back, and enjoyed the feeling of her tongue cleaning him. Once she was done, Kuroka then surprised Alex when she said, "There, now it''s ready for those other two, Nyan." Alex became alert at her words, wondering what she was planning. He didn''t have long to wonder though, when someone knocked at his door. As he didn''t feel partially shy, Alex went to open the door as is, in the nude. He was surprised to find both Koneko and Ravel standing there, wearing robes. Koneko shyly said, "Senior, we came for a night visit." Just hearing that practically blew Alex''s mind, and he looked the two up and down. The two were also examining him, as they both looked at the thing that would soon be inside them. He then stood to the side, and said, "Come on in, can''t have you two standing at the door all night." Both girls then swiftly entered his room, as he closed the door behind them. He looked between them and Kuroka, wondering what was going on. Kuroka then started explaining, "Shirone and birdy wanted to have their first time after she proved her growth today, but was beaten by me instead." With that Alex understood Koneko''s earlier attitude, and nodded in understanding. Kuroka then continued, "I told her that the only reason she lost was because of the powers you gave me, and that in reality she should''ve won, Nya." Alex agreed with Kuroka''s words, as he decided the same thing since Koneko originally won their fight in the novel. He then walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug, before saying, "You''ve grown into a strong, beautiful woman Koneko. I''m sorry I made you wait, and I would be honored to share the night with you." Tears threatened to run down the girls face, before Alex leaned in and sealed her lips. Seeing their kiss, Ravel couldn''t help but feel both happiness for her friend, and jealousy for Alex focusing on her. Her thoughts were misplaced though, when Alex turned to her after breaking off the kiss. "I''m sorry for making you wait as well Ravel, when I consider all the work you''ve done for me, it must''ve felt like torture. I''ll focus on Koneko for now, then I''ll make sure you''re taken care of." Ravel could do little more than nod, as she watched her friend being made into a woman in front of her. Chapter 139 - Two cats, one bird After promising to attend to Ravel once he was done with Koneko, Alex then turned back to kissing her, while loosening the robes around her. Soon they fell to the floor, revealing the lack of underwear underneath. Then Alex started running his hands all over her body, personally verifying all the changes that happened to her body in the last year. Then she suddenly pushed him back, making him sit on the edge of the bed. Koneko then started edging forward on her knees, straddling him. As she moved closer, he could feel his erection brushing against her lower lips, as his hands found their way to her ass. Her tails started rubbing against his hands and arms, as she pulled his head closer to start kissing him again. As she started rocking her body back and forth, rubbing her groin against his pole to excite herself. He sn.a.k.e.d his fingers from her ass to start stirring her, rubbing the hairless mound before working them inside. As she felt his fingers enter her, Koneko let out one of the same cute catlike m.o.a.ns Kuroka would do, "Nyaaahhhhnnnn!" As they started stirring her insides. Once she was thoroughly prepared, Alex removed his fingers and used them to instead spread her open to better accept him. Taking this as the cue to start, Koneko lined him up with her opening, and started lowering herself. Alex groaned at the tightness, while Koneko panted as she tried to adjust to his size as she continued lowering herself. Before Alex knew it his entire length was completely buried inside her, never having met any resistance. He then recalled something similar with Kuroka, but simply assumed it wasn''t her first time(he didn''t plan to ask about it). As it was the same with Koneko, he wondered if it was a trait of nekomata, but didn''t have the time to put much thought into it as Koneko started moving. She was slowly moving her h.i.p.s forward, then back, while straddling his lap. As Koneko started picking up some speed, Alex used the fact that his face was the perfect level, and took one of her n.i.p.p.l.es in his mouth to start sucking. "Nyaaahhhnnn!" She m.o.a.ned again, not used to the stimulation. Off to the side however, Ravel watched as Koneko and Alex started having s.e.x, and felt an itch between her own legs. She was trying to fight the urge to scratch it, when Kuroka hugged her from behind, and said, "While Shirone''s busy with Alex, how about I get you ready for when they''re done birdy?" Before Ravel could reject, Kuroka sealed her lips with her own, and slipped her robes off of her as well. Kuorka then slid her hand down Ravel''s body, going straight for the lower lips, before she suddenly pulled her hand back in brief surprise. Kuroka looked at the finger that entered her for a brief second, almost feeling like it was burned. After a moment of thinking, she realized it must''ve been a trait of the Phoenix family, otherwise known as the lords of wind and fire. She pondered for a moment, then her mischievous grin reappeared, and she said, "Get in this position, and I''ll show you a good time." Ravel did as Kuroka directed, putting her hands on the bed and sticking her ass out at her. Kuroka then spread her open, admiring her mound from the back. Then Kuroka slowly inserted her finger in Ravel''s slit, verifying that she was several times hotter inside than usual, almost to the point it felt like she was being burned. That didn''t deter her though, as her finger swiftly moved in and out, and Ravel started feeling the pleasure. Kuroka then looked up and also started watching as her little sister was being screwed right in front of her. Koneko was moving even faster now, and was swiftly approaching her climax. She could feel it building inside her, before Alex suddenly rolled over and laid her back against the bed. He then started thrusting inside her intensely, bringing her even more pleasure, before she finally reached the summit. As she reached climax, Alex also came, and pumped her full of his seed. Feeling the substance being pumped into her w.o.m.b, Koneko looked so happy and said, "With this, I might have seniors baby." Alex smiled and replied, "I''ll give you as many babies as you want, we have the rest of our lives to try after all." As Devils they''ll be around for thousands of years at the very least, though their fertility rate was very low. The way Alex figured though, was that there might be something out there that would make conception more likely, even in Devils. As many of the girls around him desired lots of children, he would be more than willing to oblige if he found a more promising solution. At the current moment though, Alex just decided to enjoy it. After they both climaxed, Kuroka made her way over from Ravel, and said, "Nya, shirone you''re a woman now, congratulations. But there''s still someone who needs Alex''s attention, so you should clean him up for her, big sis will show you how." While saying that Kuroka pulled Alex off of Koneko, and sat him on the edge of the bed. She then kneeled down in front of him, while Koneko got down next to her sister, then Kuroka leaned forward and licked. For the second time that night he was receiving care from Kuroka''s mouth. Copying her big sister, Koneko also leaned forward and licked his pole. Alex watched the captivating sight of two sisters using their mouths to clean him, one black haired the other white. Within moments they finished, and Kuroka said, "Now that''s done, time to look after birdy then all four of us will play together!" Turning his head at her words, Alex saw Ravel laying on her back with her legs spread, patiently waiting for him. He crawled over to her, his tip prodding her already soaked, and strangely hot, entrance as he leaned over her to look her in the eyes. He then said, "I''m sorry for making you wait Ravel, and thank you for your patience." She smiled at him and said, "I''m so happy you''re finally making me your woman, please." With that as the start, he started inserting himself into the more than ready hole. As he entered Ravel, Alex''s first thought was ''I''m going to burn myself'' as her insides were hotter than any woman he had been with yet. He almost thought she had a fever, but then suspected that it had something to do with her family''s capabilities. He was then pulled from his thoughts when his intrusion encountered resistance. He then applied some pressure, and broke her purity, earning a small groan of pain from her. He stopped and waited for her to adjust, until she nodded to indicate he could continue. Alex continued penetrating her until he could go no more, and felt like his groin was on fire from her internal temperature. Even the fluid flowing from her crotch felt like liquid fire. Once he became accustomed to it though, he had no problem continuing with her, and started thrusting. He went slowly at first, then began picking up speed. Alex then turned his attention away from her literal "fire crotch", and looked Ravel in the eyes while he pounded her. She had a look of pure ecstasy as he made her his, and wrapped her legs around him as if to keep him from running away. They continued like that until they could both feel their bodies getting closer to climax, then Alex sprayed his seed inside her. As she felt her insides being filled by Alex, another smile appeared on her face. "Aaaahhhhhhh." She sighed in contention, before he sealed her lips once more. As he did so, Alex could feel her smile widen under his lips. The two were then interrupted, "Eh hem!" They turned to see both Kuroka and Koneko with anticipatory looks on their faces, and Kuroka asked, "Can we continue now?!" Before they jumped on him and Ravel. *** The next morning Alex awoke with a cat girl on each side of him, and Ravel on top of him. Each of them were still asleep, but they were smiling contently. He just laid there, waiting for Grayfia and the other two to come get them. But before they could someone else was rushing to his room, and the door banged open, revealing a heavily breathing Rossweisse. All three girls jumped when rossweisse slammed the door open, and glared at her reproachfully, until she said, "The Norse is arranging a marriage between me and lord Vidar!" Chapter 140 - Meeting grandma and a god Two days after Rossweise got the message that she was chosen as a marriage partner for the new chief God of the Norse, Vidar, they were gathered a Japanese style restaurant for the marriage interview. Alex was also present, due to the fact that he was Rossweise''s current lover, and he wanted to say some things to Vidar. As far as he could recall the original reason for Vidar going with this in the novel was to help solidify the relationship between Issei and Rossweise, but Alex didn''t need that solidification. Though he wasn''t technically engaged with her yet, he was waiting for a more appropriate time when his current situation was more stable, which was also why he didn''t officially propose to any of the other girls yet either. As they were waiting, an elderly woman with a stern look that resembled Rossweise appeared, and walked towards them. Alex immediately stood and went to greet her. Even if he hadn''t met her yet due to him changing various events, he knew she was Rossweise''s grandmother who raised her, G?ndul. She looked at Alex as he approached, and said, "It''s nice to finally meet you red dragon emperor, I hear you''ve been taking care of my granddaughter." Alex nodded and said, "It is nice to finally meet you too G?ndul, and yes, she is one of my lovers." Rossweise turned beet red at Alex''s direct confirmation, but G?ndul nodded approvingly, and replied, "Good, then it makes denying them even easier. I''m sorry about how they have been about this situation." Alex shook his head at her words, and replied, "Not at all, it wouldn''t be the first time I''ve butted heads with a god, and with my track record it won''t be the last either." G?ndul laughed slightly, as her estimation of this grandson in-law increased. As they talked a little more, an employee of the restaurant approached and said that the other party for the interview had arrived. *** Currently sitting in the meeting room was Rossweise, the representative of her family, G?ndul, her current master Rias, and her prospective partner Vidar. Vidar was a relatively good looking man that appeared to be in his twenties, with light blonde hair and a beard, with golden eyes, and dressed in a white suit. Behind Vidar were three women that seemed to carry the aura of gods, with stern expressions. Meanwhile Alex was intruding, and leaning against the wall behind Rossweise''s group in what can be considered a rude gesture, but it made his position clear. The three goddesses with Vidar glared at him, until Vidar said, "Fulla, Hlin, Gn¨¢, maybe it''s best if the rest was left to me." The three woman looked at him and one of them said, "Please remember that this situation is for the sake of Asgard''s future, and your current position as the chief God." The words were barely out of their mouth when another voice said, "That''s funny, if having Rossweise around is for the sake of Asgard''s future, then why was she left behind so easily, and why did no one care about retrieving her for nearly a year?" Everyone person in the room turned to the speaker, Alex. He was directing a cold glare at the three women, who were also glaring back. Rossweise was looking at him like he was her savior, G?ndul was bouncing between pride and indignation, Rias had a look that said ''of course'', and Vidar simply looked as if the situation was more interesting than he originally thought. The women looked as if they were going to retort back, but after a look from Vidar, they filed out of the room while giving him cold glares. Vidar then looked back to them and said, "I''m sorry about that, the situation is getting a little out of hand, even I couldn''t refuse. But enough about that; I''m Vidar, the current chief God of the Norse pantheon." With Vidar as the start the rest of those gathered introduced themselves and their relation to the current situation, until they reached Alex. "I''m Alex, the red dragon emperor and Rossweise''s lover." At his words Rossweise turned completely red again, but had a small smile on her face. Vidar on the other hand had a growing grin. His attitude was pissing Alex off increasingly, especially since he knows Vidar would just show interest in the marriage to mess with him and Rossweise. After the introductions, G?ndul and Rias rose to leave in order to let Rossweise and Vidar talk alone, but the smiling God simply said, "I don''t mind if you guys want to stay, something tells me even if you leave the red dragon over there wouldn''t follow you." The two sent Alex another look, before returning to their seats. They then ordered drinks, which both Alex and Vidar ordered beer. When he saw what Alex ordered, Vidar smiled even more, while Rias and Rossweise looked worried. Alex wasn''t concerned though, one perk of his "poison immunity" skill was that he was almost completely immune to the effects of alcohol. He could still get drunk since the skill wasn''t maxed out, but it would have to be some extremely potent alcohol. Vidar tipped his mug towards Alex in a toast, to which Alex slightly returned, before the unspoken competition started. The three girls watched the competition with varying thoughts, as both of their glasses emptied at an alarming rate. After only a few seconds, both men had their mugs completely emptied at the same moment, causing Vidar to start laughing, "Hahahahahaha, you sure can drink!" Alex didn''t say anything to this gods praise, but his brow twitched when he then said, "You know I like you, how about a bet? If you win our match I''ll call of the engagement, if I win then she becomes my woman." Alex''s brow twitched and he was sure he had the famous anime vein mark on his forehead, as he glared at the smiling God. The other three were dumbfounded at Vidar''s proposal, as they never expected he would actually approve of her after being antagonized by Alex so much. Alex then took a breath, and replied, "I have enough respect for all of the women around me not to use them as pieces for someone else''s amus.e.m.e.nt. I''ll make a counter offer, call off the engagement, or I''ll ensure you suffer the same fate as Loki during our match." At his words Vidar suddenly turned pale, as the image of the evil God came to mind. Loki wasn''t even shadow of his former self, as after being defeated he was somehow stripped of his divinity before they sealed him. Even though they were indebted to Alex for defeating Loki, many of those in the Norse pantheon considered him a threat that needed to be disposed of. This notion only increased after Hades mysterious disappearance, as one of the last things Hades did was a direct move against Alex by releasing Samael. The only other reason they never pushed it was because of the connections that he had, being in a relationship with the eastern youkai faction leader, one of the four seraph, a Maou, and two of those related to the Maou. Vidar himself never really minded that talk, but after antagonizing him, couldn''t help but feel some cold sweat running down his back. He then said, "As you wish, I''ll call of the engagement. But I have this to say, if we win this match then the engagement will be back on. I hope you understand I have to offer some kind of ultimatum after all, I''m not the only one with a say in this either." Alex didn''t say anything, even if they were essentially back where they started, as he had no intention of losing the match at all to begin with. Chapter 141 - Yggdrasil Climb The day of the match finally arrived, and they were currently in the Thor stadium in the Norse territory, meaning Vidar''s team technically had the home field advantage. Alex walked onto the field with his team, Bina, Bova, Vasco, Irina, Lint, Crom Cruach Elmenhilde, and finally the new member Roygun. As Bova took less pawn pieces than Crom, Alex switched the two so his rooks were Vasco and Crom, while his pawns were Elmenhilde, Bova, and Roygun. He had even brought Miss Sapphire along and fully intended to have her participate. They walked out onto the field to the thunderous roar of the crowds, but what they got was nothing when Vidar walked out with the Valkyries, as they were from here. On the other team was Typhon as the king, Apollon as Queen, Vidar was their rook, Artemis was the bishop, the knight was the chief of the Valkyries Bryhindlr, and the four pawns that arrived were part of the Valkyrie squad. Alex looked at the group and focused on Typhon, the blue skinned giant had a snakelike lower body and giant wings. The pressure he was giving out was on another level, confirming his status as one of the top ten most powerful beings in the world. As they all arrived the announcer shouted out, "WELCOME ALL TO A VERY ANTICIPATED GAME, TODAY WE HAVE THE KING OF MONSTERS VS THE RED DRAGON EMPEROR!" The audience erupted in cheers at his words, as the screen displayed the random drawing for the game rules. As the letters flashed Alex thought about the rules in the novel, Yggdrasil climb, where they had to climb a replica of the giant tree Yggdrasil. As if it read his mind, the screen displayed the very letters for the game. "AND ITS YGGDRASIL CLIMB LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, BOTH TEAMS NEED TO CLIMB THE GIANT REPLICA OF YGGDRASIL, AND THE ONE TO HAVE A MEMBER REACH THE TOP FIRST WINS! HOWEVER IF A KING FROM EITHER TEAM RETIRES, THEN LIKE NORMAL RULES ITS A GAME OVER! ARE YOU READY?!" As he ended the explanation of the rules the audience erupted into cheers once more. Once each team was handed a rule sheet, they were transported to the arena. As soon as they arrived, Alex looked up at the tree in front of him and marveled at it. Typhon''s team was obviously on the other side of it, as he couldn''t see any of them. As Alex already had an idea of this event coming up, he already formed a plan for it, and pulled his team in to discuss it. *** Vidar was running up the stairs with Artemis and Bryhindlr, while Typhon and the rest flew around them. Due to them all being such exceptional beings it was usually hard to cooperate, but it was agreed that they shouldn''t separate during this match. As he ran Vidar suddenly felt a sense of danger and jumped, only to watch as the stairs he was running on blew up a second later. Artemis and Bryhindlr flew alongside him, and the whole group started looking for the source of the attack. Then they heard above them, "Time for this twinkling magical girl to take the stage!????" They looked up to see the second of the hooded figures floating above them, waving a decorated wand before she started glowing. Suddenly their entire team was encased in ice while the figure was revealed to be a certain twin tailed magical girl. "I CANT BELIEVE THIS, THE MYSTERIOUS MISS SAPPHIRE IS NONE OTHER THAN THE MAOU SERAFALL LEVIATHAN!" The announcer shouted out, as the audience was in an uproar. For Vidar, Apollon, Artemis, and Typhon it was child''s play to break the ice encasing them. But before their other teammates could do so, the masked member of Alex''s team, Bina, rushed in and delivered devastating magical attacks against the still frozen Valkyries. "Typhon''s four pawns, and knight retired." The arbitrator announced, leaving just Vidar, Apollon, Artemis, and Typhon by themselves. Apollon was about to use his light attacks to retaliate against Serafall, who was still showering the entire area with large amounts of ice, when he sensed someone approaching him and had to block their attack. "God of the sun, and current chief of Olympus Apollon, I''ll be your opponent." The excited Crom Cruach said, as he used the increase in strength he received by being moved to a rook position. Apollon frowned, as he noticed they sent the only non devil opponent against him, but having the most powerful evil dragon as his opponent was quite the thrill. The two took their fight away from the rest, so as not to be disturbed. Suddenly there was the sound of loud boom, as Typhon''s giant body was suddenly sent falling to one of the floating islands around the tree. Floating there where Typhon was before was Alex with his gauntlet on one hand and a golden glow surrounding his body. As Vidar set his sights on him, he swiftly started towards him, before another figure appeared and blocked his way. It was the mask wearing woman Bina, who said, "Our King has more important matters than you, I''ll be your opponent." Vidar looked at this woman, and felt insulted, as he was considered not important enough for Alex to fight himself. He wanted to end this quickly, but he needed to save his trump card for Alex, so he activated his mystical boots, to better improve his speed and kicks. However Bina/Grayfia had already secretly promoted to the knight piece, as Alex specifically sent her to fight him. The two then engaged in a high speed battle around the arena. That left Serafall using wide area ice magic to hinder the opposition, and Typhon who was knocked down by Alex, and was sending different types of weather attacks at her to disrupt her ice attacks. Alex then suddenly grabbed something out of the air less than an inch from his face, and snapped the arrow that was shot at him. He then turned his attention to the sniper, Artemis. She then seemed to notice something, and shot at another target, before Alex intercepted that attack as well. The ones she tried to attack was the group being led by Roygun, that consisted of her, Vasco, Irina, Lint, Bova, and Elmenhilde. Alex''s plan was that he would lead the other three to hold Typhon''s team back, while their group would continue to climb up the tree. Currently they were all flying, while Bova carried Vasco and Elmenhilde, and the other three were circling him. The reason he sent so many of them together was because if any of the opposing team somehow got past them, they would need the extra power. After all, they were up against several Godly opponents. He then turned his attention to Artemis, and decided that he needed to prioritize retiring her before Typhon, since one of her divine arrows could retire most of his team in a single hit. Winning meant reaching the top or taking out the king, he intended to have the others go for the top while he led the other three to fight Typhon and the three gods. He sent a kick at Artemis, and sent her flying to another of the floating islands, raising a giant cloud of dust where she landed. He didn''t hear the retirement announcement, and suspected that he held back a little too much. Alex was currently not only in super Saiyan mode, but he had also boosted once, meaning his attacks could be very lethal, even with the games retirement system. The only ones he felt comfortable attacking unrestrainedly was the king of monsters Typhon, and the one who had a rooks increased defense, Vidar. Landing on the floating island, the cloud of dust dispersed to show Artemis, making Alex realize he didn''t hold back as much as he thought. Her bow was destroyed, and one of her arms was hanging at her side, more than likely broken. Seeing him approach, she instantly covered herself with her divine aura to attempt to fight back. Right as Alex was about to attack her, he froze. Thinking back he felt very stupid to make this oversight, to not see that neither Vidar or Typhon were the ones he needed to be concerned about. It was only a split second too late that he realized that it wasn''t a good thing for a Saiyan to look at a moon goddess using her divine aura. His consciousness then went dark. Chapter 142 - King of monsters vs oozaru Vidar was currently speeding around the area, trying to get rid of the other teams queen, Bina. He could tell she was a decent opponent, but he would need all his strength to fight against Alex, and couldn''t afford to spend some of it fighting her. After thinking it over the night after the marriage interview, he realized that Alex wouldn''t be able to follow through on his threat with all the other gods watching. After realizing that he decided to show him the true strength of a god, but he was stuck with one of those under Alex chasing him. As she persistently followed him, they both suddenly heard the roar of a beast throughout the battlefield. They both turned towards the source of the sound, and Grayfia turned pale under her mask from recognition. Meanwhile Vidar had a look of confusion as to the origin of this thing, until the announcer shouted out, "AMAZING, THE RED DRAGON EMPEROR HAS TURNED INTO A GIANT GORILLA! THIS IS AN ABILITY HE''S NEVER SHOWN US BEFORE, I WONDER WHAT THE REASON IS THAT HE BROUGHT IT OUT NOW!" Both Grayfia and Serafall had turned pale, as they were the only ones present that had seen Alex turn into this form before. Meanwhile Irina also heard the announcement, and looked down from where she was flying above them, worried about him as she also witnessed his previous transformation. The person in question let out another roar as he looked for the moon goddess that was just in front of him, not knowing that Artemis took the time he was transforming to escape with her injuries. Before Grayfia knew it Vidar shot towards Alex while wearing a new gray armor, determination in his eyes. She didn''t know that his armor was the result of him forming a pact with Midgardsormr like Azazel did Fafnir before, and tried to follow him before realizing that his speed was now leagues ahead of hers. Vidar could already see the path to victory ahead of him, as with that giant form it was a sure thing he was faster. That was what he told himself, until a giant palm appeared in front of him. Vidar''s mind blank for a second, and his only thought was, ''that''s a big hand'' before he was suddenly slammed into the floating island. BOOM "Nnnngggg..." Vidar groaned from inside the small crater his impact made, as he tried to figure out what happened. Before he could though, the same giant hand was now a fist, and came rushing right at him after slamming him down. BOOM The entire audience and those around him, (except Crom and Apollon) watched in shocked silence as giant ape Alex slammed his fist onto Vidar once more. The announcement of retirement didn''t sound out, which meant Vidar had somehow held on after even that hit. Alex then pulled his fist back once more, preparing to hit Vidar a third time. However, as his fist was about to connect with him, he froze. Everyone was wondering, why did he stop, what was going on? The questions only increased when Alex suddenly grabbed his own head, and started roaring as if in pain. *** ''ex...'' ''Let me sleep...'' ''alex...'' ''I said let me sleep...'' ''ALEX!!!'' The third time Alex suddenly woke up, or felt like he did. He was grabbing his head as if he was in pain, and roaring like a beast. ''What, is going on?'' He couldn''t help but wonder. Suddenly the voice in his head answered, ''You accidentally activated your oozaru form when Artemis used her divine aura. It took a few minutes, but Ddraig and I managed to bring your conscious back into control.'' As she mentioned it, Alex did recall that he was about to defeat Artemis before, but after that was a blank. He was suddenly worried, ''You said it took a few minutes to get me under control, what kind of damage is there?!'' Lauren replied, ''Thankfully you didn''t really hurt anyone besides Vidar. After watching you transform he rushed you, but was pretty much instantly defeated. He''s still hanging on somehow, but it won''t be long before he retires.'' At her words Alex looked down, and saw Vidar in the crater below him. He then wondered about another thing Lauren said, ''Moon gods can force a transformation?'' Lauren sighed, and said, ''I guess, Artemis used her divine aura, and one of her divinities relates to the moon. It''s possible that it was enough to force the change, I''d suggest taking better care around any moon gods you meet in the future.'' Alex mentally nodded in agreement, and decided he would have to wear the glasses Azazel gave him as an extra precaution when meeting any gods in the future. He then turned his attention back to the match, just in time to see a message from Grayfia through his system. -Are you ok? Alex smiled, as she most likely trying to see if he could control himself. He sent a reply saying he was alright, and that he wanted to take his new form for a test drive. Before that though, there was a pesky chief god he wanted to teach a lesson. *** Everyone was holding their breath in anticipation, as they watched Alex transform, rampage, then he started acting strange before he became weirdly calm. They then watched as he started moving again, and walked towards where he left the still unretired Vidar. Then, in front of the entire stadium full of people, along with all of those watching the live feed from the underworld, heaven, each of the mythologies, and all of those watching in the human world, Alex did something that would cause many (except the Norse) to look back on this match with laughter. Vidar on the other hand felt an increasing amount of panic as he couldn''t move his body, as the giant, hairy, and most likely smelly, monkey butt came closer to him until he disappeared beneath it. All the millions of viewers watched as the current chief of the Norse gods, was sat on by a large ape. For a few seconds everyone was dumbfounded, until someone started laughing, then it spread to the entire colosseum that wasn''t from the Norse side. This went on for several minutes, until the arbitrator announced, "King of monsters Typhon''s rook retired." It was only when this announcement rang out that Alex got up, and he turned to look at the gaping Typhon on a different floating island. Typhon was dumbfounded along with everyone else when Alex transformed, and was just now aware of the look Alex was giving him. Alex was on all fours after getting up, and rose to two feet and started pounding his chest while roaring at Typhon. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM "RRRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!" Seeing the obvious challenge being directed at him, Typhon had a huge grin and said, "I''ll take that as you challenging me then. HA, I didn''t think that besides Surtr I''d be facing an opponent my size in this tournament, I''m looking forward to this!" Not caring that his defeat meant his teams loss, Typhon immediately started charging at Alex on his serpentine lower body, spreading his wings to hop to the other island. Alex decided to "enjoy the moment" and charged as well on all fours like a gorilla while roaring. As they both reached the edge of their own floating islands they both leaped, with Typhon relying on his wings and Alex on his momentum. Everyone was unconsciously holding their breaths as the two giants soared through the air. They watched as the two got closer, then as they clashed they both went flying back to Typhon''s island as he was blown away by Alex''s strength and momentum. Typhon was then sent rolling when Alex threw him after landing, which he swiftly corrected himself with a monstrous smile on his face. The two squared up, and Typhon took a deep breath. Seeing what he was about to do, Alex simply copied him and started taking a deep breath as well, before they both released it. Instead of air, what came out of both of their mouths was a large amount of billowing flames. When the two flame breaths met in the center of the floating island, the result was a giant explosion of heat and fire as the surroundings either melted or were similarly set ablaze. The two continuously spewed fire as they both tried to overwhelm the other, and the audience watched in amazement as Typhon''s fire was slowly being pushed back. Soon his flames were completely overwhelmed by Alex''s, and the king of monsters was set ablaze like the surroundings. It didn''t take long for him to summon rain and ice to douse the flames, but Typhon was covered all over in severe burns, still grinning like a demon. He then took another approach and dove off the edge of the floating island, only to fly up a second later. After facing Alex once more, Typhon summoned a multitude of storms, rain, snow, hail, miniature hurricanes, and tornados. The magnitude of storms was then sent at Alex, obviously intending to either hinder him or throw him off the floating island. Alex just smiled, and opened his mouth wide. Typhon thought it was just going to be another flame attack, and smirked since he thought he was out of its range, until he saw the beam of light flying through his weather attacks right at him. With mobility that didn''t fit his giant form, Typhon dodged the beam of energy by a hairs breath, and didn''t notice the giant ape flying through the the air right at him until it was too late. Grabbing onto him, Alex was too heavy for Typhon to carry and they both started falling through the air back towards the surface below. On the way down the two started punching each other, trying to get an advantage over the other before hitting the ground. Alex''s giant hand slammed against Typhon''s face, effectively knocking several of his teeth out and breaking his nose, making the giant grin even more. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, This is the best fight I''ve had in years red dragon, but I''ll either win or take you with me!" He then spread his wings and started flapping as if to buffet Alex with the winds from them to separate them. Alex swung his fist and there was an nasty "CRACK" sound as the base of one of Typhon''s wings was snapped. The king of monsters roared in pain, and was helpless as Alex flipped them over so that he was on top of Typhon, and he punched him repeatedly while the ground hurriedly rushed to meet them. BOOOOOOOOM As the screens showed the state of Alex and Typhon, they were both in a deep crater at the bottom of the tree. Typhon was covered in the wounds he sustained as they fought, a broken nose, several teeth missing, severe burns, and all of the broken bones from Alex''s punches as they fell. Alex on the other hand was only covered in some cuts and bruises from the impact, and Typhon''s punches as they fell. Alex stood on his hind legs once more over Typhon, and as if declaring his victory to the world, started beating his chest again and gave a mighty roar. It came as no surprise when Typhon was surrounded by the light of retirement, and the arbitrator announced, "Typhon has been retired, as the king of his team it is now the red dragon emperor Alex''s win!" As the announcement rang out several people stopped in amazement, Crom Cruach and Apollon who were both covered in wounds from their own battle, Artemis who was hiding from the giant ape form Alex, Grayfia and Serafall who had watched the fight knowing Alex didn''t want them to intrude, and finally the group led by Roygun who were already about to reach the top of the tree, and felt regret that they couldn''t end the match. With all of them having their own feelings about the end of the match, it finally ended. Chapter 143 - Teasing Valkyries After Typhon retired and their win was announced, the only members of Typhon''s team left, Apollon and Artemis, were also teleported out of the game field. With Artemis gone, Alex quickly shrunk down to his normal form and was about to collapse, before both Bina and Serafall caught him. "Thanks." Was all he said, as various screens appeared showing them their own image being broadcasted to every viewer. It showed the victor, Alex, as he was being supported by two woman, while he was n.a.k.e.d. Seeing it on the screen made them realize it as well, and both women started summoning clothes for him via magic. Only a few minutes later they were transported from the arena as well, and swiftly met up with the rest of the team. "Are you all right?!" A distressed Irina rushed him as soon as they appeared. She was the only one worried in the other group due to her past experience seeing him in that form. He quickly tried to relieve her concerns, "I''m alright, I was just a little weak but I''m fine now." She gave an audible sigh of relief at his words, making the rest that never heard about his transformation even more interested in it. The only exception was Crom Cruach, who was annoyed at not getting to finish his fight. He wasn''t complaining though, as the reason he couldn''t finish was because of their victory. Alex could see the questions in them, and said, "I''ll explain about my transformation later, but for now let''s go meet up with Rias''s group. This is probably our last match in the preliminaries, but there''s still he main tournament to go through." They all nodded at his words, knowing from here on out they''ll face the best of the best. They then split up for the moment, the guys went their way, while the girls followed Alex. A few minutes later they met with Rias''s group, which both Rias and Rossweise instantly clung to him. "I''ll admit, you had me more than a little worried there you know." Rias said with some bitterness in her voice. Rossweise then said, "I''m glad you were angry for me, but did you have to go so far against lord Vidar?" Alex laughed awkwardly, and said, "I have no control over myself when I transform, you know that." He already knew that he''d get backlash from his actions towards Vidar, so his official stance is that he can''t control his transformations, even if that wasn''t the truth. The girls smiled knowingly, knowing the difference from when he really lost control and just then. They continued discussing the match, until someone said, "Hello Rose, I see you''re happily in a relationship like I heard." Hearing the voice, Rossweise suddenly stood up straight and started sweating. She said, "Senior!" Standing there in front of them was the current captain of the Valkyrie squad, Brynhildr. And behind her were the four that also participated in the match, Helmwige, Ortlinde, Grimgerde, and Schwertleite. As they were the first to retire, they had been treated for the duration of the match and were now released. They were looking at how Rossweise was being held onto by Alex, with envy and indignation. But one said with a smirk, "While there have been rumors, I doubt you''ve actually even kissed yet, haven''t you?" Rossweise turned red at her accusation, definitely not from her being right, but because she recalled all the things she did do with Alex. Seeing her red face they thought she guessed right, until Alex had an evil smile and decided to mess with their maidenly daydreams. He let Rias go, who could tell he was about to do something naughty, and pulled Rossweise closer before he sealed her lips with his, and started a VERY passionate kiss. Rossweise was confused at first, before she realized what he was doing and let him direct her in their kiss. As their tongues started fighting he then grabbed her ass to massage the flesh through her clothes. The watching Valkyries turned crimson and started exclaiming, "PERVERTS!" "ROSE IS A PERVERTED EXHIBITIONIST!" "YOU''RE BOTH GOING TOO FAR!" Alex stopped the kiss, and pulled away while leaving a trail of saliva between his and Rossweise''s mouths. He then turned to the furiously blushing Valkyries, and said, "This is too far? What about the time I *beep* her *beep*, or when she used her *beep* to clean my *beep*?" Alex then went into quite a few details involving his s.e.x life with Rossweise that would even make Odin blush, causing her to turn her deepest shade of Crimson yet, and more than one of the Valkyries to pass out. Finally Brynhildr shouted at the two, "DEGENERATES! YOU''VE TURNED ROSE INTO A DEGENERATED WOMAN!" Alex laughed out loud at their reactions, and the rest of the girls with him smiled at them. He then appeared right in front of Brynhildr, causing her to be fl.u.s.tered. He then asked, "Would you like to experience the same thing?" At his words several of the girls started shaking their heads, but we''re still smiling since they knew he most likely wasn''t being serious. Brynhildr on the other hand was stuttering non stop from embarrassment, and declared, "A-a-a-a maiden should only do those things with a prince on a white horse! There''s no way you would match that description!" She the turned towards Rossweise, and said, "I''ll show you Rose! I''ll get a boyfriend that''s way better than yours, and stronger too!" She then collected the other Valkyries who were still passed out, and stormed off. Alex smirked, wondering how long it''ll take her to find the paper he left in her pocket. The Valkyries weren''t pushovers, so in his opinion it would be a waste to leave them with the Norse, even if they didn''t become his lovers. Plus he added the possibility in the job offer of finding them their "prince on a white horse" if they worked for him, as there should be some that he''d encounter eventually, though such prince charmings usually seemed to be completely disappointing. He turned to the rest of the girls, "Let''s go home." They nodded at his words, ready to leave as well. (A.N. Since there were a few comments regarding ssj4 last chapter I''m going to clarify here. Ssj4 requires one to master the great golden ape form, which is only available when one transforms at ssj3. The only exception to this is when vegeta turned super Saiyan while in oozaru form, which I will not be using since it invalidates the previous restrictions for no real reason. Chapter 144 - Party A few days after his match with Typhon, there was an announcement of those who would be moving on past the preliminaries. Though the teams that made it through stayed mostly the same, the only difference was that since the team with Balberith and Verrine didn''t exist, Barakiel''s team got through instead. Alex decided to celebrate with everyone, and invited them to a barbecue behind the manor. The attendees were the residents of the manor, the rest of Rias and Sona''s peerages, Sairaorg and Seekvaira with their peerages, the Vali squad along with Elaine and Lavinia, and Barakiel. Alex''s team was also invited, but since he promised an explanation for the oozaru form, they arrived a couple hours before it started while everyone else was setting up. Sitting across from him was Roygun, Bova in mini dragon form, and Elmenhilde, while the rest of his team was already aware of his circ.u.mstances with the exception of Crom, who wasn''t really interested. Alex was just ending his story, "Which is why if you guys wish to truly follow me then you''ll have to leave this world behind for the time being." They all looked as if they were contemplating his words, as it was a lot to take in. Roygun then said, "Fufufufufufu, I knew that you''d most likely be doing something big in the future, but this completely blew me away. Now my worry is that I might be too weak to actually help you with your goals." As Alex already warned her that she wouldn''t be able to participate in the rating games after the tournament if she followed him, Roygun wasn''t too worried about leaving the devil world behind. She then swore though, to make sure she deserved to stand beside him in the future. Bova on the other hand, "Tell me lord, will there be other dragons in these other worlds?" Alex nodded, and replied, "In most of them yes, though not all dragons are like those in this world." Bova nodded, not really listening to Alex''s words after hearing confirmation that these other worlds had dragons as well. His mind was on how strong he would be compared to these other world dragons, both because he wanted to test his strength against them, and because he felt that if they were stronger than him then he would only be an embarrassment to his lord and master. Instead of raising the issue of if he wanted to stay or leave, Alex had instead ignited the fire of passion inside Bova for increasing his own strength. He swore that he would train to be stronger than all other dragons out there, so as to never humiliate his lord. The only one conflicted with Alex''s story, was Elmenhilde. She understood that by telling her, he was placing a great deal of trust in her, as this information could very well be used against him. She then thought about the reason she wanted to participate in the tournament under Alex, to overcome her past within the Carmilla faction. She then had a thought, "Are there vampires in these other worlds as well?" Alex nodded again and said, "Indeed, though like with what Bova asked they are not all the same, and hold different values." Similar to Bova, Elmenhilde also now had the fire of determination burning within her. She vowed, she would meet with these vampires from the other worlds, and see what it truly meant to be a vampire! Alex was unaware of the thoughts going through each of their heads, but could tell that they would all most likely continue following him, even if Elmenhilde wasn''t his subordinate. He then asked, "So can I take it you''ll all continue supporting me in the future?" They all looked at him and declared, """YES!""" Alex smiled, pleased that they would continue to follow him to the other worlds. He then stood and clapped his hands together, before saying, "Good, now that''s out of the way let''s get this party started! Once we finish the set up..." They all got pumped with the first part of his words, but practically fell over when he finished them. They then assisted with the party set up. *** A couple hours later they were finally getting the party underway, and everyone had showed up, once again with the exception of Crom. They were in the yard behind the Misty Manor, with various games set up with chairs and tables all around. There was also a giant barbecue pit built in since Alex hoped for many parties with more people in the future, and a couple tubs nearby filled with various drinks, one of which was an a.d.u.l.ts only tub filled with alcohol. In the middle of the entire setup was a large pile of firewood for a bonfire. Some of the girls were playing volleyball with the net nearby, while others cheered on what team they wanted to win. Loup Garou was the one manning the barbecue, of course the one who knew the most about preparing grilled meats was the werewolf. Arthur and Elaine were sitting near each other, obviously enjoying each other''s company since they were able to freely pursue each other openly. Rossweise and Grayfia both seemed as if they were about to pass out, with several alcohol cans around them both from the drinking contest they seemed to have. Alex couldn''t figure out how those two ever managed to decided on having a contest with something they were both horrible with, as Rossweise was horrible at handling her alcohol, and Grayfia was not only very strict, but was a known troublemaker when drunk. He quickly got the attention of Burent and Marion from Ravel''s peerage, and had them take the two to their rooms before either could start trouble. Alex sat in his lawn hair watching all of those around him, until a certain silver haired man sat down next to him. The two didn''t say anything for a while, just taking in the atmosphere, before Vali finally broke the silence. "I intend to defeat you when we fight, don''t you dare lose before you reach me." Alex smiled, as he already expected the declaration, and replied, "If you didn''t intend to beat me then it would defeat the point of the tournament to begin with. Don''t take that as me thinking you have a chance though, I will win." Vali smiled at his rival, and didn''t say anything more, before the two stood to rejoin the festivities. Chapter 145 - "Ambush" A few days after the party, Alex was alone wandering aimlessly around the Kuoh town park. He was doing so in an attempt to trigger the last event he knew about in the dxd world, something that would lead to a fight with a God, at least if he hadn''t changed things too much. Since he had Hades sealed there hasn''t been any activity like what appeared in the novel, so Alex was wondering if the situation he was expecting was even going to happen. As he was thinking about that Alex noticed the area he was in, it was the same spot Rias "revealed" her devil identity to him when she tried to break up with him. As he recalled the memory, he suddenly felt quite a bit of hostility. Magic circles started appearing and he was immediately surrounded by roughly a hundred grim Reapers. They were high class grim reapers, and they all looked to be out for blood with their scythes ready, as they glared at him with their eyeless sockets. Alex smirked, and said, "Only a hundred? With only that many I''m feeling insulted here." His words only further increased the hostility they showed him, but as they started charging at him three magic circles appeared around Alex. As their glow disappeared there were three beautiful women standing there, and Alex said, "Might as well use this chance to farm XP, don''t hold back." The three girls, Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia, charged with his words. They were already aware of what Alex was trying to do, and were on standby if he needed them. While they fought, Alex was in the back using fire in a whip-like form to fight as well. He was using this chance to increase his mastery of fire control, while the girls were focusing on most of the fighting. Rias was next to him lobbing large amounts of destruction magic at them, Grayfia had already promoted to rook, and was drawing their attacks while using her "iron defense" to repel the grim reapers scythes, even though they didn''t cut the flesh, and was also using her increased strength to smash them to pieces. Kuroka on the other hand was using both her kasha wheel, and Touki infused physical attacks. She had prioritized training her Touki recently to match Koneko, since she had reached three tails while Kuroka was still only on two. Alex was using his fire whip to immobilize some of the opponents until one of the girls finished them off, and was looking around for something. Not even ten minutes after they started fighting, the number of grim reapers was almost zero. While Kuroka finished the last of them, Alex was talking with Rias and Grayfia. "Well I guess walking around for the last couple days worked, let''s hope it triggers what I wanted to." Almost as if to answer him a girls beautiful singing voice cut through the air. Both Grayfia and Rias stopped to listen to it, and Kuroka was looking around as if to attempt to identify the source of it. The only exception was Alex, who was kneeling on the ground, as the moment he heard the song he started feeling weaker. "Hurry, find her!" He said to the three girls, and their urgency increased with Alex''s weakened state. Alex on the other hand started glowing with a golden light, and transformed into super Saiyan, surprising himself when he effectively removed most of the effects of the girls song. The song that effected him would only work on dragons, and he theorized that he would be able to fight it if he powered his Saiyan blood instead. Though it didn''t seem to be a perfect solution as he could still feel a little weakened, Alex could fight it somewhat, which was more than even Ddraig could do. Ddraig said weakly from within him, right before a purple haired girl came into view. The fact that she used a song meant to weaken him was an obvious sign of her hostility, but the fact that her eyes were glossed over said something else. As soon as she saw her, Grayfia used a hypnotism spell and sent her to sleep. Alex felt the effect of her song disappear, and removed his super Saiyan transformation. Grayfia approached the girl and said, "It''s hard to believe that this girl has the power to control dragons, but seeing how Master reacted to her earlier proves it." Kuroka nodded at her words, something that would be surprising in any other circ.u.mstances, and replied, "Theres also those grim reapers, i thought we already taught them what''ll happen if they went against us. Plus since shes so dangerous we should remove her now, Nyan." With the threatening sentence ending with the cute "Nyan", Kuroka made her stance clear regarding the girl. Rias shook her head and said, "Alex wanted to bring her in unharmed, so there must be something more about her. At least I hope so, and it''s not just the fact that she looks pretty." Alex''s brow twitched at her words, but he couldn''t deny them so he let it go. Instead he said something that shocked all three. "Well, maybe if I said her name you all would understand. Her name is Ingvild Leviathan." At his words they all froze, as they contemplated the true meaning behind them. Grayfia was obviously the most effected, and asked, "As in, Katerea leviathan?" Alex nodded while saying, "Yep, she''s a descendant of the the original leviathan, through a human partner. She the same as Vali, so much so it''s almost frightening. They both are descended from both the original Maou''s and humans, and they both wield Longinus class sacred gears." At his words they all reacted once more, but he cut off any questions they had and said while picking up Ingvild, "For now let''s get her back to the dorms and contact Maou Beezlebub, I don''t want to stay out here in the open like this." They nodded at his words, and swiftly left. Chapter 146 - Ingvild leviathan After returning to the dorms they laid Ingvild down in one of the rooms, and went to call Ajuka Beelzebub while Rosswiess and Kuroka examined her with magic. The Maou sighed when he got their call, and started explaining, "Her names Ingvild leviathan, until recently she''s been asleep due to an illness. It''s been roughly a hundred years since she started sleeping, but she woke up herself when her sacred gear, Nereid Kyrie, started activating. It''s already been considered a new top tier Longinus, giving the power to control not only dragons, but the oceans as well." Hearing that, Rias paled as she considered the damage someone could do with that kind of power. She then said, "So what about what happened earlier? She was with a group of grim reapers that tried to attack us." Ajuka sighed again before speaking, "She was being kept under observation, but disappeared a while ago. Given what her powers are its possible that she was kidnapped and is now being brainwashed to attack Alex. If someone could control him and make him attack us, then you can only image the results of that. As for the grim reapers, we''ve already received a report from the one who took over after Hades disappeared. Thanatos stated that there are lots of grim reapers that were dissatisfied with how he ran things, as he didn''t have the same ideas as Hades, and they vanished recently. Though it''s also possible they want to go after whoever removed Hades." At Ajuka''s words everyone glanced at Alex, but didn''t say anything. After that it was decided that they''ll keep an eye on her until further notice, and defeat whoever tried to brainwash her if(when) they showed up. A few hours after the meeting with Ajuka ended, Alex was told that Ingvild woke up, and went to go talk to her. When he entered the room she was sitting up and looking around curiously with a sleepy look in her eyes, but focused on him once he appeared. As Alex sat down and asked hesitantly, "You are the red dragon? Is this your house?" Alex nodded and said, "You could say that since I live here somewhat, but it''s owned by the Gremory''s." They were currently at the dorms so Alex said it was also his house as he stayed here a bit, but not as often since he was mostly in Asora lately. They then did proper introductions, and Alex started asking her some questions. They were mostly about what she remembered, where she had been, and why she was part of the group that attacked him. Of course she couldn''t remember much except that she wanted to see the sea. Once he heard what he was waiting for, Alex said, "In that case let''s go. We could all use some fun, and it might help your memories." Ingvild didn''t know how to respond to that, but Alex went ahead and started making plans to go to the sea. *** The next day they were all at the beach. Alex looked around and admired the view, he had to admit, going to the beach with so many girls was quite nice. As the only guys around were him, Gasper(still in girl form though), and Kiba, everywhere he looked was a bikini clad girl. Asia, Koneko, and Ravel were building a sand castle, Irina and Xenovia were racing each other in swimming while Rossweise timed them, and Kuroka, Rias, Akeno, and Roygun were sunbathing after he applied sun lotion to them. Meanwhile Kiba and Tosca were walking around on the beach, Gasper and Valerie were relaxing under an umbrella, Grayfia was watching over Millicas and Kunou, and Elmenhilde was hiding in a nearby cave since she was weak to sunlight. Alex then turned his attention to the last person present, Ingvild. She was staring out over the sea with a contemplating look on her face, Alex walked over and said, "It''s beautiful, isn''t it?" She turned to see him and replied, "Yes, thank you for bringing me here." Alex nodded and said, "It won''t be the last time, we can essentially come when ever we want. Just let me know and I''ll bring you." As he hadn''t told her about Asora, Alex didn''t mention how she would be able to visit the sea everyday there. Ingvild smiled bitterly, and said, "I don''t think I''ll be able to, my powers have to be studied after all." Alex shook his head. "If I say I''m taking you they won''t dare refuse, you may not know it, but I''m someone people don''t want to get on the bad side of." Along with his rough words, Alex took a pose to match it, earning some laughter from the girl. After a few minutes she stopped laughing, and said with a bit of melancholy, "It''s strange though, not long ago I was a normal seventeen year old girl, now I''m a granny over a century old. And everyone I knew is gone." Alex smiled slightly and said, "Well for the first part I wouldn''t worry that much, but don''t repeat that around Roygun and Grayfia. As for the second part, while I might not know exactly what you''re going through, I do understand not being able to see those you grew up with again. It''s been about twenty years since I''ve seen my family, and I''ll most likely never see any of them again." Ingvild looked at him curiously, as he didn''t look older than twenty himself. Then she recalled she didn''t look older than a century either, and kept silent. As she started thinking about what he said, the sky suddenly went dark, and the barrier that had been placed around the island started breaking. "Ingvild, to the cave! Everyone else, get to your places!" Alex shouted, as the being trying to force their way in continued destroying the barrier. Ingvild immediately fled for the cave where Elmenhilde was, and where they placed a teleportation magic circle. Since Alex was trying to lure the mastermind out, he prepared for their intrusion and wanted Ingvild to get away when they appeared. Also using it to escape was Millicas and Kunou, as children were more of a liability on a battlefield. Soon the barrier was destroyed, and what appeared was a cute looking girl surrounded by darkness and an army of at least a few thousand grim reapers. The girl looked around, and not seeing Ingvild said, "Greetings red dragon, I am the primordial goddess Nyx. Where is the girl that has the Longinus capable of controlling dragons?" Alex snorted, and said, "Like I''d tell you, but I would like to know who''s working with you." The goddess laughed and said, "Well, well, well, refusing to give information but demanding some from me? Very well, I have nothing to hide anyways. I''m working alone in this." Alex was taken aback, as he recalled Nyx working with the other netherworld gods along with her brother and Hades, and she didn''t usually try to hide information. He then said, "You have an army of grim reapers behind you, there''s no way you don''t have any support." Nyx shrugged and replied, "It''s up to you if you don''t believe me, but after Hades disappeared none of the other gods of hell want anything to do with upsetting you. Someone that''ll take decisive action against one of the top ten most powerful beings, and won without much backlash, it''s been decided you''re someone not to make an enemy out of. But, if I control someone that can control you then it''s another story, and the grim reapers here are ones that joined me of their own will to get revenge for Hades." As she mentioned Hades the killing intent of several thousand grim reapers converged on Alex, but he shrugged it off. He was about to face a god, how could he do so if he was affected by the killing intent of small fry? As they were talking Alex received a notification from Grayfia through the system, and grinned. He then walked towards Nyx, and said, "You know what I love about movies?" She looked confused at his question until he said, "They taught me that in almost every circ.u.mstance that the villain monologues until the trap is ready. Go!" At Alex''s words the two were surrounded by the light of a magic circle, as Rossweise, Grayfia, and Roygun cooperated to forcibly teleport both Alex and Nyx. When the light died down the two were alone on what seemed to be another island. Nyx looked around and demanded with some anger, "Where are we?!" Alex smirked and said, "On another island a few hundred miles away. This way we can both go nuts without dragging the others in, and you can''t try to use anyone or Ingvild to your advantage." Though Alex said that, Ingvild was back at the dorms by now with the Sitri group as Alex faced Nyx, there was no way she could use her to get an advantage over him. The goddess then smirked instead, and said, "That means you left your women back there with an army of angry reapers that would love to use any chance they could to get back at you." At her words Alex started laughing, and said, "Those poor bastards!" Earning another frown from the goddess, as they both prepared for battle. Chapter 147 - Bikini-clad beach battle As Alex and Nyx stared each other down, both started emitting their own auras, Nyx''s pitch black and Alex''s a bright golden. He then transformed into super Saiyan, and stared down the goddess as she prepared to attack. The two then started a battle of energy, Nyx''s pure darkness and Alex used ki. The attacks clashed and exploded in air, as a near endless bombardment was launched from both sides. Alex then started attacking with only his left hand, and started forming a large sphere of ki in his right. When Nyx noticed what he was doing, she tried to do the same, and formed a mass of darkness in her other hand. The two attacks grew in size until they were bigger than a building, and with a yell from both sides, they threw them at each other and as they collided the island was soon wiped from the map . *** Meanwhile back at the other island, the girls were getting ready to face off against an army of grim reapers. They were all still in their swimsuits, but didn''t let that bug them. Kuroka then looked at Grayfia, and said, "Nyahahahaha, miss maid, let''s have a duel! Let''s see who can eliminate more grim reapers than the other!" When Grayfia heard her words she sighed, and replied, "And why would I want to play your worthless games cat?" Kuroka''s brow twitched at her words, but she then smirked and said, "Well I did hear the elderly do need to rest more, and they say too much excitement is bad for them, Nyan." At her words both Grayfia and Roygun started glaring at Kuroka, and Grayfia said, "Fine then, after I win I''ll punish you in front of the entire manor." At her words Kuroka turned a shade paler, and resolved herself to win. The two then unleashed massive amounts of demonic energy at the army of grim reapers, effectively eliminating hundreds. Rias and the others looked at their competition, and decided not to get in the way, as they also started attacking. "Disappear!" Rias declared, as large amounts of destruction was shot from her hands. Grim reapers started falling in great numbers with parts of their bodies missing after her power of destruction consumed them. Not too far away Akeno filled the sky with her holy lightning, causing dozens to drop within seconds as seemingly endless flashes of light filled the sky. A sadistic smile formed on her face as she said, "Ara ara, you want to go after my beloved, I''ll have to punish all of you for that you know." Akeno started slipping into her sadist mode as she "punished" the army of grim reapers. Rossweise looked over at her and shuddered slightly, relieved that she was on the same side as Akeno. She then turned back to her own fight, as she prepared several offensive spells to attack the reapers. As they were losing several of their numbers from being grouped together, the grim reapers started spreading out to avoid the area of effect attacks. Several then started charging forward, weaving between the attacks to get at the ones causing the most of the damage, until a certain three tailed figure appeared and blocked them. Using a Touki infused punch, Koneko pushed back several reapers that tried to go after Rias and the other in close combat, declaring, "I won''t let you get close to them, Nyan!" Backing her up was the holy demonic swordsman, Kiba, who used his speed to weave through the charging ranks of the reapers and systematically eliminated them. On the other side was both Irina and Xenovia, who were also competing to see who could eliminate the most grim reapers. As they effectively thinned their ranks, the other girls could hear over there, "26, 27, 28, 29, 30! I''m already at thirty Irina!" Xenovia declared as her durandal released large amounts of holy energy at the approaching reapers. Irina looked devastated and shouted, "NOT FAIR, YOU''RE USING YOUR POWER ATTACKS!" As she used a sword made of light to swiftly make her way through the enemies. As they attacked the grim reapers numbers were steadily going down with both the close range and distance fighters working together. Several of them in the back were starting to regret attacking without Nyx, and said, "Retreat, we''ll return another day and ensure the red dragon pays for sealing lord Hades!" They all then started falling back and regrouping, having already suffered losses in the thousands. As they turned around though, they never expected that the one they wanted revenge against was floating there, with the goddess they followed slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Alex smiled as he looked at the retreating grim reapers, and said, "Where are you going? The funs about to begin!" As he said that they noticed the gauntlet on his hand as it shouted, Alex then opened his mouth, and a mass of flames was the last thing any of the grim reapers saw after that. *** As the girls watched Alex turn the remaining grim reapers to ash, they felt a sense of bitterness. Not only did Alex fight and beat the goddess herself, but he also had to clean up the stragglers when they tried to escape. This thought was soon pushed from their heads though, when the entire area started rising in temperature as Alex used his flame breath. Feeling the increased heat, the girls were glad they were already in their swimsuits, and were tempted to jump in the water again. He rejoined the girls on the beach, and tossed down Nyx who he was carrying. She was passed out and her hands and feet were bound with magic, plus no one could feel any power of a god from her anymore. Alex turned to Rias and said, "The maps for this area may need to be redrawn, but I would say it was a decent fight. Now we just need to seal with her and we''re done." At his words Kuroka and Koneko stepped forward, and started the sealing process after he handed them a jewel from his sacred gear. A few minutes later Nyx was sealed and Alex tossed the jewel she was in into his space alongside Hades, he then turned to the girls and said, "Well, I guess we should call it quits here. Lets go home." Chapter 148 - Tournament first round After sealing Nyx and cleaning up the beach, Alex and the others returned to the dorms to give Ingvild the good news. Also joining them in the conversation was Ajuka and Apollon, as they were both related to the incident. "I apologize for our pantheon''s involvement in this matter, I hope it wasn''t too much trouble." Apollon''s holographic image said. Alex shook his head and replied, "Of course not, if taking care of a single God troubled me then what have I been doing all this time?" Apollon nodded, relief obvious in his face, he then continued, "That being said, I would like the item Nyx is sealed in to be returned to us for safeguarding." Alex however shook his head and replied, "I already stored her in a safe place, and the only one who knows where she is is me. By turning her over it increases the chance of someone finding her and unsealing her, I hope you''ll understand me not doing so." Alex''s thought was that since he was leaving the world soon anyways, the chances of someone sympathizing with and freeing her were about zero. Though it was obvious that Apollon didn''t agree with him, he didn''t say anything since the current situation was technically their fault. Seeing the conversation was about over, Ajuka then said, "Then about Ingvild, though we still need her to come in occasionally for some tests, the idea was mentioned of having her stay with the Gremory group for safety. It''ll allow her to adjust to modern life, and it might be more enjoyable than being stuck in a hospital everyday. The choice is your guys however." At his words Ingvild made a face of relief and turned towards Alex and Rias with some hesitation, "I would like to stay here if you don''t mind." At her words both Alex and Rias nodded and she replied, "We don''t mind, I''m sure everyone would like that as well." Alex then smiled and said, "I do have one condition, I would like you to sing for us occasionally." Ingvild looked surprised at Alex''s words, but smiled as well a moment later and said, "If you''re ok with me, then I''ll gladly sing for you guys." And with that another person moved into the dorms. After that was decided, both Ajuka and Apollon took their leave, and Kiba and Gasper left with Tosca and Valerie. As those left started calming down from the day''s events, Grayfia turned to Kuroka. "Oh yeah Kuroka, I still need to "punish" you for that comment earlier." At her words everyone quieted down, and Kuroka had a look of panic as she said, "Wait! We don''t know who won the earlier competition, so since we don''t know who won you can''t "punish" me Nya!" Suddenly someone said, "Grayfia won, I made sure to keep a close count. But who knows, us elderly people do get forgetful sometimes." Everyone turned to Roygun, who had a look similar to an oni, the horns only added to the look. It was obvious both girls wanted revenge on Kuroka for mentioning their ages in the earlier fight, even if Grayfia was the only one she went after. Kuroka immediately tried to hide behind Alex, and said, "You won''t let the mean maid get me, right Nya?" Alex started patting her on the head, to which Kuroka narrowed her eyes pleasantly, before he grabbed her by one of her ears. "Sorry, but you made your bed so you need to lie in it, plus it''s free entertainment for the rest of us." Kuroka tried to pull away from his grip, but was unable to as the two women bore down on her. With Roygun''s help, Grayfia bent Kuroka over her knee and swiftly removed the bottom half of the bikini she was still wearing, meaning that with the exception of her bikini top Kuroka was now n.a.k.e.d. A magic circle appeared in Grayfia''s hand, as she swung and smacked Kuroka''s bare ass. SMACK "NYAN!" Kuroka cried out, tears forming in her eyes. Everyone watched with smiles as she was then spanked several times for provoking Grayfia and Roygun. *** A few days later it was time for the first matches of the main part of the tournament to be revealed, and Alex was at the colosseum with his team. Around them stood the rest of the teams that made it through the preliminary matches, there were the teams led by Alex, Rias, Sairaorg, Vali, and Cao Cao. As for the others, there were the teams being led by Indra, Mahabali, Typhon, Sun Wukong, Ruval Phoenix, Dulio, Tobio, the original Surtr, Barakiel, Diehauser Belial, and Shooting Star. In all, it was quite the line up of intimidating figures. "Wow, look at everyone!" Lint said somewhat excitedly, as she looked around at all the top league opponents. Vasco started laughing and said, "Seeing all these strong people makes this old mans blood start boiling." Bova nodded and declared, "In order to become the "strongest dragon" to serve my master, facing these opponents is a must." Roygun also nodded her head at Bova''s words, and said, "Indeed, the two of us need to do everything we can to ensure our lords victory, or we''ll both be failures." Crom didn''t say anything, but his eyes were blazing with fighting spirit at the opponents he would be able to face. "I don''t care who we fight, as long as it''s not my Son-tan!????" Serafall declared, not even caring about the serious mood around them. Elmenhilde nodded at her words, but was confused when she singled out Sona, since she didn''t get through the preliminaries. "From this point on I will devote everything I can into this team''s victory!" Ravel declared, as she was now a member of his team as well. After the preliminaries, any king that didn''t get through could also join a team that did as a member. As a result, Ravel joined Alex''s team to assist with strategies during matches, or before hand if she didn''t get a chance to participate. "If we face each other, I''ll see you on the battlefield Xenovia!" Irina declared, wanting to repay Xenovia beating her in the number of grim reapers they defeated the other day. Alex laughed lightly as he heard his teammates words, and focused on his soon to be opponents. Next to his team was Rias''s team, with their newest member, Ingvild. Alex smiled when he saw the girl on her team, aware Ingvild was most likely a measure Rias was taking for him, Bova, and Crom. His attention was drawn back to the front however, when they revealed the first round of matches. "You''re kidding me, right?" "No way!" "Ohohoho, I can''t wait." Everyone had different reactions to the line up, but the most drastic one was perhaps Barakiel, who fell to his knees and cried out, "WHY?!" As he looked at his first match in the main tournament. His team, which was composed entirely of fallen angels, also looked as if they had already lost. Rias and her team also looked troubled, with Akeno being the most so. Alex on the other hand turned toward s Wukong, and grinned at his now former teacher. Wukong smiled back and said, "Well now I have a chance to see how strong my pupil''s gotten." *** Left bracket Indra vs Mahabali Sairaorg Bael vs shooting star Rias Gremory vs Barakiel Alex vs Sun Wukong Right bracket Cao Cao vs Surtr Typhon vs Ruval phoenix Dulio Gesualdo vs Tobio Ikuse Vali Lucifer vs Diehauser Belial Chapter 149 - Training her Almost three weeks had passed after the tournament matchups were revealed. They were having a single match a week in order to properly build up tensions before the fight, and the first two matches were already done, with Indra and Sairaorg both emerging victorious. The next was going to be Rias vs Barakiel, the very next day. It was pretty much already considered Rias''s victory since it was hard to imagine Barakiel seriously fighting his own daughter. The only chance he had was if he didn''t come into contact with Akeno during the game, but it was pretty much guaranteed that Rias would use her against him as much as possible. The girl in question was currently returning to Misty Manor after having delivered a lunchbox to her father in the underworlds Grigori institute. Akeno had been bringing her father lunch boxes for a while, and getting to know some of the fallen angel cadres while she was at it. The fact they were about to fight each other in the match didn''t stop her from doing so. In particular, Penemue usually acted as something like a big sister to her, and would share some stories about her father and mother. She would also try to tease her about her relationship with Alex, but the things she told Akeno that day were resonating within her. What she had told her that day, was the specifics of the relationship between her parents, and what they would do together at night. She pictured how her strong and stern faced father would apparently make faces of ecstasy at being whipped by her mother, and couldn''t help but wonder, would Alex make similar faces? While her S mode was usually reserved for her enemies, Akeno couldn''t deny the intense new interest in seeing Alex''s usually strong and composed face showing both pain and ecstasy, just for her. As none of the other girls in the manor had S tendencies like her, Akeno was very attracted to the idea of seeing a side of Alex no one else would. Once she found out where he was in the manor, Akeno made a beeline straight for Alex, not aware that Penemue telling her that information was a form of strategy for the fallen angels to distract her before the next day, though it would backfire on them completely. *** Alex was currently relaxing after a training session in the underground area with Bova, to prepare for their match against Wukong the following week. He then turned his attention to the match between Rias and Barakiel the next day, and honestly felt sorry for the fallen angel vice governor. As he was thinking, someone called out to him. "Alex, do you think you could accompany me for a bit?" Right off the bat Alex could tell something was off about Akeno, he kept a straight face though and followed her. As they walked Alex started developing a suspicion of where she was taking him, and when they passed her room he knew his suspicions were most likely correct. She then led him to the door to the underground area next to her room, and Alex''s mind kicked into overdrive. He had been trying to avoid a situation like this with Akeno for the last year, as he wasn''t interested in S and M, but it seemed like he would have to be involved now, and he refused to be the M. Akeno led him to the door, and opened it for him to walk inside. As he did so, Alex was unsurprised with what he saw. The room was dimly lit, but Alex could see there were various tools and instruments on the tables and hanging up. He could even see the larger items as well, stockades, a giant cross, those weird horse things, and many other things he didn''t know too much about. CLICK Akeno locked the door behind her, and reached out to grab a nearby whip, when Alex suddenly pinned her to door behind her. Even though she was an S, even though she wanted to see Alex''s M face, Akeno suddenly felt her heart beat quicken when he pinned her. Alex''s face was stone cold, as he told her, "I don''t mind doing this play with you Akeno, but I will not be the one who gets played with." Akeno gulped at his words, and felt her underwear getting moist at the idea of Alex "playing" with her. He then said, "The way I see it you have two options, either unlock that door and we can forget about this, or get on your knees." Akeno didn''t even hesitate, and started kneeling down. Alex then spent the rest of the night "training" her on how to act submissive to him. *** Akeno woke the next day, the day of the match, n.a.k.e.d in her bed while feeling sore all over. She pulled the covers off, and felt warm in her heart at how Alex cleaned her up and put her to bed after she had passed out, but she also felt some left excitement when she saw some of the red marks that were still there from the whip the night before. As she had usually acted dominant, it was a new and thrilling experience for her to act that way for Alex. However Akeno also promised herself she would only be submissive like that to him, and others would only see her as a "queen". She then got up and walked to a mirror in her room, and started observing her body and all the marks left on it. Her attention then turned to the stack of folded clothes, the same ones Alex tore apart the night before. She shivered when she recalled the feeling of him literally tearing her clothes off just to get at her body. She then noticed the small box on top of the magically repaired clothes, and grabbed it with curiosity. When Akeno saw what was inside the box, she smiled widely and immediately put the contents on. After admiring her new accessory in the mirror, Akeno quickly started getting ready for the match, wondering what her father would think of her new relationship with Alex. Chapter 150 - Father vs daughter As she was getting her team ready to leave, Rias noticed Akeno finally making her way to them. Alex had told her about the events the night before, and seeing what Akeno was now wearing, Rias was somewhat worried about how the match today will be. She walked over to her friend, still not believing she submitted to Alex, and asked, "Are you alright Akeno?" Rias was worried that after her activities the night before would affect her during the match. Akeno however, "Ufufufufufu, I''ve never felt better Rias." Rias sighed in relief, also noticing how Akeno used her name when she usually did in private. Having a bad feeling about the days match, but also believing they wouldn''t lose, Rias led her team to the stadium. *** Alex was once again sitting in the Gremory private viewing booths before the game started. He was feeling worried as he hadn''t been able to check on Akeno after he put her in bed the night before, and hoped he didn''t mess up their match that day. One of the things that concerned him the most about the night before, was how much he unexpectedly liked being "dominant". He also wondered if Akeno liked the gift he got her to wear during their next play. As he was wondering that both teams walked out onto the field, and the screens showed a closeup of both teams, focusing somewhat on Barakiel and Akeno, even though she wasn''t the king of her team. When he saw the close up of her though, Alex''s entire face started twitching when he saw she was currently wearing what he gave her. Barakiel also noticed, and his face turned purple after a moments thought. Alex could''ve sworn he would''ve blown up right there if it wasn''t for all the spectators. As they left for the game field, Alex could''ve sworn Barakiel looked right at his location with murder on his face. After departing to game fields they had a while to wait while both teams strategized, which led to an awkward conversation. "That item Akeno was wearing, you gave it to her right?" Venelana asked him with a weird look on her face. Alex laughed awkwardly, and said, "She wanted to try those kinds of things yesterday, and I figured it would something she might like." Venelana nodded while in contemplation, and said, "You''re not thinking of giving our daughter something like that as well, are you?" Alex quickly shook his head and said, "As far as I''m aware Rias doesn''t have an interest in those kinds of things, so no I''m not." Venelana nodded and replied, "Good, we can''t have the next head of Gremory going around wearing those kinds of things." Alex agreed with her quickly, as he already figured there''d be a few girls he entered that kind of relationship with, and hopefully Rias wouldn''t be one of them. Not long after their conversation came to an end, the match finally started. Things were pretty normal for about the first thirty minutes of the match, as the Kings tried to maneuver their pieces where they needed to go. Things turned weird after that though, starting when Akeno went into a wide open space, and just waited there. She didn''t have to wait long though, when Barakiel charged right out to where she was. A few of his teammates also made an appearance, acting as if they were trying to pull him back away from his daughter. Barakiel didn''t care though and demanded, "AKENO, WHAT IS THAT AROUND YOUR NECK?!" Pointing at the collar Alex gave her, that she was wearing. Akeno simply smiled, however she had a sadistic look in her eye, and replied, "This is the proof of my relationship with my other master." Barakiel started stuttering at her words, already aware of what she would answer, but asked anyways. "O-o-o-other m-master?!" Akeno nodded and calmly explained, "It''s proof of me being Alex''s s.e.x slave." As her words spread through the stadium, and the home of every person watching this match, there was dead silence. Even though he was in a private box, a live image of Alex sitting there was being broadcasted alongside the images from the rating game. He could feel the head of every person in the stadium turning towards him, the men looked at him with envy or hatred, while the women were looking at him with either disgust or interest. But they all turned back to the game, when Barakiel exploded, "I-I-I WONT ALLOW IT! I REFUSE TO ALLOW MY DAUGHTER TO BECOME A S.E.X SLAVE TO THAT HATEFUL BASTAAAARRRRDD!!!!!" Seeing her fathers purple face, him raging at her relationship, Akeno just started laughing and said, "Ufufufufufu, But isn''t that the relationship you had with mother, father?" Barakiel paled, while everyone who heard those words then pictured Barakiel with his strong figure, dominating his woman, until Akeno continued, "I heard about it from someone, what father and mother were doing at night, where mother would use wh.i.p.s and other toys on you." While everyone, including Barakiel, were stunned by Akeno''s words, she removed her shrine priestess robe to reveal the black leather outfit she was wearing underneath. Akeno stood in the middle of the arena dressed in knee high leather boots, had a short tight skirt that was laced up the sides, and a tight corset going up to cover her b.r.e.a.s.ts. She then used a magic circle to summon a whip, and while her father was still stunned at her words and outfit, swung it at him. CRACK The next sound that was heard through the stadium after that initial crack, was Barakiel''s voice. "G-gooooooooood!" The entire audience, with the exception of the fallen angels, was shell shocked to see the vice governor suddenly m.o.a.ning in pleasure from being whipped. Akeno laughed again, and swung the whip once more. Barakiel cried out, "This feel, this technique, it''s the same as before! It''s Shuuri''s whipping technique!" There were no words that the audience could say to describe this scene, meanwhile Alex''s entire face was twitching as he didn''t know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. Barakiel had lost all will to compete after that, as he enjoyed his daughters whipping capabilities to the fullest. Akeno then stopped whipping her father, earning an almost pleading gaze from him. Akeno then started laughing again, as she said, "There''s something I want to show you father, proof of my improvements due to my relationship with Alex." As she talked Akeno summoned her holy lightning, which then started taking the form of an eastern dragon. Then entire audience gasped at seeing this, but the one most surprised was Alex, as he knew the way Akeno was originally supposed to get this ability, but that didn''t happen here. Barakiel also started looking at the Lightning dragon his daughter created, as she explained, "This power is due to me being able to "suck" some power from Alex at the times we are together. I found later that I was receiving some power of the dragon from him, and started training it." Alex was confused at her explanation for several seconds, until he recalled the main thing Akeno liked to do whenever they were together, he even made her start with it the night before. Barakiel also seemed to have realized something, as he recalled the day he first met Alex, and the state his daughter was in at that time. His face started turning purple again, as he cried out, "THAT BASTAAAAARRRRDDD, ILL KILL- ooooohhhhhhhhhhh" his words were interrupted, when Akeno''s whip made contact with his body once more, and he m.o.a.ned in pleasure. Akeno then stated, "Ara ara, father you can''t go killing my other master, and beloved. So eat this holy lightning dragon as your punishment, ok?" At her words Akeno''s Lightning dragon rushed forward, and Barakiel disappeared into its light. Even after he retired, it was several minutes before anyone reacted, as the arbitrator said uncertainly, "T-the King Barakiel has been retired, Rias Gremory wins!" At their words everyone realized the match was over, but there were many complicated feelings over it. Alex on the other hand had decided to "punish" Akeno that night for her actions, but he was sure she would love it. Chapter 151 - "Super sadist" For the next week until Alex''s match against Wukong all people talked about was Rias''s match against Barakiel, or more accurately the match between Akeno and her father. Akeno was already well known for being an extreme S during her fights, but what happened during her fight against her father was a whole other level. There was also the fact that she claimed to be Alex''s s.e.x slave, and wore a collar he gave her. Due to him "dominating" over the extreme S Akeno, people had started referring to Alex as Super Sadist, and started calling into question his other relationsh.i.p.s. Though this would be easy to dismiss normally, after Akeno''s claim that she got stronger due to "sucking" the dragons power when they were together, almost every girl wanted to try it. As there were several that hasn''t serviced him with their mouth before, it was quite the experience. The one that reacted the worst to the match however, was Barakiel. After showing everyone his extreme M face, he refused to leave his manor until Akeno threatened to never bring him lunches again. He did however state that he''d never leave Asora until they were already in another world. This all took place before Alex''s match, a single week after Rias''s. Now it was the day he was due to fight his former teacher, Wukong. Alex was itching with excitement at the thought of settling things between them, a feeling Crom shared as he wanted to see if Wukong''s team members were strong. *** "AND WELCOME ALL TO THIS VERY EXCITING MATCH TODAY, AS THE RED DRAGON EMPEROR TAKES ON HIS FORMER TEACHER!" When Alex heard the announcer talking about the match he was slightly surprised they didn''t mention the previous match, but he wasn''t complaining. He faced Wukong on the stadium field as the screen showed what kind of game they were playing. "AND THE GAME IS DICE FIGURE FOLKS!" A moment after they heard the name of the game, both teams were transported to their waiting places as they rolled the dice, and the rules were explained. "BOTH KINGS WILL ROLL A DIE, AND THE COMBINED AMOUNT WILL DETERMINE WHO CAN ENTER THAT PARTICULAR ROUND. THE PIECES ARE SET DEPENDING ON THEIR ROLES. AND THE KINGS WORTH WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE JUDGES, WHO HAVE DECIDED THAT BOTH KINGS ARE WORTH TWELVE! THIS MEANS THAT BOTH KINGS WILL BE UNABLE TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE UNLESS THE HIGHEST NUMBER ON THE DICE IS ROLLED, NOW LETS START THE GAME!" Even though he said that they still had a planning period before the match started. Alex turned to look at his team, and said, "Well the rules are pretty straight forward, but this is a good chance as the fights will be straight forward as well." He then spent the rest of the remaining planning time discussing things with his team, even mentioning that if the number twelve comes up he''ll immediately go out. After a while the planning time ended, and it was time to start the game. Alex walked up to the stand with the giant die on it, and threw it. Wukong copied him on the other stand, and everyone watched as the two dice rolled around, until Alex''s stopped on four, and Wukong''s on six. The announcer then shouted out, "THE FIRST ROUND IS A TOTAL OF TEN, THIS MEANS THERES QUITE A FEW COMBINATIONS AVAILABLE FOR EACH SIDE AS THEY PLAY THEIR PIECES!" Alex immediately turned to Crom and said, "I plan to go as soon as it''s twelve, so this may be your best chance to fight someone from the other side Crom." The dragon looked towards the other side, and his eyes started glittering in anticipation. Each member of the other side was strong as they were composed of legendary figures from "Journey to the West", no matter who his opponent was he was sure of a good fight. "I''ll go, regardless of who they send I doubt I''ll be disappointed." And he walked towards the magic circle that would take him to actual place they would fight, as far as Alex knew it changed with each round. This time it looked like it was a field of crops in the country, but it seemed all the open space was needed, seeing as the one facing Crom was a giant green eastern dragon. Seeing the dragon, Yu Long, Crom almost shivered in anticipation and said, "So I''m to face one of the current dragon kings, this is quite exciting." Yu Long however had different thoughts, "Oh man, I have to face Crom Cruach right off the bat?!" Yu Long''s reaction was pretty normal, as he was a dragon king and Crom''s power was said to be equal, or even greater than the heavenly dragons, Ddraig''s or Albion''s in their prime. As if he wanted to match Yu Long, Crom then transformed into his dragon form, earning another cry from the young dragon king at his bad luck. What happened after that could only be called bullying, as the green dragon was one sidedly thrashed by Crom, ending with him being retired. After the announcement that Yu Long retired, Crom returned to the waiting area where the rest of them were. He had a look as if he didn''t know how to take his victory, as he sat down. Alex then stood and went to roll the die once more, earning exclamations of surprise from the audience. "THIS TIME WE HAVE TWO SIXES THERE FOR A TOTAL VALUE OF TWELVE, THIS MEANS THAT BOTH KINGS HAVE THE OPTION TO COME OUT AND END THE GAME, OR TO SEND A COMBINATION OF THEIR PIECES AND KEEP GOING!" No one said anything as Alex immediately got up and walked towards the magic circle. When Alex next opened his eyes he was in what seemed to be a mountainous temple area, with steep cliffs on either side going down into fog. "I knew you would jump into the fight as soon as you could." Alex looked up at the speaker, his former teacher, Sun Wukong. "AND HERE WE HAVE IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AS SHORT AS IT WAS, WE ARE NOW AT THE LAST MATCH OF THE DAY. HOWEVER, THE FIGHT WE DID HAVE WAS AN INTENSE BATTLE BETWEEN TOP TIER DRAGONS, AND NOW WE HAVE THE SUPER SADIST VS THE GREAT VICTORIOUS FIGHTING BUDDAH!" When Alex heard what the announcer called him he nearly tripped over nothing, while Wukong started laughing at his students expense. Ignoring Alex''s glare, Wukong then said, "I figured you''d be out once the dice let you, we shouldn''t wait until both of us are tired and drained to have our showdown." Alex nodded and replied, "Then let''s start." Chapter 152 - Saiyan vs original As the two faced each other they got into battle ready poses, both holding their staffs at the ready. Alex didn''t use his super Saiyan or boosted gear, causing Wukong to be confused. As they stared each other down, he asked, "Are you not going to power up?" Alex shook his head, and replied, "I will if you force me to, but I want to try and beat you without it first. If I have to rely on things like that to beat the one who taught me, then what exactly did I learn?" Wukong laughed at Alex''s words, but there was also a glint of anticipation in his eyes. The audience was holding their breath, when both people suddenly disappeared instantly. BOOM BOOM BOOM All there was to know that a fight was even happening was the sounds the two made when they collided, as they were moving faster than most of the viewers could follow. This lasted only for a few seconds, but it was enough time for Alex and Wukong to have clashed several times before they were visible again, as they were both blasted into different mountains. The two of them seemed to be uninjured as they still stared each other down, until Wukong started shaking his hand as if it hurt. "Seriously, where does that strength of yours come from? All we did was tap each other with our staffs and now my hand won''t stop tingling." Ignoring his question regarding his strength, Alex replied, "Do me a favor and never say we were tapping staffs again, my reputation is already diving fast enough as it is." This earned him a chuckle from the old monkey, before they both restarted the fight. Wukong pushed off from the mountain he was on, causing large cracks to spread from where his feet were. Alex did the same, except he caused the entire side of the mountain to crumble in the process. They were moving at a speed the audience could see now, as they both thrusted forward with their stave, causing them to collide at each end. As they stopped in midair with the staves, Wukong shouted, "Extend Nyoi-Bo!" Resulting in Both of them being pushed back as Wukong''s staff lengthened. Alex twisted his own staff to the side, resulting in Wukong''s Nyoi-Bo shooting past him as he rushed forward again. As Alex swung his staff, Wukong managed to retract his and block it, but he only barely managed to avoid Alex''s next attack by breaking off and jumping back. Wukong started rubbing his neck nervously, as he looked at the sword that just nearly took his head. Alex on the other hand had a large grin on his face as he twirled the staff in both hands, and swung around Ascalon with his tail. It was an idea he had for actually using his tail instead of just letting it be dead weight all the time. Even though it was somewhat awkward to use his tail to swing a sword around, it would be a good surprise attack for his opponents, though it didn''t work with Wukong, who had over a thousand years experience in combat. Wukong looked at the unusual sight of a sword being swung around by a tail, and said, "In all my years I''ve never seen that before, youngsters these days come up with the weirdest ideas." Alex laughed and said, "That "weird" idea nearly took your head though, and I had to put the damn thing to use some way." Hearing that Wukong laughed as well, then turned serious once more. Noticing the change in his attitude, Alex became battle ready as well, even though he never let his guard down. Wukong then reached up and took out an entire fistful of hair, throwing it to the wind. A second later there were several dozen Wukong''s standing on the mountain, all looking right at Alex. Though he wasn''t actually pushing himself so far, it took all of Alex''s skill to fight the small army of Wukong''s as they charged him, almost to the point that he was tempted to use either the boosted gear or super Saiyan. Each time he struck or stabbed one they disappeared and left behind a single strand of hair, but with the amount Wukong used, the air was filled with falling strands of hair after a few minutes. Alex was so focused on the fight with the copies, he didn''t notice what the real Wukong was doing until the area was covered in shade. Alex looked up to see a giant mass of rock moving above him, and from the rock a voice was heard, "This happened to me in my youth, how about we see what would happen to you if a mountain was dropped on you?" Alex simply stood there as the mass of rock fell towards him and the remaining copies, a smirk on his face. As the mountain fell on him, there was a loud crash as the stone behemoth knocked down the mountain Alex was already standing on. After the crash settled there was dead silence, everyone watching was holding their breath, waiting for Alex to reappear since the retirement announcement never sounded. When a rock started falling down the slope the sound echoed as everyone, including Wukong, were waiting tensely for any sign of Alex, before a small rumble filled the air. The mass of stone that Wukong threw suddenly started moving, as it began rising from its landing point, revealing a golden glow underneath. A second later the transformed Alex stood there holding the giant mass of rock with a singe hand, as he turned towards Wukong and said, "Really, a mountain?" The elder monkey laughed at Alex''s words, until the same mass of stone he threw suddenly came rushing back at him. Wukong dodged to the side, not noticing until the last second that Alex was suddenly right next to him. He swung his staff at him again, only for Alex to block it with a couple fingers. He pulled the staff back and started stabbing it forward in rapid fire succession, only for Alex to nimbly dodge with the smallest movements. Wukong shuddered as he saw the difference from the time he first fought Alex. Even then he acknowledged that Alex was most likely stronger than him in brute strength, but now only a year later, his movements carried a refinement rivaling most that trained for decades. As he was getting lost in his thoughts he didn''t notice the fist coming for his mid drift, blasting him back into the side of another mountain. The audience was astounded at what they saw, as the famous Sun Wukong was suddenly sent flying back so hard he created an enormous crater when he impacted the mountain. "Cough, cough, I really am getting old, getting distracted like that." Alex hovered in front of him, still emoting his golden glow as a sphere of ki grew in his hand. He then said to Wukong, "Thank you for everything teacher, the trials I''ll face soon will be much easier with the guidance you have given me." Wukong laughed and smiled as his former student fired the ki sphere at him, effectively retiring him and turning the mountain he crash into to rubble. "The king Sun Wukong has retired, the red dragon emperor wins." The arbitrator announced, signaling the end of the match. Alex released his transformation as he was transported back to the stadium, and was welcomed by thunderous cheers. He raised his fist in victory at their applause, and turned towards the loudest section, filled with his lovers and those closest to him. There in the middle, was a certain Crimson haired woman, who was now his next opponent. As they looked at each other, Rias gave him a look, a look that stated that she wouldn''t lose, a look that was declaring war. Alex smiled in response. Chapter 153 - Passed first round It had been a month after Alex''s match against Wukong, and he had just finished watching Vali fight against the previous rating games champion, Diehauser Belial. With his victory, the first round of the main rating game matches were over, with the teams moving on being Indra, Sairaorg Bael, Rias Gremory, Alex, Cao Cao, Typhon, Tobio Ikuse, and now Vali Lucifer. The next match would be Indra vs Sairaorg, then Rias vs Alex, Cao Cao vs Typhon, and Tobio vs Vali. After Vali''s match they had gathered once more behind Misty Manor to celebrate those getting through the first round. Even though Rias and Alex were going to be facing each other in battle soon, they wanted to celebrate passing the first round. At the moment Alex was sitting in one of the lawn chairs relaxing, and Rias had taken the popular seat that was his lap, earning a few looks from the other girls. Bikou soon came over and asked, "So how do you two plan to fight each other? I mean it seems like you''d both be going easy on each other to avoid hurting your lover." Alex laughed at Bikou''s words, and said with a naughty grin, "Maybe I should just have her spend the night before with me in bed, tire her out so it''ll be an easy win." Rias had a small look of horror at his words, as she knew fully well Alex could follow through on his threat, and while she would be exhausted he wouldn''t even be effected by that much action. Even if she wanted to employ the same tactic, she would have to get every girl in the manor involved, including his own team members, and it more than likely still wouldn''t be enough to tire him out. Bikou however said with some annoyance, "You did the same thing to our team too, I haven''t gotten a proper nights sleep for a while since Arthur''s room is right next to mine." Hearing his words both of Alex''s eyebrows shot up, and he glanced over at Arthur and Elaine, who seemed to hear what they were saying, and surprisingly her cheeks turned a light red with blush. Arthur on the other hand shot Bikou a glare that obviously said to shut up. Laughing at their interactions, Alex turned his attention towards the few other couples at the party. There was only Kiba and Tosca, and Gasper and Valerie, Sairaorg still hasn''t gotten a clue. Though Kiba was spending a lot of time with Tosca, it was obvious they were taking things slow due to Tosca looking so young, even though the two were actually the same age. Alex was glad it seemed to two were sticking together though, as he recalled Kiba being a worrisome existence in the series. The one he was most concerned with though, was Gasper. The vampire recluse was still in girl form, even around Valerie. He had heard that the two were even taking baths together as two girls, since Gasper refused to go into his guy form. He felt somewhat bad for the little vampire, (though he wasn''t so little as a guy anymore) especially since it was his blood that made his body change so drastically. He had experimented it with Elmenhilde before, and all it did was make her both physically and magically stronger, and increased her resistance to sunlight. Because she was a girl to begin with, Elmenhilde experienced no side effects like Gasper except feeling a little unwell afterwards due to the sudden change in power her body had. Alex was soon brought out of his thoughts however, when Kuroka came to also sit on his lap along with Rias. She ignored the Crimson haired girl''s glare, and leaned back into Alex''s chest. She then said, "You know today''s fight was really hard nya, maybe I should get a reward tonight." Alex laughed at her words, and replied, "You want me to reward one of my potential opponents?" Kuroka stuck her tongue out at him and said, "We''re not opponents until we reach the finals, so it should be fine tonight Nyan." Alex smiled at her words, already privately agreeing to invite her to his room later. She then seems to think of something, and asked, "But don''t you have an advantage against the two of us? I mean you can see our status whenever you want." Rias also seemed interested in this conversation, Alex however shook his head, and replied, "Unless something requires me to do so, I''m not checking your or Rias''s status until the games are over, it''ll be too unfair otherwise. Besides, where''s the fun in knowing your opponents best abilities?" Both girls smiled at his words, while Rias had a twinkle in her eyes from the meeting she had a few weeks prior. The current Governor General after Azazel, Shemhazai, had given some items recently acquired to Rossweise and Xenovia. Rossweise had received a Mistiltienn wand, capable of powering her magic even further; and Xenovia was given the scabbard of Excalibur, said to grant the wielder near invulnerability. She was hoping Alex didn''t know about these two items, but also didn''t expect that to be the case, so she simply ordered both girls not to mention it until they needed to use them. Kuroka however was excited for a different reason, as if Alex didn''t know the details of her recent growth, then it was a given Grayfia didn''t either. If the two teams meet at the final round, she intended to use the chance to try and get back at Grayfia for the times she''s spanked her so far. Practically reading on her face what Kuroka was planning, Alex just rolled his eyes, wishing the two would get along better. Though he did have to admit their fights were usually entertaining. Alex then turned his attention to the other girls he could see, Akeno, Rossweise, Koneko, Asia, Xenovia, and Ingvild, and thought about how he would have to face them in only two weeks. Chapter 154 - Match preparation Sitting in one of the Misty Manor lounges, Alex and his team were watching a video on one of Rias''s fights the day before they had theirs. He taking this fight quite seriously, as Rias was most likely the biggest threat to him in this tournament with how well she knew him and his team, however the reverse also applied. He then turned towards his team, and started explaining his intentions, "First of all there''s going to be a bit of a line up change for this game, both Crom and Bova are out. With Ingvild''s presence I don''t want to risk one of you being turned against us, even for a moment." At his words Crom seemed indifferent since there wasn''t really anyone on Rias''s team he specifically wanted to fight anyways. Bova on the other hand, "Waahhhhh, I have failed as a servant! Being at risk of turning against my lord, even unwillingly, I am a disgrace!" It took several minutes for Alex and the rest to calm the currently mini dragon, and he continued explaining, "As I was saying, Ingvild is possibly one of the biggest threats to us since her ability also applies to me. I have ways to resist her control, but there''s no telling how strong she actually is now, plus there is the fact that her abilities allow her to control oceans. So, Serafall I want you to face her and try to retire her, or at least distract her. Your compatability with ice should be of use against her if we end up in a game field that favors her." Serafall nodded at his words, interested at the possibility of facing a Leviathan without trying to kill each other like with Katerea. Alex was relieved, as he had no idea how strong Ingvild actually was now, since it had been over two months since they met her. In that time she had been going back and forth to the institutes in the underworld, and training as one of Rias''s teammates. He then turned towards Vasco, and said, "And you Vasco, are going to be facing Xenovia. Though I don''t doubt your strength Irina will also be standing by in case you need help, as Xenovia not only has Durandal, but all the fragments of Excalibur and possibly its sheathe. From my research regarding the sheathe''s ability, it apparently grants the wielder near invulnerability. Because of this it may be impossible to actually retire Xenovia, which is why your main goal is to simply keep her occupied with you, and why Irina is going to accompany you." Hearing Alex''s words, Vasco showed an expression of interest, and said, "Hm, the wielder of Durandal, Excalibur, and it''s sheathe. This old man is appreciating being part of this team more and more every day." Irina also chimed in, "Even with all that there''s no way I''ll lose to Xenovia!" Alex smiled at her optimism, and turned towards Lint Sellzan next. "Lint you''ll be going against Kiba, his specialty is speed so you''ll need to be at the top of your game against him." Lint nodded and said, "Understood, I''ll not let the knight guy go!" After her confirmation, Alex turned towards Roygun, saying, "Roygun, you''ll be going against Rossweisse. She''s not only a master spellcaster, but she''s also been learning defensive spells recently, and should also have gotten quite a powerful wand to assist her, I hope your ''crack'' will be of use against her." Alex was hoping that by using her ''crack'' ability Roygun would be able to break through Rosswiess''s barriers and maybe even disrupt her spells. Understanding what he wanted, Roygun smiled and said with a mischievous smile, "If I do well, would I get "rewarded" master?" Alex smiled and simply nodded, as he was also looking forward to when he would get to spend the night with her. Even though Alex could''ve taken advantage of the fact that he was her lord, and that she was willing, he wanted to wait until she came to him. Seeing him agree to "reward" her, Roygun smiled and anticipated the night the two would be together. She always had a thing for young men, and Alex was exactly what she had an eye for. Alex then turned his attention to Grayfia, who was currently dressed as Bina. "As for you Bina, I want you to focus on Rias herself." He didn''t need to discuss why, with her actual identity it was obvious why she was the best choice to go against Rias. Bina simply nodded as she understood his intentions. That left only Akeno, Koneko, Gasper, and Asia left, as Alex doubted Nakiri and Millarca would be present if Ingvild was around. Alex turned towards the remaining two members of his team, Elmenhilde, and since both Bova and Crom were out, Ravel. She was taking Bova''s place as a pawn, and would be assisting mostly with tactics in game since what Alex was telling them now was more of an outline. Depending on the type of game they had to do the next day, they could very well need to throw out everything Alex told them. However since the majority of the games involved directly fighting, the chances of this were slim. He then continued, "These four may be moving with the others, or they could be moving independently. Ravel and Elmenhilde will be moving with me to prevent me being outnumbered, and the three of us will try and eliminate them. If they appeared with any of the ones you''re fighting, then call us for back up." As Alex was currently acting as a ''king'', he needed to take into consideration his own position. When Rias fought Sona in the novel, it was a prime example of how fighting directly didn''t always determine the outcome when Issei was retired from blood loss. If he was retired, it wouldn''t matter how many of his teammates were left, it would be an instant game over. With how close this group of opponents was to him, he didn''t want to take any chances and had the two of them act as his backup. He then discussed a few more things with them before calling it a night. Alex then asked Ravel to get someone for him, to which she seemed conflicted about who he asked for. Not long after. Alex was resting in his room when someone knocked on the door. He could hear the hesitation when they did, and laughed slightly before saying, "Come in." In walked none other than Valerie, who looked extremely nervous at something. Alex smiled, and said, "Come in and close the door, don''t worry, I just want to talk." *** The next day Alex walked onto the stadium field with his team behind him, Bina, Serafall, Vasco, Irina, Lint, Roygun, Elmenhilde, and Ravel. Opposite from him were Rias, Akeno, Asia, Gasper, Kiba, Xenovia, Koneko, Rossweise, and as Alex expected, Ingvild as her pawn. As the two approached each other, Alex and Rias shook hands as he said, "May the best man win." Rias smiled as she replied, "Or woman." Earning a grin from Alex. As they finished greeting each other the announcer shouted out, "WELCOME ALL TO THIS EXCITING MATCH! LAST TIME WE HAD RIAS GREMORY WITH HER QUEEN VS HER OWN FATHER, AND ALEX VS HIS OWN TEACHER! THIS TIME WE HAVE THE TWO LOVERS FACING EACH OTHER, WITH JUST ABOUT EVERY GIRL ON RIAS GREMORY''S TEAM ALSO BEING HIS LOVER! WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE TODAY?" Alex smiled as he waited for the rules of the match to be decided. It only took a few minutes before they were shown, a standard match. After the rules were explained the two groups were transported to the game area. Alex took one look around and his face twitched, along with the faces of his whole team. They had appeared in what seemed to be a small village, on the edge of an island in the middle of the ocean. Alex knew this had to be planned to see the power of Ingvild, even though such things were typically left to "chance", and couldn''t help but shout out, "OH F.U.C.K YOU TOO GAME OFFICIALS!" While the rest of his group had similar opinions. Chapter 155 - Rias vs Alex 1/2 "OH F.U.C.K YOU TOO GAME OFFICIALS!" As this sentence rang across the VIP booth Ajuka sat in, he didn''t know if he should laugh or cry at Alex''s behavior. Around him fellow organizers were obviously getting agitated because of Alex''s words, but none could refute them. The Azazel cup was a tournament where the matches and fields were all left to "chance", yet those who organized it knew otherwise, as the gods of fortune secretly manipulated things behind the scenes. It was also an unmentioned fact that this particular game was being used to test the power of the descendant of Leviathan and the new Longinus, Nereid Kyrie, however this was obviously seen through by those participating. "That brat needs to be taught how to behave." One of the higher ups said with dissatisfaction. Ajuka smiled at his words, and asked, "Do you plan to be the one who teaches him how to behave?" His words caused as stir through the room, as even though they didn''t like Alex''s attitude, no one wanted to actually test his temper. Having gotten them to settle down, Ajuka turned his attention back to game with an eager light in his eyes. *** Shortly after the game started Kiba was moving through the dense jungle around the island with his specialty Godlike speed. He was scouting and looking for any traces of Alex and team''s movements before he would head to higher ground. All of a sudden he felt danger and reflexively made a sword and held it up to block an overhead attack. As the sound of metal clashing rang out, both people jumped back and Kiba saw his attackers face. "Hey hey mister knight, I''m supposed to come and fight you." Lint Sellzan said, as she held a sword coated with purple flames in one hand, and a gun that shot light bullets in the other. Seeing his opponent, Kiba took a stance and said, "The knight of Rias Gremory, Kiba Yuuto, greets you." After his introductions, the two rushed forward at godlike speed to clash once more. *** Elsewhere Xenovia was similarly scouting, except she wasn''t making any attempt to hide herself. Her goal was to draw one or two of Alex''s teammates to attack her, and provide more moving room for her own team while also buying time. As she hoped, two of Alex''s teammates showed themselves, and Xenovia had a bit of cold sweat forming from who she saw. "Current user of Durandal, let this old man see how well you''ve learned to use the sword." Vasco Strada, one of the former leaders of the church, and former wielder of Durandal appeared. He was also said to have been the wielder that had the best compatibility with it as well, making her feel self conscious about facing him. Behind him was also one of her best friends Irina, who said, "Ooh I can''t believe I''m just here for backup! Xenovia, we''ll have our fight some other time!" Irina didn''t consider this their real fight, as she would be fighting Xenovia after she was exhausted from fighting Strada, if she beat him. Xenovia looked at the two of them, and focused on Strada after realizing Irina wouldn''t interfere with their fight. She then said proudly, "Xenovia Quarta, formerly of the church. It is an honor to face your eminence in battle!" Before she rushed him. *** Rossweisse was a little ways away from their base, setting up a trap they hoped would be of use against Alex. It was painfully obvious they wouldn''t be able to beat him in direct combat, even if all of them teamed up against him at once their chances of success were at most one percent, and that was being generous to themselves while also removing the involvement of his own team. So Rias decided to use alternate means, even if they weren''t the most honorable. Rossweisse was preparing one such plan, a large seal that utilized both light, and anti dragon capabilities. Their plan was to use the seal to trap Devils that relied on the dragon''s power, in other words Alex, and weaken them somewhat until a larger attack could eliminate them. And what attack was bigger than a massive wall of water? As she was working however, a crack suddenly formed in the formation, effectively destroying it. Rossweisse practically cried at her hard work going to waste. "No! Just a little more and it would''ve been finished!" It took a second for to realize why her formation was suddenly damaged, before she looked up and noticed a pink haired devil with horns. Roygun smiled at her before saying, "So it was a good thing I took a shortcut to get here, it looked like you were working on something impressive." Rossweisse''s face twitched, as she tried to think of how Roygun arrived here so quickly undetected. The only routes available were around the mountain or over it, Rias and Akeno went to the top of the mountain so it wasn''t that way, and Kiba and Xenovia went to scout both sides of it and neither reported seeing her. Seeing the confusion on Rossweisse''s face, Roygun laughed and answered as if she knew what she was thinking, "Obviously I didn''t go around or over the mountain, I went through it." She laughed at the surprised look on Rossweisse''s face again, recalling how she only cracked a part of the mountain big enough for her to fit through, since she wasn''t as powerful as she was before. Before encountering Rossweisse though, Roygun also snuck close enough to their base to promote, now being a queen. Aura started radiating off of her body, and seeing her get into a battle ready state, Rossweisse got ready to fight as well. *** Rias stood atop the mountain in the center of the island with Akeno beside her, focusing her new ability, ''Reaper''s Ruin'' on Alex as she intended to either retire, or weaken him. In her hands was a mass of demonic power in what appeared to be the shape of a sniper rifle, and several spheres of pure destruction floating around her, as she focused the "scope" on Alex. He was moving around the island with Elmenhilde and Ravel behind him, seemingly headed for their base. It almost seemed as if he was escorting them to the area needed to promote, as they were both pawns. That only increased her worries, as at her base was only Asia and Gasper, who would be defenseless against him. Rossweisse was nearby, but when Rias tried to warn her, she didn''t get a response. She trained her "scope" on Alex''s legs, in order to halt his movements, and fired. The already loaded sphere of destruction was shot at near impossible speeds towards her lover, as if it was a bullet. As if he could sense her attack coming, Alex blurred for a second and her attack passed right through his after image. After dodging her attack, he then turned towards her exact spot on the mountaintop, and smiled. As she saw this through her "scope", Rias suddenly felt chills. She watched him with her full attention, expecting his counter attack, which is why she needed Akeno to warn her a second later. "RIAS LOOK OUT!" At her warning they both took to the skies, only for the entire peak of the mountain they were just on to completely disappear a second later. After the massive demonic power attack, a figure appeared that neither girl wanted to go up against, Bina Lessthan, or more accurately Grayfia Lucifuge. Rias paled as her older sister floated in front of her, knowing she would have had to face her sooner or later, but also hoping it would''ve been later. Akeno moved in front of Rias, and declared, "I''ll hold her here, take this chance to get away!" Rias was dumbfounded when she heard Akeno''s words, and replied, "I''m not deserting you!" To which Akeno glared at her, not caring about their rankings at the moment, and said, "You''re our "king" in this match, if you get retired here then it''s an automatic loss! Get away while I hold her back!" Rias knew Akeno was saying the truth, that she should listen to her, but she also couldn''t seem to do as she requested. Some part of her felt that if she ran from this fight, then she was a bigger failure than if she lost it. After a few seconds she turned to Akeno and said, "If I flee now, then I feel I''ll always regret it. Return to the base and protect Gasper and Asia, I''ll stay and fight her. Continue our plan while I''m not there and try to hurry as much as possible." Akeno looked at Rias with incredulous eyes, but still bowed her head when she saw her conviction, and replied, "As you command, master." She then flew off, leaving Rias to face the "Strongest Queen" alone. After she left, Rias turned to look towards her older sister, who was waiting there the entire and Akeno talked. Grayfia then said, "So I''ll fight you alone?" Rias nodded, and replied with fire in her eyes, "Yes, I know I may not win against you big sis, but if I run here then I''ll never grow!" Under her mask Grayfia smiled, before she covered her body with demonic energy and threw the first attack. *** A ways away from the shoreline, Ingvild was preparing to send the largest attack she could manage at the island. She didn''t like using an attack that would also target her own team, or purposely attacking Alex himself, but she knew she had to help her team win against him. As she readied her attack, Ingvild sensed another person approaching her with such monstrous power that even she could feel it. The water around Ingvild for several hundred feet suddenly froze, as a figure appeared in front of her wearing a cartoonish outfit, and holding a wand. "Magical girl Levia-tan is here to save the day!????" Ingvild paled as she looked at her opponent, even though it was suspected she would have to go against her to begin with. Her specialty was water, while Serafall''s was ice, she was almost a natural counter for her. She was also quite intimidated by her as well since, even though they shared no blood relation, Serafall carried the name Leviathan. However she didn''t intend to fight the Maou directly, and pulled out a specially prepared magic circle on a piece of paper, while she watched Koneko sneak up on Serafall from behind, one of the jewels Alex gave her to hold onto in her hand. *** Alex was arriving at the base of Rias''s group, with the only opposition he met being the fight between Rossweise and Roygun, and the single shot from Rias before Grayfia found them. As he approached the place where Gasper and Asia were, Ravel and Elmenhilde both promoted to queens, and took their positions on either side of him in case of any attacks. As they watched him approach, Asia started summoning Fafnir, and Gasper''s eyes started glowing. Alex smiled as he waited for Fafnir to appear, not really concerned since game rules imposed a time restriction on how long the dragon king could make an appearance, plus Alex thought this was an ideal opportunity to teach it a lesson. A second later the dragons gate opened, and the golden dragon king appeared while saying, "Asia-tan summon me, payment must be made for fighting." Asia started tearing up at the humiliation, and pulled out a patterned cloth that she held out to the dragon. "Here Fafnir, your desired p-panties!" Fafnir reached his head out as if to take the used panties in his mouth, when suddenly the giant dragon was sent flying, the cloth still hanging from Asia''s hand, as she had a confused look on her face. "Eh?" Was all anyone said, before they focused on the figure who sent Fafnir flying, Alex. He had a look of anger on his face as he looked at the dragon, and declared, "DID YOU REALLY THINK ILL JUST STAND BACK AND LET YOU SHAME MY WOMAN EVEN MORE?!" At his words Asia fell to her knees, trying to hide the panties she took out even though the entire world had already seen them. After Fafnir recovered from Alex''s hit, he turned towards him and said with passion, "Panties part of the pact with Asia-tan, panties required for summoning and fighting." Alex''s face was twitching as he heard the passionate voice Fafnir used when talking about Asia''s panties, before he moved forward and used his secret weapon against the perverted dragon. He whispered in its ear for a few seconds, making everyone curious as to what he was telling Fafnir, before an expression of detestation appeared on Fafnir''s face. The dragon seemed to be struggling for several moments with something, as the time it was allowed to stay in the game dwindled down, before it finally shouted with tears forming in his eyes, "FINE, NO MORE PANTIES! LET FAFNIR STAY WITH ASIA-TAN!" Alex smiled demonically as he watched the dragon writhe from what he told him. As Fafnir would occasionally follow Asia into Asora, it was already well aware of what was going on. Alex had simply told Fafnir that if he didn''t stop his panty obsession with Asia, or any of his women for that matter, he would leave him behind when he took Asia with him in the future. Fafnir adored Asia, he was completely devoted to her since she was the first girl to even smile at him. The fate of being left behind and possibly not being able to see her again in less than a year, was worse for the dragon king than death. Seeing the one that humiliated Asia with its panty obsession cry with sadness, Alex couldn''t help but smile. Everyone else who saw him only saw a sadist however, and his image as the super sadist grew even worse. As the end of his time in the game arrived, everyone watched Fafnir disappear while still crying, emotions mixed about the fight. Alex then turned his attention towards Gasper, who stepped forward after Fafnir disappeared. His expression then turned to disappointment as he looked at the still female Gasper, and he said, "I see, so you won''t face me as a man, huh Gasper?" The shut in vampire had a look of shock at hearing Alex''s words, and he started trying to defend himself. "I-I-I''m trying to accept my manly side, but I can''t yet." Hearing his words, Alex just hung his head, and asked, "What about Valerie, don''t you think she should rely on you as a man more than a girl?" His words struck the little vampire hard, as he thought about his current relationship with her. He wanted to get closer to her, but only seemed to be doing so as a girl, not as a man. As he thought about it Gasper realized that if he didn''t man up for her, there was a good chance Valerie would get taken away from him. Sensing this was the right time to strike, Alex then continued, "You don''t need to worry about that though, I already talked to her about becoming my woman last night." At his words there was only dead silence, as everyone contemplated his words. The girls listening to Alex''s words all thought he was fooling Gasper, but then recalled Valerie visiting him the night before, and talking to Alex alone for a while in his room. Alex''s words suddenly seemed a lot realer, and those not in the game turned towards the girl in question, wanting an explanation. Valerie herself, who was watching the game from the stands, wasn''t fazed at all at Alex''s words, practically confirming their authenticity. What they didn''t know, was that Alex didn''t really intend to make her his woman, and told her so the night before. Though it would be disadvantageous for him to do so during the game, Alex intended to use this chance to attempt to activate Gasper''s balance breaker. He couldn''t think of a better time to do so, as at the moment they were essentially enemies, and Gasper''s power was too beneficial to not activate. In the novel it was losing Valerie that triggered it, so Alex was playing the villain and trying a similar tactic, except Gasper was losing Valerie in a different sense instead. As for Gasper himself, it was like he lost all sense of self, and nearly collapsed. Alex felt worried for a second that his words had the opposite effect, and wondered how he should explain this to Rias, before a sickening aura started spreading. Gasper then stood with a weird look in his eyes, and those that were about to help him suddenly started backing up. Gasper then asked, "If I defeat you senior, will it change?" Alex was surprised at his question, and asked him to repeat himself. "I said that if I beat you, would Valerie leaving change?" Alex smiled, and said, "Well, it would probably seem pretty manly to her." Gasper then looked up at his, eyes blazing as he declared, "I-I LOVE VALERIE! I won''t hand her over to anyone, and I''ll defeat those who try to take her away, no matter who they are!" In the stands Valerie had a large smile on her face as she heard Gasper''s confession. Suddenly the sickening aura around him exploded, and Gasper became surrounded by darkness, and grew to a much larger size. Many monsters also started emerging from the darkness, as they all surrounded Alex, who simply smiled at what he was seeing. Alex then shouted, "BALANCE BREAK" For the first time in felt like forever, and the battle between two Longinus users started. Chapter 156 - Rias vs Alex 2/2 When Akeno arrived at their base to help protect Asia and Gasper, she was completely dumbfounded by what she saw. The entire area was covered in darkness, and all sorts of creatures found only in nightmares had appeared. If she hadn''t felt this aura before, Akeno would have thought it was some kind of attack, and that Gasper and Asia were in actual danger. She landed next to Asia, who had backed away from the giant beast in the center of the darkness, and asked, "What''s going on, where''s Gasper?" Asia looked confused at Akeno''s question, and seemed to not know how to answer it. She then pointed at the giant beast and said, "Um, Alex said he might take Valerie from him, and Gasper turned into that." When she heard Asia''s words Akeno''s mind blanked for a second, before she put the pieces together and calmed down a little. Normally she might think Alex was serious about taking Valerie, but given the current situation it was possible Alex simply wanted to activate Gasper''s balance breaker. She then realized, if they were to gain an advantage on Alex, this might be her best chance. With the power coming from Gasper, it might be possible. Though it broke her heart to turn her attacks on her beloved(and master), Akeno also knew Alex wouldn''t want her to hold back against him. She spread her eight fallen angel wings, a number that she used to require the braclets from Azazel for, but was now able to use on her own, and summoned holy lightning that started condensing into a different form. Soon four dragons made of holy lightning joined the ranks of dark monsters, as they all started closing in on the scale mail form Alex. Under his armor, Alex was grinning like a madman when he saw the efforts both Gasper and Akeno were making against him. He then used his magic and summoned a storm of fire around him, that started changing form immediately after. Before with his ''fire manipulation'' skill, Alex was only able to imitate simple creatures like serpents. Now however, since the skill evolved into ''fire mastery'' he was able to put a bit more creativity into his flames, as all manner of beasts started emerging from the flames, such as wolves, bears, and tigers. As a counter to Akeno''s holy lightning Dragons, he even threw in his own flame dragons above him. After this the armies of monsters converged on each other. The audience was watching with excitement in their eyes as they saw both sides create an entire army to use in battle. Though the use of familiars was limited, these were beings that were created using individual powers so they weren''t considered the same thing. It was a scene of pure hell, as monsters made of fire fended off creatures made of darkness and dragons made of fire and lightning raged, with the background being pure darkness with fire raging, and with every passing moment the audience grew even more excited. Alex stood in the center of all of this and watched the carnage around him with a calm expression(though no one could tell under the helmet). He then turned his gaze to Gasper and Akeno themselves, who were both staying in the background. Though Gasper was stronger in his current form while also being surrounded by darkness, he didn''t even try to delude himself into thinking he could take on Alex in close combat. However he didn''t try to run away when he saw Alex slowly start making his way over to him. Instead he simply summoned more monsters from the darkness to attack Alex, and hopefully wear him down a little. Alex simply continued walking, seemingly not noticing all the mayhem around him, both Ravel and Elmenhilde had long since took flight, watching for any signs of physical or magical sneak attacks. As the fresh wave of monsters attacked him, he simply summoned the holy sword Ascalon, and cut his way through them with the swords holy light. Gasper continued to summon an endless legion of monsters in a desperate attempt to tire Alex, and Akeno summoned yet more lightning dragons as hers were defeated by Alex''s fire dragons, yet it was obvious they were tiring out instead. As Alex swept his sword through the horde of endless monsters, he cleared a path to Gasper. Having accomplished getting him to acquire balance breaker, Alex decided to wrap up the fight and rushed straight for Gasper. Since he was surrounded by the darkness, Alex decided not to leave his attacks to chance. The sacred gear shouted, as Alex''s punch tore through Gaspers darkness to reach him. Though the power of the darkness covering him should have protected him against physical attacks, Gasper felt an intense pain as Alex''s punch drove into him, and dispelled his balance breaker form. Soon all the darkness disappeared, leaving Gasper gasping for air with Alex''s fist buried in his stomach. His balance breakers activation seemed to have undone his female transformation, as he was now the hulking muscular figure instead of being in the form he usually took. Ignoring the dumbstruck Akeno, Alex leaned over and whispered into Gasper''s ear, "You know, Valerie was watching all of that, and even though you lost you looked pretty manly and reliable. But you might want to repeat your confession to her personally." After hearing Alex''s words Gasper smiled as his consciousness faded. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes later was Valerie''s smiling face. After Gasper retired, Alex turned towards the remaining two from the other side, Akeno and Asia. He didn''t like the idea of attacking either girl, and had an idea a second later. When Akeno saw his smile, she couldn''t help but shiver, and wondered if she accidentally awoke a monster she shouldn''t have with her interests, which ended up only making her more excited. *** Elsewhere on the island each of the different battles were continuing. Kiba and Lint were having a high speed battle through the jungle, he was only using the holy swords as With ''Incinerate Anthem'' Lint had the best counter to his demonic swords. This didn''t handicap him much though, as he was able to use his dragon knights as compensation. This allowed him to use another ability though, ''Dragon Knights of the Holy Priest'', it was something he intended to save for Alex, but he didn''t appear to have the luxury of waiting. After breaking away from Lint a bit, the dragon Knights started glowing before they vanished, replaced instead by various pieces of armor that equipped themselves onto his body. He then turned towards Lint, and sped at her at speeds he would never reach normally. Lint defended against a few of his attacks, before backing up as well, and said, "Wow you get a lot stronger like that, maybe I should get serious as well?" At her words three figures covered in purple flames appeared, before they combined to form one giant angelic figure. After activating her subspecies balance breaker, their battle continued once more. *** Xenovia was panting heavily as her battle with Vasco Strada continued. Though the scabbard of Excalibur made her near invulnerable, it didn''t grant her unlimited stamina. What frustrated her most was how Strada, who had been returned to the age where he was at his peak, seemed like he was just warming up. Irina was off to the side, but seemed annoyed at how she couldn''t settle with Xenovia. Strada looked at Xenovia with joy, as she seemed a very capable successor, and said to her, "Seeing how strong the new generation is makes this old man proud, but there is always someone better. Since after this match we won''t be on conflicting teams anymore, how about I give you a bit of training to help you with the future?" Xenovia was dumbfounded by the old mans offer, she fighting seriously against him, and yet he was offering to help her get stronger. She felt both honored at receiving personal training and indignant at her opponent treating her this way, which Strada seemed to notice, and said, "Well let''s talk about that later, for right now let''s continue our fight." Xenovia looked up at his words and nodded, the two then continued their fight while Irina watched. *** Koneko flew over the ocean towards their base after she managed to successfully seal Serafall Leviathan in one of the jewels Alex had given her, for when they were needed. She had cold sweat running down her back the entire time, and was glad they had a pre prepared way to distract her so Koneko could get the jump on her. They had asked Sona to help by making a VERY dirty video of herself, then distracted her by playing it. Though she was very against making such a thing, Sona was also interested in contributing to her sisters defeat, and eventually agreed as long as the video didn''t play publicly and was destroyed afterwards. In order to do so they made a pre made magic circle on a piece of paper, and gave it to the one they hoped Serafall would be sent at, Ingvild. The design of the spell was to envelope the target in mist while the video played, ensuring Sona''s privacy. While Serafall enjoyed the video Sona made just for her, Koneko snuck up and managed to seal her. When they thought about it, and the fact it worked, it seemed like a very sad way to lose. As Koneko arrived at the shore where their base was, and was also close to where the formation being made to trap Alex was supposed to made, she became completely dumbfounded at what she saw. Alex was sitting in the middle of their base with both Ravel and Elmenhilde standing behind him, they both seemed to have similar expressions to hers at what Alex was doing though. Not too far away was Asia, who was tied up as a prisoner since Alex didn''t want to actually attack her. Akeno was also tied up, but in a very different fashion as Alex smacked her butt. SMACK "Who''s your master?" "..." SMACK "I asked you a question, who''s your master?" "...You are." "Good girl, you deserve a reward." SMACK Koneko would''ve entirely believed Alex was trying to humiliate Akeno while this happened, if it wasn''t for the fact that Akeno was panting slightly and had very red cheeks. Though she couldn''t move much, Akeno then wiggled her butt a little, as if asking Alex to smack it again. SMACK "That''s for trying to attack your master, oh hello Koneko!" As if Alex just noticed her arrival, he called out to her, giving Koneko the brief feeling she needed to cover her own butt to protect it. When Alex saw her hands twitch towards her butt he frowned, and said, "You don''t have to worry, I''m just reteaching Akeno what this signifies." While fingering the collar she still wore. There was so much Koneko wanted to retort at, but left it for later since she realized she was surrounded by enemies. Before she could say anything though, "Rias Gremory rook retired." The announcement that Rossweise was defeated rang out, and Roygun appeared a few moments later looking a little beat up. Alex looked her up and down, to which she said, "That wand made her a little stronger than I thought, but I put a kink in their plans. She was working on some kind of large scale seal when I arrived, it looked like it had both light and anti dragon properties. I already destroyed it though." Hearing this Koneko started sweating even more, as it meant that there was no way to hold Alex when Ingvild finished her attack at any moment. Alex nodded then looked out over the ocean, wondering where Serafall was, especially since he didn''t hear any retirement announcements regarding their area. He then turned towards Koneko who just returned from there, and asked, "What happened with Serafall?" She just kept her mouth shut, not wanting to say anything if it''ll help keep Alex there until Ingvild finished. Akeno however, "If Koneko''s here then the plan we made to seal her worked." Everyone turned towards her in surprise, prompting her to continue, "We made a video with Sona''s help and used it to distract her, while that happened Koneko sealed her into one of the jewels you gave her." Koneko looked at Akeno in indignation at her betrayal, then noticed everyone looking at her. Alex smiled as the three women around him got into ready positions, and he said, "Get her." *** Not even ten minutes later Koneko was tied up next to Asia, while a certain sound rang through the air. SMACK SMACK SMACK Alex was "rewarding" Akeno for spilling the beans, while a peeved Serafall fumed at the side. She was frustrated that she was sealed, but the thing that made her the angriest, "I can''t believed you interrupted the video I was watching, it''s not everyday I get an amazing view of my darling Son-tan masturbating while crying out for her big sister!????" Sadly for Sona, Serafall decided to loudly mention what the video was about, certainly shaming her in front of the entire world in the process. Alex smiled at the peeved Maou, when suddenly a soft rumble was heard, and the edge of the ocean started to rise. As the tsunami roared towards the coast Ingvild flew above it as if to directly guide the massive wave. As she was still learning to control her powers it took quite a bit of time to prepare this massive amount of water, but now it moved like an unstoppable force towards the exact place Alex was. He smiled at the sight, and stood to fight the wall of water. He had dematerialized his helmet and gauntlets while messing with Akeno, but swiftly wore them again as the voice rang out, The small sphere of energy Alex had formed in his hand became like a miniature sun, as he shot it towards the horizon in a line. The raw power in his attack not only dispersed the massive wave with ease, but also punched a hole into the dimensional gap as well, as he effectively destroyed the attack Ingvild so painstakingly launched. The announcement soon rang out, "Rias Gremory pawn retired." Hearing that Alex started sweating a little, and hoped he didn''t hurt Ingvild too much. With that he looked around, Akeno, Asia, and Koneko were all caught; Gasper, Rossweise, and Ingvild were all retired; that left Xenovia, Kiba, and Rias herself. As he thought about this he turned towards the peak of the island mountain, where one could barely see and hear the signs of battle happening. He then sent a message to Grayfia through the system, telling her it was time to finish the match. *** The system beeped in front of Grayfia, and she registered her new orders before turning her attention back to Rias. Though Rias was the one that was obviously on the losing side, both girls were pretty tattered by now with the battle against each other. Even though she was superior, Grayfia couldn''t help but admire how far Rias had come recently, though it was time to end the battle. With the permission she received from Alex along with his orders, she secretly promoted to queen, and the aura coming off of her multiplied as she stared Rias down. "It''s time for this fight to end Rias, three of your pieces are retired, three are captured, and the other two are still fighting. Either concede defeat, or I''ll retire you myself." Rias sighed at Grayfia''s words, and replied, "I already gave up against Vali, I won''t do so twice. I know it may look bad for me, but I''ll fight to the bitter end this time." Grayfia nodded, proud of Rias''s determination, as the two faced off once more. Several minutes later, "The King Rias Gremory has retired, the Red Dragon Emperor wins!" Chapter 157 - Terror After the announcement that he won, Alex was soon teleported to the stadium while Rias''s team went to the infirmary. After finishing up what he needed to, Alex also went to check on those who were sent there. Rias sitting up in bed with just a few bandages from her fight with Grayfia, the bed Gasper was in had a curtain around it, to give him and Valerie some privacy, and finally Alex looked over at Ingvild''s bed. She seemed to get the worse in the match, and was still passed out and covered in intense bruising from head to toe, it was swiftly vanishing however thanks to both the doctors and Asia. Seeing him looking at her, Rias started explaining, "You didn''t actually hit her, from the recordings it seemed she was in the shockwave of your attack, and that''s what got her. They said she''s a little shaken from it, but should recover pretty quickly since Asia''s here." Alex nodded, while also mentally kicking himself for not controlling his attack right. When he recalled she planned to drop a tsunami on him however, he didn''t feel as bad. After explaining Ingvild''s condition, Rias had a bitter look on her face, and said simply, "I lost." Alex was then conflicted, and muttered to himself, "Do I comfort her, or not? On one hand I''m the one that''s supposed to support and comfort her, on the other I am the one who beat her in the first place." When everyone heard Alex muttering to himself, they were also curious as to the answer of that question, and a couple people snickered a little. Rias also heard it, and after a second said with a pouty face, "Oh just come here!" Prompting Alex to sit on the edge of the bad as she clung to him. Though it may have seemed like it, she never cried while she held onto him. After a few minutes, Akeno seemed to realize something, then said, "How sneaky Rias." Causing Rias to twitch a little in Alex''s arms, and alerting everyone that she was apparently already over her loss and was just trying for an advantage. Rias then lifted her head and stuck her tongue out at Akeno, triggering a series of laughter from the surrounding people. They all stopped laughing when Roygun spoke though, "That reminds me, master said I can get a reward if I do well in the match." This caused everyone to be alert, as they turned towards either her or Alex. Alex simply nodded, and replied, "That I did, come to my room tonight and I''ll "reward" you plenty." At his words Roygun beamed, while several of the girls looked like they missed out, but the one most effected was Elmenhilde. She had met Alex long before Roygun, so she found it a little unfair that she got to be with him before her. But as she thought about this she also acknowledged that the only real reason she hadn''t truly become his yet was her own hesitation. What she didn''t see, was that someone was watching her reactions, and decided that she''ll get what she wanted faster than she thought. They then changed the topic and started discussing the other matches left as they waited for Ingvild to wake up. Then the door to the infirmary opened, and in walked Sona who looked around the room with tears in her eyes. She then focused her gaze on her elder sister, and stormed over before grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her while demanding, "Big sis why did you announce what the contents of that video were?! I received so many weird looks after you said that that I had to beg the Gremory''s to let me into their private room for the last few minutes of the match!" Everyone in the room looked at Sona with pity and sympathy, while Rias swiftly looked away to avoid her gaze. The only one unaffected by this however, was Serafall, as she asked Sona, "Son-tan are you embarrassed about loving your big sister? I mean we''ve even down this and that on the bed together!????" Sona trembled as her sister reminded her what they''ve actually done together up until this point, and was tempted to point out they only did those things together since Alex was with them. The man in question decided to step in and pulled the two sisters apart, which earned him quite the dirty glare from Serafall, and then pulled Sona into a hug to comfort her. Unlike Rias, Sona did start crying in his arms at the embarrassment she felt. Though she knew it was a bad idea to make that video, she thought that with the promises Rias made, and the details woven into the spell it would be safe. Everyone watched as Alex comforted the crying Sona, who they all felt was the only real loser of the day, until Ingvild finally woke up. They then collected both Gasper and Valerie, who seemed to have gotten a lot closer since the battle ended, and headed home. It was times like this that Alex was very thankful for Asora, as they were bombarded by underworld paparazzi the second they walked out the doors. "RED DRADON, LADY RIAS, HAS THE OUTCOME OF THE MATCH EFFECTED YOUR RELATIONSHIP AT ALL?" "WILL THE HOUSE OF GREMORY ACCEPT THE REAULTS OF THE MATCH?" "LADY RIAS, DO YOU PLAN TO STAY WITH SOMEONE WHO BOTH BEAT YOU AND HUMILIATED YOUR TEAM?" When Alex heard the questions they were asking, he got a little pissed. It seemed they were actively trying to stir up trouble with his relationship with Rias and her parents, and it kind of annoyed him. He decided to mess with them before disappearing though, and turned to Grayfia, who was still dressed as Bina, and said, "Clear the air Bina." As she was equally, or even more, annoyed at their questions, Grayfia was more than happy to follow Alex''s order. She was smiling under her mask as she said, "Of course master." And activated a recently acquired ability. She had finally bit the bullet and chose ''maid terror'' as her most recent job, and gained a new ability thanks to it. It was a similar skill to ''intimidation'', but was more suitable for situations like this. As Grayfia started radiating her aura, several of the reporters started developing a cold sweat, and the more intense Grayfia''s aura grew, the worse the reactions. It only took seconds before several of them collapsed, fell on their butts, or even wet themselves, as they felt pure terror being around Grayfia, as a result of her ''aura of terror'' skill. Unlike ''intimidation'' which simply made you seem more menacing to your opponents, ''aura of terror'' inspired pure fear in those around you, and could be devastating on weaker opponents. It only took a few seconds before all of the press harassing them were silenced, and the simple task of breathing became impossible for them. After ensuring the message was clear, Alex smirked, and their entire group was enveloped in mist as they teleported to Asora. He wasn''t worried about the mist of teleportation being seen, as it would just be taken as a fancy way to teleport. *** That night they somewhat awkwardly celebrated Alex''s victory. Though it seemed the same as celebrating Rias''s loss, the girls still wanted to do something to acknowledge him advancing to the next round. After a while of this he went up stairs to go to his room for the night, and was surprised by what he saw. Roygun was standing there n.a.k.e.d as the day she was born, an undisguised look of anticipation on her face. Alex was more or less expecting that, what surprised him was that both Elmenhilde and Ingvild were standing on either side of her, except they were wearing gowns instead of just being n.a.k.e.d. Seeing him look at both girls curiously, Roygun explained while they both blushed, "I''ve heard of your prowess, and decided to invite them. Elmenhilde seemed as if she was too embarrassed to be proactive so I decided to lend her a hand, and Ingvild overhead us, so I invited her as well." Alex nodded when he heard her words, but looked at Ingvild with some concern. As far as Elmenhilde was concerned, they had already known each other for nearly a year anyways, so he wasn''t surprised she wanted to advance their relationship. Ingvild however, he only knew for a little over two months; and though he wouldn''t normally let this bug him, her situation was a little unique. Seeing him look at her with concern, Ingvild walked over to him, and he asked her, "Are you sure? This isn''t some misguided attempt to repay me or something, is it?" After she attacked him at their first meeting, Alex had fought a God for Ingvild, she found companionship around him, and after he revealed Asora to her he was working on having a stage built on the beach for her to sing at and to start the process of a beach house/town. He didn''t want Ingvild to think she needed to sleep with him in order to thank him for doing those things for her. When she heard his question she shook her head, and explained, "While you have done so much for me that I could never repay you, I also wanted to advance my relationship with you. It makes me happy to be with you, and I can''t imagine that anyone else would make me feel this way, so I want to be with you." Alex smiled, satisfied with her answer, and leaned in to kiss her for the first time. Though Ingvild was a little awkward, she swiftly got the hang of how to kiss, and returned it eagerly. As they kissed he started untying her gown, and as it slid off her body she joined Roygun in being completely n.a.k.e.d. Alex broke their kiss a moment later, and after admiring her nude body for a second, turned to Elmenhilde. As he approached the pure blood vampire he felt the temperature around her drop a degree or two, normal for the vampires of this world, and something he had gotten used to as he spent more time around her recently. Instead of talking, Alex directly pulled her in and kissed her cold lips, while she was confused for a second, she instead felt as if she was being burned against his body heat. As she felt the heat of Alex''s body against her, Elmenhilde couldn''t help but wonder if this was the reason most vampires formed s.e.x.u.a.l relationsh.i.p.s with humans. Her gown swiftly joined Ingvild''s on the ground, and as he pulled away from her Alex said, "I hope you''re ready Elmenhilde." She didn''t say anything, but the slightly red smile on her face said enough. Alex ignored the slight cut on his tongue from her fangs, and turned back to Roygun, since she was the ringleader it was only right for him to start with her. Seeing him finish confirming things with the other two, Roygun smiled as he turned towards her, and promptly sat down on the bed, and spread her legs as if to invite him. Less than a second later Alex was undressed, and started walking towards the waiting pink haired devil. Seeing the package hanging from his waist, Roygun eyes looked like it was Christmas, and she started playing with herself as he approached. Thanks to her own efforts, and the building anticipation, Roygun was more than ready by the time he reached her. Alex laid down over her, not entering but staying just outside, as he leaned down and kissed her. Though the wait was killing her, Roygun ignored the coppery blood taste and enjoyed the kiss that Alex gave her. As he pulled away he asked, "Are you ready Roygun?" She simply nodded at his question, an almost pleading look in her eyes. Alex didn''t say anything, and just thrusted his entire length in all at once, causing the more than ready Roygun to scream in ecstasy. The first of many that night. (A.N. So I''m going to do a couple more chapters, then I''m going to go straight to finals without doing to fight against Indra. The reason is that I pretty much set them against each other since I tried to keep the brackets similar with the original besides the obvious, and forgot I know nothing about how Indra fights, or his team. After the finals it''ll be only a couple more chapters, then on to the next world! Chapter 158 - Next stage Two weeks after his match against Rias, Alex watched as Vali defeated Tobio Ikuse, and cemented his participation as a semifinalist. Now in a week Alex had to fight the other semifinalist on his side of the bracket, Indra, and Vali had to fight the one from their side, Typhon, the week after that. He didn''t doubt Vali would win though, as his team was well prepared to face godly beings even before the tournament started. Though no one actually said it to avoid potentially insulting the other competitors, the tournament was now largely considered to end with a heavenly dragon showdown, and many were eagerly anticipating it. Alex was waiting at the area where Vali''s team would leave the stadium, and was immediately pounced on by a very energetic Kuroka. As he caught her, the nekomata started rubbing her head against his and said, "Nyan, did you see how well I did Alex?" Alex laughed at her actions, and assured her he did watch her fights closely. The rest of Vali''s team greeted him when they saw him, to which Alex returned the greetings as well. When Vali saw him however, he smiled and said, "I''m looking forward to meeting you in the finals, don''t lose to Indra instead." Alex''s brow twitched when he heard Vali''s words, but didn''t say anything. He was already aware he couldn''t match Indra in terms of strategy, but Alex decided to enjoy the benefits of fighting in rating games. Since the matches were held in pockets in the dimensional gap, it meant he could go wild without lasting repercussions on the world itself. He didn''t say any of this however, and simply said to Vali, "I could say the same to you, I''m looking forward to an interesting match against you." This caused Vali to smile, unaware of what Alex had planned for him. After finishing their business after the match, the members of Vali''s team not part of the Asora group parted from them and they all returned to Asora. Alex Kuroka, Le Fay, and Fenrir who was following Le Fay all returned to Misty Manor, while Vali, Bikou, Arthur, Elaine, and Gogmagog returned to their manor as well. Sadly the giant golem wasn''t able to actually enter the manor, but instead had a large shed made for it behind the manor. As they arrived back at Misty Manor, Fenrir immediately went to lay down in an open area. Alex wanted to laugh when he saw it, the god-devouring wolf was essentially his guard dog now, not that he ever mentioned this directly to Fenrir. He just seemed to like it here more than over at Vali''s, which Alex recalled it only really liked Le Fay out of Vali''s group, and so it was kind of obvious it would follow her here. After parting from Kuroka and Le Fay, Alex went immediately to the underground training area. He walked up to the place Seekvaira was at, causing her to focus on him instantly. Without Alex saying anything she asked, "The usual room and time?" To which Alex replied, "Let''s go a little longer, now that my match is in just a week I want to go more." She nodded and led the way to the training room he usually used. As they walked Alex looked around and was admiring how the training area looked now. It was one long hall that was filled with various training machines and magic formations to increase the intensity of the sessions. Then there was the occasional door that led to the private training rooms, these were where both gravity and time could be manipulated to drastically increase the training. Currently it still required either Alex or Seekvaira to personally activate the formations on each room, however they were working on making it so the formations were permanent, and could be activated by those authorized to use them. As Alex entered the room Seekvaira closed the door behind him, and activated the time formation, turning each hour into three days. Since Alex only had a few hours before it was time for dinner, then to meet with his team, this technique allowed him to squeeze in about nine days of training before dinner. As he felt Seekvaira''s formation take effect, Alex also applied his own gravitational effect, and the entire space instantly became harder to move in. He had long since lost track of the actual amount of gravity he applied while training, and had simply adopted the system of increasing the amount on himself until it felt right for training. With the time alteration, and the increased gravity, Alex started his training. The first thing he did was turn into a super saiyan, after he was surrounded by the now familiar golden glow, Alex started trying to condense the power within him for the next transformation. Instead of swiftly trying to jump directly into SSJ2 however, Alex was aiming at mastering all the aspects of the base super saiyan, and the various forms involved. His first goal was the 2nd stage super saiyan, and then the 3rd stage. Though the forms were judged to be useless in the series, Alex didn''t believe there was such a thing. In the Dragon Ball world everyone capable of fighting was a master martial artist, but this wasn''t the case in other worlds. Though the forms would have obvious drawbacks such as limiting speed and excessive stamina drainage, they would also be useful depending on the situation until Alex managed to reach SSJ2. Though he was only aiming for those two forms at the moment, Alex also hoped to reach the fully powered form both Goku and Gohan reached in order to fight Cell, before leaving the dxd world. Though he could just try to go straight for the fully powered form, Alex wanted to truly master every aspect of his powers. With this thought in mind, Alex started concentrating his ki throughout his body. Several hours after he started this, his muscles slowly started inflating. Chapter 159 - Semi finals For the next five days Alex continued his training regimen. He would spend twelve hours training each day, which meant that with Seekvaira''s time manipulation his training sessions were actually 36 days long, before he would return to the Manor. While Alex focused on his training however, Ravel was focused on the strategizing while Grayfia helped her. The problem they were having was that their opponent was known for his strategizing capabilities, and was said to even have abilities such as mind reading, and possibly even foresight. Then if this wasn''t enough, Indra also possessed enough physical fighting capabilities to earn himself a spot in the top ten rankings, along with Typhon. When Ravel asked the two of them about it, both Grayfia and Serafall told her it would take all four of the Maou if they wanted to beat him. As far as she could tell it would take Crom Cruach, Serafall, and Grayfia all working together to even come close to matching him, and that wasn''t likely to happen since Crom didn''t like fighting alongside others. That only left Alex to fight him. Since they couldn''t really have the situation where Alex fought all by himself again, Ravel had decided to draft a plan where they would weaken Indra''s team as much as possible, then leave the rest for Alex. As Ravel thought of using this type of strategy, Alex walked in from finishing his training, and she immediately stood and went to pitch her plan to him. *** It was the day of the match now, and it had already been going for a couple hours, longer than most thought it would have been. A lot of people were surprised since it was widely considered that Alex would try and steal the show like with Wukong to end as quickly as possible, well they weren''t completely disappointed. Every person watching the match now could only watch in obvious shock, none wanting to believe what they just witnessed, as Alex utterly destroyed the entire game field. The match of the Red Dragon Emperor vs the Heavenly Emperor Indra was widely anticipated since it would be a match of a top strategist vs someone considered a contestant for taking one of the positions of top ten strongest beings. However, none would have guessed just how far he would take his drive for strength, or just how drastic the results would be. The ones most shaken were the higher tier beings, the ones who could see the difference between the usual times Alex went golden compared to this time. Most people just thought Alex himself was being flashier, but a certain few had noticed. Alex''s aura had become more chaotic compared to before, and even though his hair always stood straight up when he used this power, it seemed to have also changed slightly in color and became more rigid. The most drastic change however, was that his muscles seemed to have bulged slightly to increase his strength. The most noticeable difference though, was that Alex was noticeably more aggressive with this change as he decisively defeated Indra. He didn''t even touch his sacred gear in this match, yet had completely overwhelmed the heavenly emperor in raw power with this simple change in transformation. The most frightening part of this to them, was that Alex''s transformation powers were a complete unknown, so how many more stages were there to it? Those that already had a fear of Alex''s capabilities now felt as if he needed to be rid of for good, but the issue with that was that they didn''t know if anyone was capable of such a feat anymore. Instead of the top ten strongest, it was thought killing him would require beings like Great Red or Ophis. As for the man in question, Alex had hurried to the infirmary as soon as he defeated Indra. The only other person on his team not beaten, was Ravel since she was functionally immortal as a relative of the Phoenix family. The plan had been to have everyone else go and try to thin Indra''s team as much as possible, then once they were inevitably retired Alex would step in and clean house. He hated this plan since it required sacrificing his teammates, but eventually conceded when they all agreed to it instead. As a result, Alex was forced to sit back and do nothing while his team was systematically eliminated one by one, until Indra himself retired Crom, then Serafall and Grayfia after the two eliminated most of his own team members. After that, let''s just say it wasn''t a good time for Indra. Fueled with rage at letting his teammates sacrifice themselves, and the increased aggression from the second stage super saiyan, Alex had no mercy for Indra. First he destroyed the entire game field itself, effectively eliminating the remainders of Indra''s team. After that he engaged Indra in close combat since he was strong enough to survive Alex''s initial attack, which had resulted in a one sided beating on Indra''s part. After changing back however, Alex''s main priority was to check on his team. He entered the infirmary to find several other Manor residents already there, including Kuroka who was poking fun at a certain masked maid. "Nyahahahahaha, you got beaten so bad miss maid, serves you right!" As none of the staff was present Grayfia removed her mask, and was glaring at Kuroka in response to the taunting. Rias however was sitting on the edge of Grayfia''s bed and had a look of obvious concern, as she had never seen her big sister defeated before. They all looked up however when Alex entered with Ravel behind him, and some of them immediately rushed him, with the first being of course Kuroka. "Nyan, that fight looked so amazing, beating a god so decisively in that way, with a look of rage on your face." As she was talking Alex noticed a look of passion in her eyes, and noted that him being ruthless to his opponents was a turn on for her. The rest of the girls however, didn''t seem to have the same opinion. They all started giving him looks of concern, to which he explained, "The golden form I use increases the amount of aggression I feel, and since I moved into the next stage of it the amount of aggression increased. Well it also didn''t help that I didn''t like seeing my teammates being beaten so badly, and didn''t do anything about it. Also it doesn''t mean I''ll start going psychotic, so you don''t have to worry." At his words all of the girls made obviously relieved faces, but Rias didn''t seem convinced and asked, "You said the next stage, how many stages are there?" At her words the rest of the girls looked concerned again, and though Alex was slightly annoyed they didn''t seem to have faith in him, he was also touched they worried about him so much. He flung his arms out and pulled as many of them as he could into a hug, while saying, "Truthfully I don''t know how many forms there are, but as I said you don''t need to worry about me losing control. The only form I know of that is truly a risk to those around me is the ape form, and I already have that under control." When they heard his words the girls truly started to relax, and they moved on to the results of the game. Though none really doubted if he''d make it, officially making it to the finals was something everyone found exciting, and those not on his team told him how they''d all cheer him on. Once they got the all clear for his team to leave the infirmary, after Asia helped with their healing, Alex and the rest headed home to share the news he was heading to the finals. They had to tell some people like Yasaka, Ophis, and Gabriel as they didn''t leave Asora much, but also recently added to this list was Barakiel, who was still hiding in Asora ever since he shamed himself in his match against Rias. After that, though they didn''t actually party, everyone went to the beach to put the brand new stage to use for the first time. With Ingvild joining them a while back Alex wanted to do something for her, and this led to a stage being built on the beach. Although it was already winter again in the "real" world, it was still at a summery climate in Asora. A while back Lauren reminded Alex about how Asora''s seasons wouldn''t necessarily match the world''s he was in, and would differ depending on where he was. Though instead of a simple area, this was instead based off of what world he was in, meaning when he went to his next world it could very well be winter in Asora the whole time he was there. These thoughts were driven from his mind suddenly, when a voice spread out from the stage. As the first ever concert in Asora began, a smile spread on Alex''s face. Ingvild''s singing was very lovely, and since she wasn''t using her sacred gear at the moment he was able to enjoy it fully. Though the deadline until the final match was drawing nearer, and he intended to reach grade three super Saiyan before then, Alex decided to just relax that night and enjoy Ingvild''s singing. Chapter 160 - Onto third grade The next morning Alex awoke with a n.a.k.e.d Kuroka clinging to him on one side, and the n.a.k.e.d Ingvild clinging to the other. Kuroka''s passion ended up being too much for her to take without Alex accepting it, while Ingvild was also feeling similar since it was her first concert, and she had a sort of high from her tensions at the time. Looking at both girls, Alex decided to let them rest a bit longer until Grayfia woke them, but he also spent the time waiting grabbing and pinching their butts in their sleep, any man of culture would have. "Nyannnnn..." Kuroka lightly groaned in her sleep, she probably would have woken up by now if they weren''t so intense the night before. He then took it a bit further by teasing the base of her tails, making her body twitch at the stimulation. This went on until Grayfia arrived with Burent and Marion, which woke Kuroka and Ingvild up. As she woke up Kuroka looked around with confusion at why her sleep was felt disturbed, until her eyes focused on Alex. She fixed him with a mock glare for teasing her in her sleep, to which Alex simply dragged her and Ingvild into the bathroom for more fun before starting the day. Almost an hour later the three of them, accompanied by Grayfia, arrived at the kitchen to send off the girls that would be heading out for the day. "Good morning master." Akeno said right as he arrived with the other two, prompting the rest of the girls to follow suit and say their good mornings. Alex smiled and replied with his own greetings, before digging into the breakfast Akeno made. Everyone started discussing any plans for the day, before Gabriel asked, "Do you plan to train some more today Alex?" Hearing this everyone looked at Alex curiously, to which he said, "I''m planning to, I want to reach the next stage of my transformation before the finals. But I can make time later if you want to do something together Gabriel." She smiled when she heard his words, while Serafall asked with curiosity, "You know, none of us know anything about that transformation of yours, how many different forms are there?????" Though he relieved their worries the day before, everyone was still curious about Serafall''s question, and paid attention to their conversation. The answer to her question however, "I don''t know." Alex shrugged to her question, not truly knowing the answer. They all looked at him with dumbfounded expressions, to which he explained, "The information I have about that ability is spotty at best, so there''s some I know about and others I''m not sure exist. I know for sure there''s three different transformation besides the ape form, which what I''ve used so far is just the first one. What I used yesterday is simply a different stage of the same form. As for the ones I''m not sure about, I''ll learn through trial and error." Alex knew about the God forms and the super saiyan four, but since what was "canon" for the DBZ world changed he wasn''t sure if one existed and the other didn''t, or if they both did. So he intended to master the first three forms first, then he''ll start experimenting with obtaining those forms. But before all of that he needed to completely master his first form. After seeing off the girls and promising to spend time with Gabriel after his training, Alex started leaving to go to the training area. However someone he wasn''t expecting started following him when he left, causing Alex to turn around and look at Ophis. He then asked, "Are you following to watch me train Ophis?" To his surprise however, the dragon God shook her head and replied, "Also training." Alex didn''t understand, as he doubted Ophis needed to train at all during her long existence. His question was answered however, when he opened the doors to the manor and found Bova waiting there. When he noticed Alex was also present, Bova hung his head as if shamed, and started explaining before Alex even asked anything. "I asked lady Ophis to help train me since I''ve been so useless lately. I felt that if this kept up then I would only be holding my lord back, but I also didn''t want to ask my lord himself to help me train. After all, what kind of retainer asks their lord to make them useful?" When Alex heard the unnecessary explain action he almost started laughing, and smiled as he said, "If you''re heading to the training area follow me, I''ll have you two accompany me in training today." Bova looked both excited and ashamed at Alex''s words, while Ophis looked really interested since she didn''t know too much about Alex''s powers. Alex then led the way as both of the dragons followed him to train. When they walked up to Seekvaira so she could activate the time manipulation formation, she turned to look at Alex only to have her eye stared twitching when she saw the two with him. After a second she asked, "Are the two of them accompanying you in training today?" Alex nodded, and said, "Ophis is apparently training Bova, so I invited them to train with me as well today." She sighed in response to his words, and said, "I see, well just wait for a while. We restock the amount of food after every training session in those rooms, but I don''t know if there''s enough for all three of you so we have to make sure." Alex nodded and waited while they ensured there was enough food for them, before leading the way to the training room. After Seekvaira closed the door and activated the formation, Alex triggered the increased gravity as well. Since Bova wasn''t as used to this increased gravity as him, Alex only increased it by ten times. He then turned to the struggling dragon, and said, "Come at me." Bova was surprised at what came out of Alex''s mouth and looked at Ophis, who simply nodded in confirmation. If she was going to train him then she needed to personally examine his capabilities, and base his training around that. Though Ophis wasn''t a master at teaching or something, it was a fact that no one in the dxd world knew more about the training needed for dragons than her, the God of dragons in this world. After starting their mock battle, what happened after could only be considered bullying. Bova was lying on the ground panting as the combination of both the increased gravity and Alex were merciless towards him. Ophis then walked up to Bova''s head, and poked it before saying, "Weak." Causing the dragon to cry out in shame, while Alex secretly apologized to him for beating him one sidedly. It wasn''t that Bova was weak, but that Alex was too far ahead of him. Ophis however continued from what she said earlier, "But I will teach you to be strong." At her words Bova began to cheer up, until she continued, "Strong enough to help challenge Great Red." At her words Bova looked conflicted, as he now seemed to be drafted into fighting the Apocalypse Dragon. Alex only smirked at Bova''s situation, and left the two to their training while he started his own. After walking a fair distance away, he transformed into a super Saiyan, then started condensing his power to switch to the 2nd stage super Saiyan. As he had grown accustomed to this process now it only took a couple seconds for Alex to complete it, then he started working on trying to reach the third grade super Saiyan. Both Bova and Ophis were watching Alex in silence, both captivated by the sight. For Bova this was a reminder how far ahead his lord was from him, while Ophis was curious about this new power Alex used. Chapter 161 - Lucifer preparation For the next week Alex continued his training, but he also cut a few hours out of it so that he could spend more time with the girls afterwards. After his session with Ophis and Bova he took Gabriel for a walk along the beach, and each day after he would take one of the girls out as well. First it was visiting a pastry store with Koneko, then he went to a movie with Asia the next day, and Rossweisse dragged him to discount stores after that. Though many guys would find it tiring to go out so many times repeatedly, Alex enjoyed his time with the girls since he was spending more than a month training each day. Occasionally he would have Ophis and Bova join him in training, as they worked towards increasing his strength. Though Bova didn''t seem to realize it, his strength was growing at an amazing rate per session, a result of both Ophis''s training and the increase in Gravity. It was now the day before Vali''s match against Typhon, and both Ophis and Bova were staring at Alex in awe. They had both watched as he spent the last several "days" training with his previous form, perfecting it and trying to move to the next level. Now they both watched in amazement as the aura they felt coming off Alex increased at an alarming rate, and his muscles started bulging to an even more exaggerated degree while his aura turned chaotic. Ophis was simply interested in Alex''s transformations since it was something new, but Bova watched with both amazement and pride at the prowess of his lord, even if he himself was lacking. He was looking forward to the final match of the tournament, when everyone would see just how powerful his lord was. *** The next day Vali had just finished his fight against Typhon and his foster brother Vidar, and he was still shaking from the adrenaline rush of facing the king of monsters. He had been anticipating this match almost as much as the one against his rival, the Red Dragon Emperor, Alex. When Vali recalled the power he used to defeat the heavenly emperor Indra so easily, he shuddered in anticipation. As he arrived at the infirmary where his retired members were Bikou suddenly appeared and clapped Vali on the back while saying, "It''s hard to believe we even beat the king of monsters, now it''s just your rival Vali! Make sure you give him a punch for me, ok?" Vali smiled at Bikou''s words, and the reason for them. While fighting against Typhon''s team his foster brother Vidar focused completely on Bikou, and ignored everything else around them. When Bikou asked what he was doing, Vidar simply replied that he wanted to eliminate the monkey as soon as possible, and chased him until he achieved just that. It appeared he still held a grudge against Alex for sitting on him, not that Vali was surprised, and he also got a laugh out of it. When she heard his words Kuroka smiled evilly, and poked Bikou while saying, "What Nya? Too scared to test your luck against him yourself?" She then started laughing at Bikou''s expense, to which the monkey king sneered and retorted, "At least I''m not sleeping with the enemy, unlike someone else." Hearing this, Kuroka''s smiled widened even further, and she replied, "Nya, Don''t tell me you''re jealous that he gets some and you don''t? Tell me when was the last time a woman let you near her?" Bikou turned red faced when he heard this, and almost shouted back, "Just because I don''t flaunt them doesn''t mean there''s no women interested in me!" Kuroka was about to say something back, when Vali interrupted, "Both of you please be quiet, we really don''t need to discuss either of yours s.e.x life." He then went to sit with Arthur and Le Fay, while the masked member of their team prepared tea. The masked person was of course Elaine, who adopted a similar approach as Grayfia after joining their team to prevent the pendragon house from finding her. Not far from Le Fay was a large grey wolf curled up on the ground, none other than Fenrir, the god devouring wolf himself. The other members of their team, Gogmagog, and the current Zhu Bajie and Shu Wujing had already left after the match. After the tea was served they all started seriously discussing the next match. "Firstly what are our chances of winning?" Arthur asked seriously. At his question they all turned towards Kuroka, who simply shrugged, and said, "You all saw how strong he was against Indra, Nyan. I won''t discuss the specifics about his strength, since Vali probably wants to see for himself, but I will say he''s been training constantly since then." They all nodded at her words, as the fact he''d been undergoing intense training daily was no secret to those living in Asora. Bikou then added, "There''s also his team, which is comprised of three Maou class opponents, as well as a dragon kings son and the former number two of the rating games." Arthur nodded, and added, "Don''t forget Vasco Strada, a former leader of the church. He may be merely human but his power is nothing to dismiss." Bikou laughed and replied, "Yeah, but you''ll be the one to go against him anyways right? You both can be contestants for the strongest living human, it''s only natural you''ll want to go at each other." None argued against Bikou''s words, as they all considered it natural that Arthur would intend to fight Strada from the start. As if going with the flow Kuroka jumped up and declared, "Then I call dibs on taking on miss maid Nyan! It''s time I teach her a lesson!" Though many of them wanted to say Kuroka might not be Grayfia''s match, they let her be. They had several Maou class beings as their opponents after all, even if she didn''t win Kuroka could hold Grayfia up for a while. Bikou then spoke up, "I''ll take the dragon kings son, Bova. I fought his father before so I want to see how he compares." No one argued this, and Vali looked to Le Fay while saying, "Then we might be able to leave Serafall leviathan to Gogmagog, and Fenrir might be able to hold Crom Cruach back a while. That''ll leave Le Fay, Elaine, Zhu Bajie, and Shu Wujing to deal with the rest." They all nodded in acceptance, as they would be unable to come up with a more detailed plan until the game itself started, and there was another week left until it. With that decided Kuroka used the mist to bring them to Asora, and she and Le Fay left to Misty Manor with Fenrir following them. While everyone else entered their own manor, Vali instead left for the training center. After talking with Seekvaira and entering the training room, Vali instantly activated his Diabolos Dragon Lucifer amor and began training. This was the armor he attained through the blessing Ophis granted him with his power of Lucifer, and the reason he made it so far in the tournament. Vali recalled when he asked Ophis if Alex was granted a similar blessing, but strangely all she said was that she was working on it. It was with this armor Vali hoped to match his rival, as he was more aware than anyone the difference between them. With this in mind Vali began his "week" long training session before his match against Alex, the match they both knew would end the heavenly dragon rivalry. Chapter 162 - Azazel cup final match "WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE EXCITING FINALE OF THE AZAZEL CUP! TODAY WE HAVE A MATCH UP THAT MANY HAVE BEEN DYING TO SEE, AND THAT SOME CALLED INEVITABLE! ITS THE RED DRAGON EMPEROR VS THE WHITE DRAGON EMPEROR IN A WINNER TAKES ALL SHOWDOWN!" At the announcers words the stadium and the entire surrounding area shook as the audience sounded out their excitement at the upcoming match. Both teams walked out onto the field to the thunderous applause, each member of both teams equally anticipating the coming fight. Alex and Vali however never took their eyes off the other, as they both them and their respective dragons prepared to settle the most notorious grudge match of the ages. As they met in the middle of the stadium, everyone looked at the two teams lineup. On Vali''s team was Fenrir as Queen, Gogmagog and Zhu Bajie as rooks, Arthur and Sha Wujing as knight, Kuroka and Le Fay as bishops, and Bikou and Elaine as pawns. On Alex''s team he had Grayfia as his queen, Vasco and Crom Cruach as his rooks, Irina and Lint as Knights, Serafall as his bishop, and Bova, Roygun, Ravel, and Elmenhilde as his pawns. As the members of both teams looked each other up and down, the announcer continued, "FOR THIS MATCH WE''RE DOING SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT. USUALLY WE RANDOMLY DETERMINE WHAT TYPE OF RULES WILL BE USED FOR THE MATCH, BUT THIS TIME WE''RE JUST USING THE STANDARD RULES FOR A GOOD OLD FASHIONED FIGHT! THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT PROMOTIONS CAN BE APPLIED RIGHT AFTER THE GAME STARTS!" At their words the audience went even crazier, as they waited for the match to start. No one in either team seemed as if they were put out by this decision, on the contrary it made both sides even more heated up. But that didn''t keep Irina from saying, "I wonder why they''re changing the rules for this match, when they haven''t before?" Alex explained what he thought to her, "The heavenly dragons are the most notorious for their rivalry against each other, and the build up for the whole tournament until this point would be wasted if we settled the final match with a ball game or something." Irina nodded her head in understanding, as she also felt something like a ball game would be anticlimactic for the final round of a nearly year long tournament. Vali then said as well, "This just means we can fight all we want this time, and settle who''s strongest between the heavenly dragons once and for all." As if in response to his words a pair of wings appeared on Vali''s back, and a voice came out directed at Alex, or more accurately his left hand. To respond to Albion''s words the gauntlet appeared automatically on Alex''s left hand, and Ddraig replied, Though neither dragon was technically living anymore, no one wanted to point this out. After the brief conversation a magic circle appeared and they were all teleported to the arena. When the shine from the magic circle faded, what awaited them all was a wide open field surrounded by mountains. In the distance Alex could see Vali and his team directly across from them, awaiting the signal to charge. Almost immediately after they got their bearings, an alarm sounded out signaling the start of the fight, and the two teams rushed each other. *** Bova flew above his teammates as they moved towards Vali''s team, when all of a sudden an elongated staff appeared out of nowhere. Bova immediately rolled to avoid the attack, and turned to look at his attacker, the current monkey King Bikou, who was floating there on his golden cloud. Bikou was cackling in his unique way, as he said to Bova, "Hey, I want to see if you''re as strong as your old man, hang with me a while." Hearing this Bova grew angry, as he turned to look at the annoying monkey. He hated being compared to his father, and now wanted to teach Bikou a lesson. "Bova, retainer of the Red Dragon Emperor Alex, remember it monkey king!" With this words the two started their fight. *** Crom Cruach was advancing along with the rest of his team when there was a sudden grey blur moving right towards him, causing him to make counter moves. The rest of the team kept moving while he stayed behind with the assailant, a large grey wolf fixing its stare directly at him. Crom Cruach shivered in anticipation, and said, "So my opponent is to be he who could devour gods, Fenrir? I am glad I joined this team, I never would have gotten to face such interesting opponents otherwise." Of course his opponent didn''t reply, but the two simply faced each other, and started their fight. *** As Grayfia followed Alex she became aware of a formation surrounding her, to which she simply allowed it to take her. As the formation closed and trapped her inside, Grayfia was soon surrounded by several clones of a familiar nekomata with two tails. "Nyahahahahaha, hello miss maid. It''s time I repay you for all those times you spanked me, when I win I''ll do the same so everyone watching will see you being humiliated!" Grayfia said nothing, but decided she needed to "teach" Kuroka what it meant to be someone''s queen, and the attitude one should have. She silently promoted to queen herself, and prepared to face Kuroka. *** As each of his team members split into their own battles, Alex focused on the one person left for him. Vali also focused on him, as the two took to the sky, he then immediately started chanting, "The pure white dragon dwelling within me, rise up from your supremacy" =the jet black dragon of infinity= "The mysterious and unfathomable father of Devils" == As the chant finish Vali appeared before Alex in his Diabolos Dragon Lucifer form that was a combination of silver and black, and emitted an aura that would even make gods sweat. Twelve devil wings spread from his back, before they detached and formed twelve miniature wyverns that moved to surround Alex. The man in question simply smiled, and instantly transformed into his super Saiyan form, before he then transitioned into super Saiyan grade 2. Alex did intend to use his boosted gear during this fight, but it would be later. He then turned towards Vali, and said, "Shall we begin?" Chapter 163 - Saiyan vs Lucifer, round 2 Alex and Vali stared each other down, both tense as the other battles happened around them. Vali then ordered the wyverns surrounding Alex to attack him, changing them into miniature cannons. A second later twelve powerful bursts of his aura of Lucifer rushed towards Alex, while Vali himself also created a mass of demonic power to attack him. Seeing this Alex smirked, and didn''t even try to avoid the attacks. A second later not just Vali himself, but everyone watching was filled with disbelief at what they saw. Moving at a speed they couldn''t see, Alex used a single hand to slap away all the attacks from the miniature wyverns, and used what seemed like a casual ki attack to eliminate the mass of demonic power as well. All of this happened within a few seconds, and it was painfully obvious that Alex was the one in a superior position. Soon the twelve cannons started preparing another shot, while Vali created an even larger and more powerful mass of demonic power, making people think he was just going to try the same thing with just more power. However when he released the power, Vali himself disappeared, using the demonic power as a cover as he tried to move in close for a direct attack. What no one saw coming however, was that Alex also charged forward directly into the Vali''s attack, completely avoiding the ones from the twelve cannons. Vali was completely surprised when the attack he was trying to take cover behind was suddenly destroyed, and Alex appeared in front of him, before delivering a kick directly into his chest, and shattering the armor in that area. Suddenly being unable to breathe, Vali was sent flying backwards through the air until he impacted the ground beneath him. Surprisingly the ground felt softer than the kick he got from Alex. As a massive cloud of dust rose from where Vali impacted, several of the surrounding people halted their own battles to look at him, before swiftly resuming. As he slowly rose to his feet, Vali looked up and saw Alex standing across from him, not in any hurry to continue their battle. "It seems like you didn''t overpower Indra so easily for no reason." Vali said to attempt to buy time for his armor to be repaired. At this Alex laughed, and asked, "If you think this is impressive, you should see my next form." Hearing this Vali suddenly had a cold sweat running down his back. He was so obviously overpowered by him as is, what would happen if he got even stronger? It was this point that he suddenly heard Albion''s voice, As his reminder the cold sweat covering Vali''s back seemed to get even colder. Vali then tried to convince himself that his shivering was due to excitement, that he was thrilled to have such a powerful opponent in front of him. He then had another thought, Alex''s golden transformation was a complete unknown to everyone, so there was the chance he was just bluffing. Reaching this conclusion Vali regained the confidence he convinced himself he didn''t lose, and prepared to face Alex once more. When he saw Vali''s face, Alex''s brows went up in surprise, and he asked, "Do you think I''m bluffing? Oh well, I planned to present this during the fight anyways." Following his words, Alex then made a face like he undergoing an intense physical burden, and started yelling as the aura around him started fluctuating chaotically. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Vali watched as Alex started growing even more muscular than he already was, to the degree that it became ridiculous and tore the upper part of his uniform. His hair that was already pointed straight up became just as chaotic as his aura, and started spreading every direction as well. His eyes seemed as if they started glowing, and flashed repeatedly between pure white and normal. To accompany his chaotic aura, lightning started crackling around him due to the intense power his body was emitting. Everyone in battle stopped what they were doing and looked towards Alex in pure awe as his strength soared to even greater heights. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" As his transformation finished Alex''s yelling started to tone down as well, and what was left standing there was something one could only describe as a behemoth of a man. Everyone was staring in shock at Alex''s new look now that he finished transforming. His hair was spread out even more out of control than normal, while his muscles were now grown to outrageous proportions, his arms wider around than a normal head, and finally there was the occasional spark of lightning coming off of him. Even though Alex himself was doing next to nothing, his aura now seeming to warp the space around them, disturbing the pocket in the dimensional gap they were in. "So, will we continue?" Alex''s now rough voice sounded throughout the now quiet arena, shocking Vali into remembering they were in a fight. He then concentrated every wyvern on Alex, and started using them to fire continuously at him, while Vali himself started preparing a different attack. Alex didn''t even bother trying to defend himself against the attacks of the wyverns, as to the current him they felt negligible. He watched as the chest area on Vali''s armor started opening to reveal his most powerful attack, Satan Lucifer Smasher, his version of the Longinus Smasher issei used in the series. Alex smiled as Vali started charging the massive attack, putting more power into it than he ever had before. Those that seemed as if they were in the pathway of such an attack suddenly started fleeing, running to the relative safety behind Vali, the only exception was Kuroka and Grayfia as they were still in Kuroka''s barrier. The entire time Vali was charging his attack, Alex was still standing there waiting for it. He had long learned just how drastic the drawbacks of the form itself were, each limb felt weighted down as if he applied extra gravity to it, and he could feel his stamina draining away just by standing there. However the drainage wasn''t as bad as when he actually moved, meaning the energy loss was slow enough while he stood still he could maintain the form for even longer. Taking such action, or lack thereof, also negated the worry about speed, as he wasn''t even moving in the first place. Alex''s goal in using this form wasn''t just to use it to dominate over Vali, but he wanted to use it as a deterrent for those that would plot against him. This was one of the more impressive looking forms for intimidation as long as the side effects weren''t seen through, and he intended to send a message using it to those who might be tempted to make an enemy out of him. After what seemed like a long time, Vali had finally finished charging his SLS and pointed it directly at Alex while his wyverns fled the area. "Try this on for size, SATAN LONGINUS SMASHER!" Vali shouted as the massive amount of silver and black aura approached Alex. Alex simply lifted one of his hands on response to the attack, and took it head on as he was soon engulfed in he silvery black power. Not just Alex, the entire arena behind him. was also soon engulfed in the power, as the entire area shook from the intensity of the attack. Vali was panting heavily as he used up almost all of his energy for that attack, he then started grinning at the fact that he might''ve beaten his rival, until the dust from his attack started clearing. Not just Vali, everyone on both teams, and every single person watching the match couldn''t believe what they saw, as Alex appeared from the smoke of Vali''s attack looking completely unscathed. Vali''s face started twitching at the unreasonableness of the situation, this was supposed to be the fight where they settled heavenly dragons grudges, yet everything he did was countered as if it was nothing! Vali knew Alex was stronger than him to begin with, but this had only made him more eager for their match as he wanted insanely strong opponents, but this difference was too exaggerated! Vali then rushed in towards Alex and thrusted his fist out with all the strength he could muster, only for it to dully thud on Alex''s stomach. Alex didn''t even flinch at Vali''s attack, and said, "I guess it''s time to get serious." Vali looked up at his words, and recalled what Albion said before, ''he has yet to use Ddraig''s power''. At this thought a brief sliver of fear found its way into Vali''s heart, before Alex backhanded him and sent him flying away. With his entire helmet shattered, Vali shakily stood back up, and saw Alex summon his boosted gear''s gauntlet. With that Vali had his wyverns surround Alex as they shouted, And stole a portion of Alex''s energy to add to Vali''s. Though his power would steal half, Vali specifically knew not to attempt to take that much, as there was a limit to how much power he can take at once. He then started using Compression Divider, his ability that halves the size of objects and beings until nothing, but Alex simply shrugged it off. That was obvious, if He was able to use it on everything stronger than him then it was an extremely broken ability. Vali was almost tempted to use Reduce, but Albion had warned him that the ability was ineffective against Ddraig. Alex had his second boost, putting Vali in even more panic. He didn''t know how far Alex planned to boost himself, and had to do something before he finished. Vali then used his wyverns to start siphoning off Alex''s energy while using it to charge another SLS, even more powerful as the last one. Even though he couldn''t take half the amount of power Alex had, Vali was surprised at how much he was getting, before sending it directly to the growing amount of power in his SLS. Seeing this Alex simply smiled, wanting to see what Vali had planned for him, as he was about to reach his last boost. At the same moment he finished his their boost, Vali also finished his next attack. "SATATN LONGINUS SMASHER!" *** Ajuka was torn between ripping both of those boys a new one, and being deeply impressed by the amount of power they both had. He was currently personally keeping the barrier around the game field in check along with an entire team, half of who had already fainted from draining their magic powers doing so, as Alex''s aura and Vali''s attack threatened to destroy it. He had never seen strength this exaggerated, and personally hoped it would be a height never reached again. After his boosts Alex''s aura alone was threatening to collapse the game field, as it had never been designed to hold in that much power. Vali on the other hand had used Alex''s own power to fuel his most powerful attack, and then punched a hole through the game field, while simultaneously destroying everything around them. Shaking his head at their insanity, Ajuka turned back towards the screen showing the game and became surprised at what he saw. Vali was collapsed on the ground after using that much power, while Alex, was exactly where he was when they began. Even after taking all of those hits from Vali, he had not moved a single inch from his current spot, nor did he look as if he took any damage. Ajuka was in complete shock, as he watched the rest of the fight unfold. ** Alex thanked Ddraig for his warning, before turning his attention back to Vali. Due to his sudden increase in strength the aura around him had gotten stronger, and almost seemed to be warping light itself around him. He didn''t have long to admire himself however, and turned towards the collapsed Vali. "What do you say now Vali? Will you submit?" When he heard this Vali felt that which he never had since the day he left his family, fear. The only one had inspired it in him in his whole life was his father when he was abuse him daily, now there was another, his rival, Alex. Vali bowed his head, knowing it was over, and said, "It''s my loss, the white now submits to the red." With his words the fight ended, and the Azazel cup now had a winner. As Vali and his team were brought out of the game field, Alex released his transformations, doing everything he could to not let others see how drained he was. As the announcements rang out stating Alex was the champion of the tournament, all he cared about was going home and sleeping off his exhaustion from using the transformation and powering up so much. What Alex didn''t know was that all the VIPs were talking about the strength he revealed, and the fact that he forced the White Dragon Emperor to submit to him. This fact alone created the arguments that the red and white emperor titles were no longer needed, and Alex was becoming officially known as the Dragon Emperor. He was now one who reigned over all dragons, with only the dragon God and Great Red themselves being above him, but even this was now subject to controversy. Chapter 164 - Relaxing The next several days after the final match ended Alex and his team were quite busy as they were invited to several feasts and get togethers for congratulations; even the Norse invited him, Alex was quite entertained with Vidar trying hard to politely host him in Asgard. The first thing he became aware of after the match was that his title got changed to just "Dragon Emperor", instead of "Red Dragon Emperor", and there was a distinctly different way dragons treated him compared to before. Alex learned this was due to Vali submitting to him during the fight, and now that one heavenly dragon submitted to the other they were considered the peak of all dragons besides the dragon God and the apocalypse dragon. The funny thing about this was that Ddraig started crying when he heard about it since Alex barely used his power to dominate over Vali, and was crying even more when Alex used his wish from winning the tournament to return Tiamat''s treasures that he owed. He made sure to tease the dragon endlessly about it, that he had to waste a wish for his sake due to his unreliability, and even Lauren had dropped a few teasing words at him about it. Besides the aftermath of the tournament, Alex was simply relaxing as he waited for his body to recover from fusing stage three super Saiyan and the boosted gear. He didn''t have the same repercussions from his first experiment right after he first obtained the form, but his body did feel "off" for lack of a better word, and both Lauren and Ddraig suggested putting off any unnecessary physical exertion until he recovered. At the same time the boosted gear was now on a six month long cool down compared to the previous one month, so Alex spent more time than he recalled since being reborn relaxing over the next month. It was during one of these times he was relaxing that Barakiel came to see Alex, and asked with a lot of annoyance, "Are you going to be doing that all the time from now on?" As he looked down and saw Alex laying in one of the lounges surrounded by a literal horde of women as they watched tv. Alex shrugged, or at least tried to while some of the girls around him started laughing. Seeing Akeno directly to his left earned him a glare from Barakiel, but he continued as if he tried to ignore it. "We''re making headway on the equipment and notes we got from Rizevim''s lab, another month or two and we should have the machine not only replicated, but improved." When he heard this Alex sat up in interest, and asked, "Really? Would it be possible to add it to the glasses Azazel gave Me?" Barakiel nodded, and said, "It''s taken us a while since we didn''t want to risk damaging anything, it doesn''t seem like it was a planned result the guy he took this from got, but an accidental success. Regardless we should have it working and a copy made before leaving, we can leave one with Wukong and take the other with us." Alex nodded, actually excited about testing the machines. They were the same machines used by Rizevim to detect otherworlders in the current world. Since Alex was being cloaked the machine wouldn''t work for him, but this function should disappear within the next year when he turned twenty, the same for the rest of candidates. Not only would they be able to tell if there was another candidate in the world they were in, but if the same technology was applied to his glasses, or if they at least received the signal, Alex would be able to track them with precision. While leaving one with one of the new dxd would give them advance warning when someone entered the world. "As long as it''s done before we leave then it doesn''t matter, just make sure you don''t ruin the original." Barakiel nodded seriously, as their top priority was ensuring the original wasn''t destroyed. As it seemed like it was by accident the original creator managed to make the machines, they were unable to make another one until they managed to completely reverse engineer it. Much to the girls dismay, Alex got up and followed Barakiel to examine the progress they had made with the machines. There was then an awkward silence as the two headed to Asora''s Grigori lab, the previous scene still fresh in Barakiel''s mind. Seemingly unable to take it anymore, the older man nearly shouted, "Are you going to keep lounging around all day, or are you going to start being more active again soon?" Alex wanted to laugh at how Barakiel was acting, and replied, "My body felt fine since yesterday, but just in case I''m spending the next two days resting as well. Even when I return to training it won''t be anywhere near as intense as during the tournament, in fact I plan to spend most of my time with the girls until we leave." Alex''s next goal was the fully powered super saiyan, a form acquired from normalization rather that intense training. As such he intended to spend one day a week training with Seekvaira''s time manipulation to get a head start, before returning to "normal" life and resuming his life while in the super saiyan transformation. Barakiel was about to snap at Alex since he was just lazing around when he was already better, but was soon cut off. "By the way, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Barakiel didn''t quite know how to react to Alex''s words at first, but instantly became suspicious and replied, "Nothing, why?" Alex shrugged at his suspicions, and explained, "I invited a few guys out for a fishing trip for a change in pace, Vali, Sairaorg, Kiba and so on. I wanted to ask if you would like to come along." Shocked at Alex''s words, the fallen angel vice governor stared dumbly at him for a few seconds before asking, "You''re not intending to just show off your women, are you?" Hearing this, Alex''s brow twitched and he said, "No just us guys, but if you don''t want to come along-" "Alright I''ll go, I simply didn''t want to be invited just to watch you flirt the entire time." Alex''s brow twitched again, but he let it go and told Barakiel when and where to meet up the next day. After that the two continued to the Grigori institute where Alex personally looked over the new machines he hoped to use. Chapter 165 - Last days Alex woke up a few days later with Murayama and Katase on each side, ready to start training once more. After Grayfia arrived he got ready and told her to follow him as he went to find Rias and Kuroka. Alex wanted to spend this time focusing not only on his training, but he wanted to see the results of the girls efforts from during the tournament before they left the world. After a quick breakfast during which he found the two girls, he sent Seekvaira a message to let her know he was on his way with them, and started heading to the training area. When they arrived however, they found the girl in question in what appeared a deep conversation with a familiar muscle bound figure. Seeing him, Rias said out loud, "Sairaorg, are you here to train too?" When he heard his cousin Sairaorg turned and greeted them as well, "Rias, good to see you. Yeah I''m here to train with the rest of my peerage, what else would we be here for?" Hearing this, Seekvaira''s eye twitched behind Sairaorg''s back, to which Alex had to suppress his laughter. With a single glare from her he stopped, but still had to fight from laughing out loud. As if none of it happened, Sairaorg continued talking, "Since we moved here full time, I decided to add some more training to my group, after leaving the house of Bael I suddenly seem to have a lot more free time..." Alex nodded in understanding, recalling what Sairaorg told him during their fishing trip the other day. He told Alex about how he worked with Sona to silently move his mother to Asora after the tournament, and once that was done he cut ties with the house of Bael completely. After he lost to Alex in their match during the youth Devils rating games, Sairaorg''s worth in the house of Bael plummeted almost to past lows. It appeared they told him that if he didn''t do well in the tournament then he could forget about redemption, even though he wasn''t necessarily interested since he planned to stay in Asora permanently. After losing to Indra his treatment got even worse, even though his opponent was one of the favorites to win it all. Shortly after the tournament ended, Sairaorg quickly moved his mother and cut ties to be done with them for good, not that he seemed too torn up over it. As if also recalling the fishing trip, Sairaorg clapped Alex on the shoulder, and said, "That trip was fun, I don''t think I''ve ever been fishing before. Let me know when you want to go again." Alex nodded, a smile on his face as he recalled what happened during the trip. They had simply taken Zenith out onto the oceans of Asora, and sailed aimlessly while fishing until they found an island and set up for the rest of the day on there. Those that went included Sairaorg, Vali, Barakiel, Kiba, and Sona made Saji attend as well when she heard about it, while Alex convinced Grayfia to let him take Millicas as well. Alex himself enjoyed the trip greatly, and realized it was nice to just spend a day with other guys instead of women all the time, not that he was complaining. As the two talked about the trip for a bit, Seekvaira then interrupted to tell them that their training rooms were ready, ending the discussion. After bidding farewell to Sairaorg, Alex walked to his training room along with Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia. After the time manipulation started, Alex immediately turned into a normal super saiyan and increased the gravity in the room to ten times the normal amount. Both Kuroka and Grayfia started straining as they were unused to this sensation, but managed to stand it after a few moments due to their respective queen pieces from him and Sirzechs. Rias on the other hand fell to her knees almost instantly, and started straining just to stand. "What. Is. This. Nyan?!" Kuroka struggled to get out while Grayfia also looked at Alex for answers, and Rias also listened in, not even able to properly look at Alex due to the gravity at the current moment. Alex shrugged, not even phased by this level of gravity, and explained, "Before we are able to leave the world we need to be sure each of you are properly prepared for the fights ahead of us. At the moment our group is severely lacking in balance for direct battles, as all three of you specialize in ranged combat while we don''t have a proper vanguard, so I intend to remedy this before we leave. As both of you, Kuroka and Grayfia, have the all rounder queen potential I intend to train your close combat capabilities so that like an all rounder should be, I can switch you in battle to where you''re most needed." When she heard his words, Grayfia could only bow her head in acceptance at her own weakness. While she was quite capable at close combat, it was only because it was a trait of her queen piece from Sirzechs, and her real specialty lay in magic with her vast amount of demonic energy. As her master''s servant/maid, it only made sense that she become whatever he needed her to become, be it sword, shield, or Mage. Though it would kill her to admit it, Kuroka was having the same idea as Grayfia. Though she could be considered a capable all rounder like Alex wanted, her close combat capabilities were also severely lacking compared to her magic capabilities. This was thrown in her face during her match against her own little sister Shirone, when the only reason she won was due to the system Alex gave her access to. Rias on the other hand, "And what about me? Since they''re the ones practicing close combat then you can lift this from me, right?" She barely managed to lift her head, a small light of hope in her eyes, before Alex shot it down completely. "Nope, while I''m not going to make you train in close combat as much as the other two, you''re still going to learn some. You''re a ranged specialist, but what''ll happen if someone gets in close to you? I won''t make you master martial arts or anything, but I''ll have you learn enough to protect yourself." The small light in her eyes instantly vanished, as she learned she didn''t get an easy way out. Alex found this exceptionally funny since issei feared her as a "Spartan instructor", who didn''t even hesitate to send him off with Tannin for training. He then turned back to Kuroka, "And I want you to start training your stealth and thieving skills as well." Kuroka looked a little excited at his words and said, "Up to no good, am I, Nyan?" Alex smiled back at her, and explained, "There may be situations where I need someone to do some sneaking, you''re the only one here with experience at that." Even though she was still under the pressure, Kuroka started chuckling at the thoughts of the no good things he might let her do in the future. After all, she was still a bad cat. With this their training for the other worlds began, as they each focused on the specific areas they needed to improve. In the training room he would practice close combat with Kuroka and Grayfia, while Rias spent the first couple sessions struggling with the increased gravity, before he had Grayfia start training her to fight properly as well. During this time there also seemed to be a crime spree in the manor, but the curious part was that anything stolen was returned the next day, only being gone long enough for the owner to note it''s disappearance. Alex never said anything about Kuroka''s training, as everyone watching out for the thief was perfect practice for her, the only one ever actually catching her being Koneko. The entire time he would be in his super Saiyan form, trying to maintain the form as long as possible. The first couple times he could only manage the form for a about a day, but then he started being able to maintain it for a few days, then the days stretched into weeks. During this time the three girls did note he seemed to be less abrasive than before in the form, meaning that after a couple months of training it Alex was sure he had achieved, or was close to, the full powered form he wanted. With this the months started slipping by with nothing major happening besides Serafall, Barakiel, and Gabriel stepping down from their positions, and Ingvild being offered evil pieces of her own. Though it was obviously too early for her to receive her own evil pieces, this was a political move made by Ajuka to show that there was no hostility towards those that carried the blood of the old Maou; even Vali received an offer for his own evil pieces, though he turned them down. With this the last several months of Alex''s life in this world were quite quiet, until the morning of his twentieth birthday, when he woke up to several new notifications. [NOTICE, host has reached the twentieth year milestone, various new functions now open. Happy birthday, and let the games begin.] (A.N. Here''s the update of the statuses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex age- 20 Level- 180 Abilities- Saiyan bloodline Devils transformation Boosted gear Asora Job- mage(20) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, sword user, pyromaniac, staff user Skills- Dragon demons breath(1) Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(6) Intimidation(10) Ki manipulation(9) Magic recovery rate(1) Devils charm(5) Sword technique(5) Staff technique(2) Gravity manipulation(7) Fire mastery(4) Fire immunity(1) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) Poison immunity(9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Toujo Abilities- Youkai Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- adept thief(10) Job history- poison user, space Mage, thief, Archmage, poison expert, master Mage, martial artist Skills- Stealth(9) Shadow cloak(1) Poison mist(10) Poison claw(8) Poison immunity(1) Ki manipulation(8) Magic control(6) Enlarged magic pool(2) Kasha (8) Touki(8) Illusions(6) Space magic(6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Abilities- Natural born devil destruction Job- apprentice martial artist(10) Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage, master destruction Mage, Mage, archmage, master Mage, demonic leader, lord of destruction Skills- Absolute destruction(2) Magic control(7) Enlarged magic pool(5) Magic recovery rate(3) Extinguished star (7) Aura of destruction (6) Reaper''s ruin(2) Command Loyalty (10) Strengthen followers(2) Devils charm(9) Superhuman strength(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Abilities- Natural born devil Immense demonic power Job-martial maid(5) Job history- shield maid, Mage maid, warrior maid, maid terror Skills- Housework(5) Bed skills(7) Immense magic(10) Magic control(9) Magic recovery rate(6) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) Aura of terror(2) Iron defense(8) Superhuman strength(5) Ki manipulation(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 166 - Let the games begin (A.N. Added the updated statuses to the end of last chapter) After he read the first notice, Alex swiftly started looking through the rest. [NOTICE, friend function has been reopened] [NOTICE, title function has been unlocked] [NOTICE, world portal had been unlocked] When Alex finished looking through the new notifications, he then saw the last one was different, it was a message from a friend. -Hey, it''s Anne. He was quite surprised when he saw he had a new message, but he didn''t recognize the name. He did have that one girl that was there when he died as his friend, but he didn''t recall her name being Anne. Suddenly Lauren spoke up to explain, ''She is the girl from that time, but she wanted a full start over and didn''t keep her original name, unlike you.'' With her explanation Alex recalled he could''ve changed his name if he wanted, but chose not to. What surprised him was that she was apparently looking forward to meeting up again, when they only ever had the one conversation together twenty years ago. He sent back a reply asking how as was doing, then started asking Lauren about his new functions. ''Well the general idea behind the titles is that as you travel between worlds you''ll become well known, and the image you make in each world would affect how you''re treated in the next. It''s the same as the titles in the "Death Mage" world, just not part of your job system, but a function on everyone''s system. It was decided to leave it until you turned twenty so that you wouldn''t spend the first world using it to try to get good titles to use later.'' With her explanation Alex understood the ideas behind the titles, and the reason they waited until later to give them access to them. In the "Death Mage" world, it was said nobles would try to take advantage of the titles system to help their children gain advantages for the future. He then looked at the "world portal", but saw something that surprised him. ''It has a year long cool down?'' Lauren once more swiftly explained, ''This is to keep each of you from abusing the ability to get more power, for example jumping to the Dragon Ball world to get a wish, then to Naruto to get a tailed beast, then to One Piece to get a devils fruit, you get the idea.'' Alex nodded at her explanation, knowing that with the system shop only being occasionally available when they reached the hundred level mark, everyone would be looking for other outlets of power instead. At that moment he got another message from Anne saying, -I''ve been good, we can talk more in person so would you like to meet up? Alex knew that if he told her where he was she''d now be able to come to his side almost instantly, but hesitated on telling her he wanted to meet up. They did seem to get along during the brief time they talked after dying, but they didn''t really know anything about each other. Plus twenty years was a long time, the fact she still apparently wanted to meet up was really surprising. Suddenly he heard Lauren''s voice once more, ''She can''t do anything against you, the friend function was designed specifically to prevent those types of situations. And I''ll personally vouch that she genuinely wants to see you again, to the point she''s basically been counting down the days until she could.'' When he heard this even more questions flooded Alex''s mind, as he didn''t recall doing anything to warrant that kind of attachment. ''You did technically die for her, even if it wasn''t your intention.'' Hearing that from Lauren reminded Alex that what happened could technically be seen that way, making him think once more. He then sent back another message saying he would let her know when he changed worlds so she could join him. When he felt the girls next to him stirring(Koneko, Ravel, and Rossweise) Alex put his thoughts aside, and started getting ready for the day. While he was he took a look at his new titles, causing his eye to start twitching when he did. TITLES [Dragon Emperor, Womanizer, Super Sadist, Monstrosity] While he expected the ''Dragon Emperor'' title, the other three were just outrageous, though he could understand them somewhat grudgingly. The ''Womanizer'' title was more than likely from how many women he had, and the ''Super Sadist'' was due to Akeno and Barakiel''s fight in Rias''s match against him. The one that truly caught him off guard was the ''Monstrosity'' title, but after a few moments reasoned it because he actually turned into a monster at one point in the games, plus his "monstrous" strength he''s displayed. He decided to just let it go for the moment, and went to enjoy his breakfast while being greeted with birthday wishes every few steps. By this point everyone had moved to the Manor or Asora, some not even bothering to attend school for the last couple months since they wouldn''t finish anyways. All of them started gathering in the dining room where an entire table of food made by Rias and Akeno awaited them. The two decided to spend the morning making breakfast to greet Alex and everyone, which was greatly enjoyed by all of one present. While everyone was eating, Xenovia asked, "So what''s going on today?" Causing everyone to look up, as they were still ignorant of Alex''s intentions now that he could leave the world. Alex cleared his throat, and started explaining what he decided. "Though I haven''t decided what world I''m going to go to first, I am going to wait two or three days before leaving in case any others try traveling here. Today will just be the day everyone gets together while we keep an eye on the world, as the others could arrive at any moment." As far as his thoughts for his next world, Alex was tempted to go to worlds like ''Dragon Ball'' or ''One Piece'', but knew that as they were the more mainstream world''s it was most likely going to be a cl.u.s.ter f.u.c.k of other travelers there. His main thoughts were to find a world that would benefit everyone with him as far as getting stronger, and finding more citizens for Asora. He planned to spend the next couple days before actually leaving to think about it. After breakfast they all went to the dorms for a party, during which he received reports from both Sun Wukong and Barakiel, that they picked him up on the new machines as soon as he left Asora. This was good, as if they picked him up even after he''d been in the world for twenty years, they would pick up anyone new. After they discussed that, they then started the birthday/going away party. For everyone this was essentially them saying goodbye to everything and everyone they grew up with, even though they couldn''t say it in person. The reason for this was that they had to keep the information about Asora secret, and as Rias, Sona, and Seekvaira were all the future heads of their houses, there was no way their parents would agree with them joining Alex so they were all essentially running away temporarily. They all then spent the day just talking with each other and eating, with the biggest event being a giant cake the girls worked together to make for Alex. All least that was the case until he received another report towards the end of the day, stating that an additional three points were picked up on the machines, heading for what seemed to be the school. When he heard this a profound excitement started filling Alex, as he started preparing to intercept them. The games had began. Chapter 167 - First kill Kyle strutted up to Kuoh academy high school, ready to take over the dxd world, and turn every one of the women there into his personal pets. He didn''t have a doubt in his mind that his powers would swiftly turn even the girls in the Gremory group into his most loyal slaves, and through them he would have access to the higher ups in the three factions. The only problem was that he needed to make sure he was in the right time. According to his "Angel" Darren, they were able to influence the moment they entered a new world, unless there was already someone who was, or had been there. If no one was already in the dxd world then he should have arrived shortly before that slime issei manages to lay his perverted eyes on his women, but if there was already someone there then who knew when he ended up. Kyle grew angry at the thought, that someone might have laid hands on his property before he got here. After arriving at the school, he started making his way towards the old school building where he''d wait to ambush the girls when they got there in the morning. He then however noticed a soft golden glow in the middle of one of the fields, surrounding someone with bright hair sticking straight up, and a similarly colored tail coming out of his backside. The message was clear, he''s a fellow other worlder, and he intended to show off who was boss. Kyle sneered at the display, already convinced of his victory. Saiyans were stupid muscles heads, his mind control ability would be more than adequate to subdue him long enough to use his enslavement ability. Too bad they weren''t a girl, he would have loved to use his charm ability to turn a Saiyan woman into his first plaything. As he walked out onto the field another person joined the two of them, except this one was dressed in what seemed to be feudal clothes. Kyle guessed he was from one of those medieval world''s with adventurers. He then saw the Saiyan glance at a shadowed corner briefly, but looked away a second later. As the two of them approached the Saiyan and stopped a little ways away, he stated, "This world is mine, if you intend to cause trouble then you''re not welcome here!" Kyle sneered at his words, and said, "Typical Saiyan, can''t tell the difference between bravery and stupidity. If you press your head to the ground and beg for forgiveness, then I''ll consider forgiving your slight before making you my dog." He was annoyed that this stupid being wouldn''t show the respect due to his new master, in his previous world he was a god that none stood against with his abilities. Wether it was charming, mind control, or enslavement, his abilities swiftly subdued anyone that tried to stand against him, and this situation was no different, they just didn''t seem to realize that yet. The Saiyan''s face twitched in annoyance at his words, and a brief second later there was a giant magic circle spreading from his feet to encompass him and the other guy. Kyle didn''t react out of shock at the situation, the next thing he knew there was a flash of light, and they were no longer at the school, but in what seemed to be a jungle. He then looked at the Saiyan in shock, not wanting to believe what he just experienced, and from the look on his face the other guy was the same way. Then a horrible possibility entered his mind, and Kyle demanded, "Are you already affiliated with the house of Gremory?!" If this Saiyan could use magic then it was possible he had already come into contact with his women, and made them his. He then grew disgusted that a savage like this Saiyan might have laid hands his property, though that wouldn''t deter him from making them his, it just lowered their value in his eyes. The Saiyan then said, "That''s right, this is my starting world. I just decided not to leave right away in case any idiots wanted to come and make a mess." Kyle grew even angrier at his words, then looked into his eyes while activating his mind control ability to ensure he didn''t lie, and demanded, "Did you already pollute my women as well?!" While Saiyan focused his attention on Kyle, the other guy simply looked as if he found the current situation entertaining. He then said, "By "your women" do you mean-" "Rias, Akeno, Asia, Koneko, and so on! Did you lay your filthy savage hands on them or not?!" Hearing that, the Saiyan looked at Kyle with a glare, before turning to the other guy and asking, "And you, are you after the same thing?" The guy started snickering, and said, "While I am interested in them, I don''t think I''m to the same point that guy is. If you want to deal with him first then I''ll just stay back here and watch. Don''t worry I won''t try anything while your back is turned, I''m kinda interested in personally seeing the strength of a super Saiyan." Hearing this, Kyle frowned at how they were ignoring him, and shouted, "DON''T IGNORE ME!" Causing both of them to look his way once more. The second the Saiyan looked back at him, Kyle started applying his full mind control powers, and demanded with authority, "You will kneel before me, and beg for forgiveness before escorting me to my property. Then after being punished I''ll make you into my most loyal dog, it''s more than sc.u.m like you deserves. NOW KNEEL!" At his words the Saiyan started slowly walking over before stopping in front of him, Kyle smiled at his new pet, and continued, "Good, now take me to my new women, and I''ll show them their rightful place is on their backs serv-" The rest of what he was trying to say was stopped, along with his breathing when a large hand closed around his throat. He suddenly couldn''t feel the ground beneath anymore, as the Saiyan lifted him into the air. For the first time since reincarnating, Kyle felt fear. *** Alex was pissed, first this guy referred to Rias and the others as "his women", then he said he''d turn him into his dog. Alex could tell he wasn''t kidding either, during the times this guy looked him in the eyes he felt a compulsion to do as he said, even stronger than the time Rias tried to use her Devils charm when they first met. It was only thanks to the fact that he had the ability himself that he resisted, considering how strong the compulsion felt, Alex decided to start training his own Devils charm once again in the near future. His only concern now, was ensuring this jackass suffered before dying. Alex never pretended to be a good guy, and the amount of bullshit this guy spewed made him mad. He decided to get a little creative with it, maybe use his gravity manipulation for more than just training. He started thinking of an idea, and made a cruel smile. He released the mans throat, and started manipulating the gravity around him into a sphere. Kyle looked up while laying on the ground in fear at the one who literally just held his life in his hands, scared of what he might be doing next. He saw some kind of sphere forming in the Saiyan''s hands, that got progressively smaller until it was about the size of a basketball. He then looked at Kyle, and said with an unnerving grin, "Take a guess what this is." Kyle was too scared to answer, so Alex started explaining. "This is a sphere of compressed gravity, to one-thousand times the normal gravity. I use gravity to train so it wouldn''t have too much of an impact on me, however, what about someone who doesn''t seem to have spent a single day of their life training?" At words Kyle passed plain fear, and entered pure terror. The sphere didn''t seem to be doing anything at the moment, but he guessed it was because the Saiyan was controlling it. It eerily floated above him until it came to a stop a few feet behind his own feet. Less than a second later there was an intense pull on him, as he started flying back towards the sphere. "NOOOOOOOOO!" Kyle screamed as he flew back towards his death, only for another magic circle to appear around his wrists, holding him in the air. He looked at Alex once more, a small spark of hope in his eyes. This hope was quickly smothered however with Alex''s next words. "No no no, we can''t have that. I don''t want you dying too quickly on me, you have to suffer a bit first." Following those words the jungle was filled with bloodcurdling screams as Kyle''s body was pressurized and compacted bit by bit by the intense gravity he was under, until finally the screaming stopped, and Alex let him go. He then canceled the ability, and walked up to where the sphere used to be. Sitting on the ground was a perfect sphere that was all that was left of the guys body. A moment later Alex watched as it turned to dust, and all trace of his existence disappeared from the world. A moment later Alex heard Lauren''s voice announce, ''Congratulations on your first otherworlder kill Alex, there''s a thing when you kill another contestant, but I''ll put it on hold until you finish up what''s going on there.'' Alex thanked her, and turned to the other guy. He knew there was a third guy around that also got caught up in the teleportation, but they seemed to have an ability to hide from their machines, their signature appearing and disappearing occasionally. He then said to the second guy, "Sorry to keep you waiting, I was a little busy." The guy laughed, and said, "Not at all, after all I got to see you''re more than just a super Saiyan." Alex smirked, and got ready to face his second otherworlder. Chapter 168 - Nick and Ghost As Alex and the other man faced each other, both started getting ready to face off. The man started loosening himself up, and said, "My name is Nick, I''m from a world where there''s adventurers and monsters, dungeons and quests. Thanks to my abilities I reached the pinnacle of what that world had to offer, what they considered a SS class adventurer. I even managed to kill the demon king and get to the hundred level milestone." Alex nodded his head in admiration, and said, "That''s impressive, I''m Alex. I''ve been fighting top tier monsters and gods of this world, while constantly trying to master my own capabilities. I reached the hundred level milestone a while back." With introductions out of the way, Nick suddenly disappeared, and Alex felt an attack coming at the back of his head. He swiftly dodged and turned to look at his attacker, wondering how he got behind him so fast. He decided not to think about it too much though, as one of Nick''s abilities was most likely related to instant movement instead of just speed, and there was no telling which ability he was actually using. This started the game of cat and mouse, as Nick chased Alex everywhere with his instant movement ability before attacking him, and Alex would simply dodge with superior reflexes and speed. He was waiting for Nick to use his full powers, as a demonstration to how unique the powers of otherworlders were. Curiously enough Nick never seemed to use his abilities, making Alex think he might have gotten less flashy powers, or he was trying to hide them. Alex did notice however during the times Nick tried to hit him, that he seemed to be trying to correct his attacks as if he was aware of how Alex planned to dodge, except Alex was too fast for him to hit. He then decided to test something, and finally counter attacked for the first time. Though he didn''t project his attack as much as possible, and lowered the speed to something that Nick could react to. Alex then watched as he dodged each of his attacks as well with ease, Nick''s composure not even breaking as the potentially lethal attacks just barely missed him. Alex then smiled as he believed he realized what Nick''s second ability was, and separated from him before asking, "Is that observation Haki?" When he heard a Alex''s question Nick stopped moving, and gave him a blank look. A minute later he started laughing and replied, "That''s right, I forgot I was facing other people who would have an idea about my abilities. In the other world people just thought I was good at reading my opponents, or that I was a guy loved by fate since all of the attacks aimed at me missed. It also helped me with dungeons since it would let me find monsters before they ambushed me." They then laughed for a second, before leaping back into trying to kill each other. After a few more rounds of testing the limits of Nick''s Haki, Alex decided to try and end the fight since it seemed he didn''t intend to use his powers. He stopped limiting his speed and rushed forward, punching Nick''s chest hard enough to blast a hole through it, or so he thought. Almost instantly the hole closed around his fist, and for the first time since being reborn, Alex''s hand was burned. He gritted his teeth and swiftly pulled his hand out of Nick''s chest, leaving a glowing hole of molten rock behind. He looked at Nick''s now smug looking face, and said, "Really? Haki and Devils fruit?" He smirked at Alex''s words, and said while turning his hands to magma, "Yeah I was a fan of one piece, plus the Magu Magu no mi helps nullify physical attacks while giving me very powerful attacks as well. It was hard trying to keep it a secret in the other world since people wouldn''t understand someone made of magma, so I would always work alone. I''m surprised though, you''re the first person I''ve done that to that kept their hand afterwards, must be thanks to your high defense from being a saiyan." At his words Alex looked at his hand again, before doing a partial transformation and turned both of them into dragon claws. Alex himself was mostly immune to fire, but he never tested magma, his scales should hopefully protect him a bit from it. He then smiled at the situation, a devil fruit user was perfect to show the uniqueness of the powers they had access to. While Alex could think of nearly a dozen different ways to win regardless, he decided to draw this out a little and practice against a devils fruit user personally. Temporarily abandoning close combat, Alex started firing ki attacks at his opponent, effectively destroying entire chunks of his body. Nick then swiftly regenerated, and started forming massive blobs of magma to throw at Alex. With each miss the blobs started burning the surroundings, leading to the jungle being set ablaze. Alex smirked at this, as Nick most likely thought that even if his attacks missed, the smoke and fire would still be enough to turn the battle in his favor. The flames then started bending to his will, and took the forms of various animals before converging on Nick once more. He was surprised that the fires he started suddenly turned against him, but smiled at the futilely of the attack as he was magma, no fire could burn magma. He simply ignored the attacks, and turned most of his body into magma and leapt into the air. What happened after that could only he described as armageddon, as large blobs of magma rained down on what he just realized was an island, turning most of it into a raging inferno. *** Ghost was running place to place on the island, trying to find a safe spot to turn tangible again as another blob of magma passed through his currently nonexistent body. It was times like this he greatly appreciated having his Void ability, allowing him to not only turn invisible, but also made it so that he was untouchable and undetectable while it was activated. It was also what made him such an accomplished assassin in his previous world, which was also where he got the name Ghost. The main drawback was how draining the ability was, and that he also unable to attack while in this state. He ran till he was at the beach on the edge of the island, outside the range of the devil fruit users attack. Even seeing all of the destruction at his hand, Ghost had no doubt of the saiyan''s victory, even if he hadn''t seemed to take the fight seriously yet. However he doubted even the saiyan would be able to survive a single cut of his sword, Murasame from Akame Ga Kill, capable of inflicting near instant death after piercing the skin. Ghost stood out by the beach, waiting for the fight to end. Though he didn''t doubt that Murasame would kill the Saiyan, he didn''t want to be caught in a direct fight with him, he''d be dead before he even unsheathed his blade. Only a few seconds later the rain of death stopped, and the sounds of battle continued. He then sat down on the beach, and listened to the roaring of the raging inferno, and the distinct sounds of combat as he waited for the two to tire out. Soon the sounds of fighting started dying down, so Ghost reentered the Void and started heading back into the island to find the other two. The flames around him continued raging, but he wasn''t affected by them thanks to his Void. The sounds of fighting got louder as he closed in on the fighters, but then Ghost heard something that made his blood freeze. As he heard the boosted gear shout out, Ghost suddenly wanted to turn around and run the other way. A super Saiyan with the boosted gear? The worst part was that he even had the penetrate ability, Ghost wasn''t sure if it would work against his Void or not, and was debating on turning the other way this time. He decided it was too late for second guessing, and his time in the Void was running out while he was still in the middle of a burning island. He staked it all on taking the Saiyan''s life and possibly being able to escape. He continued to where the fighting was, and unsurprisingly saw the Saiyan standing over the devil fruit user, his left hand gauntleted. He then said, "So penetrate does work on logia fruit users, that''s good to know." The Devil fruit user laughed bitterly, and asked, "Did you take our fight seriously at all, or were you not sure if that move worked?" Alex shrugged, and replied, "I had a few different ideas, but wanted to test it out." Hearing his words, Nick could only shake his head at himself. When Alex went to deal the finishing blow, Ghost moved in for the kill. He generated no sound in the Void, so he didn''t worry as he unsheathed Murasame and swung at the Saiyan''s neck. He couldn''t attack while using the Void, so Ghost deactivated it when Murasame was within inches of the Saiyan''s neck. One of his abilities allowed him to completely ignore an opponents defense when attacking, so he completely unsurprised when his sword sliced through him. He was surprised when Murasame passed completely through him, and sliced into the ground to the side. He looked up in surprise, as the Saiyan he tried to attack started flickering before disappearing completely. He panicked for a second, before a voice said from behind him, "So that''s where you were." He then felt something hit his head hard, knocking him to the ground. Ghost looked up in a daze, and saw the Saiyan staring down at him and the devil fruit user. The last thing either saw was a staff appearing in Alex''s hands, and the gauntlet on his hand shouted out, Before it swung at both of their heads, promptly turning both to paste. He then watched as several seconds later both of them turned to dust, and vanished. As he continued watching the spot they both vanished, Alex was deep in thought as the fires continued raging around him. If these three were anything to go with, if he died then there would be no body. There would be no real evidence of his existence left behind, except the memories of those he left. A voice suddenly said, ''That''s what happens when a contestant loses, even if you all can travel freely between worlds, we can''t allow evidence of another world to be left behind for others.'' Alex didn''t say anything to Lauren''s words, giving her the chance to ask. ''Would you like to hear what happens when you kill another contestant now?'' Alex was pulled from his though, and nodded his head even though she wasn''t physically looking at him. Lauren then continued, ''When you kill someone else with powers, you have a small chance to win their powers. Instead of experience there''ll be something like a lottery wheel, with options like experience itself or levels, while powers of your opponent would be the "grand prize". You get one spin per opponent, so now you have three. Would you like to spin them now?'' Alex nodded again, and a wheel appeared in front of him, with three lists alongside for each contestant he killed. The first one listed, Charm Mind control Enslavement magic These were the powers of the first guy Alex killed, the one whose name he didn''t get, but the system listed above them as Kyle. The second one listed, Magu Magu No Mi Resist status ailments Haki Shundo These were from Nick, who came here from an adventuring world. Alex realized that he never saw a fourth ability of Nick''s, but the resist status ailments explained it. He then moved onto the third one, Murasame Void walker Ignore defense Shadow clone no jutsu This was from the third guy, labeled as Sean, who Alex never actually saw until he tried to kill him. He was surprised to see the shadow clone ability there, and wondered why he didn''t use it instead of attacking him himself. Figuring he''ll never know the answer, Alex just ignored it, and said to Lauren, ''Start the wheel.'' And watched to see if he''d get new powers. Chapter 169 - Farewell dxd A ways away from the main settlement of Asora was a large meeting hall that had just finished construction recently, designed for important discussions among the most important figures. Currently sitting in it were those same people, there was Rias who brought Akeno and Asia, Sona who brought Tsubaki, Sairaorg and Seekvaira who came by themselves, Vali along with the majority of his team, his retainers Bova and Roygun, and finally Ravel, Barakiel, Gabriel, Yasaka, and Serafall. Filling the rest of the seats at the long table was the rest of the new dxd. Every single one of those seated were watching a large screen with a variety of expressions, some where pale, some had looks of absolute shock, while only a couple others looked as if Christmas came early. On the screen was the video taken of Alex''s battle with the other worlders, showing the truth of what he told them about them and their unique powers. The first person to die was dismissed quickly as a weakling, the other two were held in a higher esteem, even though one was hidden up until Alex killed him. The one they focused on most of all, was unsurprisingly the devil fruit user Nick. None of those gathered had heard of someone having the ability to turn into magma itself, effectively becoming invulnerable to almost any physical attack. While they were all watching the replay for like the dozenth time in the hour since the fight ended, Alex was sitting at the head of the table with Asia at the side healing the burn on his hand, and Grayfia standing behind him. He was thinking bitterly about this luck at the lottery wheels after the fights. He won two "grand prizes", one was good but wasn''t something he wasn''t sure he''d use, while the other was something that almost made him cry. His third round got him ten more levels, putting him at level 190, just another ten more until he reached the next milestone. His "good" pull was the Magu Magu No Mi devil fruit, which Alex was torn about eating. On one hand it was one of the most powerful fruits used in the One Piece series, while on the other it would eliminate his ability to swim, and Alex already felt he had enough weaknesses with light/holy and dragon slayers. Plus if he was a super saiyan that couldn''t swim he''d be a laughing stock. He checked with Lauren when he won it, and it seemed that it might be possible to negate the side effects of being weak to water, but it would take time finding something to counter it. One option she said he had was to give the fruit to someone else if he didn''t want to use it, which he was somewhat tempted to do instead of leaving it sitting for who knows how long. Though if he did that, then who would he offer it to? He didn''t think any of his current peerage members would be a good match with its power, so he could put it off again until he found a good match, or give it to someone not part of his peerage. The one he was thinking of offering it to was Bova, but he didn''t make the offer yet since he really wanted to think about it. His other new ability, the one that nearly made him cry, was Kyle''s enslavement Magic. Why, of all the options available, did he get that one?! It especially annoyed him since Alex already had his evil pieces, which to him was the better option since they made his servants stronger and gave them access to his system. Enslavement magic on the other hand didn''t, and wouldn''t be of use for combat. The only benefit of enslavement magic that he could see, was the absolute obedience of his orders. After thinking for a few moments Alex supposed he could use it on enemies for interrogations and such, though he wished he could have gotten something more useful. He''d have to find someone to test it out on soon though. The most annoying thing to him about the whole situation, was that he missed a chance to get Haki for free. Alex had been thinking about what his next ability should be, and one of the ones he was considering the most was Haki, so he was hoping to get it after spinning the wheel. But of course reality wasn''t kind, so he had to wait until he reached level two hundred to get it. "Alex!" Someone said suddenly, snapping Alex out of his thoughts. He looked up to find everyone looking right at him, evidently finished with watching the replays. He then stood up and said, "This is the potential threat I wanted to warn you his about, any questions?" Almost immediately Cao Cao asked, "Do you know anything about their abilities besides becoming invisible or turning into lava?" Everyone looked alert at his question, and Alex thought for a second before asking in return, "Before getting into that, tell me, who do you guys think was the biggest threat to everyone out of those three?" Almost everyone agreed that Nick with his Devils fruit was the biggest threat, with only a couple saying that Sean was, no one thought Kyle was any kind of threat. Alex laughed slightly, and pulled up the image of Nick before saying, "Believe it or not, this guy was the smallest threat to anyone out of the three." No one know how to respond to Alex''s words, but then that was to be expected since they didn''t know the details of each of their abilities like he did. He then started explaining, "His power is from something known as the Devils fruit, as you can see it grants near invulnerability, and gave him the ability to attack with lava. This however can easily be countered if one knows how and uses their head, especially if they are near a source of water since devil fruit users can''t swim." At his words everyone started thinking, before he pulled up a picture of Sean and continued talking, "This guy on the other hand had what I won''t hesitate to consider deadlier abilities. For instance he didn''t turn invisible, it was a void ability that made him completely intangible, once again negating all forms of attacks. Another ability he had allowed him to completely ignore any forms of defense his target had, like a superior form of my penetrate. And finally that sword he used had the power to almost instantly kill any who it cuts through a curse." As Alex finished explaining what Sean''s abilities were there was complete silence as they contemplated the implications of someone with those kinds of powers and equipment. But that was nothing compared to what Alex said next, as he pulled up the picture of the first guy he killed, Kyle. "And this is probably the most dangerous one out of the three of them." When they heard Alex''s words everyone looked at him with confusion, but when he continued they all turned deathly pale. "His abilities were all about manipulation, wether it was his charm that made women fall for him, mind control to turn other''s into his puppets, or his enslavement magic to force others to do his bidding against their will. Using these three abilities he managed to turn several countries, and any women he fancied into his playthings." As he repeated some of the things Lauren told him about Kyle, everyone have a variety of different reactions, but the girls had reacted the worst after hearing how he treated women. For those staying behind, their new task was a little more daunting now that they knew some of these people could kill or control them without even knowing it, but that didn''t frighten them. Some of them like Cao Cao and Sun Wukong were actually looking forward to going against people that fought in ways none of them ever conceived. Now that they had an idea of what they were up against, and the powers involved, those staying behind felt a lot better about facing these people. Seeing the confidence in their eyes, Alex felt a lot better about leaving the world in their hands, at least until he could find a more permanent solution. With this everything was calm until the day Alex decided to leave. *** Two days after facing the other three otherworlders, Alex was ready to leave the dxd world. He stood outside the dorms with Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia at his side, all ready to follow him wherever he led them. Everyone accompanying them was already in Asora, ready to leave with him. He turned to the three girls, and asked, "Are you ready? There''s no turning back from here on out." All three girls nodded, and Rias took his hands before saying, "If I had second thoughts about following you, then I would''ve left a long time ago, where you go I go." The two smiled at each other, before Kuroka suddenly clung to his back, and declared, "Don''t forget me! Until you give me as many kids as I want you''re not getting rid of me either, Nyan!" Rias shot a glare at Kuroka for interrupting, to which the nekomata simply stuck out her tongue. Ignoring both girls, Grayfia then said, "As both my master and my lover, it would be the greatest disgrace of my life to abandon you now. My life is yours until the end." Alex looked at all three women, touched with how loyal they were to him. He then sent a message to Anne saying he was leaving his current world, and would notify her where to meet up. After that he told Lauren where and when he wanted to go, having spent the last two days thinking about the best world to visit next. A second later a portal of swirling gray opened in front of them, and without hesitation Alex stepped through, followed closely by Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia. (A.N. About the powers, remember it''s like a lottery system so the mc won''t automatically get amazing powers every time. The fact he did get two powers, regardless of what they were, was already stretching it.) Chapter 170 - New world, new allies As Alex stepped out of the portal with the three girls following him, the first thing they saw was a lot of forestry around them. The girls started looking around curiously, before Rias asked, "So where are we?" Alex sent Anne a message saying where he was, before leaning back against a tree, and explaining, "This world is known as Tortus, a medieval world where monsters and magic is commonplace, and kings and lords rule the land. There''s also the demon race and the Demi human race alongside the humans, that are always in an endless cycle of aggression against each other and humans." He then went on to explain the various things he knew about the world, but left out the story aspects that he knew; like how the world itself was part of a certain series he read, Arifureta. While explaining Alex left out quite a few details of the world, as he would most likely have to repeat everything when Anne arrived and when he went to Asora next. But he did explain the state of the worlds politics, like how religion was one of the biggest factors in how the world ran, and was the primary reason for the wars between the races. The thing which made Kuroka especially frown was when he explained that slavery existed in this world, and the ones enslaved were mostly the Demi humans, also called beastmen. She then made her tails and ears disappear, preferring to hide them than be considered a slave, while Alex himself kept his tail wrapped around his waist so it looked like a belt. Soon Grayfia asked, "So where exactly are we?" Alex double checked with Lauren about their current location, and said, "We should be just outside the Capitol city of the Hairihi kingdom. We''ll wait here for Anne, then head into the city to get our bearings. After a few stops to sell some items I prepared for funds, we''ll head to another town away from here." As he already told them about Anne none of the girls questioned waiting for her, so they just asked a few more things about the world itself. A few minutes later, another portal opened a few feet away from them, all four of them watched as a woman stepped out it. None of them knew what to think when they saw her. The woman was covered in painted golden symbols from head to foot, contrasting her dark skin tone and matching the paint that had been plastered onto her hair. All the clothing she wore was a single band around her impressive chest, and what seemed to be a long strip of cloth tied in a peculiar fashion around her waist. After a few seconds of thinking Alex recalled that it was called a fundoshi. Other than that it seemed she wore only accessories like necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, also made with or colored gold. Seeing them all gawking at her, the girl blushed despite her darker skin color, and asked, "Alex right?" Alex nodded and said, "That''s right, you must be Anne. I have to say you look a lot different than I remembered." Anne smiled at his words, and said, "I hope in a good way, and I could say the same of you." She then turned her gaze to the three girls with him, before frowning. Alex didn''t tell her about them since he didn''t quite know how to best explain the fact that he intended to build a harem to someone. He was saved(?) from having to do so when Kuroka stepped forward. "Hi there, I''m Kuroka Nyan! Are you planning to join Alex''s harem too?" At Kuroka''s words Anne''s eyes widened, and she looked at the other two as well as they all nodded in confirmation of being part of Alex''s harem. She then turned a glare at Alex himself, but before she could say anything Grayfia stepped in and said, "Before getting into all of that, there are a few errands that need to be ran." At her words everyone looked at her, but Grayfia didn''t stop there and continued while looking directly at Anne, with her golden paint and distinct lack of attire. "I will cut to the point, that appearance is unsuitable for public display, therefore we should stay and help miss Anne clean up while the master runs into the city ahead of us. Is that acceptable master?" Though Grayfia was wording it in a way like she was asking his opinion, Alex knew she was indirectly telling him to leave them alone. He put up his hands in defeat, figuring the girls wanted to spend some alone time with someone none of them knew. "I''ll be back in a bit, maybe a couple hours." Was all he said as he turned around and walked off. No sooner than when Alex disappeared, did the three girls pounce on Anne. While Rias held her down, Kuroka swiftly stripped her while Grayfia prepared a tub of hot water. Anne didn''t know how to react to the tub of water magically appearing, until she realized she was suddenly n.a.k.e.d in the middle of the woods. Both Rias and Kuroka then started dragging her towards the tub, causing Anne to fight back, not wanting these random women to do whatever they wanted to her body. As one of her hands touched the water however, she faltered, and they dumped her into the near scalding tub. When her head popped out of the water she was sputtering in surprise, as she was surrounded by warm water for the first time in twenty years. As the world she was in until now was extremely primitive, she was forced to make do without any luxuries from the twenty-first century. This meant no real baths, soap, shampoo, conditioner, or razors, for twenty years. After being forcefully reintroduced to these commodities, Anne quickly forgot about the three women doing whatever they wanted with her body, and just enjoyed what she desperately missed for two decades. *** Alex entered the Capitol city of the Hairihi kingdom, and followed directions to a couple of the local shops where he sold some weapons and tools to get start up funds in this world. Alex didn''t need much, just enough for some maps, books, and a couple rooms for the night since he wanted to spend some time around Anne before showing her Asora. Alex was planning to enter one of the Great Labyrinths of Tortus, Orcus, as soon as possible for the first step of what he wanted to accomplish here. Alex then turned towards his next destination, the castle, and started walking. Now he wanted to ensure he was in the time he wanted, since Lauren told him that if someone was already here he would not likely arrive at the time he wanted. Having Ddraig suppress his powers like when he was in hiding in the dxd world, Alex snuck into the castle grounds and headed to the training area. Dodging the training soldiers, he soon arrived and nearly jumped with joy at what he saw. Gathered around a knight in armor was a group of teenagers, who Alex could hear were talking about skills and stats. *** Nagumo Hajime was a normal everyday high schooler, until the day he along with most of his class was summoned to another world to act as heroes. He wasn''t too interested in doing as they wanted, but since most of the class was going to help, then he might as well help as well. They were now in the courtyard for their first official day of training. Hajime looked at the small metal plate in his hands, as the commander of the Knights Meld finished explaining their purpose. According to him they displayed their statuses and skills like in a video game, and as summoned individuals they would all be cheat-like characters. His otaku nature was initially excited when he heard this, but then the cruel reality smacked him in the face. According to Meld the average persons stats are around ten when they start out, while as cheat-like characters they would already have a head start, yet Hajime''s stats were all at ten. Then as the other people in his class listed off their classes and skills, he couldn''t help but realize that he was lackl.u.s.ter in that as well; his class being the non-combat Transmutation Artist, and his only skill besides language comprehension was transmutation itself. After most of the other classmates read off their stats and skills, attention turned towards Hajime, who simply handed his plate to Meld. After he looked at Hajime''s plate, Meld made an awkward face before handing it back to Hajime. "Transmutation Artist, it''s a synergistic class that''s good for black smithing, but not for combat." Hearing this most of the guys in the class gave Hajime nasty looks, while the girls looked at him with disdain. The only ones who didn''t look at him that way were Shirasaki Kaori, and Yaegashi Shozuku. Kaori was known for being the most desirable girl in their class, due to both her beautiful looks and caring personality, which was also the source of the negative feelings most of his class held for Hajime. For some reason Kaori seemed to favor him greatly, and would constantly bother him even though he wasn''t interested. This led to those who had a crush on her treating him in a bad way, while some others even bullied him out of jealousy. Shizuku was Kaori''s best friend, and was one of the only ones who didn''t have a disdainful attitude towards him. The only other ones that didn''t have such an attitude towards Hajime, were his teacher Hatayama Aiko, someone who would do whatever it takes to help their students, and who looked more like she belonged in middle school. The other one was Amanogawa Kouki, a perfect superman who''s dream was to be a hero and save people. This didn''t mean Hajime had a good opinion of him however, as Kouki had the bad habit of interpreting things in a way completely convenient to him, and linked others treatment of Hajime to his own personality and attitude. At that moment someone who did have a bad attitude towards Hajime spoke up, "Oy Hajime, don''t tell me that you''re gonna be useless in fights? What''s even the point of you being here now?" Almost every other guy was smirking at the words of the speaker, Daisuke Hiyama, as they sneered at Hajime. He then continued, "Hey let us see your stats, even if your skills are useless your stats can''t be, right?" Hajime knew there wasn''t much choice in the matter, as they would keep harassing him about it. He handed over his status plate, and listened to all the oncoming ridicule in silence. As the jeers and insults started, three people in particular started getting angry. Both Kaori and Shizuku were absolutely disgusted with the bullying directed at Hajime, while Aiko was also angry that her students would treat a classmate this way. Both Kaori and Aiko were about to say something, when something strange happened. Hajime, Kaori, Shizuku, Aiko, and Kouki all turned around when they felt something touch them, but it was driven from their minds when there was suddenly a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone turned to find Hiyama on the ground with both of his hands between his legs, tears streaming down his face. The training was put on hold, and Hiyama was swiftly taken to see a doctor. *** Alex was swiftly returning to the spot he left the girls in the forest after leaving the castle. He was glad he arrived in the world at the time he intended, right after Hajime and his class were summoned here. Hajime was one of the core people he was after in this world, being a master craftsman and once he goes through his ordeal in the Orcus great dungeon. One of the reasons he went to check on them, was to place tracking spells on him and several others of interest, he also decided to make Hiyama feel a little pain. Now he could keep track of Hajime, Kaori, Shizuku, Aiko, and Kouki. Alex wasn''t too interested in Kouki, but felt it would be better to keep track of him just in case. With this all his errands in the Capitol were finished, so it was time to head back to the girls then to his next destination, the Orcus great dungeon. Chapter 171 - Anne Anne had never felt so violated in either of her lives. Though she did love being able to use modern conveniences like soap and so on again, she did not doubt the three women she just met now knew her own body better than she herself did. There had not been a single inch of her body spared from the vicious scrubbing or the bite of the razor, as even the most intimate areas of her body were attacked with both. Though Anne wasn''t a stranger to wearing skimpy clothes in front of others, as it wouldn''t be strange for people to be walking around n.a.k.e.d in the world she was in before, this was the first time she was forcibly stripped and treated in such a way. The most horrible part was that it didn''t end there, she then sat n.a.k.e.d in he middle of the forest as the three girls started trying to determine what outfit would suit her best. The entire time this happened they also pestered her with endless questions about her life in the world she spent the last twenty years in. They asked why she was dressed the way she was, what kind of world it, and what kind of life she lived. She then started hesitantly explaining, "I was sent to a world so primitive that they seemed to be in the Stone Age, maybe a little bit more advanced than that, but not much. The village I grew up in was located in a jungle region, and was subject to constant monster attacks. Since they were so primitive they were very superstitious, at first they even treated me like I was a demon since I had my abilities, but that changed when I was about ten. A horde of monsters, the likes of which had never been seen before by the village since the monsters would never attack in groups, attacked and threatened to kill and eat all of us. I used one of my abilities, Sky dragon slayer magic, and fought back against the horde, eventually destroying them. I then used those same powers to heal those who were injured in the fight, saving even more lives. After that the villagers attitude towards me started changing, they started respecting me when before they feared me. "Soon the monster hordes started becoming a regular occurrence, which meant that I had to fight more often. With each victory I gained against them my popularity grew, next thing I knew people were treating me as the goddess of wind, since my powers are wind based. With my knew status I started changing some things, I used another of my abilities which was complete knowledge of plants, to introduce the concepts of agriculture. I taught them how to grow their own food so that they didn''t have to risk people gathering instead, as it wasn''t an unusual occurrence for people to simply not come back with the monsters roaming the jungle. Then I started helping with architecture as well, improving some of the houses they lived in, building walls to keep the monsters out, and so on. This was made easy with my telekinesis ability, that allowed me to move things with my mind. So my reputation improved even more. "This went on until I turned twenty and was able to contact Alex once more, and started preparing to leave. When I tried explaining to the villagers that I was leaving, they assumed that I was ascending to true god hood, and made a ceremony out of it. It because of that that I was painted up in such a way, with all of those accessories as well. And lastly I came through the portal and arrived here, where you all attacked me and violated me." Anne had a light glare as she finished her last line, to which the three girls just ignored. Rias instead asked, "So why were you so interested in meeting Alex again? I mean twenty years is a long time to look forward to seeing someone, especially when you only talked to them once." Anne blushed at this question, and explained, "I mean when someone dies for you, especially when you don''t even know each other''s names, what else would you expect? Though I never expected him to build a harem." Though her "Angel" Jenny did explain that Alex didn''t intend to die for her, Anne couldn''t help but be drawn to him. Kuroka then asked with a teasing smile, "You mean even during the twenty years you didn''t see Alex, there wasn''t anyone who caught your eyes? Nyan~" at these words Anne''s face instead became disgusted, and she explained, "There were more than a few guys that were interested in me, even when I tried to hide behind the "goddess" mantle they threw onto me, saying that my powers were attached to my purity, they wouldn''t relent. The worst ones were the village chiefs, who thought that it was only natural I became theirs. It took me actually fighting them before they got the hint, and that was only after one guy died by accident." The three girls looked at Anne with some pity, Rias especially knowing what it was like to receive "affections" from one who disgusted her. The four then started discussing other things while they tried to decide on an outfit for Anne. This went on until Alex returned, who immediately put his eyes on Anne. Because of the conversation she was having with the girls, she had completely forgotten she was still n.a.k.e.d until Alex looked at her, earning a loud, "KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!" As the sound echoed out, she also crouched low and wrapped her arms around herself to hide her body. The other three couldn''t help but chuckle, as it had been quite a while since any of them had seen such a "cute" reaction from someone. Alex on the other hand smiled at the view he had gotten, but still turned around to give her privacy. He then started explaining some of what he did in town, but left out his visit to the castle. It took nearly another twenty minutes before he could turn around again, to see a still teary eyed Anne glaring at him slightly. Alex''s attention however was on the outfit the girls chose for her, and finally understood why it had taken so long. Anne was now dressed in a two piece dancers outfit, with a long transparent skirt and various accessories adorning her body. Her hair, which had been trimmed and styled after being thoroughly shampooed and conditioned, was done up in a large ponytail similar in the way Akeno usually had hers. Alex also couldn''t help but notice that she was still barefoot, but figured she preferred it over shoes. With Anne ready, Alex pulled out a map and pointed to a nearby town, "This is the town Horlad, we''ll first make our way there and with our speed we should reach it before nightfall, then we''ll find an inn to spend the night. After that we''ll dive into the dungeon first thing tomorrow." They all looked at Alex in confusion when he mentioned the dungeon, but he simply said, "I''ll explain when we reach the inn tonight, for now let''s focus on traveling." They all nodded at his words, and took off through the woods. As Devils with high levels of physical strength and endurance, the journey wasn''t too harsh for Alex and the other three, but the one he was concerned about was the human Anne. Surprisingly however, she was able to keep pace with them, giving testimony to her own physical capabilities developed from fighting monsters. It was only later he found out she had dragon slayer magic, and his opinion of her rose even more. It was like this that Alex''s adventure in Tortus began. Chapter 172 - Inn As the hours slowly ticked by, Alex and his group swiftly traveled across the land. Though it would''ve been easier to fly, to use the customized car he received from Azazel or Zenith, those options would have been more eye catching than he wanted to be. As the sun started going down though, he and the girls could finally see the town they were aiming for, Horlad, home of the Orcus Great Labyrinth. They arrived with good timing, as both Anne and Rias were starting to wear out after traveling for several hours. They slowed down about a mile out of town to avoid annoying eyes, and walked the rest of the way, arriving just before sunset. Following directions from the locals, Alex and his group arrived at an inn and used the last of his money to get a room for the night. Alex wasn''t too worried about the money, by the time he finished in Orcus he''d have more of this worlds money than he knew what to do with from monster drops alone. One of the books he bought earlier in the day was even about monsters and the resources one could get from them. As they left the counter and headed for their room, Alex could feel the penetrating glares on his back, which he knew was raw jealousy. After all he was surrounded by four very beautiful women, and he only booked one room. Normally Alex''s muscle bound figure and intimidating aura would be enough to keep the pests away, along with how well known the girls following him were; but this was a world where no one knew them yet and that some people spent their lives fighting monsters, since none of them had heard of Alex they all thought he was just an impressive looking newbie. A couple men stood up, intending to demonstrate to Alex what happens when someone tries to show off. Only a second later those same men fell on their rears, completely pale and some with tears in their eyes and a wet spot spreading on their pants. The moment Grayfia detected some nobodies with bad intentions towards them, she activated her ''Aura of terror'', and frightened them all into submission. As for the rest of those in the inn, all they saw was the silver haired maid glancing at the men about to confront the new upstart before they all collapsed, and thought he might''ve been the young master of some noble house. They all decided to wait until the maid wasn''t around, and teach the young man a lesson then, noble or not. Alex had noticed the actions of those men and Grayfia, but chose to ignore it since it was a common occurrence in the original series. No matter where one went, there would always be idiots. He then led the girls upstairs to their room, which only had two beds. Alex already expected the state of the room so he wasn''t too fazed, but Grayfia, Rias, and Kuroka were all shocked at the accommodations they had to sleep in, while Anne dove into a bed with a large smile on her face. "FINALLY, no more grass or dirt beds!" The four smiled at her actions, and figured it would probably be a while before she readjusted to normal life. The first thing out of Alex''s mouth when they started looking around the room was, "Let''s set up a bunch of barriers to prevent eavesdroppers and intruders, as strong as possible." The girls were confused as to why Alex wanted so much protection, but did as he said and placed as many barriers as possible to prevent anyone from hearing what they were saying. Alex then directed all of them to sit, and started explaining part of what he left out earlier, while Grayfia took notes to take back to Asora. "First of all regarding the barriers, what I''m about to say could draw unwanted attention to ourselves before I want it. If residents of this world heard it then there would probably be a massive manhunt for us led by the churches, and the one who''s attention I want to avoid the most might start looking for us." At his words everyone became serious, as they knew nothing of this world so Alex''s words were the only thing they had to go off of as far as threats towards them. He then continued, "I said before that the driving reason between the conflicts of the different races of this world was religion, in reality that was quite the understatement. There exists in this world one God who more or less controls everything, named Ehito. He drives the wars wth his alternate names, he sows chaos and suffering, and this is all simply a form of amus.e.m.e.nt for him." As Alex explained some of the atrocities of Ehito, each of the girls had intense glares on their faces, with Anne''s being the most significant. After being killed by a thief in her previous life, she wanted to live by helping people who needed it, it was this mentality that drove her to help those who considered her a demon growing up after they accepted her. Hearing there was a "God" as corrupt and despicable as possible running this world made her want to do something about it. Her opinion of him only got worse as Alex went on with his explanation, "He wasn''t always a god though, as far as I could tell he was originally a human or something like it, that also came from anther world along with the rest of his race''s survivors. They were extremely advanced in terms of magic, but their planet was ending due to some of their magic experiments. When they arrived this world was only populated by humans that were at the mercy of monsters, Ehito and his people decided to help the humans and granted them magic, though the magic was very degraded from what they themselves wielded. They then led the people in peace and prosperity, becoming known as gods and using the magic they kept to themselves to extend their natural lives. "Eventually however this started to end when some of them had decided they lived long enough and stopped extending their lives. This trend continued until Ehito was the only one left, as he was too scared of not knowing what was waiting for him in the afterlife to move on like the rest. Even with his magics however his original body did eventually have an end, and he was forced to make a choice; move on like his comrades, or start using drastic measures to stay. He then created his own domain, that essentially became his divine territory, where his spirit would be able to persist without moving on, and started looking to obtain a new body. "The humans were unacceptable, as he would simply face the same problem again eventually. So he tried to create a superior race of humans, leading to the creation of vampires. Vampires however were no better than humans, only living a few hundred years longer than their counterparts. This led to the creation of both the demihumans, and the demon race; however they were both also unacceptable as the demihumans were unable to use magic, and the demon race was physically weaker than the demihumans. He then created the dragon race, a race of people able to take the forms of dragons that were physically strong, and able to use magic. This race was still incompatible however, and he destroyed them five hundred years ago in a fit of rage, with the vampires following them two hundred years later for a similar reason. "With all these failures Ehito had simply been waiting in his divine territory, looking for a suitable body to take for his own. He has spent all this time curing his boredom by manipulating the various races like chess pieces to fight over and over again, even though attempts have been made for peace by those same races throughout history, he has smashed it all every time simply due to boredom." As Alex finished speaking, the girls were all dumbfounded at what he told them. Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia all grew up with knowledge about gods and their quirks, even the bad ones, but they never heard of something like this. Anne on the other hand stood suddenly and demanded, "We''re going to do something about this fake God, right?!" Alex nodded at her words, and explained, "I intend to, but the problem is that he hides in his divine territory that I have no idea how to enter, and he''s looking for a body to possess. I want to avoid the situation where he possesses one of us and we have to fight each other." They all nodded in understanding, each not wanting to face each other while a god possessed them. Grayfia then asked, "What about the dungeon you mentioned before, is it related to this?" Four pairs of eyes focused on Alex again, and he continued explaining, "There are seven Great Labyrinths in the world, each was created by a member of a group known as the Liberators, or as history would refer to them, the Betrayers. They were a group that opposed the oppression of the gods and learned the magics the gods themselves used, Age of Gods Magic. Each one is extremely powerful depending on the way it''s used, and it''s these particular magics that I came to this world for. To acquire an Age of Gods Magic, one has to complete the trials of each of the seven dungeons, and earn recognition of passing them. The first we''ll enter tomorrow, the Orcus Great Labyrinth, is where we will learn Creation magic. I''ll say now that each magic requires compatibility, if you can''t use the magic well then don''t let it get to you, and just use it where you can. After acquiring all seven of the Age of Gods Magics, you''ll gain access to the final and most powerful one, Conception magic." Alex explained a few more details, then stopped dumping all the information on the girls for the night. He then sent Grayfia ahead to Asora, for her to bring all the information he gave them, the maps, and some of the books he bought to be examined. He kept the monster encyclopedia with him though, he''d need that in the labyrinth. Her other goal was to collect any necessities they''d need in the labyrinth, as he wasn''t sure if they''d still pass the challenge if they left the labyrinth to enter Asora. She left out the door as if she was simply running some errands, as Alex wanted to keep an eye on Anne for a few days before informing her of Asora''s existence. After Grayfia left and reapplied the barriers, Rias got a mischievous glint in her eye. "So are you telling me that this''ll be our last night with a proper bed for a while?" Alex nodded, and said, "We''ll have to sleep in the labyrinth since it''ll take a while to get through it, what with two hundred floors and all. We can''t afford to let our guard down and relax too much, so yeah this''ll probably be our last night with a proper bed for a while." At his words Rias suddenly started removing her clothes, not even caring about Anne''s presence in the room, and climbed onto Alex''s lap once she was completely n.a.k.e.d. Facing each other, she started kissing him, to which Alex returned quite eagerly. Kuroka quietly went behind Alex, and soon he saw her kimono sail through the air before it landed on the floor, and some soft melons pressed against his back. Rias started fumbling with his pants, before his hardening manhood was exposed and swiftly entered a warm hole. Anne sat across the room, incredulity on across her face as the three of them simply started having s.e.x in front of her. She covered her face but also peered through her fingers in horrid fascination, her eyes glued to Alex''s hard rod as Rias bounced on it. She didn''t even notice that Kuroka sprouted cat ears and two tails, until Rias''s ride was over and it was her turn. She wanted to tell them to knock it off, that their actions were completely indecent and vulgar, but the words were stuck in her throat. She only hoped that Grayfia would return soon and stop them, as Anne had already learned she was the serious one of the group. Even as these thoughts passed through her mind, Anne couldn''t help but wonder what that thing would feel like if it entered her. *** Grayfia returned to the inn a couple hours later, having passed on the items and information while also collecting food and other necessities for the next month, just in case. She walked up the stairs to their room, only to find a crowd of people outside their door trying to get in. She recognized some from earlier, and sighed at how they hadn''t learned their lesson, as they were obviously trying to attack Alex. She surged forward and attacked the group, breaking a few bones and cracking a few skulls, completely dominating over the group. One of the guys she frightened earlier fell backward, and cried out, "She''s back! Run for it!" Prompting the ones she hadn''t punished yet to start fleeing, though their speed was no match for hers, and they tasted their share of punishment as well. Leaving them laying in the hallway, she then returned to the front desk right as the worker was about to leave for the night. "Excuse me, I would like to lodge a complaint." The persons face twitched, and they asked, "I see, and what is the problem?" Grayfia promptly replied, "There was a few people trying to enter our room when they aren''t allowed, they''re laying in the hallway, but alive. I hope this isn''t a standard at this establishment, and that there''ll be something done about this." The person sighed, and said, "I''ll notify the guards, and have them collect any that are still here when they arrive." Grayfia nodded and said, "That''ll be plenty, and I hope such a situation won''t happen again if we stay in the future, goodnight." They returned Grayfia''s good nights, and she swiftly made her way back up the stairs. All of the would be intruders were still there laying where she left them, but she simply ignored them this time around. As she naturally passed through the barriers that kept them out, Grayfia opened the door to suddenly fill the hall with the sound of heavy panting and sensual m.o.a.ns. All the would be intruders wanted to vomit blood, as they got the confirmation they needed about Alex''s activities, even though none of them could see into the room themselves. Grayfia herself sighed at their actions, and swiftly entered the room before closing the door. The scene what exactly what she imagined, as Alex, Rias and Kuroka went at it on one of the beds, and Anne was still across the room, trying to cover her face but still watching. She soon noticed Grayfia, and said, "Please make them stop, they''ve been at it since you left and this is too indecent!" Grayfia didn''t say anything in return, she simply undid her own outfits clasps, and to Anne''s dismay, joined her master on the bed. Chapter 173 - great labyrinth Orcus The next morning Alex and the three girls awoke feeling refreshed after the nights activities, meanwhile Anne sat up from her bed with large circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She directed a glare at Alex and the three girls, before she got up to get ready. "Good morning." Alex said cheerfully, while Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka also greeted her. "Morning." Was all Anne said, a bit irritable from the lack of sleep. She then went downstairs to find something to eat while Grayfia summoned a tub of hot water for them to use. Though Alex and the girls didn''t go as far as bathing in the water, they did use the chance to clean up as much as possible before joining Anne. They found her sitting at a table alone while eating some breakfast, which confused Alex since they didn''t have any money left. The person who ran the inn appeared a moment later, and explained what was going on, "As an apology for the disturbance last night I prepared a complimentary breakfast, I hope it''s to your liking young master." It was obvious they thought that highly of him because of Grayfia, but Alex didn''t see the point of correcting it. After sitting he had Kuroka place a barrier to keep others from hearing what they said, but not as powerful as the ones the night before, and started explaining their game plan. "First thing, we''ll need to sneak into the labyrinth. They check everyone who goes in through their status plates, none of us has one yet, and I would rather avoid registering at the moment to begin with. The reasons are that they record the status of a person when they register, meaning we''d be advertising ourselves unless we handle it carefully, and that I don''t want them to have records of us entering the labyrinth. If we get registered as entering here, and don''t come out it''ll seem like we died. The exit for the labyrinth is in another area, so when we eventually reappear it''ll raise a lot of flags for people, another thing I want to avoid for the moment." The girls nodded at Alex swords, also wanting to stay off the radar after what he told them the night before. As for sneaking in, it was an easy task for Kuroka, as she specifically trained for stuff like this and was on the run for years without getting caught. Once they finished their breakfast they cleaned up anything they left behind, and left for the labyrinth. The girls were surprised when they saw what the outside of the entrance was like, as stalls were lined up and many people were gathered like a festival. The reason for this was that they wanted to be more convenient for adventurers when they exited the labyrinth, and earn a profit through them. With Kuroka cloaking them, the group enjoyed their last moment of sunlight for who knew how long, and plunged into the depths of the labyrinth. With kuorka using her senses to guide them, they avoid the magic traps and monsters to swiftly make their way through the first couple floors. Once they decided they were clear of any issues, kuorka stopped cloaking them and the group shot forward, navigating the floors with unimaginable speed. Any monsters the group came across were almost instantly taken care of, with Anne storing the corpses away for later. Alex had been surprised to find that Anne had reached the hundred level mark before leaving her previous world, and got the storage ability to transport goods with. The good thing was that her storage froze the time of the objects placed in it, meaning that the corpses they saved would stay "fresh" when they needed to cut them up later. While moving through the floors, Alex had Grayfia place a teleportation magic circle on every tenth floor they passed, marking it for easier travel once they cleared the dungeon. After less than twelve hours, the group arrived at the fiftieth floor, a pace for first timers that would make most veteran adventurers vomit blood. It was here that they had their first rest, and Alex started cutting up the monster corpses they had acquired already, while Anne actually fell asleep after taking the monster corpses out of her storage. "We''re moving faster than I thought we would through the labyrinth." Grayfia said as she curiously looked around. Alex nodded, and explained, "We''re actually pretty overpowered for this world, so it''s not too unusual that things that seem hard for others would be easier for us. But you have to remember, there''s two hundred floors we have to go through while we''ve only been through fifty so far, in other words we''re only a quarter of the way through. And things start getting a lot more difficult after the first hundred, as it''s only preparation for the second half." Grayfia nodded at his words, taking them seriously. It didn''t matter how strong one was, a moment of carelessness could always claim ones life. Kuroka then asked, "So what are we doing after we''re done with this labyrinth, going straight to the next one~Nyan?" Along with her verbal tick, Kuroka''s cat ears and tails had made a reappearance since there was no need to hide them in the depths of the labyrinth. Alex shook his head at her question, and said, "There''s a place we''ll turn into our base somewhat at the bottom of the labyrinth, and spend some time here collecting resources and training. Since the monsters at the bottom levels are a lot stronger I hope that you guys could spend some time leveling jobs. At the same time there''s various resources that are specific to this world, while training I want to collect as much as possible to send to Asora." He didn''t say that the main one he wanted to give those resources to was Hajime, as he didn''t want to explain everything to the girls right away, after all he had to leave some surprises. He also left out the part where he wanted to recruit a potential peerage member while down here, and that part of the reason for training was to get her caught up. They rested for a couple hours while both Alex and Grayfia worked on the monster corpses, before setting off again. This time since Kuroka assured Alex there wasn''t anymore humans ahead of them, he summoned his fire creations and sent them out to attack any monsters on that floor. Like he intended for them to grind job levels later, Alex intended to use this chance right now to grind his base level to reach two hundred. He hoped he''d reach it by the time they reached the bottom. Like this they systematically moved through the dungeon floors at a more leisurely pace, resting at every tenth floor for a couple hours while a magic circle was left and monster corpses were dismantled. In this way two days passed, before they finally reached the hundredth floor, and moved onto the "real" Great Labyrinth. Chapter 174 - First treasure After finding the entrance to the "real" Great Labyrinth, Alex''s eyes shined with anticipation while the girls looked around curiously. The new floor was definitely different than the floors they had been on so far, as they seemed cut and formed, while this floor seemed more natural. Before anyone said anything however, an animalistic scream broke the silence as a demonic looking rabbit flew towards them. It was almost pure white with dark red lines running across its body, hurdling towards them like it thought they were easy prey. While it was moving at speeds that one usually wouldn''t be able to follow, to Alex it seemed to be moving in slow motion as he activated super Saiyan. Surrounded by the familiar golden glow, he raised his hand and aimed it at the screaming rabbit. When it was an inch away from his hand, Alex flicked his finger, instantly turning the screaming rabbit into a fine red mist. Anne paled seeing the display, and said, "I''ve heard of demonic bunnies as a joke, but that was ridiculous." Alex dispelled super Saiyan as he smiled at her words, and said, "It''s called a kick rabbit, they''re very fast and very agile. They can create a foothold even in the air to have complete maneuverability over their opponents. It''s still relatively weak compared to the monsters we''ll see from now on though." Hearing the demon bunny was "weak" compared to the monsters they''re going to face, Anne was suddenly glad she came with Alex and his harem. He then started walking forward while saying to Kuroka, "Use your senses to search the walls for something with a lot of magic energy as we walk, we''re not going to speed through this level like we did the rest so far." Kuroka mock saluted at his words, and declared, "Ok, I''ll find whatever it is you''re looking for~Nyan!" With her tails twitching with excitement. Anne watched her tails move hypnotically, still not used to seeing a real life cat girl, let alone one with two tails. She wanted desperately to feel her ears, but restrained herself lest they use it as an excuse to drag her into their "vulgar" interactions. She was even more surprised to find out Alex had a tail himself, as he extended it to her to grab onto once, to keep from getting separated while they went through a darker part of the labyrinth. As they walked in silence Rias looked around the cavern and said, "I know it isn''t strange to train in the underground rooms for a while, but it never actually seemed like we were underground like this. This feels more eerie and dangerous." Grayfia nodded, and replied, "Even in those training areas we have comforts that aren''t available here, including proper lighting, equipment, and structure support. For all intents and purposes, this is just a cave we''re walking in, it''s no wonder it feels different." Even in her long life Grayfia doubted she''d been this deep underground like this before. Alex smiled at their conversations, not wanting to risk spoiling some of the floors below them. After walking around for a few hours, killing kick rabbits and electric wolves with ease, Kuroka sudden spoke up, "I sense something in the wall!" Making everyone alert. Ales smiled, and hoped she found what he was after, telling her, "Get it out, quickly!" Hearing the excitement in his voice, Kuroka started using her youjutsu to move the earth around the object, and what surfaced was a crystal orb. Scratch that, a crystal orb that was leaking water. The girls thought it was pretty, but didn''t understand what Alex wanted with it, or why he was so excited to find it. He quickly had Grayfia bring him something to put it in to catch the leaking fluid, while she asked, "So what is this?" Alex looked at all of them with excitement in his eyes, and replied, "I think a demonstration would be better than explaining." He then surprised all of them by turning one of his hands into a dragons claw, and gashed his other hand open. The girls all panicked, while Anne''s hands stared glowing as she intended to heal him, but they were all surprised by what happened next. Dripping a few drops of the liquid the crystal leaked onto his hand, they all watched as the wound almost instantly closed. Grayfia was the first to recover, and asked with a shaky voice, "I-is that Phoenix tears?!" Alex shook his head, and said, "If comparing I would say it is slightly inferior to Phoenix tears, but it''s almost the same. This is a miracle medicine in this world referred to as "Gods water", capable of healing almost any injury and curing things like poison and status ailments, though it won''t regrow limbs." At his explanation the girls that grew up in the dxd world understood how valuable this stuff was, as each bottle of Phoenix tears had a long complicated process to produce, while this stuff was constantly flowing, though in admittedly small amounts. This item would relieve some of Ravel''s worries, as Rias recalled her mentioning one time about producing Phoenix tears herself for Asora in case of emergencies, something that would definitely tax the young girl. Alex then said, "I''m going to leave it in my personal storage for now, but we''ll absolutely examine it later." The girls nodded at his words, knowing the importance of such an item, while Anne felt regrettable that her usefulness went down slightly. Alex noticed this, and said as an after thought, "Though it would be an emergency item in case it''s life or death, so we''ll need a proper healer for regular injuries to ensure we don''t burn through it too fast." Anne brightened at his words, and was in a noticeably better mood until they reached the entrance to the next level. Up until this point the dungeon had been lit by a distinct green glow, coming from the surrounding rock itself. This tunnel however got distinctly darker than the one they were in, making her concerned. Alex, Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia were all unconcerned in comparison however, as they all did well in darkness as Devils. Anne was feeling apprehensive about going into such a dark place, until she saw a brown fur covered tail dancing in front of her. She hesitantly grabbed it once more, blushing at the look Alex gave her when she did so. Before they entered the next level though, Alex made a magic circle, and sent a small army of fire creatures in to exterminate all the monsters. If he recalled right, there was basilisks on this level that would turn them to stone with a simple look. Alex felt it was better to swiftly eliminate them than chance it, plus he wanted the experience. Even after killing every monster he could the last fifty levels, he only gained two more levels, placing him at level 192. Alex could only hope that with the stronger monsters he would be able to reach two hundred before reaching the end. As they made their way through the second stage of the labyrinth, Alex and the girls went through various ups and downs in regards to each level. It seemed as if each one had a theme or quirk, that would increase the difficulty of the level itself. For instance the third one after entering the real Great Labyrinth was filled with a murky liquid that stuck to everything. It took less than a second for Alex to recall this level from the novel, and he swiftly warned everyone not to use fire, or heat related abilities. He recalled this liquid was actually a substance that was relatively easy to ignite, and would burn at 3000 degrees Celsius once it was. He quickly took a sample and stored it to be examined later. Then there were levels he didn''t recall, like the one filled with a poisonous fog with frogs and moths, or the forest one filled with treants and centipedes. If it weren''t for the monster centipedes and trees trying to kill them, Alex and the girls might have enjoyed that level quite a bit. Slowly but steadily they made their way down the labyrinth, with Alex checking every inch of every floor they passed before moving on. The girls felt like he was searching for something, but he didn''t tell them what. Even with him carefully checking each floor, it only took another week before they reached the 150th floor of the labyrinth. It was on this floor that he finally found what he was looking for, as besides the stairs to the next level, there was also a set of double doors flanked on either side by unfinished statues of Cyclopses. He then told the girls, "Theres something I want to do here, go ahead and wait by the stairs. It won''t take me long to catch up." They gave him looks of concern, but did as he asked and went towards the stairs. Alex then turned towards the double doors, and confidently walked towards them while triggering a trap magic circle. As the trap magic circle activated, the statues of the Cyclopses suddenly came to life, and glared Alex down before charging. Chapter 175 - The girl in the stone Deep in the darkness of the labyrinth, behind a pair of thick stone doors guarded by a pair of Cyclopses, was a cube made of a peculiar stone, and a girl entombed within it with only her head exposed. The girl was the princess of the vampire clans, and an Atavist, meaning she was able to use magic naturally and had a special skill. To use magic required one to use a chant and prepare a magic circle unless they had a strong affinity with the type of magic they wanted to use, Atavist''s on the other hand were capable of using magic naturally without use of a chant or magic circle, and were considered the closest to the gods lineage. She also possessed the ability to automatically regenerate any physical injuries, even if her head was cut off she would be able to heal as long as she had magic. This also granted her immortality, which caused her to stop aging around the time she was thirteen years old, and preserved her all this time in the darkness. Because of these abilities she was considered a threat to her uncles ambitions, and he had her sealed away since she couldn''t be killed. She didn''t know how long she had been down there, years, decades, centuries? All she had was darkness, until suddenly, BOOM CRASH The doors that had always been standing in front of her, sealing her in darkness for all this time, were suddenly blown open. The girl was suddenly blinded by the first light she had seen in years, before a silhouette appeared. The figure was obviously muscular, had spiky hair, and seemed to have a tail dancing in the air behind him. She was dumbfounded for a moment, before she realized that this was her chance, and her horse voice sounded out, "Please... help me..." She hoped this person would free her, that at last she would get to taste fresh air again. The man walked down the pile of destruction he caused, and asked, "And why would I do that? How do I know you''re not some kind of criminal or something, being sealed down here?" The girl panicked, worried he would leave her down there still, and hurriedly explained, "I''m the princess of the vampire clans, I was betrayed by my uncle who wanted my power. They couldn''t kill me so I was locked down here!" She hoped he would believe her, she pleaded within herself with everything she had that he would help her. The man walked up to her, and examined the cube holding her before saying, "I can break this, but it would hurt you doing so." When the girl heard him she hesitated for a second. She had the ability to regenerate almost instantly, but she had no energy to do so without blood, she didn''t want to ask him to let her bite him and risk scaring him away. The man sighed and said as if he knew what she was thinking, "I guess as a vampire princess you need blood, right?" She looked away sheepishly, not wanting to admit the truth behind his words, before an arm was suddenly thrown into her vision. She looked at him in confusion, only for him to say, "Go ahead, I''m not the one biting here." The girl hesitated for a second, then bit down on his arm. As the taste of blood filled her mouth for the first time in who knows how long, nothing tasted sweeter to the girl in her whole life. After drinking only a little bit of his blood, she felt more power in her body than she ever did before. Was his blood some kind of miracle drug? Soon his arm disappeared, and something impacted the cube holding her. It shuddered slightly, before it was impacted again. From seeing the state the Cyclopses were left in and what happened to the doors the girl knew that he would be able to destroy the cube holding her easily, but was holding back out of concern for her. A second later the most melodious sound she ever heard echoed throughout the cavern, CRACK A another hit, and the cube holding her split apart, dumping her body onto the cold stone floor. The girl didn''t seem to register this however, as she simply looked at her hands for the first time in forever. As some footsteps approached her, the girl looked up and had tears starting to form in her eyes, she was free. She almost started crying, as she got out the words, "...thank you..." To which the man smiled in return. He then said, "I have some companions here as well waiting a ways away, they''ll get your clothes settled before we move on. Don''t worry, they''re girls as well." At his words she looked down and noticed that she was completely n.a.k.e.d, and that her body was on display. She covered her intimate areas with her hands, and simply muttered, "...pervert." To the man, even though he didn''t do anything wrong. He only laughed in response, before she was suddenly scooped up in his arms as he flew out of the cave. She was suddenly being held close, and his hand was tightly grabbing onto her ass, making the girl think he was trying to suddenly take advantage of her. She was about to curse him, when there was suddenly a boom and the entire area started shaking. She looked over where her former prison was, and saw a giant monster standing there. The man suddenly said, "It was probably a fail safe for if you tried to escape, hold on tight." She simply wrapped her arms around his neck, and held on as he instructed, no longer even caring where his hand was. The monster was like a giant scorpion, except with four pincers and two tails to use. The tails suddenly sprayed a purple ooze at them, which the man dodged with ease. The girl noticed that once the ooze contacted the floor the stone started melting away. The man then used his free hand, and summoned a storm of flames that engulfed the monster, before it became a swirling vortex. The girl had noticed the man didn''t use any form of chant or magic circle, and realized he was the same as her, an Atavist. While the monster was engulfed in the roaring inferno, and the man focused on his opponent, the girl simply stared at his face while it was lit up by the light from the flames. Several minutes later the flames started dying down, once more revealing the monster, except it''s exoskeleton was glowing from being super headed by the flames. Suddenly the man holding her moved at impossible speeds to arrive right on top of the monster, before he thrusted his fist down and completely crushed it under his blow. The monster and the labyrinth floor both caved in, leading to a crater forming under them. The monster shuddered a few more times, before all life left it. The girl was starring down at it dumbfounded, before the man said, "My names Alex by the way, what''s yours?" The girl was brought out of her thoughts at the simple question, a simple question she didn''t have an answer for. She decided she didn''t want to cling to her past, and said, "You decide." Alex shrugged at her words, and seemed to think for several moments before saying, "How about Yue?" The girl was taken back by the name, and said with a questioning tone, "Yue?" Alex nodded and said, "It means the moon, here in the dark labyrinth you kind of look similar to the moon." The girl, no, Yue smiled at his words, and said, "Then from now on I''m Yue!" With a smile on her face, the first one since before she was sealed. While Alex was still holding onto her they made their way back to the companions he claimed to have. Yue didn''t mind about being carried by him now, or that his hand was still on her ass. She simply enjoyed the feeling of being close to him, until she saw the rest of his party, and recalled him mentioning they were all girls. It seemed she wasn''t the only one to have this kind of reaction, as all of their faces screamed ''what the hell?!'', while the dark skinned girl even stood up and yelled, "The police! Who knows how to the call the police here?!" Causing both Yue''s and Alex''s eyes to twitch. Though she didn''t understand what exactly the girl was talking about, she could tell she was referring to her as a child. After several minutes of Alex explaining what happened, while Grayfia hurriedly clothed Yue, the girls stopped looking at him like a criminal. Though there was still a few glares, especially when Yue sat in his lap like it was the most natural thing. And so, Alex''s group had another addition. (A.N. About how Alex interacted with Yue at first, someone showing up and knowing everything about you when you''ve been locked away for several centuries is shady as hell, so I had him pretend not to know anything about her. Same with the details of her being sealed, after just being released she wouldn''t be ready to hear the truth.) Chapter 176 - Rivalry After finding Yue, Alex and his group decided to make camp for the night, which Yue passed out pretty quickly. It was understandable given that she was more active physically and emotionally today than the last three hundred years altogether. Seeing her asleep, Alex started quietly making his way back towards the room she was sealed in after warning the girls to be quiet. There he quickly collected the stone she was sealed in, and a crystal hidden there as well. The crystal was a message from her uncle, explaining the real reason why he sealed her all those years ago, that it was to protect her. However Alex felt that she wasn''t ready to hear it yet, so he stored both in his personal storage alongside the god water crystal, Ascalon, his staff, and the jewels holding the divine power of Loki, Hades, and Nyx, along with Hades and Nyx themselves. He then returned to their camp, to find the girls silently examining the sleeping Yue. Hearing him approach, they looked up and Rias asked, "So what do you plan to do with her?" Alex shrugged, and said, "I plan to make her my other bishop, but I''m going to wait until we finish Orcus first so that she doesn''t think I freed her just to enslave her." While Kuroka, and Grayfia nodded in understanding, Rias looked at the petite girl as if she was a rival, while Anne hesitantly raised her hand and asked, "Um, what do you mean bishop?" Alex realized he hadn''t explained the concept of evil pieces to her, and started explaining it. After hearing what they were and how he planned to use them, she then asked, "Are you thinking of making me one of your peerage members as well?" With a shy yet half expectant look in her eyes. Alex however shook his head, and said to her, "I''m planning on giving my evil pieces to those who can''t already travel with me to other worlds, plus it would let them be benefitted by my system as well. Not only can you travel as well already, you have your own system to use." Anne looked depressed at his rejection, but understood the logic behind his words. Grayfia then asked, "So how compatible is she as a potential bishop?" Alex smiled at her question, and started explaining about Yue''s capabilities, "Firstly she has the ability to regenerate any wounds she''s inflicted with, to the point she can even survive with her head being removed. This also grants her immortality, even though she looks young she''s actually over three hundred years old. Secondly she''s something this world calls an atavist, meaning she can use magic naturally without chants or magic circles, which are always required for magic in this world. And lastly she''s got affinities with all the elements, fire, water, lightning and so on. As far as this world is concerned, she''s the physical embodiment of the word "cheat"." As they heard the explanation of Yue''s prowess, Grayfia, Kuroka, and Anne trembled. Rias meanwhile now looked at her as a threat, worried that she might make her look bad. The moment Rias first saw her, something about Yue made her skin itch. It wasn''t as if she hated her, but was more along the lines of being threatened, something she didn''t understand until Alex explained Yue''s abilities. Rias had mostly started getting stronger since she had access to Alex''s system, but Yue was way overpowered to begin with, what would happen when she also had access to the same system she did? The other thing that bugged her was that they would both be bishops, meaning it would be easy to compare them as they would be in the same roll. With these thoughts plaguing her mind, Rias fell into an uneasy sleep as Alex took the first watch. *** The next day Alex felt there was definitely something wrong between Rias and Yue, he didn''t know how it happened, but it seemed like the two decided they were each other''s worst enemy. It began when they encountered the first enemy of the day, Alex sent out his flame creatures as usual but still let some monsters through so the girls could also get some practice in and level up. When the first one appeared both Grayfia and Kuroka got into battle stances, but almost immediately a small sphere of destruction passed by all of them and went straight through the monsters head, sending it into an eternal sleep. They all turned back towards the shooter, Rias with her ''Reapers Ruin'', to which she simply said to their gazes, "I''m just doing my part." It seemed like a harmless enough statement, but Yue noticed that the words seemed pointed at her, and decided to take down the next monster. When the next one appeared Rias rose the scope of her ''Reapers Ruin'' once more, but her view was blocked by a head of dirty blonde hair. With Yue blocking her view she either had the choice of shooting through her, or giving up. Rias knew she couldn''t shoot their new comrade, even if she would simply regenerate, and gave up on this monster while Yue sent a blast of high level fire magic at it, instantly killing it. She didn''t say anything, but gave Rias the briefest of looks as if to say ''I can do my part too''. Rias grit her teeth in frustration, and swore the next monster would be hers. As the next one approached she once more raised her scope, but was blocked by a head of dirty blonde hair once again. Rias didn''t hesitate this time, and angled the scope slightly to the side before firing. The bullet of destruction barely missed Yue, before Rias controlled it with all her concentration and hit the monster. A shiver ran through Yue''s body as she rubbed the area of her head the bullet came close to, she may be able to heal but it didn''t mean she liked getting hurt. Without even hiding it this time she threw a glare at Rias, who directly glared back, each silently daring the other to start the fight. All while this was happening Grayfia watched with a happy expression, simply seeing her younger sister "getting along" with Yue; Kuorka on the other hand was smirking slightly at their interactions, seemingly unaware that they were acting almost exactly like her and Grayfia did. Anne looked slightly concerned at the apparent hostility, while Alex was somewhat confused, why did they act this way against each other almost instantly? A voice in his head then said, ''It might be the fact they''re both main heroines, conflicting because they have stronger fates than those around them. I wouldn''t assume they actually hate each other though, it just seems like they''re butting heads.'' Alex considered Lauren''s words, and realized he didn''t think of what would happen if several anime protagonists and main heroines met. Of course this might just be a small part of it, and the rest was that they were also in the same rolls so they feel like they would be compared to each other, or at least Rias would feel like this right now. What didn''t help matters was how Yue would cling to Alex as much as possible during the break times. She would sit in his lap, cling to his arms, or lay over his back while he was sitting to look over his shoulders while drinking his blood. The entire time Rias would grit her teeth, before recalling how "advanced" her relationship with Alex compared to Yue''s, then she would relax. Like this the apparent rivalry between the he two continued, all the way until they reached the 200th floor five days later. As they entered the new floor Alex called out to the group, now consisting of a total of six people, "Careful now, this is where we would meet the boss of the labyrinth. I''m not sure if there''s a specific requirement to pass the trials, but just to be safe we all need to do damage against it. It''ll be a hydra with several heads, I''ll take the white, the silver, and the black colored head; Anne, Grayfia, kuorka, and Yue all take your own heads as well while Rias prepares her ''Extinguished Star'' for the killing blow. Remember we all need to deal damage, so try not to go for the instant kill." The girls all nodded, taking this next fight seriously before finishing their first Great Labyrinth. Alex was also excited, he was just shy of both his job level maxing out and his main level reaching 200, it was fitting he''d reach it on the 200th floor of the labyrinth. As they entered the floor all they saw was a splendidly decorated massive double door. They approached it with confidence, before a giant magic circle appeared between them and the door. The monster that appeared was the same as Alex described, a six headed hydra with a colored crest on each head, red, blue, green, black, yellow, and white, while the silver head was hidden. The girls all called out the head they claimed, before they all rushed it while Rias prepared her ''Extinguished Star''. Chapter 177 - Oscar Orcus Almost instantly Alex blew right through the hydras black head, destroying it completely. He knew the black head was one of the more dangerous ones, capable of inflicting mentally crippling ailments, while the white one was a healer and the silver one had an acid like ability. His plan was to keep the black head occupied while the healing head kept the thing alive to ensure they all had a part of its death. As the healing light shined on the black head it was swiftly restored completely, only to be destroyed once more less than a second later. This caused all the heads to turn towards Alex as if he was the biggest threat, until the girls made their move. They each got the attention of their respective heads, red to Yue, blue to Grayfia, green to Anne, and yellow to Kuroka. The red head shot a blast of fire at Yue, who swiftly dodged and returned an ice spear in return. The destroyed head was quickly healed once more, but since she only had to worry about the one it wasn''t too much for her to handle. Grayfia on the other hand had a large block of ice hurdling towards her, courtesy of the blue head. "Promotion, rook!" Was all she said before thrusting her fist into the oncoming large block of ice, completely shattering it. She then kept forward and slammed her super powered fist, buffed with both her ''Superhuman Strength'' skill and her rook promotion, into its head, popping it like a balloon. This time it took a few seconds for it to be regenerated, as the white head was starting to have a hard time keeping up. Kuroka was using similar tactics, as her head was the yellow one in charge of defense. It would use a barrier to defend itself and the other heads, but with so many opponents it was struggling just to defend itself. "How''s this~Nyan?!" Kuroka taunted, as she threw a touki infused punch at the head, effectively causing its barrier to disappear for a second. She kept up the attacks, alternating between touki and magic as she held the head off. The one everyone except Alex was concerned about though, was Anne. She hadn''t fought at all since entering the labyrinth, and even though she told them she grew up fighting monsters the girls had a hard time imagining her fighting. If they were being honest, she was more of a pacifist than a fighter with her nature. What they saw her do however completely blew them away. "Sky dragons wing attack!" She cried out, with both her arms being surrounded by whirlwinds that bore down on the green head, effectively shredding it. After it was restored by the white head it started attacking her with wind based attacks, which Alex smirked at. Unless it was a higher tier than the slayer themselves could use, it was impossible to defeat a dragon slayer with their native element. While the girls also watched with worry as the wind blades bore down on Anne, they watched what they thought was impossible as she grabbed the wind blades themselves, and stuffed them into her mouth. She then started "chewing" the wind she just stuffed into her mouth, before taking a deep breath and saying, "Sky dragons, ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!" As her roar filled the room they were in, a violent cyclone of wind erupted from her mouth and engulfed the entire head, completely destroying it. Each of the girls present made note of Anne''s prowess for the future, now realizing the usually kind girl was not one to truly anger. With this pattern they all routinely destroyed their claimed heads, with Alex swiftly destroying both the black and silver heads when it made its appearance, until Rias''s ''Extinguished Star'' was ready. "I''m ready, clear out!" Rias shouted to the rest. While the girls cleared out, Alex stayed long enough to destroy the black and silver heads one lasts time, adding the white one as well to ensure they didn''t come back. With four heads still alive, Rias delivered the killing blow as her attack bore down on it. Sensing the danger coming from the large eerie sphere, the hydra tried using attacks from its remaining heads to destroy it, to no avail. It was soon dragged into the sphere of destruction, and every single part of it was completely destroyed. Seeing the destruction of her attack, Yue gave Rias a sidelong glance, reassessing the one she considered her rival. Anne was doing something similar, and realized this was probably why Rias didn''t do much fighting when they first entered the labyrinth, her attacks were simply too destructive to be used in an enclosed space. With the hydra destroyed, the doors at the end of the room opened and revealed an area beyond them. When they walked through the doors everyone was filled with a childlike sense of awe, even Alex who knew what they''d find there. The space they entered was an underground living area, with a large manor, a field for crops, a place that was possibly for animals, and even an underground water fall feeding a pond filled with fish. Looking down on them from the top of the massive cave was an artificial sun, giving light to the entire place. "Amazing..." Was all anyone could say, before Alex spoke up while headed straight for the manor, "This way, we need to head up to the third floor, then we''ll start the work." Kuorka was dragged out of her stupor at his words along with everyone else, and asked, "What do you mean work~Nyan?" Alex explained, "I said I plan to use a base on the bottom floor of the dungeon, this is that. We need to make preparations to make the place habitable, such as replanting crops and such while checking out the house for useable items and resources. The first stop however is to get to where the creator of this labyrinth is, and get creation magic." Curious about the age of gods magic Alex kept talking about, the girls all followed him to the manor, then up to the highest floor. There they found the skeletal remains of the liberator Oscar Orcus, creator of the Orcus Great Labyrinth, sitting in a chair in the same room where a giant magic circle waited. Alex led the girls onto the magic circle, which immediately started shining. They were in the same place, but the skeleton in front of them was suddenly a live person instead, and started talking, "Greetings, congratulations on overcoming the trials. I am Oscar Orcus, the creator of this labyrinth." The girls all felt surreal seeing the skeleton become flesh and blood before it started talking to them, while Alex felt respect towards one of the people who tried to stand against Ehito, regardless of how the odds stacked against them. He then went on to explain in more detail than Alex how they fought against the mad gods of this world, but were defeated because the gods used the very people they wanted to protect against them. After he finished his story, Oscar ended his talk by saying, "Good luck, and I hope you would live in a future with free will." After he gave his farewells the recording suddenly ended, and they found themselves facing a skeleton once more. The girls all showed mournful expressions after hearing Oscar''s story, but then several of them became distracted by something as the notice rang out, [NOTICE, you have acquired Creation magic!] As they were all checking their systems, Alex said, "Before we get to work lets properly bury him, then we''ll have a talk with Yue." The girls all nodded since they knew what Alex was going to talk about, while Yue just looked at him curiously and wondered what it was. She was then seized by a moment of brief panic, and thought he might say he didn''t want her with them. Was it because she kept fighting with Rias? Or was it because she was a vampire and kept drinking his blood? Or was it because of some other reason? With these questions and more going through her head, they collected Oscar''s remains and buried him near the waterfall with a tombstone. Alex made sure to collect Oscar''s ring before burying him, as it was needed to open some of the locked rooms. The girls looked at him incredulously until he explained the reason and stated, "If I intend to fight the God eventually, I doubt Oscar would mind me using his things. I''d like to think it would even make him happy his items helped realize his and his comrades dreams." They rolled their eyes at him, but didn''t say anything. Before they explored the manor and grounds though, Alex sat everyone down and faced a strangely nervous Yue. Chapter 178 - Title trouble Alex and the girls had gathered in one of the spare rooms, he sat on one side with Rias and Kuroka while Grayfia respectfully stood behind them. On the other side sat both Yue and Anne, both wondering what Alex wanted to talk about. Anne had heard about Alex''s intentions to turn Yue into a member of his peerage, but didn''t understand why they were also being serious towards her. Yue was worried that she was going to be sent away or even worse, sealed up again. Alex cleared his throat and said, "I wanted to talk to you two about something I''ve been keeping from both of you, but first I''ll start with Yue''s topic." The petite vampire princess tried not to look nervous as Alex held something out, what looked like a crimson game piece. A second later Yue recognized it as a chess piece. "This is something called an evil piece, in the world the four of us came from these were used to reincarnate other beings into Devils in order to serve the master that reincarnated them, or the ''king''. Each piece has a certain trait thats granted to the person it''s given to, for example speed or strength. This piece grants a boost to magic power, the bishop. So far the only three I''ve granted evil pieces to are Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia, as you can see I don''t treat them like servants, but as lovers and companions." Yue was silent at Alex''s words, as she took in everything he said. She understood that technically he was trying to turn her into his servant, but that would be more of a title difference instead of entering actual servitude. The main point she cared about was that he apparently wanted her to always stay with him. She didn''t even care about the fact that he said they were from another world, it wasn''t that hard to realize with their unique magics, and she would leap at the chance to follow him since there was nothing left in this world for her. Alex reached out with the bishop piece in his hand and she also realized something else, if he treated his servants like his lovers, and this was her agreeing to always be with him, wouldn''t this be a... "Proposal!" Yue said, as the evil piece vanished from Alex''s hand at a speed even he couldn''t see, she then lunged forward and pressed her lips against his for their first kiss. He himself blanked at what she said and the feeling of her lips, while the other girls went wide eyed, as the evil piece was activated and Yue became the next member of Alex''s peerage. A second later a pair of wings sprouted out of her back, causing her to break off the kiss and look behind herself curiously. Seeing how she and Anne reacted to the wings, Alex smiled and activated his own while Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia did the same. "All Devils have wings that look like a bats, in the same world there''s angels and fallen angels with white and black feathered wings respectively." He then put his wings away, as did the other girls, before Yue turned her attention back to him. Though she dismissed his earlier words of another world, she was still curious and asked, "What''s the other world?" Alex smiled, and explained, "This actually brings me to my next topic, I''m hopping between worlds for a competition. Anne is another contestant, but since we''re friends we are traveling together. As a member of my peerage you can follow me to these other worlds when usually you can''t, but I found a way around this to bring a lot of people with me." Yue looked curious at his words, while Anne went wide eyed before Rias explained, "You didn''t think we were the only ones in his harem, did you?" When she head this, Anne narrowed her eyes at Alex and for the first time started generating some genuine bloodl.u.s.t. She calmed down a moment later, and sighed as she started thinking to herself. She had been anticipating meeting Alex again for twenty years, and she didn''t want to throw those expectations aside just because he had several women, but how could she stand out and not just be ''one of the many''? She was broken out of her thoughts as Alex started explaining how he managed to bring many people with him, even though she couldn''t tell where they were. "One of my abilities is called Asora, it''s a world connected to my soul that travels with me, when I hop worlds whatever''s inside follows me in relative comfort. I started recruiting various people to live there as well, and I''m planning to invite some of those we meet that desire a better life for themselves and their families there, but not everyone since it''ll be too many people to manage." As Alex finished speaking, Grayfia spoke up, "Anne, Yue, there''s also many understanding people there that are welcoming, we would all love to have you in our home." Both girls looked up when they heard this, Yue as she would like a place where she could call home again; and Anne because it sounded like Alex was following the same ideals she did through Asora. Plus, through interacting with the girls following Alex she did realize how lonely she would be by hopping worlds and never being able to maintain any of the friendsh.i.p.s she formed. Alex then clapped his hands, and said, "I''ll let you guys digest that a bit before we keep going on about it. Not necessarily right away, but I will bring both of you there in the future, I''m just waiting for things to settle before doing so since there''s a lot going on. Let''s move onto something more exciting, what''s your status say Yue?" After a brief explanation Yue understood what her status meant, that it was similar to the status plate used in Tortus. She then said, "Status!" And a screen popped up in front of her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue Titles- vampire princess, crotch smasher Race- vampire Abilities- Reincarnated devil Auto regeneration all element aptitude Compound magic Job- jobless(100) Jobs available- Master Mage, fire Mage, water Mage, ice Mage, earth Mage, lightning Mage, wind Mage, subordinate vampire princess, Skills- Blood conversion(5) Magic recovery rate(3) Magic control(5) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Alex saw Yue''s status he was impressed, she even had the option of getting the ''Master Mage'' job without the earlier stages of it. But there was one thing that worried him. "''Crotch Smasher''?" Was all she said, which made Alex sweat, apparently nicknames from the series itself could carry over, possibly because of the fans themselves. Rias then acted as if she suddenly remembered something, and said, "Oh yeah, I noticed that when the system added titles not too long ago. Why does mine have the title ''Switch Princess''?" Both girls looked at Alex for answers, who was sweating up a storm. How could he tell them? He didn''t check the girl''s statuses since getting the title function, so he didn''t know Rias still got the ''Switch Princess'' title. Alex did however promise himself to play with her tits a bit more the next time they were together, who knew if there actually was a hidden benefit of the title. He quickly came up with something to dismiss their questions, and explained the jobs. "The jobs will help you gain more skills in the future and help you grow, you can gain more jobs through your actions and any abilities you pick up." With Alex''s explanation, Yue looked at her job list before shooting the simplest one, ''Master Mage''. [NOTICE, magic has gone up and the skill ''Magic Sight'' has been added.] When she told them the new skill she obtained, Alex couldn''t help but feel a little envious. The ability to actually see magic could be pretty over powered depending on how one used it, and would probably be something that would make her unbeatable against other mages. After a little bit more talking about how to use her new system, Alex sent everyone to explore the hideout and see if there were any improvements that needed to be made immediately. He knew "Hero" group would enter the labyrinth any day now, and wanted to start working to prepare. After the girls left Alex himself called up his status, ready to choose not only his next job, but his next power from the shop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Titles- Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer Race- Saiyan Level- 200 Abilities- Reincarnated Devil Boosted gear Asora Enslavement magic Job- mage(100) Available jobs- ArchMage, master martial artist, draconian overlord, gravity expert, demonic charmer, holy enemy, berserker, sword adept, divine nemesis, ape lord, seducer, whip user, harem lord, staff adept, creature creator, s.e.x master, Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, sword user, pyromaniac, staff user Skills- Dragon demons breath(1) Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(6) Intimidation(10) Ki manipulation(9) Magic recovery rate(2) Devils charm(5) Sword technique(5) Staff technique(2) Gravity manipulation(7) Fire mastery(5) Fire immunity(1) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) Poison immunity(9) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex was torn on what job to choose, while he also ignored those weird jobs. He could feel his heart bleed with this choice, but decided it would be best after facing someone who could control minds since his devils charm can help him resist such powers. He then chose the ''Demonic Charmer'' job, and could feel as if he was about to cough blood from how he had to pass up other ones. [NOTICE, ''Devil''s Charm'' and ''Dragon Demons Breath'' has increased!] He should have figured he wouldn''t get a new skill from that, but if it helped prevent him from being controlled in the future then it might be worth it. What surprised Alex was that his ''DDB'' also increased, but it was also a demon related skill so that was probably why it was included. Done with the new job, Alex then opened the system shop to get a new ability. He already had one in mind, and was still depressed he couldn''t get it before. He went straight to it, and purchased Haki. [NOTICE, Haki added!] Lauren then started explaining what getting Haki meant. ''The ability itself simply allows you to train Haki regardless of what world you are in, and doesn''t automatically grant you all types of it. For example if you''re not compatible with ''Conquerers'' Haki you can''t train in it. But like others in the One Piece world you may have a talent in a certain type, like Observation or Armament Haki, that would allow you to excel in that regard. As for what ones you''re compatible with, you''ll have to find out through practice.'' Alex smiled and fake pouted, ''Ah come on Lauren, at least give me a hint!'' Alex could have sworn there was a teasing tone in her voice as she replied, ''No means no, or are you a little kid? Go try it yourself, there''s plenty of monsters to experiment on.'' They went back and forth for a few minutes before Alex finally left the room, and assisted the girls with checking out the hideout. Chapter 179 - Fight Anne fight!!! A few hours after choosing his next ability Alex was relaxing in the large bath of the hideout at the bottom of Orcus. They had examined every inch of the place, finding resources, blueprints, and projects in most rooms of the house, as well as some artifacts Oscar left behind like the storage ring. The storage ring was exactly like the name implied, it acted as a storage area one can keep with them at all times and could even remove things at any spot within a certain area. Though this wouldn''t be as useful to Devils like Alex, who had personal storages, it would help keep their personal storages from getting cluttered with the unnecessary or mundane stuff. While Alex and the other four had started exploring the manor and its surroundings, Anne had started reorganizing the garden in order to bring it back to life. With her universal knowledge of plants it would pretty much be impossible for her not to revive it. Alex thought of having her work together with Aiko, who was also a noncombatant in the summoned group like Hajime but had the job of the extremely rare farmer so unlike him she was considered useful, it seemed like they would be able to cultivate anything and everything in mass. After they finished exploring the girls all returned to Asora for the night, Grayfia wanting to see Millicas after two weeks, Rias wanting to check on her peerage, and Kuroka wanting to see her sister. As Alex didn''t want to risk missing Hajime when he fell, he stayed behind for the night with Yue and Anne. He was now wondering if there was a chance of him being with one that night since they were pretty much alone, but Anne seemed to struggle with advancing their relationship due to the other girls, and Alex was conflicted about Yue. Even though she was over three hundred years old, that didn''t change the fact she stopped aging at thirteen. Alex had even made Koneko wait for over a year because he was uncomfortable with how young she seemed at the time, but he couldn''t do that with Yue since she was stuck at her current age. Though Yue could technically learn to manipulate how she looked with Devils magic now, if Alex had her do that it was the same as saying she wasn''t good enough. He realized he didn''t think about this at first, but decided not to worry about it, as it wasn''t something either of them could control. His determination was soon put into action, when he heard some footsteps pattering towards him. He looked up from the bath to see a completely n.a.k.e.d Yue coming towards him, the look of a predator in her eyes. Now that Alex essentially asked her to always stay with him, there was no way she would hesitate. He smiled at the timing of the situation, as she unhesitatingly made her way over and sat in his lap. This time however she was facing him in a more intimate manner, before she placed her lips on his. Alex grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, giving each other a decent feel of the other''s body. She then moved her head to his neck, and bit. Though this wasn''t something new, Alex did feel different when she bit him this time, which Yue explained after she released his neck, "...Blood pact, means you''re my chosen one to drink from." Alex understood more or less with those words. They meant that now she would benefit even more from drinking his blood than any other persons, though this was already the case with him being a saiyan and a dragon, this just made it even more so. After completing the blood pact, they moved onto the main thing. Yue didn''t waste her chance, and soon she was grinding her h.i.p.s with Alex''s entire length inside her. Looking at her petite body, Alex couldn''t help but wonder how the hell she fit all of it, even though there was a slight bulge in her stomach just from him. The first time they went slow, as this was her first time and she wanted to adjust to having all of Alex in her, but then things sped up. Alex recalled from the series that Yue liked it rough, to the point that Hajime even referred to her as a beast trainer. After their first round Alex flipped her over so she was on her back, and started going at her with no remorse, and Yue loved every second of it. *** Anne was standing outside the bathroom n.a.k.e.d as the day she was born, trying to find her courage. She knew she had to step up in regards to her relationship with Alex, as who knew how long he would be patient with her before giving up? Since Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka were all gone for the night, and she doubted Yue would move this fast since she had known Alex for less than a week, Anne saw this as her chance! She might not be ready to go all the way, but she could take this step and bathe with Alex. If she recalled right this was considered skinship, where people bathed together to get closer. ''Just do it!'' She kept trying to tell herself to open the door and walk out there to bathe with a man. As she thought about that Anne recalled Alex''s night with the three girls, where they unashamedly did whatever they wanted in front of her with no apparent sense of shame. She also vividly recalled Alex''s manhood, and the size of it. She once more wondered if it would even fit inside her, before she shook the thoughts from her head and reminded herself that wasn''t what she came for. She steeled herself once more, and finally opened the door to the bath. She walked in to head to where Alex was, but suddenly froze in her tracks, and fell back on her butt in shock. In the middle of the bathroom was Yue on all fours, while Alex continuously thrusted into her from behind, going as if he intended to completely destroy her insides. The first thing that went through Anne''s mind as Alex moved his entire length in and out was ''how did he fit it inside her?''. The thing that confused her the most was that even though Anne was sure her insides were being completely destroyed, Yue had such a happy face as Alex did her. It was this moment they both looked up and saw her watching them, before they simply continued as if nothing happened. At that moment Anne noticed she was watching them have s.e.x, while she herself was completely n.a.k.e.d. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" She screamed suddenly before fleeing the bathroom. As Alex and Yue watched all this happen, he realized that he should probably treat Anne a little better, and decided to go and talk to her later that night. Yue seemed to notice that his attention wasn''t completely on her, and turned around to lightly bite his hand. Alex smiled at her antics, and went back to f.u.c.k.i.n.g her senseless. *** The next day Alex found himself in the same room they faced the hydra the day before. Since they already completed the labyrinth the hydra didn''t reappear, making it a decent training room. Currently facing him were both Yue and Anne, who had the look of a demoness on her face. After leaving the bath he tried finding her the night before, but she was no where to be found. Though he had a few methods to find her regardless, since she went so far to avoid him he didn''t intrude in her space. He didn''t find her until that morning, when he invited her to help him train. When she heard that she''d be helping by hitting him, she seemed scarily eager even after Alex said not to use dragon slayer magic. Yue on the other hand seemed to be glowing after he couldn''t find Anne and they continued their activities for most of the night, regardless of how hard he went on her. Alex now intended to train his new Haki ability, and needed people to attack him to train observation Haki, similar to how he had koneko attack him to train his ability to sense ki. The difference between the two however is that with one he could only sense ki, and with Haki one could theoretically develop it to the point of near precognition, and could sense almost all attacks. Though he could through his reaction speed anyways, he could also theoretically even dodge bullets with his eyes closed after training Haki. Alex put on the blindfold, and could still sense both Anne''s and Yue''s presences through their ki, even though neither had very much. A second later both of them also disappeared as Alex stopped sensing the ki around him, and he shouted out, "Ok, start now!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Anne''s fist connected with his face. Since she didn''t use her slayer magic it didn''t hurt Alex, but he felt as if there was intent to hurt behind her attack. A second later a dense boulder impacted his shoulder, as Yue shot physical objects like rocks and ice with magic. With this they started training Alex''s Haki, as Anne''s attacks became increasingly aggressive. Soon Alex was able to sense where they were coming from regardless, not from Haki, but from the bloodl.u.s.t she was starting to emit. As her fist drew closer to his chest, Alex gently grabbed her hand and pulled her close. Yue got the hint and stopped attacking, while Alex removed his blindfold to look at the teary eyed Anne. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling her shudder in his arms, and said, "I''m sorry I haven''t been treating you right Anne, even through you spent the last twenty years waiting on me." Anne shook in his arms, before looking up at his face. She knew it was impossible to force her expectations onto him, and that she shouldn''t expect him and the others to prioritize her feelings, but she couldn''t help but get mad anyways. As she looked into Alex''s face he saw some of the anger she had start dissipating, he decided to chance it, and sealed her lips. Anne''s eyes widened in surprise, before she melted into the kiss. She might not be as aggressive as the rest of the girls, but she''ll enjoy the chances she could get. Yue stood to the side, nodding in acceptance of the twos actions. Since she grew up in this world, to her it was only natural that strong men drew many women so she didn''t feel any resentment at Alex kissing Anne after spending the night with her. She waited patiently until after several minutes they separated, and Anne looked noticeably better. With the anger out of the way, they resumed training. Several hours went by of Alex just being a punching bag as he tried to grasp observation Haki. Soon he felt like he sensed something, as he barely defended an ice shard from Yue. This earned large smiled from both girls, but Alex frowned as he sensed something else. He removed his blindfold and looked up, Hajime and his class had entered the labyrinth. Chapter 180 - The fall Hajime gave a large sigh as he followed his class through the Orcus labyrinth, as two intense stares bore into him. The first was the main healer of the group, the source of most of his troubles, Kaori. After they received their statuses they started their training, once more revealing Hajime''s lack of combat capabilities. Then after two weeks they left to get real combat experience in the Orcus Labyrinth, staying in the town Horlad the night before. He had been extremely surprised that as he was able to actually relax for the first time in two weeks, someone arrived at his door that turned out to be none other than Kaori herself, in snow white neglige. Contrary to what Hajime''s teenage mind thought, she was only there to talk and ended up begging him not to enter the labyrinth. Hajime just thought it was a case of her thinking he was too weak like the rest of the class, but it turned out that wasn''t the case. She told him she had a nightmare that he was disappearing into darkness, and no matter what she did she couldn''t help him. Realizing she was there because she was genuinely concerned about him, Hajime swallowed his pride and asked her to protect him. Even though she was a noncombat like him, as a healer she was much more valuable than him and would be able to do it. What he didn''t expect was that she would try to follow him like a lost puppy, ready to leap to his aid whenever he might get hurt. The second, was a gaze like someone was trying to kill him with their looks. He didn''t know who it was or why they were looking at him with so much hostility, but he wished they would just confront him about it instead. Hajime couldn''t help but wonder if this was related to what had been happening the last two weeks. With next to no growth he started studying everything he could about that world to be of use that way, but that hadn''t been enough in the eyes of his class. Hiyama and his thugs would habitually drag him away for "practice" so they could use their new skills and magic to beat him up. The rest of the class just ignored it, feeling nothing but scorn for the useless Hajime. The only two exceptions were Kaori and her friend Shizuku. Kaori was livid people would treat Hajime this way, while Shizuku was simply disgusted with this kind of attitude towards a fellow classmate. Though Kouki was also one that would stop the bullying, he usually blamed Hajime''s lack of combat capabilities, and stated that he needed to practice more if he wanted them to stop. The bundle of justice that was Kouki did not believe in the evils of people, and assumed Hajime was the reason they acted that way. Wishing that whoever looked at him in such a way would stop, he continued through the labyrinth. Soon they entered a room on the twentieth floor where the walls came alive and took the forms of giant gorilla-like creatures before attacking them. The commander of the Knights Meld shouted out, "They''re Rockmounts, they have high levels of strength so watch out for their attacks!" As he gave the warning three people shot forward, they were the swordswoman Shizuku, the monk Ryutarou who was Kouki''s best friend, and Kouki himself who bore the job of hero. The three engaged a Rockmount, while Kaori and the rest of the support group stayed back and the other was taken by the remaining classmates. One of the Rockmounts noticed Kaori''s group however and aimed an attack at them. Meld intercepted it, but Kouki noticed the attempt at them and grew angry. "To attack girls, how dare you!" Was all he cried out, as the holy sword the kingdom gave started glowing. Meld tried to stop him, but the hardheaded Kouki didn''t pay attention and unleashed an attack that killed both Rockmounts and destroyed one of the rooms walls. Kouki was feeling good about himself, he defeated the monster that tried to hurt his childhood friend. That was what he was thinking until he was suddenly hit on the head by Meld. "Idiot, do you want to cause a cave in?! I know how you feel but you have to think in these situations!" Kouki hung his head slightly, as the support group approached. Kaori had a strained smile on her face, and said, "It''s ok Kouki, just think a bit more ne- what''s that?!" Kaori''s sight was drawn to where the wall came down, and the large gem sparkling there. Her eyes were almost as shiny as the gems, as everyone turned to look at it and the rest of the girls got similar looks in their eyes. Suddenly a voice said, "I''ll get it for you!" And the speaker, Hiyama, strode towards the gem while ignoring Meld''s warnings about traps. He wanted to get the gem to impress Kaori, something that would put him in a good mood for the first time after the last two weeks. On the day they got their statuses there was a sudden pain in his crotch that was almost like an attack, and he was swiftly rushed to a healer. What he was told however was possibly the most horrific thing he ever heard, he was crippled as a man. This devastated him, as once he managed to eventually get Kaori how was he supposed to enjoy himself? He took out his anger the only way he knew how, on the useless piece of trash Hajime. This didn''t go over well though, as when Kaori found out she started to get angry at him, Hiyama''s anger only grew worse after what he saw the night before. That was why he saw this as a golden opportunity, to impress Kaori by getting the large gem she seemed to want. The moment he touched it however it lit up, along with a magic circle that covered the entire floor of the room. "GET OUT, IT''S A TRAP!" Meld shouted as he tried to herd the kids out, but it was too late and they were enveloped in a flash of bright light. *** When the light faded Hajime looked around and paled at what he saw, along with the rest of his class. They were on a long stone bridge that spanned over what seemed like an endless abyss, at either end of the bridge where staircases going up, presumably back to where they were. "Up the stairs, quickly!" Meld shouted to the stunned students, but was too late as magic circle shined on both ends of the bridge. On one side was a single large magic circle, while on the other there were several small magic circles. From the small ones appeared skeleton soldiers, but there was seemingly no end to the amount that would spawn. The single monster on the other side however was a large triceratops-like monster but there were flames around its horns. "A behemoth..." Meld whispered, turning deathly pale at what he saw. The farthest anyone had ever gotten in the Orcus labyrinth was the sixty fifth floor, and it was this specific monster that ended the expedition. Meld prepared for the fight while barking orders, he then glanced at Kouki. If they couldn''t save everyone then he should at least ensure that no matter what the "hero" Kouki escaped, that was what he was told by the king and priest before leaving, to ensure the safety of the "hero" no matter what. However no matter what he said Kouki didn''t listen to him and stood side by side even though he told him to flee through the skeleton soldiers, the arrogance with adolescence burning in his eyes, he saw the behemoth as a challenge! Meld was about to yell at him for his continued idiocy, when the last person either of them expected appeared in front of them and grabbed Kouki by his shirt. "What are you doing here? You have to help the class escape!" Kouki looked at Hajime in surprise, before saying, "I should say that to you, this isn''t the place for you!" He along with the rest of those present were very surprised by what came out of Hajime''s mouth next, "This isn''t the time for that, everyone''s panicking and they need their leader!" They were shocked by the force in Hajime''s voice, as he always acted passive until now. Kouki then looked behind him, and saw the struggles of his classmates, as they were attacked by the skeleton soldiers while panicking. "I understand." Was all Kouki said, before preparing his largest attack to clear the skeleton soldiers out of the way for his class. Shizuku and Ryutarou tried to hold off the behemoth, while Hajime told Meld a plan he had. Though it took some convincing, Meld finally agreed. He then said, "I will definitely save you!" To Hajime, as he was put in the most danger with this plan, before shouting, "Shizuku, Ryutarou get back, I''m going to attack it!" The two cleared out as Meld released his own attack. It wasn''t as impressive as one Kouki would use, but it was enough to to get the behemoths attention. It reared up on its hind legs as it prepared to charge, not noticing Hajime getting right in front of it and shouting while placing his hands on the ground, "Transmute!" Right as the behemoths front legs touched back down, effectively trapping them in the rock. "Transmute!" Hajime kept saying, desperately trying to hold the monster in place for even a second longer. His plan was that while he held the behemoth back, his class would get clear of the skeleton soldiers and use their various magics to stall the monsters long enough for him to rejoin them. Meld had achieved his objective and got the students in the clear, before ordering the vanguards to hold the skeleton soldiers and the magic users to assist Hajime. None could believe that it was that useless Hajime that held the powerful monster in check, but they all started preparing their spells to help him; all except one, who saw this as a perfect chance to be rid of him once and for all. "HAJIME, RUN!!!" Meld shouted out once the spells were ready, prompting Hajime to release his magic and flee for his life. A torrent of spells flew over his head, stalling the behemoth so that he could flee. It was this moment that he noticed a fireball act weirdly, and change course directly for him. ''It was intentional.'' Was all Hajime thought, as he avoided the fireball. Though it didn''t hit him, the damage was done. Hajime was stalled long enough for the behemoth to ram the stone bridge, and this time it finally broke. As the stone disappeared from under the monster, Hajime was desperately trying to get a handhold. He managed to grab onto the ledge and pull himself up slightly, seeing the horrified looks of his classmates and dead center was Kaori, who was being held back by both Shizuku and Kouki. Hajime''s handhold finally also gave way, and the last thing Hajime heard as he fell into darkness was, "HAAAAJIIIIMEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" None noticed that there was someone hiding while watching the entire thing. Chapter 181 - Dont die As Hajime stared into the eyes of the great white bear, all he saw was death. It was a miracle he survived the fall, but now he was going to die here in the labyrinth. He awoke half submerged in water, leading him to believe he got caught in an underground stream somehow and survived that way. After drying his clothes, Hajime started to cautiously make his way through the labyrinth that he ended up in, not that he had a single clue how far down he was. He soon came across a what seemed to be a weird white rabbit, or at least he was trying to think of it in a less threatening way, until he watched it singlehandedly slaughter three wolves in less than a minute. Terrified, Hajime had try to back away but accidentally kicked a rock and alerted the demon rabbit. What followed after was something that made Hiyama''s bullying seem like child''s play, in retrospect it probably was. The rabbit started by completely breaking one of his arms, then enjoyed the following minutes by toying with Hajime, completely aware it held his life in its hands. He then closed his eyes, waiting for it to deliver the final blow that curiously enough never came. He realized why when he opened them next however, and saw the giant white bear standing directly behind the white rabbit, which was looking at the bear as well with obvious terror. The rabbit that toyed with both Hajime and the wolves with was then sliced into ribbons as it tried to run away, without the Bears claws even touching it. It then started eating the rabbit, not even concerned about Hajime. As he hysterically started trying to get away with his broken arm, he looked back into the Bears eyes and saw no sign of haste in them, it only looked at him as if it was looking at its next meal. As Hajime ran the bear raised its claw once more to use that invisible attack, but then Hajime felt something rush right by him, and heard something he never expected, "Sorry but you can''t have this guy." BOOM!! Hearing a humans voice in this place where he thought it was devoid of humans, Hajime turned around and looked at his savior. Behind him was a muscle bound figure that had dark spiky hair and a tail, Hajime first thought of a certain series from earth, but dismissed it since this was reality and not a manga. He decided this person was probably a demihuman, or a cross breed with a human since the only thing he seemed to have was the tail. With a single hit the man had sent the Bear into the wall, effectively killing it and causing a crater to form from the blow. Hajime was stupefied from the attack, knowing that this bear was leagues above the behemoth that they struggled with, yet this guy killed it in one hit. Hajime suddenly realized that maybe if this person was willing to help him, he ,isn''t be able to return to the surface again! Just as he thought that the guy turned around, and said, "So you''re one of summoned heroes, Hajime right?" Hajime was stunned by the guys words, as it seemed he actually investigated them, but felt the need to correct what he thought. "I''m just the useless on- ouch!" He said as he grabbed his still broken arm. The man suddenly tossed something at him, which Hajime clumsily caught with his good arm. He held the ring in his hands with some confusion, until the man said, "Firstly I''m Alex, secondly that rings a storage item with several things in it like medicine for your arm, and thirdly I watched the whole fight above earlier and I''d say you were the least useless one there. I wouldn''t have saved you if I didn''t think there wasn''t worth doing so." As he tested the ring to see about the medicine for his arm, Hajime became a bit cautious at the mans words as it almost sounded as if he wanted something from him, why else would he save him. Summoning a jug of water, Hajime took a few eager gulps after realizing how thirsty he was before the man stopped him and scolded, "That''s part of your medicine, you''re going to need a lot of it so don''t waste it. If you''re thirsty there''s other water in there as well." This confused Hajime until he realized he was using his broken arm again. He then realized a couple things, Alex said there was worth in saving him, and that he''d need a lot of this medicine, he asked hesitantly, "What do you want from me?" When he heard this question Alex smiled, and said, "I want to recruit you." Hajime was dumbfounded, he was the useless one, the one nobody cared about. Well except for her, when Hajime thought of her he could recall the sound of her voice as she called out for him as he fell. Alex then continued, "As I said I watched the whole fight up there, the only reason any of them lived was because of you. Though your strength may be lacking, you''re the most capable one out of your class when it matters. As far as your strength is concerned, that''s why I decided on a little test. Make it down to the lowest level of the labyrinth with your own strength, do that and you''ll be rewarded for it and Ill extend a proper invite while explaining what my group is about." Hajime was stupefied at Alex''s words, and almost shouted, "And why would I want to join your group?! You did save my life, but I know nothing about you or your intentions, I just want to go home!" Alex shook his head, and said, "So you intend to abandon your little girlfriend to her fate?" At his words Hajime froze. He never cared for Kaori that much(who else would Alex be referring to?) but he had always found it impossible to be rude to her. She had also been the only one to genuinely care about him after being branded useless, if something happened to her then what kind of man was he? But as Hajime tried to figure if Kaori would be in any kind of real danger, he thought of the fireball that came right towards him. Kaori''s attention towards him was the only thing he could think of that would make someone make the attempt to be rid of him, if that was the case then Kaori herself may be in danger. Seeing Hajime waver in his decision, Alex decided to push him further, "They already returned to the surface you know, I followed them for a while to see what they''d do. That girl is practically comatose right now from the shock of losing you, it will probably take several days before she wakes up. Meanwhile I also happened upon an interesting conversation, where the one who tried to kill you agreed to work with someone else who intends to betray your class, for the price of her as his plaything." Hajime was shocked as he tried to digest this, he didn''t even bother trying to figure how Alex made the trip to the surface and back while he was out, but focused instead on what would happen if there were people plotting against the class. While he didn''t care about the others, he did owe Kaori. However he couldn''t help from here, and as much as he didn''t want to admit it, he needed Alex''s help to ensure her safety. Seeing the look on Hajime''s face, Alex smiled as it seemed he was willing to go along with him now. "That ring has water, medicine, and resources for weapons, you''re a transmutation user so I''m sure you''ll figure out something." He then turned to walk away, prompting Hajime to call out, "Wait! What about food? And I can''t use this worlds weapons, I''ve been training the last two weeks but I can''t use them at all!" Alex turned back towards Hajime and smirked before saying, "Who said you can only transmute weapons from this world?" Hajime was stupefied once more at his words, as Alex then picked up one of the wolves the rabbit killed, and tossed it to him. "And here''s this for food, make sure to take your medicine. Don''t die." Alex then vanished into the abysses depths, whistling a tune as he went. Hajime didn''t know what to think as Alex disappeared, but soon realized he was alone in the labyrinth once more. His first thought was to make a safe area, motivating him to use his transmutation to make a small room in the wall, while dragging the wolf corpse with him. Once he ensured his safety Hajime looked at the corpse, not even sure why he took Alex''s words seriously. Monster meat was poisonous, with no known cases of survival upon consumption. However he did have this super powerful medicine with him, no that''d be too dangerous. Hajime went back and forth, trying to come up with some kind of plan of his own, and to rationalize his situation, for several days even though he couldn''t tell how much time passed in the labyrinth. The wolf had long since started to rot, increasing Hajime''s hesitation to consume it. However finally he was unable to take the hunger anymore, and if the medicine would protect him from the poison of monster flesh in general, then it might protect him from the harm of rotted meat as well, right? Driven by his hunger Hajime carved off a bit of the flesh, and without the means to start a fire, started ripping into the raw and rotted flesh. It tasted like complete and utter shit. Hajime fought the urge to hurl the meat as he choked it down, and took his next bite. This went on for a couple minutes as he choked down as much as possible, before drinking some of the medicine. Then the pain hit. It felt as if his insides were being torn apart, before the miracle medicine did its job and healed the damage, before the monster flesh started breaking him down once more. This agonizing process repeated itself over and over, his body being torn apart before being healed. Hajime didn''t know how long it took, but the pain finally stopped. He then pulled out his status plate and saw his reflection in the metal. His hair had turned pure white, while red lines ran down his skin just like the monsters of this level. Once he activated his stats, Hajime had to fight to keep from laughing out loud. Two weeks of training only raised his stats by two, while this raised them by a whole lot. He even had several new skills, including one called ''lightning clad''. Hajime held out his hand, and soon crimson red lightning danced across it, looking completely beautiful in his eyes. He then had an idea, and started pulling out some of the resources Alex left him. Hajime had tried working with them before, but the results were disappointing with his limited abilities. Now however, Hajime almost started chuckling evilly, as he got to work. Chapter 182 - A big change Having set Hajime on the path that would make him stronger, Alex returned to Oscar''s hideout to let Anne and Yue know he planned to return to Asora shortly. He needed to discuss his plans for Tortus with the important figures in Asora, and he needed to spend time with his girls. As he arrived Alex immediately went to the garden, where Anne was having Yue help her while he was busy. He then told them, "I''m planning to return to Asora for a while and will probably be gone all night, the girls should be back in a couple hours once the first part of my business is finished." Anne mock pouted, and said, "I bet you''re just going to visit your other women." Alex laughed and replied, "Yeah, I haven''t seen them in about two weeks so I should probably go visit them. But there''s other things I need to take care of as well." Anne stopped mock pouting, and was about to say something before Alex sealed her lips. When he was done kissing her, Alex then kissed Yue, who simply said in return, "Love me lots when you get back..." Making Anne look at her incredulously. Alex laughed once more before being enveloped in mist and entering Asora. The first thing he noticed was the intense wave of heat that seemed to hit him in the face, and the feeling of dryness in the air. Though it would fluctuate between warm and hot, Asora typically never changed from what could be described as spring weather, now that he was in another world it seemed to be in the peak of summer however. Alex quickly adjusted to the difference, and headed for the meeting hall while messaging the others to meet him. Not long after he was seated in the air conditioned meeting hall, the people he wanted to talk to gathered in front of him. There was Serafall, Barakiel, Gabriel, Yasaka, Vali and his team, Sairaorg and Seekvaira, Bova and Roygun, Rias with Akeno and Rossweisse, Sona, Ravel, Kuroka, and Grayfia. Alex nodded at everyone gathered, and started the presentation he had Ravel prepare with the information Grayfia brought. First he explained general information about Tortus, before moving on to the situation with the ruling bodies, then to Ehito and the threat he may pose towards them as a body snatcher, and finally the labyrinths. "...and so, I don''t mind if anyone wants to conquer the labyrinths as they are an excellent source of training as well as the age of gods magics, but simply beware of catching Ehito''s attention. As for Rossweisse, Le Fay, and Elaine, you''re the three most steeped in magic research so I want all three of you to conquer the labyrinths at some point to study the age of gods magic in them. There are a few others I think should conquer at least one or two to compliment the abilities they already have, for example Asia and Valerie for the age of gods regeneration and spirit magic. However I want this to wait until I personally clear the labyrinths with my group and we can place magic circles there for quick travel, remember we have a year here so there''s no huge hurry." As Alex finished speaking, Vali then asked, "So are we supposed to stay here and sit around while you''re challenging these labyrinths?" Alex shook his head at his question, already having thought of a job for Vali and his team to pass the next couple months. A giant map of Asora appeared, but only the area a few hundred miles around the city showed up. "Your group usually spent your time exploring when not fighting right? I want you to explore Asora over the next couple months. I doubt there''s ancient monsters or gods for you to fight, but it should help you pass the time and be somewhat interesting." Asora didn''t work like a normal world, there was a wall of mist that acts as a boundary instead of being a completely open globe. This mist is relative to Alex''s own powers, as he grows stronger the mist would be pushed further back and there would be more land available. Until this point they hadn''t explored all the way to the boundaries, so Alex didn''t know what to expect in his own world environmentally, this was a good chance to learn what they had to offer any future residents. Though he didn''t seem too thrilled with his new job, Vali didn''t complain, and simply nodded his head. Rias then asked, "You used Asia and Valerie for you example earlier, would they be able to pass the labyrinths safely?" Alex then explained, "They can piggyback with other groups, for instance since I want those three to learn and study all of them, Asia and Valerie could simply accompany them." Rias sighed in relief at Alex''s words, glad that her cute Asia and Gaspers girlfriend wouldn''t be in too much danger. Alex then turned towards Barakiel and gestured for Grayfia to bring what they brought. "We have all these minerals and such that I want the Grigori to look into, most have interesting properties that some of you might have fun with. But remember they''re only available in this world, so if you need more we need to be able to gather it before leaving." As Barakiel looked at the samples Grayfia gave him he smiled and said, "Several of my people would be very interested in these, we''ll probably be needing tons of this stuff before leaving." Alex nodded, already expecting that answer, before turning to Seekvaira while pulling out the gods water crystal. "This is a crystal formed by magic in the air in Tortus, later it started turning that magic into a water that can heal almost any injury. I want you to do some experimenting and try to keep the water flowing without draining it dry, maybe in a room with time manipulation that has a large amount of magic energy in it?" Seekvaira nodded her head, deep in thought before saying, "I can place it into a room with the highest level of time manipulation I can manage, but I''m not sure about the magic power. This seems like a very valuable and rare item, if that was all it took then I''m sure they would be commonplace." Alex sighed since he half expected Seekvaira''s answer, he simply said, "Let''s just try it for now, and maybe add a few additional formations under it to draw magic energy or something." She agreed with his suggestion, then they moved on to other topics. As the meeting drew to a close, Alex called out at Bova, "Before we leave, Bova there''s an offer I want to talk to you about." As Alex didn''t seem to be interested in asking in private everyone stayed, and listened with curiosity. Bova then asked, "What would you like to discuss my liege?" Alex simply opened the unopened package in his system, and set what was in it on the table. Everyone looked with curiosity at the weird fruit that had a series of spiraling patterns on it, and seemed to glow strangely. Alex then said, "If you recall the fight I had with the other worlders, this is the same item that granted that one guy his magma powers, the Magu Magu no mi. I''d like to offer it to you Bova." Everyone''s eyes widened when they heard what it was, but Bova had the biggest reaction, as his eyes seemed to grow to the size of plates. He then asked, "If I may, why me?" Alex explained, "This fruit can be considered one of the top tier ones in the world it came from, combine its powers with a dragons capabilities, and anyone would shudder at the thought." Vali then asked, "If it''s so powerful why didn''t you eat it?" Alex shrugged, and said, "A person could only eat one Devils fruit, while it''s true I would gain tremendous amounts of power from it, I would be unable to use a second one if I find another one I''d rather have. Plus they have the weakness of never being able to swim again, I think I have enough weaknesses with light and dragon slayers. I''m offering it to Bova because like I said a dragon with the power of this fruit would be terrifying, but if he refuses it then I''ll see if anyone else wants it." Hearing Alex''s reasoning for not eating it, everyone was weighing the pros and cons of eating it themselves. Not being able to swim would be a real inconvenience, but they all witnessed the power one could wield with it, very few people thought that they would eat it regardless. Finally Bova spoke up, "I''ll eat it, if it''ll allow me to be stronger, then there''s no reason not to." Alex smiled, and picked up the fruit to toss it into his mouth, waiting until Bova closed it to say, "By the way, from what I understand they taste like complete and utter shit." Everyone looked at Alex in shock, while Bova who already closed his mouth and swallowed started gagging from the taste of the fruit. "You- you couldn''t warn me sooner master?" He asked with teary eyes, not from Alex''s prank, but from the taste of the Devils fruit. Alex smirked, and said, "It''s supposedly fruit of the devil, did you think it would taste great? By the way they take effect almost immediately so why don''t you go and try your new powers out somewhere, but I wouldn''t advise going to the training rooms until a special one can be made for you." Seekvaira looked relieved at Alex''s words, while Bova immediately took off to try out his new ability with the curious Sairaorg following him. With that topic closed, the meeting was brought to an end. *** Several hours after the meeting Alex was laying n.a.k.e.d on a blanket with Gabriel, as they both looked up at the clear summer night sky after a passionate session of lovemaking(apparently the girls had some kind of lottery to see who would get him for the night and she won). Alex never understood how the whole system of stars, sun, and moon worked in Asora, and felt he would get a headache if he tried to investigate it. Soon even a shooting star flew by, with Gabriel closing her eyes to make a wish on it. Alex smiled at the action, and asked, "So what did you wish for?" Gabriel blushed at the question, and instead asked him, "Did you hear what happened the other day?" When Alex shook his head she told him, "One of my subordinates is expecting a child." Alex had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping at the news. For Angels the reason to come to Asora was to live in peace and continue their species without the risk of falling, the fact that there was already a couple expecting proved to the rest that they could live happy lives in Asora and start their own families. He noticed however that Gabriel seemed to be depressed when she said this, Alex was confused and asked, "Isn''t this a good thing?" Gabriel startled and exclaimed, "Yes! But... I got to thinking, how long do you think until we''ll have a child ourselves?" Alex started sweating at her question, now understanding what made her depressed. Unlike with the rest of the girls however, Alex found it hard to say it would be OK to wait until later to have a child. He had long since theorized that he could use his powers to purposely induce pregnancy when he was with his women, and both Lauren and Ddraig had stated that his theory was actually correct(Ddraig cried like a baby when Alex thought of using his powers this way), and Alex was actually unwilling to bring it up. The reason being that several of the girls were actually very willing to become mothers already, and if he stated that he could purposely i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e them it would be complete and utter chaos, he would prefer to wait for it to happen naturally. He found it hard to say no to Gabriel however due to her age. She was without a doubt his oldest lover, with a lifespan most likely going back over a thousand years or more. Unlike someone like Xenovia who wasn''t even twenty yet, Gabriel had gone several centuries without having a single relationship, let alone children. Alex decided he shouldn''t force his selfishness on her, and said, "If I said I could make it where you got pregnant, would you like that?" Gabriel didn''t understand Alex words for a second, before she cried out, "You can do that?!" Alex winced, and nodded before saying, "It''s mostly theory, but I should be able to make it where I can purposely induce pregnancy. I didn''t mention this because of how much chaos the girls would cause if it got out." Gabriel couldn''t help but agree, easily imagining the scenario where every girl in the Manor forced Alex to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e them all one after another. She thought for a moment, then asked, "What would we tell them then?" She was very interested in Alex''s idea, but worried about how the others would react. Alex simply said, "We pretend we don''t know either, and act surprise when you confirm it. If we act as if it happened naturally, they wouldn''t know I did it on purpose." Though he felt bad for tricking them, Alex knew this was a necessary measure for peace in the manor. Gabriel thought about for a second, before a smile spread on her face, and she said, "Please give me a child!" That was all Alex needed, before he rolled back on top of her. Before he did anything though, he summoned his boosted gear. The cool down ended before they left the dxd world so Alex was able to use it once again. As he listened to Ddraig sobbing at the use of his powers in the back of his head, Alex activated the gear. As the voice shouted out, Alex''s entire groin started glowing with a crimson light, before it disappeared inside Gabriel. She may had thought s.e.x was great before, but Gabriel couldn''t get enough of s.e.x this time around as the pleasure Alex gave her "penetrated" through her body. From the increased amount of pleasure, Gabriel climaxed several times before Alex once more filled her with his seed. Though she didn''t feel any different, Gabriel still felt a little emotional at the thought she met have just been i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed. Alex leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Congratulations, you probably just became a mother." He was then surprised however, when she locked her legs around him, and said, "Not yet, we don''t know if once is enough!" Alex was dumbfounded at her words, but gave her what she wanted, and continued thrusting. They continued through the night, until the stars they were watching disappeared and the sun peaked over the mountain. Chapter 183 - Bet After impregnating Gabriel, Alex escorted her back to Misty Manor where he had breakfast with the girls before returning to Tortus. The entire time felt surreal, he was going to be a father. Though there has always been a possibility of it happening over the last two years, now that it was pretty much set in stone he didn''t know what to think. He was forced to put his feelings aside however, when he returned to the hideout and it was time to resume his Haki training. This time he only had Grayfia helping him since she used both magic and close combat, and he sent Rias, Kuroka, and Yue to hunt monsters and gather resources. The tracking spell he placed on Hajime told him that he was still on the floor where he left him, so Alex wasn''t too worried about them running into him. Anne on the other hand was still working on reviving the garden, happy to work on such a project. After a few hours Alex then ended his training and sent Grayfia to train with the other three, while he assisted Anne for a couple more hours. Anne was very glad to have the company, and spent the time they were working together discussing various things about their lives the last twenty years. When it got to the afternoon, Alex went back to Asora to spend time with the girls he didn''t get a chance to be wth the day before. Though things didn''t progress too far, Alex simply spent the remainder of his day relaxing with them and catching up on what happened over the last two weeks. He did however feel anxious around Gabriel, and tried not to be too partial towards her and let the other girls know something happened. In this manner the weeks started slipping by, it didn''t take long for the girls to get their next job change, and Alex figured they would get at least one more before they left to the next labyrinth while Yue would probably get another one or two. As for Hajime, after over a week on the same floor, he finally started moving again and worked his way down steadily. A month after Alex left him, he finally arrived at the final floor to challenge the hydra. Alex waited on the other side of the giant doors for the fight to end, with no intentions of intervening since he wanted to see if he could fight the monster on his own. After over an hour of listening to the intense fighting on the other side of the door, accompanied by multiple sounds of explosions, everything went quiet. Alex opened the door, and found both Hajime and the hydra collapsed, the monster having lost all of its heads and Hajime seeming to be barely breathing. Alex walked up to Hajime and his entire face twitched at what he saw, was it fate, destiny, or just shitty luck? He looked around but couldn''t find it, so Alex just took Hajime with him as is and called for Anne. *** Hajime slowly opened his eyes, no his eye, feeling sore all over from the fight. Once he recalled the fight he bolted straight up and looked around, confused at his surroundings. He was now in a bed with bandages all over his body, the last of the medicine he was given used during the fight with the hydra, and there was a very beautiful girl sitting next to his bed. Her skin was a nice brown color and she wore a revealing dancers outfit, something Hajime thought only existed in anime and manga. She was startled when he bolted right up, but soon recovered and asked, "How are you feeling?" Hajime didn''t reply for a second, before he realized he was staring and said, "I''m fine, a little sore but ok." The girl nodded, and said, "That''s good, I haven''t had to heal something so drastic for a while, though I couldn''t fix the lost eye or arm you got lucky." At the girls words Hajime''s otaku mind immediately imagined a scene of this girl laboring for hours on end to treat him, and possibly what may happen after. The girl seemed to sense what he was thinking, and said with a frown, "My hearts already taken, so don''t get any strange ideas. Also before you see the rest of the area any girls you see here are also taken, so don''t do something stupid." Hajime was taken aback by the girls harsh remark, and scolded himself, he thought he was done with this kind of attitude. He then pictured Kaori and hardened his heart, setting his determination to see her again before doing something stupid. He couldn''t help but wonder though, who were all the apparent girls here with? I-it couldn''t be just one guy, could it? Hajime told himself that wasn''t possible, that was another thing that only happened in anime. He then tried to get out of bed but felt off with only one arm and half his vision to work with. He couldn''t help but want to laugh at the irony of the situation, Alex saved him and help heal his broken arm, only for him to lose it later. Thinking about him Hajime became alert, and asked the girl, "Is there someone named Alex around here?" She nodded, and said, "He''s the one in charge here, and the one all the girls here are with. I''ll take you to see him now." She then left, leaving Hajime to dress himself with his one arm, and the realization that all the girls she warned him about did belong to one guy. After several minutes longer than it normally should have taken for him to get ready, he finally left the room and followed the girl. He was worried for a moment when he couldn''t find the storage ring with all his remaining weapons, but figured it was with Alex himself, something that bugged Hajime a little even when he knew he got it from Alex to begin with. He was then pulled from his thoughts when the girl started speaking again. "I''m Anne by the way, and I heard your name is Hajime." He nodded and said, "That''s right, I guess Alex told you." Anne nodded, and replied, "He also said you have a girlfriend yourself, one who you put your efforts into conquering the labyrinth to see again." Hajime grimaced, but didn''t refute her words. He didn''t know what Kaori was to him until they saw each other again, but he was determined to meet with her. As they left the building a small group of girls approached them, making Hajime want to puke blood. They all seemed to be the exact type of women all guys longed for, there was the Crimson haired girl that dressed and carried herself like a high class lady, the black haired girl that had cat ears and two(?) cat tails, and what seemed to be a little girl that had a really mature aura around her to add controversy to her looks. The one that Hajime was paying the most attention to however, was the silver haired maid that seemed to be sizing him up, after all maids were part of pretty much every guys fantasies. The Crimson haired girl and the young girl seemed to be arguing, but stopped so Anne could start introductions, "The Crimson haired girl is Rias, the cat eared girl is Kuroka, the young looking one is Yue, and finally the silver haired maid is Grayfia." Hajime tried to remember all their names, but his thoughts were interrupted by the Crimson haired girl, Rias. "Yep yep, Yue only looks young but she''s actually a few hundred years old, to think such a young looking girl was actually an old hag!" Yue glared at Rias''s words, along with Grayfia. She knew they were simply continuing their earlier argument, but still decided to scold Rias later for her remark. Yue then retorted, "At least I''m not a cow with useless fat hanging off my chest!" Her comment drew looks from the other girls, but hey decide to let that one go since the two were always arguing. Hajime however gasped at what Rias said, and accidentally blurted out, "You mean she''s a real life Loli grandma!" At his words all the girls directed strange looks at him. Up until now Hajime had fought monsters that would even scare the things nightmares were made of, but he never backed down in the face of them. However the look Yue gave him made him consider going another round with the hydra, before she attacked him with a spell. Hajime dodged and since he didn''t have his weapons simply tried to avoid her attacks, until she eventually got him and froze him solid before storming off. Rias started laughing at what happened, until Grayfia grabbed her by the ear and dragged her off for her scolding. It was already an hour later when Hajime was thawed out thanks to Anne managing to convince Kuroka, and finally went to see Alex again. Pushing the girls that should only exist in fantasies out of his mind, Hajime started to seriously examine the place he was in. Though it seemed bright enough for him to be above ground for the first time in weeks, he almost immediately realized that the sun above them was actually artificial, and they were surrounded by cave walls. As he tried to figure out the complexities of this place, he was brought to a different building than the one he woke up in. Anne led him up to the third floor, where they finally saw the same figure that saved Hajime''s life a month ago. Alex smiled when he saw Hajime, but instead of greetings said, "Stand over there and we''ll talk once you''re done." Though he was hesitant about what Alex wanted him to do, Hajime listened anyways since he was outnumbered and outmatched, the Loli grandma showed him that. Hajime moved to the magic circle and watched what the creator of this labyrinth wanted to show those who passed their trials. Though it didn''t change his stance regarding this world, it was an enlightening experience for Hajime. Once the recording was done Hajime looked over at Alex and Anne, before asking, "So do you want my help to defeat these "mad gods" or something? Just to say beforehand I have no interest." Alex chuckled at Hajime''s words, and relied, "Well yes and no, I intend to challenge all the labyrinths and obtain their age of gods magics, something I think you''ll find interesting. I''ll eventually challenge the gods after I find a way to get to them, but you I would like to work with me as a transmutation master. While I can learn the skills myself, I doubt I''ll surpass someone like you who has to rely on their skills to survive, while in comparison I''ll simply use it as one of my abilities and never actually manage to master it fully." That was what Alex thought when it came to Hajime, while he could also learn the skills to be a master craftsman he doubted his creations would surpass someone who was raised in a complete otaku environment like Hajime. Plus it would be beneficial to have someone else to do crafting, otherwise he''d be too busy to do anything else, why not have someone who would genuinely enjoy making new inventions all day working for him? Hajime smirked at Alex''s proposition, and said, "I''d refuse but you have me outnumbered, so how about a bet?" Alex smiled as he figured where this was going, and played along by asking, "What bet?" Hajime smiled, and explained, "In one week we''ll have a fight, just you and me. If I win then I''ll do as I please, if you win then I''ll follow you as you wish." From what Hajime recalled Alex killed the claw bear in one hit, a feat he believed he''d be able to replicate now. He believed he''d be able to stand against Alex and match him in a duel, if not then the weapons he relied on would give him the edge needed to do so. After all being beaten by that Yue girl so easily was enough to show him that other people could be stronger than him, but he didn''t have his weapons and they could give him the edge he needed. Plus with his creation magic he would the next week to be able to power them up even further, and possibly do something about his arm. As the ideas started flowing into his head, Hajime started chuckling evilly again, planning for the upcoming match. Alex accepted without complaint, as he figured Hajime would be like Vali and need to be put into place before truly submitting. Though he knew Hajime was a master at planning ahead, it wasn''t like he knew what Alex was truly capable of, so he wasn''t worried. Chapter 184 - Trait of a king After arranging the duel with Hajime, Alex returned to the floor of the labyrinth he originally left him on with the kick rabbits, electric wolves, and claw bears. He wanted to train his Haki even more, and wanted to see if he could use what he really wanted when he got the ability. Lauren said that the ability to use Haki only gave them access to use it regardless of what world they were in, this meant that he could train in both observation and armament Haki, but that didn''t necessarily mean he could use the third type, conquerors Haki. He intended to spend the next week trying to access it, and if he could training it. Alex had barely entered the floor, when a white ball of fur flew at him accompanied by what sounded like a shrill scream. "IYAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" As the kick rabbit flew at him, Alex watched it as if it was going in slow motion, as he looked it in try eyes and focused his intent on it. He didn''t use his pressure or aura, and stared the rabbit down as it approached him. As he didn''t know the way to actually use this type of Haki, he could only keep trying with various methods until either he gave up or one of the methods succeeded. He only stopped focusing on the rabbit as its attack connected with a dark point on his body. Since Alex also dabbled in armament Haki it simply bounced off, before turning around and trying again. Alex let it attack him a few more times as he repeatedly tried to use Haki on it, without success. Eventually the rabbit started to realize this opponent was above it, and tried to flee when it''s twentieth attack didn''t do anymore damage than its first. Alex sighed at his lack of success, and killed the rabbit for its resources before moving onto the next monster. He then closed his eyes and focused to sense where the other monsters were, and could see several life forms throughout the current level. Alex smiled at the progress his observation Haki was making, and made his way to the next rabbit he sensed. This was how he spent most of his time the next five days, returning to this floor and trying to exercise his Haki on the monsters here. On the fifth day, just two days before the duel wth Hajime, Alex was starting to think he didn''t have the conquerors Haki. He decided to finish out the day however, and was glad he did in the end. As what seemed like the hundredth kick rabbit he faced that week charged him, he focused his intent like he had several times before. This time however he felt the attack weaken somewhat after it hit him, and the rabbit didn''t seem stable on its feet once it landed. Alex continued watching, not daring to believe he managed it, until the rabbit collapsed on the cave floor. As several thoughts rushed through his head, Lauren''s voiced announced, ''Congratulations, now you just need to keep training it until entire armies wouldn''t be able to stand against you, well not that they could anyways.'' With her acknowledgment Alex knew he did it, and felt a rush of excitement. He then moved onto the next monster he could sense, as he spent the rest of the day leaving a trail of passed out monsters behind him. *** The day before Alex''s fight against Hajime, Grayfia returned to Asora to collect a list he wanted made. It was the order for those that wished to challenge the labyrinth. Now that Hajime had completed it, Alex declared the place open for any who wanted to try it, and unsurprisingly Vali''s name was the first one on the list. His team consisted of himself, Bikou, Arthur, Le Fey, and Elaine, since Alex didn''t want anyone to challenge it alone. She then entered the room where most of the girls were, and saw them gathered together discussing plans and thoughts when they could enter and see the new world for themselves. "I for one can''t wait to see what kinds of swordsman there are in this world, since it has monsters and knights then there must be several capable warriors to fight!" Xenovia declared loudly, while Asia said, "I heard there''s different kinds of healing spells in this world too, I want to try and study them to become a better healer." Valerie nodded at Asia''s words, and continued, "There''s also the age of gods magic Alex told us about, regeneration and spirit magic, at least if I learn those I won''t need to rely on the holy grail anymore." Several of the girls agreed with Valerie''s words, since the grail would cause the user to go mad if used too often, she would be lucky to have an alternate ability to use instead. Gabriel then spoke up, "I just wish that the God of this world was more like the holy father, I hope that when this is over we can spread his word and help here people have a better faith!" Irina got teary eyed and continued off her words, "Indeed! These lost souls will surely lead better lives if they knew of the love of the lord!" The rest of the girls sent lukewarm gazes at the two angels, as they all considered the very real possibility that they followed Alex mostly for this reason. However someone soon exited the conversation, as Gabriel seemed to flee the room with sudden urgency on her face. Curious, Grayfia followed her and was swiftly joined by Yasaka. They soon arrived at Gabriel''s destination, her room, and entered to hear Gabriel vomiting in the bathroom. Though there was nothing overly suspicious in her behavior, the two mothers instantly formed a theory, as Gabriel had been completely fine until she got up. They had both been on the lookout for any signs among the girls for a while now, and seeing what just happened sent up flags to both of them. As the archangel left the bathroom, she was surprised by the visitors she didn''t hear come in. "I''m sorry, I was feeling a little under the weather and didn''t hear you come in, did either of you need something?" Grayfia nodded alongside Yasaka, and said, "I''m going to be right back, there''s something we need to check." She then left Yasaka and Gabriel alone in the room, before returning a moment later with something in her hand. When Gabriel saw it she turned completely pale, as Grayfia held out the pregnancy test and said, "Can you check for us Gabriel?" The archangel already knew it would say positive, and looked towards Yasaka for help, but the kitsune also gestured towards the test. Understanding she wasn''t going to get out of this, Gabriel accepted the test and returned to the bathroom. She reemerged a few moments later, and displayed the positive reading to both women. There was a small intake of breath, but Grayfia noticed that Gabriel didn''t seem surprised, and asked, "You already knew didn''t you?" Gabriel nodded, and almost explained what happened, until she remembered it was supposed to be a secret. Grayfia noticed this, and narrowed her eyes before asking, "Does Alex know?" Gabriel simply nodded again, feeling like a child that did something bad even though she was the oldest one there. Yasaka started laughing slightly, and said, "You''re scaring her Grayfia, it''s enough for the moment that they both know about it, but it will need to be discussed in the near future. In truth Gabriel I''m actually quite jealous of you, I don''t think I''d be able to bear it if I didn''t already have Kunou." Grayfia didn''t say anything, filled with intentions to discuss this with Alex when she returned to the hideout, as an afterthought she also agreed with Yasaka. She had secretly been taking contraceptives after each time she was with Alex, as she wasn''t sure yet about having another child with another man so soon after being left behind by Sirzechs, but with this incident she started thinking maybe she should stop. She then left the room with a small smile on her face as she thought of Millicas with a little brother or sister. Chapter 185 - Hajime vs Alex The day of the arranged fight both Alex and Hajime faced each other in the same room they faced the hydra in, off to the side the girls were watching now the fight behind a few layers of barriers. Alex glanced over at them and saw Grayfia looking passive, most likely still thinking about what they discuss the night before after she found out about Gabriel. Though she didn''t entirely agree, she also couldn''t truly disagree with their actions as it was an eventuality anyways. Alex pushed the thoughts from his head, and turned back towards his opponent, Hajime. He had already replaced his arm, and had an eyepatch over the eye he lost, as well as the storage ring on his finger full of his new toys. Alex smiled, and said, "Are you ready?" Hajime nodded, then and didn''t say anything bad he pulled out his first weapon and fired. *** Hajime was bound and determined to win this fight, and spent the last week throwing together various weapons he had plans to make anyways. Though they weren''t as good as he wanted, they should be enough for this fight. The first things he pulled out were his trusty partners, the first items he created after Alex left him, his custom made revolvers named Donner and Schlag. As red lightning covered the two weapons, several loud bangs resounded throughout the room as he aimed and fired directly at Alex. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG Over and over again he fired at Alex. When Hajime saw Alex''s reaction to this though, his only eye widened in surprise as Alex smoothly avoided all his shots. It wasn''t as if he just barely avoided then either, Alex''s smile never wavered as he used the smallest movements possible to dodge his attack. Hajime''s brow twitched in annoyance at how casual Alex was acting, though he figured a small exchange like that wouldn''t be enough for him to win. Using his agility, Hajime then started circling Alex and firing from all directions with the thought that he wouldn''t be able to dodge that way. What happened though completely blew him away. With the same casualness that he displayed before, Alex swiftly dodged all of Hajime''s attacks without even seeing where they were coming from. This annoyed Hajime even more, as it completely felt as if he wasn''t being taken seriously. He then put away Donner and Schlag, and pulled out one of his new toys. What appeared in his hands was a large prototype Gatling railgun he called Metsurai, capable of firing 12,000 rounds per minutes. What followed was complete and utter destruction, as the bullets Hajime fired annihilated whatever they hit. However even under the storm of bullets Alex was unharmed, instead he now seemed like a blur as he dodged every single bullet raining down on him as though it were nothing. Hajime was starting to wonder if he wasn''t fighting some kind of illusion or something. Realizing that Metsurai wasn''t good enough, Hajime then pulled out his next weapon. He then aimed his next attack at Alex using a large rocket/grenade launcher named Orca, capable of firing several times in succession. Hajime then fired his incendiary grenades without restraint, turning the entire area around Alex, that was already mostly rubble anyways, into a raging inferno. As the substance he used for his incendiary attacks burned at 3,000 degrees Celsius, Hajime was confident he managed to do something at least to Alex by now. What he didn''t know was that he did manage to do something to Alex, but it wasn''t something he wanted as Alex''s ''fire immunity'' skill went up by one. As the flames burned down, Hajime was incredulous to find Alex still standing there, acting as if everything he''d taken so far was no big deal. Hajime then surged forward, and delivered a kick to Alex''s stomach. It wasn''t a precise attack like what you''d see from a martial artist, but a kick designed to hurt that was typically used by thugs. He expected that Alex would move or that his kick would go right through him, what Hajime never expected was that even with all the stat boosts he''d gotten recently, his kick landed with a dull thud. With Alex looking like he wasn''t even fazed by the fact that his foot landed on his gut, Hajime started throwing punches and kicks in rapid fire, while also throwing in some air blades with the ability he got from the claw bear. In return Alex would just go, "Right punch." "Left kick." "Air blade." "Head Butt." Perfectly predicting every one of Hajime''s planned attacks and either dodging or defending before they landed. Hajime was at his wits end, and was trying to figure out what to do when Alex said, "Maybe it''s time for me to go on the offensive." Startling Hajime, and making him take his distance once more. He then pulled out a large shield that looked like a coffin, and looked at the other side to see Alex preparing for the attack. He was annoyed to see that he simply seemed to be doing some warmups, before a large amount of energy stated radiating off of him. Hajime watched wide eyed as Alex became enveloped in a golden aura, while his hair started standing straight up. When he finished his transformation, there was only three words that could be heard in the room, "I''m so f.u.c.k.i.e.d." *** "You didn''t have to go that far you know!" Anne said with half closed eyes as she looked at Alex. The person himself shrugged, and said, "I was just being thorough, and besides his equipment is mostly made out of azantium, which known as the hardest metal in this world." Anne snorted at his words, and retorted, "Yeah, but the damage that you did to the non-azantium parts of him, in other words the human part of him, had to be healed by me! And there was a lot of damage to heal!" Alex rolled his eyes, while the rest of the girls snickered in the background. It had been several hours after he ended the duel, and Hajime was still resting after being thoroughly thrashed by Alex. He then had to be healed by Anne, who wasn''t happy Alex created that much work for her. He already thought of a way to cheer her up though, and said, "How about I bring you with me to the town Brooke to make up for it?" At his words every girl became alert, and Anne asked, "Wait we''re moving on already?" Alex however shook his head, and explained, "I don''t know the exact location of the next labyrinth, so I plan to go to Brooke and do some work as an adventurer while searching for it. It''ll still be a while before we challenge it though, but this will save all of us the need to search for it later." Rias looked excited to see some other places for a second, before Alex continued, "I''ll just be taking Anne and Kuroka with me this time, and Kuroka will just have one job before I send her back. As for the rest of you, I want each of you to focus on grinding your job levels for right now, since we won''t necessarily always have a place with so many high level monsters conveniently provided for us. Don''t worry, once we leave here we''ll probably be traveling for quite a while, and I do plan to return via magic circle every night I can." Though the girls didn''t like staying in the labyrinth for such a long time, they also knew that it would be best if they gained as many job levels as possible, plus it wasn''t all bad since they could enter Asora anytime. Anne on the other hand was ecstatic, she was looking forward to getting out and seeing more of Tortus, and most importantly getting some alone time with Alex. With this the fight with Hajime came to an end, and Alex started planning his next step. Chapter 186 - The perks of being a dragon slayer The next day Alex left the Orcus labyrinth with Anne and kuorka through the magic circle that was prepared by Oscar. Staying behind was Rias, Yue, Grayfia, and Hajime, who was sulking about his defeat the day before while muttering about how unfair Saiyan''s were. Alex of course explained part of the details to him about being world hoppers themselves, but for the time being he couldn''t explain the whole story until Hajime went to Asora. After using the magic circle the trio found themselves in yet another cave, except this one led to the surface. After passing through several traps and seals that were bypassed with the proof of conquering they received along with the creation magic, the three of them finally saw Tortus Sky again after nearly two months. "Ahhhh fresh air!" Anne was in a particularly good mood, as clean air meant more to her as a sky dragon slated than to Alex or Kuroka. The good mood was short lived however, when they were swiftly surrounded by a horde of monsters. Kuroka tried to use her spells to quickly wipe them out, but instead, "What?! My magics weaker~Nya!" Though she couldn''t fully use her spells Kuroka didn''t panic after her initial shock, and was about to engage the monsters in close combat before they all suddenly collapsed. The two girls were looking around in confusion, while Alex said, "Let''s go, I''ll explain on the way." Anne gave one more look at the passed out monsters, and quickly followed Alex as he walked down the rocky slope they were on. She then asked, "Is it just me or did those monsters not feel as threatening as before?" Kuroka nodded, and added, "Yep~Nyan, they didn''t feel very strong. It was more of a surprise to find my magic didn''t work." Alex nodded, and said, "We''re in a place called the Raisen great canyon, it''s a natural death trap for those that use magic since it seals it. You''re a very powerful magic user which is why you should be able to still use magic to some extent Kuroka, but normal magicians would be useless here. It''s also a place where criminals are sent for execution, as the presence of monsters on top of magic sealing makes it nearly impossible to escape. As for why they felt weak, it just means we''re too used to the monsters at the bottom of the labyrinth." Both girls looked interested at his explanation, but Kuroka asked, "Why didn''t you say anything before~Nyan?" Alex shrugged, and replied, "It''s easier to believe by experiencing yourself than just hearing about it. Plus it should be in the report that was made along with the maps I bought before." At his words Kuroka suddenly started looking away, seemingly finding something better to look at. Anne then asked, "So what was that skill you used to make all the monsters pass out?" Alex smiled with pride, but didn''t explain that one. As he led the way down the canyon, they eventually reached a relatively flat area, and pulled out something he went to fetch from the Grigori a few days back. What appeared was a dark red sports car that Azazel left to him, with the bonus function of running off of ones power instead of gas like a normal car. Alex and Kuroka both smiled when they saw the car, while Anne looked shocked at it from not having seen any kind of vehicle in twenty years. "DIBS ON THE FRONT SEAT!" Kuroka cried out as she reached for the handle. Alex calmly walked to the other side to enter the drivers seat, while Anne squeezed into the back seat, still looking around the car in awe. She then asked, "Isn''t this a little too eye catching? I though we were trying to lay low." Alex nodded and said, "The chances of us seeing someone in the canyon that''ll be able to spread the word is extremely low, so it''s ok for right now." Once he was done talking Alex then pulled something out from a compartment and handed it to Anne, making her confused as she looked at the barf bag. "I don''t need this, even though it''s been a while since I''ve been in a vehicle I highly doubt I''ll get car sick from it." Alex didn''t say anything, and simply started the car while pulling forward a few feet, before the distinct sound of a person vomiting immediately came from the backseat. Kuroka looked disgusted, and Alex laughed while saying, "Enjoy the perks of being a dragon slayer." Before actually pulling away. They then spent the next several hours driving through the canyon with Alex either using Conquerers Haki on the monsters that tried to chase them, or throwing Anne''s filed barf bags out the window at them. As such, their journey was rather uneventful until Alex found the staircase that led out of the canyon. By the time they left the Raisen great canyon, it was around lunch time. "Ahhhh~" Kuroka opened her mouth to have Alex feed her, as they all sat on a blanket he set out. Rather than having just left one of the most dangerous places in the world, the twos attitude was more like they were on a picnic. Anne sat to the side, barely nibbling on some food since Alex already warned her that they''ll be using the car again once lunch was over. Now that she was able to actually hold a conversation again, she interrupted Kuroka''s spoiling and asked, "So all dragon slayers get motion sickness?" Kuroka made a face of disgust when Anne brought it up, recalling the sound and smell of her vomiting several times during the morning. Alex on the other hand nodded, and said, "As far as I can tell it happens to all of them eventually, and one can be considered a "true" dragon slayer if that''s the case. By the way, the only known cure for it that I can think if is your own powers, but it won''t work on the caster. In other words you''re pretty much out of luck for the time being." He then went back to feeding Kuroka, who then fed him afterwards with his head in her lap, while Anne was in deep thought about how she couldn''t even enjoy rides in vehicles anymore. After having lunch for about an hour, they packed up and got back on the road. The trip in the afternoon was pretty much the same as the morning, except They didn''t have to deal with monsters as much. It was several more hours later that they started to see signs of a town ahead, and Alex swiftly put away the car and took both girls to the side. He then turned to kuorka, and said, "It''s your turn now Kuroka. There''s these Status plates everyone uses, I want you to sneak into the town and find if they have any. If they do then they''ll probably be in the adventurers guild, or any nobles house. I''d start with the guild, and swipe as many status plates as you can so that we''d have enough for everyone." Unlike Horlad they''d be more active in checking the status of those entering the towns here, being so close to the canyon that was used to execute criminals. And Alex couldn''t take the girls and get their statuses the official way, as they would have to be recorded by the one they got them from. So his plan was to have Kuroka steal the status plates and bring them back, then he simply needed to purposely keep the extra information hidden once he needed to use it. Kuroka did a mock salute, and said, "Leave it to me~Nyan! I put the ''cat'' into ''cat burglar''!" And swiftly disappeared. This left Alex and the still recovering Anne to sit outside while they waited. Anne then asked, "Do you think she''ll be ok? I mean it''s something they''ll have secured to prevent thieves from stealing, right?" Alex nodded, and said, "Most likely, but you have to remember she uses magic not native to this worlds, meaning it shouldn''t be hard for Kuroka to bypass all of their security measures. Plus you don''t know this, but I had her prioritize learning stealth and thieving skills in the months before coming to this world, imagine stealing anything and everything you can in a house full of high leveled people on alert because their stuff has been going missing. She''ll be fine." After hearing Alex''s words Anne did feel more relieved, and started to relax while they waited. Alex smiled at this, and similar to Kuroka while they were having lunch earlier, pulled her head into his lap and had her lay down while he leaned back against a tree. Anne simply closed her eyes, and recovered from being sick the whole day, completely content and relaxed in Alex''s care. She couldn''t help wanting this to go on forever, just the two of them. The two simply relaxed like this for nearly two hours, before Kuroka returned with her prize. "I''m back~Nyan! I took ten of them, one for each of us and a few left over." Alex smiled and stroked Kuroka''s head, specifically her still present cat ears, and said, "Good job, now we can have the Grigori study them and hopefully replicate them for anyone who''ll need one." Kuroka grinned, pleased with the head stroking and praise. Alex then said, "Go ahead and head back now Kuroka, I''ll visit you when I can but I''ll probably spend the night here tonight then head back either tomorrow or tomorrow night." She pouted at his words, but still took the remaining plates after Alex and Anne grabbed one, and teleported back to the hideout. After Kuroka left, Alex and Anne both pricked their fingers and dropped a bit of blood onto the plates and watched in awe as their information started to appear. For the most part it was just like their usual status they could see, though Alex didn''t know if Anne''s was set up differently, his also showed his his stats like strength, or magic. He didn''t put a whole lot of faith into those numbers though, and practiced hiding the extra information before heading into town. Chapter 187 - Registration After being checked by the guard at the gate, both Alex and Anne entered the town of Brooke. By this point he had changed clothes to match his job on the status plate, monk, by wearing his gi like combat clothes based off of Goku''s, and pulling out the staff Wukong gave him. With this the guard didn''t even look twice at Alex, but instead his gaze was attracted to Anne when she presented her plate. Her job was surprisingly dancer, which made some sense when considering the movements of slayer magic. After passing the guard the two made their way into town, with the guard''s eyes still on Anne. As they walked people would stop and stare at them, their gazes drawn by Alex''s figure, and Anne''s looks combined with her outfit. Sensing their looks, Anne clung to Alex''s arm so they looked like lovers, and said, "It''s nice to be put and around with just the two of us." Alex smiled gently, and said, "After we''re done in the guild today we should have quite a bit of money available, we can just spend tomorrow walking around and looking at the stores and stalls." Anne''s smile grew at his suggestion, and she clung to his arm tighter in response. The twos good mood continued all the way until the guild, but then they ran into someone right as they entered the building that wanted to ruin it. As they walked through the door they ran into a small group that had been walking out, a single guy flanked by a girl on each side. The guy took one look at them and sized up both Alex and Anne at once. While Alex could be considered intimidating with his muscular physique, in a world that had a strength stat muscles didn''t mean anything. As the man hadn''t seen Alex before he automatically pegged him as an amateur at adventuring, before setting his sights on the beauty next to him. She had an exotic look to her and the dancers outfit she wore was definitely eye catching, especially since she seemed to carry a ''pure'' aura around her. He immediately ignored Alex and said to Anne, "I''m Abel, the gold rank adventurer known as the Sword Lord, would you like to join us tonight? I can assure you there''s plenty of room on the bed." Abel was sure the girl would join him for the night after telling her his name and rank, what kind of girl would refuse one of the highest ranking adventurers over a nobody? Against his expectations however, Anne only had a look of disgust on her face. Even though she already made her peace with being part of a harem, at least Alex was nothing like the guy in front of them. The girls next to Abel sneered at the obvious disgust on Anne''s face, and said haughtily, "Apparently you don''t seem to realize how generous lord Abel is by making this offer, you can have a night to be proud of, while your boyfriend could even brag about how his woman slept with a gold ranker. Who knows, you could even get extra lucky and bear lord Abel''s child." At the mentioning of even bearing this disgusting guys child, Anne snapped. She didn''t say anything, but raised her hand towards the two girls. At first neither one reacted, but then they both started steadily rising in the air. ""KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"" They both screamed, while Abel was staring dumbfoundedly at what was happening. Soon they could raise no more due to the ceiling, where they both stopped. Anne snorted, and turned away from both girls, intending to leave them both up there. Abel then seemed to realize what happened, and drew his sword, "Put them down, and maybe I won''t rethink spending time with you tonight!" Anne snorted at Abel too, and said while clinging onto Alex lovingly, "I would but you know what they say, bigger is better." At those words every persons gaze instantly went to Alex''s crotch, as if they were trying to verify her words by peering through the fabric. The funny thing was that Anne herself was still pure, she had simply seen Alex n.a.k.e.d from the previous incidents and knew his size while assuming Abel couldn''t match him. Abel had a red hue to his cheeks at her words, and said, "I gave you a chance bitch, don''t hold it against me!" Before lunging at her suddenly, however his sword came to an abrupt stop due to the hand that had closed around it. Everyone watched in complete amazement as Alex gripped the blade of Abel''s sword with his bare hand, not knowing he applied armament Haki to just the inside of his hand. Abel was in shock once more as Alex pulled the blade from his grip, and placed the tip against his fortified hand, while he placed the hilt in his other hand. He then pushed both his hands together, and crushed the sword into a small ball of metal. Everyone in the building gulped at the display, and Alex spoke for the first time, "Does any one else have a problem?" Everyone immediately turned the other way, leaving Abel to fend for himself while the two girls still wailed to be let down. Alex then kicked Abel in the crotch, and sent him flying through the door without a single chance to resist. Everyone watched as a gold rank adventurer was instantly defeated, though some felt that he didn''t actually truly earn his rank to begin with. What they didn''t see was that after being sent out the door Abel was enveloped in mist and disappeared, sent to a place that would be a living hell for him and ran by a group that only Alex and Serafall knew the existence of. Acting as if nothing happened, Alex made his way to the counter where a plump auntie type women was waiting for them. "That was quite an entrance." Was all she said, while Alex smiled wryly and replied, "Sorry for the disturbance, but we didn''t start that." She nodded and explained, "Abel had always been causing trouble while using his gold rank as an excuse, and since gold ranks are rare and valuable assets we can''t go after them for every little thing. I''m actually glad someone decided to teach him a lesson. Now, I''m guessing you''re here to register as an adventurer?" Since Alex and Anne were obviously stronger than usual, the woman had figured they were unregistered due to the fact she hadn''t heard about them before. Alex confirmed her guess when he nodded, but continued, "We don''t have the money needed to pay the registration fee though, so we need to exchange some of our monster materials first." The woman waved away Alex''s words and said, "It''s no trouble, since you''re already planning to register I''ll give you full price to begin with. You can call me Catherine by the way." Alex blanked for a second before recalling that those registered with the guild had an increase in the amounts they received from monster items. He thanked Catherine for her assistance, and had Anne start removing the items stored in her storage. The sudden appearance of a small pile of resources made everyone''s eyes go wide again, but Catherine''s face never moved as she maintained her professionalism. Alex smiled at this and wondered how long it''ll last, as they were processed and the next batch of items was brought out. They had started with the materials from the weaker monsters they faced, and gradually went up in strength and value. When they removed the items from the behemoths her face twitched, but she didn''t react otherwise. By the time the guild building was supposed to close, they hadn''t even gotten to the materials from the second half of Orcus and they had already amassed a small fortune, even the guild master had to make an appearance with all the strange materials they hadn''t seen before. Catherine looked at Alex from the side, and said, "I don''t suppose you could tell me where you faced these monsters at?" She already had her suspicions, but wanted to hear it from Alex himself. The man in question smirked, and said, "I won''t, have to maintain some secrets after all." Catherine nodded, and decided to keep a close eye on Alex and what requests he would choose. As for Alex''s impression of Catherine, he wasn''t too worried about her since he knew her from the series. Though she seemed somewhat unimpressive, she actually had a lot of influence in the various adventurer guilds throughout the continent, and seemed quite open minded. After that Alex and Anne went to a place called Masaka Inn, and stayed in one of the rooms for two people. Anne was giddy at first from how they looked like a couple staying together, but forgot how couples share beds. She was nervous to begin with even though nothing was going to happen, and woke up the next morning snuggling up to Alex, who only reciprocated her actions. It wasn''t until they woke up that Anne recalled the two girls she stuck to the ceiling the night before. *** Meanwhile... Abel was running along the beach trying to figure out where he was. The last thing he recalled was being kicked out of the door of the guild by that guy after having his manhood kicked, then he was on a beach. A bit of looking around revealed he was on an island, which only confused him even more. Eventually he shouted out in frustration, "WHERE THE HELL AM I?!!!!!!" Before collapsing on the beach, not knowing what to do. He then started thinking survival, he needed to get food and water. Abel may have used backdoor methods to get his gold rank, but that didn''t mean he didn''t have skills. However as he stared thinking of how to best secure food, "Oh my, we have a new recruit~nyo?????" Abel became as stiff as a board at the voice, and turned around to see a massive thing that was so muscular that it put that guy who sent him here to shame, but was dressed in girly clothes and had the ears of the cat race. The man(?) then pulled out a whistle and blew into it, causing more of them to seemingly fall out of the sky a second later to land next to them. They then let out a chorus of loud shrieks while going "nyo????" over and over, and some even looked at Abel with a predatory gaze while saying he was their type. Abel had never been so scared in his life, what was going to happen to him? At that moment the group started splitting, and the most impressive specimen yet started approaching him. They took one look at Abel, and said, "Welcome to your new home, Magical Girl Island~????! We are a secret group that follows the boss who promised us that one day we might actually become magical girls, and he''d find us more comrades~????! You''re our lucky first recruit since following the boss, so come and we''ll begin your magical girl training~nyo????!" Abel had no words for this situation, or rather he couldn''t speak in this situation. But sadly for him his silence was taken as acceptance, so the one in charge, the one the others started referring to as ''Mil-Tan'' grabbed his leg and started dragging him away. "N-no! I don''t want to join your freak group, rather what is a magical girl?" At his words Mil-Tan and the rest of the magical girls covered their mouths and gasped, ''what is a magical girl?''! To them this was the deepest of tragedies, and Mil-Tan declared, "This is bad~nyo. We have to return to the base right away and start the ''Magical Girl Milky'' marathon!????" The others agreed with his(?) words, and rushed back to their base, dragging the screaming Abel with them the whole way. Abel was never heard from again, instead there was only Magical Girl Annabelle. Chapter 188 - Date with Anne The morning after registering, Alex and Anne decided to spend the day walking around the various stalls and stores, and essentially just have a date with just the two of them. Since he now had a small fortune with the materials he turned in the day before, Alex wasn''t too impatient to take a job at the guild or turn in the rest of the materials, in fact Catherine told him to wait a few days so that they could get some specialists to help identify what he brought them. Though they did stop by the guild long enough for Anne to let down the two girls she stuck to the ceiling, by this point both girls were sobbing wrecks and clung to Anne while begging for forgiveness and calling her ''big sis''. Though when they offered themselves to Alex for the night in return, Anne nearly stuck them to the roof outside for good. This was only averted because Alex instantly denied their advances, seeing them only as leaches who would sell themselves to promising people for status or wealth. After dealing with the two, Alex and Anne''s date began in earnest. She quickly forgot about the two girls while looking at the various stalls selling mostly food and a few different types of merchandise. They started with a food stall for some breakfast, then walked around looking at the trinkets and accessories while eating. Alex even did the cliche picking food off of her cheek thing, earning himself a deep blush in return. "Thanks." Anne said hurriedly before returning her attention to the stalls to hide her embarrassment. Alex smiled at her, and as always since she joined them, found her reactions to be quite cute and interesting. As the majority of the girls around him were pretty proactive in their affections, having someone like Anne around was a fresh experience. Once they finished eating they started looking around the stalls and stores in earnest, with Alex buying quite a few clothes, accessories, and other trinkets Anne seemed to like. What confused Anne however, was that Alex intentionally avoided one particular clothing shop like the plague, while saying they didn''t need to see something like that on their date. Like this they spent the whole day together, then as the sun went down they returned to Masaka Inn for dinner. Anne didn''t notice it, but Alex saw a certain young woman glancing at them occasionally with a bit of intensity. Alex noted her relatively thin aura as a precautionary measure, before returning his full attention to Anne. Soon the two returned to their room for the night, where Anne collapsed on the bed. "I can''t tell you the last time I spent a day like that, definitely before dying on earth." Alex smiled at her words, glad she enjoyed the day. But she then surprised him by getting up suddenly with more energy than she showed a second before, and quickly gestured for Alex to sit on the bed while she cleared some space in the room. "There''s something I want to show you, I wasn''t sure about doing this around the other girls but I''ll do it tonight." Alex''s mind jumped to a few conclusions which must have shown on his face since Anne blushed, but she didn''t deny his imagination. Then against his expectations, she started slowly going through dance movements. With no music, Alex watched as she started slowly moving in a hypnotic method. A minute or so after she started, Anne started picking up pace and one of the candles in the room went out. As the smoke drifted from the wick it got caught in the whirling motions of Anne''s dance, and coiled around her like a snake. A second later another candle went out, lightly lowering the amount of light in the room while adding a small amount of extra smoke to her dance. Alex was then surprised when one of the extra pieces of cloth in her outfit, one of the veils, fluttered through the air after Anne removed it. Alex watched with growing excitement, as Anne continued to dance while the candles went out one by one, and pieces of cloth fluttered to join the first after she removed them. Soon Anne was wearing just the skin tight cloths covering her b.r.e.a.s.ts and her nether regions along with the metal bands on her wrists and ankles, and the low light in the room from the few remaining candles along with the smoke added to the scene as Anne continued dancing with a light layer of sweat glistening on her skin. By this point Alex was fully aroused, and didn''t even attempt to hide the tent he had pitched with his pants. Anne could see it clearly as well, and moved on to start the main course. She sn.a.k.e.d her hands slowly and sensually up her body before she fingers hooked under the fabric covering her b.r.e.a.s.ts, and after a millisecond of hesitation started removing it next. Alex watched with amazement as, without losing a beat, Anne slowly removed her top and revealed her large b.r.e.a.s.ts to him, before the cloth left her body completely and joined the pile on the floor. She then continued dancing topless, with the only piece of clothing remaining being the one covering her most important place. Alex watched her b.r.e.a.s.ts as if hypnotized as the large melons swayed with her movement, now without the constrictions of the clothing she wore previously. He watched as the little candlelight left danced across them, with his gaze focusing on the erect little buds in the center. Anne swiftly drew his gaze away from her b.r.e.a.s.ts however, when she hooked her thumbs into the sides of the only bit of clothing she had left. She then slowly and sensually lowered her bottoms until Alex could see the slit they hid previously. Soon the cloth was pooled around her ankles and was kicked away, leaving her completely n.a.k.e.d except for the metal bands. Then against Alex''s expectations, she continued dancing. Though she didn''t move in a way to call to attention the fact that she was n.a.k.e.d, neither covering or emphasizing her private areas. Watching such a thing for the first time, Alex wasn''t see how much longer he could wait and was tempted to take her into his arms, but he then noticed something that made him stop. By this point Anne was completely covered in a light layer of sweat, but Alex noticed a distinct line of fluid running down her inner thigh, and knew that she was just as ready as he was. To match his expectations, Anne then slowly started making her way towards him, before sitting on his lap and straddling him. The brown skinned beauty then leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, while he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer before moving his hands towards her fleshy ass. "Ahh!" Anne broke the kiss and m.o.a.ned lightly. She noticed this was a distinctly different feeling than when she was manhandled by the other three when they first met, even though they had touched her in places Alex had yet to explore. She then steeled her self, and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him closer, and said, "I love you, and I''ve been waiting the last twenty years for you so please don''t make me wait anymore." Alex smiled and kissed her again, before swiftly flipping her over so that he was on top of her. He then said, "Of course not, no more waiting." Anne smiled as her hands found his waistband, and pulled it down to release the angry dragon. Anne herself knew she was ready, and didn''t protest as the burning hot and large rod was pressed against her slit, before sliding forward slowly and breaking through the barrier within her. *** As the two busied themselves in their room, a female figure silently made her way towards the door hoping to spy on the action. She held her breath as she peered through the keyhole to see a couple figures moving on the bed. As she tried to focus however, she suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor. It was already morning when the girl''s mother found her on the floor, passed out and foaming at the mouth, and shook her head at her daughter''s behavior. *** The next morning Alex and Anne walked through the guilds doors, and drew the eye of every person there. They were all waiting to see what kind of jobs these two would take, and watched closely as they made their way to Catherine at the desk. Typically one gets their jobs from a notice board, but no one considered these two typical. Catherine didn''t look the least bit surprised at their actions either, in fact she seemed more interested in how Anne was clinging onto Alex lovingly and seemed different than she did the other day. "Good morning." Catherine said with a professional smile. Alex smiled back and replied, "Good morning. We''re here for work today, got anything for in the Raisen canyon?" What little noise there was in the guild silenced as everyone heard Alex''s words, not just anyone was capable of casually talking about going into the canyon. Catherine''s smiled never faltered however, and she replied, "I believe we have something here for in the canyon, let''s see... Ah, here we go. It''s a request to go and hunt some Daihedoa, it requires the proof of slaying in sets of five. That means you''d have to kill at least five to complete it, but you''ll also receive the same reward for any extra sets you bring, in other words if you kill fifteen then you''ll receive three times the reward." Alex pulled out his monster reference book and looked up a Daihedora, before giving a playful smile and saying snidely, "Isn''t this a request for a higher ranking adventurer? I''m just a poor blue rank at the very bottom of the listings." Catherine gave Alex another smile while all the other adventurers around them glared at his words, but Catherine said what they all thought. "A poor blue rank that managed to beat a gold rank instantly? Plus there''s the fact you directly requested a job in the canyon, you''re being too modest." Alex smirked before turning around and leaving the guild with Anne without another word. Later that day many of those present in the guild when Alex returned swore that if the Daihedora wasn''t extinct, then they were very close to it with how much he brought back. (A.N. Adventurer guild rankings for those who are curious Blue (lowest) -> Red -> Yellow -> Purple -> Green -> White -> Black -> Silver -> Gold (Highest) Chapter 189 - Candidate (A.N. I apologize for the delay in chapters and the spotty releases this past week, but it''s been a very stressful week at my work and I needed a couple days to relax. Sadly it seems as if things won''t be getting any easier anytime soon, I will attempt to post like usual, but if I don''t this is why.) For the next several weeks Alex made a name for himself in Brooke through various means. First was how unreasonably strong he was and his clear rate for the jobs he requested, though the guild had rules to prevent someone from taking jobs too high of level, they had made an exception for Alex due to how unusual he was. What they never expected was that he managed to clear each and every one seemingly with ease, and since he didn''t shy away from showing his capabilities when a few guys challenged him, they all knew he wasn''t faking his prowess. The other thing he became known for was the unusual amount of extreme beauties that he would occasionally be with. Alex would invite the girls to join him from the hideout in Brooke every few days to keep their day to day lives from being too monotonous, and so that they could spend time out of the hideout, Hajime just stayed behind to keep working though. By this point they had all activated their own status plates and was able to enter the town as well, which ultimately made more challengers appear who felt encouraged at showing off in front of the girls, Alex had no mercy towards them. The girls had less tolerance for the men approaching them than even Alex, as they all never seemed to learn from others failure, usually ending with Yue making good on her ''Crotch Smasher'' title. Those particular people seemed to mysteriously disappear after Yue ruined their lives as men, but what no one knew was that they were getting a chance to start over alongside Abel. Alex decided he might need to tell Yue to tone it down on the smashing, or he''d need to find a bigger island in the future. He was also going back and forth from Asora to keep an eye on things there, and to check on Gabriel. They still hadn''t told the others about her condition yet, with Grayfia and Yasaka being the only other ones to know, but they planned to soon before the more obvious signs started showing up. At the moment however, he was watching Sairaorg and Bova spar at one of the more distant mountains. "Let''s see how you take this!" Sairaorg shouted as he threw a punch at Bova, that completely blew a hole through him. Bova didn''t even flinch however, as the hole was filled with a glowing molten fluid before closing as if nothing happened. He then looked at Sairaorg and shouted, "Don''t blame me for this!" And opened his mouth wide as if to breathe flames. What came out however wasn''t fire, but magma, as the entire area they were sparring was suddenly coated by a sea of molten rock. As Sairaorg was in the air from jumping this didn''t mean much to him, but it did limit his places to land. In the face of this he simply made a fearless smile and thrusted his fist down, effectively clearing an area of magma with the air pressure alone. He then turned to face Bova once more, and the two continued their clash. Alex was on a nearby mountain watching the exchange with Ravel, Serafall, and Akeno at his side, all three of which were watching the exchange with wide eyes, while Alex had a devilish smile. Not only did he now have a near invulnerable dragon serving him, but he could also use Bova to test certain abilities for any future devil fruit users. One such technique they already confirmed with Sairaorg was Touki, as it was an attack that targeted an opponents life force instead of inflicting physical damage. They watched the exchange for a while longer, before Alex said, "All right that''s enough!" Causing both Bova and Sairaorg to look away from their fight and at him. As they made their way over Serafall used her magic and supercooled to entire area, cooling all the still molten magma that Bova left. This had become routine for them as Bova was unable to forcibly cool his own magma. He was also woefully weaker than Akainu in the series, but then again he only had the fruits power for a month. Alex then had a vision of the two meeting and fighting if he ever went to one piece, and almost started laughing, earning himself a weird look from Serafall. As the two approached them Alex cleared his throat and moved onto what he needed to discuss with them to begin with. "I came here to let you guys know that the Orcus labyrinth is ready for whoever wants to challenge it next. Either of you want to try?" Both of them seriously considered Alex''s words, before Bova said, "I''d like to stay here and focus on mastering the Magu Magu no mi for now, plus even though I could shrink myself I''m not sure about fighting underground in a tunnel system for so long." Alex nodded at his reasoning, before turning to Sairaorg who said, "I''ll go then. I''ll bring about half my team and have Kuisha bring the rest later, so that we don''t have it too easy with so many people." Alex nodded again, and said, "Understandable, we also found the entrance to the next labyrinth the other day, so should I put you down for that one as well? For the record the age of gods magic in that one is gravity." Sairaorg smiled confidently, and replied, "I bet Vali is going to lined up to immediately attempt it after you''re done, I''ll probably be done with Orcus by then so sure." Alex however shook his head and stated, "It''ll probably be another couple weeks until I challenge it, I''m waiting on a possible rook candidate for my team before doing so. Plus this isn''t the type of labyrinth where you can charge through and smash every opponent in your way, it''ll probably take Vali longer to finish it than you would." As the Raisen great labyrinth was a place that almost completely sealed ones magic power, Alex was sure that between the two, Vali who was famous for his magic power capacity and Sairaorg who was infamous for his lack of magic power, Sairaorg would have the easier time in it. What everyone present focused on however was the other thing Alex mentioned. "You found a potential rook candidate?" Ravel asked with interest, while Akeno and Serafall also started paying attention to Alex''s words. He nodded in confirmation, and explained, "Yes, but nothing''s been confirmed yet. Though she''d be a very capable rook in the near future, at the moment she''s pretty much useless and hasn''t spent a single day in combat. In other words, I''m going to be training her from scratch." Everyone present was confused when Alex said that his candidate would need training before they were dependable, since usually one was scouted as a possible peerage member because they were already capable, except Akeno who was lightly stroking her collar as she imagined Alex "training" her. Akeno had been thoroughly corrupted by Alex by this point. He then returned to the hideout with Sairaorg and those that would attempt the labyrinth with him, before sending them on their way with a magic circle. One theory they managed to confirm was that the real labyrinth was only the second hundred levels, and the first half could be skipped entirely. This meant that everyone attempting the labyrinth was sent to the same level Hajime started on and moved down from there. He then returned to Brooke from the hideout, along with both Grayfia and Yue. Soon Alex was sitting in the dining area of Masaka inn, a girl on each side of him and every jealous man''s stare on him. Alex had long since grown used to such looks, and simply ignored them along with both the girls. Yue was already infamous as the ''Crotch Smasher'', and Grayfia had also made a name for herself as she never accepted the nonsense anyone directed towards her. The only one seemingly unaffected by Alex and the two girls was the innkeepers wife, who made their way over to them to deliver their food. "Ara ara, I wonder where you keep such beautiful girls all the time. When you first arrived in this town you only had Anne, now you seem to switch them out daily while whoever was with you the night before seemingly disappears." Alex smiled in response, and responded, "I''d rather discuss how your daughter is able to do whatever it takes to peep at us at night, regardless of the measures I take to prevent it." Both Yue and Grayfia joined him in looking at the wife, also wondering the answer. No matter what measure they had taken, physically or magically, the innkeepers daughter Soona had somehow managed to peep on them at least briefly before Alex caught her. Personally since she was a girl he didn''t mind the peeping, but it had turned more into game to see if he could keep her out. She was about to answer, when suddenly the door to the inn was flung open and a group of guys walked in. They all had matching uniforms and seemed to be quite the unruly bunch as they walked in as if they owned the place. The one in front spotted the wife and said, "We need something to drink, and make it quick since we have to report back to the main squad before sunset." The wife didn''t say anything in return, and swiftly left to bring the men their order. They swiftly helped themselves to one of the tables, and started loudly talking to each other. Everyone tried to not catch their eye and mind their own business, except Alex who was trying to see if what he waited for was about to happen. Soon the wife returned with their drinks, and asked in an effort to be professional and welcoming, "So what brings a squadron of the Empire''s men this way?" Earning a snort from the men in return. The one who ordered drinks said, "What do you think woman, slaves for the Empire, that''s what. Why else would we come so close to the Sea of Trees?" As they continued their discussion Alex was trying to figure out how to get close enough to place tracking spells on them. Unlike Hajime and the others these were trained soldiers of the Empire, meaning he had to be a bit more discreet than before. The reason he wanted to track them was that if his guess was right, they would lead him right to the very person he was talking about with Ravel, Serafall, and Akeno earlier. The Sea of Trees was home to the demihuman races, and so it wasn''t unusual for the Empire to send soldiers to enslave those same demihumans for their various needs, from physical labor to working in brothels or personal attendants. As he thought of this Alex had to fight to keep from smiling at his apparent luck. Chapter 190 - Remember me? Pete was sitting in his chair and enjoying his drink immensely after spending several days on the road. Though they weren''t technically supposed to drink while on a mission, his superior turned a blind eye since they wouldn''t actually be fighting anyone that night, as long as he didn''t get dead drunk and was back by sundown. One of the men with him then spoke up and asked, "So what kind of demihumans you think we''re going to get this time? I''m personally hoping for some rabbitmen so there''s no fighting and the trip back is more enjoyable." Pete smiled at the thought, imagining a rabbitman female under him begging him to stop as he continuously pounded her. He then said, "The best thing about rabbitmen is how they never fight back, they just cry and blubber as they beg you to stop, they''re the perfect ones for those that want a submissive woman. It''s a nice bonus that all rabbitmen are so good looking." The men around him agreed, as they all started imagining what would happen if they did get a rabbitman female for the night. Their thoughts were disrupted however, when someone bumped Pete''s arm and caused him to spill some of his drink on himself. He turned towards the one responsible, pissed that someone ruined his night, and saw a big muscular man with his hair spiked up all over his head. He stood and said angrily, "You spilled my drink!" The man looked at him with hazy eyes, and slurred, "Mm slorrry, iz has jush a little tooo mush." Pete made a face of disgust at the man, and kicked him to the floor. As the drunk stumbled back onto his butt, Pete said, "F.u.c.k.i.n.g drunk! Here we are trying to relax for the first time in days, and you made me spill my drink, what do you have to say for yourself?!" The man struggled to right himself as he yelled at him, and said to him, "Iz says iz shorry." Pete grew even angrier, and kicked him again in the face, before directing another kick at his gut. He then rained down a storm of kicks on the drunk, not caring in the least about the injuries he was causing. As a soldier of the Empire, if someone messed with him it was like declaring war on the Empire itself. It was for this reason no one bothered trying to stop him, as he beat the drunk so badly that he would undoubtedly die if he was a normal citizen and not an adventurer. At least that was what he thought until he felt some pressure coming off off two people, a maid with silver hair and a petite girl with red eyes. He stopped beating the drunk and pointed at him while asking the girls, "Is this dumbass with you?" The petite girl looked as if she was about to lunge at him anytime, but the maid placed a hand in front of her and held her back. She then said, "That is indeed our master, I will apologize for his unsightly behavior." Pete grinned at the maids words and appraised her body as he walked up to her before grabbing her chin and asking, "Why don''t you and this other girl show me how ''sincere'' you both are privately? Then you could display your sincerity to the rest of the guys with me after." The men with him started laughing, while the rest of the onlookers had a look of interest at the situation. Before anyone could answer however, one of the men with him said, "As much as I''d love to receive their apology, we''re short on time sir, It''s already almost sunset." Pete then turned around abruptly, and said, "Y-yes it''s time to go back, next time ladies." He then swiftly led the men back to the rest of their squadron, wondering where the intense amount of killing intent he briefly felt came from. He felt it only for the briefest of seconds, but it almost made him collapse. Pete wasn''t sure what monster he angered, but he didn''t want to push his luck as the protection of being an Imperial soldier would only go so far. Thankfully he was returning to his squadron of one hundred men, a force strong enough that no one would be stupid enough to challenge them, or so he thought. The moment the door to the inn closed however, an intense killing intent filled the entire building, but did not leak out from it. As it wasn''t directed at the other customers they weren''t as effected, but everyone present was still being suffocated in the pressure. The "drunk" Alex stood, clarity in his eyes that wasn''t there a moment before, before turning to Grayfia and Yue while saying, "Return without me, I''m going "hunting" and might be gone for a couple days." Neither girl asked questions, as they both felt the rage radiating off of Alex''s body. They swiftly left, and Alex started following the soldier he placed the tracking spell on. Since Alex had no stealth capabilities whatsoever, he pretended to be drunk while attaching the tracker to one of the men when he accidentally bumped one. What he never expected was that the one man he bumped into would react the way he did, even going so far as trying to beat him so badly. For the sake of finding the person he was after Alex didn''t react to beating, and simply swore to get even later, until the man tried to use the situation as an excuse to bed Grayfia and Yue. Now the soldier''s fate was sealed, and Alex wasn''t going to be kind enough to send him to the same place as the others. Him, or the other soldiers in their squadron. Once they outlived their usefulness, an entire squadron of soldiers from the Empire was going to disappear. For the next several days Alex followed the soldiers at a distance, waiting for them to find the one he was after. It was only after three days of this that there was luck, as they came across a group of a hundred rabbitmen that had traveled out of the Sea of Trees. The reason they couldn''t enter the Sea of Trees itself was that only demihumans were able to travel those lands without getting lost, so when the Empire wanted to gather more slaves they needed to either force one to be their guide, or simply travel outside the forest edge and hope they got lucky. The problem with the first option was that the guide could easily lead them to a trap, meaning it was very rarely used. As the soldiers surrounded the scared rabbitmen, Alex watched from the sky and noticed that in the sea of purple hair signature to the rabbitmen, there was one head that was gray-blue instead. This was all the confirmation he needed, before he flew down and landed in front of the frightened crowd of rabbits, and a familiar looking face. "Remember me?" Chapter 191 - Shia Haulia As Pete looked at the man who dropped out of the sky in front of him he felt a strong sense of familiarity, it was only when the person mentioned where they met that Pete recalled. "I''m the one you tried to beat for bumping into you, and whose women you tried to take advantage of during the situation." Pete was about to tell Alex off for bumping into him that time, but was cut off when a staff appeared in Alex''s hands and swung up to the fork in his legs, effectively destroying his life as a man. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He cried out in pain as he collapsed, while Alex looked down on him with no remorse on his face as he said, "That was for trying to take advantage of the situation before with Grayfia and Yue." Pete didn''t say anything, as he was in too much pain to be able to, instead several other soldiers from the Empire charged forward and tried to attack Alex while the commander of the group, Grid Half, watched. Alex didn''t even look at the attacking soldiers, instead his hand and staff blurred for a brief second before all of their heads exploded into a fine red mist. Seeing this spectacle the rest of the soldiers and the rabbitmen behind him paled, while Pete had turned as white as a ghost when he saw the prowess of the one he offended. More soldiers were about to rush in and attempt to avenge their fallen comrades, when Grid put his hand up and signaled them to stop. He turned towards Alex and said, "It appears to me this is a grudge between you and this subordinate, how about I look the other way while you do as you wish, and maybe you can consider a future with the Empire?" Grid had acknowledged Alex''s skill, and decided it would be a waste to let him go here. There was also the fact that while he did believe they could bring him down, it require sacrificing most of his men to do so, then they''d have to transport and protect all the new slaves with what few remains against monsters and possibly bandits. He also felt that Alex''s strength would be a good replacement for the hero the neighboring kingdom summoned, as Grid knew his Emperor was less than pleased with the inexperienced boy known as Kouki. In fact, it seemed his liege was more entranced by the swordswoman close to the boy, Shizuku. He then continued his pitch to Alex, "It also seems as if you have a thing for women, how about I give you some of the rabbitmen females as well, this batch is over our quota and-" "I refuse." Alex said bluntly, interrupting the offer of the commander, who then looked at Alex like he was a fool. Even though Alex was strong they had nearly a hundred guys left on their side, all with experience in fighting in battles, how could someone just out of his teenage years compare regardless of how strong he was? But as he was trying to avoid losing more men than necessary, Grid then tried to sweeten his offer to Alex. "I see, well how about we''ll even gift you that gray-blue haired rabbitman female over there? She''s a unique specimen, one of a kind, and if you''re willing to join the Empire I''ll give her to you. As an added bonus it''s said that when there''s a unique demihumans they even have the chance of having strange skills, wouldn''t you say that''s quite the offer?" Alex then looked back at the girl in question, as she huddled close to what seemed to be her father. He then had an evil smile on his face, and said, "So what you''re saying-" at his words Grid started hoping he came around, but what happened next shocked him and everyone else present. From around his waist a brown fur covered monkeys tail appeared, and started swaying behind him. As this happened Alex held up his right hand, which then had a small ball of fire dancing in his palm. Everyone''s eyes were drawn to the flame in his hand, until Alex finished what he was saying, "-is that she''s a freak just like me?" With his words as the trigger the battle erupted, as Grid now understood there was no way they could come to an understanding. Now he could only hope he can place a slave collar on Alex, and get him to do the fighting on the way back once he couldn''t bare his fangs at them anymore. Meanwhile the rabbitmen were looking at Alex in different manner, seeing him as their savior and protector, the exception was the same girl they were discussing before. Shia Haulia was staring at Alex intently as his earlier words echoed through her mind, ''She''s a freak just like me.'' He was just like her? *** Shia was a cursed and lonely existence. This was something she understood her whole life as she had to grow up in hiding, or risk execution for the way she was born. In the Capitol of the Sea of Trees, Fea Bergen, any child born with the ability to use magic was considered a cursed child, and would be destroyed immediately, if not then the family who gave birth to such a child would be exiled from Fea Bergen. When Shia was born she was immediately identified as a cursed child due to her hair, but instead of having her executed her entire clan hid her away, as she was born in Haulia clan of rabbitmen that were known for their familial bonds. For sixteen years of her life Shia lived in hiding, knowing that her existence was a danger to her family. Plus even though no one in her family treated her as an outcast, Shia was also made alone due to her hair, being the only one different in her entire family. Then due to her mistake she was found out and the issue her family had put off for her whole life was brought to light. When the elders of Fea Bergen demanded her death, her entire clan without fail refused, instead being forced to go into exile and leave the Sea of Trees. They tried to make their way north, hoping to avoid monsters and slavers, but for some reason they were found by soldiers of the Empire who immediately surrounded them. All it took was one look at Shia, and the soldiers only saw money signs from how she was a "rare" type that would sell for a lot higher. As they were cornered a man suddenly came flying out of the sky and landed in from of them. Shia looked at him from behind and felt a sense of security, and would have used her ability ''Divination'' if she hadn''t foolishly used it once already that day to see what he would do. Then he declared that he was the same as her, a freak. For the first time in her life, Shia looked at someone she thought was as unique as her, someone different. As he summoned fire in his hand without chanting or a magic circle, Shia didn''t think that she had ever seen anything so beautiful even though it was regular fire. Tears came to her eyes as he fought the soldiers, causing her father, Cam, to hold her even tighter and ask, "What''s wrong Shia? Why are you crying if it looks like we might be saved?" Shia then said between her tears, "B-b-because I''m n-not alone anymore!" Cam was confused for a second, before realizing what his daughter meant. He then held her tighter as she cried tears of happiness in his arms, before looking at the back of the man who saved them. Even though they mentioned several times that he already had women, Cam didn''t care and was already determined to see his daughter with him, for her own safety and future. Chapter 192 - Shameless Rabbits The Haulia watched with a horrid fascination as Alex systematically and calmly slaughtered the Empires soldiers. In one hand he wielded his staff. Twirling and swinging it to and fro as he used it to either smash or impale the soldiers; in the other he used fire magic to not only burn the soldiers alive, but also to clean up the remaining bodies after he killed them. What the Haulia focused on was the fire in his hand, an impossibility for a demihuman yet he wielded it naturally. They weren''t the only ones watching his display, as the commander of the knight Grid Half watched his men get slaughtered with relative ease. He had figured that they would at least be able to overwhelm Alex with sheer numbers, but it seemed to be nothing more than child''s play for him to kill them. As a last ditch effort he ordered a couple of his remaining men to sneak around and try and take some of the rabbitmen hostage, hoping that he could use Alex''s humanity as leverage against him. What happened however only frustrated him, as his men that approached the rabbitmen suddenly collapsed while foaming a the mouth. "If you want things done right you have o do them yourself." Grid cursed the uselessness of his men, and stepped forward to join the fray as Alex turned his back. The second his foot hit the ground however, CRACK "AAAAHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!!!" Grid screamed, as his now destroyed knee gave out and sent him to the ground. He looked at it and saw that from the knee down his leg was bending the opposite way it was supposed to, meaning if he didn''t get to a healer he''d never be able to walk again. At that moment Grod looked back up and saw Alex dispatch the last of his men besides Pete, and thought ''forget walking, I''m about to die and can''t do anything about it!'' As the one who slaughtered his men approached, smiling slightly as his tail swayed behind him. Grid clenched his teeth and said, "What are you monster!? There''s no way you existed in this world without being found out! And mark my words, the Empire will not accept what you''ve done here today!" His words made Alex stop, before his grin grew wider and he said, "Indeed I''m not from this world, and I plan to deal with the Empire''s issues personally eventually anyways." His words made Grid freeze as he confirmed that he wasn''t from this world, making Grid realize there must be travelers from other worlds besides the summoned heroes. Before his thoughts got too far however, Alex shouted, "BATTER UP!" And swung his staff, taking Grid''s head with it and sending it flying towards the canyon in the distance. He then turned towards Pete and said, "Now for the last one." As he slowly walked closer. Pete was still suffering from the hit Alex gave him earlier, as he only held back enough to not kill him, and he started screaming as Alex slowly approached. "NO PLEASE, STOP!!" The rabbitmen watched in undisguised horror as Alex slowly and painfully killed Pete, before burning all of the remaining evidence of the incident. Now nothing existed that told of the gruesome event that took place, except for the weapons and scorch marks that would soon disappear. Alex then turned towards the frightened rabbits, and said, "Now that that''s done, let''s chat shall we?" Though they were very frightened, the Haulia clan did recognize the fact that Alex helped them even if it wasn''t his original intention. Many went up to him to test the waters and thank him for saving them from a life of slavery, before they saw he wasn''t as scary when he wasn''t killing people. At that point Alex was being swarmed by the grateful rabbits, before a voice shouted out, "THANK YOU!!!" As a certain gray-blue haired woman came flying at him, her face covered in snot and tears from her earlier crying. Instead of being caught and held in his arms like she pictured, Alex immediately reached out his hand and delivered a merciless forehead flick to her, using enough force that she even went flying back a few feet. Though one would normally receive a lot of damage from that, Shia was back on her feet within seconds and rubbed her head while saying bitterly, "Why hit me?! What kind of guy says he likes women then flicks a beautiful young maiden that hard? Don''t tell me you actually prefer men and those women are to cover-" Alex shut her up with another forehead flick with an annoyed expression, as he just now recalled how bad Shia''s personality was in the beginning. He then said to her, "I don''t prefer guys, it''s obnoxious to refer to yourself as beautiful, and what person would be ok with being used as a snot rag?" At his words Shia suddenly became aware of her current state, and immediately started trying to clean herself. Many of the Haulia surrounding them looked at the two with warm eyes, while a certain man walked forward to greet Alex. "Greetings warrior, my name is Cam and I''m the patriarch of the Haulia tribe, and I see you''ve already met my daughter Shia Haulia. Even if it wasn''t your original intention thank you for saving us, may we know your name?" Alex shrugged, and introduced himself, "I''m Alex, a traveling warrior from another world." As Alex introduced himself honestly the Haulia paid attention, and didn''t seem at all fazed when he said he was from another world. Shia in particular seemed to be trying to commit his name to memory, while her father stepped forward and said, "Then Alex, I wish to make a request, please protect us until we reach someplace safe!" As he said his last words Cam got on his knees as if he was begging Alex to stay with them, while the rest of the tribe followed their patriarchs lead and did the same thing with their pleading eyes. Alex smiled warmly towards the rabbits, and responded, "Nope." Causing many of them to stall at his refusal. Before they could complain he then explained, "I have my own things to do so I can''t follow you around to protect you, plus where can you say you''d be protected outside the Sea of Trees? It just seems like you''re asking me to waste a lot of my time keeping you guys safe." The Haulia started fretting at his words, but none could argue against them as they couldn''t ask Alex to drop everything he was doing for their sakes. Shia then said, "Then maybe we can follow you while you protect us!" Hearing her words the rest of the tribe once again looked hopeful, while Cam grinned at his daughter, thankful for her idea and aware there was probably more to it than she let on. Seeing how her father looked at her, Shia blushed deeply and looked away. Though she wouldn''t say it out loud yet, she also wanted to stay with Alex as he was "like her". Though he had stated that he was from another world, this hadn''t deterred Shia in the slightest. She had never seen someone remotely unique like her, and spent her life thinking she was the only one; while Alex was from another world, he was also similar enough that she wanted to know more about him. The person in question responded to Shia''s idea, "What benefit would there be for me if that happened? Not only would I have to protect a hundred extra people from monsters, but wouldn''t I also have to worry about constant slavers after all of you as well? Plus that doesn''t even start on how we''ll be living with food or expenses." Though Alex was stating reasons why it wouldn''t work, this was so he wouldn''t seem too eager to have them along. In fact this was what he wanted so that he could use the Haulia once he more or less "reprogrammed" them. Without divulging his true intentions, Alex waited for their response, to which Shia tried to say, "If there''s no other choice then you can use my body as you-" but before she was even done speaking her father spoke up with a smirk, "Are you sure you''re not just offering your body for yourself dear daughter?" Shia stammered and said, "O-of course not father, b-but for the betterment of the tribe sacrifices must be made!" Shia tried to play off her words, but no one in the tribe apparently bought it. Alex then interrupted Shia''s self defense by stating, "Don''t worry I already have several women to satisfy my needs without forcing someone who wouldn''t be interested." Though his words would normally be a relief for someone in Shia''s position, she instead looked conflicted, at least until Alex continued. "Though I wouldn''t deny you if it''s something you really wanted." She breathed a sigh of relief and calmed herself, while Alex then said to Cam and the rest, "I won''t refuse accepting you all, but I would need you to all pull your own weight, firstly what are the rabbitmen good at?" At his question everyone stares thinking seriously, but the first reply was the one Alex was after, "We''re good at hiding!" One of the kids shouted out, causing the rest to nod their heads in pride of their hiding ability. Cam then explained, "When there''s conflict with either the human or demon race sides we rabbitmen usually act as scouts for the demihumans. We can truthfully boast that none are better than hiding than we are!" Alex smirked and said, "And yet you all got found and surrounded so easily by the Empire''s soldiers earlier." The rabbits looked sheepish at his words, not knowing how to respond. Alex shook his head and walked off to the side, causing some of them to panic slightly at the thought that he was abandoning them, before he started using magic to mark something on the ground. Alex soon finished the large scale magic circle, and turned back towards the rabbitmen. He then activated his ''Devils Charm'' as he spoke, "This circle will take me and any who join me to my current hideout, those who follow me will receive my training and follow my orders from here on out. Those who choose not to go will stay behind and be left to fend for themselves. Prove yourselves to me and you''ll be able to continue following me well into the future, and you''ll be able to hold your heads high with pride when you introduce yourselves in the future as the Haulia tribe!" Many of the rabbitmen were holding their breaths at Alex''s words, waiting for him to say more. When it was apparent that he wasn''t going to say anymore they started conversing amongst themselves. When Alex used his ''Devils Charm he didn''t try to force them to do immediately as he said, he simply used it to make what he told them more appealing. To the Haulia things like pride and combat capabilities were negligible and unneeded, however now they were starting to wonder if that was really the case, especially since they no longer had the protection of Fea Bergen. Soon they seemed to reach an agreement, and everyone of the Haulia tribe started making their way to Alex''s magic circle. Alex smiled at the outcome, knowing the stakes were essentially all or nothing since the Haulia were famous for familial bonds. Soon there was just Cam and Shia left, as Alex made his way to them. "So I take that as a yes." Alex said simply, as Cam laughed and replied, "I look forward to working with you, Boss." Alex subtly flinched at his new title, recalling how they acted in the series. Cam started making his way to the magic circle, leaving Alex and Shia left, who was in deep thought about her future. "Well let''s go." Alex said as he turned and walked away, leaving Shia to watch him from behind. Shia then realized something, she didn''t want to be stuck looking at his back. She wanted him to look at her regardless of how many other girls were around him, she wanted to walk at his side with him. "I''ll catch up!" Shia declared to herself, before she started running to the magic circle and her future. *** Kuroka lounged on the bed of the room Alex usually slept on when he stayed in the hideout, trying to take a nap. She was tired of endlessly killing monsters and was thankful Alex sent word that they''ll be moving on the next day. The only real problem, was those damn rabbits. Kuroka didn''t know what it was but she couldn''t stand them even though they''d been there for two weeks already, though she made it a point to tease them every chance she got. She would always be entertained by their reactions when she teased them, showing scared expressions and acting as... well acting as prey. The main cause of her being uneasy around them though, was how they would easily be able to avoid being detected by her, and these were the ones Alex wasn''t training in the upper levels for the last two weeks. Since there were several elderly members of the rabbit clan he had them stay behind and assist with the gardening if they were capable, as they wouldn''t be able to handle the training he would put them through, though Kuroka doubted the ones he was training would improve either. The only one she considered an exception to this however was the strange rabbit with different colored hair, who was being trained by Yue and Grayfia. At that moment, "SHIYAAAAA!!!" "NYAAAAAA!!!" A cute sounding yell rang out, right before the entire space started shaking from the impact of the giant boulder Shia just threw, while Kuorka was then shook out of the bed with the vibrations. She then stood up and looked out the window to see Shia sparring with Grayfia while Yue coached her from the side, teaching her some kind of magic called ''Physical Reinforcement''. Kuroka''s brow twitched in annoyance, as she spat out, "Those damn rabbits!" Before disappearing into the mist to return to Asora, where she might be able to find a better place for her nap. Chapter 193 - New Rabbits Rias watched from the side as the rabbit girl Alex brought back two weeks ago sparred against her older sister, with Yue right next to her giving occasional advice to the rabbit girl. Rias ignored Yue and focused on the rabbit as she went toe to toe with Grayfia, even after her sister already promoted to her rook piece. She truly couldn''t believe the difference two weeks made when it came to Shia, not only did her attitude moderately improve, but she now seemed to be utilizing tons of strength after being strictly drilled every day. She could now see that Shia would make a perfect rook for their team, even though it meant another woman would be joining them. Soon another person walked up and joined them, standings to Rias''s side as he watched the ongoing battle, alternating his focus on the maid outfit of Grayfia and the rabbit ears of Shia. "Are they going to be going for a while? I need to give something to Shia." Hajime said to Rias, as Yue still held a grudge against him for the Loli grandma comment. Both girls looked at him curiously, as Hajime shrugged and said, "It''s something Alex had me make her." After hearing that Alex was behind Hajime''s actions, Yue immediately called the sparring match to an end, and both women made their way over. Hajime held his empty hand out as Shia approached, and a large hammer suddenly appeared in it from the storage ring. Shia took the hammer and staggered slightly from the weight of it until she reapplied her ''physical reinforcement'' and it became a lot lighter. She swung it around a bit as Hajime explained, "Alex had me make that for you, it''s called Doryukken. In the future I''ll try to improve it and add more functions, but for now it''s useable for someone like you." Shia swung it around happily while promising herself to thank Alex for the hammer later, conveniently forgetting that it was Hajime that made it. As she was about to ask Grayfia to help her test it out however, a loud sound and an ominous presence appeared from the entryway of the hideout, indicating someone was challenging the hydra. Since they didn''t know who was already that far in the labyrinth everyone present rushed towards it to investigate. The sight that greeted them was an eleven years old boy with rabbit ears being stared down by the hydra, clutching his arm as if he was wounded. All of the monsters attention focused on him, driving the boy to cry out in terror as he was about to lose his life. "Pal!" Shia called out the young boys name, horrified at the situation she was about to witness. Then something happened that would''ve been unthinkable two weeks ago, her vision turned red and looked at the hydra with murderous intention. She hefted her newly acquired hammer, and prepared to charge the hydra to save her family member, before the collar of her outfit was grabbed and she was forced back while coughing. "Cough cough, why did you do that Grayfia?! I need to save pal!" Grayfia didn''t say anything, instead she just looked across the way at someone else who was in the room, leaning against the entryway into the challenge room was Alex watching the whole thing. Shia was confused for a brief second before it happened, the bullying. As the hydra attacked the supposedly wounded Pal, he suddenly showed a fierce expression and moved to the side to avoid the attacks, while several shadows suddenly appeared and used the opening to start slashing various areas of the hydra with short-swords. Shia was dumbfounded as she watched the figures expertly and mechanically attack the hydra, each appearing only for a split second to open another wound on the monster before seemingly disappearing into nothing. The hydra roared with its seven heads, angry that the annoyances were avoiding its attack and were stinging it, before the white head started healing the injuries with its magic. When this happened the shadows halted their attacks for a split second, before moving as a single organism and concentrating all of their efforts onto the white head to eliminate the healer. The shield head moved to intercept their attacks, but it could only focus on so many at one time and was easily outmaneuvered before they swarmed the white head and eliminated it. The rest of the heads grew even angrier, and started releasing tons of random magic attacks to the surroundings. The shadows halted their attacks briefly due to the randomly discharged magic, before the small figure of Pal reappeared in the middle of the room, drawing the hydras attention once more. It wanted to hurt something and the small figure in the middle of the room was perfect since all the others disappeared, however the results were no different than what happened the first time it attacked Pal. Once it no longer randomly shot off attacks the shadows moved in once more, and without the white head to heal its injuries the hydra was soon covered in dozens of injuries, with the number getting larger by the second. Soon it was unable to support itself any longer, and collapsed. As the surrounding area shuddered with large body hitting the floor, Alex walked out towards the middle of the room while all the shadows that were previously hidden started appearing and lined up in front of him, rabbit ears practically dancing on their heads. Shia watched dumbfoundedly as the family she hadn''t seen in two weeks lined up in front of Alex and saluted him, to which he said, "I suppose I should say good work, you managed to bring down the strongest monster here in the abyss just within the five minutes I gave you... THATS F.U.C.K.I.N.G PATHETIC! ARE YOU MORONS THAT ONLY AIM FOR "OK"? OR ARE YOU THE HAULIA THAT AIMS FOR THE BEST?!" As Alex''s voice rang out in the enclosed space, the entire Haulia answered back, """"""""""SIR NO SIR! WE ARE ASHAMED SIR!""""""""""" Everyone else was watching in amazement, or maybe fear, as those timid and cowardly rabbits displayed perfect military order and ruthlessness. Alex on the other hand was admiring his work with pride. In the original series Hajime used borderline cruel and life threatening methods to forcefully reprogram the Haulia, turning them temporarily into murdering psychopaths. While he had undone some of the damage he did, the Haulia were still forever changed; but when Hajime left them to their own devises they then turned into a large group of chunni wannabe badasses, each having come up with their own seconds names like Destroyer and so on. Alex on the other hand used subtler methods like his Devils charm to mold them into his perfect assassins, in other words he basically brainwashed them. In just two weeks he turned them into elite assassins that managed to eliminate anything they encountered in the labyrinth, followers of order and discipline. Seeing her family like this Shia collapsed to the ground, wondering where her kind and caring family was. Her look was especially filled with nostalgia when looking at Pal, who went from a gentle boy who loved flowers to an elite assassin at only eleven years old. Seeing Shia collapsed on the ground, Alex decided to it was time to deal with the next order of business, and dismissed the Haulia. Shia looked up when she heard someone approaching, and saw Alex walking towards her with a smile on his face. "Shia there''s something important I want to talk to you about, let''s head back to the manor and we''ll talk there." Shia was confused, but followed after Alex along with Rias, Grayfia, and Yue, Kuroka would have been present as well but she wasn''t found anywhere for some reason. As she walked away Cam watched his daughter go with warm eyes, having already been told the contents of their discussion by Alex. Though such a path was different than what the rabbitmen usually believed in, Cam didn''t regret his decision to follow Alex as it allowed them to protect their family. He was then pulled out of his thoughts by Hajime walking forward, who then announced, "Alex had me make proper equipment for you guys, so line up to get them!" As he spoke Hajime pulled small piles of the equipment he was talking about out of the storage ring, and started handing them out to the Haulia. There were new weapons that were sharper and more durable than the ones they took from the empire soldiers, as well as telepathic communication devices he made with a certain metal in the labyrinth. As he was handing out the items Hajime was thinking of a way to get back at Alex, not only did he hide the fact that he was Saiyan for their fight, but he was also taking advantage of the fact that Hajime was now working for him and worked him to the bone(not that what he asked for was too demanding). The thing that annoyed Hajime the most about the situation was that he wanted to check on Kaori but Alex wouldn''t let him, only saying it wasn''t time yet. As he was thinking of this Hajime looked at the surrounding Haulia, and an idea came to mind. He didn''t know where it came from or why he thought it would work, but he figured it would be petty and annoying enough to return some of the favor to Alex for the last several weeks. He then said out loud to the Haulia since Alex was out of earshot, "So have any of you given thought of your second names yet?" This caught their attention, and Pal asked, "What are second names?" Hajime had to stop himself from smiling at the question, the would-have-been demon king then explained to the now attentive rabbits, "Your second name is the name you become known as, it''s your nickname to inspire terror on your opponents! How can you all work for Alex and not have second names?! Even your boss has several names that perfectly describe his strength and majesty!" As they all had quite a bit of free time the past several weeks, Hajime would talk to Rias and the other girls, when they did speak to him, and they told him about some of the things regarding their own world. They also discussed their general background, making Hajime in awe that Rias was really from a high class Devils family, and Grayfia was actually the ex-wife of Satan himself. They had also mentioned each other''s aliases, as well as Alex''s. As he mentioned that Alex even had a second name the Haulia become more interested, and Hajime said, "Yeah, apparently in the world he''s from he goes by the ''Dragon Emperor'', while even some of the girls around him have second names as well. Rias has two, the ''Crimson Haired Ruin Princess'' and the ''Princess of Ruin'', while the maid Grayfia is known as the ''Strongest Queen'' and the ''Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation''." As his words spread through the Haulia like a ripple, they all realized their faults in dishonoring their boss by not having second names. Then one of the rabbitmen girls, named Rana, declared, "We need to go talk to the boss before they leave tomorrow and ask him about what second names would be good for us!" The rest of the Haulia agreed with her words, but as they were about to leave Hajime stepped in front of them saying, "No you can''t! Think about it, wouldn''t Alex be disappointed if you can''t come up with your own second names and ask him to do so? You should keep quiet about it until he next comes back or calls for you, and surprise him with your new names!" They all stirred again and agreed with Hajime''s words, deciding to wait until they next saw their boss before declaring their awesome second names to him, causing Hajime to smile evilly. Chapter 194 - Rook Not knowing that Hajime was undoing most of his work to maintain order within the Haulia ranks, Alex was now in one of the spare rooms of the manor sitting opposite of Shia while Yue and Rias each day on either side of him while Grayfia stood behind them. Shia looked nervous as the four watched her, until Alex suddenly started talking. "I heard your training has gone well, and that you''re able to go toe to toe with Grayfia in terms of raw strength." Shia nodded enthusiastically at Alex''s words, and said, "Yes! I''m surprised myself that I can use ''Physical Reinforcement'', I mean I''ve always been sturdy but I never thought I was this tough!" Alex nodded, and asked, "And what would you say if I told you I could make you even stronger?" Shia was silent at Alex''s words, as she looked at the three girls around her. She had long since realized that they were especially close to Alex along with the missing cat girl Kuroka, and assumed that there was a special reason for it that she hadn''t been told about yet. Alex guessed Shia''s suspicions and nodded before explaining about Devils and the Evil Pieces. As she was told that the four girls around were essentially his servants, and that they were all granted unique powers and strength from being so, Shia had a large grin on her face as she saw where Alex was going with this. Her expression only got brighter when Alex removed the rook piece from his pocket and said, "This piece enhances strength and defense, meaning it would be per-" but that was as far as Alex got, before Shia lunged across the table and sealed his lips with hers, while wrapping both her arms and legs around him as if to ensure he didn''t get away. The other girls looked at her actions with annoyance, but let it be since they also understood her personality by now. Then more than a minute passed and it seemed as if Shia had no intentions of releasing Alex''s face, prompting both Rias and Grayfia to start trying to peel her off of him. Even though both had the ''Superhuman Strength'' skill it took several more minutes before they managed to get Shia off of Alex, who then immediately grabbed the rook piece and activated it. Once the deed was done and Shia was now a servant of Alex, a pair of wings grew from her back and made her confused for a second before everyone else demonstrated their own. Alex then finished wiping the saliva off his mouth and said, "Congratulations Shia, and welcome to our group." Hearing Alex say that, Shia felt an indescribable happiness at having real comrades around for the first time, and nearly started tearing up. She put the waterworks on hold however, when Alex created a magic circle and pulled out a bag while saying, "To celebrate you joining us I had a special combat outfit made for you, try it on if you want." This made the other girls look at Alex suspiciously, as Shia dug through the bag to see what the outfit was. A moment later however she surprised all of them, by instantly stripping while still in the room. Soon Shia was as n.a.k.e.d as the day she was born, and was flaunting her body as if trying to catch Alex''s gaze while she changed. Incidentally the man in question was paying quite a bit of attention to the new figure in front of him, with her relatively impressive bust that was just short of Rias''s and the white tuff of hair that made up her rabbit tail just above her butt. "You''re quite bold." Was all that Grayfia said, while Shia puffed her bare chest out as if proud and replied, "The one looking at me is the one I love and my ''master'', why wouldn''t I want to show off?" The other three girls went wide eyed at Shia''s confession, while Alex simply continued to admire her body since no answer was needed. Growing even bolder under Alex''s gaze, Shia then took several provocative poses as if to tempt him, but finally stopped under Grayfia and Yue''s icy gaze. By the time Shia started to actually get dressed again Alex had seen enough of her body that no imagination was needed anymore, and Yue was sizing up her own b.r.e.a.s.ts against the rest of the girls before fixing Alex with a look just as icy as the one she just gave Shia. Swearing silently to pamper her plenty and to have Grayfia show her how to change her body with magic later, everyone waited as Shia got dressed, after which both Rias and Grayfia joined Yue in giving Alex icy glares when they saw what he arranged for Shia. Though he couldn''t arrange the proper footwear for her just yet, Shia''s outfit consisted of a set of fishnet stockings, what seemed almost like a one-piece bathing suit, and a tailcoat like vest to complete the outfit. Alex nodded approvingly at her new look, an actual bunny-girl like in some anime or Dragon Quest, except Shia naturally provided the ears and tail. Though it didn''t seem like a perfect match for Shia, Alex still decided on it and Shia seemed to like it as she practically hopped around the room to test it while saying, "I LOVE THIS!" Causing the other girl''s brows to twitch. Alex also felt relieved that the magical additions he had added to it to prevent "accidents" also seemed to work well. Then to forcibly change the subject, Rias asked, "So what jobs do you have available Shia? You''re the first direct combat peerage we have so I''m kinda curious." As Alex already explained the status that came with his evil pieces, Shia immediately pulled it up while Alex did the same, causing her to make a confused expression. Like everyone before her Shia was currently set at jobless for her current job, but the issue was that she was not only level one for it, but there were no jobs immediately available since they only showed up when one was ready for a job change. Everyone else he added was immediately ready for a job change when he gave them their pieces, so Alex was momentarily confused as well before Lauren chimed in, ''It''s because Shia has no actual combat experience outside sparing with Grayfia; compared to Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, and Yue who all had been in several real fights before joining your peerage.'' Alex realized the logic behind Lauren''s explanation, especially since he himself had to work up experience before choosing his first job. He then explained the reason to Shia, who accepted it but was still confused on something else, her acquired titles. Alex once again dodged having that discussion until later, not wanting to explain the meaning behind them. *** After spending the rest of the day pampering Yue, and the night with almost every girl in Misty Manor(meaning Alex got no sleep that night), it was time to leave for the next labyrinth. Alex was gathered near the magic circle that would lead them outside the hideout with those going, Rias, Grayfia, Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Anne, and Hajime. Cam and the rest of the Haulia came to see them off, as they would be staying in the hideout to polish their skills and work on collecting materials from the labyrinth here. "So why don''t we just teleport directly to the next labyrinth~Nya?" Kuroka asked with curiosity, causing the others to sigh since she missed the discussion the day before. Alex explained, "Because Shia hasn''t gotten enough experience to choose a job yet, I know the location so we''re going to just walk there while she fights monsters so she can get her first job before we enter it." Kuroka groaned at Alex''s response, while also glaring at the damn rabbit. Shia wasn''t the same rabbit she knew before however, and just silently glared back. She had a lot more confidence in herself now that she was part of Alex''s peerage. Alex then turned towards the Haulia and said with a stern expression, "Stay here and improve yourselves, and you''ll have several opportunities in the future to use your skills, understood?" Even though he didn''t speak to them in commando mode, the Haulia still saluted and yelled back, """"""""""SIR YES SIR!!!"""""""""" Alex almost felt like there was some kind of inconsistency in the action, even though it was seemingly exact to how they acted before. Figuring he was just imagining it he turned back to the rest of the girls, and entered the magic circle. An entire day of walking in the intense heat, dozens of monster encounters, and they finally arrived at the monolith leading to the entrance of the Raisen Great labyrinth. They entered the crack and made their way into the interior, only to find a rectangular sign saying, "Please come in! Into Miledi Raisen''s thrilling Great Dungeon?" Alex already know of Miledi''s personality so he wasn''t surprised, but for the rest that was the start of the hell that was the Raisen Great Labyrinth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Titles- Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer Race- Saiyan Level- 202 Abilities- Reincarnated Devil Boosted gear Asora Enslavement magic Haki Job- demonic charmer(56) Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, sword user, pyromaniac, staff user, Mage Skills- Dragon demons breath(2) Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(6) Intimidation(10) Ki manipulation(9) Magic recovery rate(2) Devils charm(8) Sword technique(5) Staff technique(2) Gravity manipulation(7) Fire mastery(5) Fire immunity(2) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) Poison immunity(9) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Race- youkai/nekoshou Abilities- Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- shape shifter(10) Job history- poison user, space Mage, thief, Archmage, poison expert, master Mage, martial artist, adept thief, grandmaster Mage, expert martial artist Skills- Feline form(1) Stealth(9) Shadow cloak(4) Poison mist(10) Poison claw(8) Poison immunity(3) Ki mastery(2) Magic control(6) Magic sight(2) Enlarged magic pool(4) Kasha (8) Touki(9) Illusions(6) Space magic(6) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Titles- Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Race- devil Abilities- destruction Job- destruction overlord(5) Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage, master destruction Mage, Mage, archmage, master Mage, demonic leader, lord of destruction, apprentice martial artist, gun Mage, demonic charmer Skills- Absolute destruction(3) Magic control(8) Enlarged magic pool(7) Magic recovery rate(5) Extinguished star (7) Apocalyptic extinction(1) Aura of destruction (6) Reaper''s ruin(4) Destruction duelers(2) Command Loyalty (10) Strengthen followers(2) Devils allure(2) Superhuman strength(3) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Titles- The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Race- devil Abilities- Immense demonic power Job-maid knight(30) Job history- shield maid, Mage maid, warrior maid, maid terror, martial maid, creation maid, apprentice maid knight, Skills- Housework(5) Bed skills(8) Immense magic(10) Magic control(9) Magic recovery rate(7) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) Aura of terror(4) Iron defense(9) Superhuman strength(7) Ki manipulation(3) Sword skills(2) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue Titles- vampire princess, crotch smasher Race- vampire Abilities- Reincarnated devil Auto regeneration all element aptitude Compound magic Job- water Mage(20) Job history- master Mage, fire Mage, ice Mage, lightning Mage Skills- Blood conversion(6) Magic recovery rate(5) Magic control(5) Magic Sight(2) Flame manipulation(3) Ice manipulation(2) Lightning manipulation(2) Water manipulation(1) Creation magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shia Haulia Titles- worthless rabbit, bugged rabbit Race- Rabbitman Abilities- Future sight Reincarnated devil Conceal presence Job- apprentice warrior(1) Skills- Automatic future sight(1) Future paths(2) Revelation(1) Stealth(1) Physical reinforcement(1) Superhuman strength(2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (A.N. IM BACK! The majority of the tourists seem to have left now so hopefully my internet works normally again, with this I might be able to post normally. Chapter 195 - Miledi Raisen "Shishishishi, so did you live? Don''t tell me someone died? Bufufufufuf, how pathetic of them!" "MILEDI!" Shia shouted as she smashed yet another sign to pieces after they all avoided yet another trap. Her actions were ultimately fruitless just as with every other sign she smashed the last several days, as a few minutes later it simply reformed. No one said anything about her doing so however as they all felt the same way, with even Alex starting to lose his patience with this labyrinth. As he already knew what to expect he wasn''t too affected by the traps and the taunting of the signs, but after a week of this he was starting to get annoyed. First there was the storm of arrows when they first entered the labyrinth, then there were the blades hidden in the walls, poisoned arrows, spike pits, scorpion pits, acid pits, even a giant ball rolling down the tunnel to smash them. All of these were mostly considered inconveniences, but the constant taunting from the signs while they seemingly never got closer to their goal wore on them. "If this person were alive they''d soon learn the meaning of the word ''retribution''!" Even Grayfia said in irritation, earning several nods of agreement from those gathered. Alex said nothing, and continued making his way down the current path they were on. Normally they might''ve finished it already, but the labyrinth would occasionally shift its rooms and send them back to the starting line to retry the traps all over again. While Alex could''ve simply smashed through the walls until they found the end, he didn''t want to "cheat" too much and risk everyone not passing the labyrinth, so they did things the hard way. "This wouldn''t be nearly as annoying if we could use magic like normally." Rias said bitterly, while Yue reluctantly nodded. The inside of the labyrinth was the place within the canyon that had the strongest oppression against magic; though everyone was strong enough they could still use magic to an extent, it was a lot less powerful than originally and a lot more taxing. This was particularly hard on Rias and Yue, as they were the two that relied on magic the most as bishops. Alex was of course ok without it as well as Shia, Hajime''s only issue was that the firepower of his weapons was lowered but was otherwise seemingly unaffected, similarly Anne could only make use of her close range attacks but was thankfully still able to use her telekinesis, while both Grayfia and Kuroka were now extremely glad Alex made them practice their close combat capabilities so much. Plus the labyrinth only effected magic, so Alex, Kuroka, and Grayfia were all able to use ki still to fly and attack. With increasing tempers the group continued wandering the labyrinth as they were repeatedly shuffled around and antagonized, until they finally found a room that was distinctively different than what they had seen so far. In it was an altar with a yellow crystal on it and a large door behind it, seemingly leading to the next area. Other than that however was the multitude of what seemed like golem knights standing ready to the side, putting everyone on alert as they waited for the attack. "Let''s hurry, before the rooms change again." Alex said, making everyone recall they were on a time limit. They proceeded forward with both caution and haste, as they watched the surrounding golems for movement. As soon as they reached the center of the room, the now too familiar sound of a trap going off sounded out, and the eyes of the golems started glowing. As they were being surrounded Alex pushed everyone forward and told Kuroka, "Try to open the door, we''ll hold the golems while you figure it out." Kuroka nodded in confirmation before she started working, while everyone else started to easily keep the golems at bay. There was obvious haste and worry in their movements, not from fear of the golems, but of being sent back to the beginning after coming all of this way. After several painstaking minutes of waiting and fighting the seemingly never ending golems, Kuroka finally shouted out, "I did it!" Prompting everyone to hurry through the newly opened door. It didn''t shut after they passed through however, allowing the golems to swarm in after them. No one bothered worrying about this though, and kept hurrying towards the end of the passage while hoping the reset didn''t happen. The passage ended at an enormous room with the next part a ways away from them. With help from Anne for those who couldn''t use ki they all safely made it across, only to watch the golems knights swarm the air instead. "Oy seriously? These guys are just too annoying!" Hajime said out of irritation, already preparing his weapons for the fight. That was interrupted however when both Shia and Alex suddenly shouted, ""MOVE!"" And pushed everyone off of the platform they were on onto another one. No sooner than that happened than a giant glowing red mass suddenly impacted it and destroyed the platform, making everyone thankful for Shia''s ''Automatic Future Sight'' that will automatically activate when her life is threatened, and Alex''s Haki. Their relief was short-lived however when in the empty space below them everyone could suddenly hear something moving, and a giant golem king knight flew up with the same glowing red mass attached to its right hand, while its left held a giant morning star flail. At the same time the regular golem Knights swarmed the air around them to completely entrap them, ensuring they had no way out now. Normally this would be considered a hopeless situation, but compared to the traps and annoying signs left by Miledi, everyone agreed this was the best part of the labyrinth so far. Suddenly the large golem with its glowing eyes spoke up, "Yahooooo, it''s me Miledi~tan! It''s nice to meet you all, and congratulations for making it this far! But sadly this is where it ends, since it''s impossible for you to beat me! Shushushsushushu!" The large golem that claimed to me Miledi looked at them with expectant gazes, waiting for their exclamations of surprise or amazement at seeing her, but instead, "Fufufufufufufufufu. I see, so you''re the creator of this labyrinth, Miledi." Grayfia said as a silver aura radiated off of her. All around her Alex saw everyone else having similar reactions after having spent the last week being harassed by Miledi''s traps and signs, some of which were more questionable than lethal, like falling into tubs of suspicious white goo. For an entire week they endured Miledi''s antics, and now the origin of that suffering was in front of them, regardless of the form she apparently took. "Wait what?" Said Miledi, put off by the unusual calmness everyone was showing at the situation. *** Only a little bit later they were in another room made of white stone and Miledi was in a very different golem as Grayfia held her by the scruff its neck, as she was whimpering from the brutal beating she just received at their hands. She had never seen such unreasonable and overpowered people before, but there was a small consolation in being beaten by them. "So you intend to fight those shitty gods?" She asked Alex, as he looked down on her new golem body after they trashed the last one. Now she was cloaked so they couldn''t actually see her new body, but had a smiley faced mask on. Alex nodded, and said, "I''m just traveling different world''s while building a harem, and I have an idea or two regarding that God so I intend to beat him up." Hearing Alex''s words Miledi nodded, convinced that Alex might fulfill what he said and fight the god. She then activated the magic circle in the room to grant them the age of gods magic she processed, Gravity magic. [NOTICE! Gravity Manipulation has been upgraded to Gravity Mastery!] Alex raised his brows in surprise, as his Gravity control made a monstrous increase after getting the age of gods magic, to the point it even changed the skill. Looking around he could see that the rest of his peerage members also got the notifications, while Anne also checked her own status and Hajime pulled out his status card. After doing so Hajime then shocked everyone when he declared, "I want those induction stones you used for the golems as well, hand them over." Though none of them had any complaints about being rough towards Miledi, they also couldn''t deny that Hajime was making himself sound like a villain now. "Hey you''re making yourself sound like a robber right now you know?" Miledi complained as she dutifully removed the materials Hajime requested. He then opened his mouth for more demands, but the back of his head was slapped by Alex who said, "That''s enough dumbass, I need to talk to her about something else." Miledi looked at Alex in a way that showed confusion even with a mask for a face, until he explained, "Miledi about what I mentioned before, there''s several comrades we have that are also challenging the labyrinths for training and to increase their strength. I''ll pass along word to them not to actually kill you, but I wanted to give you a heads up." Miledi was silent for a few seconds as she processed Alex''s words, before saying, "Then it''s looks like I''m going to be very busy soon! By the way I''ll need a few days to repair damages before the next person shows up, and I won''t be holding my strength back if they even survive making it to me, so don''t blame me if they die, ok?" Miledi said as if with a smile, earning a few glares from the girls once more. Alex on the other hand shrugged in response to her words, but then mentioned the other thing he wanted to talk about. "I only have a year here so me facing the god will happen relatively soon from your prospective, after that would you like to join us?" At his words everyone looked at him in complete shock, as even Miledi froze from his offer. In response to their confusion he only said, "It just seems like it''d be better than staying trapped in a cave for eternity, or do you plan to die after your goal is met?" Miledi was silent for brief second before saying, "I refuse!" She didn''t say why but Alex could guess it was because she wanted to see her comrades once more after their goal was met just like he said. Though he couldn''t recall all of the details, Alex knew Miledi was actually a very serious person along with her joker-like attitude, and had actually gotten her whimsical personality from the maid that used to serve her. He then said, "Well if you change your mind I''ll be back later, and a couple of things about my offer; first is that we''d most likely be able to grant you your old body back instead of a golems body, and secondly I think your comrades would want you to live a happier life than being trapped in a cave, at least really live a while longer so that you have some stories for them when you meet again." When Alex mentioned that she might be able to get her body back Miledi''s mini golem body shook, but the biggest reaction was when he mentioned her comrades. She turned to say something but they had disappeared, leaving behind only a small cloud of mist. Miledi''s emotions were in turmoil as she walked to one of the walls and activated a hidden button, revealing a small room with several bookshelves and a single bed without even blankets on it. As her body was a golems she didn''t require most necessities, and merely had books to pass the centuries. Her attention however was on the several photos that she had in the room, with several people in them. There were two in particular that she looked at, one with herself and the six other liberators, and the one who started her on this path, her red haired maid Belta Lievre. "What should I do?" She asked the emptiness, as silence returned to her. Chapter 196 - Welcoming As the mist surrounding them dispersed Anne, Yue, Shia, and Hajime were all surprised to find themselves in a forest above ground as the heat of summer hit them. As they had all been underground for the last week the light was very blinding for a few moments, before they all adjusted. Grayfia then immediately asked Alex, "Did you mean what you said about restoring Miledi''s body?" At her question everyone looked at him, to which he replied, "While she may be annoying, Miledi has been through a lot for the sake of humanity, if someone should get another chance at life she does." Though they seemed to not want to say something nice about her, everyone reluctantly agreed with Alex''s words. Shia then asked, "Then how do you plan to get her body back for her? It''s probably rotted or something by now, or do you think an age of gods magic will work?" Alex shook his head at Shia''s question, confusing everyone that hadn''t come with him from the dxd world. He then explained, "I plan to ask the user of the Holy Grail to help us." At his words Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia made an ''of course'' look as they thought of Valerie, while Shia and Yue had cute looks of confusion since they never heard of the Holy Grail before, and both Hajime and Anne turned pale as they recalled stories from earth. Alex then went into a brief explanation for their benefit of the situation regarding the Holy Grail, but there was one thing that concerned him, and it was the reason he only said they ''might'' be able to restore Miledi''s body; the fact that using that function of the Holy Grail too often would drive the user to madness. Though he doubted using it once to create Miledi''s body would be too drastic on Valerie, it was ultimately up to her if she used it or not. After explaining to the four of them, Alex then turned to Grayfia and asked, "Can you return to the manor and have them start preparing for an event tonight? I plan to introduce these guys since they''re here in Asora for the first time." As Alex didn''t want to do big introductions too often, he waited until several new people were with him before bringing them to Asora to meet everyone else, though some of them had already met a few others through them challenging Orcus. Grayfia immediately left to do as he asked, when Hajime spoke up, "About that, can I refuse this time?" Everyone looked at him questioningly, to which he explained, "I want to try out some new ideas with the resources I got from Miledi, plus I''m not big with parties. If it''s ok I''ll wait until later." The real reason however was that Hajime already expected most of the people they would be meeting are Alex''s girls, and wanted to use the time to upgrade his equipment instead of meeting someone else''s harem. Alex shrugged in response to Hajime''s refusal, and had Kuroka drop him off just outside Brooke. After that he then led the group of girls towards the main settlement of Asora, where Yue and Shia saw modern buildings for the first time, and Anne saw them for the first time in twenty years. While both girls from Tortus were looking in wonder, Anne was fighting back the tears and nostalgia. Alex smiled as he watched their reactions, and said warmly, "Welcome to your new home." *** A short while later they were seated in one of the lounges of Misty Manor with several of the residents crowded around them, mostly those who weren''t helping set up the party or hadn''t met any of the new residents by challenging Orcus. Many of the girls were fascinated with Anne, Yue, and Shia since this was the first time they met someone from another world, even though Alex had been in Tortus for several months now. The three were answering questions from the others as they were crowded by the others, as Alex watched with a smile from the side. They seemed to be uncomfortable, but he hoped it would pass with so many people around them to converse with. Unknown to him Valerie and Tosca had both arrived and were talking with Elmenhilde in the next room over. "ANOTHER VAMPIRE!? Is he trying to replace me? What should I do?!" The devastated Elmenhilde shrieked to the only other female vampire in Asora until now, Valerie. Valerie looked helpless at Elmenhilde''s concerns as she didn''t think it was a big deal there was another vampire, truthfully she felt it was a good thing there was more of them now. She continued to try and pacify the distraught Elmenhilde for a while, before Alex seemed to notice their presences and entered the room. His gaze focused on Valerie and he said, "Valerie there''s something I wanted to talk to you about if you don''t mind, would you come with me?" Valerie was interested in what Alex wanted from her and accepted, but felt that it would be better if he knew about Elmenhilde''s concerns. As if he was reading her mind he suddenly said, "And Elmenhilde," making the former noble vampire to jump as she exclaimed, "Y-yes!" Causing Alex to smile as he calmly said, "No one can replace you you know, if you want me to prove it then I''ll do so privately later." As his words reached their ears Valerie smiled as Elmenhilde blushed deeply, quite the feat for a vampire. Leaving the blushing vampire behind, Alex went to talk with Valerie regarding Miledi''s situation. A few hours later the sun was going down and several people had gathered behind Misty Manor to welcome the new residents. Gasper had also shown up to accompany Valerie, who had agreed to Alex''s request to attempt to recreate another body for Miledi if she chose to join them in the future. Alex felt like he was taking advantage of her kindness, but Valerie waved away his guilt saying that she didn''t mind helping someone like Miledi out. Also present was Elmenhilde, who now had a refreshed look to her face after getting more than just Alex''s blood earlier. As several more people gathered Alex stood up and gestured for attention. Everyone present focused on him and the three new faces next him, Anne who was in her dancers outfit, Yue who was dressed in a simple skirt and blouse, and Shia who was fidgeting under the looks she was getting while thinking she should have changed into something other than the bunny-girl outfit she got from Alex previously. Alex then said, "Thank you all for coming tonight to welcome our new friends to our home. Many of you have met but I''ll let them introduce themselves now." With his words everyone''s attention was completely on the three girls, before Anne stepped forward and started introducing herself, "Hello everyone, I''m Anne and I''m someone similar to Alex as far as my background goes. I have no interest in it however, and chose to join up with Alex since he literally died for me before. I hope we can get along in the future." Many people were silent as they digested Anne''s words, as most of them didn''t know she was the same as Alex or that he actually died for her, something that shocked the girls greatly. Anne practically fled from being the center of attention, and Yue stepped forward this time. "... I''m Yue, my name was given to me by Alex when we met and he saved me... I''m a vampire princess and Alex''s second bishop... alongside a certain annoying red haired girl..." The last part of her words was said quietly, but several people still heard it and chuckled softly to themselves while the red head in question glared at Yue. Shia then stepped forward, and declared, "Hello! I''m Shia Haulia of the Rabbitman tribe! Alex saved me and my family from slavery and we all decided to join him, I''m also his first rook!" Some people also chuckled at Shia''s introduction, since she said Alex saved her from slavery yet technically she was now his servant. No one brought this up however as Shia was aware of it and didn''t seem to mind. With introductions out of the way the three girls started mingling around with everyone else, but Alex noticed they seemed to stay close to him. He then watched with a smile as they started discussing various things with those around them. Anne was approached by many of the girls since they wanted to ask about what she mentioned before about Alex dying for her, while Shia was talking with the other rooks as they wanted to know what she was able to do. Yue on the other hand was talking with Gasper, Valerie, and the now calmed down Elmenhilde about the vampire races in the different worlds. Both groups were interested in learning about the other, but Gasper, Valerie and Elmenhilde were all disappointed to hear that the vampires were wiped out in Tortus. Soon however they were approached by someone unexpected, as they introduced themselves to Yue. "Hi I''m Serafall Levia- I mean Sitri! But if you want you can refer to me as Magical Girl Levia~tan????!" Yue made a confused face as she never heard of a magical girl before. Normally Serafall would be devastated by someone not knowing about magical girls, but curiously enough she didn''t mind it so much, in fact Alex almost swore he saw a gleam in her eye as she stated, "By the way Yue I have something I wanted to show you, come with me real quick!????" Serafall then dragged the confused vampire princess away for something, promising to return in a little bit. Alex pretended not to notice Yue''s silent plea for help when she looked at him, as he had his suspicions what Serafall intended and couldn''t deny his own curiosity for it. As he imagined the expectant scene in his head, he then heard someone else declare, "You mean you''re a decent dancer? To the point that your status plate in Tortus even made it your occupation? You have to show us Anne!" Alex looked over to see Kiryuu pushing Anne to dance for all of them, seemingly out of curiosity of her occupation, but Alex noticed Kiryuu looking at Anne''s outfit and figure while wiping away a small amount of drool. As she was still the most perverted of Alex''s lovers, even when compared to Akeno, he didn''t doubt for a second she had her own fantasies imagining Anne dancing. But due to Kiryuu''s shout several other people were interested, and Anne was pushed into dancing for them. "Um ok, some music then please." Anne said nervously, as the only real dancing she had done in front of others was the tribal dancing during ceremonies before she met up with Alex. Someone started some music for her, and Anne started to slowly move her body. She was slow at first due to her nervousness, but nobody pushed her out of understanding since they were essentially a bunch of strangers until just a few minutes ago. However as Anne''s confidence grew her pace sped up, and sped up, until she was moving at full speed in rhythm. Everyone watched Anne''s movements mesmerized, as a carnal desire was evoked in them from watching her move. This was the ability of Anne''s occupation as dancer, while not considered a real offensive ability, her movements could not only mesmerize those watching, but could also invoke desired emotions s well. As Anne had danced for Alex before she drew on the experience, but didn''t realize she was effecting everyone else around her in such a way as well. Thankfully however everyone had enough sense of self not to lose control over themselves. "How amazing..." Someone muttered, as everyone else silently agreed with them. There was someone off to the side however that could only think as they watched her ''I have to have her!'', and started walking forward as her dance started reaching its close. As the music stopped, as well as Anne''s body, there was a loud round of applause from the spectators, as everyone present had enjoyed the show. Anne was blushing hard enough that it was easily visible with her darker skin, which only made her more attractive in several people eyes. Someone approached her however, and Ingvild stated in front of everyone, "Please become my queen!" Chapter 197 - Reveal Everyone was surprised with Ingvild''s request, but none more than Anne herself. She stalled for a whole minute as she tried to process what Ingvild meant by becoming her queen, but then she recalled Alex''s explanation of evil pieces and realized Ingvild was probably inviting her into her peerage. Anne wasn''t quite sure how to respond as she never imagined becoming someone''s peerage member beside possibly Alex''s, which he already stated wouldn''t happen. Seeing she wasn''t sure how to react, Ingvild realized she was acting too hasty and explained, "I''m sorry for getting ahead of myself, I''m Ingvild Leviathan and I''m also currently Asora''s only live entertainment, but seeing the way you dance I wanted you to join me on stage. I spent a while thinking about what I wanted my peerage to be like after I got my evil pieces, and eventually decided that while being able to fight was of course a must, I also wanted my peerage members to be able to accompany me on stage or perform themselves." After hearing Ingvild''s explanation many of those surrounding them made comments of understanding, and were also interested in seeing a peerage of idols. Anne herself still didn''t know how to respond however, and Alex said to Ingvild, "Ingvild why don''t you let Anne spend some time to think about your offer? I mean she just got here so there''s probably a lot she''s still trying to take in." Ingvild turned red at Alex''s words as she realized how she must be troubling Anne, and apologized while also asking her to think about it before going to hides rom embarrassment. After Ingvild left several people came to compliment Anne for her dancing by now that the effect had worn off, while Alex was now thinking about Ingvild''s intentions for her peerage. If she wanted to have her peerage join her on stage, then he could think of a couple candidates for her. Soon things started calming down somewhat as people started eating and relaxing, enjoying the cooling air after a long summer day. Alex then noticed someone else he needed to speak to, and made his way over to Seekvaira to discuss a matter with the training rooms. "Hello Seekvaira, do you have a minute?" Alex asked her suddenly, making her curious as they walked toward a quieter area. He then explained that the age of gods magic in Raisen was to control gravity, and suggested that Seekvaira attempt the labyrinth as well since it would make running the training rooms without his help easier, especially since they couldn''t add the extra gravity functions without him. And though he didn''t mention it to her yet, Alex also thought she should attempt the next couple of dungeons as well, which granted both space and regeneration magics. Seekvaira nodded at his suggestion, as being able to control gravity herself would make her life a lot easier. She then said, "I''ll see about joining Sairaorg''s group when they try it then, since I doubt he''ll pass any of the labyrinths up." Though there weren''t any ulterior motives behind Seekvaira''s words, Alex couldn''t help but smirk and reply as he walked away, "I''ll be cheering for you then." It took Seekvaira a minute, but when she understood Alex''s words she blushed a deep Crimson. He then then rejoined the party and mingled with the girls that had missed him the past week while he was in Raisen, until a yell caught everyone''s attention. "May I have all of your attention please!" Everyone turned to look at Serafall standing on an elevated platform in her magical girl dress up, light blue panties on full display. Seemingly not caring that she was flashing everyone while Sona face palmed, Serafall pointed at the cloaked figure next to her and continued, "I have here with me the next member of my magical girl troop, and someone I already know will be a rising star in my show ''Magical Girl Levia-tan!'' Introducing, Magical Girl Yu-tan!" As Serafall''s cue the cloaked figure seemed to hesitate for the briefest of moments before waving her own wand and being enveloped in light. When the light cleared there was a magical girl Yue who had her hair done up in twin tails to match Serafall, but thankfully her skirt at least covered her decency.she then made a pose and said, "...Magical girl Yu-tan... Is here to fight evil...!" As they saw the outfit Yue wore as she said the phrase everyone had different reactions, Akeno was going ''ara ara'', Rias was taking pictures with a Devils smile on her face, Shia had stars in her eyes, Grayfia face palmed alongside Sona, and finally both Serafall and Kiryuu collapsed from nosebleeds. Alex also admired Yue''s new look for a moment, but went to go save her as she looked very uncomfortable after being the center of attention in her new outfit. When Serafall showed her the clothes while also wearing her own magical girl outfit, Yue thought it was something normal in the other world and that she''d be blending in more. It wasn''t until she saw how everyone reacted that she realized this may not have been the case, and she suddenly wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment. Suddenly a figure appeared as Yue''s savior, as Alex picked her up and went back into the manor to get her changed again, meanwhile Serafall didn''t even try to stop them as she was unconscious from her nosebleed. Several minutes later both of them reemerged from the manor, Yue back in her normal clothes, and were instantly surrounded by Shia, Anne, Grayfia, and Sona. Both Shia and Anne were trying to comfort her through friendship, while Grayfia said, "I should have warned you, Serafall is obsessed with magical girls and since you look young and are gifted with magic it was only a matter of time before she tried to draft you." Sona nodded at Grayfia''s words before bowing her head slightly and saying, "And I apologize on my big sisters behalf, and for not acting sooner. I''m usually the one who gets dragged into my sisters schemes so I didn''t want to get dragged in as well." When Sona saw her sister dragging Yue off earlier she fought an internal battle on wether or not to intervene, but her decision to stop her came too late. Yue felt warm at everyone trying to console her and thanked them wholeheartedly. But they all forgot part of what Serafall said earlier, that ''Magical Girl Yu-tan'' would be making an appearance on her show. With the Devils technology it wasn''t required for a person to personally be an actor in their shows, as long as there was someone who had a similar body type available they would only need to paste the persons face on it. Yue had no idea, she would now be forevermore afflicted with the magical girl curse, just like a certain 300 year old ghoul. The party went on for a few hours until it started getting late, but when everyone started heading home Alex called them back for one last announcement. Everyone thought it had something to do with the newcomers, but were surprised to instead see the very bashful Gabriel next to Alex. He then said to everyone, "I waited until the end of the night since I didn''t want to overlap with Anne, yue, and Shia''s introductions too much, but it''s also about time this was brought up as well. I thought it was about time to tell everyone that Gabriel is expecting." For several moments there was complete silence as Alex''s words spread through the group of people. Some people understood immediately and wanted to congratulate Gabriel, some of the girls however were in complete denial as they tried to guess what else Gabriel could be expecting. The first ones to speak were the only other ones to know already, Grayfia and Yasaka, as they made their way forward to offer their congratulations. Soon Gabriel was surrounded by the various women, as they buried the bitterness at not bearing Alex first child in their heart, and offered her their most sincere congratulations as well. Then men however surrounded Alex as well, "Well it was only a matter time anyways, but congratulations man!" Sairaorg said as he slapped Alex on the back. "Bastard, knocking up another woman when you have my daughter... Wait then that implies I want you to get Akeno pregnant! Don''t you dare do it you little bastard!" Barakiel on the other hand didn''t seem to know how to react to the news. "Hmmmm, I wonder if I had my own kid if it''d beat yours..." Even then Vali still seemed to be thinking about their rivalry. With these comments and more Alex and Gabriel became the center of attention, before a certain Crimson haired lady pulled him aside and asked, "Now that you have a child on the way with Gabriel you''re not going to forget about me, are you?" Rias asked with slightly teary eyes, while the rest of the girls listened in. Alex smiled and kissed her before replying to the stunned woman, "Of course not, no matter how many children I have I''ll never forget any of you." Pacified with the simple words, Rias smiled again and the surrounding girls let out a small sigh of relief. With the new revelation everyone stayed out a little later to properly congratulate Alex and Gabriel. When they all finally did start heading to bed, Alex didn''t notice a certain white haired individual that was watching him leave while she had a deep flush to her cheeks and she let out heated pants. Chapter 198 - Second Not long after the party ended Alex was laying in bed with a n.a.k.e.d Shia sleeping at his side, and both of them were covered in a fine layer of sweat after making love for the first time. Alex originally wanted to wait a while for Shia as she mentally matured more, but decided it would be too cruel to single her out amongst the girls traveling with him. Alex''s attention was then drawn to the things that were slightly touching his face as she slept, Shia''s fluffy rabbit ears. Alex fought a small internal battle, before giving in and rubbing the soft furred ears. As he felt up her ears, Shia''s smile grew in her sleep as she presumably felt the contact. After sating his curiosity, Alex then left Shia alone and tried to fall sleep himself. He didn''t know how much time passed, or if he actually fell asleep before it started happening or not, but seemingly not long after Alex tried to go to sleep himself he felt a moist warmness around his newly erect manhood. Alex was unsurprised about the visiter since random night visits were a common thing among the girls, but he also knew that Rias and Grayfia tried to regulate the visits, otherwise Alex would be waking up with every girl in the manor in his bed every morning. A brief glance down was all it took for him to identify the culprit, as the pure white hair accompanied by cat ears and three tails was a dead giveaway. He smiled as he watched her work him wth her mouth, before Koneko looked up to see him watching her. Her only reaction to this however was to keep going, as she actively started trying to do as much as she could to being him closer to climax. As he was approaching the point of shooting his load Koneko suddenly stopped, and crawled up his body silently as not wake the still sleeping Shia. She then said huskily to Alex, "Senior, please give it to me..." She then turned around and positioned herself on all fours, before reaching back with one hand and spreading herself open, completely revealing the pink flesh inside. Contrary to his usual eagerness to such a situation however, Alex momentarily hesitated as he realized what was actually going on, Koneko was in a mating season. It didn''t take him long to figure out how she was triggered as it was only a couple hours before that he revealed Gabriel''s condition, which must have made Koneko instinctively desire a child of her own. Alex knew that if he accepted Koneko at the moment, the chances of having a second child on the way was incredibly high. He then checked with the still waiting girl, "Koneko are you sure? Once we start there''s no going back, and we have hundreds or even thousands of years for having children." Koneko nodded at Alex''s words, as she also considered what she should do after she was triggered. She could have easily gone to her sister and had her forcibly end her mating season like in the past since she herself didn''t have that much minute control over touki, but she also saw this as a chance. Though she wouldn''t bear his first child Koneko wanted to bear his second, even if she knew she wasn''t being fair to the rest of the girls. After conveying this to him all of Alex''s hesitation disappeared, and he positioned himself at the entrance of the already soaking hole. After a momentary pause Alex''s entire length was plunged into Koneko''s depths, and the nekomata struggled to not let out a throaty m.o.a.n as there was still someone sleeping next to them. While he then started thrusting, Alex noted the difference in having s.e.x with Koneko than usual as, more than likely due to her heated state, her insides were almost as hot as Ravel''s were. He pushed this thought to the back of his mind though, as he focused on the girl in front of him. Due to her earlier preparations it didn''t take long before Alex was ready to climax, and he pushed himself as far into her as possible before pumping his seed into her depths. As this was exactly what Koneko''s body was craving she also immediately climaxed, her body shaking so intently that she lost power in her arms and fell forward onto the bed so her butt was sticking up. As her body continued to convulse, Koneko felt herself starting to calm down slightly from her mating season, though she was still heavily aroused. This usually only happened when the season was over, either naturally or forced through touki, or when the reason it started was met. If her mating season had ended without the first two happening, then that meant she was now most likely an expecting mother. Alex also felt the shift in Koneko, and pulled her into his embrace before whispering in her ear, "Congratulations Koneko." Tears formed in her eyes from happiness, as Koneko turned to look at Alex and said, "Thank you seni-" but was cut off when Alex pressed his finger against her lips. He then said, "Alex. I won''t have the mother of one of my children referring to me as ''senior''." Koneko paused slightly at his words, before a smile bloomed on her face and she said, "Thank you Alex, for everything." The two had a special moment together before starting the second round, but before they could begin a voice filled with irritation spoke up, "Geez! Don''t just ignore me after you''ve had your fun next to me!" Alex and Koneko both looked at Shia wth shock on their faces, which irritated her even more as she said, "What do you think these rabbit ears are for decoration?! I heard everything that happened as you thought I was sleeping! Let me in too!" She cried as she tried to pile onto the two. The next round then swiftly began with all three, and went longer into the night. *** The next day Alex made his way down to have breakfast with Shia and Koneko, who surprisingly seemed to become close after the previous night, it probably helped that they were both beast type rooks. Waiting in the dining room were the residents that didn''t have any plans, and those traveling Tortus with Alex, Anne, Yue, Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka who had to be woken up this early by Grayfia. The moment Koneko walked into the room with Shia her sister narrowed her eyes, but then Kuroka''s eyes widened as she noticed there was a change in how the touki in her sisters body flowed. When neither Alex nor koneko offered an explanation however she didn''t bring it up, and instead started glaring at Alex before sending a message through the system stating she''ll get an explanation from him later. Alex''s brow twitched as he read the message, but he didn''t otherwise react as he sat down and explained their next move. "Now that we conquered Raisen we can move on from Brooke town soon and see more of the continent. The next labyrinth is the Grand Guren Volcano in the desert, though we''ll probably make several stops on the way there. Until we leave I want all of you that can use it to try and familiarize yourselves with the Gravity magic, even if you can''t use it as a normal spell there should still be other uses you can find for it. We''ll depart in about a week." The girls nodded at Alex''s words, ready to see more of this new world once they leave again. After breakfast they then left to the training rooms to familiarize themselves with their new magic, while Koneko also went to watch and assist with Shia''s training since was a rook as well. The other reason however was that Kuroka purposely invited her in order to question her, and Rias and Grayfia grew suspicious as well when they heard Koneko refer to Alex by name instead of the usual ''senior''. Knowing he was probably going to get an earful later, Alex decided to focus on his errands for the moment as he started his day. Chapter 199 - A much needed break After separating with the girls Alex left Asora to discuss his plans with Hajime so that he could spend the next week preparing, though Hajime could''ve used the training rooms to extend that time if he wanted, he didn''t seem to have any interest in being in Asora for now. Alex then started thinking about what he needed to do after that, and for the next week as well; first there was someone he was interested in recruiting in Brooke to train that group, then he planned to spend the next several days alternating between doing guild jobs and doing isolated training again. When he thought of that Alex realized it had been a while since he made progress in his super Saiyan forms, and wanted to use his isolation raining to get closer to achieving super Saiyan 2. He also needed to find an easier way to let residents of Asora travel to the dungeons so that he didn''t need to have someone ferry them every time for the labyrinths. With these thoughts in mind, Alex went to his first destination of the day. *** Lauren sighed in relief as she looked at the results of her current project, just in time for the face of a dragon to appear on her monitor. Ddraig asked her privately, like they tended to do so that they weren''t constantly bugging Alex. She nodded, and told Ddraig the results of her investigations on the compatibility of Alex''s companions with Ehito''s body stealing, "Yes, first and foremost you know that Alex and Anne are safe thanks to Jennifer and myself-" CRUNCH "As well as you own existence inside him. The rest of the girls as well as Hajime were causes for concern however-" CRUNCH "As neither of us would be able to protect them. So I spent the last few months trying to analyze them to determine compatibility-" CRUNCH "With Ehito and even though I don''t have access to their data I was finally able to determine that the girls at least are safe-" CRUNCH "DO YOU MIND?!" Lauren finally snapped at the person who was making noise in the background, none other than Jenny herself as she ate potato ch.i.p.s. Jenny awkwardly looked at Lauren, before one last crunch came from her mouth as she finished chewing the chip she just ate as Lauren''s glare intensified. The petite pink haired girl had invaded her domain at the same time Alex and Anne met up, and had refused to leave ever since while saying they needed to stay close for ''proper cooperation'', which was just Jenny''s way of forcing herself onto Lauren. As Lauren was busy glaring Jenny down, a slight chuckle came from behind her as Ddraig watched the exchange, As he chuckled however Lauren''s glare focused on him, causing one of the ''Heavenly Dragons'' near the peak of a dragons existence in the dxd world to feel instinctive fear at the look. This was unsurprising as Lauren was a lot more powerful than he was even at his peak, meaning that especially now that he was sealed she wouldn''t need to put in much effort to destroy him. After she took a minute to calm herself down, Lauren continued her previous explanation. "As I was saying, the main reason it took so long for me to verify the results is that even though they have access to the system I''m not connected to the girls the same way I am Alex, and this especially applies to both Ehito and Hajime. As far as the girls are concerned they''re all safe as well because they are considered incompatible with Ehito like Alex, so the only one we would need to worry about is Hajime, but I doubt he would try to take him since he''s surrounded by several people that could destroy him." Both Ddraig and Jenny let out a sigh of relief at Lauren''s words, until the pink haired girl asked, "What makes the rest of the girls incompatible? According to the data at least Yue would be considered the perfect host for him? That was even the reason she was originally sealed in Orcus." Lauren nodded at Jenny''s question, and said, "You''re right but that was then, before she came into contact with Alex. Now however Yue and Shia are both untouchable by Ehito because they''re both Devils, while Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia were to begin with anyways so there was no need to worry about them." Ddraig was surprised, and asked, "Indeed, I''m sure you''ve noticed that though different natural laws exist in different worlds there exists some similarities, for example how fire an water oppose each other? The same would apply with divine powers as opposed to demonic powers. Regardless of how he started Ehito is currently for all intents and purposes a god since he created the system where the prayers of his followers powers him, Devils are beings that are opposite of the gods and therefore he cannot take the body of one. Then the only two that aren''t Devils in Alex''s group are both Anne and Hajime. Since anything goes between fellow competitors we can''t do anything if it was one of them, we are allowed to fight back on their behalf however if an outside force tries to take their bodies. This is to prevent outside forces from getting their hands on powers they shouldn''t, for example Alex''s Saiyan blood, this is also why every competitor turns to ash when they die." Ddraig''s image on the monitor nodded as he comprehended Lauren''s information, and said, In response to Ddraig''s words Jenny showed and angry expression, and said, "That''s right! I just dare that self styled God to even think about laying a single finger on my Anne, I''ll wipe out his entire existence!" As Jenny was at the very least as powerful as Lauren, or even more so as seen with the incident with the tattoos, her words were taken very seriously, until she continued, "Saying that, maybe I''ll go visit Anne in a bit once they''re done with their current training, it''s been a while." As she spoke Jenny pulled up Anne''s current image on her own tablet, which showed her attacking an Alex dummy along with Rias, Kuroka, and Yue while Koneko, Shia, and Grayfia watched from the side. It was quite obvious she wasn''t too happy after hearing Alex was now expecting yet another child. While Jenny was watching the scene she didn''t notice Lauren go pale at her words, until she demanded, "Wait! Are you saying you''ve visited Anne before?!" Jenny nodded, and declared, "You know we''re not forbidden from seeing our candidates, as long as we continue doing our jobs right and don''t interfere in the competition. Why wouldn''t I go to visit her every now and then?" At Jenny''s words Lauren went even paler, with the exception of the slight blush in her cheeks when she recalled her previous meeting with Alex, that he didn''t even know happened. She then firmly stated, "Absolutely not! We can''t go see them, how would you explain yourself to the rest of the people around her?" Lauren tried to make Jenny see reason, as she absolutely didn''t want Alex find out about their previous meeting. Jenny was taken aback at Lauren''s behavior, and said, "Wait don''t tell me you haven''t visited your guy before?" Then she noticed the slight blush on Lauren''s cheeks, and said as if with sudden realization, "DON''T TELL ME YOU''VE FALLEN FOR HIM!" Jenny shouted as her mind rushed to the wrong conclusion. She then recalled all the things she watched Alex do with his women through Lauren''s screen, and knew she had seen a lot more than her. As her imagination started running away Lauren said firmly, "NO I HAVE NOT!" This shocked Jenny out of her thoughts, and Lauren took another deep breath to steady herself before continuing, "I tried to visit him once but something happened and I don''t want him to see my face, alright?" Jenny nodded but secretly decided to find out what happened between them, after all it wasn''t every day something this juicy would happen to her friend, not that Jenny would actually hurt her friend with whatever happened. Having calmed down the situation, Lauren turned back towards the awkwardly waiting Ddraig and asked, "Is there anything else Ddraig? If not then I think I''m going to take a nap or something, maybe I''ll rest in my hot springs." Ddraig then told her a brief summary of Alex''s plans for the next week, thinking that since nothing was going to happen Lauren could use the chance to take an apparently much needed rest. When he mentioned the issue regarding moving residents between Asora and Tortus Lauren frowned and said, "I told him about being able to make portals between Asora and his current world, they''d disappear when he changes worlds but why doesn''t he just use one of those?" Ddraig then explained, Lauren nodded at Ddraig''s words, understanding where Alex was coming from with his concerns. Though if placed in the right spot it would be nearly impossible for someone to accidentally find them, it wouldn''t be too hard for those who would want to hurt Alex to find out about Asora and look for ways to exploit it. Even if the portal was hidden there''s plenty of powers or tools to find the specific location of something. With his possession of the Orcus hideout however this could be avoided, especially since Alex still had the Haulia stationed there after turning them into loyal assassins. After asking Ddraig to relay the information she investigated and to remind him about the portals, Lauren went to take a much needed break in one of her hot springs. Chapter 200 - Another day in Asora Over the next several days Alex alternated between training and taking jobs as he prepared to leave Brooke town for the time being. He was also reminded by Ddraig about the ability to make portals connecting Asora, which he was still reluctant to do since it could still be exploited, but he understood that making at least one would make things a lot easier on them and had Grayfia leave one in the Orcus hideout. Alex also asked her for a report about the Haulia while she was there but she stated that they had all gone into the labyrinth for training, and so the place was empty besides those that didn''t train. With no apparent problems Alex felt relieved that they were seemingly doing ok. When not training or doing jobs, Alex was doing some much needed catch up with life in Asora and some of the residents. His first priority was to meet up with Seekvaira regarding the current state of the gods water crystal, then he''d talk to Vali about anything they had discovered while exploring Asora, after that he''ll go and get an update on the new scanner the Grigori were working on to put in Tortus, before checking up with the rest of the representatives. Besides all that he also planned to spend a little time with the girls he hadn''t had a chance to in a while, and squeeze in a visit to Ophis''s shrine. Not bothering to worry about how busy his day was going to be, Alex then set off for the training area to talk with Seekvaira. Once he arrived Alex made his way over to her and asked how things in the training area were. "They''re alright, but I hope to make a few improvements after we finish up in this world with the age of gods magic, and it kind of annoys me that the labyrinths there are doing more than my facility here is." Alex laughed slightly at her annoyance, and said, "We''ll definitely be able to make some improvements once the labyrinths are all cleared, and there''s someone I recruited that is an expert at making magic based machines, he should be able to make some improvements as well." Seekvaira became interested in Alex''s words as they already had some items made by the Grigori, and asked, "Really he''s that good?" It was then Alex recalled that he mentioned mechas from other worlds to Seekvaira as a bargaining chip to get her to accompany them, he then added, "His greatest strength is his ability to make weapons and machines, once he''s finished with the great labyrinths I doubt we''ll easily find someone who could match his creations. By the way, how''s the gods water?" Seekvaira''s eyes were shining a little when she thought of some of the items she might get to see soon, but she quickly organized herself and explained, "The gods water is producing water again, after a couple weeks of being filled with magic power and staying in one my strongest time rooms. For every day we experience out here it''s going through a couple months in there, and I have my peerage members alternate with pouring their magic power into the formation at the door in order to add magic power to the room itself. Though the output itself isn''t that great, but with the time difference we can say we''ve been getting a decent amount the last couple months. We can either save up for in the event of an emergency, or have people who need it carry a couple vials of it until either Asia or Valerie can help them." Alex nodded, and said, "I want you to prepare a couple vials for whoever is challenging the labyrinths, and several for me and my peerage since we''re traveling around and various situations would happen." Seekvaira nodded, and had one of her peerage members start working on what Alex requested. He stayed a little bit longer before leaving and heading over to manor that was home to the Vali team. He was greeted at the door by Elaine, who was still fulfilling her maid duties even though she no longer worked for the house of pendragon. Elaine then led him to when everyone else was, which was the backyard as Vali, Bikou, Lavinia, and Arthur relaxed in the morning summer sun, and Fenrir was with Le Fay who worked a ways away with the creation magic she acquired when they conquered the labyrinth a while back. Vali sat up as he saw Alex approaching, and asked, "So can we try the next labyrinth yet?" Earning himself a frown from Elaine in the process. Alex smiled and replied, "Not yet, wait at least until I leave for the next labyrinth for the creator to fix everything, I''m actually here about your results from exploring Asora." Vali frowned at Alex words and tuned out, prompting Arthur and Elaine to sigh as they pulled out a device the Grigori made for them to assist with mapping. Arthur then said, "We haven''t really found much to report since we''ve just been expanding the perimeter all around us instead of just shooting in one direction, and most of what''s around us is either flat or mountainous regions. Though we did go a ways away in a few directions to see if it differed and found that there is a desert roughly a thousand miles to the south, and mountains that are still snow capped just as far in the north." Alex nodded as he looked at the results of what they explored, and said, "Alright, keep at it when you''re not challenging labyrinths, I want to understand what exactly we have to offer any future residents. Also try not to kill the creator of the Raisen labyrinth, I know she could be annoying but try to take it too far." None of them thought anything weird of Alex''s request, as they had already heard from the others about Miledy Raisen and her annoying tendencies. As he was walking away however Bikou spoke up, "Don''t worry, we won''t do anything to your next harem member!" Causing Alex to trip over nothing, as he didn''t even intend to make an attempt on Miledy. He doubted any of them would believe him however, so he just chose to ignore Bikou''s remark. After leaving Vali''s place it was about lunchtime, so Alex decided to see if any of the girls wanted to have lunch with him before going to his next appointment. This led to him having a small picnic in Ophis''s shrine with Asia, Xenovia, Irina, Kiryuu, and Rossweise, while Ophis, Kunou, and Millicas came to join them. After a little while of enjoying a light lunch with the group, Alex decided he needed to get back to his errands and left the group behind, while also dragging an unconscious Kiryuu behind him to return to the house. She had disregarded the children and Ophis being present and tried to turn a nice lunch into an orgy, though her attention towards Kunou might''ve been what started it, now Alex was almost tempted to send her to Akeno''s dungeon for a few days. He then made his way over to Asora''s Grigori institute, where they were working on fixing a relatively obvious problem they ran into when they tried to place a new scanner in the Orcus hideout for any future world travelers; the machines were attuned to the world of dxd, not Tortus. This meant that the second Alex turned it on it went nuts, as everything around it was being read as a foreign being since the energies around them weren''t the same as the dxd world. The Grigori had been working on a solution since then, and Alex was headed there today to hear what they came up with. He entered the building and went straight to Barakiel''s office, to find the ever serious man working hard. "Do you ever intend to get a life?" Alex asked with a smirk, causing Barakiel to glare at him in response. "I have a job and I have my daughter, that''s all the life I need." He curtly answered. Alex rolled his eyes but didn''t say anything since it would prevent them from getting anything done. Instead he asked, "So have you made any progress with the machine since it went nuts?" Barakiel sighed when he heard Alex''s question, and answered, "We think we have it fixed up, and added a function to calibrate it to the world it''s in so that we don''t run into the same problem in the future." Alex nodded, but heard the hesitation in Barakiel''s tone. "So what''s the problem?" Barakiel''s sighed again, and said, "It''ll take about six months to calibrate, which for this world will put it finished when we''re about to leave in just a couple months anyways, and in any future world''s you go to it''ll mean that you''d have to do the investigations yourself if you want to know if there''s any other world travelers there when you arrive." Alex sighed as well when he heard Barakiel''s answer, and simply said, "I can''t say anything besides just keep working on it, there''s still the majority of a year in Tortus to work on it, and it''ll be that way in the next world to. So look at it this way, at least you''ll have a year in each world to make improvements before the next one is needed." Barakiel looked surprised at Alex''s words, and nodded while saying, "I can''t believe I''m saying this, but you''re right. Now don''t expect me to ever say that again!" Barakiel scowled one last time at Alex, as he turned around and started walking away with a smirk. After leaving Barakiel Alex went to visit Serafall, Yasaka, and Gabriel to hear about how the Devils, ypukai, and Angels were doing, and also to check on them. Serafall was seemingly hard at work when Alex arrived, and only let him stay long enough to tell her that there needed to be a new housing area built for the Haulia before they moved to Asora. As the Devils were experts at getting construction done quickly it was usually up to them to make the new buildings that were being built in Asora. "Ok ok, a new home for the rabbits, I got it! Now I need to get my work done so leave!" As Serafall was literally pushing him out of the door, Alex smiled and decided to get a little payback, resulting in her going stiff as his hand reached around and briefly grabbed her ass. Before she could react however the door closed, leaving her standing there glaring at it before returning to her work. What Alex didn''t realize was that the work she was so eager to finish was on the new character for her show that was going to debut soon, based off of Yue. Unaware of her project, Alex then made his way to visit Yasaka. The youkai in Asora were mostly responsible for the food supplies and so on. As most of them were used to rural lifestyles when not avoiding humans, this was a happy change for them as they could live freely. Though Yasaka didn''t have any issues to reports when he got there, she kept Alex in her office for the next hour with the door locked and windows shut as everyone else went about their business, and none of them were willing to mention how their boss seemed to be glowing the rest of the day. Alex then made his way to his last stop of the day, Gabriel''s, to check up on the Angels and see how the soon to be mother of his first child was doing. After getting a report about the Angels and how everything was going smoothly, Alex then spent another hour locked inside an office, except this time he was discussing topics related to their baby such as names or if he thought it was going to be a boy or a girl. While he was talking to Gabriel Alex couldn''t help it notice how she seemed to be much calmer around than compared to the past, and felt that having a child was a good experience for her. Eventually however Gabriel had to get back to work, so Alex left her and went to spend the remainder of his day relaxing with those he regrettably hadn''t gotten a chance to be around for a while. Alex then spent the night with the same group he had lunch with earlier, except he decided to go through with his earlier thoughts and had Akeno drag Kiryuu off to her dungeon for the night. Alex went to sleep with Asia, Xenovia, Irina, and Rossweise all curled up with him, not seeming to mind the summer heat as they slept together. Chapter 201 - Race On the day of their departure from Brooke town Alex entered the guild with Hajime, Rias, Grayfia, Yue, and Shia, Anne, and Kuroka. Their next destination was the city of Furhen, then immediately after that the lakeside town of Ul near the mountain ranges. Normally Alex would just skip the stop in Furhen and go straight to Ul for the event that would happen there, but he knew that he''d miss possible advantages if he did that. It was for that same reason he came to say goodbye to Catherine before leaving as well. As their entire group approached the plump woman there was a small twinkle in her eye, as she figured there was a reason Alex appeared with their whole group this morning. "Morning Catherine!" Alex said as they walked over. All the adventurers that were present looked towards his group at his voice, wondering what he was going to do now. What Alex noticed was that many of their gazes were drawn to the two new members of his group, Hajime who they had seen before but not with Alex, and Shia, a demihuman walking around without a slave collar. A quick glare was all it took to get them to look away, but they were still curious what he was doing. Catherine didn''t react to their actions and smiled back at Alex''s greeting, and said, "Good morning Alex, what''s the occasion since you''re here with the whole group this time?" "We''re heading out to the next place, I''m thinking of going to Furhen city." As Alex''s words spread through the guild there was a lot of murmuring at the news. Catherine on the other hand didn''t react to it, and instead said after a moment, "Let me write you a letter of introduction before you leave, just pass it along to the guild master of Furhen if you get into trouble or something." Alex smiled and said, "Then I''ll have to thank you for the consideration." Catherine said not to mind it, as she pulled out some items and swiftly wrote the letter of introduction to the branch head of Furhens guild. Only a couple minutes later she sealed the letter in an envelope and handed it over to Alex, with a smile on her face as she said, "Here you go, and would you like a job that''s in that direction as well?" Alex shook his head, and said, "No thank you, I''d like to do our own trekking at our own speed." Catherine nodded and said, "It''ll be a shame to lose such great adventurers, but I can''t tie you down here. Be safe out there." "Don''t worry we will." Alex said as they turned to walk away. As they left the guild headquarters Kuroka asked, "So how are we getting there?~Nya Please don''t say we''re driving!" The last part of her sentence was said while looking at Anne, who wanted to glare back but couldn''t deny Kuroka''s concerns. Alex however shook his head and said, "We''re pretty much going to be walking the entire way off-road, then like I told Catherine we''ll get a chance to move at our own pace as we make our way to Furhen." Kuroka grimaced when Alex said they were walking the entire way to the next city, but didn''t say anything since they weren''t having to stay in a labyrinth again. In fact if she really wanted to, since Alex planned to stay off of the roads while traveling Kuroka could just fly the whole time or even stay in Asora, but she chose not to. After all, she had to maximize her time with Alex to try and catch up to her sister, who stole the lead suddenly from her. Once the group walked out of town a ways they all took after Alex''s lead, and shot forward like a series of bullets into the forest at the towns edge. Alex, Anne, Kuroka, Grayfia, Shia, and Hajime were all people with high physical capabilities that were either running or jumping through the trees at high speeds; while Rias and Yue opted to fly with their wings as their bodies weren''t as suited for running at high speeds. After a while of running Alex picked out a distant landmark to stop at for a quick lunch break, prompting an impromptu race among the group. Without him knowing the girls had secretly decided that the first one to arrive would be able to spend their lunch break with him, igniting all of their competitive spirits. "I''ll be going ahead then~Nyan!" Kuroka shouted as she surged forward with a sudden burst of speed. Grayfia frowned at her actions and, rather than wanting to win the competition, simply didn''t want to be out done by Kuroka. She then silently promoted to her knight piece, and shot forward as well to swiftly pass up the nekomata. It was quite the sight for those watching the two race, one in a kimono and the other in a maid outfit. What neither expected however was that a pair of rabbit ears suddenly caught up and managed to keep pace with them. "I won''t lose either! Witness the strength of my loveeeeee!" Everyone watched dumbfoundedly as Shia kept pace with the two girls, not by running, but by using her extreme strength to launch herself forward in sudden bursts of speed to keep up, just like a bouncing rabbit. Of course all three girls had their attentions drawn to the skies a moment later, as Rias and Yue tried to keep ahead by flying instead of running. "Perhaps I''ll take this chance Yue, to show you our difference when it comes to experience while flying!" Rias declared, as she intended to use the years she had her ability to fly to outdo Yue. The vampire princess frowned at Rias''s words, and said, "...Then I''ll show you our other difference... In magic control..." As she spoke the winds around Rias suddenly picked up, before turning into a miniature tornado that threw the Crimson haired woman away while Yue flew ahead with a smirk, before crashing into a barrier created by Kuroka. "Don''t get ahead of yourself~Nya! We won''t let you win either!" The words were no sooner out of her mouth before a sword was swung at her head. "HEY~NYAN! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME YOU CRAZY MAID!?" Kuroka shouted as she dodged the attack. Grayfia simply said, "Don''t worry, it''s the blunt one I use for practice. The worst you''d get is a few broken bones until Asia could look at you." Kuroka narrowed her eyes at Grayfia''s words, ready to cast some magic before another voice interrupted them, "I''m that case I''ll use this! Hyaaaaaaa!" As a giant hammer came swinging at them from the side, courtesy of Shia. In this way the entire group used magic and weapons to hold each other in check as they made their way to the landmark, while Alex, Anne, and Hajime watched in amazement from behind. *** A little over an hour later the girls were trying to catch their breaths at the landmark as they waited for Alex and the other two to catch up. "Haa, haa, I can''t believe I lost!" Shia cried out, as the other losers silently agreed with her. The victor of their race however, Yue, looked smug as she was already thinking about how she would utilize her victory. As the group of women were waiting however, Alex arrived with Hajime right behind him, and while carrying Anne in his arms in the form of a princess carry. As they gapped at the woman in Alex''s arms he explained, "Anne doesn''t have the same endurance or abilities we do, she''s stronger than a normal human, but not to the same extent we are." As Alex explained his justification, the rest of the girls however weren''t sure they imagined a small smirk on the side of Anne''s mouth, as she cuddled closer to Alex while he continued holding her. Though Yue enjoyed the fruits of her labor, she still felt as if it was a hollow victory. Chapter 202 - Furhen After a couple more days of travel alternating between running and walking, Alex''s group was finally approaching the city of Furhen. The only real hiccup during their trip was when a wild horde of monsters tried to attack, only to be nearly instantly defeated by Yue and Rias''s area of effect magic attacks. Alex recalled it being quite the show since it had been a while since either could actually show off, what with how they were the limited space of Orcus and how the Raisen canyon sealed magic power. Yue had taken the chance to unveil her new ''Thunder Dragon'' that was comprised of both top tier lightning magic and Gravity magic, while Rias one upped her with her ''Apocalyptic Extinction'' skill that she acquired a while back. ''Apocalyptic Extinction'' was a skill that would use almost all of Rias''s magic power to create a massive cloud of pure ''Destruction'', then bits of that cloud would rain down on her enemies below in a massive area. It was a skill that could decimate entire armies within minutes, and leave her enemies either dead or missing various body parts from having touched the ''Destruction''. In comparison, though Yue''s ''Thunder Dragon'' was still the more complicated skill, it didn''t seem as impressive since Akeno had already unveiled one similar to it; even though there were differences like how Akeno used Alex''s dragon energy while Yue used Gravity magic. Once the incident was dealt with, Alex and his group simply continued their way to Furhen until he could see the walls in the distance. "Let''s stop here for right now." Alex said suddenly, making everyone confused as they stopped moving. Rias stepped forward and asked, "What''s wrong Alex?" Alex sat down on a log and gestured for everyone else to do the same. He then said, "There''s just a few things we need to get out of the way before we enter town." He then looked at Shia and held something out to her while saying, "Firstly Shia, you need to make the decision to either stay in Asora or wear this while in Furhen." Shia took one look at what Alex held out to her and exclaimed, "That''s a slave collar! Why would I want to wear something like that?!" Alex ignored the others looks of surprise and explained, "You need to remember that most people in Tortus don''t see you as a person, but as merchandise. Unlike Brooke where I had a reputation, the vast majority of people inside those walls will see you as a thing to be taken and sold. There''s laws stating that a persons slave can''t be taken by force since it''ll be considered stealing, so that means we can either deal with people trying to constantly enslave you, or I can simply tell those interested in buying you to ''f.u.c.k off''. Though it won''t eliminate all our issues it''ll make some things easier." Though there was no person in Furhen that was actually threat to them, that didn''t mean Alex wanted to deal with the stupidity of all of those that wanted to take the girls from him. Shia grumbled and groaned at Alex''s words, not being able to deny their truth, before grabbing the collar from him. He then turned towards everyone else before saying, "Besides the thing with Shia, we also need to discuss what to expect from everyone else in Furhen. Unlike the towns we''ve been to so far there''s a more prominent crime system here that won''t follow the laws, as well those who think they can do whatever they want. So if and when this happens try not to kill the people involved and get us in unnecessary trouble, just leave them almost dead." All the girls nodded while they recalled the events that first took place in Brooke as guys would challenge Alex for them. Having warned them of how Furhen was, Alex then led the way as they walked the rest of the way to the city; after waiting in line at the gates with the rest of those trying to enter Furhen, they finally entered one of the largest cities on the continent. *** "Look at them." "I''ve never seen a Rabbitman with hair like that that, she''s so cute." "What about that blonde haired girl, she''s like a doll." "Look at the knockers on the redhead though!" "I''m more interested in the maid though, think she''ll come work for me?" These comments and more followed Alex and the girls as they made their way to the adventurers guild of Furhen, with the tensions of the girls raising with every moment. Seeing them attempting to keep their tempers in check, Alex was glad they wouldn''t be in Furhen long. "Excuse me sir, would you be interested in selling that Rabbitman to me? I can promise you a great price or even a discount on another sla-" "Go f.u.c.k yourself." Was all Alex said to about the tenth person who requested to buy Shia from from him, while Shia and the rest of the girls practically tried to kill the merchant with their glares as well. As the man fled from their glares and Grayfia''s ''Intimidation'', most of their group let out a sigh at how they couldn''t seem to rest after entering the city; while Kuroka and Shia also kept track of a certain few who hadn''t said anything, but obviously had nefarious intentions. Grayfia stepped up Alex''s side and said, "I know you tried to warn us, but this city is worse than I would''ve thought." Alex nodded and explained, "Furhen is one of the most powerful merchant cities there is where ''anything'' can be bought. This made it a haven for crime syndicates and backdoor dealings, while everyone here also lives with the philosophy ''everything has a price''. Don''t worry we shouldn''t be here as long as Brooke." Grayfia sighed once more, but this time out of relief at Alex''s words. Ignoring the continuous looks and remarks, the group swiftly made their way to the guild. As they entered the guild Alex made his way to the counter and said to the attendant, "Hello, I''m passing through but I have a letter of introduction for the branch head from a miss Cathrine in Brooke." "I''ll take it to the head right away!" The attendant said before disappearing with the letter. They then made their way to the side of the counter to keep from blocking it while waiting, and continued ignoring the looks and remarks they were receiving even here. Rias and Anne decided that instead of just glaring at those staring at them, they wanted to show them just how they had no shot. Rias clung to Alex''s right arm while Anne grabbed his left, and they both put on looks of passion in their eyes while looking up at him. Alex smirked as he realized what they were doing, and grabbed both girls by the waist to pull them closer as they pressed their chests against him, Alex couldn''t help but notice how bold Anne became after their first time together. As the rest of the girls also started flirting with Alex, Hajime rolled his eyes and started fiddling with a few items he pulled out of his storage ring to distract himself. Before things started to get intense however, a disgusting voice called out, "G-get your hands off of my p-property!" They all looked up at the voice, and everyone made faces of disgust at what they saw as a fat man covered with oily sweat ran over, before taking a piece of cloth out of his pockets and wiping his face. He then pointed at the girls and said, "I-I want them as my c-concubines and s-slave, so h-hand them over and I-I won''t have Leganid m-mess you up!" As the fat man made his intentions clear a man as muscular as Alex stepped forward and said, "You heard him kid, just give up on those girls and get out of here before things get ugly." As the situation unfolded Alex frowned as he recalled this event happening in the series, except all he recalled was that it happened and nothing more, showing how little these two actually meant. He sighed from the annoyance and looked at the fat man briefly, before said fat man collapsed while foaming at the mouth. The muscular man, Leganid, looked shocked at his employer collapsing when Alex seemingly didn''t do anything, and declared, "Hey! Now my pays gonna get docked!" Before rushing Alex with his longsword. Alex gently pushed the girls away as the man rushed him, and didn''t even seem to react as the sword clashed with his neck. CLANG The longsword stopped as if it collided with something hard, and everyone in the guild besides the girls gaped at how Alex''s head was still on his shoulders. Alex then ran his eyes across every person in the entire room before focusing on Leganid, and said calmly, "Now everyone here witnessed how you attempted to kill me after your boss collapsed from his seemingly bad health, so anything I do will be counted as self defense." At his words everyone present gulped, as they realized there was no lie in what Alex said, they couldn''t prove he was the one that rendered the fat man unconscious. As for Leganid, he felt an increasing pressure with every word Alex said, and even though Alex himself hadn''t done anything, he felt fear start to take root deep within his heart. Alex slowly raised one of his hands, and held it in front of his forehead. Leganid gulped, and played his last card, "He''s the son of Baron Ming, I was hired to protect him so if his son''s been made to pass out while I''m beaten, they''ll come after you." Alex smirked and without looking away said to Grayfia, "Did you get that Grayfia, Baron Ming." The silver haired maid nodded, and said, "Yes master, I''ll write it down." Leganid felt some confidence return as they seemed to take his words seriously, until Alex said, "If it seems as if we encounter any kind of retaliation from them, have them wiped out." Grayfia nodded as if Alex''s words were the most natural thing, while none of the other girls showed any surprise either. This made Leganid pale once more as Alex turned his attention back to him, before saying, "Now then, if there''s nothing else to say then I''ll be removing you." Before Leganid could say anything Alex flicked his finger at full strength towards his forehead without any hesitation, causing the man to black out instantly. The mans body had barely hit the floor when a voice said, "Well I expected the person who had such a letter from my teacher to be exceptional, but to think you wiped out a black rank adventurer simply by flicking your finger." Everyone turned towards the speaker, and saw the head of Furhen''s adventurer branch, Ilwa. Alex smirked, and said, "I''m sure Catherine''s letter mentioned Abel as well, so does this really surprise you?" Ilwa smiled at Alex''s words, and simply said, "It''s good you''re so capable, I have a request I''d like you to listen to if you will, in private." Alex shrugged and followed Ilwa to a private room, as the girls and Hajime followed silently behind him. Chapter 203 - Request After the excitement of what happened with the fat man and his body guard, Alex was now seated in one of the private rooms of the guild while the Furhen branch head Ilwa himself say across from him. On Alex''s side was Hajime and all the girls, while on Ilwa''s side was his secretary Datt. After introductions and answering some questions regarding how Catherine was, Ilwa moved onto what he really wanted to discuss. "While I want to talk about that job I mentioned, I think we should discuss what actually transpired downstairs." Alex shrugged, and said, "From what I saw a pig wanted to get his hands on some girls that were out of his league, and passed out from high blood pressure maybe? While all I did was flick a guy that meant to kill me, that''s not a problem is it?" Ilwa grimaced at Alex''s words, as that was exactly what he himself saw when he appeared. "While that is true, it''s also true you threatened to wipe out a Baron if they retaliated, even as a bluff that''s pushing it." Alex smirked and said, "That wasn''t a bluff, but I wouldn''t worry about them doing anything, and if they''re stupid enough to try something then they won''t be a problem much longer. I displayed the strength to completely overpower a black rank adventurer with a simple flick of my finger, and casually made a direct threat to the Baron himself, and all of this started because his son wanted to steal someone else''s women like they were property, if they have any intelligence whatsoever then they won''t retaliate." As much as he wanted to disagree with Alex''s words, Ilwa couldn''t find any reason to. Alex''s strength itself was an effective deterrent, and Ilwa took one look at each of those with him before determining that they all weren''t simple either, otherwise Alex wouldn''t have dragged them with him to their private meeting. That was before taking his background into consideration, as whoever was possibly backing Alex was a complete unknown. However this didn''t deter Ilwa from wanting to associate with Alex, in the contrary this meant Alex could be the very person he needed at the moment, and his mysteries only made Ilwa even more interested in forming connections with him. "Well leaving the Baron and his son aside then, shall we discuss that job I mentioned?" Alex''s attention sharpened and he nodded at Ilwa''s words, prompting him to continue. "The job is fairly simple looking at it briefly, I want you to find and confirm the well being of an individual by the name of Will Kudeta, an adventurer and the son of a friend of mine who''s also a count." Alex nodded again and feigned ignorance, "So what''s the not so simple part?" Ilwa sighed and explained, "The job they went on was an investigation of strange monster activity in the Northern Mountain Ranges. The only reason Will was allowed to go was because he had several veteran adventurers with him, but we lost contact with them several days ago. Admittedly I was be one who recommended the job to Will, which is why I intend to use any means to ensure his safety." Alex then said, "So what would be the reward if we find Will? Just to warn you I don''t lack wealth so money isn''t very appealing for a job like this." Ilwa hesitated then said, "Depending on how you do I can up your adventurer ranks and add my support behind you, as long as it''s not for criminal actions." Alex had to fight from smiling, as this was the reason he bothered stopping in Furhen to begin with. Even with all his exploits in Brooke his rank was still at the lowest blue rank because it would be complicated to explain how he was taking requests higher than he should have, though Alex didn''t place much emphasis on ranks to begin with. Having a higher rank would be somewhat beneficial though since it would make some people hesitate when dealing with him. He then said questioningly, "And what is your support worth? I don''t want to agree to something and find out later it was worthless." Ilwa grimaced while Datt glared at Alex for questioning his offer, before explaining, "With my backing you would experience a lot less trouble from other guild branches and I can help protect you from other parties." Alex smirked and asked, "What about the church?" Both Ilwa and Datt paled at Alex''s question as he continued, "I have no intentions of cooperating with such a group and that means it''ll only be a matter of time before they mark me, if they haven''t already. Before I agree to your terms I need to know how far you determination will go." Ilwa thought for several moments before saying, "As I already said I can''t support any crimes, but if you end up marked by the church then I''ll still be your ally." This was saying a lot about Ilwa''s determination to ally with Alex, as the church was undoubtedly the biggest organization in the human kingdom, so much so that even Kings had to bow to their will. Alex smiled at how Ilwa was willing to side with them, even if he already knew he would. They then discussed a few more details, before Ilwa left with Datt to write a letter for accommodations in the town closest to the mountain range. Once the door closed Kuroka turned towards Alex and asked, "Why''d you accept his request~Nyan? And the rewards don''t seem to be worth it, I mean that guy doesn''t actually have a lot of power to begin with, does he?" Alex shook his head at her question, and asked, "First tell me this, why did the original liberators fail?" As they had heard about it from both both Oscar and Miledy by now everyone knew of the details surrounding the liberators failure, but they didn''t know what answer Alex was looking for. He then explained, "They failed because Ehito turned the very people they wanted to liberate against them. We will eventually get marked by the church, and if we want to keep moving then we''ll need people on our side before that happens. Ilwa is the first step towards that, even if there''s seemingly no big benefits with it. Speaking of which I have a job for you and Grayfia." Both Kuroka and Grayfia became attentive at Alex''s words, as they wondered what he was going to task them with. "While we''re working this job, I want the two of you to stay and investigate the criminal organizations here in Furhen." Everyone was silent at hearing Alex''s task, until Grayfia hesitantly asked, "Just investigate and not eliminate?" Alex nodded and said, "Just like I said well most likely be marked by the church soon, we''ll also start standing out more. I want to try and create a good image for us when that happens for the same purpose. That''s why before we leave Furhen for good, we''ll eliminate the crime rings that exist here in the city. Before that however I want you two to investigate them so that we make sure we don''t miss any of the bosses during our purge, so take the time while we''re doing the other job for this." Both Grayfia and Kuroka sighed when they heard Alex''s words, and looked at each other with a bit of hostility, but mostly resignation. "Alright master, we''ll do as you ordered. But please tell me we don''t actually have to stay here while doing so." Alex laughed slightly at Grayfia''s words, and said, "Not if you don''t want to, you can return to Asora at night or when you need to. Just make sure the job gets done before we return, it shouldn''t take more than a few days." Both women nodded at his words, a bit more eager for their task as they wouldn''t have to actually stay in Furhen that whole time. Soon after he gave Kuroka and Grayfia their job, Ilwa and Datt returned to pass the original requests information and letter to Alex, then the group bid their farewells before heading to the city exits. As they left Ilwa sighed as he sat down heavily, while Datt asked, "Is this really ok?" Ilwa laughed a bit bitterly, and said, "I need to rely on them for Will''s life. Besides its always good to make friends with people like them." "But they even said they would be opposing the church." "Indeed, but think about it, think about how large the church is and all their power. There was no hesitation when he mentioned possibly being their enemy, nor was there resignation of one determined to die. If I read that young man right, he sees something like the church as equals, or even beneath him. He even casually talked about wiping out a family of nobles, as if it was merely a hindrance. They are people that would do something big, even my teacher had the same feeling otherwise she wouldn''t have written that letter. I would prefer to be allies with such a person than against them." After hearing his boss''s words Datt couldn''t help using a cloth to wipe his brow that had dampened with cold sweat. *** Alex and his group were now gathered a few miles outside the city walls where things were a bit more private, while Grayfia and Kuroka were seeing them all off before sneaking back into the city. Since they were in a hurry Alex had Hajime take out one of the artifacts he crafted while in Orcus, the magic powered motorcycle. As he looked at the machine that Hajime was going to use, an idea kept into Alex''s mind and he smiled wickedly. He then walked up to Hajime and said, "Hey Hajime, the girls had their own race the other day, how about we have ours?" Hajime had barely looked over when the red sports car given to him by Azazel magically appeared. Chapter 204 - To Ul Ralph was walking down the road to return to Furhen, feeling pleased with the money he was about to make when he returned. Ralph was an average class adventurer that took a job exterminating a few low level monsters on the road between Furhen and Ul, a simple job that would give him good pay to last a few days. Just as he debating which brothel he was gonna visit, a strange noise reached his ears. vvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrrr Having never heard such a sound Ralph decided that it must have been some kind of monster he hadn''t seen before. He pulled out his sword and held it in a ready stance in front of him, prepared to fight for his life if need be while the noise got louder. He concluded the noise was a monster growling, and fought the sliver of fear that was starting to work its way into his heart. It was never a good thing to fight an unknown monster as one never knew what they were capable of, and judging from the ever growing noise he was hearing the monster was very large. vvvvvvVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRR As the noise grew louder Ralph saw what he presumed was making it, a dark red thing that looked like it was covered in metallic scales. The sliver of fear grew as the thing moved towards him faster than he dared imagine, and Ralph made his decision to at least survive and run away to warn the guild. As the creature got closer however he could feel his chances of surviving growing slimmer as something came flying at him from the monster. Ralph immediately thought it was an attack and wildly swung his sword, and felt it connect right before a foul smelling liquid covered him. Before he could register this though, HOOOOONNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKK A new noise sounded out that he took for the monster roaring at him, causing Ralph to fall back on his butt in fear, a wet stain spreading on his pants. Before he knew it however the monster passed him and sped down the road, moving so fast that Ralph was also buffeted by the resulting wind. It took nearly an hour of Ralph sitting there after the monster passed before he was willing to move again, as he seemingly forgot about the foul smelling liquid that covered him. He thought the monster would try and toy with its prey, coming back to finish him off when he thought he was safe. Realizing that wasn''t the case, he was filled with a new appreciation of life as he had never been in a situation that terrifying before. Ralph then decided to quit being an adventurer and open a shop somewhere. He never realized just what it was he saw that day. *** Meanwhile Alex was thinking hard about something before saying to his passengers, "I think I just hit someone with Anne''s barf bag." When they heard this Anne made a guilty face before putting it back into her new bag to fill it, and the other three made complicated expressions at the thought of getting hit by such a thing. Their attention was diverted however, when Hajime moved from his spot right behind Alex''s car and tried to take the lead in their race. Though they called it a race, neither of them were taking it as seriously as the girls did theirs the other day. It was merely a way for them to occupy themselves as they drove for several hours to Ul. Hajime was by himself on his motorcycle, while Alex was in his sports car with Anne, Yue, and Shia in the back seat and Rias in the front passenger. Alex smiled at the situation, he was speeding down the road in a red sports car with several women inside that would put supermodels to shame, if this was the earth he grew up in he doubted there would be a higher peak than this. Alex then shifted his car into the second gear, which meant it started drawing more magic power from him to increase the speed. Though Azazel rarely bothered playing it safe when it came to driving, he did in fact install several safety measures in the car before giving it to Alex. Firstly it had up to five gears for top speeds, for each gear increased the magic power drawn from him would also increase and the max speed would go up. Second was that the car had several magic circles and spells added to it to allow quick stops regardless of speed without disrupting the passengers inside, as well as a balancing system to handle all but the most extreme roads, and finally he had the body and windows reinforced with several layers of barriers so that the car had the durability of a tank. Of course Alex had the Grigori add the metal azantium to the outside of the body when they collected it, which was Tortus''s strongest metal ore. With all the added weapon features and gadgets that were installed, Alex''s car was more of a mobile deadly fortress than a vehicle. Though this vehicle was very nice and something to be proud of it had one flaw, the limited amount of seating in it. It only had seats for up to five people, two in the front and three in the back, unless they wanted to sit extras on others laps. Alex already had a idea to fix this however and asked the Grigori to also prepare and second car for him, except this one would be more like a large all terrain vehicle wth several rows of seating, and more features added. The sports car will be for style, and the next one will be for functionality. He smiled at the thought of his cars, which caught Rias''s eye and prompted her to ask, "What''s that look for?" Alex didn''t want to say he was thinking more about his cars, so he swiftly thought of something else to say before his smile was replaced by a naughty one. Rias saw his smile change and was suspicious of Alex''s thoughts, until he whispered what he wanted in her ear. Rias blushed and started saying, "N-" but stopped herself. She looked in the backseat where Yue and Shia were observing the inside of the car, both never having seen such a thing before even in Asora since they weren''t commonly used. She knew that if she rejected what Alex asked for either of them would more than likely happily do it instead, so she swallowed her embarrassment and said, "Fine." Hajime on the other hand was speeding down the road enjoying the scenery blurring around him with his trench coat flapping in the wind. Though he was focused on the road he also couldn''t help thinking of something Alex said shortly before leaving Brooke, that they might be able to meet Kaori soon. Though he didn''t elaborate when soon was as it was already several days since they left, compared to the four months since he fell even if it took another couple weeks, Hajime felt that would also be considered soon. He then thought of how he never allowed expectations to build up regarding a possible relationship with her in Japan, as the popular girl liking the unpopular otaku was a thing that only happened in manga. It was only after he fell and heard Alex''s words about how she reacted to his falling, and how she was more than likely in danger while being with their classmates that he allowed such expectations to build for the first time. He now truly hoped Alex was right about the way she supposedly felt about him. He was then pulled from his thoughts when Alex''s car pulled up next to him, prompting Hajime to glance over briefly before turning back to the road. He then thought of what he just saw and looked back at Alex''s cars with an incredulous expression. While Alex was driving with a suspicious expression, there was a head full of Crimson red hair bobbing up and down on his lap from the passenger seat. It didn''t take much imagination to figure out what was going on, and Hajime cried out, "DIE RAIJU!" Before speeding off once more. He ended up winning their race in the end since Alex was obviously distracted, but still felt as if he lost. He waited outside Ul for only a few minutes before Alex pulled up and they stored away their vehicles. Hajime couldn''t help but notice Rias refused to look towards him while her face was almost as red as her hair, and that Yue and Shia were snickering occasionally as they saw everything that happened. They then walked to the inn described by Ilwa as the best inn in town, the Water Fairy Inn. Hajime put the earlier experience out of his mind and focused on the thing he was most excited for with this trip, that the food Ul was famous for was rice. From the day he had been summoned along with his class, Hajime had not once gotten to eat rice. As a Japanese citizen who grew up eating rice how could he not look forward to coming to Ul? They entered the inn and Alex led them to the counter where the man they assumed was the innkeeper was. Alex passed him the letter and said, "We''re here at the request of the guild branch head of Furhen, Ilwa." The innkeeper took the letter with haste and opened it to confirm Alex''s words, before offering his hand in greeting and introduced himself. "It''s a pleasure to meet you mister Alex, I''m the owner of this humble inn, Foss. The letter asked that I provide you with lodging and meals for as long as you need to complete the request and it''ll be taken care of by the branch head later. We''re a little full at the moment but I should be able to provide the lodging you need, now how many rooms would you require?" Alex smiled at how friendly and professional Foss was, and said, "We''d only need two rooms for tonight, one for five people and a single room if possible." If Foss found their room arrangement strange he never showed it as he quickly checked his bookings and produced two keys a moment later. "I hope these rooms are to your liking, we start serving dinner a little after dusk and I hope you''ll enjoy your night here. Though it won''t effect your meal tonight, the unusual situation is also affecting my supplies and will eventually start harming my business, so I am truly grateful for your presence." Alex smiled once more at Foss''s words and shook his hand once again before leading the way upstairs. Hajime then went to his single room and prepared to spend a bit of time there before getting dinner, he started putting the finishing touches on a project he had been working on ever since he saw the golems used by Miledy in Raisen, and thought would be useful for finding Will the next day. After a while he decided it was about dinner time and made his way downstairs to find Alex and the girls already waiting for him after having ordered themselves. "HAJIME! I already ordered you some Nilshisseer HAJIME." As he already knew it was this worlds version of curry Hajime was happy that Alex already told the owner he wanted some, but something bugged him. "Why does it feel like you''re putting emphasis on my name Alex?" As he sat down Hajime couldn''t help but notice that something seemed off about Alex as a large grin was continuously plastered on his face, and that for some reason he called his name a lot. "It''s nothing HAJIME, just trying to be friendly." Hajime didn''t buy it, but before he could say anything else a curtain on the other side of the restaurant that was made to ensure privacy for high class guests was pulled open, and he found himself looking at a very familiar petite brown haired figure. "NAGUMO HAJIME?!" Chapter 205 - Meeting Aiko After a bit of commotion when Hajime was forced to reveal his still being alive to his teacher and several of his classmates, Alex and his group were seated with them in the private dining area so that they could talk in private. While his teacher and classmates bombarded him with questions that he didn''t feel like answering, Hajime focused on eating the delicious Nilshisseer while shooting the occasional glare at Alex while rubbing his neck. When he saw his teacher appear Hajime had tried to run away since he didn''t intend to meet up with them, but Alex was prepared for him to do so and grabbed him by the collar and held him back so that he had to stay. While he was being questioned Alex and the girls were watching with amus.e.m.e.nt while eating their own dinner, and Hajime''s teacher Aiko would occasionally glance at them out of caution and concern. Alex was also occasionally glancing at Aiko while eating, but his looks were noticeably different than the ones Aiko was giving them, something that caused Anne''s eye to start twitching and Rias to face palm. The Knights that had stood to give up their seats for them had also noticed Alex''s looks and were letting out slight bloodl.u.s.t towards Alex for it. He didn''t mind this as it would be better for him if he let the Knights be the first to act unreasonably instead of making himself look bad, but Alex had to hold back some laughter at their actions. The Knights were more or less a ''honey trap'' for Aiko arranged by the church and the kingdom, evident by the fact that each of the Knights were single and good looking young men. They were arranged for the similar reasons that Alex was interested in Aiko, because she was actually trying to avoid having her students go to war which was clashing with the kingdoms wishes. Unlike most teachers in manga and anime, Aiko wasn''t a busty bimbo, drunk on her authority or cruel and manipulative; she was actually a genuinely good teacher that placed her students well being above everything else in this other world, though the main reason she stepped back in keeping them safe was because several of them wanted to fight and help the humans. In fact she was probably the one that took Hajime''s ''death'' the hardest after Kaori, since she felt that she failed to keep her student safe. Aiko being a good teacher could also be seen in her students as they would refer to her throughout the series as ''Ai-chan'' and those currently gathered even somewhat faced their fears after Hajime fell and became her bodyguards while she travelled around the kingdom, to protect her from any threats be it monsters or the knights arranged by the kingdom. Suddenly there was a loud bang as the captain of the Knights, David, hit the table and yelled, "Answer Aiko seriously!" At Hajime, as he answered their questions with simple ''I tried my best'' in regards to his survival. The only real answer he gave them was that Alex saved his life, but he didn''t go into any details about that either. Hajime just sighed at David''s attitude and said, "I''m trying to eat, don''t be rude." David''s face turned red at Hajime''s words, and he turned his attention to Shia before saying, "''Don''t be rude''? I''ll return those words back at you, bringing a filth-" but that was as far as David got before he suddenly stopped. His red face swiftly drained of blood and he reach a shaky hand to rub his stinging cheek, only for his fingers to come away bloody. As if on an unoiled hinge David turned his head and saw what cut him impaled in the wall, a simple spoon. Then an indescribable pressure assaulted him and forced him to his knees as David looked towards the culprit, Alex. A look of rage was clearly present on his face as he spoke for the first time, "Go on, continue. My lovely companion is what?" David was too afraid to speak for a brief moment, but then his fear turned to rage. He was a Templar knight, trained by the church and a warrior of God himself. Threatening and attacking him in such a way was not acceptable, he and his fellow Knights may have changed values slightly due to their newfound love of Aiko, but none of them had forgotten their roots. He then struggled to say, "Y-you dare go against the he Templar Knights when you are not even an apostle of God, you damn pagan!" Alex''s eyes narrowed further, as the pressure weighing down on David increased. He then focused his Haki along with his pressure and soon David was collapsed on the ground while foaming at the mouth. The rest of the Knights were stiff as their captain was being suppressed, but when they saw him fall they all reached for their swords, only to be similarly forced to their knees due to Alex''s pressure and some added gravity manipulation. As they struggled to get up one by one they looked at Alex''s eyes only to pass out like their captain, until finally there was only the vice captain Chase left. Alex then looked at Chase and said clearly, "I will not permit undeserved disrespect towards me or my companions, Hajime included. As representatives of the church and your kingdom you each should feel ashamed of yourselves for losing your temper and trying to take out frustration on an innocent person, regardless of race! Now will you behave and cooperate, or join your fellow Knights?" Chase felt complete fear at Alex and his capabilities, but he knew that someone needed to observe him and report this back to the church, plus he refused to be taken out as well and leave Aiko with no defense. "Please forgive us for our disrespect!" He said passionately while submitting to the pressure and slamming his head to the floor, prompting Alex to dispel the pressure and gravity. It didn''t matter to him if chase was still conscious or not, as he didn''t intend to say anything major here with several people to listen. He then said, "You can act at least, just remember that I didn''t even need to lift a finger to defeat your entire entourage, a single knight would be easy to eliminate if need be." Chase gritted his teeth at being treated in such a way, but prioritized collecting information over his pride. Aiko and the students were in shock about Alex''s display, but since none were affected by his pressure they recovered quickly. Aiko then nervously said, "Um Alex right, please be peaceful. I''ll apologize on behalf of the Knights, to you and..." Aiko stalled since she never got Shia''s name, which the Rabbitman girl was too busy fawning over Alex to notice. Though the attempted verbal attack from David shocked her, Shia was happy Alex got so angry for her sake. Alex on the other hand was feeling a little guilty since he let David target Shia, but now the Knights were considered the instigators so he would look a little better in the others eyes. Alex then replied to Aiko in Shia''s stead, "Her names Shia, and don''t worry about it." Aiko however said while bowing her head, "But it was still technically my fault she was targeted, so please forgive me Shia!" Stealing the Rabbits gaze from Alex. While Shia told Aiko not to worry about it, Alex turned towards Chase once more and added, "See, it''s thanks to your captains actions that the Aiko you all care for so much has to apologize, remind him to think before doing something to shame the one he''s supposedly defending." Chase gritted his teeth once more, while some of the students sent Alex grateful looks. They didn''t like how the Knights were trying to win over Aiko for the kingdom, and were actually somewhat happy Alex taught them a lesson. But as things calmed down the boys started looking closely at the girls with Alex, and couldn''t help but start blushing at how attractive they were. Both Rias and Yue were women from high society, so with their mannerisms they gave off the aura of a noble high class woman; while Anne looked exotic with her darker skin and outfit that granted high levels of exposure. Shia was something else however as she was a actual Rabbitman wearing the famous bunny girl outfit. As the boys made exclamations of amazement at the girls looks, the girls from Hajime''s class gave them looks of disdain. Alex couldn''t help but notice however that a certain one was looking at Hajime specifically occasionally, and couldn''t help but wonder if the mistress curse would affect her this time around as well. Aiko then grabbed his attention when she asked, "Do you intend to keep Hajime with you while you travel?" There was clear intensity in her eyes, as she intended to do everything to help her student, but she had to know Alex''s intentions first. If Alex intended to do something to harm her students then it was something she couldn''t allow. Alex smirked and said, "Don''t worry I''m not a threat to you or your students, but I''m not gonna say what I intend to do, and Hajime is a valuable help for my intentions so I''ll hold onto him for a while." Aiko frowned at Alex''s words, but before she could say anything everyone from Alex''s group, Hajime included, got up and started making their way to their rooms since they finished eating. No one from Aiko''s group were able to say anything however as they didn''t know what to actually say to Hajime, some felt guilt from ignoring the bullying he went through, while others thought about the ''friendly fire'' event that led to him being dropped into the abyss. It was officially concluded that it was just an accident, but what did Hajime think? They wouldn''t be surprised if he thought it was an intentional attack against him, so they couldn''t argue against any resentment he might have against them. *** Aiko was sitting in her room while her mind was in deep turmoil, just like it had been for the last couple weeks. She had been spending her nights worried about one of the students accompanying her to Ul disappearing, Shimizu Yukitoshi. But for the first time since he wasn''t on her mind, instead she was thinking about Hajime and his new companions. She was glad that the student everyone thought was dead was actually alive, but didn''t know what to think about his new capabilities and attitude. The biggest unknown was the group who traveled with him and the man who apparently saved his life and led them, Alex. As Aiko was aim thought her dark room suddenly brightened as something she was now intimately familiar with formed, a magic circle. Chapter 206 - Searching As the magic circle shone in her room Aiko was surprised and slightly scared, before the figure of one of the people she was just thinking about appeared out of it. "Alex! What are you doing here?!" Aiko asked in surprise. A young man using suspicious means to enter a young woman''s room at night, there was a slight blush as she couldn''t help but think of yobai. Alex smirked, and answered, "I have a few things to discuss with you in private, and due to political reasons I couldn''t talk earlier. Not only the Knights, if what I have to say was heard by other people of this world it could cause a problem. What did you think I wanted?" Realizing her own mistake the light blush on her face deepened as she said, "Nothing, I wasn''t thinking anything!" As she tried to defend herself Alex suddenly moved forward and grabbed her lightly before pulling her close. The stunned Aiko had never been grabbed this way before and her blush deepened as Alex moved closer and asked, "Are you sure you weren''t thinking of yobai? I wouldn''t say no you know." Aiko''s mind was about to completely shut down at Alex''s words, as no guy ever hit on her before. Due to the fact that she looked like a middle schooler Aiko believed she would never find a guy that would be interested in her, which is why she never noticed the Knights actual feelings and just assumed they were being nice. As Alex pulled her closer Aiko was unable to deny his advances, before a sudden sharp sound snapped her back to reality. DOPAAANNN Alex''s head jerked forward slightly, but he kept himself from hitting Aiko with it before turning around and seeing an irritated Hajime. "Don''t try to add my teacher to your harem!" Hajime said with annoyance. He had come for the same reason Alex did, and to confirm the situation regarding Kaori, but was unprepared to see Alex trying to seduce Aiko and shot him with a rubber bullet in the back of the head. Seeing that the bullet didn''t even seem to faze Alex, Hajime was debating making a stronger nonlethal shot. Alex shrugged and said, "Ok ok, but there''s still a few things we need to talk about, and you''re lucky I put up sound proofing barriers before entering otherwise there''d be several people rushing here now." Ignoring why Alex decided to put up barriers to keep sound from escaping the room(he simply didn''t want anyone to overhear what he had to say instead of something bad), the three sat down to talk while Aiko still had a slight blush. She was now wary of Alex and on guard against him. Alex then turned serious and said, "Firstly I''m sure that except for a couple things Hajime came for the same reason I did, but I''ll start speaking." Alex then launched into an explanation of Ehito and his intentions for their class, as well as the fact that he had no intentions of allowing them to return to earth. As she listened Aiko became dumbfounded and asked, "Is that true?!" Alex nodded and said, "We''ve already met one of the liberators and heard the truth from them as well, Ehito only sees this world as his plaything and uses people like you to make it more interesting for him. His ultimate goal however is to find a body suitable to inhabit and use for himself since he can''t leave his divine space as he currently is for very long. It''s possible that he was hoping there would be a proper candidate among your group to use for this." Aiko became stunned at Alex''s words, and now started worrying for her students for entirely different reasons. After a few minutes of silence however, Hajime then asked, "By the way teacher, have you heard from Kaori?" Aiko was startled from her thoughts by Hajime''s question, and showed a happy expression as it seemed he still had some concern about at least one of them. "She still hasn''t given up on you." Her words caused Hajime to startle slightly before she continued, "Though most of the class was too impacted by your death to continue fighting, Kouki and a few others are still training in Orcus while her only goal is to find you. Until she confirms your death with her own eyes, she refuses to believe that you were gone." The small spark that Alex planted in Hajime started roaring as he realized that Alex''s words were most likely correct, but then he recalled how he got sent to the abyss, and the other thing Alex said to him. "If you see her again before I do, tell her the biggest danger isn''t the monsters but her own comrades." Aiko was confused slightly by Hajime''s words, before he continued, "What happened to me wasn''t an accident and I believe their actions were because of jealousy over Kaori. Though I don''t intend to get revenge, that doesn''t mean I won''t stand by if they try to hurt her." Aiko became slightly distressed at his words, but before she could ask Hajime anything he already started walking towards the door to leave. Alex shook his head and said, "That guy, he saved red riding hood from the big bad wolf then left her with him afterwards." Aiko jumped at Alex words, as what happened earlier went through her mind. Alex smirked and said, "Don''t worry I won''t jump you, the mood was ruined anyways. I''ll take my leave as well, but keep what I said in mind and I''ll also mention this, If you all return to earth what do you plan on doing?" Aiko was confused at Alex''s question until he clarified, "There would be several groups that would find you all suspicious after disappearing for so long, and others would want to even kidnap or kill you because of what you all could do now. Even if you could protect yourselves what about your families or friends? For the most part, I can provide a new life for those who want it in a small world I control and rule over. If a way to earth can be opened then I could even extend that invitation to family members who would want to stay with them after verifying their safety. Just food for thought." As Aiko had been dumped with so much information in one night she had no idea how to react to Alex''s words as he also made his way to her door and left her alone. Alex''s words weren''t false, as he recalled several people targeting Hajime and his class, especially Yue and those from Tortus once they returned to earth. With the exception of a few obvious certain individuals, Alex wouldn''t mind inviting them to Asora even if they simply became normal residents like the Devils, Angels, fallen angels, and youkai that were already there. Since Hajime could make a key to return to earth as well once he conquers the labyrinths, then they could even extend the invitation to their family members as Alex said. In short the surviving members of Hajime''s class had three options on where they would end up once this was all over, they could return to earth and their families where they might be targeted, they could stay in Tortus and possibly become adventurers or something, or they could accept Alex''s invitation to Asora. Regardless of which decision they made as long as the certain few followed him he didn''t care what the rest chose. *** Early the next morning Alex led his group to the edge of town to start their way to the mountains to officially begin their search. Alex was unsurprised however to find seven figures waiting there for them, Aiko and the six classmates that made up her bodyguards. He already figured they would try to join them, but Hajime stepped forward and asked, "And why are you all here?" Aiko stepped forward as well and said, "We''re coming as well, you''re searching for someone right? It''s better with more people and Shimizu is still missing as well, the only place we haven''t checked is the mountain ranges." Hajime wanted to say no to their joining them, but Alex said, "Alright, but you''ll follow what I say when I say it, understood?" Though it seemed the students wanted to argue since they were ''cheat-like'' existences Aiko stepped forward and said, "That''s fine, as long as we go along." Her main concern was finding her lost student so she didn''t care who was in charge, plus she wanted to hear more from Hajime and Alex about what they told her the night before. Alex then said, "You can get rid of the horses, we have faster methods." Though they hesitated at first, when Alex started walking towards the forest they reluctantly sent their horses back and ran to follow them. Once they entered a clearing Hajime pulled out the second vehicle since he thought they were taking it. While the students and Aiko were gaping at the big four wheel vehicle he made for areas that the motorcycle wouldn''t work, Alex said, "Go ahead and put that up Hajime, I don''t want to take several vehicles." As they would end up taking both Alex''s car and Hajime''s, he wanted to just fit everyone into one vehicle instead. Hajime joined his teacher and classmates in making confused looks now, until a massive magic circle appeared in front of Alex. "It''s been a while hasn''t it, I''m sorry." Alex said to the thing that appeared from the circle, that was making everyone present except Rias gape in astonishment. Alex started patting the side of what appeared and said, "This is my familiar Zenith, I wanted to maintain a low profile but the mountain ranges are pretty remote and there''s quite a few people going with us this time. Plus it would be a bit easier to find any traces of a fight from the air wouldn''t it?" No one said anything as Alex and Rias ushered them onto the giant ship floating in the air. As they started flying towards the north, Hajime recovered first and said, "Hey, isn''t the flying transportation only supposed to be unlocked right when a journey is about to end?" Alex smirked and replied, "Pretty much everyone here is either a cheat-like or bugged character, and you''re complaining about how early we''re getting flying transportation?" Hajime didn''t answer Alex''s remark, and instead changed the subject. "So how many cannons are there?" Alex smiled sadly, and said, "There aren''t any. I''d add some but I''m not sure if it would effect Zenith or not, this is technically a living thing you know." Hajime''s one eye widened at the first part of what Alex said, and he acted devastated at the news, to him ship=cannons. The fact there weren''t any was something that he considered tragic, and Hajime started thinking of ways to instal cannons onto Zenith while also keeping in mind what Alex told him about it being a living being. As they flew through the air towards the northern mountain ranges everyone gradually got used to the flying ship and were excitedly watching the scenery pass by. The one who was most excited however was Anne, as she seemed to be completely unaffected by traveling on Zenith; though he didn''t say anything, Alex theorized it was similar how Natsu was able to fly around with Happy without being effected. The only one seemingly not excited though was Aiko, as she pulled Hajime from his projects to hear what he had to say about him falling, leading to her realizing it was in fact on purpose. It wasn''t long after he finished speaking that Shia cried out from the crows nest above them, "I see the mountain ranges!" Prompting almost everyone to rush to the front of the ship. Spread out before them were several peaks going into the distance covered in a myriad of colors from green, to red, as well as orange and yellow. Regretfully Alex didn''t land the ship so they could search by land, but instead kept flying to prioritize speed. He did however promise himself to bring the rest of the girls here after Tortus was safer to explore. As they started passing over the mountain ranges Hajime summoned another new invention from the storage ring, that immediately took flight and spread out to explore their surroundings. He explained, "Those drones can search in more detail closer to the ground while we can look below from here." Everyone became serious as they recalled what they came for, and started watching off the side of the ship for clues to the whereabouts of wither Will or Shimizu. After a short while there was suddenly another shout from Shia, "There''s something over there, IT''S A DRAGON!" (A.N. Regarding Aiko since so many people apparently don''t want her to become part of the harem. I''m firstly going to say she''s not going to Hajime because there''s no pre-existing chemistry between them, and these events would have been where she started falling for him, but now it''s changing. Secondly I did originally planned to find someone else for her to fall for, but I can''t think of someone suitable(was thinking maybe Barakiel for some random reason but realized she wouldn''t fit his M personality) so I''m open to ideas since teasing like in this chapter doesn''t mean she''s automatically going to join. Chapter 207 - Black dragon Everyone turned towards the direction Shia was looking, and saw a dragon with scales as black as night approaching at seemingly impossible speeds. Aiko and the students started getting scared of the fearsome creature, while Hajime narrowed his eyes. Both Yue and Shia got into battle ready stances, while Anne was stunned at seeing a real dragon and Rias sent Alex an amused look. Alex slowly walked towards the side of Zenith that the dragon was approaching, and said, "I''ll deal with the pest, Rias take command of Zenith and keep looking for Will." Rias nodded in affirmation while everyone else looked at Alex with complicated expressions. At the side of the ship Alex said, "It''s been a while since I did this." And suddenly red scales sprouted all over his body and tail while wings grew out his back and his hands turned to claws. With a set of horns sticking up from his head to complete the look, everyone besides Rias stared at Alex using his draconian form for the first time since coming to Tortus, as his wings spread open before he took flight to meet the dragon head on. Seemingly sensing the threat approaching it instead, the dragon opened its mouth and prepared to fire a massive energy attack at both Alex and Zenith behind him. Alex raised both his hands and as the attack came upon him he formed a sphere of ki in his hands, resulting in a massive explosion in the sky as the energies collided. "It''s time to get out of here, let''s go Zenith!" Rias shouted as the massive ship turned the other way to leave behind Alex and the dragon. Aiko ran to Rias with the other students right behind her while demanding, "I-is that ok?! We just left him there alone with a dragon!" Rias smirked and said, "In our world he''s referred to as the ''Dragon Emperor'', if he can''t face that dragon with relative ease then he''ll bring shame to his own name. We should instead focus on finding Will while Alex deals with the dragon, the fact that such a beast is here means something big must be happening." Aiko and the rest were unable to argue back, while Hajime said while observing the surroundings, "Though I haven''t seen that dragon form before, he''s also a super Saiyan so I doubt dealing with that dragon will be too much trouble for him." Right after he said that however Hajime heard one of the guys, Tamai, mutter to the others behind him, "Poor Hajime, so messed up from the abyss he can''t see fact from fiction." Without even looking back Hajime pointed donner and pulled the trigger to shoot Tamai with a nonlethal rubber bullet in the forehead. While he was writhing on the ground Hajime said with irritation, "I fought him before and he''s not from Tortus just like us, when I say he''s a super Saiyan I mean he''s a literal super Saiyan." Hajime''s words made the rest of his classmates hesitate, and regard Alex a bit differently if he was in fact a super saiyan, even if they weren''t otaku''s like Hajime for the most part they knew what saiyan''s were. While they were trying to digest this new information Hajime turned his attention back to searching, while Rias, Yue, and Shia were debating on asking him about saiyan''s since he seemed to know about them. While the sounds of combat grew silent behind them as they got farther away, the group continued looking for signs of Will''s company. Soon Hajime said, "There!" And they came across an area where the earth was torn up and several items were laying around after being abandoned. They followed the trail of destruction until they found a waterfall. "I can sense someone behind it, so we need to go behind the waterfall." At his words Yue raised a hand and without a word the massive amount of water split to allow them to enter without even getting a drop in them. Rias stayed on Zenith while Hajime led the group to find the survivor, who was unconscious on the cave floor. "Let''s get him on the ship so we can start heading back before he wakes up." Aiko suggested. Hajime nodded as then they would also be able to treat any issues better as well. After returning to the ship Rias told them, "We''re going straight back to Ul, I got a message from Alex and he said to go around and return without him." Aiko looked worried and asked, "Is that dragon really giving him so much trouble?" Rias shook her head before sighing and explained, "He told me in the message he wants to turn it into his pet, so it''ll take a while longer for him to finish the fight." No one knew how to react to that, as they never figured Alex would apparently try to tame the dragon he was fighting. Without anymore words the group turned the ship around and started heading back to Ul, while Aiko was worried that even now they found no trace of her missing student. *** Alex had a smirk on his face as he went toe to toe with the giant dragon. After their initial clash he had engaged it several times to get a feel for its strength, and now had a general idea of how strong it was. Ddraig said appreciably, as he was curious about the dragons he''d see in other worlds. The only complaint he had was how it seemed more like a wild beast, but Alex assured him that wasn''t the case. After clashing a bit more he then received a message from Rias that they may have found Will behind a waterfall, and were about to head back to Ul. He told her he intended to stay with the dragon for bit longer to tame it, and that they should go on ahead. After that Alex muttered, "I suppose I shouldn''t drag this on for much longer." And decided to start getting serious against it. The dragon turned towards him with a gaze filled with hate, as this little fly refused to die. Alex smirked before he disappeared, and reappeared above the dragon. ''Let''s see how much weight you can hold'' Alex thought to himself, before using his gravity manipulation to increase his weight, and plummeted to the dragons back. When the force of several tons impacted it''s back the dragon was unable to withstand it was sent flying to the ground so hard that a crater formed. The dragon quickly climbed out of the crater to look for this annoying enemy, only to find Alex standing there waiting for it while smirking. This enraged the dragon more, and caused it to lunge at him with bloodthirsty fury. What followed was a one sided thrashing as Alex mercilessly beat the dragon. Since he didn''t intend to kill it he aimed for causing it the most pain, aiming for the eyes, teeth, wing joints, and inner thighs. Soon the dragon was standing there panting as a little blood dribbled from it mouth, and it finally realized it might not win against this enemy. So it did what any dragon would do in this situation, it laid down to take a nap. Alex watched as the dragon laid down and instantly started snoring, before he released his draconian transformation and grinned. ''It''s race can restore their strength and heal their wounds quickly just by sleeping, in fact their skin can be considered impenetrable when they sleep. There''s only one weakness when they''re asleep but it''s famous because it''s a sure fire way to anger a ... dragon... GOD DAMMIT!'' Alex swore internally as he realized he was missing an important item at the moment, Hajime''s Bunker Pile. It was a giant metal stake that was designed to penetrate even the hardest of substances when powered by the attachment. Alex intended to borrow it when he fought the dragon, but he forgot about it when he sent them ahead. Alex then started trying to think of an alternative, as he couldn''t go and get it or ask them to come back just to use it for that. Alex almost considered using the staff Wukong gave him, but it wasn''t big enough for what he wanted to use it for, and he didn''t want to use something his teacher gave him for that. "Well dammit!" Alex said as he walked towards the weak spot on the dragon, while also rolling up his sleeve on his right arm. Ddraig just learned what the weak spot was from Alex''s thoughts and he instantly heard the dragon cringe from the thought, while even Lauren was groaning in the background. Alex got ready and pulled his arm back as if getting ready for a punch, before thrusting it forward and sinking it past the elbow into the wrinkled little hole at the base of the dragon''s tail. Chapter 208 - Tio Klarus Tio Klarus was the embodiment of strength and elegance, raised as the granddaughter of the chief of the surviving dragon tribe she was the ideal princess that all looked up to. It could be said that her only fault was her drive for strength, and the fact that she even refused to accept a husband unless he was stronger than her, leading to her being single even now after being over five hundred years old. Her drive for strength was due to her desire for revenge against the god responsible for the targeting of her people, and the death of her parents. That was why when her remaining tribe members learned about the Warriors summoned from another world, she forced her way to be the one to investigate said warriors. She then flew from their island refuge all the way to the mainland and into the northern mountain ranges, but after flying so far and so quickly she needed to rest. Tio then laid down and tried to rest, but never imagined that a dark magician would discover her while she was sleeping. When a member of the dragon race slept in their dragon forms they would not wake up until they woke naturally or if their only weak point, their asshole, was attacked. As the magician never attacked her weak point she never stirred as he spent an entire day and night using his magic to bend her will to his, and turned her into his beast to use. She was forced to attack that group of adventurers, and the ship that flew in the sky. Tio only wished one would release her from his control so that she could fight against his scheme to use a monster army to attack Ul, and she never expected that one of the people on the ship she attacked would be the one to do so, in a way she never expected. "MINE ASS!" Tio shouted she was forcibly woken up as her asshole was attacked, but instead of a simple attack or hit, she instead felt something large invade her ass and stay there. She unconsciously clenched the muscles in her ass as a voice shouted from behind her, "DON''T CLENCH! I CAN''T GET MY ARM OUT NOW!" Tio then said to the voice, "Who are thee and why would one stick their arm in a dragons ass?!" The voice said back, "I didn''t! I just tried to hit it and your ass ate my arm, so stop tightening and give it back!" Tio didn''t know if the one talking to her was lying or not, but she also needed him to remove his arm because she would run out of magic power soon and turn back into a beautiful young woman. She then asked, "If this one stops clenching, would thee not attack her and listen to what this one has to say?" She hoped he would listen to her warning about the monster horde preparing to attack the town, and help do something about. Tio herself was intending to fight even if she couldn''t win, as she held herself responsible for being controlled. Soon the voice answered, "All right, but if you turn on me I''ll kick your ass again, understand?" There was an obvious threat in his voice, a threat that sent shivers through Tio''s body and filled her with sensations she was unfamiliar with. She then unclenched the muscles in her ass, and felt the persons arm start moving back and forth trying to pull it out. Tio felt something in her ass she never perceived possible, and her breathing became ragged as her rear was toyed with. Soon something was building within her that was brought to its peak as the thing in her ass was finally pulled out, driving her to let out a deep m.o.a.n. With the item removed from her rear Tio returned to her human form, but her cheeks were flushed and she was panting slightly after she experienced her first ever climax. As she tried to catch her breath a figure entered her vision. "Wow, so members of the dragon race get off from their asses being used? No wonder it''s considered a weakness." Though his tone and words were condescending and insulting, Tio could only see majesty in the one that beat her. She knew that the one in front of her was a being more powerful than herself, but an unexplainable urge to serve him filled her. A large part of it was due to the same sensations she just experienced, but she also felt it on an instinctual level. "So are you going to explain why you attacked us, or are you just going to gape like that?" Tio was startled from her thoughts, and said, "This one apologizes. This one is known as Tio Klarus of the dragon race. This one owes thee a debt of gratitude for freeing me from the control of a dark wizard, but time is short. The dark wizard intends to atta-" "I know, he intends to attack Ul with an army of monsters. Don''t worry I''ll take care of it. " Alex cut her off and said. Tio paused at Alex''s words, as no one ever interrupted her like that. She had to fight the urge to pant once more, before recalling her earlier intentions and asked, "If thee already knows then things will be easier, please allow this one to assist thee in battle!" There was a determination in Tio''s eyes as she pleaded to assist Alex in his fight, but there was one thing that made it hard to take Tio seriously. "It''s hard to take you seriously when you''re laying face down with your ass in the air you know..." As Tio had lost all the strength in her body after Alex beat her and abused her ass, she was still laying down while looking up at him seriously. "This one is merely out of strength and will recover by tomorrow, and this one implores thee to consider accepting mine offer. No matter how strong one is there is a difference between one and an army." Alex nodded as her words were true, but he didn''t place much concern in the monster army as they would never be able to cooperate like a proper military force. "Well I told those with me that I''ll turn the dragon that attacked us into my pet, so I suppose I should bring you back with me anyways. As for if you''ll be of any help during the fight, we''ll see." Though Tio felt strangely excited when he referred to her as a pet, she focused more on how relieved she was to be able to stop the person that had enthralled her. Since Tio couldn''t walk or fly, Alex then picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack before he started walking towards the river. "Um, should thee not make haste to the nearest town?" Alex shook his head and said, "My arm was tainted so I''m going to take a quick bath to get myself clean." Tio was dumbfounded, a horde of monsters was about to attack and wipe out an entire village and Alex''s main concern was taking a bath, plus he claimed his arm was tainted by her ass! Well she couldn''t refute that part... She then watched wth amazement as Alex carved out a small pit near the river with skills and magic she had never seen or heard of before, and filled it with river water before heating it with more magic. The water was quickly brought to a boiling point before Alex was satisfied, and started stripping in front of her. Tio was dumbfounded at the lack of shame as he quickly stripped n.a.k.e.d, but her expression was quickly turned to amazement as she saw all the powerful muscle covering Alex''s body, then her gaze zeroed in on the thing dangling between his legs. Alex ignored the heated gaze and panting that came from Tio as he quickly got in his makeshift tub and used some supplies he kept on himself to clean himself quickly. "This one could also really use a bath." Tio said suddenly, drawing Alex''s gaze as an evil smile formed on his lips. "You can''t even move, so are you saying you want to entrust your defenseless body to a complete stranger as he strips it and gets intimate as he cleans it?" Though she was already effected from looking at Alex''s body, Tio''s face started turning red from excitement and her breathing turned even more ragged as she imagined Alex doing this and that with her defenseless body after stripping her. Even though she couldn''t actually move, Alex could swear he saw her body wriggling slightly while imagining it. He shook his head at her behavior and focused on cleaning himself quickly so that he could return to Ul. *** A couple hours later Alex was sitting in a room with his group which now includes Will, Aiko''s group, the Templar Knights, and the important figures in Ul as he reported that a monster army was about to march towards the town. "THATS PREPOSTEROUS!" David of Aiko''s Knights shouted as he tried to deny Alex''s claim. Though they didn''t react like David, it was obvious that Alex''s story wasn''t believed by those gathered besides his own group and Aiko''s. He shrugged and said, "You don''t have to believe me for it to be true, give it a few days at most and an army of several tens of thousands of monsters will attack Ul." David was about to deny Alex''s words once again, but Aiko stopped him and asked, "But why would the monsters attack the town? There''s nothing here of importance." Alex smirked and simply pointed at Aiko herself. As the petite teacher was trying to figure out what Alex meant, he explained, "Aiko is a master of farming magic to the point of being called the ''Fertility Goddess''. In the war type situation that humans and the demon race are headed to, she could easily be considered a more threatening person than even the hero as there would be no shortage of food supplies. If one assumed the demon race was behind this then it makes sense that they would target Ul." Everyone became silent at Alex''s words, as the demon race recently became able to tame and control monsters so Alex''s guess wasn''t too extreme. As he now had their attention, Alex continued theatrically, "Even if you don''t believe me I''ll stay and fight the monster army, alone if I have to!" Aiko sent Alex a look of gratitude, as she also wanted to help the people here. Seeing how Aiko looked at Alex, David spoke up, "We''ll also help, as we can''t let Aiko come to harm!" Both the rest of the Knights and the students sent David glares as he used the situation to attempt an appeal to Aiko. Since Aiko believed Alex the rest of those gathered decided to treat his words seriously, and left to start preparations to evacuate those they can. Soon it was just Alex alone with the girls and Hajime. "That was quite the dramatic line Alex, so what are your real intentions, and where is your new pet?" Rias asked with a smirk. Alex shrugged and answered, "There was a small need for dramatics, but that was only a portion of what I''m planning. The dragon by the way is resting in our inn room, she needs to rest for a few days to recover her strength. Anne after I explain what we''re going to do can you look after her to make sure she''s ready before the monster attack?" Alex was sure that after he mentioned Tio he saw a bitter looking Anne pass something to Rias who had a bittersweet smile. Alex then started explaining his plan and those who would need to be involved. Chapter 209 - A goddess descends Two days after the meeting in which he explained his plan to the girls and Hajime, Alex was now lounging inside the inn while waiting for the monster army. When one looked at him there was no anxiety or fear in his eyes, as he was completely surrounded by the girls with Shia and Rias claiming an arm, Yue was on his lap, and Anne was massaging his shoulders, which really annoyed the Knights that protected Aiko. Before they could say anything however another figure appeared for the first time since she arrived in Ul from her recovery, she had long black hair, and was dressed in a black kimono while carrying herself with an air of elegance. With the exception of Anne the rest of the girls were scrutinizing her as they watched her actions. Alex hadn''t told them much about her other than the fact that she was a member of the supposedly extinct dragon race, but after treating her Anne had mentioned that she was... slightly peculiar. She then approached Alex''s group seemingly unperturbed by the crowd of women around him. "This one would like to thank thee for ensuring mine recovery in order to participate in the upcoming fight." Alex waved away her thanks and said, "You would''ve mostly recovered by now anyways so don''t mind it." Tio nodded before turning towards Anne and saying, "And I thank thee for treating this one the past couple days, especially the soreness in mine ass." No one reacted to the first part of Tio''s words as there was nothing strange about them, but hearing a girl that looked like the embodiment of elegance talking about soreness in her ass made them pause. Rias and the others looked at Alex with blame thinking he already had his way with her, but Tio''s next words proved them partially wrong. "Though this one should have expected that taking thine whole arm in the ass would cause some soreness." As her words were heard by those around them everyone unconsciously looked at Alex''s arms, then at Tio''s ass as they imagined the entire thing fitting in it with only one word on their mind, how? As only a few people knew what Tio really was it created quite the image. Alex shrugged as he already knew Tio had no shame and would talk about what happened, he then said, "Thanks for awkward atmosphere, is that all you wanted?" Tio however shook her head before kneeling down and saying, "This one would like to serve thee with all she has to offer, please accept mine sincerity!" Alex already figured that Tio would want to serve him due to her recently discovered preferences, but he didn''t think she would actually be so formal when wanting to do so, like a knight requesting to serve a lord. Lauren then said, ''This is possibly due to the effects of your ''Dragon Emperor'' title on her. Since she was already feeling subservient towards you thanks to what happened, she is only being even more positively influenced by the title. My guess is that any dragons who aren''t hostile towards you may react in a similar manner from now on, well if you can get them to acknowledge you first.'' At Lauren''s words Alex imagined an army of dragons fighting for him and he had to fight from smiling. Alex had speculated that his title would have such an effect on dragons, but he forgot about it thanks to his boosted gear since the majority of the dragons in the dxd world treated him with respect to begin with. He then said to the still kneeling Tio, "I''ll accept your offer of fealty, and I''ll promise that while you serve me I''ll ensure your revenge comes to fruition." Tio shuddered at Alex''s words, but not from the new sensations she had been experiencing. She had long desired her revenge on Ehito, and now her new lord was promising it to her. It was only a second later that she imagined how she would have to follow her lords orders no matter what now, wether it was to fight his battles, or to attend to him in bed... with all his other women... and maybe while being punished! Tio started panting slightly as the various images passed through her head, and she said, "This one wishes to excuse herself, I need to change mine panties." Though her face was still slightly flushed she said it was a straight face, and caused the majority of people around them to back up away from this pervert. Meanwhile Rias''s eye started twitching as she watched Tio''s behavior, and Yue muttered, "Is this really the dragon race I looked up to in the past?" Thankfully her voice was low enough that the surrounding people didn''t hear her, but she received a few sympathetic gazes from the thee girls. They were spared the continued awkwardness however when Hajime said, "They''re here." And everyone became serious. They all started filing out before it was only Aiko left behind, she then said to Alex, "I''ve been thinking, Shimizu was a dark magician and I think I heard somewhere that they can control the minds of people and monsters. It might be possible that he is with those monsters, and if he is then I want to ask you to please bring him back to me to talk to!" Alex sighed as he heard Aiko''s words, he told her and her students the truth about Tio''s circ.u.mstances since they were there when he started fighting her, but he wasn''t sure at the time if she''d make the connection between the magician that controlled Tio and the one behind the attack. "I won''t make any promises, but I won''t intentionally kill anyone I see on the other side." Aiko still looked troubled, but showed a small sign of relief at his words before leaving. But as she left a message came across Rias''s system telling her to look for Shimizu during the battle, and what to do if she found him. Alex knew there was no chance of rehabilitating this person, and that even if he spared him he would try to kill Aiko to prove himself to the demon race. Rias was slightly shocked, but still sent a message back saying she understood. Alex then said, "Alright, let''s go start our performance." And led the way out the door. But before they left Rias asked, "By the way did you really stick your entire arm up Tio''s butt?" *** Aiko was standing on the wall that Hajime made around Ul as she looked down on the small group that prepared to fight the monsters. Surrounding her were the remaining citizens of Ul that hadn''t fled yet, as they knew that even if they tried to hide it wouldn''t make much difference. Gathered at the bottom of the wall to fight was Alex with Tio, Shia, Yue, and Hajime with him, the Knights of Aiko''s guard, and finally a couple of volunteer fighters from the town. Rias and Anne were in the back of the group, as neither were going into the actual battlefield, Anne was going to focus on support and Rias would use her ''Reapers Ruin'' to snipe monsters from afar. Aiko had never witnessed an actual battle before, so she couldn''t help but feel an intense dread even if she wasn''t the one fighting. Then as the monster army appeared in the distance Alex spoke up, "Before we begin fighting, I''ll pray for divine help against the monster army." As his words spread over those gathered some showed understanding on heir faces while others like Aiko''s group and the Knights showed shock as they thought Alex wasn''t a follower of Ehito. Their doubts were soon proven when Alex next spoke, much to the outrage of the Knights and citizens. "Oh mother of all sentient beings, Goddess Gabriel, please heed this ones plea for strength as we face those that would see your children dead!" When his words spread throughout the surroundings there was lots of angry muttering as the people believed Alex had betrayed them, and this was a plot to cost them Lord Ehito''s blessing. Lord Ehito was the God of humans, the one who blessed them with magic and helped them in their fight against the demon race; the belief of a goddess alone was already intolerable, but claiming she was the ''mother of all sentient beings'' was the same as saying they were the same as the demon race and demihumans, this was inexcusable! The Knights drew their swords with the intention of eliminating Alex, the monster horde already forgotten, when suddenly the entire sky lit up with a dazzling golden light. "Warrior of another world, I have heard your plea and will lend you my strength, as long as you wield it for peace between my children." The voice that came from the light was smooth and melodious, but everyone''s attention was on the speaker, their anger forgotten. A golden haired being that seemed to be the very image of purity descended from the heavens with her twelve wings of gold, a halo, and loose white gowns. Surrounding her were several dozen beautiful women that had pure white wings and halos as well, all armed to protect their goddess. The goddess turned towards Tio, Yue, and Shia before saying, "My daughters of the dragon, vampire, and demihuman race, you have suffered many trials as a result of my wayward son''s actions, and I apologize for my ineptitude in preventing your suffering. Please, accept my blessing and continue helping the warrior of the other world in his task to restore peace to this world." After speaking the goddess drifted towards the three women who all bowed their heads as she kissed them on the top of their heads. """Thank you Goddess Gabriel!""" All three chimed at once. While this happened the viewers were all starstruck at watching Gabriel and the Angels. All protests against acknowledging the Goddess Gabriel were silent as they all witnessed the goddess firsthand. Aiko then became stiff as the goddess turned towards her and drifted over before saying, "My prophet Aiko, please continue using the powers I granted you to nourish the land and my children." The goddess once more kissed Aiko''s brow as the petite teacher was frozen stiff with several questions going through her mind, like what did the goddess mean by prophet? Gabriel then turned towards the rest of those gathered, the Knights and the few other fighters, and said, "To all of you children, I beg of you to forget the needless hate towards the other races and work with them, as no mother would like to see her children kill each other." Gabriel''s face was filled with great anguish as she spoke, making it obvious to to those arching that seeing the sentient beings that were her children fight caused her great pain. Suddenly against all expectations someone shouted out, "Of course Goddess Gabriel!" After the first shout several other people joined them in cheering for the goddess, contrary to how they were acting mere minutes before. In response to their cheers Gabriel raised her hand and enveloped them all in a bright light, quieting them before someone said, "I feel so much stronger!" Similar exclamations spread among those gathered as they felt their strength increase with Gabriel''s blessing. She then turned back to Alex and said, "And finally to you warrior of another world, I ask you to be my champion and to wield the sword Ascalon in my name." Alex looked up at e beautiful goddess and said, "I will!" After Alex''s confirmation the goddess waved her hand and a sword that radiated a powerful aura appeared, and floated over to Alex before he gripped it tightly. As soon as Alex grabbed the sword a terrifying amount of golden holy energy radiated from it, before it started spreading to Alex himself and even turned his own aura golden as well as his hair that stood up on end. This was something that none of those gathered had ever seen before, and everyone present took it as a sign of his and the swords power. Alex then turned towards the oncoming monster army, and swung the sword with the mass of holy power. The power rushed forward until it reached the monsters and destroyed them by the hundreds. Alex then raised the sword up high and shouted, "FOR THE GODDESS GABRIEL!" Before leading the charge forward with Yue, Shia, and Tio right next to him. The people then let out a cheer in the name of the goddess, and followed Alex''s lead. As they charged none of the noticed the smirk on Alex''s face from them believing his performance, or that their blessing of strength came from Anne''s support dragon slayer magic. Neither did they notice that Rias''s eyes had a slight shine to them the entire time that Gabriel was there, subtly shifting them to accept Gabriel''s presence. And finally no one seemed to notice the smile that wasn''t a smile that came from Gabriel as she left, that sent shivers down Alex''s spine, indicating that the usually calm archangel was actually pissed along with the other Angels with her. As an angel she and every other angel was literally created to serve God, to pose as a goddess went against every fiber of their body. She originally opposed Alex''s plan to replace belief in Ehito with her intensely and insisted that they spread belief in God himself instead. He had explained however that they needed someone to take the role while they were in this world, or Ehito would just try to make people think God was him; this would be even more insulting towards God than Gabriel becoming a new figure of belief. He also made the point that he wanted to make a ''mother'' of all races as then it would hopefully discourage wars between them from now on, he also had her claim Aiko was her prophet as her contributions would then be attributed to Gabriel instead of Ehito. Everyone charged believing that they were rushing into the embrace of the mother of all sentient beings, but they were in fact dancing to the tune of the Devils fiddle. Chapter 210 - Battle for Ul "Holy slash..." Alex said in a mostly monotone voice as he fired a blast of holy energy through Ascalon, and slaughtered several hundred monsters at he same time. As the body parts and gore settled back to the ground several more monsters had already filled the hole Alex created, not that he was worried about them, if Alex didn''t worry about their image with ''Goddess Gabriel'' it would''ve been a simple matter for them to wipe out the monster army. He then started preparing for his next attack by funneling the excess energy from super Saiyan form into Ascalon, while also glancing to the sides to check on those in the front with him, the dragonfied Tio on his left and Shia then Yue on his right, while occasionally a monster would fall out of the sky or randomly drop in the background from Rias and Hajime sniping from the back. Occasionally they would let some monsters through to have the adventurers and Knights behind them fight as well to demonstrate the ''blessing'' from Gabriel. Alex was pleased to see the fervor they instilled in them still going strong, even if it took some minor brainwashing from Rias''s ''Devils Allure'' to get them like this to begin with. Alex almost shuddered when he thought about how potent the upgrade to the ability was, ''Devils Charm'' would merely plant a suggestion in someone''s mind but wasn''t strong enough to actually brainwash them, ''Devils Allure'' however was on the cusp of brainwashing and if she got the ability to evolve one more time would probably be able to brainwash on a massive scale. The thought was something that made Alex both excited and scared for the future. "ROOAAARRRR!!!" A monster roaring brought Alex''s thoughts back to the battlefield, before it collapsed in front of him while foaming at the mouth. Alex sighed, and unleashed another massive holy attack before his attention was again diverted towards Shia. *** Shia swung her hammer around wth ease as she slaughtered her way through the monsters. As the people watching the battle looked at her they all shuddered, as the rabbitmen race were known for being peaceful and submissive, whereas Shia looked anything but as she danced with her Warhammer while surrounded by an artistic rain of falling blood and gore. "Oh?" She muttered as she looked at her status. Shia then grinned as she saw she finally reached level one hundred in her first job, and was ready for her next one. Thanks to the fact that the golems in Raisen were controlled by Miledi, Shia and the rest got next to no experience from the labyrinth besides when they beat Miledi herself in the end. She then focused on dodging the monster attacks as she pondered her next job, not wanting to waste the experience they would provide. [Jobs available- hammer user, apprentice assassin, apprentice thief, brawler, fortune teller, warrior, berserker] "What should I choose?" Shia wondered out loud, before she was suddenly assaulted by an entire swarm of monsters at once. Focusing back on them she thought ''I''ll just pick one randomly!'' and selected one before restarting the fight. She didn''t know what job she got until the notification rang in her head, [NOTICE! Strength, speed and defense significantly increased, and ''Berserker mode'' skill acquired!] "Berserker?!" Shia said out loud in surprise, before she was forced to return to attacking monsters once more. What she didn''t realize was that her hammer that fit comfortably in her hands was suddenly nearly weightless to her, even though it weighed nearly a thousand pounds. As the blood and gore started flying around her once more she also didn''t notice the slight red glow to her eyes, and how her hair and ears also turned red at the roots. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Shia let out a bloodcurdling shout as she charged forward and smashed her way through even more monsters, breaking the formation they had. Alex looked over at the rampaging Shia and sighed in exasperation, before asking Lauren the best method to stop her once the battle was over. To her own dismay Shia would find afterwards that she earned herself a new title as the ''Berserker Bunny''. *** Rias looked through her scope to find the next monster to bring down when she suddenly saw a rampaging rabbit in her sight, causing her brow to twitch with irritation. "What the hell is she doing?" Hajime practically growled right next to her, to which Rias couldn''t help but wonder as well. She then ignored the rampaging Shia and started taking down more monsters along the ranks before taking out another flying monster; as it fell to the ground Rias looked for her next target, before noticing that there was a human silhouette on one of the flying monsters. Alex''s earlier orders went through her mind, before she trained her sight on the person and fired, bringing both person and monster to the ground when she hit both with the same shot. As both figures fell Rias then saw all the monsters start stalling as the one who controlled them was now dead, before they turned on each other and started tearing themselves to shreds. "I suppose you''d want me to keep quiet about that?" Hajime muttered quietly from her side. Rias didn''t say anything but slightly nodded her head, to which Hajime stayed silent. Wether or not his classmate lived wasn''t something that he concerned himself with, but Hajime was slightly surprised that Alex verbally agreed to let Shimizu live, yet had Rias eliminate him immediately. He then looked down from their spot on the wall he made, and saw some of the adventurers that were injured coming back for healing by Anne, and others that wanted to avoid getting caught up in the rampage of the now freed monsters. *** Alex unleashed another slash of energy with his sword as the monsters ran from him. Unlike the ones in the labyrinth, these monsters valued their lives and ran from him when they were released from the mind control and noticed the unusual energy coming off of him. Alex didn''t feel like chasing after them, and since he figured that he didn''t need to keep up the holy attacks anymore since the battle was just about won, he then created a large ball of fire before sending it forward. As the fire hit the ground it starting moving weirdly before breaking and forming into hundreds of fire creatures that immediately started attacking the remaining monsters. "Now I need to deal with you..." Alex muttered to himself as looked in Shia''s direction. Her eyes were glowing red and her hair had changed color from the roots to about halfway its length as she rampaged around the battlefield and slaughtered anything in front of her. He learned from Lauren that the hair was an indicator of how berserk she was, the roots would indicate the beginning stages, while if all of her hair was red then she was pretty much unstoppable unless someone significantly stronger stopped her. Without alerting her Alex used his max speed to appear next to Shia and delivered a chop to the back of her head, instantly knocking her out. He then picked her up in a princess carry and started walking back towards Ul while the flame creatures he created eliminated the rest of the monster army. Soon Yue and the now humanfied Tio joined him, before giving him a weird look and saying, "Master, if it pleases thee then can thou put away thine sword? It gives this one a terrible feeling." At Tio''s words Alex recalled that she was a dragon, and Ascalon was a holy dragon slayer. He realized the sword was probably showing her an insane amount of hostility since it was bathed in Sammael''s blood, and he wasn''t sure if dragon slayers existed in Tortus before so this would be her first time being around one. Of course being the wielder of Ascalon Alex himself was completely unaffected. He was holding it awkwardly while also carrying Shia, but Alex immediately put it into his personal storage again after hearing Tio''s words. They then returned to Ul to declare the end of the battle. *** Freed made his way through the mountains on the back of a flying monster away from Ul after his plan to use the human boy failed. He didn''t care if the child succeeded or not, but it would have been a benefit to the demon race if he had. If he didn''t then Freed planned to eliminate the ''Fertility Goddess'' Aiko himself, but didn''t due to the appearance of an irregular. Normally he would just eliminate the irregular as well, but the brief moment he considered doing so the irregular looked right at him and with a single glare sent shivers down his spine. Freed had no idea what evil magic the irregular used, but decided that since the irregular didn''t try to finish him off he was unable to from that distance. What he didn''t realize was that Alex didn''t kill him simply because he hoped Freed would make at least a semi decent opponent for a certain white dragon battle maniac, especially since Freed fought with a tamed white dragon. (A.N. Back from my break, ended up taking a couple extra days than I originally thought, thanks for the patience! Chapter 211 - Battles end As they arrived back at the wall Alex apologized to Tio and summoned Ascalon once more to play the part of Gabriel''s champion. He handed the still unconscious Shia to Tio, before turning to the crowd and raising his sword triumphantly, "WE ARE VICTORIOUS!!!" There was a moment of silence, before a thunderous cheer exploded from the bystanders. As the people cheered they also said their thanks to the Goddess Gabriel for sending them her champion, as well as some of the personally coming to meet Tio and Yue. Both the dragon race and vampire race were supposedly wiped out hundreds of years ago, so seeing confirmation that they were alive was shocking to the people who watched the battle, especially since Tio completely dragonfied right in front of them. Alex chuckled slightly at the sight since Yue started getting a little fl.u.s.tered from all the people. As the entire town cheered their survival, Alex walked over to an anxiously waiting teacher. "Is Shimizu with you?!" Aiko asked desperately. Alex sighed and said, "Let''s go somewhere quieter and we''ll talk." Aiko was shaken slightly by Alex''s words, and started drawing her own conclusions from them. She took a deep breath and nodded at him, indicating that she''ll talk with him. Alex led the way back to the inn with Aiko and the students, with his group following behind after Tio and Yue extracted themselves from the crowd behind them. They gathered in Aiko''s room which was one of the largest ones in the inn, since there were so many people. Since she was still asleep, Alex had Tio put Shia in their room before they started their discussion. As they all finally gathered and Aiko tried to close the door however David put his foot in it. Before Aiko could say anything he demanded, "Aiko, why didn''t you tell us you were the prophet of this goddess Gabriel?!" Though they weren''t visible several other voices from the rest of the Knights expressed their similar sentiments. Aiko''s face started twitching as she realized she had forgotten that little detail and glared slightly at Alex, instinctively knowing he was to blame. Hidden from their view however a magic circle appeared next to Aiko''s ear to tell her what to say. With no other ideas coming to mind, Aiko grimaced slightly before putting on a performance and said, "Um, I was afraid that David and the others would hate those who weren''t with the church like Shia the other day, so I hid it from you. Please don''t be mad!" Seeing a couple tears form in her eyes as well as their beloved Aiko saying she didn''t tell them from fear of their reaction, the Knights immediately prostrated and begged for her forgiveness for making her afraid of them. She became dumbfounded at the exaggerated reaction and spent several minutes trying to calm them down before finally closing the door to talk wth Alex and the rest. Alex on the other hand smirked at the Knights reaction, now believing they wouldn''t hesitate to follow the religion behind Gabriel since Aiko was so deeply involved. She took a deep breath then asked, "I''ll just say it clearly, did you find Shimizu?" Alex sighed and said, "No I didn''t, but with the way the monsters reacted in the end by turning on each other and fleeing, I would say he''s either dead or ran away. He''s got no where to go however since I doubt the demon race would take him in after failing, so if he ran away then I would think he wouldn''t last much longer regardless." Aiko shuddered after hearing that one of her precious students might be dead, and said, "I-I''ll have the Knights help with searching the battlefield, if we can''t find his body then I''ll assume he ran away. If that''s the case then I won''t give up until we find him!" After she spoke the students tried to tell her encouraging words about how they''ll bring him back, but Alex knew it was futile. Rias did send him a message saying she killed a human silhouette on one of the flying monsters, confirming that Shimizu was more than likely dead; and with the monsters fleeing Alex doubted they''d find evidence that he was killed by her attack from them trampling and possibly snacking on his corpse, he just hoped enough of it was left to find and identify. As the students were comforting their teacher, the entire room was suddenly filled with a blinding light. When it dimmed there were three people there, but before anyone could react one of them rushed forward and started pounding her fists on Alex''s chest. "How dare you make me betray the Father in such a way, how can I ever face Him again?" Aiko and the students couldn''t believe their eyes when they recognized the person hitting Alex. She didn''t have the twelve golden wings or halo, and she wasn''t wearing her robes either; but none of them could forget the woman whose looks put many to shame, the same person whose name the entire town was chanting right at that moment, the Goddess Gabriel. Alex smiled at how she was acting and pulled her into his arms before saying, "I already told you that there were several reasons we needed to do that, and your performance was beautiful." As his arms wrapped around her Gabriel settled down but looked away as if she was pouting. Everyone present couldn''t help but think Gabriel was acting very cute at the moment. Alex smiled at how she was acting and gently grabbed her chin and kissed her, prompting her to melt in his embrace. The girls watching burned with jealousy, but let Gabriel have her moment while Aiko and the students burned with curiosity instead. Alex broke off the kiss and looked at the watchers before explaining, "Sorry for the late introduction, this Gabriel; an archangel that''s one of my lovers and in a few months she''ll be the mother of my first child." Their eyes got wider with each word Alex said, before he got to the part that she was expecting a child. At his words they all looked at her belly to see that she was indeed starting to bulge out slightly, which also explained why her ''Goddess'' clothes were so loose. As they tried to process this new information another girl with brown hair tied up in twin tails rushed Alex and cried out, "Hey! Don''t forget I''m here too!" Before clinging onto one of his arms. Alex pulled Irina close as well and turned towards the third person who was still standing there. "Do you want to join us as well Griselda? I can make some room." Sister Griselda made a face at Alex''s offer and said, "I''d prefer not to, but I will say that the rest of the angels are hidden and waiting to return to Asora for right now, and though they understood the reasoning for it, they are less than happy going along with this scheme." Alex shrugged and said, "Like I keep saying it''s necessary, the god people currently believe in in this world is active in the affairs of the world, and so we would need more than blind faith to get people to turn from him to another divine." Sister Griselda sighed and said, "We all understand that, but it doesn''t mean we like it." Alex soon sent her, Irina, and Gabriel back to Asora along with the rest of the Angels that accompanied them. He then turned towards Aiko and the rest. He didn''t mind them knowing the truth as they would find out about it eventually anyways, but his main concern was wether or not they''d keep their mouths shut. "I don''t think I''d have to say this but I''m going to anyways, what happened in this room is a secret to the world for the moment. Just know that what I''m working for aligns with what you all wish for." The students that didn''t hear about the truth of the God of Tortus were even more curious about Alex, but Aiko who did know started arranging the pieces of what Alex was doing in her head. Though she didn''t agree with some of his methods, she understood that if what he said was true he was trying to make the world a better place. Alex soon bid farewell to the group and went back to his room for the night, leaving Aiko and the others to think on the events of the day, and the first major battle the witnessed. *** The next morning Aiko woke to find that Alex and his group had already left Ul with Will. She was mostly disappointed to find Hajime left with them but knew she wouldn''t have to worry about his safety with Alex. Instead she was most occupied wth the questions her students barraged her with regarding what Alex was doing, and also repairing the fields where the battle took place. Her farming magic was a great boon here as she was able to steadily repair the torn up ground. The downside to this was that it didn''t take long for them to find the remains of the first student casualty in this other world, Shimizu. A few days after finding his chewed up remains and burying them away from the town, Aiko was at his grave repeatedly saying ''I''m sorry'' over and over again, blaming herself for his death. It was at this time that she recalled the things Alex said to her, the future that would be in store for them and his offer of a new life. She still hadn''t mentioned any of this to the students as she wanted to think it through before bringing it up to them. Chapter 212 - Return to Furhen Alex sped along the road at nearly the same speed he went to Ul while Hajime raced alongside with his two wheeler and passenger. Though both he and Will didn''t want to be seated on it with another guy, Hajime also didn''t want to bring out his large four wheeler just for the two of them. Meanwhile in Alex''s car he had Yue in the front seat, while Rias and Tio were in the back and the still slumbering Shia was between them. He was starting to get a little worried about how Shia was still asleep after going berserk, but Lauren told him it was relatively normal and that she would improve as she got used to the skill. Even as he drove down the road Alex was already thinking of ways to help her better use the new skill, which was somewhat difficult since berserkers were famous for lack of control. He was brought out of his thoughts with Tio''s questioningly tone from the back, "Master, is this truly ok? Will''s comrades..." Alex sighed at the question, having thought they dealt with this issue before leaving. Though Will didn''t think much about when he first returned to Ul, when he saw Tio transformed during the battle he learned she was the one who killed all of party members. Alex diffused the situation when he tried to confront her, but it seemed Tio was still bugged about it. "I said it before to Will, you were essentially just the tool that was used while Shimizu was the one controlling you. I mean when a person kills with a sword is it the swords fault, or the one using it?" Though Tio still felt guilty about killing those people, she felt better at Alex''s words. This led to a relatively heated debate in her head, was the master that abused her or comforted her better? Alex thought she was seriously thinking about what he said and hoped she would get over it, but realized he was wasting his concern when the sound of slight panting came from the backseat. Rias looked at her while frowning and was glad that Shia was sitting in between her and that pervert, but also regretted the fact that Anne returned to Asora during the trip instead of Tio. They then sped the rest of the way back to Furhen with the only notable thing being Rias''s irritation when Yue used Alex''s lap as a pillow during the trip. *** After returning Will to his family and officially closing the request with Ilwa, Alex was sitting in a newly rented inn room with everyone after Anne, Grayfia, and Kuroka rejoined them. By this time Shia had finally woken up and was fighting the embarrassment of losing control during the fight, and how gluttonous she was from not having eaten since before the battle. Though she didn''t need to worry too much about it as everyone''s attention was on Kuroka who was curled up in Alex''s lap after being apart for several days. "Nyan~ We finished that job for you Alex, so what now?" She practically purred, obviously looking for praise. Grayfia''s eye twitched at the scene, and she was tempted to mention how Kuroka wouldn''t even do her job right if she didn''t threaten to report her to Alex. For at least the thousandth time she silently lamented the fact that Kuroka was their ''Queen''. "We''re going to stay in the city for a few days to rest and to eliminate the crime rings in Furhen, which will not only help those living here, but will also increase our own reputation." An predatory look appeared in Kuroka''s eyes as she was tired of just silently spying on them and collecting information. "Will we move on them immediately master?" Grayfia asked, similarly ready to do something. She would''ve helped in Ul since she heard about it in Asora, but Alex said to focus on their current project. He however shook his head and explained, "If we just move against anyone who isn''t good then it''ll make us look like busy bodies who stick their noses into everyone''s business. We should try to draw them out to act against first so were retaliating." Grayfia nodded and started looking through some of the information Kuroka gathered before handing a piece of paper to Alex. "It appears that they had already marked us as potential targets to apprehend for their illegal slave trade, if we show ourselves around town then we might draw them out." Alex nodded and said, "Sounds like a good idea, let''s start with a date." Later that night every eye was drawn to the three people walking around town, as Alex escorted both Kuroka and Grayfia around for their date. Even though her ears and tails were hidden Kuroka was eye catching with her black hair and kimono that was loosened to emphasize her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Grayfia on the other hand had lost the maid outfit after being ordered to by Alex for their date, and was wearing a long non formal dress instead. As the trio walked around the city and enjoyed some of the spots for couples every eye was on them, including those whose attentions they were trying to draw. "Some nasty people are following us~Nyan." Kuroka whispered while clinging to Alex as they walked along the street and the sun started setting. He barely grunted audibly and answered, "It doesn''t seem as if they plan to do anything for right now though, maybe they''re just trying to see where we''re staying or something. Remember we''re waiting for them to make the first move." Kuroka nodded while Grayfia grabbed his other arm, he then spent the rest of the night properly escorting the two beautiful women both publicly, and privately. The next day was Yue and Shia''s turn to be escorted around the city as they relaxed while also trying to draw the pursuers out. Both girls were quite happy to be on a date and the trio drew even more gazes than Alex did the night before, there were even a few people that had seen him the previous night and recognized him. "We should do this more often!" Shia said happily as she led both Alex and Yue around. "... This is nice..." Yue agreed with Shia. Alex smiled as he looked at the two girls having fun, while also keeping an eye on those shadowing them. As he was using his observation Haki on his surroundings though, he picked up the small presence below them that he was looking for. Both girls were suddenly alarmed when Alex''s expression hardened and he explained to them while heading to where he detected the presence. "I detected someone below us, probably in the sewers, but what I''m feeling is someone weak like a child." Though both girls were confused why Alex was concerned about a presence below them as it was most likely a sewer worker, hearing that it was like a child they both became serious and followed him. After he closed in on it Alex went to one of the alleyways and used his strength to open a hole in the ground below them to the sewers. They soon closed in on the child, and Yue used her magic to search the water before pulling a small figure out of it. Alex''s eyes shined with a dangerous light as he finally saw the reason he stalled eliminating the criminal groups until now, not minding the filth he grabbed the small figure in his arms and gently cradled the small child. She was about 3-4 years old and had emerald green hair, but the most noticeable feature on her was the fin-like ears she had and the webbing present between her fingers. She was barely conscious and hesitantly looked up at the Alex, to which he said, "Don''t worry, no ones gonna hurt you anymore." The girl let out a small sigh as if in relief of his words, before she lost consciousness. "We should take her back and get her cleaned up." Shia said before Alex got the chance. After taking a brief second to fix the hole he made to enter the sewers, Alex teleported them back to the inn, not caring about the report the person following them sent back saying he lost the new merchandise. *** A little bit later Alex was sitting in their room while the girls cleaned up the child they found. She had already regained her consciousness and they were feeding her with food they had ordered, after which she told them her story. The girls name was Myuu and she was from the Dagon race of Demi humans, one day she was swimming when she got separated from her mother, and was picked up by a bunch of human men before being brought to Furhen. She was then locked underground with several other children who would be taken away occasionally and she''d never see them again. One day she heard the familiar sound of water and went into it to escape, only to end up in the sewers. This was also the reason Alex hesitated to start assaulting the criminal groups, as he didn''t want to risk missing the chance to rescue Myuu. "This isn''t good." Hajime said when he arrived from his room and heard the details of what was going on. Alex knew he was talking about the political situation regarding the Dagon race, as they were useful for collecting seafood they were the only protected Demi human race by the human kingdoms, one of their children being kidnapped by humans would put a strain on their relationship. Grayfia then asked, "Master, what will we do with her?" Alex looked up to see every pair of eye on him waiting for his next words. It appeared that after only being around her for a short time all of the girls had already grown attached to Myuu, this was especially true for Grayfia since she was a mother herself. Going by her own personal feelings Grayfia wanted to eliminate those who would do such a thing, but as a loyal maid she needed to await her masters orders, and he did not disappoint. With a tone of authority Alex said, "I think this gives us all the reason we need, Grayfia go and collect the Haulia from Orcus." Chapter 213 - Rabbits Again Less then than two hours after Alex gave the order to get the Haulia, he was sitting in Ilwa''s office once more with three people kneeling while bound between the two. Ilwa himself was sitting across from him with his entire face twitching, while off to the side was Ilwa''s assistant Datt and Cam as the patriarch of the Haulia. The rest of the tribe was doing one last sweep of the city to ensure they hadn''t missed any members of the crime groups. The situation in the office would have been very tense, if it wasn''t for the fact that Myuu was sitting on Alex''s lap. She herself was nervous as she recognized one of the bound men from when she was captured, as all three were the bosses of the crime groups of the city. "This... I truly don''t know what to say..." Ilwa said as he looked down on those in front of him. From what Alex told him it took less than two hours for his people to completely eliminate each and every member of the crime families, something that was so unprecedented and brutal that Ilwa had no idea how to handle the situation. Alex shrugged and said, "Due to these peoples greed they helped to strain the relationship with Dagon race by kidnapping one of their children for an illegal auction, along with the rest of the human children they acquired illegally. Plus when we raided their offices we found they had already long marked us as well for potential products, so this was basically us taking care of a problem before it got out of control." Ilwa''s brows twitched at Alex''s words as even though the crime groups were a nuisance they kept other would be rampant criminals in line, now the deterrent for them was gone and he could see a crime spree on the horizon, as well as various power struggles from new groups forming. Then there was also the fact that these groups would inevitably have connections to some nobility who would try and keep their criminal business ventures afloat. As if he knew what Ilwa was thinking Alex said, "If you''re worried about other criminal groups forming then use my name as a deterrent until you come up with a more lasting solution. As for any nobles and officials that may be partnered with these men, I have a list of their names and aliases as well from various deal arrangements, and I have my people collecting the majority of the evidence. It appeared these guys had plenty of evidence that could be used against their partners should the need ever arise." Ilwa was ecstatic at seeing the list and hearing Alex''s words, as it would be a head start on the issues he was worried about. "This truly is a god send to us, or perhaps I should say a goddess send?" As most of the weight he was suddenly feeling came off his shoulders Ilwa cracked a joke with Alex, the champion of the Goddess Gabriel. Alex shrugged and didn''t say anything, but then moved onto the next topic of what would happen with Myuu. *** The girls and Hajime were waiting in a separate room as Alex talked with Ilwa, enjoying some refreshments after helping to eliminate the criminal rings. Kuroka was especially happy as she finally got to move against them after just watching them for several days, while Anne felt she truly made the right choice in joining Alex as they fought off an army of monsters then destroyed several crime rings in just a couple days. She especially felt fulfilled as she and Grayfia personally made their way to where the illegally obtained children were being held in order to free and examine them, Anne couldn''t help feeling a sense of fulfillment as each of the children thanked her after she healed the various injuries and illnesses they were afflicted with. When she voiced her feelings everyone couldn''t help but agree. "Indeed these men were sc.u.m, I''m quite pleased master fave the order to not mind loss of life as long as they were part of the groups, except for the bosses." Shia looked up questioningly at Grayfia''s words and asked, "By the way, what does he plan to do with them? Are they going to be sent to the guards?" Rias shook her head and said, "I asked something similar, but he said that there would be a chance that one of their connections would bail them out and they''d just start all over. Also that killing them would be too quick for all the pain caused on their orders. Alex said he has something else in mind for them, but hasn''t said what." They all pondered for a moment what Alex might have in mind for the bosses before Kuroka''s voice suddenly broke the silence. "By the way~Nya, are you part of Alex''s peerage now?" She pointed at Tio and asked. Kuroka had mixed feelings regarding Tio, as they both had long black hair and dressed the same in black kimonos, but their similarities ended there as Kuroka''s personality was more of a sadistic one while Tio''s was obviously far on the M side. The dragon girl tilted her head in confusion and asked, "What''s a peerage?" *** After agreeing to take the job of escorting Myuu home, Alex and Ilwa had settled most of their meeting and were simply discussing a few minor details. It was then that a couple of presences made themselves known, and both Pal and Rana appeared, causing both Ilwa and Datt to jump. "Boss, we finished sweeping the city and eliminated any loose ends." Rana stated their report. Alex smiled and said, "Good job, I''ll send you back to Orcus shortly but you''ve all proven yourselves with this assignment. Not only did you eliminate the opponents without mercy, but none of them even knew you were there until it was too late. Pal, Rana, tell the others I said good job as well." Alex was extremely glad he made the choice to put in effort to train them before, as they would be able to handle most small fries easily with their stealth and coordination. There was only one hiccup with working with Haulia, but Alex firmly believed he nipped it in the bud, or so he thought. "I''m glad to receive your praises boss, but please don''t use my old name. Now I am Baltoferd of Certain Death!" Alex''s mind blanked for a brief second as he tried to process what just came out of Pal''s mouth. "Rana, what did he just say?" Alex asked the nearby rabbit girl. "Fufufufu, he just proclaimed his new name proudly like we all should, and boss my name is also no longer just Rana, it is Rana Inferna of Swift Shadows!" Alex''s mind blanked as he heard what they were saying, while Ilwa and Datt who were both shocked a moment before, we''re now trying to stifle their laughter at the absurd names. Alex tried to think this through and understand what just happened to the Haulia while he was gone. He then thought back to when he progra-ehm, trained them, and wondered if he missed any critical detail to prevent this from happening. Seeing his speechlessness, Pal proudly said to Cam and Rana, "See it''s like big bro Hajime said, boss is so amazed he''s speechless at our new names!" As Alex heard Pal''s words sudden realization dawned on him. "You learned about second names from Hajime?" Not seeming to hear the edge in Alex''s voice Pal, Rana, and Cam all nodded and exclaimed, "He told us that second names inspire terror in our opponents and that we would shame our boss by not having them!" With each word spoken Alex understood more and more, Hajime purposely ruined all his hard work to keep the Haulia from going chunni. Now Alex knew from the novel that it would take nothing short of actual brainwashing to un-chuuni them, and that they would be a royal pain to deal with for everyone around them. He didn''t feel like taking it out on them though, instead his irritation was directed at Hajime. Alex didn''t think of getting revenge physically though, instead he decided that since Hajime liked second names so much then he''d make one for him, and have all of Asora know it. An evil smile spread on his face, scaring the rabbits, crime bosses, and Ilwa and Datt more than anything else that day. Alex then sent the rabbits back to Orcus and was planning to visit Asora to start his revenge, but as he went to leave the room while holding Myuu in his arms, Alex was assaulted by a certain dragon at the door. "MASTER PLEASE TURN THIS ONE INTO YOUR SERVANT, NAY YOUR SLAVE!!!!" Chapter 214 - Slaves and Servants Alex sat in their room with a serious headache as he thought back to the day''s events, first he went on a date and found Myuu which prompted him to hunt down the crime families in the city- planned He then reunited with Haulia for the first time since before challenging Raisen labyrinth and found out about Hajime corrupting them- not planned. Now he had to deal with Tio who was despairing because she found out that Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, and Shia were all officially his servants while their relationship was simply akin to a vassal and her lord, something her newfound preferences couldn''t allow- not planned. Alex rubbed his head as Tio knelt in front of him with determination in her eyes to become his servant, or if it wasn''t possible, his slave. The rest of the girls were sitting to the side snickering in amus.e.m.e.nt while Hajime had returned to his room to work on a project, and Grayfia took Myuu out to eat, as neither her nor Alex wanted Myuu to be around when they were discussing servants and slaves. Hajime was still unaware that Alex planned to get back at him, but he needed to deal with this first. He then looked at the dragon that looked so earnest at the moment no one would have thought she was currently having one of her perverted episodes. He then said, "Tio, I don''t plan to add you to my peerage." This almost caused her to become disappointed, but she then regained her fervor and asked, "Then master can we go slave collar shopping for this one?" Alex sighed again, as since he was promoting peace between the races as the champion of Gabriel he couldn''t walk around with one of them actively displaying they were enslaved to him, even Shia had long since removed her own collar. Before he could say anything Rias spoke up and asked, "How come you''re not going to add her to your peerage, she''s fairly strong isn''t she?" Which made everyone else look at Alex questioningly. He then said, "The main reason is that while Tio would make an excellent rook with her insane defense, she would in fact be closer to an all round like Grayfia and Kuroka with both physical and magical attacks. I want to add more diversity to our group and people who strongly specialize in one aspect rather than a bunch of all rounders." Alex already speculated that several powerful all rounders would probably join his group in the future, and wanted to limit any he''d get right now and focus on diversity; for example even though Grayfia was currently training with them, there was no sword user in their group. Though this would decrease their flexibility in some situations, it would help in the long run with everyone mastering their respective abilities. Rias frowned at his words though and asked, "But didn''t you make me practice close combat to the point where I even got a job from it?" Alex however shook his head and explained, "That was to cover your weakness for close quarters and physical attacks, not to turn you into an all rounder. Though you''d be stronger than an average opponent now, you''d easily be beaten in terms of pure strength by Grayfia, Kuroka, and of course Shia." Rias sighed in acceptance of Alex''s words as they did make sense when she recalled the time she was beaten by her cousin in the rating game. She was about to say something else when Tio intervened, "What about this one becoming thee''s slave master?" Though Tio wouldn''t mind just referring to herself as her masters slave, she would simply be considered a self proclaimed slave compared to the official servants Alex already possessed, it was for this reason she focused on buying a slave collar as they were even magically enchanted to bind slaves to their master. Alex groaned at the situation until he recalled that he had "that" magic he got from his fellow other worlder. As if in response to his thoughts Lauren piped up, ''You may eventually need to use that power someday anyways, so why not try it out before hand on a willing participant?'' Alex was surprised at Lauren''s suggestion, but disagreed. He may use it to make Tio officially his slave, but he didn''t intend to test it on her just to experiment. He then recalled something else he had almost forgotten, no rather someone else that he could use to experiment on with a clear conscience, as well as the three people that were knocked out and laying in a pile in the corner. After deciding what to do he broke the silence in the room, "There''s something I need to try out, but I''ll give you an answer in the morning Tio." Tio looked hopeful at Alex''s words while everyone else looked confused. He then turned towards Kuroka and said, "Kuroka I might need you and Grayfia for what I want to try, so meet me in Asora when she returns. Shia I''ll have you look after Myuu for tonight since she''ll be staying with us while we travel for a while." Kuroka was curious about what he was doing and agreed before Alex gathered the three crime bosses and entered Asora. Mere moments after the most cleared around him, Alex dropped the bosses he was holding and raised his hand to deflect a punch from a white gauntleted arm. Alex looked up to see an obviously angry Vali and asked, "So how was Raisen?" Vali''s eye twitched at Alex''s question and he spat out, "It would''ve been better if I had known beforehand that I wouldn''t be able to use magic!" Alex shrugged and replied, "The labyrinths won''t really be as challenging if you walked in knowing everything about what you''d face, and I thought you wanted a challenge?" As most of those staying in Asora were using the labyrinths for training Alex hadn''t mentioned much about Raisen except that they''d face the actual maker at the end in order to increase the challenge, though he''d tell them about a labyrinths secrets if there was the real chance they''d lose their lives over it. Vali was understandably angry since Alex neglected to mention that Raisen sealed ones magic power, while he relied mostly on his magic to fight. Vali''s eye twitched again as he couldn''t refute Alex''s words, and he dispelled his armor. Alex then asked, "So how was it fighting without all your magic power?" Vali smirked before saying, "I simply had my team help me by using divine dividing and attacking with the excess magic their power gave me." Alex only looked at him dumbfoundedly and mentally wondered if Vali would be able to survive the later labyrinths where they were designed to seriously mindf.u.c.k the challengers. After separating from Vali, Alex sent a message to Ravel saying to meet him in the training area when he was finished with his current errands, and went to talk with Serafall and the Grigori. With Serafall he discussed a change in plans to the Haulia''s new home in Asora since they now turned chuuni as well as another issue, and with the Grigori he promised that once he was done with what he wanted to experiment with the crime bosses they would be turned over to them for any experiments that required a live person. Alex had decided on this with the crime bosses since if he sent them to ''Magical Girl Island'' they may eventually become happy with their new life, which would defeat the purpose of trying to punish them. After finishing up his errands, Alex went to the training area where he met Ravel, Grayfia, and Kuroka. "I want to go to one of the training rooms while we test what I wanted to, as a measure of extra security." Though they still had no idea what Alex was planning all three girls followed him while Seekvaira went to activate the time manipulation formation at his request. Once inside Alex explained his plan to the three girls, which earned him several wide eyes in response. "This will be quite interesting fufufufufu..." Ravel said as she thought of what Alex just told her, while even Kuroka and Grayfia were acting in a similar manner to what he told them. Alex didn''t mind their behavior and removed something from his personal storage space, one of the jewels that came from his boosted hear gauntlet. He deactivated the sealing on it and a second later was looking at his first test subject for his enslavement magic who glared at him with hatred, the goddess of night and darkness Nyx. Chapter 215 - Return of Nyx Nyx glared at Alex with an extreme hatred after spending more than a year sealed in the jewel, with her arms and legs still bound by the magic circles he placed on her. He awkwardly looked at the restraints and asked, "You weren''t like awake or anything the entire time you were in there, were you?" As the only person who had been sealed in the jewels that he had talked to after was Serafall, who had only been in it for a few minutes, Alex was mostly unaware of what it was like to be sealed and had no intention to experience it firsthand. Nyx''s glare intensified and she spat out, "Yes, and I haven''t been able to move my arms and legs since before I was sealed." Alex waved his hand and dispelled the restraints, not worrying about her possibly causing havoc after being released since he drained most of her godly powers before sealing her. Though Nyx was still powerful in her own right, it would only be at the level of a demigod which meant she was no threat to those gathered. She started moving her now freed limbs with a look of extreme relief before turning back towards Alex and the others and asking smuggly. "So what is it? Did my brother or someone convince you to free me? I knew it only a matter of time." Knowing that there was no way the other gods of the world would allow one their own to be sealed and in the hands of a mortal, Nyx smirked as she waited for this moment patiently, though admittedly it took longer than she thought. Her smirk soon disappeared as Alex smiled widely and said, "Nope, I freed you to use as test subject for a power I acquired a while back. Depending on the results you''ll either stay out and have some freedom to an extent, or be resealed until I can think of another use for you and Hades, maybe as batteries or something?" Nyx was filled with a small sense of distress as she pictured being stuck in that hell again, just existing in consciousness as time went on with no way of knowing if a year passed or a hundred, while being unable to even more her arms or legs the whole time. She then realized the other thing Alex said. Alex felt a small sense of satisfaction from seeing her reaction, as she seemed to take his threat seriously. There were several reasons he decided to start with Nyx for testing this ability, first being that she was an enemy of his and would therefore resist as much as possible. This would help him ensure that once someone was marked by his enslavement they would be unable to escape it. Another reason was that even after he drained her powers she was still in fact a goddess tier existence and if his powers worked on her then it would work on others easily. Hades could have been used instead for this experiment instead, but if Alex had to choose which he''d have around he''d pick the pretty girl over the asshole skeleton any day. "So what is it that you wanted to test?" Nyx asked testily. Alex smiled nastily and explained, "I have the power to bind and enslave beings to my will, I want to use you to test how powerful this new ability is." The small sense of distress Nyx felt at being sealed once more turned into real terror at the prospect of being enslaved instead. She then stated, "You can''t! The other gods would ever allow one of their own to be enslaved to an inferior being like a devil, no matter what they''ve done!" Alex''s nasty smile grew while the three girls behind him started giggling at how clueless Nyx was. He then said, "There are no other gods to help you." Nyx stalled at his words, before she demanded, "What do you mean there''s no other gods?!" Alex didn''t answer her question but instead said, "I''ll give you a hint, what was Rizevim researching?" Nyx was confused for a few moments until understanding dawned on her. "No..." She barely whispered as she fell back on her butt in shock, trying to deny the possibility of the conclusion she arrived at. Using the chance while Nyx was too stunned to react, Alex stepped forward and grabbed her hand to inscribe the mark of slavery on the back of it. "Aaaannd done!" Alex declared, causing Nyx to look up from her stupor, while he turned his attention to the notification he received stating that the number of his slaves went up by one. She then realized that Alex had taken advantage of her denial to mark her hand. She frowned as rage bubbled up within her, and even knowing that she was weaker than Alex to begin with while she was now weaker than before and he''d only grown stronger, Nyx gathered the power of darkness and fired at Alex. He simply stood there without taking any stance to defend himself from her attack, which dispersed even before it hit him. Nyx had a look of incredulity on her face before crying out, "KYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" As her face contorted to show the extreme pain she was feeling. Alex didn''t show any reaction to what happened to Nyx, as he and the three girls calmly watched Nyx''s suffering for several minutes. As the pain subsided from her Nyx panted while demanding, "Haa, haa, haa, what did you do to me?!" Alex shrugged and said, "As I said I made you my slave and now you are unable to raise your hand against me, your master." Nyx''s heart sunk in despair as she started trying to figure a way out of this current situation, before Alex said, "Your first order is that every time I give you an order I want you to say ''yes master'' to indicate you understand, do you?" At Alex''s words Nyx felt an overwhelming compulsion to do as he said, and against every fiber of her being she bowed and said, "Yes... master... I understand what you said." Seeing that his power worked on even a god tier being(even if they were a weakened one), Alex smiled. They then spent the next few hours testing the limits of Alex''s enslavement and just how much control he had over those he had enslaved. After running a few tests with Nyx he marked the three crime bosses as well and was delighted to learn that there was no difference between the two, meaning that Nyx''s status as a goddess didn''t lessen the effects of the enslavement compared to normal men. First he verified that by ordering them to take orders from Grayfia and Ravel as if they were him they still had to follow the orders, and that by calling those he had marked they would be forcefully summoned to his side. The biggest hiccup they had though was how much Nyx was trying to fight her orders, attacking Alex, or lying about anything in general that resulted in her getting punished. Ravel narrowed her eyes at this, and said while looking at Alex, "It seems like her pride is going to be a bit of a problem, perhaps we should find a way to break it?" Alex arched an eyebrow at her words, while Nyx showed an expression of fear once more, as the way to break a woman''s pride was pretty standard. Alex said lazily, "I don''t know what you have in mind, but I''m gonna say now I''m not gonna use my enslavement to use force on women regardless of what they''ve done. It''ll also be rude to the women around me if I have to use such a method to satisfy myself. I''ll just wait until the Stockholm syndrome kicks in." Nyx sighed in relief while Ravel nodded in understanding with a small look of relief on her face as well, leading Alex to believe part of this was just a test to see if he''d taken advantage of the situation. She then said, "But she still needs to be taught a lesson... How about this, Nyx I order you to start stripping." The goddess''s face had a look of pure horror as, thanks to the fact Alex ordered her to follow Ravel and Grayfia''s commands, her own hands started moving towards her clothes against her will. "No, please!" Nyx pleaded as her hands continued moving to remove her clothing. Even though Alex said he wouldn''t use his authority to take advantage of her, she still didn''t like the idea of him being able to peruse her body while she was made to do shameful things. Everyone present held no sympathy for the goddess of night as bit by bit her clothes were piled on the floor, before soon she removed the last piece on her upper body and revealed her impressive b.r.e.a.s.ts. Alex had a look of appreciation on his face as he said, "Her face looks quite youthful, but on the contrary her b.r.e.a.s.ts are pretty impressive." When she heard Alex''s praise Nyx''s face turned Crimson from a combination of both fury and shame as a mortals eyes perverted her body for the first time in her long life. She tried to cover her b.r.e.a.s.ts and resist the order she was given, but was only rewarded with the pain each time she disobeyed her orders. Then to add to her shame Ravel spoke once more, "Now the bottoms." The goddess''s despair only grew as her hands automatically moved to undo her her skirt, then as it fell to the ground she grabbed the edge of her black panties, and with a small sob escaping her lips, they joined her skirt on the floor, displaying her complete n.a.k.e.dness for all to see. Even when she was defeated by Alex, Nyx had never felt so humiliated, he then asked while still appreciating the view she provided them, "Think she''s got the message yet Ravel?" Ravel didn''t say anything yet as if she was pondering something, before saying, "No, let''s make sure she learns a lasting message. Nyx, I order you to put on a show for us." *** Several hours after they started experimenting Alex returned to Tortus with Grayfia and Kuroka, having left the crime bosses with the Grigori as human experiments with orders to never resist anything they tried; and Nyx with Ravel to act as a maid in Misty Manor unless he called her for something. After she finished the show Ravel ordered her to put on, Nyx''s attitude was a lot more subdued compared to before, though it seemed she didn''t lose all of her will. As they walked down the streets of Furhen to return to the inn Grayfia asked, "So do you plan to use your enslavement magic more often now?" Kuroka''s ears perked up at her question while Alex shrugged, and answered, "I have a few ideas, but it''ll be awhile before I test it some more. For example one is to use it to tame monsters, but one of the age of gods magics we''re going after will also let us do that as well as make them stronger so I''m gonna wait until we get it to experiment." When he said that one of the age of gods magics would allow them to tame monsters both Grayfia and Kuroka looked interested in the prospect, especially since Alex said they could use it to make the monsters stronger. After returning to the inn Alex increased his number of slaves from four to five with Tio, before finally turning in for the night. They then spent the next couple of days relaxing in the city with the threat of the crime rings removed, and with Ilwa using their name to explain the lack of criminal activity there were quite a few people looking them in awe. Outside this the only excitement that happened while staying in Furhen was when Hajime went to explore the city, and part of the aquarium coincidently exploded while he was out, though he denied any involvement Alex knew better. After a few days of relaxation they finally left, and headed to a destination Hajime was very eager to go to, Horlad, the home of the Orcus Great Labyrinth. Chapter 216 - Maid Goddess Nyx was awoken from her restless sleep by an intense banging at the door to her new room the first day after she was enslaved by that lowly devil. The hateful voice that made her do such shameful acts the night before was then heard from the other side, "Get up, your uniform should already be in your closet so get ready and we''ll have some breakfast before you begin your new routine." Nyx groaned in disgust at her words, which she seemed to hear because Ravel left right after. She then looked around the hovel they left her in with even more disgust, as she had never lived in such meager conditions before. Though Nyx considered her room meager, it was in fact greater luxury that one with her current status was usually afforded. It was large enough that it fit a bed and desk in it with plenty of room to spare for some extra furniture, and that was before one considered the bathroom and closet. Though both were small by the standards of the rest of the manor, they were quite large compared to the average. All in all, she hated it. Deciding she didn''t want to tempt another repeat of the night before, Nyx swallowed her hatred for her current situation and went to get changed. When she opened her closet however her disgust only deepened, but she swallowed that as well and got dressed in the maid outfit. She appeared in the dining area ten minutes later after getting dressed, and said to the waiting Ravel, "I am the primordial goddess of night and darkness, many have feared my name throughout history, and I was one of the biggest threats to the current world order, the day I manage to remove this mark and recover my freedom you will pay!" Ravel c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Nyx''s words, but didn''t mind her attitude and only said, "Those clothes suit you, good thing too since you''ll be wearing them every day from now on. Quickly finish your breakfast and we''ll begin your new routine." After finishing her breakfast(a simple meal of oatmeal and toast) Ravel led Nyx to their first stop with Koneko silently following behind, much to Nyx''s annoyance. Their destination seemed to be the main bedroom, which when Ravel opened the door a surprised voice cried out, "Oh! W-what are you doing here Ravel?!" Ravel only rolled her eyes at Rossweisse who was obviously fl.u.s.tered at having been caught sleeping in Alex''s bed while he wasn''t there, a trend that sadly wasn''t too uncommon among the residents. "I''m training a new servant who''s going to start cleaning this room every morning starting today." Ravel patiently explained. As not everyone was aware of what happened the night before. Rossweisse looked at Nyx for a split second before her eyes widened in shocked recognition. She then quickly fled the room while trying to hide her embarrassment, but not before glancing at Nyx several times with her mind flooding with questions, the chief of which was if Ingvild knew Nyx was here. Ravel then turned towards Nyx and said, "Your first job every day is to come clean and organize your masters room and bathroom; this means changing the sheets and making the bed, collecting any dirty laundry, dusting, vacuuming, wiping down most surfaces, and preventing mildew buildup in the shower, bath, and sinks. Though Alex usually has business in the current world he''s in so he doesn''t stay here every night, you never know when he''ll show up in the middle of the night or when someone else decides to use the bed while he''s gone, so you''ll have to check it every morning." Though Nyx had several choice words for Ravel she swallowed them all to avoid inciting another punishment, either from her mark or Ravel herself. She then set to the job before her, deciding that while it was beneath her how hard could it be? She had seen her own followers clean her home and shrines many times over the last few thousand years. The result was that she spent the majority of the morning being told that she wasn''t doing it right by Ravel, and was forced to retry after almost every attempt. The entire time Koneko just sat to the side eating her snacks while watching or occasionally chatting with Ravel when she wasn''t reprimanding Nyx. Taking several times longer than Ravel''s peerage would to finish cleaning, even though the room wasn''t even that dirty to begin with since it had already been cleaned since Alex last stayed, Nyx was finally finished and Ravel was finally satisfied with her work. She then told the goddess, "This is an order, every day when you clean this room it must be exactly like this when you''re finished, understood?" Since Ravel was only going to follow and train Nyx for a few days she needed to be sure she wouldn''t just slack off when she stopped shadowing her, so she used the fact she could order her to prevent Nyx from trying to skip out on work. The goddess had a look of extreme hatred as the compulsion she was becoming all too familiar with took her, and she answered, "Yes mistress..." Ravel nodded in satisfaction, and led them to their next destination. Nyx was surprised when they quickly left the manor to a place nearby surrounded by a dense bamboo forest. She followed Ravel and Koneko along the path through the shoots, before she was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. It had nothing to do with either of the girls in front of her, but was instead a feeling Nyx was familiar with from whenever she would visit other gods in the past, she was nearing another god''s shrine. Though usually this alone wouldn''t have impacted her so strongly, the intense foreboding she was feeling was because of the immense power difference between herself and the other God, even before her powers were taken. Nyx drew a few conclusions about the identity of the other party, but knew that she could be completely wrong as they were in fact in another world. This is why she was only half surprised when they finally entered the shrine and found two people already there, a woman with long black hair tied in a large pony tail dressed in a shrine maiden outfit while sweeping around the shrine, and a petite child looking girl dressed in black that was just lounging around. Both looked up at their approach and the shrine maiden that Nyx recognized as Rias''s queen, Akeno, greeted them while smiling, "Ara ara, Ravel and Koneko what are you two doing here?" After greeting the two of them Akeno turned her attention towards the third person in their group, only to see a former enemy. Ravel then explained, "After some things happened she''s now acting as a servant in the manor, one of the main responsibilities I was going to give her is cleaning the shrine every day." Akeno made a face of understanding at Ravel''s words, while Nyx had a face of astonishment on hers, she would have to come here to clean every day?! She should have her own shrine in this gods forsaken place, not clean another gods shrine! She didn''t say anything though as she didn''t want to risk offending the most powerful god that had existed in their world, unchallenged at the peak, Ophis. Nyx''s thoughts were interrupted when Akeno started speaking, "It''ll be reassuring to have someone clean daily, typically the shrine is only being cleaned when I have some free time." As she grew up in a shrine herself, Akeno always felt somewhat nostalgic whenever she came to visit Ophis''s shrine, and would often tidy up since there was no actual caretaker and it wouldn''t be fitting to try and make Ophis do it. They then started discussing the details of what Nyx would be doing, such as sweeping the grounds, and cleaning the small area behind the shrine where Ophis kept some of the offerings she didn''t eat right away. As they were talking a devil mother and son duo even came and made an offering to the dragon God, some freshly made banana bread. Nyx was dumbfounded at the offering, as her offerings were always some kind of living sacrifices of livestock or even humans themselves. She had a nasty smiled as she waited for the worlds most powerful God to show these worthless devils what a true offering should be, when Ophis simply sampled the banana bread and said, "This is good, thank you." The mother smiled and thanked Ophis for the compliment before leaving, while her son followed and promised to come play with Ophis soon. Nyx was even more dumbfounded at the scene, and as the devil mother and son left she practically shouted, "WHAT WAS THAT?! Gods don''t take banana bread as an offering, they take lives! And why would a god play with a child anyways?!" She then went on at length at what was wrong with the situation while Akeno laughed slightly and Ravel face palmed. After a few minutes of Nyx ranting, Ophis approached her and held out a small bite of the banana bread. "Here, it''s good." Ophis didn''t usually share her offerings as she knew they were intended for her, but she recognized that Nyx was also a god and simply figured she felt like she was being left out. Nyx almost smacked the bread out of Ophis''s hand, but caught herself when she recalled who was in front of her. With an obviously forced smile she then took the bite of banana bread and ate it, it was good but Nyx wasn''t going to say that out loud. Ravel smiled at seeing the interaction, as the point of having Nyx spend time cleaning Ophis''s shrine every day was to remind her that even if she was a goddess, she wasn''t the only one around or the most powerful. After a couple hours of having Nyx clean the areas that needed it around the shrine, the trio left and returned to the manor. It was now a little past lunch time so Ravel brought them to the kitchen to make a small lunch while also ordering Nyx to assist, during which Koneko just watched. Ravel had also ordered her to never tamper with any food she may help prepare in the future, from petty things like spitting in it or messing it up on purpose to full on poisoning or trying to kill them with it. What she didn''t account for was Nyx messing up their food because she was genuinely bad at cooking. "You''re not too good at this, are you?" Ravel said after watching her spend some time in the kitchen. This only caused Nyx to snap back irritably, "I''m a goddess! When have I ever in several thousand years had to prepare my own food?" Ravel just shook her head, as no matter a persons status they usually still needed to eat. She then slid a small sample of what they were making towards Koneko who took it greedily. This seemed to remind Nyx of something and she demanded while pointing at Koneko, "And why is she following us all day, doesn''t she have anything better to do? Or is she just here for the show?" Koneko then spoke to her for the first time and what she said nearly made Nyx shudder. "If something happens then someone who can reseal you has to be around." As she heard the minor threat from Koneko, Nyx realized she was present in case she managed to do something while Alex wasn''t here, and took some satisfaction in the thought they still considered her a threat. What she didn''t know was that Koneko also had significantly more free time since she slowed on her physical training and focused almost entirely on meditating and senjutsu, due to the life that was growing inside her. As she thought about it Koneko showed a brief gentle smile before focusing on the plate of food that was placed in front of her a second later. As the trio start s digging into their food several other people started trickling into the kitchen for the prepared lunch, all dressed in maid outfits as well. Ravel explained to Nyx, "These are my peerage members and the main ones you''ll be working with. After you finish cleaning Alex''s room and the shrine you''ll report back to me and I''ll give you your next job of the day, which you''ll either be working with one of them or have your own project." As the rest of her day was outlined for her Nyx frowned but didn''t say anything. With Koneko bringing it up before she was considering her new life, or being sealed. She eventually decided to bid her time for now as she would at least have some freedom compared to to just existing in the empty jewel, and if she was lucky she would find a chance to get away from this hell hole. Chapter 217 - Offer A couple days after leaving Furhen Alex was relaxing at their campsite with Anne''s head resting in his lap after a full day of driving. Though he had received the larger vehicle from the Grigori before leaving the city, Alex would still offer to let her stay in Asora while they traveled due to her motion sickness but she denied him every time. Alex was starting to think she just wanted him to spoil her like this every night, and the looks she was getting from the other girls only seemed to prove his suspicions. He was alternating between rubbing her head and her belly since she was laying face up, so Alex decided to tease her a bit as his hand moved up from her stomach to her b.r.e.a.s.t. "Don''t do that!" Anne cried out as she pushed Alex''s hand away, then when she saw Hajime glance at her from across the campfire she turned to hide her face. The funny thing about this was that she turned towards Alex and essentially buried her face in his crotch, making the situation look even funnier. The rest of the girls started laughing at Anne''s expense, joined surprisingly by Hajime. Alex smiled as he had noticed a drastic improvement in Hajime''s attitude over the past few days as they moved closer and closer to Horlad. He then almost frowned as he recalled the circ.u.mstances in which Hajime and Kaori reunited in the original series. Alex had debated hurrying them because of that, but didn''t want to raise suspicion in the group; he just hoped Hajime''s protagonist power would ensure they weren''t too late. *** "O light cutting through all creation, wind bring forth destruction, scatters and dances around like a whirlpool, and become the storm of light that cut my enemies! Soaring Severation!" A shout sounded out within the crowded tunnels deep underground in the labyrinth, accompanied by the sounds of battle as the bat-like monster in front of Kouki and his comrades was cut into pieces. Soon a swarm of more bats, several ant-like monsters and giant anemones with tentacles surged from the branching tunnels. Kouki shouted to his comrades, "Keep going! Just a bit more and we''ll be through!" Those behind him gave a great cheer, as they started coordinating their attacks the way they had long since learned to as they fought tooth and nail through each floor of the labyrinth. Kouki led the way with Shizuku, Ryutarou, Nagayama, Hiyama, and Kondo, while those who specialized in magic and support stayed behind to launch their ranged attacks. With this formation they made short work of the monsters as they moved uniformly. "Whew, that was a hard battle!" A girl with twin tails said as she collapsed against one of the tunnel walls, before being joined a second later by another girl with glasses. Suzu and Eri then looked up as another woman rushed around, "Who needs healing, Hiyama and Kondo? You were both part of vanguard." Both guys looked up as Kaori called out to them, as they confirmed their minor injuries with happy expressions. If one looked at Hiyama''s eyes however one could see a dark possessiveness when he looked at Kaori; no one noticed this however except for "that person", who kept quiet about it in order to achieve their own ambitions. After making her rounds Kaori turned silent as her thoughts turned darker and she once more contemplated just how futile her goal was. Those around her had followed Kouki into the labyrinth to train for the future battles against the demon race, while her only intention had been to find the one she loved. Kaori had never realized it before but after Hajime fell she soon learned that the thing that always drew her to him was indeed love, and currently her greatest regret besides failing to fulfill her promise to protect him was that she only realized it too late. She then joined Kouki in exploring the labyrinth determined to find him somewhere within, but as time went on her hopes continued dwindling; and now not only had it been four months since Hajime fell, but they were on the 89th floor and there had still been no sign of him. With only ten floors left(presumably) she was growing increasingly worried that they wouldn''t find him. Suddenly someone grabbed her hand, and Kaori turned to see her best friend Shizuku. "Don''t worry, I''m sure that he''s still alive." Kaori smiled before pulling her friend into a hug, grateful for her words. "Thank you." As they separated Kaori looked at her friend and Shizuku looked back at her, creating a perfect image of prospective female lovers that made it hard for the others to look at them. The moment was ruined however when a pair of hands reached around and started fondling Kaori''s b.r.e.a.s.ts. "KAORIN, SUZU NEEDS HEALING TOO! You should heal Suzu with these impressive b.r.e.a.s.ts!" The boys faces turned red, and several of them entered a crouching position while refusing to stand up. "Kya! Suzu stop the boys are watching!" Kaori cried out as an expression like that of a perverted old man formed on Suzu''s face. The hands only disappeared from Kaori''s chest when a chop dropped onto Suzu''s head, causing the smaller girl to hold the top of her head while tears formed in her eyes. "Shizu-Shizu, that wasn''t very nice!" Shizuku snorted and said, "Next time don''t act in such a way in front of the guys." Suzu still pouted, but there was a small smile at the corner of her mouth as the atmosphere around the group improved after her prank. Kouki smiled as well and said, "After this we''ll be at the 90th level, and ten more floors before our combat training is complete." Everyone gave a nod as they anticipated finishing their training, as the sooner they finished the sooner they''d enter combat and hopefully they would be able to go home once the war was over. They quickly ended their break, and descended to the next floor. Though they were full of spirit to start with, this quickly became scarce as everyone became aware of something peculiar about the 90th floor. "Where are all the monsters?" Kouki asked what was on everyone''s minds out loud. Ever since they entered the next floor they had not entered a single battle, nor had they seen even a single sign that anything lived on this floor. Though this would sometimes be taken as a good sign, the lack of any life besides themselves was noticeably eerie and they were all on edge from the unusual situation. Then one of the members of Nagayama''s group, Endou Kousuke, went and examined one of the walls. Though they usually had a hard time noticing his actions, they had no problem hearing his words through the eerie silence, "The walls are covered in blood!" His words sent serious alarms through most of the groups heads as Shizuku said, "Kouki somethings not right, we should return to where Meld is waiting for us and confirm the situation with him, he might know what''s going on." Kouki however shook his head and replied, "If all the monsters are dead then that just means there must be a strong one ahead, and besides we probably can''t move forward unless we defeat it to begin with anyways." Ryutarou agreed with Kouki while most of the group shook their heads in exasperation. Nagayama then explained to Kouki, "Up until now there hasn''t been any traces throughout the entire level until we reached this room, which means something must have killed the monsters ahead of us and covered up the evidence. This means that whatever killed them might be intelligent as well as strong and could even be setting up a trap, we should leave." At his explanation even Kouki realized there was more wrong with the current situation than he originally thought, and was about to agree before someone said, "It''s too late for that I''m afraid." As a female voice none of them heard before sounded throughout the cavern everyone turned towards the area it came from and found themselves looking straight at a woman with darker skin color and dark red hair. Everyone immediately got into a battle ready stance however as her pointed ears identified who their opponent was, a member of the demon race. Seeing the enemy of humanity Kouki demanded, "What are you doing here demon race?!" The woman however ignored Kouki''s question and instead, "You''re dressed in that ridiculously shiny armor, so would I be correct in guessing that you''re the hero that the human race has summoned?" Kouki angrily responded to the woman''s question, "I won''t be called ridiculous by an enemy of humanity!" Hearing Kouki''s reply the woman groaned in annoyance and said reluctantly, "I guess I have to, as a member of the demon race I''m extending an invitation to you to join us, what do you say?" Everyone''s minds blanked as they tried to process the woman''s question, before Kouki angrily shouted, "Are you asking me to betray the humans?! As I thought the demon race is purely evil!" The woman shrugged as if his answer didn''t surprise her, and she stated, "As a sweetener we''ll even allow all your little friends to come as well, there was already one defector from your group. So what do you say now?" There was an even longer pause than before as everyone tried to process what the woman just said, not only did they want to recruit all of them, but there was already someone what had joined them? Before they could think too hard on it however Kouki answered angrily once more, "To use such obvious lies, like I thought your race''s very existence is evil! I''ll never join your side and betray humans!" Hearing Kouki state the woman''s words were a lie everyone started rationalizing that that was the case, and glared at her angrily, even though she only stated the truth. The woman sighed at their answer and said, "Well I figured it would be like this anyways, but now I can say I tried before killing you." Everyone took a battle ready stance as they prepared to move against the solitary opponent, but then both Shizuku and Nagayama were suddenly blown backward by seemingly nothing, and the hardest battle any of them had fought until this moment began. Chapter 218 - Ambush After another day of driving Alex and his group finally arrived in Horlad, only to find the atmosphere seeming tense as they walked into the adventurer guild. The only thing out of place though was Alex carrying Myuu as she hummed happily. Though it seemed as if the adventurers wanted to try and show Alex who was boss when they saw him walk in with an entourage of women and even a child, a single look from Grayfia was enough to pour cold water on them, as many of them had already tasted her fury the last time they were in town. Alex ignored this and approached the receptionist before saying, "We''re checking in regarding a request involving this child, and would like a couple rooms for the night." The receptionist started taking Alex''s information down, but when he handed her his status plate she freaked out and said, "Gold rank?! I''m sorry but I need to get the branch head!" And hurried back without saying anything else to Alex and his group. "What was that about?" Hajime muttered as he tried to imagine what was wrong since so many people seemed stressed. It only took a moment before she returned however and said, "There is an emergency situation going on and the branch head would like to talk to you about it, please follow me." Alex nodded and handed Myuu off to Grayfia before saying, "The rest of you take Myuu and get us a room since we''re already planning to stay the night, Hajime, Kuroka, and Anne lets go see what they want." Hajime had a hardened expression, as he already imagined that whatever the emergency situation was the fact they were looking for high ranked adventurers meant that his cheat-like classmates were unavailable, or they were the ones who needed help to begin with. The receptionist gave them instructions on which room to go to while she stayed and helped Grayfia make the room arrangements. They went to the designated room, but the moment Hajime opened the door he found himself facing one of his classmates, and muttered, "Endou?" Which caused the boy in question to look up as he heard what he realized was a familiar voice. Unable to recognize the white haired boy with an eyepatch as his own classmate, Endou asked, "Have we met? No that can''t be because I don''t recognize you, which if that''s the case there''s no way you''d recognize me who not even the automatic doors at the convenience store would see three out of five times." Hajime sighed at Endou''s remark and answered while sliding over his own status plate, "So it did fail to recognize you that much huh?" Once again hearing what seemed like a familiar voice, as well as him knowing what the automatic doors he was referring to were, Endou briefly looked down at the status plate before standing up suddenly and seizing Hajime by the shoulders with an expression of disbelief on his face, "Hajime! Is that really you?! Yours not a ghost that came back to haunt us are you?" He demanded while Hajime made an annoyed expression. He shrugged off Endou''s hands and said, "Yes it''s me, and no I''m not a ghost. I survived falling and after a little help climbed out of the abyss on my own." Though Alex had given him the god water that saved his life and allowed him to start gaining strength, Hajime considered the fact that he made through the labyrinth by himself his own achievement, which Alex never tried to correct since he knew Hajime would have lived even without his help. Endou didn''t seem to know what to do with this information, before he suddenly recalled what he had been discussing with the branch head a moment before and pleaded, "Please help me save everyone, at this rate they''re going to die!" At his request Hajime''s eyes sharpened and he demanded, "What do you mean? Start from the beginning." It took a moment, but with the branch heads help they settled Endou down and got him to start explaining what had happened in the labyrinth. Once they reached the 90th floor they encountered a solitary demon race woman who had amazingly tried to recruit them instead of fighting. Kouki had refused her invitation however and prepared to fight her along with his comrades, with which they vastly outnumbered her, or so they thought. Apparently the demon race woman had several monsters that had borrowed an ability from one and could seemingly turn invisible, meaning they were quickly made aware that they were the ones outnumbered instead. Though the enemies were strong they had managed to fight back, but then when Kouki tried to attack the woman and end the battle yet more monsters had made themselves known with chimeras, four eyed wolves, cats with tentacles, ogre-like monsters called brutals, and even a large turtle-like monster that was able to ''eat'' energy from spells to turn into a laser attack. The worst part was that there was also a two headed white crow that was capable of using healing magic, so unless they killed their opponents immediately the fight would be never ending. Finally Kouki was forced to use his high power light magic attacks coupled with his ''Limit Break'' active to create an escape route for them after the demon woman used the high ranking magic ''Final Prison'', which would turn those it touched to stone. With a path for retreat created, Kouki and them swiftly fled the hopeless battle and returned to the 89th floor where they holed up and used earth magic to hide themselves as they rested. Then because of how thin his shadow was Endou alone was selected to return to where the Knights were waiting at a teleportation circle, clear back on the 70th floor. What had been awaiting Endou however was only death, as the demon race woman had gone straight to where the teleportation circle was to head them off and killed the Knights there as they forced him to use the circle to flee to the 30th floor, as yet another monster managed to follow him through the magic circle and slaughtered the knights that were stationed there as well. As of this moment Endou was the only one of nearly thirty people to have returned from the labyrinth exploration. Having been caught up on the situation Hajime demanded, "And Kaori, what about her?" Endou blanked for a moment before quickly explaining, "She''s safe, in fact if it wasn''t for her we wouldn''t have lasted long enough to fight back. She should still be down with the rest of them!" With Hajime asking about Kaori, Endou hoped that it meant that he''d join him in returning to the labyrinth to save everyone, even as just his support. Endou then looked at Alex, Anne, and Kuroka as if wondering now who they were and if they''d help as well, which Hajime noticed and said before any of them could introduce themselves, "That''s pretty much my new boss Alex, and a couple members of his harem, Anne and Kuroka." Hajime then also looked at Alex as well since even though he doubted he''d need help to deal with the demon woman or monsters, he knew that chances of succeeding would be higher with Alex''s assistance. As if knowing what Hajime was thinking Alex said, "Of course I''ll help, after all I said help you reunite with your little girlfriend before." Hajime sighed in minor relief without refuting Alex''s words while Endou looked at them incredulously, as he obviously knew who Alex was referring to as Hajime''s ''little girlfriend'', since pretty much everyone knew how Kaori felt about Hajime by this point after he fell. Alex stood and said, "We''ll head out immediately after letting the others know what''s going on, and I''ll take both of you Anne and Kuroka for healing and to counter the demon woman''s magic." Though Alex was confident in his ability to resist minor mind control magic and poison, he wasn''t sure about petrifaction so he wanted Kuroka to come along just in case. The girls nodded at his words, both eager to go and finally meet a member of the infamous demon race for the first time. Endou however wasn''t sure what to think of these three people helping, as he assumed that while Hajime may have gotten stronger he was still below him in strength, and as a ''cheat-like'' existence in this world he wasn''t sure if they''d actually be of help. He didn''t say anything though as if nothing else they''d be useful for support, especially since Alex mentioned Anne was a healer. What Endou didn''t know at the time however was that for the next several hours he''d be forced to face the fact that he was the most useless one in their group. After letting the other girls know what they were doing, Alex and the others teleported straight to the 90th floor with the help of the magic circles they left on their first trip through. The first thing that was apparent as they magically appeared was the massive amount of aura coming from the floor above them, right before it disappeared. Chapter 219 - Rescue Shizuku grabbed Kouki''s armor and threw him back towards everyone as the time limit for his newly awakened skill ''Supreme Break'' ran out. She had just realized their mistake of entrusting everything to Kouki since he never held awareness that the demon race were also "people", and had fatally hesitated to kill the woman when he had the chance. She faced the woman as a cold look appeared in her eyes and she prepared her sword. The demon race woman had already recovered from Kouki''s previous attack and said mockingly, "Oh? That''s some nice killing intent you have there, you seem more deserving of the title of ''Hero'' than that idiot over there. Sadly I''m going to have to kill you now, Ahadt!" Calling out its name, the monster the demon race woman kept hidden during their first fight on the 90th floor started making its way towards Shizuku. It was not only large but it had four arms and a body like that of a gorilla while its head was like a horse with fangs. Shizuku readied her sword, while also silently lamenting not for the first time that it was a western style sword instead of the katana that her family''s dojo ''Yaegashi Sword Style'' favored. There was nothing but silence for a split second, before the monsters started moving and Shizuku vanished as the world blurred around her and she used her speed to rush towards the demon race woman. She also kept part of her focus on the monster Ahatd, as even at her maximum speed it was able to keep pace regardless of its size. Suddenly as she moved she could sense an attack coming towards her, and Shizuku slowed just enough to avoid the tentacles that one of the cat-like monsters tried to attack her with. She slashed at the tentacles, completely severing them, before resuming her attempt to attack the demon race woman as the other monsters started focusing on her as well. While having to avoid their attacks it was no wonder that Ahadt''s giant fist entered her field of vision, and Shizuku who specialized in speed and evasion had no choice but to try and guard with her sword and sheathe. But the expected impact never came, instead the world around her blurred at even faster speeds than she was capable of, as a split second later a large boom from Ahadt''s attack connecting with something rang out, while Shizuku suddenly found herself in a crouching position and facing another direction while what seemed to be an arm was wrapped around her. She was filled with nothing but confusion as she turned her head towards the sound of the impact, and saw the person that was crouching over her as if to shield her from the attacks, and the entire room was silent in response to this persons arrival. He was completely covered in thick muscle and had a head of untamable hair that gave a a bit of a wild look while also unflinchingly glaring at Ahadt. The silence continued for a few seconds, before it was broken by the sound of Shizuku''s best friend Kaori crying out, "HAJIME!" Which prompted Shizuku to look over and see a white haired eye patched guy and a girl with darker skin that had just arrived where her classmates were. The girl then called out, "Who needs healing? I''ll see to you immediately." While everyone was silent to begin with as they observed the one Kaori referred to as Hajime, the same classmate they thought had died four months prior, they turned towards the new voice and saw what appeared to be an exotic beauty dressed in very revealing clothes. It don''t take some of the boys long to seemingly forget the situation they were in and declare their yet to be treated cuts and bruises. This was cut short by Kaori, who gave Hajime a brief look of longing before directing the girl to those who needed attention the most; starting with Kouki who was weakened from ''Supreme Break'', and Suzu who was suffering from blood loss from earlier wounds. As her brain was attempting to process what exactly was going on, a thunderous boom suddenly sounded out once more, BOOM!!! Drawing Shizuku''s attention back towards the one who saved her, as Ahadt continuously tried to pound them into paste. However as it continued striking them the person above her never even flinched, before Ahadt raised all four of its arms while letting an intense bellow, before the man moved once more at speeds that not even Shizuku could keep up with and a concussion of sound nothing like the previous ones sounded throughout the cavern. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!! The entire tunnel shook as the aftershocks of the impact spread, but what grabbed everyone''s attention was the giant hole in the middle of Ahadt''s chest. Though Hajime and the woman didn''t react to the situation at all and calmly continued what they were doing, everyone else was staring dumbfoundedly as the seemingly unbeatable monster was killed in an instant. The one that was shocked the most however was the demon race woman as she couldn''t believe that the specially made monster that her revered superior gave her was killed so easily. While shaking with rage, she decided that even numbers can overwhelm strength and pointed at Alex before ordering, "KILL HIM!" To the rest of her monsters. All of them focused their complete attention on the man and started rushing forward, only to collapse while foaming at their mouths a second later. The man continued to slowly walk towards the demon race woman, who now seemed paralyzed with fear as the reapers scythe was nearing her neck. She decided to rely on her trump card, and started to quietly chant the lines needed for the high tier earth magic ''Final Prison''. As the man neared her she finished chanting the lines she cried out, "Final Prison!" And a cloud of gray smoke seemed to fly from her outstretched hand towards the man when he was less than ten feet away, causing Shizuku to try and warn him. However everyone''s expectations were once more betrayed, as the cloud stopped right before the man by what seemed to be an invisible wall. "What the-" the demon race woman said in surprise, before she realized that the cloud of gray smoke was moving closer as the invisible wall seemed to push it back as well. Panic surged through her heart as she tried to back up away from the smoke, before she hit an invisible wall behind her as well. "What?! No, NO! LET ME OUT!" She cried in desperation as the smoke closed in on her, but some small part of her wondered where this seemingly impossible barrier came from when a mocking tone sounded behind her and what appeared to be a cat Demihuman with two tails appeared, "Nyahahaha, looks good doesn''t it? Consider this payback for bringing those demon cats~Nyan." It was obvious to those watching how she was offended with her two tails twirling through the air behind her, similar to the demon cats with tentacles. The demon race woman, Cattleya, could only watch as her own attack closed in on her. Though she could hear the idiot hero in the background telling them to save her, neither the man nor the demihuman moved to save her. As the cloud of gray smoke started covering her she said to the man with confidence, "Whatever happens to me, my fianc¨¦ will kill you and all those you care about." The man simply smirked in response to her words, as the intense painful sensation of turning to stone overtook her senses. The last thing Cattleya saw before her vision went dark was what seemed to be white mist within the gray smoke. *** As the woman cursed him and swore her fianc¨¦ would get vengeance, Alex couldn''t help wondering ''why enter a war where you might die, if when you do it''s taken so personally?'' His thoughts were interrupted however when a shout came from behind him, "Please, turn her back with healing magic! There''s no need for anyone to die!" Ignoring the worthless hero''s words, Alex walked forward once the smoke dissipated and Kuroka removed the barrier. He then raised his hand and with only his finger flicked the statue of the demon race woman before it shattered. There was complete silence after Alex''s act, as even though it wasn''t bloody or overly dramatic, that didn''t change the fact that they had just witnessed someone dying. "Why? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL HER?!" Kouki practically shouted, which Alex continued to ignore as he turned towards Kuroka. "I want you to eliminate all traces of the battle here including the monsters. We need the demon race to think that she died from the lower floors instead of us or the heroes, since it would only cause more issues between the races." Kuroka groaned at all the work he was giving her, but then smiled instead as she drew closer and pressed her b.r.e.a.s.ts against him, "Alright, but I expect to get rewarded plenty later tonight~Nya." Alex smiled at the thought of "rewarding" her before Kuroka set off to do as he requested. One of his arms was then grabbed and enveloped in softness as Anne clung to him and said, "I finished healing those who needed it." Alex thanked her for her work, while also noticing how she was oddly seeming quite affectionate in front of others. Anne clung to Alex while occasionally a cold look would drift towards the students from her, as several tried to use supposed injuries as excuses to get close to her, one guy even wanted her to try and treat a wound he had supposedly sustained on his upper thigh directly. Then there was that one petite girl that gazed unashamedly at her cleavage while she treated her. Everyone''s gazes were then drawn to the scene of Kaori crying while clinging to Hajime in the background, and unlike in the original series he unhesitatingly wrapped his arms around her to comfort the girl. Shizuku smiled at her friends happiness and most of those around also looked at the scene with contention, with the exception of Hiyama and his gang, and Kouki who seemed torn on what to do before eventually making his way over to Alex. Sensing trouble Shizuku and a few others also made their way over as Kouki got in front of Alex and demanded, "You had her imprisoned and unable to fight back, why did you kill her?!" Alex sighed as he wasn''t looking forward to dealing with the idiot. Shizuku then said, "Stop Kouki, he just saved our lives so we should be thanking him." Kouki however said as if it was obvious, "Yes but he killed someone who was unable to resist, and who he could have easily captured with his abilities." Alex sighed and said, "Listen, cookie was it?" "It''s Kouki." Kouki said with a small amount of irritation. Alex nodded and said, "Touki?" "Kouki!" "Sushi?" "KOU-KI!" "Ok ok, Cookie." Ignoring Kouki''s continued irritation while Shizuku tried to calm him down, Alex continued, "Firstly what did you plan to do if she was kept alive, and secondly why should I have to do as you say and live by your standards?" Either ignoring or just flat out not noticing the sarcasm in Alex''s words, Kouki said, "You could have captured her and sent her to jail or something instead of just killing her, and it''s just a normal thing to not want someone to die!" Alex shook his head, and decided to try and slap some sense into Kouki. "If we sent her to jail then a life worse than death would be waiting for her, as she could provide valuable information about the demon race movements and plans. They would do anything and everything to pry the information from her, using torture and various other degrading practices like sending soldiers to bed her to break her spirit, suffering that would even be extended thanks to the healing magic available in this world. Then after they get what they want, they would probably continue the torture just for fun or send her straight to public execution to raise public moral. All of this would in fact make the problems with the demon race worse as she would then become a martyr and example of human cruelty even though they would probably be no different if they captured one of you. So even if I had captured her and handed her over to the soldiers, she probably would have died by their hands eventually anyways, as is the norm in wars. Or did you naively think that she would just be sitting comfortably while imprisoned for the rest of her life, or that she''d be free to go home after the war was over?" At Alex''s words a lot of students didn''t seem to know how to react to reality that he described, as it never seemed to hit them what being at "war" actually meant. The idiotic bundle of justice however stated, "I-I''m not naive! And the Knights and the kingdom would never do the things you described, they''re good-" "That''s enough Kouki!" Everyone turned towards the new speaker, and saw commander of the Knights Meld sitting where he had just been laying while dying a moment before. He had been used to get to Kouki and the others psychology, and was kept barely alive to do so. Since Hajime felt indebted towards Meld for never discriminating against the useless him, he used some of the god water he had on himself to save his life. "B-but Meld, he''s saying terrible things with no basis about the kingdom and the Knights." Meld shook his head at Kouki''s words and said, "What he described was pretty accurate, after all there would be no mercy for an enemy. It was things like this and killing that made me hesitate to continue your training, as I saw all of your innocence and regretted that we had selfishly involved you in our wars. Please, I am sorry!" Even while injured, Meld tried to prostrate towards the students who were forced to endure some hardsh.i.p.s because of their selfishness and his own negligence. Many of the students, Kouki included, tried to get Meld to raise his head and stop apologizing as they didn''t blame him for anything. Once they were done Meld then focused his attention on Alex and said, "Thank you for saving our lives, would you please honor me with your name?" Alex nodded, and introduced himself and the two girls, "This is Anne and Kuroka, and I''m the champion of the goddess Gabriel, Alex." Meld didn''t seem to know how to react to Alex saying he was a champion of a goddess he had never heard of, but settled with, "It is a genuine pleasure to meet you. I''d hate to ask, but would you be so kind as to lead us out, then I would like a chance to sit down and drink with you." Alex nodded and replied, "Of course, we''re only staying in town tonight though so we''ll have to do our drinking then." Meld nodded but want sure how Alex planned to leave from the 89th floor so quickly. His unasked question was quickly answered however when Kuroka returned to Alex''s side and said, "All done~Nyan. So to the surface now right?" Alex however shook his head and said, "To the tenth floor, it would look too suspicious if we took such a large group out of the labyrinth with no one seeing us." Kuroka nodded at Alex''s words, and before anyone could ask what they were talking about, a large magic circle spread from under Kuroka''s feet that grew to envelope all of them before everyone disappeared in a flash of light. The moment they vanished however the illusionary shattered fragments of the demon race woman''s statue flickered out of existence. Chapter 220 - Kaori moves As they made their way through the last ten floors of the labyrinth the students were filled with so many questions regarding Alex and the two girls that followed him, the first of which was his connection with their classmate Hajime. They got some answers however since Kaori spent the time back questioning Hajime about his survival and what he had been doing. Though he didn''t give too many answers, he did explain that Alex saved his life and that he''d been traveling with him since, this led to Kaori approaching Alex and and directly thanking him for saving Hajime. Other than this nothing interesting happened as they made their way through the top ten floors, until they left the labyrinth and practically an entire crowd of girls appeared as Rias, Grayfia, Yue, Shia, Tio, and Myuu at their lead came to greet them. "Papa!" Myuu cried as she rushed to jump in his arms. She had started referring to him as ''papa'' not long after eliminating the crime groups in Furhen due to the fact that her own father died shortly before she was born, this had led to several of the girls looking at him with gazes that were even more predatory than when Gabriel''s pregnancy was announced. Many of the surrounding people looked at them with warm gazes as they saw a daughter reuniting with her father after a hard day working in the labyrinth, until the other five women made their way over and most of them requested a kiss from Alex. This led to everyone being dumbfounded as they realized the scene instead was a man being greeted by his harem and what they now presumed was just one of his children. As for the students however this showed them just how superior Alex was to them as he apparently had more women following him than the two beauties they met before. Not everyone was happy however as Yue flew into his arms with tears in her eyes as she said, "... I now know how terrible this so call "black history" can be..." Alex was confused at her words and at her insistence that he check her status before he had to fight from laughing out loud, as she now had the ''Magical Girl Vampire Princess'' title added. Alex didn''t know what to say, but eventually decided on saying, "Well if it''s any consolation maybe you''ll get stronger from it; and besides," Alex then moved his head closer to Yue''s so no one else, Myuu especially, could hear him, "That outfit looked partially cute on you, maybe you should wear it next time we''re alone." Yue''s face turned red at Alex''s words as she didn''t want to wear such a thing again, but figured she might try it once when they were alone. Alex figured she might have just gained this title from Serafall possibly spreading the idea about Yue being a magical girl, then wondered if she possibly introduced the other new character he mentioned to her show yet. He decided to check with her about it later and directed everyone towards the adventurers guild to inform them of their return, after meeting with the guild head and explaining the story of how the demon race woman fled deeper into the labyrinth while Alex and his group fight the monsters, they were let go to relax for the evening. "I don''t know how I feel about lying like that about what happened." Meld said apprehensively after they reported what happened. Alex shrugged and replied, "Like I said, the goddess Gabriel wants the conflicts between the races to come to an end. Regardless of how things went if the demon race finds out I killed one of their own they''ll still blame humans and consider us to be on your side, even if though they were mostly criminals I''ve killed more humans myself than demon race people." By this point in the world of Tortus Alex had either killed himself or ordered the deaths of roughly a thousand people through the empire soldiers that came to take Shia and her family, and the crime groups of Furhen. Meld seemed to recall something and said, "Speaking of this goddess Gabriel, let''s go have that drink while we talk since I''d like to know more about her." After talking for a while Alex returned to the bar of the guild while Meld went to think about the things Alex told him, the fact that he was taking what he said and told him to do serious was a good sign. Alex leaned back in his chair and relaxed while drinking his alcohol and watched the minor festivities as the students celebrated living through their endeavor, while the girls visited among the females student a little while the guys were eyeing them as if they were debating talking to them or not. The one who was the center of attention however was Myuu who all the female students were fawning over due to her cuteness. Soon someone sat down at the table Alex was at, and he turned to see a certain female swords woman with a ponytail. Before he said anything she said, "Thank you, truly, for saving us. I know not everyone seemed to be thankful, but we are." Alex shrugged and said, "I promised to help Hajime reunite with Kaori, plus not all of you seem bad so it would have been a waste to do nothing." Shizuku nodded, but said with a small grimace, "Your talking about Kouki right?" It was kind of obvious Alex didn''t care much for Kouki, the fact that he purposely tried to antagonize him with his name was a good indicator. Before Alex could say anything Shizuku said, "He is dumb and could seem kind of headstrong and reckless, but he means well and he only wants to help people so please don''t think too badly of him." Alex however shook his head, and asked, "What does he think of all of you?" Shizuku was confused for a second before saying, "Kaori, Ryutarou, and I are childhood friends of his so we have a pretty good relationship, and he gets along well with mostly everyone in the class." Alex nodded, and said, "The thing I don''t like about Kouki isn''t that he''s headstrong and reckless, it''s a trait that lots of good people seem to share. It''s how each of you are supposedly important to him and yet, even if it wasn''t a conscious decision, he chose to sacrifice all of you just to feel better about himself. We all felt the power coming off of him when we arrived, he could have saved all of you easily yet held back just because he didn''t want to take a life. Then, though I don''t want to toot my own horn, he turned around and tried to condemn me for doing what he couldn''t when it was the actions of myself and my comrades that saved him and those he claims to care about. If he wants to throw away his own life then I wouldn''t bother, but he shouldn''t squander the lives of those he supposedly cares about." Shizuku was silent as she couldn''t think of a way to refute Alex''s words in defense of her friend, so she was somewhat grateful when he suddenly changed the subject, "By the way your fight was impressive when we arrived, though if you had a more suitable weapon then you might have done better." Shizuku was surprised at Alex''s words, and said, "Thank you, though I couldn''t do anything in the end. My family owns a dojo that specializes in using katanas so my fighting has felt off ever since I came to this world that only uses the western swords." Alex smiled at her words and didn''t let on that he knew more about her family''s practices than even she did, as they seemed to have a history steeped in Japan''s shadows as ninjas, though they always denied it. They continued talking for a while until the atmosphere was destroyed by the sound of several gunshots, as Hajime unloaded several rubber bullets onto a couple of the guys that usually hung out with Hiyama. It appeared they were trying to bug Kaori since she was staying so close to Hajime when they returned, they had also assumed that he was the same pushover as before so their actions seem to have been a little extreme. Leaving them lying on the floor, Hajime then started up the stairs to go to his own room for the night as he seemed to have had enough of being around his classmates. Seeing him go, Kaori sighed and made her way over to her best friend Shizuku, and said, "What should I do Shizuku? I''m glad Hajime is safe, but he seems so different than he was before, I''m starting to wonder if the same kind Hajime is even still there." Shizuku opened her mouth to try and cheer up her friend, but before she could say anything Alex said instead, "Though he''s not the exact same as before, that doesn''t mean he''s not as caring anymore as well. When he went through Orcus what drove him was how heartbroken you were from him falling, everything he''s done up until this point really was to try and return to you and say, "I''m alive"." At Alex''s words Kaori started thinking about things, and though he never stated what exactly happened besides Alex helping him, she deduced from his drastic changes physically that Hajime must have suffered quite a bit and this led to his changes in personality. Seeing Kaori''s attitude start improving, Alex then added a bombshell onto the girl, "If you want to be with him then I''d move fast, after all I''m sure there are at least a couple girls that would want to be with Hajime if given the chance to be, just like a certain person I recall running into at Ul." When she heard this Shizuku made a face, but then she shivered as she turned and saw Kaori''s ''Hanya Mask'' that had shown up on her face. If one paid attention they could possibly even see an oni standing behind her as she said, "I see." Before mechanically turning toward the stairs. Shizuku stood up and asked after her, "Wait Kaori where are you going?!" Kaori simply replied calmly, "I''m going to ensure that Hajime won''t be taken by any thieving cats." Though she wasn''t referring to her Kuroka turned and narrowed her eyes at Kaori''s words, while many miles away in Ul Sonobe Yuuka felt a chill go down her spine. Watching Kaori climb the literal stairs before climb the figurative stairs of a.d.u.l.thood, Shizuku realized that she never before thought she''d connect the word ''scary'' to the sweet and caring Kaori. Also noticing Kaori''s departure was the world''s densest protagonist that was Kouki, as he went to the stairs to stop her before Shizuku stood in his way. "Get out of my way Shizuku, Kaori''s about to make a huge mistake!" Shizuku shook her head however and said, "Though I do think she might be moving a little fast, it''s not for you to judge if what she does is a mistake Kouki. Besides Kaori has loved Hajime for years so there''s nothing wrong with her acting on her feelings." At Shizuku''s words Kouki looked genuinely confused and said as if it were obvious, "Shizuku, there''s no way Kaori would love a useless otaku like Hajime. Wouldn''t it be more likely that he or Hajime did something to her?!" While talking Kouki pointed at Alex who was just drinking while watching what was happening. Alex raised an eyebrow in response to Kouki''s accusations, before he turned towards him and declared, "Kaori, all those other girls, it''s suspicious that so many seem to follow you willingly so who knows what means you use to control them! Fight me, and if I win then you''ll let them go!" Without even waiting for Alex to say anything Kouki rushed towards him as everyone watched dumbfoundedly, only for everything to spin around before having face his planted on the floor as a vice like grip held him down. With silver hair entering his vision as he was pressed against the floor Grayfia said in a cold tone, "If you continue to make false accusations about my lord or attack him once again, then I will have to resort to using more force." Kouki was gasping as he tried to struggle from her grip, before saying, "You coward! Making one of the women you control fight me instead of doing so yourself, and miss I''m trying to help you so why are you against me?!" Grayfia only looked disgusted at Kouki, as she had never seen such a self entitled and delusional person before in her life. Alex however said lazily, "Grayfia let him up, or it''ll look like we''re bullying the weak." Soon the grip holding Kouki down was gone and he stood up. He then turned back towards Alex and was about to challenge him once more, before Shizuku said sternly, "Knock it off Kouki." Hearing his other childhood friend talk to him in such a way Kouki didn''t say anything, before turning towards the door and leaving them all behind. Shizuku sighed and quickly followed him to make sure he wouldn''t do anything stupid. Alex sighed as well and decided that since the atmosphere was ruined even more it was about time to head to bed themselves. As he went to their room the rest of the girls followed along while Anne held Myuu who was getting sleepy. After putting her to bed Alex turned towards the rest of the girls and said, "I have something I need to do so I''ll be in Asora for the rest of the night, Grayfia come with me since I have a job for you as well." Grayfia bowed slightly and said, "Of course my lord." While the rest of the girls said their good nights. As Alex and Grayfia were about to leave however Kuroka came up and said, "Wait~Nya, I have something I want to try so I''m coming too." Alex arched an eyebrow but didn''t say anything as the three of them disappeared into the mist. Chapter 221 - The Gifts After returning to Asora Alex immediately went to the training area with Kuroka and Grayfia following him. As they arrived they immediately saw Seekvaira who seemed to be waiting for all of them, and Alex turned towards Grayfia and said, "After I start working on my project you''ll go with Seekvaira to talk to our new guest. Tell her the reason we spared her and what we intend to do, you''ll also bring Nyx and use this as an example of our seriousness." Alex then handed her something that caused Grayfia''s eyes to widen, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "Yes my lord." After giving Grayfia her task, Alex then turned to an empty space and said with authority in his voice, "Nyx!" A second later the black haired goddess appeared as her master summoned her, but what surprised everyone present was that she was n.a.k.e.d and soaking wet with suds in her hair. It took her a minute to register what was happening, but when she did she screamed and tried to cover herself while her face turned Crimson from either shame or fury, or most likely both. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Alex sighed at the typical anime trope as gryafia stepped forward and used magic to dress her. Nyx then spat out, "You bastard! Not just once, but you shamed me twice!" Alex arched an eyebrow and said, "I didn''t do it on purpose, I have something I need you to help Grayfia with so you''ll be going with her, you can return to your bath after." Though Nyx kept glaring at him and muttering obscenities under her breath, she didn''t argue about doing what Alex asked even though it wasn''t an "order". This made him pleased as it meant he wouldn''t have to order her to do every little thing. He then turned to Kuroka and asked, "So what are you going to be doing?" She smiled evilly and answered, "I saw something interesting earlier so I want to train for a bit, I''ll also spend some time with Shirone before going back." Alex was curious about what she wanted to try, but let her keep her secret for now and went to his own training room to start working on a project. He then took out some metals and other materials before saying, "Let''s get to work!" *** Cattleya sat in her ''room'' bouncing what seemed to be a ball made of stuff she had never seen before. This had been how she spent most of the last week that she been stuck in this cavelike room she was in ever since she had woken up. She hoped she wouldn''t get taken prisoner after being petrified, and had been terrified after she woke up, but no one ever came to interrogate or torture her. Instead the room she was in had a fairly comfortable bed, a couple sofas as well as an area to prepare and eat the food that was left in here, even if she was unfamiliar with some of the things around her. The worst part of her imprisonment so far was that there were no doors or windows and she''d been here for what she could only assume was a week now and there had no new information from anyone visiting her. Suddenly she heard the sound of a door opening and turned to see three human women entering the room, two maids and a stern looking woman with brown hair and glasses. Cattleya assumed the stern looking woman was the one sent to interrogate her so she faced her, but the one that stepped forward was one of the maids instead, the one with silver hair. "I am Grayfia, this is Seekvaira, and this is Nyx." The other two women inclined their heads a little at their introductions, while Cattleya was silent from confusion until she realized they were waiting for her to introduce herself. "I am Cattleya of the glorious demon race, betrothed of Mikhail, and servant of the chosen of the gods Freed." Though she included the fact that she served her revered superior in her self introduction, all three of the women rolled their eyes at her words. She didn''t mind saying this much about herself, as during the time she was sitting here she thought about the fight and deduced the only reason she lost was because the monster that defeated her was most likely a labyrinth conquerer like her revered superior. If this was the case then they most likely knew that the demon race had a labyrinth conquerer as well, so she decided to tell them the name of the one to defeat them, as no matter how strong they appeared she decided they would be no match against her boss. The silver haired maid, Grayfia, then said, "Well Cattleya, let''s get on with why we''re here, and why you''re still alive." Cattleya narrowed her eyes, and said, "I''ll never talk you know, it''ll be better to just kill me now." Gryafia however shook her head and said, "My lord doesn''t want that, though I doubt you''ll believe me he wants to bring an end to the conflicts between the races of Tortus such as demon race and the humans, and he wants your help to do so." Cattleya raised an eyebrow at her words and asked skeptically, "Why would you humans want to end the war?" There was more she was going to ask, but before she could a terrifying pressure started radiating off of the three women in front of her, and Grayfia said, "We. Are. Not. Humans!" While leathery bat like wings sprouted from her and Seekvaira''s backs. In the face of such pressure and an overbearing tone from Grayfia, Cattleya fell back onto one of the sofas in brief fear. The three then sat on the sofa opposite of her and Grayfia continued calmly after making her point, "I think you get the point, but back on track. Your wars between the humans and demon race, as well as the persecution of the demihuman races are the result of the God of Tortus inciting conflict for self entertainment. My lord intends to remove this tumor eventually, but he also wishes to undo the damage that has been caused by him such as the conflicts between the races." Taking advantage of the fact that Cattleya was still silent from the earlier display, Grayfia then launched into an explanation of Ehito''s history and his involvement in Tortus. By the time she finished Cattleya mildly surprised them by saying, "I already know about those lies, my superior warned me that the traitors who built the labyrinths would try to sway me from the righteous path we have set ourselves on." Gryafia was slightly surprised that Cattleya already knew somewhat about the truth, but her explanation made sense. She then said, "This "righteous path" will only lead to the destruction of your entire people, either at the hands of the god you so fanatically follow, or at the hands of my lord if your people persist to plague the world after his death." Though Cattleya flinched when Grayfia casually mentioned her people being wiped out, she then stated with fervor, "God cannot die! No matter how strong your master appears to be he will never rise to the heights of the almighty divine! And your words are cheap when you say you want peace then immediately turn around and state that you''d destroy us if we refuse to bow to your will!" Grayfia then replied coldly while pointing at Nyx, "This is a God of the world we come from, and she is now simply my lords slave." As her words dropped Cattleya looked at Nyx in confusion while Grayfia took a jewel out of her personal storage and said, "This is all there is of another god of our world, the god that rules the land of the dead even, after he made an enemy of my lord."Cattleya looked at the jewel with more confusion than when she looked at Nyx, while Nyx looked at it with a pale face. Grayfia then continued, "Even if your God cannot die, he will still face defeat at my lords hands, and be sealed into a jewel such as this for the rest of his pathetic existence." Grayfia then stood while Nyx and Seekvaira also stood and started walking towards the door. She then waved her hand and a magic circle appeared that left a projector that started projecting images on one of the cave walls. "These are past fights my master has participated in, and some of his opponents were other gods as well. Study them, and when we talk next tell me if you still believe your god is untouchable. Until then you''ll stay here, Seekvaira will return every now and then to fill your food stores and you can tell her at those times if you''re willing to cooperate." Leaving those words behind as the door closed, Cattleya was studying the images being played for her, as she watched the hateful man that defeated her turn into a giant apelike monster before swatting a supposed god out of the sky with ease before unceremoniously sitting on them. Not knowing that her room was placed in a time formation that would turn each day into an entire month, Cattleya''s isolation began. *** Shizuku returned to her room after trying to console Kouki, who had been brooding over Kaori''s love for Hajime. She had tried to convince him to think more about his actions in the future and question his own sense of justice instead of simply assuming he was always right. As she dressed for bed Shizuku looked around and noticed how lonely her room felt since Kaori went to Hajime''s room, then her face turned Crimson as she imagined what they were doing right now before shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts. After dressing she crawled into her bed, and not for the first she missed her stuffed animal collection as she fell asleep. As the sun rose she got up and tiredly made her way to her trunk to get ready for the day, while also noticing that even now Kaori wasn''t back yet. It wasn''t until she started taking off her pajamas that Shizuku turned around and noticed several things sitting on the table that weren''t there last night, three blades like katanas, a box, and a stuffed bear. Shizuku approached the table and examined the times with a sense of wonder, ignoring the fact that they were most likely placed here while she slept. There was a katana that seemed to be 80cm long, a wakizashi that was about 50cm long, and finally a tant¨­ about 30cm long. Shizuku picked up the tant¨­ and slowly drew it from its sheath to see that it had a black metallic sheen to it, as well as a magic circle placed at the very bottom of the blade. Though she was curious to see what it did she put it back in the sheath and swore to either test it or take it to an appraiser later. A brief examination showed that the katana and the wakizashi were the same black with magic circles on the blades. Shizuku then opened up the box, and felt a sense of incongruity as she saw a set of ten kunai sitting within it. She couldn''t help thinking to herself ''am I supposed to be a ninja?'' Even though she still picked one up to examine. She then closed the box and turned her attention to the thing most out of place, the stuffed bear that had a cute design while it held a card. Shizuku picked up the bear and held it with one hand while the other opened the card and she read it, -After our talk I figured you might want to use some real weapons so I prepared these last night. It felt kind of awkward to just give a girl a bunch of cold metallic weapons though, so I added the bear. You like things that are cute right? Chapter 222 - Departure From Horlad It was already noon when Alex and the rest were ready to leave Horlad, and Kaori unhesitatingly prepared to join them to stay with Hajime. As she said her goodbyes to her classmates Alex looked around and was unsurprised that Hiyama and his gang, as well as Kouki weren''t there to say goodbye. The last one to arrive was Shizuku who looked at Alex and sincerely said, "Thank you for the weapons!" While bowing. Alex smiled and said, "Don''t be so formal, by the way did you like the stuffed bear?" A red tinge appeared on Shizuku''s cheeks as her classmates seemed to key in on their conversation, while Kaori suddenly piped up, "Oh! Alex is the one that gave you the bear you were cuddling earlier?! It''ll be a good addition to your collection-!" Kaori didn''t get to say anything more after this as Shizuku slapped her hands over her mouth to prevent her leaking more of her secrets, and further ruin her ''cool beauty'' image that she had. The damage had been done though as those gathered started giving Shizuku weird looks while she looked at Alex before she blushed even harder after seeing him also smiling at her. Behind him Rias''s brows started twitching while Yue muttered, "...Last boss...?" To which the Crimson haired woman seemed to agree with her on. Alex then pulled out the large vehicle the Grigori prepared and had everyone pile into it. Kaori took a few more minutes since she didn''t seem to want to part from Shizuku, before Alex said, "If you don''t want to separate so much, why doesn''t she just come with us as well?" Everyone looked at Alex in surprise after he said his suggestion, to which Kaori said excitedly, "Can she really? Come on Shizuku it''ll be fun with both of us going!" Shizuku however looked torn and said, "But Kouki and everyone, what about them?" Alex shrugged and replied, "Meld mentioned returning to the castle after this incident so I doubt they''d be in any danger for a while, and Kouki could probably use some time to think for himself to mature a bit." Though Alex said this, one reason he was interested in having Shizuku go with them was to get her out of the class''s traitors line of fire, as he had no intention of stopping their next actions. As this thought crossed his mind Alex glanced briefly at the chief conspirator, Eri Nakamura. Though he knew what she was planning he didn''t bother trying to stop it as her actions would actually end up helping them by removing the most faithful followers of the church in the upper levels of nobility, including the king. While Alex was thinking about future events, Shizuku was thinking on his words before reasoning that maybe a bit of time to work things over by himself might help Kouki since she would always be his crutch and help him in most situations. She then said, "Ok, but I need to get my stuff." Alex nodded and told Grayfia to help her. Only a few more minutes and they were ready to depart. As he pulled away everyone was waving goodbye while some were slightly regretful that both Shizuku and Kaori were leaving. Kaori then asked, "So are we staying in vehicle the whole time?" Though the vehicle was large enough to accommodate all of them, it did seem a little cramped with everyone piled in it, especially with Anne''s motion sickness. Alex however said, "We''re going about an hour out of town then we''ll switch over to another vehicle that''s larger, I just didn''t want to cause a commotion by summoning it in the town itself." Kaori and Shizuku looked confused at Alex''s words as they tried to imagine what he was going to use that would have such an impact. Later everyone else had quite a bit of fun at their expense when they both fell backwards after seeing the massive flying ship appear from nowhere, meanwhile Myuu was excited to see it since sh.i.p.s were a normal sight for her from living on the sea. *** Meld sat in his room thinking after everyone already left, the two things Alex gave him sitting on the table. The first was a necklace like a locket, similar to the ''Last Loyalty'' most higher ups within the kingdom used in the event they were taken captive. According to Alex however this one was different in that it would apparently protect the wearer from external mental influences. The other item was a stack of papers with a magic circle drawn on them; this in itself wasn''t unusual since some spells were prepared in a similar manner before a battle, but these ones would allow Meld to contact Alex no matter the distance. Putting aside how amazing such items were to begin with, what was on Meld''s mind was what Alex said to use them for when the time came. ''There will be a time in the near future where I''m to be branded a heretic by the church and they hunt for me and those that travel with me. When that happens get princess Liliana and Aiko, and get out of the Heiligh Kingdom. Contact me once you''re safe and I''ll come to deal with it, trust me when I say that there is more to this than you think.'' Meld knew there was more to this than he was aware of, but it was the part he didn''t know that bugged him. Alex could be asking him to betray his kingdom and the royal family by kidnapping Liliana for him, while Aiko might be used to control the apostles. But he also didn''t think that Alex would have such motives, as with the strength he displayed Meld doubted he would need to use such methods to acquire power. He eventually decided to keep the items close and keep an ear to the ground for the moment until he could have general idea of what Alex was expecting. Meld''s thoughts then turned towards the ideas Alex described to him, about a world where they didn''t go to war just because their God said to. To him the idea of a goddess no one seemed to remember that was also the mother of all sentient races was a little far fetched, but after spending time around Kouki and the students he thought that following such a goddess that only wanted peace wouldn''t be so bad. *** Amanogawa Kouki grit his teeth in frustration as for the first time in his life he felt raw anger, and it was all Alex''s fault. He had spent the night before and the morning pondering the words his childhood friend of ten years said to him about his own sense of justice, and what she said about Kaori liking Hajime for years even when they were in Japan. Then as he was about to accept it he heard the same childhood friend suddenly preparing to leave with Alex and Hajime, and stood shell shocked as the truth hit him, Shizuku was being controlled just like those other women. After all there was no way both HIS Kaori and HIS Shizuku would decide to suddenly leave, and there was no way HIS Shizuku would tell him to question his own justice. He also recalled Alex saying he brought Hajime back specifically to meet HIS Kaori, and realized that Alex must have wanted Hajime to join him and Hajime''s price was to obtain HIS Kaori! Alex then must have done something to make HIS Kaori cling to Hajime and obtain her, then later when they were talking Alex must have done something similar to HIS Shizuku to get her to follow him as well. Coming to this realization Kouki declared to no one in particular, "I won''t let villains like you get their way! I''ll train harder and once I meet you two again I''ll put an end to your villainy and Kaori and Shizuku will return to their rightful place at MY side! I''ll also free those other girls and they''ll no longer have to suffer under your control!" Lost in his own delusions, Kouki started trying to plan to get Kaori and Shizuku back, an idea that developed due to his own jealousy and unreasonableness. *** Meanwhile the two girls that were "suffering" under Alex and Hajime''s control, were laughing and smiling at the scenery as they sailed through the sky towards their next destination. Meanwhile Myuu who had never been so high up was scared at first, but then Alex took her for a short flight with just the two of them for a while before she became used to the situation, surprisingly she seemed to like flying more while wrapped in her papa''s arms than when on the deck of a large ship. After a while Shizuku asked, "So where are we going?" To answer her question Alex pulled out the map of Tortus and spread it on a table while everyone gathered around him. He then pointed at a point in a near blank area of the map and said, "First we''ll head to the largest oasis city of the Guryuu-en Great Desert, Ancadi, then we''ll move onto the third great labyrinth, Grand Gruen Volcano. From there we''ll move to Myuu''s hometown to return her to her mother and onto the Sunken Ruins of Melusine." Hearing that they were going straight to the desert next, the girls started making plans to beat the heat while simultaneously making their way to the baths. Alex was about to join them as usual, but caught himself when he recalled that not everyone present was his lover. He instead turned towards Hajime and said, "While they''re taking a bath let''s go to Asora for a bit, I have something I want to show you." Before Hajime could reply the two were immediately surrounded by the mist. (A.N. For those who keep saying to kill Kouki, I can''t just kill him off immediately just because he''s annoying, I have to flesh out a reason to otherwise it''ll just create unnecessary friction between the characters since Kaori and Shizuku still see him as a good friend. And even if I don''t kill him off I plan to deal with him one way or another, just have patience. Chapter 223 - Red Thunder Destroyer When the mist dissipated Alex and Hajime found themselves standing in front of an empty lot of land that was fenced in. Hajime looked around curiously since he never actually spent time in Asora before, when Alex gestured towards the lot and said, "Here''s what I wanted to show you, this lot of land is yours to build a new home for yourself and Kaori. Well you might want to include a few extra rooms in case your parents and the in-laws decide to move here as well." At Alex''s words Hajime looked towards the lot with his one eye wide, and he asked skeptically, "You''re really giving me this area to build a house, just like that?" Alex nodded and said, "There''s only a few thousand people in Asora so there''s not as much value towards property like on earth, and since you''ll be one of the main fighting forces as well as the best craftsmen when it comes to weapons and magic items, it''s only natural you''d get your own place. Usually I''d have the house built for you ahead of time, but I figured that as a transmutation master you''d probably gut it and add your own installations." Hajime didn''t say anything to Alex''s words, as his head was already swimming with ideas to add to his future home. Alex smiled and decided to leave him to it while he completed the other thing he wanted to do while in Asora, he then turned around and walked away while Hajime was still examining the area and muttering ideas under his breath. For the next half an hour Hajime was walking around while muttering constantly as he measured the area he had to work with and mentally formed his designs, until he felt several small presences making their way over to him causing him to end his stupor and look over to see a bunch of children. "LOOK! Red Thunder Destroyer is really here!" With that as the starting cry the rest of the kids surrounded him while Hajime himself was stupefied at their actions while also trying to make sense of what they were saying. Then one asked, "Red Thunder can you do the thing?" As he had no idea what they were referring to while a small amount of apprehension started creeping up from the way they acting, before several women came over and started apologizing for their children''s actions. Hajime didn''t mind their apologies and nearly demanded, "What the hell are they talking about ''Red Thunder''?" The women looked confused at his question, as they thought he was cosplaying the character, before one took out a device like a phone and showed him a brief video of himself fighting against two magical girls. He recognized one as Yue, but didn''t know who the other one with black hair in twin tails was; as the video went on it showed himself as an antagonist as he tried to take over the world with a golem army before magical girls ''Levia-tan'' and ''Yu-tan'' stopped him. The women looked up at him after stopping the video, only to find Hajime standing while looking like a dead person, if one looked closely they might even see some of his spirit leaving his mouth. "How did this happen?!" Hajime wondered out loud, as he was already very aware of how questionable his current appearance was; with his white hair, eyepatch, artificial arm, and even a long trench coat to complete the chunni look, now he even seemed to have appeared in a children''s show as the antagonist and even had a second name. As he fell to his knees in defeat, he then realized who the culprit most likely was, and a slight killing intent was being given off. *** Alex was walking back towards the spot he left Hajime while Millicas walked beside him and Kunou happily sat on his shoulders, even though she had grown quite a bit since they first met several years prior. Even though he tried to use the son of satan to draw her affections, she still insisted on being with him when she grew up, much to her mothers amus.e.m.e.nt. Currently she was happy as Alex was taking them with him to Tortus to spend time with Myuu so that she got a chance to interact with other children. Grayfia agreed to let Millicas join them since they already had one child to take care of, and they were currently using Zenith to travel so there would be quite the safe area for the kids to play. Hearing she gave her consent it wasn''t hard to convince Yasaka to let Kunou join them as well, much to the fox girl''s joy. As they neared the spot where Alex left Hajime however several sounds rang out, BANG BANG BANG Several bullets surrounded in Crimson lightning flew towards Alex before he simply held up a hand and caught all of the rubber bullets. The moment he did so however Hajime suddenly appeared right next to him before trying to deliver a kick to Alex''s side, which he simply held out a hand and caught. The entire time Kunou never even felt any movement from her seat. Alex was about to ask what the hell he was doing, but Millicas beat him to it. "Hey! It''s Red Thunder Destroyer from Magical Girl Levia-tan!" With his sentence and the fact Alex just noticed all the children in the spot Hajime was just at, he immediately understood what happened. Hajime then growled before nearly yelling towards the end of his sentence, "Why? Of all things why am I now an antagonist for a children''s show with such a cringe worthy name?!" Alex however arched an eyebrow and he asked while pretending to be genuinely confused before changing to a smile, "I thought you liked second names though? Didn''t you even tell the Haulia about how awesome they were?" Hearing Alex''s words and seeing the smile that wasn''t a smile, the majority of Hajime''s rage suddenly disappeared as he recalled the things he told the Haulia so long ago. He then fell to his knees once more at the realization that what was happening was a situation of his own making, as Alex walked around him to explain what was going on to the mothers. After the mothers left with their children, Alex walked back towards Hajime with Kunou still on his shoulders and Millicas joined him with confusion obvious on their faces. "Papa!" A voice rang out as they appeared on Zenith, indicating the girls had finished their bath. Alex then caught the small body that was flying towards him while also ensuring Kunou didn''t fall from up top, and both her and Millicas looked at the girl with emerald green hair in front of them. They had heard about Myuu from Alex before so they weren''t too surprised, instead Myuu turned to look at the two new children curiously while also hugging her papa. Alex smiled and said, "Myuu this is Millicas and Kunou, I brought them here so that you have someone to play with until we get you home." Kunou immediately hopped down from Alex''s shoulders and greeted her along with Millicas. While the children got to know each other the rest of the girls made their way over, where both Kaori and Shizuku froze suddenly. Kaori hurriedly made her way to Hajime who was still in shock over ''Red Thunder Destroyer'', while Shizuku was staring at Kunou intently, or more accurately her ears and tail. "Cute..." She muttered in such a small voice that only Shia with her rabbit ears heard her. It only took a moment, but suddenly all three kids ran off to play immediately after being introduced even though there was a bit of an age gap between Myuu and the other two. Grayfia followed after them to spend time with her son and to ensure they didn''t get into any trouble, while Alex said to Kaori, "I''m going to take my bath now, I''ll leave him to your care." Kaori then tried to guide Hajime towards their shared room while Alex went towards the bath. Since Zenith was a magical familiar ship that would change based off of his magic power, there was a decently sized bath as well as several rooms for those who were traveling with Alex to stay in. Alex had just settled into the hot and started relaxing when he heard the door close behind him. Chapter 224 - Fun in the bath Alex looked towards the door and smiled at the busty black haired beauty that walked over nonchalantly as he unashamedly took in the view of her uncovered body, especially the pink tips of her large b.r.e.a.s.ts, and the slit at the fork of her legs. Seeing Alex gaze at her body so intently, Tio had a slight red blush in her cheeks as her arms twitched nervously. (A.N. You thought it was Shizuku but it was me, Tio!) Though she acted so perverted and straightforward, this was in fact the first time she had ever shown her n.a.k.e.d body to a man in her 500 years of living. When she also took into consideration the advice from those that had slept with Alex already, Tio was feeling a distinct mix of nervousness and anticipation, something made obvious to Alex by the line of fluid already running down her leg. As she approached Alex asked while grinning, "So what brings you here Tio, I thought the girls already had their baths?" Tio smiled as she knelt down and wrapped her arms around his shoulders while her b.r.e.a.s.ts with the already erect n.i.p.p.l.es squished into his back, this allowed him to clearly see the slave mark on the back of her hand as Tio whispered seductively in his ear, "Isn''t it mine duty as a slave to attend to mine master while thee is bathing?" In response to her words Alex simply turned his head towards hers and sealed her lips with a gentle kiss, though Tio froze for a second at her first kiss, she soon melted into it and tried to clumsily heat it up. After a brief tongue war with her, Alex separated their mouths and whispered something into Tio''s ear that caused her to shudder slightly. Due to the compulsion of the slave mark she moved her body while Alex lifted himself mostly out of the water, his rod already doing a proud salute to Tio''s amazing figure. She entered the water herself and made her way to Alex''s front before kneeling between his legs and looking at his staff with even more interest than he showed towards her body earlier. "This worthless slave will now service mine master as well as I can." Tio said, before gripping her own b.r.e.a.s.ts and holding them out of the water for Alex to see. He didn''t have long to appreciate them however before he felt his staff become engulfed within the twins and Tio started to slowly move them up and down Alex''s length. Alex leaned back on his elbows and enjoyed the smooth sensations of Tio''s b.r.e.a.s.ts on him for several minutes, with her seeming to improve her handling with each passing second. She then leaned down with her head, and stuck out her pink tongue before giving his head a small lick, then another. She then started using her tongue to help pleasure him before finally taking the tip into her mouth. It didn''t take long for Tio to stop focusing on her b.r.e.a.s.ts, as she tried to work her mouth down his shaft. Alex looked down at her and felt a small itch in his heart, as the princess of the dragon race continued to work her lips down his length. Alex was starting to like the feeling of having women in powerful positions use their mouths to service him, though perhaps that was just the sadist Akeno brought out in him speaking. Seized by a sudden urge to try something he hadn''t done yet wth any of his other women, Alex then gently grabbed Tio''s head, and forcefully started to move it back and forth while he also moved his h.i.p.s. Tio was surprised at his actions at first, but then contently let him do as he wished while one of her hands started fondling her own b.r.e.a.s.t, and the other disappeared into the water before she used it to simultaneously pleasure herself. This continued for a couple minutes as Alex literally f.u.c.k.i.e.d Tio''s face, before he felt like his finish was coming and unconsciously thrusted his full length into Tio''s mouth as the tip partially down her throat before he unloaded himself. At the sudden situation Tio couldn''t breath momentarily while her masters fluid was also pumped into her throat, causing her to cough somewhat when he pulled himself from her mouth. When she looked up at she didn''t have the look of blame most girls would have, but of adoration at how her master treated her as something to be used for his own pleasure. She was always being catered to and had to meet the social expectations as the princess of the dragon race, so her newfound position always left her feeling a sense of freedom since she was acting as she pleaded with no restraint. However Tio was also a woman, so she couldn''t help but ask for more as she got out of the water and bent over the edge while reaching behind herself and spreading open her cheeks, giving Alex a perfect view of her drooling lower lips and the wrinkled little hole above them. She then said, "Please use this slave as thee wishes, master." Looking greedily at the sight she presented, Alex walked over and started rubbing her lower lips lightly causing Tio to shudder, but said to her, "As much as I want to take you up on your offer, I''m planning something special for our first time so I''ll have to pass." Tio shuddered once more at her masters "neglect" play as he refused to give her what she craved even after building up to it, though she also couldn''t help but look forward to what he was apparently planning. She then shifted her hands slightly and said, "If thee wishes to wait master, then perhaps thou can use this until then?" Alex was surprised Tio made such an offer, as she attempted to spread her butthole for him to use. He then grinned as he moved the hand that was rubbing her lower lips and started to spread the fluid that now covered them on the wrinkled hole to loosen it up. It seemed to easily accept his finger into it however, causing Alex to ask in a teasing tone, "Have you been playing with your ass Tio?" This caused the dragon girl to blush slightly as she explained, "After that time when this one met master, I wished to experience the same sensations master made when thou stuck thee''s entire arm up mine ass. This one could never reproduce the same pleasure though." Alex was surprised that Tio was so far gone as to actually play with her own ass, but didn''t question it as he aimed his staff at her backdoor and started slowly entering while Tio m.o.a.ned in pleasure. Once he was about halfway in he stopped, causing Tio to look back in confusion, before suddenly thrusting the rest of his length into her, causing Tio to cry out, "MINE ASS!" In pleasure. He then started thrusting in and out while using his hold on her h.i.p.s to guide her along, Tio having had to put her hands on the edge of the bath just to support herself while her ass was being drilled. He then let go with one hand and raised it, before swinging it and slapping Tio''s ass while he pounded her, earning him a deep m.o.a.n from her before repeating the process. For several minutes the bathroom was filled with m.o.a.ns and the sound of flesh slapping as Alex pounded Tio while continuously smacking her ass, swapping hands occasionally so that soon her entire rump was bright red. She then cried out, "Master, this one feels something coming!" Alex didn''t say anything and just sped up the pace of his thrusts as he also started approaching climax. Less than a minute later Tio let out a deep throaty m.o.a.n as she felt the most intense climax she ever had, causing her to clench her ass around Alex''s rod as he filled it with his seed immediately after Tio''s climax. She then seemed to go slightly limp as the waves of pleasure continued through her body, so Alex turned around and sat at the edge of the bath while keeping her on his lap. It took several minutes for her to finally regain control of herself, as she turned to face him and said, "Master, this one thinks that doing it this way might be addicting." Alex just laughed slightly and replied, "Just wait until you see what I have planned for you, you''ll experience pleasure and punishments that you''ve probably never even conceived before." Tio''s eyes lit up at his words, but she didn''t say what made her experience with him so possibly addicting, when he shot his loads into her throat and ass she felt her body absorb some kind of energy from the substance that was similar to her own. Not knowing she was receiving Alex''s dragon energy similarly to Akeno, Tio''s eyes shined as she wanted more. She then stood from Alex''s lap, simultaneously pulling his still stiff rod out from her ass with a small pop, and bent down between his knees once more to take it into her mouth again without and hesitation. In order to get more of his energy she decided this would be the best way since the other method she experienced so far was so exhausting. Alex chuckled slightly after seeing that the service wasn''t over yet, and simply leaned back and closed his eyes to enjoy Tio''s mouth. Suddenly Tio had an idea to make this even more pleasurable for her master and to maybe make him finish faster, so she silently triggered a small part of her dragon transformation. "Ah!" Alex twitched in surprise to the sensations he was feeling as he looked down at Tio questioningly, to which the sensations vanished as she removed her mouth from his staff, and stuck out an elongated forked tongue. She then swiftly engulfed him once more and he felt her tongue actually wrap around him and start stroking him as if to milk his seed from him. Alex had to say he quite enjoyed this new sensation, and couldn''t help but wonder if he could replicate the next time he was with his women. Promising himself to try it next time, he went back to simply enjoying Tio''s service as she milked as much s.e.m.e.n as possible from him before Rias finally showed up and stated that they had been in the bath long enough. *** "WAHOOOOOOO!" Someone cried as Zenith flew through the air towards the next destination. It would take a couple days get to reach Ancadi so everyone was looking for ways to pass the time on the ship. The children were playing with Rias while Grayfia watched over them, Yue was training her magic control, Tio was simply walking around and visiting while also refusing to take a seat for some reason, Hajime was working on a new project while Kaori and Shizuku talked nearby, and the one that just shouted, Shia, was using her Devils wings to fly around the ship and enjoy herself while also practicing air combat by dealing with any overly curious monsters. Anne was sitting next to Alex enjoying the fact that riding on Zenith didn''t make her sick, while also writing down various information about the plants she had collected during their travels. Since one of her abilities allowed her to automatically know every detail about any plant on the world she was in, she decided to use such an ability to write a book to leave behind for the worlds inhabitants after leaving. Such information included how to make medicines, salves, potions, tea, and even poisons that would only be effective against monsters. Alex smiled as he watched her work, not noticing someone look at him briefly before looking away with a slight blush to her cheeks. Shizuku had gone to discuss the specifics of her new weapons with Alex the night before, but since he was still in the bath she decided to wait until he finished. This had led to her overhearing many disturbing noises coming from the bathroom, before fleeing to her room for the rest of the night and hugging her new stuffed bear close for comfort. Since then she been unable to look in either Alex or Tio''s direction before looking away feeling both extremely embarrassed and an itch to protect her own rear. It was when she was feeling this particular itch that a large hand landed on her shoulder and nearly made her jump out of her chair in shock. "YES!?" She cried out in surprise, earning a weird look from those around her. Alex didn''t let his expression falter though, and continued what he was trying to ask her. "Would you like to train with me?" Shizuku blanked for a second, before replying, "I don''t think that training with me will help you much." Alex however shook his head and said, "The training will be more for you, and besides I could always learn how to be a better swordsman from you, though we both can use swords my skill is a far cry from yours." Shizuku gave Alex a small smile at his compliment, before standing to face him. Alex then pulled out a couple of wooden practice swords before tossing one to her and walking over to a clear area. Chapter 225 - Spar As Alex and Shizuku faced each other they quickly became the center of attention on the ship, with even Shia returning to the deck to watch the sparring match. Since Alex knew his attacks would be too heavy for the current Shizuku to take, he adopted a more defensive stance and waited for her to attack. He didn''t have to wait long before she activated her skill ''No Beat'' and suddenly disappeared from her spot as everyone except Alex and a couple others lost her, before he made the smallest motion with his sword and blocked an attack from the side. Not surprised Alex was able to follow her speed, Shizuku didn''t show any reaction to being blocked before suddenly disappearing once more and attacking from another direction. Only a few seconds ticked by and the ship was filled with nothing but seemingly never ending sound of the wooden swords hitting each other, both of which would have long since broken if they hadn''t been fortified beforehand. "Tch." Seeing that her attacks weren''t getting through while Alex made barely any movements, Shizuku decided to try another approach even if she didn''t care that much for it the day before. Less than a second later Alex caught something that was flying towards him from the right, while also shifting his sword to catch Shizuku''s from the left. He smile as he held up the kunai for her to see and said, "I take it you liked these as well, since you''re already using them in a sparring match." Shizuku didn''t say anything before moving once more, right before several more kunai came flying at him from multiple directions along with Shizuku''s sword as well. A second later she was dumbfounded as he blocked her attack once more, with his sword in his teeth and all the kunai she threw in his hands. Shizuku along with both Hajime and Kaori twitched their brows as they imagined a certain green haired swordsman after seeing how Alex blocked her attack, with a smirk that showed even through the sword handle in his mouth. Ignoring their reactions, Alex spit out the training sword and said while handing over the kunai to Shizuku, "We''ll call it here now that I''ve seen what you can do." Shizuku nodded while accepting the weapons and said, "Thank you for the honor of sparing with you." Alex shook his head at her words while also thinking he needed to get her to start acting cuter. He then said, "Don''t mind it since I''m just adding to the strength of our group, speaking of which I have a few ideas about how to improve your strength if you''re interested." Shizuku nodded as she gave Alex an intense look, contrary to how she was avoiding gazing at him earlier due to embarrassment. "I can see that you''re trying to base your combat around your family''s sword style and your high levels of speed, which means you need to focus on training both of those specifically if you want to improve. Luckily for you I specialize in training the body over skills." He then pulled out a couple of plain metal bands and held them out to her. Shizuku accepted them hesitantly since she didn''t have the habit of wearing jewelry very much, due to the fact that it''ll be a hazard during combat. This thought reminded her of something someone said to her in the past that she still recalled occasionally, ''you are a girl?''. She shook her head slightly to remove those thoughts and accepted the bands while saying, "Thank you very much." Alex smiled at seeing her accept them before explaining, "Fit them around your ankles and never take them off unless you''re in real combat. It''ll only take a few days of training but there should be some effect." Shizuku was suspicious slightly of Alex''s words, a feeling made stronger due to the rest of the girls smirking slightly as she knelt down and wore the anklets. At first nothing happened so she walked around a bit to see if they did anything, before suddenly her feet felt like they were being held in place by something heavy and she nearly fell forward. Before Shizuku hit the ground however a muscular arm reached out and caught her, causing her to get a bit fl.u.s.tered in response as she stammered her thanks to Alex, seemingly forgetting about what just happened to her feet. The smirks on the other girls faces suddenly disappeared as they saw how contrary her appearance was to when she was being so formal a second ago. After she recovered, though her cheeks still had a tinge of red, Alex then explained about the anklets, "Those anklets are made with gravity magic, increasing the gravity on the feet of the one wearing them by ten times. As you get used to them we can swap them out with stronger ones to further increase your speed. Though I''m not sure how effective this method would be on a normal human, you''re one of the ''cheat-like'' apostles so you should be fine." Shizuku frowned at his words and said, "It feels like there''s a lot there that I should retort at, but I suppose I''ll just leave it at how you should have warned me before it nearly took my foot off, and also a thanks." Alex smiled at Shizuku and continued discussing training exercises, while the girls started muttering amongst themselves suspiciously and Kaori muttered in a voice that not even Hajime heard, "Looks like spring came for Shizuku too, fufufufu." *** ''Is this heaven, or hell?'' Two days after the sparing match Hajime was thinking those words to himself as the sounds of the girls playing around reached his ears. He didn''t dare turn around to look however, as they were all dressed nothing but swimsuits due to the heat of the desert they were flying over. Normally this wouldn''t be a problem as not even Alex was that possessive of his women; however every time he glanced at any of the girls, Hajime would feel a chill going down his spine from Kaori glaring at his side, who was also dressed in a white bikini. Due to this he kept his gaze from wandering too much, showing a promising future as a whipped husband like Kaori''s father. Alex on the other hand was stretched out on a chair with Rias on one next to him in a simple pair of shorts, perfectly showing off his ripped body to those around them. His gaze was unashamedly passing over each girl as they passed the time similarly as if they were at the beach, Rias was tanning next to him in a dark red bikini, Shia was in a swimsuit that matched her hair while lounging in a hammock with an umbrella over her to keep off the sun, Anne continued to work on her writing while in her usual clothes(that actually had as much exposure as a bikini anyways) while Tio looked over her notes with interest in her black bikini, Yue was tricked into a one piece school swimsuit (that actually suited her fairly well) and was laying on a block of ice she conjured to keep cool, and finally Grayfia was watching over the children as they ran back and forth with a smile on her face in her white and black patterned bikini while she even went as far as tying an apron to her waist to maintain some cover and her position as a maid. Even Shizuku was no exception as she continued her training in the heat while wearing a black swimsuit with a cloth tied around her waist, while also trying not to gaze in Alex''s general direction due to him showing off his muscles, something that wasn''t missed by any of the other girls even though they seemed to be perfectly relaxing. The atmosphere was perfectly peaceful, then suddenly a cloud of mist appeared. "IM BACK~NYAN!" A black haired nekomata came flying out of the mist and tackled Alex in an overly affectionate embrace. Almost everyone shot a glare at Kuroka for ruining the peaceful atmosphere, while Alex just started rubbing her head affectionately and said, "Welcome back Kuroka, was your training successful?" Kuroka was rubbing her cheek against his chest as she answered, "You''ll just have to wait and see~Nya!" Alex was about to say something else, but then noticed that there was something distinctly different about Kuroka. "Your tails increased!" Alex exclaimed in surprise while everyone else looked at Kuroka in shock at his words. Kuroka purred happily as Alex immediately noticed what was different and said, "Yep~Nya, I trained really hard in the time manipulation training room and managed to get my third tail!" Alex was truly impressed with Kuroka''s progress as each tail represented a nekomata''s strength, the more tails the higher the strength. What impressed him even more however was that she stayed in the time manipulation room to do so, meaning that for her it could''ve been at least a couple months since she last saw him. Alex smiled and said, "Then maybe I need to spend some time with my lovable kitten to properly congratulate her." Kuroka''s smile widened as he scooped her up and started walking towards the main bedroom for some quality time together, and she continuously meowed cutely along the way. The girls rolled their eyes at the displayed, but secretly also congratulated Kuroka on her increase in strength as she was still their ''Queen'', even though they wouldn''t say it to her face. With the two of them gone everyone went back to enjoying their ''beach'' weather, before a few hours later a large city wall appeared on the horizon. (A.N. This is the last chapter before I leave on vacation because I got caught up in other stuff the last couple of days and couldn''t write(f.u.c.k firewood!). And for the people who are saying they want the snow to come and trap me, keep in mind I still need to be able to leave the mountains and we are being forecasted for snow here while I''m camping, so here''s hoping I don''t get trapped up there! Chapter 226 - Ankaji Paul was standing guard at the entrance to the city in a bored mood, eagerly awaiting the end of his shift. Not only was it hot as usual in the desert, but the guards had to stand at the entrance all day with little to no visitors approaching the city due to its location. Though they did get the occasional traveler, but nowhere near the amount that other places such as Furhen received, to the point that lines forming outside the city walls were a daily occurrence. The city itself was essentially just a stopping point for the seafood trade from the coastal city of Erisen, that was also the home of the Dagon race who were protected from enslavement due to their usefulness in collecting seafood. "Hey, time to switch." Paul suddenly jumped in excitement as he realized he was done with his guard work for the day, meaning he could now go and drink cool alcohol to his hearts content for the rest of the day. Before he could leave however his replacement suddenly said, "Wait what''s that?" Paul looked back curiously but only saw a small group of people walking towards the city gates, he was about to admonish the replacement until he saw him going pop eyed at the group, prompting Paul to take another look before he started gawking as well. With a crimson haired woman in the lead, there were several goddess tier beautiful women walking at a casual pace towards the gate, with the majority of them dressed in some form of skimpy clothing due to the heat of the desert. Even as the group approached however none of the guards watching seemed to notice the two men that accompanied them, until a voice interrupted their fantasies of what they would like to do to each of them by saying, "You know, if I were a petty man I would''ve probably killed most of you by now and you probably wouldn''t have even noticed would you?" This drew the guards attention away from the women as any form of threat towards them was a serious offense, until they saw that the one who said it was a man completely covered with muscle and clad in an oppressive atmosphere with another man right next to him that had white hair and who had a sharp look in his eyes. This immediately put the guards on edge as their senses returned, as anyone who managed to travel the desert on foot and look as if they had just taken a leisurely stroll, especially when escorting a group of women, was not someone to mess with. Paul however stepped forward and tried to say professionally, "Welcome to the desert city of Ankaji, what business might you have?" Alex smirked and flashed his status plate while replying, "Well at least one of you is pretending to be professional, we intend to stay the night to rest and collect provisions before moving on to challenging the Grand Gruen Volcano labyrinth." Though the guards didn''t like his words they instead focused on the latter half of his sentence, that he was going to challenge the labyrinth that the desert was infamous for. The Grand Gruen Volcano was one of the few great labyrinths was was well know through the continent, but it was frequented far less than the Orcus Great Labyrinth due to the fact that very few, if any, challengers left it alive. Paul however just nodded and said, "Very well then, just keep your nose clean while you''re here." Alex nodded and led everyone through the gate as they also flashed their status plates to the guards while the girls smirked at them. The guards however were thinking instead about how when Alex and Hajime didn''t come back from the labyrinth the girls would most likely need a shoulder to cry on, as to them it was impossible that the two guys would risk so many good looking women in such a dangerous place. Not knowing they were planning to do just that, the guards continued their delusions for several more minutes until their captain appeared and told them off for slacking on the job, and Paul for not leaving when his shift was up. Meanwhile the group was walking down the streets of Ankaji while drawing yet more looks from the by-passers, prompting Shizuku to ask, "Is this normal?" To which all the girls that had been traveling with Alex naturally answered, "It''s pretty normal." "I just got used to it." "I''ve learned to just filter them out~Nya." "... It does seem like it..." "This is nothing like Furhen though?" Shizuku was dumbfounded at the answers she got while the rest of the girls just acted as if it was something normal. She shook her head at just how abnormal this group group was, in several aspects, and tried to simply go with the flow. They continued making their way through the city, as everyone pointed out the different sights and new things to each other. Alex had to admit the city itself was amazing once you were inside it, from the outside they could simply see the large stone walls that surrounded the entire area and the dome-like energy covering it as a barrier protected the city from any aerial threats. The inside however was filled with many lively citizens as they traded and talked to each other, with canals running up and down seemingly every space possible while people also used small boats to travel from one place to another. Unlike the cruel and dry desert outside the walls however, there was also many places that had been converted into gardens that added to the experience. "I''m going to go look at some of the shops!" Rias said suddenly as she led the rest of the girls to go shopping, the only one staying behind being Grayfia as she dutifully attended her lord. Neither Alex nor Hajime were worried about them since they should be more than capable to take care of any problems they encountered, instead Alex looked around the city and almost frowned at the situation. From what he recalled Ankaji was supposed to be suffering due to poisoning of the oasis that fueled the entire city around this time, instead there was no noticeable sign of anything being out of the ordinary, he had even sent Myuu to Asora with Millicas and Kunou to keep them away from it. He quickly reasoned that since they used zenith to get here so swiftly that they must have arrived shortly before the symptoms started appearing in the first victims, and was somewhat torn on what to do next. He eventually decided to wait until after they cleared the next labyrinth to address it since it would be too suspicious if he knew about a tragedy before it even happened, even as the "Goddess''s Champion". Putting the matter out of his mind, Alex then spent some time asking directions around the city until he found the best inn available, and made the reservations for their group while also sending a message to the girls about where to find it. He was in his room discussing any last minute supplies they needed with Hajime and Grayfia, when suddenly there was a knock on the door with a voice saying, "Room service!" Recognizing the voice Alex smiled, and said, "Come in." The door then opened and the breathtaking view of all of the girls filed in while dressed in dancers outfits with veils on their faces. As if it was arranged beforehand, Kuroka and Rias immediately strutted up to Alex seductively before both sat on his lap with Kuroka saying, "We heard there was a naughty lord here that just so loved the company of equally naughty dancers~Nyan." Though it was obvious things wouldn''t go too far since Hajime was seated across from him, Alex couldn''t help but admit he did like the act the girls were doing, while Grayfia''s eye twitched at the side and Shizuku(who wasn''t changed) face palmed at the door, trying hard not to look at Kaori who was trying to mimic them with Hajime. Soon Grayfia reined in the situation by seizing both Rias and Kuroka''s ears and dragged them away while saying, "I swear the things the two of you do in the middle of the day, do you have no sense of propriety anymore?" While Grayfia lectured the two of them Alex laughed lightly before explaining their plans, "We''re planning to spend the rest of the day gathering the rest of what we''d need while also exploring the city a bit. We''ll be leaving fairly early in the morning though, so try not to stay out too late." While everyone else seriously listened to Alex''s words in order to not end up like Rias and Kuroka, Grayfia walked back over and said, "I have a bit of pleasant news, both of these girls have volunteered to give up their free time in order to acquire the rest of our provisions for us. Now everyone else may be able to spend their time leisurely for the rest of the day." Taking Grayfia''s words as the cue to disperse, Anne and Shia immediately sank Alex''s arms in softness as they seized his arms and escorted him out the door, while Kaori immediately did the same with Hajime as she led him out for a date. Yue paired up with Tio to explore the city, while Rias and Kuroka dejectedly went to finish up their new list of errands, and Shizuku decided to walk around by herself in order to not interfere with her friends date. This left Grayfia alone in the room, who decided that it was a good chance for to take the rest of the day off and she promptly changed into more casual yet stylish clothes to walk around the city in. After leaving the inn Shizuku made sure no one was watching her before she slipped into the crowd and stealthily made her way back to the shop where the rest of the girls purchased their dancer outfits earlier. Though she rejected buying one earlier, after watching the way the others acted and the "results" they had, she thought she might buy one as well to increase her feminine appeal even though she didn''t have anyone to show it off for. As she walked into the store the lady that ran it immediately recognized her and walked over while saying, "Greetings, did you change your mind? I did think it was a shame someone as beautiful as you didn''t want to try one of the same outfits as your friends." After Shizuku shyly admitted she wanted to try on a dancers outfit the lady eagerly led her to the area they were located, before being summoned to help another customer. Nervously, Shizuku started looking over the various outfits and veils that were available with her face getting progressively redder as she pictured herself wearing such an outfit. After picking one out she turned to pay and leave, only to bump into another customer who was looking through the same outfits she was. "I''m sorry!" Shizuku said while bowing slightly as she was so engrossed in what she was doing and her embarrassment that she didn''t notice the person right next to her, only to hear, "Shizuku?" It was at this point that she looked up and looked at the person she bumped into, only to stall for a second before recognizing her. "Grayfia?" As the two cool beauties realized that they were buying the same thing secretly an unspoken understanding not to speak of this passed between them, leading to a strange form of comradeship. After paying Grayfia even went so far as to store Shizuku''s clothes into her personal space to help her avoid having to show the others later. They then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city together while getting to know each other better since Grayfia wasn''t in her maid persona. *** Late that night the Duke of Ankaji, Lanzwi Feuward Zangen, was about to call it a night after spending his day dealing with the never ending official matters that came with his position. "Is that all?" He asked his attendant tiredly as it was already approaching midnight. Sadly his attendant shook his head and answered, "There''s still several matters that need your attention my lord, including an urgent message from the city''s healers." Duke Lanzwi frowned at the still sealed letter and said, "I''ll read it tomorrow, it''s most likely another plea for more finances anyways with the threat of open war looming. I wish they''d understand that there''s several things that need an increase in funds in times like these anyways, plus there''s the current matter with Erisen to think about." The attendant bowed slightly respectfully and left the message on the desk where it awaited his lords attention first thing the following morning. Chapter 227 - Arriving at Gruen After leaving early the next morning Alex summoned the four wheeled vehicle and started driving towards the Grand Gruen Volcano. As he didn''t want to spend too much time traveling he resume ones Zenith after they left the city far behind them and spent the rest of the trip fly leisurely towards one of the most dangerous places on the continent. *** "You know, it might be a better idea to walk from here instead since there could be some kind of trap or pit ahead, you really don''t want to drive the suv into such a thing do you Alex?" Anne pleaded desperately as the entire group faced the massive sandstorm that permanently surrounded the Grand Gruen Volcano. Alex smiled a bit nastily at Anne''s words and answered, "But there''s the threat of monsters hiding beneath the sand and within the sandstorm, plus we would need Kuroka to constantly maintain a strong enough barrier to keep the wind and sand off of us while also bearing the heat. Whereas instead we could cram into a suv for several minutes that has several built in weapons to deal with any monsters that show up, is built to withstand even a missile blast so it can easily protect us from the wind and sand, AND it also has air conditioning. I''m sorry Anne, but the choice is obvious." Anne groaned at Alex''s words, while her face already seemed to have a greenish hue just from imagining getting into a motor vehicle and driving over the loose sand with several dunes to go up and down on. Her only relief was that they estimated they would only need to be in it for roughly ten minutes to pass the entire storm. And so, with no further arguments besides who was sitting next to Anne, everyone crammed into Alex''s suv that just barely had enough seat rows built in to let them all fit inside. With everyone seated inside and the ac going full blast, Alex shot forward into the brown blob of sand ahead of them. "LOOK OUT!" Kaori screamed almost instantly after they entered the sandstorm, as a massive sandworm shot out of the ground ahead of them. Alex however didn''t even flinch as he pressed an icon on the touchscreen panel in front of him, which prompted a mounted gun to pop out from the hood of the suv. After the vehicle drained a bit more of Alex''s magic power, an intense beam of light shot out and instantly obliterated the sandworm that was closing in. Kaori and Shizuku just stared in shock as bits of blood and gore from the sandworm got caught up in the sandstorm outside, before two more blasts brought them back to their senses as another sandworm on each side tried to ambush them, leading to the mounted gun swiveling and immediately eliminating both. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The sound of several explosions from behind them caused almost everyone to look back, only to see Hajime in the furthest seat back with a casual smile on his face and another rain of blood and gore behind him. As another sandworm surged up from behind to attack, Hajime summoned yet another of his handmade grenades directly outside the vehicle that instantly exploded and obliterated the attacking monster. Like this the vehicle continued unperturbed as Alex took care of the monsters in the front and sides, and Hajime took care of the ones from behind. The worst moment as they drove through the sandstorm was actually when a massive brown spider charged them from the side, and poor Shizuku nearly had a panic attack when she saw it. With Kaori comforting the poor girl, the suv passed the last part of the storm and once more the group saw the blue of the sky, and the massive active volcano ahead of them. Reluctantly everyone got out of the air conditioned vehicle after judging that it wouldn''t make it up the climb, and Rias said while wiping her brow, "I can''t believe it, but it really is so much hotter here than it was before." With her face still slightly green from the drive Anne replied, "That''s probably because we''re right next to an active volcano as well as in the desert, it''ll probably get even worse by the minute as we continue." Alex nodded in confirmation of Anne''s words and said, "The entrance is at the top and then we''ll be going through who knows how many levels of magma and fire filled tunnels as we make our way down, no wonder the seventh floor is the lowest anyone''s gone before. Let''s cut out a lot of walking and fly straight to the top." As everyone wanted to be done as soon as possible there was no complaints so Rias, Kuroka, Yue, and Shia all spread their Devils wings and took off while Tio used her dragon wings and Hajime swept Kaori into a princess carry, and stared using his ''Air Platform'' ability to swiftly follow them. With Kaori''s delighted squeals fading away Alex turned towards Anne who also seemed to be eagerly anticipating him carrying her up the mountain, only to be disappointed. "Anne you can use your telekinesis to carry yourself up while Grayfia can follow in case you need help." Anne was surprised at Alex''s words and asked, "What do you mean I can use my telekinesis to fly? It won''t work will it?" In her mind telekinesis was simply a power that allowed one to move stuff with their mind, and so the thought of using it to fly sounded weird to her. Alex however said, "If it''s trained and used right telekinesis is actually one of the most overpowered skills out there, not only would you be able to move your own body to fly in the sky, but you may be able to even manipulate matter at the microscopic level." After hearing Alex''s words Anne decided that she may need to spend some time training her telekinesis in he future so that she could do the things he claimed. "I''ll give it a try!" She said confidently,before closing her eyes and focusing cutely. It only took a couple of minutes before she started lifting off of the ground, and then hovered about a foot above the sand. She then opened her eyes and declared, "I did it!" The moment she broke her conversation however she started wobbling, causing Anne to start flailing her arms around as if she was trying to keep her balance instead of floating in the air. Alex chuckled lightly and said, "Good job, now start heading up and Grayfia will keep an eye on you." Anne nodded enthusiastically and turned to face the mountain before slowly flying up and forward, seemingly forgetting her desire to have Alex carry her just a moment before. Both Alex and Shizuku smiled as they watched Anne''s childlike joy at flying by herself for the first time, before suddenly Shizuku felt something hit the back of her legs and she was swooped up into a princess carry. "That just leaves you with me, let''s go." Alex said, and before she could protest he took off into the air after Anne and Grayfia. Shizuku gasped at the sudden lightless sensation and she immediately wrapped her arms around the only thing she could think of to keep safe, Alex''s neck. He smiled at her reaction, and said in a singsong tone, "I can show you the world~" this caused Shizuku to look at him questioningly before realizing what he said and hitting him lightly on his chest. "Knock it off." She said, but there was a small smile on her face. Now that her initial shock wore off she looked around as Alex flew with her in his arms and enjoyed the view, she had to admit she was currently quite comfortable. The enjoyable ride soon came to an end however as Alex quickly reached the top of the mountain where everyone else was already waiting. As they landed however all the girls frowned when they saw how comfortable Shizuku seemed in Alex''s arms, and some of them even looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. As she stood Shizuku looked around and saw the looks she was getting and said while blushing slightly, "What?" No one said anything however and simply looked away at her questioning, while Kaori started giggling slightly at her friends predicament. Alex shook his head at the girl''s antics and said, "Now it''s time to delve into the labyrinth, Kaori and Shizuku remember to be on your toes as this is nothing like what you''ve seen of Orcus. Not only will there most likely be monsters stronger than what you''re used to, but we''ll also have to deal with even more heat than now along with fire and magma, and that goes for the rest of you as well." Everyone nodded seriously as they looked down the opening stairwell with caution, before following Alex''s lead as he started down into the mountain. Chapter 228 - The Volcano Labyrinth Once they stepped inside the labyrinth everyone couldn''t help letting out exclamations of surprise and awe, which could only be expected with what they were seeing. There was rivers of magma flowing continuously through the air while occasionally a fountain of lava would explode from the ground as well. It was a scene that''d be nice to enjoy if it weren''t for the fact that they would have to move forward while trying to avoid the magma and the heat seemed to be increasing with ech step they took. The only ones seemingly unaffected by it were Alex and Tio as they were both dragons with high aptitude for fire, something Tio used to claim made them perfect for each other. Alex normally wouldn''t mind such a comment, if it wasn''t for the fact that the heat had nothing to do with Tio''s heavy panting and drooling while staring at his crotch when she said it. Ignoring the pervert, the group moved forward into the fiery depths. The first enemy they met was a large flaming bull that didn''t hesitate to spew a gigantic ball of fire at them, which Alex eliminated with a flick of his wrist as his ''Fire Manipulation'' dealt with the threat. Furious that it''s attack simply disappeared, the bull charged forward at the group only to meet Shia''s hammer head on and get its head caved in. Eyes glowing a dark red, Shia took a pose and triumphantly declared, "Don''t mess with a bunny!" Everyone smiled at Shia''s declaration, while Kuroka said somewhat mockingly, "That''s right~Nya, don''t mess with the ''Berserker Bunny''." This caused Shia to look somewhat sheepish as her eyes changed back to their usual blue. Yue however didn''t seem to like Kuroka''s quip and after giving her micro glare she stepped forward and took Shia''s hand while saying, "...Shia was awesome..." This caused Shia to tear up slightly as she wrapped her arms around Yue and said, "Yue!" Though she appreciated Shia''s affection, Yue still quickly separated from her since it was too hot to cling to each other. After this the group continued down the fiery path, meeting several new monsters as well as more of the flaming Bulls. While Shia took care of the Bulls everyone alternated between the other monsters depending on their way of fighting. When a swarm of magma bats appeared Hajime stepped forward with Donner and Schlag and started shooting them down while Rias did the same with her ''Destruction Duelers''. Similar to her ''Reapers Ruin'' this skill was a formation of magic power to create two "pistols" that would fire bullets of destruction magic, though nowhere near the power or speed of ''Reapers Ruin''. She chose to use this skill since if she tried to use destruction magic in general it might destroy part of the walls and flood the area with magma, though with several people capable of using barriers in their party this wouldn''t necessarily threaten them, it was still an inconvenience they wanted to avoid. The one who seemed to do the most fighting however was Shizuku, as after seeing the ease in which everyone else was eliminating their opponents she was filled with an intense drive. After removing the restraints Alex gave she voluntarily took on the fire serpents and flaming hedgehogs that were capable of shooting needles of fire, also decided to use this chance to familiarize herself with her new swords. When she finally learned from Alex what the swords enchantments were Shizuku almost thought her jaw would hit the floor, apparently they were enchanted with what he referred to as his ''Dragon Demons Breath''. This particular fire would take on a darker hue and would burn the target with near acidic properties until they were completely eliminated, this meant that in most cases Shizuku would only need to ensure a single cut on her opponent to ensure victory with the biggest downside being that using that enchantment was extremely taxing on her own magic reserves. As for everyone else, Grayfia was using a sword to deal with eel-like monsters that would burst from the walls and floors and chameleons that remain hidden in plain sight until they attacked with their tongues, Kuroka was using her proficiency in barriers to try and keep some of the heat away from the group while Yue was experimenting with her ice magic to keep the temperatures down, and Anne was training her telekinesis by keeping any magma away from the group when a monster would splash some their way or when a geyser of it would erupt from the ground. Alex and Tio on the other hand were the ones keeping an eye on the surroundings and assisting where they were needed as the ones least effected by the heat. The only one with seemingly nothing to do was Kaori, as she was mainly proficient in healing and had only dabbled a little in barrier magic as well. Though anyone who would get mild burns or injuries would go to her for healing, it was painfully obvious to the girl that since Anne was also a healer and with the existence of the god water she wasn''t necessarily needed. This was why after the first several floors she made the resolve to also receive extra training to be of more use in the future, as she also felt like her uselessness also reflected on Hajime as his girlfriend. Not knowing about Kaori''s silent promise to herself, the group continued going until they reached the fifteenth floor, and they decided to call it quits for the day. "It feels like we''re not making anywhere near the amount of progress we did in Orcus, but when I consider what Raisen was like I feel like we''re moving fairly quickly." Rias said as they collapsed in the room Hajime made with transmutation in the side of one of the tunnels, with it sealed off from the magma and monsters outside it was the first time anyone felt like they could relax after Yue summoned a giant block of ice to cool them. Grayfia nodded at what Rias said and stated, "It''s because of the extreme heat, it''s sapping our strength and will even if the monsters are only as tough or even weaker than what Orcus was like. I can only hope this labyrinth isn''t as long as Orcus, or it would take forever to complete it." Alex shook his head at Grayfia''s words and said, "It shouldn''t be anywhere near as long, though I don''t know how many floors there are to go through. If it was equal in length to Orcus while also growing hotter with each floor then it would be impossible to pass it, after all the trials are meant to be hard not impossible." Everyone looked thoughtful at Alex''s words while he also tried to rack his mind about how long this labyrinth was, from what he recalled Hajime had originally somehow taken a shortcut to the end but he couldn''t recall how that happened either. The silence was suddenly broken when Kuroka suddenly said, "Well I don''t know about all of you, but as long as we''re stopped I would like to do something about all of this sweat~Nyan." Everyone of the girls agreed with Kuroka''s words which prompted Grayfia to say, "We should put up a barrier to block sight and the girls can change while using some towels to wipe themselves." As she could easily see most of those here trying to take advantage of the situation of wiping down bodies, Grayfia was quick to separate them by genders to keep some of the more troublesome people in line. With no one catching on to her real intentions, everyone quickly agreed with her idea and Kuroka swiftly put up a barrier to block sight. Though she was one of the troublesome people Grayfia was worried about, she didn''t think she had to worry about Kuroka messing with the barrier since it would mean Hajime could also see some of them n.a.k.e.d, something even Kuroka wouldn''t risk. With all the girls swiftly disappearing from sight, Alex and Hajime sat down and started discussing how to handle the rest of the labyrinth. They didn''t get very far though before there was suddenly a voice interrupting them, "Kyaaaa! Who''s doing that?!" "Nya Kaori, your body it pretty seductive now that I''m taking a good look at it. Tell me, has Hajime explored every nook and cranny yet, or will I beat him to it~Nyan?" "Nooooooooo!" Kaori yelled a second later, but it almost seemed as it turned into a small m.o.a.n towards the end. Then a new voice spoke up, "Should I help you Anne? After all I''m already very intimate with your body~!" "Rias! No, I can do it by myself!" "Don''t be like that Anne, come here!" Then with Anne trailing off like Kaori did, yet more voices appeared, "Eh, why are you looking at me like that Yue?" "...Hmmm, Shia seems you need some help as well..." "Wait, why does it seem like there''s a glint in your eyes Yue?! Are you just trying to join in with everyone else?!" With no words coming from Yue, a similar yell came from Shia brief second later. "Really everyone? Even when I tried to keep something like this from happening." Came the voice of Grayfia, before Tio answered her, "Ufufufufufu, this one thinks thee might be jealous Grayfia. If thou would like to partake as well this one could help thee with the wiping down." Do not come near me you worthless pervert." "Ha?! A sudden attack from the maid?!" With Tio beginning to pant like normal, both Hajime and Alex could imagine Grayfia backing away from her in disgust. Coincidently Shizuku seemed to be overlooked by the harassment and she was the first one to leave the barrier after finishing and changing. Due to the constant distracting noises it wasn''t until after the girls finished that they were able to properly discuss their plans regarding the future floors. *** After nearly a week of traveling in this hellish place, at temperatures so extreme that even Alex and Tio were suffering from the heat now, they finally reached what seemed to be the fiftieth floor of the labyrinth. "I wonder how much farther we have to go?" Shia panted as they walked along another long tunnel that had the occasion magma flowing down one side. As if to answer her the tunnel suddenly opened up and the entire group exclaimed in awe at the scene in front of them. They were now in a large cavern that easily dwarfed the final room in Orcus with several rivers of magma criss crossing above them, and the entire bottom of it was filled with magma besides the occasion stone island for footholds. The most notable thing though was the largest island in the exact middle of the room that seemed like a whole bother hideout like in Orcus, except this one was completely covered in a dome of yet more magma. Alex smiled at the scene and said, "Everyone, if my guess is right then I present to you the final room of the Grand Gruen Volcano labyrinth. We''re almost ready to leave." Chapter 229 - Spatial magic Alex led everyone down as they made their way down the stairs towards the magma lake, and the stone island footholds available down there. "I wonder where the guardian is?" Shia said out loud, which led to Hajime immediately karate chopping her on top of her head. She swiftly ran over to Alex with tears in her eyes and said, "Alex! Hajime is bullying me!" However Alex also flicked her in the forehead as well, causing Shia to squat down and start rubbing her head to sooth it. He then explained his and Hajime''s actions towards the pouting Shia, "Shia there are things called flags, you need to learn how not to trip them. When you say things like that it sets us up for something bad to happen." Shia gave Alex a look of blame for being flicked for such a weird reason, but at that exact moment twenty serpentine heads surged from the magma lake and turned towards the group that was still on the stairs before shooting several fire breaths at them. "SCATTER!" Alex shouted as everyone took off into different directions to avoid the attack, with Hajime grabbing Kaori and Alex grabbing Shizuku again as he flew to one of the stone islands. After getting everyone out of the way of the initial attack Alex said out loud, "That is why you don''t trip flags Shia!" Though he wasn''t sure, Alex thought he heard a small voice saying sorry after he spoke. After the initial attack everyone got their bearings as they turned towards the twenty serpent heads, their eyes gleaming before a flurry of sudden attacks was unleashed on them. "Eat this and die!" "''Wind Dragon''!" "Allow this one to use mine dragons breath!" "Sky dragons roar!" "Disappear!" As several cries of attack were shouted the entire cavern was filled with the sounds of explosives and such as the poor serpent heads were being bullied. Though a couple managed to survive the onslaught, it was enough for Hajime to cry out, "They seem to be like the golems at Raisen, destroy the core within them and they''ll die! It looks like we need to destroy about one hundred of them!" Armed with the new information everyone immediately started using their strongest area of effect attacks without restraint, before instantly taking out any new heads that seemed to pop up after the first ones were destroyed. Alex sat back a bit dumbfoundedly as he suddenly had nothing to do with everyone attacking so zealously, before he had a sudden idea. He ran his thoughts across Lauren, who seemed a bit skeptical but agreed that it would probably be beneficial to attempt while at Gruen. After hearing her opinion Alex immediately started stripping, which caused the still nearby Shizuku to swiftly turn Crimson as she stuttered, "W-what are you doing right now?!" Alex chuckled at her reaction lightly before saying, "I want to try something but my clothes will be destroyed anyways so I''m simply removing them right now." By this point there was nothing covering Alex''s modesty(not that he was shy to begin with) and Shizuku had turned completely Crimson as she tried to get what she just saw dangling out of her head. Turning his back to her, Alex surprised everyone present when he took a drink of some of the gods water and dove directly into the magma after activating his ''Draconian Form'' and placing a barrier around his head. Almost immediately after he dove into the magma Alex heard the notification, [NOTICE! Fire Immunity has increased to level 3!] Alex was satisfied with his plan to use his scales heightened defense to grind his ''Fire Immunity'' skill levels as he recalled that the other system user had managed to catch him off guard with his magu magu no mi before, but he also had a hard time dealing with the environment around him with the magma. As it burned away at his draconian scales Alex swallowed a little of the gods water in his mouth to ease his pain a little, only for it to return with a vengeance a second later. He tried to ignore it and focused his senses on his surroundings for the magic cores of the serpents that hadn''t made an appearance yet, as his intentions was to deal with some of the cores while he was under the surface of the magma. Before he could even find one he received yet another notice that his ''Fire Immunity'' had gone up to level four, and had even eased some of the pain he was feeling a little. Urged by his success Alex used his draconian wings to propel himself through the magma towards the closest energy signature around, before he used his clawed hands to crush it. He then continued to make his way around crushing magic cores while swallowing little amounts of the gods water when the pain started to become unbearable, while also receiving the occasional notification that his skill had gone up. Alex was starting to reach his limit however when his skill finally reached level 8, and he surged towards the surface before breaking it and flying upwards. "Oh thank goodness!" Someone said as Alex reappeared and flew into the air, but soon everyone''s brows started twitching as they all got an eyeful of the dragon dong dangling between his legs. Kaori was even switching her glances between Alex''s and Hajime''s crotches as if comparing them, before her beloved seemed to have noticed her line of sight. She then clung to him and said, "Don''t worry Hajime, no matter what size it is your c.o.c.k is the only one for me!" To which Hajime could only retort, "Even if you said it to cheer me up it still sounded like you were saying mine is small, and since when were you the kind of character that could casually say the word c.o.c.k?" Ignoring her boyfriends quip, Kaori continued to gleefully cling to his side as Shizuku faced off with the last of the magma serpents, the rest having already been destroyed by everyone else on the surface or Alex himself below. after several minutes she finally managed to cut right where the core was, and the last of the magma serpents vanished, as well as the dome of magma surrounding the hideout. What appeared was a plain black building with the crest of the liberators on the side and some kind of floating platform above it. As they approached the door opened and everyone filed inside, with Kaori, Shizuku, and Tio looking around curiously as this was the first labyrinth finish they had seen. However all that seemed to be around was a magic circle carved in the floor and some words on the wall, "I sincerely wish for the free will of the people in the future." ¨C Naiz Guryuu-en. Everyone nodded in the direction of the words respectfully before stepping onto the magic circle. As t searched their memories to ensure they had passed the final trial Kaori was sweating the most as she hadn''t done more than healing and putting up a barrier to block some of the incoming attacks while everyone else fought. However as she did participate it seemed to judge her as also passing, and she as well received the age of gods magic, Spacial Magic. After confirming what the magic was Kuroka started chuckling somewhat evilly as she muttered, "Nyahahaha, I can''t wait to apply this to my barriers and see what happens!" As she was already a specialist in space related magic in her barriers to completely isolate the space within it almost seemed as if this particular magic was made for her, while Hajime was also planning his new projects with this type of magic. After being granted the magic everyone turned towards the wall as another panel seemed to open up and reveal a cubby inside. Anne went towards it and pulled out the item that was within, and held it out to Alex. "This is the proof of passing, right?" Alex nodded as he accepted the pendant from her, and wrapped it around his wrist to use when they left. With no other reason to stick around he said, "Let''s get out here." To which everyone very enthusiastically agreed. After leaving the building everyone turned towards the platform floating above them and hurriedly flew up to get on it. Shizuku didn''t even react when Alex carried her up this time, but she was glad he had already gotten dressed again. Once they gathered on it Alex held out the pendant on his wrist, and the ceiling above them opened up until they could see the sky beyond it and the platform started moving up. The moment it started moving Anne''s face turned green and Rias commented, "It''s like an elevator." Which got looks of interest from those not from earth. While Rias explained what she was referring to Alex suddenly felt something and looked towards the entrance to the room before saying, "You guys go on ahead, there''s something I want to check out. Just wait for me outside and I''ll catch up." Before anyone could ask what he was up to Alex simply stepped off of the platform and disappeared from view as they entered the opening. Alex then flew downs towards the entrance to the chamber, only to see a small army of ash colored dragons come out of it along with a large white one. He then said to the figure on the back of the white dragon, "So, how was it relying on your enemy to get more power?" The man with Crimson colored hair turned towards the sound of the voice addressing him and frowned before saying, "Your arrogance will lead to your downfall. I will admit you made my trip here easier, and now I will acquire a new ability after we all eliminate you. Know that that one before you is called Freed Baghuar, apostle of the god of the demon race!" With that seeming to be the cue every single dragon accompanying him opened their mouths as energy gathered to fire at him, while several barriers from the turtles on their backs formed to keep Alex from counter attacking. Alex smirked at Freed''s words as it seemed to him that Freed was the only one being arrogant here, and flashed forward as the dragons release their breaths and dodged them all. Then using his bare hands he smashed apart the barriers separating them and flashed forward to grab onto Freed''s throat before the demon could even react. Sensing that it''s master was in trouble, the white dragon turned and roared in fury at Alex''s actions before rushing at him with its mouth wide open as if to eat him. Contrary to the expectations of everything there, Alex grabbed the throat of the dragon as well and squeezed his grip while effortlessly lifting the large beast in the air. He then turned back towards the gasping Freed and said clearly, "Talk and preach all you want, I don''t give a damn. I will remove your God and you will see how pathetic you were to follow such a being so blindly, or maybe not. I''m keeping you alive simply because I promised a certain idiot that I''ll let him fight strong people from other worlds and you''re the closest that''ll fit the bill, so struggle and climb up to obtain power, and you''ll see just how worthless your faith was in the end." His villain-like speech done, Alex tossed Freed and the dragon and turned to fly away. Though all of Freed''s dragons that accompanied him started attacking Alex once he released their master, none of their attacks managed to hit him as they all seemed to barely miss him. Alex simply ignored all of them and flew to the opening that was already starting to close and escaped from the fiery hell hole. Once he exited the tunnel that opened up right next to the stairs that led into the volcano, Alex saw everyone waiting for him just like he told them to. Grayfia then asked, "So what was that about my lord?" Alex simply shrugged and replied, "I thought I noticed something interesting but it was just a waste of time." Though they knew he wasn''t telling the full truth no one pushed him to explain himself as they all turned to leave. After a quick trip through the sandstorm in the SUV once more, Alex summoned Zenith once again and they all finally started heading back Ankaji, while the girls all piled into the bathroom to take the coldest bath possible with Yue even summoning blocks of ice to put in the water. Chapter 230 - Illness After everyone had a chance to have an ice cold bath they all felt infinitely refreshed after spending as long as they had in that hellish labyrinth, and with the walls of Ankaji visible on the horizon Alex landed Zenith and everyone happily hurried towards the gate in order find rooms to relax in. Instead however ether were met with sharp eyes guards that were different than the ones they saw before who immediately shouted as soon as they saw them, "Halt! None are to enter Ankaji right now due to the city being in a state of emergency! We are sorry to say that you need to turn around and go back unless you wish to fall to the sickness like most of the city!" At the guards words everyone except Alex was taken aback as it wasn''t too long ago that they were also in the city and it was perfectly fine. While they discussed the new events Alex was thinking of what to say for a bread second before declaring, "I am the champion of the goddess Gabriel! The goddess decreed in a vision that I must travel to this great desert city, now I see that I am to help your people in your time of need. Tell me, would you send away one who is here due to divine intervention?" The guards were both shocked and suspicious at Alex''s words as word of goddess Gabriel had yet to reach Ankaji from Furhen and Ul. After a moment of contemplation one of them said he was going to find their captain, and disappeared within. A moment later they returned with tired yet stern looking man who looked at Alex and said, "If you''re trying to take advantage of our predicament in some way then f.u.c.k off before we make you. None of us had ever heard of this "goddess Gabriel" before and we don''t need any scam artists trying to make fools of us while our people are dying." As he wasn''t too surprised at the response he received Alex didn''t even flinch at the mans words, but said instead, "Sir I can assure you I''m not trying to take advantage of the situation of this great city for my own benefit, and I really do just want to help save the lives of those afflicted as the goddess bid me. Though I understand you''re hesitant to trust someone you don''t know that''s taking orders from a goddess you don''t recognize, but no matter your faith there are people dying right now and more will die as long as we stand here and discuss this, please let us in to see the lord!" Though he had to layer on the theatrics a bit, Alex could tell that the captain was starting to waver as he didn''t want to be the one to turn away potential help during these hard times, even if their background seemed a bit shady. "Very well, follow me and I''ll take you to the Duke of Ankaji, he will be the one to determine if you''ll actually be of use." Without any other words the captain turned around and started walking towards the Dukes manor. Alex led the others as they followed behind, during which Hajime said while keeping his voice quiet enough to not be overheard, "Is this really alright? Though this is a good propaganda scenario, we don''t know anything about this illness or how it spreads." Alex smiled at Hajime''s question and answered, "It''s ok, well just go off of what they''ve already investigated and we should be able to solve it from there. I didn''t mention it but I confronted a member of the demon race while in Gruen, with the timing of this there''s a fairly good chance he was responsible." After hearing Alex''s words Hajime was silent as he started thinking of all possible scenarios this could mean, from poisoning to biological warfare. While he was thinking the captain said, "We are here, duke Lanzwi should be in his study so I''ll escort you there. Be on your best behavior." He added after glancing at both Hajime and Kuroka, the former looking as if he might start a fight the first chance he got, the latter seeming like someone you wouldn''t trust around your coin purse, even if she was breathtakingly beautiful. Hajime narrowed his eyes at the look he received, while Kuroka snickered mischievously, causing the captains eye to twitch. They were then led to the study of the person who ruled Ankaji, and came face to face with a man that looked even more haggard than the captain did. He glanced at the group that entered his office and asked, "And who are these captain?" The captain bowed slightly and replied, "These people claim to have been sent here at the behest of one ''Goddess Gabriel'' to save our people. Though I''m not sure of their intentions or origin, I decided that if someone came to offer help then it would foolish to immediately turn them away." The duke nodded and turned his gaze toward Alex and the rest to scrutinize them, before saying, "I''m of the same mind, you could be following the God of the demon race for all I care, if you help us we''ll be in your debt." Alex nodded seriously at the Dukes words, which perfectly describes just how desperate they were. He then said, "First you need to tell us everything you know about this illness, how it started, and where it originated of possible. We also have two healers in our group who can see to the patients right away." The duke sighed when Alex asked for the details of what was happening, but when he mentioned having two healers his eyes suddenly lit up with life once more and he asked, "Are you serious?! Captain please escort them to where the infected are being taken!" The captain nodded and after Alex told them to go, Anne and Kaori followed him along with Shia and Shizuku who went in case they were needed to help. After the four of them left duke Lanzwi started explaining what exactly happened. Starting a week back several people had gone to the city''s healers with the same exact symptoms which led to suspicions of a new illness spreading. However it wasn''t until the next day that things took a turn for the worse as the number exploded to several hundred almost instantly, and then the emergency started. It wasn''t until the third day when the number grew to the thousands that the source of the problems were found by accident, one of the healers accidentally discovered that the water they were using was contaminated which led to them examining the oasis itself only to find the water tainted. This had only turned an already dire situation into a disaster as it now meant they were not only dealing with what seemed to be a pandemic but was actually poisoning, but now even the lifeline of the entire city was unusable. This was why the duke had even sent his own son to act as an ambassador to the Hairihi kingdom to request help and most importantly, water. He then went on to explain the details of the illness itself, about how it was forcing the magic power in the body to run out of control, and it was a condition that even healing magic was unable to treat more than temporarily. The next part of the Dukes words however made every single member of Alex''s group swear under their breath when he said, "However if the high ranking adventurers were able to recover then we might be able to send them to collect more serene stone, a mineral found in the Grand Gruen Volcano labyrinth that is capable of calming out of control magic power." After hearing that they would have been able to collect the exact item necessary for the people to recover just a day ago everyone was understandably annoyed at the situation, and Alex was a little desperate to find an alternative solution. It was then that Kuroka''s tails caught his attention and Alex looked at her curiously. He then recalled that she was able to influence the internal energy in someones body, which was displayed quite often with Koneko in the past. "Kuroka!" Alex said suddenly, which made everyone jump a little as he nearly shouted. Confused, the nekomata hesitantly asked, "What is it Alex~Nya?" Alex then said with a bit of excitement, "You can use senjutsu to manipulate the energy in someone''s body right? Try and see if you can use it to treat those who are affected by the illness!" When she heard Alex''s idea Kuroka didn''t look too thrilled and replied, "But then I''d have to treat everyone who''s affected wouldn''t I? That''s sounds like too much work~Nya." Though Kuroka would normally sound like she was just being lazy, she would have to treat every person affected one by one when there were literally thousands, this was simply too much work for her alone. Alex however said, "I''ll go and get some help from Asora to lighten the workload, and besides the alternative is going back to Gruen and mining for the serene stone instead!" It was at that moment that Kuroka imagined having to mine the stone in that hellish place for several hours on end simply to collect enough, when instead she could simply sit indoors treating people with a magic array nearby to act like an ac. She then adopted a near desperate expression and said, "I''ll do it so don''t send me back to that place~Nyan!" When everyone heard their conversation they similarly adopted a relieved expression as they also had no intention of going back to Gruen anytime soon. Meanwhile the Duke looked dubious that Kuroka would be able to cure those who had been afflicted with the disease as it was impossible for a demihuman to use any kind of magic, even a unique one with three tails. Not wanting to let his people go through some strange technique without knowing what it required he then said, "Treat my family first. I have taken the some of the limited amount of serene stone we have to keep working during this disaster, but my family has also fallen ill. I want to watch you treat them first before I let you use some technique I''ve never heard of on my people." Though it could be considered that the Duke was prioritizing his personal interests over that of the masses, it could also be said that if Alex and his group had malicious intentions then he was putting his family in the greatest amount of danger by not using the commoners to test their claims of being able to cure them. Alex nodded at the Dukes words and turned towards Kuroka, "Go with him and cure his family, I''ll go to Asora to get some help." He then turned towards the duke and continued, "I''m going to use teleportation magic to go somewhere to get some allies to help your people, it''ll take about an hour but after I bring them here I want you to lead me to the oasis and we''ll see about your water problems." Though there were a few things the duke wanted to discuss, he knew time of the essence and didn''t press Alex for details, yet. He then hurriedly led the way to his family''s quarters while Alex disappeared with Rias into the mist. Chapter 231 - A Goddess Decends Roughly an hour after he left Alex returned to the Dukes castle to find a manservant waiting for him. Showing professionalism at not being shocked from seeing the four new people behind him, the manservant said, "The Duke has escorted your friends to the place where the affected people are being treated after verifying that the method worked on his family. I''m to show you to him and he''ll take you to the oasis from there after your new friends get settled." Alex nodded and gestured for the man to lead the way as he followed along behind him. They were taken to what seemed like a nearby warehouse that had been turned into a temporary treatment center, where there was already a group of people praising the efforts of the ones healing their loved ones. First was Anne who making the slowest progress as her healing magic was actually able to completely cure those she treated, but she was only able to do so one at a time and her magic power was quickly draining because of the rigorous demands of sky dragon slayer magic. This was being assisted by Kaori who was unable to actually cure the rampant magic power in the people''s bodies, but was instead drawing it out into magic crystals that were provided by Hajime, though this didn''t cure people but simply extended the time they had left. He had found these crystals that could store magic power in Orcus during their stay there, but they hadn''t been used until now since none of the girls needed them or wanted to accept gems from someone besides Alex, until Kaori joined them. Now they were being filled by Kaori when she drew out magic power from her patients, and then taken over to Anne so that she could use the same magic power to heal those brought to her. Once drained of magic power, the crystal would then be taken back to Kaori to be refilled once more. Then there was Kuroka in the back of the warehouse who was sitting on a comfortable looking cushion with a large magic circle behind her blowing cool air while she treated her patients. Everyone was stupefied that the demihuman cat girl was impossibly not only able to use magic, but was using it to cool the temperature while also medically treating dying patients, but no one was going to mention it since the cool air felt nice in the warehouse. As for Shizuku, Shia, Hajime, Grayfia, Yue, and Tio, they were spread out somewhat helping direct people while waiting for Alex to return, meanwhile the duke was busy fighting back tears as after all of their efforts were met with despair a small group of people had turned everything around instantly. Alex walked up to him and announced his return, "Duke Lanzwi, I''ve returned with more people to help fight the illness." The duke turned towards him to express his sincere gratitude, but stalled when he saw the four people behind Alex. Standing behind Alex was the blonde pure looking Asia who was dressed in the gowns from her time at the church, and Koneko who had her ears and three tails visible while also dressed in a white kimono. Almost every eye however was on the other two that were standing behind him, Gasper and Valerie, or more specifically Gasper. The reason was because Valerie apparently wanted to dress up to help everyone and so she changed into a cosplay nurse outfit before leaving, and somehow forced Gasper to wear one. This created quite the image as Gasper was in his male form due to him wanting to man up for Valerie, which apparently didn''t stop her from wanting to dress him up. As the silence awkwardly dragged on Alex coughed slightly and said, "They came to help, this is Koneko and she can use the same techniques as Kuroka, and both Asia and Valerie can use their own forms of healing magic, Gasper came to help Valerie." Understanding that this was Alex''s way of moving the topic forward the duke simply nodded and everyone went to start working on their respective jobs, with Kuroka summoning an extra soft fusion and making Koneko sit next to her. She then spent the next five minutes fussing over her little sister before Koneko almost yelled at her to keep focused on what they were doing, and not on her condition. Seeing everyone get settled and increase the rate of people getting healed increase once more, the duke tried to promise himself not to be surprised anymore and said to Alex, "If you''ll follow me I''ll lead you to the oasis so that you can take a look for anything suspicious there." Alex gestured for the duke to lead the way while Hajime, Yue, and Grayfia filed in behind him, to which the duke asked, "Will they assist you in investigating the source of our oasis''s pollution?" Alex nodded and said, "Hajime is unrivaled in thinking and problem solving, and Yue and Grayfia can both use very powerful magic that may be of use if needed." The duke was thoughtful at Alex''s claim and wondered if the magic they used would be even more amazing than what he had already seen, before deciding it was probably better if he didn''t ask. It wasn''t long before they arrived at a massive expanse of water where the oasis surfaced and provided the city with almost everything it needed to thrive. As they approached the duke started explaining, "We already tested and confirmed that the water was tainted, and we even tried deep water tests but were unable to determine the source of the taint." Alex nodded at the Dukes words, but before he could say anything Hajime asked, "How deep did you investigate?" This caused the duke to look at him curiously, to which Hajime explained, "I can see something shining down there in the deep water, did the people who examined it drop something?" This alarmed almost everyone present while the duke checked with those who came with him, before saying, "No, all magic tools were accounted for last we checked." Hajime smiled as it was confirmed that he did indeed find something, but before he could say anything Alex said, "Let me dive down first, take a closer look before you do something like bombing the oasis or something." Hajime clicked his tongue as he was thinking of doing exactly that to determine what he saw down there. Before anyone could stop him Alex stripped off his shirt and dove straight into the tainted water with his wings out to propel himself forward, after seeing this the duke was starting to wonder if he should just give up trying to get answers from Alex about himself and his comrades. It didn''t take long for there to be some kind of reaction, as the water suddenly seemed to come alive and form tentacles that flailed around aimlessly. "Get back!" The Dukes guards shouted as they pulled him back away from the water, while Hajime, Yue, and Grayfia simply stood there as they waited for Alex to return. The tentacles continued flail around for another few seconds, before they shuddered and fell back into the water. Everyone stared at the oasis while holding their breath as they waited for the water to come alive once more, when Alex suddenly walked out of the water with a giant monster core gripped in his hand. "Word of advice, it isn''t easy to fight a slime while a few dozen feet under water." Everyone was dumbfounded at how casual Alex was about the situation, before the duke and those following him just chalked it up to yet another thing about Alex that didn''t make sense. He then said, "Well that should be the source of the contamination in the oasis, now we just need to find a way to purify it." After hearing his words the Duke looked at Alex somewhat dejectedly and asked, "Are you unable to?" Alex smiled bitterly and replied, "Even we have our limits." The Duke looked slightly disappointed at his confirmation, but decided not to mind it too much. Alex and his group had already guaranteed the survival of his city and removed the source of the problem, it would be too much to ask if he demanded they fix the oasis itself as well. Alex was also slightly disappointed in himself since they needed regeneration magic to be able to turn the oasis back, as since the majority of them were Devils it was a given they were unable to purify something that was tainted, but for an archangel it was a simple matter. This was the reason for the next part of Alex''s scheme. "I believe there is a small chance of being able to purify the oasis, but we have to hope that the goddess Gabriel will listen to us." This caused the Duke and his men to look up suddenly as he asked with sharper eyes, "Are you saying that you can call upon a goddess to do your bidding just like that?" Alex however shook his head and explained, "The goddess Gabriel is the mother of all sentient life and considers each member of each race her children, unlike the church that follows Ehito who encourages war and conflict with the other races. It''s for this reason she might answer us and help her children in order to prevent their demise and further conflict." After hearing Alex mention the conflict with other races the Duke realized something that he might have overlooked, which was that the recent information about the demon race was that they were now able to control monsters, and that the thing that polluted the oasis was a slime according to Alex. While the Duke believed co-existence with the other races would be impossible, Alex and those with him had easily made the impossible possible several times within the couple hours he met them. This was why he didn''t hesitate to say, "I see, after everything today I''ll have a church built for her and do everything I can to honor her wishes for peace." Alex nodded and turned towards the oasis before bowing his head and said, "Goddess Gabriel, your champion pleads for your power to cleanse these waters and ensure prosperity for your children. Please, answer our cries!" Everyone followed Alex''s example and bowed their heads as they hoped for yet another miracle that day. The minutes dragged on as they waited, but as everyone started to get look around to see if anything was different they were blinded by a dazzling light. Cries of astonishment rang out as everyone gathered and those still healthy in the city looked towards the source of the light, and saw something that would stay with them the rest of their life. An unbelievably beautiful woman with long flowing blonde hair descended towards the ground while surrounded by a curtain of golden light, and those who could use magic were able to sense the extreme amount of holy power coming off of her body even though she was simply floating there. The thing that caught everyone''s eyes however was the twelve majestic golden wings that extended from her back and the ring of light floating above her head as she looked down at them with sadness in her eyes. Then, the most melodious of voices rang through the skies, "My children, you have suffered so much in the past days; I mourn the loss of those who did not make it, and celebrate those who have pulled through. Let me now ensure that this horrible event is truly behind us." As her voice faded the goddess raised one of her elegant hands and a shower of light fell towards the tainted oasis, before it suddenly shined blindingly as if it contained the sun. After several long yet short seconds the light started dying down before fading completely looking completely unchanged. Though several people wanted to confirm if the water was indeed clean now, they felt that doubting the goddess before them would be the greatest of shames they had ever experienced. Gabriel then turned her attention towards everyone around her before speaking clearly once more, "Now that I have removed the taint that induced such illness in all of you, I have but one request. Similar to the water that now flows clean I would ask that you try and cleanse your hearts of the taint that has been long present within them, and remove your anger against your brothers and sisters. Humans, demihumans, demon race, dragon race, and vampires, all are my children and it breaks my heart to see such bloodshed and hate among them. If not for me, then think of your own children who would grow up in a tainted world and would live only to fuel more hatred, anger, and death; think of those you have lost already due to reasons you have yet to truly understand. I ask only this of you." As the last words of her desperate plea faded, so too did the goddess as the same blinding light she arrived in before she disappeared altogether. Many of those who witnessed this were speechless until one of the men the duke brought hesitantly went to the water line and checked it, before declaring, "ITS REALLY CLEAN!" These words triggered a massive response as everyone who had stood around the oasis burst into cheers, any were even crying in relief and happiness at the miracle they just witnessed. Meanwhile the duke was still staring start struck as his people spread their happiness like the plague around him, before recalling the goddess''s final words. He then turned towards the great fields that were near the oasis where he saw several hundred demihuman slaves standing in them. It was that moment that one of his attendants approached him and asked, "My lord, why do you not celebrate?!" The duke looked back towards his attendant and answered, "I am thinking of the future. Send a message to every slave owner in the city telling them they are summoned to meeting in a weeks time. This should be enough time to recover from this mess and plan an alternative or two." The attendant was confused at the Dukes words and asked, "An alternative for what sir?" The duke simply said, "The goddess requested that we try to end the cycle of hatred that plagues us; so tell me, how can we do that if so many of those she mentioned are chained within our own walls?" The attendant turned towards the same fields the duke was looking at just a moment before and turned serious as well before saying, "Yes my lord, it will be done!" Satisfied, the duke turned back towards the oasis and those who healthy celebrating the miracle they just witnessed, and continued planning for what he hoped was an era of peace. *** Meanwhile across the city another person was watching the area where Gabriel had appeared, yet there was nothing but scorn in their gaze. The high priest of Ankaji then turned around and reentered the church to see those who were devout receiving their medicine after reaffirming their devotion to God, reverence in their eyes. ''This is as it should be.'' The high priest thought to himself as he recalled the message he had received through the magic communication available exclusively through the church, detailing the description of the heretics that were trying to spread faith in this false goddess. The situation had proved to be annoying as word of this goddess spread, the church was trying to suppress the spread of converted believers in Furhen while the town of Ul was already lost, he even heard they had already built a statue of the goddess with her champion and prophet. The high priests thoughts were interrupted when and elderly woman approached him and begged, "Please high priest, save my grandchildren!" The high priest adopted a smile and said, "Of course child, all the faithful of God will be able to weather this condition, this includes your grandchildren as well." However the elderly woman shook her head and pleaded, "It''s not just the disease, it''s their whore of a mother! She refuses to bring them to the church and is instead taking them to receive treatment from those followers of Gabriel, even though I said we would face the wrath of God if she did that! I don''t care what happens to her, but my grandchildren are all I have left after my son passed!" This news made the high priest frown for a second before he smiled again and said in a louder voice, "Do you hear that my children? Now people are truly acting against the church in these times of crisis, how far have we fallen?!" There was a cry of outrage from the surrounding people at the high priests words, as they cursed those who turned their backs on the one true God. The high priest then said to them, "Tell me would you allow your families to become misguided like this poor woman''s? To be seduced by lies and promises of an impossible ideal, peace with those who do not share our gods grace?" """NO!!""" The people chanted at the high priests words as they started getting fired up. The high priest smiled at their fervor and said passionately, "I say let us go and show them the light before they are dragged forever to the darkness! Let us show these heretics that we will not be fooled by their lies, that we will not tolerate their very presence!" There was a great cheer once more as everyone present got fired up and prepared to cast out the unfaithful from their city. The high priest turned towards the captain of the temple knights in Ankaji and asked, "How many knights are available for us to call on?" The captain smiled and said, "Two hundred, enough to deliver divine punishment upon those foolish enough to turn their backs on god!" The high priest smiled once more and said, "Good. The reports from Ul is that this champion is even stronger than the summoned hero party, but what was said seemed so grossly exaggerated that we''re not sure." The high priest then laughed to himself as he recalled the report stating that this champion of Gabriel managed to eliminate an army of monsters numbering several tens of thousands with only a handful of people. He then turned serious once more and said, "Summon them all at once and we''ll march on them." The temple knight captain saluted once and turned to do as instructed. The high priest then walked out the grand doors of the church and started walking down the road once the captain returned with well over a hundred Knights already in tow. Chapter 232 - Confrontation "First get to the treatment center near the Dukes mansion, and then the followers of goddess Gabriel will help you and your family." "Thank you, may the goddess bless you!" The man smiled as yet more people started helping their sick families towards the treatment center before turning his attention to the next one. He was surprised at how quickly people were taking to the new goddess, not that he was one to talk, but when they compared her to the church that hadn''t helped them during the times of crisis it was understandable. The man then recalled how the followers of the goddess cured his children of the sickness and how she descended from the sky in their hour of need to help them, faced with how much effort their saviors were putting in the man figured the least he could do was help people get to the treatment center so that even more could be saved. "May I know more about these followers of Gabriel?" A voice suddenly said to him. The man turned towards the speaker happy to share his firsthand knowledge of them, before realizing he was now face to face with the high priest of the church and several temple Knights. Before the man could say or do anything the temple Knights seized each of his arms and held him down while the surrounding people quickly cleared an area around them. The high preset then looked the man in the eye and said, "I will give you one chance to return to gods grace, tell me about the followers of this false goddess and spit on her name." The man didn''t know what to do at this point, on one hand it wouldn''t be too hard to give the high priest what he wanted while lying, but on the other he didn''t want to betray the ones who saved his children. Making his decision and his peace, the man looked the high priest in the eyes and said, "I will not. The goddess''s followers saved my children and she herself appeared and saved this city, while you and your God left us to rot until it was convenient for you. I will not turn my back on such a being." The high priest frowned when he heard the mans response before turning and saying to the crowd that had been following him, "Do you see now good people, the dangers of this false divine? Not only has she seduced the innocent from the righteous path, but she has also convinced them that the divine should move at our convenience. A being that moves at the whims of man, is no divine at all!" There was a cry of agreement from those who followed the high priest while those who had yet to get treatment themselves or for their families looked down and wondered what they were supposed to do. The high priest then turned back towards the man and said, "As punishment for turning your back on gods benevolence, you shall be purged! May you return to the right path in the afterlife!" At the high priests words there was a wave of cheers from those who followed him while a single woman cried out in fear and despair. As the man was forced to kneel while one of the temple Knights drew his sword, he turned to high priest once more and asked, "Tell me high priest, when you die will your God even notice or care?" The high priest snorted at the mans words, as the temple knight sword fell and removed his head. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" A woman''s cry rang out, probably the mans wife, while those who followed the high priest from the church cheered at the heretics death. The high priest then ordered the Knights to move on while also bringing the head with them, leaving behind the recently widowed woman as she cried over her husband''s headless corpse. *** The captain of the guard looked around the warehouse as people continued to be treated for their illness, and fought back a tear from happiness, a feeling that was shared by everyone around him. Now that people were being cured in greater numbers they ensured that the high class adventurers were some of the first, this way they could prepare for a trip to the Grand Gruen Volcano in order to procure more Serene Stone so that they wouldn''t necessarily need for Alex''s group to heal each and every person. When what was happening around was combined with the miracle that was just witnessed by the city, the captain of the guard felt that they truly were blessed by the goddess. This feeling didn''t last however as one of his men came and reported something disturbing to him. "Sir, we''ve gotten several reports of the church marching through town with and escort of two hundred temple Knights! They are making their way here while also executing anyone who acknowledges the goddess Gabriel or those who serve her!" The captain was stupefied at this news, the entire city had just escaped destruction and now the church was murdering their own people in the streets?! What made matters worse was that they were marching with so many temple Knights while he only had a couple dozen readily available without recalling the few that were still able to patrol. After thinking for a moment the captain said to the man, "Quickly, run to the oasis and report this news to the duke, this action of the church is blatant rebellion against the ruling body of this territory! I''ll gather what men I can to hold them off if they try to force their way through." He man who brought the report saluted before swiftly running off to find the duke at the oasis, while the captain turned back towards the massive crowd of people within the warehouse. He just couldn''t believe the church was reacting so extremely to the spread of belief in goddess Gabriel, especially when they sat back during this outbreak and refused to proactively help. He quickly gathered what few men were helping organize people and rushed to the street to waylay the church, while also neglecting to tell the followers of Gabriel as he felt they were helping them too much and he didn''t want to rely of them for this as well. Unfortunately for the captain a certain pair of rabbit ears twitched when he received the report, and she quickly went around and spread the information to the others present that were unable to heal. "I say let the Knights take care of it, we can''t do everything for them~Nya." Kuroka said as she manipulated the energy inside her current patients body until they returned to normal. Shizuku however said, "True, but here''s also a few of us that can''t heal so the least we can do is help keep the church away." As she and Kaori already heard all about Ehito''s and the church from Alex and the others she didn''t hesitate to place herself against them, especially when she learned they had no intention of returning them to their world. Kuroka narrowed her eyes at her and asked, "But can you fight them~Nya? If I recall you''re pretty close to that fake hero, and he was really naive when it came to fighting against other people." Shizuku flinched at Kuroka''s words and replied while also trying to ignore the quip against Kouki, "I don''t like the idea of fighting against other people, the thought that my blade may cut their flesh and kill them honestly makes me want to cry... But it must be done and I resolved myself to do what''s needed." Seeing her resolve everyone else looked relieved as those who were thinking of joining the Knights had all engaged in battles against other people before and wouldn''t hesitate. After all agreeing Shizuku, Shia, Tio, and Gasper all headed outside to stand at the side of the Knights as they waited for the church to show up. The captain frowned when he saw them join them, but right as he opened his mouth to say something Shia interrupted him, "We aren''t really helping heal, and we''re better at doing things like this anyways." Though the captain didn''t want to rely on them for this as well, he could only sigh as they were grossly outnumbered anyways, which was also the reason why he was waiting for the church to show up instead of going to them. They didn''t have long to wait though when Tio''s eyes sharpened and she said, "This one smells blood, I wouldst presume that it is them." Shia also nodded and said, "I can hear metal armor clanking so you''re right." With the warning from the two girls the captain turned towards the two dozen men behind him and shouted, "FORMATIONS READY!" At his order the Knights formed a shield wall while the only spellcaster available started preparing a defensive formation, even if they were joined by the four from Alex''s group they were still drastically outmatched so the captain decided a defensive approach was best. The only flaw to his formation was the severe shortage of hands available, and the fact that Shia and the rest were acting on their own in front of them. The rabbit girl had surprised everyone just by being on the front lines, but when a giant Warhammer appeared from nowhere just to be casually slung over her shoulder they were all dumbfounded. Tio meanwhile felt that slinging fire and wind spells around wouldn''t be good within the city, so she simply dragonfied her arms and summoned her wings to fight hand to hand. Shizuku thought for a moment before unsheathing the wakizashi to hold in her right hand, and the tant¨­ to hold in her off hand, though she specialized in using the larger katana Shizuku decided to try fighting with the two blades since she had them. Finally Gasper who looked like a walking oddity from being dressed in a cosplay nurses outfit while almost being as buff as Alex and having a girlish face, instead of getting ready to fight hand to hand like everyone thought a couple magic circle formed near his hands while his eyes started glowing a bright red. Though everyone was confused about him, they didn''t have time to think about it as the church forces came into view. There was a sudden intake of breath from the Knights while several people around them that still needed to be treated screamed, as there was no less than thirty heads decorating the poles held by the temple Knights. With a look of rage the captain of the Knights stepped forward and declared, "High priest, you and the temple Knights behind you are hereby charged with murder, and traitorous acts against the dukedom of Ankaji! Surrender in order to face the Dukes justice!" The high priest looked genuinely confused at the captains declaration and asked, "Captain, how can we be traitors when we simply follow the will of God? These men and women are the real traitors, they grew up in a world rules by God, and turned their backs on him the first chance they got! Tell me you aren''t with them, tell me you as well aren''t a traitor! Prove your faith by turning over those followers of the false divine, the filthy animal of the rabbitman race, the fallen and disgraced vampire and dragon race, and the apostle that turned against her own comrades and the god they serve; and feel firsthand the benevolence of God!" The captain felt disgusted by the high priests words, and simply replied, "Then I will either detain or fight you to the death so that the families of those you murdered will hopefully sleep easier knowing justice was served to their family''s killer." Hearing that the captain had absolutely no intention of doing as he insisted, the high priest simply acted disappointed and said, "I see, perhaps the Duke will see fit to appoint a captain better suited for his position once he returns to reason as well." The high priest then removed a parchment of paper from his sleeve and started chanting as the circular lines on it started glowing, causing everyone got into battle ready positions while the spellcaster deployed the defensive barrier he had erected. As the high priest finished chanting the parchment shone with what seemed to be a holy light before an intense beam of the holy power condensed and shot forward at the captain and his men while Shia and the others seemingly watched for some reason. The captain knew he had no hope of surviving such an attack, and all of those behind them knew the same, but if they failed to block it then it would breach their line and those who still needed treatment would suffer, so their stances never wavered as the beam destroyed the barrier protecting them and moved towards him. At that moment however, "That''s enough of that." A voice said as what seemed to be a hole opened up in space itself in front of the captain and the beam was swallowed inside. No one knew what happened until an explosion overhead sounded out, as the attack directed towards the Knights instead collided with the barrier over the whole city. "We leave for a few minutes and you guys throw a party? Come on!" Everyone turned towards the speaker and saw Alex standing there next to the duke and several more Knights; except though he had cracked a joke with a kidding tone, his expression was hard as he looked at the people from the church. However, even after his display of the age of gods Spatial magic, none of them flinched as the high priest even stepped forward and said, "Welcome champion of the false goddess, may I presume you have come to learn of the grace of God?" Alex smirked and said, "I''ll have nothing to do with such a coward, instead I came to deal with the bunch of murderous madmen who worship him." After hearing Alex refer to their God as a coward the followers of the church frowned, but when he referred to them as madmen they became angry and the high priest declared, "Mad? Us? No champion of the false goddess we are simply exercising gods will, madness is believing in something as impossible as peace with filthy animals and the blasphemous demon race, as well as the disgraced vampires and dragon race. Madness is kneeling to a harlot who seduces decent men and women from the righteous path, and who claims that humans originated from the same place as those disgusting other races! Bowing only to the will of the one true God is not madness!" After hearing the high priests speech the followers of the church cheered while Alex''s expression hardened even more. He then stepped forward and approached the priest and temple Knights slowly while the girls and Gasper wisely started stepping back, knowing not to get in his way. As Alex slowly stepped forward the high priest and the temple Knights felt an increasing amount of dread even though he had yet to do anything, but once he stopped in front of them Alex simply spoke a single word. "KNEAL!" As this lone word spread to the surroundings everyone had a look of confusion, before the sudden combination of pressure and gravity magic forced every single follower of the church to their knees. To those watching who weren''t effected by Alex''s pressure and gravity, they could only feel a rising amount of tension as the air itself seemed to hum with power. Alex took the last couple steps until he was in front of the now kneeling high priest as he struggled to find his feet, before saying in a quiet voice that still carried to the surroundings, "It seems your gods will is not the only thing you''ll submit to. Now, do you think your God will intervene on the behalf of one of his faithful, or will he leave you to rot?" The high priest smirked and said, "Say what you will, but my faith will never waver." Alex simply shrugged and replied, "I know, but what about them?" As the high priest looked around to see who Alex was indicating he saw the hundreds of gathered people watching the display, and realized what Alex was after. Before he could say anything however Alex continued, "Now these people watched as right when they started recovering from disaster the church tried to steal their loved ones, how those who were supposedly against the other races the most even turned on their own people in the blink of an eye. Do you think they''ll truly stay faithful?" The high priest didn''t know what to say as he now felt as if he had been dancing on the palm of the person in front of him, the only thing he could think of to do was to look Alex in the eye and say, "You are a demon." Alex laughed lightly at the high priests words and replied, "Close but no cigar, and I actually didn''t plan any of this you know." He then turned around and started walking back towards the warehouse while the Dukes men moved in to restrain the temple Knights, before seeming to recall something and turning back towards the duke. "By the way, the goddess preaches peace and loving each other, but the laws of man still need to be taken into consideration. These men murdered your people and acted openly against this areas ruling body, yourself. Do with them as you usually would." Leaving those words behind Alex grabbed Shia and the protesting Shizuku by the waist as he reentered the warehouse, followed Tio who was panting at being ignored and Gasper who was long used to Alex''s behavior. Chapter 233 - Aftermath Several hours after the conflict with the church ended, Alex and the rest were relaxing in one of the spare rooms in the Dukes manor. They were resting for the night before resuming the treatments thanks to the fact that Kaori and Asia were able to relieve the symptoms that people were suffering from in mass, prolonging the time until their condition was once again fatal. When one thought about how there were already even adventurers that had left to collect Serene Stone, the entire disaster now seemed like it was already behind them and they were simply cleaning up the last of the mess. Currently while also relaxing, everyone was waiting for the Dukes servant to return after leaving to make the room arrangements for the night, while the Duke himself was still dealing with the high priest and the temple Knights. A moment later the duke himself walked in and was about to say something, but froze when he saw them there, or at least Alex. "Is there news?" Alex asked nonchalantly, which made the Dukes brow twitch in annoyance. Currently Alex was sitting on a couch while having Anne and Asia clinging onto each side of him, while Koneko took her long time seat on his lap. He was pampering them a bit since they had been working so hard the past several hours, but everyone couldn''t help wondering who was pampering who, coincidently Kaori and Valerie were doing the same thing to Hajime and Gasper. After taking a deep breath, the duke started discussing what he came to tell them. "We''ve set aside rooms for all of you to use while staying in Ankaji, but maybe more of you will end up sharing than we thought? Plus I already dealt with the high priest and the others from the church, so there shouldn''t be any more issues while you''re here." While ignoring the quip he made about their room arrangements, everyone''s eyes sharpened when he mentioned the people from the church. Seeing their interest the duke explained, "I had the high priest and the captain of the temple Knights executed and their heads mounted on the city gate; meanwhile the two hundred temple Knights were given a choice, join the high priest and captain in execution or be given a chance to work off their crimes for ten years." Shizuku tilted her head in confusion at the Dukes words and asked, "Is that a normal punishment in Tortus?" The duke smiled mischievously and answered, "No, but I''m planning to have a serious discussion with the various slave owners in the city in order to grant the goddess''s wish for peace between her children, now there''s two hundred able bodied men who it''d be a waste to simply execute." Everyone nodded in understanding as they realized the duke was planning to use the temple Knights to ease the burden of suddenly losing their slave workers. After telling them the layouts of their rooms, the duke then took his leave to deal with his seemingly never ending supply of work. After he left everyone didn''t go immediately to their rooms, but instead resumed the conversation they were having before the duke arrived. "So Asia, Valerie, and Gasper are challenging the next labyrinth with us as well?" Anne asked Alex curiously. Alex nodded and replied, "The next age of gods magic is really useful for healing so I want them to be able to have an alternate form of healing just in case, and Gasper didn''t want to be left behind by Valerie. Instead of going through when someone else does for training I figured why not just have them go through with us, but we''ll still have to stop at Myuu''s hometown Erisen first." Grayfia then asked, "Is this one only good for healing, or can it be applied to other uses as well?" Alex nodded and explained, "This age of gods magic is called ''Regeneration magic'' and it actually allows one to reverse time to an extent. It''s initial application is reversing time on a wound to heal it, but as we become more proficient with it then we should be able to apply it to other uses as well." Everyone then started talking amongst themselves excitedly at the concept of being able to reverse time, even though some ideas they mentioned were a little out there. At that moment Kuroka piped up, "But Shirone will return to Asora once we''re done here at Ankaji~Nyan. After all a great labyrinth is no place for someone in her condition." At Kuroka''s words everyone turned towards the white haired girl sitting on Alex''s lap, or more specifically towards her belly. "I still can''t believe you didn''t tell me Koneko! Aren''t we friends?" Gasper whined at her as he had just learned that day that she was pregnant along with Asia and Valerie. Koneko rubbed her belly lightly before saying, "... I cheated by using my mating season to get pregnant before almost everyone else, so I didn''t want to say yet." Everyone just sighed at Koneko''s words as they never considered her mating season "cheating", though maybe it was a bit unfair. Alex smiled as he wrapped his hands around her and also started rubbing her belly gently. He was conflicted since he ultimately wouldn''t see his children as often as he would want in the future due to whatever was going on in the world he was in, but he would try to make up for it whenever he could. They then continued discussing their plans and various other things, until Asia let out a cute yawn that alerted everyone to how tired she was and how tired they all were. After Koneko moved to let him stand, Alex said to everyone, "A lot happened today, so everyone go and get some sleep for now. I''m gonna return to Asora and check on things there as well as Myuu since I didn''t get a chance to earlier." Everyone nodded in affirmation at Alex''s words, while also understanding he intended to go check on Gabriel as well. After escorting the women to their shared room for the sake of appearances, Alex then disappeared into the mist. *** "Gabriel..." "..." "I said there was no other choice, otherwise we wouldn''t have been able to clean the oasis." "Hmph. I''m not talking to you." Alex could only shake his head while everyone who was watching the scene couldn''t help but giggle. Alex was currently trying to pacify Gabriel who was upset she had to be ''Goddess Gabriel'' again due to her devotion towards God of the bible. Though she had long understood the reasons she needed to act like a goddess, that didn''t mean she liked it. He was about to try something else to pacify her when there was a sudden pattering of steps and Myuu ran into the room while wearing a nightgown, indicating she was getting ready for bed when she heard he arrived. "Papa!" She cried out as she immediately ran over and jumped into his lap. Alex smiled at seeing her and said, "Myuu, have you been having fun here in Asora?" Myuu nodded excitedly and started telling him about everything she saw and the people she met while here. "First Kunou and Millicas took me to this shrine where I met an actual God! But not a scary or mean one like the people worship back home. Then auntie Yasaka took us on a walk and we actually went to the ocean!" As Myuu excitedly recounted her adventures in Asora to Alex, everyone in the room couldn''t help but think of how adorable the scene was and imagine Alex with their own children in the future. Even Gabriel stopped her pouting and after watching him interact with Myuu for a bit, started rubbing her swelling belly with anticipation and a contented smile. This didn''t go unnoticed by the other women as they gave her looks of jealousy so intense it was like they were trying to bore a hole in her. Soon Myuu''s stories were interrupted when a mature fox woman entered the room along with her daughter. "Myuu I know you''re excited to see your papa, but shouldn''t you also be getting ready for bed?" Myuu started pouring as she wanted to spend more time with Alex after being away for over a week, but Alex just kissed the top of her head and said, "Listen to Yasaka, soon you''ll be able to join us and we''ll be going straight to your home to see your mother." As Alex mentioned her mother Myuu instantly stopped pouting and said, "Ok! I''m going to sleep right now so I can see her faster!" After giving an adorable fist pump Myuu immediately leapt off of Alex''s lap and took off after Kunou to prepare for bed. Yasaka giggled and was about to follow when Alex said, "Hold on a second Yasaka, there''s something I wanted to ask you." Hearing the seriousness in Alex''s tone she closed the door behind her so that Myuu and Kunou wouldn''t overhear, and Alex said, "We''ll be in Ankaji dealing with the situation for a couple more days but then we''ll be moving straight on towards Erisen which is Myuu''s hometown. It is also the home of the demihuman Dagon race which are protected by the kingdom for the sake of gathering seafood. While we''re there I want you to negotiate with the chief of the dagons regarding moving them to Asora. I think this would be the best way to establish a permanent seaside town that''ll also be able to produce seafood, though we won''t be as demanding as the people of Tortus." Everyone was silent at Alex''s words as they realized he was discussing another race''s migration to their home. Yasaka was also silent for a second before asking, "While I don''t mind, why me?" Alex then explained, "Because you''ll be easier for them to trust and Myuu already knows you. The Dagon race will be very distrustful of humans or any who resemble them due to the issues regarding Myuu, even though I''m not human I look close enough to it that there''ll probably be a problem or two when we arrive. You on the other hand are a youkai, and look closer to this worlds Demi humans so they may be more willing to discuss such a topic with you. There''s also the fact that negotiations may take a while and I''ll have other things I need to do." Understanding that this was a job that would be significantly more difficult for others Yasaka agreed to Alex''s request to negotiate on his behalf. She then however adopted a mischievous smile and said, "I''ll do it but I''ll expect quite the repayment for this, and it''ll probably take several nights before I''ll be content." Alex also smiled in anticipation and said, "I''m very much looking forward to it." She then left to put the girls to bed and Alex turned back to the girls around him before his smiled widened and he said, "Well I''m tired so I suppose it''s time for me to head to bed as well, who''s joining me?" Though he said he was going to bed it was only after several sweaty hours that he fell asleep with Ravel, Akeno, Ingvild, and Roygun surrounding him. *** Nyx groaned once more as she made her way up the stairs to that bastards room to clean it. Though she had been a maid/slave for a couple weeks now she was still far from getting used to this lifestyle of doing manual labor for others. One plus was that she didn''t actually see Alex that often since he was busy in whatever world he was currently in, but she still had to deal with that hellish drill haired woman. While imagining what she would do to Ravel if ever given the chance, Nyx opened the door to Alex''s room to clean it that morning only to find that her master had actually spent the night there for once. "OH YES!" "HARDER!" Right in front of her Nyx got full view of the same woman she was just thinking about and three others getting drilled first thing in the morning by her master. Nyx''s eyes were glued to the massive thing moving in and out of Ravel as she m.o.a.ned and cried out in ecstasy, before Alex looked up at the one who entered his room and locked eyes with her. He then continued banging away while maintaining eye contact with the goddess of night. Nyx was suddenly fearful as a horrible thought entered her head and she immediately backed out the door and slammed it shut. Her heart was racing as she thought about how easily Alex could''ve made her join them if he wanted with a single order, regardless of her own intentions. Though she would never admit it to anyone, including herself, she felt some gratitude towards him for not giving her such orders, but only up until she ended up having to change the sheets that were being used for such purposes. Chapter 234 - To Erisen A few days after the conflict with the church the incident with the illness was fully resolved, and everyone was once again on their way through the skies of Tortus to their next destination. They were currently stopped to rest for the previous night and were only awaiting for everyone to wake up before resuming their journey. During this time when even the sun had yet to rise there was a certain someone standing on the deck of Zenith with their katana raised in front of them as they focused on the dummy target roughly twenty feet ahead of them. "Ha, haaa." After taking a deep breath and letting it out, the person suddenly moved at speeds that most wouldn''t have been able to keep up with as they slashed the air in front of them as if they intended to cut the target from that far away. Once her movement was finished Shizuku calmly sheathed her katana and started walking towards her target, already expecting the result of her attack. As she approached the training dummy she was unsurprised to see no signs of her blade having connected as she intended. "I''ll try again and again until I get it!" She declared to herself as she turned back to her starting point and unsheathed her katana once more while closing her eyes. She then imagined the scene she witnessed several days before when Alex used the same spatial magic they all acquired to redirect the high priests attack with what seemed to be portals. At first she figured she was incompatible with spatial magic since she was a sword fighter and not an actual magic user, but then during the following days she couldn''t get the image of the way Alex use spatial magic out of her head until she suddenly arrived at a conclusion, wouldn''t she be able to use that same magic to attack someone from a distance with her sword? She then became determine to "cut space" with her sword to be able to attack from a distance without projecting her attack. If she managed to utilize and perfect this method to attack then her attacks could come from any direct regardless of her actual position and would be nearly impossible to predict. She then opened her eyes once more and focused on her target ahead of her, but right as she was about to start moving there was suddenly a shout, "HEY SHIZUKU! LOOK IM FLYING!" This nearly caused her to trip over herself as her concentration was suddenly broken by her best friend. She then turned and gave her a mock glare, but it was hard to do so since her lips couldn''t help but curl up in a small grin at Kaori''s antics. Kaori at that time was indeed flying around Zenith using her brand new Devils wings while Hajime followed along close by in case she fell. She then accidentally recalled the events leading up to her best friend making such a decision a few days prior, which led to her face turning Crimson as she instinctively hid herself with her ponytail when she recalled what else was discussed. Apparently Kaori had been feeling intimidated by how everyone was seemingly more useful than her, and this led to her requesting Alex and the others to help her train as well. Instead Alex had suggested an alternative, becoming a devil. It was then explained that the main difference between her and the others was that as Devils things like chants for spells and so on were unneeded, while she had to prepare to use her magic. When Kaori showed interest at becoming a devil Alex then introduced her to someone in the place called Asora named Ravel, who then conducted what seemed to be like a job interview with her. Soon her friend was given a chess piece and she sprouted Devils wings right there in front of everyone, which Shizuku couldn''t help find ironic considering Kaori was often referred to as an angel by others, but was now a devil. The part that had embarrassed Shizuku though was when she asked about becoming a devil herself, and was told that Ravel had used her last piece on Kaori and the ones who still had their ''Evil Pieces'' were Rias, Alex, and a girl named Ingvild. Rias had denied her since she already had her two Knights and wasn''t looking use her pawn pieces on a third, meanwhile the girl named Ingvild apparently wanted to turn her peerage into performers as well as fighters, which Shizuku refused to do. And so Shizuku turned to Alex and asked if he could turn her into a devil in order to become stronger, which then led to him making a weird grin. This had confused her until she heard the girls start giggling slightly and she confusingly asked if she said anything funny before Hajime stepped forward and explained, Alex only used his ''Evil Pieces'' on women that agreed to be his. In other words, Shizuku had essentially asked Alex to make her his lover. Luckily for her he didn''t push the issue and understood she only asked out of ignorance, but that didn''t stop him or the others from teasing her quite a bit about it. Shizuku shook her head as if to push the embarrassing memories away and turned her attention back towards the target in front of her. She knew that to use spatial magic it would require her to chant, but she was currently trying to find a way around this so that she wouldn''t advertise her attacks to her opponents. Before she could regain the focus she lost though, a voice asked, "Working hard Shizuku?" Which nearly caused her to stumble once more, not from being interrupted, but because of who the owner of the voice was. With a blush on her cheeks she turned to face Alex and said, "I''m trying to utilize Spatial Magic in my sword techniques." Alex nodded in understanding and held out his hand while asking, "Mind if I try?" Shizuku felt a bad premonition, but she handed over her katana to Alex who then casually swung it to the side. As he swung it the air around the katana seemed to warp slightly before there was a sudden clatter a ways away. They both turned to see the target dummy cut in half thanks to Alex''s attack, which caused Shizuku to feel bitter inside. He then turned towards her and said, "The problem is that you aren''t able to use such magic while applying it to your usual movements as easily as us. As you are now you need to either find a way to incorporate chants into your fighting, or have your equipment enchanted beforehand to act as a medium like a staff or scroll." The bitter feeling only grew as Alex explained what she needed to do to improve as she already understood that. However she already concluded that chanting would be next to impossible, while she was hesitating to ask Alex to make her weapons capable to apply spatial magic. The reason was because ever since she started traveling with them she had seen time and again how "inferior" she was to everyone else, and that she had to rely on Alex seemingly constantly. That was why she wanted to try and figure this out herself, not only to become more capable in combat, but so that she wouldn''t owe him even more. However in the face of all the facts, she was once again unable to refuse when Alex offered to add applications for Spatial Magic to the weapons he gave her. Though was nice to be around someone that was more reliable, she didn''t like feeling so powerless compared to those around him. Feeling defeated as she handed over her weapons, Shizuku then took a wooden practice sword and resumed her usual sword practice, determined to catch up to those around her. *** About a day later the endless sea of desert gave way to an even more endless sea of blue as they finally reached the ocean. Seeing the expanse of water Alex directed Zenith downwards until with a gentle crash they started sailing across the water instead of in the air. Though everyone was excited to be at the ocean, there was one person in particular who was literally hopping around with joy. "The ocean! It''s the ocean papa!" Myuu cried out as she ran around excitedly. Everyone either smiled or started giggling at her behavior, but no one made a comment since they were aware that Myuu was excited to almost be home, and to see her mother again soon. Asia in particular seemed effected by Myuu''s mood as she walked up to her and asked, "By the way Myuu, what''s Erisen like?" Myuu puffed up her chest and happily said, "My home is awesome! It floats on the water and everyone there is super nice to me and mama, especially all of the uncles!" At these words everyone developed more strained smiles, as they understood that Myuu''s father died before she was born and her mother was probably fairly young and good looking basing her off of Myuu herself, so it was kinda obvious why all those uncles were nice to them. Asia though was still talking eagerly with Myuu and asking her more about her home while also walking away slightly to divert the topic. Valerie(who was now dressed in a sailing cosplay outfit along with Gasper) then approached Alex and asked, "Do you think we could go swimming now that we''re sailing in actual water?" Alex thought for a moment and answered, "I would wait until we stop Zenith for the night so that you won''t have to try and keep up with us, it''ll also make it easier to deal with any sea monsters that might want a bit of a snack." Valerie and Gasper paled slightly when Alex mentioned potential monsters looking for a snack, which then led to a discussion about Kuroka erecting a large barrier to repel any hungry monsters. They then spent the next couple days sailing across the ocean while everyone like they were on a pleasure cruise now more than ever as they spent the days swimming, tanning, and just generally playing around in bikinis. The vacation attitude came to an end however when most of them sensed several approaching presences, right before a shout came from the water outside the barrier. "In the name of Erisen and the Heiligh Kingdom, surrender yourselves for holding and questioning for suspicious activities on an unknown vessel in the territory of Erisen! Failure to comply will be taken as a criminal offense and we will show no mercy!" Chapter 235 - Conflict Resolution After hearing the shout Alex walked over towards the railing to peer over the side, only to see about a dozen members of the emerald haired Dagon race glaring back at him from the water with their tridents posed ready to strike. He smirked at them since even if they tried to attack they would never even be able to breach the barrier Kuroka placed around them. Alex then adopted a serious expression and said, "We are here as part of a request of the guild branch head of Furhen to return the kidnapped child Myuu to her mother. I have no intention of violence, but if you act unreasonably then I will be forced to act unreasonably as well." Alex''s words caused a small stir within the group of dagons since he basically stated he wouldn''t comply with their demands, but one in particular spoke up in response, "Show us Myuu both safe and unharmed." Alex shrugged since that was easy to do, as the young girl in question came running when she heard Alex mention her name. She quickly ran up and jumped into his arms giggling and she asked, "What is it papa?" Before noticing the group of Dagon people below them. Myuu''s face then lit up even more as she started waving her arm and shouted, "Helloooo!" While the men below then let out a small sigh of relief at seeing her safe and sound, though since they heard her refer to Alex as "papa" many of the single men among them still looked at him with a bit hostility. The one in charge then said, "If you hand Myuu over then we''ll escort her back from here." Alex however shook his head and replied, "The request was to return her to her mother specifically, and I have more business in Erisen anyways so there''s no need. Just lead the way and we''ll follow." As Alex rejected his offer, the man who spoke clicked his tongue but didn''t say anything else and he led the way towards Erisen with his men surrounding the ship, both to protect Myuu and in case Alex and the others tried anything funny. As they set out Alex let a brief sigh of relief as he recalled there being more drama when Hajime returned Myuu originally. With everyone aware of the discussions that transpired they were all crowding towards the bow of Zenith as they waited to get a first look of the floating city of Erisen, with Myuu practically jumping in excitement from nearly getting to see her mother again. Soon the floating city came into view as they were directed to one of the docks, where a group of armed men waited for them due to the messenger that was sent ahead. As they docked and Alex disembarked first with Myuu riding on his shoulders to advertise her return, a seemingly important man wearing a badge with the symbol of the Heiligh kingdom stepped forward. He took a look at Zenith, which was larger than any other ship currently docked due to the influence of Alex''s magic power, and frowned before turning towards Alex himself. As he approached Alex started pulling out his status card and the letter he received from Ilwa, but before he could say anything the man suddenly said, "Stop right there! Hand the child over and we''ll return her to her mother, you however will be detained and questioned until we verify the facts regarding how she entered your custody, and your trespassing in Erisen waters on an unidentified vessel, one large enough that it surpasses even the kingdoms war sh.i.p.s." Alex was speechless at the mans behavior and words as he was just about to present the letter to man, but he was instead being treated like he was a criminal for trying to do his job. He then slowly lowered the now quiet Myuu who didn''t understand what was going on, which made the surrounding Dagon men and the representative of Heiligh let out a small sigh of relief, until they heard what Alex said to Myuu. "Myuu, quickly run back to Grayfia for a moment, papa needs to have a discussion with the mean man who won''t let me take you to your mama." Myuu sent the man in question a small glare before obediently running back to Grayfia and the others who had just disembarked Zenith. Alex then turned back towards the man who was glaring at him, and said, "You wanted to know how Myuu entered my custody, right? Well it was quite simple, while all of you sat here on your asses I pulled her out of a sewer in Furhen that she tried to escape into during her imprisonment. Then, after I arranged the destruction of the groups related to putting her through such an ordeal, she was entrusted to my care by the branch head of the adventurers guild. As for us trespassing, well I wonder how you expect us to carry out such a request if we can''t actually come to Erisen where her mother is? And regarding my ship, I don''t think I necessarily need to explain that to you, or is the issue there just that you''re jealous mines bigger than yours?" As he was speaking Alex walked over to the front of the largest ship currently docked besides Zenith, a 130 foot frigate warship that had the crest of the Heiligh kingdom flying on it. He then placed his hand on the stem of the ship as if he was appreciating it, while also using his system to send a message to Anne about what he was about to do. Right as she replied the representative then spoke up, "These waters belong to the territory of the kingdom and therefore it is my business when an unidentified possible warship appears in them. Regardless of what you have to say I will still have you come with me to answer my questions, and unless you take you hand away I will also charge you with possible subterfuge-" CRACK The mans words were interrupted by the very distinct crack that rang throughout the air, right before he and every other spectator went slack jawed at what they were witnessing. After placing his hand against the sh.i.p.s stem Alex had tightened his grip, which caused the distinct crack to ring out as he dug his fingers into the wood, and he started lifting the entire ship out of the water with a single hand. As the large vessel started rising out of the water a series of questions went through the heads of those witnessing it as there were several things that should have been "impossible" for this to happen, chief of which was that it should be impossible for someone to be strong enough to lift a ship out of the water. The other thing that should''ve made such an event impossible was that the ship should have been unable to hold together with its weight as it was raised into the air by a single point from the front, which was where Anne came in. As Alex lifted the ship she used her telekinesis to hold it together and to ensure nothing fell on the people below when Alex eventually lifted it above his head, causing a small downpour of salty rain to fall on them. Then with seemingly little effort he threw the ship away from the floating city, where it crashed into the water and caused several massive waves to spread. It bobbed for a few moments, before silently sliding beneath the surface to never be seen again. Alex then started walking towards the still frozen man and placed his hand on his shoulder, causing the man to startle slightly before Alex started to tighten his grip slightly. "Next time think before you start spouting shit. We came to be peaceful and do these people a favor, and all we were met with was stupidity and aggression. And since you represent the Heiligh kingdoms interests here, remember that your attitude could easily create enemies of those that might''ve been your allies. All I can say is you''re lucky I already started cooperating with commander Meld." Hearing Alex''s warning about potentially making enemies for his kingdom and the fact that he was already acquainted with the famous commander Meld, the man lost strength in his legs and was soon only standing due to Alex''s grip on his shoulder. As Alex released him however he fell to the ground weakly and Alex walked passed him accompanied by the group following him. By this point no one tried to stop him as he made his way off of the docks, at which moment Zenith which had been one of the issues the man wanted to talk about disappeared into mist, adding to the mystery and fear of Alex. Suddenly a new voice spoke and broke the man out of his thoughts, "You shouldn''t be so mean to people mister, papa doesn''t like bullies." While leaving those words behind, Myuu ran to catch up with her papa as she directed him to her house. As he walked Grayfia caught up with him and said, "That was quite the performance, but wouldn''t it interfere with your intentions to recruit the Dagon race in the future?" Alex shrugged and said, "By joining us they wouldn''t be in a position where their usefulness would be the only thing keeping them from being enslaved, and what I did shouldn''t really effect how they view me since the only ones to suffer from it should be the kingdom. Plus no one got hurt since I made sure there wasn''t anyone on the ship beforehand." Grayfia didn''t say anything else as she actually liked seeing his domineering side come out occasionally, but not when it interfered with their intentions. Alex then put Myuu back on his shoulders as Anne walked to his side. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close while quickly kissing her and saying, "Thank you for your help, you were excellent." Anne smiled at Alex''s praise and said, "I don''t mind, though I don''t like fights they were acting rudely considering we just came to return Myuu." Everyone murmured their agreement as they were directed through the city towards Myuu''s home. They soon arrived to find a small group of people gathered outside a house trying to stop a woman''s actions. "Remia you can''t, your legs aren''t healed!" "I have to see Myuu though!" The woman cried out before suddenly the little girl on Alex shoulders cried out, "MAMA!" Drawing everyone''s attention as Alex set her down once more before she bolted. "MYUU!" Remia cried out as she opened her arms with tears in her eyes to pull her daughter into a hug. As the mother and daughter reunited everyone couldn''t help the warm feelings they had from watching the scene. The only thing ruining such a reunion was the bandages covering Remia''s legs, indicating the injuries she had taken from those who took her daughter from her and prevented her from looking herself. The scene came to an end however as Alex decided it was best to move inside to heal Remia''s legs and get the mother-daughter duo out of the public view for their reunion. He stepped forward and swiftly swept up both of them into his arms as he made his way indoors. "Sorry but we should probably move indoors for the moment so please bear with it." He told Remia''s as she looked at him in confusion and slight panic. "Wait what? Um thank you?" She kept saying as she tried to catch up with who was holding her and what was happening, but her confusion only deepened when Myuu looked at him and happily said, "Papa!" As Remia was struggling to keep up with what was happening, she tried to tell Myuu that her papa died before she was born, but Alex said, "She''s talking to me, let us heal your legs and then we''ll explain everything." With even more questions forming in her mind, Remia stayed silent as Alex moved her into her living room and set her down gently. After setting her down Alex took a step back and Asia, Kaori, and Anne stepped forward. "We''re going to heal your legs now, so please be still." As she was quickly learning to just go with the flow Remia didn''t question them as all three girls stepped forward to heal her legs. She had been attacked with a fireball when she found some suspicious men after her daughter went missing, which had dealt serious damage to her body and had ensured that during the entire time Myuu had been missing she had bedridden and unable to help search. Under the three girls magic all the pain in her legs quickly receded and Remia looked down as her now perfectly repaired skin. Tears started welling up in her eyes as she experimented by wiggling her toes, which even that had been impossible just a few minutes prior. As the young woman began crying anew, Myuu crawled into her mother''s lap and clung to her as the duo let out all of the feelings they felt from finally being reunited. Alex and the others didn''t interrupt the two as they cried, but rather waited silently in the living room for them to calm down. Soon Remia seemed to collect herself and turned towards Alex and said, "Thank you so much, I don''t know how I''ll ever be able to repay you but I''ll do everything I can." Alex waved away Remia''s words and said, "Don''t worry about it, we needed to come to Erisen anyways and everyone was happy to have Myuu along with us, right?" All the girls then spoke their agreement with Alex''s words, while Kunou and Millicas spoke up about how they were now friends with Myuu as well. They then went through a round of proper introductions before launching into the story of what happened to Myuu and how she came to travel with them, as well as how she started calling Alex papa. After being caught up on the current events Remia started smiling mischievously as she turned her attention towards Alex and said, "Ufufufufufu, the I guess I should be saying nice to meet you, husband~." The previously warm atmosphere turned chilly in an instant as the majority of the girls suddenly started frowning. Chapter 236 - Negotiations (Since someone asked about it and I''m not sure if I described them or not, DAGONS are water people with fins for ears and webbing between their fingers as well as emerald green hair, not to be confused for DRAGONS.) After Remia dropped a bombshell by referring to Alex as ''husband'', the atmosphere of the room instantly became chilly as each of the girls immediately narrowed their eyes. Then Rias stepped forward and asked with a smile that didn''t reach her eyes, "So what exactly did you mean by "husband", hm?" As if she was completely unaffected by the atmosphere she just created, Remia just replied by saying with a smile, "Ufufufufu, isn''t it obvious? If I''m Myuu''s mama and Alex is her papa, then that would make him my husband since mamas and papas are husband and wife." Hearing her explanation every girls eye twitched at how outrageous it was. They had long since given up trying to prevent the amount of women around Alex from growing, and had already prepared themselves for the possibility of something happening with Myuu''s mother since she mentioned that her actual father died before she was born, but having someone they literally just met moments ago try casually make themselves Alex''s wife had truly annoyed them. Rias glanced at Grayfia and without any for of communication the two came to an understanding. Rias grabbed Remia''s left arm, while Grayfia seized her right, and Remia''s ''ufufufufufu'' immediately turned into an ''eh?'' As the two started dragging her away. "Wait, what are you doing?" She asked. Grayfia simply said without even looking at her, "It seems to me that we need to have a serious discussion in private." With Rias throwing in her agreement, Remia was dragged to her bedroom as her eyes showed a brief second of panic before the door closed. "Stay strong mama!" Myuu said as if she was trying to encourage her mother. Alex only smiled wryly as he already expected such an outcome, but the girls reaction seemed a bit more extreme than he assumed it would be. A couple hours later Remia was happily cooking dinner in her kitchen with Myuu and Shia giving her a hand. Though she received a scolding from Rias and Grayfia earlier, she was still in a good mood from Myuu being brought back to her. As they were working Myuu ran out of the kitchen to where Alex was sitting and said, "Try this papa!" Alex smiled at her and dutifully ate what Myuu offered before saying, "That''s very good, theres more right?" Myuu laughed in response and said, "Yep! Mama and I are making a whole bunch for everyone for dinner!" She then ran back towards Remia to continue helping them make dinner. After her husband died Remia wanted to focus on raising Myuu properly, but after a couple years it became the popular opinion that she should remarry partially because she was widely considered to be quite beautiful and many thought it was a waste she was still single. As her biggest concern in remarrying was finding a proper father for Myuu, Remia couldn''t help but smile after seeing the scene with Alex. When she looked closer at his figure she also thought she could do a lot worse in picking a man with how muscular he was, though during her scolding she was also warned to be careful if she considered entering his bed, being a "normal" person and all. *** With Remia offering them her home while they stayed in Erisen, Alex and the others stayed there for a couple days while they prepared to enter the next labyrinth, the Sunken Ruins of Melusine. Since they needed the light of the full moon along with the pendant they received from Gruen Grand Volcano, they needed to wait for the few days until then anyways, while Hajime was putting a few finishing touches on a submarine he was making to make the trip easier. On their last day before departing however, an unheard of sight was walking through the streets of Erisen. With how much attention they gained when they arrived as well as how they all stuck out, Alex and his companions were all extremely well known in Erisen after just a couple days. Though Alex kept his tail tucked away around his waist like usual, people like Kuroka made no attempt to ''blend in'' as she proudly strutted around the city with her ears and three tails out, questions were going around about Gasper, Valerie, and Yue with their red eyes and pronounced canines, and Tio showed off her dragon wings once which sparked furious rumors about her as well. Alex never minded any of this since they decided to stop hiding for the most part and the church didn''t have any presence in Erisen since it was a city of demihumans, but what caused the most furious rumors was his entourage as Remia led him towards the place where the public officials gathered. With Remia at his side, while also displaying to everyone around she taken by looping her arm through Alex''s, they were followed by a trio of individuals the likes of which no one in Erisen, or even the entirety of Tortus, had ever seen. Firstly was the mature beauty following directly behind them, with her kimono that allowed such a gratuitous amount of her ample cleavage to be seen it was a while before most people noticed the fox ears and nine fox tails flowing behind her. Standing behind Yasaka to her left side was another beautiful woman, except she had pink hair and a set of horns protruding from her forehead; and contrasting the stylish high class dresses she usually wore, Roygun was currently wearing a suit with sunglasses that made her seem more like a secret service agent. Finally walking to Roygun''s right was the one that put everyone on edge the most, Bova Tannin. No one on Erisen had ever seen a dragon before, and after the extinction of the dragon race there were said to only be the wild monster dragons left; so even though Bova was in his mini form and showed no signs of hostility, there was almost a panic from seeing him walking around. Apparently the two insisted on accompanying Yasaka during her negotiations as her body guards since they were technically supposed to be Alex''s vessels, though even after separating herself from the leylines of Kyoto she was still quite the powerhouse herself. "It''s still strange to think that we''re actually in a different world than the one we know." Bova said in wonder as he observed the surrounding dagons, though the difference in how this floating city operated compared to a devil or modern human city was obvious. "I know, maybe once we''re done with this job I''ll go and check out those labyrinths myself to see more of this world." Roygun agreed as she scrutinized everything behind her sunglasses. Alex laughed lightheartedly at their words before turning back and saying, "Just remember not to fall in the ocean again Bova, I don''t want to have to keep fishing you out." Roygun snickered in response to Alex''s words while Bova tried to tuck his head back in embarrassment when he recalled what happened when they first left Remia''s house, and he found out firsthand how he couldn''t swim anymore. His embarrassment persisted all the way to their destination along with the occasional snicker. Soon they reached what appeared to be the largest building in the area where several "official" looking people were going in and out, both dagons and humans. Even though she herself wasn''t anyone actually important, no one stopped Remia as she led them to Chiefs office due to the fact that she still needed to explain what actually happened regarding Myuu''s kidnapping, as well as no one wanting to get in Alex''s way after his display when he arrived. They soon entered an office where they found the representative who Alex met when he arrived, as well as a seemingly older Dagon that a few streaks of gray going through his emerald green hair. When they looked up at who intruded the representative paled immediately while the one Alex assumed was the chief of the Dagon race frowned slightly when he saw the three people he hadn''t heard about. He then turned towards the representative and said, "May we resume this conversation later? I would like to hear of the recent events myself from Remia." Since it important that they understood what exactly happened the representative agreed, but said he''d read the report and quickly made an exit while avoiding eye contact with Alex. He then handed the chief the letter from Ilwa explaining the events that took place, while also giving his own testimony so it would be "official". Seeing that Alex seemingly wasn''t like how the rumor depicted him, the chief raised his opinion of him but didn''t let it show on his face while he wrote what Alex said down in the official report. He then glanced as the now sitting Yasaka and the still standing Roygun and Bova before asking, "So may I ask what these three are doing here? From what I understand they aren''t the companions that arrived with you and with no disrespect intended, I''ve never seen nor heard of people like them before." Instead of answering Alex simply gestures towards Yasaka who stood and politely bowed her slightly in greeting before saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you sir, I''m called Yasaka and these two are my body guards during my time here. I am here to negotiate on Alex''s behalf regarding a possible opportunity for the Dagon race." She then handed over a folder that contained the general description of what they wanted and what they expected of the chief, which was even written in the language used in Tortus after studying the books Alex brought back when he first arrived. As he read the doc.u.ments the Chiefs eyes switched between widening and narrowing as he saw what was expected of them and the opportunities they would supposedly have. The first thing was that they would establish a secondary community in this place known as Asora by the sea, which wasn''t an issue since all Dagon people loved being near the water. What surprised the chief was that unlike in Tortus where they had to stay on the sea for fear of enslavement and so that the kingdom could ensure they were getting their seafood, the members of their race would be able to travel freely around this world without fear of being attacked by humans and they wouldn''t be restricted only to seaside territories. (A.n. Since I couldn''t think of a better way to explain it, think of the districts in hunger games where they were never allowed to leave, but as a sea dwelling race the majority would choose to stay in their own community anyways.) The second requirement was that each person migrating would be required to go through language classes. Though Devils, Angels and so on were automatically able to understand other languages, this wouldn''t apply to every person that ended up moving to Asora. To fix this a single language was decided upon and every new resident that wasn''t able to understand it or write it would be required to take classes to learn it. As the worlds Alex planned to visit originated from Japanese manga or anime he chose that since, unless stated otherwise like Tortus, the majority of those worlds would most likely have Japanese speaking residents. The third and fourth requirements were relatively easy, as they simply had to create and supply a seafood market, and explore while mapping the underwater terrain. Both of these were easy enough to fulfill since they mostly survived on seafood anyways, and the population in Asora wasn''t very large so it wouldn''t be difficult to supply for compared to the entire Heiligh kingdom. Meanwhile they would naturally explore the underwater terrain anyways to determine the best fishing grounds and to learn of any possible threats such as sea monsters. The doc.u.ments also mentioned that members of the Dagon race would be able to learn how to better themselves in combat, and after some trial and error possibly be able to learn magic. When he saw this the Chiefs eyes went the widest they had been so far as he turned toward Alex and Yasaka and demanded, "What are you playing at?! Demihumans can''t learn magic, it''s impossible! What kind of trick is this?" Neither one said anything in response to the Chiefs demands, instead Yasaka held out her open hand and with any chants or magic circles, summoned a small ball of fox fire. The chief went statuesque at his eyes glanced between the magically conjured fire, and Yasaka''s ears and tails. Since they were alone Alex also revealed his own monkey''s tail, and similarly summoned a ball of flames with ease. Seeing how dumbfounded the chief had turned, Alex started talking slowly, "We are from a different world than this one, that also means we use different forms of magic. I won''t guarantee that demihumans will be able to learn our brand of magic as there are different types, but after some examinations and testing we may be able to find a style of magic compatible with the Dagon race." After hearing Alex''s explanation the chief collapsed back into his chair as his thoughts moved as fast as a hurricane, one part of him was convinced this was a trick to enslave them, but another part of him couldn''t help thinking ''what if it isn''t?'' After a few moments of silence Alex spoke once more, "We''ll leave for today and let you think about this offer. Tomorrow I''ll be journeying to the nearby Great Labyrinth, but Yasaka will be staying with Remia in order to continue the negotiations. I''ll say two more things before leaving though, if it''s impossible for the entire population of Erisen to move then you would just need to find those who would want to and we''ll still accept them, and please don''t mention this to anyone from the Heiligh kingdom. I''ll speak to them sooner or later so leave that discussion to me." Alex then led the group out the door while leaving the chief of the Dagon race to decide their fate. Chapter 237 - Flushed Away The day after meeting with the chief of the Dagon race Alex and the rest departed for the Sunken Ruins of Melisune in the submarine that Hajime made, leaving behind Yasaka, Bova, and Roygun to stay with Remia along with Millicas and Kunou to keep Myuu company. Alex was genuinely impressed with how Hajime made the submarine, as though it wasn''t very large on the outside he managed to apply spatial magic to the interior so that there was a drastic difference between the inside and the outside. Though after a full day of exploring the sea floor around the approximate area where the labyrinth should be, Alex was now sitting inside it while almost everyone else was waiting for sunset on the surface since the full moon was needed to lead the way. With this being the case Alex was ensuring there was no accident like the time with Artemis and was instead scanning the seabed with the moonlight filtering glasses he received from Azazel, and spending time with Yue who was sitting in his lap. "You know you don''t have to stay down here with me just to stare at a metal wall." "... I know." Alex just shrugged at Yue''s response since he enjoyed having he company anyways. He was also dealing with a situation he never encountered before since every time he looked at Yue through the glasses she was completely n.a.k.e.d, but his hands that were resting on her waist could feel the clothes she was wearing as well, creating a strange sense of contrast. Just as he was thinking about this someone else approached and said, "Kuroka told me to come tell you that the sun is going down and the moon should be up at any second." Alex turned towards the speaker without thinking, and was granted the lovely sight of the completely n.a.k.e.d Shizuku. Though he usually tried to avoid using the glasses for Pervy reasons since it would disrespectful to the girls, he had given a warning to everyone before putting them on so Alex decided to take a very brief second to admire the view presented to him before replying. Shizuku actually had fairly impressive b.r.e.a.s.ts which seemed to just barely lose out against Shia''s in regards to size, while he also glanced at her nether region which was completely devoid of hair. Though he would''ve liked to admire for a few more seconds Alex kept a neutral face as he replied to Shizuku, "Ok, here''s the pendant I got from Gruen, when the moon rises hold it up and it should direct us to the labyrinth." Shizuku nodded and stepped forward to take the pendant, which gave Alex and even better view, while saying, "Alright, I''ll hand it to Hajime since he seems to know more about these things." She then was about to turn around and return to the surface, but Alex decided that since she was about to leave anyways he''d tease her since he wouldn''t be able to keep what just happened a secret regardless. "So inverted n.i.p.p.l.es huh?" He said with a small smile, which made Shizuku blank for a second. She only then recalled what Alex told them earlier about his glasses, which caused her face to turn Crimson as she wrapped one arm in front of her b.r.e.a.s.ts and the other in front of her crotch while kneeling down as if to cover her body more and screaming, "KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Though he was enjoying Shizuku''s typical anime girl reaction, he soon c.o.c.ked an eyebrow when he saw her glaring at him furiously with teary eyes. He then asked, "Why are you glaring at me? I even gave you a warning to prevent just this from happening you know." Though Shizuku could logically reason that this was in fact her fault and not Alex''s, she still wanted to illogically wanted to blame him. But before she could say anything all three of them suddenly heard a familiar characteristic laughter above them. "Nyahahahahahaha!" Hearing Kuroka laughing, while also recalling that she was the one who sent her down to begin with, Shizuku determined that Kuroka set her up on purpose. While also trying to keep herself covered, Shizuku then grabbed one of her kunai and threw it to the side, before the space around it seemed to distort and the kunai disappeared entirely. "Nyahahaha-NYA!" Kuroka suddenly cried out as something sharp stabbed her butt. Hearing conformation that she got her target, Shizuku then turned and hurried towards the ladder to climb up and give Kuroka a piece of her mind, either not realizing or not caring that she then gave Alex a perfect view of her firm behind as she did so. Alex smiled as he watched her go, fully appreciating the view she gave him as she did so, before turning back and seeing Yue looking up at him with her eyes slightly narrowed. "What?" Alex asked, before Yue turned herself around so that she was now stratling his lap and facing him while emanating a bewitching atmosphere. She was slightly annoyed that Alex was admiring another woman''s body while spending time with her, and so she decided to "punish" him a bit. Anyone watching would''ve thought that they were about to kiss, but Alex knew better and wasn''t surprised when she leaned forward and sank her canines into his neck. Since he didn''t mind her drinking his blood Alex just placed his hands on her waist and let Yue be, as long as she didn''t take too much since they were about to enter a labyrinth. Though it was a bit of a different story when she decided to up ante by slowly grinding her h.i.p.s on his lap. Alex looked at her incredulously since there wasn''t any place for privacy in the sub besides the only bathroom, and it was already discussed that there shouldn''t be such activities until they returned to Erisen. Feeling him react Yue smirked before activating a magic circle, causing all of her clothes to actually disappear in a brief flash of light. Deciding that he needed to stop her Alex said, "And what are you going to do if Hajime or Gasper come down here?" Yue then released his neck and after giving it a final small lick she turned towards him and said, "... I wanted to try this..." Before Alex could ask what she meant there was another flash from the magic circle, and Yue''s body started changing. Her head that only came up to his chin before suddenly started raising up until she was looking him in the eye, her face became noticeably more mature and Alex could feel a couple of enlarged mounds of softness press into his chest with two pointed tips in the center. Alex was dumbfounded as he looked upon the now seemingly twenty year old Yue that was still stratling him. Any hesitations Alex had were blown away as his hands moved from Yue''s waist to her ass before he gripped it tightly and started kneading the flesh. Seeing Alex''s fervor Yue smirked, before leaning forward and sealing his lips while still grinding her h.i.p.s. This continued for a couple minutes until Yue started trying to undo his pants, so Alex decided they need to move locations. His first thought was to go to the single bunkroom that the sub had since it was still limited on space, but that was where Anne was staying due to her motion sickness. So instead he swept Yue into his arms and retreated into the only bathroom where he thoroughly examined and enjoyed her mature form, before having her change back so that he could show her he liked her default form just as much. After what seemed like a couple hours the two finally vacated the bathroom, to find an anxious Kaori practically dancing outside. "FINALLY!" Kaori practically screamed before pushing past them and slamming the door shut behind her. The duo held back their snickers as they made their way to the captains seat, only to find everyone else waiting for them with narrowed eyes. At a single glance Alex was glad he put his glasses back on when he saw Hajime still had the lightly glowing pendant in his hand. "I trust you two enjoyed yourselves?" Rias asked in a what seemed like a dangerous voice. Yue ignored her and instead went up to Shizuku, who had turned Crimson while her hands twitched as if she was about to cover herself the moment she saw Alex. While everyone wondered what Yue wanted with Shizuku, she surprised them when she said, "...Thank you." Shizuku looked surprised at Yue''s words, and she hesitantly asked, "What are you thanking me for?" Yue then smiled bewitchingly and answered, "...for making Alex excited, I enjoyed it very much." The moment Yue''s words left her mouth everyone imagined a train whistle and steam as Shizuku''s face turned even redder, if that was even possible, before collapsing suddenly. Alex stepped forward to catch her but Grayfia beat him to the punch and said to him, "Perhaps it would be better if you take some distance from Shizuku for right now." Though he arched an eyebrow at her words Alex simply shrugged and stepped back. As she tried to get Shizuku to wake up Hajime took that moment to explain, "While you were busy enjoying yourselves, we already entered the labyrinth and figured out the first puzzle. We were just waiting for when you''d finally rejoin us to go further." At his words Hajime held up the pendant which glowed with subtle light. Alex nodded and said, "Ok, let''s continue." At his words Hajime stepped forward and held the pendant out to a crest that was visible outside the crystal window in the front of the sub. As the crest seemed to absorb the moonlight there was a sudden rumble and the wall before them opened. With the new passage opened up Hajime controlled the sub to go forward, but almost immediately the water ended and they were suddenly free falling in the open air. As if they weren''t falling towards their immediate deaths everyone just let out a sound of mild surprise as they fell, before Grayfia and Kuroka cooperated to create a magic circle that gently caught the sub just a foot before the rocky bottom. Just as someone let out a sigh of relief, a wail broke the silence. "WAAAAAAAH, WHY ME!?" Shrieked Kaori who was still using the bathroom when they fell. Everyone sent looks of pity towards her while Shizuku and Grayfia went to help the poor girl out. Once Kaori was presentable again Hajime stored the sub away even though they were still in it, resulting a couple foot drop to the rocky floor. The moment Anne hit the stationary surface she seemed to immediately revive and cried out, "Finally! That was the worst trip yet with the violently rocking waves!" She then bent down and started kissing the ground while not caring if it was clean or not. When she mentioned the violent waves rocking the sub everyone looked at Alex and Yue, but the two appeared to be more interested in looking at the watery ceiling above them. The awkward atmosphere was suddenly destroyed as a highly pressurized blast of water suddenly shot at them, only to be casually deflected by a barrier made by Kuroka. They all then turned to see an eel type monster staring at them, before another appeared and shot a second blast of water at them. In response Grayfia moved at speeds that were next to impossible for most people to follow, and sliced the heads off of both monsters. This seemed to be the trigger as multitudes of monsters started coming out of the walls towards them, so Alex then turned towards the only place to go and said, "Let''s just start fighting while moving instead of standing in one place." Deciding to go along with Alex''s suggestion, everyone started moving towards the tunnel in the side of the room while also periodically eliminating the monsters. "Is it just me, or are these monsters weak for a great labyrinth?" Hajime asked, which led to Alex lightly slapping him in the back of the head before saying, "Is it just me, or did you really just throw a flag?" Hajime grimaced at Alex''s words, before they realized he was right in only a couple moments when they reached the next room. As the walls opened up everyone noticed a passage opposite them, but it was blocked by a large jelly-like substance. Shia readied her hammer and said, "Leave it to me!" But before she could charge forward Alex seized her by the scruff of her neck, which nearly choked her, and said, "Wait just a second." When Shia looked at him with confusion while coughing slightly, Alex picked up a rock and tossed it at the jelly blocking the next passage. Everyone watched as the rock immediately started shrinking once it touched the substance before vanishing altogether. Shia gulped when she saw it and Alex said, "Don''t try to brute force your way through everything, sometime you don''t even need to actually fight your enemy. Go ahead Kuroka." As Alex tossed her one of his boosted gear jewels Kuroka knew what he wanted her to do without asking as she strode forward. While passing Shia she smirked and said, "Here berserker bunny, I''ll show you how to do things right~Nyan." With Shia glaring at her as she passed Kuroka started the process of sealing the still motionless slime. Hajime then asked Alex out of curiosity, "What''s she doing to it?" Alex smiled as he replied, "That thing is a slime, but is on another level than the usual slimes. We know that one of age of gods magic can tame and mutate monsters, so I''m excited to try it on such a unique specimen." As Hajime started thinking on Alex''s explain action, there was a sudden change in the situation in front of them. As Kuroka tried to seal the slime it shot out tentacles at her in retaliation, but she sneered as several magic circles appeared and blocked the attack, before the contact with the tentacles started melting the magic circles away. "You''re an interesting opponent~Nya!" Kuroka said excitedly, before more slime started appearing from the cracks around the room. It then started coming together to form a humanoid figure that started directing even more slime to attack. However it was this that led to its downfall, as by seeing the main body of her prey it didn''t even take ten seconds before Kuroka had it sealed. As the slime was sucked into the jewel all the excess slime materials started melting away before disappearing entirely, opening the way ahead of them. Kuroka dutifully bounced over and handed the jewel to Alex while saying, "All done~Nya!" Alex smiled as he accepted the jewel and started rubbing Kuroka''s ears. "Good job Kuroka, and don''t worry Shia I''m sure you''ll have your time to shine quite a bit here soon." While Kuroka started purring under his hand, Shia also started smiling again in the background at Alex''s words, before he started moving them into the next room. This one seemed like a large bowl in shape, but the biggest worry was that there was no place to go after it. "Ehh?! It''s a dead end!" Kaori cried out while everyone started looking around. Suddenly they were all put on edge when a distinct sound echoed. CLICK As if one unit everyone turned towards the source of the sound, Gasper. "Um, I''m sorry?" The half-vampire said hesitantly, before a flood of water started rushing in. "BACK TO THE DOOR!" Hajime called out as everyone started moving that way, but the door suddenly closed and trapped them in. "WE''RE GOING TO DIE!" Anne cried out, before Alex calmly said despite the rapidly raising water levels, "No we''re not. There''s at least half a dozen ways to get out of this, from simply teleporting out of the labyrinth and starting over, to blowing the door open and going back. We should wait and see what happens though since this seems too forced for a trap." Though no one liked simply waiting at the water levels rose to several feet around them they did, before they heard a grinding sound and the floor in the center of the room opened up for the water to drain out of. At first there was a sigh of relief at not drowning, until the water seemed to form a whirlpool and started sucking them closer to the hole. While most of them were fighting the current while worrying about being dragged in and drowning, Hajime and Alex suddenly seemed to realize something before they both started groaning and the former said, "I can''t believe I''m getting flushed down a f.u.c.k.i.n.g toilet!" At his words everyone noticed the similarities before a collective groan was heard. Recalling how Hajime and the others reached the next part of the labyrinth Alex called out, "This may sound crazy, but hold your breath everyone and let it take you! This could be the way to the next area that''s just designed to make us panic!"Though there was plenty of skepticism to his words Hajime said after a moment, "That might actually be the case, stay close to me Kaori!" After he called for her Kaori dutifully made her way over through the raging current, while Valerie did the same to Gasper before they got swept away in their pairs. The rest of the girls looked towards Alex, before Rias swiftly started fighting the current to get to him first. "I''m coming Alex!" She cried out, before a certain blonde haired petite body crashed into her and they both got swept into the hole. "DAMN YOU YUE!" Rias cried out before being submerged. Alex just shook his head and stopped fighting the current as he was dragged closer to hole. At this point almost every girl was trying to make their way to him before he got flushed, but as he closed his eyes right before going under Alex never noticed who it was that clung onto him desperately before the current took them both away. Chapter 238 - Escape Aiko Hatayama let out a sigh from exhaustion as she made her way back to the room she was assigned in the castle shortly before sunset. She had already returned to the Heiligh kingdom to find that not just Kaori, but even Shizuku had joined Hajime and Alex in their travels, which stunned her at first since Shizuku wasn''t the type to make such rash decisions. It was starting to feel like associating with Alex was bringing her endless worries and headaches due to his actions, first he proclaimed her to be Gabriel''s prophet which boosted her to a new level of respect and reverence in the eyes of Ul towns residents, to the point that there were even newfound followers of Gabriel in Furhen that made the trip to Ul in order to make a giant statue of Gabriel herself along with Alex and Aiko bowing before her as her champion and prophet. Then she returned to find two more of her students took off with him and Hajime immediately after they saved their groups lives in Orcus, and finally and the most troubling for her at the moment was that she was having to meet with the higher ups of the kingdom and the church regarding the incidents in Ul. She was then informed that they were also involved with sparking the rise of belief in Gabriel in the desert city of Ankaji which led to the destruction of the church there, resulting in the two of them along with any traveling with them having been declared heretics and were to either be captured or eliminated upon meeting them, a feat Aiko secretly admitted would be impossible for anyone to accomplish. "Sigh..." Aiko sighed once more as she entered her room and laid down on her bed, feeling fatigued mentally and physically even though her head was filled with too many thoughts and worries. She was now glad she placed a gag order of the students that accompanied her to Ul about the details of what took place regarding the truth about Gabriel until she could get an idea of what was going on, since it seemed the church and kingdom where acting with prejudice towards this newfound holy figure. Unknown to Aiko her fatigue caught up to her and even as she was trying to think of what to do, her eyelids started closing and soon she was snoring. When Aiko awoke she did so in a panic as it was now the middle of the night with the sun having gone down and her candles having been long extinguished, but the part that panicked her was that there was a strong and calloused hand pressing down on her mouth to keep her from making any noise. As she started trying to fight back against the invader he then used his other hand to hold down her arms and made a ''shhhhhh'' sound to tell her to keep quiet. Aiko stopped fighting since it was obviously futile with her childish figure and limbs, but when her fear seemed to peak a cloud moved and the room was bathed in the light from the full moon to reveal that the intruder was none other than commander Meld. With Aiko visibly calming down Meld said in a voice so low it might as well have been inaudible, "We need to leave, NOW!" Aiko was filled with confusion and once he removed his hand asked in an equally, if not lower voice, "Why?" Meld just shook his head and replied, "Later, just grab what you need." He then left her to prepare while he opened her window and started tying sheets and curtains together. Aiko was dazed for a second, but then remembered that he told her to grab what she needed she quickly collected her coat and other immediate necessities. As she approached Meld when he threw the sheets out the window however, he shook his head and pointed towards a shadowed corner, where Aiko could now barely see part of the wall opened to create a secret passage. Though she was confused she still followed him to find princess Liliana waiting for them inside, and Meld explained in a still quiet voice as he closed the passage, "The window is to distract them, we''ll escape this way and explain once we get some distance." He then started leading the way down the dark passage, and though Aiko was hesitant to follow him and leave her students behind, she decided that they may be waiting for them or they''ll join them on the way and followed him along with the princess. What she didn''t see was that around an hour after she escaped her room the door was suddenly kicked inward and an entire troop of Knights barged in, followed by the king himself when they confirmed no one was present. He glanced around and saw the sheet hanging out the window, never believing that Aiko might have gone into the secret passage known only to the royal family. He then turned towards the gathered Knights and decreed, "Search the grounds quickly! Even if she escaped she can''t have gotten far already." The Knights saluted and quickly turned to execute their kings order. Obviously the noise drew the attention of the students and the hero stepped forward before demanding, "What is this?! What are you doing to our teacher?!" The King didn''t seem to mind Kouki''s disrespect while answering, "Aiko Hatayama has been confirmed to have been brainwashed by the self proclaimed champion of this "Goddess Gabriel", most likely along the members of your class who are traveling with him. The fact that she fled the castle before we could try to contain and help cure her is evidence of this." At his words the king pointed into the room where the students saw the tied up sheets and curtains dangling to the ground. While many of them were dumbfounded that ''Ai-chan'' would desert them like this, Kouki clinched his fists and gritted his teeth before spitting out, "I knew we shouldn''t have trusted them!" Before turning around and leaving. "Where are you going?" Kouki''s friend Ryutarou shouted after him, to which Kouki replied, "I''m going to train so that when I see him next I can save our comrades!" Leaving those words behind he immediately headed toward the training grounds even though it was the middle of the night, shortly followed by Ryutarou. Seeing them go and the castle Knights starting to mobilize, the rest of the students didn''t know what to do; but when one of Aiko''s bodyguards, Taeko Sugawara, tried to ask for more information she was stopped by a look from her close friend Yuuka Sonobe. Yuuka then stepped forward and said to the king, "Hearing all of this is distressing, please allow us to return to our rooms to rest for the night." The king nodded his head dismissively before returning to his own chambers, where he found a beautiful woman with silver hair and blue eyes waiting for him. Meanwhile the remaining students started making their way back to their rooms, except for Aiko''s bodyguards who gathered in Yuuka''s room. "What''s wrong Yuuka, why did you keep Taeko from talking then?" Asked Atsushi Tamai who was too nervous to realize he was in a girls room for the first time. The other four members of Aiko''s bodyguards nodded as they looked to Yuuka for answers, when she said, "Remember what Ai-chan said before we returned, she wanted to keep what we know about Gabriel a secret. This excuse that she''s been brainwashed just seems too out there, while Ai-chan did seem different after meeting Hajime and Alex it was more like there was a lot more than usual on her mind, not that she was brainwashed. Plus was it just me or did the king seem kinda, different?" The other five nodded at Yuuka''s explanation since they got a similar feeling, and decided to do as Aiko asked and continue keeping quiet about what they knew until further notice. *** Meanwhile Aiko was still following Meld and Liliana quietly, but was still getting anxious about her students since she still didn''t know what was happening. After a while she finally decided to get some answered and demanded while still whispering, "What''s going on Meld, and where are my students?" Though Meld wanted to hurry, he could tell that Aiko needed answers before moving, and he didn''t want to do something as harsh as simply knocking her out and slinging her over his shoulder. Before he could say anything however, Princess Lilliana spoke up and said, "They''re planning to get rid of you, locking you up to control Kouki and the rest or simply executing you in secret, it doesn''t matter which to them." Aiko was stunned at Lilliana''s answer, as she never expected they were saving her from imprisonment or execution. Even though she could deduce the answer on her own, she couldn''t help but utter, "Why?" Meld sighed when he saw her and explained, "The momentum behind goddess Gabriel is growing too much too quickly, it''s already almost escalating to the point of a crusade. The deeds Alex and the rest are doing are increasing the amount of people who want to believe in such a kind goddess, meanwhile the church is moving to suppress these heretics except it''s backfiring on them since their methods are now being seen as too harsh. The more they retaliate against the people who are starting to believe in Gabriel, the more people are starting to think we need a goddess like her. As someone who has been declared to be her prophet they seem to think you may be useable as a hostage against Alex and Hajime, and even if that doesn''t work then they could use the threat of your life to force Kouki and the others to fight them instead." Aiko was dumbfounded at Melds words, and was trying to figure things out in her head when Lilliana continued, "Somethings wrong with my father and the other higher ups in the kingdoms, they''re all different now. I was worried about them and spied on the meeting, which allowed me to hear of them planning to capture you after you left. I fled from my hiding place and was thinking of trying to find this Alex and Hajime to help when I ran into Meld, he demanded to know what was wrong and since he didn''t seem like the others I told him. That was when he told me to get ready since we needed to escape with you." With Liliana finishing her explanation Meld continued while holding up a couple items, "When I met Alex after he saved us in Orcus he gave me some items and told me that soon I would need to flee the castle with both the princess and you. First was a necklace that prevent my mind from being influenced by others, and a small stack of papers that supposedly lets me contact Alex anytime. Once we travel well away from the kingdom I''ll use one and contact Alex, we''ll plan from there." As they turned to start moving again Aiko asked once more, "But what about my students?! Don''t tell me we''re leaving them behind?" Meld sighed once more and turned back towards Aiko before saying, "It''s sad, but I need to prioritize the two of you. Your students can to an extent take care of themselves in a fight, and as long as they don''t do anything to extreme the church and the kingdom has no reason to hurt them. If you truly want to help them as soon as possible, then we need to escape and make contact with Alex and Hajime. Now let''s move before they catch on and find us!" When he finished talking Meld and Liliana then turned around and kept moving down the passage, while Aiko had no choice but to follow them once more. She was grateful the passage was dark since neither could see her tears falling at the thought of how she abandoned her precious students. Chapter 239 - Separated Hajime glanced around as he and Kaori gathered their bearings after being flushed down what appeared to be a giant toilet. They appeared to now be on a beach with a jungle behind them with the ocean seemingly stretched out before them. Hajime glared at nothing in particular and growled, "If I ever get to meet Meiru Melusine in some way I''ll pay her back for flushing us like that!" Kaori laughed hesitantly and said, "There''s no way you''ll get to meet her Hajime, I doubt she survived like you said Miledy did." Hajime had to agree with Kaori''s words and figured that if Meiru did survive as well Miledy probably would''ve told them about it before. He then instead turned back towards the still wet Kaori and said, "You should change into dryer clothes before something happens, I can''t detect anyone else so it''s possible that they got washed away to a different area altogether." Kaori said the affirmative that she would start changing, while Hajime turned his back so that he could focus on using his drones to observe their surroundings. As she stripped off her wet clothes however Kaori recalled one particular piece of information Hajime said and smiled mischievously as her panties slid down her legs. "So you said no one is around with us?" She asked somewhat coquettishly. Hajime noticed difference in her tone and hesitantly said, "...yes, I further confirmed it with the drones." The words were barely out of his mouth when he heard an excited squeal from behind him, "HAJIMEEEE!" And turned to see a n.a.k.e.d Kaori flying at him. He ended up getting a face full of her b.r.e.a.s.ts as she pushed him down into a mounted position, and started moving in a provocative manner. "Kaori we can''t, we''re still in a labyrinth here." He said to stop her advances, but Kaori didn''t seem to listen to him and answered, "So Alex and Yue can do it in the sub, but we can''t here?" As she spoke a large magic circle spread below them before solidifying into a barrier around the two just in case something did happen. With the addition of the barrier along with his drones for surveillance and her argument regarding Alex and Yue, Hajime decided what the hell and indulged in the meal before him. Coincidentally when enemies somehow magically appeared and did try to interrupt the twos s.e.xy time, they were destroyed with extreme prejudice by both people. *** Standing on a rooftop overlooking an entire metropolis, was a certain black haired woman with cat ears and three tails swaying behind her as she watched the carnage going on below her with a grimace. "Of everyone out there, why did I get stuck with the dumb berserker bunny~Nya?" Kuroka whined to herself in self pity, even as Shia mindlessly rampaged in the city below her. They had appeared in the middle of the ruined city and were looking for the way out, when suddenly the city seemed to come to life around them along with the ghosts of the people that used to live there, and the ones invading them. As the first rude person charged at her while ranting about some god or other Kuroka had swiped with her claws to end the man, only for them to phase right through him. She then tried a spell and found that the phantoms could only be destroyed by magic power. Shia then coated her hammer with magic power and started charging through the ranting fanatics, only to slowly enter her berserker mode, now she was rampaging around the city while Kuroka watched aimlessly. She figured that when there was no more enemies to take care of she would try and use a mild poison to subdue Shia before snapping her out of her berserk state, then she would try to find Alex afterwards. With her plan decided, Kuroka started relaxing in one of the most dangerous places in Tortus while a rabbit rampaged below her. *** Meanwhile clear across the city another duo were slowly and leisurely making their way towards the sound of mass destruction, eliminating everyone that tried to bar their way in the process. "This one doth believeth that it wouldst be faster to fly above the city itself, no?" Tio inquired towards the one that she naturally considered on the same level as her master, Grayfia. The ever stoic maid however groaned as she had enough of being alone with Tio and replied sharply, "If we did that then we''ll have to bother to either dodge or block all the spells they''re throwing around up there, though it would probably be easier if I used you as a meat shield." Though she meant her words to be like an insult, Tio still wiggled grossly in joy and said, "This one wouldst be honored to be thine meat shield! Oh, but then the ropes master gave this one might be ruined, better not." Tio then continued walking down the street as if nothing happened, while Grayfia froze as her mind tried to work out what Tio meant by ropes. She then decided it was better not to try and think about as she hurried to try and find anyone else to travel with instead of just this pervert. *** At the base of a mountain that one could see the ruins of an old temple at the top, there was a trio of girls there trying to decide their next course of action, well two were and the third was trying to mediate. "AND I SAID THAT WE SHOULD GO FORWARD ALREADY AND WE''LL MEET UP WITH THEM LATER!" "...and I said that we should look for everyone and ensure they''re not here before moving on!" "YOU''RE JUST TRYING TO COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT PLAN THAN MINE TO BE A PAIN IN MY BUTT!" "...of course." "Um big sis Rias, Yue, maybe we shouldn''t fight right now and just try to figure out where we should go..." "SEE ASIA AGREES WITH ME!" "...shes your servant anyways, just because she agrees with her master doesn''t mean you''re right." In that way Rias and Yue were bickering back and forth as they came up with different plans, just for the other to reject it in order to antagonize the former. This went on until the temple seemed to be magically repaired, and people started making their way down the mountain towards them and another group started running towards the mountain to meet them in combat. "PROTECT THE GODS TEMPLE! DON''T LET THE HERETICS DESECRATE IT!" "DESTROY THE PAGON GODS TEMPLE!" Both groups moved to fight the other right where the three girls were still arguing, completely unaware of what they were about to interrupt. "(...)SHUT UP!" They both shouted as Rias directed a massive blast of destruction towards the mountain temple, and Yue sent a cyclone of air that would put a tornado to shame towards the invaders. Asia could only watch patiently as the landscape around her was being rearranged. *** "Oh Gasper you''ve really become more manly lately." "Valerie, you''re gonna make me blush!" As the two flirted Gasper carried Valerie in a princess carry and they repeatedly acted in ways that would make anyone who might''ve seen them call them an idiot couple, or a bakacouple. What didn''t match their lovey dove atmosphere however was the mass of darkness behind them as all sorts of nightmarish monsters wreaked havoc on the previously warring people, and the fact that the big muscular man that was carrying Valerie was dressed in a sailor outfit with even a skirt. They then proceeded to explore the place they ended up while still flirting and ignoring the chaos around them, as well as Anne who was following behind from a ways away to not ruin their flirty atmosphere. *** Shizuku dreamed that she was drowning. She was under water and was looking up to see the surface and even the sunlight reflecting off of it, but no matter how close she thought she was and no matter how much she tried to swim she could not reach it. Instead she could only feel herself drifting down deeper as the water around her got darker, and her lungs grew more desperate for air. As she started giving up and felt the cold creeping in, a hand suddenly seemed to break the water surface as it shot down towards her. Shizuku knew that if she wanted to live she needed to take the hand, and reached with everything she had to grab onto it before it started pulling her towards the surface. The moment her face broke the surface though the dream ended. "Cough cough!" She expelled the water that had been in her lungs while she had been drowning, directly into Alex''s face which had been right above hers. He didn''t say anything about it though, and just went to clean himself off while Shizuku continued trying to catch her breath after getting the last of the water out of her lungs. As she started calming down Alex finally asked, "Are you alright?" She nodded silently before saying a moment later, "Thank you for saving my life, again." Alex told her not to mind it before he started looking around and examining where they were. They had appeared in the middle of a ship graveyard which had what seemed to be several hundred destroyed warsh.i.p.s around them. While he was examining their surrounding however, Shizuku''s mind was in chaos as she thought about what just happened. Not only had Alex saved her in Orcus when she fought the monster called Ahadot, but he then saved her from drowning just know. As she thought about it Shizuku recalled how you saved one from drowning and that Alex''s face was above hers when she woke up, resulting in her entire head turning Crimson as she hesitantly asked him, "D-did you do artificial respiration on me?" Alex nodded his head without looking at her and confirmed, "Yep, I had to since you weren''t breathing and I''m not that skilled at using magic as an alternative." Shizuku nodded her head slowly and mumbled half to herself while gently brushing her fingers against her lips, "So you not only saw me n.a.k.e.d, but right afterwards you even took my first kiss..." Though she spoke in barely more than a whisper Alex heard her and sighed before replying, "I did warn you before I put on my glasses so if we''re pointing fingers that ones on you, even if it was Kuroka playing a prank. As for the kiss CPR doesn''t count, otherwise lifeguards would probably have a monopoly on first kisses." Shizuku understood what Alex was trying to say, but her maiden heart still wanted to blame him for seeing her n.a.k.e.d and "kissing" her while she was unconscious. Seeing as she was still being quiet about it, Alex then continued, "If it bugs you that much-" Shizuku looked up to look at Alex when he continued talking, only to find her lips suddenly sealed by his own. At first she tried to pull away out of shock, but when his hands grabbed her waist and kept her from moving she gave up and let him kiss her. Though she was stiff and clumsy at first, when Alex continued to lead with the vast experience he had acc.u.mulated by now she began to follow along and was responding to his movements. After what seemed like forever but was actually only a little more than ten seconds, Alex separated from her slowly and asked, "Was that better?" Shizuku nodded shyly while her face was still Crimson, which made Alex smile from how cute she was acting. He then said, "As much as I don''t want to ruin this moment for you, we are still in a labyrinth so we should probably focus." As if she was no longer capable of speech Shizuku only nodded once again and started following Alex as he took the lead in exploring the shipwrecks. As he looked around she was over thinking about the kiss and all the possibilities Alex implied through it, and if it meant he considered her his woman now. When this thought crossed her mind she didn''t notice her own lips curl up slightly at the edges, and was confused about the giddy feeling she felt in her stomach. Her happy moment was interrupted however when the space around them started warping and all the destroyed battlesh.i.p.s were suddenly repaired and floating on the ocean, and they were surrounded by several people that weren''t there a moment before shouting, "KILL THE PAGANS WHO WORSHIP THE FALSE GOD!" Chapter 240 - Regeneration magic In the seemingly endless expanse of open water at the bottom of the ocean, there was a temple that was surrounded by a giant air bubble sitting there silently, undisturbed for centuries. At each of the four compass points of the temple there was a magic circle waiting to be activated, until one started flowing and four people suddenly appeared. They looked around for a few minutes before Alex said, "This should be it, I guess we need wait for everyone else to show up first." Shizuku, Kaori, and Hajime nodded at his words, and then proceeded to look around what seemed to be the labyrinths hideout while they waited. After the soldiers that were screaming about God appeared Alex had left Shizuku to fight the ones on that particular ship for training, while he flew up high and started sending out a bombardment towards different sh.i.p.s. It was then he sensed a familiar presence and saw Hajime using his air platforms to run through the sky while Kaori flew along beside him. They were both seemingly annoyed and fought the projected soldiers with extreme prejudice, which made Alex wonder what they did to suffer the twos wrath. After the entire battle was brought to an end they were dumped back in the ship graveyard once more, before heading to the largest and most grand wrecked ship around. There they found themselves in yet another projection except this one didn''t show a war, but a meeting of peace between humans, demihumans, and even the demon race. The members of each race showed how close they were by looking at each other with respect and awe, before the human king declared death to all heretics, and ordered his men to execute them. What followed was a slaughter as the rulers of the demihumans and the demon race were butchered by human soldiers, who were just as confused as their victims as their bodies moved automatically while the king laughed insanely and reentered his cabin while a hooded man with silver hair followed him. After that they followed the king into the cabin, only to fight a small army of ghosts before finally finding the magic circle that led them to the temple. "I thought the great labyrinth would be more challenging than that though?" Hajime said confusingly, to which Alex replied, "Yeah but you have to remember that we used a sub to enter in the first place instead of magic power like they intended, and then it took magic power to defeat an entire army of deranged soldiers and ghosts. If it was a group of "normal" people this labyrinth would have been next to impossible to finish." Hajime just shrugged at Alex''s words while both Kaori and Shizuku nodded in understanding, before another magic circle started glowing to reveal Gasper, Valerie, and Anne. Anne then saw Alex and immediately ran over before leaping into his arms and saying, "Finally I found you!" Before seemingly trying to smother him with kisses. Though Alex reciprocated Anne''s enthusiasm, he couldn''t help but ask, "We weren''t separated for that long, why do you seem so desperate?" Anne then mumbled while burying her face in his chest, "I was alone with just that idiot couple over there... Now I think I know how Hajime felt while traveling with us before we met up with Kaori." Alex could only gently comfort her while Hajime pretended that he couldn''t hear what she said. After a few minutes the three then started recounting what they experienced while they were separated, before eventually the other two magic circles also started lighting up. First was the one that revealed Kuroka, Grayfia, Tio, and Shia who seemed to be fighting exhaustion with everything she had; then was the one that revealed the duo of Asia and Rias, while the blonde blur that was Yue immediately ran to Alex''s embrace like Anne had. Though he wanted to know what happened, he just said that since everyone was gathered together they should wait on telling stories until after they finished the labyrinth. This ended up being a good decision since the moment they stepped onto the magic circle that was located inside the temple, they all saw what everyone else experienced while they were separated as the magic determined if they truly passed the labyrinths trials. First was the battlefield that Anne, Valerie, and Gasper found themselves on, an open field where two armies clashed in bloody battle. Then it showed the spanning metropolis city that Grayfia, Tio, Shia, and Kuroka ended up in as another army invaded it. Then it showed a mountain temple where Rias, Yue, and Asia ended up at as the army tried to repel those who would destroy the temple due to representing the wrong God. Not only did each of these places have battles as opposing sides fought for the sake of their respective gods, but they also showed some hooded or silver haired people around when things took a sudden turn in order to prolong the conflicts. It had also shown each person as they fought against the projections, from Shia entering berserk mode and rampaging around the already ruined city, to Rias and Yue fighting and destroying entire mountains in their wake. Much to their horror however, it also showed Alex and Shizuku as well as Hajime and Kaori before they fight the projections. Alex didn''t mind much, but when it got to the part where he kissed Shizuku she immediately turned Crimson and hid her face behind her ponytail as everyone turned to look at her incredulously. Kaori was going to eagerly discuss the event with her best friend, but froze when the memory scan started showing her and Hajime. "NOOOOO! DON''T LOOK!!!!!!" She cried out in desperation while Hajime also started letting out a little bloodl.u.s.t as if daring Alex and Gasper to look at the scene, even though it was being projected directly into their minds so they had no control over what they saw. They then witnessed Kaori stripping down while talking with Hajime, before jumping onto him and beginning her ride after another moment of discussion. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Kaori cried out as all her shameful areas and e.r.o.t.i.c face was exposed for everyone to see. Hajime looked as if he was about to start attacking Alex and Gasper as they watch the scene, before Alex delivered a full power flick to his head and stated, "Who asked you to start screwing in the labyrinth? Even I haven''t fallen to that point... yet." Though several people wanted to comment about how Alex said ''yet'', they didn''t since Hajime had actually done it before he did. The girls then looked at Kaori with an expression of pity for her situation, and something else as stated by Kuroka. "I feel sorry for her only getting something so small to satisfy herself with~Nya." Hajime felt like he''d been shot at those words, while almost every girl that had slept with Alex stared nodding their heads as they stared mentally comparing. Hajime then practically both growled and whined, "Why do you guys keep talking like I''m small? I''m at least average or even a bit bigger than average, he''s just stupidly large." Though Hajime was speaking the truth, everyone except Gasper just looked at him with pity as well which only saddened and irritated him even more. Before he could retort the mind check ended and everyone was confirmed to have passed the trials before they were awarded the promised age of gods magic. "''Regeneration'' huh?" Asia said as the way to use said magic was also transferred to them. Alex grinned like a madman and immediately took out a knife to cut open his palm, before it shined with the orange light of his magic and the cut he made was slowly healed after a minute. "A little slower than I would like, but hopefully as I train it it''ll get better." Everyone looked at Alex''s example with awe, and Valerie asked, "So this is the age of gods magic you wanted Asia and I to get?" Alex nodded but added, "There''s also ''spirit'' magic like what Miledi used to turn into a golem, if these two are combined then one could even resurrect those who have recently died, however it won''t work on those who have been dead for a while since their spirit has more than likely already moved on. Though there are still things that the holy grail can do that this magic can''t, it should still make things easier for you since you now have an alternative to rely on." This got both Gasper and Valerie excited since she could now be more useful without having to deal with possible insanity from overusing the Grail, though it would still be needed for some things like restoring Miledi''s body. As everyone was thinking of ways to try out their newly acquired magic, a sudden rumbling grabbed their attention as a wall of water started rushing towards them. "Oh f.u.c.k not again!" Hajime exclaimed while Alex calmly ordered, "Grayfia, we''re done here so transport us to Remia''s house." The silver haired maid didn''t even hesitate before a magic circle spread below everyone and they vanished right as the wall of water reached them to flush them out. *** Remia was humming quietly in her kitchen as she prepared breakfast for everyone that was still staying to discuss the Dagon relocation. Currently Myuu, Yasaka, Roygun, and Kunou were taking their bath together while Millicas helped her in the kitchen and Bova was sitting on the floor of the living room since she didn''t have any furniture suitable for him. At that moment the floor around him started flowing and Bova swiftly moved to the side as an entire group of people appeared from nowhere. Though she was startled for a moment, Remia immediately recognized everyone and Bova immediately greeted Alex by saying, "Welcome back my liege! I trust your trip bore fruit?" Alex smiled and said, "Yep, you know Bova you should try a labyrinth or two while we''re in Tortus. The one we cleared prior to this one was even in a volcano so you''ll probably be right at home." Bova looked thoughtful at Alex''s words, as since he ate the ''Megu Megu no mi'' the heat of a volcano would certainly be negligible to him as his entire body was now made of lava. He was thinking that he might go to check it out when Remia disturbed his thoughts and said, "Ara ara Bova, don''t you know that the wife gets priority when welcoming her husband back? Welcome back husband~." Hearing her words the girls showed light expressions of annoyance, but they let it slide since they were already getting used to how Remia acted. However she soon wrinkled her nose and said, "You all smell like you''ve swam through a sea monsters stomach, I''m cooking breakfast right now so why don''t you all go and try to figure out a bath situation? The girls are already taking one so be mindful." At her words everyone smelled themselves hesitantly, before realizing just how pungent they became while walking around on the ocean floor. They then went to dutifully clean themselves, with Hajime and Kaori disappearing into their assigned room while Gasper and Valerie did the same, both groups with portable baths that Hajime made. Alex and the rest of the girls however went to the main bathroom to join Yasaka and the others, while Tio dragged the protesting Shizuku behind her. "PAPA!" Myuu cried as she ran over to him the moment her entered the bathroom. "I''m back Myuu, were you good while I was gone?" "Of course! Millicas and Kunou kept me company along with auntie Yasaka and Roygun! Bova also let me fly on his back yesterday!" Even though they had only been gone for a day and a night Myuu told him all about her apparent adventures with the others while Yasaka helped her dress on their way out. Alex then said, "Go on and you can tell me all your stories later, I''m a little stinky right now so I need a bath." Myuu wrinkled her nose just like Remia did and said, "Yeah papa smells, take a bath stinky!" She then giggled mischievously and followed the others out while Alex and the rest of the girls started undressing, though Shizuku tried to hide as she did and wrapped herself in a towel so fast that Alex didn''t even get a chance to see anything. Though it took quite a bit of scrubbing and soap, the smell and grime was soon gone from their bodies as everyone then started getting into the large bath. Alex was thankful that the Dagons loved water so much that they even had large bathrooms as well as tubs. As he relaxed in the hot water Alex sent a naughty look in Grayfia''s direction, which made the silver haired maid sigh as she started making her way over. Alex then pulled himself out of the water and sat on the edge as Grayfia made her way between his legs and took his length in her hands. He then laid back and enjoyed her masterful hand and mouth work that thankfully seemed to be affected by her ''Bed Skills'' skill, though she still refused to accept the ''Naughty Maid'' job. He then laid back on the floor and just enjoyed her work while the girls were watching and waiting, until he felt another tongue moving up and down his length, prompting Alex to look down and see Tio squeezing in next to Grayfia between his legs. She dragonfied her tongue as it moved up and down and curled around him, causing Grayfia to stop her service and mutter, "So you taught him that huh?" Before resuming her own work. Alex chuckled lightly and closed his eyes again as he enjoyed himself, so a little later he didn''t notice someone else enter the bathroom until she said, "Ufufufufufu, mind if I join in on the fun?" Alex opened his eyes to see a beautiful face wreathed in emerald green hair and fins for ears looking down at him. He smiled and said, "Feel free, the more the merrier." Remia smiled as well, before lowering her face to Alex''s and planting her lips against his. After a few seconds she separated from him and started crawling forward, soon bringing her decently sized b.r.e.a.s.ts into his view. As the mounds passed his face Alex saw the red beads on their tips pass closely to his mouth, before he swiftly nipped on one lightly. "Ahhhh!" She m.o.a.ned slightly at the sudden stimulation. Though she was tempted to have Alex give her b.r.e.a.s.ts some attention, Remia still crawled lower as he released the little bead. Soon one of the tongues down below was replaced with hers and Alex instead had an eyeful of her freshly shaved slit that still had a small green patch above it. "Ufufufu, it''s been been years since this area''s had any attention, can you please fix that?" She asked in what seemed like a pleading voice. Alex didn''t say anything, but instead helped himself to the meal before him, causing Remia let out another small m.o.a.n as she felt his tongue enter her. As they continued everyone became so engrossed with watching Alex and Remia, that they all failed to notice Shizuku escape the bathroom shortly after Remia entered. Alex was enjoying himself quite a bit at the moment, which was why when he suddenly received a call from Meld via magic circle he couldn''t help being a little annoyed. Chapter 241 - Reunion Meld glanced around the forest clearing they were in as Aiko and princess Liliana found a place to sit, both exhausted from fleeing all night and the entire morning. He felt that they should be safe to take a quick break while also contacting Alex, something both girls appreciated dearly. Before he could however the princess asked, "So where to now? Even after you contact this Alex we still need to figure out how to travel and meet up with him since they''ll probably be looking for us, and we don''t exactly blend in Meld." Liliana had a point as with the status cards it would be impossible for any of the three to hide their identities when entering a city, something that would make traveling a lot more difficult if they had to meet up with Alex. Meld sighed and said, "I''ll have to ask him about that when I talk to him, worst case scenario we may have to find someone willing to help us to smuggle us around." Though Meld had seen and experienced the teleportation magic Alex and his group were capable of using, he didn''t believe for a second that such an advanced and powerful magic would be capable of allowing them to meet instantly. With that in mind he took out one of the sheets of paper Alex gave him and activated it after a few minutes of trying to figure out how to use it. They knew it was working when the magic circle on the paper lit up and hovered a couple inches off the paper in front of him, prompting Meld to hesitantly say, "Hello?" "..." No one responded at first so Meld thought the paper was a dud and was about to scrap it to try another, when a voice suddenly came through. "M-Meld? W-what is it?" Recognizing Alex''s voice even if something seemed off about it, Meld sighed in relief and said, "Alex, last night we escaped the castle like you told me to, they wanted to imprison and use Aiko to control the Kouki and everyone. If they couldn''t do that, then they planned to kill her to remove her. The princess told me what they were planning so the three of us escaped like you said, right now we''re in the forest between the Capitol and Horlad." After he finished talking there was silence again for a few seconds, before another reply came through, "I-I see. Give me about an hour and I''ll send someone to you, they''ll take you someplace safe and we''ll meet in a few hours as welllllllll!" Though Meld was stunned that Alex said they''d meet up so quickly, he sighed in relief once more since it meant they wouldn''t have to worry about trying to travel without drawing attention. As for the hour long wait, he didn''t mind since they should be far enough away that even after it was discovered that he left as well as Liliana, it should take the castle at least several hours to find them. "Ok, see you then." Meld said with the relief and gratitude obvious in his voice. "See you theeeeeeeeen!" Though Meld was suspicious at how Alex seemed to be distracted while they were talking he decided to just ask about it when they met up, but he got his answer immediately as he canceled the magic circle. "YES! F.U.C.K ME-" A female voice cried out before getting cut off right before the magic circle vanished, leaving Meld and the two girls speechless before both developed a decent blush as Aiko explained due to personal experience, "He''s a pervert..." Meld and Liliana both nodded silently in understanding as they tried to force another topic to discuss for the next hour. At almost an hour exactly from when the call cut off, another magic circle appeared on the ground and after a flash of light a silver haired maid was standing there looking at all of them. Since she hadn''t met Aiko or Liliana before, Grayfia gave a light bow and introduced herself. "Greetings, I am Alex''s servant and maid, Grayfia. I am to escort the three of you to the main base of our operations until my lord has finished preparations to leave his current location and meet with you." Meld nodded and asked, "If I may, where is this main base you spoke of?" He was curious where Alex and his group had seemingly set up camp since it had apparently gone unnoticed by anyone. "We made our base at the bottom of the Orcus Great Labyrinth due to the large amount of strong monsters and natural materials available there to harvest." Meld paled as he realized the implications behind what Grayfia just said, not only did Alex and his group have he strength to casually walk around one of the most dangerous places he knew of, but they even made their base near the most dangerous area of it for the sake of convenience. It only took a moment before they were all standing around Grayfia and another magic circle spread under them until it grew large enough to encircle all of them. A brief flash of blinding light and when the trio opened their eyes they were dumbfounded by what they saw. Overhead and on all sides was the stone walls of a massive cave that housed a manor, several farms, a waterfall with a small lake, and even several other smaller buildings that were most likely the homes of the couple hundred people working the fields and inhabiting the cave. Their stupor was broken when Grayfia said, "The giant stone doors behind us lead to the two hundredth floor of the Orcus Great Labyrinth. Directly behind them one would find a massive seven headed hydra with each head capable of using a unique type of magic, while one is even able to use healing magic. The manor in front of us is the home of Oscar Orcus, one of the Liberators that led the rebellion against Ehito before they were defeated by the same people they sought to liberate." Except for Aiko who heard the truth from Alex and Hajime, both Meld and Liliana were extremely confused as they were taught that the creators of the labyrinths were traitors that betrayed god''s benevolence towards the people. As they thought about it however they reasoned that they didn''t know the whole story and decided to ask Alex to explain it when he arrived to meet with them. Meld also didn''t miss how Grayfia explained that what seemed to be the only way out would lead to their certain death as he knew for a fact he wouldn''t be able to face a monster on the 80th floor, let alone the 200th. What he didn''t know was that Grayfia was just letting them know so that they didn''t get themselves killed by exploring. She then led them towards the manor and into one of the rooms that was set up for for meetings in order to wait until Alex arrived. She then left and came back a few minutes later with a small cart full of tea and several snacks. "Would anyone like some refreshments?" She asked the still exhausted and famished group who looked at the cart like a pack of wolves. Though Meld had brought some rations to last until they could buy some more food, what was on the cart looked infinitely better than those. He quickly dug in along with both Aiko and Liliana, all of which nearly forgot their manners in their haste before correcting themselves. As she bit into one of the cakes and drank some of the tea Liliana let out a expression of amazement before turning to Grayfia and saying, "These cakes and this tea are delicious! I don''t suppose I could convince you to work for me in the palace instead, could I?" Grayfia immediately shook her head and answered, "It''s impossible, I intend to serve Alex for the rest of my life." Liliana nodded in acceptance at Grayfia''s refusal, as she didn''t actually expect her to accept the offer, but she figured she might as well try anyways. After everyone finished eating Grayfia took the cart away and made preparations for a proper meal to be made once Alex arrived later, and all the business was concluded. When she returned to the room however she found both girls asleep as Meld sat cross from them and watched over them. Seeing them she said, "The couches are quite comfortable so if you wish to rest as well you can do so, I''ll wake you before Alex arrives in a few hours." Meld politely refused her offer as he intended to do his duty to the end and watch over his princess. However within twenty minutes of Grayfia leaving him his eyelids grew increasingly heavy before he too was dreaming. *** Meld awoke several hours later to find a blanket over him and Grayfia shaking them all awake, as Alex would arrive momentarily. They had just enough time to make themselves presentable, with Liliana especially worrying about her looks since she was trying to represent the Royal family, even if her father wasn''t in his right mind. They had just barely finished preparing themselves when Alex came through the door escorted by Hajime, Kaori, Shizuku, and a trio that neither Meld nor Liliana could identify though Aiko could identify one of them at a glance. Alex sat on the couch along with Hajime, Kaori, and Gabriel, while Shizuku stood to the side and Grayfia stood behind them along with sister Griselda and Irina. Alex started the conversation by saying, "Nice to see you again Meld and Aiko, and it''s a pleasure to meet you your highness, princess Liliana." Liliana smiled charmingly at Alex and replied, "The pleasure is all mine, I''ve heard quite a few stories about you and your exploits, though sadly they were from the point of view of your enemies." Alex smiled at Liliana but turned serious since the pleasantries were out of the way and said, "So what exactly is happening at the castle?" His question caused Liliana and Meld to become serious as well, while Aiko looked more melancholic as she thought of the students she left behind. They then explained the general strangeness in which the majority of the castle had been acting, from the king to the pope and most of the higher up officials as well. Alex listened silently until they got to how it was decided to arrest Aiko before asking, "Have any of you seen a person around the castle with silver hair and blue eyes?" They were all confused at the seemingly random question, before Liliana hesitantly said, "I think I have, a woman who was talking to my father." Alex nodded and explained, "These are apostles of the god Ehito, they brainwash those who won''t listen to them in order to ensure their masters game isn''t disturbed. Ehito is the god that both the demon race and humans worship though they do so through different names, he sees the mortal races as nothing more than pieces in a game to use and throw away as he pleases. There were several instances throughout history where there might have been peace, but they interfered and even turned allies against each other." As Alex continued explaining the truth about Ehito and his apostles, Liliana and Meld became dumbfounded while Aiko just listened silently, as she was already aware of most of the stuff Alex was talking about. "So everything I ever thought... was a lie?" Liliana asked as she became dispirited, while Meld''s reaction was a bit more extreme. "All those battles we fought in the name of God, all those men and women I sent to die in his name, it was all for nothing?" Alex gave them a few moments to think while everything they ever believed came crashing down on them, until Meld seemed to think of something and asked, "What about goddess Gabriel, where does she fit in?" Alex smirked slightly and pointed to the woman next to him before saying, "On that note I''d like to introduce you to our own goddess, this is Gabriel." There was a momentary silence at his introduction, before both Meld and Liliana exclaimed, "WHAT?!" This caused Alex to chuckle lightly once more while those with him also couldn''t help but giggle at their reaction. Before either one could ask he explained, "I plan to remove Ehito due to the fat that even if I ignored him while in this world, he most likely wouldn''t leave us alone until we left, plus it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I just ignored the unnecessary suffering he''s causing. The problem was that to fix the suffering he''s caused I would need to find a way to get everyone to get along, so I created a new goddess that loved everyone no matter the race. This was also to prevent anyone from creating new gods that are more convenient to their goals and to have an excuse to continue fighting the other factions." As Alex listed his reasons for creating goddess Gabriel Liliana couldn''t help but exclaim, "But she''s not even a goddess though?!" Gabriel turned red at her exclamation and also shot a look at Alex, who answered, "She''s just like one of the apostles of this world, except in our world they''re referred to as angels and they are mostly considered the physical embodiment of purity. I chose Gabriel since she was the most powerful among those who are with me, and because she hates being considered a goddess so the newfound status won''t go to her head." This made Gabriel give him a different look as she never heard this reason before while when they thought about it everyone agreed with Alex''s reasoning as they didn''t want a second Ehito. Meld then asked however, "You mentioned that you intend to leave this world, what will you do when that time comes? "Goddess Gabriel" has already made two appearances in public and if she suddenly stopped interfering with mortal affairs won''t people question it?" Alex nodded and said, "I already considered this so I was thinking that we have her make one last appearance before we leave stating that it''s time for humanity to control their own future instead of bowing to the whims of the divine. If we spread the truth regarding Ehito then it''ll be easier for people to accept, and we have until then to establish a more permanent following and organization to ensure that people still acknowledge her." Though they still had doubts both Liliana and Meld accepted that Alex''s plan wasn''t the most horrible, as he could''ve just fought Ehito and left the world''s people to clean up afterwards. Their thoughts were interrupted when Alex said, "Now onto the next topic. I''m planning to move against the apostle controlling the Heiligh kingdom, but not for another two days. Well use the time until then to train and prepare, the rest of the girls are already doing just this." This instantly caught everyone''s attention, including Shizuku, Kaori, and Hajime''s, who asked, "Why do we need to prepare, aren''t we strong enough to do something now?" Alex nodded his head in affirmation, but explained his reasoning, "Since leaving Orcus we haven''t taken a moment to actually get accustomed to the age of gods magic we''ve acquired so far, so I want everyone to train with them before we actually move against the apostles. Since we can extend these two days into two months, this would also give Kaori and Shizuku plenty of time to train and you time to complete any new inventions you''re working on. I specifically have a new training regimen I want to try with my new abilities." As they thought about what Alex said the three of them couldn''t really find a fault in his logic, as Kaori still needed to take the time to properly learn to control her new devil abilities and Shizuku also wanted to continue increasing her own strength. She in particular had a decisive glint in her eye after hearing what the gods plan was for Kouki and the others. Seeing their agreement on the plan Alex then almost shouted, "CAM!" Which startled most of those gathered. Almost immediately a middle aged rabbit eared man appeared and saluted before saying, "REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR!" Alex nodded and said, "At ease, I have two new assignments for you and the Haulia. But first I want to ask, when we left Orcus originally there were only around a hundred Haulia here, how did your numbers seem to double?" Cam smiled proudly as his body visibly relaxed and explained, "Well boss since we know that you intend to end slavery and make all of the races equal at some point, we started regularly patrolling the edge of the Haltina Sea of Trees. Our goal was to further our own training by taking on the trained soldiers of the empire when they came to capture more slaves, and to keep the number of slaves from increasing. We sent the members of the other tribes away after making them swear to keep their mouths shut about us, but to the other members of the rabbitman tribe we decided that it might be good to do some recruiting, and told them that if they wanted to gain strength then they should report to the entrance of the Raisen Great Canyon. Some followed us and others left, but then they returned with their families who wanted to know how to gain the strength to never risk being enslaved again. Don''t worry boss, we made sure that those we''ve trained are completely loyal to you and you alone." Though he was curious of how the Haulia instilled loyalty towards him into the new recruits, Alex decided that with what he knew of them it was probably better not to ask. He instead praised Cam by saying, "Excellent work Cam, I suppose I might be making the right decision making you my representative." This confused Cam for a second before Alex explained, "I''m sending you and several other Haulia back to the Sea of Trees in order to protect the labyrinth, and prepare the citizens of Verbergen for their loved ones returning when I confront the empire regarding their slave policies. Though I haven''t decided how I''ll deal with them yet, worst case scenario I''ll just beat the shit out of everyone there and call myself the new emperor since they believe in strength more than anything. You can tell them to expect the slaves of the empire to be returned within the month." Cam smiled as he was interested in meeting with the elders of Verbergen once more after being exiled due to them refusing to allow Shia''s execution, though he wouldn''t try to get revenge against the elders he still wanted to see their reactions towards the new Haulia. The best part was that the elders wouldn''t be able to say anything about him returning as he was representing Alex before he arrived, someone they would hesitate to offend especially since he''s promised to return their loved ones. He then recalled something else Alex said and asked, "What is the second assignment boss?" Alex smiled and turned a look towards Aiko who had been silent until now. The person in question twitched like a small animal as if she felt Alex''s look on her before looking at him cautiously. He then started explaining what he wanted the other group of Haulia to do during the next two days while they were training, as well as how he intended to face the apostles of Ehito. *** "Alright, now let''s get on our way and we can start our training!" Alex said enthusiastically as everyone started getting up from the couches they''d been sitting at for the last several hours. Some like Liliana and Meld looked thoughtful as they tried to digest everything they had learned in a mere couple hours, while Aiko looked terrified from what Alex requested she do and Cam looked excited. Gabriel led the way to the portal to return to Asora along with Irina and sister Griselda, thankful that Alex didn''t expect her to make another appearance as ''goddess Gabriel'' this time and she just mainly showed up to meet Meld and Liliana since they were in the know now. As Alex was about to follow Hajime, Kaori, and Grayfia out however, he felt someone grab his sleeve and turned to see who wanted him. "Can we stay for a second, there something I need to talk about with you." Shizuku asked him with a resolute expression on her face. Chapter 242 - Training After an interesting and fruitful conversation with Shizuku, Alex immediately headed back to Asora with those who''d be accompanying him, Liliana, Meld, Hajime, Kaori, and Shizuku. Upon arrival he headed straight towards the training area with the rest of his entourage in tow, everyone looking around in awe as none of them had been to Asora before. Hajime was looking around curiously as he''d only been there briefly in the past, but when he saw a kid running around with a figurine of a white haired man in a trench coat he tried to make himself look as inconspicuous as possible. Alex then said to amazed Meld and Liliana, "I don''t mind if you two explore and interact with people over the next couple of days, but don''t cause problems and remember you aren''t in the Heiligh kingdom anymore." Liliana nodded absentmindedly as she tried taking in everything around, meanwhile Meld instead asked hesitantly, "Actually I was wondering if I could also partake in this training. I''d like to see for myself how much of a difference there is and improve myself as well if possible." This caught Alex off guard since he assumed that Meld would want to stay wth Liliana to protect her in this strange place. As if he could read his thoughts Meld explained, "If any of you wanted to do anything to either of us, I doubt I would be able to stop you after what I witnessed when you saved us in Orcus. I''d rather focus on becoming a stronger knight than worry about pointless things." Liliana also nodded in agreement beside him as she also wanted her kingdoms knight commander to get stronger. Alex shrugged before using magic to call someone and asking them to meet them at the training center. The rest of the walk was uneventful except for Liliana and Meld pointing new things out to each other, before they finally entered the training center and met with Seekvaira, who was standing in front of an entire crowd of people. She glanced at each of them before turning towards Alex and saying, "Everyone else has already began their training sessions and I can start the rest of yours when you''re ready." Alex nodded and indicated for one of those gathered to step forward, Ravel. "Kaori you''re with us since you need to be accustomed to both using your Devils magic, and working with the rest of my peerage members. I''ll also take this chance to properly introduce you to everyone and our training regimen." When she heard Ravel''s words Kaori tried to cling to Hajime and said, "Hajime''s coming right? I want to stay with him!" Ravel shook her head and stated, "His presence would just distract you so he''s not coming, and besides I''m sure that Hajime would need to focus on his own training by himself." As she finished speaking one of Ravel''s rooks, Isabella, stepped forward and gently grabbed Kaori before peeling her off of Hajime and dragging her behind her. "NOOOOOOO! HAJIME SAVE ME!!!!!" Kaori cried out, while Hajime simply mercilessly waved goodbye as she was taken away, silently grateful that he''d get some quiet time to work on his new projects. Seekvaira then said to him, "We''ve prepared your own training room as well, it already contains numerous materials for you to work with for your inventions." Alex couldn''t help but notice an expectant look in Seekvaira''s eyes as she led Hajime to his training room, making him recall her love of mechas and his promise to show her some from other worlds. While thinking the two might actually get along unexpectedly well, Alex did the next introductions while they waited for Seekvaira to return. At his gesture four girls stepped forward and he introduced them to Shizuku, "This is Shizuku, she specializes in using swords so I want you to spar with and teach her while you''re together. Shizuku these two are Irina and Xenovia, who were trained to be exorcists by the church before Irina became a reincarnated angel, and Xenovia became one of Rias''s Knights. The other two are called Tomoe and Bennia, they are the Knights of a woman call Sona Sitri, who''s head of academics in Asora." Shizuku bowed slightly and greeted them while the other four similarly greeted her, before dragging her off to their own training room when Seekvaira was done setting up Ravel''s and Hajime''s. As she left the determination in Shizuku''s eyes hadn''t faded in the slightest since she called out to Alex previously, driving her to master her new powers as much as possible during these two months. That left just Alex, Meld, and Liliana when the next and last person that was waiting stepped forward while offering her hand. "It''s a pleasure to meet the both of you, I am Ingvild leviathan. I''m supposed to show you around for the next couple of days while you''re staying in Asora." Liliana similarly stepped forward and shook the offered hand while replying, "Liliana, princess of the Heiligh kingdom. Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to accompany me." Ingvild shook her head and said, "Don''t worry about it, I''m just in charge of musical entertainment in Asora so all I do really is practice singing and perform the occasional concert." Liliana tilted her head curiously and asked as she walked away with Ingvild, "What''s a concert?" Alex fought the urge to smile at the interaction, as he requested Ingvild to accompany Liliana intentionally. As the two walked away it was just Alex and meld left until another person arrived and approached them. "Hey Kiba, sorry to ask you to do this on such short notice." The handsome man shook his head and replied, "It''s alright, I''m actually somewhat excited to spend some time with a genuine knight, is a pleasure to meet you sir." After introductions the two were also on their way to their training room leaving Alex alone until Seekvaira was ready for him. As he waited Alex suddenly thought of something and called out, "Nyx!" Causing the goddess of night and darkness to suddenly appear before him. She glared at him in annoyance and demanded, "What do you want?" Alex arched an eyebrow and replied, "I''m about to enter a training room for two months. I need someone to cook and clean while I train, and to screw when I''m not." The last part was just a joke due to her attitude when he summoned her. Nyx''s face became increasingly pale though, as she was scared he might actually use her body if they were alone for two months in a locked room. This was a baseless worry though since if Alex wanted her that badly, he could have already ordered her to service him regardless of her own feelings. Enjoying the discomfort he inflicted on her Alex dragged her wth him when it was time for them to enter the training room. Before closing the door however Alex stopped Seekvaira and summoned a small folder of designs he''d worked on. "What are these?" She asked curiously, before she looked at the first design and her eyes widened as Alex explained, "A new idea for a training room. I would like you toy with making these when you don''t have anything better to do, however it would require combining several Age of Gods magics to accomplish such as Creation and a recently acquired Space magic. I would also recommend trying for the Regeneration magic since it compliments your time manipulation abilities." Leaving the dumbfounded Seekvaira as she looked over the rest of the designs, Alex finally closed the door to his training room before she regained herself and activated the time formation. Now that they were locked in together Alex was thinking about how to go about his new training regimen while Nyx was growing paler by the second, as she was now almost literally locked into the wolves den with the wolf, and even though he may not be hungry now he''d be starving soon enough. She then nearly leapt out of her skin when Alex started walking forward and said, "First things first, we need to establish boundaries." Nyx was think/hoping he was referring to boundaries between the two of them, but instead he stopped at the space between the living area that had things such as kitchen, bathroom, a bed, and the training area that had various pieces of training equipment, and started setting several barriers up. This confused Nyx until he finished and said, "You need to stay on the other side and never cross the line unless I say otherwise." As he said it as an order Nyx''s body moved automatically until she was on the other side of the barrier and facing him. She then snapped back as a small form of retaliation from how stressed she''d been the last few minutes, "What are scared your stuff will get cooties or something if cross the line?" Alex frowned at her remark as this was set up for her own safety more than anything. He then said, "Come back over here." As it was also an order Nyx''s body moved before she was on the same side of the barrier as Alex once more, before he continued, "This barrier is made to block the effects of my magic since you are not accustomed to how I train, and since you want to have an attitude then I''ll show what I''m trying to protect you from. This is an order, when it become too much for you then go back to the other side of the barrier." Though a small part of Nyx felt a bit bad for trying to antagonize Alex when he was looking out for her, another part felt indignant since she believed she could take whatever a mortal could. She was soon proven wrong when it felt as if each part of body suddenly felt like doubled in weight, which Alex confirmed when he said, "This is currently twice the amount of gravity that you are used to, which to me doesn''t even mean a thing." As Nyx forced herself to look at him she was dumbfounded to see that he was right, and it seemed as if he completely unaffected by the increase in Gravity. Spite rose in her as she then spat out, "S-so what? If you didn''t catch me off guard then I wouldn''t have been effected by something so minor as well!" Alex had a small smile at her outburst, which irritated Nyx since it seemed to contain more pity than anything else, before the pressure on her increased even more. "Guh!" As she let out a grunt at sudden increase Alex continued, "This is now three times the usual gravity, if you want to play strong then let''s see how far you can go." A sense of foreboding came over Nyx as the pressure increased even more, before increasing once again. Alex continued increasing the amount of gravity on them slowly until he reached ten times the usual amount of gravity, and Nyx''s body moved automatically to the other side of the barrier due to his previous orders. This was the reason he gave her such an order as it would keep her from trying to push herself too far just for her own ego. Though it took a minute due to how heavy she felt, when Nyx crossed the barrier she collapsed as it felt as if a massive burden was taken off of her body, which it was. As soon as he watched her cross the barrier Alex stopped fooling around and changed into his training gear, a pair of shorts with an couple metal bracelets and anklets like what he gave Shizuku previously. He then said to Ddraig and Lauren, ''Keep track of my body''s condition while I train, I''m going to do a twelve hour stretch and I want to know if incorporating Regeneration magic will help.'' ''Of course.'' ''Will do partner.'' With that said, Alex started increasing the gravity around him at a much faster pace than before, to the point that he could no longer keep track of just how many times the normal gravity he was under. He finally stopped when the gravity was suppressing his body much more than normal, while the weighted anklets and bracelets also added to the strain to his body. He was purposely increasing the difficulty of his workout as he wanted to push his body even further and hopefully, reach ssj2 during this training. His hope to accomplish this was that by using Regeneration magic to repair and restore his muscles as quickly as possible he''d be able to not only be able to push his training further, but he''d also be able to increase the rate in which his strength increases by several margins.(A.N. Think of ''The Wrong way to use Healing Magic'') As he started his training in earnest Nyx looked back towards Alex after she had managed to catch her breath. She was dumbfounded to see him in nothing but a pair of shorts as he was completing his stretches, his muscles seeming to strain with each movement. As he didn''t even flinch when she couldn''t even take ten times the usual amount of gravity, Nyx couldn''t tell just how much pressure he was under to strain him so much. She continued watching him train dumbfoundedly, and didn''t realize how fascinated she was until several hours had already passed and realization dawned that she needed to start working on the chores and making the living area more livable. Chapter 243 - The jobs of the Haulia While Alex was busy training, in Verbergen an emergency meeting was going on between the elders Jin Vanton of the bearman tribe, Guze of the dwarven tribe, Lua of the foxman tribe, Mao of the harpy tribe, Zel of the tigerman tribe, and finally the chief elder Ulfric Heipyst of the elven tribe(FOR SKYRIM!). The elders were gathered due to an extremely distressing report they received the previous day, that the demon race was on the march with an army of monsters toward Verbergen. This was an unprecedented disaster for the demihumans since the protection of the forest has always prevented such attacks before. The forest was filled with a thick fog that would cause anyone except demihumans to lose their way in it, and as such has been their greatest defense against the human and demon armies on their quest for slaves, youth this could easily be circ.u.mvented by having a demihuman lead the way. "We need to meet them in combat directly and use the forest to our advantage!" Zel cried out instantly. As a member of the tigerman tribe which were some of their top warriors due to their high amounts of strength, and lethal claws. Mao shook her head and replied, "We''ve scouted them quite a bit from the air before the flying monsters caught wind of us, and while we could use the disorienting effects of the fog it won''t be enough to guarantee victory." Jin then stood and demanded, "Then should we just sit here and wait for them to knock on our doors?! What about the villages that are around the city, should we just leave them to suffer?" It was at this point that the elderly elf at the head of the table spoke up, "Of course not Jin, no ones suggesting anything of the sort. However we can''t just recklessly charge at an army with superior numbers due to even monsters in their ranks, and can even use magic." The rest of the elders were silent at Ulfric''s words as they tried to think of a way out of this situation, before a new voice suddenly spoke up from the corner, "Hehehe, looks like I made the right decision to ask miss Grayfia drop us off at the edge of the forest, you need all the help you could get." All the elders looked up at the speaker who some who managed to infiltrate the private meeting, to see a familiar rabbit eared man standing there nonchalantly. "Cam..." Ulfric muttered in disbelief, while he realized here was something distinctly different about him. Before he figure it out though Jin roared, "What are you doing here bastard!? You were banished along with your whole tribe for hiding that monster you called a daughter, coming back here is death sentence!" The other elders nodded in agreement as they similarly narrowed their eyes at Cam. The rabbitman who were known for their lack of spine waved off the hostile looks and explained somewhat lazily, "I''m here at my bosses orders, so unless you want to make him an enemy then I wouldn''t be too hasty with trying to take your anger out on me." Hearing Cam''s calm voice even when threatened caught everyone off guard, but when he mentioned a ''boss'' they understood that he must had gotten his confidence from having some mysterious backer. Realization dawned on most of those present and Guze demanded, "Cam! Did you really lead those damned demon race here for revenge?! We should have executed you when we had the chance!" For the first time Cam''s calm look disappeared at the misunderstanding, but before he could correct it everyone took his changing expression as confirmation, and Jin charged him. "YOU SPINELESS TRAITOOOOOOR!!!" Seeing the raging bearman charging at him Cam sneered and simply raised his fist, causing yet another thing that surprised everyone present. Seemingly out of nowhere several individuals suddenly appeared and slashed at the muscles in Jin''s legs to incapacitate him without killing him, causing Zel to similarly attack as well. This time however he was wary of the blades the assailants used, and managed to dodge them since a tigerman was more nimble than the bearmen. What he didn''t expect was that the assailant he would charge at didn''t fight back directly, but instead grabbed his arms and used some kind of unknown technique to use his own momentum to throw then pin him to the ground. With no one else trying to attack them, Cam calmly walked towards the table that the other we''re now standing around before nonchalantly sitting in Jin''s now unoccupied seat and saying, "I am not with the demon race, if anything my boss sent me here to fight against them so stop being stupid. He sent me here to keep the entrance to labyrinth safe and to give you all a message as well, that within the next month you can expect those enslaved by the empire to be returned as free men and women." There was silence once more as everyone digested Cam''s words, before Ulfric hesitantly asked what he considered the most important question at that moment, "And who is this boss of yours?" Cam smiled at the question and launched into an explanation of Alex and everything he was doing. Starting from saving them when the empires soldiers attacked them, Cam also explained how they came to follow him to how they eliminated the entire underground world in Furhen at his direction, and then how he went out of his way to return a member of the Dagon race to Erisen. He also explained Alex''s description of goddess Gabriel and how she wanted peace between the races, which also meant freedom for the demihumans from slavery. As he explained everything to them Ulfric understood the difference that he felt in Cam at first, as the same man he banished all those months ago no longer existed. Once Cam finished his explanation he then said, "Now then I suppose we should go and deal with these demons invading Verbergen, since they are most likely here for the labyrinth." As he finished speaking Cam stood up and walked out of the room without paying any attention towards the elders, before they hurriedly moved to follow him out and see what he was doing. After exiting the tree building Cam stopped on the steps and looked out over the surprised crowd of demihumans who were waiting to hear news from the elders. He then took in a deep breath and confused them further by shouting, "FALL IN!" As his voice rang out no one understood what it meant, but then suddenly around a hundred people appeared out of nowhere and gathered in an orderly fashion in front of Cam, and each and every one of them had a pair of rabbit ears standing on top of their heads. Seeing all of them gathered he then said, "Currently the demons are marching on Verbergen as we speak, not that this has anything to do with us. However the boss requested that we protect the labyrinth and there is a large chance that that is what the demons are after, WILL YOU ALLOW THIS?!" """NO!""" The gathered rabbitmen declared with fervor. Cam then continued, "The boss wishes for peace between the factions, but those who try to take his stuff are his enemies!" """ENEMIES! ENEMIES! ENEMIES!""" "AND WHAT DO WE DO TO THE BOSS''S ENEMIES?!" """KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!""" As they chanted a bloodthirsty aura started spreading towards the spectators as they slowly started backing away in fear. Driving further on the momentum he''d generated, Cam then cried out, "KILL THE BOSS''S ENEMIES!" With this as their battle cry the entire group of rabbitmen charged into battle but, as if everything they just witnessed was just an illusion, all of the bloodthirsty rabbits suddenly disappeared once they left their line of sight. There was suddenly no sign of any army moving out as everyone there was staring around dumbfoundedly, including the elders. But it did happen, as later the reports came in of the monsters and demons in the attacking army sudden had their numbers decimated due to less than 100 rabbits that attacked from the shadows, as they meticulously and viciously repelled the attackers. *** Meanwhile in the Capitol city of the Heiligh kingdom a member of the temple Knights was patrolling the city on the lookout for the list of heretics that the church gave him. It was assumed they may make their move soon since the brainwashed apostle Aiko and commander Meld had disappeared with the kidnapped princess. The night before Aiko Hatayama had escaped from the castle unnoticed which had resulted in a grounds wide search for her that never bore fruit, it wasn''t until early this morning that it was discovered that the knight commander Meld and the princess Liliana were both missing as well. It didn''t take long for the king and the church to declare that like Aiko, the knight commander must have been brainwashed by the champion of the false goddess and they conspired to kidnap the princess for him, an idea supported by the fact that in very instance that this champion appeared he was escorted by a plethora of women. As the knight mentally ran through the list of criminals once more he suddenly saw a gathering of people and went to investigate, before realizing that at their center was a familiar individual. "People of the Heiligh kingdom, hear my voice and listen to my plea! I am the prophet of the goddess Gabriel, Aiko Hatayama! I have fled the castle and the church because they have branded me a heretic and have decided that I am of no use to their ambition, except as a hostage!" As Aiko''s voice carried across the people many began talking amongst themselves as many had heard of the ''goddess of good harvest'', and the fact that she was now branded as a heretic surprised all of them. Seeing that she had the attention of the people Aiko listened to the device in her ear to know what to say next before continuing. "The church claims that myself and that the knight commander Meld have been brainwashed to follow the whims of the "false goddess Gabriel", that we kidnapped the princess for her champion, but they can not be further from the truth! It is the king who had been brainwashed! The nobles, the members of the church, they are all now under the influence of a servant of the god Ehito!" As she spoke Aiko''s words sent waves through the people as they tried to understand what she was saying, meanwhile the temple knight was already trying to get backup in order to apprehend the criminal. While this was going on Aiko continued still and recited the story Alex decided to tell the population, "Yes they are the ones being controlled, by a God that lets petty jealousy rule his decisions and turned his own siblings on each other in order to feel superior! Listen well people, and know the truth of the god you all worship as the goddess tells me! The god Ehito was her first born son, and her only divine child! So when the goddess birthed the rest of the races and showed and equal amount of love to them all he felt jealous, why should he only be as loved as mere mortals? And so the god Ehito acted and used his brainwashed followers to destroy his mother''s temples, and to eliminate her name from our histories! After that he then used them to ignite war between the races, and has been driving them to war with each other ever since to prove to his mother how undeserving they were of her love!" By this point everyone was silent as they hung onto her every word, all of which would be considered blasphemy by the church and would be enough to justify Aiko''s execution ten times over. Some thought she was insane and deserved to be executed, while others listened closely as they felt the answers to a few questions they never asked fell into place. There existed only two reasons for their prolonged war with the demon race, the fact that they worshiped a false god, and the resentment of those who had lost family members at the hands of the demons. Before they could think too deeply about it though a new voice shouted, "There! Arrest the heretic!" With this voice as the herald an entire troop of Knights swarmed onto the street and tried to surround Aiko to arrest her. She looked I afraid though and shouted one last thing, "Don''t let the tyranny of Ehito cloud your minds, instead embrace the love of the Goddess Gabriel! In two days the champion of Gabriel will appear and will prove the manipulation and tyranny of Ehito to everyone!" Leaving those departing words a cloud of smoke suddenly appeared from nowhere before the soldiers could reach them, and when it cleared Aiko was nowhere to be seen. The leader of the temple Knights shouted, "Split up and search for her, find the heretics and rescue the princess at all costs!" The soldiers saluted and a immediately started searching the area for any traces of Aiko, unaware that she was already in an abandoned building several blocks away surrounded by a a group of roughly a hundred people with rabbit ears. "That was amazing miss Aiko!" "The people really believed you!" "That was such great acting!" Aiko blushed as the rabbitmen around her continued showering her with praise at her performance. This was the second task Alex had for the Haulia, protecting Aiko and helping spread the story he came up with for Ehito and Gabriel to the people while also avoiding the temple Knights while he trained. As they were praising her several other members of the Haulia that wore hats or hoods with soot smeared in their characteristic dark blue hair departed, intending to also spread the words of Gabriel as fellow believers. If several people were praising Gabriel then more people would believe what Aiko was saying, and since the church and Knights were openly hostile against Gabriela and her followers then no one would question them hiding their appearances with hats or hoods. Soon several dozen people began appearing thought the city from men and women to even children, all praising the goddess and promising that the champion of the goddess would liberate the people from the tyranny of Ehito. Each and every time the guards tried to arrest or kill said heretics but they always somehow slipped away, with even the children making fools of them. Chapter 244 - Ambush After two days/months of preparing and training it was time for everyone to move towards the castle. Currently they were mostly gathered in one of the rooms of the Misty Manor while waiting for Alex to return from his own training, and discussing what they had been doing for the last two months. Rias was visiting with Akeno and Sona after so long apart from them, and was pointedly looking away from Yue who was also trying to avoid catching Serafall''s eye. The two of them were put in a room together until Grayfia finished her duties and joined them, and so the majority of the first half of their training had consisted of the two of them trying to kill each other with their magic. When Grayfia was able to join them she immediately knocked some sense into both of them and took over their training to ensure they actually had some results. Meanwhile Shia, Kuroka, and Tio were also training with each other, with the priority being trying to train Shia''s berserk mode. Though everyone looked at Alex strangely when he mentioned it, he then clarified that he wanted Shia to be able to control when she went into her berserk mode instead of having it activate automatically whenever a fight lasted more than a couple minutes. This was why she had been partnered with Kuroka who would be able to calm Shia down after going berserk, and Tio who would function as Shia''s punching bag when she did. It was also due to this that Tio''s defensive abilities took a steep incline as she was beaten up by a berserker bunny everyday, a job she practically begged for. Anne, Asia, Valerie, and Gasper were all also training together as they practiced using Regeneration magic by breaking objects and repairing them, while Anne also decided to use this time to fine tune her telekinesis by putting the pieces of what she broke together with it before repairing them. As for everyone else, Kaori was clinging to Hajime after being separated from him for two months, while he was also trying to dodge the overly enthusiastic Serafall who was excited from meeting the inspiration for ''Red Thunder Destroyer''. Meld was waiting by Liliana who was still talking excitedly with Ingvild about everything she had seen during the two days she was shown around Asora. She couldn''t believe all the amazing ways they used magic as well as the various technologies they employed for day to day uses, and wondered if it''d be possible to apply such things in Tortus. One of the things she seemed the most taken with though was idols and the music industry in general, which was what she was currently talking about. Off to the side by herself however was Shizuku who was thinking about what she may have to do later. She had talked at length with Alex about what to do regarding the hero party, and told him that she wanted to be the one to help them. She had decided that they couldn''t rely on Alex for everything and so it should be one of them that helped this time, a thought that led her to make a big decision regarding herself. Her determination was unshaken even when Alex used the situation regarding Hajime''s "death" to point out that there may be traitors amongst her class, something she didn''t want to think about but acknowledged as a real possibility. As Shizuku was thinking to herself the door opened and the person they were waiting for finally walked through. "Hey, well who''s ready?" Alex asked dispiritedly, which made everyone look at him with concern. Before they could ask however Nyx followed him into the room and explained, "Don''t mind him, he''s disappointed since his training wasn''t as fruitful as he hoped it would be." As he sat down she then automatically moved behind him and started rubbing his shoulders as if to relax him, which earned her a lot of weird looks from those around them. She then stopped what she doing hurriedly since she forgot they weren''t alone in the training room anymore, and tried to play it off nonchalantly. Though Nyx would never admit it, she had started seeing Alex in a new light after witnessing how much he pushed himself during his training, and started to occasionally do little things to make him more comfortable. When he asked about it she tried to pretend she was doing it against her will, and that her slave mark was forcing to do such things for her horrible master. As for Alex himself, he was disappointed since trying to incorporate Regeneration magic into his training was harder than he thought, and he was unable to reach ssj2. It took him an entire month to properly work his Regeneration magic, since at first when he used it would actually undo all the progress he made in his workouts due to the fact that it reversed the time of his body itself. As everyone continued looking at Nyx weirdly she tried to back away, before Kuroka suddenly disappeared from her seat on the couch next to Koneko and appeared right behind her. "What are you doing?!" Nyx demanded as Kuroka sniffed her, before disappearing once more and doing the same thing to Alex. After doing so she then declared, "It''s ok~Nya, their smells aren''t on each other!" At her confirmation all the women let out sighs of relief as they confirmed that Nyx and Alex hadn''t slept with each other yet. Rias and Akeno then stood up and made their way to Alex before they pressed against from each side and said, "Don''t worry, after we''re done with this we''ll comfort you lots tonight~." Alex looked up at Rias''s words and smiled before he wrapped his arms around her and Akeno and pulled them close. He then said, "I''ll hold you to that, now then let''s go!" Everyone else nodded as they followed him out to first meet with Aiko. *** Kouki was standing guard at the entrance of the castle as he scanned the grounds carefully, watching for any signs of Alex and those with him while Ryutarou, Suzu, and Eri accompanied him. They had long since heard about how they''d move that night against the king and the nobles, and that their teacher had been reported to have been seen in the city announcing it to everyone. Now more than ever he wanted to put Alex down as it was discovered that his reach didn''t just end at Aiko, but he even managed to control Meld as well, who had been seen as a reliable big brother to everyone since they arrived in this strange world. This feeling only grew when it was discovered that they also kidnapped the princess for him, someone that most of them had also grown somewhat close to. Thinking of all the women suffering thanks to him Kouki was intending to save each and every one, and that sentiment especially extended to Kaori and Shizuku. As he continued waiting for Alex to show up they heard someone running up behind them, so Kouki turned towards them to find a knight they knew. "Lord hero, the champion of the false goddess has appeared, he''s already in the throne room attacking the king!" Kouki paled as he immediately took off towards the throne room with everyone racing behind him, his mind also racing as he tried to figure out how Alex slipped past them. He wasn''t the only one standing guard as everyone wanted to get back at the person who brainwashed their teacher, and so they were standing guard at every entrance to the castle in order to catch them, and Kouki especially had prepared for this fight as he trained so hard he even unlocked a new ability. As they reached the throne room however they were confused as they found the king calmly standing there with the nobles and their classmates who had already arrived, meanwhile Alex and his group nowhere to be found. Seeing at there were no enemies Kouki demanded, "Your majesty, wheres Alex? We were told he was attacking you?" The king was strangely calm however and said, "Of course we''re preparing for his arrival, but there''s something we need to do first." As the king spoke he held up an item and continued, "Behold, light the way to the slaughter!" At the unusual words the item the king held up suddenly lit up and blinded everyone, before a sharp pain exploded from their backs as they were all stabbed by the gathered nobles and the hidden assassins. "GAAAHHHHH!" Kouki and everyone else cried out as they fell to the ground and were pinned by the ones who stabbed them. The king stood still and calmly watched as the summoned heroes were attacked, alongside a certain someone. When Kouki looked up from where he was being pinned down he looked towards them and cried out, "Eri, hurry and run before they get you too!" Eri however just stood there with a smirk on her face, before a sound escaped her lips. "fufufufufu, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Finally Kouki is all mine~ !" Hearing those words coming from the calm and kind Eri, everyone looked up towards her in confusion from their position on the floor, while she simply sneered down at them. She then stepped forward and wrapped a slave collar around Kouki''s neck before planting her lips against his in a kiss while he was still stunned at her actions. Her beloved first kiss was then interrupted when a voice demanded, "What are you doing Eri?!" This caused her to break off the kiss and turn towards the speaker, Yuuka Sonobe, before saying as if it was natural, "I''m only taking what belongs to me while throwing out the trash, honestly there was so much trash around my Kouki that it was nauseating. Now that we''re in the other world though I could finally get rid of it, and Kouki and I could live here together forever~." Everyone was dumbfounded at Eri''s change as none of them could picture the quiet girl who loved books being like this, but Kouki cried out, "Eri, this isn''t you! You must have been brainwashed by that bastard Alex, please remember you''re our friend and precious comrade!" As Kouki tried desperately to escape reality Eri laughed once more before saying, "On my wonderful, stupidly dumb Kouki. This is me, I just decided to stop playing pretend! And by the way I have to thank you Suzu, it was only because I was playing as your friend that I could be around my Kouki so much." Suzu looked heartbroken at how her friend was speaking to her and cried out, "Was all of this just for Kouki? Couldn''t you just confess or something Eririn?!" Eri laughed insanely once more before stating like it was obvious, "Of course not stu~pid, Kouki would never think of someone as being "special", so I needed to take out the trash around him. I managed to use my specialty Necromancy to basically implant a fake soul into bodies that have just died, so I planned to turn you all into my wonderful puppets while I spend the rest of my life with my new Kouki! But then a silver haired person approached me while I started working in the castle, and they said that if I turned the hero party against a certain someone then they''ll give me whatever I wanted~! Apparently they planned to use Ai-chan to make everyone listen to them, but then she had to do something stupid like escaping; so when they saw me turning the people in the castle into my puppets, they asked me to do the same to all of you as well~." "Eririn..." Suzu said said her friends nickname dispiritedly, which cause Eri to focus her attention on her and say, "Well I suppose I should thank you for being a good tool for me, I''ll let you go first so that you don''t have to watch me kill everyone else~." As Eri said that the knight holding Suzu down pulled the blade out of her back and flipped her over so that she was facing up, before aiming the blade at her once more except this time at her heart. "NOOOOOO!" Kouki cried out as the blade started defending towards one of his friends hearts, but it never connected. SWISH SLASH A certain figure had appeared in the throne room, which shocked everyone present as they looked at the familiar ponytail. Meanwhile the man that was about to stab Suzu suddenly fell appeared into pieces, while the parts that were cut had blackish flames that swiftly turned them into ash. Everyone was silent in further dumbfoundment as the figure turned towards Eri. "He told me that there might be a person or two among the class that are traitors, but to think it would be you, Eri." Shizuku said as she turned her blade towards one of her closest friends. Chapter 245 - Saving a Hero "Shizuku!" "Shizu Shizu!" As both Kouki and Suzu called out to her excitedly, the rest of the students similarly called out to her or let out sighs of relief, now believing that the reliable and cool big sister would save them. Shizuku was equally happy to see her friends, but she didn''t let it show on her face as she focused on the person she already identified was her opponent, one of her closest friends, Eri. As she hadn''t been present when Eri gave her speech, Shizuku couldn''t help but ask, "Why Eri?" The girl in question became noticeably agitated at Shizuku and cried out, "I''m just getting rid of the useless trash! Trash like you who don''t know how to appreciate what they''re given!" Shizuku''s focused looked wavered for a second at Eri''s outburst and she muttered, "What?" Eri became even more agitated and she declared, "It''s because of things like this I despise you the most! Always near Kouki and looking like you two belong together, yet acting like its some kind of chore being around him! You have what I''ve literally killed for and you don''t seem to even care!" Shizuku''s eyes narrowed as she heard such a stupid reason to do the things Eri had, and she said, "I can''t speak for your chances Eri, but I can guarantee that I will never be able to end up with Kouki, he closed that door a long time ago." The last part was barely a mutter, but several people did catch it and Eri and Kouki''s faces both changed when they heard it. Though she never really talked about it Kouki was technically her first crush when they first met, but this ended soon after she met him when she realized he wouldn''t be the kind of ''prince'' she was looking for, a fact she admittedly hoped he would change over time. As this old thought went through her head another figure appeared, but Shizuku swiftly pushed it away before turning her attention on Eri once more. It was then that she noticed that the amount of people surrounding them had increased until there were well over fifty of them standing there, as well as all of the ones pinning her classmates down, all giving Shizuku a sense of wrongness from how none of them were actually alive. Eri seemed to just notice this as well and her agitated state was quickly replaced with a calm one as she said, "No matter, you''re about to die anyways you ungrateful bitch. I bet you regret coming back now right?" Shizuku snorted at Eri''s words and secretly thanked Irina, Xenovia, Tomoe, and Bennia for training her for the last two months, as her biggest concerns now were the fact that she was about to use her blade to cut human flesh, and how her classmates might be used against her as hostages. The last concern proved unnecessary as a wave of fire suddenly rushed out over the group, instantly setting the zombies holding down her classmates aflame. "I''ll help so you can fight without worries Shizuku!" Kaori cried as she came out from where her and Aiko were hiding. She then casted two more spells, first was a barrier around everyone to prevent the zombies from attacking them, then an area of effect healing spell so that everyone could recover from the surprise attack. While she healed them Aiko was busy going to wach and every stud net to make sure they were alright, guilt flooding her conscience from leaving them to face this alone. They had initially tried to stay hidden as Kaori wasn''t confident enough with the couple fire based spells Ravel had her learn to be of help, but she saw her chance when Shizuku was talking with Eri to prepare her attack. Using the momentary pause in the enemies when Kaori attacked, Shizuku made her move. Before Eri even knew what happened she was already down five guys as Shizuku swiftly moved through them and used the ''Dragons Demonic Flame'' enchantment Alex added to her weapons to ensure they stayed dead. At Eri''s order they all started to move in on her at once to try and box her in, but Shizuku used her sword to cut space itself to make a "hole" before she disappeared into it and resumed her attack from behind the opponents. Everyone watched dumbfoundedly as Shizuku moved so fast that even the hero Kouki couldn''t keep up, and they could only see her for the briefest of milliseconds when she slashed an opponent before disappearing once more. All it would take was a single cut and her target would combust into blackish flames before turning to ash a moment later. As she fought the undead Knights a trio of spell casters across the room tried to power a spell to attack her, but they were interrupted when a kunai sprouted from each of their faces and they also suddenly burst into blackish flames. By this point over half of her undead soldiers had been reduced to ash and Eri was starting to sweat a little from how easily Shizuku was dealing with them; though she figured Shizuku would stronger when she came back, she had completely underestimated her rate of growth. A second later however her expression turned calm once more when she realized she still had a certain zombie left among those Shizuku hadn''t dealt with yet. As she closed in on that particular zombie it turned to look at her and Shizuku froze momentarily when she saw who it was. "Lady Shizuku! Please help me!" The maid named Nia cried out. She was a maid that had become quite close to Shizuku during her stay, and was well on her way to becoming one of Shizuku''s self proclaimed ''soul sisters''. When she paused momentarily the remaining zombies as well as the Nia zombie didn''t miss this chance and attacked, forcefully pulling Shizuku from her stupor as she tried to dodge the oncoming attacks. Though she was mostly successful she still suffered a slash to the side of her face, which resulted in a wound several inches long on her cheek. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! There goes your ''cool beauty'' image scar-face!" Eri insanely cackled from the side, feeling gleeful that she "ruined" Shizuku''s face with such a wound, even though healing magic would have fixed it easily. However her cackling soon stopped when she saw what happened next. The moment the attack connected with her Shizuku started channeling Regeneration magic on her face and the wound started to slowly close, once again making everyone stupefied before she restarted her attack. Shizuku then turned towards the zombie Nia who held a dagger in her hands with a bit of blood on it, showing that she was the one who managed to cut her face. Shizuku''s faced adopted a saddened look as she blurred towards her and buried her blade into Nia''s heart while muttering, "I''m sorry..." As she burst into flames the maid''s expression seemed to turn peaceful before disappearing. After driving her blade through a friends heart Shizuku''s expression hardened as she started destroying the remaining zombies with extreme prejudice, hating the fact that a friends face was being used to attack one they cared about. She was forced to face such a thing yet again when the last zombie to attack her was the king himself, even though this feeling was just from "killing" Liliana''s father. Just as the rest before him however his body burst into flame with a single cut from Shizuku''s sword, and she whispered a silent apology to Liliana. While slightly out of breath from all the magic she used for the black fire, Shizuku turned back towards Eri with a ferocious expression while the latter cried out, "What the hell?! Are you some kind of monster now?!" Eri complained as everything she planned and worked towards seemed to fall apart. Shizuku simply sighed and said, "When I heard that my classmates were in trouble I wanted to help them myself without Alex doing it himself once again, but I wasn''t strong enough so in the end you could even say I sold my soul to the devil to gain the necessary strength." Everyone looked at Shizuku strangely as they wondered just what she had to do to get stronger, while Kaori knowingly giggled in the background. This was quickly replaced by a cry however as Eri smiled victoriously and another voice cried out, "DON''T MOVE OR I''LL KILL HER!" Everyone turned to see one of the people who had seemed to be injured previously, Hiyama, holding Kaori hostage while also pressing a sword against her neck. He was hiding among the rest of the class in the event something like this happened so that not only would he and Eri be able to get away, but so he could take what he wanted most with him, Kaori. Seeing Kaori in such a situation the freshly healed Kouki grabbed his holy swords handle and demanded, "Hiyama! What are you doing?!" Hiyama made a face at Kouki''s demand and sneered, "I''m just taking Kaori with me since I deserve her! If you don''t want me to kill her now then throw down your sword and surrender!" Kouki was dumbfounded at Hiyama''s logic and said, "But if you killed Kaori then you wouldn''t be able to have her either, she''d be dead!" Hiyama snorted and replied, "I''ll just have Eri bring her back! It doesn''t matter how she is as long as she''s mine!" Seeing Hiyama''s irrationality and what seemed to be a touch of insanity in his eyes, Kouki and the others had no choice but to put away their weapons and let Hiyama get his way, Kaori would die if they didn''t. Hiyama started cackling madly until he noticed someone didn''t listen to his orders and he shouted, "You too Shizuku, weapons down or I''ll kill your precious best friend!" Shizuku sighed and decided to also do as Hiyama said, not from necessity, but because there was no reason for her not to. Though she was slightly worried for Kaori, Shizuku knew she wasn''t in any real danger due to the people that were most likely watching over them to ensure nothing happened, a fact Kaori herself was well aware of. As her swords suddenly disappeared into nothing, Shizuku asked, "Are you sure about this Hiyama? Kaori does have one scary and over protective boyfriend watching over her." Hiyama''s face changed as Shizuku mentioned Hajime, before he shouted, "SHUT UP! DON''T YOU DARE MENTION HAJIME! I''M THE ONE WHO DESERVES KAORI! I''M THE ONE WHOS BETTER! I''M-" they never heard whatever else Hiyama was about to say he was, as at that moment a bullet came flying from someplace no one could see and Hiyama''s head splattered across the wall in an excellent shot that made sure none of the gore hit Kaori herself. Though she also turned a bit pale from the scene, Kaori quickly turned towards the direction the bullet came from and shouted cheerfully, "THANK YOU HAJIME!" Though no one could see him where he was stationed in a tower clear across the city, Hajime smiled back through his scope at his beloved before turning his attention back towards the area surrounding the city. His job was to be on guard for any "unexpected situations" that Alex said might happen. He did however use his new spider golems to keep an eye on the girls and to use transmutation through to shoot if he needed to help them. Meanwhile back in the throne room Shizuku was admittedly pretty worried and went to check on the condition of her friend, and Eri had slumped down onto her knees in disbelief that everything she planned was undone so easily. A moment later she realized that there was no one watching her and so she tried to sneak away, only to back into something hard. Eri hesitantly turned around and saw a muscular man standing behind her, towering over her relatively small frame with a smirk on his face. "And where do you think you''re going miss?" Alex asked with a chuckle as Eri gulped. (A.N. So what do you guys want me to do with Eri? I had an idea to make antagonist women into maids like Nyx, but I also wanted to see if the idea would be supported before I tried it. The only other idea I have for her right now is to just kill her and be done with it, but if someone has a better idea then I''m all ears.) Chapter 246 - Grow the F.u.c.k up When she saw the person standing behind her Eri tried to back away quickly, only to receive a quick chop to the neck before falling unconscious. Alex then took that opportunity to use magic to bind her hands and feet and apply his slave magic to the back of her hand, before throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was at that point a voice demanded, "What are you doing to our classmate?" Alex turned to see Kouki glaring at him with his holy sword already drawn and pointed directly at his chest. Alex sighed and said, "I''m taking her under my custody until I can decide what to do with her, since I don''t trust leaving her here to possibly escape or get revenge. As for what''ll happen to her, I''m not sure yet; either I''d execute her and be done with it or maybe find some other way to punish her." Kouki''s eyes widened in surprise before he spat out, "Don''t you dare! We''ll take our classmate back to Japan and our legal system will take care of her!" Alex sighed once more as he didn''t want to deal with Kouki''s idiocy, so he decided to stop being nice. "Considering how every decision of yours has turned out so far, you''re the last person who''s judgment I''d trust in this room. Firstly the kingdom will want to enact justice on the one who murdered their king as well as several knights and nobles, then how exactly do you plan to have her be tried for her crimes in Japan when no one there would believe the things you''d say happened here? Even if you told the truth everyone would just think you''ve all gone crazy and she''d get off without any form of punishment. Then you''d have an insane necromancer running around earth doing whatever she pleased while you''d all have to try and track her down. You may want to have everyone you supposedly cared about hurt or killed, but I won''t risk such a thing." As Alex finished speaking everyone looked at him with shock and confusion at him mentioning Kouki trying to get everyone hurt or killed, while the person himself almost shouted, "How dare you! Then again what else can expect from someone who brainwashes people and turns them against each other? I am the hero and I will save everyone!" After hearing Kouki''s outburst Alex''s expression darkened as a chilly atmosphere developed. Shizuku looked a bit fearful of the fight that was about to break out and was about to try and stop it, but she saw Alex shaking his head slightly while his eyes glanced at her. She decided that Alex should know what he was doing and hopefully things wouldn''t get physical, and if they did then she''d step in no matter what. Seeing Shizuku step back Alex turned his attention back towards Kouki and asked, "If you''re the hero who intends to save everyone, then why is it every decision you''ve made has been guaranteed to get everyone killed if someone else didn''t intervene?" There was dead silence at Alex''s question as everyone tried to think on if what he said was true or not. Kouki noticed this and shouted with sudden realization, "Don''t listen to him, he''s trying to brainwash us and then turn us against each other!" Alex sneered at Kouki and replied, "Of course, anytime someone doesn''t agree with you then they are brainwashed right? Then I should probably mention that the one who does the brainwashing is that God and his servants that these people worship, I mean everyone else should have noticed how everyone has been acting differently lately? And that''s quite the way to divert the topic Kouki, taking attention from how you''re the biggest threat to your classmates life by saying I''m trying to manipulate them. The thing I find funny is that you''re so infatuated with your own idea of justice that you can''t even realize this." At that moment Kouki''s friend Ryutarou stepped forward and said, "Kouki is the hero and he''s led our class on earth and into battle here, we trust his judgment and leadership." Kouki looked at Ryutarou gratefully and the rest of their classmates similarly look at Kouki for reassurance, but they didn''t expect what Alex said next as he held up three fingers. "Three times he''s nearly gotten everyone killed, all due to his own Inflated ego or for self satisfaction. The first was in Orcus when everyone got caught in that trap, when his comrades panicked and were on the verge of being wiped out by the skeletons. Instead of clearing the way and rallying his comrades, he chose to recklessly charge at the strongest available enemy which dragged the other powerhouses in the group away from the weaker opponents to cover his recklessness. It took the weakest person in the group slapping some sense into him before he realized he nearly doomed everyone, then when this person seemed to have died under suspicious circ.u.mstances he just brushed it under the rug and ignored it unless he could say something related to make himself look cool. "Then once more in Orcus you were attacked by the demon race woman and her group of monsters. Once more Kouki had the capability to end the fight and save everyone but hesitated to deliver the final blow, simply because he didn''t want to take a life. Just for his own self satisfaction he doomed everyone to either death or enslavement at the hands of the demon race, and then tried to condemn those who actually managed to save everyone instead. "And finally just now he would''ve doomed everyone to death once more if Hajime hadn''t taken out Hiyama after everyone followed Kouki''s lead and put away their weapons. Though Hiyama did threaten Kaori''s life he still intended to take it no matter what, so you surrendering ultimately did nothing to help and instead just made things easier for him and Eri. If anything they were the ones on the ropes until that second since, if he had killed Kaori then nothing would have stopped any of you from attacking him, by taking a hostage like that they had themselves trapped just as much as each of you." There were many reactions towards Alex''s rant as several people tried to argue on Kouki''s behalf, others looked as if everything they thought was a lie, or some were even just silent as they tried to digest everything Alex just said. Kouki himself was struck speechless as he tried to come up with some way to refute Alex''s words, but ultimately had nothing until Ryutarou spoke up once more, "Even Kouki can''t be perfect... Do you expect him to be completely flawless?" Those who tried to support Kouki also agreed with Ryutarou''s words, but Alex simply retorted, "But isn''t he supposed to be the "hero"? Wasn''t he the one who claimed that he''ll "save everyone"? I understand the fact that everyone makes mistakes, but he has done so repeatedly without any indication that he''ll learn from them, and has only continued endangering those he supposedly cares about unnecessarily. And furthermore what has he done to actually help anyone in this world since arriving?" This time even Ryutarou was silent as he tried to come up with a way to defend his best friend. With the silence stretching Alex stepped forward and poked the armor covering Kouki''s chest as he continued, "Tell me Kouki, when a horde of 60,000 monsters were about to eliminate an entire town as well as your teacher and several classmates, where were you? When several criminal organizations were kidnaping children to sell illegally as slaves in Furhen, where were you? When the oasis in Ankaji was poisoned and the entire city was going to die from the toxins, where were you? In the nearly six months that you''ve been in this world, what have you actually done to prove you deserve that title of hero?" Once more there was dead silence as everyone took in Alex''s words, and Kouki''s armor now had a very noticeable dent from Alex poking it with every question he threw at Kouki. It was at this point that Shizuku stepped forward and gently said to him, "Alex, you can''t possibly expect Kouki to handle situations like that, can you? After all before coming here he was just a normal person." Once more Alex shook his head and said, "You''re right I don''t expect him to do so, but he himself has said multiple times that he''s the "hero" and that he''ll "save everyone". If he wants to be recognized as the hero then he needs to act like it, this isn''t make believe where the hero always wins without effort and gets the girl, the lives of those he cares about are actually at stake. If he just wants to play pretend that he''s a hero then he needs to lose the armor and sword and find a park to play in or something, however if he wants to be an actual hero then he needs to grow the f.u.c.k up." Shizuku was silent at Alex''s words as she also recognized Kouki''s need to "grow up", however with his tendency to interpret things at his own convenience it was hard to discuss such matters with him. They were spared from thinking too much about it however when a new voice spoke up, "Interesting... Though we planned to use the hero against the irregular, we never expected that you''d fight on your own. Would this be ignorance of your own situation, or arrogance due to your so called strength?" Everyone turned towards the new speaker to see a beautiful silver haired woman who seemed to be the very image of the phrase ''cool beauty''. When they saw her Shizuku instantly got into a stance to fight while while Kaori prepared another barrier, and Aiko stood in front of her students with her arms spread as if to protect them. Alex was the only one who seemed relaxed as he turned to face the woman, but as he did so a strong compulsion washed over him and everyone, though they all just brushed it off. "What... was that?" Suzu muttered as she looked to see if anyone could offer an explanation. Before Alex could say anything though the woman spoke again, "I already expected those blessed by my master to be unaffected by my hypnosis, but to think even the irregular wasn''t susceptible to it." Though they didn''t know what was going on, the fact that the woman mentioned hypnotizing them cause everyone to put their guard up while Alex explained, "She''s a servant of this worlds God, Ehito. You can say she''s an existence like that of an angel though she''s closer to a mindless puppet, they serve their God by carrying out his will in Tortus and using mental manipulation like hypnosis to ensure that the wars that entertain him continue. Until Eri made them her puppets, I''d say she was behind everyone in the castle acting strange recently while she tried to alternately manipulate all of you to fight against me since I''m trying to end Ehito''s "games"." With Alex''s explanation everyone became even more alert while Suzu also starred trying to prepare a barrier for protection. The woman turned to look at Alex curiously and said, "You know a lot more than you should, since the data I have is that you''re challenging the labyrinths I would assume that you learned this from one of the traitors?" Alex simply shrugged while he still had Eri over his shoulder and replied, "I guess you could say that, though I''m not obliged to answer you. Let me get rid of this baggage first and we can do our fight Noint. NYX!" If the silver haired beauty was surprised that Alex knew her name she didn''t show it, but she did show a shocked look when the black haired maid showed up out of nowhere and she got a look at her. "What now?" She asked more in exasperation at being summoned than irritation. Alex tossed the unconscious girl at her and said, "This girl needs to be locked up, but first take her to the Grigori so they make sure there isn''t any lingering spells on her or something." Alex''s main concern with letting Eri into Asora was that she might lead Ehito or his followers there, either consciously or unconsciously. Though Nyx looked slightly annoyed she didn''t say anything and was about to head back into Asora when a voice suddenly called out, "What are you?!" Everyone turned to see the "cool beauty" Noint looking unexpectedly agitated while staring directly at Nyx, due to the fact that she could sense the fact that she definitely contained at the very least a divine spark inside her. This was because that even if Alex drained most of her divine powers Nyx was still undeniably a goddess, and to Noint a perfect vessel for her master to inhabit. Everyone else also looked at Alex and Nyx in confusion until she turned towards Noint and did a clumsy curtsy due to the person she was still holding, and introduced herself. "I am Nyx, the goddess of night and darkness of the Greek pantheon, though currently I''m this bastards maid." Though she insulted him there was none of Nyx''s usual venom in her voice, a fact that Alex alone noticed. He also noticed the thoughtful look on Noint''s face as he suddenly realized what she was most likely thinking, and laughed before saying, "Don''t even think about it, Ehito wouldn''t be able to actually take over her body. He''s just a human who attained divinity and is now simply playing make believe, she''s a genuine goddess that''s existed as such for millennia and was born one. I doubt his will could contend with hers even after I took her powers away." Noint looked surprised at Alex''s declaration while no one noticed a slight red coloring Nyx''s cheeks before it quickly vanished. Though she didn''t feel threatened from the current situation, Nyx still felt it was best to return to Asora before something unexpected happened and so she disappeared into a veil of mist while taking their prisoner with her. Noint looked at the location Nyx disappeared from with fascination and said as if she hadn''t even registered Alex''s earlier claims, "After I defeat you I''ll have to find a way to follow her and acquire such an excellent host for my master." Then as if a switch had been flipped she turned to attack Alex, and moved at speeds that only Alex and Shizuku could keep up with towards him. Alex didn''t even flinch at the sudden attack and simply opened a portal with Spatial magic and sent her outside above the city. Alex was about to follow her through, but stopped before doing so and turned towards Shizuku before saying, "By the way, you were amazing before, you''ve really come along way Shizuku." He then pulled her close in what seemed to be an intimate gesture before planting a quick kiss upon her brow. Before Shizuku was able to process what happened Alex was already vanishing onto the portal to fight Noint. Though everyone else was either rushing outside or trying to figure out what was going on between Shizuku and Alex, a single figure stood statuesque still in the throne room as he tried to sort through the accusations thrown at him. Chapter 247 - Showdown While Alex and Noint were starting their showdown, a solitary figure was slowly walking up the long line of steps that led to the headquarters of the church, the Holy Mountain. Though at first Alex planned to send someone with her, Kuroka had told him to leave this job to her alone since she wanted to truly cut loose for once, something Alex agreed to as long as she didn''t kill every single person at the Holy Mountain. To pass the next labyrinth that sat inside the mountain itself, they needed to either go through a series of tests to prove that they weren''t under Ehito''s control, or they could take a shortcut by defeating one of his followers. Alex had sent Kuroka to clear the way on the mountain, as well as secure some possible candidates to bypass the labyrinths trials if the members of the church qualified as well. As she neared the end of the steps up the mountain a horn sounded out through the silent night as a small flood of soldiers gathered at the entrance of the church''s headquarters to confront her. While that happened a dome of light also flickered into existence as if to keep her out, an attempt that made Kuroka laugh in contempt. Suddenly a voice boomed over them all, "The enemy is upon us! Do not falter as we have the protection of God on our side, we shall smite them down in his great name! They who are incapable of knowing his mercy! His grace! His majesty!-" "Bla bla bla, can''t we just get to the fight already~Nyan?" Kuroka muttered under her breath as the pope of the church, Ishtar, continued his great speech to rally his troops before she slaughtered them like the cattle they were, after all she only needed to leave some alive. By this point several dozen temple Knights were gathered in front of her from behind the barrier as if to charge out to meet her once the order was given. Kuroka walked up to the barrier surrounding the church and started tapping it as if to test it while saying to the Knights, "This looks like a strong barrier~Nya. Plenty of power put into it, large enough to cover your entire church. But it seems kinda wasteful, so much power put into such a simple barrier. It''s not that hard to get through~Nya." The knights in front of her glared as she criticized their barrier before one sneered, "Talk all you want you filthy animal, you''ll never get inside and once we get the command you''ll be slaughtered." The moment the words ''filthy animal'' left the mans mouth Kuroka''s expression changed, as she was getting tired of the way people treated those like her in this world. Even though she was a youkai and not a demihuman, no one bothered trying to figure out the difference and simply treated her horribly just because they felt like it. Though it never bothered her too much, she was really starting to get annoyed with how she was looked at and so she said to the man, "I''ll take my time killing you, after all a cat likes to play with its food." Her verbal tick gone, Kuroka''s eyes changed from their normal human appearance to her slit-like cat eyes before she herself suddenly vanished. The Knights were shocked when their enemy disappeared, until a voice said from behind them, "Interesting ability right? I call it ''Blink'' since when the enemies blink I already disappeared. Sadly the range is pretty limited, though it was all I needed to get past your barrier." The Knights slowly turned around and saw Kuroka standing behind them with claws slowly extending from each of her fingers. The first knight reacted by swinging his sword at her head in an attempt to decapitate her, but Kuroka''s arm blurred and his sword was suddenly sliced in several pieces from her claws, before they tore through his armor as if it was warm butter. At that second another knight tried to attack Kuroka, and swung his sword were she was as the first knight was dying by her claws. The sword only hit empty air though as Kuroka''s claws approached him from the side where there was nothing a moment before. This was how the fight went as Kuroka evaded their attacks by using ''Blink'' continuously before tearing them apart with her claws in twos and threes. In less than two minutes several dozen Knights were dead, and the only survivor was the same one who had called her an animal. Kuroka turned towards him with a smile on her face as she said, "Now then, I did promise I would take my time killing you, didn''t I? Maybe I''ll use you as my labyrinth candidate~Nya." Before the knight could reply she used magic to bind him and dragged him behind her as she continued her slaughter throughout the church''s headquarters. Against most groups she tried out different types of poison mists she''d been working on, one paralyzed it''s victims while another simply knocked them out. The more vicious poisons however would slowly kill their victims in truly painful and horrifying ways, one causing them to hallucinate and kill each other while another caused them to almost instantly start vomiting blood for several minutes before dying. It was the "lucky" few that survived from only suffered the paralysis or being knocked out that Kuroka collected for the sake of using for the labyrinth, the rest she simply slaughtered without mercy with different methods once she finished trying out her new poisons. While she was in the middle of tearing apart a group of soldiers with her bare hands, Kuroka suddenly felt as if her strength had started draining from her body. When she looked around to determine the cause she noticed a melody drifting in the air, and started slowly making her way towards its origin. "Now this is just sad~Nya." Kuroka said when she found the source of the singing, which was the pope leading an entire group of priests in a hymn while another group of soldiers was waiting for her. She didn''t even put up a guard against the attacking Knights as they rushed her, instead a magic circle appeared in front of her before pumping out a think cloud of gray gas that rushed over the attacking soldiers and towards the singing pope and priests, before being diverted by yet another barrier. As the gas dispersed the singing nearly stopped from the sheer shock the priests experienced when they saw the dozens of statues standing in place of the Knights, before Kuroka smiled widely and explained to no one in particular, "It works wonderfully~Nyan! I got inspired when I saw that demon woman use this petrifaction spell, so I tried to make my own variation!" She then turned towards the priests who were now all sweating from nervousness under her gaze, before waltzing over slowly and slamming her touki covered hand against the barrier protecting them. With a sound similar to shattering glass the barrier shattered and those who were maintaining it started coughing up blood from the recoil, while the pope immediately fired off a powerful light element attack at her. Kuroka lazily blocked it with a magic circle barrier of her own before appearing behind the pope with ''Blink'' and summoning more of the gray gas to turn him to stone. Even as his body started turning into stone the pope preached, "God will not allow this blatant blasphemy to go unpunished! We will have the last laugh in the end animal when that day comes!" Leaving those words behind the petrifaction process ended and there was simply a statue standing there glaring at her. Kuroka sneered at the popes words before turning toward the remaining priests and saying, "Now then, let''s kill some time until everyone else joins us~Nya." What happened after that made even the phantom spirit of Laus Barn shiver as it patiently watched Kuroka from the side, waiting to show her the way to the secret room to acquire Spirit magic. *** The moment Alex floated out of the portal he created into the open air above the city a pair of greatswords moved to bisect him, so he simply summoned Ascalon and a great metallic clang rang out as the swords met each other. He turned to see the surprised face of Noint to the side as she struggled with both her swords against his strength in one arm. She then seemed to give up overcoming his raw strength and separated from him, allowing Alex to see her with the two silver wings spread out behind her. "It appeared I''ve underestimated you irregular, don''t worry you''ll still meet your end soon. Feel honored that the one to end you is the strongest among those who serve our great lord." Alex simply shook his head at her words, before blocking yet another attack from her as Noint started swiftly moving around him at high speeds trying to find a weak spot in his defense. As the deafening metallic clang echoed after each clash, it wasn''t long before the people of the entire city was out on the streets with their gazes pointed upwards as they watched what they could of the seemingly intense battle. Meanwhile the silver haired woman grew increasingly frustrated as every blow she tried to deliver was parried or blocked with apparent ease as if her opponent was toying with her, until she finally shouted, "Limit break!" As she did so the power coming off of her exploded as every one of her stats were multiplied. Limit Break was considered by most to be a last resort move that tripled the users stats, but it came at the cost of damaging the users body due to the fact that it was being pushed past its limits, similar to the ''Kaioken'' used by Goku before attaining the super saiyan. Noint then glanced at Alex to see his reaction to her gaining more power, only to see a small smile on his face without any trace of concern or worry. Becoming even further infuriated, she resumed her attack on him with her swords. "Hey, I might actually have to put in an effort now!" Alex declared tauntingly as he continued parrying her attacks. It only took another few clashes for Noint to realize a very annoying truth, that when it came to brute strength she wouldn''t be Alex''s match. As Ehito''s strongest servant it made her annoyingly frustrated that she had to acknowledge such a fact, and drove her even more to defeat the opponent in front of her. Since physical attacks didn''t seem to work, she swiftly took a distance and started preparing to cast a large scale magic attack. Even at this point Alex hadn''t chased her or proactively tried to move against her, as he still hovered in the same spot with a small smile on his face. Noint smirked as she knew for a fact that her next attack would make her opponent start to sweat, as she drew on the crystal in her heart that supplied her with unlimited magic power. "HELLFIRE TSUNAMI!" She cried out as the entire sky was suddenly set aflame and a massive wall of fire started moving towards Alex, while engulfing the birds that had been flying around them since the fight started. Alex''s expression changed to one of mild surprise, which brought more satisfaction to Noint than she''d ever admit as the giant wave of flames moved through the sky before swallowing him. A small smile adorned her face as her hated enemy burnt to ash, or so she thought. As Noint was sure of her victory, the flames started moving in a weird fashion as they began swirling around strangely before seemingly condensing into a specific form. All of the people watching gasped out loud when the flames that swallowed the champion of Gabriel condensed into what was very obviously a dragon, before it released an deafening roar towards the heavens and they saw the person still floating in the air beside its massive head. "Fire is my specialty so I''ll thank you for making this even easier for me. To repay your kindness I''ll return this to you." As Alex finished speaking the dragon soared through the sky directly at the silver haired woman, who started to feel genuine concern for the first time. She then used her limitless magic to create as much ice in the surrounding atmosphere as possible before bombarding the flaming dragon with it, while also trying to form several barriers around herself before the hellfire reached her. Everyone watched as the dragon opened its maw and engulfed the woman before detonating in the sky, filling it with a seemingly endless sea of flames that raised the surrounding temperature by several tens of degrees. It took several minutes before the sky started clearing of flames, and several more before the lone figure within them began to appear, with most of her hair turned to soot and several burn holes present in the cloth parts of her clothes. Her ''cool beauty'' appearance marred by undisguised fury, Noint spread her silvery wings and hundreds of silver feathers suddenly shot forward like bladed bullets towards Alex, who genuinely had a look of surprise as he dodged the attack. With his observation Haki it was easy for him to to dodge the hailstorm of feathers, which carried the power of disintegration to destroy whatever they touched. What he didn''t account for was the buildings and people below them that were caught by feathery destruction. Thankfully Grayfia, Anne, Rias, Yue, and Tio were all on standby and were able to move to help the population. Along with another job he had for some of them, they were waiting like Hajime for what Alex referred to as "unexpected situations", which was the demon race army attacking at that moment like they had in the novel. What Alex didn''t know was that since Eri was unable to plan the attack with them through Cattleya''s corpse, they hadn''t made any movements except against Verbergen due to the labyrinth that was known to exist there. Looking down at the destruction that was just barely avoided, Alex couldn''t help but exclaim, "I know that your master doesn''t care about their lives, but isn''t random wide spread destruction a bit too much?" Noint looked as if she was about to spit fire as she instead spat out, "It doesn''t matter, as my masters playthings they should be happy to lay down their lives so that an irregular like you is removed and his game can continue!" Alex showed a look of genuine confusion and asked, "What game?" If she had been thinking clearly several flags would have gone up in Noint''s mind at his question, but she wasn''t thinking clearly and instead practically shouted, "The game where he uses the war between the races to amuse himself! The one you are actively trying to end!" Alex then asked in response to Noint''s declaration, "Is it alright to announce such a thing so loudly? If anyone heard you down below then wouldn''t they turn against Ehito?" It seemed that by this point Noint was trying to collect herself as she then stated, "It doesn''t matter, only irregulars like yourself that want to throw my masters game out order are cause for concern. As for everyone else we could hypnotize them or use other means to control them as we always have, or we can simply purge them and start over once more, eliminating a single city is but a small matter." Alex smiled at Noint''s declaration, and was immensely thankful for her blunt way of speaking as it made some things much easier, especially since the way she put things wasn''t too different from story they spread. He then asked her one last thing, "Can you repeat that into the camera one more time?" Noint tilted her head in confusion and repeated, "Camera?" Before turning to face the direction Alex was looking at. Floating there at a distance was one of the birds that had been flying around them since the fight had started, a fact that Noint suddenly realized made no sense after she unleashed her ''Hellfire Tsunami''. As she looked closer she noticed that it had a sleek metallic body, and was simply floating there without flapping its wings as it seemingly stared at her. Before she could try to figure out what the bird was the night sky suddenly lit up with a giant projection of her face, that flinched at the same time she did. As her confusion grew Alex explained, "I figured that only letting the Heiligh kingdom watch our fight wasn''t fair, so I had it broadcasted live to every city we''ve been to since arriving in Tortus. Thank you for helping us spread the truth about Ehito to the masses Noint." Chapter 248 - Reinforcements Noints momentary confusion only lasted for a few seconds, before she turned towards Alex and rushed him once more in a rage. Though she didn''t know what words like "camera" and "broadcast" meant, she did indeed understand from his other words that he somehow used her against her own master and creator, something her designs refused to tolerate. While they resumed their fight, in the other parts of the world people''s minds were chaotic at what they just learned. Horlad, Brooke, Furhen, Ul, Ankaji, and Erisen; the people from each of these cities were currently staring dumbfoundedly at the projection in the sky as everything they thought they knew was turned upside down. By the time the sun rose the next morning, the only believers in Ehito within those cities would be the diehard fanatics. Meanwhile at the Capitol of the Heiligh kingdom, Alex was now fighting along with the cheers from the spectating people as they realized the truths behind Aiko and the Haulia''s claims. "Win champion of the goddess!" "Don''t lose champion!" "Beat that servant of the false god!" These cheers and more sounded from below him as the people suddenly wanted an end to the oppression they never even knew they were under. Alex meanwhile was still fighting casually, though now it was to ensure the viewers got a good show instead of trying to bait Noint. The silver haired woman on the other hand was doing everything in her power to destroy the enemy of her master, as levels of rage she never before felt welled up within her. She was livid that she was baited to be used against her master, she was furious that she couldn''t seem to defeat the opponent before, but most of all, "FIGHT ME SERIOUSLY!!!" She was extremely irritated that her opponent didn''t even seem to take her seriously enough to properly fight against her. Alex just smirked at how emotional the "cool beauty" was now, even though all she seemed to be feeling was raw rage. He was just about to start seriously attacking her to bring the fight to a close, but both of them were taken by surprise when in the middle of their fight a pair of giant doors appeared in the middle of the sky. Noint knew exactly what those doors were and paled from being mortified, while Alex was both surprised and felt complimented that he warranted such a reaction already. As the doors opened a group of ten silver haired and winged men and women flew through them, all wielding twin greatswords and looks of fury adorning their faces. Once the final person passed through the doors they closed with a boom, before vanishing once more. Noint then proceeded to abandon her fight with Alex and flew towards the newcomers before demanding, "This is my fight in the lords name, I can handle it!" The man nearest to her practically sneered, "After the mess you''ve made Noint? Once we return out master intends to examine you and reassess your capabilities, until then we are to cooperate and eliminate the irregular before he causes even more damage, and then secure the host candidate." At his words the rest of Ehito''s servants turned towards Alex with murder in their eyes, while he decided it was time to start tidying them up with super saiyan. Before he could activate it though, a magic circle appeared next to his ear and Grayfia said, "Don''t defeat them all, I have an idea to help advertise even more. Just buy time for the ten or so minutes until then." Though she didn''t say what it was she was planning, Alex decided to go with it and said in a voice that wasn''t picked up by the camera, "Alright, just hurry since I''m not sure how long I can convincingly buy time for." Grayfia didn''t answer, but instead went directly into Asora to enact whatever plan she thought of, while the giant doors closed and Noint along with her ten new helpers turned their attention towards him once more. Alex then activated a magic circle below him that changed his clothes his red fighting Gi, and swapped Ascalon for the staff Wukong gave him during their training that felt like it had been so long ago. Noint narrowed her eyes at this and asked, "Are you looking down on all of us even more? Swapping out a sword for a less lethal weapon?" Alex smiled knowingly and replied, "Actually this shows just how seriously I''m taking this fight, after all I never formally trained in the sword, just the staff." Alex''s revelation that he had been using a weapon that he never even formally trained in shocked all of those watching, while Hajime asked him with his communication device, "So you''re a super saiyan, you''re wearing a similar Gi, and you use a staff to fight; are you seriously trying this hard to copy Goku or something?" This made Alex laugh as he replied, "I actually trained under Sun Wukong from the story ''Journey to the West'', who was the person Goku was based off of. So I guess you might be able to say that?" This revelation made Hajime go silent as he immediately recalled the famous story, along with the rest of his classmates who heard Alex''s declaration from the projection and the other viewers who didn''t understand what he was talking about. They didn''t think about it for long however as the eleven silver haired people attacked him and the battle resumed once more. As before Alex took a more defensive stance as his opponents attacked him, except this time he didn''t look like he was toying with them, but that the increase in opponents was actually pressuring him. He only avoided their attacks by the closest possible margin, and used spatial magic in order to disorient them by sending them short ways away. Alex had to admit this approach to fighting was appealing as well, it was rather funny how each time their attacks seemed to just barely miss him they grew increasingly angry. Eventually he used spatial magic himself to move a short ways away from them before bombarding them with fireballs, he figured that if Noint lived through that hellfire dragon then these fireballs wouldn''t do much to them. It was then that the man who spoke to Noint said, "As expected of a mere pawn, the moment odds aren''t in your favor you can barely protect yourself and all you can do is run away." Alex couldn''t tell if he was being serious or was just trying to provoke him, and retorted, "That''s coming from the group of eleven people who are ganging up on one person?" The man didn''t respond to his retort, and instead they spread out and surrounded Alex once more before sending a myriad of spells at him in the center. Alex just shook his head and several magic circles appeared around him before spells identical to the ones they were attacking him with were shot back at them, walls of fire, pillars of ice, cyclones of wind, bolts of lightning, and even waves of water. Seeing him cancel out their magic attacks with his own identical spells, every viewer couldn''t help but be shocked while Alex just shrugged and said, "Hey, I may specialize in fire but that doesn''t mean I can''t use other elements too you know." The man practically growled as he led the charge and all of Alex''s opponents closed in on him at once, swords ready along with shouts of "limit break" among them. As he prepared to receive their attacks once more, something happened that caught even Alex unaware as ten of his opponents were blocked by a blinding light. As the light cleared there was widespread excitement when they saw ten more winged figures, except their wings were pure white and they all had rings of light above their heads, just like the goddess. "We have come, to led our lady''s champion a hand. Today will mark the start of Ehito''s fall." The leading figure that appeared in front of the man said, sister Griselda. Alex couldn''t help but laugh out loud when he saw what was happening, but as sister Griselda turned towards him and smiled he couldn''t help but feel a shiver go down his spine. Deciding he might have to find a way to later pay back the Angels for appearing alongside him, Alex then turned towards his only remaining opponent, Noint. The silver haired girl paled when she saw the situation reversed and decided to fight with the determination to take her opponent with her, a concept she never would have considered in the past. As the two faced each other they suddenly disappeared from view, only to reappear in the space between their previous position along with a deafening ''BOOM!'' With a single swing of their weapons Noint''s greatswords shattered, and Alex quickly put his staff away so that they could continue the fight bare handed. She immediately lunged forward with a fist towards his face, which Alex effortlessly dodged and returned with one of his own right into her chin. She then flew up with the force of his hit until she collided with the dome barrier covering the city, and spiderweb fractures spread from the point where she impacted. Before she could recover Alex appeared in front of her as he sink his fist into her gut, leading to the gratuitous amount of blood she then vomited a second later. As she tried to orient herself Noint separated from the barrier that suffered even more under Alex''s attacks, as she looked to repay the injuries she suffered. She didn''t have very far to look though, as his foot came out of nowhere and collided with the side of her face and sent her flying to the side, before he appeared there as well and sent her flying back the way she came with another kick. Though she had known there was a difference between herself and Alex, it wasn''t until this point that she realized just how drastic that difference was as she was completely unable to resist his relentless barrage of attacks. Though she couldn''t feel pain Noint was already at the point that she just wanted it to end, and so she was almost thankful when she saw his fist approaching her face one last time before her consciousness went dark. "One down, ten to go." Alex said as he watched Noint fly away with her limbs flailing like a rag doll. Alex then sped towards her and caught her by one of her ankles in order to restrain her before she managed to heal and recover, and blamed what happened next on anime world logic. As Noint dangled in the air from the ankle he held, her metallic dress fell and revealed her lack of panties to every one of the people watching them on the projection. Alex could practically feel the glares the millions of moms/wives directed at him, as they shielded their children/husbands eyes from seeing Noint''s surprisingly pleasant looking ass and lower lips. Alex quickly and awkwardly changed the way he was holding her, as he instead gripped her by the scruff of her neck and allowed the dress to cover what it was supposed to while he bound her hands and feet with magic circles. "Why am I not surprised?" Came an exasperated voice, prompting Alex to turn and see the Angels had even paused their fight as several of the women among them also sent small glares at his direction. Alex could only shrug at their reaction before everyone resumed their fighting. As the Angels were reincarnated Angels from Gabriel''s card set, along with Irina, they were all trained warriors that had spent the last several months making use of the training center as well. They each used a mass produced holy-demonic sword curtesy of Kiba, and their own powers over light as they utilized the unique aspects of the Saint card set formations. Alex intervened occasionally by using spatial magic to sneak up on the apostles and knock them out, until slowly but surely they were down to the last one, and the ten others were dangling behind Alex while being held up by the magic circles binding their arms and legs. The only one left was the same man that had talked with Noint before, as he glared at them he said, "Pathetic. This may have been a victory for you, but in the face of divinity defeat is inevitable." Alex laughed out loud and declared, "I specialize in fighting divine or unbeatable enemies. I''m ready for Ehito whenever he decides to stop being a coward and hiding." Hearing Alex slander his lord the man sneered, before a fist connected with his face and he lost consciousness along with the rest of the apostles. (A.N. Sorry for the delay, I''ve had some family stuff going on that made it difficult to focus on writing.) Chapter 249 - Free Will After restraining the last of the apostles, Alex brought them all forward as if he was offering them to the Angels and asked, "What does the goddess wish to do with them?" Griselda moved forward as if to accept them while saying, "We will take them to her, where they may find forgiveness and hopefully redemption after purging the influence of Ehito''s control from their minds. Their fate was the cruelest of all, being created to be utterly devoted to one who sees them as simple tools or things to throw away." Having said her piece, Griselda and the other angels disappeared in a blinding flash of light before the projection cut off and Alex drifted back down toward the palace courtyard. Waiting for him was Shizuku and Kaori along with their classmates, and Liliana with Meld, Shia, the queen, and Lilliana''s younger brother, the prince Randall. The three of them had gone to determine the safety of the remaining royal family members, and Alex could swear he saw a few already dried tear tracks on Liliana''s face, evidence she most likely knew about her fathers fate. As he landed Alex reached a hand out and pat Liliana on top of her head to comfort her. She managed a small smile in return as she nodded thanks for Alex''s action, which was brought to an end when both his ears were suddenly grabbed. "First you shamed a woman in front of millions, and now you''re over here trying to curry favor with the princess, who''s only fourteen! What are we going to do with you?" Grayfia exclaimed from one side while Rias nodded in agreement on the other while everyone else had similar looks on their faces as they arrived. Alex adopted a wronged expression while saying, "What happened to Noint was an accident so don''t blame me, and Liliana just found out her father died so I was just being considerate!" Liliana also took that chance to speak up as she said, "It''s true, he was just trying to comfort me! Either way such a thing is impossible so there''s no need to worry!" Though she was speaking truthfully, both Rias and Grayfia couldn''t help but narrow their eyes as they released his ears, and Alex rubbed at them like he''d been wronged. He then turned serious and faced Shizuku and Kaori before saying, "We should go now, everyone''s fine and we''ll be back in a few days at most." Though they seemed to want to stay with their friends, both girls nodded and went to follow Alex and the others as they started to gather around Grayfia to meet up with Kuroka. As they did Suzu ran up to Shizuku and asked, "You''re leaving again Kaorin, Shizu Shizu?! But you all just came back?" Shizuku smiled bitterly and replied, "We''ll be back soon, we''re not going very far you know. I''ll see you guys soon." With that Shizuku turned to join Alex and the others on the magic circle as they teleported to the church''s headquarters. "Nya, what took you guys so long? I was getting bored you know." Before the light even vanished, Kuroka was complaining about how long she had been waiting while the Angels gathered around her rolled their eyes at her attitude. Griselda then stepped forward and said, "We brought them here like Grayfia asked, but what exactly are you going to do with them?" Alex stepped forward and picked up Noint to move her before answering, "I''m going to try and see if it''s possible to remove Ehito''s influence from them before just jumping into killing all of them. They were basically programmed to be completely loyal to him like machines, but it looks like they have some kind of soul so I want to see if it''s possible to help them." Alex recalled from Arifureta''s after story that two of Hajime''s spider golems were suspected of housing the souls of two apostles, so if that was the case then it wasn''t too hard to draw the conclusion that they were simply brainwashed to follow Ehito from the moment of their creation, and if given a chance to act otherwise they may be able to live completely different lives. He then turned his attention inwardly towards Lauren and asked, ''So is it possible?'' Lauren was silent for a few seconds as she thought about it before answering, ''Yes, but it would require another force to invade and control them in order to purge Ehito''s. Try using your slave magic on them to see what kind of results you get.'' Alex frowned mentally and replied, ''But wouldn''t I just be controlling them like Ehito did? Though it would be useful to have so many loyal people to fight for me, how would I be any different than Ehito?'' Those that found it kinky aside, the only people Alex actively enslaved were criminals that were considered unredeemable; Nyx who was a global scale terrorist that threatened pretty much every existing governing faction, the crime lords of Furhen who kidnapped and illegally sold child slaves, and Eri who killed and reanimated several high ranking officials including the king simply because it made things easier for her, though Alex had only applied his slave mark on her to prevent her acting out until he actually decided what to do with her. Lauren''s reply actually surprised him as she said, ''You can always remove the slave magic afterwards, I doubt Ehito would try and retake control of them since he would view them as already being disposed of. Applying it for now is just to try and remove their devotion towards him since their thought process is so basic.'' After thinking about it for a few seconds Alex decided it was the best idea he had, so he started applying his slave crest to the back of Noint''s hand. As Noint was unconscious there was simply endless darkness around her, it was impossible for them to dream. However in that darkness two figures formed, one her master whom she served faithfully for millennia, and the other was the irregular who defeated her. As she was trying to figure out what was going on, her masters figure started shrinking as it slowly disappeared from her mind. ''Master! Don''t leave me!'' Noint cried out as Ehito''s figured visibly turned its back on her. ''I have no use for a tool that doesn''t work, so I''ll throw you away now.'' Noint started experiencing emotions she never thought possible as the figure of the irregular grew stronger within her. She was a tool, that she knew. It was an inevitability that one day she''s no longer be useful, but she would gladly be recycled or destroyed rather than another person using her. As the irregular''s figure grew however these feelings changed and, instead of the despicable irregular, she now started seeing him as a new potential master. By the time Ehito''s figure vanished completely she couldn''t care less, as every fiber of her was fixated on another person. ''My master.'' She said as she gazed at Alex with reverence, before suddenly his figure also stared to fade. Noint practically started to panic as she didn''t want to lose her new master so quickly. ''Please!'' Noint cried out futilely as Alex''s figure continued to fade, before it too vanished entirely. As an emptiness she never before felt filled her, Noint couldn''t help but wonder what point she had left to live if she had no master to serve, before she suddenly opened her eyes. "There she is." Alex said out loud as Noint seemed to recover her consciousness. However he seemed mildly concerned as her eyes were even emptier than before after she lost the purpose of her existence. As she slowly sat up, Alex hesitantly asked, "How are you feeling Noint?" Though it took her a moment she answered with a single word, "Empty." Alex frowned when he heard her reply and wondered if something went wrong, but before he could ask her anything further Lauren spoke up, ''She''s been devoted to something that was suddenly ripped from her and has no experience actually feeling anything, it''s not too strange that she''d feel a sense of loss now that it''s gone. The other apostles will probably have similar reactions as well.'' Though he felt it was an issue, Alex decided that time would help them more than anything and turned his attention towards the rest of the apostles. As he repeated the process he performed on Noint, she stood and started walking towards another place to sit while no one bothered to stop her, they only made sure to keep an eye on her. Slowly but surely the other apostles ended up joining her as well, as Alex finished removing Ehito''s influence from them and they felt the exact same sense of loss she did. Having finished with the last one, Alex momentarily ignored the now visible spirit of Laus Barn and made his way over to the depressed apostles while everyone else watched and waited for him to finish with them. "I suppose it''s kinda redundant to ask, but are you all alright?" Noint seemed to be the speaker for the group as she looked up at him and asked, "What do you think? Everything any of us ever were was stolen from us." Alex nodded in understanding, but then said, "You could look at it like that, or you could see it as now you can actually be your own people instead of just tools." Noint looked at him like he was an idiot and said, "We have served Ehito for literally millennium and are responsible for deaths that number in the millions in his name, how can we be anything else? You revealed us and what we''ve done to world, how can we live with others not despising us?" No matter how horrible it was Noint and the rest of the apostles felt no remorse for anything they did under Ehito''s orders, but they knew that they would never be forgiven for their actions regardless of if they apologized or not. Alex was silent for a moment before saying, "Then how about following us when we leave Tortus?" Noint''s look then seemed to turn into anger as she spat out, "You threw us away though!" Alex signed in response while the rest of the apostles also turned to glare at him. They were created to serve and had done nothing else for millennia, without a master they had no purpose. Alex then explained, "I don''t mind if you want to follow me or call me your master, but I would prefer it if you do so of your own free will instead of my magic binding you. I only actively enslave those who are unredeemable, those who if I killed them it would be too swift and too easy a punishment for their crimes. As far as the blood on your hands, I''ll tell you he same thing I told Tio when I freed her from her brainwashing as well; if a man kills your family you don''t blame the sword he used, but the man himself. All of the blood on your hands, it''s actually on Ehito''s hands instead; he created and ordered you to perform such actions, he designed you to be cruel and heartless. The fault never lies in the tool, but the one who wields it." At this point all of the apostles were listening to Alex, and thinking on what he said. They had never considered free will to be an actual concept, just a thing that the lesser mortals made up to comfort themselves in their actions; but now they realized that the decision they were about to make had nothing to do with orders, but of their own free will. As they thought of this and of what Alex told them earlier, Noint was the first person to stand up and face Alex before saying, "I would like to follow you in the future, but I cannot guarantee that I will want to forever." Alex smiled as he replied, "As long as you follow our laws then you are always welcome to my country, and if you so choose to leave then as long as you don''t endanger those who live there I won''t stop you, that''s what free will is all about anyways." Though she seemed taken aback at first, Noint then stunned everyone present when she managed a small smile and nodded in return. Following her lead, the rest of the apostles then hurried to put forward their intentions to follow Alex as well. Seeing them all take the first step towards living their own lives, Alex smiled before turning back to a pressing matter as he then said, "Alright, now that that''s taken care of lets get this labyrinth done! To start with, everyone raise your hands if you can see the ghost over there." As he finished speaking Alex pointed towards the phantom spirit of Laus, and was slightly surprised at who''s hands went into the air. As the one who wiped out the entire headquarters of the church by herself Kuroka''s hand was obviously in the air, but as they fought and helped defeat Noint and the others every one of the gathered Angels had also raised their hands. What surprised everyone however was that Noint and the other apostles also raised their hands as they looked directly at Laus, before answering the question Alex was about to ask, "No we don''t have access to what is referred to as age of gods magic." Alex nodded as he thought for a moment, and theorized, "It''s might be because you were all devoted servants of Ehito and, regardless of how it was done, are no longer his supporters." Knowing the theme of the labyrinth, everyone else couldn''t help but think this was the most likely reason why Noint and the others were able to see Laus. After stating his theory Alex then turned towards those who didn''t raise their hands, Anne, Grayfia, Rias, Yue, Shia, Tio, Shizuku, Asia, Valerie, Gasper, Hajime, and Kaori before saying, "I''ll go ahead with them while the rest of you decide how you want to proceed. You can try and kill those Kuroka captured and shortcut it, or you can go the long way and undergo the labyrinths real tests. Once we''re done I''ll return with them to Asora to get Noint and the others set up and to take care of some matters there, we''ll wait to return to the kingdom until everyone has passed the tests or given up." Everyone nodded once more while a few like Anne, Asia, Kaori,and Valerie had pale faces from the thought of killing those Kuroka had rounded up; after all killing in the heat of battle was one thing, killing someone in cold blood just to take a shortcut was something else entirely. Alex then turned and led those who were ready as they followed the spirit of Laus, and it led them deeper into the maze like tunnels beneath the church. While they were walking Kuroka came up to Alex''s side and clung to his arm while saying, "Nya, so are you going to try and bring him back like Miledy, or are you just just going to ignore him since he''s a guy~Nya?" Alex grimaced at her question and replied, "His gender has nothing to do with it, but I''m just going to leave him. Unlike Miledy I don''t think this is the actual Laus''s spirit, but maybe it''s like a preprogrammed recording or something? If he did stay behind as well then Miledy probably would have mentioned it when we spoke to her." Kuroka looked thoughtful for a second before nodding in understanding since she didn''t detect anything from the spirit to begin with. The Angels didn''t say anything as they silently followed, though Irina moved up and seized Alex''s other arm with a happy smile on her face as they walked. They didn''t really plan on challenging the labyrinths as well, but since they apparently cleared the requirements for this one already then why not take what was offered? Besides of all the age of gods magic, spirit magic might be the most compatible to those related to heaven. Meanwhile the apostles silently followed behind him since, because they made the choice of their own free will, they now largely considered Alex to be their new master. If their master decided to grant them more power, then why should they deny him? As they followed the spirit they were eventually led to a room similar to the others the liberators left behind, except this one had a stand with a large tome sitting on it. Flipping through the pages one could see that it was a diary kept by Laus when he was alive, but since it mostly just detailed some of the same things they already learned from previous labyrinths no one looked into its contents in detail. Twenty-three people then crowded onto the magic circle present in the middle of the room, before it started the usual process of confirming that they had actually passed the requirements in order to learn Spirit magic, before the notifications dinged in Alex and Kuroka''s minds. Once that was done Alex turned towards everyone and said, "Ok, now that that''s done let''s return to Asora." While Kuroka and the Angels nodded, Noint asked, "I was wondering before, but you mentioned that you had a country and a place called Asora, what is that about?" Alex smirk while not answering her question, and instead summoned the mist that surrounded everyone present. Though they retained their calm dispositions when the mist engulfed everyone, the apostles looked visibly shocked when they saw what awaited them when it cleared. Alex was pleased with the surprise on their faces as he said, "This is Asora." As he spoke Alex gestured towards everything below them, as he moved them to a small mountain overlooking the city. While the apostles were visibly shaken from the land that shouldn''t exist, Alex turned towards sister Griselda and said, "I''ll leave them in the Angels hands since you''re the most similar to them. I want to focus on getting them settled first before we put them to work." Sister Griselda nodded since the new residents needed to be addressed, and started leading them to where Gabriel was to meet with her while the rest of the Angels dispersed. As Kuroka and Irina also departed, it was just Alex and Noint left as he wanted her to stay behind for something. "Let''s go this way, I have something that I may actually need your help with." He then started leading the cool beauty towards the area that held the few prisoners they had, one of which had been waiting for well over a year from her perspective now to meet Alex, Cattleya. It was also where Eri should have been moved by now so Alex intended to go and talk to her in order to decide what to do with her. Noint was silent as she obediently followed behind him, and eyed everything around them with insatiable interest as they walked. She then asked what the biggest concern on her mind was, "What is this place?" Alex smiled and answered, "It''s Asora, an entire world tied to my soul. It''s where I brought those closest to me to live, as well as those who wanted to get away from the violence or oppression of the world they lived in." He then went on to explain about Asora and those living in it since Noint was now one of its residents, but he never would''ve expected what she was secretly thinking the more she learned about this place. The more she learned about Asora, the more she couldn''t help but compare it to Ehito''s divine realm that he resided in. Alex went on to explain some of his potential ideas and possible people that he''d like to recruit to live in Asora someday, not knowing that Noint had already equated his status to that of a god in her mind. *** Freid Bagwa was pacing back and forth in his room in the castle where the demon race royalty lived. He had just returned from the disaster that was the campaign into the Sea of Trees, and due to the most ridiculous reason, the damn rabbitman tribe. Though he didn''t know how many there were, the rabbitmen tribe had singlehandedly turned the tides of battle by assassinating the members of the that he had given control of some monsters to, as well as hundreds of the monsters they brought themselves. As a result they had failed to make any headway towards capturing another labyrinth, a fact that disappointed him greatly. At this thought Freid''s mind wandered to that champion of the self proclaimed goddess, and his hands started involuntarily shaking slightly. He still recalled how easily such a person managed to overpower himself and his army of dragons, and worried about how powerful he may had grown since then. His thoughts were disturbed when a messenger arrived for him. "M-my lord, y-you are needed in the t-throne room!" Though he was about to yell at the messenger for disturbing him, Freid stopped when he heard how shaky the boys voice was and decided to go and see what was wrong. As he arrived in the throne room Freid got his answer almost instantly as his forehead almost immediately hit the floor and he cried out, "This lowly one greets your divine lordship!" A figure looked down at Freid and said, "Raise your head my child, for we have matters to discuss." Freid raised his head yet dared not to look directly at the god Aruvhite in front of him. Though he wanted to know what the god wanted of him, he dared not question him and simply awaited his divine decree, something that surprised him a great deal. "The irregular you spoke of before, he''s becoming a great annoyance. We sent our forces to fight him but they were ultimately defeated, so my lord has come up with another idea, a champion of his own!" Freid''s heart started pounding as he listened to the gods speech, but when he heard his god mention his lord he couldn''t help but ask, "Your lord?" Aruvhite smiled at Freid''s questioning look and answered, "Yes, the god of gods! The one who rules over all! Such a being has chosen you Freid to fight for him against this champion of the false goddess, will you be his own champion and fight on his behalf?" There was no hesitation in Freid''s mind as he declared, "I will! Please, take me to this god of gods and I will devote myself to whatever he requests of me!" Aruvhite smiled as he summoned the doors to travel to Ehito''s divine realm, before he lead Freid to meet directly with Ehito. Chapter 250 - Late night visits, and not the fun kind (A.N. F.U.C.K.I.N.G FINALLY I AM BACK!!!!!!!!! Looks like finally fixed their shit so I can use the app and post again! That being said here''s what I wrote while I was gone.) Cattleya sighed as she closed and set down the book she had been reading alongside the others that went with it. It was something called a "textbook", and it detailed adept level magic formulas from this world called Earth. The woman called Le Fey gave several such books to her after she stopped refusing what they were trying to tell her. It had taken months, but Cattleya had come to realize that there was simply no point in resisting the change that these people intended to bring to their world. The only options they had was to submit to their whims, or die. At first Cattleya thought this proved how tyrannical they were, but as she became more compliant during the rare times they came to refill her food stores they started granting her various things like books to ease her boredom, things that continued proving how wrong her original impression of them was. She learned that similarly to her own world, this place called Asora was home to various races that had warred with each other throughout history due to similar reasons for her own people''s war, because of the will of God and the four beings they called Satan. Things changed once the God and these Satan died, and the people who called themselves Devils, Angels, and fallen angels were able to fight together for a lasting peace instead for their people. Once they had achieved peace, unprecedented advancements in technology and magic started taking place as the experts of each race started cooperating for the first time ever. She was starting to see the reasoning behind their seemingly extreme method of gaining her cooperation, if the demon race would refuse peace and insist on war they would simply be continuing the endless cycle of slaughter and stagnation, as such it would be better to simply remove such a factor since there was nothing positive about their continued existence. Though it was horrible way of thinking, Cattleya had already realized there was no point in criticizing their way of doing things since her people were the ones supporting endless and useless slaughter at the whims of something that didn''t even care about them. The other thing she had come to terms with was the truth behind her God, and the seemingly complete disregard he had for their lives. This had been difficult to accept at first, but she eventually started wondering if any of what they said was true since they were going so far to undo everything that God supposedly had done. This thought was strengthened when she found out that they were planning to leave their world soon, and weren''t simply trying to uproot them then in order to rule them or something. After Cattleya started coming to terms with what she was being told, the treatment towards her became considerably better. Though she was still never allowed to leave her cell, when they did the monthly food deliveries new people would come with them, the little human girl called Le Fey, and a silver haired woman called Rossweisse. They had mostly asked her questions about magic, but were also curious about the demon race as well. Cattleya was at first suspicious that they wanted military information from her, but was surprised when instead they asked her questions about the daily lives of the demon race itself. After learning various things about the magic used in Tortus, they then gave her various texts about magic from their world that used magic circles and formulas. Though the idea of using magic circles wasn''t anything new to her, Cattleya was stupefied to see Le Fey create a magic circle made of nothing but light in front of her and use magic through it, meanwhile the magic circles used in Tortus had to be prepared beforehand on weapons or scrolls in order to function in spells. Seeing the feats performed in the projections she was forced to watch, as well as what Le Fey and Rossweisse demonstrated to her, Cattleya immersed herself into her studying as she tried to learn as much about earths magic as possible. In all the only real complaints she had about her time imprisoned was that she would only get company once a month, and that it had been so long since she had seen her beloved, Mikhail. "Working hard?" A voice suddenly called out, breaking Cattleya from her recollection as she jumped up. She turned in surprise to see the same person who defeated her so decidedly and who haunted her dreams if he turned against the demon race, Alex. There was also a woman with blue eyes and burnt silver hair standing behind him, her expression a cool mask. Cattleya turned all of her attention towards Alex and asked, "What are you doing here?! You haven''t come in the nearly two years since you threw me in here, though from what I was told it''s only been a couple weeks from your point of view." Alex smirked at her reaction and replied, "You almost sound like a woman who I didn''t call after a one night stand. I came to talk you you and see if you can be rational, and if so we can discuss the future of the demon race." Cattleya''s body tensed as she heard the expected words come from Alex, before she sighed and sat down on the couch once more. Alex helped himself to the couch across from her, while the silver haired woman sat beside him after he glanced at her. Though Cattleya was concerned about the identity of the new woman, she was more concerned about her people and demanded, "So what is it you exactly want? I''ve come to realize there may be some truth to what you people say, but it''s next to impossible that my people will be so cooperative as well." Alex nodded at Cattleya''s declaration and answered, "I understand, which is why I wanted to have a person from the demon race speak for us as well. You''ve undergone the brainwashing and mass manipulation that is used on the mortal races of this world, and are now mostly free from its thinking, so I want you to act as the go between as we try to eliminate the drive for war." There was a small intake of breath as Cattleya heard what Alex wanted from her, before she said, "Before I agree to anything, I want proof that what you''ve said is true. Show me that we have been manipulated to go to war and I will full heartedly try and support you in the demon race territories." Cattleya''s devotion to her people was stronger than her faith, so if they had been sent to an endless slaughtered for no reason then she''d happily try and put a stop to it, but she''d need proof of it first. Alex nodded in understanding and simply turned towards the woman with silver hair next to him. Seeing Cattleya''s confusion he explained, "This is Noint, a former devoted servant of Ehito who used hypnosis to manipulate the factions of the world on his behalf." Cattleya''s mind blanked as she tried to process what Alex just told her, while Noint continued looking at her expressionlessly, before crying out, "That can''t be possible! I mean if what you''ve said is true then wouldn''t she be under more control than the people of the world? How is it that she is now following you?!" Alex smiled at Cattleya response and explained what had happened earlier that night, from Noint being sent to manipulate the summoned Hero''s to use against him, to him in turn using Noint to reveal the truth to the majority of the human world, as well as the battle that had taken place afterwards between the apostles and the Angels. When he got to the part where he used his slavery magic to remove Ehito''s influence however, Cattleya sucked in her breath as Noint herself recounted the dream she had of Ehito abandoning her, then Alex''s magic making her devoted to him before he released them from his control as well. After hearing everything Cattleya slumped back into the couch as disbelief filled her, before she hesitantly asked Noint, "Even if his control over you is gone, don''t you even feel the least bit loyal towards Ehito still? I mean you said he created you so, even if the mind control is gone, wouldn''t you still want to follow him?" Noint looked as if she was contemplating Cattleya''s words for a moment before saying, "Even if I wanted to continue serving him, Ehito threw me away. To me this is simply the end, he won''t take me back and is more than likely already preparing a replacement. Alex then told us about free will, a concept we believed never existed but he insisted it did. So, using our newfound free will, myself and the other apostles that were defeated decided to try and stay with Alex in order to experience it ourselves." Cattleya was silent as she contemplated what Noint said, before Alex continued as he put something on the table, "I''m thinking of sending you back to the demon race soon to begin the peace talks. This is a recording of my fight with Noint where she stated Ehito''s intentions, and I''ll arrange it so that you won''t be traveling home alone. I''ll also talk to Ravel about you getting to spend some time outside the next few days before leaving." *** Alex sighed in mild relief as he exited Cattleya''s room, glad that she accepted what he wanted so easily. It helped that after studying some of their version of magic, as well as being shown the recordings of the rating game tournament fights, she learned that resistance would simply lead to her people''s demise. Though Alex didn''t like the idea, he wouldn''t hesitate to remove the demon race if they persisted in following Ehito''s way of doing things, just like they did originally. As he was thinking of this he arrived at the next cell he needed to go to, and turned to face Noint who was still following him. "You can go and find Gabriel now, I''ll deal with this one alone." Noint bowed slightly in response, and turned on her heel to leave as he instructed. Alex then took a deep breath before opening the door to the cell, only for a chair to suddenly crash into the wall next to it. "What do you want?" Eri''s venomous voice spat at him as Alex casually entered the room. He then used Regeneration magic on the chair she threw to fix it, before righting it and taking a seat for himself as if nothing was wrong. Alex then calmly said, "I''m here to determine why to do with you." Eri smirked at what he said and sneered back, "What, can''t you just kill me or something? Oh, did you perhaps fall for me? How disgusting!" Alex sighed at her jests and replied, "I could snap your neck right here and now and not give a shit, but the problem I see in doing so is that you''d even welcome death if you can''t get what you''d want, though you''d probably try and take as many people with you as possible. Besides the threat of killing doesn''t really work on someone who nearly tried to kill herself before." Though Eri was just sneering at Alex as he spoke, when he mentioned her previous intention of suicide she snapped back with a gleam of insanity in her eyes, "What do you know!? You don''t have the faintest idea of what I''ve been through, or the life I''ve lived!!!" Alex''s expression hardened as he took a deep breath and stated clearly, "So then if I said that your father died in a car accident trying to keep you safe I''d be wrong? Or if I mentioned the fact that your mother blamed you for his death? Perhaps I''ll also be wrong if I said that she never even loved you, just the fact that you were his daughter? I suppose I''d also be mistaken if I brought up how she blamed her new boyfriends attempt to **** you on yourself seducing him?" Eri''s expression blanked as the finer details of her life that not even Suzu, her "best friend" knew were thrown in her face. Eri''s face then morphed into one of complete and utter hatred as she said, "Don''t speak of that bitch! The only regret I''d have in completing my plan, is that I never would''ve been able to give her what she deserves!" Alex just narrowed his eyes as he replied, "Even when you learned so much from her? I mean you''re practically a carbon copy of that "bitch"." Eri''s face paled at Alex''s words before she shrieked, "SHUT UP!!!! I''M NOTHING LIKE HER!" "Yet you placed all of your will to live on a single boy. To you he was everything in life, just like your mother. To you everyone else was essentially an extra, just like her." "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" By this point Eri was Crimson faced as tears started pouring from her eyes, as she aimed a hand at Alex before saying a quick chant, firing a blast of dark magic towards him. Alex just sat there unflinchingly as the attack approached him, before it suddenly vanished right before it could hit him. In her current state Eri couldn''t process what happened, before she was suddenly wracked by intense pain and fell to the ground screaming due to her slave mark. As she spasmed in pain Alex just watched silently before saying, "That mark on your hand isn''t just for show, it''s a brand that marks you as my slave. As long as that''s there you cannot attack or lie to me, any attempt to do so will be met with extreme pain like what you just experienced. You will also experience a compulsion every time I give you an order, and no matter how strongly you try to resist it you will carry out whatever I told you to do, or face the same pain you just experienced." As the pain subsided Eri looked up at Alex with hatred and defeat in her eyes, even though what she was experiencing was exactly what she intended to inflict on her own classmates. "Kill me..." She said dejectedly while turning her gaze away from him. Alex frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "Ok." Eri looked up in surprise at his sudden agreement, only for one of Alex''s hands to wrap itself around her throat and lift her into the air. Even though Eri wanted to die, her body struggled in response to the sudden strangulation as it fought for air. Her nails were trying to dig into his flesh, her face turned progressively bluer, and she was gasping as she desperately tried to intake air. Then with a simple flick of his wrist, there was a sickening crack and Eri''s lifeless body fell to the ground once he released it. She seemed to be staring at him as Alex watched the life slowly fade from her eyes. Once the slave mark vanished from her hand it was painfully obvious that Eri was dead, Alex said to no one in particular, "Ok, now let''s try this out." He then knelt down in front of her corpse and started his work. Eri felt like she was floating after she died. It felt as if the weight of everything she ever did, everything she ever suffered had been lifted. As she floated Eri started wondering how the afterlife would be, and was suddenly excited that she might get to meet her father once more. Suddenly she felt as if something was tugging at her before she was suddenly pulled back and the floating feeling faded. She suddenly felt the cold stone beneath her as her eyes shot open and she took a deep breath. "Haaaaaaa! What-haaaa happened-haaaa?!" She demanded while looking at the only other person around, Alex. He was sitting calmly in his chair once more as he simply explained, "I killed you like you asked, then I brought you back to life." Eri''s mind blanked when she heard his answer, before she started trying to find reasons to discredit what he just said. Resurrection was impossible. Though the most powerful forms of healing magic were said to even bring back those who had recently died, it was only when they had just lost consciousness and with healing was more of a form resuscitation similar to an extreme form of cpr, or using an electric shock to jump start ones heart. Even for herself as a necromancer, all she was capable of was reanimating a dead body and at most she could program it to act similar to the person before they died, but it was vastly different from true resurrection. Seeing the confusion on her face Alex explained, "One type of magic I possess allows me to reverse time itself on something, which I used to fix the damage I had done to your body including the neck, before restarting your heart. Then another form of magic that I actually just acquired is called Spirit magic, which allows me to interfere with spiritual existences. I grabbed your spirit before it could pass on, and forced it back into your newly repaired body. Poof, instant resurrection!" Eri was dumbfounded as Alex shared what he had done with her, before she muttered, "So... You will not even let me die..." Alex nodded and said, "Of course. As I said, for you it would be a blessing to die and run from your crimes. From the moment you tried to commit suicide in the past, you threw away any attachment you have towards the world of the living, except for Kouki. That''s why I''ve now decided, you will continue living as my slave and will have no control over your own life. I will refuse to allow you the escape of death, and you will never be able to obtain what you want more than anything." Eri looked up numbly at the one who now ruled her life, and froze for a moment involuntarily. She suddenly recalled the day she was about to commit suicide, and was stopped by a certain someone. She mentally compared the figure of the former with the man in front of her, and couldn''t help but be astonished. Both had prevented her death when she desired it most, but other than that they were completely opposite of each other. One was a boy who was idealistic to the point that he was considered by some to be delusional, who hollowly promised that he would help her be "happy" while knowing nothing about her. The other was a man who was cold and ruthless to those who crossed him, who had taken almost every bit of freedom in her life to force her to repent, and did so while seemingly knowing everything about her. Even though Eri devoted everything she had to getting closer to Kouki he still never seemed to notice her, she was just another person he spent a moment to try and help to boost his hero complex; meanwhile Alex had gone out of his way to tailor his response to her actions to suit what would torment her the most, even going as far as psychologically attacking her with her mother. As the figure of Kouki started disappearing from her mind, Eri adopted a smile as she curtsied towards Alex and said with both a touch of sweetness and insanity in her voice, "I understand, from now on I will do everything I can to wholeheartedly serve you my lor- no, my master~ heehee." Alex was a little unnerved at Eri''s sudden turn but, since he reapplied the slave mark while she was recovering, he knew she wasn''t lying about wholeheartedly serving him, or considering him her master. Though he was confused at Eri''s sudden change, Alex didn''t let it show on his face as he gave her a series of orders to prevent her from acting out, with her readily agreeing to everything he said. He then told her that a girl called Ravel would come to retrieve her in the morning, and left her cell while locking it just in case. He then sent a message to Ravel about the situation, but wasn''t surprised when she didn''t reply since it was well after midnight by this point. Alex left the prison and started heading towards Misty Manor, though he had one more place he had to stop at along the way. Since he was actually starting to get a little sleepy he couldn''t wait to get this matter over with, especially since Alex was confident that a certain s.e.xy little angel was waiting in his room for him, but he also kept his focus as this next matter was one of great importance. Alex approached a manor that was completely dark except for a single window, and casually walked through the front door as if it was nothing. He then made his way up the stairs towards the only currently occupied room in the house, since the rest of the residents had gone out to challenge the Gruen Great Labyrinth the day before. When he opened the door to the room it creaked a little, alerting the woman dressed in a nurse outfit who was reading by the side of the occupied bed. She jumped up from being startled and when she realized who was there she paled almost instantly before bowing and saying, "Please forgive my lack of manners sir!" She felt embarrassed because she felt as if she was caught slacking on the job, even though there was nothing wrong with her reading when her patient didn''t require taking care of during her shift. Alex waved away the woman''s panic and said, "I came to see her, so you can be excused until I call you back in." The nurse bowed again before practically fleeing the room from embarrassment, leaving Alex alone with Sairaorg''s mother, Misla Bael(Vapula). He had promised from day one that he would help Sairaorg find a cure for her, and believed he might have just done that with his newly acquired Spirit magic. Since Issei managed to reawaken Sairaorg''s mother using his boob talking power to stimulate her consciousness, Alex assumed he could replicate it with his spirit magic. With Lauren supporting the idea he decided to try it before Sairaorg returned from Gruen with Seekvaira and the others. Alex pulled up a chair and sat at the bed side, and took the woman''s hand in his own before activating his Spirit magic. Chapter 251 - Relaxation The next morning Alex awoke as the sun rose and started hitting his eyes, causing him to groan from his sleeplessness the night before even though he didn''t get to engage in his usual nightly activities. Clinging to his side even though it was still hot from their current summer weather, was the n.a.k.e.d Irina that had fallen asleep while waiting up for him. Alex smiled mischievously as his hand reached for her soft ass and pinched it, startling the beautiful angel awake. Irina groaned as she stretched and said while pouting, "That''s not how you treat a lady, you need to wake us up gently. Besides I still need my beauty sleep!" Alex chuckled lightly and said, "You were already asleep when I got back last night so I''d assume you''ve had plenty." Irina looked slightly guilty that she didn''t manage to stay awake until he arrived, before she realized what he was getting at. She then said somewhat seductively with a mild blush, "So how can I make it up to you?" Alex''s smile widened and he replied while rolling her on top of himself, "It''s funny you should ask, because I think I''ve got just the thing in mind." Neither one said anything else as they sealed each other''s lips, and the grinding came before the inevitable mount and ride. Alex watched almost as if he was hypnotized as she bounced up and down on him, her b.r.e.a.s.ts bouncing in rhythm with her. It didn''t take long for Irina to reach her climax before she fell against his chest once more, during which Alex also creamed her insides with his seed. Irina sighed in contentment as she felt the warmth spreading within her, while Alex wrapped her in his arms before sealing her lips once again. They laid there cuddling while while Irina ran her hands along Alex''s chest muscles, and he alternated between running his hands along her back and grabbing her butt, occasionally he''d also tease a certain area that made the Angel''s already flushed face turn even redder. Though he wasn''t pushing her too hard Irina was already more than aware that Alex was ready for another round, as he was seemingly quite backed up from not being "active" during the two months he was training. As this thought crossed both of their minds, the doors to Alex''s bedroom flew open and Ravel entered flanked by Nyx and Sona. "Did you really manage to heal lady Misla?!" Sona demanded immediately while Ravel also listened intently and Nyx started cleaning, albeit with a visible redness to her cheeks. Alex groaned and didn''t answer her right away, but instead slapped Irina''s rear one last time before saying to her, "Go get some cold water running and I''ll join you shortly." Irina told him to hurry along and quickly rushed into the bathroom, leaving Alex alone with the other three girls. He sat up and sighed before saying, "Word travels fast doesn''t it? Yes I woke her up and spent a little bit of time catching her up to speed last night, after all she''s missed a lot." Sona was dumbfounded at Alex''s bluntness, and couldn''t manage to say anything for several minutes. What Misla was suffering from was a sickness that would induce those who suffer from it into a coma, before they would eventually die. As Misla was considered "faulty" by the house of Bael and her treatment was at risk of subterfuge, Sairaorg had entrusted her care to the Sitri clan since their territory was famous for their many hospitals and advanced medical practices. Hearing that Alex easily managed to do something that not even their most prestigious hospitals could do was a bit of a blow to Sona''s pride. In her current state only a single word escaped her lips, "How?" Alex smiled and explained, "I used a newly acquired age of gods magic called Spirit Magic, it allows one to interact with the souls of those around them. If you recall I mentioned that one of the Liberators was still alive in the form of a golem? That was because she had her comrade use Spirit Magic to transfer her soul from her body into the golem in order to gain a form pseudo immortality. I used this magic to interact with Misla''s soul itself and stir her into awaking." Sona was dumbfounded at Alex''s answer, and so she was surprised when he pulled her onto his lap while he was still n.a.k.e.d and said, "Now that I answered your question, are you gonna spend some time with me today?" As it was obvious what he wanted to spend time together for, a bit of red crept into Sona''s cheeks as she replied, "I''ll go along with you now, but you''ll have to take me on a proper outing later!" Alex smiled and wrapped his arms around her while saying, "Of course, I''ve got a few days to kill so I''m gonna spend that time relaxing for a bit, and at the top of my list is spending some quality time with everyone I care about." Sona smiled at his promise while Ravel promptly plopped down in his lap as well and said, "I hope that includes me as well? Or are you just gonna dump another insane necromancer on me while you go off to have fun?" Alex grimaced and asked, "Was she that bad?"Ravel shook her head and said, "She was surprisingly cooperative, but it was obvious she wasn''t all there when I met her earlier. I wasn''t too thrilled about having someone like that around everyone in the Manor, so I gave her the job of general community service. Currently she''s making rounds around the city to pick up trash." Alex sighed in mild relief that Eri was cooperating, but kept in mind that it was possibly a facade to get them to let their guards down. His thoughts were interrupted when his bedroom doors opened once more, and Ravel''s entire peerage(with the exception of Kaori) marched in, cheeks slightly red and expectation in their eyes when they saw Alex''s current n.a.k.e.dness. Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at their appearance while Ravel explained, "Since I figured you''d be quite "vigorous" this morning I called in some reinforcements. I''m surprised they all came though since I told them that only those who wanted to participate should come." Alex smiled at Ravel''s words as his gaze swept across the gathered women. From the right was Ravel''s Queen and right hand, Yubelluna, with her long wavy hair and impressive bust; then the only present bishop was Mihae, who was attired in her usual kimono. Then the Knights, Siris with her long dark hair that was tied into several ponytails, and Karlamine who was dressed her usual armor; and the rooks, Isabella with half her face covered by her usual mask, and Xuelan in her standard cheongsam. Then there were all eight of the pawns gathered in their maid outfits since they were the ones working that day, there was the blue haired Mira and the brown skinned Shuriya, the two that were originally maids Marion and Burent, the twin cat girls Ni and Li, and finally the youthful looking twins Ile and Nil. Normally Alex would be hesitant to include those two, but his relationship with Yue had numbed such hesitations, and the fact that they hadn''t apparently aged a day since they met told him they were simply using magic to look and act that young. With a gesture from Ravel the fourteen gathered women started to remove their clothing, resulting in a large piles of clothes topped with fourteen pairs of panties. Alex smirked and stood with his arms still wrapped around Sona and Ravel, before making his way towards the bathroom while leading the whole line of women. Meanwhile to the side Nyx was grumbling about the pile of clothes everyone was leaving behind for her to clean, while also debating about following everyone. Even though they hadn''t slept together, Nyx had joined Alex whenever he showered while training, as she''d already seen him n.a.k.e.d and he''d already(forcibly) seen every inch of her body. Though Nyx would never admit to anyone(including herself) she was starting to anxiously await the day Alex would take her. As she was finishing up her cleaning Nyx suddenly heard several voices coming from the slightly open bathroom door, "OH GOD!" "HARDER!" "YES, F.U.C.K ME!" After hearing this and more coming from the bathroom Nyx hurried what she was doing before swiftly making her exit from the room. After spending all morning and half the afternoon "relieving" himself, Alex finally made his way downstairs while leaving behind seventeen very satisfied and exhausted women. As he himself was quite famished from all his "exercise", Alex''s first destination was the kitchen where he found a small crowd waiting for him. Gathered around the large dining table that was piled with several sweets was Rias, Grayfia, a moody looking Kuroka, Yue, Tio, Shia, Kiba, Rossweisse, Xenovia, Akeno, Kiryuu, and Koneko who was looking at the sweets longingly instead of the plate of healthy snacks in front of her. They all turned to look at Alex as he approached and Rias smirked knowingly as she asked, "Feel better? Nyx didn''t say much when she ran away from your room earlier, but her face said everything it needed to." Alex laughed lightly as he sat down and dug into the sweets, not replying before he got down a few mouthfuls, "Much better, so much so I''m thinking I''ll just spend the night with Gabriel and Koneko tonight if they want." Koneko suddenly looked up from the sweets she was eyeing before saying with a nod, "... Of course!" Her reaction brought a smile to everyone''s face before Rias stated, "By the way, I''m going to return to Tortus with a few people. Anne, Asia, Gasper, Kaori, and Shizuku are attempting the labyrinth the other way so I''m going to wait at the temple for them. While waiting we''re going to see what the church headquarters has for the taking." Alex smiled at her words before saying with a smirk, "You''re going to plunder a church?" Rias smirked back and said as a matter of fact, "Of course, what do you expect from Devils that are enemies of "God"?" Everyone laughed at Rias''s declaration before she headed out with those who would help plunder the church, Grayfia, Kiba, Rossweisse, and Kuroka. This left Alex with Yue, Tio, Shia, Xenovia, Akeno, and Kiryuu as he asked the latter three, "I''m going to try and spend some time with everyone while I''m here the next few days, can you three help show Yue, Tio, and Shia around Asora?" Xenovia and Kiryuu easily excepted Alex''s request, but Akeno playfully pouted and asked, "Will I get my chance to spend time with you, master~?" Alex smiled and said while gesturing Tio to come closer, "Of course, but until then I have a bit of a surprise for you Akeno." As he finished speaking Alex grabbed part of the kimono Tio usually wore, and yanked it off to reveal the skin beneath. Under her clothes Tio was completely n.a.k.e.d, except for the special metallic wire(courtesy of Hajime) that wrapped her body in a lewd bondage style. Alex then answers Akeno''s surprised expression with, "This is Tio, a filthy pervert that loves being abused in any and every manner. So consider this thing a new toy to play with until I join you." By this point Tio was panting slightly with excitement from the way Alex introduced her, while a sadistic smile spread on Akeno''s face and her eyes gained the matching gleam. Tio started panting louder as Akeno looked at her with such eyes, before the latter summoned a collar and leash while saying, "Ufufufufufu, in that case be a good little dog and let me leash you." Tio obediently stood still as Akeno collared and leashed her, before following her towards her dungeon. After a few steps however Akeno stopped and barked sharply, "Dogs don''t walk on two legs, they crawl on all four and beg like the mongrels they are!" Tio''s panting grew louder as she got on all fours, and answered, "Yes mistress, please punish this lowly mutt!" Akeno smiled sadistically at Tio''s obedience, and was about to lead her away when Alex stated, "I''ll let you two do as you want for now but you can''t have fun together in the future unless I approve, otherwise Tio will probably never see the light of day again. Plus she''s still a v.i.r.g.i.n so you can''t do anything to her there, everything else is fair game though." Though Akeno was little bummed that she couldn''t thoroughly play with Tio''s body, she didn''t show it since she free reign to do anything else she wanted. She then led Tio away who was still n.a.k.e.d and on all fours, and showed everyone a small black gem embedded between her butt cheeks where her asshole was supposed to be. To the side Yue was muttering sadly, "... The proud dragon race..." Alex had to fight not to laugh at her reaction, and was surprised when his gauntlet suddenly appeared and Ddraig''s depressed voice sounded out to everyone, Everyone laughed lightly at Ddraig''s words while Alex was almost tempted to remind the unfortunate dragon who his original host was supposed to be. Kiryuu then interrupted the laughter when she asked, "So if you''re spending time with everyone right now then when''s my turn?" Alex replied flatly and almost immediately, "I doubt it, rather than someone I actually care about you''re really more of a f.u.c.k toy to be honest." Though almost any girl would be extremely insulted by such words, Kiryuu instead started loudly laughing and declared, "Ok then! I don''t really mind either way since it''s hard to say I actually love you too, I don''t care about such things anyways so as long as you f.u.c.k me like no one else can then I''ll be satisfied." After hearing her friend''s words Xenovia face palmed, but considering her own reason to originally start sleeping with Alex she knew she had no place to talk. Everyone present continued talking for a bit before Alex and Koneko finally retired to Gabriel''s room, where she was holed up while trying to continue her work since the Angels who worked for her refused to let her in her office with her increasingly swelling belly. To them Gabriel and her child was a symbol of hope for their race since they had never been able to reproduce without hardship before, even though the father of said child was incidentally a devil. Koneko was suffering from the same circ.u.mstances currently as well since she and Kuroka were the last of their species, and so her older sister was being even more overprotective than usual and had seemingly teamed up with with Ravel. This had led to the restrictions in her diet, and even her training was almost entirely comprised of simply meditating while all of her physical exertions were simple stretches. Once the duo arrived at Gabriel''s room they didn''t waste any time in taking it over and making the soon to be mother relax while the three cuddled and watched movies. Over the next couple of days Alex relaxed in similar ways with the various women he cared about, from having a small group lunch in Ophis''s shrine, to spending an afternoon lounging on Zenith as they sailed aimlessly on the ocean. There was also the one night however that Alex spent with Akeno as promised, however he ended up being with both Akeno and Tio in her dungeon, resulting in a night Alex wasn''t sure if he wanted to always remember, or try and delete it from his memory. The only "work" he actually did during this time was when he accompanied Serafall as she tried to set up a magic formation to induce man made rain, since things were drying out a little too much in their extended summer. This however led to Alex attacking her when they were done while still flying several thousand feet in the sky and, though she tried to reject him at first, she soon became compliant and they had both experienced s.e.x in midair and while free falling for the first time. At this point Alex was starting to wonder who the biggest tsundere around him was, Nyx or Serafall, as the later constantly tried to claim that their relationship was centered only in them sharing Sona. During his final day of relaxing though, Alex was escorting Ingvild to the beach where homes were currently being built for the first wave of migrating dagons that had just arrived that day. As the two walked along the sandy beach they stopped when they heard a little girl shout and Alex caught what seemed to be green haired rocket from midair. "PAPA! I missed you!" Alex wrapped his arms around Myuu and replied, "I missed you too Myuu, how are you and your mother?" The moment Alex mentioned Remia however, Myuu adopted a concerned expression even as her mother also approached them, and begged Alex, "Papa, please look at mamas legs again, I think they might still be hurt! Right after papa left mama couldn''t walk right for an entire day!" At Myuu''s declaration, which several people around them heard, Alex looked towards her mother to find a healthy shade of red covering her entire face as her usual "ara ara" atmosphere disappeared. She quickly went up to her daughter and said, "Papa doesn''t need to worry Myuu, after all mamas all better now see?" Though Remia tried to ease the situation over, Myuu replied with a pouty expression, "I''m just worried about mama..." Remia looked conflicted at her daughters expression, and wasn''t entirely sure he was helping when Alex comforted her by saying, "Don''t worry Myuu, later on tonight I''ll thoroughly check mamas body and make sure she''s alright, ok?" Myuu nodded happily since she knew her papa would take care of her mama, while Remia, who was well aware of Alex''s real intentions, practically hissed in his ear, "It''s your fault that I couldn''t walk for an entire day to begin with." Alex had to fight from smiling at Remia''s remark, though he noticed she didn''t reject his statement about spending the night together. The group started making their way over towards the main group of dagons, where they found Yasaka trying to coordinate with the Dagon chief on organizing the new residents. Yasaka was the first to notice the new arrivals as her ears twitched in their direction, and Kunou immediately ran to greet them in a similar manner as Myuu. As Alex arrived with a giggling girl in each arm he asked both the chief and Yasaka, "I hope things are progressing smoothly, or is there something need to help with?" Yasaka smiled as she leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips, then she answered, "Things are going swimmingly, thanks to the fact that the temperatures are so high the new arrivals have no problem camping out for a few days before we can finish with their new houses, and several Dagon have eagerly started diving into the ocean to explore and search out seafood hotspots." Alex nodded and continued asking a few questions about the immigration process to ensure everyone was happy with the new arrangements, though he was also made aware of a somewhat annoying rumor that made even Remia snort in annoyance. It appeared that a particular rumor started circulating that stated that in order to get approval to move here, the Dagon chief sold Remia and Myuu to Alex as pleasure slaves as well as a promise of more of their women if he wanted them in the future. A small investigation on an angry Bova and Roygun''s part however revealed that it was mostly the men that were interested in becoming Remia''s suitors originally that started it, so after they were taught a lesson the matter was quickly closed. After the chief finished explaining what happened, Alex recalled something and summoned a couple items that Serafall had delivered to him just that morning, a small book and a large ball that had small bumps covering its surface. "Here, I was thinking of a way for the Dagon people to become more known in Asora and also for them to develop a sense of pride in themselves, so I mentioned a certain game I heard about to the person who''s been in charge of entertainment." As he finished speaking Alex handed the book to the chief while he handed the ball to Myuu and sent her and Kunou to go play with the other children. The chief took one look at the cover of the book(which was written in the language used on Tortus) and his brow twitched as he read out loud, "''Blitzball for Dummies''?" Alex shrugged from seeing the Chiefs reaction and knew he didn''t get the reference, so he just simply explained, "It''s a sport that played exclusively under water. A ball like the one I just had is passed back and forth between teammates as they try to make it down the "field" so to speak, then they have to score in the other team''s goal while also keeping the ball away from said other team. You''ll get it once you start reading the book." Though the chief didn''t understand the idea of recreational sports, the idea of something being introduced that the Dagon race would naturally excel at excited him. They talked a bit more about Blitzball before Alex eventually excused himself since he was supposed to be on a date with Ingvild to begin with. "Sorry about that, now let''s continue." Ingvild chuckled before replying, "I don''t mind, I love the ocean so meeting a tribe of people can live in water was exciting." Alex smiled at her response and continued their walk, as the sun slowly set across the waves. At one point however Alex stopped mid sentence and Ingvild looked at him curiously, before he said, "I got an update from Rias, looks like everyone finished conquering the labyrinth." Chapter 252 - Recruitment drive Liliana sighed as she leaned back in her chair, mentally exhausted from all of the work she''d had to do the last few days. Every single one of the higher ups that ran the country had been killed during Eri''s attempted coup, on one hand this made it easier to establish the new laws regarding worship between Ehito and Gabriel, but on the other hand she needed to do all of the work to run the government until her brother grew up and new officials could be decided. As she was thinking Liliana looked out of the window of her new office and saw Kouki and the others training in the courtyard. Ever since the day they watched Alex''s fight against Noint and saw the difference in Kaori and Shizuku after they left with him it had seemed as if they had become motivated to do better themselves, except for one. Though Kouki was training his movements seemed mechanical and lacked the energy he usually had when training since arriving in Tortus. Ever since Alex threw all of Kouki''s failures and reckless decisions in his and everyone else''s faces, he seemed to be having a hard time coming to terms with it and it appeared to be on everyone else''s minds as well. Though they still wanted to believe in the one they all followed, they were now being forced to acknowledge the fact that Kouki had on more than one occasion seemingly threw away their lives for nothing. Liliana sighed once more before she turned towards her attendant and said before leaving, "I''m taking a lunch break." The attendant nodded and left to give the orders to the castle chef as Liliana made her way to the courtyard to personally see how everyone was doing. The moment she stepped out of the castle they all stopped their training and several of the girls such as Suzu and Yukka made their way over, while Meld ended his drills with the sword users like Kouki. "How is everyone?" Liliana asked as they gathered, though it wasn''t hard to tell from Suzu''s depressed look that she was still sad about Eri. "I want to talk to her..." Suzu muttered down heartedly while not speaking in third person as she usually did. She wanted to try and reason with her friend, and if not then ask her if everything truly was a lie. Liliana was about to say something to comfort the small girl, but was interrupted when a magic circle appeared on the ground right next to them. Though she got slightly excited from seeing the now familiar event, everyone got put on edge since it was still uncommon for them. After a brief flash of light though they were all stunned to see Alex standing there with everyone. "Yo, we''re back." He said casually, before Suzu seemed to cheer up almost immediately by flying forward and diving into Kaori''s b.r.e.a.s.ts, "SHIZU SHIZU, KAORIN!" As the teary girl snuggled into her chest, Kaori awkwardly pat her head while Shizuku was also rubbing her back and saying ''it''s ok'' over and over. Seeing Suzu cheer up as well as the return of the class''s two beauties, the rest of the students came over to greet them. While Alex and the others looked on though, a shrill voice shouted, "How dare you come back after what you''ve done to me!" Everyone turned to see teary eyes Aiko who ran up to Alex and started trying to hit his chest while saying, "Ever since you made me go out and say those lines I haven''t been able to show my face in public! Everywhere I go people ask me to give them the goddess''s blessings and stuff!" Everyone directed looks of pity towards Aiko as she recounted her various woes over the last several days, and several of her body guards directed looks of blame in Alex''s direction. He could only stand there awkwardly as Aiko continued complaining while hitting his chest until she seemed to tire out and he said, "Well then, shall we move inside out of the sun?" *** Soon everyone was gathered in one of the meeting rooms within the castle while Grayfia led the castle maids in preparing tea and snacks for them, not unknowing she was becoming something of an idol to them as they watched her work. Liliana was sitting across from Alex on a couch with Aiko on her right side and Kouki on her left, while Alex was sitting on another couch with Rias clinging to his left side and Anne clinging to his right, and Yue claimed his lap. Shia squeezed in on the other side of Anne while Kuroka reluctantly sat on the other side of Rias, and finally Tio was sitting gracefully on the arm of the couch, a feat that astounded Alex as no one could tell at the moment that even now her body was tightly bound in special metallic cables and after that night with her and Akeno both holes were now filled. To the side Hajime sat on a chair while Shizuku and Kaori were talking quietly with their classmates as they recounted some of their adventures, though the boys were barely listening as they shot intense looks towards Alex who was being smothered in softness. Liliana then silenced everyone when she opened their discussion by saying, "First of all I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping rid our kingdom of the control it was under, and bringing those who were responsible to justice." Alex nodded slightly lazily and replied, "I was just doing as I pleased so no thanks are necessary." Liliana however wouldn''t accept this and said earnestly, "Regardless, we have to thank you in some way! If it is within my power then I can grant you whatever you wish for!" As Liliana was currently the acting ruler of the kingdom her words carried no small weight as every single person in her kingdom actually felt the same way, and there were even some who were crying out for Gabriel''s champion to replace the current royal family. Alex however stated, "I was actually planning to ask for various magic texts, scrolls, and artifacts to be studied in Asora, however after they spent the last few days looting the headquarters of the church we have all of that and the treasure they had hordes. So basically, there''s not really anything I need." Liliana looked aghast at Alex''s statement, as she desperately tried to figure out a way to properly thank him, but her thoughts were interrupted by a new voice. "What about Liliana herself?" Everyone turned toward the new speaker to find someone who appeared to be a more mature version of Liliana, the recently widowed queen Luluaria. Though everyone shocked that she basically suggested to sell Liliana, it was the person herself that spoke first. "But mother, I''m already promised to the crown prince Biaus of the empire. It would too much of an insult to resend such a promise, and we need their support for the future." The queen nodded to what she said, but replied, "It''s true there was talk of you two getting married, however we never finalized the decision. From what you told me Alex rules over an entire world and his abilities alone far surpass what anyone in the empire is capable of, so it''s not too difficult to see who we should prioritize building relations with." Luluaria said all of this even while Alex was in the room since it was common practice to strengthen ties through marriage, plus Alex himself seemed to enjoy the company of numerous women so she figured he would accept the deal, however, "I refuse." Alex said plainly, causing everyone except for Rias and Grayfia to look at him with surprise. Seeing their reaction, Alex shrugged and answered, "I may like being surrounded by many beautiful women, but I despise treating them like cattle to be sold for profit. Besides princess, I''m pretty sure the empire will have more important things to worry about than you failing to meet your marriage arrangement, like trying to keep their economy from collapsing once they lose all of their slave labor." Alex''s words stunned almost everyone present as they were sure that with how many women he was involved with there must have been some arrangements, though only Ravel and maybe Rias could qualify under this. As for Alex himself though it might''ve sounded different, he actually thought it would be good for Liliana to join them in Asora even if was mostly to become an idol in Ingvild''s peerage. The moment Alex thought of this however another thought crossed his mind, as he turned towards Rias and said while everyone was still silent, "I just realized something, you still have eight pawn pieces left Rias." The Crimson haired women looked surprised for a moment, before she glanced at the gathered students and understood what Alex was getting at. "Do you think any of them would be a good addition?" She asked with interest, while Alex replied, "I won''t tell you who to pick, but I think a decent comparison would be that if all magic users and adventurers in this world were sacred gear users, those gathered in front of us are pretty much guaranteed balance breakers." Rias''s eyes shined at Alex''s explanation as she stood up and made her way over to the group of confused students, her eyes gliding over them as if inspecting them. Though things seemed to turn in a completely different direction, Liliana sighed as she watched with interest and thought about what was discussed before. Rias glanced over each and every student with interest as she tried to evaluate their potential, causing several boys that were inexperienced with girls to turn almost as red as her hair. Finally she stopped and pointed to three particular people while saying, "I would like to talk to the three of you if you don''t mind, I have a job offer that you might be interested in." """EH?!""" They cried out in surprise at being picked, while Rias stepped to the side and summoned a table with four chairs, one by itself and three on the opposite side. Rias then took her place in the solitary chair while she also summoned three pamphlets and laid them in front of the other three chairs, before turning back to her candidates and saying, "Don''t be shy, I''m not going to force you to do anything but I would like it if you listened to what I have to say." With her encouragement the chairs opposite her were finally occupied by those she chose, Ryutarou, Suzu, and the most surprising one of all, Endou Kousuke. Once they were seated Rias began with a brief explanation, "To clarify since I don''t think I''ve properly introduced myself, I am Rias Gremory, heiress apparent of the noble house of Gremory. I am a devil of the underworld, one of the beings mentioned in the bible." Though everyone was listening with interest to begin with, when they heard Rias''s self introduction almost everyone present was stunned as they tried to comprehend what they just heard, while Liliana and her mother just looked on with interest and confusion as they had no idea what Rias was referring to. As realization set in, most of those gathered around them turned pale as Devils were infamous in almost every myth for being evil and malicious beings. Kouki himself was about to stand up and say something, however at that moment he felt chills go up his spine and saw Grayfia starring at him, as if daring him to make a move like back in the inn when they first met. As the revelation sunk in, Rias then launched into the history of the devil race and the war of three factions, before moving into the creation of the evil piece system and the alliance of the three factions. While the silence stretched even longer after her story, Kouki finally seemed unable to contain himself and demanded, "And how do we know you''re telling the truth? Devils are notorious for being tricksters!" Rias didn''t appear to take insult to Kouki''s demand, as he technically wasn''t wrong, and instead calmly explained, "Goddess Gabriel and those that appeared that night to fight as well. They are all angels, being of purity and goodness. The fact that they''re allied with us should be enough proof of what I''m saying." Kouki looked as if he wanted to say more, but with the continuous starring from Grayfia as she watched his every action, he reluctantly took his seat once again. Rias then turned back towards the three people sitting in front of her and said, "I still have several of my evil pieces left, so I want to recruit you into my peerage if you are willing. The pamphlet in front of you states both the immediate and long term benefits of joining my family, one of which includes the possibility of growing in rank in the devil world and being able to obtain evil pieces of your own." As the three of them continued reading the pamphlet they were surprised at how professional and detailed it was, even going so far as to mention insurances and financial benefits. Eventually however Kousuke couldn''t help but ask, "But what about our families? If we went with you we''d never see them again." In response Rias simply turned towards Alex, who explained like he had to Aiko previously, "I''ve mentioned this to your teacher before, but I''ve offered all of you and your families a place in Asora, as long as you follow our laws." Everyone was taken aback at Alex''s offer, to which Kouki asked while suspicious, "And why would you do that? What''s in it for you?" Alex shrugged and said, "It''s more of just a kind gesture to be honest. I''m sure the people of earth won''t be very welcoming to have all of you back with your abilities and so on, so this is just an alternate choice to being disposed of or being isolated and experimented on for being freaks." Though several of the students didn''t like Alex''s choice of words, they couldn''t deny the possibility of the things he said, and even Aiko spoke up saying, "Even in the past there were witch hunts carried out on those who were just a little different, so it''s not completely unthinkable." Everyone was silent with her agreement, while Kousuke, Ryutarou, and Suzu once more studied the pamphlets, before Suzu hesitantly asked this time, "I want to see Eri to try and talk to her, is there any way that''s possible?" When they heard her question several people held their breath as they were also curious as to what Alex did with their classmate. The man in question simply shrugged and replied, "She''s currently enslaved and is repaying her crimes by doing work for the public in Asora, and before anyone gets their panties in a bunch I only enslave criminals like her so don''t even bother arguing. Anyways, I think you should wait a while before seeing her face to face again, give you both time to mellow out." Suzu looked down when Alex said they couldn''t meet right away, but a determined gleam entered her eye when he said they would be able to meet later instead. Finally the only one of the three that had yet to speak asked, "If I accept this, will I become stronger?" Ryutarou asked excitedly. Rias nodded and explained, "You three would be pawns, which means you''ll be able to promote to any other piece in chess besides a king; a rook that specializes in strength and defense, a knight that specializes in speed, a bishop that specializes in magic and support, or even a queen that uses all of those traits. I''ll happily encourage training as much as you''re able to, and there''s no real limit to how strong you can get. Someday you might be able to run at speeds you can''t even imagine, or be strong enough to even punch holes in space itself." Ryutarou felt excited since it seemed lately as if he was getting left behind, Kouki was the hero and stronger than everyone else, and Shizuku and Kaori had also grown so strong in such a short amount of time that it was almost depressing. Suzu was interested in both becoming more powerful, and growing as a person before she could meet her old friend, plus she wouldn''t mind having a master with such a lewd looking body. Kousuke was interested in not only increasing his assassination capabilities, but also the benefits that joining the house of Gremory offered, though he wasn''t sure yet why he was singled out everyone else even if he could understand Ryutarou and Suzu. Rias smiled as she saw the positive looks on their faces and summoned three of her Crimson pawn pieces before handing them out towards them. As all three of them reached out their hands to accept the evil pieces someone suddenly shouted out, "DON''T DO IT!!!" Everyone turned to see a red faced Kouki who was glaring dangerously at Rias as he continued, "I stayed silent since I believed in my friends that they wouldn''t accept such an offer, but I underestimated the allure of such despicable things as Devils! You guys should know they''re evil and specialize in tricking and scamming people with fake deals and nothing good comes from them!" Rias snorted at Kouki''s argument and replied, "I won''t deny some Devils are like what you''ve described, but I''ve never scammed people in my deals since it''s bad for business. And besides, even if all Devils are evil like you said then what about humans who choose to be evil?" Kouki''s glare intensified as he retorted, "People are redeemable, Devils are nothing but disgusting monsters that only know how to cheat and lie! They deserve to be destroyed just like any other monster that we''ve fought in the labyrinth!" This time the atmosphere was icy at Kouki''s words as both Rias and Grayfia narrowed their eyes at him. Though they wouldn''t argue the fact that Devils were considered to be "evil", Kouki was going too far with his prejudice when he had never even met a devil before them. Before either of them or even Alex could respond however, a voice colder than anyone else''s yet said, "So Kaori and I need to be destroyed as well Kouki?" Everyone froze as they turned towards the speaker, a noticeably pissed off Shizuku. At that moment black leathery wings sprouted from both Shizuku''s and Kaori''s backs, who was also looking at Kouki with an icy expression. Kouki was silent for a few seconds as he tried to take in what he was seeing, before he turned towards Rias and shouted with a purple face, "YOU TURNED MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS INTO MONSTERS?!!!!" As he rushed to his feet both Aiko and Liliana who were closest tried to hold him down to no avail, while Rias didn''t even react and the rest of the girls got into a battle ready state. Kouki only stopped however when Alex''s voice sounded throughout the room, "It was me actually." Kouki froze and turned towards Alex who was still lounging on the couch, before moving Yue and slowly rising to his feet. He then continued while walking forward slowly, "Kaori wanted to be more powerful in order to keep up with us but Rias wouldn''t take her since she already has a healer, so I introduced her to someone else I know. As for Shizuku, I''ll claim credit for turning her. You see once we heard from Liliana and Meld what was happening here she said she wanted to be the one to help her friends, but she also felt as if she wasn''t strong enough to do so. So she asked me to make her a member of my peerage, even while knowing the requirement I have for those who get my evil pieces." By this point Alex was standing next to Shizuku who he suddenly grabbed and wrapped in his arms intimately before continuing, "I only give my evil pieces to certain women, that should be enough for you to understand right?" After saying that Alex brought his mouth to Shizuku''s for a kiss, causing the cool beauty to squirm embarrassedly from being intimate in front of her classmates. The girls started screaming ''kyaaa'' from the scene while the boys were torn between glaring and cursing the unfairness of the world, however one particular person was having a very different reaction. Kouki watched stunned as Alex forcibly embraced and kissed HIS Shizuku as she struggled to get away from him, after also admitting to tricking her into becoming a monster. Inside his mind, something snapped. (A.N. I know people are gonna ask about status''s, so here Shizuku''s along with everyone else''s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Titles- Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer, Monstrosity Race- Saiyan Level- 225 Abilities- Reincarnated Devil Boosted gear Asora Enslavement magic Haki Job- staff adept(90) Available jobs- Mage adept, master martial artist, draconian overlord, gravity expert, holy enemy, berserker, sword adept, divine nemesis, ape lord, seducer, whip user, harem lord, staff expert, s.e.x master, charm expert, space Mage apprentice, time Mage apprentice, healing magic apprentice, spirit warrior, spirit medium, Job history- hatchling draconian warrior, apprentice Mage, draconian warrior, arsonist, senior draconian warrior, martial artist, draconian tyrant, expert martial artist, ruthless draconian tyrant, gravity user, sword user, pyromaniac, staff user, Mage, demonic charmer Skills- Dragon demons breath(3) Dragon gods breath(10) Draconian form(7) Intimidation(10) Ki manipulation(9) Magic recovery rate(2) Devils charm(8) Sword technique(7) Staff technique(5) Gravity mastery(8) Fire mastery(6) Fire immunity(7) Endless s.e.x.u.a.l stamina(10) Lovers embrace(1) Poison immunity(9) Creation magic(2) Space magic(3) Regeneration magic(5) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Race- youkai/nekoshou Abilities- Reincarnated devil Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- time Mage apprentice(14) Jobs available- master martial artist, poison master, space master, time Mage adept, acrobat, illusionist, shape shifter, expert thief, apprentice saboteur, healing Magic apprentice, spirit warrior, spirit medium, Job history- poison user, space Mage, thief, Archmage, poison expert, master Mage, martial artist, adept thief, grandmaster Mage, expert martial artist, shape shifter, space archmage Skills- Feline form(3) Stealth(9) Shadow cloak(4) Poison mist(10) Poison claw(9) Poison immunity(3) Ki mastery(3) Magic control(6) Magic sight(4) Enlarged magic pool(5) Kasha (8) Touki(10) Illusions(6) Space magic(8) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(2) Petrification(1) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Titles- Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Race- devil Abilities- destruction Job- gravity magic apprentice(40) Jobs available- destroyer, grandmaster Mage, charm expert, demon general, magic sniper, expert gunner, subordinate Mage princess, gravity magic adept, space Mage apprentice, time Mage apprentice, healing Mage apprentice, spirit medium, spirit destroyer, Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage, master destruction Mage, Mage, archmage, master Mage, demonic leader, lord of destruction, apprentice martial artist, gun Mage, demonic charmer, destruction overlord, magic gunner Skills- Absolute destruction(4) Magic control(9) Enlarged magic pool(8) Magic recovery rate(6) Extinguished star (7) Apocalyptic extinction(1) Aura of destruction (6) Reaper''s ruin(7) Destruction duelers(5) Command Loyalty (10) Strengthen followers(2) Devils allure(4) Superhuman strength(3) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(4) Space magic(1) Regeneration magic(1) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue Titles- vampire princess, crotch smasher, Magical Girl Vampire Princess Race- vampire Abilities- Reincarnated devil Auto regeneration all element aptitude Compound magic Job- adept ice mage(20) Jobs available- grandmaster mage, adept fire Mage, adept water Mage, expert ice Mage, adept earth Mage, adept lightning Mage, adept wind Mage, subordinate vampire princess, Gravity Mage apprentice, magical girl, space Mage apprentice, time Mage apprentice, healing Mage apprentice, spirit Mage apprentice, spirit medium, Job history- master Mage, fire Mage, ice Mage, lightning Mage, water Mage, earth Mage, wind Mage, Skills- Blood conversion(7) Magic recovery rate(7) Magic control(8) Magic Sight(4) Flame manipulation(4) Ice manipulation(5) Lightning manipulation(4) Water manipulation(3) Earth manipulation(2) Wind manipulation(3) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(4) Space magic(2) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shia Haulia Titles- Worthless Rabbit, Bugged Rabbit, Berserker Bunny Race- Rabbitman Abilities- Future sight Reincarnated devil Conceal presence Job- regenerating warrior(30) Available jobs- hammer expert, apprentice assassin, apprentice thief, brawler, fortune teller, veteran warrior, Gravity apprentice, undying warrior, spirit warrior, spirit medium, Job history- apprentice warrior, berserker, hammer user, warrior, Skills- Automatic future sight(3) Future paths(2) Revelation(2) Berserk mode(3) Stealth(1) Physical reinforcement(3) Superhuman strength(4) Durability(8) Accelerated healing(1) Hammer technique(3) Gravity magic(4) Space magic(1) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shizuku Yeagashi Titles- onee-sama, class mom, last boss Race- human Abilities- Reincarnated devil Ninjutsu Job-swordswoman(20) Available jobs- expert swordswoman, ninja apprentice, samurai apprentice, speed demon, female knight, spirit knight, Job history- Skills- Sword skill(10) No beat(3) Enhanced speed(5) Ponytail guard(1) Space magic(3) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Titles- The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Race- devil Abilities- Immense demonic power Job- apprentice healing maid(10) Jobs available-naughty maid, demonic maid, maid general, master shield maid, master Mage maid, veteran warrior maid, expert martial maid, expert maid knight, gravity user maid, space maid, time maid, adept healing maid, spiritual maid, Job history- shield maid, Mage maid, warrior maid, maid terror, martial maid, creation maid, apprentice maid knight, maid knight, expert shield maid, expert maid Mage Skills- Housework(5) Bed skills(9) Immense magic(10) Magic control(9) Magic recovery rate(8) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) Aura of terror(5) Iron defense(9) Superhuman strength(8) Ki manipulation(4) Sword skills(4) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(1) Space magic(2) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 253 - Duel "YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G BASTAAAAARRRD!!!" Kouki swore, gaining the attention of everyone present when they heard the uncharacteristic word come from his mouth along with a few drops of spit. He then continued as his thoughts ran rampant, "I get it now, you enslave any woman who catches your attention, and force them to attend to your disgusting desires! There''s no other way so many women would be drawn to such a despicable person! Don''t worry, I''ll free you all and you''ll never have to follow him again!" As Kouki finished his declaration he reached to draw his sword, but was stopped when Grayfia stepped out as if to meet him if he started fighting. Looking around many of the girls with Alex were in similar states as, even though he was talking to Alex, they all felt personally attacked by his declaration to some degree, with even Anne shuddering slightly from Kouki''s statement. As he saw all the women he intended to free standing against him, Kouki reluctantly released his sword and said, "Even now you hide behind those you force to do your bidding, if you''re a man then fight me yourself! As the hero I challenge you to a duel, and when I win I''ll have you release those women!" Everyone was silent as Kouki ran wild with his delusions and declarations, both from being stunned by his behavior and being unable to keep up with his delusions; even Shizuku was somewhat absent minded while she was still wrapped in Alex''s arms, as she struggled to comprehend what Kouki was doing. Alex however was calm, and released Shizuku before stepping forward while Grayfia respectfully stepped aside for him, and said, "Since you intend to delude yourself until the end, even though I''ve given you several chances to think about how you do things, then I''ll accept your challenge. I''ll ask the princess and her mother to stand witness to the duel and our agreement, and I''ll request two favors upon winning as the one who was challenged." After he finished speaking Alex looked towards Liliana who also seemed to have trouble keeping up with what was happening, before she quickly nodded her head and replied, "Of course I''ll be the witness, and as the challenged party I don''t suppose there''s much reason to deny your request, but I would like to know what they are." Alex smiled a bit evilly as he turned back towards Kouki and stated, "The first one I''ll strip him of everything that Kouki holds dear, his status of hero. He''ll have to return his Heroes armor and the holy sword and never again refer to himself as a hero. The second one will be that he undergoes a punishment of my choosing, don''t worry I won''t choose something like physical torture, maiming, or death. And finally I also request that this fuel be a non lethal one, meaning neither of us will intentionally try to kill the other." Kouki paled slightly when he heard the conditions for losing, but when he recalled his hidden trump card that he attained during training not too long ago he regained his composure. Even though he knew Alex was extremely powerful, he expected that with his trump card he would more than close the gap, and as the hero he didn''t doubt his victory in the slightest. Liliana however nodded in acceptance of Alex''s terms, though she was confused slightly on why he specified that they couldn''t intentionally kill each other, since he was the only one she could see possibly going for the kill. "The duel will be in one hour in the courtyard, you have until then to prepare." After saying her piece Liliana swiftly left the room to have some people prepare for the duel, while the students started worrying about what was about to happen. Though they wanted to cheer for their classmate and the class leader, Kouki had demonstrated his capability for powerful delusions in full force, and so it was hard for them to do so. The person himself swiftly left to prepare while Alex casually plopped down on the couch once more, the girls fawning over him as soon as he sat down. The one who was worried the most about the duel however was Shizuku, as she definitely didn''t want to see her childhood friend and the one she pledged herself to fight. *** An hour later everyone found themselves standing in the courtyard with an assembly of Knights, nobles, and the castle servants surrounding them, as they looked on at the two figures facing each other. On one side was Kouki who was now in his shining armor after it had been repaired from Alex poking it the other day, his hair was lightly floating in the wind and he struck an imposing yet heroic figure as he glared at Alex, seemingly the perfect hero who was defending the maidens honor if not for the touch of insanity one could see in his eyes. On the other side was Alex who was garbed in his orange combat gi with his tail swaying behind him, much to the surprise of those that hadn''t seen it before, as he took a more casual stance showing his obvious lack of wariness of his opponent. As the tension built before the match started, Alex broke the silence by saying, "You know what, I don''t think this match is fair. To even things up I won''t use any physical or magical attacks at all." When they heard the first half of his statement everyone was curious what he meant, but after hearing the second half there was a collective groan from the audience while Kouki''s glare intensified as he started grinding his teeth in annoyance. He then glanced over at the girls that came with Alex and said while smiling as if to appeal to them, "Don''t worry, soon you''ll no longer have to listen to a c.o.c.ky man like him. I''ll free each of you from servitude and we can actually do some good together!" Though he meant to appeal to them it appeared his words had the opposite effect as a chill ran through each of the girls, while Kuroka pushed Shia forward as if to say ''take the rabbit'', and Yue even tried to hide behind Rias to escape Kouki''s gaze. Even Grayfia had momentarily broke character as she covered her mouth with one of her hands and muttered in response, "I think I just threw up a little." Kouki''s smile was strained before he returned to glaring at Alex, believing he had even manipulated them to respond in such a way to one who was trying to help them. Alex just sighed at how Kouki was ignoring his own stupidity, while Meld awkwardly made his way between the two of them and said, "I''ll be announcing the rules and guidelines for this duel before we start, first off there is to be no killing. If there is even the slightest killing intent from either of you its an automatic forfeit, other than that the match will go on until one side either gives up or can no longer fight. Do you nth understand?" At both sides Alex and Kouki nodded in affirmation as Meld stepped back, and Liliana stepped forward this time with a scroll in her hands. "At the bang the duel will start, ready, set," As she spoke Liliana activated the scroll and after she said ''set'' there was a loud bang with a flash of light, and Kouki disappeared to all but a few of the viewers. "''Light that tears through all of creation, Wind that erodes time itself, rage like a thousand flower petals and coalesce Ito a blinding storm- HEAVENREND!''" Kouki chanted as he slashed his sword in Alex''s direction. Not only did his attack speed up more than it already was, but several blades of light formed around his sword as they sped towards the seemingly casual Alex. A small smile spread on Kouki''s lips as he saw Alex stand still even while his attack closed in, seemingly completely incapable of dodging the multitude of attacks. He was soon dumbfounded however when with speed that even he couldn''t keep up with, Alex blurred as each of the blade of lights flew right past him harmlessly before dissipating and his sword also missed its mark. Though he was annoyed Kouki kept his temper in check and said through gritted teeth, "I suppose I should have expected as much from a coward, all you can do is run from my attacks!" Alex laughed out loud and retorted as Kouki renewed his attacks once more, "And this is coming from someone who didn''t refute my decision to refrain from any kind of actual retaliation, so which of us is the actual coward?" Kouki snarled in response as his attacks gained more fervor from Alex''s taunts. "HOLY SHOOTING STARS!!!" Kouki shouted without chanting, unleashing a flash of light that actually blinded the unsuspecting Alex and shot out several light attacks. Though one would expect that having his sight temporarily stolen would hinder Alex, his smirk never left his face as he still managed to perfectly avoid each of Kouki''s attacks by the smallest hairs breath, moving his body now as if he was dancing. "ASTRAL UNLEASH! DIVINE DELUGE! HEAVENSTRUM!" Kouki shouted as he omitted the usual chants and unleashed attack after attack, first several blades of light that flew from the front before the second attack soared above him and rained down light on an area several meters around Alex as if to prevent him from escaping. To conclude his barrage Kouki swiftly moved to the side to unleash his ''heavenstrum'', which generated a massive pillar of light that flew towards Alex''s side and was intended to corner him to be unable to avoid these attacks. By this point Kouki was less focused on dealing any real damage, and was more focused on actually hitting his opponent. As his attacks of light blinded everyone and kicked up dust, they lost all sight of Alex until the brightness died down, and the dust started to settle. "Where is he?" Someone muttered from the sidelines as they saw nothing where Alex was supposed to be. Even Kouki was stupefied as his eyes scanned the area for his absent opponent, before a voice questioned in his ear, "What are we all looking at?" Kouki jumped and spun quickly while putting his sword at the ready, only to see Alex standing behind him looking questioningly at the spot he had just been standing seconds before. "How did you do that?!" Kouki demanded. Alex smirked before responding, "Why should I reveal my secrets? Not all of us are willing to shout and announce our every attack to our opponent, or do you think it''s fun to let your enemy know exactly what you''re about to do so they can counteract it?" Kouki snarled at Alex''s quip, before launching himself forward once more and started a barrage of attacks with just his sword. If him using spells was wrong, then he''d use the wordless sword skills he had polished from his years spent at the Yeagashi dojo. Even Shizuku watched in awe at the perfect thrusts and flawless slashes Kouki executed as he attempted to strike his opponent, though the display was marred somewhat by the fact that each attack missed its target who had now started to lightly hum his own tune while literally dancing away from Kouki''s attacks. Each time Alex dodged his attacks in such a manner Kouki''s face would grow progressively redder, until finally Alex seemed to reach the end of whatever tune he was humming. Finally Kouki swept his sword towards Alex''s side, causing him to spin in response before sticking his hand out front and sweeping it up with his finger pointing at an angle, ending in a pose just like one in disco. At the end of Alex''s finger however was the tip of Kouki''s sword, which he caught and redirected with just the single finger. "He stopped Kouki''s attack... With just a finger!" Someone muttered dumbfoundedly while several others made similar remarks. Alex smirked and declared, "Of course! My fingers are one of the parts of my body I exercise most, just ask anyone who''s shared a bed with me!" Though it took a second, it dawned on everyone what Alex was talking about and several people looked towards his travel companions as if for confirmation, only for Rias and the other to suddenly put their full attention on something outside the duel. As if this confirmed their suspicions, every guy in the audience suddenly looked at Alex with either awe or envy; while almost every girl, both married and single, looked at him with definite interest as most of them were now interested in experiencing his fingers firsthand. As for Kouki however, though his glare deepened he wasn''t given a chance to respond before Alex stepped forward before he could react and whispered in his ear, "You should have seen what my fingers did to Shizuku last night, her m.o.a.ns were amazing." Kouki''s expression blanked at what Alex said, before a look of rage like nothing he''d shown before surfaced and he shouted, "YOU F.U.C.KERRRRRRRR! LIMIT BREAK!" As he shouted his power suddenly skyrocketed as every one of his stats were suddenly multiplied by three, though it also added a shorter time limit for his fighting. Alex fought back the smirk, as this was exactly what he was aiming for. Since Kouki didn''t know how to handle rage, it would be too hard to push him into a berserk state where he would simply self destruct after powering himself up repeatedly. This was also why Alex even went so far as to lie about his interactions with Shizuku, who he had yet to do more than kiss so far. After powering up Kouki then launched into another barrage of attacks, however they seemed to lack the masterful precision of his earlier assault. Of course Alex was still under no pressure whatsoever, however he now wasn''t just being passive as he continued stepping in to whisper provocative things to Kouki to infuriate him even more. "Shizuku also seemed so cute and subdued, imagine my surprise when I found out how vocal she was in bed." "SHUT UP!!!" "I''ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with her, from dusk till dawn more often than not." "I SAID SHUT UP!!!" As Alex continued taunting his opponent, everyone was wondering what he was saying to get such a response from Kouki. Two of the girls however were well aware of what Alex was saying due to their fluffy ears, and Kuroka was trying to hold down her laughter while Shia hesitantly went to Shizuku and asked, "You still haven''t actually done anything with Alex, have you?" Shizuku blushed at Shia''s question, and wanted to hide behind her ponytail when she saw several people suddenly look away from the battle and towards her in interest at the question. Her blush deepened as she quietly replied, "I don''t see how it''s relevant, but no we''ve only kissed..." Shia simply nodded and said, "I figured, Alex is using you and lying to mister fake hero over there to make him angry." She then repeated some of the things Alex had said, causing Shizuku''s blush to deepen even more until she finally hid behind her ponytail and shouted, "Nooooooooo! We haven''t done any of that!" Seeing the cool beauty lose her cool off the first time, the girls of the class were going ''kyaaaaaa!, while the guys were gaping at the gap in image Shizuku showed. Their attention was drawn back to the duel however when there was a sudden surge of power as Kouki shouted, "SUPREME BREAK!!!" Everyone momentarily covered their eyes as a blinding flash of light and power radiated from Kouki, and his strength increased to five times his original strength. This was the same power he had unlocked during their struggle against Cattleya and the monster horde she had commanded, but everyone present knew that with the increase in power the burden his body bore was increased. This wasn''t what concerned everyone however, it was that fact that due to Alex''s provocations, Kouki''s aura now carried traces of what was obviously killing intent. Meld narrowed his eyes and muttered, "To think, the same Kouki that refused to deal a fatal blow to someone who was an enemy, is now wanting to kill the very person who''s saved his and his comrades lives, twice. If things escalate then I''ll have to put an end to the duel." No refuted what Meld said as it was even stated before the duel started, there was to be no killing their opponent. Though no believed he was capable of it, if Kouki was truly trying to kill Alex then it was as good as him forfeiting the match. Sadly Melds misgivings soon proved to be correct, when Alex whispered something else to Kouki, who stood there momentarily before shouting, "I WILL F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL YOU!" What happened next shocked everyone, as the traces of killing intent coming from Kouki turned into a raging waves as he charged forwards and attacked Alex once more, except now he was intending to take his life. In his frenzy Kouki had abandoned all forms of control and precision, instead only focusing on trying to hurt, and eliminate his opponent. With each swing of Kouki''s sword generating devastating attacks of light that dug into the ground, Meld decided it was enough and shouted, "That''s enough Kouki! The fight is over!" At first the berserking hero didn''t seem to hear Meld, but then he growled, "Not yet, not until I remove the plague that is his existence! I will kill him and save everyone he''s ever wronged! Shizuku and Kaori who he gave to Hajime, and all of those he''s enslaved like Eri and those poor girls over there! They would all be much happier by MY SIDE!!!" Seeing that Kouki wasn''t listening, Meld turned toward Alex''s and shouted, "THE DUELS OVER, PLEASE STOP KOUKI!" Alex didn''t hesitate, and moved in to land a punch on Kouki''s chest. Admittedly he held back because he wasn''t sure how much of his strength Kouki could take, so Alex was only slightly surprised to see Kouki still standing with a new dent in his armor and a bit of blood dripping from his mouth. Kouki spat out the blood in his mouth and said, "I figured going this far wouldn''t work on you, so I guess I''ll have to use my other trump card, ULTIMATE BREAK!" Kouki''s shout surprised everyone, but none so more than Alex who thought, ''I don''t remember that from the novel!'' Kouki''s power then grew once more, doubling in size for up to ten times his original strength. He then said, "You thought I wouldn''t notice didn''t you? The reason you specified that neither of us could kill each other, the reason you avoided all of my attacks! Devils are weak to light! You''ve barely avoided my attacks this whole time, and now I''m faster and more powerful! With this one attack, I will wipe you from the face of this world, and cleanse it of your filth!" He then stared a chant, which made Meld and those who had fought beside Kouki before pale in fear, especially since they were standing behind Alex and in the line of fire. "Kuroka, protect everyone." Alex said calmly as Kouki finished his chant and declared, "HEAVENS WRATH!!!!" As he swung his sword down, a pillar of light like nothing any of them had seen yet soared towards them. Alex stood there calmly before a sword also appeared in his hand which he raised and swung at the attack, effectively cutting a hole for himself. Meanwhile Kuroka summoned the strongest barrier she was capable of and erected it in front of the panicking audience, while Grayfia, Rias, and Yue all put their hands up and helped by supplying more energy to her barrier. As the light faded everyone saw a trench cut into the stone courtyard from Kouki''s attack, and no Alex. "Haha, I did it! You can all rest easy, I defeated the villain!" Kouki declared to the silent audience as the power that fueled him started dissipating, who just stared back at him in pure horror. While Kouki was declaring his victory and feeling proud of himself however, a voice suddenly said, "You really shouldn''t celebrate your victory too early you know, that''s one of biggest cliches in the book for getting your ass kicked." Kouki turned while startled at the now hatefully familiar voice, only to see Alex standing there with his sword casually swung over his shoulder. The last thing he saw was a large fist heading straight towards his face and, due to strain from using limit, supreme, and ultimate break consecutively, he could do nothing as it approached before he lost consciousness. *** When Kouki opened his eyes he found himself sitting on the ground, without any of the familiar weight of his armor, all of his fatigue from the fight vanished, and his hands behind his back with something cool and metallic around his wrists. "Oh good you''re awake, I''m glad it only took a couple minutes for you to recover since it means my regeneration magic is improving, even if I have to deal with you being awake." Kouki looked up to see Alex standing above him along with Meld, Liliana, Ryutarou, Kaori, Hajime, and finally Shizuku. Shizuku especially was glaring down at Kouki and stated, "You''re lucky Alex was willing to heal the damage you inflicted on yourself, and that Kuroka and the others were able to block the attack you directed at us." Kouki looked away from her shamefully, which caused Shizuku to narrow her eyes in response while Liliana explained, "Due to you deliberately trying to kill Alex during your duel, it was decided that you were disqualified and Alex won. Your behavior in the end however also led us to believe that we should separate your armor and sword from you while you were unconscious, lest you try to avoid giving it back after losing." Though she didn''t seem happy to do so, Liliana was treating Kouki like a criminal since he had in fact directed a massive and nearly unblock able attack in their direction, towards the remaining three members of the royal family. If it wasn''t for Alex''s companions then they could have very well died. Kouki glanced towards Ryutarou and Meld, those he believed would still side with him, only for both to look at him sadly for a moment before looking away. Seeing no one was going to help him, Kouki bitterly muttered, "Everyone''s just giving him what he wants, and now he''s going to get me out of the way so no one stops him..." Though several people wanted to refute what Kouki said, they didn''t get a chance to as Alex walked up and summoned Ascalon once more, before placing the tip under Kouki''s chin while everyone held their breath. Alex then said, "So how do you want me to do it? Cut your head off? Or maybe I''ll use my staff and hit you with it as hard as possible? Or maybe I''ll create a tiny black hole and crush you with it bit by bit, slowly and painfully until you''re no bigger than a marble." Kouki and everyone present paled at Alex''s threats, as he was also releasing a mild amount of killing intent, showing he wouldn''t hesitate to carry out what he said. However the killing intent suddenly disappeared and Alex put away Ascalon before continuing, "If I wanted you dead then I would''ve killed you already using any of the thousand ways available to me, openly or in secret. I would not have gone through all of this trouble just to get rid of you, it was to teach you a lesson. I know you have the capability to grow up, but you refused to do so any of the times I have you a chance. So now comes the hard way, the punishment I mentioned before we started the duel." Kouki''s eyes narrowed at what Alex said while everyone looked uncomfortable at the thought of him receiving further punishment. However as it was one of the conditions Alex put forward beforehand they didn''t say anything, and decided instead to only intervene if he intended to kill Kouki. No one imaged that Alex''s punishment would be so much worse than death. As a somber mood stared settling over everyone Alex declared, "Your punishment, is to become an outstanding magical girl!" A stunned silence spread over everyone as they tried to comprehend what Alex just said, before Grayfia broke it by asking, "What exactly did you say?" Alex smiled and repeated, "I said he is to become a magical girl. He will join the other maidenly women and learn the way of magical girls from them. It was a secret group that only Serafall knew about, so it''s not surprising none of you were aware." With Grayfia and Rias both giving him looks that meant there was to be a discussion later, Alex then raised two fingers to his mouth and whistled. As the shrill noise carried over the castle, the window to the room Alex had been resting in prior to the duel was blown open, and several figures were seen jumping from it before crashing down in front of them. BOOM!!! As the sound of impact echoed a cloud of dust rose, and Meld organized the Knights into a defensive formation out of caution. As it settled however, a sense of nausea spread through the onlookers when they saw the dozen newcomers. "We came to pick up our new recruit-nyo!????" A deep voice thundered from the lead thing, a hulking figure that had Catt ears on it head and wore frilly clothing that was obviously too small, including the skirt that did nothing to hide the bulging contents underneath that was barely contained by a poor pair of panties. Though he didn''t seem to actually get over the shock, Meld at least got out, "W-who are you?" The giant acted surprised and said as if in an attempt at a cutesy voice, "Oh silly me-nyo, I forgot to introduce myself. I am one of the co-leaders of the magical girls that follow the boss, Mil-ton!????" As it finished speaking the thing jumped as if excitedly and did a pose, making the view the onlookers had so much worse. Meanwhile another thing stepped forward from the group of freaks, and also posed next to Mil-ton and declared, "Master of fashion by day, defender against evil at night! Introducing the other co-leader of the magical girls, Crystabel!????" As it posed next to Mil-ton no one knew how to react except to try and not lose their lunch. The only one seemingly unaffected was Alex, who turned back towards Kouki and said, "You''ll be joining them, and will also become a splendid magical girl Kouki." As he finished speaking everyone looked at him, before Kouki seemed to understand what Alex said and he pleaded, "Please no!" Alex however didn''t mind him and said to Mil-ton, "This is Kouki, he has been bad so I want you to train him in the way of magical girls so he doesn''t loose his way." Mil-ton nodded enthusiastically and said, "Of course boss, we won''t let someone we can save become bad! I''ll make sure to beat the way of the magical girl into him thoroughly-nyo! ????" Alex nodded and went to Kouki''s side before removing the specially made azantium handcuffs Hajime made, as one of the magical girls that followed Mil-ton came forward and looked Kouki up and down. "Ooooo, I''m Annabelle and you''re definitely my type! Let''s go back and have some fun dreamboat! ????" the thing then grabbed Kouki by the collar and started dragging him towards the other magical girls, while Alex opened a most portal to their island. "No no please! Don''t let them take me! Shizuku please, HELP MEEEEE!" Kouki cried as he disappeared into the mist. As the portal closed Shizuku asked, "Was that really necessary? I don''t think Kouki really deserved all of that, and will he even be the same when we see him again?" It was obvious what Shizuku meant by Kouki being the same, however Alex disappointed her when he replied, "No he won''t, you might as well consider Kouki to be dead. Chances are when you see him again he''ll be Cookie instead or something, and I did give him several chances to grow up before resorting to this." Shizuku sighed and silently hoped her childhood friend wouldn''t change too much before they met again, not realizing she should in fact be more concerned about his chastity lasting through the next hour. Chapter 254 - The birds and the bees, devil version The day after Alex banished Kouki to hell- er, magical girl island, he was once more sitting in front of Liliana along with her mother and little brother, who wouldn''t stop glaring at Hajime. Just like everyone else had repeatedly the day before, she was asking Alex about possibly releasing Kouki from magical girl island, only for him to instantly refuse. Seeing he wasn''t going to change his mind, Liliana changed the topic and asked, "So what do you intend to do now then?" Alex shrugged and said, "I sent a message to the demihumans stating that their people in the empire will be released within a month, so I''ll have to do something about that before heading to the Sea of Trees for the next labyrinth. I''ll then head to the labyrinth in the demon race territory after that." Liliana nodded dejectedly since she hoped he would stick around as a kind of deterrent, but Alex followed up his previous statement by saying, "I was also hoping you''d allow for me to leave a teleportation magic circle somewhere here in the castle, that way some of my people can come and go while also making sure you''re all safe." Lilliana''s eyes lit up slightly as she happily thanked him, while he mother giggled slightly in the background. However her happiness was short lived when Alex mentioned he wanted to introduce someone to her, and she saw who walked in. "I am Cattleya of the demon race, I can''t speak for all of my people, but I hope that we can work together for a better future." Though Liliana tensed up from actually seeing a demon race person suddenly appear in the middle of the castle, most of the students turned pale and started reacting to seeing the one who nearly killed them. Ryutarou then demanded to Alex, "How is she alive?! We saw you smash her after she was petrified!" Alex shrugged nonchalantly and answered, "It was an illusion. I swapped her out and sent her to be imprisoned so that I could find a way to communicate with the demon race. Faking her death was necessary so that they wouldn''t be focused on trying to recover her, especially since her fianc¨¦ was a pretty high ranking soldier as well." There were mixed reactions to what Alex said as, even though they agreed with his ideas of coexistence, casually being in the same room as someone who once tried to kill all of them was harder to do than they thought. Suzu then stepped forward and said, "The least you could do is apologize for attacking us! Suzu even turned halfway into a statue!" Cattleya looked stupefied at Suzu''s claims and said, "I shouldn''t have to apologize, we were at war. And besides its not like any of you actually died or had lasting injuries when we fought, so all you''re asking me to apologize for basically is hurting your feelings." Though Suzu wanted to retort at Cattleya''s claims, she didn''t get a chance to as Alex lightly karate chopped her head and said, "You''re not helping, you have to keep in mind that in war there is no "right side", only one side and the other. Cattleya spent the last few weeks in a locked room that was under time distortion magic, it means that to her it has nearly been two years since your battle in the labyrinth, which may I remind you that she was fully petrified when we apprehended her?" Suzu was silent as she heard Alex''s argument while a smirk grew on Cattleya''s face, before Alex also chopped her head for acting smug. Rias then called Suzu back over before the short girl returned to her new masters side. Taking advantage of the silence, Liliana coughed to get everyone''s attention and said while holding out her hand, "I''m Liliana, the princess of the Heiligh kingdom who''s also currently running the kingdom until my little brother matures." Cattleya seemed hesitant, but after seeing Alex nod in encouragement she reached out and accepted Liliana''s offered hand. Alex smiled seeing the two shake hands and said, "It''s good you''re both willing to get along, because I''m planning to send you and Aiko back to the demon race territory with Cattleya. Though it''ll be a few days until your bodyguards return." Everyone was gob smacked at what Alex said while Aiko demanded, "When did you decide this?!" Alex shrugged and replied, "A while ago, I just haven''t mentioned it until now so I could see how Liliana would react to Cattleya. If the princess herself goes then it may show that the humans are truly trying for peace, while you Aiko are going as goddess Gabriel''s prophet." As Alex finished speaking someone else stepped forward, Sonobe Yuuka, and demanded, "What about their protection?! You said something about body guards, but we are talking about the center of a country that has been opposing humans for thousands of years! How are you so sure that these supposed bodyguards will be able to protect Aiko and Liliana?!" Alex didn''t seem to take Yuuka''s words to heart and casually replied, "Well, their leader is the great grandson of lucifer himself, so I guess that makes him the actual current lucifer? Plus their members include the descendants of King Arthur, the descendant of sun Wukong from Journey to the West, and finally there also the god eating wolf of myth, Fenrir. I think they''ll be ok." Everyone from earth was silent from sheer shock as they had all heard at lead two of the names Alex had just mentioned before, while Aiko had even turned pale since as a history teacher she had heard of all of them. While everyone else was reacting from the names Alex just dropped, Liliana was silently sitting to the side and was wondering if she should try to learn more about these figures from Aiko to understand just who they were. The conversation then only lasted long enough for Yukka to declare that she and the rest of Aiko''s bodyguards would still accompany them. The next day Alex was outside the castle waiting for everyone to gather so that he could summon Zenith and they could leave. He was thinking long and hard about how to handle the empire, before deciding it was just a massive pain as Hajime walked up. Alex turned towards him and said, "I''ve been meaning to ask but we''ve been busy, how''s the construction of your new house going?" Hajime smiled and said, "I''ve got the foundation done and I built several underground floors that are all lined with azantium. Now I can start of the framework of the house itself." Hajime then started passionately describing all of his ideas for his and Kaori''s new home, including making sure there was enough space for future children and both of their parents if they decided to stay with them. Alex had to fight from laughing however when the majority of Hajime''s ideas involved hidden weapons and using materials that would make his home into a small impenetrable fortress, something that he was sure would annoy Kaori and both of their parents in the future. After a while Alex got an idea and asked suddenly, "How would you like to go to deal with the empire in my place?" Hajime looked surprised at Alex''s offer before rolling his eyes and saying, "So you want to just push that off onto me so you can go straight to the Sea of Trees?" Alex didn''t bother refuting what he said and replied, "Well yes, plus I thought it would be a good way for you and Kaori to spend a few days alone together. You can take her around to tour the empire before crippling its economy or something, and if need be I''ll send you the Haulia for backup." Surprisingly Hajime was considering Alex''s proposal seriously before eventually nodding his head and saying, "Alright, I''ll go and deal with the empire for you. I just finished working on my own airship during those two months so it''ll be a good time to try it out." Alex thanked him for accepting his request, and then the two continued passing the time by discussing various future projects they''d like to work on until the rest of their companions arrived. "Hey!" Ryutarou called out to get their attention as he and Kousuke approached. They had also accepted Rias''s offer to join her peerage and were now going to accompany them to the labyrinths. Both of them however felt quite intimidated by the fact they were vastly outnumbered by the already taken female company, and were eager to try and get closer to the only two other men in the group. Though Rias wanted to send them and Suzu to train with the rest of her peerage, she ultimately decided that it would probably be better to have them conquer the last couple labyrinths with them first. Shortly after Ryutarou and Kousuke arrived the girls made their way over as well, and they were finally on their way to the Sea of Trees. Alex stood on deck and chuckled as he recalled the looks on everyone''s faces when Zenith and Hajime''s own airship had appeared from nowhere, and when they had both taken flight into the sky from the newly repaired courtyard. They had flown together for a bit since their destinations were in the same general direction, but soon Hajime veered off towards the empire''s Capitol while Alex maintained a course for the Sea of Trees. He smirked while Kousuke and Ryutarou ''oohed'' and ''awed'' from flying on a ship so high in the sky, before Rias reminded them that as reincarnated Devils they themselves were able to fly now with their own wings. Alex then watched as she led them and Suzu through a series of exercises to see what they were actually able to do before thinking on new formations for her team. A smile spread across his face as he made his over to her and asked, "So why them specifically out of everyone there?" Though Alex was aware of how strong all three could become, he played dumb as he was curious why Rias managed to single them out. She smiled before replying, "Suzu and Ryutarou were both grouped with Kouki, Shizuku, and Kaori, right? Well all three of them were decently capable in their own ways, so I''m expecting that there was a reason they managed to keep up with such a group. As for Kousuke, from what I recall he managed to travel several floors of the labyrinth by himself during that situation with Cattleya. I''m sure he''d make an exceptional scout or assassin to add to my group, I know Kiba will be happy to have another member that specializes in technique in the peerage." Alex nodded at Rias''s answer for picking them, and was also surprised that she managed to single out Kousuke who was infamous for his thin shadow. What Alex and Rias didn''t know was that Kousuke was fighting the urge to cry during his exercises, not from how hard they were, but that such a beautiful woman noticed and picked him out for recruitment from among the majority of his classmates. After watching their exercises for about an hour while everyone else went about their business, Rias clapped her hands to get their attention and said, "That''s it for now, why don''t the three of you guys head to the baths and we girls will take ours after." Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Rias''s suggestion, but guessing she was thinking of Suzu he didn''t say anything and simply led the exhausted Kousuke and Ryutarou to the sh.i.p.s bath. Alex then somewhat enjoyed some male bonding with the two newcomers, but it was kinda awkward when they both saw Alex n.a.k.e.d and refused to remove their towels from their waists, or make eye contact. After getting out Alex then parted with the two boys and made his way to his room, which wasn''t as large as his room in Asora, but was still a lot bigger and had a larger bed than normal. Alex laid down on the bed as the light from outside turned orange from the sunset, waiting for the girls to finish their baths before working up another sweat afterwards. His lazing around was interrupted however, when a hole in space opened above him and through it fell a wet and n.a.k.e.d young woman. Alex easily caught her princess style while the hole closed with the sounds of giggles coming through before it did, and looked at the pranks victim to see that even though she looked different with her hair down, Shizuku''s characteristic red eyes immediately gave her away. Without missing a beat Alex said to the still stunned girl, "I think this is the part where I can honestly say you fell for me." When he spoke Shizuku seemed to get a grasp as to what happened, and tried desperately and futility to cover her crotch and b.r.e.a.s.ts while screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" She then tried desperately to escape his grip and flee from embarrassment, but Alex wasn''t letting this chance escape him. Instead he he ignored her still wet body and gently tossed her onto the bed and lightly laid on top of her before pressing his lips against her own. Though Shizuku was still in "flight" mode, as the kiss extended she eventually started calming down before responding to Alex''s kisses somewhat shyly, and while still maintaining a firm cover for her delicate areas with her hands. Eventually he started to explore her body with his hands, before trying to make his way to the areas she was trying to hide. "...we...can''t...!" She gasped lightly as his hands tried to get a hold of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Alex didn''t reply, but instead kept up his gentle teasing and kissing on the areas he could reach until Shizuku''s firm cover started loosening. Eventually even her minor protests ceased and Alex''s touch became bolder and bolder, until it was no longer his hands she needed to worry about. *** Several hours later Shizuku was curled up at Alex''s right side, while the rest of the bed was claimed by the latecomers. Grayfia was on Shizuku''s other side while Rias was on the other side of her and Shia sprawled out at the edge, Anne had claimed Alex''s left side with Kuroka curled up cat-like next to her and Tio on the edge; and finally Yue as the smallest of the group had as usual claimed laying directly on top of Alex and as usual was trying to discreetly take advantage of her position, though everyone knew what she was doing. As she laid awake Shizuku played the last few hours through her head repeatedly as she tried to wrap her head around the things she and everyone else had done. After the first initial part where it was just her and Alex, everyone else showed up and it had become a chaotic battlefield of l.u.s.t. As the memories surfaced of how she was licked and played with and by whom, and even she herself playing and licking others, Shizuku tried to bury her face in Alex''s armpit out of sheer embarrassment. She also recalled how Alex had done THAT inside each and every one of them, never even pulling out- As this thought ran through her head Shizuku suddenly realized something that she hadn''t thought of at the time, and jerked up straight before declaring and waking most of those around her, "I need to take some kind of contraceptive!" As they jerked awake everyone somewhat glared at Shizuku through sleepy eyes as Alex asked, "What is it Shizuku?" The usually calm girl was nearly mid panic as she stated, "I need to take something! I can''t have a baby yet, I''m only seventeen so what would my parents think when I see them again?!" Against Shizuku''s expectations, Alex chuckled lightly as he plopped back down and said, "I think someone needs to talk to you about the birds and the bees." Shizuku glared at Alex and snapped, "I''m pretty sure we''re a little past that!" Alex chuckled once more at her retort before saying, "I meant the devil version, can you explain to her Grayfia?" The silver haired maid didn''t seem bothered in the slightest as she agreed, and Alex went back to sleep along with everyone else. Shizuku awkwardly shifted around so that she and Grayfia were face to face, and turned red as she recalled some of the things she did with the older woman earlier. At this rate Shizuku was wondering how she''d face anyone the next morning. She was pulled from her thoughts when Grayfia began, "First of all I''m going to state that you have nothing to worry about tonight, the chances of getting pregnant this quickly are negligible. Secondly, think about the fact that to keep from going extinct Devils had to invent a system that created artificial Devils." Shizuku was silent as she thought about this, before hesitantly asking, "So Devils really reproduce that slowly?" Grayfia nodded and stated, "The age gap between Rias and her older brother Sirzechs is in centuries, not years. I would say your biggest concern isn''t your parents learning you''re pregnant, but if they''ll even live long enough to see their grandchild." After saying her piece Grayfia closed her eyes once more and soon fell back asleep, leaving Shizuku alone with her wayward thoughts as she struggled to sleep all night. She didn''t realize what her biggest concern should be though as, the moment everyone started waking up around her, Shizuku was attacked once more by the beast. (A.N. Should I keep using Kousuke or should I call him Endou? I think Endou is his family name which is why I haven''t used it, but it''s easier to write and remember than Kousuke.) Chapter 255 - Awkward... again The next morning everyone from Alex''s room gathered at the table on deck for breakfast after their earlier activities, during which Shizuku deliberately kept her face directed only at her food out of embarrassment from the night before. This was only made worse when Suzu arrived and rocketed straight to Shizuku before saying, "Shizu Shizu! That was beautiful last night, seeing the moment you became a real a.d.u.l.t!" Shizuku looked up sharply at Suzu''s declaration, and demanded, "You peeped on us?!" Realizing her mistake, Suzu suddenly covered her mouth with one of her hands and used the other one to point while saying, "Oops, Suzu wasn''t supposed to say anything! But it was Kuroka that made the holes in space so we could watch!" Shizuku was stupefied as she turned to Kuroka and almost yelled, "That was private and really embarrassing!" Kuroka snorted at Shizuku and replied, "Says the person who stuck their finger up my butt last night~Nyan." Shizuku looked devastated when Kuroka brought that up while several other people started giving her strange looks. "Some else had me do it so I thought it was normal! How was I supposed to know it wasn''t?!" At this everyone simultaneously turned towards a certain person, who was busy slobbering over a used utensil stolen from Alex''s plate. As she sensed their gazes Tio seemed to try and compose herself before saying seriously, "This one thanks thee for last night, mine ass really appreciated it." Shizuku was struck dumb and tried to retort, but stopped when she noticed that both Ryutarou and Endou had also arrived for breakfast, and were staring at her with eyes as big as dinner plates. As if she suddenly realized what they talking about for everyone to hear, Shizuku suddenly cried out, "NOOOOOOOOO! DON''T LOOK AT ME!!!!" Her food completely forgotten, Shizuku grabbed her ponytail and tried to hide behind it as every gaze focused on her. "...cute..." Rias muttered inadvertently, while Yue surprisingly nodded in agreement. It took them a few minutes to start eating once more, after which everyone went about their business, which included training for most. "COME ON RYUTAROU, FIFTY MORE!" Rias shouted while sitting on the giant stone block that rested on Ryutarou''s back as he did push-ups, while also wearing a full weighted set with anklets, bracelets, and a heavy shirt. As a monk who''s weapon of choice was gauntlets, his main concern was increasing his overall strength for close quarters combat. "GIVE ME ANOTHER FIVE LAPS ENDOU!" Rias then shouted as the panting boy ran by them, both of his feet weighted down by anklets. Rias was especially glad to have Endou as part of her peerage, as one of the largest weaknesses her group had was the excessive amount of expose to the public eye they and their abilities had. Due to his... unique capabilities, she hoped Endou would be able to remain a sort of wild card that would continuously be able to take her opponents by surprise. Both boys then glanced over at Suzu with envy in their gaze as she didn''t have to do the physical training, except she was thinking the same night about them. "I keep telling you that this isn''t the right way to set your barriers~Nya, you need to picture yourself and your barriers as impenetrable." Suzu gritted her teeth as she once more put up her strongest barrier, only for Kuroka to destroy it immediately with her bare hands before telling her to do it again. Though she was a considerable genius in several forms of magic, Kuroka wasn''t always the best teacher as Suzu was learning firsthand as she tried to combine the Devils magic along with what she learned in Tortus. Though the trio were envious of the other training regimen, the continuous concussion of sound that came from the side of the still moving ship along with the super saiyan glow sent shudders down their spines, and they were all grateful that they weren''t a part of Alex peerage. BOOM A shockwave spread from where Shia''s hammer had been stopped by Alex''s bare hand, before that same hand hit her in the gut and sent her flying. Meanwhile the other hand held a training sword that was busy deflecting the instantaneous barrage of attacks being delivered by Shizuku, who was trying to get over her previous embarrassment through training. As none of her attacks managed to get through Alex''s defenses, Shizuku decided to try a different approach and used her sword to cut space and get some distance, right as a massive black dragon bore down on Alex alongside several other dragons made of different elements. Several destucto disks made of ki formed around Alex, before they were sent to shred Yue''s elemental Dragons and a normal blast of ki and gravity sent Tio plummeting down to the ground. Alex''s Haki then warned him that an attack was coming, as he turned to see Shia''s hammer hurtling towards him almost fast enough to break the sound barrier. As he reacted to guard against it however, Shia''s hammer disappeared as the space rippled around it and it suddenly reappeared right in front of Alex''s face. With a hammer weighing seemingly several tons smacking him in the face, Alex was sent back several feet before stopping and he grabbed the hammer before turning to face the two responsible for his now bloody nose. "Outstanding!" Though it was a single word Shizuku and Shia smiled as they were able to get at least a mild advantage over Alex, before suddenly Shia''s hammer was returned to her by Alex throwing it at her with such force that the rabbit girl was basted back to the ground, creating a deep and long trench at impact. Seeing her partner get blasted away, Shizuku became determined once more as she vanished from her place and resumed her attacks, alongside the newly returned Tio and the massive magical attacks Yue generated. *** Ulfric stood alongside the other elders as they waited the arrival of this champion of Gabriel, while Cam organized the other members of the rabbitman to welcome their boss. As he looked at them Ulfric couldn''t help but sigh, as after singlehandedly repelling the attack of the demon race the rest of the rabbitmen tribes began to idolize the Haulia and had raced to join them. Cam had welcomed all recruits with open arms, as long as they followed the condition that they swear their loyalty only to their boss. Though ulfric and the other elders hated to see other demihumans leave, they could only hold their tongues since it was due to the Haulia and the training they received from this mysterious boss that allowed them to repel the demon race. As his thoughts started to wonder suddenly a cry sounded, "Ten o''clock! The boss''s ship is approaching!" As the cry came out from the lookout that was watching from the branches above them, Cam finished organizing the rabbitmen and was shouting at them to fall in. They neatly arranged themselves into military style ranks right as the flying ship came into view between the branches, before disappearing entirely. As everyone except the Haulia watching was stunned, several figures started falling towards the ground as high speeds. "LOOK OUT WAHOOOOOOOO!" One of the figures cried out before they crashed into the ground at high speeds, when the dust settled everyone could see the light blue hair of the cursed child Shia Haulia there. Before anyone else could react several other figures appeared, starting with a woman who had black hair tied back in a ponytail appearing from what seemed to be a cut in space itself, and a cat eared woman casually walking out of thin air. Then a black dragon swooped down almost causing a small panic if not for the several figures sitting on its back that lightly jumped off once they were close to the ground, followed finally by someone who the Haulia tensed upon seeing. The figure who slowly approached the ground last was clad in an oppressive aura while crimson red scales covered him from head to toe along with his horns, wings, and a tail extending from his back. As they landed the scales started vanishing and what was left was a person who appeared to be a muscular human with pure black hair that was spiked up, and strangely a monkeys tail extending from his backside. "THE HAULIA WELCOMES THE BOSS!" Cam shouted suddenly, before the phrase was repeated by the other rabbitmen, """THE HAULIA WELCOME THE BOSS!!!""" The man nodded at them, which allowed them to release some of their tension as he approached Cam. "Cam, what is the report?" The rabbitman''s chest seemed to swell with pride at his position, as he stated, "Sir! Once we arrived the demon race was attacking Verbergen with the intention of conquering the labyrinth! We immediately mobilized and repelled them while slaughtering their monster army, where we caught them by surprise and avoided any losses! After that we have been preparing for the boss''s arrival, and training the new recruits that have joined us!" After he spoke the figure glanced around at the hundreds of gathered rabbitmen before saying, "Excellent, I have new orders for you, but first I''ll talk with the elders of Verbergen. Take that time to select a few elites to accompany you and decide who''ll be in charge during your absence." Cam saluted while obviously fighting a tear leaking from happiness, before saying, "Of course! I live to serve the boss!" With the Haulia shouting something similar Alex nodded before finally approaching the elders, and saying, "Jarl Ulfric I presume? Don''t worry we''ll make those faithless imperials fear us yet." As the man he had been both anxious and slightly excited to meet spoke to him, Ulfric could help but tilt his head slightly in confusion as he didn''t know he was being used for a joke. Chapter 256 - Freedom Alex sat on a massive tree branch along with his beloveds looking over the entirety of Verbergen, and marveling at its fantasy-like beauty. Having already discussed with the elders the topic of returning the slaves of the empire and sending some of the Haulia to assist Hajime the day before, now they were just waiting for him and Kaori to return with the newly freed slaves once the empire managed to track them all down and release them. These thoughts were far from everyone''s minds however as they all sat on the branch and marveled at the scenery before them, with even Kuroka curled up and purring in Alex''s lap as he absentmindedly scratched behind her ears. The serene atmosphere didn''t get to last forever though, as a communication magic circle appeared at Alex''s ear and after listening to it he reluctantly said, "You''ll all have to excuse me for a little while, Vali and the others just returned to the bottom of Orcus from Gruen and I need to give them their new job." Though the girls tried to get him to stay, Alex reluctantly teleported to Orcus to get the delegation party on their way to the demon race territory. *** Ulfric Heipyst was sitting back in a chair next to the fire in his home, his mind swarming with the information he had received from Alex. He had been told the story of the goddess Gabriel and Ehito, the goal of the goddess and her champion to ensure peace between the races, and finally that Alex now planned to enter the great labyrinth they guarded. As his thoughts turned towards the apparent goddess and the things Alex told them about her, ulfric once again found it hard to believe. Due to magic being considered a gift from God and demihumans never being able to use magic, they had never worshiped any divine; however this goddess was supposedly the mother of all races and loved them all equally. Ulfric almost laughed at such a concept, as there was no such thing as being equal. His thoughts were interrupted however when someone approached him. "Grandpa, I brought some tea for you." Ulfric smiled happily at his granddaughter while saying, "Thank you Altina, your tea is always splendid." Altina smiled radiantly at the compliment and went to leave, before Ulfric thought of something and suddenly asked, "By the way, what do you think of this goddess Gabriel and her beliefs?" Altina was silent for a few moments, before replying, "Honestly I don''t know what to think, but if there really is a goddess that wants everyone to get along then wouldn''t it be wonderful?" Ulfric smiled and thanked her for her opinion as she left him, before returning to his thoughts once more. "Yes... Wonderful..." He muttered absentmindedly as he imagined a world where his granddaughter would be able to continue living safely in peace. *** The next day Ulfric was standing outside with the other elders once more as they awaited the return of their country men. Not too far away Alex waited alongside his group, though they seemed to show a complete lack of tension and instead looked to be flirting with each other. This had irked most of the elders, but they focused instead on welcoming home those who were taken from them. Soon a low rumble began to fill the air, and once more a large shape appeared above the tree line. "I''ll go and give them a hand." Alex said suddenly before he vanished into thin air. Though no one knew what he meant, after hovering for a few more minutes the large object in the sky became two objects and the one that the rumbling came from started descending while snapping all of the branches in its way. Behind it was what seemed to be a large basket that was held up by nothing, as it also descended to the forest floor. Once the first object touched the ground it vanished, leaving only the four figures that were inside it as they quickly moved out of the way. As it neared them everyone saw Alex single handedly holding up the large basket from underneath as he slowly flew towards the ground. After he gently set the large object down he then opened it before returning to the air once more to use Regeneration magic to fix the damage done to the trees above them. This would have earned him even more respect if anyone had been paying attention, instead they were all looking towards the basket, where the friends, family, and loved ones they never thought they''d see again stood. There was dead silence as everyone tried to come to terms with what was in front of them, until a little boy with dog ears ran forward from the basket, "MOMMY!" The boy cried as he jumped into his mothers open arms as unbelieving tears ran down her face. "Zack! Oh my Zack!" As if a dam had burst, there was a thunderous stampede as people surged forward and cheered while embracing their loved ones after returning home. Even the elders were shedding a few tears from seeing the joyous reunions taking place before them. Alex smiled at the scene as he descended to the ground once more, only for one of the former slaves to approach him while saying, "Thank you so much, I don''t know how we can ever repay you!" Alex smiled at the man and replied while activating his Devils charm, "Don''t thank me, thank the goddess Gabriel. As the mother of all races she couldn''t stand the sight of seeing her children in so much pain, and so she sent me to help you and to teach your siblings of the empire the error of their ways." Due to his Devils charm the guy didn''t have even the slightest doubt of Alex''s words, and quickly started spreading the word. Soon Gabriel''s name started spreading through the crowd at a mutter before it began rising in volume, it wasn''t long before the entire assembly was cheering for the goddess. Seeing the fervor that they embraced the new goddess with, Ulfric and the other elders simply sighed as they too chose to accept the new goddess. "I guess we''ve got no choice in this matter..." The tigerman Zel muttered dejectedly, while the dwarf Guze and the foxman Lua nodded in agreement. Their acceptance turned to displeasure however when another figure approached them. "This is quite the sappy atmosphere, isn''t it?" Gahard said without a care for the disgusted glares he was receiving, until a new voice said, "So this is the infamous emperor of the Hoelscher empire." Gahard turned and saw someone who''s body looked like it was sculpted from marble with a mane of spiky hair on top. After sizing up the newcomer Gahard said, "And you must be the famous champion of Gabriel, apparent savior of everyone except the empire and its citizens." Alex snorted at Gahard''s jibe, and replied, "The goddess wants all of her children to be happy and free, regardless of which race they are, human, demihuman, demon, or dragon." Gahard snorted in return but didn''t say anything else, as he was painfully aware he was outmatched and outnumbered. He knew that he couldn''t match Hajime, and now in front of him was the guy that even Hajime followed. Even though neither one was trying to pressure the other, Gahard couldn''t think of any way he''d get an advantage over Alex while they simply stood there. Instead he turned towards someone else who stood a little ways away and beckoned them to come closer. The newcomer was a relatively attractive young woman who was dressed in fancy clothing as she tried to act appealing, but Alex didn''t miss the minor movements that marked her apparent lengthy battle experience. Without anyone asking Gahard declared, "This is my daughter Tracy, she''s at the appropriate age to marry and although there are already several suitors competing for her hand, I hope you''ll accept her as a token of goodwill of my Hoelscher empire." Alex''s mind numbed slightly when Gahard offered his daughter to him in such a way, and before he could say anything she curtsied before him and stated, "It is a pleasure to meet you good sir, I hope my future services will prove adequate, both in combat and out of it." Though most princesses in her position would be saddened at being given away to someone in such a way, Tracy was actually somewhat pleased with this development as she''d heard several stories regarding Alex''s strength, and compared to several of the older lords that were previously competing for her hand he seemed to be quite handsome. Gahard himself was happy that Tracy was willing to go along with his plan, as she was the best woman he could offer to the infamous champion. He had heard on good authority that Alex had a tendency to be quite the womanizer, which was why he chose to offer his daughter to appeal to him instead of power or wealth. Though he hadn''t mentioned it to anyone yet, Gahard was also planning on arranging several of his lords to give their daughters to him as well to hopefully butter him up to give him some kind of airship like the one Hajime used, and possibly he could appeal enough to Alex so that he''d give him Shizuku as well. Gahard could never had predicted what was about to happen though, as Alex approached him with a small smile until they were standing face to face. "I refuse." Alex stated, before grabbing the front of Gahard''s clothes and hurtling him straight up into the air, causing him to crash through the overhead branches on his way up. Tracy and the elders were dumbfounded at Alex''s sudden actions, while a couple of them were silently cheering him on. Some like Jin and Zel were wanting to eliminate the emperor while he was present and away from his army, but the others held them in check since their people would be right back at square one of being hunted and enslaved. Without giving the emperor a second thought, Alex turned back towards Tracy and stated, "While I am honored that you''d be willing to serve me, I''m not fond of using women as cattle for bargaining. I even rejected the offer of the princess Liliana for the same reason." Tracy was stunned to hear that the same person who was infamous for the amount of lovers he had was so unwilling to take more by force, to the point that he had rejected two princesses, however this only made her even more interested in learning more about him. Tracy then felt a chill go up her spine as she turned and saw a plethora of women giving her icy looks as she spoke with Alex, something that ignited her battle instincts as she seemingly projected ''challenge accepted''. The stare-down was interrupted when Alex spoke up, "You might want to move aside a step." Tracy and the elders all confusedly took a step back, just in time to hear some more branches breaking above them once more. "aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Gahard screamed as he neared the ground once more. Tracy and several others closed their eyes as they didn''t want to watch him splatter while Jin and Zel watched eagerly, except there was no sudden thud or splatter. Gahard kept screaming for a few seconds until he realized he wasn''t falling anymore, and tentatively opened one of his eyes to see he was apparently less than an inch from the ground. Before he could process what was happening he suddenly fell the rest of the way to the ground with a grunt, before getting up on unsteady legs and saying, "A-a simple no thank you would have been enough! I didn''t think you''d hate the idea of taking my daughter that much! Though that was an even bigger thrill than riding the airship..." Alex smirked and replied, "No, that was a bit of a warning about everything else you were after. No I won''t take your daughter as a bribe so you can benefit, no you won''t get an airship for yourself, and no you won''t get Shizuku. Is that clear?" Gahard looked mortified at what Alex said and immediately clamped his hands over his head as if to protect it while saying, "Stop reading my thoughts!" Tracy shook her head at her fathers behavior before Ulfric said with a forced smile, "Let us return to the council room, there we can finalize things with the emperor so he can be on his way." No one had any complaints as they all swiftly followed the elderly elf''s lead. They were also accompanied by Hajime who gave a brief retelling of what happened in the empire, the Haulia attacked a ball and slaughtered several guests before placing a pendant on all of the survivors that ensured they wouldn''t go back on their word to free the demihuman slaves. After this Gahard swore an oath to the elders that while he was emperor there would be no slavery on the empire from this day forth. Once he was done Alex turned towards Hajime and said, "Ok, you can send them back now." Hajime nodded and opened a portal using one of his key artifacts that connected to the Hoelscher empire, before Tracy suddenly spoke up, "Wait! I would like to stay in Verbergen in order to further work towards a lasting peace, not just a uneasy truce." This caused everyone to look at her in shock and surprise, but none more so than her father who stated, "Tracy, you don''t know what they''ll do to you if you stay, they''re animals after all!" These words had an immediate effect on those within the room as several of the elders started brandishing their teeth to the provocation, and Alex frowned along with several of the girls, though some of them were frowning for a different reason. Tracy however didn''t seem to react to the sudden change in the room at the slightest, as she said, "That is only natural father, it is very likely some of their people will even want to take out their anger against the empire on me if I stayed. However what Alex is aiming for is peace, and if we can''t make a simple gesture of goodwill then what is all of this for?" Gahard was stunned at his daughters words, as he never expected she''d take the idea of peace seriously. In truth Tracy didn''t, however it was the best excuse she could come up with to stay in Verbergen where Alex was, and to possibly get into his good graces if she helped him to accomplish his goals. Though he knew she wasn''t saying the whole truth, Alex then spoke up, "She can stay in a guest bedroom in the house being prepared for us. We''re going to add every possible defensive measure we can as we do to every residence we stay in, so it''ll be the safest place for her to stay in Verbergen. Plus I''ll have can arrange some Haulia to stay behind as well to keep an eye on her." As Alex guaranteed his daughters safety Gahard had nothing else to say, and while several of the elders wanted to argue, they were silent as Ulfric stood and stated, "Though many within our city would consider this a mistake, I wish to believe in the sincerity of the empires princess, and I''ll trust in the judgment of the champion of the goddess Gabriel. Princess Tracy, we welcome your stay in Verbergen." Tracy beamed happily while glancing at Alex occasionally, something that the girls immediately caught onto, and Gahard resigned himself to accept her decision before he was unceremoniously pushed through the portal that Hajime had opened. After discussing a few more things regarding Tracy during her stay, Ulfric turned towards Alex and spoke once more, "Champion, if you would honor me I wish to be the one to escort you to the entrance to the true great labyrinth of the Haltina Sea of Trees. There is a layer of fog surrounding it however that is far denser and more potent than that in the forest, we will have to wait for it to clear which should happen in three days. The preparations for your new residence are also finished, and so you can move in at any time." Alex nodded and thanked the chief elder, before politely taking his leave to explore his new home. When he first arrived at Verbergen and explained the details of the slave liberation situation, Ulfric had insisted on rewarding Alex similar to how Liliana had, except he thankfully didn''t offer his granddaughter like the emperor and the queen had their daughters. Unlike with Liliana however, Alex had requested a permanent residence to be prepared for him and those with him, as the only place they had to stay outside of Asora was the Orcus hideout. With the beautiful and mystical scenery of the Sea of Trees, Alex had decided that he would like to stay there more before leaving Tortus, and that he''d want to return when he eventually came back to this world. Surprised that all he wanted was a house, some of the elders were pleased that Alex was easy to reward, while others felt like they cheated him for everything he''d done for them. *** Over the next three days Alex spent his days relaxing and exploring Verbergen with the girls, while also jumping back and forth to Asora to spend time with those that wouldn''t be accompanying him, at night however after spending time with his girls he''d sneak away to train as intensely as possible. Though he didn''t expect to get stronger easily, it was really starting to bug Alex that he hadn''t managed to get past the bottleneck and reached SSJ2, though Lauren kept trying to reassure him it was only a matter of time. What Alex didn''t know was that whenever he wasn''t with them, the girls were more or less interrogating Tracy about her true intentions for getting closer to them. Though they already figured they couldn''t stop the number of women around him from growing, they refused to let someone with shady motives stick around. Though she could had laid their concerns to rest by saying the truth that Alex was seemingly the best of the matches her father had considered for her, Tracy was actually somewhat enjoying annoying the would be interrogators, while also secretly wanting to try sparring against some of them. This feeling along with her drive to become stronger was only increased when she watched a brief sparring match between Alex and Shia, and she was completely blown away by the intensity of the attacks. This routine continued until it was finally the day to attempt the labyrinth. "It''s not too far now." Ulfric said as he led the way through the fog, before another monster jumped out at them only to be instantly killed by a small sphere of destruction right before a blast of lightning hit it. "I killed it first! That''s another point for me!" Rias declared proudly while Yue grumbled, "...I just gave you that one to make it interesting..." Rias snorted at Yue''s excuse while Grayfia marked another mark under her name on a whiteboard she carried, showing that the two were now tied on monster kills. Alex didn''t even know when they started competing, but he didn''t interfere since the two were always at some competition or other. Though their competing wasn''t missed out on by the others, as Shia and Anne each claimed one of his arms for themselves while Kuroka used her ''feline form'' skill to turn into a cat, and was currently curled around his neck. As the group continued walking they eventually reached a clearing where they were all silent in awe. Standing before them in a ring clear of fog was a massive withered tree that seemingly reached towards the heavens. Standing in front of it was what seemed to be stone monument that had the seals of the liberators carved on the front. "To think that after all these years, I''ll get to see the mission of us elders through." Alex didn''t say anything while the old elf was experiencing a flood of emotions, and instead started examining the stone slab. Behind it he found slots where each seal was and started placing the proof of conquering in the slots, a ring for Orcus and Raisen, the pendant for Gruen, and a coin from Melusine. Once each slot was filled the crests would start shining, and after they were all full another crest appeared on the trunk of the great tree. "What''s that?!" Anne asked in awe while Alex answered, "There''s instructions on the slab here, we needed four proofs and now we need the power of regeneration." Everyone was silent as Alex extended his hand towards the crest that appeared on the tree, and activated his magic of regeneration. The entire tree suddenly started glowing before time seemingly reversed and what was a withered and dead tree before, turned into a vibrant tree full of life. A tear ran down Ulfric''s face as he witnessed the miraculous spectacle, unaware that everyone around him shared most of his current emotions. While everyone was admiring the revived tree, a hole started forming in the trunk where Alex placed his hand until a cave large enough to hold them all had formed. Alex then turned to everyone who was going to challenge it, Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Anne, Yue, Shia, Tio, Shizuku, Kaori, Hajime, Ryutarou, and Suzu(Endou was taken by the Haulia when they were returned to Orcus for training, unaware he was also going to be sent to Raisen when Cam thought he was ready); after passing a glance over everyone he asked, "Are you all ready?" With nothing but looks of determination answering him, Alex entered the cave before everyone started filing in after him. He turned around and saw Ulfric standing outside along with Altina and Tracy who accompanied them, while the imperial princess''s hidden Haulia escort also made their appearances known to send them off. Before anyone could say anything the entrance started closing, and a magic circle appeared below their feet to teleport them to the labyrinth. Chapter 257 - A Pleasant Dream "Woah!" Someone muttered when they saw what was ahead of them, as when the light from the teleportation circle faded, everyone found themselves staring at an expansive forest instead of the usual cavern walls. While everyone went to inspect their surroundings in awe and wonder, Alex however was scrutinizing every person there before giving up in frustration as he fought the urge to pull out his glasses. Invalidating the need, suddenly two gunshots rang throughout the air. BANG BANG Though the fired shots startled everyone, their attention however was focused on how they saw Tio and Rias''s heads blown apart as something reddish-brown splattered the area. In a single second killing intent filled the place where they arrived right before Grayfia surged forward to attack the traitor, before Alex intercepted her. "Wait Grayfia, look at them!" Though she didn''t want to see her little sisters head blown to bits, Grayfia reluctantly turned her head and saw Rias''s body start turning into a rust colored jelly-like substance before breaking down completely. "W-what was that?!" She demanded, before Hajime growled, "Imitations that my magic eye detected, and this one will talk if it knows what''s good for it!" Everyone turned towards the person who Hajime was cornering, and saw a cowering Kaori. "Hajime, what are you doing?" She asked, the fear evident in her voice. Hajime snorted before scowling, "Don''t try to act like her, tell me where Kaori and the others are!" ''Kaori'' however looked confused and pleaded, "I don''t know what you''re talking about! Please Hajime, it''s me-" The imitation was cut off when Hajime apparently lost his patience, and blew off her head when he didn''t get any answers. After seeing this Anne asked Alex, "What now? We don''t know where they are or if they''re even still alive, do we continue?" Everyone also looked towards Alex while Hajime seemed to be coming to his own conclusions. "We keep going, the purpose of the labyrinths is to test us, not to immediately kill us. We''ll find them eventually." Hajime nodded as he thought the same thing, while everyone else let out sighs of relief at the logic in what Alex said. With Hajime marking the trees as they went, they quickly put the intense first few minutes in the labyrinth behind them. "The plants here are all amazing!" Anne said out loud as they walked, and she picked some leaves from the mana rich foliage and analyzed them to see that each different leaf had an abundance of properties if one used them right. Going off of this she started collecting any seeds she could in order to try and cultivate them on her own after leaving. Alex then stated, "I''ll start a project to build several greenhouses for your private use in the near future, and I''ll have Yasaka show you the youkai''s work sometime since they mainly work on the agriculture and food production in Asora. Maybe some plants that get your approval could be planted as well." Anne''s eyes started shining as she pictured an entire greenhouse filled with plants just for her, and entire fields that she helped cultivate. She then jumped into his arms and planted a kiss on his lips while saying, "That would be wonderful, thank you!" Alex smiled at her reaction, before Kuroka tried to peel Anne off of him and stated, "As much as I''d like to jump in his arms too~Nya, we have some company." Everyone turned the direction she pointed and saw what seemed to be and army of bees surging through the trees to get to them. While everyone got ready to wipe out the entire hive, Alex stated, "Wait! We should leave these to Shizuku and Shia so that they can farm some exp, and Ryutarou and Suzu can test out their new strength after training the last few days. Plus we don''t know where Rias and the others are, we don''t want to wipe them out along with the entire forest." After hearing what he had to say, Grayfia, Kuroka, and Yue reluctantly canceled the magic they were about to unleash while Shizuku, Shia, Suzu, and Ryutarou stepped up. However In his haste to start the fight, Ryutarou proudly shouted, "PROMOTION, ROOK!" Everyone facepalmed or shook their head while, as they expected, nothing happened to him. Ryutarou looked around while confused and asked, "Uh, what happened?" "The promotion only works when the king gives you permission, not whenever you want!" Grayfia stated while obviously annoyed, with even Suzu was shaking her head at his ridiculousness. A sudden commotion then caught everyone''s attention, as while Ryutarou was goofing around both Shizuku and Shia had already dashed ahead and were slaughtering the giant bees. Shia was swinging her hammer around as if it weighed nothing and was smashing apart the bees as well as the surrounding trees and boulders. "I''ll never understand why you made a bunny with a hammer your rook~Nya..." Kuroka said. Alex snorted and asked, "Would you rather I made Tio my rook? Then we''d have her with us in every world. At least Shia is cuter in general and will make an effort to not embarrass us in public." Kuroka grimaced at the thought of Tio being Tio everywhere they went, and never getting away from her. Meanwhile Shia overheard what Alex said due to the excellent hearing of her rabbit ears, and had a giant smile on her face as she slaughtered the giant bees. This created an eerie image to counter what Alex just said, as the rabbit girl joyously and brutally slaughtered the monsters with an adorable smile while guts and body parts flew around her. Meanwhile Shizuku had vanished completely due to her heightened speed, and the only signs of her presence was when the giant bees would randomly separate into pieces, along with the occasional tree or rock. "Regardless, Shizuku is an excellent knight. I would guess that she is quickly closing in on Kiba in terms of speed, though she would lose out to him in terms of versatility due to his ''Sword Birth''." Alex nodded and stated, "True, but Shizuku exceeds Kiba in terms of sword mastery and discipline, plus she''s got a few possible jobs that shows she''s got quite a few interesting paths for growth." Grayfia nodded in return to what Alex said, but didn''t know what jobs he was talking about for "interesting growth". In comparison Suzu and Ryutarou seemed to be struggling as they slowly but surely worked through the bees, with Ryutarou eliminating one each time it got stopped one Suzu''s barrier. No one held it against them however considering they didn''t have as much experience as the rest of them. In this way they systematically moved through the forest with the four of them eliminating any monster they came across, no matter how numerous. The only hiccup was when they encountered a type of monster monkey that could use mimic just like the rust slimes previously. Once it became apparent they were outmatched, one of the monkeys used mimic while a couple more went along with it in order to mess with them mentally, by imitating a completely n.a.k.e.d Kaori who was covered in bruises and suspicious white fluids. "Hajime, help me..." The mimic cried out pitifully, before Hajime snapped and pulled out his rocket launcher to blow up the entire forest. As the sea of flames spread while Hajime continuously launched more rockets and threw more bombs, Alex and everyone else was taking shelter within one of Kuroka''s barriers and decided to have lunch while Hajime went wild. "Let''s hope he doesn''t get Rias, Tio, or Kaori caught up in his rampage. On the bright side if they''re on this floor they should know where to find us now." Alex said nonchalantly while laying down with his head in Anne''s lap as she took turns with Kuroka and Yue feeding him. Normally Ryutarou would be extremely jealous from watching them flirt, but instead he was busy keeping his front covered while sitting absentmindedly and muttering, "So that''s what Kaori looks like n.a.k.e.d..." Alex chuckled and said, "Don''t let Hajime catch you saying that, he''d definitely kill you for it." Ryutarou glanced at the source of the current raging inferno, and gulped nervously at the truth within Alex''s words. And though he didn''t say it, Alex was grateful that the monkeys didn''t imitate Rias or Tio since he probably would''ve reacted worse to those who''d seen them n.a.k.e.d... ok maybe not Tio since she''s probably consider it to be some kind of exhibitionism play or something. They ate lunch for about an hour until Hajime finally started to calm down, by which point that entire sections of the forest had turned into a burned wasteland after Alex snuffed the fire. "Feel better?" Alex asked as he approached the huffing and puffing Hajime. "Not another word..." Hajime growled as he fought the urge to try and knock the image of Kaori''s n.a.k.e.d body from Alex''s head, the only thing holding him back from doing so was him knowing he couldn''t manage it. There was one good thing about Hajime''s rampage though, as they were preparing to leave a small missile homed in on him and latched onto his back. "GA-BA-GOO!!!" The thing shouted as Hajime spun around suddenly in surprise. While several people tensed as if to leap at the attacker at a moments notice, Hajime froze as the goblin-like creature cling to him as if to immerse itself in his scent. "Ga-ba-goo! Ga-ba-goo! Ga-ba-goo!" It kept chanting while Hajime struggled to get it off of his back, normally he''d be more aggressive but something was telling him not to attack this creature. When he finally grabbed it and swung it around to look at it face to face, the creature looked ashamed and tried to hide its face behind its hands. "You are Kaori?" He asked the creature. It nodded dejectedly before Hajime prepared one of his translation artifacts as a necklace to hang around its neck. Everyone listened as Kaori recounted her tales of wandering through the forest after being turned into a monster, before hearing and following the explosions that usually indicated wanton destruction. As she talked with Hajime, Alex heard Grayfia mutter sadly from the side, "...does this mean Rias is also a goblin right now too?..." As she mentioned this he also could''ve sworn he saw Kuroka pass a camera to Yue, but he decided to let them be. After Hajime and Kaori reunited they then continued working their way through the forest while keeping an eye out for any strange monsters that might''ve been Rias or Tio. Eventually they encountered the goblin-turned Rias, who was heart broken that she was now seemingly useless and so ugly. What didn''t help was that once they confirmed it was her there was a random flash of light from Yue''s camera, while the photographer in question also said, "...such a good look Rias, maybe we shouldn''t turn you back..." This had then set Rias off, as she tackled and started wrestling with Yue, who she was sadly now the same size as. "I''d hate to say this, but this is pretty entertaining to watch..." Anne muttered to Alex, who couldn''t help agreeing as everyone watched the two roll around while punching and kicking each other. He eventually had to break up the fight though, which he did by picking both girls up by the scruff of their necks and separating them. Though she was pouting, Rias''s mood was somewhat improved when Alex sat her on his shoulders to ride, though she enjoyed the ride it made her conflicted since she was only getting it due to her current predicament. The group then continued until they happened upon a bizarre scene, to which Shizuku muttered, "I don''t think we need to doubt this one..." Everyone silently nodded in agreement as the scene in front of them unfolded. Currently they were watching an entire group of goblins beating up on a single one that was unresisting, and had a look of ecstasy on its face. Before anyone could react the goblin seemed to notice them, and ran over with its arms spread while shouting, "GA-BOO!!!" It didn''t take a translation to know it was saying ''MASTER!!!'', as she rushed directly to Alex. Instead of welcoming Tio with open arms like one would usually do in this situation, Alex instead waited until she got close and kicked the approaching goblin in the head, sending her flying while shouting bits of goblin speech. This time everyone was sure that what was being said was something along the lines of ''THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!''. As the dot disappeared on the horizon, Alex nonchalantly turned towards everyone else and casually said, "Shall we move on?" No one showed any kind of surprise at his attitude, and were equally casual in replying before leaving the area, leaving behind a group of very confused goblins. They traveled for roughly another hour through the forest until a clearing opened up and everyone could see a massive tree standing all alone in the middle, dwarfing all the surrounding trees and a face carved into its trunk. As they left the surrounding tree line and made their presence known, the tree''s face stated, "If you wish to continue, then you will need to defeat me!" Though most people would despair at facing such an obviously troublesome opponent, a malicious smile spread on Alex''s face as he said, "Leave this one to me, I shouldn''t take long." Though a couple people wanted to protest, when they saw his sadistic smile appearing they immediately silenced themselves, while also muttering thanks to no one in particular that Tio wasn''t there to see it. Alex then held out one of his hands and summoned a small ball of intense flame, before turning towards the viewers and saying, "Kuroka, Suzu, you two may want to put some barriers up, it''s about to get hot." Both girls didn''t waste even a second as they swiftly applied their strongest barriers, just as Alex released his attack from beyond them. The small ball of flame shot forward like a bullet, and exploded once it impacted the tree with a heat and intensity that made Hajime''s eyes sparkle, and everyone else sweat as they watched the flames engulf Alex himself outside the barrier. Though Ryutarou and Suzu were momentarily worried, everyone else didn''t pay Alex any mind since they''d seen him literally swim in lava before. Instead they were awestruck at the literal sea of flames currently surrounding them from beyond the barriers. "It''s so pretty..." Suzu muttered while several other people nodded in agreement. "I want to touch it..." Ryutarou muttered absentmindedly, which earned him several looks from the others while Suzu, Kaori, and Shizuku all facepalmed. Eventually the flames did start to clear up, and when they did what was revealed to them was a scorched dead-land of gray and black, with the only living thing they could see being Alex standing alone, n.a.k.e.d. "Quite the ''boom'', wouldn''t you all say?" He laughed lightheartedly, before Grayfia immediately marched over and seized one of his ears while saying, "Do you have any idea how stupid that was?!" This was the start of a whole lecture while everyone awkwardly stood to the side and watched a new tree grow in where the old one was, before a giant hole split in the front as if for all of them to enter like before. It surprisingly didn''t take long for Grayfia to wrap up her lecture, and Alex casually walked over when it was over while saying, "Well then, let''s go! Tio!" While sounding the go ahead to move forward he had even used the slave mark function to summon Tio, who was passed out and burnt blackish from seemingly getting close enough to be caught up in the earlier explosion. As Alex led the way into the cave, the girls started filing in like normal while Ryutarou and Hajime waited outside until one of them muttered, "Can you put some clothes on now or something?" To which Alex had seemingly just noticed his own n.a.k.e.dness. Showing once more his good mood from all of the destruction he caused, Alex simply laughed it off before summoning himself new clothes and the two guys finally joined them in the cave, right as another teleportation circle lit up. Alex then turned serious as he thought, ''If I recall right, the next trial is-'' *** Alex awoke wrapped in comfort and with a slight chill in the air. He sat up and looked around to see himself in his bed and room in Asora, and an incongruous feeling overwhelmed him. Though he couldn''t tell what, Alex knew that there was something wrong with the situation as he looked around his room, before his door suddenly opened. "Good morning and happy birthday!" Rias called out as Ravel filed in behind her. Alex became alert at what she said and asked, "It''s my birthday?" Rias laughed and said, "Yeah, that''s why no one was here last night since we were busy planning for today, and boy do we have a surprise for you." As she spoke Alex realized what the incongruous feeling was as he was used to having someone share his bed every night, and looked up surprised when he heard the sound of clothes rustling. As the two beautiful women stood n.a.k.e.d before him, they then seductively crawled forward across his bed before Ravel said, "For your birthday, we decided to give you a party like no other." As she drew out the last few words, Ravel then sealed his lips with her own before her tongue started dancing across them. After several seconds she separated from him while taking in several deep breaths, only for Rias to instantly reseal them with her own and then start her own form of tongue wrestling. While Rias occupied his mouth, Ravel started digging under the covers until she was once more using her mouth to stimulate him in a different way. Alex groaned as her lips started to slowly but surely work their way down his shaft, breaking the kiss with Rias before she also moved her lips elsewhere. With Ravel''s head bobbing up and down in his lap, and Rias''s lips/tongue slowly moving around his neck and chest, Alex himself was keeping his hands busy as they unrestrainedly roamed, fondled, and pinched the two girls bodies. This went on until Ravel got him close to climax with her mouth, but then she and Rias stopped what they were doing and moved as if to get into position. "Now let''s move on to the real fun." Rias said, as both girls turned around so that they were facing away from him, and got down on all fours so that Alex had an undivided view of their asses. He unhesitatingly went to Rias first and started rubbing his other head against her burning entrance, making her m.o.a.n before pleading, "Stop teasing me already, put it in!" Alex was more than happy to oblige, as he slowly but surely entered the Crimson haired woman, and began the first of several rounds of debauchery. It wasn''t even an hour later that Ravel was slowly crawling towards the clothes she had removed earlier, not even trusting her legs to support her weight anymore. She quickly dug through them until she found her small earpiece and said into it, "Mayday! Send in the first wave of reinforcements!" Though they planned to come in in waves to begin with, Ravel couldn''t help embellishing what was happening a little when she looked at the goopy mess between her legs, and when she looked over to see the princess of Gremory being f.u.c.k.i.e.d with an expression of exhaustion and ecstasy that would never be allowed to be shown in public. The door opened right as Rias reached her next climax and collapsed onto the bed from exhaustion, and in walked the next group. Standing in a line after filing into the room was Akeno, Rossweisse, Xenovia, Suzu, Asia, and Koneko, who were all either already n.a.k.e.d or dressed in a lewd fashion, like Akeno who had ropes tied around her body in a lewd bondage style. Though Alex felt a sense of incongruity once more when he saw the group, it was quickly forgotten when he was surrounded by the soft flesh. This time it was more than an hour later when they were interrupted, by a woman with long black hair, dressed in business attire, and a strict look in her eye. "Sir, I have misters Barakiel, Sairaorg Bael, Vali Lucifer, and the members of his team downstairs since they all wanted to wish you a....." She then trailed off as it was apparent Alex wasn''t paying attention to what she said, and was more focused on pounding Akeno''s ass. The woman couldn''t help but groan at her boss''s attitude, while Ravel stated since she had woken up, "Ren, I thought we agreed that the "official" party would be tomorrow, and we''d spend today having our own kind of celebration." Ren nodded as she understood that perfectly well, but replied, "They arrived anyways to wish the boss a ''happy birthday'' on his actual birthday. I told them that I would let him know of their arrival." Ravel sighed and muttered, "Ren, as a secretary its part of your job to send people away when we don''t want them. What are we going to do?" Suddenly a new voice said, "I think we''ll have to punish this secretary." Both girls turned to see Alex walking towards them while leaving a satisfied Akeno lying on the bed, a predatory look in his gaze as he looked towards his secretary. Ravel smiled as she stated, "I''ll message Sona to get rid of them, I''ll leave it to you to "punish" her in any way you wish." As Ravel turned away to communicate with the others who were waiting, Ren adopted a slightly scared look when she saw the state the rest of the girls were in, looking extremely satisfied while also having unsightly and slovenly expressions. "W-wait sir, I still have several things I need to attend to, like organizing your party tomorrow-" She didn''t get chance to finish whatever else she was about to say, as Alex grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her into a kneeling position in front of him. Though he barely used any strength, Ren found herself unable to go against his action as she found his member directly in front of her face. "Clean it." Alex ordered, making Ren gulp as she leaned forward to lightly lick the throbbing object. As if all of her resistance vanished after that first lick, she then began to use her tongue to service him with apparent vigor, before eventually she patted her lips and started trying to take the object into her mouth. As he watched her lips close around him and felt her tongue continue to dance around his head, Alex leaned his head back and released a groan from enjoyment. This had to be one of the best days he''d ever had and it was only getting better, if not for the relentless nagging in his head that something was wrong. This feeling had only increased when he was with Koneko and as he looked down on Ren as she blew him, and it was really starting to annoy Alex. As he was supposed to be "punishing" her Alex decided to vent some of his irritation on his secretary, and grabbed her head when she had finally managed to take half his package into her mouth. Ren seemed to know what he was about to do, and glanced up at him with widened eyes right before he thrusted his entire length down her throat. As Ren''s lungs tried to intake air, Alex felt her throat tighten around his head before he used his hold on her head to start moving her back and forth, effectively f.u.c.k.i.n.g her face. This continued for nearly a minute before Alex felt himself getting closer to climax, and pulled his length out of her mouth. Ren started gasping as she was suddenly able to breath again, though as she looked at Alex there wasn''t even a single bit of blame in her eyes. "Put your hands on the wall." He ordered her, to which Ren simply said, "Yes sir..." As she stood and dutifully placed both hands on the wall, while Alex approached her extended backside. The sound of ripping cloth penetrated the silence, as Alex literally tore Ren''s business skirt from her waist and left only her lacy black panties to cover her modesty. Alex gently traced his fingers over the cloth, making Ren shiver in anticipation before he finally hooked his fingers on the sides and worked them down her legs. With her panties pooled around her ankles there was nothing covering Ren''s lower half, which left Alex staring dumbfoundedly at her ass for another reason than admiration. "To think, that this strict and proper secretary of mine would even have tattoos on her ass... Don''t tell me you''re actually a real party animal?" As he asked her Alexwas tracing the edges of the hearts on her butt with his finger, continuously making Ren''s body tremble as she stuttered, "N-no I-I''m not! This is- I''m-im-" as she desperately tried to explain away the tattoos, she was suddenly interrupted. SMACK The sound of slapping flesh echoed in the room as Alex''s hand collided with Ren''s ass cheek. "Ah!" She let out a muffled cry, before Alex smacked her again right over the tattoos. This continued several times until her ass was almost as red as the hearts, during which Alex was also rubbing his head against Ren''s increasingly heated entrance, before he finally thrusted the entire thing in at once. Ren let out a deep m.o.a.n as her insides were instantly spread and invaded, all while Alex continuously smacked her ass. As Alex started to eagerly f.u.c.k the usually strict woman, those that had previously occupied his attention watched with interest as they recovered their stamina, and Ravel told the next group to get ready to come up. The two continued as the minutes slowly ticked by before Alex said, "I''m almost there, should I give it to you inside?" Having been thoroughly worked over by Alex at this point, Ren could only plead, "Please give it to me! Please turn this naughty secretary into your personal breeding bitch!" After hearing her beg him, Alex swiftly complied as he thrusted in as deep as he could and pumped her w.o.m.b full of his white fluids. Ren''s entire body froze as climaxes wracked her entire body while her insides continued to squeeze him as if trying to greedily milk the fluids from him. It was apparently so intense that she passed out and nearly collapsed, but Alex caught her and moved her to the bed, along with everyone else. "And with that I think it''s time to move on to the next round." Ravel said suddenly, causing everyone to look up as the door opened and Sona entered along with the female members of her peerage. The next several hours seemed to blur together as more and more n.a.k.e.d bodies appeared on Alex''s massive bed. After Sona appeared Ravel''s entire peerage made their way up followed by the members of the Vali team of Kuroka, Lavinia, Le Fey, and Elaine. Though Alex was once more plagued by the feeling of wrongness when he was with Kaori, Le Fey, Lavinia, and Elaine, he would soon lose himself once more in his never-ending l.u.s.t. Next up were groups consisting of Anne, Roygun, Elmenhilde, Ingvild, Valerie, Tosca, Irina, and even Seekvaira. Then there was sister Griselda leading Gabriel''s all female card set. After them was Yue, Shia, Tio, Aiko, Liliana, Altina, and Tracy, before the final and most surprising group made their appearance. Taking the lead was Yasaka, and following her was the crowd of Serafall, Gabriel, Grayfia, Remia, Queen Luluaria and the most surprising of all madam Phoenix and Venelana Gremory. As the sun rose the next morning, roughly a full twenty-four hours after starting his "party", Alex was still awake as his entire bed and parts of the floor was covered with sleeping n.a.k.e.d women. Now that everyone had run out of stamina it was quiet, and Alex was taking a moment to think about what was happening. There had been several times in the last day where felt the ongoing sense of wrongness, and now he was trying to figure out the source. He first thought about Kaori, he knew she loved Hajime yet when he recalled how she ended up with him his thoughts said that he was too late to save him in Orcus, and that she ended up with him due to wanting to drown her grief. This created more confusion in his mind as Alex definitely wouldn''t have risked Hajime''s death since he wanted to recruit him due to his ability to create nearly any tools or weapons possible. Then there was Valerie, his memories told him that she turned to him when Gasper decided to throw away his masculinity, but that also seemed to conflict with what he expected him. Then there was Lavinia, Seekvaira, sister Griselda, and so many others who''s inclusion he couldn''t understand. Alex then started recalling step by step what had happened since he entered the Arifureta world, and believed he arrived at the source of all of his confusion. "I''m still in the Haltina Labyrinth, aren''t I?" He muttered quietly to no one in particular. "Maybe, but isn''t this life better?" Venelana asked while pressing her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts against his chest. Then an identical face that was framed in Crimson hair instead of brown appeared as she also pressed her b.r.e.a.s.ts against him, before saying, "Exactly, here you don''t need to worry about morals or the opinions of others, and every girl will belong to you. You wouldn''t get to do things like this normally." As she finished speaking Rias then leaned over and began making out with her own mother, before the situation between them quickly became more heated. However Alex was deathly silent before muttering, "No matter how wonderful a dream is it''ll always be fake. I''m done here." As he said those words the world seemed to start breaking before he was surrounded by and endless sea of black, and a disembodied voiced murmured, "Congratulations, you passed." Alex snorted at the voice before he lost consciousness altogether, and then opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room filled with several coffin-like items made out of amber. As he looked around Alex thought back to what happened in his dream world, and muttered self-mockingly, "I''m really a piece of shit." Though he wasn''t speaking to anyone in particular, the two usual voices in his head spoke up, '''' Alex wasn''t sure, but it felt as if Lauren''s voice was particularly icy. *** Lauren gripped the wood of her desk so hard that it quickly started cracking under her fingers, both Ddraig and Jenny were silent as they watched her shake with rage. "I am going out to clear my head, alone!" Neither one said anything as they watched her take out her earpiece and put her tablet down, a clear indication of her desire to leave her work behind while she cooled her head. Lauren stopped on her way out only long enough to turn her environment dial beside the door, turning her backyard into a mountainous landscape with thick curtains of snow falling. She then started making her way through the falling snow down a heated pathway until she found the large pool of hot water at the end of it, not at all minding the snowflakes piling on her head and shoulders. She then started removing her clothes to enter the water while muttering, "That little bastard- after everything I''ve don''t for him-" The rest of her muttering and curses were cut off however, when she removed her underwear and saw a damp spot in the middle. Disgusted with herself now, she balled up her panties and threw them away before quickly submersing herself in the hot water. She then tried to forget the images that appeared before, but the more she tried to forget the more she thought of them. Though she could have pulled Alex from the projected "ideal world" at any time, he himself wanted to try and do so first to test himself. Now she wished she did things her way after seeing how he projected her to be in there. As the scene of him screwing her replayed in her mind once more she couldn''t help but think, ''Would I really act like that?'' As she was a "married to her job" type of person she had never actually been with someone throughout her existence, her one attempt in the past resulting in her nearly being severely humiliated if not for Jenny intervening. As she recalled the scene with Alex once more Lauren''s body started to heat up and she started rubbing her legs together as if to try and calm herself. Soon her hand started making its way slowly down her body, before it reached its goal between her legs. "..." A single word escaped her lips in the barest of whispers, but among the falling snowflakes even if someone had been around they wouldn''t had heard a thing. Chapter 258 - Disgust Not knowing the state he reduced Lauren to, Alex was sitting on the floor reflecting on what his "ideal world" was while waiting for everyone else to wake up. It didn''t take more than a couples minutes before the first person woke up however, and Hajime stood up from the amber encasing him. He turned to look around and noticed just Alex sitting there before searching the others for Kaori. After verifying that Kaori was ok and turned back to normal, Hajime then made his way over to Alex and sat beside him before asking, "How long have you been out?" Alex shrugged and answered noncommittally, "A few minutes." Seeing Alex wasn''t apparently in the mood for conversation, Hajime pulled out some items and started tinkering while he waited for the others to wake up. They didn''t have long to wait however, as one by one everyone started waking up before it was just Ryutarou and Suzu left in the amber. """"Alex!"""" Several of the girls cried out as they woke up, before rushing to his side and snuggling up to him. Some of them then started explaining what they had been through in their ideal world, all of which involving him except Kaori''s of course. Though when he was asked what his ideal world was Alex pointedly avoided the questions, drawing several suspicious looks from the girls in response. The conversation was interrupted however when Hajime asked, "What about those two, should we wake them up already?" Alex glanced at Suzu and Ryutarou while thinking for a moment, in the novel neither had been able to break free of the dream themselves and ultimately failed the labyrinth, however Alex wasn''t sure if things would be the same this time around so he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and answered, "We''ll wait another hour or so, take this chance to properly rest up while they try to break free themselves." No one argued since, even though they were technically asleep the whole time, the dream world left them mentally tired and they wanted to rest. Alex himself seemed to be the prime choice for a bed, which prompted a small fight amongst the girls before Shia, Anne, and Yue won out. With everyone else relaxing, Grayfia then took it upon herself to start preparing food for them once everyone was awake before moving on. Though he wanted to reflect on his "ideal world" more, Alex himself couldn''t help leaning his head back against the cave wall and drifting off. It felt like he had just started dozing off when Grayfia woke him up, while saying, "It''s almost time up, and Suzu''s awake." Alex''s eyes flew open as he looked around and saw a dejected Suzu trying to orient herself after exiting the amber. As it was fairly obvious what her ideal world involved still being friends with Eri, he didn''t say anything to the small girl and let her be alone with her thoughts. By this point the only one left dreaming was Ryutarou, which Alex also had a good idea of what his dream was. Though they could forcibly wake Ryutarou from his dream, Alex decided to try a different method first and stood up while gently shifting the still sleeping girls. He then made his way over to Ryutarou''s amber and kneeled down while those who were awake watched, and whispered even though by this point it was fairly hypocritical of him to say, "If you lay even a single finger on her, you''ll join Kouki on magical girl island." The effect was almost instantaneous even though Ryutarou shouldn''t have been able to hear him, and the amber around him started disappearing rapidly before the man himself started to sit up and muttered, "I think I heard a voice saying I passed..." Then he saw Alex standing there and became covered in a cold sweat before turning away suddenly. Ryutarou had been having a very pleasant dream that involved a certain vampire princess, but then as things started to get heated between them in the dream he felt a deep chill and was essentially scared out of it, only to find Alex staring at him the moment he woke up. Though he didn''t know it, Ryutarou currently didn''t have anything to be scared of from Alex since he himself had such a dream about others, though if Ryutarou tried to act on his dream then it would be a different story. With everyone having passed the trial, Alex stood and said them, "Let''s eat since we don''t know exactly how long we were in there, and then we''ll continue." At his words a collective growl seemed to pass through the room, a testimony to their empty stomachs. After eating they then moved towards another cave which unsurprisingly at this point had another transfer magic circle to take them to the next area. *** When the light cleared everyone found themselves staring at another vast forest that spread out as far they could see, along with another giant tree in the distance that was obviously their current goal. After confirming that everyone was themselves, they set off towards the giant tree while keeping their guard up. "It''s kinda eerie..." Anne muttered as they walked, the silence of the forest unnerving her. Since she grew up in a primitive world she spent a fair amount of time in the wild, and as such knew that at all times there was at least some noise that indicated the presence of life, except this time there was no noise whatsoever. Shia also seemed effected by the distinct lack of noise, her rabbit ears being several times more sensitive than their own. This continued until Alex felt a single drop fall from the sky and land on his hand, before he suddenly exclaimed, "Kuroka, barrier now!!!" Though everyone jumped as Alex nearly shouted, Kuroka quickly put up a domed barrier that covered them right before a torrent of rain started falling. "You wanted me to keep off rain~Nya?" Kuroka asked dubiously, to which Alex replied, "And tell me, how is rain that falls underground not suspicious?" Everyone was silent at this while Kuroka made a barrier under them to ensure that none of what was falling would effect them, and was glad she did not a minute later when she saw what was happening outside. As the rain outside continued to acc.u.mulate they all realized it wasn''t rain at all, but instead a white slime that to several of the girls had a look similar to something they were all familiar with as several of them turned towards Alex. He pretended not to notice and asked, "Anne, can you pick up and move the ground beneath us while Kuroka maintains the barrier? Then we can continue moving without having to bother with this stuff." Anne then pumped her fists cutely while saying, "I''ll do my best!" Before sitting down cross legged with her eyes closed as if to concentrate. While she did that Kuroka made a few modifications to the barrier so that it could be moved, right before the ground started cracking around them. Everyone braced themselves as the ground below them started raising up before they rose slightly above the tree line. "So there''s no consequences for going above the trees huh?" Hajime muttered as everyone else let out a sigh of relief, as they were unsure of what would happen if they simply tried to fly above the trees to reach their destination. Once they had gotten to a decent height, Anne opened her eyes and focused on the giant tree in the distance before they slowly started flying towards it amongst the still falling slime. After several minutes Alex was about to praise Anne for her efforts, but when he turned back towards her he saw her face was already coated with a thin layer of sweat. Realizing that lifting such a large piece of earth along with all of them for so long must have been really taxing on her strength, Alex tried to help by kneeling down and placing a hand against the ground they were on. Almost instantly Anne felt the large weight she was lifting nearly vanish as Alex used his gravity control to make it nearly weightless, and she sent him a gratified smile in response to making her job easier. Though this could be considered a good training opportunity, Anne would rather train in a more controlled environment instead of when everyone was relying on her to avoid a suspicious substance. It took her over an hour to finally reach the tree that was their target, a feat that was only possible because Alex used gravity magic to help her, and because he used his boosted gear to transfer a large amount of magic power to her to replenish her reserves. As they finally arrived at the tree, everyone saw a large cavelike opening that was distinctly different from the previous ones due to the fact that it seemingly kept going back instead of jut being a teleportation spot. As Anne set down the earth they were riding on, everyone filed off into the cave while Suzu and Yue helped Kuroka maintain barriers to prevent any of the slime coming close to them. It was at this time that Kuroka questioned, "I wonder what that slime actually does~Nya?" Alex chuckled lightly at her question, which drew everyone''s eyes before he stated, "I got some on me earlier right as it started falling, though it didn''t effect me due to my high levels of resistance to such poisons and such. It''s basically a high level aphrodisiac that would make those subject to it mindlessly attack anyone nearby." As everyone heard what the slime was their faces all stared twitching as they imagined what would have happened if it got on them. Kuroka then muttered, "It might actually be interesting to use later~Nya." Though her comment earned her a few glares from the others, Alex silently agreed and collected a sample of the slime in secret as they moved on. Everyone followed the cave for several minutes before they reached the opening, only to find themselves in a place unlike where they''d been before. "Woah..." Shia muttered as she took in what was around them. The cave had left them standing on what seemed to be a massive branch that was spread several meters on both sides and seemed to stretch out forever. As everyone walked around the massive branch to examine it, Shizuku asked absentmindedly, "Just how big is this tree?" Tio then replied, "This one would speculate that we are nearing the roots, however the size of this specimen is truly cause for awe." "It reminds me of the world tree Yggdrasil from Norse mythology." Rias muttered, a speculation that made those who knew of what she talking about nod in agreement. While everyone took a few minutes to admire their surroundings, Shia suddenly frowned and went to look over the edge of the branch. "Nya~What are you doing rabbit?" Kuroka asked as she made her way over. "I can hear something moving down there, but it''s too dark to tell what it is." Shia explained, not rising to Kuroka''s bait. Kuroka smirked and looked over the side as well to see if her feline night vision could help determine what was down there, only to instantly pale and fly back while screaming, "NYAAAAAAAAA!!!" Before anyone could tell what set the cat girl off, she flew into Alex''s chest as if for comfort while shaking. Though everyone''s first thought was that Kuroka was just flirting, they quickly dismissed this because she was never one to act timid. Curious as to what could scare her so badly each person made their way to the sides of the branch to look deep into the darkness below them, only to give up since they couldn''t see through the lack of light. This was only until Hajime stepped forward and looked down with his enhanced night vision he acquired from Orcus, only for him to also quickly jump back while exclaiming, "It''s horrible! This is the worst case scenario!" Seeing even Hajime react in such a way everyone quickly backed away from the edge as they waited for either one to say what they saw, with Shia even using her hands to lay her ears flat as if to try and block out the noise she was hearing. Though it took a moment for Hajime to say anything else, he finally stated, "It''s- an army of c.o.c.kroaches! There must be millions down there!" As everyone took in what he said, there was a drastic reaction amongst the group as fear and revulsion overtook them. The only exceptions seemed to be Alex and Grayfia, the latter of which stepped forward and mockingly said to Kuroka, "Don''t tell me the big bad kitty cat is scared of a few wittle c.o.c.kroaches?" Everyone looked at the silver haired maid in surprise, as they never expected her of all people to start taunting someone, until Kuroka retorted without her tick, "If they''re not so bad, then why don''t you go down and deal with them? Huh miss ''Queen of Annihilation''?" Though Grayfia acted as Kuroka''s suggestion wasn''t a big deal, she couldn''t hide the slightly green shade that now colored her face. Before any more wisecracks could be made Alex stepped forward while holding the still trembling Kuroka and said, "That''s enough everyone, this is most likely the boss room of the labyrinth so let''s figure out how we''re going to attack them." There was a shared reaction of repulsion at Alex''s idea, and Shizuku asked hesitantly, "Can''t we just try and sneak forward? Just because they''re there doesn''t mean we have to fight them!" Though everyone looked supportive of Shizuku''s idea, Alex shut it down by replying with a slightly sadistic smile, "But what if they''re programmed to attack us any once we get halfway across or something? I''d much rather start a fight on our terms than wait until a literal tidal wave of c.o.c.kroaches comes at us." Shizuku paled at the image Alex described, before nearly passing out from fright as Kaori caught her. Though he received a few glares from talking that way to Shizuku, everyone couldn''t deny what he said as every fight was preferable to on ones own terms. Their spirits were raised with what Alex said next however, as a nearly equally sadistic spread on their faces as the one Alex had. "We''re not going to p.u.s.s.yfoot around though, Rias, Yue, Grayfia, and Kuroka, each of you are going to go full power and cause as much destruction as possible to their numbers. For the first time since coming to this world, we are really going to cut loose!" Immediately after Alex''s declaration Suzu, Ryutarou, and Shizuku shuddered once more for entirely different reasons. With permission to go all out the girls wasted no time activating their skills. "''EXTINGUISHED STAR!''" Rias cried out as she immediately started amassing magic power that condensed into a massive and menacing reddish-black sphere that was nearly the size of a house. Though those who hadn''t seen this skill yet didn''t realize it was made even more deadly than the last time Rias used it in battle, as she added gravity magic to the deadly black orb to make it so that anything caught in its pull would almost never be able to escape. "''...HEAVENLY DRAGONS...!''" Yue declared, as five dragons of differing elements formed around her composed of lightning, blue fire, swirling wind, ice, and stone. What made this attack even more terrifying was that, even though it wasn''t as powerful as Rias''s ''Extinguished Star'', with her addition of gravity magic the was no escape from the gaping maw of the five dragons as they chased down their prey. "For the crime of making me shake in fear, I''ll show you hell~Nyan!" Kuroka shouted, as several massive wheels of black fire formed around her, along with several magic circles ready to start billowing the petrification smoke at a moments notice. She had the look of a monster on a warpath as she prepared to destroy the hated c.o.c.kroaches, but in terms of inspiring terror there was one other that had outdone her by strides. "You will experience firsthand the might of the Queen of Hell, promotion bishop!" Grayfia declared as a massive silver aura enveloped her with her ''Intimidation'' and ''Aura of Terror'' active. Even if they weren''t the target of her ire, both Suzu and Ryutarou cowered in fear of being caught in aftermath of the Queen of Hell''s rage as she started forming a gigantic mass of demonic power to launch her attack. "Haaa, haaa, such wonderful expressions, this one wishes they were pointed this way! However mineself cannot stand to be left behind in such a display of power, witness the might of the powerful dragon race!" Her piece said, Tio stopped acting like a pervert as she was momentarily obscured from view before a massive pure black dragon appeared in her stead. As they all lined up on one side of the branch Alex turned towards the remaining people, Kaori, Shia, Shizuku, Ryutarou, and Suzu before saying, "You guys will be responsible for any that might slip through our net, make sure they stay off of Rias and Yue specifically." As they all nodded Alex lined up on the other side of the branch along with Anne and Hajime as the latter started summoning his army of cross bits. The seconds ticked by while they awaited Rias''s Extinguished Star to start the attack, as she stopped restricting the gravitational pull hundreds of c.o.c.kroaches got sucked into the sphere of death, prompting the tidal wave of dog-sized killer insects that surged forward. As they moved up however thousands got pulled into the literal black hole that floated just above them, while those that went to the sides were bombarded by elemental dragons, wheels of fire, an actual dragons breath, and a ridiculous amount of demonic power. On the other side Hajime was carpet bombing the tidal wave of insects while Alex was using his ''Demonic Dragons Breath'' to turn them to ash, before using his ability to manipulate fire to turn any uncontrolled flames into an army of flaming monsters that also relentlessly attacked the c.o.c.kroaches. Anne stood off to the side with a look of regret plastered across her face, but after taking a few seconds to prepare herself she stepped off of the edge of the branch and plummeted down towards sea of insects below. "''Sky Dragons Claws''!" She shouted after applying enhanced speed and strength onto herself, before swirling blades of winds wrapped around her arms started shredding everything in front of her. Using her telekinesis to keep just above the sea of disgusting things, she used her sky dragon slayer magic to do her part in the ongoing fight. Meanwhile, "EEEEEEK! STAY AWAY!!!" Shizuku cried as she used her spatial magic to cut down the approaching c.o.c.kroaches from a distance, as they climbed onto the branch from the sides beyond the others bombardment and tried to attack them. Thankfully her sword was enchanted with Alex''s black demonic flames, so after cutting a few members of the swarm the black fire was quickly spreading to the densely packed insects nearby before going out. "SHORYA!!" Shia gave a cute yell as she threw her hammer into the oncoming insects to smash them to bits, before the hammer reached a certain point and started flying back towards her hand only to be thrown again immediately after. Her eyes were already a blood red as she fought the urges to go berserk on the swarm, the only thing keeping her sane was that she really didn''t want to dive into them headfirst once she lost control. Meanwhile Ryutarou and Suzu, who had already promoted, were using their skills to keep any c.o.c.kroaches that slipped through them away from Rias and Yue, the only ones present that didn''t have a way to physically defend themselves without letting up on their attacks. Soon things started to get more intense as Alex saw the c.o.c.kroaches were now attacking while covered with a black mist, but before he could shout a warning a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air. Alex glanced back to see part of Ryutarou''s hand dissolving from trying to punch one of the c.o.c.kroaches, before Kaori stepped in and healed it with regeneration magic. She then announced, "The black smoke dissolves whatever it touches so be careful!" As she said this Shizuku and Shia fell back within Suzu''s barrier to avoid losing their weapons to the black smoke, while Alex focused on another issue. From his side he witnessed a swarm of the c.o.c.kroaches gathering together, before they eventually formed one giant c.o.c.kroach that was as large as a building. That wasn''t all as Alex could also see several c.o.c.kroaches coming together to form what seemed to be a magic circle, the effects of which was something Alex wanted to avoid most of all. The boss c.o.c.kroach was relatively easy to deal with, as Alex just used his demonic black flames on it to set it on fire, and as more c.o.c.kroaches swarmed to it to heal and reform it they were also set aflame. As for the magic circle, he quickly shouted out, "They''re forming a magic circle! Don''t let them finish it or it''ll be bad for us!" When everyone heard this they immediately reacted, as it was well known by now that The Great Labyrinths were full of nasty surprises with this one being one of the worst. As the c.o.c.kroaches started trying to create magic circles in several locations, they were instantly the focus of everyone''s fury regardless of their attempts to prevent interference. With their boss stuck in an endless cycle of burning while others swarmed to try and heal it, none of their magic circles being allowed to activate, and the constant barrage of massive area of effect attacks courtesy of most of their group, it didn''t take more than thirty minutes for literally millions of c.o.c.kroaches to be shredded, obliterated, smashed, turned to ash, or be sucked into Rias''s ''Extinguished Star''. As the tidal waves turned into rivers, then into trickles, Alex took extreme joy in watching the last of them jump onto the boss in a last ditch effort to regenerate it before it too was turned into ash along with the rest of its kind. "And good riddance!" Anne said as everyone regrouped, having been the first to retreat when the c.o.c.kroaches started surrounding themselves with the black smoke. "I wonder what the magic circle they were trying to make would''ve done." Shia wondered out loud, to which Alex answered, "Knowing this labyrinth, nothing good." Everyone nodded in agreement while Alex was especially grateful they managed to avoid that specific spell. It was a particularly bad one that switched the emotions of those it effected, which meant that they would all despise the one they loved while the disgusting c.o.c.kroaches would suddenly seem cute and cuddly. Alex''s thoughts were interrupted when a portion of the great tree close to the caves ceiling started shining as a new opening appeared along with a new pathway for them to take to reach it. Without hesitation everyone started making their way towards the new opening while Alex stated, "After a large boss-like battle like that, I''m sure this is the end of the labyrinth." There was a noticeable stir at Alex''s words, as no one wanted to stay in this messed up labyrinth any longer than necessary. As per the usual by now, as everyone filed into the cave a teleportation magic circle shined beneath their feet, and as the light died down the first thing they saw was a garden spread out before them. Chapter 259 - Evolution As everyone took in the sight of the garden in front of them, Anne was off like a bullet as she started collecting samples and analyzing whatever she could get her hands on. Alex smiled at seeing her behavior before he stepped forward towards the edge and looked down on the endless sea of clouds, before Hajime joined him and muttered, "This looks like we''re at the top of that big tree, but we didn''t see it when we flew in before..." "It''s most likely hidden with some kind of magic, it''s probably best not to think too deeply about it." Alex replied, before leading the way to the lithograph where they''d be granted the next age of gods magic. As everyone approached, with Anne reluctantly tearing herself away from the plants of the garden, the lithograph started glowing green and the usual probing feeling overcame them as their memories of challenging the Labyrinth were searched, the process took a moment before the knowledge of Evolution magic was granted to them. "This magic seems... interesting..." Grayfia hesitantly said as several others nodded in agreement. They weren''t sure what exactly Evolution magic could be used for, but before anyone else could say anything the lithograph started doing something else as the tree started growing around it. The green magic power then also started shining once more until it took the form of a woman from the shoulders up, who then started speaking once she was fully formed. "First of all, I''d like to say congratulations. You''ve defeated several of the great labyrinths. I am Luluo Haltina, and I prepared the Haltina Great Labyrinth. I apologize for the very difficult trials I prepared with the maximum regard." After that Luluo''s recording started talking about some of the same things as the other liberators, but she didn''t go into detail since she knew they would have already heard about it from them due to having to complete several labyrinths before challenging hers. Instead she then mentioned her own magic and how the real value in it wasn''t properly explained before, as Luluo mentioned how they''d be able to evolve even their own abilities with it everyone''s eyes widened as they were suddenly eager to try it out. That wasn''t all however, as she then mentioned what they''d be able to achieve once they collected all age of gods magic, Conception magic. "Concept magic ¨C is the meaning which is just as it sounds. The magical manifestation of how magic acts in this world. Even if you obtain the god-level magic, it cannot be used so easily, because concept magic is invented by utmost will, not theory." As this was mentioned even Grayfia and Kuroka paid extra attention as the very idea of Conception magic was especially alluring. It sounded similar to Devils magic which was limited mostly by what one was able to imagine, however this was definitely a more powerful form of magic, one that if used correctly could theoretically even be used to create God-killing magic or items such as the True Longinus. Their thoughts were interrupted when a drawer opened on the lithograph and Luluo said, "For the name, it''s called the "compass of desire". The concept that, when activated, shows the place I desired." As Alex stepped forward to take the compass there were several pairs of eyes on him as the implications of such a thing went through their minds, implications that were proven right when Luluo then stated that it can show the way to any destination they had in mind, even to another world. Alex shook his head when saw the way Hajime and his classmates looked at him, and said even though Luluo was still talking, "It won''t be that easy to travel to other worlds you know, even for me. We''ll most likely have to wait until we have Conception magic at least before attempting it." This was enough to get them to understand they couldn''t return home just yet, right as Luluo was saying good luck to them and disappearing. In the sudden silence Grayfia said, "This Evolution magic, it unexpectedly might be fairly powerful if used correctly." Alex nodded and said "I had an idea or two that I''d like to try with it, but that''ll have to wait a few days first. I think Anne wants to look around more so let''s rest here before returning." There was practically stars in Anne''s eyes when she heard Alex say they''d wait for her to explore, and before anyone could say otherwise she was off like a bullet once more to examine every single thing she could there, while also taking notes for her own future gardens. While exploring she then went into the small shack-like building to see what was in there, only to find a variety of gardening tools and so on, things she eagerly threw into her personal inventory for later use. The biggest find however was what seemed to be a simple acorn sitting on a shelf, however as she used her system to analyze it her eyes grew wide and she quickly threw it in her inventory for safekeeping. Keeping her find a secret for now, Anne quickly ran around and collected seeds from as many plants as she could while also taking notes of what she needed to for later before finally rejoining everyone. With her rejoining them, Kuroka immediately opened a portal back to their new home in Verbergen and just like that they left the deepest part of the labyrinth behind. *** Later that night after meeting with Ulfric and retelling their experiences in the labyrinth, Alex was laying back in his new bed while relaxing after a nice bath. This was interrupted however when his door opened, and he looked up to see Anne and Rias making their way towards him. "Well this is a pleasant surprise." Alex said since he figured everyone would want to head to Asora for the night, to either train with their new magic or to spend time with those staying behind. The two girls seductively crawled up to him while shedding their clothes before saying, "We just thought you wouldn''t want to spend the night alone~." Alex smiled as the two beauties made their way to him and pressed their large mounds against his chest before taking turns kissing him. While they did so, their hands slid under the covers and found the sleeping beast before stirring it awake. After both girls took turns sampling his lips, they then decided to be a bit bolder and started making out with each other. Though Alex enjoyed the show at first, he was quickly reminded of his ideal world from the labyrinth, and reluctantly said, "Stop, not tonight." This immediately snapped both girls to attention as Alex never turned down getting intimate with someone, before Rias asked while stroking him once more, "Are you sure, this one seems ready go to?" Alex sighed and was very reluctant to say this, but continued, "Yes I''m sure, I''m just not feeling well tonight." Anne narrowed her eyes suspiciously and asked, "You''ve been acting a little strange for a while now, does this have anything to do with your ideal world from earlier?" Alex sighed once more and explained to the two girls what happened in his ideal world, surprising himself when they replied, "So that was all?" Confused, Alex asked, "So neither of you are the least bit bugged or surprised?" Both girls shrugged and Rias said, "You haven''t done anything remotely close to attempting to create such a world, in fact you''ve helped Hajime and Kaori get together, Gasper and Valerie, and Seekvaira told me you''ve been supporting her and Sairaorg, not to mention everyone else. If you truly did intend to build such a world, then Asora would probably only have a female population. Besides, just because it was considered our "ideal world" doesn''t mean it was what we truly want." As he thought on Rias''s words Alex realized just how correct she was, as several people had broken out of their dreams because it wasn''t truly what they wanted. Feeling as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders, Alex couldn''t help laughing out loud at how ridiculous he was acting before, a thought that would have driven Lauren mad if she''d hadn''t still been in her hot spring at the moment. His thoughts were interrupted when Anne suddenly said, "And besides, even if you did try to have a change of heart, don''t think we''d let you that easily!" Before he could ask what she meant, the brown skinned beauty suddenly swung herself so that she was straddling his waist before taking his entire length inside her. As she let out a small groan from the insertion, Anne continued, "I never thought I''d be this way, but you made my body exceptionally lewd even though we''ve only actually been together for a few months. If you tried controlling yourself then what would happen to me?" Having said what she wanted, Anne then started rocking her h.i.p.s while Rias added, "Same with me and everyone else, you''ve had your way with me for years now so how would I be able to adapt if you suddenly tried to go straight?" Having said her bit, Rias then swung one of her legs over his head so that her ass was directly in front of his face as she slightly wiggled it invitingly. Laughing lightly from this development, Alex didn''t hold himself back anymore and buried his face in the Crimson haired woman''s ass before attacking her in such a way that she couldn''t hold back her m.o.a.ns until Anne sealed her lips with her own once more. As such, the three''s night continued like almost every night before it had, except they were so preoccupied with each other they didn''t notice the eyes peering at them through the crack in the door. "It looks like I really wont be able to find another man to compare him to..." Tracy muttered to herself, as she worked her pants and underwear down her legs until they were both pooled around her ankles, leaving her almost n.a.k.e.d in the hallway while her fingers furiously worked themselves between her legs as her body grew heated from watching the scene in front of her. In fact if she couldn''t find a way into Alex''s bed fast, Tracy was almost tempted to use Altina''s next visit to show the seemingly innocent girl what her handmaidens taught her in regards to women pleasuring one another. And so, the four people spent the night in pleasure, even if one of them never truly felt satisfied. *** Over the next few days everyone spent their time relaxing or training as Alex said they''d wait about a week before proceeding to the last labyrinth, something everyone now looked forward to after hearing about Conception magic. Alex however had something else on his mind as he thought of one particular way to use evolution magic, something that both excited and terrified him. He had asked Lauren if his idea would work, but her answers were pretty short and sounded somewhat venomous. All he learned from her was that his idea would be excruciatingly painful for those who attempted it. After spending several days thinking about it, Alex decided to try it and sent those he wanted to discuss his idea with a message to meet him in Asora. Before he could meet up with everyone however, he was waylaid by a beautiful and mature looking blond woman. "Excuse me sir, my master Sairaorg would to speak with you in order to express his thanks in person." Kuisha Abaddon, Sairaorg''s Queen stated the moment he stepped from the mist. Alex was slightly surprised, but since he knew Sairaorg wanted to thank him regarding his mother, he didn''t hesitate to follow her to Sairaorg''s mansion. The moment he stepped through the door he was greeted by Sairaorg and his mother Misla, before the former dropped to his knees and declared, "For healing my mother, nothing I can do will ever be able to repay this debt! From this point forth my everything will be devoted to you!" Alex was taken aback slightly as the seriousness of Sairaorg''s declaration, while his entire peerage also bowed at him from behind their master. Misla herself was smiling as she stated, "Though I don''t necessarily agree with the idea of abandoning the underworld, considering the circ.u.mstances this seems like the best choice. My son has gotten so powerful since the time I went to sleep, so I can only be proud of him and his choices." She then bowed slightly as well, making Alex feel slightly awkward as he never tried to put himself in a position of authority, even though he was technically the top dog in Asora. Even as far as Sairaorg was concerned, though he may have followed him into Asora and did as Alex asked, there was never even a firm hierarchy between them before now. After taking a few minutes to accept his pledge and to converse properly with Sairaorg, Alex then left the manor while letting out a sigh only to see those he intended to meet waiting for him. "So what did you want to speak to us about?" Serafall asked while she tried to hide behind Sona as if she was to protect her from a beast, while Yue, Rias, Grayfia, and Elmenhilde(who was using a special sunblock) also looked to hear what he wanted. Alex''s somewhat tired expression vanished instantly as he simply said before taking off into the air, "Follow me." Confused, everyone had no choice but to follow him as Alex led them far away from the city and into the mountains, before he finally stopped at the peak of a random mountain. As they landed everyone looked around to see if there was anything special about this particular mountain, but seeing nothing around them Rias asked, "Is there a particular reason we had to go all the way out here?" Alex nodded and said, "Firstly I didn''t want people to overhear what we''re talking about, and secondly if we try it I wanted to be far away from others just in case." This got everyone''s attention, as Grayfia asked, "And what topic would need to be so secretive?" Alex looked at everyone dramatically and said, "Using Evolution magic to turn a normal devil into a super devil, or a normal vampire into a Shinso or true ancestor." There was a beat of silence as everyone took in what Alex said, before they all started a big commotion over this information as it was an even bigger game changer than everything they had seen before this. But while they kicked up a commotion Alex was silent as he contemplated the thing he hadn''t told them, that he may also be able to use Evolution magic on himself to turn himself into a Legendary Super Saiyan, a being of pure destruction, malice, and slaughter. Chapter 260 - Celebration and Despair Though he could theoretically evolve himself to be a LSS, Alex had absolutely no intention of undergoing the process at the current moment due to his uncertainty of being able to control the rage that came with it. He had concluded that when the time came when he was confident he could control it, or if too strong of an opponent appeared then he would undergo the evolution. Alex then turned his attention back towards the group in front of him as they all continued to ask questions and make a commotion. He then held up one of his hands for silence, gradually calming everyone down though they still gave him intense looks. Alex then looked at Grayfia as if prompting her to speak, before she asked, "You said you wanted to keep this a secret, for how long do you expect this be the case though?" Everyone else also gave Alex pointed looks at her question, to which Alex answered, "Not for long actually, I just want to verify the possibility of this before announcing it. However even if it works, I''m not planning to start turning every devil in Asora into a super devil, except for a select few it''ll have to be something they''ve earned." Everyone nodded in agreement as giving so many people a sudden amazing power up was only asking for trouble. Serafall then asked, "So why are I and Son-tan here?" "As the devil with the highest authority I figured you needed to know right away, and if it''s possible to see if you, Sona and Elmenhilde wanted to be evolved as well. If everything works alright then I plan to ask Ravel, Ingvild, and Roygun as well when I get a chance." Serafall nodded in acceptance as, though she didn''t necessarily crave power, seeing several people including her own beloved little sister suddenly pass her would be depressing. Sona then stepped forward and asked, "So what haven''t you told us then?" Alex sighed and stated, "The process will be very painful to whoever''s undergoing it, as your body is being modified at a cellular level. Which is also why instead of picking someone I''m asking for volunteers since the results will be different for me." Everyone was silent then as they were unsure of being the first to try this process, before a certain Crimson haired woman stepped forward and declared, "I''ll do it!" Everyone looked at Rias in surprise while Grayfia said, "No, it''s too dangerous and uncertain, I''ll go first!" Rias however shook her head and stated, "Big sis, I trust in Alex to ensure I''m alright, plus there''s regeneration magic so everything should be fine if something does go wrong! Besides, I was Alex''s first peerage member so I think is only right I''m first for this as well." Though there was more Grayfia wanted to say, she was stopped when Alex put his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. Taking in a deep breath, Grayfia then nodded and stepped back to allow Rias to step forward towards a stone platform Alex was creating wit magic for her to lay on, something she couldn''t help comparing to a sacrificial alter. As she laid down Alex said, "Don''t worry, though it''ll be painful, I''ll make sure nothing bad happens to you. Rias nodded and said somewhat cheerfully, "I know, I trust you." Feeling gratified by the trust she had in him, Alex stepped back and started forming a complex magic circle under her to channel the Evolution magic. Alex then summoned his boosted gear gauntlet, and let it start building up power in case it was needed, either to complete the evolution or to add power to his regeneration magic. Everyone present was holding their breaths as Alex said, "I''m starting... Now!" As he spoke the light from the magic circle became even more intense as Rias herself started glowing red slightly. Rias''s face soon started twitching as an uncomfortable feeling instantly spread throughout her body, before it quickly started escalating to a dull ache, then into a stinging pain. At this level it was still bearable, but the fact they were only a few seconds into a process that they had no idea of how long it would last left a sour taste in her mouth. The stinging continued for a few more minutes, but nothing could have prepared her for what happened next. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Rias''s voice broke the suspenseful silence as her body suddenly jerked, and she released a bloodcurdling scream. As each and every cell in her body was being forced to change, forced to evolve, Rias felt as if every single bit of her body was individually set on fire, or was being struck by lightning over and over. "Rias..." Grayfia muttered, her heart breaking from seeing her little sister in such pain while she just stood by and watched. She then glanced at Alex and similarly hoped he was ok, him directly being the one to put one of his loved ones through this suffering. As a testament to her willpower however, regardless of how much pain she was in Rias never once asked them to stop the process, though none of them tried to think of the possibility that she was simply unable to do so. As the minutes slowly crawled by the sound of Rias''s voice continued to rise and fall as her body started jerking hard enough to look as if she was having seizures, enough to where Grayfia finally said, "That''s enough, stop it!" Alex agreed and was about to halt the process, but before he could, ''Don''t stop now, keep going as is and you should succeed. I did tell you there would be intense pain.'' Since it was one of the first real responses he''d gotten from Lauren the past few days, Alex gritted his teeth and said to Grayfia, "Not yet... She can do this..." As she glared at him in response Grayfia was about to say something else, but, "N-no, n-not yet..." Suddenly they a all heard the dirt words Rias uttered since they began, making Grayfia bite back her argument to make Alex stop. After Rias insisted they continue the minutes slowly ticked by while the intense pain continuously wracked her body, each minute instead seeming like an eternity. After well over an hour, with Alex using the built up energy in his gantlet to replenish his personal reserves, he finally got the ok from Lauren to stop the process. As he canceled magic Rias''s body slowly lost its red glow and seemed to relax for the first time since beginning as she let out a sigh, before her breathing seemed to stop altogether. "Rias?" Grayfia said hesitantly before she and Sona rushed over to examine her. Alex sighed as he fought the exhaustion of using the age of gods magic for over an hour, and kept an eye on Rias''s status for any changes in her condition. As he watched it however several changes were suddenly made and a sudden rise of power could be felt from the sleeping Rias. "Look out!" Alex cried as he rushed forward and grabbed Grayfia and Sona around the waist before flying a short distance away, with Serafall, Yue, and Elmenhilde swiftly joining them. They then watched as Rias''s eyes suddenly shot open, except they were pure black without even the slightest bit of white. As the power of destruction started radiating from her body, Rias started to slowly float up into the air while the destructive air around her started to quickly eat away at her clothes, leaving her n.a.k.e.d before it spread to the stone table sitting beneath her. With her skin laid bare for all to see, everyone present was able to watch as her skin started turning a deep red as if a rash was spreading across her body. Once it spread to her head a pair of red slightly curled horns sprouted from within her hair, while a set of red wings seemed to grow from her back and a tail sprouted from right above her rear. By this point that bubble of destructive energy had grown to fill the area around Rias for roughly 200 feet, destroying everything within so completely that not even dust was left. Rias then righted herself in the air as she started examining her own body, before finally checking the notifications that had been going off for a while now. [NOTICE! Race changed from Devil to Super Devil! New ability obtained, Super Devil Form! New skill obtained, Destuction manifestation! Aura of destruction skill changed to Domain of destruction, Enlarged magic pool skill changed to Immense magic pool, Magic control changed to Magic mastery! Skills Absolute destruction, Magic recovery rate, Extinguished star, Apocalyptic extinction, Reapers ruin, Destruction duelers, and superhuman strength increased!] After going through each of the notifications in her head, Rias turned her attention towards her n.a.k.e.dness while outside and decided to address that first. Her first thought was to simply summon her clothes like normal, but recalling what happened to her previous clothes decided against it. Instead she tried out her newly acquired ''Destruction Manifestation'' skill, and willed the destructive energies in air around her to converge on herself even more, before condensing to form a reddish-black formal gown that went down to her ankles and left her back open for her new wings and tail. It wasn''t until this point that she finally turned her attention on the others who watched silently as she adjusted to her new form and abilities. Though she wanted to go to them, Alex especially, Rias held herself back due to the giant bubble of pure destructive energy surrounding her, before focusing on dispelling her ''Domain of Destruction'' skill. Once it was safe to approach her, everyone was instantly at her side while still main ting a few feet due to the fact that her body still radiated raw destructive power. "Rias, are you ok?" Grayfia asked the instant they closed in. The newly changed girl nodded and replied, "Actually, I feel better than ok. I have more power than I thought I could ever possess, I wonder if this is what my brother felt like for his whole life?" Grayfia was inclined to agree with Rias''s comparison as she spent most of her life around Sirzechs, and had seen him transform several times during the devil civil war. As if she was too eager to test her new powers, Rias turned away from everyone and pointed a single finger at one of the nearby mountains before a beam of pure destruction several feet wide shot out and flew forward before anyone could react. There was no noise, no boom, no concussion of sound as the mass of energy tore through the air directly into the side of a mountain; there was no destruction, no rubble, and no devastation as it went through and continued on to the mountain after that, and the one after that. What everyone witnessed at that moment wasn''t just destruction, it was complete erasure of everything that was in the path of Rias''s attack. Everyone who watched the display was wide eyed at the seeming endless hole that bore through several mountains until a check from Yue confirmed that it had continued clear out into the ocean. Cold sweat dripped down everyone''s backs when they witnessed the difference in her power, while Rias''s face seemed to pale a little bit even after her transformation. "Maybe you should take some time to get accustomed to your new capabilities..." Alex muttered while everyone, including Rias, slowly nodded. She then spent the next hour or so going through a series of exercises to experiment and gauge her new powers, something that while they tried to be careful still ended up remodeling the landscape around them. This also had the dual function of allowing Alex to rest and recover his magic energy to perform the evolution on the next person to go, Grayfia by the lots they drew. This had annoyed Yue, who was now forced to acknowledge the difference in power between her and Rias, but she didn''t say anything since Alex promised them that he''d get through everyone that night. As she finished up her exercises, Rias ended her super devil transformation and reverted back to her hornless, tailless, and wingless pale self, which also dispelled the gown she created out of pure destruction. Before anything else however, she rushed towards Alex since it was safe for her to do so and threw her arms around him while saying, "Thank you so much." After saying her thanks Rias didn''t give Alex a chance to respond before sealing his lips with her own while he wrapped his arms around her in return. Considering the circ.u.mstances no one tried to interrupt the twos moment, but when they saw Alex''s hands work their way down from Rias''s back to her still n.a.k.e.d butt Grayfia immediately seized his ear and pulled him back from Rias, while Yue grabbed some of Rias''s hair and yanked her back. "What was that for?!" Rias pouted as she rubbed her head where her hair got pulled, before Grayfia answered, "We knew what direction that was headed, and there''ll be time for that later. For right now we need to focus since we''ll probably be out here all night." Though she was still pouting slightly, Rias didn''t argue as she quickly dressed herself while Alex quickly prepped for the next round with Grayfia. As he prepared another stone slab on the now flattened mountaintop, Grayfia went to lay down on it while Rias seriously said, "The pain was more intense than I ever thought I could bear, so be careful big sis..." Grayfia looked Rias in the eyes and nodded confidently before the latter backed away to give her sister and Alex breathing room. Alex sighed and summoned his boosted gear once more before starting to forcefully evolve someone for the second time that night. *** While Alex was pushing his evolution magic to the limits, someone else was sitting in their residence in Verbergen while also thinking about increasing their strength. Shizuku was staring intensely at her status as she determined what job she should pick next. Though the monsters in the Haltina Labyrinth helped increase her job level tremendously, it still left her just shy of a new job. So Shizuku spent the last few days accompanying Anne as she went to sightsee around the Sea of Trees, and look for more plant seeds to add to her quickly growing collection. With her playing bodyguard against fairly tough monsters that made the Sea of Trees their home, Shizuku was able to finally max out her ''Swordswoman'' job and pick a new one. Currently she was trying to weigh potential benefits of the different options available to her. [Available jobs- expert swordswoman, ninja apprentice, samurai apprentice, speed demon, female knight, spirit knight] At a glance Shizuku was partial toward the ''Expert Swordswoman'' and ''Samurai Apprentice'' jobs since they matched her current fighting style and training more than the two knight related jobs. As for ''Speed Demon'' job, she wasn''t even considering that one since she wanted to polish her skill more than her speed; and the ''Ninja Apprentice'' was a definite no since she adamantly refused to be a ninja. In fact she only blamed her having that job option and the related ''Ninjutsu'' ability on the kunai Alex gave her, an opinion that would''ve tempted the man in question to tell Shizuku the truth about her family history. After several minutes of careful deliberation, Shizuku decided to choose the ''Samurai Apprentice'' job as it would compliment her family''s sword techniques the best. Just as she was about to select that option, "Nyaaaaan, Shizuku play with meeeee!" Kuroka cried out as she dr.a.p.ed herself over the swordswoman''s back, bored out of her mind. Annoyed, Shizuku snapped, "Can''t you go and play with someone else right now? I''m training!" Kuroka wined in response to Shizuku''s complaint, and said while rolling onto her lap with her now four tails waving around them, "You''re too stiff, just use Evolution magic like I did to get a power up." Shizuku''s brow twitched at Kuroka''s suggestion as she preferred to rely on hard work to get stronger, but before she could say anything she noticed the status notifications that had popped up. [NOTICE! New skills obtained, Chakra control, Camouflage, Stealth, and Knife Skill! Skills No Beat, and Enhanced Speed increased!"] Confused, Shizuku looked at her job to see that she somehow managed to select the job she wanted the least, ''Ninja Apprentice''. Shizuku then looked down in her lap at the only reason she could think of for the mix up, and glared. Sensing the change in Shizuku, Kuroka Blinked away and started running while the ponytailed girl shot up while drawing her sword and shouting, "How dare you do this to me?! I DON''T WANT TO BE A NINJA!!!" Hearing the source of Shizuku''s despair, Kuroka couldn''t help but laugh and shouted back as she ran away, "Nyahahahahaha, come and get me miss ninja!" This started an intense game of cat and mouse, where in a twist the one that was actually a cat was acting as the mouse, while the citizens of Verbergen watched in amus.e.m.e.nt. Meanwhile off to side sat Suzu and Ryutarou who were also watching the chase with interest before Suzu said, "You know, Shizu-Shizu hasn''t seemed to match her "cool beauty" label as much since she began hanging out with them..." Ryutarou nodded and added, "But I would say she looks like she might be having more fun than before actually, like she''s not trying to control herself every moment." Suzu nodded as the two watched while their friend continued chasing the gleefully laughing Kuroka. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Titles- Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Race- Super Devil Abilities- Destruction Super Devil Form Evil Piece-Bishop (A.N. Added which evil pieces since quite a few people requested it) Job- gravity magic apprentice(60) Job history- destruction Mage, destruction Archmage, master destruction Mage, Mage, archmage, master Mage, demonic leader, lord of destruction, apprentice martial artist, gun Mage, demonic charmer, destruction overlord, magic gunner Skills- Absolute destruction(6) Magic Mastery(1) Immense magic pool(1) Magic recovery rate(8) Extinguished star (8) Apocalyptic extinction(2) Domain of Destruction(1) Reaper''s ruin(8) Destruction duelers(6) Command Loyalty (10) Strengthen followers(2) Devils allure(4) Superhuman strength(4) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(4) Space magic(1) Regeneration magic(1) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shizuku Yeagashi Titles- onee-sama, class mom, last boss Race- human Abilities- Reincarnated devil Evil Piece-Knight Ninjutsu Job-Ninja Apprentice(1) Job history-Swordswoman Skills- Sword skill(10) Knife Skill(1) No beat(4) Enhanced speed(6) Ponytail guard(1) Chakra Control(1) Camouflage(1) Stealth(1) Space magic(3) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Titles- The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Race- Super Devil Abilities- Immense demonic power Super Devil Form Evil Piece-Pawn Job- apprentice healing maid(25) Job history- shield maid, Mage maid, warrior maid, maid terror, martial maid, creation maid, apprentice maid knight, maid knight, expert shield maid, expert maid Mage Skills- Housework(5) Bed skills(9) Massive magic pool(10) Magic Mastery(1) Magic recovery rate(10) Magic Domain(1) Coordination(9) Intimidation(10) Aura of terror(7) Steel defense(1) Superhuman strength(10) Ki manipulation(5) Sword skills(4) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(1) Space magic(2) Regeneration magic(2) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 261 - A Godly Disappointment On the day it was time for them to depart it seemed that all of Verbergen had turned out to say goodbye and thanks to their heroes, a notion that amused the Devils Rias and Grayfia, and the former criminal Kuroka. As they prepared to board Zenith and take flight, Ulfric led the elders in saying goodbye one last time. "Truly, we can never thank you enough for all that you''ve done!" Ulfric declared as he shook Alex''s hand. He just waved it off however and replied, "Just keep our house clean and ready for whenever we come back, and strive for real peace in the future to prevent situations like this from repeating." Though Ulfric was doubtful that such a thing as "real" peace could be achieved, he didn''t say anything and figured the least they could do was try for it. Once he left Alex was approached by two certain women, a confident looking human and bashful looking elf, both princesses. "U-um it was nice to meet you..." The elf girl, Altina, timidly said while blushing so furiously even the tips of her ears were bright red, while the human princess Tracy laughed at her new friends attitude before saying to Alex, "Until next time, and I will make sure there is a next time. Just remember to take proper responsibility for us both and thank your lucky stars, after all very few people get to see two princesses n.a.k.e.d you know." Alex rolled his eyes at Tracy''s attitude while also choosing to keep silent about how if he was that interested in seeing them n.a.k.e.d, then he could''ve just used the X-ray function on his glasses without them knowing. When Ulfric overheard the bit about Alex seeing them n.a.k.e.d however, he nearly threw a fit and Altina had to explain how Tracy convinced her to use the remodeled bath at Alex''s house while visiting her, and they accidentally went in while Alex himself was taking a bath. Though what the elf duo didn''t know, and what Alex heavily suspected, was that Tracy knew he was in there beforehand and purposely went in at that time just so he could see her n.a.k.e.d. After the fact she brought up him "taking responsibility" every chance she got as if desperate to get him to accept her. Though Alex wouldn''t have had any real problem with Tracy being with him from the beginning, as long as it wasn''t as a transaction, now that she was pushing for it so hard he decided to humor her and stated, "Don''t worry, when all of this is over I''ll make sure to properly take responsibility for you, I''ll even spend a whole night catering just to you." Tracy''s face lit up at Alex''s words as she believed her plan worked, now she would no longer have to worry about becoming a pet plaything of one of her fathers vassals. As Alex walked away however, his place was instantly taken by Yue who said, "...Don''t worry, I''ll make an ice pack for you the morning after..." Tracy was confused at what Yue said, before Shia stepped forward as well, "And I''ll massage any places that might be sore, since you''ll probably be unable to walk the day after." With growing confusion at the sudden 180 of the way the girls were treating her, Tracy was about to ask why when Grayfia stepped up this time and said, "And I''ll make sure to apply Spirit magic to you afterwards to make sure that you don''t break mentally." By this point the imperial princess was starting to pale slightly as she looked towards the other girls and saw looks of pity and admiration in their eyes, almost just like the looks she''d seen soldiers give to dying comrades. Though she spied on Alex in bed a few nights prior, Tracy was starting to wonder if there was something else going on that she didn''t know about, and she was starting to wonder what the hell she just dived into. She didn''t get a chance to ask anyone however, as they all quickly boarded Zenith and prepared to leave. As he approached the helm to prepare for takeoff, Alex couldn''t help noticing the dejected Shizuku sitting to the side as Kaori tried to cheer her best friend up. By this point they all had heard of what happened thanks to Kuroka, and so Alex went to Shizuku''s side and asked, "So how is my cute little kunoichi today?" "I''m not a kunoichi..." Shizuku replied somewhat pitifully while pouting cutely. Alex smiled wryly at her behavior, and added, "It''s not so bad, once we take off we''ll work on learning some ninja techniques on the way to the Frost Caverns of Schnee. Some might actually help you in combat, like maybe shadow clones?" For the first time Shizuku seemed to contemplate what Alex was saying, thinking that while they would make her look foolish, making copies of herself would probably be helpful in combat. Seeing her consider his idea, Alex smiled and continued on his way to the helm to leave. The citizens of Verbergen watched in awe as the massive ship in front of them lifted off from the ground, and started flying straight up towards the canopy overhead. When they saw it headed for the branches some of them started to worry, but then a massive hole opened up in front of the ship as Yue used Spatial magic to create a portal above the canopy. Following the direction that the magic compass pointed them, they were off to the edges of the demon race territory and the final labyrinth to challenge. *** Meanwhile in the heart of the demon race territory just outside the Capitol city of Garland, a group of people were discussing how to best enter the palace and get an audience with the demon race king. "We could just walk right up to the palace through the city and blast away anyone who tries to stop us." "For the last time, NO! This is a peace mission, it''s not very peaceful if we fight our way through their army and threaten the king into cooperation!" "I could pretend I escaped and caught you all in return, then when you''re inside the castle you can all just break out." "Cattleya lets try to keep things realistic, and besides I highly doubt Vali would go along with that kind of plan." "I would never accept that kind of plan..." Vali said bluntly as he looked out over the gathered group of people. They were composed of his team, Bikou, Arthur, Le Fey, Fenrir, and Elaine; the three who were supposed to do the diplomacy, Liliana, Aiko, and Cattleya, and finally a bunch of nobody brats who wanted to play bodyguard. They continued passing ideas around until finally Le Fey mentioned, "Maybe I can just use my new Spatial magic and make a portal right into the throne room?" There was complete silence at her suggestion as everyone thought it over, before one of the boys in Aiko''s bodyguards, Akito, excitedly stated, "That''s amazing Le Fey-chan! Can you really do it?!" Then his buddy Atsushi retorted, "Of course she can idiot, Le Fey-chan is a genius!" The third guy in Aiko''s bodyguards, Noboru, was about to say something as well, but the combined glares of the girls, Arthur, and Elaine''s made him bite back the words in his mouth. From the moment they first met her the trio of guys seemed to be completely taken by Le Fey''s cuteness in her witches cosplay, and after watching her perform one amazing feat after another with her magic during their trip, they had practically become her fan club as well as Aiko''s bodyguards. This had annoyed both her brother and the girls as they were trying to become friends with her since they were only a little bit older, something Arthur very much appreciated. After a little bit more consideration Elaine spoke up, "It should be possible, I can help her and Cattleya can assist by making sure we get the right spot." Though Le Fey was more than capable of using teleportation magic on her own, it became a significantly harder task when you didn''t know where exactly you were going. Though Cattleya didn''t like the idea of just popping right into the middle of the throne room, with no better ideas she kept silent and listened as Elaine outlined to her what was required for the teleportation. Meanwhile inside the castle an unprecedented gathering was taking place. "-and we my children, have been chosen to lead the world into the new era! We are the ones who will rule over the inferior races like the Demi humans and the humans!" As the God Aruvhite continued speaking everyone present hung onto his every word, while a white haired individual with majestic silver wings stood proudly by his side. In front of them the entire throne room was filled with the most important members of the demon race, with the king and his family at the front on their knees as they hung onto every one of the minor god''s words. Suddenly appearing between them however was a portal that opened up and allowed fifteen people to casually enter the throne room, effectively silencing the entire room. As they took in their surroundings, the youngest of the newcomers immediately turned towards the demon race King and stated, "Your majesty of the demon race my name is Liliana S.B. Heiligh, first princess of the Heiligh kingdom and I have come all this way to meet with you and hopefully discuss a future of peace for our people. I hope you will excuse our rather rude entrance as we couldn''t think of a better way to ensure an audience your majesty." Though the king was as stunned as everyone else momentarily, his stunned look soon turned to rage as he declared, "You dare trespass here?! You heretics that worship a false goddess! Your heresy will be your downfall as there is no way you''ll be allowed to leave now that you so kindly delivered yourself to us!" Though his response wasn''t ideal, Liliana''s expression hadn''t changed in the slightest as it was expected at first. It was at this moment that a certain someone else stepped forward, and silence once more dominated the angry muttering that had previously spread. "My king I am Cattleya, I was sent on a mission to the Orcus Great Labyrinth in order to capture or kill the hero party, and to conquer the labyrinth as well. I was captured instead while my death was faked, and was held prisoner in a room where time flowed differently than for the rest of the world; to yourselves it has been a little more than a month, to me it has been nearly two years since my capture. I have returned because the one who captured me wishes for the demon race to also accept peace with the other races, and he wanted my help in doing so." As Cattleya finished speaking a certain young demon race man hurried forward and stated, "Are you truly my Cattleya? The Cattleya I know loved her people, and wouldn''t be willing to bend her knee to heretics!" Cattleya choked back a sob after seeing her fianc¨¦ Mikhail for the first time in nearly two years, before steeling herself and continuing, "My love for my people hasn''t diminished in the slightest, on the contrary I come before you all now in the hopes that my actions will save us from catastrophe. The people that held me prisoner are capable of feats that belong in the realm of gods! They can manipulate time at their leisure, they can turn mountains to dust, topple entire countries with ease and fight gods as if they were their equals! Your majesty I am here to try and save my people from a catastrophe they would bring upon themselves, by angering those who have decided to give us a chance to prove ourselves when they could have just simply destroyed us!" As Cattleya finished her speech she was met with gazes of scorn and disappointment across the throne room, before a voice behind her spoke up, "Do not blame her my children, she has simply been brainwashed and manipulated by the heretics to believe their lies of being able to contend against even gods. If what she said is true however, then they are simply lesser gods or pretenders of another world who are unable to hold a candle to our great lord! Our time is at hand! While this champion claims to fight on behalf of the false goddess, we now have our own champion of the one true God! He will lead us to victory against the enemy forces! You who are allied with the false champion, lay down your weapons and bend the knee to your new God or suffer the same fate that will befall the false champion and those who accept his lies!" As he spoke, Aruvhite now turned towards the others with Vali at their lead. Seeing that the weakling God wanted to force them to submit, Vali couldn''t help but laugh out loud. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA- Fenrir." After speaking that single word when he finished laughing, a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the throne room. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Aruvhite cried out as he fell to his knees while clutching the bloody stump that used to be his left arm, the same arm that was now being used as a chew toy by the giant wolf who seemingly hadn''t moved from Vali''s side. Without a single change in his expression Vali started to slowly walk towards Aruvhite, causing the minor God to temporarily forget his pain as he looked at the approaching man with fear. Meanwhile the white haired man next to him, Freid, started spamming spells and silver feathers at Vali with a look of utmost rage on his face, only for Vali to not even flinch as he nonchalantly used his own magic to protect himself from the onslaught. Aruvhite looked up at the man who was responsible for the removal of his arm with extreme fear, before pressing his face to the ground in a show of submission and saying, "Please spare me! I don''t care what you do to them as long as you let me live! I''ll even become your slave and show you how to get to Ehito, it''s what you people want isn''t it?!" Vali''s eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked down on the begging God, before placing his foot on top of his head and grinding his face into the stone floor while saying, "You should have tried to research us better beforehand, then you''d know that it would''ve been impossible for me to even be slightest bit tempted by both of your offers. The first has to do with the fact that I brought my group together for the express purpose of challenging infamously powerful beings like gods, if your God is as powerful as you claim then to me that just means he''ll be a good target to challenge! As for your second offer, what use would I have for a cowardly and weak god that will turn on me the second they think that it might benefit them?" Once he heard the last part of what Vali said, Aruvhite started thrashing around under his foot as if trying to free himself to eacape, but he was only able to get up when Vali removed his foot from the top of his head and stepped away. Using his only remaining arm Aruvhite pushed himself up to reveal his now purple face, a whole string of curses and foul words on the tip of his tongue. Before he could shout a single thing at Vali however, the latter cut him off forever. "You''re actually so pathetic that I don''t want to dirty my own hands, I''ll leave him to you Fenrir." Everything Aruvhite was about to say was lost as he turned pale and glanced towards the fearsome gray wolf. The last thing Aruvhite saw was the inside of a giant mouth, already stained Crimson from when it consumed his arm just seconds prior. As their God was killed before them, the entirety of the gathered demon race people were deathly silent as they once more thought of Cattleya''s warnings, and how Aruvhite so quickly turned on them. A single person wasn''t even considering them however, as Freid shouted, "Blasphemers! Not only do you reject the mercy of the true divine, but you even raise your hands against one of his own! You may be better with magic than me, but that doesn''t mean you have the advantage! Uranos!" As Freid finished speaking something large busted through the ceiling and landed behind him, before the dust cleared and a massive white dragon started growling at the Vali team. A wide grin spread on Freid''s face as he then glanced up, prompting everyone else to glance through the hole that was now present in the ceiling. Above the castle was a pure white sky without the slightest hint of blue, but not a single bit of it was cloud cover; it was over a million white dragons that had been mass produced and empowered by Freid after he had received various blessings from Ehito, the vanguard to their army designed to wipe clean the world to start over once again. Though the largest and most powerful was the one he was now mounting, Freid turned back towards Vali and stated, "You may be more powerful, but even the strongest people will falter against numerical advantage. Tell me, will your twelve fighters still be willing to stand against more than a million modified dragons?" As he gloated over his assumed victory Freid looked directly at Vali''s face to see the killer of his God in despair, except Vali had a grin like a maniac spreading across his face as he replied, "Correction, only six of us will be fighting against you, and now I have to say this fight doesn''t seem like such a disappointment! A white dragon army versus the white dragon emperor, you better not let me down!" After stunning everyone present with his l.u.s.t for battle that wasn''t reigned in even while facing such odds, Vali was then instantly covered in a white metallic armor as he bolted straight up into the sky while Bikou, Arthur, Elaine, and Fenrir followed. After they left everyone turned towards Le Fey expecting that she''d soon follow as the sixth person, but instead she started forming a massive magic circle before shouting, "Come on out Gogz!" After a flash of bright light, everyone saw instead a massive golem that would''ve given Hajime wet dreams if he saw it. Without even receiving instructions from its master, the massive golem immediately made its way out the hole made by Uranos and joined Vali and the others in their fight, which by this point they had started a competition on who could eliminate the most dragons. After it left Aiko hesitantly stepped forward and asked, "U-um Le Fey, what was that?" Le Fey turned to look at everyone and casually replied, "It''s Gogmagog, but I just call him Gogz. He''s going to help fight the dragons while I stay down here to make sure the castle doesn''t get destroyed." As she finished speaking Le Fey started forming several complex magic circles in the sky between them and the ongoing battle, just in time for them to block a massive attack that would have devastated the castle and most of the people in it. Everyone was silent until Le Fey looked at Cattleya and Liliana expectantly, making the two recall what they were supposed to be doing. Cattleya immediately turned back towards her king and stated, "Your majesty, as I said before these people aren''t someone we should cross or refuse. While the group that came with us are one of the most powerful under the champion of the goddess Gabriel, they are not the only ones in their league and there are others even stronger than them, the champion especially! Please do not give them a reason to turn their weapons on us!" As she finished speaking the king was silent, as his mind rapidly tried to make sense of what he was experiencing. Almost his entire being wished he was dreaming as he had witnessed his God that he worshiped his entire life being brutally slaughtered in front of him, and he had heard his God turn on them nearly the moment he was attacked. With these events being fresh within his mind, as well as the display of power he was currently witnessing, the demon race king realized that he may have to make the choice to turn his back on everything he was ever taught, or risk the annihilation of his people. Chapter 262 - Entering the Frost Caverns of Schnee A giant ship was sailing silently over a seemingly endless field of ice with a large ravine splitting it right down the center, though the attitude of those on deck betrayed how cold it actually was. For the most part they managed to get along well in the frigid weather due to their artifacts and winter outfits, like Rias wearing an expensive looking red fur coat while Grayfia wore a what at first seemed like her usual outfit, but like Rias was lined with fur to keep warm. Others, such as Anne and Kuroka, however didn''t seem to get warm no matter how many layers they added or how many artifacts they wore, and were hibernating below deck where it was better insulated. Then there was those like Alex, the madman who was doing general exercises in his own way, while shirtless even though the temperature was well below freezing. All of the girls on deck were watching him intently as he trained, working himself so hard that steam was rising off of his body, except for the only other person training. Shizuku seemed to be trying to copy Alex''s approach and was only wearing a pair of shorts and a tight t-shirt, saying it helped temper the strength of her willpower. That wasn''t all however, as she stood still on the deck and deflected all sorts of incoming attacks from an unseen opponent. The group continued watching the two back and forth while drinking hot chocolate, until finally Alex stopped when he received a call from someone. "Go ahead." He said into the magic circle while putting down the things he had been lifting. Everyone watched him curiously as he listened to whoever was on the other line, before he finally ended the call and explained to them, "The Vali team and Liliana made contact with the demon race a few days ago, and they''re willing to cooperate now that their God Aruvhite and their champion have been killed. I told Le Fey to relay that there''s going to be a peace conference in one month between the super powers now that each group is listening to us, Grayfia I want you to return to every place we''ve been so far with a ruling body like Ankaji and Furhen, and report the same things to the people in charge there. Hajime I want you to return to the empire since you''re the only one who''s been there before, and tell the emperor the same thing. I''ll pick you up at Orcus in the morning, and Grayfia you can spend the rest of the afternoon off with Millicas since we''ll probably be entering the Frost Caverns of Schnee tomorrow." The two took a few moments to prepare before leaving, with Hajime taking Kaori with him as well so the two could spend the rest of the afternoon on a date together. After they left it was just Alex on deck with Rias, Yue, Shia, Tio, and Ryutarou, while Suzu was huddled downstairs with Anne and Kuroka. Since he finished training Alex turned towards Shizuku and her hidden sparring partner while saying, "You can stop as well Shizuku, we should spend the rest of our time relaxing before entering the caverns." After he spoke Shizuku visibly relaxed herself while to the side another Shizuku appeared out of nowhere, before they both turned towards him and said, ""Ok."" Though it was a bit strange to be seeing two of the same person, Alex didn''t let it show on his face while everyone else present was alternating which one they looked at. Alex instead walked over and started scrutinizing both Shizuku''s closely. It had taken her a few a days to understand the basics of controlling her newly squired chakra, and then another day or two before being able to adequately use it. She had only managed to successfully create a single clone of herself the day before, and this was the first time it was being put to the test by being her own sparring partner. As he was scrutinizing her Shizuku observed, "It''s actually enlightening to spar with myself-" "-since I can experience firsthand my mistakes-" "- and can learn to fix them immediately." Alternating back and forth unconsciously between herself and her clone, everyone else was also following the speaker confusingly while Ryutarou muttered, "This is so trippy..." While they all slowly nodded in response. Alex then added to what Shizuku said, "There''s also a theory that you can use shadow clones to increase the rate at which you can improve your skills, since when they''re dispelled any progress they''ve made is returned to the original as well. So, once again in theory, if you managed to create two clones and train for long periods of time before dispelling them, then you may be able to triple your training speed. However this method requires being able to create a large amount of clones and to maintain them for long periods of time to work properly." Hearing Alex''s suggestion, Shizuku was shocked and started contemplating the possibilities of using such a shortcut, something she''d much rather attempt than simply using evolution magic to level up. Her thoughts were interrupted however when Alex slipped his hands down the back of both Shizuku''s shorts and started teasing her. ""HYAN!!!"" They both cried out as Alex shamelessly started playing with her most intimate areas, before saying, "Boy I am looking forward to being able to play with a whole horde of Shizuku''s, but for now I''ll satisfy myself by playing with two of you." Both Shizuku''s glared at him hatefully while trying to extract his hands from their shorts, but were unsuccessful and were hopelessly dragged away by Alex as he retreated with them to the bath to wash the sweat off, as the rest of the girls swiftly followed. "Being around these guys is practically torture..." Ryutarou muttered dejectedly as he stayed sitting for a few more minutes before making his way to his room in shame. *** After a hot and steamy night in his room to contrast the weather outside, Alex stepped outside onto the deck of Zenith while leaving all of the sleeping women in bed. This surprisingly included Suzu who used the cold as an excuse to join them, something that made Alex feel a little guilty at first due to Ryutarou, but since the man in question was still pining after Yue and as there was currently no indication of a possible relationship between the two, he got over it. The one who had the biggest issue with it however was Shizuku, the one who suffered the most at the short girls hands and mouth once she had free reign with her body. Shaking his head lightly to rid himself of strange thoughts, Alex started doing some light warmups in preparation for diving into the icy labyrinth. There was one particular trial on this labyrinth that the rational side of his brain kept screaming was dangerous, but alternatively made his saiyan blood boil in anticipation. It was because of this that he was unable to rest properly, as the closer they got to entering the labyrinth, the more excited he got like a child for Christmas. He fought back the anticipation however and focused on warming up his body in the freezing air, which had already frozen his hair that was still damp from his quick shower. It wasn''t until the sun started rising that he went and woke up Rias to start preparing everyone, before leaving to fetch Grayfia along with both Hajime and Kaori. By the time they returned, everyone had already dressed and were preparing to eat breakfast before departing into the final labyrinth. After eating, Alex then stood up and said, "So with this labyrinth I can safely assume everyone would want to finish as quickly as possible, that''s why I want to try and do a speed run where we focus on mobility and moving forward as quickly as possible, something that should be easy to do with the magic compass." There was a bunch of enthusiastic nods in response to what Alex said as, even with extra layers of clothes and artifacts, no one wanted to be down there longer than needed. Alex then spent a few more minutes detailing how he wanted to approach traveling through the labyrinth, before everyone split to make last minute preparations. Finally, it was time to challenge the last labyrinth as Alex led everyone in their plummet from Zenith, before smashing through several feet of ice in order to reach the entrance to the frozen cave below. "It''s even colder in here than outside!" Anne wailed even though she was fully clothed for the first time since her first life, causing the bulge that was the cat form Kuroka in Alex''s jacket to start chuckling condescendingly. As Alex was taking the lead Kuroka was hiding within his jacket in order to erect a barrier to protect everyone from the worse of the cold, and once they entered the cave from the snowflakes that induced frostbite on impact. Shortly after entering the cave they encountered their first opponents, a quintet of yetis that were instantly smashed by Alex, turned to pulp by Shia''s hammer, sliced to ribbons by Shizuku, obliterated by Rias''s destruction, and set aflame by Yue''s fire magic, no one even bothered to slow down in their rushed charge forward. "...Fire magic is being suppressed..." Yue muttered as she fell back in their formation and Grayfia took her place, while Hajime took Shia''s, Kaori took Rias''s, and Suzu took Shizuku''s. Though Alex was staying in the lead with the magic compass, everyone else was alternating their positions within their formation in order to ensure they all got a chance to fight and prove themselves to the labyrinth. Though they didn''t encounter any other opponents, a chill did go up everyone''s spines as they saw several humans and demon race people frozen within the walls of ice around them, correctly assuming they were people who lost their lives within the icy caverns. There was an shared sense of alertness when they saw the perfectly preserved corpses, but when they didn''t move no one paid them any mind for the moment and continued. They swiftly made their way through the labyrinth taking the rights and lefts in the path''s forks as the compass led them, until finally arriving at a four way intersection. "Ok, this way next!" Alex shouted before Shia replied, "Wait! I hear movement!" Everyone then glanced down all four passages, and saw what seemed to be entire hordes of zombies coming down all of them, even the one they were just on. Rather than being intimidated by the oncoming undead though, "Target practice time!" Alex shouted as he charged down the correct path, while dismembering any bodies that got in his way. With speed that betrayed their sluggish appearance, the horde from all the other passages chased after them before being bombarded by the hailstorm of attacks courtesy of Yue and Rias, while those in the front helped Alex clear the path forward so that they were participating as well. No matter how much damage they did however, the ice around them would fill in any destroyed parts of the zombies bodies and they would quickly reform before resuming the chase once more. "Any place else and this would be an amazing training exercise..." Shizuku muttered as she bisected her thirtieth zombie, and was answered by several agreeing nods. Alex smiled at the thought as he continued forward until reaching a larger room that had no other exits, instead they were further assaulted by several opponents that formed from surrounding walls of ice itself, into wolves and Eagles. Similar to the zombies, they quickly reformed after taking any damage before resuming their attack. Alex then stated, "Kill some time on the attackers to farm exp, I''ll deal with the main one controlling them." After hearing their confirmation of hearing his orders, Alex once more turned his attention towards the magic compass to find where the crystal controlling the ice golems was. He then watched as a giant turtle made of ice crawled out from the walls surrounding them, before slowly taking a step forward. Alex was intentionally approaching his opponent slowly so as to give everyone else plenty of time to farm exp, during which the bulge that was Kuroka would occasionally disappear from within his jacket as she''d instantly teleport to slaughter any zombies or ice golems that approached him before returning to her den of warmth once more. The only thing Alex had to be conscious of as he approached his opponent was its frost breath, but as it was nowhere near as fast as him he didn''t even consider it a threat. Finally Alex got close enough that decided to make his move and disappeared before reappearing right above the massive turtle, and bringing his Haki coated fist down through the armor of bladed ice-sickles right into the middle of its shell. A thunderous boom echoed throughout the room, before the turtle and the floor beneath it caved inwards as the dark red crystal within it shattered. As the turtle died everything with the room froze, before collapsing into lifeless corpses and chucks of ice once more. "Well that was simple!" Shia stated relaxedly as the enemies disappeared before Alex approached her and delivered a merciless Haki infused forehead flick, making the usually indestructible rabbit fall to the ground while writhing in pain. "Never raise a flag! The moment you say something like that it sets you up for something else about to happen, no matter how small the chances were!" While Shia looked up at Alex teary eyed while holding her forehead, she also saw Hajime and Kaori nodding in agreement in the background while everyone else was muttering things like ''now that you mention it...''. "...I''m sorry..." She muttered dejectedly, before she felt someone roughly ruffling her hair and rabbit ears. She looked up to see Alex with a small smile as he explained, "Just remember that using such lines can make even the simplest victory turn into a dangerous situation, even for you." Shia smiled at the concern Alex was showing for her, even if it was a little rough, and narrowed her eyes contently at his ruffling of her hair and ears. Sadly such a nice moment couldn''t last, as Alex only gave them a few minutes to relax and refresh themselves before resuming their swift trek into the newly formed tunnel after the destruction of the red crystal. The tunnel didn''t go very far however, before opening up into a massive cavern that none of them could see the other side of, with the entire floor of which was covered by a maze of ice. "Flag rabbit..." Everyone muttered while Shia writhed in shame, and even Alex could only smile wryly as the size of the maze was far larger than even he was expecting. Without further ado, and after grabbing Ryutarou by the scruff of his neck to prevent him from trying to jump above the walls, they started their long journey into the maze of ice. Chapter 263 - Whispering Voices After spending several hours rushing through the maze of ice, slaughtering various creatures like the yetis or more ice golems and random hands that tried to grab them from the walls; Alex finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw the passage widen into a large room with a pair of massive doors made from, you guessed it, ice. After eliminating the horde of monsters waiting for them, Alex said while examining the doors, "We''ll rest here for a while, Hajime while we''re doing that can you send out some of your crossbits to find whatever fits in these keyholes?" Hajime snorted in response, and without saying anything sent out a small swarm of crossbits while simultaneously pulling out his custom made giant tent to rest in. Everyone immediately filed into Hajime''s tent, which was expanded with spatial magic, heated, and even had carpet and a kotatsu table. "Is this really the inside of a tent?" Ryutarou muttered dumbfoundedly as they started collapsing and relaxing in the heated and comfortable area. Alex smirked and replied, "This is why I''ve never once regretted scouting Hajime, his quality is better than any other craftsman I''ve seen." While the girls couldn''t help but nod in agreement, Hajime himself adopted a proud and confident look from the praise he was receiving for his creations. After shrugging off the extra layers that weren''t needed in the warm space, Grayfia, Rias, and Shia conjured several items for cooking like pots and pans, before starting to work on preparing a nice warm meal and hot chocolate for everyone. Soon the only one that was unable to properly relax was of course Ryutarou, as he looked to one side and saw Hajime being pampered by Kaori while also receiving a lap pillow, and on the other was of course Alex who was currently laying face down in Anne''s lap while she played with his hair, and Yue and Shizuku were massaging his back and legs. Of course the calm and relaxed atmosphere was ruined as Tio stated, "Master, this ones lap is also readily available for thous use, or perhaps thee will prefer to use mine body as chair or- AHHHHNNN!" Without finishing what she was saying, Tio suddenly collapsed and started twitching after Alex casually pressed a button he had on himself, and a muffled buzzing sound filled the silent room for a few seconds until he pressed it once more to turn off whatever he had activated. Everyone then ignored the panting Tio on the floor as Shia started passing around the cups of hot chocolate, that they drank while eagerly awaiting their warm lunch. *** "Found them." Hajime suddenly said while everyone was in the middle of eating, drawing all of their attention away from their delicious and warm stew. Seeing he had their attention he explained, "I found four gems that look like they''ll fit into this door, and are all guarded by yetis far larger than the ones we dealt with before." Alex nodded and said, "Then we''ll deal with them real quick and get back to finishing our lunch before moving on." There were a few groans in response as no one really wanted to leave the warm place they were in, but no one fought it as started sorting out groups to make sure everyone was involved in the defeating of the yetis. Then things took a somewhat different turn than they were expecting as, instead of leaving their lunch for later and going to find the yetis themselves, Hajime just opened a gate directly into the yetis lair where each group would go out and start bullying the yetis while the others watched. Unexpectedly, everyone''s sadistic sides made an appearance as it somehow turned into a competition to see who could bully their yeti the worst, during which Alex won hands down with a standing ovation while Tio panted disgustingly in the background, though Hajime came in solidly at second. With all of the keys collected, everyone reluctantly got up and exited the tent to move on. As they inserted the gems into each matching slot, the massive doors started to slowly inch open to allow everyone a look at what lay beyond, yet another maze of ice. "I''m glad we saved this labyrinth for last, otherwise I shudder at the thought of trying to attempt it without the magic compass." Rias muttered while everyone nodded in agreement. Considering how well they were able to ward off the cold though, Alex couldn''t help but think it would''ve been better to have the compass when they were in the Gruen and Raisen labyrinths instead. He kept his opinion silent though, and then swiftly led the party forward using the magic compass, though he wasn''t moving at the same speed as before so that Ryutarou and Suzu wouldn''t need to reapply their ''knight'' promotion after resting, instead saving it for any troublesome battles ahead. There was another reason Alex didn''t want to move too fast in this section, as he was worried that a certain aspect of this part of the labyrinth would unnecessarily increase the risk when they were currently doing fine. As they moved onward the hours slowly started ticking up, all the while Alex could tell there was a noticeable shift in the mood of the group as the trial of this labyrinth came into play. Every person was becoming increasingly agitated as they made their way forward but, not wanting to be considered crazy, they kept silent about what was bugging them until finally Alex heard what they were all experiencing. ''You are truly sc.u.m.'' "Hmph." Alex snorted in response to the voice, knowing fully well that it was referring to what he experienced in his "ideal world" back in Haltina. He had long since accepted that he was a horrible person for "stealing" the members of Issei and Hajime''s harems, but he had gotten over it since he endeavored to treat the girls right and had never actually "stolen" them because he made sure to meet them before they fell for the original protagonists. Feeling the gaze of everyone as they wondered what he snorted at, Alex didn''t worry about their looks and decided to instead alleviate the misgivings his loved ones were experiencing. He started with the nearest woman, Yue, and smoothly swooped her petite body into his arms before suddenly saying, "I will never betray or abandon you Yue, like it or not you''re stuck with me until the end of time, and even after that." Yue was surprised at Alex''s sudden declaration, but realized he must''ve known what the voices were saying to her and smiled before saying bewitchingly, "... Indeed, even if Alex tried to abandon me, I would not let you..." Alex smiled as well to her response, and the two shared a brief yet passionate kiss that made the onlookers who didn''t hear what they were saying even more irritated. Though she wanted to stay within his arms, Yue knew Alex was trying to cheer them all up and reluctantly freed herself before resuming her original position. After making sure they were still going the right way with the compass, Alex then swooped the second nearest girl into his arms, Shia, and whispered to her, "Trip all the traps and flags you want you Flag Rabbit, you''ll never lose me and the others. Or do you think we''re that weak?" Shia was surprised at what Alex said to her, before a smile blossomed on her face as well. The voices had been reminding her that it was her fault her family was nearly killed or captured, and that she would cause the same thing to happen once more with Alex and everyone else. Hearing him tell her that they''ll be alright, and criticizing her for thinking so little of them, she was incredibly happy and snuggled up to his chest while saying, "Since you say that then I''ll believe you, that just means that no matter what you''ll always have to come back to me!" The two then shared an intimate kiss as well before Shia reluctantly also left his arms to make room for the next person he was going to comfort. One by one Alex worked his way through the girls as he addressed their various concerns, Rias who was feeling guilty for abandoning her parents and heritage to follow him, Tio who had originally gotten to know them in order to use Alex to kill Ehito in order to avenge the death of her parents, Kuroka who still felt guilty over the suffering she had caused Koneko in the past, Anne who still felt somewhat bitter that she wasn''t the only one one in Alex''s life, Shizuku who was wondering if she was truly allowed to act as she wanted instead of hiding her feelings all the time, and Suzu who felt guilty about knowing Eri''s true personality and blamed herself for not stopping her before. One by one the smiles started returning to their group as the girls concerns were alleviated while they were being comforted, until finally the only one left was Grayfia who wasn''t at all surprised when she suddenly found herself being teleported into Alex''s arms. Just as he was about to say something though, she quickly rolled out his arms and returned to her position while staying cooly, "I''m fine, I don''t need your comfort." Alex was admittedly more than a little stupefied at her response, as well as the rest of the girls who directed looks of incredulity at her. Grayfia ignored them however, even as the increasingly familiar feminine voice whispered, ''You worthless whore.'' She frowned slightly as she was once more forced to recall betraying her husband and becoming Alex''s lover. Shaking her head slightly to try and get rid of the thoughts, she instead tried to focus on finishing the labyrinth and leaving as quickly as possible. Though he had an idea what the voices were whispering to her, Alex decided to let Grayfia handle it herself like she wanted since the main source of her guilt was centered around himself to begin with; instead he surprised everyone by summoning the only person who was still looking depressed as even Hajime and Kaori were supporting each other, Ryutarou. As the big guy fell into his arms like the girls had, there was series of snickers as the image of Alex holding him in a princess carry, but before Ryutarou could say anything Alex whispered to him, "You know I truly respect your restraint and self control, just remember that if it ever waivers, I''ll throw you on magical girl island before dowsing it in aphrodisiac from the Haltina Labyrinth." While ignoring Ryutarou''s reaction as he turned completely white from fear, Alex then used spatial magic to send him back to his original position as they resumed their journey. After spending a few more hours speeding through the giant maze, dealing with traps and monsters while the voices were whispering in their heads, everyone let out cries of relief when they finally entered a room that had another set of massive doors in it. The only problem was, that compared to the doors from before that had a small horde of monsters guarding it, this was practically screaming ''trap'' from how empty it was. "Might as well get this over with..." Hajime muttered as he casually started walking towards the doors, while everyone slowly followed. Sure enough, when they reached the center of the room a series of tiny ice shards started raining down on them, before a beam of light appeared and started reflecting off of them in order to attack the group from nearly impossible to predict angles. "Well this is fun." Alex said nonchalantly as he casually continued walking across the room, his Haki giving him plenty of warning when the beam of light was about to strike. However at that moment thirteen large chunks of ice started falling from the ceiling as well, before standing up to become more yeti-like ice golems that were wielding shields and glaives. And finally in order to add to the fun, when Yue and Rias unleashed their magic attacks they curved away from their yetis that were their targets, and instead honed in on the other. "WATCH IT MIDGET!" "... You too busty bimbo..." After turning their attention away from their opponents to snap at each other, Alex suddenly appeared at each of their sides before delivering a swift chop to the top of their heads. As they rubbed their heads while slightly teary eyed, Alex stated, "Both of you knock it off, it''s most likely this labyrinths fault that happened. Everyone, try not to use ranged attacks except at point blank if it''s going to make us direct them at each other!" After everyone confirmed they heard his orders, they each squared off against their opponents as there was a yeti golem for each person present. Before they could square off however the labyrinth added one more fun rule, and kicked up a snowstorm around them so fierce that no one was able to see or hear anything around them, adding to the deadliness of the laser beam as they wouldn''t see it until it was nearly too late. Cut off from everyone and occasionally dodging the deadly laser of light, Alex faced the menacing looking yeti as it glared down at him. "Sorry, but you''re in the way of the fight I really want to get to." Alex muttered as the yeti charged him, yet when it swung its glaive at him it passed through him as if through air, before the after image disappeared. Before the yeti could even ponder where its prey went, the entire cavern shook with several concussive blasts while the yeti golem exploded into a very fine icy powder. Alex didn''t even look back as he made his way down the newly formed tunnel through the icy storm around him. Though it obviously formed as a result of defeating his opponent, anyone who was watching would say it seemed more like the labyrinth was intentionally trying to inconvenience him as much as possible after the display of power. "Now I just have to wait for them." Alex muttered as he exited the tunnel and saw the giant gate right in front of him. Instead of just aimlessly waiting though, he decided to take this time to prepare for the next trial. Using his ki, Alex started floating and crossed his legs like he was meditating before entering a state of focus to ready himself. The next person to finish their challenge was of course Hajime, who wasn''t surprised to find Alex already waiting for him after the way the cavern shook before, but after seeing the meditative state he was in he decided not to disturb him. One by one everyone managed to win their fights and joined them in various degrees of disarray due in part to the laser beam around them and, similar to Hajime, when they met up everyone kept relatively silent as to not disturb Alex''s concentration, who was now having lightning spark around his body from the raw concentration of energy. Soon all that was left to pass the trial was surprisingly Rias and Yue who, when they finally did finish at roughly the same time, appeared as the storm settled while of course bickering. "IF YOU HADN''T BEEN USING MAGIC SO CARELESSLY, THEN I MIGHT''VE FINISHED SOONER!" "... Says the pot!..." The bickering continued until Grayfia smacked them both on the top of their heads and grabbed their ears. As both girls winced Grayfia stated in a whisper, "Quiet you two, look!" As they turned to look at what Grayfia wanted them to see, they saw Alex hovering there in a deep state of concentration as sparks of lightning occasionally danced across his body. Though the gate had opened once they all passed, no one rushed through as they all silently watched Alex while also recovering from the last fight. After only a couple minutes however, he finally opened his eyes and stood there before simply saying, "Let''s go." Though everyone wanted to know what was making him act this way, it was obvious Alex expected to face an unimaginably strong opponent in the next trial, and so they themselves started trying to psych themselves up. He then led them towards the opened gate, which revealed a magic transfer circle much to everyone annoyance. Expecting something similar happening like in Haltina, they all quickly stood on the magic circle and were teleported in a flash of light. *** When Alex opened his eyes he was in yet another ice corridor, except this one was relatively small and led in only one direction. Ignoring his reflection in the ice around him, Alex walked along the passage while maintaining his concentration, his heart starting to pound loudly in his chest in anticipation. Boom boom boom After a few minutes of walking Alex finally entered a large room with a giant pillar of ice in the center that also perfectly reflected him. Instead of immediately approaching it however, Alex said out loud, "Lauren, I want to enjoy this thoroughly, so I need help with some spells to make sure I don''t destroy the surroundings." As she had mellowed out from whatever caused her irritable mood swing over the last few days, her tone was the usual as she replied, ''Of course, first you need to-'' She then spent the next several minutes walking Alex through constructing the proper spatial magic spells he wanted, before he finally activated them. Soon a reddish membrane formed around the room only an inch away from the icy walls that surrounded him, before the room suddenly also started growing in size until it was ten times larger than before. The first spell was to help isolate the space the room was in, to ensure Alex didn''t cause too much damage to the surrounding labyrinth during his fight, while the second spell was obviously to expand the area like Hajime''s tent so that there was plenty of room in the upcoming battle. His preparations complete, Alex didn''t hesitate in walking towards the giant pillar in the center of the room. As he approached his reflection grew larger until it was the same size as him, and became a perfect image of Alex''s appearance. Looking himself up and down, Alex removed his coats and other winter apparel before donning his orange fighting gi while his reflection matched him. He then looked back at his reflection, and the grin of a maniac started spreading across his face while his reflections expression was unchanged. "I''ve been waiting for this, you better not disappoint me!" After hearing his words, his reflection chuckled by itself before a maniacs grin to match his own spread across its face as well. "Be careful what you wish for." His reflection replied, before turning completely white, from it''s hair to it''s clothes, and stepping out of the ice pillar to face him. Chapter 264 - Seeing Double As the two Alex''s stared at each other, the original suddenly flashed backwards several meters so they weren''t directly face to face. This caused the white Alex to laugh slightly, before saying, "So where exactly am I supposed to start, hmm? Your disregard for the lives you''ve ended? How about your tendencies to "collect" women? Or even how you''ve separated them from the "fates" that were arranged for them?" While his double was speaking Alex didn''t even flinch as he instead mentally asked Lauren, ''Can you keep my mind isolated from the labyrinth from here on? I don''t want to decrease his strength during our fight.'' Lauren sighed before replying, ''Of course, though this method would''ve been preferable to prevent it from increasing instead...'' Though she didn''t say it, Lauren also wished Alex would''ve done this to begin with in Haltina''s ideal world instead of experiencing that ridiculous dream, but kept this opinion silent and did as he asked. His preparations finally complete, Alex now said to his copy, "How about we cut the chit chat and get to the fight?" His double was silent for a second before sneering, "What? Are you that against hearing about your faults, the disgusting aspects of your life that you don''t want to face?" Alex sneered back in response and replied, "I''ve already accepted that I''m sc.u.m, why do you think I refuse to be acknowledged as a hero?" Ever since reincarnating Alex had never once tried to be a hero, even in Tortus he only ever went by "champion" whenever he saved people. Seeming surprised by Alex''s answer, the double was confused for a second. It was made so that it was equally as strong as its original and, depending on if they accepted their ugly side or tried to ignore it, their strength would grow or increase accordingly. Seeing Alex "accept" his ugly side so easily while its strength remained the same, the double could only conclude that he was bluffing and showing false bravado since it didn''t know about the existence of Lauren. It was pulled from its thoughts when Alex lifted something for it to see, a simple coin. "When this hits the ground, we''ll begin our fight." Alex said with eagerness in his voice and battle l.u.s.t in his eyes. The doubles eyes sharpened as it decided to try to catch its opponent off guard during their fight, and got into a battle stance. As Alex lightly flicked the coin into the space between them, he too quickly got into a stance for battle. The watched as the coin flew through the air, seeming slower than it should have been as the tension continued building and they each heightened their awareness far beyond what a person should have been. Tin- BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM As the small noise of the coin hitting the floor sounded throughout the ice chamber, it was interrupted and followed by a series of conclusive blasts as both Alex and his double moved instantly to repeatedly clash, filling the room with several after images of them both while the resulting shockwaves spread to their surroundings even through Alex''s barriers. *** Meanwhile when Alex''s fight was just starting, Rias''s had just ended as she stood in the middle of her trials room, or what was left of it. It had been subject to the powers of destruction from Rias and her copy, resulting in it looking nothing like it''s smooth mirror self when she started her fight. As for the person herself, Rias was standing in the middle of the room breathing hard as her skin color turn back to normal, and the dress of destruction she made also dispelled. For a brief second the Crimson haired girl was standing n.a.k.e.d in the room of ice as the cold crept into areas it was never supposed to, but before she could re-summon her clothes and artifacts from before her transformation, the ground suddenly shook and she fell back on her rear. "EEEK!" Rias cried out as she jumped up and hurriedly summoned her clothes before trying to warm herself and her now frozen butt. "What was that?" She complained to herself while shivering, and swearing that she had to figure out a better way to handle the transformation into a super devil. Though the door to next area appeared, Rias spent a few more moments trying to warm herself before making her way down it cautiously. As she was once more surrounded by the reflections of herself, she snorted while recalling her battle and wondered about the others. Now she understood why Alex had been acting the way he had right before they were separated, as facing themselves as opponents was a daunting thought. Her thoughts were then interrupted when she reached another room, only to find Anne fighting herself while a series of whirlwinds flowed around them from both of them using sky dragon slayer magic. "He should only be with you!" The double suddenly declared, making Anne flinch and catching Rias''s attention, after all it was fairly easy to determine who the double was referring to. "You waited twenty years and he couldn''t even be bothered! Instead he surrounded himself with worthless s.l.u.ts who do nothing but shake their asses for him!" Anne was silent as her copy verbally abused her, trying to convince herself that it wasn''t saying the truth. However she didn''t expect what it was about to say next, "Ah, here she is now, the lead s.l.u.t." Anne looked over to the side and saw that Rias had arrived and was watching her fight with interest. Feeling shame she tried to say something like these weren''t her true feelings, but before she could the copy spoke once more, "She stole his first time after arriving in his original world, and she''s helped build up the army of bitches around him! He would be all yours if it wasn''t for her, kill her for it! Make her suffer!" Anne was speechless as her double stopped fighting and pointed directly at the stunned Rias. Though she''d be lying if she said she wasn''t the slightest bit tempted to become Alex''s one and only, another part of her screamed that it was impossible. Anne then used her telekinesis and grabbed her double while it was off guard, and practically shouted, "Yeah I want to be his one and only, I feel frustrated that he didn''t wait for me like I did him and that I have to share him with so many women. However there''s one thing you don''t know, if he belonged only to me, if everyone else simply disappeared, THEN HOW THE HELL IS MY BODY SUPPOSED TO LAST TRYING TO SATISFY HIM BY MYSELF!!!???" The double was stunned silent for a moment, before Anne decided to use the most vicious method she could think of to defeat it, and used her telekinesis to tear the double to pieces while Rias watched dumbfoundedly. After destroying her double Anne collapsed silently to the floor as she tried to think on what the double told her, while Rias slowly and silently approached. "I used to be kinda like you at first, I hated the idea of sharing Alex." She said slowly, as Anne looked up at her. "And how did you get over it?" She asked, making Rias start laughing a moment later. Though Anne''s questioning look started turning into a glare, Rias calmed down and said, "The same way as you actually, Xenovia, Akeno and I challenged him to go as long as he wanted, and it wasn''t until the sun got in his eyes the next morning that he realized that he literally screwed us all night long. The three of us couldn''t walk normally for a few days after that." After hearing Rias''s story Anne was silent for a moment, before she too started laughing wildly. The two continued talking for a while as they recovered from their fights, before finally moving down the passage that opened after Anne won her fight. "So who do you think we''ll see next?" Anne asked cautiously while Rias started thinking about that same thing. After a moment she finally answered, "It''ll probably be someone the labyrinth might try turn against us like you to me, though I can''t think of anyone that''ll fit that description." Anne nodded in contemplation while another shake ran through the caverns, causing the two women to grab onto each other for support. "What was that?" Anne asked in confusion, while Rias stayed silent. She thought it might be Alex fighting his double, and was worried at the thought of him facing someone at the same level as himself. As for everyone else, she felt she didn''t need to worry; Shia and Tio were both practically indestructible, Kuroka wasn''t a top ranking criminal for several years for nothing, if it was Shizuku when they first met instead then it''d probably be cause for concern, while Rias doubted the midget would struggle too much, and of course her sister would naturally be ok. Suzu was the only one she could imagine struggling as she silently cheered her cute/perverted servant on, and didn''t even bother worrying about the others. "Oh, I can see the next room!" Anne cried out as she and Rias started rushing forward to see who was there, only to be greeted by the sight of Grayfia face down in a growing pool of her own blood, a pure black version of her stepping on the back of her head while getting ready to drive a sword made of ice into her heart. *** *a few minutes earlier* "HA!" Grayfia shouted as she once more crossed blades with the pure black version of herself that the labyrinth created, before creating a mass of demonic power and firing it at the copy. After taking some distance the copy similarly started forming several complex magic circles before firing them at Grayfia as well. The silver haired maid responded by using her ''Magic Domain'' to forcibly hijack her opponents magic attack, and send it back to her. Though her domain didn''t have the same range or power as when she used her super devil form, it was still enough to ensure opponents up until the same level of strength couldn''t use magic against her. Within the hail of magic attacks however, "Promotion, knight!" The copy muttered quietly before making its way through the hailstorm of magic faster than Grayfia could see, and landed a punch directly into her face. As she was sent back several feet from the hit, Grayfia wiped the small trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth before similarly promoting to knight as well. Another benefit of becoming a super devil was that for some reason she was now able to promote without Alex''s permission, a great boon in situations like this. As she and the copy rushed towards each other once more, they both prepared to to hit the other but Grayfia never would''ve imagine what was about to happen. "Promotion, rook!" The copy shouted, resulting in it coming to nearly a standstill while Grayfia still rushed forward into its powered up fist, before being sent flying back after being overpowered. With the distance between them increased, the copy suddenly spoke while Grayfia was preparing for the next round. "Not bad for a whore, someone who betrays those they call precious and spreads their legs for whoever offers a better deal." As she stood back up Grayfia glared at her copy before saying, "I am not a whore!" The copy sneered before responding, "Really? A s.l.u.t then? A loose woman? Or perhaps a gold digger? You swore oaths to stand by your husband no matter what, and yet here you are only a couple years after he disappears shaking your ass for another man just because it''d benefit you more than staying faithful would have. But that''s not the real reason for your guilt is it?" As the copy spoke Grayfia briefly recalled her ideal world in the Haltina labyrinth, a world where surprisingly everything was nearly the same as it was now in Asora with three exceptions, the inclusion of Rias''s parents Venelana and Zeoticus Gremory, and a little silver haired girl. Though Grayfia always wanted more children, she had always believed Sirzechs would be their father like with Millicas; however what she believed was the final nail in the coffin of her betrayal against him, was that in her dream world her daughter had the tail of a monkey, just like her father. A sudden pain interrupted her thoughts, as Grayfia looked down and saw a sword made of ice stabbed into her stomach. With a sadistic sneer on its face, the copy gleefully stated, "To think, the one known as the ''Queen of Annihilation'' would get sentimental over daydreams of having a daughter, just like a naive little girl!" As the copy gloated over her weakness, Grayfia gripped the blade of the ice sword weakly as if to try and pull it out, but only succeeded in cutting her own hands open as the cold from the blade seemed to sap more of her strength. If she was thinking more clearly then she would''ve been able to use some of her skills or age of gods magic to help herself, but her mind was in complete disarray from the copy''s taunting and the immense feelings of guilt growing inside her. The copy then seized her throat and started choking her while slowly pulling the sword out of her stomach, making Grayfia feel directly the cold blade slicing through more of her organs. The copy then threw her across the room where she landed face down as blood started pooling beneath her from the wound in her stomach. As Grayfia weakly tried to use her hands to lift herself, she suddenly felt a foot on the back of her head before she was brutally forced to plant her face down hard enough that her nose snapped on impact. With blood now pooling under her face as well, the silver haired woman laid there limply as her double pressed the tip of its ice sword against her back, right above her heart. "I''d say this is the part where you fail." The double said, but just before it could stab the sword down into Grayfia''s heart, "GET THE F.U.C.K AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!!" A shrill yell echoed throughout the chamber, right before a massive blast of destruction hurdled right towards the double. Barely moving out of the way in time, it turned to see an extremely pissed Rias surrounded by yet more destruction before she started lobbing it at the double. While Rias kept it distracted, Anne quickly ran to Grayfia''s side and started treating her wounds. Though she wasn''t able to use Devils magic like the others, she was thankfully able to add Regeneration magic in her healing to speed up the process as well as help Grayfia recover her lost blood. After fixing her nose and healing the hole in her stomach, Anne rushed to Rias''s side and said, "I helped heal her but I don''t know what the double said to her, go to her and I''ll keep it busy." Rias nodded in acknowledgment and rushed to her elder sisters side while Anne used her telekinesis to forcefully hold the double in place, though it was really fighting back. As she approached Grayfia''s side Rias knelt down and took her sisters hand in her own while she tried to figure out what was happening. Before she could say anything though, Grayfia muttered, "I''m sorry-" "Don''t talk and don''t say you''re sorry, you have nothing to be sorry for big sis." Rias stated firmly as she truly felt her sister had never done anything wrong. Grayfia however frowned in response and replied, "I betrayed your family who completely accepted me, I betrayed Sirzechs whom I married and swore faithfulness to, and I betrayed you who I cherished as my beloved little sister. I don''t deserve your love or respect-" SLAP There was a stunned silence as once again Rias interrupted her big sister, except this time with an open hand instead of with her words. She then shouted to her stunned older sister, "THE ONLY PERSON YOU HAVE BETRAYED, IS YOUR SON WHEN YOU GAVE UP HERE!!! How will Millicas react if I had to tell him his mom is never coming home?" With a discernible sadness creeping into her voice during the second half of her declaration, Grayfia paused and realized how stupid she had been acting when she pictured her son. Initially everything she''d done since Sirzechs left them was for his sake and protection, and so what if she secretly started to enjoy her current lifestyle? As if to confirm her new thoughts Rias then added, "And as far as big brother is concerned, he betrayed you first when he left you to suffer from those old bastards alone!" Though she didn''t like to swear or speak ill of her big brother, Rias still couldn''t accept that he just left Grayfia and Millicas in the situation they were in, and was also grateful that Grayfia turned to Alex instead of suffering whatever intentions they might have had. With renewed determination, Grayfia struggled shakily to her feet and turned towards her opponent, who Anne released with deep sigh of relief as blood had started running from her nose from how much she was struggling to contain it. With the copy turning towards her as well with its usual sneer on its face, it opened its mouth to say something but was interrupted. "I am Grayfia Lucifuge, former queen of Hell and servant to the Dragon Emperor, but most importantly I AM a mother!" At the end of her declaration an intense surge of power started emanating from her as she closed her eyes, only to open them a moment later to reveal that they had turn pitch black, except for the silver glowing iris''s. As the power around her continued growing, her skin started gaining a silver metallic sheen while a single foot-long horn started growing from her forehead, and five sets of pitch black wings radiating demonic power formed behind her. After her transformation was complete something like a thin membrane seemed to spread out from Grayfia until it enveloped the entire chamber, including the double. The double smirked after seeing what Grayfia did, and started amassing magic power itself to undergo the super devil transformation as well. However, it was now Grayfia''s turn to sneer as she pulled the gathering demonic power from the double''s body and used it to form several magic attacks around it while it looked around at shock from suddenly losing the energy it was gathering. "Did you forget? My domain gives me complete control over magic power, meaning any magic you try to use is now mine." The double growled from annoyance and flashed forward while slashing at her head with its ice sword, only for Grayfia to effortlessly catch it with two of her fingers before shattering the blade. Before the double could comprehend what happened, it then received a fist to its face before being flung back into the wall at the other end of the chamber. As it hit the wall and created a large crater from the impact, Grayfia blasted the double with a mass of demonic power more potent and powerful than anything else she had summoned in her life. As the dark demonic power started fading, the pure black form that was the double was also gone as a new passage way also opened up, signaling Grayfia passing the trial. She then released the form while letting out a bitter sigh. "As powerful as this form is, my reliance on it is nothing but a sign of my incompetence." She muttered to herself. As far as Grayfia was concerned, the super devil form was a last resort to use whenever there was no other chance of victory, and the fact she had to use it to get an advantage over herself showed just how weak she was. Her self critique was interrupted however, when she nearly collapsed but was caught by Rias and Anne who suddenly appeared at her sides. "Let''s rest for a moment, you need it." Though Grayfia was about to argue, seeing the healer Anne also glaring at her kept her silent as the duo slowly let her down onto a small cot Rias summoned. As Grayfia laid down the two then used Regeneration magic to further heal her and help restore lost blood, while also ignoring the occasional tremor that ran through the area. Chapter 265 - When in Doubt, Shout it out After spending nearly half an hour recovering, Anne and Rias decided that it was probably time for them to keep moving and reluctantly woke Grayfia. Though she was enjoying her rest and was annoyed at being woken up, Grayfia instead stated the opposite and criticized the two girls for not waking her earlier and wasting time. Smiling slightly from how her sister was back to normal, Rias led the way while Anne stayed right next to Grayfia to help her if needed, much to the maid''s annoyance. The trio slowly made their way through the pristine corridors and ruined chambers that were empty of their combatants, all while the occasional tremors seemed to be becoming more common and intense before suddenly ceasing right before they came upon the very group of people they were looking for. "What have we missed?" Rias asked while eagerly looking for news. She saw everyone except Alex looking fairly well and somewhat upbeat, meaning they all should have passed their trials, except Yue who seemed to be concerned about something else. Though several of them gave casual replies regarding their own experience, others like Hajime and Ryutarou were silently pointing into the camber they looking into, prompting Rias, Anne, and Grayfia to look in cautiously before their faces suddenly started twitching in incredulity. Inside was Alex as they expected, except he was moving at speeds none of them could follow and the few glimpses they caught showed both he and his double were covered with various obvious wounds, a sight that would have been horrifying if not for the insane grin plastered across his face. "They''ve been going at it ever since I got here, and I got here before everyone else..." Hajime slowly said to the stupefied trio, before Rias demanded, "Why haven''t you gone to help or something?!" Hajime snorted at such a question, and replied, "Because I''d get killed if I did. Even I can''t truly follow their movements except for when they stop to trade blows, and besides with a smile like that he''d probably kill me for interfering. Saiyans are such huge battle maniacs that they''d gladly walk to their own death if they''d get a good fight out it." Rias was dumbfounded when she heard Hajime''s explanation, something Alex had told her before but she never truly believed until now. Her attention was then drawn back to the fight when an intense golden glow shined throughout the area, and she could see that Alex had activated his super Saiyan ability while his double did its own black haired/aura version. She suddenly realized something asked, "Why can''t we hear them or feel it when they clash, weren''t we earlier?" Kuroka suddenly jumped up and raised her hand while saying, "That was me~Nyan, Alex put up a barrier to isolate the space around them so it wouldn''t effect us, but didn''t do it properly so I had to step in and fix it~Nya!" The trio nodded in understanding, and decided to set up to rest since it looked like Alex was going to be fighting for a while, and they hadn''t properly relaxed since before they entered the labyrinth to begin with and the mental fatigue was swiftly catching up to them. They melted and sculpted the surrounding ice so that it could comfortably fit two tents as well as a heater with several chairs around it so they still keep an eye on Alex. Even while they had dinner everyone kept watching what little bits of the fight they follow, but as the hours slowly ticked on it became apparent that he wasn''t going to finish anytime soon. Even then, it wasn''t until Shia released a tired yawn that Grayfia said, "Let''s get some sleep, I know that everyone wants to watch over Alex, but there''s nothing we can do here and I''m sure he would rather we get some rest than worry for him." Though several of the girls wanted to protest, the fact that they hadn''t properly rested since entering the labyrinth, along with the mental fatigue from the whispering voices and fighting their doubles, no one was able to argue and the girls including Kaori filed into one of the tents. After Kaori gave him a kiss goodnight, Hajime turned towards Ryutarou who was the only one left, and said, "I don''t know about you, but I''m watching this until the end." Ryutarou smiled before agreeing, and the two boys get comfortable in their chairs with the heater nearby, and watched a fight they would normally only be able to see in their favorite childhood cartoon. Meanwhile inside the tent a very different conversation was taking place, as with a perverted grin on her face Suzu was passionately saying to the gathered women, "But just think about it, we are all freezing cold and what better way to warm up than the piling of several warm bodies under the blankets!? That''s why we should definitely have our pure yuri scene right now!" The surrounding girls sighed while a couple like Tio and Kuroka giggled while looking interested in the petite girls proposition. However it was Shizuku who said, "Listen Suzu, despite whatever happens while we''re all in bed with Alex, we are not yuri!" Though she tried to squash Suzu''s idea, the perverted girls smile just grew as she suddenly pushed Kaori into Shizuku''s lap and then declared, "But think about it, we have a chance that we don''t usually get, even an exclusive Shizu Shizu X Kaorin yuri scene that everyone in the class expects, yet I''ll be the only one to witness! Hehehehehe" Ending her declaration with a perverted laugh, Shizuku sighed once again and was about to reject Suzu''s idea while pulling Kaori off of her lap, but then someone gently grabbed her wrists and when Shizuku turned to see who it was, her lips were suddenly sealed by the mischievous nekomata. After nearly a minute of passionate kissing that Kuroka wouldn''t let her get away from, Shizuku was finally released as she started panting from lack of air while the culprit was deductively licking her lips, seemingly savoring the flavor of her own. "Nya~ why don''t we follow the little perverts idea, huh? After all I wouldn''t mind warming up a little you know." Though Shizuku was dumbfounded by Kuroka''s actions, before she could refuse them her lips were once again sealed, except this time by her own best friend. Surprising everyone by the relatively awkward kiss, after they separated Kaori embarrassedly said, "I''ve always wondered what so many women would do in the same mans bed, and since I''ll make sure that Hajime and I never get into that situation, maybe I can find out here?" Surrounded by shocked silence Kaori was beginning to think she said something wrong, when she was suddenly tackled by Suzu who eagerly sealed her lips immediately. With Tio and Kuroka also swiftly pouncing onto her, Shizuku was also quickly dragged into the play despite her protests. "Shouldn''t we break them up?" Shia asked hesitantly, before Rias just sighed and similarly started undressing. "They''ll probably go on regardless of what we have to say, so I guess we can either join in or try to sleep while having to listen to them going at it." After hearing her reasoning the rest of the girls also sighed before beginning to undress, while Grayfia also summoned a large pile of thick blankets and mats to place down for them to use. Soon the already warm tent was heating up considerably while a steamy atmosphere developed, all without either of the two boys outside knowing what was going on due to the soundproofing. *** While the girls were having fun without him, and the guys were intensely watching his fight, Alex himself had no time to wonder about them and instead could only focus on the opponent right in front of him. While possessing both his strength, his fighting style, and all of his abilities, their fight had initially turned into a competition to out do each other''s reaction time with Haki. Observation Haki itself was almost a form of clairvoyance/mind reading, it was like an alarm telling you your opponents intentions right before they put it into action. It was partly because of this that their fight dragged on for so long as with the same exact specs they were able to easily react to the others intentions, until the first blood was finally drawn by Alex himself, and his double responded by spamming random ki attacks. If one were to try and figure out a saiyan''s true power, it wouldn''t be anything like strength, or stamina, or resilience; it would instead be their raw potential and adaptability in battle. The longer the fight dragged on the more Alex was improving, faster movements, increased reaction time, battle intuition, and even his strength. All of these were steadily increasing throughout their battle as for the first time since reincarnating, Alex was able truly go all out in a match of martial arts. Every opponent he''s faced since being reborn was, in several ways, horrible match ups to draw out his potential; wether it was a broken magic ability like Sirzechs and his power of destruction, or people like Cao Cao who were martially trained but relied on sacred gears to fill in the gap in strength, even divine beasts like Fenrir that were equipped with teeth that penetrated any defense. Until now now the only one who came close to giving Alex a satisfactory battle was Sun Wukong, except the only real advantage Wukong had against him was proper training and experience, other than that Alex had also severely outclassed him in terms of raw strength as well. That was why, even though everyone was starting to think he was crazy, there was a massive grin plastered on his face. "Starting to get a bit slow there aren''t you bastard?" Alex cried out as he sent his double flying with a kick. The double stood back up with an ugly look on its face, as while Alex''s grin had only grown throughout their fight, it had only grown increasingly frustrated. No matter what it had said to him, he simply shrugged it off as if it was nothing and continued fighting without even the slightest bit of despair in his eyes. What vexed the double even more was that it''s strength still hadn''t changed from when the fight began, and if Alex had truly accepted his ugly side then this shouldn''t be the case. It had toyed once with the idea attacking the gawking bystanders to get a rise out of him, but as the barrier around them was powered by Alex himself, it didn''t have the strength to quickly break through it. In an attempt to get an edge once more, the double then summoned Alex''s Ascalon and surged forward as if intending to cut him in two. Alex''s expression didn''t falter in the slightest, as he pulled out his own Ascalon and started and intense high speed clash of swords. Cuts started appearing all around the space they were in along with the already existing craters that they made, along with the constant shower of sparks as the two swords repeatedly clashed. "HAHA, thanks for the sword training!" Alex shouted, as even his ''Sword Technique'' had ticked up another level after just a few minutes of their exchange. "Grrr..." The double growled as it quickly moved back and took a distance before dispelling its sword, prompting Alex to do the same before asking while smirking, "Are you gonna help me level up my ''Staff Technique'' now as well?" The double growled once more as it wondered for the hundredth time what the hell was wrong with him, before saying, "This next exchange will be our last, prepare yourself!" Hearing its words Alex also became serious before the two suddenly disappeared from the spectators view, and reappeared in the middle of the room with a loud boom as they locked hands and tried to force the other back. Though they were still at first, the double was slowly but surely being pushed back by all the improvements Alex had made during this duel. Seeing its defeat inch ever closer, it finally decided to start playing by its own rules and summoned its version of the boosted gear on its left hand. The gear shouted before Alex could react to it, causing the black aura surrounding the copy to suddenly double in size while also seeming to suffocate Alex''s golden aura, and it started to swiftly start pushing Alex back instead. "Y-you bastard!" Alex groaned, furious that his double used the sacred gear he was purposely avoiding for this fight, much to Ddraig''s annoyance. The double smiled evilly as Alex''s heels were suddenly pressed up against the wall behind him, and it said, "I may be you, but that doesn''t mean I have to play by your rules!" Alex glared back at the double, before snarling, "I play by saiyan rules and rule number one; when in doubt, shout it out!" After saying his piece, Alex took a deep breath and focused on all the energy in his body, before letting out the biggest scream he was capable of. "Haaa, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" (A.N. Will Alex surpass his limits and defeat his double? Will he pass the trial and finally acquire all age of gods magics? Or will he destroy it and lose the chance forever? Find out next time on GOD SUCCESSION SYSTEM!) Chapter 266 - When in Doubt, Shout it out(part 2) "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" *Meanwhile off to the side* "This really is just like watching a real live episode of Dragon Ball Z..." Hajime muttered while Ryutarou nodded in agreement next to him. Chapter 267 - Ascension Beyond Ascending Though it appeared Alex was just shouting his head off, like true saiyan logic, the energy around him started increasing at an abnormal rate while actual bolts of lightning started shooting off of him. The double watched dumbfoundedly while Hajime and Ryutarou''s jaws dropped in amazement, as Alex''s golden hair started growing wilder and slightly longer and a single strand of it fell in front of his face. With his power now doubled what it was before and more than equaled to his opponent, Alex stopped struggling and even stopped fighting the double''s strength, before kicking it square in the chest while still locking hands with it. While being sent flying back with the force of the kick, Alex''s firm grip on its hands resulted in both arms tearing off at the shoulder and the double howling with pain as it crashed into the wall on the far side of the room. As it tried to quickly get up and face its opponent, Alex was already there with a sadistic and evil smile on his face. "Here, have a taste of this!" Alex said gleefully as he kicked the double over so it was facing up, before slamming his foot down on one of its knees to snap it with a sickening sound. Though they couldn''t hear it, both Hajime and Ryutarou paled at the display; Ryutarou because of the sheer brutality of Alex''s actions, and Hajime since he realized that if he wanted to challenge Alex now, he would be facing a SSJ2 instead of just a normal super saiyan. The duo watched silently as Alex sadistically and systematically destroyed the double''s body bit by bit before it finally vanished with a look of relief on its face. After he had passed his trial Alex glanced over at the duo, making them both look away suddenly as if to avoid provoking him. Alex smirk condescendingly before releasing his transformation, and then letting out a sigh of relief as the transformations influence left him. "I made the right call not evolving if something as small as SSJ2 affected me so much..." Alex muttered regretfully as he started walking towards the the place where everyone had set up camp, dispelling the spells he put up along the way. As he approached them Hajime cautiously asked, "You alright now?" Alex nodded and replied, "Yeah, the effects of the transformation were a bit more intense than I was expecting. I think it''s safe to say this is the last trial, so we''ll stay here while I rest and then complete the labyrinth after I wake up." Hajime and Ryutarou nodded in agreement since they both figured that after fighting against someone of equal strength for so many hours, even Alex would be exhausted. As such, he unhesitatingly turned towards the girls tent and went to enter, making Hajime''s face twitch in annoyance. Though he would have stopped Alex normally, since he knew Alex was completely exhausted and he wasn''t aware of the girl''s earlier activities, he he just tolerated it and entered his and Ryutarou''s own tent. Meanwhile the second Alex entered the tent, though it was too dark to see and everyone was already asleep, he could tell that "something" had gone on earlier without him. "Cheeky girls, we''ll see how I punish all of you after we leave the labyrinth." Alex muttered as he quickly undressed and collapsed into a very deep sleep. *** It was more than twelve hours later when Alex finally awoke to someone lightly rubbing his face with a warm sponge. A smile spread across his face as he asked, "Can I expect every inch of my body to cared for?" A light chuckle answered him as Grayfia responded, "If that is my lords wish, then I shall be happy to oblige." Alex cracked open an eyelid and looked at the silver haired woman questioningly, as he could tell there was something different in the way she was acting. "I take it your trial went well?" He probed while trying to gauge the reason for her difference. Grayfia nodded with a small smile as she replied, "My head is quite a bit clearer from it yes, though I''m ashamed to admit that I had a bit of harder time than everyone else." Alex nodded as he was sure Grayfia especially was effected by the labyrinths tricks, but he was glad to see that she was ok now. He then reached up and gently pulled her head down so that their lips met gently and tenderly, something that Grayfia seemed to eagerly respond to. When they parted however Alex said with a wicked grin, "Since everything''s alright then I won''t feel bad later when I have to "punish" you and the others for your exclusive fun last night." Grayfia paused and paled slightly right above his head as she contemplated the many different ways Alex might "punish" them, while the man himself simply got up and started stretching his sore muscles. As he took a moment to think, a rush of excitement ran through him since he had finally achieved SSJ2 and had drastically increased his strength. As this thought ran through his head though, Alex was also already thinking on several training routines to adapt to his new form and increase his strength further to SSJ3. Due to the sheer difference of level in the Dragon Ball world, Alex had already decided that he wanted to at least reach SSJ3 before entering it, lest he find himself in the path of someone like Beerus or Majin Buu. As he made his way out of the tent to satisfy his roaring stomach, Alex was suddenly tackled by a gaggle of girls who had seemingly "sensed" that he was awake. "You''re finally up!" Anne exclaimed as she hurriedly checked him over for injuries as if she hadn''t done it already several times since she woke up herself. "I''m fine, I''m fine." Alex said while lightly chuckling at her behavior, before turning his attention towards each of the other girls and reassuring them while also giving each one a kiss. When Alex reached Yue however, he could tell something was off about the vampire princess and knew she was thinking on her past. Deciding to talk to her later about it since they put off the last leg of the labyrinth enough as it was, he settled with pulling her close and giving her a slightly more passionate kiss, before saying to the stunned girl, "We''ll talk later about what''s bugging you, ok?" Though she was momentarily surprised, Yue smiled at his concern and nodded in confirmation before wrapping her arms around him. Seeing her relax for the moment, Alex finished addressing each girl before saying, "Let''s knock down camp since after I''m done eating breakfast we''re moving on to get the hell out of here." There was a small cheer at Alex''s words as everyone was eager to leave the cold caverns, and so after about fifteen minutes of him stuffing as much food as possible into his mouth, they were finally ready to leave. While they walked along the corridor that opened up after Alex won his fight, everyone shared their experience from facing themselves in the last battle, though a few like Ryutarou glossed over the details of their fight. The poor guy was being instigated by his double to challenge Alex and take Yue for himself, however he told his double to "go f.u.c.k itself" and beat the crap out of it since Alex scared him too much. Rias''s had been over how she abandoned her family and responsibilities again, but she handled it easily by turning into a super devil and saying that she didn''t regret her choice since she was able to reach such heights by doing so. Anne was another one that glossed over the details of her battle, but she did confirm that her copy used her own jealousy against her, something that the rest of the girls comforted her over since they somewhat understood her feelings. Shia was another one that had an easy fight, as she had already accepted the horrible things her double tried to use against her. After being questioned by everyone else Kuroka finally gave in and explained that hers was about the way she left koneko in the past, which drove a wedge between the two sisters. What she didn''t mention was how her double also threw the fact that she was a disappointment of a ''queen'' in her face, something that bugged her more than she''d ever admit even to herself. Suzu''s was about how she was aware of Eri''s true nature before she betrayed everyone, but turned her eyes away from it and felt responsible for for her actions from doing so. She had beaten hers by acknowledging her faults, yet also by reforming her conviction to meet with Eri one last time. Tio''s was about how she was originally using Alex and co for her own ends, and how she was always a social outcast due to her abnormal strength within her own clan, though she didn''t explain any of this and acted perverted to cover for herself. Shizuku''s was about how she was always forced to give up the things she wanted to meet her family''s expectations, how all she ever wanted to be was a girl, but she had to act like the son her family never had due to her talent with the sword. She had fought back with the fact that Alex treated her plenty girly, to the point that he even recently started calling her his "cute kunoichi", something she claimed she didn''t like though she secretly did. Grayfia was another one who didn''t go too much into detail about hers, while Hajime and Kaori only shared theirs with each other. Finally was Yue who explained why she had been so silent since they all met up, making everyone go silent as they contemplated her situation. It was pretty much common knowledge that she had been betrayed by her uncle and retainers before being sealed in the depths of Orcus since they couldn''t kill her, but her fight with her double made her realize that she might have been mistaken in their intentions and now she was questioning everything she currently thought about them. Surprising everyone, Alex wasn''t shocked by this information and said, "Yep, I knew about that already." Silence descended on them before Yue suddenly tried to grab him by the shoulders and demanded, "...What?!..." While everyone else looked at him as if also demanding an explanation. Alex sighed and said, "This is what I meant by we''ll discuss it after finishing the labyrinth, I knew about this ever since we met, but kept quiet since you didn''t initially have any doubts about what happened regarding your uncle. I figured I''d wait until you readjusted to life again or started having an idea of the truth before telling you, since it might have been too confusing to hear it all at once right after being freed. Like I said, after we finish this we''ll talk about it." Though what he said earned him several looks of blame with Yue at their center, Alex shrugged it off since he had expected this from the beginning. Seeing his nonchalant reaction as well as knowing his tendency to play the villain when he needed to, Yue and several of the girls sighed in exasperation as they continued on their way. After walking for several minutes they eventually reached a dead end in the corridor, that had a single teleportation magic circle circle carved into it. "Don''t tell me we''re going to get separated again...!" Hajime cursed while everyone else groaned. Alex smiled bitterly and simply activated the magic circle, which blinded everyone before they opened their eyes to the sound of running water. Though they were still within a cavern of ice, before them was a large lake of crystal clear running water. Alex removed his artifact to repel cold, and felt only a mildly cool air around him rather than the freezing cold they''ve felt so far. Seeing him remove his artifact, everyone else hesitantly removed theirs as well before letting out sighs of relief at the refreshing air around them compared to the penetrating cold, before moving on to crossing the various steps in the water across the lake. "Say what you will about the Liberators, they made their homes in some pretty breathtaking areas." Alex said to numerous nods of agreement as he reached the home in the middle of the lake. Opening the grand doors they saw a beautiful home carved in ice, yet like the air around them it was simply cool to the touch instead of cold. After a quick check through the house Shizuku found the room with a large magic circle in it, obviously the spot where they were supposed to acquire the last age of gods magic. "Alright, let''s get this over with~Nyan!" Kuroka declared as everyone eagerly made their way to the magic circle, before it began its customary check to see if they passed all the trials, during which the girls secretly sighed in relief when it didn''t display their memories to the others like the Under Sea Ruins did. Instead, """""""Gu, AHHH!!!""""""" Several people shouted as five of them suddenly collapsed. Chapter 268 - Magic of the Gods With several collective groans Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, and Hajime all fell to the ground before passing out, while Anne and Alex both staggered while their noses were bleeding excessively. While Kaori ran to Hajime''s side, Shizuku appeared at Alex and Anne''s while Shia and Tio went to make sure everyone else was ok. "I''m fine, I''m fine..." Alex groaned through his bloody nose before Shizuku could ask anything, while also glancing at Anne to see her nod as if to say she was fine as well. He then turned towards Shia and said, "They should be fine as well, it''s just the effect of learning Conception magic. Move them into another room to properly rest." Shia sighed deeply in relief before energetically saying, "I''m on it!" With Shia and Tio moving the girls into another room, and Kaori taking care of Hajime, Alex and Anne made their way to the living room to find a place to sit as they were both still feeling a little nauseous and light headed. It was at this time that Suzu and Ryutarou appeared with water and paper towels for the two, which they gratefully accepted and downed immediately before cleaning their faces. After finishing their own emergency jobs, everyone still conscious gathered into the living room as well and watched as Alex and Anne down glass after glass of water, before finally seeming to relax. As the two looked as if they were going to be ok, Shizuku hesitantly asked, "You said this was a result of the conception magic, what did you mean by that?" Alex took a few breaths to calm himself before answering, "It was mostly because of the conception magic yes, but it was also a result of the true use of each magic being burned into our minds at the same time. In short our brains were overheating, causing everyone else to shut down. Anne and I are unique, so we somehow managed to stay awake through it." At his side Anne was slowly nodding as she too was trying to sort through all of the information going through her mind, and was listening to Jenny''s explanation of what happened. Though he already knew to a certain extent what the true concept of each magic was, it was another thing altogether to have the information crammed into his head. Alex then launched into an explanation of the true use of each of the age of gods magics they had acquired. First was the Creation magic they acquired in Orcus, originally it was considered to be a magic that effected minerals and created artifacts, but in actuality it allowed for complete control over inorganic matter. This expanded past minerals to even include things like water, and it allowed them to enhance and power inorganic matter beyond that. Second was Gravity magic, something that was typically used to alter the weight of something or the relative gravity within a certain area. The real use however was utilizing the power of a star, and even being able to generate earthquakes or trigger volcanic eruptions. Though Alex could already destroy a planet if he truly wanted to, with the knowledge he had just gained he could instead trigger planet wide 10.0 earthquakes or eruptions that could effectively wipe out all life on it while leaving the planet intact, that didn''t include the fact that he could also technically use Gravity magic to pull down a meteor or even a planet''s moon to use for an attack. Third was Spatial magic, something that originally was used to create portals, storage rings, and enhance barriers. It''s real value however laid in the fact that it allowed manipulation of any conceivable boundary, even going so far as to eliminate race gaps or even creating a separate dimension like a spirit world. With the new knowledge going through his brain, Alex even theorized that the concept of "physical limits" a person''s strength could reach would now be a thing of that past, as one could simply eliminate such upper limits and increase their strength indefinitely. Then was Regeneration magic as the forth, something he had already spread was really a form of time manipulation and not an advanced healing spell. Using it one could even replay past events or revert their body to a previous state, or perhaps even use such a thing on their enemies to revert them to a weaker state. The fifth was of course Spirit magic. Instead of simply manipulating a soul, it allowed one to access the various forms energy within a body such as magic power, body heat, electric currents, and even going as far as manipulating a person''s thoughts, consciousness, and memory. If he mastered it then Alex would also be able to theoretically be able to even create artificial souls. With Evolution magic as the sixth, it of course originally allowed them to evolve their abilities by one level. Alex however had already touched upon the true potential of it when he used its real power of manipulating the information of things that exist to force Rias and the others to undergo evolution. The seventh and newest was of course Alteration magic, something that originally allowed one to create or tame monsters. The true purpose however made it the exact same/opposite as creation magic though, as it granted one the ability to interfere with any organic material, wether living or a dead byproduct. Using this Alex theorized that it might actually be possible to rewrite a regular persons genetic code to that of say a devils or Angels? Finally was the eighth and final magic, Conception magic. It was a combination of all seven other age of gods magics that was able to manifest the users wish into a magical form, yet depending on the way the magic is used it may only have a single use. Depending on the way a person handled the concept and how powerful their wish was however, it was possible that it could be used repeatedly. As Alex finished explaining what he learned to everyone, there was a piercing silence before Shizuku muttered, "These truly deserve to be called "age of gods magic", most of those powers sound like something only a divine being should be able to use." Hearing her remark Alex couldn''t help but laugh somewhat mockingly before replying, "I think Ehito and most ancient myths prove that not even gods can be responsible with these kinds of powers, but you''ll be able to tell for yourself when you and Shia achieve Conception magic as well." Though she wasn''t listening to closely to the first part of Alex''s sentence, both Shizuku and Shia were suddenly alert while Shia asked, "What do you mean we will be learning it?!" Alex smirked and said, "Well you know about my ambitions right? To ensure that we''re unmatched against the others I want each of my peerage members at least to possess every kind of age of gods magic, including Conception magic. Of course the reason I didn''t let you acquire Creation magic before was because I don''t want my cute servants to half-ass it and cheat through a dungeon by jumping to the end, so before we leave I''ll expect you to clear the entirety of Orcus along with Shizuku, though she''ll also have to challenge Raisen as well." After he finished speaking Alex continued smirking as he enjoyed the stunned silence, though there was also the glaring issue that the peerage members he recruits later wouldn''t be able to acquire age of gods magic, that was a problem Alex would think on later. Before either girl could try to back out of challenging the remaining labyrinths, a small voice suddenly said, "...hm, we are still here?..." Everyone turned and saw Yue standing there, before she was quickly joined by Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka, incidentally Hajime was busy receiving Kaori''s affection after recovering in a different room. Before anyone could say anything, Kuroka quickly rushed into Alex''s lap and cried, "Nya...~ that was horrible... Comfort me Alex~Nya!" Alex could only shake his head and started scratching his spoiled kitten behind the ears while the others watched in amazement. "That little, even though all we felt was an intense headache before passing out..." Grayfia muttered incredulously while Rias''s eye started twitching. After a moment however Alex turned his attention towards Yue again and asked seriously, "Since the labyrinth is out of the way, do you want to talk about your past now Yue?" Though she was initially shocked by Alex''s proposition, a firm look gleamed in the vampire princess''s eyes as she replied, "...yes, I want to know the truth!..." Alex nodded and glanced around at everyone else, wordlessly asking if she wanted to go to another room for privacy. Yue understood his unasked question and used magic to forcefully lift Kuroka from lap before depositing the disgruntled nekomata into an empty chair. After sitting in his lap and making herself comfortable Yue said, "...I have nothing to hide, everyone can listen..." Alex nodded but didn''t start talking right away like she expected, and instead removed a large crystal from his personal storage before finally saying, "I went back to the room you were sealed in after you fell asleep the day we found you, and found this tucked away secretly." Yue''s breath froze as expectations of what Alex was holding started running through her mind, before he started it and the image of her uncle Denreed appeared. Though Yue noticeably tensed at first, she relaxed after he started speaking. "...Aleytia. Long time no see, I wonder if saying that is wrong?-" After his somewhat awkward opening, Yue''s uncle Denreed continued into an apology for doing the things he had to her and his thanks to the person who freed her, before moving on to his explanation for sealing her. He stated that Yue was born as a "god child" that was claimed by Ehito to be a future host for his new body. When he realized this Denreed pretended to enact a coup that killed her, while secretly having her sealed underground instead. He then stated that while he desperately wanted to tell her the truth, he could not risk it for fear of Ehito discovering his treachery, and that if it would be good if her hatred of him gave her a reason live through such an ordeal. He then started closing his explanation by saying he wouldn''t dare ask for something like forgiveness for his actions, but only for Yue to know that he loved her from the bottom of his heart, and even considered her as his own daughter. Alex felt several warm drops suddenly hit his arm, and tightened his embrace on the small girl as she muttered her own words of affection for her uncle. Then Denreed''s gaze wandered and he asked for the assumed presence of the one who freed her to ensure Yue''s happiness, to which of course Alex affirmed he would make her happy. After that with a satisfied smiled Denreed then said his final words, "...goodbye Aleytia, and I hope the world around you is filled with happiness." His final words, spoken Denreed''s image started quickly while Yue cried out, "...father!.." Before turning and burying her face into his chest. Even as she cried her eyes out, no one pointed it out as they all tried to dry their own eyes and somewhere someone even blew their nose. Alex himself just gently held the woman in his arms, and provided as much comfort as she needed, before after several minutes she started to calm down. It was at this point she asked no one in particular, "... What happened to them?..." Alex grimaced before replying, "From what I understand, Ehito wiped out the entire vampire race after you vanished in a rage, and your uncles body was used by the minor God Aruvhite as a host." Yue looked up at Alex sharply when she heard his words, and demanded, "...he is still defiling my uncle?!..." Alex quickly shook his head and explained, "Aruvhite was killed by Vali and his group when they journeyed to the demon race''s territory, I''m sorry your uncle had such an end, but I hope it was preferable to end him quickly than to let him be used like that even a moment longer." Yue showed a complicated expression at what Alex told her, as one part of her wanted to resolve her family''s matters herself, while a bigger part of her was also grateful that her uncle was already at peace. She then felt Alex''s hand wrap around her own before he said, "There''s still Ehito to worry about, and I''ve already confirmed that because of you becoming a devil he''s unable to inhabit your body." Purpose and bloodl.u.s.t rose in Yue''s eyes, as she started mentally preparing herself to face the enemy of her entire nation and family. As they were listening everyone else was also giving off a slight killing intent while Rias was surprisingly the first to speak up, "Don''t worry midget, where we come from beating up gods is like any other Tuesday!" While everyone else showed various levels of shock, Grayfia and Kuroka were silently nodding in the background while Alex muttered, "At least I can fight this one to death without worrying about being known as a god slayer." Though many gods had a an antagonistic relationship with each other, there was still a sense of unity between them as divine beings. If Alex had killed the evil gods he faced back in the dxd world, he would have painted the biggest target in the world on his own back and on those around him. With no such concerns this time, Alex was getting fairly excited for this next match. Seeing him enter such a state even though he had just had an intense battle with his own double, several people started shaking their heads while Hajime, who had just reappeared along with Kaori from whatever they were doing, stated for everyone to hear, "See, battle junkies the lot of them." Everyone present started nodding their heads in agreement while Alex was already running through various scenarios of how he would face Ehito. With the mood quickly becoming one of facing the God, Grayfia then spoke up, "We should return to Asora to start preparing, first we need to figure out how to invade his divine realm and how many people to bring as well as who to bring." With her words snapping Alex out of his own planning, he turned to everyone present and stood to say after gently moving Yue to the side, "Alright, the rest of you return to make the preparations, before we move out we''re still going to spend a few days training just to be sure before attacking. Grayfia notify all the import people in Asora that we''re going to have a meeting as I want to talk to them regarding what''s going on as well as a few other important items, this includes Vali''s group as well. Hajime I want you to start working on something that will help us get into Ehito''s divine realm, and Rias I want you to tell Valerie that I need her for that thing that we discussed. The rest of you get some more rest before we start our mega training montage, I have one last errand to run before we start moving." With their orders everyone snapped to attention as they quickly followed Grayfia into the mist she summoned. Being left alone, Alex opened a portal to a certain place while struggling for a moment due to this places natural resistance against magic. The moment he stepped through he was immediately greeting in a peculiar fashion. "Hahahahaha, you dare to trespass in this sacred place, guarded by the one, the only, MILEDI~TAAAAN!!!?" Alex was initially surprised at the sudden greeting as he had just arrived, but then he saw she wasn''t talking to him and was facing the other direction while posed with a hand on her hip and two fingers in the shape of a V in front of one her eyes, a peculiar enough pose for a massive golem. When he heard the response however, a smile spread on Alex''s face as he sat down and decided to enjoy the show. "Kukuku, how foolish, completely and utterly foolish. Were do you think we are I wonder? I''ll tell you. We are in the heart of the abyss, the very core of my power! Now prepare yourself to face the indomitable might of ABYSSGATE LORD, THE LORD OF THE ABYSS!!!" Chapter 269 - Miledi Raisen Returns "Humph, cheater..." A miniature golem with a smiley face pouted while Alex smiled wryly and Endou writhed with shame nearby. He then smirked and asked, "What cheating? I only flicked a few marbles for fun while watching an interesting match." The mini golem turned at him as if it was glaring and stated irritably "Normal marbles don''t shatter stone blocks bigger than houses, or stop a giant metal sword while its in mid swing!!!" Alex shrugged and said, "Ok, they were azantium marbles so what? He still passed the trial." The mini golem went "humph" one last time before grabbing the still cringing Endou and dragging him over to the magic circle that granted the age of gods magic. After the process was complete Miledi ignored him once more and turned back towards Alex before demanding, "So what do you want, I''m sure you didn''t come here just to chat." Alex nodded and said plainly, "We''re about to move on Ehito, and I came to make due on my promise to restore your body." The golems body shuddered as realization of what Alex just said ran through it, before asking, "And what if I don''t want to get my body back?" Alex frowned and replied, "Then the only options for you would be to stay down here as a golem until the end of time, or to commit suicide to rejoin your former comrades, both things I doubt they''d like for you." Miledi was silent before she then asked, "And what is the process for restoring my body? I want to know before just jumping into leaving my future in your hands." Alex nodded since it was only a fair question, and answered, "In the world we are from there is a powerful artifact known as the holy Grail, capable of healing any injury, granting immortality, or even resurrecting the dead. I happen to know the person who currently possesses it and they said they''ll be willing to help you." This time the moment Alex stopped speaking she immediately and excitedly demanded, "Can it really bring back the dead?!" Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her sudden enthusiasm, before sighing and saying while knowing what she wanted to ask, "No we won''t bring back your friends, but yes it can bring back the dead." Miledi was silent for several moments before asking dryly, "Won''t, not can''t?" Alex sighed once more before explaining, "Because in order to do so the holy grail connects the user with the root of all life, something that no mortal should ever go near. Though using it to recreate a body while we already have the soul is one thing, repeatedly connecting with the root of all life to bring back several souls that already departed will drive the user to insanity. The girl that can use it is called Valerie, and before she came into our protection she was forced to undergo various experiments using the grail, and to use it repeatedly to bring back several of the worlds most dangerous beings. Though she is relatively ok now, I refuse to risk her repeating that unless it is absolutely necessary." Miledi was silent for several minutes as she thought about what Alex told her, and the comrades that she''d never see again. Finally she said, "Alright I''ll come with you and get a new body. I''m sure that if they were here my comrades will also want me to continue having adventures in new places in their stead." Alex smiled at Miledi''s answer and said while holding out a hand, "Ok then, let''s go since we have a war council to kill a god to get to." When she heard this Miledi''s atmosphere sharpened as she recalled it was now time to kill her life-long enemy. Seeing her change Alex didn''t say anything, and simply wordlessly picked up Endou by the scruff of his neck and led her through a wall of mist into Asora. It was late afternoon when they arrived outside a building the likes of which Miledi had never seen before, where a seemingly normal girl and freakish looking man with a feminine face were waiting for them. Alex nodded at the couple before casually tossing Endou at the guy and saying, "This is one of the new members of Rias''s peerage Gasper, why don''t you take him to the manor where you and Kiba can get to know him before he goes to our meeting?" Though Gasper looked as if he was going to argue to stay and support Valerie, a glance from her told him she''d be alright. After they left mini Miledi stepped forward and said, "So you''re the girl that talks to dead people? I''m the wonderful and amazingly beautiful Miledi~tan!" Valerie chuckled at Miledi''s introduction before saying, "I am indeed, but I prefer to go by Valerie if you don''t mind. I have heard so much about you Miledi, it''s nice to finally meet you." At this point Valerie reached out a hand, which mini Miledi stared at for a second before taking it and energetically shaking it up and down. With introductions out of the way, Valerie then led them inside the building towards the place she had set up for the process to recreate Miledi''s body. As she followed her, Miledi''s gaze was shooting everywhere as she drank in all the new sights and machines surrounding her, several of which she didn''t doubt that O-kun(Oscar) would obsess over trying to figure out how it worked. There was also something else she noticed too, which she muttered quietly, "It''s even cleaner in here than it was in my family''s mansion..." Valerie laughed lightly at Miledi''s observation before explaining, "This is a place called a hospital, it''s where we treat the sick or injured people so of course it has to be as clean as possible to prevent diseases from spreading, though we haven''t used it that much since there are a few people who can use magic to heal here." After that Valerie launched into an in depth explanation of the purpose and use of each machine a place they passed, all of which Miledi silently listened to intently, a sure sign she was being serious as she needed to learn more about this strange world she was now a part of. Soon enough they arrived at Valerie''s personal treatment room since she herself was a prominent figure in the hospital alongside Asia, and more than likely Anne and Kaori in the near future, where she locked the door once they were inside to prevent interruptions and drew the curtains back to prevent prying eyes. Valerie then prepared an examination table/bed and stated, "This is where your new body will be made, I''ll be doing the creating while Alex will be the one using Spirit magic to transplant your soul from the golem into the body once it''s finished, any questions?" Miledi immediately raised her hand into the air before saying, "Yes! Can you make by b.r.e.a.s.ts bigger?!" Valerie smiled wryly and answered, "No I can''t do that, I can recreate your body at any point throughout your life that you were alive, but I can''t make changes to it." Miledi pouted slightly while Alex laughed lightly before saying, "Don''t worry, as far as I''m concerned all b.o.o.b.s should be appreciated regardless of size." Both girls pointedly ignored his remark as Valerie summoned the grail and started working. *** Meanwhile quite a large group of people had gathered in the meeting hall as they awaited for Alex to arrive. None of them were bored though as everyone was busy visiting with those they hadn''t seen in a while, or were meeting the new faces such as Endou and Ryutarou, though Suzu was excused from the meeting to go find Eri. If this wasn''t enough to occupy them though, there was also two large tables laden with various snacks and even meal items for anyone who hadn''t had dinner yet. "Pardon me, ufufufufufu." Akeno said as she pushed a small cart through the gathered people that had a delicious looking cake on it, while Asia and Xenovia were keeping step behind her with plates and other utensils. The three of them were acting as attendants during the meeting since they were technically "servants", plus they were taking this chance to properly meet the new members their master briefly told them about. After cutting a few pieces from the cake and leaving them on the table on plates, Akeno went to return the rest of it to the kitchen, only to find herself face to face with Shizuku. "Ara ara." Akeno muttered as both girls looked each other up and down, gathering several people''s attention at the same time. Both were examples of an ideal Japanese beauty, raised in traditional houses with a secret a heritage behind their families(A.N. Akeno''s mother was from a family of exorcists if anyone forgot), both were "cool beauties" outwardly when they were secretly very girly, and they both had their hair up in a ponytail. As the two girls looked at each other Rias muttered, "For some reason I almost feel like I''m looking at Shizuku when she had her shadow clone out..." Those who knew what she was talking about nodded their heads in agreement as the only real differences they could see was bust size, and the fact that Akeno was openly a perverted sadist while Shizuku was more like a shy maiden. The cross examination was suddenly cut short however, when someone cried out, "MISTRESS!!! This lowly mutt has missed thee!" Tio then came flying out of nowhere and suddenly clung to Akeno''s leg as a sadistic gleam entered her eyes, making Shizuku, Ryutarou, and Endou all shudder as she calmly said, "Hello mutt, I would say it''s nice to see you but it doesn''t seem like you intend to properly greet me." Tio shuddered at the cool sadistic voice that was directed at her, before she immediately got down on her hands and knees and started to slowly lick Akeno''s shoes. After several awkward moments Tio finally rose to her feet while Akeno continued into the kitchen, and Shizuku who was forgotten at the side muttered, "I can''t believe I''m not more shocked at what just happened." She felt somewhat sad that such a scene was now somewhat normal for her, and her days of not being corrupted were behind her, while everyone else similarly resumed whatever it was they were doing before as if nothing happened. The chatter continued to slowly grow louder as more people started showing up, so that those present included Anne, Grayfia, Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Serafall, Sona, Barakiel, Yasaka, Ingvild, Ravel, Roygun, Sairaorg, Vali and his team, Liliana, Aiko along with her bodyguards, Seekvaira, and Hajime along with Kaori. Finally the only ones they were missing was Gabriel and Alex, who arrived last with her on one arm, and another blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty on the other. The moment they walked through the doors everyone''s eyes were immediately on the second girl with Alex, who instantly took a pose and declared, "HELLLLLOOOOOOO EVERYONE, IT''S THE NEW AND IMPROVED MILEDI-TAN HERE!" After her grand introduction, it was dead silent as everyone stared at her dead panned. "Oh god she''s back..." Vali muttered as he was made to recall the hell of a final fight against Miledi in the Raisen labyrinth, along with everyone else who had done it. Like this the silence stretched awkwardly until suddenly a thunderous growl broke it. Accompanying it Miledi''s face turned Crimson, but before she could say anything she immediately smelled and honed in on the food that was prepared. "Food... GIVE ME!!!!" She shouted before diving at the tables and loading up a plate as high as she could. Everyone turned and looked at Alex incredulously, to which he shrugged and asked, "Are you saying you would be any different after not eating anything for more than two thousand years?" Everyone looked awkward in response to his question, and decided not to point out Miledi''s horrible manners for the moment. In fact the reason they took so long to arrive was because Alex personally walked Miledi around the city before going to the manor to pick up Gabriel, and then teleporting to the meeting to ensure that she could readjust to having a flesh and blood body. The first things were of course having her recall basic motor functions as well as the overwhelming scents she could suddenly take in. As a golem she had been able to see and hear, but her other senses were impossible to replicate as well, leaving her unable to smell, taste, and touch for over two thousand years. Then as they entered the meeting hall Miledi''s new nose alerted her to the food nearby, which reminded her that she hadn''t had anything to eat or drink yet, and her new body was desperately craving both. As Alex quietly explained this to everyone they couldn''t help looking at Miledi with expressions of pity and respect for making such a self sacrifice, up until she let out a massive burp before giggling her apologies. Shaking his head with a wry smile, Alex helped Gabriel to her seat before planting a kiss on her lips, and then making his rounds greeting everyone with varying degrees of intimacy before finally taking his seat at the head of the large table. As the majority of those gathered also sat while other stood behind them, Alex adopted a serious look as he said, "Now that we''re all here, let''s begin our meeting regarding how we''re going to move ahead with killing Ehito." Everyone became serious immediately while a few other like Ingvild and Ravel were wondering why they were present as well. After opening the meeting Alex turned towards Vali and nodded his head slightly, prompting Vali to stand and say, "Regarding the situation with the demon race, we''ve removed the minor God controlling them as well as the champion of their race that was further empowered by Ehito, and the army of mass produced dragons they created." Vali then gave a brief account of what happened in the demon race Capitol, with Liliana and Aiko adding little bits here and there. Once he finished Rias said, "That''s good, at least now there isn''t an army standing between us and Ehito when we invade his divine realm." It was at this point Miledi spoke up with her cheeks still somewhat full, "Thash nots thrue, there''s shtill he aposhtels." Though several people wanted to comment once more, they once again stayed silent out of consideration while Alex seemed to suddenly recall something, and muttered, "Oh no..." Before the hall''s door opened once more and a certain someone stepped through. "Please pardon my tardiness, but I had to finish my work before arriving." The second she finished speaking there was a sudden sound of exclamation, before Miledi rose to her feet and pointed at the newcomer with a look of genuine shock and rage on her face, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, AND WHY ARE WEARING A MAID OUTFIT!?" As she looked towards the one shouting at her, Noint''s eyes suddenly widened in surprise and recognition. Chapter 270 - What is Love? Though everyone was momentarily stunned by the sudden situation, Alex reacted first as Miledi started summoning magic power and calmly said, "Grayfia." The silver haired maid didn''t need to be told what to do, as she used her Magic Domain to seize control of Miledi''s magic power and negate it, before the person herself turned back to face the duo with rage while exclaiming, "Don''t you know who she is?! She''s the one in command of the army of apostles that serve Ehito, his most powerful servant!" Though Miledi was slandering her and nearly attacked her, Noint hadn''t moved from her original position as she simply stared at Alex waiting for his instruction. The man in question simply laid back in his chair and waited for Miledi to finish her argument, before finally and calmly countering, "Let me ask you Miledi, what was the goal of the Liberators when you were active?" Miledi narrowed her eyes suspiciously before slowly answering, "We wanted to remove the influence of God, and allow the people of all races to live with free will..." Alex nodded before saying, "Though you say all races, there''s one you''re leaving out who needs freedom from his control the most-" Cutting himself off, Alex then glanced towards the same silver haired woman Miledi had just tried to attack a moment ago. As she gaped in disbelief Alex continued, "They were created for the sole purpose of carrying out Ehito''s will without any regard to their own wishes, or rather he never allowed them to have any wishes of their own. You could say they''re the people Ehito has hurt the most in his long existence, and they''re not even aware of it." As Alex allowed his words to sink into Miledi''s thoughts, Noint took this moment to add, "We all considered free will a joke, a pipe dream of lesser beings dreaming of being more than they were, but now after having my connection to my creator severed I can see that is not the case." As her words echoed in Miledi''s mind she tried desperately to rationalize Noint still being their enemy, even trying to convince herself that she was just acting to get them to let their guard down. However she couldn''t find any reason to support her suspicions as there was no way any of them would be capable of acting, let alone deceiving an entire nation of people. As the silence stretched Alex decided to continue the meeting by saying, "Anyways, as Miledi was pointing out we can assume there will be an army of apostles similar to Noint and the others that will try to stand between us and Ehito." As everyone thought on his words, Kuroka grimaced while asking, "Does that mean we''ll have to fight them while trying not to kill them~Nyan?" Alex shook his head and replied, "No, as tragic as their existence is I''m not going to push the burden of dealing with rehabilitating thousands of apostles onto us, so we can fight without holding back." As he finished speaking Alex looked at Noint to see how she''d take the discussion of slaughtering her own people, only to see she was seemingly indifferent to the topic. With everyone else finding this idea agreeable there was no protests to this idea, and Alex moved onto the real reason he gathered them all. "Onto the next issue then, who will be going with us?" Everyone looked up as they were surprised he was offering to bring them along, while Sairaorg asked, "Does this mean you want to bring us and our peerages as well to fight the apostles?" As Alex was about to answer he was interrupted when Noint spoke up, "Bringing several people along with you would be advisable since my creator will have most likely added to his army with the destruction of Aruvhite and Freid. I would also like to volunteer myself to act as a guide to prevent getting lost within his divine realm." At this point Miledi stood up and declared, "You just want to lead us into a trap don''t you! How do we know you won''t just return to your master the moment it''ll be convenient to do so?" If Noint took offense at Miledi''s accusations she didn''t show it, like any of her other emotions, but instead replied, "My creator had already thrown me away, as such I will never be able to return to my former place within his ranks. If this does not alleviate any concerns though, then I will be willing to let myself become enslaved once more to prevent any kind of subterfuge." Alex grimaced from their discussion and finally managed to intervene before saying, "I was actually already thinking of doing that to begin with, but my concern was preventing Ehito using some kind of command to shut you down or to betray us. I will remove the mark afterwards though since I don''t like enslaving people who don''t deserve it." As he looked at her apologetically Noint c.o.c.ked her head to the side in confusion, as she didn''t understand why Alex would be hesitant to enslave someone who was at one point his enemy. She decided to think about it later and focused on what Alex was saying afterwards as he continued, "As for the rest of you, beside Noint and Miledi I was planning on asking if any of you Devils wanted to come, but save your answers for after I tell you about being able to turn each of you into super Devils." After he finished speaking Alex ignored their shock and launched into an explanation of his experiment with Rias and Grayfia, as well as how he turned Serafall and Sona into super Devils afterwards. As could be expected, there was a mixture of responses to everyone finding out about Alex being able to turn regular Devils into super Devils, there was a sense of both excitement and anxiety going through the gathered Devils, while the non-Devils paled at the thought of a super devil army forming. Of course the first thing that came out of Barakiel''s mouth was, "It is only Devils that be evolved, or is it possible to evolve other species as well?" Everyone listened closely as Alex responded, "Of course other races can be evolved, I also did so to Yue and Elmenhilde to turn them into Shinso vampires, or if you rather True Ancestors. The reason I haven''t tried to evolve others yet is because I don''t know if there''d be side effects of evolving like my own race of saiyans; an evolved form of is called a legendary super saiyan, beings that are the ultimate planet destroying berserkers." When they heard that everyone was quiet as they contemplated a being of such power going out of control, before Sairaorg asked, "What about our peerages, would they be ok to evolve?" Alex shook his head and explained that as well, "Evolving a person involves their actual race, not just abilities they are granted. Most peerages are usually another race granted devil powers, and while Evolution magic could be used to increase their devil powers to equal that of a super Devil, they wouldn''t be able to actually turn into one. With the exception of those gathered and a few others, I actually plan to restrict who can undergo evolution to prevent people from going crazy about it." (A.N. Beings like werewolves and vampires ect are different since they spread by "infecting" others compared to evil pieces simply granting others the power of a devil. A good example of this would be Koneko, Kuroka, and Gasper, though each of them were given evil pieces they still retained the heritage and abilities of their original race.) Everyone nodded in acceptance of what Alex said as they could easily see such an ability being taken advantage of, and so to get back on topic he continued, "I''m planning to mostly invite those that become super Devils so that they can properly test their newfound strength without having to worry about backlash on Asora, just like a certain someone..." As he spoke Alex glanced briefly at Rias, making the Crimson haired woman blush as she stated, "Don''t look at me, I didn''t know how powerful I was yet..." With everyone else chuckling at her expense, the meeting then continued as Alex told the gathered Devils to give him their answers the following morning. After that they discussed how they were going to enter Ehito''s divine realm, to which Hajime produced the magic key he had made before the meeting with the help of Kaori''s devil magic. According to Hajime the key was able to literally open a door anywhere one wanted, even including other worlds. Though Alex was already going to ask Lauren about it later, he already had a feeling it wouldn''t be that easy to use the key to bypass the yearlong cool down he and Anne had, something that even spending so much time in the time altered training rooms didn''t affect. After that Alex then gave Hajime the same plans he had given Seekvaira a while back to get him to help her. At first Hajime seemed excited when he looked at what Alex wanted but, when Alex told him that he wanted it done by morning, both Hajime and Seekvaira started arguing until he mentioned using one of the training rooms to extend the time. Though the two had let out a small sigh of relief at the extra time they just realized they had, they both still glared at Alex for the unreasonable demand while everyone else tried peeking at the doc.u.ments to see what Alex wanted them to make. They didn''t get a chance to however as Hajime and Seekvaira both left the meeting room to start immediately, with Kaori and surprisingly Sairaorg following along. With nothing else to add Alex said, "Well that should be about it for now, we''ll meet again in the morning to see Hajime and Seekvaira''s finished product since I''m sure everyone will want to see it, and I''ll also expect answers from the Devils gathered regarding the evolution." Everyone nodded as they went to stand to leave, but before they could Miledi stated, "Wait! You never told me why you were dressed as a maid!" Everyone turned towards her and Noint with a bit of interest since this was an age old rivalry. Noint on the other hand didn''t show any change in expression as usual, and simply replied, "It is simply part of my job as a maid in the Misty Manor. Is there a particular reason it annoys you?" Everyone turned back towards Miledi who said, "Of course, it''s the favorite outfit of O-kun!" After she finished talking Miledi crossed her arms with "humph", while Noint tilted her head slightly in contemplation before muttering to herself, "Then it seems I did choose the right job for my intentions." Everyone looked at her sharply at this line while Alex asked, "And what are your intentions Noint?" This seemed to especially catch her attention, before the silver haired woman made her way to his side while explaining, "As our new lord you told myself and my siblings to explore our newfound free will, and so I spent some time researching your worlds literature to see if it could help me have an idea what "free will" meant. The most common example of free will I found was the concept of "love", something that all accounts say is uncontrollable and yet is one of the most powerful concepts." Everyone was stunned to silence at Noint''s words while Miledi was gaping like a fish and Alex slowly asked, "And how does trying to learn about love relate to becoming a maid in my home?" Noint managed a small victorious smile before declaring, "Because I decided that out of everyone in this world our lord would have the most experience due to his many relationsh.i.p.s, and the literature I studied stated that men love maids. So in order to spend more time around our lord and increase the chances of experiencing love, I decided to become a maid in his employ!" No said a single thing as they tried to process what Noint just said, while Miledi looked as if she had passed out while still in her previous position. Not paying any attention to the atmosphere she created, Noint then asked with a deadpan voice and expression, "Is this now the part where we have the intercourse?" This was immediately followed by the sound of Alex and several others choking at the suddenness of her request, while other people had started snickering and a couple more were flat out roaring with laughter. Alex took a moment to compose himself before saying seriously, "Noint, we can''t have... the intercourse right now, you need to consider the time, place, and occasion. Let''s wait a while before moving to that step." Everyone looked at Alex in shock as they never expected him to turn down a woman''s offer, though in actuality Alex was fairly tempted to accept. He simply didn''t want to be known as someone who took advantage of another''s naivety in such a way, though as he said he wouldn''t hesitate to accept Noint''s offer after spending some time around her. The woman in question nodded her her head as if in understanding, before suddenly saying, "I see, what about now?" Before anyone could say or do anything to stop her, Noint unhesitatingly grabbed the hem of her maids skirt and lifted it, displaying the lack of underwear underneath as her crotch was put on full display for the whole room to see. There was series of different responses as some of the girls gasped at how daring she was, while several of the guys lets out sighs of amazement or groans as someone covered their eyes. The most exaggerated reactions were of course the male members of Hajime''s class that was present, as none of them had see a girl n.a.k.e.d before. Alex meanwhile was appreciating the view even if his brow was twitching in irritation, before asking, "What are you doing Noint?" The cool beauty tilted her head somewhat cutely as if she didn''t understand what he was asking, before casually replying, "Some of the literature I''ve read also stated that guys liked it when a girl flashed her panties, i decided to try it even though I don''t wear panties but, as expected, the effect isn''t the same is it?" After saying that Noint lowered her skirt and looked as if she was contemplating what went wrong, while Alex was thinking along with everyone else that she induced more of an impact than she expected. As she turned to leave Alex made a mental note to check on what literature she was studying in the near future, purely for research purposes of course. With the excitement of a beautiful woman exposing herself over, everyone got up and started making their way to the door to go home since they had already been excused. To one side was a particular group that was saying goodbye after traveling together for a while. "It was wonderful to get to know you Le Fay, when all this is done lets hang out together sometime!" Sonobe Yuuka said energetically as she and her friends crowded around the blond magician. Le Fay smiled at her new friends and replied, "Of course, it was nice to get to know all of you as well, please introduce me to the rest of your classmates as well later!" Their farewells were interrupted however when one of the male classmates that was just gawking at Noint approached and nervously said, "Um Le Fay-chan, I-I just wanted to say tha-that after getting to know you I-I''ve really come to like like y-you, a-and PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!!!" After declaring his feelings Atsushi bowed his head waited for a response from the stunned Le Fay, while her brother and a few others watched over nearby with a frown on their face, the girls especially were frowning as they had noticed this guy gawking at another girl''s body just a few minutes before. As could be expected Le Fay was nervous as she was suddenly the center of attention, before replying, "U-um, I''m sorry but I already have someone I like!" Turning away from the heartbroken boy and his two friends who were angry at him for trying to jump the gun on them, Le Fay made her way over to Alex''s side as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. He then said, "Since that''s the case then lets go." He then led her and Gabriel towards the door to return to the manor, deciding that he''d made Le Fay wait long enough. He stopped only long enough though to say quietly into Atsushi''s ear, "Since you confessed to one of my women and tried to jump the gun on your best friends I''ll let you in on a little secret, I''m leaving to have hot s.e.x with the woman you just confessed to all night long, sweet dreams." He left left behind the doubly heartbroken Atsushi while Le Fay was blushing fiercely from overhearing what Alex told him, though despite her embarrassment she had a small smile on her lips. Chapter 271 - Space-time orbs When the sun rose the next morning Alex was arriving at the training center where Hajime and Seekvaira were waiting with proud smiles, and dark bags under their eyes. Behind them was a new door where the duo had worked on the project Alex asked them to, and nearby was the equally tired Sairaorg and Kaori who looked as if they were about to collapse at any moment. As he approached them both Hajime and Seekvaira narrowed their eyes slightly, but we''re still smiling like madmen as Hajime said, "I was somewhat skeptical at first, but I can''t believe we actually finished it." Seekvaira nodded in agreement before adding, "I never would have finished it without Hajime, and even though I''ve used it several times so far I still can''t believe it works." Alex smiled at how the two were acting and said, "The two of you seem to really get along well, you''ll probably be working together quite a bit in the future as well since you both love mechas so much." Both their eyes started shining a little despite how tired they were, while Sairaorg and Kaori also seemed to come to some kind of agreement with each other. The group then silently waited for everyone else to show up, which only took a few minutes before almost all of those who were at the meeting the night before had arrived. After getting everyone''s attention, Alex declared, "Now for what I hope to be one of the biggest thing to come to Asora for years to come! I wanted to have something created that functioned like the storage rings that I''m hoping to mass produce someday, but instead of just for storing food or supplies, these could also hold people! With this idea we can literally create entire world''s that we can enter or exit whenever we want, all within a single room!" The group looking at him was filled with several different reactions towards his declarations, some showed enthusiasm at the idea of several world''s within their grasp, while others showed mostly skepticism and thought Alex was simply exaggerating the scale. Alex didn''t let their reactions bother him however, as they''d see the truth soon enough as he passed the the focus onto the actual creators. At his cue the duo opened the door to show everyone what seemed to be a table six feet wide with several bumps under a cloth covering what was on it. As Seekvaira walked towards the table and grabbed the cloth, Hajime stopped and stated proudly, "We spent several days over this last night working on this item, and thanks to both of our efforts we managed to complete it to be used before the fight with Ehito. It took a combination of Spatial magic to create and expand the space inside, Alteration magic to ensure living organisms would be able to enter it, and and Creation magic to put it all together. Along with all of that we even added Seekvaira''s time manipulation so that every six hours equals a week within the space, meaning we can get roughly a month within a single day, except unlike the training rooms we''ve been using up until now you can enter or leave whenever you wanted without disturbing the time difference." There were a few small murmurs at this since the training rooms up until this point had been enclosed within completely encased stone rooms, and you would need to stay locked within for the whole duration unless you wanted to keep resetting the magic circle that manipulated time. With Hajime done speaking Seekvaira pulled on the cloth to finally reveal what was underneath, as a series of glass orbs came into view. There was five altogether, one in the center while the other four were connected to it with glass tunnels like a hamster cage, each one pointing directly to the north, south, east and west. Each one was clear, and seemed to have some kind of habitat within almost like a ship in a bottle, except the center one had a miniature castle. When Alex looked at Hajime questioningly about the detail within the orbs, Hajime explained, "Originally I expected that we''d only be able to create blank spaces and we''d be able to add the details later, but then Seekvaira called Serafall who brought several Devils who''d helped set up something called Rating Games in the past. I was amazed to see be able to set this up so quickly." Alex nodded in understanding now that he knew how they added so much detail so quickly, and went back to appreciating the final product while Serafall puffed her chest out with pride. The sphere to the north was filled with various northern snowscapes such as snowy mountains, Arctic tundras, and expanses of water willed with icebergs and glaciers. The sphere to the west was filled with various forms of deserts, from seemingly endless expanses of sand, to large canyons and giant pillars of stone. The sphere to the east was various forested mountain ranges and plains, as well at expansive grasslands that seemed to spread out. Finally the sphere to the south was filled with a Savannah and expanses of jungle that would no doubt be home to various dangerous creatures in the near future. Then the sphere in the center looked to have a castle that was elevated on a platform above a seemingly endless sea of water, though there was various islands dotting the seas as well like the southern oceans. As everyone was examining the spheres Seekvaira then spoke up, "No matter how you enter you will always enter the center sphere first, and it''s also the only one you can''t exit from; that''s why we made the main residence within the orbs in it, while the rest can be visited from there for various environments to train in. We haven''t added gravity difference yet since it would also be a permanent addition to the orb and we didn''t want to cut off a specific area from those who would want to train there. Well enough explaining for now, let''s enter it." Everyone looked up at what she said, before seeing Seekvaira place her hand against the glass orb and then disappearing before Hajime, Kaori, Sairaorg, and Serafall did the same. Alex smiled in excitement as he eagerly placed his hand against the glass orb, and also disappeared to join them inside. After a moment of darkness he opened his eyes to see a life sized version of the castle from before I front of him, while underneath him was a transportation magic circle along with several others nearby to transfer into the other orbs most likely. "Hahaha, this is amazing!" Alex cried out as he took a deep breath of the sea air around him, before other people started materializing as well. As they similarly admired the view around them Barakiel muttered, "It truly is more amazing than I thought, but I wonder how this technology could actually be used outside of training or vacation homes..." Alex looked at Barakiel with a stunned expression and stated, "Think about it, we can create any environment we need for purposes that would otherwise be harmful to Asora, for example we can make entire worlds covered in forests to harvest timber that would be able to quickly recover and replenish itself due to the time difference! Or we could make a world that''s ideal for the creation of certain ores to mine from, essentially creating an endless supply of resources! We could even plant livestock and other animals into certain orbs to raise for food, their living conditions never being inhumane and once more the time difference allowing them to quickly replenish their numbers to prevent over-hunting. We could even do the same with crops as well so that they''re always in the right climate and we wouldn''t need to worry about the unpredictable weather in Asora interfering with them, can you imagine what a year of only winter would be like for us?" As Alex spoke Barakiel thought about the truth of his words, and started considering other uses he hadn''t thought of previously along with everyone else present. After everyone took some time to take in their surroundings, Serafall then eagerly led them on a tour of the castle and the surrounding courtyards, once again making Alex admire the capabilities of the Devils. True to its original purpose, there were several places for people to train at surrounding the castle along with what equipment they were already able to bring in, with plans to add more soon. Meanwhile the castle had been designed for both practicability and comfort for those that would be staying here in the future; first was a large mess hall and kitchen for meals which would be served at specific times, then they saw the various rooms that people would be able to stay in, most looking like smaller hotel rooms with a single bed and a small bathroom for personal use. These were for those who''d only be here temporarily for several days, while those who would be staying here for long terms would be given use of the better rooms on the upper floors. Of course there were also a couple of open air baths for those who wouldn''t mind bathing together, obviously split between genders and with a small mixed bathing bath. The most luxurious room in the place was of course Alex''s, complete with its own large bed and bath for anyone who''d join him. Though he appreciated this, Alex wasn''t planning to use this training orb too much in the future, and was instead planning to have a similar one placed within the Misty manor for the residents personal use. The tour then ended by the magic circle where they all entered, as Hajime and Seekvaira described which magic circle sent a person where, their destinations matching up with the directions they pointed in. They of course didn''t go to see the different areas that were available, but were instead told that it took the same magic circle in each one to enter and return from them, meaning they better hope no one got lost in the future while in them. With the end of the tour those who had work like Barakiel returned along with Hajime and Kaori to go sleep, leaving just Alex with Anne, Tio, Shizuku, Rias, Grayfia, Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Miledi, Noint, and those who would possibly undergo evolution, Seekvaira, Sairaorg, Ravel, Ingvild, Roygun, and surprisingly Vali. Of course both Sona and Serafall who''d already undergone evolution stayed since they were planning on properly testing their new abilities during the assault on Ehito. As he looked around at the group Alex turned towards Vali and said, "I''m surprised you decided to go through with it Vali, especially since you always say you want to get by only with your own strength." Vali grimaced at what Alex said, and reluctantly explained, "It''s because I also can''t stand being the only one who''ll get left behind as everyone else became super Devils; also it''s technically still my own strength, someone else it just unlocking it for me." Everyone could tell Vali didn''t actually believe that, but it was what he was trying to tell himself so they didn''t say different as Alex continued, "Firstly regarding evolution, it''ll take roughly an hour to complete per person, and it''s an incredibly painful process to undergo. Because I''m literally forcing your bodies to change on a cellular level it''ll feel like each individual molecule is being struck repeatedly by lightning, for the entire duration of the procedure. If any of you want to back out now, then I''ll understand." Though there were several pale faces when they heard Alex describe the pain Rias told him about, none of them tried to back out of what they''d already decided to do. For some like Vali and Sairaorg it was a matter of increasing their battle potential, while for others like Roygun and Ravel wanted to increase their usefulness to Alex, meanwhile neither Ingvild or Seekvaira wanted to be left out even though they didn''t usually fight on the front lines. Ingvild especially had already learned the lesson that even if she didn''t want to fight others, she may not have a choice; and had decided possessing strength to defend herself was better than hoping to never having to fight in her life. Seeing no one wanted to back out, Alex nodded and said, "Ok then, we''ll go into the sphere that leads to the snowscape for some privacy and to ensure we don''t interfere with those who are staying here. Go in and I''ll catch up." Nodding in confirmation, everyone started heading towards the magic circle to the north and teleporting to the place Alex told them, while he turned back towards those who were staying behind and said, "Shia and Shizuku, while we''re gone I''ll also ask the two of you to think about possibly undergoing evolution since it''ll most likely maximize both of your true potential, though you don''t have to answer right away." As Alex finished speaking a certain black haired nekomata hopped onto his back and demanded, "What about me~Nya?!" Alex smiled and replied, "Focus on acquiring all of your tails first and then I''ll consider evolving you, and don''t use evolution magic to just get them all without effort." Leaving behind the pouting cat girl, Alex then turned back towards the magic circle and teleported to the snowscape to join the others. After being left alone everyone went to do as they were expected and started training, Grayfia, Yue, and Rias flew off to train with their magic, Shia went to find a place to spar with Tio, Kuroka found a nice place to meditate, and Shizuku made her way to one of the courtyards before splitting into three, having acquired the ability to create another clone after completing the last labyrinth. Miledi directed a look of hostility at Noint before turning and going to explore the place a bit, making Anne sigh before leading Noint to the kitchen, deciding it was best to help with meals for the time being. Chapter 272 - The Fire Within After its initial introduction, the space-time orb was quite popular over the next several days as several people went to see and experience the amazing feat for themselves, with several of those people choosing to stay and train as well for a while. Among these people were several of the girls from the Manor who wanted to use the orb to spend more time with Alex, much to the surprise of people like Miledi and Suzu, who had yet to become aware of just how expansive Alex''s harem truly was. Of course this also included Gabriel and Koneko who both had the idea to spend the rest of their terms in the space-time orbs, an idea Alex quickly shut down since it meant Gabriel would possibly be going into labor while he was busy fighting Ehito. Though he didn''t mind the girls using such means to make their pregnancies go by "faster", he didn''t want to risk not being present for the birth of his own children, a sentiment that the expecting mothers greatly appreciated. As the time until the battle with Ehito crawled ever closer, the excitement within the space-time orbs slowly diminished as all of the inhabitants focused on using it for their own training. Alex would disappear for the majority of most days to train his control over his SSJ2 form, taking only Shia and occasionally Sairaorg with him for sparring partners as he tried to push the two of them even further. Tio, who was planning to be present during the fight in order to represent the dragon race, would spend her days taking instructions from Ophis when she grew curious and decided to explore the training orbs. Their meeting was quite the interesting one, as the moment Tio heard she was a dragon God who even Alex couldn''t beat, she had immediately prostrated herself before her and started worshipping her fervently. Kuroka meanwhile had laid claim to one of the islands within the main space-time orb, and would disappear there daily as well to train herself intensely in seclusion, something several people had a bit of hard time believing due to her usual carefree nature. Yue and Rias of course trained together, meaning they sparred against each other with magic endlessly everyday in a different habitat as they both tried to overwhelm the other by coming up with different ways to use their magic. Shizuku was of course the one trying to work the hardest to improve, as she materialized as many clones as possible daily to maximize her productivity. Usually she would have two spar against whoever was available as opponents, while the third alternated on training her chakra control or raw sword technique, until she finally managed to summon a third clone to work on both of those simultaneously as well. Grayfia was the only one who wasn''t on a specific training program, as she alternated between training with everyone to train each of her aspects, knight with Shizuku, rook with Alex and Shia, and bishop with Rias and Yue. Of course each person who was going to be part of the assault on Ehito was also doing their best to become accustomed their newly evolved abilities, except they were saving the real tryouts for when they fought Ehito; who by this point was no longer a foe to take seriously, but instead he was considered a super powered punching bag they were all eager to try hitting. "This is amazing..." Miledi couldn''t help but mutter as, even after being with these people for a couple weeks within the space-time orb, she couldn''t believe just how powerful they were compared to those from Tortus. Of course when she heard someone talk so casually about defeating Ehito, she couldn''t help feeling somewhat bitter regarding how much she and her comrades struggled just to challenge him two thousand years back. "They are amazing." A monotone voice suddenly said from behind her, causing Miledi to jump as she turned in a battle ready pose. Noint looked somewhat confused as she tilted her head once more before asking, "You still do not trust me, even though our lord stated he would even enslave me to ensure I would not betray you?" Though she didn''t necessarily go out of her way to try and build a relationship with Miledi, as far as Noint was concerned the only reason they had fought in the past was because she was on one side while Miledi was on another, and now that they were on the same side it was only natural that they would try to work together to serve her lord. The fact that Miledi wasn''t willing to do so was confusing to her since it was the defeat of her creator that she desired most, the very thing even Noint herself was now working towards. Miledi seemed to get agitated at the question, and declared, "Of course I wouldn''t trust you so easily!" After that she turned and stormed off, leaving Noint even more confused before she turned her own attention towards her next attempt at getting her lord to teach her about love. Such thoughts were swimming through her head until she saw a certain person training nearby, and decided to join her. Shizuku was sitting in sieza position, trying to clear her mind and meditate on her sword before practice, which was proving quite difficult as she instead kept recalling the events of the previous night. While she and Alex were together the night before she had been using her shadow clones to give him attention in four different ways at once, resulting in her acquiring two new skills that the other girls had not, the ''Seduction'' and ''Bed Skills'' skills. Needless to say it bugged her quite a bit to have acquired such suggestive skills while several other people hadn''t, especially since the effects of the ''Seduction'' skill had made themselves apparent soon enough. Apparently the skill made nearly everything she did more alluring and seductive, to the point that she had already caught multiple people staring at her several times that morning while she was doing normal things like brushing her hair or eating breakfast. Hoping she''d be able to figure out how to deactivate the skill soon, she was now trying to distract herself by meditating and losing herself in practice. As Shizuku opened her eyes to finally begin the actual practice, she found herself face to face with Noint who asked, "Shall we spar together again today?" Shizuku nodded as she rose to her feet, and replied, "If you don''t mind, I need to learn more about fighting apostles before the attack." Noint gave a single nod in affirmation, and summoned her twin scimitars before taking a stance opposite from Shizuku as she similarly drew her own katana. The two women stared at each other for a few seconds, before both suddenly disappeared from their previous positions and reappeared in the middle of their previous positions as Shizuku deflected both of Noint''s scimitars. The sound of metal clashing rang out throughout the courtyard for several seconds as the two traded blows at high speeds, before Noint decided to tray and take some distance to use a magic attack. Right as she was about to back off however, she felt something brush her back right behind her heart. Noint immediately dropped her swords and raised her hands slightly in a gesture of surrender before saying, "I concede, it''s your win." Shizuku smiled as she similarly pulled her katana back, before looking at the spot behind Noint. Directly behind her in midair was the very tip of another katana that looked identical to the Shizuku had just put away, except this one was surrounded by the shimmer of Spatial magic that started going down the length of the sword before revealing another Shizuku standing there. Noint glanced between the two Shizuku''s and nodded in approval before saying, "Well done, but you need to recall I was only using sword skills and no magic, and that the real battlefield will be more chaotic, so you won''t be able to focus on a sole opponent. Let us go again." Shizuku''s smile faded as a serious expression replaced it, and she replied, "Of course, let''s continue." As her clone faded the two took their starting stances once more, before the courtyard was filled with the clash of metal on metal once again. While the two swordswomen were training in the courtyard, a certain trio of women were busy rearranging the landscape in the desert sphere as they each tried to overpower the other. Two of them were of course Rias and Yue, but the third was unexpectedly Akeno, who had decided to train against Rias for the first time in a while to see how powerful she had become, and to see for herself the strength of Alex''s other bishop. As such Yue was currently surrounded by six different elemental dragons, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and ice, while Akeno was surrounded by ten five-headed Lightning dragons, and Rias was surrounded by several dozen reddish black orbs made of pure destruction. Currently it appeared they were in three way stalemate even though Rias and Yue had been powered up considerably by turning into a super devil and Shinso, they were both restraining their full powers however by not turning into their other forms to prevent causing too much damage to the training orbs; plus Akeno hadn''t been idle during heir time in Tortus either, and had spent most of her days in a training room while Rias and Yue had been exploring Tortus. "Ufufufu, shall I show you what I''ve been up to while you were out having fun Rias?" Akeno taunted, before sending her ten dragons to descend on the Crimson haired woman. Rias smirked as the dragons approached her, with up to fifty different heads snarling and prepared to attack, however to counter them she just casually pointed her finger and the orbs surrounding her flew into action. Even as several heads blasted lightning at her, the orbs simply moved to intercept and took the entire attack before moving onto the head the itself, soon each dragon was being pelted by several orbs of destruction. As each one of the orbs had weak amounts of gravity magic imbued into them as well it didn''t take long before the dragons were dispersed, resulting in Rias flipping her hair confidently and saying, "You''ll have to try harder than that Akeno, or did you think I wasn''t getting stronger as well all this time?" Akeno narrowed her eyes at Rias''s provocation and was about to summon another attack, but both girls were interrupted when several more dragons comprised of different elements this time attacked them. "... Don''t forget I''m here!..." Yue stated as she simultaneously started summoning even more dragons as if to create a small army of them. As they were created with more gravity than her orbs, Rias could only watch as they were sucked down the dragons throats where Yue used her raw magical power to disperse them. As a smile started spreading on Yue''s face this time, both of the other women also started smiling before once more preparing attacks, Rias a large mass of destruction and Akeno summoning pitch black clouds that rumbled menacingly before they attacked each other once more. That night everyone who was using the space-time orb was gathered as usual for dinner, another pleasant attribute of everyone being able to train together. This included all of those who were part of Alex''s peerage, Tio, Ophis, Miledi, Anne, and all of the Devils who had undergone evolution and planned to participate in the attack. Even though some of them were also training in the space-time orb, but several others such as Serafall, Seekvaira, and Sona were busy with their day jobs outside the orb, and were spending their "nights" training, getting roughly a weeks worth of training over six hours real time. While waiting for their food to be brought out, everyone present was discussing their results of the days training with varying degrees of excitement. "But to think that little Ria-tan has gotten so much stronger recently!???? I haven''t realize it until we actually sparred a little bit earlier!????" Serafall excitedly said while Rias made an awkward smile before replying, "But I still can''t compete with you lady Serafall, turning the entire desert-scape into an arctic tundra instantly like that while fending off all three of us..." As Rias spoke Yue and Akeno nodded solemnly as well as towards the former Maou, causing Serafall to puff out her impressive bust with pride. Akeno then muttered, "At least we didn''t get the same training as Shia, Sairaorg, and Grayfia..." Earning another solemn round of agreement as everyone turned towards the three exhausted people, two of which were slumped in their chairs while Grayfia was maintaining a dignified air, even though it was apparent she was exhausted as well since she wasn''t helping to prepare dinner. Kuroka even turned towards Miledi and muttered, "What do you wanna bet she used Regeneration magic to make herself presentable for dinner~Nyan?" A few mutters of agreement answered her, even as Grayfia directed narrowed eyes at most of those who did. Alex smiled wryly at those who looked at his training methods in such a way, even as the chatter continued until the sound of Noint finally arriving with dinner reached their ears. "Dinner, is served!" She declared to the happy crowd, before they realized what she was wearing, or rather the lack of. By this point the majority of those gathered had gotten used to Noint''s misguided attempts at trying to learn love from Alex, however her antics always caught them by surprise since she never seemed aware of the time, place, or occasion. What also didn''t help was her apparent lack of shame at letting other people see her n.a.k.e.d, meaning that just about everyone within the training orbs had seen her n.a.k.e.d by now. This led to situations like the current one where she was serving dinner while wearing nothing but a n.a.k.e.d apron, leading to several people staring at her exposed backside. While he too was ogling her, Alex felt an elbow hit his ribs and turned to face an annoyed Anne, who demanded, "It''s pretty much a forgone conclusion that you''re going to accept her into your bed soon, are you really ok with letting so many people see her n.a.k.e.d?!" Alex simply shrugged in response before replying, "It''s not like she herself has a problem with it, in fact she''s the main instigator even though we''ve already tried to talk to her about it. The same thing could be said about your clothes you know, but you have your own preferences so I don''t mind. Unless it becomes a major problem I won''t worry too much, and besides even if they look everyone in Asora knows not to lay hands on anyone associated with me." As he finished speaking Alex went back to ogling Noint''s butt as she served them dinner, while Anne looked down on her own outfit, which was her usual dancers outfit that exposed almost everything except her most important places. Though she realized the hypocrisy in meddling further, Anne still decided that actually being n.a.k.e.d in front of other men was too far, and decided to try and talk to Noint once more later. Though several people were enjoying the show, they quickly dug into their food when it was served in order to not be too impolite, especially since they knew Alex was making a rare exception when it came to the women around him. With everyone turning their attention to their plates there was no more distractions with the exception of Miledi saying, "Pardon me, Miledi-tan will be right back!" Before getting up to go somewhere. No one bothered with it too much as they were more focused on their food, but Alex followed her retreat with a curious gaze until Noint finally brought him his food as well. Unlike everyone else though she didn''t immediately put his plate down, and instead recited while trying to take cutesy pose, "Husband, would you like dinner, a bath, or me~?" There was a series of clattering around the table as several gazes once more returned to Noint, who had apparently decided to try one of the most well known tropes out there. Alex himself however was more distracted by the gap between how she was trying to act, and Noint''s usual expressionless face. He then shook his head lightly and said, "I''ll take the dinner." Though she seemed slightly disappointed, it was far from the first time Alex said no to her so Noint simply placed his food in front of him and turned to head back into the kitchen, while also possibly thinking of her next "attack". What no one expected however was the sudden sound of smacking flesh as Noint jumped slightly, and turned to see Alex shamelessly grabbing her exposed butt. He then added, "But I''m think I''ll take a late night desert tonight, I hope you''ll still be on the menu Noint." Though it took the silver haired girl a few seconds, she then got Alex''s meaning and allowed a small victorious smile to escape her lips before replying, "Of course my lord, or do you prefer husband?" Alex smiled ruefully before responding, "I think my lord is the safer option." Though she didn''t immediately get his meaning, after a quick glance around the room Noint understood from the looks she was getting from other women, and quickly retreated to the kitchen. After she had gone, he then turned towards Anne and said, "Now she should calm down a little, don''t you think?" Anne rolled her eyes, but didn''t say anything else in response since she knew Alex was most likely right about it. Though the response he initially gave Noint was that they should get to know each other better before moving forward, with several weeks already having passed within the orb it could be said he''d known her longer than some women before he''d gotten involved with them, like Xenovia or Remia for example. With the main distractions over with, everyone returned to their food and ate with gusto after the day''s exertions before retiring to the lounge, and then ultimately to the baths before bed. As she laid in her bed Miledi tossed and turned for what felt like forever, the usual feeling spreading throughout her body that she hadn''t felt for two thousand years. It hadn''t taken more than a few days for the first issues to show up, but Miledi had noticed that she was experiencing several "things" that she had a hard time handling. She''d find herself randomly crying when recalling her former companions, or she''d find herself reacting strongly to something she disliked, mostly Noint in this particular case. Though she hid this well beneath her usual attitude, she eventually got fed up with it and sought Valerie to figure out what was wrong. She then learned that with her new body she was now also having to become readjusted to all of emotions she was experiencing, not to say she didn''t have emotions as a golem, but that now her body was reacting to the emotions she felt for the first time in two thousand years. This wasn''t all though, as her body''s chemical balance was also still trying to settle from when it was created, something Valerie speculated would last around a month. This meant that not only as she having to readjust to her body reacting to her emotions, but they may also result in exaggerated responses leading to her randomly crying or lashing out, in other words it was like she was going through puberty all over again. That wasn''t even the worst part however. "Ngh, again with this?! Even though I thought I dealt with it earlier..." Miledi groaned as she tossed and turned, trying to ignore the fire spreading throughout her body. The biggest problem she was feeling with her new body''s sensations, was that at random moments it made her incredibly horny. She felt that she had done fairly well hiding this from everyone else, but there were instances like when dinner was being served that she wasn''t so sure and had to excuse herself in order to go and secretly relieve the fire within. As she tossed and turned Miledi finally gave in and moved her hand down until it finally reached her secret place, guarded only by the thin pair of panties she wore to bed along with a shirt. "Ah!" She lightly gasped in response to the sudden stimulation she provided herself, before her hand made it way inside her already damp panties while the other one made its way inside her shirt to her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Not caring about the mess she was about to make in her own bed, Miledi started bringing herself to the peak of pleasure with her fingers, but before she could her room suddenly shined with the light of magic. In a slight daze as her personal fun was interrupted, Miledi suddenly found herself falling a foot or so before a pair of rough muscular arms caught her. "I had a suspicion of what was happening, but I didn''t think it was this bad." Alex said as he looked down at the blonde haired woman in his arms, who was so stunned she had yet to extract her hands from her panties or shirt. Chapter 273 - Burying the Hatchet Miledi''s mind was racing as she tried to process what was happening, even as Alex gently placed her onto his bed. Though several thoughts were racing through her mind, Miledi didn''t register to cover her body since Alex had already seen her everything when it was being made, and was even present during the "examination" that took place afterwards to ensure everything was correct. Eventually she managed to piece together what was happening, and immediately retrieved her hands from her panties and shirt before demanding, "W-what are you doing?!" Alex smiled wryly and explained, "I just wanted to assist a distressed lady who was suffering silently." Miledi was silent before hesitantly asking, "H-how did you know?" Alex smirked a little and stated, "You''ve seen how many women I''m around every second of the day, I can tell when a girl''s in the mood. When I saw that was the case, I decided to offer my assistance." As she finally started to calm down Miledi directed a mild glare at him and snapped, "How considerate." Alex smirked and asked, "So what do you say?" Miledi was about to immediately refuse, but surprisingly she actually started thinking about Alex''s offer. The only actual relationship she had ever had was a brief stint with Oscar right before they sealed themselves within their labyrinths, something she still looked back on fondly. However Oscar was long gone, and now chances were she would eventually move on regardless with her new body. When she thought on people she had met so far, the only one who seemed like something would develop with was Alex, someone who gave her back what she thought she''d never have, and was about to deliver the thing she desired most throughout her long life. The more she thought about the less she could come up with a reason to refuse Alex, though this was also partially due to the heat rising in her body once more, and the fact that he was readily available for relief. "Fine." She muttered quietly, but just loud enough for Alex to hear. As if he had no more restraint Alex immediately pinned Miledi to his bed and sealed her lips, something she awkwardly bore until reciprocating a second later. As the kiss prolonged however it became steadily more passionate along with the fire within her body, as if excited it would finally be sated. It didn''t take long before their actions intensified, and they tore at each other''s clothes as Miledi''s last line of defense was removed while Alex''s towering dragon made its appearance. It was at this point that Miledi broke their furious tongue battle, and looked down at what she was going to experience soon, causing her to gulp suddenly before saying, "Isn''t it a little... too big?" Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow and stated, "Is it a problem? Even Yue takes it with no issue." Though usually it wasn''t a good idea to mention different girls while in bed with one, when she heard about Yue taking what Alex had Miledi was momentarily stunned as she tried to picture such a thing going into such a petite girl. Her wonderment was interrupted however when Alex grabbed her h.i.p.s and pulled her onto his lap before kneading the flesh of her behind. Though slightly hesitant due to not having too much experience, with a bit of guidance Miledi was soon shifting her h.i.p.s back and forth on Alex''s lap, quickly getting into her own rhythm as she was grinding on the increasingly hot thing beneath her. It didn''t take long before it felt as if a dam had burst, and an intense wave of pleasure like nothing her fingers had previously given her rushed through her body, leaving her gasping for breath as Alex''s lap became wet from the resulting release. Alex lightly wrapped his arms around her comfortingly while Miledi''s body momentarily shuddered from her climax, before she finally found the strength to say between breaths, "That was... better than anything I''ve felt recently..." Alex smiled at her reaction, and said, "Well I hope you''re prepared, because that was just the warm up. The real thing begins now." Miledi gulped when she heard this as she just now recalled that they had yet to move onto the "real thing", but she soon realized that wasn''t all Alex meant when the bedroom door opened and she turned in surprise to see a familiar silver haired woman standing there. The ecstasy she was felling sobered up instantly as Miledi immediately demanded, "What is she doing here?!" Alex shrugged in response before he explained, "I invited her here since she seemed so desperate to get my attention, and I felt it had been long enough to properly respond to her." Miledi was speechless as she realized what Alex was doing, but before she could say anything Noint spoke up while looking like she had a sudden realization, "I see! This may prove a fruitful experience where not only would I learn more about the thing called love, but I may also be able to deepen bonds with those who would be my sisters!" Miledi just gaped at her silently in response as she couldn''t understand how her lifelong enemy would so easily accept this, but before she could voice any more complaints Alex lightly slapped her rear end to bring her attention back to him, before he stated, "Your rivalry with Noint, and your nightly frustrations, I thought this would be a good way to assist with both as you two share a pleasant memory together." Miledi glowered at him in response, as she now realized he had entrapped her more than she initially thought. Though it could be said Alex was taking advantage of her initially, Miledi herself wasn''t so weak willed that she''d give in with so little pressure if it wasn''t something she agreed with. Now she could see that he had most likely planned this since he saw her leave during dinner, and invited Noint without her knowing before forcefully bringing her to his room. While all of these thoughts ran through her head, she was brought back to the current situation when she felt the bed they were on shifting, and turned to see the already n.a.k.e.d Noint crawling towards them. As she got closer to them Noint turned her attention towards Miledi and asked, "Are you truly so repulsed by me? I understand that we were once enemies, but now we are not so what point is there in pursuing past grudges with those willing to stand at your side?" Miledi''s glower quickly disappeared when she heard that, as she never expected to hear something so... sincere from an apostle of Ehito. While she was thinking Alex then added, "With Noint going so far, would it truly be horrible to at least put in an effort?" His piece said, Alex then leaned forward and stole Noint''s lips as they too started their battle of the mouths, though Miledi noticed it was considerably tamer than her earlier kisses with Alex. As she watched them kiss she reached a sudden realization that the only one not actively trying to get along was her herself, and that if anyone had incited any conflicts, it was also because of her. In the past several weeks that they had been within the space-time orb together, Noint had never once done anything to provoke her, while Miledi had shown her nothing but hostility in return. this feeling was hammered even deeper when Noint and Alex separated, and she murmured while lightly touching her own lips, "So that is what a kiss is like...its soft..." While Alex smiled at them both gently, Miledi was seized by a sudden urge and leaned forward to also lightly steal his lips. As they shared an experience with their mouths that was noticeably gentler and nowhere near as frantic as before, Miledi also found herself in a slight daze as they separated. She was so preoccupied with the sensation she was now feeling, that she didn''t notice Alex direct Noint to do something until her lips were once again sealed, this time by the silver haired woman. Though Miledi''s first instinct was to pull away, she forced herself not to, and tied to reciprocate Noint''s actions. Once she did so however she noticed how awkward the cool beauty''s lip and tongue movement was, and realized she was experiencing firsthand just how deprived the apostles were. As their lips separated after several long seconds, Miledi thought back to the meeting on the first day when she got her body back and what Alex told her then; that there was no race Ehito oppressed more than the very apostles that served him, and they themselves were completely unaware of it. As all of these thoughts raced through her mind, she was brought back when Alex said, "Now the real thing starts!" Before either girl could fight it, Alex lightly tackled them both and the night of pleasure truly began. *** As the imitation sun rose the next morning, Alex awoke to find the beauties on either side of him, satisfied with how the night went. Not only had he enjoyed himself quite a bit, but he also hoped that any remaining animosity between the two women was finally resolved, and that they would both mellow out now. Miledi would inevitably continue acting like Miledi, but he hoped that after an experience with him her body''s urges would mellow out a bit and that she''d be able to properly focus, and that Noint might also stop trying to draw his attention with such unorthodox methods. He had never ended up finding out what literature she studied, and also silently theorized that someone was feeding her questionable Intel on purpose for laughs. As he slowly stirred so too did the two women at his side, as Miledi was seized by a moment of sudden awkwardness as the memories of the previous night resurfaced. "Urg, did we really do all of that?!" She asked no one in particular while Alex chuckled slightly and Noint looked thoughtful before stating, "Indeed, it was quite different than I was expecting, but was still enjoyable none the less." Alex smiled as he wrapped his arms around both girls and said, "Well it doesn''t always end there, in the mornings we can either go some more or just lay here like this for a while before getting up, I won''t push the two of you though." The two girls didn''t reply, and instead silently laid there together as cuddled up closer to Alex while resting before starting their day. It was nearly noon when the trio emerged from Alex''s room, walking down to the dining room just as everyone was having lunch before going to train. As they approached Roygun said with a smirk, "Good morning you three, you enjoy yourselves plentifully?" Alex was about to answer, but was interrupted when Noint stated, "Of course we did, now I feel as if I''m starting to get a grasp on the thing called "love"." This caused several of the girls to snicker knowingly, as they pulled Noint and Miledi away to discuss various things. While leaving the girls to themselves, Alex sat at the table and grabbed an entire platter with a pile of sandwiches on it for himself. As he started eating Sona sat down next to him with an eager look on her face, causing Alex to ask once he swallowed his current bite, "Did something happen with the academy?" As her biggest ambition was to create a school it wasn''t too hard to guess what had gotten her so excited, and so Sona replied, "Yes, I was exploring these space-time orbs yesterday and I can''t help but think that they would be a great boon to the academy once we open." Alex listened intently as she listed off various ideas she had come up with involving the space-time orbs, as well as a few other things. Sona''s original dream was to create a simple rating game school that didn''t have discrimination within the underworld, but once she realized how corrupt the underworld was she had given up on it, and instead turned her attention towards creating a school in a whole new place where such discrimination was nonexistent, Asora. As time went on within the alternate dimension however, her dream continued growing until it became an academy to dwarf all teaching institutions, no matter what world they were in. It was to teach everything from mundane subjects like math or science, to even magic and physical combat, and she was even planning to introduce various classes about the world''s they had visited. Alex smiled as he turned his full retention to her and was listening to her speak, until Sona seemed to notice him staring at her and asked, "What, is there something on my face?" This caused Alex''s smile to grow as he said, "No, I was just admiring how passionate the beautiful "cool student council president" had become." Sona blushed suddenly as she tried to fix her glasses to cover her embarrassment, making Alex''s smile grow even wider as he recalled all of the times he''d teased her in the past. Though she quickly resumed telling him about her academy, she did so in a more controlled manner while still having a slight red blush to her cheeks and an impossible to hide smile on her lips. As such Alex wasn''t too surprised when Sona had to excuse herself, though he did find it regrettable, and he decided to finish his meal before moving onto his training. Before leaving he decided to make a few rounds through the courtyards to check on everyone before they dispersed for the day. Today Irina and Xenovia were both training with Shizuku as she tried to maintain several clones in combat against several people simultaneously, though they also insisted Alex spar with them later so they could show off the results of their own training. Meanwhile nearby was Tio, who was about to journey to one of the surrounding tropical islands with Ophis, who seemed to have taken a bit of a liking to the perverted dragon. At first it was a bit of a concern that Tio would try to teach the pure dragon God something questionable, but after Alex swore she wouldn''t be allowed in the dungeon for an entire year if that happened, Tio made sure to keep her perverted nature in check around Ophis. After them was Kuroka, who was about to head to the island she had supposedly claimed to train in secret. When she saw Alex however the nekomata immediately demanded head pats before departing, declaring as she left that now she was extra motivated that day. After seeing off several other people like the Serafall, Sona, and Ingvild group, the Roygun, Akeno, and Ravel group, and the Rias, Yue, and Grayfia group, it was finally time for Alex to meet with his own training partners, Sairaorg and Shia, and leave. "Ready to go?" Alex asked as he approached the duo. As if their fatigue the night before was a lie, both of them greeted Alex with a smile before Shia answered, "Yep, I''m ready to start our training for the day! Just like... yesterday..." Though she started off strongly with her declaration, as she went on Shia seemed to finally recall what her training entailed was suddenly depressed as Sairaorg asked, "Let''s me guess, you mentally blocked it while you slept and only just now recalled it?" Shia nodded slowly while Alex laughed and declared, "Just think of it this way, when you get stronger and move on in your training, you''ll look back on these days fondly and say ''it was so easy then''." Shia paled slightly at Alex''s words almost tried to escape, except she knew it was useless to try and run from Alex. As he led the way to the magic circle that would take them to desert sphere that had been fixed with regeneration magic, Alex continued, "And besides, I''ll need you to at least be on the level of a super Saiyan someday." With such unreasonable standards being expected of her, Shia marched after Alex alongside Sairaorg who also looked slightly troubled, even though he was there voluntarily. Chapter 274 - Prelude to the Battle As the months/days slipped by everyone continued the training to master their new powers in ernest, especially as those who weren''t going to participate in the attack joined them. It had been a fairly bitter pill for several of the girls that had been traveling with Alex to realize the difference between themselves, and those who actually had nothing better to do than train for days at a time, even if it meant extending the time until they could actually see each other again. Not just Akeno, but Rias''s whole peerage had made leaps and strides in each of their respective fields of combat, so much so that if she hadn''t undergone evolution Rias wasn''t sure if she''d be qualified to continue being their King. This had also applied to each of the peerages of those who had stayed behind, due to them both having to occupy their time and because they were technically supposed to be the primary fighting force of Asora if the need should ever arise. Though they''d never say it outright, several people were annoyed when they heard they''d be left out of the invasion of Ehito''s divine realm and only their "Kings" we''re going to be present, at least they were until they were shown a demonstration of their new abilities after being evolved. With the members of the various peerages pacified, everyone continued working hard for the upcoming battle until it was finally the day before they were supposed to move out, and almost everyone who was going to attack was gathered to discuss tactics with Sona. "After several discussions with Noint I''ve narrowed down our approach to two different options, we could use the key to either travel directly to where Ehito is in the heart of his divine realm, or we could use it just to get us there and go the rest of the way on foot." Everyone took a moment to discuss among themselves what they thought of Sona''s plans, before Sairaorg asked, "Why bother with the second option, wouldn''t it just give him time to prepare for us?" Sona nodded before replying, "Indeed, but with the first option we would be entering the very heart of territory instantly, meaning we would be entering the heart of his power without any idea of what to expect. He could easily expect us to do such a thing and prepare a trap or something, let''s remember that the magic we''re using to get there was originally his to begin with." Everyone took a moment to take this in and think, before Kuroka pointed at Shia and said, "Hey rabbit, you can see the future can''t you? Why don''t you look and see what option is the best~Nyan?" At this everyone turned towards Shia, who squirmed a little at suddenly being the center of attention before replying, "My future sight isn''t so cut and clear, it''s based off a decision and shows us the result of that decision. Also because it uses so much magic power I would only see one option, which would be useless since we wouldn''t be able to compare them." Everyone was silent as they contemplated this, while Kuroka muttered, "How useless~Nya." Shia glared at the nekomata and retorted, "Say that again and I''ll show you the results of three months of sparing against a super Saiyan firsthand." Kuroka looked stunned at how Shia snapped back at her, before narrowing her eyes slightly and responding, "Maybe I''ll take you up on that rabbit after we deal with this problem, and I''ll show you the strength of your queen~Nyan." By this point everyone else was watching the duo, until someone else stated, "Knock that off, you both know that if Alex was here right now he probably would''ve knocked both of you upside the head by now. And Kuroka don''t use the queen argument if you don''t plan to act like one, a queen is supposed to help the king lead and settle disputes, not start them." Everyone turned and faced the new speaker Grayfia, who glared at both Shia and Kuroka one last time before stating to the rest, "As for both of the options we have, I think it would be safe to say that regardless of which we choose there''ll be a fair share of risk, but that shouldn''t matter since if we can''t handle it then what have we been doing for the last three months to begin with?" Everyone was silent at this, before deciding to spend their last few hours relaxing while leaving the final decision to Alex, though he''d have the final say to begin with. As everyone separated, Sona approached Grayfia and asked, "So where is Alex? When he told us to relax the last day before the attack, I thought he would as well." Grayfia sighed before responding, "You know how he is, plus he said training until the last minute shouldn''t be too hard on him. I don''t think we need to worry anyways since he hasn''t been training as intensely as the rest of us anyways, but has been focusing on getting accustomed to his new form." When she heard Grayfia mention it, Sona couldn''t help but ask, "What is his new form? I''ve heard a little about it, but not too much." Grayfia''s eye twitched before she sighed once more and explained, "He told me that it doubles his strength from his previous form, kind of like how the boosted gear acts." Sona was silent for several seconds before saying, "I wonder how many of these forms there are, if they keep increasing his power in such a way, well I shudder to think of the kind of opponents he''d need such strength to fight against in the future." Grayfia nodded in agreement as the they both left to prepare for the upcoming attack, while the subject of their discussion was of course training diligently. Alex was currently using his ki to float in the air with his SSJ2 active, while also bearing an intense increase in Gravity even after several hours had passed. Currently his biggest concern was extending the time he could maintain his SSJ2 transformation since with each form upgrade, the energy drain increased tremendously. As he had already been doing this particular training for several hours now, Alex was getting dangerously close to his limit as a steady stream of sweat flowed down his face. Finally he canceled the gravity and the transformation, and let himself fall somewhat back to the ground beneath him before saying, "It certainly is more draining than the usual super Saiyan, but thankfully nowhere near as much as grade three super Saiyan." (A.N. The super muscular form) At that moment the familiar feminine voice in his head replied, ''Just wait until you get to SSJ3, that ones the worst of all.'' Alex nodded and replied, "Though I''m planning to train it to some extent, I think that''s one I''ll try to move on from as quickly as I can because of that. The main problem is trying to determine the truth behind the super Saiyan forms..." After he said this a very familiar metallic gauntlet appeared on his left hand, and Ddraig''s voice said out loud, Alex couldn''t help but chuckle lightly at Ddraig''s concern, and replied, "Of course I''m planning to train my dragon abilities, my SSJ2 is just the best thing I could use against Ehito right now. Plus remember the Boosted Gear is also my ultimate trump card, anyone who knows about Saiyans will be able to guess my capabilities so being able to increase my strength even after transforming like that is the best hidden card there is." Ddraig snorted at Alex''s explanation, but didn''t say anything else for the moment while Lauren added, ''With how much free time is available to him now, there should be more than enough time to train his dragon abilities, so let''s just focus on Ehito for right now.'' Though silence greeted her initially, Ddraig once again snorted contently as he realized the truth in her words. Alex himself couldn''t help smirking when he thought about the advantage he now had. With the space-time orbs he was now able to take a single year and extend it to literally spend years training before moving onto the next world, something he wouldn''t hesitate to say was a major advantage over most of the other "contestants". After a short conversation with Ddraig and Lauren regarding future training, Alex then repaired the mountainous area he was training in before returning to the main orb for the evening. As he stepped out of the magic circle Alex found a small crowd of women waiting for him with exasperated expressions as Grayfia stepped forward and stated, "You tell us to spend the day relaxing so that we''re at our best before tomorrow, yet you go off and train yourself to the point that you''re coming back all sweaty and exhausted?!" Alex was taken aback slightly at the welcome he received, but before he could say anything Miledi stepped forward and declared, "Yeah! What are we supposed to do if you''re too tired to fight properly tomorrow?! Go clean yourself up and rest properly!" Alex couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows at how she was speaking, but a quick glance told him that each of the gathered girls were thinking the same thing. He decided to take a page from Ddraig''s book and snorted in response, though he still decided to take a bath before dinner, but not before he grabbed Grayfia and Miledi to accompany him. After a fairly long bath that left both girls more exhausted than him, Alex finally made his way down to the dining hall for some dinner where he found almost everyone who would participate in the attack waiting for him. As he ate his dinner Sona quickly outlined both plans she had come up with, to which Alex replied without any hesitation, "We''ll go with the second option, we can deal with any traps or so on that he might have prepared in our path, and acting otherwise would show that we''re scared. Though it''s a good thing to have a healthy amount of caution, with our line up there shouldn''t be a single thing he can prepare that can actually threaten us." There was a round of murmuring in response as everyone couldn''t help but agree with his argument, especially since Grayfia had said something similar earlier. With his decision made, Alex finished eating before rounding up all of the women that were in the orb and heading to bed for the night. Unlike his bath earlier all they did was silently lay there in the giant bed, enjoying the warmth and comfort everyone provided before entering a deep sleep. *** The next morning there was a a nearly palpable tension as everyone was both nervous and excited for what was to come. As they quickly got up and gathered before the magic circle Alex glanced around at those who would be attacking, Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, Shia, Shizuku, Tio, Miledi, Noint, Serafall, Ingvild, Sairaorg, Sona, Roygun, Ravel, Seekvaira, and Vali. As they gathered those who were staying behind couldn''t help but come to see them off with Anne at their head, as she approached Alex and said worriedly, "Please be safe, all of you..." Alex smiled and kissed her gently before saying, "There''s nothing to worry about, I practically fought gods for a living back in my previous world. Plus I''ve got a bit of a surprise for you all before we leave." Anne was confused for a moment, but learned what Alex was talking about when they all left the space-time orb and found another crowd there to see them off. At the front was certain emerald haired little girl, who ran forward the second she saw them and shouted while leaping into Alex''s arms, "Be careful papa! come back safe and sound!" Myuu shouted while everyone watched on with warm gazes. Alex hugged his adoptive daughter gently and said, "Of course, I''ll always come home to you and everyone else." Myuu beamed at Alex''s reassurance, while he turned towards Hajime and asked, "Did you finish it?" Hajime grinned as well at Alex''s question, and answered, "Of course, who do you think I am?" After saying that he handed Alex half a dozen small metallic birds, which he promptly threw into his personal storage. He then turned towards everyone else and explained, "Thanks to Hajime''s effort, I am happy to say that this fight will be broadcasted to Asora for everyone to see in real time. When the final battle starts I will activate the viewing drones, and they will transmit a signal to their creator, Hajime, who will then relay the signal through another device onto the giant viewing screen that is also being prepared." After hearing that they''d be able to at least watch the fight as it went on, there was a noticeable loss in tension in the crowd as it was replaced by some mild excitement. after another round of goodbyes, Alex led them once more through a misty gate that led to the Orcus hideout, before continuing through a spatial opening into the Gruen desert. As they were all suddenly greeted by the blinding sun and intense heat, Vali couldn''t help but ask, "And why are we here?" Alex shrugged and answered, "Truth be told the only thing I''m worried about is Ehito launching some kind of surprise attack while we''re in his divine realm dealing with him, so to prevent that I''m opening the spatial gate in a place that has nothing of concern." Everyone shuddered at this idea as they all suddenly imagined an army of apostles invading Asora through the portal at the bottom of Orcus or something. Though those staying behind weren''t weak by any means, and there was still Ophis to consider, it would still be a horrible tragedy if they couldn''t prevent such a thing from happening in the first place. With everyone prepared, Alex used the magic key and opened one last gate, causing a set of giant doors to appear out of nowhere before they slowly opened to reveal a completely different world beyond. "Woah..." Shia muttered as they stepped through the door onto a long stone pathway, before the door slammed shut behind them. Though a few people jumped at the sound, everyone else was busy looking around at that place there now in. They were surrounded by a space seemingly empty of anything except a variety of vibrant colors, and the stone path they were on. It extended down for what seemed forever like an impossibly tall stone wall instead, and stretched out endlessly into the distance. As they all looked around Vali muttered, "It''s kinda like the dimension gap back in our world....." This earned a round of agreement from everyone else as Rias muttered to no one in particular, "I wonder if this is where we''ll fight them." Alex however shook his head and answered, "I doubt it, we''re talking about someone who''s been trapped in this space for literally millennia, so I''m sure that Ehito would''ve made more than this to live in." After he finished speaking, Alex then led the way once more as he started heading down the seemingly endless pathway towards whatever awaited them, before eventually taking to the air and flying. They moved swiftly and silently through the air as everyone kept their eyes peeled for any enemies (Miledi was sitting on Tio''s head after she transformed), before Kuroka muttered, "It''s too quiet~Nya, you''d think they would''ve attacked us already if they knew we were here." Everyone nodded in agreement with, and felt thankful Alex took steps to prevent anyone from tracing their steps into Asora once more. Eventually they found what seemed to be a hole in space at the end of the path, and passed through it find themselves in yet another location. This place seemed like an ancient city like what you''d find in post apocalyptic or zombie flicks, which meant that there seemed to be endless places for potential ambushes. However as they followed Alex, who used the magic compass to locate the next area, nothing happened still. This continued as they passed through another four or five different areas, all varying in scenery to dizzying degrees. It wasn''t until they entered an area that seemed to be an endless sea that monsters suddenly jumped from the water and attacked them. "Finally, I was starting to wonder if there was even any point in coming along!" Vali exclaimed as he eagerly leaped into annihilating the sea monsters. Though several people groaned at his attitude, they couldn''t help but think the same as they also started fighting to warm up. Alex could only smiled wryly as he let them release their built up tension as they wished, but his attitude changed as they continued moving forward above the seemingly endless sea. The sky started darkening where it was clear moments before, and the waves below them started turning choppy as an unnatural wind kicked up. As all of the sea monsters they had been fighting fled, everyone returned to Alex''s side as they awaited whatever was quickly approaching them. Generating even larger waves and even whirlpools, an impossibly large figure could be seen moving about under the surface of the waves, before a scaly and metallic Looking figure rose up from the water. "GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The beast roared as it glared at those who would dare trespass within its realm. As for the very same trespassers, those who''s hearts and souls were supposed to shaking in fear, they all let out sighs of amazement at seeing an actual sea dragon, or rather a Leviathan. As he looked up at the exaggeratedly massive sea dragon, Alex calmly and nonchalantly said, "Well hello there." Chapter 275 - Battle Start! As the massive Leviathan glared down on them absolutely no one was concerned in the slightest, and they instead made small talk of how impressive the size and power of the beast was, even though it released a mental attack that would''ve crippled most hardened warriors with fear. After several seconds Alex asked, "So who wants to go first? From what I can see this monster is at a divine level that eclipses anything we''ve seen so far on Tortus." A ripple of interest passed through the group at his words, while the divine beast glared at them before roaring once more, as if demanding to know why they weren''t terrified at the sight of it. Though several of those gathered wanted to fight it, the first one to speak up was surprisingly Ingvild, who asked, "Um, can I try first?" This surprised everyone as they knew she didn''t like fighting too much, but Alex interrupted Vali''s attempt to speak up by saying, "Of course, do as you want." Ingvild gave him a look of gratitude while Vali glared at him as if demanding why he couldn''t go to fight it first. As Ingvild slowly flew out in front of them the divine beast focused its attention on her, causing her to flinch slightly as it''s mental attack increased in intensity. Without faltering however, Ingvild stared back at it intently before she suddenly started summoning massive amounts of demonic power. As her power continued to grow, a noticeable change started manifesting in Ingvild''s appearance, as her skin was suddenly starting to grow emerald scales and fins also started appearing in places like her ears, between her fingers, and along her arms. Once her super devil transformation was complete she looked like an upgraded version of the Dagon race like Remia and Myuu, before the sea started to boil and rise up around her. "Even though I don''t like fighting, I practiced in secret so that I wasn''t always the one being protected!" She declared as the water around her formed into several dragons, before attacking the Leviathan. Seeing the sea rise against it, the divine beast grew even more enraged at the fact that someone dared stand against it as lord of the sea, and blasted a fire of unimaginable magnitude at the insolent woman. Unperturbed, Ingvild made the sea rise in front of her as a shield even as the fire evaporated it in an instant, but with literally and endless supply of water at her disposal Ingvild''s composure never wavered. Instead it was the leviathan who suffered first, as the dragons she created from the sea tore literal chucks of flesh from its body, turning the sea red with its blood as it stopped attacking her to deal with the irritating attackers. It thrashed and bit, and breathed fire at the attacking water dragons even though they simply reformed after each attack, much like itself after they tore chuck after chuck of flesh from its body. The Leviathan was growing increasingly frustrated even as its destroyed flesh regenerated, but it stopped suddenly as it just noticed a peculiar sound drifting through the air. "Why does she have to do that?" Vali groaned as he squirmed uncomfortably, along with Alex and Tio as they too felt the effects of Ingvild''s singing, even though she wasn''t targeting them. The Leviathan started roaring in frustration as it swung its head back and forth, as if doing so would remove whatever influence the song was having on it. Ingvild couldn''t help but smile as she slowly flew closer to the leviathan while making her water dragons back slowly away, before dispelling them altogether. The leviathan was so distracted with the effects of Ingvild''s singing that it never even noticed her approach until she was right in front of it, and as if it lost all will to resist it did nothing as she slowly reached out with her hand until she could feel the smooth metallic scales beneath her palms. "Is she doing what I think she''s doing?" Rias incredulously asked no one in particular, as Ingvild continued to slowly stroke the Leviathan''s head while maintaining her singing. Eventually it stopped resisting altogether, and a nearly thunderous sound different from hat they''d heard so far started rumbling thought the air, as it closed its eyes in contention and seemed to start purring. "That''s a good boy...." Ingvild said slowly and calmly as she finally stopped her song and continued petting the massive beast, much to everyone''s surprise. As the minutes ticked by, they all watched as Ingvild tamed a dragon that was obviously on a different level compared to a "Dragon King" like Fafnir, and even Ddraig said to Alex mentally, Alex couldn''t help but agree as he couldn''t see Ingvild leaving the Leviathan behind, something that was confirmed when they heard her say, "I think I''ll call you Levi, short for Leviathan!" As if pleased at its name Levi''s purrs increased in volume until it felt as if the air around them was vibrating. Ddraig then added as a sad afterthought, As everyone heard him this time they all nodded in agreement, as Ingvild''s ability easily made her the most dangerous person in Asora, making them all grateful that she was kind and caring person. After several more minutes of her calming Levi, Ingvild finally released her transformation and sat herself on top of its head and said, "It''s ok now, she''ll accompany us the rest of the way." no one argued with her logic as they all once more followed Alex''s lead, though Alex heard Vali mutter, "Maybe I''ll be able to fight it later when we return." Alex shook his head wryly at that, but decided not to comment. As Levi joined them a space that was previously empty of anything except water started shimmering, before an island appeared before them. It wasn''t too hard to deduce that the island was the place with the next gate, so they unhesitatingly flew to it while Ingvild happily followed atop Levi''s head. Though the island also processed a myriad of powerful monsters, none of them even compared to Levi, so they were considered nothing but small fry as they blasted through to the gate. On the other side the ocean of water was replaced by an ocean of clouds, as the only ground they could see was the many floating islands covered in rush vegetation. "Wow..." Shizuku muttered absentmindedly, as Alex stated, "I am definitely having this kind of environment added to one of the space-time orbs." everyone nodded absentmindedly as they admired the amazing view before them. This didn''t last long though as they remembered the reason they had come to this place, and so they advanced towards the largest floating island in order to advance. As they were about to reach it however, everyone suddenly reacted as they sensed killing intent surrounding them before hundreds, then thousands, then what seemed to be millions of silver haired people appeared. As they were slowly surrounded Alex said, "Well, here''s your fight." This caused everyone to get into a battle ready state as one of the apostles got closer to them and said, "We are here to purge your heretical existences from our masters world, but before we do that I have been instructed to demand you hand over the existence known as "Nyx". If any of you do this then my merciful master may spare you from the slaughter that will be commenced in his name." Alex snorted in response to the apostles offer along with the majority of those with him, but before he could actually say anything Noint stepped forward and said, "Hearst, I see you have been promoted in my absence." Hearst glared down at her former superior, and spat at her, "Indeed, but do not fret Noint, I will put your memory to rest by eliminating those who have corrupted you before destroying the heretical being you have become!" Noint couldn''t help but sigh as she replied, "It was our creator who threw me away, leading to my "corruption". I have simply come to realize that our creator is not all powerful, and that there is such things as free will." As Noint spoke Hearst''s eyes narrowed even further as she said, "How far you''ve fallen, to even believe such false concepts as free will to exist, and to lose your faith in the most powerful being to exist. It will be my mercy to you, as our former leader, to erase you as swiftly as possible." Though her former second-in-command was still threatening her, Noint did not react. Instead she touched a couple of her fingers to her lips and asked with a slightly melancholic expression, "Tell me Hearst, have you ever felt the softness of another person''s lips on your own?" This question had what seemed to be an unusual effect on Hearst as she actually seemed to flinch slightly at it, but before she could say anything else Noint continued, "What about the warmth of another person''s body against your own? The heat of passion as you embrace your lover? The slight fluttery feeling in your stomach the next morning as you lay in bed together? These are all things I have experienced in the short time since our creator abandoned me, and in such a short time it feels as if I have truly lived more than I had during my entire existence." As she spoke a phenomenon that should have been impossible happened. To ensure their superiority and to lessen their sense of self, all apostles were set to share their memories and experiences with the other, the only existing differences being their names and individual capabilities. When she was discarded by Ehito the connection Noint maintained with her fellow apostles was completely severed but, during this moment as she recalled what were now her fondness moments, Hearst experienced fleetingly the memories and feelings Noint had experienced herself at this time. As this brief and fleeting connection reached Hearst, it was automatically transmitted to each and every one of the apostle surrounding them, causing them to flinch unconsciously and irritably. Though she retained her composure, Hearst pointed at both Noint and Alex and declared with a slight red tinge on her cheeks, "You will both die now for that blasphemous mental attack!" With a single gesture from her the entire sky darkened as it was filled with fluttering silver wings and hair in the millions. As the tidal wave of attackers approached them, Alex could help but state, "Aren''t these numbers a little exaggerated?" Noint nodded in response next to him, and replied, "It is possible that after the destruction of the mass produced dragon army, my creator started creating more apostles en mass in preparation for our inevitable attack. Thankfully they shouldn''t be as capable as myself or even an average one of my kinsmen as a result." Alex nodded before turning back towards everyone and saying, "I''m going to go on ahead, stay here and play to your hearts content. There''s literally millions of opponents so don''t complain." With that said Alex deployed the six drones Hajime gave him, and used the key and compass once more to open a gate to Ehito''s location as one of the drones followed him. As he left Sairaorg turned towards the mass moving towards them and asked, "So, a free for all then?" There was a round of agreement at his proposition, as everyone replied, "Sounds good~Nyan." "I like that idea!" "Well, at least we can still fight without holding back!" "This one will enjoy this immensely!" "Like there''s any other option." "I would request that Hearst is left to me, as her former commander I feel as if it is my duty to personally see to her." No one contested Noint''s request, and instead focused on their own fight as literally millions of enemies descended onto the sixteen people(seventeen counting Levi). *** As the gate closed behind him Alex found himself in a space not too different from the one they were in when they first arrive in the divine realm, the biggest difference though was that the surrounding space was darker than the one before. A long pathway that seemed to be made of chalk extended it in front of him, leading to a set of stairs. Alex unhesitatingly made his way to the stairs, and looked up to see them veiled in light at the top. Without hesitation he went up the stairs and found himself now in an expansive pure white space. As he looked around and saw nothing but white Alex muttered, "Even if I wasn''t a devil I''d still get a head ache from looking at all of this..." As he looked around a voice suddenly said, "So, you are the one who has decided to bear your fangs at God, and even invaded my home so impudently." Alex turned to find a some of the white fading like a curtain, to reveal a platform with a throne atop it. "Sitting" in the throne was a being that didn''t seem to have any distinguishing features due to the fact that it was only a spiritual existence. Alex could tell that it was vaguely humanoid and seemed to have wings protruding from its back as if to emulate an angel, but it was also giving off an intense light while also contradicting this to be somewhat transparent. As the two looked each other over, Ehito demanded, "So where is the so called goddess called Nyx? If you were going to deliver yourself to me for death couldn''t you at least have the decency to bring her with you Instead of making me look for her when I slaughter your comrades?" Alex snorted before responding, "Wow, you''re even more irritating in person. Though I have no obligation to answer you, I will say that even if I did bring her it wouldn''t have made a difference. Unlike a pretender like you, she was born a goddess, making her an existence on a different level than you or me, even if we are both more powerful than her." Ehito frowned at this as he could see that Alex wasn''t lying when he said this, meanwhile back in Asora the goddess of night and darkness in question beamed as she watched the two on the projection. As Alex had stated, even if Ehito tried to take over her body he would have been unable to contend with the mental abilities of a genuine born goddess, regardless of who was stronger with magic between them. Annoyed at this fact, Ehito raised a finger and directed a random attack of magic at Alex, causing the entire space to ripple and bend with its intensity as a massive portion of the surrounding white to be destroyed. Even after causing such damage Ehito didn''t believe that Alex was dead, as c.o.c.kroaches were the most annoying yet the most tenacious of pests. Instead he opened his mouth and stated, "I command in the name of Ehitorujue-" But he never finished whatever he was about to command, as a Haki covered fist came flying out of nowhere to collide with his face, sending the god flying across his own space. Though there was no damage to the surroundings due to his lack of a physical body, it didn''t change the fact that he experienced an intense pain like never before while howling, "IT HUUUUUUURTS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" As Ehito had never experienced pain in the long time since acquiring his spiritual body, he was livid that someone had actually laid a finger on him, let alone actually punching him. His gaze focused on the obvious culprit, Alex, as he stood back where he had punch the god at his throne. Even as a glare promising a slow and painful death was being directed at him, Alex smirked and said provocatively, "I believe this is where the phrase ''shut up or nut up'' come into play." Ehito''s glare intensified, even as he summoned all his acc.u.mulated magic power just to punish the insolent bug that dared laid a hand on him, and the two prepared for the next round. Chapter 276 - Free For All As Alex''s battle with Ehito started in full swing(literally), the battle against the apostles had started long before. It began as the tidal wave of silver and blue bore down on the gathered group, and a certain muscular figure moved forward before anyone else could say anything. "Let me kick this thing off with little "hello"." Sairaorg said with a broad grin, as everyone evacuated behind Grayfia and Kuroka. The duo quickly put up a spatial barrier as the already suffocating pressure coming off of the former Bael heir started increasing at an alarming rate. Thick golden fur started sprouting from his body while his hair started extending until it became a thick shaggy mane flowing halfway down his back. Too end the transformation each of his fingers was tipped with razor sharp claws while his teeth also seemed to gain a pointed edge, and his eyes turned slitted like a felines. With his transformation complete, Sairaorg didn''t waste time throwing his head back right as the wave of attackers were swinging their scimitars, and bellowed out a roar that made even thunder seem tame. "RRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Even behind the protective barrier designed specifically to lock out sound everyone could feel their teeth rattle as the air around them vibrated, and those with sensitive hearing like Shia even tried to cover their ears with their face twisted in pain. With that much influence in a space that was supposed to be cut off from his attack, it was understandable that those who his attack were directed at were in a pretty pathetic state. Every single apostle in their immediate area was now bleeding profusely from their ears and even their eyes while several had been thrown back by the raw conclusive blast of his roar, and those who had been closest to the man in question had even burst completely, causing a rain of blood and gore to fall upon those who were below them. While Sairaorg was admiring his handy work he suddenly felt someone punch the back of his head with enough force that it actually stung a little as he turned and saw Shia there behind him. "THAT HURTS YOU IDIOT!!!" She shouted while still keeping her ears covered as they were still ringing severally, while several others were nodding in agreement behind her. Sairaorg grinned apologetically, flashing his sharpened teeth in the process, as he stated, "Sorry, I want to do that at least once, and I just figured that the best time to do so was when the battle began." After explaining himself Sairaorg decided it was probably time to leave, and dashed forward to start using his new claws to literally start tearing his way through their ranks. There was a series of eye rolls at his explanation, while Vali stated, "This is foolish, I''m going ahead." Taking advantage of the momentary pause of the apostles, he flew forward and started his own super devil transformation. Vali''s skin started darkening at a noticeable rate while the aura coming off of him started to also increase, quickly surpassing his balance breaker form. Soon his body also started in reading in mass as a pair of horn sprouted from his forehead, and with a tearing sound he was soon shirtless for everyone to see his new form in all its glory. In all he looked like the stereotypical demon king one would find in games or novels, as 12 bat-like wings spread from his back along with a large magic circle that seemed to help him draw in raw power from the surroundings. As his transformation finish Vali spared himself a flips while muttering, "Such power... I wonder what would happen if I combined this with my balance breaker?..." At that point Albion answered his rhetorical question mentally while explaining, Even as he extended both hands and summoned a mass of demonic power to attack the recovering apostles Vali answered, "Don''t worry, this form may be powerful, but I''ll still be relying on you quite a bit partner." Albion couldn''t help tearing up a little at Vali''s words, even as he released his blast of demonic power that proceeded to annihilate the apostles in the thousands, while also punching a hole in the space itself into one of the other spaces they had passed through earlier. As this was only the second attack they had taken and even though the result didn''t even put a dent a in their numbers, the apostles couldn''t help but exclaim, "What monsters..." "What even are they?!" "They are truly dangerous existences!" No one even registered this though as they resumed their attack. By this point several other people had assumed their super devil forms and were starting to launch their own attacks against the apostles. Rias had mastered her own transformation and was slinging around destruction to obliterate apostles in the hundreds each second with ease, while any that tried to approach her were quickly eaten away by her ''Domain of Destructon''. Grayfia on the other hand was alternating between various attacks as she used a sword to chop her way through the apostles ranks, while also firing devastating spells of various attributes from behind their lines. Meanwhile back where they started was still Shia who was just now recovering her hearing from Sairaorg''s previous attack. Before she could recover completely though several apostles appeared out of nowhere and swung their scimitars at her while saying, "You''re wide open heretic!" She didn''t even react as their blades clashed with her body, before shattering into tiny fragments instantly. The apostles looked at their prided weapons dumbfounded, while Shia turned her attention towards them as if just noticing they were there before stating, "Don''t think that''ll work on me, I''VE BEEN THE PERSONAL PUNCHING BAG OF A SUPER SAIYAN 2 FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS!" As she shouted an explosion of her sky blue magic power surrounded her, before similarly colored fur started appearing all over her skin. The apostles watched with even more confusion as the short layer of fur spread across her entire body similarly to Sairaorg''s, while her eyes turned a shade of deep red. "Impossible, no demihuman should be able to transform...?" One of the apostles muttered, before she suddenly burst into a red mist. The rest turned around suddenly thinking they were attacked from behind, but found only Shia there with her trusty hammer slung over her shoulder. She had used her brute strength to suddenly move and attack the speaking apostle, before forcibly stopping herself and turning to face them once more. She then stated once more, "I''m not a demihuman, I''M A BEASTMAN NOW! BEWARE THE BERSERKER BUNNY!" With that being her battle roar, Shia charged forward at speeds the apostles could react to and promptly turned them into bloody mush before moving on. With this many enemies she decided not to hold back, and didn''t hesitate to activate her berserker ability; though as her hair and fur turned crimson red, it was unknown if those was because of her going berserk, or her being splattered with the blood of her enemies. As they watched her fight, even her own allies swore they would be nicer to bunnies in the future. Meanwhile nearby, several apostle were suddenly dropping dead seemingly from nothing, as a certain cat-tailed girl slinked around stealthily. "Nyan~ I''ll leave the actual fighting to them, and harvest some good stuff while taking them out." Kuroka said to herself, as she used her claws to stealthily pluck a certain item from the chest of an apostle, causing said apostle to fall into the sea of clouds below dead. They had learned all about fighting the servants of Ehito from Noint during the three months they used to prepare, and one of the most important lessons was to aim directly for the head or heart to make sure their opponent was dead during the battle. The reason for this was because each apostle was set to be able to regenerate almost any damage they had sustained, with only head shots being able to keep them down. The only other weak point was a magic crystal that was embedded into each of their hearts, that supposedly provided the artificial beings with an infinite supply of magic power. Though this information didn''t matter to those who could blowing their opponents to smithereens, Kuroka had decided to monopolize on this opportunity and "collect" these crystals that supposedly produced infinite magic power. With a feeling of excitement of when she''d be able to properly examine her bounty, Kuroka continued slinking around and stealthily killing the apostles with none being any wiser, just like someone else a short distance away. "I hate to admit it, but these ninja skills are actually useful..." Shizuku muttered to herself, hoping no one enemy or ally heard her confession. She knew she wouldn''t be able to keep up with her comrades just yet, so at this moment she was using her own stealth and speed to rush around the battlefield while cutting off the heads or piercing the hearts and magic crystals of the apostles. It helped that she was moving at speeds that even they couldn''t keep up with, making her reluctantly glad that she had undergone evolution as well during the previous three months. Unlike the others her evolution wasn''t as flashy, but had resulted instead in mostly increasing her default physical abilities to make her stronger and faster, while also increasing her senses past what humans were usually capable of, as well as increasing her body''s adaptability and resistance against diseases. While wondering just how "chunni" she was going to end up In the future, Shizuku sighed and focused of the battle once more. "Hmm, take that!" Ravel shouted as she unleashed a powerful blast of fire magic against a group of apostles, which they had barely managed to block with a top tier barrier spell. "This is getting kinda annoying." She muttered to herself with irritation. She was holding off on using her super devil form due to its "uniqueness", but since there were so many apostles then she might have no other choice. Her thoughts were interrupted when a pair of scimitars burst from her chest, spraying her blood everywhere as a voice muttered in her ear, "You''re wide open heretic!" The apostle then ripped her blades out through the sides of Ravel''s chest to cause a cascade of gore and bone to fall below, before swiping them to swiftly remove her head for good measure. As her corpse fell to join the rest of apostles that had fallen so far, the one that killed her spat, "Don''t worry, the rest of your pathetic comrades will be joining you soon." The apostle then turned to find her next target, and was about to attack Miledi who was using her Gravity magic to fight while staying afloat, but then a feminine yet demonic sounding voice boomed, "YOU DARE TURN YOUR BACK ON ME?" Directly after the voice spoke there was an explosion of heat and flame as the apostle turned to find what seemed to be the girl she had just killed in the center. Before she had any time to react the flames wrapped around Ravel as if to cocoon her before spreading to each side as if to for wings. The fire continued moving and flowing unnaturally until it formed a head and tail to go with the winged body, and two impossibly dark orbs formed as if they were eyes. The fire itself felt wrong and unnatural, as it seemed to radiate darkness and shadow instead of light or life. Before the apostle had time to process what she was witnessing, the voice boomed once more, "I, AM THE IMMORTAL PHOENIX! EMPRESS OF BOTH FIRE AND WIND!" The only thought the apostle had time to form was ''I''m about to die.'', before the Phoenix flapped it''s mighty wings and sent forth a tidal wave of flames that rushed over her to turn her to ash instantly, as well as any who were behind her. Without diminishing or dying down in the slightest, the flames spread throughout the battlefield reaching friend and foe alike. When they reached Ravel''s allies however the flames didn''t damage them, instead they could feel their fatigue fading as any wounds they might have acquired also started to heal themselves. With each flap of her mighty wings the flames spread even further until they covered most of the battlefield, the exceptions being the place where Ingvild and Levi were fighting as she had taken a large amount of water with them for the leviathan, and a giant sphere of mist were Serafall was fighting. "What is she doing?" Sona asked no one in particular while looking at the sphere as she dealt with another group of apostles. She then dodged another attack from behind as if she already knew it was coming, before summoning a large mass of water to attack them with. "Wha- impossible! How did you know I was about to attack?!" The apostle denuded while trying to defend themselves from the water. Sona sighed and explained, "I already saw it coming, as well as every other way you might have attacked me." Without saying anymore, Sona quickly dealt with that apostle as well before taking a brief moment to rest herself, closing all three of her eyes. Though her super devil formed lacked the showiness everyone else''s had, it more than made up for it in practicality. Not only did her demonic powers boost tremendously when she opened her third eye, but it also drastically sped up her ability to think and plan to the point where she could rival even a supercomputer, and she was able to focus on up to five different things at the same time. Her biggest asset was always her ability to create and execute near flawless plans, to the point that she was actively praised by the higher ups in their former world for it. Now she was able to process information and act on it fast enough that she could almost seem clairvoyant at times, something that was particularly useful during battle. The biggest downside however was that the longer she had her super devil form activated, the larger the mental backlash she experienced when she canceled it, ranging from mild migraines to flat out knocking her out for over an hour. A sudden blast of wind and ice caught her attention as her older sister sent out a large attack that froze all within its path almost instantly, followed by a swarm of apostles flying into the cloud of mist to deal with the source within, but a few seconds later Sona watched them fall from the bottom completely frozen as well. "What are you doing big sis?" Sona asked the cloud curiously, before her sisters voice answered from within, "I''m hiding! I don''t want everyone to see this form since it isn''t a magical girl!" Sona was slightly dumbfounded at the answer, before hesitantly asking, "Did you really think your super devil form would make you a magical girl?" Surprisingly the answer she got back was, "Yes! I''m supposed to be ''Magical Girl Levia-tan''! Not this!" Sona sighed in annoyance while pinch the bridge of her nose, before deciding to bite the bullet and said, "But I thought that big sis''s super devil form was really pretty..." It took nearly a minute as they kept fighting, but she soon got a reply, "Really?" "Yes really big sis!" She answered. The moment she replied the cloud of mist covering Serafall started dispersing, before her form was revealed for all. Sona hadn''t been lying when she said her sisters form was pretty, Serafall''s skin and hair was covered with what appeared to be ice crystals that shined when they caught the light, as wings of ice spread from her back to give her an ethereal appearance. The only thing she found unsettling was Serafall''s eyes, as they had appeared to have turned into ice crystals instead of simply changing color like several other people''s. As she revealed herself for all to see, Serafall made a beeline straight for Sona before grabbing her in a hug and saying, "Yay! Son-tan likes this form!~????" Sona could only sigh once more at her sisters behavior, even as several apostles saw the two with their guard down. "Let''s get them!" One said while several other followed their lead, but as they approached they entered Serafall''s domain and felt as if the heat of their bodies was quickly being sapped, before they froze solid and fell to the clouds below. "Humph, that''s what they get for entering my absolute zero domain and trying to interfere with my Son-tan time!~????!" Serafall declared as she insisted on staying latched onto her beloved Son-tan, making Sona sigh once again within such a short period of time. Clear across the battlefield Yue was cutting a bloody swath through the apostle ranks as if with a vengeance, which she was as this battle was also for her to avenge her uncle and the rest of her people that perished because of Ehito. "...I shall eliminate all of you!..." She declared as even more apostles rushed her. To show her seriousness for this battle she had even turned into her new form, which was just the mature version of herself, and was using the new powers we acquired from being evolved previously. Until now Yue had never had a chance to properly use them, but with so many targets readily available she was cutting loose. "..I will be taking your blood!..." She stated before enacting a truly horrendous scene, as each of the apostles that came within a certain range of her suddenly felt as if something was very wrong with their bodies. Before they had any time to react blood was suddenly pouring from every opening in their bodies, from their mouths and eyes, to even each of their pores as it gathered to form a massive Crimson cloud of blood. As the cloud floated over Yue it suddenly started swirling as if it was suddenly a whirlpool with her hand at the center, before disappearing as she absorbed it. "...Not as good as Alex''s blood, but it will do..." She muttered to herself, before suddenly unleashing devastating attacks of each element into her surroundings, wiping out hundreds or even thousands of apostles before repeating the process. "Remind me to never make her mad..." Roygun said to no one in particular, before returning to her own fight. As each enemy appeared before her, she used her upgraded powers to inflict ''Cracks'' onto whatever they used to attack her, from the scimitars and armor to even the magic attacks and finally the crystals imbedded within the apostles hearts. She found it quite entertaining to watch as the equipment of each of the apostles that approached her suddenly disintegrated, before they themselves also collapsed suddenly. Of course they then tried to snipe her with the disintegration feathers, but those were also easily repelled with a few small ''Cracks''. In all while she wasn''t eliminating large amounts of opponents instantly like others were, Roygun felt grateful to fight on the front lines for her lord. Just as this sentiment was passing through her mind, a large black blur tore through the ranks of the apostles while also releasing a mighty roar of vindication. "This is for mine people and parents, taste the rage of the dragon race!" Tio roared as she gleefully slaughtered her long time enemies. As she did so an apostle focused on her and said, "So some of the dragon race survived their purge, we will correct that mistake once we finish eliminating you and your comrades, with the powers granted to us by God!" When she heard this declaration Tio turned towards the speaker and replied, "I see, then perhaps we shall''st compare the powers granted to me by mine God, versus thous?" After her declaration Tio immediately flew up as high as possible into the sky before activating her new trump card. There was an explosion of power as the sky darkened around her, and the unmistakable power of a divine radiated from her body as Tio grew to unimaginable proportions. Feeling the familiar power of Ophis coming from her, Vali looked up at Tio and said, "I see, she was blessed as well. Perhaps I should challenge her some time when this is over!" Not knowing she placed herself on Vali''s list of future opponents, Tio continued on her rampage as she reaped more lives of the servants of her hated enemy while crying out, "Taste the power i have received from mine God, the God of dragons!" As she continued her rampage, Tio caught the attention of a certain pair that were still caught up in their own fight, making Hearst mutter, "Truly each and everyone one of you are the worst of monsters..." Her attention was forced back on the fight when Noint''s scimitars came hurtling towards her head, making her guard before taking some distance and firing a barrage of feathers at her dormer superior. Noint casually shielded herself with her own wings before saying to her, "Can you not see Hearst how our creator is not all powerful? Do you truly wish to die simply because he has decided you will go with him?" Hearst snorted at Noint''s questions and attacked once more with her scimitars this time, while Noint guarded before attacking with her signature ''Hellfire Tsunami''. As the flames died down Noint was unsurprised to see Hearst floating there unscathed at the attack, having already learned that her former right hand had been powered up significantly by their creator. This didn''t deter Noint though, as she hadn''t been idle during the three months they took to prepare, and had been training herself whenever she helped the others with their training. As such regardless of how much neither one wanted to admit, they were roughly evenly matched against each other and their battle had turned into one of attrition. The sky roared with the sound of metal on metal as he two clashed over and over, each blow meaning to kill the other before they switched to using some form of magic to attack, all the while the numbers of the apostles slowly dwindled until there was a scarce few thousand left out of the million that had been present before. "Say you win, say you kill me Hearst, what then? Even then you are defeated as someone else will simply turn their attention to you after they finish with our people. You may have the numbers even now, but it obvious that they are useless against my allies." As she spoke Hearst once more glanced at the battlefield to see that Noint was speaking the truth, only to look back at her and declare, "Even so, even if you speak the truth, I will at least ensure I take you down before I die traitor! After that then my master will erase every single one of your companions, just like he already has that man from before!" Noint didn''t know what happened then at that moment, but when she heard Hearst say that Alex was dead an unfamiliar emotion welled up in her, and she rushed forward with a determination she had not yet showed before in retaliation. Hearst was equally surprised at Noint''s reaction, and had barely blocked the incoming attack in time, before being pressed on the defensive from the flurry of attacks Noint directed at her with an increasing intent to kill. While they battled the others were finishing up as well, cutting the numbers of apostles down to a couple thousand, to one thousand, until finally their numbers were down to the hundreds. At the same exact moment Noint and the others were about to execute the final blow, but something happened that no one expected. The moment Hearst tried one last time to defend against Noint relentless barrage of attacks, both of their scimitars shattered at the same time from the continuous abuse they suffered during the battle. Before either could react a hole was suddenly torn in space near them and a lone figure came flying through it, before crashing into one of the only remaining floating islands. "What...?" Noint and nearly everyone else muttered at the same time, but when they saw the figure that had been sent flying every single one of the apostles turned deathly pale. Laying defeated was none other than Ehito, who''s spiritual body was flickering weakly as he struggled to support himself. "This fight is over." Another voice said from the tear in space, making everyone turn towards it with expectations, but then confusion. It was obvious that the one to render Ehito to such a state was Alex who went ahead to fight him, but no one was expecting what they saw when he reappeared. Alex''s hair and eyes and both turned a brilliant red while shining with what seemed to be a divine light as he glanced over what was left of the battlefield. he thn said one thing, "I command thee in the name of Alexander- KNEEL!" At the command every single person present did one thing wether they wanted to or not, they bent their knees and knelt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Kuroka Race- youkai/nekoshou Abilities- Reincarnated devil Evil Piece-Queen Senjutsu Youjutsu Job- Apprentice Saboteur(40) Jobs available- Master Martial Artist, Poison Master, Space Grandmaster, Time Mage Adept, Acrobat, Illusionist, Shape Shifter, Expert Thief, Saboteur, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Warrior, Sirit Medium, Job history- Poison User, Space Mage, Thief, Archmage, Poison Expert, Master Mage, Martial Artist, Adept Thief, Grandmaster Mage, Expert Martial Artist, Shape Shifter, Space Archmage, Time Mage Apprentice, Space Master Skills- Feline form(3) Stealth(10) Shadow cloak(5) Poison mist(10) Poison claw(10) Poison immunity(4) Ki mastery(4) Magic control(8) Magic sight(5) Enlarged magic pool(6) Kasha (9) Touki(10) Illusions(6) Space magic(9) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(3) Petrification(2) Regeneration magic(4) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(2) Alteration Magic(1) Conception Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Rias Gremory Titles- Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Race- Super Devil Abilities- Destruction Super Devil Form Evil Piece-Bishop Job- Destroyer(50) Jobs available- Grandmaster Mage, Charm Master, Demon General, Magic Sniper, Expert Gunner, Subordinate Mage Princess, Gravity Magic Adept, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Medium, Spirit Destroyer, Transformation Mage Job history- Destruction Mage, Destruction Archmage, Destruction Mage, Archmage, Mage, Demonic Leader, Lord of Destruction, Apprentice Martial Artist, Gun Mage, Demonic Charmer, Destruction Overlord, Magic Gunner, Gravity Mage Apprentice, Charm Expert Skills- Absolute Destruction(8) Magic Mastery(3) Immense magic pool(3) Magic recovery rate(9) Extinguished star (9) Apocalyptic extinction(3) Domain of Destruction(2) Reaper''s ruin(9) Destruction duelers(7) Command Loyalty (10) Strengthen followers(2) Devils allure(5) Superhuman strength(5) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(5) Space magic(2) Regeneration magic(3) Spirit magic(2) Evolution Magic(2) Alteration Magic(1) Conception Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue Titles- vampire princess, crotch smasher, Magical Girl Vampire Princess Race- Shinso Vampire Abilities- Reincarnated Devil Evil Piece-Bishop Auto Regeneration All Element Aptitude Compound Magic True Form Job- Adept Wind Mage(5) Jobs available- Grandmaster Mage, Expert Fire Mage, Adept Water Mage, Expert Ice Mage, Adept Earth Mage, Adept Lightning Mage, Expert Wind Mage, Subordinate Vampire Princess, Gravity Mage Apprentice, Magical Girl, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Mage Apprentice, Spirit Medium, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Blood Mage Apprentice, Shadow Mage Apprentice Job history- Master Mage, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Lightning Mage, Water Mage, Earth Mage, Wind Mage, Adept Ice Mage, Adept Fire Mage, Skills- Blood Conversion(9) Magic recovery rate(8) Magic control(9) Magic Sight(5) Flame manipulation(5) Ice manipulation(6) Lightning manipulation(5) Water manipulation(3) Earth manipulation(2) Wind manipulation(5) Blood Manipulation(1) Shadow Manipulation(1) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(5) Space magic(3) Regeneration magic(3) Spirit magic(2) Evolution Magic(2) Alteration Magic(1) Conception Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shia Haulia Titles- Worthless Rabbit, Bugged Rabbit, Berserker Bunny Race- Rabbit Beastman Abilities- Future sight Reincarnated devil Evil Piece-Rook Conceal presence Feralization Job- Brawler(45) Available jobs- Hammer Expert, Apprentice Assassin, Apprentice Thief, Brawler Adept, Fortune Teller, Veteran Warrior, Gravity Adept, Undying Warrior, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Medium, Feral Fighter, Bloody Berserker, Tanker Job history- Apprentice Warrior, Berserker, Hammer User, Warrior, Regenerating Warrior, Gravity Apprentice, Skills- Automatic future sight(4) Future paths(2) Revelation(2) Berserk mode(3) Stealth(1) Physical reinforcement(4) Superhuman strength(6) Durability(10) Accelerated healing(3) Hammer technique(4) Gravity magic(6) Space magic(2) Regeneration magic(3) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) Alteration Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shizuku Yeagashi Titles- onee-sama, class mom, last boss Race- High Human Abilities- Reincarnated devil Evil Piece-Knight Ninjutsu Job-Samurai Apprentice(70) Available jobs- Master Swordswoman, Ninja Adept, Samurai, Speed Demon, Female Knight, Spirit Knight, Shape Shifter, Naughty Ninja Job history-Swordswoman, Ninja Apprentice, Expert Swordswoman Skills- Sword Mastery(2) Knife Skill(2) No beat(5) Enhanced speed(8) Ponytail guard(3) Chakra Control(3) Camouflage(2) Stealth(2) Seduction(1) Bed Skills(2) Disease Resistance(1) Increased Adaptability(2) Space magic(5) Regeneration magic(3) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) Alteration Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Grayfia Lucifuge Titles- The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Race- Super Devil Abilities- Immense Demonic Power Super Devil Form Evil Piece-Pawn Job- Expert Martial Maid(35) Jobs available-Naughty Maid, Demonic Maid, Maid General, Master Shield Maid, Master Mage Maid, Master Warrior Maid, Master Martial Maid, Expert Maid Knight, Gravity User Maid, Space Maid, Time Maid, Adept Healing Maid, Spiritual Maid, Transforming Maid, Subordinate Queen Maid, Job history- Shield Maid, Mage Maid, Warrior Maid, Maid Terror, Martial Maid, Creation Maid, Apprentice Maid Knight, Maid Knight, Expert Shield Maid, Expert Maid Mage, Apprentice Healing Maid, Veteran Warrior Maid, Skills- Housework(5) Bed skills(10) Massive magic pool(10) Magic Mastery(2) Magic recovery rate(10) Magic Domain(2) Coordination(10) Intimidation(10) Aura of terror(7) Steel defense(2) Godly strength(3) Ki manipulation(6) Sword skills(6) Creation magic(1) Gravity magic(2) Space magic(4) Regeneration magic(4) Spirit magic(1) Evolution Magic(1) Alteration Magic(1) Conception Magic(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 277 - Super Saiyan God As the domineering command echoed throughout the battlefield there was no hesitation as every single person bent their knees and knelt to the person- no, the God before them. The apostles and even Ehito were no exception to this, as he was forced to right himself and kneel to an inferior being despite his own will. To the former god there was no greater humiliation and he was already trying to figure out a way to get back at Alex, but a very small part of him also looked back on the recent battle and current situation with fear, as he relived what happened in his mind to try and figure out where he went wrong. *** *A bit earlier* Alex and Ehito faced each other as one prepared to power up, and the other summoned godly amounts of magic power to attack. The moment Alex moved was the same moment Ehito unleashed a series of devastating cyclones in his path, each with enough force to put even the mightiest of tornadoes to shame. Of course this wasn''t all as each cyclone was made up of razor sharp blades of wind specifically designed to shred anything and everything unlucky enough to become engulfed by them. Thinking he bought himself a few seconds Ehito was preparing his next spell, when once more a fist crashed into his face and sent him flying. "H-HOW?!" He demanded through the pain that he was unaccustomed to feeling before glancing over at Alex, to see him covered in shallow wounds that had begun to heal noticeably as the Regeneration magic did its job. "What do you mean how? I just went right through that little breeze storm." Alex explained nonchalantly while Ehito gaped in shock at such an unbelievably stupid being, after all no one in their right mind would charge headfirst at one of his spells, even if they had Regeneration magic at their disposal. Furious at the stupidity of it all that he was actually hurt by such a person, twice, Ehito instinctively roared, "I COMMAND YOU IN THE NAME OF EHITORUJUE- PROSTRATE!" Alex was suddenly seized by the most powerful form of mind manipulation he had received to date, as every fiber of his being started to get into position to prostrate himself. While gritting his teeth, Alex fought and fought for several seconds while Ehito watched dumbfoundedly once again as his expectations were disappointed once more. Though it had taken longer than he was comfortable with, Alex eventually managed to shake off the influence of the command right as he received a sudden notification, [New skill obtained! ''Mental Resistance'' skill acquired!] Alex was momentarily confused at the sudden notification while Lauren could be heard laughing slightly within his mind, before she answered his unasked question, ''This is really good, this skill should prevent external influences from manipulating your mental state, in other words Ehito just made you more resistant against his own Divine Commandment.'' When he heard her explain action Alex himself couldn''t help but laugh out loud, making Ehito and all of those watching through the drone wonder what was going on before he stated, "Try that again, come on!" This order dumbfounded Ehito once again as he started to wonder if this guy was crazy, though he already knew something wasn''t right with him to begin with since he challenged the almighty him. Ehito then steeled himself and put more power into his voice as he commanded, "I COMMAND YOU IN THE NAME OF EHITORUJUE- PROSTRATE! PROSTRATE! PROSTRATE! PROSTRATE!" With each shout Ehito seemed to become increasingly frantic as he tried over and over to get Alex to do as he commanded, whereas Alex was instead smirking condescendingly as he bore each commandment easier than the last, and nearly each time a notification sounded in his head stated, [Notice! Skill ''Mental Resistance'' has increased! Skill ''Mental Resistance'' has increased! Skill ''Mental Resistance'' has increased!] By the time the last notification sounded, Alex no longer felt any influence whatsoever at Ehito''s commandments and the skill had stagnated at level four. by this point everyone watching the fight had noticed that Alex wasn''t as influenced by Ehito''s powers, and even the person himself was wondering what was going on, before Alex stated while bowing mockingly, "Thank you very much for helping me acquire a much needed skill, and for helping me level that skill up to the point that I am now completely immune to your commandments, and other lesser influences." There was a beat of silence before several people in Asora that were watching the fight started roaring with laughter and Ehito''s spiritual face started turning purple with rage. "DIE!" Ehito spat out as he summoned a massive amount of magic power before unleashing it in a freezing blast, turning everything for several miles in front of him into solid ice with Alex at the center. It was silent for several minutes as Ehito waited with yet more magic at the ready for any telltale signs that Alex was alive or even able to move at the center of the ice. After several minutes however nothing happened, making Ehito sigh in relief as he muttered, "First I''ll deal with those pesky allies of his before they cause too much damage, then I''ll ready an assault on his base of operations. Considering how well they''ve hidden from me it must be a pocket dimension similar to my divine realm." Ehito was thinking of ways to invade this pocket dimension, when a sudden rumbling caught his attention. He slowly turned back towards the massive sheet of ice that he trapped Alex in, and saw a what appeared to be a glowing golden light in the center, before the entire ice sheet started to slowly rise in the air. Ehito could only watch with dumbfoundedment as the ice sheet rose higher and higher, before it seemed to angle itself at him and started falling. He quickly put together several layers of solidified spatial barriers along with several other high level barriers, finishing only as the ice sheet hit them with a massive "BANG", making the entire divine space they were in shake from the force of the collision. That wasn''t the end of it though, as after coming to an abrupt stop several fractures appeared on the surface of the sheet of ice, before large chunks of it started raining down upon him. As this continued Ehito''s face darkened with each passing second before he finally exploded, metaphorically and literally, as an ear piercing shout tore through the surrounding space along with the roar of a raging inferno. The fire spread through the surroundings at such intensity that it instantly melted then evaporated the still raining chunks of ice, and even started warping the space they were in. "Ha, ha, ha." Ehito panted, wondering if he finally dealt with the bothersome pest who, by this point, had made even c.o.c.kroaches look pathetic in terms of survivability. This didn''t last long though, as a fist wrapped in a golden aura collided with his face once more out of nowhere and sent him flying. "Is that all that you''ve got?" A condescending voice asked, interrupting Ehito''s howls of pain as he experienced even more pain than he had earlier. He then looked fearfully at the approaching figure, as Alex slowly and calmly walked through the still raging inferno, his previously black hair now golden as it stood on end with a few strands draping over his face. "D-don''t you d-dare! I-I''m a g-God-" Ehito''s faltering threat was interrupted when Alex''s fist crashed into his face once more, before doing so again. The audience in Asora then watched as the pathetic God was mercifully and once sidedly beaten by Alex without being able to put up any sort of defense, even though no wounds showed up on his spiritual body. As he calmly and methodically continued his beating, Alex was also analyzing the current situation as well. With no physical body to destroy, currently his only option was to corner Ehito and break his spirit so they could seal him or find an alternative means to deal with him. The other thing Alex was focusing on was the fact that even he could tell there was a difference now in the way he was acting while transformed, to the point that he was still somewhat level headed even while in SSJ2. ''This is because of that skill you acquired earlier, ''Mental Resistance'' doesn''t just protect you from mental attacks at the hands of your enemies, but will also prevent any abnormal physical changes from effecting you. In other words when you turn into a super Saiyan now, the aggression effect you feel should be lessened as well.'' As he listened to her explanations Alex suddenly had an idea of one of the uses for his new skill, which Lauren agreed with as long as he trained it to a higher level before trying it. He then turned his mind back towards what he was currently doing, to see a cowering Ehito curled into a ball while pleading not to be hit any more. "Please no more... Don''t kill me..." Alex sneered and said, "You''re the last person who I''d trust had surrendered, you''re nothing more than a coward that thinks you''re untouchable just because you play God. Now what should I do with you?" Muttering the last part to himself, Alex started wondering what he should do with Ehito. He personally lacked the ability to seal him like he had Kuroka do with Hades and Nyx before, and he was unable to simply kill him because Ehito lacked a physical body to even kill to begin with. As Alex took some more time to think, Ehito was also trying to figure a way out of this, the earlier beating he had received already starting to fade from his memory as the indignation he felt from his whole situation increased. Just as he felt a if he might have a way out of this though, Alex said, "I guess I''ll just do this and see what happens afterwards. Hold still!" Ehito froze instinctively as Alex turned his attention back towards him, and summoned his Boosted Gear before gripping Ehito''s head with Haki once more. Ehito didn''t have time to wonder what the artifact Alex was using was, before he suddenly felt the most horrendous sensation ever, his divine powers started being drained away. "NO! DON''T YOU DARE DO THIS!" He cried out, desperate to keep his divinity from being taken from him. Alex was deaf to his pleas though, and used some of his demonic flames to keep the struggling God down in place as he was about to remove one of his prepared Boosted Gear jewels from his storage. Before he did though Alex stopped, and thought for several seconds before deciding not to do so and instead tried to something else, something that sent Lauren nearly into a panic as she said, ''Don''t do this! You don''t know what''ll happen, or if it''ll even work! It''s too much just to satisfy some simple curiously!'' Alex just shrugged a replied internally, ''That may be true, but once again I''ll never know if I don''t try.'' Alex then ignored her and Ddraig''s growing protests, as he started to absorb the divine power he was taking from Ehito instead of transferring it to a jewels for storage as usual. This continued as Alex absorbed more and more divine power from Ehito, while the God struggled to prevent his powers from being taken away. Everything was going fine while Alex nearly drained Ehito dry, as he said out loud, "It looks like it''s ok- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Even though nothing seemed to be happening, Alex suddenly let out. Bloodcurdling scream as it suddenly felt as if his insides were trying to tear themselves apart. ''This is what I was trying to warn you about! Your evil piece centers around demonic powers, and Ehito''s center around divine powers, they''re polar opposites and can''t survive in the same body this way!'' Lauren cried as she and Ddraig tried to do something to help Alex, and as his own body struggled to keep itself together. "Ha, hahahahahahaha! That''s what you get for trying to steal my powers!" Ehito laughed with a touch of insanity in his voice, while those watching in Asora held their breath in anticipation as they watched Alex suffer. After several minutes of him trying to adapt to the divine powers now within his body, Alex let out another scream as there was a sudden explosion of energy. Ehito''s spiritual body was nearly blown away as a series of strange phenomenon started taking place, starting with a sudden appearance of a cyclone of clouds that surrounded Alex. "W-what is this?!" Ehito demanded as he watched the clouds start swirling around his enemy, before a light shower of rain started. He watched dumbfoundedly as the weather started acting strange by transitioning from rain to giant hail, to snow, then rain again before it cleared up and restarted the cycle all over as lightning started flashing everywhere. Ehito and all of Asora watched while holding their breath as the center of the cyclone started radiating a brilliant Crimson light, before the storm surrounding Alex was dispelled. At the center was a being that was still shrouded within the Crimson light, that Ehito just noticed was radiating with divine power, causing him to pale instantly as he realized what must have happened. After several seconds that felt like hours, the light finally started dying down to reveal to everyone watching a transformed Alex; without the golden glow that usually marked his transformations, and instead his hair and eyes had turned a brilliant red. No one said anything as several theories went through their heads until Alex finally opened his mouth and said, "I did it... I became a god...." Those few words were enough for Ehito to know that he lost, and that it was time for him to escape what was bound to be certain death. He used the barest amount of magic power he had left to try and escape this part of his divine realm, but found that he was unable to. He then turned back to find Alex glaring directly at him before saying, "Oh dear god..." *** Back in the the present Alex was looking over the battlefield after he declared the fighting to be over, and was surprised at he fact that there was still so many apostles left alive, then again from how things looked it was possible that he interrupted the final push of the battle. Alex then took a second to pay attention to the surplus of notifications that were flooding his status now. [Notice! Abilities ''Reincarnated Devil'' and ''Evil Piece-King'' temporarily removed! Ability ''God Form'' temporarily added. Skills ''Dragon Demon''s Breath'' and ''Devils Charm'' temporarily removed! Skill ''Dragon God''s Breath'' has changed into ''Divine Dragon''s Breath''! The ''Domain'' and ''Energy Nullification'' skills have been acquired! Temporary skill ''Divine Commandment'' added!] Though there seemed to be a lot to take in, the gist of it was that as a result of becoming a full God, even temporarily, had resulted in the loss of his demonic powers and related skills due to their incompatibility, while he had also gained several other skills due to his godly powers. Though he wanted to spend some time investigating his new skills, Alex knew that his transformation was only temporary and so he had to deal with what was happening now first. He then gazed out among those gathered before focusing once more on Ehito, and stated, "You have abused your self assigned divine authority for no other reason than your own personal satisfaction and to inflate your own pitiful ego, what have you to say in your defense?" Ehito glared at Alex and spat in response, "I. AM. A. GOD! I do what I wish because I am a God and none can say otherwise! It''s not my job to babysit these stupid people, to make sure they all live as they wish all happy and carefree! As inferior beings they should be privileged that I used them as my playthings!" Alex sighed while everyone turned towards Ehito and shook their heads in exasperation, and even Grayfia muttered, "Even though there have technically been hundreds of gods throughout our history, there hasn''t been a single one nearly as horrible as him..." All of those from the DXD world nodded slowly in agreement as they never took their eyes off of Alex, wondering what exactly happened to initiate such a transformation. They were suddenly distracted however as one of the apostles rushed at Alex suddenly while crying out, "Monster!" Alex didn''t even flinch however as her blades were stopped in midair mere inches from his head, before he looked at her and lightly flicked his finger in her direction. Though it was such a simple gesture, the result was the apostles entire top half disappearing as a mist of blood spread out behind her. Though this alone wouldn''t be enough to dissuaded the rest of the apostles from following the first ones lead, it was the overwhelming amount of power and raw killing intent directed at her that was transmitted through their mental link that had rooted them in their places. With the distraction gone, Alex turned back towards Ehito and said, "I have decided that you are guilty, and as such you will be punished befitting your crimes. At first I was unsure of how to deal with you, but now with the power at my disposal I believe I may be able to do something that I''ve wanted to try." Ehito paled as he realized Alex meant to kill him, causing him to willingly lower his head as he pleaded, "Please don''t kill me, I''m too scared to die!" His attitude towards his potential punishment actually made those who were watching disgusted, as they couldn''t believe that someone who easily delivered death and suffering upon others was actually scared to die in return. What surprised them however and made Ehito smile momentarily was when Alex said, "I don''t intend to kill you." As those words spread to everyone present they were visibly confused while Ehito''s face regained come of its lost color as he immediately started trying to think of ways to prolong his life any longer, but that was short lived as Alex seized his spiritual body once more, and Ehito suddenly felt pain like he never had before as he choked, "I-I though you said you wouldn''t kill me?!" Alex nodded and replied, "I''m not killing you. No matter what in every world there''s usually exists something after death, reincarnation, an afterlife, or even just existing as a spirit. Each of these are too good of options for you to potentially undergo, so instead of killing you I am using the various abilities at my disposal to destroy your soul, effectively erasing your existence completely." Not just Ehito this time, nearly all of those listening paled when they heard what kind of punishment Alex had in mind, but as cruel as it seemed none tried to step in to stop him as Ehito''s scream grew louder. Currently Alex was using his Haki to grip Ehito''s soul tightly, and was using Spirit magic in each of his hands to search around his spirit body for the soul for several minutes. As they watched silently everyone let out a all gasps of amazement when they saw Alex dig out a small golden sphere-like thing, that he immediately took into his grasp. What this was, was the soul and very core of a being, everything they were. "No..... Please..." Ehito weakly begged Alex once again, now weak enough that he could no longer resist at all, up until the moment Alex tightened his grip on Ehito''s soul and crushed it with his strength. The sound of something shattering echoed throughout the divine realm along with what appeared to be a pulse of power, before the former God flickered out of existence forever, never again being able to come back. Alex took a deep breath at the realization of what he did, right as yet another notification flashed through his mind. [Notice! You have acquired the ''Soul Break'' skill!] Taking a moment to repress the smile that threatened to spread on his lips, Alex then turned towards the remaining apostles and said, "Your master and creator is dead and so now each of you have a choice, follow him in death, or willingly submit to me and live." After being freed from Ehito''s control every apostle was in a deep state of confusion, and when they heard Alex''s offer none of them felt any desire to follow their master to death when their loyalty towards him had been effectively wiped from their programming. Without hesitation each and every one bent their knees towards Alex once more, and kneeled towards him. Though Alex felt a bit of a rush at the scene, he could also tell that his time limit for his Super Saiyan God form was running out, and so he quickly created a portal of mist directly into Asora and directed them all to enter it. As they did so those who accompanied Alex approached him and he turned towards Seekvaira, who didn''t do much fighting, before saying, "Take them all to a training room to keep them together until we have time to investigate each of them. For the moment they''re not prisoners, but they also don''t have leave to go wherever until we''re sure they aren''t a threat." Seekvaira nodded at Alex''s orders while she and a few others left to carry them out, before Noint approached him and said, "I will gather the rest of those who joined Asora along with me, and we will talk to the rest of our people. We know best what they are going through, so it''ll be best if we''re the ones who talk to them." Alex nodded as he was thinking something similar and sent her ahead, but he wasn''t sure if he was imagining seeing a bit of relief in Noint''s eyes when she was talking to him. Deciding to check on it later, Alex gave several other orders to those with him before entering Asora as well, and going straight to the space-time orb. The moment he was alone, Alex finally released his transformation and felt several more notifications flash through his mind once again before losing consciousness . [Notice! The ''God Form'' ability has been lost! The ''Divine Commandment'' skill has been lost! The ''Devil Reincarnation'' and ''Evil Piece-King'' abilities has been reacquired! The ''Dragon Demon''s Breath'' and ''Devils Charm'' skills have been reacquired!] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Alex Titles- Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer, Monstrosity, Champion Race- Saiyan Level- 250 Abilities- Reincarnated Devil Evil Piece-King Boosted gear Asora Enslavement magic Haki Job- Divine Nemesis(100) Available jobs- Mage Adept, Master Martial Artist, Draconian Overlord, Gravity Expert, Holy Enemy, Berserker, Sword Adept, Ape Lord, Seducer, Whip User, Harem Lord, Staff Expert, S.e.x Master, Charm Expert, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Magic Apprentice, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Medium, Darwinist, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Tamer Apprentice, Soul Breaker, Demon Lord, God Killer, Demonic Guider Job history- Hatchling Draconian Warrior, Apprentice Mage, Draconian Warrior, Arsonist, Senior Draconian Warrior, Martial Artist, Draconian Tyrant, Expert Martial Artist, Ruthless Draconian Tyrant, Gravity User, Sword User, Pyromaniac, Staff User, Mage, Demonic Charmer, Staff Adept, Skills- Dragon Demon''s Breath(5) Divine Dragon breath(1) Domain(1) Energy Nullification(1) Draconian Form(7) Intimidation(10) Ki Manipulation(9) Magic Recovery Rate(2) Devils Charm(8) Sword Technique(8) Staff Technique(5) Gravity Mastery(8) Fire Mastery(6) Fire Immunity(8) Mental Resistance(4) Endless S.e.xual Stamina(10) Lovers Embrace(2) Poison Immunity(9) Creation Magic(2) Space Magic(5) Regeneration Magic(6) Spirit Magic(3) Evolution Magic(4) Alteration Magic(1) Conception Magic(1) Soul Break(1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 278 - Awaking When Alex regained his consciousness he didn''t know how much time had passed, but he did know two things, first was that he knew for a fact that he didn''t collapse in the bed he was currently in, and that he could feel a certain weight on himself along with a warm and wet sucking sensation enveloping his nether regions. As such he was unsurprised to open his eyes and find himself face to face with a smooth pair of lips as their owner continued going to town. Normally Alex would be relatively happy to wake up this way, but instead his voice was flat as he asked, "What do you think you''re doing, Eri?" When he spoke the sensation he was feeling paused momentarily, before Eri seemingly reluctantly turned herself while keeping his entire length in her mouth(quite the feat considering her petite size), until she was facing him. The change in position allowed Alex to see that next to him was also the n.a.k.e.d Suzu, but she appeared to still be slumbering peacefully while her best friend was going to town on him. Looking Alex in the face now, Eri reluctantly pulled his entire length out of her mouth, but made sure to give it a few more licks as if for good measure before stating, "I am merely fulfilling my duties as a slave, and seeing to my beloved master''s needs~. I would say this is especially good of me since my heartless master hasn''t come to see me even once ever since he made me his slave." When she finished speaking Eri adopted a pouting expression as if Alex had wronged her, before she quickly resumed servicing him with her mouth. Alex sighed and sat up, waking up Suzu at his side as well, before saying, "Get off Eri, I don''t need your service." Eri quickly got off of Alex at his order, except she then turned around so that her butt was aimed at him and she proceeded to say, "Of course, my domineering master would obviously prefer to be the one to control his little s.e.x slave. Please, ravish my unused p.u.s.s.y as you wish, do not worry about me and simply focus on your own satisfaction master~." Alex simply stared blankly as Eri reached back and used her fingers to spread the tightly closed lips, allowing him a perfect view to see the pink insides that twitched in anticipation of being filled. After several seconds of neither of them moving Eri said, "C-could it be my amazing master does not wish to use that hole?! I-it''s embarrassing, but I''m prepared for my master to use the other one if he wishes~." Fidgeting as if she really was embarrassed when it was fairly obvious she wasn''t, Eri then stuck one of her fingers in her mouth to coat it in spit, then reached back with both hands to slowly spread open her butt cheeks to present her tightly closed butthole. She then used the finger she coated in her own spit, and inserted it into the wrinkled hole before rubbing it around, and then repeating the process. Alex watched as Eri repeatedly rubbed her own asshole with her spit covered finger until it was ready for his insertion, but he then said to her, "Eri, do you know what one of the first rules are when it comes to guys finding women?" Eri looked confused for a second before saying, "No, but I would be more than happy to learn it from my master in order to better serve him~." Alex could see an eager look on her face no almost felt bad for what he was about to do... Almost. "Rule number one when looking for a girl, is to Never. Stick. Your. D.i.c.k. In. Crazy! Now wait patiently over there while I try to burn off this l.u.s.t!" Eri was dumbfounded as her body moved on its own, and forced her to sit at the other end of the bed while Alex grabbed the still somewhat sleepy Suzu, and plunged into her extremely tight depths. "AHHHNNNN!" She m.o.a.ned at the sudden insertion, as she was steadily getting excited from watching/listening to Alex and Eri before, and was instantly awake as Alex started to thoroughly pound her. Eri could only fidget slightly from the side as she was unable to satisfy the sensations running through her body since her master simply told her to wait, though this also made her excited as he once again specifically made sure that she didn''t get what she wanted, proving how well he knew her compared to what''s-his-face from before. While Eri watched them, Alex was going out of his way to make Suzu scream constantly from the pleasure she was feeling while also simultaneously burning off his own l.u.s.t. What he really wanted to do was talk to Lauren and think on what happened before he collapsed, as well as find out how long he''d been out, but thanks to Eri''s antics he decided this was as good a way to wake up as any as he also waited for Grayfia and Nyx to return to the room. Strangely enough, even though he wasn''t actively spreading his awareness for anyone in his surroundings, he could tell that both girls were also within the space-time orb down in the kitchens preparing some food. Alex also found it interesting that he was also able to tell that, at least within the castle that was for housing, there was no one else within the space-time orb with them, making him wonder if they were proactively keeping everyone else away for privacy. He then directed the majority of his attention back towards the girl under him since he didn''t want to be rude to her, though he did also keep tabs of Grayfia and Nyx''s movements as they finished in the kitchen, and made their way up to the room. Then as if it had been planned out for it to happen this way, both girls entered the room just in time for Alex to pump a heavy load of his seed deep into Suzu''s w.o.m.b, making the girl arch back and issue a silent scream as she climaxed. She then fell back towards the bed and muttered as Alex pulled out of her, "Ha, ha, now Suzu might have a baby.... Ha, ha." Deciding that he might need to talk with her about it later, Alex sat back and said to Eri, "You can move now." Taking it as permission, Eri immediately honed in on his junk before Alex stopped her and said, "No, you can''t have that." Though she looked slightly dejected for a brief second, Eri then locked onto the place between Suzu''s legs, and immediately dove between them while her best friend tried to weakly fight her off. Alex shook his head in exasperation at the scene, and said to the two newcomers, "I need a bath, care to join me?" The two instantly decided breakfast could wait, and followed Alex into the bathroom to quickly get away from the scene in the bedroom. Contrary to the twos expectations though, Alex didn''t immediately try to jump them, and instead started to silently wash himself until they took over, Nyx taking the front while Grayfia took the back. There was several seconds of silence before Grayfia finally asked, "So what was that before? Why did it make you collapse?" Alex smirked bitterly as he answered, "One of the super Saiyan forms allows one to turn into a god temporarily, though it also requires five other Saiyans to work properly while I used a different method. Due to my evil piece though I''m also a direct opposite to divine power, so my temporary god powers were fighting with my demonic powers, resulting in me overtaxing my body and passing out." The two girls were silent as they tried to digest this information, giving Alex time to talk to Lauren. ''So what did happen?'' He asked her, as she understood the inner workings of his body better than he did. Lauren sighed before answering, ''I swear you''re going to turn my hair gray even though I''m only in my millions...'' Though he was very tempted to ask her age, Alex very wisely kept his mouth shut as he waited for her to continue, ''Basically with the sudden intake of that much divine power it temporarily erased your demonic powers, but now it''s worn out and settling down so you should be able to start working on training them soon.'' Alex was surprised for a moment before asking, ''So I still have my god powers? But it said I don''t have my God form or skills anymore?'' Alex suddenly got the mental image of Lauren nodding in agreement as she said, ''Yes that''s right, you used up all of the divine power you took, but a small spark still remains within you. Though divine and demonic are incompatible, once you reach a certain point of power they shouldn''t contest as much, and since your divine powers are just a spark now they''re not threatening your demonic ones. Just give it time and you should be able to build up both so that you can use them equally or even to the point where you''ll keep your God powers, but don''t rush it like you did before otherwise the backlash could be even worse!'' As he thought on what she said, Alex realized that it made sense that he''d be able to use both God and demonic powers eventually when he got strong enough, otherwise why would they add demonic powers to a competition to become a god? Alex was silent for several more seconds as he thought on what Lauren said, before he had a sudden thought and asked, ''So are there other ways to become a god?'' Lauren was silent for even longer before hesitantly answering, ''Well I''m not supposed to tell you since it could impact the game, but since you''ve technically already obtained god-hood there''s no harm to it. There are several ways to become a divine being, though the powers associated with them differ so they''re not all equal, just imagine the differences between Ehito and my boss for instance.'' Alex was silent as he made the comparison, and indeed knew that there was a very obvious difference in the two, even though they were both "gods". Seeing he understood Lauren continued, ''The three most common methods are through a gathering of followers, borrowing the power of another God, or gaining enough strength until you unlock divinity on your own; obviously there are also gods who are born with their divine powers, but they''re not being counted here. The first one is how a lot of minor deities like mountain or lake gods are born, as a group of people gather and worship a being they had created over the course of centuries, until it finally acquires a conscious and bursts into existence. Though it is possible that one could also become a god by gathering hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, and having them all worship him until he also becomes a god, it''s for reasons like this that cults in particular are so dangerous. ''Then we have the second method that you''ve done, which is using the divine power of an already existing God to elevate yourself, though it''s very rare that someone takes this power by force instead of the God giving a very tiny amount to them. This is the method that is used to turn certain heroes that you hear about in myths into gods once they have earned their acceptance, though as I said before they''re usually only given a very small amount of power to prevent them from becoming stronger than the God that showed favor on them to begin with. Coincidently this is also the method my boss would most likely use once his successor is chosen. ''Finally there is the third method which is to simply increase your own strength until you reach the point of acquiring divinity on your own, either through certain "Aspects" or "Laws" or simply acc.u.mulating enough strength regardless. "Aspects" and "Laws" are what you would also call the various divinities that each God seems to process, some examples are war, wisdom, and lightning gods ect. Typically if a person reaches a certain level of understanding with a specific "Law", then they may manage to unlock a respective divinity at the next level. Another way is simply by gathering enough strength that divinity is acquired accidentally, or by fulfilling some kind of condition set by the world itself.'' (A.N. For the record since I can see a potential argument about this forming AGAIN, I just want to state that I have absolutely no intention of adding Chinese cultivation to this novel at all. I personally do not want to add it, and even if I did I do not know of a good enough way to make it work with what I have already created, so I am simply avoiding it altogether. That being said I am obviously using the idea of Laws or Aspects, which I think is also present in many other types of novels as a staple transition towards mastery or God-hood.) Even after Lauren stopped talking Alex was contemplating what she said in silence for quite a while as he was also trying to think of how he wanted to progress from here on out. He was also focusing on another thing she said, about how once a being reached a certain threshold then it was possible for opposing elements like divine and demonic to exist within their bodies at once, meaning it was possible that each of his DEVIL peerage members may also potentially become goddesses in the future. Alex was so focused on his thoughts that it took him several seconds to realize that Grayfia and Nyx were no longer washing his body, and were instead looking at him with concern visible in their eyes. Confused slightly, Alex was about to ask what was wrong before he suddenly felt Grayfia''s arms wrap around him gently, causing her giant soft mounds to squish into his back. Nyx as well decided to act bold and slid herself onto his lap before simiarly wrapping her arms around him, confusing Alex even more before she said, "Please don''t do something like that again, especially just for simple curiosity..." Alex was confused at this as he never told them why he did what he did, but then Grayfia stated, "When we came in here to watch over you, Anne explained what happened while also saying that she knew due to some kind of link between you two, and that there was no actual need for you to do something so dangerous. If that was the case then it''d be easier to accept..." Though he was surprised at what Grayfia told him, Alex was even more surprised at the way she was acting since she was currently appearing almost meek and subdued. Meanwhile when he looked at Nyx in front of him he could almost see a type of sadness within her eyes along with a kind of heat that wasn''t there before. He was even more confused until Lauren said, ''Anne''s "angel" told her what happened after she heard it from me, and you''ve been out for a week straight. That''s only about six hours in Asora since you''re in the space-time orb, but it''s still a week that you were unconscious because of your own stupidity, even if you ended up benefitting from it.'' Alex was silent as he contemplated what Lauren said, and what he had put everyone through after his stunt. As she said there was no real reason why he needed to attempt to do a Super Saiyan God transformation, it was mostly just to see if he could. His self reflection was interrupted when Grayfia said, "I haven''t told you, but after the last labyrinth I came to the realization that I''ve already completely replaced Sirzechs with you in my heart. Please, don''t leave me like he did..." Alex was stunned as he heard her desperate plea, and as he looked at Nyx he could see the same silent plea in her eyes as she looked at him. He then shocked both girls as he suddenly sealed the goddess''s lips before saying, "While I may do something stupid every now and then, don''t worry because I''m not going anywhere." He then reached back and gently pulled Grayfia''s head forward before sealing her lips as well, before deciding to get a bit frisky, and reaching down to grab Nyx''s butt. This earned him a slight m.o.a.n from the usually tsundere goddess, before she pulled him away from Grayfia and said, "If you repeat this then I''ll firmly deny it, but I did think you looked quite dashing in your God transformation, even if it was a stupid move." As if to prove her words, Nyx then kissed him once while Alex kneaded her plump behind. Grayfia frowned at how the situation was turning predictable, but since she herself was feeling stressed ever since Alex passed out, she decided to relieve some of it by reaching down to grasp something that was growing larger and hotter. Alex and Nyx continued their make out session for several minutes as she continued to grind her increasingly hotter and wetter s.e.x against his leg, and Grayfia continued using her hands to bring the sleeping dragon back to life after its earlier conquest. Soon Nyx broke the contact with their lips, and slid herself off of his lap to slowly sink between his legs, until she was at eye level with his now towering dragon. ''Th-they all really had this thing inside them?!'' She exclaimed to herself, as even though she had seen Alex n.a.k.e.d plenty of times, it was a different story now that she was about to have her turn with him. After a few seconds of psyching herself up, Nyx finally leaned forward and took the head into her mouth. "Ahhhhh." Alex m.o.a.ned lightly, as he looked down and watched the goddess slowly work herself down his length, her tongue swirling around his rod hesitantly. Though his main focus was on the two girls currently with him, Alex himself couldn''t help but have a sudden rush in the back of his mind about how now he had an actual goddess servicing him with her mouth. What was more surprising though was that Grayfia was whispering hints and helping to guide Nyx to better service him, things Grayfia admittedly learned due to her ''Bed Skills'' skill. Alex simply laid back in the silver haired woman''s embrace, and enjoyed the feeling of the two beautiful women servicing him, until he could feel a slight pressure building as he said, "Nyx!" Though she didn''t immediately know why Alex suddenly called her name, Nyx learned when her mouth was suddenly filled with an unfamiliar thick and bitter fluid. She then surprised both Alex and Grayfia by swallowing the fluids before smiling while seemingly attempting to appear bewitching. "So, how was it?" She asked somewhat shyly while also trying to maintain an air of superiority, before Alex asked, "Is this your first time with a man?" Nyx sputtered at the sudden question before she tried to play it off and asked, "N-no, why would you think that?" Alex smirked slightly and was about to answer her, but Grayfia beat him to it when she said, "Because I had to coach you through one of the basics of satisfying a man, and it wouldn''t be surprising considering you had the appearance of a very youthful girl. It would be surprising though since you have several "children"." Nyx pouted cutely in response to Grayfia''s claims, before retorting, "Well there was no one I was interested in, especially since they only looked at me with perverted eyes! And besides I "created" my children with my brother, that doesn''t mean I gave birth to to them!" This had been a particularly sensitive subject for Nyx as while she was in fact interested in such things and didn''t want to be known as one of the "v.i.r.g.i.n goddess''s", the only ones interested in her were usually perverts that liked her youthful face and figure with her big b.r.e.a.s.ts, or those who simply wanted to add her to their "conquests" like Zeus. With circ.u.mstances like these her pride would never allow her to willingly lower herself to others to be used for their own personal pleasure, and to inflate their ego at bedding the goddess of night and darkness. However now she was quite literally a slave so there were few lower points for her to fall to, especially since her master could order her to spread her legs for him whenever he wanted. Alex had to fight from laughing at how she tried to defend herself, before saying, "Well I''m glad then, because now I have such a cute goddess all to myself." Nyx was about to declare otherwise at Alex''s claim, but was unable to as he swiftly picked her up and lightly pinned her to the wall, before carving the feeling of his body deeply within her, both physically and mentally. *** After a relatively restful day with the four girls, Alex was busy examining what he was newly capable of ever since his God transformation. Eri and Suzu had been more or less kicked out to attend to other things now that he was awake, and Grayfia had also left to report to everyone else that he''d woken up and was ok now. Whereas Nyx was keeping an eye on Alex as he trained since she was the most familiar with divine powers, though from a safe distance and with the same predominately red face that she had ever since experiencing her first time. First thing first was Alex''s sudden increase in raw strength and other physical abilities. He didn''t pay too much attention since it didn''t impact his fight with Ehito much, but Alex was now aware that his base physical parameters had increased greatly with his God transformation, and then perhaps as a result of his Saiyan body''s adaptions for increasing his strength, he had retained most of, if not all of his strength from the increase. This was exactly like Goku''s increase after he fought Beerus, as even after the super Saiyan God transformation wore off he was still able to hold his own against the God of destruction. Even now though Alex determined he was still a far cry from the twos powers at the time, but he felt as if he had taken a large step closer to them. Secondly was his new detection abilities, but when he looked into it Alex discovered that it was simply a small part of what he was now able to do thanks to one of his new skills, his ''Domain''. There had been a sudden surge of this particular skill with the newfound evolutions that everyone had been undergoing, and now it appeared it was Alex''s turn to get a domain of his own, though he noticed that it seemed to be quite a bit different than everyone else''s. Rias''s ''Domain of Destruction for example allowed her to channel her destructive powers anywhere within her domain, with little to no effort or magic power needed; her domain however was only able to channel the power of destruction. Grayfia''s was similar as hers allowed her to completely manipulate any and all magic power within its reach, allowing her to mimic Ajuka Beezlebub''s ''Kankara Formula'' to an extent; though while Ajuka was able to manipulate seemingly any and all phenomenon through the use of equations and formulas, Grayfia was able to basically high jack any and all magic power through authority or brute force. Alex''s ''Domain'' on the other hand seemed to allow him almost complete control and awareness of anything within it, giving him a significant advantage against others. With it he theorized that he could track and monitor all of those within his reach, and he could even possibly emulate Anne''s ''Telekinesis'' within its bounds; with these two theories though Alex tell he was just barely scratching the surface with this technique, and was eager to learn more about it. Two of the other skills he acquired were self explanatory, as he and Lauren already discussed ''Mental Resistance'' when he first acquired it, and he had acquired ''Soul Break'' on purpose so he knew its basic functions and uses. That only left one other skill though, ''Energy Nullification'', which Alex turned to Nyx and shouted, "Nyx, attack me!" As the goddess was daydreaming slightly about what happened before she didn''t register what Alex said immediately, but when she realized he told her to attack him she responded, "Are you crazy?! You''re still recovering from before and you shouldn''t even be training to begin with! And now you want me to turn around and attack you?!" If Alex was affected by her shouting he didn''t show it, and simply nodded while saying, "Yes if you would, that''ll be a great help!" Nyx was stupefied at how he was acting even after they just told him not to be too reckless. While gritting her teeth in frustration she said, "Fine, you want me to attack you, then I''ll attack you!" She then proceeded to summon as much darkness as she possibly could(which wasn''t really that much since her godly powers were still mostly drained), and fired it at Alex. He didn''t even flinch however as the attack came flying at him, and simply held up a hand as if he meant to catch it. She then watched in amazement, while momentarily forgetting her frustration, as when the magic power closed in on Alex it started shrinking slowly but noticeably before stopping, until after nearly a minute passed and it disappeared completely. Even as he felt a bit drained from the endeavor, Alex grinned at the success of his experiment before saying aloud, "It''s not much now, but if I train this right enough then I may be able to eliminate the threat of any energy based attack!" While he was celebrating his new skill though, a new voice said with an arctic chill to it, "I see, that certainly seems interesting. Almost as interesting as you pushing yourself so soon after having such an incident. Perhaps I should take this chance to "help" you with your training?" Alex and Nyx turned to find a visibly pissed Grayfia standing nearby with a smile that promised bloodshed showing on her face. "Well, she''s back to normal!" Alex said to himself, just in time for Grayfia to start slinging massive amounts of demonic power at them, all the while claiming to be "helping" him train since he seemed to be so well. Chapter 279 - One Final Place After a full day in Asora, a month within the space-time orb, Alex finally made his reappearance from the orb''s depths. He had decided to spend an entire day/month within the orb recovering, and familiarizing himself with his new abilities before returning to the spotlight; of course after a few days within it they allowed regular access to the orb so that those who were concerned could see Alex, and others could get back to their training. The first to see him were of course Yue, Tio, and Miledi in order to thank him for finally fulfilling the goal that their families and comrades had fought and died for so long ago, following them was the usual green bullet that''s was Myuu as she thoroughly checked over her papa''s well being, before scolding him for making everyone worry. As he listened to her lecture Alex couldn''t help c.o.c.king an eyebrow at the spectators who were snickering lightly, silencing them immediately. After Myuu was the usual entourage of women who were also worried about him as it was unusual for Alex to immediately run away after a fight unless there was something wrong, but after many, many, hours of consoling they agreed Alex was feeling fine and that there was nothing to worry about anymore. With up to a month to rest, recover, and visit, no one was surprised that Alex was all business from the moment he reappeared, immediately saying to those gathered, "Ok, now that Ehito''s gone we can afford to relax a little, but there''s still a fair amount of work to do, so let''s get to it!" "YEAH!" Everyone replied to Alex''s declaration, before he continued, "Rias, are you and your peerage ready to go soon?" Rias nodded before saying, "We''re all ready to go whenever you give the word and send us on our team way." Alex smiled while replying, "Good, you''re also getting Kuroka with you since she has experience with this, and remember to hurry since we don''t know how long the divine realm will actually last." With one final confirmation from Rias, she then turned and started doing last minute checks with those going with her before departing. She and most of her peerage were going to explore and loot the divine realm of Ehito for any valuables or knowledge they could find before it eventually collapsed. Technically both the divine realm and all of the apostles were supposed to disappear/cease functioning once Ehito died, however due to Alex stealing almost all of his divine powers both were able to continue existing for the time being, and they intended to milk every moment before it vanished. After seeing Rias off Alex turned towards Serafall and asked, "How is the new district for the Haulia coming along? It shouldn''t be long before we finally have them relocate here." Serafall sighed before saying, "It''s going well, but I still don''t understand why you changed up the location and design partway through, won''t they feel isolated or something?" Alex lagged somewhat bitterly before explaining, "Not really, those guys are mentally like middle schoolers to be honest. Everyone will thank us for separating them, and they''ll probably see their new home as some kind of fortress of solitude or something..." Though Serafall looked confused at his explain action Alex sighed as he thought about the circ.u.mstances regarding the Haulia. At first he had intended to have a district made for them to live in that was a short distance from Asora for the sake of privacy while they trained, but after Hajime instilled their chuuni tendencies behind his back, Alex had to change his plans and arrange for an isolated mountain home, of course designed to look and feel like a traditional ninja village. They wouldn''t be completely isolated though, due to the fact that there was plans to install a high speed subway linking every separate settlement they planned to establish in Asora, allowing those who were living away from the rest of them to quickly and easily travel from place to place. To continue the subject of those who were immigrating into Asora, Alex turned towards Yasaka and asked, "Speaking of newcomers, how are the Dagon adapting to their new home?" Yasaka smiled elegantly at Alex''s question, and replied, "to put it bluntly, they love it. Though there was a fair amount of suspicion at first due to how much of an upgrade there was to their state of living, and the various benefits they''ve been receiving, they are all calmed down for the most part now and are happily adapting to their new lives. Why, I even had the chief of the Dagon''s approach me and wholeheartedly apologize for the suspicion towards us when we first met." Alex thanked her for the hard work and turned towards the next person who was waiting, Noint. "How are the apostles doing after witnessing the death of their creator?" Noint was silent for a moment before answering, "They are doing ok for the most part but, if I may be honest, the death of Ehito has hit us all relatively hard, myself included. Thankfully with the help of the time difference of the space we have been in for the past day, they are starting to move on and see the sense in following you. There are a few who are having trouble adapting, but I will either convince them to follow your lead, or eliminate them if they don''t." Alex sighed at the last part of her report, but didn''t refute it as he said to her, "Thank you Noint, I appreciate your help." Noint managed a small smile in response to Alex''s praise, showing how far the relatively expressionless woman had come since the time she had first joined them. After going over a few more topics with the others, Alex finally turned his attention towards Hajime, and simply greeted him with a heavy stack of papers that he had drafted while relaxing in the space-time orb, neatly organized in various folders and binders. "And what are these?" He demanded while Alex''s smile widened. "These, are all of the various projects I want you to start on for the time being. Though there is a small bit of haste for some of them, you have to break yourself trying to get them all done as quickly as possible. There are a few that I want you to finish before temporarily returning to earth though." Though there was a lot that Hajime wanted to say in response to Alex''s demand, he stopped when he started looking through the heavy stack before him. At the very top of the list was a space-time orb set within the Misty Manor for the personal use of Alex and the other residents, but when he looked at some of the other ideas he was silent from sheer incredulity. Some of them were only small gadgets he was already thinking of creating at some point, while others were completely outrageous demands like creating an infinite power source, which honestly set his otaku/craftsmanship blood on fire at the thought of. Then he got to the last seven projects Alex wanted him to create, making him demand incredulously, "What the hell is this?! You want me to make these?!" Alex wasn''t peturbed by Hajime''s reaction in the slightest as it was already expected, and he calmly replied, "If you can''t do it them I guess we''ll have to give up on it until we find someone who can-" "I never said I wouldn''t do it! I just can''t believe you want me to make them!" Hajime stated as Alex started to call his abilities as a craftsman into question. He then turned around to return to his own Space-time orb that he and Seekvaira made previously, before calling over his shoulder, "And don''t think I didn''t realize that you were trying to use reverse psychology on me, I''m not that stupid." Though he was tempted to say a few things in response what Hajime said, alex left it at, "Whatever you say Red Thunder Destroyer, whatever you say." hajime twitched noticeably at Alex''s jibe, but ultimately ignored it and continued walking, though everyone could see him shaking slightly from being referred to by his second name. After sending Hajime off, Alex dispersed the group and turned towards Shizuku before saying, "I''m going to return to the Heiligh kingdom for a little bit to meet with Liliana before leaving, do you want to spend some time with your classmates since we''ve got some time to relax now?" Shizuku was momentarily stunned at Alex''s offer due to the fact that ever since she met him, they had always had something to do, or were training in preparation for something. After several minutes she nodded her head and replied, "Yes, I think some time to relax with my classmates would do me some good." Alex smiled and said, "Good, give a few minutes to prepare and we''ll go." He then left to get a fairly surprising line up of people. *** Liliana was sitting back in her office taking a moment after yet another hard day of running the kingdom. Though she wasn''t next in line for the throne, with her brother being as young as he was, she was the next best candidate to step up and take charge during this time of change. As she relaxed though she noticed a letter sitting on her desk that brought up a series of negative feelings before she turned away from it. It was from the person that until recently she was convinced she''d spend the rest of her life with, Baius D. Hoelscher. He was the crown prince of the Hoelscher Empire due to his strength even though he wasn''t the firstborn son of its Emperor, and also Lilliana''s intended fianc¨¦. It had been an unspoken fact that was well known within both courts, going back to before Liliana was even ten years old. At first she resigned herself to the fate of being Baius''s plaything for the rest of her life, but now due to her moms wild ideas and the current state of the empire she couldn''t help but hope there might be a way out of it, however it seemed as if Baius wasn''t so willing to let her go. Liliana was still struggling on figuring out how to respond when one of her guards appeared and announced, "Princess, the champion of Goddess Gabriel has appeared and is asking for you, and he also brought some "friends"." Liliana thanked the guard for letting her know and quickly prepped herself for meeting them, though she also wondered why he emphasized Alex''s "friends" that came with him. She quickly found out when she made her way to the courtyard and saw what was waiting there for her. "Hey Liliana, been a while." Alex called out nonchalantly, as if he wasn''t standing right next to a giant and menacing looking dragon. "H-hey..." She replied somewhat hesitantly, not knowing how to respond to the situation. Of course she had properly met and even spoken with Bova during her stay in Asora previously, but no one in her court had. At the moment everyone within the castle was getting into a state of alert as news of the dragon appearing made it way around. She then glanced over the rest of Alex''s companions to make sure there was no more surprises for her or her people, and was glad to see that it was just Yue, Shia, Tio, Shizuku, Grayfia, and a small looking girl with black hair that was looking around curiously. Though she didn''t recognize the girl, Liliana just assumed she was one of the many people she didn''t get a chance to meet during her stay in Asora, and wondered if she was something of a daughter like Myuu to Alex. seeing her look at Ophis for a second, Alex brought the little girl forward with him and asked, "Have you met Ophis yet?" Liliana shook her head and said to her, "Hello, I''m Liliana. You can just call me Lili if you want though." Ophis nodded at Lilliana''s introduction and repeated, "Lili. I''m Ophis." As she didn''t deem it important Ophis didn''t mention any of her titles, so Liliana got to be blissfully unaware for a while longer that she was currently face to face with the God of dragons and infinity. After the introductions Alex said, "I just stopped by to drop off Shizuku, and to ask you to spread the word." Liliana tilted her head slightly and asked, "What word?" Alex smiled and stated in a voice that carried throughout the entire courtyard, "The word that Ehito is dead!" There was a stunned silence as his words spread throughout the surroundings, before Liliana hesitantly asked, "Ar-are you sure? Ehito is really dead?" Alex nodded and stated, "I''ll share the details during the conference in one month when the rest of the attendees are gathered, but until then I would like if you spread the word for me." Though it took her brain several seconds to process what Alex just said, Liliana finally got out, "O-of course, but where are you going?" Since she also picked up that Alex said he was just dropping by, she was curious as to what he was doing. Alex smirked before responding, "As of this moment there''s still one race that isn''t aware of what''s going on, and I think it''s long past due that I''ve visited them." As he finished speaking Alex turned to face his companions, and focused on a certain one. As even they themselves didn''t know where Alex planned to go it took a few seconds for the girls to process what he meant, but when they realized he was looking at Tio, it was obvious. When she noticed it as well Liliana''s breath caught in her throat as she whispered, "The dragon race!" Chapter 280 - A Duel of Dragons "Wow...." Ophis said as they sailed through the sky over a never ending expanse of water, her arms stretched to the side as she sat on the figurehead of Zenith. Alex smiled as he watched the dragon God seemingly enjoy herself, before turning towards Tio and asking, "So you''re sure we''ll get there today?" Tio nodded and replied, "Of course, this one swears that the island mine people live on isn''st too much further." Alex nodded and went back to watching the horizon, before he noticed Tio trying to hold back her excitement. He smiled and asked, "Excited to go home?" Tio nodded enthusiastically and stated, "Of course! This one hasth never left the island once in over 500 years before mine quest, but after being away for so long I miss mine kinsmen." Alex''s smile grew until he noticed Yue standing awkwardly at the side, and asked, "What''s wrong Yue?" Yue fidgeted in response before seeming to finally bring herself to answer, "...Will I finally meet the dragon race that I always admired, or will they be a bunch of perverts as well?....." Everyone was silent in response before all of their gazes gathered in Tio, who answered, "This one thinks they are all normal?." With her worried expression not fading at the slightest as Tio''s words, Yue continued watching the horizon while feeling both excited, and anxious. *** Adul Klarus hummed silently as he sat out on the outdoor dining area of his home, overlooking the rest of the small village his people lived in. "Has something good happened sire?" One of the other elders, Kartos, asked suddenly. Adul looked over at his long time friend and said, "Not particularly, but I''m in a relatively good mood today for some reason." Kartos smiled at Adul''s lighthearted attitude, as he had particularly worried ever since his granddaughter left on her quest. He then said jokingly, "Perhaps lady Tio will return today with good news?" Adul laughed lightly and asked, "Is that what your ''Observation'' is telling you?" Kartos laughed and replied, "No it''s not, just-" But at that moment he cut himself off and stared across the island in confusion, then abject horror at the abnormal mass of magic power quickly approaching them. "Sire, sound the alarm now! Something immensely powerful is approaching!" Seeing the panic on his old friend''s face, Adul didn''t hesitate and shouted, "Everyone mobilize now!" As his voice carried unnaturally the few hundred survivors of the dragon race froze, before they jumped and started moving into defensive positions. Some turned directly into dragons and took to the air, while others helped the very few children into pre-organized safe houses. As they moved Adul and Kartos made their way to the end of the island where the powerful source of magic was coming from, both preparing to dragonfy themselves at a moments notice. they stood there watching for several minutes along with tens of dragons hovering around them and an increasing crowd of people preparing for the oncoming fight. Eventually they noticed a tiny drop appear on the horizon that was quickly approaching them, before those that were already in the air announced that they could see the sails of a ship with their dragonfied eyes. Though Adul had several questions about when the outside world managed to developers flying sh.i.p.s, he didn''t voice them as he instead shouted, "Be careful, we don''t know how the world has developed since we hid ourselves, and remember, WE DO NOT KILL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE MISLED WITH THE LIES OF GOD! THE SERVANTS OF GOD HOWEVER, ARE TO BE ELIMINATED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!" His orders were met with a series of cries and roars of agreement, as every person present prepared themselves to give their lives in this battle, as long as they took as many of gods servants with them as possible. There was no other solution, no other safe places to hide. "Tio, please be safe somewhere." Adul muttered to himself, wishing for his granddaughters safety even as he believed he was about to face his death. As the ship approached everyone tensed visibly as they prepared for battle, before someone launched themselves from the front of the ship. "GRANDFATHER! THIS ONE HAS RETURNED!" Tio cried out as she flew down from the ship, dumbfounding everyone present at the absurdity of the situation, before another figure followed her covered in brilliant red scales. A suffocating aura descended upon the gathered dragons from the figure as he caught up to Tio and grabbed her by the butt before holding her close to his body in an gesture of intimacy, though none noticed it in the suffocating atmosphere. As the duo slowly floated towards the ground every dragon in the air also started lowering themselves as if to avoid insulting the figure by flying above them, until they finally touched down and reverted to their human forms. One by one the weaker members of those gathered started falling to their knees from fear and reverence of the figure before them, until there was only the elders left standing as the duo reached the ground. The red scales and wings on the figure started fading after touching down, revealing a muscular youth with spiky black hair who started walking towards the gathered elders while Tio watched him with an obvious heat in her eyes. "Adul right? Tio has told me all about her grandfather." It wasn''t until he was spoken to that Adul came to his senses, before asking, "Who... are you?" The figure smirked before answering, "I''m Alex, known as the Dragon Emperor and the killer of the God Ehito." If everything they had just experienced was shocking, it was nothing compared to Alex''s self introduction, making the regal and proper Adul ask while stupefied, "What...?" *** A while later Alex and his group found themselves on the same patio that Adul and Kartos had been sitting on earlier, each enjoying snacks and tea while Adul and the other dragon race elders present stared off in a daze, trying to take in what Alex and Tio had told them. "So... It''s over?" Adul asked for the sixth time, to which Alex said while handing a small piece of cake to Ophis who was sitting in his lap, "Yep, it''s all over. Ehito''s gone, the apostles are either dead or on our side, and in a little less than a month the leaders of each race will meet to discuss the future of the world, well currently each race except the dragon race." Adul looked up at this, as it was obvious what Alex was trying to say. A quick glance at the rest of the elders showed that they also had the same feelings he did, before replying, "Of course we''ll be there. Our original ideals were to create a society free from god''s influence, were people could live side by side regardless of race or origins. It may have not been made by our hands, but that doesn''t mean we''ll miss its creation!" As Adul spoke every member of the dragon race present sent him looks of admiration as he spoke what they all felt, their only regret now was not participating in the downfall of the being that took so much from them. Their thoughts were interrupted when Tio stated, "Master, this one thinks thee wouldst enjoy the honey cakes, Venri''s cooking is''t amazing." They all turned to see Tio, their princess Tio, hanging onto Alex lovingly while trying to feed him honey cakes. They all then turned towards Adul who had a look of mild shock on his face, since they had all been too distracted by the torrent of news to realize the intimate relationship between Tio and Alex, though there was one thing that he focused on. "Master?" Adul asked somewhat incredulously, to which Tio jumped up excitedly and proudly explained before Alex could stop her, "Yes, he is mine master, and this one is his lowly s.e.x slave!" As the words "s.e.x slave" dropped everyone was silent as they stared at their prim and proper princess in pure shock, while Adul muttered, "I-I see... a-and are you h-happy as a... as a s-s.e.x slave...?" Everyone looked at Adul with surprise at the fact that he seemed to be somewhat ok with his granddaughter''s being a s.e.x slave, though as she nodded eagerly he then turned and asked Alex, "S-so what are your intentions with my granddaughter?" Alex shrugged in response and said, "Tio''s mine. She wholly devoted herself to becoming my slave and I don''t have any intention of letting her go, she would have to be taken from me by force, and that''s not gonna happen anytime soon." Adul seemed to study Alex for several minutes before finally sighing in exasperation, though strangely he also seemed to look relieved at Alex''s answer. "I see." Was all that he said, before Kartos asked, "Are you fine with this sire?...." Adul sighed before explaining, "As far as I could see she is merely taking the role of a.... s.e.x slave..... as a form of fetish. Such a thing is inconsequential as long as she is happy, after all we re talking about a person who remained single for five hundred years." Everyone looked at Adul in surprise at how easily he was accepting the difference with his granddaughter, and Tio even stood and said, "Thank you grandfather, this one is truly happy to be with master and the others in his harem. Not only does this one have so many "sisters" now, but I hast also met the God of dragons that showed this one heights never before possible." As she finished speaking Tio looked over at Alex and Ophis in his lap, making everyone look at them confusingly as Alex pointed at the small girl in his lap. "Meet Ophis, the dragon God of infinity." Everyone stared at the petite dragon God dumbfoundedly as she turned towards them and made a peace sign with her fingers, before going back to her snacks as if nothing happened. They all stared at her dumbfoundedly until someone else spoke up, "Impossible..." There were several nods in agreement as the majority of people had a hard time believing the petite figure before them was a God of dragons, but the speaker continued, "There''s no way that the proud princess of the dragon clan would lower herself to become a s.e.x slave!" Everyone looked at the speaker in disbelief, but those who knew him made exclamations of exasperation at him while Tio groaned and Adul said, "Ristan, don''t try and take away from Tio''s happiness for your own selfishness. I know you''ve had your heart set on marrying Tio for years and that you have been trying to pressure others from trying to court her, but you should be thinking of Tio''s wishes instead of just your own." The indigo haired man, Ristan, however didn''t seem to want to take back his previous statement however, and he instead declared, "No sire, this change is just too much! How do we know that he hasn''t manipulated her mind somehow to do as he says, or if anything he''s told us is even true?! I mean he won''t even respect her as she deserves and make her his official wife, as well as keeping who knows how many women around as part of his harem!" At this several people were shaking their heads in disbelief at how far Ristan was trying to go, while Bova and the girls glared at him for disrespecting Alex. The person himself finally stood up after gently moving the also annoyed Ophis, and said, "Alright calm down everybody, there''s no need to get heated." Seeing Alex trying to diffuse the situation Adul let out a sigh of relief since he thought Alex might try to retaliate due to Ristan acting in such a way, but Ristan stubbornly continued, "Tio, leave him and I can truly make you happy as my wife, I can defend you against him and his control. Please, come back to me." If this was a sappy romance story where Alex really was controlling Tio against her will, then usually this would be the point where she''d snap out of it and run lovingly into Ristan''s arms to live happily ever after. Instead however Tio shuddered at the way Ristan was talking, and even went so far as to try and hide behind Alex from him before saying, "Ristan, you know I''ve only ever considered you like a little brother to me, and that I swore I''d never marry a man who couldn''t beat me in a fight. With that being the case, then how can you, who''d never won against me once, compare to my master who singlehandedly and ruthlessly beat me when we first met?" "W-well, I-I can still...." As Ristan tried to defend himself Alex sighed and stated while letting out a little pressure, "I said it before didn''t I? Tio is mine. I never intend to let her go, and if anyone else wants her then they''d had to take her from me by force." As he finished speaking Adul looked at Alex with a bit of respect from seeing him defend his granddaughter from another man, while Tio gazed at him heatedly before starting to rub her thighs together. Though there was a nearly unbearable amount of pressure bearing down on him, Ristan impressively held up to it and stated, "T-then I''ll take you up on that! I''ll fight you, and if I win you''ll let Tio go so that she could be happy!" Alex snorted at Ristan''s challenge as he didn''t like using women as betting pieces, but before he could say anything someone else spoke up, "Please allow me to fight in your place my liege!" Everyone turned and looked at the speaker, Bova, who was currently in his mini form in order to stay inside with them. As everyone stared at the little dragon, he made his way forward and kneeled respectfully before Alex before saying, "While I have no doubt that this would be an easy battle for my liege, I wish for the honor to fight in your stead, and proudly display the power at my lords disposal!" Though he was currently tiny, everyone looked at Bova with respect at his loyalty and honor, while Adul also glanced at Ristan as if to say ''you should be more like them.''. Alex on the other hand was silent for several seconds before stating, "Very well, I''ll accept. Adul I''ll ask you to witness our agreement. I do not believe in using women as objects to bet, but I will stake this; as per Tio''s wishes I''ve placed a mark of slavery on her that has made her be unable to go against any of my wishes, though I do not use such a thing lightly. If you can win against my retainer Ristan, I''ll remove the mark from Tio, thereby removing my "control" from her, and she will chose who to go to after, is that agreeable?" Though Ristan wanted to argue, Adul spoke up first and stated, "Since this matter concerns my granddaughter, then I''ll accept your terms. Let us make our way towards the the battlegrounds." With the terms set everyone followed Adul as he led them towards the field where their warriors trained, with Alex smirking since no matter what nothing would change in the end. They were led to an expansive field by the ocean with several traces of the fights that had taken place here over the years, such as torn up earth and areas scorched blacked areas with ash. As they prepared for the fight Alex said to Bova seriously, "I''m confident in your victory, but remember to avoid the water at all costs, I would be severely disappointed if you lost that way." Bova looked away somewhat shamefully as he recalled the time Alex had to fish him out of the waters of Erisen, and swore there wouldn''t be a repeat incident. After a few more minutes all of the spectators retreated from the field to some cliffs nearby, leaving only the two combatants to stare at each other. As they stared at each other Ristan asked, "Why follow that man? Someone as devoted and loyal as you is wasted on him, why not leave him and join us here on the island among your own kind?" Bova snorted at Ristan''s offer and answered while narrowing his eyes, "Why would I do that? My liege is the greatest of heroes and an inspiration to all of our kind in the world we came from, do not speak as if you already know who he is, or what he''s done. You only see that he has something you want, and now you seek to take it as if it is a trophy instead of recognizing them as a person." Though Ristan glowered at Bova''s praise, the rest of the dragon race that was spectating looked to Alex with intrigue, amazed that he had managed to inspire so much loyalty and pride in his vassal. The man himself simply shrugged at their looks, and said, "Grayfia, Yue, make sure their fight doesn''t reach us." The two girls nodded and immediately set up a massive and powerful barrier that not only covered them, but also blocked the village from any potential attacks that might go awry. "Amazing..." Kartos muttered as he used his abilities to examine the barrier, only to find it was stronger and more powerful than any he had seen performed on the fly by two people. With all the preparations complete Adul stepped forward and shouted, "BEGIN!!!" The moment the match started Ristan immediately activated his dragon form, and after a second of being enveloped in a purple mist, there was a brilliantly shining indigo dragon standing there. As the sun glimmered off of his scales Grayfia muttered, "Like this he looks dazzling, but why can''t the person on the inside match the appearance?" Alex and the others nodded in agreement, while nearby Adul and the other spectators couldn''t help but smile wryly at the comment. Their attention was immediately diverted however, when Bova canceled the magic that had made him miniature. Ever since they could see the island Bova had kept himself small so as not to overly alarm or trouble the fellow dragons when they arrived, but now that he was fighting he didn''t bother worrying about that and grew to his full size. This time it was the dragonmen''s turn to comment as at just a little over thirty feet, Bova towered over Ristan who was only twenty feet tall while transformed. "Amazing..." Adul muttered this time, to which Alex commented, "In our world Bova can be considered tiny compared to some of the other dragons that exist, each powerful enough to be a cataclysm singlehandedly if they so choose." As he explained the size and capabilities of dragons such as Great Red and Midgardsormr, the other spectators were in awe as they tried to imagine such a being, as well as Yue, Shia, and Tio themselves. They were distracted long however, as the battle began earnestly with Ristan attacking first. "You may be bigger than me, but size isn''t everything!" He shouted as he moved forward swiftly and tried to use his claws to attack. As he closed in however he found a clawed hand waiting for him as Bova reacted faster than his size suggested, and grabbed Ristan before slamming him against the ground. "True I may not be fast, but I train almost exclusively with those faster than me, so don''t think that you''ll have an advantage!" As he said, Bova mostly trained with Sairaorg and Kiba, both being able to effortlessly run circles around him to the point that he simply had to adapt to the difference in speed, or be left behind. Of course since they weren''t intending to kill each other Ristan hadn''t taken much damage, and quickly got away while Bova pursued him. Though he waited for Ristan to attack previously he didn''t intend to wait for him the entire time, and was now going on the offensive. After trying to come up with a new idea, Ristan spread his wings and took to the air. "Come and get me, if you dare!" He called back as the distance grew between him and Bova. Though Bova was being wary of the water, he too didn''t hesitate to take flight after Ristan. After reaching a suitable height Bova turned towards him and asked, "So what now, hmm?" Ristan didn''t answer, and instead Bova met with a blast fire, then another. Bova was somewhat confused as blast after blast of fire hit him, though it did nothing to hurt him as he could literally take the hottest fires of hell without breaking a sweat. His confusion was answered however as the smoke from the repeated blast of fire started growing thicker around him, before he was slammed from the side by Ristan, who then started using his claws to tear into Bova''s flesh. Bova didn''t even seem to register the pain, and instead grabbed Ristan tightly and started diving towards the ground while Ristan tried to cause as much damage as possible with his claws. "Take this!" Bova roared as he released Ristan right before impact and pulled out of his dive, forcing the indigo dragon to slam into the ground with a lot more force than previously, forming a dust cloud that covered the entire field. After doing so Bova increased his elevation once more, ignoring his injuries as he waited along with everyone else for the dust to clear. When it finally did they could all see a dusty and somewhat disoriented Ristan, but he was otherwise seemingly unharmed, before he began laughing suddenly and said, "HAHAHA! It appeared our scales are tougher than yours! tell me, how many injuries did you take just to get me to roll around in the dirt?" Bova snorted from the air and asked while pointing to the numerous gashes along his side, "Do you mean these?" Not just Ristan, the other dragonmen present were confused at how casual Bova was acting about his wounds, until they noticed something unusual about them, that they were glowing with an eerie orange light before suddenly closing as if they never existed. Annoyed at how he realized he didn''t get the better of Bova during the last exchange, Ristan started taking in a deep breath, making the other dragonmen worried as Adul shouted, "Ristan don''t!" But he was too late as Ristan released the most powerful breath attack a dragonman was capable of, a concentrated beam-like attacked composed entirely of concentrated flame and heat. They all watched in horror as Bova didn''t even try to defend himself or evade as the attack hit him directly in the middle of the chest, and continued out his back into the distance. There was complete silence as after several seconds Ristan ended the attack, and almost everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the result as Bova continued flying as if nothing was wrong, even with a giant hole in his chest. The hole glowed with the same eerie light as his previous wounds however, and quickly closed in on itself with a substance that didn''t at all seem to be flesh and blood, before his chest was restored perfectly to the state it was in before. As everyone questioned what they just witnessed, Alex suddenly said, "I should have mentioned this before, but nearly all forms of physical attacks are useless against Bova, meaning Ristan had no chance to win right from the beginning." Several members of the dragon race looked at Alex in shock at his admission, but their attention was immediately turned back towards the fight as Bova said, "Witness now the power I have received from my liege, the same person you have tried to slander! Witness the power of the Magu Magu no Mi!" As he finished speaking Bova took in a deep breath, while all of those spectating held theirs, and released something that none of them except Alex and Grayfia were expecting, magma. Even Ristan was frozen in place from sheer incredulity as a torrent of magma flew from Bova''s mouth and poured over the land, forcing him to eventually try and take flight to escape the molten rock. However this escape route was simultaneously cut off as Bova hurled a giant mass of magma into the sky above them, triggering a meteor shower of magma and fiery rock to rain down upon them. "W-what is this!?" Ristan demanded as he desperately tried to avoid the rain of molten rock, and the massive attacks that Bova was now hurtling at him, a sense of dread growing stronger within him. As a dragon he had an inborn ability to resist fire and its various forms, however magma was another thing altogether. Even now as droplets of the molten substance splashed onto him Ristan felt a pain like he never had before from the first burns he had ever received in his life, the heat penetrating his prided scales to deal damage to him. After trying and failing for several minutes to get closer to Bova to end the attack, and knowing that even his prided breath was useless here, Ristan eventually came up with a last ditch idea to try and pull ahead in this match. He figured that Bova''s attacks must use a massive amount of energy to pull off, and therefore the solution was to simply outlast him. Since the duel will end only if one them actually gave up, Ristan found a place that was yet untouched by magma, and curled up before promptly going to sleep. "He-he actually did it...." Adul said while face-palming himself, along with several other members of his people, as they watched Ristan''s injuries quickly fade from the regenerative powers of their sleep. Alex even walked up and asked, "Tio did the same thing when we first fought, is it a staple strategy for the dragon people to just go to sleep if they can win a fight?" Adul grimaced at Alex''s question while Tio whistled innocently, before stating, "As the witness I declare this match in Bova''s favor due to Ristan no longer being able to fight, do any oppose my decision?" As could be expected no one argued Adul''s decision while Bova made his way over after seeing the unusual situation. As he approached Alex said, "Good job Bova, that was an excellent match." Bova beamed at his lords praise and bowed respectfully before saying, "It was my privilege to fight in my lords behalf, and for the honor of one of his women!" Adul looked on the group fondly and was happy that his granddaughter found such amazing friends, before Kartos asked hesitantly, "Sire, what should we do with Ristan?" Adul looked upon the now destroyed field to see Ristan still sleeping away as if nothing was wrong. He sighed and was about to say to leave for now so he wouldn''t cause trouble, but Alex beat him to it. "Don''t worry about him, we''ll wake him up." Everyone looked at him with surprise while Tio got an expectant look in her eyes as if she had an idea of what was about to happen. Alex then gestured for Bova to get closer, and whispered something in his ear, making Bova cringe before asking, "R-really? You want me to do that?" Alex nodded and said, "Yep, just think of it as his punishment for falling asleep in the middle of a fight." Bova shuddered at his liege''s ruthlessness, but still made his way towards Ristan to do as Alex said. The spectating dragonmen watched in in curiosity as they wondered what Bova was going to do, as he held up one of his front claws and magmatized it until it looked like a giant molten club instead of claws. That was as far as curiosity went though, as Bova used his other claw to grab and lift Ristan''s tail. What Bova did next, and the screams Ristan made afterwards haunted many of the spectators for many years to come. Chapter 281 - A Big Change "AHN! AHN! AHN!" In the silence of the night following the duel, a sonorous m.o.a.n rang out continuously as a beautiful back haired woman bounced on the h.i.p.s of her lover and master, a small pile of questionable items sitting nearby. They were the usual toys that made an appearance along with Tio at night, or were on her at all times anyways. For that particular night however they decided to dispense with the usual cables, clamps, candles, wh.i.p.s, and various other toys that he and Akeno tended to use on her, instead the two were simply engaged raw carnal pleasure, save for the pure black gem one could occasionally see between her bouncing butt cheeks. Alex was grinning like crazy as he watched the black haired beauty bounce, her b.r.e.a.s.ts bouncing like mad while her face and body glistened wth beads of sweat, her insides tightening and squeezing with each movement. The ride continued until both reached their respective climaxes, and Tio felt as if her insides were going to burst after Alex sprayed the third load of the night into her w.o.m.b, which, combined with his entire length inside of her, allowed one to see a slight bulge in her abdomen. As the two caught their breath Alex said while smirking, "Maybe I should have molten magma shoved up your childhood friend''s ass more often since it seems to turn you on so much." Tio smiled and replied through her continued panting, "That was not the reason, it was watching my master dominate others while also proclaiming that none shall have this one so possessively. This one could barely keep mine excitement in until we has''t some privacy." Alex smiled at her explanation and pulled her down for a kiss, prompting a battle of the tongues while she continued grinding her h.i.p.s down below. This went on until a sudden force removed Tio from his lap, separating their lips and causing his member to leave her insides with a small "pop", allowing the fluids trapped within to flow freely. Alex looked over to see an annoyed Shia, who immediately hopped onto his lap in Tio''s place while saying, "Geez you two! We can only wait our turn for so long you know! How long did you plan to make us wait?" Alex could only smile bitterly as she seized his still hard rod, and the cool air he could feel on it was replaced with Shia''s hot and steamy insides, accompanied by a satisfied groan as she finally got what she had been waiting patiently for. Before he could say anything Yue joined them by grabbing his head, and turning it so that she could also steal his lips for herself before saying, "...Our turn..." Alex smirked and replied, "Sorry, I was just giving Tio a bit of extra attention since today was about meeting her family." Both girls nodded in understanding as that was the same reason why they waited so long before intervening, but after three rounds they had waited long enough, and were ready for their turn. Shia then began her own ride, while Yue pushed his head back and straddled his head to give him a different pair of lips to use his mouth on. Alex didn''t hesitate, and immediately dragonfied his tongue before it pierced her lower lips, making the vampire princess gasp as her insides were thoroughly explored by it. Meanwhile on the side Tio wasn''t showing any signs of being annoyed that her time was interrupted, instead her panting had seemed to increase as she asked herself, "Haa, haa, is this neglect or abandonment play? Oh this one doesn''t care anymore!" *** Meanwhile in the dead of the night, a certain silver haired maid was missing out on all the fun due to her having her own agenda as she sat in a different room, enjoying the tea served to her by an elderly looking woman with dark green hair, who was also wearing a maid outfit. As she sipped her tea the woman, Venri, said, "I hope it is to your liking madam." Grayfia smiled and said, "It is delicious, and I appreciate you being willing to talk to me even though it is so late." Venri shook her head and stated, "It is my honor to have one of the people that helped defeat the hated God to visit me, and this also gives me a chance to thank you for looking after my lady all this time." Grayfia smiled at that, and said, "Actually that is what I wished to come talk to you about, when we leave the world would you be interested in joining us with Tio?" Venri was silent at Grayfia''s offer for a few seconds, before replying, "Though I would love the chance to stay with my lady, would your master be willing, and would you truly have a place for an old maid like myself?" Grayfia nodded and stated, "Of course Alex would most likely accept, and we would be most welcoming to someone who has as much experience as yourself. Truth be told, though we have quite a few maids under our service, none of them have truly been trained due to various circ.u.mstances, and so having someone to help teach and guide them would be a great boon." Venri was silent for several seconds as she thought about Grayfia''s offer, before ultimately nodding her head while saying, "I''ll have to talk to lord Adul in the morning, but if he''ll let me go then I''ll more than happy to join you and my lady, as long as there is life in these old bones." Grayfia then frowned as she hadn''t thought about a such a thing, as old age wasn''t a real concept to most Devils, before saying after several moments, "If you don''t mind, I believe there is a way remedy such a thing if you''d allow me to try." Venri was silent for several minutes at the second offer, as she especially didn''t expect to hear such a thing, before finally answering- *** Adul stood at the edge of their island watching the waves crash against the shore in what little moonlight there was, facing the direction of the mainland. Though he didn''t outright distrust what they had been told, he had just dispatched several of his people to investigate for themselves what the situation on the mainland was, as well as thinking back on what had happened that day. In all honesty it was too much to take in that their old enemy, the murderers of their people as well as his son and daughter-in-law, were gone; as well as the changes to his granddaughter and the people she had brought back with her. However, Adul smiled when he thought back on how happy she seemed now while surrounded by several people who cared about her, while also knowing that those he had met were just the tip of the iceberg. His reminiscing was interrupted when a certain someone walked up next to him and also started watching the waves. "Have they gone to the mainland then?" Kartos asked him silently. "Yes, they should return in a matter of days, and hopefully their reports will confirm what Tio and her companions told us." Kartos nodded and was silent for several more seconds as Adul continued watching the waves, before saying, "I don''t know what type of magic they used, but physically Ristan has made a full recovery already from... what happened earlier. Mentally however, it''ll probably take a while, even just earlier he reacted and broke down to something right as he seemed to be recovering." Adul nodded silently before eventually saying, "I hate to say it, but perhaps now he''ll think twice before acting out in such a way, though what happened to him was too extreme." Adul knew Ristan had been acting unrestrained for quite a while due to his feelings for Tio, to the point where he was even trying to force others to back down from courting her. The only reason he had ignored it was due to the fact that he thought Ristan would mellow out if he managed to beat Tio in a fight and court her, and that Tio herself would focus less on revenge if she was married. Smiling bitterly at how things turned out, Adul continued watching watching the waves while reliving what had happened in his mind. *** The next morning everyone gathered once more for breakfast, each having gotten a minimal amount of sleep for various reasons. On Alex''s right side was Tio, who was happily playing the part of newly weds instead of a slave and her master due to the fact that they were around her family, and on his left was now immensely satisfied Yue and Shia, while Ophis sat in his lap and Bova was standing attentively behind them. While waiting for their breakfast to arrive they were making small talk with Adul who was sitting across from them. Yue for one was glad to have finally met the noble dragonmen she greatly admired, and Adul as well was pleased to meet her and learn that Yue idolized them and their ideals, as even on their island they had heard of the powerful vampire princess Aletia. "Breakfast is served." A voice called, grabbing everyone''s attention suddenly. They all turned towards the speaker, but were then dumbfounded by what they saw. In the lead with Alex, Yue, shia, and Ophis''s plates was of course Grayfia, but everyone''s attention was on the one behind her. "I have your breakfast lord, and it may have been a while lady, but I have prepared your favorites to celebrate your return." Though she spoke to them, neither Adul nor Tio said anything as they took in the person before them, before Tio hesitantly uttered, "V-Venri?!" The woman before them smiled elegantly before curtsying politely and stating, "Yes my lady, it is indeed me." Even as she confirmed it, Tio couldn''t believe the person in front of her was the same Venri that raised and attended to her for her entire life. The Venri she knew was elderly like her grandfather, even though her hair hadn''t lost any of its vibrant color, and gave off the aura of a kind nanny or grandmother; the Venri in front of her now however was young and rejuvenated, there was a more pronounced spring in her step to show her younger appearance wasn''t just for show, and she now exuded an aura of s.e.x appeal and motherhood. Without saying anything else, Venri walked forward with a light sway to her h.i.p.s and set the plates down in front of Tio and her grandfather, before moving to the side to wait patiently for them to finish eating. Though it took them a while due to neither being able to take their eyes off of the transformed maid, Tio and Adul eventually managed to finish their meal before she moved in to take their plates. As she did so however Grayfia signaled for her to stop, and said, "I''ll take these, Venri would you talk to lord Adul and my lord about our discussion last night?" Though she was slightly nervous to, it didn''t show on Venri''s face as she replied "of course", and left Grayfia to her work while she turned back to the still dumbfounded Adul and Tio. After taking a breath to steady herself, Venri said, "My lord, last night I received an offer to accompany lady Tio to her new home in order to continue attending to her and her new family there, and I would like to accept." Though it took minute, Adul seemed to finally understand what she was saying and asked, "I-is this "transformation" related to your request?" Venri nodded and explained, "Yes, last night madam Grayfia offered to use a type of magic known as "Regeneration magic" to restore me to my youth as part of her request." As she spoke Adul nodded his head slowly as if in understanding, before stating, "So, you wish to follow Tio when she leaves us?" Pointedly deciding not to focus on the other thing, Adul brought up what Venri''s original request was, to which she nodded her head enthusiastically. Adul was about to answer, but then Alex spoke up, "Actually, I was thinking something similar, except not just Venri." Everyone was surprised at what he said, before Adul asked, "Pardon me?" Alex shrugged, and explained, "I was going to ask if a few members of the dragon race were interested in relocating to Asora, though not everyone since they''ll most likely be needed to help keep the peace here. I also hoped you''d be one of them Adul, so that Tio could still see her only other family even after we leave, just think of it a form of retirement." Adul was about to immediately refuse since the dragonmen in Tortus needed him, but before he could do so he caught sight of Tio staring at him intently with wide eyes full of hopeful expectations. Finally he said, "I''ll think about it. There''s still quite a bit of work to do here for me, and there''s the conference to think about." Alex smiled but let the matter lay for the moment, as there was still several months before they moved on for Adul to make his decision. Though he and Tio were still in awe of Venri''s transformation, they then went on to discuss various things as well as plans for the upcoming conference. *** Meanwhile around Tortus, as Alex hoped word was spreading of Ehito''s demise. As it had been several days since he left for the dragonmen''s island, the word had already spread far and wide as more people helped to spread it when they heard about it. By this point the entire continent was almost entirely composed of worshippers of the Goddess Gabriel, largely due to the actions of Alex and co, as well as the effects of the occasional ''Devils Charm'' during their travels. As the word spread some people filled the pubs to celebrate, while other filled the streets to celebrate with friends and neighbors, something they never would''ve considered before learning of Gabriel''s beliefs. Not all were happy though, as the very few remaining worshippers of Ehito gathered in dark corners, alleys, and sewers to discuss what their next move would be. They too spread the word, but theirs was instead a call for a gathering to prepare. Though they were believers in Ehito they didn''t care about things such as differences in race now, they only cared about restoring the belief in the one true God, and casting down the false Goddess and champion. They spread the word, so that all lingering believers of Ehito, regardless of race, could gather and pool their strength against the might of the champion and his allies, and restore the world to its previous state. Away from them however, and even in some cases away from the celebrations, were those who truly believed in the Goddess with their all. While around the continent cheers and toasts were raised towards the Goddess and her champion, women of all races were kneeling in their homes, their hands clasped together in prayer as they whispered, "Please let there be peace now, for my children...." "Please, let my son grow up without having to fight a pointless war...." "Please, let my daughters not know the same fear I grew up with, of being enslaved by the humans or demon race..." """"Please, protect my children....."""" All around the continent, regardless of race, millions of mothers were kneeling and praying to the Goddess, the Mother of all, for her protection, that their children may live peacefully in the days to come. They prayed that their children may live without the fear of invasion, of being conscripted into the army, that they wouldn''t grow up only to die in combat like so many of their husbands and fathers. normally such a thing would be unheard of, but with the Goddess being the "Mother of all", who called for peace more than anyone else, then maybe, just maybe she would hear their prayers. As for the "Goddess" herself however, she was sitting in a comfy chair with a good book open in front of her. Though Gabriel hadn''t done much reading in her long life that wasn''t official reports or doc.u.ments, she was now doing so due to large amount of free time she suddenly had for the first time in her life. As she thought about it she started rubbing her still growing belly with one of her hands, a content smile spreading across her face as she eagerly anticipated what was to come. "Do you need anything Gabriel?" A voice suddenly asked, stirring her from her stupor. Gabriel smiled at Ravel who had just entered the room, and replied, "Maybe just a cup of tea? I just had breakfast so I''m otherwise alright for now." Ravel nodded and said someone into an earpiece she was wearing, more than likely telling someone to bring her tea. As Gabriel was the first of Alex''s women to be expecting his child, they were all doing everything they could to make her comfortable, and to ensure that she had everything she might need. This was why mere minutes after Ravel telling her, Nyx appeared with a cup and platter in her hands, only to suddenly drop it with a clatter. "Nyx! What did you do?!" Ravel demanded, stirring Nyx from the stupor she entered when she saw Gabriel. Though she didn''t usually care for being talked to in such a way, the Goddess of night and darkness ignored it and muttered somewhat distractedly, "Sorry, I''ll get another..." She then practically fled the room while Ravel went to start cleaning the cup and spilled tea, her heart hammering in her chest. "I''m not seeing things, am I?" She asked herself in confusion as she recalled what just happened, how when she entered the room she could sense a small amount of divine power coming from Gabriel. Chapter 282 - Sign me the F.u.c.k up! After spending a few days with the dragonmen, Alex and co returned to Asora only for Nyx to immediately pull him to the side and say, "We need to talk." Though he was tempted to make a remark about her attitude, seeing how serious she was being he kept silent and instead sent the rest ahead for some privacy. When they were alone Alex finally said, "Ok, what''s going on?" Nyx hesitated for a few seconds as if she was trying to put together what she was about to say, before eventually spitting out, "Gabriel''s turning into a real god." It took a few moments for Alex to process what she said, but when he did he immediately started massaging his temples while saying, "Great.... I had hoped it wouldn''t happen so quickly...." As he made no attempt to hide the fact that he suspected this would happen, Nyx demanded irritably, "You knew this would happen?!" Alex nodded and explained, "I''ve heard it mentioned before in stories that it was possible to attain godhood through believers worshipping you, but I didn''t know it was actually true until I attained it myself. After that I suspected that Gabriel might eventually attain godhood because of ''Goddess Gabriel'', but hoped it wouldn''t happen until after we left Tortus." Nyx was silent as she took this in, as it was the first time she heard of someone "accidentally" becoming a god, and to add to the incredibly of the situation it was someone who hated even pretending to be a god due to her own faith. Sighing at the situation, she then said, "We have to tell her, and soon. I''ve been keeping an eye on her the past few days, and her divine power is growing at an absurd rate, if it keeps up she''ll become a full fledged goddess soon for real." Alex sighed as well as he was hoping the process wouldn''t be so fast specifically because of this, but the damage was done so the only thing he could do was come clean about it. "Go and gather everyone for an emergency meeting, I was planning to bring this up at some point anyways, but with this situation it''ll have to now instead of later." Nyx nodded and immediately set out to gather the important figures in Asora, while Alex was the one to go and get Gabriel. *** "B-but I don''t want to be a goooooooooood!!!!!" Gabriel wailed as as tears started streaming down her face, making everyone look away uncomfortably as Alex tried to console her, though a few of the girls gave him the stink eye for "making a girl cry". He simply ignored them as he wiped away Gabriel''s tears, and said soothingly, "It''s not all bad Gabriel-" but then she wailed, "That''s what you think! Oh what would the Lord say if He saw me now?!" Alex stared at Gabriel pointedly before saying firmly, "I think He would be proud of you." This caused Gabriel to stop crying for a second, and even the rest of those gathered looked at him curiously. With his firm gaze and tone never wavering in the slightest, Alex continued, "He isn''t here, and so we did what we could to help those who needed it with what we have. The fact that you''re gaining divine power so fast should be enough to show you how much the people of Tortus needed someone like you Gabriel, how much they needed "Goddess Gabriel"." As Alex finished speaking everyone was silent as they looked at Gabriel expectantly, before she finally said, "Fine, I''m not mad at you anymore, but don''t think I''m ok with being an actual goddess!" Alex smiled bitterly, but didn''t say more on the matter and turned to explain what he had called everyone for. "Now for why I called everyone here, I was planning to wait a little bit before discussing this, but with Gabriel''s situation I decided to bring it up now. What I wanted to talk about, is the possibility of others attaining godhood as well." While ignoring the collective shock around the table, Alex then launched into a brief explanation of what Lauren told him before. There was a dumbfounded silence as they took in what he said, before Barakiel hesitantly asked, "So anyone could become a god?" Alex nodded slowly while saying, "I''m not saying it''s an absolute, but it is possible; though we who have demonic powers would have to reach a state where our bodies could support the opposing energies." While a gleam of anticipation could be seen in the eyes of the gathered Devils, Vali suddenly spoke up, "So I only need to find a god and come up with some way to steal their divine powers?" Alex gave him a deadpan stare along with the rest of those gathered before saying, "No, as you are now the divine power will destroy you. Think about how much stronger than you I am, and how I was comatose for an entire week because of a temporary transformation. If you tried to take a gods divine power it would tear you apart, it''d be easier to just try to develop your own once you reach that stage anyways." Though Vali wanted to retort to Alex''s rejection, Albion suddenly said, Though he grumbled discontentedly, Vali didn''t say anything else on the matter and ultimately conceded to developing his own power, especially since he didn''t like using another''s strength to begin with. with that settled Rias spoke up while asking, "So we need to develop these things called "Laws" to ultimately become gods?" Alex nodded and explained, "Yes, ultimately they''ll become your respective divinities, like how Nyx is the goddess of night and darkness. Another example is how Gabriel will probably end up becoming a goddess of motherhood and familial love because of how she''s been depicted to the people of Tortus." This earned him a look from Gabriel, but she ultimately didn''t say anything as there were always worse things to develop divinities of. They then spent a bit more time discussing the various paths to godhood, before Alex decided to move on to the next topic he wanted to mention, and pulled out the crystal key that Hajime made. "Now next, after a bit of looking into it I have concluded that this key.... will be able to help travel to different worlds in the future, but only ones we''ve already been to." Everyone was silent before Hajime spoke up, "But, it can already travel to other worlds to begin with, even if we haven''t been to them, I''ve already checked this out." Though he hadn''t actually gone to other worlds, yet, Hajime had at least confirmed that the crystal keys he made with Conception magic were in fact able to bring one to a different world. Alex nodded his head and stated, "That''s true, but I''m referring to something else entirely. The world''s we can travel to right now are, for lack of a better way to put it, within the same universe. The ones I''m talking about are completely different realities, even different earths that have near identical, but ultimately different timelines." He then went on to explain how it worked as Lauren also explained to him, about how the farther they wanted to go with the key the more magic power it took, but when it was about going to another reality, the amount of power needed was in a completely different league entirely. Worlds like Tortus and Hajime''s earth, as well as the rest that Hajime and co ultimately went to in the After Story, were basically neighbors within the same universe; whereas the DXD world was in a completely different reality. If Alex were to use the keys to try and travel to these worlds, it''ll take a tremendous amount of magic power to do so, even more than he was currently capable of producing, and it''ll need to be a world that he''d already established a link with, meaning he''d have already had to visited it before. That wasn''t what shocked the people around him though, it was what he said next, "Hajime, that request for an "unlimited power source" I had in those papers I gave you, this is one of the reasons I added it. Not only would it be beneficial to the people of Asora, but i also fully intend to open the other worlds to us in the future, meaning Asora will potentially become the central hub of a network spanning dozens, or even potentially hundreds of worlds in the future." As his words dropped there was dead silence as they took in the scope of what Alex had said. On each and every planet there was always attempts to trade and interact with different cultures, and several difficulties that came with it; but what Alex was wanting to attempt was something that was on a scale that no one had ever even conceived before, it was the idea of a madman. "Haha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hajime laughed unrestrainedly for several minutes as everyone either looked at him strangely, or still tried to take in what Alex told them, before he finally said, "So if I''m to understand this right, you want me to not only make an endless power source, but also open up a doorway to other realities to create a network the likes of which never before seen? Sign me the f.u.c.k up!" His excitement and enthusiasm caught several people off guard, making Barakiel asked, "Wait, so you''re ok with this?!" Hajime laughed once more and replied, "Of course! Think about it, the scale of it! Every craftsman wants to make an "ultimate masterpiece", something to surpass everything they ever made and to set them apart from everyone else, why wouldn''t I want to be part of this project?!" As he continued to laugh out loud, Grayfia then added, "I can''t believe how narrow minded I was to try and tempt you with the position of Maou before..... If this succeeds then even a Maou will seem like nothing more than a lower ranking nobility..." As they all went through various stages of shock Alex decided to end the meeting there, and asked Hajime, "So how''s that first project I asked for?" Hajime pulled himself from his mental planning and answered, "It''s done, and since I''ve had time to experiment and improve how it works in my own space-time orb, I was able to make some improvements compared to the one used for training." Alex nodded and had Hajime join him back to Misty Manor to show him the new space-time orb, while also escorting Gabriel back. *** As Hajime said there had been quite a few improvements from the first space-time orb he had created with Seekvaira, the first being that they no longer needed to add several orbs outside the main one to create different environments to train in. Hajime had found a way to layer them so that they could have different orbs within the main one instead of branched all around outside, though they were unable to layer time differences. Another improvement that was due to Seekvaira instead, was that her time manipulation abilities had made leaps and bounds due to her evolution into a super devil, and now the time difference could be increased even more. The main orb of course ran on the usual one month per day, but there was plans to create a unique space-time orb that could turn a single day into nearly a year, though this would be considered as a desperate use item. Within the orb itself however, the main residence was kept nearly the same as the original orb with a villa looking house surrounded by the ocean with islands, except now there were also floating islands similar to Ehito''s divine realm drifting around the orb. Hajime had admitted that it was relatively tricky to get these to work at first, but he eventually managed it using Gravity magic to keep them in the air. Finally the last big difference was that the villa was styled more for comfort than practicality, as while it was also intended to be used for training for the manors residents, it was also intended to be akin to a second home to those living there, with several residents already planning to spend most nights within it to expand their days. As could be expected there was great excitement for those who were unable to spend any long amount of time within the previous space-time orb, with this group mainly composed of Asia, Remia, Myuu, Millicas, Kunou, Gabriel, and Koneko, though Myuu, Millicas, and Kunou were limited to spending only nights within the orb due to their young age. What Alex didn''t expect however was that there seemed to be a mad rush among the girls to "claim" a floating island for themselves as place to train or even build a small residence for themselves. He himself eventually went along with them at this himself, claiming one of the larger floating islands to build a small fighting ring for practice, as well as a small Japanese style stone garden for relaxing and meditation. Akeno built herself a small private shrine on her floating island that was nearly identical to the one she grew up in with her mother, to the point that her father was reduced to tears when she showed it to him. On it she also planned to keep and train creatures that had an affinity for lightning due their shared affinity, and on which Sona''s ''Queen'' Tsubaki and Tio were regular visitors. Asia, Xenovia, and Irina on the other hand claimed an island to share where they built a small church-like structure that the former exorcist duo could train in, that would also function as a sort of infirmary in case anyone sustained injuries within the orb, as such it was also the closest one to the main residence. Rossweise had also claimed an island for herself, creating a building to house several people where she claimed she intended to train those who were interested in becoming Valkyries in the future; though it also contained her own library/workshop where she could experiment and learn magic from each world they visited in peace. Ravel had also claimed her own island, and similarly to Rossweise she built a residence for many in order to turn it into training ground for her peerage members, with Sona, Rias, and Roygun all doing something similar with their own; the male members of their peerage being one of the very few exceptions allowed within the orb, and exclusively on their respective islands. Ingvild was somewhat similar in this regard, though she had yet to use her evil pieces and she had chosen to use one of the regular islands in order to be closer to the ocean, building both a beach house and a small stage to practice singing on. Of course due to various reasons Levi wasn''t allowed within the orb, and had instead taken up residence in the oceans near the Dagon settlement where, after an awkward transition, she became the honorary mascot of the Dagons. what had been surprising to almost everyone however was that even Grayfia had taken an island for herself, though when asked what she doing on it she refused to tell even Alex, only confiding in a few others like Ravel and Rias. Meanwhile Nyx unashamedly claimed an island for herself, making a shrine dedicated to herself that she felt quite proud of until no one went there to worship at it. Yue on the other hand built herself a small castle on a floating island while also making it to where it was always overcast, claiming that she intended to make it a place for any vampires that were involved with Alex, which needless to say Elmenhilde was a frequent visitor. Shia on the other hand had tried to model her own island after Verbergen, forcing her to rely more on Anne''s help to build it due to her extensive knowledge on plants. Anne''s own floating island was turned into her own personal garden, where she maintained a variety of plants that had a variety of purposes. Some were used for cooking, others could be made into medicines that she intended to give to Asia, while some very select few could be used as poisons, which she mostly had there because they looked nice. With the months/days trickling by, everyone busied themselves on building and maintaining their own islands while also making time to visit with each other and train. With Ehito gone they were mostly in vacation mode now, and the majority were planning to attempt the labyrinths they had yet to try, once a couple certain events had passed of course. As for Alex himself, he spent his days mostly by spending time with his women, helping them with their islands or simply being together while doing activities such as swimming and so on. Though he was also training himself, it was very light compared to before, and focused more on his new abilities such as his ''Domain'' as well as trying to increase his divine spark. Of course the majority of his time was spent taking care of Gabriel and Koneko, who were both staying within the orb in order to be with Alex as they finished out their terms, though Gabriel was also because her rise to godhood was slowed there. "KEEP YOUR GUARD UP!" Rias shouted as a magical hail of various elements descended onto Suzu''s barriers, causing them to shimmer violently for several seconds before finally flickering out completely under the powerful attack. As the dust cleared she could be seen standing in the center looking a little banged up, but none the worse for the wear. Rias walked up to her and said, "You need to be able to hold up under these kinds of attacks with the battles we may be fighting in the future, especially in the rating games." Suzu was huffing and puffing from exerting herself before saying, "Suzu, haa, understands master, haa, she will do better..." Rias nodded as she was expecting it, while Rossweise flew down and said, "Was it too much? I tried to cancel it when I saw the barriers go out." Suzu shook her head and said, "If Suzu can''t take this much, then I can''t call myself a barrier master!" Rias grinned at her determination while Rossweise smiled before saying, "Ok, just don''t push yourself. Remember I have years of experience and I''ve been training myself so let me know when I overdo it." Suzu nodded and was about to say to go again, when suddenly a reddish-brown haired girl appeared from nowhere, who was one of Sona''s Knights, Tomoe Meguri. While both Suzu and Rossweise jumped slightly from her sudden appearance, Rias barely reacted as she asked, "Tomoe? What''s wrong?" Tomoe seemed to be in a hurry and quickly stated, "Alex and lady Sona sent me, they said that-" *** While Rias was receiving her message, a certain black haired Nekomata was sitting cross legged on her own personal floating island, sweat flowing down her face as she concentrated intensely. "Come.... on~Nya!" She spat out as she tried desperately to make some progress, while dozens of eyes watched her from the surroundings. She had made her island somewhat similar to Akeno''s shrine, except at the center was a fairly large cat statue, and it was home to dozens of cats she had found somewhere in Tortus. They were all currently watching her intently as Kuroka struggled to make a breakthrough in her spatial magic. As she focused a small point in front of her, no bigger than the tip of a pin, had appeared in midair. Though this was a relative success, it wasn''t the first time she had reached this point only to lose it all. She then tried to expand the space within the point hovering in front of her, but not where anyone could see. "I can do it~Nya!" She muttered to herself, as she felt the space within the pinpoint expanding, but ever so slowly. It expanded to the point that within it was about the size of a small ball, causing a grin to spread on Kuroka''s face at her minor success. Before she could do anything to anchor it and prevent her progress from disappearing however, she suddenly got a call that distracted her, causing the pocket in space that she had created to collapse on itself. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She wailed as her progress was lost, making her actually tear up since she''d have to start all over, again. She then answered the call that had so rudely interrupted her and practically shouted, "What do you want!?" Grayfia flinched slightly on the other side from being snapped at suddenly, before cooly replying in a chilled tone, "I''m just calling to let you know that Gabriel''s going into labor, sorry that I interrupted your nap or something." She then hung up leaving Kuroka staring ahead somewhat dumbfoundedly, before she leapt up and started cleaning herself off. Though she was still annoyed that she had been interrupted, the current situation was actually more important, for the moment, and she quickly rushed to the main residence. Chapter 283 - New Life As the news spread regarding Gabriel going into labor, the entirety of Asora buzzed with activity. The Angels instantly dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the Misty Manor, not intending to flood the house, but were instead waiting anxiously outside for news of the baby. They weren''t the only ones however, as one by one almost every person in Asora made their way to the manor to join them in waiting; though the only ones allowed in it and within the space-time orb being Gabriel''s Brave Saints, composed of all girls, and the residents of the manor itself. Within the space-time orb however there seemed to be as much, if not more activity due to the excitement everyone was feeling from the occasion. Gabriel''s Brave Saints were running to and fro gathering towels, blankets, water, and whatever else was needed, while the majority of the other residents were waiting as close as possible while also trying not to get in the way. At the moment the only ones allowed in the room with Gabriel was Asia and Valerie, as they were healers and had assisted with the birth of the very few children that had already been born in Asora, Sister Griselda as the ''Queen'' of Gabriel''s Brave Saints, Grayfia and Yasaka who were using their own experience giving birth to help Gabriel, Kuroka due to her ability to control and sense a persons internal energy, and finally Alex of course as the father. "You''re doing good Gabriel, just a little more!" Alex encouraged her before he wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead with one hand, while his other was currently experiencing the entirety of the grip strength of one of the four Seraph''s. Using Regeneration magic to restore his shattered bones for the fifth time, Alex continued doing everything he could to ease the pain Gabriel was feeling. "You''re doing fine Gabriel, we just need one big push!" Asia said as she guided the Seraph, before she let out a sudden agonizing yelled that was soon answered by a different sound. "Waahhh! Waahhh!" As the cries of a baby sounded throughout the room, there was a near audible sigh of relief as Alex turned towards Gabriel and gently said, "You did it Gabriel, you did it." Despite the intense pain she had just been feeling for what seemed like so many hours, Gabriel sighed in relief as she listened to to the sounds of her baby crying. "It''s a girl!" Asia declared, making both parents look up as she finished cleaning and wrapping the baby in some soft blankets. As she approached and gently handed the small bundle to them, a look like one she never had before spread on Gabriel''s face as she stared down at her daughter, a blond haired blue eye little girl, before tears started streaming down her face. "My beautiful baby girl..." She said while also holding back more tears. For the thousands of years that she existed she never even considered the possibility of having a child, and now she was realizing, like so many other things, what exactly she was missing out on until now. She wasn''t the only one impacted by this however as, even though he had lived through two lives and had adopted Myuu as a daughter, this was the first time Alex truly knew what it was like to see his own child. As he looked down on the tiny being in Gabriel''s arms he too could feel a slight burn in his eyes from the emotions, before Gabriel carefully and gently held her out to him while saying, "Here, this is our baby girl, our Edith." Alex carefully took the fragile bundle in his arms and tucked her into the crook of his arm. "Edith? That''s the name you decided on?" Alex asked as he cradled the newborn in his arms. Gabriel nodded happily as she watched the father-daughter duo, though as most of the tension was gone she started to feel increasingly tired before ultimately yawning. Asia used that to cue in, "I think it''s time everyone got some rest, the baby needs to be laid down and Gabriel is extremely tired as well." As the nearby Sister Griselda moved to help Gabriel relax along with Grayfia and Yasaka, she couldn''t help but say, "B-but my baby...." Though she knew Edith wasn''t going anywhere, she couldn''t help but be a little anxious that she was being taken to another room until Alex said, "Don''t worry Gabriel, I''ll be nearby and Edith isn''t going anywhere, she''ll still be here when you wake up." Though she was still slightly anxious, Gabriel couldn''t fight the exhaustion for much longer, and was soon unconscious. With his daughter still in his arms, Alex made his way to the temporary nursery with Asia and Grayfia while Kuroka tagged along behind, and the others went to spread the word about the new baby. As he gently laid her down in the crib, Alex took one last look at his sleeping daughter before reluctantly turning away and leaving the room, only to sit in a chair right outside as if he was keeping guard. This earned a bit of a chuckle from the girls, while Kuroka looked thoughtful for a moment before leaping into Alex''s lap and saying, "Nya~ when are we going to have our own little potato~Nyan?" Alex snorted while Asia and even Grayfia chuckled a little at her remark, before saying, "You know that you can just go into a mating season like Koneko and the chances of getting pregnant will go up." Kuroka nodded before explaining, "But that way feels cheap when I think about it~Nya..." Alex smiled before scratching her behind her ears and said, "Don''t worry, I don''t plan to leave anyone out of the family planning, and we have as much time as we want to get to making children." Kuroka smiled at this and was slightly tempted to jump him then and there, but didn''t since they were right outside the baby''s room. Grayfia then asked, "So, how does fatherhood feel?" Alex was silent for a moment before saying, "Surreal. It didn''t really begin to click until I started to spend time with Koneko and Gabriel everyday, and now it''s still hard to believe that I actually have a daughter of my own." Grayfia nodded in agreement before adding, "I remember when I first had Millicas, and even though my belly had gone back to normal and I could hold him in my arms, it was still hard to imagine that I now had a child of my own." Alex nodded in understanding as he knew exactly what she meant, while Asia said, "The baby is so cute, now I want one of my own too..." The usually naive and pure seeming woman then surprised everyone by suddenly giving Alex a look with a particular gleam in her eyes, before she reluctantly left to help let everyone know what was going on, though Alex was sure that he could definitely expect Asia to be spending more time in his bed in the near future. "She''s changed~Nya..." Kuroka muttered as they watched her leave, to which Alex and Grayfia nodded. Though Asia still gave off a "pure nun" type of feeling whose presence alone could psychologically heal a person, she had obviously matured quite a bit since they had started living in Asora. She was now one of the pillars of their hospital alongside Valerie and, to ensure she always was able to properly help those who needed it, she could mostly be seen studying a medical textbook when she was able to. Though she still acted cutely and somewhat naively, the effect of being around so many mature women and having such an important position was becoming more apparent as time went by. After Kuroka and Grayfia also took their leave, Alex was left sitting alone outside the nursery as he used his ''Domain'' to keep an eye on Edith, and closed his eyes. He didn''t go to sleep though, instead he mentally asked, ''So, is there anything I need to worry about?'' A second later the familiar voice of Lauren replied, ''No, though Edith may have a hard time controlling her strength, there isn''t anything wrong with her. The demonic and holy powers she possesses have actually synced perfectly since it''s a state she was born in.'' Alex let out an actual sigh of relief and he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders at her affirmation. A particular concern he had regarding his firstborn daughter, was how varied and potent her bloodline was. Never before in DXD history had the lines of angels and Devils mixed, though there may have been exceedingly rare situations where they coupled in the past, or where an angel was captured and used as a s.e.x slave, they had never made it past the point of conception without falling. If they had and the angel was a woman, then they would have had to go the entire term without falling due to the demonic energy they carried within them, possibly either falling from it or even resulting in a loss of the child. Edith was the first ever devil/angel hybrid, a being that would have an impossible to determine future and limitless potential, and if that wasn''t enough her mother was one of the strongest angels in existence. As if she wasn''t already a future powerhouse just from that, she also contained the power and potential of a dragon within her body, and even the strength of a saiyan. Alex could feel her tail through the blanket as he held her, and knew that she might be able to surpass the current him given enough time, a thought that already made him saddened as well as excited. The thing that concerned him the most however, was the newest potential for her future strength. ''Will Gabriel''s divine power influence her at all?'' Alex mentally asked Lauren, to which she explained, ''I wouldn''t say so, Gabriel''s divine power was just recently attained and she isn''t even a full fledged "God" yet. Though Edith may have a tiny divine spark, it definitely wouldn''t be enough to make her a demigod and wouldn''t necessarily impact her in the near future, it would just a bit of a head start on developing her own divine powers.'' Alex was silent before asking, ''How much is a "tiny" divine spark?'' Lauren took a moment to think, before saying, "Well I''ll compare her to yours and Gabriel''s for the moment. Gabriel is being fed the heartfelt prayers of the people of Tortus daily, and the belief in her is only growing, so I would say her divine power is equivalent to a raging bonfire that is about to turn into a full blown wildfire. You stole a god''s divine power and tried to make it your own, but it quickly dried up and left behind only a few embers, which you''ve only stoked to the point of lighting a match. Edith on the other hand only possesses a tiny spark that seems as if it''ll go out at any moment but never will, and she can only nourish and grow it until it becomes an inferno like her mothers, though this can only happen if she trained it as she gets older.'' Alex was silent as he felt a significant amount of relief at Lauren''s words, as usually when someone possesses so much power it would somehow lead to their doom. Though there was still the real possibility of that happening in the future, it was still preferable to Edith''s own powers destroying her in a matter of days. He then really relaxed and continued monitoring his daughter as she peacefully slept. *** Over the next several days Alex and Gabriel quickly learned what it meant to be the parents of a newborn. From tending to her all night, to the terror of changing smelly diapers, they experienced it all. The duo were thankful for two things during this time, the first being that they were both superhuman to the degree that even after a week of barely any sleep they hardly even felt it(though Alex was more used to sleepless nights than anyone else), and the fact that there was so many people that readily offered their help with taking care of Edith. As each and every girl was becoming more anxious to become a mother themselves soon, they all eagerly helped take care of the newest addition to their family while also taking the time to get some experience for themselves in the near future. The ones that were the biggest help however, was of course the trio that had already had their own children, Grayfia, Yasaka, and Remia. As she felt as if she wasn''t contributing to helping out as much as everyone else, Remia had been the first to step up and volunteer herself to be in charge of watching over the future children, and teaching the new parents how to properly care for them. The only problem was that, as much as the girls were helping out, they were also the initial reason Alex was getting considerably less sleep. Though he usually kept the nighttime visitors at a moderate number so that he could properly give them attention, nowadays he was hosting a minimum of up to ten women in his bed at once almost every single night, with the exception of the nights when he was watching over Edith. It was even becoming increasingly common that they''d ambush him at random times throughout the day whenever he wasn''t in the same room as Edith, at least until Sister Griselda walked in right as a group of n.a.k.e.d women were in the process of trying to rip his clothes off. Though she viciously tore into the guilty party with a tongue lashing, Alex was both surprised and relieved that she didn''t turn her wrath on him, stating that she only let him off because they were the ones who jumped him. After that the girls calmed down to an extent, and Alex was exceptionally glad he didn''t tell anyone about using ''Penetrate'' to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e Gabriel, otherwise they might''ve ended up with dozens of expectant mothers within a matter of days. As for Edith herself, Alex was slightly thankful that her heritage hadn''t altered her appearance or growth as she continued growing normally and healthily, and that the only thing differing her from other babies for the moment, was her tail. In fact, as the weeks started passing since her birth everyone within the space-time orb was constantly crooning over how adorable she was with her tail and started referring to her as the "little monkey", though there was a small amount of trepidation when Alex reminded them to never let her see the full moon. It had been quite the shock to everyone when he admitted that even infant Saiyans were a threat when they transformed, to the point that they could even be considered apocalyptic scale threats to weaker societies. With the fact that this would also apply to all of Alex''s children, it was quickly decided to have all of the windows in the manor replaced with moonlight filtering glass like the glasses Alex received from Azazel. By the time these and a few other minor concerns were attended to, enough time had passed within the orb that it was now time for Koneko to go into labor, once again stirring up a bit of an uproar in response. "Deep breaths Shirone, do you want me to dull your sense of pain temporarily~Nya?" Kuroka asked as she helped to comfort Koneko at the side, while Alex was once again playing the role of pain release, except this time he was experiencing the grip of a ''Rook'' instead of a seraph. "...No! I don''t want something like that!..." Koneko stated as the pain shot through her once more, resulting in another cracking sound coming from Alex''s hand as she squeezed it. Alex didn''t say anything in response to his hands abuse(though it was different than the usual abuse a guys hand usually experienced), and simply continued to say comforting words to her while also healing his hand, preparing it for the next wave of pain. The hours slowly ticked by since she first went into labor with the pain refusing to let up, as expected, until finally after a particularly intense wave of pain and a lot of pushing, they were once again greeted by a completely different sound. "Nyaaaaa! Nyaaaaa!" As the cutely catlike cries of a newborn baby rang out, Koneko seemed to have forgotten her fatigue, and looked up excitedly as after taking the time to clean and wrap the baby,, Asia handed her to them. "Congratulations, it''s another girl." As Alex and Koneko looked down at their baby girl Kuroka stated, "Of course it is~Nya, boys in our tribe are practically nonexistent!" After saying her piece, Kuroka''s attention was immediately returned to her newborn niece within her sisters arms, who had a tuft of white hair on her head along with her cat ears. Similarly to Gabriel Koneko got a bit tears as she looked down on her baby before saying, "...Oh my little Mai..." Alex and Kuroka looked at her curiously and asked, "You''re naming her Mai?" Koneko nodded and explained, "...Its based off of our mother, Fujimai..." Though Kuroka made a face at the mention of their mother, she didn''t say anything disrespectful because of the occasion. Truthfully she didn''t really care for her and Koneko''s parents, as their mother was helplessly in love with their father, who was only engrossed in his research to create artificial super Devils. To him their mother was just another specimen, though one he could also use to fulfill his s.e.x.u.a.l desires, while he hardly ever became involved with the sisters or even acknowledged them as his daughters. However as the only thing their mother did "wrong" was love such a man, she didn''t say anything bad and told Koneko, "It''s a nice name~Nya, I guess now I have to get used to being an aunty~nyahahaha!" Koneko smiled at her comment before smiling back down at her daughter, and then handing her to Alex. Alex gratefully accepted the newborn with a large grin on his face, but as he did so he also noticed the tail dangling beneath her. One of the things they had quickly realized was that they couldn''t wrap the tail up with the baby due to discomfort(something that Asia was unaware of and no one initially caught during Edith''s birth due to excitement), and so this time around Mai''s tail was left dangling beneath her, causing Alex to examine it as his daughter was handed to him. Both his and Edith''s tails were a dark brown as is the usual for a Saiyan, however Mai was also part Nekoshou, meaning she would also have her own cat tail. Instead she only had a single tail that was a light brownish-tan, though the last few inches was tipped with pure white fur just like Koneko, and it appeared to be softer than his and Edith''s tails. Though he was winding if perhaps the trials had fused or something, he decided to let the matter lay and simply admired the baby in his arms before it was time to let her and Koneko sleep. When they did though, Alex promptly sat in a chair outside the nursery just as he did for Edith and used his ''Domain'' to keep an eye on Mai while she slept. (A.N. I''m sorry for the delay in chapters, my work hours have been all kinds of screwed up lately due to the shutdowns and such, and so I''ve been pretty tired when I get off of work because of it.) Chapter 284 - Godslayer After the birth of his two daughters, it was like the long vacation that Alex and the girls were taking was over as the majority of them returned to Asora. They had all been relaxing somewhat as they waited for Gabriel and Koneko to give birth, and now that they had it was time for them to get back to the usual day to day things. Shizuku and Shia both rushed off to challenge the Orcus labyrinth along with Suzu and Ryutarou, before moving onto Raisen. Even though she had already cleared Raisen once, Shia was willing to go back in to help Shizuku and the others through it as some extra muscle, though as they left Alex was sure he heard Miledy chuckling to herself while muttering about some plans she''d prepare for them. Apart from them Anne was also entering Orcus, however she was headed there in order to grind out a few more levels to reach her next hundred level milestone. They weren''t the only ones though, as several other people spread out in order to challenge the various other labyrinths such as the Grand Gruen Volcano, the Divine Mountain, and the Frost Caverns of Scnee. While others were starting to challenge labyrinths, Gabriel was making the transition to going back to work as the head of the angels in Asora, while also taking care of Edith. As much as she liked being a new mother, she was also missing her daily work as after doing it everyday for hundreds of years, it felt as if there was a sense of "wrongness" from not working for so long. This didn''t mean she traded work for her daughter however, as Gabriel would occasionally take Edith with her to her office to ensure she was always around her, while her subordinates were also sneakily lessening her workload to ensure she wasn''t being overloaded. Even koneko was doing something similar, as she''d bring Mai with her while she tried to hurriedly catch up to those who''d continued training while she was pregnant, with her daughter seeming to watch her mother intently from the sidelines. When the two mothers weren''t monopolizing their daughters however, Alex was the one who spent most of his days taking care of them when he wasn''t traveling around Asora and addressing any ongoing issues or checking up on everyone, meaning that on most afternoons he could be found taking a short nap with both girls snuggled with him. He had completely transformed into a doting father who even seemed to give Barakiel a run for his money, though the latter once made the comment about how one day he''d find one of his daughters in a similar situation as when they first met(A.N. Chapter 51). When he heard this Alex immediately declared a duel against the fallen angel, resulting in him turning deathly pale in an instant before he tried to back out. The women around them however wouldn''t hear it and, with even Akeno pushing for her father to accept the grave he dug, Barakiel had no choice but to accept and face the music. Later he was quite thankful that Alex fairly merciful in his beating, and that he hadn''t flat out tortured him or set out to mentally scar him, though the display was enough to discourage anyone from having thoughts of courting his daughters when they came of age. While he was taking care of his daughters and helping run things in Asora during the day, at night Alex was reentering the space-time orb to spend time with the girls and train. Each night gave him roughly a week within the orb and, after a few days adjusting to the time difference in his days, he was utilizing the extra time as much as possible. He would usually spend his extra days training while tending to his women at night, as well as setting a day or two out of the week to relax with the girls while doing various things like swimming, watching movies, exploring the various other environments within the orbs, or just laying around aimlessly. Like this the days slipped by, until it was finally the night before the beginning of the peace conference. As he entered the space-time orb at the same time he always did after putting Edith and Mai to bed, Alex was immediately greeted by the group that usually stayed in the orb, with Kuroka at their head. He smiled abut bitterly, and said while also scratching Kuroka behind the ears, "I''m sorry but this time around there''s something I need to work on by myself. I''m not sure when I''ll be done so it may take the entirety of the week this week, or I might finish early and get to spend some time with all of you." Though the girls looked slightly dejected at Alex''s statement, they didn''t voice their discontent since they knew that what Alex was working on must be important, however that didn''t stop Kuroka and surprisingly Shia from pouting as they tried to nuzzle closer with their fluffy ears twitching. "Is it more important than us~Nya?" Kuroka pouted before Shia added, "I guess we''ll just wait here, all alone..." Alex looked at the duo with dumbfoundment as he never expected the usually antagonistic duo to work together, especially to try and guilt trip him. Before he could say anything Yue turned into her mature ''True form'', and punched the two on top of their heads to send them crouching with tears in their eyes, even though her punches didn''t actually hurt them. "...You''re troubling Alex, just wait as he said...." Yue stated firmly, before turning towards Alex expectantly. Shia and Kuroka watched incredulously as Alex planted a kiss on Yue''s lips as thanks for her help, before leaving while promising to spend time with them when he finished what he was going to work on. He did feel slightly bad about leaving them since it had literally been weeks since the girls that were staying in the orb constantly had seen him, but Rias and Grayfia had both already pointed out that he shouldn''t worry about it since it was their choice to do so. Putting the matter in the back of his mind, Alex focused on his task as he flew straight towards his personal floating island, before using Spatial magic to transfer directly into one of the underground facilities he had built into it. He had built several of these spaces for a multitude of purposes, and each and every one was sealed so that no one could enter them without his assistance, though Alex suspected that someone as skilled in Spatial magic as Kuroka might be able to break in. The one he was currently in was something like a workshop/storage vault, that housed various stockpiles of building materials in storage rings, several impressive souvenirs from monsters he had defeated while in Tortus, and the things that he immediately focused on, five green jewels that were suspended in midair. There was one group that had three jewels, and the other two were specifically separated from them due to what they contained, a certain apocalyptic level slime that they had acquired in the Sunken Ruins of Melisine, and the lord of the underworld, Hades. The other three jewels contained the divine powers of Hades himself, Loki, and Nyx, and it was for those reason that Alex separated them as he didn''t want to risk Hades somehow reacquiring his divine powers, while also potentially adding Nyx''s and Loki''s while he was at it. Alex then contradicted his previous intentions, and retrieved both the jewels containing Hades and his diving power, before placing the one with Hades on the stone table in the middle of the workshop. After dispelling the sealing on the jewel, he then found himself face to face with the skeletal ruler of the underworld. "What do you want devil?" Hades demanded the moment he saw Alex staring at him, the light in his eye sockets flashing angrily. Alex smirked at the skeletal god''s irritation, and stated, "I just released you because I decided on how I''m going to deal with you." Even from the moment where he first sealed Hades, Alex had never intended to leave him for eternity; there was too many factors and possibilities for that to be a good approach as it was always possible that regardless of the steps he''d take, Hades could get free and attack him for revenge. Though this never worried him too much in the past, the birth of his daughters prompted him to take action sooner rather than later. The main reason he had never killed Hades until now though, was because death was never an absolute when it came to gods; just like Gabriel''s Ascension into godhood, the remaining faith from Hades followers could help the god''s soul return from the grave, primed and ready for revenge. When he heard that Alex had decided to "deal" with him, Hades''s attitude changed completely as he asked in a condescending tone, "Are you finally going to "kill" me? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Hades wasn''t worried about being killed in the slightest, as he was the ruler of the underworld even in death. Though he would be weakened for a time, eventually his powers would return as even a state such as "death" would only be temporary for him, which was also the primary reason for why he appeared as a skeleton. Though, even as Hades laughed in his face, Alex''s expression never changed as he waited for Hades to eventually stop laughing, before calmly saying, "No, I am going to destroy your soul completely." As he said that Hades''s laughter ceased entirely as he stated, "Impossible!" As Alex looked at him he could see that a variety of emotions were going through Hades''s mind at the moment, from incredibility to anger, and even a small amount of fear. Hades was the most powerful God related to the afterlife in the DXD world, it wouldn''t be a stretch to say no one knew as much about souls as he did, with his knowledge only lacking in the creation of souls, and their destruction. Of course he himself had done extensive research into both of these but, as far as the destruction of souls went, he had long since concluded that it was impossible for him, and was something only a god of destruction could achieve. Upon this realization he never again uttered the possibility of destroying souls, as the last thing anyone needed was a god like Shiva running around destroying the souls of any he didn''t like as he pleased, even though Shiva didn''t care for such things. When Alex claimed to be able to do what he himself couldn''t, Hades was filled with raw fury, jealousy, and even a small amount of fear. Though death may have no effect on him, having his soul destroyed would be the ultimate and final end for him; even if the faith in him never wavered, it would take thousands of years at the minimum for a new Hades to be born, and they would be nothing like the current him. These thoughts and more swirled around in Hades''s head, until Alex said, "It''s not impossible, I acquired the ability to destroy souls not too long ago when I destroyed the soul of the god of this world." As he finished speaking Hades caught onto somethings Alex said, and he repeated slowly, "T-this world?" Alex nodded and replied, "Yep, we are no longer on earth, or the underworld, or heaven. We are not in any of the places you know of or been to, we are on another world called Tortus. This means you have no allies, no one will even be the least bit concerned that I have destroyed you, and by the time I return to our world, no one there will be strong enough to do anything to me if they found out that I destroyed your soul." As he finished speaking Alex reached out his hand towards Hades''s chest, causing the skeletal God to flinch before shouting, "YOU CAN NOT DO THIS! YOU CAN''T KILL GODS AS YOU PLEASE YOU FILTHY DEVIL!" Alex ignored his continuous shouting as he used Spirit magic to ''pull'' the soul from within Hades''s body, causing the god to fall silent as he watched his soul leave him. He the lunged at Alex in one final act of desperation and resistance, though with is powers taken from him he was unable to even reach Alex before he crushed the golden sphere in his hand. "NOOOOOO-" Hades shouted before suddenly falling forward, the bones making up his body scattering as the magic holding them together faded, and life left his corpse permanently. Alex looked down on the bones and summoned some of his ''Dragon''s Demonic Flames'' to dispose of them, but he hesitated before doing so as he recalled several instances where bones were used for crafting weapons or armor. With what he was about to do now that he had finished off Hades, Alex decided to hold off and set the bones to the side for later, before sending a message to Grayfia stating what happened, not yet aware of the effects of doing so. With the bones cleared away and the stone table empty, Alex then said, "Alright then, now for what I really came here to do!" He then summoned his oldest and most familiar weapon, Ascalon. As he looked at the blade Alex smiled as he recalled acquiring it and all of the times he''d used it, before a feeling of melancholy set in. Despite being a powerful dragon slaying holy sword, Ascalon was far from being the strongest weapon, even within the holy blade category. That was why Alex decided to try and use his Evolution and Creation magic to try and improve the blade far beyond what it was capable of, and hopefully even add to its arsenal. He then set Ascalon down on the table before creating a magic circle that surrounded the table to channel his Creation and Evolution magic through. With everything else prepared, it was time for Alex to add the final ingredient. "I hate doing this..." Alex muttered, before stimulating his divine spark and activating one of his new skills, ''Divine Dragon''s Breath''. As the flames kindled to life within his stomach, Alex instantly felt the searing pain that the divine power still inflicted onto his mostly demonic body. He then felt the pain travel up his throat, before reaching his mouth as he slowly blew the golden tinged flames towards his open hand. With the flames safely contained and sustained, Alex then used Regeneration magic to heal the damage they did to his internals before moving on to the next step. Using his ''Domain'' and the Creation magic, Alex made Ascalon float slightly above the table before feeding more energy into the golden flames, and making them swirl around the holy sword until it was bathing in the flames. As the seconds slowly ticked by the temperature in the workshop gradually started increasing until it finally reached the point where the flames would have melted both the table and the surroundings if Alex wasn''t already protecting them. Alex himself was starting to feel the burn even with his high resistance to fire due to the divine nature of the flames, however his response was to simply summon his dragon scales and act as if he didn''t feel the heat. As the seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes turned to hours, Alex never so much as moved a single muscle as he channeled as much divine power as he could muster into the flames and the blade. After several hours of saturating the blade in the divine flames Alex finally allowed them to die down before he grasped Ascalon''s grip and slowly lifted the blade, listening as it seemed to hum with power and contentment. "..." "It''s almost like I can feel another presence now..." Alex muttered silently as he sent his intent into the blade. He had also used minute amounts of Spirit magic in the modifications in order to ensure nothing went wrong as the power of the blade was manipulated, but now he could sense a more intense bond with it than he had before, to the point where Alex now believed the sword would never "accept" another wielder without his permission. Intrigued by the changes in Ascalon, Alex began testing it by swinging the sword a few times before summoning a few practice dummies and slicing through them as if they were warm butter. After ensuring that the integrity of Ascalon wasn''t compromised by his actions, Alex finally decided to test what he actually needed to enhance Ascalon for, using it as a conduit to channel his divine powers. With his divine capability so limited and potentially hazardous to himself, Alex had decided to supplement them by using a conduit to channel them through. When considering the different options for this however, the best solution he had arrived at was using Ascalon, it was already a sword attuned to the ''Holy'' element so it wouldn''t take as much to mold it to use ''Divine'' as well. When he thought about this Alex channeled his meager divine powers into the sword, resulting in golden flames erupting along its length. "How beautiful..." Alex muttered to himself as he admired the divine flames. He then spent some time re-familiarizing himself with Ascalon''s new abilities, before reluctantly storing it away to move into his next project. This time he placed a surplus of Azantium ores onto the table before placing the jewel containing Hades Divine powers, but as he did so Alex glanced at the pile of bones that used to be Hades himself, before ultimately adding them to the pile as well. After finishing his preparations, Alex took a deep breath before exhaling some blackish ''Dragon''s Demonic Flames'' and preserving them like he did the divine flames previously. His plan this time was to create a new weapon for himself, except this time it''s purpose was to channel his demonic powers instead of his divine. Though he had Ascalon and the staff Wukong gave him, Alex had never had a "Demonic" weapon even though he was technically a devil; to remedy this he intended to forge one using the ''Dragon''s Demonic Flames'', and the jewel containing Hades''s divine powers. As the god of the underworld where even Devils had resided, he was closest being to a "demonic God" Alex could think of, making his powers a prime ingredient to add to his new demonic weapon, the bones were just a last minute addition. The core ability of this weapon though was going to be conceived from Conception magic, a magic that unless utilized correctly, was only a one time use. With Lauren guiding him on how to cast the magic so that the Conception magic wouldn''t fade after constant use, Alex started focusing on the "Concept" he wanted his weapon to use. He recalled the day that started all of this, the day he heard a woman scream and didn''t mind his own business, the day he first met Anne. He recalled the sight of the gun the man held, something that meant life or death before but was insignificant to him now, the feeling as the bullet tore through his body. As he relived that day he also focused on what happened after, as his senses shut down bit by bit, the coldness creeping up through his body. As he relived that experience Alex fully grasped the concept he wanted and channeled it into his magic, the concept of DEATH. *** As the days within the space-time orb crawled by, so too did the hours of night in Tortus, until the light of the rising sun could be seen on the horizon. As it slowly rose it shined light on a gathering of around ten thousand people, all armed and prepared for war. They were a group the likes of which had never been seen before on Tortus, with humans, demon race, and Demihuman slaves making up their number, and they were united temporarily for a single purpose. At their center was an elderly man that would have looked like a kindly old grandpa normally, however the platform he stood on that was supported by a dozen Demihuman slaves coupled with his sadistic smile ruined this image. He was dressed lavishly in white ceremonial robes with a regal crown on his head while wielding a giant ornate scepter, and as the sun rose behind him every eye turned towards him, waiting for his proclamation. The "new pope" of the church took a deep breath, before declaring, "My children, we have gathered here despite our differences for a single yet divine purpose, the elimination of the false goddess and the murderer that claims to be her champion!" As his declaration rang out there was a resounding cheer from the thousands gathered that seemed to even shake the sky and earth itself. As they cheered the new pope waited until they settled down before continuing, "Humans, and demons, we have fought each other since time began and it is only natural that we continue doing so until it ends, just as it is only natural that the demihumans place is beneath us as our slaves, yet this false goddess and her champion intend to spit upon our prided history! They would proclaim that we should be peaceful, and that even the animals that are demihumans be treated equally, this is not natural!" As he finished speaking there was once again a thunderous cheer of agreement from the masses below him, except as they cheered they also glared at their "allies", as if expecting them to turn on them at any moment. It was an unspoken agreement that once the champion and goddess were no more, the surviving people of their army would most likely turn on each other and the humans would slay the demons, or vice versa as nature demanded. As the thunderous cheers silenced once more, the pope continued, "Even now, this very day, they plan to go against god''s intentions, and have gathered the leaders of these once proud people together to talk of peace, with even whispers that the evil dragon race, once thought to be extinct, will attend! Our brothers have boldly attended this gathering and have told us of its location, and tonight there will be a grand ball to welcome the leaders of each great nation! We will march there, and we will show them how truly weak this goddess and her champion are; those who would rather spread lies declaring that they had killed our God, and attack his glorious temples in secrecy than fight true and fair!" At this the loudest cheers yet thundered through the skies, as several figures were raised up above the cheering masses. They were effigies that were similar to scarecrows, yet each one had specific characteristics that separated it from a normal scarecrow. One was smaller than most with what appeared to be platinum bland hair and painted red eyes, along with a couple points that were obviously supposed to be fangs, representing Yue. Another was dressed as a maid with silver hair for Grayfia, and another had a crimson wig to look like Rias. There were even a couple that were stained red from the accessories that were attached to them, with cat ears/tails as well as a rabbit tail/ears to indicate Shia and Kuroka, both having been cut from the poor slaves of a similar race. One by one more effigies were raised, each having defining characteristics to represent a specific person, even including Anne, Shizuku, Kaori, Hajime, one that just looked like a black dragon for Tio, and even the current rulers of each nation such as Liliana, Emperor Gahard, and even the current king of the demon race. Two of the last ones to be raise had the biggest impact on the crowd, the first being made to resemble a muscular person with spiky hair while wearing an orange jumpsuit, resembling Alex and the fighting attire from when he fought Noint, and another that was a petite figure as well to indicate Aiko. The final one was the largest, and raised the biggest react from the crowd. It had long blonde hair and twelve wings taken from harpy slaves and stitched onto its back but, unlike some of the others, it was distinctly lacking clothes; instead the effigy had a couple of stuffed cloth sacks that were stitched to its chest with distinct n.i.p.p.l.es drawn onto it along with other various graphic and offensive drawings, and even offensive words such as ''WHORE'' were written on it. As the effigies were raised up the pope aimed with his scepter at Gabriel''s and blasted it with a burst of fire, setting it ablaze while shouting, "DOWN WITH THE WHORE GODDESS!" """"""DOWN WITH THE WHORE!!!"""""" The crowd cheered, as they too set alight the rest of the effigies, while others shot at them with arrows as if for target practice. They then started their march towards the town that would host the peace meeting and the ball that night, the labyrinth city of Horlad. Chapter 285 - The Ball After spending the majority of his time in the space-time orb working on and getting accustomed to his weapons, Alex spent the last day with the girls as promised before leaving to have breakfast, and then to Horlad. Once he arrived the usually quiet town was alive with noise as everyone tried to finish preparations for the upcoming ball later that night, and the peace conference to follow. The purpose of the ball was so that all the national leaders would get a chance to actually meet and interact with each other for the first time before sitting down to discuss the future of the world, as for the actual place it would be held though, it was of course going to be in the newly constructed castle that didn''t even exist a week ago. It stood towards the edge of town and towered over everything else in its majestic glory, and it was where Alex found an awestruck Liliana as he arrived to make sure there was no hiccups in the preparations. "Even when I think there''s nothing you can do to surprise me anymore, you put up such a massive and amazing castle overnight.... Is there any limits to what Devils can do?" Alex smirked and replied, "Of course, our limits are just different than yours." Liliana looked thoughtful at what he said before nodding her with a resolute look on her face, and saying, "Then I''m even more certain that I''m making the right choice." Alex looked at her with some mild confusion, before asking, "And what choice is this?" Liliana looked at him directly and said, "I need to talk to you about something." *** Several hours later as night started falling and the majority of the guests had gathered for the ball, Akeno had a professional smile on her face as she walked around with a serving platter full of wine glasses, asking if anyone needed a glass. She, along with the rest of Rias, Sona, and Ravel''s peerages(minus Endou, Suzu, and Ryutarou) were responsible for serving the guests during the ball as they were of course "servants". None of them felt any resentment at this though as it was in fact their official status, and they were also there in the event that there was some kind of falling out between the guests. As she walked around Akeno was unaware that one of the young local lords was eyeing her from behind, before muttering to his friend, "This champion guy sure knows how to throw a party, just look at the ass on the servants." His friend looked at him as if he said something ridiculous, and replied, "I wouldn''t even think about it if I were you, you never know which girls might be too close to the champion, and I''ve seen firsthand that he can be completely ruthless to those who offend him." The young lord sneered and answered, "They''re only servants, so what does it matter? They should be proud to spend some time with a "real" lord anyways, I''m going to make my move." As the lord strutted forward his friend could only look away and pretend that he had nothing to do with him, while also hoping he didn''t create too much of a scene. As he approached Akeno the young lord had a silly grin on his face as he looked the beautiful woman up and down, his gaze lingering on her massive b.r.e.a.s.ts and amazing ass. He then reached out to grab her ass without worrying about how she''d react, as their difference in status was too distant anyways, when suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back while something sharp and cold was pressed against his neck. "I wouldn''t if I were you." A cool yet feminine voice hissed in his ear, while the lord looked around desperately for someone to help him, before realizing that no one seemed to even see them and saying, "I should be telling you that, don''t you know who I am?" The mysterious figure was silent for a moment before answering, "No I don''t, is there any particular reason why I should care? Are you supposed to be a prince or something? All I see is a dumbass who tried to lay hand on the boss''s property, and needs to be taught a lesson." The young lord started sweating at her words as he realized that status didn''t mean anything to this champion and those who worked for him, if you offended him you paid the price for it. As he tried to find some reason for them to let him go the voice whispered, "Dealing with a corpse in the middle of this ball would be annoying, consider this your first and final warning, step a toe out of line again and you won''t even realize you died, understood?" The young lord nodded desperately at her, before he suddenly felt the knife and grip on his arm disappear. He then turned around suddenly as if trying to catch a glimpse of his attacker, but didn''t see anything as they already disappeared, before slowly and unsteadily making his way back to his fried. When he saw how pale the young lord was his friend asked even though he already knew the answer, "So how''d it go?" Th young lord was silent for a second before saying, "She was more trouble than I was willing to go through, let''s drink..." Not even considering trying to pick up any girls at the ball in case they were "marked", the young lord then went to get his own drink instead of going near any of the wait staff to get drunk. Meanwhile Rana had returned to the rafters above the ballroom where the rest of the Haulia that were assigned to the ball were stationed, as they stayed on the lookout for any more troubling situations to handle silently. By this point the ball was nearly in full swing, and every guest except for the dragon race and Alex with his dates had arrived. Though there was a distinct divide between the different groups of humans, demons, and demihumans; the ones they all seemed to gravitate towards were those who had come to attend from Asora, such as Sairaorg and Seekvaira, Arthur and Elaine, Lavinia Reni, Bikou, Bova, surprisingly Barakiel, and even more surprisingly was Vali. With the obvious exception of Bova, the people of Tortus were trying to get close to and socialize with these people as they thought it would help them earn a ticket into Alex''s good books, even though they were mistaken. Suddenly the chatter and background noise in the ballroom was shattered as an ear piercing scream rang out from the gardens that were connected. Everyone looked in surprise towards the scream, only to see a swarm of dragons flying right towards them. Even though everyone in attendance knew the dragon race was due to attend as guests, this didn''t stop a small panic from breaking out as their first instincts when seeing a dragon was either fight or flight, prompting several of the men to instinctively reach for their absent weapons. As Akeno and the others tried to get everyone to calm down, the dragons with a brilliant scarlet dragon in the lead swooped down and circled the castle once, before gently coming down to land in the gardens. As they neared the ground each dragon was surrounded by a swirl of magic power, that vanished to reveal several dozen good looking men and women with hair similar in color to their previous scales. With the elderly scarlet haired man at the lead, Kiba stepped forward and announced, "Now presenting the leader of the dragon race, Adul Klarus!" Though it was silent for a second as he majority of the attendees were in shock at seeing the legendary dragon race firsthand, with those making up the wait staff leading the way, respective applause soon rang throughout the ballroom before the rest of the dragon elders were introduce. After the introductions were over and the applause died down, Adul stepped forward and stated to everyone gathered, "It is my pleasure to see everyone here today, gathered for the very peace that my people have so long sought. I hope that the festivities tonight are the first of many in the years to come." As he finished speaking applause once more filled the hall as the dragon race people behind him spread out to mingle and talk to people of the current Tortus for the first time in over five hundred years. By this point the only one who hadn''t arrived yet was Alex, but he didn''t keep everyone waiting long after Adul arrived with his entourage, with Kiba finally announcing, "Now presenting the champion of the goddess, and his escorts!" Everyone''s backs straightened slightly as they turned towards the great double doors expectantly, just in time for them to open. As the sound of clacking shoes filled everyones ears, Kiba announced, "Introducing the heiress of the dukedom of Gremory, Rias Gremory!" As he finished introducing her Rias walked out into the light of ballroom where everyone could see her, and was greeted by the "oohs" and "ahs" along with the light applause. She was wearing a long formal blackish-red gown that had a slit reaching down her back, along with two up the sides to display her slender legs and a V that just showed the tops of her cleavage. As she passed Kiba, Rias smiled at the attendees who were so awestruck by her beauty, they nearly missed kiba''s next announcement. "Next we are presenting a daughter of the marquis house of Pheonix, Ravel Pheonix!" As he finished speaking everyone quieted down once more, and turned to see Ravel walk in while wearing a gown that fanned out from the waist down, and shifted between yellow, orange, and red in a way that looked as if she was actually wearing fire itself. After making her entrance Ravel made her way to the side and stood opposite of Rias as Kiba announced the next girl. "Introducing the heiress of the prince house of Sitri, Sona Sitri!" As she entered the ballroom, Sona earned several "oohs" and "ahs" herself as compared to the previous twos peerless beauty, she seemed cold and aloof, yet still possessing a beautiful ''sharp'' appearance that was accented by the dress she wore. It was similar yet contrasting to Ravel''s as Sona''s appeared to be made of living water that flowed endlessly around her body. Even after these three amazing women made their appearance, the list of arrivals didn''t seem to be shortening any time soon. They were quickly followed by Ingvild, Roygun, Grayfia who was given the night off, Yue, Tio, Shizuku, and Yasaka, who''s appearance made even the foxman tribe elder Lua go smacked; the purpose of them being Alex''s official dates was to essentially show off how much influence Alex actually had in their home world from having so many high class women dedicated to him, though the biggest surprise was the group that followed. After Yasaka was introduced the next woman to walk out was one that drew several gasps and exclamations of surprise as even Gahard looked shocked at the outcome, as his daughter entered the hall. "Introducing the princess of the Hoelscher empire, Tracy D. Hoelscher!" As kiba''s voice rang out there was a series of mutters as the nobles discussed the new information, that Alex had accepted the princess of the empire, and was now more distinctively tied with them. To the majority of nobles daughters were used as high valued bargaining ch.i.p.s for the betterment of their standing, or to forge alliances, they never would have imagined that Tracy had actually gained Alex''s acceptance without any ulterior olives regarding her fathers empire, having done so for her own personal reasons. Their whispering was brought to and end when Kiba then announced, "Introducing the elven princess of the demihuman people, Altina Heipyst!" As he finished announcing her an elven beauty walked out to the stunned crowd, her face a deep Crimson as all eyes gathered on her. Truthfully she was only considered Alex''s because Tracy dragged her along in her attempts to gain his approval, the two becoming fairly good friends even if Tracy could be a bit overbearing at times. It was actually because of this that Altina had not developed the rather dangerous interests she had due to Shia''s rough treatment of her in the original novel. Her appearance in Alex''s entourage had caused even more of a stir than Tracy''s did as with Tio and Yue, it meant that Alex had "collected" a princess from almost every race in Tortus, with the sole exception of the demon race. This made the king of the demon race start sweating a little as he noticed it, and he glanced towards his own daughter nervously as if worried Alex may come for her eventually, making him think he might have to talk with her about going to Alex''s side before he himself came looking for her. Unaware of the giant misunderstanding the demon race King was having, Kiba then dropped the biggest bombshell of the evening as he announced, "Introducing the princess of the Heiligh kingdom, Liliana S. B. Heiligh!" There was stunned silence as Liliana entered the ballroom, and several people glanced towards the people from the empire nervously as she did. It was no secret that there had been intentions between the late King and the emperor to have Liliana and the empires crown prince Bias marry however, with the event situation of the empire after Hajime dealt with them, Gahard had decided that it was no good to have the princess of another nation marry into their family due to the necklaces they had been forced to wear. They were enchanted by Hajime to ensure that the royal family and the other various nobles of the empire kept their word about not enslaving the members of the demihuman race, and if they ever went back on their word or tried to remove them, only death awaited them. Even though Gahard smiled and clapped politely at the princess''s new station, his son next to him glowered at her threateningly for "escaping" her fate as his future wife, something he''d been looking forward to ever since they first met before Liliana was even ten years old. With Alex''s entire entourage introduced, Kiba finally announced, "Now introducing the champion of Gabriel, the Godslaying Dragon Emperor Alex! And his first wife, the woman revered as a goddess in another world, Anne!" As he finished speaking Alex walked out into the ballroom with Anne, their arms linked together intimately. Anne was noticeably fl.u.s.tered as they entered the ballroom as she had never been in such a high societal situation before, and with every eye on her she felt a little dizzy and might have tripped, if not for Alex holding her up. As for why she was being considered his "official" wife, this was the result of a long and heated argument between the women behind his back for the title of the "official" wife. Due to Alex''s status as the ruler of Asora, even if he didn''t have an official title yet, this had been quite the argument as it essentially meant deciding his "Queen"; with them quickly eliminating anyone in a peerage, including Alex''s, as well as anyone belonging strictly to a certain faction such as the Angels, youkai, or Devils, Anne had quickly been the natural choice as she was also the only one with the same status as Alex himself, both being reincarnators. It was a decision that hadn''t quite sunk into the poor girl, until she suddenly found herself in the current situation where she was being lifted to the same status as Alex, and above the very women she had grown close to recently. Alex meanwhile made sure to keep supporting his wife while she seemed unsteady, and said to the gathered people, "Greetings and welcome everyone. I hope you have been enjoying the food and company, and that after this night the idea of peace and cooperation will seem more feasible after having eaten and danced together. With that being said, let''s dance!" As he finished speaking the musicians took that as their cue, and started playing an upbeat song while the majority of the guests cleared away from the dance floor to allow those who were dancing more space. Of course Alex was the first on the dance floor with Anne, as he displayed the skills that had been hammered into him by Rias''s mother during his time in the DXD world. "Keep calm and follow my lead." Alex whispered to Anne, as she was still nervous from how every eye seemed to be scrutinizing them. After she took a deep breath though she felt calmer, and let Alex lead her as he started their dance. There was a series of gasps and exclamations of amazement as they started dancing, as with her vocation of ''Dancer'' in the Arifureta world, none could tell it was Anne''s first time as Alex led her around the ballroom. This was only part of the audiences amazement though, as Anne''s relatively plain golden dress(at least compared to everyone else''s) started shimmering and shining a myriad of colors as the light caught it, making it seem as if the smooth fabric was instead brimming with gemstones. As this was due to a bit of magic courtesy of Grayfia, Anne couldn''t help but whisper to Alex, "This dress isn''t going to disappear at midnight or something, is it?" Alex smirked and replied, "Aren''t you forgetting that we''re Devils, not fairy god mothers Cinderella." Anne smiled at the reference, which made her seem even more beautiful to the gathered spectators as several other people tried to work up the nerve to join the dance, not wanting to interrupt the two. After several minutes the song finally ended, and as Alex bowed to his partner and Anne curtsied to him, they were met with the sound of applause at their performance along with several compliments. With a few minutes until the next dance started, the reverence that seemed to be holding everyone back appeared to vanish, and Alex and his companions found themselves surrounded by a crowd of people. They then spent the next several minutes talking to various supposedly important people while several guys tried to solicit the girls for a dance, and several daughters of various lords tried to do the same with Alex. Without exception each and every one of them were rejected, and when the next song started Alex instead took the hand of Rias and the duo made their way to the dance floor, this time along with several other couples that paired up. As they started dancing Rias stated, "I''m somewhat surprised you didn''t accept those girls requests, you never seem to turn down the chance to get to know a new woman." Alex smiled bitterly, and replied, "Maybe, but I don''t really care for women who only seem to approach me for the sake of potential benefits." Rias c.o.c.ked an eyebrow, and asked, "What about Lili then?" Alex smiled and replied, "Situations such as hers are a little different. I''m not sure you felt it, but when she was announced there was even a bit of killing intent directed my way by her former fianc¨¦, even if I''m possessive towards my women I would never treat them the way he does." As he finished speaking Rias was silent as she thought on his and Tracy''s words. When they stayed in Verbergen after conquering the labyrinth she talked a bit with the imperial princess, and was told a few stories about her brother who was the crown prince, and his infamy with women. Rias didn''t say anything else about it and seemed to be thoughtful during their dance until it ended, then when it was time for him to get a new partner she surprisingly pushed Liliana towards him and said, "Here, you two spend some time together and talk a bit." Both Alex and Liliana were surprised, but neither argued as Alex led her out onto the dance floor. As the dance started Liliana was silent for several seconds as she instinctively followed his movements, before finally saying, "Thank you, truly." Alex smirked and said, "It was nothing, really. What''s a few disgruntled princes and lords compared to a beautiful young woman who needs help?" Lilian smiled at the compliment, causing several people to stare at her with admiration, and more than a few guys longingly while lamenting their own bad luck. After it was decided that Bias was no longer suitable to be her husband due to the threat from the necklaces, there had been a small surge of people vying for hand in marriage ranging from fattened perverted old men, to young heirs only a few years old with their parents insisting upon marriage when they were of age. The reason was that each and every one of these people wanted the prestige of having an actual connection to the royal family, while the more perverted of them wanted her for their own pleasure. Even if she seriously considered them as potential matches without regard for her own personal future, it didn''t take long for Liliana to realize that she internally comparing them to Alex both as a person, and(politically speaking) for benefits. With each and every one of her suitors lacking in some aspect, she found herself seriously considering what her mother said when she offered her to him, and was even feeling slightly regretful that Alex refused her. This led to her ultimately asking Alex to take her as his own just that morning before the ball, even though he annoyingly told her that he''d wait until she was older even though she was already considered to be of marriageable age. As they danced she considered her decision to be the correct one as she felt natural in his arms, and slightly regretful when the song ended. "Thank you for the wonderful dance." Liliana said while smiling brilliantly, to which Alex said, "Anytime, remember we now have practically an eternity for as many dances as you want." Lilliana''s smile widened at his words and, surprising everyone, she quickly got onto her tiptoes and planted a quick peck on Alex''s lips. She turned around and ran off to the bathrooms to cool off a bit before Alex could say anything, earning a wry smile in return. He then started to make his way back to the waiting girls, but found his way blocked by someone familiar along with several new faces. "Hello Cattleya, long time no see." Alex said as he saw the demon race woman for the first time since before she was sent home to help negotiate with her people. Cattleya bowed her head slightly and replied, "Indeed it has been a while. I wanted to introduce you to some people." She then gestured to the people at her side, one of which was a demon race man that appeared to be nearing his Middle Ages, who held out his hand while saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you champion of the goddess Gabriel, I am the current demon king Rassem Alva Igdol." Alex nodded and stated, "Greetings, I am Alex, the champion of Gabriel." As the two shook hands the demon king then gestured to his side and said, "And this is my daughter, Francesca Alva Igdol." Alex nodded as he looked the demon princess over and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you princess." Francesca nodded and replied, "It is an honor to meet you too champion, I hope we can get along well in the future." If Alex was paying attention properly he might have noticed the hidden implications in the princess''s words, having already been told of her fathers worries. However at that moment he was distracted by something and said, "Definitely, but there is something that demands my attention so excuse me." Alex then used spatial magic to disappear suddenly, with a dark expression on his face, making the demon royalty worry slightly as Francesca asked Cattleya, "I didn''t offend him, did I?" Cattleya shook her head and answered, "I don''t think so, I wonder why he let so quickly..." As the group, which also included Cattleya''s fianc¨¦ Mikhael, wondered what happened, there was a sudden crashing sound as the closed great doors were suddenly blasted open. In stormed Alex who was dragging someone who was struggling by the face, while Liliana chased them from behind, clutching her dress together in the front where it had been torn. With the good mood that had been developing in the ballroom suddenly interrupted, Alex dragged his captive to the increasingly pale emperor Gahard and demanded, "I wonder Gahard, is this what I can expect from the empire in the future as far as cooperation? You and your family trying to assault and [email protected] my women the moment my back is turned?" As he finished speaking Alex threw his quarry down in front of the emperor, revealing the empire''s crown prince Bias. With Alex''s accusations and Lilliana''s torn dress, everyone immediately understood what was going on and glared at the emperor and his son, including his own daughter Tracy. Though he was still pale, Gahard wasn''t fl.u.s.tered in the slightest as he looked down on his son and demanded while focusing his killing intent on him, "Son, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" As Gahard could easily be considered one of, if not the most powerful human in the world of Tortus, his killing intent slammed into his own son like a wave as Bias struggled to stand before declaring, "But father, that bitch was mine to begin with! Or are we so pathetic that we''ll let him take whatever he wants without fighting for it?" Gahard''s glare intensified as before the ball he never even thought Liliana and Alex were interested in each other, the reason her and Bias''s Union was canceled was because after freeing all of their slaves, the empires standing was nowhere near as strong as it was before, something he knew he had told his son before. Gahard closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm himself, before saying, "''Strength is everything'', that is the motto and standing of our proud empire. The champion of Gabriel is stronger than any of us, and by our laws if he wants your woman then that means nothing can stop him from taking her, especially if she was no longer yours to begin with, if you can''t even realize this simple fact then you don''t deserve the title of crown prince. I hereby disown you and strip you of all your royal rights, and titles." Bias looked at his father with complete disbelief as he was disowned in front of everyone around them, not even understanding the real reason why his father disowned him. As the crown prince his actions would have severe consequences, and as Alex already pointed out reflected the will of their family and people. Gahard disowned him so that his actions would be considered his alone, and would also ensure that whatever Alex did next, it wouldn''t be to the crown prince of a nation. While Bias was still trying to come to terms with what his father said, Alex stated, "Don''t worry Bias I''m not going to kill you, I have a special punishment for those who piss me off this much." After he finished speaking Alex pulled out a whistled and blew into it, resulting a crash as several somethings blasted their way through one of the large windows. Everyone separated and made way for whatever had joined them, only to see several hulking things standing there, all dressed in too small girly skirts and dresses. "Boss~ we heard your call!~????"As it spoke the lead thing called Mil-tan stepped forward, making several people cower back in fear of the strange creature, before a sudden sorrowful cry rang out, and another thing ran towards Liliana and declared, "My beautiful dress! What happened darling?" This one was Mil-tans partner in running Asora''s secret magical girl squad, who also doubled as a fashion master, Crystabel. It was Crystabel who made the majority of the girls dresses for the night so, seeing the state of Lilliana''s before it could be repaired, it let out a despairing noise while asking what happened. Before she said anything though Alex spoke up, "She was attacked by this man here, Bias. I called you because I wanted you to teach him the fragility of a maidens poor heart, so that he can learn the errors of his way." As he finished speaking Mil-tan and Crystabel glared at Bias along with the rest of the magical girls gathered, before Mil-tan stated, "Of course! We will teach him not to mess with maidens and their hearts! Cookie, be a darling and pick up our new comrade!~????" As it finished speaking, Mit-tan gestured to one of the waiting magical girls to step forward and collect the now terrified Bias, before Ryutarou stepped forward and demanded, "Wait, Cookie? Are you Kouki?" Everyone was silent as they stared at Cookie in realization, before it seemed to notice Ryutarou and the others, and jumped with excitement while saying, "Heyyyyy, it''s Ryu-tan and everyone else!~???? How have you been?!" The students from earth and Aiko were stupefied as they looked at their former comrade and classmate, while Shizuku even hesitantly stepped forward and said, "K-Kouki, is it really you?" The hulking figure with its hair in pig tails and dressed in too small skirts turned to look at her, before squealing in excitement and saying, "Shizuku-tan! I''m so happy to see you!" As Cookie shouted, it rushed forward and grasped Shizuku''s hands excitedly, as if they were the best of girlfriends. Shizuku however didn''t seem to know how to take the changes to her childhood friend, and hesitantly asked, "H-how have you been? Are things alright over there?" Cookie nodded excitedly and started telling Shizuku all about Magical Girl Island. "Yep yep, it''s amazing there! We watch Magical Girl Milky every day, and when we aren''t watching it we train to become amazing magical girls- no... That''s wrong." It seemed as if there was suddenly wrong with Cookie, as it shook it head slightly before stating to Shizuku, "No! Shizuku it''s me Kouki! Save me! It''s hell over there! SAVE MEEEEE-" Though Kouki would have likely gone on longer, Mil-tan suddenly hit him in the back of the neck and rendered him unconscious, before throwing him over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes and saying, "I''m sorry~???? It looks like Cookie''s training isn''t complete yet~nyo????!" After saying that Mil-tan had someone else collect the struggling Bias, and was about to return to their island in Asora, but Alex suddenly said, "Wait, I have something else for you Mil-tan." The freak turned to look at Alex expectantly with a "nyo", while Alex summoned a few wooden barrels and said, "Here Mil-tan, this is some delicious apple juice for you and the rest of the magical girls to share, my treat." Mil-tan looked at the barrels before squealing excitedly and saying, "Ohhh, thank you boss! You''re so nice to us, I love you!" While suppressing the chills that attacked him, Alex kept a straight face as they collected the barrels and went on their way, until Grayfia asked him with a deadpan face, "That wasn''t regular apple juice, was it?" Alex shook his head and answered, "It''s spiked with the aphrodisiac from the Haltina labyrinth, Bias is about to experience the other side with a vengeance." As they heard what he said, every single person around Alex paled as they realized the viciousness he treated people like Bias with, and each swore to never make an attempt on his girls, ever. As could be expected not everyone was willing to go on with the ball after having such a thing happen, so they started to wind down for the night, with several people leaving while a few others just stayed for the remaining food and drinks. As things started mellowing out, there was once again another interruption as a knight in full armor burst into the hall and desperately ran to Alex''s group, consisting of the ones he would be meeting with the next day. "My lords, your graces, it''s terrible!" The knight cried as tried to get to them. Alarmed by his tone, Liliana commanded, "Speak, what happened?" The knight tried to catch his breath before reporting, "The farming communities to the west, they''ve all been razed to the ground! The remnants of the church of Ehito are marching this way, torching everything in their path!" Chapter 286 - Slaughter Alex flew through the sky alone as he headed for the already glowing horizon, lighted by the torches and fires of the fanatics. He was fairly irritated at their actions as he never expected them to act so quickly or rashly, and he never expected them to gather and organize. Though he knew the fanatics of Ehito would continue existing for a while, he intended to leave them be as their numbers would naturally thin over the years, instead of leading a holy inquisition against them just like Ehito would have done. As he approached the main horde of their army however, his expression of irritation turned to one of incredibility, before darkening considerably in rage. Alex had rarely felt genuine anger since reincarnating, but when he saw what the fanatics were doing it felt as if his rage was going to boil over. At the head of the horde was a series of effigies that were set on fire, but weren''t actually burning due to either enchantments on the effigies themselves or from using such a weak flame, and at the forefront of the effigies was the most offensive one that was depicting Gabriel in a very vulgar manner. As much as he hated seeing the mother of his child being regarded in such a way, what really infuriated him was that alongside the effigies were several dozen women that were being crucified, while stripped n.a.k.e.d and showing obvious signs of several forms of abuse. As he saw them Alex used his ''Domain'' to amplify his voice and boomed, "SO THIS IS THE TEACHING OF YOUR "GREAT GOD"? THE ABUSE AND HUMILIATION OF INNOCENT WOMEN AFTER SLAUGHTERING THEIR FAMILIES?!" Recoiling from the shock as none of the fanatics had noticed Alex flying to above them in the darkness, they soon responded with jeers and insults before the pope settled them down and responded, "You must be the champion of the false goddess, I must assure you that these women are not innocent and are guilty of the most terrible of crimes, they have fallen from the grace of God and have turned towards a false idol! This is not abuse, but divine punishment to the unfaithful! Through these trials may these women realize the errors of their way and see the light! And any children born as a result of these trials would be given a proper raising by the church, and may be their first step on the road of redemption!" Alex''s fists shook at his sides as he listened to the popes prattle, before suddenly plummeting down and crashing into the ground before the army. Though he could just blast them all to smithereens with a ki blast, summon a wave of fire, or any number of methods available to him, Alex didn''t want to risk the people that had already suffered enough, both the women and the slaves, and most of all, he wanted the fanatics to know fear and despair before dying, he wanted them to suffer. Seeing him take to the ground the pope sneered and banged his scepter against the platform his throne was on, and the men at the front started to move forward, their lips parted in a sneer as they stared down their opponent. They weren''t actually with the church, but were actually adventurers that were somewhat infamous for taking seedy jobs and having bad attitudes, which had prevented them from reaching the higher ranks in the guilds system. Even as a couple dozen people who were almost as strong as ''Gold'' rank adventurers bore down on him, Alex didn''t even flinch until they were right on top of him, when his arm suddenly blurred and his attackers froze. Everyone watched with bated breath as they tried to see what happened, before the adventurers that attacked Alex suddenly fell to the ground dead, and Alex was casually standing there holding the sinister looking weapon none had seen him take out. It was demonic looking scythe that seemed to be a fusion of metal and bone, with the pole roughly six feet long and the base of the blade adding another two feet before extending out for four. Besides being made of black metal, it also had several human looking bones fused into it along with a skull that was facing the opposite direction of the blade, that had blackish flames flickering in its eye sockets. This was Alex''s newest weapon that he had used azantium ore, with Hades''s bones and divine power to make. It was also created with the concept of ''Death'', meaning that just the barest of scratches was enough to instantly kill almost all it was used on. Even then the adventurers that attacked Alex had all died from only taking what seemed to be paper cuts, as the concept of death took them. Alex glanced at the corpses before looking at his new weapon with pride, as his gaze turned back towards the pope and he simply said, "Next." The pope was gripping his scepter so hard his knuckles were turning white as he glared at Alex hatefully. Though he didn''t expect much from the godless adventurers to begin with, the fact they were killed so easily along with Alex''s casual attitude, his anger was growing by the second. He then spat out, "Don''t hold back this time, attack together!" As his orders rang out the several hundred adventurers left charged at Alex, while he stood as still as a statue. Instead of moving to counter attack or anything, Alex instead channeled the concept of ''Death'' from his scythe into his ''Domain'' around them. He didn''t release it immediately though, instead using his ''Domain'' to first sense out each person attacking him from the slaves and women who didn''t want to be there, before focusing the intent of ''Death'' onto every one of the adventurers. It took a few seconds compared to actually using the scythe to attack, but soon every single one of them fell to ground as the life slowly left their eyes, leaving Alex and the few slaves present standing within a circular field of hundreds of corpses. There was pure silence as everyone took this in in disbelief, the fanatics refusing to acknowledge that Alex was capable of killing hundreds without any discernible effort, until a single word broke the silence. "Next." As this single word echoed through the the battleground, a fury like he had never known filled the pope at the blatant arrogance and capabilities of Alex; but in the back of his mind, even if he''d never admit it to anyone or even himself, a small amount of fear had taken root. Though Alex may have been stronger than anyone else in Tortus, the pope had believed that numbers would easily fill the gap in strength and overwhelm him and his companions. "What strength..." "We''re supposed to fight that?!" "It''s a monster!" As the whispers spread through the army, the pope took yet another deep breath to calm himself before declaring, "See how he uses demonic arts to counter us? This shows us the righteousness of our cause and the evil of his intentions! Steel your hearts and convictions and do not let the monster have his way! Demihuman slaves, I order you to kill him, and whoever deals the killing blow will be rewarded their freedom!" The pope smiled evilly as he gave his orders, and the slaves themselves looked horrified as their collar''s compulsion drove them to fulfill their masters command. He had seen how Alex went out of his way to spare the slaves, and planned to use his softheartedness against him. Alex''s expression darkened as he watched the demihumans reluctantly approach him while picking up the fallen adventurers weapons, and to respond to their approach he canceled the aspect of ''Death'' within his domain, and instead replaced with his ''Energy Nullification''. He then specifically used his ''Domain to target each of the slaves collars and the enchantments within them, nullifying the magic energy that forced the slaves to follow their masters orders, and the functions that prevented them from removing them. One by one the slaves slowly stopped running towards him, as they realized the compulsion was no longer present, or when they all saw the others stop running. As they looked at each other with confusion, Alex''s voice boomed once more, "I have removed the compulsion and restriction on your slave collars, you are all now free! There are now two choices available to each of you, take the women these men tortured and get out of my way, or be eliminated with your former masters!" Alex''s declaration had caught the former slaves off guard, but when a couple of them experimentally removed their collars, they found Alex''s words to be true and a sense of jubilation ran through them. This was quickly tempered when they recalled what else he said, and several of them glanced at the crucified women with trepidation. Now that they were free they didn''t want to be bothered at all with any humans but, with Alex''s command and threat ringing in their ears, they hesitated to move. This wasn''t missed by the pope, who happily sneered, "Do you not see? Even when you free them and preach about coexistence, they do not listen and only care for themselves, like animals!" Alex''s eyes narrowed at the pope''s words, but before he could respond the night sky was suddenly lit up with a blinding light from behind him. With everyone looking at the source in blatant shock, Alex himself turned around and was also exceptionally surprised to see what was causing the light. Hovering above them all was an extremely beautiful golden haired figure, with twelve golden wings who was clothed in flowing white gowns. The only thing to contrast her beauty, was the obvious signs of the tears that had been running down her cheeks. As the divine light shined down on them, even the women who had been treated so brutally managed to barely lift their heads to see the goddess herself before them. Before Alex could figure out what Gabriel, along with the dozen or so Angels, was doing there, she stated, "I have heard your pleas my daughters, I heard them as they took your own sons and daughters from you, and as they butchered them and your husbands for sport. I heard them, and yet I was not able to prevent your or their suffering, for this I am sorry." Everyone(including Alex) was dumbfounded at Gabriel''s words as none expected the goddess herself to show up. Alex was of course the most surprised, as he knew how much Gabriel didn''t like being a goddess, but then Lauren said, ''Judging on what she said, my guess would be she was compelled to act due to the prayers and pleas for help she was hearing from her followers as they were attacked. Until she could control that aspect of her divine power, she should hear their prayers especially clearly since her divine power is based on faith.'' Alex was silent as he contemplated this, but before he could say anything Gabriel continued while looking at the former slaves, "Go, save your sisters who have suffered under the cruelty of the followers of my wayward son, help them who have lost everything." As she spoke to them, the demihuman slaves suddenly felt ashamed of themselves and their lack of action, and quickly rushed to help the still crucified women alongside the Angels that came with Gabriel. As the women were all strung up at the front of the army, where the adventurers were, there was no need for fighting to get to them as they were quickly cut down and pulled to safety behind Alex. As they were all safely behind them, Gabriel turned towards Alex and said, "My champion, though you have already done so much for me and my children I must call upon your aid one last time. Please do as you will with these wayward children, as even now I cannot bear to raise my own hand against them." As she finished speaking Gabriel gave the Angels a signal, and they immediately erected a large golden barrier of holy light to separate them, keeping the women, and the demihuman slaves from seeing the fight. As they were shielded from the view of the bystanders, a sinister smile appeared on Alex''s face as he thought ''now I can go all out!'' He then turned back towards the still frozen Pope and his followers, all of whom were still staring at the barrier that the goddess was behind. While the pope and the most fanatical believers were glaring at her with hatred and disgust, several other people were starting to wonder why they had been against her in the first place, their drive considerably weakened after seeing the beautiful and pure goddess for themselves. However they had already made their choice, and Alex had no mercy for anyone that was on the other side. Their thinking was interrupted when he suddenly said, "Do you know what is most interesting thing about this weapon?" This made the entire army turn their attention back towards him, as he held out his scythe as if for them to see. He then continued, "I originally wanted to make a weapon to channel my demonic powers through, while also giving it a powerful concept; but then the materials I used gave me amazing and unexpected results. Tell me, have you ever heard of a god from another world by the name of Hades, lord of the underworld?" As he finished speaking Alex waited a second for them to process what he was saying, to which the pope was being cautious as he didn''t know what Alex was planning. He then said to him, "No, I can confidently say none of our glorious world has ever heard of this false god, much like your so-called goddess." Alex smirked at the popes response, before explaining, "Hades ruled the afterlife of our world, and as such was one of the most powerful of the hundreds, or even thousands of gods that called that world home. Recently I killed him, and used his body and divine power that was the closest to demonic power to craft this weapon, unexpectedly giving its wielder control over the dead, just like Hades." As Alex finished speaking the popes face paled noticeably, as did the rest of those listening as Alex did something that chilled them to their core. He lifted his scythe a few inches off of the ground, before slamming the butt of it back down. Seconds later several spectral beings started coming into focus around him, sending even more chills down the spines of the popes army as every single one of the specters was someone who had marched with them, that Alex already killed. Truthfully Alex''s scythe only gave him power to control those he killed with the scythe itself, as after death it pulled their souls into the jewel that was housed within the skull at the top of it. As the spectral army grew around him, Alex ordered, "Surround them and make sure no one escapes, other than that they''re mine!" As his orders rang out the spectral figures spread out and surrounded the church supporters, while the pope also seemed to snap back to attention, as he he ordered in retaliation, "Stand firm! Show this demon that we of the church will not fall quietly! Knights, form ranks! Mages and demons, prepare your spells! We will NOT bow down to this monster! We WILL rise to the challenge and defeat him! THIS is what our God wants! In his great name, we will restore BALANCE to the world! ATTACK!" At the popes orders the Knights and mages didn''t immediately charge like the adventurers did, but instead the Knights locked shields so that they formed unbreakable wall after wall as they slowly marched towards him; and the mages, both human and demon race, started charging the strongest spells they could muster while the pope himself started chanting a string of long complicated words, as he as well finally started taking part in the war he had started. Alex smirked at their attempts to attack him, and responded by simply holding his scythe out to the side, and throwing it directly at the shield wall of Knights coming at him. Before any of them could react the scythe reached them, and sliced right through their formation as if it was warm butter. Blood and body parts went flying as the scythe flew right through them and continued unhindered into the line behind them, and the line behind that. While the rest were momentarily shocked by the bloodiest attack yet, they were suddenly bombarded by a hail of golden flames as Ascalon made its new debut. After using the sword to bombard the enemies with divine flames, Alex then threw it as well, causing the sword to pierce through and make a hole in the defensive line. "HE''S THROWN AWAY HIS WEAPONS, ATTACK NOW!" Someone shouted, signaling the Knights charge and mages own bombardment of spells. Alex smirked as he witnessed their inferior magic attacks, and nullified them with ease while he held out his left hand. As the Knights converged on him Alex didn''t pay them the slightest attention as the majority couldn''t even pierce his defenses, while those that could were either dodged or blocked with Armament Haki, before they were sliced clean through when the scythe obediently returned to his outstretched hand. What followed afterwards could only be described as a nightmare, as Alex swung himself around he was surrounded by a whirlwind of blood and gore from his scythe bisecting any it came into contact with, before they were then summoned as spirits to kill any who tried to escape. After clearing some space Alex threw his scythe again, before recalling Ascalon to his side and using it to greet the next wave of attackers. This attack pattern continued for several minutes until the sky was filled with a radiant light once more, as the pope finished his long winded chant and readied his attack against Alex. Alex smiled as ignored his surroundings and summoned a sphere of ki to counter attack the popes attack, intending to show him what "real" power was. As the sphere in his hand grew to the same size as the popes light element attack, Alex waited for the pope to finish before they were both suddenly unleashed at the same time. It felt as if the world stood still at the two attacks collided, and sent several people to the ground from the shockwaves as the popes attack was almost instantly overwhelmed, and Alex''s continued on. The pope was one of those who fell from the collision, and as he tried to stand up he found himself facing the same direction Alex''s attack went, but instead of the tall and sturdy mountains that were supposed to be standing there, a giant hole have been carved into the landscape. His body froze as he reached a terrible conclusion, "He''s been toying with us....." As he looked at the pure destruction Alex caused with no discernible effort, he suddenly realized that all of their efforts, all of their conviction meant nothing. Alex could have destroyed them instantly anytime he wanted, and the only thing preventing him from doing so was his own intentions, as well as the slaves and women he helped. Though part of the popes mind was saying the reason they would lose was because he sent the slaves ahead, removing them from their lines and allowing Alex to really cut loose; a much larger part was shouting that they really had no chance of victory from the beginning, and had only organized and marched to their death. "What are your orders your excellency?!" One of the Knights suddenly asked, panic noticeable in his voice. "....med..." "What was that your excellency?" The knight asked confusedly. "WE''RE ALL DOOMED!" The pope suddenly shrieked, earning him the attention of everyone else around them, before he continued, "GOD HAS ABANDONED US TO OUR DOOM! WE HAVE NO HOPE, NO CHANCE OF VICTORY! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" As his shouts echoed a visible panic started spreading among the church warriors, while Alex paid them no mind and continued his slaughter with his scythe and Ascalon. As the pope was seized by raw fear and the realization that he was about to die there for an absentee God, he turned and tried to run away, unaware of the doom that already swiftly approached him. He felt a slight tugging sensation that started in his loins, before it traveled up his body and through his head. The pope''s last seconds of life was watching the scythe continue flying while his vision suddenly started splitting, before everything went dark permanently. With the pope''s declaration of doom and immediate death, panic seized the remaining Knights and mages. Even though there was still thousands of them left, hundreds tried to turn tail and run only to be slaughtered by the specters that had them trapped, while the rest grimly turned towards their demonic opponent with the intention to at least face their death instead of trying to run from it. *** Several hours after they received the warning about the advancing army of the church, a large military force was moving towards the place where they were reported to be last. At its head was the emperor Gahard, the demon king Rassem, two of the elders of Verbergen Jin and Zel of the bear and tigerman tribes respectively, and even the princess Liliana, while above them flew the few dozen dragon race that had attended the ball. Even though Alex had stated that he''d handle the attack, not even bothering to bring any of the girls as backup, the various rulers of each nation had been growing increasingly fidgety while waiting, before declaring that they couldn''t just sit around while Alex did the fighting for them, again! As they approached the battleground however, what they found was a giant golden barrier separating the fighting on the other side, and the group of people at the base of it. When they got closer though, everyone gradually slowed their charge before stopping altogether, as they took in what they saw. "Hic hic, I-I miss them sooo muuuuuch!!" A woman wailed as she cried into another woman''s b.r.e.a.s.ts, except it was the identity of this second woman that made them all pause. She was easily the most beautiful person any of them had seen, regardless of race, with long flowing golden hair and twelve golden wings sprouting from her back. She was dressed in a pure white flowing gown and had a ring of light above her head, adding to her divine appearance as she consoled the poor woman, "There there my daughter, I know of your loss and the pain it brings you." As she turned and looked at the newcomers, Gabriel gently released the woman and started floating off of the ground, before saying to them, "My children, this is the suffering that will persist if these past grudges are never laid down. You are all my children and I love you equally, but please end the fighting. I''ll leave these women who have suffered greatly in your hands, please help them..." As she finished speaking Gabriel rose higher into the air, as the dozen or so beautiful women with pure white wings followed her, before they all disappeared in a flash of light. As they disappeared everyone was staring at the place they vanished from in awe, before Liliana suddenly broke the silence. "Men, move forward and help those women and demihumans!" Though they jumped slightly at the sudden command, several Knights started to carry out her demands, while Liliana rode that their head so as not to alarm the women. As they approached them the demihumans were suddenly on edge, but then Jin and Zel approached them and said, "It''s ok now, you''ll never be slaves again." As the women and former slaves became less nervous they then managed to get the situation under control, something that was made easier due to the fact that any wounds were healed by the surplus of Godwater in Asora, and they had all been given a bit of food and clean clothes to wear, right as the barriers created by the Angels started flickering before vanishing altogether. Instead of an ongoing battle on the other side, they were met with the view of land that had been scorched black with a single figure standing among the ashes. "Alex?" Liliana hesitantly asked as she approached him, before Alex looked at her and the rest while saying, "It''s done. I made sure there weren''t any survivors and used my fire to burn the corpses to prevent disease and monsters from gathering. This should be the last anyone sees of the followers of Ehito." As he spoke the gathered leaders and soldiers gave him looks of both respect, and a little fear. Though they had heard stories of his strength until now, the fact that he had single handedly slaughtered ten thousand trained Knights, mages, and even adventurers, put his strength into perspective, and reaffirmed the decisions of those who chose to listen for the sake of their own people''s safety. After ensuring that they could handle everything from there, Alex quickly returned to Asora in order to rest and check on Gabriel. Nearly the second he appeared though, he was tackled by the very same woman he had just been thinking about, as she said to him, "I could hear them, I could feel their pain..." Alex embraced the mother of his first child as she continued, "I couldn''t just ignore them, as they cried about their children''s deaths I imagined if that was me with Edith, a-and I couldn''t bear it!" Alex said nothing as they embraced, before leading her into the bath to soak the nights troubles away. Chapter 287 - Peace Conference By the time the sun rose the next morning, Alex had mostly returned to normal after the slaughter that had taken place just hours prior. Though he didn''t regret his actions or his decision to kill everyone in the slightest, the act of actually killing so many people at once would still impact anyone, except for a psychopath. After having a nice hot bath and cuddling with Gabriel, who was also recovering from the night before, and a couple others for a few hours, Alex felt good as new as he prepared to help get his daughters up before moving onto the next part of the peace conference. Hopefully after today the conflicts would be completely over and he could properly relax until it was time to move onto the next world. After leaving Asora his first stop was to the medical ward where the women whose families were slaughtered were taken, and where Anne, Asia, Valerie, and Kaori were taking care of them. All four had been using Regeneration magic on the women to erase all physical signs of their abuse, as well as preventing the possibility of them carrying the child of their abusers. The problem however was their psychological trauma as, even though using Spirit magic could help, they could never fully erase what happened to them. Though it was theoretically possible to even erase their memories using the Spirit magic, doing so wouldn''t have helped as it would only leave them confused, and if it somehow became undone it was possible that the women would suffer more damage than they were currently. Alex spent a bit of time assisting the four girls with caring for the women, before he eventually had to leave for the most important part of the conference, where the national leaders actually had to sit down and discuss peace. As he walked in Alex was greeted by the sight of everyone already gathered as they waited for him. Everyone was silently watching him as he took his seat, before he started the conference by saying, "You all know why we''re here, and what you need to do. Many of you are against the idea of cooperating with those you''ve been enemies with for millennia, and even carry personal grudges against some of those who are seated next to you. However, last night was the perfect example of why exactly this conference and peace are needed!" Silence permeated the room after Alex finished speaking, as as he said there was several people glaring at each other for past wrongs, however no one spoke or tried to point fingers. The main reason was that the events of the previous night was still freshly on all of their minds, and all of their people had a role in it. Though the majority of the aggressors was composed of humans, the fact was that there was still a large number of demon mages among them as well, and there had been several demihuman slaves who had been ordered to assist in carrying out such horrific acts, even if it was against their own will. This didn''t change the fact that their hands were also dirtied by the actions of the fanatics, meaning that with the sole exception of the dragon race, all three major races were implemented in the pope''s crimes. Seeing no one argue what he said, Alex nodded and declared, "Ok then, now let''s get started and get this out of the way." With a round of agreements from all of those attending, the peace conference finally started. As could be expected there were several grievances each group wanted to address, such as the demihumans former status as the lower slave race, or certain actions and results that a particular nation had done against the others in the past. Slavery itself was flat out outlawed, though criminals with the death sentence would have the option of a life of manual labor, and anyone caught abusing this system or trying to rig it in their favor would face the combined ire of the rest of the races and nations. As for the actions of each faction in the past, such as the poisoning of the desert city Ankaji, or the monster horde attack against Ul; Alex declared all of it null and void as each side had committed great acts of atrocity against another at some point, to the point that digging each one up and demanding repayment would only do more harm than good. With these two points being the biggest issues with pursuing peace, the other matters seemed to quickly fall into place after the air was cleared. It was decided that while the ruling bodies of each nation wouldn''t be effected, there was to be a council made that had three members of each race on it, composed of Prince Randall(Lilliana''s younger brother), emperor Gahard, and duke Lanzwi of Ankaji to make up the three of the human side. The three for the demihumans were the elders Ulfric Heipyst, the chief elder of the elves, Mao of the harpies, and Zel of the tigerman tribe. At first the elders wanted to include Cam as the patriarch of the Haulia tribe, but they were rejected when they learned that Cam would be following Alex along with all of the rabbitmen that had joined the Haulia tribe. Of the demon race Rassem would obviously become a member of the council along with another demon Alex didn''t know, and surprisingly Cattleya. She herself was surprised at her own nomination, but the demon king declared that if not for her intervention they might have been wiped out before realizing the faults in their ways. Of the dragon race Adul surprisingly declared he wouldn''t become a member of the council, as he intended to take the chance to retire and follow Alex along with his granddaughter; instead Kartos and two other elders of the dragonmen reluctantly stepped up, though they were slightly upset since Adul never told them he intended to accept Alex''s offer and retire. With the twelve members of the council decided it was also quickly concluded that Horlad would also be the official place where they''d meet, and that it would also become the first place in Tortus where members of all races could gather without discrimination. The reason for this was the Orcus labyrinth beneath them, being one of the best places on the continent to level up your status and gather monster materials. It, along with the rest of the labyrinths, were all declared open to each and every race to prevent just one from developing a monopoly over their bounty. With these and several other minor issues concluded, as well as a signing of a magically binding doc.u.ment agreeing to each of the things they had discussed that day, everyone rose and Adul said, "Now I believe we should go out and say something to all of our people, I expect they are growing anxious from waiting to hear from us." With several people nodding in agreement, they made their way to a large balcony where several people who weren''t part of the meeting were already waiting for them. As they stepped up they were greeted by the view of thousands of people from each race waiting below them for the announcement from their leaders, before Liliana stepped towards the front and declared, "People of every single race and nation, we are happy to see you here to support this decision for peace between our people! I am the princess Liliana, after the death of my father, King Eliheid, at the hands of the servants of the god Ehito, I have stepped forward to help my people. Now, we have the peace between all of our people that we have so desperately fought for, and as such I am stepping back for my brother, Prince Randell! May he rule well while I will follow my heart, and the champion of Gabriel who made this all possible!" As she finished speaking, Liliana stepped back and joined Alex and Grayfia so that her ten year old brother could be seen by the people, after which he himself said a few words before stepping back as well. Once they were done speaking Gahard stepped forward this time to address the citizens of the empire, starting by grabbing the chain of the necklace he wore and dramatically pulling it over his head. There was a slight audible gasp as he did so, primarily from those who were also wearing the exact same necklace, but when nothing happened he declared, "People of the empire, for the last three hundred years we have lived under the philosophy that might equals right, and now we have come into contact with he who is the mightiest of all!" There was quite a cheer at the opening of Gahard''s speech, as he gestured towards Alex grandly before continuing. He talked about the future of the empire and its new policies, as well as his hope to create a grand tournament that welcomed fighters from the entire world, regardless of race, to fight in their colosseum for glory and prestige. As he drew to a close however, he gestured to someone behind him, earning several exclamations of amazement as his daughter Tracy made her appearance. As she was known to be a bit of a battle nut, everyone was shocked to see her in a flowery dress that brought out even more of her feminine charms. Gahard then said, "It was announced last night, but I decided to take this chance to also mention it. My daughter wishes to follow the champion of the goddess, and so I now wish her luck in her future as I officially give her to him. Be safe, and be sure to come back from wherever you end up quickly so that I can see my grandchilds face!" As he finished speaking Tracy also walked to Alex''s side next to Liliana, before she whispered to him, "I''m looking forward to tonight, my beloved~" Alex smiled wryly in response to her attempt to tease him, while Liliana looked thoughtful from between them. Meanwhile Ulfric stepped forward to speak as the chief elder of Verbergen, and said, "My people, for years we have lived in constant fear of being taken away from those we love, of being abused and brutalized in every way imaginable simply because of who we are, but today I am happy to say that it is no more! No longer will we be the scorn of the world, no longer will we be considered inferior, and no longer will we wear the term ''demihuman'' upon ourselves!" At his words the various people that were formally known as ''demihumans'' cheered, as he continued to state that from that day on they would instead be known as their races themselves, and would be equal with the rest of the world. After continuing his own speech Ulfric concluded it in the same way as Gahard, by gesturing to someone behind him as Altina shyly stepped forward while wearing a beautiful green dress. He then said, "It seems to be a trend, but my granddaughter also wishes to follow the champion of Gabriel, the one who made this possible for our people. May she find happiness, and may her future be filled with sights and experiences that none of us had ever hoped to see or experience before!" As he finished speaking Altina also walked over to Alex''s side, her face down in embarrassment as made evident from the tips of her Crimson ears. Next up was the demon King, who also made a speech about the possibilities open to them because of the newfound peace, and even going so far as mentioning the possibilities in advances in magic in the future. What Alex didn''t expect however, was the demon king ending his speech in the same way as Ulfric and Gahard. "As and as a gesture of my sincerity towards the future of peace, I would like to offer my own daughter Francesca to the champion of the goddess, and wish that they may find peace together in the future!" Alex was dumbfounded as the Crimson haired and eyed princess walked up to him expectantly, dressed up similarly as the other two. "I hope you are not disappointed by me, and I promise that I will do my best to please you." The princess said politely as she bowed her head to him slightly, which made Alex feel slightly bad for what he was about to do but, before he could reject their offer, Grayfia and Liliana both suddenly pinched him hard. He gave them a questioning glance, to which the silver haired maid was simply looking at him pointedly as if to say not to refuse. Though he wanted to retort that she knew how he felt about such things, deciding she had a reason Alex said, "I am not disappointed at all princess, merely pleasantly surprised." As she smiled and made her way to stand by Altina, Alex hissed to Grayfia while Adul started his speech, "And why exactly did you want me to accept her?" Grayfia sighed and explained, "Last night after you left to deal with the army, the demon king and is daughter approached us about having her join us as one of your wives. He didn''t know that you don''t accept political marriages, and didn''t think that each of the princesses around you were there because they wanted to be. When we tried to explain this he just thought it was an excuse and wanted to know if you just didn''t like demon race women, which it didn''t help that Cattleya was our prisoner for so long yet no one touched her like what would have happened if any other nation had imprisoned her. Eventually I just relented since you weren''t there, and I wanted to make sure this wouldn''t become a source of conflict between them and the other races. Besides, I think we both know this would probably have become the eventual outcome anyways if you two spent any more time around each other." Though slightly gobsmacked at her reasoning, Alex shook his head before retorting, "You could have at least warned me..." This time Grayfia smiled wryly, as the very reason she hadn''t warned him before hand was so that he''d be put on the spot slightly when he did find out. Their attention was pulled back towards Adul''s speech, as he announced his retirement and that his position would be taken by Kartos. Though he didn''t call her up, he did mention that he intended to spend his remaining years peacefully with his granddaughter Tio, and his eventual great grandchild. With everyone''s speeches out of the way, Alex stepped up this time and said, "As long as each of you works hard for it, this peace may last for the next several thousand years. Remember the suffering this senseless war has caused, and remember the underlying reason for it. From the beginning there has been no animosity between each of your people, until Ehito created it. Remember that even if you look different, you all share the same roots!" As he finished speaking there was a sudden flash of light as a beautiful golden haired figure appeared above them. She looked down on the shell shocked crowd, before smiling one of her devastatingly beautiful smiles and said, "My children... My champion speaks the truth, please let this be the last of the hate. Let this be the last of the pointless bloodshed, and please let this be the last of a needless war." As they looked up towards the goddess, several people started looking around ashamedly as they didn''t agree with peace, but hearing her desperate plea had made them rethink themselves. As she looked down on them, Gabriel suddenly said, "Due to my wayward sons actions, I have decided that it is too dangerous for the divine to have so much contact with the mortal races. That is why, this is my last time speaking to you." As they heard this there was a visible panic on several people''s faces, before Gabriel went on to state that the whole reason for the war was because of a god anyways, and that while she wanted the fighting to stop, it wasn''t right for entire nations to just mindlessly listen to a god to make all of their choices. After she explained this, Gabriel said, "Even if I don''t speak to you, even if you don''t see me, know that I am always watching over you my children. Know that my love for each and every one of you is endless." As she finished speaking Gabriel faded away, before vanishing entirely from view. This left everyone with a sense of loss, but as they tried and looked at the people at their sides, they felt as if there was a bond that didn''t exist there before even as they looked at those of differing races. Seeing their reactions to Gabriel''s departure, Alex smiled and declared, "Don''t let yourselves get down! Even if the goddess no longer involves herself with us, she is still watching! Do you think she would be happy seeing your looks of sadness and disappointment? Let''s begin the feast and instead show her ourselves having fun!" As Alex said that, everyone suddenly became aware of the sudden appearance of more than enough food for the entire city''s current occupants to stuff themselves, and with each of the nations leaders leading the way, they started a feast to end all feasts in honor of the peace treaty, and the goddess. As the feast got under way, no one bothered with titles or ranks as even the royalty made their way down to where the main population was, and started dining with the average citizens. This was also Alex''s idea, and normally it would be unthinkable due to assassins and the like, but with the Haulia acting as the silent guards, there was nothing to worry about. Alex himself put together two plates, and suddenly disappeared as he teleported to a hidden room ,where he found the goddess herself waiting for him. "How are you feeling, ''goddess Gabriel''?" Alex asked as he held out the second plate to her. Gabriel smiled as she said, "I''m better now, after you left this morning Nyx and I went into the space-time orb so that she could teach me how to block out the prayers and suffering of my followers. I''m not too good at it yet, but if nothing major happens then I should be alright until I get it down." Alex nodded as he started eating his food, but he also kept an eye on Gabriel as he ate. Even though she never liked acting as goddess Gabriel, it seemed like her aversion marginally lessened after what happened the previous night, and she realized firsthand how much her newfound believers relied on her. Sadly this had the unexpected consequence of her directly feeling the loss of each of the women as their children were taken from them, something Alex was expecting still effected her but, with several days passing since then within the space-time orb, it seemed like she had mostly recovered since it was not she herself who experienced the loss. After they finished eating Gabriel bid him farewell for the night, and returned to Asora to spend time with her daughter. With Gabriel''s departure Alex quickly returned to the feast, where he quickly lost himself in the fun and festivities with the thousands of people present. From drinking competitions to even duels with Gahard and a few others such as Meld, everyone had a blast with the only problems being a few drunken brawls resulting from those who were still somewhat discontent with how things turned out, but it never escalated beyond a few punches. Eventually Alex decided it was time to call it a night, and retired to the space-time orb himself. He had something else he needed to address within it, but he decided to put it off for the moment and spend the rest of the night with the group waiting within his room. Making his way up, Alex opened the door to find Liliana, Tracy, Altina, and Francesca all waiting for him, and all wearing the exact same transparent nightgown in different colors. Figuring someone like Grayfia brought them here, Alex smiled wryly while Tracy suddenly said, "I told you, I''m looking forward to tonight." He didn''t say a single thing, and instead just closed the door before walking towards the gathered group. Chapter 288 - Princess Parade After closing the door behind him Alex slowly walked towards the royal quartet waiting for him, while also simultaneously removing his own shirt. He unashamedly ran his gaze across all four of them, starting with Altina who was wearing a transparent forest green gown as if to match her dress from earlier, and as she felt his gaze the shy elf immediately turned Crimson all the way to the tips of her ears as she looked away bashfully while fidgeting slightly. Next to her was Tracy, who was wearing a dark blue gown that matched the rest, except as she noticed Alex looking at her she puffed out her chest proudly and smirked as she eagerly awaited what was to come. Then there was Francesca, who was wearing a crimson gown that matched her hair and eyes, while she rigidly stood straight, not wanting to possibly disappoint him with poor posture or mannerisms. Then Alex looked at Liliana before frowning slightly, causing her to frown in turn at him. As she was only fourteen Alex had said he wanted to wait a few years with her, much to her chagrin at the time, which she didn''t agree with considering that she was already old enough to marry and have children according to Tortus standards. Choosing to address her later, Alex turned his gaze towards Altina once more before making his way over to her. As she watched Alex approach Altina could feel her heart rate seemingly increasing with each step he took, until it felt like her chest was going to burst from how fast it was going. As he reached her Alex gently placed his hands on her shoulders, before shifting the straps of her gown down them and allowing it to fall and pool at her feet, leaving her standing completely n.a.k.e.d before him. Instead of ogling her now n.a.k.e.d body though, Alex simply stared into her eyes and said, "You look exceptionally beautiful tonight Altina." The elven princess blushed at the compliment, even though Alex was currently only looking into her eyes. She then nearly jumped as his hands shifted from her shoulders as they slowly started making their way down her front, before they reached her b.r.e.a.s.ts. As wave after wave seemed to surge through her body at Alex''s touch, she just barely murmured, "Please be gentle..." Alex was slightly taken aback as he was already just barely touching her, so as an experiment he just barely flicked the tips of her n.i.p.p.l.es. "Ah!" Altina let out a small cry at the sudden stimulation as Alex''s eyebrows shot up in realization, Altina''s body was extremely sensitize. He paused for a moment as he contemplated what to do, making Altina pause as well when she felt his gentle caresses stop, before he suddenly grabbed her waist and said, "Hold on." Before Altina knew what was happening they were both in mid air for a second, before landing softly on the bed behind her. "Eh-what?!" She cried out at the sudden shift, before Alex sealed her mouth with his own. She experienced a moment of slight panic when she couldn''t breath normally, but when she realized what was happening Altina calmed down and awkwardly tried to reciprocate the kiss. Alex smiled through their kiss as he felt Altina''s awkward movements, before guiding her until she was able to kiss normally. After several seconds of this he broke it off to continue, leaving her looking slightly dazed as she wondered where his lips went. She was brought back to awareness when Alex''s lips made contact with the valley between her moderate b.r.e.a.s.ts, causing Altina to gasp as she felt as if a shock went through her body. From there Alex traced around her b.r.e.a.s.ts with his tongue before finding one of her n.i.p.p.l.es with it, while one of his hands slid down her belly as it slowly made its way to her secret garden. As he reached down there however, he found her absurdly smooth lips already drenched in her love fluids as the repeated new sensations pulsed through her body, before it twitched as she felt his fingers touch her most sacred place. "Wait!" She barely managed to cry, as she reached down and tried to stop his hand. What she was already feeling was so amazing, she didn''t want it to stop as he tried to go further. Alex smiled and leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Even if you think this is amazing, it''s nothing compared to what you''re going to feel." Altina''s mind blanked as she tried to imagine what it would be like to feel better than what she was already feeling but, before she could think too deeply, Alex lightly blew into her ears and made her entire body twitch once more as she whimpered, "Noooooo~????!" Alex felt a whole new wave of fluids drench his hand while Altina clutched the sheets around them and cried out to the heavens from her climax, amazing him as he learned firsthand just how sensitive an elf''s ears were, though she was already fairly close to climaxing to begin with. While she rode the waves of her first ever orgasm, Alex back up and dropped his pants so that he was also n.a.k.e.d before once again climbing onto the bed while also gently grabbing her knees and lifting them while also spreading them. With them in an M shape, he finally had a clear view of her soaked and steamy s.e.x, before crawling back over her and looking her in the eye. Altina''s gaze was slightly out of focus at first, but when she noticed him she blushed again at what just happened, before noticing something hot and hard poking her special place. She tensed up as Alex started shifting his weight, but instead of being penetrated like she thought the hard thing just scr.a.p.ed against her outsides before Alex shifted back and repeated the process. Each time the tip prodded her entrance she tensed once more, but then Alex would merely rub it against her outsides once again, frustrating her to no end. "Please... Put it in me...." She pleaded slightly as her frustration grew, making Alex resist the urge to laugh lightly as he wasn''t intentionally teasing her, but was instead using her fluids to lubricate himself before entering her tight hole. He then whispered into her ears while making sure to exhale into them, "Here it comes." As she reacted to the sudden stimulation her ear was receiving, Altina suddenly gripped the sheets tightly as she felt something else start invading her lower body. Even Alex was holding his breath as he entered the extremely tight space, before encountering a barrier a few inches in, and pushing through it until he reached the entrance of her w.o.m.b. "AH!" Altina cried out at the sudden pain, and pleasure, of being invaded so quickly, even though Alex stopped to let her adjust once she was completely filled. After only several seconds Altina nodded her head and said, "I''m ok, you can move now." As he got permission to move Alex first said, "This is where the real pleasure begins." Though she wondered what he meant since she couldn''t imagine anything better than what she already felt, Altina quickly realized how right Alex was as he pulled his h.i.p.s back until only the tip was left inside, before slamming it back inside suddenly. "Ah! Ah!!! AH!!!!" With her cries growing more intense with each thrust, it wasn''t long before the bedroom was filled with crescendo of Altina''s voice as Alex started picking up speed as he jack hammered her insides. Though it still stung a little bit at first, Altina didn''t register it too much before it faded completely, and she was instead grabbing the sheets around her as she cried out to the heavens, and even wrapped her legs around Alex''s waist to keep him from pulling out of her. Meanwhile as he pounded the elven princess, Alex was amazed at how fast Altina was adapting and feeling the pleasure, which, combined with how sensitive she was, he realized she truly did deserve the label of pervert that she had received in the original story. He himself was also feeling it quite a bit, as, even with her incredible tightness, he could feel that more and more of his length was able to fit inside her with each thrust, until eventually his entire d.i.c.k was inside. He could also feel her inner walls constantly tightening before loosening again, almost as if they were seizuring as she reached climax after climax. With the extra stimulation it wasn''t long until Alex himself could feel the pressure building, and as he reached the peak he thrusted his entire length in until the head was pressed against her w.o.m.b, and poured his seed inside of her, making Altina reach her largest orgasm yet as she was stuck in a silent scream under him. It took more than a minute for Altina to recover from her orgasm as the warmth Alex pumped into her seemed to spread, before she locked her legs even tighter around his waist and tried to pull him close while demanding with her eyes slightly out of focus, "More. Give me more!" Alex''s smile widened as he happily obliged, as he fully intended to see to each of the girls individually before moving onto the next one. Though this would make the others wait a while, it would also make their firsts time a bit more special since Alex wasn''t going to just bang them once and move on. Even as he continued enjoying himself with Altina, the other three were waiting at the side, Tracy rubbing her thighs together in excitement, Liliana growing increasingly anxious as she plotted on how to get Alex to accept her that night, and Francesca rigidly sitting in a sieza as she watched Alex with Altina. She was growing increasingly nervous as the scene in front of her played out, and she was made to realize just how shallow her understanding of intercourse was. Even though she was the oldest of the four princesses present at the age of twenty, Francesca''s knowledge of intimacy was very shallow because she wasn''t due to marry for another decade or two due to the fact that demon race people lived several times longer than humans. With her primary focus until now being on researching and practicing magic, Francesca''s understanding of s.e.x.u.a.l knowledge had only consisted of a man sticking his thing inside a woman until some stuff came out, and it sometimes resulted in a child. That day however she had learned differently as her attendants prepared her for tonight on her fathers orders, as they made sure every part of her body was ready from her hair and face, to even her rectum and feet to make sure that no matter Alex''s preference, he was satisfied by her performance. The entire time her attendants were scrubbing, grooming, and priming literally every part of her body, they were also trying to feed her a constant source of tips and information so that she was as prepared mentally as she was physically for what was to come, though she barely retained any of it due to nervousness and having so much information given to her at once. Even now her mind was a blank as she focused absentmindedly on Alex and Altina, and wondered if she would react the same way the previously demure elf was now, until Tracy''s voice suddenly whispered in her ear, "Hey, since they seem like they''re going to be busy for a while should we warm ourselves up for him?" Francesca jumped slightly at first, before turning to look at Tracy curiously as she tried to resister what she just said. All she managed in response was a subdued, "What?" Tracy rolled her eyes at Francesca''s reply, before she stood and lifted her gown to display her crotch at eye level, and stated with a dominant tone, "I''m saying lick my cunt demon bitch!" Francesca was more than a little stunned at Tracy''s demand, before the warrior princess grabbed the back of her head and pressed into her face into her groin. Francesca had no idea how to respond to the sudden situation as Tracy seemed to try and smother her face into her privates, before she recalled what Tracy said before and hesitantly licked what was in front of her lightly. The reaction was almost immediate as Tracy froze, waiting for more, before saying, "Why''d you stop? Keep going!" With her encouragement Francesca lightly licked Tracy''s crotch once more, before she stared to explore the tight crevice slightly with her tongue. Though at first Tracy wasn''t impressed by the tongueing she was getting, as the minutes slowly creeped by while they listened to Alex and Altina continue going at it, Francesca was steadily improving the longer she kept at it. Soon Tracy wasn''t even holding Francesca''s head against herself anymore, as the demon princess herself had grabbed both of Tracy''s butt cheeks as if to hold her still while she probed her with her tongue. "To think, one day not only would I share a man with the princess of the demon race, but I''d be eaten out by her as well!" Tracy groaned as she felt better and better with each passing second from Francesca''s tongue, until something hard and hot pressed against her backside and a masculine voice whispered in her ear, "Since that sides covered, I guess that means I should get back here." As he finishing speaking Alex took his member and slid it between her butt cheeks, that were already spread due to Francesca''s grip on them, until it was pressed against her backdoor. "Wait-" Tracy tried to stop him, before Alex used the abundance of lubrication from his romp with Altina, and slammed his entire length up the princess''s asshole in one quick move. Tracy was stuck in her own silent scream as she felt her ass spread from his invasion into her guts, and he also held her up as her legs tried to buckle. Meanwhile Francesca was so distracted with eating Tracy out that she didn''t notice something was happening until she felt Alex''s family jewels slap her chin as he suddenly thrusted into Tracy''s ass. She recoiled suddenly in surprise, before noticing Alex was now standing behind Tracy and looking down on her. The demon princess''s brown skin paled as she wondered if he''d be mad at what they were doing, before Alex said, "Keep going, she was looking forward to this so much we might as well give her double the pleasure." As he finished speaking Alex grabbed Tracy''s gown and ripped it down the middle before tossing it to the side to be repaired later, and reached down to Tracy''s p.u.s.s.y to spread it with his fingers. As she looked at the inviting pink flesh in front of her, Francesca blushed as she did as he said and once more buried her face there and continued attacking Tracy with her tongue. As Tracy started to recover from the shock of the sudden attack on her ass, Alex slowly started pulling his waist back, before slamming it forward again as he started pumping in and out of her asshole. Tracy groaned with each thrust, and whimpered to him, "I-I don''t now how, but I''ll get you back for this..." Alex smirked as even though she was threatening him, he could tell she actually seemed to enjoy having it up the butt or she would''ve used her skills to try and escape his hold. Even as both of her holes were attacked, Tracy''s m.o.a.ns started growing in volume as Alex moved his hands up and started playing with her tits and n.i.p.p.l.es, increasing the pleasure even more. It didn''t take long before she was pushed over the edge, and the already vice-like grip on his c.o.c.k tightened even more as Tracy orgasmed like she never had before from the double assault. As a result Alex himself quickly reached climax, as he spilled his latest load into the princess''s asshole and made her insides burn from the invading fluid. As Tracy went limp in his arms, Alex picked her up lightly as he said to Francesca, "I''ll take it from here, and I''ll be with you shortly." Though the demon princess was still dazed slightly from the flood of fluid that now covered her face, she quickly came back to her senses as she realized it was almost her turn with him. Her forgotten nervousness returned with a vengeance as she watched Alex put it into Tracy''s "right" hole this time, and properly take her purity from her. As she watched him so was Liliana, who was watching while also glaring at Alex slightly since it was obvious he was still ignoring her. Francesca watched with a horrid fascination as Alex pounded Tracy, her own rectum clenching slightly whenever he decided to alternate holes, making her wonder if he''d try to do that with her as well. After a while of watching, Alex finally finished with Tracy as he left her on the bed with her legs spread in a very unladylike manner, before he finally moved in her direction. As he approached her Francesca felt her heart pound in her chest like thunder, and she was rubbing her thighs together slightly as she became increasingly anxious, and excited. At his gesture, she rose to a standing position before Alex loosened her gown and let it drop to the floor like he had Altina''s. As she stood completely n.a.k.e.d before a man for the first time in her life, the demon princess was growing increasingly excited as Alex brought his face closer to hers until their lips finally touched, and he tasted the tangy sweet taste of Tracy''s fluids upon them. He then whispered, "So how do you want it?" Francesca was confused as she didn''t expect Alex to suddenly ask what she wanted, before she shuddered slightly as his fingers traced down to the n.i.p.p.l.es of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. "Some women prefer their b.r.e.a.s.ts being teased first, or toyed with during the act." As he spoke Alex kneeled down slightly until his face was level with her b.r.e.a.s.ts and he took one of her n.i.p.p.l.es into his mouth, earning him a mild whimper from the brown skinned beauty. This only lasted a fleeting second though, before he moved further until his face was level with her crotch as he whispered, "While other women like men to use their tongues on them beforehand." As he finished speaking Alex leaned forward and kissed the demon princess''s p.u.s.s.y, earning him a shocked gasp as she felt as if a surge of electricity shot through her. As she had never even gone so far as to play with herself before, this was the first time Francesca had ever been touched in a stimulating way in her most precious area. Though her attendants had their hands all over it as they made sure to thoroughly prepare her, it had felt nothing like it did right now as Alex gently probed her depths with his tongue, slowly licking and exploring every nook and cranny he could as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through his wild hair. It felt so good that she was filled with a mild disappointment when he stopped, before continuing, "There are also women who love it here..." As he spoke Alex reached up with one of his fingers, and prodded the demon princess''s butthole gently before sinking it into her up to the first knuckle, then to the second. Alex was surprised when Francesca silently m.o.a.ned as she seemed to easily take his entire finger in her rear hole, making him wonder if all princesses were actually secret perverts. Yue always loved it when Alex pounded her as roughly as possible, which with how small she was and how large he was, made several people wonder how she survived their nightly activities intact. Tio was obviously the most perverted person as the masochistic pig she was, while she also loved it when he pounded her as hard as possible up the butt. Altina was originally similar in nature to Tio as a supreme masochist but, even when Alex tried to avoid having her also turn into that, she was still an extreme pervert who seemed to quickly get addicted to s.e.x after her first time. As for Tracy, she was similar to Yue in that she liked it rough, but she was also the one who had been looking forward to getting him inside her the most ever since they met, and even when he invaded her backdoor she quickly took to it and enjoyed every moment. And now he had the demon princess Francesca in front of him, who Alex knew nothing about regarding her personality or preferences, and even as he pulled his finger out of her butt she seemed to be growing even more excited as he stood back up and looked her in the eye, before repeating himself, "So how do you want it?" Francesca took a deep breath as if to steady herself as she seemed to be panting slightly, before saying, "Do whatever you want to me, I don''t care as long now as I get to experience it all!" Alex was taken aback at her declaration, as was Francesca herself when she realized what she said. With each passing moment that night she had been growing increasingly excited as she watched the other girls, used her tongue to tease another girl, and felt each of the things Alex did to her. All of it had left her more and more excited until it was finally her turn, and she chose to leave what happened to the one who was obviously more experienced in the art of pleasure. At first she just intended to go along with whatever Alex wanted due to her desire to not disappoint him, but now she proactively wanted to try it all. Surprised, Alex smiled as he directed her to bend over while placing her hands on the bed, before he kneeled behind her and used his hands to sprees her butt cheeks open. Even before he did anything Francesca started panting as her face flushed from the fact that she was in such a position while a man was gazing directly at her exposed private place and rectum. He then lightly blew some air onto the exposed flesh, making Francesca''s entire body twitch at the unexpected feeling, before he finally leaned forward and curried his face into her ass. Francesca then released the first of many deep m.o.a.ns that night, as Alex attacked her precious place with his tongue in a vastly different way than the light teasing he had done earlier. The effect was so different Francesca almost immediately lost the strength in her arms to support herself, and her face collapsed onto the bed so she just had her ass in the air. Her legs would have collapsed too, except Alex had a grip on her waist that held her up so, even if she didn''t want to, she had no choice but to lay there and take Alex''s very experienced tongue attack. Very quickly he could tell she was already at the brink of her first climax, but Alex chose that moment to stop as he instead stood up and sat down on the bed next to her. Francesca looked at him with an expression of dissatisfaction, and mild panic as she thought she might have done something wrong, but Alex instead patted his lap, and said, "Here, we''re going to do it in this position first." She felt as if her heart was about to stop as Francesca realized that this was it, the moment of truth, she was about to be made a woman. Though it took a moment to stand due to the effects of Alex''s earlier tongue action, Francesca eventually managed to stand and just barely plop down on Alex''s lap, where he grabbed her waist and positioned her so that she was just above his ready rod. "Ready?" He asked, to which she nodded slowly before he started lowering her waist. This time Alex groaned alongside her, as for the third time that night he entered an impossibly tight v.i.r.g.i.n p.u.s.s.y, before destroying the barrier that symbolized her purity. Though Francesca flinched slightly at the sudden pain, she knew to expect at least that much so she didn''t let it bother her, and instead she focused on the sensations she was feeling as Alex scr.a.p.ed against her insides while he made his way further and further inside of her, before he finally reached her deepest area at the entrance to her w.o.m.b. "Ah!" She let out a small m.o.a.n as she felt him prod the deepest part of her, before she wrapped her arms around Alex''s neck as if to steady herself while she still felt some of the pain. It wasn''t until a little over a minute before she was ready to begin moving, as she got to where she was on her knees, and lifted herself up before allowing herself to slide back down. Now that she was the one controlling her decent, Francesca noticed that when she felt she couldn''t take anymore of Alex inside of herself, she wasn''t actually sitting on his lap. She looked down curiously while he watched her, and noticed incredulously that there was still several inches between her rump and Alex''s lap. "Th-there''s still that much?!" She declared, to which Alex laughed lightly and said, "Don''t let it bother you, you''ll adapt to it eventually." Though she doubted it, Francesca decided to take Alex''s word for it and instead continued to bounce herself up and down while he guided her with his hands on her butt. "This feels... So gooooood!" She m.o.a.ned as she continued moving, before finally reaching her first orgasm as she felt one of Alex''s fingers slip into her backdoor. Though she thought her attendants were weird to worry about preparing such a thing earlier that day, Francesca was now glad they did as Alex f.u.c.k.i.e.d her in the front, and fingered her in the back, and she loved every second of it. "More. More! Mooore!!!" She cried out as her bouncing got more intense, and Alex started moving his own h.i.p.s in rhythm with her own while his fingers moved faster and faster. Soon Alex was brought to his own climax as well, and as she felt the warmth spread through her body Francesca asked, "Does this mean I''ll have a baby now? We can''t do this if I get pregnant, right?" Alex smiled wryly as he felt her priorities were a little skewed, and answered, "I doubt you''ll get pregnant so quickly, and even if you did we''ll have centuries or even millennium to have as much s.e.x as you want." Though she thought Alex was exaggerating the time frame slightly, even though he was perfectly serious, Francesca smiled as she laid against his chest comfortably since she got the general idea of what he was talking about. There they sat as she enjoyed the "full" sensation he gave her just from being inside of her, before a couple of hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down, before they seemingly tried to pin him. "What are you doing?" Alex asked exasperatedly as he looked at Altina and Tracy, letting them hold him down even though he could have gotten out of it without even a thought. "How envious, why didn''t you play with my butthole?" Altina demanded, while Tracy rolled her eyes and explained instead, "We''re just helping someone who feels more than a little left out." She then motioned for Francesca to get up, before her place was taken by Liliana, who glared down at Alex as if daring him to knock her off. "Lili, I said not not until you''re older." Alex said seriously, to which she stated, "Why? I''m already an a.d.u.l.t by our standards! I''m already able to get married and have kids, so why do I need to listen to your standards while everyone else gets to be with you? You accepted Yue and physically speaking she''s even younger than me, so what''s the difference?" Alex was silent as he listened to her argument as she technically had a point. Yue was physically only thirteen, but she was more than three hundred years old and had simply stopped aging physically. He had accepted her into his bed because he knew it would be unfair to make her wait until she was able to shift into a more mature form, which who knew how long that would take at the time even though she already did it. His thoughts were interrupted when Lauren suddenly said in the back of his mind, ''As much as I''d hate to say it, she technically has a point since different worlds have different standards, and it would be unfair to force yours on all of them. Of course there are certain extremes that I would support you in refusing, but since you already made an allowance for Yue there isn''t much to say here.'' Alex was utterly gobsmacked that even Lauren was telling him to "nut up" in the current situation, which as this thought crossed his mind he could swear he heard a bit of laughter in his mind from her. Shaking his head slightly, he then surprised everyone present when he shook off Altina and Tracy, and rolled so that he had Liliana pinned beneath him. He then said in a serious tone, "You want to be treated like an a.d.u.l.t, fine I''ll treat you like one." *** The next morning Alex awoke after a mere three hours of sleep, as the fun only ended the night before when he finally told the girls that they at least needed to get a few hours of sleep. As this thought crossed his mind he realized he could feel a fairly familiar sensation at his nether regions, and Alex flung the blankets off to reveal that Liliana was still sleeping at his side, while the other three were busy using their mouths on his manhood. Altina was sucking on his family jewels, Tracy was running her tongue up and down the shaft as if it was a Popsicle, and Francesca was sucking on the tip as if she was trying to get something to come out of it. "Really?" Alex asked the trio, as they looked up in shock when the blankets were tossed away. They all only stopped what they were doing long enough to say, """Good morning!""", before resuming their sucking. Liliana shook her head at their behavior, while Alex simply said, "From now on I''m referring to the three of you as the ''Perverted Princesses''." If their new nicknames bothered them none of the princesses showed it, before Alex shook them off and made his way to the bathroom for his morning shower, followed by all four girls. He then spent the next hour giving them all what they wanted, before helping them wash up and familiarize themselves with the modern bathing utilities. As they all dried off he quickly dressed, and told them, "I have some stuff to work on so I''ll see you all later." They all reluctantly said their goodbyes, and Alex used spatial magic to teleport to his floating island, before transferring to one of the subterranean rooms within it. The five figures imprisoned there jumped at his sudden appearance, before cowing slightly in fear as they tried to get away from him. Alex shook his head and walked towards the middle of the room, and pointed to one of them and said, "You there, come here and lay down on this table as perfectly still as possible." The figure got up against his will, and quickly made his way over before laying down on the table exactly as Alex said, revealing as the light came over him his long elven ears. He glared at Alex as he tried to hide his fear, and demanded, "What do you want demon!? To humiliate us? To satisfy some sicko fetish you have? Or maybe you want to eat us or something? Spit it out already monster!" Alex shook his head as he looked down on the elf, who was one of the only five survivors of the ten thousand strong army he slaughtered the other day. The other four were a man and woman from both the demon and human races, while the elf was a traitor to his own kind. It turned out that he had sold out several of the former demihuman tribes to human slavers, as a measure to prevent himself from becoming enslaved and to secure himself "certain rights". Once Alex canceled the slave trade and several of those he betrayed made it back Verbergen, the elf quickly escaped believing that the humans he worked with would accept him due to his usefulness over the years, except he quickly found a collar on his own neck due to the fact that slavery was now outlawed and his usefulness was over. When Alex freed the slaves during the battle he hadn''t joined them, as many among them were aware of him being a traitor and his chances were better siding with the church. Now he looked down on his captive, who was branded with his slave magic along with the four others, and explained, "No, I don''t plan to do any of those things. You see I have a dilemma, I acquired a few magics a while back that are useable on biological beings, such as people, but I haven''t been able to properly test them out or practice with them. As I don''t want to risk hurting the people I care about, I decided to try them out on people who apparently had a suicide wish to begin with. That is why you''re all here, to be Guinea pigs for my Spirit and Alteration magic specifically, and if you survive that a few others I''d like to test. The reason I have so many of you is because I needed diverse subjects, and because of the subtle differences in s.e.x and race, as well as the possibility of some of you dying. Now then, let''s begin!" Chapter 289 - The Women of Asora While Alex was busy training his Spirit and Alteration magics, back in his room the four princesses were in a fairly good mood after the night and morning they had, with a couple of them even humming in contentment. "I never thought I''d be so happy with an arranged relationship..." Francesca muttered lowly, to which the other three rolled their eyes at her. They had tried explaining to her that she was misunderstanding their relationship with Alex, and there was no actual arrangement when it came to them; but for some reason she never believed them and stubbornly believed that there was no way one man could win over so manny processes without arrangements, at least before he took them to the bedroom. As they finished dressing and exited the bathroom, the four girls found themselves looking at a certain silver haired maid that had been waiting for them, along with Ingvild who waved and said, "Hey Lili, it''s nice to see you again, and it''s a pleasure to meet the rest of you." After a quick round of introductions, Grayfia said, "Liliana, Ingvild has something she wants to talk with you about. As for the three of you, I need you to all come with me." Though they were wondering what as up since Grayfia didn''t say what was happening, Liliana eagerly went with Ingvild to catch up on what had been happening since she seen her last, before Ingvild asked, ''''So you know what a peerage is right?" As they walked away Francesca and Altina looked nervous as Grayfia looked back at them with her stern expression, while Tracy flashed a confident smile. Less than thirty minutes later though they found themselves all on Grayfia''s personal floating island, wearing maid outfits and lined up next to more than a dozen other maids. First was Eri, who was muttering something they couldn''t understand while glaring at them slightly, then was Nyx who looked slightly annoyed as she wanted to go to Alex''s island and see if he "needed" anything. The most surprising ones present however, was the former apostles Noint, Hearst, and a dozen other beautiful silver haired cool beauties. In front of them was Grayfia who walked up and down while scrutinizing them as if looking for faults in their attire, while following just behind her was the green haired mature dragon beauty, Venri. After joining them she had truly impressed Grayfia with her capabilities and professionalism as a maid and attendant, and had even proven herself to be quite powerful due to her draconic abilities, quickly becoming the silver haired woman''s right hand; and if Grayfia had a peerage, she had no doubt that she would have chosen Venri as her queen. While she was scrutinizing the new maids, Tracy finally demanded, "What is this?! I''m a princess, not a maid!" Though they didn''t say anything, it was obvious from the way they were fidgeting next to her that Altina and Francesca thought the same way, to which Grayfia stated, "You gave up your titles as princesses when you chose to follow Alex, and since at the moment you technically serve no real purpose in Asora, I decided to scout you into my maid squadron." Though they were more than a little insulted that Grayfia implied that there had to be a purpose to be with Alex, Tracy instead focused on the last thing Grayfia said, and asked hesitantly, "Maid squadron?" Grayfia nodded, and explained, "Here in Asora we have no standing military, instead we have peerages which are small elite groups that are handpicked by a ''King''. One example is Ravel over there, the women gathered around her are her peerage and will follow her into battle if the need arises, but until then they practice and hone their techniques while also simultaneously acting as maids within our home in Misty Manor and within the space-time orb. I plan to change that and establish a group of combatants that don''t belong to a peerage, but will also serve as maids when not in conflict." Tracy and the other two were stupefied when they heard Grayfia''s explanation as, though they may be trained to become bodyguards, they had never heard of "combat maids" before. Though it wouldn''t effect Tracy that much since she loved fighting to begin with, Francesca had never truly fought before as she had only studied magic theory and practiced her spells in safety, while Altina was in the worst position of all, being completely unable to use magic and never even considering holding a sword. As she watched the princesses try to process what she was telling them, a trace of a smile flashed across Grayfia''s lips. This was just the first stage in her plan as she needed to build up a large force that was loyal solely to her lord and master, while she was also ensuring that no deadbeats gathered around him. Her final goal was to remake the devil servant house of Lucifuge, except this time their loyalty would belong exclusively towards Alex, and not the house of Lucifer. This was a conclusion she arrived at after a meeting that had taken place shortly after Alex declared his intentions to link all of of the worlds that they visited in the future, made up exclusively of all of the high class Devils within Asora. Their discussion was about how they wanted to proceed in the future with this new information, and how they would act regarding their own houses back in the underworld. Rias, Sona, and Seekvaira were all the heirs and future heads of their respective houses, and they specifically had intended to return to the DXD world eventually to properly take their place. This new information changed things though, as if Alex could really link all of the worlds they visited then there''d be no real need to move back to the underworld as they could run their houses from Asora. As the core of the multi-universe web that he intended to create, Asora would become prime real estate and the most lucrative business partner in existence, as through it one could trade and acquire goods no one has ever even heard of or had access to before in their home world. While this meant Asora would naturally become the largest powerhouse in all of the universes, it also meant that there would be a surplus of those who were too greedy for their own good and want to get a finger in the pie, or claim it all for themselves. This led them to believe that they would need to build up a base of power both as a deterrent, and in preparation for their eventual return home. While Grayfia intended to resurrect the house of Lucifuge, Ingvild would also do the same with the house of leviathan, though it would primarily rule the music and idol industry of Asora, and even Vali was on the fence about resurrecting the house of Lucifer, as he surprisingly started thinking about his future recently. Vali''s sudden change aside, several others were also planning to take drastic steps to secure more power, as both Ravel and Roygun planned to take over their families when they returned to the underworld. Roygun was originally the heir to the Belphagor family of Devils back when she was the number two in the rating games, but after the scandal involving the king piece was exposed, along with the fact that Roygun herself used it, she was stripped of her heritage and became something akin to the black sheep of her family. Now, as she served the strongest Heavenly Dragon that ever lived and had even became a super devil, she intended to reclaim her her place as the future head of the Belphagor family in order to secure more power for her lord and lover. Ravel was of a similar mind, except she was the fourth child(even though Raiser died) and therefore her claim to become head of her family was slim to nonexistent to begin with. That was why she intended to train the hell out of her peerage and herself with her super devil form, and challenge her first brother Ruval to a rating game when they returned home. The desired result was that with so many large families directly serving Alex himself, none would be able to contend against them from the underworld. Controversially the one house they intended to exclude from this, was the house of the Great King, Bael. Though Sairaorg was always looked down upon due to his nonexistent power of Destruction, he was still tolerated due to his immense strength and charisma, and the fact that he brought the house of Bael prestige as the ''Strongest Youth''. This started to change when he lost to Alex during the devil youth rating games, and then even more when Sairaorg lost during the Azazel cup. The house of Bael had started trying to restrict him due to this, as well as make plans on how to handle himself and his peerage, with specific intentions towards his pawn that was actually the Longinus sacred gear, Regulus Nemea. It was at this point that he finally cut ties and ran away from them to Asora, where he planned to build up his own house where the only thing a person would be judged on is their willing to improve themselves, and not things they couldn''t control. Grayfia then shook her head lightly as Venri called her, and focused back on her new recruits as Tracy was saying, "I don''t mind fighting, in fact I would love to, but I''m not going to be a maid when I do it! As a former princess it''s demeaning!" Grayfia frowned at her and asked, "And who do you think I was before I was a maid?" Tracy was slightly taken aback before saying, "How should I know?" Grayfia nodded as she expected that answer, and she replied, "I was the queen of hell, and then I was turned into my husbands own servant and maid because of the nobles that were dissatisfied with me." As they heard this the trio of princesses were silent, as they suddenly realized that no matter if it was in terms of nobility or their current situation, Grayfia clearly outranked them. Then another voice spoke up, "You think you have it bad? I''m a genuine goddess yet I''m just a slave maid now..." They turned to see Nyx staring off into the distance with melancholy, as she recalled when she was worshipped and actually treated like she deserved to be. Then another voice said, "We weren''t gods, but we were the direct subordinates of one, which would make us even higher ranked than your mortal royalty." This time they turned and saw Noint giving them a blank stare, along with Hearst and the other dozen former apostles that were with them. Though it took a while for the only surviving apostles to adapt to their new reality, they soon started taking to it in strides as the majority decided to either live on Tortus disguised as humans to see how they lived, or accepted Alex''s offer to stay in Asora and live there peacefully. What Noint didn''t expect was that after she shared her stories of learning about ''love'' from Alex, several other female apostles decided that they''d like to learn as well, leading to her bringing them to Grayfia to apply as maids as well. With the realization that pretty much everyone around, with the exception of Eri, outranked them, the princess trio hung their heads and stayed silent as they listened to Grayfia speak, all arguments against becoming maids erased. "Now then, as members of the maid squadron there are three specific areas I will instruct you on in order to properly carry out your duties, housework such as cooking, cleaning and organizing, combat with specific course in hand to hand and magic, and finally how to maximize performance in bed." There was stunned silence as Grayfia listed off what she would be teaching them, before Nyx uttered, "Per-performance in bed?! Are you insane?!" Grayfia shrugged at her shout, and explained, "As maids who serve our master I believe it is not a matter of time before every single maid enters his bed, do you think I''m mistaken in this Nyx?" Though Nyx tried say yes, she couldn''t dismiss what Grayfia said since it made sense. Grayfia nodded and continued, "Since it is related I''m also placing a rule, relations with our master aren''t prohibited but, even if you don''t desire him, relations with those outside the household are. I will not have a person within our house that is loyal to someone else, is that clear?" Every woman nodded at the somewhat understandable, yet unreasonable order, earning a smile from Grayfia as she officially began their instruction. *** Not too far from Grayfia''s floating island where she planned to train and house her combat maid squadron, another silver haired beauty that was dressed in a metallic armored dress was staring at the fifty similar looking women in front of her, all of which had silver hair, blue eyes, and were all dressed in their own metallic battle dresses with dual scimitars available. They were more of the surviving apostles that used to serve Ehito, but after hearing her talk about it they decided to take Rosswiess''s offer and become the new Valkyries of Asora. Though she was incredibly nervous, Rossweisse didn''t let it show as she stated, "Welcome all of you to your first lesson to become the future Valkyries of Asora! As you may already know I am Rossweisse and I''ll be your teacher, as well as the squadron leader! Before we begin the first magic lessons are there any questions?" Though each apostle had been programmed to blindly follow orders, they had spent their time until now being taught about the importance of self expression and free will, so after hearing Rossweisse ask for questions one of them raised her hand, and when Rossweisse gave her permission to speak she asked in a monotone voice, "Why are we learning magic? We are all already proficient in it, and are more powerful with it alone than nearly ever resident of the world." At her question several other apostles nodded in agreement while others just looked towards Rossweisse curiously as if waiting for her answer. As all of the apostles used to have what could be considered a "hive" mind, they had basically shared and stored each of their memories and experiences over the course of thousands of years, meaning no one had the experience in both magic and sword play that they did. As she already knew this, instead of saying anything Rossweisse simply held out her hand with her palm pointed towards the open space beyond the floating island, and proceeded to casually summon spell after spell in front of them. First was the magic that human magicians used, then the magic specific to the fairies, then Norse, Greek, Egyptian, then that of the more eastern nations. As she displayed the powerful spells one after another, the apostles were growing wide eyed as they realized that each spell seemed to have a different origin, which influenced its effects a bit. As she finished her display with a monstrous demonic magic attack, Rossweisse then turned back towards them and stated, "While it is true that you may not need to learn about Tortus''s magic, that does not mean that it''ll be adequate against possible foes in the future. Each branch of magic has subtle differences that could mean the difference in victory or defeat in a fight. I intend to teach you the different kinds of magics that we know, and possible ways to improve your use of Tortus magic." As she finished speaking Rossweisse held her hand with the palm up, and a magic circle made up of complex formulas started forming before becoming a palm sized fire. What shocked the apostles was that it was magic based on Tortus''s system, except Rossweisse hadn''t used chants, scrolls, or an artifact. Ever since they had arrived in Tortus Rossweisse had been studying any books on magic that had been brought back, as well as learning from Cattleya during the time she was their captive. When she wasn''t studying tomes or challenging labyrinths, Rossweisse was instead researching ways to improve onto the magic she learned to use easier. Similar to Anne, she intended to write down her findings and publish them in Tortus for future generations to read and learn from. After the second display one of the former apostles said, "Please teach us." Rossweisse nodded as launched into her lesson, using the same notes she prepared for when she''d teach magic to Grayfia''s maid squadron. *** Meanwhile several miles away on another floating island with well over a hundred cats and even a giant statue of one, in a small Japanese style cottage tucked within the trees, a certain black haired cat girl was sprawled out on her futon, still asleep. Laying next to her was a white haired infant that also had cat ears, who looked up curiously at her aunty''s twitching ears before cooing "Nya!", and reaching up to grab one. "NYAAA!" Kuroka cried as she jumped from the pain of one of her ears being grabbed and pulled on, while behind her she heard a "Nyahahahaha!", as Mia continued laughing at her expense. Kuroka glared at her with narrowed eyes, before saying, "Oh, you think that''s funny do ya~nya? Take this!" She then jumped at Mia and started tickling her adorable niece, sending her into another for of giggles that spread to Kuroka as she played with the infant. After several minutes of messing around that left Mia still laughing, Kuroka picked her up and said, "Ok that''s enough now~Nya, let''s go find your mommy~." Without even putting on a stitch of clothing to cover her n.a.k.e.dness, Kuroka took Mia and headed out to one of the only other rooms in the cottage, the kitchen. There she found Koneko surrounded by several plates of breakfast foods, and even of fish that had been caught from the nearby pond. The second she saw her Kuroka said, "If you keep eating so much Shirone you''re gonna get fat." As she said this Kuroka poked the side of Koneko''s belly, before putting Mai down and helping herself to some of the food. Koneko just glared at her older sister before saying, "...I''m not going to get fat, rather, shouldn''t you put on some clothes big sis? I don''t want you to teach Mai bad habits..." Kuroka looked up at her and smirked, before saying while standing, "Nya~ no ones gonna see me like this anyways since no guys besides Alex are allowed here, and besides, this horny little kitty needs to be prepared for whenever her beast of a master visits~" As she said this Kuroka turned around and started wiggling her butt towards Koneko, who just gave her big sister a deadpan stare while Mai laughed at her aunty''s behavior. "NYA!" Kuroka suddenly cried out while covering and rubbing her butt, where a welt was already forming from whatever Koneko flicked at her. This time it was her turn to glare as she turned her gaze toward Koneko, before saying, "Nya~ it looks like I need to teach you a lesson Shirone." Koneko had a trace of a smirk on her face at the declaration, as if taunting Kuroka into action before the latter suddenly jumped and pounced on her, dragging her little sister to the floor where they began to wrestle while Mai cheered. After several minutes of rolling around and wrestling, the pair of sisters were laying spread out on the ground panting while Mai was caught between laughing, and babbling in baby speak at the two, causing them to all erupt in laughter for several more minutes. When they finished laughing, Koneko stood and retrieved her own white kimono from where Kuroka tossed it after removing it, and put it back on as she sat down to continue her meal while Kuroka sat opposite of her. The two then properly ate their breakfast, while Mai played with a toy since Koneko fed her before making her own food, before moving into anther room to talk. Though they weren''t supposed to spend too much time in the space-time orb with the babies, Koneko had come with Mai the night before so that they could spend time with Kuroka, while also asking a few questions regarding the labyrinths. After giving birth she had focused mostly on recovering and basic workouts to get back in shape, but now she intended to go and challenge a few labyrinths before they left Tortus in order to strengthen herself, though the hardest thing about it was that she''s need to leave Mai behind. What Koneko wanted from Kuroka was advice about which labyrinths she should challenge for the Age of Gods magics, and what she should be prepared for when she did so. Kuroka''s advice was to focus on the Raisen Great Canyon, the Sunken Ruins of Melusine, and the Divine Mountain to acquire Gravity, Regeneration, and Spirit magic respectively. As a front line strength based fighter, Gravity magic would be a great boon for both fighting and training, while Regeneration magic would make her akin to a self healing tank. The Spirit magic however was due to the fact that all nekomata had the ability to use touki, which allowed them to manipulate and damage the internal energies and even the soul of their opponent(though obviously they can''t destroy the soul), which was exceptionally similar to the abilities granted by Spirit magic. After giving her a bit more advice about what to expect from each labyrinth, it was time for Koneko and Mai to leave, which made the latter extremely fussy as she didn''t want to leave her favorite aunty. As the mother daughter duo left, Kuroka sprawled out in the middle of the floor as she contemplated going back to sleep for the day, but then an orange and black calico entered through the open window, and walked up to Kuroka before affectionately nudging her with its head. As it did so a series of images flashed across Kuroka''s consciousness, prompting her to crack an eye before saying, "Alright alright, let''s go." She then got up and grabbed a long gown before leaving the cottage, as the cat followed happily as if it knew what she was doing. Kuroka walked until she arrived in front of the large cat statue and looked up at its face, or more accurately the dot that hovered in front of it that was smaller than a marble. Though it was nearly impossible to see if you weren''t proactively looking for it, it appeared to be like a tiny black hole that just hovered in place, and never moved. Kuroka took a deep breath as she summoned her Spatial magic, before the entire floating island was sucked inside of the hole, and an illusion of it appeared in the same place. Within the hole was a pocket dimension several tens of miles wide, and populated by at least a dozen floating islands that were homes to several hundred cats. The most bizarre thing however was that a fair amount of these cats looked incredibly different than normal, being several times larger or possessing more bestial traits and extra appendages, such as an extra set of legs. Despite this none of the cats seemed to be disturbed in the slightest, and instead turned towards the newest floating island to appear where their master and creator appeared. Upon arriving in her pocket dimension Kuroka Immediately flew to each and every island to visit with its inhabitants, as well as to pay respects to the large statues at each one. As she saw the results of her experiments with Alteration, Evolution and Spirit magics, a conflicting sense of pride and sadness surged within her as they surrounded her for attention. Though they all seemed pleased with the results, all of them becoming stronger, faster, or smarter, she still felt a little guilty for using them to practice on. After petting each of them and giving a few some treats, Kuroka returned to the island she started on and sat down on the yoga mat in front of the giant statue, before saying, "I think I''ll work on Time today..." She then directed her Spatial magic at a nearby potted plant, that blinked out of existence before reappearing on the ground right in front of her. As she settled into a more comfortable position, Kuroka then focused her intent on the potted plant, except instead of using Regeneration magic to reverse its aging she was trying to do the opposite. She sat there channeling her magic into it for well over an hour, before the plant finally started growing at a just barely noticeable rate. *** Outside of the space-time orb, and several miles away from the city, across several mountain ranges, was a large lake that was surrounded by several large and decorative buildings, some even shaped similarly to castles. In the largest one towards the top, one could see a large window where a young woman was looking down on everything from her office, which smelled pleasantly of pine and old books. She had bob-style cut hair and glasses, and if one looked closely enough they could see her trying to hold back tears as she took in everything below her. "It''s finally open, my school..." She murmured to herself, as she tried to fight yet another wave of tears that threatened to spill over, even though she had been repeating this cycle ever since the school opened a week prior. For years her main goal had been to create a rating games school without discrimination, one where any child of any background could go and learn from, and for years she had been the laughing stock of the majority of the underworld for trying to do so. The girl didn''t think on that and the humiliation she suffered from them though, as it would simply spoil the moment, instead she mentally ran down the list of those who supported her, those who aided her in her dream even as others called her naive and foolish. Of those however, the one she wanted to thank most was her beloved, Alex. Her dream had originally been to create a small rating game school, soon however it became a dream to create an entire academy that taught all subjects, and that anyone from any world could attend. Even now she was making plans to incorporate subjects specific to certain worlds, such as Tortus or earths world history and so on, and even utilizing space orbs to expand the school without encroaching on the surrounding wildlife. Of course the most important thing about the academy was that the children of Asora could have fun and enjoy themselves, without worrying about the same things there parents might have. Though there were several devil, fallen angel, and youkai children that attended the academy; the majority of the students now consisted of the Dagon and rabbitmen tribes that had migrated to Asora, turning less than a hundred students into several hundred, not counting the a.d.u.l.ts that were also taking side classes to learn how to speak Japanese and about modern living. Many of the parents had already noted that their children looked far happier than when they lived in Tortus as they played with their new friends, as they all no longer had the old concerns of potential enslavement, monster or pirate/bandit attacks, and the threat of the previously never ending war. Now instead their children were happily attending school, and playing games with others of their age, such as the blitzball that Alex introduced to them a while back. Even at that moment Sona could see several of the children playing the new game within a giant sphere of water just above the lakes surface, with the non-Dagon children using artifacts that had been developed to allow easy under water breathing. Though she could have left it at that and create a safe academic environment for the children, Sona had yet again taken it a step further and had dorms built for children of all ages, separating them in ages groups of elementary, middle, high, and college ages. Though the middle school up dorms were to help them gain a form of independence from their parents, they and the elementary dorms were also planned to function as an orphanage if the need should arise, ensuring that any future orphans were able to have a place to live, along with provided necessities and easy access to school. The main reason this arrangement could work however was due to the fact that Asora had access to a ridiculous amount of resources for its small population, which would only increase from here on out. At the moment the only foreseeable problem with running the academy was ensuring that there was enough teaching staff for all of the classes and subjects she wanted to introduce. Sona had already taken the first step for this however, as the majority of her peerage was to act as teachers within the school, as well as a few others she had scouted such as some of the Grigori, Aiko, and surprisingly some of the former apostles. When they had heard about the interest Sona had in teaching Tortus''s history, as well as several other points such as monsters, geography, magic and ect; several of them had come to volunteer themselves to write it down, and then even going a step further to become teachers themselves in her academy. With this Sona felt she had a good start, but as they stayed in each world she intended to personally spend some time exploring each of them to scout those who were interested in teaching at her school, having no doubt in finding people who would be interested due to the fact that they in turn would be able to learn about other worlds. Sona''s train of thought as she imagined the future of the academy was suddenly brought to a halt when there was the sound of someone knocking on the door. She quickly fixed herself and sat at her desk before calmly saying, "Enter." The door opened and Sona relaxed a little as her ever reliable ''queen'' Tsubaki entered, before saying, "Pardon the intrusion, but I have a list of a few minor issues that need to be addressed." Sona sighed, but there was a trace of a smile on her lips as she heard what Tsubaki wanted. "Ok, bring it here, I''ll take a look at them." *** On the outskirts of the main city of Asora two figures were staring at each other intensely with their swords drawn, each waiting for the other to make the first move. There was a sudden crunch, and then both figures disappeared as they rushed the other, immediately followed by the clang of metal colliding. As their swords locked the two tried pushing on the other for the chance to break through the other''s guard, but with no such luck they separated before moving onto the next attack. The two traded blows for the better part of an hour as they tirelessly tried to get the better of the other, leaving their surroundings devastated as they cut through all of the rocks and trees around them, until finally right as they tried to execute their final attack, GONNNNGGGGG "Times up!" Suzu excitedly cried from the sidelines as she put own her bag of ch.i.p.s, causing both Kiba and Shizuku to freeze in their tracks, before adopting wry smiles and sheathing their weapons. "Thank you for the spar." Shizuku said seriously as she bowed to Kiba, which he returned and replied, "No, I should be thanking you. Until you came along it was difficult to find someone who could really push me further in the mastery of the sword, and speed. It''ll be a bit lonely when you all return to earth." Shizuku smiled before thanking Kiba once more, as his girlfriend Tosca quickly ran over and started fussing over his sweaty state, leaving her and Suzu to walk back towards the city alone. As they walked Suzu said, "Suzu still doesn''t understand why Shizu-Shizu and Kiba didn''t just use the space-time orbs like we normally do, or your other abilities and your new Gravity magic?" Shizuku smiled wryly and replied, "It''s was because this was just a light spar for the night, and I don''t want to make the next couple days longer than they have to be." As she said the last part a trace of melancholy and sadness crept into Shizuku''s voice, which Suzu immediately understood as a similar expression formed on her face. In just a couple days they were going home, where they would wait until it was time for Alex to move on from Tortus. It was a surreal feeling, as from their viewpoint it had already been nearly two years since they were forcefully brought to Tortus, the result of using the training rooms and space-time orbs so much. As she thought about seeing her family again, a bit of mild panic crept into Suzu''s heart, as he hesitantly asked, "Do you think they''ll be happy to see us again Shizuku?" Shizuku stopped suddenly, as she could tell Suzu was being serious from the fact she hadn''t used a nickname, and wasn''t speaking in third person. It was obvious Suzu was referring to the fact that they could all use magic, and weren''t the same after entering real combat, even sometimes against other people. For Suzu and Shizuku in particular there was the added fact that neither were actually human anymore. She was silent for a second, before saying, "I think they will be, no matter what. They are our parents, and must miss us considerably regardless of what we''ve had to do to survive. If the alternative was that none of us ever came home, I think they would understand." Suzu was silent for a second as she took this in, before letting out a sigh of relief and saying, "Thank you Shizu-Shizu, Suzu feels better now!" With the atmosphere turning lighthearted once more the two continued their walk home, until Suzu added, "So how will you take being away from hubby for so long Shizu-Shizu?" As she asked this a mischievous look crept into Suzu''s eyes as she waited for Shizuku''s answer. The girl in question shrugged, and replied, "I will miss him until we meet up, yeah, but compared to the lifespan we''re looking at to be together, it won''t be that long." Surprisingly her words were met with a "tut tut tut", as Suzu stated, "You say that now Shizu-Shizu, but how long before you really "miss" hubby, not just emotionally, but physically?" As understanding dawned on her Shizuku''s face turned beet red, as she retorted, "I got along well before we did it, I''ll manage going a few months without it!" She then stormed off while intending to leave Suzu behind, who quickly caught up with her while saying, "No no, that''s no good Shizu-Shizu, I mean that''s gonna be a long time to deal with the "emptiness" you know! Suzu has even already taken precautions and prepared for her loneliness!" As she finished speaking Suzu summoned something from her personal storage, that revealed itself to be a large toy to be used by oneself in bed. When she saw it Shizuku''s face turned even redder, and she demanded, "What are you doing with that Suzu?! Where did you even get such a thing?!" Suzu puffed out her chest proudly, and explained, "Suzu got it from Kir-chin(Kiryuu), who secretly made it to be an exact match of hubby''s. Suzu got it so that she''ll never forget the feeling of hubby inside her, you should get one too!" When she heard that Shizuku suddenly realized that the toy looked strangely familiar, and now knew why. As she processed this she suddenly found herself not as against the idea if it was supposed to be like Alex was still with her, but when she noticed the perverted look on Suzu''s face, meaning she probably intended for them to use them together, Shizuku immediately shook her head and declared while storming off, "No way, no how! I''ll never use one of those!" Suzu looked crestfallen at Shizuku''s refusal, and quickly chased after her to try and convince her otherwise, while Kiba and Tosca both had incredulous expressions from having accidentally witnessed everything. *** Anne leaned back in her chair, and raised her arms above her head to stretch them after spending so long writing her appeal. Though she was still working on her book of useful herbs and plants in Tortus, currently she was working on something else exclusively for Asora, an emergency response team. When she originally died her goal for her new life didn''t involve the competition that they were put in, but instead she wanted to help people who needed it when she saw them. It was this that drove her to help the people who initially spurned her in her previous world, to the point where they even eventually worshipped her as a goddess due to her actions. Now, in Asora, she intended to create an emergency response team whose main goals and actions would be to protect and provide aid to those who needed it in the world''s they planned to visit. Typically this would just be in the form of them going to places with sick or injured, such as the aftermath of a natural disaster, and using her Sky Dragon Slayer magic to heal them. Another function of the emergency response team, an idea courtesy of Alex, was to protect, and heal those who may get caught up in their fights in the future. Similarly to the fight with Noint when they first met, they may have to fight in a populous area with hundreds, or even thousands of people nearby, except they may not be able to prepare to contain the effects of the fight like with Noint. When she brought this idea to Alex, he surprisingly supported her; however he said that she would need to put together everything herself, including gathering members and discussing things such as supplies with the heads of each faction, Barakiel, Yasaka, Gabriel, and Serafall. Undaunted in the slightest, she had spent the entire day working on rough draft of her intentions and hopes for the group, as well as possibilities for cooperation from them if needed. She then looked at a clock, and was surprised to see what time it was. "I better get home, it''ll be dinner time soon." Anne then cleaned up the miscellaneous things around her new office, before putting the draft of her appeal into a folder to go over again later. She then waited only long enough to change back into her usual clothes, and was finally on her way home from the hospital. Like Asia, Valerie, and Kaori, she too was now working at the hospital to heal those who came in, though thankfully there wasn''t too many people there, and she was even given her own office with an amazing view. After making sure she wasn''t forgetting anything, Anne left the hospital and started making her way to Misty Manor, where she soon ran into Gabriel surprisingly. "Hey Gabriel!" Anne called out, getting the attention of the beautiful angel, who was holding onto a baby carrier as well. "Hello Anne, are you heading home as well?" Anne nodded before turning her attention to Edith, and started talking in baby speak to her. Edith giggled at the attention and excitedly babbled back to her from her carrier, before Anne asked, "It must be hard carrying her back like this, why don''t you fly or teleport instead?" Gabriel looked at Edith and smiled lovingly as she said, "Because she likes seeing all of the interesting places and people when we walk, and I''m not sure about flying with her just yet. Besides, the carrier isn''t that heavy so I don''t mind." Anne nodded at her explanation to show she was listening as she continued giving Edith attention, before ultimately offering to carry her instead since they were both going home. As she took the carrier, Anne offered her folder to Gabriel and asked, "Can I get your opinion really quick? I''m planning to show this to the four of you, but I want to make sure it''s alright before I do. Sorry if it''s not well made, it''s been a while since I did any real paperwork." Gabriel took the offered folder and started reading what she put together while Anne continued playing with Edith, though she glanced at Gabriel nervously every few seconds. Eventually Gabriel said, "It looks like a really good idea, though there a few areas that I''d work on. You''d definitely get the support of several angels for it." Anne was surprised at Gabriel''s praise, and asked, "Really? I thought most everyone here would be interested in keeping their heads down." Gabriel nodded slowly before saying, "I can understand why you might think that, but you have to recall that almost everyone in Asora was affected by the three way war in our world for centuries, but then when that finally ended they had to live in fear of the terrorists that didn''t want peace. Plus as you''re well aware, the newer residents had their own issues that made Asora seem like heaven. While I wouldn''t assume that the majority would want to help out with this, I''m willing to bet a fair amount of people would be willing to help those who are suffering in similar ways they had." When she heard what Gabriel said a sense of relief spread through Anne that someone else thought her idea of creating an emergency response team would be a good idea. The two chatted happily as they made their way back to the manor, where they found Alex waiting for them with a picnic basket of all things in his hands. "Hello Gabriel, hi there Edith!" After giving Gabriel a kiss and giving Edith attention, to which she excitedly babbled and cooed at seeing her father, Alex turned towards Anne and said, "Mind if I steal you away for the night?" A smile spread on Anne''s face at the invitation, even as her heart started beating a little faster since it was obvious what a night with Alex would lead to. After parting with Gabriel and a saddened Edith, the duo disappeared as Alex took her to Tortus, and then to a cliff overlooking the ocean as the sun dipped cover to the horizon. "Wow..." Anne exclaimed as she took in the sight, while Alex spread a blanket behind her and started pulling things out of the basket, with a grin spreading on his face as he did so as he watched Anne admire the scenery around them. Once he was done they sat down and started digging into their dinner, a meal a bit more extravagant than a normal picnic, before they then watched the final slivers of the sun disappear as they fed each other gr.a.p.es. Neither one said a single thing, until Alex finally said, "Thank you Anne..." Anne looked confused as she didn''t recall doing anything to be thanked for, to which Alex explained, "Thank you, for calling out for help that day." Though she was still momentarily confused, realization suddenly dawned on her as Anne realized Alex was referring to the day they first met, and the day they died. She recalled how heroic he seemed that day, not even flinching as a gun was pointed at him, and as he tried to talk the would be thief down even though he could of just ignored her cries for help like so many others had. But as she recalled this day, a feeling of sadness and melancholy crept up as she thought about how she''d never see her family again, even though she had decided to leave her old life behind her. Anne was shaken from her thoughts as Alex continued, "If I hadn''t died that day, then I probably would have just gone on through my mundane life, never really achieving anything significant. Everything I''ve experienced, and done, meeting all of these people, becoming so powerful, it was all because I heard someone cry for help that day and didn''t keep my nose down. It was because of you." Anne took in a shaky deep breath as she tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill, and a series of complicated feelings rose in her. Though she had spent the last twenty years looking forward to meeting the man who had died for her, who had tried to save her, there was also a seed of doubt as she had blamed herself for getting another person killed. Before she could find a way to calm herself or respond to what Alex was saying to her, he then gave her another shock as he summoned a small simple golden band, and offered it to her while saying, "Anne, will you marry me?" It felt as if all of her mental functions had ceased as she looked at the golden ring in Alex''s hand, and registered the question he had asked her. Eventually all she managed was a simple, "...really?" Alex nodded and stated, "Yes. After Edith and Mai were born I''ve been thinking a bit about how I''m living my life, and realized that the way I''m doing things isn''t good enough. Even with me being involved with so many women, a few of which I''m technically officially engaged to, I haven''t yet taken that final step. I want you to be the first I take it with Anne." As Alex spoke Anne felt the tears start spilling as she hesitantly took the ring, and slipped it on her finger, before stating, "Yes... YES!" She then rushed into Alex''s arms and wrapped her own around him as he embraced her in turn, before glancing once more at the ring she now wore. It was simple golden band, devoid of any decorations and jewels, but Anne didn''t think of any of that as its meaning meant more than anything else. As the sun finally disappeared the two dropped onto the blanket below them, still in each other''s embrace, as their lips found each other and they started kissing passionately under the slowly appearing stars. Though she was still emotional, it wasn''t long before the tears in Anne''s eyes were replaced with a type of heat, and she began trying to remove the clothes of her new fianc¨¦, before doing the same to herself. Bereft of their clothing, Alex rolled her over so that he was pinning her down, and slowly he shifted his h.i.p.s until he began entering her hot and steamy hole. Anne gasped at the large and familiar intrusion as Alex slowly continued until he reached her deepest places, casing her to twitch slightly as he pressed up against her w.o.m.b. Alex then slowly started pulling out, before reentering her at a steady pace. The two slowly moved their bodies in a sensual rhythm as they made love under the stars, until they finally reached a release, and Anne felt the warmth inside of her spreading. Not wanting to turn the romantic night into one of mindless f.u.c.k.i.n.g, like usual, Alex started slowly pulling out of Anne, but she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and whispered in his ear, "No. You put a ring on my finger, now I want a baby in my belly. Keep going." Alex was surprised at her insistence, but was more than happy to keep going, making sure that her request was met. (A.N. I know all of you want the next world already, and I''m just letting you know that I''m only planning a few more chapters until then.) Chapter 290 - Elsewhere... The days leading up until Hajime and his class left was rather hectic with the reveal that Alex proposed to Anne, leading to several women wondering when they''d receive their rings as well. Eventually he had promised them that he''d give them a ring as well, but he wanted to make sure the timing and occasion was more appropriate, pacifying the women for the moment. Then, after a night of giving extra love to Suzu and Shizuku, it was time for them all to leave and return home. There were a few teary goodbyes between the classmates and the people of Tortus that they''d become close to, and surprisingly between them and some of the people of Asora. One example was Saji, Sona''s pawn that was previously in love with her, who had apparently grown close one of the girls that was part of Aiko''s bodyguards, Taeko Sugawara, who''s occupation was whip master. Then there was Ryutarou and Sona''s ''Rook'' Loup Garuo, the two had apparently formed a sort of rivalry after Ryutarou returned from the Orcus labyrinth, where he used the Alteration magic he had acquired before to turn into the various monsters he had defeated, including a werewolf. The most surprising parting however was Aiko herself, and Vali of all people. Though Vali acted as if he couldn''t care about it, the fact that he had shown up at all to say farewell said enough, while Aiko fussed over him like a wife and tried to tell him to say goodbye properly. This however led to several quips at Vali''s expense with Bikou especially making comments about his supposed preferences, which in turn led to Vali dragging Bikou away for a "sparring match". With their farewells said and done, it was finally time for them to leave, as Hajime borrowed the compass to locate earth and opened a door to it. After they left it was the start of a relaxing time for those from Asora, as they used the portals to freely travel between there and Tortus to sightsee or challenge monsters and labyrinths in the following months. During the day Alex himself was typically found cruising around on Zenith with several of the girls, and with Edith, Mai, Kunou, Myuu and Millicas as they traveled around to see the sights. They went to the mountain ranges near the lakeside town of Ul, and the Raisen Great Canyon near the town Brooke, where they met up with Catherine at the guild once more. Even the oceans, desert, and ice fields, Alex took everyone to go see them all while also making sure his children were kept safe most of all with several layers of barriers around Zenith to protect them, before finally ending up back at the Sea of Trees. Surprisingly though, the two infants remained in a near constant state of happiness and giggles, even as Alex occasionally took them in his arms and flew around Zenith; showing that apparently in their opinion the safest and funnest place in the world was wrapped in their father''s arms, even as a large monster decided they''d make a nice snack before Alex scared it away, or used his Conquerers Haki to make them fall to the ground. Even as they leisurely toured Tortus during the day, at night everyone would return to Asora to either have dinner before going to sleep, or they would enter the space-time orb with Alex after putting Edith, Mai, and Myuu to bed. He would then spend a week there, tending to his women at night, and training himself during the days within one of the four bio-domes they had, which were constantly being filled with monsters they had caught in Tortus. During this time he decided to put reaching the next level of Super Saiyan on hold, and was instead focusing on either further refining his draconic abilities, or trying to balance his demonic and divine powers. The latter seemed to be an especially slow going process, but that was exactly what the space-time orb was best used for, and Alex made sure he was benefiting from it as much as possible. It was also during these months that Adul managed to fully retire himself, and moved to Asora along with a few dozen members of the dragon race, who were either elders who were also looking to retire, or youths who wanted a chance at going on never before seen adventures fighting worthy opponents. Of course shortly after moving there they found out about the shrine dedicated to Ophis, and each one of them made a point to visit the god of dragons at least once a week, while Adul would also visit her himself every few days to relax and converse with the innocent dragon God. As for Ophis herself, she seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting from her fellow dragons as she was never actively visited or worshipped back in the DXD world, instead being treated as something dangerous. As the months slipped by it wasn''t long until it was finally Alex and Anne''s birthday once again, and there had been several things to keep them excited until then. For instance there was the moment the girls found out about Anne being pregnant, which resulted in them crying about the unfairness of the world; then there was the moment right before their birthday when they found out that both Ravel and Serafall were also pregnant. Ravel was happy that her child would be born so closely to Koneko''s daughter, meaning that they''d be able to grow up together without too much difference in age. Serafall however was a different story, as if she got pregnant she wanted it to be at the same exact time as Sona, but on the other hand she was looking forward to welcoming her own little bundle of joy into the world as she spent quite a bit of time talking about how she''d dress her child up as a magical girl all of the time, which made everyone hope it was another girl, for their sake growing up. As for their birthday itself, Alex and Anne were greeted by a lavish party thrown by the queen of the Heiligh kingdom as a thank you for everything they had done for them. The guest list included the various nobles and royalty that they had met until that point, who all decided to make the trip since they would be leaving to earth the day after, and they wanted to say farewell to everyone. After several hours spent partying they returned to Asora for the night, only for another kind of party to start as soon as Alex entered the space-time orb. There he indulged in pure debauchery for the entire week as the girls continuously attacked him with such perfectly timed assaults, that he realized that they must have been planning this to ensure he could not rest for more than a handful of hours a night. After spending an entire week where no one wore a single stitch of clothing, and Alex spent the entire time inside at least one girl or another, it was finally time to journey to earth, where Alex planned to spend the rest of the days until he could change world''s preparing anyone who wanted to move to Asora. Meanwhile, taking place elsewhere... *** "Take this! HYAAAAA!" A beautiful woman with golden upright hair cried, as she released several ki attacks at a man in Crimson and white armor. The man barely even reacted as the majestic golden battle axe in his left hand responded to the woman''s attacks for him, and turned into a giant lion that swatted the ki attacks out of the sky. Leaving his backside under the protection of the golden lion, the man in the armor instead focused on his other two opponents, a good looking man dressed in a butlers tailcoat, and another good looking man with long red hair, that was wielding a chainsaw. "Hey, instead of fighting like this, why don''t you take off the helmet and let me get a good look at you. Im sure you must be a cutie pie like little Sebas here!" The red haired man cried out even as he rushed the armored man with his chainsaw, sending chills down his and the butlers spines. Even so though, he didn''t let that distract him from blocking the chainsaw as it came at him with the majestic white lance he wielded in his right hand, as the lion once more protected him from the missile-like attacks from the butler, turning out to be simple tableware. The armored man then directed the lance at the butler, before willing it to extend at him and nearly succeeding in impaling him, instead simply scratching his side. The butler let out a genuine cry of shock and pain as he clutched his side and fell to the earth below, leaving the woman and the red haired man dumbfounded, before turning on him in rage. "You''ll pay for that!" The woman cried out as she rushed him and the red haired man went to check on their companion, slamming her leg down on top of his arms as they crossed over his head. This sent them both cascading down to the ground as his lance and battle axe were sent flying from the force of the attack, before they landed and formed a giant creator in the earth. Though he managed to hold up against her attack, the man in the armor cried out as the armor on his arms was shattered from the blow and he could feel his bones straining under the pressure, the only thing keeping them from shattering as well being the power coursing through his body at the moment. "Grrr, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The man cried as tried to push back on her leg, and one of the blue jewels in his armor cried, The golden aura enveloping the woman suddenly diminished greatly, and instead flowed into the armored man. Struck by momentary confusion, the women couldn''t help but utter "What the?", right as the man raised his own foot and kicked her square in the stomach. With her own power diminished suddenly and and mans increasing, the woman was shot back into a far off mountain where she crashed into it and created a massive crater. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, how many more are there?" He asked as he looked around, knowing that more opponents were laying in wait. He then spread his blue wings and took to the skies once more, summoning his fallen weapons while he was at it. Before they even reached him however, FLASH "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The man cried out as a massive bolt of lightning hit him in the back, courtesy of the black haired man standing clear on another mountain. The armored man just barely managed to keep his armor from disappearing even as he fell back towards the earth, but couldn''t keep himself from losing consciousness momentarily upon impact. Regaining himself not even a moment later, the man shakily tried to stand as he tried to figure out what happened, only to realize there was a subdued rumble around him. He glanced around nervously to find the source of it, but it didn''t take much deduction to figure out that the cause was the massive wall of water headed right towards him, with what appeared to be a a person surfing on top of it as he manipulated it. "F.u.c.k me..." The man said, right before the water impacted him and caused him to truly lose consciousness this time. When the man started regaining his consciousness for the second time, he could tell he''d been out for a longer time than before from the golden chains appearing from the void that bound each of his arms and weapons, as three people sat in front of him waiting for him to wake up while the butler and the red haired man stood attentively behind the woman, whose golden hair had turned black. As he observed her closely now he could see that she was bewitchingly beautiful regardless of her messy black hair, or the magic circle carved into her right eye. On the opposite side of her was a burly muscle bound man with his head completely shaved, who just stood there glaring at him menacingly. Between them both was a black haired man who was dressed lavishly, displaying his authority as the one in charge, who was just studying him now that his armor had completely dispersed. the mans attention was diverted back to the woman as she smiled at him suddenly as if to try and bewitch him, which the man might have bought if it wasn''t for the gleam in her eyes that promised pain as she demanded, "What was that weapon you used earlier? Even though it''s just a scratch Sebastian is still hurt even though this shouldn''t be possible." The man simply rolled his eyes at her, but the moment he did so the chains tightened painfully on his arms as the man in the center stated, "No matter who asks them you will answer all questions." As if to prove his point the chains tightened painfully once more, before the man groaned and answered, "The lance that scratched him is one of the holiest artifacts ever created. Your lucky it just scratched him, as a direct hit can ensure the immediate end of any demons or even gods that are struck by it. Since it''s just a scratch it should go away, eventually." The woman glowered at him more at his explain action, before turning to the butler and saying, "Don''t worry Sebastian, Grell and I will just take extra care of you tonight until you recover." At her words the red haired man looked ecstatic and excitedly stated, "Yes yes yes! We will take very good care of you my darling Sebas, every single bit of you." There was an obvious desire in his eyes as he said that, as well as the woman''s that made the butler sigh despite his persistent injury. He also felt the urge to clench up his backside defensively, but the moment he did that another tinge of pain shot through him, forcing him to relax his body, and dread the night ahead. With the only concerning injury dealt with the man in the center, who was obviously the one in charge, demanded to one they had been fighting, "Who are you and why are you here?" The chained man took a breath, and contemplated wether or not to answer but, once his silence stretched for more than a second, another golden chain burst from the void and directed its bladed tip at his heart. Left no choice but to either answer or die, the man said, "My name is Hyato, and I only came to this world because it was the first one I could think of to escape the world I was in before. Ever since I entered it I had been hunted down by the inhabitants who always seemed to know exactly where I was, and they tried to destroy me for no real reason." The woman scoffed when he said he was attacked for no reason, while the man in charge stated, "There must have been a reason, why did you go to that world in the first place?" A very serious look formed on Hyato''s face, grabbing everyone''s attention as they thought he was about to say something important, right as he answered, "I wanted to find my waifu." There was stunned silence as the three took this in, before the man in the middle hesitantly said, "Excuse me?" Hyato nodded seriously as he stated once again, "I wanted to find my waifu, I couldn''t start in the same world she was in, so I tried to go to it once I was able to. Not only was she no longer there, but she was tricked and stolen by the man who went there first while others attacked me automatically." There was silence as everyone took this in, before the woman exclaimed, "He''s gotta be lying!" The bald man nodded in agreement, but another voice suddenly said, "No, his pulse is steady so he''s telling the truth." Not just Hyato, but everyone else suddenly jumped a little at the new voice while the woman stated, "Damn it! Don''t do that you creepy bastard!" The man who was walking from behind Hyato shrugged, and calmly said, "It''s not my fault you can''t see through my concealment, try to notice me better." Though he said that everyone just groaned in response, and when he saw the mans face Hyato understood as well. The man looked extraordinarily plain, nothing about stood out or seemed unusual, but at the same time Hyato had a hard time trying to focus on him. Seeing his scrutiny, the man smiled and said, "Hi, I''m Paul." If his arms weren''t chained he probably would''ve face palmed at that moment, as of course such a plain man would have such a plain name. Before anyone else could say anything though, the man in the center stated, "We''re getting off track here. Since you seem to be telling the truth I''ll give you an option, first is that we kill you and be done with it, the second is that you accept our friend request and join us as an ally, under me." With both options listed the man fell silent as he waited or Hyato''s reply, but the woman stood and declared, "We don''t need him! All he has are fancy toys and no real abilities! Take those toys away and he''s useless!" The bald man snorted and stated in a deep rumble, "Says the super saiyan s.l.u.t that just screws herself silly everyday, and won''t train to get stronger. You''re just saying that because he whipped your ass in that fight." The woman snorted this time as she retorted, "Well how many people can actually go toe to toe with a super saiyan? He only beat me because he somehow drained my strength and took it for himself." As they didn''t know that he had stolen her own strength the other three looked at him curiously to which Hyato shrugged as well as he could with the chains. His silence continued on as he contemplated the offer, before the man in the center sighed and stated, "And, if we see her you can take your.... waifu..." Hyato looked up at this and said, "I''ll accept!" The woman rolled her eyes, but as everyone else sent him a friend request she reluctantly did as well, before demanding, "So what exactly is your "waifu''s" name?" Hyato looked directly at her and said seriously as if he didn''t notice the sarcasm, "Her name is Rias Gremory." *** (A.n. Trigger warning for all of you) At the same time in the deep void of space, an armada of hundreds of space crafts floated in place as they awaited their orders from the large royal ship at their head. Within the largest ship that was meant for the royal procession however, there was practically no tensions among the hundreds of n.a.k.e.d, or near n.a.k.e.d women on board. The only ones making any noise was the pink haired woman with a devil-like tail, and heavy set man who was pounding her from behind as she m.o.a.ned and begged for more. "Ah ah ah, give me more of your amazing d.i.c.k!" She cried out, before the man smacked her asscheek as hard as he could. "Bitch! Who said you could speak? Just for that I have a surprise for you before we leave this universe!" As he finished speaking the man nodded towards a pair of women who acted as guards aboard his ship. They nodded back and left to do as he wanted, returning momentarily with an orange haired prisoner dragged between them. "Wha-what''s happening? Why are you doing- LALA!" The man cried out, getting the girls attention. Even as she turned and looked at her former beloved though, she barely even seemed to register him as she said, "Rito, did you know how amazing this d.i.c.k is? I love it sooooooooo much!" Rito strained against his guards to get free and save her, but with his meager human strength it was impossible. But even as his struggles bore no fruit he shouted, "LALA, I WILL SAVE YOU!" As he cried for her and tried to come up with a way to save her, the fat man laughed and stated, "HA! That''s funny, there''s nothing a brat like you can do about the invincible power of neotare!" Rito stopped struggling when he heard the fat man speak, and asked hesitantly, "Neotare?" The fat man laughed again and stated, "Yes the power of neotare! It''s an invincible ability that makes it where any woman I get my hands on becomes my f.u.c.k bitch for the rest of her life! The laws of logic and reason mean nothing as if the universe itself attempts to help me achieve my goal while I f.u.c.k all the s.l.u.ts around me into oblivion!" He then went on to explain examples of his declaration, such as when he had the Devilukian royal daughters and Queen murder their own father and husband, or when he took control of every other planet and its armies through getting their princesses or queens addicted to his c.o.c.k. Rito looked incredulous at the absurdity that the fat man was spouting, but the proof was right in front of him as the woman he had come to love ignored him in favor of the man who was abusing her. After ranting about the superiority of his neotare for several minutes, the fat man snapped his fingers and said, "And now before you die you''ll see what I mean as I demonstrate with every woman you''ve come to care about!" Panic began to build within Rito at the implications of what he meant, but before he could say anything the truth of the matter was quickly revealed. Out marched every single woman he had come to befriend and care for in their own ways over the last few years, all of which were either n.a.k.e.d or dressed in some form of e.r.o.t.i.c clothing as they glanced at Rito before saying, "Doing it in front of someone else... How shameless!" "...Those with lewd peeping eyes should be destroyed..." "Darling really has the capacity to be a harem King, until a certain Rito over there." "...he really is a beast..." Rito watched with growing horror as they marched by him one by one, until finally the last ones appeared, and he muttered in dumbfoundment, "Mom? Mikan?" Rito watched as his own mother and little sister marched past him n.a.k.e.d, before his mom said, "I''m sorry Rito, but his c.o.c.k is just too amazing, not even your father''s could compare when he was alive." Rito''s mind blanked as he heard this, before he muttered quietly, "Alive...?" The fat man laughed evilly as he explained, "That''s right! I had your father killed weeks ago to ensure your mother belonged only to me! I only had you left alive to witness this grand event before dying!" As the fat man declared as such, Rito''s little sister Mikan stopped right in front of him as he pulled out of Lala, and kicked her to the floor. Rito then watched horrified as he f.u.c.k.i.e.d Mikan right in front of him, before moving onto his mother, and to each and every girl in front of him. "NO! NO! STOP IT!!!!" Rito desperately cried in protest, before the fat man moved onto the last girl in line, Sairenji Haruna. "I''m sorry Rito..." She said as the fat man stood behind her menacingly, before he said, "Haruna is the only one I haven''t laid hands on yet, I saved her for this special day." Rito struggled against his captors as the fat man lined himself up behind her, before thrusting his entire length into her at once, making Haruna cry out in pain along with Rito. "NO! HARUNA!" "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! THROW HIM OUT NOW!!!" The fat man declared as he continued pounding away, ordering the women to throw him into the airlock connected to the bridge of the ship. As the doors closed Rito threw himself against them as he struggled to get to the woman he loved, as well as every single person he cared about, before suddenly the outer doors were opened and he was sucked into the unforgiving void of space. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOW FIRE THE LASERS!" The fat man cried, resulting in a series of lasers firing directly onto Rito''s corpse, and instantly vaporizing it until not even dust remained. Even as the fat man continued pounding each and every one of the girls, making them all m.o.a.n in pleasure, several of them let out subdued sobs as they watched the man they had once loved die, before turning their full attention to the pleasure. The fat man continued laughing for the next hour as he f.u.c.k.i.e.d the girls as much as he wanted, utilizing the ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'' ability he had originally chosen, along with his ''Neotare'' and ''Utilize Subordinate Exp'' abilities, to the fullest. Once he had his fill he kicked the women out and summoned a fresh one, before debating to himself while keeping an eye on his world transfer countdown, "Now what world should I go to next? I need more c.o.c.k-sleeves for my army so I can replace my cannon fodder with them, but what world to get them from? HXH? Nah, useless without Eros. DXD? No, no, I''m not sure about Sirzechs and the rest; the Deviluke King was one thing, but a world filled with gods and Maou is something else entirely. Oh! How about-" (A.N. Trigger warning end.) *** Even at this time of year the academy was already covered with a few inches of snow, but the students of the academy were undaunted as they jogged in two groups, boys and girls, behind a ponytailed blonde in nothing but shorts and tank tops as they chanted, "I DON''T KNOW BUT IVE BEEN TOLD!" """I DON''T KNOW BUT IVE BEEN TOLD!!!""" "THE END OF THE WORLD IS MIGHTY COLD!" """THE END OF THE WORLD IS MIGHTY COLD!!!" "I SWEAR THAT ONE DAY WE''LL BE FREE!" "I SWEAR THAT ONE DAY WE''LL BE FREE!!!" "THE DAMN NOVA WONT GET ME!" """THE DAMN NOVA WONT GET ME!!!""" "SOUND OFF!" """ONE TWO!!!""" "SOUND OFF!" """THREE FOUR!!!""" "SOUND OFF!" """"ONE TWO, THREE FOUR!!!!"""" As the group turned the corner and reached a marker they kept going, and the woman in front called out, "ONE MORE LAP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MAKE IT COUNT!" """SIR YES SIR!!!""" As they kept moving though a boy couldn''t help muttering to his friend, "Another damn lap? We''ve done three already!" His friend nodded and replied, "I heard is the instructor''s birthday is today, one of the seniors told me to beware her on her birthday, but I never thought it''d be this bad!" The first boy groaned and stated, "What is she upset that she''s alone on her birthday? It''s not our fault no one can stand her, the bitch needs to get laid bad!" "ANDREWS, STUART! YOU JUST BOUGHT YOURSELVES THREE MORE LAPS, DO YOU WANT MORE!?" Both boys suddenly righted themselves and stopped talking, before responding, ""SIR NO SIR!"" This earned a series of giggles from the female side, as one of the girls said to her friend, "That''s the infamous ''Man Hater'' for you." "I heard some guy invited her out for drinks tonight, and she broke his nose for it!" "No way!" "LADIES, I DON''T HEAR CHANTING!" ""SIR!!"" The two girls who were talking also quickly righted themselves at the remark, but unlike the boys they weren''t punished with extra running. Even as she led them and started the chant once more, Bethany, Beth for short, felt a bit nauseous at the mention of her birthday. The day held no positive meaning her whatsoever after being reincarnated, as she also considered it the anniversary of the day she was murdered, after being [email protected] for several hours without end. As her mind wandered the memories flooded back to her, and the nausea increased before she ended up going to the side while sending the students ahead, and vomiting into the snow at the base of one of the trees. Her current situation was made so much worse as the memories of that night replayed themselves, the men forcing their way into her house after her parents left for the night, then the feeling as they forced her to the ground and the sound of ripping as they literally tore her clothes from her body. What followed afterwards was the pain as she recalled every horrid moment of it in detail, and the men used her body any which way they wanted, not caring in the slightest of her pain or discomfort. This had continued for hours until it seemed as if they were finally finished, but then as she hoped they''d leave one pulled out a long knife, and the last thing she recalled was the feeling of the cold metal biting into her throat before darkness, never knowing why they did what they did. Her next memory had been in the gods domain as she and the rest were told of their situation, and then left to choose their abilities and destinations. With the left over trauma from her death, Beth had gone out of her way to find a world where the women had more power, and as a result found a world called ''Freezing''. It was a world where beings called "Nova" would invade and attack the inhabiting humans, but none of their weapons or arms would be able to defend them. Eventually they had found a method to fight back using female warriors called ''Pandoras'', and partnering them with male assistants called ''Limiters''. Not caring when she was born, Beth quickly chose the most powerful set of ''Stigmas'', which gave the Pandoras their powers, along with an accelerated regenerative and a martial arts mastery ability. This combination made her one of the most powerful and capable combatants in the army that embodied humanity''s last effort to survive the devastating waves of Nova, and that was before she chose her fourth ability that increased her base physical strength even further. As she grew up in this world however she became one of the most infamous people in the world as she became known as the ''Man Hater'', and showed time and again why she deserved that title. Firstly she refused all attempts by the higher ups to assign a Limiter to her, but then anytime a man tried to get close to her or was rude to her, she would thrash them badly enough that they needed to get sent to the hospital. It didn''t stop at that as whenever she heard about men abusing or taking advantage of women, she would attack them with such a vengeance that some of them later died while receiving medical treatment. Time and again she''d prove why she deserved her title, and time and again those who suffered from her actions tried to have her punished, only to be shot down every time. With the abilities she had received from the god from before, she was easily the strongest Pandora in the world, even eclipsing the famous Aoi Kazuha, so that meant that punishing her would possibly result in more devastation if the Nova attacked. Though after each time someone complained the Pandora Administration and Aoi Gengo would warn her to stop causing trouble, but even when she did attack someone once again she was never punished. Eventually after she finished high school she was scouted to come back and teach the new generations of Pandora, after being made to promise she''ll keep her lessons as impartial as possible. Though she didn''t care for teaching too much, Beth was reminded why she did it when a hesitant voice asked, "Are you ok instructor?" Beth looked up and saw the long blonde hair of a certain Satellizer El Bridget framing her face as she looked at her with concern. The primary reason Beth had taken this position was to help the Pandoras who were victimized by the men of the world, most wanting the prestige of "taming" a powerful Pandora. Satellizer, aka Stella, was someone who Beth pegged immediately as a person who had gone through similar experiences as herself, causing her to try and crack the shell around her that made her earn the name "The Untouchable Queen". Eventually Stella seemed to open up to her, possibly sensing the same thing about Beth that Beth sensed about her, causing the two to grow fairly close even though they were teacher and student(though not romantically). Beth tried to smile at Stella''s concern, as she said, "I''m fine, thank you." Stella nodded and the two started working to catch up with the others. The biggest problem with Beth''s past was that she couldn''t confide in any one, due to the fact that it was impossible for her to say she was [email protected] and murdered in a past life, something that would easily earn her a place in the crazy house if she did say it. She did hope one day she''d be able to confide in someone like Stella, but that day seemed far off still. As they caught up with the others and made their round once again Beth seemed to calm down, the chilled air doing wonders for her at the moment. As they approached the finish line she called out, "Remember Andrews, Stuart, you both have another three laps to do!" The rest of the students snickered at the twos misfortune, but it didn''t last long as a hole was suddenly torn in the sky. Everyone looked up in shock and horror, their first thought being that it was the next Nova wave, but as she scrutinized the hole Beth''s face paled. "PREPARE FOR BATTLE, NOW!!!" Everyone moved at the orders of their instructor, each one preparing to engage the attackers as soon as possible. However what came through the hole wasn''t a Nova, but a large craft looking like a space ship from syfy movie, confusing the students as Stella asked, "Is that really a Nova? It doesn''t look like any I''ve seen!" Beth was silent however as she analyzed the craft, and the several dozen that followed with more following behind them. "No, it''s not a Nova. It is something horribly worse though. I SAID BATTLE STATIONS!" As the students dispersed Beth herself started mentally preparing herself for what was to come as, with this happening on her birthday of all days, there was no way these were Novas. She prepared to battle the first enemy she''d come across to defend the place that had become her home. *** A young man flew jubilantly through the air as he skimmed the waves below with his fingers, his monkey''s tail flowing in the wind behind him. "WAHOOOOOOOOOO!" The man cried as he flew, enjoying every moment of it. Even though he came to his dream world twenty one years ago, he never seemed to face the realization he was actually there, as he half expected to wake up one day and find out it was all a dream. At that moment he noticed the surface of the water break nearby as a pod of dolphins surfaced, prompting the young man to join them as he dove into the water and resurfaced in various poses before diving once more. The Dolphins circled and danced around their new playmate excitedly as they soared through the ocean, before the man had a sad expression on his face as he turned away from them and towards his destination as he called out, "Sorry but I have to go!" He felt bad as he listened to their chittering as he left them behind, but purposely ignored it as he made his way forward. ''You really should have a bigger sense of urgency, what if another player arrived now?'' The voice of his "Angel" said, making the young man laugh out loud before replying, "Then I''d use all my super Saiyan awesomeness and beat them up! Besides, ever since I mentioned warriors from another world possibly showing up with abilities or weapons none of us had ever heard of, Goku has been asking me nonstop about when they''d arrive so he could fight them!" As he thought about his idol and best friend the young man felt a rising sense of jubilation that he was finally here, and living the life he always wanted. His "Angel" sighed in exasperation, but he still had a wry smile on his lips as he was well aware that his charge didn''t have to worry about other players, for the moment at least. The truth was that even though the vast majority of players wanted to go to the Dragon Ball universe, to the point that it was either at the top or near it on their list of worlds to visit, none of them actually seemed to plan to due to the fact that they didn''t want to face the possibility of encountering one of the antagonists. Even with all of the abilities and weapons they had access to, it didn''t mean they would be able to fight against goes such as Freiza, or Cell, since all they would have to do is destroy the planet they were on at the time. Even Beerus could be a giant threat despite not being evil, as he could simply consider the player and anomaly and remove them. It was for this reason that he didn''t push his player too hard to prepare for their arrival, though he did try to make sure he kept them in mind so that he was ready. Even as the "Angel" looked over the records of the other players, he couldn''t help but frown at some of them. Several of them had seemingly let the power go to their head, and started doing whatever they pleased at the expense of others, be it conquering entire worlds and selfishly ruling them, or running rouge while killing and [email protected] as they pleased. Compared to them his player was practically a saint, as he had sadly died and was reincarnated at the age of ten, and hadn''t matured mentally in the time since being reborn due to his sense of boyish wonder and adventure, making him practically a carbon copy of Goku. Truth be told, the "Angel" was hoping that his champion wouldn''t have to battle one of the others anytime soon, and could remain innocent for a while longer. He then smiled fondly as he watched the young man reach a small tropical island with a single house, that had the words "KAME HOUSE" painted on it. There he found all of his friends in this world waiting for him, as they shouted "SURPRISE!" upon his arrival for the surprise birthday party they planned. Chapter 291 - War with the Yaegashi Alex strolled down a certain residential road next to a river as he calmly took in the surrounding sights, until he noticed something through his domain and a bemused smiled spread on his lips. He was now on earth, or at least the Arifureta version of it, and he had spent the entire day traveling from house to house of the "Returnees" as they were now called, interviewing the families to see who would be moving to Asora. He had started of course with Hajime''s, which coincidently Kaori and her family were present as well, and apparently they all accepted moving to Asora fairly well. It seemed that meeting Alex and asking him several questions of their own was their main concern, as exactly what he said would happen had been happening ever since Hajime and the others returned. Though at first there was a month or so of the shock and awe at the class that mysteriously disappeared suddenly reappearing, it was quickly replaced with suspicion as each of the returnees displayed obvious differences in attitude and capabilities, as well as the fact that they were four students short after Hiyama and Shimizu''s deaths, and that Eri and Kouki didn''t return to earth with their classmates. After that several people began scrutinizing them with suspicion while others just ignored them in general, but there were some who believed that they could benefit from capturing and examining the returnees. Of course these people were easily dealt with by Hajime, but it had been a wake up call to the families who had already been told by their children that they didn''t intend to stay. As Hajime already stated his plan to leave with Alex, that meant that if they planned to stay the returnees and their families would have to deal with cults, governments, and secret organizations targeting them alone. With the same thing happening at every family he visited, it was decided that all of the families of the returnees would be moving to Asora, with the exception of Eri''s and Kouki''s. Alex had been to see them as well to explain the current situation regarding their children, though he never bothered inviting Eri''s mother as he knew she wouldn''t care about her daughter. He did throw in her face the fact that she had now lost the last thing connecting her to her dead husband, resulting in a muffled sobbing as he left. Truthfully while Alex didn''t care about Eri herself, he considered what her mother had done as a parent was unforgivable, and could never imagine treating his own daughters in a similar manner. As for Kouki''s family, his parents were hesitant to accept his offer since their son Kouki wasn''t the same as before, but their daughter Mitsuki quickly accepted when she heard that Shizuku was going there. She was the founder and leader of the group known as the ''Soul Sisters'' that followed and practically worshipped Shizuku, and had wanted her brother to marry Shizuku so that they could become real sisters. Though she momentarily glared at him with what even seemed to be minor killing intent, Mitsuki begged to go to Asora for the purpose of being able to keep tabs on her brother so that he didn''t think they abandoned him. Though he knew what her real intentions were, Alex relented since he figured she''d just make things more interesting in the future. Now he was headed to the Yaegashi residence to speak with Shizuku''s family, something he specifically saved for last due to their... eccentrics. They ran a Yaegashi style dojo that taught a samurai style of fighting on the surface, but in their hidden side they were an organization of ninjas(though they refuse to admit it) that did various shady jobs in black vans. Though Shizuku blamed Alex for ninja related jobs due to him giving her the ninja related weapons, it was actually due to the influence of her family and their history that she had a natural tendency for ninjutsu, something she had undoubtedly found out by now. There was another reason he saved talking to Shizuku for last, as he rounded a corner and saw what he had sensed earlier, as two dozen high school girls stood right outside a heavy duty gate that led to the estate of the Yaegashi. In their front was a twin tailed girl who had her chest puffed out proudly as she declared, "HALT! You will go no further, and we will not let you torment our Onee-sama anymore! WE ARE THE SOUL SISTERS, AND YOU ARE OUR ENEMY!" Alex smirked at their attitude as they made it seem like he was the one bugging Shizuku, before putting on a serious face saying while holding up two fingers, "These are all I need to get past you. Do you really want to try it and be dumb, or do you want to be smart?" Their eyes narrowed even more at his taunt as they huffed in indignation, causing him to sigh while saying "you asked for it." The Soul Sisters never even knew what happened as Alex suddenly appeared behind them and kicked the gate open, but before they could react several sensations shot through their bodies and they fell to the ground with expressions that good girls shouldn''t show in public. "Usually I wouldn''t use such techniques on women, but, I''m sure you''ve been messing with Shizuku as well for "betraying" you. If I''ve got it wrong then I apologize, if not then don''t try me again, next time I won''t hold back." Alex then kept walking through the gate, never turning back to check on the Soul Sisters, who were writhing on the ground in ecstasy. He had used his fingers to give them an intense pleasure that they couldn''t stand, but did so without directly touching any of the questionable areas of their bodies due to his intimate knowledge of a woman''s body. The reason he decided to be so "ruthless" to the women was that they claimed to be Shizuku''s followers, yet prioritized their own expectations and happiness over her own and tried to force their intentions onto her, such as trying to pair her with Kouki. As he walked through the gate Alex suddenly heard a series of cries and shouts as several presences made their way towards him. "Who dares trespass here?!" "Wait! That appearance! Can he be?" "Men, prepare to attack, we are defending Ojou from this harem beast!" After there were several cries, Alex heard what even sounded like a medieval horn blowing in the distance before several items honed in onto him, stopping just in front of his face in midair. "Really, shrukian?" Alex muttered in disbelieve as he analyzed the objects he stopped with his domain, before letting them fall to the ground as he continued walking. As he did so he spread out his senses and detected every attacker surrounding him, despite their attempts to hide from him, and focused his Haki onto them. "Get hi-baaabllll" One man shouted, right as he fainted from the Conquerers Haki along with a few dozen of his comrades. Alex''s smirk never wavered as he casually walked through the Yaegashi family estate, taking in the surroundings until two new voices that hadn''t been knocked out by his Haki declared, ""TAKE THIS!"" Alex calmly held up a finger from each hand, and stopped the two katanas that were being swung at him with enough force to cut trees and smash boulders. Alex calmly glanced at the two assailants, an older man that appeared to be in his eighties and a middle aged man with a long scar down his right cheek, before saying, "You must be Shuuzou and Kouichi, right? It''s nice to meet you." The two men glared at him before pulling back their katanas, and Kouichi said, "I guess my daughter told you about us huh? Well I assume you''re that harem bastard tricked my daughter into falling for you." Alex nodded, not even bothering to try and deny his harem, and said, "You could say that I guess. I came to see Shizuku and meet her family, while also discussing the possibility of moving to Asora." Kouichi nodded and said, "We heard all about that place from Shizuku, and about the recent attempts against her and her classmates. I won''t lie, it would be somewhat reassuring if we didn''t have to worry about some shady group coming after my daughter or the rest of us, but I also don''t like the idea of giving her to you as well." Alex shrugged since he fully expected this to begin with but, before he could answer, a smile twitched at the corner of his lips, causing Shuuzou and Kouichi to glare even more until a new voice shouted, "Alex!" They turned and saw a beautiful Shizuku rushing across the yard to meet them, or more specifically Alex. She was dressed in a beautiful kimono and it was obvious to everyone else that she had made the effort to touch up her face and hair in expectation of Alex''s arrival. Alex''s smile widened as she rushed to him and jumped into his open arms, before he twirled her around and the two embraced happily for the first time in months, though in Alex''s case it was a lot longer. When he finally put her down he took the chance to steal a kiss, making the usually cool girl blush with embarrassment from showing affection in front of her father and grandfather. As for the two themselves, they were both staring at her dumbfoundedly from the overwhelmingly beautiful and feminine appearance she currently had. The two glanced at each other and a glimmer of understanding seemed to pass between them, before Kouichi stated, "Alright, alright! That''s enough you two!" As he separated them Shizuku glowered at her father while Alex smiled wryly, but then she quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the house while saying, "Let''s go, I can only imagine what they tried to do to you." Alex shook his head but followed her anyways since he could tell she was in a bad mood from the actions of her family, even though nothing they could do would even effect him to begin with. Shuuzou and Kouichi shared another look with each other before they also quickly followed them. As they reached the entrance to the house that the Yaegashi family lived in, there was a mature woman who looked like an older Shizuku waiting for them. She seemed like the picture of elegance and poise as she bowed slightly to Alex and said, "Welcome to our home Alex, the Dragon Emperor and Champion of Gabriel. Please, come inside" As she turned and entered the house Alex looked surprised at the use of his titles, and glanced at Shizuku as she turned away before muttering, "Ryutarou and Suzu might have mentioned something when they came to visit." He smiled wryly once more and replied, "Thank you for the invitation." He then followed her into the home with his arm held out while Shizuku held onto it, and while Shuuzou and Kouichi followed them as well, whispering something as they walked. Shizuku''s mother led them to the living room, where the second he walked through the doorway a series of arrows were shot from the opposite wall. Once again Alex stopped them when they were mere inches from his face with his ''Domain'', before letting them fall to the floor. "Tch, so that didn''t work either..." Shuuzou muttered from behind them, which made Shizuku try and confront her grandfather, except Alex''s arm was linked with her own so she couldn''t. Instead he directed them to sit at the center table as if nothing happened, only for the floor mat under him to give way to a spike pit below. Alex however calmly floated above it as if nothing happened, before turning to Shizuku and saying, "You know, a house full of dangerous traps like this isn''t really safe, I''m happy that I''ll be taking you someplace much safer and welcoming." As he said this Shuuzou, Kouichi, and Shizuku''s mom Kirino all grimaced while Shizuku beamed at him as she felt similarly. It actually wasn''t until returning from Tortus that she learned about her family''s true history, and this was the first time she had seen all of the traps that laid around their house, something that made her swear to herself to check her room for them later. The thing that Shizuku couldn''t believe the most however was that her father and grandfather actually attacked Alex with real swords when he arrived, though granted he could''ve arrived in a more peaceful manner than kicking open their gate. At that moment Kirino spoke up, "I apologize for our lack of manners, please, have some tea." She then picked up the tea pot that sat on the table and began pouring a cup for everyone present, finally ending with Alex''s before offering it to him. Alex might have believed her earlier apology at that, if it wasn''t for the fact that through his ''Domain'' he noticed something fall out of Kirino''s sleeve as she poured his tea. Despite knowing what she did, Alex didn''t hesitate and downed the tea within a few gulps, before saying with a smile, "Refreshing, this tea is delicious ma''am." Though her expression and stature didn''t waver in the slightest after seeing Alex casually drink her tea, her eye did the barest twitch, which both Alex and Shizuku caught due entirely to their heightened capabilities. "Mom, did you do something to the tea?!" Kirino giggled elegantly and stated, "Ohohoho, how could I? I served everyone the same tea." Though Shizuku''s glower didn''t waver in the slightest at her explanation, both her father and grandfather were nodding in agreement as if to say she was over thinking it, until Alex said, "So something didn''t fall out of your sleeve and into my cup ma''am?" Hearing this all three of their expressions made the barest of twitches suddenly, while Shizuku''s eyes widened and she stood shakily while summoning her sword, "All of you! I looked forward to the man I love coming to meet my family, coming to see me again after so long! And this is what happens?!" The three perpetrators looked away at Shizuku''s outburst as if they suddenly found something else in the room interesting, even as she grabbed the handle of her own sword. Before she could do anything though, Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her back down onto his lap, where he took advantage of her momentary surprise to seal her lips with a passionate kiss. The second their lips connected the entire Yaegashi family turned back towards then and glowered at him as Alex passionately kissed Shizuku for over a minute. Once their lips finally parted there was a noticeable flush on Shizuku''s face as she tried to form a sentence, before Alex said, "Now that you''re calmed down, would you mind giving me a minute with your parents?" Shizuku shyly nodded as she tried to climb out of his lap, before grabbing his poisoned cup and stuttering, "I-I''ll just g-go and clean this out..." She then quickly left the room, leaving Alex alone with with her still glowering family. He then said, "I get it, you don''t like me and you don''t want your daughter to be with me, but I''m gonna be rude and say that being with me makes Shizuku happy, which you haven''t down too good a job of doing yourselves." Each one of her family members looked as they were slapped in the face at his comment, before Shuuzou reluctantly stated, "Truthfully, we are grateful to you. None of us have seen Shizuku so happy in a long time, and as you said its our fault that happened. That child has such an amazing talent with the sword that we pushed for her to learn more, but we never realized how it was affecting her until it was too late. That was why we never told her the truth about our family as we didn''t want to hurt her even more, until she came back from that other world claiming she found a husband, and that she wanted to learn more about the sword for him." Alex smiled at Shuuzou''s explanation while Kouichi and Kirino both nodded next to him in agreement, though he truthfully already knew all of this. He knew Shizuku eagerly used the sword at first due to the praise she received from her family while doing so, but it wasn''t until her femininity began getting called into question that she started closing herself off. Now, due to becoming his ''Knight'', her drive towards mastering the sword had been reignited as she learned through him and the others in Asora that she could be both a girl, and a sword master. Kouichi then stated, "Our real issue though, is what exactly are you?" At this Shuuzou and Kirino both stared at him intently as they awaited his answer, to which Alex smiled wryly before saying, "Well firstly I''m gonna say that while I appear human, I am not, and neither is Shizuku anymore." Alex then launched into an explanation of peerages, evil pieces, as well as giving a bit of background on himself. As he finished Kirino asked, "I don''t know much about ''Devils'', but aren''t they supposed to be evil? How do we know you aren''t tricking our daughter to take advantage of her, or are trying to steal her soul?" He laughed a bit bitterly at her question while all three of them paid close attention, with even some tension building within their bodies in case they needed to fight. He then said, "Well firstly I wasn''t born a devil, I got my powers through an evil piece similarly to Shizuku. And secondly, I wasn''t even the one to offer my evil piece to her, Shizuku was the one who ''made a deal with the devil'' and asked me for it, for the sake of gaining the strength to help her friends." As he finished speaking Alex waited to see the Yaegashi family would react, before they all let out he slight breath they had been holding and relaxed. Shuuzou then said, "Ok then, Shizuku told us the same thing but we wanted to hear it from you. She also told us that even if we tried to stop you from taking her we couldn''t. I''ve already spoken to the majority of my students, and if you''ll have us the entire Yaegashi dojo is willing to follow you into this Asora." Alex smiled at Shuuzou''s words while Kouichi and Kirino nodded beside him, before adding, "But don''t expect us to let up on you, our son-in-law should at least be able to handle that much." Alex''s smile widened at the added condition, as he fully expected them to continue targeting him anyways, at least for the sake of appearances if nothing else. Right after they finished talking Shizuku finally returned, even though she had been listening in for a while to see how it''d go, and they finally got around to just talking and learning more about each other until it was time for dinner. After they ate he was invited to stay the night, a weird enough invitation until he realized they must have wanted to try a different night assault than what he was used to. He was then invited/forced to join Kouichi and Shuuzou in the bath, where they secretly appraised his body due to all of the muscle he had acc.u.mulated through his life. They could tell that unlike body builders who mostly built up muscles for looks, his were genuinely for strength and fighting, and his movements were that of a fighter who left no openings. As men of combat they appreciated his body build until he dropped his shorts, Alex then had to deal with Kouichi muttering "I''ll cut it off" repeatedly as they awkwardly continued their bath. Afterwards he was sure that Kouichi told his wife about what he and Shuuzou witnessed in the bath, as she kept giving Alex strange looks until it was time for bed. "Of course I won''t allow my daughter and the man who I just met today to stay near each other. She''ll be in her room tonight, and you''ll be in a guest room on the other side of the house." Alex smiled as if nothing was wrong, and answered, "Of course, I understand completely." He then headed towards his assigned room while Kouichi watched him leave with a smile that didn''t reach his eyes, before forming a minor hand signal to those who were watching. Alex smirked as he entered his assigned room, and collapsed on the bed while counting how many presences he could feel through his domain, and even listen in on when he focused his intent on them. Currently there was several dozen people in the house, and they were all making plans to attack him as he slept, either by trying to get him when his guard was down, or by trying to tire him out by refusing to let him sleep. Alex''s smirk grew as he planned not to get much sleep anyways, just not for the reasons they planned. As Kouichi and Shuuzou both placed themselves outside his room, as if to lie in wait for if he tried to visit Shizuku, Alex placed several barriers around the room to prevent anyone or anything from entering, before crafting an illusion on the bed as if he was sleeping. Though he may not be a barrier or illusion master like Kuroka, he could still do something to keep out and fool regular humans. His preparations complete, Alex used Spatial magic to teleport directly into Shizuku''s room where he caught her mildly by surprise. "Eh?" She muttered unconsciously, causing Kirino to stir outside her door, and ask, "Is something wrong Shizuku?" Quick on her feet, Shizuku explained while Alex crafted the barriers, "Yeah! I thought I heard someone in the ceiling above me!" With a frown forming on her face, Kirino went to yell at the person stationed above Shizuku''s room in case Alex tried to use the crawl space to visit her, though they weren''t actually spying on her as they didn''t intend to violate Shizuku''s privacy. Taking advantage of Kirino''s departure, Alex proceeded to set up barriers to prevent entry, seal sound inside, and to create a false image of Shizuku sleeping if someone did try to spy on her. With his preparations done, Alex went to give Shizuku another kiss while she dodged him and hissed, "Are you crazy? My mom''s gonna be outside the room all night!" Alex nodded and said, "Yep, that''s why I placed several barriers to make sure she can''t see or hear us all night." Shizuku shook her head though and said, "I want to, I really do, but it''s too risky!" Alex''s smile widened as he quickly stepped closer to her and grabbed her waist to hold her close. "Doesn''t that just make it more exciting?" Her eyes widened even more, but she didn''t fight it as Alex slipped his hand under the yukata she''d changed into after her bath, while his other hand loosened the obi until the entire garment fell to the floor. As it did Alex looked Shizuku''s body up and down before saying, "It looks like I wasn''t the only one looking forward to this reunion, despite how risky you said it was." Shizuku glanced away embarrassedly as Alex closely examined her body, which was bereft of any clothes under her yukata, including a pair of panties, in anticipation of Alex''s expected visit. He then surprised her by suddenly grabbing her butt and pulling her closer, before turning and guiding her while falling onto the bed. All of Shizuku''s resistance and reasoning had flown out of the window by this point, as she eagerly brought her head up to Alex''s and kissed him passionately while also helping him remove his own clothing. Once he was stripped Alex took his ready and eager member and guided it towards Shizuku soaking entrance, where he started entering her until his tip was inside, before pulling it out and rubbing it around her entrance. "Eh?" Shizuku groaned as he refused to penetrate her, instead seemingly teasing her by rubbing it outside and smearing her fluids, before realigning it. Alex then placed the tip against the entrance once more and inserted it, much to Shizuku''s satisfaction, before suddenly removing it once more and repeating his earlier actions. With a growing frustration at not being penetrated for a second time, once Alex inserted his tip for the third time, she took no chances and wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him forward while also raising her h.i.p.s, ensuring his entire length was driven into her at once. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Shizuku cried while her insides wiggled and squeezed at the familiar object inside her, making her climax immediately once he was fully inside. "I didn''t think that you''d be that eager for it." Alex whispered in her ear as she came down off her high, causing her to glare at him before pouting, "Well you refused to put it in, and after so long I was tired of waiting!" Alex smiled and said, "Well since you want to do it so badly, then let''s make sure to put on a good show for the audience." At first Shizuku felt a bit of panic at Alex''s words as she thought that someone from her family was spying on them, but then she noticed all of the stuffed animals in her collection, and the fact that they all seemed to be staring at them even though they hadn''t been moved. She immediately wanted to do something about them, but before she could Alex pulled out everything but the tip before hammering it back in, slamming it against the entrance to her w.o.m.b and sending waves of pleasure through her that she hadn''t experienced in months. Even though she had been concerned about her parents finding out about them earlier, Shizuku seemed to have forgotten all about them as Alex jack-hammered her insides and made her m.o.a.n endlessly from her constant climaxes. Eventually Alex himself was nearing his own climax, and as his pistoning increased in speed she could feel a bigger climax than any of the previous ones coming, before Alex filled her w.o.m.b with his seed and she was pushed over the edge. "I take it you enjoyed that." Alex said with a touch of humor as Shizuku''s eyes slid out of focus, before she focused on him once more and said, "Of course I enjoyed it, but the nights not over yet!" She then turned over, putting Alex on his back as she rode him cowgirl and made a quick signal with her hands, before two more n.a.k.e.d Shizuku''s suddenly popped into existence. Alex''s smile widened as he saw where this was going, and one of the new Shizuku''s stated, "To make up for all the lost time-" "-let''s enjoy ourselves as much as possible." While the main Shizuku continued to ride him, one went down until Alex couldn''t see her, and started licking and sucking on his family jewels and the base of his shaft, while making sure to give the main Shizuku attention down there as well. The other one however made her way upwards and bashfully lifted her leg over his head, giving Alex a complete view of her eager s.e.x and backdoor before all he saw was blackness as she sat on his face. She then proceeded to awkwardly make out with the main body, while the other clone continued licking them both down below, kicking off the rest of the night. The next morning Alex was laying in Shizuku''s bed fast asleep, as her main body laid on top of him, and her two clones laid on either side as they used his arms for pillows. Sadly their pleasant slumber would soon be interrupted when his barriers wore off, and a tired Kirino walked in to wake her daughter up, causing the Yaegashi''s war on Alex to truly begin. Chapter 292 - R.I.B After a fairly hectic and bloodl.u.s.t filled morning with the Yaegashi after they caught him and Shizuku in bed together, Alex jumped right into preparing to leave this earth as he started moving the families of the returnees to Asora. Due to knowing about their children''s intentions to move, the majority of the parents had already been making preparations to leave earth behind for quite a while, they just hadn''t done anything too permanent until they could speak to Alex himself. Now that they had, they were finalizing their preparations to leave while several had already left, with Hajime using his golems and capabilities to ensure their departure was kept quiet. Slowly but surely the days until Alex left he world drew closer, until it was finally the day, and he was in a meeting with the others of Asora about the world he was gonna choose. "So will it be another world with amazing magical opportunities?" "No! This time it should be a world that is advanced technologically so that we can balance out our technology and magic!" "I think a world with several weapons or artifacts ripe for the taking would be best, then we can add to our arsenal!" One by one everyone pitched their ideas for what world they thought would be best to go to and why, while Alex listened before finally saying, "I already thought about it, and I decided the kind of world I''m going to go to." Everyone was silent as they listened to what Alex would say next, as he explained, "As far as powers go, I already have a plethora that I need to spend more time mastering as well as Conception magic, which will still take a while. As for technology and artifacts, we have the best of Grigori with us as well as Hajime, who is a better craftsman than any of those who''ve devoted their entire lives towards the crafts in multitudes of world''s. He can already create almost any weapon we can imagine with Conception magic, and potentially make it more powerful than any of its counterparts. Not to mention Asora was supposed to be a place of peace for the majority of its occupants, we should instead be focusing on making things better in the Homefront, making our current and future inhabitants happier and more comfortable." As he finished speaking everyone was silent, before Yasaka stated, "I agree, rather than adding more to your arsenal you should spend some time developing what you already have. We should also do as we need to, and focus on making the people of Asora happy." With that being said Anne spoke up, "Um, I have an idea then, but I wasn''t sure when to bring it up." As she finished speaking Anne placed something onto the table, which turned out to be a simple acorn. "Uh, what is that?" Barakiel asked, before Anne explained, "I found it in the sanctuary of the Haltina labyrinth, it''s a seed for another great tree. According to its description it can bolster plant life and the natural energy in the place where it''s planted, I was thinking maybe it could be planted nearby at the center of a park or something so that people could enjoy the nature there." Silence met her explanation as everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the little acorn, before Alex started laughing and said, "Excellent! Many of the people would want to get away from pollution or the dirtiness that exists in most worlds, a great tree could go a long way to helping us Anne, thank you." Anne smiled at Alex praise, but she then rubbed her swelling belly, that looked like it was getting a little too big, and said, "While we were still in Tortus I worked on increasing my level until I finally was able to get another skill, which the one I got allows me to control plants and help them grow to compliment my other ability. Maybe we should save planting the great tree until after this fellow is born, so that I can help it grow faster without potentially hurting them." Everyone nodded gravely, as the last thing they wanted was Anne exerting herself while she was pregnant, and Yasaka said to her, "That''s fine, it''ll give us time to arrange the place and boundaries of the park, and I know many youkai will appreciate being able to go there." Everyone nodded and then started pitching a variety of ideas for the future park until they moved onto the next topic, and Hajime stood before saying, "This is a list of the items that I managed to finish after going home, and a few that I''ve worked on." As he finished speaking Hajime handed Alex the list, before pulling out a few items such as an elongated silver cylinder with a set of sunglasses to go with it, and another set of sunglasses that helped disguise a person so that the people around them didn''t notice them as well. He then excitedly pulled out a small spherical device, and displayed it while saying, "And this is the grand prize of my collection!" Everyone stared at him with a deadpan expression as they waited to hear what was so special about the unassuming sphere, though it appeared that Hajime was either airing for them to ask, or thought they''d understand its potential just by briefly looking at it like he had. Eventually Serafall had to ask, "So what is it?!" Hajime looked at her seriously and asked, "Isn''t it obvious?" Everyone shook their heads in response, causing Hajime to display a look of shock at their lack of understanding, before he pulled out a projector system and started a several page power point about the sphere, its creation, and it''s uses. Long story short, it was a sphere he had created by accident after he stumbled into another world while visiting his grandparents, which was filled with dragons and sky people due to the ground being uninhabitable. This and that happened and he helped out a group before killing an evil godlike dragon, resulting in him acquiring the sphere and a large ship that he planned to remodel for himself. The sphere however was what he was truly excited about as it was swirling with two forms of energy in perpetual motion, meaning that once he figured out how to harness it Hajime would be able to extract infinite energy. Understandably everyone who had long since started falling asleep suddenly jerked at this information, and Barakiel demanded, "You mean you actually found a way to generate endless energy?!" Hajime looked smug as he explained, "Well it''s not a form of energy we can currently use, but I''ve been working on a way to convert electricity into magic power, and after that it''ll be converting this into it, and maybe electricity." Everyone was stunned at the information that they now had a source of literally infinite energy within Asora, something that nearly every single civilization that ever existed would unhesitatingly go to war for. "The longer I serve you the more outrageous things seem to get..." Grayfia muttered quietly, but Alex could tell that she was actually getting excited at everything they were acquiring and achieving. Before things could spiral even more he stood and said, "So, just to recap, we are going to start making plans for a park where Anne will plant her great tree seed, Hajime and the Grigori will work together to improve out technology,, and to figure out how to utilize the sphere with perpetual motion, and possibly how to create more. He also took the time to gather and acquire several items of entertainment from his earth for us to have here in Asora, such as books, movies, and so on. And finally, I''ll be going to a world where we can take things a bit slower and develop ourselves in preparation of the battles to come." Everyone shouted in agreement at him, causing Alex to smile slightly as they stood to leave. He then glanced out the window towards a certain rabbit compound, and hoped that the things he had given them would help them divert their chuuni disease into a more productive direction. (A.N. So basically the next world is one where the mc and others can take the time to train and prepare by spending the days in the world itself, and the nights in the space-time orb, extending them to a week. In this case the single year can be extended into eight years of time, with each day being extended into eight, and if the mc really wanted to drag it out he could spend the entire time in the space-time orb and drag it out to roughly thirty years, with each day being a month instead.) *** As Alex was looking their direction, the entire Haulia clan that had grown to absorb nearly every single rabbitman in Tortus was gathered in neat and orderly rows. They were all wearing matching black suits in pristine condition while staring ahead at Cam, who was standing before an alter as he declared, "AND HERE WE HAVE THE SACRED TEACHINGS GIVEN TO US BY THE BOSS!" """THE BOSS!""" They chanted in response, while Cam announced, "I WILL NOW BEGIN READING THE CODE OF THE FIRST TEACHING!(modified version) ''YOU ARE A RUMOR, RECOGNIZABLE ONLY AS D¨¦J¨¤ VU AND DISMISSED JUST AS QUICKLY! YOU DON''T EXIST! YOU WERE NEVER EVEN BORN! ANONYMITY IS YOUR NAME, SILENCE YOUR NATIVE TONGUE! YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE SYSTEM! YOU ARE ABOVE THE SYSTEM! OVER IT! BEYOND IT! WE ARE "THEM"! WE ARE "THEY"!'' Cam then turned to face the same direction as the rest of the Haulia as if he was facing a camera, and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his coat pocket, while the hundreds of rabbitmen behind him did the same, and put them on in one fluid motion before concluding, ''WE ARE, THE RABBITS IN BLACK!'' *** As the sun started rising the next day Alex was at a park in Japan, waiting for the timer of his countdown to wear out before moving to the next world. He had been thinking about what world he would go to and, though there would be fighting there, the situation would be nothing like Tortus where they had to worry about catching the attention of a body stealing God. Instead it was world where they could steadily take the time to train while also relaxing somewhat, and where Alex could still find some potential members for his peerage. As this thought crossed his mind he glanced at the girls currently with him, Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, Shia, and Shizuku, and said, "You know, the world I decide on is just like another version of earth so it''s not gonna be too exciting to go there like Tortus." The girls all nodded, before Rias said, "True, but as your peerage this is our privilege. You chose us to accompany you as you travel and we all plan to, no matter where we go." Everyone nodded before Yue adde, "...Plus we''ve never seen this before, we want to see it..." At this only Shizuku and Shia nodded as, while they saw the transfer to earth from Tortus, they hadn''t seen the process that Alex used to transfer universes yet. He smiled and didn''t say anymore on the matter as he waited for the cool down to finish, coincidently Anne was still in Asora, and since she wasn''t using her own ability to move worlds they had the theory that it would be used as an emergency evacuation measure if they needed to leave a world asap. As the timer was almost at zero, they suddenly heard a voice on the wind, "WAIT FOR ME ONEE-SAMA!!!" They all turned and showed incredulous expressions at what they saw, as a twin tailed girl weaved her way through the morning traffic on a bicycle, making a beeline straight for them. "Oh no..." Shizuku muttered while the other girls were making sounds of amazement that they had been found, while Kuroka even asked her, "You didn''t say anything to anyone did you~Nya? Do you have a tracker on you or something?" Though she did a quick check just to be sure, Shizuku shook her head and said, "No, I didn''t say anything to anyone..." Everyone was dumbfounded as the girl, known as kohai-chan, entered the park and dashed across the paths while honing in on them. "Is there any way to hurry up?" Shizuku pleaded with Alex, as she knew that any of the soul sisters would demand to go with her if they couldn''t convince her to stay. Sadly Alex shook his head, but he told Lauren where and when he intended to go to ensure they moved as quickly as possible. As Kohai-chan closed in on them the countdown finally ended and Alex said, "Quick, come on!" Everyone quickly fled into the portal without getting the chance to admire the experience, causing it to close right as Kohai-chan reached it, and blasted by into a tree. As she slammed into the tree at full speed, kohai-chan went flying past it and skipped across the grass until she came to a stop in a comical fashion with her face down and skirt flipped up, displaying her cutesy panties for any morning joggers. After several minutes she twitched, before righting herself and glaring at the spot where they had disappeared, declaring, "NO MATTER WHAT ONEE-SAMA, I WILL SAVE YOU FROM THAT BEAST!" And so began a certain kohai-chan''s journey as she tried to save her one-sama, taking her to different worlds either through accidents or summoning as she launched headfirst into scouring them for her one-sama, defeating any and all bad guys or demon kings that crossed her path. As she unintentionally became a hero in each world due to her search, she would lead armies only because they might help her, and through them her battle cries echoed throughout entire universes, "FOR ONEE-SAMA", But that is a story for another time. (A.N. Here''s an update on the statuses. I decided to reorganize them and make them over , so hopefully this will be easier for me in the future as well as all of you. However, I also modified some skills or added ones that honestly should have been in there to begin with, as well as added a couple of descriptions for skills that no one knows when they do yet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Alex Race: Saiyan Titles: Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer, Monstrosity, Champion Level: 260 Job: Scythe User: 30 Available jobs: Mage Adept, Master Martial Artist, Draconian Overlord, Gravity Expert, Holy Enemy, Berserker, Sword Adept, Ape Lord, Expert Seducer, Whip User, Harem Lord, Staff Expert, S.e.x Master, Charm Expert, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Magic Apprentice, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Medium, Darwinist, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Tamer Apprentice, Soul Breaker, Demon Lord, God Killer, Demonic Guider, Scythe Adept, Divine Guider, Job history: Hatchling Draconian Warrior, Apprentice Mage, Draconian Warrior, Arsonist, Senior Draconian Warrior, Martial Artist, Draconian Tyrant, Expert Martial Artist, Ruthless Draconian Tyrant, Gravity User, Sword User, Pyromaniac, Staff User, Mage, Demonic Charmer, Staff Adept, Divine Nemesis, Seducer Passive Skills: Fire Resistance: level 9 Poison Resistance: level 9 Mental Resistance: level 5 Automatic Magic Recovery: level 3 Gravity Mastery: level 10 Fire Mastery: level 7 Monstrous Strength: 8 Accelerated Regeneration: 1 Strengthen Subordinates: 1 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: level 10 Lovers Embrace: level 4 (This is based off of the Love-Making skill from death Mage that is a form of hygiene, where if a person acquires it then their partners will become healthier, and would even live longer lives while supposedly their descendants will prosper.) Seduction: level 2 Active Skills: Dragon Demon''s Breath: level 6 Divine Dragon breath: level 2 Domain: level 3 Energy Nullification: level 3 Draconian Form: level 7 Intimidation: level 10 Ki Manipulation: level 9 Devils Charm: level 8 Sword Technique: level 8 Staff Technique: level 6 Scythe Technique: 2 Creation Magic: level 2 Space Magic: level 6 Regeneration Magic: level 8 Spirit Magic: level 5 Evolution Magic: level 5 Alteration Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Soul Break: level 1 Unique Skills: Reincarnated Devil: King Evil Piece Boosted Gear Asora Enslavement Magic Haki ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kuroka Toujo Race: Nekoshou Job: Time Mage Expert: 20 Jobs available: Master Martial Artist, Poison Master, Space Mage Queen, Time Mage Master, Acrobat, Illusionist, Shape Shifter, Expert Thief, Saboteur, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Medium, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Tamer Apprentice, Familiar Creator, Feline Guardian Job history: Poison User, Space Mage, Thief, Archmage, Poison Expert, Master Mage, Martial Artist, Adept Thief, Grandmaster Mage, Expert Martial Artist, Shape Shifter, Space Archmage, Time Mage Apprentice, Space Master, Apprentice Saboteur, Space Grandmaster, Time Mage Adept Passive Skills: Poison Resistance: level 4 Enlarged Magic Pool: level 10 Automatic Magic Recovery: 9 Superhuman Strength: 7 Active Skills: Feline Form: level 5 Stealth: level 10 Shadow Cloak: level 6 Poison Miasma: level 1 Toxic Talons: level 1 Ki Mastery: level 5 Magic Mastery: level 2 Magic Sight: level 7 Kasha: level 9 Touki Mastery: level 1 Illusion Magic: level 7 Space Manipulation: level 2 Creation Magic: level 2 Gravity Magic: level 4 Petrification: level 3 Regeneration Magic: level 6 Spirit Magic: level 3 Evolution Magic: level 3 Alteration Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Reincarnated Devil: Queen Evil Piece Youjutsu Senjutsu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Rias Gremory Race: Superdevil Titles: Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Job: Magic Sniper: 25 Jobs Available: Destruction Queen, Grandmaster Mage, Charm Master, Demon General, Magic Sniper, Expert Gunner, Subordinate Mage Princess, Gravity Mage Expert, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Medium, Spirit Destroyer, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Tamer Apprentice Job History: Destruction Mage, Destruction Archmage, Destruction Mage, Archmage, Mage, Demonic Leader, Lord of Destruction, Apprentice Martial Artist, Gun Mage, Demonic Charmer, Destruction Overlord, Magic Gunner, Gravity Mage Apprentice, Charm Expert, Destroyer, Gravity Mage Adept Passive Skills: Absolute Destruction: level 9 Magic Mastery: level 5 Immense Magic Pool: level 3 Automatic Magic recovery: level 9 Strengthen Followers: level 2 Superhuman Strength: level 5 Active Skills: Extinguished Star: level 9 Apocalyptic Extinction: level 3 Domain of Destruction: level 3 Reaper''s Ruin: level 10 Destruction Duelers: level 8 Command Followers: level 10 Devils Allure: level 6 Creation Magic: level 3 Gravity Magic: level 7 Space Magic: level 4 Regeneration Magic: level 4 Spirit Magic: level 3 Evolution Magic: level 2 Alteration Magic: level 1 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Destruction Super Devil Form Bishop Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue/Aletia Galdea Vesperito Avatarl Race- Shinso Vampire Titles: Vampire Princess, Crotch Smasher, Magical Girl Vampire Princess Job- Shadow Mage Apprentice: 5 Jobs Available: Grandmaster Mage, Expert Fire Mage, Expert Water Mage, Expert Ice Mage, Expert Earth Mage, Expert Lightning Mage, Expert Wind Mage, Subordinate Vampire Princess, Gravity Mage Apprentice, Magical Girl, Space Mage Apprentice, Time Mage Apprentice, Healing Mage Apprentice, Spirit Mage Apprentice, Spirit Medium, Transformation Mage Apprentice, Tamer Apprentice, Blood Mage Apprentice, Shadow Mage Job History: Master Mage, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Lightning Mage, Water Mage, Earth Mage, Wind Mage, Adept Ice Mage, Adept Fire Mage, Adept Wind Mage, Adept Earth Mage, Adept Lightning Mage, Adept Water Mage Passive Skills: Blood Conversion: level 10 Immense Magic Pool: level 2 Automatic Magic Recovery: level 10 Magic Manipulation: level 1 Magic Sight: level 7 Flame manipulation: level 6 Ice manipulation: level 7 Lightning manipulation: level 7 Water manipulation: level 6 Earth manipulation: level 6 Wind manipulation: level 6 Blood Manipulation: level 3 Shadow Manipulation: level 4 Active Skills: Creation magic: level 2 Gravity magic: level 7 Space magic: level 5 Regeneration magic: level 4 Spirit magic: level 4 Evolution Magic: level 3 Alteration Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Automatic Regeneration All Element Aptitude Compound Magic True Form reincarnated Devil: Bishop Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Shia Haulia Race: Rabbit Beastman Titles: Worthless Rabbit, Bugged Rabbit, Berserker Bunny Job: Fortune Teller: 15 Jobs Available: Hammer Master, Apprentice Assassin, Apprentice Thief, Brawler Adept, Psychic, Veteran Warrior, Gravity Expert, Undying Warrior, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Medium, Feral Fighter, Bloody Berserker, Tanker Job History: Apprentice Warrior, Berserker, Hammer User, Warrior, Regenerating Warrior, Gravity Apprentice, Brawler, Hammer Expert, Gravity Adept Passive Skills: Automatic Future Sight: level 6(will activate automatically if Shia''s life is in danger) Superhuman Strength: level 9 Durability: level 10 Accelerated Regeneration: level 5 Active Skills: Future Paths: level 5(Allows. Sh.i.p.s to intentionally look into the future, but uses almost all of her magic power) Revelation: 4(allows Shia to look a few seconds ahead into the future at little to no cost) Berserk Mode: level 4 Stealth: level 1 Physical Reinforcement: level 6 Hammer Technique: level 7 Gravity Magic: level 8 Space Magic: level 2 Regeneration magic: level 5 Spirit magic: level 2 Evolution Magic: level 1 Alteration Magic: level 3 Creation Magic: level 1 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Future Sight Conceal Presence Feral Form Reincarnated Devil: Rook Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Shizuku Yaegashi Race: High human Titles: Class Mom, Onee-Sama, Last Boss, Reluctant Kinochi Job: Ninja: 25 Jobs Available: Master Swordswoman, Ninja Adept, Samurai, Speed Demon, Female Knight, Spirit Knight, Shape Shifter, Naughty Ninja, Gravity Wielder, Assassin Apprentice, All Terrain Fighter, Cloner Job History: Swordswoman, Ninja Apprentice, Expert Swordswoman, Samurai Apprentice, Samurai, Passive Skills: Throwing: 4 No beat: level 6 Superhuman speed: level 10 Superhuman Strength: 1 Chakra Control: level 4 Seduction: level 3 Bed Skills: level 3 Disease Resistance: level 1 Increased Adaptability: level 3 Active Skills: Sword Mastery: level 4 Knife Skill: level 3 Camouflage: level 3 Stealth: level 4 Space magic: level 6 Regeneration magic: level 4 Spirit magic: level 2 Evolution Magic: level 1 Alteration Magic: level 2 Creation Magic: level 1 Gravity Magic: level 2 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Ninjutsu Reincarnated Devil: Knight Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Grayfia Lucifuge Race: Superdevil Titles: The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Job: Maid Guider: 55 Jobs Available: Naughty Maid, Demonic Maid, Maid Commander, Master Shield Maid, Master Mage Maid, Master Warrior Maid, Master Martial Maid, Expert Maid Knight, Gravity User Maid, Space Maid, Time Maid, Adept Healing Maid, Spiritual Maid, Transforming Maid, Subordinate Queen Maid, Maid Tamer, Job History: Shield Maid, Mage Maid, Warrior Maid, Maid Terror, Martial Maid, Creation Maid, Apprentice Maid Knight, Maid Knight, Expert Shield Maid, Expert Maid Mage, Apprentice Healing Maid, Veteran Warrior Maid, Expert Martial Maid, Maid General Passive Skills: Housework: level 6 Bed Skills: level 10 Gigantic Magic Pool: level 1 Magic Mastery: level 2 Automatic Magic Recovery: level 10 Monstrous strength: level 3 Strengthen Followers: 1 maid Path Guidance: 1 Active Skills: Magic Domain: level 4 Coordination Adept: level 2 Intimidation: level 10 Aura of terror: level 7 Steel defense: level 3 Ki manipulation: level 7 Sword skills: level 7 Creation magic: level 3 Gravity magic: level 4 Space magic: level 6 Regeneration magic: level 6 Spirit magic: level 3 Evolution Magic: level 2 Alteration Magic: level 2 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Immense Demonic Power Superdevil Form Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 293 - Going Back to School "Haaaa." The boy sighed in exasperation as he made his way down the street. He was headed to the place where he was supposed to get onto a bus to take him to his new school, except he didn''t want to attend this school. It wasn''t that he was rebellious and didn''t want to attend school, he really did, but he had failed to get into any of the schools he had applied to, and this school was one that his father had picked up a flyer from a shady looking person. He didn''t trust this kind of shady school that he couldn''t find anything about over the Internet, or that no one had seemingly heard of. "Haaaa...." He sighed again, dreading what was to come even before he saw the person who was already waiting at arranged the bus stop, a large muscular person with spiked up hair and a mean look on his face, obviously some kind of delinquent. Though he wasn''t wearing the same uniform as him, the fact that he was waiting at the same place at the same time told the boy they were both waiting on the bus to take them to school. As he hesitantly approached the delinquent seemed to notice him, and sneered before saying, "Don''t tell me a worthless little pipsqueak like is waiting for the bus too?" Though he desperately wanted to avoid being around this delinquent the boy needed to go to school, so he just slowly nodded his head and kept his face down. "Heh, better not annoy me or I''ll use you as a toothpick, understand pipsqueak." The boy slowly nodded his head again, seeming to irritate the delinquent as he grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him suddenly so that they were face to face, before stating, "Answer properly when I talk to you pipsqueak, or I''ll chew you up and spit you out, understand?" As he said this red scales started spreading across the delinquents face while his eyes turned into reptilian slits, and two horns started growing from his forehead. As he released the boys shirt he fell back and stared in sheer terror of the thing he was looking at, a wet stain spreading across the front of his pants as he stuttered, "M-m-MONSTER!!!" The boy then turned tail and ran as fast as he could, never sparing a backward glance towards the monster as he raced home. Alex snorted and canceled his draconic transformation, before he resumed waiting for the bus to arrive, which it did mere minutes afterwards. "Where''s the kid I''m supposed to pick up?" The bus driver, a creepy looking man with his eyes hidden in the shadow of his cap, asked somewhat impatiently. Alex shrugged and answered, "I''m the only one here." The bus driver groaned before looking Alex up and down, and asking, "And what do you need?" Alex smiled and replied, "I need to get to the academy." When he heard his answer the bus''s driver seemed to contemplate something before he nodded and said, "Ok, go ahead and get on then." Alex''s smile widened as he climbed onboard the bus, and seated himself as they finally made their way to Youkai Academy. He had actually been in this world for a few days now, but they had been spent preparing a place to stay where they could safely place a portal to Asora. With the abilities of the Devils to manipulate others, they had secured an entire mountain not far from his current location, where they built an extravagant manor with every kind of protection they could place on it. With all of their preparations complete, it was time for Alex to infiltrate Youkai Academy after scaring Tskune away. Though he did feel a little bad about that, Alex had decided it was for the best due to the fact that Tskune had no real redeeming capabilities to be scouted like Hajime had been. Tskune was truthfully nothing but a little bitch until he had been injected with a vampire''s blood but, because Alex intended to try and scout said vampire into his peerage, it was highly unlikely for history to repeat itself. Instead now Tskune will most likely like a relatively normal life, once he eventually got over the trauma Alex just induced in him, free from carrying the burdens of keeping peace between the human and monster worlds. "So what''s your business at the academy? You don''t seem to be a student?" The bus driver suddenly asked, to which Alex replied, "I''m gonna try to get a job to teach for a year, I''m in the area for right now and figured I''d get some experience and all that bull." The bus driver chuckled at what he said, before stating, "Be careful what you ask for, Youkai Academy can be a veeeery scary place." The smile on Alex''s face widened as they approached a tunnel. *** After an interesting ride with the bus driver, Alex was let off at a sign on the other side of the tunnel while he turned around a drove back into it. Alex then turned towards the forest ahead of him and marched into it. As he walked Alex noticed it filled with various spooky aspects, such as headstones, cobwebs, and scary looking trees; but with everything he had experienced so far in his life, he found the surroundings somewhat pleasant at most, and was reminded of Halloween when he was a kid. Soon however another presence entered his domain, making Alex somewhat alert at it quickly made its way to him before a pretty girl with pink hair on a bike appeared. "Eh?" She said, right before crashing into him and sending them both to the ground, though of course Alex let himself be knocked over. "Owee..." The girl muttered as she tried to sit up, before realizing she had landed on the guy she had crashed into. "Are you alright?" Alex asked as he picked his upper body off the ground, taking care not to knock her off, while the girl started acting fl.u.s.tered. "I-I''m so sorry! I didn''t see you, and I even landed on you! I-I-" At that point she started trailing off somewhat as an amazingly fragrant scent assaulted her nose. Her gaze then automatically zeroed in on the source, which was Alex''s cut lip from when they fell(self inflicted of course). As she stared at his lips Alex licked them unconsciously before he asked, "Is there a problem-" His sentence was suddenly cut off as the girl rushed forward and sank her fangs into his neck, painlessly thankfully, but it was still a bit sudden, and would''ve caught Alex off guard if he hadn''t planned on it to begin with. As she was still sitting on his lap, Alex grabbed the girls waist and held her steady even as she grabbed onto his head with both her hands, as if to help angle him better. The seconds slowly ticked by as she remained latched onto him, until even a minute had passed since she first sank her fangs into him, and she still didn''t seem intending to let go. Alex didn''t try to dislodge her either, as he patiently waited for her to finish drinking while using Regeneration magic to restore the blood she was drinking just as quickly as she was drinking it, a trick he had picked up from Yue and Elmenhilde always drinking his blood. It wasn''t until the minute stretched to two, then three that she finally drew back her fangs, though Alex could feel her tongue still lightly licking the spot where she had punctured him for a few seconds. She then drew away from his neck and, with her face merely a few inches away from his, Alex could see that she was seemingly blood-drunk from his blood, which was more potent and powerful than almost any other blood there was. It took a few more seconds, but focus slowly came back into her eyes so that she could finally see the position they were in; with her hands clenching either his neck or head, her legs spread on either side of his waist as she now straddled his lap, the fact that their faces were mere inches apart, and that, despite vampires typically never leaving a trace when they fed, he now had a hickey on his neck from how long and intensely she had been sucking his blood. "Are you full yet?" Alex asked, as her face turned Crimson instantly and pulled her hands away as she cried out, "I-I''m sorry! I don''t know what happened to me, but your blood just smelled so delicious, and was actually so tasty..." As she panicked slightly while not getting up, Alex started chuckling at her behavior before saying, "Don''t worry about it, you''re not the first vampire I''ve met that enjoyed my blood, but you are the first to jump me the moment we met." The girl blushed again before quickly getting to her feet, and trying to compose herself before saying, "I am Moka Akashiya, a vampire as you know." Alex laughed again before rising to his feet as well, and saying, "I''m Alex, a type of monkey youkai." As he spoke Alex revealed his monkey''s tail that he had been keeping wrapped up, though Moka wanted to pet it when she saw it. He quickly hid it once more since there were rules regarding revealing your true form at Youkai Academy, and continued, "By the way as I was saying, I know a few vampires and how good my blood tastes to them, so if you feel a craving don''t be afraid to let me know." Once he said that Moka let out a sigh of relief and some of the tension she had been feeling faded away, as she had been worried about how ''intense'' their first meeting was, and she had been wondering about how to ask for more of his blood in the future. She put on a big genuine smile and said, "Thank you." Alex nodded as if to say it was nothing, and then helped her pick up her bike as they stared walking towards the school together. As they started talking about this and that regarding the school, Moka eventually asked, "So where''s your uniform Alex, or are you a student?" Alex laughed lightly in response before saying, "Thanks for thinking I''m that young, but I came to apply for a teaching position. I''m in the general area for about a year and thought I''d try my hand at it." Though she looked shocked when Alex said he was intending to become a teacher, when she heard that he was only gonna be there for a year she looked somewhat sad, and said, "Oh, I see..." "What''s wrong?" Alex asked her, to which Moka quickly said, "Nothing! It''s just that I don''t have any friends, and I was hoping you''d be my friend while I was at school." Alex shrugged and said, "There''s no reason teachers and students can''t be friends(if I''ll even become one), and besides by the time I leave I''m sure you''ll be friends with even more people." Moka smiled again at what he said as the two continued on their way, but once they stepped into the schoolyard, "Hey babe, wanna come hang with a real monster?" A voice called out, getting both Moka and Alex''s attention as they turned and saw someone who truly did look like a delinquent, with his hair greased back and piercings under his lips. Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow as this guy felt somewhat familiar, though he couldn''t immediately place him, but then Moka grabbed his arm and declared, "No thanks, I''m walking around with Alex now!" Not just the guy who called out, but every other guy around them looked stupefied as they stared at Alex, wondering who he was since he wasn''t wearing a uniform, and was with the cutest girl any of them had ever seen. The delinquent sneered and strode over, before poking Alex''s chest provocatively and saying, "This punk? I bet he''s nothing but an oversized p.u.s.s.y, aren''t you?" Alex looked to his left, then to his right questioningly, before asking, "Me?" The delinquent laughed and shouted, "Yes you! I mean not only are you a p.u.s.s.y, but apparently you''re dumb as shit too!" When he heard that Alex shook his head slightly, while directing an increasingly angry Moka to get behind him before putting his hands in his pockets. He then asked the guy, "I''m not dumb, but I can''t help but wonder why you would think that I''m weak or, as you put it, a p.u.s.s.y? Are you just that arrogant that you think you''re the top shit? Or are you just too stupid to tell when you''re out of your depth?" Though the delinquent got pissed and was about to say something else, he froze, as a look of increasing abject horror appeared on his face. Everyone watched with growing confusion as the guy who started the fight, and seemed the most likely to throw the first punch, started quivering as he was quickly covered in a cold sweat. Alex smirked and leaned in closer to him, his hands never leaving his pockets, and whispered into the guys ear so no one else heard, "This is just a fraction of the killing intent of a person who''s killed tens of thousands feels like. Tell me, do you really think I''m a p.u.s.s.y now?" Without even answering, the delinquent immediately started trying to back away before tripping backwards, and then full on sprinting to get away from the thing in front of him. Alex sneered and shook his head, somewhat disappointed that he ran after feeling just a little bit of his killing intent, as Moka approached and hesitantly asked, "What did you do?" Alex shrugged, and replied, "I''ve been in a few fights before, and simply let him experience what it felt like to face someone who knew what he was doing." Moka sighed, but then smiled and said, "Well I''m happy you''re ok, that was really scary but I didn''t like the way he was talking to you." Before Alex could reply, a new voice spoke up, "Excuse me! I don''t know who you are, but you are trespassing and terrorizing our students, and you need to leave!" Alex turned and saw a beautiful mature woman approaching them with an angry look on her face, as she waited for him to either leave or explain himself. Alex smiled bitterly at the situation, and explained, "I came to apply for a temporary teaching position, maybe in the physical education department or something." The teachers glare intensified as she demanded, "Even if that were true, just why did you pick a fight with one of our students? With that being said, why should we trust you with our students if you intend to fight them?" Alex''s brow twitched slightly when he heard the teachers accusations, as he recognized her by sight, if not by name. This teacher in particular was a sadistic lamia, who would use her powers to brainwash and control the students in order to feel as if she had even more authority than that of a teacher. Biting back any snappy remarks he had, Alex explained, "I was on my way here when I accidentally ran into miss Akashiya, we proceeded to walk the rest of the way to the school together, but when we arrived that student tried to pick a fight over miss Akashiya before I scared him away. You could check with the surrounding students, my hands never even left their pockets." After hearing the details from him, the teacher looked at Moka to see that she was nodding in agreement; and as she glanced around so were the other students, though the majority wanted to say otherwise due to how close Alex and Moka seemed, but none of them wanted to get on his or her bad side. The teacher sighed and said, "Ok then, considering who the student was I don''t doubt your story. His name is Saizou, and he was forcefully sent here because whe kept causing trouble in the human world, specifically were women were involved. If you''ll follow me I''ll take you to the chairman''s office, though I doubt he''ll give you a job." After telling the surrounding students, including Moka, to get ready for the opening ceremony, the teacher started leading Alex to the chairman''s office while also thinking of inviting that troublesome student to her office later for some "private lessons". After a minute she said, "I''m the math teacher, Kagome Ririko." (A.n. KAGOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEE!) Alex smiled as he tried to act professionally, and replied, "My names Alex, I guess you could consider me something of a drifter." Ririko snorted lightly at his introduction, seemingly convinced that there was no way he''d get the job he was after, especially since they weren''t actually hiring. Only a few short minutes later they arrived at the chairman''s office right as the door opened and another duo left, a crimson haired boy that was dressed in the schools uniform despite looking as if he was few years too early to apply, and a beautiful silver haired woman who could only be presumed to be his mother. As they walked by they didn''t say anything to each other, but Alex smirked as he reached back and grabbed a handful of her ass, causing the woman to turned and glare at him, mentally promising a scolding later. As Ririko led him through the already opened door the chairman, a sinister looking man with his face mostly covered by a hood, looked up and asked, "And what is this? Oh?" After asking his question he stared intently at Alex, seemingly trying to peer through him, before Ririko quickly said, "This man is looking to apply for a position at the school, now if you''ll excuse me I need to attend the opening ceremony." As she left Alex and the chairman alone together an slightly audible sigh was heard escaping her lips, but neither of them noticed it as the two stared at each other. Finally the chairman pointed at a chair and said, "Please, have a seat." Alex quickly took his seat and introduced himself, "I''m Alex, a wanderer who''s looking for employment while I''m in the area for the next year, and forgive me but do you prefer to simply go by the ''chairman'', or would you rather Mikogami of the three Dark Lords?" Though you couldn''t see the majority of his face, Mikogami''s mouth twitched as the ends curled up slightly in amus.e.m.e.nt from the use of his true name. *** While the two were talking the open ceremony was proceeding as the student council president and a few of the teachers spoke to the students. Meanwhile a certain pink haired girl was sitting in the crowd, and a second consciousness was stirring within her due to the monstrous amounts of energy she had recently taken in, and intense killing intent she had detected earlier. ''Interesting...'' The voice said, making the pink haired girl looked around from surprise, before asking out loud, "Who was that?" Several people turned to look at her curiously as they only thought she was talking to herself, making Moka blush slightly as she stopped looking for the mystery speaker. She couldn''t help but think that the voice was familiar in some way, but she couldn''t put her finger on it. Sadly the voice didn''t speak again, and quietly went back to its slumber. Chapter 294 - Truth "PICK YOUR LEGS UP ATSUI!" "LETS GO AKASHIYA!" "YOU BETTER HUSTLE SAIZOU!" While each of the students Alex called out to, along with those around them, picked up their pace while jogging around the schools track, the last person practically started sprinting in order to avoid a repeat of the mornings incident. Alex nodded approvingly from the side as he watched them run, before giving a quick glance at the actual P.E. teacher who was simply standing off to the side while Alex made sure the students kept going, Kotsubo Okuto. He had a somewhat ''cool guy'' appearance with slicked back blonde hair, but Alex was keeping an eye on him for several reasons, one of which being that he could tell he was eyeing some of the girls in the class. Alex was technically the assistant teacher after the conversation he had with Mikogami, but the later had mentioned that should something happen to Okuto he would become the head gym teacher for the year. As he recalled that Alex also thought back to some of the things they had talked about earlier. *Earlier* "So what is the real reason you want to teach at my school? I truly doubt it''s for such a mundane reason as ''I''m here for a year so I might as well''." Alex shrugged and replied, "Well it''s not wrong, but I guess you could say I''m also looking for potential combatants to join me." At hearing this however Mikogami''s smile faded as the surroundings became tense, and he demanded, "And do intend to have Moka Akashiya join you?" Alex nodded slowly at his question, which made he situation even tenser as Mikogami stated, "Whatever you''re doing, don''t involve Moka Akashiya! You have no idea the powers or truth behind her!" Alex frowned as he was slightly caught off guard, due to the fact that Mikogami never actually seemed to show Moka such consideration originally. However after thinking about it for a moment it made sense, as there was a bit of a difference between the fights she was first involved in in the series, and some person seemingly targeting her. Alex decided to take a gamble, and stated, "Actually I know everything about her background, and her connection." There was a beat of silence before Mikogami barely reacted, though it was obviously he was shaken from what Alex said. The "truth" regarding Moka''s background was a lot more than even she thought, as she was told her vampiric nature caused a lot of problems and was sealed because of that. The truth of the matter however, goes back centuries to the oldest and most powerful vampires, the Shinso. The Shinso lived in the land known as Wallachia, and were ruled over by the most famous and powerful vampire to ever exist, Dracula. Dracula had tried to remove the barriers between humans and monsters to allow them to live in peace, but in the fifteenth century the humans of the surrounding nations attacked them, and slaughtered the entire world population of his kingdom save Dracula himself and a single small Shinso girl. After the slaughter of his people Dracula changed his name and became Alucard instead, a being that set out to do the exact opposite of Dracula''s goals and slaughter all of the humans to create a world of only monsters. The girl, who later became known as Akasha Bloodriver, however still believed in peace with the humans and set out by herself to try and achieve this. Three centuries later however Alucard would start a rampage that was intended to last seven days, as he set out to kill all of the humans while also absorbing any monsters he came across, gaining their powers for himself. Akasha then set out against him along with two companions who shared her ideals of a peaceful world, who would later become known as the three Dark Lords, and launched into battle against the man she once walked beside. After a long and grueling battle in which Alucard seemed impossible to defeat, Akasha and her two companions finally managed to secure victory when she allowed Alucard to eat her as well, where she sealed him from the inside, plunging both into a deep sleep for 170 years. After being sealed within Alucard for nearly two centuries, Akasha was finally freed by another powerful vampire by the name of Issa Shuzen, before eventually falling for him and birthing him a daughter, Moka Akashiya. However at birth Moka was deathly sick, and so Akasha transferred her own blood into her baby, as well as her Shinso abilities. With their connection after being fused for nearly two centuries, this meant that if Moka''s Shinso abilities awoke then so would Alucard, and so when she reached a certain age she was to be sent to live in the human world with her rosary to seal her vampiric powers, but as she left disaster struck the Shuzen household. Even though she was supposed to have already left, Moka returned to their mansion to find her mother sliced into two at the hands of an assassin, and unintentionally woke her Shinso blood, along with Alucard who was slumbering beneath the mansion. Surprisingly Akasha was ok even after being cut in two, as if the whole thing was just a mild inconvenience, however the damage was done and Alucard was awake, and so she was forced to once again seal herself within him to put him back into slumber while the unconscious Moka was taken to safety away from the ruined household by Mikogami. Though he didn''t know every detail, Alex outlined the basic story to the stunned Dark Lord before him, before Mikogami demanded, "So you know the dangers and yet you want to awaken Moka Akashiya''s Shinso blood anyways?!" Alex nodded and stated, "I can defeat Alucard using one of several methods if need be, and so the only issue would be when and where he''d be awoke." Mikogami was dumbfounded when he saw how casual Alex was acting about facing the greatest threat the world had ever seen, leading him to confirm that Alex was either severally underestimating Alucard, or was grossly overestimating his own capabilities. Seeing the turmoil Mikogami was going though, Alex couldn''t help but crack a smile. Though it was fairly annoying when he was constantly looked down upon in a new world, it was somewhat entertaining when people tried to grasp just how strong he was using their own "common sense". As if he knew what was going through Mikogami''s mind, Alex stated, "If you doubt my abilities so much, how about a match between us?" Mikogami looked up him suddenly in alarm, but Alex could see interest in the eyes that glowed within the hoods shadows as the edges of his mouth curled up. Alex''s own smiled widened as he felt his blood start boiling at the thought of facing Mikogami in combat, but as the tensions started rising they suddenly disappeared, as Mikogami stated, "As much as I''d really like to accept your challenge, I cannot. I am nearing the end of my own life, and needlessly using my abilities will only prematurely hasten my end, besides I refuse to go before that perverted bastard Touhou." Alex smirked as Mikogami mentioned the third of the Dark Lords, before stating, "What if I told you that I could restore your youth?" Mikogami looked at him incredulously, but before he could properly react Alex was already behind him and the space around him had been sealed to prevent his movements; even if he wasn''t as skilled in Spatial magic as Kuroka, that didn''t mean Alex hadn''t been training in it when he had the chance. "W-what are you d-doing?!" Mikogami demanded as best he could, while Alex didn''t answer and instead channeled Restoration magic through his body, reversing his age by years, and then decades. Even if none of the changes were drastic, such as affecting his appearance, Mikogami still noticed as strength steadily returned to his body. Alex stopped channeling the magic after reversing just a few decades, and released the Spatial magic locking Mikogami into place, causing him to stagger slightly as he tried to adjust to what just happened. "What did you do?!" He demanded while Alex smirked before he calmly explained, "I used a special kind of magic called Spatial magic to hold you in place, and another called Regeneration magic to restore some of your youth. The basic abilties of Restoration magic allows you to restore something to a previous form, but when you''ve learned its true functions you can even reverse the age of a person. You''ve already got a taste of its effects, now what do you say to our duel?" There was a pause as Mikogami tried to process what was happening, before a grin spread on his lips and he said, "Restore my youth, and I''ll give you whatever position at the school you want, and I''ll most definitely fight you as much as you want!" *Presently* In the end Alex got the assistant gym teacher position so that he could interact with the students somewhat, while he and Mikogami had set the date for their match to be in a week, so that he could readjust to his newfound youth. Though Mikogami was still against awakening Moka''s Shinso blood, he seemed to be eager to see what made Alex so confident after seeing him perform his previous feats with ease. As the class finished their last lap around the schools track, Okuto made his way over and started giving them instructions to finish warming up before explaining what they were going to be doin for that period. As Alex made his way through the students he passed by Moka, who smiled at him before asking somewhat mischievously, "So does this mean I have to call you ''Teacher Alex'' now?" Even though she was mostly joking Alex nodded and stated, "And during class I''ll have to refer to you as miss Akashiya, but that''s only during class." Though she looked slightly dispirited at first, Moka brightened up when she heard they could be more casual outside of class. This was actually something Mikogami brought up when he agreed that Alex could be a teacher, that he didn''t mind Alex getting into relationsh.i.p.s with female students, but that he couldn''t show favoritism or abuse his authority to make them accept him. This was something Alex readily accepted, as he had absolutely no intention to do either of those things. Alex chatted with Moka for a few more seconds before moving on to check on other students, but he could tell that the majority of the boys were practically glaring daggers at his turned back due to how casual he was acting with Moka. This got the attention of a certain light blue haired beautiful girl who batted her eyes charmingly as she saw Alex approach, though her actions had a literal ''Charm'' to them. Thanks to his ''Mental Resistance'' skill however the only effect the ''Charm'' had was alerting Alex that someone had tried to charm him, making him smile wryly as he pointedly ignored the culprit, much to her dumbfoundment. "Back straight miss Shirayuki." Alex said to a certain purple haired girl, surprising her as he took her attention away from Okuto who was a little ways away. She then got a little annoyed as he helped her right her posture by physically touching her, but she was unaware that he placed a tracing magic onto her at the same time. After everyone was finished stretching it was then time for Okuto to welcome the new students, and to announce what they were doing that day. *** At the end of the school day Alex found Moka eagerly waiting for him outside the gyms office, before the two started walking around to explore the school together. As they did they gathered the attention of all of the straggling students, boy and girl, as all the boys glared at him with envy, and the girls seemed to be admiring his looks. It admittedly took a while for Alex to notice this, but that had only been because he was used to the envious glares of the guys, and so he hadn''t noticed most of the girls looking at him with admiration, and even some longing. Moka on the other hand seemed completely oblivious to all of the looks they were getting, as she eagerly and excitedly dragged Alex around the school grounds until they finally ended up in front of the dorms. "Doesn''t it have such character?" Moka eagerly asked as they admired the dorm building, which looked more like a haunted mansion just like the school. Alex nodded in agreement as he actually felt quite comfortable within the atmosphere of the school and the chilling surroundings, something he contributed to his demonic powers. He then said, "Sorry Moka, but I think we''ll have to call it quits here for today. It was really nice meeting you today." Though she looked slightly saddened, Moka quickly rebounded and asked, "If you''re leaving, then can I maybe have a little sip of blood before you go?" Alex almost face palmed as he recalled that this girl always seemed to prioritize her stomach over everything else. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes he nodded again and said, "I don''t mind, but my bloods fairly potent so try not to over do it." Her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement despite Alex''s warning, and the duo quietly made their way to the side so that people didn''t see them and misunderstand what they were doing. Moka got closer to Alex as she closed in on his neck, and Alex gently grabbed her waist as if to steady her as he felt her breath on his exposed skin, before there was a sudden pinch as she sunk her fangs into him with the characteristic ''Chu!''. They stood there for nearly a minute as Moka slowly drank blood from his neck, the previous urgency she displayed earlier nowhere to be found as she instead got close enough that Alex could her b.r.e.a.s.ts pressed against his chest. Eventually she let go of him before lightly licking his neck a few times like she had done earlier, as if intending to savor every drop of blood, before saying, "Thank you for the meal." Despite how close they were she seemed hesitant to move away, until the sound of a twig snapping made her jump away suddenly. As if she suddenly realized how close they were previously Moka started fidgeting with her fingers slightly, while Alex resisted the urge to chuckle before bidding her farewell once more. As he walked away Moka let out a sigh and turned towards her own dorm, but before she left a voice called out, "How scandalous, the most popular girl in school is already taken, by a teacher no less. I wonder how your fans would react if I confirmed the rumor for them?" Moka turned suddenly as a blue haired girl stepped out from behind a tree, a condescending smirk on her face as she seemingly looked down on her. Feeling hostility from the mysterious women, Moka demanded, "What do you want?" The woman''s smirk disappeared as she pointed at Moka suddenly, and declared, "My name is Kurumu Kurono, and I came here to declare war on you!" *** Alex watched the interaction between Moka and Kurumu through his ''Domain'' as he slowly walked towards the teachers dorms, mostly to make sure they didn''t actually start fighting at the moment. He watched as Kurumu explained her plan to enslave the boys at the school in order to find her "destined one", but it was ruined due to Moka''s existence, as all the boys were paying attention to her instead. That was why Kurumu declared that she would steal the one Moka seemed attached to, Alex. He shook his head as she made her declaration as, even though she was actually a succubus, Kurumu was still too inexperienced to be able to seduce him away from anyone, not even counting the fact that her ''Charm'' didn''t work on him. With her leaving after making her declaration of war to Moka, Alex stopped spying since it didn''t seem as if they''ll start fighting, and instead focused on his new "home". The faculty dorm building wasn''t too far from the students, but it was a bit more extravagant since the teachers were assuming to actually live there for several years, while the students dorm rooms would change with each year. Alex quickly made his way to his own room, which was similar to a studio apartment with the bedroom and the kitchen in the same room, with only the bathroom being separated. He did appreciate the size though as it was fairly large for only having one room, and he also didn''t mind it since he didn''t plan to actually stay there unless something happened and he needed to. "Alright, let''s get to work!" Alex said as he started setting up various things around the room, mainly to make it look like he was living there for any future guests he might have. This meant stocking the kitchen, closet, and dresser, and adding several small things here and there like appliances, necessities, or small decorations, he then topped it all off with applying every kind of barrier and protection he could to prevent intruders and spying. After about half an hour of work Alex felt like he really was in a lived in home, before collapsing onto the bed and spreading his ''Domain'' to finish his last task before returning to Asora for the night. He needed to know his surroundings in case of an emergency, so he used his ''Domain'' to send his consciousness in as wide a circle to take in everything over the next minute, and regretted it almost immediately. Whenever Alex did this for long periods of time he usually experienced a headache afterwards, similar to Sona when she was transformed into her super devil form for too long, but this time that wasn''t all he had to deal with. As he spread his ''Domain'' it encompassed the entirety of the faculty dorm, the girls dorm, and most of the boys dorm, and Alex was fed with all of the information within it at once. Wether it was Ririko''s second S&M dungeon that was located in the unused dorm next to hers, or Moka''s home room teacher Nekonome using her own tongue to clean herself(or at least that''s what he hoped she was doing), Alex saw it all firsthand along with whatever every other teacher in the building was doing, no matter how private. That wasn''t all though as he saw the entirety of the girls dorm as well, and the dozens of women within who were even in the middle of their baths, changing their clothes, or enjoying even more intimate and private moments alone. The one he regretted the most however was the look he got into the boys dorm, as he witnessed dozens of teenage boys doing what they do at once, making Alex want to soak his brain in bleach afterwards. It wasn''t all bad though as he did manage to achieve what he wanted, which was basically mapping the entire area as well as locating the rooms of several individuals he wanted to keep an eye on. He also learned the specific location of the rooms of Kurumu, who was currently dancing around her room in nothing but a pair of pink panties, and Moka who was one of the ones Alex accidentally caught in the middle of changing as she as well was wearing nothing but a white bra and panties. Though he didn''t intend to spy on the two girls, he felt it was good that he knew where they were in case something happened in the near future, as Alex didn''t intend to let things take their course in this world. He then focused on the main person he had been looking for, the crimson haired twelve year old boy he had seen that morning with his mother, and focused his intent in his room before transmitting his thoughts, ''Millicas, it''s time to head home.'' As the young boy heard the familiar voice he jumped up from his bed, and stated, "Ok, I''ll see you there Alex!" The two then used magic to teleport to the manor they had built at the same time, where they were immediately greeted by a purple haired individual in a black suit, who bowed slightly before stating, "Boss, welcome back. We''ve been dutifully surveying the property and ensuring there''s no trespassers during your absence." Alex nodded before replying, "Thanks for the effort Rana-" "Please boss, it''s agent R now." Alex was slightly taken aback when the rabbit girl interrupted him, but tried to hide the fact that his lips were curling up slightly at her seriousness, before saying, "Right, agent R, keep up the good work." Rana saluted him as he walked by with a "sir!", while Alex and Millicas made their way to the elevator that would take them down to the lower levels of the bas.e.m.e.nt. Though the manor they had built was only a few floors high, there were several subterranean levels that were used by those who would be staying there, such as the R.I.B, for housing and training. In the lowest and most secure levels of the bas.e.m.e.nt was the portal to Asora, purposely put there to avoid anyone trespassing once they started poking around the mysterious manor. As Alex and Millicas stepped through the constantly hovering wall of mist, they were immediately met with a gust of chilled air as a few flakes of snow assaulted their faces. "Brrr, I should''ve brought an extra coat!" Millicas said as he pulled his uniforms coat tighter around himself, before Alex summoned and gave him an extra sweater, which Millicas swiftly put on before saying his thanks. While he was doing that though, Alex glanced around a bit worriedly before muttering, "So it''s already snowing here, huh?" With each world he went to Alex had noticed that the weather in Asora shifted immediately, starting with spring while he was still in the DXD world, and then transitioning to summer when he went to Tortus. The problem was when he came to the Rosario+Vampire world immediately after leaving Tortus to Arifureta''s earth, where they only had a week of fall. Now the temperature was dropping quickly, and while they hadn''t gotten to dangerous levels yet, the fact that it was already snowing told a lot. Deciding he needed to talk to the girls about this, Alex quickly teleported himself and Millicas to Misty Manor, where they were immediately greeted by an eager Grayfia who already had a couple cups of hot chocolate ready for them. "How was your first day of school?" She asked her son, who immediately beamed as he began telling her all about his new school, and the friend he had already made called Yukari, who was only ten because similarly to him she had gotten into the school early due to testing so high. Even though Sona had pouted a bit when Alex suggested it, he had recommended that Millicas try to enter Youkai Academy so that he could actually experience a proper school experience for a year without being tied to the Gremory family like he always had. Up until now he had always been homeschooled, and even if he were to attend Sona''s academy then he would mostly be known as a Gremory, this was a chance for him to break away somewhat and grow past the Gremory name. As Millicas was retelling his first day at school, Alex tried to slip away to find the rest of the girls, but Grayfia noticed and seized his ear suddenly before hissing into it, "Don''t think you''re off the hook for that stunt this morning." Alex grimaced, but instead of backing down he responded by quickly reaching back and once more grabbing Grayfia''s amazing ass, causing her to jump slightly and release his ear as he danced out of her grasp. "Don''t worry, I''ll make up for it later!"" Alex stated as he left, leaving Grayfia glaring at his retreating back before she turned her attention back towards her son as he told her all about his new friend. Alex made his way through the manor until he reached the room where several people were gathered, one of the lounges that had a roaring fire going in the giant fireplace. As they noticed him Alex plopped down on a couch between Anne and Serafall, before Rosswiese quickly asked, "So did you end up becoming a teacher?" Alex nodded and answered, "I''m the assistant gym teacher for now, but if something happens to the current gym teacher, such as if he got caught attacking female students against their will, then I''ll end up taking his place." Shia narrowed her eyes at him somewhat, before saying, "That sounds like an oddly specific prediction for someone who can''t see the future." Alex shrugged and explained, "It''s not too hard to guess, in every single class today I could see him focusing almost entirely on the female students, as if he was evaluating them." A series of icy expressions met Alex''s words, as the girls briefly imagined getting their hands on such a teacher. Though they didn''t particularly care about student-teacher relationsh.i.p.s, the idea of a teacher abusing their position to target students was despicable. Alex was about to try and calm the atmosphere when Rosswiese saved him the troubles by suddenly asking, "Do you want me to teach you a few tips and tricks for teaching?" As she was a teacher when they attended Kuoh Academy her offer was much appreciated, but Alex couldn''t resist the chance to tease her somewhat first as he said, "Let me guess, tip number one is to seduce your students? That''s what you did with me." Rosswiese''s face immediately started turning Crimson as she recalled the fact that Alex was still technically her student when they began sleeping with each other, which made the others around them give her pointed looks as well. Once they got her to calm down after Alex''s teasing, Rosswiese began to seriously give him tips about teaching, how to treat and talk to students and so on, until a voice cried out, "Papa!" They all turned and saw a little five year old girl running towards Alex, even though she was still wearing a few layers of coats and such that were wet from the snowfall outside. Not minding the wet clothes, Alex eagerly picked up Myuu as she rushed into his arms and sat her on his lap, before he began helping the giggling girl remove some of her wet and heavy outer clothes. "Did you like playing in the snow Myuu?" He asked, to which she eagerly nodded and stated, "Yep! I even got to play with Edith and Mai when they came out, I can''t wait until I can really get to play with them!" Alex smiled as he thought of his other two daughters, who were already able to walk a little, right as Gabriel and Koneko entered the room with said daughters in their arms. The two girls became excited when they saw Alex, before their mothers gently put them down and allowed them to waddle to him on their own, putting an even bigger smile on Alex''s face as he scooped them up when they got close enough. "And how are my two little monkeys today?" Alex asked as he settled them into the crooks of his arms, before Gabriel answered, "Probably tired with how much they played today, it''s the first time it''s snowed here so we spent quite a bit of time outside so they could see it." Gabriel''s words were spot on as it didn''t take long with the warm fire, their full bellies from the dinner they just ate, and their comfort from laying in their fathers arms, before both girls were fast asleep. He then had the reluctant Myuu get up as he went to lay the two toddlers down for the night, before going to put Myuu to bed after she had her own dinner and bath. After putting them to sleep Alex went and said goodnight to Anne, Serafall, and Ravel before entering the space-time orb, as the three of them weren''t spending more time than needed in it in their current condition, unlike Gabriel and Koneko had. Once he entered the space-time orb Alex started heading for his room to rest, but not before he grabbed Rosswiese, Asia, Xenovia, and Irina to come with him as he simultaneously started planning how he intended to spend the next several ''days'' training. (A.N. So for those of you who had only seen the Rosario+vampire anime, I hope you can tell that it was very different that the manga, which is what I''m going off of. Please keep that in mind as there were several things they changed between the two(such as Moka''s mother and father)) Chapter 295 - Innocent Succubus Grayfia silently made her way though the villa within the space-time orb with Venri and Nyx at her sides, as she glanced at a couple of the clocks that they were walking past, one displaying that it was nearly six in Asora, and the other saying that it was roughly the same time within the orb. She led the duo up to the master bedroom of the villa, where they found a dozen silver haired women passed out and sprawled n.a.k.e.d across the extravagantly large bed, right as Alex walked out of the bathroom wth Hearst and Noint. Though they had yet to dress, you could see some steam curling up off of their bodies from the hot shower they''d just taken, as Alex turned towards the three newcomers and asked, "That time already?" Grayfia nodded and said, "Altina, Francesca, and Tracy should be finishing up making breakfast any time, and you mentioned wanting to get the children ready for the day so I came to wake you up a little early." Alex nodded in appreciation as a magic circle shined beneath him, and he was suddenly dressed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, while Noint and Hearst similarly dressed in their maid attires and started waking their fellow apostle maids. He then left the space-time orb and went directly to his children''s rooms, where he found them already up and fussy in their cribs. "Come here Edith, AH, that''s ripe..." Alex said as he picked her up and caught a whiff of something rancid, before he set about to changing and preparing the girls for the day. Even if Alex couldn''t spend as much time with them as he wanted to, he intended to do what he could when he could. After getting Edith and Mai changed and ready, he brought them down to the dinning room where several people were already waiting for him, including Millicas and a fairly excited Myuu who came to Alex and pleaded, "Papa, can I go to school too? Please!" Alex smiled wryly, and replied as he set the two toddlers in their highchairs, "Not yet, you''re still a little too young to go to a proper school, but Sona says that it shouldn''t be much longer until they have a preschool available." Though she was slightly saddened at first, when Myuu heard Alex mention that there might be a school she could go to soon, she picked herself right up and started dancing excitedly. Alex then focused on his breakfast as Altina placed it front of him, while Remia and Koneko started feeding Edith and Mai their breakfast. After quickly eating and saying goodbye to everyone, Alex and Millicas retraced their steps and went to mansion they were using as a base, before both of them teleported back in to their respective dorms to head to school. Shortly after he left the faculty form Alex found a pink haired beauty waiting for him on the way to the school, causing a small smile to form on his lips as she called out, "Good morning Alex!" Alex nodded and replied, "Good morning Moka, how was your first night in the dorm?" Moka smiled and said, "It was nice, the beds are pretty comfortable so I slept pleasantly." After they exchanged pleasantries and Moka had a small morning snack, namely Alex''s blood, then they headed towards the school together while chatting happily. Then, as they entered the school yard, "Kyaaa!" A girl''s voice called out, as they saw a certain light blue haired girl collapse in front of them, giving Alex a clear look at her now yellow panties. Kurumu acted faintly in front of them as she said weakly, "I feel so faint, and my chest hurts so much... Teacher Alex, could you please help me...?" Alex''s expression was a complete deadpan at her obvious acting, but since he didn''t want it to be said he ignored a student who needed help, he held out his hand and asked, "Are you alright miss Kurono?" As she took his offered hand and stood up, kurumu fell forward again into his chest as she pushed her fairly large b.r.e.a.s.ts against him, and cried out, "Oh I still feel so weak... Teacher Alex can you help me to the nurses office?" As she asked this kurumu fluttered her eyes and activated her ''Charm'', and just like the day before, it had absolutely no affect on Alex other than alerting him that she tried to charm him. His response was another deadpan stare, before eventually sighing and saying, "Go on ahead Moka while I take miss Kurono to the nurses office." When she heard that Moka looked a little panicked as she recalled Kurumu''s declaration from the previous day, and tried to argue, "I-I''ll go with you! Who knows what she might do when you''re alone!" When she heard this Kurumu snickered while Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow, before stating, "You can go ahead Moka, I think I''ll be able to take of myself." As she still looked hesitant Alex then leaned forward and whispered, "Don''t worry, it''ll take more than shes capable of to ''steal'' me." Though she wasn''t completely relieved, Moka wasn''t as nervous as she watched Alex lead Kurumu to the infirmary, before realizing she needed to get ready for class. As they reached the infirmary Alex was relatively unsurprised to find that the nurse wasn''t there, as it was one of the biggest tropes there was, and helped Kurumu into one of the beds before saying, "Alright, the nurse should be back shortly so just get some rest if you need to." As he turned to leave though, Kurumu started mock pouting and demanded, "Are you really gonna leave a weak girl to lay here defenseless? What kind of teacher are you?" Alex fought the urge to roll his eyes as he asked, "So what do need me to do?" Kurumu smirked and stated, "Well obviously if I''m not feeling well you need to check my temperature." As she said this Kurumu opened her mouth slightly and stuck her tongue out, waiting for the thermometer. Alex sighed and asked, "Are you sure you don''t want to wait for the nurse to come back and do that?" Kurumu snorted and responded, "Who knows when that''ll be." Shaking his head slightly, Alex turned and opened one of the drawers, before a wry and bitter smile spread across his lips. He then turned back to Kurumu and asked once more, "Last time, are you sure you want me to be the one to check your temperature?" Kurumu rolled her eyes before stating somewhat irritably, "Of course! How many time do I need to say it?" Alex shrugged, then asked, "Alright, if you insist. Now then, please drop your underwear and bend over miss Kurono." There was a beat of silence as his request sunk in, before Kurumu hesitantly muttered, "What?" Alex smirked this time as he held up the only thermometer he found for her to see, and explained, "The only thermometer here is a rectal thermometer, meaning that it goes in your butt. And since you requested that I''m the one who checks your temperature, that means I need you to drop your panties, bend over, and spread your butt cheeks so that I can insert this into your butthole." Kurumu paled as she heard the seriousness in Alex''s voice, before she unconsciously reached back and tried to cover her rear as if to protect it from him. Noticing the immediate difference in her bearing once she realized how far she have to go to keep this up, Alex then added, "Unless, you want to admit that you aren''t feeling as bad as you thought, and that you can go prepare for class?" Kurumu nodded slowly, not even wanting to look Alex in the eye now that she basically acknowledged that she was faking her earlier weakness. "I''ll just, leave now..." She stated as we got up and tried to leave, but due to her nervousness she accidentally tripped over one of the bed legs, which Alex immediately caught her before she could hit the floor. "Easy there, maybe you should take a minute to clear your head." Though she wanted to escape as soon as possible, Kurumu dutifully sat back down on the bed since Alex wasn''t trying to stick the thermometer up her butt anymore, but she didn''t expect Alex to sit across from her and say, "In all seriousness miss Kurono, you need to take better care of yourself." Kurumu scoffed and replied as she seemed to gain a little more confidence, "There''s nothing wrong with me, I''m just a little shocked that you seriously tried to violate me, I mean I really thought my butt was in danger there for a second!" When she said this Alex''s expression turned serious and he asked, "And what if it was?" Kurumu looked up at him with confusion at this, before he continued, "What if the person you lured here, where there are no witnesses, decided they didn''t want to let you leave and forced you to go all of the way?" Kurumu blanked at his question momentarily, before she scoffed again, "That wouldn''t happen, I''d make them stop before anything happened." Alex narrowed his eyes at this, before stating, "You mean you''d try to charm them?" Though Kurumu flinched a little when Alex suddenly brought up her ''Charm'', she then looked smug and nodded her head proudly, until Alex asked, "And what if it didn''t work on them like it doesn''t on me?" Kurumu was suddenly at a loss of words as she imagined herself in such a scenario, and didn''t like the idea of where that would take her, after all while she may try to flirt with and seduce the boys around her, she hadn''t even had her first kiss yet. As a succubus she still had several ideas about love and cherishing herself, but she knew that if she failed to find her ''Destined one'' that those ideas would eventually fade away until she eventually considered them foolish. Not wanting to continue this conversation she quickly got up and excused herself before leaving the nurses office, completely unaware that there was someone watching her go, and had watched her enter with Alex earlier. As she left Alex sighed and made sure to straighten everything up around the office before leaving, which when he opened the door he found himself face to face with the school nurse. "Excuse me, I was just leaving." Alex said as he tried to slide past her, to which the nurse said, "Not a problem, I hope that you found what you needed ok while I wasn''t here." Alex nodded and was about to say he did, but he caught himself and asked instead, "I did, but I couldn''t help but wonder why the only thermometer a school nurse has is a rectal thermometer?" The nurse giggled mischievously before answering, "It''s because a lot of students suddenly seem to feel better when they get told that their skipping class means they get a thermometer up the butt, so I keep the other one hidden for when I really need to use it." Alex smiled wryly at her explanation as he also shook his head before leaving, while the nurse let her gaze wander on him monetarily before reentering her office. The day passed uneventfully as everyone went about their business, though whenever Kurumu saw Alex she refused to meet his gaze, but other than that nothing strange happened until the end of the day. After he finished with the paper work he had with Okuto, Alex met up with Moka as the two started heading back towards the dorms, while Kurumu kept an eye on them as she still intended to get revenge on Moka. She was watching them from a distance, when suddenly, "Hello Kurumu-chan." A voice suddenly called out, sending chills down Kurumu''s spine even as she jumped and turned to see a sweaty guy with his hair covering his eyes, and a camera hanging around his neck. Though she tried to keep her eyes on Alex and Moka, Kurumu stepped back slightly from the guy and asked, "I''m busy so what do you want?" The guy smiled creepily as he took something out of his pocket and held it out to her while saying, "I just wanted to give something to the girl I admire." Kurumu forced a grin and accepted what he offered her, an envelope with hearts drawn on it addressed to her from a Kanou Nagare. Figuring it was just a love letter from the sweaty boy in front of her, Kurumu didn''t think much about it as she opened it and pulled out the contents, but what came out wasn''t a letter, just a couple pictures. As she looked at the pictures though Kurumu felt as if her heart stopped and her stomach dropped to her feet, as the first one showed her when she was dancing around her room the night before, in nothing but her panties. "Wha-" She muttered as she quickly flipped through the rest of the pictures, before realizing the first was the tamest as the others showed her when she was removing her panties, and even when she was taking a shower, with the others following those zoomed in on her b.r.e.a.s.ts and her most precious place. Barely resisting the rising urge to vomit, Nagare then said, "I quite like these pictures Kurumu-chan, they made me very satisfied last night, but I''ll need more than pictures now!" As he took a step towards her Kurumu stepped back and hesitantly said, "No! Stay back!" Nagare sneered at her refusal though and stated, "I think not, you''ll let me do as I please, or those pictures will appear all over campus!" As he continued stepping towards her, Kurumu took several steps back before she started shredding the pictures and shouted, "I said STAY BACK!" As she shouted several roots from the ground surged upwards before wrapping around his arms to hold Nagare in place, as a pair of leathery wings sprouted from her back along with a devil-like tail. Her nails elongated to complete the look as she practically shouted, "STAY BACK, OR ILL SHRED YOU LIKE I DID THOSE PICTURES!" Even while still tied up by the roots Nagare kept up his calm facade, and sneered as he replied, "Go ahead, I have plenty of backups along with other pictures so if you lay a hand on me they''ll spread around the campus like fire, and I doubt you''ll ever be able to delete those!" Realizing she was trapped, unless she was willing to take Nagare''s life, Kurumu didn''t know what to do until a new voice said, "I take it that by backups you mean these?" They both turned towards the newcomer, and saw Alex standing there while Moka stood a short ways away, watching worriedly as the situation played out. What Nagare focused on though was the item in Alex''s hand, the SD card that belonged to his camera. "W-why do you have that?!" Nagare demanded as he began to show panic for the first time. Alex shrugged and stated, "I noticed you spying on us earlier while I took miss Kurono to the nurses office, and figured that the way you were acting was somewhat suspicious. I decided to follow up and examine a few of your things, with the headmasters permission of course, and learned that you had graphic peeping photos of several girls on campus, as well as even some human girls. We planned to address it tomorrow, but then I noticed a situation playing out right now and decided to intervene." As he finished speaking Alex tightened his grip, and completely crushed the card he held, making Nagare let out a cry of pain as if it truly hurt him, as Kurumu released her transformation and the illusionary roots binding Nagare faded into nothingness. "Are they really gone?" Kurumu asked Alex hesitantly, to which Alex nodded before picking up the remains of what Kurumu shredded earlier and setting them ablaze, as you could still tell somewhat what was on them. Strangely enough Kurumu didn''t seem to mind Alex seeing what was on the shredded pictures, which if she thought about it then she''d have realized that he already saw everything when checking Nagare''s belongings. Once he was finished destroying the rest of the evidence, Alex turned a dangerous gaze at Nagare and said, "You two go on ahead, I''m gonna teach mister Nagare here a lesson he wouldn''t forget for quite some time." Though she wanted to say something to him, Kurumu kept silent and started hurrying away, desperately wanting to take a bath after this, before Alex called out, "I understand you may not want to hear this miss Kurono, but I''d say this is a perfect ''I told you so''." Recalling what Alex told her earlier, Kurumu felt even worse about the situation, and even more grateful towards him for helping her. As he watched Kurumu and Moka walk off, Alex turned back towards the sweaty Nagare and shook his head before saying, "Now to deal with you..." *** The next morning Alex casually walked out of the faculty dorms just like he had the day before, except he felt a bit better after what he did to Nagare since the day before. He had taken him to his personal floating island, and locked him in one of his special cells that was designed to keep him in specifically. Nagare was a slug youkai, which was also how he managed to take such private pictures without being caught, and so Alex had to make sure that there wasn''t even the tiniest hole for him to escape through, and then he rigged up a system to pump salt water into the cell every few hours, which practically burned Nagare due to his slug disposition. It wasn''t enough to kill him, but he was in for the most pain he''d ever feel in his life due to his actions, which he also couldn''t remember due to Alex using the Neuralyzer Hajime developed on him. Normally he would just dump such a person on magical girl island and be done with them, but he doubted even they would take a literal slug among their ranks. With the headmaster and the majority of the faculty already being alerted to what happened, no one would question Nagare''s disappearance for the time being; and even if he was only gone from school for a few days, that would translate to months within the space-time orb taking salt showers. Alex then put such thoughts away as approached the pink haired beauty that was waiting for him, who eagerly said, "Good morning Alex!" He smiled before responding, "Good morning Moka." Before the two could say anything else however, a certain blue haired woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere and jumped onto Alex, wrapping her legs around his stomach and smothering his face in her b.r.e.a.s.ts. "Gooood morning darling!" Kurumu cried out, stunning Moka and even Alex a little. After recovering from the shock of Kurumu''s sudden appearance, Moka obviously got a little annoyed and demanded, "What do you want Kurumu?!" The succubus smiled brightly at her demand, and answered as if it was obvious, "I''m greeting my darling of course!" Moka''s agitation seemed to only increase at Kurumu''s answer, as she thought Kurumu was still trying to steal Alex, but then she continued, "I told you before how I''m looking for my ''destined one'', right? Well after defending me the way he did yesterday, I decided my ''destined one'' was Alex! That''s why he''s my darling now!" Even as she spoke Kurumu continued smothering Alex in her b.r.e.a.s.ts while Moka glared on, until Alex said from within the soft mounds, "Uh miss Kurono, while this does feel nice, please recall that we''re in public and are teacher and student." However as it came out somewhat muffled Kurumu pretended not to properly hear him while responding, "What? I can''t hear you darling! And call me Kurumu from now on!" Alex sighed at her behavior from within her b.r.e.a.s.ts, before saying, "Very well, but before we get to intimate you''d need to meet the rest of my harem." Compared to before Kurumu and even Moka seemed to have no problem hearing this, with both girls muttering, ""Eh?"" They looked at each other before looking back at Alex and demanding at the same time, ""HAREM!?"" Chapter 296 - Meet the Harem "Haaaaa..." Moka sighed as she started getting ready for gym class, her mind traveling to several other areas as she thought on what Alex told them that morning. "Cheer up Moka! I need you in top shape to help me fight this battle!" Kurumu declared as she suddenly appeared wearing nothing but her panties, with her attitude being the complete opposite of the previous day''s when she was acting against Moka. Not questioning the reason for Kurumu''s change in attitude, Moka just asked, "How can you be so optimistic? I mean he has a whole harem that he never even told us about..." Kurumu sighed and responded, "You''ve known him what, a whole two days? It''s not really something people say right when they meet someone. Besides if things go according to plan, I''ll be able to seduce darling away from those other women!" As she said this Kurumu put her arms beneath her exposed b.r.e.a.s.ts, emphasizing their size and her meaning even more, as it was painfully obvious to the women around them that Kurumu had the largest b.r.e.a.s.ts amongst them. Moka sighed again and muttered, "I don''t know..." Kurumu groaned at how difficult she was being, and demanded, "Hey, even I''m mad that I can''t have darling all to myself, but I''m putting up with it since I refuse to simply give up and find another guy who''s this amazing! Why is it that you find the idea of a harem so repulsive?" Moka suddenly shook her head as she tried to explain defensively, "It''s not that I''m against it, after all my father is a polygamist as well, but I personally never considered the idea of sharing someone myself." When she heard this Kurumu had to nod in agreement as she never considered such as well, except maybe several guys sharing her. Though she was once interested in such things, now that she found her darling such ideas lost their appeal as she now wanted to ensnare him for herself. Leaving Moka to her own devices, Kurumu then started planning various ways to steal Alex for herself, until someone called out that they needed to hurry up and get dressed. *** Once school was out Kurumu and Moka went back to their respective rooms quickly, as they awaited Alex''s arrival to go and meet his harem. The plan was that when he left for the night Alex would teleport into their rooms to pick them up, before leaving for the mansion the portal was in. Though Kurumu was thinking of having Alex teleport in while she was in a compromising situation to try and seduce him, her plans stalled when he picked up Moka first and brought her to her room as well. As the light from the teleportation vanished, both girls were surprised to find several good looking people with purple hair, dressed in suits, waiting for them in two rows. As they saw Alex and the girls they immediately saluted and shouted, """THE R.I.B WELCOMES THE BOSS!!!""" Moka and Kurumu gaped at the display and evident respect that the R.I.B showed for Alex, even as he simply nodded at them lightly before continuing as if nothing happened. "Is this normal...?" Moka asked dumbfoundedly while Kurumu muttered, "Darling is a yakuza boss..." Alex smiled wryly at their comments as they boarded the elevator, and explained as the doors closed, "I saved their lives when we first met, and back then they were nothing but a bunch of sniveling cowards who were a little good at hiding themselves. Afterwards I gave them a choice, continue on their own and spend the rest of their lives living in fear, or follow me and try to make something of themselves, and now they''re some of the greatest assassins that have ever existed." The two girls looked at Alex in admiration at his claims, but Moka couldn''t help but think of her father who led the Shuzen family, which was known to be home of some of the greatest assassins in the world. As the elevator descended Alex suddenly held out a couple of coats to the girls before saying, "You might need these, it''s a little chilly where we''re going." With their confusion growing, the two girls took the coats and quickly put them on even though Alex himself didn''t bother. After a few more seconds the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened to reveal a wall of mist in front of them. Without saying anything, Alex quickly strode forward into the mist before disappearing, prompting the two girls to glance at each other, before hurrying after him. ""Whoa..."" They both muttered when the mist cleared, and a winter wonderland greeted them. They were on the edge of a city that had been covered with a little over a foot of snow, and behind them past the misty portal, was a series of forested mountains that were similarly covered in snow, making them look like something from a postcard. As they took in the breathtaking scenery Alex''s voice called out, "Welcome ladies, to Asora!" They looked at him in amazement as Moka asked, "What is this place?" Alex''s smile grew as he led them down the street and said, "It''s my own personal world, where I bring those who want to live a better and more peaceful life than they could before. Some of those here were oppressed by other nations, others were tired of constant war and fear of terrorists, while a few wanted the adventure that came with exploring new worlds and universes with me." At this point Moka and Kurumu looked at Alex with confusion as they tried to understand what he meant by ''new worlds'', which he calmly explained as they slowly walked towards the manor. Though they didn''t know everything about him, by the time they reached Misty Manor Moka and Kurumu knew a lot more about Alex and his past than they had that morning. They were so dumbfounded they nearly didn''t notice the two women waiting outside the manor for them, one a silver haired maid while the other had long flowing Crimson hair. "Welcome home Alex, and welcome Moka and Kurumu to Misty Manor, I''m Rias Gremory and this is Grayfia." Though both girls were about to respond to Rias''s introduction, they paused unintentionally when they noticed the massive melons mounted to her and Grayfia''s chests, that made even Kurumu''s seem small in comparison. Both girls felt like spitting blood, but instead managed to get their introductions out before Rias invited them inside the manor. As they followed her Moka turned to Kurumu and tensely muttered, "How do you plan to "seduce" Alex away now? Hm!?" Kurumu was utterly silent to her question however, as she was still mentally trying to process how someone could have such a large chest. They were swiftly led to one of the manors many lounges, where upon the doors opening Moka and Kurumu saw five other women waiting for them, Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Shizuku, and the obviously pregnant Anne. As Alex already stated that he planned to scout potential peerage members in this world, they had all assumed that these two newcomers would be scouted, and decided to have his existing peerage and main wife meet them first. Feeling as if they were being put on trial, Moka and Kurumu sat on the indicated couch opposite of the one where the other girls were gathered, but when Alex went to enter the room Grayfia blocked his path and said, "If you don''t mind my lord, we would like to talk to them alone." C.o.c.king an eyebrow at her request, Alex shrugged before making his way to each and every girl to give them a kiss, and then saying as he left the room, "Go easy on them." There were several voices reassuring that they wouldn''t be too hard on the two newcomers, but Alex had a hard time believing them as the door closed behind him. He instead put his mind on other things, as he spread his ''Domain'' to search for three specific presences before finding them a few floors above him playing. Alex smiled widely as he said with his ''Domain'' carrying his voice, "Where are my little monkeys at?!" When they heard his voice the two toddlers squealed excitedly, while Myuu quickly led them to hide as the game of hide and seek began. Meanwhile back in the room where he left Moka and Kurumu, the two girls were nervously drinking some offered tea while enduring the piercing gazes of the others, before Rias finally said, "You can relax you know, I just want you to tell me a little about yourselves and how you supposedly fell for Alex so quickly." Though Moka tried to mutter that they were just friends, she was quickly drowned out by Kurumu as the latter rose and stated angrily, "What do you mean by "supposedly"?! Darling saved me from being toyed with by a disgusting creep when I gave him absolutely no reason to consider being nice to me! I even provided him the perfect opportunity to take advantage of me after using my ''Charm'' on him several times, yet he refused to do so before even advising me to be careful with my ''Charm''! I can''t think of a single person who I should devote myself towards more than him!" Though she was taken aback slightly from the determination in Kurumu''s declaration, Rias had a wry smile as she muttered, "I''ll hold you to that." She then turned her attention towards Moka before asking, "and what about you?" Moka fidgeted as everyone suddenly started staring at her, including Kurumu, but she couldn''t help but notice one person practically glaring at her, a petite woman with long blonde hair and Crimson eyes. As her eyes met with Yue''s, Moka suddenly felt an instinctual urge to submit to her due to Yue''s ''Vampire Princess'' title; but as this feeling welled up within her, an even stronger feeling surged to the surface telling to never submit to her. With Moka returning her stare and seemingly starting to challenge her, the edges of Yue''s lips curled upwards in amus.e.m.e.nt as she gave the slightest of nods to Rias, who looked surprised at the outcome. With her title as a ''Vampire Princess'' Yue would naturally subdue the vast majority of vampires that she met, similarly to Alex with dragons due to his title as the ''Dragon Emperor''. The same thing had happened with Elmenhilde as, after the laters misgivings of having another vampire around Alex, she had become something of a follower of Yue''s as if it was the most natural thing in the world. With Moka refusing to bow to Yue, and even seeming to start challenging her, it proved she was no normal vampire, even if none of them could actually feel any power from her. With all eyes on her after her stare down with Yue, Moka stated, "We are friends." This earned a lot of raised eyebrows in response as, if she only saw Alex as a ''friend'', why go out of her way to meet his harem? Leaving that issue for later, Rias took in a breath before asking, "So, do either of you even realize what you''re asking for by being with Alex? Or even the kind of battles you may have to participate in?" As Alex had yet to explain to them about his goals, or his peerage, the two girls looked at each other with confusion while the rest smiled wryly, before launching into an explanation for them. *** After a few hours of playing with his daughters, Alex headed back to the room he had left Moka and Kurumu in as it was almost time for dinner. What he didn''t expect was that the moment he opened the doors, a certain light blue haired woman came flying at him as she once again buried his face in her b.r.e.a.s.ts, before crying out, "Darling please let me into your peerage!" From within her b.r.e.a.s.ts Alex''s brow twitched when heard this as, while he was planning to recruit Kurumu to begin with, he wanted to wait a little bit so that she''d have a better idea of what she was getting into before making the commitment. Now that it was all out there however, he could only give a pointed look at the culprits that told her about his peerage once he managed to extract his face from the impossibly soft valley between her mounds. Shaking his head slightly in exasperation, Alex looked at Kurumu and stated, "Before I say anything I want to be sure, do you truly want to be in my peerage Kurumu? Saying yes means that you''ll forever be mine for as long as we live, which could end up being forever." The words weren''t even out of his mouth before Kurumu started to vigorously nod her head, her heart entirely set on becoming part of his peerage. While Alex thought she was being a bit hasty, the truth was that Kurumu had thought about it quite a bit ever since Rias explained what a peerage actually was. Succubi needed love to continue their existence, either through finding their ''destined one'', or the more common practice of seducing anyone who caught their eye; and as far as she was concerned, gaining a permanent place at Alex''s side as a member of his peerage was the absolute best course of action for her. The way she thought about it was that, as a member of his peerage, she would always be able to fight at his side while growing stronger and earning more of his approval over time, therefore increasing their romantic bonds. Even though she knew she was romanticizing the situation quite a bit, the truth was that she wasn''t that far off as she would be at Alex''s side more than many of the other girls as a member of his peerage, and would therefore get the chance for more intimate moments with him. As Kurumu insisted on joining his peerage, Alex glanced around to see that everyone else seemed to surprisingly agree with the idea, which they had also thought about since they met her. Though she lacked several qualities as a direct fighter, succubi were masters of illusions and mental manipulation with their natural looks, capabilities to invade dreams, and the ability to charm any who meet their gaze. These qualities meant that she''d make for a decent back line support, while her claws would make her deadly in close combat as well, should the need arise. Seeing everyone agree, a smile spread on Alex''s lips as he summoned one of his ''Pawn'' evil pieces, and handed it to the jubilant succubus. "YAY!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you darling!" Kurumu cried out as she happily accepted Alex''s ''Pawn'', and activated it like she had been told by the others previously. The second she did so a pair of bat-like wings sprouted from her back(not all too dissimilar to her usual wings), and she excitedly opened her status while everyone watched with wry smiles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kurumu Kurono Race: Succubus Job: none: 1 Passive Skills: Seduction: Level 2 Bed Skills: Level 1 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: Level 1 Superhuman Strength: Level 1 Superhuman Speed: Level 1 Active Skills: Charm: Level 2 Dream Dive: Level 1 Illusion Magic: Level 1 Aphrodisiac Secretion: Level 1 (A.N. I took out Kurumu''s ability to enslave anyone she kisses for life and replaced it with this, as the previous ability didn''t really make any sense if she was trying to find a "Destined one". Basically she can turn her saliva, as well as any other of her bodily fluids, into an aphrodisiac since that would help her people seduce others easily instead of directly enslaving them, plus it would make things easier on her from being part of a harem if she didn''t accidentally enslave anyone she kissed during bed activities. And P.S. no booby beam.) Unique Skills: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As she saw her skills Kurumu couldn''t keep the giddy feeling down very well as it was still a surreal feeling that she essentially just dedicated herself to her darling for life, no matter how long that was. Though there were several questionable skills that would have made anyone else pause, she didn''t mind them due to it being somewhat expected as a succubus. The biggest problem was that she wasn''t able to have a job yet, but with the rest of the girls promising to help her gain the experience points needed, she wasn''t too concerned about it. Meanwhile off to the side, Alex had a wry smile on his face as he looked at Kurumu''s ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'', and ''Bed Skills'', realizing that he may had been a little too hasty in making a succubus his servant. Before she could call attention to it however, he quickly got everyone''s attention and told them that dinner was almost ready, and that they could examine Kurumu''s abilities later in the space-time orb. As they eagerly started leaving for dinner, Alex noticed Moka standing off to the side looking a little depressed as he made his way over and asked, "What''s wrong Moka?" The pink haired girl jumped slightly as he called out to her, before quickly saying, "Nothing! I''m alright!" Though it was obvious that wasn''t the case, Alex didn''t pry as he could imagine a few things bothering her after she was most likely cross examined by the others, though the primary cause was probably Kurumu''s new role within his peerage. Though that was a part of why she was feeling down, it was also because she could tell that the other girls seemed disappointed in her due to her weakness. For some reason she couldn''t bring herself to tell them that her powers were sealed in order to prevent problems, as it almost felt like she was saying she couldn''t even control herself in front of them. Even though they hadn''t said anything, the rest of the girls, Yue in particular, couldn''t help feeling a little disappointed by how weak Moka seemed as they had been unable to feel any supernatural power from her at all. Though they tried not to show it since Alex stated that she had her own problems, everyone else had been looking forward to seeing a vampire from this world since they were considered top tier monsters that were feared by all. Suspecting the real reason behind Moka''s attitude, Alex smiled mischievously as he led her to the dinning room, where everyone was waiting along with his adorable daughters. After Kurumu and Moka got over the shock of Alex already having two nearly year old daughters, they enjoyed a nice dinner specially made by Akeno and Asia to welcome the two newcomers, showing that the harem life wasn''t actually as scary as they originally thought, and was actually more like an exceptionally large family. After they ate the duo thought it was finally time to start winding down after a particularly stressful and eventful day, but they were surprised when everyone started hinting that the night was when things really began. With their imaginations running wild, Alex put Edith and Mai down for bed before gathering those who''d be accompanying him into the space-time orb, and saying goodnight to those who were staying, and entered it to begin his week of training and debauchery. "This is the space-time orb, where a single day is extended to an entire month, or a single night into a week." As he explained what the orb was after already entering it, the two were gaping in amazement for what felt like the umpteenth time that day as they tried to take in what Alex was saying. After a quick tour around the villa, Alex then popped Kurumu''s bubble of spending the next week being lovey-dovey when he said, "Ok, now Kuroka take Kurumu to one of the other orbs to train against some of the monsters and get some experience. Her goal is to get her first job by morning." Though it took a second, Kurumu realized Alex was actually sending her away right off the bat, and clung to his leg desperately as she cried out, "No darling! Please don''t send me away, I want to train with you!" Alex smiled evilly in response with Kurumu''s pleas, showing some of his sadistic side before saying, "Well, maybe spending the entire time fighting monsters wouldn''t be good... Kuroka bring her back a day early since she''d also have to do her school work, after all it won''t be good if her and Moka became flunkies because of me." Kurumu looked as if she was handed a death sentence as Kuroka chuckled and dragged her away after grabbing one of her ankles, the despairing succubus too stunned to even fight back. Once they left Alex turned his attention towards Moka, and said, "Now for you Moka." The pink haired girl flinched slightly as he called out to her, worried slightly of what Alex planned to have her do, before he reached out and swiped the ornament off of her neck, a silver rosary. With even he himself looking stunned at how easily he removed her rosary, Alex was shocked still for a moment while Moka dumbfoundedly muttered, "...my rosary...?" Before there was a sudden explosion of supernatural power. Chapter 297 - Succubi are Scary Like a dam that had burst, supernatural power exploded from Moka''s body with the removal of her rosary, resulting in the world being dyed a shade of red before night seemed to overtake it. Seemingly from nowhere a swarm of bats appeared and surrounded the pink haired girl in a cyclone, concealing the changes she underwent inside from everyone eyes. As the change took place Alex backed up several steps to avoid the bats, before glancing at the rosary in his hand as he wondered why exactly he had been able to remove it so easily. Before he could think too much however, the red that was engulfing the world started retreating back towards Moka until it vanished entirely, and the cyclone of bats came to a rest as they completely covered Moka''s body. Everyone held their breath at the spectacle, as one by one the bats seemed to peel off of Moka before disappearing, revealing the newly transformed super vampire. Her long flowing pink hair had turned to a pure silver while several of her proportions, such as her butt and bust, were now fuller and seemed larger, but then she opened her eyes to reveal her now blood-red irises had a sharp gaze to them as she carefully scanned the crowd surrounding her. "Ahhhhh!" She suddenly yawned as if waking from an exceptionally long nap, before once more examining everyone around her until her gaze met Alex''s. She stared at him momentarily as she could tell that the surge of power within her, and her momentary awakening the other day, was a result of drinking his blood, which had a profound amount of power to it. After the brief moment where their gazes met she continued examining everyone, until once more her gaze rested on Yue. The two vampires silently stared at each other for a moment before Moka''s mouth formed a small smirk, and she suddenly disappeared. Yue barely had enough time to look up before Moka''s foot came rushing down to crush her head, but she didn''t need to worry as a certain rabbit eared character rushed forward and crossed her arms defensively in front of her friend. "HORYAAA!" She cried out as Moka''s foot tried to crush her arms, but only managed to crush the stone they were standing on instead. Not only was everyone watching amazed at the suddenness of Moka''s powerful and ruthless attack, but Shia was also surprised by how much power Moka seemed to possess, especially considering how weak and unassuming she was just moments before. After taking a breath to steady herself, Shia cried out as she thrusted her arms and threw Moka away, causing the latter to flip a couple of times through the air before landing flawlessly back around her original position. "Hmph, I''ll teach you to attack Yue!" Shia declared as she was about to summon her beloved hammer, before noticing Alex shake his head ever so slightly. Realizing that he probably wanted to get Moka to display more of her abilities, Shia canceled her hammers summoning, and instead started loosening herself up for the fight ahead while Yue retreated somewhat to give her some space. The minor interaction between Alex and Shia hadn''t gone unnoticed by Moka, and since she didn''t feel any real intent to harm her from any of them, she also figured that Alex wanted her to show what she was capable of; which of course she readily accepted even though she didn''t know what was really going on, as her pride as a vampire wouldn''t allow her to back down from a challenge. "Alright, I''ll go along with this farce, to show you your place if nothing else!" She declared, actually speaking for the first time since her sudden transformation. She then followed up her declaration by vanishing before attacking Shia from the side with yet another kick, which the rabbit girl had already prepared for to the extreme. Since this spar was to display Moka''s capabilities she had taken a defensive stance, which, with her ''Durability'' having been trained to the extreme from training with a full powered Alex, was nearly unbreakable even before she added several tons to her weight with Gravity magic, something she actually hated doing due to it then being said she now weighed literally tons. With her arm up for a simple guard, Shia didn''t even flinch as Moka''s foot contacted it while she tried to kick her face, and instead a clearly audible crack rang through the air as Moka''s leg fractured from the force of impact, perfectly exhibiting Shia''s defense and Moka''s own strength. As she backed up slightly to assess her opponent, Moka didn''t even seem to register her broken leg as it was already rapidly healing due to her vampires accelerated regeneration. Instead she was thinking on how to attack Shia to break her defense, as even she''d find it unpleasant to continuously break her legs fruitlessly. Despite the frustrating durability of her opponent, Moka couldn''t help but lift the edges of her lips to form a small smile as she grew excited from fighting such a strong opponent, even if she had just woken up. She then rushed forward and delivered a series of powerful kicks to Shia, as she tested the limits of the rabbit girls durability while also moderating herself so as not to injure herself too much. It was only after she had received several dozen kicks, during which her defense never wavered, that Shia finally went on the offensive as she suddenly moved during one of Moka''s attacks, and grabbed her attacking leg with both hands and suddenly swung her over her head, and into the stone ground beneath them, causing it to fracture. Though any injuries she acquired healed quickly, Moka was still momentarily dazed and confused from the sudden change in pace, making the vampire curse herself for allowing her skills to get rusty. Before she could orient and free herself, Shia didn''t relinquish her hold on Moka''s leg, and swung her once more over her head and into the ground on her other side, before repeating the process once more. Shia swung her around a couple more times as Moka tried to let her drop her guard, before as she reached the height of one of Shia''s swings, she used her other foot and kicked Shia in the face with as much power as she could manage, causing another crack to ring out as her nose snapped. Moka broke out of her grip while the rabbit girl was stunned, and leaped several feet away before pivoting and preparing to face her once more, while Shia''s bleeding nose quickly healed due to her ''Automatic Regeneration'' skill. As the two prepared for another round, a shout suddenly tore through the air as Alex called out, "ENOUGH!" Though she didn''t intentionally intend to listen to him, Alex''s voice carried enough power and authority that even Moka paused while Shia dropped her offensive stance immediately. With the spar over the rabbit girl quickly bounded to Alex''s side, where he ruffled her hair and ears affectionately while Shia smiled in contentment. After a second Alex turned his attention back towards Moka, and stated, "I''m sorry for the sudden spar, but I had been intending to let you wake up peacefully just to properly meet you Moka, I didn''t expect that you''d randomly attack Yue like that." Though everyone stared pointedly at her as Alex mentioned her attacking Yue, Moka wasn''t fazed by their gazes in the slightest as she replied, "I only did so because I could feel something trying to force me to submit to her, and assumed it was a form of psychological attack." Alex smiled wryly at her reason for attacking but, as she was technically somewhat correct, no one held it against her and the issue was quickly dropped. She then demanded, "So why did you wake me?" Though she had a few ideas due to the fact that Alex had someone test her abilities, and that they were surrounded by women who obviously had quite the relationship with Alex himself, she wanted to hear from him what he wanted. Despite sharing a body and memories with her "outer" personality, the "inner" Moka was still in the process of waking up and processing everything; which was why her performance during the spar was so poor, though she''d never rely on such an excuse, and also why she didn''t know what was going on at the moment besides the fact that her other self thought highly of the man in front of her. Truthfully she wanted to go back to sleep so she could process everything and wake up "properly", which was why she was secretly grateful when Alex said, "I mostly just woke you up in order to meet everyone here, and to possibly give you a chance to display your capabilities. If you''d like you could go back to being sealed so that you can properly process what''s going on, since we already explained it to the other Moka." The "inner" Moka snorted in response, before she snatched her rosary from his grip anyways and said, "I''ll go back to sleep for now, but don''t think I don''t understand what''s going on here. You better keep your hands to yourself or I''ll rip it off!" Though it was obvious she meant something other than his hands, Alex only smiled wryly in response as she reattached the rosary to the choker on her neck, and the intense aura she was releasing suddenly disappeared as her hair turned back to pink. As she changed back Moka became unsteady on her feet, before she suddenly fell forward as Alex caught her, despite the other Moka''s warning about keeping his hands to himself. It only took a few seconds before her eyes flickered open, and Moka hesitantly asked, "What happened?" Alex smiled wryly along with most of the other girls, while a couple others were even giving her the stink eye after the way her other self acted, before he simply said, "Shia, can you get her up to speed while I talk to some of the others?" Though she was slightly put out that she was being left out of the discussion, Shia didn''t show it at all as she saluted and stated, "Leave it to me!" She then escorted the still confused Moka to the dining hall, though once they were far enough away Rias stated, "I don''t like her." Several other girls were nodding in agreement while a few didn''t know quite what to think, but then Grayfia added, "I don''t as well, not only can she not control her own abilities, but her attitude leaves a lot to be desired." As a few others said similar things about Moka after her, Alex smiled bitterly and explained, "The majority of those issues aren''t her fault, her family sealed her for several reasons when she younger due to her powers, not because she couldn''t control them, but because if they activated it would literally be a world threatening catastrophe. As for her attitude, well that can be worked on over time, after all didn''t several of you try to even kill me when we first met? And now look at us." As he said this Tio, Nyx, and Eri, in particular looked sheepish, while even Elmenhilde looked away pointedly due to how she acted during their first meeting. However Grayfia picked up on what Alex said regarding Moka''s power potentially ending the world, and demanded, "What do you mean by that?!" Alex smiled wryly and started heading inside the villa while saying, "We''ll talk about it inside, and only those who can keep a secret should listen; even Moka doesn''t know the truth regarding her own powers, and if she did then she might trigger them unintentionally. I do plan to eventually tell her, but I''m gonna wait until we''re more sure about things to do so." Realizing there was a lot more to pink haired vampire than they previously thought, Rias led the group as they filed after Alex to hear the whole story regarding Moka''s background. *** Alex sat in the middle of one of the villa''s courtyards, a blindfold covering his eyes as he trained his Haki and senses to the extreme, while also trying to maintain a calm and serene mindset. Soon a blade came whistling through the air as it tried to slice open his throat, however it missed its mark by less than an inch as Alex gently leaned to the side, before leaning back to avoid the next attack. "Tch." Grayfia clicked her tongue as her sword missed it target yet again, before she immediately shifted to the side as Irina dashed in with Excalibur ''Rapidly'', while Xenovia attacked from the other side with her own sword. While the two attacked several kunai suddenly appeared from the void, only a couple inches away from Alex''s skin as they closed in on him. Even though it seemed to impossible for him to avoid his current predicament with two swords and several kunai closing in on him, Alex moved his body instinctively into an seemingly impossible way as each one passed by harmlessly, except for a single kunai that barely grazed his skin. "Stop!" He called out, causing the four women to freeze in place momentarily, before they allowed the tension to leave their bodies as they relaxed, and Shizuku asked, "Should we call it a day?" Alex nodded as it had been their twelfth run of the exercise, all of which he had been unable to pass. The goal was to train his ability to detect and dodge attacks instinctively, and one restriction was that at this stage he was unable to properly defend himself, or retaliate, meaning that any contact was an instant failure. "Here you go Xenovia, thanks for letting me use it." Irina called out to her friend while holding out Excalibur ''Rapidly'', to which Xenovia nodded as she accepted the blade and said, "It helps us anyway since we need more speed fighters for this exercise." Everyone nodded as they started heading back inside the villa, while Alex thanked them for their help before turning to see a certain light blue haired woman flying at him. "DAAARLIIIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!" Kurumu cried out as she leapt into his arms, with Kuroka smirking behind her. Instead of trying to smother him in her b.r.e.a.s.ts like usual, Kurumu was instead nuzzling against Alex''s chest as she inhaled as if to take in his scent, before crying, "How could you send me away like that?! It was horrible out there! Foraging for my own food, and fighting off the seemingly endless attacks of monsters by myself! Please don''t do that to me again!" Alex smiled wryly at her complaints, but instead he turned towards Kuroka, who explained in a deadpan voice, "We stayed in a portable home I have stored away with all the utensils needed to survive in the wild, and even running water after filling the tanks with either river water, or magic~Nya. Plus I made sure all of the strong monsters were kept away while only leaving ones I knew she could deal with, and that she had enough to eat while also ensuring she learned to fend for herself~Nya." Alex smiled wryly as he listened to Kuroka''s summary of what happened, and then turned to Kurumu while he asked, "So did you at least get to your first job?" Hearing him completely disregard her woes, Kurumu wailed as she turned away and declared, "To think my beloved ''Destined One'' doesn''t care about his adorable little servant''s suffering! That all he cares about is her progress! How heartless!" Alex resisted the urge to laugh at Kurumu''s performance as it was painfully obvious she was just trying to guilt trip him. Instead he said offhandedly, "Well that''s too bad, if you didn''t get to the point of being able to choose your first job then you''d have to go back out there for all of tomorrow night as well, then the night after that and so on until you finally get it." Kurumu immediately turned back towards him, a smile plastered on her face and not a single tear in her eyes as she said, "I managed to max out my ''jobless'' right before returning today darling!" Alex nodded with a smile as he said, "Good, then you''ll just have to do short stints to grind on levels then, and we''ll probably start teaching you how to use your demonic powers and to fight here." Though she was bummed out that she''d have to go out and fight monsters still, Kurumu was in a better mood since Alex wouldn''t send her out to do so for as long anymore. She then pulled up her status to see which jobs were available while Alex did the same. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kurumu Kurono Race: Succubus Job: Jobless: 100 Jobs Available: Illusion Apprentice, Dream Diver, Charm Apprentice, Nailed fighter, Seducer, Mental Influencer, Apprentice Night Warrior Job History: Passive Skills: Seduction: Level 2 Bed Skills: Level 1 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: Level 1 Superhuman Strength: Level 2 Superhuman Speed: Level 2 Active Skills: Charm: Level 2 Dream Dive: Level 1 Illusion Magic: Level 2 Aphrodisiac Secretion: Level 1 Unique Skills: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As she looked over the potential jobs she had, Kurumu took a moment to think as she contemplated which one would help her the most, before ultimately choosing ''Illusion Apprentice'' since she planned to use her illusions the most whenever she fought. Alex nodded when he saw her job change as he also felt it was the most suitable one for the current her, at least before she started seriously training with her nails in the near future. Alex then sent Kurumu to go and work on her school work along with Moka, while he himself went to relax with Ingvild and Liliana, who had become Ingvild''s ''rook'' while they were still on Tortus, on the formers personal island down at the sea level. There he relaxed with the two girls until it was time for dinner, where they gathered with everyone and enjoyed a combination of Akeno and Asia''s cooking, which had only become tastier over the years. "This is really good!" Kurumu exclaimed as she eagerly ate "proper" food for the first time in nearly a week, making Akeno chuckle in her usual manner before saying, "I''m glad you think so. Tell me Kurumu, do you have any skill in the kitchen?" Kurumu swallowed her current bite before she smiled confidently, and declared, "Of course! I may not be able to make amazing dishes like these, but my skill at making treats is second to none!" At her declaration several of the girls looked up while Koneko had a sharp gleam in her eyes, and Akeno replied, "Ara ara, then tomorrow night we''ll need to put your claims to the test." Kurumu smiled confidently while everyone else started muttering to each other, discussing the upcoming cooking competition. Meanwhile off to the side Moka was happily chatting with Elmenhilde and Yue, who had started accepting her over the last few days along with everyone else. After Alex had shared the truth regarding Moka''s past and her powers, any negative thoughts they had about her disappeared completely as everyone now proactively tried to get her to open up to them. The awakening they had done previously also had the benefits Alex had hoped for as well, along with Moka''s drinking his blood everyday, as the ''inner'' Moka''s consciousness was stirring more and more, to the point that she had become able to exchange a few words with the ''outer'' Moka daily. This meant that the seal was starting to weaken bit by bit, but as long as it didn''t break completely then they weren''t concerned. Before it broke completely though, Alex intended to have the rosary studied properly so he requested Kuroka to use her Youjutsu and Spirit magic to attempt to examine it if possible, but, even if she couldn''t, Alex had already made plans for that as well. As the food vanished and the pleasant talks started coming to an end it was time to retire to the open air bath, which was were the real entertainment of the night began. "This is so amazing!" Kurumu declared as she entered the bath with a towel wrapped around her body, while Moka nodded and said, "I know! It''s like having your own private hot springs!" At this though Kurumu looked at her curiously and asked hesitantly, "I''m sorry for asking but you''re a vampire aren''t you? I thought vampires and water...?" Moka wasn''t perturbed at Kurumu''s question at the slightest, as she pointed towards a smaller tub that wasn''t too far from the main bath, and explained, "After my first night here when they found out I''m weak to water they built an add on just for me, though I''m somewhat surprised that vampires from the other worlds aren''t weak to water like I am. Haaaa..." She ended her explanation with a sigh as she couldn''t help feeling like the odd one out, even as the two other vampires started accepting her. Kurumu nodded in sympathy at Moka''s plight, and turned to start washing herself off when everyone else started entering the bath, making her want to spit blood while they were at it. Though Kurumu knew she didn''t have one of the largest chests there were, as her mother''s b.r.e.a.s.ts were quite a bit larger than her own, she still could not believe there were so many women with absurdly large busts present in one place. There actually was a small triple of blood that escaped her lips when she saw Yasaka walk in, as her b.r.e.a.s.ts were easily even bigger than her head. Knowing exactly what was going through Kurumu''s mind, Moka said, "At least you''re bigger than me... And a few others actually." Though she hadn''t believed it when the other girls told her Alex didn''t put too much emphasis of the size of their b.r.e.a.s.ts, Moka realized they had been telling the truth when she took another look at Yue, and met Suzu, Elmenhilde, Sona, and a few others. The attention of both girls was grabbed by something else suddenly, as Alex himself walked into the bath without even a stitch of clothing, or even a towel to cover his lower body. Even as her gazed focused entirely on Alex''s muscular body, and the large thing dangling between his legs, Moka tightened her towel around herself as her ''inner'' personality had already made it clear to her that she wasn''t allowed to display "their" body to ANY men without her permission. Even though she had seen him n.a.k.e.d in the bath every night so far, her face started heating up as a very noticeable blush extended clear down her neck, even then however her reaction was tame compared to Kurumu''s, who was currently gaping with a crimson face while stuttering, "H-h-h-how indecent!" This earned her several curious looks from the other girls, while Rias muttered, "This is coming from the succubus?" While everyone else nodded in agreement, or continued to look at Kurumu curiously, Alex chuckled and asked, "What''s so indecent about it Kurumu? Everyone here is either a part of my harem, or is here knowing that it is a shared bath." Kurumu was speechless as, even though she was a succubus, she had never even kissed someone, let alone let them see her n.a.k.e.d. Truth be told, she was a little hesitant to do so now after the previous situation with Nagare, and could only mutter, "M-my hearts not ready..." In response to her muttering, Kuroka stepped forward and stated, "Nya~ you know, as Alex''s servant you already dedicated your everything to him. If he wanted to make you, you''d have no right to refuse it if he made you drop your towel and bare everything before spreading your legs for him~Nya." As impossible as it may have seemed, Kurumu''s face reddened even more as she imagined such a thing, even though everyone else knew Alex wouldn''t do that. As everyone started going about their business with their bath, and Alex himself sat on the edge of the water so that only his legs were in it, while Yue cracked a mischievous smile as she said, "...If she is too innocent, then that just means we don''t have to share our favorite toy..." This got everyone''s attention once more, as Yue made her way to Alex from within the water, and reached for his increasingly hard staff. She then gripped it lightly with her petite hand, and started moving it up and down while bringing her lips ever closer to the tip before kissing it lightly. Kurumu watched along with everyone else as Yue went from kissing it, to opening her mouth bit by bit as she started engulfing the entire head, and working her lips down his shaft. Alex leaned his head back with a large smile on his face as Yue continued using her mouth to please him, using her extremely skilled tongue while her head bobbed up and down after she reached her limit. As several other girls were debating joining in on the fun, Kurumu was dumbfounded as she didn''t yet know Yue''s true age, and only saw a twelve-thirteen year old girl doing something completely indecent, leading her to leak out, "No way... Darling, even with such a young girl?..." Yue immediately froze as she turned her eyes on Kurumu in a mild glare, while the others smiled wryly from the side. Though she could use magic to maintain a more mature form for as long as she wanted, Yue had decided to deliberately remain looking so youthful due to the fact that it set her apart from the rest of Alex''s peerage, something that didn''t impact the attention she got from him in the slightest. Despite this however, she hated being treated like a child due to her appearance. She then pulled Alex''s length out of her mouth and stood up from the water, radiating her mature charm as she did so, despite not actually having the ''Charm'' skill, and climbed onto Alex''s legs before saying to Kurumu, "...Does this look like something a "young girl" would do?..." She then made sure Kurumu had the perfect view as she impaled herself on Alex''s eagerly awaiting meat, slowly making her way down it with a nasally groan escaping her lips until she managed to take in the entire thing, making Alex release a shuttering gasp as well from her tightness. Yue then started to eagerly bounce up and down on his lap with a smile that continued increasing in size from the pleasure, both from Alex and the satisfaction she got from Kurumu''s reactions. Soon however Alex took it even further, as he suddenly swung Yue around so that she was on her hands and knees at the edge of the bath, and, with his hands on her h.i.p.s to hold her steady, he started thrusting as quickly and roughly as possible. Though Kurumu was dumbfounded at their actions at first, she was now completely stupefied at how rough Alex was being, and most of all how much the petite Yue seemed to enjoy his rough treatment. She was then pulled from her stupor as she noticed a look Yue was suddenly giving her, despite the damage her insides we''re currently taking. It was as if she was looking down on her, mocking her for holding herself back despite the feelings she claimed to have. With yet even more blood rushing to her head from the sneer in Yue''s eyes, Kurumu steeled herself as she said as she moved right in front of Alex and Yue, "You want to see me? Fine then, I''ll show you! HERE, LOOK AT EVERYTHING!" Then, shocking everyone along with Alex, Kurumu gripped the edges of her bath towel and threw it off off, exposing her entire body to see. This was the first time she ever "bore everything", especially to the person she loved, and so as they all caught sight of her n.a.k.e.d flesh, every single person in the bath went slack jawed, while even Alex paused his rough f.u.c.k.i.n.g of Yue momentarily in awe. This happened because Kurumu was unintentionally and accidentally amplifying her own powers of seduction, not to ''Charm'' or enslave everyone, but to simply captivate them. This little situation showed Alex that even if he, Shizuku, and Kurumu shared the ''Seduction'' skill, there was a big difference in its power from those that acquired it, and a succubus who had it naturally. Along with her powers seemingly to activate accidentally, the other thing everyone noticed was that Kurumu''s body had, for lack of a better way to put it, perfect proportions that couldn''t be seen when she was wearing clothes. It wasn''t the same as having an amazing figure like Rias, or Kuroka, as Kurumu easily lost out to them in both the b.r.e.a.s.t and butt department, but that for her size everything seemed to be perfectly proportioned. Standing at five foot even, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were seemingly at the perfect size without seeming "too big", or "too small"; while her n.i.p.p.l.es seemed to only add to her b.r.e.a.s.ts "perfection", wether it be color, size, or placement. There wasn''t a single ounce of fat on her body that didn''t look as if it belonged there, and everything from her legs, h.i.p.s, and butt seemed to be "perfect". Even as everyone stared at her body in amazement though, Kurumu''s emotions were still riding high as she seemed to take their silence the wrong way, and stated, "T-this isn''t enough is it?! No wait, of curse it isn''t! I did say I would "bare it all" after all!" With something else coming to mind as she recalled the incident in the nurses office the previous day, Kurumu turned around and before anyone could stop her, bent over while using her fingers to spread herself open. Everyone could only gape in amazement as she showed them even the most embarrassing parts of her body, from her twitching butthole, to even spreading her p.u.s.s.y so that they could see her quivering pink insides. Alex was in even more of a stupor this time at the view he was suddenly receiving, and was only snapped out of it as Kurumu muttered, "Wait, this STILL isn''t enough, is it? I-I still need to prove myself!" She then turned back towards him and looked as if she was about to push Yue away, so that she could take her place, but before she could she was suddenly brought back to her senses as an intense headache suddenly attacked her, courtesy of Alex''s finger after he suddenly flicked her forehead. "That''s enough Kurumu, you don''t have to prove yourself." With the pain snapping her back, Kurumu looked at Alex as she recalled everything she just did, and the fact that even in her current position with her sitting on her butt, her legs slightly spread to give him a view of what laid between them. With her face already being blood red, the only thing to add was an intensely bleeding nose as she tried to hide her face from view, before Alex stopped her and said softly while cleaning her up somewhat, "You don''t have to worry Kurumu, I won''t force you to do anything, and you don''t need to prove yourself. Though we will reach that point eventually, I intended to wait from the beginning so there''s no need to rush." Even as he tried to calm her, Kurumu couldn''t help mutter, "B-but I-I-" before she could get out what she was trying to say though, she suddenly found her lips sealed as Alex suddenly kissed her. Kurumu melted into her first kiss, as her mouth naturally opened to accept Alex''s tongue while his hand wrapped around her waist to pull her closer. Compared to just a mere moment before, Kurumu was much calmer as her n.a.k.e.d body pressed against Alex''s, his hand so close to her butt that she almost wanted him to grab it, not to "prove" herself, but because it just felt right. Before she could direct him to though, Alex broke off the kiss as he slowly pulled his head away from hers, a trail of saliva still connecting their lips as she stared at him in a slight daze. Alex smiled and said, "Will you be satisfied with just this for now?" With any words she was about to say gone, Kurumu could only slowly nod while everyone else slowly recovered from their own stupors around them. With everything calming down, Alex turned his gaze to the woman he was still inside, Yue, and suddenly pulled her up so that her back was against his chest, as he suddenly reached around and kissed her. This confused everyone until Alex broke off the kiss several seconds later, and Yue''s eyes started glossing over as her breathing became ragged. "Do me a favor Yue, and let me know in the morning what succubus aphrodisiac is like." As she was still conscious, Yue''s eyes widened suddenly at what Alex said, while everyone else quickly realized what he did, transferring Kurumu''s saliva from their kiss to Yue, even though it wouldn''t work on him due to his ''Poison Resistance'' skill. With Yue''s body getting hotter by the second, Alex turned back to the girls and said, "Venri, Tio, and Nyx, let''s continue our baths in my room, and Akeno, meet us later after you collect some "supplies"." With his orders the two dragons eagerly made their way to his side, where Alex quickly grabbed them intimately and pulled them closer while Nyx followed closely behind. With Yue clinging to him desperately and the other three women ready, Alex immediately took them upstairs while Akeno prepared to join them, eager for the nights activities with Yue. As they left everyone tried to go back to what they were doing, but due to Kurumu''s influence it was fairly difficult to calm the sparked passion within them, leading many to debate accompanying Akeno when she went to Alex''s room later. Meanwhile Kurumu herself was in a daze as she lightly touched her lips, the feeling of Alex''s still on them as a giddy feeling welled up within her; though a certain pink haired vampire, who had been desperately trying to filter out the noise of earlier, gave her a small glare before looking away pointedly while going "Hmph!" (A.N. I''ve been getting hammered at work recently due to new policies regarding covid, along with the fact that it''s currently my busy season, and so I haven''t been writing as much as I should due to feeling exhausted when I get home. Hopefully things will start getting a little easier here soon and I can spend some more time writing, but this is why it seems like the chapters are taking so long to come out. Thank you for your understanding, and stay safe. Chapter 298 - Assassin? Over the next several days Alex, Moka, and Kurumu fell into a routine of attending school during the days, and then returning to Asora and spending their nights in the space-time orb. Each night they would remove Moka''s rosary for a few minutes so that the ''inner'' Moka could make an appearance, which, along with Moka''s daily consumption of Alex''s blood, allowed the two girls to interact with each other more and grow closer together. Though she didn''t want anything to do with Alex''s harem, the ''inner'' Moka couldn''t help but admit that his blood was tastier and more potent than anything she''d ever had before, resulting in her accusing him at least once of trying to tame her through her stomach. While Moka was visiting and growing closer to her other self, Kurumu spent her nights training, alternating between learning about illusions and how to properly use her nails from Kuroka, as well as general hand to hand combat and how to make use of her speed from Shizuku and Shia. For the most part she enjoyed herself while learning from and interacting with so many people, as she never had a lot of friends before, while the only part she truly disliked was going to fight monsters to gain experience points. And so the days passed without incident, with the only interesting thing happening was Alex becoming the only gym teacher after Okuto showed his true colors, and was fired after he tried to [email protected] one of the female students. The student in question had apparently confessed to Okuto, yet instead of taking her confession seriously or rejecting her, he then proceeded to attack her with the excuse that since she liked him, then she had no reason to say no. It had been at this point that Alex had arrived, since he had been tracking this particular student for this very reason, and confronted Okuto for his actions. After a very short fight where Okuto showed his true form, a kraken, Alex then dragged him to the headmasters office after warning the girl to be more careful around guys in the future; though as if she didn''t hear him, she immediately started following Alex around after that in awe of the man who saved her. Now, a little over a week after school had started, a couple of female teachers were standing in what appeared to be a wide open area while waiting for something. "Uhg, I don''t understand why the headmaster called us out here away from the school, and just told us to wait!" Kagome Ririko cried with frustration, while Nekonome absentmindedly continued eating some fish shaped crackers she had brought with her. Suddenly a voice called out from behind them, "We''re here to act as witnesses to a duel miss Ririko." Both teachers turned suddenly to see a familiar figure standing there, his face hidden by the cap on his head, the bus driver. Ririko sighed and said, "If even you''re here Nurari then it must be a serious duel." The bus driver smiled sinisterly and said, "Indeed, one of the three Dark Lords versus something that not even I can see through, this duel should be quite entertaining." Ririko tensed when she heard that though and asked, "What do you mean by "something even you can''t see through"?!" As a Nurarihyon, or supreme commander of all monsters, it wouldn''t be a stretch to say that Nurari was unmatched in terms of knowledge regarding monsters, or their movements in the entire world. The fact that there existed a being that he couldn''t see through meant that they either weren''t a monster, or they were something not of this world. The bus driver smiled sinisterly at her question, and decided not to answer her as he eagerly anticipated the show to come. It wasn''t much longer before another new voice said, "Good your all here, now we only need to wait for him." The three turned and saw the headmaster Mikogami standing there as he prepared to fight, however they also noticed something different about him, as if he had more of an aura than before. Nurari noticed this more than the other two, and asked, "Have you done something to restore your past strength my old friend?" Mikogami smiled similarly to nurari and answered mysteriously, "I feel as if I''m already stronger than I was in my youth, and no I didn''t do anything, it was a gift. If it wasn''t for that, I would never have even agreed to this duel anyways, right Alex?" "Indeed, I was quite disappointed when you rejected my challenge at first, but now things are bound to get interesting." Yet another new voice said, as Alex himself approached them along with Moka, Kurumu, and Grayfia. The four youkai glanced at the maid accompanying Alex curiously as they tried to guess her background, as she was radiating an aura of power and authority. The fact that such a person was a mere maid to Alex was enough for them to know that he was a lot more... "interesting" than they assumed. With the two combatants and six witnesses(seven counting the purple haired one spying from a ways away) gathered, it was finally time for the duel to start. As they stepped forward Alex and Mikogami both felt their hearts start pounding excitedly in anticipation of what was to come. As they stood facing each other Nurari stepped forward, and stated, "I''ll be officiating this match if you don''t mind, and the rules are simply don''t kill each other, don''t kill any bystanders, and don''t damage the surroundings too much. That being said, BEGIN!" Even with duel officially started Alex didn''t move as he decided to let Mikogami have the first move, to which the exorcist wielded a rosary of his own, and chanted a short incantation that resulted in a dome of light surrounding Alex. "Wow." Alex said as he casually examined the barrier surrounding him, while Mikogami smirked in front of him. He didn''t truly expect that this could hold Alex, however he hoped it would give him a chance to see what Alex was truly capable of before they actually fought, a plan that was soon smashed to pieces as Alex raised a fist and smashed through the barrier instantly. "Please tell me you''ve got more than that." He said to his surprised opponent, as he expected that it would take at least a little bit longer to escape one of his barriers. Without being put out in the least, the smile on Mikogami''s face widened as his blood really started to boil, and he answered, "Of course not, that wasn''t even the appetizer!" He then grabbed his exorcists robe and threw it away, revealing what seemed to be a youthful good looking man underneath, except his entire upper body was bound in chains meant to restrict his powers, as without them he couldn''t even maintain his human form very well. Without any kind of ceremony Mikogami grabbed the chains, and immediately tore them off while also removing his hood, resulting in several drastic changes happening to his body. Firstly his body grew slightly as his muscles became more pronounced, tearing his shirt and allowing them to see the marking forming underneath that was shaped similarly to a sideways eye. His arms also started changing colors while his hands changed shape until they seemed to be coated with a hardened substance, while each elbow had a protrusion growing from it. To complete the transformation several markings started covering his face, while two horns protruded from the sides of his head as they pointed backwards. As the powerful energy radiated off of him Alex''s smile widened even more in anticipation, while the two teachers watched with abject shock at the headmasters true form, a Kishin, or demon God. "FINALLY, WE''RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!" Alex cried out as he released his own aura, which immediately matched the headmasters in intensity despite still not transforming. "I-I can''t believe this..." Ririko muttered as the two monsters stared at each other for a beat, before vanishing suddenly and reappearing in the center of their previous positions, their fists connected as they clashed. KABOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!! The air thundered as it sounded like the sky itself would fall on them from the concussion of the impact of their fists, and a series of shockwaves decimated their surroundings as the ground beneath them started caving in from the impact. "PROMOTION, ROOK!" Grayfia suddenly cried out, as she formed a powerful barrier in front of the group witnessing the battle to protect them, and the school behind them from the shockwaves of the fight in front of them. Even as they tried to recover from the results of that one clash though, it wasn''t enough as shockwave after shockwave assaulted them from Alex and Mikogami relentlessly continuing their attacks on the other, both trying to force the other to give way. "To think, that boy can keep up with one of the Dark Lords so easily..." Nurari muttered, earning a snort from Grayfia as she stated, "I think it should be the other way around. My lord has never once met an opponent who could directly over power him with strength alone, and even now he is holding himself back in order to properly enjoy this fight, rather than end it too soon." Nurari looked at her incredulously along with Nekonome and Ririko at her claims, thinking she was trying to boast about her master when Grayfia was just stating the truth. Even until this point Alex had yet to activate his super Saiyan transformation, or use any of his skills in the fight against Mikogami, instead he was enjoying a pure fight against an opponent that had several centuries of experience over himself. Even in the middle of his fight Alex couldn''t help but recall his days of learning under Sun Wukong, as the old monkey displayed time and again that experience could beat brute strength if the user didn''t know how to control it properly. However, the Alex now was nothing like the Alex back then. As well as his strength, Alex had already spent several years honing his skills and technique when fighting; so despite the fact that Mikogami had a bit of an advantage with several centuries of experience fighting, Alex was still the one who was slowly but surely pressuring him. As the seconds ticked by the battle raged on as the two clashed time and again, their aura surging outward with each clash, shaking the ground itself and even going so far as to disrupt the great barrier protecting the school, though thankfully it never seemed in danger of actually collapsing. *** "KYAAAAAAAA!" "WAIT! COME BAAAAACK! I NEED YOU TO WEAR THIS!!!" While Alex was in an intense duel with Mikogami, to the west across the sea, and in a luxurious mansion, a young good looking girl dressed in serving attire was fleeing from a wrinkly old man who stood at only roughly three feet tall, a type of costume gripped in his hands. As he chased the poor girl through the mansion, several needles suddenly came out of nowhere and impaled themselves in the wood right before him, making the old man freeze in his tracks as another beautiful woman who was radiating an aura of rage, stated in a dangerously calm voice, "Stop pestering the help, and get back to dinner." The old man cowed immediately and reluctantly followed her back to the dinning room, where the rest of the family was waiting. At the head of the table was a fierce looking man whose face was covered with several scars, and at his left was a young boy who looked to be no older than fourteen. Sitting next to him though was an older looking girl, however she had unnaturally pale skin and glossed over eyes like a corpse. The beautiful woman from before, Ten-Ten, took the seat to the right of her husbands, Fei-Hong, while the old man, the last of the three Dark Lords Touhou Fuhai, returned to his seat directly across from Fei-Hong. As everyone returned to their seats and resumed the meal as if nothing happened, the boy, Fang-Fang, asked his father who was head of Huang mafia family, "So what were you saying before father, about the Miao family?" Fei-Hong nodded as he recalled his earlier discussion before their great ancestor ran out, and said to his family, "Anyways, my men have reported that they''re-" Meanwhile Touhou Fuhai pulled out a tablet and leaned it against a cup before pressing the play button, resuming the anime he had been watching moment prior. As he watched the scantily dressed women fly around fighting, and getting what little clothes they were wearing ripped off, he couldn''t help but sigh while saying wistfully, "Oh my beloved 2-D beauties, at least you will never leave me..." He was then about to take a bite of his food, but froze when he thought he felt something. Touhou tried to determine what it was he felt, but as he tried to grasp it it disappeared, leaving him slightly confused. "Maybe I''m finally going senile as well...." He muttered sadly before lifting his food to his mouth once more, before the same thing happened once again, causing him to put his food down and focus sharply. Though he couldn''t feel anything once more, this time Touhou didn''t lower his concentration and continued focusing, until he felt it for the third time. As he was finally able to determine what he was feeling, Touhou''s expression hardened as he started emitting a tense atmosphere that got his descendants attention as well. "That idiotic muscle head, what is he doing?!" As he had finally been able to analyze what he was feeling, Touhou realized that his old comrade Mikogami was currently fighting with his full strength against an opponent that was either equally powerful, or even stronger than him. Currently the two were not only growing weaker than they had been in their prime, but they were both trying to preserve what little power they had left to prolong their lives, meaning that, even if he survived this fight, it was highly likely Mikogami was using up the last of his life force and would die within a matter of days. Knowing that even he wouldn''t do such a thing for the thrill of a single fight, Touhou deduced that he must be under attack by a powerful force, but before he could say or do anything, someone said, "He''s just having a duel with my master~Nya, they''ll both be fine." Touhou shook his head though and stated, "He''s in the same boat as me, we can''t use our powers too much or- Nya?" As if suddenly realizing the verbal tick and voice that he''d never heard before, Touhou slowly turned along with his descendants and saw a certain beautiful black haired woman sitting at the table, reaching out for some of the food as if it was the most natural thing. Despite the fact that they were in China, she was wearing a black kimono with noticeably massive melons that threatened to spill out of it at any moment, and four black catlike tails to match the pair of cat ears on her head. As if just noticing the five gazes that focused on her, Kuroka tilted her head cutely in mild confusion, before saying, "Nya?" Then, "ASSASSIN! ASSASSIN IN THE DINNING ROOM!" Fang-Fang suddenly shouted, alerting the entire mansion that an intruder who was a potential assassin had penetrated their defenses. The entire mansion suddenly rumbled with activity as the men who served the Huang family leapt into action, and half of them rushed to the dinning room while the other half went to check every room in the house for any accomplices she might have had. "Assassin~nya?" Kuroka muttered somewhat confusedly, as she had only gone there to talk; but as a influential family that dealt with and ruled part of the underground, they didn''t hesitate to consider the one who managed to infiltrate their home so easily as some kind of assassin. However when she saw them prepare to engage her, Kuroka smiled somewhat sadistically and decided that it was time to see what the people of this word were capable of. She then deftly dodged the series of needles that came flying at her as if they were moving in slow motion using the ''Knight'' aspect of her ''Queen'' piece, before swiftly plucking them out of the air and throwing them back at the one they came from. "...She''s skilled!" Ten-Ten declared after she too had to dodge her own attack, but when she turned back to her opponent Kuroka was nowhere to be found, until someone swept her legs out from under her from behind. "Wha-" Was all she had time to say as she wondered how her opponent moved so fast, before Kuroka slammed her palm down onto Ten-Ten''s exposed stomach, slamming her down onto the dinning table with enough force to completely smash it. Despite the insane power Kuroka had just demonstrated, it was normally impossible for a master martial artist like Ten-Ten to be defeated this quickly, but as Kuroka''s palm connected with her, she also felt several things barely puncture her stomach before a numbing sensation started spreading through her body, courtesy of the mild paralysis poison Kuroka used through her claws. Her first opponent taken care of, Kuroka then turned towards Fang-Fang and Fei-Hong, who were both holding talismans while chanting. Fei-Hong finished his chant first and said to her, "You''ll pay for doing that to my wife, come, SALAMANDER!" As he finished speaking there was a powerful pulse of supernatural energy, and a long eastern dragon appeared before glaring at her. Kuroka smirked at the dragon as it appeared to nothing but a little lizard to her after the other dragons she''d met so far, even as it surged forward and set the room alight while protecting Ten-Ten with its body. As Kuroka was submerged in a sea of flames Fang-Fang and Fei-Hong both cracked a small smile, but they quickly faded when the flames started turning black, before they parted to reveal Kuroka no worse for the wear as several wheels of black flames surrounded her. She glared down at her opponents like a divine being, and declared, "If these meager flames were enough to defeat me, then what right would I have to be the ''QUEEN'' OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR?!" Her declaration finished, Kuroka then used her Kasha wheels to bathe the room in black flames that radiated purifying energy, scorching the scales of the Salamander before burning the talisman that summoned it, and defeating Fei-Hong. Releasing the Kasha wheels, Kuroka then turned her attention towards Fang-Fang, who was the only one left in the room after Touhou and the corpse-like woman left when the fight first began. As she slowly approached him, Fang-Fang quickly resumed his chant before raising his talisman threateningly and saying, "Heed my call and answer me, IMMORTAL PHOENIX!" As he shouted there was a powerful surge of supernatural energy like his father''s summoning, however when the light cleared there wasn''t a Phoenix there. "Nyaaaaaaaa!" Kuroka cried out, as she quickly wrapped her arms around the cuddly panda that had appeared and was silently munching on a shoot of bamboo. Fang-Fang looked as if he wanted to vomit blood as he slowly muttered, "Not again..." He had wanted to summon a Phoenix as, even if a dragons flames didn''t work, then perhaps a phoenix''s could, plus it''s regenerative powers could possibly bring his parents back into the fight. Fang-Fang came back from his slump as he noticed Kuroka stand up with the panda still in her arms, before she turned towards him and seriously said, "I''m keeping it~Nya." She then sent the panda to her personal space with the floating islands and hundreds of cats, before grabbing Fang-Fang by the face and slamming him through a wall. At that point the smell of corpses assaulted Kuroka''s nose as the woman from before returned along with a few dozen companions, while on the other side of the room a dozen more men showed up that didn''t smell like corpses, except they all had machine guns pointed right at her. Before she could say anything the woman in the lead stepped forward and said, "Even if you are an assassin I will acknowledge your skills for defeating my parents, but know that it is Ling-Ling who will bring you down!" Kuroka rolled her eyes as she muttered, "I never said I was an assassin though...?" As she said this Ling-Ling''s eyes narrowed, but she didn''t bother trying to ask further since they would get that information during the interrogation later. She then noticed one of the men on the other side nod at her to indicate they had retrieved her parents and little brother''s bodies, making her smile widely as she ordered, "ATTACK!" As she and the other corpses behind her leapt into action, the men on the other side open fired without any regard for their comrades, and if anyone had said anything then Ling-Ling would have simply replied with ''I''m not worried, because I''m already dead.'' Despite the hail of bullets on one side, and the small army of zombies on the other, Kuroka''s smirk never faltered as she didn''t pay any of the bullets attention, and moved towards the zombies. As they closed in and were about to attack her though, Kuroka used ''Blink'' and appeared behind them, where she immediately placed a couple of fingers onto the back of one of the zombies'' head and started reading their internal energy. After less than a second of contact a smile formed on Kuroka''s face as she realized what made the zombies work, since she had only ever seen necromancy before where the undead were basically puppets of their master. These zombies however were corpses that had their original consciousness put back into them, while the majority of motor functions were restarted with magic. Though her wanted to spend a bit more time investigating what made them work, Kuroka instead used her Touki to cut off the supply of energy to the rest of the body, making the one she was touching drop like a puppet with its strings cut. It was still alive, or rather undead, but it wouldn''t have access to any of its motor functions below its neck until she returned them. "...What are you...?" Ling-Ling asked incredulously, as Kuroka used her own speed and ''Blink'' to disable the entire group of zombies in mere seconds, all while ignoring the bullets bouncing off of her due to her ''Rook'' trait. Kuroka shrugged as she finished the last zombie besides Ling-Ling herself, and replied, "I''m just your average adorable cat?" This got her a blank deadpan stare in response, before Ling-Ling sighed and motioned for the shooters to stand down, as there was apparently no point to the bullets other than to damage her own undead body further. She then took a stance while Kuroka did the same as they stared each other down, before Ling-Ling moved first as she thrusted her flattened hand towards Kuroka. Though it was an easy enough attack to avoid, Kuroka paused for a moment as she noticed a strange energy form around Ling-Ling''s hand, this caused her to wait until the very last second to use ''Blink'' though it wasn''t that much of a risk, at least until Kuroka noticed her side was bleeding. A large grin spread on Ling-Ling''s face when she saw the blood, as she managed to draw the first blood on their mysterious opponent even if it was just a scratch. Kuroka however looked at her wound curiously, as she tried to figure out how exactly Ling-Ling managed to wound her when she was using Spatial magic, until, "It seems like even someone as monstrous as you aren''t immune to the ''Jigen-Tou''(Dimensional Blade)!" Kuroka looked up at her, intrigue in her eyes as she heard about this ''Jigen-Tou'', however she had something more important to focus on at the moment, and replied to Ling-Ling while running a finger across her wound, "I''ll have to have you show me that move properly later~Nya." Ling-Ling was confused as they were still in the middle of their fight, until Kuroka suddenly teleported in front of her, and her consciousness went dark after the cat girl gently tapped her forehead. *** While all of this was taking place Touhou Fuhai sat solemnly in another room, as he analyzed the events taking place within the Huang family at the hands of this mysterious invader. She was obviously very skilled and powerful, and if her claims could be believed she served someone even stronger than herself, a concept that was both exciting yet terrifying. The problem was that there had been no word of this group''s existence until now, no whispers of them in the underworld, no bounties on them or that they''ve claimed, there was absolutely nothing. It was as if they had appeared from nothingness out of thin air, something that was terrifying yet also impossible, as one did not reach that level of strength through training alone, but through intense training AND by fighting strong opponents. Touhou''s thoughts came to a halt as he noticed the attacker leisurely making her way towards him, turning anyone who crossed her path into stone using a mysterious grey mist, before she finally entered the room he had taken refuge in. As they looked at each other she asked, "So I''ll just assume you''re the Dark Lord Touhou Fuhai~Nya?" Touhou nodded before replying, "I''m sad to say you have me at a disadvantage though, as I have yet to hear your name, or your reason for attacking my home and family." Though he was speaking calmly there was an obvious anger in Touhou''s voice at her actions until now, and the only reason he hadn''t yet moved against her and was not more furious was because he could tell that not a single person that had fallen at her hands had died, including his descendants. And so he decided to properly greet his opponent before they began their fight, with the hope of gleaming some insight into her background if nothing else. Kuroka could easily guess what Touhou was after, but since they weren''t actually enemies she simply shrugged before saying, "I''m Kuroka Toujo, a servant of the ''Dragon Emperor''~Nya." Though Touhou was surprised at how easily she gave her name and the identity of her master, he couldn''t help but ask, "You said servant just now, but didn''t you say ''Queen'' earlier? And shouldn''t it be ''Empress'' if he''s an emperor?" Kuroka sighed in response and explained, "''Queen'' is merely a rank among his servants, my masters ''Dragon Empress'' is someone else~Nya." Kuroka then chuckled at her reference of Anne, who didn''t like her new nickname even though it fit her as Alex''s main wife, and as a ''Dragon Slayer''. Not understanding what the joke was, Touhou then asked her, "Before we begin our fight I have one last question if you will, why does this ''Dragon Emperor'' want me dead?" Though Kuroka hadn''t killed any of his descendants, Touhou still believed she had been sent to eliminate him simply due to how powerful she was. He was surprised however when she sighed and said, "Who said anything about killing you, or even anything about assassins~Nya? My master sent me here to speak with you and possibly forge an alliance among other things~Nya, you were the ones who attacked me if nothing else." Touhou stared at her dumbfoundedly, and as much as he wanted to retort what she said, when he thought back on it she never actually gave any indication that her intentions were malicious, the only thing she did wrong was invite herself into and invade his home the way she did. Shaking his head at himself, Touhou looked back at her wth a fierce expression and said, "Well, even if you meant to be peaceful things have escalated haven''t they? I hope you won''t deny this old man the chance to vent some of his frustration at seeing his family defeated." As he spoke Touhou''s body grew several feet taller as his old and wrinkly skin started smoothening out until there wasn''t a single blemish, his hair then became long and silky black as it seemed to flow around him flawlessly. By the time his transformation was over, he stood slightly taller than her and was dressed in majestic black robes that left part of his chest bare, revealing part of a sun tattoo, while wielding a staff in one hand and now appearing as a beautiful man. As his third eye on his forehead opened sideways, Kuroka''s mouth grew into a sinister smile as she replied while taking a stance, "I wouldn''t have had it any other way~Nya." Chapter 299 - Duels Conclusion The tension in the room increased as the two faced each other for several seconds, each waiting for the other to strike. The reason Kuroka hadn''t attacked yet was that, similarly to Alex, she wanted to see what the three Dark Lords were capable of; while Touhou was acting cautiously after she had managed to defeat the entire Huang family singlehandedly, and wasn''t even out of breath from it. After several tense seconds that seemed to stretch into hours, Touhou finally made the first move as he slammed his staff down and activated a trap he had placed while waiting for Kuroka to arrive earlier, the only reason he hadn''t activated it yet being that he didn''t want to alert her to it. "Nya~ this looks interesting." Kuroka said casually as she dropped her fighting stance to examine the barrier that had formed around her. While she was doing that Touhou started preparing to fire a powerful magic attack while she was trapped within the barrier, but paused when he realized what she was doing, "Let''s see here, move this like that, cancel that, then alter this..." He watched with dumbfoundment as she manipulated the workings of his own barrier from within itself, until it was finally forced to dissipate as she canceled it with a smile on her face. "That''s impossible..." Touhou muttered in disbelief, while Kuroka shrugged before responding, "That was very interesting, even though it''s a completely different brand of ''Youjutsu'' than I know, it wasn''t too hard to figure out." Touhou''s disbelief only grew as he listened to her speak, as it wasn''t an exaggeration to say he was the most skilled practitioner of ''Youjutsu'' in the world, and the fact that Kuroka managed to easily tear apart one of the most powerful barriers he could create by changing it was unbelievable. "Hmph!" He snorted, before finishing the preparation for his current attack while the c.o.c.ky cat girl watched. "Let''s see how you like this!" He declared, before firing a multi light beam attack that scattered to cover any escapes Kuroka might attempt. However, despite light being poisonous to Devils, Kuroka''s smile never wavered as she used her mastery over Space to redirect the beams of light until they were returning back towards Touhou; who effortlessly eliminated them as they were his attack to begin with, even though he had put enough power into them to level a small city. With Kuroka effortlessly dealing with his ''Youjutsu'' with her own unknown magic and skills, Touhou then swapped out his staff for a sword while several needles appeared in his other hand, his intent sharpening along with his weapons. Kuroka''s smile widened as she held out her own hands, her claws sharpening at the tips of her fingers, before flickering at the same exact moment Touhou did. CRASH!!! The air itself vibrated with the intensity of their clash as Kuroka held back Touhou''s sword with one hand, and used the other to deftly pick the needles he threw at her out of the air. At first Touhou smirked when he saw her handle the tips of the needles without any caution, but, when she showed no signs of being affected by the instantly acting poison that was applied, his smirk changed into a frown as he couldn''t help but wonder what kind of monster he was fighting. With all of this taking place in mere seconds after his sword clashed with her claws, Touhou backed off before preparing for another strike with his sword, while also pulling out more needles with a different poison applied to the tip. Over and over the two clashed while causing an increasing amount of destruction to the building around them, and over and over Touhou tried various methods to try and subdue his opponent even as she matched him in speed and strength; wether it was any of the poisons he had on him, the various types of ''Youjutsu'' he was capable of performing on the fly, or even just raw martial skill. "I may have no choice but to use it..." Touhou muttered as he contemplated using one of his most powerful moves, the ''Jigen-Tou''. The reason he had yet to use it though, was because he had noticed Kuroka analyzing his moves and magic as if she was studying them, a thought that terrified him after he already watched her modify some of his magic attacks. With no other viable attacks to turn the fight into his favor though, Touhou tossed aside his weapons and straightened his hands out as if they were a pair of swords. Kuroka''s eyes widened when she recognized Touhou using the form that Ling-Ling had used earlier, and she quickly spread out a magic circle at the base of her feet as Touhou lunged at her while declaring, "How will you respond to this!?" The words were barely out of his mouth when he seemed to come to a standstill, along with everything else within the magic circle with the sole exception of Kuroka herself. "Now let''s see that interesting technique~Nya." She muttered to herself, as she stepped closer and started to inspect the magic Touhou was using to coat his hands. Kuroka quickly realized that, unlike Ling-Ling, Touhou was not only applying the magic to his own hands, but was even extending it past them like an invisible sword, one that can seemingly cut through anything. She also noticed that the magic itself seemed to be an application of Spatial magic that allowed ones hand to pass through solid objects, before moving in a motion similar to a saw as it "cut" the intended target. Though she was happy to make this discovery, Kuroka also felt like kicking herself since she didn''t think of this as well, even though she was trying to obtain a divinity related to Space and Time. She spent several minutes examining Touhou''s hand, as well as the magic extending from it, while the man himself was moving so slow he seemed to be standing still, yet his eyes were moving only the tiniest bit faster as he tried to follow her movements with them. Finally Kuroka clapped her hands together while saying, "I think I''ve got now~ Nya!", before releasing the time magic that bound Touhou in place, and sent him flying forward. Of course he managed to correct himself before he looked foolish, but Touhou didn''t care and demanded, "You can control Time as well?!!!" Kuroka shrugged at him before responding, "I can only manipulate the flow of time and somewhat reverse it a little, it''s not like I can travel through it or anything." Though Kuroka acted as if her ability to manipulate time wasn''t that big of a deal, Touhou was having a little trouble breathing as he tried to imagine the power of the force he was fighting. The ability to manipulate time itself was nothing to sneeze at, with he himself being one of the only people in the world who could managed the feat, yet he wasn''t even close to Kuroka in terms of ease and use. His attention was retaken by Kuroka as the cat girl raised her hands until they formed an X in front of her with her claws out, while she muttered, "Let''s see.... Something like this?" Though Touhou didn''t know what she was trying to do, it was quickly made apparent as Kuroka applied Spatial magic to her her claws in a similar manner as his ''Jigen-Tou''. Kuroka felt her claws "lock" into place in midair, however as she slowly but surely moved them down in a clawing motion, both her and Touhou could see lines appearing in the walls around them as she cleanly cut them. "NYAAAAAAAA!!!" She cried out as she slashed with both of her claws at once, cutting space itself along with her surroundings before several claw marks also appeared on the dumbfounded Touhou, who was both amazed and horrified at how his own technique was stolen and bastardized in this way. Meanwhile Kuroka was grinning like the Cheshire Cat as she seemed to effortlessly cut through everything around her like it was warm butter, while also restricting herself from killing Touhou with the attack, her mind already racing with the possibilities of this ability and what she might be able to do with it. Touhou on the other hand was bloody and laying on the ground as he looked at the surrounding devastation in awe, as Kuroka had cleanly sliced through everything at a far greater range than even he was capable of, even into the next room over, while also amazingly keeping enough control and precision to keep was cutting him into pieces, or hitting any instant kill spots. "A-amazing...." He coughed out along with a mouthful of blood, as, even if she limited the damage he had taken, he was quite seriously injured, and didn''t doubt his own impending death if he wasn''t treated. "To think, the house of Huang would end this way...." He muttered while trying to keep his breath, before looking at Kuroka and continuing, "If this old man is to die, then please let him do so while being smothered in the ultimate softness..." As he spoke Kuroka''s eyes narrowed, as it was obvious what he meant from the fact that he was staring right at, and was even going so far as to use the last of his strength to reach for, her b.r.e.a.s.ts. "I can''t believe I''m doing this~Nya." Kuroka muttered, before she created another magic circle that spread out enough to encompass everyone, and every thing, that had been defeated or damaged by her, before time itself seemed to started rewinding as their wounds swiftly healed, and the damaged repaired itself as if it never happened. Soon everyone started waking up confusedly as they tried to figure out what happened, as the last thing any of them recalled was either being defeated, or turned to stone by the mysterious invader, though for some reason they also felt fairly exhausted when they woke up as well. This was because Kuroka was using their own energy to fuel the Regeneration magic since her own reserves were dropping fairly low, due to her slowing time for so long earlier draining them. One troubling aspect of the Age of Gods Magic was that it had a high magic power consumption rate, though this was practically negligible for Alex''s servants, yet her own manipulation of Time magic consumed even more of her reserves than Age of Gods Magic did, leaving her nearly drained. "What the.....?" Touhou muttered as he felt his own wounds closing themselves, as well as the power he had exhausted during their fight returning, due to Kuroka specifically restoring what he had used up during their fight since Alex didn''t want him to die, yet. Kuroka then explained to answer his confusion, "I''m using a type of Time magic to restore everything within the mansion to the point before the fight broke out~Nya. Like I said before, my master wants cooperation between us, not friction~Nya." Though he wanted to refute what she said, the fact that Kuroka even went as far as to heal everyone''s wounds and repair the damage done to the mansion was proof enough of her groups good intentions. As such, he felt he had no choice but to follow her back to the dining room where his descendants were trying to make sense of what was happening(though he was in his old form again). Once Fei-Hong and Ten-Ten saw Kuroka however they both immediately took a stance as they prepared for round two, before Touhou stated, "Knock it off you two, she''s here to talk not fight; if that had been the case none of us would even still be alive." Though reluctantly, Fei-Hong and Ten-Ten backed down when they heard their great ancestor''s words, however the tension never left their bodies as they stayed ready in case a fight broke out again. Though she noticed this, Kuroka didn''t seem to care about them in the slightest as she helped herself to the seat at the head of the table, before also helping herself to some of the nearby food, which was also restored to being perfectly warm and edible. Though several of those watching were getting angry at her blatant disrespect, Touhou didn''t mind in the slightest as he sat down next to her and asked, "So what does this ''Dragon Emperor'' want, and what does he intend to do?" Though Kuroka never mentioned that Alex was after anything or that he had a specific goal, it wasn''t hard to deduce that was the case after her performance today, or from the fact that she said he wanted to ally with them. Kuroka shrugged when she heard Touhou''s question, and took a minute to finish chewing her food, much to everyone else''s annoyance, before saying, "My master simply wanted to make contact with the second of the Dark Lords~Nya, before we start moving to release the seal on Alucard." The second the words were out of her mouth everyone in the room froze, before Touhou leapt forward and screamed in her face, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!!!! HE WANTS TO RELEASE THAT DEMON?!!!!!?" Kuroka returned his screaming with a blank stare as she calmly flicked the spittle that landed on her cheek off, before flicking Touhou in the forehead with enough force to send his small frame flying, while also applying Touki in her attack. Even after being flicked across the room with his internal energy being in disarray, Touhou didn''t mind it in the slightest as he quickly returned to his spot in front of Kuroka and stated, "Is he insane?! For what reason would your master even consider reawakening that thing?!" Kuroka shrugged and calmly replied, "There are several other reasons why~Nya, but he probably also just wants to fight him since he''s supposed to be strong." Touhou was dumbfounded when he heard her reasoning for awakening what can only be considered a walking natural disaster, and the most powerful force on earth. Even he himself and his two comrades were unable to properly defeat Alucard at their prime, let alone now that Akasha was sealed and his and Mikogami''s powers were waning. Even as he tried to explain this Kuroka simply continued eating and ignored him, as Alex already explained what he knew about Alucard earlier; that he was a creature that was as large as a skyscr.a.p.er due to absorbing so many smaller monsters into himself, and that his vitality and regenerative ability meant that he was practically un-killable. Even after hearing all of this though none of Alex''s entourage cared, as at the end of the day Alucard was nothing compared to Trihexia, and Alex''s strength had increased by leaps and bounds since he faced, and conceded defeat against the apocalyptic creature. With Kuroka seemingly ignoring his warnings, and knowing there was nothing he could do to stop them as Kuroka alone was enough to wipe out the entire Huang family, Touhou slumped to the ground in despair before muttering, "Fine then.... What else did this ''Dragon Emperor'' want?" Kuroka finally looked up at Touhou since he changed the topic, and said, "He wants me to learn ''Youjutsu'' and sealing techniques from you~Nya." This sentence alone caused everyone minds to stall almost as much as when she said their intentions were to release Alucard, before Ling-Ling demanded, "What do you need to learn from great-grandfather for?! You''re already more powerful than the rest of us combined!" Though they didn''t want to admit it, the rest of Huang family couldn''t help but nod in agreement before Kuroka answered, "I just want to learn more about this worlds version of ''Youjutsu'' while I can~Nya." Though no ones thoughts changed when they heard her explanation, Touhou noticed something in the way she said it and asked, "This worlds?" Kuroka then looked up in surprise and said, "Oops~Nya, slip of the tongue." Though that''s what she said, Kuroka''s look and lack of concern led Touhou to believe it wasn''t actually a slip, but he was too distracted to care as his mind raced and his heart thundered in excitement in his chest. Of course he himself knew of the theories of other worlds and attempts, both magical and scientific, to travel to them, but none had ever born fruit. If Kuroka and the one she called master were truly from another world, then it would answer almost all of the questions he had been mentally asking himself ever since she made her appearance. As he thought of this Touhou recalled the unusual skills and abilities she had displayed, and several more questions filled his head that left him more excited than his earlier ones. His thoughts were then interrupted when Kuroka muttered, "I believe he also mentioned having me repay you for teaching me by using Time magic to restore your youth, just like he did for someone called Mikogami-" She never finished whatever she was trying to say, as the second he heard that Touhou immediately prostrated before her, and slammed his head down with enough force to form a small crater in the newly repaired floor while practically shouting, "PLEASE LET ME TEACH YOU!!!!" *** While Touhou was begging Kuroka to become his student, the battle back at Youkai Academy was finally reaching its explosive conclusion. KABOOOOOM!!! With a sound like a nuclear explosion, a figure was seen rocketing towards the ground at high speeds before crashing into it with enough force to rival an earthquake, while a part of the cliffs before the sea even broke off and fell into the ocean below. "KYAAAAAAAA!" "NYAAAAAAAA!" Ririko and Nekonome both cried out as, even behind Grayfia''s barriers, they were both thrown to the ground by the impact while everyone else struggled to stay on their feet. "What was even the point of those rules...? Those lunatics." Nurari swore as he too tried to keep his balance, before turning his concern towards the school and the students within it. Right as he was about to say something though, Grayfia stated, "While my lord may seem reckless, he does think ahead about some things. The school had several layers of magic formations added to it before the duel to prevent any effects of the duel from influencing it, and there are a few others on standby in case these fail." Though Nurari let out a small sigh of relief when he heard that, Grayfia herself swore to scold Alex later for his thoughtlessness since he actually hadn''t arranged for more protection for the school besides herself, but she had to call Rias and Yue for backup since the two of them were capable of using high level barriers and Regeneration magic. As the tremors started calming down, everyone finally turned their attention towards the crater and it maker, finding Mikogami laying inside chuckling to himself despite the current state of his body. Though he was covered with the obvious scr.a.p.es and bruises from the fight, everyone''s gazes were drawn to the more drastic wounds; both of his horns having been shattered, one of his legs bending he wrong way, and the bloody stump at his shoulder that used to be his left arm. This wasn''t even considering his internal injuries of several organs that had been smashed from the force of Alex''s attacks, and even the several broken ribs that had punctured Mikogami''s lungs. Despite all of this though, he was chuckling to himself from how fun the fight was, while his instincts were screaming at him to get up and continue fighting, something he would have gladly done if his body wasn''t so thoroughly trashed. At that moment the culprit flew down and landed in front of him, looking no worse for the wear even though Mikogami knew he had gotten a few punches on Alex. "You look like shit." Alex said bluntly, making Mikogami''s chuckling turn into full blown laughter as he responded, "Says the one who did this! And I bet you were holding back, weren''t you you bastard!" Alex''s smile widened at his opponents accusation while the spectators besides Grayfia looked at him in surprise, as, despite knowing he was quite powerful, neither Moka or Kurumu had seen Alex at full strength. With his smile widening even more, Alex took a stance and shouted, "Haaa!" As he did so his hair turned golden while standing on end, and the aura around him also turned golden while multiplying by several times. As each of them could feel his aura, everyone watching besides Grayfia was in shock at how much power he was putting out, while even the ''inner'' Moka who was silently spectating couldn''t help but be somewhat impressed. Their shock only increase when Alex shouted once more, and the aura around increased even further while his hair became even longer and more wild, and lightning started arching around him. With power radiating off of him in massive waves, Alex turned back toward Mikogami and said, "This is only the second level of several transformations that I plan to one day achieve." Though Mikogami was shocked to see and feel the power radiating off of Alex, when he heard that he was still trying to gain more power he started laughing like a madman once more as he tried to imagine such a thing, but his laughter was interrupted when Nurari stated, "That''s cool and all, but can you please heal this guy or something?! I don''t know how much longer he can last like this!" At his shout Alex and everyone else recalled Mikogami''s current state, and he canceled his transformation to quickly apply Regeneration magic. Once more Nurari watched on in shock alongside Ririko and Nekonome, as Mikogami''s leg snapped back into place, the various discolored markings on his body faded, and his horns and arm also reappeared. As the Kishin slowly stood and tried to get his bearings, he turned to Alex and said, "I can''t believe this, first that amazing battle, and now you healed me completely like it was nothing!" Alex shrugged and explained, "It''s the same principle as the magic I used to return reverse your age, I just rewound time on your body to the point before our battle, when you were fully healed." A wide grin spread on Mikogami''s face as he said, "I''ll need you to teach me that one some time. Sadly there''s quite a bit we have to discuss, will you accompany me back to my office?" As he spoke Mikogami picked up his discarded chains and locks, which Alex also quickly repaired with Regeneration magic for him, before he reequipped them while turning towards Nurari, Ririko, and Nekonome while saying, "I doubt I need to say it, but this duel is private information. If anyone asks about the shaking earlier, just say I was doing work on the great barrier and that Alex was helping me." Though there was several things they wanted to say, Ririko and Nekonome both nodded and turned to return to the school, while Nurari simply stated, "I''ll come along if you don''t mind, after that performance I''m curious what Alex here has to say." With neither Alex or Mikogami protesting, Nurari fell in beside them while Alex instead turned towards Moka and Kurumu before saying, "Go ahead and return to the school ahead of us, I''ll be there later." Though they pouted slightly at being left out, it was a fact that they were missing classes, so the duo turned and left after Alex gave them both a quick kiss, Kurumu on the cheek and Moka on the top of her head. Though it was obviously inappropriate for him do so as their teacher, neither Mikogami or Nurari questioned it since they could tell both girls were genuinely following Alex, and he wasn''t controlling them in any way. Once they were alone Alex offered to teleport them directly to Mikogami''s office, however the Dark Lord swiftly rejected Alex''s offer in favor of walking, the reason being that he wanted to calm down from their fight before returning. As Kishin were considered to be war gods, whenever Mikogami got into a fight he would gradually lose control until he became nothing but a mindless berserker, contrary to his title as ''The Strategist''. As such he wanted a chance to calm the berserker inside himself before they returned to the school, which was currently trying to get him to challenge the fully powered Alex, and even the seemingly powerful Grayfia. Despite the urges however Mikogami kept his cool, and forced them down with some of the various breathing techniques he had learned during his long life so that by the time they reached his office, he was once more the cool, calm, and collected headmaster of Youkai Academy. Once he had taken his seat behind his desk, Mikogami opened the discussion by saying, "Now then, regarding your intentions to free and fight Alucard-" that was as far as he got before Nurari spoke up, "Wait, freeing Alucard?! Is that really what you''re after?!" Alex nodded and was about to reply when Mikogami spoke up, "Yes, he told me so on the first day of school. I thought him insane until today, but, with the kind of power he displayed today, it might be possible." When they heard that Alex snorted in response while Grayfia narrowed her eyes at Mikogami, who simply shrugged and continued, "There''s no such thing as certainty, it won''t take strength alone to stop Alucard, otherwise we would have destroyed him years ago." Alex nodded in agreement before stating, "True, however I also have several weapons and techniques that you didn''t, as well as a small army of people with various different abilities capable of helping if need be. While I do agree that there is no such thing as certainty, this is not a battle Alucard will live after, that I can promise you." While part of Mikogami wanted to call Alex foolish for underestimating Alucard so much, he was unable to after his overwhelming defeat at Alex''s hands, especially since Alex wasn''t even serious during their fight. After remaining silent for several moments, Mikogami sighed and said, "Very well, I''ll start preparing various strategies and plans for when we wake him up, when do you plan to try?" Alex shrugged at his question, making Mikogami and Nurari both go slack jawed at his casualness at planning to fight the world''s greatest threat, before he said, "I haven''t even talked to Moka about it yet. Since I don''t know what might set off the seal that links them, I have to be careful for the time being and avoid awakening him prematurely. I do plan to tell her eventually once I have a clearer idea of what we are working with on the seal, and I even sent someone to meet with and try to learn from the other of the three Dark Lords, Touhou Fuhai." When he heard his old comrades name, Mikogami sighed and said, "Haaa, I guess you''ll be giving that perverted bastard the same offer you gave me?" Alex nodded and said, "Yep, his youth for teaching one of my subordinates, as well as an alliance between his family and us." Despite hearing that Touhou would also be regaining his youth, Mikogami chuckled and said, "One day I''ll have you tell me more about this "us" that you just mentioned, but for now I suppose it is enough to know that you are not of this world." Even as he called them out on their secret, neither Alex or Grayfia flinched while Nurari nodded in agreement as he too realized what was off about the two before them, as nothing about them or what they did made sense in their world. Alex shrugged at their guess, neither confirming or denying it since it didn''t matter to him if they knew, before turning around and going to leave the office. "Maybe I will tell you everything one day, but then you''ll probably have another choice to make. Until then, I''ll enjoy getting to play teacher a bit more." With that Alex left the office with Grayfia right behind him, leaving Mikogami and Nurari alone with their thoughts. Though the idea of people from another world walking among them would be terrifying to some, the two were instead eager and excited to see the new and exciting things that would come with someone as unpredictable as Alex around, as at the very least they knew he didn''t intend to harm them or the people of the world. (A.N. Sorry once more for the delay in chapters, but things are not slowing down here and I''ve been busy in both my work and personal life. It doesn''t help that the company I work for has been trying to get as much business as possible despite covid, and is persistently staying open despite the fact that it''s spreading through the employees like wildfire. As before I''ll write and try to release when I can, but no promises about when new chapters will come out. Thank you for the understanding.) Chapter 300 - Peepers Creepers "LETS GO LADIES, HUSTLE UP!" Alex called out to the last few girls that hadn''t joined them yet after changing, even as the rest of his current class already began their stretches. "Sorry teacher..." One of the girls mumbled as she quickly joined the rest of the class, her ears slightly red from embarrassment at being one of the laggers. This made both Kurumu and Moka roll their eyes while someone else towards the edge of the group glared at the girl pointedly, until Alex gave all three his own look, making them return to their stretches. One thing that had become increasingly apparent to them as the school year continued, was the growing number of girls that seemed to have taken an interest in Alex as the rumors about him spread. Firstly he was known for forcing back Saizou when he tried to make unwanted moves against Moka, then there was the exposure of Nagare''s schemes to blackmail any woman who caught his fancy, and then finally there was getting Okuto fired for trying to attack a female student. Each one of these people had numerous female victims of their assaults, both within Youkai Academy and the human world, and each and every one of them were incredibly grateful towards Alex for exposing them. Then there were the girls who heard about his actions and couldn''t help mentally comparing him to the boys in their classes, who were undergoing puberty and were overly aware of the girls around them. Compared to them Alex who always kept his cool and gave off a reliable atmosphere, along with his wildish looks and impressive strength, was much more desirable, while his ''Seduction'' skill didn''t help matters. Of course Moka and Kurumu made sure to report this to the others in Asora, but, since Alex wasn''t acting on their feelings, they let it go and decided to trust him not to accept every girl that fluttered her eyes at him into his ever expanding harem. Alex''s attention was then grabbed by the last two girls to arrive from the locker rooms, as one angrily stormed over with her friend desperately trying to keep up. Before he could think too much about what they were doing, the angry girl reached him and thrust out a slip of paper while angrily stating, "Teacher you need to see this!" Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her demanding tone, but when he saw what was on the paper his other eyebrow joined it in surprise. The paper was actually a photograph, but it was a picture of the other girl as she was changing in the locker rooms, in nothing but her green panties with flowers on them, with even her b.r.e.a.s.ts fully visible. Alex couldn''t help but glance back to the girl after seeing the picture, making her entire face turn Crimson as she fidgeted in place and muttered, "U-um... I-I..." Her stuttering continued until Alex asked, "So is this supposed to be like a new form of love letter or something?" Though he could easily guess the picture was actually a peep shot, he was playing dumb since no one said why exactly he needed to see it, and his question wasn''t entirely out there since he had received several letters of confession recently, and it was quite strange for a girl to hand a nude picture of themselves to a male, their teacher no less. Though his guess was obviously wrong, the girl herself was one of the ones to have developed a bit of a crush on him, hence why she wasn''t too upset about him seeing the picture, and her face turned even redder as her brain seemed to overheat. She was spared trying to answer however when her friend irritably said, "Of course not, it''s a peep shot! We found it on the floor of the girls locker room while we were changing, which means some creep is taking pictures of us!" As she wasn''t keeping her voice down at all, every girl in the class suddenly looked up at her declaration with terror on their face of the thought of pictures being taken of them as well; while the boys couldn''t help but look directly at the picture in Alex''s hand, each one desperately trying to see what was on it even though it was too far, and purposely being held to keep them from seeing it. Alex then said, "Ok I''ll take care of this. Go back to the locker room and make sure nobody''s in there while I get the class started." The angry girl snorted and demanded, "And why would I do that? The peeper wouldn''t be in there now would he?!" Alex fought the urge to roll his eyes as he explained, "Most likely not, but I doubt he himself was present when these pictures were taken, instead he probably left the camera behind and got it back later. If this picture was accidentally left behind then maybe the camera is in the locker room now." When she heard his explanation the angry girls face suddenly changed, before she immediately turned around and raced back towards the locker room, her friend desperately trying to keep up behind her. Alex shook his head slightly before turning back towards the class, but while he did so he briefly glanced back at the nude photo still in his hand, before there was suddenly an intense pinch on both of his sides and Moka muttered, "Are you having fun looking at her b.r.e.a.s.ts?" Alex did roll his eyes this time as he set the picture aflame and said, "You know, I rarely call a girl ugly, yet when they wear jealousy like that it''s kind of hard not to..." This made both Kurumu and Moka stutter as they tried to respond to Alex''s words, before he lightly slapped them on their butts to send them back to their warm ups. Shaking his head slightly, Alex explained to the class what they would be doing that day since he would be investigating the peeping issue, before setting them to start running their laps while he waited for the two girls to return. He then went to his water bottle to take a drink, only for no water to come out even it was still heavy. While mildly confused, Alex unscrewed the top off and turned his bottle upside down only for a chunk of ice to land in his hands below. Smiling wryly, Alex dumped the ice back into the bottle before using magic to melt it just to the point where he could drink it, before making eye contact with a certain purple haired girl running with everyone as he took a drink of his water. The girl looked away somewhat shyly as she realized Alex knew she froze his drink in response to him seeing that one girls picture, but she was happy that rather than getting mad or berating her, he simply played along with a wry smile. "Alright, there''s no one there now." The angry girl from before suddenly said, taking Alex''s attention away from Mizore as he followed them to the locker room. When they arrived Alex went to enter the forbidden area while the two followed behind, before the shy girl said, "W-we checked around a bit ourselves, but didn''t find any camera..." Alex nodded and stated, "Don''t worry I have a certain ability that''ll help us find it, and hopefully the camera will point us to whoever the culprit is." Though he said that Alex already had a pretty good idea who was behind the peeping photos, a figure that was relatively infamous in the Rosario+Vampire series for being an incurable pervert, who Alex already had a few problematic run-ins with, Ginei Morioka. Ginei was the only other male "character" that was around consistently throughout the journey of the original "protagonist" Tskune; a werewolf that was president of the Newspaper club, known for trying to feel up, peep, photograph, or would outright molest any girl that caught his fancy, though the one who caught his attention the most was of course Moka. Alex had tried to give Ginei a bit of leeway considering the role he played in the original timeline, teaching both Kurumu and Mizore both how to fight, as well as constantly lending his speed and fighting capabilities to his fellow Newspaper club members when they needed it. As one of the very few individuals in the school who could match Ginei''s speed, Alex had already caught and warned him twice about what would happen if he continued his habits, and if he was behind this as well, then he would finally see the reality of the threats Alex promised him. With this in mind Alex spread out his awareness as his ''Domain'' encompassed the entire room, instead of just being restricted to cover his body like usual whenever he was in the school. After the previous mishap when he accidentally spied on the girls living in the female dorms, Alex had been increasingly restricting his domain due to various other mishaps when he was walking around the school; such as when he accidentally saw the interior of a girls bathroom and the women inside during a very vulnerable moment, or when he walked past the locker room for the swim team and got an "eyeful" of the girls showering, or when he caught a third year couple after they snuck off to a sports shed for some privacy. As he recalled the previous incidents Alex couldn''t help internally remark, ''I certainly seem to have been experiencing an increase in lucky pervert moments lately haven''t I?'' As he thought this Ddraig chuckled while Lauren sighed in exasperation, before he started searching seriously for the potential camera. "Found it." Alex said suddenly, startling the two girls with him as he made his way to a sports bag that had been left on the floor, and opened it to reveal a camera that had expertly tucked within the dirty laundry stored within it. "Haaa...." Alex sighed when he read the label on the side of the camera that stated, YOUKAI ACADEMY NEWSPAPER CLUB. "What idiot uses a camera with a label that can be used to go right to him?!" The angry girl demanded, before Alex suggested, "Maybe he didn''t count on it being found since it was tucked within so much dirty laundry, I mean who in their right mind would dig through all of this just because it''s sitting here, unless they were looking for something specific to begin with?" The girl and her friend were silent for a second before she hesitantly asked, "S-so do you know who''s camera this is?" Alex nodded somewhat sadly and said, "It belongs to the only remaining member of the newspaper club, who I''ve already had to speak to a couple times about this sort of thing. You two go back to class, I''ll go deal with the rest of this situation." Though the angry girl wanted to argue since it was her friend that was the victim here, the shy girl pulled on her friends sleeve until she finally relented and left to rejoin the class. After sighing once more, Alex expanded his ''Domain'' once again until he found Ginei, and used Spatial magic to teleport right outside of his classroom. Alex then knocked on the door before opening and asking, "Is Ginei Morioka here?" The teacher of the class, a wizened old man, as well as the students all looked up at him suddenly in surprise, before the teacher asked, "He is, but what do you need him for teacher Alex?" Alex held up the camera and said, "This Newspaper club property was just found inside the girls locker room, and I already checked the contents and found it full of peeping photos of dozens of female students. I''ve already had several problems regarding Mr. Morioka peeping on the female students, and I have to draw the line with him collecting such private photos of his classmates and other innocent women, as if they somehow spread it could ruin the lives of those in the photos." As he spoke the teacher as well as several female students turned towards a certain individual sitting in the back of the class, a "cool" looking boy who wore a headband to pull his hair back, and a silver wolf pendant around his neck. His eyes widened in mock surprise as he stated, "Teacher Alex I''m obviously being framed! I mean what kind of person uses evidence that will definitely lead back to them?" Alex fought the urge to roll his eyes, as he instead ejected the SD card of the camera and said, "So you won''t mind if I destroy all of the peeping photos here and now?" In the microsecond that it took for Alex to start putting enough strength into his fingers to do exactly as he threatened, Ginei was already moving as he quickly dashed across the classroom while leaving behind an after image at his desk, though Alex quickly crushed the SD card in his fingers before Ginei could get it. He then reacted to Ginei''s sudden action by redirecting his outstretched hand and reaching down to grab one of his ankles, resulting in Ginei being dangled by said ankle in front of the class while Alex stated exasperatedly, "Really? You''re that desperate for mere pictures of n.a.k.e.d girls?" Ginei chuckled awkwardly while Alex rolled his eyes, as he knew that if it wasn''t for Ginei''s overly perverted attitude he''d be able to lead several girls by their noses and possibly even form his own harem, as indicated by his numerous ex-girlfriends. Though the main reason he hadn''t done so was due to the fact that his heart had already settled on someone, that didn''t excuse his current behavior in the slightest. Though he struggled to escape Alex''s vice-like grip on his ankle, all Ginei managed to do was dislodge the dozens of pictures he had on himself, causing them to flutter around the front of the classroom as he froze in horror. This caused everyone to stare in shock for a brief second, as even the elderly history teacher looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head from the image that landed in front of him, depicting the prim and proper female class president sitting not even three feet away from him, while she was using a shower head to pleasure herself. After a brief second of pure silence, hell broke loose as everyone in the class made a mad dash for the photographs, the boys wanting to get their hands on one depicting a girl they like, or one with a girl that was popular in general; while the girls were working together, with half of them working to form a wall to keep the boys back, while the other half were busy trying to collect the photos. Before anyone could grab them though, Alex simply stretched out his hand and used his ''Domain'' to make each of the photos fly into it, until they were all stacked in a neat pile on his palm. Then, with everyone watching, Alex set the pile on fire without even giving it a single glance, much to the girls relief and the boys horror. "W-why?...." Ginei whimpered as his beloved collection turned to ash right in front of him, making Alex roll his eyes once more before turning and leaving the silent classroom. Then, ignoring Ginei''s continued demands to be let down as Alex continued dangling him by his ankle, Alex created a misty portal to Asora before throwing the struggling werewolf through it, and saying, "You brought this upon yourself, I gave you several chances, more than I usually give people, and you threw it back in my face. Enjoy your new home." With that Alex closed the portal and left Ginei on a certain island for maidens, before he suddenly had the thought, ''I wonder what a werewolf magical girl will be like?'' A shudder ran through him at the thought, but Alex quickly ignored it as he returned to his class. After Alex dealt with Ginei, rumors spread through the school like wildfire regarding the peeping photos, as well as the fact that Alex effortlessly defeated the ''Mad Dog'' Ginei Morioka. This earned him the attention of both the boys and girls, as the girls learned that he had stood up for them yet again, while the boys were torn between hating and being jealous of him, while also admiring and respecting him for being a "real man". This had also earned him the attention of numerous troublesome individuals in the school, mostly the ones that sought to grow stronger and now saw him as a formidable opponent, but there were some others who were now turning their gaze towards him. "President Kuyou, I''ve been hearing some troubling rumors." A woman named Keito said as she kneeled respectfully before the sharp looking figure before her. The man briefly looked at her with narrowed eyes, before saying, "Speak Keito." The woman bowed her head respectfully once more before saying, "I''m sure you''ve heard of the new gym teacher, the one called Alex." Kuyou nodded as, even though he rarely attended classes anymore, he was well aware of most of the going ons in the academy. Keito then continued, "As I''m sure you''re aware, he took the position of gym teacher when he was just a mere assistant, after revealing that the previous gym teacher was abusing his authority to have his way with any girls that caught his fancy. However he had also fought with a troublesome student on the first day, and dealt with another student the day afterwards. And now today he has even exposed and disciplined Ginei Morioka as a pervert, who would habitually peep on and take photos of the girls in the academy." At the mention of Ginei, Kuyou chuckled lightly and said, "So that newspaper club trash was finally dealt with? And we didn''t even have to lift a hand to get rid of him! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" As Kuyou started laughing at Ginei''s fate, Keito grimaced as she hesitantly said, "But sir, now people are spreading rumors about how useless the Public Safety Commission is, and are even starting to bad mouth us...." In an instant Kuyou''s laughter ceased, as he demanded angrily, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Keito grimaced again as a cold sweat started flowing down her back, even as flames erupted around her. "I-I didn''t say anything! I was just reporting what I''ve been hearing some of the students say!" Even as she tried to reassure Kuyou, the flames in the room grew in size and intensity as he declared, "It appears we have to teach them, and this new teacher, WHO exactly is in charge of this academy!" *** The next morning a certain man dressed in a sharp suit made his way purposely down the street, greeting the people he saw on his way good-naturedly. "Good morning Mr. Tatsuya, you seem to be in a good mood today." The man, Mr. Tatsuya, nodded at the older looking woman who was preparing the front of her store and replied, "Of course, I got a call last night and two new prospects want to join us." Even as he smiled and happily responded to the woman though, inside he was mentally sneering, ''Stupid bag of bones. Stop wasting my time already!'' Despite thinking this he never let it show on his face, as the woman looked excited and said, "Is that so? Then maybe we''ll see them on the television soon? I bet you''re excited for all the money you''re company will be making off of them soon, am I right?" Even as his irritation grew Mr. Tatsuya never let it show as he said, "Of course, bringing in more money is always pleasant. But I am meeting them soon so I must get going." After saying his goodbyes Mr. Tatsuya continued on his way while thinking, ''I''m so rich now why would I care about money? I want the other "perks".'' With all sorts of ideas running through his head, Mr. Tatsuya quickened his step as he hurried to one of the surrounding skyscr.a.p.ers, and was immediately greeted inside by a s.e.xy looking woman in a suit. "Good morning Mr. Tatsuya! I have your coffee right here for you, and your 9:00 is already waiting for you." Mr. Tatsuya, the acting president of one of the largest entertainment companies in Japan, Rising Star Entertainment, nodded and said, "Good, I''ll meet with them immediately and hopefully they''ll be good enough to sign a deal with, God knows we need new talent." His assistant tried to agree with him, but was interrupted when he got onto a waiting elevator. As the doors started closing she called out, "Um, I was wondering if I can "talk" to you after the meeting about a possible raise, Mr. Tatsuya. I mean it has been quite a while." Though he knew what she really meant by "talking", Mr. Tatsuya wasn''t interested in her offer in the slightest, yet he didn''t let his disinterest show on his face as he simply replied right as the doors closed, "Not today, maybe later." With the elevator doors closing in her face, the assistant was forced to give up her attempt at getting a raise, though part of her was also secretly relieved. Meanwhile in the elevator, the acting president was muttering to himself, "Not today you flabby old hag." Though many men would consider his assistant a prime target, as far as he was concerned she was already past her expiration date even though she was only thirty, and made a mental note to start looking for a new assistant. As the elevator reached its destination on one of the highest floors of the building, Mr. Tatsuya stepped off and made his way towards his office, where he stalled slightly as he saw the trio of beauties waiting for him. The oldest one, a busty silver hired foreigner, stood immediately and said while holding out her hand, "Good morning, Mr. Tatsuya I presume? I''m Rosswiese, and this is Liliana and Ingvild, who are interested in potentially becoming idols." Though he recognized her voice from when they spoke on the phone the day before, the president was amazed at how beautiful the manager of these two girls was, and his heart thundered in his chest with excitement of what was to come. "Good morning Ms. Rosswiese, and to you as well miss Liliana and miss Ingvild. If you''ll follow me, we''ll step inside my office and begin our meeting." The three beautiful girls politely thanked him as they filed into his office while he held the door open for them, meaning they all had their backs turned when he closed the door, and swiftly locked it with a practiced movement. He then took his seat behind his desk while the three girls sat in the provided chairs in front of it, before he started, "First of all, I have to say the stuff you sent last night Rosswiese was amazing. If these recordings you sent me are genuine, then with your looks you two will be the next biggest thing in the country, no, the world! Now, both of you are sixteen correct? We will need parental or guardian approval before we begin talking terms." Both girls nodded to confirm their ages(as Liliana had spent quite a bit of time within the space-time orb by this point, and Ingvild had used magic to lower her apparent age since she was really almost twenty), while Rosswiese said, "They have no parents sadly, and so I''ll be acting as their guardian." With his excitement growing at the knowledge of neither girl having parents, something that could be spun to increase popularity from sympathy, the president then began a serious discussion as they started talking scheduling for practice, outfits, their debut, and nicknames before he finally pulled out a pair of contracts and placed them before the girls. "These are your contracts stating that you''ll be with us for the next three years, and, depending on your success, it may be possible to extend it when the time comes." Mr. Tatsuya was then surprised when, instead of Rosswiese going over the contracts for them, the two girls then picked up and started reading it themselves as if experienced in these matters. After a few minutes they put the contracts down and looked as if they were thinking about the terms, during which Mr. Tatsuya stood up and walked around to the other side of his desk and handed them each a pen before sitting on its edge and saying, "I know it''s a lot to consider, but I hope you''ll make the right choice. Even though being an idol requires a lot of hard work, and sacrifice, the rewards more than make up for it." As he was speaking, when he reached the part about sacrifice, Mr. Tatsuya reached out and placed his hands on both of the girls thighs in what might have been a gesture of encouragement, if his hands hadn''t started moving back and forth as they slowly traveled up the girls legs. His intentions and what he really meant by "sacrifice" were made crystal clear to the girls at this point, making both of them shudder slightly at his touch; something that made Mr. Tatsuya''s smile widen as he focused on the valley visible in the opening of Ingvild''s shirt, a bulge starting to form in his pants at the sight. He was so focused on the two young girls before him, that he hadn''t notice Rosswiese''s fist until after it had already made contact with his face. "Ugh, that was disgusting!" Liliana cried as she and Ingvild both started vigorously rubbing their legs as if they had been made filthy by his touch, while Ingvild sadly said, "I guess Alex was right, the entertainment industry really is too corrupt..." As she said this there was suddenly a high pitched alarm that Mr. Tatsuya had somehow managed to trigger, even after taking a hit from the ''Rook'' Rosswiese, making her sigh before saying, "Haaa, I''m definitely going to hear about this from Alex and Grayfia later...." Liliana and Ingvild nodded in agreement, even as they opened the locked door and went to greet the incoming security guards. Chapter 301 - Cleaning House Alex sighed as he approached the skyscr.a.p.er ahead of him, and saw the crowd of people already there as they clambered to see what was going on, though the damage on the building was apparent even from the ground. "Please stay back." "We have everything under control." At the base of the building trying to keep back the curious onlookers was a group silver haired women, and purple haired individuals in sharp black suits. As Alex approached they immediately parted with a "BOSS!", which made the crowd also start parting for him as they wondered who exactly this guy was. As he entered the building one of the R.I.B immediately ran to his side and said, "Boss! We''re currently trying to secure the area and ensure that any witnesses are accounted for, and miss Grayfia should be waiting for you up too along with miss(s) Ingvild, Liliana, and Rossweisse!" Alex said his thanks to rabbit while also making sure to praise their work, before taking the elevator to the top as they said. The second he stepped out of the elevator though, he was immediately greeted with the sight of two silver haired beauties who looked somewhat similar, however one was currently kneeling in a sieza with an apologetic expression on her face while the other glowered down on her. "Really Rossweisse? While I do understand the need to fight, don''t you think you went a little overboard by firing off magic? I expected more from you, especially with you training your Valkyries." Rossweisse blushed at Grayfia''s scolding, while silently muttering, "B-but, they came rushing at us and even pulled out guns, I-I just reacted!" Grayfia rolled her eyes and stated in a deadpan, "You are a Valkyrie who guarded Odin himself, an almost unparalleled master of magic, and even a ''Rook'' that is known for their defense! Why would you be scared of a human gun?!" Rossweisse''s head gradually lowered while her face turned increasingly red at each of Grayfia''s words, until it just hung there as she recognized her shame. It wasn''t actually her fault as, despite all of Grayfia''s points, Rossweisse had never even seen a firearm up close with the sole exception of Hajime''s, which had warped hers and several others ideas of guns. It was at this point that Alex intervened and said, "Even though there wasn''t anyone here that could actually hurt any of you, I''m glad you''re all alright." As they had been focused on Grayfia''s lecture, it wasn''t until this point that any of the girls had noticed Alex''s presence, causing Liliana and Ingvild to immediately get up and make their way over to him. "You were right about the idol industry..." Ingvild said sadly as Alex kissed the top of her head. Her hope was to gain more experience singing and performing for her shows in Asora, while also hopefully finding a candidate or two for her peerage among the idols she might have met. Though he didn''t want her to experience what several idols were suspected to have to go through for their fame, Alex had agreed to let her and Liliana try their hands at entering the idol community normally as long as Rossweisse went along for extra muscle, just in case. After consoling the three girls, a serious expression formed on Alex''s face as he then turned back towards Grayfia and said, "Contact our new contractees and arrange for this studio to come under our management, then let Serafall know that we need someone sent over to act as the new president, preferably a woman after all of this." Grayfia immediately nodded a she sent out a series of messages in order to contact the lawyers, judges, political figures, high ranking officials and even news stations they had working for them in Japan. One of their first moves upon arriving in that world was to send out a team of Devils skilled in negotiations and securing contracts, they then singled out those who were ambitious enough to make a deal with a devil(without having the wrong skeletons in their closets), and made an agreement stating that they would grant their wish in exchange for working for them when the time came. This was what allowed Alex to secure a house to make their base of operations so quickly, and it meant that within minutes of Grayfia sending out her messages, there was already a team of lawyers drawing up official doc.u.ments stating that they were the new owners of Rising Star Entertainment, while several others worked to officiate the claims. After Grayfia finished notifying the people who needed to take part in taking over the company, Alex pointed at a particularly bloody lump of flesh and asked while kicking it lightly, "Is this thing what I think it is?" The three girls nodded as they glared at the former acting president of Rising Star Entertainment, even as he flinched and trembled at Alex''s kick. His eyes narrowed as he continued, "I''ll deal with him, but you may need to come up with a cover story for the destruction around here and his disappearance." Grayfia nodded in affirmation as Alex said his goodbyes, since he still needed to get to the school, and grabbed the lump of flesh by the remainder of its collar before disappearing into the mist. When his vision cleared the first thing Alex saw was the usual beach and sign stating ''WELCOME TO MAGICAL GIRL ISLAND!'', the second thing was a certain werewolf sprinting towards him as fast as possible while a troop of magical girls followed close behind, an impressive feat considering Ginei''s actual speed. "NUYOOOO! PLEASE COME BACK CUTIE!" "F.U.C.K NO! I WONT BE YOUR BOYFRIEEEEND!" Ginei cried out as he ran to Alex''s side before kneeling before him and saying, "Please let me out of this hellhole! I''m sorry for everything, JUST PLEASE MAKE IT STOOOOOP!" Alex held up a hand, indicating for the magical girls to stop, before calmly replying, "Ginei, I did give you several warnings that you would be punished if you didn''t correct your bad habits, this is merely the result of you not taking my words seriously." Ginei looked as if he would actually start crying as he pleaded, "PLEASE! I-I''ll never peep again! I''ll do anything, PLEASE!" Alex was silent as he considered Ginei''s fate, before stating, "Fine, I''ll let you go, but only if you manage to "survive" on this island for three months." Though Ginei''s face lit up at the first part of what Alex had to say, when he heard the rest it was as if he had heard the confirmation of his own execution. "B-but I can''t survive here that long! It was hard enough just lasting the night!" Alex just shrugged and said as a certain curly browed cook came to mind, "I know of someone who managed to do it for two years on an island just like this one, while also using the experience to train themselves to be much stronger. If you can''t do it, then that shows just how shallow your sincerity is." Though Ginei wanted to state that he didn''t really desire more strength anymore, he stopped when he recalled the scene of his fellow Newspaper club members being slaughtered the previous year. Even though the chances of a repeat were extremely low, he still didn''t want to experience such a thing once more. "...Fine, I''ll stay. Three months, and not a moment longer." Alex smiled at the resolve Ginei showed, before saying, "I promise, but in the meantime I did bring someone who has no choice but to stay here, here you go Mil-tan!" As he finished speaking Alex tossed what remained of the former acting president, before continuing, "This man took advantage of his position to make young women sleep with him in order to achieve their dreams. Show him what it means to destroy a maidens hope like that." Though the majority of the gathered magical girls wanted to spend more time with Ginei, when they heard what their new resident had done they immediately took him and disappeared into the jungle behind them in order to "teach" him the fragility of a maidens heart. As they disappeared Ginei shuddered while also feeling relieved that it wasn''t him being dragged away, before Alex said one last time while leaving, "Three months." He was then left alone once more on magical girl island, except this time he had the hope of one day leaving. Later that day a news report regarding the damage done to the main building of Rising Star Entertainment was released stating that the acting president himself, Mr. Tatsuya, had brought a bomb to the building in a suitcase in order to destroy himself as well as all the "evidence" against him. The reference to evidence was of course referring to him using his position to force the idols represented by his company to have s.e.x with him in order to make their careers successful, something every single idol truthfully testified to after they had been convinced to do so by Ingvild and Liliana. Of course the case against Mr. Tatsuya only grew when the idols also admitted that the president not only forced them to sleep with various other influential or wealthy individuals, but also had them collect evidence, against their partners knowledge, of the fact to use as leverage or blackmail against them since the majority of the idols were still underage. This resulted in what was essentially a witch hunt as the idols testimony, along with the evidence that Hajime collected from Mr. Tatsuya''s home and office using his spider golems, built up a strong case against several political officials and wealthy individuals who had previously considered themselves above the law, forcing them to either submit themselves to the law, or use up their wealth fighting the accusations and evidence against them. What didn''t help matters for them was that even as they contacted their lawyers or tried to hire the best ones available, none would have them as they, along with the news stations that refused to drop the story, and the other high ranking people who continued to point fingers, were all on the payroll of Alex and the Devils of Asora, making it impossible for them to actually fight the charges, no matter how much of their money they used. Of course the main reason that their human contractors helped them so much was that, with the processing of many of their opponents in their respective professions, their own careers took a sudden turn for the better, something that more than made up for the trouble Alex dumped on them during this case. As for the idols themselves, the new management of Rising Star Entertainment made a public announcement stating that they would do everything they could to erase the stain on their name and reputation caused by the former president; and even went so far as to offer to tear up the contracts of the idols they currently represented after everything they went through. The idols chose to stay however after a long talk with Ingvild and Liliana, who had assured them that they were well acquainted with the new management, and that nothing like what they had to endure would never happen again; this, along with their fans who were also incredibly incised at the treatment their beloved idols endured, had convinced them to stay and try to resume the careers they had sacrificed so much for. Of course this all took place over the course of the next several weeks and even a few months, but on the same day that all of this started, Alex was once more back at the school as he watched the third years race up and down the field as they played soccer. "Let''s see some hustle! Show some effort people!" Alex cried out as he saw some of the students relax instead of actively participating. He was about to go and talk to them when they seemed to ignore him, when suddenly Alex felt an intense killing intent directed his way, making him turn to see a group of people coming towards him, the person at their lead being quite familiar and indicating who they were. As the third years noticed them they gradually stopped playing, and instead watched what was happening with interest and fear as the Public Safety Commission approached their teacher. Despite the killing intent he was directing towards Alex, the leader of the group had what appeared to be an amicable smile as he bowed slightly in greeting while saying, "Salutations teacher Alex, I am the president of the Public Safety Commission, Kuyou. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Though he appeared polite enough with his greetings, the fact that the P.S.C rarely made an appearance, despite the common occurrence of students running rampant and attacking or even killing their fellow students, was enough for even the bystanders to know that Alex must be in some kind of trouble; while even in the classrooms, both students and teachers were noticing the gathering in the schoolyard, and were watching with bated breaths. Alex himself however snorted at Kuyou''s false niceties, and instead pulled out an attendance sheet for that very class and said, "Kuyou.... Yep, here you are. I suppose I should berate you for tardiness, but since you haven''t bothered to show up for a single class in the three weeks since school started, I should just be thankful you even bothered arriving. Go and get changed before I change my mind." There was a near audible gasp as Alex spoke down to Kuyou, who was known for either killing or imprisoning any who crossed him, with even the teachers fearing what would happen if they crossed the P.S.C. With his polite facade fading in an instant, Kuyou instead stated, "I''m not here for class, I came because you''re causing too much trouble for the school, and are even endangering the students with your reckless actions! If you do not heed our warning, then we will be forced to take drastic action." Alex snorted again at this and said, "You mean I did your job for you and protected those who were being victimized by others, or prevented it in the first place. Instead of criticizing me for helping others, maybe you should get off your lazy asses and do what you''re supposed to." This time you could hear everyone''s gasp, as among the gym class, as well as all of the spectators in the classrooms, started muttering at how Alex was back talking the P.S.C, earning him even more respect within the school. Kuyou however had a murderous look on his face as he spat, "Keito, show this imbecile what it means to anger us!" The girl to Kuyou''s right sneered at Alex as she got her orders, and replied with simple, "With pleasure." The second she took a single step forward however, an unbearable pressure assaulted her as she was suddenly forced to her knees, a look of sheer terror appearing on her face as Alex directed just a little of his killing intent at her. "What''s the matter?" He asked in a taunting manner, "I thought you were going to teach me some kind of lesson?" Keito could only stutter incoherently at Alex''s taunts, as she realized that they were provoking a monster the likes of which they could do nothing against, but the fear she felt had paralyzed her, preventing her from warning the rest of the P.S.C from escalating the situation. Even as the rest of the Commission stared at her sudden collapse with confusion, they suddenly froze in terror as well, as Alex spread his killing intent to target each of them, one by one, until he finally reached Kuyou. ''Th-this can''t be!'' Kuyou thought to himself as Alex focused his killing intent on him, making his own seem like a drop compared to a great and mighty ocean. With the unusual feeling of fear creeping into his heart for the first time in his life, Kuyou raised a hand and pointed it at Alex as he channeled the most intense fire possible for him, intending to destroy this thing before he could become a thorn in the side of his boss. "TAKE THIS!" He cried out as he blasted the area around Alex with fire, before making it spin in an intense vortex around him as the temperature steadily increased until it had reached a point where it would even turn the bones of monsters to dust. With the pressure lifting on himself and his fellow Commission members Kuyou thought he might have done it, and was wondering if he was mistaken about Alex''s supposed strength if he was so easily beaten. With several monsters existing that imitated others that were stronger he thought this might have been the case, but before he started to relax, "Did you really think that was it?" Alex''s voice came from within the blaze, before the two glowing points that were his eyes appeared from within their depths. Before Kuyou even had the time to be shocked that Alex was seemingly unfazed by some of his most powerful flames, the other commission members suddenly started collapsing around him while foaming at the mouth, while the flames started dying down even though he tried to keep them going strong. What appeared from the blazing vortex was something that struck true fear and awe into the hearts of everyone spectating the fight, while Kuyou could only mutter "impossible..." There existed three primary beings of fire, each of which had been figures of both fear and awe throughout history with some cultures even worshipping them. First was the Phoenix, legendary birds of fire and immortality who not even the super powerful beings of vampires could compete against, despite being counted amongst the strongest of monsters. Second was the kitsune, or nine tailed fox, beings that hailed specifically from Japan that had been worshipped by many as all powerful beings of fire and destruction, who were easily angered and swift to demonstrate their wrath. Finally was the beings that were thought to long be extinct, yet also the most powerful of all with only their younger and lesser cousins(such as Salamander) left alive, "Dragon...." Kuyou muttered as the flames cleared to reveal a figure that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Covered head to foot with eerie red scales and horns that looked as if they could bisect you with a single touch, with each finger tipped with talons that were designed specifically for gouging flesh as if it was soft butter, and a wingspan of nearly twenty feet with a tail that was tipped in dreadful barbs. As Alex glared at him with his green reptilian eyes Kuyou''s mind raced as he tried to reason what he was seeing, as dragons had been extinct for centuries due to their tyrannical natures and tendencies, leading to a rise of so-called dragon hunters. "Are you going to fight, or just stand there?" Alex suddenly asked with a gutteral eerie growl, jerking Kuyou from his thoughts as he quickly transitioned into his own true form, burning all of his own clothes off to display a slender yet muscular body with a series of runes covering it, along with four flaming tails and a pair of flaming ears to match. With is transition directly into his most powerful form, Kuyou''s energy multiplied as everyone surrounding them quickly fled the intense flames generated by his tails, though Alex stood completely still with a sneer at how pathetic Kuyou''s flames were when compared with his own or Yasaka''s. Once his transformation was complete, Kuyou declared, "This is my most powerful form, LETS SEE HOW IT COMPARES AGAINST A REAL DRAGON!" He then thrust his hand out while generating more flames than he ever had before in his life, before condensing them into a super pressurized ball and launching it at Alex, who merely lifted his taloned hand and "caught" the flames before they exploded on contact. As he was once more engulfed in flames and smoke everyone held their breath in anxiety, before several more explosions occurred as Kuyou fired shot after shot at the dangerous opponent, due to his instincts practically screaming that Alex was somehow still alive. After firing his tenth shot he finally held back and anxiously waited for the smoke to clear along wth everyone spectating, before sheer incredulity filled him seeing that Alex was not only alive and well, but that he seemed completely unfazed by the bombardment of intense fire and explosions he had taken. "If that was your best, then this fight is really disappointing. But I have a quick question, why is the president of the Public Safety Commission firing such dangerous projectiles towards the main school building, even while there are still hundreds of students within it? Don''t tell me that you didn''t consider their safety when you recklessly fired off all of those attacks?" It was at this point that everyone noticed that, if Alex had moved to attack or dodge any of Kuyou''s attacks, they would have definitely hit the school and possibly caused dozens of casualties. Though he was filled with incredulity from Alex surviving his attacks, his fury came back as heard several people start whispering about the truth of Alex''s words, and how the P.S.C''s president was apparently willing to kill them all simply because his pride was a little hurt. "Fine then, let''s how you are up front!" Kuyou cried out, as he suddenly surged forward and drove his fist through Alex''s chest, causing the afterimage to flicker before disappearing altogether. "What the-?" He muttered, as nearly a dozen Alex''s formed around him while flickering slightly from his constantly moving at high speeds, despite his almost comically oversized wings. "This can''t be, illusionary technique?! Only true masters of the martial arts can perform this!" Kuyou and several others around the school exclaimed, making Alex snort in response as he managed to perform the afterimage technique when he was young fairly easily. "GRAAAAAAA!" With growing frustration at Alex''s seemingly overwhelming capabilities, Kuyou could only let out a shout as he released yet another storm of flames from himself, engulfing each of the afterimages instantly while exposing which one was the real Alex. Before he could try something else to humiliate him, Kuyou lunged forward and threw punch after punch, and kick after kick at Alex in an increasingly desperate attempt to wipe the smirk off of his face. Alex didn''t even sweat as he either dodged, or block each of Kuyou''s attacks with ease, while even allowing one or two to "slip" through, only to ''thud'' anti climatically against his ruby red scales. After nearly a minute of this, when Kuyou''s fist once again thudded against Alex''s scales harmlessly, he couldn''t help but mutter, "Is this it?" The fox youkai couldn''t help the shame and indignation that filled him when he heard those words, but, before he could retort, his vision was suddenly filled with darkness as Alex effortlessly chopped the back of his neck. The last he heard before passing out was Alex saying, "This is all you''d ever amount to if you spend your life bullying those weaker than yourself, you have no one but yourself to blame for your weakness." After Kuyou passed out Alex quickly bound him, and the rest of the P.S.C, with the specialty made handcuffs Hajime created out of nearly indestructible metal, and were enhanced to suppress a person''s magic or supernatural power. With then entire P.S.C defeated, Alex used Regeneration magic to restore the area that they fought before turning towards his students, who were hesitantly approaching once the fighting stopped, and said, "I''m gonna take them to the headmasters office regarding their actions, I''ll probably be gone for the rest of the period but I hope none of you would use that chance to slack off." With Alex''s strength and "true form" still fresh in their minds, even after he left none of the students dared slack off as they shakily resumed their game of soccer. On his way though, Alex stopped and thought to himself, ''I don''t really want to keep dealing with everyone coming at me one at a time like originally, I guess I deal with everyone here at the academy quickly.'' *** Only a couple short hours after Alex said that to himself, he was once more sitting in front of Mikogami in his office, yet this time he had an entire crowd of people behind with injuries of varying degrees. Mikogami sighed and said, "I don''t know wether to thank you for cleaning house, or curse you for increasing my workload so much." Alex shrugged and asked, "Well why did it get so bad to begin with?" Mikogami sighed again and explained, "As you know I was planning to "retire" soon, so I needed a successor to ensure that my dream of coexistence with humans didn''t die." Alex nodded and pointed to a particular individual within the group, who stood taller than the rest, before saying, "Since he was originally and is once again human, then I would guess he was one of you successor confidantes." Mikogami looked at the one Alex was pointing at, a boy named Hokuto, and nodded to the boy''s surprise before continuing, "Indeed, but instead he was filled with rage and anger at the academy, and sought to destroy it using the group of thugs he created called Anti Thesis." Alex nodded as he recalled the details of Hokuto''s goals and story quite well, a boy that was abused by his father who sought to get away from him, and jumped at the chance to attend a private academy where his father couldn''t reach him. However to that boys horror the academy was filled with monsters where he had to fight tooth and nail every day just to survive, before he met the person bound next to him, Kiria, a chimera created from the flesh of Alucard himself, though Alex doubted Mikogami knew that. Kiria found Hokuto interesting, and so he gave him some of his blood to transfer some of his powers and turn him into a ghoul, giving Hokuto the strength needed to survive in the academy, and to plot his "revenge" for forcing him to throw away his own "humanity". Though when Alex came to him earlier, he had used Regeneration magic to remove the taint of Alucard''s blood from Hokuto''s body, and turned him human once more. This meant that along with his crimes of creating Anti Thesis, he would also be charged and executed for the crime of being a human within the academy. A fact that Alex and Mikogami were both aware of was that, despite striving for peace, all it took was one person sneaking into the academy and taking photographs or recording the monsters within, and it would lead to their exposure and eventual war with the humans of the world. Though humans as individuals weren''t so bad, as a group they turned into dumb and panicky creatures that would build on fear, lies, and suspicion, all to act on their own feelings. All it would take is a single person saying something untrue about youkai online, and it could gain momentum and snowball into a full blown conflict due to the fears of those reading it, regardless of anyone saying otherwise. Mikogami then tore Alex from his thoughts as he continued, "The reason I let those groups act as they pleased, was because I hoped they would provide a decent path for whoever would become my successor to grow in both strength, and as a person. I did have another candidate lined up to attend the academy this year, however for some reason he never showed up." At this Alex looked away pointedly for some reason, before Mikogami pointed at a certain someone and asked, "By the way, I can understand the P.S.C and Anti Thesis, but why is she here?" Alex looked at the person Mikogami was pointing at, a woman whose head he had shaved before hand when he had captured her, the art teacher and gorgon, Ishigami Hitomi, and said, "She was using her powers to abduct female students and to turn them to stone for her personal collection." When he heard that Mikogami turned a stern eye on the female teacher, before sighing once again and saying, "I guess we''ll be short yet another teacher. You can leave us now, I''ll deal with them from here on." Alex nodded, but first pointed at Kuyou, Hokuto, and Kiria, and said, "I''ll be taking them with me though." Mikogami frowned and asked, "Why do you need them?" Alex directed a glare at them and said, "Because they are the three that need to be executed. Hokuto will be anyways due to the fact that he is human, but Kiria is a spawn of Alucard, he can''t be allowed to live. Kuyou as well, I have it on good authority that he may be in contact with a dangerous group, and so his death would only deplete their strength further, instead of letting him go join them and having it increase." Mikogami was silent for several moments as he digested what Alex said, before eventually sighing yet again, and saying, "Very well, do as you wish. But make sure the spawn of Alucard is completely destroyed, there can''t be even a trace of his taint left." Alex nodded as he was enveloped in mist along with the three others, before they disappeared completely. As they departed, Mikogami stared at the spot Alex disappeared from before muttering to himself quietly, "I wonder if I can get him to teach me that one...?" He then put the thought out of his head before turning his attention back to the veritable horde of people that needed to be punished. Meanwhile, Alex and the other three appeared in the snow covered mountains of Asora, far away from any other people so that they didn''t intrude upon the execution about to take place. Then, surprising his three captives, Alex removed the handcuffs binding Kiria before summoning his scythe and moving a slight ways away. "Oh, is this some new execution tactic I haven''t heard of?" Kiria asked with a smirk on his face, though for the briefest of seconds his mismatched eyes had a serious glint in them as they followed Alex''s movements. The later shrugged as he said, "I just wanted to try facing you once before you die, is that so bad?" Kiria smirked in response as he had simply given up when Alex defeated Hokuto, and was going along with him in order to try and gain information about him before escaping and returning to his boss. He never expected that Alex would not only know of his true nature, but would even personally ensure his execution to prevent exactly what he planned to do, making him have no choice but to take a stance as he prepared to fight. "I hope you could at least make this interesting." He said as the serious glint in his eyes was replaced by a playful look, making Alex sigh before his arm suddenly blurred. Kiria tensed at Alex''s sudden movement, his heart pounding in his chest due to the fact that he couldn''t even follow it, until he heard two thuds behind him. Despite his battle instincts screaming at him not to turn his back to his opponent, Kiria slowly turned around to see what made the noise, before his eyes widened as they met Hokuto and Kuyou''s dead ones. "Wha-" he muttered in confusion before Alex suddenly said, "This scythe will instantly kill anyone, besides myself, with the slightest of scratches to their body, does this make it interesting enough for you?" Kiria turned back towards Alex at his words, his heart pounding in his his chest from what he was seeing despite the fact that he was realizing his chances of escaping alive were quickly dwindling. Seeing the corners of Kiria''s mouth raise very slightly, Alex sighed before taking an offensive stance once more, while Kiria took one as well while his right hand started extending and change from the elbow down until it too resembled a large scythe. The two just stood there staring at each other for a couple of beats, one second, two seconds, then they vanished as they clashed right in the middle. *** Two figures stormed through the haunted seeming woods surrounding the school, both enraged at the fact that they were fired after Alex brought them to the headmaster for their crimes. "I can''t believe this, I only wanted to make art, ART! And yet I was fired for it?! Those girls should have been grateful to be turned into such beautiful statues, they should have begged for it! And yet all I got was tears and them begging to be let go, and then I was forcefully SHAVED and FIRED!" The other figure sneered at her companion, and stated, "Typical pure breed, you think everything revolves around you! You''re not the only one who was fired you know!" Ishigami Hitomi sneered at the speaker, Mako Yakumaru, former nurse and a member of the group founded by Hokuto, Anti Thesis. "Making art is completely different than basically being a terrorist you know! I''m surprised they let a worthless mutt like you go, maybe the kennels were full!" Mako turned and head butted Hitomi as she growled, "Say that again, I DARE you!" Hitomi put force into her neck as she tried to push Mako back as well, and was about to say something when the sound of a branch snapping made both of them forget their argument, as they turned towards the sound while getting ready to fight. "Whoever''s there, I would suggest coming out right now, or we might have to get a little rough with you; cause neither of us has had a good day, and we''d love to burn off some steam." As she spoke, Mako''s fingers on both hands started elongating until they looked like fleshy wh.i.p.s, that then started darting around the area as if to scare out whoever was watching them. Under the gazes of the two women, a solitary figure emerged from the shadow of the tress, however she looked neither frightened or even nervous. What made the two freeze was that she was easily the most beautiful woman they had ever seen, with her long silver hair set into several braids, and a bust that rivaled even the size of their heads. While they were transfixed with her appearance, with Hitomi even wanting to turn her into ''art'', the woman suddenly, "Who I am is of no importance, I am merely a maid." Chapter 302 - Unexpected Changes After Alex had left the school to carry out the execution of Kiria, Hokuto, and Kuyou, the students of the academy were practically exploding with the news they kept on hearing one after another, and each being more unbelievable than the last. First was the defeat of the P.S.C after they had tried to attack Alex, with him even revealing his "true form" in the process. Then was his attacks against the notorious group that was almost considered to be terrorists against the academy, Anti Thesis. The group of mixed blood monsters were known for attacking ''pure breed'' students simply because they were convinced of their supposed superiority, while also spreading propaganda against the school. The most surprising part of this story was that the creator and leader of the group was none other than the seemingly perfect student, Hokuto, who, in an even bigger twist, was actually a human. Not just the students, but even the teachers couldn''t believe it when they heard that the student who set the bar for performance was actually a human, and, if it wasn''t for the fact that he planned to destroy the school and ignite a war between humans and monsters, they might have even been sad to see him go. What topped that though, was the fact that the cool and popular art teacher Hitomi Ishigami was secretly behind a couple girls recent disappearances, due to her turning them into stone. All of this, along with the fact that Alex''s true form was actually a dragon, the school was abuzz with enough gossip to keep every student interested for the next couple months; as for the person in the middle of all of this himself, Alex was currently sitting at the dining table along with his family, while Asia and Elmenhilde took turns feeding him small bites of food. "Ahn~!" Asia said cutely as Alex opened his mouth with a wry smile, while on the other side of the table Gabriel and Koneko did the same thing with Edith and Mai. "Open wide, just like papa!" Gabriel said while glancing at him with a small smile, while Edith eagerly opened her mouth for the morsel of food approaching it. Alex''s wry smile grew as he continued being fed by the two girls, as for some reason they all liked feeding him; Alex hadn''t minded this so much before, but, with the arrival of Edith and Mai, it started seeming a little embarrassing and childish, while even the girls that fed him couldn''t help leaking small smiles and laughter. This lasted until the main meal of dinner ended, and, as they waited for Altina and Francesca to bring dessert, Shia eagerly asked, "So what kind of training are we doing tonight?" Everyone else looked at him curiously, while Alex stated, "I just dealt with like seven volumes worth of issues today, I was thinking of just relaxing tonight and taking it easy." Ignoring the first half of his statement, all of the girls looked up with interest when Alex said he was just gonna relax, and Anne, who was seated just to Alex''s right on the other side of Elmenhilde, said, "Maybe I''ll join you all tonight in the space-time orb if you''re all just gonna be relaxing." Ravel and Serafall both jumped and eagerly agreed, as the three of them had been avoiding use of the space-time orb when they didn''t need to since they didn''t want to rush their pregnancy. Everyone then started discussing the various things they wanted to do in order to just have fun and relax, until Eri appeared out of nowhere and announced, "Dessert has arrived!" She then eagerly placed a slice of cake in front of Alex while smiling in her characteristic crazy smile, while Altina and Francesca arrived with a cart that had the rest of the cake on it, deadpan expressions on their faces as they stared at Eri. The necromancer stuck her tongue out at the duo before proudly turning to walk away, pleased that she had been the one to deliver Alex''s dessert to him instead of one of them, until Alex slowly took out a small remote and pressed the button. "HIIIIIIIIIII!" Eri cried out suddenly as the sound of a couple devices buzzing started coming from her panties, making her squirm and twitch as she fought the pleasure assaulting her, while Alex and everyone else turned their attention back to their dessert. "Eri..." Suzu muttered as she looked at her friend''s expression of pleasure while she muttered, "Master- haa haa, is so cruel- haa haa..." With everyone except her best friend ignoring Eri, they all began to eagerly dig into dessert while Mai and Edith began a contest to see which one could get the most of their cake onto the other. "This cake is so good, what kind is it?" Irina asked Francesca, the one who baked it. Francesca smiled happily as she stated, "It''s a chocolate cake at the base, but I tried blending various techniques and ingredients from both earth and Tortus. I''m glad you all like it!" Everyone nodded in agreement about how good the cake tasted, while the two babies showed their approval by painting themselves with the results of their earlier food fight. It was at that moment, "INTRODUCING, THE LONG MISSED AND ADORED, THE AMAZING AND SPECTACULAR, MILEDI-TAN-????!!!!" Out of nowhere fanfare and confetti appeared as Miledi dropped from above with her gravity magic and landed perfectly onto the table, though she sent a few plates of cake flying into the faces of certain people, such as Shia, Irina, and Grayfia, though the last one managed to defend herself from the wayward dessert. Ignoring the frosting covered glares she was receiving, Miledi turned as she landed before striking a pose with her fingers in a V in front of her eye while her tongue stuck out, earning her a small round of applause from those who hadn''t received her cake attacks. "Welcome back Miledi, how was your journey?" Alex asked as the blonde haired girl leapt off of the table and did a flip through the air before landing onto his lap, forcing Asia and Elmenhilde to back away, before planting a kiss on his cheek and saying, "It was amazing! You''d never believe the things that I saw!" Alex smiled at her excitement as, before she left, Miledi had nearly gotten depressed after the destruction of Ehito. Ever since she was born, in one way or another, her entire life has revolved around the self centered God; wether it was the first decade or so of her life when she was his devoted follower and executioner, or after she created the Liberators and devoted herself instead towards his destruction. Though it had taken a bit of time after Ehito''s death, Miledi became somewhat lost after losing the central drive of her more than two thousand years of existence. She then spontaneously decided to go on a journey, allowing her to travel and see new things after spending two millennia trapped in a cave, which would also give her time to think and truly consider what she wanted in the future. It was at this point that Alex suggested traveling around Asora, as, even after the Vali team explored it when they first arrived in Tortus, they still hadn''t explored everything, and the world they had made their home had grown several times larger since then. Asora was a unique realm that was tied directly to Alex''s soul, meaning that every time he became stronger, the world would continue to expand and grow. Even after Vali stopped exploring Asora, Alex had continued his training while also acquiring the Age of Gods magics, plus he had managed to acquire the SSJ2 and transformed into the SSJ God forms, increasing his strength even further. By this point it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to state that Asora had grown several times larger ever since Vali had explored it a year prior. With the new intention to travel and explore Asora, Miledi had gone to the Grigori and acquired several devices to record and assist her journey that even had the function to help map out and record her surroundings without her needing to operate them. It was this particular device that she suddenly pulled out and activated, allowing the image of a vast jungle to fill the dining room. "This is where I left the areas that were already recorded, according to the maps this jungle is located really far to the south from here. And this is where things got interesting!" She said excitedly as the image zipped across the land as if it was flying over the rivers and the seemingly endless canopy of trees, before suddenly reaching a drop that earned several ''oohs'' and ''ahs'' as it reached a cliff that dropped into another jungle below. What had really captured everyone''s interest though, was that several miles ahead was another cliff that rose up to encase the jungled valley below, with even a massive waterfall that turned into a curtain of mist in the distance. As he took in the scene, Alex couldn''t help muttering, "This reminds me of the Great Rift Valley in Africa..." Though Miledi looked at him in surprise at his muttering, she then noticed Anne, Rias, Akeno, and a few others that had gone to school on earth nodding in agreement. Though she puffed out her cheeks slightly at how they weren''t as ''awed'' at this scene as she was, Miledi''s smile returned instantly as she moved onto the next area, earning her the reaction she was after. "This is.... impossible!" "It can''t be!" "How?!" Everyone''s reactions were more or less the same while Alex himself went wide eyed at what he saw, a series of floating mountains similar to the one within the space-time orbs and that they saw in Ehito''s realm. The surprises didn''t end there though, as Miledi showed them images of places that looked nothing like what they''d come to expect from Asora, such as a pastoral valley hidden behind a series of snowy and craggy impassable mountains(unless of course you can fly), a forest of trees that dwarfed any Alex had ever seen with the sole exception of the great tree from the Haltina Sea of Trees, even a ruined city and a series of mountains with peaks that stretched far above the clouds. When she got to the last one Miledi stated, "I tried to use my Gravity magic to fly and reach the tops of those mountains, but after I got so far up I suddenly couldn''t breath and passed out. Man was I lucky that I woke up before I went splat, tee hee...." Faced with a series of deadpan stares from her audience, Miledi tailed off awkwardly before Alex suddenly flicked her forehead while saying, "While I understand that it''s fun to explore, don''t be too stupid when doing it. What if you had died or gotten injured, and we wouldn''t have been able to help you?" Miledi was pouting at first with a ''wronged'' look on her face from suddenly being flicked, but when she heard Alex''s words and saw everyone else nodding in agreement, she showed an uncharacteristically serious expression before saying, "Sorry, it won''t happen again..." Alex nodded in acceptance of her apology before lightly kissing her forehead, earning him a happy giggle that didn''t fit her real age. It was around this point that Miledi just noticed a certain pink and blue haired duo that she didn''t recognize, causing her to suddenly leap to her feet while exclaiming, "YOU GOT MORE HAREMITES WHILE I WAS GONE?!" The sudden outcry, along with her weird label for herself and everyone else, made everyone go quiet, before they suddenly started laughing while she looked around confusedly for an explanation for the two newcomers. Not long after that everyone finished their dessert, and prepared to enter the space-time orb for the night while Alex helped clean and lay Edith and Mai down for bed. After entering the space-time orb though, while the girls flocked to the large open air baths, Alex and Miledi disappeared to the formers room for the night shortly before the sound of sensuous m.o.a.ns and the slapping of flesh could be heard. "Yes!" Miledi cried out as Alex plowed her from behind, her wrists gripped tightly by him as he roughly pulled her back so that he could reach even further into her depths, while her diminutive chest was being thrust out as she panted. With Alex vigorously pumping into her with such force that her ass rippled each time his h.i.p.s hit it, Miledi was reaching climax after climax after she spent so many months by herself while Alex quickly approached his own. After a few more thrusts with her insides squeezing and wrapping around his c.o.c.k as if massaging it, it finally erupted as he poured his seed into her w.o.m.b, making Miledi freeze in a silent scream as she reached her strongest orgasm yet. As she eventually came down from her high, Miledi leaned back into Alex''s chest as he released her wrists and wrapped his arms around her lovingly, before she looked up at him and said, "I missed this, more than I ever thought I could." Alex smiled as he leaned forward and sealed her lips before saying, "I missed you too, it''s been too long Miledi." Even though she knew Alex had a veritable army of other girls that would never allow him to be ''lonely'', she didn''t care in the slightest as she simply enjoyed the ''fullness'' he gave her as she ground her butt against his h.i.p.s. Even though it had been two thousand years since she last had s.e.x before becoming Alex''s, her body had been that of a golem so she was unaware of the physical longing after going so long without. So, after many months of not being able to get laid, Miledi was realizing how fulfilling it was just to share Alex''s bed with him. She then shuddered as his left hand traveled to her left b.r.e.a.s.t, before lightly teasing the rose colored bud at its point. His right hand however traveled down her smooth belly before reaching the neatly trimmed area above her secret garden, and then finally reaching its destination as it lightly brushed against the little button that was hiding right above where they were connected. "AH!" Miledi cried from the electricity that arched through her body at his touch, triggering several more rounds of intense and sensual love making. After Miledi eventually passed out with a smile of contentment on her face, Alex relaxed himself as he closed his eyes and sent his consciousness inward while mentally asking Lauren, ''So what''s going on with Asora?'' Until now the new lands of Asora had been relatively normal so it had never been a real cause for concern, but the new lands that Miledi discovered seemed too much like they belonged in fantasy worlds, though a couple could naturally form on a world like earth. Before he could even finish mentally asking Lauren what was happening, she answered, ''The area where Asora started expanding at those points is from when you acquired Ehito''s divine power. Asora is essentially your own personal realm, something that the most powerful beings can typically create once they get strong enough, you just skipped a few steps when you acquired it from the shop. The more divine power you acquire the more influence you would have on your personal realm, until eventually you''ll be able to move, destroy, or create even entire mountain ranges with little to no effort.'' Alex was silent for a moment before asking, ''So what about these new areas then? I didn''t mean to make them.'' He almost felt as if Lauren was nodding in agreement as she said, ''True, but considering you were in Ehito''s own divine realm at the time of that particular expansion, I''m guessing that you subconsciously wanted more fantasy-like regions within Asora so it just took inspirations from your memories.'' ''Ah'' Alex thought to himself hen he heard her explanation, as, when he thought about it, the majority of the new landscapes that Miledi discovered did in fact seem familiar in some way or another. Though he was excited to one day be able to mold Asora however he wanted, Alex calmed himself and said to Ddriag, ''Should we start then?'' The image of a great red dragon appeared in Alex''s mind before it rumbled, Alex steadied his breathing and sent his consciousness even further inward until he found himself in a great white space, with only a hundred or so people sitting in it, all wearing robes and muttering to themselves. Before he could do anything, a feminine sounding voice called out, "Back again huh?" Alex turned and saw a beautiful blonde haired woman standing there along with a silent seemingly intimidating man, before bowing politely, even though they had told him not to before, and saying, "Greetings to senior Elsha, and to senior Belzard." *** "This is amazing, I want to do this every day!" Kurumu cried out as Hearst applied more force to the tensest areas of her back, earning another groan from her as she continued enjoying the massage. Though Alex said they were spending the night in the space-time orb relaxing, he had still led them in short morning practice drills since forgoing training altogether for a week wasn''t a good idea, but now they were relaxing in a rather new addition to the villa right next to the outdoor bath, the spa. On top of cooking, cleaning, and fighting, Grayfia had also made each of her combat maids learn various forms of pampering and care, such as styling hair, beauty treatments, and even massages. Her intention was to ensure that no matter what was needed of them, her maids were more than equipped to handle the job, and, though they were far from pros at it, they had been learning how to properly perform each of these tasks. Not far from Kurumu, Shizuku was also laying face down while n.a.k.e.d while Eri reluctantly tried to loosen the knots in her back. "Humph, you''re too tense! Why did I have to do you anyways!? I wanted to massage master!" As Shizuku was enjoying her massage too much to answer, it was Shia who pipped up from her own table where Noint worked on her, "It''s probably from the stress of having to deal with Kouki and her family too much, I mean, even after they moved to Asora she''s spent all of her time here instead. And besides Eri, you just don''t have the strength to properly massage Alex. What''s more important, you getting what you want, or him being properly taken care of?" Eri groaned in response as she reluctantly agreed with what Shia said, though Rias laughed lightly from her table as she questioned Shia, "Aren''t you the same when it comes to your family Shia? Or should I say High S?" This time Shia groaned as she recalled what happened when she last went to visit her father, and the rest of the Haulia tried to get her to join their ranks as a member of the R.I.B. Though she felt that their current attitude was slightly better than before, it wasn''t by much. Their attention was then grabbed by a sudden loud groan, followed by Venri going, "Ufufufu, you''re so tense master, just relax and let me ease all those tensions away." Alex groaned again, but didn''t say anything as he let the dragon maid do her work on his back, despite the fact that unlike the others she was n.a.k.e.d as well, and was straddling his lower back right above his tail. Even as the other girls frowned from her actions, which looked as if they belonged in a p.o.r.no, they didn''t say anything as, regardless of how she looked, Venri was in fact taking her job of massaging Alex very seriously. Though he himself never considered that to be the case, everyone around him considered him to be the hardest working person in Asora due to everything he did throughout the day, from teaching classes all day, to listening to Barakiel''s, Serafall''s, Yasaka''s, and Gabriel''s reports and making decisions regarding the running of Asora, to even going out of his way to take care of and spend time with his daughters. Then at night he would intensely train himself to the point that the others knew they''d never be able to last if they attempted it, and was even taking care of his harem both in the bed, and just spending time with them as they enjoyed each other''s company. With this in mind no one made a comment about Venri''s antics, even as her hardened n.i.p.p.l.es lightly brushed against Alex''s back, or when she shifted her h.i.p.s and they saw a smear of fluid under her. "Horny dragon..." Eri however cursed under her breath, earning her several pointed looks that she ignored, even though they somewhat agreed. soon though the relaxing atmosphere was interrupted when someone cried out from on the other side of the spa''s entrance, "And why do we have to be here?!" A calm and collected voice, that was tinged with noticeable irritation then answered, "Because this will also be part of your duties as maids from here on out, and because I said so." The first voice was silenced at that point, as the door was suddenly opened and a trio of newcomers entered the spa, a tomboyish looking woman with her hair styled in a type of dreadlocks after it had been regenerated from being shaved, and a woman with brownish hair that fell past her shoulders, both being led by Grayfia while wearing nothing but two piece swimsuits. The two women swept their eyes around everyone as they walked, with the woman in dreads muttering, "Such wonderful subjects for art going to waste..." This earned her another look from Grayfia, quieting her right up until hers and the other woman''s eyes landed onto the only male present, Alex. "What are you doing here?!" Mako, the brown haired woman who was formerly a nurse of the Youkai Academy hospital demanded, to which Alex lazily turned his head and stated, "I live here, this is my home. And those marks on your hands were put there by me, branding you both as my slaves. Now keep your voice down, I''m trying to relax." Mako and Hitomi both fumed at Alex''s nonchalant behavior as they contemplated trying to get revenge for getting them fired and abducted by Grayfia, but before they could move a muscle they were suddenly surrounded by killing intent from almost every woman present. Both women suddenly fell back on their butts as expressions of complete horror appeared on their faces, neither even considering that all of the women around Alex would be ''monsters'' as well, with even a small puddle forming beneath Mako. This continued until Alex lazily said, "Knock it off, or they''ll make an even bigger mess in our new spa." In an instant the killing intent vanished and the two women let out the breath they didn''t even realize they were holding, as each to the girls went back to relaxing themselves. As the duo struggled to stand, Grayfia was already standing there as she held out a mop and bucket for Mako and said, "Here, clean up your mess and put your bottoms into a bag before throwing them into the dirty laundry. Then you can rejoin us afterwards." Mako embarrassedly accepted the offered bucket and mop, not even bothering to try and argue cleaning it up, but then she asked, "Where can I get some new ones?" Grayfia gave her a strange look and stated, "Why would we give you new bottoms after you ruined those ones so quickly? You will spend the rest of your time in here bottomless, or completely n.a.k.e.d if you don''t wish to continue wearing the top by itself." With Hitomi snickering as she followed Grayfia, Mako was left standing in dumbfoundment with only a single "eh?" escaping her lips. *** While everyone in the space-time orbs was relaxing, and the two former school employees were adjusting to their new roles as slave maids, someone else was briskly walking through the streets of a human city as she purposely made her way to a nearby bar. Ririko Kagome sighed once again as she recalled the events of that day, with Alex once again doing the outrageous by eliminating the terrorist group of Anti Thesis, the P.S.C, and also getting another of her coworkers fired for attacking and kidnapping students. All she wanted to do was teach her students, it was her passion, her life, and yet after Alex became a teacher it seemed as if there was only one headache after another, and they weren''t even through the first month of the school year yet. She sighed yet agin, when suddenly a voice called out, "Hey gorgeous, wanna come party with us?" She looked over to see a group of hooligans that were eyeing her up and down, their intentions written all over their faces. If she had been any normal human woman Ririko would have probably been scared for her life in that moment, but instead she only sneered back, "What a coincidence, i was looking for a snack." As she spoke she partially activated her true form, her eyes becoming slits while a forked tongue escaped her lips and a few scales appeared on her skin. The hooligans took one look at her and ran away while screaming about monsters, making Ririko snort as she canceled the changes and continued on her way. Though she technically broke the rules by doing that just then, she didn''t care as she doubted anyone would believe a bunch of hooligans who were obviously full of either drugs or booze, or possibly even both. She then continued on her way to the bar, intending to spend the night "relaxing" in her own way. An hour later she was sitting at the counter by herself sipping on a couple of drinks that were only mildly alcoholic, as she still had to teach the next day. As she finished her current drink she went to order another, only for the bartender to say, "Sorry, but I''ll need you to pay for these ones first." Ririko didn''t mind in the slightest as she tried to grab her wallet, only to find that it wasn''t where it should have been. Mild panic settled in as she tried to find her money, all while the bartender watched with narrowing eyes. "Agh, of course I forgot my wallet!" She cried out in exasperation, earning her the attention of a few guys who were debating on trying to play hero to the unfortunate woman. Before they could though, a certain figure made his way to the counter and said, "It''s on me, and her next as well." The bartender nodded as he immediately set out her next drink, while Ririko turned to look at the one who helped her, her eyebrows shooting up when she saw a strong looking muscular man with a gruff appearance, completely different than the normal businessmen who tried to hit on her. A small smile appearing at the corner of her lips, Ririko said, "I''m not usually in the habit of accepting charity, but a lot has been going on and I forgot my wallet tonight so thank you." The man nodded and replied, "Not at all, I''m happy to lend a hand to those who need it. And I know where you''re coming from with having a hard time, I''m going through something similar with my daughter and her boyfriend." The smile at the edges of Ririko''s mouth nearly faltered when she heard that, making her glance at the mans hand for a ring before asking hesitantly, "Daughter?" The man nodded, and said with a sad smile, "Yes, she is the only thing I have left of my late wife, and she means the world to me." Ririko smiled once again at the mans story before saying, "I''m sorry for your loss." The man smiled in response and said, "My thanks, but it happened years ago. Why don''t you tell me a bit about what brought you here tonight?" Ririko''s smile widened a bit as she explained how she was a teacher, though she left out the details and made some stuff up about excessively troublesome students. The man was a decent listener and even tried to offer her pointers for managing a classroom. The two continued talking for a while before finally Ririko realized something and said, "I''m sorry, but I just realized I never even gave you my name, I''m Ririko Kagome." The man himself had a look of realization as he said, "It is nice to meet you Ririko, my name is Barakiel." Chapter 303 - Matchmaking When morning came to Asora a trio of figures could be seen leaving a western style restaurant that had a sign up saying ''Wisteria2'', belonging to none other than Sonobe Yuuka and her parents, of the Returnees. As they left, one of the trio, Akeno, said to the others, "I''m happy for Yuuka, she must be so excited." Miledi nodded and said, "I know, but I was so surprised it happened because of Kaori; not only because she accepted it, but that Yuuka confessed despite Kaori and Hajime''s current relationship." Alex smirked and said smugly, "Well I might have had a hand in both of those things, eventually convincing Yuuka to confess, and Kaori agreeing to Hajime having a second wife." The two girls looked at Alex expectantly as if demanding details, but he kept his mouth shut as he continued walking through the snow to the Grigori lab. The truth was that both of those things were easy compared to getting Hajime to accept Yuuka as a second wife, as to get Kaori to agree all Alex had to do was threaten to spread a heavily edited video of a certain nights events in the Frost Caverns of Schnee(obviously he would edit the other girls out of it though). Knowing that ''something'' happened that night, Alex used Regeneration magic to replay what transpired, and was shocked to see Kaori and his women going at it together, though he couldn''t deny that the sight was quite appealing. Smiling as he recalled the look on Kaori''s face when he showed her the original and extremely graphic video, Alex continued leading the way to the Grigori lab while the two curious girls followed behind. When they arrived however, Alex and Akeno were both surprised to find out that the specific person they came to see had yet to arrive, as another fallen angel said, "I''m sorry sir, and miss Akeno, but Barakiel said something about going out last night to explore the city in this version of the human world, and he hasn''t gotten back yet." Alex and Akeno shared a look when they heard that, as Barakiel was usually the more responsible one within the Grigori, typically hiding the fact that he was a massive masochistic pervert. Because he was quite literally the strongest fallen angel in Asora however(excluding perhaps Akeno herself), they decided to hold off getting too worried as the other fallen angels started working to analyze the data Miledi brought back from her travels. It was right when Alex was about to leave to return to the academy that he walked in, looking tired even though there was a bit of a spring to his step. "Good morning, I''m sorry I''m late." He called out while Akeno made her way towards him and said, "Not at all. Good morning father, I brought you some breakfast." She then kissed him on the cheek while setting down the homemade breakfast before him, a look of utmost gratitude spreading on Barakiel''s face as Akeno''s cooking tasted exactly the same as her mothers. As he started digging in, Alex held out a paper to go cup and said, "Here, I also got you some coffee from Wisteria on the way." Though Barakiel loved their coffee, he couldn''t help but look at the cup Alex offered suspiciously, making him roll his eyes as he quickly took a swig and stated, "There, that should prove I didn''t do something to it." Barakiel rolled his eyes this time as he accepted the cup from Alex and took a swig of it himself, right as he continued, "Then again, if I did do something to it then wouldn''t my poison resistance protect me?" "PFFFFFFFT!!!" Barakiel spat out everything he had swallowed onto the assistant from earlier, making Alex, Miledi, and even Akeno start laughing while the man glared at him. This continued until Akeno managed to get out while laughing, "Father, Alex didn''t do anything to your drink, or I would''ve said something." Even though Barakiel knew his daughter was telling the truth, he still let out a simple, "hmph!" and turned away from Alex to enjoy his breakfast. As he did that however, Alex caught sight of something and said, "Hold still for a second Barakiel." Though the fallen angel was about to protest, Alex grabbed his shirts collar and pulled it down before he could, revealing a red welt that Alex and Akeno immediately recognized as a whip mark, as he had left quite a few on Akeno and Tio during their nights in the formers dungeon. At this point Barakiel tried to escape Alex''s grasp to prevent further exposure, but all he managed to do was help him literally tear his shirt off, revealing several more marks decorating his entire upper body. With everyone staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths, Barakiel hurriedly said, "I can explain-" Before anything else left his mouth however, a unnatural chill swept through the room as everyone hesitantly turned towards the source, Akeno. The usually calm and happy girl had a dangerous aura about her as her clothes and hair started waving from a nonexistent wind, and everyone could see the nonexistent eastern dragon made of lightning behind her as she said in a deathly low voice, "Explain what father? That you''re betraying mother? Or that you''ve forgotten her?" Though everyone felt the chill in her voice, Barakiel shuddered and felt it the worst as he hurriedly said, "N-not at all! I-I just went out to relax last night and met someone, then one thing led to another-" "Oh I see," Akeno said as she started nodding slowly, before continuing, "So it''s a one night stand? Instead of forgetting mother you''re just gonna go out and find a s.l.u.t to f.u.c.k whenever you please, is that it?" Barakiel paled at Akeno''s words as he struggled to get out, "N-never! I-it''s just that she was gone when I woke up in the hotel this morning, I-otherwise I would''ve asked her out for another date-" "So it''s betrayal then!" Akeno cried out as she seized her father''s ear and started dragging him towards his office, before adding, "Let''s see how you act in front of mother, you do still have her picture in your office right? You haven''t thrown it out yet?" Alex and everyone shook their heads as they watched Akeno lead her father away, the man blubbering about how sorry he was and how he would never betray Shuri, Akeno''s mother, ever again. As they disappeared Miledi said, "Wow, that man will live for how long? And he will never be allowed to get laid again..." Alex started laughing once more at this while a few of the spectating fallen angels also started snickering, before he said, "Actually, that''s not true. Akeno even told me not too long ago that she was starting to wonder if she should even set Barakiel up with someone since it seemed as if he''d never date again, though after what happened to Shuri it''s not too surprising." The surrounding fallen angels nodded as, even now after Akeno had forgiven him, Barakiel still held himself responsible for his wife''s death and was terrified of a repeat incident. With confusion apparent on her face, Miledi demanded, "Then what was with the way she reacted just now?!" Alex chuckled once more along with the fallen angels as he said, "Most likely that was just her giving him a hard time, after all kids don''t usually like it when one parent dies and the other moves on." Though Miledi didn''t seem too convinced, Alex knew he was right because he had seen the characteristic sadistic gleam in Akeno''s eyes, and that she was fighting the urge to smirk as she tormented her father. Alex then realized he was running slightly behind, since this was just supposed to be a quick stop on the way to the school, and quickly left after saying his farewells. *** As Ririko Kagome entered the staff room first thing that morning, she became the immediate center of attention due to the fact that she seemed to be radiating an aura of femininity, and had a noticeable smile on her face. While the male teachers were quietly discussing her appearance amongst themselves, Nekonome approached her fellow teacher and asked, "Nya~ what''s got you into a good mood?" Ririko smiled knowingly and said, "Nothing in particular, just a very pleasant evening last night with some equally pleasant company." While Nekonome tried to get some details, and the male teachers reacted to this news, the door to the staff room opened and everyone immediately quieted down as Alex walked in, the previous day''s events still very fresh in their minds. Though Alex didn''t pay the other teachers any mind as he walked to his desk, he did notice that Ririko seemed to be in a different mood than usual and asked, "What''s up?" Ririko snorted when she saw the person responsible for her deciding to go and drink the night before, and turned her chair to look away from him while saying, "Nothing I''ll share with you." Alex could only smile wryly as for some reason she seemed to really dislike him, but before he could say anything else Nekonome piped up, "She met someone last night~Nya." This earned her a glare from Ririko, while Alex''s expression went deadpan as, knowing what she was really like, a seemingly impossible thought popped into his head. He then asked, "Is that so? Do you plan to see him again?" Ririko snorted before a somewhat melancholic expression appeared on her face momentarily, and she said, "I doubt it." Throughout their entire tryst the night before she hadn''t been able to feel any supernatural power from her lover, something that admittedly disappointed her since youkai-human pairings rarely ever worked, and had led to her sneaking away exceptionally early this morning. Alex shrugged when heard her answer and said casually while turning around, "That''s too bad, I''m sure Barakiel will be somewhat disappointed." Ririko nodded and continued, "Yeah, but it''s probably for the best-" She then cut off as she realized she had never once uttered her lovers name that morning, causing her to turn slowly and mechanically towards Alex before demanding, "How do you know his name?!" Alex''s eyebrows shot up at the realization that his random hunch was correct, before he casually said to her, "Well I''d hope I know who Barakiel is, after all he is my father in law." Ririko''s jaw looked as if it was about to hit the floor at the revelation, while the rest of the teachers, who looked as if they were watching the country''s most popular soap opera, all started muttering amongst themselves once more excitedly at the new development. Ririko however said once the shock wore off, "YOU''RE THE DAUGHTER''S BOYFRIEND?!!!!!" This surprised Alex once more as he wasn''t a mere ''boyfriend'', but after thinking about it for a moment he muttered, "Well, officially she''s my s.e.x slave, but I can see where that wouldn''t be a very appealing way to talk about your daughter." As the conversation took a weird turn, both Ririko and the spectators were feeling quite exhausted, both mentally and spiritually, from the constant bombshells that were being dropped, however Alex didn''t seem to care as he added, "So why wouldn''t you see him again?" As she was growing increasingly tired from their conversation, even though she had such a pleasant night, Ririko could only sigh as she reluctantly said, "Because I thought he was a human, and relationsh.i.p.s between humans and Youkai don''t usually work out." When he heard this Alex smirked slightly and held out his hand, on which a magic circle appeared that summoned a small pile of leaflets. He then held out the stack of papers and said, "Go ahead and hold onto these for now, they''ll let you call Barakiel similarly to a cell phone. And for the record, he is most definitely not human; Barakiel has been alive for at least a thousand years, possibly even more than two, and his abilities would even put him ahead of the three Dark Lords. While I do give him a lot of shit, he is still my father in law and I''d like to see him happy." After a brief moment of hesitation, Ririko reluctantly took the stack of papers from Alex and tossed them in a drawer of her desk, making him smile wryly as he turned back to his own and stared sorting through the notes left to him from the day before. With the drama over the other teachers started to reluctantly disperse as they made their way to their respective classrooms, however a certain someone stayed behind as she asked, "Um, teacher Alex, can I please talk to you for a moment~Nya?" Alex turned and saw Ms. Nekonome standing there as she waited for him. Seeing she had his attention, Nekonome hesitantly said, "You see~Nya, I''m the adviser for the newspaper club and we''re in danger of being shut down. Though it was already a possibility before, it''s a guarantee now after the only member, Ginei Morioka, disappeared recently. I was hoping that you''d be willing to become an assistant adviser and help me gather some new club members~Nya." Alex couldn''t help but go wide eyed a bit when he heard her request, as he had been debating on joining the newspaper club similarly to Tskune in the original timeline; mostly due to the fact that the newspaper club was able to leave school grounds, and seemed easier to be a part of than some of the other clubs that would require near constant attention. Plus there wouldn''t be much of an issue with preparing the newspapers, as they''d have an entire "week" the night before the deadlines for proofreading and editing. As such, he didn''t hesitate to answer, "Sure." *** A week later Nekonome was standing in the front of the newspaper club room, a wide smile on her face as she said, "I''m so happy to see so many new club members~Nya, I hope all five of you really enjoy your time as part of this club, and don''t hesitate to ask if you need help! That being said, I''ll be in the staff room if you need me~Nya!" With that being said, Nekonome was immediately gone, leaving Alex smiling wryly as Moka, Kurumu, Millicas, and his friend Yukari all stared back at him with deadpan looks. Alex shrugged in response to their looks, but before he could say anything, "Excuse me!" The youngest member of the club, at only eleven years old, bounced up and down in her seat, her hand waving in the air as it kept accidentally bumping against her witches hat. "Yes?" Alex asked, giving her permission to speak, to which the little witch asked, "Why''d Ms. Nekonome say the five of us? There''s only four of us here?" As Alex didn''t count among the club members as an adviser, everyone looked around as they realized she was correct and the number was off. Alex''s response however was only a wry smile as he glanced back towards the room, where a cupboard opened slightly and purple haired girl peered through the crack. "She was talking about me. I''m Mizore Shirayuki, I don''t have any friends so it''s nice to meet all of you." Alex nodded but then added, "First we''ll do a self introduction for everyone since this is the first time some of us have met. We''ll do names, our true forms, and then somethings else about ourselves." Though it was against the school rules to reveal your true form, no one seemed to care as Mizore continued while her fingers elongated into ice sickles, "I''m also a snow woman." Following her lead, Yukari jumped up and excitedly declared, "I''m Yukari Sendou, a witch and a genius that was allowed to enter highschool even though I''m only eleven!" Ignoring the slight grimaces that everyone else had from Yukari introducing herself as a ''genius'', she then directed an intense look at Moka, her eyes shining slightly. With an awkward laugh at his friend''s antics, Millicas stood and said politely, "It is nice to meet you everyone, my name is Millicas Gremory and I am a devil." At this point Millicas summoned his wings, making Yukari and Mizore go wide eyed while Moka and Kurumu smiled to each other knowingly, before he continued, "I come from the noble house of Gremory, and due to my tutoring until now I was luckily able to test into this academy despite being only twelve years old, please take care of me." Finishing with a polite bow, everyone was somewhat impressed with Millicas''s introduction while Yukari beamed smugly next to him. In the month since school started she had become very close to Millicas while also developing a bit of a crush on him due to his polite and sophisticated manners, as well as the fact that he had defended her from the bullies in their class. In her mind they suited each other perfectly due to the fact that they were on a ''similar level'' of existence, both being people that were exceptional and outside the norm. With his introduction over, Kurumu stepped forward and said, "My name is Kurumu Kurono, and I am a sucubus!" At this point she summoned her tail and wings before continuing, "My original goal was to then every guy in the school into my love slaves, but I gave that up when I met and fell for my darling!" As she finished up her introduction, Kurumu ran over to Alex''s side and planted a kiss on his cheek in in front of everyone while also wrapping her arms around one of his, making Moka puff her cheeks out cutely from jealousy, while the entire cupboard started getting coated in ice from Mizore. Shaking his head slightly, though with a wry smile on his face, Alex turned to Moka and indicated that she should finish the introductions, prompting her to take in a breath to calm herself before saying, "My name is Moka Akashiya, I''m a vampire and I also like teacher Alex!" As she finished speaking Moka raced to Alex''s other side as she embraced his other arm and planted a kiss onto his other cheek, making Yukari''s eyes go wide as plates while the entire back of the room suddenly exploded wth ice. Alex simply shook his head as the two girls glared at each other, except Kurumu had a look of superiority from already being a part of his harem, while Moka looked jealous due to her ''other self'' still restricting what she could and couldn''t do with Alex, to the point that he still hadn''t even kissed her or seen her n.a.k.e.d. He then gently shook them off of his arms before lightly flicking each of them in the forehead, then making his way back to the giant shards of ice that were slowly creeping forward and flicking then as well, causing the whole thing to shatter. Ignoring the dumbfounded looks of Mizore and Yukari, and the two girls that were still rubbing their foreheads, Alex then summoned a magic circle before several tables in the club room were suddenly covered with drinks and various snacks. He then said to the silent room, "For our first meeting, I thought it would be a good idea to simply have a small welcoming party while we just toss around ideas for our first issue." There was a single beat before everyone eagerly made their way to the food and drinks, with Moka and Kurumu forgetting about their foreheads while even Mizore came out of the cupboard to get some snacks. The tense atmosphere from before gone, everyone then started talking with each other as if it was normal, with even Mizore going up to Kurumu and Moka. Alex was enjoying one of the cupcakes(made specially by Rias), when he felt someone tugging at his sleeve and looked down to see the witches hat. "Um, I have a quick question, how do you know Millicas teacher Alex?" Yukari asked hesitantly, making Alex c.o.c.k an eyebrow as he glanced at Millicas questioningly. Millicas simply shrugged in response as, despite knowing about the relationship between his mother and Alex, he didn''t really know how to describe his own relation to Alex. After thinking about his response for a second, Alex simply replied, "His mother''s my maid, and his aunt''s one of the chief girls in my harem." Of all the answers she suspected, that was one that Yukari never considered as she muttered to herself, "Harem?" while picturing being smothered by several girls and soft and bountiful chests. Despite her budding feelings for Millicas, a silly smile spread on her face while her hands made an obscene gesture as if she was groping some tits. Both Alex and Millicas shook their heads as they watched her, before the former looked over and noticed Mizore quickly look away, indicating that she had overheard their conversation, and making Alex wonder what she thought of him having a harem. As far as his current stance was with her, while Alex was more than willing to accept Mizore into his harem, he didn''t intend to go out of his way to try and seduce her while also trying to convince her to accept his other lovers. Instead, he was waiting to see how she''d react to him having a harem and if she''d want to join it, then he''d accept her with open arms; the main reason for this was that if he simply seduced every girl that had a bit of a crush on him during his time in this world, the chances were that he''d end up accepting at least dozens of female students into his already massive harem. After a moment to contemplate things, Alex shook his head lightly and turned his attention back to the party, where everyone continued to mingle and interact with each other until the time for club was nearly over, and Alex called for attention once again. "Now before we go for the day I want all of you to help pitch ideas for our first paper." Everyone was silent for a moment until Millicas said, "How about a piece on the clubs and their new members?" Alex nodded and wrote his idea down on the chalkboard before saying, "Good, that can be one of the side articles, any more ideas?" Slowly but surely everyone offered up ideas for the newspaper until Alex figured they had enough, and finally asked for an idea for the front page. This time they were slightly stumped until Yukari suggested, "How about the story about you eliminating the various bad guys around school? I''m sure everyone would be excited to read that!" While the others contemplated her idea, Alex immediately said, "If it was a week ago then it''d be possible, but by this point that''s old news so it wouldn''t sell as well." Everyone was a little depressed at his refusal, but since Alex''s reason made sense, they didn''t argue and instead kept trying to come up with a main story, until Mizore finally suggested, "How about a cover story of the new gym teacher that everyone keeps talking about, and had already removed several troublesome people from the academy?" Kurumu jumped up at Mizore''s idea and said, "That''ll work! Everyone wants to know more about Alex, who he is and where he came from, we can even add in some of the stuff that happened last week and everyone will eat it up, especially the girls!" With everyone else quickly agreeing they turned to Alex to see what he would say. With a bit of a wry smile on his lips they thought he might agree, but when he spoke he only said two words, "Hell. No." Chapter 304 - EXTRA EXTRA "Please!" Kurumu pleaded with big and watery eyes. "No." Alex stated for what felt like the hundredth time, before taking another bite of his dinner while everyone else chatted around them. "Pretty please!" Moka pleaded on his other side, making Alex roll his eyes for the hundredth time as he repeated his earlier response before taking another bite of food. While Moka and Kurumu were trying to whittle away at Alex''s mental defenses, Mizore and Yukari were looking around with dumbfoundment as they tried to process everything that was going on, even as Grayfia bombarded the little witch with questions about her and Millicas. It was fairly obvious to her that Yukari had a bit of a crush on her son, and, despite Alex''s previous attempts to get Kunou and Myuu to look at the young man, she was quite interested to see how Millicas would respond to the young girls budding feelings. As for Mizore, she was in shock at the place she was in and the women that surrounded her as nearly all of them belonged to Alex''s harem, the only real exceptions being Yukari and his daughters. As she was trying to take all of this in, a voice to her right suddenly said, "Hey, you''re a yuki-onna right?" Mizore turned and was surprised to see a twin tailed petite woman with exceptionally large b.r.e.a.s.ts sitting there, though the most shocking feature was her slightly swollen belly. After she nodded in confirmation Serafall continued while looking her up and down, "I can''t believe the Yuki-onna of this world really look like this." While Mizore was momentarily confused at what Serafall said, Rias nodded and added, "I know, when I think of yuki-onna I can only picture Christie and Abe." When he heard this Alex could only smile wryly as he recalled the large gorilla-like being that was a snow woman in the dxd world, and the woman trainer she served, Kiyome Abe. Eventually the two girls showed Mizore an image of yuki-onna from their world, earning them a stupefied look as she simply muttered, "That''s a monster...." This earned her a round of laughter from all of those gathered at the table, while she herself couldn''t help but join in after a moment. As the laughter died down and the calm returned to the table, Mizore looked around and couldn''t help but be amazed that each of the women around her shared the same man, and seemed as if they were one big happy family instead of constantly trying to compete with each other. She then glanced back at Serafall while looking specifically at her belly, before glancing at Ravel and Anne as well, and a twinge of jealousy shot through her at their conditions before she settled her gaze on Alex himself, longing for his child in her belly as well. As a yuki-onna she had a limited time to bear children just like the rest of her people, only between the ages of seventeen to roughly twenty five, which was contributing to their steady decline in population along with the rapid deterioration of places where they survive. Even though she had a little over a year left until she turned seventeen and could bear her own child, Mizore was attending the academy with the main purpose of looking for an ideal husband. She had first thought that Okuto Kotsubo would be the man she was looking for, leading to her eventually confessing to him; however she quickly learned how mistaken she was when he tried to [email protected] her with the argument that if she loved him then it was fine, only to be saved by the very man in front of her now. At first she had followed him around to determine what kind of man he was, and had quickly come to the conclusion that, unlike Okuto, Alex was truly kind as Moka and Kurumu flocked to his side constantly(something that had annoyed her to no end as she contemplated freezing them). And then even as her opinion of Alex only improved as she stalked him, what with him going along with her occasional antics instead of being mad at her, Mizore was now frustrated to learn that she couldn''t find a way to monopolize his affections. As these thoughts crossed her mind, Mizore couldn''t help but mutter, "What should I do?" As she spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper, the only ones to hear her were the ones with exception hearing, such as Shia, Kuroka, and Koneko. Though Koneko was too focused on Mai, and Kuroka flat out ignored her, Shia couldn''t help but look at the struggling yuki-onna curiously as she debated on helping her out. Meanwhile, Alex was little to preoccupied to notice what was going through Mizore''s mind. "For the last time, no!" He stated as Moka and Kurumu continued asking him to be the front page of the paper, before adding, "I already did my fair share of that stuff in our home world, and it would be too asinine if the assistant advisor put out a paper about himself!" Though Alex had made a good point in the second half of his statement, the girls couldn''t help but focus on the first as Kurumu asked, "Wait, did you really do interviews and stuff in your old world?!" This earned the attention of the girls that had joined them in Tortus, as well as Anne, who all looked at Alex expectantly. With a bit of a smirk as she rarely had a chance to see Alex in such a position, Grayfia stopped interrogating Yukari as she activated a magic circle, and summoned as much Red Dragon Emperor memorabilia as she could; everything from news and magazine articles, to even recordings of his interviews, and various products that the Gremory household had tried to market due to his relationship with Rias, even though Oppai Dragon didn''t exist in this timeline. With a sigh escaping his lips as even action figures appeared and landed on the table, Alex excused himself while also grabbing Edith and Mai to go and get them cleaned up for bed while the girls eagerly tore into his interviews and merchandise. *** Later Mizore was following Kurumu and Moka around as they gave her a tour through the space-time orb once everyone else retired to it for the night, with Alex actually being the last one to arrive as he laid the two toddlers and Myuu down for the night, before also making sure to say goodnight to Anne, Ravel, and Serafall, who was becoming a lot more mellow as her pregnancy progressed. As they walked around, Mizore couldn''t help but ask, "How can you be ok with it?" The two girls looked at her curiously before she clarified, "How can you be ok with the guy you love being with other women?" The two looked at each other before a wry smile appeared on both of their faces, and Moka said, "Actually, there''s another part of me that you haven''t met yet Mizore, and she absolutely refuses to be part of Alex''s harem, to the point where we haven''t even properly kissed yet." Mizore looked at her in shock at this, while Kurumu stated, "Well we have kissed, but we haven''t gone farther than that. I am however part of a group known as a ''peerage'', meaning that I''m technically Alex''s servant and will be able to travel and fight at his side for the rest of ours lives! That automatically puts me ahead of most of the others, and will also ensure that I get to spend more time with my darling!" as Kurumu started getting carried away, someone else spoke up, "I think you would understand better if you had slept with him yet." The three girls turned quickly to see Rias approaching with Shia at her side, who was nodding in agreement as Rias continued, "When I gave my first time to Alex I thought I would be his one and only, but then I quickly learned that his skill and appetite went well above what I was capable of handling alone, and was forced to concede to a harem forming around him. And even though it''s grown far beyond what I thought possible, his appetite seems to have only grown with it. I don''t regret it though, as thanks to Alex I was able to grow far more powerful than I thought possible, and he opened the doors to literal new worlds and experiences that I never would have imagined before." Shia nodded in agreement beside her before adding, "By this point I think you need to say to yourself ''do I want to give this up, or do I want to make the most of it''?" Mizore was silent for a moment fore a small smile spread on her face and she said, "I think I know what to do now, thank you." The other girls beamed at her as, despite adding another contender for Alex''s affection, they were glad to help the young girl make up her mind. Mizore then added while twirling her fingers in one of her long locks of purple hair, "Can you help me with one other thing?" "Ahhhh." Alex sighed in contentment as he soaked in the hot waters of the space-time orb''s outdoor baths, Roygun and Yasaka curled up on either side of him while Remia''s emerald green head bobbed up and down in front of him. She was putting her ability to breath in water to good use as she used her mouth to pleasure him, while the other two were slowly and sensually running their fingers across his chest. After several more minutes of continuous bobbing, Alex let out a small groan as he unloaded into Remia''s mouth while the mischievous Dagon halted her movements. After making sure she didn''t miss anything, Remia raised her head above the water and crawled into Alex''s lap with her characteristic smile before saying, "Ufufufu, how was that husband?" Alex smiled before kissing the top of her head and saying, "It was amazing, but I can''t wait for the real thing later." Remia''s smile widened as she eagerly anticipated their later activities, even as both Roygun and Yasaka''s hands disappeared beneath the water to where her head was seconds before. It was at this point that Alex noticed a new group of people enter the changing room through his ''Domain'', and a look of interest appeared on his face when he noticed who it was. Noticing the shift in their partners attention, the girls turned towards the entrance to the changing room to see Rias, Shia, and Kurumu exit it as n.a.k.e.d as the day they were born, with the covered Moka close behind them and an anxious Mizore behind her. With nothing but a towel to cover herself with, Mizore''s pale cheeks turned pink as Alex scrutinized her past the other women, before she said shyly, "What do you think of my new haircut?" Though his eyes were busy scanning her body as if trying to see past the towel, Alex then looked up at her hair, which was cut to match the way she changed it to in the series, and said, "It suits you perfectly." Mizore''s shy smiled widened before she steeled herself, and marched past the others so that she standing directly next to where Alex was in the bath, close enough that he could almost see the secret area under the edge of her towel. This happened to be inconsequential however, as, after a brief second of hesitation as she looked at the three women currently snuggling up to Alex, she loosened the towel and allowed it to drop to her feet, reveling her entire self for Alex''s gaze. The moment he saw her n.a.k.e.d body Alex''s eyebrows shot up as he took in her beautiful skin, which was the palest he had ever seen on someone with the sole exception of a vampires such as Elmenhilde, and even then she had a deathly look to her complexion. Mizore however had a healthy and beautiful look to her despite her extreme paleness, which was further accented by the two little cherries perched at the peaks of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, both hardening noticeably as if they felt his gaze on them. Mizore shuddered as she felt his greedy eyes move over every inch of her n.a.k.e.d body, before they started traveling downwards until they rested on her most precious place and the small strip of purple hair that topped it. As Alex was appraising her body, Mizore asked, "Is it ok, for me to dedicate everything and give all of myself to you for now and forever?" Though he had a look of appreciation on his face from seeing her n.a.k.e.d, Alex''s expression changed when he heard her question and his hand suddenly shot up from where it was fondling Roygun''s ass, and gently seized her arm. Even as Mizore flinched slightly from the hot water, she didn''t fight it as Alex pulled her down to a kneeling position where she was level with his head, and suddenly sealed her lips, which tasted like the cherry sucker she usually sucked on. Mizore was stiff at first, but then she started relaxing when she realized what Alex was doing and started trying to awkwardly reciprocate his kiss. The kiss continued for well over a minute as Alex explored her cherry tasting mouth with his tongue, while she clumsily tried to emulate is actions at the same time. Eventually Alex broke off the kiss, and said to Mizore while she was still more than a little fl.u.s.tered, "One thing you need to understand is that I''m very greedy, so it''s not a question of if I''ll accept you for now or forever, but of how many children you want me to give you, wether it''s one or a hundred, I''ll happily oblige." Though she was still dazed from the kiss, Mizore''s still heard what Alex said and a large smile spread on her face as she leaned forward and sealed his lips once more, except this time she tried to take the lead. Once she finally broke away from him once more, Mizore said, "A little over a year from now, I turn seventeen and will be considered and ''a.d.u.l.t'' by my people, and I want you to keep your promise then." Alex was a little surprised at Mizore''s declaration as, even if she wasn''t able to give birth yet, he thought she would mention something about "practicing" at least. However he wasn''t too concerned as that was merely a couple months if she started spending every night in the space-time orb with him and the others, so Alex said eagerly, "It''s a date then." Mizore''s smile widened as she heard his reply, and she kissed him one last time before leaving to enter another tub that was cold instead of hot, though she didn''t bother to put back on the towel as she even tried to give Alex a small show despite just getting him to agree to wait until she turned seventeen. Meanwhile, off to the side, a certain succubus was watching this with a small smile on her face, though she couldn''t help but be concerned that Mizore would quickly overtake her in terms of a relationship with Alex. *** "PLEASE TAKE A PAPER!" Moka called out as she stood in front of the school alongside Yukari and Millicas, while Alex, Mizore, and Kurumu were doing the same thing at another entrance to the academy. It had been a week since the forming of the newspaper club, yet they already had their first paper out and were eagerly distributing it, much to Nekonome''s pleasant surprise. What made everyone else happy though, except Alex, was that the front page was covered with a close up of the man himself, which was making the papers go like hot cakes despite his protests. With no main story to put on the front page, and everyone in the newspaper club and even Misty Manor chipping away at his resistance over the last week in the space-time orb, Alex eventually relented and accepted having the main story be about him. Naturally that wasn''t the whole story as Rias and Grayfia insisted on them including Alex''s family in the paper, meaning there was a wide shot of Alex himself with his entire harem and even his daughters on the second page of the paper, much to the shock and amazement of everyone in the school. The reason this was included was because Rias thought that, if they made it known that Alex was already with so many women, it would restrict the amount of female students trying to approach him, though it remained to be seen if it''d work or not. The story also included a bit of background on Alex himself, as well as some of the girls in his harem, but it obviously lacked the majority of the more important details such as the fact that he was world hopper, or that he was on the path to becoming a god. And so, he could only smile wryly as he noticed all the looks he received from the students as they read the story, while the girls continued giving him looks with mixed feelings. "HOORAY!" Kurumu shouted as everyone toasted in the club room after school, her smile exceptionally bright after successfully giving away all of their papers. Everyone else eagerly joined in the celebration while Alex could only continue smiling wryly at the side as he watched them. Throughout the day he had been approached by quite a few people, both teachers and students, concerning the contents of the paper, though they mostly regarded his harem, so by this point he could be considered to be quite worn out mentally. "Cookies?" Someone suddenly asked, snapping Alex back to attention as he looked up and saw Kurumu offering him some cookies she had made the night before. His wry smile turned into a genuine one, as Kurumu was exceptionally talented at making sweets, and he readily accepted one of the offered cookies while saying his thanks. Kurumu smiled happily as Alex ate the cookie, before a slight blush appeared in her cheeks and she whispered in his ears, "If you''re feeling tired, I could help relax you..." Towards the end of her words Kurumu turned even more bashful as Alex gave her a curious look, before he said, "Sure, let''s go." Kurumu beamed as she took his hand and quickly left the room, leaving behind a couple of illusions to keep the others from noticing for a few minutes. She then led him up and down the halls, a destination seemingly in mind before they ended up outside a particular door, making Alex give her a blank stare as he said, "Really? The girls locker room?" Kurumu blushed again, before hurriedly pushing him into the changing room while saying, "The only ones we need to worry about using it is the swim team, and they still have practice for another hour, now hurry!" Alex didn''t say anything else as he let her bring him into the usually forbidden area, his interest in what she was planning growing even after she sat him down on one of the benches and told him not to peek. After a couple minutes of listening to clothes rustle, a sure sign that Kurumu was changing, she finally said, "OK, open your eyes now." As he did as she said, Alex couldn''t help smiling wryly once more as he saw her dressed in her gym clothes, a white T-shirt and the usual pair of bloomers. He was about to ask what she was going, but was interrupted when Kurumu suddenly said, "U-Um teacher, i-I''m sorry that I''m failing gym class... I-is there any way that I can make up for it so that I can still have a good grade?" Alex''s mind blanked for a brief second when he heard what she said, before the urge to start laughing suddenly took over him. He managed to hold it down, as it was obvious Kurumu was pushing herself to role play the stereotypical student-teacher situation, and instead said, "I''m not sure miss Kurono, I might be able to do something, but what''s in it for me?" After hearing the expected words, Kurumu blushed once more before reaching out and grabbing his zipper, and slowly lowering it. As Alex''s meat made its appearance, Kurumu couldn''t help but gulping slightly, as, even after knowing Alex for so many months within the space-time orb and even seeing him n.a.k.e.d so many times, this was the first time she was directly face to face with it. Even though she always knew he was larger than a normal man, she couldn''t help but feel a bit of shock as she realized how big it truly was with what she intended to do next. After a brief second to steel herself, Kurumu leaned forward and pressed her lips against the head, kissing it before she stuck her pink tongue out and licked it lightly. As he felt her tongue brush against his other head Alex couldn''t help but shuddering slightly, the situation made even more arousing since it was technically his student doing this to him, and because they were still in the middle of the school. The closest Alex had ever been in such a situation was when he used to bang Rias and the others of the Occult Research Club in one of the old school buildings spare rooms, a situation in which they were still safe since no one ever visited the building. Of course these thoughts quickly left Alex''s head as Kurumu opened her mouth as much as possible, and started taking his entire girth into it while her tongue started become much more active within her mouth. "Kurumu, you- Ahhhh!" Alex cried out, as he tried to advise her on how to use her mouth, but instead was shocked as she suddenly started making movements and was doing things that no novice would. Alex couldn''t help but be momentarily surprised as Kurumu moved her mouth up and down his length, her skills seemingly increasing with each second. ''I really did underestimate the skills of a succubus!'' Alex thought to himself as each passing second brought him closer to climax, while Kurumu glanced up at him and was surprised to see Alex''s face twisted with pleasure. Though her original intention was to make Alex feel good, she was somewhat surprised to see that she apparently was doing such a good job at it that he was making such an expression. She didn''t get a chance to think too much about it though, as she suddenly felt the thing inside her mouth twitching, causing Kurumu to start pulling it out, only for a stream of fluid to suddenly shoot out into her mouth. As she got a taste of Alex''s s.e.m.e.n, Kurumu paused before a single thought surged through her mind, practically screaming, ''Amazing!'' Even though she had heard stories from the others about what giving blowjobs was like, Kurumu couldn''t believe how good the substance inside her mouth tasted, or how she seemed to feel a kind of power from it even as she swallowed it. She was so distracted she didn''t notice the notification that went off saying, [NOTICE! New skill obtained, ''S.e.m.e.n Conversion''!(A.N. basically it''s the same thing as a vampires ''Blood Conversion'', except for Succubi it''s s.e.m.e.n)] After she swallowed the first of it Kurumu even went so far as to try and suck the rest out of Alex''s p.e.n.i.s, until there was no more left. When he noticed her sudden enthusiasm, Alex couldn''t help but look down at her and mutter curiously, "Kurumu?" As if she couldn''t hear him, the succubus immediately started using all of the skill she just learned to try and milk more of Alex''s s.e.m.e.n from him, something that he didn''t bother fighting against as the pleasure assaulted him once more. He couldn''t believe it as Kurumu''s skills quickly continued increasing as furiously tried to bring him closer to climax *** Back at the celebration Moka sighed as she finally managed to shake Yukari off and made her way to Alex''s side, where she asked, "Would you like some punch Alex?" Though she really wanted to suck his blood, Moka wanted to offer Alex something as well instead of receiving it one sidedly, however for some reason he simply ignored her and continued talking to Kurumu. "Alex?" Moka asked, only to be ignored once more, before a shard of ice suddenly flew right through Alex and impaled itself directly into the wall behind him. Moka jumped before turning to the source, Mizore, and demanding, "What was that for?!" Mizore shrugged before saying, "I noticed those two weren''t here a bit ago, those are just Kurumu''s illusions." Moka paused as she recalled the ice shard going right through ''Alex'', before demanding, "And you didn''t say anything?!" Mizore shrugged once more and said, "As much as I didn''t like her stealing the march on me, Kurumu did help me cement my relationship with Alex, so I decided to ignore it this one time." Though she said that, Mizore had already decided that she wouldn''t be so lenient the next time Kurumu tried to pull a stunt like this, and would even freeze her if need be. Though, she debated doing the same to Moka at the moment as the pink haired girl started fretting over what the two were doing all alone. *** Alex meanwhile was being milked by his succubus partner for the seventh time in a row, as, like a drug, Kurumu''s new appetite seemed to be insatiable. What didn''t help was Alex''s ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'' skill as it seemed to also ensure that he never ran out of both stamina and fluids, meaning Kurumu could literally milk him for the entire day. Just as he was about to try and get her to stop before someone walked in on them, two things suddenly caught Alex''s attention. [NOTICE! New skill acquired, ''Lucky Pervert''!(A.N. Does this skill even need an explanation?)] His mind numbed suddenly as he read his new skill, something that was too ridiculous to even take in properly, but he didn''t get a chance to properly think about it as he noticed the other thing along with Kurumu. "That was fun president Tamao, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Both froze as they heard the members of the swimming club suddenly speaking on the other side of the doors to the locker room, making them realize that they''d been too distracted and used up too much time. Alex was fairly calm considering the situation, and was about to use Spatial magic to teleport out of the locker room, but before he could, "We need to hide!" Kurumu said as clarity nearly returned to her, and she grabbed Alex''s hand before pulling him to a cabinet to hide in, even though it logically shouldn''t have been able to hold both of them. The second she closed the cabinet doors though, the members of the swim team entered the locker room and started changing out of their swimsuits. ''What the f.u.c.k is this?'' Alex mentally asked himself, as he found himself in one of the most idiotic and cliche situations in anime. Chapter 305 - Revelations ''What the f.u.c.k is this?'' Alex thought to himself, as one of the most idiotic and cliche events in anime and manga happened to him, being trapped in the girls locker room while the swim team was changing. Naturally, Alex blamed it on his suddenly acquired skill, something he didn''t even know could be acquired as a skill, ''Lucky Pervert''. A lucky pervert was a person who found themselves in some kind of perverted situation that wasn''t of their making, ranging from a sudden wind blowing a girl''s skirt up and presenting her underwear, to walking in on a girl or several while they were changing or in the bath, and even tripping and falling, only to land face first into their most private area, sometimes with the girl''s panties even being removed in the process. The most infamous example of a lucky pervert was the protagonist of the To Love Ru world, Yuuki Rito; a person who''s ability to accidentally strip or fondle girls was even classified as a sort of disease by a doctor who was known all over the universe, before being upgraded to some sort of divine ability or influence, something that was completely unavoidable or controllable. While having the skill ''Lucky Pervert'' may seem nice, the truth was that those who experienced lucky pervert moments often suffered at the hands of the less than pleased girls that were at the other end of them, often resulting in the guys being slapped for something they had no control over, while the afore mentioned Yuuki Rito had even earned the repeated ire of a legendary female assassin due to her being a frequent victim of his lucky pervert moments. In all, despite a part of him being somewhat excited for getting to experience the skill''s effects firsthand, Alex still felt as if this new skill of his would result in more headaches than anything, especially if it continued to put him in situations like the one he was currently in, where he was watching the girls of the swim team strip n.a.k.e.d through the vents of the cabinet he and Kurumu were hiding in. Even though he kept telling himself to close his eyes or look away, Alex couldn''t help but keep watching as the girls s.e.xily stripped their one-piece swimsuits off, granting him an eye buffet of titties with a few of them even pointing their butts right at him as if they were purposely giving him a perfect view of their ''ass''ets, and even the hidden areas within. While he was watching them Alex couldn''t help but think their actions while stripping were a excessively s.e.xy considering no one was supposed to be watching, but he concluded that it was the influence of either his new skill, or the fact that this was still an anime world. His attention was then taken away as Kurumu pinched him suddenly, and angrily whispered, "Why are you looking at them even when I''m right here?" As if to punctuate her question, Kurumu started shifting from side to side as much as possible within the tight space, until Alex felt her bloomers and panties brush against his legs until they came to rest around her ankles. He then felt her grab his still exposed manhood and directed it until it was pointing between her legs, and something hot and wet started rubbing against it. Kurumu then started shifting her waist back and forth as she started grinding against his erect c.o.c.k, seemingly intending to benefit from the swim team''s e.r.o.t.i.c presence. With an e.r.o.t.i.c strip show taking place in front of him, while a horny succubus used him to get herself off while also pleasuring him, Alex couldn''t help the smile that spread on his face until he suddenly heard, "So what do you think captain?" The swim team captain, Tamao Ichinose, looked over suddenly as she finished putting away her wet swimsuit, hers however consisting of a bikini, her ocean blue hair bouncing as she asked, "About what?" The girl that had spoken previously then held something up that Alex couldn''t see, however the rest of the swim team recognized the photo containing a single man with a small army of women, as the girl said, "About teacher Alex having a whole harem already! And how it''s already so large!" There was a beat of silence before the rest of the girls in the swim team started muttering among themselves, as they too had been shocked to find out that the teacher everyone had been talking about, and that they''ve been trying to get to join their swim sessions, actually had so many women at his beck and call. Tamao however shrugged at the girls question and said, "It doesn''t really bug me so much, in fact I''d say I''m actually more interested in him now." As she spoke a seductive look entered her eye before she licked her lips slightly as the image of Alex taking her entered her mind, her hand working its way downwards until it was sandwiched between her thighs as she tried to keep herself from doing anything too shameless. Even though Tamao hadn''t been that interested in Alex when he had first started teaching, to the point that she could have almost been considered indifferent towards him, that had changed when she coincidently got close enough to him that she caught a whiff of his scent, resulting in her being dumbfounded for several moments as she wondered how someone could smell THIS good. The general rule of thumb for monsters that preyed on others such as vampires that drank blood, or mermaids such as the swim team that absorbed vitality, was that the better a person smelled the better the meal they were. Humans were obviously better than other monsters as a meal, to the point that they were akin to a delicacy in the monster world, however Alex smelled better than any other being, including humans, that Tamao had ever been around. This of course extended to the entire swim team, and had resulted in them trying several times to get Alex to accompany them ''privately'' during a practice session, naturally he had always politely declined due to his knowledge of their true form. Following her lead, the majority of the swim team nodded in agreement While the girl with the news paper looked at them confusedly and muttered, "I just wouldn''t be able to share someone with so many other women..." She was mostly ignored however as the crowd of s.e.xy n.a.k.e.d mermaids made their way into the shower, making Alex breath out a sigh of relief as he used Spatial magic to escape the locker room to his own dorm room, where he showed the increasingly excited Kurumu just how skilled he was while using his fingers and tongue. *** "Haaaaa." Alex breathed out slowly as he steadied his breathing, his eyes closed as he tried to calm his mind and absorb his surroundings. He was in the space-time orb now and, after the days events, Alex felt it was appropriate to focus on meditation training for the night as he tried to focus his mind while simultaneously being aware of everything around him through his ''Domain''. The first thing he noticed through it was Shizuku sitting across from him, as she too sat in a kneeling position while trying to steady her mind. Then was Francesca, Altina, Rias, and Asia as the four of them worked together in the kitchen to make their meal for later, with Rias and Asia focusing on dessert while the two former princesses worked on the main dishes. After them was the other courtyard on the opposite side of the villa where Xenovia, Irina, Tracy, and Kurumu trained with their respective weapons along with the Knights of Ravel and Sona''s peerage, with everyone else using swords while Kurumu tried to keep up with her nails, though she was strangely energetic during this particular practice session. Elsewhere throughout the villa everyone went about their business as they either worked or relaxed after a long day, Akeno was polishing her wh.i.p.s and various other toys before testing them on the excitedly tied up Tio, Yue was reading various books in the library alongside Kunou, who had been given permission by her mother to occasionally enter the space-time orb despite being only twelve. Shia was in a training room beneath the villa that was used for Gravity manipulation along with Koneko and the other rooks, while Venri was watching over Mako and Ishigami as they scrubbed the floors of the dining room. At the very edge of his perception Alex could just barely make out the floating island that housed Grayfia''s maid training facility, where the silver haired beauty was preparing a training session for her combat maids for when they were done with the day''s work. The last two things Alex took notice of was Ophis as she was sunning herself on the top of the villa, and Moka as the pink haired girl waited patiently for him to finish meditating. Of course when he saw her Alex was reminded of all of the pink tips and various other pink things he had seen earlier, and, with his mind starting to wander, he decided to call it quits as he opened his eyes to see Shizuku still sitting across from him with her eyes closed. A mischievous smile spread on Alex''s face as he suddenly rushed forward and planted a quick kiss on the female swordsman''s lips, causing her to jump suddenly before realizing it was him. As he backed off Shizuku adopted a pouting expression as she muttered while her cheeks turned slightly red, "Not fair...." Alex smirked as he leaned in again while saying, "I just wanted to kiss my cute little kunoichi." Though Shizuku wanted to retort about him interrupting her meditation, she found herself unable to when Alex sealed her lips a second time, except this time both of them savoring the experience before he slowly drew away. After sharing an intimate moment with his ''Knight'', Alex turned towards Moka and asked, "Did you want to suck my blood Moka?" Even though he was correct, Moka flinched slightly as she nodded slowly, feeling now like she only ever sought Alex out for his blood. The later didn''t seem to mind though as he simply waited for her to approach him, before she sank her fangs into his neck with the usual ''Chu!'' sound, and started sucking. She then only sucked his blood for a few minutes before releasing his neck and lightly licking the spot where her fangs penetrated his skin, making sure she got the last few drops of blood. When she noticed the weird look Alex gave her, since she usually drank more than that, Moka turned slightly red as she quickly stated, "I-I think my other self wanted to talk to you about something!" She then grabbed Alex''s hand and used it remove her rosary, throwing the ''inner'' personality under the bus to cover her own embarrassment as she became surrounded by the light of the transformation. Unlike when they first released the seal, there wasn''t an explosion of supernatural energy or a swarm of bats, instead Moka was momentarily covered by a veil of darkish looking light before it faded to reveal her transformed state. The ''inner'' Moka glanced at Alex briefly before snorting and stating, "Hmph, what an indecisive man, picking up every girl that catches his fancy and still wanting more." Alex could only smile wryly at her biting words, as she called him out for sneaking away with Kurumu earlier. After a moment he asked with a slight smirk, "With how you seem to focus on my harem, are you sure you''re not jealous?" The words were barely out of his mouth when Moka immediately spun around with her foot raised as she tried to kick him, however something happened that neither of them expected. With her attacking foot rising to meet Alex''s face, the foot that she was pivoting with suddenly lost its grip due to some loose gravel underneath, causing Moka''s attack to lose all of its strength before Alex gently caught her ankle and held it there. Though she would normally snap at him for it, Moka was instead focused on trying to understand what exactly happened since such an accident had never happened to her before. It was then that she seemed to notice a piercing gaze, and turned her head to see Alex staring directly at the contents beneath her skirt, which he now had an full view of due to her leg still being raised up to his shoulder. "Pure white cotton with a pink ribbon, nice." Alex said as he gazed directly at Moka''s most precious place while her legs were completely spread, her shame being barely covered only by her panties. Even though though she would even fight in a skirt while completely exposing her panties without batting an eye, seeing Alex staring at her most precious place with such an intensity, as if he was trying to bore a hole through the delicate garments that barely covered it, she couldn''t help the red that crept up into her cheeks as she tried to pull her leg free. "Don''t look!" She demanded while trying to free herself from Alex''s grasp, before giving up and using her hands to cover herself from his gaze. Alex simply looked up from where her hands now were, and plainly stated, "Apologize for trying to attack me." Moka practically growled in frustration, but, with Alex slowly lifting her leg higher with each second, she groaned in defeat and said in a low voice, "I''m sorry for attacking you...." Though there was no sincerity in her voice Alex nodded in acceptance and released her leg, prompting Moka to quickly lower it while continuing to hold down her skirt as if he''d still try to peep. She then declared with her cheeks still slightly red, "Now I''ll have you apologize for staring at my crotch!" Even though he was slightly surprised at her declaration, Alex smirked and said with humor in his voice, "Of course, I apologize for staring at your cute looking panties and appreciating the view you gave me." Moka''s glare intensified as Alex apologized, not at all amused at the humor he spoke with, she then said, "Ok then, if you''re not gonna be serious then you need to let me drink more of your blood! My other self was holding herself back earlier." Alex frowned slightly when he heard this, as he never considered it a big deal to let her, or Yue and Elmenhilde, drink his blood. Intending to speak to the ''outer'' Moka later about it, Alex didn''t say anything else as he turned his head to the side to present his neck, while also opening his arms. Moka smirked as if victorious and was about to help herself to Alex''s blood for the first time, as the ''outer'' Moka was the only one that had ever drank from him, but then she realized that in order to drink from Alex''s neck she''d have to essentially embrace him similarly to how her other self did it. Right as Moka was contemplating drinking from his arm instead, Alex spoke up, "Well? Or is the mighty vampire hesitating?" Incised at Alex''s remark, Moka no long hesitated as she stepped forward and sank her fangs into Alex''s neck, taking no care to be gentle about doing so. As she started drinking Alex wrapped his hands around her waist like he usually did, pulling Moka closer so that the only thing separating them was the thin barriers that was their clothes, however Moka didn''t have the capacity to register this as the first drops of Alex''s blood entered her mouth, and her mind practically exploded at the following sensations. ''Inner'' Moka had always known that Alex''s blood was exceptionally tasty and potent compared to any others, including humans; as she had only experienced it second handedly though she had severely underestimated its effects, which had been minimized before due to the majority of her power being sealed. Each drop that touched her tongue made her entire mouth explode with sensations from the taste alone, and when it traveled down her throat into her stomach Moka could feel as if power was surging throughout her entire body as her supernatural energy increased by leaps and bounds. Even though she had accused Alex of trying to tame her through her stomach before, Moka just now realized how close her previous remarks were as no other blood would be capable of satiating her like his did, to the point that she might become addicted to it like a drug. She was so absorbed wth drinking Alex''s blood, that she barely even registered his hands slowly shifting from her waist until they snuck under her skirt and latched onto her buttocks, where he explored unrestrainedly with the sole exceptions of the ''important'' places. Despite how distracted she was by Alex''s blood, Moka could still feel his mischievous hands and registered it in the back of her mind, prompting her to bite down a bit harder into his neck while increasing her sucking to take even more blood. Alex''s response to this was to simply pinch her pert rear lightly while also hooking one of his fingers into her panties, as if threatening to up the ante if Moka wanted to retaliate. She was debating wether or not it was worth it when a voice suddenly said, "Am I interrupting something~Nya?" Alex looked up at Kuroka while Moka reluctantly released his neck and turned to look at the cat girl, before he said, "Not at all, rather do you want to join in?" As he asked Alex gave Moka''s ass another rough squeeze while he also glanced at Shizuku, who was becoming increasingly red as she watched the twos antics. Of course Moka''s response to this was tighten her grip on his shoulders, to the point that anyone else''s would have shattered by now, as she contemplated sinking her fangs into him once more even though she was full. Instead Kuroka surprisingly shook her head, and stated, "I think it would be better to discuss that vampire''s seal and wether or not it''s close to breaking." Instantly everyone became more serious as Alex said, "Let''s go inside and I''ll call everyone else to come over." Even as the three girls nodded, they couldn''t help but note that the serious atmosphere was ruined somewhat by the fact that Alex''s was still rubbing Moka''s ass. As the rest of Alex''s peerage gathered, Kuroka explained the basics of what she had learned from Touhou and what she was going to do with Moka''s rosary. Over the last month she had been spending all of her days at the Huang family''s estate where Touhou was teaching her everything he knew about Youjutsu and his sealing techniques, while also spending her nights within the space-time orb reading through the various texts and notes he had also provided. Even though a teacher usually took a slower approach and would withhold the more dangerous information when taking on a new student, Touhou had been shoveling as much information to Kuroka as possible due to the fact that, with the help of the space-time orb, she was learning everything he had to offer at speeds he had never considered possible before. Even though she may not seem like it, Kuroka was in fact a genius when it came to learning Youjutsu and various types of magics, which was also a factor to her previous S class criminal ranking in the DXD world. There was also the fact that even if he tried to limit or withhold information from her, Kuroka had proven that she was capable of reverse engineering whatever she had seen after only a little bit of effort as indicated with the Jigen-Tou, one of Touhou''s most powerful moves. With everyone gathered and Moka''s rosary on the table in the center, Kuroka activated the artifact and examined its workings for several minutes before saying, "This is definitely more advanced than anything I''ve worked on recently~Nya, but I should be able to prevent it from breaking completely right away." As she spoke Kuroka modified a few things in the formation that was being projected above the rosary, before allowing it to fade back into it. She then turned towards Moka and stated, "I repaired some of the damage done by us removing the rosary so often, but I still wouldn''t be reckless with it until we decide to break it completely~Nya." Moka nodded as she accepted the rosary from the cat girl, but muttered confusedly, "Why do I even need the seal to begin with?" Even though the ''inner'' Moka had grown closer with her outer self as if they were sisters, she still couldn''t help but wonder why exactly she was sealed now that she had seen how complex the seal actually was. Alex frowned as he contemplated telling her the truth, which, as he glanced around to the rest of his peerage, each of the girls nodded slightly or gave him looks of encouragement as if to say it was time. Alex sighed and, with Yue prepared to cast Spirit magic to stabilize Moka''s feelings in needed, he launched into an explanation of the truth behind Moka''s rosary, and her mother. *** Almost an hour after Alex started telling Moka the truth regarding her rosary, the usually cool calm and collected girl was fighting tears as the memories of her past returned with a vengeance at Alex''s words, while Yue continued to use Spirit magic to prevent her emotions from getting too out of control. Her memories had never actually been erased, as she could still perfectly recall all three of her sisters and her father, as well as specific memories of herself before leaving her family''s house, however the ones regarding her mother and anything relating to the truth regarding her powers had been suppressed until this point. With the new revelations Moka now even recalled watching as her own older sister cut her mother in half, before losing control of herself and allowing Alucard to reawaken, resulting in the actual death of her mother. As all of the rage and grief returned she could feel a budding power within her beginning to stir, but before it could truly awaken Alex''s voice practically shouted, "Moka!" This snapped her back as awakening that very power was exactly what her mother sacrificed herself to prevent, making Moka fight down the rising bloodl.u.s.t as she asked, "Big sister?" She didn''t even need to clarify what she wanted to know, making Alex sigh before saying, "She actually meant to move against Akasha a lot sooner, but hesitated to do until you left the mansion because she cared about you so much. Your sister is a complicated person, but if you understood her history better then you might understand some of her actions better." Though Moka gave Alex a look as if to say he was crazy for thinking she''d forgive someone who attacked her mother in such a way, he truly didn''t doubt that Moka would be able to make up with her, given the chance. After a few more minutes of her trying to digest all of this new information and her recalled memories, Moka then asked, "Is this why you got close to me? To get me to awaken and fight Alucard?" As soon as she spoke everyone''s expressions hardened and the atmosphere intensified suddenly, making Moka realize how badly she misspoke as Alex slowly said, "If fighting Alucard was that important to me then I would have already found another way to have awaken him and done so, the only reason I intend to fight Alucard is for you Moka." Moka flinched slightly as Alex spoke, and the rest of the girls also stared at her intensely as if daring her to refute what he said, something even she wouldn''t dare do. After several minutes of awkward silence she grabbed the rosary and said, "This...is too much to take in right now. I''m going back to sleep for now." There was a series of snorts or sighs as she tried to make a tactical retreat, but before she could reattach the rosary Alex gently grabbed her hand to make her pause, before saying, "Even if everything seems like too much now, I promise I will help you Moka." As she looked up at Alex and stared into his eyes, Moka couldn''t help but admit he did seem kinda cool at that moment, but she didn''t say anything about that and simply said "goodnight!" before quickly reattaching the rosary, causing her hair to return to its usual pink color and the powerful energy emanating off of her to dissipate. As the ''outer'' personality resurfaced she collapsed as if exhausted, which she probably was, only for Alex to catch her suddenly before lifting her into a princess carry. "I''m gonna put her in bed." He told the rest of the girls, before leaving them to discuss the recent developments among themselves while Venri followed him to make sure Moka was changed out of her school uniform. When Alex returned the girls stopped talking suddenly and Rias asked, "Was it really ok to tell her everything like that? Are you sure it won''t accidentally trigger something?" Alex nodded without even the slightest bit of hesitation before saying, "Of course, she''s a lot stronger than she looks. Plus I don''t want to wait and have the truth sprung on her accidentally and out of nowhere, that''ll definitely do more harm than good." Yue nodded in agreement as she recalled when Alex explained the truth regarding her own background to her, something that admittedly made her resent him for it slightly, however she also understood why he waited as the her that had just been released from the depths of the Great Labyrinth wouldn''t have been willing to listen to the truth. "I never knew that little miss carefree Moka had such a past..." Kurumu muttered, as this was also her first time hearing the details of Moka''s past, along with what she was tied to. Everyone nodded in silence until Kuroka suddenly spoke up and said, "By the way~Nya, Touhou asked me to tell you that he would like to meet you soon." Alex looked up at this and thought for a moment before saying, "I''ll have to cancel my next date on our days off, but I''ll meet him then since it''s about time anyways." As he spoke Yue looked slightly down as it was supposed to be her turn this time along with Elmenhilde and Shia, but she cheered up when Alex said that he''d make it up to them. *** Several days later Alex traveled to China along with his peerage, his daughters, and their mothers. Though it might have seemed like a bad idea to bring them out of Asora, Kuroka stated that Touhou and Fei-Hong both guaranteed that the entirety of the Huang family will ensure the protection of Alex and his family, and both Gabriel and Koneko agreed that it would be good for the two girls to get out and see more than their tiny little corner of the universe. Alex was curious at first why the Huang family and Touhou would go so far for him, but Kuroka simply told him not to worry about it since she never reported what happened when she first made contact with the Huang family. As such he never thought about what exactly happened until they pulled up to the Huang family mansion, and were greeted by a small army with Touhou and Fei-Hong at the front with the rest of their family. The second Alex stepped out of their car with Kuroka on his arm, the entirety of the Huang family bowed deeply along with Fei-Hong and Touhou, before shouting, "THE HUANG FAMILY GREETS THE DRAGON EMPEROR!" Rather than meeting a group that they were allied with, Alex felt a feeling similar to whenever he visited the Haulia, causing him to give Kuroka a pointed look that made the cat girl innocently say with a playful wink, "What~Nya?" Chapter 306 - Audacity After some somewhat awkward introductions, Alex was seated in the Huang family''s dining room along with the rest of his escort and the Huang family themselves. Touhou, who for some reason was still a little old man, was seated to Alex''s left while Kuroka took the seat to his right, and Grayfia stood behind waiting intently for her lord to call upon her. As they chatted Touhou said suddenly, "I must say though, I expected the Dragon Emperor to be strong, but your presence was practically suffocatingly overwhelming." Though it might have sounded like excessive flattery, Touhou was simply telling the truth as he had never met someone who gave off such a powerful aura like Alex, completely exceeding the expectations he already had for the master of the woman who singlehandedly defeated himself and the entire Huang family. Alex however simply waved off Touhou''s compliment and said, "While I may seem powerful to some, my strength is laughably pathetic to others. The heights I intend to reach go far beyond where I am now." As Alex continued to nonchalantly eat his food, Touhou stared at him with shock and wonder at his declaration. Even though he was widely considered to be one of the strongest people on the planet, Touhou knew he was still far from reaching the limit of what strength a mortal could attain, with Kuroka and Alex only further proving this point; what he never expected was for someone like Alex even saying that his power was far from sufficient. He was then further surprised when Kuroka suggested, "How about a sparring match to show off your strength~Nya?" Alex looked at her curiously at this while silence gradually settled around the table, with the sole exception of Ten-Ten and Ling-Ling as they played with Edith and Mai, but both women were still glancing towards them curiously. Even as the atmosphere around the table changed, Alex just shrugged and said, "Why not? Some after dinner exercise would be nice." As he accepted the idea of a sparring match everyone among the Huang family started talking among themselves about getting to see Alex fight, while Touhou himself excitedly said, "Well I haven''t gotten my youth back yet, but perhaps I''ll be able to muster up some of my old strength for this!" Alex then gave him a weird look before saying, "I''m not gonna spar with you. I even beat Mikogami in terms of raw strength, do you really think your techniques will have any effect on me whatsoever?" At Alex''s jab Touhou became deflated as he muttered quietly, "I''m sorry....." Alex then glance around the table towards the various members of the Huang family until his gaze settled on one in particular, making the young boy gulp nervously and point at himself while saying, "Me?" Alex nodded slowly as the chatter suddenly died down around them, before he said, "I want to see what Fang-Fang, the next master of the Huang family is capable of. I wouldn''t hesitate to say that I''d win against any one of you that I''d fight, so why not you?" After hearing Alex''s reasoning the chatter around the dining table erupted again as everyone started discussing what he said, some eager to see the Dragon Emperor ''test'' their young master, while others were annoyed he spoke so bluntly about how much more powerful he was than even their great ancestor. Touhou and Fei-Hong however were both silent as they thought on Alex''s proposal, before they both nodded and said, "I think it''s a great idea, maybe Fang-Fang could gain some insight and grow during their match." "I agree," Touhou stated before continuing, "while I would have liked to face the Dragon Emperor myself, I suppose the fact that you beat Mikogami is enough for me, though I do wish I could have seen his face." Alex smiled wryly at Touhou''s words, before projecting a recording of his earlier fight with his fellow Dark Lord. As everyone focused on the battle that was playing overhead, with Touhou begging to be taught how to use that magic, Fang-Fang could help but lament his luck as if it had been his execution that had been decided instead of a simple spar. *** After dinner was finished everyone started making their way to the back of the Huang residence, where a practice ring sat waiting for Fang-Fang and Alex. The only hiccup was when Ten-Ten, the ''genius master martial artist'' suddenly tripped and landed with her butt in the air, her ass and black thong exposed to Alex''s greedy eyes while he walked behind her and Fei-Hong. Of course Touhou rushed in a took a quick photo of the tantalizing sight before Ten-Ten could cover herself, intending to use it the next time she got angry at him, only for Alex to destroy his camera and the footage inside. He was then ''forgiven'' by a reluctant Fei-Hong for seeing his wife in such a position, while Kuroka reminded Touhou of the condition regarding her reversing his age, making him immediately beg for forgiveness and revealing to Alex why he was still a shriveled up old man. Barring any further interruptions, everyone made their way to the ring while Alex''s entourage was given a place of honor next to Ling-Ling and Ten-Ten, while Fang-Fang and Alex prepared for their spar. "You can do this! You can do this, you CAN''T do this!" Fang-Fang cried out, as he contemplated running away from his impending death. "Of course you can''t do this." A voice suddenly said, making Fang-Fang jump as he spun around and saw his father standing there with his great ancestor, both of which looked as if they were appraising him. Fei-Hong then added, "The Dragon Emperor obviously must have heard about us from miss Kuroka, and so if he singled you out then maybe he sees some merit in fighting against you?" Touhou nodded in agreement and stated, "There''s no benefit for him to bully someone significantly weaker than him, so there must be some point in his actions." Though not entirely reassuring, Fang-Fang did feel a little better after listening to his father and great ancestor speak, and was a slightly more willing to face Alex in combat. Though not exactly the image of pride and self confidence, Fang-Fang entered the sparring ring with his head held high as he faced Alex on the opposite end, who then stated, "The match will go until one of us either ends up outside the ring, or is unable to continue. Worst case scenario we can even resurrect the recently dead, so let''s not hold back." At Alex''s words any confidence Fang-Fang had mustered vanished as he immediately wanted to escape this madman. He then took in a breath to steady himself, before taking a stance and waiting along with Alex for Kuroka to start the match. "Ready~Nya?" Kuroka asked both people, before immediately using magic to create a flash of light without waiting for their answer. Immediately Fang-Fang started amassing his supernatural power while pulling out one of his many talismans, fully expecting Alex to instantly attack him, however he simply stood there waiting. Even though this would benefit him, allowing him to finish his summoning, Fang-Fang couldn''t help but demand, "Are you not taking me seriously?!" Alex frowned when he heard that, before saying, "If I wasn''t taking you seriously, then you wouldn''t be the one standing in front of me. Me allowing you to finish your summoning is not a sign of mockery." As Alex spoke Fang-Fang stood rooted to the spot, his expression frozen with a look of shock, never had he had an opponent show him respect before, always they mocked him or coddled him when it came to his inability to summon creatures properly. Gritting his teeth, Fang-Fang shouted with newfound confidence while holding out the talisman that acted as a medium, "Answer my call, Hagane Zatoumushi!" As he called for his specified creature a powerful wave of supernatural energy radiated from Fang-Fang''s body, before condensing in front of him and exploding in a burst of smoke, to reveal a panda. """"Eh?""" That and the sound of the panda munching on the bamboo shoot in its paws was all anyone heard as they tried to process what just happened, while Fang-Fang fought back the urge to cry as he lamented his terrible luck in summoning. "Um, I''ll try this one, Salamander!" Once more there was simply a panda there after the smoke cleared, and then when it cleared away the third time, and the forth. Becoming increasingly dejected with each failed summoning, Fang-Fang pathetically whimpered, "I don''t care anymore, something just please come....." This time however when the cloud of smoke dissipated what appeared was a chubby looking baby chick, which looked around curiously. Falling to his knees in defeat, Fang-Fang whimpered, "Why can''t I just summon something to fight with...?" By this point the majority of the viewers, including Alex''s peerage, we''re looking at Fang-Fang with sympathy while a few of the girls even looked at Alex with a bit of blame as if he intentionally wanted to embarrass the young man. Alex however never took his eyes off of Fang-Fang, who suddenly stopped whimpering when he heard a voice say in his mind, ''Is that truly your wish?'' He looked around confusedly before muttering, "Wha-? Yeah, I want to be able to fight my opponent properly-" Before he could say anything more, the baby chick that Fang-Fang summoned stepped towards the paper talisman that had brought it there and immediately grabbed it before suddenly swallowing it, right before it suddenly started glowing and increasing in size. """Woah....""" Several of the onlookers let out gasps and sighs of amazement as the baby chick grew large enough that it''s flaming wings spread out over the entire Huang family estate, before it turned its flaming eyes towards Alex and those standing behind him, and decreeing, "I, THE MIGHTY PYO-TAN, WILL NOW DESTROY YOU AS MY CONTRACTOR WISHED!" As it said this Fang-Fang''s expression of surprise turned to one of dread as he quickly shouted, "No wait! I only wanted to be able to fight him for a friendly sparring match! There''s no need for destroying or anything Pyo-Tan!" The massive Phoenix didn''t pay his words any mind though, as it lifted it massive head before breathing out a torrent of flames directly at Alex and those standing behind him. Though his expression hardened, Alex didn''t even flinch as the wave of flames washed over him while Kuroka put up a powerful barrier to prevent the flames from reaching them, with every one of the girls never even flinching while Edith and Mai laughed excitedly at the pretty fire. As the situation unfolded both Touhou and Fei-Hong were about to rush forward to Alex''s aid, but were stopped by Grayfia as she simply shook her head at them slightly, making both men hesitantly stand down before they saw what happened next. The raging inferno started to suddenly vanish before revealing a perfectly intact Alex standing in the middle, except his expression alone was enough to give even monsters nightmares. As he glared directly at the rampaging Phoenix, the mighty beast roared and shouted, "TO HAVE THE AUDACITY TO LOOK AT THE GREAT ME LIKE THAT! ACCEPT THAT DEATH IS YOUR ONLY OPTION!" Pyo-Tan then shot up into the sky before turning back towards them and diving faster than a bullet with its massive beak pointed right at Alex. With the spectators from Huang family growing increasingly nervous as the mighty Phoenix dove, Alex never even flinched as it collided with him and created a massive cloud of dust that obscured the vision of the spectators. When it cleared though they found the sight before them incomprehensible, as Alex casually held back the mighty beast by using a single hand to grip its massive beak, completely halting its dive while also simultaneously holding it up in the air. As even Pyo-Tan tried to register what had even happened, a low growl escaped Alex''s mouth, "You said something before about having ''the audacity''?" Even though he had just spoken Pyo-Tan felt shivers run through its body as it quickly broke out of Alex''s grip and back away, the closest thing to a cold sweat phoenixes could feel running down its back. And that was even before Alex looked up, a expression of pure rage and bloodl.u.s.t on his face as he stated, "Shouldn''t that be my line? That attack before was also meant for the people standing behind me, right? HOW DARE YOU HAVE THE ''AUDACITY'' TO EVEN CONSIDER ENDANGERING MY DAUGHTERS?!" As he spoke, simply from the rage he felt, Alex even accidentally triggered the super Saiyan transformation as he went directly into SSJ2, bringing his entire aura and bloodl.u.s.t down onto Pyo-Tan like a mighty hammer. ''Th-this can''t be!'' Pyo-Tan thought to itself, the very new sensation of fear pulsating throughout its body as it faced the rage of its opponent. Even though it was simply a baby chick, even newborn phoenixes were more powerful than the majority of other monsters with the sole exceptions of the super beings such as vampires, however after a single decade even they fell short of a phoenixes power. The being in front of him however eclipsed even the most powerful phoenixes that existed in Pyo-Tan''s memories of its previous lives, making it even more afraid as Alex took a single step forward, making the ground around his foot cave in from the force of its impact. Then, even though he had his SSJ2 form activated, Pyo-Tan suddenly saw the image of a great and mighty red dragon behind Alex, glaring down at him with rage and killing intent, making a single thought go through the Phoenix''s mind, ''I am about to die.'' The mighty and majestic bird then did the unthinkable, as it suddenly slammed its massive head down into the ground in its desperate attempt to kneel before Alex and display submission, crying out, "PLEASE MIGHTY ONE, ACCEPT THIS WORTHLESS PYO-TAN''S APOLOGY AND SHOW OF SUBMISSION!" As the beast kneeled before him, Alex halted his slow advance and demanded, "Why should I? Would an apology have undone the potential damage you would have willingly inflicted onto my daughters?" The great bird gulped as it tried to find the right words, as they were filled with such pride that a Phoenix had never before submitted to a person outside of their own race before. However, with their ability to be reborn from the ashes of their own corpse, never in their history had a Phoenix truly felt as if they were about to die, making Pyo-Tan feel a surge of emotions that he never had before, driving him to beg forgiveness to the one before him. As he desperately searched for the right words to say, the mighty beast stated while also changing back into its chubby baby chick form, "I was wrong, I was too prideful. Please great one, show this worthless chick mercy and I will do everything within my power to repay my debt!" Seeing what appeared to be a chubby baby chicken bow before a him and beg for mercy, the majority of the rage Alex felt disappeared as he dispelled his transformation before glancing at the girls to see what they thought, with them either nodding in agreement or smiling supportively. Alex then turned his attention towards Edith and Mai, who were still smiling happily despite the temper tantrum he had just thrown, which coincidently had made the entire Huang family pale while even Fang-Fang had passed out from what he had witnessed. He then turned his attention back towards the still bowing Phoenix, thinking for a second before saying, "You will enter a contract with one of my wives, and become her willing familiar free of charge or conditions, and you will answer and act at her beck and call, essentially becoming her pet." Even though Pyo-Tan felt a large amount of indignation at the thought of becoming a pet as Alex asked, it was heavily outmatched by its fear of angering the being before it even further, so it made no argument as Alex sent Grayfia to collect the wife in question. It was only a few minutes before the silver haired maid returned, with the pregnant Ravel in tow. She took one look at Pyo-Tan, before saying, "So this is the Phoenix?" Alex nodded before explaining, "He looks pretty pathetic now, but give him a few years and he might be worth the effort to form a contract with." Ravel nodded as turned her attention back to the chubby chick, excitement noticeable in her eyes. Her family of course had a history of trying to form contracts with phoenixes, which had been considered a sign of the individuals potential and capabilities if they had succeeded. Even if he wasn''t strong enough to be worth the effort, having a contract with Pyo-Tan would be exceptionally helpful for when she returned home and tried to succeed the house of Phoenix; even more so since, unlike every other familiar contract with powerful and mythical beings, it would cost her nothing on her end. Typically such a being required a heavy and almost impossible price to earn their cooperation, with Azazel having to give the dragon King Fafnir half of the treasure he had acc.u.mulated throughout several millennia as a prime example. After several tense moments where Ravel used a magic circle to bind herself and Pyo-Tan, gaining its interest at the unfamiliar magic despite its previous fear, the two of them returned to Asora with Grayfia''s help. With his anger from before completely forgotten, Alex couldn''t help but smile as he thought about the unexpected bounty of being able to add a Phoenix to Asora, before turning his attention back to the passed out Fang-Fang. Technically with him being passed out Alex had won their sparring match, however he still had something he wanted to do with the youth, so Alex unhesitatingly walked to Fang-Fangs side, and used his foot to lightly tap him in the side of the head. "Get up, our match is still going." Alex said impatiently as the groggy teen tried to wake up, before recalling the previous scene and paling when he saw Alex towering above him. "HIIIIIIIII!" Fang-Fang cried out as he recalled the imaged of Alex rage from before, before trying to crawl away before he too face such a thing. Alex only sighed as he grabbed Fang-Fang''s foot and tossed him back towards the center of the ring, before saying bluntly, "You tried summoning and failed utterly at it, not only in summoning creatures to fight for you, but also in controlling those that you brought forth. With this in mind, my advise to you is to give up and instead face me yourself like a man." Even though his first thought was still to try and get away from him, Fang-Fang halted when Alex bluntly stated that he was a failure at summoning, which he was but he couldn''t help but say, "What else can I do? I''m the next head of the Huang family, how exactly am I supposed to lead them if I can''t even summon?" In response to his question however, Alex simply vanished from his previous spot instantly, and said from behind Fang-Fang, "How should I know? That''s for you to find out." Fang-Fang turned suddenly as he tried to react to Alex''s voice, but before he could the breath was knocked out of him as Alex''s foot connected with his side before sending him flying. "..." Soundlessly Fang-Fang gasped repeatedly as he struggled to breathe after having the wind knocked out of him, while Alex took a stance where he started, and said, "I told you to face me like a man!" Fang-Fang glanced at him as he still struggled to breathe, surprise showing on his face as he recognized Alex''s stance as one his mother often used, something that had been drilled into Alex back when he was being taught by Sun Wukong. With somewhat shaky legs, Fang-Fang stood and tried to take a similar stance, but Alex vanished again before sweeping his legs out from under him, and saying, "You need to be firmer in your stance unless you want to end up on your ass. Legs further apart, tense enough to take your opponents attack, yet loose enough that each of your movements flow smoothly." Though Fang-Fang was gritting his teeth in irritation at having to do as his opponent said, his irritation was soon forgotten as Alex continued knocking him down or hitting him, before giving him instructions on how to fix his previous mistake. While everyone watched in dumbfoundment and confusion, Touhou muttered, "He never intended to actually spar with him, he''s teaching him...." Fei-Hong and Ling-Ling looked at Touhou confusedly when he said that, but Ten-Ten however looked at her son with increasingly widening eyes, as indescribable pride filled her along with the urge to kick herself for never noticing it sooner. At a pace that was considered to be impossible, Fang-Fang was adapting to Alex''s instructions as his movements became more refined and firm, more powerful. It was apparent to her now that the reason that Fang-Fang was never able to take to Touhou''s lessons and become a capable summoner, was because he took after her and not his father, because he was a natural born martial artist. POW! As everyone became slightly dazed at the realization, their attention was brought back to the match as Fang-Fang''s fist connected with Alex''s opened hand, a smile on Alex''s face as he said, "What do you know, you can do it if you tried." With the unfamiliar feeling of pride welling up in him, Fang-Fang was about to say something to him, but Alex closed his fist around his hand, and suddenly tossed the young boy outside of the ring, causing him to lose the match immediately. Despite this the feeling of pride and accomplishment never left Fang-Fang''s body, as he hurriedly turned to face Alex, and bowed low before saying, "Thank you very much!" Alex however didn''t look back at the young boy who''s life he just changed, instead he simply waved his hand before walking back to his family, where Edith and Mai was waiting for him with their arms open in an obvious indication that they wanted him to hold them. "Dada!" Edith cried out excitedly as he took her into his arms, before she suddenly took her arm and thrusted it out in an obvious imitation of a punch. Alex and Gabriel both froze when they saw that, before he suddenly said, "Oh Edith! Are you gonna be a fighter like daddy?" While Gabriel cried out, "But Edith, it would be better to be pretty and use light like mommy, wouldn''t it?!" Even though it was practically guaranteed that she didn''t understand what they were saying, Edith still made another gesture like she was punching while saying, "Dada!" Alex smiled proudly as he kissed his daughter on the top of her head, and Gabriel deflated at the side at how Edith seemed to take after Alex more than her, while she was already depressed that Edith''s first word was ''dada'' and not ''mama''. While the rest of the girls fawned over Edith and how cute she was acting, Touhou couldn''t help but stare at the group in wonder, with is gaze directly on Alex himself. Though he was incredibly thankful that Alex helped Fang-Fang discover his talent, he couldn''t get the previous image of Alex out of his head, the one where he practically made the world itself tremble as he lost his temper. In that regard they were similar as Touhou was well aware that he was regarded as the most emotional of the three Dark Lords, but as he watched Alex interact with his family he could help the smile that spread on his lips. *** Meanwhile, in another part of the country that the Huang family had made their home, their long time rivals, the Miao family, were exceptionally active while the head of the family stood at his desk, his knuckles deathly white from how hard they gripped the edge. ''What the hell was that?!'' He mentally swore, recalling the sudden surge of power that had sent the Miao family into their current frenzy in the first place. It was suffocatingly powerful, and outclassed anything he had ever felt before, including the one time he had met with Touhou Fuhai. The most terrifying part as that the direction the power came from was obviously the same way as Huang family, meaning it was possible they had secured a powerful new ally to help destroy them. The head of the Miao family''s first thought was to try and reason with the Huang family and reinstate their truce, but when he thought of that Xia-Long recalled the one image he wanted to forget, that of his father being stuffed into a suitcase while he was still alive. He fought the sudden urge to vomit as the words of the true master of Miao family drifted through his mind once more, ''Betray me, and you''ll meet the most gruesome end imaginable.'' With no other choice but to do as HE said, when his men came to receive their orders Xia-Long commanded, "That surge of power came from the Huang family, send the most powerful assassins we have and deal with them!" Chapter 307 - Assassins Several hours after Alex and Fang-Fang''s match had come to an end, Alex was sharing a drink with none other than Touhou and Fei-Hong after everyone else had gone to bed, he and the girls deciding to forego one night''s training for once. As the trio of men sat drinking, with Grayfia silently standing behind Alex as if awaiting his order, Touhou commented, "I was really surprised earlier, to think your strength was so impressive, and that you''d help young Fang-Fang find his true talent." Alex waved away Touhou''s words as he took another swig of the excellent whiskey they offered him, while also feeling a little regretful that he couldn''t get drunk alongside them, before saying, "Think nothing of it, if anything I felt like it was a waste for a fellow martial artist to waste his talent away like that. Give it time, and he''ll probably even surpass you in terms of strength and ability." There was an anticipatory gleam in Touhou''s eyes when he imagined the future Alex predicted, before a light chuckle escaped his lips as he took another drink as well. Fei-Hong however smiled proudly as he recalled his son''s actions that day, and the drastic difference in his bearing after the match. The three continued drinking in silence for a few more minutes, but, as he was about to raise his mug to his lips once again, Alex couldn''t help but notice something through his ''Domain'' that made him frown slightly. Alex then closed his eyes as he focused his intent through his ''Domain'', and counted no less than fifty assassins that were entering the Huang family estate. Though he didn''t doubt that Touhou would notice their pretense eventually, Alex decided not to wait since it was most likely their fault the assassins were present, and directed his intent to the room that the girls were currently asleep in. "Kuroka, Shizuku, Kurumu, take care of it." He murmured slightly, causing Kuroka''s yellow eyes to shoot open silently in the darkness, while Shizuku started awake suddenly, before realizing what was happening. Kurumu however twitched slightly, but continued to sleep while cuddling a plushy that looked like him until Shizuku silently shook her awake. With the three girls moving to deal with the assassins, Alex turned to Touhou and said, "It appears that some pests are trying to get in, don''t worry I have some of my girls dealing with it." Though they had been getting a little tipsy from the whiskey, both Touhou and Fei-Hong sobered up instantly when they heard what he said, but then Alex had to talk them out of acting themselves since he wanted Shizuku and Kurumu to have this experience. *** A group of the assassins crept through the expansive estate as silently as possible as the leader ignored the various agents of Huang family around, his target being the supposed occupants that were possibly in the main or guest rooms. As good of a chance as this was to thin the forces of the Huang family, their main priority was the being who''s power had been felt by every single member of the Miao family, from the head of the family to even the weakest members of the family. As such each of the assassins were aware that this was essentially a suicide mission due to the fact that even if they somehow dealt with the being who had released such an aura, there was still Touhou Fuhai and the rest of Huang family who would undoubtedly notice their presence by then, plus there was even the possibility that there was several others who were accompanying the mysterious being. "..." The leader of the group suddenly turned around as his instincts warned him of danger, only to see that one of his companions had suddenly disappeared into thin air, with not even a whisper to announce his departure. Immediately the group of assassins went into alert mode as they searched for the one who had abducted their comrade, however, even with their senses that were superior to humans, they could not sense a single thing around them other than the sleeping Huang family members. "..." Again the leaders instincts went off as he suddenly turned, only to find yet another member of his group missing. With only two of them left, the leader and the remaining member of the group went back to back as they tried to keep an eye on each side of themselves to catch sight of the mysterious assailant, even though the area they were in was still deathly quiet. The leader took comfort in the fact that his companion was directly at his back however, as it meant they were still with him, or at least that''s what he thought until he turned to ask if he had seen anything, and noticed that the one there was instead a beautiful woman with long black hair, and two pointed cat ears. "Well hello there~Nya." The second he saw the mysterious woman the leader of the hit squad leaped back and entered a stance as he demanded, "Who are you?!" With his cover blown there was no more need for stealth and secrecy, and the man decided that collecting information that he could transmit to his comrades was much more important. The cat girl however didn''t bother to give him a name, instead merely stating, "Just someone who''s really pissed that their beauty sleep was interrupted by a bunch of unwanted pests~Nya!" As she spoke he eyes shone with a sadistic glee, making the man realize that she didn''t take him seriously at all. Even though he knew he was essentially on a suicide mission, the man still had his pride as an assassin and as a member of the Miao family, and so he threw all notions of stealth out of the window as his form started to quickly expand. "Even if you''re stronger than me, even if I die here, I WONT GO DOWN EASILY!" The last part of his declaration was practically roared as he assumed his true form, that of a twenty foot tall giant. Despite seeing her opponent tower over her by several times, the mysterious assailant smirked as if she found his declaration humorous, making him roar once more as he drove his fist down at her with all of the force he could muster, causing the surroundings to shake as if an earthquake had just struck. "Is that all?" A female voice sneered from underneath the Giants hand, making him dumbfounded as he found he couldn''t move it by even a centimeter. He then let out a thunderous groan as he felt something sharp penetrate his fingers before poison was injected into him, bringing the giant to his knees as he saw the cat girl standing there with a sneer on her face. "I don''t care about who you are or what you want~Nya, all I know is that my master ordered me to deal with you, and that you disturbed my sleep." As the giant looked into her eyes he was terrified from what he saw, to others he was someone to admire, to the young master he was a reliable soldier; however to the woman in front of him, he was nothing more than a nuisance regardless of how much he tried to be otherwise. *** Meanwhile inside of the manor itself, another assassin was creeping through the hallways towards the room he hoped his target was in; however due to the shaking from earlier he couldn''t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong, especially since no one had even seemed to have woken up from the previous shaking. He knew this because he could smell that each of the rooms he passed still had occupants sleeping within, and he could hear their steady breathing as they slept peacefully, making him wonder if there was something at work keeping them asleep. As the assassin pondered the unusual situation, a figure suddenly appeared from a tear in space behind him seemingly unnoticed, however he could smell her with his enhance senses. Slowly he gripped his sword in a way so as not to alarm his stalker, before turning suddenly and silently to attack, except there had been no one there. Rather than than relax though the assassin increased his guard, as his senses had never lied to him before, as he scanned up and down the hallway while listening and smelling intently for any sign of the other person. Meanwhile Shizuku withheld a sigh as she silently chastised herself for her carelessness, from her current position on the ceiling of the hallway above the assassin. As much as she didn''t want to admit it, this situation made her decide that she needed to increase her ''Stealth'' skill when she returned to the space-time orb in order to prevent a repeat of this incident, as she could tell this wouldn''t be the last time she was required to do something like this. Shizuku then silently and slowly released the gravity magic that had been keeping her attached to the ceiling, allowing her to drift down silently behind the assassin before she used her ''Knights'' speed to suddenly grab and raise the mans chin with one hand, while the other used her Tont¨­ to slash open the mans throat. Immediately she felt the hot and sticky blood flow over her fingers, making her stomach churn with revulsion for a split second before her attention was taken by the flames that started pouring out of the assassin''s opened throat, forcing her to back up and watch as they quickly engulfed the Huodou(demon dog). Just as Shizuku was about to use her magic to call Alex for help as the flames started spreading, they immediately started to die down instead at an unnatural speed, making a sigh of relief escape her lips before they turned up slightly, a somewhat warm feeling spreading through her knowing that Alex was watching. Shizuku then turned her attention back towards the still warm and sticky sensation on her hands, and shuddered slightly before trying to put the feeling out of her mind as she followed Alex''s intent to her next target. *** As their comrades were being slaughtered or captured one by one, yet another group of assassins silently made their way through the manor with an increasing feeling of dread swelling up inside them, not from the prospect of dying, but of failing their young master. As they silently moved forward, they were dumbfounded to turn a corner and see an inordinately beautiful woman dressed in a simple gown standing there by an open window, the moonlight shining down onto her long pure white hair. Each of the men immediately raised their firearms and were prepared to shoot her, however, as they stared at her and she stared back, they were unable to bring themselves to pull the trigger. Their confusion only increased as the traces of a smile tugged at the corner of the woman''s lips, making their hearts thunderously pound in their chests before her melodious voice asked, "Are you here to play with me?" This made the men even more confused as their hands started getting clammy, and their cheeks started heating up, just like a teenage boy before a beautiful woman for the first time. As if to add to their confusion, the woman''s smile became more pronounced as she moved her hands to the drawstrings at the front of her gown, before tugging at them slowly and teasingly. As the knot holding her gown closed came undone, it slid off of her shoulders before falling to the ground and pooling around the woman''s feet, leaving her completely n.a.k.e.d body exposed for them all to see. The men''s hungry gazes slowly moved down from the woman''s beautiful face and ruby-red lips, to her large and flawless b.r.e.a.s.ts that were tipped by beautiful blood-red n.i.p.p.l.es, before moving down even further to the well maintained s.e.xy strip of white hair, and the forbidden area just beneath it. With her teasing smile becoming more pronounced, the woman sat back onto the small table in front of the window before seductively raising her legs, and spreading them to give the men an unobstructed view of her s.e.x. She then slowly lowered her fingers down to her s.e.x before slowly spreading the now glistening lips apart, revealing the twitching pink flesh within, hungry to filled, before she once again asked, "Won''t you play with me?" Then, despite the fact that whole situation screamed ''trap'', and that his instincts were screaming even louder for him not to accept the woman''s offer, the man at the forefront of the group slowly stepped forward while lowing the muzzle of his firearm. As he approached her, the woman''s smile became even more pronounced as she flashed them her perfectly white teeth, and raised her free hand before using a finger to indicate the man to come closer, which he readily obliged with the bulge at his front becoming more prominent. As he stepped into arms reach of the woman she placed her free hand beneath the mans chin, gently pulling him closer and closer until their lips finally met, and something extended from the woman''s fingers as they pierced through his mouth and stabbed into his head. In the brief second before he died, the ''Charm'' and illusions were suddenly dispelled for the man alone, revealing there was no beautiful white haired woman, only a beautiful blue haired teenage girl who''s face was still almost a foot away from him, still dressed in her purple pajamas. With his rational returning in the split second before he died, the man tried desperately to raise his voice, to use his dying breath to alert his comrades, however the nails that were lodged within his mouth and skull refused to allow him that, and the mans consciousness swiftly slid into darkness. Even as Kurumu retracted her nails, and allowed the mans body to thud to the ground, the other men didn''t even react, her ''Charm'' and illusion still in full effect on them, as the beautiful and n.a.k.e.d white haired woman stepped over the dead mans body to seductively make her way towards them, asking once more, "Won''t you play with me?" *** Back in the room he was in when he first noticed the assassins presence, Alex couldn''t help but raise his brows as he watched the three girls dispatch the assassins one after another while using their own methods. Kuroka was moving swiftly and deadly, as she incapacitated or killed the assassins as quickly and efficiently as possible, meanwhile Shizuku was putting her training as a daughter of the Yeagashi to use, and Kurumu was using a fairly slow and roundabout, yet cruelly effective method. Alex had been paying attention to the latter two the most, as he used this opportunity to see how well Shizuku would take killing in cold blood, and how Kurumu would fair fighting and killing actual people compared to the mindless monsters she trained against. He had been surprised at first by how readily and ruthlessly Kurumu killed the men, but, when he thought about it, Alex realized that as a ''monster'' Kurumu might not be as against killing as a normal human would have been, making him realize he probably didn''t need to worry about her fighting people as much. Meanwhile Shizuku''s reaction to killing in cold blood was along the lines of what he had expected, as until now the only ''people'' she had killed were the undead soldiers Eri had used her attempted coup, and the apostles during the final battle against Ehito''s in a battle to the death. Seeing how she kept glancing at her blood covered hands, even as she kept killing more people, Alex decided to dedicate a day or two to comforting the ponytailed kunoichi once they returned to the space-time orb. He had also been using his Conquerers Haki along with his ''Domain'' to ensure that none of Huang family awoke during the attempted assault, making any who tried to get up pass out until morning, which incidentally resulted in a couple of accidents as a couple of the people got up for other reasons than the fights occurring around them. He had also been keeping track of, and guiding the girls towards, the remaining groups of assassins as they tried to navigate the estate, before his attention was suddenly directed towards the front. After recognizing the person leading the group towards the front gate, Alex stated through his domain, "Kuroka, head to the front and capture the one in charge alive." Even though she didn''t reply, Kuroka immediately used spatial magic to appear at the front gate in order to engage the person leading the a.d.u.l.t that had disturbed her sleep. Both Touhou and Fei-Hong stared at Alex in amazement, as he had been updating the two on the advances and defeat of the assassins, both in awe of Alex''s ability to monitor the entire estate without their enemies knowing. Alex however ignored them as he turned towards Grayfia, who was still standing behind him attentively, and said, "Grayfia, after Kuroka brings the leader here I want you to-" *** While Alex was giving Grayfia orders of what to do next, the largest group of assassins yet approached the main entrance to the Huang family estate without trying to hide their presence at all. One of them then turned to the one leading them, a petite cute looking girl in a sailer dress with ribbons tied around the two short horns that protruded from her hair, and asked, "Is this really alright lady Routier? Shouldn''t we be more discrete?" The girl, Routier, snorted before responding to the man, "What''s the point now? Our men have been disappearing one after another and one of them even went so far as to use his true form to shake the entire estate, why bother trying to hide when they obviously know we''re here?" The man was silent as he listened to the deputy leader''s reasoning for her actions, deciding it was better than arguing and possibly getting her excited. A futile lack of action however as her cheeks started turning red while her eyes started glossing over, as the petite woman pulled a chainsaw seemingly out of nowhere and continued, "and besides, now I can chop up all the people I want before we get to our target!" The men shuddered as the deputy leader''s sadistic side started showing itself, each of them trying to very subtly shuffle a bit further away from her, before they noticed a figure standing at the main entrance to the Huang family estate. Though it was expected that there''d be guards there, the woman was standing there alone while looking bored, as if she had been specifically waiting for them. Routier looked the solitary woman up and down, focusing specifically on her beautiful features and her massive b.r.e.a.s.ts before looking down at her own as if comparing them. She then looked back up as a taunting voice called out, "So this little brat is the one in charge~Nya?" Routier looked at the woman irritably, and said while holding up her chainsaw, "When I cut you down to size, then we''ll see who the brat is! And then maybe after that I''ll cut up that pretty face before cutting off those lumps of flesh!" Routier then continued detailing what she planned to do to Kuroka, while her cheeks turned even rosier and her breathing became ragged. Seemingly unable to take the anticipation anymore, she then leaped forward while swinging her roaring chainsaw, only for it to bounce off of Kuroka''s claws in a shower of sparks. Rather than be shocked that her beloved chainsaw was deflected, Routier quickly pivoted and swung it around once more, before another shower of sparks lit up the night. Alex sat back with a wry smile as he watched the short exchange between Kuroka and Routier, ending of course in the formers victory while the latter was taken prisoner along with her men, who all struggled until the last before Kuroka finally had them restrained. Alex''s expression however became a deadpan as he saw the state Routier was in after her fight with Kuroka, with her dress torn enough to perfectly reveal her diminutive b.r.e.a.s.ts and white panties with pink polka dots, which were also torn to the point that they hardly covered their contents and were on the verge of coming off. He then turned his deadpan stare at Kuroka, who quickly said defensively, "What~Nya? It''s not like I did it on purpose, it just happened~Nya." Alex only sighed in response, as he had watched the fight and knew she was telling the truth, before turning his attention to the still conscious Routier who was muttering, "The ones who should be tied up are all of you, then I can cut and slice and carve away to my hearts content...." As she continued muttering Kurumu and Shizuku, who had already cleaned herself up after the assassins were all dealt with, both backed away slowly while Kuroka sighed as she contemplated simply knocking the little sadist out. Alex however ignored the muttering as she got to how she''d pull out their entrails, and asked, "Routier, why did the head of the Miao family send you here?" The little girl looked up at Alex as she spoke, and stated plainly, "To kill you of course." Alex nodded as he had expected as much, and looked away even as the girls continued to glare at her alongside Touhou and Fei-Hong. He of course didn''t blame the head of the Miao family, as he was well aware that Xei-Long had no choice but to void the peace treaty between the Huang and Miao family''s, or risk an even worse punishment than the one his father suffered. Without any other comment at the current situation, Alex turned towards Grayfia and simply said, "Go." Without any clarification of what she was meant to do, the silver haired maid simply bowed slightly before disappearing within a cloud of mist. This left those who hadn''t heard Alex give her her earlier orders somewhat confused, until a few minutes later when a magic circle appeared in the center of the room, projecting a sight that made the surviving assassins widen their eyes in shock as they looked at a real time projection of the Miao family estate. Before they could get over the shock of what they were seeing, the projection shifted until it was focused on the main entrance of the estate, where a group of women wearing familiar uniforms approached the main gate without even the slightest bit of hesitation. Chapter 308 - Combat Maids As the guards of the Miao family noticed a group of eight women approaching them, they immediately went onto high alert as several dozen of them pointed their firearms at the women, ready to fire them at a single moment. "GET BACK, OR WE''LL SHOOT!" The man in charge of the Miao family''s estate security declared, fully intending to slaughter even a group of maids if they dared present a threat to the young master. The woman at the head of the maids, a mature beauty with emerald green hair, stepped forward and firmly stated in response to the man''s earlier order, "We simply have some business with your young master, so please let us pass to avoid unnecessary bloodshed." The man however was unmoved by her friendly seeming request, and shouted, "THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING, BACK OFF!!!" As if to show how serious he was, one of the men suddenly let off a shot directed at Venri''s feet, making her frown slightly as dirt was scattered all over her shoes from the bullet. She then looked back at the men with a vicious gleam momentarily showing in her eyes, before she stated, "Nyx, open the door for us." The goddess of darkness and night smiled as she was finally given the chance to do something more than mopping and cleaning, and started floating in the air as she slowly raised herself up above the mortals that dare stand in her way. "FIRE!!!" The head of security shouted as every single one of the dozens of firearms trained themselves onto Nyx''s figure, before the silence of the night erupted with the noise of several dozen automatic weapons going off, and the darkness was filled with the light of the muzzle flash. The head of security then noticed Venri smirking from where she stood, and raised a pistol as he decided to wipe the smirk from her face; as he shot however, he was dumbfounded by what he witnessed, as Venri''s hand blurred before appearing right in front of her face covered in green scales as she effortlessly caught the fired bullet. As the head was trying to figure out what she was and how she did that, another voice stated from above them as the men''s ammo ran out, "Such pitiful creatures you are. I remember when humans cowered in fear of me and my powers, when they huddled in their caves and clutched their wooden spears in fear of what lay outside them. Then that fool Prometheus gave them fire, giving them the courage needed to venture out into the darkness as they set out to conquer it. Many things have changed since then, I was granted this form from the prayers of my few followers, and humans have made one innovation after another in their quest for dominance, until they eventually learned how to even harness light itself; however one thing remains the same, the instinctual fear they feel when I creep up behind them, the fact that no matter where they go, what they do, I will always be there waiting patiently and silently to reclaim them once more." As she spoke Nyx became surrounded by darkness itself as it converged onto her and spread to their surroundings, snuffing out any and every light it came across as it crept slowly towards the Miao family gate, striking fear into the guards as they tried to fire their weapons into the darkness, but, as before when they shot at Nyx, the darkness simply absorbed the bullets silently as it continued its slow trek onward. As it finally came within mere feet of the gate, making the guards sweat as terror started overtaking them, it finally stopped as Nyx continued her earlier speech, "Let this be a lesson, no matter what you do to fight it, no mater how brave you think you are, you will always and forever, FEAR THE DARK!" As she finished her declaration the darkness suddenly surged forward into the air as it bore down towards the gate and the walls surrounding it, engulfing the guards instantly as it slammed into the barrier surrounding the entire Miao estate, before consuming and destroying it as well and continuing its endless surge forward. After several seconds Venri stated to her fellow maid, "That''s enough Nyx, hold the line for us while we make our way forward." Though she wanted to continue, Nyx snorted before she did as the dragon commanded and pulled back her darkness before setting it to surround the entire Miao family estate to prevent anyone from trying to escape. Normally doing magic of this scale without extensive preparation would easily exhaust or even potentially kill the caster in this world, however, as a goddess of the night while it was currently the middle of the night, Nyx''s magic was currently unparalleled among those that came form this world, even with her powers still sealed. With her setting the bar, the rest of the maids eagerly entered the Miao family estate to test their training while their lord watched over them. Meanwhile a massive silver magic circle bearing the crest of Lucifuge suddenly appeared overhead, covering the entire Miao estate with Spirit magic to capture the souls of those who were being killed, so that they were present for when they used Regeneration magic to restore the Miao estate and revive those who were killed. The reason for this was because Alex was aware that the Miao family head actually wanted to honor the alliance with the Huang family that was created by his father, however he was unable to do so because of the existence of the original founder of the Miao family. Since he most likely felt he had no choice but to attack them, Alex intended to use this chance as a demonstration to both families of what those who followed him were capable of, and what it meant to to attack him. As for the original founder of the Miao family, Alex was already intending to deal with him eventually so his response was inconsequential. Standing atop the giant magic circle thinking of this was none other than the caster herself, Grayfia, as she turned her gaze downwards and watched her fellow maids alongside the thirteen former apostles, who were awaiting orders to join the fight in any of the other maids started struggling. From the entrance the seven maids split up as they tried to cover more ground while Nyx covered the rear, with Venri marching slowly and confidently straight towards the tower where the head of the Miao family, Xia-Long, waited for them. Tracy and Francesca headed to the left towards what was ultimately the kitchens and the armory, while Ishigami and Mako paired off and went to the right towards the residential area, and Eri took off by herself. It didn''t take long before the entire Miao family rushed to meet them, as, as if planning for Routier''s failure, Xia-Long had called for all of the Miao family''s forces and allies to meet and prepare within the family''s estate, meaning the girls had a small army waiting for their arrival. When she saw several dozen men waiting for her with rifles pointed at her, Tracy smiled fearlessly as she held out her hand and summoned the weapon that had become one of her most prided and cherished possessions, a giant anime style sword that was nearly as long as she was tall. Without even a warning, all of her opponents started firing their weapons without any hesitation whatsoever, forcing Tracy to bring her sword up and use it as a shield to block oncoming hailstorm of bullets as she hid behind it, the sound of metal colliding ringing out like a symphony. Her fearless smile never faltering, she then started to slowly walk towards the line of gunmen as they continued trying to shoot through her sword, which was reflecting the bullets without even acquiring a single dent thanks to Hajime''s master craftsmanship. This continued until the tell-tale sound of the guns ''click'' echoed out, meaning that the shooters had run out of ammunition. As Grayfia had included knowledge of firearms in their training, especially after what happened at Rising Star Entertainment, Tracy didn''t let this chance go and swiftly swung her sword in a wide arc while shouting, "Heavens Mighty Strike!" Immediately following her attack, everything caught within the line of her blade was suddenly destroyed as her attack''s energy tore through bodies and buildings alike, leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake. While she watched the bodies break and the blood spray, Tracy smiled as she felt the rush of true battle for the first time in what felt like forever, as the only real opponents she''d had so far after joining Alex had been monsters, and any people she faced were her ''sisters''. Continuing her path of destruction and carnage, Tracy eventually tore her way into the kitchens where she found a single man waiting for her, an expression of anger on his face even as he calmly asked, "Tell me, what did we do to deserve this butchery?" Despite her bloodl.u.s.t Tracy smirked as she answered, "I don''t know, and I don''t care. All I know is that our madam was given orders by our master to attack you, and that is all I need!" The man frowned at her words, but didn''t say anything else as he sighed and stood, grabbing something from behind the counter next to him while saying, "Then let us see which of us is more loyal to our masters then." Tracy''s smile widened as she saw him pull out two kitchen knives from behind the counter, one in each hand, except they were both greater in size than even her own sword. The two swordsmen stared at each other for a single beat, before they suddenly rushed at each other and their weapons rang with the melody of battle. Meanwhile overhead, Grayfia took out a clipboard and wrote down, ''needs to work on self control during battle.'' She then turned her attention towards the brown skinned woman with Crimson hair, who was softly chanting while she practically glided across the rooftops of the estate, a storm of dangerous looking clouds gathering above her. As the swarm of Miao family soldiers rushed to and fro beneath her as they rushed towards the sounds of combat that was Tracy, Francesca''s voice suddenly rose to a shout, as she decreed to finish her spell, "Wrath of the Heavens, descend and SMITE MY ENEMIES!" As her last word rang out a loud rumble filled the air, before it sounded as if the sky itself was falling as lightning tore through the air in a seemingly endless storm that rained down death upon the masses of the Miao family. Even as she controlled the storm using the magic taught to her by Rosswiese, a revolutionary combination of the magic used in Tortus and in Rossweise''s home world, Francesca''s thoughts turned towards her master and she wondered if he''d be proud of her actions. She then started thinking of the various ways he''d possibly reward her and the different positions they''d try, from doing this to doing that, and maybe even a bit of THAT stuff too. Francesca''s face then started turning as red as her hair despite her dark skin tone, and she let out a cute maidenly "kyaa!" that didn''t fit the current atmosphere, wether it be the masses of people being attacked by her high tier lightning spells, or the fact that she was imagining the various ways she wanted Alex to roughly f.u.c.k her later. Grayfia''s brow twitched as she saw Francesca''s actions, as if she could read what was going through the horny princess''s mind, and she added a note to her clipboard about addressing the demon girl''s tendency to daydream during battle. She then looked towards her newest recruits, Ishigami and Mako, who were carving their own path of destruction through the Miao family estate despite having less training than the other girls. It wasn''t just the two of them however, as Mako had used her needle/whiplike fingers to turn several members of the Miao family into her puppets, while any of them that had gotten too close to Ishigami were bitten by her snakelike dreadlocks, and turned to stone. As the duo seemed to casually make their way through the estate, Mako couldn''t help but remark, "it might not be so bad being a maid if we get to rampage like this occasionally." Ishigami however didn''t seem to register her comrades words, as she instead climbed to the roof of a nearby building to take in the scenery and spread her arms wide, before declaring, "THIS, THIS IS TRUE ART! Is there anything purer than raw destruction? Is there anything more beautiful and primal?" Mako shook her head as she heard Ishigami''s declarations, while Grayfia made a couple notes about the twos progress before turning her attention to the solitary petite girl that entered a particularly large courtyard, only to find a small army of soldiers and even monsters waiting for her there. Eri looked around and was surprised to find minotaurs, large Cobras, insects, lizards, and several other monsters glaring at her along with some more human looking opponents, before muttering to herself, "I think I saw a hentai like this one time..." At her words there was a massive round of facepalms from Grayfia and the apostles, and even Alex and those watching the attack with him, while even some of her opponents were facepalming and felt a little awkward being there now. One man ignored it and stepped forward before declaring, "You''re severely outnumbered, give up!" As she heard his declaration, Eri sneered even as several more monsters closed in behind her as if to box her in, before she taunted with an insane smile, "I don''t how I''m outnumbered though?" Before he man to respond to her taunt, his eyes shot open from shock as monster after monster started appearing around Eri from seemingly nowhere, and each and every single one being something he had never seen before. The most menacing one however was a massive hydra with each head being a different color, that then proceeded to allow Eri to climb on top of one of its heads before she turned back towards man and taunted further, "You were saying?" As the man and his comrades stared dumbfoundedly at the army that had literally appeared from nowhere, Eri continued with a sneer, "You should never assume a necromancer is alone you know~tee hee." It was then that they noticed that, despite the lack of blood and various injuries, each of the monsters had glossy whitish eyes while a smell similar to that of old corpses permeated through the air. Eri giggled mischievously from atop her seat on the hydra''s head, as she debated which of her army of monsters to also call out. Ever since the time when everyone in her class returned home from Tortus, Eri had been given the corpses of any monsters that had been killed in the labyrinths, or Tortus itself, before they had Regeneration magic used on them to restore their bodies to pristine condition. She herself had even been allowed to challenge some of the labyrinths as acknowledgement of her loyalty, allowing her to acquire Regeneration and Spirit magic to improve her necromancy further. She had then even been allowed to take one of the floating islands for herself to work on her corpses in private, which she promptly turned into a large cemetery with a mausoleum in the center where she kept her workshop. With thousands of monster corpses having been delivered to her, and a Spatial storage ring to store them in, Eri had quite literally become a one woman army that was limited only by the amount of corpses she could control, a number that only increased due to her tireless efforts. As the insane girl started her rampage, Grayfia frowned slightly as Eri''s monsters started toying with those they were fighting with for several minutes, before finally killing them. She then shook her head while also making a note stating that Eri needed to work on her self control and her sadistic tendencies as, even if he didn''t mind necromancy, Grayfia knew Alex wouldn''t care for Eri tormenting all of those she fought simply for her own amus.e.m.e.nt; even if he himself would occasionally get overly sadistic and torture his opponents, Alex only did so when they had pissed him off too much or to make a point, not for fun. As she took her gaze off of Eri, someone else was focusing onto her through the lens of their scope as they aimed their rifle at her head, intending to take out the entire undead army of monsters out with a single shot. Before he could though, something came flying seemingly out of nowhere and imbedded itself into the back of his head, throwing his consciousness into darkness almost instantly while his killer, an elven beauty, aimed her bow into the next person as she continued sniping them one after another. As the arrows flew across the battlefield and found their targets, Altina couldn''t help the smile on her face as she felt like jumping for joy at the fact that she was finally useful. Like every other ''demihuman'' that had lived in Tortus before her, Altina was unable to use magic and was ostracized for it along with the rest of her people, until Alex came along and gave her the chance she never thought possible. Using Spirit magic, Alex and Kuroka had reworked the channels of energy within her body until she was able to use a similar form of magic as Shia, which was physical reinforcement. Rather than reinforce her body to increase her raw strength and other physical capabilities though, Altina instead increased her senses and awareness while also slightly increasing her reflexes, allowing her to see farther and to be more aware of her surroundings. With her newfound capabilities Alex''s first action had been to put a bow in her hands, something that had confused her at first until she tested it out. Obviously she wasn''t too skilled of an archer at first as a beginner, however she sunk hours upon hours into her training whenever she had free time, even going so far as to stay within the space-time orb for weeks in real time to up how much she was able to train. Then, before anyone knew it, she was sinking arrow after arrow into the bullseye of every target she had, before splitting those arrows with yet another one before splitting even those. When she finally moved onto training against actual targets, the monsters that now called the various other space-time orbs home, Altina was give her first real weapon, a metallic bow with a matching quiver, and arrows that automatically returned to the quiver sixty seconds after they were shot by the bow. Though this might seem like a relatively plain set up for one of Grayfia''s combat maids, there were also plans to add a variety of arrows with various magic formations on them in order to give Altina more variety in her ammunition, as well as more fire power, while Hajime was also making other various plans as side projects. As she thought about her potential for the future, Altina couldn''t help but want to jump with joy at the thought of being useful to her master, making her also brush the collar that adorned her neck lovingly. Despite Alex''s intentions to keep Altina from developing similar interests as her original self, her duties as a maid started her gradual descent into discovering her massive M tendencies, leading to Alex eventually officially referring to her as one of his s.e.x slaves while also giving her a collar. Unlike Akeno''s, which was made of black leather and had a tag with a lightning bolt emblem, Altina''s was made of green vines and had a tag with the emblem of a leaf on it; while Tio didn''t have a collar as to her the slave brand was more than enough, especially since neither Akeno or Altina could have one as well due to their ''real'' masters being Rias and Grayfia respectively. The silver haired maid in question couldn''t help but twitch her brows when she saw Altina squirming similarly to Francesca, before her hands even started creeping towards her rear, and the plug that was currently lodged in her rectum. With a deadpan look on her face, Grayfia used her communicator to tell the perverted elven Princess, "Altina, you do realize that there are several people watching you, right?" As if a bolt of lightning ran through her, the elf practically jumped as Grayfia''s words shocked her out of her reverie before she embarrassedly aimed wth her bow once again, except now she couldn''t help but imagine her master ''punishing'' her as a crowd of people watched. With the new fantasies obviously effecting her aim, Grayfia shook her head in exasperation as she made a note on her clipboard regarding Altina''s future training. She then turned her attention towards the final maid that was taking part of, and somewhat leading, the attack, Venri. The mature dragon maid tore her way though the estate with ease as she used her people''s specialty of fire and wind attribute magics, until she was finally in the courtyard directly under the tower that their target was within, except she now had at least a hundred of the Miao family soldiers surrounding her with various weapons, from regular firearms to even rocket launchers and grenades, and even some that had turned into their true form. "Give it up, even if you''re resistant to regular firearms you can''t possibly withstand so many combined with explosive weapons!" As she looked at all of those surrounding her, Venri couldn''t help but smile disarmingly before saying, "If you do not wish this fight, then bring your young master down here so that I can escort him back to my master as he wishes." At this the many members of the Miao family started shouting obscenities at her while others were praising their young master and talking smack about Alex, stating that he was a coward who hid behind the skirts of women while they did his fighting for him. When she heard that Venri''s smile slowly faded before it turned into a scowl, making the one who spoke previously pale as he suddenly shouted, "FIRE NOW!!!" Though they had been shouting and cursing at her just seconds before, none of the Miao family soldiers missed a beat as they immediately started firing their weapons while those who had changed to their true form waited for the chance to attack as well. They weren''t the only ones ready to move however, the moment she heard the man say ''fire'' a forest green cloud of smoke appeared and wrapped around Venri before it rapidly expanded even as it suffered a hailstorm of bullets, rockets, and grenades. Before they could even run out their current clip of ammunition, a dark green tail escaped the smoke and lashed out at the group of soldiers behind her, taking out an entire squad while simultaneously destroying part of the building that they had been trying to use as a shelter. Though the rest of their comrades would normally have been furious at their death, they were instead focused on the full body of the being before them as the smoke cleared, and revealed a furious dark green dragon that glared down at them with murderous intentions. "BRING IT DO-" Even before he could finish his orders, the man that had spoken with Venri suddenly found himself at the business end of her tail before he was unceremoniously sent flying like a baseball. As Venri then ran her eyes across the gathering of soldiers, she released a mighty roar that signaled their end as, despite their best efforts, she one sidedly slaughtered the helpless men using her tail, claws, teeth, and fire breath, while the man who had started the insults regarding Alex found himself staring at a row of razor sharp and blood red teeth. Naturally the men didn''t take Venri''s assault one sidedly, as they used their firearms, explosive ammunition, and even called upon a tank to help take down the rampaging dragon; however even their armor piercing rounds and explosive ammo, as well as the claws, teeth, and strength of those who were using their true form, were unable to even scuff Venri''s flawless and resilient green scales. At the top of the eastern style tower above the rampaging dragon, Xia-Long stared down at the carnage and destruction below him while his hands gripped the sill of the window tightly, his knuckles whitening under the force of his grip. Even though part of him was feeling enraged at the wonton destruction of his family''s ancestral home and men, a much larger part of him only felt resignation and defeat as he came to the conclusion that there was no choice but destruction for the Miao family. If Xia-Long had just ignored the appearance of the impossibly powerful person at the Huang family estate, then there was a great chance his fathers killer would return and serve punishment to him for not acting against a potential threat. On the other hand, by acting he had effectively sentenced the Miao family to its death, and had handed complete control of China''s underground to the Huang family. As this thought went through his head Xia-Long recalled the time he met the next head of the Huang family, a bratty boy who was unable to properly use even the most basic spells of Youjutsu, a small smile spread on his lips as he muttered, "May you be a better leader than I ever was..." Even though he had mocked such a boy and called him worthless, Xia-Long had realized he was the truly worthless leader as he was nothing more than a figurehead. As this though went through his head, Xia-Long noticed several figures making their way towards the tower as they left the evidence of their battles behind them. The dragon below him on the other hand turned its gaze upwards and stared at him, before it placed a claw on the base of the tower and started to slowly climb up it towards him; while the giant hydra, that was remodeling the landscape with various elemental spells that shouldn''t possibly exist, suddenly disappeared and was instead replaced with an impossibly giant bird that created severe gusts as it flapped its wings. With several of the intruders entering the tower, a dragon climbing up it, and a monstrous bird circling him, Xia-Long decided that if he was going to go out then he''d do so fighting, and grabbed his top hat and cane. As he tapped the butt of the cane against the floor, Xia-Long cried out, "Answer my call and aid me, Guns and Roses!" With a flash of brilliant light, several thorny vines suddenly appeared on the ceiling of the room below him, and started spreading out as they moved towards the windows and creeped down the tower. As Venri climbed the tower she found herself being able to perfectly see into one of the windows, where a giant rose was waiting for her. Before she could register what it was, the rose suddenly opened up to reveal a mini gun hiding within its petals, that then aimed at her head and started firing at her, causing the dragon to groan as she closed her eyes against the annoying stinging that assaulted her face. Meanwhile Mako and Ishigami were forced to jump out of one of the windows, and Tracy and Francesca were both forced to hide behind the formers anime style sword from the hailstorm of bullets. Even Eri was being targeted, as the giant roc that carried her was suddenly assaulted by the storm of bullets from within one of the towers windows, however all they did was annoy her as one of her toys was suddenly filled with holes that she''d have to fix later. Xia-Long had a grim look on his face as, while some of them held his attackers at bay, the rest of his Guns and Roses aimed at the walls of the tower itself with the intention of weakening them so that the tower fell down on top of them all. He then raised his staff once more to try and summon another creature to help his Guns and Roses, but, as the skull-shaped jewel atop it started to glow, an arrow came out of nowhere and hit it, shattering the jewel and canceling both the summon he was attempting as well as returning the Guns and Roses. Xia-Long stared at the tip of his cane with dumbfoundment before a smile of self mockery formed on his lips, as he was now unable to even attempt to even take his attackers wth him to his grave. As he sat back into the chair at his desk in defeat, the tower started shuddering again as Venri continued her climb before eventually reaching the top floor, her large emerald eyes staring at him through the window before Tracy and Francesca arrived, with a soakin wet Ishigami and Mako following behind them from the pond they jumped in. With them surrounding him and Eri circling his tower, while there was also the sounds of a battle nearby as Nyx singlehandedly held back the late arrivals to the Miao family''s cry for assistance, Xia-Long muttered with a self deprecating tone, "I guess this is checkmate, huh?" Instead of answering him though, the maids simply cleared some space before a magic circle appeared, and a beautiful mature woman appeared with long silver hair that was tied back into several braids. She then stared at Xia-Long expressionlessly before saying, "Calling it ''checkmate'' implies you had a chance for victory to begin with, your defeat was inevitable with the only variation being the method my lord used to ensure it. You''re lucky he decided to test out our combat maids capabilities, as otherwise you would have never even known how you died if he decided to come himself, and there would most likely be a simple crater left where the Miao family used to be." Xia-Long paled when he heard her claims as, as impossible as they sounded, after the display the maids showed and the surge of power he had felt earlier, he had no problems believing such a powerful being existed. Instead he focused on one specific thing, and asked, "So why am I alive?" As he stared at the maid as if looking for an answer written on her face, Grayfia simply blinked before saying, "My lord simply wishes to speak with you personally, and so we will now escort you there ourselves." As she finished speaking Grayfia activated a magic circle that teleported them all away before Xia-Long even had time to blink, taking everyone in the room and even Venri while Nyx teleported away with Altina and Eri; and the former apostles then activated the massive magic circle she left behind, causing time to essentially rewind throughout the Miao family estate as pieces of buildings and people alike started moving as if in reverse before being repaired seamlessly. *** Before he knew it, Xia-Long suddenly found himself in the middle of the Huang family stronghold staring up at a figure that radiated and aura of power and authority that was paired well with the layers of muscle that covered his body, even with his insane hairstyle. Behind the glowering figure was the entirety of the Huang family, Fei-Hong, Ten-Ten, Ling-Ling, Fang-Fang, and even Touhou Fuhai; as Xia-Long''s gaze met his rival''s, Fang-Fang''s, he looked away quickly from shame at going against their childhood promise to maintain peace between their families. Though there was several other people gathered in the room with them, Xia-Long didn''t get a chance to examine all of them before the man before him spoke. "Tell me head of the Miao family, do you know who I am?" Xia-Long looked him in the eye for a few seconds, before shaking his head and answering, "No, all I knew was that you were powerful, and that you appeared to be allied with the Huang family." The man nodded before stating, "My name is Alex, and I am officially referred to as the Dragon Emperor. Now the assassins you sent after me, was their target me alone or anyone associated with me?" Xia-Long hesitated for a second as he tried to contemplate if this was a trick question, but since he assumed he''d be dying soon anyways he stated, "I never gave specific instructions on who else to eliminate, only the one who released the torrent of power earlier and those directly associated with them if they''d be a problem." Alex nodded before asking him one final question, "And did you not think that I would be able to repel your assassins and retaliate?" Xia-Long released a long sigh at this question, and said with a tired tone, "I had no choice in the matter, it was either move to attack the powerful being that was potentially allied with the Huang family, or ignore it and risk suffering the wrath of the true leader of the Miao family." Though the Huang family looked confused at the second half of Xia-Long''s statement, Alex nodded and stated, "The Masked King, right?" Xia-Long started to nod in agreement before he suddenly caught himself, and slowly looked up towards Alex with a slightly pale expression on his face, more so than when he was pondering what Alex might do to him. Seeing his reaction, Alex smirked and stated, "Oh yes, I know all about him. If I hadn''t known that you weren''t the true leader of the Miao family I wouldn''t have bothered having you brought to me, instead I would have simply destroyed the entire Miao estate and you with it for the crime of potentially endangering my daughters. No, I had you brought here because I intend to give you a single chance to prove to me that I shouldn''t just remove you now." Though he had heard everything Alex had said, Xia-Long''s mind had blanked when he heard that Alex knew about the man who referred to himself as the Masked King, and it was only worse when he heard the last part of Alex''s statement, that he didn''t yet intend to kill him. As his mind raced with this new information, and the Huang family''s gazes sharpened when they heard there was someone so dangerous moving in the background, Xia-Long couldn''t help but hesitantly ask, "If you know about him then you must know how dangerous he is, can you really do anything against him?" Though Alex hadn''t said anything about going against the Masked King, Xia-Long couldn''t hep but assume that he intended to fight against the mysterious founder of the Miao family. Alex however frowned at Xia-Long''s question, not from him assuming that he''d fight against the Masked King, but from how he doubted Alex''s chances of fighting against him. Instead of answering right away, Alex gestured for Venri to bring someone forward from their captives, a shady looking man who declared the moment he saw Xia-Long, "Young master! Don''t listen to anything these demons say! No matter what they offer, remember your pride as the leader of the Miao family!" As he saw one of his chief advisers however, Xia-Long muttered confusedly, "Shin-Wu?" Before he could ask what was going on, Alex turned towards the newcomer and demanded, "Tell me, who do you serve?" The man, Shin-Wu, looked confused for a moment before stating clearly, "I serve only the Miao family and the young master! I don''t know what tricks you''re trying to pull demon, but it''ll never work!" Alex snorted and looked as if he was about to say something else, but instead his hand shot forward and seized the man around his face before he started gripping it tightly, making the man groan before he started to scream from having his head crushed. "W-wait, what are you doing to Shin-Wu?!" Xia-Long demanded, his first thought being that Alex was doing a similar demonstration as the Masked King when he presented him with his fathers folded up corpse. "Dragon Emperor, is this really necessary?!" Touhou Fuhai cried out, as he himself felt slightly revolted from the scene playing out as Alex slowly crushed the mans head, especially as he even started bleeding from every one of the orifices in his face. Alex however ignored both of them and continued to crush the mans skull despite their protests and the mans screaming, until eventually there was a sickening pop as blood, bone, and grey matter exploded in front of Alex, with some of it even landing on Xia-long. With the mans screaming having come to an end, Alex turned towards Xia-Long and asked, "So, did the Masked King promise some kind of gruesome death to gain your submission?" Xia-long could only nod slowly as he stared at the pulpy mess that belonged to one of the people he had known for his whole life, to which Alex nodded before continuing, "I could say the same thing, that you''ll suffer a long time before finally dying, but I don''t think of death as a punishment, it''s a release." To prove his point, Alex created a magic circle above the man, making everyone think he was going to do something to his corpse, but what actually happened only stupefied them further. As if he had hit rewind on a recording, the bone, flesh, and brain matter started moving back towards the headless corpse before it started to rejoin itself and form a whole head once again, until after nearly a minute Shin-Wu was sitting there as if nothing happened, the only indicator that he had just died being his unnaturally pale expression. As everyone that wasn''t part of his entourage looked at the revived man with stupefied expressions, Alex said, "As I said, death is a release from the torment that others would inflict on you. The Masked King could only promise death? I could promise an eternity of suffering that would make the tale of Prometheus look tame in comparison. Now tell me former adviser of the Miao family, who is it you serve?" Realizing Alex was now talking to him, Shin-Wu paled even further as he vividly recalled the experience of having his head crushed until it exploded, and the feeling of weightlessness afterwards as his soul had tried to pass on, before it was cruelly yanked back into the world of the living. His earlier bravado completely gone, he could only look down as he shakily answered, "I-I serve the one true leader of the Miao family, the Masked King. I was the one who informed him of the previous heads decision to make peace with our long time rivals of the Huang family despite his intentions for war, and I tried to inform him of the attack at the Miao family estate before I was captured." Xia-Long was dumbfounded when he learned that someone who he had trusted his entire life had betrayed himself and his father, leading to his fathers gruesome death. Alex on the other hand nodded, as he had already heard from Grayfia that the way they discovered Shin-Wu was him trying to send out a message to the Masked King after they had already placed a magical net to prevent such things. He then stepped forward and lightly grabbed the mans chin, before saying, "For your honesty, I will make it painless and will allow you to stay dead." There was a look of relief on Shin-Wu''s face that he wouldn''t have to face the same pain as he had before, before Alex suddenly twisted his hand and snapped his neck, leaving the look of relief on his face even as Alex set the body alight to turn it to ash. Alex then turned back towards Xia-Long, who was still staring at the pile of ash as he tried to process everything that was happening, before saying, "In the world I came from we were Devils that hailed from the underworld, who would go forth and form contracts with people to grant wishes in exchange for payment from our contractors. Now tell me Xia-Long, do you still doubt my capabilities compared to the Masked King, and would you like to make a contract?" As Xia-Long''s gaze turned back towards him Alex could tell that the resignation that had been present earlier had disappeared, and was instead replaced by fear, and a drive for revenge. He didn''t harbor any delusions that he''d get the better end of whatever deal Alex was suggesting, but as long as he avenged his father and was able to rebuild the Miao family then he''d be satisfied. "Ensure the Masked King dies, and I''ll swear to devote my life and the entirety of the remaining assets of the Miao family to you, as well as our power once I have the chance to rebuild!" A smile tugged at the corners of Alex mouth at the offer, but there was one problem as he had Grayfia project a live image of the Miao family estate while asking, "What needs to be rebuilt exactly?" (A.N. Regarding the long time between chapters, there has been a lot going on in my personal life, and I have also been even busier with work since whenever someone either catches covid or might have it, their work gets pushed onto the rest of us while they''re sent home for two weeks. Once again thank you for the understanding) Chapter 309 - Reward "AHN AHN!" "HARDER!" "There, RIGHT THERE!" "OH YEEEEEES!" If someone had walked into Alex''s room within the villa at that moment, all they would have seen is the very picture of debauchery and indulgence as he, and his small army of maids, writhed in ecstasy and pleasure. After Xia-Long signed a contract with Alex swearing the allegiance of the Miao family towards him, the former had returned to his estate to inform his people of the new state of things and to set the new alliance with the Huang family in motion, which had been agreed between him and the next head of the Huang family, Fang-Fang. What Alex hadn''t expected was that, after a few flowery words from the feminine appearing Fang-Fang, Xia-Long had an awkward look on his face while Fang-Fang seemed to have a slight blush to his cheeks, an interaction that only made him think, ''As expected from the gay faction of Tskune''s harem.'' After that they had finally gotten some rest for the short remainder of the night, before having a relatively uneventful next day considering the events of the day and night before. When the sun had set once again, Alex and the others retired back to Asora as usual before entering the space-time orb, where he gave the combat maids the chance to ask for a reward for their performance the day before. Naturally, Altina, Francesca, Tracy, Venri, and the former apostles all requested to spend the night with him, a reward Alex felt was somewhat lacking since he always made sure not to leave his women alone for too long; while Eri seemed like the only one truly being rewarded since she requested the same thing, which led to Alex finally taking her v.i.r.g.i.nity since he couldn''t really think of a good argument not to, she was however one of his only girls on some kind of birth control. As for Ishigami and Mako, the duo requested their freedom, which was promptly denied, before they were ultimately dragged into the room along with the rest of the girls and were forcibly stripped to join in on the fun. Ishigami hadn''t been too interested until she saw the exceptionally beautiful girls getting n.a.k.e.d and playing with each other, leading to a few drops of blood to escape her nose before trying to say her usual lines about art, until Tracy effectively shut her up by shoving the woman''s face into her crotch to eat her out instead. Mako however had been hesitant about joining in until the group of apostles attacked her with all of the knowledge they had acc.u.mulated up until this point regarding pleasing a woman, leading to the most pleasurable experience she had ever had until her master had decided it was her turn to be with him, leaving her sprawled out on the bed with her face stuck with a perfect ahegao expression once he was through with her. As he moved on to f.u.c.k.i.n.g Francesca as roughly as possible due to her own request, Alex couldn''t help but glance over to the side where a certain trio were gathered, Akeno, who was dressed in her bondage gear with a cart of various instruments nearby, Altina, who was strung up from the ceiling with her legs spread in a perfect M shape, and the newest edition to the combat maids who was strung up in a similar way, Routier. Other than the fact that she had basically been stripped n.a.k.e.d during her fight with Kuroka, more than likely due to the influence of his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill, Alex hadn''t shown any interest in the super sadistic oni that might have led to her joining them. Instead she had surprisingly requested it when Xia-Long tried to take his assassins back to the Miao family estate with him, as she had apparently become infatuated with the way he had tortured and killed Shun-Wu, before reviving him once again only to kill him a second time. This had surprised Alex since in the original series it had strongly indicated her and Xia-Long meaning more to each other than master and subordinate, however, with it still being more than a year before their original introduction, Alex figured they simply hadn''t gotten to that point in their relationship yet. Though he was originally going to refuse, Grayfia had surprisingly agreed with the condition she join the combat maids. Though she had explained to Alex that the combat maids could use the extra hands, her real reasoning was that they could also use someone who wouldn''t hesitate to get their hands dirty, though she would need to be taught to not be excessive in her actions. And so, the petite oni found herself also within Alex''s room as he was rewarding the maids, except she was being ''trained'' by Akeno instead of participating in the fun. "Ufufufu, how does this feel?" Akeno asked with her usual sadistic gleam in her eyes, before the crack of a whip sounded amongst the m.o.a.ns and sighs that sounded within the room, making Routier cry out lightly with pain as the whip struck on the inside of her thigh near her special place, however the fluids smearing her thighs indicated she was feeling better than she let on as she shouted, "Haa, haa, you think this is pain? Let me out of these restraints and I''ll show you pain! Haa, haa." Akeno frowned when she heard that, as she had admittedly been going easy on the petite woman, leading to her putting the whip back onto the cart as she contemplated what to use next. Her eyes immediately landed onto her strap-on, but since Routier said she was ''pure'' she instantly dismissed it since their master would be the one to take anyone''s purity, no matter which hole it was. After several minutes of thinking a sadistic smile appeared on her face as she decided to take another approach, and instead picked up a strip of cloth. "Let''s try this then, ufufufufu." Akeno said as she wrapped the cloth around Routier''s eyes to blindfold her, before grabbing a ball gag and placing it into her mouth before latching the strap behind her head. With the little oni now blinded and gagged, Akeno chuckled before she picked up something else from the cart that made Altina''s eyes go wide, even as she fought the pleasure the toys within her were giving her while she patiently waited for her turn. Unable to see or comment on what Akeno was doing, Routier could only wheeze through the gag as she tried to listen for some kind of indication of what was about to happen, before she felt something just barely touch her right n.i.p.p.l.e. Her entire body tensed in response to the touch, however, instead of the pain she was expecting, she instead only felt a sensual ticklish sensation as Akeno used a feather to play with the tip of her n.i.p.p.l.e before swirling it around her diminutive b.r.e.a.s.ts. "Phiiii, phiiii!" Even though what she was feeling wasn''t ''pain'', and she was unable to speak, it was obvious Routier was feeling some form of torment from Akeno''s actions as the sounds from the ball gag were becoming rougher and louder, and her skin became more flushed. As Akeno traveled further down with the feather, making it dance across Routier''s belly, the little oni struggled against her restraints to no avail, despite her usually impressive strength, as the desperate need to settle the sensations she was feeling grew. "Ara ara..." Akeno mused as she watched Routier struggle from when she put the tip of the feather into her belly button, before bringing it down further slowly and teasingly. By this point Routier was desperately seeking a release from the growing tensions in her body, and could almost feel a certain amount of relief with where Akeno was going with the feather, until the sadistic woman stopped right before she reached the eagerly dripping slit, and instead took the feather to the right and down Routier''s inner thigh. Seeing the dissatisfaction and frustration her partner felt, Akeno''s smile widened as she mused, "Ara ara, you didn''t think I would let you climax that easily, did you?" Even as she paused as if to let Routier respond, all Akeno heard was the usual high pitched ''phiiii, phiiii!'' She chuckled seductively at this and said, "no no, we can''t have that, you''ll need my permission before you can climax." She then proceeded to teasingly and torturously trace the feather around Routier''s thighs and abdomen for several minutes, keeping her on the cusp but never letting her pleasure peak. After what felt to Routier like an eternity, but wasn''t even ten minutes, she started m.o.a.ning through her gag as if she were trying to say something, making Akeno ponder wether or not to remove it before ultimately deciding to see what she wanted. The second the gag popped out of her mouth Routier pleaded, "Please, make it end!" Akeno smirked somewhat victoriously before she asked with a teasing tone, "Make it end....?" Realize what Akeno wanted her to say, Routier gritted her teeth since she knew there would be no going back from this, but as the feather just barely traced across her sensitive mound she suppressed the urge to cry out as she was once again pushed to the very edge, but was refused the chance to climax once more. With no other choice she cried out, "PLEASE MAKE IT END, MISTRESS!" Smirking in satisfaction, Akeno unhesitatingly placed a couple fingers from her empty hand against Routier''s mound before running very small amounts of electricity through her fingers, pushing the little oni over the edge as a flood of fluids soaked her hand. As a sense of relief appeared on Routier''s face, Akeno removed the blindfold before leaning in close while tracing her fingers around the little oni''s precious place teasingly, before even tracing them back to her rectum while saying, "Just remember Routier, I may be your mistress, but someone else is our master. every bit of you, no matter how ''private'' or ''special'', belongs to him. That is what you asked for." As she came down from her high, Routier couldn''t help but nod in acceptance of what Akeno said even though that wasn''t at all what she intended when she requested to follow Alex. Her only goal had been to possibly torture people for him, as someone in a similar position as Alex was bound to have prisoners or enemies that needed tortured, and to possibly learn his way of bringing people back to life so that she could kill and cut them up however she wanted and just bring them back to do it all over again. She didn''t think anything of it when the woman called Grayfia then scouted her into the position of the combat maids, as it appeared they would see their share of battles in the future, or when Grayfia then mentioned that relationsh.i.p.s with anyone besides her master were forbidden, as a preventive measure to keep any of the maids from having outside loyalties. Routier''s first thought when she had been told this was that of herself in Akeno''s position as she repeatedly cut up the man who was now her master, before he used their peculiar magic to heal himself and they''d start all over. She never imagined that she''d be stripped completely n.a.k.e.d and strung up within his personal bedroom while he was in the middle of an orgy, only to be the one ''tortured'' and ''trained'' instead while he occasionally watched. Never in her almost twenty years had she been so thoroughly humiliated and oppressed, something that went against every fiber of her being as an oni, however she also couldn''t deny that she had also just experienced one of the largest climaxes she ever had. She couldn''t help but feel a sense of relief though when Akeno left her to start her work on Altina, starting with grabbing a different whip than before that channeled her lightning magic down it to increase the pain it''s victims felt. *** As the day stretched on within the space-time orb, a certain figure was within her new home on a floating island that had recently joined the several that surrounded the villa, or floated out away from it in solitude. This particular island had incredibly dense forests of bamboo bordering the edges before they gave way to forests of trees with yellow or red leaves, giving it the look of a perpetual autumn as the leaves fell and flew through the air. Toward the interior of the island was a mountain that had a small single story house at its base built in a traditional Japanese style, with ponds and cherry blossom trees surrounding it, before giving way to a small courtyard where one could find many traditional items used in training ones swordsmanship. Away from the house was a a small lake, and on the other side of it was a ring used for sparing that was crowned by a giant tree with red leaves, where the sole inhabitant of the island was currently in deep meditation. Shizuku breathed in deeply before releasing her breath after several seconds as she once again tried to clear her mind, a process that had been getting harder to do with the growing number of people around the villa before she finally broke and requested an island of her own. This time however the issue with her meditation wasn''t due to people, but image of a person''s blood covering her hands as she silently cut their throat in the darkness. Though it wasn''t enough to be considered a trauma, Shizuku was still having a bit of a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she had killed people in cold blood, even though they had been revived later. Even when she had fought or killed before it had always been during battle when it was kill or be killed, however what she had done the night before was purely murder, even if the other party were assassins. Shizuku tried once more to push the thoughts away as she tried to instead focus on her training, which was currently meditating on the ways of the sword. She had heard through her times of reading manga and watching anime with Kaori of possible paths to take with the sword, and of people growing to the point that they did not even need a sword to fight, instead channeling what was considered ''sword intent'' through other objects or even their own bodies. Naturally Shizuku knew there was a difference between amine and real life, however, with everything that had been happening recently a small voice within her mind couldn''t help but ask if it was possible, leading to her long periods of meditation as she tried to become one with her sword. As she took in and released deep breath after breath while trying to clear her mind, Shizuku''s mind eventually turned completely blank with the sole exception of a single object, her precious katana. As she stared at it within her mind, Shizuku imagined unsheathing it and took in the beautiful blade in its entirety, from its flawless black blade to the comfortable grip, and even the mark that was etched in the base of the blade to indicate it''s maker, Alex. Though a rush of warmth filled her as she recalled when she first received her first gift from him, Shizuku immediately smothered it as she tried to keep her mind focused solely on the blade. After a few more minutes of trying to clear her mind yet again, Shizuku released another deep breath that she had taken in as she turned her every thought towards becoming one with her blade. Eventually her focus on her blade felt more and more natural as the minutes slowly ticked by, until she felt as if her own body was as sharp as the cruel black metal. Even when she received a sudden notification Shizuku didn''t break the trance she had finally achieved for several minutes until she suddenly opened her eyes right as a red leaf floated by roughly a foot in front of her face, and after an illusionary gleam passed through her eyes the leaf was suddenly bisected into two. As the two halves of the leaf floated slowly to the ground, a new voice suddenly said, "Impressive, I await the day I see it used in battle." Shizuku''s momentary feeling of pride turned to mild alarm as she turned suddenly towards the speaker, before letting out a sigh of relief as she saw Grayfia standing there silently. After steadying her breathing once more, Shizuku asked, "What are you doing here?" Though she didn''t mind company, Grayfia was someone who usually put her duties before everything except her son, so Shizuku couldn''t help but wonder what brought the silver haired maid there. Grayfia shrugged and casually said, "We didn''t know if you were coming to dinner or not, so I came to check up on you and saw you meditating. Instead of disturbing you I decided to wait and enjoy the scenery." It was then that Shizuku noticed the oranges and reds that colored the sky, indicating that her meditation and training had gone on for far longer than she thought; before that realization was suddenly reinforced by her stomach suddenly demanding food so loudly that Grayfia could hear it. While her face turned red and she turned away embarrassedly, Grayfia chuckled lightly before stepping forward and pulling out a couple mats and some food for them. After laying everything out in the middle of the training ring, Shizuku muttered her thanks and sat on one of the mats before taking some of the offered food while Grayfia sat herself down on the other mat. She then waited in silence while Shizuku quickly ate a few bites of food, before asking, "Are you alright?" After finishing her current bite of food Shizuku looked at the maid curiously, before Grayfia elaborated, "After dealing with those assassins you seemed a little shaken, so I was wondering if you were alright." When she heard what Grayfia wanted to know, Shizuku''s expression paled a little bit as she stared down at her food, before stating, "It was just too different, killing in cold blood instead of in the middle of battle..." Even before she had met Alex, Shizuku had resolved herself to take a life, and had even fought people several times up until this point, but each time had been in the heat of battle with everyone fighting for their life. As she once again recalled the feeling of the warm blood on her hands after she had cut their throats, Shizuku turned towards Grayfia and asked, "How do you do it?" Grayfia sighed as she thought for a moment how to respond, as, while she wasn''t an assassin she had killed in cold blood before, before saying, "I was raised to do whatever was necessary for the house of Lucifer that we Lucifuge''s served, which also included fighting and killing on their behalf. I was also dragged into the nightmare that was war at a young age, and, heat of the battle or not, there was always an abundance of cruelty to be found on both sides of the conflict, no matter what. The only two pieces of advice I could give you is that it does get easier, and that while getting used to killing is not necessarily a bad thing, enjoying the act of taking lives is." Shizuku was silent as she took this in as, despite wanting to argue a few things the silver haired woman said, she knew Grayfia was a lot older than her and was more experienced in these matters than she. And so, Shizuku decided to trust the advice of Grayfia and muttered her thanks, before Grayfia added a second later, "It also helps to have a place to return to to remind you of why you fight, or a serene location that helps to calm your mind after the struggles of battle." As she spoke Grayfia immediately thought of her son Millicas, while Shizuku stared out ahead towards the lake and took in the scenery that she had built to resemble her homeland of Japan. As the two sat in silence for several moments and let their tensions ease away, a newcomer silently walked up behind them before kneeling down and wrapping his arms around Shizuku, bringing a smile to her lips as Alex''s voice softly whispered in her ear, "I was planning to come earlier but Grayfia beat me to the punch, I take it you''re feeling better?" Shizuku slowly nodded before she slowly leaned back into his chest to simply relax there while Alex wrapped his left arm around her, before using his right to pull Grayfia closer as the maid laid her head on his shoulder. Together the three of them simply relaxed in the serene atmosphere while slowly snacking on the food Grayfia had brought, before taking to the hot springs that were behind the house and then spending the night together peacefully. *** Meanwhile on her own island a certain black haired nekomata groaned as she waited for Alex''s promised reward. Due to all of the hard work she had been doing recently, Alex had told Kuroka that he''d dedicate an entire day within the space-time orb to her to pamper and spend time with her, however he was tending to other things first. Even though she knew he was with his other women at the moment instead, Kuroka didn''t mind as she would get Alex to herself for an entire day, and instead busied herself as she waited for his arrival. She then took her own meditative pose before she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and, using her mastery over space and time that she''d been training extensively whenever she had a chance, Kuroka opened her eyes to find herself instead within the top floor of the tower in the Miao family estate. As Xia-Long was going over several papers regarding the running of his family, he suddenly felt as though he was being watched and looked directly at the black and white cat sitting on his window sill. A shudder ran through him as he noticed the cats eyes were now golden instead of their usual green, meaning he was being watched by the representative of the dragon emperor. As part of the agreement of his service to Alex, Xia-Long had returned to his family estate with several cats that had been handpicked by Kuroka to keep an eye on the place, and him. They were all several times more intelligent than normal cats due to her using Spirit magic on them, and Kuroka was capable of seeing through their eyes whenever she wanted while they were also able to contact her using their thoughts if there was trouble, such as the Masked King trying to retaliate against Xia-Long for turning against him. After staring at the Miao family head long enough that he felt fairly uncomfortable, Kuroka then started making her rounds as she switched to every cat within the estate, before moving onto the ones that were at the Huang family estate as well. Finding nothing amiss, she then sent her consciousness back to her actual body where quite a bit of time had passed due to the time difference within the space-time orb, indicated but the now rising sun. When she opened her eyes a smile spread on Kuroka''s face as she saw Alex sitting across from her, waiting for her return. Noticing she was ''back'', Alex asked, "So how were things?" Kuroka smirked as she stood while answering, "Alright, but I don''t care about that right now~Nya!" Then, to punctuate her words, she dropped her kimono to reveal her n.a.k.e.d body to him before turning around and getting on her hands and knees while wiggling her butt invitingly, her four tails dancing around it enticingly. Alex smiled wryly as he stood and dropped his own pants, before lining himself up and plunging into Kuroka''s eagerly waiting insides as she wished. Chapter 310 - Back Home While Alex was relaxing and enjoying the company of his harem, in another world another person let out yet another sigh as they looked through yet more troubling doc.u.ments, while the recent meeting they just had replayed itself in his head. If Alex had seen the man it was doubtful that he would have recognized him due to his usually light green hair having acquired several lines of gray through it, while his complexion and shadowed eyes also told the story of the amount of stress he had been under. After reading through the doc.u.ment he had in his hands the man shook his head in exasperation, before glancing at the clock nearby and realizing it was time for the video conference he had painstakingly arranged earlier. He then put away the doc.u.ments and cleaned up his desk a bit before activating the nearby monitor, to see a familiar crimson haired man staring back at him along with a small group of people around him. The tired man smiled genuinely in what felt like a long time as he said, "It''s nice to see you again Sirzechs." In response to his greeting however the Crimson haired Maou frowned when he saw how his old friend looked, and demanded, "What''s going on Ajuka? I thought it was weird that you requested to talk with so many of us at once, but it looks like you''re suffering more there than we are." As if to punctuate his words there was a sudden roar in the background from their opponent, Trihexia, before a massive sounding explosion answered it. Not even bothering to look back at the explosion, Sirzechs along with his entourage, which included Azazel, Michael, Odin, and Zeus, stared pointedly at Ajuka as they waited to hear why he requested to talk with all of them at once. The tired Maou didn''t bother being around the bush before saying, "Then I''ll get right to it, Michael I wanted to let you know that there was attack on Heaven recently." The already somewhat tense atmosphere became even tenser as the usually calm archangel agitatedly demanded, "Who was it?!" In response Ajuka sighed once more before projecting an image of a young man with gray hair that went down to the middle of his back, before saying, "That''s the problem, other than this image we don''t know. He just managed to appear in Heaven a few days ago and caused severe mayhem before mysteriously disappearing, as of this moment we don''t know what his motives are or if someone was backing him." Michael''s expression darkened as he asked, "What about the other angels or Raphael? None of them managed to capture or repel him?!" In response to this Ajuka simply pulled up some of the footage that was recorded during the attack, that made the five viewers gobsmacked when they saw it. In one hand the mysterious intruder wielded fire, while in the other he wielded what appeared to a swirling vortex of water as he used both to fight and spread wanton destruction. Soon however the figure of Raphael appeared as he confronted the mysterious attacker, however the groups earlier surprise was nothing compared to what happened next. Summoning a spear of light so large that one would think that it could gouge out the earth and even create small canyons if it missed its mark, Raphael threw it at the mysterious attacker only for him to dispel the fire and water that coated both of his hands, and catch the massive spear suddenly. Thankfully it appeared that the attacker''s strength couldn''t contend with a seraph, as he was instantly thrown back with the spear as it plowed its way through the buildings of the city that the attacker had already destroyed, creating a long and wide trench that extended for several miles before taking the attacker out of the city and away from the device recording him. When he once again appeared on screen the attacker was covered with several injuries from the attack, but unnervingly he had a smile like a madman on his face while he continued holding onto the spear of light desperately. Then, to the disbelief of everyone watching, he then leaned forward and bit into the spear of light before ''chewing'' the raw light and swallowing it. This continued for a couple moments as even Raphael didn''t know what to do in this situation, before the man suddenly threw the remains of the spear at him, making the Angel dodge to the side instinctively right as the man appeared out of nowhere and suddenly punched him with a fist coated in light. The battle then began in earnest as the man shot around the seraph at the speed of light while wielding it in his right hand, and amazingly a black substance that appeared to be demonic power in his left. Eventually Ajuka stopped the recording and turned towards the silent group before saying, "The battle continued while Raphael seemed to start pressuring him, but when reinforcements arrived to help him the assailant let loose an intense flash of light and disappeared altogether. Currently the DXD is trying to chase him down and we have confirmed a few things about his powers, such as how he can apparently wield the elements of holy, demonic, fire, water, and wind, but everything else about him is unknown." The group was silent as they took in what Ajuka was telling them, before turning towards one person at once expectantly, making Azazel ask confusingly, "What?" Sirzechs sighed, as apparently everyone else besides Azazel reached a similar conclusion, and stated, "Does this person possess a new type of sacred gear or not?" Azazel snorted at the question and stated irritably, "If I had thought so then I would have mentioned it. Though it is entirely possible that it''s a new type or something I''ve never seen before, nothing he did indicates a usual style of sacred gear." To add to Azazel''s assessment Ajuka added, "When he fought him Tannin mentioned feeling as though the attacker possessed the energy of a dragon, does that help at all?" Azazel shook his head and answered, "Sorry, doesn''t ring any bells. If it is a sacred gear I would love the chance to be able to examine him though." Ajuka nodded while glancing at Odin and Zeus, neither of which were offering any input, concluding that the mysterious assailant wasn''t related to either mythology. He then started adjusting a few things on his keyboard, and said, "I understand, then perhaps you can give me your opinion on this, as an expert." Before Azazel could ask what Ajuka meant, the image of the assailant was suddenly replaced by a new one, causing all five of them to show a look of confusion, before they each developed very different reactions. Zeus, Odin and Michael were mostly shock, but Azazel and Sirzechs'' expressions quickly turned from shock to anger as they took in the image. On the screen was a person that was wearing a really familiar crimson red and white armor, while wielding two other familiar weapons, one being the True Longinus, and the other being the Regulus Nemea. Immediately Azazel demanded, "WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THIS AJUKA?!" The Maou merely shrugged however as he plainly stated, "As the world''s leading expert on sacred gears, I was hoping you''d be able to tell me. The person in this image appeared roughly a year ago right after Alex, Rias, Vali and the others disappeared; starting in Kuoh town, he also made appearances in various other areas such as the Gremory territories before going on the run after causing several uproars." As Sirzechs and Azazel tried to take in what Ajuka told them, Odin asked curiously while stroking his beard, "Is it possible that the Heavenly Dragons disappearance was related to him, and that he stole their sacred gears along with the True Longinus and the Regulus Nemea?" At his Question Ajuka immediately shook his head and answered, "We thought the same thing at first, however one of the first people to engage him in combat was Cao Cao, and he still has the True Longinus in his possession, plus Tannin also stated that he couldn''t feel either Ddraig or Albion''s presence within the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing. We can only speculate that he managed to obtain or create copies somehow, as you can imagine there have been several parties that were very interested in getting their hands on him once we became aware of this." As they heard this all five faces darkened as they imagined an entire army of Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing users, or worse, and entire army of wielders of the True Longinus, each capable of killing any gods in their path with ease. Sirzechs then immediately demanded with one of his rare furious tones, "Why are we only just now hearing about this if he''s been around for more than a year?" Ajuka sighed and was quiet for a moment, before responding, "Because there''s nothing you can do from there even if you knew, it would only add to your stress in an already stressful situation. In fact the only reason I''ve even brought it up to any of you is the sudden appearance to another irregular person, even though it''s been more than a month since the disappearance of the first one." They were all silent when they heard Ajuka''s reasoning, as he was actually correct in his logic, until Odin spoke up once more, "Do we at least know what this one was after?" At this question Ajuka''s expression turned awkward as he glanced at Sirzechs cautiously, making the Crimson haired man worry before he finally stated, "All we were able to determine about his intentions was that he was after Rias, and intended to claim her after he defeated the ''fake'' Red Dragon Emperor. It was all he''d rant and rave about whenever someone tried to fight him, he''d just demand to have the ''fake'' come challenge him if he was a true man, despite the fact that he is currently missing." When he heard that this particular assailant was after his beloved little sister, Sirzechs'' expression darkened as a dark red aura started radiating off of his body, before Azazel smacked him in the back of the head while stating with an expression of amazement, "Behave would you? This wouldn''t be the first time a creep''s set his eyes on your little sister, and we all remember how the last ended up. Just hope that wherever this bastard raises his head next Alex will be there to chop it off, but knowing him it''ll probably be after he makes the guy''s life a living hell." Everyone else nodded in agreement while Sirzechs made an awkward expression before saying apologetically, "Sorry, it just made me mad that someone was specifically targeting my beloved little sister. I''m calm now." Noting that he didn''t say anything about Alex, the others shrugged it off before returning to the battle after confirming that Ajuka had nothing else to tell them. With Sirzechs being the only one left, he then asked Ajuka with a serious expression, "So what didn''t you tell us? Just those two things wouldn''t have left you looking like you''ve aged a few hundred years in just a single one, what''s going on?" Ajuka sighed at Sirzechs question before asking, "It was that obvious?" With the Crimson haired man nodding in confirmation, Ajuka sighed once again before launching into a detailed explanation of what he had been dealing with for the last year. Before Alex and co. disappeared, he had been working on dismantling the current devil ruling system and intended to remake it to displace the current corrupt officials that had used the last several hundred years to sink themselves into their system. These individuals were so desperate to hold onto their power, that they even tried to turn Grayfia into their scapegoat now that Sirzechs was no longer around to protect her, and even tried to drag their son into it to try and turn into their own puppet Maou; a situation Sirzechs had already heard ''every'' detail regarding from his mother, as she scolded him for the first time in centuries for what he did to his wife. It was for this reason alone that Sirzechs no longer held slightly murderous intentions onwards Alex for stealing his wife, even if he admittedly did at first, as even his own mother had harshly lambasted him for getting angry at him when he was the one who made the decision to leave his own wife behind defenseless. Drawing his attention away from such dark thoughts, Ajuka then went on to explain that the same corrupt individuals were now using the disappearance of Alex, Rias, Sona, Serafall, Sairaorg, Vali, Ingvild, and Seekvaira to try and justify their hold on their former authority; and were even using the appearance of the sacred gear copy user to publicly criticize Alex, Vali, and Sairaorg as the current owners of the Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, and the Regulus Nemea. Of course the trio were well known throughout the underworld as ''heroes'' through the Chaos Brigade, Qlippoth and Trihexia incidents, each one protecting the citizens of the underworld in their own ways time and again; and so it would take significantly more to damage their reputations even if they weren''t here to defend themselves. The problem was that all three were potential candidates that Ajuka was considering to become the new Maou in the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' system he was trying to implement, alongside Serafall and Ingvild. Now, instead of being able to adequately set up the new system he was planning and having their support, he was instead trying to singlehandedly fight of the political advances of the annoying and corrupt old monsters, while simultaneously running the entirety of the underworld by himself, and dealing with the sudden appearances of two new mysterious powerhouses, the last one thankfully wasn''t all on just him to deal with though. After spending longer listening to Ajuka''s concerns than he probably should have, considering he was supposed to relieve some of the fighters against Trihexia soon, Sirzechs sighed as well before asking, "Have you looked into my theory that I told you about?" Ajuka nodded tiredly as he said, "I''ve sent several drones that I personally created to scour as much of the Dimensional gap as possible, but none of them have discovered anything. Either this ''Asora'' doesn''t exist there, or something happened and we have no way to access it. I''ve even told your theory to each of their families, but all they''ve told me is to ''search harder''." Letting out what felt like the hundredth sigh that day, Ajuka recalled the meeting he had just earlier with the people from the Gremory, Sitri, Phoenix, Agares, and Bael families. Though the Bael family seemed more concerned with recovering the property Sairaorg ''stole'', namely his peerage members and the Regulus Nemea, the rest were concerned that their children/heirs had not yet been found after they all disappeared suddenly. The matter was even more urgent after the lord of Sitri fell ill, and was now suffering from the same sleeping disease that once afflicted Sairaorg''s mother, leaving Sona''s mother as the acting head of the Sitri family until she could be found. As he listened to his close friends concerns, Sirzechs couldn''t help but feel yet another pang of guilt at dumping all of the responsibility of the underworld onto him, giving him enough stress that it was even started to effect his own appearance. As Devils they were able to alter how they appeared at will, with his own mother even looking slightly younger or the same age as him despite the fact that she was actually nearly a thousand years older than he was, however their appearance also changed automatically depending on the situation. The fact that Ajuka now had a few streaks of gray in his hair, along with a few wrinkles, told exactly how much stress he had been under recently with the current events. After saying a few things of comfort, as well as an apology to his old friend, Sirzechs returned to the battle against Trihexia with renewed vigor as his determination to finish the fight as quickly as possible burned even more. While Sirzechs reentered the battle Ajuka let out yet another sigh, however this one had more relief to it than his previous ones as he did actually feel a little better after confiding in Sirzechs, enough that he immediately dove back into the mountain of work waiting for him. One of the things he was currently working on was the positioning of each of the Seven Sins, and the names for the potential Maou candidates. For Sairaorg, Ajuka felt the lion''s sin of ''Pride'' was the most fitting, as well as the name of Asmodeus since the former Asmodeus, Falbium, was in charge of military affairs. One of the bigger concerns was Ingvild, as with Serafall still around it would be difficult to have two Maou Leviathans, however for her sin Ajuka felt that the sin of ''Sloth'' would be the most fitting, even if it did seem more like a cruel joke. The one saving grace in the current situation was the fact that there was one candidate he had that was still around, the former champion of the rating games, Diehauser Belial. Not only had he been the instigator in the revelations of the ''King'' piece and the corruption of the rating games, Diehauser had also returned to the games during the Azazel cup in order to help ensure proper representation for the Devils side after several of their teams failed to do well after the exposure of the ''King'' piece. To many he was a hero due to his actions in the games and exposing the corruption, and to Ajuka he was a perfect candidate for the position of Maou, and the sin of ''Greed''. With Ajuka then deciding to arrange for himself and Serafall the sins of ''Gluttony'' and ''Envy'' appropriately, the only real issue remaining was Vali and Alex. Traditionally the name of ''Lucifer'' went to the Maou that had the most authority over the other three, and was unconditionally considered the most powerful devil in the underworld, so normally Alex would be the one granted this honor. The problem however was that Vali was the last of the line of Lucifer, and so it was of course be the most fitting if he was the one given that name, as well as the dragon''s sin of ''Wrath''. For Alex, who was left with the most fitting sin of ''L.u.s.t'', Ajuka only had a form with a list of possible names for him in the future, the top of which stated, ALEXANDER (MORNINGSTAR?). *** While the battle against Trihexia continued, another battle had started in a remote corner of the underworld as the members of DXD surrounded a certain individual. "''GALE DRAGON''S TEMPEST!''" The young man with gray hair shouted, as a series of winds powerful enough to put even hurricanes to shame surged forward from his outstretched hands, pushing away the various elemental attacks that Dulio, the trump card of heaven, had sent his way. Rather than show his frustration though, the taciturn man merely clicked his tongue before a certain figure rushed past him, his lance already rushing forward only for the mysterious man to use both hands to sandwich the blade and halt its advance. Cao Cao''s eye twitched when he saw that, as even the holy energy radiating off of the True Longinus didn''t effect the man, making him cackle almost insanely as he declared, "Did you forget already?! Holy powers don''t work on me, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Before Cao Cao could retort, the man suddenly took in a deep breath while also seemingly taking in the divine powers of the Longinus, sending alarm bells through his head as he quickly pulled his Longinus free and retreated, right before the man bellowed, "''HOLY DRAGON''S BREATH!''" As he shouted the entire region they had been fighting in was bathed in holy light that was almost as intense as what a seraph was capable of, which burned away at the demonic environment of the underworld for several miles. As the blinding light finally faded away after several minutes, they found their target already outside of the ring of destruction, somehow ''grabbing'' the remaining demonic energy in the air as he shoveled it into his mouth ravenously to power himself up even further. "This guy is seriously starting to annoy me..." Cao Cao muttered irritably, earning him a nod of agreement from Dulio as the duo contemplated how to attack next. Though the former hero felt that he might be able to take care of this opponent if he went all out, he and Dulio were both hesitant to do so after what happened with the previous world hopper, who had managed to somehow evade them long enough to escape into another world. Initially, once they learned that he also wielded the True Longinus, Cao Cao had headed into battle against him to teach the bastard a lesson for copying him, however the unthinkable happened and the copy cat was actually starting to learn from him how to better handle his weapon. As a result everyone in the DXD was taking a more cautious approach to the world hoppers due to how strange and unique their powers were, with this opponent who was able to ''eat'' the various elements around him to power himself up being a prime example. Currently, the only advantage they had against them was the machine developed by Rizevim that had been modified to track the energy of those who were not from this world, however even that had its limits as the world hoppers, such as the one before them, used some form of transportation that was obviously from the world they resided in before. Thankfully though, they had Georg constantly analyzing the details of their fights with these people, meaning that hopefully in the near future he''d be able to create a type of prison to hold them until Alex returned to kill them properly, though a few of them would just like to kill them now and be done with it. Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a thunderous voice suddenly growled behind them, "Let me take care of this. This pest wants to act like he''s a dragon? I''ll show him a true dragon!" The duo backed off as the newcomer, the Dragon King Tannin, stepped forward, drawing the attention of the mysterious invader as he cackled, "Haha, FINALLY this dragon slayer will be able to kill a real dragon! You have no idea how frustrating it was that there was no dragons to fight in the previous world''s I was in! COME! HELP ME PUSH MY BOUNDARIES EVEN FURTHER!" Annoyed at the young man''s taunt, Tannin didn''t hesitate as he readily charged at him while the young man did the same. Chapter 311 - Death God Unaware of the headache he left for Ajuka just by leaving the DXD world, Alex spent the next several days in a relatively relaxed state, teaching in the day and training at nights, until nearly a week after the incident with the Miao family when a certain silver haired vampire practically blew up. "So when exactly are we going to do something about Alucard?" ''Inner'' Moka demanded with an annoyed expression from the floating island where Yue had built her castle, while the afore mentioned vampire princess sat on Alex''s lap along with Elmenhilde, the two drinking his blood leisurely while Alex lounged on her throne. Though this situation wouldn''t really be enough to warrant such a reaction from the usually indifferent seeming beauty, the fact that Alex had his hands up their skirts and was nonchalantly fondling their butts while their panties laid forgotten on the floor was starting to annoy her. As he never practiced seriously around the villa, only ever usually doing a mild regimen or meditation practice there, ''inner'' Moka was starting to suspect that Alex never did practice seriously like he always claimed to be since she only ever saw him fooling around with the girl''s around him. This, combined with the fact that he had yet to actually do or say anything regarding Alucard, was starting to really annoy her as it now felt like the seriousness that everyone treated the subject with before was a lie, and she was the only one who cared about it. In response to her earlier demand, Yue stopped drinking Alex''s blood as she looked over at Moka with an amazed expression, and stated plainly, "...Don''t expect Alex to just jump because you think he should... If he said that he intends to deal with Alucard, then it''s only a matter of when he will, he''ll never go back on his word when a good fight is involved..." It was at this moment that Alex, who appeared as if he was taking a nap, opened his eyes suddenly and added, "Correction, I''ll never go back on my word when it involves a good fight, or a beautiful woman." Yue only rolled her eyes in response to his shameless declaration, before leaning against his side and closing her eyes contently while enjoying the feeling of his fingers doing various naughty things within her skirt. Moka on the other hand merely snorted before turning her back to them, seemingly losing interest on the discussion as she contemplated having Shia spar with her again before she was sealed back up. This thought was driven from her mind however as an exceptionally fragrant aroma suddenly assaulted her nose, prompting her stomach to loudly make itself known as it demanded to be fed with the source of the aroma, Alex''s blood. It was then that Moka incredulously turned back towards Alex and noticed that there was still a pair of small holes in his neck, allowing the scent of his blood to slowly fill the throne room while Yue sat to his side with a smirk just barely visible on her lips. Though Moka wanted to retort at the obvious bait, before she got a chance to her stomach roared once more as even her mouth started salivating at the aroma, making her cheeks blush slightly from embarrassment as Alex asked with a wry smile, "Do you want to drink some of my blood Moka?" Even as she very much wanted to accept his offer, Moka instead snorted and turned away while stating, "Even if I wanted to, you look like you don''t have enough space to accommodate me so I''ll decline." Alex smiled wryly again at her refusal, before Yue and Elmenhilde, who had also stopped sucking his blood by now, scooted over to make space for Moka, each claiming a side while leaving hole on Alex''s lap for her. Realizing they intended to have her straddle Alex''s lap while sucking his blood, Moka was about to decline the offer once more, but her stomach loudly protested once again as if it was aware of her intention to refuse. With the blush in her cheeks becoming more noticeable, Moka stormed up to the throne and hesitated for the briefest of moments in front of Alex, before resigning herself and slowly climbing up so that both of her legs were on either side of Alex''s waist, and her upper body was closely pressed against his as she leaned forward and sank her fangs into his neck, albeit a bit harsher than usual. Knowing that Moka was purposely acting defiantly, which was nothing new, Alex responded by removing his hands from under Yue and Elmenhilde''s skirts and snaking them up Moka''s, making the silver haired vampire jump from surprise while her pink haired counterpart pouted within her at the unfairness. As this wasn''t the first time Alex took advantage of her feeding on him to fondle her butt, and she had accidentally given him a matching pair of slices in his neck from when she jumped, Moka didn''t respond right away to the s.e.x.u.a.l harassment, at least until Alex started hooking his fingers in the waistband of her panties. Even as she tightened her grip on him to the point that she''d could''ve crushed even boulders with how much strength she was using, Alex''s antics didn''t falter as he slowly fed his fingers into Moka''s panties to feel the bare skin of her rump, before he started lowering the waistband of the thin cloth. As the waistband of her panties moved lower Moka stopped feeding as she was about to give Alex a piece of her mind, but before she could a somewhat timid voice called out, "Ehem, p-pardon the intrusion boss..." Moka froze as she heard the voice, and slowly turned her head as if it was on a rusty swivel until she saw one of the infamous R.I.B standing there, awkwardly alternating her gaze from the floor to Alex, or more accurately the very intimate area of Moka''s body, which was now on perfect display due to Alex''s hands lifting her skirt, and lowering her panties. As the hesitant rabbit once again looked directly at the intimate place where the sun shouldn''t shine, Moka turned the reddest she had ever been as she unhesitatingly backhanded Alex with enough force that she actually fractured his jaw, before practically fleeing the throne while simultaneously fixing the state of her panties. ''...ow...'' Alex awkwardly said as he gently touched the area that was starting to swell before his ''Automatic Regeneration'' started to repair the damage. As he was thinking that he might''ve gone too far, Yue reached up and gently kissed the area that Moka smacked as if to make it feel better, before retreating to the side alongside Elmenhilde. Feeling as if she had seriously blundered after she got her boss smacked, Rana, or rather ''Agent R'', cleared her throat awkwardly and held up a folder while stating as seriously as she could manage, "We finished scouting the locations given to us by the boss, and are ready to move once we have the go ahead." Becoming serious in an instant, Alex used his ''Domain'' to take the folder from Rana''s hands without having to leave the throne, before looking through it intently. Even as she was about to put on her rosary to flee the current situation, Moka couldn''t help but pause when she heard what Rana said, and turned hesitantly to pay attention to what was going on. As if aware of her unasked question, Alex suddenly spoke up, "When we returned from the Huang family estate I looked up several locations with the magic compass and gave them to the Haulia to check out, which they have been for the last week." Evidently finished with his explanation, Alex then stopped talking as he continued looking through the data that Rana had brought him, which consisted of a summary of the defenses at each location, as well as pictures and descriptions of the people who regularly went there. What caught Alex''s eye though was that there was even detailed descriptions of the residences of several important figures within the group they were watching, as well as hints of secret locations within their home and even tidbits of their personalities and habits. He then looked up at Rana and asked, "How were you able to gather this particular data? Did you guys infiltrate their home or come into contact with them?" Instead of Rana, another beautiful looking female rabbit appeared seemingly from nowhere, and stated, "That is from a certain group of us within Agent R''s squadron, we were former slaves of the empire that were forced to work in brothels as pleasure slaves, or within the homes of wealthy or powerful members of the empire. As we were already ''dirtied'', we decided to use the skills we were forced to learn in order to better serve the great Boss that liberated us from our chains." As he listened to the woman''s explanation, Alex''s brows started twitching as he realized that she and several others of the rabbit tribe women had essentially p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.ed themselves on his behalf, though they had secretly received information for him instead of selling themselves for money. After a moment of thinking Alex knew this wasn''t too strange a thing, as, former slave or not, every single one of the Haulia and their recruits considered themselves to be his personal property; it was to the point that every single female, and even male, member of their race, no matter how young or old, no matter if they were happily married or in a loving relationship, would readily and happily spread their legs or bend over while welcoming him with smiles and open arms should he ask. (A.N before anyone comments on how random this may seem, this is how the Haulia actually acted in the original series towards Hajime.) With this in mind, Alex realized it wouldn''t be too far fetched that those who considered themselves to be ''dirtied'' would willingly seduce even those they considered the enemy if it meant benefiting him, or better following his orders. While fighting a slight migraine from how extreme the rabbits tended to take things, Alex practically groaned, "While I can understand the benefits of acquiring such ''detailed'' information when it comes to our enemies, I don''t want you resorting to such methods unless I give the order or if it''s absolutely necessary. Understood?" Not just the woman who had spoken up, but at least ten more female rabbits suddenly appeared as if from thin air before saluting and stating, """SIR!""" Satisfied that he got the message across to them, Alex nodded in affirmation before turning his attention back towards the doc.u.ments in his hands. As he continued reading Moka fidgeted at the side, the urge to ask what was on them growing within her. Before she could however, Alex used his ''Domain'' to return the doc.u.ments back to Rana and said, "Take those to Cam and tell him we''re moving tomorrow afternoon, he has until then to draft a plan of attack. Tell him that I also want some of Rossweisse''s Valkyries on standby at each location in case extra muscle is needed." Saluting once more, though with a bit of a disheartened look that he was dismissing her so soon, Rana turned around and promptly marched out of Yue''s castle, every one of her silent and hidden escort following her out. With the interruption over, Yue and Elmenhilde returned to Alex''s sides to continue what they were doing before Rana''s arrival, while a still embarrassed Moka asked, "So what is this group exactly? Why are we going to eliminate them?" Even as he was becoming increasingly distracted by the two beauties on either side of him, Alex nonchalantly stated, "They''re just a cult of Youkai supremacists called Fairy Tale, who also worship Alucard as the God who will topple the rule of the human race and pave the way for the Youkai rise to global domination." In response to this, Moka''s mouth only dropped slightly to form an O. *** *The next day* "Haaaa...." A man in a suit sighed as he slowly trudged home from the office he worked at. He was just a single, dull, ordinary man, who was just like a thousand others in the city with nothing exciting or interesting happening in his life. He woke up, went to work, went home, ate a microwaveable meal while watching tv, then went to bed before repeating the same cycle over and over, the only real break being the rare occasions he went drinking with coworkers, however he never drank enough to get truly drunk. Though a part of him felt comfortable in his monotonous routine, another part of him wanted something exciting or interesting to happen, little did he know that something indeed was about to happen. Right as he was walking by a several story building that looked just as unassuming as all the others around it, a mysterious looking black van suddenly pulled up in front of it. This alone was not interesting, but what happened next was. As the back doors of the van opened, no less than twenty people suddenly climbed out of it; and, if that wasn''t strange enough, they were all dressed in identical black suits, all relatively good looking, they all had purple hair, and there was a pair of rabbit ears(?) poking up from each of their heads. Before anyone could even try to make sense of their appearance, the twenty rabbit people suddenly took off as they surrounded the building that they had parked in front of, while the front doors of the van opened to reveal yet five more of them. Instead of following the others though, four of these five started pulling dividers out of the back of the van and placing them around while also trying to maintain a sense of distance between the building and the bystanders. Instead of helping set up the barrier, the last rabbit hopped up to the top of the van with more elegance than a normal person could ever manage, and turned on the megaphone attached to their hip before saying into the mouthpiece, "Ahem, may I have your attention please!" As his voice carried over the crowd everyone turned to look at the one who seemed as if they were going to explain what was going on, before he continued, "We don''t mean to alarm anyone, but there is a slight situation that is currently occurring here. As long as everybody is calm and cooperative, then we can resolve the current issue swiftly, and everyone can be on their way." There was a series of mixed reactions from the crowd at the rabbitman''s words, as he didn''t state what was going on, who they were, or if it was dangerous for them to be there. Before they could demand to know what was actually happening though, they could suddenly hear the very distinctive ''pop pop pop'' of gunfire right before a beastial and very inhuman roar pierced the air, silencing the unspoken demands of the bystanders as panic started settling in. Releasing a tired sigh at how his comrades couldn''t handle it quietly like they were supposed to, the rabbitman turned a dial on the megaphone before saying into it once again, "I repeat ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm while we handle the situation, there is no need for alarm." As he spoke, the words echoing from the megaphone emitted a calming aura that quickly settled the panicking crowd once more, as he continued telling them that everything would be handled promptly. The megaphone, like most of the R.I.B''s equipment, was specially made by Hajime to help manipulate the crowds of people listening to it, using Spirit magic to mildly influence the feelings of those it was pointed at, depending on where the dial was turned. For these kinds of situations, there was a function that kept crowds from panicking and going out of control, while there was also contrarily a setting to help incite a crowd if one wanted them to get angry and riot. Another interesting little gadget they had courtesy of Hajime, was what was essentially a media E.M.P, meaning that once it was activated every single camera within a mile would suddenly cease working at all, while any footage that had been recorded beforehand would also be damaged beyond repair. This had been a particularly useful tool for Hajime and the others when they had initially returned home from Tortus, as, with numerous unflattering rumors circulating about them, several people had tried to record or report various instances of unusual happenings around them due to their magic powers. With him controlling the crowds and the rest of his tribesmen eliminating the Youkai within the building, the rabbitman looked up briefly towards the sky as if he was looking for something, however there was seemingly nothing there despite the fact that he knew otherwise. Hovering stealthily above the building that they were currently attacking, a trio of beautiful silver haired women attired in pristine silver armor watched on with indifferent expressions on their faces, even though they were eagerly awaiting a signal for their assistance. Along with the R.I.B squadrons that were sent to eliminate the Fairy Tale subdivision branches, at every location was also a trio of Rosswiess''s Valkyries that had been sent in case there was a need for extra muscle, due to the possibility of one of the branch leaders being present during the attacks. They were very eager to display the results of their training to their leader Rossweisse, and the man who gave them a second chance when he didn''t have to; however, to their growing disappointment, the call for their assistance never arrived until they saw the rabbitmen walking out the front doors of the building, and one said to them telepathically through another of Hajime''s artifacts, ''We''re done, start preparing the spell.'' Sighing slightly at how they were essentially useless except for cleanup, the three former apostles started preparing a spell to instantly set the entire building ablaze with a fire powerful enough that none of the monster corpses within would withstand being turned to ash. Meanwhile, the rabbitman who was trying to keep the crowd of bystanders under control reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of plain black sunglasses, and action copied by all twenty four other rabbits and the three Valkyries above them. He then said through the megaphone, "Everyone, I know you all wish to know what is going on, and if you''ll give me your undivided attention then I shall tell you." Without fail every single person there turned back towards the black van expectantly, right before a small bulb on the roof of the van suddenly flashed, leaving everyone with blank expression before the rabbitman continued, "You did not see a group of rabbit eared people dressed in black suits, you didn''t hear any gunshots or monster roars, there was no black van, and you have no idea how that fire started now, have a very pleasant evening." His message complete, the rabbitman promptly hopped off of the van and reentered it along with his comrades, before it casually pulled away and drove off. Meanwhile, the office worker who planned to just go home and eat a microwave meal just stood there along with everyone else, before muttering somewhat absentmindedly, "What fire?-" The second those words escaped his lips the entire building was suddenly set ablaze, stupefying everyone present as they watched them swiftly eat through the building. As more and more people gathered at the doomed building, one guy arrived and asked the office worker, "What happened?!" The man just shrugged and said, "I don''t know, it was just on fire." Meanwhile, in the van the rabbitman who was trying to keep the crowds under control groaned and demanded, "Couldn''t you guys even sneak around properly? How did they even detect you?!" One of the other rabbits shrugged, despite the fact that his side was bleeding, and said, "I think they might have smelled one of us, I mean theres probably Youkai with amazing noses among them. Check out this bullet wound though!" As he said that the rabbitman unhesitatingly lifted his shirt to reveal a bloody hole that would have made any other person worry, while those around him made comments of praise at the wound. "Psh, that''s nothing! I got shot twice!" Another rabbit said, before he too lifted his pant leg and showed off a bullet wound, before pulling up one of his sleeves to display the matching one. And so began the competition to show off who had the worst wound among them while the one in charge tried to get them to drink their share of the miracle medicine, gods water. *** All around Japan the same scene played out in a dozen locations as the R.I.B systematically wiped out every minor branch of Fairy Tale''s operations, while also using devices given to them by Hajime to steal all of their data before wiping it clean. With the fact there was no survivors, combined with the use of the Neurolizer and the media E.M.P, there was no indication whatsoever of who attacked one of the most powerful groups in the world, except in a certain location where a single man casually walked through the front door. Seeing him, a young thuggish looking man with pointed teeth and headphones around his neck approached him, and said, "Welcome, do you intend to join the cause brother?" As he looked the man before him up and down, Tsubaki couldn''t help but feel excited as he appeared to be a real fighter, with his muscle clad figure and intense aura. Contrasting his intense and intimidating aura however, the man smiled in response and said cheerfully, "Nope, I''m here to kill all of you!" Before Tsubaki could even react to Alex''s words, a giant scythe appeared from seemingly nowhere and blurred before slicing cleanly through his body, bisecting it into two pieces from shoulder to hip before he could even scream. There was a beat of silence as everyone in the lobby froze, before lunging at Alex suddenly with teeth, claws, and weapons bared. Alex however smirked fearlessly and threw himself into the battle without any hesitation, slashing his way through the crowd of monsters with his scythe as if they were warm butter while also dodging through the hailstorm of bullets with ease. Within two minutes the first fight was already over, and the lobby looked as if it had been repainted red from the blood and entrails of those whose lives Alex had harvested with his scythe. He then looked up towards a a camera in the corner of the lobby, which he had specifically left operational unlike the R.I.B, before smiling fearlessly and tauntingly at it and the people who would inevitably watch the recording. Slinging his scythe over his shoulder with one hand, Alex then fished something out his pocket with the other as he walked through the halls of the building while whistling a tune. Slowly but surely, Alex made his way up the building as he aimed for the top floor where his target was, slaughtering any and all he could with his scythe or using his ''Domain'' to wield its concept of Death over those who were too far away for him to chase. Eventually Alex made his way to the largest office in the building, after killing everyone else within it on the way up, before suddenly sending the door flying as he ''lightly'' knocked on it. Within was a man whose appearance could only be described as ''beautiful'', who stood slowly even as his doors came crashing in before saying in a melodious voice, "So you''re the one who has been trashing my base and killing my subordinates, may I ask why?" Alex just shrugged and replied in a somewhat loud voice, "Would it be ok if I just said that I was bored?" The man looked irritated at that, and stated in annoyance while picking up a small harp that was laying on his desk while a pair of majestic white wings sprouted from his back, "No it would not. Normally I would make you an offer to join our group, but your barbarous behaviors suggests that it''d just be a waste of time. Instead, I think I''ll beat some manners into you before using my ''song'' to brainwash you into joining us!" As he spoke the man plucked one of the strings on his harp, and the floor around them suddenly rippled as if it was water before several heads came up out of it, all green and scaled with fins sticking out. As the mermen surrounded them the man continued, "Know at least, that one to defeat you is named Kanade Kamiya." With his introduction out of the way, Kanade made a gesture with his hands and the horde of merman surged forward to attack all at once, before they were suddenly bisected in one great swing of Alex''s scythe. Staring in dumbfoundment of how easily Alex had dispatched over a dozen of his mermen, Kanade''s look of amazement turned into one of anger at how useless those pawns were, before he immediately summoned more. As these ones surged forward though, a seemingly endless horde of the slimy beings continued to rise from the ground in an attempt to overwhelm their opponent, while their master opened his mouth and started singing. Time seemed to stand still for the briefest of seconds as the melody of the song filled the air, before rushing suddenly at Alex and impacting him like a truck, giving him a small headache at the most while he continued dispatching Kanade''s mermen with ease. Even as the song continued for over a minute, Alex was still standing as he mercifully mowed down the never ending horde, making Kanade''s usually calm expression slowly morph into one of fury before he finally broke his song off and demanded, "HOW?! HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING EVEN AFTER TAKING MY ''SONG OF DEATH'' STRAIGHT ON LIKE THAT?!" At Kanade''s shout Alex stopped killing the mermen and looked at him confusingly, before turning his ear towards him and shouting, "WHAAAAT???? I CAN''T HEAR YOU!" It was then Kanade noticed a small item lodged in Alex''s ear, and realization dawned on him, he had prepared to face him beforehand. Logically it made sense that one would learn about their enemy before fighting them, and prepare for their attacks, however Kanade could help but mentally ask ''How?!'' No matter how good they were, mere ear plugs shouldn''t be able to defend against his song of death, as even recorded or watered down it could still incapacitate even the most powerful of foes. Though of course, Kanade didn''t know Alex had a master of creating magical tools on his side, who was even capable of creating magical ear plugs capable of blocking out all sound based attacks. Furious that he was being made a fool of, Kanade shouted, "DAMN YOU, JUST DIE!" As he shouted Kanade started transforming as his body and arms started elongating, his skin turned darker while his face morphed into a more monstrous appearance, and slits opened up at his throat, chest, and sides to help him amplify his voice even further. His transformation complete, Kanade then stepped forward and projected forward his most powerful vocal attack, ''Symphony for the devil'', which effortlessly tore through the floor as it barreled its way towards its target, making mincemeat of any mermen left in front of it. Seeing the deadly attack approaching him, Alex smiled fearlessly before setting his scythe to the side and taking a stance, is hair turning golden as leaned forward and thrusted his fist out while shouting, "HAAAA!" With no excess energy whatsoever to power his attack, Alex''s SSJ2 fist compressed the air between it and the rapidly approaching ''song'', before both clashed in midair and resulted in a small explosion that still tore apart the remainder of the office and the mermen. As the recoil of the clash and the force of Alex''s punch reached him, Kanade was thrown backwards and crashed through his desk before crying out at the pain. As he struggled to stand and orient himself, he looked forward and stalled slightly when he saw Alex calmly standing there while surrounded by dozens of corpses of the mermen. In the old stories his predecessors, the sirens of ancient times, would use their voices to call out to sailors and draw them to their deaths, before the sirens would add their corpses to their ever growing mountain. Kanade''s dream had always been to end the current harmony between humans and monsters, allowing him to slaughter the pathetic creatures at will and stack their corpses to build his own mountain. Though it was far from a mountain, the corpses around Alex made it seem as if he was closer to his goal than he ever would be. The man in question then canceled his own transformation before retrieving his scythe, and slowly walking towards the still collapsed Kanade, his slow and steady footsteps being the only thing breaking the deathly silence that had settled. As he approached, Kanade had a sudden vision, that the one approaching him was not the random stranger that had attacked the headquarters of his branch, but the God of death himself. For he, who was considered akin to a god by all of his subordinates and even he himself, there no revelation more terrifying than this as he felt his impending death at this beings hands, something that currently didn''t feel like a possibility, but complete and utter certainty. "P-please-!" Kanade cried out, before Alex swung his scythe and sliced open his throat, permanently silencing Kanade for the last few seconds of his life before the concept of Death took him forever. With the fight over and no other opponents left alive in the entire building, Alex stored his scythe away before letting out a sigh as he made his way to the remains of Kanade''s desk, intending to search for anything interesting since Kanade was in fact the leader of an entire division of Fairy Tale, so he should''ve had some good Intel. What Alex didn''t expect to find was a fairly thick folder that, when he opened it, contained the portfolios of several individuals that had recently graduated from Youkai Academy, with a familiar face being at the top of the pile. Realizing that he would need to contact them a lot earlier than he was thinking, due to the fact that Fairy Tale would most likely be extremely eager to replenish their lost numbers as quickly as possible, Alex sighed again and formed a magic circle to Grayfia, and said, "Hey, I found something that I need to check out, shouldn''t take me more than a couple hours since I already cleaned up here. I''m sending you a file of people they were checking out for potential recruits that had graduated from the academy recently, I want you to start looking for them if possible so that they don''t end up joining Fairy Tale." Removing the file of the person who drew his interest, Alex then used magic to send the file to Grayfia before making his way out of the building, taking the chance to send the camera in the lobby once last smirk before walking out of the front doors. Meanwhile, in a location far from the seaside city where Alex had killed Kanade, the person watching the live feed of every division and subdivision branch camera started sweating slightly as he turned his attention to all of the now blank screens, before quickly going to get his superior. Chapter 312 - Meet the Family As the sun set in Japan that night, floating high above the land was a massive complex that looked to be a blend of a fantasy style castle city, and scientific advancements not yet available in the modern world. Within this giant floating castle, a group of four people were sitting around a large table while a beautiful woman with darker skin and light blonde hair sat their head, and a girl who almost seemed to be her spitting image stood attentively by the doors. All six were sitting quietly as of waiting for something, before one of the men, an extreme looking young man that had mane of long and wild hair, demanded impatiently, "What''s keeping that bastard?! He should know the meeting started already, unless he''s making us wait on purpose again!" In response to his demand another of the men present, one who looked almost like a stereotypical gangster with his hair slicked back, stated calmly while lighting a cigarette, "He has been pissed ever since he was stationed near the ocean, but perhaps all of his subordinates referring to him as a ''being closest to God'' is getting to his head." A couple of the people there nodded in agreement of the man''s assessment of their comrade, before one man, who was attired so completely in a suit of samurai armor that you couldn''t even see his face, turned to look at an empty chair and stated, "Id be more concerned with Xia-Long''s absence. After what his traitor father pulled, you''d never know what he might be thinking." The one who responded to this was the man who had been silent thus far, and was seated to the immediate right of the woman at the head of the table. "I wouldn''t worry about him too much, yet. It''s a lot of responsibility to run an entire family, and there''s also the fact that he''s the only one of us abroad so he has to be a bit more careful while traveling." The man within the suit of armor snorted at the other mans words, his distrust of Xia-Long''s allegiance obvious. The group continued to wait for a few last minutes, but, right as the gangster looking man was about to suggest they just start their meeting, the woman at the head of the table suddenly glanced up towards the door before saying to the girl standing there, "Kahlua, it appears that someone is about to interrupt our meeting." The girl, Kahlua, nodded and said respectfully, "yes mother," before opening the door right as the person outside was about to knock. With his expression paling instantly as every person in the room turned to look at him, the woman in charge stated lazily, "You better have a good reason for interrupting our meeting." The man swallowed nervously, and stammered, "I-I''m sorry lady Gyokuro, but the seventh division headquarters has just been attacked!" In an instant the atmosphere in the room intensified as everyone instantly became alert, and Gyokuro shouted, "WHAT!? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?" The man flinched as all of her aura condensed into him, practically suffocating him as he struggled to breath in her presence. "Go easy on him Gyo, the man can barely even breath now." The man to her right, Issa Shuzen, said calmly. At her ''husbands'' words the atmosphere pressuring the man disappeared in an instant, before Gyokuro sneered, "Out with it quick, before I lose my patience." The man trembled as he thanked her for her mercy, before quickly making his way to the giant screen and fiddling with it for a moment. After a brief wait, during which the man could feel the pressure on him building up slowly but surely, the screen flickered to life and showed the image of the lobby of one of their buildings. Though Gyokuro was about to snap at the man to hurry up the recording, she held herself when a single man appeared on screen, walking up to their men casually and confidently. It didn''t take long for the attack to begin, as after a brief exchange between the man and the Youkai who tried to scout him, a giant scythe appeared seemingly from nowhere before bisecting the scouting agent into two. From there the man began a brutal slaughter as he made his way up the levels of the building, the cameras following his progress the entire time, before finally getting to the point where he entered the seventh division officer Kanade''s office. They thought that''d be the end of it due to Kanade''s specialty, his ''Song of Death'', but they were mistaken as the mysterious intruder dealt with every one of Kanade''s cards with ease, even going as far as to face his true form and ''Symphony for the Devil'' up front, breaking the attack and sending Kanade flying in a single move. The group then watched as Kanade tried to beg for forgiveness, but was unable to do so after the attacker sliced open his throat and left him to bleed out while going through the remains of his desk. They thought that''d be the end of it, but as the man was leaving through the lobby he stopped, and looked directly at the camera before smirking, as if daring them to come after him. With the video over, the man who played it nervously added, "Shortly before this attack a dozen other subdivisions were suddenly cut off from us, not only is their live feed blank, but none of our attempts to contact them bore fruit." At the footage they just witnessed and the added information there was dead silence in the conference room, before a thunderous ''BOOM'' proceeded to shake the entire floating fortress as Gyokuro slammed her fist into the table between all of them, effectively reducing it to rubble instantly. Though Kahlua looked concerned at her mother''s actions, the other three men at the table merely sighed in exasperation while Issa tried to say soothingly to his ''wife'', "There there darling, no need to get too worked up." Taking a deep breath, Gyokuro calmed herself before saying to her ''husband'', "You''re right Issa, we need to be calm about this." She then turned her attention to the rest of the division leaders, and continued, "I don''t care what it takes, we need to find and remove this man before he could either do more damage, or meet up with those fools Mikogami and Touhou, if he hasn''t already." As she said this the gangster looking man suddenly appeared as if he just realized something, and said, "Speaking of Mikogami, I haven''t heard from Kiria at Youkai Academy in a while." Though such a situation wouldn''t normally be cause for concern, with the fact that there was someone apparently hunting them down everyone took it seriously, while the wild looking man added, "There''s also Xia-Long''s absence too. While it could be nothing, the fact he hasn''t at least notified us that he wouldn''t be attending is strange considering what''s going on." Unlike a few minutes before when they discussed the same topic, there was a round of nods as everyone agreed regarding the suspicion of Xia-Long. The man in the samurai armor then added, "Raika has a point, I''ll go to China and investigate if Xia-Long is still with us, or if he''s turned traitor like his father." While almost everyone present thought this was a good idea, they were surprised when suddenly, "No." Everyone turned and looked at Gyokuro, who appeared eerily calm compared to before, as she continued, "If we presume that Xia-Long turned traitor, then that means anyone who goes to China will be alone against the two families there, while we are also aware that someone is apparently actively hunting us. Instead we need to restablize our control over Japan, checking on each of the blacked out subdivisions to see if they are truly lost to us, and recruiting more to our cause to make up for the loss. Miyabi, you said that you haven''t heard from Kiria recently?" Everyone''s gaze turned towards the gangster like man, who took a slow drag from his cigarette before replying, "No. Though it isn''t strange with how deep undercover he is, with the current events we can''t help but wonder." Gyokuro nodded as, though she wouldn''t normally care about one of their subordinates, Kiria was their mole at the esteemed Youkai Academy right under the hateful Mikogami''s nose. If they had lost him then that not only meant they no longer had an eye on the Dark Lord, but that they would have a harder time recruiting students from the academy to their cause. With this in mind Gyokuro stood before continuing, "Then we''ll send an assassin after this man, and have them start at the academy. There they''ll either be able to confirm Kiria''s situation, or possibly find a link to this mysterious attacker if he''s made contact with Mikogami." As she spoke, Kahlua stepped forward and stated, "I''m ready mother." As Gyokuro looked her daughter up and down she was tempted to send her as she wished, but hesitated to do so due to the various mysteries surrounding this man. Instead, deciding to wait until they knew more, she answered, "While your eagerness is something to be praised, I intend to send someone else to do this." Though Kahlua frowned at that, she didn''t say anymore while Gyokuro ignored and strode past her as she left the conference room, silently dismissing the rest of the division leaders to return to their duties. As Gyokuro swiftly and purposely made her way through the maze of metallic corridors that made up the floating fortress, she passed all manner of Youkai who either stepped back as she approached fearfully, or bowed towards her with reverence in their eyes. Though she only showed them indifference or scorn, Gyokuro reveled in their adulation of her grace, her power, and her beauty. ''To think my idiotic husband and that worthless tramp would give this all up, only to be considered normal and to live with HUMANS of all things!'' As this thought crossed her mind Gyokuro''s expression turned bitter as she remembered her real husband, and not the doppelg?nger that had been taking his place ever since she had him imprisoned. While reminding herself to remind that fake not to forget himself with his newfound authority and power, Gyokuro arrived at her destination and entered the room without bothering to knock or announce herself, making the sole inhabitant of the room look up from her book with an annoyed expression. With a glower at the girl, Gyokuro spat out, "Don''t look at me like that you ungrateful brat, I''m here to give you a contract." Following her words, the girls expression changed before she said in a monotone voice laced with sarcasm, "Oh I am oh so sorry my beloved stepmother, please forgive me for not being more grateful that you didn''t have me killed when you stole control of the Suzen family from father before having him imprisoned. Now what''s the contract?" Though she could tell there was nothing sincere in her voice, Gyokuro ignored it as she merely snorted before explaining to her stepdaughter, Akua Shuzen, what had happened. "Someone wiped out the entire seventh division by himself before butchering Kanade, and at the same time we lost contact with a dozen other subdivisions, the Miao family isn''t responding to us, and our contact in Youkai Academy has gone silent." The moment Akua heard all of this her eyes widened slightly as she immediately asked, "Was the attacker one of the Darks Lords?" Gyokuro shook her head and answered, "We have no idea who he is, only the footage of him attacking the seventh division. We''re going to start checking on the rest of the subdivisions and try to recover the damages from this, you''re going after the attacker while also checking on the fate of Kiria. If he''s been to the academy then you''ll most likely pick up his trail there." Akua nodded, her earlier attitude towards her stepmother gone at the thought of getting to fight such a strong opponent, while Gyokuro immediately left her room after giving Akua her mission. As she did, Gyokuro couldn''t help but smirk as no matter how Akua''s job went, she''d benefit. If Akua managed to kill the mysterious attacker then they''d be rid of him and be able to reestablish their numbers within months, if she lost her life against him however, then they would be able to gain more information about him while she would also finally be rid of the annoying bitch. After Gyokuro left her room however, Akua let out an uncharacteristically girlish squeal as she enthusiastically leapt onto her bed while simultaneously grabbing the picture frame next to it, depicting a certain young silver haired girl. As she stared at the picture lovingly, Akua muttered, "I wonder what you look like now, my beloved little sister Moka." *** At the same time, shortly after the sun had set, Alex appeared at a certain location that the magic compass directed him in the same city where he had killed Kanade, though he had made a quick stop before coming here. As he looked around for his target, Alex finally noticed them right as something else started happening, making him mutter, "You have got to be kidding me..." *A few minutes earlier* A duo of thugs was standing around in an alleyway between two buildings, both smoking a cigarette as they waited on their friend who arrived a moment later in a pissed off mood. "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard, making me work overtime just because I showed up a few minutes late! Who does he think he is?!" This earned him a round of laughter from the other two as one of them smirked, "What, does mister CEO not like being a ''proper contributing member of society''? Hahahahaha!" As he heard his friend mocking him the newcomer snarled at him angrily, "I''m not a god damn CEO, I just move the f.u.c.k.i.n.g boxes everywhere." This however earned him another round of laughter as the two started chanting, ""BOX BITCH! BOX BITCH! BOX BITCH!"" As he was about to take a swing at the annoying duo, the thug suddenly noticed something that, after a moments thought, seemed like the perfect way for him to relieve his anger. He then elbowed his still laughing acquaintance before pointing, and saying, "Hey dumbasses, look at that." Though they were still snickering, the duo topped laughing and looked to where he was pointing, and saw a young girl that was hurrying along the street in a strapless dress, a backpack in one hand and a notepad in the other. His friend looked at him and said, "Yeah she''s good looking, but she looks like she''s in middle school man." The first thug however smirked and stated, "Yeah, but she''s not. She came in today to ask the old f.u.c.ker for a job, I snuck a look at her papers and she''s actually like nineteen, and she doesn''t speak." When they heard this any inhibitions they had of approaching the girl faded away, as evil smiles formed on all three thugs faces, and they swiftly made their way towards her from the alley. The girl on the other hand was wandering around the city, slightly in a daze while also growing increasingly concerned due to the fact that she was having a hard time finding a job or a place to live. As her stomach started growling and she considered spending the last few dollars she had in her possession on some dinner, a trio of suspicious looking people suddenly surrounded her before one said, "Hello there missy, are you lost? We can show you where to go." The girl was slightly dazed at first, but she quickly realized what was happening and took out her notepad to write and tell them that they didn''t need to bother, when one of the thugs suddenly took it out of her hand sand tossed to a nearby trash can while saying with a sneer, "You don''t need this! Come with us, we''ll help you!" The girl harbored no delusions of what the thugs wanted, but with them surrounding her and rules stating that they couldn''t attack humans, she was unable to go against them as they led her down the alley before one of them added, "By the way, I think we''ll need some compensation for our hard work, and since I doubt you have any money then we can try to work something out." Once they were away from the street the trio surrounded her once again before another one stated, "I don''t hear a no, so then she must be consenting, right?" With the other two smirking and them all taking a step closer to her, the girl contemplated what she was supposed to do, and if she have to break the rules to protect herself, when suddenly they turned as a voice stated, "Man, these template situations really do get annoying sometimes... Need any help miss?" Though the girl hesitated for a moment due to the fact that she didn''t want a random bystander to be hurt because of her, she ultimately nodded her head since the only other alternative was for her to fight herself, something she desperately wanted to avoid. The thugs however didn''t like that some random guy had appeared, and one pulled out a switchblade while saying, "Hey, you trying to be some kind of hero or something? Get lost before we f.u.c.k you up." Alex''s brow twitched when he heard the thug''s threat while his two cohorts snickered with malicious glee at the situation. Instead of cowering and running away like they expected however, Alex casually stepped up to the thug holding out the switchblade, and took it from his loose grip before any of them even knew what happened. They then watched as Alex lightly gripped both the handle and the blade with a couple fingers, and snapped the knife in two, causing their malicious and c.o.c.ky expressions to slowly change to confusion, and then some fear as they wondered just who could break a knife with their bare hands. Before they could say or do anything else though, they all suddenly collapsed while foaming at the mouths as Alex casually walked past them, and handed something to the girl. "Here, I believe they took this from you." The girl let out a sigh of relief at the fact that she wouldn''t have to fight, and when Alex handed her her notebook back. She then started writing something in it, but Alex noticed her glance at the thugs with concern before he added, "They''re ok, they''re just passed out and will wake up in a little bit." The girl let out another sigh of relief as, despite their intentions, she didn''t like seeing people get excessively hurt. She then held up the notebook to show it said, ''Thats good, and thank you very much for helping me!'' Alex smiled at her message, and said, "Don''t worry about it, I''ll always lend a hand to a girl that needs it. Im Alex by the way." As he introduced himself Alex held out his hand for her shake, before the girl started writing something else onto the notebook, presumably her name. But what neither of them noticed was the thug that had been leading her down the alley, and was now behind her, stirring as he struggled to get up. As he reached out for something to use as leverage to pull himself up, the thug''s hand could only find the bottom of the girl''s dress, and, before either of them knew it, her dress was suddenly hauled down all at once to pool around her ankles, leaving her standing there in front of Alex in nothing but her panties. The two just stood there for a second as they tried to register what just happened, and, as he took in the sight of the girls rather small b.r.e.a.s.ts, all Alex could utter was a quick, "Uh oh..." before, "KYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Even though she had yet to utter a single word the entire time, the girl suddenly let a shrill yell as she dropped down to cover herself, but Alex and the three now awake thug''s attention wasn''t on her current appearance. Instead, the three thugs were screaming as well as their eardrums suddenly burst and blood started running from everyone opening on their face, their ears, eyes, nose and mouth. Alex on the other hand got it much worse than everyone else as he had been directly in front of the girl when she let loose her scream, and as such, along with the same condition as the three thugs, he was also getting covered in dozens of tiny cuts as if her voice was composed entirely of small blades. It wasn''t left at that though, as the majority of the damage done to him was internal damage as his organs were ruptured, his muscles were torn, and his bones started fracturing in response to the girls shrill voice. Meanwhile around them the glass windows in the buildings started fracturing as her voice started echoing around them, despite the fact that she had forcefully silenced herself after only a second of screaming. As Alex dropped to a knee in front of her so that he could start trying to heal the damage done to him, the girl disregarded her current lack of dress as she rushed forward to try and help him, an immense amount of guilt welling up within her at causing him his injuries. As he used Regeneration magic to repair the most severe of the damage, and left he rest to his ''Automatic Regeneration'' Alex looked up at the concerned girl and smiled before spitting out a mouthful of blood and saying, "Don''t worry, this much is nothing. Rather, shouldn''t you be more concerned about how you look right now?" It was at this point the girl realized that she was still practically n.a.k.e.d, and, while she was still embarrassed, she didn''t try to make Alex look away as she hurried over to her dress and slid it back on, her face turning Crimson as she did due to feeling his eyes on her the entire time. By the time she was finished dressing herself, Alex had repaired enough of the damage done to him that he could stand, and as he did so he turned towards her and said, "Maybe we should go before people start wanting to know what happened." Even though no one bothered to interfere when the thugs had dragged her down the alley, they were bound to have heard her scream with how powerful it was and start investigating. Though she agreed with him, the girl couldn''t help but look back at the thugs on the ground where they were still suffering the effects of her scream, when Alex said, "Don''t worry about them, let''s just consider this their punishment." After saying that he then turned and left the alleyway without giving them a single backwards glance, prompting the girl to follow after him concernedly even though Alex didn''t have any injuries left by this point. After a few minutes of them walking, the girl finally held up her notebook to Alex, which said, ''I''m sorry...'' Alex however shook his head, and answered, "It''s not like you did it on purpose, and I was more surprised than anything. Besides, we have more important things to talk about." It was at this point that the girl realized that Alex must have sought her out, as how else would someone who could only be another Youkai suddenly appear in that alley right as she needed help? Though she was somewhat on guard since she was aware that there was people that would want to have her around for her powers, the girl still held up her notebook after writing something else in it, saying, ''My name is Sun Otonashi, please lead the way.'' Chapter 313 - Sun Otonashi Shortly after they left the three thugs behind, Alex and Sun found themselves within a small restaurant as the former watched the latter devour several hamburgers despite her petite figure, proving just how hungry she was. At first Sun was reluctant to accept Alex''s offer of a meal, as she already owed him for helping defend her against the thugs, and she had even accidentally hurt him directly afterwards; however, his insistence along with the sounds her own stomach made when she smelled the food had won out. Though they were getting a lot of weird looks due to Sun''s petite and youthful appearance, Alex ignored them as he instead thought about how such a cute person was actually one of the strongest people in this world. Though she would naturally lose out against the various powerhouses such as Touhou, Mikogami, Alucard, and Akasha, the only real reason for that was due to the fact each of them had lived and honed their abilities for literally centuries, while Sun wasn''t even twenty years old and rarely, if ever, trained her abilities. Since she was born with a monstrous excess of supernatural energy Sun was considered the undisputed number one when she attended Youkai Academy, and she had even challenged Alucard by herself during the final battle in the original story''s timeline before Mikogami and Touhou arrived to fight as well. Despite her readiness to fight when necessary and willingness to take a life when needed, Sun was actually a gentle person who would prefer to avoid fights while proactively telling others to do the same, to the point that she had been the one to get Ginei to stop fighting so much during his first year at the academy, back when he was known throughout the entire school as the ''Mad Dog Morioka''. As these and various other thoughts swam through Alex''s mind, Sun finished her meal and reached for her notebook before writing, ''So what do you want to talk about?'' Alex smiled wryly when he saw what she wrote, as she had seemed excessively cautious around him after he mentioned needing to talk to her, but instead of directly answering he instead slid a short stack of papers towards her, making the petite girl pale when she saw her image on the top one. Seeing her reaction, Alex explained, "Earlier this evening I destroyed a division of a group known as Fairy Tale, a terroristic cult that intends to topple the human rule of the planet and establish Youkai as the superior beings. After killing the division leader I went through their files for information, and found your portfolio along with those of several other Youkai Academy graduates for potential recruits. Though I passed the rest onto other people to track down, I came personally to find you since yours is a top priority designation." As she listened to Alex''s explanation, Sun''s expression was growing increasingly pale as she read through the portfolio, which had detailed her species and abilities, to even the various habits she had in school. Eventually, with a slightly shaky hand, Sun wrote on her notebook, ''How did they get this?!'' Alex sighed, and responded, "They had a mole within the academy to recruit potential Youkai to their cause, even from right under Mikogami''s nose. I already dealt with him and his cohorts, but I''m guessing he passed along information about any graduates he could beforehand." Though she nodded slightly in understanding, Sun looked at Alex after a moment and asked, ''So what do you want?'' Alex was silent for a moment as he considered how to answer, before saying, "For certain reasons, I intend to fight and destroy the being known as Alucard, the Shinso vampire that once tried to wipe out humanity. This group, Fairy Tale, seeks to revive him and follow him into war against the humans. Naturally I intend to fight them as well because of this, and every Youkai I prevent from joining their ranks is another one that won''t have to die when we wipe them out. For those who they''re after specifically, such as yourself, I intend to invite you to a place called Asora." Sun listened intently as Alex then started explaining about Asora, and how it was a place where the matters of ones birth were inconsequential due to the variety of people and races living there in peace. As he finished explaining it the petite girl was quiet, before she started writing and held up her notebook, with a single question for him, ''Will I need to fight?'' Without even considering it Alex shook his head, and answered, "While it may be a different matter if Asora is one day attacked, if you don''t wish to fight with us then I won''t force you. That being said, it would however be remiss of me if I didn''t extend an additional invitation to you." As he said this, Alex pulled out a Crimson chess piece for Sun to see before launching into yet another explanation of what it was and what it meant. Though her face understandably turned red when she heard that accepting it would mean joining Alex''s harem, a thought she only contemplated since he already saw her practically n.a.k.e.d earlier, her expression didn''t otherwise change throughout his explanation of the evil pieces or what they did, until he finished and she swiftly held up her notebook to show it said, ''I don''t want to accept it...'' Without letting her refusal get to him, Alex nodded with understanding before the ''Pawn'' evil piece disappeared, and he said, "I understand, I just thought it wouldn''t hurt to ask. You might also get a few offers to join someone else''s peerage or groups in Asora, however you wouldn''t need to accept if you didn''t want to. Now then shall we go?" As he spoke Alex stood and offered a hand to her, to which Sun hesitated to accept at first, before ultimately accepting his offer and following him out the door of the restaurant. Though a small part of her was worried that she was being fooled, the reason Sun accepted Alex''s offer to join Asora was because she was well aware that she owed him, even if he didn''t intend for that to happen, and because he had stated that she wouldn''t have to fight if she didn''t want to. Of course, she didn''t get to dwell on that for too long before Alex led her down another alley, and produced a coat for her out of nothing while saying, "It''s practically winter there so you''ll need this." Though she was slightly surprised since it was almost summer in Japan, Sun didn''t question Alex''s offer and quickly slid the coat on while he produced a wall of mist right in front of them, and followed him through it. Sun was quickly grateful that Alex gave her a coat beforehand, as the moment she stepped through the curtain of mist she immediately started shivering as the cold seemed to penetrate right through her, before Alex used his ''Domain'' to steadily warm the air around them. As her shivering slowed, Alex said, "Sorry about that, it gets colder when there''s no clouds to blanket us in the winter, but it gives us an amazing view of the night sky." As he spoke Sun looked up, and her jaw dropped at what she saw before them. Stretched out before them was a city that didn''t appear at all like the usual human cities she had been to, for one there was no continuous blaring of horns or other invasive sounds that usually accompanied the hustle and bustle of activity, and the air was marginally cleaner than any she had ever tasted, to the point that Sun had even stopped to take in several deep breaths of the freezing winter air. Then when she looked above her, Sun was able to see what appeared to even be entire galaxies and unfamiliar star systems hovering there, twinkling down on them with more clarity than she had ever seen before. After letting her have a few minutes to admire the view around her, Alex made a couple of calls before he suddenly said, "Come on, let''s go get you settled in for the night." Though his voice startled her a bit, Sun eagerly followed after Alex as he made his way into the city before him, which, despite the cold and that fact that it was already night, was still alive as various people tried to sell their goods. Though they passed the usual cafe or so, there was also a surprising amount of people selling stands with the front of their stores wide open, allowing the aroma of piping hot treats to reach the duos noses long before the owners called out to them. As all of them obviously recognized Alex, they shouted out to him specifically with offers of free samples for him and Sun to taste, the majority of which he politely declined with the exception of some hot chocolate and a freshly made chocolate pastry, which he gave to Sun. Though she looked a bit concerned that they didn''t pay for them, Alex quickly said, "They all usually offer me free samples whenever I walk through the city, though I typically politely decline unless I''m on a date with someone in my harem." Though she felt somewhat relieved at Alex''s words, a bit of red that didn''t have anything to do with the cold crept into Sun''s cheeks as she realized that everyone must have thought she was a part of his harem, and that they were on a date. As Sun tried to hide her embarrassment by nibbling on the pastry, Alex didn''t notice her current state due having caught sight of Vali and Aiko walking down the street as well, with the latter wrapped up in an extra jacket that was obviously too big for her, and the former trying hard to not appear as if he was cold after giving her his jacket. As if he could feel someone''s eyes on them, Vali suddenly started looking around until his gaze met Alex''s, and a frown formed on his face before he started glaring slightly at Alex''s smirk. As Alex''s urge to laugh at his rival increased, so too did Vali''s glare as he mentally swore at him for smirking at them during their date. It was then that Sun noticed where Alex''s attention was, and she held up her sign to ask, ''Do you know them?'' Alex nodded and stated, "Yeah, but he''s the last guy you''d expect to find a girl and settle down, so I was laughing at him somewhat." Sun then looked at Vali and Aiko one more time before the two turned down another street, and couldn''t help but think the duo seemed sweet together, and that Aiko might understand her suffering. The duo then continued through the streets as Alex led her to their destination, which ended up being a manor larger than any house Sun had ever seen. As she was staring up at it, Alex explained, "This is where the male peerage members of one of my wives live, along with their significant others. You''ll stay here for the time being until you can find something more permanent." Though she was slightly worried when he said that the manor was for men, Sun let out a sigh of relief when Alex said there were girls living there as well, before holding up her notebook to ask, ''Where do you stay?'' Though she was glad that she''d be staying with other girls, even though it was only temporary, Alex was the only person in Asora that Sun knew, and so if something happened then she wanted to know where he''d be. Without putting too much thought into her question, Alex immediately turned and pointed up a nearby mountain, making Sun''s jaw drop slightly when she saw the sheer size of the building that Alex claimed was his home, which easily dwarfed the one she was currently standing in front of. Though she had figured Alex was someone important within this world, seeing the place he called home made her think she had underestimated his position, but before she could ask about it the door in front of them opened and a feminine voice stated, "Hello, you must be Sun!" When she turned towards the speaker, Sun was surprised to see a girl who appeared to be a couple years older than her with crimson red eyes and long silvery blonde hair. The girl then continued, "I''m Valerie, it''s a pleasure to meet you!" Quickly recovering from her stupor, Sun swiftly wrote in her notebook before holding it up for Valerie to see. ''Hello Valerie, it is nice to meet you. My name is Sun Otonashi.'' With her smile widening as she saw Sun''s way of ''talking'', Valerie then took in Sun''s figure before grabbing the latter by the hand and dragging her into the manor to her room, where Tosca was already waiting for their ''sleepover''. Alex could only stand in front of the door for a few seconds after it closed in his face, a wry smile forming on his lips from Valerie''s actions, and from the fact the he knew a night of being made to try on various costumes awaited Sun due to Valerie''s habit of cosplaying, which was also the origin of Gasper''s cross dressing when they were kids. Alex then used Spatial magic to directly teleport to Misty Manor, where he found Rias waiting up for him before entering the space-time orb, along with Anne and Gabriel. Instead of heading directly to the space-time orb, Alex collapsed into the couch next the almost scarily pregnant woman before wrapping one of his arms around her and gently pulling her close for a kiss while Rias asked, "So how was your date?" Once he separated from Anne, Alex looked towards the Crimson haired woman and stated dramatically, "It was terrible! She rejected my feelings and broke my heart! I think a full night of ''comfort'' is in order!" Rias smiled wryly at this while Anne pinched his cheek lightly at his joke, and Gabriel came around to sit on his other side as if to comfort him. After a few minutes of being comforted by the beautiful women, Alex then asked Anne, "So how are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Anne smiled at his concern and said happily while rubbing her belly, "No, thank you, though it shouldn''t be too long now until he''s born. I can''t wait to finally meet our son, though it''ll also be nice to move around normally again." Alex''s smile widened when he heard her, before he replied, "So you think its a boy huh? Though I''ll be happy either way, after two daughters it would be nice to have a boy as well." Though as he spoke Alex knew that, out of the three women currently expecting, chances were higher than not that he''ll have at one son soon, though he was also looking forward to introducing Edith and Mai to their baby brother/sisters. He then asked Gabriel how the two girls were doing since he was too busy to help take care of them that day, to which Gabriel stated that, besides missing their father, both girls were fine and were currently sound asleep. He then sat there for the better part of an hour with the two women while Rias sat across from them, waiting patiently for when they''d enter the space-time orb for the night. Eventually Alex had to leave the warmth of his two wives sides, and saw them to bed before entering the orb with Rias, where she and everyone else tried to mend his ''broken heart''. *** The next morning Sun made her way downstairs from Valerie''s room with a sleepy expression on her face, courtesy of the half-vampire making her try on various outfits while she and Tosca watched on. In the living room however she found three girls sitting with Valerie and Tosca(Kiba, Gasper, Ryutarou, and Endou were all out for early morning training), the first of which to stand was shorter girl with long blonde hair, who eagerly introduced herself. "Hello, I''m Asia, one of big sis Rias''s ''Bishops''! You must be Sun!" Though Sun didn''t know who Rias was, she knew that ''Bishops'' were part of a peerage, and assumed that she was Asia''s master along with the boys living here. Before she could write out a reply, another of the three visitors with short blue hair stood up, and introduced herself as well while holding out her hand, "I''m Xenovia, a ''Knight''!" As Sun shook her hand she couldn''t help but notice that, while it softer than a guys, Xenovia''s hand felt tougher than a normal girls, a testament to all of the sword training she must do as a ''Knight''. Immediately after her introduction the final girl, who had her brown hair tied back into twin tails, quickly stood as well and said excitedly, "Hello, I''m Irina! I''m not a devil like these two, but an angel of heaven! My card is an ''Ace'' by the way!" Though she seemed proud of her self introduction, Xenovia quickly piped up, "Even if she was told about peerages, I doubt she knows about the brave saints you self proclaimed angel." Though Irina was about to snap back at Xenovia''s obvious provocation, Sun cut her retort off by quickly holding up her notebook to get everyone''s attention, which said, ''Nice to meet you everyone, my name is Sun Otonashi!'' Seeing her with her notebook held up for everyone to see, Xenovia quietly remarked, "She''s definitely a lot cuter than I thought she''d be..." With everyone else nodding in agreement, Valerie quietly told Xenovia that she''d share some of the pictures she secretly took of Sun''s cosplay from the night before with her. While the two were discussing that in secret, Asia curiously asked, "So what species of Youkai are you Sun? We haven''t been around too many youkai from this world." Though she hesitated for a brief moment, Sun then held up her notebook once more to show it said, ''A siren.'' As the girls read what she wrote, they were surprised when a pair of pure white feathery wings suddenly sprouted from her back, making her look just like an angel instead of a Youkai. Though they were all slightly dazed as first, Irina quickly jumped up and summoned her own wings, causing three pairs of the feathery appendages to sprout from her back as she cried out, "Look, we match Sun!" Just as the five girls were stunned by her appearance before, now it was Sun''s turn as she stared at Irina''s six wings in awe. Though Xenovia was also tempted to summon her own devil wings, Valerie prevented her from doing so as she suddenly stated while clapping her hands together, "Ok! Now let''s hurry so that you guys aren''t late for breakfast! I''m sure that Sun wants to see as much of Asora as she can." Though the siren looked at her with some mild confusion for a second, Asia quickly explained, "Alex asked us three to show you around Asora today! We''ll start with breakfast at a popular restaurant we have here, and then we''ll move around from there. Don''t worry, we''ll wait while you get dressed." Realizing she was making them wait on her since she had just gotten up, Sun quickly made her way back upstairs where she found her backpack, and slid on the other dress within it since she only had two of them, and a nightgown, for personal clothes. After taking a moment to fix her dark blue hair that fell down past her shoulders, Sun swiftly made her way downstairs where everyone else was still waiting for her. Seeing she was ready Asia, Irina, and Xenovia all got up, but when they saw her wearing a dress despite the cold outside they each made a face, while Sun defensively held up her notebook to say, ''I didn''t have any winter clothes, only dresses...'' This made them shake their heads in exasperation, while Xenovia mused, "Then we''ll have to make Crystabel''s shop one of our stops today." With Irina and Asia nodding in agreement, the trio then guided Sun out of the manor, only stopping long enough to grab their coats, while Valerie and Tosca waved them off with smiles, before they resumed putting together the picnic they planned to take to Gasper and Kiba while they were training. The trio then led Sun along the frozen streets of Asora, where they pointed out anything and everything of interest along the way to their destination, the western style restaurant Wisteria. Though when they arrived there Sun was concerned about how she didn''t have any money, which the church trio didn''t pay any attention to as they quickly ushered her inside to eat despite her silent protests. After giving their orders to the waitress that came to greet them, Yuuka, the group then passed the time as the church trio constantly asked Sun a series of questions about herself, things she liked, her childhood and so on. Asia and Xenovia then felt a strong sense of kinship with her when Sun explained that she had grown up in Youkai Academy after her parents abandoned her due to her abnormal level of powers, which they were unable to deal with. As the duo were also telling Sun about their past, the bell to the front door of the restaurant jingled as someone else walked in, with his hair having been returned from white to black, the eye patch gone, and his left arm looking normal despite the fact that it was still artificial underneath. As Hajime entered the restaurant, he was immediately greeted by several other regulars before a bubbly Yuuka ran up to him,prompting him to plant a kiss on her cheek in front of everyone, making her face go Crimson instantly while a certain table that consisted of their former classmates started catcalling them. Though Hajime simply ignored the loud teens as he made his way to the church trio and Sun, Yuuka however made an expression eerily similar to Kaori''s hanya mask, and pulled out several carrots before skillfully throwing them at the now terrified boys. Ignoring the cries of pain his second fianc¨¦ was inflicting, Hajime greeted the church trio before turning his attention towards Sun and asking, "You''re Sun Otonashi, right? My name is Hajime Nagumo" Though she was curious as to how Hajime already knew about her, Sun merely replied with her notebook, ''It is nice to meet you Hajime.'' Once introductions were out of the way, Hajime then summoned a small rectangular box from his storage ring before holding out to her and saying, "Alex asked me to make this for you last night. I was told you''d be by here this morning, so I figured I''d drop it off then." Though she hesitated slightly at first, Sun ended up accepting the box Hajime offered her and opened it up to reveal a beautiful dark blue fountain pen that matched her hair. As she admired the masterful craftsmanship of the pen, Hajime started explaining, "It uses your supernatural energy to write in the air in a style and color of your choosing, before the words disappear a few seconds later. I was originally planning to add several other functions to it, like lasers that shoot out of the tip, or maybe using Spatial magic to store missiles in it, but Kaori got angry for some reason and wouldn''t let me..." All four girl''s eyes started twitching when they heard of Hajime''s original plans to weaponize the seemingly harmless pen, and they silently said their thanks to Kaori for stopping him when she found out. As instructed, Sun then held up the pen and carefully channeled her youkai energy into it before slowly writing with in the air, the first thing she said with it being, ''Thank you Hajime!'' Satisfied with her reaction to her new pen, Hajime smiled and said his goodbyes before he made his way to the counter to order his own breakfast. Though she felt as if she was receiving way too much while not deserving it, Sun couldn''t help but feel happy that so many people were thinking about her. Little did she know this was just the beginning, as after breakfast the church trio took her to Crystabel''s clothing store, where, similarly to Valerie the night before, Crystabel had a lot of fun recommending various outfits for the petite girl. After well over two hours of being made to change over and over again into various outfits, the group finally left the clothing store with a very worn out Sun, who was now at least attired properly for the current weather of Asora. Following that the church trio took her to the seaside village that had been named New Raisen, where the Dagon had settled in and were continuing their aquatic activities despite the cold weather. Even though Alex had told them not to worry about continuing the supply of seafood or their other jobs with the extreme cold, the Dagon insisted that they continue supplying Asora with the seas bounty. It turned out that they were more resistant to the cold than humans were, which was needed for them to be able to dive at certain depths, and, with Hajime also mass producing artifacts similar to what they had used to stay warm in the Frost Caverns of Schnee, the seaside settlement was as lively as ever regardless of the several feet of snow around them. Sun in particular was enjoying walking around the various stalls and stores, as she felt at home by the sea due to her lineage as a siren, which were originally sea dwelling creatures. As she did, Sun couldn''t resist the chance to ''talk'' to the various residents as she had never seen or heard of the Dagon people before, her questions mostly revolving around them themselves and how they came to Asora. Naturally, she was exceptionally surprised to learn that they were a race that belonged to the group known as ''demihumans'', who were subject to extreme forms of abuse and even slavery simply due to the race they were. Though the Dagons had been lucky compared to other demihumans, the only thing protecting them from the same treatment was their inherent usefulness in procuring seafood for the humans that would otherwise oppress them as well. Though they were invited to live in Asora for similar reasons, each and every Dagon was happy to have made the move since they not only no longer had to worry about potential enslavement, but they also wouldn''t be caught in the war between humans and demons, and they didn''t have to worry about pirates, sea monsters, or kidnappers. Instead, they were able to live without worries for their personal safety on a day to day basis, they got to experience the wonders of modern advancement, and there was even an education that kings and emperors would be jealous of in Tortus for all of them. What had surprised Sun the most was that each and every Dagon she had talked to had happily stated that Alex was the one to thank for their current situation, as he was the one who had originally visited them and extended an invitation to them to migrate, though a nine-tailed fox named Yasaka handled all of the details. Eventually the group left the chilly seaside village of New Raisen to head to their next destination, however, instead of using magic to teleport like they had before, Asia led Sun down a fight of stairs to an underground tunnel. Though it appeared to something akin to a subway tunnel, Sun was confused for a second considering that there was no tracks for the trains to run on. She didn''t have long to wonder however, as within seconds a train came barreling towards them almost soundlessly as it hovered in the air slightly before slowing down, and then descending to rest on the ground to allow its passengers to exit before they got on along with several others. With all of the seats facing each other with two facing forward and two facing back, the four girls managed to get a set of seats to themselves while everyone else settled themselves, and Xenovia explained, "The train runs on what we call Gravity magic, it allows the train to float off of the ground and then move at speeds that modern human engineers could only dream of. As for the person who runs it.." As she trailed off, Xenovia''s voice was replaced by another girls that sounded over the various speakers as she chimed out, "Weeeeelcome to all of you new riders to Miledy''s fabulous train rides, where the only speeds are fast, scarily fast, and ''OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO DIE!'' So lean back and try not to wet yourselves as we go since there is a camera, and you''ll end up on our growing wall of shame! Now let''s gooooooo!" Without giving anyone the chance to think twice, the train suddenly lurched forward as the speeds gradually picked up until anything outside the Windows was a blur. As she had never moved so fast in her life, Sun was gripping the armrests of her seat nervously as if for dear life while Asia, Xenovia, and Irina seemed to be completely unaffected by the high speeds they were moving at. After a few minutes the door leading to the car ahead of their''s opened, and a blonde girl with a cutesy version of a conductors hat and vest appeared, before twirling in front of them and declaring, "Hey everyone, so what are you guys doing out and about?" Asia gestured to Sun and said, "We''re showing Sun around Asora. She just arrived last night and Alex asked us to show her around." Before Sun could try and introduce herself, Miledy suddenly made an exaggerated gasp as she stated, "Don''t tell you''re the new haremite?! Every time I turn around it seems like there''s a new one! Then again why wouldn''t there be when we''re talking about Alex''s amazing and giant d-" before she could finish her statement, Miledy''s words were cut off by a sudden chop on the top of her head courtesy of Xenovia, who said in a deadpan while the blonde haired girl rubbed her head tearfully, "Don''t try to put weird ideas in Sun''s head. She''s already got a lot going on with moving here, and she doesn''t need to have you planting unnecessary expectations in her mind when it isn''t true." Though Miledy glared at Xenovia with a pout and slightly teary eyes, she then noticed both Irina and Asia nodding in agreement while Sun herself watched on confusedly. The truth was that Alex had mentioned to the three girls the night before that he had invited Sun to join his peerage, but she had turned him down almost immediately. He then told them that he had no intentions to try and force her into a relationship with him, and that he didn''t want them trying to plant the idea into her head for him, something they thought was strange until they actually met Sun herself. While Miledy was confused as to what Xenovia meant, she didn''t continue the topic as she instead greeted Sun normally while conversing with the girls until they reached the next stop. "Aaaaaaaand that''s it folks! Here we are home sweet home, please watch your step as you disembark, and watch for ice on your way home! As for everyone else, next stop, THE ACADEMY!" With her finger pointed forward as if she was saying ''charge!'', the train suddenly shot forward as it gradually sped up until it was going even faster than it was before. As she gripped the armrests like she had before, Sun was a little worried as the train began going even faster, a reaction that Miledy noticed as a mischievous grin spread across her lips before she shouted, "We have a ways to go, so let''s go even faster!" At her command the train incredibly sped up even more until Sun felt as if she was being pushed back into her seat, before Miledy suddenly shouted, "FASTER!" Even though she thought it was impossible by this point, the train sped up even more to the point that Sun felt as if her eyes go into the back of head, before Miledy once again shouted, "FAAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEER!!!" *** "Owee..." Miledy whimpered as she rubbed the top of her head, which was now covered in welts courtesy of Xenovia and Irina once the train finally stopped at the academy, while Asia comforted the slightly sick Sun. "You brutes..." Miledy stated, but she quieted up when Xenovia stepped towards her as if she was going to hit her once again, but was prevented from doing so as a new voice spoke up, "Welcome everyone." The five girls looked up and saw someone that they were slightly surprised had come to get them, Sona. As she approached Irina couldn''t help but ask, "Oh? What brings you here miss headmistress?" With the emphasis on the last two words, a small smile formed on Sona''s lips from pride before she stated, "I heard you were going to be coming by, and since the Academy isn''t too busy yet I thought I''d come to say hello." Though Irina and Xenovia didn''t think anything of it, a mischievous grin spread on Miledy''s face again at the chance in front of her as she said teasingly, "Is that really the case? Or did your big sister come to visit and you just wanted to get away from her?" Sona flinched slightly when she heard Miledy''s teasing remark, indicating that she had hit the nail on the head while Asia asked, "What is she doing here in her condition?" Sona sighed before responding, "Though she has mellowed out slightly since she can''t move around like normal, she still comes by every chance she gets while claiming it''s because she can''t do anything else right now..." As everyone else gave her looks of sympathy, Sun just looked confused before Sona properly introduced herself while leading them to her office. Along the way she pointed out and explained the various buildings and areas of note to Sun, who''s head kept turning as if it was on a swivel while she mentally compared the Academy to Youkai Academy. As a group of small children ran by, she couldn''t help but ask, ''The Academy is for all ages?'' To this Sona nodded while excitedly saying, "Yes, we offer all grades from preschool through college, but even then I don''t discourage a.d.u.l.ts from attending lessons as well. Some worlds that we end up visiting may be underdeveloped, and so I intend to allow anyone who seeks knowledge to attend the academy." She then went on to explain to Sun about how the Dagons and the Haulia, a group she hadn''t met yet, were perfect examples of this since they couldn''t properly study before entering Asora, besides from the basics of what they needed to work. She then went on to explain the myriad of classes she hope to have in the future in order to cover every possible subject, as well as physical classes and activities such as Blitzball and, of course, the Rating Games. Sona was in the middle of explaining the complexity of the Rating Games to Sun, when suddenly she froze, her eye twitching slightly. Before Sun even had a chance to ask what was wrong, a shrill voice suddenly cried out, "SON-TAAAAAN!!! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND LIKE THAT?!!!!" Locating the source of the voice, this time it was Sun''s turn to have her eyes start twitching as she saw a petite girl with her black hair tied back into twin-tails, except that she also had stupidly massive b.r.e.a.s.ts for her size, making Sun look at her own with pity. After comparing the difference between the two of them, she then noticed that the girl also had an overly swollen belly, indicating that she was pregnant. This made her even more dumbfounded before Irina said, "This is lady Serafall, a former Maou who currently commands all of the Devils of Asora, and Sona''s big sister." By this point Sun''s mind numbed somewhat as she watched Serafall affectionately embrace Sona while the latter gave her a deadpan stare, and the various onlookers made comments regarding the duo. If it was the Sona of the past then she might have even burst into tears from how embarrassed she would be at her sisters behavior, however that was before they ended up sharing the same bed and man together. And so, she simply grabbed her sisters ear and hauled her back inside while also criticizing her behavior and how it was unbecoming of someone in her position, and with her condition. As they reached the grand entrance way to the main building of the Academy, Sona however turned back and said to Miledy, "Don''t you have somewhere to be Miledy?" The blonde haired girl smirked and said while pulling out her pocket watch, "Don''t worry! I got here early specifically so that I''d have some time to kill, look here, I''ve even still got-" At that point she cut off suddenly as she stared at her watch, before turning around and sprinting away at the highest speed she could manage on the slick ice, earning her a series of sighs as everyone watched her go. After Miledy''s departure, Sona then led the group up to her office, where she immediately sat her sister down on a couch and made sure she had everything he needed to warm and comfortable without having to get up. She then spent some time visiting with the group before taking Sun on a more in depth tour of the Academy with Irina and Xenovia, while Asia stayed behind with a moody Serafall who was mad about being left behind. As the sun started setting and the chill in the air became more intense, Sona decided it was time for them to retire for the day, and used magic to bring all of them to Misty manor for some dinner, which Sun was obviously invited to with them. The first thing that had surprised her when she entered the spacious manor was how big and grand it was, but that paled to when she saw the sheer amount of girls within it, that, including the three pregnant women, were all a part of Alex''s family. The man himself was already home as well, except he was busy playing with his children while they waited for dinner to be ready. As he lifted Edith in the air and Myuu rode on his shoulders, Alex turned and noticed Sun standing there, staring at him curiously until he asked, "What is it?" She quickly shook her head as if to say it was nothing, and joined him in playing with the children until dinner. Alex then asked, "So how was your tour of Asora?" Sun paused for a moment at his question, before she pulled out her new pen and wrote, ''It was amazing... I never knew that a place like this could exist. And thank you for the pen.'' Alex smiled widely at her words before telling her it was nothing, until Mai grabbed his attention by waddling over with a new toy she wanted him to see. While Alex continued playing with his children, Sun couldn''t help stealing glances at him as the various things she''d seen and heard that day ran through her mind. Eventually they got the call that dinner was ready as the three mothers came to collect their daughters, where Sun officially met nearly every member of Alex''s harem, minus the ones staying within the space-time orb. Seeing all of the girls around her was stupefying to say the least, but what also surprised her was the strong sense of unity that existed between them; while a couple of them, such as Rias and Yue, had a bit of a rivalry going, they didn''t let that disrupt the harmony they seemingly had amongst each other, and the one at the center of it was of course Alex himself. Once dinner and dessert were over everyone started dispersing as some of them prepared for bed, while the majority started entering the space-time orb for the night as usual. Alex was about to go and help get the girls ready for bed, but instead someone grabbed his sleeve, making him turn to find Sun holding up her notebook which said, ''Can we talk?'' Curious as to what she wanted, as Sun seemed visibly nervous, Alex led her to an empty room before closing the door so that they could get some privacy. He then show a slight wry smile however as he noticed the girls crowding around the outside of the door through his ''Domain'', while Shia even pressed one of her bunny ears against the door to listen in on the conversation inside. Choosing to ignore them since Sun didn''t seem to notice their presence, he then turned towards the siren and asked, "So what did you want to talk about?" Sun took in a deep breath as if preparing herself, before using her pen this time to write out, ''If you''ll still let me, I''d like to join your peerage.'' There was a beat of silence as Alex took this in, before he slowly said, "I''d gladly welcome you if you really want to accept it, but I''m curious why you suddenly want to when you said no last night." For a moment Sun didn''t reply, before she started writing, ''That was because I didn''t know you too well yet or what you wanted, but today I saw the world you are helping to build, the people you''ve helped, and I''ve heard about the great things you''ve done. If it''s to help a world of ''peace'' like this, then I''ll gladly fight and join your.... your.....'' At this point Sun''s face became entirely red as she tried to make herself write out the word ''harem'', which was such an undeniably ''cute'' reaction that Alex smiled warmly before he plopped his hand down on top of her head, ruffling her hair slightly. Though this brought her attention back to him, Sun''s embarrassed face was replaced with puffed out cheeks as she didn''t like being treated like a child. Before she could say anything however, Alex stated, "I would be honored to have you join my peerage, though I want you to understand that I''m not the ''good'' person others may make me out to be. If needed, I''ll readily become a monster or demon if it''ll further my goals, or if it''s for those I love." At the end of Alex''s words, he was surprised when Sun suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him as if she were trying to comfort him, before the most beautiful voice he had ever heard whispered at a barely audible level, "You are a good person...." While Alex was standing there gobsmacked at hearing Sun speak for the first time, her resolve to join his peerage was reaffirmed. While she toured Asora that day she had paid attention to everything around her, especially the way the people acted and how they spoke when talking about Alex. From them, and especially how he acted around his wives and children, Sun had concluded that Alex himself was a good person; and, despite his insistence otherwise, she had decided to help him achieve his goals if it meant that the people already around him, and any that''ll need his help in the future, were able to live happily. After several minutes passed Sun finally released Alex from her embrace, and used her pen to write ''I am ready!'' Releasing a mild sigh of exasperation, even though he had a wry smile, Alex pulled out a Crimson ''Pawn'' piece and explained to Sun how to use it. He then walked her through how to use the system and how to choose a job, which she was able to do because of all of the times others had challenged her to a fight at Youkai Academy. Eventually the duo left the room, while everyone else had scattered by then, as Alex started walking Sun through basic knowledge regarding being part of a peerage while also showing her where the space-time orb was. When they entered it Alex was unsurprised to find everyone else already there after they stopped eavesdropping, however there seemed to be an intensity in the air, which primarily came from Kurumu as she intensely sparred with Shizuku after learning that Alex had added another person to his peerage. After getting Sun acquainted with those she had yet to meet, Alex was about to have Grayfia help her choose her room, when suddenly he was approached by a certain pink haired vampire. Moka seemed fairly nervous as she approached Alex, before saying, "My ''inner'' self wants to talk to you, so can you please remove my rosary?" This made Alex raise his brows slightly, as he could only imagine what ''inner'' Moka wanted to say. Whatever Alex had been expecting however, it certainly wasn''t a super powered spin kick directed at his face the moment the rosary had come off, or the murderous glint in ''inner'' Moka''s eyes as she glared at him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Sun Otonashi Race: Siren Titles: Generation''s Strongest Job: Songstress: 1 Jobs Available: Supportive Singer, Protective Songstress, Saboteur Singer, Vocal Healer Job History: Passive Skills: Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool: Level 9 Vocal Layering: Level 3(Allows the user to layer several ''songs'' on top of each other, as well granting the ability to talk even while they sing) Vocal Projection: Level 3(Assists in projecting the users voice far beyond what they would normally.) Active Skills: Siren in the Dark: Level 5(Sun''s ultimate move that allows her to deal minute damage to the internal muscles and organs of her opponent over time while using a voice that can''t be heard by others, slowly killing them while they have yet to realize they were being attacked.) Silence in the Dark: Level 4(A direct sonic attack that is used to damage the opponents muscles to prevent them from using parts of their body for a time, opening them up to attacks.) Song of protection: Level 4(A song that helps to protect those who hear it from status effects, such as Kanade''s ''Song of Death''. Does not however protect from physical attacks.) Battle Cry: Level 1(Temporarily raises the physical strength of the users allies when they hear it.) Unique Abilities: Immense Supernatural Power Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 314 - NOTICE So I planned to add this to the end of the chapter I was gonna post today, but it got delayed because of exactly what this notice is about. Right now I''ve been busy with trying to cut, split, and stack all of my firewood to prepare for winter, which me and my family are rushing to get done because we don''t know how much longer we''ll be able to cut with all of the recent fires(we''ve been working on just one house''s firewood for the last six hours straight now). And also hunting/camping season is coming up soon, so I''ll be busy with that as well along with any left over firewood that needs to be done. Hopefully once those are out of the way I''ll only have my job to worry about and we''ll be slow enough that I''ll be able to write more often, but no promises since I don''t want to get any hopes up. Thank you for the understanding. Chapter 315 - Jealousy Even after dodging her immediate attack, and receiving a glare from her filled with murderous intent, Alex''s expression was a deadpan as he asked, "Is something wrong Moka?" When she heard his question the angry vampire''s expression darkened, before she stated coldly, "You claim you want me to the point that you molest me every chance you get, yet you chase after every piece of ass that crosses your path? You promised to help me avenge my mother, yet drop everything for a pretty girl you''ve never met who flutters her eyes? AND YOU ASK ME IF THERES SOMETHING WRONG?!" At this point Moka was practically shouting as she glared at Alex furiously, the latter however just stared back expressionlessly as if waiting for her rant to finish, before asking with a slight teasing tone, "Sooooooo, you''re jealous?" When she heard that and the giggles of surrounding girls, the tips of Moka''s ears and her cheeks turned a fair shade of red, before she stomped her foot into the ground with enough force to momentarily shake the entire villa while shouting, "I AM NOT!" As the shaking stopped the spectating girls giggled once again at Moka''s ''temper tantrum'', making the silver haired vampire''s face turn even redder with a mix of embarrassment and fury. Alex however stared at her seriously and intensely for a few seconds, before saying, "If your issue is wether or not I''ll accept you, then I am ready to do so at any given time. All I''ve been waiting on is your ok." As she heard what Alex said Moka gritted her teeth in frustration, the urge to hit him building within her once more. Vampires were naturally one of the most powerful and prideful beings on the planet, with only rare exceptions such as phoenixes exceeding them in both, and as such Moka couldn''t truly lower herself to accept being one amongst the collection. With Alex being what the vast majority of vampires would consider the perfect mate, in terms of both power and pride during the few occasions when he was serious, it was frustrating to Moka that he wouldn''t just take what he wanted even if it required force to do so. Instead, he was content to wait until she naturally accepted him despite the occasional slap or snide remark in response to his s.e.x.u.a.l harrassment. While clinching her fists angrily, she decided to give him one last chance to prove himself, and stated, "I challenge you to a duel! If you win then you''ll be able to as you wish to me, if I win however, then I''ll be done with you and leave to avenge my mother on my own!" Immediately Alex''s expression hardened at her challenge, while the girls surrounding them had stopped giggling and stared at the duo seriously. He was silent for a few seconds as he contemplated what he had done to drive Moka to make such a challenge, before realizing this was probably her way of making him try to take action instead of waiting. In the original series Moka had told Tskune several times that she hated indecisive men due to the constant rivalry between her ''outer'' self, and the other girls vying for Tskune''s affection. It wasn''t until he had broke into Fairy Tale''s headquarters to save her after she had been kidnapped, and his confession during the final battle, that Moka had accepted Tskune as her lover. In comparison Alex had made his intentions known to her, and had simply been waiting for ''inner'' Moka to accept him and allow her ''outer'' self to act as she pleased. Meanwhile he had been accepting other girls into his ever increasing harem, while Moka was probably growing increasingly frustrated from watching this at the side. Realizing that Moka probably wanted him to take more decisive action and ''force'' her to submit to him, even if she didn''t have a submissive nature or fetish, Alex turned to the side and simply said, "Kuroka." The nekomata nodded in understanding as space started distorting around Alex and Moka, as well as those in his peerage, before they found themselves standing in a small arena that was surrounded by a rock garden and trickling streams. While Moka glanced around Alex''s private floating island to quickly take in her surroundings, Grayfia stated, "As the members of our master''s harem and peerage, we will be acting as the official witnesses to this fight! The match will begin on my mark and will continue until one of you is unable to go on, any questions?" While Moka shook her head, Alex however asked her, "Are you truly sure you want to do this?" This made Moka''s brows furrow, but, with her not otherwise responding, Grayfia sighed in exasperation before raising her hand into the air, the rest of the girls retreating from the arena while Shia led a confused Sun to the side. They were taking the current situation very seriously since they were aware that Alex had wanted to make Moka his second ''Rook'', while Sun didn''t understand what was happening besides the fact that her presence must have triggered it. She then asked Rias, ''Is this my fault? Should I do something to stop it?'' Rias smiled wryly at her concern, and explained, "It was bound to happen eventually anyways, Moka has too much pride to accept being a part of Alex''s harem otherwise." Though her concerns were far from being alleviated, Sun could only watch fretfully from the side as the duo prepared for the fight. Moka was hopping lightly back and forth as if trying to loosen herself up, while Alex had simply removed his shirt and tossed it to the side so that he was bare chested, before he let out a shout and his hair turned golden as he activated his SSJ2 transformation. His preparations complete, Alex directed his attention on he silver haired girl before him and grimly said, "Don''t expect me to go easy on you just because I intend to make you mine." In response to this Moka flashed a fearless smile for the first time before stating, "I wouldn''t have it any other way!" With nothing else being said between them, Grayfia finally let her raised hand drop as she shouted, "START!" The word wasn''t even completely out of Grayfia''s mouth before Moka''s figure blurred, and she shot forward before bringing her foot down as if to plant her heel directly onto the middle of Alex''s forehead, except as her foot touched him his figured blurred as the after image was distorted, and her foot instead impacted the ground hard enough that it left a crater and shook the entire floating island. Though she was slightly shaken that she hadn''t been able to see Alex''s movements at all, Moka didn''t let it show on her face as she immediately pivoted to block the attack her instincts were screaming was coming on her right, only to be further shocked when the punch landed on her side from the left instead. Time seemed to slow as Moka felt the force of the punch slowly enter her body, before she was launched clear to the other side of the arena until she started twisting in midair to right herself, allowing her to land gracefully until she started grimacing from the pain in her side. Moka gingerly grazed her ribs with her fingers, only to even wince as she did so to conclude that several of them were in fact broken, something Alex didn''t miss as he taunted, "Don''t tell me that was enough to faze you? That was just a gentle hello compared to what''s coming." With her glower returning in force, Moka proceeded to ignore the pain in her side as her healing factor took over, and adopted a stance once more while she tried to think. Not only had she been unable to see or sense Alex''s movements, but he had also seemingly managed to fool her instincts and attack from the opposite side of where she thought he was, something she couldn''t understand. Having grown up in her father''s house before being sent into the human world, Moka had fought other vampires for training literally hundreds of times, cultivating an extensive amount of battle experience and instinct despite being a mere child at the time, the fact that Alex was seemingly able to fool her instincts so easily confused her as she tried to understand how he was able to do so. What she didn''t realize was that it was the same ''evasion'' training she had watched Alex do numerous times to train his Observation Haki that allowed him to perform such feats, which not only allowed him to predict where an attack was coming from, but also how his opponent intended to either avoid or block his attacks. With all of these thoughts running through her head in less than a second, Moka adopted a more defensive stance so that, instead of attacking and giving Alex an opening to exploit, he would have to come to her and potentially open himself up to an attack instead. What Moka never expected was that, as she directed her attention and defense towards the front in an attempt to bait Alex to attack her rear or sides, he instead came directly at her from the front at speeds she was able to follow this time, before punching directly through her guard until his fist connected with her body, and again sent her flying away. Instead of landing nimbly this time like before, Moka instead fell to the ground as she struggled to breath after Alex''s punch had knocked the wind out of her, making her gasp repeatedly as her lungs struggled to fill with air even as her body started healing the damage done to her. As Moka struggled to stand once she finally started to get her breath back, she heard the sound of something tinging against the stone arena, and saw a glass vial fill with a dark red fluid in front of her. Before she could even say anything Alex''s voice spoke up, "Take it, it''s my blood. You''re injured and I want you at peak performance for this fight so there''s no arguments like ''you were weak because you hadn''t drank any blood'' afterwards." Moka could only grit her teeth in response to Alex''s words, as a part of her felt insulted that he would give her his blood in this situation, while a greater part felt thankful for it. It wasn''t until this point that Moka had truly realized just how dependent she had become on Alex''s blood, even if she had pointed it out before, a thought that both irritated and terrified her when she considered going without it in the future. With her frustration growing, Moka snatched up the vial and tore the cork out to down the entire contents in two gulps, before throwing it away forcefully as she stood while wiping her mouth. "Don''t expect me to thank you." She spat in annoyance, making Alex break the serious expression he had held throughout their match so far as a wry smile appeared on his lips, before it vanished just as quickly as it appeared. As Moka''s body took in the power of the blood she had just digested, her supernatural power started skyrocketing as she utilized the power within Alex''s blood for the first time since she had started drinking it. With her power increasing the way it was, Alex decided to see the power of Moka''s attacks for himself and adopted a defensive stance, right before the silver haired girl vanished as she rushed him. BOOOOOM The surroundings suddenly shook as Moka''s foot collided with Alex''s defending arm, causing a series of shockwaves to to spread even as Alex''s arm didn''t budge an inch. Moka didn''t let the fact that her first attack was blocked get to her though, as she suddenly unleashed a series of high speed attacks from every angle as she aimed for any gap in Alex''s defenses, and every exposed part of his body in an attempt to get him to flinch. With Alex using Armament Haki to protect the weak parts of his body however, the most Moka''s attacks did to him was impact him hard enough to result in some mild bruising later. Instead, after enduring over thirty attacks within the span of a few seconds, Alex''s fist suddenly came up right as Moka was about to bring her foot down on top of his head, and the two collided with enough force that the surrounding stone immediately fractured around them in a spider web while the girls that were spectating needed to brace against the resulting shockwave. As the shockwaves that resulted from their clash calmed down, Alex and Moka stared at each other before the former suddenly said solemnly, "I''ve proved that you can''t catch me, you can''t defend against my attacks, and that you can''t break through my defenses, it''s time to bring this to an end." Though Moka didn''t know what Alex meant, she quickly realized his intentions as he suddenly seized her ankle and swung her up and then down into the ground beneath them, adding even more cracks to the already vast network of them. Though she had barely been fazed when Shia did the same thing to her, Moka quickly realized that Alex''s swings carried a lot more force as he repeated the move several times on her, before releasing her ankle mid swing. As Moka flew through the air for the third time since the duel began, she nimbly twisted herself and landed neatly this time, except she felt as if her entire body was one big bruise this time as it seemingly pulsed with her heartbeat. Before she could try to assess the damage or even start healing, Moka found herself staring at a fist the split second before it impacted her face, starting the sudden intense beating she then received one sidedly at Alex''s hands. At the side the girls watched the brutal attacks their beloved dished out while either wincing or showing faraway looks as they recalled doing close combat training with Alex themselves. The only ones who seemed concerned was Kurumu, who had thought at first that Moka was ''lucky'' with the way this development was turning, but now had a pale expression as she watched the one sided beating; and of course Sun as she started fretting again and debated on stopping the fight herself, when Shia suddenly spoke up as if aware of what was going through her mind, "Don''t bother. This is what Moka herself asked for, and besides, the enemies we will have to face in the future will be even more brutal than this when we fight them, as members of Alex''s peerage we need to be ready to face them full on." Sun''s expression was conflicted as she heard what Shia said, and she responded with, ''But, this is too much!'' Shia however shook her head and stated, "No it''s not, even if it seems like he isn''t, Alex is still holding back enough to not do a significant amount of damage to Moka, since in the end his intention isn''t to kill or seriously hurt her. Besides, as a potential ''Rook'' she would need to be able to take at least this much." Shia then got a faraway look in her eyes as well as she recalled her own training with Alex, which mostly consisted of her acting as his punching bag while he was in his SSJ2 transformation, resulting in her becoming immune to the vast majority of physical attacks with her ''Durability'', while her strength had also skyrocketed. As bad as it sounded however it wasn''t all bad, as Alex would try and make up for the brutal treatment afterwards due to the fact that, regardless of how readily he would do so, even he didn''t like ''abusing'' his women in such a way, and only did so since it would make them stronger for the future. Shia herself had even gotten her chance at revenge, as the way Alex had acquired his ''Automatic Regeneration'' skill was by having her continuously beat on him with her hammer while he didn''t even defend himself, and had only used his Regeneration magic to continuously heal his wounds until they started closing by themselves. Though Sun wasn''t even remotely convinced, the rest of the girls nodded in agreement, sans Kurumu, as Rias even pointed at Moka and said, "Look for yourself." Even though she didn''t want to see the bloody spectacle any more, Sun made herself look at Moka and was surprised by what she saw; instead of anger, hatred, or resentment, there was only pure determination in Moka''s gaze alongside what Sun could only see as acceptance, acceptance that Alex''s strength significantly eclipsed her own, and that her place was beside him. Within her however her pride still fought, and, as Moka kneeled there on the ground after taking a countless number of Alex''s kicks punches, she could feel a power awakening within her in response to the corner she was finding herself in. Even though she was telling herself in the back of her mind that accepting that power was a bad idea, she was unable to fight it before she noticed Alex''s foot approaching her face once more, and Moka''s vision was filled with darkness as she was made to instantly lose consciousness. As he watched Moka fall to the ground unconsciously, Alex let out a sigh as he canceled his transformation and tried to calm himself, during which he noticed his hand shaking slightly. This made Alex smile wryly at himself, before he immediately knelt down and started healing Moka''s injuries, despite the fact that they were already healing themselves. He then picked her up in a princess carry while Grayfia approached him, before saying, "I''m going to take her back for some ''alone'' time since she apparently wants me to make my move so badly." Alex then tossed Moka''s rosary to the nearby Kuroka, before asking, "How are we on time regarding her sealing?" Kuroka snorted as she examined the rosary since Alex was basically asking how much time he had to be ''alone'' with ''inner'' Moka, before stating while tossing it back, "There''s a few hours yet before it become a concern since I''ve been keeping an eye on it~Nya. But don''t push it." Alex smiled wryly as Kuroka referred to his tendency to overdo it in bed, but he chose to ignore her jab while saying, "While I''m busy I want you guys to take Sun and experiment with her abilities. You can see how they work for yourself, and I want you to try and come up with a training regimen for her Grayfia." Though Sun looked anxious at how things were developing, what with Alex and Moka''s fight and them being told to experiment with her abilities all of a sudden, Grayfia nodded and stated, "Very well, I planned to do something similar soon anyways. There''s also her inability to talk normally to work on as well..." As the serious maid started contemplating ways to help Sun speak normally, the girl in question couldn''t help but think she might have underestimated what she had jumped into. With Kuroka taking them away with Spatial magic, Alex then teleported himself and Moka away as well since he figured she wouldn''t stay unconscious for long. *** Within only fifteen minutes of being knocks out, Moka groaned slightly as she started coming to and struggled to open her eyes, before stirring completely awake suddenly as she felt the cool metallic bands restricting both of her hands. When she opened her eyes Moka found herself laying in a bed within a grand room that could only belong to Alex, her hands bound above her head with a pair of metallic handcuffs. Though she thought that such a flimsy piece of metal wouldn''t keep her restricted, the vampire was shocked to find that she couldn''t access her supernatural energy that was the source of her strength. With the feeling of petite panic settling in for the first time, Moka was then startled as Alex''s voice suddenly said, "I wouldn''t bother, those handcuffs are designed to block a person''s access to magical, and even supernatural energies, as well as being made of the strongest ores of a fantasy world." Moka sharply turned her head to face him as he spoke, the previous events fresh in her mind as she quipped, "Isn''t this a little excessive? You''re not really scared of me after that, are you?" Alex smiled wryly at her quip, before he slowly approached the bedside she was on, making Moka''s heart rate increase with each step even though her face was a perfect mask of calm. As he reached her side Alex leaned down so that his face was right next to hers and said, "This is just to make what comes next easier." Before Moka could ask what that was, the room was suddenly filled with the sound of cloth tearing as Alex tore away the top part of her school uniform, leaving her laying there with just her skirt and her pink bra edged with black lace. Even as her cheeks turned slightly red and her heart started pounding even harder from the forced exposure, Moka''s face was a mask of calm as if Alex''s actions hadn''t effected her whatsoever, until he hooked his finger in the front of her bra. With the sound of several snaps this time Moka was forcefully relieved of yet another piece of clothing, revealing her b.r.e.a.s.ts to Alex''s greedy gaze for the first time since they met. With her b.r.e.a.s.ts being exposed to a man for the first time in her life, even the usually cool, calm, and collected Moka turned mostly red as she felt Alex''s scrutinizing gaze take in the sight of her n.a.k.e.d upper body. Seeing the fairly ''innocent'' reaction from her, Alex smiled somewhat before he suddenly leaned forward so that their body''s were pressed against each other, and Moka''s exceptionally erect n.i.p.p.l.es seemingly tried to pierce his chest as her b.r.e.a.s.ts were squished against him, while he got close to her face and whispered, "Don''t worry, no matter the methods I use I can guarantee that by the end of the night you''ll have experienced more pleasure than you ever even conceived of before." Before Moka could respond Alex leaned forward and gently sealed her lips, his hands wrapping around her back as he embraced her and shared a passionate first kiss with her, until he felt a slight pain on his lips. Alex pulled away slowly even as Moka''s teeth continued biting down on his lower lip until they even drew blood, leaving it smeared on her own lips before she used her tongue to seductively lick it off, and said, "Imagine what else I can ''bite'' if I need to." Alex smiled wryly as she continued her part of the resisting maiden, even if he was cringing slightly inside from her threat, despite that fact that even she couldn''t bite through it. Then, as Moka smirked from her threat, Alex showed no hesitation as he suddenly tore off her skirt, leaving the silver haired beauty with nothing but her pink panties with black lace to cover her shame. Moka''s smirk disappeared entirely as she tensed up while waiting for the inevitable removal of her last piece of clothing, leaving her bare and open for whatever Alex wanted to do to her. The seconds ticked by however as nothing happened, and instead Moka looked to see Alex stepping back slightly as if to admire the view before him, to which she snapped tauntingly, "What, lose your nerve at the last second? Can''t find within yourself to attack a defenseless maiden while you even have her tied up?" Though she showed some bravado, Alex''s sudden smirk caught her off guard as he explained, "I was just admiring the scenery in front of me, since the sight of a maiden tied up in nothing it her panties is actually quite a bit more attractive than I originally thought it would be. I did however just think of a new rule." Before Moka could ask what he meant, Alex slowly walked back towards her before he reached down and gently brushed the tips of his fingers against the thin cloth covering her most precious place, making the vampire shiver suddenly as she was stimulated there for the first time in her life. Alex then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "These are going to stay on for the time being, until you beg me to remove them." He then stood straight again even as his fingers continued their assault on Moka''s cloth covered crotch, making her demand with irritation, "W-what?!" Alex''s smirk widened as he explained, "I can take you now by force if I wanted, I could take you any which way and in any hole I wanted, and there''d be nothing you could do to stop me. Instead however, I''m going to make you beg me. I''ll continue toying with you as I like, but I won''t let you reach climax at all until you beg me to f.u.c.k you, to breed you, to make you mine forever. You want me to take charge and make you mine? I want you to accept me even if I have to force you to submit before you do so." As Alex spoke Moka''s face paled even as the flush in her cheeks persisted, and she felt a chill go down her spine that was easily contested and smothered by the fire spreading in her body, which was made evident by the increasingly visible line of moisture appearing down the middle of her panties. Chapter 315 - The Second Rook While Alex was ''breaking'' Moka in, the rest of the girls were doing something similar with Sun, though their intentions and methods were less questionable. After kuroka returned them to the villa Grayfia had explained the situation before leading the group, as well as the few newcomers who wanted to see Sun in action, to the sub-space orb that contained the ever growing desert terrain that was home to an ever increasing population of monsters. As Alex would occasionally transfer as much magical energy into each of the space orbs as possible, their boundaries had been in a constant state of explosive growth, while the monsters that had been forcefully moved within them had also exploded in population due to the surplus of magical power, the ever increasing boundaries, and the fact that they weren''t habitually hunted other than on occasion when someone wanted to try out a new move, or if a member of Alex''s peerage wanted to level grind. Currently the group found themselves within the bottom of a large canyon that stretched out for hundreds of miles in either direction, and was two miles across at its widest. As Sun looked around their surroundings in awe, Grayfia immediately turned towards Shia and said, "Go find us something decent to start with, just make sure it''s not too weak or too strong." The rabbit girl saluted energetically while saying "Yes Ma''am!", and took off suddenly as she leapt through the air at high speeds, stunning Sun before Grayfia called out to her, "Firstly we''ll have Shia bring us a few monsters for you to fight against, and as we get a grasp of your abilities we''ll draw some more our way to test your endurance and how strong of monsters you''re able to fight. While we wait, I want you to explain the specifics regarding your issues speaking so that we can try and figure out a way for you to be able to talk normally in the future." Though she was quickly becoming overwhelmed by everything happening around her, joining Alex''s peerage, his and Moka''s duel, and now being told to fight ''monsters'' in order to come up with a training regimen for her while also trying to work out a way for her to talk; Sun took a deep breath and composed herself as she slowly explained to Grayfia that she was born with an unusually massive amount of supernatural power, and, due to her species fighting through ''songs'', she explained that her powers were almost always active whenever she even tried to speak normally. As a result she had stopped talking altogether to avoid hurting people, and to save up her supernatural powers for the rare occasions she did fight someone. As she listened Grayfia nodded a few times while also running some ideas through her head, such as trying to get Sun to develop a ''Supernatural Energy Control'' skill or something similar, as then she''d have more control over her powers than training herself normally for several years. She also considered the idea of having Sun simply begin each day with using as much of her power as possible, either against monsters or just having her ''sing'' into the open air, until they were at a low enough level that she would have to worry about them activating involuntarily. Though it would also mean that Sun wouldn''t be able to save up her power for when she might need it, Grayfia felt this would be a mild inconvenience at most since ideally Sun''s power should begin increasing once she started gaining more experience. It was while everyone was busy pitching their own ideas, with one of the better ones being an item that either sealed her powers or allowed her to talk artificially, that they suddenly felt a slight rumble beneath their feet while a cloud of sand and dust was visibly approaching them. Grayfia''s eye twitched irritably when she saw that, and the silver haired maid grumbled, "I though I told her not to find one that was too strong!" This earned her a series of sighs from most everyone else, while Irina piped up despite Sun''s growing confusion, "Well, it''s not like a sand worm would be considered strong to any of us, I''d just say that Shia''s idea of common sense regarding what''s ''strong'' is broken." Grayfia sighed once more in response to the Angels observation, while everyone else just awkwardly laughed in agreement even before Shia and the giant sand worm became visible. "HEY EVERYBODY! YEE HAW!!!" The rabbit eared girl cried out, as she happily rode on the back of the bucking sand worm with one hand up, just like a certain western sport someone had accidentally let her watch once. With her brows twitching in annoyance, Grayfia was debating wether or not to have Sun face the sand worm when she suddenly noticed the petite woman step forward resolutely. Deciding to hold off until it appeared as if she was struggling against her opponent, Grayfia and the others were surprised when Sun took in a deep breath, and the most beautiful voice they had ever heard escaped her throat in what appeared to be waves of sound, that then honed in onto the sand worm with deadly precision. As Shia quickly leaped out of the way of the attack, everyone watched with shock as Sun''s voice impacted the sand worm, and did nothing to it. Sun however turned around and rejoined then as if she was finished, which prompted Kuroka to demand, "What was that~Nya?! You didn''t even do anything to it!" In response to the nekomata''s outburst however, Sun just showed a wry smile before, suddenly, the sand worm let out a deafening shriek that made several of the girls cover their ears as it started flailing, blood spraying from the the gaping maw that served as its mouth, before ultimately collapsing, dead. Everyone stared at the now silent sand worm in shock, before words started appearing in front of them as Sun wrote with a slightly pale face, ''The attack I just used targets and disables specific muscles within the body instantly, which I normally use to disable my opponents or to create an opening. This is the first time I used it to specifically target my opponents heart to kill them though.'' Sun then explained that the other song she usually used to fight was sang at a pitch that was normally undetectable, and would do microscopic damage to the target''s organs and muscles over time, so that by the time they realized it they would be unable to save themselves from death. Other than these Sun explain that she also possessed a song that granted protection from other sound based attacks, and another recently acquired song that could boost the physical strength of her allies for as long as she sang. At this point the girls looked at the petite woman in awe as they realized just how vicious she truly was when she fought, and how great a support she''ll be once she could learn more songs. With a gleam in her eyes, Grayfia directed Shia to go and find more monsters so that they could see more of Sun''s capabilities in action, including of course her ''Battle Cry'' that raised her allies strength. For over an hour Shia brought them a veritable horde of monsters for Sun to fight, some of which with her swift ''Silence in the Dark'', and others she used her slow yet deadly ''Siren in the Dark'', until there was quite the pile of monster corpses before them, which were stored away until they could be given to Eri later. Finally, Grayfia stated to the overly eager rabbit girl, "That''s enough Shia, I think we''ve made Sun fight enough for now." Shia clicked her tongue slightly when she heard this, as she wanted to find and ride a giant thunder roc next, while Grayfia turned towards Sun and asked, "So how do you feel?" Sun smiled wryly at this, and said without using either her notebook or pen, "More tired than I thought I''d be. I''m used to fighting from my time time at Youkai Academy, but I think this is the first time I did so much for so long since people usually tried to avoid fighting me once they saw my powers in action." Despite the fact that she had been speaking normally for a while now after using her powers enough, everyone still stared at the petite girl in awe at just how melodious and beautiful her voice was, which had made the recently arrived Ingvild disappointed that she hadn''t been able to scout Sun herself, until the latter firmly stated that she had no intention of ever becoming a performer. In response to Sun''s words though, Grayfia just nodded before saying, "Then that makes what I''m going to assign you for training even more appropriate, from now on I want you to spend as much time as possible each morning killing as many monsters as you can wth your songs. Of course you will have someone accompany you in order to draw monsters to you like Shia did today, and in case something happens and you need a hand." Though Sun didn''t mind training her powers to be stronger, she looked at the place where the giant pile of corpses had been moments prior, and asked, "Do I really need to prioritize killing so many monsters each day?" Grayfia nodded before explaining, "Firstly it would be good for you to exhaust your supernatural powers as much as possible while we''re not immediately anticipating any fights, because then you''d be able to train to speak normally like you are now; and because it''ll help you be accustomed to prolonged fights while simultaneously increasing the amount of supernatural energy you have, since, with our access to the system, whenever we drain our magic or supernatural powers it''ll also increase them by a marginal amount. "Secondly, I''ve also concluded that the best training for you is to continuously farm for experience as much as possible by killing monsters. Not only would your skills increase as you use them, but each monster you kill will also grant you experience towards your job and allow you to choose new jobs more quickly, which will increase the amount of songs you can sing as well. Naturally however we''ll have to plan around this properly so that all of the monsters we''ve got in the sub space orbs aren''t killed off, perhaps we can have a special space-time orb made specifically for ensuring that all of the monsters aren''t killed off..." As she trailed off Grayfia started muttering to herself about possible ideas to help Sun farm her experience, before the rest of the girls swarmed around her to talk with her, since this was the first time Sun was actually able to talk around them. Things then took a casual turn as everyone started relaxing and chattering, before Kuroka suddenly mused to herself, "I''m kinda curious how things are going with that vampire~Nya." Her casual comment immediately got the attention of everyone there, and, with a smirk forming on her face, Kuroka used her mastery over Spatial magic to open a window for everyone to peer into, showing them a scene that made Kurumu burn with jealousy, and Sun turn completely red before using her hands to cover her eyes, only to peer through the gaps. Through the Spatial window they saw Moka, chained to Alex''s bed with her hands above her head, breathing raggedly and deeply as Alex expertly brought the girl nearly to the peak of pleasure, only to deny her release in the end. It was obvious this had been going on for a while, as Moka''s panties, the only piece of clothing she had on left, were completely soaked with her fluids while her lower body and legs squirmed and writhed in response to the constant teasing. Despite all of this however, there was a look of unwavering determination in Moka''s eyes as she constantly fought off the pleasurable attacks Alex inflicted onto her. "I-is this all you''ve got?" She taunted once again, making Alex''s sadistic smile widen at how much she was still fighting him, regardless of the fact that he had been at this for over an hour by now. Despite her bravado however, Alex could tell that the constant assault of pleasure and the denial of release was getting to her, the problem though was that it wasn''t happening as quickly as he wanted since they were in fact under a time limit. Deciding to take things up a notch, Alex stopped teasing her with his fingers and said while turning to get something, "Sadly, yes. It appears I''ve underestimated the strength of your will Moka, however since our time is limited that just means that I''ll have to resort to other measures." Though she had felt a sort of relief at the first part of Alex''s words, the second half made the sinking feeling within her stomach return as Moka wasn''t sure how much more she could withstand. By this point it wasn''t her pride that kept her from submitting as Alex wanted, but pure stubbornness as she just didn''t want to give in. Then she saw Alex return with a certain object in his hands, one end of it being a rectangular object similar to a remote, with a wire connected to it that ended in what appeared to be a large pill. Though Moka didn''t know exactly what it was, due to the fact that she didn''t actively research such things regardless of which personality was in charge, she knew that it more than likely wouldn''t be good for her in the end. This bad feeling was proven true as Alex turned the dial a single time on the remote, and the pill suddenly started vibrating in his hands. "Let''s see how long you can hold out against this." Alex said lowly, before he brushed the vibrating pill against her right b.r.e.a.s.t, making Moka''s body spasm as sensations she never even conceived assaulted her. Alex then started rubbing the pill around her b.r.e.a.s.t while zeroing in onto her painfully erect n.i.p.p.l.e, which nearly sent the already overly sensitive woman over the edge instantly until Alex once again denied her release. "Haaaa, haaaa..." Moka panted heavily, as she now wondered how much more of this she could actually take, before Alex whispered into her ear, "If it was that good there, imagine how it''ll feel here." As he spoke Alex slowly lowered the pill while Moka watched it with a growing dread as it approached her most precious spot, before it just barely brushed against her lips through her panties. This earned Alex the most dramatic response yet as Moka''s entire body started jerking and twitching in response to the glancing touches of the vibrating pill, before, after less than two minutes he finally got the reaction he wanted as he heard her mutter, "...please..." Alex pulled the pill away from her and asked teasingly, "Please what?" Moka gritted her teeth as, after a second of hesitation, she muttered, "...please give it to me..." Alex''s smile widened before he asked once more, "What do you want me to give you? You''ll have to be a bit more specific." Moka gritted her teeth once more as her entire face started turning a very deep Crimson, but she then took in a deep breath before practically shouting, "PLEASE LET ME C.U.M! PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR BIG C.O.C.K AND FILL ME WITH YOUR SEED! P-PLEASE BREED ME!" There was stunned moment of silence as Alex, and the spectators, took in what Moka said, before her completely saturated panties were finally removed and Moka''s overly eager s.e.x was exposed to Alex''s greedy gaze. Moka then let out a gasp as something was pressed against her s.e.x, and she looked down to see Alex''s hard and throbbing c.o.c.k poised and ready to enter her, however seeing this made her pause slightly. She had already seen Alex n.a.k.e.d several times from whenever her other self joined them in the bath, while keeping herself covered at her insistence of course, and so she had also seen him hard several times from when he fooled around with the girls in there, but actually seeing how big he was close up when he was about to penetrate her made the usually calm vampire worry slightly before the man himself leaned in close and whispered, "Don''t worry, even if it hurts at first I always ensure my partner feels as much pleasure as possible." Moka looked at at Alex as he spoke, before he leaned forward and sealed her lips once again with his own, except this time she didn''t try to bite him as she simply focused on the feeling of their bodies pressed together, before she felt something started spreading her open. "Ngh, ahhh!" Moka groaned before gasping through their kiss, as she felt Alex tear through her purity and continue his charge until he hit the entrance to her w.o.m.b. After only a few seconds however the pain started receding de to her healing factor and was instead replaced by a growing sense of pleasure and relief, which only increased as Alex slowly pulled out before he began pistoning back and forth with a growing intensity. Soon the room was filled with the sound of flesh smacking and with grunts and m.o.a.ns as the two began loosing themselves in carnal pleasure, with Moka even wrapping her legs around Alex''s h.i.p.s as if to keep him from leaving her insides while her now freed arms wrapped around his neck. Alex however was growing increasingly amazed at Moka''s actions as she adjusted amazingly quickly to the pain of her first time, and had seemingly forgotten about trying to resist him as she instead lost herself within the several orgasms she experienced in rapid succession, due to all of his earlier teasing. He was also amazed at her incredible tightness around his c.o.c.k, which wasn''t too surprising considering it was her first time, but as her supernatural powers flooded her once more Alex could feel her tightening up even more as if she was trying to crush him with her insides. With him also feeling a little pent up from the prolonged foreplay, it wasn''t long until Alex himself reached his first orgasm of the night, flooding the beautiful vampire with his seed as he brought their first ride to a crawl in order to properly fill her w.o.m.b, during which Moka froze as she felt the most intense climax yet. Even as they both reached climax their fun was far from over though, as Alex suddenly swung Moka around so that she was now straddling him with her legs still wrapped around his waist. Due to the sudden change in position Moka took a few seconds to get into the groove with her suddenly being on top, but with Alex guiding her with his hands she quickly got into it, before she started bucking her h.i.p.s with even more intensity than before. Then, as if there wasn''t enough of him inside her already, Moka suddenly bore her fangs before sinking them into Alex''s neck, allowing her to drink his blood even as she continuously rode him, with even some of it dripping down onto his chest from her violent movements. Her hands then traveled down from his neck to Alex''s back, where her nails started digging into his skin hard enough to draw yet even more blood. Once he reached his second climax and filled her even more, Alex suddenly pulled Moka off of himself and his neck, much to the vampire''s surprise, and tossed her while simultaneously turning her so that she was on her hands and knees before thrusting into her from this position as well. With Alex filling her once more, Moka didn''t care about anything else as she lowered her front so that her butt was the only part sticking up, which also made it so that she couldn''t see the Spatial window that a certain group was spying on them from. The spectators weren''t missed by Alex though, who smiled widely at them even as he continued to pound the silver haired beauty hard enough that his h.i.p.s made her entire ass ripple each time they impacted each other. He then picked up something that lay forgotten next to them, before placing the still vibrating pill against Moka''s vulnerable looking asshole, making the vampire jump suddenly at the unexpected sensation, before groaning while glaring back at him, "N-no, don''t!" Alex however smiled evilly, before pressing against her anus and sinking both the pill and his finger into it until he reached the second knuckle, making Moka''s already loud voice increase in volume as she was stimulated in both her p.u.s.s.y and her ass. Alex''s smiled widened from both at her reaction, and him feeling the vibrations through her, before he pulled her up while still thrusting into her and said, "Don''t forget you''re mine, now and forever!" As he spoke Alex filled her with his seed for the third time that night, before holding up a certain thing in front of her. Even as she also climaxed and wanted the pleasure to continue, Moka still heard what Alex said and looked at the thing he held up in front of her, a crimson red ''Rook'' evil piece. Even though she had constantly refused to become his servant in the past, there was no hesitation now as Moka accepted the offered piece, and muttered while activating it, "Forever..." After accepting and activating the evil piece Moka leaned back and kissed him passionately once more, her eyes showing nothing but acceptance and care within their red irises, before she reluctantly grabbed her rosary. As much as she just wanted to continue their mindless and rough f.u.c.k-fest, Moka knew that they''d have literally an eternity to have as much s.e.x as possible, and so she decided to pass the baton to her her ''outer'' self, who had been complaining in her mind ever since she woke up on Alex''s bed. Seeing what she was doing, Alex''s smile turned wry as he whispered into her ear, "Until next time." Moka smiled in response to this, and started kissing him passionately one last time before she reluctantly attached the rosary, making her silver hair return to its usual pink and her supernatural presence vanish. As she made her reappearance, ''outer'' Moka suddenly let out a loud m.o.a.n as she suddenly felt Alex still inside her front, while the pill was still stimulating the inside of her ass. She then looked back at him with slightly teary eyes and pouted, "How mean! Not only did you accept my other self first, but haven''t even kissed ''me'' yet and you''re already playing with my body!" To this Alex could only smile wryly as he wrapped his arms around Moka gently and kissed her once again, to which her pouting expression changed into a smile as she returned his loving actions. Then, with a small groan, Moka leaned forward and took herself off his still rock hard member before turning around to face him directly, and then gave him a gentle push so that he''d fall backwards into the bed before she crawled on top of him. Instead of going in for another kiss or something though, Moka instead brought her lips to Alex''s chest before she began using her tongue to clean the drops of blood that had fallen there earlier. After several minutes of him enjoying the feeling of Moka''s soft tongue moving along his chest, Moka finally moved further up after she had gotten the last drop and went to seal his lips once more, except Alex couldn''t help but note that there was more of a coppery metallic taste to them this time. The two continued their kiss passionately, lovingly, while Moka adjusted her legs and lower body until they were on either side of Alex''s waist, and she could feel something hot and hard poking her. Moka then slowly lowered herself so that Alex''s hard rod started entering her bit by bit, and the two''s passion continued on as, instead of the hard and rough f.u.c.k-fest from before, they engaged in slow and passionate love-making. *** As the sun rose and entered Alex''s window the next morning, he couldn''t help but look at the beautiful pink haired woman happily snuggling up to him as she continued sleeping, even as he moved a strand of hair out of her face. Though a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he watched her, it slowly disappeared as he was once again immersed into his thoughts. The problem Alex was having was trying to think up a solution for the future once Moka''s seal was broken, and the ''outer'' personality was no longer ''needed''. The one last thing he still hadn''t told Moka was the fact that the ''outer'' personality of her was in fact a ''fake'', created by her mother Akasha Bloodriver, to protect and watch over the ''real'' Moka in her stead, and had even been given a part of her own consciousness to do so. Which technically meant that after he had roughly f.u.c.k.i.e.d the daughter Moka, Alex had then slowly made love with the teenage version of the mother, Akasha. Though Alex himself had no problem with this type of relationship, he was concerned with one of the personalities disappearing as, even if they had somehow ''combined'', it would still mean that he''d never be able to see one of them again. Though there were in fact numerous ways to deal with this problem, he wasn''t sure how well any of them would work as, unlike Miledi who still had her entire soul transferred into a golem, the ''outer'' Moka was merely a fragment of Akasha that was essentially ''programmed'' into the rosary. With no previous body of her own to speak of, it was questionable at best if they would be able to create a new one for her similar to Miledi. Though there were a few other ideas to consider, Alex shelved them as he felt the beauty at his side start stirring before she looked up at him sleepily, and her face blossomed into a radiant smile as Moka said, "Good morning Alex." Alex himself couldn''t help but smile back as he replied, "Good morning to you too." As if to punctuate his words, Alex leaned down and gave Moka a gentle kiss that she happily returned, something that left her feeling a great deal of relief after all of the stress of watching Alex interact with his other women in such a way for so long. As they kissed Moka started slowly moving up so that she was straddling Alex''s lap, while her cheeks started turning red as she became increasingly heated once more. Alex smirk through their connected lips and mused while his hand roughly gripped her butt, "You''re a horny little vampire, aren''t you~." This made Moka break off their kiss as she puffed out her cheeks cutely to pout, but, before she could say anything, the door to the room suddenly opened and in marched Grayfia flanked by the coyly smiling Venri and Nyx, who was also pouting somewhat. As she looked at the three newcomers, Moka''s face immediately turned Crimson from embarrassment as her building excitement was quickly forgotten, and she swiftly leapt from the bed to get away from Alex as if she had been caught doing something she wasn''t supposed to. This however made things worse as Moka realized she was standing completely n.a.k.e.d in front of everyone present, but that was before she felt something brush against the back of her leg, and looked down to see the remote for the vibrating pill that was still inside her butt even though it''s batteries had died several hours prior. There was a beat of silence during which Venri put her hand in front of her mouth as if to say "oh my!" while chuckling slightly, and Grayfia''s brows twitched at the shameless display while Nyx''s expression changed from a pout to annoyance. Alex however had a smirk on his face, even as Moka cried out while fleeing for the door to the bathroom, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" As the door to the bathroom was slammed shut Alex himself couldn''t resist a brief chuckle at Moka''s expense, before Grayfia directly asked, "So I take it things went well?" Alex ceased his chuckling immediately and replied seriously while getting out of bed himself, and shamelessly stretching in front of the trio of girls despite still being nude, "I have my second ''Rook'' now if that''s what you mean, but then again you already knew that didn''t you?" As he spoke Alex''s smile turned mischievous as he recalled the Spatial window that was used to spy on him and Moka the night before, making Grayfia turn away pointedly while her cheeks turned slightly red, before stating, "I have no idea what you are talking about." This time both Nyx and Venri gave Grayfia wry smiles as, even though she wasn''t the ringleader and had just been going along with everyone else, the former queen of Hell would never admit to peeping on someone. Rather than push the issue, Alex just turned around and joined the embarrassed Moka in the bath, where he showed her that they had already installed different water settings specifically for her world''s vampires. After washing away the evidence of their nightly activities, and calming down somewhat, Moka returned to her room to prepare for the day while Alex made his way down to the dinning room, where Rias, Rossweisse, Shia, Yue, Sun and several others were already eating their breakfast. Even as everyone else casually said ''good morning'' to Alex and he returned it, Sun however turned completely red when she saw him as a steady stream of steam rose from her head. She was still severally embarrassed from what she had witnessed the night before, and could barely even look at Alex after she had seen what he was packing under his clothes, and how he used it. What made matters worse was that, as a member of his peerage, Sun knew it was only a matter of time until it was her turn to take on the mighty beast in his pants, which was the only battle that she felt she wasn''t prepared for. Despite her embarrassment however, she still managed to shakily write, ''Good morning Alex. Is Moka ok?'' Alex couldn''t help but smile wryly when he saw what Sun was asking, as it appeared she thought the reason Moka wasn''t with him was because she was still recovering from his actions the night before. "She''s fine, she''s just getting dressed now so she''ll probably be down in a bit." This made Sun feel a little relieved as, recalling the scenes she had witnessed, a part of her couldn''t help but think that Moka might have been ''broken'' with such rough treatment. As Alex sat down and started digging into the food Altina set before him, Rias couldn''t help but ask, "So how did it go?" Repeating what he told Grayfia, Alex stated, "I have my second ''Rook'', the biggest problem with Moka now is finding a proper way for her to train without weakening the seal or activating her Shinso blood...." As he spoke Alex took the chance to look at Moka''s status, and was admittedly a little worried by what he saw. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (A.N. ''Sealed'' means that the skill is completely unusable by the ''outer'' Moka, while ''weakened'' means that the skill is lower than what is currently shown due to the rosary) Name: Moka Akashiya Race: Shinso Vampire(sealed) Job: Apprentice Martial Artist: 1 Job History: Passive Skills: Blood conversion: Level 3(sealed) Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool: Level 8(weakened) Supernatural Energy Conversion: Level 2(sealed) (though every vampire is very powerful physically, the ability that''s makes them a true terror is the ability to convert the raw supernatural energies around them into pure strength, increasing their own by several times.) Superhuman Strength: Level 3(weakened) Automatic Regeneration: Level 4(weakened) Active Skills: Charm: Level 1 Transformation: Level 1(sealed) (allows vampires to take the various forms they are associated with in their various myths and legends, however this ability has been mostly abandoned by present day vampires due to trying to appear aesthetically pleasing.) Martial Technique: Level 4(weakened) Supernatural Energy Manipulation: Level 2(sealed) (allows the user to manipulate the supernatural energies around them at will) Internal Energy Manipulation: Level 1(sealed) (unlike supernatural energies usually used by vampires, internal energy is the energy that originates within the users body itself, and is likened to the Ki used by martial artists.) Unique Abilities: Shinso Form Immense Supernatural Energy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Her race as a Shinso aside, the fact that several of her skills were labeled as (sealed) or (weakened) could only mean that they required the rosary to be removed to be used at all, which wasn''t too surprising, but was still vexing to see since it meant Moka was very limited in options to train while in her sealed state. Though she was limited on how much she could train, Alex didn''t plan to let that stop them from trying to make her stronger for when her seal finally broke. He had already discussed this with the ''outer'' Moka while they were in the bath regarding her training to gain, and then increasing, a ''Water Resistance'' skill for her biggest weakness against water, something she readily agreed was necessary considering how easily someone could use an abundant commodity like water against her. Another type of training he planned to have her do was having ''inner'' Moka spar with Shia, Koneko, and Rosswiess whenever they released the seal, however, it would be training to further refine and broaden her combat styles instead of focusing on strength. Considering that Moka''s inherent physical capabilities were practically guaranteed to make leaps and bounds once she finally fully integrated with her Shinso blood, he had no interest in tying to make her push her physical limits for the time being and risk weakening the seal even more. After explaining all of this to those in question as well as Yue, for the sake of helping Moka gain a ''Water Resistance'' skill, Alex then listened patiently as Rias and the still embarrassed Sun both outlined what was decided for the latter''s straining regimen, and how she would prioritize earning new jobs and raising the level of some of her songs by farming experience. They then started talking about various ways to make farming easier for her, and about ways to increase her beneficial skills, when Alex suddenly noticed something through his ''Domain'' that made him pause suddenly. Curious about what made Alex of all people pause, Rias was about to ask what it was when they all suddenly heard, "Goooood morning darling~!" Everyone then turned towards the newcomer, only to pause like Alex had as Sun''s gradually receding blush even returned in full force, before they each formed deadpan expressions at the newcomer''s antics. The culprit, Kurumu, smiled broadly at their reactions, or more specifically Alex''s, as she strutted in front of him and asked in a sultry voice, "What do you think, darling~?" At her question, Alex could only respond at first with a wry smile as he took in the entirety of her outfit, a pair of black stockings that went up past her knees that were strapped to a garter belt along with a matching bra. The thing that had caught everyone''s attention however, was that the bra had two holes in the very center for Kurumu''s very erect n.i.p.p.l.es to poke out of, which matched the crotchless panties of the garter belt. Even with her n.i.p.p.l.es and p.u.s.s.y on full display to everyone within the dining room, Kurumu retained a bearing of absolute confidence in order to hide her embarrassment as she shamelessly presented herself for Alex''s viewing pleasure. With her still waiting for a proper response, Alex finally said after taking a few moments to appreciate the view, "You look absolutely ravishing." Kurumu beamed when she heard this, but, instead of trying to push further, she instead turned around so that he was given a full view of her ass as she went to one of the side tables to put together her own plate of breakfast, despite Altina being there to prepare whatever she wanted. Alex could only continue smiling wryly as he watched Kurumu''s antics, which also included her bending over as far as possible to give him an unobstructed view of her most unmentionable areas. It was fairly obvious to him what she was more than likely trying to bait him to attack her then and there, as only the usual dense harem anime protagonist wouldn''t get the hint, and that what had triggered such an ''extreme'' reaction was obviously his and Moka''s union the night before. As Alex surmised, Kurumu was growing anxious at how Moka was accepted even before she was despite the fact that she had already been his servant for several months now; and how even though she had been willing to go all the way with Alex ever since she first got her evil piece, he had yet to accept her and had instead accepted the constantly resisting Moka. As such, she prolonged the act of getting her breakfast she she constantly tried to entice Alex to attack her, until Mizore entered the dining room and took a single look at the situation, and stated plainly, "You look like a complete s.l.u.t dressed like that..." Kurumu snapped around at her words, and took in Mizore''s attire before retorting, "Are you seriously trying to call me that when you''re dressed like that!" This prompted Mizore to curiously glance down at her own attire, which only consisted of a tank top and a pair of purple and white striped panties. Despite how she was dressed however, Mizore didn''t mind it since she wasn''t actively trying to seduce Alex with her current outfit, she just wore that since it was comfortable and the villa was exceptionally hot to her, as a snow woman. In fact, if it felt even hotter than usual then Mizore was known to stay holed up in her room all day long, and if she did leave it she would be completely n.a.k.e.d to try and cool her body down. Though she would occasionally try and show off to Alex when she did this, it was merely because she knew he was already enjoying the view and not because it was her original intention, unlike Kurumu who was actively trying to get him to attack her. Seeing the tension starting to increase between the duo, Alex held up his hands and said, "Girls, calm down. Mizore apologize for calling Kurumu a s.l.u.t." Though Mizore looked annoyed at being told to apologize, she swallowed it and said grudgingly, "I''m sorry for calling you a s.l.u.t Kurumu...even if it was accurate...." With the last part said in an voice low enough that only a couple people heard it, Kurumu beamed at Mizore''s apology and bounced over to Alex happily as he gestured for her to come over. She then plopped down in his lap, wiggling her butt as she did so, before pressing her b.r.e.a.s.ts against Alex''s chest and saying while her succubus''s tail wrapped around him, "Thank you for standing up for me darling~!" Alex smiled down at her good naturally at her thanks, before he suddenly pinched part of the exposed skin of her ass and earned himself a high pitched yelp as Kurumu jumped in his lap. As she rubbed the spot where he pinched tearfully, Alex stated, "You know Kurumu, none of this is needed to get my attention." This however earned him a slightly reproachful glare as she stated, "You say that but you only seem to have eyes for Moka instead of me, when is it my turn?!" At this however Alex gave her a deadpan stare and stated plainly, "Kurumu, we both have the ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'' skill, we could literally f.u.c.k for days on end without realizing it. Even if it''s taking a while, I want you a bit used to controlling yourself in s.e.x.u.a.l situations before we finally go all the way." Though she zoned out slightly as she imagined her and Alex f.u.c.k.i.n.g endlessly for days, Kurumu did recall how there had been several times where she and Alex did several things together, such as when she''d suck him off or when he''d eat her out. Realizing he was trying to teach her how to control her desires somewhat, Kurumu blushed as she suddenly felt ashamed of her current actions, and admittedly how ''s.l.u.tty'' she had been acting. The truth was however, that Alex wasn''t just worried about her ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'' when they eventually had their first time together, but also her ''Bed Skills'' and ''S.e.m.e.n Conversion'' skills. Though they actually could actually just continuously screw for days on end if they wanted, throughout that time Kurumu would continuously take in his s.e.m.e.n as well and her powers would undoubtedly experience an explosive growth due to it. They had already realized this somewhat when she had given him several blowjobs right before school started one time, and as a result her ''Seduction'' skill was boosted to the point that the boys had completely ignored Moka and mindlessly flocked to her instead, a situation that Kurumu would''ve killed for in the past, but was now annoyed by. With that being said however, Alex then leaned forward and whispered into Kurumu''s ear, "You know though, your outfit really is eye catching. So how about you-" as Alex continued whispering into her ear, Kurumu''s face turned slightly red before she suddenly started sliding beneath the table in front of everyone, and Alex scooted his chair in as if to hide her from view. This led to the rest of the gathered girls giving him a deadpan stare as they heard the rustle of clothes in the dead silent room, before the sounds of sucking could be clearly heard. Chapter 316 - Fanservice... Fanservice everywhere... "Hey look, it''s Moka!" "She looks as amazing as always!" "No, she''s definitely been doing something different recently." From the moment Moka stepped within the gate of the academy, she was immediately the center of attention as every guy suddenly focused onto her, and began muttering and whispering. This had been happening over the last few days since she became Alex''s ''Rook'' as, even if she wasn''t actually doing anything, everyone could tell there was something different about her. This in turn resulted in Moka becoming increasingly bashful when everyone focused onto her, as she instead felt as if every gaze on her somehow knew about her recent nightly activities with someone who was technically their teacher, even though that was impossible. Meanwhile neither Kurumu or Mizore, who were walking alongside her, bothered to even acknowledge the gazes around them as they were both lost within their own thoughts, Kurumu''s being what type of training she should work on that night. Even though originally she was the type of person who hated physical exercise to the extreme, she had quickly gotten used to it due to the constant training she''d receive every night within the space-time orb; however, Alex''s explanation that she still lacked proper self control, as well as the additions of Sun and Moka to his peerage, had lit a fire within her. In order to show that Alex had made the right choice in making her a member of his peerage, she was now the most dedicated one when it came to training and furthering her skills, both for fighting and in the bedroom. After Alex said that he wanted Kurumu to increase her own self control when it came to activities in the bedroom, the determined succubus had started enlisting the help of any of the girls willing to spend the night with her in order to practice. Naturally the one to agree the most often was the perverted Aika Kiryuu, who had been eager to sink her fangs into Kurumu with her short figure ever since she first met her, but she quickly learned just how terrifying a succubus could be in bed when Kurumu''s natural s.e.x.u.a.l capabilities started awakening. As a result, while Kiryuu may have played with Kurumu''s body to her hearts content the first night, Kurumu had returned the favor several fold since then as she swiftly learned how to handle another woman''s body. It was at this point that she had learned the truth within Alex''s concerns, as she would continue on for hours and still be raring to go even when the several other girls could no longer, or when she suddenly found the sun in her eyes from going at it all night long. The worst part she realized was the feeling that she was never truly satisfied after they were done for the night, and she had to let her body settle down by itself before she could even get to sleep, something she also realized Alex had endured almost nightly for years now. While Moka was worried about others finding out about her s.e.x life, and Kurumu was trying to think of ways to improve her own, Mizore was already thinking of baby names for when Alex finally i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed her on her seventeenth birthday, something that was only a little over a month away with the space-time orb. Even though she wouldn''t mind practicing with him for when the time came, Mizore was holding herself back in order to make the occasion more special. While three of the hottest girls in the academy were each thinking about their s.e.x lives with the same guy, that same guy himself stepped through the gate to the school a little ways behind them, when suddenly, """KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!""" The majority of the girls within the courtyard suddenly let out a series of screams, as a sudden wind tore through and lifted their skirts to reveal the contents underneath. Alex''s expression was a deadpan as, as if in slow motion, his gaze traveled across the courtyard so that he caught a glimpse of every single pair of exposed panties in front of him, and even a few bare bottoms due to the girls going commando. Finally, his gaze then centered into the trio of girls before him, and Alex took in the sight of Moka''s white cotton panties, Kurumu''s yellow silk with lace, and Mizore''s trademark white and purple striped cotton. And then, as if time suddenly sped up, the moment was over as every girl in the courtyard tried to keep their skirts down and away from the prying eyes of the boys who, mysteriously, every single one hadn''t been at a good enough angle to see anything. Though he enjoyed the sight greatly, Alex''s expression was still a deadpan as he continued walking forward as if nothing happened, until Kurumu demanded, "You''re not going to say anything?!" Alex turned back towards her to see a bit of expectation in her, as well as Moka and Mizore''s, expressions as they waited to hear what he had to say about what just happened. Without missing a beat Alex stated, "It was really nice to see all of your panties, but you all know I would very much prefer to see them on my bedroom floor." Though they all had shy smiles in response to the first half of Alex''s words, at the second half Moka and Kurumu''s faces started turning red while Mizore''s expression turned into a expectant one. With his deadpan expression shifting into a smirk, Alex continued on to his office past all of the deeply blushing girls, and the guys who were crying tears of blood after hearing his earlier response, though they all thought he was just flirting and didn''t realize how serious he was. As he continued on his way to his office, Alex suddenly paused as he felt what seemed to be someone''s murderous intent directed at him. As he spread his ''Domain'' to find the source of the murderous intent though, Alex fought against the urge to smirk as he casually continued on his way, never even letting his shadow suspect that he was onto them. Alex''s smirk persisted until he reached his office and noticed a memo from Mikogami on his desk, which made his deadpan expression return as he muttered, "So it''s gonna be one of those days, huh?" The words were barely out of Alex''s mouth, when he noticed something through his still active ''Domain'', immediately followed by a woman''s voice going, "One of what days, teacher~?" Alex turned and was unsurprised to find the captain of the schools swim club, Tamao Ichinose, standing in the entryway to his office dressed in nothing but her trademark white bikini with a cloth tied around her waist. He couldn''t help but smile wryly at her timely appearance and stated, "One of those days filled with nothing but excessive fanservice, you arriving already dressed in your bikini proves my point." Tamao looked down at herself when she heard his words, before a mischievous smile crossed her lips and she said coyly while reaching up to seemingly fix her hair, "I don''t know much about it, but I thought ''fanservice'' was something like this though?" The moment she finished speaking, the top part of her bikini suddenly dropped after she loosened the knot holding it up, exposing her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts to her teacher''s greedy gaze. Alex chuckled to himself as he took in the sight before him, even though he had accidentally seen Tamao n.a.k.e.d several times by now without her knowing, and had even seen areas a lot less tame than her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Even as she pouted due to the lack of a ''proper'' response to Alex''s seeing her n.a.k.e.d upper body, he stated, "Yeah, I''d say it''d be a day filled with that and more considering we''re having the swim class today, and since you''re my assistant teacher." As Alex said the memo he received from Mikogami stated that they were to have swim classes that day, and that the president of the swim club was to help him out. Annoyed that she hadn''t been able to trigger more of a reaction from him, Tamao stepped forward suddenly so that she was close enough that her b.r.e.a.s.ts occasionally brushed against Alex''s chest, allowing him to feel her slightly erected n.i.p.p.l.es even through his own t-shirt. She then took in a deep breath through her nose, causing her to shudder slightly in amazement at Alex''s scent before asking, "By worse, do you mean something like this?" Though he was very tempted to tease the seductive mermaid, Alex instead asked, "Miss Tamao, are you really trying to hit on someone who''s not only your teacher, but also has an entire harem of wives already?" This made her smile though, as Tamao replied while leaning even closer so that her b.r.e.a.s.ts were squished against him, and she started running her hand across his chest, "Doesn''t that make it more exciting though? The forbidden romance between teacher and student! As for your harem, while it is true that most girls would be put off from that, that only really applies to humans and maybe a few individual monster women. For most of us monsters however, a man already having so many women is like a guarantee of his capabilities and strength, as well as his ability to please them~." As she said this Tamao''s hand traveled down his body, before lightly squeezing the front of his shorts. When she felt the size of what was hidden within it though, the sultry mermaid paused and squeezed it a few more times with an incredulous expression as if she was trying to confirm what she found, while Alex''s wry smile turned into one of pride. Having confirmed her suspicions, Tamao then asked Alex with an expectant smile on her face, "So tell me teacher, when can we expect you to join us for practice in the swim club? If your interest in in ''fanservice'', the I''m sure we could provide you with an exceptional amount~." Alex was silent for a moment as if he was considering the expected proposal, as she had been trying to get him to join the swim clubs practices for a while now, but, as he was about to refuse her, Alex suddenly thought of something and said, "I''ll consider it, but I''ll also bring along someone who might be interested in meeting you and the rest of the swim club. Don''t look at me like that, save your opinions until after you meet them." Even as Tamao looked exceptionally annoyed at Alex''s condition, she decided to let it go since he agreed to attend their practice, and she also had an idea of her own as she held something up and said, "Alright, I''ll agree to you bringing a guest, if you wear this during today''s lessons!" *** "So what are you gonna do Moka?" Kurumu asked as she and the other girls stripped down in order to change into their swimsuits, while Moka changed into her usual gym clothes. The vampress smiled wryly and responded, "I have permission from the chairman to miss out on swim classes due to the fact that vampires are weak to water. I may have gotten the ''Water Resistance'' skill recently, but it''s not high enough that I can swim in pools and stuff regularly, and besides, it would seem strange to those who know that I''m vampire that I can suddenly swim normally." Kurumu nodded as she heard Moka''s explanation, while Mizore instead knelt down so that her face was level with Moka''s butt, before she asked, "Are you sure it''s so no one would notice the toy in your butt when you take your panties off?" Moka suddenly jumped as if she''d been shot, and she immediately slapped her hands over Mizore''s mouth with enough force that she slammed the snow woman into the wall behind her. This earned them the attention of the rest of the girls in the locker room, but Moka ignored them and demanded lowly through gritted teeth, "Where did you hear about that?!" With her smirking even through Moka''s hand, Mizore replied, "I heard about it from Venri, personally I don''t understand the appeal of taking it up the butt since you can''t get pregnant that way, but I guess to each their own..." Moka was about to snap that not everyone just wanted to use s.e.x to get pregnant like she did, while she herself didn''t have an interest in such a thing, that Alex had done so himself once and she hadn''t let him do it since; but, before she could, her bloomers and panties were both suddenly hauled down to her ankles, and Kurumu grabbed each of her butt cheeks before spreading them as if to inspect what lay within. Seeing nothing but Moka''s twitching pink butthole staring back at her however, Kurumu clicked her tongue while saying, "Tch, and here I thought you might have been developing a bit of a wild side Moka. Oh well, if darling really has such an interest then I''ll be more than happy to-" Before Kurumu could finish what she was saying however, Moka bonked the succubus on the head with her fist, before hauling her panties and bloomers back where they were supposed to be. She then demanded with a furious blush and a whispering hiss, "W-w-what the hell do you think you''re doing?! We''re still in the locker room with everyone!" Even as she said this though, Moka glanced around and was surprised to see that, after her initial outburst, no one was paying them any attention despite the scandalous scene playing out before them. While she and Mizore looked around curiously, Kurumu stated while pouting and rubbing the lump on her head, "I already set an illusion so no one could see or hear us, so to them we''re just chatting quietly while getting dressed, but if you keep shouting and hitting me then they''ll notice somethings wrong." When they heard this the duo looked at Kurumu curiously, as they witnessed the power of her illusions for the first time and couldn''t help but be slightly impressed. With the situation settling down, Moka humphed and said as if to attempt to regain her lost dignity even with her still rosy cheeks, "Well regardless, I don''t do any of that stuff so let''s drop it and get to class!" With everyone else now filing out of the locker room towards the pool, both Kurumu and Mizore shrugged and dropped the discussion as Moka asked before following the rest of the girls in their class. When they arrived at the pool the only people there waiting for them were the boys in the class, several of which couldn''t help but stare at the girls intensely due to their swimsuits, but there were several groans of disappointment when they saw Moka dressed in her usual gym clothes. After glancing around a couple times Mizore then asked, "Where''s Alex at?" Her question was immediately answered however when the pool started splashing, and Alex himself suddenly appeared as he used the pools ladder to climb out of it. As he did so, similarly to earlier that morning, time seemed to slow to a crawl and some kind of exotic music started playing as everyone watched their teacher climb out of the pool with the water cascading off of his body. Every gaze, both boy and girl, made its way down from his face to his body that appeared as if it was sculpted from marble by a talented artist. His muscles appeared to be so solid they put rocks to shame, and were huge despite not being excessively so. Their gazes then slowly traveled downwards across his chest, to his abs, and then finally to the only piece of clothing he was actually wearing that day, a speedo. Despite being the only place on his body that was actually covered, no one could tear their gazes away from it as it bulged out too noticeably, as if to show off how big the contents constrained within were. The students were then snapped awake as Alex pressed the pause button on a nearby boom box, and the exotic music suddenly stopped, allowing them to finally notice the beautiful blue haired woman behind him. Despite the fact that she was also dripping wet from having climbed out of the pool after Alex, no one seemed to notice her until then, which she pointed out by saying, "See teacher, they were all so stunned by your entrance that not even the boys noticed me with you, though now they can''t take their eyes off of me~." As Tamao mentioned this though, the majority of the boys that had been ogling her suddenly looked away bashfully, while the girls in the class were still staring at Alex as they watched the water droplets run down his body. They didn''t even start paying attention to what was being said until Alex stated, "EH-HEM! Now that the fanservice scene is over with, as you can plainly see today is pool day. Before we officially begin, how many of you can''t swim?" By this point Alex could truthfully say he was barely surprised when the entirety of the class raised their hands, before he added, "Ok then, the boys will learn from me and the girls will learn from the swim clubs captain, who was asked to assist wth today''s lessons, Tamao. So I''ll ask again just in case, who here can''t swim?" Unsurprisingly the vast majority of the hands went down, until there was only one or two left in the air as their owners embarrassingly kept them in the air. After having the students do their warm ups they were then sent into the pool, while Moka was allowed to sit at the edge of the pool and work on school work for her other classes since it would be difficult to find something else just for her to do. With the pool separated into two sides, one for the boys and one for the girls, it was fairly easy for Alex and Tamao to keep an eye on everyone as they led them in a series of games and exercises before letting them spend the rest of the period in a free swim. The reason for the diversion was of course to prevent any ''accidents'' from happening, such as one of the boys suddenly reaching out for someone to grab onto and only ending up groping or pulling on the girl''s swimsuits. As could be expected though, while the boys may not have been able to experience such a moments, Alex''s time was filled with them as the girls themselves somehow ended up slipping and pulling on each other''s swimsuits, among other things. In order to take a break from from the blushing and embarrassing accidents that kept occurring, Alex eventually made his way over to Moka who was reading a book for one of her classes by herself. "How are things over here?" Alex asked as he approached, causing Moka to look up from her book before smiling and saying, "Good, at this rate I won''t have any homework left for tonight, so I don''t have to worry about it cutting into.....other things...." As she got to the end of her sentence Moka started training off and blushing a little bit, prompting Alex to smile widely at her implications, making her blush even deeper since she knew what he was thinking of. To cool off a little, Moka quickly got up and said, "I''ll walk around a little bit, can''t just spend all of gym class sitting now, can I?" Without waiting for an answer Moka turned and started to walk away, only to feel Alex''s hand suddenly grab her butt and give it a brief, yet firm, squeeze before releasing her, prompting the pink haired beauty to practically flee while hoping no one witnessed what just happened. Alex however chuckled to himself at Moka''s cute reaction, before rejoining the class while pointedly ignoring the murderous intent directed at him after his little stunt. As could be expected as the day continued on, Alex saw more random tits, asses, and somehow p.u.s.s.y than he ever expected possible, even with his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill helping out. Even Tamao couldn''t help but make a remark about his incredible ''luck'', when they had an all female class somehow go into the men''s locker room instead to change, only for Alex to walk in without knowing right as every single one of the thirty-odd girls were completely n.a.k.e.d. Surprisingly the majority of the reactions Alex received due to each ''accident'' was the girl in question acting bashful while trying to cover themselves, while there were a few that then proceeded to try and use the situation to seduce him or to show off their ''ass''ets''; while only a couple tried to lash out and hit him in retaliation, though these girls were also among the only few that were already in a relationship, and didn''t appreciate another man seeing them n.a.k.e.d. The most ''notable'' incidents however were the times Alex himself ended up being a victim of his own skill, meaning that, somehow or other, Alex ended up having his own speedo pulled down several times that day. These were the ones that confounded him the most as, no matter how cautious or prepared he was, it still ended up happening several times; and when it did the general response was shame from the boys, and usually embarrassment from the girls, however Alex could''ve sworn he noticed a few wiping what appeared to drool from their chins, including Tamao. With his tensions steadily increasing throughout the day, and not being able to properly release them, Alex was fairly glad when the club activities finally came to an end as well, and he started heading back to the dorms alongside the girls, Millicas, and Yukari. Once they reached the split from the student and teacher residences however, Alex surprised the girls by pecking then all lightly on the lips before pausing slightly and then moving onto the next one, starting with Mizore, Kurumu, and then finally Moka. As the trio of girls returned to their dorms, where they''d usually wait for Alex to take them to Asora, they all thought about what he had barely whispered to them after their kiss, ''I have some business to take care of, I''ll explain properly later so head back without me.'' Though the girls were a little confused, and concerned, they didn''t say anything since Alex was acting so secretive and promptly turned to leave, while Alex himself casually turned and headed back towards the faculty residences, ignoring the murderous intent that was at an all time high as he went. As he made his way up to his own residence, Alex slowly disengaged all of the defensive measures that he had originally installed so that his shadow would be able to enter his room without any issues. He then went about his business as if it was the usual while he waited for their intrusion, making himself some dinner, reading a bit of a book, and so on, until the sun started going down. Figuring they wouldn''t try to confront him if he wasn''t at least a little more vulnerable, Alex then headed towards the bath while simultaneously spreading his ''Domain'' to keep and eye on them, which also showed him some ''interesting'' sights within the faculty dorms. As he settled into the warm water of the bath, Alex decided to wait there until the would-be-assassin finally entered his room, choosing to use his ''Domain'' to mess with some of the other teachers in their own rooms to pass the time. Mostly it was just harmless pranks and messing around, with Alex practicing using his ''Domain'' to move objects and to physically manipulate things such as dishes, dinner ingredients, and other small objects around their rooms. Then there was the ''not so harmless'' stuff, such as him using his ''Domain'' to stratch and pet Nekonome behind her cat ears as she curled up on her bed completely n.a.k.e.d, reinforcing Alex''s theory that cat people like herself and kuroka just really hated wearing clothes. Even when Nekonome transitioned to subconsciously raising her butt in the air for Alex to ''pat'' or ''rub'' her bottom, it was still tamer than what was happening in another room, where Barakiel had his hands and feet handcuffed to a bed while covered in welts, and Ririko bounced up and down on his waist while swinging her whip at his chest. Even though Alex would usually at least try to respect others privacy, he gave into the temptation after experiencing so much fanservice that day without any kind of release, and used his ''Domain'' similarly to his ''petting'' Nekonome to rub and pinch Ririko''s tits and ass, making the sadistic woman jump and twitch each time she felt someone ''touch'' her. For nearly an hour Alex enjoyed pranking people, petting Nekonome, and teasing Ririko until he suddenly received a notification that left him slightly stunned. [NOTICE! New skill obtained, ''Telekinesis''!] Alex looked at his system while a bit stunned at what happened, something he was debating on wether or not to tell Anne since she had the same ability, when he then noticed that the assassin had also chosen this time to finally creep into his room, prompting Alex to shelve the matter of his new skill temporarily as he climbed out of the tub. With a towel wrapped around his waist while using another one to dry off his hair, Alex walked out of the bathroom only to face the intruder and say as if surprised, "And to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, young miss of the Shuzen family?" As he spoke Alex took in the appearance of the person who could quite possibly be considered one of the most dangerous people in this world, Moka''s oldest sister Akua Shuzen. She was almost unnaturally pale and had messy shoulder length black hair with two pony tails tied into it, complete with her black cheongsam she definitely appeared more Chinese than her other sisters, however her eyes blood red slitted eyes more than likely held more coldness and cruelty than the other three combined. Seemingly unperturbed with the fact that Alex already knew who she was, Akua focused her cruel gaze onto him as she formed her hand to resemble a blade before pointing it at his neck, causing space to distort around her hand before extending until it was less than an inch from his skin, poised to decapitate him at a moments notice. Acting as if he was intimidated by the display, Alex held his hands up to make a show of surrendering despite the fact that he still held a casual expression as if his life wasn''t being threatened at all. The serious assassin then took in a small breath before saying in a deathly calm voice, "I''m only going to ask you this once, and if you make any sudden movements or play any games, I WILL remove your head from your shoulders. What is your relationship with my little sister Moka?" His expression morphing into one of mock surprise, Alex asked coyly, "Aren''t you supposed to ask instead who I am? Or why I destroyed one of Fairy Tale''s bases while a dozen more were destroyed on my orders? Or perhaps why I''m hostile to your group? Or maybe-" "NONE OF THAT IS IMPORTANT! TELL ME WHAT MOKA IS TO YOU!!" Akua roared in irritation in response to Alex asking a bunch of questions that were meaningless to her, as instead she wanted to know who the man that seemed close to her most beloved little sister was. Alex fought the urge to smirk as Akua''s eyes showed a hint of obsession when she mentioned Moka, and so he decided to play the villain and mess with her a bit, saying with a sneer, "Well, if you must know, I met her on the first day of school and took a liking to her, and so I decided to add her to my expansive collection of f.u.c.k toys." Right as Alex finished speaking, as if to drive his words home, the towel that was still around his waist seemingly randomly chose that exact moment to fall to the ground, revealing to Akua the very thing that had been recently violating her little sister in all of its glory. There was a beat of silence as Akua stared directly at the not so little ''little Alex'', before she looked back at his face with her expression morphing to the very image of fury and rage before swiping her hand to chop his head off. Chapter 317 - Akua Shuzen As Akua swiped her hand to the side while simultaneously willing her Jigen-Tou(Dimensional Blade) to extend, intending to take Alex''s head off instantly before she would proceed to chop up every last piece of his filthy body for daring to touch her beloved sister, she was surprised when he somehow managed to move faster than she was capable of following and avoided her blade. With Alex''s body blurring slightly from his movements, he then stepped forward as if in slow motion while extending his hand out, intending to palm strike Akua''s abdomen, right as she just barely managed to activate the Jigen-Tou on the rest of her body. Unlike the blade form of the technique that was used as an unblockable blade, when Akua applied the same technique to the rest of her body she became temporarily intangible, allowing Alex''s palm strike to harmlessly pass through her body instead of making contact with her, genuinely surprising him quite a bit at first. Even as her blade tore apart the walls of Alex''s room, Akua ignored the damage as she instead tried to use the brief opening when he was distracted to try and drive her blade down directly through his heart. Unfortunately for her Alex''s natural instincts and Observation Haki meant that he was never truly unprepared(unless his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill was involved) when it came to life or death fights, and so he ''blurred'' once again before moving away slightly, making Akua''s blade drive itself directly down through the floor into the room below his. As Alex took some distance from Akua with the same casual expression he had since he exited the bathroom, the icy cold vampress retracted her extended Jigen-Tou before turning to face him once more, not even caring that she had nearly skewered the history teacher living below them. As the duo stared at each other after their brief exchange, Alex broke the silence by suddenly saying, "You know, usually when I tango with a woman while n.a.k.e.d I''m the one doing the penetrating, not the other way around." As he spoke Alex gestured to his still exposed ''sword'' making Akua''s glower deepen as she muttered in response, "Don''t worry, after I kill you and chop you into pieces I''ll present that disgusting thing you''re so proud of to my sister to show her you''ll never ''penetrate'' her ever again!" Her volume increasing with each word, Akua ended her declaration by rushing forward with her Jigen-Tou raised to attack once more. Alex easily sidestepped to avoid her attack and suddenly went in to attack a second time, moving just slow enough so Akua could make herself intangible once more so that he could try something. With his hand dominating her field of view as it swiftly approached her face, Akua''s expression was still calm as she activated the Jigen-Tou on the rest of her body, and redirected her attack to strike Alex when his hand failed to connect once more, or so she thought. Instead, a piercing pain assaulted her forehead as she then suffered whiplash strong enough to break an ordinary persons neck from the flick he had delivered, before being flung backwards. Landing gracefully, Akua turned yet another hate filled gaze at Alex and spat out, "How did you do that?!" Alex however shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "It was an attack that used a certain technique called Haki. Though it has several uses such as for defense, I''ve rarely used the attack form as it was originally intended, which was to grab and punch intangible opponents when they couldn''t otherwise be injured." When she heard this Akua''s expression darkened even more as she increased her vigilance against her opponent, someone who she knew was powerful due to the video of him killing Kanade, but assumed she''d be able to handle due to her assassination techniques and Jigen-Tou. As the duo took a stance and prepared for the next clash, Alex was suddenly distracted as he sensed several people rushing towards his room, which was rather comical considering who was leading them. Alex knew that Akua would readily kill any intruders if given the chance, and so, before she could charge at him once more, he suddenly said, "It''s getting cramped in here, what do you say we take our fight elsewhere?" Before the vampress could respond, she suddenly found herself surrounded by a strange mist before she sensed her surroundings change, indicating that they had been teleported. Right as the mist vanished from the room though, Alex''s door was suddenly blown open by an intense blast of lightning before an intimidating looking man charged in ready to face the attacker, only to find an empty room waiting for him. As Barakiel glanced around and saw signs of a fight, he muttered to himself, "Damn, they must have teleported somewhere else...should I report this to Akeno and Rias...?" As he stood there pondering how to handle the current situation, someone else suddenly said, "U-um excuse me! I-I don''t mean to be rude, but who exactly are you?" It was then that Barakiel turned around and noticed the crowd of teachers and other staff members standing there staring at him, as of demanding answers for what was going on. He was about to answer them when he noticed several of the female staff members looking downwards at something, then Barakiel recalled a very important detail, he was still n.a.k.e.d while covered in welts, and had the broken handcuffs dangling from his wrists and ankles. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Barakiel quickly teleported back to Ririko''s room to collect his clothes, and to have her remove the broken handcuffs while also promising her that he''ll get her new ones. *** Meanwhile Alex and Akua found themselves surrounded by trees and several feet of snow as he teleported them far from any place of civilization in Asora, and anyone who might''ve been watching or waiting for Akua back in the academy. This made Akua show the only non-angry expression Alex had seen on her yet, as she looked around curiously after being subjected to an interesting new form of teleportation, one that seemingly didn''t require a laborious process to prepare beforehand. As she did the snow around them started melting as Alex channeled heat through his ''Domain'', preparing a large ring for them to fight in before saying, "So, anything else before we resume or fight?" Akua glanced back at him as he spoke, her expression hardening once more before saying in a deadpan, "Maybe you should put on some pants at least?" At this Alex looked down at his still n.a.k.e.d body, before shrugging and replying, "Eh, the cold never bothered me anyway." The brief conversation over, Akua suddenly rushed him while preparing an attack, only for Alex to suddenly appear in front of her without her noticing, and planting his Haki infused fist directly into her stomach to send her flying backwards into the surrounding trees. As Akua crashed through tree after tree she tried to twist and orient her battered and bruised body while still flying through the air, only for Alex to suddenly appear above her and deliver yet another awe inspiring punch, driving her directly into the frozen ground. KABOOM! The otherwise eerily silent mountain suddenly echoed with the concussion of Akua''s impact with the ground, which resulted in a twenty foot wide crater forming beneath her while a fountain of blood sprayed from her mouth. She had no time to recover from the impact however, as Alex''s foot suddenly collided with her body and sent her flying in the direction they had just come from, until she impacted yet another tree and fell limply to the ground. Coughing up yet more blood, Akua struggled to regain her footing as her body started healing her myriad of wounds, both internal and external, at a painstakingly slow pace while the snow crunched under Alex''s bare feet as he approached her yet again. While standing over her, Alex raised his fist as if preparing to bring it down onto her head, and stated with a tone of finality, "This fight is over..." Right as Alex started bringing his fist down however, the corner of Akua''s mouth twitched to form a smirk, before she swung around suddenly with her hand in the shape of a blade, causing space to distort around it once more. Time seemed to stand still as Akua''s attack sliced cleanly through Alex''s right arm, severing his hand and wrist while also producing a fountain of his blood that sprayed over the nearly defeated vampress. As her face and body became covered in Alex''s Crimson red blood, the most fragrant scent she had ever smelled filled her nose as she licked one of the Crimson drops from her upper lip, and Akua''s insane smile widened while Alex''s own lips curled up to form his own smirk at the turn of events. *** Meanwhile, a certain pink haired vampire was pacing anxiously back and forth in the Misty Manor while Rias and Anne watched on passively, neither showing too much concern even as Moka stated, "I don''t know why, but I''ve just had a bad feeling ever since Alex told us to go on ahead without him, maybe something serious is going on?" Rias sighed when she heard Moka''s concerns, and stated, "I doubt it''s anything serious, at most I''m pretty sure he stayed behind because of a girl, at least I wouldn''t be surprised if that was the case..." Anne nodded in agreement at this with a disapproving look on her face, before adding, "Why don''t you just head into the space-time orb and try to focus on training there instead? I''m sure it''ll be better than needlessly worrying here all night." Though Moka wanted to stay, the look she saw in Anne''s eye and the sound of finality in her voice made it clear enough that there was no room for discussion, prompting her to quickly leave the room to head to the space-time orb, while her ''inner'' self was even agreeing that some training might do some good instead of just waiting. As she left Anne let out a small sigh while Rias stated, "You''re getting better at that..." Anne smiled wryly at Rias''s words, and replied, "I have to with this many powerful women around, what with my position as the first wife and all. Rather her instincts had me a bit worried there." Rias nodded in agreement as she recalled the message she had received from Alex earlier, stating that he was staying behind to deal with Moka''s eldest sister that had seemingly come to take his life. Even though none of the women involved with Alex doubted his strength in the slightest, they still couldn''t help but worry just a little bit as even the strongest of beings could become victims of fate or pure happenstance. As the two women fell silent, the door to the room suddenly opened and a certain pony tailed beauty walked in before saying, "I just heard about something from my father." Akeno then reported to them what her father reported to her that he had found regarding Alex''s room within the academy he was currently spending is days at. *** "This.....THIS IS AMAZING!!!" Akua cried out as she felt the rush of supernatural power fill her entire body, and her wounds started healing almost instantly as she was restored to her full strength from before her battle with Alex had started, no, she was now even stronger than she was before. As the euphoria overtook her, Akua''s mind started rushing through the various possible applications of Alex''s blood within the vampire community, with the first thought being that they could finally firmly cement their place as the strongest of all monsters with it. Her mind then however turned towards a simpler and more sinister thought, which was how powerful would she become if she hoarded his blood for herself? Akua''s original goal was to reach the pinnacle of strength that a vampire could achieve in order to have her vengeance against the humans, and as such she originally intended to acquire the blood of a Shinso to do so; however the one who currently possesses that very blood was none other than her beloved younger sister, Moka. With the strength currently coursing through her veins however Akua felt as if she might finally be able to accomplish her goals to avenge the death of her first sister and love, Jasmine. Just as she was about to test the limits of her newfound capabilities though, a voice asked, "So, how is it?" Akua turned to look at the wryly smiling Alex, who''s hand had somehow been reattached at some point, and immediately decided how she''d use her newfound strength first. She held up her hand while once again forming a blade with it, and said while the space around it started distorting, "Good enough that I''ve decided to spare you from death, instead, you''ll live on as my personal blood bank!" Then, either forgetting the beating she had just received or who exactly she had gotten such wonderful blood from, Akua rushed at Alex while intending to finish the fight then and there, only to suddenly find herself staring directly at Alex''s open hand. Before she could figure out what was happening, Akua felt a pulling sensation on her head before it went ''SNAP''! She then felt something pulling on her hair as for some reason she was suddenly moving backwards instead of charging forward, and there was another person standing there where she had been less than a second prior. She then watched as the person in front of her fell to the ground, and Akua realized two different things at that second, the first bring that it had no head, and the second being that the body was wearing the exact same black cheongsam she had been. Both of these realizations came right before her vision started going dark, and Akua''s last thought was about her beloved little sister that she would be leaving behind. All that came next was darkness and loneliness, as Akua felt herself drifting aimlessly after being beheaded, her only thought being ''What now?'' What she had never expected at that moment was to hear a voice respond, "Now you back big sis." Akua turned sharply at the voice that sent chills down her spine, and found herself staring at a young girl that was no older than eight. As she looked at her Akua''s entire being shook as she muttered disbelievingly, "J-Jasmine...?" The girl nodded and looked as if she was about to say something, but Akua suddenly felt something pulling her back as her vision once again went dark, before she suddenly cried out while sitting up, "JASMINE!" "There''s no need to shout you know..." A nearby voice suddenly said, making Akua look around and realize that, instead of some kind of afterlife like she was expecting, she was instead back in the snowy mountainside, alive. As she tried to make sense of what happened since her ''death'' seemed so real, Alex supplied, "I did kill you, but then used a certain technique to revive you, that''s why you''re back here instead of still being dead." This caught Akua''s attention as she suddenly demanded, "Where is jasmine?! I saw her!" Alex raised his brows in surprise at her demand, but then stated, "She''s still dead like she has been for years, my guess is that she''s been following you and keeping an eye on her big sister, even in death." When she heard this a certain look appeared in Akua''s eyes, but Alex preempted her request by saying, "I can''t bring her back. Your death was recent and could be considered closer to a form of resuscitation, however she''s been dead for years and there''s no body to work with." This made Akua grit her teeth in frustration as she tried to make sense of what was happening, making Alex continue, "If I were you, I''d be more concerned with what''s about to happen to me instead." This made Akua look back at him, before saying with narrowed eyes, "Well if you wanted me dead then you wouldn''t have gone to the trouble of bringing me back, so what do you want?" Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he approached her and said, "I intend to give you a chance. The way I see it there''s three options available for you, the first being that you leave Fairy Tale and follow me, by doing so you''ll be able to see Moka whenever you wanted and rekindle your sisterhood, while also training to reach heights that even the most powerful vampires of your world will struggle to obtain, to the point that you''ll even look down on the Shinso or beings like Alucard." At this Akua rolled her eyes and snorted, but was otherwise silent as she focused on the part where she could see Moka whenever she wanted, and another thing Alex had mentioned when he said ''your world''. The next offer however practically made her jaw hit the ground when she heard, "The second option is to join my harem, which would-" "Why would I ever do something so stupid?!" Akua roared as she glared at Alex with slightly red cheeks, before her gaze slowly traveled down to his still exposed nether region, making her wish she had cut it off instead of his hand. However what Alex said next caught by surprise when he said, "Well for one it''ll allow you to share the same bed as Moka once the two of you have made up, meaning you''ll be able to act out pretty much all of dubious scenarios you want with your beloved little sister." This made Akua pause as her mind immediately filled with scenes similar to what Alex mention, causing a small drop of blood to flow out of her nose even before she heard the rest of what Alex said, "On top of that I''ll also allow you to drink my blood whenever you want like the other vampires that are a part of my harem, and, if you truly want it that badly, I will even eventually change you into a Shinso so you could have all the power you once wanted and then some. Naturally however you''ll need to give up your desire for vengeance against humanity." Though this naturally sounded very appealing to Akua, she couldn''t help but ask, "So you won''t allow any of this if I don''t spread my legs for you?" This made Alex frown slightly before he said, "Rather, think of it as give and take instead. That isn''t to say you won''t be happy with the first option, but I won''t hand over so much power or privilege to someone unless I''m completely sure of their intentions." Rather than taking offense to what Alex said, Akua instead felt a little gratified that he was still regarding her with caution, since it meant that he took her at least a little seriously. With the majority of their battle still very fresh in her mind, and the euphoria from his blood over with her instant defeat, she easily considered it a waste to reject seeing the future potential Alex offered to her. She then added, "And let me guess, the third option is death?" Alex was silent for a moment at her question, before saying, "The third option is that I''ll let Moka decide. Your actions directly resulted in her mother''s ''death'', and you can also be said to have spent that last several years working to awaken the very one her mother fought so hard to defeat, and gave her life to seal." Akua was silent as she heard this, her mind weighing the different options. While a part of her wouldn''t mind being judged by her sister, she also couldn''t deny the attraction of getting into a position where she could try and fix their relationship instead. After several minutes of silence, Akua didn''t say anything as she simply stood up and started removing various pieces of her own clothing without minding the cold, though she was very aware of Alex''s eyes watching her every move. After removing the few extra pieces of clothing, Akua undid the straps holding her cheongsam up, hesitating for a moment, before letting it drop to leave her standing there in nothing but her combat boots, and a lacy black thong. She then felt Alex''s eyes carefully scrutinize every bit of her now exposed skin, before halting slightly on her exposed b.r.e.a.s.ts, which were so small she didn''t even bother wearing a bra. With her face turning Crimson from a mixture of embarrassment and indignation, Akua then turned around so that her back was facing Alex, and bent over while simultaneously pulling down her thong so that it pooled around her boots. She then reached back and spread open her most precious place, and said begrudgingly, "Hurry and get it over with...the sooner this is done the better..." Alex didn''t say anything as he slowly started walking towards her with a wry smile, making Akua''s body tense visibly whenever she heard his feet crunch the snow beneath them. She then actually jumped as he reached out, and gently ran his fingers along her quivering s.e.x, while continuing to walk by her until he was by her head. At this point several thoughts ran through Akua''s mind when she saw Alex didn''t immediately accept her ''offering'', making her wonder if he instead wanted her to do something else first, before he suddenly swept her up into his arms in a princess carry. Alex then said, "While I can''t deny that was quite the tantalizing sight, and that I was fairly tempted to take you then and there, that''s not my style. I know I implied otherwise earlier, but I actually care about my women, and try to ensure their happiness." Before she could demand to know what he was doing, Alex waved his hand a small cottage appeared out of nowhere, silencing any questions she had as Alex started slowly walking towards the small building. "This is a prototype we''re trying to mass produce for exploration and such, I guess you could call it a literal ''mobile home''?" Akua was silent as she heard this, as her nervousness started building and she realized what was actually about to happen as Alex opened the door and walked into the small cottage. Chapter 318 - Unexpected Guests As she stirred the next morning Akua was immediately aware of two things, first was the soreness her lower body felt after the abuse it suffered the night before, and secondly was the smell and sound of bacon and eggs cooking. All at once her eyes shot open, and Akua found herself looking at the curious sight of the man who she tried to kill the night before standing in what passed for a kitchen in the small cottage, dressed in nothing but an apron that said ''Kiss the Cook'' on it as he maneuvered the food he was cooking into two plates right before some toast popped up. "Good morning!" He said enthusiastically without looking up from his task, as he finished buttering the toast before setting onto the small table for them both. "Good morning..." Akua muttered as she sat up awkwardly, before quickly using the blanket that fell to cover her exposed upper body, and looking around for her clothes. "Firstly they were already sent ahead to be washed and dried for you, and secondly I already explored every inch of your body last night, so why the shy act?" Alex suddenly said with a smirk as if he knew what she was doing, making Akua''s face turn red as she hesitantly dropped the blanket once more, and awkwardly made her way to the table to join him in eating in the nude once he took the apron off. As she stared down at her food for several seconds, Akua muttered, "You could have a bit more tact you know..." This made Alex chuckle as he scooped some scrambled eggs into his mouth, before saying after he swallowed, "Say that after you spend a few days/nights with me and the rest of my harem." Akua was silent at this as she nibbled on some of her bacon, before finally asking, "So what do I do now?" Alex looked up at her question, and saw genuine confusion and uncertainty in her eyes. After setting down his silverware to focus on her, he then said, "Firstly we''re going to my home, Misty Manor, where you''ll meet the other members of my harem. After that we''ll go where Moka is and work on repairing the relationship between you two, and then you''ll be free to decide from there." Akua just gave Alex a strange look as the latter resumed eating his breakfast, confused and slightly annoyed as to how he could act so casual after the events that had transpired the night before, including her giving him a girls most precious treasure. The two continued to eat in awkward silence until Akua finally finished and said with a bit of an edge in her voice, "So what am I supposed to wear since my clothes aren''t here? Or am I supposed to tr.a.p.eze around n.a.k.e.d all day?" Alex however smiled wryly and pointed to the right of a set of doors, before saying, "That door leads to the walk-in closet, which was expanded with a unique type of magic in order to store more clothes that''ll automatically adjust themselves to your size. The one on the left leads to the bathroom, which was similarly expanded with magic, however it hasn''t been adjusted for the vampires of this world yet so you''ll probably want to wait until we return to the manor. Feel free to help yourself though." Deciding to accept Alex''s offer of ''helping herself'', especially with his other offer the night before, Akua then said while trying to test him, "Ok then, but first I wasn''t filled by breakfast and I''m still sore and tired from last night, so let me have some of your blood before I clean up!" Doubting that he''d so easily let someone drink his blood, Akua was instead surprised when Alex said, "ok", and slid out his chair while gesturing for her to come to him. This however made her face cramp as she noticed the thing standing up in his lap, the shape and size of which had been practically carved into her body the night before. Gulping slightly, yet not wanting to back down, Akua stood up and made her way to Alex before throwing one of her legs over his lap so that she was straddling him; and then, after taking a breath, she lowered herself until she felt the tip brush her entrance. This made her pause slightly, but, as if to keep her from backing out, Alex grabbed her h.i.p.s and slowly pushed her down so that he was invading her insides bit by bit. "Ngh!" Akua groaned as she felt herself being impaled by the foreign object, while Alex let out a similar groan as he felt Akua''s tight insides squeeze and constrict around his member, until he eventually felt his tip hit the entrance to her w.o.m.b. With her precious place being entirely filled, Akua glared at Alex with red cheeks and slightly teary eyes even though it felt better than it did painful, and didn''t hesitate to lean forward suddenly and sink her teeth into Alex''s neck with more force than she would have done when normally feeding. Alex however chuckled at the slight pain in his neck, even as Akua started trying to drain him dry, and instead started using his hold on her h.i.p.s to started rocking Akua''s h.i.p.s back and forth. *** A while later the duo entered the Misty Manor, Alex with a big smile on his face while Akua''s cheeks were rosy from her prolonged embarrassment, where they were met by a certain trio of beautiful women. "Welcome back, I trust things went smoothly?" Rias asked as she approached Alex and wrapped her arms around him, her eyes however never leaving Akua due to knowing what exactly brought her there to begin with. She then jumped however as Alex pinched her butt and said, "Play nice, and yes things went well. Akua has decided to join us, so she''ll need a room and eventually a tour, but for now let''s just head into the space-time orb so she could meet everyone." After saying that, Alex moved forward and gave the other two women present, Anne and Grayfia, a hug and kiss as well before directing them towards the room where the space-time orb was. It was a day off from the school, so he and the others had decided to spend it within the orb in order to turn their single day into an entire month. As she was almost ready to give birth, Anne was also planning to join Alex and co within the orb along with Ravel and Serafall since they were all growing tired of just sitting around all day. As they walked through the halls of the expansive manor though, the sound of pattering steps echoed off of the walls around them as a little girl with emerald green hair ran into view, followed closely by a pair of toddlers with tails trailing behind them. "Papa!" Myuu cried out as she leapt into Alex''s open arms, before he quickly transitioned her to his shoulders so that he could pick up Edith and Mai as well before saying, "Myuu, Edith, Mai! How are my favorite girls?" This made Myuu giggle somewhat though as she mischievously looked to the side at Rias and Anne to see their reactions, only for the duo to appear unconcerned since they would never try to compete with Alex''s daughters. This made Myuu pout somewhat before she busied herself with playing with her papa''s hair while telling him about her morning, while Edith and Mai babbled excitedly as they snuggled up to their father. Watching from the side, Akua couldn''t help but look at Alex curiously as he played with his daughters, her own father coming to mind as she did so. Issa Shuzen was a powerful vampire that had ruled over the majority of vampires in Japan back before one of his wives, Gyokuro, usurped his control from him. To many he was cold, cruel, and merciless, to the point that Akua''s first memory when she arrived at her fathers house was a life or death fight with her other sister, Kahlua, however what few knew was that he was also an exceptionally doting father to his daughters. Initially Akua felt as if Alex was somewhat similar to her own father in some ways, however the image of the powerful and even cruel being she formed the night before was shattered when she saw him fawning on the three girls the way he was, while Myuu even started trying to get Alex''s uncontrollable hair wrapped up in pigtails. With Gabriel, Koneko, and Remia joining them when they started looking for their daughters, everyone then went into the space-time orb since they decided that spending a few days within the orb with their father would be good for the girls. The moment they all appeared, a group quickly arrived to welcome them with a certain pink haired vampire at the front, who stated, "Thank goodness Alex! I don''t know why but I was so worr-" at that point Moka noticed a certain familiar black haired figure step out from behind Alex, who then said with a slight blush, "Hello Moka.... It''s been a while." When she first saw her older sister Moka didn''t quite know how to react, but her hands started shaking slightly as she noticeably tried to remain calm. Alex then handed off the girls to their mothers, and sent them away while the current situation unfolded. He then stepped towards Moka and said, "Moka, I know that you must feel conflicted seeing Akua again, but she intends to try and move forward and wants to try and fix what happened between you two." At this however Moka gave Alex a deadpan stare and stated plainly, "''What happened''? She cut my mother in half right in front of me, and is directly responsible for her death." As Alex was about to try and placate her though, Akua muttered in response, "It''s not like it inconvenienced her too much though..." This made Moka focus on her once more, but, right as she was about to retort, Alex suddenly used Haki and flicked Akua in the middle of her forehead. Ignoring her tearful expression as she rubbed the now red spot, Alex stated, "How exactly do you expect to fix your relationship if you aren''t sorry for the things you''ve done to her?" Akua groaned at this as, from her perspective, Moka only needed her to be happy. However seeing the multitude of looks she was receiving from everyone, Akua gritted her teeth and said to Moka, "I.....am sorry for everything before, do you think we can be sisters again?" Though she was talking to ''fake'' personality based off of the annoying Akasha, Akua still considered her to be a part of the ''real'' Moka, and as such she truly wanted to make up with her. To her apology however, Moka merely sighed and stepped up towards Alex before directing his hand at her neck, where he then removed her rosary so that the ''inner'' personality could make her appearance. Looking up slightly at her now taller than her little sister, Akua started blushing slightly from ''inner'' Moka''s beauty that was accented by her beautiful long silver hair, and her now crimson red irises. As Moka looked at Akua though, she suddenly asked, "Did you fight with Alex?" Even though Akua found this question somewhat strange, she didn''t show it as she answered, "Well our stepmother sent me to assassinate him, and then I watched him flirt with you and all of those other women all day yesterday, so yeah...." Nodding her head in understanding, Moka then turned towards Alex and said as a matter of factly, "You seduced her afterwards, didn''t you?" This earned Alex a look from all of the surrounding women as he chuckled awkwardly, before he said, "To be fair, I only offered her a spot in my harem, she was the one that stripped before bending over and insisting I take her then and there." When they heard this the majority of the girls looked at Akua incredulously while also muttering about how ''bold'' and ''eager'' she was compared to the rest of them, making the vampiress''s face turn Crimson as she quickly stated, "I only wanted to get that out of the way so I wouldn''t have to worry about it later! Besides it didn''t even feel that good!" This made the girls around them raise an eyebrow at her claims, while Alex chuckled lightly before saying, "Ohohoho, then what was this?" Before anyone old try to stop him, Alex activated his Regeneration magic to replay what had happened the night before, showing everyone the scene of him and Akua f.u.c.k.i.n.g wildly, in which she was grunting and m.o.a.ning like an animal in heat and looked nothing like a reluctant participant. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Akua cried out in horror at the scene, before she tried to hide it while shouting, "DON''T LOOK MOKA!" Meanwhile the silver haired girls face cramped somewhat as she was suddenly treated with a scene of her own older sister unlike anything she ever would''ve expected in the past. Surprising everyone, she ignored the scene playing out before her, though her cheeks were red from seeing it, and said, "We''re getting off track! Anyways big sis, I was trying to say that since you''ve fought Alex then I guess I could forgive you, after all it''s hard to hold a grudge with someone after they''ve taken that kind of beating..." Not just Akua, but the rest of the girls around them nodded in agreement as they had all seen just how cruel Alex could be firsthand, while Akua herself paled slightly while bringing one of her hands up to her neck, making everyone wonder what exactly he had done to her. Alex then pointedly ignored the looks he was receiving, and walked away to go find his daughters now that it seemed as if Moka and Akua had made up, bringing Anne, Ravel, and Serafall with him so they could each get comfortable. *** Over the next couple weeks within the space-time orb Moka and Akua truly rekindled their strained sisterhood, which was only helped when Alex had them both accompany him in the bedroom, something Moka initially found awkward while Akua was ecstatic about it. At Alex''s insistence however, Akua also started spending more time around a few of the other girls to increase those she was close to beyond just one of her sisters, which was primarily Kuroka, Yue, and Elmenhilde. Yue and Elmenhilde was no surprise as fellow vampires, however the prideful vampire princess wouldn''t accept having Akua be her equal. Yue still intended to essentially rule over any other vampires that would reside in Asora, with the sole exception of Moka since she was a fellow member of Alex''s peerage, and as such it wasn''t long before she and Akua dueled each other to determine the status quo, which inevitably resulted in Yue''s win. Though Akua was a powerful assassin that was nearly unparalleled in her own world, Yue possessed regenerative powers that surpassed even Akasha''s, who was able to reconnect herself easily after Akua had once cut her in half at the waist. As a result, Akua was unable to gain an edge as Yue simply repaired any damage she dealt almost instantly, before eventually bombarding her with a series of powerful elemental spells, forcing the former assassin to accept her new standing. What had surprised everyone though was how close Akua and Kuroka seemed to become after just a few days of knowing each other, however after he thought about it Alex realized the two were fairly similar. Both were unusually close to their sisters and would do whatever it took to keep them safe, though Akua''s actions were somewhat contrary due to her psychotic and yandere tendencies; and they were both exceptionally talented in their fields while being equally vicious again their opponents, which earned Kuroka one of the highest criminal ranks in the underworld after killing her former master, and had earned Akua her reputation as an unparalleled assassin. They both also had an affinity for Spatial abilities, Akua with her mastery over the Jigen-Tou that could rival even its creator, Touhou Fuhai; and Kuroka who was working hard trying to acquire a divinity related to Space, resulting in Akua being the first person Kuroka ever showed her personal space to, which housed the hundreds of cats she slowly granting power with her Age of Gods magic. Naturally however, the interest in Akua was swiftly eclipsed when Anne finally went into labor after spending two weeks in the space-time orb, eventually giving birth not to one baby, but fraternal twins. As a result, after many hours of her being in labor, Alex was trying to hold back tears as he held his first son in his right arm, and his newest daughter in his left while their mother watched on with a happy, but exhausted look on her face. Both of them had inherited their mothers dark skin tone, and had the same black hair as both of their parents while also bearing their father''s tail. Moving gently so as not to wake the sleeping newborns, Alex walked over to Anne and kissed her forehead before saying, "They''re beautiful Anne, have you thought about their names yet?" As they had been fairly surprised and distracted by the appearance of the second baby, the girl, both had yet to be named by their parents. Anne smiled somewhat shyly at Alex''s question, before hesitantly saying, "Well, if it was a boy I originally planned to name him Alec after his father." Alex smiled widely at the name before leaning forward to kiss his son gently on the forehead like he had just done Anne, and then he whispered his son''s name to him before saying, "If our son is named after his father, then it''s only fair that our daughter is named after her mother...how about Anna?" Anne smiled widely at the suggestion, and said, "It''s perfect..." before kissing their daughter like Alex had to Alec. Standing in the room watching them were of course those that had been present to help with the birth, Asia, Valerie, Rias, Grayfia, and even Sun since she had been almost desperate to help Anne while she was labor. As a peaceful silence descended upon the room, Grayfia was about to suggest that the newborns be laid down so that Anne could get some rest, when the door was suddenly flung open and a petite girl with massive bust and pink hair styled in twin tails stormed in. "Where are they?!" She demanded with stars in her eyes, before her gaze zeroed in on the babies in Anne''s arms. Faster than anyone present, including Alex, could follow, the girl moved across the room so that she was suddenly standing over Anne as she excitedly declared, "They''re so cute! can I please hold them Anne?!" While everyone was still dumbfounded at what was happening, Alex demanded with fury in his voice as he tried to move between the girl and his children, "Who the f.u.c.k are you, and what are you doing here?!" This made the girl turn to look at him with an annoyed expression, but Alex didn''t care since he was more concerned with her identity, and how she managed to enter both Asora and the space-time orb without anyone noticing. Instead of the girl however, the one to answer his question Anne, who confusedly asked, "Jenny?! What are you doing here?" This earned her a series of questioning looks as everyone wondered who this ''Jenny'' was, but, instead of clarifying, the girl stated, "I''ve been with you for over twenty years now, don''t tell me you thought I''d miss the day you had your own children, did you?" Though Anne''s only response was to gape at the girls exclamation, Alex''s however was to glare at her pointedly and state while poking her shoulder, "Ok, and? You could have said something ahead of time instead of charging in here as if you own the place. And you still haven''t told me who the hell you are!" By this point the girl directed a full blown glare at Alex in return, who didn''t back down in the slightest in the face of her apparent anger, as the girl stated as a matter of factly, "As if you''re one to lecture me ''boy'', you''re already lucky I didn''t erase you after you started sticking your prick into any hussy that''d spread her legs for you, even though ''my'' Anne waited so patiently for so long for you! So why don''t you shut up, and back off!" As she said the last part, the girl moved before Alex could react and pressed her palm into his chest to send him flying across the room, before he crashed right through the walls on the other side of the room and fell unconscious from the attack. Though Rias and Grayfia both reacted to the sudden ''attack'', they didn''t move as suddenly their instincts warned them that the person in front of them was incredibly dangerous, a feeling Kuroka, Yue, Shia, Shizuku, Kurumu, Sun, and Moka all shared when they suddenly appeared as well from the waiting room as they felt their master being attacked, while Asia and Valerie went to check on the unconscious Alex. Without paying them any mind however, the girl turned back towards Anne and asked once more, "So, can I hold them Anne?!" Anne''s expression stiffened at the question, as she unconsciously tightened her hold on Alec and Anna as if to protect them from Jenny''s desire to hold them. She was still struggling on trying to answer Jenny''s question, when suddenly a fist came out of nowhere down on top of her head, making Jenny go down immediately as she rubbed the welt forming on top of her head with teary eyes. "Owee! Why did you do that Re-" She then noticed the look she was receiving from the other sudden arrival, a sharp looking beautiful woman dressed in a suit with a skirt, and Jenny''s expression suddenly wilted as she mumbled to finish her question, "I mean Lauren..." The newest woman, Lauren, nodded in acceptance of Jenny''s words, before turning towards Anne and bowing slightly while saying, "I apologize for my associates actions today. Usually I can control her a little, but she slipped away while I had my back turned and got here before I could stop her. I''ll take her back now." As lauren turned to leave she gestured for Jenny to follow her with a smile that didn''t reach her eyes, to which the petite pink haired girl stated rebelliously, "No! I want to spend some time with Anne and the babies, and it''s not against the rules so you can''t force me to go back yet!" Though Jenny was speaking the truth, Lauren''s expression started changing into a scarier one, that made even Grayfia take mental notes as she said in a deathly calm voice, "You''re right, there is nothing preventing you from contacting Anne and spending time with her, however, it is against the rules for us to lay our hands on another contestant. Tell me, how do you think the boss would react if he heard about you attacking my contestant like that?" At Lauren''s threat, Jenny''s expression immediately turned deathly pale as she muttered quietly, "Y-you wouldn''t..." This made Lauren''s cruel smile grow slightly however, as she said, "I definitely would, what you just did was highly uncalled for and inappropriate, especially for one with our standing." By the time Lauren finished speaking, Jenny had disappeared as she quickly fled, lest Lauren follow through on her threat. Seeing her friend leave, Lauren sighed once and turned back towards Anne before bowing once more and saying, "Again, I am truly sorry for Jenny''s actions today, and congratulations on your children." As Lauren turned to leave everyone tensely watched her walk away, before Rias suddenly asked, "Excuse me, but who are you exactly?" Though Lauren wasn''t sure about answering her, seeing the rest of the gathered girls staring intently as they awaited her answer made her sigh once more, before saying, "Alex told you about his goals and what he and Anne live for, well I''m his ''guardian angel'' so to speak. While the ways I can help him are limited, I help guide him and keep track of his progress compared to the others." At this the girls were even more curious about her and Jenny, so Grayfia asked, "Would you like to wait for a while then? Our lord is currently unconscious, but I''m sure he would appreciate seeing you." At this however Lauren displayed a reaction none of them expected, causing them to look at her with suspicion as her cheeks became slightly red and she stated a bit agitatedly, "There are various reasons why I can''t meet Alex face to face just yet, so regretfully I''ll have to decline your offer. Thank you anyways though." As she once again turned to leave, Rias once again stopped her by asking, "Excuse me, but I can''t help but wonder since you know more about these things; as we are now, where would we stand compared to these others that Alex will have to fight?" At this question Lauren sighed once again, and was silent for a moment before saying, "I can''t give any of you, or Alex himself, any information regarding the other contestants, but I should be able to do this to give you a reference-" as she spoke Lauren pulled a tablet out of nowhere, and used it to project an image before saying, "One of the world''s Alex will undoubtedly visit at some point in the future is the one that his Saiyan bloodline came from, a world referred to as ''Dragonball''. These are some of the people that he may face when he goes there." As she finished speaking Lauren''s tablet suddenly showed a figure that was white and purple as they created a massive sphere of Ki energy, before using it to instantly destroy an entire planet. The girls paled when they witnessed the power and cruelty of this being as they casually destroyed an entire planet, however they soon learned that wasn''t even close to being what Lauren intended to show them. They then watched as the projection showed several more beings that seemed to be more powerful than the last, a green insectoid looking person, another that seemed to be made of pink bubblegum, and even a purple Egyptian looking cat that destroyed an entire plant with a mere tap of its finger. The scenes continued escalating until they showed a child-like being with a football shaped head that somehow destroyed an entire universe without any discernible effort, causing all of the women to pale noticeably while some of them even began shuddering slightly at the thought of fighting these beings someday. As the final scene that she was showing them ended, Lauren turned back towards them and asked plainly, "Tell me, can you hope to fight against these people if they were to suddenly appear before you? While Alex may plan to fight them himself, as his peerage each of you should be able to stand by his side equally instead of leaving all of the tough opponents to him. This is especially true for you Rias, since these are all gods of destruction of this universe." As she spoke Lauren''s tablet projected yet another image, showing the previous purple cat and eleven other individuals grouped together with confident smirks of their faces. Seeing this Rias paled, however with an idea of the level of strength she needed to reach in mind, she reaffirmed her determination as pans to restart her training from scratch started forming in her mind. The same expression made itself known on each of the girls faces as they each started thinking of ways to intensify their training, while simultaneously reaffirming their decision to join Alex''s peerage now that they had a clear example of the heights he was aiming form. Even Anne was no exception, as she decided she couldn''t be left behind by her husband and his peerage since she was supposed to be considered his equal as his first wife. Satisfied with the expressions each of the women were making Lauren then left before they could try to keep her behind yet again, while also sending in some of the other girls waiting outside to help Asia and Valerie with Alex, and to help Anne finally relax after the exceptionally long day she had. Chapter 319 - The Next Move Over the next several weeks(Asora time) after the birth of Alec and Anna, a series of changes took place within both Asora and the space-time orb. The first one was the birth of Alex''s second son Regal, and his forth daughter Elizabeth from Ravel and Serafall respectively. Regal, like his mother, had his head covered in golden tufts of hair with a few orange strands running through them and his tail, which Ravel proudly proclaimed was a trait of all Phoenix family men, while Elizabeth had the same black hair as both her mother and father, and no noticeable differences with her tail. What did stand out with the two newborns however, was that when Regal was born the temperature of the room had increased to the point that everyone except Alex and Ravel had to leave temporarily, while the baby himself was floating while wreathed in majestic flames that didn''t die down for several minutes as he slowly descended to his mother''s open arms. A similar phenomenon even occurred when Elizabeth was born several days later, when the entire room was immediately coated in a sheet of ice and the baby girl was coated in a thick layer of frost that didn''t seem to bother her. Alex later heard from both Grayfia and Serafall that such a phenomenon meant that the two babies, like their mothers, were super Devils, except they were naturally born super Devils instead of undergoing Evolution like their mothers had. They had also stated that when he was born Sirzechs had caused a similar phenomenon, except with the powers of Destruction instead of Fire or ice. After the addition of the four newborns to their family, the biggest change was that everyone seemed to get a kick in the butt and had intensified their training by several degrees, both in and out of the space-time orb. Even though Alex had mentioned fighting foes in the future capable of destroying entire planets with ease, seeing the footage of them actually doing so had really opened the eyes of girls that had intended to follow him into battle. As a result, the majority of the girls were now residing in the space-time orb full time instead of just following Alex in at night, of course with the exception Alex, Moka, Kurumu, and Mizore. When she heard that some of the beings they had been shown were considered to be that universe''s ''Gods of Destruction'', Rias had restarted her training regimen from scratch while placing the emphasis specifically on learning the Laws of Destruction. Though she had always relied on the demonic power of Destruction she had been born with, Rias was now trying to broaden her abilities to wield the very essence of destruction at will without even needing to use her demonic power. Despite this however, she also spent the rest of her time training her reserves of magic power and her ''Super Devil Form'' to use for actual combat until she could wield the Laws themselves. She had also intensified her peerage''s training, driving them to push their limits even further as some of them, such as Akeno, Kiba, Xenovia, and Rossweise also decided to turn their attention towards the Laws they were the most familiar with; while Asia and Gasper focused on pushing their mastery over their sacred gears and Age of Gods magic further, Koneko focused on her own personal strength and her mastery over Touki, and Ryuutarou, Suzu, and Endou desperately focused on catching up to their seniors while mastering their own Age of Gods magics. Kuroka on the other hand started focusing on pushing her mastery over the Laws of Time further and further, until she was finally able to layer time distortions on top of the distortion already present within the space-time orb. This meant she began stretching what was already a day-month ratio even further, and she had also already begun planning with Seekvaira and Hajime to create an even more powerful space-time orb to act as an experience farm for herself and the rest of Alex''s peerage, in which monsters could have several years within a single day to replenish their numbers before being slaughtered for experience. She had also began increasing the pace that she was granting the cats that she housed power and basic intelligence, as after doing so for so many she was noticing a subtle increase to her own strength, making Kuroka realize that the cats that served her were counted as ''followers'', and to them she was practically already their goddess. Meanwhile Grayfia was busy not only training herself, but also the combat maids under her to be able to stand against, at the very least, any godly beings that might stand in their way in the future. Tracy was ecstatic at the thought of facing such powerful opponents as she too started trying to delve deeper into mastery over the sword, while Francesca started focusing all of her attention on furthering her mastery over magic while also increasing her own reserves, surprising many when she put aside her perverted desires to do so. The same thing happened with Altina as she started pushing herself to become able to target anyone with her arrows, no matter where they were in the world. Eri on the other hand started working on a project in secret, which she wouldn''t even let Grayfia know the details of; while Mako and Ishigami both thought everyone else was crazy, but that didn''t stop Grayfia from putting the two through a series of hellish training exercises, and assigning Routier to join Shia as one of Alex''s punchin-er, sparring partners. Nyx on the other hand was finally granted her original divine power once again after Grayfia herself asked Alex to return it, believing that she was submissive enough to trust her with it again, while Venri began training alongside Tio under Ophis, before she too finally acquired the dragon God''s blessing. Similarly to Grayfia, Yue was prioritizing the training of Elmenhilde and Akua alongside herself as her vampiric subordinates, something that irritated Akua as she''d endeavor to grow stronger even if Yue didn''t push her to do so. With the sudden burst of inspiration to grow stronger among the space-time orbs residents, Akua pushed for Alex to evolve her into a Shinso sooner rather than later, and was currently busy mastering her newfound powers by sparring with Yue every chance she got, which made the petite vampire princess happy to have someone to continuously train with besides just Rias. Usually joining them when she couldn''t get Alex to spar with her was none other than the rabbit girl Shia, who intended to focus on increasing the level of her ''Automatic Regeneration'' skill while also trying to push her ''Durability'' skill to the next level. Recently however she also began trying to train her ability of foresight, which was only useful if she was about to die, or if she was willing to sacrifice all of her magic power for one use. Her goal with it was to utilize her ''Automatic Future Sight'', which activated when her life was threatened, similarly to how Alex used his Observation Haki instead of it being a last minute activation skill. She was also trying her best to learn how to use the inner energy of Ki similarly to Alex and those who Lauren showed them, but was struggling with it due to her not being as familiar with the concept of inner energy compared to magic power. Shizuku on the other hand was busy trying to push her ''Sword Intent'' as far as possible before she turned towards attempting contemplation of Sword or Speed Laws, as well as...another Law. After thinking on it for many, MANY hours, Shizuku had reluctantly decided to start proactively training her family''s stealth and elimination techniques, which they still adamantly refused to acknowledge as ninjutsu. Though she had only trained these techniques out of necessity in the past, Shizuku couldn''t see herself go toe toe with beings capable of destroying not just planets, but entire universes without them. While Shizuku would usually practice her sword skills with Kiba, Xenovia, or Irina, the one she was spending the most time training with recently was none other than a certain succubus, Kurumu. As Kurumu''s only physical weapon to use in combat was her nails, she was dedicating half of her time to training her ''Knight'' promotion with Shizuku in order to push her own speed and reflexes even further. Naturally the other half of her time was spent training her power over Illusions and mental manipulation, which she trained by trying to control Alex and the other women in his peerage. The reason for doing this was that, after fighting against her control so much, they could eventually obtain, and increase the same ''Mental Resistance'' skill Alex obtained during his fight with Ehito, while Kurumu could also strengthen her own capacity for mental control. While the rest of Alex''s peerage was focusing on training specific skills or abilities, Sun was instead focused entirely on farming experience like she originally had been in order to increase the number of songs available to her. Especially once Kuroka was able to make the new space-time orb along with Seekvaira and Hajime, Sun would spend the majority of her time using her songs to eliminate monsters while also strengthening anyone else who was grinding levels, increasing the level of those songs as well. This was the benefit of her ''Vocal Layering'' and ''Vocal Projection'' skills, which not only allowed her to train several songs at the same time, but she could project them over an increasingly large area that surpassed the projection one could usually achieve, even with specialized equipment. Naturally, the most frustrated one when it came to the sudden training drive was the only one of Alex''s peerage that was currently unable to train intensely, Moka. Both halves of the vampiress were growing increasingly frustrated as they watched the other girls around Alex kick themselves into gear, while they themselves were only able to do moderate training at best. Though Alex assured them that their strength would only multiply once the seal broke and they integrated properly with their Shinso blood, and due to their constant daily intake of his blood, both personalities couldn''t help but sulk slightly while feeling somewhat useless, a feeling that ''inner'' Moka had never experienced before. Naturally those in Alex''s peerage weren''t the only ones suddenly driven to start intensifying their training, as Anne, Ravel, Roygun, Sona, Serafall, Yasaka and even Gabriel had all started their training once again. While Sona, Roygun, and Ravel focused on their own training as well as their peerages, Anne began trying to push her capabilities over her Sky Dragon Slayer abilities even further, while also trying to accomplish a feat that Alex had told her about before, Dragon Force. The ones that really surprised everyone was when Serafall, Gabriel, and Yasaka had started training once more, as their move to Asora was also supposed to be a sort of retirement from the battlefield. While Serafall focused on mastering her super devil powers, and Yasaka tried to push her strength to match what she had when she was connected to Kyoto''s leylines, Gabriel reluctantly started working with her recently acquired divine powers, which were still increasing despite no longer being in Tortus where she was the Goddess Gabriel. Naturally, the one who looked after all of the children while everyone was training was Remia, who waved off the other mother''s apologies while stating, "I can''t fight alongside everyone, so let me do at least this much to help out." While his women had started training themselves anew, and even Sairaorg, Vali, and Hajime started training when they could for the upcoming battles, Alex himself was pushing himself farther than anyone else was. Even though Alex knew that, despite his SSJ2 transformation, he was still exceptionally ''weak'' in the grand scheme of things, being taken out instantly by someone he didn''t even know was a serious blow to his pride. Even after Anne and Lauren explained who Jenny was, Alex still felt as if he couldn''t rest easy until he gave her at least one slap in return for before, which is why he had restarted his strength training with even greater vigor than he ever had before. Ever since arriving in the Rosario Vampire world Alex had focused his efforts on training his draconic abilities and secondary fighting abilities, such as his Haki and his divine power; now however he was dividing his efforts between building up his own strength, as well as his secondary abilities. Though Alex didn''t think he would be able to achieve the SSJ3 transformation anytime soon, he was now trying to obtain it faster than he was originally planning due to Jenny''s actions, something that made the girl in question squirm uncomfortably. Naturally Lauren had informed Alex that he could receive a sort of boon if he wanted to push the issue against Jenny, however he had adamantly refused anything of the sort. Though it might have sounded like a good opportunity, Alex couldn''t help but feel as if it was the same as their mysterious boss taking pity on him after one of his people bullied him, something that would only damage Alex''s already hurt pride further. If he had been seriously injured or one of his women attacked as well then it would''ve been one thing, however all he had received after Jenny''s attack was a hand shaped bruise on his chest, and so the entire incident was considered along the lines of ''no harm no foul''. What Alex and the others didn''t know yet though, was that they weren''t the only ones who were heavily impacted at the revelations Lauren made to them, as a certain individual was perched vigilantly on the edge of the crib that the infant Regal was sound asleep in. As Pyo-Tan looked down at his mistress''s newborn son, he couldn''t help but ruminate on all of the things he had seen ever since he had been brought to this mysterious world called Asora. As phoenixes were beings of fire and air, Pyo-Tan couldn''t help but be amazed at the pure air quality that had existed in Asora, even around the places that had been settled by the various races that called the strange world home. In addition to the amazing air quality, though he hadn''t explored too much due to the constantly cold weather, Pyo-Tan had also been able to explore a few areas that the dragon called Bova trained and resided in, which were all converted into active volcanoes far away from the rest of Asora''s inhabitants. The most amazing thing he had seen since being here however, was the vast amount of stupidly powerful individuals besides the man who had made even an immortal Phoenix feel the threat of death, with his mistress with her super devil form being towards the top of the list. That was why, after several weeks of observation and deliberation, Pyo-Tan was waiting for Alex as he returned from the academy one day, and asked while bowing respectfully, "Great One, may this little Pyo-Tan speak with you?" Alex looked at the chubby little chicken curiously, as ever since the Phoenix had become contracted with Ravel they had hardly ever spoken, however Pyo-Tan had always been extremely formal towards him after Alex nearly killed him. After sending Moka, Mizore, and Kurumu to the space-time orb ahead of him, Alex went to one of the lounge rooms that had a large roaring fire going in it, where Pyo-Tan settled himself among the flames before saying, "Great One, this little Pyo-Tan was wondering, what would you think of allowing my fellow phoenixes to move to this wonderful land of Asora?" When he heard what the chubby little chicken wanted, Alex''s would be lying if he said he wasn''t surprised, as he never expected that the prideful Phoenix would ask him to let his fellow phoenixes relocate here. Alex was silent for several moments as he considered Pyo-Tan''s request, and what would happen if he accepted. On one hand it would be a tremendous boost to their fighting force to have an entire Odyssey of phoenixes at their beck and call(A.N. Yes that is what a large group of phoenixes is called, while a small group is called a Venture), while on the other hand it meant that Alex would need to break the phoenixes of their enormous pride similarly to what he did to Pyo-Tan, or risk a series of issues. After several minutes of silence, he finally answered, "While it does sound appealing, would it be worth it to go through the trouble to move them here? Phoenixes are annoyingly prideful, and I don''t want to bring them here just for them to act as if they own Asora, or to potentially attack the people." Pyo-Tan was silent as he considered what Alex said, as he himself had considered the same before asking, before he slowly said, "This little Pyo-Tan believes that if the Great One could win over the allegiance of the most powerful of phoenixes, then the rest will fall in line accordingly." Pyo-Tan then went on to explain that the hierarchy of the phoenixes was based around how long one had lived without being killed, before they inevitably reborn. As a recently reborn chick, Pyo-Tan was now at the bottom of the caste while the only Phoenix to have never been killed resided at the top, a being said to have enough power that not even the three Dark Lords working together, or even Alucard himself could hope to defeat them. This surprised Alex quite a bit as such a being had never been mentioned in the original story, however it made sense when he thought about it as fully grown phoenixes were supposed to be stronger than even the super powerful vampires; and the standard in any fantasy style series was that the longer a being lived, the more powerful they were. As such, Pyo-Tan believed that if Alex could gain the recognition of this being, something that shouldn''t be too difficult considering how powerful he was, then the rest of the phoenixes should fall into line, or would take up their discontent with Alex himself. After learning more about phoenixes than he ever thought, Alex finally asked, "So what is this phoenix''s name then?" Pyo-Tan''s chicken-like expression hardened at Alex''s question as he replied seriously, "His name, is Rho-Dan." *** Meanwhile in a medieval style castle hidden within the mountains of Japan, a certain beautiful woman was glaring at the gangster looking man standing in front of her before demanding, "And why wasn''t I told of this sooner?!" Miyabi grimaced at Gyokuro''s anger, before explaining after taking drag off of his cigarette, "We wanted to be sure before we reported Akua''s disappearance, but it''s been nearly a month and we haven''t heard from her after she departed for Youkai Academy. Originally we thought she was just trying to lay low, but after going this long without receiving any reports from her then we can only consider the worst." When she heard this Gyokuro shook so badly from anger, that she ended up destroying the arm of the chair she was sitting in, something that could be considered impressive when one thought about the destruction she''d usually cause whenever she was angry. Ever since they had received the report about Kanade''s death, nothing seemed to be going right for their plans anymore. As they had suspected during their meeting, the Miao family had refused to contact them even after several weeks of silence, while rumors had even reached Gyokuro about the newfound alliance between them and the Huang family. Though the various division leaders still thought they needed to send someone to ascertain the Miao family''s fate, Gyokuro still maintained that they don''t send someone alone to China, lest their losses increase more than what was already gone. This was especially true after Akua had gone dark as, despite Gyokuro''s hatred of Issa''s other children, she still couldn''t deny the little bitch was an exceptionally skilled assassin. These weren''t the only problems though, as everyone on the list they had acquired from Kiria had also seemingly disappeared before representatives from Fairy Tale could try to recruit them, meaning they had yet to replenish the numbers they had recently lost. After several minutes of thinking in silence as she tried to calm herself, Gyokuro finally turned back towards Miyabi and said, "I have an idea of how to deal with the problem at the academy, but what I want you to focus on is restoring our numbers. I have a few dossiers on certain Youkai we can approach, but I''m not sure how they''ll respond so tread carefully." After casually blowing out a cloud of smoke, Miyabi answered before turning to leave, "Alright, but if they don''t join us then I''ll probably have to destroy them." Gyokuro only smirked knowingly as Miyabi walked away, before she too stood and started making her way through the corridors of her home. She had returned after the previous division leader meeting in order to keep up the ruse that the Shuzen family was still operating as usual, which kept certain outside parties out of their affairs. It also meant that those who were still within the family, yet were loyal only to her husband or the hateful Akasha, were unaware of where the family''s current interests lay, and would remain ignorant until Gyokuro decided to use them for her experiments. There was also someone else who was ignorant of what they were currently doing, who Gyukuro was currently going to go see. Thinking on it, Gyokuro had decided that instead of sending someone with obvious intentions into the academy that they couldn''t risk losing, why not lure someone there that had no value to Fairy Tale, and would remain off of the mysterious mans radar until she forced them to come back to question at her leisure? Then if they somehow did something stupid and got themselves killed, then it would be of no consequence to their plans like the loss of Akua. As such, Gyokuro arrived outside the door of the person in question and took a breath to steady herself before opening it suddenly, startling the girl inside. "M-mother! W-what are you doing here?!" The girl demanded while trying to hide a board filled with various photos of a certain pink haired figure, as well as lines connecting them like a conspiracy theorist. As Gyokuro took in the sight of her second daughter, Kokoa, with her red hair tied up into two bushy twin-tails that housed a small bat and her sailer girl outfit, she only felt disappointment and annoyance that were hidden as she tried to smile naturally while saying, "I just came to see my daughter, is that so wrong?" Even though she was smiling at her daughter and said she just wanted to see her, Kokoa showed a slightly disturbed reaction as her mother had never been so kind to her before, which made her feel as if something was wrong. Seeing her daughter react in such a way, Gyokuro dropped her act and said with a sigh, "Ok fine, I just came to tell you that intend to send you to Youkai Academy next year." The moment the words left her lips Kokoa looked as if she was about to despair as she cried out, "No mother! A proud vampire like me shouldn''t have to go to a school with all of those ''lesser'' monsters!" When she heard this Gyokuro had to fight the urge to sneer, as she mentally remarked that Kokoa was an embarrassment to vampires everywhere, and that she should be ashamed to consider herself as one of them. Instead however she simply casually remarked, "Oh? But I thought you''d be excited to go to Youkai Academy since Moka was there?" The moment Kokoa heard that her eyes took on a different look as she hesitantly asked, "Big sis is there?" Gyokuro nodded slowly and continued, "Yes she is, I thought that after six years the two of you would like the chance to reconnect while going to school together, was I wrong?" Immediately Kokoa shook her head and stated, "No mother! Not at all!" Before she could continue Gyokuro forcefully brought the conversation to close by clapping her hands together and saying, "It''s decided then! Good talk, I''ll see you at dinner!" Without giving Kokoa the chance to say anything else, Gyokuro swiftly left her daughter''s room while debating on if she should take a bath before dinner, as she now felt as if she''d been around something filthy. Instead she just collected the dossiers of the youkai groups she planned to send to Miyabi, and worked on her research a bit until it was finally time to eat. As Gyokuro took her seat at the head of the expansive dining table, with her beloved daughter Kahlua at her right. She then swiftly began to eat her food while Kahlua waited patiently while staring at the empty seat across from her for some reason, only speaking when her mother stopped eating to take a sip from the blood filled goblet in front of her to ask, "Mother, shouldn''t we wait for Kokoa to start eating?" This made Gyokuro look over at her before saying noncommittally, "Well, she is the one who didn''t come down when dinner was ready." Kahlua looked at Kokoa''s empty seat once again and was about to suggest she go look for her, when suddenly one of the attendants entered the dining room before saying, "Forgive my intrusion lady Shuzen, but miss Kokoa was seen leaving the grounds on foot with haste a few minutes ago, should we give chase?" Gyokuro smirked slightly when she heard this, before saying, "No, we''ll wait a few weeks before I have her brought home." STATUSES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Alex Race: Saiyan Titles: Dragon Emperor, Super Sadist, Womanizer, Monstrosity, Champion Level: 265 Job: Scythe User: 90 Job history: Hatchling Draconian Warrior, Apprentice Mage, Draconian Warrior, Arsonist, Senior Draconian Warrior, Martial Artist, Draconian Tyrant, Expert Martial Artist, Ruthless Draconian Tyrant, Gravity User, Sword User, Pyromaniac, Staff User, Mage, Demonic Charmer, Staff Adept, Divine Nemesis, Seducer Passive Skills: Fire Resistance: level 9 Poison Resistance: level 9 Mental Resistance: level 7 Magic Recovery Rate: level 4 Gravity Mastery: level 10 Fire Mastery: level 8 Monstrous Strength: 8 Automatic Regeneration: 3 Strengthen Subordinates: 1 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: level 10 Lovers Embrace: level 6 Seduction: level 4 Lucky Pervert: Level 2 Active Skills: Dragon Demon''s Breath: level 6 Divine Dragon breath: level 2 Domain: level 4 Energy Nullification: level 4 Draconian Form: level 8 Intimidation: level 10 Ki Manipulation: level 9 Devils Charm: level 8 Sword Technique: level 8 Staff Technique: level 6 Scythe Technique: Level 3 Telekinesis: Level 2 Creation Magic: level 2 Space Magic: level 7 Regeneration Magic: level 8 Spirit Magic: level 5 Evolution Magic: level 5 Alteration Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Soul Break: level 1 Unique Skills: Reincarnated Devil: King Evil Piece Boosted Gear Asora Enslavement Magic Haki ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kuroka Toujo Race: Nekoshou Job: Time Mage Master: 15 Job history: Poison User, Space Mage, Thief, Archmage, Poison Expert, Master Mage, Martial Artist, Adept Thief, Grandmaster Mage, Expert Martial Artist, Shape Shifter, Space Archmage, Time Mage Apprentice, Space Master, Apprentice Saboteur, Space Grandmaster, Time Mage Adept, Time Mage Expert Passive Skills: Poison Resistance: level 4 Enlarged Magic Pool: level 10 Automatic Magic Recovery: 9 Superhuman Strength: 7 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Feline Form: level 5 Stealth: level 10 Shadow Cloak: level 6 Poison Miasma: level 1 Toxic Talons: level 2 Ki Mastery: level 5 Magic Mastery: level 2 Magic Sight: level 7 Kasha: level 9 Touki Mastery: level 3 Illusion Magic: level 7 Space Manipulation: level 2 Creation Magic: level 2 Gravity Magic: level 4 Petrification: level 3 Time Manipulation: level 2 Spirit Magic: level 5 Evolution Magic: level 5 Alteration Magic: level 5 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Reincarnated Devil: Queen Evil Piece Youjutsu Senjutsu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Rias Gremory Race: Superdevil Titles: Crimson Haired Ruin Princess, Switch Princess Job: Destruction Queen: 45 Job History: Destruction Mage, Destruction Archmage, Destruction Mage, Archmage, Mage, Demonic Leader, Lord of Destruction, Apprentice Martial Artist, Gun Mage, Demonic Charmer, Destruction Overlord, Magic Gunner, Gravity Mage Apprentice, Charm Expert, Destroyer, Gravity Mage Adept, Magic Sniper Passive Skills: Absolute Destruction: level 10 Magic Mastery: level 5 Immense Magic Pool: level 5 Automatic Magic recovery: level 10 Strengthen Followers: level 3 Superhuman Strength: level 5 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Extinguished Star: level 10 Apocalyptic Extinction: level 4 Domain of Destruction: level 5 Reaper''s Ruin: level 10 Destruction Duelers: level 10 Command Followers: level 10 Devils Allure: level 6 Creation Magic: level 3 Gravity Magic: level 7 Space Magic: level 5 Regeneration Magic: level 5 Spirit Magic: level 4 Evolution Magic: level 2 Alteration Magic: level 1 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Destruction Super Devil Form Bishop Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name- Yue/Aletia Galdea Vesperito Avatarl Race- Shinso Vampire Titles: Vampire Princess, Crotch Smasher, Magical Girl Vampire Princess Job- Blood Mage Apprentice: 86 Job History: Master Mage, Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Lightning Mage, Water Mage, Earth Mage, Wind Mage, Adept Ice Mage, Adept Fire Mage, Adept Wind Mage, Adept Earth Mage, Adept Lightning Mage, Adept Water Mage, Shadow Mage Apprentice Passive Skills: Blood Conversion: level 10 Immense Magic Pool: level 4 Automatic Magic Recovery: level 10 Magic Manipulation: level 4 Magic Sight: level 8 Flame manipulation: level 7 Ice manipulation: level 8 Lightning manipulation: level 8 Water manipulation: level 7 Earth manipulation: level 7 Wind manipulation: level 7 Blood Manipulation: level 5 Shadow Manipulation: level 6 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Creation magic: level 2 Gravity magic: level 8 Space magic: level 7 Regeneration magic: level 6 Spirit magic: level 6 Evolution Magic: level 4 Alteration Magic: level 4 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Automatic Regeneration All Element Aptitude Compound Magic True Form Reincarnated Devil: Bishop Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Shia Haulia Race: Rabbit Beastman Titles: Worthless Rabbit, Bugged Rabbit, Berserker Bunny Job: Psychic: 56 Job History: Apprentice Warrior, Berserker, Hammer User, Warrior, Regenerating Warrior, Gravity Apprentice, Brawler, Hammer Expert, Gravity Adept, Fortune Teller Passive Skills: Automatic Future Sight: level 8 Superhuman Strength: level 10 Durability: level 10 Automatic Regeneration: level 6 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Future Paths: level 6 Revelation: 5 Berserk Mode: level 4 Stealth: level 1 Physical Reinforcement: level 7 Hammer Technique: level 8 Gravity Magic: level 9 Space Magic: level 2 Regeneration magic: level 6 Spirit magic: level 2 Evolution Magic: level 1 Alteration Magic: level 3 Creation Magic: level 1 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Future Sight Conceal Presence Feral Form Reincarnated Devil: Rook Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Moka Akashiya Race: Shinso Vampire(sealed) Job: Apprentice Martial Artist: 25 Job History: Passive Skills: Blood conversion: Level 3(sealed) Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool: Level 8(weakened) Supernatural Energy Conversion: Level 2(sealed) Superhuman Strength: Level 3(weakened) Automatic Regeneration: Level 4(weakened) Water Resistance: Level 3 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Vampiric Charm: Level 2 Transformation: Level 1(sealed) Martial Technique: Level 4(weakened) Supernatural Energy Manipulation: Level 2(sealed) Internal Energy Manipulation: Level 1(sealed) Unique Abilities: Shinso Form Immense Supernatural Energy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Shizuku Yaegashi Race: High human Titles: Class Mom, Onee-Sama, Last Boss, Reluctant Kinochi Job: Assassin Apprentice: 15 Job History: Swordswoman, Ninja Apprentice, Expert Swordswoman, Samurai Apprentice, Samurai, Ninja, Female Knight Passive Skills: Sword Mastery: level 7 Knife Skill: level 5 Throwing: 5 No beat: level 7 Superhuman speed: level 10 Superhuman Strength: 2 Chakra Control: level 5 Seduction: level 4 Bed Skills: level 4 Disease Resistance: level 1 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Increased Adaptability: level 4 Active Skills: Sword Intent: Level 2 Ponytail guard: level 4 Camouflage: level 4 Stealth: level 5 Space magic: level 7 Regeneration magic: level 5 Spirit magic: level 3 Evolution Magic: level 1 Alteration Magic: level 2 Creation Magic: level 1 Gravity Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Ninjutsu Reincarnated Devil: Knight Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Grayfia Lucifuge Race: Superdevil Titles: The Strongest Queen, Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation Job: Maid Commander: 15 Job History: Shield Maid, Mage Maid, Warrior Maid, Maid Terror, Martial Maid, Creation Maid, Apprentice Maid Knight, Maid Knight, Expert Shield Maid, Expert Maid Mage, Apprentice Healing Maid, Veteran Warrior Maid, Expert Martial Maid, Maid General, Maid Guider Passive Skills: Housework: level 7 Bed Skills: level 10 Gigantic Magic Pool: level 2 Magic Mastery: level 3 Automatic Magic Recovery: level 10 Monstrous strength: level 4 Strengthen Followers: 3 Maid Path Guidance: 2 Active Skills: Magic Domain: level 5 Coordination Adept: level 3 Intimidation: level 10 Aura of terror: level 8 Steel defense: level 4 Ki manipulation: level 7 Sword skills: level 7 Creation magic: level 4 Gravity magic: level 5 Space magic: level 7 Regeneration magic: level 7 Spirit magic: level 4 Evolution Magic: level 3 Alteration Magic: level 3 Conception Magic: level 1 Unique Skills: Immense Demonic Power Superdevil Form Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kurumu Kurono Race: Succubus Job: Mental Influencer: 10 Job History: Illusion Apprentice, Illusion User, Nailed Fighter Passive Skills: Seduction: Level 4 Bed Skills: Level 3 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: Level 2 S.e.m.e.n Conversion: level 4 Superhuman Strength: Level 3 Superhuman Speed: Level 3 Mental Resistance: Level 2 Active Skills: Charm: Level 3 Dream Dive: Level 1 Illusion Magic: Level 7 Aphrodisiac Secretion: Level 1 Mental Manipulation: Level 3 Unique Skills: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Sun Otonashi Race: Siren Titles: Generation''s Strongest Job: Vibrato Vocalist: 5 Job History: Songstress, Vocal Healer, protective Songstress Passive Skills: Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool: Level 10 Vocal Layering: Level 4 Vocal Projection: Level 4 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Siren in the Dark: Level 6 Silence in the Dark: Level 5 Song of protection: Level 4 Battle Cry: Level 3 Healing Hymn: Level 1(Heals the wounds of those who can hear the song, and can distinguish between allies and enemies) Cantus Firmus: Level 1(forms a dome to protect those within from physical attacks, but also allows physical attack from within to leave.) Jitterbug: Level 1(raises the speed of allies that hear this song) Unique Abilities: Immense Supernatural Power Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 320 - An Odyssey of Phoenixes Several days after Pyo-Tan had talked to Alex about meeting with the rest of the phoenixes, the residents of a small island located in the Pacific Ocean trembled in fear as the volcano that had created their island started rumbling after centuries of silence. What none of them knew was that, far below the volcano''s peak, the great beast within was stirring as several great bursts of fire flared up in front of him, all surrounding a very small looking chicken that was standing on a slab of stone floating in the middle of the massive magma filled cavern. From each burst of fire that appeared, identical massive creatures followed that would spread their giant wings before settling down and turning their attention to the one that called them there. "What did you call us here for Pyo-Tan?" The cavern rumbled as the largest Phoenix asked once they had all arrived, making all of the rest of the phoenixes present go silent and look down on the one who dared call them to disturb their slumber, and was the weakest one present. Pyo-Tan however didn''t recoil under the gazes of those present, before he said firmly, "Great Rho-Dan, I requested this meeting due to a problem that I''m sure all of us phoenixes are aware of, the increasing air pollution and shrinking territories that each of us could roam in." At Pyo-Tan''s words the dozens of phoenixes surrounding him became silent as they all ruminated on what they acknowledged was indeed a growing problem. Over the last few hundred years the human populations had exploded to proportions that could easily threaten the monster population, which was why many monsters were willing to go through great lengths to remain secret, as their exposure could lead to a war that would result in the elimination of both sides. The problem however was that the human''s numbers were only growing at a faster rate, and with it they were increasing their impact on the world through things such as pollution of the air, waters, and earth itself. This had a drastic effect on the various monsters that relied on the environment for their lives, and was contributing to the growing discontent with the current world order. The phoenixes in particular were experiencing the effects of air pollution and the humans constantly growing numbers, which was limiting their chances to go out and spread their wings due to the possibility of being seen with their giant forms. This had resulted in the numerous sightings of what the humans called the ''Thunder Bird'', and various other monstrous flying creatures popular in the media today. Seeing as he now had the attention of every Phoenix present, Pyo-Tan then took a deep breath and continued, "While these issues are a problem for us all, I believe I may have found a way for us to continue forward!" He then went on to explain of the wonderful land of Asora that had clean skies and a limited population of other residents, all of which were aware of the existence of beings such as phoenixes so they wouldn''t have to hide their presence any longer. Though the place Pyo-Tan described sounded wonderful to some of the phoenixes, others were more skeptical of such a wonderful sounding thing, before the second largest Phoenix present demanded, "And what would be the price we''d have to pay to be able to move to this paradise? I can''t image that we''d be able to reside there for nothing!" At this many of the phoenixes were silent, as Pyo-Tan glared at the speaker slightly before continuing, "This land is owned by one who is called the Dragon Emperor. All he would require to reside there is a promise that we would never threaten the lives of the other residents, that we regard him and his word as the absolute authority within his realm, and that if his realm and its inhabitants become threatened that we would fight on their behalf." There was a great commotion when the rest of the phoenixes heard the requirements to reside in Asora, as well as the fact that the one who owned this land was called the Dragon Emperor. While the rest of them were discussing these two things amongst themselves, Rho-Dan himself was silent as he contemplated what Pyo-Tan had told them, before the Phoenix that had spoken before demanded, "So you mean to tell me that in order to live there we, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL PHOENIXES, would have to bow down to a mere dragon?!" The rest of the phoenixes as well cried out their agreement at this outrage, until Rho-Dan slowly rumbled as he asked, "Tell me Shi-Lan, have you forgotten about the ancient dragons that were once our equals?" Though Rho-Dan''s words were enough to make the rest of the phoenixes go silent, the one called Shi-Lan continued, "Great Rho-Dan, the ancient dragons were wiped out long ago, any dragons that exist now are nowhere near our immortal greatness! Even if this so-called Dragon Emperor is somehow an ancient dragon, what''s to stop us from destroying him and taking this ''Asora'' for ourselves?" At Shi-Lan''s rods the rest of the phoenixes around them shouted out their agreement as they each imagined a world that they ruled without the lowly humans, or the other Youkai. Rho-Dan let out a rumbling sigh when he saw this, as it was too presumptuous to assume that it would be that easy to eliminate a being that had somehow laid claim to what was supposedly a whole world. Instead of pointing this out however, Rho-Dan stayed silent as he watched how Pyo-Tan would react to this, only to see that the seemingly small chick was deathly silent as if it wasn''t surprised at how the others had reacted. As Rho-Dan found this curious, and the rest of the phoenixes fervor reached its peak, they were interrupted as a spout of magma that suddenly shot out from one of the surrounding rock walls. "WOOOOAH!" Someone shouted over the crescendo of the phoenixes voices, as he shot out along with the magma into the pool of lava below them, before surfacing casually as if he was floating in a pool of water. As if he was indifferent to the dozens of insanely powerful phoenixes staring at him, the man then created a magic circle in mid air that deposited a coconut, a straw, and mini umbrella into his waiting hand, while a pair of sunglasses dropped down onto his face. As the chamber turned dead silent, he then waved a finger and the magic circle started playing a upbeat song like a person would hear while staying in a tropical island. Alex then said over the booming music, "Sorry for dropping in like this, I got bored while waiting up there and decided to take a dip, but got sucked into a random lava tube. So what''s going on?" Though the silence persisted for several seconds after Alex''s question, Pyo-Tan eventually said somewhat exasperatedly, "Well, Great Dragon Emperor, this little Pyo-Tan had just been explaining the benefits of us phoenixes migrating to Asora, and Shi-Lan here was talking about killing you to take Asora for ourselves." When he heard this Alex''s lazy demeanor froze along with the music he was playing, as he looked directly at the phoenix Pyo-Tan had pointed out, which was also the second biggest Phoenix after the one he presumed was Rho-Dan. With his casual expression turning into a deadpan, Alex tossed his coconut drink away and pulled himself out of the magma onto the same stone slab Pyo-Tan was standing on before summoning himself a change of clothes, since his other ones had burnt when he first jumped into the magma. He then looked directly at the Phoenix in question, before asking, "You want to try and kill me to take Asora for yourself?" Shi-Lan wanted to comment about Alex''s demeanor and lack of respect in the face of his greatness, and that he should be honored to die from his flames and talons, however the words were caught in his throat. Nodding at the silence, Alex then directed his attention to the rest of the phoenixes gathered, and stated loudly and clearly, "The world called Asora is my property, I use it to house those I care about and those who wish for a better life than what their world will allow them. I am willing to accept the phoenixes of this world, however you will have to obey the laws I have set down." At this Alex glanced at Pyo-Tan to see the chubby little chicken nod, stating that he had already explained the rules Alex decreed for the phoenixes should they move. Alex then turned his attention towards the one Pyo-Tan had pointed out, while the little chicken jumped up suddenly to his shoulder and whispered into Alex''s ear, "Great One, this Pyo-Tan has something important to tell you regarding Shi-Lan!" Without taking his gaze away from the glaring Phoenix, Alex asked, "What is it Pyo-Tan?" After a second of deliberation, Pyo-Tan anxiously stated, "Shi-Lan is among the phoenixes that hates humans the most! He would be equal to the great Rho-Dan in power if not for the fact that several thousand years ago he was once killed by humans, and he has been slaughtering them in the hundreds and thousands ever since! We phoenixes always live in either deserts or volcanoes, and he personally has triggered several eruptions throughout history that have been recorded as some of the greatest natural disasters recorded, Mount Vesuvius, Unzen, Pel¨¦e, Thera, even the eruption of Mount Tambora that ended up killing hundreds of thousand people!" Alex''s expression hardened as he listened to Pyo-Tan''s explanation of Shi-lan''s past, which could be heard by every Phoenix present due to their enhanced hearing, causing several phoenixes to shuffle awkwardly due to the fact that they were somewhat guilty of the same thing when humans had tried to attack them in the past, yet not even close to the level of Shi-Lan. As he and Shi-Lan stared at each other, Alex then stated in a loud and clear voice, his previous frivolous demeanor completely gone, "Come at me then. You want to take what is mine, THEN TAKE IT IF YOU DARE!" Shi-Lan sneered at Alex''s declaration as he shook off the feeling that froze him previously, while Rho-Dan watched silently from the side to see what this so-called ''Dragon Emperor'' was capable of, even as Shi-Lan spread his wings and declared himself, "Very well you worthless lizard! I will show you the price to pay for going against an immortal Phoenix!" As he spoke Shi-Lan released a blast of fire from his open beak that bathed the area around Alex with Phoenix flames so intense, that even Pyo-Tan would have been turned to ash had he not retreated to safety a moment before. Seemingly the battle was over before it even began as the Phoenix Fire washed over Alex''s unresisting body, and the flames heated the cavern to the point that the rock face around them started glowing, before they then slowly starting dripping molten stone. After several minutes Shi-Lan closed his mouth as a triumphant smirk appeared even with his beak, however it slowly faded as his flames died down and revealed a figure standing in the middle, no worse for the wear. "Was that it?" Alex asked with a bored expression, infuriating Shi-Lan more than he had been in centuries. How dare this insignificant worm stand against the mighty him?! While releasing a mighty screech, Shi-Lan spread his wings and charged directly at Alex with the intention to crush him under his giant beak, murder in his eyes. Alex didn''t even flinch at the sudden attack however, instead he simply reached out as if in slow motion, and grabbed the tip of Shi-Lan''s beak right before it impacted him, halting all of the raging phoenix''s forward motion. With a smirk on his face now, Alex looked directly into the stunned eyes of Shi-Lan before grabbing his beak with his other hand, and swinging him back into the rock wall behind him, forcing the phoenixes perched there to scatter. The entire cavern rumbled once more as Shi-Lan''s body slammed into the rock face upside down, however, before he could start falling, Alex muttered, "Have a taste of these flames..." As he spoke Alex summoned flames that were as black as night, before shaping them into two giant stakes and sending them directly through Shi-Lan''s wings into the rock on the other side, effectively pinning him to the cavern wall. "SHORYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Shi-Lan cried out in pain, as the demonic flames pierced his wings and started to slowly spread while combating his regenerative abilities. This sent a shiver of fear through the rest of the gathered phoenixes, as they had never heard of a type of fire capable of injuring them, let alone preventing their regenerative abilities from activating. Shi-Lan then shouted out through the pain, "What are these abominable flames?! Curse you and your demon fire!" When he heard this Alex''s brow twitched in annoyance, as he felt as if Shi-Lan wasn''t one to talk about fire. Alex then forced the corrosive black flames to die out, effectively preventing them from eating through the entirety of Shi-Lan''s body and allowing the massive Phoenix to fall heavily to a slab of stone below him. "Do you accept your defeat?" Alex asked suddenly, as it was apparent that Shi-Lan was unable to actually fight him in terms of both fire and strength. "Haaa....Haaa.... I accept my defeat....." Shi-Lan panted while facing the rock wall, seemingly giving up in the face of Alex''s insurmountable capabilities, however there was a dark gleam in his eyes. Even with the demonic black flames gone the holes in his wings still hadn''t started regenerating, that combined with the pain he was forced to feel was something Shi-Lan would never forgive. After catching his breath, Shi-Lan turned suddenly to attack Alex now that his guard would be down, only to find a long majestic sword in his hands, beautiful golden flames along its edge as Alex casually swung it twice while muttering, "Dumbass." Two streaks of golden flames came flying at Shi-Lan in a giant X, once again pining him to the cavern walls as the flames crossed over his chest. "SHORYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Shi-Lan cried out once more, as the divine flames burned into his flesh and started purifying his supernatural energy instead this time. As Shi-Lan continued crying out in pain Alex returned Ascalon to the pocket dimension he usually stored it in along with his scythe and staff, before turning his attention to the rest of the gathered phoenixes that now refused to meet his gaze. He then stated to them once more, "I will not force you to accept my offer to move to Asora, however I hope this demonstration is enough to deter any other stupid ideas. I have no intentions of becoming a tyrant, however I will not hesitate to act like one if need be." The cavern was silent in response to Alex''s declaration, before Rho-Dan suddenly said, "I have no interest in conflict, however the things Pyo-Tan has told us about seem interesting, and this world of ours really is becoming too small. A future where we no longer have to confine ourselves and hide seems nice, so please, allow us to move to your land." As he finished speaking Rho-Dan then bowed his giant head slightly, which was mirrored by every other phoenix around them, as if Shi-Lan was defeated so easily, then they themselves wouldn''t be a match for Alex. With all of the phoenixes submitting to him, Alex then turned towards the still burning Shi-Lan, who looked at him through the pain with eyes filled with hatred. His own expression turning cold, Alex didn''t say anything at all to the dying Phoenix, and instead activated his Spirit magic. "W-what is that?!" Some of the phoenixes exclaimed when they watched a glowing bluish orb leave Shi-Lan''s chest, to which Alex explained calmly as the orb reached his hands, "This is Shi-Lan''s soul, and now I''m going to demonstrate to you that, before me, there is no such thing as ''immortality''." Before anyone could ask what he meant, Alex clenched his fist around the orb, shattering it instantly with his ''Soul Break'' skill. Suddenly Shi-Lan''s body went limp, as the golden flames swiftly consumed it and Alex turned to look at Rho-Dan once more, making the massive Phoenix look back at him curiously while the rest of his kind looked at Alex with a newfound fear. They all knew that Shi-Lan, along with several other phoenixes, had lived without worrying about the consequences of their actions due to their immortality, however the message Alex was sending was quite clear, if they did something unforgivable in this Asora, they would be punished for it. As he watched Alex curiously Rho-Dan stated, "I think I''ll speak for us all when I say that your message is understood." Though none of the phoenixes said anything, they all nodded in agreement to Rho-Dan''s words as they tried to come to terms with feeling fear for the first time in their long lives. With all of the phoenixes now willing to follow him, Alex then brought them into Asora away from the populations before sending them out to find a place that they''d want to roost, where he would then use his ''Gravity Mastery'' to divert a lava vent to the surface. Rho-Dan however stated that he''d like his roost to be relatively nearby to where Alex would be, so that the rest of the phoenixes could have a place to gather and he''d be readily available should Alex ever need to call on him. After the issue with the phoenixes was dealt with Alex finally got to retire to the space-time orb for the night, where he immediately went to the weight training room and increased the gravity to start his training. *** After a full day of training with Shizuku, someone who was annoyingly fast and tricky with her blade, Akua was wandering the halls of the space-time orb''s villa looking for her sister as well as some of the other girls. After a few minutes of looking she heard from Grayfia that they were down in the weight room along with Alex, leading Akua to seek out the long spiral staircase that she had never gone down before. As she walked down it Akua couldn''t help but think to herself, ''I wonder why the weight room would be all the way down here?'' Even though she was a vampire, known to be one of the strongest races of Youkai, Akua specialized in speed and evasion with her Jigen-Tou instead of raw strength like most vampires, so she had never been down to the weight room and was unaware of how they used Gravity magic to push their training even further. When she finally found it though, an incredulous scene awaited her as she found not only her sister, but several other members of Alex''s harem gathered in the observation room, a room above the weight room that was separated by a glass window, where a person could also control the Gravity magic if the user didn''t have the Age of Gods magic. There they were all staring down at the only person working out, Alex, with expressions as if they would start drooling at any moment. When she looked out the window Akua couldn''t help but to gulp herself, as she saw Alex in nothing but a pair of shorts as he curled barbells loaded with weights that, with the Gravity magic, now equaled several tons, and naturally the equipment had been reinforced to withstand such weight. Even though Akua only had eyes for her beloved little sister, she couldn''t help but admit that Alex working out was quite the tantalizing sight for any woman, though her awe turned into annoyance when Alex glanced at their direction for the briefest of seconds, and winked playfully at them. What the girls didn''t see was Alex''s expression turning serious as he turned away from them once more as he continued trying to train his body. Another thing the girls hadn''t noticed was the wrist bands that Alex was wearing along with his boots, both of which being artifacts he had created to weigh up to a hundred pounds, a minor amount normally, however he wore them constantly throughout the day with the only exceptions being when he took at bath or slept. With the added gravity that he was currently under, this meant that Alex was currently lifting more weight than any of the girls thought as he focused intently on getting stronger for the future. Chapter 321 - The Third Sister After spending several hours training himself, Alex exited the weight room and was unsurprised to find a small crowd of women waiting for him before they all headed towards the baths together, with Kurumu and Mizore clinging onto his arms despite how sweaty he currently was. While Mizore being clingy was an increasingly common occurrence with her birthday steadily approaching, Alex couldn''t help but feel as if there was something on Kurumu''s mind as well, leading to him asking, "Is there something wrong Kurumu?" As if she had been shaken from deep thought, Kurumu jumped slightly when Alex called out to her before she quickly stated, "Nothing! There''s nothing wrong!" Though Alex could tell that wasn''t the case, when he was about to push further Kurumu firmly shut him down and refused to elaborate on the subject, confusing Alex and the others as they dropped the subject. The truth was that a few weeks after she had become Alex''s pawn and dedicated herself to him, Kurumu had written a letter to her mother regarding her newfound relationship, of course leaving out the various details regarding his existence, basically stating that she had found her fianc¨¦. She had been hoping to meet her mother again soon so that she could potentially have her move to Asora and stay with them, however when Kurumu received her reply stating that she was coming to visit, she was suddenly very anxious. Too late, she had remembered that her mother could be very overbearing and flirtatious, which Kurumu was becoming increasingly worried about for when she and Alex finally met, as she could very well see him accepting her mother''s advances. Kurumu continued worrying about her mother''s eventual arrival, even as they had reached the baths and she started to absentmindedly undress and wash herself, before crawling into the nice hot bath. While the rest of the girls similarly climbed into the hot baths, Moka and Akua climbed into the one specially adjusted for the vampires of this world, which had been mixed with various herbs and potions to make it safe for them, and Alex climbed into the same bath as Mizore, which had actual chunks of ice floating in it. "Ahhhhhh!...." Alex gasped as he felt the ice cold water against his skin, before settling into it next to Mizore and surprisingly Shia. She wanted to see if there was anything to taking an ice bath after an intense work out, which she had been doing until Alex arrived and needed the weight room, and so far the only benefit she saw was being able to monopolize Alex while he was in it. With her rabbit ears brushing against his face slightly, Shia cuddled up to Alex as if to try and get warmth from him in the freezing water, while Mizore did the same thing on his other side, both of their rock hard n.i.p.p.l.es pressing into Alex''s own chest. "Are you girls trying to poke holes in me or something?" Alex asked with a chuckle, earning a few giggles from the girls in response, as Shia slowly and sensually brought her leg up between Alex''s, and Mizore''s hand reached down to grasp something that was hard and hot, even in the freezing water. While he was enjoying being pampered by the girls, Alex leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he focused his thoughts focused on Mizore, or more specifically, her village. Ever since he had arrived in the Rosario Vampire universe, Alex had been planning to invite her people, the Yuki-Onna or snow women, to live in Asora. While it could be said he had ulterior motives for inviting an entire race that consisted only of beautiful women to Asora, something Alex knew he''d receive endless grief from his wives about, his motives were purely due to their circ.u.mstances, which would lead to their eventual extinction if left unchecked. As could be expected from a race consisting entirely of women they had a hard time reproducing to continue their species, the only men they regularly came into contact with being the occasional lost traveler. This combined with their dreadfully short reproductive periods, ranging only from the age of seventeen until their low to mid twenties, and with global warming reducing the areas that were habitual for them, the snow women could very well go extinct within only a few short generations with no outside help. This was a problem that was made very apparent in the world''s original timeline, leading their leader, the Snow Priestess, to try and forge an alliance with Fairy Tale by arranging a marriage between Mizore and one of their division leaders, Miyabi. Naturally the marriage never went through, though Mizore ended up having her first kiss being forcibly taken while Miyabi groped her, leading her to attempt suicide before Kurumu saved her. Similarly to how she had with Mizore, the Snow Priestess had used her power of precognition and arranged meetings between her people and men to ensure the continuation of their species until that point, prolonging their extinction at least a little bit longer. Naturally Alex would put an end to this if the Yuki-Onna decided to move to Asora, as they would no longer need to hide and the women would be able to interact with other people freely, and the use of Regeneration magic could potentially increase the time in which they could conceive children. Even with all of these facts however he knew it might be difficult to convince the entire race to abandon their homeland, and with the transition of the phoenixes having taken place earlier that day, Alex couldn''t help but think about his upcoming trip to their homeland for Mizore''s birthday, even with her hand slowly moving up and down his raging hard on while Shia affectionately licked and kissed Alex''s chest and collar. "Bastard..." Akua muttered as she and Moka watched what was going on from their own bath, tempting Moka to poke fun at her sister for being ''jealous'' even though Akua was merely annoyed at Alex''s frivolous nature. Meanwhile in another bath, a certain siren was blushing furiously as she tried to avoid watching the provocative scene taking place before her, earning a few more giggles from the other girls at Sun''s persistent innocence. Similarly to how ''inner'' Moka forced her ''outer'' self to cover herself whenever she was in the bath with Alex, Sun was doing so as well due to being too embarrassed to take a bath normally thanks to Alex''s presence, despite the fact that he had already seen her b.r.e.a.s.ts before. While Sun looked away and tried not to listen to the sensual noises Alex, Shia, and Mizore were making behind her, she was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into the embrace of a pair of amazingly huge b.r.e.a.s.ts whose tips were poking into her back, however the person who spoke sounded almost motherly as Rias said, "I quite surprised you know, to retain your innocence for this long even though you''ve been around us for quite a while, it''s kinda cute." Sun was silent at Rias''s words for a moment before she said slowly, still becoming accustomed to talking normally, "I''m just not used to it, and it''s embarrassing..." As she spoke Sun tried to imagine doing some of the things she had seen the other girls do with Alex herself, causing her head to turn completely red as imaginary steam rose from it, though it could have just been from the bath. This made Rias smile wryly as she then said, "You could always take baby steps, have you at least kissed Alex?" Amazingly, Sun turned even redder as she murmured, "K-kissing should come later, after hand holding maybe...?" Her response dumbfounded Rias, as how innocent could a person be? Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Rias leaned down to Sun''s ear and whispered, "Here''s what you''re going to do-" She then gave Sun orders of what she was gonna do when everyone was done with their baths to increase her relationship with Alex, as apparently Alex himself didn''t seem to intend to push Sun further than she was comfortable with, and the girl herself was so innocent that Rias couldn''t help but wonder how she ever planned to have a relationship before. Then, before Sun could try to argue, Rias dragged her out of the bath and into the changing room, but not before whispering something into Yue''s ear. Though at first the petite vampiress didn''t want to listen to Rias, when she actually heard what Rias wanted her do an anticipatory grin spread on her face, but Sun was dragged away before she could ask what was going to happen. Her unasked question was soon answered though, as when Rias was going through the wardrobe while looking for something for Sun, the sound of the smacking of flesh and sensual voices suddenly reached them as Yue kicked off some real fun in the baths. Though Sun started turning red once more as she listened to the e.r.o.t.i.c activities taking place outside, her attention was then taken as Rias started picking out various things for her to wear that night. Later Alex walked into the dressing room looking remarkably refreshed despite the extra physical exertion, while Yue, Shia, Moka, and even Akua almost looked as if they were glowing from the attention Alex gave them. They then stopped however when they saw Rias and Sun, or more specifically Sun, who was dressed in a floral nightgown with matching slippers, while her hair had been slightly styled for the night. While she was acting bashful under the gazes of Alex and the others, Rias stated as a matter of factly, "Sun''s going to be the one to spend the night with Alex tonight, since she hasn''t really gotten to spend any time with him." Though a few girls wanted to argue, they quickly clammed up when Rias pointed out their recent activities in the bath, making them realize she had planned exactly that from the beginning. Alex meanwhile looked at Sun seriously and asked, "Are you sure Sun?" Though she was fidgeting under Alex''s gaze, Sun nodded silently before turning tail and practically fleeing towards Alex''s bedroom. Alex just shook his head while smiling wryly, but as he stepped forward to follow after her Rias suddenly seized his ear and stated firmly, "I''m just giving Sun a helping hand since she seems too shy to actually try and do anything to advance your guys relationship, so don''t you dare push her too far tonight!" Alex however shook his head and stated defensively, "I didn''t plan to, Sun''s body isn''t as ''resilient'' as the rest of you are so I didn''t intend to push her until she was ready." This surprised Rias and the rest of the girls quite a bit, as they assumed that Alex would readily eat any meal presented to him under the right conditions. The truth was that one reason Alex was holding back was due to Sun''s petite figure, which was practically identical to Yue''s. The difference between them however was that Yue possessed a powerful healing factor so, not that he''d do so on purpose, if Alex accidentally hurt her when they were together then she''d heal within minutes and be able to continue on as if nothing happened, which was also part of why Alex was able to be as rough as he wanted with her in bed, which Yue loved. Sun on the other hand didn''t possess a healing factor of any kind, meaning that if Alex wasn''t careful he could quite literally break or traumatize Sun when it came to s.e.x.u.a.l acts. Leaving behind the slightly stunned girls Alex put on a pair of shorts and headed up to his room, where he found Sun sitting on his bed looking like she had mostly recovered from her earlier embarrassment, though her cheeks were still slightly red. Seeing Alex appear made her cheeks turn a bit redder, however that was it as Sun transitioned to a position where she was on her knees, and she patted her lap lightly while saying, "Come here." Alex smiled wryly as he made his way towards the waiting girl, making her heart beat harder and harder as he crawled towards her on the bed, before he plopped his face down into her lap while sprawling the rest of his body out on the bed. Though she was even more embarrassed that Alex basically buried his face right in front of her special place, Sun instead became slightly huffy at his actions while trying to calm herself. After taking a moment to control herself, Sun then reached out over Alex''s head and started rubbing his shoulders lightly as she tried to ease his tensions and get him to relax even more. Though she had no prior training or practice at giving massages, Alex couldn''t deny that Sun was fairly skilled as she targeted and meticulously worked at the various knots that had formed up and down his back. Though Venri''s massages were mostly e.r.o.t.i.c, as she tried to entice Alex to attack her, Sun''s was instead truly relaxing as she even started humming a tune, which made Alex start dozing off slightly as his fatigue suddenly caught up to him. Sun however was amazed as she worked at Alex''s back, both at how much raw and powerful muscle was contained within his body, and how ''big'' it seemed compared to her fairly small hands. Naturally Sun also knew that Alex''s back had to be big due to how pressure he was constantly under, both for himself and for all of those under him. After she became a member of Alex''s peerage Sun had heard even more about the various feats he had performed, both good and bad, and the fights he had participated in and planned to participate in in the future, cementing her opinion that, regardless of what Alex himself may say, he was undoubtedly a good person. That was why Rias had helped her come up with this idea to help Alex relax as, after an extremely long day of fulfilling his various duties and training himself to become even stronger, his nights were always filled with him attending to his women for several hours until they all eventually fell asleep. This way however he had someone pampering specifically to him as he relaxed himself more than he usually could, something Alex desperately needed even if he himself was unaware of it. As Alex was dozing in and out, after what felt like only a few minutes but was actually quite a bit longer, Sun suddenly stopped massaging his back and said lightly to stir Alex from his daze, "Ok, it''s time to turn over." Though Alex groaned slightly from not wanting to move, as he was currently very comfortable, he still did as Sun requested and flipped himself over onto his back before opening his eyes slightly, seeing Sun''s face looking back down on his. Sun then reached down and began her massage a anew, except a bit more of a blush crept up into her cheeks and ears due to the fact that Alex was actually watching her now, and she practically had to rub her diminutive b.r.e.a.s.ts in his face to do so. However as she started humming her tune once more, combined with how comfortable and relaxed Alex was before, it wasn''t long until he closed his eyes once more and began dozing off. After nearly another hour of massaging Alex''s front now, Sun was finally done, and felt it was time she herself headed to bed for the night, leading to her blushing once more as she just seemed to realize that she would still spend the night with Alex. Firstly she had to deal with his head on her lap so, as slowly and carefully as possible, Sun lifted Alex''s head and slid a pillow under it before lowering him slowly while he still slept. Once she had accomplished this, Sun contemplated how she herself was going to sleep as she had never slept next to a man before, prompting her to look back at Alex''s sleeping face as she recalled what Rias said earlier and a sudden thought entered her head. Drawing on every ounce of her courage to do so, Sun leaned forward and just barely brushed her lips against Alex''s, before she quickly righted herself as if she had been shocked. After looking around to make sure no one noticed the scandalous act, Sun then gingerly tucked herself down at Alex''s side as she curled up to him, remarking to herself as she did so about how warm Alex''s body was. Though Sun felt as if it would take her a long time until she fell asleep herself, she soon found herself dozing off as well due to all of the mental fatigue she had acquired ever since the earlier bath, only staying awake long enough to just barely whisper, "Goodnight Alex..." *** The next several days within the space-time orb passed uneventfully as everyone diligently continued their training, until it was eventually time for Alex, Moka, Mizore, and Kurumu to return to school. Though all three girls were slowly starting to consider attending school to be a waste of time, especially Mizore as she planned to get i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed relatively soon and would be unable to continue attending school as a result, not just Alex but the rest of the girls insisted that Moka and Kurumu continue attending school for the rest of the school year until they changed world''s, as it was an experience that they wouldn''t necessarily be able to have again, even if they attended Sona''s Academy in the future. Even as both girls were surprised at the others instance, they agreed that they''d stay in school for as long as reasonably possible since, if nothing else, it was where they''d be able to monopolize Alex''s attention somewhat during most of the day. They made true on this during lunch, where the four of them were gathered around a table as they ate, Alex, Mizore, and Kurumu actual food while Moka snuggled up to Alex and eagerly sucked his blood. It was a normal day for the group, as students watched on with envy until Alex suddenly looked up for a second, before muttering, "Uh oh..." Right as the girls were about to ask what was wrong, he suddenly pushed them all away right as a certain figure came hurdling out of the sky brandishing a giant mace while screaming, "BIG SISSSTER!" BOOOOM!!! The ground shook as the mace collided with the table Alex and the others were seated at, shattering it instantly before impacting the ground with force. Everyone around them watched dumbfoundedly as the dust cleared, to reveal a young girl with red hair tied up into two bushy twin tails. She ignored everyone staring at her as she turned towards Moka and stated loudly while brandishing her giant mace, "Finally, I found you big sis!" Moka stared at the girl incredulously just like everyone else around her, however unlike them she knew who the girl was as she muttered, "Kokoa?!" This made Kokoa smile widely, before she declared, "Just like before when we were younger, LETS FIGHT!" She then rushed at Moka without giving her the chance to do anything to defend herself, however what met her was Alex''s fist as it connected with Kokoa''s face and sent her flying away from everyone else. As Kokoa''s body crashed through the trees surrounding the academy, Moka ran up to Alex and stated, "Alex she''s my little sister, please don''t hurt her!" Alex however relied noncommittally, "Don''t worry I won''t hurt her, much." He then strode forward while Kurumu used her mental manipulation abilities to get everyone to ignore what they just witnessed, before she followed after him along with Mizore and Moka. Meanwhile the pile of rubble that Kokoa ended up under rumbled slightly, before it was blasted apart from the inside and the vampiress appeared no worse for the wear, but visibly pissed off as she turned towards Alex and demanded, "Who the hell are you?!" It wasn''t until after she questioned him that Kokoa realized this was the same man who''s blood her sister had been sucking seconds before, infuriating her to no end even before Alex answered, "I''m the man who made your beloved big sis into his servant, and has been satisfying her every night." When she heard this Kokoa''s expression stiffened, before a single drop of blood escaped her nose at the thought of ''satisfying'' her beloved big sis. She then recalled he also said that Moka was is servant, and shook off the distracting thoughts before angrily declaring, "My big sis doesn''t need some weaklin like you around her! And how dare you claim that someone as strong and amazing as her is your servant!" At that moment a small bat suddenly flew towards Kokoa before it changed shape into a giant broadsword as it reached her hand, prompting her charge towards Alex as she intended to remove this weakling before properly reuniting with her beloved big sis. Alex however didn''t seem to react to Kokoa''s attack, as a single word replayed itself in his head, ''weakling''. He had long gotten used to people and opponents looking down on him due to their arrogance and ignorance, however the fact that he had been directly called a weakling had affected him more than he thought, and now he was irritated. Without any discernible effort Alex reached up and stopped Kokoa''s broadsword in its tracks despite its weight, stunning the young girl before he suddenly said, "How about a wager? I know you only want the Moka that''s currently sealed, so if you beat me then I''ll break the seal for you?" At this Kokoa''s expression lit up as the urge to win grew within her so that she could finally get her ''real'' big sis back, but then she felt as if her guts froze when Alex continued, "If I beat you however, then I''ll ''punish'' you for calling me a weakling!" Though she didn''t like the idea of being ''punished'' by a weakling, the look Alex gave her as he mentioned it froze her as an indescribable feeling welled up within her, a feeling that only her father had ever inspired. Kokoa then leapt back as if to take a distance, refusing to admit even to herself that she had been scared of Alex at that moment, before saying, "Very well weakling! This great and powerful vampire will accept your wager, but don''t be upset when I win!" Alex scoffed at Kokoa''s words as, even though she was indeed powerful, she was seemingly completely unable to judge the difference between herself and her opponents. She then surprised Alex slightly when she changed her broadsword for a naginata, a long spear-like weapon whose blade at the end was more like a sword, similarly to the one Tsubaki (Sona''s Queen) would wield. There was a beat of silence as the two stared at each other, and Moka watched on from the side anxiously along with Kurumu and Mizore, before Kokoa suddenly lunged forward with her naginata as she tried to use her speed to suppress Alex. Alex however just watched Kokoa''s attack approach him, before he just barely shifted his body so that the blade of Kokoa''s weapon missed him by the smallest margins possible. As the blade passed by Alex as if it was in slow motion he then reached out and grabbed the stunned Kokoa before she could react by the ankle, and swung her suddenly in an arch over head before slamming her into the ground, and then repeating the same thing on the other side. "Puny vampire." Alex said in a gruff voice as he swung her back and forth against the ground without her being able to regain any control, her weapon having already flown away uselessly. Alex then lightly tossed up the stunned Kokoa, allowing her to float in the air briefly, before he too leapt up and slammed his foot into her side, sending her crashing back down into the ground with enough force to create a small crater. Moka flinched as she watched the brutality of Alex''s attacks, the urge to intervene filling her as she watched her precious little sister being beaten. However she didn''t try to stop it as Alex always seemed to know where to hold his attacks, and she knew that they''d never be able to make Kokoa listen to reason otherwise. The girl in question tried crawling her way out of the crater Alex formed with her body, coughing up blood as she did so as she glared at him hatefully, as Alex suddenly grabbed both of her arms and pinned them behind her back. "W-what are you doing?!" She demanded as Alex dragged her towards a nearby rock. He merely shrugged and said casually, "You can barely stand straight and it''s taking all of your strength just to try and struggle against my current hold on you, I''d say this is my win and true to my word, it''s time for your punishment." Kokoa paled when she heard this as she cried out, "W-wait! I haven''t given up yet! Let me go and fight me like a man! You can''t just decide you''re the winner just like that!" This made Alex stop dragging her as he stared directly into Kokoa''s eyes before saying, "You claim to be a ''proud and powerful vampire'', right? Well struggling when you''ve obviously lost isn''t pride, it''s pitiful. Accept your loss, take your punishment, and learn from it for the next time, right now you''re just making yourself look pathetic." When he stopped speaking Alex sat down on the rock and made Kokoa bend over his outstretched knee, silencing any more protests the vampiress had as she muttered fearfully, "W-wait a second, what are you going to do to me?!" Even as she continued struggling to escape his grasp, Alex just casually kept her arms pinned with one hand as he said, "I told you, it''s a punishment." Though Alex had said so from the beginning, Kokoa never even considered what he meant by ''punishment'' until now, and her fear only increased as he removed both her skirt and panties, exposing her bare ass for everyone to see. As Alex raised his hand threateningly Kokoa then started begging, her pride seemingly forgotten as she cried out, "I''m sorry! Please don''t do it, I''ll never call you a weakling ever again! Please, anything but that!" Alex however ignored her, as he suddenly brought his hand down across the skin of her butt, causing a sharp and crisp smacking sound to echo through the trees, followed by Kokoa''s despairing voice, "NOOOOOOOO!!!" Chapter 322 - Discipline "NOOOOOOOO!!" SMACK! "PERVERT!" SMACK! "MOLESTER!" SMACK! "RAPIST!" SMACK! "HELP MEEEEEEEEE!!!" SMACK! On and on Kokoa cried for help or for Alex to stop, and on and on he ignored her cries and spanked her bottom mercilessly and continuously, even going so far as to infuse a bit of his Haki into his hand. This was because Kokoa''s regenerative abilities as a vampire would quickly nullify the pain of his spankings, not that he was directly trying to inflict pain onto her, but if she was able to shrug off a spanking as if it was nothing then it defeated the purpose of being a punishment. Soon however Kokoa''s begging and protests eventually died down, and the area was only filled with the sound of Alex hand smacking her butt, and the occasional whimper. As Kokoa became familiar with the rhythm of when her butt would be smacked, it didn''t happen, as instead Alex suddenly said, "Apologize, and I''ll stop." There was a beat of silence as Kokoa seemingly contemplated his offer, before saying, "Why would I ever apologize to a weakling pervert like you?!" SMACK! "NOOOOOOOO!" Once again the round of spankings began, except this time Alex spanked her even harder, making the rest of the girls pale as they watched Kokoa''s ass become increasingly red, even prompting Mizore to cover her own butt as if to protect it from him. At one point Moka was about to ask Alex to let up on Kokoa, however the second she took a step forward he looked at her and slowly shook his head, before saying, "You three should head back to class, Kurumu can you tell my next class that I''ll be late, and that they''re to do these exercises?" He then listen off a series of warm ups and exercises that the class would do, which Alex wasn''t concerned that they would just laze around since pretty much no student in the academy would readily ignore what he told them. With Kurumu and Mizore basically dragging the still concerned Moka away, Kokoa desperately cried out, "NO! WAIT! TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!" SMACK! "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" And so the punishment continued, with Alex occasionally telling Kokoa that he''d stop if she apologized, except that she would either refuse to or insult him once more, which only prolonged her suffering. Naturally even Alex was aware that this lengthy punishment would be considered ''too much'' for simply being called a weakling, and, while that was undoubtedly a part of it, he had a bigger reason for doing what he was doing. As such, the sound of his hand smacking her rump continued to echo through the trees, until finally Alex heard, "rry...." Alex then paused the spankings and said, "Sorry? I didn''t catch that." There was a slight pause as if Kokoa was contemplating repeating what she had said, before she finally muttered in her quietest voice possible, "...i said I''m sorry....." Once again Alex''s reply was, "One more time, I''m a little deaf in this-" "I SAID I''M SORRY, SO PLEASE STOP SPANKING ME!!!" As she had finally apologized Alex didn''t prolong her suffering even further, and released his hold on her arms so that Kokoa could finally get back up. Surprisingly the first thing she did wasn''t retrieving her discarded skirt and panties, but instead she used both hands to start rubbing her cherry red butt, either unaware or uncaring that her privates were still completely exposed. While giving her a deadpan stare, Alex then stated as Kokoa was wincing slightly from pain in her butt, "Do you know why I punished you?" This made her jump slightly as if she had been shocked, but then Kokoa said while looking down to avoid Alex''s gaze, "Because I called you a weakling..." Alex however shook his head and replied, "That is a part of it, but the main reason I punished you so harshly was because of your selfish and bratty attitude." Kokoa then looked up sharply at the word ''bratty'', before she stated firmly as if she had forgotten the punishment she had just received, "I am not a BRAT!" The last word echoing through the trees from being yelled, while Kokoa looked Alex directly in the eyes as if she was once again challenging him for calling her a brat. Smirking slightly from her reaction, Alex then asked her, "And how exactly are you not a ''brat''? You destroyed the schools property for no real reason other than because you felt like it, and I''ll even bet you don''t have any intention of fixing or paying for it yourself, you then attacked not only your own sister with the intent to kill for no reason, but even risked the safety of those around her and attacked me just because you wanted to. If this isn''t bratty behavior then what is?" This made Kokoa go quiet in contemplation, however instead of thinking on her actions, she was trying to think of ways to reason that none of this was the actual case, further proving Alex''s point. Though the current examples Alex had to explain Kokoa''s brattiness were limited, there was also a plethora of instances to chose from in the original timeline to back up his point. Not only had Kokoa chased and attacked Moka at every school she had attended until now, but her attitude combined with her own pride, arrogance, and even her obsession with her older sister had backed her into dangerous circ.u.mstances several times, with the time she tried to take on a trio of killer bank robbers alone with SEALED Moka being at the very top of the list. She would also readily dismiss anyone around Moka due to them being ''weaklings'' compared to the powerful vampires, regularly coming up with random plans to try and separate Moka from them to try and get her beloved big sister(inner Moka) back. Despite how ''bratty'' and selfish Kokoa was however, Alex didn''t blame her for it as the majority of the responsibility, as usual, fell onto her parents shoulders. Gyokuro had originally only had Kokoa as an attempt to gain back Issa''s attention from Akasha and Moka, however when that failed she took out her irritation on her innocent daughter, criticizing all of her faults while also refusing to help her become better, and meanwhile praising her other daughter Kahlua for those same faults. While Gyokuro couldn''t care less about her, and Issa was busy running the Shuzen family, this meant that the only ones Kokoa had to interact with was her sisters, however Akua only had eyes for Moka, and Kahlua actually terrified Kokoa due to her....unique fighting style. This left only Moka for Kokoa to play with every day, which consisted pretty much only of them fighting together; which meant that once Moka was sealed and sent to the human world, Kokoa was only surrounded by those who either didn''t care for or terrified her. Despite knowing all of this Alex had no intention to give Kokoa a chance to wave away her bad behavior, as then she would only become an annoyance for those that had to put up with her. That was why he intended to try and get her to acknowledge him as an authority figure that wouldn''t accept her acting out, because then she might start to actually attempt to mature if she knew her selfishness and brattiness wouldn''t be tolerated, or at least that was what he hoped. Looking at Kokoa as she still thought about the things Alex had pointed out, he nearly sighed before asking, "So, did you think about the things I mentioned?" Unsurprisingly Kokoa smirked and stated in response, "Yeah, and I don''t really see what the big deal is, I mean I''m sure the school can afford to replace a table or two, and there''s no way my amazing big sis would actually be threatened by an attack only of that level. As for those weaklings, if they couldn''t take an attack like that without dying then they only had themselves to blame for being so weak, and you were able to beat me in the end so no problem!" Smiling as she finished speaking as if she wrapped up her argument in a nice little bow, Alex''s face was expressionless as he looked down at the ground, before he slowly looked back up at her. Even though he wasn''t emitting any kind of aura or intent, the moment Kokoa saw the look on Alex''s face it felt as if her insides froze as the feeling of dread suddenly assaulted her. Immediately, the most intense killing intent Kokoa had ever felt was suddenly brought down on her, causing her fall back on her still sore butt in the dirt as fear like she had never known welled up within her. Alex then stood and slowly started walking towards her while saying in a deathly calm voice, "Moka is sealed, and the only two outcomes of you attacking her like that are either she dies, or you get what you want and the seal breaks, unsealing Moka while also releasing the greatest threat this world had ever seen. So, the only two outcomes for your actions is either murdering your sister with your own hands, or personally kicking off the apocalypse." When she heard this Kokoa''s face paled as she never once considered that her invincible big sis could actually die from one of her attacks, let alone the other stuff Alex said. However he didn''t end then there, as he continued, "Not only that, but Moka along with those other two girls, Kurumu and Mizore, are all my wives, and yet all you''d say if you had injured or killed them, is ''oh well they were weaklings''? Well Moka also interacts with my other wives, some of which can''t train or fight, and my children, all of which are younger than five years old; if they had been around her instead and were injured or killed as a result of your stupidity would you have said the same thing?" At this point Alex''s killing intent intensified as if to prove his point of how ridiculous the idea of ''weaklings don''t matter'' was, as with that philosophy one would justify killing literally everything around them until someone stronger came along, and to prove this point even further he continued, "That being said, to me YOU''RE a weakling, so does that mean that I should kill you just because I''m stronger? Or maybe I should because you readily tried to harm or kill those I care about with no hesitation, attempting to kick off the apocalypse while you were at it?" Though Kokoa had just barely managed to hold out under the force of Alex''s killing intent until now, when he actually started mentioning killing her for her actions her bladder emptied itself suddenly before she stuttered, "I-I-I-I-I JUST WANTED MY BIG SISTER BACK! WAAAAAAAAAAA!" As she shouted this Kokoa then broke down, and started crying her eyes out in the middle of the woods. This made Alex awkwardly cancel his killing intent as he took a step back and pondered what to do, as while he had been trying to teach Kokoa a lesson, he never intended to actually make her cry. He then kneeled down in front of Kokoa, while avoiding the mess she had made in the dirt, and grabbed her lightly at the shoulders before saying in a soothing voice, "It''s ok Kokoa, let it all out." Then, seemingly forgetting about Alex being the one to make her cry to begin with, Kokoa immediately leaned into his awkward embrace and cried her heart out into his chest while clinging onto his shirt. Alex then awkwardly started to rub her back as he tried to think of ways to get her to calm down, with him being genuinely confused by the current situation. While Alex''s actions had undoubtedly been the trigger to Kokoa''s current situation, a big reason for her current rush of tears was also how much she had been holding back ever since Moka had left their home. Though Kokoa had cried a little bit after Moka left, this led to her mother becoming even harsher with her for being an embarrassment since ''real vampires don''t cry''; this led to her essentially trying to bottle everything up until the rare instances where she managed to track her sister down, and tried to fight her once she saw her like they had always done. Naturally she was no good at bottling her emotions like her sister Kahlua would, which led to more scoldings from her mother, however Kokoa eventually didn''t care and put more effort into into finding and getting her sister back. That was why, despite being the trigger for her crying himself, Kokoa readily accepted Alex''s comfort as she released all of her frustrations for the past six years. *** Nearly an hour after she began crying Kokoa finally seemed to start settling down, which gave Alex a chance to ask, "Feel better?" Though he wasn''t really expecting an answer after how their interactions had been so far, Alex was fairly surprised when Kokoa just barely nodded while once again refusing to meet his gaze, despite the fact that she had moved closer so that she was currently sitting on one of his legs. She then surprised him further by asking in a small voice, "Why?" Though Alex was once again slightly confused, she soon elaborated by adding, "Why be nice to me after you threatened to kill me?" This made Alex chuckle at himself wryly, before he explained, "I wasn''t actually going to kill you, I was just trying to prove a point about thinking about your actions and the way you see things; and besides even if you did something ''unforgivable'' I''d find a way to make you regret it and pay for it instead of just killing you, after all I''d never kill Moka''s beloved little sister." This made her look up at him surprise before Alex added as an afterthought, "And also right now you''re not someone who needs scolding, but a girl that just wanted to let it all go for once and needed someone to comfort her." Though his reason sounded stupid Kokoa didn''t say so, and instead she continued to sit there while thinking about what just happened until Alex spoke up once more, "Usually I think after fighting like that and crying as hard as you did someone would be hungry-" "I didn''t cry that badly..." Kokoa muttered under breath, which Alex pointedly ignored as he continued, "-so would you like some real food or do you want some of my blood?" His question momentarily stunned Kokoa, as why would someone willingly offer up their blood to a vampire? She then looked at him finally with a bit of suspicion at his offer, to which Alex chuckled before explaining, "I have four vampires in my harem, if I wasn''t ok with having my blood sucked then it''d be strange. I''ll have to warn you though, if you sample my blood then no blood will ever be able to satisfy you ever again, just ask Moka or Akua." Though Kokoa was curious as to why Alex decided to mention her oldest sister as well, she then stated firmly as if to regain her lost dignity, "I''ll have some of your blood, though I doubt it''s as good as you''re trying to make it out to be!" Shrugging his shoulders in response, Alex simply tilted his head to the side to expose his neck before Kokoa''s fangs sunk into his flesh. The moment the first drop of blood touched her tongue, Kokoa realized Alex wasn''t just boasting as a taste and sensations she never imagined blood to have filled her, while she could also feel more power coursing through her body by the second. She then sucked on Alex''s neck with as much desperation as a man who had found an oasis after wandering the desert for days, tightening her hold on his body as if scared he would suddenly disappeared. While normally Alex would let the girls feed on him until they were full, he still had to return to his usual duties as a teacher even though he had already missed an entire class, and so after several minutes he then tired to pry Kokoa off of him despite her clinging to him as if with the jaws of life. Surprisingly she retained her hold as if her strength had multiplied in less than an hour, dumbfounding Alex at her tenacity towards sucking more of his blood until he decided to try somethings else. Alex then slapped her still exposed bottom sharply, earning him a yelp from Kokoa as she literally jump a few inches off of his leg before falling back down on him, and giving him the stink eye for slapping her butt again. Alex laughed out loud at her expression, before saying, "Don''t look at me like that, give it a year or two and you''ll probably love being spanked." "Not on your life." Kokoa grumbled, not yet realizing just how wrong she was about Alex''s prediction. She then got up onto her feet awkwardly as by this point she had not only been without both her skirt and panties in front of a guy she had just met for well over an hour now, but she had even wet herself and then crawled onto and straddled Alex''s leg for quite a while during that time, sitting with her privates rubbing directly against Alex''s bare leg since he was wearing shorts. For the first time Kokoa seemed to feel embarrassment at what was going on, while Alex was acting as casually as always as he dusted himself off and said, "I''ll take us to my office and you can clean up and get dressed there, after that you can either wait there patiently or follow me around as long as you''re quiet. Once school is over we''ll meet up with Moka and actually discuss what is going on." Though Kokoa didn''t understand what Alex meant by what was actually going on, she just nodded silently as she collected her skirt and panties while her bat familiar Kou perched itself on top of her head since everything had settled down, and rejoined Alex as he teleported them directly to his office. If Kokoa knew anything about magic then she probably might have been impressed with Alex''s instantaneous teleportation without any prep beforehand, instead her attention was centered on the steaming hot tub of water that he produced for her, which was obviously treated for vampires. He then used a rag and water to clean the filth off his own leg, making Kokoa genuinely blush for the first time, before leaving her some privacy as he joined the class that was patiently waiting for their teachers arrival. After around twenty or so minutes Kokoa left Alex''s office to come and find him, as patience had never been her strong suit, where she then shadowed him for the rest of the school day. Naturally the young girl following him around earned Alex a few questions, however he just waved them away by saying she was Moka''s little sister who came for a surprise visit, and that he was watching over her until school was over for the day, which was basically the truth. The one who was the most shocked by this scene however was Moka herself, who just so happened to glance out of the window by her seat, when she saw Alex teaching his class while Kokoa seemed to follow him around almost as if like a lost puppy. Moka was so distracted by this strange scene, that she almost missed it when the teacher called on her to answer a question. Eventually the long school day finally came to an end, and once Moka saw Kokoa and Alex she immediately put on a smile and came up to the duo to finally be able to get her little sister properly. All she as the ''outer'' personality wanted was to be able to be regular sisters with Kokoa, even though she couldn''t fight with her like Kokoa wanted; and so when she saw Kokoa acting so docile Moka got excited that they''d be able to finally have the sisterhood she always wanted, until Kokoa hid behind Alex''s back with only the top part of her head sticking out to glare at her menacingly. Before either one could say anything to the other, Alex gave Kokoa a look due to her actions, causing the young vampire to practically wilt as he stated, "Even if she isn''t the same sister you grew up with, she is still Moka and she really wanted to see and interact with her little sister properly, so at least give her a chance." Not wanting to get scolded by Alex once again that day, Kokoa reluctantly came out from behind him while grumbling slightly before saying, "Hello big sis..." Happy that Kokoa finally acknowledged ''her'' as her big sister, Moka beamed before quickly wrapping her arms around Kokoa''s body, causing the young vampiress to tense slightly for several seconds. After a few seconds of watching the sisters embrace, Alex finally said, "Ok, now let''s head home so we can explain things to Kokoa and she could tell us why she''s here as well." Kokoa then looked at Alex weirdly, before stating as if it was obvious, "I came her because this is where my big sis was." Alex smiled wryly in response to what she said, however he knew it was more than that. Originally Kokoa wouldn''t arrive at Youkai Academy for almost another entire year, meaning something out of the norm had to have happened for her to arrive this quickly instead. Staying silent for the time being however, he then brought the five of them to Asora, and then directly into the space-time orb despite Kokoa''s many questions. What followed was a series of introductions, questions, and then explanations as Alex told Kokoa why Moka had been sealed, and that he planned to undo the seal himself in the near future. Naturally Kokoa didn''t want to wait until then to undo the seal, but a stern look from Alex and the rambunctious vampire quickly settled down, after which Alex promised that if Kokoa could stay out of trouble then she''d be able to fight both him and ''inner'' once a month due to her deciding to stay inside the space-time orb to train. Whenever Alex and Moka weren''t there though she''d train with Shia, Koneko, and Routier, a trio that looked at Kokoa with malicious smiles when she accidentally made the comment about how weak they looked. After all of the excitement of Kokoa''s arrival she and Moka retired to the latter''s room for bed, while Alex dragged Akua to a side room with the rest of his peerage. He then asked seriously, "Why would Gyokuro send Kokoa here now?" Akua was silent for several minutes as she pondered Alex''s question, something she herself couldn''t help but wonder. Unlike her Kokoa wasn''t a part of Fairy Tale and hadn''t really distinguished herself to the other members of the house of Shuzen as a capable assassin, and so the reason Gyokuro baited Kokoa to them was mysterious. After thinking about it for several minutes Akua finally theorized, "Well it might have something to do with the fact that I didn''t report anything from the academy before going missing. My original reason for coming here was to investigate Kiria''s situation and to see if there were any traces of you here since all we knew was what you looked like, and that you were strong. What I don''t understand however is why she sent Kokoa of all people..." As Akua then fell into silent contemplation, everyone thought on what she said along with what Kokoa had told them earlier. Naturally the young vampiress had no idea that not only was her own mother the leader of an evil organization while two of her sisters were also a part of it, but even the man she had been calling father for the last few years was a fake, something she hadn''t been able to notice due to her focus on finding Moka, and how little time she would spend with him to begin with. She had then readily revealed that it was her own mother that had lured her there with the fact that Moka was at the academy, something Akua immediately considered fishy. Eventually Rias hesitantly spoke up, earning every eye on her as she said, "Maybe she decided to use Kokoa as a sacrificial pawn or spy without her even being aware of it?" Though it sounded like an idea that was quite out there, Akua nodded before adding thoughtfully, "It would actually make sense, as my stepmother only really cares about waking up Alucard anymore, and since she never really cared about Kokoa, who wasn''t in on the plans to unleash him, then if she died or something Gyokuro might have considered it no great loss to her or Fairy Tale. Contrarily, if she calls back Kokoa in a few days or so, then she''d be able to question her for information regarding anyone matching Alex''s description at the academy, either that or just use the chance to see for herself while personally picking up a disobedient daughter." Everyone''s expressions then darkened when they heard about how readily Gyokuro seemed to be willing to throw away her daughter, however their anger paled in comparison to a certain silver haired maid, who was radiating a powerful killing intent from her entire body. As a mother herself Grayfia would give up her own life in a heartbeat if it meant Millicas would remain safe and sound, however, hearing about a mother who would readily send her own daughter to her death, and not even care if she did die, had royally pissed her off. Looking around at the heavy atmosphere her words had created, Akua then suddenly stood up and said once everyone was looking at her, "Well, it was just a theory. Regardless of what she was thinking I''m not gonna worry about it and just go to bed, goodnight!" After stating that Akua swiftly disappeared, as she went to join Moka and Kokoa in bed to cuddle with the pink haired vampiress, leaving everyone else to think on what she said. After a moment however Kuroka, who was sitting to Alex''s immediate right, pinched his side lightly and asked, "So, how do you feel now that you have an entire trio of sisters to play with~Nya?" This question immediately earned Alex the attention of every girl in the room, to which he casually answered, "Eh, personally I''d prefer having the entire set as a quartet." Despite the fact that they were all aware that Alex was mostly just joking, his comment still earned him a triple set of pinches from Kuroka to his right, Shizuku from his left, and Yue who had taken her usual spot on his lap. This made him smile wryly as Shia spoke up, "Now that you mention it, all of these sisters seem to be pretty ''unusual'', I wonder if the forth one is at least somewhat normal?" Everyone was silent as they thought on Shia''s observations, with Akua being a yandere romantically obsessed with her little sister, Kokoa being a battle junky who was also obsessed with her sister, just not psychotically so like Akua; and then there was Moka who was fairly normal, if one forgot about the fact that she actually had two different personalities and was the only thing preventing the rise of the most powerful and evil being on the planet. Alex however chuckled at Shia''s question before stating plainly, "Actually, I wouldn''t hesitate to say that the forth sister, Kahlua, is probably the most insane one of them all. Take this for an example, she normally wouldn''t even be able to hurt a fly, but she is also the top assassins of her entire family." The girls were silent as they pondered what Alex had told them, until finally Grayfia asked, "How does one transition from being unable to even hurt a fly, to being a top tier assassin in the blink of an eye?" This earned a smirk from Alex as he explained, "Because of Gyokuro''s upbringing. While she''s normally the sweetest and most naive one of the four sisters, if she goes into her berserk mode then she''ll readily slaughter anything around her with no remorse or regard for her own safety, including the people she loves the most like her sisters. Truth be told she is probably the most terrifying one to face in a fight because of her fighting style, since she usually tries to cope through murdering people by crying while she fights..." As Alex trailed off the girls looked thoughtful as they took in what he said, while Alex himself thought back on Kahlua''s circ.u.mstances, which could easily make her one of the most tragic people in the Rosario Vampire world to the point where they would probably need to use Spirit magic to help her recover from the years of brainwashing and manipulation at her mother''s hands. He then shook his head lightly and shelved the matter of Kahlua for later, before pulling both Kuroka and Shizuku closer and saying, "Enough of that for now, I have a job for you two tomorrow." Though Kuroka rolled her eyes at getting yet another thing to worry about, Shizuku looked up slightly when Alex said he needed her. Chapter 323 - Agent K Deep within the Japanese mountains far from prying eyes sat a single grand manor, a place that no normal human would ever be able to set foot within and hope to leave alive, their only fate being to become food for those that lived inside. Well, except for one particular formerly human woman. Shizuku practically held her breath as she creeped through the halls of the expansive manor, desperately willing herself to not get caught by the vampires walking mere feet away from her as she used Gravity magic to stay on the ceiling above them. She had been sent to infiltrate the Shuzen family home, stronghold of the most powerful vampire faction in all of Asia, and home to the most dangerous woman in the world, Gyokuro. Though she had several things she needed to do here, Shizuku''s biggest objective was to avoid being caught by Gyokuro since she was said to be one of the most perspective people on the planet, being able to pick out a single person with hostility towards her amongst a crowd of thousands, which was why a part of her orders were to return to Asora the second she felt as if her location had been compromised. As for her objectives in such a dangerous place though, Shizuku''s mission was to retrieve everything from Akua and Kokoa''s rooms since they would both be staying with Moka from now on, even when they changed world''s; but the most important things she had to do was finding and destroying Gyokuro''s research, and searching for Intel regarding where the girl''s father Issa was being held prisoner. Even though Alex could''ve easily found out where Issa was with the use of the magic compass, he considered this a good chance for Shizuku to work on her ability to infiltrate an enemy base and search them for information at the poor mans expense. Though it could be said that it was cruel of Alex to not put forth more effort into finding the father of two of his lovers, he simply considered it the result of the negligence of Issa himself for letting all of this happen in the first place, as all of Gyokuro''s actions resulted from her petty jealousy when Issa cared more for Moka and Akasha than herself, which even Issa himself readily admitted when he was finally freed in the original timeline. And so, with her objectives in mind and her ''Stealth'' skill in full effect, Shizuku continued making her way through the halls until she finally managed to find a door that had a sign saying, ''KOKOA''S ROOM'' on it. Letting out a slight sigh of relief at locating her first objective, Shizuku then used her Tont¨­ and Spatial magic to open a tear in space to slip into the room without even opening the door. The second Shizuku was inside she let out a small sigh of relief, until she saw what was actually in front of her. "That''s not weird at all...." Shizuku muttered to herself, as she looked at a large board in the room that was covered in pictures of Moka, each with notes and strings connecting them as Kokoa had desperately tried to locate where her sister was. Choosing to ignore the evidence of Kokoa''s obsession with her sister, Shizuku took out a small ring and activated it, causing the entire contents of the room to suddenly disappear as it was all sucked into the storage ring. Her job here done, Shizuku opened another tear in space to leave the room, heading now to find Akua''s room within the Shuzen mansion. Even though she had a room in both the Shuzen home and the Fairy Tale floating headquarters, that one was more of a temporary boarding for her while most of her possessions had remained in the Shuzen home. It didn''t take her long to find this room either, as it was relatively close to Kokoa''s and also had a sign on its door saying ''AKUA''S ROOM'' on it. When Shizuku entered this room however she noticed an open book sitting on Akua''s bed with what seemed to be her handwriting in it, something that didn''t take much guesswork to identify as Akua''s journal, or diary. "What is with these girls?" Shizuku muttered out loud, as, with her accelerated perception, her very brief glance had accidentally given her more than enough time to read the last entry that Akua had apparently written before she traveled to Youkai Academy. ''Finally, I''ll finally be able to see my beloved Moka again after all these years! How does she look now? I can only imagine her beauty becoming even more prominent and mature since I saw her last, maybe even breathtakingly so! My biggest concern now is what to wear when we see each other again, should I dress up, or will that be too weird? Maybe I will use that s.e.xy black thong Kahlua got me for my last birthday, you never know.'' Shaking her head slightly, partially at herself for accidentally peeping and partially at Akua for what she wrote, Shizuku slowly closed the open journal and then took out a second ring to store the contents of the room away. She then sent the two rings back to Asora, where Grayfia readily received them to give to the two girls. The first part of her mission done with, Shizuku then turned her attention towards locating Gyokuro''s lab where Akua stated she was doing experiments and researching Alucard''s body, which had been stored under the Shuzen family manor after Issa managed to unseal Akasha from its body, until Gyokuro later moved it to the Fairy Tale headquarters. As Shizuku left the room using another spatial tear, she was somewhat surprised to find a small black cat waiting for her, while sitting casually on the ceiling. It was yet another one of Kuroka''s familiars that she had sent to assist Shizuku while she was on her own mission, and had been exploring the manor while she was searching for Kokoa and Akua''s rooms. While it couldn''t use magic itself, Kuroka had used Spirit magic to increase its intelligence, allowing it to be able to carry out any objectives given to it, and had used Gravity magic to allow the cat to walk on walls and ceilings without any problem. Naturally, as with all of her cats, Kuroka was also able to look through its eyes as well to see what it''d see in the event that Shizuku was somehow in trouble, allowing her to try and help without abandoning her own mission. "Nya!" The cat called out, before turning around and trotting away while Shizuku helplessly followed along behind it, knowing that it probably came to find her due to having accomplished what it had set out to do. The cat slowly led Shizuku through the winding halls of the expansive manor, going this way and that, until it finally led her to some stairs. Figuring there was no real point in staying up on the ceiling while traveling down stairs, Shizuku checked to make sure no one was nearby before she dropped down lightly and started making her way down, while the cat leading the way continued on the ceiling, not even giving a backward glance to see if she was still following. Down and down the stairs went, until they eventually opened up into a large underground cavern with giant chains hanging from the ceiling. Seeing them, and knowing that this must have been where Alucard was once housed, Shizuku couldn''t help but wonder what kind of being it was to have required such measures to hold it, even with it being in a deep slumber. Taking her mind off of such an ominous creature, Shizuku then followed the cats lead to a small door at the side of the cavern that led presumably to Gyokuro''s research lab. Though she had half expected what she was going to find inside, when Shizuku opened the door however she was filled with the slight urge to vomit at what she saw inside. Lining the vast majority of shelves within the lab were dozens of jars filled with hideous looking things that had no right to have been created. The vast majority of which appeared to have originally been rats or mice, along with even a few other slightly larger animals such as cats or dogs, but the results of Gyokuro''s experiments had twisted them into unrecognizable existences. The majority had lost their fur and their skin had turned pitch black or gray, along with this there were several protrusions coming off of their flesh, turning into tentacles or spikes, while there were also several growth-like things that made their flesh protrude outward unnaturally. This was before you even got to their faces, which had even grown several extra eyes or twisted their mouths, extending them back along their own body and filling them with razor sharp teeth. As revolting as these seemed however, they paled in comparison to the larger vats, each housing what was obviously originally people that were either human or monster, until Gyokuro had placed a piece of Alucard''s flesh within their body as well. Even though Alex had warned her that Gyokuro was experimenting with Alucard''s body and other creatures, it did little to prepare her for the actual results of such experiments, which were so grotesque that even Frankenstein''s monster would have nightmares from them. "Nya!" Shizuku was startled from her nausea at the scene before her by the cat calling her, prompting her to look over and see it standing proudly over a dead, thankfully normal, mouse. Smiling wryly at the cats normal behavior, even with her face still a little green, Shizuku tried not to look at the failed experiments as she quickly placed a series of paper talismans around the lab, each containing a magic circle that would erupt with Alex''s ''Demonic Dragon''s Flames'' when activated, which would effectively destroy the lab and everything in it. Even though she would have liked nothing better than to destroy the lab at that very second, Shizuku had yet one last thing she needed to do, which was looking for any clues as to where Issa Shuzen was being held captive. Shizuku then started pouring through the various drawers and cabinets of the lab, searching for anything that might hint at where he was, finding only doc.u.ments regarding Gyokuro''s research instead, most detailing the rate that each of her subjects were corroded by Alucard''s taint until they either finally died, or went mad and had to be put down. These she just tossed away behind her to be turned to ash once the talismans were activated, however even after nearly an hour of searching she unable to find even so much as a mention of Issa. Turning back to look at the cat, which was just enjoying its meal of mice, Shizuku muttered, "There''s nothing here to find, I guess we should go back?" Though she didn''t want to leave empty handed, Shizuku crept out of the lab and worked her way back up to the rest of the manor, thinking that she''d see if there was anything up there instead. What she found however was a beautiful blonde haired woman with dark skin, leading someone who could have been a younger version of her and a man with black hair that was slicked back, and a cigarette in his mouth. Immediately recognizing all of them from the descriptions Akua gave them, Shizuku crept forward to follow them when Gyokuro stopped, and checked around her suspiciously while giving off a slight killing intent. "Is something wrong mother?" Kahlua asked in a subdued tone, to which Gyokuro irritably responded, "No, I just thought I sensed something. It''s nothing." As she said so the trio turned to leave, leaving Shizuku with her chest heaving from feeling as if she had almost been caught. After spending several minutes calming herself, and swearing that she''ll redouble training her stealth skills once she went home, Shizuku retreated into a nearby closet and then took her tont¨­ and poked the space in front of her. Instead of dragging it down to create a tear for her to go through however, this time Shizuku simply poke a hole in the space before her, allowing her to peer through it and watch the trio as they moved through the manor. Eventually they made their way into what appeared to Gyokuro''s office, where Shizuku poked a hole above them and watched as she demanded, "So, why are you two back already? You couldn''t have possibly finished your task that quickly." Kahlua looked nervous at her mother''s question, while Miyabi simply took a drag off of his cigarette before tossing a folder down onto the table in front of her and saying, "The phoenixes are all gone, that''s why we came back so early." What followed was Gyokuro''s utter disbelief as Miyabi told her about him and Kahlua visiting no less than ten Phoenix roosts, all of which were empty. Naturally there were more than ten phoenixes in the world, however when not a single one of the ten they had visited were there, then it meant that something big must have happened with them. The phoenixes were proud and insanely powerful, making them a real pain in the ass to deal with, to the point that when they had sent envoys to some of them before the great birds had simply laughed in their face due to the fact that they would never lower themselves to work for them. Despite how much of a pain in the ass they were though no sane person would ever pester a Phoenix or get on their bad side, as, even if you did manage to kill one, the immortal birds would just keep coming back to life until they had their revenge. That was why Gyokuro had left them alone after their initial refusal, until the recent events forced them to have to replenish their fighting strength. Instead of taking her anger out on the messengers though, she seriously asked, "And what of the other two?" Miyabi held up the other two folders and replied, "We''re going to start heading to their mountain village today before something else happens, we only stopped in to report the situation." Nodding in understanding, a rare trait for Gyokuro to show, she then shooed her daughter and Miyabi on their way, lest something happen to the Yuuki-Onna as well. *** "Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah, Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah-" "Are you really singing a theme song right now?" "That depends~Nya." "On what?" "Is your head as popable as it looks~Nya?" "..." "I''m not quite sure I want to answer that in any way..." "So you''re not a complete idiot~Nya?" With the way they were bantering back and forth, you''d never had thought that Kuroka and Endou were both deep within the floating fortress that was the headquarters of Fairy Tale. Their mission was more or less the same as Shizuku''s in the Shuzen manor, except they had been sent together since Rias felt as if it would be a good training experience for Endou, a sentiment not shared by the two that now had to put up with the other. Promising herself to punch Rias at least once when she got home for getting her stuck with Endou, Kuroka continued creeping her way through the halls of the floating fortress while singing a certain special agent''s theme music, and Endou followed along silently lest Kuroka actually try to pop his head. Eventually they came to a fork and Kuroka eagerly suggested, "You go that way and I''ll go this way~Nya, then we can cover more ground!" Keeping his mouth shut despite a knowing that she had just wanted to be rid of him, Endou did as she commanded and started walking down the hallway without even trying to hide himself, while the various monsters around him completely ignored his presence as if he wasn''t there. "It doesn''t bug me that they aren''t noticing me even though I''m not actually sneaking..... Nope, not at all..." While repeating similar things to himself over and over Endou left Kuroka, and the nekomata turned herself into a cat and started making her way down the halls on the ceiling like her familiar had, humming a little tune to herself along the way. Using the disgustingly malicious thing she could sense hidden within the depths of the floating fortress as a guide, Kuroka weaved through the hallways until she finally entered a large open cavern, and froze when she saw what lay within. "That...is our opponent~Nya?" She muttered dumbfoundedly, as she looked upon a mass of flesh and bone that would rival several skyscr.a.p.ers in terms of size, with long spike-like protrusions all along its body, arms and legs, and even several whiplike tentacles hanging limply from its back. Now Kuroka could say she understood Mikogami and Touhou''s fear as she recalled Trihexia''s rampage before it was finally sealed by the Gods, Maou, and Seraphs of their world. However, the current Kuroka, and everyone else that was there at that time, were nothing like they had been before, and she couldn''t see them losing to Trihexia a second time, let alone this second hand knockoff. "Hmph!" Scoffing at Alucard''s body as she walked by, Kuroka continued on her way until she found a secret passage leading off of Alucard''s chamber, where, similarly to Shizuku, she was filled with disgust at what she found. Kuroka had spent several years as a part of the underground after killing her former master, time during which she had witnessed all manner of horrible atrocities being performed, and as such she wasn''t as affected by what she saw as Shizuku, however that didn''t prevent a scowl from forming on her face from what she saw. There were several large vats filled with liquid and test subjects similarly to the lab in the Shuzen manor, however, unlike the Shuzen lab that was barely ever in use after Alucard''s body was moved, the specimens that were in these vats were still moving while some even stared at her through half closed eyelids. "How distasteful~ Nya..." Kuroka muttered as she watched the vampires trapped within the tanks barely function, each of them being unable to free themselves due to the vampires inherent weakness against water. She then went to the first tank and broke it open suddenly, allowing the contents to spill out as the vampires body was sprawled out in front of her, making Kuroka wrinkle her nose from the smell as she knelt down to examine them. As she probed her Touki into their body to examine the inner working of their organs, Kuroka was appalled at what she found as the vampires inner organs were showing an alarming amount of determination, which was only sped up due to her freeing them from the tank. Normally this wouldn''t be enough to alarm her, but as the vampires organs deteriorated the corruption of Alucard''s flesh within them was spreading as well, turning the vampire into a mindless abomination. While she had no obligation to help these vampires, since her mission was only to sabotage Gyokuro''s research, Kuroka decided to do so out of pure spite for Gyokuro''s methods since, during her own experiments with her cat familiars, she had never treated them as if they were disposable and they had all been more than happy to become more useful to her. As she would learn later however, these were all vampires of the Shuzen family who held more loyalty towards Issa or Akasha over Gyokuro, and so she had decided to turn them into her Guinea pigs for her experiments on pieces of Alucard''s body. Normally the damage would have already been too much to repair by that world''s standards, however Kuroka was practically a master of Time manipulation magic at this point, and her Spirit magic was already better than most of those who had also gotten the age of gods magic due to her work with her familiars. And so, she spent more than an hour repairing the damage done to Gyokuro''s test subjects bodies and minds, using her Touki to keep them unconscious as she began her work on the next one. Eventually, when all of them were purged of Alucard''s taint, Kuroka used her black fire Kasha Wheels to burn all of Gyokuro''s research data before using Spatial magic to teleport herself and the freed test subjects to the place where she was to meet up with Shizuku. As she left a series of alarms went off throughout the floating fortress as Kuroka''s black flames raged out of control within the laboratory, triggering a massive response while several of the monsters there were also debating who was gonna be the one to break the news to Gyokuro. Meanwhile, in a completely different part of the fortress, "Did she get caught? I don''t think so but it could be possible, I should stay on my toes..." At that second Endou pressed himself up against the walls as several more monsters rushed by him. "Damnit, who started the fire?!" One of the shouted, before another stated, "Who knows, but I know for a fact that lady Shuzen is gonna be furious when she finds out her lab was torched!" Endou missed whatever else was being said, as the duo continued rushing to help put out the fire, but a cold sweat started forming on his brow as he muttered to himself, "The fire was supposed to be set right before we leave..... Don''t tell me she forgot me....?" *** Not yet aware that she did indeed forget her partner, Kuroka was now looking at a wide eyed Shizuku who sputtered, "W-who are all of them?!" Kuroka however rolled her eyes and said, "They''re that bitches test subjects that were still alive, I figured that instead of killing why not fix them~Nya?" Shizuku narrowed her eyes when heard Kuroka''s explanation, before asking with suspicion, "And why exactly did you go out of your way to save them? You''re not exactly a Good Samaritan." This made Kuroka snort before she retorted, "I can do something good every once in a while~Nya, and if nothing else then I''ll have a bunch of super powerful vampires in my debt!" This made Shizuku roll her eyes, as it wasn''t really a good deed if you had ulterior motives for helping people, however this did mean that there was about a dozen more people that wouldn''t die due to Gyokuro''s actions. Choosing to ignore Kuroka for the time being, Shizuku used magic and called Alex, who immediately answered and asked, "Hey, did everything go alright?" Shizuku paused briefly when Alex asked how things went, before answering, "Fine, except that I couldn''t find anything about Issa, and Gyokuro nearly caught me...." Though she was slightly worried Alex would be disappointed, he merely nodded and stated, "Then it''s good you weren''t hurt, and don''t worry about it since Gyokuro is especially known for her sensory abilities." Shizuku let out a sigh in relief at Alex''s words, until he continued, "By the way, where is Endou and who are those people on the ground behind you?" This made both Shizuku and Kuroka pause as the realization that they had forgotten Endou hit them, before Kuroka awkwardly answered, "He said that he''d stay behind to keep a set of eyes inside the fortress in case they do something unexpected, and we definitely didn''t forget him, nyahahaha..." Ending in an awkward chuckle, Kuroka watched Alex''s expression for any signs of how he felt at them leaving Endou behind, until he finally laughed lightly and said, "Yeah, it really is ''brave'' of Endou to do that, I''ll let Rias know what happened so don''t worry, but what is with that group of people?" With Alex not caring about Endou being left behind, Kuroka let out her sigh of relief before explaining who the vampires around them were, and why they were there. When he heard what Gyokuro had done to them Alex''s expression hardened, even though he had already known about her turning most of the Shuzen house into ghouls, it was another thing to see the people that were directly experimented on. He then said, "I''m not too sure about taking in a dozen random vampires that we know nothing about, so just take them with you to your next location and see what Issa says about them." Without giving either of the girls a chance to argue, Alex then pulled out the magic compass and searched for the coordinates of where Issa was being held, before relaying the information back to them. "But I don''t want to go~Nya..... We already did so much work today!" Though Shizuku glared at Kuroka slightly, she couldn''t help but agree since trying to sneak around enemy territory without being caught had mentally drained her more than she had thought it would. Alex however smiled wryly, and said, "Is that so? Then I guess you guys are too tired for the fun night activities I had planned for tonight then...?" When she heard this Kuroka was immediately to attention, and she said while mock saluting, "Find the worthless vampire father, got it~Nya!" Her reaction made Shizuku dumbfounded, while Alex couldn''t help but internally remark about how simple Kuroka was. He then sent the duo a couple dozen vials of his blood for Issa and the vampires behind them, before ending the call to prepare for the night activities he had promised them, while Kuroka immediately opened a portal with Spatial magic to the location he had just given them. Once the duo stepped through the portal and found themselves on a cliff overlooking the ocean, Shizuku couldn''t help but turn towards kuroka and ask, "Are you really that desperate for affection?" Kuroka however snickered and replied, "Of course not~Nya," She then turned around and pulled up her black kimono before wiggling her exposed butt at Shizuku while shamelessly saying, "This horny little kitty just loves her ''milk''!" This made Shizuku dumbfounded, before she used her speed to rush by kuroka suddenly while using the flat side of her blade to smack her exposed rump. SMACK! "NYAN!!!" Kuroka let out a sharp cry as Shizuku smacked her, the force of which was enhanced by her extreme speed as a long red welt swiftly appeared on Kuroka''s butt cheeks. Kuroka then tenderly rubbed her rump while glaring at Shizuku with slightly teary eyes, which the latter ignored as she looked down the cliff before and mused to herself, "This is the place, but where is Issa?" As she tried to ponder the location of Issa''s prison, Shizuku was unaware of Kuroka creeping up on her until the naughty nekomata suddenly threw an arm around her shoulder and said, "It''s obvious isn''t it? The vampires of this world are weak to water, so Issa''s prison would be under the WATER!" As she finished speaking Kuroka hurled both herself and Shizuku off of the edge of the cliff, earning her a terrified scream from Shizuku as she found herself suddenly falling through the open air. "KYAAAAAAAAA-" "NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kuroka laughed gleefully as she separated from Shizuku, before making herself fall even faster towards the surface of the water as she created a portal right above the crashing waves, falling through to the hidden room deep below the water surface. Immediately she made to close the portal above her, however Shizuku quickly recovered from the startling experience and swung her sword to reopen the portal, and allow herself to fall through as well right next to Kuroka. Immediately she materialized the sheathe of her black katana, and swung it at the back of Kuroka''s head in anger as the mischievous nekomata snickered while dodging the attack with ease. "Don''t ever do that again!" Shizuku shrieked, as she tried to calm her still thundering heart from the recent experience. Kuroka smirked at her once more while saying, "What''s wrong~Nya? It''s not like you would have actually been hurt by that fall, and you could''ve just flown if need be~Nya?" Shizuku''s cheeks turned a light shade of red as she recalled the truth in Kuroka''s words, however, as she had been raised as a normal human and her supernatural capabilities were still a rather recent thing for her, that didn''t mean she would remain calm after being thrown off of a cliff. "Humph!" Huffing slightly, Shizuku turned away from Kuroka and looked towards the only thing in the underground room they had found themselves in, a raggedy looking man with long black hair that had both of his arms stretched out to the side by a series of chains, upon which there were several rosaries to restrain his strength. As if a testament to the vampires power however that wasn''t all, as water dripped from his body due to the faucet above him, which was currently off, to further reduce his powers to prevent his escape. "Wow..." Kuroka muttered, as she unceremoniously grabbed a fistful of the vampires hair and tilted his head back, revealing his sunken in gaunt face to the two women, showing that along with the measures to ensure his imprisonment, he had also been starved of blood to weaken him further. Despite all of this and the fact that he was unconscious though, an aura of power and authority radiated off of him as if to say he was still dangerous, despite his current state. After being in contact with him for several seconds, Kuroka stated, "He seems to have put himself in a deep sleep to conserve his strength~Nya, it would explain why he''s survived this long under these conditions." Nodding her head in affirmation, Shizuku prepared her katana before slicing cleanly through one side of Issa''s chains, letting his right arm dangle freely as she prepared to cut through the other side as well. As she raised her katana a second time however, Kuroka suddenly stepped back and shouted, "WAIT-" right as Issa''s eyes suddenly shot open, an almost feral hunger in them as he looked directly at the two girls. Chapter 324 - The Village of the Snow Women As Issa hungrily directed his gaze at the two girls, they immediately leapt back as he lunged at them, the lure of fresh blood too much for the starving vampire to resist. As the duo relaxed outside of Issa''s range he continued pulling at the chain still binding his left arm, causing a few cracks to form on the wall it was attached to, but he couldn''t manage to do more than that in his weakened state. Realizing that Issa was merely trying to get some blood after starving for so long, Kuroka flashed forward and slammed her open palm into his head, stunning him momentarily before grabbing his free arm and locking it up. She then said to Shizuku, "Hurry up and give him some of Alex''s blood~Nya, before he pisses me off!" At her urging Shizuku rushed forward and dumped an entire vial of Alex''s blood into Issa''s open mouth, causing the powerful vampire to pause before his body started shuddering slightly, both from tasting blood for the first time in so long, and from the potency of Alex''s blood. As Issa started calming down, Shizuku quickly dumped a second vial of blood down his throat to calm him even more, before slicing through the second set of chains on his left arm. With both his arms free of the restricting rosaries, and Alex''s potent blood coursing through his veins, Issa''s power quickly soar until it was comparable to his former strength before Gyokuro sealed him away. Though he still desperately craved blood, Issa''s hunger was at least slightly sated as he suddenly groaned, "Th-thank you for freeing me... I don''t mean to sound ungrateful, but who the hell are you?" As his mind started clearing and catching up Issa recalled being sealed by his wife after she revealed her plans for his daughter Moka, making him wary of the strangers who had freed him from this prison that only Gyokuro knew about. While Kuroka narrowed her eyes at being question by him, Shizuku quickly supplied, "We''re wives of the Dragon Emperor, a man who has been working with the Dark Lords Mikogami and Touhou Fuhai to ensure the destruction of Alucard, and to prevent Gyokuro''s plan to wipe out humanity from coming to fruition." This information made Issa pause slightly, as he had never heard of this ''Dragon Emperor'' before, however the fact that he was working with the two Dark Lords was enough for him to relax a little, until Kuroka added, "And Akua, Moka, and Kokoa are with us~Nya." This made Issa''s body tense up again, as he asked, "And how are they doing?" Shizuku shot a glare at Kuroka at this, as she wasn''t in hurry to tell Issa that Alex was currently banging two of his four daughters, and that the third one was well on her way. She instead said, "They are doing fine, both Kokoa and Akua were really happy to see their sister again, and Moka was eager to reconnect with them after so long." This made Issa let out a sigh of relief as he thought about his daughters, before Kuroka interrupted, "We should probably get out of here~Nya, I''m definitely ready to head home." Though Shizuku shot Kuroka another glare, Issa nodded and said, "I agree, I think I''ve been down here long enough." Kuroka then nodded in agreement, before she turned around and opened a portal directly to the top of the cliff where she left the other vampires, who were all still asleep. Though he was in awe from the unique form of magic Kuroka was using, Issa''s expression changed when he saw the dozen vampires that Kuroka had saved from Gyokuro''s experiments. "What are they doing here?! What happened to them?!" He instantly demanded, to which Shizuku explained the state that Kuroka found them in, and how she had helped them. "Thank you, at least a part of my house still exists." Shizuku didn''t say anything as she watched Issa feed each of the unconscious vampires a couple vials of Alex''s blood, rousing each of them from their slumber before he explained what was going on to them. Eventually Kuroka got tired of waiting and said, "So are you all ready to go yet? I''m tired of just waiting here~Nya!" At this Issa looked at the two of them and was silent for a moment, before saying, "We''re not going. Currently the Shuzen house is technically aligned with Gyokuro, and I intend to start working to remedy that. When they see that the ''me'' supporting Gyokuro is a fake, chances are some of the Shuzen house under her control will return to my side, and I can also start to rally the vampires who don''t wish for a war with humanity." When she heard this Kuroka got fairly annoyed at the fact that she had been waiting for no reason, while Shizuku asked, "But what about your daughters? Don''t you want to see them?" Issa sighed at her question, and answered, "Yes, especially Moka after what happened to her mother. However, this can all be said to be my fault, and I need to help fix things before I focus on my own happiness. Can you at least give them my love when you see them?" Shizuku nodded and swore to Issa that she would tell the three girls that their father missed them, before she and Kuroka left the group of vampires to recover their strength before waging their own war on Fairy Tale. When they reported what had happened to Alex he simply nodded with understanding before saying, "Well it''s too bad that I won''t be meeting Issa just yet, but we can worry about that later. For now we should focus on what Shizuku learned." They then started talking about how Miyabi and Kahlua were about to travel to the Yuuki-Onna village to recruit them, which Endou had told them was slightly delayed due to Kuroka and Shizuku''s actions. When she set the ''Demonic Dragons Flames'' at the Shuzen estate Shizuku had ended up burning down nearly half of the great manor, definitely destroying Gyokuro''s lab and causing her intense grief at being attacked in her own home. Though there was no proof that the mystery man who had killed Kanade was behind the attack, Gyokuro didn''t doubt Alex''s involvement for a second due to the fact that everything bad had started happening after his mysterious appearance. Of course this was before word reached her about the same thing happening at the floating fortress, in which she hadn''t just lost her research notes and subjects, but even the experimental rosary that she planned to use to control Alucard himself when he finally awoke. When she heard abut this right after the fire at the manor had finally gone out, Gyokuro had been so furious that she destroyed whatever remained of her manor out of pure rage, while her daughter Kahlua worked to evacuate the help before her mother accidentally killed them. As a result of these two attacks on her labs, Miyabi and Kahlua''s departure was delayed a day or two until they could assess the damage and sweep the entire fortress for any remaining intruders. The funny thing was that when Gyokuro met with all of the division leaders Endou had even sat in the meeting room at the same table as them all, and Gyokuro had never even suspected his presence, something that made Endou threaten tears when he reported the situation to Alex and co. Though he was originally planning to travel to the hidden village during the upcoming summer break, the recent information prompted Alex and Mizore to hasten their plans and travel to the Yuuki-Onna village the next day; so this just meant that chances were he might have to expect Miyabi and Kahlua to show up at some point, something that didn''t particularly bother him. *** The next day there was a flash as an opening in space appeared within a snowy area that was fiercely blizzarding, despite the fact that it was nearly summer. Out of that opening Alex and Mizore appeared, before closing again as Alex put the teleportation key away and looked forward. "So the village is this way?" He asked Mizore, who nodded as a feeling of relief filled her from being home. "Yes, this blizzard is also a result of the barrier we have in place, so it''s an indicator that we''re going the right way." Alex nodded as he stepped forward and swept up Mizore into his arms before taking flight, following her directions to the village while the Yuuki-Onna blushed happily and snuggled closer to Alex. As a Yuuki-Onna Mizore had never been able to stand anything warm or hot touching her, yet for some reason she considered the heat of Alex''s body pleasant, to the point that she directly tried to shorten the distance between their bodies even more while laying her head against his chest to listen to his heart beat. Smiling wryly at Mizore''s antics, Alex didn''t say anything as he continued flying through the snowstorm until the weather suddenly cleared, presenting one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Through the winter that Asora was currently in Alex had been able to appreciate the sight of the mountains and trees when they were covered in freshly fallen snow quite a bit, however both paled in comparison to the sight of the Yuuki-Onna village, which was made entirely of snow and ice that seemed to glow in the sunlight that was nonexistent moments prior, with the impressive ice castle standing proudly above the rest of buildings before it. Descending so that he was right above the roofs of the buildings below, Alex continued following Mizore''s instructions as she led him to her house, while a number of Yuuki-Onna gathered below them to see who was flying above them. Even though it only took a moment for him to get to her house, by the time they had arrived Mizore''s mother Tsurara was also standing outside due to the commotion, only to see her daughter suddenly come out of the sky in a random man''s arms. "Hello mother." Mizore said awkwardly as Alex was still holding her, shocking Tsurara slightly before a small smile appeared on her face. She was a fairly beautiful woman that appeared to be in her early thirties, with long silver-white hair that was tied up in a bun while she wore a white kimono. "Welcome home Mizore, I see you brought a...''friend'' with you." Though most people would be embarrassed at their parents implications regarding the opposite s.e.x, Mizore however nodded eagerly and said, "This is my husband, Alex." Though Tsurara was shocked to hear her daughter readily refer the man before her as her husband, her smile simply widened as she said, "It''s a pleasure to meet you Alex, I''m Mizore''s mother, Tsurara. Please come inside so we can get properly acquainted." Alex smiled widely at Tsurara''s invitation, and replied, "I would love that Tsurara." Taken slightly aback by Alex''s sudden use of her name, as she expected something along the lines of ''ma''am'', ''miss'', or even ''mother'', Tsurara paused briefly before opening the door for them, during which Alex set Mizore down and followed her into the house with Tsurara taking up the rear. As Mizore led Alex to the kitchen table to sit at, Tsurara prepared a few cups of iced tea before joining them and asking, "So what brings you here so soon Mizore? Summer break starts in a few days anyways so why not just wait until then?" At this Mizore looked at Alex curiously, wondering how much to tell her mother. This earned them a look of intrigue from Tsurara, however Alex merely said, "I''ll get into the details later, but we were originally planning to come during summer break and circ.u.mstances forced us to come ahead of time. Let''s get to know each other a bit before we start getting into the business of why I''m here." Curious about the circ.u.mstances and business that Alex was talking about, Tsurara wanted to continue questioning him but held herself back since he said he would explain later. Instead they discussed the nature of Alex and Mizore''s relationship, how they met with Alex saving her from being assaulted, and how they actually came together. Naturally Tsurara frowned when Mizore mentioned Alex''s harem, however since her daughter didn''t seem to mind she didn''t say anything just yet, deciding to ask Alex about it later. As they talked the hours seemed to slowly slip by until it was already late in the afternoon, and Mizore suddenly stood up and made her way to her room while saying, "I need to go mother, I''ll be back in a little bit." Tsurara frowned when she heard this, and asked when Mizore reappeared after changing into her own shortened white kimono, "Where do you need to go this late in the day? Surely you don''t want me to entertain your husband all by myself?" Mizore faltered at this slightly, before she continued moving towards Alex and saying, "It would be good for the two of you to get to know each other, and Alex can explain the other reason why we came." This made Tsurara go silent as she recalled her earlier question being dogged, and her curiosity got the better of her as she watched her daughter kiss Alex lovingly before walking out the door. With Mizore gone, Alex looked back at Tsurara and said with a wry smile, "Now, where to begin?" While Alex explained some of the details of their visit and the true nature of his existence, Mizore hurriedly made her way to the edge of the Yuuki-Onna village. There the snow was considerably deeper, but she ran on top of it without any issue before leaping forward and forming a sheet of ice under her feet, shooting herself forward on top of the snow with ease. Naturally the temperature was dropping by the second as the sun started going down, but Mizore reveled in the cold weather as she enjoyed the feeling of being home, the freezing wind whipping against her face as she navigated through the snow covered hills to a certain spot from her youth. For generations the Snow Priestess had arranged meeting between the Yuuki-Onna, and the men that they needed to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e them to continue their race. And upon their meetings the Yuuki-Onna would gift the men a flower to symbolize their union, a flower that''s pollen also acted as an aphrodisiac while increasing the fertility of those that smelled it, otherwise the amount of children produced from these one time unions would be much lower. In her youth Mizore had gifted such a flower to a boy she had met, believing she had found her true love, however when that boy learned what she was he ran away while calling her a monster. Shaking her head to clear it of the bad memory, Mizore continued her journey with determination as she intended to give one of these flowers to Alex, while also completing a side mission Anne had given her. Soon she crested a hill and Mizore''s vision was filled with a wide field of flowers blooming in the snow under the light of the nearly full moon, a sight that was truly a wonder for any that saw it. After taking a second to admire the sight, while also wishing Alex could have seen it with her, Mizore set to her job, which was picking as many flowers as possible before throwing them into a storage ring that she had been given, for Anne to examine and possibly cultivate later. After picking every single flower she could find Mizore inevitably felt her body start to gradually heat up with arousal, but she bore with it until she finally picked the last one, which was to be the one she gave to Alex. Looking back on the ruined field one last time, Mizore turned back towards the village and shot off, her mind filled and body with anticipation for what was to come. *** "Wha...?" Tsurara gapped as she tried to take in everything Alex had said, while the man himself calmly sipped on his iced tea seemingly without a single care. As Alex had promised he told Tsurara everything regarding himself, his family, and Asora, before moving onto his reason for visiting the Yuuki-Onna village and why they had come so early. Naturally she had a hard time digesting the existence of a hidden world that Alex ruled over and wanted to bring her people to, and that was before he mentioned that a Youkai supremacist organization was going to try and recruit the Yuuki-Onna tribe into their war against humanity. After sitting in silence for several seconds, she finally began to open her mouth before saying a bit chillily while her tea started icing over, "So you have how many girls in your harem?" This made Alex nearly bang his head against the table in surprise, as he expected Tsurara to question at least some of the things he told her. While he wasn''t wrong, Tsurara decided that each of those things ultimately didn''t matter compared to her daughter''s happiness, and so she was more concerned with if Alex actually cared for her or not amongst all of the other women. Laughing slightly awkwardly, Alex said, "Does it matter? All that''s important is Mizore and if she herself is happy." Though she felt as if he was trying to dodge the question, Tsurara decided to drop the matter since she herself will be able to meet them once she moved to this Asora, as, even without Alex moving her people there, there was no way in hell she would miss out on being a part of her granddaughters life. She was about to say something else, but at that moment the front door to the house slammed open, and Mizore stood there with rosy red cheeks that didn''t have anything to do with the cold, while staring directly at Alex. The flushed Yuuki-Onna stared at Alex for several seconds, before marching towards him and holding out a flower that she had carefully brought back without damaging. "Please, accept this." She requested while trying not to pay attention to her soaked panties. Seeing Mizore''s state Alex was fairly concerned, but he still stood and accepted Mizore''s offered flower while saying, "Of course, and please accept this as well." As he spoke Alex held out his other hand, which held a ring made of pure blue ice that had been enchanted to never melt. As she shakily accepted the ring, Mizore''s current state of intense arousal was briefly interrupted with pure happiness as she could now count herself amongst those Alex had proposed to, a number that had grown to include Rias, Gabriel, Serafall, and Ravel ever since he had originally proposed to Anne. Watching this entire exchange from the side was Tsurara, who was surprised to suddenly see Mizore present Alex with one of their flowers used for courtship, before Alex presented a ring that she knew represented proposal in some human cultures. Seeing the exchange, and that Alex was apparently very serious when he said that he''d make Mizore happy, Tsurara couldn''t help but have a small smile; but then once Mizore slid the ring onto her finger, and Alex used magic to send the flower to a place where it wouldn''t be ruined, the two were suddenly at each other like animals, or more accurately Mizore jumped Alex and he returned her fervor. Being unable to resist her intense arousal after picking all of the aphrodisiatic flowers, Mizore was ready to answer her body''s need to have Alex and his seed inside of her. Kissing him as if she was defying of thirst and Alex''s saliva was the only water for miles around, Mizore pushed him up against the kitchen table before throwing off her kimono so that she was only left in her panties, seemingly intending to take him into her then and there despite the fact that her mother was still watching. "Should I offer you snacks or something?" Tsurara asked, without even the slightest amount of sarcasm in her voice, before Alex sent her the best apologetic expression he could manage under the circ.u.mstances while also trying to bring Mizore to her room, Tsurara''s eyes on them the entire time. The second the door closed Alex grabbed Mizore by her h.i.p.s, and tossed her where he knew her bed was at before stripping off his shirt and pants. Seemingly taking the hint, Mizore then grabbed the sides of her panties and lifted her legs up before sliding them down her legs s.e.xily, ending with her throwing them to the side before spreading her legs to give Alex a perfect view of what lay within. "Give it to me.....please....." Mizore pleaded, as she sn.a.k.e.d her hands down to her most precious spot and used her fingers to spread her lower lips open, presenting the drooling pink flesh within to his greedy gaze. Never one to keep his ladies waiting, Alex immediately went down and placed his arms on either side of Mizore''s head as he lined up his c.o.c.k with her soaking wet entrance, foreplay obviously being unneeded at this point. The first thing he noticed was that, despite their bodies only being a bit ''cooler'' than a normal persons temperature wise, the fluids gushing from Mizore''s cavern were as cold as freshly melted ice, and was definitely several degrees below freezing. Staring her directly in the eyes, Alex then said, "Mizore, I''m going to start...." All her apprehension at losing her v.i.r.g.i.nity gone due to her arousal, Mizore didn''t say anything as she lovingly returned Alex''s gaze, before he leaned down to seal her lips once more as he started to slowly move his h.i.p.s forwards. As he pushed his way into Mizore''s interior Alex''s couldn''t help but to note both the tightness, which wasn''t unusual since it was her first time, and how cold Mizore''s insides were due to them being drenched in her freezing fluids. Oddly enough it wasn''t uncomfortable like when you hold onto a piece of ice for too long, but had a more ''soothing'' sensation on his burning meat stick. Mizore however broke the kiss and gasped out loud as she was being forcefully spread apart down there, while Alex''s c.o.c.k felt as if it was burning her from its heat, but it was a similar feeling to when she felt the heat of Alex''s skin in the past. The two of them were then both suddenly brought back from their thoughts, as Alex''s member hit the thin membrane in Mizore''s body representing her purity, causing her to wince slightly at the light pain. As Alex looked back into her eyes Mizore wordlessly nodded to show her readiness, before he charged forward and tore through the wall that bared his intrusion, making Mizore wince at the more painful sensation as Alex slowly continued forward until he felt the tip of his c.o.c.k hit the entrance to her w.o.m.b. "There''s no more room Mizore...." Alex gently said, prompting her to look down and see the slight bulge in her stomach where Alex was inside her. Wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as if to prevent Alex from escaping now that he had completely filled her up, Mizore then whispered seductively into Alex''s ear once she had adjusted to the pain, "Let''s make a baby." That was all the go ahead Alex needed, as he pulled his length out as far as Mizore''s embrace permitted, before thrusting back into her until he hit the entrance to her w.o.m.b a second time. "Ah!" Mizore cried out softly, before Alex repeated the action a second time, and then a third time after that, until Mizore started moving her own h.i.p.s to meet Alex''s and the duo formed a steady rhythm of m.o.a.ns and the smacking of flesh. Naturally, with the effect of the aphrodisiac that she had been under for quite a while now, it wasn''t long until Mizore''s insides started tightening around Alex''s c.o.c.k, and his nether region was flooded with freezing fluids as she cried out in ecstasy from his relentless pounding. "YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!" Though Alex slowed his pace slightly due to Mizore''s climax, as it passed he resumed his thrusting with renewed vigor until he himself was finally pushed over the edge, and he filled Mizore''s eager w.o.m.b with his hot seed. "Ah! It''s burns!" Mizore cried out as her insides suddenly felt as if they were on fire from the fluids Alex had pumped into her belly, however it too didn''t actually hurt, instead Mizore felt excited from the heat and what it meant. Removing one of her hands from her hold on the back of his neck, Mizore weaved it down her body until it rested over the place where she felt the burning sensation. Even though it was completely impossible that she was already pregnant, Mizore could help but beam brilliantly at the thought while Alex smiled widely as well, sharing in her eagerness before he lovingly sealed her cherry tasting lips once again. Naturally the two didn''t leave it at that, as they continued to release the desire that had been built up for each other quite a bit since they would be unable to soon. After several different rounds in several different positions, Mizore found herself sitting limply in Alex''s lap with her legs loosely wrapped around him once more, her b.r.e.a.s.ts squished against his chest as she leaned against his body tiredly yet content. Though, as she basked in the afterglow of their activities, Alex suddenly whispered in her ear, "Should I tag the next person in?" This made Mizore look at him confusedly, before Alex turned towards her closet and asked, "Did you like what you saw Tsurara?" Then, much to Mizore''s surprise, her closet door slid slowly open to reveal her own mother, her cheeks slightly flushed as she asked, "When did you know?" Alex smirked at her fl.u.s.tered look, before saying, "Since you first crawled in there using the secret tunnel under the floor." This made Tsurara''s brow twitch slightly, as it meant Alex knew that she had been there from the beginning and banged her daughter knowing she was watching. Then, while trying to regain her composure, Tsurara said, "Well then, since I now know that you''ll be able to properly take care of Mizore in the bedroom I''ll take my leave, I guess those claims of having a harem were justified..." As Tsurara turned to leave the room however, Alex whispered something else into Mizore''s ear, making her pout slightly before begrudgingly climbing off of Alex''s lap after he promised something else to her. As Tsurara tried to exit the door through the door, she suddenly found her way blocked by the n.a.k.e.d Alex, who asked with a slight smirk, "Tell me Tsurara, how can you be sure that Mizore is being properly ''taken care of'' if you don''t see for yourself firsthand?" Alex''s words stunned Tsurara as she glanced back at Mizore in amazement, only for her daughter to look away slightly in embarrassment that had nothing to do with the white fluid that was visibly leaking from between her legs. "Y-you can''t be serious!?" Tsurara stuttered at Alex''s forwardness, before adding while periodically glancing at the thing dangling between his legs, "While I can''t deny any interest, you couldn''t possibly really be interested in an old hag like myself..." Though Alex wasn''t surprised that Tsurara was resistant to the idea of actually sleeping with him, the fact that she put herself down as an ''old hag'' did surprise him since she seemed somewhat flirtatious with Tskune in the original timeline. Tsurara meanwhile was seriously considering things after Alex''s offer, as her last/only time with a man had been during Mizore''s conception with a handsome hiker that had gotten lost in the mountains, and watching Alex and Mizore''s actions had effected her more than she''d care to admit. However there was also her age to take into consideration as she was not only twice as old as Mizore, but her time to conceive children had passed nearly a decade ago. Alex however smiled wryly at her comment of being an ''old hag'', and said, "I wouldn''t say that around some of the other girls in my harem, as a few of them can even count their age in the hundreds or even thousands, to them you might as well be an infant..." This made Tsurara pause slightly as she considered what Alex said, before she finally added, "But, I''m still too old to have any children..." Though this was only really a mild concern since Tsurara had been aware that she wouldn''t have any more children after Mizore for nearly two decades, when she considered watching other women involved with the same man having his children one after another while she wouldn''t be able to, she wasn''t sure she would be able to live in such a way. Alex however didn''t cease his advance as he gently grabbed Tsurara''s waist, and asked while pulling her closer, "Would you like to though?" This made Tsurara look at Alex almost expectantly, as he continued, "If I said I could make you carry another child, would you want to?" At this Tsurara started getting her hopes up, as, regardless of the questionable aspects of Alex''s offer, all Yuuki-Onna had been raised to prioritize continuing their species most. Tsurara didn''t know why, but she didn''t doubt the veracity of Alex''s claims of being able to ensure she had a second child, something that filled her with even more passion than seeing Alex in action had. She was so distracted that she didn''t even notice Alex gently slide her kimono off, revealing her completely n.a.k.e.d body as she usually went without underwear, however this didn''t seem to phase her as Alex slowly moved closer so that she could feel the heat from his body on her skin. After several seconds of deliberation, Tsurara looked at Alex and said with longing, "Please, give me another baby..." This had been what Alex was waiting for, as he suddenly sealed her lips before gently pushing Tsurara back onto the bed along with Mizore, where Tsurara immediately wrapped her legs around Alex''s waist similarly to how her daughter had done, as if she was trying to keep Alex from getting away now that they were doing this. Also similarly to her daughter, Tsurara didn''t need or want to engage in foreplay as she was already excited from watching them earlier, and now she just needed Alex and his seed inside her as soon as possible. Her need didn''t go unanswered for long, as Alex readily push his way into her tight and freezing hole that had been longing for another man for seventeen years. Alex continued his aggressive charge uninterrupted until he hit the entrance to her w.o.m.b, before saying, "Are you ready Tsurara?" After she nodded yes, Tsurara let out several m.o.a.ning gasps as Alex suddenly started pistoning in and out of her. "Y-YES!" Tsurara cried out as sensations rushed through her body that she hadn''t felt in so long, along with those that the lost hiker hadn''t been able to make her feel. She was soon distracted from the things she was being made to feel though, as her daughters face suddenly showed itself above her, and Mizore looked down at her mother with a deadpan stare. "You look like you''re enjoying yourself mother." She said plainly, making Tsurara realize once again, that she was now screwing her daughters husband. While she half expected several things to come from her daughters mouth regarding the current situation, Tsurara was instead surprised when Mizore held up her hand as if to show off her ice ring to her, before making her way up to Alex and pressing her body up against his before slowly kissing him even as he continued thrusting into her. This was only the start of the strange events of that night however, as Alex whispered something into Mizore''s ear after they ended the kiss, causing her to make a face slightly while Alex urged her more by lightly pinching her butt. Then she turned back towards her mother and crawled up to her head while Tsurara''s body was still rocking back and forth from Alex''s movements, and lowered her own before placing her lips against her mothers. Though he didn''t stop his movements, Alex couldn''t help but stare at the immoral situation in front of him as Mizore made out with her own mother, and vice versa. He then recalled that he was supposed to be doing something else at that time, and activated his magic while Tsurara was distracted by Mizore''s mouth. *** Around noon the next day, sitting upon her throne within the majestic ice castle that towered over the rest of the Yuuki-Onna village, was a beautiful figure that was garbed in various high quality robes with her hair tied up in multiple ceremonial braids. This was the Snow Priestess that led the nearly extinct tribe of women, and currently she was staring down at a certain woman who was urgently reporting, "Then entire field of flowers was destroyed upon my arrival Snow Priestess, and I couldn''t find any trace of whoever did it either. By my guess it was either someone who was able to move through snow in ways that we can''t detect, or it was a Yuuki-Onna who destroyed them." Her words sent a wave of whispers through the crowd of women in the throne room, as the flowers the woman was talking about were the very same ones they counted on during their courtship to ensure pregnancy, and were the same ones Mizore had mercilessly harvested the night before. While the throne room was filled with whispers and muttering, the Snow Priestess herself was silent as she contemplated and asked internally, ''What do you think Jack?'' At her question a voice only she could hear answered inside her mind, ''Hmmm, other than this morning I hadn''t seen anything regarding this incident or anything else to come, which honestly worries me a little.'' While others may be worried about hearing voices inside their heads talking with them, the Snow Priestess was completely calm as the voice belonged to the very being that would have visions of the future and would share them with her while she received the credit, Jack Frost. After several seconds of silent contemplation, Jack then said, ''Perhaps that man who was seen flying over the village yesterday had something to do with it?'' The Snow Priestess was silent as she considered Jack''s suggestion, before deciding that he could very well be correct. Though she did know of the mysterious man who had entered their village the day before, Jack hadn''t warned her of anything regarding his visit so she swiftly dismissed any thought of him from her head at the time. The fact that something happened the very same night he had arrived, and was able to fly while they were unable to track the perpetrator, was too much of a coincidence for her to ignore. Deciding to question the man at the very least, the Snow Priestess turned her attention back towards the woman who had been sent to investigate the flower field and ordered, "Go to the home of Tsurara Shirayuki and bring me the man who is currently staying there for questioning!" Bowing slightly at the Priestess''s orders, the woman turned around and marched out the grand doors that led outside, only to immediately turn around and declare, "Lady Snow Priestess, the man has already arrived along with Tsurara and Mizore Shirayuki!" This made the women and even the Snow Priestess blink in surprise, as none of them figured that the man himself would arrive to meet her the moment she requested his presence. Taking a second to compose herself, the Snow Priestess nodded her affirmation and the woman she had previously sent opened the door to allow Alex and his two escorts into the throne room. The moment Alex entered the throne room erupted once more into whispers as every Yuuki-Onna took in the appearance of the man before them, many of whom hadn''t gotten a good look at him the day before. While the surrounding Yuuki-Onna were admiring his rugged muscles and unruly hair, the Snow Priestess however noticed the power and authority that seemed to radiate off of him like he was some kind of sun, to the point that she almost felt as if some kind of foreign ruler had entered her throne room. Maintaining her noble bearing as if the man in front of her truly was royalty, the Snow Priestess then said, "Welcome to the land of the Yuuki-Onna, I am the Snow Priestess that watches over and guides these people. Tell me, what do you call yourself?" Though there was nothing revealing in her words or bearing, Alex was slightly taken aback at how he almost felt as if he was being looked at with suspicion or potential hostility by the surrounding women, something that confused him since there shouldn''t have been anything he had done to offend the Yuuki-Onna people. Not letting his confusion show, Alex introduced himself, "It is a pleasure to meet you Snow Priestess, I am typically called the Dragon Emperor, but you may call me Alex. If I may ask, is there something concerning the Yuuki-Onna people?" Though the Snow Priestess did a slight intake of breath when Alex referred to himself as an emperor, she remained calm as she explained, "There is a certain flower that grows even in the snow and is important to our people, however late last night the entire field was destroyed with no clues to the identity of the perpetrator or their intentions. Forgive my impertinence, but you must admit that it does seem a little suspect that such a travesty occurred directly after you arrived in our village." Alex''s expression turned to one of mild shock when he heard the Snow Priestess''s words, making her briefly think he might not have been the culprit until he turned towards Mizore and asked, "You wiped out the entire field?" His words stunned the entire assembly as there was not event he slightest attempt to hide that he was the one behind their current predicament, to which Mizore simply shrugged and answered, "I figured that the more flowers Anne had to work with the better, plus we won''t need them here much longer anyways once we all move to Asora." Naturally no one understood what Mizore was even talking about, causing Alex to sigh in mild exasperation before turning back towards the Snow Priestess and explaining, "I''m very sorry about this, my first wife is very knowledgable about plants and was exceptionally interested in the flowers that the Yuuki-Onna used in their courtship rituals. She asked for a few to examine and attempt to experiment with while we were visiting, but I never expected that Mizore would take all of them instead." Though there was several things she wanted to ask or comment about with what Alex told them, the Snow Priestess instead decided to focus on something else Mizore mentioned and asked, "What does she mean by ''once we all move to Asora''? What is this Asora?" This question made Alex smile wryly as he had hoped to wait a little bit before jumping right into his intention to move the entire Yuuki-Onna village, but the damage was done so Alex started, "Asora is an entire world tied to my soul that I can access and leave at any time. Whenever I encounter a race of people in need of better living conditions, such as yourselves, I try to invite them to live there to live better lives away from wars or without needing to run or hide. "In the instance of the Yuuki-Onna then you''d be able to interact with men of other races without the need to hide who, or what, you are, which would help ensure the continuation of the Yuuki-Onna without the need to rely on the predictions of the spirit within you." Though there was plenty of skepticism and confusion at Alex''s words, the Snow Priestess was completely shaken as Alex directly mentioned the spirit inside her, Jack Frost. She wasn''t the only one as Jack tried to use his foresight to determine how Alex knew of him, but both of their mental facilities stalled as Alex continued, "The biggest benefit of the Yuuki-Onna moving to Asora however is something else entirely, the fact that with the magical and technological capabilities of our people, the time frame that the Yuuki-Onna women being able to bear children can be extended by several years, also allowing them to have multiple children." When Alex finished speaking it was as if the mental facilities of every single Yuuki-Onna around them had stalled, before the Snow Priestess suddenly stood up and declared, "IMPOSSIBLE!" This earned her the undivided attention of everyone present as she continued, "Even if everything you''ve said before was true, a concept that is already difficult to believe, do you really expect that we are so stupid as to believe that all of our problems are easily solved by you and your people?!" At her words the rest of the Yuuki-Onna started murmuring as they began directing hateful glares at Alex, Mizore, and Tsurara for the lies they were spreading. Despite the way the conversation was going however, Alex''s wry smile didn''t fade due to the fact that he had an ace up his sleeve that he had prepared the night before. Wrapping an arm around Mizore''s waist, Alex then said, "Don''t worry, I didn''t come here to make outrageous claims without being able to back them up. Last night I took Mizore as my wife, and then proceeded to make her mine entirely and planted my seed in her. She now carries my child." The murmurs and whispering then came to a halt, as, despite the current circ.u.mstances, the news that one of their own was expecting a child was always welcome to the Yuuki-Onna, but then the Snow Priestess stated, "While that is good news, Mizore is at that age already so it is to be expected that she is to be i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed soon regardless, and proves nothing of your claims!" Despite her declarations however, Alex''s smile widened as he then wrapped his other arm around Tsurara''s waist, and added, "And then afterwards, I had my way with Tsurara while promising her a second child of her own alongside her daughter. We even confirmed this morning, she carries my child as well." The most profound silence yet permeated the throne room as everyone took in what Alex said, and even the Snow Priestess was so stunned that her mouth slightly gaped open. This was the ace in the hole Alex had prepared to prove his claims to the Yuuki-Onna, and the underlying reason for why he had seduced Tsurara the way he had even though he had just met her hours prior. Without a doubt Alex considered what he did to Tsurara to be the sc.u.miest and most manipulative thing he had ever done to another person, though when he explained why he did what he did to her that morning, the woman in question had simply responded by saying that Alex needed to repay her by ''taking responsibility'' with a wide smile, something he had planned to do from the start. As for how Alex already knew that both Mizore and Tsurara carried his children, he had contacted Shia and had her teleport directly to Tsurara''s home earlier that morning to use her powers of divination, which showed her the image of both Mizore and her mother sitting on a couch rubbing their swollen bellies with content smiles on their faces. As the uproar in the throne room started to increase in volume and the Yuuki-Onna started wondering they really could extend the time they were capable of having children, the Snow Priestess suddenly silenced them by shouting, "SILENCE!" Immediately the noise in the room died down as she ran her gaze across everyone present, before she then focused on Mizore, Tsurara, and then she finally settled her gaze on Alex before saying loudly and clearly, "If you really did lay with them just last night, then there is no way you should know that either one of the two women before us is with child, except perhaps through wishful thinking. That is why I will use my powers of precognition on both of them to determine if they truly are with child or not, is there any objections?" Naturally no one objected as everyone within the Yuuki-Onna village believed completely in the Snow Priestess''s prophecies, making her glad Jack had suggested this solution to her seconds prior. She then stood and slowly made her way down the steps leading up to her throne, her sights set directly on Mizore to start with before she moved onto Tsurara. As the Snow Priestess stood before Mizore the latter untied the front of her kimono before opening it to reveal her bare body underneath, with only a pair of panties to cover her most delicate areas. As all of the men in the Yuuki-Onna village could be counted on one hand, and none were present during the current meeting save Alex, she didn''t mind exposing herself in front of the women present as the Snow Priestess simply placed her freezing hand against her abdomen, directly above her w.o.m.b. Through the direct contact, Jack Frost then activated his precognition ability while focusing his intent on the budding life under the Snow Priestess''s hand, taking her consciousness along with him into the vision. ... As both the Snow Priestess''s and Jack frosts''s vision cleared, they found themselves atop a barren and rugged mountain where a sole person sat cross legged while meditating. She was a girl that looked to be in her late teens that was fairly beautiful in a tomboyish way, with her purple shoulder length hair tied back in a bushy ponytail, and a skirted white martial gi with a black belt as her only garb. The most unusual thing about this girl however was the fact that there was a pure white monkey''s tail curled up on the ground behind her, something that confused both the Snow Priestess and Jack Frost since it wasn''t a trait of the Yuuki-Onna, and it didn''t make sense that it would come from someone calling themselves the ''Dragon Emperor''. They didn''t have long to think about the strange appendage however, as the girl''s light blue eyes suddenly shot open and she leapt up from her seated position and took a stance. Slowly, as if she was drawing out the movement, the girl then thrusted her clenched fist forward as if to emulate a punch before swinging her rear foot forward in a swing kick. She then transitioned through move after move as if in a martial dance where she strained to perfect her control and movements, making each movement flawless as she gradually increased the tempo. Soon her imaginary beat seemed to have started increasing as her movements sped up and up, until it began to get harder for the two spectators to keep up with her movements before they lost her entirely to a blurred figure. Then, just as suddenly as she started her dance, the girl stopped as she took another stance and shouted, "Ha!" Then, to the amazement of the two, her hair and monkey tail suddenly turned golden with bluish tips as the bushy ponytail broke free of its bindings and stood on end. As her energy suddenly soared and took on a visible golden aura, the temperature around her suddenly plummeted as her breath clouded with each exhale, and a very light shower of snow began to fall. She then presumedly resumed her martial dance, however by this point neither the Snow Priestess Nor Jack Frost were able to keep up with her movements, the girl disappearing completely as she moved and only becoming visible at the very brief moments that she stopped, until she stopped completely once more and shouted, "HAAAAA!" This time her hair grew slightly longer and became more rigid while the energy surrounding her grew in intensity, causing the temperature to plummet even further as ice crystals even formed in the air around her, and a thick layer of frost covered the ground while the snow picked up in intensity. As if this wasn''t enough however, the girl didn''t continue her dance as a look of pure focus and intensity formed on her face as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "HA, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" As she shouted for several minutes her hair began to grow even longer as it started moving down her back, and her body became gradually more rugged whereas her previous frame hadn''t displayed the powerful muscles that it had hidden. As her hair made it way down her back the surrounding temperature fell even further until there was no warmth left in their surroundings, the very air feeling as if it''d freeze your lungs while the snowstorm picked up into a full blown blizzard that covered more than a hundred miles in every direction. The drop in temperature and abnormal weather however paled in comparison to the result of the power radiating off of her body, as the entire world beneath them shook with its intensity. The resulting power from the girl was so great that both the Snow Priestess and Jack Frost ending up being forcefully ejected from the vision somehow, landing them back in the throne room where everyone''s eyes were on them curiously due to only a second passing from their perspective. Surprising everyone though, the Snow Priestess''s complexion was unnaturally pale, even for a Yuuki-Onna, while her hands were shaking slightly as she tried to digest what she just witnessed. ''What was that?! I''ve never heard of such a being with such power before!'' She practically shouted within her head, while Jack Frost answered, ''I''m not sure, however I can definitely say that she was Yuuki-Onna, the obvious differences aside. Seeing that however, I''m both scared and excited to see what Tsurara will show us!'' It wasn''t until Jack reminded her that the Snow Priestess suddenly recalled what they were supposed to be doing, filling her with the same excitement and apprehension that the spirit felt. She then said as she tried to regain her composure, "It appears that you are carrying your beloved''s child, you''re quite the lucky woman Mizore." Even though she already knew this, Mizore couldn''t help but smile at the Snow Priestess''s words as she fixed the state of her robe, an action that was mirrored in reverse as her mother untied her own robe before opening the front. Feeling marginally more nervous than when she done Mizore''s, the Snow Priestess then placed her palm against Tsurara''s abdomen over the w.o.m.b, as Jack Frost activated his ability of precognition once more and their shared vision went dark. ... Once again the duo found themselves on the peak of a mountain, except this one wasn''t as barren as the one before due to the stone bench that the only woman around sat upon. Unlike the previous girl that had a tomboyish appearance however, this one seemed to be the picture of elegance in her white kimono with her silver-white hair tied back in a loose ponytail that came down her front, and with her gentle expression while she strummed her fingers across the lute on her lap. Once again however this girl had a pure white monkey''s tail extending from the back of her kimono, that danced slowly in the air behind her. The girl then closed her light blue eyes as she began to hum in tune with her lute, her expression becoming one of serenity as the calming notes played across the rocky peak. Soon things started to get more interesting as the water in the atmosphere around them started freezing into various shapes to add to the scene, mostly flowers and vines that slowly crept up and around the stone bench she sat on. Suddenly, as if to answer some unknown trigger that only she was aware of, the girl stopped humming and playing her lute at the same exact moment, before her eyes shot open to reveal that they now practically glowed with a bright blue light while also becoming reptilian in nature. Then, setting her lute to the side, she stood and shrugged off her kimono as her smooth and beautiful skin began to turn rough and scaly, each scale looking identical to blue ice that had been frozen for thousands of years. Along with the scales that were spreading across her body, her figure began to lengthen and grow in size while her fingers and toes changed into deathly sharp claws, and wings sprouted from her back before spreading to cover the entire mountain. In a matter of seconds that seemed to have dragged on forever, the elegant and seemingly gentle girl had changed into an impossibly large fifty meter long eastern dragon, that growled menacingly before throwing its head back and unleashing an ear splitting roar. As if the elements themselves bent to its will, the winds picked up around them as the temperature began to plummet until snow started falling in massive heavy flakes that covered the ground in a thick layer within minutes. The dragon then opened its mighty maw once more, and exhaled a great plume of eerie blue fire that caused the surrounding temperature to plummet even further as anything and everything around it turned to ice and shattered, before the dragon aimed the breath at the Snow Priestess and Jack Frost, ending the vision as suddenly as the previous one. With her consciousness suddenly returning to the throne room as if no time had passed at all, the Snow Priestess''s mind was reeling from both scenes she had just witnessed, wether it was the tomboy martial artist or elegant ice dragon. She had been so distracted, that she didn''t notice something was wrong until Tsurara asked, "Um, are you alright Snow Priestess?" It was then that she noticed something slowly running from her nose, and when she went to wipe it her finger came away bloody. This surprised her somewhat, until Jack stated within her mind, ''You''re not used to the strain the actual visions put you under, not to mention that both of those visions were more...intense than normal.'' While she was listening to what he said, the Snow Priestess was only paying partial attention as she tried to figure out what had happened during both of those visions, as both of the girls were undoubtedly ''Yuuki-Onna'', however they had both been much more powerful and unique than any Yuuki-Onna than she had ever seen. Forgetting the reason she had triggered the visions in the first place, the Snow Priestess then turned her attention towards the common denominator between the two powerful girls, their father. ''Are you sure?'' Jack Frost asked apprehensively, before adding, ''You''re body is already strained from the last two visions, and we have no idea what we''d be getting into with such an anomalous person like him.'' The Snow Priestess however didn''t care, as she responded, ''Exactly, we know nothing about him so this is our chance to learn more, and besides, I want to see what makes his children so powerful!'' Sighing at his host''s persistence, Jack relented as she stepped towards Alex and said while holding out her hand, "If you are willing, I would like the chance to peer into the future of the relationship between you and the Yuuki-Onna, may I?" Alex however shrugged and answered while extending out his own hand, "I don''t see why not, just be careful since you''re not looking too good right now." Barely hearing his words besides his consent, the Snow Priestess eagerly grabbed Alex''s hand as Jack once again triggered his prophetic vision. ... This time however the duo didn''t find themselves on a mountain, or seemingly even anywhere near Alex, they were within a great and majestic throne room not too dissimilar to the one they were just in, except larger and more grand. ''Where is this?'' The Snow Priestess asked mentally, as she turned her attention towards the grand throne at the head of the hall that was greater than her own. While normally she would consider the throne to be her own in such a hall, she couldn''t help but feel a sense of wrongness to consider it so, instead feeling familiar with the modest looking chair seated below it. Deciding that they needed to see more of what was around them to get an idea of what was going on, the Snow Priestess took off through the great doors at the end of the throne room, racing down the halls that inevitably led outside past various women that were undoubtedly Yuuki-Onna, except that the Snow Priestess had no idea who they were. When she finally found her way outside though, the snow Priestess was treated by the view of a sprawling snow and ice covered city, surrounded by tall mountains that were covered in a forest blanketed in a thick layer of snow. Though the Yuuki-Onna village that she currently led was capable of housing several hundred women and their children, the city before her however was capable of housing thousands and was filled with the sounds of life as men, women, and children went about their daily lives. This stunned both of them, as neither ever considered that the numbers of the Yuuki-Onna would ever be able to reach this high, or that there would be so many men and children living happily amongst them along with what appeared to be several other people and Youkai as well. Despite the surge of emotions that filled her from seeing her people so happy and prosperous though, the Snow Priestess looked around and couldn''t help but wonder where the person who was supposed to be the subject of this vision was, Alex. The second his image crossed her mind the Snow Priestess and Jack suddenly felt as if something pulled on them, swiftly lifting them from the ground and hurtling directly up into the air. Up and up and up some more they flew uncontrollably, making both panic slightly as they began leaving the atmosphere itself before shooting off into space and beyond. Despite the petite panic they felt at the situation, the duo couldn''t help but look down at the planet they had just left and note that it was a completely different planet from earth. They then gradually sped up as they were pulled through space and away from safety of the planet below them, before other planetary bodies suddenly started passing by them until they had even left the solar system itself. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Suddenly the sound of explosions, which shouldn''t have been possible in space, reached her as the Snow Priestess turned and saw several planets begin to explode due to the people fighting on their surfaces, shattering entire planets with a single punch, or even causing them to disappear in a burst of bright magical light. Though she briefly noticed that several of these people have monkey-like tails as well, the Snow Priestess didn''t have time to examine any of them in detail as the force pulling her dragged her away. As the seconds ticked by in what seemed like years, the Snow Priestess and Jack Frost watched several solar systems wiz right by them as they continue their unwilling venture into space, until they ended leaving the entire galaxy itself, and another one entered their field of view. They looked around curiously and noticed that they were surrounded by dozens of the spiraled galactic formations, some looking remarkably similar while others looked completely different, but both of them could tell that each one contained at least some life. They didn''t get any chance to properly examine them however, as the force pulling them continued until all of the galaxies seemed to cl.u.s.ter together in the distance. It was finally at this point that they saw the person who had triggered the vision, the Dragon Emperor. He didn''t just simply appear before them however, he was seemingly there from the beginning at a scale so large that neither could perceive him as he towered over them and held all of the dozens of galaxies in the palm of his hand. before either one could try and make sense of this though, they watched as Alex started to close his massive hand, seemingly to crush all of those within. "NO!" The Snow Priestess cried out in panic, before Jack Frost stated, ''No, he''s not destroying them, but protecting them?'' This was the feeling he got from Alex that didn''t make any sense, at least until he felt a sinister gaze on their back. Following Jack''s direction, the Snow Priestess turned and saw that there were several other titanic beings gathered behind them, all of which were veiled in shadows and directing a greedy gaze at the galaxies that Alex was protecting. ''He''s protecting us....from them?'' Jack muttered to himself, which the Snow Priestess also heard as their confusion increased. However they didn''t have the time to determine more of what was going on, as they were suddenly pulled back to the present where the Snow Priestess began collapsing due to over exerting herself from the visions, the last thing she saw being the concerned expression of the person who had literally held the fate of their universe within the palm of his hand seconds prior. Chapter 325 - Emperor of the Snow Women When the Snow Priestess finally opened her eyes again she found herself staring up at the canopy of her bed, a feeling of wooziness overtaking her as she tried to recall what happened. Like a flash, the events in the vision came back to her and mild panic filled the Snow Priestess as she hoped they hadn''t offended the Dragon Emperor too much due to their ignorance. Almost immediately however a voice cried out, "Snow Priestess, you''re awake!" The Snow Priestess turned and saw one of her attendants running towards her, to check and see if she was ok after passing out, however she couldn''t be bothered with that at the moment and demanded urgently, "Tell me, where is the Dragon Emperor?!" The attendant froze somewhat before saying with some anger, "Don''t worry Snow Priestess, he was taken into custody along with the traitors Mizore and Tsurara after you fell unconscious. We were just waiting for you to awaken before passing judgment-" "YOU FOOLS! WHAT WILL YOU DO IF WE ANGERED THE DRAGON EMPEROR?! RELEASE THEM NOW!" The Snow Priestess roared at the attendant, who turned deathly pale and ran off to do as she commanded, leaving her alone with her frantic thoughts. She then forced herself to get out of bed despite the fact that she still felt weak from the intense visions, to which Jack Frost said, ''I understand your concerns, but aren''t you rushing things a bit?'' The Snow Priestess snorted at him however, and answered, ''We''re talking about a person who can extend their influence to multiple universes and has the strength to wipe out entire planets and civilizations with ease, there''s no such thing as "pushing it" when it comes to what he might decide to do! Besides, I have to make sure nothing too offensive was done to him while I was unconscious.'' Though he couldn''t help but agree with her words, Jack also couldn''t help but think that if they had offended the Dragon Emperor that much, then he probably would''ve already retaliated instead of letting himself be taken into custody, but he kept this to himself. As for the person himself, Alex was currently relaxing along with Mizore and Tsurara in their ''cell'' while awaiting the Snow Priestess''s recovery. Alex had also been confused when the Snow Priestess collapsed during her vision, as he was sure that, while the things she would have seen were surprising, there wasn''t necessarily anything too ''dramatic'' she should have seen. Then, once they were brought to a special cell for Yuuki-Onna and locked away, things had calmed down and Lauren told Alex that she had purposely shown the Snow Priestess and Jack Frost a vision consisting not only of their future in Asora, but of the potential Alex had to reach as well. She had also explained that for most part fortune based abilities wouldn''t work on Alex and the other competitors due to their anomalous existences, though Shia was considered an exception due to her connection to his status as a member of his peerage, which also meant that he didn''t necessarily need to worry about people with precognitive abilities spying on him in the future. Alex then looked up slightly as the door to their cell suddenly opened, which he expected due to watching over the Snow Priestess with his ''Domain'' to make sure she was ok after collapsing. When the woman entered the cell to tell them they were released however, she froze as her brow started twitching from seeing the trio relaxing on a sofa, which Alex created with his devil''s magic since the room was practically barren when they were put in it. "The Snow Priestess has requested your release, so you''re good to go." With a brief nod Alex lightly pinched Mizore and Tsurara''s rears to get them moving, which they were somewhat reluctant to do since they were so comfortable using Alex as their bed/pillow while he had his arms wrapped around them. After standing he dispelled the conjured couch, earning him a wide eyed look from the Yuuki-Onna sent to retrieve them, before once again making his way to the throne room with the two girls on either side of him. When they returned to the throne room Alex found the majority of the earlier Yuuki-Onna waiting for them and the Snow Priestess, who then directed looks of suspicion at him and the two girls. He didn''t mind this though as it was only a mild misunderstanding since they thought he did something to the Snow Priestess to make her collapse, something he knew she would clear up when she arrived. What Alex didn''t expect though was that the moment she arrived, the Snow Priestess threw herself down at his feet while practically slamming her face into the ground before shouting, "PLEASE FORGIVE US FOR OUR MANY OFFENSES GREAT DRAGON EMPEROR!" There was a stunned silence as not just the Yuuki-Onna, but Alex and his two escorts were dumbfounded at the Snow Priestess''s action. Before anyone could recover though, the Snow Priestess glanced up slightly at the rest of the Yuuki-Onna around them, and shouted, "BOW TO THE DRAGON EMPEROR! HE IS THE ONE THAT WILL SAVE OUR PEOPLE AND BRING US PROSPERITY LIKE NEVER BEFORE!" At her command the Yuuki-Onna around them fell to their knees in a similar manner as the Snow Priestess while begging Alex for his forgiveness, until he approached her and gently said, "Your people caring about you isn''t something to ask forgiveness for, and since they hadn''t actually tried to hurt us then there is no harm done, though it would''ve been another matter if they tried to hurt those carrying my children..." Though the Snow Priestess paled at his ending remark, she lifted her head slightly off the ground while still refusing to meet his gaze, and said, "Maybe, but that doesn''t change the fact that you have tried to help us, and we only responded with suspicion and even imprisonment..." Though her words were true, Alex only smiled wryly at them as he considered it only natural that they''d be suspicious of the offer of a man they had never met, yet stated that he''d be able to solve every one of their people''s issues if they abandoned their homeland and followed him. And as for the imprisonment, as far as Alex was concerned the worse case scenario was that he teleported himself out along with Mizore and Tsurara before trying again or just leaving them to their own fate, after all it wasn''t as if they immediately tried to torture or execute them. He had simply waited for the misunderstanding to be fixed, which the Snow Priestess had set out to do the moment she had awakened. Now however, Alex looked down at the still bowing Snow Priestess and decided to play along by demanding, "Tell us, did your visions prove my claims? And what did you see when you touched me?" Though she was silent for a moment, the Snow Priestess then answered, "It is true, Tsurara carries the Dragon Emperor''s child in her belly." These words alone caused the surrounding Yuuki-Onna to erupt in a mild uproar, however the Snow Priestess continued as if she couldn''t hear them, "And then I saw that under the Dragon Emperor''s rule we had turned into a prosperous people with residents in the thousands, filled with both men and children as well as those of other races who also came to live with us." The surrounding women were silent at these words, as they all imagined a life filled with children and permanent marriage partners. As all of their unions were usually one time affairs, the amount of Yuuki-Onna that were married were almost nonexistent, while the amount of children was also painfully low. When the Snow Priestess confirmed Alex''s promises of being able to help them, the gazes of the Yuuki-Onna almost turned reverential towards him while a few had other discernible emotions in their eyes. Suddenly the Snow Priestess continued, "Please, Emperor of the Yuuki-Onna, what is your will?" As she asked him this the other Yuuki-Onna immediately jumped onto the bandwagon, resulting in the word ''Emperor'' being muttered several times throughout the throne room until Alex even heard a familiar chime in his head followed by, [NOTICE! The title ''Yuuki-Onna Emperor'' has been added!] This nearly made Alex roll his eyes as, despite the fact that he referred to himself as the ''Dragon Emperor'', he didn''t consider himself a genuine emperor since he had only really acquired that title for being Ddraig''s host. Even in Asora, where the inhabitants would readily call him their emperor, Alex refused to be officially acknowledged as one due to the fact that it was a tedious and tiresome job, which would cut in too much with his training and spending time with his lovers and children. Regardless of his will however Alex had already acquired the title due to the Snow Priestess, the highest authority to the Yuuki-Onna, recognizing him as their leader in front of her people. And even if they hadn''t been present for any of the day''s events, the rest of the village would soon acknowledge him as their emperor due to the effects of the title itself, and definitely after word of what was happening here spread. Alex however didn''t dwell on this, as he instead ordered while trying not to let his irritation show, "Stand." At his command the Snow Priestess swiftly got to her feet, even as she continued looking down to avoid his gaze. She then waited patiently for further commands, until Alex pulled a small wooden box out his personal storage and continued loud enough for the entire throne room to hear him, "In this box is a little over a hundred rings, they are referred to as storage rings and, as the name implies, they can be used to store items for you. I want you to ensure each household in the village gets one, and they are to pack up their belongings to prepare to move to Asora. There is a group that could arrive at any time to try and draft the Yuuki-Onna into their war against humans, so I would rather we finish with all of this sooner than later." When she heard this the Snow Preistess''s expression hardened, as she accepted the box and declared loudly, "You heard our emperor! Spread the word, we are to be ready to leave the village by nightfall!" As she spoke the Snow Priestess opened the box and several of the Yuuki-Onna grabbed a small handful of the rings inside, slipping only one onto their own delicate fingers before leaving to deliver them to the rest of the village while spreading the word to their people. *** As one could expect it didn''t take long for the Yuuki-Onna to prepare to leave with the help of the storage rings, as they only had to feed a little of their intent into them before the rings took the contents of entire rooms inside them instantly, making the only real hold up explaining to them why they were leaving to begin with. While this was happening the Snow Priestess went ahead directly to Asora, where Serafall led her to several different locations that Alex had her mark out for a potential settlement days prior. Surprisingly the process didn''t take that long, as it only took a glance for the Snow Priestess to deny a location until they had arrived at a certain valley surrounded by tree covered mountains. As if she had been looking for this place to begin with, the Snow Priestess immediately claimed it would be the place where her people settled, and Serafall began working her magic to get the first basic barriers in place. Naturally the Yuuki-Onna needed the cold and snowy weather to survive, which there was currently an abundance of due to Asora being in the middle of its long winter, and so Serafall needed to begin laying out the groundwork for the barriers that would hold in the cold and allow the Yuki-Onna to continue to survive there now. As her specialty was based around ice she was a natural candidate for the job, something the Snow Priestess found quite interesting as she watched Serafall work while trying not to be too surprised. After she finished setting the first of barriers, it was the Snow Priestess''s turn to show off why she had been chosen as the leader of the Yuuki-Onna, besides the inclusion of Jack Frost and his visions. Holding her hands out before her, the Snow Priestess called upon the powers of ice and snow that all Yuuki-Onna had to create nearly a hundred identical buildings made of the freezing materials, before focusing her intent onto a larger construct at the center of the planned settlement. By the time she had finished there were more than enough basic temporary homes for her people to move into, before they themselves would finish and personalize them to their liking, however they would serve as decent houses for the time being. Naturally the larger construct was her new palace that would stand at the center of the city she would rule over when their emperor was not present, in which she showed off to Serafall the majestic throne she had even carved for him, along with her own bland looking chair to sit upon to not impose upon her emperors authority. Seeing it made Serafall stifle a laugh as she tried to imagine Alex sitting upon the large chunk of decorated ice, whereas her daughter Elizabeth did in fact start laughing as if she knew what they were discussing. Like her mother, Elizabeth had a natural affinity for ice and snow related magic, and as such she was completely unaffected by the freezing cold around her as she happily tried to grab at the falling snowflakes from her mother''s arms, while dressed only in the magical girl style clothes that Serafall had made specifically for her. Shortly after the two finished their work, they were welcomed by a massive fog that cleared to reveal several hundred individuals within it, with a certain wild haired guy at their head. Upon seeing them Alex immediately stepped forward and picked his daughter out of Serafall''s arms, before planting a swift kiss on the former Maou''s lips that caused her to huff indignantly, though there was a slight curve at the edge of her lips. Though Serafall had originally ''tolerated'' Alex for the sake of her relationship with her beloved So-Tan, during the nine months that she had been carrying their child her heart had at some point softened towards him, to the point that he could be considered her third favorite person behind Elizabeth and Sona, not that she would ever admit any of this however. While playing with his daughter, Alex turned to the Snow Priestess and said, "It''s done, everyone has moved and there''s no people left in the village. In a few minutes it''ll all be erased by an energy bomb I left behind." Though she felt relieved to hear that their village wouldn''t be left for others to desecrate and attempt to pillage, it was still a bit saddening for the Snow Priestess to hear that the place that had been their home for centuries was to be destroyed. Instead of dwelling on it however she turned her gaze to the future and recalled the image she had seen of the thousands of people living with them in harmony. "Thank you..." The Snow Priestess finally said after a moment of silence, before turning to the rest of the newly arrived Yuuki-Onna and declaring, "THIS, IS OUR NEW HOME!" Around the same time that the Snow Priestess began giving a speech to her people at their new home, two individuals had arrived at the now abandoned Yuuki-Onna village, and were looking for any signs of life. "Where did they all go?" Kahlua asked absentmindedly, as she peered through a window to see that everything had been stripped from the inside of the building. Miyabi took a drag off his cigarette before saying, "I don''t know, but I don''t like it at all." As he looked around it was obvious that the Yuuji-Onna had permanently left the only place they had been able to call home for centuries, and it was recent considering that there was no dust to speak of in the deserted village, however he couldn''t think of why they would suddenly just up and leave out of nowhere. The obvious answer was that they knew he and Kahlua were coming on behalf of Fairy Tale, and had moved out to avoid being forced to join their army. This however confused him even more as ''how'' did they know they planned to recruit them, and ''where'' did they all go on such short notice? He didn''t have long to ponder this question though, as his senses suddenly picked something up that made him turn to Kahlua and ask, "Do you feel that?" Kahlua however just tilted her head in confusion at his question, until the thing that Miyabi had sensed swelled in power and she could now feel it as well. The duo slowly turned their attention towards the ice palace they had been approaching until now, however a series of thunderous cracks suddenly tore through the air as the walls of the palace suddenly fractured, before a massive sphere of light broke through them. The sphere seemed to slowly expand as it surged outwards, halting for a brief second as it destroyed the palace, before expanding rapidly like a bomb. "Shit...RUN!" Miyabi shouted as he took off the way they had come, with Kahlua right behind him. As they ran world itself seemed to start rumbling with the power of the bomb, as everything it touched was instantly destroyed. Thankfully the duo were superhuman even among other superhumans, so they managed to make it past the barrier surrounding the village just before the explosion managed to swallow them up. Naturally, the barrier then started powering down due to its source, hidden within the palace, now being destroyed as well, making the snow fall around them gradually decrease before stopping altogether. What they saw when the snow and the light receded, was a barren wasteland where an entire village had been moments prior, not a single clue to indicate an entire race of people had lived here previously. The duo took a moment to take in what they were seeing, before Miyabi swore, "Damnit! First the phoenixes and now this! Does this bastard know all of our plans?!" Thinking that the one behind the Yuuki-Onna''s disappearance had to have been the same person who killed Kanade, wiped out their bases, turned the Miao family against them, attacked both the Shuzen manor and the Fairy Tale headquarters, and was possibly responsible for the disappearance of the phoenixes, Miyabi was showing an extremely rare expression of anger from the absurdity of it all, and they didn''t even know the guy''s name. Though, if he had known that there was even a spy that had sat in on their meetings without anyone even noticing him, then even the usually cool calm and collected Miyabi would probably start ripping his hair out in frustration of it all. Suddenly Kahlua asked, "Should we report this to mother?" Miyabi''s brow twitched when he recalled Gyokuro, and how she reacted after the two fires. Though he couldn''t wait until he was finally rid of the annoying woman, he didn''t let this thought show on his face as he calmly stated, "No, we''re going straight to our next destination before anyone could possibly beat us there, let''s go." At his command Kahlua turned around and set off with him, to a city south of where they were that had a slightly famous local supernatural hotspot, known to many as the ''Witches Ranch''. (A.N. So after the last chapter I took a little break since I spent so much of my free time writing it, but then I''d finally gotten a book I''d been waiting on for a few years so that delayed me a little. But when I finished this one I felt it was a little short/bland after the last one so I tried to do a double release, but the next chapter is taking longer than I''d like so I just decided to post this one since its been a week.) Chapter 326 - Declaring War For the next week Alex bounced his attention between the academy where he was still a teacher, and the new Yuuki-Onna settlement that had yet to be named(A.N. Hint hint). At the academy they were finishing up finals and exams before the start of the summer break, which Mikogami didn''t quite appreciate Alex taking off with a dropout female student in the middle of them. Though he had been understanding of course when Alex mentioned that he intended to keep the Yuuki-Onna from being drafted into the ranks of Fairy Tale''s army. As for the race of women themselves, they seemed to be adapting to their new home fairly well during their first week there, with the younger generations being taken to Sona''s Academy to try and integrate with Asora''s youth, and some of the grown women even traveling to the other locations in Asora to mingle with others for the first time in years. Naturally since the entire race was pretty much a species of shut ins there were a few hiccups here and there, but they were resolved swiftly without too much fuss. Then there was the discussion about what was to happen with the Yuuki-Onna village in the future since they would need to contribute to Asora in some way. Naturally both Serafall and Alex had already thought of this, and answered at the same time ''winter resort'', and ''hot springs''. Both of these ideas were readily accepted by both the Yuuki-Onna and the people of Asora since having a place to vacation to have fun and relax would have been nice for everyone, especially since they were currently still within the grips of the long winter. Naturally the time everyone looked forward to the resort the most was during their long summers, when the extended periods of heat would make them want to flee to a colder climate for a few days. Between him bouncing back and forth from the Yuuki-Onna village, the academy, and the space-time orb, Alex also somehow found time to pay the various phoenixes that had moved to Asora a visit. Naturally after his earlier display of killing one of their own, which they thought was impossible, the phoenixes showed Alex more respect and fear than any other being they had ever encountered, until they learned that Asora was filled with monsters like him. It didn''t take long after they moved there for people like Vali and Sairaorg and even Hajime to seek them out for a fight, which the phoenixes eagerly accepted until they realized that their foes were more powerful than they thought. This led to Rho-Dan and several of the phoenixes even confessing to Alex when he visited them that, not only was Asora amazing due to the clean and wide open skies and that they no longer needed to hide, but also due to the vast amount of rivals to push the already powerful phoenixes even further. There had been a distinct lack of people willing to challenge the great birds before, due to their monstrous strength and the fact that no one wanted to risk offending the immortal species. Of course Alex''s biggest issue was when Tsurara was introduced to his other women, who looked at him with narrowed eyes since they already knew about her and Mizore''s condition due to Shia''s earlier report to them. Though they knew Mizore intended to be impregnanted from the beginning, they never actually thought she would manage to do so so soon, not to mention her mother being thrown into the mix at the same time. Thankfully Anne was Alex''s saving grace as she revealed her research into the flowers that Mizore had collected for her, which could actually increase libido and fertility in those who smelled them. This information resulted in turn in Alex being the center of several predatory gazes, as almost everyone considered getting their hands on one of these flowers in the near future. Thankfully Anne came to his rescue once again by stating that all of said flowers were under lock and key, and that she already had a plan to use them in the future so the girls would just have to wait a short while longer. *** Once the hustle and bustle of the exams and moving the Yuuki-Onna died down, it was finally time for something that more people than expected were looking forward to, summer break. "LETS GOOOOOO!" Kurumu shouted as she ran towards the water from the beach they were currently on. Due to various this and that''s, the newspaper clubs advisor Nekonome had brought them to a beach in the human world for their summer vacation, however they were accompanied by both the girls in Alex''s harem, and those in the swim club. Naturally the girls from Asora felt that taking a break and going to the beach for a day would be a nice change in pace from the constant snow that was currently in Asora. And even though they could''ve just gone into the space-time orb since the villa was in a constant tropical climate, each and every one agreed that it wasn''t the same as going to a different beach to relax. And as for the swim club, they had become Ingvild''s loyal followers ever since he had introduced her to them while attending one of their practices. Though they initially been annoyed when she introduced herself as ''Leviathan'', an existence as significant to sea dwelling people as Dracula was to vampires, all it took was her transitioning to her super devil form for them to change their tune, and each of them became her loyal followers while the captain, Tamao, even managed to become her pawn. Though Ingvild wasn''t exactly interested in having followers, she eventually decided to accept them since she intended to rebuild the devil house of Leviathan and would need more people to do so. And so, with Millicas and Yukari having gone off on a date together, Alex was the only man around to enjoy the sea of beautiful women in various swimwear in front of him. Though some girls wore cutesy swimwear, such as Sun''s light blue one piece, or Kokoa''s frilly white swimsuit with strawberries; the majority of girls were wearing the more mature or s.e.xy items, such as Rias''s dark red bikini, or even Sona''s own mature one piece, which was opened in the back and belly to show more skin. With so many varieties for Alex to look at due to everyone who lived in the Misty Manor coming, while Valerie, Tosca, and Lavina Reni watched over the children, there were even a few that went well past risqu¨¦. This included Akeno''s, who''s swimsuit was actually more tame among the ''risqu¨¦ group'', which consisted of a black leathery V that extended over her shoulders to just barely cover her n.i.p.p.l.es before the two straps ran down to meet at her crotch. Naturally, she had also been the instigator in the other girls risqu¨¦ swimsuits as Alex''s head s.e.x slave, with her ''recommending'' Altina''s swimsuit that covered even less than her own. It was a bikini with strings that were all exceptionally thinner than usual while the cloth to cover her private areas was only about as wide as a finger, meaning that the edges of her n.i.p.p.l.es were still visible if one looked carefully enough, while the one to cover her crotch was steadily wedging into her p.u.s.s.y. Naturally the backside had even less coverage, which meant that one could occasionally see the emerald green gem that was nestled between her butt cheeks. Even hers was tame however when you looked at either Tio or Francesca, who both appeared to be wearing proper bikinis at a glance, but they had both instead shown up completely nude after painting their swimsuits on. Tio had apparently gotten the idea after Alex and Akeno had wrote various vulgar words and sayings onto her body a time or two to have under her usual kimono, which had interested Francesca when she found out. Unlike Tio or Altina who were Alex''s masochistic s.e.x slaves, Francesca was a strange combination of shy maiden and incurable pervert, which created unique situations like the current one where she was blushing and acting shyly from the attention she was receiving due to her lack of attire, yet she had chosen to show up like that to begin with and there was a line of fluid running down her inner thigh. Naturally Tio had a pitch black gem that would occasionally make an appearance between her butt cheeks, while Francesca had a bright yellow one between hers. Risqu¨¦ swimsuits or not, Alex''s ''Lucky Pervert'' skill was seemingly working over time since he was still treated to several various wardrobe malfunctions as the girls played. The most notable incident was when Routier had somehow tripped and completely removed Sun''s one piece in her fall, giving Alex his first full frontal view of the innocent siren''s n.a.k.e.d body before she released a "Kyaaa!" so shrill that everyone dropped to the ground while covering their ears. Aside from the e.r.o.t.i.c situations and attire, Alex and the girls spent the day enjoying themselves quite a bit until it got to a certain time, and Alex reluctantly got up from his seated position under his umbrella. "Nyan?" Nekonome called out curious when Alex stopped scratching her behind her ears, to which he said to her and everyone else, "Sorry, but I have something I have to go do right now." When she heard this Kurumu looked up and declared, "Eh?! Just I was about to ask you to rub tanning lotion on me!" With her and the rest of the girls looking at him curiously for wanting to leave while they were having fun, Alex returned a bitter smile as he said, "Sorry, but people want this arc to end already so I have to go advance the plot now, trust me when I say that I want nothing more than to stay with you all..." Of course the response Alex received from the girls was a series of groans and protests, while someone even shouted, "Screw the ''plot''!" While giving a wry smile at their protests, Alex was about to say he had no choice in the matter when Kuroka suddenly tore off her swimsuit, before clinging onto him with her n.a.k.e.d body and asking, "What about now~Nya?" At this Alex couldn''t help laughing mockingly at himself as he replied, "We can enjoy this when I get back, but for now I have no choice but to go..." The words were barely out of his mouth before Kuroka''s hand blurred, and she used Spatial magic to suddenly ''grab'' everyone swimsuits, before tearing them off so that there was suddenly dozens of beautiful n.a.k.e.d women women standing before Alex. Though naturally both Kokoa and Sun both frantically tried to cover themselves, the rest of the girls readily flaunted themselves in front of Alex enticingly as Kuroka sn.a.k.e.d her hand down the front of his own swim shorts, while saying in a sultry tone, "And now~Nya?" As she spoke Yubelluna, Ravel''s ''Queen'', clung to his other side while also snaking her hand down his shorts that the two girl''s hands were lightly grabbing onto his quickly hardening p.e.n.i.s. Then Alex felt someone wrapped their arms around him from behind, their n.i.p.p.l.es hardening on his bare back as Sona''s ''Queen'' Tsubaki pouted in his ear, "Please stay with us..." Before Alex could say anything he suddenly felt someone grab his shorts, as Akeno abruptly hauled them down to his ankles so that he could join the rest of the girls in their n.a.k.e.dness. He then felt his head s.e.x slave take the tip of his p.e.n.i.s into her mouth before she began swirling her tongue around it while sucking on it to create a vacuum. With Akeno giving him head, Tsubaki clinging to his back, and Kuroka stroking his shaft while Yubelluna fondled his family jewels and the rest of the dozens of n.a.k.e.d women beginning to approach him, Alex finally broke and said, "You know what, screw the plot. I''ll just stay right here!" The words were no sooner out of his mouth, when something suddenly fell into the sand at his feet. Looking down, Alex noticed the crystal teleportation key that had somehow appeared even though it had been put into his personal storage, and it was standing up with its tip buried in the sand. "Oh you''ve got to be f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me..." Alex swore, before the key did something that should have been impossible, and somehow activated on its own to open a portal just below Alex''s feet that was big enough for only him to fall through. There was a slight moment where he just hovered there, both Alex and the girls disbelieving what they were seeing, before gravity did its thing and he suddenly fell through the hole before landing on his butt with a soft ''THUD''. With him sitting in the grass surrounded by a sea of flowers with nothing but a pair of swim shorts around his ankles, Alex glanced up to see the still open portal close before the crystal key dropped down into his lap. For a moment there was nothing, just pure silence as Alex took in what just happened, before he practically exploded, "ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SERIOUS?!!!" His still erect d.i.c.k bobbing before him, Alex leaped to his feet and shouted while releasing a massive blast of energy upwards, "AM I SERIOUSLY GETTING BLUE BALLED RIGHT NOW?! ALL FOR THE SAKE OF SOME WORTHLESS PLOT?! WELL F.U.C.K YOU TOO!!!!" Next was a rather unusual and somewhat comical scene, as Alex proceeded to fire off several volleys of powerful energy attacks into the sky to vent his frustration, without even bothering to fix his shorts or his erection for several minutes. After firing off enough power to level an entire continent, Alex finally stopped to breath deeply as he fixed his shorts and calmed down his still excited member. Once his shorts were no longer tented Alex figured that sooner he got this over with the better, and turned towards the only building around him in the beautiful sea of flowers, an old decrepit shack. Though he was still annoyed, Alex couldn''t help but admire the serenity of the flower field as the summer wind blew through it, carrying their fragrance to his nose. Of course the serene moment wasn''t mean to last, as a dark green claw suddenly burst from the ground and seized Alex''s ankle, before pulling on it to drag him under. Despite the creature''s best efforts however, Alex didn''t budge as he instead looked down at it and stared at its beady little eyes. The staring contest only lasted a couple seconds, before the creature released his ankle and whimpered pitifully as it disappeared back underground. It must have then passed on the message to the rest of the monsters, because Alex continued walking to the shack unmolested despite the fact that the field was filled with literally hundreds of the same plantlike creatures. Through his ''Domain'', Alex watched the two people within the shack prepare for his eminent arrival, only for him to immediately throw open the door of the shack and use ''Energy Nullification'' to dispel the energy the two women were gathering for their spells, before using his ''Telekinesis'' to rip an ancient book and decorated foot and a half long wand out of their hands. Holding both items in his hands, Alex turned to the shocked duo and said with the friendliest smile he could manage, "Pardon the sudden and fairly rude entrance, but would the two of you be willing to talk with me for a bit?" The duo consisted of a girl in her late teens with her black hair pulled up into two ponytails at the sides while the rest fell back straight, and was wearing a pink corset with a long black skirt that had frills on the end; and an elderly woman who wore a long hooded robe the was pulled to cover her head, except what parts of her face that were visible where wrinkled and scarred. While the young girl looked ready to continue fighting despite being disarmed, the elderly woman said begrudgingly while staring at the book he had taken, "I suppose we have no choice but to humor an unruly brat like yourself." At her words the younger girl slowly relaxed herself before getting the rocking chair for the older one, who sat in it gratefully before demanding, "So, what do you want to discuss so badly that you''d come in here uninvited and unannounced, while also disarming two poor women to have at your mercy?" Alex smiled wryly at the elderly woman''s attitude, as he used his magic to conjure up his own chair to get comfortable before saying, "I wanted to discuss your plans to destroy the nearby human city, and maybe ways to avoid the potential bloodshed." There was a beat of silence as the duo took in his words, before, "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You can''t be serious?!" As the elderly woman, Oyakata, burst into laughter at Alex''s words, she then criticized what he said before continuing with increasing anger, "Do you really expect that there is no way forward without shedding either theirs or our blood? This hill used to be a sacred meeting place for witches, and now they want to bulldoze it and turn it into a worthless dump! And you expect me to ignore that?!" As Oyakata shouted at him Alex was silent, before turning to the younger girl and asking, "Do you agree with this plan? Do you wish to slaughter hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent lives of men, women, and even children?" Though she had a resolute look in her eyes to start with, when Alex mentioned that they''d be killing children the girl faltered before the older one stated, "Of course she is! Ruby has been helping me prepare for years, and this is finally the moment she''ll be able to take revenge for her parents death at the hands of those same humans!" Alex''s eyerows shot up when he heard that, and once more he turned to Ruby and Asked, "Is that true? Did humans murder your parents?" Ruby nodded, the resolution returning to her as she stated, "Yes, my parents were killed by a careless human who was driving one of their hateful vehicles while drunk. Not only that, but they have turned their backs on the nature around them that provides so much, and are only capable of destroying anything they touch!" As Ruby ranted about the faults of humans, Alex couldn''t help but frown before asking, "Wasn''t what happened to your parents just an accident though? Why would all humans need to die because of the stupidity of one man?" When she heard this Ruby''s face contorted as she cried out, "Even if it isn''t just that, humans don''t deserve to live with everything they''re doing to us and this world!" Though she undoubtedly would''ve continued, Alex cut her off by stating, "But did you ever stop to think that your actions would effect witches more than humans?" This made ruby stop as she looked at him with confusion, to which Alex continued while ignoring Oyakata''s glower, "If you attack the nearby city with your army of plant monsters like you plan, then you might kill the majority of the humans while a few would undoubtedly escape, which I''m willing to bet will be the ones spearheading the development of the Witch''s Ranch into a dump. Instead, the ones you''ll kill will mostly be the innocent civilians and even the children who had never done a single thing wrong other than being born a human, and even if the children live you''ll have probably orphaned them like what was done to you yourself." When she heard this Ruby went wide eyed as she tried to think of ways to argue with Alex''s logic, but before she could he continued while Oyakata''s glower deepened, "And that''s not even taking into consideration the result your actions will have on the witches community, as at the very least you will have revealed magic and witches to the world. With the first official interaction between witches and humans in the modern day being the slaughter of an entire city, the human military will undoubtedly react swiftly and aggressively to remove the threat of witches. The Witches Ranch that you''ll have sought so desperately to preserve will end up engulfed in a sea of flames, and the two of you will be turned to ash with it and your plant army. "This would only be the beginning however, as humanity will still fear the threat of witches and their ''evil'' magic, and a witch hunt the likes of which the world has never seen before would start. They''d be hunted down and slaughtered like animals, most probably pleading for understanding or mercy, but never receiving it. There would undoubtedly be a few that''ll fight back, but with witches being scorned by humans and Youkai alike they would most likely receive no help, and they would quickly be overwhelmed before being slaughtered till the last." As Alex stopped speaking the room was filled with silence as the two seemingly took in what he said, with Ruby''s complexion paling by the second while Oyakata sat silently, before a smile broke out on her face. "Is that so? But what if we witches did in fact have allies?" When he saw the confidence in Oyakata''s tone and face Alex frowned slightly, as she shouldn''t have anyone besides Ruby. But before he could ask what she meant Alex noticed a couple of people approaching the shack through his ''Domain'', making him understand her confidence as he muttered, "I see, of course..." Alex then used his ''Telekinesis'' to open the door right as they arrived, revealing the duo representing Fairy Tale that had come to convince Oyakata to join their cause, Miyabi and the last of the Shuzen sisters, Kahlua. There was a beat of silence as the duo registered who was sitting before them, before Miyabi suddenly lunged forward as he aimed an attack directly at Alex''s face, which the latter dodged with ease before grabbing lightly onto Miyabi''s wrist. As he did this Alex then used his ''Telekinesis'' once more to hold both Miyabi and Kahlua''s limbs down before the latter could enter her berserk state. Though he didn''t show any visible strain on his face, Alex couldn''t do anything about the small amount of blood that dripped from his nose as he struggled to hold the two in place, making him realize that he''d need to train his ''Telekinesis'' more as the two super powered beings struggled against his hold. "Now then, either we can fight it out and I can kill you here and now, or you can settle down and we can talk this out, for now. What do you say?" Though his limbs were being held down, Miyabi was still able to move his head and mouth, so he could only grit his teeth before nodding and saying, "Fine then, let''s talk." With his smile widening, Alex canceled the telekinetic hold he had on Miyabi and Kahlua, allowing the tension to drain out of their bodies somewhat, though not entirely due to the fact that they were in fact in front of an established enemy. With the situation settling down somewhat, Alex then stated, "To begin with I might as well introduce myself properly, or would you rather continue pulling out your hair trying figure out my identity?" With Miyabi developing a glower to match Oyakata''s, Alex smirked before continuing, "My name is Alex, but you can simply refer to me as the Dragon Emperor." Though everyone''s eyes widened a little when they heard Alex''s self introduction, they didn''t question his title since Miyabi and Kahlua were both well aware that Alex was more than capable. Instead, he simply stated while lighting up a new cigarette, "I''m the first division leader of Fairy Tale, Miyabi Fujisaki, and this is the next head of the Shuzen house, Kahlua Shuzen. Now then, perhaps you could explain why you''ve decided to antagonize Fairy Tale?" Though Miyabi''s choice of words caused Alex to frown slightly, he didn''t mind them as he simply answered, "The biggest reason is just because you guys are an inconvenience to me, and our paths would have crossed anyways since our ultimate goal is pretty much the same thing, the awakening of Alucard." His words brought silence to the small shack, before Miyabi hesitantly asked, "If that was case then why not work with us? Why attack our people?" At this Alex''s smile widened once more, before he said, "That is where our interests do not align, you intend to revive Alucard to destroy the human race, whereas I intend to destroy it completely." Once more there was silence at Alex''s words, until, "Pfffft! Haha! That''s rich, though I suppose it also explains you working with those two bastards Mikogami and Touhou." As Miyabi trailed off the young woman at his side then asked, "If you don''t mind me asking, why do you want to awaken and then destroy Alucard?" Alex turned towards Kahlua, his smile warming up a little as he said, "Well truthfully it''s mostly for the sake of your sister Moka." When she heard this Kahlua adopted a dumbfounded expression as she said, "Eh?" Finding her reaction kind of cute, Alex continued while Miyabi was once again paying attention to his every word, "Moka is now one of my lovers, as well as one of my servants. While I''m not going to get into that whole ordeal with you right now, just know that her connection to Alucard is troublesome since it prevents her from using all of her power, so I intend to destroy him to be rid of it. And if you were curious about them both Kokoa and Akua are fine as well, and happy to finally be reunited with Moka." Though Alex had mentioned several things she wanted to comment about, Kahlua focused on the information regarding her sisters, to which she said with a small smile, "So they''re all ok, that''s good..." While Kahlua was relieved from hearing about her sisters well being, Miyabi however frowned, as Alex had just confirmed that Akua had in fact betrayed them, and that Gyokuro sending Kokoa had simply resulted in her joining his side as well. It was at this point that Alex stood and said to him, "While we''re all here then I might as well officially declare war on you guys." This shook Miyabi out of his small reverie, before he said, "Are you now?" Alex simply nodded and answered, "Yep, and that we''ll be attacking you once Youkai Academy''s summer break is over, so about a month from now? Make sure you prepare as much as possible for our battle before then!" After saying so, Alex dispelled the chair he had been using and returned Ruby and Oyakata''s magical tools before turning towards the door, his business done with for now. Before he could leave though Miyabi asked, "Is that really ok? Just telling us when you plan to attack and not even trying to fight or weaken us right here and now?" He knew that if he was in Alex''s position then that''s what he''d do, hell he had tried to before Alex shut both himself and Kahlua down without so much as physically exerting himself. Of course Alex stopped before leaving, and turned back towards them before saying as if it was obvious, "Why would I try to weaken you right now when there''s already nothing you can do to defend yourselves against our attack? I could find you no matter where you go in the world if you tried to run, and no one in your group, except perhaps Alucard, is strong enough to even concern me in terms of combat. So spend the time between now and then preparing, gather what remains of your armies, boost your leaders strength as much as possible, and try not to make it too boring when we wipe you guys out." All of this made Miyabi''s entire face twitch in annoyance, as from the way he was talking Alex wasn''t just being arrogant, but was simply talking as if everything he said was the inevitable truth. As such he couldn''t help but to respond, "And what if we just accelerate our plans because of you? Awaken Alucard now or just flat out start declaring war on the humans before we even awaken him?" When he heard this Alex just looked at Miyabi like he was an idiot, before saying as if it was obvious, "Well for one you can''t awaken Alucard without Moka, who is currently under my protection. That means you''d have to find an alternative method to do so in the next month when you haven''t for three hundred years, or you''d have to steal her away from me when she has more protection now than she''s had in her entire life. And as for simply attacking the humans now,-" As Alex trailed off he continuously maintained his slight smile, even as a killing intent like none of those gathered had ever experienced before descended on them, forcing Kahlua and Ruby to their knees while Oyakata groaned and even Miyabi staggered. He then continued as if nothing happened, "-then I''d have to simply wipe you all out ahead of time, which I would assume that each of you would want to live at least a little bit longer instead?" No one answered as they all struggled to take his killing intent, before Alex ultimately let it up and said, "Now then, any other questions?" With no one speaking as the oppressive atmosphere faded, Alex''s smiled widened as he once again turned to leave, before asking at the door, "Are you coming Ruby?" Naturally everyone looked surprised at his sudden question, before the other three people in the room turned to look at the girl in question while she just muttered, "Eh?" Seeing the looks she was getting and realizing Alex wanted her to go with him, Ruby quickly answered, "Of course I''m not going with you! I''ll stay here beside master until the end!" Though Alex was initially silent at Ruby''s refusal, he then turned towards Oyakata and asked, "Are you ok with that?" The old witch was silent for a moment, before asking him, "And why wouldn''t I be ok with my prided disciple staying with me?" Alex however returned a deadpan stare as he answered, "Because it''ll mean her death if she does. Regardless of what you''ve decided for yourself, at the very least you should encourage Ruby being able to continue on, growing older and learning magics that you never would have even dreamed of instead of dying a worthless death alongside you." There was a second of silence as the older woman considered Alex''s words, and when Ruby finally opened her mouth to argue with him, Oyakata cut her off and said, "Go with him Ruby." Naturally everyone was surprised when they heard that, and even Ruby hesitantly muttered, "Master...?" Seeing everyone''s gazes on her Oyakata growled, "What''s with those looks? I just want to send her behind enemy lines to see these so-called ''magics that I''ve never even dreamed of''." Though no one looked convinced at her argument, Oyakata ''Humphed!'' before turning away and ignoring them even as Ruby dejectedly walked across the shack to Alex''s side. After the door closed behind them Alex suddenly said, "She may not say it directly, but she really does love you Ruby. She''s just older and finds it too hard to change her path, but you still have a chance." Though she undoubtedly heard him, Ruby just nodded her head slowly as memories of her growing up with her master resurfaced. Not knowing what else to say, Alex then pulled something out of thin air and held it out to her, making Ruby look up at the folder in his hands. "I had this prepared to try and convince Oyakata not to attack humans, but apparently I was too late. You can have it instead." As he spoke Ruby flipped through the official looking papers with growing confusion before asking, "What is this?" Alex smiled wryly at her question, and flipped to the last paper before gesturing at the field around them, "Sign your name at the bottom, and the entirety of the Witches Ranch will officially become yours, never to be threatened to become a dump again." "What?!" Ruby cried out when she heard this, to which Alex explained, "I have several politicians and government officials under my thumb throughout Japan and even some other countries, it wasn''t too hard to get some of them to arrange for the deed to the Witches Ranch to fall into my hands. If Oyakata agreed to my terms to never threaten humans again, then she would have been able to sign instead and your home would have been protected for as long as the signee was alive, or a witch resided here..." As Alex trailed off Ruby began weeping as tears of various different emotions started leaking from her eyes. She was frustrated because this was all it took to save their home, angry at all the years of wasted effort while her master had signed herself away to Fairy Tale for no reason, but most of all she felt relief that the home she grew up with would be safe. Though it took her several minutes to calm down, Ruby eventually signed the papers to become the new owner of the Witches Ranch and Alex used magic to send them to his contact to be copied and filed. After that there was only the issue of returning to the beach where the rest of the girls were waiting. Naturally they weren''t too thrilled when Alex returned with another woman, however they didn''t get too much of a chance to complain as Alex took out his earlier s.e.x.u.a.l frustration on them. Chapter 327 - Unexpected News SLAM! "YOU''RE TELLING ME HE WAS RIGHT THERE, OUTNUMBERED FOUR TO ONE, AND YOU DIDN''T DO A DAMNED THING TO HIM?!" As the entire sky fortress shuddered with the impact of Gyokuro hitting the stone table, and her shrieking voice, Miyabi just casually took a drag off of his cigarette while Kahlua looked nervous in the face of her mother''s rage. Eventually Miyabi said, "I already said we tried to attack him, but he held us both back without even laying a single finger on us." As he trailed off the next person to speak was the newest addition to the division leaders, the elderly crone Oyakata. "And neither myself nor my former disciple could have done anything after he took our catalysts from us, we might as well have been as weak as humans at that point." As she said the last part her voice turned slightly venomous from having to compare herself to the filthy humans. Of course Gyokuro sneered contemptibly at Oyakata''s admission of weakness, to which the elderly witch simply sneered back before ignoring her. At one point in time witches had been seen as the bridge between Youkai and humans, however in the current world they were held in contempt by both sides. The humans naturally considered the power of witches to be evil or unnatural, typically assuming they had them due to some sort of deal with the devil; while Youkai considered witches to simply be humans with some abilities, and nothing to be proud of. While they normally would have never worked together, in this instance Oyakata and Gyokuro both had the same goal and enemy, and the same need for allies. And so, despite the two sneering at each other, neither made a move until Gyokuro asked Miyabi, "So what else did he say?" Miyabi ignored the pissing match taking place before him, and casually answered, "Only that he intends to attack us in about a month, and to use the time until then to prepare our strength and remaining forces to face him." When they heard this the rest of the division leaders made a face, and the Raij¨± Raika even asked, "Is he an idiot? Who tells their enemy exactly when they''ll invade them?" While everyone else nodded in agreement, Miyabi answered, "I asked the same thing, and his answer was that there was no possible chance for us to be victorious in the first place, so it''ll hopefully make the fight not as ''boring''." There was a stunned silence around the table, before every single division leader started emitting a serious killing intent from how pissed they were. Gyokuro then spat, "Even if he says that, there''s nothing saying we have to play by his rules-" "He also said that if we tried something beforehand then we''ll just die faster, that we should just focus on preparing for the battle as much as possible." When she heard this Gyokuro made as close to a stupid expression as she ever had before, before it turned into a snarl as she spat, "I refuse to be told what I can''t or can''t do by him! If he doesn''t want us to do something until he''s ready, that that just means that-" THUNK! Right as Gyokuro was mid-rant, a knife suddenly fell from nowhere and landed directly in front of her point down, sinking into the stone table by a few inches. Attached to it was a slip of paper that simply said ''Temper temper- D.E.'' with a smiley face drawn on the bottom. As she quickly read what was on the paper, Gyokuro''s face suddenly turned from pale to green, then to the deepest shade of red any of those around had ever seen before she shouted, "I THOUGHT THIS PLACE WAS CHECKED FOR THOSE FILTHY INTRUDERS!" While she started shouting, everyone else turned deathly pale at the real meaning of the message, that they were never out of reach or out of sight for this Dragon Emperor. This meant he was seemingly always watching them and knew what they were doing right as they did it, meaning they''d never be able to get the jump on him unless they eliminated whatever means he was using to spy on them. What none of them knew was that the one who sent the message wasn''t even Alex, but was actually Endou since he hadn''t been told to leave the Flying Fortress yet. Naturally he had been told to keep an eye on how they would react to Alex''s declaration of war, and to intervene in some way if they tried to do something stupid. Even now Endou was standing to the side casually as Gyokuro ordered everyone to search the entire fortress once more for him, none of them even registering that he was right in front of them. ''I''m not bothered by the fact they can''t see me, not at all....'' He kept telling himself as everyone left, fighting back the urge to cry even if them noticing him meant he''d probably die against a foe like Gyokuro. With only the two of them left in the meeting room, after a few minutes Endou considered returning to the empty room he had claimed to hide in when suddenly the giant monitor lit up and a new face appeared, or rather a new mask. "Gyokuro, I hear things aren''t going well for you...." The being said in a creepy drawn out voice, making Gyokuro look up suddenly before she said without any enthusiasm, "Your majesty, I wasn''t aware that you''d be calling in." The masked being chuckled at her comment before saying, "I call whenever I want, and especially when such disturbing news reaches me, like this so called ''Dragon Emperor''." Gyokuro snorted when she heard him, and stated irritably, "He''s a coward that''ll be dealt with when he decides to show himself instead of skulking in the background. He thinks we''ll listen to his threats and not do anything until he says, but once he intruder is dealt with then we''ll begin our attack on the human cities to draw him out-" "That won''t be necessary." The Masked King suddenly cut her off, making Gyokuro blink suddenly before he continued, "I have it on good authority that this ''Dragon Emperor'' intends to undo the Great Alucard''s seal as well, which he would most likely do during his attack. All we need to do is hold him off until Alucard awakens, and then he''ll fall under His might regardless of how powerful he thinks he is." Gyokuro was stone faced when she heard this, but instead of arguing she simply stood and kneeled respectively before saying, "As you command, your majesty." Satisfied, the Masked King cut off the transmission with Gyokuro, who left to start preparing for the attack. What she didn''t know however, was that the Masked King had already decided to dispose of her during the battle against the Dragon Emperor, using her and the rest of her forces as cannon fodder to weaken and exhaust the Dragon Emperor as much as possible before Alucard awoke, and destroyed them all. *** BOOM!!! A shockwave echoed as Alex blocked a certain redhead''s attack, before punching her with enough force that she was sent flying into the side of a mountain, and then bursting out of the back of it into the mountain behind it as well. Before the sound of the second collision even reached them, Alex suddenly bent himself back at an angle to just barely avoid a distortion in space as it went right by his face, prompting him to turn and look at the culprit with a deadpan stare, Akua. "Damn..." The black haired beauty silently swore, right before Alex''s foot collided with her stomach, causing her to vomit out blood that may have been either her own or Alex''s that she drank before the spar began, and sending her down into a flat stretch of field to turn it into a new canyon. As Alex sent her flying he then glanced around for the next attack, before his Haki directed his attention upwards where he saw a giant fireball descending straight at him. From within the fire he could see a giant hammer in front of a cute girl with her bunny ears flapping violently around her as she cried out, "METEORIC SMAAAAAAAASH!!!!" With her momentum and both her hammer and herself weighing several extra tons from Gravity magic, Shia expected that Alex would at least be sent cascading down to the ground from her attack. Instead, he reached up with both hands and ''caught'' her beloved hammer while also using both his own strength and his ''Energy Nullification'' skill to nullify her kinetic energy, resulting in him only being pushed back a few feet in the air before coming to a stop while holding up both Shia and her hammer. "Teehee..." Shia tried to say cutely, before Alex let go of her hammer with one hand while c.o.c.king it back, and then pulled her and her hammer back with the other hand and punching her back into yet another mountain, causing a giant crater to form in its side before Alex threw the hammer back at her and caused the entire side of the mountain to turn to rubble on top of her. Despite the ferocity of his attacks on the girls Alex wasn''t worried, as Akua and Kokoa were both vampires with powerful regenerative abilities, and Shia had increased her ''Durability'' to the point that if Alex wanted to actually ''hurt'' her with his punches, then he''d need to transition at least to SSJ one or two. At that exact moment two powerful supernatural energies surged at they focused their intent on Alex, before simultaneously rushing him in a pincer attack. With Akua and Kokoa homing in on both sides with a Jigen-Tou and rapier prepared respectively, Alex then twisted himself midair at the last second while using a finger on each hand to deflect both attacks away from himself and each other, before grabbing each girl''s head and slamming them together. ""OW!!"" They both cried out from the sudden collision, before Alex grabbed them by the ankles and proceeded to slam them together a few times before chucking them in opposite directions once more, with neither being able to fight back despite both having been evolved into Shinso vampires. As he tossed the two girls away, Alex then turned his attention to the rubble pile that Shia was buried under, before the area surged with a tidal wave of light blue magic power and the rubble was blasted outwards as Shia turned her now red eyes in his direction. "And here we have the return of the Berserker Bunny!" Alex cried out tauntingly at Shia, who immediately launched herself towards him with enough force that whatever was left of the mountain was destroyed. As she was about to reach him though, Alex heard a small chime in his head followed by Moka''s voice saying, "Times up!" Smiling wryly at the timing, Alex then avoided Shia''s first attack before touching her forehead and activating his Spirit magic while shouting "SLEEP!", immediately rendering her unconscious as she lightly fell into his embrace. As he transitioned her into a princess carry both Akua and Kokoa flew up to him with their vampiric wings, before the former said while cracking her broken shoulder back into place, "You really don''t pull any punches even against your lovers, do you?" Alex smiled wryly at her remark, before saying, "Well neither would any opponents we face, and I always make sure not to dish more than anyone could take. If I was truly going full force, then I''d be at SSJ2 right now and you two would probably be seeing if your regeneration could bring you back from being turned into pulp." His words made the vampiric duo shudder as they imagined what he said, during which ''outer'' Moka used her devil wings to fly up to join them before asking while pointing at Shia, "So how''d you make her pass out?" Alex smiled proudly at Moka''s question, and explained, "While we were in Tortus I temporarily obtained divinity, during which I had a skill called ''Divine Commandment'', it''s effect made it to where any orders I gave had to be followed by those that heard them unless they were mentally strong enough to resist the effects. Naturally I lost it when my divinity wore off, but I''ve been trying to regain it due to how useful it could be; what you saw was my attempt to emulate it using Spirit magic, though it''ll only work on those with exceptionally weak mentalities, such as a berserk bunny for example." Though the trio of vampires were in awe of such an ability, they also couldn''t help but smile wryly at Shia''s situation from it. Alex then turned towards Kokoa and said, "You really are getting stronger by the way Kokoa, you''ve come a long way from the little girl that I spanked into submission before." As she recalled the day she first met Alex, roughly a year ago now from her perspective due to staying in the space-time orb almost 24/7, Kokoa turned almost as red as her hair as she cried out, "Forget about that already! And I only feel as if I''m getting stronger until I fight you, you''re still stupidly stronger than me even though I''ve put so much effort into training..." With her having less momentum the more she spoke, while the latter half almost sounded like she was pouting, Alex smirked and said, "I''ve trained my skills over several years and have had several life or death battles to draw experience from, give it time and you''ll probably become as strong as I am now, though that doesn''t mean that I''ll just wait around for you to get to my level." As she looked at Alex''s smirking face Kokoa was seized by the sudden urge to punch it, but held herself back as she instead glared in the other direction. The sparring match over with, the group then left the sub-space orb and returned to the villa, where they found Le Fey with their newest resident and her student, Ruby. Though it had taken a bit of effort for the girls to get her to open up, once she did so Ruby was eagerly welcomed into their family with open arms, which quickly overwhelmed her due to the limited interaction with others she had growing up. Of course the next logical step was to get Ruby to apprentice under Le Fey, who was a master of the various types of magic from back in the DXD world, as well as magic from Tortus now. Naturally Ruby had a hard time accepting the magic she was being told about, but when she watched Le Fey perform ''impossible'' feats one after another, she was quickly convinced. Then of course there was the struggle of getting her to accept Le Fey as her new master due to her continuing devotion to Oyakata, though when Alex reminded her that Oyakata wanted her to learn the new magic as well Ruby eventually relented. As they approached Alex wrapped his arms around Le Fey lovingly and kissed the top of her head before asking, "How is she doing?" Le Fey was silent for a moment as she enjoyed Alex''s warm embrace, before answering, "Of course she''s having trouble trying to form and control magic without her wand, but she''ll get it eventually. Personally I''m more worried about the magic she''s learned up until now since I know nothing about it, but I''ll hopefully understand it eventually." As the duo talked Ruby glanced over at them, before meeting Alex''s gaze and turning away with slightly red cheeks, earning him pointed looks from the other four women. She had been acting this way ever since she had watched Alex and the girls practically jump each other at the beach, and though she could interact with the other girls normally, for some reason she only seemed to have trouble looking Alex in the face. Of course what everyone else was unaware of was that Ruby was recalling the scene of Alex ''punishing'' Akeno, Tio, Altina, and Francesca for their provocative swimwear that day, an image that stirred something within her that she had previously been unaware of. Now whenever she looked at Alex she automatically imagined him ''punishing'' her, making her embarrassed to be around him. Ignoring the pervert in the making, Le Fey then turned towards Alex and said, "By the way, there''s something I wanted to talk to you about regarding Vali." This made Alex look at her curiously as he wondered what was going on with his rival, before she said, "I don''t know why, but he''s seemed moody lately and spending larger effort amounts of time training than usual..." Of course when he heard this Alex couldn''t help but remark sarcastically, "Oh no, Vali is sulking and training, whatever shall we do?!" This earned him a giggle from those that had met Vali before, while Le Fey herself even cracked a small smile before saying, "This is serious! I''ve asked Aiko but she wouldn''t tell me anything, so maybe you could talk to him instead?" Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her suggestion, as Vali was one of the last people he could imagine having a heart to heart with someone, much less himself. But after a moment of thinking he finally said, "It''s been a while since we''ve had a guys day, so maybe I''ll invite everyone fishing again, and try to talk to him then." Le Fey only gave him a look at this idea, to which Alex said defensively, "Hey, I won''t question how you girls do things, so don''t question how us guys do things. Trust me, this will work a lot better than just walking up to him and asking him to spill his guts." Though Le Fey gave him another look at this, she ultimately sighed and decided to trust in Alex''s judgment on the subject. After giving him a light kiss Alex was starting to think about dragging her upstairs along with Moka, Shia, and Akua, but before he could suggest it Kurumu ran up to him and practically shouted, "Alex! My mother showed up at the academy!" *** Several minutes later, instead of enjoying himself with several beautiful women, Alex was instead standing in his office at Youkai Academy while an exceptionally beautiful mature woman looked at him with sultry eyes. Ageha Kurono had waist long hair that was the same light blue as her daughters, while she wore a strapless purple mini dress along with a fur coat that she had hung up when they entered Alex''s office. As her eyes danced between Alex and her daughter, who was nervously seated in Alex''s lap while he sat in his chair, she then finally said, "So you''re the stud that my daughter has decided to pledge herself to.... Well what can I say other than she''s seems to be quite lucky?" As she said this Ageha licked her lips lightly as she ran her gaze over the few muscles that Alex had visible, while she began undressing him with her eyes with evident intrigue. After a moment she asked, "You said he has quite a few women around him Kurumu, how many exactly are you talking about and are you accepting any more?" Though she was noticeably nervous before, Kurumu''s brow twitched when her mother blatantly tried to insert herself into Alex''s harem, prompting her to say, "There''s already more than enough, thank you very much!" Though Ageha mock pouted at her daughters words, she then said, "Well he must be a beast in bed to tame so many women..." At this most of Kurumu''s bravado evaporated, causing her mother to show a dumbfounded look as she realized something and said, "You still haven''t done it?!" When she said this Kurumu looked away while muttering something about waiting, to which Ageha made her way to Alex''s side and whispered in his ear with a seductive tone that would make any normal person erect in seconds, "My daughter is a late bloomer, so you have my permission to push her down whenever you want though, or would you rather practice with me~?" Alex smiled wryly at Ageha''s offer, before wrapping his arms around Kurumu and saying, "Well waiting was my idea to begin with, but recently I''ve been thinking myself that it was about time for us to take things to the next level anyways." Though Kurumu had been writhing at her mother''s words, Alex''s however caused her to go completely still as she slowly turned towards him and asked, "Really?" Alex nodded and replied, "Really. You''ve been working hard for my sake so it''s only fair that I recognize that-" Alex hadn''t even finished speaking before Kurumu sealed his lips with her own, an intense fervor overtaking her that drowned out everything else, even the presence of her own mother. As she ran her fingers through is hair and sucked on his lips and tongue with the desperation of a person dying of thirst, Kurumu broke the contact only long enough to say, "Take me. Here. Now!" That was all she got out before her mouth was on his again, and Alex readily obliged her desire by picking her up and taking the few steps to his desk. There was a clatter as Alex swept everything off of it and placed Kurumu down on it, while she tried to wrestle his shirt up and over his head. Off to the side Ageha watched with increasing excitement as more of Alex''s body came into her view, before Kurumu threw his shirt away and pulled on his pants and they too fell to the floor. When she saw what they contained Ageha couldn''t keep her jaw from dropping, as the only guys she''d seen that were bigger than Alex were AV stars, and even they were few and far between. With her own dress soon getting puddled on the floor, Ageha was now as n.a.k.e.d as Alex as she took a seat on another table, and readily spread her legs before she willed her tail into existence and it plunged itself deep into her increasingly wet p.u.s.s.y while she played with her own tits. While Ageha enjoyed herself at the side, Alex and Kurumu didn''t even register her as he decided to get a bit ''rough'' with Kurumu, and grabbed her yellow vest before literally ripping it off of her body, and then her white button up shirt under it followed suit. Then, with a loud ''SNAP'', her purple lacy bra came flying off as well, spilling Kurumu''s G cup b.r.e.a.s.ts before Alex''s mouth left hers and immediately honed in on one of her n.i.p.p.l.es. "Ah! Yeeeeeees!" Kurumu gasped as Alex rolled the little bud around with his tongue, before biting down lightly on it to make her take in another shuddering breath until he moved onto the other side. As he got busy with his mouth of course Alex''s hands weren''t still either, as he gripped her skirt and tore that off as well, leaving Kurumu in nothing but her matching purple lace panties and stockings. Kurumu shuddered as she felt Alex mercilessly toy with her n.i.p.p.l.es with his mouth, while something hard and hot continuously poked and prodded her special place with only the thin cloth of her panties to protect it from penetration. Soon however the sound of ripping cloth filled the office once more, and the succubus was stripped completely n.a.k.e.d while Alex''s p.e.n.i.s now poked directly at her soaking slit. Laying her down so that her back was on his desk, Alex asked, "Are you ready Kurumu?" Of course she looked back at him with love and l.u.s.t as she pleaded, "Please, just give it to me already..." With no hesitation whatsoever Alex readily thrusted his c.o.c.k forward into her burning hot hole, making Kurumu gasp as she immediately climaxed even as Alex tore through her purity and continued until his entire length was inside her. While normally a girl would feel pain when they were deflowered, Kurumu only felt pleasure as she was wracked with climax after climax while crying out, "OH GOD YEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!" Instead of the pain of being forcefully spread open and torn through, she felt only the high of her repeated climaxes as her body finally received the thing it had been so desperately craving ever since she met her ''fated one'', his giant throbbing c.o.c.k. Though Kurumu thought she had tasted ''satisfaction'' whenever Alex used his mouth on her or when she played with the various girls to train her control, she now realized that wasn''t even close to ''true satisfaction'' as she wrapped her legs around her beloved''s waist as if to prevent him from taking such a wonderful feeling away from her. Alex on the other hand was almost of a similar mindset as Kurumu, as her insides almost felt as if they were custom made to take his c.o.c.k; with her taking in his entire length despite her short stature and the fact it was her first time, as well as the fact that her insides seemed to be squeezing and massaging his p.e.n.i.s specifically as if to make him finish faster. Even with his years of experience it took almost all of Alex''s willpower to not pump her full of his c.u.m right then and there, and even more for him to start moving his waist back. When she felt Alex''s length leaving her Kurumu could only whimper and tighten her legs around his waist in protest, while even her insides seemed to squeeze tighter to prevent his exit. When he had pulled out everything but the head, Alex slammed it back in suddenly to make Kurumu cry out once more from pleasure. And like that, a symphony of m.o.a.ns, gasps, and flesh smacking filled Alex''s office as he and Kurumu screwed like crazy while he tried to hold out as long as possible, with Ageha watching excitedly from the side as her daughter was being f.u.c.k.i.e.d. Despite his his years of experience however, it was only an embarrassingly short time until Alex was unable to resist the pleasure assaulting his nether region, and he had just enough time to cry out, "I''m c.u.m.m.i.n.g Kurumu!" before he pumped more of his seed in her than he ever thought possible in a single load. And as he filled her w.o.m.b to the brim with his s.e.m.e.n, Kurumu threw her head back and released a primal l.u.s.t filled cry as her largest orgasm yet shot through her body. Though she would only recall it later, as Alex pumped his seed into her deepest parts Kurumu''s body began giving off a slightly pinkish glow as power the likes of which she had never felt before filled her. Notifications blared through her mind as her power surged from her first union with her ''fated one'', however Kurumu payed them no mind as she leaned forward and linked her hands on the back of Alex''s neck as she pulled herself forward to seal his lips once more. As the couple kissed this time there was none of the passion or raw animalistic desire from before, only a gentleness of two lovers basking in the warmth of the other. After several minutes of kissing they finally broke it off as Kurumu leaned back and Alex took in the view of her now heart shaped pupils before he once again started to move his h.i.p.s. Watching from the side was of course Ageha, but she had momentarily forgotten her own l.u.s.t as she gaped from what she just witnessed. Succubi were beings that lived and gained power off of love, wether that love came from their ''fated one'' or numerous encounters with different men didn''t matter; Ageha was one such succubus that didn''t tie herself down and had seduced more men than she could count over the years, though of course she still had standards for herself. However among the small numbers of her people there were whispers of a stronger form of Succubi that was more powerful than any of them ever were, the High Succubus. Though such things had only ever been stories, as she watched her daughter Ageha couldn''t help but think of them when she recalled the strange phenomenon of when Alex had climaxed within her. If she had been able to see her daughter''s system however, then any doubts Ageha had would have been put to rest by the skills and increases she had just received due to her union with Alex. Of course the two in question didn''t care about the sudden changes to Kurumu''s system, as they continued indulging in their union with equal parts love and l.u.s.t until even Ageha herself decided to forget about what she saw, her own l.u.s.t returning with a vengeance. As Alex and Kurumu ignored her however, it wasn''t long until Ageha gave in and walked up to Alex before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and purring into his ears as she pressed her n.a.k.e.d J cup b.r.e.a.s.ts against his back, "When is it my turn?" When he heard this Alex only smiled wryly and, figuring that this''ll probably take quite a while, he wisked both women into Asora directly to the room with the space-time orb, when he then brought them to his personal floating island to indulge in their desires for several days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Kurumu Kurono Race: High Succubus Job: Charm Apprentice: 0 Job History: Illusion Apprentice, Illusion User, Nailed Fighter, Mental Influencer Passive Skills: Seduction: Level 8 Bed Skills: Level 6 Endless S.e.xual Stamina: Level 5 S.e.m.e.n Conversion: level 7 Superhuman Strength: Level 5 Superhuman Speed: Level 5 Mental Resistance: Level 5 Active Skills: Aura of L.u.s.t: Level 1 (Generates an aura around the user that incites l.u.s.t in those caught in it unless they''re mentally strong enough to resist the effects, though it can''t bring those caught in it satisfaction alone, making them increasingly frustrated the longer they are caught within its effects.) Charm: Level 7 Dream Dive: Level 4 Illusion Magic: Level 9 Aphrodisiac Secretion: Level 3 Body Manipulation: Level 1 (Allows the user to manipulate and change their body in any way to take a form more to their targets liking, and as the level increases then the user is able to make more complicated it intricate changes) Eyes of Desire: Level 1 (Any who meet the users gaze can have their desires incited regardless of their current circ.u.mstances even until the point of climax, and will reveal the true desires of those caught in their gaze.(basically it can reveal a person''s fetish)) Mental Manipulation: Level 6 Unique Skills: Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *** While Alex was ''battling'' two Succubi, a certain Crimson haired figure was in the void of space, standing on top of a piece of rock nearly as large as the earths moon as it hurdled through the void, her Crimson hair drifting around her in the lack of gravity. Normally even a Super Devil wouldn''t be able to survive in the vacuum of space, but a Hajime specialty artifact that Rias carried on her body projected a thin invisible shield that protected her while also providing her oxygen to breath. Though she had asked how it worked when she got it, Hajime quickly lost her when he got into the specifics of how it functioned, and she had given up trying to listen to him as he became slightly fanatic until Kaori even apologized to her about his behavior. Now however she wasn''t thinking about that as Rias focused her mind and meditated on her power of Destruction, a reddish glow surrounding her body. After several minutes of silent meditation Rias''s eyes shot open to reveal that they had turned completely black, while her skin started turning red and her clothes began getting eaten away by the rampant Destruction radiating from her body. As she was alone in the void of space however she didn''t mind this, and instead focused on her growing power as a pair of horns a couple inches long sprouted from her skull, shortly followed by a pair of red wings and tail. Once her Super Devil transformation was complete, Rias''s ''Aura of Destruction'' radiated around her as she started gathering demonic power. For several minutes nothing happened, until there was a sudden burst of her power of Destruction under her feet towards the moon sized Rock she was on. Instead of continuing downwards though, the reddish-black Destruction spread like a massive tidal wave across the surface of the rock. Though the area beneath her feet started to slowly disappear from the Destruction, Rias focused on spreading her power as far as possible, to ensnare as much of the surface she was on as possible. Further and further the power of Destruction spread, eating its way through the rock and other materials that were in its path as it consumed the entire lunar body. As the wave of Destruction grew and consumed nearly a third of the moon Rias''s brow started sweating as she struggled to maintain the steady stream of power needed to keep the Destruction going. When it approached the halfway point of the lunar body though, her power finally fizzled out and Rias reverted back her normal form while the wave of Destruction disappeared, leaving the moon-like body cut perfectly in half. As she slowly floated down towards the long cooled core of the lunar body Rias couldn''t help but click her tongue from her failure to destroy the entire thing, despite the fact that she had just performed a feat that would leave the majority of powerhouses back in the DXD world both dumbfounded and terrified. Instead the image of the people that Lauren had shown them came to her mind, people capable of destroying entire planets and universes with ease. As she started wondering how she could ever hope to match those types of beings, a voice suddenly called out, "So this where you were Rias." The Crimson haired beauty turned and saw a trio of women floating above her, Yue and Kuroka admiring the damage she had done while Grayfia stared down at her. As she was about to ask her big sister what they were doing there, Yue suddenly remarked with a slight sneer, "....To think you were an exhibitionist Rias..." It was then that Rias recalled that her clothes had been destroyed when she activated her Super Devil form, and even now her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts were bobbing slightly along with her long hair in the absence of gravity. Letting out a huff with her cheeks turning slightly red, Rias swiftly redressed herself while remarking, "It''s not like I really needed to worry about it until you three showed up, so why are you here?" At her question Grayfia calmly explained, "Hajime came by to drop off more of the artifacts he made for you, so we decided to see what you were up to." Her words were immediately followed by Kuroka nodding and saying, "Yep~Nya, we weren''t sure where you were at first, but when you went Super Devil it wasn''t too hard to follow your demonic power~Nya." Rias was silent at first after they finished speaking, before she bitterly said, "Well as you can see I still have a long ways to go..." Though she said so, the other three looked at the area around them, and couldn''t help but be impressed. They all knew that Rias was comparing herself to those beings that Alex''s ''Angel'' had shown them, yet what Rias didn''t realize was that each of those beings hadn''t completely destroyed any of those planets, they had simply broken them apart. While it may not seem like much of a difference, compared to Rias''s version of ''destroy'' it was very different as her Destruction removed all trace of whatever it touched; whereas beings like the one they later learned was called Freiza used their energy attacks to make he planets core unstable, which in turn resulted in the destruction of the planet itself. In comparison what Rias was attempting to do wasn''t the destruction of a planet, but the complete erasure of one, a significantly more terrifying thing to imagine. Instead of telling her this though, Grayfia stated, "I am slightly disappointed in you though Rias. If you truly wanted to become stronger then you should use your energy fighting strong opponents, not just throwing it away to measure your strength." As she spoke Grayfia''s meaning was made very clear as her eyes suddenly turned completely black, the only color left being the slightly glowing silver irises. As her skin took on a metallic silvery sheen to match along with the horn that started extending from the middle of her forehead, Rias narrowed her eyes and muttered, "You want to spar when I just exhausted myself?" Grayfia''s voice came out at a slight rasp to match the transformation as she answered, "Of course, that is the best time to train since you need to push yourself further than your limits." When she heard this Rias showed a bitter smile, as she already knew this well enough. Standing proudly, she then said while using what little energy she managed to recover to activate her Super Devil transformation once more. "Very well then, let''s go!" As the two sisters powered themselves up, Yue also showed a fearless smile as she too started gathering power while she grew larger and more mature, until her figure was one that could even contend with three other women before her. "...Don''t forget about me!..." As the three women squared off at each other, Kuroka suddenly piped up, "Hey, hey, hey! I''m gonna get in on this too~Nya!" As she spoke Kuroka''s tails, hair, and kimono started waving around her as her own power started spiking, and she said, "I''m gonna remind you all why I''M the ''Queen''~Nya!" With tensions running high and the stage set, the four women faced each other with enough power radiating from their bodies to destroy the stage that Rias had created several times over. *** After literally several days of ''battling'' both Kurumu and her mother, the trio finally emerged from Alex''s private floating island with very satisfied expressions, while both Kurumu and Ageha almost appeared to be glowing. Both had naturally benefited greatly from their union with Alex, with Kurumu benefitting most due to her pre-existing relationship with him, not that she cared about that, and now radiated power like neither had ever felt before in their lives. Of course their entire time alone hadn''t been spent in endless l.u.s.t, as at some point they did have to discuss the changes that Kurumu had undergone. While Ageha was slightly disappointed that she hadn''t changed into a High Succubus like her daughter, she quickly concluded that it was possibly due to Kurumu''s extended relationship with Alex, along with the potency of his seed acting as a catalyst. After their time together ended Ageha was then finally treated to a tour of the space-time orb to meet the other members of Alex''s harem, to which she remarked that he had enough girls for a ''daily special'' for several months. After spending a few days with them though Ageha eventually said it was time for her to go, which surprised quite a few people since they thought she''d want to stay. When they mentioned this Ageha smiled wryly and said that, while Alex was the best f.u.c.k she ever had and most likely ever will, she was never one for a ''domestic'' life. That being said, she did say that she''d think about the offer to move to Asora when they left in order to stay close to her daughter. After Ageha left the days slipped by somewhat uneventfully with the exception of when Rias, Grayfia, Yue, and Kuroka returned from somewhere, all looking exceptionally haggard for some reason that they refused to share. With each one insisting they were fine however, the day that Alex planned the fishing trip slowly crawled up soon after. Now he found himself drifting somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on Zenith, the giant ship practically groaning and humming happily that he had taken it out onto the open waters once more. Also on Zenith was all of the guys that Alex invited on the trip, Millicas, Barakiel, Kiba, Gasper, Saji, Sona''s ''Rook'' Loupe Garou, Arthur, Bikou, Sairaorg, Hajime, Hajime''s father Nagumo Shuu, Kaori''s father Tomoichi Shirisaki, Aiko''s father Tetsuo Hatayama, Shizuku''s father and grandfather Koichi and Shuuzo Yeagashi, and then of course Vali. Naturally everyone was enjoying the serene atmosphere and warm weather with the other guys around them, as the smell and sound of meat sizzling filled the air. As well as fishing themselves, Hajime''s father Shuu was in charge of drinks while Sona''s ''Rook'' Loupe Garou was grilling various meats for them. Shuu had spent his life developing video games before moving to Asora, and due to that he had ended up traveling around a lot. One thing he always did whenever he traveled however was sample the various alcohols in the places he''d visit, a hobby that he''d occasionally let Hajime get a sip in. Loupe Garou on the other hand was seemingly pushing the werewolf stigma as much as possible, and was seriously passionate about sampling and cooking various meats. He was so passionate about it, that he''d spend any time he wasn''t training or working for Sona hunting the various animals around Asora to sample the meat he could get off of them. Naturally he was very respectful to the animals he hunted, and his hobby also added to the encyclopedia of Asora''s wildlife as he carefully logged whatever he found while hunting. As a result of his activities however, he had a storage ring filled with hundreds of pounds of the various meats he had collected in his spare time, all perfectly preserved and ready to be grilled at a moments notice. As the smell of the meats drifted through the air, Alex and Millicas sat on the side railing with their lines in the water, and bear meat skewers in their hands, the gristly meat practically melting in their mouths from Loupe''s expert grilling. As they sat in silence though Alex got a far off look in his eyes, prompting Millicas to curiously ask, "What are you thinking about?" "Hm?" Alex started, Millicas''s question snapping him back to reality. "I asked you what you were thinking about." Millicas repeated, his curiosity evident on his face. Alex smiled warmly when he recalled his earlier daydream though, and said, "I was thinking about when I can finally bring Alec and Regal fishing with us when they get older, and was looking forward to teaching them how to prepare a hook and bring in their first catch..." As he trailed off Alex''s expression softened even more than before, while Millicas frowned somewhat before muttering, "My dad never took me fishing..." Alex frowned in turn when he heard this, before responding as he ruffled the young boy''s Crimson hair, "Maybe when he''s finally free of Trihexia''s seal your dad will be able to take you himself, but until then just let me know and happily accompany you anytime." With a smile returning to Millicas''s face, he happily said "En!" while turning his attention back towards his line. Alex''s expression softened once again when he saw this, and he thought about his own relationship with Millicas as he reeled in his own line. Ever since Alex had ''stolen'' Grayfia he had felt somewhat awkward since he had no intention to try and replace Sirzechs as Millicas''s father. Instead he was content with their original relationship from when they first met, where he was like a big brother to the young man. Suddenly Alex was once more brought back from his thoughts as Millicas jumped up and shouted, "I got a bite!" His smile widening, Alex set aside his own pole as he jumped up as well and said, "Make sure you set the hook, and don''t forget-" He then spent the next few minutes watching over and advising Millicas as the Crimson haired boy struggled to bring in his catch, a roughly four foot long longfin tuna weighing nearly seventy pounds. While such a catch would normally mean a long a grueling battle for most men, for someone like Alex or Millicas it was child''s play to match the fish in terms of strength and power, with the excitement instead being if the equipment held up or not. After several minutes of their careful game of tug-of-war, Millicas finally reeled the fish up the side of Zentih while Alex used his ''Telekinesis'' to make sure the fish didn''t make one last ditch escape attempt. After removing the hook Alex had Millicas hold up the tuna with both hands, where he then took a picture and sent it to Grayfia before sending the young man to take the fish to Loupe for cleaning and prepping for the grill. Alex watched as Loupe pulled out a set of flaying knives to show Millicas how to clean and flay the fish, when he suddenly felt someones presence as they approached him. Turning, Alex saw a somewhat nervous Barakiel standing behind him as he said, "U-um hey Alex, mind if I talk to you really quick?" Barakiel''s nervousness caught Alex off guard as, while they could be said to have a ''love/hate'' relationship as a father and son in law, Alex had never seen Barakiel be so nervous when he was talking to him. "Sure, what''s up?" With his nervousness increasing, Barakiel awkwardly said, "Well you see it''s about Akeno and Kagome, they both want to meet each other, but...." As the fallen angel trailed off Alex thought on what was so bad about the two women meeting, before a slightly sadistic grin started forming on his face. "Barakiel, don''t tell me a perfect M like yourself would be scared of spending a night with two sadists?" At his taunt Barakiel''s nervousness disappeared as annoyed expression took its place and he said, "What''s wrong with that? I just want a fairly nice evening with the two women I care about, but you know how Akeno could be... That''s why I was wondering if you''d come along as a- a-" "As a double date?" Alex finished, making Barakiel flinch slightly before saying, "Yeah that..." Alex''s smile widened as he clapped the fallen angel on the shoulder and said, "Of course I''ll go, don''t worry about it!" Though he suspected that there was a hidden meaning in Alex''s acceptance, Barakiel sighed and said his thanks before going to get his own food and a bottle of sake. Alex himself grabbed a bottle of sake as well before he looked around, and saw a certain silver haired man sulking by himself on the other end of the ship. Recalling Le Fey''s concerns, Alex felt that Vali did look like he was sulking by himself more so than usual, and made his way over before throwing his legs over the railing next to him. The duo sat in silence as they watched the water, neither making a sound as Vali didn''t even seem to register Alex''s presence, until he finally went to take a drink and Vali suddenly said, "Aiko''s pregnant." "PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!" Spraying his drink in a colorful alcoholic mist, Alex started coughing and sputtering at the unexpected news while the shadow of a smirk formed at the edge of Vali''s mouth before it was quickly hidden. Once he finally got himself under control, Alex finally exclaimed, "I can''t believe it!" Though Vali nodded in agreement at first, Alex then continue, "You actually got laid?!" Naturally Vali glared at this before he promptly shoved the cackling Alex off the side of the ship, making a big slash in the water below. When Alex climbed back up while still trying to get his laughter under control, he eventually calmed down and said, "Seriously though man, congratulations." Vali nodded in acknowledgment of Alex''s congratulations, but didn''t otherwise react, prompting Alex to frown before asking, "You don''t seem very happy?" Vali was silent at his question at first, before he eventually answered, "Lucifer men, don''t make very good fathers..." Alex''s frown deepened when he heard that, while he also looked down and saw that Vali''s hands were shaking slightly as he held his pole, indicating that THAT Vali was scared. This was the same guy that would face off against the strongest and vilest beings in existence with a smirk as he punched them in the face, but based on his statement it wasn''t too hard to figure out why Vali was actually terrified of of the idea of becoming a father. His own father had horribly abused both Vali and his mother in his youth due to his fear of his own sons potential as a descendant of Lucifer, and the Vanishing Dragon. Then his grandfather Rizevim Lucifer, had been a sadistic maniac that gleefully spread pain and suffering as he endeavored to even destroy the world with Trihexia, while also being the one to encourage the actions of Vali''s father to begin with. While the idea of becoming a father itself wasn''t so bad, it was the possibility that he''d be just like the two men he had hated most that terrified him, that one day he''d wake up and look in the mirror to find his grandfather and father looking back at him. When he saw this Alex frowned, as there was next to no resemblance of the man who had readily referred to himself as his rival for several years now sitting next to him. And so Alex did the most logical thing he thought of, and promptly gave Vali a super flick to the forehead. SMACK! Falling back on his butt, Vali rubbed the quickly swelling red spot as he demanded while glaring at him, "What the hell was that for?!" Alex however sneered at him and said, "You were making quite a pitiful expression there Vali, I would have almost started feeling sorry for you if I hadn''t done something." Though Vali''s glare turned into a glower at his words, Alex didn''t mind it as he continued, "And I don''t understand what you''re so worried about, I mean you''re nothing like those asshats; and even if you did act out, then there''s plenty of us that''ll smack you back into place." As Alex said this Vali looked over and saw Bikou and Arthur looking their way with concern, while the image of his surrogate big sister Lavinia and even Aiko also came to mind. Seeing Vali contemplate what he was saying, Alex then continued, "And if you feel like you need help, then there a bunch of us you can go to to begin with. I mean, it might be an interesting thing to give my rival tips as he tried to change a dirty diaper." When he heard that Vali''s glower faded as the barest hint of a smile appeared and vanished at the corner of his lips again, before he accepted Alex''s offered hand to pull him back up. Patting him on his shoulder, Alex turned to walk away while saying over his shoulder, "Just think about it before you make yourself depressed or something." As he walked away though Alex suddenly heard Vali mutter under his breath, "Thank you." He pretended he didn''t heard it though, and Vali pretended he never said it as he turned his attention back to his dropped pole, and Alex walked back to Millicas, who was holding a handful of fish guts in his bare hands with an expression of complete and utter disgust on his face. Chapter 328 - Night Before the Battle As the day they''d attack Fairy Tail and finally destroy Alucard drew closer, life was almost at a crawl for Alex and his lovers. Each member of his peerage was eagerly preparing for the upcoming battle, not because they thought they''d need the extra strength for it, but because it was the first time they''d get to properly test the results of their training against opponents besides the monsters they used as experience farms. Along with them was of course Akua and Kokoa, who intended to participate due to their family''s intimate involvement in Fairy Tail, while Alex had even got a message from Touhou that Issa had contacted him, and was prepared to strike at any time. The battle wasn''t the biggest thing on everyone''s minds however, as inside the space-time orb each day was lengthened to a month, and so from the time Alex declared war to the day they''d actually fight, there was roughly two and half years of downtime for everyone living in the space-time orbs full time, or in the case of Mizore and Tsurara, to spend their terms. Instead of spending most of their time outside the orb like Anne had, the mother-daughter duo decided to spend their entire terms inside the space-time orb where Alex and the majority of the girls spent most of their time. As a result, Alex was quickly presented with his next two daughters only a couple ''weeks'' after he had gotten Mizore and Tsurara pregnant, Yuki and Aurora. And so, with two more children to take care of, Alex spent his days alternating between his children, training, paying attention to his harem, and occasionally stepping in on matters related to Asora until finally it was the night before the attack. As per the usual when it came to nights, Alex was in the space-time orb along with most of his harem as those who were going to participate in the attack tried to get some last minute training in, namely Kokoa. "SHORYA!" "HIYA!" Shia and Kokoa both cried out, as the rabbit girl swung her beloved hammer and the vampiress swung her own Kou-bat turned hammer in return, resulting in a massive concussion of force before Shia''s monstrous strength eventually sent Kokoa flying. When she first arrived Kokoa would normally be sent flying hard enough that she''d crash into and destroy anything behind her, now however she spun around to face Shia once more before kicking her foot in the empty air with enough force that she sent herself rocketing back towards Shia while her hammer changed shape into a narrow rapier. "TRY THIS!" Kokoa cried out as she thrusted the rapier into Shia''s neck with enough force to put even the most powerful of bullets to shame, only for the the thin blade to bounce off harmlessly against Shia''s seemingly impenetrable skin. "Tch." Clicking her tongue at how she didn''t even make the stupidly durable rabbit flinch, Kokoa was about to try and take some distance when suddenly the back of Shia''s hand came up and collided with her cheek. There was a sickening crunch as Kokoa''s neck snapped from the sudden bitch slap, before her body rag-dolled away while the kou-bat went flying before reverting to its original form. Moka flinched slightly when she heard her little sister''s neck snap, even from where they were watching a ways away, and was contemplating checking on her before Akua said, "Don''t worry about her, it''ll take a lot more than that to actually hurt a vampire, much less one of us Shinsos." Though she knew her older sister was right, Moka still couldn''t help worrying slightly about Kokoa until the red headed vampiress suddenly shot out of the rubble pile she been buried under. Kokoa''s expression was the very image of rage and frustration, as her supernatural power suddenly surged outwards in a massive tidal wave of blackish energy that looked like a massive swarm of bats. Shia responded in kind as her own light blue magic power grew to quickly dwarf Kokoa''s, before surging forward like a massive tsunami. BOOM! The two powers collided against the other in an explosion of black and light blue energies, forming a vortex as the opposing energies competed with the other for superiority before the light blue swiftly subdued the black bats. Losing even in an exchange of raw energy, Kokoa gritted her teeth in frustration as she prepared for her next attack, only for a chime to go off as Alex called out, "Time! The match is over!" Groaning in her frustration, Kokoa slunk over to where everyone else was with a sulky expression on her face. In the time since she had started to reside in the space-time orb the red haired vampiress had matured quite a bit both physically and mentally, and she had long since discarded notions like vampires being the strongest race, though occasionally her bratty behavior still made itself known. The current situation was one such time, as she sulked at being beaten so easily by Shia once again despite all of the training she had undergone. It didn''t help that, despite their intense battle seconds prior, Shia bounced up to them and happily said to Kokoa, "You''re really getting stronger Kokoa! I was impressed with your growth since the last time we sparred!" When she heard this Kokoa''s expression darkened even more as she spat out, "Really? Cause it only ever seems like I''m just being toyed around with by all of you!" Her words surprised several people there, while Alex watched on quietly until Shia looked as if she was about to say something in return, prompting him to interrupt, "Don''t worry about it, she may not notice it now, but she''ll see it well enough tomorrow." Shia contemplated Alex''s words for a moment, before she ultimately decided to relent since she could also see what he saw. While Kokoa''s strength had grown during her time in the space-time orb, the vast majority of those around her were already a lot stronger than her to begin with, and had also only grown stronger in the time since she had arrived. With her being unable to accurately compare her past and current selves, Kokoa was growing increasingly tense with the battle against her older sister and mother being the very next day. Instead of trying to convince her otherwise however, Alex had decided to let Kokoa see for herself how strong she had become during the fight the following day, while also maybe taking her mind off of it for the night. He then plopped his hand done on top of her head to ruffle her hair slightly, earning him a stink eye in return, before saying, "You should try and relax before a big a battle instead of worrying about what''ll happen, otherwise you''ll do more harm than good to yourself in the end." After angrily swatting hand away, Kokoa then asked, "And how exactly do you suggest I ''relax''?" To this however Alex offered a wry smile, before conjuring a blindfold and saying, "It''s a surprise." *** (A.N. For those that are getting tired of them next up is a smut scene, so skip ahead of you want, and the reason there''ve been so many is just to cover the girls I wanted to before the final fight.) Though it took a while of trying to convince her to wear the blindfold, Kokoa eventually relented when ''inner'' Moka made an appearance and convinced her to do so. After a few minutes of leading her around in the dark, and then standing and waiting as Alex, Akua, and Moka prepared whatever surprise they were working on. She didn''t have to wait long though before Alex finally said, "Ok, now you can take off the blindfold." When Kokoa finally removed the thin piece of cloth covering her eyes, she didn''t know wether to be excited or deadpan at the sight that greeted her. On one hand she saw both of her older sisters standing in front of her, ''inner'' Moka dressed in a see-through pink nighty that allowed Kokoa to barely see both her n.i.p.p.l.es, and the little patch of silver hair that topped her special place, while Akua was in a matching black nighty. On the other hand Alex sat between them on a couch with his arms resting on the back, n.a.k.e.d as the day he was born and with ''little Alex'' already standing proudly at attention. Though she wanted to focus her attention on her big sis, Kokoa couldn''t help but ask Alex suspiciously, "So your big idea to ''relax'' is to just have s.e.x?" This made Alex frown, before he said almost passionately, "''Just having s.e.x'' before a battle has been a tradition in almost every single culture that has ever existed! It was a way for the soldiers to forget their tension, for wives to say goodbye to husbands they might never see again, and a last minute effort for them to secure an heir!" Despite the fact that they were both going along with Alex''s scheme, both Moka and Akua rolled their eyes when they heard his ''passionate'' words regarding what he was trying to rope Kokoa into. With the youngest of the Shuzen sisters doing the same at him, Alex then added as an afterthought, "Well I would also say this is a decent time for you to officially join my harem, no?" At this Kokoa''s eyes narrowed as she retorted, "Who said I''m joining your harem you bastard?!" Alex looked taken aback at Kokoa''s refusal, and asked with a slight frown, "You mean, you aren''t going to join my harem?" Kokoa snorted and confirmed, "Never in a million years!" Alex nodded slowly before eventually saying, "I see...more for you two then!" Seemingly not letting Kokoa''s refusal get to him, Alex grabbed both Moka and Akua by their waist and pulled them closer so that the two sisters were straddling his legs. With a single glance at the other, they both then grabbed the hem of their nighties and pulled them off in a single movement, joining Alex in his n.a.k.e.dness. Having never directly seen Alex and her older sisters ''in action'' due to them alway being behind closed doors, Kokoa didn''t move from her spot and simply gulped as a single line of blood leaked from her right nostril. Meanwhile Alex was already making out with the cool silver haired beauty, while Akua had sunk her fangs into his neck on the other side and was slowly licking up the blood from there, until he and Moka finished kissing and he swapped places. This continued for several minutes as Alex alternated kissing each girl while the other sucked and licked at his neck, their hands reaching down to grab his throbbing member while his thighs slowly became slick with their fluids. Eventually as Moka was lightly biting his neck, Alex stopped kissing Akua and leaned forward to whisper something in her ear so quietly, that neither Moka nor Kokoa could tell what he said. Akua did though, and her face lit up as she eagerly hopped off of Alex''s leg to go prepare for whatever he had told her. This made Moka look up before asking, "What did you tell her?" Alex however smirked and said, "It''s a surprise but enough about that, it''s time for the ''show'' to begin." Before Moka could ask what he meant, Alex immediately picked her up and twisted her around so that she was facing Kokoa, before snaking his hands beneath her knees to hoist them up as he too stood. This resulted in Moka being completely held up by his hands while she leaned back into his chest, her legs spread wide so that her soaked snatch was completely visible to her little sister. With her being suspended directly above his throbbing c.o.c.k, all it took was Alex slowly lowering Moka''s body before its head started rubbing against her folds before coming to a rest at her eager entrance. "Ready?" Alex breathed into Moka''s ear, making her shiver slightly before nodding. He then slowly moved his waist forward, brushing against her entrance before continuing along her slit instead of entering her. "Eh?" Moka asked, confused as to why he hadn''t entered her yet. Pulling his waist back so that he was once more poking the entrance to her hole, Alex then whispered into her ear, "I think I missed, I guess I''ll have to try again." Despite the fact that she couldn''t see the slight smile on his face, Moka still recognized the sadistic undertone in Alex''s voice as he whispered to her, telling her that he had ''missed'' on purpose to tease her. This was quickly confirmed when he moved his waist forward a second time, and ''missed'' once again before doing so a third time as well. With her frustration growing with Alex refusing to penetrate her three times in a row, Moka pinched a part of his arm and whined, "Quit teasing me!" This made Alex smile as, despite her usual cold and calm exterior, ''inner'' Moka had become increasingly honest in the bedroom after their first time together. Further betraying her expectations however, Alex whispered in her ear, "But that''s part of your surprise." Moka looked back at him in confusion when she heard this, until she caught some movement to the side in the corner of her eye. Turning to look at it, Moka''s face paled as she saw her older sister standing there with a giant purple dildo strapped to her front, one hand stroking it up and down while the other emptied a bottle of lubricant into it. With a genuinely happy smile of her face, Akua finished preparing her strap on and made her way over to Alex and Moka with a noticeable spring in her step. While she did Moka''s grip on Alex''s arms tightened as she hesitantly asked, "What are you doing big sis?" Akua beamed at Moka''s question, and excitedly answered, "I''m going to make love to my beloved little sister of course, along with Alex naturally." When she heard this Moka felt her stomach sink as she had a premonition of what was about to happen, which was proven true when Alex shifted his h.i.p.s back so that he was no longer pressing against her slit, but her back door. "Don''t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g d-" But before she could even finish what she was about to say, Alex pushed his h.i.p.s forward and entered the vampiress''s incredibly tight rectum. "Ngh! You.....bastard!" She groaned as her asshole was forcefully spread open to accommodate Alex''s intrusion, as he slowly but surely inserted more and more of his d.i.c.k. Her attention was then brought back forward as somethings brushed up against her front, making Moka look down at the giant strap on that was now pressed against the very same entrance that Alex had been teasing earlier. "I''m going to enter now Moka!" Akua said excitedly, to which Moka tried to object before her older sister leaned forward to both enter her, and seal her lips with her own. Though she tightened her grip on Alex''s arms to the point of shattering even giant boulders, Moka was unable to do anything to resist as both of her holes were steadily filled up, while Alex was even groaning as her ass continuously tightened and squeezed his advancing rod. While her beloved big sis was being assaulted by two people, Kokoa was watching on from the side while fidgeting slightly from the e.r.o.t.i.c sight before her. Despite her refusal to join his harem, Kokoa couldn''t help but be transfixed on the scene before her while the urge to bury her fingers between her own legs increased. This urge only grew when the prolonged passionate kiss between Akua and Moka ended, and the silver haired vampiress''s m.o.a.ns filled the room. All thoughts of the battle the next day driven from her mind, Kokoa lost track of time as she watched her beloved big sis get roughly f.u.c.k.i.e.d by two of the people she cared about most, until eventually Moka released a deep throaty m.o.a.n as she came from both her ass and p.u.s.s.y being pounded. As she watched this a feeling of longing filled Kokoa, as she wanted to be the one to make her big sis feel so good, not watch as someone else did so. As he finished pumping his seed into his lovers ass Alex slowly pulled himself out of her rectum, earning himself a cute m.o.a.n that would have unthinkable to hear from the silver haired woman when they first met. As the trio came down from their high, Alex and Akua both barely heard Moka whisper, "I will.....get you back for this..." Chuckling lightly at Moka''s threat, Alex gently moved her towards the couch as Akua pulled the strap-on out of her, and laid her on her side since her backside was undoubtably sore. When he turned around however, Alex saw Kokoa fidgeting from watching the earlier display, her hands slowly but surely making their way up her skirt. Noticing his gaze, Kokoa quickly removed her hands and looked away pointedly before he could say something, but what Alex said next caught her completely by surprise as he asked, "Are you really getting turned on from watching your sister?" This made Kokoa snap her attention back to him as she dumbfoundedly managed to get out after a moment, "Can you really say that after what you just did with both of my big sis''s?!" Alex however snorted and retorted, "They''re both a part of my harem, whatever they do together is usually by my direction, and so the one responsible is me, not them." Kokoa could only gape at Alex in response to what he just said, as it was simply too incredible to take in all at once. At the side Akua and even Moka both rolled their eyes however, as they were both aware that Alex was just trying to bait Kokoa into his harem by basically saying ''If you join then you could do this too, otherwise you''re just weird.'' And it seemed as if the message got across, as, despite how ''stupid'' she usually acted, Kokoa was able to tell what Alex was implying after the show he just gave her. After several minutes of silence as they waited for what she would say next, eventually they all heard a single very quiet word as Kokoa muttered, "Fine..." Alex however c.o.c.ked his head to the side as if confused, and asked, "''Fine'' what?" This made Kokoa grit her teeth as she realized that he fully wanted her to say it, and so she slowly stated after taking a deep breath, "Fine, I''ll join your damn harem....." Instead of instantly accepting though, Alex said with confusion in his voice, "But you just said a little bit ago that you''d never join my harem ''in a million years'', so why the sudden change? Surely you''re not just planning on using me to achieve your own goals?" This made Kokoa practically grind her teeth in frustration, before she finally asked, "So what do you want me to do to prove myself then?" At this Alex finally dropped all pretense of confusion, as he sat back on the couch next to Moka and said, "How about a strip show to start? We can get onto the other stuff after." Gripping her fists tightly, Kokoa resolved herself to do as Alex asked with what she desperately wanted being so close to her. She then grabbed the hem of her shirt and went to peel it off of her body, but Alex suddenly stated, "Stop! I said a strip show, not just to get n.a.k.e.d." Kokoa paused when she heard that, and demanded while lowering her shirt back into place, "Well what''s the difference?" Alex smiled widely at her question, and said as if he was enjoying himself, "Well just getting n.a.k.e.d is just removing your clothes without any buildup, a strip show is where you slowly build up to removing each piece of clothing while doing a slight dance, making it even more tantalizing when the clothes eventually do come off." This made Kokoa groan in frustration, as she could tell that Alex was purposely making things difficult for her in this ordeal. Keeping her eye on the prize though, Kokoa started to awkwardly sway slightly as she tried to do as Alex said. With three sets of eyes on her, Kokoa slowly and awkwardly set to removing her clothes, trying desperately to make each action as ''tantalizing'' as possible, though she felt as if she was just making herself look like a fool. Alex however didn''t comment on the rigidity of Kokoa''s movements, or the fact that there was no atmospheric music at all, instead focusing entirely on her face as the red headed vampiress acted shyly under his intense gaze. Over the time that he had known her, Kokoa had never really shown a sense of embarrassment or modesty whenever he saw her in a compromising situation, even during the times when he had to spank her n.a.k.e.d ass to discipline her. The reason for this was simply because Kokoa had never even considered Alex someone to be conscious of in that regard, and after the chaos of their first meeting any type of modesty seemed to be a moot point. Now however, with her knowing where things were going to develop, and having watched him in action with her sisters, Kokoa was more aware of what she was doing as she slowly removed each article of clothing, until she was down to nothing but her bra and panties. Hesitating for the briefest moment as she reached the last pieces of cloth that covered her n.a.k.e.dness, Alex then reminded her, "All of it." Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kokoa then pulled her bra off in one swift motion, letting her b.r.e.a.s.ts spill out and bounce slightly before settling. Shuddering slightly as she felt Alex''s hungry gaze on her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts, even as her n.i.p.p.l.es started getting harder, Kokoa then looped her fingers in the band of her panties, and quickly pulled them down as well to finally get completely n.a.k.e.d. As she kicked the final piece of cloth away, Kokoa fidgeted under Alex''s scrutiny before asking, "Now what?" Alex expression was firm as he stood, his c.o.c.k standing erect and at attention as he slowly walked towards her, making Kokoa realize that soon such a thing was going to be inside her. After what felt like both an eternity and no time at all Alex was suddenly before her, placing a finger under her chin as he slowly raised her head before leaning down for a kiss. Of all the things to happen Kokoa never expected Alex to suddenly kiss her, making her unable to register she was actually having her first kiss for several seconds after their lips met. Naturally she had no idea what she was doing as Alex took the lead, startling her slightly as his tongue ran along her lips, before trying to enter her mouth. Eventually his tongue managed to invade her mouth as it started exploring for her own tongue and even tracing along her teeth, making Kokoa think that kissing was really weird until Alex''s tongue suddenly grazed one of her incisors, opening a tiny cut on it and allowing a single drop of blood to escape it. As if she was suddenly dying of thirst, Kokoa was immediately the most passionate one in their kiss as she desperately tried to suck more blood from Alex''s tongue, all of her earlier hesitation forgotten. This continued on for several minutes as Kokoa focused on the connection between their mouths, even as Alex''s hands explored her body without restraint. As they started sliding down her back Alex pulled his mouth away from Kokoa, making her whine slightly as she thirsted for more of his blood, to which Alex said, "No more, besides I still need to ''punish'' you." Confused, Kokoa didn''t answer until Alex suddenly slapped one of her ass cheeks, an action that suddenly felt a lot different than when he disciplined her before. He then continued, "I told you to do a strip tease, but then you didn''t at the end." As he spoke Alex slapped her other ass cheek, making Kokoa jump once more as she reflexively moved the other way, closer to Alex. With the distance between becoming zero, Kokoa could feel something hot and large sandwiched between their stomachs, as one of Alex''s hands then started making their way up her thighs, until it reaches what lay between. As his fingers gently brushed against the slit of her most precious place, Kokoa suddenly flinched before saying as she backed away, "NO!" This left not only Alex, but the spectating Akua and Moka confused as well, as all three thought that things had been going rather well. Fidgeting under their combined gazes, Kokoa quickly said, "That''s...I don''t want it there...." The truth was that she wanted to try and get her big sis to take her first time the way Akua had done earlier, since she was ultimately going through all of this for her. Without her vocalizing any of this however, Alex could only ask, "Ok, where then?" With her mind reeling for an answer, Kokoa could only mutter quietly, "The same place as big sis....?" With all three of their minds blanking, and Moka reflexively clenching her still sore butt, Alex could only say while trying to retain his composure, "Show me where you want it then." With her face blushing furiously, Kokoa reluctantly turned around and bent forward slightly while placing one of her hands against the wall in front of her, before using the other one to reach back and slightly spread her butt cheeks so that her own little bunghole became visible to him. "I-I want it here...." Without letting his surprise take his composure, Alex simply smiled and asked while grabbing the bottle of lubricant that Akua had used earlier, "Are you sure?" Kokoa only nodded as Alex emptied the last bit of the bottle onto his throbbing member, making him shudder slightly from the cold. He then stepped forward and placed his lubed up c.o.c.k between her butt cheeks, up against her tight puckered hole, making Kokoa shudder as well from both the cold liquid and the object pressing against her rectum. Alex then leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Are you ready Kokoa?" Though she started to shake her head slightly, Alex didn''t listen as he started pushing forward into the tight asshole, making Kokoa release a scream/m.o.a.n as a c.o.c.k entered her for the first time. Alex himself couldn''t help groaning as Kokoa''s asshole was even tighter than Moka''s, making him feel like it was trying to cut off his d.i.c.k even as it slowly entered her. After what felt like an eternity of something spreading open and being shoved up her butt, with Kokoa hissing and groaning at the pain and the sensations she was feeling, she finally felt something softly bump into her butt cheeks. Looking back with hesitation, she saw the front of Alex''s waist bumping up against her butt, while he himself leaned forward and whispered in her ear once more, "It''s all the way in Kokoa." It took a moment for Kokoa to realize what those words meant, and then she recalled the giant thing that she had seen and felt against her stomach moments before, making her stupefied at the thought that the entire thing was now inside her butt. "Ngh!" Kokoa groaned as, before she could get used to the sensation of having her ass filled, Alex suddenly began to pull himself out before refilling her once more, and then repeating. "Ah! No-! Please! Don''t-!" Bit by bit Kokoa tried to plead with Alex to slow down, but, like when he spanked her, he was merciless on her ass as he quickly started to pick up speed, to the point where her ass cheeks were rippling every time his h.i.p.s hit them. Slowly her pleas turned to groans, and then to pants, and then astounding Alex as they slowly changed to what appeared to be m.o.a.ns of pleasure as he f.u.c.k.i.e.d her asshole. Grabbing her arms, Alex pulled her back so that her back was against his chest as he thrusted upwards once more, earning him his loudest m.o.a.n from the redhead yet before he asked, "Do you actually prefer it in the ass, you pervert?" Drawing out the last word, Kokoa widened her eyes as she recalled Tio always going on about playing with her ass, and said, "N-no, I''m not a perveeeeeert! I-it just f-feels weird!" Alex didn''t buy her attempts to defend herself however, and instead he just hissed in her ear again, "That just means it''s starting to feel good already, pervert." Once again Kokoa tried to defend herself against Alex''s accusations, but the sensations she was feeling in her butt prevented her from forming any concrete words as Alex sn.a.k.e.d one of his hands down to her special place. Soon his fingers were being held up in front of her face, all of which were soaked with a kind of fluid as he said, "This is how good you''re feeling you pervert. I wonder, did you misbehave so much just so you could get me to spank you? Were you actually getting off every time?" "N-no, AH!" Once again Kokoa tried to defend herself, but was unable to do so when Alex suddenly smacked one of her ass cheeks hard enough that soon a red handprint appeared, making her tighten her already tight asshole. "No way...." Alex said as he took in Kokoa''s current appearance, before continuing, "To think, this mighty and proud vampire was actually a complete anal s.l.u.t!" Kokoa didn''t even get a chance to try and defend herself this time, as Alex''s hand smacked her ass once again, before doing so a third time. This continued on for several minutes, as Alex mercilessly pounded Kokoa''s ass while simultaneously smacking it until her entire rear was as red as her hair, with countless minor orgasms racking her body until she suddenly shouted the most coherent thing yet since they started, "SOMETHINGS COMING!" As she cried out convulsions like she never felt before surged through Kokoa''s body, while the inside of her ass suddenly burned as Alex filled it with his seed at the same time as her intense orgasm. For nearly a minute Kokoa froze as the convulsions continued to rack her entire body, before she finally collapsed into Alex''s embrace limp as a noodle, his face being the last thing she saw before her vision went dark. She was only out for a few minutes, but when Kokoa awoke she felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her while the thing inside her butt was gone, leaving sore down there with a slightly empty feeling. Feeling her stir, Alex suddenly said, "Hey, you awake now? That seemed pretty intense." Seeing the face of the one who was just so brutal on her butt, Kokoa looked away with a pout on her face only to see her big sis right there instead. "You took it like a champ Kokoa, I couldn''t do that..." As she spoke Moka glared at Alex while one of her hands rubbed her still sore rear, making him chuckle slightly while looking away pointedly. Before anyone could say anything else, Moka then leaned forward and pressed her lips against Kokoa''s for a brief second, before she retreated suddenly and awkwardly while Kokoa laid there, stunned. As the realization of what just happened dawned on her, Kokoa started tearing up as she cried out, "Big sis!" She then leapt from Alex''s arms towards Moka''s, embracing the silver haired woman happily from what just happened. With a smile on his face, Alex watched on from the side as he let the two sisters have their moment, which he convinced Moka to do while Kokoa was out. Suddenly it was interrupted though as Akua suddenly said, "So do you guys need some ice for your butts? It might feel a little awkward during the fight tomorrow otherwise..." With their bonding moment interrupted, Moka and Kokoa both gave Akua a deadpan stare before glancing at each other, an unspoken agreement passing between their eyes, before both girls suddenly moved. "Wai-what?!" Akua cried out, as Moka and Kokoa both pinned one of her arms with one hand, before they each grabbed one of Akua''s legs with the other to pull them back. The end result was Akua, pinned on her back, as both of her legs were pulled back so that her knees were almost touching her chin, and Alex had a clear view of the third sister''s puckering rectum. "W-what are you guys doing?!" Akua demanded, to which Moka calmly stated, "I told you I''d get you back." With Kokoa nodding in agreement, she then said to Alex, "Come on, it''s not fair that only the two of us had to deal with that, let big sis get a taste as well." Akua''s complexion paled as a big grin spread on Alex''s face, and he said while slowly moving closer, "Who am I to deny a meal set before me?" As he pressed his once again erect member against her backdoor, Akua was shaking her head as she cried out, "No no no, please NOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" *** (A.N. Smut scene end) After a long and ''interesting'' night with the three sisters, Alex found himself leaning back against the wall as a certain pink hired beauty slept peacefully with her head resting on his chest. With a warm smile on his face, Alex moved a strand of Moka''s pink hair from the front of her face as she slept, earning him a happy smile from her as well. As confident he was about the fight the next day, there was something Alex couldn''t help but worry over, and that was wether or not he would be able to keep the pink haired woman at his side. There was a lot of variables regarding Moka''s rosary in the battle to come, and it was possible that it wouldn''t even work properly after Moka''s Shinso blood was freed and she managed to fully integrate with it. However, similarly to what he told Kokoa earlier, Alex would accomplish nothing laying there worrying about it all night, and so he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep along with the three women around him. The next day a couple of girls were wandering the grounds of Youkai Academy, bored due to the fact that they were unable to leave campus grounds even during summer vacation without special permission. And so, after they had finished all of their summer homework, the duo had nothing to do but to aimlessly wander the campus until classes started again, which would thankfully be in a mere couple of days. As they wandered though, one girl suddenly pointed and said to her friend, "Look at that!" The other girl looked up and her jaw dropped as she set eyes on what was possibly the most beautiful person she had ever seen, with long flowing silky black hair, elegant robes that showed just a hint of his tattoos, and a tiny pair of spectacles mounted on the bridge of his nose. As if he noticed the two girls gazes, the figure approached them with elegance and a disarming smile before saying, "Tell me, do you two lovely ladies happen to know where the headmaster''s office is?" Struck dumb at the fact that such a beautiful person was talking to them, let alone complimenting them, the two girls could do little but gape in awe before another voice suddenly stated, "I would request that you don''t hit on my students Touhou, unless you want me to smack you all the way back to China before the battle even begins." The beautiful man, Touhou, turned towards the headmaster and said with his face distorting into a slight sneer, "Mikogami! I definitely haven''t missed you in the time we''ve been apart you bastard, but you can''t expect a face this beautiful to not be put to use, or would you expect me to join you in your celibacy?" Though his face was shrouded in the shadow of his hood, everyone present could tell that Mikogami''s expression turned ugly at Touhou''s words, as he butted heads with him and sneered, "Just because I''m not a horny monkey like you doesn''t mean I''m celibate, and do you think any woman would want you if they knew what you''re supposed to look like right now?" At this Touhou''s expression turned ugly as well, the two looking as if they were about to trade blows as the girls from before moved back nervously, until someone grabbed them by the back of their heads, and slammed them together suddenly. ""OW!!!"" The two cried out, as the newcomer said, "Keep bickering and I''ll kick both of your asses before the battle starts." Even as they both rubbed their bruised heads, both of the Dark Lords turned towards Alex and the group of women behind him irritably, until Kuroka looked at Touhou and said with an evil smile, "Should I undo the youth transformation now~Nya?" When she said this Touhou''s complexion paled as he quickly started begging her not to turn him back into a wrinkled old man, while Mikogami asked, "I take it you''re ready then?" Alex nodded and pointed at the girls behind him, Kuroka, Rias, Yue, Shia, Moka, Shizuku, Grayfia, Kurumu, Sun, Akua, and Kokoa, before saying, "We''re leaving now if you and Touhou would care to join us, or would you rather just stay here and bicker while we save the world and all that jazz." Mikogami shook his head while Touhou piped up, "We''ve been waiting for this for three hundred years, let''s go." Alex nodded and, not minding the gazes of the onlooking students, held out his hands to summon a massive warship out of nowhere, stunning even Mikogami and Touhou as Alex said, "Ok, let''s go." Soon, after Kuroka used Spatial magic to transport them out of the academy''s great barrier, the group was flying through the skies as they headed for the floating fortress, where the greatest enemy of mankind in this world waited. Normally the atmosphere would be tense in this kind of situation, however currently Touhou and Mikogami were only staring incredulously at Alex as both Kokoa and Akua were latched onto his neck, draining his blood. If they''d known what was going on under the table and that the Kurumu standing behind them was an illusion however, then who knows what kind of expressions they''d make. "What?" Alex asked defensively at their expressions, before adding, "They need to top off before the fight." As he said this both girls reluctantly released their hold on his neck, before their place was taken by Moka and Yue. As this continued Mikogami eventually asked with only a little annoyance in his voice, "So what exactly is your plan to fight Alucard? While I don''t doubt your strength, I hope you aren''t going to just ''wing it'' against the most evil and powerful being on the planet." Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow when he heard that, and answered, "Wether or not Alucard is the most powerful being on the planet aside, I find overly relying on plans to be counterproductive more often than not. You adhere to them almost religiously at first, and then when things go sideways it leaves you start floundering. I have a general idea of what I''m going to do, and I made my preparations, if things go wrong then I''ll wing it." Though he wasn''t sure if he was imagining it or not, Touhou almost thought he saw Alex glance upwards when he mentioned making preparations, causing him to wonder what exactly Alex meant. He didn''t get time to ask though, as, almost immediately after Yue and Moka also released Alex''s neck, Kuroka used Spatial magic to teleport down to the ground below them, only to return a few minutes later with Issa Shuzen and a couple dozen vampires. With it suddenly getting crowded on Zenith''s deck, the vampire looked around until his gaze fell onto Moka, Akua, and Kokoa. "My daughters...." Issa whispered, before he walked up to them and wrapped his arms around them. "Papa...." Kokoa muttered, while she Moka and Akua returned their fathers affection after so long. After a minute he separated from them, before focusing on Moka and Kokoa with confusion and saying, "It feels like I was gone longer than I was, the two of you have grown so much...." From his estimation from how long Gyokuro had him locked up, Issa figured Moka would be in her mid teens while Kokoa was right behind her in her early to mid teens. Currently however both girls look several years older than he thought they would, something that greatly surprised and saddened him. Of course Alex was the one who spoke up and explained, "I have something called a space-time orb, that acts as a pocket dimension where time is extended. In this case the one they''ve been using extends each day into an entire month." When he heard this Issa had a slightly pained look on his face before saying "I see..." But then he focused onto Alex and said, "I take it you''re this ''Dragon Emperor'' I''ve been hearing about, it''s nice to finally meet you." As he said that Issa held out his hand, which Alex gripped and returned a firm handshake while saying, "And it''s nice to finally meet the girls father. As you said I''m the Dragon Emperor, Alex." Nodding in approval from Alex''s handshake, Issa then said, "Forgive me for seeming doubtful, but you''re sure you can defeat Alucard?" At first Alex c.o.c.ked an eye at Issa''s question, and then shook his head slightly while laughing wryly and leaving Issa standing there before simply saying, "You''ll see soon enough." As he said so Alex plopped down onto a couch that Grayfia conjured, where Rias and Shizuku sat on either side of him as they cuddled up comfortably while Yue took her usual place on his lap. This made Issa and the rest of the ''outsiders'' twitch their brows in irritation, but none said anything since they weren''t sure yet about Alex, and all of the vampires got this weird feeling as the petite Yue stared at them. There was a strange glimmer in her eye, and for some reason none of them wanted to antagonize her even more than Alex, a result of her ''Vampire Princess'' title. Like this the group traveled with relatively little happening while Alex flirted with his girls, with Issa was catching up with his daughters after their time apart. Eventually from the front of the ship Shia called out, "I see something!" Everyone suddenly looked up, and saw a dot on the distance hovering in the empty air. As the minutes slowly passed the dot grew in size and detail, and several other dots could be seen flying around it as if protectively. "Those are dragons!" Touhou said with alarm, before glancing at Alex hesitantly. Naturally he was completely relaxed in the face of the inborn army, even as they turned towards them with aggression. "Looks as if they know we''re here." Mikogami added as he glanced at Alex with mild annoyance for telling Gyokuro when he planned to attack, to which the latter simply smirked while the girls around him giggled. Knowing there was nothing to be done about it, Touhou stepped towards the front of the ship while Issa and the rest of the vampires gathered around him, saying as he did so, "We''ll take care of these so you don''t have to worry about tiring yourself out before fighting Alucard." Alex however laughed at this while getting up from the couch, and strode confidently past them without saying a word. His brow twitching in annoyance at Alex''s arrogance and carelessness, Touhou was about to tell him off when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Grayfia staring at him with a deadpan stare as she said, "My lord is not called the ''Dragon Emperor'' without reason you know." Confused, Touhou didn''t know how to respond until well over a hundred dragons swooped down onto them, maws filled with flame ready to spew at them. As their mindless and bloodthirsty gazes centered onto Alex however, all of the dragons halted, as an unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed them from the being before them. Alex smiled at all of the dragons in front of him, who, even though they were weaker and had next to no intelligence compared to their ancestors, instinctively feared him despite the fact that he had yet to make a single move. Then, using nothing but his ''Domain'' to amplify his voice, Alex suddenly shouted out three simple words. "SUBMIT, OR DIE!" Chapter 329 - Arrival of the Lord "SUBMIT, OR DIE!" Three little words. That was all they were, yet it was a blatant display of power and tyranny to utter them. Even on the floating fortress, where Gyokuro sat on her throne along with the division leaders and what remained of their army in wait of Alex''s arrival, they heard the words boom across the sky. And as she heard them, Gyokuro sneered. "Does he really think that such threats will intimidate us? Pathetic!" As she spoke several of the division leaders agreed, while Miyabi looked in Alex''s direction curiously before his eyes widened and realization hit him. "They weren''t for us...." Gyokuro and the rest of the division leaders looked up in confusion, before understanding dawned on them as well, causing Gyokuro''s expression to darken considerably. Despite the fact that they surrounded the attacking airship, despite easily outnumbering the passengers, the dragons had seemingly completely halted their attacks, instead they were stationary in the air as they peered at the man who had ordered their submission. Then, amazingly, one of the dragons bowed its head. One by one, as if it started a chain reaction, the rest of the dragons bowed their heads in midair towards the Dragon Emperor. A smirk forming on his face, Alex then looked directly at Gyokuro and said one more word, "ATTACK!" At his command the dragons turned around to face the one they formerly served, and swooped down to rain fire and death onto them. As they did so the vampiress directed a murderous look at Alex, before ordering in an icy cold voice, "Deploy the barrier." At her order the false Issa gave a command through a walkie-talkie, and a massive pinkish bubble formed around he entire floating fortress. With only a few dragons managing to get inside before the barrier formed, they were now cut off from their brethren and their new leader. However, dragons weren''t known for their caution and wariness though, and these few unhesitatingly charged forward to bathe the few hundred Youkai left in Gyokuro''s army in flame, while their brethren fought to destroy the barrier from the outside. Alex smirked as the dragons fought on their behalf, and turned towards the dumbstruck Touhou before saying, "Isn''t the old saying to ''work smarter not harder''?" Naturally the Dark Lord was unable to respond as he watched the devastation below them, until several figures leapt up to engage the few dragons that were fighting, and one cleaved a dragons head off with a massive sword. After the dragon''s lifeless body fell to the ground, dark green claws broke through the stone underneath to grab at it, pulling the rest of themselves up so that Oyakata''s plant monsters could freed on the fresh corpse. Seeing the members of their family fighting the dragons, the vampires Issa brought with him bristled in anticipation of joining the fight below, while Alex frowned at the dragons swift death. While they were fairly weak compared to other dragons he had seen until then, Alex still felt a slight kinship with them due to Ddraig''s presence in his left arm, and the fact that they already become loyal to him. Alex then turned back and looked at a certain silver haired maid before asking with a wry smile, "Are you ready for a small warmup?" Grayfia smirked confidently at his offer, before stepping forward to try her hand at breaking this flimsy barrier. Normally Touhou would try to be the one to dispel the barrier due to seals and Youjutsu being his specialty, but he was quickly realizing that he shouldn''t interfere when Alex or one of his wives stepped up to bat. He wasn''t disappointed either, as Grayfia simply raised a single hand when she reach Zenith''s front, and a massive silver magic circle appeared out of nowhere before firing a monstrous amount of dark demonic power at the barrier before them. Naturally the second the demonic power impacted the barrier the sound of shattering glass ripped through the air, before the pesky bubble popped out of existence. Naturally the enemy forces taking shelter within the barrier started devolving into chaos as their protection disappeared, and the rest of the dragons swarmed down onto them from above to do as their new master bid. The person responsible for destroying the barrier however frowned, as Grayfia snorted in dissatisfaction, "That can''t even count as a light warmup..." Shaking her head in disappointment, Grayfia turned and started walking back to her original position while the surrounding vampires gave her a wide berth with exceptionally pale faces. The amount of demonic power Grayfia used was greater than any of the vampires Issa brought could use, and the fact that she wasn''t even winded and had been disappointed with how ''weak'' the barrier was was deeply ingrained on all of their hearts, while each of them also thought, ''If only his maid is this strong, then how powerful is the Dragon Emperor?!'' Meanwhile the other side was in growing turmoil at the sudden development, as the dragons swooped down to rain fire, talons, and teeth while only the vampires of the Shuzen clan were able to fight back against them. While this was happening though the division leaders were staring at the spot where Grayfia was previously standing, before the one in a samurai suit of armor, Gairen, said, "Did you see who that was?" The one standing next to him, the Raiju Raika, nodded and said, "It was a silver haired woman dressed as a maid....to think there was other such monsters amongst his ranks...." The rest of the division leaders nodded as, while they expected Alex to have reinforcements along with Touhou Fuhai and Mikogami, the fact that just one of them was so powerful was a major eye opener. It was enough so that the fake Issa muttered, "No wonder he was so confident, who knows how many more such monsters he has up his sleeves." At this however a creepy cackling erupted behind them, as the group turned to look at Oyakata who said with glee, "It doesn''t matter though, because the stronger they are the better the sustenance for Alucard and myself if I''m forced to use my forbidden technique! Even now every dragon and Youkai that falls in battle is only making my babies grow stronger, it''s only a matter of time until those ''monsters'' become mere feed for them as well!" As she finished speaking the division leaders looked down, and saw that she was right. The number of corpses left didn''t match how many Youkai and dragons had already fallen, as the carnivorous plants devoured every single scrap of dead flesh around them like a pack of starving piranhas, with several having grown noticeably bigger since the battle began. As they became more confident at the realization though, Alex''s voice suddenly boomed out once more, "FALL BACK!" When the dragons heard this they glared back in anger, the urge to slaughter the pesky opponents in front of them stronger than the urge to follow Alex''s orders. However as the Dragon Emperor released a slight amount of his killing intent at them, the dragons suddenly began backing off as they retreated a short ways away and began licking their wounds. With them out of the way and no longer providing Oyakata''s plants with more nutrients, Alex then turned towards Kokoa and Akua before saying, "You guys are up. Focus on the vampires and Kahlua, we have someone else who''ll take care of the plant monsters." The duo nodded while Kokoa looked more unnaturally pale than even a vampire should, as she psyched herself up to face the sister that had always terrified her. Akua however stepped forward and turned to face the vampires gathered before shouting, "ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR VENGEANCE?!!!!" """YEAAAAAAAAAAH!!!""" The vampires yelled out, ready to face the ones who betrayed and turned their backs on the people they should''ve been most loyal to, along with Gyokuro who had locked most of them up to use for experiments regarding Alucard''s body. As Akua and Kokoa leapt off of Zenith and led the charge, the rest of the vampires unhesitatingly followed them, while Alex held back Issa as he tried to join them. "What?!" The vampire demanded, as Alex slowly shook his head, before saying, "Just watch your daughters." Confused, Issa turned back towards the charging vampires to see what Alex meant, but his expression quickly turned into one of complete disbelief soon after, as the two girls tore their way through the army of vampires and the few remaining Youkai with ease. Meanwhile Alex turned back to Rias and said, "Alright, I''m pretty sure he''s tired of waiting already, send him out." Rias smiled wryly at this, before she used a magic circle to contact a certain someone and tell them they were finally free to go wild. While this was going on, Gyokuro''s expression was the most murderous it had been all day as she watched Akua and Kokoa lead the charge of vampires against her own, while both easily slaughtered any who stood in their way without pause. She then turned towards her precious daughter Kahlua, and said, "Go Kahlua, brig me your traitorous sisters heads on a silver platter." Kahlua shuddered at her mother''s merciless order, even against her own daughter, before saying in a subdued tone, "Yes mother...." Before she could even take a single step forward however, a new voice suddenly broke through the sound of conflict before them. "Fufufufufu, how interesting!" Kahlua and everyone else looked around alertedly for the new speaker, before Miyabi suddenly said, "Up there." Everyone else followed his gaze and looked up at the top of the tallest tower on the floating fortress, where a single figure stood posed as if they were about to fight injustice in the name of the moon. "Fufufu, how foolish... How completely utterly FOOLISH!" At these words, Raika asked, "And what exactly is so foolish?" The figure laughed once more before changing into another weird pose and saying, "YOU ARE! For more than a month I have watched you while holding myself back, but now you will face the full might of none other than the infamous KOUSUKE E. ABYSSGATE, LORD OF THE ABYSS!" As he finished his self introduction, the Lord changed to another pose as he continued sneering down at them below. Normally one would think that Endou was putting on some kind of act due to the drastic change in character, but the truth was that he had simply activated a skill that he had acquired while trying to complete the Raisen Great Canyon labyrinth after his training with the Haulia, ''Abyssgate Lord''. As silly as it sounded, this skill actually multiplied Endou''s strength similarly to the skill ''Limit Break'', however unlike ''Limit Break'' there was no physical drawback or time limit with Endou''s skill. Instead the downsides were that it took a while for the skill to reach the maximum benefit while his attitude became more like that of a chuuni whenever he activated it, leaving Endou depressed afterwards from his words and actions while he was transformed. While he was sneering down at them, the division leaders were looking up at the Lord with a mixture of confusion, and irritation. "Abyss Lord or whatever, I''ll turn you into fodder for my babies!" Oyakata cried out, as she raised her book up high and the crystal on the cover started glowing. In response the entire area around her started surging as thousands of the plant monsters started crawling out of the stone. Half of them immediately raced towards where Kokoa and Akua were fighting, while the other half turned their eyes towards the Lord, and rushed towards the base of the tower he was standing on. With his sneer widening, the Lord commented, "This is why I called you foolish, to think you thought you could beat the great me with mere numbers!" As he finalized speaking the Lord jumped off of the top of the tower and started running down its side, using Gravity magic to keep himself attached to the wall. By himself the Lord raced down the wall of the tower while the plant monsters used their claws to run up it, both preparing to clash in the middle. What none of the plant monsters or division leaders expected though, was for the Lord to suddenly make a meaningless hand gesture before shouting, "Super secret technique, ''Dream Illusion''!" As he finished shouting out the name of his ''super secret technique'', suddenly the number of Abyssgate Lords multiplied to well over a hundred copies, before each one suddenly shouted like an echo, "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" "PROMOTION-" """""""""KNIGHT!!!""""""""" With the word ''Knight'' echoing over them, all of the Abyssgates suddenly disappeared before reappearing on the ground below, each one striking a pose as the plant monsters above them suddenly turned into finely chopped vegan steaks. Naturally there was a slight pause as everyone tried to take in what exactly had just happened, before one of the plant monsters suddenly lunged at one of the Abyssgates once again, restarting the fight. What transpired afterwards could only be described as a one sided slaughter, as the army of Abyssgates cut their way through all of the plant monsters in their path, regardless of how much they were outnumbered. Of course the plant monsters tried to fight back, yet for some reason whenever they attacked their claws would faze right through their enemy''s flesh without leaving a single wound, right before their opponent turned around and ended their life immediately after. This was the result of another one of Endou''s skills, ''Clarity Phantom'', a skill that allowed him to turn his usually illusionary copies physical in order to actually help him fight his enemies. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Oyakata''s expression turned murderous as she watched her beloved plant monsters being slaughtered so one sidedly, even after all of the years she spent carefully raising and nurturing them in preparation for this day. Gripping the ancient book tightly, she eventually cried out, "Fine then, if ''quantity'' won''t do, then I''ll just have to settle for ''quality''!" As she shouted, Oyakata raised the book high once more as she prepared to cast her final trump card, a permanent spell that would fuse her beloved plant monsters with her own body to become a single organism. As the jewel in the middle of the book shined brightly though, the spell was interrupted when a kunai suddenly came out of nowhere to pierce and shatter it, leaving it as nothing more than an ancient paperweight. Gaping at her destroyed magic medium, a sense of loss similar to when she sent Ruby away fill Oyakata''s heart as she now realized just how true Alex''s warning had been back then. As the feeling of defeat filled her, she couldn''t help but ask as a certain figure approached, "Why do you wish to stop us so much? When you all have so much power, why fight on their behalf?" She then looked up to see none other than the original Abyssgate Lord standing over her with a frown. Though he was still a complete chuuni at he moment, Endou could only answer seriously, "Of course I''d fight to defend my own people, even if I''m technically no longer a human my self..." Even though this was the Japan of an entirely different world, it was still almost the exact same as the home Endou and his classmates left behind, and so none of them would hesitate to defend it if the need arises. Oyakata however was staring at Endou in shock as, despite him saying he was no longer one, she never imagined that someone as capable as him was one of those worthless humans. The truth however made her want to laugh at herself for trying to destroy humans, only to be ultimately stopped by one instead. She then said while presenting her neck, "So get on with it then..." She was waiting for Endou to deal the final blow, to which the chuuni shook his head and stated, "No, there''s a certain witch who''d be heartbroken if we had to kill you. Instead the boss has stated that your magic powers will be crippled, and you will live out the rest of your days on the Witches Ranch alone, never to harm humans again." With that being said, Endou pulled out a pair of azantium handcuffs and put them on the powerless woman, lest she try anything else, as the duo then watched as his clones continued to make short work of her plant monsters, despite being vastly outnumbered. A short ways away Gyokuro snorted in disdain and muttered, "I knew we could never count on a lowly witch''s help, she couldn''t even become proper cannon fodder." The rest of the division leaders sighed in agreement as they turned back towards the main fight, not even bothering with Endou since they figured he''d just tire himself out on the remnants of Oyakata''s army. Instead they focused on a certain redhead''s slow march towards them, making Miyabi comment, "She looks different..." This made Gyokuro, Kahlua, and the fake Issa frown in confusion though, as none of them understood how Kokoa seemingly aged several years in the span of a single short month. However Gyokuro dismissed her confusion quickly as she instead snapped once more at Kahlua, "What are you waiting for then? Bring me her worthless head!" Nodding her own head with a melancholic look in her eyes, Kahlua could only answer, "Yes mother....." as she slowly walked towards her youngest sister. (A.N. Sorry for the delay, all of my free time was taken up with raiding English monasteries and villages for the last week.) Chapter 330 - Breaking the Seal BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM, BA-DA-BAM! The sound of Issa nervously drumming his fingers on Zenith''s guardrail filled the air as the group watched the two sisters meet for battle. Despite him often pitting his girls against each other in ''duels to the death'' when they were younger, Issa had never actually expected that he would one have to watch one of his girls kill another. Alex meanwhile turned around and said to the rest of the girls while lightly smacking Shia''s rump, "It''s about time for all of you to get going, the real show will begin soon." This earned him a series of anticipatory smiles, while a couple of the girls like Sun or Kurumu looked fairly nervous at the upcoming fight. Regardless, with Shia leading the pack after wiggling her butt at Alex teasingly, they jumped or stepped off of Zenith''s deck one by one, and fell until they disappeared into the sea of clouds below, leaving Alex alone with Moka, Issa, Touhou, and Mikogami. Turning back towards the upcoming fight, Alex walked up to those remaining on the ship and said, "I''d say it''s about time we move a little closer as well, don''t you?" Though they kept their eyes on the two girls about to fight, everyone silently nodded in agreement as they prepared to disembark. Meanwhile the two girls stared at the other as they steadily approached each other until they were only a few feet apart, Kokoa with her kou-bat transformed into a greatsword at her side, while Kahlua looked as if she was fighting back tears. As they stared at the other Kahlua finally said, "You''ve grown so much in such a short time Kokoa, you''re such a strong and beautiful woman now." Despite her sister''s praise though, Kokoa instead asked, "Why big sis? Why are you helping mother when you know none of this is right?" Though she had attempted to manage a slight smile as she spoke to Kokoa, Kahlua couldn''t help but frown sadly at her question and answered, "Because, I didn''t want mother to be lonely...." Gyokuro had imprisoned Issa, isolated Kokoa, and despised Akua and Moka for being the daughters of other women, if Kahlua had left her mother as well then Gyokuro would have no one left around her. It was for this reason, along with the fact that Kahlua considered herself irredeemable for the lives she herself had taken, that she had remained by her mother''s side despite everything she had done, and what she was planning to do. Their conversation over, Kokoa took a stance as she prepared to battle her big sister, while Kahlua flipped her hair back on the right side of her face, revealing a diamond studded rosary hanging from her ear. In an instant Kahlua removed her rosary, and her supernatural power suddenly skyrocketed as she became surrounded by the bat-like swarm of energy. Kokoa''s own supernatural power then rose as well in response to her sister actions, but she never noticed the stir she caused as her energy quickly caught up to, and then greatly surpassed Kahlua''s. "Th-that can''t be!" Gyokuro swore as she watched Kokoa''s power shoot up, while Miyabi, Issa, and Kahlua showed similar levels of bewilderment at what they were seeing. Soon Miyabi''s eyes widened as the truth hit him, and he muttered, "She''s a Shinso?!" His words caused a stir amongst the rest of the division leaders, as Raika hesitantly asked, "Aren''t the only Shinsos left Alucard and that Akashiya girl? How can there be another?" Shinso blood could only be gifted from a Shinso themselves to a recipient, which was how Moka became one when her mother transferred her own blood into her to save her life as an infant. While there was the minute possibility that Moka had transferred her own Shinso blood into Kokoa, this idea was immediately dismissed as then the link to Alucard would have activated when Kokoa used it. Rather than sit around and debate how this had happened, Gyokuro quickly stood from her throne and was about to interrupt the match between her daughters, intending to capture Kokoa to experiment on her when this farce was over with. The moment she took a single step forward though, Gyokuro''s hair suddenly stood on end as the feeling that some kind of weapon was at her throat appeared. She then glanced around and noticed Akua standing clear across the battlefield, her hand positioned like when one used the Jigen-tou despite the distance. As they stated at each other Akua also steadily released her own aura, causing Gyokuro''s eyes to widen when she realized that Kokoa wasn''t the only new Shinso. With Akua''s message of keeping Gyokuro out of her sisters fight clear, the vampiress sat back down on her throne as she contemplated how both girls had become the legendary Shinso. Meanwhile Kahlua''s expression hardened as prepared to face Kokoa, who had grown far more than she ever could have expected in the seemingly short time since she saw her last. As Kokoa took her stance once more, Kahlua had tears appearing her eyes as she started transforming her left arm, which quickly became five razor sharp bat wings. With her ''berserk'' state activated and both girls ready, there was nothing to keep the duo from killing one another other than the fact that neither had yet moved. In an instant both girls flickered and appeared in the same positions the other was in less than a millisecond prior, both moving and attacking faster than most of the onlookers could follow. At first glance Kahlua appeared to be the winner of their instant exchange, with her seeming fine while Kokoa had five deep gashes on the left side of her body, under her eye, on her shoulder and forearm, and then on her hip and thigh. However, these wounds quickly healed at a rate greater than the usual vampires regenerative powers allowed thanks to her Shinso blood, and soon all that was left of the wounds was the few drops of blood "I-it looks like this is your win, little sis..." Kahlua barely managed to breath out as she turned to face her sister, right as a line of red blood started forming on her white dress, from her right hip up diagonally to her left shoulder. With a sickening sound, the upper half of Kahlua''s body suddenly slid down to fall to the ground, yet Kokoa immediately caught her and held her close with tears in her eyes. "W-why big sis? Why didn''t you fight me seriously?" With her enhanced vitality keeping her alive for a few seconds longer, Kahlua smiled weakly and answered, "I-I did Kokoa. You don''t seem to realize it, but you truly have become so strong now." Though Kokoa was shocked to hear her big sister''s words, she quickly pushed them out of her mind as she clung to Kahlua even tighter as, despite always being scared of her and fighting her to the death, Kokoa didn''t actually want her sister to really die. Kahlua however smiled warmly despite her current state and added, "Do not fret about the end of my wretched life Kokoa, someone like me who has lived only for reaping the lives of others deserves this..." As she finished speaking Kahlua let out one final shaky breath, before she fell silent and her eyes lost the l.u.s.ter of life. Kokoa let out a shuddering breath as her sister died in her arms, while a sound of pain escaped Issa''s throat as he approached as well, his daughter''s bisected body filling his view. While the two were pained at Kahlua''s passing, Gyokuro looked on with indifferent eyes while Moka and Akua both turned towards Alex, the former pinching his side while hissing, "How long exactly are you going to wait?" Alex smiled wryly at her prodding, before stepping forward and saying to Kokoa and her father, "Step aside." Naturally Issa turned towards Alex in fury and was about to demand what he wanted, however he found Akua in his way as she said, "Listen to what he says father, Alex knows what he''s doing." Though he wanted to ask her what she meant, Issa stopped himself when he saw Akua rub her neck with a slightly pale expression. As she gently pulled him away from Kahlua''s corpse, while Moka did the same with Kokoa, Alex stepped forward and held his hand out above her. Suddenly a massive magic circle appeared and spread to cover the entire battlefield, shrouding her and the rest of the corpses in a bright light. After nearly a minute the light started to fade, and what was revealed was Kahlua''s newly repaired body, with her eyes closed and a slow yet steady rise and fall to her chest. As if that wasn''t enough of a miracle to the onlookers, a series of deep throated growls around them also caught their attention, alerting them to revival of the various dragons that had fallen in battle as well, some having their bodies regenerated from mere scraps of meat or bone. With everyone around them feeling either confusion or a sudden surge of emotion, Alex simply explained with a shrug, "With my abilities, reviving the recently deceased is a simple matter really." Naturally Issa and even Kokoa were unaware that Alex had this ability, and an entirely different emotion filled them as Issa muttered "Thank you" to him several times. While Issa and Kokoa took in the fact that Kahlua was no longer dead, and Akua helped to console them, Alex turned contemptuous gaze towards Gyokuro and the rest of Fairy Tale''s division leaders, all that remained of their forces. With their eyes narrowing at Alex''s obvious contempt, he then turned towards Moka and softly asked while pulling her close, "Are you ready?" Moka closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, before opening them and moving forward to kiss him gently, but passionately. Ignoring her father''s incredulous gaze, or the annoyed gazes of those around them, Moka continued kissing Alex for several minutes before breaking it off, and saying in a resolute voice, "I am ready." Nodding, Alex looked into her striking green eyes one last time before grabbing her rosary, and swiftly removing it. As he had already seen several times since they met, a power surge of supernatural energy radiated from Moka as the seals restricting her powers became undone for the last time. Her flowing long pink hair turned silver, and her gentle striking green eyes turned to a crueler blood red, Moka turned her firm gaze from Alex to the one responsible for everyone being there that day, Gyokuro. As the step-mother/step-daughter duo glared at each other though, the first one to move was neither of them, or even Alex, instead the gangster-like appearance of Miyabi suddenly appeared behind Alex before saying with a sarcastic tone, "Now that the seal is removed, there''s no more need for you ''Dragon Emperor''!" What happened next seemed to transpire in slow motion as Miyabi''s blade-like hand moved to pierce Alex''s heart through his back, seemingly without Alex even being able to react. The latter didn''t even flinch however, as Miyabi''s Hand impacted, and then crumpled against the skin of his back, which had turned to a shiny black under his clothes. He then turned back at his would-be assassin, and sneered, "Did you really think I didn''t see you coming? Or that I''d leave myself open like that around any of you?" With Miyabi''s eyes widening in surprise, he was unable to react as Alex turned while c.o.c.king back his fist, before planting it directly into his gut with enough force that Miyabi was sent flying clear off of the Flying Fortress. He then turned back towards Gyokuro and the rest of the division leaders, and said to Moka and Akua while stepping forward, "I''ll leave the next part to you, I''m going to have a ''chat'' with these four clowns." The two girls smirked at Alex''s words, while Gyokuro frowned and said in a venomous voice, "While you do seem to be at least a little bit capable, do you really think you''d stand a chance against all four of us?" At this Alex smirked and replied, "Bitch please, the better question is can the four of you at least entertain me a little bit before all of you are defeated?" This made her expression turn worse than had all day, and, after all of the day''s events, Gyokuro was ready to vent on the idiot who dared to challenge her. Standing from her throne, Gyokuro then slowly descended the steps between them while the fake Issa, Raika, and Gairen in his suit of armor followed suit. As she reached the bottom Gyokuro looked up slightly at Alex, not at all intimidated by his large figure and overbearing demeanor, before saying, "After everything that''s happened, trust me when I say that I''m going to enjoy what I''m about to do very much. I daresay I may even enjoy it as much as I will slaughtering all of those filthy humans that that bitch Akasha cares for." In the face of her arrogance and confidence, Alex only smirked and stated, "Then I think it''s about time we get to our ''arena'' then!" Before anyone could register what he meant, a magic circle suddenly spread from under Alex''s feet until it also encompassed Gyokuro and the other three, and the five of them all disappeared in an instant. Almost immediately after this happened Akua moved towards Moka and said, "Then it''s time for us to start as well!" This made both Mikogami and Touhou look back at her in surprise as both had been preparing to chase Miyabi after Alex sent him flying, before Mikogami asked, "''Time for us to start'' what exactly?" Akua smirked knowingly and said, "Time for us to start awakening Alucard of course!" This made both of them freeze, before Touhou declared, "Why would we do that?! The plan was to let the Dragon Emperor fight that monster, and he''s not here anymore! Now we should focus on that guy he sent flying, he''s not what you think he is!" In the face of his frantic declaration though, Akua smirked and replied, "True, but we already discussed who''ll at least keep Alucard occupied in the meantime, so it''ll be fine until Alex finishes what he''s doing." Though the two Dark Lords, as well as Issa wanted to argue, Moka suddenly spoke up, "I can awaken my Shinso blood whenever I want, consequently waking up Alucard as well. So your options are to either assist us as we ask, or to leave us alone as we try it by ourselves anyways." At this point however Issa spoke up and said, "Or there''s the third option, where we waste time trying to detain the three of you before doing as Touhou said and chasing after that man." At this however Moka, Akua, and even Kokoa from where she was watching over the still sleeping Kahlua smirked knowingly, before the eldest of the three said, "If you''d know what kinds of people we spent the last few years training against, then you''d realize just how foolish that sounded father." As she said this Issa looked at his daughters in shock of how they''d changed in the time he hadn''t seen them, in ways that were obvious and ways that he had yet to see. After several minutes of deliberation, Issa finally said, "It appears that we have no choice in this matter. Well if we are going ahead with this folly, then what do you need us to do?" Akua smiled at her father''s change of mind, and said, "Moka will activate her Shinso blood, awakening it and Alucard, and we will create a formation around her to help her acclimate to her blood to control it." When he heard this Mikogami frowned, and asked, "And what about Alucard himself? In case you haven''t noticed we''re all aboard the same flying prison he is on, whats to keep it from attacking us the moment it awakes?" This time it was Moka who piped up, "A mechanic that works for Alex has been secretly investigating this place ever since Kuroka and Endou first infiltrated it. He says that once Alucard awakens the restraints that keep it in place will release, and it''ll be dropped to the earth below where people are waiting to fight it." Of course when she explained this Moka left out that the mechanic in question, Hajime, also planned to abduct the floating fortress after they were done with it to study, and possibly use for himself later. Though Touhou and Mikogami snorted since they apparently weren''t even expected to fight despite making the trip, both were too exhausted mentally to even question anything Alex and his companions did at this point, and moved into position along with Issa and Akua around Moka. While Kokoa moved out of the way with the still unconscious Kahlua and the Shuzen vampires, Touhou began setting up the formation needed to awaken, and then synchronize Moka''s Shinso blood. Even if the blood awoke it didn''t mean Moka could use its power right off the bat since her entire life had been spent with the blood''s power being forcibly suppressed, and so, while she would naturally be able to awaken its powers eventually, the magic formation would be used to make Moka an instant Shinso. Once the formation was done, Touhou, Mikogami, Issa, and Akua all started pumping their own supernatural energy into the formation while Moka sat cross legged in the middle. With her rosary gone and Moka herself offering no resistance, the effect was almost instantaneous as a pulse of power suddenly spread from her body, resulting in the entire floating fortress rumbling as a massive roar shook the air. Alucard had finally awoken. *** When the light from the transportation magic circle faded, Gyokuro and the division leaders were stunned to find themselves in what appeared to be a wasteland filled with red sand, rocks, and craggy mountains, while the sky was filled with orangish clouds. After a brief glance around the man in the suit of armor, Gairen, demanded as he focused back on Alex, "And where the hell did you bring us exactly?" Alex smiled widely at the question, and answered, "Well I wanted us to go all out without worrying about collateral damage, so I brought us to Mars of course!" Chapter 331 - The End of Fairy Tale Mars. That single word echoed in the minds of the four people who heard it repeatedly ever since Alex said it, none even coming close to accepting that they were in fact on another planet than the one they had always called home. Earth was something familiar, something constant in their lives. Learning that they were on an entirely different planet unnerved each of them more than Alex ever could have expected, the idea of using that single fact as a form of mental attack never even occurring to him. Unsurprisingly, Gairen was the one who eventually stated, "Don''t bullshit me. Mars in uninhabitable for life, even for a few mere minutes. Do you really expect that we''ll believe that you managed to teleport us halfway across the solar system, to a planet that no one can breath on yet alone survive, just to avoid collateral damage?" When they heard this Gyokuro, Issa, and Raika all looked at Alex in annoyance at the fact that he had set up such an ''obvious lie'', despite the fact that he had simply been telling the truth. With multiple opponents, and possibly Alucard himself, Alex had set up a stage away from anything that could have been used against him, either intentionally or not, and where he didn''t have to worry about holding his own strength back to avoid damaging the surroundings. He had gotten the idea after hearing about Hajime''s artifact that allowed one to survive in space despite the vacuum and cold, and Alex had used Hajime''s prototype endless energy machines that he acquired from his trip into the sky world to supply power to keep the spells running that made Mars safe for people, namely a magic circle that performed artificial photosynthesis and a form of barrier to trap heat and the planet''s newfound oxygen. As a result Alex not only set up a stage for himself, but the data that Hajime received from the experiment allowed him to form several future plans for possibly terraforming other planets. Naturally this topic took a backseat in Alex''s mind as he focused on the four opponents before him, before replying to Gairen''s skepticism with a shrug, "It doesn''t matter if you believe me or not, all that matters is that it''s time to fight!" At this his four opponents finally also took a stance as they prepared to clash, before Raika suddenly shot himself forward as electricity arched around him. "Let''s see how you take this!" He shouted, as his body itself started turning into pure lightning to bolt at Alex instantly. Appearing directly behind him at speeds akin to teleportation, Raika then placed his hand on Alex''s defenseless back and summoned more lightning than he ever had before in his human form. "Enjoy having your blood boil and flesh dissolved!" Raika stated as his power coursed through Alex''s body, which would have been an instant kill on almost any other opponent, almost. Amazingly Alex was still standing even as the intense lightning died down, seemingly no worse for the wear even after taking what was Raika''s most powerful and cruel attack. Instead he casually turned to look at the Raij¨± behind him, and asked condescendingly, "Was that it? My head s.e.x slave sneezes out lightning more powerful than that." Though he was slightly dumbfounded that Alex was apparently undefeated by his attack, when Raika noticed his hand coming towards him he immediately started turning himself into lightning once again to take some distance in order to transition to his true form. Once again contrary to his expectations though, Raika felt something grip his body tightly despite being in his intangible form, and he was suddenly slammed against the ground with such force that a crater formed under him and blood sprayed from his mouth. "H-how?" He gasped out with a rasp, to which Alex shook his head and answered, "You were too arrogant with your speed and ability to turn into lightning, at the very least you should have always remained on guard on the off chance that someone was faster and could touch you." Though Raika only groaned in response to Alex''s words, another voice suddenly said, "''Arrogance'', I''ll return that back at you for letting your guard down!" As the Gairen''s voice reached his ears though, Alex simply tilted his head to the side to allow the thrown katana to fly harmlessly by him. Then, he reached out and grabbed the flying katana by the hilt before swinging around and returning it to Gairen with even more force than it had before, resulting in it being imbedded in his armor''s b.r.e.a.s.tplate right where his heart should have been, before sprouting from the other side. "Who said my guard was down?" Alex taunted at the supposed samurai''s attempt to kill him. Gairen''s response to this was to simply look down at the hilt sticking out of his chest, before he calmly pulled it out and produced several dozen more blades from within his armor. They all started hovering around him eerily as he used what appeared to be a form of telekinesis, before all of the blades suddenly shot at Alex while aiming at the various vital areas of his body. Naturally Alex evaded or diverted each of the blades with ease, the only one that even came close to making him nervous being the tont¨­ that had been aimed directly at his nether regions. Which Alex grabbed by the hilt when it was less than an inch away from the tender flesh, before saying to Gairen incredulously, "Really?! That''s such a d.i.c.k move man!" Gairen however seem unamused at Alex''s quip, and used his powers to start dissolving the stone under his feet to destabilize him while the rest of his weapons turned around to make a comeback. Instead of this succeeding however, Alex instead suddenly appeared in front of Gairen before swiping at his helmet to remove it, revealing that there was no body inside the armor and that it was actually empty. Rather than being surprised by this though, Alex instead held the helmet out in front of him before dropping it so that it connected with his foot, sending the piece of metal flying into the atmosphere while he shouted, "GOAL!!!" Of course Gairen was less than enthused that a part of his ''body'' was being treated in such a way, and, with the appearance of even more weapons from within his armor, Alex was soon surrounded by over a hundred weapons pointed directly at him along with a naginata that Gairen''s headless body wielded. With Alex seemingly cornered and a tone of fury in his voice, Gairen shouted out, "''Dance of a Hundred Blades!''" As if they each had a mind of their own while also moving in perfect harmony, the swords, knives, and various other smaller throwing blades all swept down at Alex in a perfect rhythm to both attack, and cut off any attempt to dodge or escape he might make. Despite the seemingly periless situation he was in, Alex smirked with a condescending smile directed at Gairen as his figure suddenly blurred in response to the weapons attacks. For several seconds Alex avoided each of Gairen''s seemingly unavoidable attacks by either dodging by the slightest amount, or using a single finger to just barely redirect the deadly sharp blades at the last second. This lasted until Gairen''s still headless body came charging with the naginata, which was apparently the moment Alex was waiting for as he met the living armor directly. Quicker than he could react, Alex grabbed a few pieces of his armor and said with a smirk, "Let''s see how long it''ll take you to ''pull yourself together''!" Using a combination of raw strength and Spatial magic, Alex then removed various pieces of Gairen''s armor and sent them flying all across the Martian terrain before the living lump of metal could even fight back. With his focus now having been taken up by trying to put himself together again, all of Gairen''s weapons suddenly fell to the ground lifeless as Alex turned towards the remaining two people, Gyokuro and the fake Issa, before saying provocatively, "Next?" Gyokuro''s brow twitched as she stepped forward and said, "Of course those two buffoons couldn''t do anything. If you want something done right then you''ve got to do it yourself." The moment she finished speaking Gyokuro and the fake Issa immediately disappeared and reappeared on either side of Alex as the fake went to punch him, while Gyokuro slashed at him with her hand in the shape of a blade. In response to their attacks though, Alex simply held up a finger on each hand while using Spatial magic on one to block Gyokuro''s imitation Jigen-Tou, making both attacks stop in their tracks. In the same movement however Gyokuro brought her other hand forward to touch Alex''s arm, where she then sent a massive wave of electricity into it in an imitation of Raika''s earlier attack. Naturally the attack had just as little effect as the Raij¨±''s, especially since Gyokuro didn''t have the same affinity for lightning as Raika, but before she could even register that she found Alex''s knee in her gut, and she was sent flying into a nearby mountain. At the same time Alex grabbed the fake Issa by the throat and held him up into the air with ease while the doppelg?nger struggled helplessly. As he looked the doppelg?nger up and down while they tried to break his arm, Alex couldn''t help but ask, "Why continue acting as Issa when I freed the real one quite a while ago already?" The doppelg?nger froze when he heard that, before answering with a sneer, "Because that weakling wanted to trade all of this power and authority to live with humans! So, if he didn''t want it, then why doesn''t someone who''d appreciate it have it instead?" The moment he finished speaking, the doppelg?nger then reached out and grabbed onto Alex''s face while seemingly aiming for his eyes. In response Alex threw the doppelg?nger away even as he had a slight smirk to his face, right before Gyokuro returned to try and drop her heel onto his head. This time Alex smirked as he easily caught her attempted attack, even as the ground around him caved in from the force of her kick, and said as his gaze traveled up her now parted dress, "Ooh, a black thong? Since you jailed your husband I wonder who you''re trying to impress with that~!" Alex''s leering gaze combined with his taunt made Gyokuro''s face flush red with indignation, not that she was embarrassed at being seen, but because of the fact that someone as ''lowly'' as Alex was leering at her delicates. "Sc.u.m!" Gyokuro swore as she tried to remove her leg from Alex''s grasp, only to tear her little black dress so that even more of its contents were visible. Naturally her indignation only grew at this and, after Alex released her leg, Gyokuro shot him with a look of loathing before spitting at him, "Now you''ve pissed me off!" She then reached up and grabbed her own rosary that matched Kahlua''s, before swiftly removing from the clip that held it in her hair. Immediately Gyokuro''s power shot up as the surroundings began to even fracture from the raw force of it, however Alex''s gaze was still centered on her delicate area, which was now exposed due to her aura making the torn dress flap freely. Though he was tempted to say something to mess with her, instead Alex''s grin widened as his hand momentarily blurred, and he held something up for Gyokuro to see. Naturally Gyokuro had no interest in whatever Alex was planning, but when she saw the familiar lacy black thong dangling from his finger her mental facilities completely froze. Slowly, the power around her started dying down as Gyokuro reached down and hesitantly lifted the edge of her dress to peer underneath it, only to see her bare p.u.s.s.y on display. A wolf whistle made her look back up at Alex, who then commented, "Completely shaved just for me? Oh, you shouldn''t have!" "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" In response to his comment, Gyokuro released an animalistic scream before she lunged at him with not a single care left for image, her only goal to hurt him as much as possible. Of course the first move to do so was to send her leg directly between both of Alex''s to deliver the most brutal ball kick in history, only for a sickening crack to echo at the moment her leg impacted Alex''s nether regions. Then, while also repressing his shudder at the second ruthless attack, despite the fact that he had used Armament Haki to protect himself, Alex commented, "Isn''t this is where the saying ''balls of steel'' come into play?" Not finding his comment even remotely amusing, Gyokuro continued her assault despite the fact that one of her legs was broken, desperate to slap the smirk off of Alex''s face. While he was fending off the assault of the enraged woman, a series of storm clouds suddenly started forming a short ways away above the crater where Alex left Raika, before a beast suddenly emerged and charged at them. It had a slim yet muscular body while two horns jutted back from the sides of its head, both crackling with electricity as the Raij¨± focused on its hated enemy. He never even got the chance for his rematch however, as another blast of rock and debris erupted from the opposite direction before a second figure rushed at them, crashing into Raika and sending him flying from the force of the impact. When the dust cleared from around the impacted area though, a second Alex came into view instead of the fake Issa. With a wide maniac grin on his face, the doppelg?nger started laughing insanely before declaring, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! To think you were hiding all of this POWER!" The fake Alex then charged directly into the clash between the real Alex and Gyokuro, landing a hit that, despite being blocked by him, pushed Alex back by a few feet. With his insane smile widening, the doppelg?nger declared, "Any chance you had of winning just went out the window the moment I touched your face! Now, PREPARE TO DIE!" As if to demonstrate just how much Alex hadn''t taken any of them seriously, the doppelg?nger then brought both of his hands down directly onto the top of Alex''s head. Of course Alex managed to easily block the attack, but an earthquake was felt for several hundred miles surrounding their location, and a crater formed under his feet several hundred feet wide that was at least fifty feet deep. Releasing another round of insane laughter, the doppelg?nger leapt out of the crater he had formed without even giving the still standing Alex a backwards glance, no longer even seeming to put him in his eyes. He then said while admiring himself, "No wonder you sided with that fool Issa, you''re the same type of weak minded person that has the strength but no will to use it!" It was at this point that the doppelg?nger seemed to notice something else, and pulled the waistband of his mostly destroyed pants out to see what it was, only for his already massive smile to widen as he said, "Seriously?! Some guys have all the luck!" At that moment Gyokuro walked over and said to him, "I want to smash that stupid looking face in, but good job taking his form! Now no one will stand before us once we take out this bastard!" When he heard this however the doppelg?nger frowned as he asked, "Us?" Gyokuro gave him a look as if he was acting stupid as she said, "Of course ''us'', I''m still your boss and the moment we kill this bastard we''ll go back and awaken Alucard as we planned-!" When she got to this part however the doppelg?nger grabbed her suddenly by the throat before growling, "There is no more ''us''! Now there''s only me!" He then looked at Alex and Raika, who were both just standing there watching silently, with contempt before adding, "''We'' will work together to destroy this bastard, but once that''s done I''M the new ''Dragon Emperor''! It''ll be in MY name that we wage war against the humans, not that old relic Alucard''s!" At this point he turned back to look at Gyokuro with disdain, before he grabbed the collar of her dress and promptly ripped it off so that she was now completely n.a.k.e.d with the exception of her booted heels. His eyes passed over her n.a.k.e.d form with both desire and contempt, before he added, "You however Gyokuro, will be my personal s.e.x slave to compensate for all the years you looked down on me while I was Issa!" When she heard this Gyokuro narrowed her eyes at him in disgust and revulsion, which made the doppelg?nger backhand her with enough force that her neck snapped as she was sent flying away. "Humph, she''ll learn soon enough when I try out my new ''toy'' on her. Now Raika, it''s time for us to kill this f.u.c.ker-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Before he could continue on with his insane power trip, a pair of disk shaped lights passed by the doppelg?nger while he was mid sentence, severing both of his arms right below the shoulders instantly. While he was distracted by the pain the very person he planned to depose, Alex, suddenly appeared before with a disappointed look on his face before saying, "I let you ''copy'' me because I thought I''d get a good fight out of it, but what do I get? A pathetic b-grade villain who lets MY power go to his head while also deluding himself into thinking he could ever beat/replace me..... How disappointing....." As he trailed off Alex''s look of disappointment turned to disgust as he watched his own face contort disgustingly from the pain the doppelg?nger was in, prompting him to sweep the fake''s legs out from under him, before planting his foot on the back of his head and slamming his face into the ground so he didn''t have to look at it or hear the sobs of pain. Alex then looked back at Raika and said, "I''m tired of this fight, so I suppose it''s time to end it..." As he trailed off again, another voice behind him answered, "What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing!" Alex didn''t even look as he instinctively dodged Gairen''s katana once again, before holding his hand out nonchalantly. "I think I''ll start with you." He said casually to the living suit of armor that had finally pulled himself back together, as a ball of fire formed in his outstretched hand. Gairen could only float there and watch as, as if in slow motion, the fire suddenly surged towards him as it grew into a colossal tidal wave that covered not only him, but the surroundings behind and around him for tens of miles, burning hot enough that his armor began melting before he could even try to react to it. That wasn''t all though as all of the sand and rock caught within the flames as well started melting down into a magmatic material, so that when Alex stopped the attack after several minutes, what was left was a scene as if from hell with no trace left of Gairen. Naturally Alex wasn''t sure if just destroying the armor was enough to eliminate the spirit inhabiting it, so he had also infused his ''Soul Break'' skill into the flames, ensuring that there was absolutely no chance that Gairen managed to escape from the inferno. With the glowing magmatic stone sloshing down to form a giant pool of the stuff even as the cold Martian air already started cooling it, Alex turned back towards Raika and said, "Next?" Raika was a great warrior who took pride in his strength and Raij¨± heritage, looking down on those beneath him as if it was only natural that they were lesser than him. And so, looking at the destruction he had caused without even getting the slightest bit winded, Raika looked back at Alex with a fearless smile, before turning around and fleeing as quickly as possible in his lightning form. Using his senses to follow Raika''s retreat, Alex smirked before saying, "This is probably more than a little overkill for someone like you, but f.u.c.k it." He then put his hands together at the base of the palms before slowly pulling them back to his sides while saying, "KAA,MEEEEEEE-" Meanwhile Raika had used his speed to already put more than a hundred miles between him and that monster back there, with no intention of stopping since he knew that Alex might be able to catch up to him easily. "HAA,MEEEEEEE-" Despite having already put several hundred miles between them at this point, Raika was still going strong even as he was aware that he was pushing himself to the most extreme limits that he could endure. But regardless he still felt as though the reaper was standing right behind, preparing to end his life at any second. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Giving one final shout, Alex released the built up energy in one powerful blast that destroyed anything in its path, including entire mountains, as it chased its quarry across the planets surface. Within seconds Raika felt a powerful force closing in behind him, prompting him to look behind him to see a mass of energy homing in on him. "NOOOOOO! NOT LIKE THIS!" He cried out in despair, only to be swallowed by the kamehameha as it continued on its trajectory across the planet. As this happened Gyokuro finally managed to regain consciousness after her neck healed from the doppelg?nger attack, only to be so dumbfounded at what she saw that she even forgot about her n.a.k.e.dness. On one side there was a seemingly never ending hellscape of molten rock that was still cooling, while on another was what appeared to be a massive trench that went on forever through the planet and mountains, both obviously originating from Alex. Under his foot though was the armless doppelg?nger, who was now also covered in burns from the intense flames of Alex''s earlier attack, due to him not having Alex''s skills despite now having his physical strength and defense. Glancing down at his imposter, Alex snorted and said, "Normally I would kill you quickly like I did those other two, but you pissed me off by acting like that with my face and body so I think I''ll have you suffer a bit." All that responded was a pained groan, as the doppelg?nger was already in so much pain from losing his arms and the burns. Alex however ignored this and used his foot to flip the fake over so he was facing up, and then leaned down to pick up a rock the size of a baseball. With the rock shining slightly as Alex used Creation magic to turn it into an artifact, he then held it over the doppelg?nger''s chest before saying, "Let''s see how long you last with this~." He then dropped the rock, which fell faster than it should have before impacting the fake''s chest with enough force that the already exhausted fake screamed. Without giving a backwards glance to the screaming doppelg?nger, Alex turned towards Gyokuro and slowly started walking towards her as the rock continued to slowly crush the fake''s body, the Gravity magic increasing its weight even until it weighed several tons. Eventually when Alex stopped directly in front of Gyokuro there was a sickening and gory sounding crunch, and the screaming stopped, leaving the entire planet silent as the only two people left stared at each other. Soon the silence was broken as the kamehameha that Alex fired earlier finished it revolution around the planet, which Alex casually caught with an outstretched hand as the released energy desperately tried to destroy whatever halted its advance. After several seconds though the energy started dying down, before it vanished entirely without Alex ever even looking away from the woman before him. Finally she asked, "So what do you intend to do to me now? How am I going to die?" Her question brought a small smile to Alex''s face as he replied, "I don''t know, but I don''t intend to kill you. That''ll be too quick and easy an end for someone who''s caused as much suffering as you have for the reasons you have, plus there''s Kokoa and Kahlua to think about. No, I think I''ll have you go on living in a way someone as prideful and arrogant as you can''t stand." As he spoke Gyokuro''s first thought was that he planned to have her live as a s.e.x slave like the doppelg?nger wanted her to, causing her expression to morph into one of fury as she spat in his face and said while c.o.c.king her fist back, "I''d rather die!" Alex smiled wryly as he wiped the spit from his cheek, before using the same hand to catch Gyokuro''s punch right before it hit his face. What started after that was a brief struggle as Gyokuro tried one last ditch attempt to defeat Alex, or get him to kill her. What happened instead though, was that Alex used his hold on her fist to get her under his control, before seizing her other fist and pinning them both behind her back. Alex then swept her legs out from under her, making the proud woman fall roughly on her stomach as he kept her arms pinned behind her back. Being forced into such a position, Gyokuro''s mind ran rampant with thoughts of what he was about to do to her now that she was both n.a.k.e.d and unable to fight back. she tensed her body for several seconds as she awaited whatever depravity Alex had planned, but it never came. Instead came the whistling of something moving very fast before Gyokuro experienced a sensation that she never expected. SMACK! "NOOOOOOOO!" The proud woman cried out, as Alex proceeded to repeatedly spank her as if he was disciplining a child. *** Meanwhile back on earth, an entire city in Japan was in chaos after being flooded from a sudden tsunami, but that wasn''t what caused the chaos. Instead it was the cause of the tsunami, a massive creature that had fallen from the sky and landed in the ocean just offshore. Thankfully an evacuation had been called several hours beforehand, however there were several people who hadn''t evacuated and were even taking the chance to loot any businesses that were unguarded at the time. One such man was trying to haul a tv down the street that had miraculously managed to avoid any water damage from the tsunami, only to hear a steady BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, in the distance. Turning slightly the man saw a massive creature that was as big as a skyscr.a.p.er seemingly headed right for him. It raised its massive fist, and in a single motion it swept it to destroy several skyscr.a.p.ers in an instant while a series of massive tentacles from its back spread out as if searching for something. "Oh shit!" The man cried out as one of the tentacles came directly for him, prompting him to drop the television and start running the other way. "ShitshitshitshitshitshitSHIT!" He cried out over and over as the sound of the tentacle crashing its way towards him reached him. Naturally the man tripped and fell as he tried to get away, signaling his definitive doom at the monsters hand. "Please no, I don''t want to die!" The man cried out as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see his death approaching, though it never came. Even as several seconds passed the man didn''t feel anything, nothing crushing or grabbing him, no pain, nothing. What he noticed next wasn''t a feeling, but a voice, the most beautiful and melodious singing the man had ever heard reached his ears, prompting him to slowly open his eyes. What he saw was a cute petite woman with dark blue hair and a long floral dress, but what truly drew the mans gaze was the pair of beautiful white feathery wings extending from her back. As she slowly approached him the man froze, his heart pounding as he reached the only possible conclusion in this situation, that he had died and was now looking at an angel. As she reached him however, the Angel''s song continued even as she spoke with her amazing voice, "Please go to the evacuation area, it''s just ahead. The people there will protect you until the battle is over." This confused the man, as why would evacuate and need protection if he was dead? The girl however continued walking past him after saying her piece, making the man turn before being dumbfounded by what he saw. The massive tentacle was slamming against what a appeared to an invisible bubble between them, preventing his death and the destruction of the area around him. As he stood transfixed by this scene, the angel then spread her wings and took flight to the top of one of the surrounding buildings, presumedly to fight monster attacking the city. Naturally this would give the man the perfect chance to look up her dress, however he purposely avoided his gaze as he didn''t want to disrespect the Angel that saved his life that way. Eventually the man did turn towards the evacuation area while tears formed in his eyes and choked sobs escaped his throat, while he also cried out, "Grandma, the Angels are real! I swear to turn over a new leaf, I won''t waste this life of mine that they saved!" Meanwhile the ''Angel'' that had saved the man, Sun, was standing on top of one of the skyscr.a.p.ers as she looked towards Alucard with a look of defiance that didn''t match her cute appearance. On top of Alucard''s head was none other than Miyabi, who was actually a clone of the massive beast that had been created when he was originally defeated three hundred years back. Having already fused with and taken over the main body, Miyabi returned Sun''s gaze and said, "There''s a defiant one down there, huh?" Sun''s response to this was to hold up the notebook that she used to write in, which had a single sentence in it. WE, WILL BE YOUR OPPONENTS At that point Miyabi noticed seven other figures appearing as they ensured the last of the stragglers escaped what was about to become a war zone, a woman with long Crimson hair, a catlike woman with several tails, the silver haired maid that had destroyed their barrier so easily before, a petite girl with silvery blonde hair that gave him an uneasy feeling, a rabbit eared woman with light blue hair, a ponytailed swordswoman with a katana at her side, and girl with short blue hair with the wings and tail of a succubus. Naturally with the revival of Alucard, Miyabi wasn''t the least bit concerned, and his only response to their appearance was, "Oh look, some ants to crush underfoot." (A.N. Before anyone asks, no double releases are not the new regular) Chapter 332 - Ant, Meet Foot As the eight girls surrounded Alucard in a half circle, the first one to step forward was a certain light blue haired rabbit-girl, Shia. This of course didn''t go unnoticed by Miyabi, who remarked with a sneer as soon as he saw her prepare to fight, "Oh look, a fluffy little bunny rabbit." Shia''s brow twitched when she heard this, and, before her opponent could even react, there was a sudden impact right in the middle of its body, causing the chest to cave in slightly before the force of Shia''s punch sent Alucard flying backwards while the resulting shockwave shattered almost all of the windows immediately surrounding them. With Alucard''s massive body impacting the ground hard enough that their surroundings shook as if an earthquake was happening, he looked up to see Shia now above him with her feet braced against a magic circle and her legs bent as if they were a loaded spring. "How''s this for a ''fluffy little bunny rabbit''?" She muttered under her breath, before pushing off her makeshift foothold with enough force that shockwaves filled the air around her as she rocketed down towards Alucard''s body. The instant she made contact with his body there was a moment of silence, before a massive ripple spread out from the pulverized flesh of Alucard''s body that shook the surroundings several times more than when his body hit the ground, while the earth seemed to roar in response to the abuse she had inflicted on it. Even with the ground still rumbling and the buildings still shaking, Shia leapt back up to where she had started with light, "Hup!", before making a guts pose victoriously even as Alucard''s body started reforming right before them. Seemingly unconcerned about this though, Shia then shouted to the others, "Tag, you''re up!" In response two other girls stepped forward to face Alucard, one with her ponytail flowing behind her while she firmly grasped her katana, the other with her tail twitching side to side from nerves. By this point Alucard''s body had finished regenerating, except now it was more slender to seemingly make it''s movements faster and more efficient. As it returned to the battle Miyabi ignored the two new combatants and directed his gaze at Shia, his eyes narrowing in irritation towards the carefree rabbit girl as the dozen or so tentacles extending from its back rose up, and were pointed right at her. Without even a trace of worry on her face Shia laughed as the tentacles homed in on her with deadly accuracy, before they were suddenly severed and diced into pieces by the six Shizukus that suddenly appeared in front of her. "I may not be a battle junkie like some people, but even I''ll get annoyed if my opponent starts ignoring me..." She stated indignantly as Alucard turned his gaze towards her, right as they suddenly heard the shout on the other side, "PROMOTION, ''KNIGHT''!" Kurumu cried out, right before she suddenly vanished from view, even without the help of her illusions, and reappeared briefly right before several long gashed were left in Alucard''s back courtesy of her nails. With his attention turning to her though, and his tentacles already regrowing, Kurumu smiled confidently and didn''t even try to dodge the attack as one of them stabbed at her, only to phase right through her body and impale the building behind her. Immediately she suddenly reappeared once more, before doubling, then tripling, and then quadrupling. Soon the number of both Kurumus and even Shizukus quickly passed a hundred each, all darting too and fro around Alucard while Miyabi struggled to keep up with which ones were actually harming him. Eventually he just raised up both of his arms in front of him, intending to simply sweep the area with them and catch the annoying girls up in the destruction. What happened instead though was that right as he put the strength into his arms to move them, blood suddenly sprayed from the appendages before they dropped down to his sides lifelessly. It was then that Alucard heard a certain voice singing, and turned to see the siren from before directing her gaze right at him with the same intense look in her eyes. While his attention was on Shia, Shizuku, and Kurumu, Sun had used her voice to slowly deal microscopic damage to the muscles throughout Alucard''s body, before delivering the final blow right when he was about to use his large scale attack to prevent her comrades from being hurt, while also creating an opening for them to attack. Naturally Shizuku and Kurumu didn''t miss this chance, as the latter put her efforts into controlling her illusions, while the former sent all six of her clones down at Alucard''s legs to target the muscles holding it up. The result was both legs buckling as Alucard stepped towards Sun to eliminate her support, sending its massive body crashing to the earth once again. As Alucard fell once more, Shizuku and Kurumu both gathered on the same rooftop as Sun before the former said to the petite girl, "Your support is so amazing Sun! It makes me feel useless putting in all that effort for only so little damage..." As she trailed off Kurumu nodded and added while looking ruefully at her nails, "I know why you mean.... It''s hard being on the front lines against an opponent like this when all I can do is scratch them with my nails...." When she heard this however Sun quickly shook her head and exclaimed, "Not at all! The only reason I was able to do as much damage as I did was because you two had his attention the whole time while I sat back here where it was safe. Besides, I''m sure things would be different if we were allowed to finish him off instead of waiting for Moka and Alex...." As she trailed off as well the other two thought about what she said while Shizuku looked at her katana curiously, as she hadn''t used the ''Demonic Dragons Flames'' that Alex had added when he first made them. If she had used them then it was entirely possible that Alucard''s body would have been quickly engulfed by the persistent flames until nothing was left, but that wasn''t what they were asked to do. If the flat out destruction and slaughter of Alucard was their goal, then Rias, Grayfia, Kuroka, and Yue all would have also joined the fight by now instead of just trying to contain the damage. While the trio were talking though a growl that made the air vibrate tore through them, while Alucard stood once more and Miyabi said disdainfully, "Impressive skills, but unfortunately it''ll take more than a few scratches to put us down. Stop dragging this out longer than it has to be, no matter how much you struggle it''ll end the same way regardless!" To the stereotypical super villain speech, Shizuku fought the urge to sigh before she instead took a stance with her sheathed katana in front of Alucard and said, "Before we get back into it, let me try something first." Kurumu and Sun glanced at each other for a second before both girls shrugged, and stepped back to give Shizuku space. Of course when he saw her stance Alucard stated, "I already told you it''s worthless." Ignoring him Shizuku took in a deep breath, before slowly releasing it as she focused her sword intent and Spatial magic. Then, in a fraction of a second, she appeared to soundlessly teleport to another building behind Alucard while resheathing her katana with a small ''click''. Unlike Shia''s movements, which were based on explosive power and made lots of noise, Shizuku''s was silent and graceful. Her attacks left one wondering what exactly had just happened, before they finally realized they were injured. It was the same this time as, an entire second after she had resheathed her katana, there was a giant splatter of blood as a massive gash appeared across Alucard''s chest, while its left arm completely detached and fell to the streets below. Instead of looking back at the effect of her attack though, Shizuku took in a deep breath as she tried to recover the energy she used in the single attack. Naturally not just Alucard, but every one of the other members of Alex''s peerage were in awe of Shizuku''s attack as it was the single most powerful strike they had ever seen her deliver, an impressive feat for someone who was supposed to be a sneaky ninja. Predictably Alucard was nearly unfazed by the sudden attack, with the giant gash on its chest quickly closing while its arm had also started regrowing. Instead Miyabi turned towards Shizuku and said, "Once again that was impressive, but irrelevant. Perhaps to show you how meaningless your actions are, I should eliminate those civilians you''re trying so hard to protect?" As he spoke the severed arm started bubbling disgustingly, before the flesh suddenly burst open and a sea of monsters poured out that surged towards the area everyone evacuated to like a tidal wave. Seeing the horde, Kuroka said as she started moving towards them, "Finally something to do~Nya, I''ll go deal with them!" Right as the words left her mouth though, another voice suddenly answered, "Um Kuroka, could you please let me take care of them? I also want to test the results of my training!" The nekomata made a face at Anne''s request, before saying bitterly, "Whatever you say, ''Dragon Empress''~Nya." This time it was Anne''s turn to make a face at the title she had acquired recently, due to both her status as Alex''s ''official'' wife and her Dragon Slayer abilities. Putting the embarrassing title out of her mind, Anne called out to the surrounding Angels, "Spread out and funnel the approaching monsters down this street, I don''t want them trying to go around us to get to the people!" The Angels that had accompanied her, members of her Emergency Response Team, immediately flew up and took positions on the tops of the nearby buildings, where they used their mastery over light to make sure the tidal wave of monsters didn''t divert their path. As they approached with their long and slender beastial bodies, all pitch black with yellow bulbous abscesses and long lethal claws on each hand, drool dripping from their ravenous mouths as they raced towards the feast before them. Anne took in a breath and closed her eyes as she calmed her racing heart, before opening them to reveal that her pupils had become reptilian slits. Patches of scales started forming along her arms and her cheeks, while Anne''s hair and the veils and ribbons adorning her dancers outfit started floating and drifting in a wind that didn''t exist seconds before. As if in slow motion Anne stepped forward, before she suddenly rushed towards the horde of monsters while raising a whirlwind that blasted back at those standing behind her. As she quickly approached the horde Anne narrowed her eyes before muttering quietly, "Sky Dragon''s Severing Claws!" As she passed through the monsters, Anne slashed her hands to the sides while both were surrounded with razor sharp winds, shredding the monsters into pieces instantly before they also slashed and destroyed most of the area around her. When she go to the point where she was practically surrounded by the rest of the several hundred monsters, Anne stopped her charge and pivoted on one foot with the grace of a dancer, before sweeping her hands around her to create a twister that picked up and shredded the creatures surrounding her. Once the twister she had created started to settle down the area around Anne was completely cleared of any other thing, either living or inanimate, and the rest of the oncoming horde was watching her warily. Slowly Anne turned to face the creatures that hadn''t moved forward to attack yet, her still reptilian eyes focusing on them as she placed a foot forward to brace herself as she decided to wipe out as many as possible at once. She didn''t have the same magic power reserves as Alex or even the majority of his peerage, instead she was able to ''eat'' the air around her in order to refuel herself whenever she fought. The problem was that she was in the middle of a city and the air there was heavily polluted, meaning if she tried to ''eat'' it then she''d instead lose what power she had left. Instead Anne braced herself and took in as deep a breath as possible without crippling herself, and screamed as loudly as she could, "SKY DRAGON''S ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!" As she shouted a colossal vortex of air formed from her mouth as it traveled down the street into the waiting horde of monsters. It picked up everything around it, even cars, and added them to danger as the twister crashed into the horde and kept going. Whatever wasn''t immediately shredded by the razor-like blades of wind was instead battered and assaulted by the numerous debris that the roar had picked up. For as long as she could Anne maintained the roar that turned the single street into a disaster zone from all of the debris she had displaced, until finally she had to cut it off to reveal that, while she hadn''t gotten all of them, there was hardly any creatures left. Feeling a sour sensation in her nose, Anne turned away from them and ordered the accompanying Angels, "Please take care of the rest of them, I''m going back to the evacuees." With the angels moving to do as she asked, Anne looked down at her trembling hands before gripping them tightly, and muttering, "I need to get stronger!" Ever since reincarnating she had never once desired power, instead pushing herself to focus on helping others. The only times she had ever come close to pursuing power was when she accompanied Alex through the Great Labyrinths in Tortus, and when she started training herself after she gave birth to Alec and Anna. However now, looking at beings like Alucard and feeling how powerless she was in polluted places like cities, Anne resolved herself to start training from scratch with her first goal being the ability Alex had told her about, ''Dragon Force''. *** While Anne was reaffirming her intention to get stronger, Shia, Shizuku, Sun, and Kurumu were busy toying around with Alucard; where the siren would use her ''song'' to deal minute amounts of damage to his interior, while the other three would take turns attacking the exterior until the massive enemy eventually fell, before he healed and the process began all over again. As she watched Shizuku and Kurumu take their turn knocking Alucard down, Shia couldn''t help but mutter to Sun, "I can see why he''d be such an outrageous opponent to other people. He''s healed every single wound we''ve given him, no matter how severe, and he''s shown no signs of slowing down despite having to move such a large body. Even if you were several times stronger than him, Alucard would always win through attrition alone..." Though that wasn''t a problem for them, as half of their team hadn''t even moved yet and Shia herself was still feeling peachy since she hadn''t even used her magic reinforcement, she couldn''t help but admire the outrageous opponent Alucard would have been if it had faced anyone else but them. Her thoughts were then interrupted as the ground shuddered, and more of the city''s buildings were destroyed as Alucard once again went down after Shizuku replicated her earlier feat, and had severed one of its legs. As she and Kurumu rejoined her and Sun, Shizuku was panting exceptionally hard as she said, "I don''t know how many of those I''ve got left in me...." Even as she spoke Shia noticed a slight tremble to her hands due to the fact that Shizuku wasn''t used to using such power, but instead her fighting style had always relied on stealth and technique. Putting her hand on the ponytailed girls shoulder, Shia said somewhat excitedly, "It shouldn''t be much longer until Moka and Alex rejoin us, I''ll deal with him until then!" With Shizuku and Kurumu both nodding their heads in affirmation, Shia stepped forward to face Alucard once more as the rare thoughtful side she showed before disappeared, and instead the Berserker Bunny had come out to play. Leaping to another nearby building, Shia waited until Alucard was on its feet once more before Miyabi demanded, "Again? How long will it take you to understand that it''s pointless? Being persistent will only get you so far!" Shia snorted at Alucard''s taunts and instead she summoned all of her magic power, resulting in a light blue aura surrounding her that even matched some of the surrounding buildings in size, at least the ones still standing. When he saw it Miyabi raised his brows and was about to comment on the display, however Shia beat him to the punch by bracing herself and shouting, "HERE COMES THE BOOM!" Before he could even register what she said, Miyabi looked down and noticed a giant hole in the main body''s chest, before the recoil of Shia''s attack instantly demolished the building she had been standing on less than a second prior, and sent him flying backwards. This time though he didn''t even hit the ground before Shia once again charged him from behind, destroying another building and opening up another hole in his chest while sending him flying forwards this time. And then she came from the side, and then from below, and suddenly she was above him. No matter what Miyabi was unable to follow Shia''s destructive movements, as time and again she plowed right through his body while destroying more and more of their surroundings. Of course the parts that Shia blew off dissolved into more creatures like the arm and leg Shizuku severed before, but this time Yue stepped up to deal with them instead of leaving them for Anne, perhaps because she was getting bored. As he was struggling to keep up with her movements Shia suddenly appeared right in front of Miyabi, her fists balled up over her head and large smirk on her face as she shouted, "SHIA, SMAAAAASH!!!!" She then brought her hands down on top of Miyabi''s head directly, sending a shockwave downwards that made blood and flesh rupture throughout his entire body as it lifelessly slumped to the ground. The destructive bunny then leapt back onto the only building left standing around them, which was only because that was where the rest of Alex''s peerage had gathered while she rampaged. "Yosh! Let''s see how long it takes him to get back up from that one!" She cried out with a large smile while holding up a peace sign with her fingers, before Kuroka suddenly grabbed her rabbit ears and snapped, "Hey, did you perhaps forget about us while you rampaged~Nya?! Or maybe our orders not to go too seriously until Alex and Moka got here~Nya?!" Naturally Shia didn''t care about what Kuroka was saying, as she instead tried to free her captive ears while crying out, "Let go of my ears you meanie cat!" The two continued to bicker back and forth while the sludge that was previously Alucard tried to put itself back together. It was a testament to how much damage Shia had done that it was taking so long, when before he had been able to grow back entire limbs in much less than a minute. Eventually of course Alucard managed to stand once more with Miyabi''s face contorted in rage from what was happening, primarily how he was apparently not being taken seriously at all considering that Shia had essentially just been playing with him. "You worthless insects. No matter how much you try, no matter how much damage you do, I will ALWAYS get back up! The best hope for you now is to simply become food for me to help me grow even stronger!" When they heard that every girl fought the urge to roll their eyes, while Kuroka even made a comment to Shia about how he was a chuuni just like her family, which seemed to do more damage to her than anything Alucard had done all day. Before any of them stepped up to go another round with him though, all of the girls and even Alucard froze before looking skyward at the tiny dot that marked Fairy Tale''s former headquarters. Atop the floating fortress a massive cyclone of supernatural power circulated around the the transforming Moka, stupefying those who were controlling the supernatural energy from the outside. With her Shinso blood originating from Alucard himself, Moka was already inherently more powerful than a normal Shinso like Kokoa and Akua. However, when one also added in the fact that she had been gorging on Alex''s blood almost daily ever since she met him, her already ridiculous power had increased to the point where, even compared to beings like the three Dark Lords and her own father, Moka could be considered a genuine monster. Even as they helped her to integrate with her Shinso blood, the two Dark Lords and Issa couldn''t help but be amazed at the level of power Moka possessed as it swirled around her like a massive cyclone. Though they couldn''t actually see Moka herself, everyone could just barely see her outline within the vortex as what appeared to be a pair of leathery wings spread out from her back, and her red eyes glowed sinisterly. Eventually Touhou called out, "That should be enough now!" Triggering Mikogami, Issa, and Akua to release their control on the supernatural energies around Moka, right as a series of notifications also went through her mind in response to her finally integrating with her blood. [NOTICE! Shinso blood fully integrated, ''Blood Conversion'', ''Supernatural Energy Conversion'', ''Transformation'', ''Supernatural Energy Manipulation'', and ''Internal Energy Manipulation'' are all unsealed. ''Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool'', ''Superhuman Strength'', ''Automatic Regeneration'', and ''Martial Technique'' no longer weakened! New skill ''Blood Manipulation(Self)'' added!] Moka however didn''t pay any attention to the notifications, as she instead gave her body a once over to quickly admire the changes. First was the two bat-like wings that had grown from her back, each with a talon-like hook on the end to even grab things with; then there was the blackish substance that was covering her arms, legs, and even her abdomen under her clothes, even going as far as going up her neck. At first glance it appeared to be some kind of armor that formed whenever she activated her Shinso powers, the truth was though that, while it was in fact a type of armor, it was formed from her own blood that had seeped through her pores to cover her body in a protective layer. Though she could''ve spent some time admiring herself, Moka instead focused her gaze downwards where she could sense Alucard''s presence after it had been dropped. Then, without a single word to the dumbfounded spectators, she kicked off the ground and flew towards the edge of the floating fortress before plummeting below, leaving everyone else behind. There was a moment of silence before Touhou awkwardly asked no one in particular, "So, should we go as well?" With no one disagreeing, the group took one of Fairy Tale''s left over airsh.i.p.s while Akua did as Alex taught her, and summoned the mist to enter Asora with the dragons to find Bova before rejoining her family. Moka meanwhile was rushing to the ground as quickly as possible with her sight dead set on Alucard, before she flipped and, faster than he could have reacted, delivered the mother of all heel drops onto Alucard''s shoulder. As if in slow motion, Moka''s attack tore it''s way downwards through Alucard''s body, then it''s leg, before it finally impacted the ground beneath them, making the entire area around them shake for the umpteenth time that day. As Alucard''s giant body fell to one knee from the damage done to only one leg, Miyabi glared at Moka before spitting out, "Of course, Akasha''s daughter is here now!" Moka''s eyes narrowed as he mentioned her mother, before she suddenly reappeared right in front of Miyabi himself and said, "This is for my mother!" The top of her foot then impacted the side of Miyabi''s face with enough force that Alucard''s entire body was then sent flying to the side. As he tried to recover from that attack Moka rushed him once more, except this time, instead of one of her signature kicks, Moka held one of her hands out in the shape of a claw while blood oozed out from her pores to form an actual claw on the tip of each finger. Using her newfound claws, Moka then literally tore through Alucard''s flesh with extreme prejudice, and precision, leaving several long tracks of torn flesh even though Alucard simply quickly healed these as well. After several flybys with her claws Moka took a step back as Alucard slowly recovered, before Miyabi snapped, "I must admit that you''re even more ferocious than Akasha, her biggest weak point was always her kindness!" Moka''s brow twitched at the second mention of her mother, but she did nothing Alucard stood once more, before she suddenly clenched her hand. "How''s this for ''ferocious''?" She spat back, right as Alucard''s body suddenly seemed to start tearing itself open from the inside out as the blood she injected during her previous attacks literally shredded him from the inside out, while a spike of blood even shot directly out of Miyabi''s mouth just to shut him up. As Miyabi was trying to figure out how to deal with this new form of attack, as he had always been the one to corrupt from the inside and not the other way around, Rias stepped forward and said to Moka, "I know you''d probably like to fight by yourself for a while, but the rest of us are getting bored you know. Don''t worry, we won''t kill him just yet!" With Moka nodding in agreement, the rest of the girls stepped up as well, with Yue, Kuroka, and even Grayfia showing sinister smiles for finally getting their turn to fight. Miyabi was naturally about to give them some speech about how useless it was when he saw them all preparing to fight, but whatever he was about to say was caught in his throat when suddenly the entire left side of his upper chest disappeared along with his shoulder and even part of his arm. It hadn''t been smashed or attacked in a similar manner as before, but, as far as he could tell, it had simply been erased altogether so that there was not a single trace left. He didn''t get long to try and figure out what happened though, as his entire right leg suddenly started freezing until a pillar of ice several dozen feet thick had it trapped, while a mass of blackish energy suddenly assaulted his right arm, destroying it as well. The next thing Miyabi saw was a kimono wearing cat girl with four tails floating in front of him, who sneered sadistically before saying, "Ant, meet foot~Nya!" *** After thoroughly disciplining Gyokuro, Alex took her to Asora and entrusted her to Venri''s supervision while leaving her with a brand new slave mark, her new maid outfit, and a cheery red butt from all of the spankings he gave her. After stopping long enough to make sure Bova was taking care of the new dragons, Alex then left to rejoin the fight against Alucard, only to find pure destruction waiting for him. "What the hell happened here?" Alex wondered out loud, as he thought that the girls would at least try to avoid causing damage to the city while they fought. Naturally it didn''t take him long to figure out where everyone was, as he only had to follow the sounds of destruction to find them. Soon he was greeted by what was truly the most pathetic of sights, which was the girls mercilessly toying with a giant formless lump of flesh that was supposed to the world''s incarnation of death and destruction, Alucard. Off to the side was Touhou, Mikogami, and the Shuzens watching on as the two Dark Lords wondered what they had even been concerned about to begin with. As he approached Alex called out, "Having fun I see." For the most part the girls turned and casually welcomed him, but Kuroka leapt into Alex''s arms while asking with a large smile, "Alex, can we keep him around for a punching bag~Nya?!" This made Alex smile wryly while Touhou and Mikogami looked as if they both suffered critical damage from Kuroka''s comment, to which he answered, "Sorry, but after one last thing I plan to kill him." Her ears drooped sadly in response to Alex''s words, as she felt that something that didn''t die no matter how much they damaged it would be great to use for training. He then continued his approach to Alucard''s body unimpeded as the rest of the girls cleared a path until the last one was Moka, who''s hand Alex grabbed gently before asking, "How do you feel?" Moka was staring intently at the lump of flesh that was Alucard, before she finally said, "Better, but no matter how much I hurt him it won''t bring her back..." Alex smiled wryly and planted a kiss on the top of Moka''s head, before saying softly, "No, but maybe this will." Moka looked at him sharply as Alex continued forward, while Miyabi''s face glared at him hatefully as he pulled out a certain object from his pocket, Moka''s rosary. No one understood what Alex was doing, until he pressed the rosary against the side of Alucard''s flesh, and it suddenly shined with a brilliant pink light. From the point that the rosary contacted, Alucard''s body suddenly surged upwards as it formed what almost appeared to be a chrysalis upon a mountain of flesh, while six giant vampiric wings spread out behind it. The chrysalis then peeled back like the petals of a flower to reveal a certain pink haired woman within, who almost seemed like the more mature version of ''outer'' Moka. The moment they saw her everyone''s eyes widened as Issa and Moka''s both started tearing up slightly, before the silver haired vampiress muttered in disbelief, "Mother...?" Akasha slowly opened her eyes before she looked around curiously, before her gaze landed on her daughter. "Moka...." Akasha said as her own eyes started tearing up, a large smile appearing on her beautiful face before she continued, "You''ve grown so much...." Moka laughed lightly while also trying, and failing, to hold back her tears as she said, "I missed you so much..." Akasha''s smile widened and she tried to say something else, before Alex suddenly interjected, "Sorry to ruin this reunion, but if Akasha is to stay permanently then we should move." When they heard this Moka looked at Alex in shock, while Akasha looked at him curiously before saying, "I can see some of the memories left over in my rosary, you''re Alex right?" Alex nodded and said while flying up to where Akasha was, "Yes, and I can use certain magics that''ll possibly sever your connection to Alucard, freeing you from his control." Akasha smiled sadly in response to what he said, and replied, "While I do appreciate the thought, my body and soul are irreversibly connected to Alucard''s, even the me here right now is just a shadow of my former self." Alex smirked knowingly when he heard that though, and said, "That''s what the rosary is for, and have faith that I''ll succeed, either version of Moka will tell you that the word ''impossible'' doesn''t apply to me!" Though he was just boasting, when she checked her own doubles memories and glanced down at Moka, Akasha was surprised to see that both girls believed in him wholeheartedly. Eventually she nodded in agreement, before saying, "Then I leave myself in your care." Alex didn''t waste any time as he reached out and grasped Akasha''s arm, before pulling on her gently. As he did so he used his Alteration magic to manipulate the flesh binding her to Alucard''s body, and his Spirit magic to sever the spiritual connection between the two. Within moments Akasha''s body came free of Alucard''s hold, shocking her quite a bit as she tightly grabbed onto Alex''s body, making both Issa and Moka twitch their brows in annoyance. Slowly Alex drifted down to the ground with Akasha in his embrace, before passing her to Kuroka immediately once his feet touched the ground and saying, "Use your Spirit magic to merge what''s left of Akasha''s soul with the fragments in the rosary, if everything goes well then her soul will fully recover with a few follow up treatments." With the last part directed at Moka and Issa, the father-daughter duo let out a sigh of relief before rushing over to Akasha''s side while Alex turned back towards Alucard. Miyabi had just been silently watching the whole scene unfold from the side, before saying as Alex approached, "So now what, it''s your turn to fight me?" Alex just smile wryly and said, "Not exactly. First I''ll destroy your soul, leaving your body a soulless husk, then I''ll use a special type of flame that''ll destroy your entire body without letting you regenerate, ending the legacy of both Dracula and Alucard forever." Miyabi''s eyes widened when he heard Alex use his former name, before he muttered somewhat sadly, "Dracula....that''s a name I haven''t heard in a long time...." He then looked sadly at Akasha before adding, "You know, what comes next wouldn''t be so bad if I had some company for old times sake...." Though he was essentially asking for Akasha''s soul to be destroyed as well, Alex knew it was because it was from Akasha''s insistence that Alucard self destructed in the original timeline along with her, Touhou, and Mikogami. In response he just simply placed his hand against Miyabi''s forehead and said, "Maybe, but she deserves to have some happiness for a change, without her life being bound to yours." Miyabi didn''t say anything in response to this, and simply closed his eyes one last time before Alex pulled out his soul and used his ''Soul Break'' on him, leaving Alucard''s body an empty husk. He then used his magic to make a giant pit before throwing the giant corpse within, and using his ''Demonic Dragons Breath'' to destroy every last bit of it. As the body burned someone approached Alex from behind, making him turn to see Issa standing there nervously before saying, "Thank you, for everything. I never thought I''d see Akasha again, let alone get the chance to be with her once more. As a father I''d be honored to g-give you m-my d-daughter...." Struggling with his last few words before trailing off slightly, Issa looked as if he swallowed a bug before grimacing slightly, his fatherly instincts pushing him to fight Alex for trying to take Moka. However, due to everything Alex had done for them, he forced these feelings down and gave them his blessing for their relationship, only for Alex to look exceptionally nervous as he responded with, "I *cough cough*-s....." Issa looked at Alex with confusion and asked with what he hoped was an amicable smile, "I''m sorry, what was that?" Alex however looked around awkwardly as he repeated, "I said that ''I think you mean......." Trailing off in a voice so low Issa couldn''t hear him, the vampires amicable smile twitched as he asked once again, "I didn''t catch that then either." Finally Alex looked as if he was resolving himself, and he finally said, "I said '' think you mean daughterS'', as in plural..." His expression freezing, Issa could only ask, "Huh?", right as both Kokoa and Akua walked to Alex''s side for him to put an arm around them. Akua then said, "This is a bit late father, but Kokoa and I have made the decision to join Alex''s harem." When he heard his daughter''s confirmation Issa face suddenly turned a deep Crimson as he glared at Alex for daring to take not one, not two, but THREE of his daughters. Before he could say anything though, a new voice cried out, "Hey wait! Why does it feel like I''m being left out!" The now awake Kahlua pouted, not really understanding what was going on, but only knowing that her sisters were leaving her out of something. Akua then piped up once more before anyone else could, "You can join as well you know Kahlua, even if he had a thousand beauties in his harem this guy will still welcome anyone with open arms." Though she wasn''t entirely accurate, Alex didn''t bother trying to correct Akua''s statement as Kahlua immediately brightened up and ran over to his side to join them, before she got a thoughtful look and asked, "By the way, what does it mean to be in a harem?" Akua''s expression turned into a mischievous grin as she leaned forward and started whispering into her sister''s ear, making Kahlua''s face immediately turn red for an entirely different reason than Issa''s, though his had turned to more of a deep purple by the point. "You little shit, wanting to take ALL of my daughters! WHY I''M GONNA-" what Issa was gonna do they never got to hear, as at that moment, as everything started winding down, a sudden notice brought everyone''s gazes skywards where a massive portal had suddenly opened. "What the hell?" Mikogami muttered while everyone looked upwards in confusion, however after a few seconds Alex''s expression changed into one of recognition along with that of Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, Shia, and Shizuku''s. As if to confirm their suspicions Anne immediately arrived and demanded, "Is that what I think it is?!" Alex only nodded slowly as what appeared to be an entire fleet of spacesh.i.p.s started coming through the massive portal, before saying, "Another reincarnator is here." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Moka Akashiya Race: Shinso Vampire Job: Apprentice Martial Artist: 25 Jobs Available: Martial Artist, Kick Fighter, Subordinate Vampire Princess, Undying Warrior, Blood Warrior Job History: Passive Skills: Blood conversion: Level 3 Enlarged Supernatural Energy Pool: Level 8 Supernatural Energy Conversion: Level 2 Superhuman Strength: Level 3 Automatic Regeneration: Level 4 Water Resistance: Level 3 Mental Resistance: Level 1 Active Skills: Vampiric Charm: Level 2 Transformation: Level 1 Martial Technique: Level 4 Supernatural Energy Manipulation: Level 2 Internal Energy Manipulation: Level 1 Blood Manipulation(self): Level 1(Allows the user to completely manipulate only their own blood wether it is inside or outside their body. If it is injected into another person then the user is able to either control the infected person or damage them from the inside.) Unique Abilities: Shinso Form Immense Supernatural Energy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 333 - Fury As he watched roughly a dozen spacesh.i.p.s make their way through the massive portal Alex''s heart stated thundering in his chest, both from excitement, and even a little fear. No matter what world you visited there were several ''rules'' in place regarding the inhabitants and what they were able to do. One example of this was the world of Dragon Ball, where every single powerful person without fail was a type of martial arts master, even down to the gods of Destruction. This was a large part of why the saiyan people like Goku and Vegeta were able to become so powerful compared to their comrades and allies, as saiyans were the most convenient race when it came to martial potential, actual combat, and adaptability. In comparison you then had the world of Tortus, where people were able to become powerful physically, but the true value in combat was magic power potential and attributes. Compared to a world like Dragon Ball where one could get strong enough to rearrange an entire planet with nothing but their fists, on Tortus people that fought physically with martial arts or weapons were usually assigned to the vanguard to protect the magicians, who would then decide the outcome of the battle with their spells. Then you had worlds like Rosario Vampire, where magic did exist as Youjutsu, but only a select few species or individuals were even capable of using it, let alone mastering it. And even though ''magic'' did exist in the Rosario Vampire world, it was nothing like the magic of Tortus where spells mostly consisted of things like throwing fire, lightning, or ice at each other; while in this world spells usually referred to things like seals or barriers, while the only ones capable of using fire, ice, or lightning were those who were born able to, like the kitsune, Yuuki-onna, and Raiju respectively. What made the reincarnators so terrifying was that these rules didn''t apply to them, or those they brought with them like Alex had with Asora. Even if there was a world where it was truly impossible for magic to even exist, a single reincarnator could live like a god if they wished by using their magic that none could defend against or fight. Or, they could have chosen certain abilities or items that were unavailable in whatever world they were in, such as the ''Murasame'' that the one reincarnator had tried to use on Alex before, which was a sword that would instantly kill any who just barely grazed its edge. This was why Alex couldn''t help but become both excited and even slightly afraid of the upcoming fight, if the other reincarnator''s entrance was anything to go by, as he had no idea what abilities his opponent would have. Of course it was his saiyan blood that was pounding in excitement at the fight before him, whereas his fear came not from the possibility of dying itself, but of possibility of leaving behind his wives and children if he did die, and if the Age of Gods magics were unable to revive him due to him and Anne being reincarnators. Pushing these thoughts out his head, Alex turned towards the group gathered around him and said to those who didn''t know, "Ok so a quick rundown, Anne and I are reincarnators that can travel to different worlds but there is another thousand or so of us and we''re part of basically a big battle royal. This is the arrival of at least one of the other reincarnators, who it''s safe to assume that he intends to attack us. "I''m going to attack the flagship since that''s the most likely place that the other reincarnator is going to be, I want everyone else to keep the other sh.i.p.s occupied so that they don''t harm the civilians. Kurumu I want you to return to Asora to put Vali and Sairaorg on standby in case they''re needed, and then get Hajime and Barakiel along with some of his fallen angels so that they can examine these spacesh.i.p.s once the fight is over." As Alex paused to take a breath and Kurumu left to do as he asked, he was about to continue when he suddenly heard a cold feminine voice in his head, ''You''re the one who runs around calling himself the "Dragon Emperor", right?'' Though it wasn''t strange for Alex to hear voices in his head with Lauren and Ddraig around, the fact that he didn''t recognize this voice immediately sent alarm bells through his head as he suspected that it was the other reincarnator. Instead, Alex heard Lauren''s voice say almost immediately in response, ''Elaine? What are you doing on this channel?'' After her another voice that was annoyingly familiar to Alex piped up, ''Yeah, you''re not supposed to swap to other channels and talk to different contestants. Besides, since when did YOU start talking to men?'' Ignoring the fact that Jenny had also intruded into Alex''s channel, which wasn''t too bad considering Alex and Anne were ''friends'' on the system, Lauren then continued, ''You know there''ll be repercussions if you do anything to affect the outcome of their fight.'' The new addition to Alex''s headspace then immediately replied, ''I don''t care anymore, this just has to end! And I much rather had gone to Jenny''s girl Anne, but I didn''t want to risk the same thing happening to her as the last one.'' This specifically caught Alex''s attention, as he asked with some alarm, ''What happened to her?'' Elaine was silent for a moment before answering with an annoyed voice, ''The same thing that''s happened to every girl that my contestant''s taken a liking to, and the reason I want you to kill him.'' The ''Angel'' then went on to explain exactly what abilities the new reincarnator had, and how he had used them. As he listened to her Alex''s expression turned steadily darker, while his excitement quickly turned into a cold and raw fury. *** Meanwhile that same reincarnator was looking through the massive window on the front of his spaceship, the only thing he was wearing being a black and pink robotic suit that''s left certain areas of his body exposed, with not a single stitch of clothing underneath. Looking down he expected to see an academy for monster students below him where he intended to acquire the next addition to his growing collection of f.u.c.k toys, but instead he saw the ruins of an entire modern city. With his hands balled into fists and shaking at his sides, the fat man started shouting while stomping his feet, "NO NO NO NO! THIS ISN''T HOW IT''S SUPPOSED TO BE!" The world he had intended to go to was that of the anime Rosario Vampire, a world filled with fanservice, panty shots, hot girls, and the occasional fight scene. Naturally devastation like that before him didn''t match the ''happy-go-lucky'' world he was after, and with each passing second of looking at the scene below him, his rage increased. "Maybe there was a mistake." One of the surrounding girls quickly said as she cautiously approached his side. She had short cut pink hair, a devilish tail extending from right above her pert rump, and her decently sized b.r.e.a.s.ts were completely on display since she and the rest of the girls present were either entirely n.a.k.e.d, or dressed in e.r.o.t.i.c cosplay. Momo Aster Deviluke, youngest of the three Devilukian princesses, moved a bit closer to him and continued, "Or perhaps something happened before we got here-" SMACK! In response to her attempt to give him advise, the fat man swung around and backhanded the princess with all of his strength, sending her falling to the ground with a red hand print already forming. He then screamed at her with a deep red face, "DIDN''T YOU EVEN BOTHER TO CONSIDER THAT I''D THINK OF THAT?! IF I WANTED SOME ADVICE THEN I''D ASK FOR IT, AND CERTAINLY NOT FROM THE ''WHORE OF DEVILKUE''!" He then turned his attention towards another woman, except this one had been stripped n.a.k.e.d with both her arms and legs shackled so that they were spread apart, while a pair of giant vibrating dildos were constantly being mechanically pistoned into both her asshole and p.u.s.s.y as a couple of weighted piercings hung from her painfully stretched n.i.p.p.l.es. As if that wasn''t enough, her blonde hair that she usually kept back in a short and firm ponytail had been forcefully hacked short and was badly matted, while a blindfold covered her eyes and her mouth was filled with a ball-gag. Beth tensed as she heard the man''s bare feet slap the metric floor, before he immediately placed one ageist the machine that was constantly violating her and shoved it forwards as hard as possible. PHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! The ball-gag whistled as Beth tried to scream in pain, but there was nothing she could do to fight it as his fist then impacted her belly while screaming, "YOU BITCH!!!" "WHORE!!!" "S.L.U.T!!!" "YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G CUNT, CUNT CUUUUUUUUUUNT!!!" With each Insult the fat man either kicked or punched Beth in places that he knew would hurt the most, even going as far as to grab the weighted piercings and ripping them from her chest. Of course he knew about her accelerated regenerative ability, and didn''t bother minding how much damage he did to her because he knew she could simply recover only for him to repeat the cycle all over again. The reason he blamed Beth for his current situation was because it had been her saved up ability to transfer world''s that had brought them there. He had told her that they were to transfer to the world of Rosario Vampire, and that the time and location was to be where Moka Akashiya was right before she began school. Instead, they had appeared right in the middle of what appeared to be a battlefield, while his target woman was nowhere to be seen. "U-um..." "WHAT?!" The fat man roared as he turned to look at the one who interrupted his tantrum, Momo''s oldest sister Lala. Like her sister Lala had a black devilish tail and pink hair, except hers went down to her waist instead of being cut short like her sisters, and her figure and natural charm was great enough that she had literally once drawn potential suitors from all over the universe. Flinching slightly at the man''s shout, Lala pointed nervously at the large window at the front of the ship, and said, "There''s some people there..." As she pointed the window zoomed in on the area she was indicating, revealing a solitary group of people amidst the ruins of the city. When he saw them the fat man completely forgot about Beth, as he instead ran his gaze longingly and in awe of the women below, the majority of which he never expected to find in this world. "Rias...." He murmured as his eyes ran over the Crimson haired woman''s body and he started to mentally undress her, his exposed manhood becoming excited as he anticipated playing with the real thing. Beside her was also two of the women he sought the most from her world, the stoic and serious maid Grayfia, and the mischievous cat Kuroka. Along with them was another trio of girls he never expected to find, the petite vampire princess Yue, the rabbit girl Shia, and, curiously enough, the ponytailed beauty that was Shizuku, all hailing from the anime Arifureta. And there to the side was one of the very women he had specifically come to get, her silver hair flowing as she looked up at him. What he found curious though was that next to Moka was a red headed woman that could only be her little sister Kokoa, but she seemed several years older than she should have been. And along with them was a pink haired woman lying on the ground who looked like a second mature ''outer'' Moka ,as well as two tanned women, one dressed like an exotic dancer while the other was in a flowing white dress, and then finally a back haired woman in Chinese garb next to them. Though he didn''t know who these last women were, the man couldn''t help but anticipate having them all m.o.a.ning beneath him as they slowly became addicted to his c.o.c.k as well. It wasn''t until then that he even noticed any of the men down there among them, starting with the only one he recognized, the mysterious robed headmaster of Youkai Academy. Then there was the noble looking man with black hair and looks similar to the girl with Chinese clothes, and the pretty boy looking one next to him and the headmaster. Finally his gaze settled on the last man present, one who appeared to be looking directly at him with a look of absolute fury. The moment the fat man matched gazes with this person his own blood started to boil, as it wasn''t an accident that the women of three different worlds were present together, and so the only reasonable explanation was that someone else brought them together, another man. Though he had no idea who this man was the fat man could tell immediately that he was another reincarnator like himself, and, most unforgivably of all, he had laid his hands on HIS property. He wasn''t the only one angry though. Rumble rumble rumble rumble- As the duo seemingly made eye contact a low rumble started to fill the air, and those gathered around Alex started backing away slightly with their eyes wide at his reaction. It was only matter of seconds before he was suddenly enveloped in a brilliant golden energy as bolts of lightning began arcing off of him, making everyone clear out even faster as his power suddenly surged and the earth started fracturing beneath him. Back on the space ship there was a series of screams from the girls as the power radiating off of Alex short circuited some of the machines, and the ship itself seemed to start rumbling even though he had yet to move from his original position. The same phenomenon occurred throughout the entire fleet as Alex''s raw energy assaulted them mercilessly as the direct targets of his rage, while the fat man stared out the window with a mix of horror and awe at the presence of a real super saiyan. He didn''t get long to gawk though, as the next thing he new the window he was staring out of shattered inwards as Alex suddenly appeared right before him in an instant. "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!" The fat man squealed as he tried to crawl away to hide behind the girls, fully prepared to make them fight on his behalf. Alex however didn''t spare him more than a single glance as he instead directed his intention to the beaten and still bloody woman nearby, Beth. Elaine had told him about how her contestant, the fat man, had used Beth''s students against her to force her into submission, before he then imprisoned and cruelly had his way with her. As if that wasn''t enough though, he had then passed her around to the various men and officials that she had made into her enemies throughout her years as a Pandora, as a gesture of goodwill towards them to earn their support even as he attacked their world. In an instant Alex appeared next to the now unconscious girl and began removing her restraints along with the toys that were still mercilessly violating her. Then, despite the fact that she had her own regenerative ability, he used Regeneration magic to restore her body to its prime condition before the fat man had ever laid his filthy hands on her, before summoning a blanket to cover her n.a.k.e.d body and put a layer between her and cold metallic floor. Though he somewhat regretted doing so, he also added his slave mark to the back of her hand since he wanted to make sure that she didn''t do anything stupid before they had a chance to talk, and after everything she''d been through there was no guarantee that she''d listen to anything he had to say otherwise. Though his attention was focused on Beth, Alex kept an eye on the girls surrounding him and the fat man through his ''Domain'', and when he finished taking care of her he turned to face them directly, his expression one of pure murder as he focused on the fat man. Seeing the way Alex looked at him though, the fat man recovered some of his earlier bravado and demanded, "What''s that look for?! You''re just a stupid lowly saiyan! You''re nothing before the all powerful ability of Neotare!" As if his final word was the signal to attack, the closest of the surrounding girls, Lala, immediately closed the distance between them and attacked. "Take this!" The pink haired girl cried out as she swung her fist at his face. As the daughter of the former King of Deviluke Lala had been the one to inherit most of his innate strength among the three sisters, which was enough to allow him to end the galactic war spanning the universe before ruling over it himself. However in her current state along with Alex''s own rage fueled strength, her fist merely thudded against his chest anticlimactically before Alex raised a single finger to her forehead. "Sleep." He said while using his Spirit magic, making the pink haired girl instantly collapse in his arms as he gently lowered her to the floor, copying his earlier actions with Beth as he used Regeneration magic to erase the bruises and scars that were a record of the ruthless abuse she had endured until now. Wrapping her in a blanket as well, Alex then turned to his next opponent and said in a calm voice that didn''t match the rage he felt, "Come." One by one he faced the girls that the fat man had amassed for his own personal guard, making them all sleep before removing all of the signs of abuse they had acc.u.mulated and wrapping them up in a blanket. His opponents included the human weapon duo of ''Golden Darkness'' Yami and the ''Red Haired'' Mea, the younger twin sisters of Lala, Momo and the petite Nana, the ghost girl given a physical body Oshizu, and even a black haired woman that had been an actress on their version of earth, ''Magical Girl'' Kyoko. Then he also faced a variety of girls from an entirely different world, Pandoras of the world Freezing. Amongst them was the ''Smiling Monster'' Chiffon Fairchild, the ''Untouchable Queen'' Satellizer El Bridget, ''The Empress'' Elizabeth Mably, and Rana Linchen. There was also several other women that made frequent appearances from the series, such at Chiffon''s friend Ticy Phenyl, and Elizabeth''s followers Arnett McMillen, Attia Simmons, and Cleo Brand. Though he had definitely taken more Pandora from the world of Freezing, Alex had no doubt they were spread out amongst the rest of the spacesh.i.p.s ready to move at the fat mans command. As for the ones he did fight, Alex could only feel pity for them as they went down easily against him. He knew they, along with several of the girls he fought from the To Love Ru universe, were definitely stronger than what they were displaying against him, but the continuous physical and mental abuse they had been enduring had worn on them heavily. As a result it only took a couple minutes for all of them to fall against him, with the only thing extending the length of the fights being the care Alex showed for them before moving on to his next opponent. As he watched his playthings fall one after another before him, the fat man''s expression turned murderous before he spat as Alex started walking towards him, "Useless, all of them!" He then grabbed the only woman left standing by the hair, the only noncombatant present since she was personal attendant, Yuuki Mikan, and threw her at Alex as well while he turned and tried to run the other way. Alex caught the poor twelve year old girl and treated her the same way he treated the rest, before using Spatial magic to appear directly in front of the fat man. "Did you really think you''d amount to anything like this?!" He spat at him, to which the fat man sneered and replied, "Don''t you dare talk down to me! I have the power of Neotare, I AM INVICIBLE! BEG ME FOR FORGIVENESS WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" Alex''s only response too this, was of course to punch the fat mans body as hard as possible. As his fist connected with the thick layer of fat covering him though, something utterly idiotic happened. Alex''s punch was strong enough that he could alter entire landscapes with it and destroy almost anything it impacted, however when his fist hit the fat man Alex saw the fat beneath his skin ripple before the fat man was sent flying away. He then bounced off of the walls and ceiling almost like a rubber ball, before coming to stop a ways away from Alex. When he saw that he was unharmed, the fat man started laughing and shouted, "See! The power of Neotare is unbeatable! Not even a super saiyan or the all mighty king of Deviluke was able to fight it, as his own family killed him once I gave the order! NOW BOW DOWN TO ME!" Again Alex sneered at the fat man''s demand, except this time he didn''t say anything. Instead Alex instantly appeared directly behind him, before seizing the fat man by the neck and lifting him into the air as he kicked helplessly. "U-unhand me!" He choked out while his face started turning to a deeper red. He then tried to use the mechanized suit he had acquired while in Freezing to fight back, but was naturally unable to do so since it was the suit ''Eros'', and had no offensive capabilities whatsoever unless the user had performed a ''Heart Hybrid''. As he slowly choked the life of the man in his grasp, Alex spat at him, "You deserve to burn in hell for what you''ve done, but since I''m not sure any of us can even go to heaven or hell, I''ll just have to emulate it as best as possible!" Before the fat man could even register what Alex was talking about, he suddenly felt an intense pain as Alex set him aflame in his grasp. "AHHHHHHHH!" The fat man screamed as the fire consumed his flesh, the agony lasting several times longer than it should have as Alex used Regeneration magic to ensure that the nerve endings in his body felt every single bit of pain for as long as possible. Slowly the fire ate through the layers of fat and flesh, until, after several pain filled minutes, the fat man''s corpse went still as the life finally left it. When he saw that Alex shook his head and said to himself, "We can''t have that, and this is a perfect chance to try that out." Due to their positions as reincarnators Alex had never been sure if using Regeneration and Spirit magic would bring him and Anne back like it would anyone else. Naturally he had never even considered testing this out on either one of them, but with a perfect specimen right in front of him Alex couldn''t resist and tested it out. "W-what?! What happened?!" The fat man jerked awake as he suddenly found himself not burning like he had thought, but still alive and well within Alex''s grasp. Ok, maybe not well then. As he was trying to figure out what happened, Alex gave him an unsettling smile and said, "Welcome back, and thank you for being my lab rat! Let''s do that again shall we?" The fat man paled as he realized he wasn''t just imagining that he had been set on fire before, as Alex mercilessly did so again without hesitation and the ship was filled it''s his screams once more. *** After the fat man died a second time, Alex didn''t concern himself any more with him since there was other things to worry about. As the already burnt remains turned to dust and vanished, he called Grayfia to his side and within seconds the ever reliable maid was there. "How''s the situation outside?" He immediately asked, making Grayfia raise her brows. He had never told them what exactly had set him off, but seeing the surge of power that came from him and how angry Alex had become, they had decided the best to do was wait until he gave them new orders. After explaining so he nodded and said, "Pass along the word, any women aboard the spacesh.i.p.s are to be treated with care and taken to the space-time orb for treatments with Spirit and Regeneration magics. Any men aboard them however, apprehend with extreme prejudice. A quick death is too good for anyone who worked with this man." Chapter 334 - Aftermath After Grayfia relayed his orders to the rest of the girls, she and Alex then made their way through the rest of the spaceship to find those he knew were still conscious within through his ''Domain''. As could be expected, once the man who had abused them died the girls who were still conscious were free of the influence of his Neotare, and were suffering from the reality that they had suffered until then. "Yuuki-Kun? Oh god, what have I done?!" Cried out a human girl with shoulder length blue hair and purple eyes, named Sairenji Haruna. "Rito? Ren? Where are you?" Called out a girl with longer light green hair, member of the planet Memorze royal family, Run Elsie Jewelria. Her pink eyes appeared lifeless as she searched for the man she loved and her long dead twin brother, the one person who had always been with her since birth. "Oh Saibai, Rito, how can you ever forgive me?!" Cried out a mature woman with shoulder length orange hair and yellow eyes, none other than mother of the same Yuuki Rito that the women around them cried out for as well as the young girl the fat man threw at him earlier, Yuuki Mikan. Everywhere the duo went was filled with women who were distraught and panicking at the things they had done and the people they had lost, until Alex put them to sleep similarly to those he had fought earlier. Of course he also treated the signs of abuse they had as well as wrapping them all in blankets due to their n.a.k.e.dness. After he treated them Grayfia would then take them to the area of the spaceship where the rest of the women were sleeping peacefully, before rejoining him as he was treating the next one. Eventually he reached what appeared to be the main bedroom, where Alex found one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen completely n.a.k.e.d on the bed with a chain shackled to one of her ankles. She was none other than the former queen of Deviluke and mother of Lala, Nana, and Momo, Sephie Michaela Deviluke. In her normal state of mind she most likely would have noticed Alex approaching and attempted to cover her face to avoid inducing l.u.s.t in him thanks to her ability as a Charmian, instead she could only cry out while looking at her empty hands, "Oh Gid, what have I done?!" As she cried he put her to sleep as well before removing the shackles and wrapping her up, while also summoning a veil to cover her face. With Sephie being the last person on the ship needing his attention, Alex carried her to the rest himself where Grayfia was also waiting. Seeing all of the women that had been treated horribly by the one man, Grayfia felt a intense disgust that only increased when she thought of being beside them. Following Alex''s orders, she then took the women directly to the space-time orb for treatment while some of the other girls did the same with the pandoras they had fought outside, and the others rounded up the men that had been manning the other sh.i.p.s. With the women taken for treatment and the men responsible being taken to the place that he instructed the girls, Alex then tried to take a moment to close his eyes and calm himself from the mental stresses of the day. Naturally it was difficult for him to do so within the same spaceship that so many atrocities had taken place, but eventually he heard Hajime''s voice say, "So this is the spaceship? I''m looking forward to tearing this apart!" Alex opened his eyes to find Hajime looking around in awe as Barakiel stood nearby with half a dozen other fallen angels behind him, while Kurumu made her way to him with an uneasy look on her face. "So you want us to examine every inch of these sh.i.p.s?" Barakiel asked curiously, to which Alex nodded as he stood and said, "Yes, and then afterwards I want you to destroy all of them." This suprised not just Barakiel, but the fallen angels and Hajime as well before the latter demanded, "Why would we just destroy all of these amazing sh.i.p.s?!" Instead of Alex answering however, Kurumu piped up, "I don''t know what it is, but there''s something I don''t like about this place." Alex grimaced as he realized that Kurumu, as a succubus which was sensitive to the energies of l.u.s.t and love, must have instinctively realized what had taken place there. Piggybacking off of her words, he added, "Several terrible things took place here. If you wish you can dismantle it, strip it for pieces and scrap the rest, or melt the entire thing down for the metal, I don''t care. I just don''t want any one of these sh.i.p.s to be left intact once you''ve learned everything you can about the technology on them." Leaving those words, Alex then left with Kurumu as they returned to where Mikogami, Touhou, Akasha, Issa, and his daughters were waiting. "What was that about?" Touhou asked curiously, as when the spacesh.i.p.s first arrived Alex had seemed excited and was planning for an actual battle. But then he had gotten angry seemingly out of nowhere, and had stormed off by himself only to return looking as if he had eaten sour gr.a.p.es. Not wanting to go into details too much, Alex simply said, "This man was nothing like I thought and hoped, and now I just want to rest." Though Touhou wanted to press further, Mikogami spoke over him and said, "Aye, and now we have the truth regarding monsters being out in the open as well." Alex nodded in acknowledgment of what Mikogami said, and stated since he had one more thing to do, "Then you and Touhou are up. Go and address the issue, and I''ll clean up here before going to rest." Before anyone could say anything else, Alex summoned his Boosted Gear and started floating upwards. Alex almost chuckled despite everything when he heard this, and replied, "I''ve been neglecting you Ddraig." The Heavenly Dragon chuckled when Alex mentioned neglecting him, and stated, Cutting off his ''boosts'', Alex then created a magic circle in his right hand filled with Regeneration magic. Transferring the power saved up in the Boosted Gear directly into the magic circle, it immediately swelled to cover the entire ruined city. Not just the group he just left, but all of the people that Anne had evacuated earlier watched in awe as the light of the magic circle covered them, before there a was a low rumble. As if time itself was rewinding they watched as the buildings that made up their once thriving city began to float in the air, before piecing themselves back together as if nothing happened. Within moments the entire city that had been completely destroyed had been restored to how it looked before anyone had evacuated, making everyone almost wonder if they had been dreaming what had happened earlier, if it wasn''t for the figure that still seemed to be glowing in the sky. Ignoring the gazes of the people below, Alex gestured to the girls to join him while saying, "Let''s return to Asora." As Kurumu, Kokoa, and Akua with Kahlua in her arms joined him, Alex gave one last nod to the four people gathered beneath them, before summoning the mist that brought them directly to the Misty Manor. The moment they appeared within its halls Venri was there to greet them by saying, "Welcome home master, I''m sure the day''s events must have been tiring for you." Figuring Grayfia must have already filled her in on what happened, Alex immediately asked, "Any news?" Venri nodded and stated, "Yes, all of the women that were victims were brought within the space-time orb and are undergoing various treatments with Spirit and Regeneration magics, while madams Valerie and Kaori have also been brought in to help. However, I was also requested to ask you to stay away from the space-time orb for a day or two, since they aren''t able to calm down around men yet." Alex nodded in understanding and thanked Venri for passing on the message as she went to return to help the others, before turning to Kurumu and saying, "I want you to go and help them since succubi are naturals at mental manipulation." Then, before she could react, Alex placed his finger against her forehead as another magic circle formed at its tip. Kurumu could only stand there and groan as a flood of information filled her mind, before it finally stopped and Alex explained, "I just granted you Spirit magic since you''ll need it to do the most good. I was planning to have you attempt the Great Labyrinths alongside Sun and Moka once we managed to replicate them, but I''ll make an exception due to the circ.u.mstances." Due to the fact that Alex had never granted someone Age of Gods magic before, the process was undeniably more uncomfortable than what he underwent with the girls when they attempted the Great Labyrinths themselves, as indicated by the minor headache Kurumu was currently feeling and her groaning silently, "You could have warned me....." Though she said that, Kurumu couldn''t help but smile widely once the small ache disappeared a moment later, as she realized how to best use the magic she had just been granted. Alex meanwhile after rubbing the top of her head with an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, I haven''t given someone Age of Gods magic before. I''ll make it up to you later." With her smile widening at Alex''s promise, Kurumu quickly stole a kiss from him before rushing to the space-time orb to join the others and try out her new magic. Shaking his head wryly, Alex then turned towards the trio of sisters and said, "I''ve got somewhere else to be, so why don''t the two of you get Kahlua settled in and catch her up to speed on some things?" With the tanned beauty still shyly refusing to meet his gaze, Kokoa and Akua had to drag her away with wry smiles, though Alex wasn''t sure if he saw a bit of mischievousness in their looks as well. Putting whatever antics they might get up to out of his mind, Alex then used Spatial magic to transfer himself to the compound that was home to the Haulia. "BOSS!" The sharp suited rabbitmen saluted the moment he appeared, to which Alex gave a brief indication that they were dismissed before they carried on doing what they were before he arrived. As he walked through the compound every rabbit that saw him immediately dropped what they were doing and gave him a salute before returning to work, while a couple even ran ahead to Cam''s place where Alex was headed. As he arrived Cam was waiting for him, saluting as well before saying, "Boss! The prisoners have been securely locked away in the dungeons underneath us!" Alex nodded in acknowledgement before saying, "Good, are the girls still here?" Smiling wryly, Cam stepped aside so that Alex could enter his home, where he found Yue, Shia, and Moka waiting for him while drinking some tea and munching on some snacks. Before getting directly into business, Alex gave Yue and Shia each a kiss before moving onto Moka and asking as their lips parted, "How do you feel?" Moka didn''t need to ask what he meant, as the silver haired vampiress glanced at her own hands before saying, "Strange. This isn''t the longest I''ve been unsealed before, but knowing that I''m not going to be sealed again is weird..." Alex nodded in agreement, while a part of him also mentally added that he''d miss the pink haired ''outer'' Moka as well. Though she didn''t say it, Moka was going to miss her as well due to the fact that the two had essentially become like sisters during their time together, though she was ecstatic to have her mother back. Having greeted the three girls, Alex turned towards Cam and ordered, "Report." At once Can stood to attention as he reported, "Sir! Each of the prisoners has been locked in the dungeons beneath the compound and we are on standby for our instructions regarding them, SIR!" Alex nodded in affirmation when he heard Cam''s report, before saying, "Good. Normally I would just shuffle these kinds of people off to ''Magical Girl Island'', but what they did this time was too much." As Alex mentioned the island Cam shuddered inwardly while a malicious smile appeared on Yue''s lips, the petite vampire princess having used the occasion to stay true to her title of ''Crotch Smasher''. Ignoring the rabbitman''s reaction, Alex continued, "So these people will have a different punishment. Cam, I want the Haulia to use these men to practice ''information extraction''." Though he didn''t say it outright, Cam looked at Alex seriously as he asked, "Do you mean you want us to torture them?" Slowly Alex nodded before saying, "Yes. If I send the Haulia on a mission to gather info then such tactics may be needed since none of you are able to use the same methods as the rest of us. That being the case, why not use the people below us to practice on before the real thing?" As he spoke the evil smile on Cam''s face widened until Shia considered slapping her own father silly, before he said, "And that''s why we love you boss! You always give us the best gifts!" Trying to resist the same urge as Shia, Alex simply maintained a smile as he tried some of the snacks the girls were munching on. Elaine had already clarified earlier when she spoke to him that none of the men following ''that'' man were innocent, and so Alex had no problem sentencing them to such a fate at the drop of a hat. He then kicked things up a notch as he had a sudden idea, and pulled out a few accessories from his personal storage. "Put these on a few of them as well, I want you to report to me their effects." Though Cam accepted the items, he couldn''t help but make a face at the ring, necklace, and even a pair of earrings that all had jewels in them. "Boss.....are you sure?" This time Alex didn''t hold himself back as he unhesitatingly flicked Cam''s forehead with enough strength that the back of his head hit the wall behind him. As the rabbitman struggled to get up Alex explained, "They''re prototype artifacts that I made for the girls and my children, I just haven''t been able to test them out so I decided to use this chance to do so." Perking up when they saw that the things he gave to Cam were originally meant for them, Shia immediately asked, "What do they do Alex?!" There was a bit of pride in Alex''s eye as he explained, "I got the idea from a certain two thousand year old Druid in a book I read once. Basically they are all enchanted with both Regeneration and Spirit magic, while the jewels in them slowly store minute amounts of energy from the person wearing them. Then, if the person wearing it dies, the Regeneration magic will use the stored up energy to slowly heal the wearer until they revive, with the Spirit magic tethering their soul to their body so it doesn''t ''move on''." There was a moment of silence as they all took in Alex''s words before understanding dawned on them. While such an artifact could be considered ''excessive'' in terms of protection, not everyone around Alex was capable of using Age of Gods magic to bring back the dead. If someone did die somehow, then to bring them back they needed to quickly bring such a person to them before the soul ''moved on''. And in the case of his children, well it was only natural for a parent to want to take extreme precautions. The first to speak was Yue, who, despite the fact that the artifact was practically useless for her, plopped down onto Alex''s lap while facing him and snuggled up to him before saying, "...I''ll love anything Alex gives me..." She then gave him a passionate kiss while also grinding her h.i.p.s a bit, not caring about Cam''s presence in the slightest since she could just teleport him away if things went too far. Though he would usually be more than raring to go with her antics, after the things he saw that day Alex sadly drew back from the kiss and said while gently caressing her face, "Next time, with interest." Though Yue was visibly saddened by his refusal, she decided to wait since he promised her interest, which she''d make sure to cash in on. Of course Alex wasn''t going to let what he''d seen effect his own ''activities'' too much, but he did feel the need to properly wind down and relax before he did. And so, after entrusting the prototype artifacts and the prisoners to Cam, and bidding goodbye to the girls, he took off in a random direction to spend some time alone. Typically ''relaxing'' to Alex meant spending time with either his girls or his children, but one of those felt wrong at the moment and he didn''t want his children to see him this way, so instead he decided to find a nice secluded mountain to meditate on top of. As he was trying to decide which mountain, he recalled the towering peaks that Miledy described after her own exploration adventure. Taking out both the magic compass and key, Alex soon found himself facing the tallest mountain he had ever seen in either life. Ddraig said as Alex recalled Miledy saying that she had actually passed out from lack of oxygen while attempting to climb them before. Alex meanwhile had learned specific breathing techniques from both of his seniors in the Boosted Gear, Belzard and Elsha, designed to maximize the amount of oxygen one breathed in to further enhance their flame breath. Using this technique Alex started to slowly float higher and higher until he passed the point that Miledy reached, and kept going. Eventually Alex reached a point where even he started having difficulty breathing, and chose to stop there as he landed lightly on the steep ground. After modifying the ground so that it was level, Alex sat down and crossed his legs in a meditative posture. "Haaaaa, ahhhhh." "Haaaaa, ahhhhh." "Haaaaa, ahhhhh." Over and over Alex breathed in and out, calming his heart and steadying himself after the day''s events. As he did so he simultaneously spread his awareness through his ''Domain'', taking in everything within his surroundings at once. Eventually though, Alex''s awareness spread to even extend beyond the limit of his ''Domain'' until he could sense everything throughout the entire mountain, and even further beyond. Chapter 335 - Meeting While Alex was busy meditating, he was completely unaware of Lauren leaving her post for the moment, her face grim as she turned to face Jenny. The usually carefree girl also had a serious expression as her twin tails and sailer suit were swapped out for a formal suit and hairstyle similar to Lauren''s. As the duo faced each other Jenny couldn''t help but to shake her head and say, "As much as I hate to say it, why couldn''t she just leave things to your guy and not get involved?" Though Lauren nodded in agreement, she couldn''t help but add, "You can''t really blame her though, it was like she was purposely given the one person she wouldn''t be able to stand amongst the contestants. To be honest I''m surprised she didn''t act personally against him knowing her track record." Jenny nodded in agreement, before glancing at the clock on the wall and sighing, it was time for Elaine''s trial. In contacting Alex and giving him specific information regarding another champion, she had broken the rules. And it wasn''t like the time with Jenny where it was ruled ''no harm no foul'', this time a contestant had died, twice. Because of this Elaine was to be used as an example of what would happen when one of them broke the rules regarding the competition. With the start of her trial beginning soon, the duo left Lauren''s domain and traveled together to the meeting place, a large hall that almost seemed like a cross between a modern and ancient courthouse. As could be expected of a mandatory attendance, all of the ''Angels'' assigned to watching over the contestants were present, with the exceptions of a few extras and stragglers. As they made their way to the courtroom Lauren and Jenny noncommittally greeted those they passed while their coworkers did the same, before they passed through the large doubles doors at the end. Within was a circular style room that was filled with benches with a stand in the center at the very bottom, with the bench where the ''judge'' resided directly facing it. In the stand was Elaine already, her expression firm and stoic due to her resolution to accept wherever punishment she was given. No matter what, she had no regrets causing the death of her own contestant. As Lauren and Jenny took their seats in the front, since both of their contestants were involved, they both had looks of annoyance as they heard several mutters and whisperings around them, while a few people even sneered at Elaine with undisguised contempt. Though Elaine herself could hear the whispering, she perfectly ignored it while Jenny muttered to Lauren, "As expected there doesn''t seem to be anyone on her side..." Lauren nodded sadly, and bit back her response that it was rather to be expected. Elaine''s naturally cold attitude and hatred of men hadn''t earned her many friends during her lengthy existence, while her several counts of directly interfering in mortal matters, when their roles were just supposed to be passive observers, meant that she had been directly scolded several times already for her behavior. As she cast her gaze over the rest of those attending however her eyes landed on one particular man who was sneering down at Elaine, before an unprecedented anger filled Lauren that even surpassed what she felt when she appeared in Alex''s ''ideal world'' back in Tortus. Looking around for what caught Lauren''s attention, Jenny saw the man was filled with anger as well as she stated, "I can''t wait for the day I can finally come up with an excuse to erase that bastard!" A shadow of a smile appeared at the edge of Lauren''s mouth when she heard that, before she was obliged to add, "If only we weren''t built to have the exact same strength as everyone else..." Jenny nodded in agreement before a voice suddenly called out, "Alright the trial will begin now, everyone to your seats!" The muttering died out almost immediately as a figure appeared right next to the bench, his hair combed back perfectly, black suit completely pristine, and posture flawlessly straight as he called for silence. He then directed his sharp eyes down at Elaine, who returned his gaze without faltering, before saying, "Overseeing this trial will be none other than our own creator, He who stands above all else in creation!" As he spoke the space in the bench started fluctuating while every ''Angel'' present bowed toward it slightly before a new voice said lightheartedly, "Alright already. Everyone stand straight, there''s no need to be so frigid every time I show up." Following their creator''s orders, all of the ''Angels'' straightened themselves out to see an elderly looking man with a long beard dressed in floral shorts and an open button up shirt. They didn''t need to see any lower to know that he only had on a pair of sandals for his feet before he took a drink from the coconut in his right hand. Taking his seat in a relaxed manner, their creator then looked over at the sharply dressed man from before and asked, "Ok so what is it now? I was in the middle of a luau you know!" If they found their boss''s attitude lacking none of the ''Angels'' showed it as the man next to him started explaining the situation. Their creator listened patiently to what happened before showing an irritated expression and saying, "That''s it? Sounds like she didn''t change much of what was gonna happen to me." The sharply dressed man nodded and said, "That is true sir, however that doesn''t change the fact that Elaine directly disobeyed your orders against direct interference." The creator sighed as he knew that as well without the man telling him. Even if it didn''t change the ultimate outcome of the fight, if he didn''t do something regarding Elaine''s actions then some of his other ''Angels'' could decide to skirt the rules as well. Looking down at the woman before him, the creator said, "Your guilt is already determined, but I''ll allow you to speak before we decide anything." Elaine nodded in affirmation before saying, "I do not deny any of the charges against me. The only thing I regret about my actions is that I didn''t act sooner, and more women suffered because of it." Sighing in exasperation, the creator then asked the man at his side, "So, our own opinions aside, now we just need to determine how serious her actions were. What were your calculations Simon?" The sharply dressed man, Simon, answered clearly, "Out of the 999,965,275 different simulations we ran, the contestant named ''Alex'' won almost very single one of those clashes with the defeated contestant. In comparison, Elaine''s contestant didn''t even manage to secure wins exceeding the single digits. Her actions appear to have simply shortened the battle and changed a few variables, but had no real impact on the outcome." Nodding his head in affirmation, the creator was silent as he contemplated Elaine''s punishment since she had still disobeyed orders and interfered. As his silence carried however a new voice suddenly spoke up, "You''re not thinking of letting her off, are you?!" Not just the creator, but every pair of eyes turned to the man who had spoken, the same man who Lauren and Jenny had been glaring at earlier. The creator narrowed his eyes at him and asked, "And if I was, would you say anything about it?" As the creator spoke the man paled, before their surroundings started shuddering suddenly. Throughout all of the trillions of universes in existence reality started warping and distorting, before cracks started forming as they all threatened to shatter if the power didn''t let up. "Sir, if you destroy all of creation then there would be no more contestants to fight each other. We''d have to reorganize the entire thing all over again." Simon said with undisguised exasperation. In an instant the power let up and reality started repairing itself with none of the universes inhabitants being the wiser about their almost destruction, and the creator''s attitude returned to his previous carefree facade. Letting out a wry chuckle, the creator said, "Sorry about that, got a little carried away there. Anyways, you were saying?" As he finished the creator turned his attention towards the man who had spoken out before, who was now as white as a ghost and barely standing on his feet. It had taken everything he had to remain standing under the pressure he had been subjected to, while the creator hadn''t even really tried to pressure him, or destroy reality as it was known. Looking down to avoid offending him further, the man said, "N-nothing sir. Nothing at all." The creator snorted in response and turned his attention back to Elaine, who was still standing there unfazed by what just happened. After another moment of silence the creator said, "Alright then I''ve decided, Elaine your punishment will be-" *** Without knowing that Lauren had left his side, or that everyone and everything he knew and worked for were almost completely destroyed, Alex continued his uninterrupted meditation for three days before he finally opened his eyes. For the briefest of moments a red divine light flashed through them, but it immediately disappeared as he blinked and said, "I think I feel a little different now?" Though he hadn''t undergone some kind of miraculous evolution, or obtained a sudden understanding of the universe or something, Alex felt as if something about himself was distinctively different from before. Ignoring the foot or so of snow that had fallen since he started meditating, and the roughly ten foot wide circle around him that was completely cleared of snow, yet was filled with a deep green grass and vibrantly colored flowers, Alex turned his attention downwards as if he was looking to see what was happening at the bottom of the mountain. Of course he wouldn''t normally be able to see what was happening since the foot of the mountain was far out of reach of his ''Domain'', however all it took was a single thought and Alex suddenly found himself looking at a small herd of deer that were frolicking through the freshly fallen snow. With his physical body never moving from his mediative spot, the deer never noticed his presence as they played too and fro, before one went to the mostly frozen stream for a drink. His heart beating a little faster, Alex immediately turned his attention elsewhere, and found himself on an expansive plain where a herd of massive horses thundered by majestically. The plains themselves seemed to be completely untouched by the winter that they were currently caught in, supplying the horses with a never ending supply of food to help them grow strong and powerful. Alex watched in fascination as the largest horse at the head of the herd maneuvered them through the plains, steering his herd to avoid potential hazards and even predators as if it was second nature to it. Alex then spent what seemed like several hours sending his intent all over Asora without actually leaving the place he started, exploring to its furthest reaches and deepest depths. He explored the bottom of the ocean alongside Goliath Groupers as long as a bus, flew through the skies with condors that could match even Rho-Dan in size, and even discovered hidden crevices and areas where creatures he didn''t even know lived in Asora dwelled. Eventually he was shaken from his exploration when Lauren suddenly said, ''You look like you''re having fun.'' Immediately Alex found himself back at his body as he asked out loud, "What happened?" He got the feeling as if Lauren was fairly good mood as she answered, ''Though you''re far from becoming an actual God still, you''ve turned all of Asora into your ''divine domain''. Though you''ve still got your ''Domain'' skill, in Asora it''s range has expanded to include the entire world since it''s bound to you and is a part of you.'' Though he was amazed by what she said, Alex couldn''t help but ask, "But why now? I haven''t exactly just gotten Asora recently." Lauren was silent for a moment before she finally answered, ''My guess would be that this is in fact the longest time you''ve spent in it since gaining your divine spark back in Tortus. You''ve spent all of your time in either the other world or the space-time orb until now, and you certainly haven''t done any meditation or training in it recently.'' Alex was silent as he recalled that when he began meditating he had been spreading his consciousness into his surroundings as well. Using his silence to continue, Lauren then added, ''And I''m sure you''ve noticed that you can to a lesser extend influence things in Asora similarly to your ''Domain''? Though you can''t control the environment or things like the weather and seasons, you can still interact with the world to an extent with your intent.'' As she spoke Alex nodded in affirmation as he had tried that exact thing when he was messing around before, like using his intent to direct the Goliath Grouper around as they swam together. Alex then spent a few minutes chatting with Lauren about his new ability, before she moved onto his prize for defeating the fat man. Typically it was like a lottery wheel where Alex could earn one of the powers of the person he defeated, or a set amount of levels regardless of high his level already was. When he considered getting one of ''his'' powers though, between the power of ''Neotare'', ''Endless S.e.xual Stamina'', ''Gaining Experience From Subordinates'', or the mechanical suit ''Eros'', Alex made a face and said he wasn''t interested in attempting it just yet because he didn''t want to risk getting any powers from such a person. Though Lauren said she could put it on hold for the time being, he would have to risk it eventually. With the talks coming to an end, with Lauren pointedly avoiding discussion of Elaine''s trial, Alex then turned his attention towards his home. Though it had only been three days to him, to those within the space-time orb it had most likely been more than three months since they had last seen him, and so Alex was anxious to see his girls and the progress they made on those who suffered. ''Seeing'' them gathered in one of the lounges, Alex used a slight amount of Spatial magic and immediately appeared in front of them before saying, "Hey, did I miss anything?" There was a beat of silence as everyone took in his sudden appearance, before several of the girls rushed him while a few others waited their turn at the side. After making sure to properly greet every one of his women present, Alex turned towards Anne and asked, "So how are things going?" When she heard Alex''s question Anne became serious and pointed to several stacks of folders before explaining, "These are the medical reports we''ve comprised of each of the women that we''ve been taking care of, filled with information regarding their current and past medical situations. In total we''ve had to take care of over three hundred women that had been abused by ''that'' man, as well as those that he''d pawn them onto for a night or so." As she spoke Alex could hear both anger and exhaustion in her voice as well as see it in her face and posture, with the same being said for most of those surrounding them. As could be expected they were angry at the fat man for how he had treated the women around him, and they were exhausted because of them having to work and use Age of Gods magic almost constantly for the last three months/days. Age of Gods magic drained a person of their reserves faster than any other magic any of them had. Thanks to their connection to the system the girls in Alex''s peerage didn''t usually have to worry about this with their skills related to increasing magic power reserves and recovery, however using it on more than three hundred women every single day for three months had left them more than a little fatigued, to say nothing of those who didn''t have access to the system like Asia, Valerie, and Kaori. Though he felt more than a little guilty going off to sit and meditate while everyone was working hard, Alex didn''t show it as he simply said to them with a gentle expression, "Thank you all for your efforts. I''ll be sure to make it up to each and every one of you when I''m able." Just like Yue and Kurumu when he made similar promises to them, each girl had an expression on their face that told Alex that he better be sure they''d cash in on his promise. Smiling wryly, he then sat down on the couch and grabbed one of the folders to give a few of them a once over before entering the space-time orb himself, and was surprised to see that it was none other than Lala''s. The first page was a compilation of Lala''s general information and physical medical history, but after that it changed to a record of notes regarding her progress and mental state. Looking at the most recent log Alex read that after continuous Sprit magic treatments she seemed to have returned to her former happy and carefree self when she was around others, yet her family reported that when she slept at night Lala was prone to crying and calling out Rito''s name in her sleep, while also not seeming to recall doing so the next morning. Putting the file back from where he grabbed it, Alex picked up another one regarding someone else that had shown similar progress, seemingly ok around others but being silent and brooding when they thought no one was watching. Though he didn''t go through all of them, of the files Alex did go through this seemed to be the case for the most part, however there was also a very small amount of girls that had seemed to make a full recovery already, while some others were still badly effected by what happened. Of the latter the typical cases were like those of Run or Satellizer, aka Stella. Run was more depressed than most of those around due to losing her twin brother Ren, a person whose body she had even shared up until a couple short months before ''that'' man had Ren killed because he loved Lala. While Stella already had a history of s.e.x.u.a.l abuse spanning several years before becoming a Pandora, resulting in her even gaining the name ''Untouchable Queen'' simply because she despised contact with others afterwards. Meanwhile the cases of the former were people who were exceptionally powerful, or possessed significant willpower, the group which Stella would most likely have belonged to if it wasn''t for her own past due to her being a ''main heroine''. These people included the Pandoras Chiffon Fairchild and Elizabeth Mably, the human weapon Mea, and surprisingly the school nurse from the To Love Ru world, Mikado Ryouto, possibly because of her own past as an underground alien Doctor. Though he only went through a few of them, Alex placed the files back where he got them before asking Anne, "Before I go into the space-time orb to meet them, how did you guys use the Spirit magic on them? It wasn''t anything as drastic as erasing their memories or anything, that''s for sure." Anne nodded in recognition and explained, "We didn''t want to do anything too drastic without observing them for a while and consulting you, so for the time being we just placed what was essentially windows in their minds to separate the bad memories from the rest of their brain. They can look through the window and recall the memory of they really want to, but otherwise it''s just tucked away where it won''t get triggered randomly." Piggy backing off of Anne''s words, Kurumu added, "It isn''t perfect though depending on how strong the memory was. A perfect example is the former Devilukian queen Sephie, who killed her previous husband herself under ''that'' man''s influence before telling him that she and her three daughters did so together...." As Kurumu trailed off Alex nodded in affirmation that he had heard what they said, before finally saying, "Good, that''s a much better solution than I would have come up with. I was really hoping that we could avoid having to wipe their recent memories since it never really goes well, even if the person themselves requested it." If their memories had been wiped then all three hundred of the girls in their care would essentially wake up in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and no knowledge of how they got there or where their loved ones were. The only two options from there would be to either lie about what happened to them, which would only make things more difficult due to having to keep up a massive lie, or to tell them the truth, after which they would more than likely request their memories back even if they were the ones who wanted them erased to begin with. Satisfied with how things had been handled, Alex then stood and said, "Ok then, I think it''s time I finally meet them." *** As Alex appeared within the space-time orb he was unsurprised to find the girls restless from being told of his arrival. As it was also considered a part of Asora, the increase to his ''Domain'' also extended to the space-time orb when he was in it as well, allowing Alex to view everything within that particular orb such as the entire villa and all of the floating islands that surrounded it. As he approached the courtyard where they were all gathered, Alex couldn''t help but watch to gauge how they were reacting to his arrival. "Humph! I don''t like this, I don''t like this at all!" Cried out a petite pink haired girl, Nana. She let out another "harumph" as her younger twin, Momo, stated with a slight smile, "That''s no good Nana, even if he''s a guy he''s still the one who saved us." To this however her sister merely retorted, "Regardless of what he''s done, he''s still a worse beast than ''that'' guy! For all we know he just helped us to claim us for himself!" As she said this several other girls around them looked up with anxious expressions, while her mother Sephie said in stern voice, "Nana, you''re scaring everyone, and you don''t know if that''s true or not! You shouldn''t start badmouthing someone before you''ve even met them!" Grimacing at being scolded by her mother, Nana went silent as she sulked to the side while the others continued talking amongst themselves. "What do you think Elizabeth?" A girl with her red hair tied back in a ponytail asked the woman seated between herself and the other two white haired girls, except one had deeply tanned skin and stood taller than most while also having quite the figure, while the other was significantly paler and had a short petite figure. The girl in the middle, who had sharp yet beautiful features along with her long and wavy blonde hair, was silent for a moment before saying to the girl that spoke before, Arnett McMillan, "I''m not sure. While he does seem to have several similarities to ''that'' man regarding relationsh.i.p.s with women, the person who saved us does seem to actually care for his women and doesn''t treat them as cruelly as ''he'' did. At the very least from what I recall before being knocked unconscious he was kind, while the women that have been taking care of us don''t seem to have the same fanatical tendencies we did." As she spoke the three girls around her shuddered when they recalled being under ''that'' man''s influence, where after he r.a.p.ed them all they could think of was getting more of his c.o.c.k, no matter what they needed to do to get it. Though they were all glad to have been freed from ''his'' control, every single one of the three hundred women were terrified of being forced into a similar situation by their ''savior''. In response to her observation though, the petite girl, Atitta Simmons, suddenly said, "I dare him to try anything, if he does then he''ll have three hundred angry Pandora as well as ''those two'' to deal with!" When she heard this Elizabeth sighed in mild exasperation and said, "Did you forget that he already defeated all of us once? Even if we were weakened at the time he still took down all of the most powerful Pandora from West Genetics one after another, including that monster." As Elizabeth finished speaking a new voice suddenly asked from the side, "Ehhhh? ''Monster''? You wouldn''t be talking about me would you?!" The four women twitched slightly when they heard the speaker, and turned to see the undisputed strongest Pandora that had been attending West Genetics, Chiffon Fairchild, aka the ''Smiling Monster''. With her light brown hair that reached her shoulders and her seemingly permanently closed eyes she appeared to be just like any other normal girl with her carefree and seemingly naive attitude, however, if one saw her fight they would realize she was anything but normal. Right after her enrollment into West genetics Chiffon participated in the mandatory Carnival, a free for all battle royal amongst the pandoras to determine their rankings within the school, during which she single handedly defeated over forty other pandoras in her bloodl.u.s.t and battle frenzy. The bloody rampage only ended when Chiffon''s closest friend, Ticy Phenyl, convinced her to stop, accidentally securing Ticy as the third place of the school rankings despite the fact that she had been at the lowest rank prior. With Ticy next to her with her long black hair flowing in the wind, Chiffon looked at the group and asked, "So what are we talking about to bring up ''monsters''?" Though there was nothing in Chiffon''s attitude to suggest she was offended, the group couldn''t help but to suppressed a shudder as Elizabeth explained, "I was just talking about how the man who saved us also managed to defeat all of us without putting in any effort, and that it''d be useless to attack him if he did decide to ''ravage'' us." When she heard this Chiffon made an expression of understanding, before saying in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "True, but there''s also his women to consider as well, I''m not even sure how I''d do against them...." As she trailed off the girls listening to her paled as they tried to imagine what kind of people it took to even make the ''Smiling Monster'' say that. However she then added, "But I don''t think we need to worry! I was asking miss Ravel about him before, and she told me that when he thought she was being forced to marry him against her will, he got really angry and refused until she told him that she actually really did want to marry him!" When they heard the story behind Alex and Ravel''s Union the four women couldn''t help but c.o.c.k an eyebrow, as in almost every similar situation it was the woman who would try to refuse an arranged marriage while the man desired it. Before they could comment on it however something else caught their attention, as a sudden breeze lifted Chiffon''s skirt to reveal some exceptionally pale skin and a narrow strip of neatly trimmed brown hair. As her skirt fell back into place to hide the contents within, Elizabeth couldn''t help but remark, "I thought you just said ''we don''t need to worry''? Why are you suddenly going commando then?" Chiffon smiled mischievously and answered, "True, but that doesn''t mean I can''t at least prepare for the possibility. Besides, I only have so many pairs of panties that they gave me, I don''t want to risk them being ruined...." As she trailed off the rest of the girls around her couldn''t help but feel slightly uncomfortable as they were once again reminded that everything they currently had was basically a result of a charity, something that drove on someone like Elizabeth''s nerves. Before anyone could end the silence though, they froze as a new voice suddenly said, "I like to consider myself a gentleman though! Even if I ruin a girl''s panties I always repair them afterwards!" Resisting the urge to jump at his voice, the six women slowly turned their heads as if they were on rusty swivels, to see a big muscular man with unruly hair and a monkey''s tail standing behind them, a cheeky smile on his face as he tried to appear nonthreatening to them. The result of Alex''s sudden appearance though was a hushed silence settling over the crowd of women as they turned towards him, some with intrigue, others passive, and most showing a brief flash of fear in their eyes. With his smile cramping somewhat, Alex cleared his throat and said, "Now then, it''s nice to finally properly meet all of you ladies. As I''m sure you''re all aware, my name is Alex and this is my home. If there are any questions you may have about your surrender situation, or what is going to happen from now on, then please feel free to ask." Once agin there was silence as the women contemplated wether or not they should really ask anything of Alex, before a girl with long black hair stepped forward, named Kotegawa Yui, and asked, "Is it possible for us to go home?" When he heard that Alex resisted the urge to sigh and said, "I''m afraid not. The ability we use to travel world''s is only available after a year of waiting, and even though there are two of us here that have that ability it would still take us a whole year at the very least to move on after returning you all to both worlds that you came from. On top of that, there is also the state your world''s were left in to consider." As Alex trailed off the women around him couldn''t help looking depressed, even if they knew that this was the most likely outcome to begin with. The primary reason they had left the world of Freezing so soon was because of another Nova outbreak, which ''that'' man had no intention to take a part of. If that hadn''t been the case, then there was the real chance that his Pandora army would had more women in it due to there being several hundreds, if not thousands, of Pandora all around the world. Meanwhile in the To Love Ru universe, Sephie had already stated to the girls that it wouldn''t be strange for another galactic war to have broken out already with the death of Gid, and with ''that'' man having left the universe. With that being the case, it was very possible that they''d become targets once more in the power grab as the former members of the royal family, as well as those ''normal'' girls who were closely acquainted with them. Since pushing for Alex to bring them home also meant having him and his women fight their battles after already doing so much for them, none of the girls were particularly eager to push their wish to go home even more. As the silence stretched another girl suddenly said, "I heard that it''s possible for you to bring back the dead, is it possible for you to return my limiter to me?" As she spoke several other women suddenly looked up at Alex with hope of being able to see their loved ones again, only for him to actually sigh this time and say, "I''m sorry, but our ability to bring back the dead only applies to the recently deceased, it doesn''t work if the soul had already had time to ''move on''. And while we do have someone who can bring back a person regardless of how long ago they''ve died, doing so puts them at risk of going insane because of the process involved, and I don''t believe it''s possible without going to the universe they died in." Though it could be argued that they could possibly use Spirit magic to treat Valerie as she used the Holy Grail to bring back everybody''s loved ones, Alex still didn''t want to put her through that simply because it was ''convenient'', especially when he promised her that he wouldn''t make her use the Grail when she joined them. As silence settled once again, another girl then asked in a small voice, "So what do we do now...?" At this Alex spoke up, "Now you look for a way to move forward. You remember those you lost, but don''t dwell on the past forever. Once you''re able to stand on your own again, you''ll each be given a chance to rebuild here in Asora without the threat of things like Novas, or you can choose to stay in whatever world we''re in to try and live a normal life. It''ll be up to you." As Alex finished speaking there wasn''t an awkward or oppressive silence this time, instead many of the women started murmuring amongst themselves, with the Pandoras being especially vocal. To them the Nova threat was something that hung over them from the moment they were born, and would most likely persist until long after they were dead. None of them had ever considered a future where they didn''t have to worry about a random attack that could result in their deaths. While some felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from their shoulders, others felt a sense of loss of purpose as they had dedicated themselves to fighting on the front lines for humanity. What they didn''t know however, was that those who truly wished to fight might also get the chance to join Rossweise''s Valkyries if she judged them to be ready after the trauma they''d been through. On the other hand the girls from the To Love Ru universe couldn''t help feeling a somewhat bitter sensation in their nose. In the cases such as Haruna, Yui, Mikan, and the other ''normal'' humans from that universe, being thrown into such an outrageous situation created a sea of inner turmoil that the ''aliens'' such as Lala and her sisters, as well as the others, weren''t subject to. However one person suddenly shouted over the noise, "And how can we trust anything you say!" Everyone quickly quieted down as they all turned towards the speaker, the petite pink haired Nana, who was pointing at Alex with a glare before continuing, "How do we know you aren''t just trying to butter us up before you have your way with us? Aren''t you just a filthy ''beast'' like ''that'' man?!" As she spoke both her sister Momo and her mother tried to get Nana to calm down, but the damage had already been done as the women surrounding them began whispering. As the looks of fear directed at him became more prominent, Alex simply stood there without saying anything to Nana''s concerns. Instead Grayfia and Rias both looked as if they were about to say something with angry expressions evident on their faces, however Alex wordlessly waved them down. He then looked directly at Nana and started to slowly walk towards her, the numerous women between them parting automatically before he reached them. As Alex approached Nana''s complexion paled considerably, but she didn''t back down as Alex steadily got closer and closer, before he surprised her by walking past her completely. Confused, Nana turned to look back at him, only to see that Alex wasn''t even approaching her to begin with, but her mother. With panic being evident on her face, even through the pink veil, Sephie tried to take a step back away from Alex but found her way blocked by the women behind her, giving her no escape. Before Sephie knew it Alex was less than a foot away from her, her own words to Nana earlier forgotten as the time she spent on the run and shackled to ''that'' mans bed due to her beauty returned to her. As she closed her eyes and began mentally assuming the worse, Alex reached up, and grabbed the corner of her veil before pulling at it so that it came loose. Sephie awaited the usual outcome, the man who saw her face becoming a deranged animal before attacking her relentlessly, regardless of how gentlemanly they seemed just moments before. Instead, the attack never came. After a few seconds Sephie cautiously opened her eyes to find Alex staring directly into them, his own gaze clear and strong as he said, "You are quite the beautiful woman Sephie, it''s a shame to cover your face when you don''t need to." As he finished speaking Alex turned back towards the dumbstruck Nana, and asked, "Is this enough to clear me Nana?" The petite girl could only stare as Alex didn''t wait for an answer, and turned around to return to his previous spot. As he did so all fear that the surrounding women had previously shown vanished, and instead was replaced by awe and interest. They were all aware of course of the circ.u.mstances regarding Sephie''s veil, and why she wore one. Whenever a person of the opposite s.e.x had seen her uncovered face they would become a l.u.s.tful beast that would do anything to ravage her. She had lived with this curse for her entire life, living with an instinctual fear of men until that one fateful day when she met her future husband, Gid. For the first time in her life she didn''t have to fear a man, and so Sephie did everything in her power to ensure she would marry Gid, before eventually giving him three daughters. Then, many years later, she amazingly found another person who was resistant to her charms, her daughter''s young fianc¨¦, Yukki Rito. Now Sephie was in a state of complete disbelief as she unbelievably found a third person immune to her power, a man who was seemingly overly indulgent in his l.u.s.t and desires, yet was immune to her beauty and charms. As she watched him walk away with a slight sense of awe, Alex suddenly said, "While I wont deny that each of you are attractive and beautiful women, I have no intentions of forcing my own desires and l.u.s.t on those who do not want it. You are not here for me to ''groom'' or ''attack'', but to try and recover after the horrible things that have happened to you. To that end, starting tomorrow you will all be given a series of chores and responsibilities in order to busy yourselves and to occupy your time until you decide what you intend to do from now on." As he finished speaking Alex turned to walk away, but stopped as he passed a certain someone and said, "Can I speak to you in private for a moment Chiffon?" Chapter 336 - A New Plan As he led the way to a private lounge to talk with Chiffon about certain things, Alex had to keep his brow from twitching as an entire entourage followed them. Ticy was one thing as the shy girl was Chiffon''s constant shadow, however he didn''t know why Elizabeth and her followers were also accompanying them. Though Alex had a suspicion with the way the majority of the girls seemed to view him, so he didn''t say anything as he led the group, also consisting of Rias, Grayfia, and Ravel. As they entered one of the lounges that had two sofas with a table between them, Rias and Ravel both took their seats on either side of the same couch while Grayfia went to prepare refreshments. As he went to sit between them, Alex gestured to the other couch and said, "Go ahead and take a seat...what are you doing?" As he looked at them Alex saw Chiffon fiddling with the zipper of her skirt, causing her to look at him in confusion even as her skirt fell and pooled around her ankles to reveal her lack of panties. "Didn''t you bring me here to ravage me away from prying eyes?" Alex''s brow twitched as he fought the urge to roll his eyes, an action that didn''t go unnoticed by the girls before him as he said, "If you really want me to attack you then I''d be more than happy to later, but I actually did bring you here just to talk." This time Chiffon''s brows shot up, even as her eyes stayed shut, and she uttered a soft, "oh..." before bending over to fix her fallen skirt. Though Alex was silently admiring the view Chiffon gave him of her ass as she fixed her skirt, he also couldn''t help but note the faint hint of disappointment in her expression as if she had been hoping he''d attack her. Deciding to shelve the issue of Chiffon''s apparent disappointment for later, Alex waited until she sat back on the couch with Elizabeth and Ticy on either side of her, and Elizabeth''s followers standing behind them with their bodies just slightly tensed. Ignoring their tensions, Alex enjoyed a bit of the tea and snacks Grayfia brought them alongside his two wives, while the trio of girls opposite them also partook hesitantly. As the tensions eased slightly, Alex finally asked Chiffon with a serious voice, "So I''ll just get right to it, what happened to the rest of the ''Legendary Pandora''?" The moment Chiffon heard Alex''s last two words her demeanor changed completely, as she was immediately clad in an uncharacteristically sharp and dangerous atmosphere that made the women around her that thought they knew her look at her in surprise. After a moment she asked, "And how exactly do you know about us?" Not being fazed by Chiffon''s sudden shift in demeanor, Alex simply shrugged and gave the same excuse he always have when someone asked him that question, "I''m just a simple knower of things." When she heard his response Chiffon frowned slightly, but before she could say anything Elizabeth stated with narrowed eyes, "You sound like ''that'' man. He did the same thing and automatically knew things about us and certain things no one else should have, like Rana''s existence in Tibet..." As she spoke the girls around her nodded in agreement, however Alex didn''t seem too worried about her calling him out on his other worlder knowledge. With him staying silent, Elizabeth turned to look at the girls at his side and asked, "And are the three of you really ok wth this? He''s basically admitted that he''s manipulated all of you into liking him." When they heard her question the three girls mimicked their husband and casually shrugged, before Ravel stated, "You need to remember that no matter how much we look it the three of us aren''t humans, we''re Devils." Grayfia and Rias nodded in agreement, before the later added, "And not only that, in devil society power and manipulation are key aspects in determining prestige and authority." As she finished speaking Grayfia picked up, "Exactly. And though his manipulative capabilities could use some work, Alex did in fact use his knowledge to help fight and prevent disastrous events, just ask Yasaka. And rather than trying to force us into a relationship with him, the majority of us were actually the ones who sought him out to begin with." As she finished speaking Ravel and Rias both nodded and grabbed Alex''s arm on their side, smothering it in their ample bosoms while cuddling up to his sides lovingly. Then, surprising everyone present, Grayfia joined in by leaning over the back of the couch and resting her own b.r.e.a.s.ts on top of Alex''s head, while also running her own hands down his chest in her own attempt to embrace him. As a result Alex was effectively being smothered on all sides by the indescribable softness of his wives b.r.e.a.s.ts, making the group sitting opposite them twitch their brows slightly before Alex finally said, "Well Chiffon, I answered your question. What about mine now?" Starting slightly from being reminded of what they were talking about before, Chiffon resumed the serious atmosphere she had previously before saying, "Truthfully, by this point I don''t know what''s happening to my sisters..... ''He'' didn''t seem to know about them and I never brought it up, so they should all have been asleep still. But with what happened they might have been woken up to fight as a last resort, or perhaps they were destroyed by the attacking Nova before they could be awoken....." As she trailed off Alex nodded and gestured that she didn''t need to continue, figuring that it must have been slightly painful to imagine despite being an non-human Legendary Pandora. However Chiffon''s comrades that didn''t know the truth regarding her existence were confused, and Ticy couldn''t help but blurt out, "You have sisters Chiffon?!" This brought a sad yet wry smile to Chiffon''s lips, and she affirmed, "Yes, I suppose there''s no need to hide it anymore. We were the daughters of Aoi Gengo and Maria Lancelot, an existence higher and more powerful than a normal human, yet more dangerous in certain ways." Though Chiffon didn''t go into detail about how the Legendary Pandora were ''more dangerous'', the five other women around her couldn''t help but recall her very accurate nickname of the Smiling Monster. As they recalled Chiffon singlehandedly and brutally defeating over forty other Pandoras while maintaining a casual smile on her face, they were brought back as she continued, "Because of the unique composition of our bodies though we were very unstable existences, and had to be sealed for the majority of our lives until a solution could be found. I was the only one awoken after our niece, Aoi Kazuha, passed away due to my power being needed to fight. And technically speaking I''m practically an granny at forty two years old, teehee~." As she ended her story Grayfia had noticeably twitched when Chiffon referred to herself a ''granny'', tempting the silver haired maid to smack her upside the head herself. Noticing this, Alex reached up and lightly pinched Grayfia''s cheek, making her flinch slightly from the sudden role reversal, as she coughed lightly and tried to compose herself. Alex however turned back towards Chidfon and said, "I''m sorry to hear about all of that, but maybe there''s a chance they have awoken and are defending what''s left of the planet in your stead." Chiffon nodded in agreement while her previously sad expression melted away, and said, "Yes, at least that''s what I hope happened." Though it was slightly better than before, with the atmosphere in the room turning slightly somber Alex reluctantly extracted himself from the prison of softness and said while standing, "Sorry to leave so soon, but now that I clarified that I have some other business to attend to alone. If any of you need anything please let us know and we''ll try to assist as best as possible." With Chiffon and Elizabeth nodding in affirmation, Alex turned and walked to the exit with Ravel and Rias following him, pausing only long enough to grab a few extra snacks as he left. All of a sudden the group of women were left alone with the silver haired maid that seemed to be giving them, or at least Chiffon, a scary look before she rounded the couch and sat down before them. Then, before they could ask what she wanted, Grayfia said, "Starting tomorrow everyone will be given certain responsibilities to keep them busy and help them move on from what happened. On top of classes regarding Asora and the people living here, you all will also be given various chores around the villa and the floating islands suitable for your talents. Before then however, I have a proposition for the six of you to think over." *** After leaving the lounge and parting ways with Rias and Ravel, who he had accompany him to begin with in order to put the girls at ease instead of being left alone with him, Alex used his newfound perception to identify a certain floating island before immediately transferring to it with Spatial magic. Surrounding the island was several dozen layers of barriers and fortifications, but in the face of his Spatial magic it meant nothing as he appeared right in the center of them instantly, right before a cup shattered against the wall right next to his head. "What do you want?!" A blonde woman with her restored hair tied back in a short ponytail demanded, a plate in her other hand as she readied it as well." Alex fought the urge to roll his eyes as he replied, "I came to talk to you Beth, I don''t suppose there''s any way we can be civil about this?" Beth, the second reincarnator that had arrived with ''that'' man, narrowed her eyes before she spat back at him, "The words ''man'' and ''civil'' don''t exist together! Tell me what you''re really after!" This time Alex did release a deep sigh, and conjured himself a chair to sit on even as the plate honed in on his head. Using his ''Telekinesis'', Alex caught the plate before it even came close to him and neatly placed it back on the table that was off to the side, before conjuring a second chair right behind Beth and gesturing her to sit as well. Wide eyed slightly at his display, Beth hesitantly took the offered seat while also filing away the fact that one of Alex''s abilities was to move things with his mind. Acting as if she was lowering her guard, Beth then asked in a snappy tone, "So, what did you want to ''talk'' about?" Not at all minding the way she was acting, Alex then said bluntly, "Truthfully, I want to talk about what I''m going to do with you." Naturally when she heard that Beth''s act faltered, as her eyes widened slightly and her body visibly tensed. Ignoring this, Alex continued, "Currently I''m not sure if I should take you with me and make you a resident of Asora, or leave you in the world I''m currently in to try and start over. With either option I risk you going berserk and potentially attacking any man who even looks at you funny after what you''ve been through, which I would like to avoid. Of course there is the third option where I deem you too unstable and leave you here on this island for the rest of your life, though you''d have anything you may need to live comfortably and peacefully." As he finished speaking Beth frowned and stated angrily, "So no matter what you ultimately decide what I do?!" As Alex nodded slowly she stood up so suddenly that she knocked her chair back and shouted, "F.U.C.K YOU! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I''VE GONE THROUGH AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DICTATE HOW I LIVE!!!" Right as she started to form her volt weapon to attack him, the same weapon all Pandora were capable of using, Alex calmly said, "You were only a teenager when your parents left you home alone one night. While they were gone several men broke into your house and proceeded to beat you before forcefully removing your clothes, and raping you. For several hours they took turns f.u.c.k.i.n.g you any and every way they felt like, wether it was your p.u.s.s.y, ass, or mouth, until none of them could go any longer. Once they finished you hoped that would be the end of it, but then one of them took a knife and slit your throat open in a final act of cruelty." As Alex paused for a second Beth was about to demand how he knew all of that, but his next words stunned her into silence as he continued, "What I''m sure you didn''t know was that your body was then left in a bloody display for your parents when they returned home, a clear message for you father from the people he had inadvertently angered, but your story didn''t end there like they thought. Instead you were given the chance to start over, in an entirely different world where women where the ones with the superior physical strength, not the men. However men still held the majority of the political and financial power, resulting in you making a name and some enemies for yourself by both refusing to accept a Limiter, and intervening whenever you heard of some of your fellow Pandora being abused by men. "Protected from punishment only by your overwhelming strength and effectiveness against the Nova threat, this life continued for you until the day ''that'' man attacked. Though you managed to avoid being defeated or captured in the first few battles, more and more Pandora continued to disappear before they turned up on the other side against you. Rather than continue to fight your own comrades and students, you tried to cut a deal with ''him'' to take their place, resulting in you essentially being passed around by him and the very influential men that you had once humiliated, and were now on ''his'' side. Of course he never kept his end of the bargain to let the other Pandora go, and waited until you were adequately imprisoned before resuming his collection of his army of s.e.x slaves. Then the Nova appeared once more, he forced you to transfer worlds, and here we are! So how''d I do?" As Alex finished speaking Beth could only stare with her jaw open from pure shock. Not only had he stated what happened before she even died, but also how she had lived after and even why she had apparently died in the first place. After several seconds of her just gaping at him, finally Beth asked, "How do you know all that?" Though Alex was about to give the same answer he gave Chiffon, Lauren''s voice suddenly piped up within both their minds, ''I told him since all of your information was transferred to me several days ago after he made you his slave.'' Though Beth was initially surprised by the feminine voice inside her head, especially since her own ''Angel'' was a guy that she never spoke to, Lauren''s last two words echoed within her head several times so that she was hearing, ''his slave, his slave, his slave, his slave-'' over and over again. As the two words eventually registered to her, she looked at Alex and asked in a deathly calm voice, "Did she say what I think she said?" Alex had just barely started to nod as a giant battle axe suddenly appeared and was swung directly at his head while she shrieked, "DON''T F.U.C.K WITH ME!!!" Despite his impeding death, Alex didn''t even flinch at the sharp piece of metal rushing towards his head. Instead, when the battle axe was only an inch from his skin, it stopped and Beth let out a bloodcurdling scream as pain suddenly surged through her entire body. Even as she collapsed to the ground Alex didn''t move, as he simply waited until the pain she was feeling died down. Eventually she stopped twitching and her screams turned into muffled sobs, both of rage and sadness. She was infuriated that she had been made into a man''s slave, was snow seemingly unable to escape her newfound hell, while her sadness came from the realization that her entire life was to be spent as a man''s plaything. Not caring about what was going through her head, Alex then ordered, "Stand up and sit in your chair." Though she was tempted to fight it as her body started moving by itself, Beth instinctively knew that if she fought then she''d experience more pain like what she just went through. As she did as he instructed Alex then said as she pointedly looked at the ground, "Look at me, I have no intention to use my authority as your ''master'' if I don''t need to. My only intention when I made you my slave was to prevent you from attacking me or those I care about since I knew nothing about you or your own intentions. As long as you continue to act in such a way that can be considered threatening then I''ll have to leave that mark on you, and maybe eventually kill you if I have no other choice." As he spoke Alex pointed to Beth''s hand, which she had noticed had been marked ever since she had been ''saved'', but it never did anything so she eventually forgot about it. Though she was tempted to even cut off her own hand with her volt weapon, something told Beth that it wouldn''t be that easy to remove the slave mark. Instead she proceeded to do something else as if she hadn''t heard a single word Alex had said. After standing once more she swiftly removed her shirt before moving into her bra, allowing her C cup b.r.e.a.s.ts to spill out for Alex to gaze upon. She then emotionlessly undid the button and zipper on her her Jean pants, before lowering them and her panties in a single movement. Now completely bereft of a single stitch of clothing, Beth sat back on her chair and spread her legs so that Alex had a clear view of the slit between them, before saying as she used her fingers to spread that slit open, "Just get it over with already....." Alex fought the urge to sigh as he spent a moment trying to figure out how to deal with Beth. She actually reminded him of Kouki in a way, as in once she got an idea in her head about you it was almost impossible to change it. When Kouki first met Alex he immediately considered him ''evil'', and had tried to use any argument and justification to prove so despite literally everyone saying otherwise, leading Kouki to even think that Alex had brainwashed them. Beth was similar in a way in that her former experience with men had led her to automatically believe that Alex wanted nothing but to violate her as he pleased, despite him trying to state otherwise. Instead of wasting time trying to convince Beth that he had no intention to ravage her, Alex slowly stood from his chair and stepped towards her as her body visibly tensed, despite her being the one to offer herself to him. Alex however didn''t lay his hands on her or start undressing as she expected, instead he leaned over until his face was mere inches from her own as he said a single word, "No." Beth''s eyes widened as Alex turned without another word, and made to leave her prison. He only stopped on his way long enough to say for both Beth and Lauren, "Explain things to her please Lauren, I don''t think she''ll listen to me." After Lauren gave her word to Alex that she''d talk to Beth on his behalf, he left her prison in an instant with Spatial magic, leaving a stunned Beth still sitting there spreading herself open, waiting for a violating that didn''t come. "Haaaaaaaaaa....." Alex let out a deep sigh as he exited the layers of barriers around Beth''s prison, feeling quite the buildup of a mental fatigue despite spending the last three days meditating just to clear his mind. Deciding it was about time to turn in for the night, especially with dinner being almost ready, Alex flew back to the villa at a leisurely pace, where he was once again the center of attention the second he landed in the courtyards surrounding it. With so many extra mouths to feed the courtyards were filled with extra tables to ensure everyone could have a place to sit, however the women helping with setting up for dinner began to eye Alex warily the moment he appeared. Not wanting to make things awkward with his presence, Alex then decided to retire to his room to eat and bathe. This caused quite an uproar amongst his wives since they felt that Alex was pandering to their ''guests'' too much considering it was his home, however he stated that it was only for the one night because he himself was quite tired, and that he wouldn''t pander to them starting the next day. What none of them considered was that Alex''s absence at dinner was quite noticeable to the attendees, especially to those who were from wealthy or influential backgrounds, prompting them to feel quite guilty about making the master of the home feel unwanted. Being unaware of this though, Alex quickly ate his dinner and settled down into the private bath in his room to relax in the soothing hot water. As he soaked in the water Alex allowed his mind to wander more than he usually would have, as he used the newfound expansion to his ''Domain'' to explore a bit. After a few minutes Alex quickly noticed that he wasn''t the only one that wasn''t participating in dinner and the bath with everyone, as Kuroka sat cross legged on her own floating island, meditating. Though she usually made herself look lazy and unreliable, what Alex was now looking down on was a Kuroka that was diligently working hard to make herself stronger, as the Touki within her continued to build in volume. If she was able to keep this up, then it was possible that Kuroka would be able to finally acquire her fifth tail and increase her power. However, as he took a closer look, Kuroka''s brow twitched as she opened one eye and lost all of her concentration as she looked around for Alex after feeling his gaze. Embarrassed at having disturbed her focus, Alex withdrew his presence and continued his exploration while leaving Kuroka to meditate in peace. While Alex was busy messing around with his new ability, he was surprised to see someone sneak away from the baths were everyone else was grouped, before they made their way through the villa towards his room. Amused, Alex watched their slow and careful ascent towards his room before they quietly entered and proceeded to remove what little clothing they had on before sneaking towards the bathroom door. As it slowly creeped open, and the intruder was about to identify themselves, Alex suddenly called out, "And to what do I owe this surprise visit, princess Momo?" Pausing slightly from Alex calling her out, Momo smiled and said as she unhesitantly entered the bathroom, "As could be expected from someone calling themselves the ''Dragon Emperor'', you probably saw me coming before I was even here." As she spoke Momo entered Alex''s field of vision without even bothering to cover up her n.a.k.e.d body, before excusing herself as she entered the bathtub he was in. As she settled down across from him, with her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts floating in the water before her, Alex felt as if he was experiencing some Deja vu and asked, "So what are you doing here Momo? I would have thought someone who''s been through what all of you have would hesitate to share a bath with a man, especially when you just met him that day." Momo just smiled innocently and said lightheartedly, "Well, you''ve already seen my everything when you fought us so there''s no point in pretending to be shy, and maybe I just wanted to get to know the man who saved us?" Despite her reasoning and attitude being fairly innocent, Alex snorted and said, "If it was anyone else who was saying that then I might have believed them, but I know that you fancy yourself a schemer and a manipulator. So, what is the real reason you came up here?" His words made Momo frown slightly as she didn''t expect Alex to see through her so soon, but what she didn''t know was that Alex didn''t consider her anywhere close to being the master manipulator she thought she was. Momo''s schemes almost always relied on the people she was manipulating believing that she was a sweet, innocent, and naive girl, yet if one knew of her true nature then it was almost impossible for her to keep up her facade in front of them. As if to prove him right, Momo then sighed and said seriously, "Ok I wanted to talk to you in private, but it isn''t anything bad, I promise!" Even as Momo tried to swear her intentions weren''t bad, Alex just continued to stare at her intently as he waited for her to explain what she wanted. After taking in a deep breath to prepare herself, Momo then firmly stated, "I want to start a Harem Plan for you." There was a beat of silence as Alex took in her words, before he asked with confusion, "A what plan?" Momo took in another breath before repeating, "A Harem Plan. I want to help you add all of us that were abused by ''that'' man into your harem." There was another beat of silence as Alex took in that he had in fact heard Momo correctly, before he replied, "I see..... And is this Harem Plan similar to the one you tried to push onto Rito?" The moment Alex said Rito''s name he felt a twinge of guilt as Momo flinched and looked noticeably sadder, but he didn''t say anything until she eventually answered, "Yes and no. The plan I made for Rito-San was because of my own selfishness, because I figured that if I could get him to accept the hearts of all of the women that were interested in him, then I could also have my share of happiness without ruining my big sis'' marriage. In contrast, the reason I want to get everyone into your harem is because I think that it''ll help them the most on the road to recovery if they had a firm ''rock'' to rely on." Alex was silent as he listens to Momo''s reason for her new Harem Plan, and while he could admit she made a good point about the girls needing a ''rock'' to help them recover, he eventually shook his head and replied, "No. I can see where you''re coming from, and while I won''t push away anyone who would actually want to be with me, I have no intention of using anyone''s fragile mental state to get them into my bed. It would also be better if they could find someone who''s attention they could monopolize instead of just being ''one of a collection'' a second time." Momo was stunned into silence for a moment as she took in what Alex said, before a small glimmer appeared in her eyes. Despite his refusal, Momo was now convinced she was correct in thinking Alex was the perfect person to act as everyone''s ''rock'' since he didn''t just leap at the chance to bed them all. Refusing to give up, Momo pressed on while leaning towards him, "But no one else knows any of them or what they went through like you do! It was either because of your direct actions or on your orders that they were saved, and you prioritized their recovery over everything else, even going as far as to eat and bathe alone when you thought your presence would disturb them!" As Momo started getting enthused in her argument, Alex couldn''t help but notice somethings about the way she was phrasing everything and asked, "I keep hearing ''they'', ''them'', and ''their'', but why not ''we'', ''our'', ''us'', and ''I''? Wouldn''t you include yourself in this so called ''Harem Plan''?" This made Momo pause before a sad yet mischievous look crossed her face and she said, "I just didn''t think you''d want the ''Whore of Deviluke'' as well, buuuuut-" As she trailed off Momo stood in the bath so that Alex had an unrestrained view of her n.a.k.e.d body, before turning around and bending over so that he could glimpse the treasure between her cheeks while her tail danced tantalizingly around her rump before she continued, "If you really want me that badly then I wouldn''t mind being your first ''conquest''. I even had your Regeneration magic used on me so that everything is nice and fresh again down there." As the third girl that day offered herself to him Alex restrained the urge to sigh deeply, before he instead said, "I''d rather hear about this ''Whore of Deviluke'' you just mentioned." When she heard this Momo frowned before saying, "Well she doesn''t exist anymore, but a persons past says a lot about them so I don''t want to get into it.... I know! Instead I''ll even let you do me here if you want, just please be gentle...." As she trailed off Momo made an expression of embarrassment as she then reached back and spread her cheeks open, allowing Alex to also see the tightly puckered little hole between them. However he was adamant about his earlier statement and asked, "How do you expect me to act as everyone''s ''rock'' when you yourself won''t even open up to me? This is all starting to seem redundant." When she heard this Momo made a face since Alex had effectively used her own trap against her, prompting her to release a deep sigh of her own as she turned around so that she was once more facing him. Instead of taking her previous seat back though, Momo then moved towards Alex and unhesitantly plopped down onto his lap with a look that said she wasn''t going to move. Settled in now, Momo readied herself and began, "It started shorted after I was subdued by ''that'' man. He intended to form an army of what he called ''cannon fodder'' until he could amass the women he wanted to gather, like the Pandoras. To do this, and to ensure that no one would attack during the time we had left in our universe, I was sent as a ''goodwill ambassador'' to various worlds to meet with their kings regarding an alliance. The reason I was sent wasn''t because I was particularly good at diplomacy or anything, but because I was the daughter of the hated king of Deviluke." At this point Momo hesitated slightly before resigning herself and continuing, "Despite my father bringing peace to the universe, he did so by conquering it and that had created a lot of resentment for himself and us who were his family. And so, as a daughter of Deviluke, I was offered to each of the kings of the various planets as their personal property for an entire week, and in exchange they were to at least sign a nonaggression pact. Needless to say they all immediately accepted. "To some extent a few of them mostly bore resentment against my big sis for not choosing them as her marriage partner, and spent the week playing with my body before passing me around to their own family and even several of their vassals. As time went on however I eventually picked up the name the ''Whore of Deviluke'', and things began to get progressively more extreme." She paused once again as she reached this part, and Alex could swear he saw a bit of moisture quickly forming in the corners of her eyes as she continued, "Soon a certain king even went so far as, after having his fill the first night, having me chained up outside n.a.k.e.d for anyone on the planet to use. As could be expected a lot of people amongst his planet had grudges against my father, either from losing a battle against him or losing loved ones, and so there was a constant line of men waiting to use me from the moment I was left out there until it was time for me to leave, with me only getting an hour long break three times a day the entire time. "Then, another king went even further by making become his ''pet'' the entire week! I was stripped n.a.k.e.d, and had to wear a collar while crawling all over the castle on all fours like a dog! He-he even went as far as summoning his other pets a-and having them-" By this point Momo broke down sobbing completely as she buried her face into his chest and tried to cling to him. Alex of course wrapped her in his arms and tried to comfort the crying girl, a twinge of guilt rising in him for making her recall such memories, but it was drastically dwarfed by his sudden desire to visit the To Love Ru universe in order to practice destroying planets. He buried such feelings for the moment though, and instead devoted his attention towards comforting the pink haired girl in his arms. *** While Alex was consoling the hysterical Momo, another group was meeting in the lounge of the dorms that had been hastily constructed after their arrival, to discuss what they had been told earlier that day. BANG! "THIS IS F.U.C.K.I.N.G BULLSHIT!" Arnett Mcmillan swore as she punched the table between them, effectively destroying it while the other five women either looked at her solemnly, or shook their heads at her behavior. "Destroying their property isn''t going to change things you know." Chiffon said as she looked wistfully at the destruction the redhead caused, making her turn a glare at her and spit, "Don''t make me come over there miss ''Legendary Pandora'' or whatever the f.u.c.k you are!" When she heard Arnett''s threat Chiffon immediately took cover behind Ticy and said, "Oh how scarrrrry!" Of course this only made the Pandora that had often been known as the ''Mad Dog'' even angrier, but as she took a step towards Chiffon, a new voice suddenly said, "Stop it Arnett. You aren''t going to accomplish anything like this." Though Arnett snorted at Elizabeth''s words, she did in fact step back and take a breath to try and calm herself down, an action that might have earned her the comment ''good d.o.g.g.y'' if her target had been anyone else but Chiffon. As she did so the tomboyish Creo then spoke up, "You can''t really blame her for being angry though, not after what miss Grayfia told us earlier." To this Arnett and the other girl present, Attia, nodded in agreement as they recalled the earlier ''offer'' Grayfia had made to them, to join her maid group. As she thought about it Arnett''s blood started boiling once more as she spat out, "First we got our asses kicked. Then we were r.a.p.ed and turned into s.e.x toys. And now they want us to become some f.u.c.k.i.n.g servants, while we''ll also be required too give ourselves to him whenever he wants?! No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way!" As Arnett started getting riled up again, Elizabeth spoke up once more while rubbing her temples, "Just calm down Arnett. Firstly the rule is just that we can''t be in a relationship with other men, and secondly you can always refuse if you don''t want to do it that badly." Instead of calming her down tough, Elizabeth''s words had the opposite effect as Arnett demanded, "What do you mean ''you''?! Don''t tell you''re actually considering this?!" At this Elizabeth looked directly at Arnett, and said in a completely serious tone of voice, "And what if I was?" Chapter 337 - Pettiness As morning started to creep into the villa and its residents, a certain pink haired girl started to stir in Alex''s bed. Though the duo was n.a.k.e.d and their bodies intertwined, nothing had happened between them other than Alex comforting Momo''s broken heart. Though she had tried to act as if her previous standing hadn''t effected her, the way she had cried her eyes out the night before told Alex everything he needed to know regarding her real feelings on the matter. Now that she had gotten all of it out of her system, he felt as if they were ready to let the matter lay behind them and Momo would be ready to truly move forward. Of course Alex was aware that this was him acting as a ''rock'' for her as she initially wanted, but he didn''t mind since he felt as if this instance would genuinely help Momo in the long run. As he was thinking of this Alex felt the girl at his side start stirring, until her head popped up with a sleepy expression on her face. The moment she saw Alex though, Momo''s face brightened as she snuggled up to him and said, "Good morning!" Her actions made Alex chuckle lightly, before he said, "Good morning, you''re certainly in a better mood." Momo nodded as she said, "That was the best sleep I''ve had in a long time, and the company I woke up to helped." This time he only smiled wryly in response to her teasing remark, but Alex was thankful that she wasn''t still depressed from having to recount what had happened to her. What he wasn''t expecting was for Momo to suddenly plant a quick kiss on his lips as she quickly flung one of her legs over him so that she was straddling his body with her arms on either side of his head. A small smirk appeared at the corner of Momo''s mouth as her stiffened n.i.p.p.l.es lightly brushed against Alex''s chest, before she leaned down so that their faces were only inches apart and said, "Now I really want to know what it feels like to be one of your women, you aren''t going to try and resist me this time are you?" Since he could tell that Momo wasn''t just trying to appeal to him for her own ends, but genuinely wanted this, Alex returned a smirk of his own as he replied, "Not at all, but I have to warn you that Nana wasn''t too far off when she kept calling me a ''beast'' you know." This made Momo''s smile widen as she started moving her h.i.p.s back until something large and hot prodded her precious place, making her eyes widen in shock since she hadn''t actually been able to tell how big it was the night before. With her anticipation growing, Momo was about to penetrate herself when suddenly, "Ahem." Both of them paused as someone interrupted what they were doing, and turned slowly to see a beautiful woman with long light purple hair in a maid uniform standing beside the bed. With neither of them saying anything, the mystery woman continued in a cold voice full of scorn, "Oh don''t mind me, just continue what you were doing." In an instant Alex moved to a seated position while also pushing Momo behind him as Ascalon suddenly appeared with the tip sitting just below the woman''s chin as he snarled, "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?" When she heard this the woman scowled at Alex and said with a sneer, "Typical man, once you''re done with one women you immediately forget her and move onto the next." As she spoke Alex finally realized that he knew this voice and way of speaking, and questioned incredulously, "Elaine?!" *** "Haaaaaaaa...." Momo sighed as she slowly brushed out her hair in her family''s bathroom, having sneakily returned to their room after being c.o.c.kblocked and kicked out of Alex''s room due to that Elaine woman. Though she was more than a little irritated at what happened, she tried to be understanding since Alex''s reaction told her that it was an unusual situation. Instead she recalled what they had almost done before Elaine interrupted them, and the fact that Alex had readily accepted her despite her past, a thought that made a silly smile spread on her face. "What are you so smiley about?" Momo jumped as Nana''s voice suddenly cut through the silent bathroom, before she turned to her twin and said with a knowing smile, "Oh nothing, I just had a good nights sleep is all~." Nana snorted and said, "Well so did I since I had the bed to myself last night, where did you disappear to?" Momo just flashed another knowing smile and said, "Nowhere, I just went exploring a little bit and found someplace else to spend the night." When she heard this Nana narrowed her eyes and said, "You''re plotting something again, aren''t you?" This time Momo acted surprised as she responded, "Plotting? Me? I have no idea what you''re talking about Nana! Then again, I suppose children typically do daydream." Nana started grinding her teeth when she heard that, before quickly biting back with, "You''re younger than I am!" Momo snickered at her though and said, "Technically yes I am, but we both know I''m more mature both mentally and physically~." As she spoke Momo moved her body in a way that made her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle noticeably, even through her pajamas, making Nana flinch as her hands instinctively moved towards her own almost nonexistent b.r.e.a.s.ts. As she did so her glare intensified as she practically snarled, "And what exactly is wrong with being a pettanko?!(A.N. flat chested) Feigning surprise once more, Momo quickly said, "Who said anything about being a pettanko? I''d rather say you''re lacking other certain ''womanly'' charms that would make you be considered more ''mature''~" As she trailed off Momo was suddenly tackled to the bathroom floor as Nana released an most feral growl. For what seemed like the first time in a long time, the two twins wrestled each other as they fought for the other''s tail, which was a major erogenous zone for the Devilukian sisters. After several minutes of wrestling and toying with the other''s tail until climax, both girls were laying on the bathroom floor panting as the door opened, and in walked their mother and older sister. "Oh my, what happened here?" Sephie asked even with her knowing smile, as she and Lala had been unintentionally listening to the two girls fight from outside. Meanwhile their big sis said with a scolding tone, "Nana, Momo, it isn''t good to fight, you need to get along!" As they heard this the twins looked at each other for a second before both erupted into giggles as, for the first time in a long time, they felt like things had gone back to ''normal'' instead of the usual cloud of what happened hanging over them. As things settled down Sephie then said, "We have to hurry and get ready since miss Grayfia and Ravel are calling for us to hand out our new schedules." After she said this her three daughters hurried up to get ready before leaving to the villa courtyard where everyone else was gathering. "Aren''t you coming mama?" Lala called out as she trailed after her sisters, to which Sephie replied with a small smile, "Not just yet, there''s something I need to take care of first." With Lala telling her to hurry up Sephie closed the door to their room, except the happy atmosphere from before quickly vanished. When she took her hand off of the doorknob Sephie couldn''t help but notice that it was bloody, before she looked down at her own hands to see them covered in blood as well. She then slowly turned to see her husband, Gid, laying dead in the middle of the floor with a pool of blood spreading beneath him and knife handle sticking out of his chest, a look of betrayal in his dead eyes. Though she knew that what she was seeing wasn''t real, that didn''t stop a few tears from running down Sephie''s face as she cried out in a muted voice, "Oh Gid, I''m so sorry....." *** As promised the day brought big change to those who had been under the care of Alex and his wives, with the only exceptions being the absentees Sephie and the human weapon Yami, but they would be addressed later when both were more stable. For the most part the women were pleased with their new schedules, which consisted of receiving lessons on Asora and the races living there for a few hours, before being dismissed to finish their chores before being given the rest of the day for themselves. The only problem was that the majority of the Pandora were dissatisfied because they had been designated ''temporary maids'', meaning their duties consisted of cleaning the villa and the dorms, as well as several of the floating islands around them. As warriors and ladies of noble upbringing, several of them couldn''t help but feel offended that they were being treated in such a way instead of being given the chance to fight like they had hoped, while a few of them realized that only a select few had been given that chance instead. "Ladies, I want you to welcome our new recruits!" Grayfia called out as she stood before the groups of her combat maids, and the new members. Alongside Elizabeth, Chiffon, Ticy, Arnett, Attia, and Creo, she had also picked out Stella, who was fidgeting uncomfortably in her maid outfit along with Arnett, Rana, who was waving at her new comrades happily, and Mea, who was smiling at everyone cheerfully. Of course the new trio had been informed of Grayfia''s rules when she had picked them out, which Rana and Mea had accepted without complaint, while Stella was mostly banking on no man being able to approach her while Alex wouldn''t use force to have her ''attend'' him. As Grayfia started introductions Arnett couldn''t help but recall the previous nights events that led her ultimately joining the maids, despite being against the very idea before. *The previous night* "YOU''RE CONSIDERING IT?! HAVE YOU GONE INSANE?!" Arnett demanded as she glared at Elizabeth, the only one of those stuck up and snooty rich Pandoras she actually respected. Elizabeth however had a hint of sadness as she said, "Tell me Arnett, who am I?" The angry woman showed both annoyance and confusion at Elizabeth''s question, before she stated as if it was obvious, "You''re Elizabeth Mably of the Mably family! The fact that someone like you would even consider being a mere maid is insulting your entire family and upbringing!" Elizabeth however acted as if she didn''t hear the second part of what Arnett said, and asked, "And where is the Mably family now?" This time Arnett was silent along with Creo and Attia, to which Elizabeth continued, "The Mably family is in an entirely different world than this one, and it''s even questionable that it even still exists. The current me has even less in terms of status and wealth than you had before entering West Genetics." Not just Arnett, everyone looked melancholic when they heard Elizabeth''s words, as the same situation applied to every single one of the Pandora that had accompanied them to this world. Unlike the vast majority who appeared to have not noticed this though, Elizabeth was very aware of her newfound lack of status and seriously considered Grayfia''s offer because of it. From what Grayfia had told them, the combat maids were akin to an elite group within Alex''s family that were more or less his personal guard. Though it would almost seem insulting to invite a woman with a prestigious background like Elizabeth into the ranks of servants, she didn''t consider it so since Grayfia hadn''t said anything about the rest of the Pandora, meaning that her invitation was an acknowledgment of their skills. After being silent for a moment, Elizabeth stood and said, "I''m going to take what chances I''m given to make the most of this new life of mine, you''re free to do as you wish Arnett, like always." As she recalled the scene from the night before, Arnett was suddenly brought back to the present when she heard Grayfia suddenly say, "To begin with we need to know what everyone is capable of doing, so who wants to spar first?" The words weren''t even out of her mouth when Arnett stepped forward and said, "I''ll go first, who''s gonna be my opponent?" Having a general idea of Arnett''s temperament, Grayfia smiled wryly before gesturing for Tracy to step forward. "Tracy and Arnett, good luck." As everyone stepped back to give them space, Arnett summoned her volt weapon, a giant double headed scythe, and said without any courtesy, "You better be careful little missy, I need to blow off some steam!" As she finished speaking Arnett''s figure blurred before she reappeared right above Tracy and swung her scythe down at her head. CLANG! The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out a massive great sword appeared out of nowhere in Tracy''s hand, and she casually looked back at Arnett before saying, "Princess Tracy D. Hoelscher of the Hoelscher Empire, at your service miss McMillen." Surprised at how easily Tracy blocked her attack, a smile spread on Arnett''s face as she thought to herself, ''This might not be a complete waste of time.'' The din of metal clashing then rang out time after time as the sparring matches between the combat maids continued, with Grayfia intending to maximize their training as much as possible with the rest of the Pandora taking care of things for her. *** Later that night everyone gathered in the expanded baths as they washed away the first day of work they had in quite a while, though some were taking their work better than others. "I can''t believe how shameless that woman is!" Kotegawa Yui cried out as she slumped into the hot water of the bath, exhausted mentally from having to deal with Kuroka all day. She had been assigned to Kuroka''s island to act as the maid there, something she wasn''t too thrilled about until she saw the abundance of cats present on the island, however as could be expected Kuroka''s personality was too much for someone that used to be the head of the Public Morals Committee of her school. "It isn''t so bad Kotegawa." Haruna tried to console her, which made Kotegawa narrow her eyes before she pointed at Haruna and stated, "Maybe not for you! You got kitchen duty with Mikan!" This led to Haruna trying to convince Kotegawa that kitchen duty wasn''t as nice as it seemed when you had to cook for nearly four hundred people, even when you had Mikan and a small team of Pandoras helping you. At that point Lala came bouncing over and said with an innocent smile, "Well I love my job!" This time it wasn''t Kotegawa that answered, but Run who replied, "What job? You just get to sit around and tinker with your toys all day!" As she said Lala had been given her own floating island to turn into her personal workshop, which she shared with her sisters so that they could add some plants and cuddly animals to run around it. As for Nana and Momo themselves, with their ability to talk to animals and plants respectively, they were drafted to work with Anne since she was handling the nature part of Asora. Part of their duties was to ensure that any plants and animals within the space-time orb were healthy and happy, and when the time was right their duties would expand to each of the cities in Asora itself. Meanwhile Run and her friend Kyoko had been brought to Ingvild''s island due to their past activities as idols and actresses, where they spent the day with Ingvild, Liliana, Tamao, and the mermaids of the swim team. As everyone was discussing their respective jobs, off to the side was a certain trio of women consisting of Rin, Saki, and Aya. "So Rin, what did you get called for?" Saki interrogated her, to which Rin awkwardly replied under her friend''s scrutiny, "Miss Shizuku had heard that I had a history of kendo, so she was interested in trying to teach me her family''s combat techniques." when she heard this Saki snorted and said, "Well good for you Rin, meanwhile Aya and I have been working like servants the entire day! To think, there would be a day where the great Saki Tenj¨­in would have to work like a commoner!" As Saki bem.o.a.ned her current standing, a new voice suddenly said, "I think it''s good for you, after all you don''t know what the future has in store for you now." When she heard this a tick mark appeared on Saki''s forehead, and she turned to the speaker, the former school nurse Mikado Ryoko, and said, "That''s easy for you to say, you three basically get to spend your days doing nothing while the rest of us work!" Mikado however shook her head with a wry smile and stated while gesturing at her companions, Tearju Lunatique and Oshizu, "We''re not just ''doing nothing'', I was offered a position at Asora''s hospital with Oshizu as my assistant, and Tear was given a position and lab at miss Sona''s academy. Since time flows differently here we have about a week to prepare our things such as notes, and to learn as much as possible about what they have waiting for us before morning." As she said Mikado was offered a position at the hospital alongside Asia, Valerie, Kaori, and Anne due to her vast medial knowledge and expertise, which didn''t rely on magic. If there was one thing that was considered bad about Asora''s healthcare, it was the over reliance on magic and healing abilities that didn''t rely on the knowledge or skill a normal doctor would possess. Mikado was a skilled doctor who had been all over her home universe, and was even good enough that she had created an artificial body for the ghost girl Oshizu, which was almost indistinguishable from a normal flesh and blood body. And Tear(Tearju) was a famous genius in the field of Biotechnology that had even created the living weapons Golden Darkness(Yami), and Kurosaki Mea. Of course she didn''t want to use them as ''weapons'', and instead tried to raise Yami as a ''normal'' person, which wasn''t the goal of the rest of the researchers on the project and resulted in her being chased away. Now she was being granted a teaching position and even her own lab at the Academy, along with her own floating island within the space-time orb, which she could use to research as much as she wanted without interference from greedy and malicious scientists. As the din of everyone discussing what they did that day continued to echo throughout the baths, it was suddenly brought to a halt by the arrival of a certain someone, namely Alex himself. Naturally the majority of the girls were about to tell him off for entering the female bath(not knowing that they weren''t separated), but the words were caught in their throats when they actually saw Alex. His n.a.k.e.d body was covered head to foot in dirt and nasty bruises of every color and shade possible, while there were even several serious looking cuts and gashes that were covered in dried blood, and his face was partially swollen on one side. Everyone was so distracted by Alex''s current appearance, that they didn''t notice the light purple haired maid entering the baths behind him with a satisfied smirk on her face. Alex himself however didn''t bother with anyone''s gazes, and made his way directly to a certain bath that was filled with slightly clouded water without washing. This particular bath was enchanted so that any grime that entered it quickly dissolved before disappearing entirely, making it ideal for anyone that was particularly dirty like Alex was currently. As he lowered himself into the scalding water Alex let out a hiss as it touched his wounds before they were submerged, until he himself was finally submerged up to his neck. as the cloud of dirt and blood around him quickly disappeared, Alex then took a deep breath, and dunked his head under the water as well. When he came back up he found both Asia and Koneko waiting at the edge of the tub for him, before the former asked as she climbed in onto his lap, "What happened?" Alex laughed dryly at himself before saying, "I spent the day getting my Super Saiyan 2 ass kicked, that''s what...." When they heard this Alex''s girls went pale, as to them SSJ2 was one of the strongest transformation there was besides his God form. Hearing that there was someone capable of essentially toying with Alex when he was transformed was even more shocking than when Lauren showed them the people Alex may face in the future. Immediately everyone''s attention turned towards the woman that had arrived with Alex, who was even smirking with satisfaction. "What did you do to him?" Rias practically growled as her entire body was instantly covered in destruction and her killing intent focused on her. Alex however lazily waved his hand and said as Asia started healing him, "Leave it be Rias, it was my idea anyways. Everyone this is Elaine, Elaine this is everyone." Snorting at Alex''s casual introductions, Elaine stated while pointedly ignoring the dirty looks she was receiving, "For the time being I have been ordered to serve Alex, it is a pleasure to meet all of you." When she heard that Grayfia looked confused and asked, "What does she mean, ''ordered''?" Alex sighed as he enjoyed the feeling of Asia healing his wounds, while Koneko gave him a lap pillow and used her Touki to help circulate his internal energy, and explained, "She''s the same type of existence as Lauren and Jenny, except she belonged to ''that'' man. The difference is that she wanted him dead and told me about what he was capable of doing." As Alex trailed off Elaine picked up, "And the punishment I received for breaking the rules and causing a contestant''s death was to work for the very same man I decided to help." She then went on to explain the same rules she listed to Alex earlier, firstly was that her life was directly tied to his, meaning that if Alex died she died. Secondly she was not to interfere if Alex himself was in any danger whatsoever, meaning that even if he was dying right in front her all Elaine could do was watch silently until she died herself. Thirdly she could not do anything that would benefit Alex''s position in the competition, meaning she couldn''t give him any Intel on other contestants, and she couldn''t actually train him. Of course Alex immediately found and tried as possible loophole, which led to his current appearance since he had spent the entire day sparring against Elaine, she hadn''t technically been training him, but Alex fully intended to use the fact that there was someone stronger than him to the fullest. And finally she was to follow all of Alex''s orders similarly to those he had marked with his slave brand, as long as his orders didn''t conflict with any of the restrictions that had been placed on her. This however very was the most terrifying thing for her, as there was absolutely nothing to protect her virtue if Alex decided to give her one of ''those'' types of orders. Trying not to think about such a thing as she gave her explanation, once Elaine finished speaking Grayfia then demanded while pointing at Alex directly, "And why exactly does he look like THIS?!" Looking at Alex''s discoloration and injuries, a hint of a smirk could be seen on Elaine''s face as she said, "Well my ''master'' wanted to maximize the effects of our sparring, and so I decided to nullify his regenerative skill for the time being." Her words earned her even more dirty looks, while Grayfia''s expression was almost downright demonic. She didn''t mind the fact that Alex so heavily injured, or that it was at the hands of someone who was meant to serve him, but that Elaine herself almost seemed proud of herself for doing the damage she did to him. Pain was nothing new to any of them, and it was expected that they''d experience their fair share of it in the future even at Alex''s hands in preparation for the battles ahead. However, he never took pleasure in deliberately causing his wive''s pain, and would usually spend some time making up for it afterwards. Deciding to teach the little bitch a lesson, Grayfia then said, "As his servant you do realize that it is also your responsibility to ensure your ''master'' is well cared for and clean, correct? Then you are to wash every nook and cranny of his body to ensure that he is properly clean, and that there is no lasting damage from your ''sparring''." As she spoke Grayfia held out some soap and a wash cloth to Elaine, who frowned and was about to refuse when Alex suddenly spoke up from Koneko''s lap, "Oh yeah! I forgot to say so earlier, but Elaine you''re to obey any order given to you by either Grayfia or Ravel as if they are my own, understood?" Elaine made a face when she heard this, while Grayfia smirked victoriously as the purple haired ''Angel'' had no choice but to accept the soap and wash cloth. Snorting as she did so, Elaine snatched the items from Grayfia''s hands and started to storm over to Alex to do as she was commanded, only for Grayfia to suddenly demand, "What do you think you''re doing?" Elaine swung around and stated with an increasing temper, "I''m doing as you ordered me to, ''ma''am''." Ignoring the sarcasm in the last word, Grayfia replied, "I can see that, but this is in fact a bath, why are your clothes still on?" This time Elaine didn''t show anger, but instead she paled in brief fear as the dark imaginings that she pictured from serving a man resurfaced. Even as she glanced around at the other women hoping someone would take pity on her though, Elaine found none. Instead she only saw angry gazes directed at the person responsible for inflicting so many wounds on their husband. Even amongst the women that had been abused by ''that'' man she didn''t receive any support, as despite the fact that they still weren''t sure about trusting them, Alex was still the one who saved them from their horrible fate. Seeing that she would receive no support, the ''Angel'' could only release a sigh of defeat, and reached up to the bindings of her maid outfit with shaky hands. After a few seconds of untying her movements paused, before her garments fell to the ground at once in a small pile to leave her standing in only her underwear. As every eye focused on her Elaine could only writhe in shame from feeling as if they were scrutinizing her choice of undergarments, a relatively plain cotton purple bra with matching panties, except they were tied at the sides with strings. Of all the gazes on her though, the one Elaine was concerned about was the man in front of her, the first man to lay his eyes upon her n.a.k.e.d body ever since her creation billions of years prior. Not wanting to remove the last two pieces covering her dignity, Elaine tried to step forward before Grayfia taunted, "The rest of it as well please." Elaine paused as dread filled her body at what she was being ordered to do, but she couldn''t go against any orders given to her. Slowly Elaine''s fingers moved against her will as they went to the bra''s hook at her back, and, with a single flick, the fabric fell to the ground as well to reveal her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts to the man before her. With tears threatening to spill as Alex ogled her B-cup b.r.e.a.s.ts, Elaine used the last of her will to cover them from his gaze in shame while neglecting the last piece of cloth on her body. Seemingly not yet satisfied with what Elaine was going through, Grayfia then stepped up behind her, and swiftly pulled at the strings at her side while Elaine''s hands were busy covering her b.r.e.a.s.ts, causing her thin cotton string panties to fall to the ground. This time tears did spill as Alex''s gaze unhesitantly went down to take in the view of her n.a.k.e.d p.u.s.s.y, before Elaine''s hand quickly covered it at the expense of revealing her b.r.e.a.s.ts. She then felt two mounds of softness pressed into her back, as Grayfia lightly grabbed Elaine''s arms from behind and pulled them away so that none of her body was covered. She then whispered in the ''Angel''s'' ear, "I don''t care if our lord sustains injuries as he pursues strength, but if I ever feel as if you inflicting them is for your own satisfaction or pleasure, then what any one of us will do to you will make this look like a very insignificant thing. Now get going." As she finished speaking Grayfia slapped Elaine''s plump butt to get her moving once again, and a single look around her was all it took for Elaine to know that the silver haired maid''s threat was very serious. Her orders given to her, all Elaine could do was walk forward on unsteady feet until she was right next to Alex. As she approached Koneko stood and slid into the water to make room for her, prompting Elaine to get down onto her knees as Alex laid his head back to rest on her thighs, giving him an up close and personal view of her cleavage as she leaned forward to start scrubbing his chest. *** While everyone else was watching the spectacle taking place in the baths, a solitary girl with long flowing golden hair stood at the highest peak of a floating island, her gothic leather dress fluttering gently around her in the breeze. Despite the serene and beautiful seeming atmosphere, the girls thoughts were dark and gloomy as she once again recounted her life, from the happy days of her youth with Tear, to the days following her disappearance when she was turned into a weapon to kill. Then there was the days after the organization that created her was destroyed by an assassin, who then went against his directive and let her live to go on as an assassin herself, known as Golden Darkness. Such a life brought her to the stupidly peaceful world of earth, where she met the Devilukian princess Lala, her first ever friend Yuki Mikan, and then the man who was the target that brought her there, and her first love, Yuki Rito. As Yami''s thoughts turned towards the only man to sway her heart, her eyes threatened tears once more. But she forced them down even as she recalled the most recent events of her life, her friend Mikan being used against her as ''that'' man took her as his own. Then she recalled watching the man she loved being blown out of the spaceship and disintegrated, while she simply stood by and watched impassively as ''that'' man had his way with her. As these particular memories resurfaced, Yami recalled how she had lived her life until that point as a ''weapon'', and how for the first time she had felt like a ''woman''. As she once again recalled how she had failed at both, Yami looked at her hands and quietly muttered for the thousandth time, "I, am a failure." Chapter 338 - Golden Darkness Over the next few days everyone steadily got used to their new routines, though the majority still weren''t happy that their responsibilities pertained to them being stand in maids, especially since Ravel and Grayfia were taking full advantage of the current situation to give the usual maids a ''break'' as they instead focused on training. The thing that grinded on them the most though was Alex himself, as he would do things like enter the baths with them every day and openly flirt with his wives, which would occasionally lead to them flat out f.u.c.k.i.n.g without any care for the time, place, or occasion. Naturally one of the Pandora did bring up now uncomfortable this made them at one point, however she was quickly shut down by being reminded that this was was in fact Alex''s home to begin with, and the villa was originally built to act as both his training grounds and love nest. On top of that each of his girls had a fair amount of pent up frustrations from, not only being away from Alex for three months, but also spending that entire time taking care of their new ''guests''. Needless to say that each of them readily spent the next few days releasing their frustrations, while the women who claimed to be ''uncomfortable'' with their actions unsurprisingly stayed in the space-time orb, and would rarely excuse themselves when things started getting ''extreme'' between Alex and his women. One such situation was when Mikan''s mother, Yuki Ringo, came to Alex''s room first thing in the morning. "Good morn-!" She paused, as her greeting was drowned out by a combination of flesh smacking and Rosswiess''s m.o.a.ns, as Alex pistoned into her roughly while Koneko and Xenovia both laid to the side either catching their breath, or passed out. Rossweisse herself was on her side as Alex straddled one leg, and had the other raised up so that they were split at a ninety degree angle; while Koneko was face down with her butt upwards with her tails hanging limply, and Xenovia was on her back with her legs spread wide open in an unladylike fashion, both with a gratuitous amount of white fluid leaking from their exposed v.a.g.i.n.as. With Ringo frozen with horrid fascination, Alex glanced up at her and accidentally locked eyes right as he gaze one final thrust, and filled Rosswiess''s trembling w.o.m.b with his burning hot c.u.m. With the silver haired Valkyrie shivering in the throes of her own climax, Alex gently pulled out of her and slowly lowered her leg before leaning over her. "That was amazing." Alex whispered into her ears before sealing her lips in a passionate kiss. After several seconds he eventually pulled away from her face, making Rosswiess pout slightly as he said, "I''ll be right back." Alex then crawled off of his bed and made his way towards the still frozen Ringo, not even caring that his still wet d.i.c.k was swaying back and forth with each step until he was right in front of her. He then shook her out of her stupor by asking, "To what do I owe your visit Ringo, surely you''re not here to join in? Though I''d be more than happy to accept if that was the case." As he finished speaking Alex gave her a teasing wink, making Ringo''s face turn a fair shade of red as she tried to maintain eye contact instead of looking at Alex''s perfectly sculpted muscles or the thing dangling between his legs, before clearing her throat and said, "I figured that since I was to work in this world''s fashion industry then I might help by assisting with choosing the wardrobe of yourself and your wives, just tell me what you have planned for the day and leave the rest to me!" Alex arched an eyebrow when he heard her proposition, as he wasn''t sure about having someone pick his clothes for him every day, but after a moment of thinking about it he finally said, "Well it couldn''t hurt to try. Ok, let''s do it then!" Smiling despite the circ.u.mstances they were currently in, Ringo then took out a few tools to get Alex''s measurements before he said, "You don''t have to worry about that. Our closets literally have thousands of clothes to choose from, and they are all enchanted to automatically fit whoever''s wearing them." Ringo''s eyes went wide at the information, even as she recalled how each of her own clothes seemed to fit her perfectly. She then took down what Alex and the trio of girls had planned for the day, before promptly disappearing into the impossibly vast closet in Alex''s room as he collected the girls and made his way to the bathroom, where Ringo definitely heard the same sensual sounds that they had been making when she had first arrived. While desperately trying to tune out what she was overhearing, Ringo explored the giant closet for nearly an hour as she examined every type of clothing within that she could, until she could no longer hear the same s.e.x.u.a.l sounds from before. Taking what she had found, Ringo then quickly escaped the closet and neatly arranged everything on Alex''s bed right as he exited the bathroom with the trio of women, all in their birthday suits without minding her gaze whatsoever. "Please try these on and see if they are to your liking." She said in her professional voice as the group examined their clothes, making Alex''s brows shoot up when he saw them. After living with so many women for so long Alex had obviously picked up a small taste for fashion as he accompanied them shopping, and while choosing certain outfits that the girls would like. However he''d have to bow to the professional, as Ringo prepared for him a pair of shorts and t-shirt that perfectly matched each other in tone and symmetry that he wouldn''t have been able to see otherwise. Though he didn''t put much stock in worrying too much about fashion when he was in the space-time orb, Alex still nodded and said, "Very nice." Ringo beamed at the praise and said, "Of course, I was a top fashion designer and scout you know!" Alex nodded and said, "I think Crystabel will be very happy to work with you, just try not to get too shocked by ''her'' appearance." This made Ringo tilt her head in confusion, as she had already been warned several times about Crystabel''s appearance, but not specifically why. With Alex refusing to explain to her as well, she decided to simply brace herself and wait until she met this apparent fashion master in a few ''days'' time. After getting dressed Alex led the group downstairs as the substitute maids went to clean his room, where he was met by a fairly surprising duo. "Good morning, master~!" Mea cried out happily, while Tear fidgeted to the side and similarly greeted Alex. While the latter was simply dressed in her white lab coat with her long free-flowing blond hair, Mea had her red hair cut short with a single long braid that went down past her buttocks almost to the floor, coupled with her maid outfit due to her being a part of Grayfia''s combat maids. Unlike the rest of the official maid uniforms though, Mea''s was a skimpier version with the skirt ending at her upper thighs, which she stated was in case her ''master'' ever suddenly wanted to give her a ''lickity lick''. Nodding to the two, Alex replied, "Good morning Mea, Tear. Is there something wrong?" Since neither girl had ever sought him out before Alex was sure that they wanted something, which wasn''t too hard to guess considering their relation. As could be expected Mea''s expression turned somewhat serious as she said, "Yes, it''s about Yami onee-chan. I know you''ve been keeping an eye on her since she disappeared, but we''ve been getting worried about her being alone for so long by herself." Alex nodded at her words as he instinctively turned his attention towards Yami herself through his ''Domain'', where he found her in her same self isolation as she once again muttered the words ''I am a failure''. Though she had split off from everyone else a while back, the girls had been keeping their distance since Yami seemed to want to be alone while also keeping an eye on her, and Alex had obviously been doing the same with his newly enhanced ''Domain''. Truthfully he had been planning to confront her soon anyways, but with Mea asking him to check in on her sister he decided to shelve the training he was going to do, and said, "I''ll go check on her after I get a chance to eat something." The tension in Mea and Tear''s bodies disappeared at Alex''s words as they also let out a sigh of relief, before both girls said their thanks. While Tear turned and left though, Mea then said with a mischievous gleam in her eye, "You know master, if you really help onee-chan feel better then I''d be more than willing to give you a lickity lick myself." Before Alex could reply Mea then turned around and ran towards her best friend, Nana, who sent a glare his way before undoubtedly asking Mea what they had been talking about. Shaking his head wryly at her antics, Alex proceeded to eat his breakfast with Shizuku and Kurumu sitting on either side of him, while Sun had been forcefully plopped into his lap for her own seat. Casually eating around the cherry red siren that did little more than embarrassedly nibbling her food, Alex quickly finished his breakfast before planting a kiss on each of the girls cheeks, making Sun''s face turn even redder, before using Spatial magic to immediately teleport to the side of a petite golden haired woman. Without even looking up at the Spatial distortion next to her, Yami''s long golden hair suddenly came to life as it extended and transformed into a series of metallic blades directed at Alex that sat at less than an inch from his flesh. Turning slowly to look at him for the first time, Yami then demanded with a glower, "What do you want?" Alex smiled wryly without appearing affected by her hostility at all, before saying, "You have a few people concerned that asked me to check up on you." Though it took her a moment due to his previously golden hair now being black, Yami recalled Alex from the day that she was freed from ''that'' man''s control, and lowered her bladed hair before saying as she turned away, "I''m fine..." His wry smile widening, Alex then stepped forward and said, "Really? To me it looks like you''re just brooding out here alone." As she turned back towards him, Yami''s glower deepened as she spat, "It''s none of your concern..." To this however Alex shook his head and stated, "When I had my wives take all of you in for treatment I made it my concern, and it will continue to be so until I am satisfied with your recovery. Making your family worry and brooding on your past isn''t recovering." Though she immediately recalled Mea and Tear when Alex mentioned her family, Yami instead focused on something else he said and demanded, "Have you been spying on me?" Alex just shrugged and explained, "I can essentially be considered all knowing within the world we are in, you can''t really blame me for using it to keep an eye on someone who is suffering by themselves." Though Alex never used it for that purpose, Yami''s first thought when he told her about his omnipresence was using it to peek on her, even though she hadn''t done anything to peek in on. In response her hair started twisting and swirling around her once more, while her hands started to itch at her sides in agitation. Alex saw this and shook his head slightly, as he could imagine what was going through Yami''s mind due to her infamous hatred against perversion. Then, to try and cut off any misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict, Alex stated, "Instead of creating reasons to get angry, why don''t you just tell me what it is that''s bothering you?" As could be expected Yami''s expression darkened when she heard this, but she still stated, "You don''t understand at all! I was built to be a weapon, but I failed at that! I tried to be a woman, but I failed at that as well! What is there left for me to live for?!" Alex frowned when he heard Yami''s rant, as it almost sounded like she was nearly borderline suicidal due to her ''failures'', which wouldn''t be too surprising considering things. After a moment of silence Alex then slowly said, "What about Tearju and Mea? Shouldn''t you live for them, or maybe your friend Mikan?" Yami''s glare faltered slightly as she thought about her friend, sister, and ''mother''/creator. Finally she looked away and said in a subdued tone, "They don''t need me to fail them as well..." With his frown deepening, Alex thought for a moment as he tried to think of a way to appeal to Yami, before he eventually said, "I have a proposition then." Yami looked back at Alex silently, prompting him to continue, "We''ll have a duel. If you win then I''ll leave you alone, if I win then you''ll follow a single condition of mine." Yami''s expression soured when she heard that as Alex didn''t specify what the condition was, and so he could technically request anything of her. However, on the other hand she also felt as if there was nothing else for her to live for, and if it came down to it she could just simply commit suicide to avoid whatever he asked if her, if he either survived or won their duel to begin with. Despite the fact that she had fought and lost against Alex before, she attributed that to how weakened she had been at the time, along with the fact that she had been unable to use her Darkness transformation while she had been under ''that'' mans control. Even though she hadn''t tried to activate it since, and had only been able to control it once to protect Rito, Yami still considered it her trump card since it would automatically activate if her survival was threatened. Reasoning so, Yami was suddenly clad in a battle ready aura as she fully turned her body to face Alex before saying, "I accept!" Immediately the atmosphere changed into a different kind of tension, as Alex instantly moved away from Yami to give her some space. The living weapon didn''t seem to mind this as her hair came alive once more to form the same blades as before, while a pair of white feathery wings spread from her back and she took flight. As the blades rained down on him from above Alex''s form simply blurred as he maneuvered to avoid them effortlessly while maintaining a casual smile. With a tick mark appearing on her forehead, Yami then added several other weapons to the rain of blades, such as large metallic maces, spiked hammers, and axes. Though they moved slower than the blades, Yami instead swept them side to side in order to try and cut off Alex''s escape as he avoided her diving blades. What she didn''t know about however was Alex''s Observation Haki, which helped him navigate around the numerous weapons without any discernible effort. Getting fed up with Alex effortlessly avoiding her attacks, Yami decided to get a bit more ruthless and pulled back the weapons. There was a moment of silence before Alex glanced at the petite assassin to see what she was doing, and was surprised to see her hair twisting and weaving itself to create a giant hammer that seemed capable of even smashing entire buildings. Naturally such a large weapon would be easy to dodge, but the second Alex tensed his muscles to move beyond the range of the giant hammer, his Observation Haki started screaming at him and he stopped the evasive action he had been about to take. In every direction around him Alex''s instincts and Haki were screaming danger at him, but he was unable to determine the exact reason for it. After focusing his attention through his ''Domain'' though, Alex smiled wryly and muttered "Of course...." as he finally noticed the thin razor sharp threads that now surrounded him, each of which was actually an individual strand of Yami''s hair. Each thread was sharp enough that it would effortlessly slice through even his defenses and flesh, meaning that if Alex had hit them at full speed he''d have bisected himself at worst, and lost limbs at best. With the corner of his lips curling upwards ever so slightly, Alex stood his ground to take the giant hammer head on. As it came down on top of him, there was a great explosion of sound and dust as the entire floating island shuddered while even dropping several feet, with cracks forming and stone rubble even falling from it. Even as one of her attacks finally connected though, Yami''s frown didn''t disappear as her hammer started to slowly rise once more, against her will. Soon Alex reappeared from underneath without a single scratch on him, holding up her hammer with a mere two fingers against its weight, and her strength. As he looked at her Alex taunted, "Is that all the ''legendary assassin'' is capable of?" Showing more anger and emotion on her face than she had in most of her life, Yami recalled her transformed hair before closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to steady herself. To activate her ultimate weapon, the ''Darkness'' transformation, Yami needed to be at peace with herself. However, despite being freed from the control of ''that'' man, Yami''s inability to come to terms with her ''failures'' had worn on her too much. As the seconds slowly ticked by nothing happened, until she suddenly heard from above her, "My turn!" Yami looked up and saw Alex slowly hurtling down at her, his fist raised to deliver a punch. She then watched as if in slow motion as Alex''s fist descended directly towards her face, despite this though Yami could distinctly feel as if she couldn''t avoid or block this attack, no matter what. With her frozen in place, Alex''s fist came to a sudden halt less than an inch before her nose, with the pressure from his attack completely destroying the rest of the floating island while also distorting the sea below them to create a series of massive waves, all without harming Yami herself at all. As her hair and clothes settled from the pressure of the attack, Yami dropped to her knees on the only piece of rock still in the air, which was being held up only by Alex''s power. "I think this is my win." Alex said in a calm voice, while Yami just stared back at him in shock. Instead of waiting for her answer though, Alex simply turned, and activated his Regeneration magic to restore the floating island. Yami then watched as bits and pieces of rock flew up from the depths of the ocean where they had fallen, and began to piece themselves back together around her as if time itself was rewinding. A moment later and the floating island was whole once more while Alex stood before her, waiting in silence before she finally said while looking down, "It is my loss..." Alex nodded and agreed, "Yep, but what are you going to do about it?" This made her look up at him as she asked with confusion, "What do you mean?" Alex looked down at her and said, "As in how do you plan to move past this defeat? How do you intend to use it to grow and become stronger yourself?" Yami frowned when she heard this, and stated as if it was obvious, "There is no ''moving forward'' or ''becoming stronger'' in the world of assassins, only death or victory!" This time Alex frowned and responded, "We''re not assassins though. I and those in Asora wholly believe in growing stronger to overcome opponents that we may end up facing in the future. To us, ''failure'' is just another lesson to better yourself for the future." Yami was silent for a moment as she took this in, before saying slowly, "You want me to fight for you?" This time Alex''s smile widened as he held something out to her. "That is my condition for winning, you will accept this." Yami hesitantly accepted the object in Alex''s hand, only to see a crimson red thing she recognized as a ''pawn'' from the earth game of chess. "What is it?" Yami asked, as the way Alex was talking meant it was more than a simple part of a toy. "It is something called an ''Evil Piece'', created by the Devils of the world I came from due to their low reproductive rates, and high need for capable fighters. Part of a set of fifteen given to a high class devil recognized as a ''King'', those they give the others to are a part of their peerage and are reincarnated as a devil while being granted unique abilities based on what piece they have. "''Knights'' are skilled with blades and have enhanced speed, ''Rooks'' have enhanced strength and defenses, and ''Bishops'' have enhanced magic power and reserves for support, while the ''Queen'' has the combined traits of all three. As a ''Pawn'' you''d be able to use the unique ability of promotion to temporarily change into whatever piece you''d need for combat, except for the ''King'' of course." Yami was silent as she listened to Alex explain the abilities of the evil piece, before she asked with suspicion, "And what is the catch to you giving me this?" To this Alex chuckled awkwardly, making the former assassin even more suspicious even before he said, "Technically those in a peerage are the ''King''s'' servants, and as for my peerage personally..." As he trailed off Alex''s stepped towards Yami and pulled the stunned petite girl into his arms before continuing, "Every one of the girls in my peerage belongs to my harem." There was a brief moment of silence as Yami registered Alex''s firm and hot body pressed against her own, before her face turned Crimson from anger, and perhaps embarrassment, and her hair turned alive once more. "Don''t touch me!" She spat at him as the blades once again tried to pierce his body. Right as they were about to kill him though, Alex did something Yami never expected that made her pause once more, as he sealed her lips with his own. One moment she had been filled with an intense rage, and the next she felt a soft and warm sensation against her lips. Yami had never had the experience of kissing a boy before. Before she realized her feelings for Rito, she had never even considered a relationship with one until ''that'' man forcefully took her. Up until then Rito had stripped her, fondled her, even fingered her, but she had never had a ''real'' kiss. What she felt then was nothing like the times ''that'' man had disgustingly slobbered onto her face and mouth. It felt warm and comfortable, and instead of the desire and self satisfaction from before, she felt only affection and care. When Alex finally separated from her he was surrounded by hundreds of blades made from Yami''s hair, but he didn''t even register them as he instead stared into her eyes and said, "You may consider yourself a ''failure'' of both a weapon and a woman, but I don''t. If you have no will to live then I''ll give you one, living as both my weapon and my woman." Yami was silent as she took in what Alex said, before eventually muttering, "I suppose I have no say?" Alex nodded with a cheeky smile and replied, "Yep, you don''t. You agreed to fulfilling a single condition of mine if I won our duel, and this is it. Don''t worry though, I''ll wait until you''re ready before I ravage you, but that doesn''t mean I won''t mess with you." As he said that Alex''s hand swiftly reached under Yami''s leather skirt and pinched her butt through her panties, making the petite girl jump before glaring at him with flushed cheeks and a pout. She then muttered her trademark line even as she activated the evil piece, "I hate ecchi..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Yami/Eve Race: Living Weapon Titles: Golden Darkness Job: Jobless: 100 Jobs Available: Weapon Transformer, Blade User, Spike User, Mace User, Drill User, Hammer User, Energy User novice, Assassin, Martial Artist, Hair Fighter, Passive Skills: Blade Skill: Level 4 Spike Skill: Level 5 Mace Skill: Level 3 Drill Skill: Level 2 Hammer Skill: Level 3 Superhuman Strength: Level 5 Active Skills: Transform: Level 9 Intimidation: Level 3 Stealth: Level 2 Unique Abilities: Darkness Transformation (A transformation akin to the ''Super Saiyan'' in that it drastically increases the users power by several times, while also granting several unique abilities such as creating wormholes, transforming their surroundings, and even slicing entire planets in half.) Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *** After spending the day comforting Yami and teaching her about her new status and abilities, the duo returned to the villa just in time to join everyone else in the baths before dinner. Of course at first Yami was reluctant to strip in front of Alex, however after he pinched her rear once more he whispered into her ear, "What''s the hesitation for? I already saw you n.a.k.e.d before, and you''re mine anyways." Yami''s face formed into a noticeable grimace as she recalled both the evil piece and the day that Alex saved her from ''that'' man. After a momentary pause as she prepared herself, the former assassin then loosened the clasps of her leather dress and let it fall to the ground, leaving her standing there in nothing but a contradictory cute pair of white panties. With an uncharacteristic blush coloring her cheeks, Yami briefly tried to hide her b.r.e.a.s.ts from Alex''s gaze, until she noticed that he was too busy undressing himself to look at her. After renewing her resolve Yami then did something she had never done before, and willingly stripped n.a.k.e.d in front of a man as she lowered her panties to the floor. As she tried to calm herself down Yami turned to look back at Alex and all thoughts of her own n.a.k.e.dness was forced from her mind at what she saw. Not only was Alex''s body perfectly sculpted from head to foot for power, but the thing dangling between his legs was far bigger than anything she thought a man was capable of carrying, even the ''beast'' that was Rito. No longer worrying about Alex seeing her n.a.k.e.d, Yami knew that, in her current position, one day that ''thing'' would get put inside her, and she couldn''t help but place one hand down at her entrance while the other was used to try and measure just how far up into her it would go. As she was doing this Alex had to suppress a chuckle since he had been keeping an eye on Yami through his ''Domain'', and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "It gets even bigger when it''s excited." "...!" Yami jumped and turned suddenly as she realized Alex was right behind her, before backing up a few feet while trying not to look directly at the thing between his legs. This time Alex did chuckle lightly at her reaction, which was fairly cute due to Yami''s blush, before wrapping an arm around her shoulder and guiding her to the baths while saying, "Don''t worry I treat my women gently, unless they want otherwise. For now though lets go meet everyone." Though she was uncomfortably aware of the heat of Alex''s skin and the strength within the arm around her, Yami soon forgot about both of these as the duo entered the baths, and found several hundred pairs of eyes on them in an instant. "Eh? Isn''t that Yami?!" Those who knew her immediately called out her name, while the few who would call her a friend looked at her in concern. Alex didn''t mind any of these gazes though, and directed Yami to where his wives were bathing and said, "Girls this is the newest addition to my peerage, Yami. Yami, this is Rias and Yue, my ''Bishops'', Shia and Moka, my ''Rooks'', my ''Knight'' Shizuku, my other pawns Grayfia, Kurumu, and Sun, and then finally my ''Queen'', Kuroka." As the girls greeted her Yami nodded back silently, while kuroka suddenly stood from the bath and said, "This is your new ''Pawn''~Nya? Isn''t this the little girl that ran off on us?" Yami frowned at Kuroka''s taunt, but before she could retaliate Alex said, "This ''little girl'' can already cut entire planets in half if she''s completely serious, can you say the same yet Kuroka?" Naturally Kuroka''s eyes widened at the information, while the rest of the girls looked at her with interest as they anticipated training with her the next day. Before they could get too excited though, a few new people made their way over before the one at their lead, Mikan, suddenly said while wrapping her arms around her, "I''m so happy to see you again Yami!" As she was being hugged, Yami''s expression softened as she said, "En, I''m sorry to make you worry Mikan." As they separated Mikan told Yami a bit about what she''d been doing before turning around and hurrying back to her mother and Kunou, who she had also become friends with due to their similar age. Next up was the busty beautiful Tear, who was desperately trying to keep her front covered with a weirdly too small towel. As she approached she asked with her voice full of concern, "Are you ok now Yami?" Though she looked away pointedly due to her awkward relationship with Tear, who was her creator as well as her mother figure due to her technically being Tear''s clone, Yami still answered, "I''m fine now...." Anything else Yami may or may not have been about to say was drowned out as Tear cried out and pulled Yami into a hug, consequently smothering her in her giant b.r.e.a.s.ts. It would have been a very heartwarming scene, if not for Tear suddenly somehow slipping on something due to her innate clumsiness. And then as the duo went down somehow her legs ended up between Yami''s as she spread them reflexively(possibly also due to Alex''s ''Lucky Pervert'' activating), while dragging Yami herself down on top of her. The end result was Tear laying on her back with her legs spread in a wide M, while Yami was laying on top of her with one of Tear''s n.i.p.p.l.es in her mouth, and her own legs forcefully spread open by Tear''s so that Alex had a clear view of not only both of their spread slits as they rubbed against one another, but even Yami''s tight little anus. As the duo and the spectators tried to figure out what just happened, Alex''s voice suddenly broke the silence as he said, "You know, if you wanted me to attack the two of you I would have been more than happy to do so in private, but I''m also fine out here in front of everyone else if that''s what you want." His voice made the duo look back in surprise, before both of their eyes widened in shock as they saw the not so little ''little'' Alex standing ready at attention, eager to pierce any of the holes presented before it. Though he was mainly joking, he still had his side pinched as Mea pouted, "Master~, does this mean you don''t want the lickity lick I offered you if you made onee-chan feel better?" Though her words made Yami narrow her eyes at Alex, she was too busy trying to untangle herself from Tear''s limbs to intervene as Mea pressed her body and b.r.e.a.s.ts against Alex seductively, before slowly dragging her tongue up the nape of Alex''s neck as her hand wrapped around the raging ''little'' Alex. While the chaotic scene unfolded of Mea trying to give Alex a good licking, while Yami tried to intervene on her little sister''s behalf and Tear tried to escape the embarrassment of what just happened, the majority of those around them watched in mild amus.e.m.e.nt except for a certain dark haired goddess. Nyx turned her head and looked to a certain corner of the baths curiously due to a mild fluctuation of power she thought she felt, only for nothing to be there. After a few seconds she dismissed her suspicions and turned back to watched the spectacle before them, unaware that the hidden entity she had detected was doing the same thing, like it had done every day since it had arrived with the rest of the girls three months prior. Chapter 339 - Stowaway A few days after Alex made Yami his newest ''Pawn'', he was nestled comfortably into bed with two world class beauties snuggled up on either side of him, Rias and Akeno. The trio were fast asleep after spending quite some time doing some rigorous exercise in bed, and all three had content expressions on their faces. They were so deeply asleep, that none of them noticed a figure slowly open the bedroom door before creeping inside. Completely bereft of even a single stitch of clothing, the figure crept silently through the room before gently climbing onto the bed while trying to avoid stirring the people sleeping on it. Soon Alex started stirring awake however as he felt a sudden weight on top of him, and a moist heat assaulting his nether region. Though this would usually result in a game where he tried to guess who had decided to pay him a surprise visit, his instincts screamed at him that something was off. His eyes shooting open, Alex found his vision filled with a particularly large pair of n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts framed by a large mass of flowing blond hair. Recognizing both instantly, Alex could only sputter, "Tear?!" before the klutzy scientist suddenly sealed his lips. Though he was full of confusion at the sudden situation Alex was distinctly aware of four things, the feel of her lips against his as her tongue eagerly explored his mouth, her b.r.e.a.s.ts as they smooshed against his own chest with her rock hard n.i.p.p.l.es seemingly trying to pierce him, the burning wetness along his hardening c.o.c.k as she rubbed her steamy s.e.x along it, and that this was not the same Tear that Alex had come to know for the last week. Ever since that day in the bath Tear had been too shy to even look Alex in the eyes, let alone try a stunt like this. A brief thought through his ''Domain'' was enough to confirm his suspicions, and, with his gaze becoming serious, Alex demanded as their lips separated, "What do you think you''re doing?" ''Tear'', either unaware or feigning ignorance of Alex''s sudden shift, said with a shy expression, "I just wanted to thank you for helping Yami the other day.....do you not like this?" As she spoke ''Tear'' grinded her h.i.p.s up and down Alex''s shaft once more, trying to entice him into accepting the meal before him. The focus in his gaze didn''t waver though, as he stated, "Stop messing around. Did you really think a half-assed impersonation like this would fool me?" This time ''Tear'' paused as she realized Alex did figure it out, before she made an expression unlike one the real Tear would ever make that was a mix of of confidence and seduction as she purred, "You found me out, I''m not actually the professor. However I can''t help but get offended when you refer to my transformation as ''half-assed'', as every single part of this body, except for the one controlling it of course, is exactly like the original, inside and out~." As she trailed off the imposter dragged her s.e.x down his shaft once more, making her meaning very clear when she said everything was exactly the same inside or out. Alex''s firm expression didn''t falter though, as he stated, "It doesn''t matter, I have no intention of betraying those around me to satisfy my own desires, regardless of if they''re the real person or not." Seeing his firm gaze, ''Tear''s'' brows twitched in annoyance before she reminded herself that Alex''s strong will was what made it so appealing to try and turn him into her most loyal and powerful servant. Her confidence returning instantly, ''Tear''s'' body began to get clouded with a murky black substance, before her form started changing to an entirely different one. Her long blond hair turned to a slightly darker pink, and ''Tear''s'' already beautiful features became even more breathtaking. Within seconds the one straddling Alex was no longer Tear, but was instead the former queen of Deviluke, Sephie. ''Sephie'' flashed a predatory grin that one wouldn''t expect the queen of Deviluke to possess, before saying as she leaned backwards so that Alex had a clear view of her tightly closed clam, "How about now?" As she spoke ''Sephie'' used her fingers to spread her visible clam open so that Alex could clearly see the moist pink flesh within, along with the pink pearl that was usually hidden within the folds. "This is the p.u.s.s.y that was desired more than any other in an entire universe, and was coveted by the man who single handedly subdued and ruled over it." Despite the overwhelmingly enticing offer made to him, Alex spared little more than a cursory glance before his fierce gaze returned to her face, making ''Sephie''s'' eyes sparkle with even more intrigue. Leaning forward once more, she then said, "Then again, I''m sure someone who regularly gets tail from a genuine goddess and archangel wouldn''t care about this much....how about this?" As she spoke ''Sephie''s'' long pink hair suddenly started becoming shorter and lighter as it slowly transition back to blonde, and her b.r.e.a.s.ts shrank in size considerable, but still had a decent size on them while her pink eyes turned red. Now the one straddling him wasn''t either Tear or Sephie, but was Valerie instead. "If a beautiful professor or a queen isn''t good enough, then how about another man''s woman?" ''Valerie'' teased, as she once again displayed another woman''s body for his viewing pleasure. Up until this point Alex had let the woman do as she pleased because his arms had been pinned under Rias and Akeno, and he didn''t want to wake them after how much he had pushed them only a few hours prior. By this point however he had slowly worked his arms free from their soft bodies and, to keep his assailant from slipping through his fingers, he played along by reaching up and grabbing a firm handful of ''Valerie''s'' plump ass, kneading it as he did so. ''Valerie'' showed a victorious smirk as he grabbed her ass, believing Alex was firmly within her grasp now. She then leaned down and whispered into his ear as he played with her butt, "No matter the woman, no matter how ''taboo'', they will all be yours. You just need to say five little words, I. Am. Your. Faithful. Servant." Believing she had won, ''Valerie'' didn''t suspect anything as Alex muttered, "I am-" Her heart was pounding in her chest as plans for her eventual takeover started surging through her mind, until he continued, "-very disappointed Nemesis." "Huh?" That was all that came from the imposter''s, Nemesis''s mouth, before, "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Nemesis let out an ear splitting shriek as pain assaulted her entire body, originating from the slave mark that Alex had secretly branded her butt with. As he hadn''t intentionally inflicted her punishment, Alex could assume it was due to how much he disliked her trying to seduce him with the forms of women that he wasn''t actually involved with. And as a result the two girls at his side jolted awake immediately before looking at the n.a.k.e.d spasming Valerie in confusion. Then, before their eyes, ''Valerie''s'' body began to change as she began shrinking and her skin tone became drastically darker. Her fair sized b.r.e.a.s.ts began disappearing, and her shorter blond hair grew longer and darkened completely, until laying before them was an extremely petite girl with skin darker than even Anne''s. As they looked at her in confusion, Alex squeeze both girl''s hands apologetically for waking them up, even as he said, "Meet our own little stowaway, Nemesis." *** Grayfia slowly made her way through the stairs and halls within the space-time orb''s villa, her destination being her lord''s room. Typically she''d think that he was calling her this early in the morning for some fun, but something told her that wasn''t the case this time. As she considered the different reasons for why she was called, Grayfia opened the door to his room and was greeted by a sight she never expected. "How about this, ufufufufu~?" CRACK! "Ngh!" The first thing Grayfia saw when she entered the room was a very petite dark skinned girl, n.a.k.e.d and bent over with her hands down on Alex''s bed, while the similarly n.a.k.e.d Rias and Akeno stood behind her with their hands glowing from demonic power. While Akeno had a short length of lightning that was shaped like a whip in her hand, Rias''s was covered in her usual Crimson magic power as she swung it and slapped the dark skinned girl''s already cherry red buttocks hard enough to produce a crisp slap. While the duo were abusing the girl''s behind, Alex was sitting back a ways watching impassively before turning to look at Grayfia. "Good morning." He said while giving Grayfia a casual wave, to which the silver haired maid inclined her head slightly before responding, "Good morning, might I ask what is going on here?" Alex smiled wryly at the question, before pointing at the girl as Akeno delivered another lashing to her rear, and said, "This is Nemesis. She''s a transform weapon like Yami and Mea, except instead of transforming into an actual weapon she can take the form of any living being, impersonating people or even possessing them. Channeled correctly she''d make an excellent scout and Intel collector." Grayfia c.o.c.ked an eyebrow when she heard this, as the girls had told them about the infamous Nemesis, but she had apparently been missing ever since ''that'' man had started making his move in their world. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click /book/god-succession-system_12842919805610305/stowaway_50984945895655564 for visiting. Knowing what she was about to ask, as Rias and Akeno had asked the same thing, Alex continued, "She used her ability to possess others to hide from ''that'' man, jumping from person to person secretly to avoid being affected by his ability whenever he used it. Naturally when they were brought here she hitched a ride, and used the same tactics to avoid being detected by us until now. She only showed herself because she wanted to try and make me her ''servant'' to control us and Asora." When she heard this Grayfia directed a glare at Nemesis for daring to try and turn Alex into her servant, even as Rias''s hand harshly smacked her backside once more. As for the reason Rias and Akeno were so enthusiastically punishing her, it also had to do with the way Nemesis had used her powers to shamelessly flaunt and use another person''s body without any care. If she felt like it, she could have just as easily assumed any one of their n.a.k.e.d forms and flaunted it all around Asora to irreversibly destroy their reputation. Though they had no intention of telling any of them about it, this was also payback for what she did with Tear, Sephie, and Valerie''s forms before Alex marked her as his slave. With the mark on her butt being clearly visible, along with Alex''s earlier comment about her abilities, Grayfia then stated, "Then she is to join my combat maids?" Rather than a question it was more of an observation, to which Alex nodded and said, "Yeah, I want her learning under Nyx though." When she heard this Grayfia c.o.c.ked an eyebrow, but didn''t question it since Nyx''s loyalty was no longer under scrutiny. The reason Alex wanted Nyx and Nemesis specifically to work together though, was because Nyx was the goddess of darkness while Nemesis'' body was composed entirely of dark matter, meaning that her entire being fell under Nyx''s sphere of influence. Without minding the scene before them, the duo chatted about this and that until the door to Alex''s room opened once more to produce Ringo and the Pandora maids sent to tidy up. Though they paused slightly at what was happening when thy opened the door, the group of women promptly ignored it as they set to their respective tasks, no longer being fazed by what they might find going on in Alex''s room in the mornings. "Morning Ringo." Alex said as he stood and gestured to the two girls to stop, to which the orange haired woman responded, "Good morning, training clothes again today?" As Alex had spent the last several days training that was what Ringo assumed he was going to do today as well, but surprisingly he shook his head and stated, "Nope, today I''m having the heads of Asora meet to discuss various topics along with the sudden arrival of so many new residents." His words made Rias and Akeno look up, as the Crimson haired beauty asked, "All of us?" Alex nodded and said, "Yeah, I feel like it''s been a while since we''ve had a real meeting, and there''s some things I''ve decided after dealing with ''that'' man." Nodding in agreement, the duo promptly left Nemesis where she was bent over and headed towards the bathroom, while Grayfia collected her new recruit and Ringo and the Pandora got to work. After leaving the bathroom and changing into their clothes, a formal black suit for Alex and a grey skirted suit for Rias while Akeno''s outfit was akin to a female server''s, Rias and Akeno left to spread the word to those who needed to attend about the meeting, while Alex went to gather some other attendees. A brief blip with Spatial magic, and he found himself standing on a floating island that, until recently, had been completely barren. Now it was filled with all types of alien flora and fauna after Momo and Nana spent the last week renovating it, while a large semi-circular structure with a cutesy appearance stood in the middle of it all. Amongst fields of flowers that shimmered like a rainbow, there were cute and cuddly alien animals that were happily munching on plants bearing heavy fruits and vegetables until they saw Alex appear. As the small swarm of adorable animals made their way to him Alex made sure to stop and pet every one he could, though he made sure to keep a wide berth from one that looked like a skunk, making it noticeably sad as he did so. Though he felt a bit bad for it, Alex still didn''t go near the skunk as he made his way to the building. After pressing the doorbell to the side of the door, Alex waited as he listened to the chime echo through the building until the door was pulled open, and a smiling girl with short pink hair was standing there in her pj''s. "Good morning Alex, did you come to see me?" Momo asked while batting her eyes prettily, before another voice suddenly demanded from behind her, "What do you want?" The door was suddenly opened wider and Nana was there as well glaring at him, to which Alex smiled wryly before saying, "Good morning Momo, and to you too Nana. I came by to talk to your mother and sister." Though Momo pouted slightly and Nana narrowed her eyes, they were both about to give what seemed to be very different responses when suddenly, "What are you doing here Alex?" They turned to look inside the building, to see a completely n.a.k.e.d Lala standing there without a single care in the world as she waited for Alex''s answer. "Big sis! What are doing walking around n.a.k.e.d!?" Nana demanded as she tried to cover her sister from Alex''s view, even as she casually stated, "I was just going to take a quick bath when I heard the doorbell go off, and what are you doing Nana?" Never one to have been shy about her body, coupled with Alex having already seen them n.a.k.e.d plenty of times already, Lala was confused by the way her sister was reacting when her mother walked over in a robe and said, "Lala, it isn''t proper to greet someone without any clothes. Go get a robe or something and then we''ll see what Alex wants." With Lala giving her mom a ''Yes mama!'' Before running off, Alex was then led by an eager Momo to the living area while the glaring Nana and smiling Sephie followed them. As Alex took a seat on the couch and Momo went to fix him some tea with the leaves from one of her plants, he was awkwardly trying to ignore Nana as she seemingly tried to bore a hole in his with her glare, while also avoiding Sephie''s gaze as Nemesis''s earlier antics resurfaced in his mind. Thankfully they didn''t have to wait long before Lala reappeared wearing a robe as well, while a small robotic figure hovered behind her. "Hello again! Alex this is Peke, Peke this is Alex!" Lala introduced the little robot to Alex, even as it floated over to him and said, "It is an honor to meet you sir Alex, and thank you for saving Lala-sama and the rest of the girls from ''that'' man." Alex nodded as he held out a finger that Peke gripped and shook with her small hand, and said, "I''m only sorry that I couldn''t help sooner. If you don''t mind me asking, how come I haven''t seen you before now?" To Alex''s question Peke became noticeably agitated despite being a robot, and stated angrily, "''That'' man''s powers wouldn''t work on me due to me being a robot, and, because my loyalty was only towards Lala-sama, he had me dismantled and scrapped, but thankfully Lala-sama saved my memory drive and just finished building me a new body." As Peke explained what happened to her Lala showed a dejected expression due to her not being able to help her closest friend, and constant companion. She perked up once more however when Peke settled in her lap, and Lala wrapped her arms around the small robot lovingly. Smiling at the scene, Alex then turned serious and directed his attention Sephie before saying, "About why I came today, it''s getting to about morning in Asora so I plan to leave the space-time orb after breakfast due to certain things that require my attention, I would like you and Lala to accompany me Sephie." When she heard this Sephie''s body tensed slightly, as to every one of them space-time orb had become a safe haven after experiencing the brutalities of ''that'' man, and Sephie herself was hesitant to leave due to the curse of her own appearance. After taking a second to compose herself though, she then switched into her ''queen'' mode and asked firmly, "May I ask why we need to go so that we know what is going on?" Alex nodded and stated, "I plan to call a meeting between all of the higher ups of Asora to discuss all of our new residents along a few other things, and I want you to act as their representative during the meeting because you have held more authority than any of them, and have had more experience with politics than any one of them have." To this Sephie couldn''t help but nod in agreement, as even amongst the Pandora she was considered akin to their decision maker. Many of the Pandora were ladies from noble houses and upbringing, and as such they were very aware of things such as social hierarchy and standing. Even if there was true royalty amongst them, none could hold a candle to the authority and standing Sephie once held as the queen of Deviluke, and an entire galaxy. Alex then turned towards Lala, and continued, "As for Lala, I want her to meet with the other scientific divisions and leaders in Asora, so that hopefully a system of cooperation can be established. Unlike the rest of them, she currently has no access to magic yet can create inventions like nothing any of us have seen, so I hope that her help can advance the technology of Asora by leaps and bounds." To this Sephie once again nodded in understanding even as Lala herself smiled widely and giggled happily at the praise. Ever since she was young Lala had shown an unparalleled talent and understanding for mechanics and creation, to the point that she''d disassemble entire space battlesh.i.p.s for a prank before reassembling the entire thing like nothing happened. If one looked at her other creations then they''d see that even against the Gregori and Hajime, Lala could outclass all of them in terms of intelligence despite her child-like attitude. You only needed to look at things like the virtual worlds she created for the friends Nana and Momo had made across the universe, along with even Peke herself who was way more lifelike than a robot should be to see it, and that wasn''t even taking into consideration that was only two of the dozens, or even hundreds, of inventions she had created over the years. Understanding the situation, Sephie then stated to Alex, "Ok, we''ll just need to clean ourselves up and get ready before we can go." Alex nodded in understanding and replied, "Of course, there''s still a few hours before we start getting down to the crunch, so there''s no real hurry, plus I still have to go talk to Mikado and Tear as well before I even have breakfast myself. But, before I go-" As Alex trailed off the girls had stopped in the middle of getting up to go get ready, and he continued, "I still have one more thing I''d like to discuss with Lala." Their intuition telling them this wasn''t like him discussing the meeting, all of the girls immediately took their seats once more as Alex leaned forward and placed something on the table between him and Lala, causing them to make a sharp intake of breath when they saw the Crimson ''Pawn'' chess piece sitting there. "Lala, I''d like to extend an invitation to you to join my peerage, I''m sure you understand the rest by now, right?" Lala nodded slowly as she stared intently at the item Alex had placed on the table, her mind in complete turmoil from its implications. During their recovery they had received basic lessons regarding the new world they had found themselves, including what Evil Pieces were and how they were used. And then when Yami accepted Alex''s ''Pawn'' a few days back it became apparent that Alex had Evil Pieces and specific terms regarding how they were used as well, but Lala never expected that she''d receive one as well. As she stared at the Crimson little thing, someone suddenly slammed their hands against the table and shouted, "I KNEW IT! YOU JUST WANT TO GET INSIDE MY BIG SIS''S PANTS!" Even as Nana filled the room with her shouting, Sephie said with more than a little exasperation, "Nana, I think it''s a little more than that since he could probably just do that any time he wanted even without using a ''Pawn'' piece on your sister." She then turned back toward Alex, though there was a fierce glint in her eyes as she asked, "However could you please tell me why you wish to have my daughter join your peerage?" Alex nodded since it was only fair, and explained, "Basically it''s because I know that Lala has so much raw power and potential hiding in her body as the direct successor of the King of Deviluke, and because I believe she would benefit in interesting ways from the powers given by the Evil Piece. On top of that she is a wonderful person to be around, and I would be hard pressed to find someone else as appealing as her to give one of my ''Pawn'' pieces to." Though Nana thought that Alex was over playing her big sis''s potential just so he could sleep with her, Sephie just nodded in agreement as she looked at Lala. Though Lala had been trained in a few different fighting styles, such as with her fists and swordplay, her child-like mentality made it difficult to see her actually entering the front lines of any battle, at least before having gone through what she did. Alex personally thought the benefits of giving a Lala an Evil Piece were greater than any of them considered at the moment, as the devilukians, and Lala''s family in particular, were based heavily on famous Devils. Even their middle names, ''Satalin'' for Lala, ''Astar'' for Nana, ''Belia'' for Momo, and ''Lucion'' for Gid were all references to the famous Devils or demons, Satan, Astaroth, Belial, and Lucifer respectively. Though he was very interested in what would happen if Lala became an actual devil, Alex was still unsurprised when she finally said, "Thank you for the offer, but I don''t want to become your servant." Without asking the reason why she refused him, Alex simply nodded in understanding as he reclaimed the ''Pawn'' and said, "I understand, but remember the offer is still open if you end up changing your mind." After thanking them for the tea and their time, Alex then left shortly after Lala refused his Evil Piece, who was also strangely silent until he eventually left. "Well, I better go and wash up real quick before we have to go to the meeting!" Lala suddenly said after Alex left, seemingly as chipper as her usual self as she made her way to their bathroom. When she left though Sephie looked after her retreating figure with concern, and told Nana and Momo that she was going to take a bath as well before following her. "Rito..." The moment Sephi walked past the waiting Peke and entered the large bathroom she heard the distinct sound of sobbing, as Lala sat crying on one of the stools. "Oh Lala...." Sephie said as she wrapped her arms around her daughter to comfort her as she hugged her from behind. After sniffling Lala said between her sobs, "I just miss him so much mama....." Sephie nodded in understanding, as she felt the exact same way about Gid, except that she had his blood on her hands. Ignoring the imaginary splashes of red that seemed to suddenly appeared on her hands, Sephie directed her attention to her daughter, and said, "I know sweetie, I miss your father as well. None of you should have ever gone through what you did." Together the mother daughter duo comforted each other until Lala''s sobs eventually started calming down, and she asked, "What do I do mama?" Sephie was quiet as she tried to consider how to best advise her daughter, before she eventually just asked, "Well, what do you want to do?" Lala just sighed at her mother''s question, and said, "I don''t know. I don''t mind accepting Alex''s offer, but I also don''t want to betray Rito any more than I already have...." Despite the fact that she wanted her advice, Sephie wasn''t too sure of what to say since she couldn''t dictate her daughter''s heart for her. Eventually, she ended up saying, "I don''t think it would be a betrayal to Rito if being with Alex makes you happy." As she slowly finished speaking Lala looked up at her mother in confusion, prompting Sephie to continue, "I think that what Rito would have wanted the most is for you, and all of those he cares about, to be happy instead of staying sad. Plus...." As she trailed off Lala looked up at her mother, and asked, "Plus what mama?" Mentally kicking herself for what she was about to say, Sephie continued, "Plus, there are more people like ''that'' man out there. People who would use knowledge and powers they shouldn''t have to bend things and others to their whims, without a care for those they hurt in the process. By helping Alex you could also help prevent more people from losing those they care about or suffering unjustly like all of us have." Lala was silent as she contemplated what her mother said, and relaxed in her embrace until they needed to start getting ready for the meeting. *** While Sephie comforted her daughter, and Alex was speaking to Mikado and Tear about the meeting, a very different kind of meeting was taking place after Grayfia left Nemesis in the care of Nyx. The goddess of night and darkness scrutinized the petite dark skinned girl as she was getting dressed in her new uniform, as Grayfia had her march all the way there in the nude. "Do you really think something like this is enough to keep me down?" Nemesis asked while pointing at her butt where Alex''s slave mark was, making Nyx snort before responding with a slight sneer, "I''m a genuine primordial goddess and I can''t break it, what makes you so sure a little itty bitty baby like yourself can?" This time it was Nemesis''s turn to frown, before sneering in return, "You must be a pretty pathetic goddess then, if you can''t even handle the mark of a ''mere mortal''." This time Nyx simply looked at Nemesis like she was looking at a moron, before saying incredulously, "You do realize that Alex''s goal is to rule over every universe that has ever existed, right? That means he''d have power beyond anything any of us could imagine, including being able to create or destroy entire universes with a thought. Did you really expect that such a person would lay at your feet like an obedient dog just because you wanted him to?" Nemesis snorted once more, before grabbing at Nyx''s bountiful chest and saying, "Better than a worthless sow that does nothing but shake her ass and chest for her master!" As she spoke Nemesis''s form started changing so that there was a second Nyx standing there, except that she also made her clothes vanish so that she was flaunting the goddess''s n.a.k.e.d body for anyone to see. Rather than seeming disturbed at this though, Nyx offered a slight smile, before Nemesis was suddenly sent flying against the wall behind her. Her arms and legs being forcefully spread and pinned, Nemesis was soon forced to resume her previous form against her will as pain suddenly filled her body not unlike what Alex''s mark had caused her earlier. Resisting the urge to cry out, and struggling against her bonds, Nemesis was about to demand what was happening to her when Nyx said wth power filling her voice, "Do not forget, I am Nyx, goddess of night and darkness! Any who call themselves beings of darkness answer to my whim, you would do well to remember that girl!" As a being created of dark matter, Nemesis had no choice but to but to kneel when Nyx bid her to do so, her mind seething at being forced to serve others instead of the other way around. Nyx seemed to see what was in her thoughts though, as she continued, "Do not fret though, should you serve me and our master well, I will reward you. My shrine needs tended to, and my name needs to be spread. Devote yourself to me, and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!" Then, as if to prove her point, a large amount of power began to fill the petite girl''s body as she received the blessing of the goddess before her. Chapter 340 - A Proud Parent When Lala and Sephie finally got around to going to the villa to meet up with Alex, they were only half surprised to find him eating breakfast while Yue was straddling his lap with her fangs sunk into his neck. Eating along with him were those who''d be attending the meeting that hadn''t left yet, Anne, Rossweise, Sona, Yasaka, Gabriel, Serafall, Mikado, and Tear, while Yami would also be accompanying Alex in order to meet the rest of the representatives in Asora. Meanwhile Rias, Grayfia, and Akeno had all already left in order to alert the representatives that weren''t in the space-time orb about the meeting, giving them enough time to get ready before Alex arrived. "Good morning everyone." Sephie said as she took her seat at the table, with Lala on her right side and Nana and Momo on her left. She was dressed in a long flowing purple dress similar to the one she used to wear when attending her royal duties as the queen of Deviluke, coupled with a matching veil in her pocket and an ornate staff. Lala meanwhile was wearing her signature outfit from when she acting as the princess of Deviluke, a very light gray jumpsuit adorned with lots of frills in the back and sides to mimic a dress, coupled with a large bulbous hat with wings that had Peke''s swirly eyes on the front of it. Nana and Momo however were wearing more subdued versions of their mother''s dress, in red and green respectively. As they sat and started nibbling on the food in front of them, Sephie couldn''t help but ask, "I''m sorry to say that I''m not sure what it is each of you do outside the space-time orb, may I ask what it is?" Curious as to the politics of Asora, Sephie earnestly looked at each of those who had helped take care of her and her daughters for three months, realizing just how shallow her understanding of them was. The first one to speak was Gabriel, who explained, "As an archangel, I speak for the Angels that call Asora their home, as well as head the various divisions led by us and the church." Sephie''s eyes widened when she heard that, but she couldn''t help but ask, "You''re an angel as well?" When she heard that Gabriel''s face stiffened, before she directed a firm gaze at Alex as he suddenly became more interested in the food before him. She then said in a scarily calm voice, "Yes, I am JUST an angel." Making a mental note not to antagonize the seemingly harmless beautiful woman, Sephie then looked at Serafall as she stared saying, "I''m a former Maou of the underworld, and speak for the Devils of Asora in official matters, all while heading the entertainment department and acting as my alter ego, ''Magical Girl Levia-tan''!" As she spoke Serafall jumped up and waved around a handmade wand with hearts, which immediately began to shine while enveloping her in a light blue light. When the light faded Serafall was still there, except the suit she had been wearing before was changed into a magical girl''s uniform, making Lala''s eyes sparkle as she admired the transformation. While everyone was taking in the sight of Serafall boldly posing while standing on the table and flashing her panties, Yasaka awkwardly added, "And I''m in charge of the Youkai that call Asora home who also produces our food supply, this also includes the dagon people even though they aren''t actually Youkai." As Yasaka trailed off Alex hurriedly picked up, "There''s also Akeno''s father Barakiel, who speaks for the fallen angels, Hajime who heads his own research lab while also speaking for the majority of the humans, and then the Snow Priestess who leads and speaks for the Yuuki-onna women. Now it''s getting to be about time so let''s go!" As he spoke Alex stood while Yue elegantly dropped to the floor and trailed after him, along with the majority of the other women with wry smiles. As they followed after the hurrying Alex, Yami couldn''t help but ask Rossweisse, "Why are we hurrying?" The silver haired Valkyrie smiled wryly at her question, before answering, "It''s almost time for his children to get up." Her words made Yami, Mikado, Tear, Sephie, and the three sisters pause, before they all demanded at the same time, """""""HIS CHILDREN?!""""""" *** After exiting the space-time orb, Alex went directly to the kitchen to find not only Remia making their breakfast, but even the four Shuzen sisters and surprisingly Akasha as well as an annoyed Gyokuro, who was serving them their food. "Morning!" Alex said as he gave Remia, Moka, Akua, Kokoa, and even the blushing Kahlua a good morning kiss, before turning to Akasha and asking, "What brings you here Akasha?" The pink haired woman showed a slightly bitter smile, before explaining, "Mikogami, Touhou, and Issa are all busy trying to help the human world recover from finding out that monsters exist. Though I should be out there with them, it was unanimously decided that I should be relaxing and spending my time with Moka and the girls instead." Though it was the trio''s way of looking out for Akasha, and having her spend time with her daughters before they left the world, she couldn''t help but feel left out since the coexistence of monsters and humans was a goal she''d personally been working towards for centuries. However, since no one had sacrificed nearly as much as she had in the pursuit of that goal, it had been decided that she needed a well deserved rest before jumping back into the fray. As Alex and Akasha were talking, he couldn''t help but notice Yue slipping away silently after giving Akasha a brief glance. Since the vampire princess rarely ever left the space-time orb anymore, along with the Misty Manor, Alex couldn''t help but ask curiously, "Where are you going Yue?" The vampiress paused at his question, before she turned and simply said, "...I have some business to take care of..." She then left without another word, leaving everyone as curious about her activities as Alex, but he didn''t harp on it. Alex trusted Yue, and figured that whatever she was doing must have been important if she was being so secretive about it. Then, after nonchalantly cutting his hand open and draining some of his blood into four glasses for the Shuzen sisters, he left to go father his children along with Anne, Koneko, Gabriel, Serafall, Ravel, and surprisingly Sephie. As the group made their way to the children''s rooms they also encountered Mizore and Tsurara, who politely greeted Sephie after Alex gave them both a good morning kiss as well, before the amazingly large group turned a corner and found an adorable girl standing in front of them as she released a cute yawn. She had long emerald green hair and her ears were tipped like fins, and as if that wasn''t enough to identify her as a member of a sea race, then her sea blue pajamas with seashell patterns helped as well. As Myuu finished yawning and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she suddenly saw Alex standing there and, after a very brief pause, shouted happily while charging him, "PAPA!" Alex laughed lightly as he caught the flying Myuu and held her close while saying, "Good morning Myuu, were you a good girl while I was gone?" Myuu nodded energetically before saying, "Yes I was! I helped mama with the cooking, cleaning, and even taking care of Edith and the others!" Alex smiled warmly as he listened to Myuu recount some of the things she did since he saw her last, back before he''d gone to fight Alucard. Though it was only a little over three days since then in real time, it felt as if it had been much longer due to how much had occurred in that time(even without taking the space-time orb into consideration). Even as she was talking at a million miles an hour, Myuu suddenly stopped before squirming out of Alex''s arms and saying as she ran off excitedly, "I''m going to help mama make papa''s breakfast!" Though he was shaking his head wryly at her antics so early in the morning, Alex had a warm smile on his face as he watched Myuu disappear around the corner, even though she was still in her pajamas. As Alex stood and the rest of the girls hurried to their own children, Sephie couldn''t help but comment, "What a lovely and energetic little girl, she reminds me a little of Lala when she was that age." As she spoke Sephie glanced at Alex''s monkey tail as it swayed behind him, and hesitantly asked, "Does she take more after her mother?" Alex smiled wryly at her question, before answering, "I wouldn''t know since Myuu''s real father died before she was born, and I adopted her when she was already about four." When she heard that Sephie''s eyes sparkled a little, before she then said, "That sounds like an interesting story." Though it could have been as simple as Alex taking a liking to Remia and Myuu came as a package deal, she figured that with someone as interesting as Alex there was more to it. Her assumption was almost correct though, as it was Myuu who adopted Alex as her father while Remia originally simply joined his harem for the sake of her daughter''s happiness. What she hadn''t expected though, was that this was all after Alex saved Myuu from being sold at an underground slave auction, after she had been kidnapped and carted halfway across the continent while Remia had been rendered crippled by a vicious blast of fire to her legs. As Alex quickly gave her the details Sephie could only stand there stunned, unable to believe that so much tragedy had befallen the mother/daughter duo before Alex found them. Smirking slightly at her reaction, Alex turned and made his way to the nursery where the children stayed when their mothers entered the space-time orb. When he opened the door the mothers were already in the process of getting their children dressed for the day, but the moment they saw Alex Edith and Mai immediately escaped their mother''s clutches and happily waddled over while crying ''dada'' and ''dadnya'' respectively. As they reached his legs Alex happily picked them up so that his daughters could snuggle up to him in his arms for the first time in over three days, the longest period of time they''d gone without seeing him. As the door opened behind him once more, Alex turned and said, "Sephie, this is Edith and Mai, my two oldest. Then in order there''s Alec, Anna, Regal, Elizabeth, I guess we''ll start calling her Lizzy now, Yuki, and Aurora. These are all the children I have so far." Sephie paused when she saw all of Alex''s children, as unlike Myuu they were very obviously his due to the monkey-like tails that extended from their backsides, though Mai''s looked slightly different due to her catlike features. Trying to appear friendly to the two toddlers, Sephie smiled warmly and said, "Hello there Edith, Mai!" When the two girls saw the new face however, Mai shyly buried her face into Alex''s chest as if thinking that if she couldn''t see Sephie, then Sephie couldn''t see her. Edith meanwhile noticeably clung to Alex tighter while Sephie could have sworn the toddler gave her a dirty look, as if she was saying, ''my dada!'' After getting all of the children changed and dressed, the troop marched back downstairs where Remia and Myuu were busily preparing breakfast for those who hadn''t eaten yet. As the children were seated around the table, while Mizore and Tsurara held Yuki and Aurora to b.r.e.a.s.tfeed them, Gyokuro was made to bring them their baby food while Akasha and Kahlua watched her awkwardly, neither yet used to her new position. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click /book/god-succession-system_12842919805610305/a-proud-parent_51142176595308004 for visiting. "Ba ga!" Edith suddenly cried out as she pointed a spoon at Gyokuro, who scowled and demanded, "What did you say you brat?" Seemingly ignorant of the anger in Gyokuro''s tone though, Edith once again point her spoon at her and declared with a large smile, "Ba ga!" At this point Akua stifled a laugh, and muttered, "Maybe she''s trying to say ''bad guy''?" When she said this Edith laughed in what appeared to be agreement, making several of the other girls giggle in response while Gyokuro''s expression darkened. "You brat, who''s a ''bad guy''?" Gyokuro sneered while pinching Edith''s nose, making the toddler snort at her indignantly before she suddenly stood up while batting Gyokuro''s hand away from her nose. Edith then did something that stunned everyone present as she c.o.c.ked her open hand back, and slapped Gyokuro across the face hard enough that she was sent to the floor. Naturally Edith didn''t yet have the strength to overwhelm Gyokuro and send her flying, however the slave maid hadn''t expected nearly the amount of strength she did possess in her little body, and hadn''t even bothered to brace herself against the sudden attack. While everyone was staring at her in shock though, Edith was giggling happily and ran over to Alex while going, "Ba ga! Ba ga! Ba ga!" Alex was the first to recover from the sudden spectacle, as he lifted Edith to sit in his lap while going, "Good job Edith! Did you beat up the bad guy?" The pint sized Saiyan laughed loudly at her father''s praise, while everyone looked at her wryly and Gabriel was heard muttering off to the side with empty eyes, "My beautiful and delicate daughter..." She ended up getting several looks of pity, as it was fairly obvious that Edith took more after Alex than she did her mother. Gyokuro however directed a murderous glare at the toddler, and spat at her, "Come back and try that again you little ape bitch! ...!" The moment the last words left her mouth, Gyokuro suddenly found herself under a veritable tsunami of pressure and killing intent as both parents glared at her before Alex practically growled, "Watch yourself Gyokuro. I may overlook a lot of things, but I WILL NOT tolerate any of my children being mistreated. Do. You. Understand?" With the pressure she was under it took all of Gyokuro''s strength to just barely nod her head, after which the pressure faded entirely as she was quickly forgotten. It was then that Gyokuro was reminded that Alex had never even bother to take them seriously when he fought all of the division leaders on Mars, and that if she made a single misstep she would suffer a fate worse than death. As she thought about this Gyokuro suddenly felt a mild spasm of pain through her butt, reminding her of when Alex mercilessly humiliated and spanked her after she had been stripped n.a.k.e.d. The tense atmosphere only lasted a few seconds after Alex and Gabriel released the pressure on Gyokuro, when a plated stacked with at least ten chocolate chip pancakes was placed in front of him. "Here you go papa!" Myuu happily said, even as she sprinkled yet more chocolate ch.i.p.s on top of the pancakes before topping it all off with chocolate syrup and even whip cream. She then stepped back with an eager smile on her face, as Alex unhesitantly picked up his fork and dug in despite the fact that he had already eaten earlier. Under the watchful gaze of his adopted daughter, Alex made sure he finished every single bite of the extremely sugary breakfast while he could''ve have sworn he saw Remia snicker in the kitchen. *** After those who hadn''t eaten yet ate, Alex led Yami, Sephie and her daughters around Asora for a short time until the meeting began, while Gabriel and the others went to prepare. Though they were still wary around other men, the five women were quickly mesmerized as they took in the sights around them. Though they didn''t have long to look around, Alex still made sure the girls were able to visit a few different stores, such as Crystabel''s clothes shop where Ringo seemed to be enjoying her first day of work under her new boss. He also made sure they knew where important places such as the hospital was located, as well as the entrance to the subway in case they ever wanted to go to the Academy, New Raisen, or the Yuuki-onna village. As they walked around and Alex pointed out various places or people, Sephie, Momo, and even Nana couldn''t help but look at him in admiration, while Lala was too busy exploring everything to pay him any attention, and even Yami was more distracted by the sweet pastry shops around them. Not only did Alex know every little place around Asora, but he even pointed out specific citizens and referred to them by name as they passed, something that next to no ''rulers'' were able to do. With several people around them doing the same and greeting Alex with a sincere smile as if it was normal, Sephie could tell that Alex regularly interacted with those he ''ruled'' over whereas other rulers would more or less ignore their citizens until they either had to make an address, or resolve some kind of issue or conflict. Eventually of course though it was time to make their way to the grand building overlooking the entire city, where all of the most important discussions and decisions occurred. The Devilukians and Yami looked around in awe at the blend of designs that had been incorporated, to include those from Heaven, the Underworld, the Grigori, and even traditional Japanese for the Youkai. That wasn''t all though, as there were also plans to remodel to include coral-like designs for the dagon race, ice that never melted for the Yukki-onna, and even walls that looked to be perpetually on fire for the phoenixes. As the building that they essentially ran Asora from, it was long since decided that every major faction and race living in Asora would be represented there, lest any feelings of ''superiority'' or ''inferiority'' begin to sprout amongst residents. After a short tour around the grand building, they finally arrived at the board room, where everyone else was waiting for them even though there was still several minutes until it was time to start. The moment Alex entered several of those gathered nodded at him respectfully, while a few such as the Snow Priestess, and even Adul stood and bowed their heads at him. Slightly inclining his own head back in return, Alex gestured for them to sit but the Snow Priestess remained standing until he finally took his own seat at the head of the large table, while Anne was sitting to his immediate right as his first wife. To begin things he then said, "Thanks everyone for coming on short notice. Before we begin I''d like to introduce Sephie, the former queen of the galactic kingdom of Deviluke, her three daughters Lala, Nana, and Momo, and then my newest ''Pawn'', Yami." After Alex introduced them the women did a slight bow while greeting everyone themselves, though Alex was sure that he noticed a tinge of redness on Yami''s cheeks when she noticed the looks she was receiving after he referred to her as his ''Pawn''. The looks she received were mild though compared to Sephie, who had donned her veil before they even left the Misty Manor. After the group Alex brought, the next ones to be introduced to everyone was Tear, Mikado and Oshizu, who Anne had brought to tour the hospital before coming to the meeting, while Tear had been taken to the Academy to see her new lab and classroom. And finally the last one to be introduced to everyone was Elizabeth, who had been brought by Grayfia because, even if Sephie was speaking for them as a whole, it didn''t mean she knew that much about the Pandora themselves. With introductions out of the way, the meeting was finally able to get started as Alex asked for an update on anything he might have missed since he secluded himself three days prior. Cam of course was the first one to speak up, as he happily reported that the Haulia were taking their new ''training'' in stride, and that the screams they were helping produce could be heard across every corner of their compound. Of course pretty much everyone present hadn''t known what Alex decided to do with those who supported ''that'' man, or of the training he assigned the killer rabbits, and based off of Cam''s sadistic and slightly insane smile, they decided not to ask. Then was Barakiel and Hajime''s combined report regarding what they had learned from the Devilukian battlesh.i.p.s, and how they were dismantling the great sh.i.p.s. Naturally the Devilukian girls showed a bit of hesitation when they heard about their former flagship being destroyed, as it had essentially been their home away from home whenever they traveled through space. However, with it having most recently functioned as their prison when under ''that'' man''s control, none of them could find the will to speak up to prevent its destruction. Then it was the Snow Priestess of the Yuuki-onna settlement''s turn to speak up, as she reported that her people were busily building the places needed to attract men, and women too she supposed. The primary thing the Yuuki-onna were building was a winterized resort, which might not mean much right now when all of Asora was in the middle of winter, but would be much enjoyed when they transitioned to the year-long summer. The resort was planned to included several slopes for winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, sledding, trails for hiking and snowshoeing, and most excitingly, a genuine hot springs after Alex used Gravity magic manipulate some lava veins for them. Though the race of women couldn''t stand the intense heat, it was a feature that everyone was looking forward to, Alex because there were few better ways to relax than in a hot springs during winter, and the Yuuki-onna due to the ''all inclusive service'' they intended to give some of the male visitors. Though this made the hot springs seem like little more than a brothel, the Snow Priestess assured Alex and the others that none of the snow women who would be working the hot springs minded this, as their first priority was increasing the number of their people. It was seemingly only as an afterthought that the Snow Priestess even remembered to mention that they had officially named their new village as well, to the interesting sounding name of Yukiguni. After her was just a few other miscellaneous reports from the other representatives, before Alex finally decided to speak up himself. Firstly he gave a bit of background regarding their newest residents, and an explanation regarding their previous situation and current status. Of course the girls paled as he briefly recounted what happened to them, but they held themselves together well even as they received a fair amounts of looks of pity. When Alex started talking about what they''d be doing from here forward though, Barakiel couldn''t help but ask while glancing at Rosswiess, "Wouldn''t most of, if not all, of these Pandora simply join the Valkyries? I would think a group of all female warriors would be perfect for their ranks." Instead of Alex however it was Rosswiess who answered, "True, but there are certain complications regarding that. For the time being we''re monitoring them and how they are reacting to their new situation, and, depending on their attitude, they''ll receive an invitation to join our ranks." Though there was some mild confusion at her words, everyone simply assumed that by ''complications'' Rossweisse was simply referring to what happened. As such, Elizabeth couldn''t help but speak up, "I think most of them might be ready for it despite what happened. After all, there are already a bunch of us who joined miss Grayfia''s combat maids." This time it was Alex who replied, as he answered, "True, but that''s not the reason they haven''t been invited to join the Valkyries yet. It''s because of the raw arrogance, self entitlement, and viciousness towards each other that several of the Pandora have shown they possess." Elizabeth''s eyes visibly widened when she heard that, while everyone else''s narrowed as frowns appeared on their faces. Alex then continued, "Despite the fact that they were supposed to be humanity''s only hope against the Nova, the majority of the Pandora were women that came from wealthy or influential families, and had the ego and attitude of such. This, combined with being granted physical power beyond what a normal person should have been capable of, led to many of them needlessly harassing each other in ways that far surpassed simple bullying, and was instead in the realm of just being cruel and sadistic." As he paused Alex held up his hand and used Regeneration magic to replay a scene that he had witnessed a few days back through his ''Domain'', showing a group of five Pandora when they were supposed to be doing their chores. Instead only one Pandora was actually working, while another was being used as a chair as two more were fawning over the girl sitting on her own comrade, showering her with praise as she complained about the work they had been given. "To think, they expect the great Felice Mojave to toil and slave like a mere ''servant''! Who do they think they are?!" The girl sneered before digging the heel of her shoe into the butt of the girl that doing their work for them, sending her falling to the ground as the cleaner she had been using spilled all over her. "Useless!" She snorted as she watched the cleaner spill to make an even bigger mess that she helped make, but Felice never even made an attempt to stand up and help clean it as the girl she kicked hurriedly tried to mop it up instead. After that Felice continued to slander and bad mouth Alex and those who had saved them for another minute or so, before he cut off the projection and stated, "Though we''ve already separated her from her friends and set someone to watch over her to make sure she does actually do her work, the fact that some Pandora are already starting to act this way says a lot about their character as a whole. And I refuse to give anyone who would act like this another chance to abuse their abilities and authority." Rossweise nodded and added, "I''ve already put down the two girls that were being bullied on the list of those I''d invite to join the Valkyries, while the other two are considered to be on a ''probation''. As for the ringleader, Felice, has been red lighted from ever being able to join us, and Alex has also mentioned possibly stripping her of the Stigma that grants the Pandora their power." This time it was Vali who spoke up, and asked, "Isn''t that a little harsh for someone for a bit of attitude? I don''t know these girls, but that seems a little mild after what they''ve gone through." Alex nodded and replied, "Typically you''d be right, however after looking into her past a bit, Felice had also been the main instigator in several conflicts with her fellow Pandora even before falling into ''that'' man''s hands. One specific incident was when she took another Pandora''s beloved pet turtle, killed it accidentally through improper handling, and then used its rotting corpse to psychologically attack the Pandora in question while forty other Pandora ganged up on her, despite the girl in questions supposedly being the weakest one in their class." This time it was Vali''s turn to frown, as, despite being obsessed with getting stronger and a battle junkie, even he would never use his strength treat others like that. After going over a few other points involving the Pandora, Alex then moved onto the next thing he wanted to discuss, "I''m considering bringing the Mars of this world into Asora''s space, and maybe doing the same with the barren planets from other worlds we''ll visit." There was a stunned silence at this as everyone took in what he said, before Barakiel said, "I''m sorry?" Alex smiled wryly at his confusion, and explained, "After the time and effort we''ve put into making it survivable, and with Hajime''s prototype energy suppliers still running on it, I think we should take it to continue working on terraforming it. Not to mention that it''ll serve as the best place to train or spar while going all out without having to worry about the potential environmental backlash." Sairaorg looked confused when Alex said this, and asked, "Isn''t that what the space-time orbs are for? Why go through the trouble of trying to bring an entire planet here?" "Because, for one we don''t know how much power we can actually use inside the space-time orbs without them exploding, and two it''d be useful to have a place where we didn''t have to worry about the negative effects our actions will have on the environment around us." To this everyone else couldn''t help but agree due to the fact that they needed to be aware of the impact any of their experiments or actions would have on the habitat of Asora, while no one knew if the space-time orbs had a breaking point, something no one really wanted to find out the hard way. With everyone agreeing, Alex then continued, "As I said I''ll also try to collect barren planets from other worlds that we visit, and with these we can experiment with terraforming them to produce creatures and environments none of us have ever seen after placing a few time manipulation formations similar to the space-time orbs on them." When he said this several people looked eager to see the result of basically starting life on a planet, and then seeing it leap ahead by centuries or millennia every time they visited. As the chatter regarding this topic died down though, Alex then moved on and said what he considered the most important topic that he''d cover, "I''ve also decided what the next world we''re going to is once my cool down ends." This time there was dead silence as a lot of people stopped talking and were paying a lot more attention to him, and Alex continued, "Anne wants to get stronger, and what happened with ''that'' man was an eye opener regarding the other reincarnators and what they might be doing. And so, I decided that the next world we''ll go to is the one where her Dragon Slayer magic originated, and where a few reincarnators may be, Earthland(Fairy Tail). *** While the meeting was going on in Asora, another very different meeting was taking place on earth. It was in one of the many Shuzen family manors that dotted the land of Japan, where Issa had taken the remaining members of his family after the battle, as they prepared to help Mikogami and Touhou pave the way for coexistence after the existence of monsters was revealed to the world. Instead though, the manor was largely destroyed as a result of the battle that had just taken place within it, and Issa was on his knees along with the rest of his remaining subordinates after they had all just been defeated by the figure sitting before them. Panting after the intense battle they had just been through, Issa then directed a fierce gaze at the figure that had defeated them singlehandedly, and demanded, "There must have been a reason for all of this, so what is it?" As he spoke the rest of his subordinates glanced up at the petite figure as well, each waiting for an explanation for her actions since they had all thought that they were allies. However, the only response they immediately got was the small smirk that could be seen at the edges of Yue''s lips. Chapter 341 - Time to Relax As the meeting progressed Alex discussed a few points of interest regarding the next world he planned to visit, and the people there. They didn''t go crazy developing a specific plan based off of the information he shared though, as Alex considered the world that Fairy Tail took place in to be one that several people would intend to visit, and so there was no way to know how much the original timeline of the world was changed by their actions. And, with more than half a year left until he could change world''s again, the decision was made to play things by ear when they finally did go there, and to remain as cautious as possible since they wouldn''t be able to know what abilities the other competitors would have. As the discussion about the next world they''d go to winded down, Alex then said, "There''s only a couple other things I wanted to talk about, then everyone would be good to go." This earned Alex several looks of relief as, while not necessarily as bad as other meetings they''ve gone to, everyone usually wanted these to end so they could get back to work or whatever they had been doing. Not wanting to take up even more of their time than needed, Alex pulled out three elongated silver canisters, and used his ''Telekinesis'' to give them to Barakiel, Hajime, and Lala. "These all contain a couple of the Stigmata that the Pandora use to fight the Nova from their world. A few of the Pandora have decided to hand their stigma over and become normal people, so I would like each of you to research them and learn what you can when you have time." While Barakiel nodded in affirmation, Hajime glanced at Lala and asked, "Her too?" Alex nodded and, understanding what he was referring to since Lala did come off as a bit of an airhead, he explained, "Lala is one of, if not the brightest mind of the universe she came from. She not only created entire virtual world''s where real life beings could live without issue, but she''s also invented many things using only technology that others, such as yourself, would need magic to fill in the gaps. She can even harness the power of a black hole to power some of her constructs." Both Hajime and Barakiel''s eyes widened in shock when they heard Alex''s words, before glancing at the pink haired girl as she beamed happily at his praise. Despite the genius behind their creation, people typically didn''t like her inventions due to their tendency to malfunction or even break at weird moments, usually creating awkward situations for those caught in the crossfire. Though Alex didn''t doubt that the same thing may happen to him in the future, especially with his own ''Lucky Pervert'' skill, that didn''t mean he couldn''t appreciate and praise the underlying genius in what she made. And so, after Barakiel and Hajime made arrangements to cooperate with Lala in the future, Alex finally said, "And last but not least for this meeting, I intend to put Sephie in charge of foreign affairs and relations." Though it was rather sudden for Alex to appoint a newcomer to such an important position within their little government, no one seemed to have a real issue with it due to them knowing that, as a queen, Sephie would have already had experience with diplomatic relations. Instead, the only one to speak up was Sephie herself as she cried out, "Wait, what?! Why wasn''t I told about this?!" Alex casually shrugged before asking, "You don''t want to?" This time Sephie looked a bit awkward as everyone looked at her, and explained, "W-well it''s not that, but no one really knows me here so is it really ok to put me in charge of something so important?" Alex nodded slowly with a wry smile on his lips, as he said, "I think so. If I recall correctly you were in charge of the same thing back on Deviluke, and your abilities as a Charmian make you a natural at negotiation." When she heard this Sephie could only lament silently that Alex knew so much about her past, until she suddenly thought of something and said, "But I don''t know much about Asora''s policies or the people here, wouldn''t I need to in order to deal with foreign delegations?" Alex''s wry smile grew when he heard this, and he responded, "True, but it''ll still be a while yet until we actually need you to meet with any foreign dignitaries since we can''t freely travel between worlds yet, and we don''t necessarily need to establish relations with this world right now. You''ll have all the time you need to study up on Asora and the people here until then." When she heard that Sephie could only sigh in defeat as she accepted her new role in this new world. Truthfully she didn''t mind being given such a position that much, especially since she hadn''t really done anything ever since she entered the space-time orb, she had just hoped that she would be assigned a job that was less time consuming so she could take this chance to spend more time with her daughters. All things considered though, it could be considered a blessing that she had received a job that she knew so well, and had a talent in with her abilities as a Charmian, while she could just use the space-time orb to spend the time she wanted with her daughters and hopefully any grandchildren that may appear in the future. As she recalled Alex''s adorable monkey-tailed children from earlier that morning, Sephie couldn''t help but glance at Lala and Momo with an expectant look in her eye. Lala pointedly looked away as if she knew what her mother was thinking about, while Momo''s expression stiffened as she realized that, once again, she had been completely seen through by her mother. While these thoughts drifted through her mind, Alex brought the meeting to an end while also dismissing everyone, or more specifically all of the guys except Hajime and Barakiel. Once the rest of the men and a few others had left, Alex turned towards her and said, "Ok Sephie, could you please remove your veil?" "Pardon me?" The former queen asked with a slightly cramped face as she eyed the two other men present warily. She didn''t mind Alex seeing her face since he wasn''t affected by her charm, but that didn''t mean she wanted to remove her veil in front of other men. Alex however was unperturbed by Sephie''s hesitation, and said with a cheeky grin, "Don''t worry, I''ll protect you if anything happens!" This made her recall, for a moment, her husband Gid when he said something similar so long ago. Releasing another sigh, Sephie reached up and unclasped her veil before letting it fall to her feet after a brief flutter in the wind. For a moment nothing happened as the two men gazed upon her flawlessly beautiful face, before Barakiel suddenly lunged forward with a crazed and l.u.s.tful look in his eyes. Naturally Sephie tensed as she recalled when ''that'' man would look at her and uninhibitedly attacked her for hours on end, but, before Barakiel could even get close to her Alex''s foot came out of nowhere and sent him flying back into the wall, where Akeno went to restrain her father with a smile that wasn''t quite a smile on her face. "Ufufufufufu, to have your heart swayed that easily father, looks like you need to be ''retrained''~" As she spoke Akeno materialized a short whip that cracked the air a few times as she lightly swung it, before using magic to teleport away with her father. While debating wether or not to tell Ririko about what just happened, Alex then turned towards the other guy in the room and asked, "So what do you think?" Hajime, who had been staring unwaveringly at Sephie, glanced back at him and said as his mind started flying with thoughts, "Very interesting. Of course I''ve seen certain people or races with a similar ability before, more specifically vampires and succubi, however they could use such an ability at will and not constantly and unintentionally. Plus if they tried hard enough then they could try to charm members of the same s.e.x, not just the opposite. Very interesting...." As he trailed off Hajime went back to staring intently at Sephie, however, instead of desire or l.u.s.t, his eyes contained only the curiosity and intrigue of a researcher. As Hajime started muttering about the various ways to counter Sephie''s charm, the woman herself couldn''t help but shoot a look at Alex once she stopped trembling from what just happened, prompting him to apologize before explaining, "I''m sorry, but I figured the best way to have Hajime create an artifact to block your charm was for him to see its effects firsthand, which I expected from the beginning that he wouldn''t be effected by it." As he explained Sephie couldn''t help but look at Hajime in undisguised awe, as in her entire life she had only met two men able to withstand her charm, and yet within a span of days in this strange world of Asora she had already met two more. As for why Alex figured Barakiel would be susceptible to Sephie''s charm, well, he was originally an angel who fell from heaven due to his perverse masochistic nature, no matter how dignified he usually presented himself. As for Hajime, in his original timeline the man spent several months with excessively beautiful and horny women while remaining faithful to just one, before finally giving in simply because he realized that he cared for the others as well. (A.N. Guesses on the actual events that made Barakiel fall? Mine is him crying in ecstasy in the middle of battle after taking an attack) Eventually Hajime excused himself to go start on creating Sephie''s new artifact, leaving Alex alone with the girls that had stayed behind. As he stood himself to go and finish the rest of the business he wanted to deal with that day, Alex was a little surprised to find Lala quickly approaching him with a nervous expression on her face, yet another difference after the treatment she received from ''that'' man. With the rest of the girls following her movements carefully, and Nana narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Lala came to a stop in front of Alex and asked hesitantly, "Do you really plan to fight those other people for us?" Alex was silent for a moment as he contemplated his answer, before saying, "I already planned to fight them eventually anyways, I''m just hurrying myself a little because of the things ''that'' man did. I''m also planning to create a network between the worlds I visit, but it would hard to do so if every world I want to visit has been ruined by those who can travel there like Anne and I." Lala was silent at Alex''s answer as she seemed to think about it, before he suddenly reached out, and started caressing her face affectionately as he continued, "Plus I can''t stand to see someone who should act one way, yet is practically a completely different person due to someone making them go through something they never should have." As he spoke and caressed her face, Alex thought of Lala as she was supposed to be, carefree and innocent with a smile that could light up an entire room by itself. And though she had tensed when he first touched her, as he continued to caress her Lala couldn''t help thinking that Alex''s touch was comfortable and warm, yet she also knew that at times it would be hard and cruel against his enemies. In a way it also reminded her of her father''s touch, the man who had brought the entire galaxy to heel, and had also been a caring and doting father to her and her sisters. After a moment she took in a deep breath, before saying, "Ok, I''d like to accept your evil piece, if you''ll still have me." Alex''s brows shot up when he heard her sudden declaration, before asking, "Are you sure?" Lala nodded and glanced once at her mother before saying, "I want to help those that might be suffering the same way we were, and if possible I want to prevent someone from going through what we did! Besides, R-Rito would want me to try and be happy again instead of only being sad!" As she finished her declaration Lala attempted to flash Alex a smile, showing him she was confident in her decision. Smiling wryly, Alex summoned the same ''Pawn'' piece he had offered Lala earlier that morning before offering it to her a second time. As she had been about to activate it however, "Wait big sis!" Nana cried as she tried to knock the Crimson piece out of her sister''s hand, before saying, "Don''t you know that you''re basically going to become this man''s plaything if you accept that?!" Though someone would usually hesitate when told such a thing, Lala only nodded and said, "Yep, I know. Though it makes me feel a bit sad about it, I doubt Alex would do anything too bad to me, right?" Though she sounded a bit hesitant when she finished speaking, Lala turned towards Alex for confirmation of her statement, before he in turn looked at Yami, whose cheeks turned more than a little red as she realized what Alex wanted from her. "...Though I''ve been his pawn for a few days now, he hasn''t touched me other than normal skinship or a brief kiss...." As she trailed off Yami pointedly looked the other way, with a distinct embarrassed pout that would have made anyone who knew of her reputation as an assassin gawk in shock. While the rest of the girls couldn''t help but mentally remark about how ''cute'' Yami was acting, Lala nodded in affirmation and said, "See Nana, there''s nothing to worry about, Alex is a gentleman!" As she stated as such Lala activated the evil piece before Nana could say anything more, but both girls missed Grayfia mutter off to the side, "Those poor girls...." Those that did hear her and had already shared Alex''s bed, Anne, Rias, Sona, and Tsubaki, couldn''t help but to nod in agreement while Elizabeth looked at them in shock, and wondered if she needed to mentally prepare herself more than she already thought before she eventually entered we new master''s bed, something she considered an eventuality. While Elizabeth was trying to come to terms with what she was starting to think was a fairly more intense activity than she thought, Alex stepped forward and said as Sephie and Momo both congratulated Lala, "Ok, not to rush but I have other things I need to check in on before the day ends, so I want you and Yami to return to the space-time orb to get accustomed to your systems and begin training against the monsters there." Alex then gave Lala a quick rundown on how the system and jobs worked, making Nana turn more than a little green when he mentioned farming experience by killing monsters in the sub-orbs. Though Lala herself turned a little green due to the fact that she had never killed a living thing before, she had been the one to ask for the evil piece, and so she steadied herself for what was to come. As he finished explaining things to her Alex then turned to Rias and Grayfia, and asked, "Could the two of you accompany them along with Shia and Shizuku? Yami is a pro assassin so she should already be fairly skilled, but I also want her to understand the level we need to be at. And while Lala is certainly gifted in several ways, I doubt she''s been given more than some basic instruction in fighting." Though Yami scowled lightly at Alex''s words, Lala laughed awkwardly since neither she or her mother could refute what he said. While she had certainly been schooled in the use of a sword and hand-to-hand combat, Lala''s typical behavior and playfulness made it difficult to imagine sending her to the front lines of any battle, and so her parents settled with her simply being able to defend herself. "Of course we''ll go with them, they''re now our comrades after all." As she spoke Alex was sure he had seen a bit of a mischievous gleam in Rias''s eyes as she glanced at the new ''Pawns'', making him wonder if her Spartan instructor side was going to make an appearance. Grayfia then added, "True, and we need to make sure that they will be able to adequately watch our backs in battle." This time Alex was sure he saw the same gleam in Grayfia''s eyes as well, planting a suspicion on where Rias acquired her Spartan training methods originally. Deciding not to worry about it since he knew they wouldn''t push them too far, Alex turned around and said while leaving, "I''ll leave them in your care then, see you when I get back!" Lingering only long enough to hear the girls give him their own farewells, Alex then disappeared into a cloud of mist and left them alone. The moment Alex disappeared the mischievous gleam in Rias''s eye turned into a grin as she immediately looped her arm through Lala''s and said, "Ok then, time for your first training session!" The moment she heard that a serious look entered Lala''s eyes as she pumped her fists while nodding energetically. Meanwhile Sephie and the twins couldn''t help but look at Lala wth concern as they noticed the mischievous look Rias had, but, before they could ask any of the other girls for help, Anne quickly returned to the hospital with Mikado and Oshizu, while Sona returned to the Academy with Tsubaki and Tear. And so, Sephie, Nana, Momo, and Elizabeth had no other choice but to quickly follow Lala and Yami as Rias and Grayfia led them away. Unaware of what was taking place after he left, Alex was strolling through the campus of Youkai Academy, casually greeting some of the students as he passed them. Though the school was relatively peaceful, Alex could still feel a tension under everyone''s skin as they all couldn''t help but wonder, what will happen now that humans know about them? Though the overall goal of the school and it''s students hadn''t changed, learning to live and survive in the human society, there was a complete difference between integrating in secret, and with humans knowing they were there. Alex however, regardless of how heartless it sounded, no longer considered the relations between the Youkai and humans his concern. While he did want the two sides to go towards a peaceful coexistence, Alex had no intention of becoming directly involved like he had on Tortus since this world didn''t have a god directly inciting conflict, or a prejudice spanning several thousands of years between both sides. It was also for this reason that he initially had both Touhou and Mikogami returned to their youth, so that they could take charge of the path towards peace instead of just dumping it all on someone else before dying like they had in the original timeline. As his mind wandered Alex found himself in front of the door to Mikogami''s office, before he threw it open and entered without a moments hesitation. Mikogami barely glanced up from his work before saying, "You can at least try to knock you know." Alex simply shrugged and didn''t say anything until he sat down in the chair before Mikogami''s desk, and asked, "How is it out there?" Mikogami paused while in the middle of writing something, before releasing a great sigh and saying, "Not good, but not as bad as it could be. Some humans are calling for our extinction, while others want us penned up or tagged so they could constantly monitor us. There are a few that want coexistence as well though, seeing ''monsters'' fighting the thing that destroyed an entire city while other ''monsters'' protected the citizens did a lot more than I thought it would for our reputation. Plus, it helped that the entire city that had been destroyed was also returned to its original state, and so there was no real property damage done either." Alex listened to Mikogami''s review of the last few days silently, before using magic to produce a fairly thick folder and saying while offering it to him, "This contains the profiles of various important figures in Japan that my people have made contact with, lawyers, judges, politicians, businessmen, even people in the media outlets. They''re in a contract with us so they were already in the know about the supernatural, and if you contact them then maybe they''ll help you with the public and governments. That''s about all of the aid I''ll offer though." Though his face was shrouded within his robes as usual, Alex could still see Mikogami frown in response to his words before asking, "May I ask why you don''t intend to help us after revealing our existence to the world?" Alex fought the urge to snort in response as he explained, "Because I can''t hold your hands for everything, can I? My people and I already dealt with Fairy Tale and Alucard for you, two of the greatest threats to coexistence with humans, and we ensured the survival of the forces of the Shuzen family that would support Issa and Akasha. Not to mention that we restored your and Touhou''s youth for you when you were both getting ready to kick the bucket any time now." When Alex finished talking Mikogami was silent as he realized the true depth of what Alex had been doing for them, as well as the fact that he probably intended to dump the political problems onto them to begin with. As for the exposure of Youkai to the world, even he couldn''t deny it was only a matter of time until humans discovered their existence anyways, as the steady advancement of technology was making it harder and harder for them to hide. Resisting the urge to sigh, Mikogami finally said, "Very well then, in that case the academy will be reopening in another week instead of now due to the aftermath of Alucard''s defeat keeping me and the rest of the staff busy. I won''t request your help dealing with the political problems, but if things go south and there is an attempt for war will you intervene? Just as a simple deterrent if nothing else." Alex considered the request for a moment before slowly nodding and saying, "Very well, but I wouldn''t be an effective deterrent when I leave this world for the next." Mikogami only nodded gravely in agreement before saying, "True, but you could still buy us some time if we need it, but here''s hoping it won''t come to that." With an agreement made Alex stood and offered his hand to the old Youkai, which Mikogami gratefully accepted and shook, before adding, "Truly, thank you for everything you''ve done for us." Alex smirked wryly, and said as he turned around and stared walking away, "Don''t worry about it, you can chalk it up to me being bored during what was basically our vacation. Now if you excuse me, I have some children to get back to." Leaving those words, Alex then disappeared into the sudden cloud of mist as he eagerly returned to spend time with his children. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Lala Satalin Deviluke Race: Devilukian/Charmian Titles: Devilukian Princess. Job: Jobless: 25 Passive Skills: Enlarged Energy Pool: Level 5 Superhuman Strength: Level 7 Durability: Level 4 Sword Skill: Level 2 Seduction: Level 7 Active Skills: Tail Skills: Level 1 (Refers to the Devilukian ability to fire blasts of energy from their tail, however if the skill level is raised then more abilities may be unlocked.) Sonic Scream: Level 2 (The user pours their own energy into their lungs and vocal cords, resulting in a blast of sound capable of shattering eardrums and even destroying a typhoon.) Invent: Level 5 (Allows the user to easily create machines with even unconventional materials.) Unique Abilities: Peerless intellect Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 342 - Troublesome Machines While Alex was busy speaking to Mikogami, back in the space-time orb, Lala and Yami were receiving their first instruction on using magic before moving onto the real training and sparring. Though it was only supposed to be Lala, Yami, Rias, Grayfia, Shia, and Shizuku present, several other people decided to come and watch out of curiosity and a concern for their friends/family. These included the rest of Alex''s peerage(minus Yue), Sephie with Nana and Momo, Elizabeth, Mea, Haruna, Mikan, and even Akasha, who had followed Moka into the space-time orb out of curiosity. As the group relaxed a short ways away, with Kuroka providing a barrier to ensure that none of the attacks that were about to start flying disturbed them, Rias stepped forward and said, "First things first, before we begin the spar I''m going to give the two of you a brief crash course in using magic since it didn''t exist in your universe. Firstly I want you two to place your hands in front of you and try to channel a form of energy between them." Though Yami seemed mostly disinterested in using magic, Lala''s eyes were practically shining as she nodded her head energetically and started concentrating as hard as possible while closing her eyes. Her favorite show back on earth had been Magical Kyouko, a series mainly meant for kids about the magical girl Kyouko who solved all her problems by burning them with her magic flames. The real Kyouko who acted in the show however was actually a half alien, who had the power to control flames due to her heritage and was a close friend of Run''s. As Lala recalled her favorite show, she suddenly heard a series of gasps before feeling a warm sensation on her hands. Opening her eyes, Lala found herself staring at a ball of flames between her hands. There was a beat of silence as everyone took in what they were seeing, before Lala suddenly called out in excitement, "Look mama! I used magic!" As she ran over to her mother Lala suddenly found her path blocked by a stern looking Grayfia who stated, "Lala, the task was to create a sphere of raw magic power, not to create flames." This made Lala pout as she whined, "I didn''t do it on purpose...." This made Grayfia''s stern look intensify, but, instead of saying anything more to her new comrade, Grayfia wordlessly lifted her hand and pointed it at a far off mountain. Then, before anyone could even blink, a blast of fire erupted from her hand and honed in on the mountain, enveloping it completely within the cloud of fire and ash as the sky roared and the earth rumbled before a wave of intense heat hit them. As the minutes ticked by the cloud finally dispersed, revealing that the mountain had been wiped entirely from existence while an inferno raged at its ruined base, making everyone grateful they had decided to hold the training session in the desert sub-space orb so the flames couldn''t spread. With a fairly pale expression, Lala turned back to look at the stern Grayfia, whose gaze had never left Lala''s face before she said calmly and firmly, "Magic is not a toy. If it is improperly handled by someone who can wield it, then it could result in devastating consequences. This training is not for you to see WHAT you can do with it, but so that you know HOW to use it, and how to properly control it." Grayfia''s words, combined with the devastating demonstration she just gave, made Lala look down at the ground in contemplation before she finally muttered in a quiet voice, "I understand..." Seeing Lala learn her lesson though, Grayfia''s stern look faded as she added, "Good. That being said, the fact that you managed to create and maintain fire so easily despite it being your first time using magic, and that it was such large amount, means you have both a talent for magic and large amount of magic power to work with. I look forward to seeing your progress in the future." Not expecting the sudden praise, Lala looked up at Grayfia in surprise, before beaming happily as excitement filled her once more. Once she had learned it existed in Asora, magic had been the thing Lala had been most excited about in her new life, to the point where she had already began reading some of Rossweise''s magic theory books to try and use it herself. Glancing back at Yami though, Lala''s smile widened when she saw Yami with a sphere of greenish-black demonic power between her hands about the same size as a softball. She then grabbed Yami''s hands with her own, dispelling the demonic power, and happily exclaimed, "Yay Yami-chan, we can both use magic now!" Though Yami''s expression remained somewhat impassive in the face of Lala''s enthusiasm, she still nodded in agreement and said, "Yes princess. This magic is actually somewhat fascinating, I''m curious as to how it''ll improve my arsenal in the future." As the two spoke to each other, Rias then added, "The benefit of being able to use devil magic compared to usual spells is that our demonic power manifests in ways that are only limited by our own imagination, whereas other methods of magic require using specific spells or formula, mediums such as staffs or wands, or a contract with a being that shares its power with you." When she heard this Lala immediately raised her hand, before blurting out, "Do you mean like the magic described in miss Rossweise''s books?" Rias nodded in affirmation and said, "Yes, these magics include for example Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Oriental, fairy, from the world of Tortus; and there is also the form of magic usable in this world, however these are only useable by Youkai such as Kuroka, Moka, Sun, or Kurumu. We won''t be touching on these today however, but if you want to learn more then you''re free to study them on your own time." Though most people would be reluctant when given the option of studying by themselves, Lala''s eyes practically shone at the thought of being able to learn more about magic, whereas Yami''s also had a weird gleam to them due to her love of reading interesting books. Smiling wryly from the looks the two girls were giving, Rias then beckoned to Shia and Shizuku to approach, one girl smirking with a giant hammer over her shoulder while the other had her practice katana ready. With the four women staring at each other, Rias then said, "One last thing you need to know before you begin sparring is the special trait of the ''Pawn'', promotion. As ''Pawns'' you can temporarily promote into any of the other evil pieces with the exception of the ''King'', you can have the extra strength of the ''Rook'', the speed of a ''Knight'', the magic power of a ''Bishop'', or even the combined traits of all as a ''Queen''. And so, I want the two of you to promote before you begin sparring with Shia and Shizuku." When they heard that Lala and Yami exchanged a look with each other gave a slight nod, before they both shouted, ""Promotion, ''Rook"(''Knight'')!"" With Yami choosing the ''knight'' while Lala chose the ''Rook'', they then looked at Shia and Shizuku confidently while pairing up with their respective opponent. "Please take care of me." Shizuku said politely while bowing respectfully before readying her stance, to which Yami mimicked her actions and replied, "Me as well please." While the two were respectfully preparing to fight each other, Shia was snickering lightly before saying to Lala as she lightly swung her practice hammer around, "Let''s have some fun, shall we?" Lala smiled widely at her, and said as a wand-like item with bat wings appeared in her hand, "Yep, let''s play together!" There was a beat of silence after the girls greeted each other in which they simply stared, before Lala and Yami suddenly moved as they charged their opponents. With both girls disappearing in an instant, Shia and Shizuku had less than a millisecond to react to their attacks, which was more than enough time for them as Shia casually raised her hammer, and Shizuku did the same wth her practice katana to easily block Lala''s punch and Yami''s hand, on which her fingers had turned into a series of lethal blades. Shizuku and Yami then both blurred as they dashed away in their fight of speed and ability with a blade, leaving Lala and Shia by themselves while everyone else focused on their match. As Lala c.o.c.ked back her hand once more, Shia prepared to receive another punch from her but was surprised when Lala''s hand connected, and she was sent flying back instead as her feet slid across the ground as if it was ice. Looking back at Lala even as she slid further away, Shia was surprised to find that in her other hand, along with the winged wand from earlier, was a capsule-like machine with a cutesy design to it, to which Lala smirked, "Behold, Slip-Slip Slide-Kun!" Makes any surface you use it on more slippery than ice!" As Lala proudly explained how her invention worked, Shia narrowed her eyes at her in mild annoyance since it didn''t seem like Lala was taking the spar seriously, though that was just Lala''s nature in general. Swinging her hammer around lightly, Shia then threw it at Lala with enough force that it was followed by a series of booms as it broke the sound barrier, and even pushed Shia back even more across the slippery surface. Lala however appeared undaunted as she quickly summoned another invention in the shape of a cutesy mecha anglerfish, while crying out, "Go Go-Go Vacuum-Kun(anglerfish)MK2!" As the giant hammer closed the distance between them instantly, it suddenly disappeared as the anglerfish mech opened its mouth wide and swallowed it whole, directly into the miniature blackhole that powered it. Shia could only stare dumbfounded while being thankful she didn''t use her beloved Dorykun, before she tried to apply pressure to her front foot. Her goal was to try and launch herself forward with enough force that the slippery surface under her feet wouldn''t matter, but, the moment she tried, her feet slid out from under her and Shia landed on her face in humorous fashion. "Nyahaha! Take that you dumb bunny!" Kuroka cried out when she saw Shia fall on her face, making those around her direct wry smiles in her direction. Promising herself to smack Kuroka around a little bit after she was done here, Shia once again tried to brace her foot to launch herself forward, except this time it was her back foot against the edge of the slippery circle Lala had created. A victorious smirk on her face, Shia launched herself forward with enough force that she demolished the landscape behind her and the wind whistled through her ears as she honed in on the Devilukian Princess. Lala was undaunted at her sudden approach however, as she fearlessly presented a mechanical hoop that expanded to a size large enough for Shia''s entire body to pass through. Figuring it was some form of barrier or something, Shia intended to smash through before giving Lala a ''light'' smack on the butt for annoying her, however she never got a chance. Passing through one side of the mechanical hoop, only Shia''s clothes exited the other side to lightly ''smack'' Lala as they crashed into her, with a still warm pair of frilly light blue panties taking up the rear as they landed on Lala''s head. "Where''s she go?" Grayfia asked Lala curiously as she removed the still warm panties from her head, to which the pink haired princess simply shook her head lightly before saying, "I don''t know, Gone-Gone Hoop-Kun is random in where it sends you, but for some reason you end up n.a.k.e.d every time I try it out...." As she trailed off Lala tried thinking on why her warp inventions still couldn''t take a persons clothes with them, when everyone suddenly looked up as a voice shouted, "Uuuuuuuup, heeereeeeeee!" Up above them and falling fast was the almost completely n.a.k.e.d Shia, who only had her shoes and socks left for clothing. Though there was no real threat to Shia for falling from such a height, Lala still didn''t intend to let this chance go to waste. Calling Slip-Slip Slide-Kun a second time, she quickly used it to make the entire area that Shia was going to land on slippery, which also had a fairly slanted slope. Unable to tell what exactly Lala was doing as she was running around beneath her, when Shia tried to perform a ''superhero landing'' her feet suddenly went out from under her and she realized what was about to happen a split second too late. The unfortunate rabbit girl was then sent toppling through the dirt and rocks of the desert, getting both in places she never wanted them, while also seriously debating on wether or not to stop holding back against Lala. Meanwhile off to the side and moving at speeds that only a few could follow, Shizuku and Yami were well into their own match as both girls tried to gain the advantage over the other. While Shizuku had the speed advantage along with her other weapons and throwables, Yami had much more experience in direct combat as an assassin as well as flexibility with her ''Transform''. One other distinct advantage Yami had was that Shizuku was still unused to trying to kill her opponent. She faired well enough in training and against monsters, but she still lacked that basic ''ruthlessness'' and ''edge'' that Yami had developed during her years as an assassin. She more than made up for it in raw skill and technique though, plus she had grown used to combining her sword skills with small amounts of magic to gain an edge against other sword fighters. In all, their fight was more of a masterful dance between professionals compared to Lala and Shia seeming more like they were fooling around. As they watched the two matches though, Akasha couldn''t help but look at her daughter before getting up while saying, "Alright, let''s go Moka!" The silver haired girl looked up after mother suddenly before asking, "What?" Akasha smiled wryly as she was filled with both pride and a bit of sadness as she explain, "You only have so long before you leave our world with Alex don''t you? Then I need to make sure my daughter can fight properly before you go." She then removed her dress to reveal a very skimpy black leather bondage style outfit before continuing, "From now on, when I get a chance, I''ll teach you how a Shinso''s supposed to fight!" For a moment Moka was too stunned to respond to her mother, as she took in the leather shorts that were short enough that Akasha''s ass cheeks hung out of it, along with its matching corset that was so small that it''s only function seemed to be keeping her mother''s b.r.e.a.s.ts contained, with the only ''normal'' part of her mother''s outfit seeming to be the black combat boots she wore. But then Kurumu couldn''t help but comment teasingly with a slight smirk, "Wow, can we expect you to wear something similar when you fight in the future?" Moka frowned and was about to snap back at her, but Akasha interrupted as she suddenly said, "Don''t knock it till you try it. In most intense fights your clothes tend to get destroyed anyways so it''s exhausting trying to maintain a sense of shame, plus these are easier to move around in than most combat outfits you''ll find out there." As if to prove her point, Akasha then proceeded to perform a series of warmups while moving her body in various ways that many would find almost impossible to repeat, which only made Moka''s deadpan stare increase as she got a really good look at just how little her mother''s clothes covered her. Before she could adapt to her mother''s strange attire though, Moka suddenly felt an intense pressure beating down on her as Akasha entered a battle ready state. The mother-daughter duo stared at each other for several seconds, before spreading their hooked vampiric wings and launching new themselves into the sky to begin their own fight. The bystanders couldn''t help but watch in awe after that, as Lala used her inventions to ''play'' with the still n.a.k.e.d Shia, Shizuku and Yami made the occasional appearance during their high speed duel, and the mother-daughter duo made the sky rumble and roar as they danced above the clouds.(A.N. If any of you have any ideas for inventions for Lala to make, wether serious or funny, then please comment them and I''ll try to incorporate them at some point if I can. I already have a few ideas myself, but I''m curious about what others might think of.) *** In the quiet of the winter day, a lighthearted whistling tune could be heard as Alex climbed the steps up to the Misty Manor, due to him being in a fairly good mood after dealing with the things he needed to and now going to spend time with his children. After his talk with Mikogami Alex had taken care of another thing or two in the human world before returning to Asora, where he then made rounds to the Academy, the hospital, and then once more to Crystabel''s clothing store to check on how the girls were doing. At the Academy Tearju hadn''t been given a class to teach just yet, but she was instead practically drooling over the equipment she had been given to carry out her research with, along with several students who were interested in the same biotechnology field to act as her assistants. Of course the majority of Tear''s research would most likely take place within the space-time orb due to the time difference, however there were still plenty of uses for her lab at the Academy that she was excited for. Meanwhile at the hospital, Mikado was listing a variety of machines and resources that she''d need in order to properly examine and treat her patients, while Anne wrote it all down to pass onto the Grigori for development. Once this was done she then spent some time telling Anne about the various patients and cases she''d treated over the years, including Oshizu and how she made her artificial body. While this was happening, the ghost girl in question was busy arranging their office with her Psycokinesis(ghost telekinesis), including Mikado''s desk, Oshizu''s own smaller desk, and a couple of cots for any over nighters they might have to make in the future. After the hospital Alex had made one final stop at Crystabel''s clothing store for the second time that day, where Ringo was happily sizing up some customers for some new clothes, though this led to her bad habit activating as she stripped and fondled the girls in question to judge their sizes herself. Meanwhile Alex did exchange a few words with Crystabel ''her''self, in which the monstrous magical girl reminded him about a certain werewolf that he had left on their island several months back, who Alex had honestly forgot all about. Figuring a few more days on hell island wouldn''t kill him, Alex eagerly returned home to find his children before returning with them to the space-time orb for the rest of the night, when he noticed Yue appear from a small cloud of mist right as he entered the manor. "Hello Yue, finished with everything you needed to do?" Alex asked as the vampire princess immediately made her way to his side, to which she nodded and answered, "....Yeah, how did things go here.....?" Smiling wryly as she once again dodged the topic of what she had been doing, Alex gave her a brief rundown of the meeting and how Lala had joined his peerage afterwards, before finishing with how he had another week off before returning to his day job as a teacher. Her smile widening when she heard that Alex had another week off, which could be extended into nearly two months of he stayed in the space-time orb the entire time, Yue''s step turned noticeably lighter as the duo made their way through the manor to find Remia and the children. They didn''t have to search for long though before an emerald haired rocket honed in onto Alex''s gut, as Myuu then said, "Papa, you''re back!" Alex chuckled lightly at her antics, and said, "Yeah, I''m back Myuu. Are you ready to go into the space-time orb with me?" Myuu''s face lit up when she heard Alex''s offer, as, on top of getting to spend more time with her papa, she also got to play in the ocean surrounding the villa whenever she went in the space-time orb, which she couldn''t do in Asora right now due to the snow and ice. However that was just a precursor to what was to come, as Alex added as Remia joined them, "And then, in a few days if you''re a good girl, how would you like to spend the entire day with your mama and me as we visit an aquarium and stuff?" Despite being held in Alex''s arms, Myuu then practically began jumping up and down in excitement while Remia said with a motherly smile, "Ara ara, that sounds wonderful, husband~" Yue frowned as Remia drew out the ''husband'' part, as for some reason the way she put it grinded on all of the girl''s nerves, though they''d never actually do anything about it. After collecting the children, along with Mizore and Tsurura, Alex contacted the mothers and the group quickly made their way to the space-time orb to relax. "Hey, did you hear?" "About his children?" "Yeah! I didn''t even know he HAD children!" "It kinda makes sense though, considering how much they do ''that''." "Well, yeah, but ''he'' didn''t have any children!" "Yeah, because ''he'' was fixed! ''He'' told me so himself once." All around the space-time orb similar discussions were taking place as word of the arrival of Alex''s children spread, leading to Alex having a wry smile for most of the first few hours that he played with them as the Pandora tried to catch a glimpse of his children. Even when it was nap time and Alex was stretched out on a recliner with Edith and Mai tucked into the crook of each arm, and Myuu curled up in his lap, a trio of Pandora couldn''t help but to poke their heads through the doorway and spy on them silently. "Let''s go, we don''t want to disturb them." One of them whispered to her companions, before the trio tiptoed away even as Alex cracked open an eyelid and watched them depart through his ''Domain''. Resisting the urge to chuckle, Alex then started to slowly move as carefully as possible, as to not disturb his daughters. Though he would love to stay with them and take a brief nap, Alex wanted to use the chance when all of his children were sleeping to go and check on Yami and Lala''s progress, and maybe intervene depending on what Rias and Grayfia were doing to them. After carefully putting the still sleeping Edith and Mai into a crib next to the one with Alec and Anna, and Myuu into the recliner he was in, Alex then swiftly and silently departed before any of the children could wake as he headed for the sub-space orbs. A quick check with his ''Domain'' was enough for Alex to know that they weren''t around the villa or any of the floating islands, so he went directly to the only place they could be. As he walked through the villa though Alex couldn''t help but notice that the Pandora he passed were acting even friendlier to him, with several greeting him with large smiles or even waving at him. Though this was mostly due to several of them seeing him play with his children earlier, it was also because they had realized how big Alex''s presence was within the space-time orb, and the days they had experienced since he had left that morning seemed duller in comparison. After a quick check in the desert and the jungle type sub orbs, Alex finally found them all within the frozen landscape as a massive avalanche thundered down a titanic mountain. If he looked carefully at the cascading snow and ice, then Alex could see the distinct shapes of Shizuku, Yami, and Kurumu weaving too and fro as they danced the dance of blade and nail, even on top of such perilous footing. Meanwhile above them the sky sounded as if it was falling as four Shinso danced amongst the clouds while battling themselves, each clash triggering a shockwave that cleared the clouds and caused yet another slope of snow and ice to give way. Far off into the distance however, Alex saw others sparing through his ''Domain'' atop an expansive ice shelf that was roaring with cracks as they attacked each other. That group consisted of Grayfia, Lala, and Shia, the latter two of which were n.a.k.e.d for some reason, as Shia persistently tried to fight Lala in close combat while Grayfia fired off the occasional spell at her. What surprised Alex, outside of the duo''s lack of attire in the freezing cold, was that Lala immediately defended and returned fire with her own magic. Though it was fairly sloppy compared to a pro like Grayfia, Alex couldn''t help the smile on his face when he saw how far Lala had come after just a few days of having her demonic powers, a testimony to the ''Peerless Genius'' ability in her status. After taking a moment to determine what was going on, Alex then made his way to the small group of people watching the two battles taking place, Kahlua, Gyokuro, and Sun, while Kuroka, Rias, and Yue were watching over Lala''s battle with Shia and Grayfia. As he approached them Alex suddenly wrapped his arms around Sun''s petite body from behind, making the small siren tense for a brief second before melting in the warmth of his embrace as she released a small sigh. "How are they doing?" Alex asked her, to which Sun answered, "They''re doing fine. Lala has an unbelievable amount of power that she uses for either her tail or her spells along with her insane strength, which when she uses her inventions as well Shia usually gets more than a little mad. Meanwhile Yami has quite the amount of power as well, yet she seems to have a hard time using actual spells or energy based attacks when she faces Shizuku and Kurumu, but she makes up for it in her raw skill and technique- what?" Sun demanded as she noticed Alex looking at her with a massive grin. He then surprised her by planting a quick kiss on her cheek before saying, "I was just thinking it was good to hear you talk so much. Before you''d barely say a thing even after using up all of your supernatural power, but now you''ll talk so much without even thinking about it." The kiss, combined with Alex''s praise, made Sun''s face turn almost as red as Rias''s hair as she tried to hide herself from Alex''s view, a hard feat to accomplish considering she was still wrapped up in his arms. He was about to tell her not to be embarrassed of her beautiful voice, when someone suddenly sneered from the side, "It''s so sweet over here that I''m about to puke, blegh!" Alex turned towards Gyokuro with a deadpan expression while even Sun pouted just a little bit, though a very small part of her was secretly relieved that Alex''s attention wasn''t just on her anymore. Though Alex was about to tell the vampiress slave off, someone else beat him to the punch as Kahlua piped up, "Mother! Y-you shouldn''t talk like that!" Though she hesitated slightly as she told her mother off, Alex still looked at Kahlua with pride as she was starting to be able to stand up to her mother, something that would have been impossible to see before he branded Gyokuro as his slave. Seeing Alex look her way, Kahlua also looked away shyly with her tanned skin gaining a hint of red to it, making Gyokuro gag from the scene as Kahlua awkwardly approached Alex and Sun. She then jumped as Alex suddenly reached out and grabbed her, before pulling the vampiress into his embrace along with Sun so that the three of them were huddling together from the cold, while Gyokuro was left by herself. "What do you think of everything so far Kahlua?" Alex whispered in her ear, making Kahlua shudder slightly before she answered, "Everything is so different now, I almost feel lost and I''m not sure what I should be doing anymore...." All her life Kahlua had dedicated herself towards her mother''s goals, becoming an assassin, leading the Shuzen house, and awakening Alucard to declare war on the humans. Never had she been able to chose for herself what she wanted to do, and even now she was just waiting for Alex to turn her into another Shinso like her sisters for their strength. But what Kahlua never expected was for Alex to say, "I know it''s a lot to take in all at once, especially after you were randomly brought back from the dead. Just take your time and figure out what you''d like to do from here on out." Kahlua looked at Alex in confusion before she hesitantly asked, "Don''t you want to make me a Shinso to fight for you as well?" This time it was Alex''s turn to look confused as he said, "No? Did you want me to turn you into a Shinso?" Kahlua looked away as if she was contemplating it, before finally saying, "I don''t know, but I was sure that after you turned both Kokoa and Akua into Shinso you''d want to do the same to me." Alex shook his head to this before explaining, "Kokoa and Akua were both the ones who wanted to become stronger to begin with, I just evolved them into Shinso to help them with that goal. If you want to become a Shinso then I can evolve you as well, but you don''t really like fighting do you?" His words earned Alex a look of awe from Kahlua as she tried to contemplate what it was she really wanted to do, while Gyokuro looked at Alex incredulously from his wasting such raw battle potential just because Kahlua didn''t like fighting. As the silence began to stretch for more than a few seconds, it was suddenly broken as another voice said, ".....If you are unsure of what to do, then how about becoming my assistant....?" The group turned to find Yue standing there along with Rias, Lala, Grayfia, and Kuroka who was holding an angry yet cute looking bunny rabbit by the scruff of its neck. "Where did Shia go?" Sun asked curiously as Yue led Kahlua away to talk, to which Lala returned an awkward chuckle while even Rias and Grayfia looked as if they were trying to restrain themselves from laughing as Kuroka held up the little bunny rabbit and said with a large smirk, "Don''t you recognize her~Nya? Though if you ask me it''s an improvement." Sun''s eyes widened in surprise while Alex simply directed a look at Lala, who was looking away pointedly as if it wasn''t her fault. Eventually she admitted to the angry and kicking rabbit, "It should wear off soon, please just wait patiently until then!" This earned her several looks of amazement, yet only Gyokuro and Kahlua looked surprised at the effects of Lala''s machines since everyone else had seen what they were capable of the past several days. Alex then gently took the annoyed Shia from Kuroka''s grasp, making her calm down a little as he began to pet her slowly and soothingly. It was about that time that the group above them finished their sparring, and came down to see what was going on. As he had been about to greet the three Shuzen sisters though, Alex''s words caught in his throat as he noticed Akasha in her combat outfit, and the state it had been reduced to. Though Akasha was several centuries Moka''s senior in terms of battle skill and technique, her daughter had been feasting on Alex''s blood almost daily, while also having access to his system made Moka much more powerful than she originally thought. Because of this she had taken a fair few hits during their spar, and her clothes also ended up a little tattered and worn, except that with how little Akasha''s battle outfit originally covered this meant that her left b.r.e.a.s.t was completely exposed to Alex''s gaze. Glancing at it for only the briefest of seconds, Alex was still able to see how hard the pink little bud at the center was, along with the wave of goosebumps that followed his gaze, making him wonder if it was a reaction to his look or the cold. Just as this thought floated in his mind though, Alex suddenly felt his ear being seized as Moka then hissed into it, "Don''t even think about it!" This made a wry smile appear on Alex''s face as Akasha nonchalantly covered her exposed tit without a single trace of embarrassment on her face as she commented, "Don''t blame him Moka, it was my fault for not thinking about repairing my clothes beforehand. It might be because I occasionally get memories from my soul fragment that was in the rosary, but I more comfortable around Alex than I usually be around someone I just met..." As Akasha trailed off thoughtfully though, the rest of the girls glanced at her in concern as they were unsure exactly what memories she was experiencing. They didn''t have long to think about it though, as the small rabbit in Alex''s hands suddenly started glowing before there was a flash of light, and instead there was a n.a.k.e.d Shia standing there right before Alex. Without missing a beat, Shia immediately turned to Lala and demanded, "Why is it that something weird always happened when I fight you?! I''m going to stop holding back from now on so don''t blame me if you get turned into pulp!!!" As she yelled Shia and the rest of the girls that had been watching her and Lala spar for the last several days recalled how Shia had been turned into a boy, been shot with a weird sticky substance, had her memories temporarily wiped, had her b.r.e.a.s.ts disappear, was somehow stuck to place where she had been standing, warped into random places, shot up into the sky along with a firework, turned into an animal, and of course she had been stripped n.a.k.e.d so often by Lala''s machines, that even now she didn''t bother clothing her n.a.k.e.d body. "Hiiii! Ahhhhn!" Shia suddenly cried out, as Alex mercilessly assaulted her fluffy rabbit tail with his hand so that she''d calm down. Of course that just heated her up in a different way, and Shia almost fell backwards before Alex caught her and whispered into her fluffy ears, "How about you leave it at that Shia? There''s no point getting mad at Lala, but instead how about...." Alex''s voice suddenly got so quiet that no one else could hear was he was saying, yet a flushed and excited look appeared on Shia''s face as she meekly nodded in agreement to whatever he had been whispering to her. As everyone else was watching the interaction between the two with mild amus.e.m.e.nt, a certain pink haired Shinso instead got a far off look. Suddenly Akasha was face down in a bed with her butt up in the air, a pair of rough hands grabbing her h.i.p.s as something impossibly large and hot plunged into her depths over and over again while her partner''s waist smacked into her butt with each thrust. Before she knew it the memory was over and she was back in the snowscape with everyone else, except Akasha now had a lightly flushed look to her face as well that thankfully no one noticed due their attention being on Alex and Shia, except she also felt a forbidden desire begin to well up within her as she tried to look away from Alex''s figure. Chapter 343 - Attack As the days in real time slipped by it was almost time for Alex to go back to teaching at Youkai Academy, however there were several changes both within the space-time orb and Asora in that short time. Firstly was Rossweisse officially recruiting the Pandora she had chosen into her Valkyries, reducing the number of maids within the villa. This however had made the Pandora that weren''t chosen getting increasingly agitated and antsy. Then there was also the start of Lala''s inventions being circulated once she created an assembly line to mass produce them, though the only ones to pass inspection were the mini Peke badges for clothing, and the anti gravity wings she used to use before getting real devil wings. These were understandably quite popular amongst the residents of Asora and the orb that were unable to fly on their own, and didn''t have the ability to magically change or repair their own apparel such as the Pandora, the Yuuki-Onna, Dagons, dragon race, and the humans. Unfortunately though the mini Peke badges had a bad habit of accidentally falling off sometimes when the wearer did something strenuous, or if they bumped it hard enough, resulting in several incidents where someone was suddenly n.a.k.e.d in public. Because of this was a warning was added to them stating the risks of wearing a Peke badge, while Lala was asked to find a way to fix the issue as quickly as possible. Then there was also the appearance of a few more floating islands and even a normal island down at the ocean level alongside Ingvild''s, some of which simply had spa-like or training facilities, while only the one or two were for a specific person. One such island was the one down at the sea level that had become a paradise for, believe it or not, turtles of all things. In the only building that had been built on the island, a small shed, Ticy Phenel exited while wearing a simple pair of short shorts and a bikini top with a smile on her face and a bucket in her hands filled with a special type of pellet food. "It''s time for lunch!" She called out happily as she reached one of the many ponds crisscrossing the island, which were all connected through the network of small streams. She then took a small handful of pellets and started sprinkling them lightly cross the surface of the water, before the tiny turtle heads suddenly appeared as they snapped at the food. Ticy smiled as she watched the little turtles enjoy their lunch, before moving on to the next of the network of streams and ponds. Even now she couldn''t believe her fortune when she hesitantly asked Grayfia if she was allowed to simply keep a small pet turtle, and instead Alex himself gifted her an entire island to raise and care for as many turtles as she wanted. Not only did it have the ponds and a network of streams, but even a cove for any sea turtles that she might want to try and attract in the future, since the ocean surrounding the villa was only filled with more ''peaceful'' sea creatures. As Ticy was traveling too and fro to feed her little shelled friends, the sound of someone approaching caught her attention. Knowing it was simply Chiffon coming to help her feed the turtles, Ticy turned to face her friend but was surprised to find a second person with her, making her expression tense as she recognized the ''Untouchable Queen''. "I brought someone else along today Ticy, I hope you don''t mind?" Chiffon said warily even as she noticeably kept her distance from the infamous Pandora. Despite the way the two of them were acting though, the one that appeared the most awkward was Stella herself since she never expected Chiffon to invite her to feed turtles with her and Ticy. As for why Chiffon invited Stella to join them, it was because she had seemed to become even more withdrawn than when they were at the First Genetics academy for Pandora, not that anyone could truly blame her. After the abuse they had suffered from ''that'' man, Stella''s past and the s.e.x.u.a.l abuse she had suffered from her own brother had practically become common knowledge amongst the residents of the space-time orb. This ended up earning her the sympathy of her fellow Pandora due to them now being able to understand her pain somewhat, however Stella herself was still reluctant to get close to, or even touch, another person. Chiffon was hoping that something like helping Ticy feed her turtles everyday would help Stella open up, even if it was just a little. "Um, d-do you know anything about turtles?" Ticy asked hesitantly, not wanting to outright refuse Stella''s help. When the blond shook her head, Ticy explained while taking a small amount of food from the bucket, "Well the first thing to keep in mind is that turtles will continue to eat when they''re given food, even if they''re already full. So you need to make sure not to give them too much or they''ll literally eat themselves to death." As she spoke Ticy showed a bit of a melancholic expression as she recalled her previous pet turtle, Tii, who had been killed by another Pandora due to their carelessness. Shaking the sad memory from her head, Ticy then lightly sprinkled the handful of food around that side of the pond before offering the bucket to Stella. Hesitating slightly at first, Stella eventually took a small handful of food and began sprinkling it on the other side of the pond for the turtles to eat. Chiffon watched through her squinted eyes as the duo, though still awkward and maintaining a bit of distance with each other, started to converse as Ticy started sharing all that she knew about turtles and how to care for them with the blond. Though Chiffon originally found Stella a pain to deal with when they were at the academy, due to her regularly fighting with anyone who even merely bumped into her, now that she had a brief taste of the kind of treatment Stella endured for years she decided to try and help crack the shell that she had formed around herself. With Ticy and Stella seemingly getting along for the moment, Chiffon decided to leave them to it and see if Alex or Grayfia needed her for anything. She then activated the microscopic device fitted within her clothes and a brilliant pair of wings made of pure light spread from her back, one of the many new designs Lala added to her antigravity wings. Chiffon then took off and flew up towards the villa at a leisurely pace, enjoying the feel of the wind in her hair and the scent of the sea breeze. Though she was still proud of her heritage as a legendary Pandora, Chiffon couldn''t help but admit that the Devils, Angels, and fallen angels had it made to be able fly through the skies as free and naturally as birds. All too quickly the trip through the sky was over, and Chiffon found the stones of the villa''s foundation under her feet once more. Looking forward to the next time she could fly so freely, Chiffon then started making her way through the villa in search of either Alex or Grayfia, greeting the occasional passerby as she did so. Suddenly, a rough hand grabbed her wrist and Chiffon found herself being thrown roughly into a nearby closet before her attacker pinned both her hands to her back and pressed her face into the wall. "Struggle or scream, and this will be a whole lot worse for you." The attacker growled into her ear, even as Chiffon summoned her volt weapon, a pair of bladed gauntlets, and tried to retaliate. The attacker seemed to be anticipating this though as the blades on her gauntlets did nothing to his hands, and her strength, which considered to be the peak of all Pandora, was easily overwhelmed as she was pressed up against the wall even harder harder than before. With his grip on her wrists tightening so much that her volt weapons were forcibly dispelled, and she knew bruises would form later, her attacker once more growled into her ear, "I warned you." Before Chiffon could even consider what was about to happen, there was a sudden ripping sound as he used his free hand to literally tear away her maid outfit, leaving her in nothing but her bra, panties, and a few remaining torn strips of cloth. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #%!d(string=12842919805610305)/attack_%!d(string=51577686815986996) for visiting. ''I''m about to be r.a.p.ed.'' Chiffon thought to herself, igniting a feeling with her that felt completely unfamiliar until she was overwhelmed, stripped, and now about to be violated, fear. As a legendary Pandora, Chiffon had never even felt a sliver of fear in her entire life. She had been born as what many would consider an ''apex predator'', with neither humans or even nova being able to properly equal her. In fact, in the original timeline it had taken the appearance of a new type of superior nova to even push her to sacrifice herself, but even then she hadn''t felt a single flicker of fear, and had departed with her usual smile. Even now she wasn''t truly ''scared'', however being rendered powerless and unable to fight back as she was being violated, a very tiny spark that she had never felt before ignited, and Chiffon''s heart was pounding in excitement at it. Her attacker was obviously aware of this as well, as he then used his free hand to reach around and roughly grab her left b.r.e.a.s.t through her bra, allowing him to feel her thundering heart. He only paused for a second when he felt her excitement however, before his hand resumed its exploration of her b.r.e.a.s.ts as it kneaded the soft flesh. Chiffon had to suppress a small m.o.a.n as her attacker expertly worked her b.r.e.a.s.ts with the technique of a master, while her legs had even started fidgeting as he pinched one of her n.i.p.p.l.es through the fabric of her bra. He apparently decided that he had enough of the thick fabric after a few seconds though as, after a brief second in which she felt the cups of her bra being smashed against her b.r.e.a.s.ts, there was a distinct ''SNAP'' and her bra strap gave way to reveal her creamy white b.r.e.a.s.ts. In an instant the assault on her b.r.e.a.s.ts resumed, except Chiffon was feeling it even more with the only thing preventing direct contact out of the way. Soon, she didn''t even seem to notice how much her lower body was moving as her h.i.p.s moved back and forth, and her legs continued fidgeting from her steadily increasing arousal. She then felt the heat of her attacker''s bare skin against her back, as he leaned forward and growled in her ear once more, "Are you really feeling good from being assaulted like this you f.u.c.k.i.n.g s.l.u.t?" Though she actually was, Chiffon knew the correct thing to do in his situation was to deny it, so she slowly shook her head and said, "N-no, I''m not!" She could hear her attacker snort in response to her refusal, before his hand transitioned from her b.r.e.a.s.ts down her backside until it was gripping her buttocks through her thin cotton panties. After taking a second to savor the feel of her ass on his hand, it then slipped inside of her panties and unhesitatingly found her precious place. "What is this then?" He questioned as he extracted his fingers and held them in front of Chiffon, showing her the fluid that now coated them. The legendary Pandora was silent as the evidence of her own arousal was presented to her, even as her attacker then grabbed her cotton panties and tore them off too, leaving her completely vulnerable to whatever he wanted to do. He was evidently tired of the foreplay and waiting though, as her attacker suddenly placed his feet within her own and spread them further apart, making it easier for him to access her entrance. "Mnnnn!" Chiffon suddenly stifled a m.o.a.n as something hot and hard pressed itself against the entrance of her p.u.s.s.y, before it was suddenly plunged into her all at once. "Ahhh!" Chiffon let out a small cry as she lost her v.i.r.g.i.nity for the second time in her life, except this time she was enjoying it a lot more, and her current attacker was significantly ''bigger'' compared to ''him''. Though she still felt the pain that came with losing your v.i.r.g.i.nity, Chiffon didn''t get the chance to adjust to it at all as her attacker pulled his amazing c.o.c.k almost entirely out, before plunging it back into his victim''s depths. What followed was a series of rhythmic thrusts accompanied by the sound of his waist hitting her butt, and the occasion grunt or m.o.a.n. Chiffon herself was getting so into it as she started moving her butt in time with her attackers thrusts, that she almost forgot that she was technically being attacked until he suddenly paused. As she had been about to ask him why he stopped, Chiffon was suddenly pulled away from the wall that her face had been pressed up against, and was instead made to lean over at a ninety degree angle while being held up by nothing but his grip on her wrists. The sound of flesh smacking then once again filled the closet as her attacker proceeded to f.u.c.k her even harder than before, while simultaneously targeting her weak points based on even her most minute reactions when he hit them, and even using his free hand to spank her butt repeatedly. With both her attacker''s skill and size, it wasn''t long until the greatest orgasm she ever had racked Chiffon''s body, followed shortly by her attacker pouring a load of hot s.e.m.e.n into her w.o.m.b, making her body tremble for over a minute as she rode the waves of pleasure. As her body calmed though, Chiffon''s wrists were released and she had to use her own hands to steady herself before falling face first into the small table before her. She then stood up and leaned back into her attacker''s chest, before turning her head and looking directly at Alex for the first time and saying, "That was amazing...." Alex smirked confidently at her praise, and kissed her lightly before saying a bit incredulously, "I can''t believe you really find being r.a.p.ed a turn on though." This time it was her turn to smirk, as Chiffon explained, "It''s not being ''r.a.p.ed'' per say that turns me on, but being taken by force and unable to fight back." She then went on to explain how when ''that'' man made her his, she discovered that she liked being dominated to an extent. However, due to how weak he was, coupled with his lack of size and technique, it was impossible for Chiffon to get truly excited by him before ''his'' ability got involved. It also didn''t help that ''he'' had never even bothered trying to get good at s.e.x, simply relying on his ability to make his partner feel good while all he did was practically spasmed on top of them. In comparison, Alex was superior to ''him'' in literally every single way. He was stronger, bigger, more skilled, and even made sure the other party was enjoying themselves despite doing a ''play'' like he had just done with Chiffon. As she explained this, Alex was filled with two distinctly different feelings, such as pride of his ''prowess'' in the bed. But it was met with amus.e.m.e.nt as Chiffon grinded her butt into his crotch as she spoke, seemingly intent to keep him in the mood while simultaneously trying to push him inside even further. It probably didn''t help his otherwise idle hands had casually transitioned to play with her tits as she spoke, making her expression occasionally falter whenever he playfully flicked or pinched her n.i.p.p.l.es. Eventually she stopped talking and instead asked, "So are we going again, or are you going to just keep teasing me?" Alex''s smile widened as he leaned in for another kiss, before saying, "I was just about to ask you the same thing!" Chiffon then let out a small yelp of excitement as Alex practically threw her so that her upper body was resting on the small table, before he then grabbed her right leg behind the knee, and hoisted it up high so that he had a perfect view of the contents between them. Then without any hesitation, Alex immediately thrusted into her eager slit for the second time that day. Despite the fact that she had just lost her v.i.r.g.i.nity(for the second time), Chiffon felt only pleasure as she was roughly pounded from behind once more, even as Alex once again started smacking her butt. It was only after a few minutes of this that she even noticed a small mirror sitting directly in front of her, perfectly reflecting her slovenly expression as her ''master'' roughly f.u.c.k.i.e.d her. Seized by a sudden curiosity, Chiffon then did something she hadn''t done in years, and opened her eyes completely to see what her expression would look like then. Like usual the blade-like line running vertically through her pupils gave her an alien-like appearance, proving once more that she was in fact not a human. Though Chiffon had never actually been that self-conscious about her eyes, she had always done what she could to prevent others from seeing them due to the fact that they looked exactly like a Nova''s, the hated enemy of their entire world. "You should keep them open more often." Alex''s voice suddenly whispered in her ear, surprising Chiffon since she had been so focused on her how her eyes looked to notice. Then, as if to prove a point, Alex pulled out of her and flipped her over so that she was now on her back and facing him, before pulling her ankles up to rest on his shoulders as he plunged his c.o.c.k back into her. Chiffon then had the surreal experience as Alex proceeded to f.u.c.k her at a much slower pace, while only looking directly into her eyes. He then leaned forward until her knees were pressed against her chest to kiss her, this being the only moment he had broken eye contact with her since he first saw them. Slowly Alex''s mouth trailed from her lips down to her chin, and then even lower to her cheekbones, causing Chiffon to shudder as he attacked her weak point. She was quickly approaching yet another orgasm when Alex suddenly stopped his movements entirely, making Chiffon look at him with confusion even as she desperately craved her climax. "Shit." Alex suddenly swore, making Chiffon even more confused until she suddenly felt a shudder pass through the villa. "What was that?!" She demanded while trying to ignore her irritation at not being able to climax, even as Alex pulled out of her. "A bunch of dumbasses, that''s what!" Alex swore once again as he quickly dressed, while also passing Chiffon''s repaired maid uniform back to her. Meanwhile, up in one of the villa''s courtyards, the residents were gathering in a semi-circle around the outer entrance to the kitchens with the combat maids in the front, where a plume of smoke was rising after it had been bombed. As they peered through the screen of smoke, roughly twenty figures began to appear from within as the Pandora responsible showed themselves, along with Kunou, Mikan, and Haruna as their captives with kitchen knives at their throats. (A.N. Sorry for the recent delays, again(feels like I''ve been saying that a lot lately). Work has been kicking my ass recently and this chapter ended up being quite a bit longer than I was expecting, so I cut it in half to post now. I''m also going to start trying to make chapters a bit shorter and HOPEFULLY be able to post more often because of it. Thank you for the understanding.) Chapter 344 - Choose As everyone saw those responsible for bombing the kitchens, and the three they held captive, a series of mutters filled the surroundings as they glared at the offending party. They weren''t surprised though, considering that the ones responsible were among those who would actively terrorize their fellow Pandora, and would usually slack off instead of working. At their head was unsurprisingly Felice Mojave, the same girl Alex had mentioned during the meeting before, and Miyabi Kannazuki, someone infamous at West Gentics for seducing limiters and then throwing them away once she had gotten tired of them. Meanwhile the one that stepped forward from the surrounding was considered the official spokesperson of the Pandora, Elizabeth. The blond ran her stern gaze over all of the offending Pandora before settling it on Felice and Miyabi, and demanding, "What is the meaning of this?" The two ringleaders scowled at her words, before Felice retorted, "''What is the meaning of this?''! Are you kidding me Mably?! We are NOT servants to be bossed around and treated like the help! We are women of power and influence, the last hope of humanity! WE ARE F.U.C.K.I.N.G PANDORA!" As she roared the last words they echoed through the otherwise silent surroundings, making several people frown and scowl at them in return when they realized what was actually going on. Then Miyabi spoke up, as she directed her attention to the rest of the Pandora around them and stated while pointing at Grayfia, Ravel, and Rossweise, "Aren''t you all tired of just following their orders?! Of being stuck here just because they refuse to even bother taking us home? Living and serving under yet another person driven by their l.u.s.t and desires, bidding their time until we let our guard down to attack us?" Miyabi then paused as if to let her words sink in as more of their sister Pandora joined their side, yet no one moved a single muscle. From their perspective it had been nearly a year since they had been brought to this world and freed from ''that'' man''s control, nearly a year for them to recover from ''his'' abuse as they regularly received treatments with Spirit magic. And, for most of a year, they had been watching their host like a boil of Hawks. Unlike what the group of ingrates before them was trying to insinuate, none of the other Pandora nor the girls from the To Love Ru universe believed Alex was trying to take advantage of them any longer. With the sole exceptions of Lala and Yami, he had never made any untoward moves towards them or otherwise made them uncomfortable outside of his interactions with his own harem, which they more or less considered normal now. As for the aforementioned peerage members, while Alex would usually push them to do things like kissing or washing each other when in the baths, he never tried to push them farther than they actually capable of handling. Seeing that no one was moved by her earlier words, Miyabi''s expression darkened as she spat at them, "You worthless S.L.U.TS! You would seriously throw away everything we''ve fought and died for just to be worthless servants, who''s only purpose is to clean, fight, and spread your legs when that hypocrite orders you?" At this many of the surrounding Pandora glared at Miyabi, while others answered with their own curses and insults until Grayfia signaled for them to calm down. The silver haired maid then stepped forward as Elizabeth stepped back respectfully, before she said, "You talk of protecting humanity, yet you''ve taken several innocents captive just to get your way, two of which were those who also suffered at your side. Is this itself not hypocritical?" This time it was Felice who sneered in response to Grayfia''s words, as she retorted, "So what? Send us home like we want, and there will be nothing to worry about for them. If something does happen, then their blood will be on your hands." When they heard this everyone became disgusted with the twisted logic that the ones wielding the knives would blame the blood they spilt on others, but before they could say Anyang a new voice suddenly said, "And yet you call me the hypocrite..." Several women parted as Alex casually approached with Chiffon at his side, who was looking strangely annoyed for some reason. As Alex took his place beside the silver haired maid, he promptly ignored the seething Pandora and looked at the three captives before asking, "Are you alright, Haruna, Mikan, Kunou?" The former two nodded with pale expressions, before saying, "Yes, we are..." "Just please get us out of here as soon as possible..." While the captors of the duo of regular humans tightened their grips on them when they spoke, Kunou then practically growled with the fur on her three tails and ears bristling, "Once I get free I''ll show these ungrateful bitches exactly why you should never mess with a Youkai!" Of course once the words were out her mouth they were followed by a crisp slap, as the Pandora holding her hit her before hissing in her ears, "Watch it you filthy little animal, or I might just cut off your ears and tails instead of selling you off when we get home!" As she whispered the Pandora then flicked her knife against one of Kunou''s ears, showing her just how serious her threat was. Despite this however her defiance didn''t falter, while a certain mother with surprisingly sharp ears hissed into Alex''s ears, "That one''s mine!" Alex just barely moved his head in the smallest indication of affirmation, while he also used his ''Domain'' to check on Ringo, Lala, and Yami, all of which were more than a little anxious to free Haruna and Mikan from their captor''s clutches. "Don''t worry-" Alex muttered as quietly as possible, while also using his ''Domain'' to transmit his voice to the anxious women. "-I''ll do my best to make sure none of them are harmed." Though it didn''t completely ease her anxiety, Ringo still calmed down a little while Yami and Lala waited for any orders Alex might give them. He then similarly gave orders to Shia, Shizuku, Kurumu, and Moka to wait for his command, as he didn''t want to risk any unneeded injury on any of the captive girls. It was only after all of this, that Alex finally turned his attention towards the insurgent Pandora, his expression cold and uncaring as he examined the ones who dared to attack his home. As he cast his gaze upon them, many of the revolting Pandora shuddered as thoughts that they might have made a mistake entered their heads. Regardless of any second thoughts that they might have started having, Alex then stated in a firm tone, "I''ll give you one chance to surrender, and maybe your punishment will be lighter. Do not, and I won''t guarantee your lives." As he spoke Alex''s fingers twitched as he flexed them warningly, planting more doubts into the minds of the Pandora. The two in the lead however didn''t pay any attention to this, as Felice sneered, "Do you really think you can still give the orders here? Or do you simply not care about their lives?" When he heard this the icy pressure coming off of Alex increased by several times as he snarled, "Don''t mistake yourself to be in a position of authority right now, the moment a single hair on their heads is disturbed your own lives are forfeit, consequences be damned." His words, combined with the intense aura coming off of him made many of the offending Pandora, as well as even a few of the women standing around him, pale as they now wondered if it was wise to take hostages. Of course Felice and Miyabi were among those affected by Alex''s aura, but their expressions quickly transitioned from fear to anger as Miyabi snapped back, "You''ll regret acting so c.o.c.ky!" She then turned to the Pandora holding Mikan, and barked at her, "Open her throat! Let them see how serious we are!" There was a brief pause as everyone took in what she just, before the Pandora in question grimly nodded her head. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Ringo shrieked as she desperately tried to fight her way through the crowd to get to her daughter, only to be held back by Koneko as the cat girl used her Touki to try and calm her. Meanwhile the Pandora holding Mikan tightened her grip on the young girl, while also lifting her chin to clearly show everyone her neck as she raised the edge of the kitchen knife to place it right below the left side of her chin. Right as the cold metal was about to touch her skin though, KABOOOOOM!!!!! The entire villa shook as the sky roared and space itself started fracturing around them, throwing everyone into confusion even as they tried to keep their footing and a cloud of dust rose to veil what was happening. Due to the lack of sight, each of the combat maids entered battle ready stances in case any of the rebelling Pandora tried to use the dust cloud as cover to attack, but none of them came. Instead, a blood chilling scream tore through the air. "This is ridiculous!" Anne swore, before crying out, "''Sky Dragon''s Breeze''!" In an instant the area was cleared of dust and everyone could see again, but what they saw surprised them. Instead of attacking the group of rebelling Pandora had also taken a defensive position, however one girl was left out of it while two others were missing, the ones who had taken Haruna and Mikan captive. Meanwhile the girl that had been left out of the defensive formation was the one who had threatened to sell Kunou, however she now had both of her arms grotesquely twisted beyond the point of use, or even recovery without Regeneration magic. As for the three captives, they were now safely away from the errant Pandora and wrapped up in Alex''s protective arms. Though they were also disoriented at what just happened, Kunou was the first to recover as she wrapped her arms around Alex''s neck and planted a kiss on his cheek before saying, "Thank you Alex~!" Alex''s smiled warmly at the little fox girl, and said as he gently ruffled her hair and ears, "You''re welcome Kunou." He then turned his attention to Mikan and Haruna and asked with concern, "Are the two of you ok?" Though it seemed to take a second for her to register what had happened, Haruna eventually said, "Y-yeah.... That was the scariest thing I''ve ever experienced....." Mikan nodded silently in agreement as, even when she had used against Yami by another assassin, she had never in her life felt so close to death. She then gingerly reached up and touched the spot where the knife would had penetrated her neck, had it not been for Alex''s intervention, when Ringo''s voice suddenly called out, "MIKAN!" They all turned to see Ringo hurrying towards them alongside Lala and Yami, before the distraught mother pulled Mikan from Alex''s embrace and wrapped her in her own. "Are you alright?!" She breathed into her daughters ear, relieved that she didn''t lose her only other child. Mikan however could only barely nod in response to her mother''s concern, before trying to get out, "Yes mom, but, you''re kind of choking me....." Ringo quickly released her daughter when she heard that, before going over her to make sure she was ok while Yami hovered silently in the background. While everyone was watching Mikan and Ringo was soft gazes, their expression changed when another mother slowly approached them, her expression ice cold as she passed them and made her way to the Pandora with the destroyed arms, who had been sobbing until that point. "Now what was it I heard about you wanting to sell my daughter, or was it cutting off her ears and tails?" Yasaka asked as she approached the crying girl, who quickly quieted down when she saw the approaching Youkai. "Yeah! Get her mama!" Kunou cried out as she hopped up onto Alex''s shoulders. As Yasaka inflicted her wrath upon the one who threatened her daughter, Alex turned back to look at the rest of the battle-ready Pandora. He then glanced briefly at Grayfia, who nodded in understanding of Alex''s intentions as she ordered, "Take them." Those two simple words were all it took for eight figures to leap forward into combat, each of the Pandora who had joined her maid squadron. "FINALLY! AN ACTUAL FIGHT!!!" Arnett cried out as she eagerly summoned her volt scythe, making her comrades shake their heads in exasperation despite the fact that they too were eager for a fight against an opponent that wasn''t a simple sparring match, or a monster. One by one the Pandora summoned their weapons to attack their former comrades, Stella a giant blade that had gaps on the backside for her to use as handles, Ticy a greatsword almost as tall as she was, Rana and Creo both charged forward with their steel gloves while Chiffon summoned both of her gauntlets, and the petite Attia swung her morningstar intimidatingly as Elizabeth''s satellite type volt weapons flew over their heads to provide cover. Of course the rebelling Pandora also responded in kind, as they too unhesitantly prepared to face them. "REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING, AND TAKE AS MANY DOWN WITH YOU AS POSSIBLE!" Felice shouted as she summoned her own volt weapon, a pair of daggers. However she never could have predicted what happened next as Arnett suddenly appeared within their own ranks, and swung her scythe in a circle around her to create a grotesquely beautiful arc of blood and gore while instantly bisecting no less than four Pandora at once. Time seemed to slow from Felice''s point of view, as she watched her comrades being sliced apart, or turned into pulp against their foes. Stella was like a hurricane as she shot forward unhindered, the body parts of her opponents flying as she passed them. Meanwhile Rana and Creo dashed to and fro, pounding their opponents into submission with their fists, while Attia used her morningstar to completely obliterate whatever body part it collided with, leaving a trail of pulped organs and splintered bone in her wake. Though they should have managed to get a single hit or two in themselves, Felice also saw Elizabeth''s satellites weaving between the fighting, using their shields to protect her comrades from any potential injury. Despite the fact that they too had been training against monsters specifically for this day, there was an undeniable difference between the two groups of Pandora as a result of Grayfia''s training, and ''Guidance''. Then, Felice saw her own opponent slowly approach her, prompting her to sneer at Ticy, "What? Still want revenge for back then, ''Zero'', or do you prefer ''Chiffon''s Lap Dog''?" Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #%!d(string=12842919805610305)/choose_%!d(string=51703889614926770) for visiting. With an expression as cold as ice on her face, completely contrasting the happy and carefree look she had a short while ago when feeding her turtles, Ticy readied her greatsword without uttering a single word. Felice''s expression darkened when she saw this as, even as she readied her own daggers, she still considered Ticy to be the pathetic and weak willed little girl she was before Chiffon arrived. Deciding to ''teach'' her a lesson before killing her, the corner of Felice''s mouth twitched in anticipation right before Ticy''s figured suddenly vanished from view. Before Felice could even try to register what was happening, her vision was filled with a giant slab of metal right before it impacted her face and sent her flying with a sharp ''crack!'' As she watched the limp body of her old enemy roll away, Ticy sighed and muttered to herself, "I''m still too soft...." She then glanced at the now bloody and already bruised face of Felice, who she had hit with the flat side of her blade to knock her unconscious and break her nose, before shaking her head and rejoining the battle despite it already being practically over. "What the hell is this....?" Miyabi swore to herself, as each of her comrades were felled or torn apart within seconds before her while there wasn''t even a single scratch on their opponents. She had even gone out of her way to stay towards the back of the group and use her flying knives to try and snipe the combat maids from behind, but each one was skillfully blocked by Elizabeth as if it was nothing, even when she tried to use one on any of the bystanders. "F.u.c.k.i.n.g Mably!" She swore as yet another one of her attacks was blocked as Elizabeth directed her gaze at her, as if taunting her in her mind. Right as she was trying to think of a way to deal with her though, a new voice suddenly said, "Are you sure you should be focusing on her~?" Miyabi barely looked up in time to see Chiffon''s bladed gauntlet when it was only a mere couple inches away from her face, before the blades were suddenly sinking into her face as the back of her head collided with the ground. Chiffon then dragged Miyabi back through the ground by her head, before slamming her against the outer wall of the villa behind them. Then, with the same casual smile that she always had, Chiffon proceeded to brutally and mercilessly beat on the helpless Pandora until she had gone completely limp, with blood dripping from her entire body while her face was so tore up it no longer resembled a human''s. "You know-" Chiffon started to say without bothering to keep her voice down, "-I was having some of the best s.e.x in my life when you started this. So don''t mind if I take out my ''frustrations'' on you!" She then resumed beating on Miyabi in progressively cruel ways while the majority of gazes gathered on Alex, making his eye twitch just ever so slightly. Despite the beating she was taking though, Miyabi still possessed enough will to just barely control one of her knives with a twitch of her finger. Chiffon noticed this however, and just barely shifted her head to the side to prevent having the back of her head impaled, causing he knife to lodge itself into Miyabi''s stomach instead. "Naughty, naughty!" Chiffon said with her smile widening, before she used her free hand to plunge the knife in even deeper until the tip even came out her back as it severed her spine. "I think this deserves some more punishment!" Chiffon then declared, as if Miyabi hadn''t already been punished enough. She then grabbed her right arm, and proceeded to pull on it to completely tear the limb from its socket, making a feral scream escape Miyabi''s throat as her only remaining hand weakly tried to grab onto Chiffon''s wrist. "That''s enough Chiffon." Grayfia suddenly said, making the ''Smiling Monster'' turn to look at her challengingly, even going as far as completely opening her eyes to show everyone her Nova-like irises. Instead of reacting to the sight though, Grayfia then calmly said, "Or if you prefer, I can be your opponent." Though there was absolutely no intensity in the way she said, Chiffon still suddenly felt a great pressure on her after Grayfia finished speaking, prompting her to simply toss Miyabi into the pile of bodies and parts that had been formed after the rest of her comrades had defeated, before she then threw Miyabi''s own arm at her. Despite the fact that Chiffon had relented when asked, Grayfia still decided that she''d talk to the legendary Pandora later about her tendency to go berserk when she fought. It was at this point that Alex finally stepped towards the gory pile of bodies and limbs, which was making several of the girls from the To Love Ru universe go green or even losing their lunch from never having seen such a gruesome sight before. He then turned towards the combats maids, who stood attentively at the side as they awaited his word, and said while plopping his hand down on the small and petite Attia''s head, "Good job everyone, I''m very pleased with your progress." Though most showed pride at Alex''s praise, several of them also showed genuine happiness at his words while Attia turned a fairly deep shade of red, as she secretly enjoyed it whenever her head was pat. After giving them a few more words of praise and complimenting the impressive parts of their fighting, Alex then turned his attention back towards the bloody pile composed of the rebel Pandora bodies. Currently there was only one or two of the rebelling Pandora left alive within the pile, but Alex didn''t care about that as he held out his hand, and a magic circle formed that enveloped the entire bloody pile in demonic light. Everyone around him watched in slight awe as the light shone for several minutes before it eventually faded to reveal each of the rebelling Pandora, alive and whole once more with the sole exceptions of the three that had previously held the girls hostage. This was due mostly to the fact that the two Alex killed had been practically reduced to atoms, while the one that had been left to Yasaka was similarly reduced to ash so fine, that Alex wasn''t sure she could even be brought back with Regeneration magic. He didn''t bother to worry about it though as he focused his attention on the pale and nervous looking revived Pandora, before saying, "It is over, you have lost." When they heard his voice many of the Pandora looked at Alex with a never before felt fear, even as they fought the urge to cower before him. Of course the only exception to this was Felice, who had only been knocked out by Ticy during the fight and suffered nothing more than a bruised face, and a broken nose. "W-why?" One of them eventually got the courage to ask, even as she tried to avoid his gaze. It wasn''t too difficult to know that she was asking him why he had brought them back, and, with everyone else looking at Alex curiously as well, he answered, "Because, despite your horrible attitudes, when all of you became Pandora you knew that you would more than likely die in combat against the Nova threat. We''re not Nova, but I still consider it a privilege to die for what you believe in(no mater how misguided), not a punishment. That is why you will all live instead, and I will personally decide what to do with you." While many of the Pandora showed resolute expressions at Alex''s declaration, their will to resist having already been shattered, others turned pale with horror while Felice was the only one to show anger at Alex''s words. After spending a moment contemplating what to do with them though. Alex finally turned towards Grayfia and commanded, "Strip them." Several of the Pandora''s expressions turned to horror at Alex''s decision as Grayfia nodded in affirmation, while off to the side Elaine''s expression was stony as suspicions filled her mind of what Alex planned to do. After signaling to them to do as Alex commanded, many of the combat maids that hadn''t participated in the fight stepped forward to retrieve the clothing of the Pandora that had been ordered to strip, or take it by force in needed. The ones who''s will''s had been broken offered no resistance as they willingly stripped in front of their audience, while the horrified Pandora resisted slightly before giving up as the maids literally tore the clothing from their bodies. The last in line to be stripped was Felice, but, instead of fighting back, she instead willingly removed her own clothes before throwing them as hard as possible at Grayfia directly, ending with her panties that she aimed directly at Grayfia''s face. "Happy now?!" She demanded of Alex even as Grayfia peeled the still warm cloth off of her face, her mask of professionalism never wavering even as she tallied each offense for later. Alex however didn''t pay her words, or even any of the n.a.k.e.d bodies before him, any mind as he then looked at Ravel and said, "Now remove their stigmata." Compared to when they had been ordered to strip, when the Pandora heard this several of them even fell to their knees pleading not to remove their stigmata, but ther pleas fell on deaf ears as Ravel retrieved a certain device before doing as Alex ordered. Naturally when some of the Pandora had made the decision to give up their stigmata and live as normal women they had to come up with a way to remove them, which Lala had been more than happy to provide after spending a few minutes examining one of the Pandora''s stigmata. Now Ravel had the cutesy suction cup shaped device in her hands as she went down the line, removing the precious devices from their skin one by one despite their weak protests. There wasn''t a single serious incident until she got to the last person in line, Felice, who had a very slight smirk at the edge of her lips. Right as Ravel was about to apply the suction cup to the spot where Felice''s stigmata were, right on her shoulder blades, the Pandora suddenly used every bit of power she had left in her body to twist faster than Ravel could react, and plunged her volt weapon into her heart to the hilt. "HA!" She cried out triumphantly at taking out at least one of the people around Alex, before two things suddenly happened. First was Ravel''s blood spilling out of her wound, drenching Felice''s hands up to the wrists in the boiling hot fluids. At the same time her right arm was suddenly bent backwards by a petite figure in a maid uniform, resulting in a sickening crack followed by an ear-splitting shriek as Felice felt both her hands burning, and the attack on her arm. She didn''t get any time to deal with either one of injuries though, as Routier, her attacker, suddenly grabbed Felice by the face and slammed her down into the ground similarly to what Chiffon did to Miyabi earlier. What followed was a beating to rival Chiffon''s, as the little oni meticulously and sadistically beat Felice in such a way as to inflict the most pain with a gleeful expression on her face. Meanwhile Ravel casually looked down at the dagger that had been plunged into her still beating heart, before calmly grabbing the hilt and pulling it out so that the super heated liquid metal that had once been the blade dripped onto the ground. Her wound then seemed to bleed pure flames as it slowly closed, leaving a bloody hole in her dress. "And I really liked this dress too..." She pouted lightly, before using magic to repair the fabric until it was as good as new. It was only after this was done that Ravel even bothered to look at the bloody mess that had once been Felice, before saying, "That''s enough Routier." In a flash, the little oni whirled to face Ravel in her bloodl.u.s.t but a single look at the Phoenix was enough to curdle any rising remarks she had, as she had long learned that of the people of Asora, not to push Ravel or Grayfia the most. With the little oni respectfully making way for her, Ravel stepped forward and looked down at the broken and bloody form that had once been Felice Mojave. She then reached down and placed her hand in the middle of Felice''s chest between her b.r.e.a.s.ts, unhesitantly setting the beaten girl aflame and filling the air with her screams once more. Slowly the air filled with the acidic smell of burning flesh and hair amidst her screams and the sound of roaring flames, until Ravel decided that was enough and allowed the flames to die down to reveal Felice''s soot covered, yet otherwise unblemished body. As her screams of pain were instead replaced with pitiful sobs, Miyabi shakily asked, "W-what was that.....?" Though she wasn''t obligated to explain, Ravel still said as she removed the stigmata from the whimpering girl, "I used my Phoenix flames on her; they can not only burn, but heal if I will it. I decided to heal the injuries Routier gave her, while also personally paying her back for trying to kill me." As she finished speaking Ravel made her way to Alex''s side to give him the stigmata she had taken, while also being completely aware that she driven yet another stake of fear into the hearts of the rebelling Pandora due to the viciousness of her actions on Felice. Once he had stored away the retrieved stigmata, Alex then approached the still whimpering Felice and grabbed her hand before placing his slave mark on it. He then proceeded to the next Pandora in line and said, "First I will mark you all as my slaves, now give me your hand." With any hope of resisting extinguished from their eyes, each of the former Pandora obediently presented their hand to Alex when it was their turn to be marked, until each and every one of the n.a.k.e.d women were now his slaves. He then stepped back and said, "From here I''ve decided on two choices for each of you to choose from regarding your actual punishment. Firstly is the one Felice will now automatically be subjected to, banishment." Alex let the word hang on the air for a second in order to gauge the reactions of the former Pandora before him, who showed a mixture of expressions ranging from confusion, to despair at the idea of being banished now that they had been stripped of their stigmata. He then began to elaborate, "This option is for those who truly cannot stand being here any longer, and any that choose it will be placed in a random city somewhere in the world, as is. You''ll have no friends, no family, and no help whatsoever as you will be forced to live as a commoner with nothing, namely as a beggar unless you can work your way up. Of course I''ll also use the power of the slave mark to ensure that you are unable to hurt anyone ever again, outside of self defense." As he finished speaking there was more than a little tension and anxiety in the air as the former Pandora, all elite women who had never actually had to work a single day in their lives, paled at how terrible it would be to suffer such a life. Unsurprisingly no one jumped at the chance to leave like they had wanted earlier, and so Alex then started explaining their other option. "The second option is to simply stay here as slave maids, however every single thing that you did not have when you first arrived will be taken from you. Anything you would want beyond that must be earned through work, clothing, items, hot water, a room to sleep and stay in; even every meal must be earned since all you''ll be given every day is a single energy bar that would grant you the energy and nutrients your bodies need. Of course to do this we''ll need to establish a point system similar to an employee''s wage at a work place." As he finished speaking Alex glanced to the side at Ravel, who immediately got the hint and pulled out an electric tablet to begin working on such a system. He then turned back towards the still silent Pandora, and commanded, "Now choose." Chapter 345 - Punishment Unsurprisingly, every one of the former Pandora ended up choosing to stay within Asora as Alex''s slave maids, with the sole exception of the still sobbing Felice of course. The reason they chose that over banishment was due to the fact that none of them had ever in their lives felt so n.a.k.e.d, literally and figuratively, as they did after losing their stigmata. When they had originally been chosen as Pandora and received the stigmata, the Pandora felt as if they could do anything with the strength and abilities that no one else in their world could hope to match, except of course the Nova. Now however they were powerless, and would be vulnerable to anyone that wanted to take advantage of them if they were banished from Asora. Though they would still subjected to any of Alex''s whims in Asora, it was still a better alternative to possibly being r.a.p.ed and/or murdered in whatever place he dumped them in. There were also several other factors as well that any normal person would need to worry about living on their own, which none of the former Pandora knew how to do. Still, that didn''t mean life would be good for them even in Asora or the space-time orb, as they no longer had any possessions to call their own, regular meals to eat, or even a roof over their head to sleep under. The most horrible part however was the fact that they even had to earn clothes to wear, meaning that they''d all stay n.a.k.e.d as they did their work until they were finally able to afford a new uniform. None of them dared to voice any complaints though, for fear of being automatically banished like Felice, as Alex went down a list of orders for each of them. These ranged from things like never resorting to thievery, to them not being able to harm anyone for any reason, including themselves. Once he was done Alex stepped back, and Ravel stepped forward to hand each other of them a list while saying, "These are all things that need to be done by the end of the day, no discussion. So I''ll expect all of you to finish by the time we are finished eating dinner. Dismissed!" Without a single word the former Pandora dejectedly stood and left to complete their work, which had increased in amount compared to before. This included even Felice, who Alex wouldn''t kick out until the following morning when he returned to teaching at Youkai Academy. As they left the tension that been present within the villa courtyard vanished immediately, and everyone that had been spectating swarmed forward to check on the trio that had been held hostage, Haruna, Mikan, and Kunou. Though the former two were still a little shaken after having actual weapons held to their throats, they were already recovering from the experience due to the suffering they had experienced in the past. Meanwhile Kunou was no worse for the wear, and was even trying to use what happened to get Alex to pamper her more, something he was more than happy to do given the circ.u.mstances. Before things could get too rowdy though, Alex called out, "Ok, that''s enough for right now! Lets give them a chance to breath and rest for a little while, but everyone can talk to them when we have dinner later!" Though there were a few groans and minor protests at his words, the majority of those who had gathered began dispersing to leave only a few of them standing in the now repaired courtyard. He then turned to those left, and said, "Let''s go relax for a while to calm down, and I think we can arrange someone else to work on dinner for tonight." As he finished speaking Alex glanced at Ravel meaningfully, who then began making different arrangements for the kitchen staff for that day. She then took the lead as everyone headed for a lounge to relax after the extra stress, but Alex stopped for a brief moment to smack the butt of the still lingering Chiffon and whisper into her ear, "Come up to my room tonight and we''ll finish what we started." He then left along with the others as if nothing happened, but the look of anticipation on Chiffon''s face was as plain as day to anyone that was paying attention, which a certain fellow combat maid was. Though they hesitated for several seconds, their own expression showing hesitation, they then walked up to Chiffon to ask her something. Meanwhile Alex and the others had all plopped down into chairs and couches in the lounge they had decided to rest in, while Elaine went to collect some snacks and drinks. Alex was on one couch with Kunou in his lap, Ravel to his left, and somehow Haruna on his right. Sitting across from him was Ringo, who pulled Mikan in to her own lap and was hugging her loosely from behind, with Lala and Yami on either side of her as well. Yasaka took one of the only chairs for herself, and Grayfia was standing attentively behind Alex, waiting for any orders he might have. He then told the girls that if they needed anything after what they just went through then they only needed to ask, to which Kunou immediately replied, "All I need is to be pampered some more!" As she said this the little fox girl nuzzled her face into Alex''s chest, making him smile wryly as he patted her head, while Mikan couldn''t help but shake her head since Kunou was slightly older than her, yet she always seemed to be the more mature one. "Ara ara," Yasaka suddenly spoke up, getting everyone''s attention as she continued, "Kunou, don''t tell me you let yourself get captured on purpose just to get Alex to pamper you afterwards?" Surprisingly, Kunou''s only reaction to her mother''s teasing remark was to snort, before stating, "You''re only half right mama! I did let them take me, but only because they had already taken Mikan and Haruna hostage, and I didn''t want them to get hurt because of me. If that wasn''t the case I would have turned them all to ashes myself!" As she declared this, the fur on Kunou''s ears and tails bristled in irritation, both at the former Pandora, and at herself for being too weak to actually help her two friends. She calmed down though when Alex ruffled her hair and ears with his hands, and said, "You made the right choice Kunou. Though I would normally refuse to negotiate with a hostage situation, you were outnumbered and I''m sure you knew that we would be able to help you when we realized what was going on." Kunou only giggled in response to Alex''s praise as she leaned back into his chest and enjoyed his touch, making everyone else narrow their gazes slightly. Of course what truly surprised them was when Haruna, her face Crimson from embarrassment, leaned over onto Alex''s side as she seemingly tried to take some comfort from his presence as well. Of course, her embarrassment only increased when Alex put his arm around her as if to hold her even closer, leading to the shy girl to try and hide her gaze from the smirks opposite her. But then, the nice moment was interrupted when Elaine reappeared and demanded as she placed the refreshments, "Was that punishment truly necessary?" Alex looked up to see expression was practically a glare as she continued, "I understand punishing them for doing what they did, but was there any need to have them stripped n.a.k.e.d and humiliated?" Alex frowned and was about to answer, but it was Ravel who spoke up first as she said, "With everything that''s happened, I''d say the humiliation is needed just as much, if not more, than the actual punishment." Her words drew Elaine''s sharp glare onto herself, however Ravel''s gaze was unflinching in the face of a being that could kill her, Phoenix or no, in an instant if she so wished. "And why exactly do they need to be humiliated in such a way?" Ravel then rolled her eyes and said as if it was obvious, "Because they are all women from various noble and wealthy houses, and have the pride and attitude of such. If we truly want them to learn their lesson, and avoid a repeat incident further down the line, then their pride needs to be broken down completely to start with." When she heard this Elaine''s expression seemed to become a slight amount darker, but, seeing Grayfia, Yasaka, and Kunou all nodding in agreement, she held her tongue. As ladies of noble, or even Royal, backgrounds, they had all been taught growing up that their status wasn''t just a sign of superiority, but of responsibility as well. High class Devils weren''t just born with the most authority, but they also had the most power of their species as well; meaning that they were usually the first to be sent to the front lines of any existing conflict, especially with the establishment of the Evil Piece system. Meanwhile Pandora were mostly comprised of high class ladies that joined up, not for the responsibility, but for the status. Despite the fact that they were all willing to fight and even die for humanity, only a few seemed to take the Nova threat and their responsibilities seriously, while others would get drunk on the power their stigmata provided. Seeing that no one in the room shared the same views as her, Elaine then politely excused herself before going to find something else to do. After she left everyone was then surprised when Mikan looked at Alex, and asked sincerely, "By the way, is there any way I can become stronger too?" Not just Alex, but everyone else showed looks of surprise at her sudden and unexpected request, while Yami asked with concern, "Why do you want to become stronger Mikan?" Mikan looked down at the ground at her friend''s question, before finally saying while clenching her fists, "I''m tired of being used against my friends..." Everyone made an expression of understanding at her words, while Yami fell silent in contemplation. Once, back on the earth that Mikan once called home, she had been against her by another assassin that had a grudge against Yami. And then when ''that'' man attacked he had also used Mikan against her, resulting in both of them falling to his disgusting ability. And now she had once again been used against her own friend, Kunou, and had to be saved. While she didn''t care to become as strong as Alex or Yami, she still desired to be able to protect herself against this kind of thing again. With both of them also having been used as hostages before, both Haruna and Kunou nodded in understanding while Grayfia said thoughtfully, "I''m not sure about actually becoming stronger, but you might go and ask Le Fey about learning some magic from her. It is extremely difficult for a regular human to learn magic, but with enough training you should be able to at least defend yourself." Mikan looked up at Grayfia''s suggestion, a small twinkle appearing in her eyes at the idea of learning magic herself. She had watched others perform spectacular feats with magic ever since arriving in the space-time orb, but had always reasoned that it was something she wouldn''t be able to do. What Mikan didn''t know was that using magic didn''t just rely on things like affinity or magic/demonic power, but also difficult calculations and formula that one would need to study for years. With Mikan being smart enough to even apply pressure to, and regularly correct her teachers, it was hard to imagine that she would struggle with such formulas. And so, the group passed their time until dinner discussing different types of magic and methods that Mikan could use to avoid being used against her friends again. Meanwhile, the former Pandora were quickly realizing just how hasty they had been in trying to say that Alex had been taking advantage of them. Never before had any of the former Pandora done so much menial labor, to the point that several were developing blisters on their hands and scr.a.p.es on their knees from having to get down on all fours to scrub. And never before had any of them felt such humiliation, as in that moment when they were doing all of this work, they were completely n.a.k.e.d. With even mere clothing being something hey had to earn, each of the slave maids in question now had no choice but to remain n.a.k.e.d until they earned enough points to purchase them. As if this itself wasn''t bad enough, they also had to deal with several of the other Pandora silently reveling in their punishment. Many of the new slave maids had habitually and gleefully harassed and tormented any of those they considered ''lower'' than themselves, either in rank or standing. As such, one Pandora looked down at her former tormentor, who''s hands and knees were almost rubbed bloody from scrubbing the floors, and couldn''t help but recall a previous Carnival when the same Pandora had cruelly and meticulously broken her bones and severed her limbs simply for accidentally bumping into her a few days before, leading to her spending months recovering even with their advanced healing procedures. Another couldn''t help the absolute glee they felt when they came across their own former bully, who was trying to grab somethings that seemed to have rolled under a piece of furniture, which resulted in her trying to retrieve it with her face down on the ground and her butt up in the air, completely displaying everything that shouldn''t see the light of day. When she saw this the Pandora in question couldn''t help but remember when she had once been bullied by the slave maid and tried to stand up to her, resulting not only in her complete and utter defeat, but also her being forced to strip by her tormentor in front of the more than fifty spectators comprised of both the female Pandora, and their male Limiters. These two and more understandably felt a great amount of vindication at their former tormentors current station, yet, despite the undeniable desire to kick them while they were down, none of their former victims took advantage of the current difference in status. The reasons for this was that none of them wanted to disappoint or also get onto Alex''s bad side, while they also felt that it was pointless to antagonize them further with low far they had fallen. With even the plants and animals within the space-time orb being treated better than the slave maids, courtesy of Nana and Momo, there was genuinely nothing within the orb that had a lower standing than they already did, making it a waste of time and energy to bother trying to put them down even further. That didn''t stop the occasional snicker or comment that one of the passing girls might mutter to their friend under their breath, which served to slowly turn the fear and humiliation they felt into anger once more. However the orders they had been given prevented them from being able to act on it, meaning they could only grit their teeth and continue their work while bearing the shame until they had finished the list they had been given. After what had felt like a lifetime''s worth of embarrassment and work, Miyabi finally managed to finish and drag herself exhaustedly to the courtyard where everyone had just started dinner. When she saw the food set out her stomach made a roar of anticipation to be filled, but, right as she tried looking for her seat, Ravel''s voice suddenly demanded, "What do you think you''re doing?!" Miyabi jumped at the sound of her voice, the image of Felice being burned alive still fresh in her head, before slowly turning to face Ravel and saying, "But I''m starving...." Ravel however didn''t seem to be bothered with Miyabi''s hunger, and stated, "That may be, but if you recall you need to spend points to be able to eat with us, of which. You have none. You, and the rest of the slave maids, will have to wait until you''re given your breakfast in the morning. In the meantime, stand over there and wait until someone needs your help or we''re done eating. I will talk to the rest of you once dinner is over." Ravel then turned and headed back to her seat at the large table without giving Miyabi a second glance, leaving the former Pandora to stare wistfully at the delicious smelling food until the compulsion of Ravel''s order made her move to where she was directed. As everyone else ate in front of her, Miyabi was slowly joined by her fellow slave maids as they finished their work until finally Felice arrived right before dessert was over. As everyone stood and cleared off to go and take their baths, most going to the commons baths while a few went to their private ones, Ravel then approached the slave maids along with several other women in maid outfits, those that had given up being Pandora while staying as maids. "These are for each of you." She said while conjuring a pile of electronic tablets couples with ear pieces. As each of them hesitantly accepted it, with the sole exception of Felice, Ravel then explained, "Each tablet has an alarm set for five in the morning, and when you get up they will be updated with a new list for you to complete each day before dinner. The green zero indicates the points you''ve saved up, while the red number there shows your debt-" "Wait! Why are we in debt already?!" One of the former Pandora suddenly cried out, to which Ravel narrowed her eyes at from being interrupted, before explaining, "That is a rough estimate for the damages you caused this afternoon, along with what would typically be considered medical treatment from when Alex brought you back to life or healed your injuries. We did discuss if we should include a cost for all of the resources you''ve used up until now, but decided it would be too unrealistic to have you pay that back..." As she trailed off the slave maids expressions paled as they imagined trying to pay back all of the food and medical treatments they had received since arriving in Asora, a number none of them even wanted to consider. Ravel then continued, "You will all receive an approximate amount of points depending on the amount of work you do, as well as how well you do it. However for the time being ninety percent of the points you earn will go towards your debt until it is paid off." As she finished speaking the former Pandora tried to plead with her to lower the percentage, but a stern look from Ravel''s fiery gaze quieted them down, while Felice nearly wet herself then and there. Truthfully they had originally started at a lower percentage when Ravel and Alex discusses the matter earlier, however they eventually decided to raise it in order to draw out the slave maids punishment, forcing them to cherish and prioritize the few points they did obtain. Ravel then went on to explain a few other things about the tablets and the ear pieces, before finally ending with, "And as for you Felice," the blond haired girl flinched when Ravel called out her name, which she ignored as she continued, "for the rest of the night and the morning you will act as a maid with the rest, but when Alex leaves to teach at Youkai Academy he will deposit you somewhere in the world of his choosing. You have until then to say any goodbyes you might have. Now, all of you are to clean this up, and no eating the leftover scraps!" As she turned to leave, Ravel pointed at the remaining food and tableware while the rest of the maids that accompanied her left as well, as they all headed to the baths. This left the slave maids to clean up the food and dishes left behind by nearly four hundred people, by themselves. Gritting their teeth once again, they had no choice but to get to work while ignoring the temptation of the food before them, despite their empty bellies loudly protesting. As they cleaned the giant mess that had been left for them, the former Pandora weren''t the only ones having a long night. After his bath Alex opened the door to his room and was surprised to find not just Chiffon, but the entirety of ''Team Elizabeth'' waiting for him. With the smile widening on his face, Alex said, "Well this is quite the surprise!" His words made Chiffon''s own smile widen, as she was greatly looking forward to continuing from where they had been so rudely interrupted earlier, however Elizabeth and her troop of followers all squirmed slightly under Alex''s scrutinizing gaze. Chiffon was already completely n.a.k.e.d, but Elizabeth was wearing black panties and a bra, along with a matching garter belt. Meanwhile Arnett was wearing only a mint green see-through nighty, allowing Alex to see her dark n.i.p.p.l.es through the fabric while the neatly trimmed patch of hair between her legs occasionally made an appearance whenever she moved. Between the five of them though Alex definitely had to say that Attia and Creo''s outfits were the most ''risqu¨¦'', as the petite white haired girl had on a matching pair of light blue bra and panties with light green trim and ribbons, except the bra had heart shaped holes for her n.i.p.p.l.es to peer through, while the panties had a hole opened up for easy access to her slit. Creo on the other hand had practically done the exact opposite of Attia, with the dark-skinned beauty having pasted heart shaped stickers to her n.i.p.p.l.es while a single bandaid was all that protected her virtue from the beast before her. As he unashamedly analyzed every bit of the beautiful bodies exposed to him, Alex asked Chiffon, "So, what is this?" The legendary Pandora smirked as she explained, "Well, after you told me to come to your room tonight I was surprisingly approached by none other than miss Mably here, who said she was interested in joining us. Naturally her three hanger-ons wanted to join as soon as they heard." When they heard Chiffon refer to them as ''hanger-ons'' the trio of Elizabeth''s followers directed a glare at her, however Elizabeth herself then stated seriously, "Truthfully, I wanted you to know that not all of us share the same thoughts as those from earlier. I figured this might be the best way to do so." Alex''s smile turned into a frown when he heard this, as to him someone sleeping with him only as a sense of ''duty'' or because they ''had'' to ruined the experience. He then said, "You don''t have to force yourself if you don''t want to just because of a bunch of idiots did something stupid. I prefer s.e.x when everyone involved is enjoying themselves as they lose themselves in l.u.s.t, desire, and affection; not when the other party is an emotionless doll that would rather be anywhere but but with me." Though she had already known it, Elizabeth was still shocked at the differences between Alex and ''that'' man. If it had been ''him'', then he would have gladly taken anything or anyone offered to him as long as they were a woman, willing or not. Before she could try to explain that she, and the rest of ''team Elizabeth'', weren''t trying to push themselves, except past their own ''traumatic'' experiences, she was surprised as Chiffon suddenly swept her legs out from under her to lift her up by the back of her knees. She then spread Elizabeth''s legs open so that the thin piece of black cloth was the only thing protecting her shame from Alex''s gaze before saying with a teasing smirk, "Let''s just skip ahead to the point where you see they actually want it. I mean, can''t you see the wet stain right here?" As she spoke Chiffon gestured to the thin cloth covering Elizabeth''s privates, where a very small and almost impossible to notice wet stain could be seen. She then went on to whisper something into the surprised blond''s ear, making even the firm-hearted Elizabeth blush slightly as she reached down and pulled the crotch of her panty to the side with one hand, while the other spread open her now revealed s.e.x. "Please ravage my filthy p.u.s.s.y." Elizabeth then said at Chiffon''s direction, shocking her comrades at the vulgarity coming out of her mouth, along with her actions. Alex''s expression however was unreadable, until his smile from before returned in force. Looking at Elizabeth''s embarrassed, yet firm gaze, he then took a step forward and started making his way towards her as his clothes suddenly vanished. With every gaze in the room zooming in on the thing dangling between his legs, there was an audible gulp from the five women as Alex approached them. *** While the slave maids were laboring, and Alex was playing, yet another person was unable to sleep at that night as they stared at the ceiling above their bed, their wife sleeping next to them. Issa sighed as he looked over at Akasha next to him, her sleeping face mirroring the frustration she seemed to have been experiencing the last several days. Though he had asked her about it, she told him it was nothing, and so Issa watched his wife in concerned silence even as he thought on his own troubles, namely a certain Vampire Princess that had decided to pay him a visit a week ago. *A week earlier* "There must have been a reason for all of this, so what is it?" Yue smirked at Issa''s question while the rest of the remainder of the Shuzen family tried to catch their breath behind him, all of which had just been beaten by her singlehandedly. After a moment though her smirk vanished and she said, "...I....want you to be my warden for this world..." Issa was struck silent by her quiet words, before he hesitantly asked, "What?" It wasn''t that he couldn''t hear her, he just wasn''t sure exactly what she meant. Yue frowned however and repeated herself, "...I want you to be my warden...." Seeing that Issa was no closer to understanding what she meant, Yue sighed and stated as she stood from the chair she had been seated in, "....I intend to take the vampires of every world we visit under my control...and by extension Alex''s..... Instead of taking them all into Asora though.....I plan to install ''Wardens'' in each world to watch over them....and enact my justice when I am unable..." Issa was struck silent as what Yue said, as he realized that she essentially said she wanted him to rule over all of the vampires of earth. Though he couldn''t deny that having such power and authority was very tempting, he still asked, "Why do you want to rule all vampires? And why pick me to lead them instead of my wife?" Yue was silent for several minutes after this, as if she was contemplating how to answer, before finally saying, "...We wish the world''s we connect to be peaceful, as none of us have the intention to constantly be fighting new wars in the same worlds every time we visit..... Vampires can be a threat to this because of their strength, pride, and their hunger...." When she said this Issa was silent once more as he considered the truth of her words. He had only ruled over the vampires of Japan, and even that was a handful due to their backstabbing nature, and desire for blood. If Issa ever showed even he slightest hint of weakness at any time, then dozens, if not hundreds of vampires would readily tear him to shreds before trying to take his position for themselves. It was because of this that having family like Akua, Kahlua, Gyokuro, and Akasha around was a blessing since they could watch his back, though he ended up being betrayed by his own wife due to his negligence. Then as if this wasn''t enough, there was the fact that all vampires craved human blood, a single tidbit that was their biggest hurdle towards coexistence. Despite the fact that popular concepts of vampires drinking blood were false, like them drinking until their victim died, turning them into vampires with a single bite, or even so much as leaving a single mark after they''ve fed, humans would still react with fear and paranoia at the idea that existences like vampires ''fed'' on them. It was partially for this reason that several vampire organizations had started blood donation centers to acquire blood without any of the hassle of feeding, however there were still rogue groups or even entire nations that still hunted or even killed their prey for no reason other than the thrill. Combine all of this with their inborn strength, and Issa very much understood Yue''s concern with the vampire race obstructing peace. However he couldn''t help but state, "Vampires are strong and prideful like you''ve said, but how do you intend to hold entire world''s of them under your thumb when even subduing a single world''s population can be considered a pipe dream?" The words were barely out of his mouth when an indescribably powerful aura started radiating from Yue''s body, making Issa and his followers turn even paler than they already were as realization dawned that they never even posed a challenge to the petite girl before them. Even as she continued radiating raw power, Yue stated as simply as if it was fact, ".....They will submit and obey.....or die.... And besides.....I''m sure even vampires would hesitate to bare their fangs against their goddess...." As she finished speaking Yue let the last word hang in the air before one of the other vampires hesitantly asked, "Goddess?" Yue nodded and stated seriously, "....Along with subduing them...I want you to spread faith in the ''Vampire Goddess of the moon''...Aletia....." "Aletia...?" One of the other vampires asked hesitantly, to which Yue nodded and explained, "...Yes..... A vampire princess of another world that had led her people through endless wars.....only for the very god they worshipped to smite them in rage after they hid her from his grasp....." While his followers hung onto Yue''s every word, Issa focused onto two different things. First was that she alluded to him subduing the vampires of this world, not herself. Second was that with everything she was saying it was fairly obvious she was referring to herself in this story, yet under a different name. "Do you mean to style yourself as some kind of goddess?" Without any hesitation or shame Yue nodded and said, "....There is power in faith...power that will better serve the one I have dedicated my everything to." Issa was silent as he contemplated this, not that he didn''t understand Yue''s desire to become stronger for Alex, but because he knew nothing about faith for becoming divine. He then asked, "And what exactly makes you sure that you could pass as ''divine''?" Though one would usually take offense at such words, Yue instead smiled unsettlingly. "....Let me show you....." Then, without another word, Yue suddenly appeared right before Issa as she placed her hand directly onto his forehead. "....This is my gift...as your new goddess.... Use it to prove yourself by subduing the vampires of this world for me....." She then began to channel both Evolution and Alteration magics to not only evolve Issa into a Shinso like his wife and daughters, but to grant him even more strength and power to properly serve as the Warden of this world. *Present* Issa held up his hand that he could see clearly despite the darkness, and watched as its skin blackened and his nails sharpened into lethal claws. Canceling the transformation, he then sighed and thought about the coming battles he''d undertake in the near future to not only help establish actual peace, but for the sake of his new and pushy goddess. His only real hesitation though, was Akasha. Issa turned to look at his sleeping wife once more, sadness welling up within him. She had given more than anyone could have hoped in the pursuit of peace and coexistence between humans and monsters, and if she knew about his intentions then she would lead the charge into even more battles without hesitation. Even though Issa loved that about her, he couldn''t help but want her to stay away from battle due to the sacrifices she had already made, a sentiment shared by both Touhou and Mikogami. Wondering what he was going to do with this wonderful wife of his, Issa stayed awake until the sun began to peek through his window less than an hour later. Chapter 346 - Resolve As sunlight started filtering through his window the next morning, Alex looked down at the five beautiful women curled up around him. On his right he had Chiffon hugged right up to him with Creo on the other side, while on the left he had Elizabeth snuggled up to his body as Arnett hugged up to hers on the other side. And then there was Attia, who, like just about every petite girl in Alex''s harem, had fallen asleep right on top on him. Each girl had a look of contention on their faces as they slept, a tribute to the ''affection'' Alex had shown them the night before. With how much he pushed them Alex decided to just let the girls sleep for the moment, until Chiffon seemed to sense that he was awake and started to stir. She then opened her eyes to reveal the bladed pupils underneath, and smiled at seeing him next to her. "Good morning." Alex said warmly, to which Chiffon''s widened as she leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips before replying, "Good morning to you as well!" Before either one of them could say or do anything else though, the rest of the unconscious bodies around them began moving as everyone started waking up. "Well this is a nice change." Elizabeth stated when she first opened her eyes and saw Alex right next to her, while Arnett was sputtering behind her due to waking up with a mouthful of the blond''s hair. As they started stirring around him Alex shifted himself into a seated position, making Attia yelp as she slid down onto his lap where something that was becoming harder and hotter was waiting for her. The petite white haired girl then directed a look at him, and said with a slight pout, "Even first thing in the morning?! You beast!" Alex smirked at her as the small girl then climbed off of his lap, not because she wasn''t in the mood, but because she was still exceptionally sore down there from the night before. He then pulled Elizabeth from her spot right next to him onto his lap, placing her so that her legs went on either side of his waist while she locked her hands behind his neck. "You really are a ''beast''." She teased lightly, even as Alex lifted her h.i.p.s until she was just barely above his now erect manhood. Then, despite her attempts to keep her voice in check, Elizabeth couldn''t help but let out a m.o.a.n as he quickly lowered her so that she was completely penetrated within seconds. Then began a fairly wild ride as Elizabeth rocked and bucked her h.i.p.s in time with Alex''s own movements, while the four other women watched in varying levels of fascination. With a level of skill that betrayed her lack of genuine experience, it wasn''t long until Alex was once again painting her insides white as she shuddered on top of him. Then it was Creo''s turn, as Alex lifted her up and pinned her back against one of the walls as she too wrapped her legs around his waist to hold on. She then m.o.a.ned loudly and e.r.o.t.i.cally for everyone around them to hear as Alex repeatedly pulverized her insides before filling her with his seed as well. Then, after summoning a small couch and carefully placing the nearly unconscious girl onto it, Alex turned and found a rather tantalizing sight before him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Chiffon teased as she stuck her butt out towards him and bent over his bed enough that she had to use one hand to brace herself, while her other hand was spreading herself open invitingly. With her even wiggling her butt back and forth to entice him further, Alex didn''t make the legendary Pandora wait any longer as he immediately thrusted his entire length into her, making Chiffon practically scream in ecstasy. While he had been somewhat careful with Elizabeth and Creo, Alex seemed to have made it his mission to mess Chiffon up as much as possible with how hard he was ploughing her, while she loved every minute of it. Each thrust and scream were soon accompanied also by a sharp ''SMACK'', as Alex then began to repeatedly slap Chiffon''s butt with each thrust, before he then took things a step further and shoved one of his fingers into her butt. Arnett, Attia, and even the recently recovered Elizabeth all watched with horrid fascination, as the most powerful Pandora of their world behaved like a common whore as she was f.u.c.k.i.e.d, slapped, and had even her ass drilled mercilessly. They were so entranced that almost everyone missed the bedroom door opening as Ringo arrived with an escort of the still n.a.k.e.d slave maids, however even they were transfixed by the sight before them, until Chiffon let out one final scream as Alex pumped her full of s.e.m.e.n as well. As he took a moment to catch his breath and the satisfied Pandora collapsed onto the bed before him, Alex then turned to the newcomers and casually said, "Morning Ringo!" With his greeting snapping her out of her daze, and alerting everyone else to her presence, Ringo awkwardly nodded and returned Alex''s greeting while trying not to look at the mess between Chiffon''s legs. Sensing something was amiss, Alex asked, "Is there something wrong Ringo?" The orange haired fashion master quickly shook her head before replying, "No! Not at all!" Despite her denial Alex still have a look of concern until she finally added, "Well maybe I''m still a little anxious after what happened yesterday..." She then turned and directed a not-so-subtle glare at the accompanying former Pandora, who didn''t even notice from how hungry and exhausted they were with so little sleep after working all day, and the fact that they could only find a place to sleep outside until they could afford a new room. Though he suspected that it wasn''t just that, Alex decided not to prod too much and explained the type of outfit he wanted before suddenly grabbing Arnett and throwing her over his shoulder, and then tucking the protesting Attia under his arm and heading into the bath, where Elizabeth, Creo, and eventually Chiffon followed with slightly shaky legs. As the door closed behind them and Arnett''s voice began to penetrate the walls, Ringo once again steeled herself for what she intended to do. As the slave maids stripped and made the bed, she quickly disappeared inside Alex''s closet and retrieved his clothes for the day(she didn''t need to worry about the others so much since they would all simply wear their maid uniforms). After laying out the clothes Ringo then faced the door to the bathroom, from which she could hear a new voice, and once again resolved herself as she reached up and undid the first button on her top. Meanwhile Alex was too distracted to notice what was going on outside the door, as he had Attia facing away from him as he pulled her arms back and lifted her off the ground with the strength of his loins. "L-let me doooowwwn!" She tried to cry out as Alex''s impossibly large girth filled her tiny hole while her feet dangled just above the tiled floor, but Alex wasn''t that kind. He then began to piston even further into her with vigor that her eyes rolled back into her head and her spectating friends couldn''t help but wonder if she''d start foaming at the mouth soon. Despite the rough treatment and her pleas for mercy, it was obvious that Attia loved every moment of her ''suffering'' by the silly smile on her face and wet sloshing sound that echoed through the bathroom with each of Alex''s thrusts. Then, for second time that morning, the door opened and Ringo walked in right as Attia and Alex both reached climax, during which the petite girl actually passed out. This time though Ringo paused as she focused her attention on Attia''s midriff, which had a very noticeable bulge from the thing inside her. She was so distracted that the orange haired milf didn''t notice Alex look up at her and ask, "Ringo? What''s going on?" She looked back up at him as Alex carefully lifted Attia up off of his d.i.c.k and gently handed her to Creo for some after care, even as she continued to smile and lightly giggle sillily. After taking a deep breath to steady herself after such a ''shocking'' sight, Ringo then moved her hands so that her entire n.a.k.e.d body was visible before saying, "I wanted to thank you for everything you''ve done for us, and for saving Mikan once again yesterday..." As she spoke Ringo slowly but surely moved closer to Alex while trying to put a seductive movement into her body motions, making what she meant by ''thanking'' him very obvious. Alex however frowned and started to say, "Ringo-" but before he could continue she put a finger to his lips and snapped, "Don''t say anything! I don''t want you cheepening my resolve!" Her snappy response not only surprised Alex, but the rest of the girls nearby widened their eyes in surprise as well as Ringo continued, "I-I''ve already made my peace that my husband and son aren''t coming back.....and I have nothing else to offer besides my own body, old as it is. Besides, with what I''ve seen of you I doubt this is a decision you''ll make me regret...." As she said this Ringo involuntarily recalled how almost each morning had started for her for several months now, where she''d enter Alex''s room and find him doing the dirty with any number of women. And each time Alex hadn''t just used them for his own satisfaction, but had done everything to ensure that whoever he was with was satisfied as well, even if it required some ''strange'' plays. Seeing the resolution in her eyes, Alex''s mouth curved upwards into a smile once more as he said, "Very well," before suddenly pulling her into his embrace. Ringo''s heart sped up as she felt the heat of Alex''s body against hers, his hand immediately and shamelessly seizing her buttocks. Her breathing sped up as his fingers skillfully worked the flesh of her ass while one worked its way inside the crack to find her honeypot, and Alex''s other hand came up to lightly caress her chin before he sealed her lips with his own. The four Pandora that were conscious watched with bated breath at the scene before them, before they noticed Alex''s hand give them the sign that they should go. Though it made them feel a little cheap, since they still had responsibilities to attend to the Pandora quickly washed themselves off before attending to the still unconscious, yet oddly giggling, Attia. They then quickly filed out of the bathroom to leave Alex and Ringo alone, with Chiffon giving them one last look before closing the door behind her. As they left Alex mentally promised to properly apologize to them later, but still placed his full attention onto Ringo as his fingers quickly got her into the mood, distracting her as he secretly channeled magic through his hands into her body. The next few moments were like a daze to Ringo as Alex shamelessly felt up every inch of her that he could reach, making her body heat up even more with each passing second. What she didn''t notice was that they had slowly but surely been shuffling around the bathroom the entire time, until her butt bumped into the counter. He then seductively whispered into her ear, "Turn around Ringo." Confused, Ringo did as Alex said and turned so that her butt was pointed towards him, presumably for the real thing. What she didn''t expect though was that the moment she turned around Ringo found herself face to face with a mirror, showing her a younger version of herself. Ringo wasn''t noticeably old by any means, always being on the move and having access to the best cosmetics available due to her job in the fashion industry had preserved her youthful looks beyond what most can claim. However that didn''t mean that she herself didn''t notice more as time went on, such as her b.r.e.a.s.ts starting to droop just ever so slightly, or microscopic wrinkles that had started forming at the corners of her eyes. What she saw in the mirror though was herself back before she even had Rito, seemingly around the time she had just finished college. Ringo slowly reached up and felt the corners of her eyes, where those tiny wrinkles no longer existed, her mind refusing to believe what she was seeing. Alex smirked as he watched her reaction, before leaning forward against as he gently held her waist and saying, "With me, there is no such thing as ''too old'' Ringo. All it takes a little bit of magic and I can turn you back however much you want, as many times as you want." Ringo didn''t answer due to the shock she was still feeling at the sudden reversal of her age, making Alex''s smirk widen as he slowly sunk to his knees behind her. She then let out a sudden gasp as Alex spread her butt cheeks apart, and buried his face in her ass while his elongated dragon''s tongue penetrated her hot honeypot. *** Down in the dining room a group of women had gathered as they ate their breakfast and made small talk about their plans for the day. For Moka and Kurumu this would be their first day going back to the academy since summer break had started so long ago, while it was also the first time ''inner'' Moka would be attending herself since the rosary seal was no longer in place. Meanwhile to the side a row of n.a.k.e.d women were lined up as they eagerly awaited the first food they''d get since being branded as slave maids, however all they were handed was a single bar of food. While most tore into the bar ravenously, a few looked at the pitiful amount of food incredulously before Felice demanded, "Is this it?!" Though she was the one to get snappy, the moment Ravel directed a look at her Felice immediately clammed up and looked downward in submission. Ravel snorted at her before answering, more for the rest of the slave maids, "One of these bars will fill you up and give you all of the energy you will need to fulfill your tasks for the day, while also providing each of you with every one of the nutrients you''d need to stay healthy. These are all any of you will be getting until you decided to spend your points on other meals." Though every one of the women heard her they barely even registered Ravel''s words, as they instead reveled in having their bellies full. As they watched the scene the rest of the girls couldn''t help but shake their heads while Ravel then sent the slave maids to start their lists for the day, though Felice stayed behind as she awaited Alex for her banishment. Glancing at the scene briefly, Rias shook her head before turning her attention back to the conversation they had been having. The drone of conversation quickly died down when two other people arrived though, Alex and Ringo. Alex didn''t pay any mind to the attention he was receiving as he casually greeted everyone and took his seat to eat a light breakfast, while Ringo visibly squirmed under the scrutinizing gazes directed at her. It was quite obvious to everyone that something had happened between the two, if not from the way Ringo was acting then the way her appearance had seemingly shot backwards in time. No one said anything however as she sat down and Mikan brought her mother something to eat, during which Ringo refused to look her daughter in the eye. Then, right as she took a single bite, her daughter suddenly asked, "So, when should I expected a little brother or sister?" The effect was instantaneous as Ringo immediately began choking on her food before Alex lightly patted her back to help her, making the surrounding women chuckle lightly while even Mikan cracked a small smile at her mother''s reaction. Once she calmed down though Ringo slowly said, "I don''t think that''ll happen just yet, if it does at all..." Mikan looked downhearted at her mother''s words before playfully saying, "Is that so? I was somewhat looking forward to becoming a big sister....." She then turned back towards her work in the kitchen while Ringo thought on what she said, glancing at Alex ever so slightly. Shaking his head at the antics of the mother-daughter duo, Alex focused on his food until Haruna brought him a small plate with an amazing looking pastry that even had several berries on it. She then said shyly, "I just wanted to say thanks again for yesterday..." Before Alex could saying even he was then surprised when her lips briefly connected with his cheek, before Haruna ran away at speeds that he almost considered superhuman. This time Alex chuckled lightly as he watched her run away, before he sampled the pastry she had brought him. As he did so Rias couldn''t help but remark with a smirk, "Looks like someone''s getting popular." Alex shrugged and finished his bite before responding, "Are you surprised? They''ve been pretty much locked in here for almost a year with me being the only guy they''ve been around in that time, not to mention that I saved Haruna personally twice." Rias nodded slowly in agreement, before saying, "They''ve been able to leave the space-time orb for some time now but haven''t since it''s so ''comfortable'' and ''protected'' here, so maybe we should start encouraging them to spend a day or so away every now and then." Before Alex could answer, Lala suddenly piped up, "Haruna and I can go shopping sometime! I''ve also been wanting to explore a little bit!" Surprisingly Rias nodded and then suggested, "We could also split into a few groups and go to different places around this earth for a bit of a girls getaway! Places like hot springs, spas, markets for shopping, maybe even some theaters!" The girls then launched into planning mode for this epic girls day out, to which Alex watched silently as he ate with a warm smile before realizing it was almost time to leave. "Sorry to interrupt but we have to go, don''t want to be late on our first day back to school." Moka and Kurumu both nodded in agreement and stood to leave with Alex while Felice started looking noticeably green at her impending banishment. Before Alex could leave however, he turned to look as his side was suddenly being pinched by a certain someone, Yami. The assassin then said to him with completely seriousness, "Don''t take advantage of your own students, pervert." As she spoke the image of certain perverted principal entered hers, and everyone else''s that attended the same school''s minds. Alex felt his face twitch as he suspected who she was comparing him to, but instead of letting her comment get to him he moved faster than she could react and planted a swift kiss on her lips. Then, right as Yami was realizing what just happened, he teasingly asked, "Yami, are you jealous of my students?" Her face turning red from his implication, Yami''s only reaction was to send several blades made from her hair in Alex''s direction, which he avoided with ease on his way out the door with the three women right behind him. With everyone giving the embarrassed Yami warm looks after Alex''s departure, she was about to excuse herself when a new voice spoke up, "Being able to tease Golden Darkness so easily, that man is as terrifying as always." Everyone turned towards the speaker and were surprised to see Nemesis standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at Yami with a conflicted expression. To her Yami, or rather ''Darkness'', was one of the most powerful beings in the universe, seeing Alex regularly tease her and lead her around the way he did was nothing short of a shock to the petite living weapon. Nemesis''s expression suddenly changed into a mischievous one however as she suddenly said, "By the way, Golden Darkness and Princess Lala, have either of you gone ''all the way'' with him?" Suddenly everyone was silent as they awaited the two''s answer, or more specifically those from the same universe were waiting, while Yami gave Nemesis a deadpan expression and Lala absentmindedly said, "I don''t know what you mean by ''all the way'', but we''ve kissed and washed each other in the bath and stuff!" With her last words being said with a cheerful smile, several others looked at Lala incredulously while Nemesis actually face palmed and muttered to herself, "How can someone who basically spent a year as a s.e.x toy not know what that means...?" Though she was quietly muttering to herself, those that did hear what Nemesis said directed a bunch of dirty looks at her while Haruna embarrassedly whispered what she actually meant in Lala''s ear. Instead of reacting with embarrassment, Lala just gave Nemesis an annoyed look and said, "Geez, Alex isn''t going to make us do that until we want to!" While Yami nodded in agreement to Lala''s words, several of the girls glanced at each other pointedly while Nemesis narrowed her eyes and asked, "And how long until the two of you are ''ready'' exactly?" Yami and Lala looked at Nemesis with confusion as she rolled her eyes and continued, "How long do you think he''s going to wait for you when other women are already accepting him? How long until he starts to think that maybe it was a mistake to make you into his servants?" With each word from Nemesis Yami and Lala felt increasingly uneasy at the fact that there might have been some truth within them, however Grayfia''s voice suddenly rang out, "Nemesis, shut up." Immediately the petite living weapon clammed up as the power of Alex''s slave brand activated, forcing her to remain silent until ordered otherwise. Nodding in satisfaction, Grayfia then turned her attention towards Lala and Yami before saying, "Normally I would say that you shouldn''t pay any attention to what she was saying, however I unfortunately have to agree with Nemesis." Grayfia''s words shocked everyone around them, as they never thought she would agree with what Nemesis was saying, and Nana was the first to speak up as she angrily demanded, "Are you trying to force my big sis and Yami to jump into that beast''s bed?!" Though she was angry, Nana''s bravado suddenly evaporated when Grayfia turned a single stern eye at her, before she explained, "Not at all, I''m just trying to give them some advice." She then turned back towards Lala and Yami before continuing, "I''m someone who has gone through something similar to what you two are experiencing, so let me-" "What do you mean ''you''ve gone through something similar''?! Are you saying you were used by someone like that ''beast'' before being turned into his-owee!" Once again Nana interrupted Grayfia while Momo tried to hold her back, however this time Grayfia didn''t leave things at just a look as she immediately seized the pink haired girl''s ear and stated, "It looks like someone needs to be taught the meaning of the word ''manners''. Venri, take her to the island and wait for me, I''ll be there shortly." The mature dragon woman bowed her head respectfully while saying, "Of course miss Grayfia." She then seized Nana''s other ear and began dragging her away despite the petite girl''s protests. While everyone shook their heads as they watched Nana being dragged away, including her own mother, Grayfia sighed and pulled out a small picture before offering it to Lala and Yami. On it was three people, Grayfia, a younger looking Millicas, and a handsome crimson haired man who was obviously Millicas''s father. She then continued, "As I was saying, I once went through something similar to what the two of you are currently experiencing, after my husband left me behind in order to protect all of us from certain destruction. Though we had planned to go together so that our son would be safe, my husband, Sirzechs,used a spell on me at the last moment to leave me behind, so that I might stay with Millicas. "Even though him doing so was his own way of caring for me, what happened next was even worse as several politicians in our world started losing their authority due to their own mistakes and inner corruption. In a last desperate attempt to keep their power they tried using my past to turn me into their scapegoat, while also trying to have my son taken away to use as their own puppet. With everyone else around me having their hands full or otherwise being unable to help, I turned to Alex. "He then made me an offer after deciding that I''ll work for him, either I can simply be his maid and serve him while Millicas and I were under his protection, or I can join his peerage and harem to become more powerful than I ever thought possible. Naturally I joined his peerage, and like the two of you Alex said he''d give me time until I was ready to move on from Sirzechs, except I had him make me his that night." As she paused to take a breath Yami couldn''t help but ask, "Why rush? Why not wait until you were truly ready?" This time Grayfia smiled warmly, and sadly at the question, before answering with a bit of softness in her voice, "Because, I knew that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to take that first step. I knew that in the back of my mind I''d keep trying to convince myself that Sirzechs would come back, and that we''d be together again." As she spoke Grayfia directed a warm gaze at the two women, who suddenly looked guilty as they realized that they had unintentionally been thinking the same thing. She then surprised everyone by pulling the two of them into a hug, and continuing, "I didn''t say anything until now because I wanted to give both of you a proper amount of time to mourn, but you really do need to start thinking about when you want to take that final plunge. Think of it like a bandaid, the faster you rip it off the easier it is." With her piece said, Grayfia released the two girls and turned to walk away, only to say as she left, "Now to discipline that Nana...." Everyone''s faces cramped when they heard that, while a few of those that had faced Grayfia''s ''discipline'' in the past also sent out prayers to the petite princess. Meanwhile Momo nonchalantly followed Grayfia while seeming concerned for her sister, though a few people could have sworn that they saw a small camera in her hands. Shaking their heads at the twin princesses behavior, the rest of the girls went back to discussing their ''girls day'', while Lala and Yami seriously thought about what Grayfia told them. *** Unaware of the discussions taking place after they left, Alex exited the room where the space-time orb was located along with the three women, before saying to Moka and Kurumu, "You two go on ahead to the school and get ready to distribute the newspapers with Millicas and Yukari, I''ve got to deal with her before getting the children up." As he spoke Alex pointed a finger at Felice, who turned even greener than she already was, while Moka and Kurumu nodded and disappeared within the wall of mist that had appeared. Felice then turned towards Alex and pleaded, "Please don''t banish me! Or at least give me some clothes and food or something before doing so!" Alex however glowered at her pleas and spat at her, "You should have thought about that before burying a knife in one of my wife''s heart. Now to Brazil with you!" He then gave her a good shove into the wall of mist that appeared behind her, sending Felice somewhere that she''d never see Alex or any of those associated with Asora ever again. Chapter 347 - Succubus Trouble On the first day that everyone went back to Youkai Academy, there was a noticeable buzz in the air as students hurried too and fro with newspapers in their hands. They had already heard about the battle with Alucard, and the long reaching consequences of that battle, namely the public exposure of Youkai to the humans; but the papers that the newspaper club were putting out not only featured images from the actual fight, but also interviews from those who had participated, namely Alex''s wives. That was partially why Alex was the center of attention when he finally appeared minutes before the bell rang, so much so that no one even seemed to notice the sudden gust of wind that usually accompanied him when he stepped onto the academy grounds, kicking up every skirt in sight. Alex just shook his head at the gazes he was receiving as he made his way to the table where they had been handing out newspapers, and asked, "How are things going?" Kurumu beamed as she held up an empty box and proudly declared, "We handed out every last one! Though people only came over because of the new Moka to start with, when they saw we had exclusive content from the battle that was all anyone cared about!" Alex pat her head affectionately at her declaration, before telling all of them, "Good job everyone, we''ll spend our club time later cele...brating... Why does the headline say that I''m the one who defeated Alucard?" Everyone suddenly looked away awkwardly at Alex''s question, while he grabbed a newspaper from a nearby student and read the bold print on the front. ''ACADEMY TEACHER DEFEATS YOUKAI TERRORIST ORGANIZATION BEFORE SLAYING ALUCARD!'' Under the wordy headline was a doctored photo of Alex and Alucard squaring up as they prepared to face each other, with none of the girls who did the actual fighting in sight. A quick glance through the article told the story of how Alex singlehandedly destroyed the evil organization of Fairy Tale, before arriving to help his wives as they desperately fought to keep Alucard at bay until his arrival. He then used magic to summon the newspaper that he had been shown before, which had the true events and photos in it, and compared them side by side. Eventually Alex slowly looked up at the four people before him, and sternly demanded, "What is the meaning of this?" As he finished speaking both Yukari and Millicas took off suddenly while shouting that they needed to prepare for class, while Kurumu timidly hid behind Moka before declaring, "It was Moka and Rias''s idea!" Alex then looked at Moka after Kurumu''s accusation, who didn''t even bother trying to hide it as she nodded in affirmation and said, "We got together and discussed it a while ago, and felt that as students we should minimize our involvement in defeating Alucard, while also putting more focus on someone who''s strength is already suspected to be in the same league as the three Dark Lords. Though the reason we hid it was because we all knew you wouldn''t agree." Alex groaned in exasperation since there was nothing truly wrong with her logic, even the part where he wouldn''t go along with such a plan. Sadly he couldn''t even really deny the claims in the paper since he had technically been the one to deal the killing blow against Alucard, though it he had essentially already been defeated by the time he got there. The only real problem was that Alex knew that he''d probably get bugged more by the students due to his strength, while it also felt as if he was tooting his own horn once again as one of the advisors of the newspaper club. As if on cue Ririko approached them her own copy before saying, "You''re certainly taking advantage of your position in the newspaper club. I could have sworn that Barakiel told me a somewhat different story about how Alucard was defeated?" There was a noticeable smirk at the edges of Ririko''s lips as she finished speaking, making Alex groan as he explained, "They doctored the story without telling me since they knew I wouldn''t approve. This is the paper I thought we were going to hand out today." Ririko took the dummy paper right as the bell rang for school to begin, and looked it over as she headed to the morning assembly they were going to have before starting class. After the assembly, during which Mikogami addressed the new state of the world and about how their original goal of coexistence hadn''t changed, it became business as usual as classes began, with the exception of the attention Alex was receiving due to the paper. From the female students Alex was receiving more heated gazes than he ever had before, while their actions had also become increasingly bold and obvious to anyone watching, the boys however had the most change. At first they typically treated Alex as if he was their mortal enemy due to him directly targeting those who harassed or mistreated any of the girls, as well as his general popularity with the women; now however they looked at him as if he was their personal hero, while several of the boys even approached him during classes and asked him questions like how to get stronger, better at fighting, and even how to attract the ladies. It wasn''t just the students treating him different though, as even amongst the faculty Alex''s reputation had soared since only a few like Ririko and Nekonome had known about how strong he was. Now they treated him with much more respect when he spoke to or even walked past them, to the point that Alex was finding it more than a little awkward. Out of everything that was taking place that day though, the strangest was definitely what happened during the afternoon classes, and it didn''t even really have anything to do with the school. He had just finished directing the students on what they were doing that day when someone suddenly clung to Alex''s back, though there was no one there visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye. "What are you doing Kurumu?" Alex hissed out the corner of his mouth while trying to avoid catching anyone''s attention, making Kurumu giggle mischievously as she slid her hand down his stomach, and into his shorts to stroke his sleeping member. "I just want to take advantage of the fact that no one else is around to have you to myself, and besides, you can''t argue that I''m in better shape than pretty much everyone else here so there''s no problem with me skipping a class or two~." With her hand moving up and down as she talked Alex was almost considering her offer, almost. Just as he was about to tell her to knock it off though, Kurumu suddenly stiffened as Alex caught sight of something blue out of the corner of his eye. "Mom?" "Ageha?" Alex and Kurumu both muttered quietly, confusion in their voice due to the way the mature succubus looked. Not only was her appearance disheveled and dull compared to usual, but there was an unfocused look in her eyes as she slowly teetered across the academy grounds. However, as if she could hear Alex and her daughter from where she was, she slowly focused into him like a predator finally finding prey after not eating for weeks. "Found you!" She cried out before rushing towards Alex desperately, catching the attention of the already dispersed students in the process. Alex didn''t avoid her as Ageha grabbed onto his shirt in her desperation, and shouted to his dismay, "PLEASE, GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE!" Shocked and confused about how she was acting, Alex tried to loosen her grip while asking, "What do you want me to give you?" The words were barely out of his mouth as she cried out for everyone to hear, "I WANT YOUR AMAZING C.O.C.K! I WANT YOU TO FILL ME UP AND SHOOT YOUR STUFF INTO ME! I WANT YOU TO F.U.C.K AND BREED ME, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!" Not just Alex and Kurumu, but almost everyone watching was dumbfounded by the vulgarity coming out of the the woman''s mouth, while several people began to look at Alex in awe once more. Before he could try and diffuse the situation though, Kurumu suddenly appeared and cried out with her face Crimson from embarrassment, "MOTHER! What do you think you''re doing?!" Ageha only gave her daughter a brief glance before returning her attention to Alex as she pleaded for his d.i.c.k in front of the entire class. Just as he was considering simply knocking her out until they could figure out what was wrong, a new voice suddenly said, "Just give her what she wants sonny boy, she needs it more than you know." Alex looked up from the begging succubus to see Nurari the bus driver of all people standing there, his expression unusually serious. Though Alex wasn''t sure if him giving Ageha what she wanted would truly help her, with no other alternatives in mind he released an exasperated sigh and swept the poor woman into his arms. Kurumu watched with a mixture of emotions as Alex took her mother away, while some of the students whipped into a frenzy with the realization that their teacher had somehow managed to woo both one of the schools hotties, and her mother. *** A little less than an hour later Alex left the sleeping Ageha in his office, her expression showing immense satisfaction while she already looked quite a bit better after he f.u.c.k.i.e.d her. Before he could wonder what exactly happened to her, or why she was so easily satisfied this time when they had literally gone for several days before, Kurumu appeared and and said, "The bus driver told me to have you meet him in the headmaster''s office when you were finished, he also had Moka go get Touhou." Alex frowned when he heard that since he didn''t know why Ageha''s condition warranted the attention of two of the Dark Lords, but instead of trying to figure it out himself he simply headed straight for Mikogami''s office. There he found Nurari, Mikogami, Touhou, and Moka waiting for him and Kurumu as expected, which the bus driver immediately asked, "How''s she doing?" Alex looked at him and, despite the rather intimate context of what they were discussing, answered without hesitation, "She''s sleeping now, and is already looking better than before." Nurari nodded in affirmation before saying, "Looks like I was right to bring her to you sonny boy, I''ve seen succubi starve before, but never like that." His words immediately caught Alex''s attention, but before he could say anything Kurumu demanded, "She was starving?! Mom''s never even gotten close to letting herself get to a state like that before, so how is that possible?!" Though she said so, Kurumu had also forgotten that she knew for a fact that Ageha had ''fed'' on Alex less than a month prior, and that it would usually take years before a succubus genuinely started starving. Instead of immediately responding though, Touhou, the one present with the most medical knowledge, directed a curious gaze at Alex and asked, "I know I''m imposing, but was today the first time you were ''together'' with Ageha, or was there a previous time as well." Despite the private and intrusive nature of his questioning, Alex didn''t seem to mind Touhou asking and answered, "We were only together once about a month ago, before we went our separate ways since she considered herself akin to a free spirit who wouldn''t be tied down." Touhou nodded in agreement as he stated, "That goes along with the vast majority of succubi, at least those who don''t find their ''destined one''. And I think I have an idea of what might have happened." He then went quiet as he started contemplating the possibility of his theory, before Nurari spat at him, "Well don''t keep us waiting, what is it?" His words snapped Touhou back to them, before he said and explained, "As I said it''s only an idea, since I''ve never seen a case like this in a succubus, but I think you accidentally got her addicted to you after your previous time together, and now her body won''t accept the nourishment it needs from anyone else." The room was dead silent at his words, before Kurumu slowly said, "Mom.....is addicted?" Touhou nodded before looking directly at Moka and saying, "Let''s ask her, do you drink any blood other than his?" Moka''s eyes widened ever so slightly as everyone else looked at her, to which she said, "No... I''ve always drank from donated blood packs before, but stopped shortly after I met Alex and started drinking from him." Everyone was silent at her confirmation, as, even if she didn''t outright say it, it was fairly obvious that Moka was addicted to Alex''s blood. Mikogami then surprised everyone as he opened a drawer in his desk and removed a single goblet, before slicing open his own wrist over it. As the goblet slowly filled the scent of blood wafted across the room, before Mikogami pulled his hand back and started to wrap the wound until Alex healed it with a small wave of his finger. Nodding towards him in gratitude, Mikogami then pushed the goblet towards Moka and said, "Please drink miss Akashiya, I want to see something." Though she hesitated very slightly at first, after a look of encouragement from Alex, Moka stepped forward and raised the offered goblet to her lips. For nearly a minute everyone was silent as Moka drank the blood, before she finished it and set the goblet down with a slight grimace. "It tastes too bland and I can''t really feel anything from it like I can Alex''s blood..." Once she finished speaking Touhou immediately smirked while Mikogami glowered at him before saying, "Kishin blood is often considered a rare delicacy by vampires, and will often increase their powers for a short time after drinking it. Though several have come for it in the past, the only vampires that have sampled my blood are Akasha, Issa, and now you." Moka was silent as she listened to Mikogami, before she shook her head and stated, "While I could tell it was better than ''normal'' blood, it still tastes bad compared to Alex''s, sorry." Then, as if to add insult to injury, Moka made her way to Alex''s side and unhesitantly sank her fangs into his neck while Alex wrapped an arm around her waist. He then looked at Touhou, who looked jealously at the scene before him before continuing with an awkward cough, "I think that confirms it, something about Alex''s body makes any thing that ''feeds'' on him addicted, meaning that for poor Ageha no other man will probably be enough to satisfy or sustain her again, no matter how many she has." Kurumu looked up at the last part of Touhou''s explanation, before demanding, "What do you mean by ''no matter how many she has''?" Instead of directly answering her though, instead Mikogami picked up a remote control and turned on a tv that sat in the corner. "Officials still have no idea what caused these strange events over the last week, however theories are flying around regarding the recent revelations of the existence of monsters, including a certain s.e.x demon called a ''succubus''. According to our sources a ''succubus'' is a demon that harvests energy from men through s.e.x.u.a.l activities, which typically leaves the man in question either completely drained of energy or even dead from over exerting himself-" Before the news reporter could continue Mikogami shut off the tv and stated, "For nearly two weeks now men have been turning up completely drained of energy after what was obviously s.e.x.u.a.l intercourse, however people only started catching on once these numbers began to swell to entire groups at once." Nurari then added, "From what we''ve discussed, I believe we can say that after being away from sonny boy over there Ageha tried to feed, only to feel even hungrier afterwards because her body was no longer satisfied after her typical ''meal''. Before I found her she managed to seduce and feed on an entire company''s board of directors that were staying at hotel, which is why people are talking about it right now." "It''s also because of this that I came as well," Touhou added before continuing, "If left unchecked her actions are capable of painting all Youkai as creatures that only look at humans as a food source, which will only hurt the minor progress we''ve made since our exposure." With all three of them looking directly at Alex as they spoke, it was obvious who they considered responsible for what happened. Alex himself though nodded and said, "I understand, she''ll be taken to my home so that we can look after her in safety, and I''ll use my contacts to try and quiet down what happened." The three old Youkai nodded in affirmation at his promise, while Alex then asked Kurumu to take her mother to the space-time orb until they could be sure she was no longer a threat to anyone. *** While Alex was trying to deal with his succubus problem, Anne appeared on a certain floating island right outside a series of barriers that made it one of the most secure locations in the entirety of Asora, and where they held their most dangerous prisoner. Going through the barriers as if they were nothing, Anne found herself in a serene setting of green grass, trees, and flowers, while a small house was located in the center of the island. As she walked towards the house with purpose, Anne took in a deep breath to enjoy the fragrant wind as it lightly blew through the trees and flowers, the scent calming her greatly. When she reached the door to the house though, Anne tensed slightly before opening the door, where a great battle axe was waiting for her at face level. "Good morning Beth." Anne said as if she wasn''t disturbed by the sharp and menacing piece of metal in her face, to which the other reincarnator snorted before she slowly lowered her weapon and demanded, "What do you people want?" Anne''s brow twitched at Beth''s attitude, but she tried to ignore it as she made her way to a chair to sit down, before asking in exasperation, "What are we supposed to do with you Beth?" Though the question caught her somewhat off guard, Beth quickly said, "Let me kill that bastard and all of the women he''s tricked into spreading their legs for him, even if you don''t believe me now you''ll all thank me later." This time there was a trace of anger in Anne''s expression when Beth casually mentioned killing the man she had spent twenty years waiting for, and was the father of her children. She then took a deep breath to try and calm herself, for Beth''s sake more than her own, before saying in a firm tone that left no room for argument, "I''ve discussed this with Alex''s other wives and since you haven''t shown any signs of trusting us after all this time, we have arrived at a couple different ideas." Beth''s face paled in response to Anne''s words, before she then continued, "Firstly is that we apply more commands and magical contracts, while also removing your stigmata to prevent you from acting out before we let you out of here, in which you will live alongside the rest of those who have more or less recovered from their time with ''that'' man. You will have next to no real freedoms, but will be able to walk around and interact with everyone else as you wish, with the exception of any of our children. "The second option is that we completely wipe your memories so that you have no recollection of the suffering you''ve endured, or even who you were, turning you into a blank slate. You''ll then be trained to be completely obedient to Alex and the rest of us while also serving as one of our combat maids. Of course the only option other than these is death, not that I want it to actually come to that." As Anne finished speaking Beth was deathly silent as she thought about the choices she was now being given. Eventually she looked at Anne and simply asked, "why?" At first Anne didn''t say anything, but then she sighed and said, "There was a certain incident not too long ago." She then explained about the Pandora that rebelled and that they had even taken, and tried to kill, hostages just to get what they wanted. She then finished by saying, "After this we want to make sure there are no more dangerous elements in the space-time orb, of which you are the only one left. While everyone else has mostly moved past what they suffered in their time here, you have refused to accept that we are trying to help and continue insisting that Alex is the bad guy, even when he was the one to save you from ''him''. The first option is our last attempt to help you before we have to resort to something that none of us would like to do." Though she wanted to argue against their decision, one look into Anne''s eyes was enough for Beth to know that the woman before her was deathly serious in her threat, and that she would kill her without a moments hesitation if she thought that she''d be a threat to her family. Chapter 348 - Delusions When he reentered the space-time orb that night Alex was feeling a fair amount of mental exhaustion from the day''s events, so much so that he was completely caught off guard by what was waiting for him the moment he appeared. "How was your day dear~." Anne asked him the moment Alex appeared within the orb, her attitude completely that of a typical housewife. Though normally Alex would go along with her, his mind stalled slightly when he saw Beth standing right behind her, glaring at him intensely even as she fidgeted in her unusually cute clothes. With his confusion growing as he took in Beth''s pink blouse and short skirt that only went to her mid thighs, Alex tiredly asked, "What exactly is going on here?" Naturally Beth''s anger flared as she watched Alex scrutinize her attire, but before she could say anything Anne piped up, "I gave a Beth a choice between being able to leave the island she''d been locked up on with extremely limited freedoms, or us doing something to her that we''d rather not have to resort to, naturally she chose the former option." When he heard that Alex looked between Anne and Beth curiously, before asking, "And you''re sure that she can''t do anything to anyone now?" Anne nodded before saying while offering a metal cylinder to him, "Yep, we gave her several commands through your slave magic, and had her agree to a series of magical contracts that will automatically activate if she breaks them! On top of that we even removed her stigmata!" As she said that Alex accepted the metallic cylinder she offered, which he assumed had the aforementioned stigmata inside. Satisfied with the measures taken to prevent Beth from acting out, some of the tension in Alex''s body faded as he stored away the stigmata before pulling Anne in for a kiss. The dark skinned beauty eagerly reciprocated his affections, wrapping her arms around Alex''s neck and shoulders even as he shamelessly moved his own hands down to fondle her ass through her bottoms. Of course Beth gagged when she saw the overly affectionate display, and was about to leave when she heard Alex say, "Remia will be here soon along with Mizore, Tsurara, and the children, I''m going to practice a bit after the day I''ve had before they get here. After they go to bed though, you and me will...." He then leaned in closer and whispered into Anne''s ear, making her giggle with a light blush on her cheeks while he continued playing with her butt cheeks shamelessly. After a second he separated from her, though not before giving Anne''s ass one final smack, and turned to Beth before saying seriously, "You''re coming too." *** Later Beth found herself in one of the sub-space orbs that Alex and his girls used for training, except Elaine was also with them and the trio were within what appeared to be a giant crater several miles wide, which was marked with several dozen smaller craters as if from some kind of battle. As Alex changed and started warming himself up for the practice ahead, Beth couldn''t help but glance around curiously at the ruined landscape until Elaine, who appeared unperturbed in her maid uniform, approached and explained, "This area is a part of a powerful formation I set up to ensure that the effects of our matches don''t impact our surroundings, namely the space-time orb itself." She then went on to explain some of the details regarding the barriers system she had set up, until Alex called out, "Ok, I''m ready." Before Beth could even begin to blink Elaine was already at her place in the very center of the crater, where she waited impassively for Alex to move. "Ha, aaah...." Alex took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly, before turning a firm gaze onto Elaine. Beth felt her skin start crawling as the power surrounding Alex began to intensify, before he shocked her when his hair suddenly turned golden from the Super Saiyan transformation, and even the ground around him started rumbling from the raw power. He didn''t leave things there though, as the power Alex was putting out began to arc in bolts of lightning while various bits of rubble at his feet began floating around him when his golden hair suddenly became longer, and wilder. That was only the beginning of Beth''s surprise that day though, as, faster than she could follow, Alex suddenly disappeared before a concussion of air and pressure assaulted her with enough force that she was fighting to stay standing even with what strength she still had. Leaning forward to keep from flying back, Beth used one arm to shield her face while the other tried to keep her stupidly short skirt down in the wild wind, making her curse Anne once more for not giving her undergarments to wear under it to ''increase her awareness'' supposedly. When the wind finally died down though she was dumbfounded to find Elaine calmly standing in her original position, a mere finger raised to block Alex''s stupidly powerful punch. She then just barely had enough time to register what she was seeing, before Alex''s image faded away and a series of blasts of force and concussions similar to what she just experienced started one after another. Among these blasts Beth could only just barely make out Alex''s blurred form during the brief seconds that he''d attack Elaine before he vanished once more, while the unflinching maid seemingly moved her arm at even greater speeds. Amazingly, despite the repeated blasts that assaulted her surroundings, Elaine''s hair and clothes looked as if they hadn''t even been disturbed during Alex''s merciless assault, both remaining pristine and undisturbed by the turbulent dust and dirt. Though Beth hadn''t been keeping track of the time, as soon as five minutes passed from the moment of Alex''s first attack, Elaine suddenly moved from her position at impossible speeds without even disturbing any of the dust around her, right before Alex was suddenly sent flying. Then began a complete reversal of what had just been happening, as Elaine delivered attack after attack onto Alex, all of which he had been unable to either dodge or block. Even with his Observation Haki alerting him as to where the attack was coming from, either Alex couldn''t even react to it in time or Elaine would just change where the attack was coming from without him being able to tell before impact. If his instincts warned him of an attack coming from the right, it would land before he could even lift his arm to block. If he sensed a kick coming from the front, Elaine would suddenly deliver it from behind without him being able to keep up. And even if Alex somehow did manage to have an arm in place to defend whatever place Elaine planned to attack, or Armament Haki, Elaine would smash through either his defenses or limbs without a second''s hesitation or effort, before he was sent flying and whatever part of his body that she had smashed would be repaired right before her next assault began. Despite all of her suddenly and impossible to follow movements, not even a single hair was out of place as Elaine mercilessly attacked him. This one sided assault continued for another five minutes until, right on the very second, Elaine suddenly appeared back at her place in the center of the crater as she awaited Alex''s next attack. Bruised and bloody, Alex fearlessly faced his opponent before he raised a hand and summoned the most intense and powerful flames he was capable of producing, without relying on his Divine or Demonic fire. That triggered the start of a mixture of magical and physical attacks as Alex either tried to use spells to act as a smokescreen, or spammed several powerful magical/energy attacks one after another. As before, Elaine didn''t even budge from her starting position as Alex delivered attack after attack onto her, none of which even seemed to effect her in the slightest either. If she was engulfed in a storm of hellfire she''d appear after the flames died down without even a singe or single spot of soot or ash. If he froze the area around her then she never even seemed to register the cold, or the ice crystals forming in the air around her. Even gales and blades of wind that made tornadoes and hurricanes seem mild appeared to be little more than gentle breezes before her. And if Alex used energy based attacks, such as the Kamehameha, or the Destructo Disk, then Elaine would simply flick the attacks away as if they were nothing but bothersome flies. As Beth watched the apocalyptic level exchange of blows and attacks, she felt her mind become increasingly numb at the power of the individuals before her. Though she never cared about the competition they were in, she always figured that if another reincarnator attacked her world that she''d at least be able to defend it and herself. When ''that'' man attacked she reasoned the only reason she lost was due to her own ignorance, and his stupid ability to turn women into his obedient playthings, but watching Alex now Beth was forced to realize that she had severely overestimated herself. ''This can''t be allowed!'' Beth thought to herself as she started thinking that maybe Alex''s strength was due to his regular sparring with Elaine, but then a feminine voice suddenly spoke up in her head and stated with what sounded like mild annoyance, ''While you are technically right that Elaine can''t actually train Alex, even if he ordered her to, it is perfectly acceptable for him to attack her and for her to simply retaliate; and if he becomes stronger from fighting with her, then oh well. And the majority of his strength was from the monstrous amount of hard work Alex has put into his training since day one, so don''t belittle it.'' Surprised at the sudden interjection from Lauren, her new ''Angel'' after Alex made her his slave and her former ''Angel'' passed her onto her, Beth was silent as she considered what she had told her, while Lauren hummed in mild annoyance. Though she was just his silent observer, Lauren still couldn''t help but get slightly annoyed when Beth tried to belittle all of the effort she had seen him put into his strength since day one. Since he hadn''t chosen any abilities that granted immediate results, such as a certain power or weapon, Alex had to claw his way up to his current position step by step through intense training from the moment he could first walk. Though he had certainly started getting even stronger and better at fighting since he started sparring with Elaine, it was only a few drops in the proverbial bucket compared to the effort he''d put in in his life. That was why even she couldn''t help but feel a slight amount of pride as she watched him exchange blows with one of her own comrades, despite the sometimes excessive brutality that Elaine would show when attacking him. And so the duo continued their barrage of relentless attacks, with Alex alternating between various methods of fighting such as when he started with pure physical attacks, before moving on to mixing his attacks to include magic/energy along with punches and kicks, and then Beth watched as he took out a brilliantly golden sword along with a menacing looking scythe. Despite the powerful weapons pointed at her though, Elaine didn''t even flinch as she was surrounded by either pitch black or beautifully golden flames, or when there was suddenly a storm of spectral figures that appeared from the jewel within the scythe, which contained the souls of those that had been killed by it. Alex wasn''t the only one to alternate the way he attacked his opponent though, as Elaine utilized any fighting style she decided to use as if she had mastered every single one that existed, though she seemed to stay away from grapple and throwing based fighting styles due to a certain skill Alex had that she had fallen victim to a time or two before. The same skill that appeared to have activated when they transitioned to their last exchange of the day, exactly an hour after they started, when Elaine accidentally sent Alex flying directly at Beth. "WATCH OUUUUUUUUT!" Beth cried out as she tried to avoid the body flying directly at her, before Alex impacted the ground with enough force that she too fell to her hands and knees. "Idiots...." Beth swore as she tried to stabilize herself once the world around and below her stopped moving. "Watch where you''re throwing each other..." "Well it''s not like I can control where Elaine....throws me.... Beth..." As he was speaking from somewhere behind her Alex suddenly trailed off before saying her name questioningly, making Beth''s entire body tense as she suddenly recalled something very important. With her head turning back slowly as if it was on a rusty swivel, Beth was horrified to find that her skirt had been flipped up so that everything underneath was visible, and Alex had apparently face planted in such a perfect position that the first thing he saw when he got up was her unspeakable place a mere few inches from his face. She suppressed a shudder as Alex''s breath gently tickled her privates, before he finished his earlier question with deadpan voice and expression, even as he seemed to be staring intently at what was before him. ".....why aren''t you wearing any panties.....?" As the final word left his lips, more rage and embarrassment than she had ever felt before surged to the surface. Beth then brought one leg forward, no longer caring what the movement did or didn''t expose to him, and kicked back at Alex''s face with all of the force her ''Superhuman Strength'' ability allowed. Thankfully for her Alex still had the capability to dodge her sudden attack, as the slave brand would have activated otherwise, but that didn''t stop Beth from trying to tear him apart while screaming, "YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G BASTAAAAAAAARD!!!" at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile, off to the side, Elaine watched Beth chase Alex with a complicated expression, as the current situation was technically her fault for sending Alex flying in Beth''s direction to begin with. However she also knew the current situation was also the result of Alex''s ''Lucky Pervert'' skill, of which she''d also been a victim of several times, and ultimately decided to simply watch the show. *** The next several days within the space-time orb passed relatively uneventfully with the exception of a few changes, beginning with Beth''s liberation from her floating island prison. Though she had already been free for a couple days before Alex arrived, she now had to deal with Alex and his harem openly flirting in front of her almost constantly, which typically resulted in some kind of disagreement. The other big change was that, after word spread of Alex taking Ringo and several Pandora into his bed, many of the women that had been abused by ''that'' man were starting to approach him. Basically amongst the Pandora there were three different groups, those who actually did look outside the space-time orb for a relationship, and then the other two more less wanted to get into Alex''s bed for one reason or another. The second group consisted of Pandora who had simply concluded that they would never be able to find another man as great as Alex, especially after what they had been through. Not only did Alex check every single box they had as women from wealthy or influential families, but he also cared for each and every woman he was involved with without treating them as a simple outlet for his l.u.s.t. As such not only could these particular women not imagine being with any other man, but many felt more than willing to even have Alex''s children in the future. The final group had more or less given up on finding their personal happiness after their abuse, and simply wished to be left alone by men in whatever position they decided on. However that didn''t mean they wanted to give up being held by men for the rest of their lives, and so they were more than willing to let Alex ''use'' them every now and then after everything he had done for them. Either group had also arrived at this conclusion due to the fact that it was fairly obvious whenever Alex interacted with his women he showed genuine care and affection for them, which they felt more than a little starved for. As such, after sending his children back to the Misty Manor from the space-time orb, Alex had to endure a seemingly endless assault of beautiful women desperately trying to appeal to him. Of course what didn''t help was Momo taking this as the chance to go full throttle in her newfound ''harem plan'', after she spent months discretely improving Alex''s image in the eyes of the damaged women. Over the course of several days it seemed as if every time Alex turned around he was finding himself in one outrageous situation after another, from both his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill and Momo working overtime. The most common trap that kept getting sprung onto Alex though was Momo using Lala''s Pyon-Pyon Warp-Kun to randomly send him somewhere within the space-time orb, which his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill almost always ensured he ended up in some kind of promiscuous situations. The worst of these situations was when Alex fell onto the victim in such a way that he ended up burying his face into their n.a.k.e.d crotch, while their face ended up rubbing up directly against his c.o.c.k, something he was sure the victim, Elaine, would never forgive him for. That was why Alex wasn''t at all surprised when he went to eat dinner on his last night in the space-time orb, and he found several Pandora laying n.a.k.e.d on the table around his seat with bits of sushi on their body waiting to be eaten. Alex had just started shaking his head wryly in undisguised exasperation, when a voice suddenly cried out from behind them, "How shameless can you get?!" Everyone turned to find a red faced Kotegawa Yui glaring at the arranged Pandora, before she finally blew up, "I''ve been holding it in this entire time, but why is everyone suddenly acting like total s.l.u.ts all of a sudden?!" There was dead silence as everyone took in the profanity that just left the prim and proper Kotegawa''s mouth, though no one could truly blame her. As the former chairman of the Public Morals Committee at her school, she was obviously the one who had the biggest problem with the way Alex behaved with his harem, aside from Beth and Elaine of course. However she was aware of the fact that she was technically a guest in Alex''s home and kept her mouth shut, enduring the shameless going ones of Alex and his wives day in and out, as well as the shameless actions and behavior of Kuroka when she worked on her personal floating island. However the behavior of the Pandora for the last several days, along with this current stunt, had been the straw that broke the proverbial camel''s back though, and she couldn''t hold in her outrage any longer, not that anyone could truly blame her. In response to her outrage though, one of the Pandora that had been setting the tables up, who was wearing nothing but an apron, demanded, "Well how else are we supposed to get his attention?! It''s not like any of us actually believe we have a real chance against any of the wives he already has!" The rest of Pandora that had been acting out nodded their heads in agreement at her words, as it had practically been a unanimous agreement that they had no chance competing against any of Alex''s wives, not that they''d want to do so and risk angering them. And so, the solution they had come up with was to simply do these risqu¨¦ things to try and grab his attention, even if it was only momentarily. Kotegawa however wasn''t going to have any excuses, as she continued, "That may be, but all of your actions are getting to be too much! You''re even troubling Alex with how much he''s had to endure this entire time!" When she said this the Pandora looked at Alex as if for confirmation, only to see him look somewhat awkward at the inherent truth in Kotegawa''s words. While it was true he enjoyed having so many beautiful women trying to appeal to him, as well as such an e.r.o.t.i.c home environment, he couldn''t argue that it was more than a little annoying to be constantly ambushed or teleported when he just wanted to train or spend some time with one of his wives. He then tried to explain this very thing to the now downhearted women, before showing that he wasn''t completely upset by their actions by sitting down, and using a pair of chopsticks to pick up a piece of sushi off of one of the Pandora''s n.i.p.p.l.es. He then maintained eye contact with her as he put the sushi in his mouth, and slowly chewed as if he was savoring every single bit of flavor it had. When they saw this the rest of the Pandora that had been acting out let it a collective sigh of relief that Alex wasn''t truly upset with them, though they did silently promise themselves to try and act a bit milder in the future, while Momo in particular looked away pointedly when Alex shot her a brief accusatory stare. The person who was the most relieved though was of course Kotegawa, as she now didn''t have to deal with so much shameless behavior if the Pandora started behaving themselves. Her relief was short lived though as she took her seat at the dinner table, and Mea suddenly said as she sat down next to her, "Master truly is incredible to woo so many women without even trying, I can''t help but wonder how many children he''ll have in the future~!" "!!!" Kotegawa''s body suddenly jolted as if she''d been electrocuted at Mea''s words, before she then devolved into a coughing fit as the food she had just swallowed tried to go down the wrong pipe. Several of the surrounding girls looked at her weirdly as she tried to catch her breath, before demanding, "Children?!" Mea nodded slowly and said as if it was obvious, "Well yeah, I think it''s pretty much expected that every one of the women in master''s harem will have a child or two of his someday, which I heard that the only reason he currently has so few children is due to his reproductive rate being really low as a reincarnated devil." Mea then went on about all of the juicy gossip she''d heard about Alex''s family, but Kotegawa didn''t head any of it as a certain scene began playing out in her head. *** "How shameless! To approach a woman like this!" She cried out as Alex slowly approached her menacingly, his lips curling up into a wolfish grin. "I''m shameless? What about you with that provocative body?" As he said that Alex uninhibitedly ran his gaze over her body, seemingly undressing her within his mind. He then placed one hand on the wall behind her, effectively pinning her between himself and the wall, before continuing, "And besides, isn''t the person who calls other people out on their shamelessness usually the truly shameless one? Aren''t you the one who wants me to attack you?" She offered no resistance as Alex slowly ran his free hand up her leg as he spoke, before it ultimately disappeared up her skirt. Even as his fingers started to lightly stroke her over the thin layer that was her panties, Kotegawa neither refused not resisted Alex''s actions. Instead she could only meekly ask, "What if I get pregnant....?" Alex''s wolfish grin widened when he heard that, before he leaned in even closer to whisper into her ear, "You don''t need to worry about that after only one time, but then again I suppose I''ll have to attack you several times before I can breed you!" His declaration was then followed up with the tearing of clothes and Kotegawa''s soft scream/yelps of surprise, before they turned into sensual m.o.a.ns as Alex followed through on his declaration and began breeding her. Several months later she sat contently in a comfortable chair, rubbing her swelling belly softly as Alex''s adoptive daughter Myuu suddenly ran over and asked with wide eyes, "Can I feel for the baby?!" *** BANG! Suddenly everyone sitting at the dinner tables jumped as a loud bang sounded out, before it was promptly followed by several more. They turned to see Kotegawa repeatedly banging her head against the table with a crimson red face, shouting at herself mentally, ''WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! IT''S ALMOST LIKE I ACTUALLY WANT IT!'' This continued for several minutes as the people around her tried to get her to calm down, all without knowing what was even wrong, until Yue finally had enough of her meal being disturbed and used magic to dump freezing water onto Kotegawa''s head. Shaking his own head at the display, Alex went back to his meal as he used his chopsticks to once more remove a piece of sushi from the girl''s body before him, before using the utensils to absentmindedly play with one of her n.i.p.p.l.es as he chewed. "What was that about?" Rias''s asked dumbfoundedly as she watched Kotegawa try to calm down, even after Yue soaked her. Alex however smiled knowingly and said, "Maybe it was some kind of delusion, she''s prone to them if you hadn''t noticed." Alex''s smile then widened as he recalled some of her delusions from the original series. This was soon followed by another series of bangs as Kotegawa glanced towards him to see his reaction to her actions, only to see him smiling in her direction as if he knew exactly what she had been thinking. This time it was Rias who started shaking her head at Kotegawa''s actions, before turning to Alex and saying seriously as she tried to change the topic, "By the way, you''ll have a certain surprise waiting for you upstairs tonight, so no ''peeking''!" Even going as far as to point her finger at him menacingly, Alex smirked and put his hands up placatingly before saying, "Ok ok, I won''t ''peek''!" Rias narrowed her eyes at Alex as he promised not to use his ''Domain'' to spy on his surprise, which he was practicing becoming more proficient in after being caught off guard so many times recently. Though he was curious of what was being planned for him, Alex focused on his meal until he had eaten his full as more sushi was continuously added to the living platter in front of him until he finally said he was finished. Alex then made his way to the baths along with his excessive entourage, where he experienced having several beautiful women compete in trying to wash his body. With his surprise in mind though, Alex didn''t give in to the temptation surrounding him other than bringing the women washing him to heaven with his fingers. Once that was done Alex finally made his way to his room, where he heard voices as he approached the door. "I don''t think we should do this after what happened at dinner...." "Don''t worry! We already got permission from Rias and Ravel so it''s fine!" "Maybe for you...." Already suspecting who was in there based on the voices he heard, Alex opened the door and was surprised not to find Haruna and Lala waiting for him, but by the fact that both girls were only wearing a ribbon that had been wrapped around their entire body. With their most precious areas guarded only by the thin and narrow strip of cloth, Alex couldn''t help but nod his head approvingly as he looked them over, even as Haruna suddenly overheated from his sudden appearance. Then, despite supporting Haruna who had steam rising from her head, Lala cried out, "Surprise!" Alex''s smile widened he heard that, before he said, "Well this certainly is a pleasant surprise, but what brought on all of a sudden?" As far as Alex could tell Lala and the rest of the women from her universe were still saddened over the loss of Rito, so he had figured that it would take a while longer before something like this happened. Surprisingly, Lala then adopted a somewhat uncharacteristically serious expression before she said, "After you left for the day miss Grayfia spoke to us, and explained to us that the longer we waited the harder it would be to sort out our feelings. And so, I talked to Haruna and we decided to show you our resolve together tonight!" "Ahhh." Alex replied in understanding as he recalled Grayfia saying something similar before their first time together, lest her resolve to join his harem later waiver due to her waiting for Sirzechs to return. Deciding not to cheapen the girl''s resolve like he did Ringo''s, Alex stared walking towards them as he slowly undid the robe he had donned after his bath, before letting it fall to the ground to leave him completely n.a.k.e.d. While Lala looked at his now exposed nether region with curiosity, Haruna looked as if she was about to pass out at any moment. Right as he was about to pull on the ribbons covering their private areas however, Lala suddenly made an ''oh yeah'' expression, and pulled out a tablet she had brought with her. She then pulled up what looked like the design for an invention, and explained, "I also want you look at this really quick, it''s an invention I think you''d like!" Though he was slightly annoyed that the mood had been interrupted, Alex still looked at the design Lala wanted to show him before his brows shot up in amazement. "You thought of this?" He questioned curiously, as it was an idea far more ''mature'' than one would expect the fairly innocent seductress to come up with. At this though Lala adopted a slightly awkward look, before saying, "Well, I got the idea somewhere else and started designing it, but never managed to finish it and rediscovered the design in my files recently." As she trailed off Alex couldn''t help but wonder what Lala was hiding, but the thing she didn''t want to admit was that the one who originally wanted her to make this was ''that'' man. Deciding not to press the issue if Lala of all people was being secretive about it, Alex dropped it by saying, "Yeah I''d like you to make it, but let''s get back to the original topic." He then took the tablet from her and lightly tossed it like a frisbee out of the way, before unhesitatingly reaching up and pulling on the knots holding the duo''s ribbons together. (A.N. I''m planning to jump ahead a few months in the next chapter to move the story along. Going through the aftermath of the battle and ''that'' man is taking longer than I thought, so I''m going to jump ahead in the story and try posting the occasional side story to cover the slice of life and smut scenes I''ll be skipping. They''ll be like the holiday specials and side stories that manga occasionally have in that they won''t actually impact that part of the story they take place in, and I''ll hopefully give everyone more screen time other than just occasionally mentioning them in the story. I''m hoping that I''ll occasionally post one with a chapter, or if it''s taking me a while to post the next chapter. I''ll try to include one with the next chapter so let me know what you think.) Chapter 349 - Request As the next several months slipped by a series of changes came to both Asora and the world they currently habited. One of the biggest changes to Asora was the ''technological revolution'' that occurred simply due to Lala''s efforts. No matter how much they tried, neither the Grigori or Hajime could keep up with the ridiculous pace Lala set for creating and incorporating outrageous new inventions, with the only thing slowing her down being the various ''mishaps'' that tended to happen. Despite the various mishaps though, the thing about Lala''s inventions that awed everyone within Asora was what they were able to function without any magic being involved whatsoever, whereas the Grigori had always used magic in order to fill in the gaps while Hajime relied on it entirely to even make his creations work. Then was the grand opening of the Yukiguni winter resort, which featured everything one might enjoy in a winter wonderland from ski slopes to even a multitude of hot springs, all of which were extravagant enough to put any such facilities in the human world to shame. For the grand opening they even featured a competition for building snow and ice sculptures so that the Yuki-onna were able to show off their special abilities, until Serafall decided to join in. With her mountain sized sculpture easily dwarfing even the giant sculpture of Alex that the Snow Priestess created, she had been declared the unanimous winner. And then after a full day of touring the resort, trying out the slopes that had been prepared, and enjoying a feast prepared by the welcoming snowy women, everyone made their way to the hot springs to enjoy a nice hot bath, while Alex and several other men enjoyed an extra service or two as well. It was at this time as well that Alex was personally thanked by the Snow Priestess for everything he had done for their people, a thanks that ended up going long into the night along with the Yuki-onna women she had personally selected for him. Asora wasn''t the only place that was experiencing changes though. On earth the world was still undergoing several major shifts due to the existence of monsters being exposed, though thankfully the shift was happening easier than Mikogami and Touhou could have hoped for. Despite Alex saying he had no intentions of becoming actively involved in smoothening the transition to peace between the races, his decisions still ended up influencing the world''s going ons more than he initially expected. Firstly was his decision to keep the Haulia busy by sending them to destroy various criminal and terroristic organizations within the world, along with Yami and Lala for training. Not only did this eliminate various threats to public safety, but they also ended up revealing several plans to further widen the gap between the races by capturing and exploiting them in ways that included, but weren''t limited to, monster girl brothels, Youkai slave trade, and even selling their body parts for medicine and other studies. Of course the final straw with such activities for Alex had been when photos of his girls were found under a file for suspected or confirmed non-humans, with the words ''High Priority Targets'' on it. That had resulted in the immediate purge of the entire organization, any that were connected to it, and several high ranking officials that were also tied to it, along with plenty of evidence of their wrongdoings coming to light for the world to see. What had been surprising though was that the public opinion of Youkai was helped by a very unlikely source, Ingvild and Lilliana. As idols their popularity exploded after the take over of Rising Star Entertainment, up until their recent admission that neither of the two girls were actually human(though Lilliana was technically born a human). This had caused a severe negative backlash at first as they were then accused of using their ''otherworldly powers'' to cheat and make themselves more popular than they should have been, but neither girl paid attention to such accusations. Instead they then proactively began using their magic to add to their performances in ways that no other idol could ever hope to replicate. Though there were always those who were prejudiced against them for not being human, their voices were soon drowned out by the increasingly overwhelming number of their dedicated fans. This number only grew when they introduced the mermaid troupe led by Ingvild''s Pawn, Tamao, and the duo of Run and Kyoko, the latter of which had become Ingvild''s new Pawn. Despite being more of an actress than a singer at first, Kyoko had taken to her new role well as she helped her friend recover from what had happened to them, and her brother. Since Run''s race were born as twins that shared single body from birth, she had taken the loss of her brother especially hard since they had quite literally shared one body and mind their entire lives up until recently. As such Kyoko and the the rest of Ingvild''s group were doing everything they could to help Run recover, even after she seemed fine enough to return to the idol stage. Meanwhile Mikogami and Touhou were doing everything in their power to ensure a future of peace between the Youkai and human people, despite the opposition they faced from the frightened human politicians. While the two of them became the public faces of the Youkai populations, Issa was secretly acting in the underworld to remove any threats to their efforts, especially on the side of the Youkai. As could be expected not every Youkai that believed in their own supremacy had joined up with, and perished alongside Fairy Tale, but any that even tried drawing attention to themselves were swiftly visited by a member of the quickly recovering Shuzen family. The majority of these were actually vampires that had tried to make a name for themselves after believing that the Shuzen family were all but destroyed, but were swiftly proven wrong when any of the vampires that Yue evolved into Shinso showed up on their doorstep. While it would be easier to simply have any of these vampires destroyed, Issa instead had them brought to him before giving them a choice, becoming his subordinates or being destroyed. Even if every Shinso that existed in the world was faithfully serving him, Issa knew that it wouldn''t be simple to subdue the entire planet''s population of vampires with just them, and as such he needed to build up his forces in order to prepare. It was also partially due to this goal that Issa and his wife suddenly appeared in the wintery landscape that was Asora, both bundled up in the extra coats that had been provided by the rabbitmen that guarded the portal. He glanced around briefly at the alien world, before saying, "Pretty cold here isn''t it?" Akasha nodded and parroted what she had been told during one of her previous visits, "Apparently the season changes depending on which world they''re in, at first it was spring, then almost an entire year of summer, a very short autumn, and now they''re in winter. Supposedly when they leave in a couple weeks it should be spring again." Issa nodded in understanding to his wife''s explanation, even as his head turned every which way to take in the sights around him. Though the primary reason he had come to Asora was to speak to Alex, he had also wanted to see what his daughter''s new home was like. As Issa''s gaze darted too and fro, he couldn''t help the surprise he felt at what he saw. Around him and Akasha was a multitude of people who didn''t seem bothered by the cold as they walked around and ran whatever errands brought them from the comfort of their home, while several shop keepers and stall venders energetically tried to bring people to their respective businesses. Normally such a scene wouldn''t be too weird, except a surprising amount of these people weren''t human, and none of them were even trying to hide it. Not even considering the number of Youkai that had followed Yasaka, around Issa and Akasha was dozens of people with either fins where their ears were supposed to be, or long rabbit ears sticking up from their heads. The truly shocking thing was that no one seemed to mind those around them that obviously weren''t the same species, even when some of the people, such as the rabbits, acted somewhat peculiar. Seeing her husbands reaction, Akasha smiled and said knowingly, "Apparently the majority of the people living in Asora are those who had either been oppressed at some point, or their people had been involved in a war of some kind for thousands of years. From what I''ve been told, to them living in Asora is a way for them to live better lives away from hardsh.i.p.s, oppression, and conflict they grew up with." She then went on to explain what she knew about the different people living in Asora, and some of the circ.u.mstances leading up to their migration. Since it was the place where her beloved daughters were going to be living from now on, Akasha had spent any time she wasn''t training with them learning more about their new home. Issa listened patiently as his wife told him the going ons of the worlds these people came from, his begrudging respect for Alex growing more than he''d ever care to admit. Though he couldn''t help but respect his new son-in-law for his strength, authority, and capabilities, he still couldn''t bring himself to genuinely like him since Alex had ''stolen'' and defiled not one, two, or even three, but all four of his daughters. Issa was trying not to think of that though since he needed to have a serious discussion with Alex when he saw him, and didn''t want to spend the entire time with his temper rising from imagining what he might be doing with his daughters behind his back. And so he tried to focus on Akasha''s voice as she led him through the streets towards the grandest manor they could see, until she knocked on the doors and they opened to reveal an immensely beautiful and mature woman. She had deep purple eyes and long wavy hair that matched them, while her stupidly large b.r.e.a.s.ts seemed to be just barely confined to her maid uniform. While Issa''s eyes were bugging out at yet another gorgeous woman that was more than likely involved with is new son-in-law, the maid, Yubelluna, bowed her head politely to the duo before saying, "Lord Shuzen, Lady Bloodriver, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?" Ignoring her husband, who was becoming increasingly red in the face, Akasha inclined her head in return before saying, "We were hoping to see Alex if he isn''t too busy, Issa has something he wants to talk to him about." Yubelluna glanced at Issa when she heard this, only to see him becoming increasingly tense and agitated as he began wondering just how many women besides his daughters Alex had, she said, "I see...follow me." She then turned and led the duo into the manor, before the doors closed automatically behind them. After shedding the extra layers due to the comforting warmth within the manor, Issa and Akasha followed Yubelluna''s lead through the halls until they arrived at a dining area, where a group of women were sitting along with what seemed to be a small army of children. Akasha''s smiled widened as several pairs of eyes focused on them, and she said while spreading her arms out wide, "Well hello there everyone!" Amongst the children only a few got up and ran or waddled up to her for a hug, namely Myuu, Edith, and Mai, while the women also stood and greeted Akasha warmly. At their head was the only one Issa recognized amongst the group from the battle against Alucard, her striking long Crimson hair being a very distinguishing feature. "Welcome back Akasha, how is everything out there?" Rias asked as she carefully adjusted the small bundle in her own arms. When she saw it though Akasha''s eyes lit up as, instead of answering Rias''s question, she instead asked, "And who is this little fellow?" Rias flashed her her own motherly smile as she looked down at the bundle she was carrying, and shifted the blanket to reveal a baby that looked to be only a couple months old at the most, with his own tuft of striking Crimson hair. "This is Ryoto, Ryoto Gremory." As she introduced him Rias couldn''t help but to lovingly caress her son''s head, still unbelieving that she herself was now a mother. It was now more than ever that she desired to return home to her parents, in order to introduce their second grandson to them. Akasha then used her finger to gently poke the infant''s belly playfully, prompting him to grab her finger with his tiny hand. As she was playing with the little infant though, the sound of fussing made Akasha look up to see another beautiful woman with a long black ponytail approaching them, with another bundle in her arms and an anxious looking man shadowing her every step. "Shuri, what''s wrong?! Tell grandpa what to do!" Barakiel cried anxiously even as Akeno giggled at her father''s behavior. "I think she''s just hungry father, I''ll feed her in a minute." Not at all convinced by his daughter''s words, Barakiel continued fawning over his granddaughter until Akeno gently passed the baby that was only a few days younger than her brother Ryoto to her father, before turning to Akasha and asking, "So what brings you here Akasha?" The pink haired woman backed away from the children slightly as she tried to keep in mind what they were originally there for, though she didn''t know what Issa wanted to talk to Alex about. When she turned to look at her husband though, Akasha found Issa looking as if he had short circuited as images of his daughters presenting him hordes of grandchildren rushed through his head. Slowly the aura coming off of Issa became more intense, until Akasha had to smack the back of his head while crying out, "What is wrong with you?! You''re scaring the children!" It wasn''t until Akasha admonished him that Issa noticed the children trying to hide from him, while their mothers directed not so subtle dirty looks at him. Adopting a sheepish expression, Issa awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck while saying, "Sorry, I just suddenly got the image of being greeted by a swarm of grandchildren out of nowhere..." His expression then turned melancholic as Issa recalled his daughters as they were before he had been locked away, with Moka and Kokoa especially being little more than children at the time. Barakiel then slapped his free hand into Issa''s shoulder, and said comfortingly, "Take it from me, try not to think about things too much when it concerns our bastard of a son-in-law. The little shit will give you a heart attack if you dwell on him too much." As he trailed off Barakiel got a far away look in his eyes as he recalled when his daughter openly admitted to being Alex''s s.e.x slave during their rating game match, and the shame that followed her declaration. He was then brought back to the present when said daughter suddenly seized his ear, and hissed as she skillfully took her own daughter back from him, "Watch your tongue, or are you trying to teach the children bad habits?" Barakiel''s face paled significantly as he desperately waved his hands side to side and pleaded, "No! I would never! It was only a minor slip of the tongue!" Akeno''s expression morphed into a sadistic smile, as she then turned and started walking away while maintaining a grip on her father''s ear. "We''ll just have to discuss this while I feed Shuri, and I''ll make sure to discipline you properly so that there''s no ''minor slips'' in the future, ufufufufufufu." Everyone present sent Barakiel silent prayers for the suffering he was about to endure, while Issa was silently being thankful that none of his daughters ended up like Akeno. Rias then forcibly changed the topic by saying, "I''ll show you to the space-time orb, Alex is spending the entire day inside it today." Though she also knew they way to it, Akasha followed Rias without another word while Issa silently followed the two women, and Yubelluna went back to her previous work. After placing his hand against a strange looking orb, Issa then found himself standing in front a grand villa as the roar of cascading water filled his ears, and the warmth of the midday spring sun hit his skin. Smirking at his reaction, Akasha stepped forward as a silver haired maid approached them this time, before bowing respectfully and saying, "Greetings, my lord is currently otherwise engaged, but he will be along shortly once his current obligation is over with. Until then I will gladly give you a tour around our facilities lord Shuzen." Though Issa wanted to comment about Alex making his in-laws wait on him, a look from Akasha silenced his protest as he instead said, "I would love a tour of these amazing facilities, miss-" "Grayfia." The silver haired maid supplied, as she had never formally met Issa before. She then began directing the duo around the various areas of the villa, as well as introducing any of the residents they came across, while also secretly feeling relieved that she didn''t have to tell Issa that Alex''s current ''engagement'' was that he was busy screwing all four of his daughters, as well as his ex-wife at the moment. Hoping to buy time until they finished, Grayfia led the duo around the villa and several of the floating islands for well over an hour, until finally Alex made his appearance along with the very bashful looking Shuzen sisters. Though he himself wasn''t fazed at all by what they were just doing, none of the four sisters could look their father in the face after what they had just been doing with Alex, while Gyokuro had a noticeable smirk on the edge of her lips. When he noticed them though Issa glared somewhat at Alex and stated, "Finally, I suppose you finished whatever business you had?" Alex''s welcoming smile threatened to turn into a shit-eating grin as he took Issa''s hand to shake it, and replied, "Yes I did, and I''m very sorry to make you wait as long as you had to." Issa nodded in approval at Alex''s attitude before following Grayfia to a room where they could talk, however Akasha gave him a deadpan stare due to her suspicions on what they had been doing, which were fueled by the memories of herself when she had been part of the rosary. She didn''t say anything though in order to avoid an argument as everyone took their seats in a lounge, Akasha and Issa on one couch while Alex shared one with Moka and Akua as Kokoa and Kahlua stood behind them, and Grayfia went to fetch refreshments with Gyokuro. It wasn''t until after everyone had a bit to snack on and drink that Alex finally looked Issa in the eye and asked, "So what brings the two of you here today?" Issa''s expression turned serious as he put down his cup of tea and leaned forward, before saying, "To put it bluntly, I want you to take Akasha with you when you leave our world." A stunned silence settled within the lounge as everyone took in what he said, before Akasha leapt up and demanded, "What was that?!" Issa sighed under his wife''s glowering look, before explaining, "In order to help establish a future of peace between the races, I''ll soon be at war with the rest of the vampires of the world. They''re simply too proud or arrogant to try and live without suppressing humans now that we are exposed, and my informants around the world have already told me that they''re preparing their forces as well, though we don''t know exactly what for yet." Right as the words left his mouth though, Akasha stated, "Then wouldn''t you need me to help you, or do you think I''m not up to it after being consumed by Alucard for so long?!" A dangerous tone crept into Akasha''s voice at the second half of her declaration, while she also started radiating an intense aura at her husband. In the face of his wife''s anger though, Issa just snorted and stated plainly, "Even after I also became a Shinzo I doubt I can match up to you, the last thing you''ll ever hear from me is that you aren''t up to it." Akasha stated calming down when she heard Issa state he wasn''t sidelining her due to thinking she couldn''t handle it, and instead focused on something else he said. "You''re a Shinzo now too?" She asked questioningly, before everyone turned and looked towards Alex in sync, to which he waved his hand dismissively and said, "Dot look at me, I haven''t seen Issa once ever since the day we killed Alucard." Though a few of the girls with him were skeptical at first, Issa confirmed Alex''s words and said, "No he didn''t do it, but someone else did. They also stated that subduing the vampires of this world is a ''test'' of my capabilities, so not only can''t I rely on your help Akasha, but I also personally don''t want you to participate in this fight." Issa then stood and took Akasha''s hands in his own, before continuing, "You have have already sacrificed yourself twice for the sake of peace, asking you to participate in anymore fighting is too much. I just want you to be able to enjoy your life for once, in the peace that this world offers with Moka and the others." Though Akasha wanted to argue against Issa''s reasoning, she was unable to do so when Moka took one of her hands in her own with a hopeful look in her eyes. Akasha looked her daughter in the eyes before glancing around at the rest of the girls gathered there, Akua, Kahlua, Kokoa(Gyokuro was gagging in the background), and sighed in resignation. Even if the only one she had given birth to was Moka, as far Akasha was concerned all four of her husband''s daughters were like her own children, and as such she couldn''t deny that she''d like to stay with each of them even after they left this world. "Fine then..." She said eventually, causing everyone to let out the breath they had unintentionally been holding. Moka then pulled her mother into a hug, which was quickly joined by the rest of their family(sans Gyokuro) as Alex watched warmly from the side. The moment didn''t last longer than a couple minutes though, when Issa eventually turned to face Alex, his expression serious as he said, "There''s one last thing before I leave." Alex c.o.c.ked his head to the side curiously at Issa''s words, before asking, "Oh? And what is that?" Issa looked him in the eye as the rest of the girls looked at them curiously, before he finally said as his aura intensified, "I can''t truly accept your relationship with my daughters, at least not before crossing fists with you at least once." When he heard that Alex was momentarily stunned, as it was a little too late to ask for Issa''s ''blessing'' regarding him being with his daughters, but after a second a smile spread on his lips as he replied, "Very well, let''s go then." Chapter 350 - Side Story 1- Memory Lane *A few weeks back* "I finally did it!" Anne cried as she slammed down a couple small vial-like bottles onto the dinner table, stunning everyone slightly as they looked up from their meals at her. "What did you do?" Alex asked her curiously, making the dark skinned beauty beam with pride as she gestured to the two bottles and said, "These are the solution I made up after investigating the flowers Mizore gathered from the Yuki-onna village, which will almost completely assure conception of a child for any woman that drinks it!" Anne then went on to explain the effects of the solution she made, which supposedly ensured conception as long as the woman tried to conceive a child within six hours of drinking it, while it also functioned as a form of aphrodisiac similar to the original flowers. As she had been in the middle of explaining it though, Xenovia suddenly asked, "Have you already tested it on someone?" Anne shook her head before saying, "It was more or less the original function of the flowers to begin with, I just made it consumable and strengthened the part to help conception a little bit, with Momo''s help of course." Everyone turned to look at the youngest of the Devilukian sisters, who immediately acted shyly to the attention she was getting before saying, "Oh I didn''t do that much at all, I just showed miss Anne some of the flowers I''ve seen in our universe that have similar effects, she did all of the actual work." As Momo tried to brush off her involvement in Anne''s work, Xenovia then asked Anne with an intense look in her eyes, "So if they aren''t tested, do you need a volunteer?" Knowing where she was going with this, and with everyone else gaining an intense atmosphere after words, Anne said exasperatedly, "Well that''s why I only brought two bottles, in order to test it ourselves. That being said, we need to exercise restraint since we already decided against having too many more children right away, which is also why I''m planning to have these be prescribed instead of people just being able to acquire them whenever they want." This time everyone grimaced at her words, as they remember a discussion they had not too long ago to officially wait until Alex''s current children matured a little bit before having more, in order to prevent having so many children running around at almost the exact same age. It appeared however that Anne was planning the same thing for Asora when she finally revealed her new creation, to prevent all of the couples that have longed for children for decades, or even centuries, from getting pregnant all at once. Now the question was who would get the two test bottles? The atmosphere turned even more intense as this very question passed through the mind of every girl present, with a powerful holy energy appearing as Xenovia began summoning her Excalibur and Durandal. Things ended rather anticlimactically though when Rias picked up one of the bottles and plainly said, "I''ve been in a relationship with Alex the longest out of everyone here, so I''m taking one." Instead of trying to argue with her logic, the rest of the girls set their eyes on the remaining bottle before Akeno proceeded to pick up the other bottle while saying, "I may overlook a short time, but I don''t want you to steal too much of a march on me when it comes to having Alex''s child Rias, ufufufufufu." The rest of the girls then pointedly looked away as Akeno claimed the second bottle, as none of them wanted to get on her bad side only to wake up and find themselves in her dungeon one day. Smiling wryly at the turn of events, Alex then said right as Rias and Akeno began making plans for that night together, "Rias, I''ll just have you tonight. Akeno, I hope you don''t mind waiting a day or two since this is relatively different compared to usual." To Alex the act of purposely making a child was a lot more meaningful than simply indulging in their l.u.s.t, and as such he wanted to put a bit more thought and emotion into how the night went than he usually did when that was their intention. And in the pursuit of providing a ''meaningful'' night for Rias, Alex already had an idea thanks to Lala''s newest invention that she recently completed. When he started getting lost in his plans for Rias later, Alex was suddenly aware of Akeno creeping up to him seductively, before saying, "Alright then, I''ll let you do things your way master~. But in return I''ll make my own plans regarding our time together, look forward to it, ufufufufufu~." She then turned and started walking away without giving Alex time to respond to her declaration, her h.i.p.s swaying seductively. Smiling wryly at her words, Alex wondered for a moment what Akeno would have planned before he decided to focus his mind on Rias for the time being since she was the one he would be with later. *** Later after having her bath Rias made her way up to Alex''s room, her heart pounding with both nervousness and excitement as she held the bottle in her hand. In her mind she was recalling what Anne told her while they bathed, that to be sure the serum worked properly Rias and Alex couldn''t go at it several times like he usually did. Though this particular restriction was bound to be tough on both of them, as Rias had long gotten somewhat used to Alex''s endless stamina, she felt the frustration would be more than worth it if she managed to have a child. With these thoughts swirling through her head, Rias then uncorked the bottle and downed the contents as she approached Alex''s bedroom door, though it wasn''t until after she swallowed it that she recalled that the serum also acted as an aphrodisiac. With a potent heat spreading through her body quickly, Rias opened Alex''s door to find him casually sitting inside as he waited for her. When he saw her an affectionate expression showed itself on Alex''s face, as he stood up from his bed and said, "Rias, it''s finally time." A warm feeling filled Rias when she heard him that had nothing to do with the rising heat in her body, as she recalled everything shed been through with Alex leading up to this moment. He then approached her and gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, before leaning in closer to her and whispering into her ear, "Close your eyes, I have a surprise for you." With her heart rate increasing rapidly, Rias did as Alex asked and closed her eyes for whatever he had in mind, except that he never released her from his gentle hold. Instead, after several seconds he finally said, "Open your eyes now." When Rias opened her eyes she felt as if her heart would stop at what she saw. In front of her was a small lake surrounded by a forest with hundreds of fireflies dancing through the air. What had surprised her so much though, was that it was the exact same place where she and Alex had their first time together after he had saved her from her engagement with Raiser Phoenix, complete with even the purple sky and artificial moon from the underworld. Though she only noticed it a few seconds later, she had also been changed out of the robe she wore to Alex''s room into a dress like that she would wear to a high society party, while Alex was in a suit. "H-how?" She sputtered as she tried to figure out how this was happening, which she could tell it wasn''t an illusion due to the fact that she could smell the earthy aroma of the forest around them, along with the gentle breeze that blew through her hair. Alex smirked and explained, "It''s Lala''s newest invention that she prepared for me, called the Love Room. It uses the same virtual reality tech that the virtual world''s she created for Nana and Momo''s friends, except in here there are several hundreds, or even thousands, of different scenarios for us to choose from to have fun with." Then to give Rias another example, Alex summoned a digital interface that was tied to the room around, which only he, Lala, and Momo could access. A second later the world around them started distorting, until the duo found themselves in another very familiar place with a very different set of clothes. "Oh my god!" Rias emotionally exclaimed as she took in the room around them, which was their old Occult Research Club room, along with their old school uniforms. With nostalgia momentarily suppressing the heat in her body, Rias stepped away from Alex''s embrace to look around, only to find that everything was exactly the way she had left it. Before she could get too engrossed though, the scenery changed around them once again and she found herself in the same dorms that she had lived in with Alex and the female members of her peerage so long ago. Before she could get too absorbed in looking around though, Alex embraced her from behind once more and whispered into her ear, "No matter the scenery or scenario, this room could reproduce it exactly, even something like this." As the last word escaped his mouth the world changed again, except Rias''s heart almost stopped when she realized they were in the middle of the same mall that she used to go to all of the time, wether to shop with the other girls or for a date with Alex. The only difference was that this time they weren''t the only ones there, as dozens of familiar faces made their way though the mall as they went about their business. "What is this?" Rias demanded as she suddenly recalled the arousal coursing through her body. Alex''s smile widened as he tightened his embrace on her, and he said, "These are programs based on people who would be found in these environments, basically they''re like the npc''s you''ll see in video games. Though they aren''t real people, they''ll still react if we did something like say this!" As he finished Alex suddenly grabbed and pulled up the front of the school uniform skirt that Rias was still wearing, while simultaneously making the panties underneath vanish. The result was Rias''s bare p.u.s.s.y being flashed to everyone in front of them. "Hey, do you see that?!" One guy called out to his friend, while pointing directly at Rias''s exposed crotch. "Are they filming something here?" "Is this some kind of prank?" After the first guy called attention to them pretty soon everyone they could see was converging onto Alex and Rias, before several of them then began pulling out their phones to record the scene before them. "Hey, isn''t that Rias onee-sama?!" "It is! And thats Alex senpai!" Pretty soon people then began to call out Alex and Rias''s names to the gawkers, who were supposed to be their fellow students from school. Of course the entire time Rias was squirming to try and cover her exposed s.e.x, but she had to deal with Alex keeping her from doing so while simultaneously fighting the rising arousal in her body. The worst part though was that her exposed nether regions were becoming increasingly damp as more and more people converged to stare at her, until Alex finally had mercy and changed the scenery and clothes back to the lake. "Well that was a taste of what this room could do now, but let''s stick with this scene for the moment." Alex said casually, making RIas almost tear up a she cried out, "What taste?! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was?!" Alex''s only response to her words was to smirk though, before said while pointing at her nether region, "You seemed to like it though, and did you forget that they aren''t actual people? They''re just computer programs designed to interact with us to a certain extent." When he said this Rias was at a loss for words as she just recalled that they weren''t actually people, but they had been so lifelike that she couldn''t get that particular scene out of her head. Before she could try to wrap her head around what was happening though, Alex suddenly swept her up into his arms and said with a cheeky smile, "Well, let''s just forget about that for the moment and move onto what we came here to do!" Instead of giving her a chance to respond, Alex immediately jumped into the lake before them. "Kyaaaaaaaa!" Rias cried out as she entered the chilled water, before she resurfaced and gasped for air with her wet hair plastered to her face and body. A second later Alex resurfaced next to her and, before she could protest, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to seal her lips. Though she initially wanted to scold him for his actions, Rias found herself melting in the warmth of Alex''s touch as the heat in her body rose once again, and this time there was no holding it back. She didn''t even notice as Alex slowly brought them back to land, and one of his hands started to slowly make their way up her legs. As he pulled them both out of the water Alex gently laid Rias down on the grass below them, prompting her to spread her legs to make room for him on top of her. With one hand making its way to the treasure hidden beneath the dress she was now wearing, his other hand eagerly pulled down the top part of her strapless dress to free the constrained b.r.e.a.s.ts within. "Nnng!" Rias m.o.a.ned against his lips as Alex''s hand began skillfully kneading her right b.r.e.a.s.t, while his other hand had finally reached the soaked piece of cloth that once again guarded her privates. Instead of using the Love Room''s technology to dispel the panties like he had earlier though, Alex decided to show more of his aggressive side and simply ripped them off, before his fingers finally began probing the heat emanating from between her legs. Soon Alex stopped kissing Rias and moved his head down to take her free n.i.p.p.l.e into his mouth, while her other one was being pinched between his forefinger and thumb. "AHHHHHHH!" Rias''s cries echoed in the surroundings as Alex skillfully assaulted her most pleasurable spots with his mouth and fingers, with the only pauses being when he alternated between Rias''s n.i.p.p.l.es with his hand and mouth. Eventually though his presence disappeared, making Rias open her closed eyes in confusion, only to see Alex''s head vanish with the confines of her soaked dress. Within he could clearly see his quarry before him, a vertical slit at the center of the fork between Rias''s legs, topped with a neatly trimmed patch of Crimson hair and dripping honey. Without a single hint of hesitation, Alex''s mouth latched onto the hot and steamy slit and dug his tongue within it, making Rias cry out in ecstasy the loudest so far as his hands firmly grabbed her outer thighs to prevent her from moving too much. He then thoroughly explored every nook and cranny, every fold of Rias''s most precious place with his tongue, making her practically scream in pleasure as her hands reached down beneath her dress to run her fingers through his hair. Alex smirked into Rias''s p.u.s.s.y as not only did her place her hands on the back of head as if to keep him from moving, but she even seemed to try and sandwich his head between her thighs while simultaneously wrapping her calves around his head, effectively smothering his face with her snatch. With her seemingly not ''allowing'' him to breath for the time being, Alex readily took that challenge as he then decided to figuratively take the metaphorical gloves off and dragonfied his tongue to immediately probe her depths with it. Within seconds Rias''s body began spasming as an intense climax wracked her entire being, making her body tense up for nearly an entire minute as she issued a silent scream, only to let her limbs fall limply to the side as she panted deeply. Smirking with satisfaction as he pulled his head out from within her dress, Alex then grabbed the hem of that same dress and roughly tore it open from the bottom to the top, fully exposing Rias''s body to his gaze. With the sound of tearing cloth bringing her back to her senses, Rias looked up at Alex with unfocused eyes until he brought his face close to hers. With her own smile on her lips, Rias linked her arms around Alex''s neck and brought his mouth down to her lips. The two began to kiss affectionately and passionately as Alex used the Love Room''s functions to remove his own wet clothing, before Rias finally broke off their kiss and panted into his ear, "Please, give it to me..." It didn''t take a genius to tell what Rias wanted him to give her, and so, Alex lined up the head of his c.o.c.k with her waiting hole, before plunging the entire length in all at one time. Once more Rias''s screams filled the forest around them, but they weren''t screams of pain at the sudden penetration. With her burning hot insides wrapping and squeezing his c.o.c.k perfectly, from him having long molded her insides to his shape and size, Alex began to slowly piston in and out of her while the Crimson haired woman cried out in ecstasy. Back and forth Alex moved in slow repetitive motions as he made love to the first woman he had become involved with since reincarnating, preparing to plant his seed deep within her. Rias herself held Alex as closely as possible with her arms around the back of his neck, and her legs wrapping around his waist as if to keep him from escaping. This continued for several minutes until Alex felt a pressure begin to build within his loins, and Rias felt him twitch noticeably within her. Soon both of them let out a small gasp as Alex unloaded as much of his seed as possible into her w.o.m.b, and Rias felt her insides being pumped full of burning hot fluids. Normally this was only the first of several rounds the duo would go through in the night, but, with Anne specifically asking them not to indulge themselves after the first time, Alex held himself back from continuing as he simply kissed Rias gently while she returned his affections. He then rolled over so that she was laying on top of him with her b.r.e.a.s.ts squished against his chest as she said, "That was amazing...thank you for all of this...." Though she was obviously referring to the child they had just made, Rias was also thankful to Alex for showing her everything he had beforehand, of course with the exception of what happened in the mall. As she recalled everything they had been through up until that point, and everything they had left behind, Rias felt an overwhelming urge to return home to see her family again so that she could recount every detail to them. The worlds they had seen, the people they had met, and different marvels were all things she wanted to recount to them. And then, as she gently rolled off of Alex to lay next to him, Rias placed her hand on her abdomen as she thought about the thing she wanted most to show her parents. The duo then laid there cuddled up together as they watched the fireflies, and discussed possible names for their future child. Naturally Rias, who was obsessed with Japanese culture, wanted to give their child a Japanese name, and seemed quite taken with incorporating their draconic heritage into their name as well. The only thing that kept them from getting too into the naming though was that they would not know until the child was born if it would be a boy or girl(every one of Alex''s wives preferred the surprise more often than not). And so the duo laid there together silently, simply enjoying the warmth of the other without even considering going to sleep. Though, after a while Rias felt the heat that had been coursing through her body earlier resurface, as the last remaining vestiges of the aphrodisiac made their presence known. With her legs starting to fidget from how uncomfortable the heat was making her, Alex soon asked, "Is something wrong?" Rias looked up at him with confliction on her face before she finally admitted, "I''m still feeling the aphrodisiac...." Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her admission, before saying, "We can probably remove the effects if you want-" "No! Then it might prevent me from getting pregnant as well..." She then seemed to struggle with something before the Crimson haired woman eventually got up from Alex''s side on all fours and said, "We can''t do it like normal, but maybe something else..." She then did something that completely stunned Alex as the Crimson haired woman then pointed her butt at him, and gingerly reached back with one hand to spread her cheeks open, presenting the wrinkled little hole within to him. "This is a one time thing, so you better enjoy it." Rias said reluctantly, as she never had an interest in letting him put it in ''there'' before. But with the aphrodisiac fueling her desire, and the fact that she would have to go without being in Alex''s bed for quite a while now, Rias decided to make an exception. With Rias offering him a new and enticing experience with her, Alex had a large smile on his face as he placed his still wet d.i.c.k at the tightly puckered little hole, before slowly thrusting his h.i.p.s forward to penetrate her incredibly tight ass. The next day, a very sore Rias would go to Anne and recommend lowering the quality of the aphrodisiac with her serum, and after nine days/months in the space-time orb she and Alex eagerly welcomed their son Ryoto into the world. Chapter 351 - Earthland "Catch daddy!" A little girl with blond pigtails cried out as she eagerly threw a plastic ball at her father, a man with neatly trimmed matching blond hair. The duo were playing in the backyard of their house, in the middle of a suburban area filled with other families. The man smiled widely as he retrieved the ball, and lightly tossed it back to his daughter while saying, "Here you go Stacy-Cakes!" Putting her arms out to act as a basket, the little girl just managed to catch the ball before shouting gleefully, "I caught it daddy!" The man laughed lightly at his daughter''s excitement, and said, "Good job sweetie, a little bit more practice and you''ll be a regular baseball star!" Stacy beamed at her father''s praise, before she then c.o.c.ked her arm back to throw the ball again. "Are you two having fun?" A woman''s voice suddenly asked, drawing the father-daughter duo to look over and see their wife/mother approaching with a couple glasses of lemonade in her hands. "Mommy, I''m gonna be a baseball star!" Stacy cried out as she ran up to her mother excitedly, making her pout before saying jokingly, "Oh? I thought you were going to be my little princess?" At that moment the man picked his daughter up before saying, "No reason why she can''t be our little princess and a baseball star, right sweetie?" "Right daddy!" The little girl cried out as she took her cup of lemonade from her mother, but then she ran off again after taking a drink to leave her parents together. "If she becomes both then what will ''he'' get to be?" His wife asked in a quiet voice jokingly, before the man gently placed his hand against her still flat abdomen and said, "Whatever he wants to be, if it is a he." He then pulled his wife in for a kiss, both people imagining what their life will be like once they had two little munchkins running around. *** That night the man was fast asleep next to his wife when he awoke suddenly, the scent of smoke filling his nostrils. "Honey wake up!" He shouted urgently while putting on his slippers. "Where''s Stacy?!" His wife shouted within seconds of opening her eyes, and realizing that their room was filled with smoke. "I''m going to find her, you get out and call for help!" He cried before rushing out the door, his only thought being to find his daughter. What greeted him was a scene as if from hell as his home burned around them, the flames spreading quickly from place to place. "STACY!" He called out while trying not to inhale too much of the smoke, but to no avail as he desperately tried to make his way to his daughter''s room. "STACY!" He called out again when he threw her bedroom door open to find her bed empty. Immediately he went to her closet door and threw it open as well, to find his little girl curled up within and crying. "DADDY!" She cried out when her father appeared before he took her into his arms and said, "It''s ok baby, daddy''s here!" Without a moments delay he turned and tried to find a way out of the burning house, his eyes, nose, and throat burning from the smoke and fumes. As he tried to make for the front door however, his heart stopped when he saw his wife trying to get to him, through the flames, crying out as she reached him, "THE FRONT DOOR IS BLOCKED!" His heart sinking at her words, the man clung to his daughter just a little bit tighter with one hand while the other grabbed his wife''s arm, and he began pulling her towards the back of the house. They only got a couple steps though, before a groaning sound made him look up, just in time to see a portion of the burning ceiling collapse onto all three of them. *** "!" Suddenly a man with jet black hair bolted up in his bed, breathing deeply as he tried to catch his breath after the intense dream/memory. The scent of smoke still being strong in his nose, the taste of ash in his mouth. The man recalled every detail of the night he had died alongside his wife, daughter, and unborn child, just like he had almost every night ever since he had reincarnated over twenty years ago. Slowly he reached over and opened a drawer in his nightstand before pulling a wallet sized painting, showing the man, woman, and child in his dream almost as perfectly detailed as a modern picture. Gently, he ran a finger over the image, longing to feel the warmth of wife at his side, to hear his daughter''s infectious laugh just one last time. It wasn''t until the first rays of sunlight started creeping through his window, illuminating his grand bedroom, that he finally muttered, "No matter how long, or what I have to do, I will see you again...." Eventually he put the painting away, and began preparing for the day. Meanwhile, down in the dining room, a couple of guys were silently munching on some breakfast while they waited for their companions to show up. One was rather burly while his head was completely devoid of hair, and he had two katanas strapped to his waist even as he ate. The other was young black haired man with Japanese features, who could have been considered good looking until he opened his mouth. Silently the duo picked at their breakfast, with the only thing happening being when the Japanese looking boy occasionally picked up a piece of bacon or sausage, and tossed it to a eerie looking black dog with glowing red eyes, that looked to be just barely out of its puppy faze. Next to it was a brilliant golden battle axe, and a divine white lance that were leaning against the wall, all waiting for when their master needed them. "Good morning!" A woman suddenly called out as she entered the dining hall, causing both men to look at her before they both scowled at her appearance. She was amazingly beautiful to look at despite her incredibly messy long black hair and the magic circle that was carved into her eye, but she also only wore a mere t-shirt to breakfast without caring at all that she was flashing her precious place to everyone present. Without minding that no one returned her morning greetings, the woman strolled on to her seat at the long table while a serious looking butler followed her every step, every single one of them pointedly trying not to look at her exposed ass due to her monkey tail lifting the back of her shirt. Smirking knowingly at their discomfort, the girl then made a show of bending over as if to straighten out her chair before she eventually sat down. "You know," she began with grin spreading on her lips, "I don''t mind if you look, or if you want you can even touch~" As she trailed off the woman started lifting the bottom of her shirt teasingly, just until enough of her b.r.e.a.s.t was exposed that they could barely see the pink edge of her a.r.e.o.l.a. She was just about to go the full mile and take her shirt off in order to be entirely n.a.k.e.d, when a new voice suddenly stated, "We don''t need this kind of vulgarity at the breakfast table, so knock it off." In an instant all three of the people at the table rose, and bowed respectfully to the newcomer, while also saying, """"Greetings to the Dark Emperor Darius!"""" Silently waving them down, the man who was called the ''Dark Emperor'' took his seat at the head of the table, before he began eating his own breakfast as the woman''s butler, Sebastian, set his plate for him. It was only after Darius took several bites of his food that he said, "We need to start preparing for the next reincarnators who come here." There was silence at his words, before the Japanese looking boy, Hyato, asked, "Why bother? It''s not as if we''re going to stay much longer anyways." Darius just gave Hyato a deadpan look, before sighing and explaining, "Because, every reincarnator we recruit to our ranks will increase our overall strength drastically, and it''s always when a plan is about to be put into motion that ''fate'' decides to intervene." The rest of those present were silent as they contemplated the truth in their Emperor''s words, as in every single move, book, or any other story an ''antagonist''s'' plans were almost always unmolested up until the last possible moment, and none of them doubted that they were the antagonists in this world. It was natural since they followed Darius, who ruled over every single dark and mercenary guild on Earthland, along with the Alvarez Empire, with an iron fist, while simultaneously driving all of the ''good'' Mage guilds into hiding. Even though most of that had been before any of them arrived, each of the other reincarnators had done their part to help Darius wipe out any of the opposing Mage guilds they could find, along with any who resisted them. Though usually none of them would stoop to becoming genuine ''villains'', Hyato especially saw this as a chance to grind on levels as he prepared for the day he finally found and destroyed the ''fake'' Red Dragon Emperor, and saved his ''waifu'' from him. Now he had five Longinus sacred gears that he''d been working hard on mastering, and was working on trying to acquire Zenith Tempest as his sixth. As for the others, all the Saiyan girl, Alice, cared about was collecting more cute boys for her reverse harem, which she was after Natsu and Gray specifically for this world; and the bald guy, Calvin, was more or less simply along for the ride, and had no problem with whatever plans they came up with. As for Darius, his only goal was to see his wife and daughter once again, and had long since decided that he would do whatever it took to do so, no matter how horrible or heinous. And so, he then continued, "Now then, Calvin I want you coordinating with the leaders of the dark guilds to make sure they''re gathered and ready to go when the time comes. Alice, I want you making arrangements here to make sure everyone can fit onto the Hanging Gardens, and that all of the offensive and defensive systems are operational. Paul, I want you-" "Uhhhhh, he''s not here yet...." Calvin suddenly interrupted, making everyone go silent until a new voice suddenly said, "Yes I am, please continue your majesty." Everyone except Darius jumped at the sound of Paul''s voice, even as he simply continued eating as if nothing had happened. "When the f.u.c.k did you get here you creepy f.u.c.ker?!" Alice demanded harshly, making Paul look at her weirdly before sighing and saying, "I was actually the first one here you know. It''s not my fault none of you can see me before I speak up, which I did when we greeted his majesty earlier." When he said that Hyato, Alice, and Calvin all got weird looks on their faces as they tried to recall wether or not Paul did greet Darius along with them, while the man in question said to their emperor, "I apologize on their behalf your majesty, please continue." Snorting at Paul''s ''apology'', Darius then continued, "Anyways, Paul I want your informants scouring the cities for any word of potential reincarnators and members of Fairy Tail. The last thing we need is any of them getting the drop on us right before we depart this world for good." As he finished speaking Darius went back to eating a few bites of his meal, making Hyato look around awkwardly before hesitantly asking, "Um, what about me?" Darius looked up at him and stopped chewing his food, before saying, "I was waiting until after breakfast, but we might as well go over this now. Sebastian, can you go and-" Darius''s voice then dropped in volume as he gave the demonic butler his request, to which he bowed deeply and replied, "At once your imperial majesty." He then left them alone to carry out his instructions, making Hyato awkwardly sit there as he wondered if he should ask Darius what Sebastian was doing. Thankfully it didn''t take long until the butler returned, with three other people following behind him. Stepping to the side to make way for them, he then called out, "Presenting the guild master of the Grimoire Heart guild, Hades, as well as two of his companions, Zancrow and Rustyrose of the Seven Kin of Purgatory." At the front of the trio was a tall elderly looking man with long grey hair that matched his mustache and beard, along with an eyepatch covering his right eye, making him look more like an Odin than Hades. Behind him and to his right was a man with long and crazy blond hair that reached down to his waist, coupled with a psychotic grin and insane red eyes. Standing opposite him though was tall and lanky man with disheveled silver hair and matching tired looking eyes. After being introduced the trio bowed to Darius respectfully, but when they righted themselves there was undisguised hostility in Zancrow and Ristyrose''s eyes at they looked upon the Dark Emperor. Hades however was the very image of composure, as he asked respectfully, "To what do I owe this honor your majesty?" Darius took another bite of his food before saying to him, "You and Grimoire Heart are to prepare for another trip to Tenrou Island, where you will wipe out Fairy Tail and the rest of the guilds they''ve provided sanctuary to for good." There was a stunned silence at his decree, before Zancrow angrily demanded, "Hey! Why the hell would we need to go back there?!" "Zancrow!" Hades shouted as he tried to get his unruly companion under control before he offended Darius too much, but then another voice demanded from his other side, "We barely managed to escape there once after facing off against a portion of their guild, what makes you think this time will be any different now that they''ve allied with every guild they could find?!" Again Hades was about to tell off Rustyrose for his rudeness, but before he could Darius spoke up, "Because this time the attack will be led by Hyato, he just needs Hades''s Fairy Tail guild mark to find the island. And your goal from the beginning this time will be to exterminate every single person on that island, no matter the means." Once again a stunned silence descended upon the room, before Hyato shakily asked, "Me?" Darius nodded and stated, "Yes you, you want to acquire more experience for more of your ''Sacred Gears'' do you not? This is the perfect chance to do so. Plus these buffoons would screw it all up again if we sent them by themselves." While Hyato once again was too stunned to speak, someone else was so furious that they finally blew a gasket. "How''s this for a ''buffoon''?!" Zancrow suddenly asked, before he leapt into the air towards Darius while taking in a deep breath. What happened was almost instantaneous, as when Zancrow''s left foot hit the bare stone ground a shockwave indiscernible to everyone present except one was transmitted through the floor. Then, when the heel of his right foot collided with the ground slightly ahead of his left foot to attack, Calvin suddenly flicked his wrist and Zancrow''s right foot when spinning as the ground beneath him moved, spreading his legs into an involuntarily split. "AWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Zancrow howled from the pain he felt in his loins, even before Calvin then tapped his foot lightly against the stone floor beneath him, and made a small pillar of stone shoot up right between his legs. The sound that came from his throat then was deafening as Alice leapt to her feet and shouted, "You bastard Calvin! He was a really good f.u.c.k too!" Calvin snorted at her protests to what he did to Zancrow, but, before either of them could react, Rustyrose suddenly leapt forward and shouted while thrusting his arms in front of him, "You bastards!" His hands and arms then grew and elongated into a series of large tentacles, making Alice''s face light up as she exclaimed happily, "I finally get to experience tentacle play?!" But sadly for her it never happened, as a series of golden chains suddenly appeared from the void, snaking their way around the mass of tentacles rushing towards them before wrapping around Rustyrose''s body. Slowly, everyone turned to see Darius standing with his hand raised slightly, a dark expression on his face as he slowly said, "That is enough." In an instant everyone was seated once more while Hades lowered his head to him respectfully. Darius however kept his gaze locked directly onto Rustyrose as if he was thinking of something, before finally saying, "I understand that your guild has awaited the chance to serve Zeref, and after being the one responsible for his demise I tried to keep this into consideration. However, with our plans being so close to bearing fruit I will not overlook such blatant disregard for my position, and as such will make an example for the rest of your guild." When they heard the last part of Darius''s declaration Rustyrose and Hades both paled, even as he started pulling the former towards him. "P-please forgive me! I-I was hasty after seeing my comrade beaten, I''ll never do it again!" His pleas fell on deaf ears though as Darius continued pulling him closer, until they were a mere three feet apart, and he calmly said, "Look into my eyes Rustyrose." Despite very fiber of his being telling him not to, Rustyrose couldn''t help but to crack opened one of his tightly shut eyes, only to get completely drawn into Darius''s pitch black irises. Though it was fair amount of time longer from the perspective of Darius and Rustyrose, to those watching less than a second had passed before they either blinked or their eye just barely twitched, and Rustyrose had completely vanished. Meanwhile Darius hadn''t even moved an inch, before started shuddering with his eyes firmly shut. "So that''s what Arc of Embodiment is..." He muttered as his mind began processing as much of the information he had retrieved from Rustyrose as possible. Hades sighed as he watched one of his own men disappear right before his eyes, a series of conflicting emotions surging through him. Though usually he wouldn''t feel anything to see one of his comrades defeated, the manner in which Darius dealt with Rustyrose honestly terrified him. Typically if one served a person who could be considered dangerous you would be afforded a certain level of ''protection'' depending on what you were able to do, or the knowledge you possessed. With Darius there was no such protection. If you had done something to earn his ire, he would erase you and take all of your knowledge and power for himself before appointing someone else to take your place. He had done this with several of those who had stood in his way, including Markarov''s grandson Laxus, the fallen follower of Zeref, Jellal, and even as far as the dark Mage who had singlehandedly plunged the world into chaos with his creations, Zeref himself. Though he was terrified of what Darius was capable of, Hades was full of awe of it at the same time. Darius had promised him a life of being able to see magics and powers none in this world had ever seen before, along with the tools and equipment needed to be able to research them. It was for this reason that Hades cowed beneath Darius''s rule, that he did everything he could to avoid earning his emperor''s ire, lest he be the next to be absorbed into his existence. As he finished processing most of the recent information he obtained from Rustyrose, Darius sat back at his seat and asked, "Any more problems?" As could be expected Hades solemnly shook his head at his question, before Darius gestured to Hyato and continued, "Very well then, Hyato the floor is yours as the one leading the attack on Tenrou Island." There was a stretch of silence as the Dark Emperor then continued eating his meal, as if what they were discussing no longer hand anything to do with him. Slowly Hyato stood from his own seat, before he focused his gaze on Hades and the still unconscious Zancrow. Eventually he said, "Muster all of the guilds that operate under Grimoire Heart, and have them prepare to travel to Tenrou Island. I want the full might that you can offer to leave the smallest possible margin for error in our mission." Hades looked confused at his words, and asked, "Is that not overkill for a simple handful of Mage guilds?" Hyato shook his head and stated firmly, "They are people with ''fate'' on their side, if we don''t hit them with everything we have all at once then they''ll gradually become as powerful as needed to defeat us. If we let that happen then even our emperor will end up losing to them." Hades''s one eye widened in shock that Hyato would disrespect their emperor in such a way, but when he glanced towards Darius to gauge his reaction, he was even more shocked to find him nodding slightly in agreement. Though he didn''t know what Hyato meant by ''fate'' being on Fairy Tail''s side, Hades added it to the ever growing list of things he needed to research as he inclined his head towards Hyato and said, "Very well, it will take a few weeks to contact and mobilize every single guild under us, but it will be done as soon as possible." Hyato nodded in affirmation as he seated himself once more, and Hades swiftly left to spread the word to his subordinates. It wasn''t until he left that Hyato let out the breath he had unintentionally been holding, and Alice mockingly said, "Wow, for a second there I almost thought I was looking at real man instead of a stupid little v.i.r.g.i.n boy~." Hyato shot a look at her before saying, "Shut up you worthless Saiyan s.l.u.t, don''t you have a bouquet of c.o.c.ks to gargle somewhere?" Though most women would be offended at being asked such a thing, Alice instead started drooling slightly as she recalled doing exactly that the night before. Her expression made all four of the men present cringe in disgust, before Darius ultimately stood up and said, "I''ve lost my appetite. If anyone needs me I''ll be in the throne room." He then left the four other reincarnators to their meal, and made his way to the grand throne room at the center of the Hanging Gardens. Though the Gardens had appeared with its own original design, Darius had reworked the majority of the interior to better suit his tastes and position as the ''Dark Emperor''. As such there were black banners and tapestries hanging from the ceiling and walls, while the throne itself looked to be carved from a type of black marble that seemed to draw in all of the light around it. If one thing stood out in the throne room, it was the giant crystal that sat behind the throne itself, containing the preserved body of the founder and first guild master of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermillion herself. He had acquired Mavis''s body shortly after the main group of Fairy Tail disappeared on Tenrou Island nearly eight years ago, and the rest of the guild was forced out of their headquarters where it was located. During his rise to power Darius had intentionally done everything he could to avoid antagonizing any members of Fairy Tail or those immediately related to them, lest he incite the wrath of the bullshit ''power of friendship'' they were prone to using. Instead, he had spent the seven years they were asleep uniting the dark guilds under the Balam alliance, which consisted of Grimoire Heart, Oraci¨°n Seis, and Tartarus; and trying to process all of the information, skills, and abilities he had obtained from Laxus, Jellal, Zeref, and any others he had absorbed into himself throughout the years. Recalling the most infamous Mage in history, Darius once again thanked his lucky stars that he managed to follow Fairy Tail to Tenrou Island and find him before Zeref managed to ''awaken'', as when offered a chance at death the dark Mage had readily accepted it. His expression then darkened as Darius recalled the one being in this world that could still challenge him and everything he built, the one being who''s power he desperately craved to obtain to cement his position at the top of this world. With time winding down until they left the world, and he war with Fairy Tail looming, the Dark Emperor then made his decision to cast away safety and take a large risk, a decision that made his blood start thundering through his veins in excitement. Standing from his throne, Darius began walking towards one of the side exits while silently muttering, "Sebastian." Immediately and silently the demon butler appeared at his side, bowing respectfully before asking, "What is it you require your Imperial Majesty?" Though Darius wasn''t Sebastian''s contracted ''master''(Alice), he still afforded him the utmost respect due to his position as his ''masters'' emperor, and would readily follow any of his orders that didn''t directly conflict with anything his ''master'' would ask of him. Not caring in particular about this, Darius commanded, "I want my airship and its crew ready to depart within the hour, along with every available weapon and defensive measure primed and ready for battle." Sebastian bowed low once more before saying, "Of course your majesty, but what should I inform the crew that they are setting out to do?" Darius was silent for a moment before he finally answered, "Tell them that they set sail to see the end of the single greatest threat this world has ever seen, Acnologia." *** While the group of reincarnators were preparing to wage war and leave Earthland for good, on a certain island hidden from everyone''s view except those who carried the mark of their founder, the very same group they were preparing to fight were causing a ruckus, as usual. A stark contrast to when they first saw the island nearly eight years ago, when there were no buildings and no one lived there, now there was a semi-circle of buildings bearing the guild crests of Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, and even Sabertooth, with the largest building at the head with the Fairy Tail crest on it. Though around the buildings several of their members were out sparring with each other to get stronger, within Fairy Tail''s building a party was going on as a brown haired woman wearing nothing but a bikini top on the upper half of her body raised an entire barrel up, and shouted, "LETS DRINK!" The majority of those within the guild''s dining area and bar, mostly comprised of Fairy Tail members and their families along with a few members of their neighboring guilds, raised up their tankards at her words and cheered before downing their own drinks, even as the girl began downing her entire barrel. A blonde haired girl sitting at the bar smiled wryly as she said, "Jeez, even when we''re the most wanted people on two continents they still only have partying on their minds..." Even as she said this though, the girl, Lucy Heartfilia, raised her own glass slightly and downed its contents while the other girls around her giggled, before she continued, "But that''s one of the best things about this guild!" As one the other girls around her nodded their heads in agreement, their group consisting of the scarlet haired knight, ''Titania'' Erza Scarlet, the white haired motherly figure of the guild as well as their poster girl, ''The Demon'' Mirajane Strauss, the petite figure with long blue twin tails, ''Sky Sorceress'' Wendy Marvell, and finally her ever present feline companion, the white furred Charla. As the group watched everyone else party Charla shook her head in annoyance at the noise, and said while reaching up to flatten her cat ears, "Seriously, I''ll never understand how these people can act the way they do, no matter the circ.u.mstances..." Mirajane smiled wryly at Charla''s complaint, and asked as she picked up another person''s tankard to clean it, "Would you rather we all act sad and depressed? With how hard everyone''s working to get stronger the least we can let them do is unwind when they come in." Charla sighed in recognition at Mirajane''s words, since it would indeed be counterproductive to try and fight back against the oppression they woke up to if everyone was always depressed. Then Lucy suddenly offered, "If you want some quiet time for a while you can come with me Charla! I''m heading to the mainland in a few days for supplies by myself, so it''ll be just the two of us." Charla smiled at Lucy and said, "Thanks for the offer, but Wendy can''t go and I''d rather stay by her side." Wendy looked away awkwardly at Charla''s words, since she now felt as if she was getting in the way of her closest friend getting some peace and quiet. Trying to find something else to discuss, she then asked Lucy, "By the way Lucy, how are you going to carry all of the supplies back?" Lucy looked smug at Wendy''s question, and said while she rummaged in her pocket for something, "The guild masters already thought of that when they asked me to make the run, TADA!" She then showed them a plain looking leather bag, making Mirajane, Wendy, and Charla look at it curiously until Erza explained through her bites of strawberry cake, "It''s a spatial storage bag. They''re very rare and were closely regulated by the Magic Council before they were destroyed, due to criminal organizations using them to transport large amounts of contraband." It was only then that the trio made expressions of aw while Lucy felt as if some of the wind had been taken from her sails, prompting her to return the bag to her pocket. She then glanced around the guild hall to look for something else to focus on, noticing a she did so another small group not actively partying, her friend Levy who was sitting in Gajeel''s lap as she read a book, her back resting comfortably against his chest while Gajeel tried to act uninterested in what she was reading. Glancing over at what Lucy was looking at, Mirajane smirked and asked, "What''s wrong Lucy, love troubles?" Jumping at Mirajane''s question, Lucy awkwardly stuttered as a certain pink haired dragon slayer entered her mind, "N-not a-at all! I-I was just thinking about how happy I am for Levy! Her and Gajeel look cute together." Mirajane smiled at her, before saying with a wink, "Natsu is a bit dense, but just give it some time." Lucy''s face turned almost as red as Erza''s hair when she heard that, and she looked down as she began mumbling something in response to the white haired girl''s teasing. Before she could properly respond though, the dragon slayer in question suddenly appeared as if he had been summoned as he eagerly ran up to Lucy and took her left hand into both of his excitedly. "Lucy, is it true you''re going to the mainland soon?!" Her heart pounding in her chest from how close Natsu was getting, along with Mirajane''s earlier words bouncing around in her head, Lucy looked as if steam was coming out of her head as she stammered, "Y-yeah I am, b-but you can''t come..." Natsu was the exact opposite of the word subtle, which she needed to be. And as such it had been unanimously decided that he and his partner Happy would stay behind while Lucy went to the mainland all on her own, however he apparently had something he really needed to say to her before she left. Nodding his head in understanding at her words, Natsu said, "Yeah I know, but I had something I really needed to say before you leave!" Once again he moved his face closer to hers, making Lucy''s breathing become ragged as various ideas of what Natsu wanted to say swarm her mind. Her heart pounding in her chest, her face completely covered in a deep blush, and her breathing increasing rapidly, Lucy felt as if she might collapse as she looked away when Natsu finally opened his mouth and started saying, "Lucy. Can. You. Please bring me back a bunch of beetles from the mainland?!" In an instant Lucy felt as if the noise within the guild had vanished altogether at Natsu''s request, while she wasn''t even sure if her own heart was still beating in her chest. Slowly she turned to look back at him, before a single syllable escaped her lips, "Eh?" Natsu nodded energetically as he began explaining, "Yeah, can you bring back a bunch of beetles with you? Happy and I found some that seem-" Natsu then went on to explain what exactly he wanted the beetles for, but Lucy didn''t hear any of it as she relived the emotional roller ouster she just went through, her free right hand beginning to clench tightly as her blood began to thunder through her body. "-and then we want to make them battle to the death so see if the beetles from the mainland or the island are stronger, so can you Lucy?" Natsu asked once more, stars sparkling in his eyes in his obliviousness to Lucy''s current state, until Happy the blue cat appeared next to him with his white feathered wings spread to fly. His paws were covering his mouth as if to keep him from laughing as he asked teasingly, "What did you think Natsu wanted to ask you Lucy?" Lucy however didn''t appear to hear this as her fist started to shake slightly, until she finally said, "Natsu. You. Complete. DUMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" As she shouted Lucy then hurled her fist directly at Natsu''s face, sending him flying clear across the guild and into a table at the other side. She then immediately made to leave while shouting, "I''M NOT TALKING TO YOU ANYMORE NATSU!" Every head moved as one as they turned to focus on the very confused Natsu, who had no idea what he had done wrong. "What did you do this time Slamander?" Gajeel asked with an incredulous expression, before one of the older members of the guild, Macao, laughed and said, "That''s no good Natsu!" Piggybacking on his words, his long time friend Wakaba added, "That''s right, you need to treat poor Lucy better before another guy steals her." Natsu however laughed lightheartedly at their advice, and said, "Nah, Lucy and I will always be a team!" He then stood up and quickly left the guild to apologize to Lucy, but true to her word she either avoided him or refused to speak to him even up until the day she left to go to the mainland. Chapter 352 - Overwhelming Back in Asora, within the space-time orb, Alex prepared to face off with one of his father-in-laws on his own floating island. Across from him on the small arena he built, Issa was doing little jumps to loosen himself, a practice it seemed he passed onto Moka. While Alex was similarly swinging his arms back and forth to loosen himself up, the silver haired vampiress approached him anxiously before saying, "Alex, please go easy on our father. I don''t want one of our last memories together before we leave being him getting beaten to a pulp..." Alex flashed Moka an easygoing smile, before saying as he pulled her into an embrace, "Don''t worry, I''ll go easy on him. This isn''t the same as training where the goal is to use the pain and experience to get stronger." Moka let out a sigh of relief at his words, along with the rest of her sisters and even Akasha, all of whom had experienced what it was like to spar with Alex firsthand. Since this was simply a match between two men though, Alex had no intention to draw things out like he usually did. On Issa''s side though, he was slowly approached by a certain dark skinned maid, his ex-wife Gyokuro. "What do you want?" Issa demanded when he saw her approaching him, undisguised hostility thick in his voice. Gyokuro smirked however as she approached her former husband, before she said, "I just wanted to show you a little something before the two of you fight." Issa was about to tell her not to bother, but before he could she made an electronic screen appear in midair, and what was displayed on it made anything he might have said freeze in his throat. "HARDER!" The silver haired girl in the image shouted as she bounced up and down in Alex''s lap, his own daughter, Moka. That alone would have been enough to set any father off, but then Gyokuro cycled through a series of short clips of Alex roughly f.u.c.k.i.n.g each of his daughters in various positions, or doing various such as sucking him off. The last clip was the final straw though, showing him an image of his youngest daughter, Kokoa, as she spread her butt cheeks wide open and begged Alex to f.u.c.k her up the ass. Something in Issa broke at that moment as Gyokuro gleefully pranced away, surprised she didn''t even have to compare Issa''s own performance and manhood with Alex''s to anger him so much. As she approached him though, Alex gave Gyokuro a deadpan stare before saying, "Grayfia, take Gyokuro to Akeno''s dungeon when she returns to the space-time orb, I think a few days in there may help her straighten out." Gyokuro paled at Alex''s words as Grayfia nodded in affirmation, and she slowly tried to back away, until Grayfia immediately barked, "Stay right there!" With the slave mark still controlling her, Gyokuro had no choice but to stay right there and fear what Akeno would do to her when she got her hands on her. Turning his attention back to the opponent before him, Alex was unsurprised to see that Issa was swirling mass of supernatural power, and killing intent. With his murderous gaze focused solely on him, Alex couldn''t help but silently praise Issa''s self control since any other man probably would have attacked him by this point, whereas Issa was instead like a silent and patient predator, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. The stage was quickly cleared of everyone but the two combatants as they prepared to fight, while Akasha awkwardly held up a small bell from the side and said, "Three, two, one, FIGHT!" The moment the bell''s ding echoed across the arena, Issa''s figure blurred slightly as he shot towards the hateful person in front of him. As he did so though, Alex appeared to be moving in slow motion as he stepped forward, and used his leg to sweep both of Issa''s out from under him. With his mind processing what was happening around him at far faster speeds than his body could react to, Issa could do nothing as Alex then placed his palm onto the back of his head, and slammed him face first into ground below them hard enough to create a small crater, despite the large amounts of magic Alex wove into the stone to ensure its durability. Thinking in the back of his mind that he should probably reinforce the arena some more, Alex then said as he placed his foot in the middle of Issa''s back, "Round to me, but we can keep going if you''d prefer?" He figured that with how angry Issa was he wouldn''t be satisfied with losing as quickly as he did, and so Alex decided he''d entertain the man for a bit until he calmed down. Though usually he would gracefully accept his immediate loss, Issa''s body was still pulsing with pure rage. So, once Alex removed his foot from the middle of his back, Issa returned to his original starting place while once more resolving himself to hit Alex at least once, as hard as he possibly could. But he had obviously learned from their previous exchange, and decided to go all out since Alex''s current level was so far above his. "I originally wasn''t planning to use this, at least not this quickly, but that little exchange showed me that I have no choice." Issa growled as he started gathering all of the supernatural power that was swirling around him into his body, before a surprising change started taking place. Typically a Shinso transformation would consist of wings growing out of their back, the addition of claws, and their blood covering parts of their body to act as a type of armor, though Yue''s was completely different since she wasn''t a vampire of this world. Issa however didn''t show signs of such a transformation. As his skin started darkening to an eerie shade of gray it also began to grow taunt and leathery on his body, the fangs within his mouth grew larger and elongated, his fingers sharpened into a series of lethal talons, and a pair of massive wings spread from his back. Alex whistled as he looked upon what appeared to be a typical Hollywood vampire transformation, right before Issa suddenly tucked his wings and lunged at him at far greater speeds than he had before. When Issa''s lethal looking talons were less than an inch away from his face though, Alex slowly stepped to the side as he simultaneously grabbed Issa''s wrist with his hand, while also placing his other hand on his arm right above Issa''s elbow, and his foot in front of both of his. The end result was Issa lurching forward while the front half of his left arm was being bent backwards, until it finally snapped at the elbow and bent backwards unnaturally. Moka and her sisters flinched when they heard the stomach churning ''CRACK'', while Akasha simply frowned and Gyokuro smiled widely despite her impending punishment. With Issa staggering after being tripped and having his arm snapped so brutally, Alex moved back a few steps and asked, "Well?" Issa just looked up at him and snarled as he snapped his arm back into place to heal, "Again!" Alex shrugged as they both moved back into position, before pretty much the same thing happened again, and again. No matter what moves he used, Issa could not manage to gain a single advantage over Alex every single time they fought, and was instead being defeated by Alex using the most basic attacks and movements he could. This didn''t mean Issa was weak by any means, his name was well known and feared all throughout the entire underworld for the ironclad hold he maintained on one of the most powerful assassin families in the east, up until Gyokuro betrayed him. Even the three Dark Lords, the most powerful Youkai anyone knew of besides Alucard, would have a hard fight against him before he was turned into a Shinso, and his strength had only increased from there. Alex however had spent several months sparring with Elaine whenever he had the chance, meaning that he was now used to fighting against someone who moved at far greater speeds, and possessed far greater strength than he did. Issa however didn''t know this, and felt as if the minimalist way in which Alex fought with him was him being looked down upon, which was irritating him almost as much as what he''d seen Alex doing to his daughters. That was why after a dozen or so rounds, he finally shouted irritably, "Are you not even taking me seriously?!" Alex''s brows shot up when he heard that, as, despite not fighting seriously, he was still overwhelming Issa with ease each time. However he could understand what was going through Issa''s head somewhat, as he himself would be fairly annoyed if someone was just toying around with him instead of taking him seriously, no matter the difference in strength. "Alright," Alex said after a brief moment of thought. "Last round, but I''ll take you seriously." True to his word Alex''s entire demeanor changed when he returned to his starting area, while Issa also prepared for their next round. For several seconds the duo stood there and stared at each other, until Issa stepped forward with his left foot to begin his next attack. However, before his right foot could even leave the ground, Alex was suddenly in front of him once more. Issa could only watch as if in slow motion as Alex reached out and grabbed his head, before ripping it off with ease. His vision didn''t even have time to go dark before Issa found himself back at his starting position, where his feet had yet to leave the ground. ''What the hell was that?!'' Issa swore to himself, his back drenched with cold sweat as he fought the urge to reach up and see if his head really was still attached. His first thought was that he had just experienced some kind of powerful illusion, but if that had been the case then he wouldn''t have been so effected by it. Instead he had genuinely felt as if he had been about to die without being able to do anything about it. He was still trying to figure out what happened to him when Alex''s voice suddenly called out, "Well? I''m waiting." Shaking off his momentary hesitation, Issa began tensing his muscles to stomp his foot onto the ground, in order to shake and destabilize the arena to mess with Alex''s footing. But, before he could even begin to lift his foot, Alex suddenly appeared directly in front of him as if he teleported. A sudden sharp pain in his chest made Issa look down, only to see Alex''s arm buried up to his elbow into his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be. The next moment he and Alex were back in their respective starting positions, with the only change being the amount of cold sweat flowing down Issa''s back. ''Again?!'' He screamed at himself, not knowing what was going on or why he kept feeling as if he was dying. The reason for this though was because Alex was using a technique he had recently developed that was basically the opposite of what Sun Wukong taught him. While his old teacher taught Alex to not project his energy whenever he attacked, preventing his opponents from predicting his next move, he was now instead doing the opposite and projecting exactly what he intended to do in response to his opponent''s move. This had resulted in a powerful form of psychological attack where no matter what they intended to do, his opponents were met with a swift and decisive defeat each and every time. With his opponents experiencing an extremely realistic vision of their eminent defeat, or even death, any time they tried to make a move, it was only a matter of time until they lost all will to fight. "Are you going to attack?" Alex suddenly asked Issa as if he had no idea what the vampire was experiencing, with just a bit of provocation in his voice as well, even though Issa had just experienced Alex flipping him into the air before bringing his foot down onto his head at full force to splatter it. By this point Issa''s entire body was drenched in freezing sweat, as he experienced over a dozen instant defeats that ended in his immediate death. Issa then shocked his entire family when he fell to his knees and reverted his transformation, before uttering in a shaky voice, "I-I submit....." It wasn''t until this point that Alex dropped his guard and approached Issa with an amicable smile, before patting his shoulder and saying, "It was a good fight, I look forward to seeing how powerful you become the next time we meet." Though there was no hidden meaning in Alex''s words, Issa still couldn''t help but to look up at him with fear in his eyes, as he wondered just what kind of monster his daughters had gotten involved with. *** A few days after his sparring match with Issa, Alex was approaching the main gate to Youkai academy for the last time. It was finally the end of the school year. Though he couldn''t deny enjoying the relaxing atmosphere after the whole Alucard issue was resolved, Alex also couldn''t deny he was ready to get back to exploring new worlds and meeting new people. Plus he wouldn''t have to worry about situations similar to the one he found waiting for him at the main gates. "Wait right there Alex-Sensei!" One of the female students called out right as Alex was about to step through the gate, prompting him to look up and see that the entire courtyard in front of the school was filled with just about every single female student, and even a few of the female teachers, in the academy. A quick glance around with his ''Domain'' told Alex that none of the male students or teachers were present, all of them either already being within the school building itself or waiting patiently outside the courtyard. Before he could try and figure out what was going on, the girl that told Alex to wait then shouted, "Three, two, one, GO!" At her command, as one, the entire female group gathered in the courtyard suddenly lifted up their skirts to reveal their contents to him, making Alex shake his head with a wry smile when he saw that none of them were even wearing panties. At some point one of the students had made a connection to Alex''s arrival coinciding with the mysterious gust of wind that assaulted the girl''s skirts every morning, and the information spread through the academy like wildfire. Of course Alex got several accusations about causing the incidents on purpose to peep beneath the girl''s skirts, but these accusations quickly died down when several people pointed out that he wouldn''t need to resort to such measures since the majority of the female students would more than likely show him willingly. Instead, the biggest change was that any of the female students that were specifically aiming for Alex would always wait for him in the courtyard, while those that weren''t would always aim to arrive at a different time than him. As a result, Alex had seen more panties the last few months than he had ever thought possible, not even counting the number of girls that had started going commando just to try and catch his eye. This was just the peak of the iceberg of shenanigans the female students would attempt to catch his attention though, ranging from things like trying to lock him in various closets or sheds with them, to even bringing him into the girls locker room to join them in the showers. But even all of that paled in comparison to what Alex was currently witnessing, which even made Kurumu whistle at his side as she said, "That is a lot of p.u.s.s.y..." Moka nodded in agreement from Alex''s other side, before leaning over behind his back and whispering, "Think we should look the other way, just this once since it''s our last day?" Her question was met with silence as Kurumu genuinely considered it, something that surprised Alex a fair amount. Ever since the female students had become so bold in trying to catch his attention the duo had become his at school ''shields'', meaning they intervened every single chance they had, and benefitted from any ''excitement'' Alex felt afterwards. It wasn''t that he actually needed their help with dealing with the swarms of love-struck women, but that sometimes they would resort to such extreme measures that Moka and Kurumu would feel as if they had no choice but to intervene. With no intention of bringing the female students into his harem though, or taking advantage of their various shenanigans, Alex simply shook his head as he casually strolled through the gate. He then walked through the crowd of exhibitionists while giving each of them little more than a cursory glance, before stopping in front of the few females teachers present and wordlessly c.o.c.king an eyebrow at them, making them blush at the shamelessness of their actions. The reason Alex didn''t intend to take advantage of their advances was that the awe the girls felt for him was more akin to what one would feel for a celebrity or idol, while others just thought that getting Alex into their pants would be their ticket to the easy life. This wasn''t true though, as what they didn''t know was that every single woman he was involved with contributed to either his family or Asora in some way, no matter how small it seemed. Plus if Grayfia or Ravel in particular thought they were aimlessly lazing around, then they wouldn''t hesitate to put them to work on the first task that entered their minds. While it was true that he could take advantage of their advances and have one of the greatest orgies ever if he just gave in, he decided to hold off on that due to the sudden increase in women he was involved with in Asora itself, not to the mention those that were still living within the space-time orb. This resulted in numerous sighs of disappointment from the girls as he passed them, but several of them had a fire in their eyes that showed they wouldn''t give up. And so Alex had the most interesting, yet exhausting, day any teacher probably ever had at a school, until it was finally time for the end of the school year assembly. After that Alex made his way to Mikogami''s office, where the Dark Lord was already expecting him. "You sure I can''t convince you to stay? I can''t recall the last time there was so much ''excitement'' here that didn''t involve some student rampaging or something." Alex however passively waved away away Mikogami''s offer, and replied, "Yeah I''m sure. It was nice to relax somewhat, but I''m ready to move on after one last family vacation." Mikogami c.o.c.ked a brow when he heard this, before asking, "Oh? And where is it you''re panning to go?" Alex smiled widely as his clothes suddenly changed in a flash of light, into a pair of swim trunks, flip flops, sunglasses, and a colorful Hawaiian shirt that was left open to expose his abs and chest. "I''m thinking maybe Hawaii." He said casually before standing and making his way to the door, waving his hand as he did so and saying, "This is so long until next time!" Mikogami shook his head wryly before briefly waving his own hand, and swiftly returning to his work. (A.N. A couple things. First of all I am NOT charging for this novel. Someone mentioned getting notifications an out this so I thought I''d say that I have never earned a single cent for writing, wether on here or [email protected], and I don''t ever have any plans to. If it does change, then it is 100% . Secondly regarding Fairy Tail as the next world, I am not including events or people from the ''100 Year Quest'' continuation. I may use certain magics at certain points, like with the slayer in the DXD world, but that is it. I meant to mention this in the last chapter, but just forgot.) Chapter 353 - Encounter Alex smiled widely as he stretched his arms back, and admired the view before him on one of the most beautiful places on earth, Hawaii. He was currently spending the last couple weeks in this world on one long vacation with his family, with no other business to occupy his attention. Before him was every single one of his wives and lovers, as well as each and every one of his children as they frolicked and played on the beach. Even the vampire Elmenhilde, who didn''t have the same resistance to the sun as Yue, Moka, and the others was present after applying a thick layer of extreme sunblock for vampires. Meanwhile Alex himself was currently lounging in the shade of a tree as his family played, his foot hanging off the side to gently rock the cradled that his two youngest children slept peacefully in. He glanced down quickly at the sleeping faces of Ryoto and Shuri, before looking back up at the rest of his family. "Say it with me~Nya, Kur-o-ka!" Kuroka said for the tenth time within the last several minutes, before Edith giggled at her and declared while pointing at her, "Kitty!" Kuroka cried out in frustration at Edith''s refusal to even try to say her name, and declared while poking her cheeks, "You stinky little brat~Nya!" Edith however giggled happily from Kuroka ''playing'' with her, until Mai made her way over and intervened, seemingly jealous from Edith hogging the attention of her favorite auntie. Meanwhile Gabriel and Koneko watched the scene from the side, both smiling warmly from watching even Kuroka play with the children. And then off to the side Myuu''s infectious laughter echoed as she worked to build the best sand castle ever with Sun and Elaine''s help, something neither girl had ever done before. The only thing ''unusual'' about this scene was the fact that the sand castle in question was actually big enough that Myuu could walk through the front gates without even needing to bend over, a sight that stunned the locals that were currently working for them. Though the awe they felt at the sand castle still fell short when they saw the waves Ingvild was creating for those who wanted to go surfing, making the local Hawaiians want to run back to their houses and grab their own boards. Or the scene of Mizore and Tsurara making their own castle with Yuki and Aurora, except theirs was completely made of snow and ice, something none of the present locals had ever seen before. As he watched Xenovia and Irina happily surf, the Shuzen sisters start making their own castle to compete with Myuu''s, Rias and a few others sunbathe, and his children waddle around after their mothers, Alex couldn''t help but let out a sigh contentment. "It''s quite the sight, isn''t it?" A new voice suddenly said, making Alex glance up at the speaker to see an old man dressed similarly to him approaching. Normally Alex would be alarmed that he hadn''t noticed the man approaching until he was practically right on top of him, or he would think he was referring to the bikini clad girls as the sight he was referring to, but curiously this wasn''t the case. Instead he was fairly calm about the old man''s sudden appearance, and instinctively knew that he was referring to the scene of his family playing as a whole. Nodding his head in agreement, Alex said, "Indeed it is, one I''m the most proud of." The old man smiled sagely at Alex''s response as he stroked his beard, and said as he lowered himself onto the chair next to him, "It is rare to find someone in the pursuit of power that will occasionally stop to admire the things they''ve built around them. Typically a person will say that they''ll stop to enjoy life when they reach a so-called certain point, but it usually never comes. Instead they let their lives pass them by without ever stopping to cherish the things they already have, even if it''s just for a single moment." Alex was silent at the old man''s words, seemingly contemplating them, before he changed the subject and asked, "So what brings you here old timer?" The old man laughed at the question, and happily said, "I''m in the middle of celebrating my retirement, just thought I''d take a brief break from the festivities." Alex c.o.c.ked his head to the side curiously at the man''s words, and asked, "You''re just now retiring?" This earned him another laugh as the man explained, "Not just yet, but hopefully soon. There''s just a couple more things to take care of before I can do so." Alex smiled wryly and was about to comment about how contradictory the man''s advice and actions were, but before he could the sound of a baby fussing came from the cradle. "Oh Shuri, what''s wrong?" Alex asked as he carefully picked his daughter up out of the cradle, doing everything he could to keep from waking Ryoto as he did so. He then checked her diaper and, when it appeared she didn''t need it changed, Alex got out a bottle to feed her, but it appeared as if Shuri didn''t want that either. Just when he was about to try something else to get her to calm down, the old man brought out a ukulele from somewhere, and started playing it softly. Shuri''s fussing settled down a little bit when she heard the soft music, before the old man started singing, "Aloha Oe Aloha Oe E ke onaona noho ika lipo A fond embrace a hoi ae au Until we meet again" Another verse or two of the song, and Shuri had completely settled down, and was soon fast asleep once more on Alex''s chest with her monkeys tail occasionally twitching whenever he hit a certain string. A warm smile on his face as he watched the sleeping baby, the old man eventually put down the ukulele when he was sure she was really out, when Alex carefully passed him a coconut with an umbrella and straw in it while saying, "Thank you for that, I was worried about her waking her brother up." The old man waved away Alex''s thanks, and said while taking a drink, "It was nothing, I also know what it''s like to have children, and how it is to only want them to be happy in life." Though Alex didn''t notice as he kept his attention on Shuri, the old man then glanced at Elaine right as she flashed a brief smile from Myuu''s antics, as the pint sized Dagon declared herself queen of the sand castle. The woman in question then suddenly got the feeling as if she was being watched, but when she glanced in Alex''s direction she only saw him sitting by himself in the shade with Shuri laying on his chest. Shaking her head to try and clear the feeling, Myuu then demanded her attention as she hurled a water ballon at her, immediately drenching the ''Angel'' in freezing water. With a twinkle in eye as he watched Elaine try to get her back, the old man then suddenly stood and turned to leave while saying, "Well it was a nice chat young man, but I better get back to my own party now. I''m sure we''ll meet again some day." Glancing back at his retreating figure, Alex only nodded in affirmation even as he looked away, and the old man immediately disappeared into the void without so much as single ripple. For the next several days Alex would think on the old man''s words as he spent all of his free time playing with his family, until the day his countdown to reach world''s finally reached zero. It was now time to go. Chapter 354 - Departure The day had finally arrived. It was one several people had been looking forward to for quite a while. Finally, the day had come that everyone would transition to a new world. As the countdown for Alex''s ability to transfer world''s winded down, there was a veritable buzz of excitement as everyone made their own preparations. The Grigori prepared for all of the data they''d gather from said new world, the Devils were on standby for the orders to go out and establish contracts like they had on this world, while the ones who were the most excited were those who studied magic since Alex did tell them that Earthland was filled with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of mages. However one particular group''s preparations were quite unlike everyone else''s. Hundreds of figures wearing hooded robes were gathered as torches and bonfires burned around them, each facing their chief as he held up a few movies. "As our time in this world draws to a close, it is time for us to retire the first of the great teachings of the boss!" """BOSS! BOSS! BOSS!""" The rest of the robed figures cried out, as Cam placed the movies to the side. He then held up a series of video games, and continued, "Now we move onto the next of the great teachings, "Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember," """NOTHING IS TRUE!""" "Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember," """EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED!""" "We work in the dark to serve the boss!" """WE ARE ASSASSINS!""" As the entire tribe of rabbits finished their declaration, Cam turned around and grabbed the edges of his hood and pulled it up to cover his face, an action copied by every other rabbit behind him as one. They then crossed their wrists in front of their chests, and with a metallic click small blades slinked out from within the sleeves of their robes. *** While everyone was preparing for the journey to Earthland, the man who would make it all happen was relaxing in one of the rooms within the Misty Manor with a veritable horde of children surrounding him. With all of the youngest children having fallen asleep, Myuu was the only one sitting in Alex''s lap awake as she looked up at him and asked with pouty eyes, "Papa, do you really have to go now?" Alex smiled sadly, and explained, "Yes I do, and I''ll miss you while I''m gone." Myuu pouted again before demanding, while also trying to stay silent for the other children, "But why do you think you''ll need to be gone for so long!?" Alex looked increasingly sad at Myuu''s expression, and once again wondered if it had been wise to tell her that it was probably going to be a while until he came back. He was going to Earthland with the intention of finding more reincarnators to begin with, meaning he had no idea what powers he could expect them to have. That was why he intended to avoid traveling to Asora as much as possible until he was sure that the other reincarnators weren''t able to trespass it, or until he established a safe place to place the portal. Though the best case scenario was that there was no danger and they would be home later in time for dinner, Alex still wanted to be able to say goodbye to his children before going, a sentiment both Grayfia and Rias shared. The Crimson haired woman was practically heartbroken at the thought of potentially leaving Ryoto behind for so long, but when Alex asked if she wanted to stay, Rias had firmly declared that she also had her duty as his ''Bishop'' as well as that of a mother. She had then gone on to say that the faster they beat any reincarnators or established a safe place, the faster she could return to her son. Though he also tried to explain this to Myuu, the emerald haired Dagon could only pout in response before wrapping her arms tightly around Alex''s chest, seemingly refusing to let him go. Alex could only smile wryly at this, as he relaxed and started to gently rub Myuu''s back comfortingly until she too eventually began snoozing over an hour later. After extracting himself from her embrace, Alex slowly began to make his way to the door where he found Rias trying to enter instead. He put one of his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet, which Rias nodded in understanding before tiptoeing silently into the room with a small red and black blanket tucked under her arm. Alex watched as Rias gently laid the blanket on Ryouto, and bent over to lightly kiss his forehead before leaving the room just as stealthily as she entered it. Once the doors clicked shut, she explained with a slightly pained expression, "I heard that if a mother sleeps with their baby''s blanket for a few days it''ll get their scent on it and help relax the baby when they''re not around, I just hope it works." Though Alex wasn''t so sure it would work, he kept his doubts to himself as they turned to leave their children behind. Waiting for them in the dining room was the rest of Alex''s peerage, Anne, and several other key figures of Asora, namely Yasaka, Gabriel, Serafall, Barakiel, Hajime, and the Snow Priestess. Alex looked over all of them before saying, "For those of you I haven''t mentioned it to, this time we''re going into the new world expecting there to be other reincarnators. This means that we have no idea what to expect despite any knowledge I may already have about that world. "If whoever''s there is hostile, then I''ll send someone to deliver a quick message saying so before we go silent completely. Only once we can establish a protected base, or if it''s still peaceful, will we return. I''ll expect you all to keep the place running smoothly until then." Though he got several eye rolls, everyone gave their word to him that they''d make sure nothing happened to Asora while Alex and the others were gone. While Anne would normally stay behind and run things herself in Alex''s absence, part of the reason they were going to Earthland in the first place was to have her learn more about Sky Dragon Slayer magic. So when he turned to leave with the small horde of women that were a part of his peerage, she was at his side as well. One by one they disappeared into the wall of mist behind Alex, with Yami bringing up the rear, as they reentered this version of earth for the last time. Waiting for them at a deserted area of the Youkai Academy grounds was those who they were leaving behind, Mikogami, Issa, Touhou and his family, as well as a couple of the teaching staff such as Nekonome. Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow when he saw them, and asked, "Come to see us off?" Touhou nodded and said with a small smile, "And to thank you one last time for everything you''ve done for us." Everyone around him nodded in agreement as Alex and the girls waved away their thanks, while Yami and Lala looked at them curiously since they hadn''t met any of the people before them. Mikogami then stepped up to Sun, and said, "Sun, you are the best student I''ve ever had in this academy, and I''m proud of what you''ve accomplished. Though I had hoped you''d be able to take my place as a Dark Lord someday, I can''t bring myself to ask you to stay for us. Good luck." Sun began to tear up at Mikogami''s words before she quickly wrapped her arms around him and said in the most beautiful voice any of them had ever heard, "Thank you..." As a baby Sun had been abandoned by her parents due to her extreme amounts of supernatural power, resulting in her practically being raised by the academy. Though she and Mikogami had barely, if at all, exchanged any words as she grew up, he was still in a way her guardian since it was his academy she had been entrusted to, and because he had especially kept a close eye on her after learning about how powerful she was. After a moment of looking awkward due to him not being one to show affection, Mikogami then awkwardly patted Sun''s shoulder as if to return her gesture, making her smile widely before releasing him and backing away. His reaction earned Mikogami a teasing look specifically from Touhou, before he then looked at Alex and said seriously, "Us too, once again thank you for helping Fang-Fang discover his talent, and reinstating the peace between our families." Once again Alex waved away Touhou''s thanks, and responded, "Don''t think anything of it. I just helped Fang-Fang as one martial artist to another." As he said this Alex nodded in Fang-Fang''s direction, prompting the young man to respectfully return the gesture. Though he had looked fairly feminine and weak when they first met, Fang-Fang had really matured and manned up after discovering his talent in martial arts. He still had some of his feminine features, but you would be hard pressed to confuse him for a girl at all now. Another change though was a far more subtle one, as Fang-Fang''s hand accidentally brushed against his former rival''s, Xia-Long, and both men blushed while pointedly looking away at the contact. Raising his brow after witnessing the display, Alex was tempted to say something to tease the two before Nekonome suddenly spoke up, "Can you tell Ririko that I''ll miss her~Nya? It''s going to be a bit more lonely here in the future..." Alex smiled awkwardly as he reached out and scratched behind her ears, and said, "Yeah, but we should be back someday, we just don''t know when exactly." Though she had her eyes squinted in pleasure from Alex scratching behind her ears, Nekonome still perked up a little when he said that they''d be back one day. Slowly the goodbyes continued as Touhou and Mikogami also said farewell to Moka, as old friends of her mother, and then Issa fought the urge to break down in tears as he said his farewells as well. He had already said farewell to her before along with Akua, Kahlua, Kokoa, and Akasha; but with this being the final time he would see her for who knew how many years, Issa was having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. Once that was done Alex turned to each of the girls accompanying him, his ''Dragon Empress'' Anne, his ''Queen'' Kuroka, his ''Bishops'' Rias and Yue, his ''Rooks'' Shia and Moka, his ''Knight'' Shizuku, and last but certainly not least, his ''Pawns'' Grayfia, Kurumu, Sun, Lala, and Yami. After looking all of them in the face, and seeing their resolution, Alex asked, "Who''s ready?" One by one each of the twelve women have their confirmation that they were ready to leave, before Alex turned and opened the portal to their next destination, Earthland. Chapter 355 - Side story 2- Darkness Shortly after Alex and Kuroka had bought the planet Mars into Asora''s space, he was seen standing on its surface along with his entire peerage as they patiently watched one particular member in the middle, Yami. The petite assassin was trying to activate her ultimate transformation, Darkness, which would give her enough strength to where she could even fight on par with the king of Deviluke that had conquered their entire home Galaxy. However, even after standing there for several minutes nothing happened, until Kuroka finally said irritably, "Is anything even going to happen~Nya?" Of course the only response was a paper fan smacking the top of her head courtesy of a certain silver haired maid, while even Yami cracked open one of her shut eyes to give her a dirty look. With Kuroka rolling her eyes at everyone else, Yami shut hers once more and tried concentrating. In her life she had only harnessed the powers of Darkness three times, the first being when she had almost lost her life, the second being when Nemesis tried recruiting her on earth, and the third was when she acted to defend the life of her first ever love, Yuuki Rito. Now she was learning to try and control it in the name of her new master/husband, the man that had ''forced'' her to become a member of his peerage, Alex. However as the minutes crept by, she was unable to activate the transformation regardless of how much she tried. Opening her eyes and looking down at her hands, Yami frowned and muttered to herself, "why can''t I do it?" Her muttering was heard by Kuroka, who smiled widely and said as she put one of her hands on Yami''s shoulder, "What''s that~Nya? You can''t do it? Don''t tell me Alex used one of his ''Pawn'' pieces on someone defective~Nya?!" Though he knew Kuroka wasn''t being serious in her taunting to Yami, Alex still shooed her away and said to the petite assassin, "Don''t worry about it too much Yami, we still have plenty of time before we change world''s to get it down." Despite the fact that she knew Alex was just trying to comfort her, Yami still frowned and turned away from him before teleporting back to Asora without another word. With everyone being relatively speechless at her actions, Lala suddenly called out even though Yami was already long gone, "You don''t need to be so rude Yami-Chan!" Even as everyone present shook their heads at Lala''s fruitless actions, they couldn''t help agreeing with her to some extent. Most of all was Kuroka, who looked at the spot where Yami disappeared with a slight frown. Despite her earlier teasing, Kuroka also wanted Yami to be able to properly use her powers as one of her comrades in battle. And so, she thought to herself that she aught to do something fitting her role as Alex''s ''Queen''. *** Later, back within the space-time orb, a certain duo watched as Yami slipped inside the baths while everyone else was still at dinner, with one of them frowning noticeably. "It''s worse than we heard Mea, Golden Darkness isn''t acting the way she should." Mea nodded in agreement, though her expression was a bit sadder than Nemesis''s glower. The dark skinned girl then developed a sinister smile as she said, "I think I have an idea of how to ''help'' her though." Before Mea could ask what Nemesis meant, she was then pulled down to her level so that the whisper her idea into her ear. "I can''t do that to Yami onee-chan!" Mea practically shouted in surprise, making Nemesis tut at her and say, "This is all to help Golden Darkness Mea, or do you want her to continue wallowing like this instead?" Mea was silent as she looked back towards the baths where Yami had disappeared into, before looking back at Nemesis with determination in her eyes. Meanwhile the girl in question was sitting at one of the many wash stations in the expansive bath, sighing in frustration at the recent events. Despite the fact that Alex ''forced'' her to join his peerage, the fact that she was unable to use the Darkness transformation was making her unbelievably frustrated. The worst part was being around so many powerful beings for the first time in her life, making her feel that if she couldn''t master Darkness she would get left behind and abandoned. Though Alex would never do such a thing, Yami couldn''t keep the dark thoughts from invading her mind as she sat by herself. Suddenly, as Yami was lost in her thoughts, several tendrils of red hair coiled around her wrists and ankles before pinning her to the wall behind her. Though she was initially surprised as she slid down to the floor, Yami quickly recognized Mea''s hair and demanded, "What is the meaning of this Mea?" The red haired girl smiled apologetically before saying, "Sorry Yami onee-chan, but there is a reason for this. Right Neme-chan?" Though her brows twitched at the way Mea called her, something Nemesis had never gotten used to ever since she left her service, she ignored it and said while looking down on Yami, "Golden Darkness, you''re shaming us transform weapons too much!" Yami''s eyes widened at Nemesis''s declaration, before she realized she was referring to what had happened earlier that day. Yami tried to look away when she recalled the earlier events, but found Nemesis''s foot planted on the wall right in front of her face. Looking back at the dark skinned girl, Yami briefly considered breaking out of her restraints even as she asked, "And why do you care Nemesis? Or did you actually come to like your new role as a maid?" Nemesis''s frown deepened when she heard that, before snapping, "Of course I don''t like being a maid! But we should all have our pride as transform weapons, and you most of all as his ''Pawn''! But when you look bad then you make all three of us look bad!" Yami snorted since she didn''t share the same ''camaraderie'' of transform weapons as Mea and Nemesis, she acknowledged and cared for Mea as a little sister, but that was about it. Her response however angered Nemesis even more, prompting her to state, "I know this is all about that Yuuki Rito! He''s dead, just get over it and move on!" Not just Yami, but even Mea had been stunned into silence at Nemesis''s words, before, "..." "I''m sorry what was that?" Nemesis taunted at the murmuring that escaped Yami''s lips, before the golden haired girl looked at her with fire in her eyes and shouted, "TAKE THAT BACK!" As she shouted cracks started spreading in the stone as her hair began to move as if it had a life of its own, poised and ready to attack. "Neme-chan, maybe we''re taking this too far..." Mea muttered quietly as she began loosening the bindings holding Yami in place, not wanting to also earn her older sister''s ire. Nemesis however didn''t falter as she declared, "No we''re not! After all the reason she can''t use Darkness now is because she''s torn between her remaining love for Yuuki Rito, and her newfound allegiance to Alex!" Even as her restraints slackened Yami had no words for what Nemesis said, as they were ultimately true. Eventually she could only ask, "How is it you can act as if you don''t care?" Nemesis snorted and stated as if it was obvious, "It''s simple, I don''t." Both Mea and Yami stared at her in shock, before Nemesis rolled her eyes and stated, "I saw him as nothing more than a fun servant, the fact that he went and got himself killed means nothing to me other than I lost a relatively interesting toy." Both Mea and Yami once could only look at Nemesis in shock, as they would have thought that with how ''attached'' she was to him, along with the fact that they once shared a body, that Nemesis would have felt SOMETHING at the loss of Rito. Feeling as if the two other weapons were going to gang up on her, Nemesis quickly stated, "This isn''t about me anyways! This about Golden Darkness, and her inability to use the Darkness transformation, which I have a plan!" Before either girl could argue about whatever plan Nemesis had, the petite girl grabbed them both and teleported them to Alex''s room right as others began entering the bath. *** After his bath Alex slowly meandered to his room, already aware that someone was plotting something within, though he wasn''t sure exactly what. Despite him training his awareness with his ''Domain'' Alex usually tried to remain ignorant when his women were involved, after several instances where he had ''ruined'' some kind of surprise they had planned for him. That was why he was only half surprised to find Yami waiting for him when he opened the door, wearing the same black night gown she usually wore to bed. Though he could sense both Mea and nemesis watching from the cracked open bathroom door, Alex pointedly ignored them as he focused all of his attention onto Yami. "What brings you here Yami?" Alex asked as he played dumb regarding her intentions, as there could only be one thing Yami intended to do after coming to his room at this time of night, with her cheeks tinted rosy red. Fidgeting slightly under Alex''s gaze, Yami eventually said in an uncharacteristically meek voice, "I wanted to s....." She then trailed off and finished the rest of whatever she said in a voice so small, that not even Alex could hear her. This made him smile wryly, before he started edging closer to her while playfully saying, "What was that? I couldn''t hear you." Yami glared at him hatefully as her cheeks darkened in color, as she mustered the courage to do what she set out to. Though he felt a bit guilty for pushing Yami like this, Alex kept it up since he felt that this was what she needed to solidify her resolve for what was to come, plus it was a little fun to see the super serious assassin squirm with embarrassment. As he hoped, Yami balled her fists up before reaching up and shifting the shoulder straps of her nightgown to the sides, letting the only piece of clothing she wore fall to the ground as she said with conviction, "I want to spend the night with you!" Alex''s smile widened as he approached her, but, right as he made to dispel his clothes, Yami grabbed his wrist and continued, "No! Let me..." Surprised at her sudden assertion, Alex was momentarily stunned as Yami began to fumble with the light clothing he had put on after his bath. The reason for this was because when ''that'' man had taken her he had done everything to ensure that Yami had no control, to further reinforce that SHE belonged to HIM. Though she did technically belong to Alex now as his ''Pawn'', Yami wanted to try and take control a little bit during their first time together to establish a difference between Alex and ''that'' man. And so she slowly undid every single button of his top Yami slowly slid it off of his body, her soft breath tickling his chest as she did so. Then she slowly kneeled down to her knees so that her face was level with his h.i.p.s, before untying the strings that held his bottoms up. As they fell to his ankles though, Yami found herself face to face with a very terrifying object, one that made her mind blank of all but one thoughts, ''this is going to go inside me?!'' There was a very drastic difference between Alex and ''that'' man, something Yami already knew but had never fully considered until she got to this point. Steeling herself once again after getting a close up view of Alex''s ''monster'', Yami stood back up and gingerly pressed her n.a.k.e.d body against his as she reached up, and pressed her lips against Alex''s. Though they had kissed more times than either of them could count by this point, Yami had never been the instigator in any of them. This time though she could feel Alex''s lips curl upwards in a smile against her own, prompting her to lightly bite his lower lip in retaliation. Alex chuckled lightly at this, before she then gently pushed him back to the bed. Alex sat back down onto the edge of his bed as Yami crawled on top of his lap, her legs straddling his on both sides as she continued to gently push him until he was laying back while she sat on his h.i.p.s, just above his increasingly hard manhood. He then used one of his free hands to tap a few keys on the Love Room''s controls, filling the room with artificial moonlight that illuminated Yami''s nude figure, accenting her b.r.e.a.s.ts and hair. "Beautiful...." Alex muttered in awe, making Yami blush noticeably in the moonlight that illuminated the room before she lightly pounded her fist onto his chest in retaliation for doing something himself. Alex chuckled lightly at her attitude as he leaned back and put his hands behind his head, symbolizing that she was in charge from there on. Though her brows were still furrowed slightly from earlier, Yami nodded in affirmation that she was the one calling the shots as she lifted her h.i.p.s, and allowed Alex''s firm manhood to stand straight up under her. "Gulp..." Yami gulped when the moment of truth arrived, as she was already annoyingly ready for him to enter her, before she slowly started to lower her h.i.p.s. At first nothing happened, but when his head prodded her narrow slit she jumped slightly. Cursing at herself for being so jumpy when she realized what it was, Yami took another breath and put herself back into position with the tip just barely pressing into her opening. Then, as if she had enough stalling, Yami immediately started to lower her h.i.p.s so that Alex''s c.o.c.k was charging right into her body all at once, breaking through her repaired purity until it kissed the entrance to her w.o.m.b. "Ngh!" Yami groaned at the sudden pain in her lower body, along with the feeling of her being forcibly stretched out and open, while Alex couldn''t believe the tightness that was assaulting his nether regions after she tried to take his entire length at once. "Are you ok Yami?" Alex asked concernedly, to which the assassin nodded and simply asked, "Yes, the pain the is passing..." Though he was still concerned for her, Alex''s mind was soon diverted when Yami noticed something. She had moved her fingers downward as if to examine the place where Alex had entered her body, but was surprised to find that several inches of his manhood had yet to enter her. Frowning at the revelation, an idea then occurred to Yami that she couldn''t help but try. "Woah!" Alex suddenly cried out as Yami''s insides suddenly came to life as if they had a mind of their own, sending sensations the likes of which he''d never felt before running through his loins. Alex looked up as a hot sigh escaped Yami''s lips, due to her slowly sliding down his remaining length until the entire thing was inside her. Then the sensations continued for a couple more seconds, and when it stopped Yami''s insides felt as if they had been perfectly molded for his d.i.c.k specifically, while still retaining its amazing tightness. "It''s nothing...." Yami muttered when she felt Alex''s teasing gaze, before she looked away pointedly. He then leaned forward and said while one of his hands gently seized her b.r.e.a.s.t, "That felt amazing Yami." Though she was silent as Alex groped her and sealed her lips, Yami silently thought that maybe she should use her transform down there again for him. Soon however any wayward thoughts vanished as she and Alex started rocking their h.i.p.s together in rhythm, and sensations the like of which she never felt before began to rage throughout her body. Almost immediately Yami had to lean back place her hands on Alex''s thighs to steady herself, as waves of pleasure wracked her body from her sudden and intense climax. Alex wouldn''t let her rest however, as he then began to seriously thrust up into her while latching onto her b.o.o.b.s with his hand on one, and his mouth on the other. ''Would he like them if they were bigger?'' Yami thought to herself past the the pleasure that was coursing through her body, before she willed her b.r.e.a.s.ts to suddenly increase several times in size. Though he glanced up at her eyes at this, Alex didn''t say anything as he continued playing with the engorged b.r.e.a.s.ts. He then used his free hand to reach around and grab her ass, making Yami gasp as he began hitting and rubbing new places inside her with his newfound grip. As he did so though, Yami glanced behind herself at her petite figure, and wondered, ''would he like it if I was a bit fuller?'' She had seen what men considered ''ideal'' body types, and knew that her youthful and petite frame didn''t fit the bill, though she also knew that certain men still loved her slender features. Thinking of the rest of the girls around him though, such as Rias, Grayfia, Yasaka, and Gabriel, Yami then willed her body to become more mature and ''fuller'', essentially aging her appearance by several years all at once. However once he felt that Alex stopped moving and backed away slightly, before saying awkwardly, "No offense Yami, but if I wanted to sleep with Tearju then I would have invited her....." Yami looked at Alex curiously, as she wasn''t sure what he was talking about since she just made herself look more ''mature'' and ''fuller'', but then he summoned a mirror and held it up for her to see. "This....is me...?" She asked incredulously, as the person looking back at her didn''t look like her, but exactly like Tearju Lunatique. It only took her a second to realize that she should have expected that she''d look like Tear if she let herself mature physically, as she was a clone of Tear herself that was so close in resemblance, that one would instantly consider them mother and daughter. But Yami, as well as Mea and Nemesis, had never allowed her body to mature past her usual petite form, as to living weapons such as them they were the ideal forms for combat. Usually one would have problems with their reach in such a form, but as beings capable of changing their bodes at will they never had to worry about it, plus this particular appearance had the added benefits of maneuverability, and getting their targets and opponents to let their guard down around them. That was why until this point Yami never considered how she''d look if she aged her appearance up, and was surprised at the outcome. "I just wanted to change myself to what I thought you''d like..." She muttered in disbelief, to which Alex smiled and said as he cupped her face, "Like I said, if I wanted Tearju then I would have invited her, you''re amazing just the way you are, in your own ways." Though it sounded like a typical cheesy line a guy would tell his girlfriend to keep her from getting jealous, Alex''s feelings when he told Yami that were genuine. He didn''t want fifty carbon copies of the same woman, but instead appreciated the differences in each and every one of his women, no matter how subtle. It was for this reason that Yue typically stayed in her petite form as well, as it made her different from the rest of the women in his peerage in her own way until Sun joined, yet the shy siren had yet to cross that final line with Alex. Realizing that she had been unintentionally overthinking things, though there was no doubt Alex would play with her transform ability in the future, Yami transitioned back into her usual self before Alex further proved his point by attacking her once more, with even more vigor than before. The room was then filled with the subdued sound of grunting and muffled m.o.a.ns as Yami embarrassedly tried to keep her voice from leaking out as Alex attacked her, but was largely unsuccessful as he made her experience climax after climax under him. It was only after what seemed like a painfully yet amazingly long time that Alex neared his own climax, before he filled her w.o.m.b with his hot seed and made Yami release her loudest cry yet. With both of them panting hotly, Alex leaned down to seal her lips once more, during which Yami wrapped her arms around his neck and reciprocated his actions lovingly. It was at this moment, as things started to calm down, that the door to bathroom suddenly burst open and Mea cried out, "Hey! Don''t forget about us master!" She then raced over while completely n.a.k.e.d, and jumped onto Alex with all the force she could muster in her attempt to get him to attack her, while Nemesis casually approached them from behind her. "Wow, to think that Golden Darkness could make such expressions, and be so assertive in the bedroom!" She said teasingly, making Yami pout as her cheeks turned red. But then Nemesis turned her attention to Alex and said, "Now that you''ve accepted Golden Darkness there''s no reason for you to keep Mea and myself waiting. I dare say she''s wanted this for a while, while I''m also curious to personally see what exactly makes you so amazing in bed." As she finished her statement, Nemesis then started rising in height while her usually flat chest practically went ''boing'' as large b.r.e.a.s.ts suddenly bounced in their place. Immediately in her place was stunning mature woman who could put even the best of models to shame with her figure, who then started crawling across Alex''s bed seductively. Shaking his head at the duo''s antics, Alex''s response was to bury his fingers between Mea''s butt cheeks, making her m.o.a.n at the sudden stimulation she felt from them as he said, "Very well then, come at me both of you!" What transpired after that was a very interesting night as the three transform weapons tried out all kinds of shapes and sizes to play with Alex, until he finally made them pass out from their inability to keep up with his stamina. *** When the sun rose the next morning Alex awoke to find Yami snuggled up to him, her face looking extremely content after their extensive exercise the night before. When she began to stir Yami looked up at him with sleepy eyes, before she recalled what happened the night before. Though she felt embarrassment at what they did together, that didn''t stop a smile from spreading on her face as she muttered, "Good morning..." Alex smiled widely in response, and said as he pulled her closer, "Good morning to you too." As she enjoyed the warmth from Alex''s body, Yami couldn''t help feel as if this was most content she had ever been in life. By consummating her relationship with Alex she had managed to undo the knot in her chest that had formed as a result of her lingering feelings for Yuuki Rito. Though Yami still held love for Rito in her heart, she felt she was now ready to move forward at Alex''s side as his ''Pawn'', but she also swore to never openly admit that Nemesis''s plan actually worked as well as it did. As the duo cuddled together, and Yami sorted through her thoughts, she finally said, "I want to try activating Darkness again. I feel as if I''ll be able to do it this time." Seeing the resolution in her eyes, Alex nodded and agreed to her request. Later she not only managed to make the transformation, but she even managed to maintain control over it for a short while due to her activating the transformation consciously. When she saw this Kuroka smiled to herself, and concluded she had made the right choice in ''accidentally'' telling Mea and Nemesis about Yami''s previous failure. Chapter 356 - Hargeon As they stepped out of the portal Alex took one look around, and frowned at what he saw. Of all the places he could have chosen to spawn at, he decided on top of a building in the port town of Hargeon, the same town where Natsu and Lucy had met for the first time. And had no one had been to this world before them, then they would have arrived shortly before Natsu and Lucy met, yet the scene that greeted them was nothing like what was depicted in the original series. The majority of the buildings were boarded up, run down, or just flat out destroyed; while people were wrapped up in dirty rags and bandages as they slowly wandered up and down the streets, or simply collapsed where they were. Their eyes were hollow as they searched for meager scraps of food, and eagerly drank whatever water they could find, no matter how dirty. This one look was all it took for Alex to know that his guess that other reincarnators had been here was correct. "This place stinks~Nya, you really wanted to come here?" Kuroka asked incredulously, however one look at Alex''s expression was enough for her to know that this wasn''t supposed to be what the world was like. As everyone realized that it really would be a while before they could return home, there was a collective sigh before they put on their game faces. "What now?" Sun asked Alex hesitantly, but, before he could answer, a loud set of voices echoed up to them from the street. "Man this place really is a dump! I wonder when we can finally move on out of here?!" The group looked down from the edge of the building they were on, and saw a duo of guys wandering down the street as if they owned the place. They were dressed in dark colored clothing that appeared to kept in far better shape than anyone else''s in town, and they carried matching black marks on their necks. Alex frowned as he watched the duo march their way up the street while shoving anyone remotely close to them out of their way, even going so far as to kick a kid who had been digging through a trash can. He was about to make them pass out with his Conquer''s Haki, when one of them suddenly said, "Just think though, now we have that fairy bitch to put on a show for us back at the headquarters!" Two little words in that sentence made Alex stop, as both men showed lecherous faces before the other said, "Yeah, just remembering those titties is making me excited! But it''s too bad that we were told not to lay a hand on her..." As the man started feeling down, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder as a new voice said, "Excuse me." ""Wha-!!"" The two men cried out as they jumped and spun to find Alex standing behind them, an amicable smile on his face as he continued, "Can I ask the two of you something?" The two men frowned when they saw him as one demanded, "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g blind or just plain stupid?! We''re members of the Black Collar guild and you think you can just walk up to and talk to us like we''re equals or somethin?" Just as he had been about to go off on Alex though, the man and his companion caught sight of the group of incredibly beautiful girls behind him. With drool leaking from the corner of their mouths, one man said to the other, "Say, hows about after we teach this little punk a lesson we have some fun with those girlies over there before taking them to Bora?" The other man nodded eagerly as he looked down at Yue with lecherous eyes, before saying, "Dibs on the short-" Whatever else he had been saying never even got the chance to leave his lips, before everything from his waist up suddenly vanished, leaving a pair of disembodied legs attached at the remnants of his h.i.p.s. There was dead silence as everyone in the immediate surroundings looked at the legs in disbelief as they fell over, before their gazes slowly traveled up to the one responsible, a certain rabbit eared girl with a massive hammer slung over her shoulder while she hummed irritably. Yue looked up at her and simply said, "...Shia, I could have handled it..." Shia nodded without any hesitation and stated, "I know, but I still couldn''t stand the things they were saying and implying about us, it was really annoying!" Though the rest of the girls around them nodded in agreement, Yue still said, ".....Indeed....but you still should have made him suffer more before killing him..." Kuroka, Moka, and even Kurumu all nodded in agreement as they looked at what remained of the man''s body with disdain, while Alex sighed as he turned towards the only remaining person and said, "Sorry, I was trying to be a bit diplomatic, buuuuuut," he then suddenly grabbed the man by the neck before he could react, and slammed him up against the nearest wall while everyone around them stared in shock at how someone was still willing to go against the Black Collar guild. As the man struggled to breath through Alex''s grip, he leaned in closer and said, "Now let''s try this again, huh? What can you tell me about this so-called ''fairy bitch''?" *** "No matter how much I see this sight, it never gets old miss Heartfilia." Smirked a man wearing a long dark blue coat with neatly trimmed hair and a short beard, as he looked down upon his newest prisoner, Lucy. The blond haired Mage glared back at him with teary eyes as she once again squirmed in her bindings, trying desperately to cover her n.a.k.e.d body from his disgusting gaze, but her efforts were fruitless due to her arms and legs being spread out by chains to minimize her movements. Lucy then swore at herself as she recalled how she had gotten into this situation, when she had made contact with one of the only people the guild masters told her she could trust, only for them to spike her food and water with drugs. She had then woken up in this dungeon, stripped and disarmed of the magic keys she needed to summon her contracted spirits, and bound in shackles that specifically sealed the magic power of their prisoner. The worst part was the person who had captured her, the same man now leering at her n.a.k.e.d body, Bora of Prominence. Bora was a sc.u.mbag she had met before joining Fairy Tail, who had used Natsu''s nickname of ''Salamander'' along with the illegal ''Charm'' magic to lure cute girls onto his private yacht, where he then drugged them and sold them into slavery. Lucy had almost been one of his victims back then due to his lie of being a part of Fairy Tail, but then Natsu literally ''crashed the party'' and beat the snot out of Bora for trying to pass himself off as a member of their guild. She had never found out what happened to Bora after that, mainly due to her and Natsu fleeing the authorities of Hargeon after he destroyed the port, but the guild masters had informed her beforehand that the city was ruled by a relatively new dark guild by the name of Black Collar. Though they were relatively new, they were already infamous due to their main purpose being the acquisition and selling of slaves, which were comprised of the majority of the healthy and capable people of Hargeon. Despite her n.a.k.e.dness and the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, Lucy''s fierce glare never wavered as she demanded, "So what now? You haven''t tried to torture me or get information from me, and you''re obviously not gonna just kill me, so what is it you''re after?" Bora looked at Lucy weirdly for a moment at her question before realization dawned on his face, and he muttered, "You don''t know...." He then proceeded to burst into laughter at Lucy and her ignorance, confusing the blonde even more until he breathlessly continued, "You really have no idea that everyone you know is about to die?!" Lucy''s heart fell when she heard that, but she didn''t show it as she stated, "You''re just bluffing to get me to talk or something, there''s no way that''s true!" Bora''s expression turned gleeful at her refusal to accept the truth before he stated, "But it is! The word has been put out that one of the generals is heading to Tenrou island to wipe you all out, and that the master of Grimoire Heart is the one leading the way! Soon not just the entirety of their guild, every one of the dozens of guilds under them will surround the island, and wipe you all out forever! The reason we haven''t touched you is because one of my men is currently on his way to inform the Emperor that we caught ourselves a fairy bitch, and all of us were told not to lay hands on any of you that we find besides apprehending you!" Lucy was stunned silent at his declaration, before she realized she needed to escape NOW to warn the others of the impending danger. Right as this thought crossed her mind though, she noticed Bora take a step closer with a nasty smirk on his face. "You want to know what I would do if we hadn''t been told not to lay a hand on you?" Lucy thought she was gonna be sick as Bora reached out towards her b.r.e.a.s.t, making her try to move out of the way so that he couldn''t grope her. All she succeeded in doing though was making her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle enticingly as Bora eyed them greedily, before roughly seizing one and squeezing it as hard as possible. As he reveled in the softness in his hand, Bora leaned forward and sneered, "I remember exactly who you and that bastard Salamander are! You not only destroyed my yacht, but also landed me in jail and cost me all of my clients and business! If it were up to me, I''d take you myself every night, at every chance I got until you submitted yourself entirely to me. And then when I tired of you, I''d give you to the guild mates as ''entertainment''; we''re always getting pretty young things through here that none of us can lay out hands on, so they could really do with a ''stress reliever''. And when you were so used up and worn out that not even any of them would take you, we''d leave you tied up out in the street for any one of those dogs out there to use!" At that point Bora released Lucy''s b.r.e.a.s.t and went to retrieve something that she couldn''t see, leaving her to fight the bile rising from her stomach at the disgust she felt from being groped by him. When he reentered her view though, Lucy paled as she carefully watched the eerily glowing yellow poker that Bora had retrieved, making him smirk victoriously as he said, "And whenever you misbehaved, I would add a tally with this. Leaving marks one by one on your beautifully flawless skin, as you begged me to stop hurting you, to stop the humiliation and pain. You''d beg for the mercy and pleasure that only I could give you!" With each word Bora moved the poker closer and closer to Lucy''s skin, was becoming increasingly damp with sweat at the thought of what it was going to do to her. ''Natsu, help me!'' She desperately cried out in her mind, willing him to somehow cross the ocean in an instant at be at her side to save her once again, except it didn''t happen. Natsu didn''t appear. Instead there was only Bora, who was laughing sadistically as he watched Lucy squirm to get further away from the poker. "This is disgusting." Both of them suddenly froze as a new voice echoed off of the dungeons stone walls, making them turn slowly towards the origin of the voice. Casually standing there off to the side was a single muscle bound man with wild hair, dressed in a red one piece combat outfit. "Who the hell are you?!" Bora demanded threateningly as he turned the poker towards the stranger, making him flash a fearless smile in the low light before saying, "You know, I don''t think I''ll ever get used to people not knowing who I am, and thinking I''m some kind of small fry whenever I go to a new world." Bora''s face was painted with confusion at the stranger''s words, while he turned towards the captive Lucy and continued, "I''ll free you in a minute miss Heartfilia, I just need to take care of the trash first." Bora''s confusion shifted to anger when he was referred to as trash, and he used one hand to aim the poker directly above the stranger''s heart, while his other conjured a large ball of flame as he demanded, and who exactly do you think you are?" The stranger smirked as he fearlessly stepped towards the poker and said, "You can call me Alex, the Dragon Emperor." The moment he finished speaking the poker suddenly touched Alex''s chest, yet he ignored it as if he was unable to feel the burning hot metal scorching his skin as he continued stepping forward. Bora''s eyes widened in shock as he desperately blasted the fire in his other hand towards Alex, only for it to suddenly veer off to the side as if it had a mind of its own. He didn''t even have time to be surprised when Alex suddenly grabbed the poker with one hand, and seized Bora with the other. He then said with the glow of the poker reflecting in his eyes, "Now what to do with you? I heard from your men that you specialize in selling beautiful women as slaves, so maybe you should experience the same pain they did?" Bora paled at Alex''s implication, as he was well aware of what the people who bought his slaves did to them, but he was unable to fight back as Alex spun him around and pinned him to the wall in front of him. "P-please, don''t!" He pleaded desperately as Alex started fiddling with something behind him, making him chuckle lightly before saying, "You know, I have to wonder how many of those girls said the same exact thing before they went through all kinds of suffering at the hands of their new ''masters''?" His words quieted Bora even as he still struggled to come up with a way to get out of this. What he couldn''t see happening behind him though was Alex using Creation magic to change the shape of the poker until it was shorter and thicker around, while he simultaneously stared heating it up even more until it started illuminating the entire dungeon. When Lucy saw this she turned a little green as realization of what Alex was about to do dawned on her, making her clench her own backside as he aimed it at Bora''s. What followed was the unholiest sound she had ever heard coming from Bora''s throat as the burning hot metal was shoved inside him, making her feel a little sick, yet she also somewhat felt satisfied when she recalled him molesting her earlier. *** When Lucy was finally free of the shackles Alex used his magic to immediately clothe her, making the blond feel relieved at wearing clothing for the first time since she was captured. "Thank you." She said with her voice filled with gratitude, still scarcely daring to believe she had actually been rescued when she needed it the most, though Natsu hadn''t been the one to save her. Alex however nodded seriously and replied, "It''s nothing much, but I do need something from you in return." Lucy looked at him curiously before she said equally seriously, "I don''t know what it is you need, but I have to get to the rest of my guild as quickly as possible, they''re going to be attacked soon!" Alex nodded in agreement, but said as he held something out to her, "I''ll take you to your guild, but first I need you give me what I need." Lucy''s eyes widened as she saw her celestial keys in Alex''s hand, before she snatched them away fast enough that Alex was almost surprised she didn''t start going ''my precious''. Though she was terrified of what Aquarius was going to do to her since she had her keys taken away, again, Lucy turned back towards Alex and said, "Thank you for returning my keys, they mean more to me than you know. As for whatever it is you need from me, I can hear you out really quick but I do need to leave as soon as possible." Alex nodded and said, "We''ll leave tonight, I just need to confirm some things before then, let''s go upstairs first." He then turned and started making his way upstairs to the main hall of the guild, leaving Lucy to follow along with her chaotic thoughts. Her mind was tossing and turning as she tried to put everything that had just happened to her in order. First was that the person she had told she could trust betrayed her, and handed her over to Black Collar on a silver platter. Second was that one of the four generals of the Dark Emperor Darius was either currently, or about to attack Tenrou island with an army of dark guilds and Grimoire Heart at their head. And then there was the man who had saved her life, Alex, the so-called ''Dragon Emperor''. There were many things she didn''t understand about him, such as where did he come from? What was the magic he had used? What did he want from her? How did he know where she was and that she needed his help? These and other such questions floated through her mind as they made their way up the cold stone stairs, before her mind suddenly blanked at the view that greeted them when they arrived at the main guild hall. Like all guilds the main hall was set up like a bar/restaurant, though this one had a more sinister design, but that wasn''t what had surprised Lucy. It was the group of inordinately beautiful women that were seated there as they waited for them, all of which looked as if they could give even their poster girl, Mirajane, a run for her money in regards to looks. Meanwhile there was a pile of bodies sitting off to the side that they all pointedly ignored, while a couple of the girls rummaged behind the guild''s counter for refreshments. "They only have this nasty smelling liquor~Nya!" Kuroka cried out as she took a whiff of one uncorked bottle, only to almost throw it away based on the smell alone while the other girls around her also wrinkled their noses in displeasure. Shia then turned to face him and Lucy as they approached, and the blond suddenly felt several pairs of eyes focus onto her, as if they were scrutinizing everything about her. Though the rest of the girls were just looking her over curiously, Rias, Yue, Moka, and Lala were all looking at Lucy curiously due to her giving off the same feeling that each of them gave each other, the influence of ''fate''. Meanwhile Kuroka was the one that was looking at Lucy the most intensely due to her heightened perception of things such as ''fate'', a result of her tireless efforts to be the first of Alex''s peerage to obtain divinity. While she had long gotten used to the feeling given off by the other four, Kuroka couldn''t help but think that the ''fate'' surrounding Lucy was exceptionally powerful compared to them. This was due to the fact that in comparison to Rias, Yue, Moka, and Lala, who were all simply the main ''heroines'' of their respective ''stories'' while Issei, Hajime, Tskune, and Rito were the actual main protagonists respectfully; Lucy herself was the main ''protagonist'' of the Fairy Tail ''story'', regardless of how much the series seemed to follow Natsu during the actual conflict. Squirming under the series of scrutinizing gazes, Lucy however looked at Alex and asked, "Is there something on my face or something?" Alex however shrugged and only said, "Everyone this is Lucy, Lucy this is Anne, Kuroka, Rias, Yue, Moka, Shia, Shizuku, Grayfia, Kurumu, Sun, Lala, and Yami." Each of the girls casually waved as Alex pointed and introduced them, making her laugh somewhat awkwardly at all of the new faces. She then asked as Alex began making his way to a stool at the bar, "Um, so how exactly do you all know each other?" No matter how you looked at it, one man traveling with so many beautiful women was certainly unusual, but of all the answers Lucy was expecting, she never expected Alex to casually say, "They''re all my wives of course." "Eh?" All that escaped Lucy''s mouth was a weird sound as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, which, a quick glance around her was enough for her to see all of the girls nodding in confirmation of Alex''s claim. "Earth to Lucy!" Alex said as he tried to get her to boot back up while also waving his hand in front of her face, startling her slightly before she said awkwardly, "I''m sorry, did you say wives?!" Alex nodded slowly as he conjured a bottle of good alcohol out of nowhere, something else that would have greatly stunned her if she still wasn''t focused on the ''wives'' thing. Alex then poured her a drink and said with all amus.e.m.e.nt fading from his voice, "Lucy, I need you at attention. The sooner we get through what I want to talk about, the sooner we can go to your friends." With Alex referring to the impending attack on Tenrou island, Lucy''s eyes came back into focus as she sat down next to him, the rest of the girls around them becoming more intent on what she was going to say. "What do you need from me?" She asked seriously while gingerly accepting the drink Alex offered her, the fact that she had been drugged previously still fresh in her mind. Alex however didn''t mind and said, "I need you to recount every single experience you''ve had since joining Fairy Tail, no matter how small, from the very beginning." Lucy paused when she heard that, and asked somewhat suspiciously, "Why do you want me to tell you that?" Alex''s expression however was dead serious as he said, "Because I need to know what''s happening before I can properly make my move, I need to know what you''ve done yourself and what you haven''t." This only confused Lucy even more as, while she could understand current events so to speak, she didn''t understand why Alex wanted to know about her own personal history in the guild. The reason for this was that, as this ''story''s'' main ''protagonist'', Lucy''s own experiences would tell Alex more about what had happened and what was different with this world compared to the one he was expecting. Seeing how serious Alex was though, Lucy decided to go along with him if meant getting to and helping her friends faster. And so she threw caution to the wind and downed a gulp of the surprisingly tasty alcohol, and began her tale. Chapter 357 - Hope As Lucy went on to tell her story Alex''s expression gradually became darker, until she finally got to what had happened in the last year since they had woken up after being frozen in time for seven years. At first everything was the same, Lucy joined Fairy Tail, went on various adventures with Natsu and co before the fight against their rival guild, Phantom Lord, before eventually making their way to fight Jellal at the Tower of Heaven. It was after that that the first major difference appeared, which was the disappearance of the guild master''s grandson, Laxus. Laxus was one of the guild''s S-class mages that had Dragon Lacrima(crystal) inserted into his body, making him an artificial Dragon Slayer unlike Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy. As a lightning Dragon Slayer Laxus was easily in the top five of the strongest guild members, losing out only to his grandfather Markarov, and the undisputed strongest of Fairy Tail, Gildarts. However his strength resulted in an unrivaled arrogance within him that led to him trying to overthrow his grandfather, and take control of the guild through force with his followers, the ''Thunder Gods''. Naturally he was defeated by a Natsu and Gajeel before being excommunicated by his own grandfather, but had rejoined the guild later after a bit of an attitude adjustment. From what Lucy told him though, Alex learned that Laxus had actually been missing since before she and the rest of the major guild members got sealed on Tenrou island. Not only was Laxus''s disappearance a major loss of guild strength, but it had also ensured that he never attempted to overthrow his grandfather, which in turn prevented the reawakening of another S-class guild member. Mirajane Strauss was a former S-class Mage that had been infamously known as the ''Demon'', up until a few years before Lucy joined the guild. During a certain quest however she experienced a traumatic event when her own baby sister ''died'' in her arms. Though the truth was that her sister Lisanna was still alive in another world called Edolas, the shock had been enough that the vast majority of Mirajane''s powers vanished, and she was no longer an active member of Fairy Tail, instead acting as the guild''s receptionist. It had been during Laxus''s attempted coup that Mirajane''s powers made a sudden comeback, when one of his followers tried to kill her only remaining sibling right in front of her. Now however, despite Lisanna returning from the world of Edolas whole and healthy, Mirajane was still powerless to help her guild when they needed it, and Fairy Tail was short two of their S-class mages. The second big difference occurred almost immediately after, when Fairy Tail didn''t send Natsu and co to help fight one of the dark guilds that made up the Balam Alliance. After the destruction of of the Mages Council during the Tower of Heaven arc one of the strongest Dark Guilds, Oraci¨®n Seis, began moving to search for something called Nirvana. As a result, several of the legal guilds sent representatives to form their own alliance, from Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Cait Shelter. This time however Oraci¨®n Seis never moved to find Nirvana, as their needs to discover its location were never recovered, Jellal. After his defeat at the Tower of Heaven he too had disappeared completely, meaning that Oraci¨®n Seis never tried to find Nirvana, and were never defeated or imprisoned. However, as if fate was defiantly saying it wasn''t going to be ignored though, some of the things that happened during that particular arc still came to pass. For instance, even though Wendy didn''t meet them there, she still ended up meeting Natsu and Lucy during a different quest that they had undertaken, that had eventually led to her joining Fairy Tail. Lucy herself as well still ended up encountering a member of Oraci¨®n Seis by themselves, the other Celestial Spirit Mage, Angel. Perhaps a result of Lucy''s ''fate'' interfering to help her acquire more of the golden Zodiac summoning keys, she had encountered Angel by chance and had managed to defeat her before forming a contract with the three Zodiac spirits she had on her, Aries, Scorpio, and Gemini. This had added to her collection that already consisted of Tauros, Aquarius, Cancer, Virgo, Leo, and Sagittarius. Then, with her most recent acquisition of Capricorn, she now had ten of the twelve Golden keys, along with several weaker silver key spirits. After these two changes though everything else was more or less the same as it was supposed to happen, Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy all ended up being transferred to the world called Edolas after the people of the guilds hometown Magnolia were taken to fuel their magic power. And then they had gone to the Fairy Tail holy land, Tenrou island, for the S-class promotion exam, which was interrupted by an attack from Grimoire Heart and Acnologia. It was from here on that the ''canon'' completely went to hell, as immediately after the main members of Fairy Tail disappeared the person known as the Dark Emperor made his move. With the powers and knowledge he had stolen from Laxus, Jellal, and Zeref it had been child''s play for him to completely take over the three dark guilds making up the Balum Alliance, Oraci¨®n Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartarus, before moving to dominate the majority of the continent with their combined might and forces. The only ones who could compete with his might and forces were the Mage guilds and the Alverez Empire, however the latter joined him when it was learned that he had absorbed even their founder and emperor, Zeref Dragneel(aka Emperor Spriggan) into himself. This left only the Mage guilds to stand in his path towards dominance, however they were systematically targeted and destroyed until only a few were left. Any that weren''t destroyed were either left alone for some reason, or elected to join up with him along with most mercenary guilds, bolstering the Dark Emperor''s ranks even more until he had an army unlike any the world had ever seen before at his disposal. Aside from the specific Mage guilds he had also elected to leave the various kingdom capitols alone as well, apparently not considering them worth his time or energy to deal with. As a result when Lucy and the others awoke the world had been transformed into something completely different from when they first traveled to Tenrou island so long ago, where even their beloved hometown of Magnolia was destroyed. Of course the first thing they did was to try and contact their comrades and the guilds that were left, mostly the ones they were friends with, and transfer them to Tenrou Island with the Blue Pegasus guild''s beloved airship, Christina. Now they were caught up to the present, where the guilds would occasionally send one of their members from Tenrou Island to do a supply run to the mainland, where Lucy was captured after one of their contacts apparently turned over to the Dark Emperor. When Lucy had finished retelling her story it had already started getting dark, and Alex had a hard look on his face as he digested everything he had heard. Though none of the girls knew the differences from how things were supposed to be, they could tell from Alex''s expression, as well as the occasional questions that he''d ask Lucy that it wasn''t good. Eventually Grayfia asked him, "So what now?" Alex sighed and took another swig from the bottle of alcohol, while also feeling a bit regrettable that he couldn''t get drunk, and said, "Now we go to Tenrou Island and make contact with Fairy Tail and the rest of the guilds there, especially before this ''Dark Emperor''s'' forces get there. But first, I want you to return to Asora long enough to relay what''s happening here, and that it''ll be a while before we can return. Also I want you to bring Zenith back with you." Grayfia nodded and was about to depart, when Anne suddenly grabbed her hand and requested, "Please bring back the supplies we have stored at the Emergency Response building! Before we leave I want to do something for the people suffering here!" After glancing at Alex for confirmation, Grayfia said, "Of course, how much do you want me to bring back?" With all of the various food and other supplies being stored in storage rings for efficiency, as well as preservation since time didn''t pass in the storage rings, Grayfia would literally bring back decades worth of supplies with her if needed. Unsurprisingly Anne said, "Please bring back all of it, we don''t know how much we''ll need before we can go home." Grayfia nodded in confirmation at Anne''s request, and soon departed through the usual wall of mist, leaving Lucy mystified as she asked, "What kind of magic is that?" Alex however just smiled wryly and was wondering where exactly to begin in explaining to Lucy who they were, when suddenly the guild''s front doors were opened. "HAHA! Did you hear that little brat squeal when I smashed his fingers? Teach him not to take things that don''t belong to him!" The newcomers words were met with a round of laughter before the group stopped and looked at the mess in their guild. "W-what happened here?" One demanded, before he noticed Alex and the girls gathered around the bar, and his gaze focused onto Lucy. "The fairy bitch escaped!" One of them yelled as they got ready to fight, making several of the girls around Alex stepped forward threateningly. "Wait!" Lucy suddenly cried out as she stepped forward herself, her face serious as she glared at the newcomers. "I owe these guys some payback for how they treated me, so leave them to me!" As she spoke Lucy grabbed the whip at her side with her right hand, while her left held up two of the golden keys at her side. With the rest of the girls backing off to see some of this world''s magic firsthand, Lucy then shouted as she held the two keys out, "Open the gates of the Golden Bull and Lion, TAURUS AND LEO!" As she commanded there was a brilliant flash of light, which faded to reveal two figures standing there between Lucy and the newcomers. One was relatively normal looking, being a young good looking man with spiky orange hair and wearing a formal suit. The other however was towering bull-like figure complete with a pair of horns, a tail, and even with white and black fur covering his body. Both of them had angry expressions though as they glared at the newcomers, as the bull grabbed the handle of the massive dual sided battle axe on his back, and declared, "Unforgivable! How dare you strip and ogle my beloved MOOOOCY''S body! Even I haven''t seen her completely n.a.k.e.d before!" The man next to him nodded and said with a fierce look, "Indeed, how can we tolerate your pathetic existences when you''ve defiled our master with your filthy eyes?" To the duo''s declarations though, Lucy suddenly shouted, "THATS WHAT YOU GUYS ARE MAD ABOUT?! THAT YOU HAVEN''T SEEN ME N.A.K.E.D AND THEY HAVE?!" Though on one hand she was glad that they wanted to beat these guys up for doing that to her, on the other she was depressed that their motivation to fight was mostly due to their own jealousy. It was at that moment that the man, known to members of Fairy Tail as Loke, looked back and was going to say something to Lucy, only to catch sight of the rest of the girls present. In an instant his expression turned to one of awe, before he suddenly appeared in front of the nearest girl, Moka, and said as he took her hand in his own, "Such beauty, elegance, and grace! Please my goddess, tell this lowly one your name!" Moka''s eyes widened in brief surprise at his actions, before she flashed a radiant smile. Loke smiled back, thinking she had taken a liking to him, before she eventually said, "Taken." "Excuse me?" Loke asked, not understanding what she said, to which Moka''s smile widened as she stood up front her seat, and said, "Taken, as in I am already happily taken." She then proceeded to slowly lift her leg until her foot was right above Loke''s head, before declaring, "Know your place, fool!" She then brought down her foot with enough force that the entire surrounding region shook as if an earthquake had struck, sending almost everyone within Hargeon to the ground as they cried out in panic. Meanwhile when the dust cleared Loke was shaking where he knelt, as he touched the side of his face where Moka''s foot had just barely missed. Slowly he looked up at her face once more, only to see her flash him another smile that practically sent him running back to his position at Lucy and Taurus''s side, both of who were looking back at Moka with fear along with the group of newcomers. The vampiress casually flipped her hair back, and retook her previous seat as she elegantly sipped a blood red liquid from a wine glass she had found, which was actually some of Alex''s blood that she had bottled. Though they didn''t know it was actual blood, the fact that it looked like it was enough to scare them even more after her previous actions. For a moment it looked as if no one was going to fight due to what had happened between Moka and Loke, but then Alex said, "Aren''t you going to get back at them Lucy?" This snapped the summoning Mage out of her momentary stupor, as she cracked her whip and said while looking at her opponents fiercely, "Yes! Loke, Taurus, let''s go!" Her words snapped both of her summoned spirits back to attention as well, as they returned their fierce glares back onto the group before them, though they still sent the occasional nervous glance back at the girls behind them. Meanwhile the group before them hesitated to begin fighting as, while they weren''t necessarily afraid of Lucy and her spirits, they were still wary of Moka and the rest of the group of strangers with her. Even if she wasn''t a Mage, the strength she had just casually displayed was nothing to scoff at, so now they wanted to get away from here and report this as soon as possible. Lucy refused to give them that chance though, as she commanded, "Loke! Get behind them and cut off their escape!" The orange haired man nodded in affirmation while saying, "Right," before he suddenly moved behind the group of newcomers before they could react. What followed was a skilled combo of Loke and Taurus attacking the group, which consisted of both mages and mercenaries, while Lucy used her whip to systematically seal their movements so that her spirits could finish them off. As they fought Alex watched from behind with the girls, while also occasionally flicking a marble at any of the guys who were about to get through the trio''s defenses. Eventually they were down to the last guy, who immediately tried to turn tail and run. "Going somewhere?" Loke asked as he blocked the door, making the final guy pause slightly before he suddenly hear from behind him, "LUCY, KICK!" He turned around only to see a foot coming directly at his face, before his vision went black as he was knocked out when the attack connected. As he fell to the ground Lucy looked around, before making a V with her fingers for victory, and saying, "Good job you two! We showed them what for!" The two spirits chuckled at Lucy''s happiness from winning, before Loke suddenly asked, "Tell me master, do we get a ''reward'' for winning?" As he mentioned a ''reward'' both Loke and Taurus''s eyes started shining in anticipation, making Lucy''s expression shift into a deadpan as she simply said, "Close the gates of the bull and lion..." Both guys could only pout as they disappeared into specs of light and were sent back to the Spirit World, while Lucy turned to face Alex once more, to find him nodding in approval. "Good work, but you left them alive." As he spoke Rias stood and walked over to the unconscious dark guild members, and pointed her fingers at the back of one of their head execution style as if they were a gun. She then fired a small bullet of pure Destruction into their skull, instantly killing them before moving onto the next one. Lucy grimaced when she saw the way Rias efficiently eliminated the men she had defeated, but held her tongue after she saw how Alex dealt with Bora before, and due to the fact that there was no longer a Magic Council to turn them over to. She tried to put the gruesome executions out of her head, and walked back to Alex as he said, "Once Grayfia returns we''ll help the people here as best we can, and then we''ll be on our way to Tenrou Island." Lucy nodded in affirmation, though she couldn''t help but want to leave sooner due to the anxiety she was feeling. She did ask though, "How are you going to help them? Even if our entire guild was here it would take days for us to be able to properly help the people here." To this however Alex flashed a mischievous smile, and said, "The Fairy Tail way, as loud and flashy as possible!" *** Throughout the city of Hargeon there was a palpable tension in the air, as the people were on edge after word of newcomers that had gone against the Black Collar guild spread, as well as the earthquake they had all felt earlier. To be honest by this point the majority of them had given up on things going back to how they used to be, and were simply existing until the day they finally ended up dying. They weren''t completely devoid of the will to live though, which was why when they heard explosions in the sky the vast majority of the citizens started to think they were under attack once again due to the newcomers, and fled to hide. BOOM BOOM BOOM Explosions shook and lit up the sky above them as the people desperately tried to find some cover to escape the magic attacks. It wasn''t until one of them tripped and ended up looking directly at the explosions in the sky, that their panic vanished and was instead replaced by confusion. "Look!" They cried out at those passing by them, making other people stop to look up, before they too were similarly confused. One by one the people throughout the city looked up into the night sky, and paused at what they saw. "Oh my god...." One woman whispered as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as she recognized the symbol burning brightly above them. "HEY! COME OVER HERE!" Someone suddenly called out, drawing more and more people to their shouting, until they came across a wondrous/stupefying sight. The building that the Black Collar guild had operated out of for years, where they had taken their families and loved ones to sell into slavery, was gone. Instead there was a giant stage-like structure in the place where the building was supposed to be, with a giant cornucopia on top with food and other necessities spilling out of it. For a brief moment no one moved, none daring to believe what they were seeing, until one man climbed up onto the stage and took one of the fruits at the edge of the pile. He then bit into it cautiously, only for the sweet juice to run down his chin as his eyes widened in wonder. "It''s real..." He muttered to himself, before saying to the crowds, "IT''S ALL REAL!" There was a brief pause at his words, before an uproar went up through the crowd. The man then called several people up onto the stage with him to help hand out the food and other supplies, such as water, blankets, clothing, and other things they needed. ''''CHILDREN FIRST!" He called out, to ensure that those who needed the food most got some before the a.d.u.l.ts were able to get any. Naturally any parents amongst the crowds started bringing their children forward to get what food they could before it ran out. Among them was a woman who was dragging her barely five year old son through the thick throngs of people, the upper half of his face heavily bandaged. He had been used for entertainment by some of the Black Collar guild members a couple years back, as they fired various forms of magic at him to watch him run away crying. As a result, he had been hit directly in the face and blinded by a fire spell, that had also covered the area around his eyes with a large scar. Though he was unable to see the same things everyone else around him could, he could hear the excitement in their voices as he asked, "Mommy, what''s going on?" His mother looked back at him with tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she explained, "Someone brought us food baby, tonight you''ll be able to eat as much as you want for once!" Though the little boy was excited to be able to eat so much, he was quickly distracted as he noticed a orange glow through his bandages. "Mommy, what''s that bright thing?" He asked innocently, making his mother look up at the fire in the sky and say, "That''s.......that.........." She then trailed off while stopping her fight to get to the front of the crowd completely, as an impossible thought entered her head. Slowly the woman turned towards her son, not daring to believe what she had just heard from him as she fell to her knees. "Mommy?" The boy asked as she started to fumble with the bandages around his eyes with shaky fingers. Despite her unstable movements though, the woman managed to remove the bandages, and, when the final strip of cloth fell away she did start breaking down at what she saw. Instead of the horrible scarring and milky white eyes that had looked back at her every time she had removed her son''s bandages for the last couple years, she was greeted with pure unblemished skin and big beautiful brown eyes that blinked in the sudden light before focusing onto her. "MOMMY!" The boy cried out when he realized he could see her again, as he jumped into her embrace and wrapped his arms around her happily, as the woman cried over and over, "My baby... My baby....!" Eventually she suddenly cried out into the crowd, "MY BABY CAN SEE AGAIN!" Though for the most part the people didn''t know what she was going on about, those that did know the mother-son duo rushed towards them to verify their claims for themselves, while also explaining their circ.u.mstances to those around them. Quickly the boy''s story was known to everyone in the crowd, and the miracle that had restored his sight, before, "Argh!" On man cried out as he clutched at the stump that had once been his right arm, before he righted himself a moment later with his arm restored. One by one within the crowd people discovered longtime debilitating injuries, or after effects from various illnesses, disappearing as they became healthier than they had been in years. Most amazingly though was several of the elderly suddenly felt even decades younger, and were able to perform feats that they hadn''t in years. Meanwhile the mother, who was still trying to get her tears under control, took her son into her arms once more before pointing upwards and saying, "You see that up there, all that fire?" "Yes mommy." The boy said as he looked up at sky, which had two words burning brightly with a symbol underneath as fireworks went off around them. Due to how he hadn''t been able to learn how to read before being blinded, and that he had never seen that symbol before, he didn''t now what they stood for until his mother said, "Those words say ''FAIRY TAIL'', and that''s their symbol below it. They''re a mages guild that was famous a while back." "Mages?" The boy asked curiously, to which his mother eagerly nodded and explained, "Yes, before you were born there were people all over the world that used magic, not just the dark guilds. They formed guilds and used their magic to help anyone that needed it, just like now!" The little boy''s newly repaired eyes were wide as he once again looked up at the fiery words in the sky, before he finally declared, "When I grow up, I want to be a Mage and join Fairy Tail too!" The mother smiled widely and squeezed her son a little bit tighter, but ''Fairy Tail'' wasn''t done helping them yet. At that moment a particularly large firework went off, blinding everyone within the city of Hargeon for over an entire minute, but when they opened their eyes the entire city around them had been restored to how it looked before the dark guilds attacked. For a moment everyone could only look around in awe after the consecutive miracles, before a deafening roar shook the entire city as everyone cheered its revival. It was so loud, that a certain large ship that was slipping away under the cover of the night sky could hear them, making it''s passengers smile at their reaction. "They certainly seem happy." Shia said as she leaned over the railing to look down. "Well wouldn''t you be too if you were in their shoes?" Shizuku asked with a wry smile, while Anne hummed happily next her from how happy the people below were. Then Kuroka spoke up, "What happens when any of those dark guilds come back~Nya? I don''t imagine they''ll just leave this place alone after we wiped out one of their guilds and gave the people all of this stuff~Nya." Alex nodded from where he sat at the edge of the railing, and replied, "I left a few magic circles that''ll alert me if someone tries attacking the city. If they do, then I''ll teleport straight here and rain hell onto them." As he said that a powerful aura started radiating from Alex''s body, making his women smile widely at how domineering he was behaving. Meanwhile Lucy could only look down at the city in awe, not yet sure if she was dreaming or truly seeing what was happening around her. She then slowly looked back towards Alex all of her unasked questions once more flooding her mind. Chapter 358 - Temptation BOING "Ngh..." BOING BOING BOING "Ngggggggggggggh!" BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHG!!! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP THAT?!" Lucy shouted while she also pleaded with Shia, as the rabbit girl bounced around while listening to music on her modified headphones, completely n.a.k.e.d. "What was that?" Shia asked innocently as she removed her headphones, making Lucy groan once more as she avoided looking at the rabbitgirl''s exposed melons, which were comparable in size to her own. One thing Lucy had always been proud of was her looks and large b.r.e.a.s.ts, but after having met Rias and the others her pride in them was completely shattered. She hadn''t registered this at first due to everything that had been happening at the time yesterday, but now that everyone was either running around completely n.a.k.e.d or in swimsuits, she was seeing it all firsthand. Sun was currently relaxing alongside Yami in a small pool while wearing their swimsuits, and Grayfia was taking the rare moment to relax as she and Shizuku tanned in their own bikinis. Meanwhile Shia, Kuroka, Rias, Lala, Moka and even Anne were all lounging or playing in the buff as they drifted through the sky, dumbfounding Lucy at how carefree they were, while also simultaneously reminding her of Gray with his stripping habit. Of course the most shameless one was Yue, who was also n.a.k.e.d as she laid on Alex''s body and made out with him while her hand snuck its way into his swim trunks, which currently had an all too noticeable bulge. "What is with all of you....?" Lucy muttered as she tried to comprehend how they could all be so carefree when they were flying into a battle, making Shia shrug as she put the headphones back on and resumed dancing. When she thought of the danger her comrades were in, Lucy couldn''t help but shake slightly from nerves. They had barely managed to drive off Grimoire Heart once before, but now their opponents had over seven years to prepare while she and the others slept, they were also accompanied by the rest of the dark guilds under their control, and even one of the four generals. She would stand by Fairy Tail and the others until the end, but Lucy still had a hard time imagining them winning the upcoming fight, unless..... "Thinking of the coming fight?" A voice suddenly asked, disrupting Lucy''s thoughts as she turned and saw Grayfia standing there. Nodding slowly, she then asked, "How are all of you so carefree when you know what''s about to happen? Who we''re about to fight?" Surprisingly, the silver haired maid smirked confidently and stated, "This is far from our first battle, and it''ll be far from our last. Not to mention that after the opponents we''ve faced before these dark guild people will be hard pressed to present us a proper challenge, numbers or not. The only real issue will be this so-called ''Dark Emperor'' and his generals." Grayfia then got a distant look as she contemplated what kind of opponents their real enemies would be, during which Lucy looked back at Alex and Yue, as he started groping and massaging her butt, and remarked with a undisguised deadpan, "Yeah, but he''s the one who looks the least concerned out of everyone here..." As she said that Lucy recalled one of the reasons she had been so irritable this morning, which was the loud noises she had overheard coming from Alex''s room after everyone had gone to bed. With her face turning completely red as she recalled what she overheard, Grayfia smiled wryly and was about to say something when suddenly, "What''s wrong~Nya?" Kuroka suddenly butted in, as she wrapped her arms around Lucy''s neck from behind in an overfamiliar manner and pressed her n.a.k.e.d b.r.e.a.s.ts into her back, making her tense up suddenly. Kuroka smirked and asked in whisper into Lucy''s ear, "Could it be you''re jealous~Nya? Or maybe you''re thinking of something lewd~Nya? Or is it a little bit of both?" As she trailed off Kuroka flashed her pearly white teeth with a sinister smile, making Lucy shudder slightly as the Nekomata''s hands started getting a little too touchy. Regardless of how she squirmed and tried to get away from Kuroka''s lecherous grasp though, Lucy couldn''t escape her impossible grip as she muttered, "N-no, I''m not jealous at all! And stop touching me!" Kuroka''s sinister smile widened though as she reached up with one hand and started fondling one of Lucy''s b.r.e.a.s.ts, making her feel very differently than when Bora did it the day before. "Is that so~Nya? You''re saying you don''t feel anything at all when you look at them together~Nya?" Reluctantly, Lucy looked over at Alex and the once more, only to see their shamelessness had gone even further with Alex''s towering manhood now free of the its previous restraints, as Yue''s hand slowly stroked it up and down. That, combined with him shamelessly rubbing and playing with her butt, created such an image of indecency that Lucy couldn''t help but wonder how such people existed. However, when she looked closer, she saw that despite their obvious and blatant l.u.s.t for each other, there was also a deep and profound affection in both of their eyes as they reveled in their intimacy and contact with the other, that went beyond just basic desire. Lucy''s eyes darkened then as she stopped struggling to get free of Kuroka''s grasp, and recalled a certain pink haired Dragon Slayer waiting for her back at Tenrou...no, he waiting for beetles, not her. No longer caring about Kuroka''s mischievous hands, one of which was currently trying sneak its way into the front of her bikini bottoms, Lucy broke of her grip and stormed off, leaving Grayfia and Kuroka watching her retreat with inquisitive eyes. Grayfia then looked at Kuroka, and asked seriously, "What is it you''re trying to do with her cat? I doubt you''d act this way towards her unless you had a reason to." Kuroka smirked mischievously at Grayfia''s remark, and said with a dismissal shrug, "Who knows~Nya, but I will say that the amount of ''fate'' involved with that girl is quite interesting~Nya." As she never concerned herself with ''fate'' too much, Grayfia was left wondering what Kuroka was talking about as the naughty cat strutted away, her six tails swaying hypnotically above her n.a.k.e.d ass. Meanwhile Lucy went to enter the main cabins, only to nearly run into Kurumu as the also n.a.k.e.d succubus exited them with a tray full of milkshakes. "What was that about?" Kurumu wondered to herself as she watched Lucy swiftly retreat into the cabins, before shrugging and saying as she turned back towards everyone else, "Who wants a milkshake?" Naturally everyone wanted an iced treat to help stave off the intense heat they were currently being assaulted by, even though they had used magic so that it wasn''t too unbearable. Pointedly saving Alex''s for last, she made her rounds delivering one to every person exactly the way they wanted it, some extra thick or thin, some with added goodies such as candy or fruit, or even peculiar flavors or combinations. Finally she made her way towards Yue and Alex, where she gave the vampiress her strawberry shake with a few drops of Alex''s blood mixed in for added flavor. Yue took a small sip, and sighed in contention before looking at Kurumu and asking, ".....maybe next time I''ll-" "Hell no!" Kurumu immediately replied with a bright smile, making Yue sulk slightly as she continued sucking on her milkshake. It was a unanimous and strict agreement that Yue, Moka, Kuroka, and Lala were all forbidden from entering the kitchen and preparing food, lest they all suffer through the night for it. In Yue and Moka''s case, both of them were so bad at cooking that it was still a debatable topic on wether or not their magic/kicks or cooking were more lethal. Kuroka had a similar problem, except she''d also take the chance while she was in the kitchen to either mess with other people''s food, or wouldn''t practice usual courtesy such as washing her hands. She also had the habit of drinking directly from the container and putting it back, arguing that none of them should mind considering the things they usually do together at night anyways, only to hear back that this and that were two completely different things, and it was the principle of the matter. Meanwhile Lala just had the habit of trying to add her favorite spice to any dish she happened to be around, dark matter seasoning, which very few people appreciated. It was for this very reason that Yue didn''t even try to argue back when Kurumu immediately shut her down about helping her prepare some treats the next time she made them, having spent a few nights ''suffering'' through a sampling of her own cooking before more or less giving up. The succubus however then turned towards Alex and said with a large smile and sultry tone, "And for my darling Alex, a bit of an extra surprise!" She then turned around to hide what she doing to his drink from view, before slowly turning back towards him and saying as she present her ''extra surprise'', her own b.r.e.a.s.t sitting on top of the actual shake with a pile of whip cream on top. "Tada! One titty milkshake with extra whip cream and even a ''cherry'' to nibble on!" Alex''s own expression morphed into a wide smile when he saw what Kurumu offered him, as he leaned forward and grabbed her by the ass as he said, "Thank you for the meal!" He then leaned down and unhesitantly began licking the melting whipped cream off the top of Kurumu''s b.r.e.a.s.t, making her giggle from how ticklish it felt. That only lasted up he started gravitating towards her ''cherry'' though, causing her voice to transition from s.e.xy and playful, to purely e.r.o.t.i.c as he clamped down onto her already rock hard n.i.p.p.l.e, making her m.o.a.n echo over Zenith''s deck. As Alex started playing with Kurumu, Yue hummed with annoyance at the side despite the fact that she had been monopolizing Alex''s attention for quite a while now. When she glanced at the remnant of the whipped cream on her milkshake though, she suddenly got an idea that she began working on. Alex however focused on Kurumu as eagerly alternated between sucking on her excited n.i.p.p.l.e, and enjoying his milkshake while his hands freely toyed with her butt. It was right as Kurumu began running her thighs together, and was about to ask for something more, when they heard from Yue''s direction, "Ehem." Alex turned to look at her and his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw, while Kurumu huffed this time when she saw what Yue was up to. Now, she was laying on her back with her arms hooked behind her knees to pull her legs up while simultaneously spreading them so Alex could easily see what she had prepared for him. Running from asshole to clit was a thick line of whipped cream that perfectly covered her enticing snatch, a very obvious invitation that would make Alex a fool to even think of turning down. He then proceeded to pick up the petite vampiress, and pin her shoulders up against cabin wall before burying his face between her legs. "...Ngh....!" Yue fought down a m.o.a.n, making Alex smirk into her snatch as he eagerly rimmed her tight asshole, before slowly and teasingly bringing his tongue up her lower lips and flicking it against the little bead at the top. He felt Yue''s entire body twitch when he teased it, before she then started shuddering as his tongue proceeded to explore every single fold of her increasingly hot s.e.x for the sweet cream. A sudden movement around his lower body tempted Alex to stop what he was doing and look down, but even without doing so he knew it Kurumu as she tried to find access to his still exposed manhood. She then proceeded to haul the shorts that were still barely hanging onto his h.i.p.s down to his ankles, before grasping his burning hot rod in her impeccably soft hand. She then proceeded to slowly stroke the shaft of his manhood while her lips closed around its swollen head, encasing it in the burning hot vacuum of her mouth as her tongue slowly circled it. Alex groaned into Yue''s crotch as he enjoyed Kurumu''s mouth around his c.o.c.k, prompting her to slowly take in more and more of his length. Soon her progress was being helped as Alex started to slowly move his h.i.p.s back and forth at an increasing speed, until he was genuinely face f.u.c.k.i.n.g Kurumu while eating Yue out, the sound of his balls slapping against Kurumu''s chin echoing across Zenith''s deck. For several minutes this and Yue''s attempts to suppress her m.o.a.ns were the only things anyone could hear, until the vampiress suddenly let an uncharacteristically shrill cry when one of Alex''s fingers suddenly found its way into her asshole. "...HYA...!" The petite vampiress started to squirm and struggle in Alex''s grasp, as his draconic tongue wreaked havoc inside her p.u.s.s.y, and his finger mercilessly assaulted her backdoor. Meanwhile Kurumu was making short work of Alex''s c.o.c.k as she eagerly slobbered and sucked on it even as he face f.u.c.k.i.e.d her, while her succubus''s tail had plunged deep into her own snatch and wiggled too and fro as it also brought her pleasure. Using her powers over pleasure, Kurumu expertly manipulated Alex and Yue''s bodies as they steadily built up to their impending climax, until a massive wave overcame all three at once, as Kurumu came onto the floor beneath them, while Alex pumped her mouth full of his life giving seed, and Yue spasmed so hard that she would have fallen to the ground if not for Alex supporting her body. For over a minute the trio recovered from their intense orgasm, until Kuroka''s voice called out, "Over here~Nya!" Alex looked over at her and grinned at what he saw. With the exception of Grayfia, Yami, and Sun, the rest of his women were standing before him with various sweets smeared or plastered onto their bodies. Even Shizuku was standing off to the side fidgeting embarrassedly, her bikini top discarded as instead she had a dollop of whipped cream covering each of her n.i.p.p.l.es. "Talk about a sweet treat..." Alex muttered to himself, even as he pulled out of Kurumu''s mouth and gently laid Yue down, before slowly walking towards the crowd of women to accept their offering. Behind them Grayfia snorted incredulously as she turned away from the spectacle, finding it unbelievable that they would still entertain such a weird play. What she didn''t notice though was Kuroka sneakily approaching her from behind, her ''Stealth'' at full power as she cradled a hand full of whipped cream, and her eyes firmly locked on the maid''s bikini bottoms. *** Several hours after she had angrily stormed away, Lucy was soaking in the expansive baths that were present in the flying ship''s interior, grateful for the relaxing waters as her mind raced. Though in the back of her mind she recalled that she needed to apologize to Kurumu and Kuroka for shoving them earlier, having already forgotten what exactly Kuroka was doing to her at the time, the majority of Lucy''s thoughts were centered on Natsu, and the differences between him and Alex when it came to women. The most obvious difference was that Alex was nowhere near as dense as Natsu was when it came to women, either in making them happy or pleasuring them. What Lucy couldn''t figure out though was how he had managed to get so many women to willingly share him, and remain faithful. Normally she would contribute their presence to the usual scenario of women flocking to a man with power or influence, or, on an even darker note, him using underhanded means to force them to stay with him. However it was obvious that it wasn''t either of those theories just based off of what she witnessed earlier that had made her so angry, and that was the pure love and affection in Alex and Yue''s eyes, even as they toyed with the other''s body. While she had absolutely no intentions towards Alex himself, Lucy couldn''t help the bitter feelings in her heart as she recalled her last interaction with Natsu, before she was almost shipped off to the Dark Emperor to be tortured for information, or worse. Just as her expression turned dark once more, the door to the bathroom suddenly opened and in came the same horde of women she had just been wondering about, all of which were a mess from ''playing'' around for a while now, with expressions of satisfaction or contentment on their faces. "That was fun!" Shia declared as she sat down at a wash station, and started rinsing off the leftover cream that was left on her body. Though the responses she got were in agreement for the most part, Grayfia still spat with seething rage in her voice, "I will remember this cat!" Kuroka snickered at her promise, and replied, "Just admit you enjoyed it~Nya." A silvery aura started radiating around Grayfia at Kuroka''s teasing, as she snarled, "One. More. Word. Cat! I dare you!" Though she still snickered, Kuroka remained otherwise silent at Grayfia''s threat as she washed herself, and everyone else fought back a series of giggles as they recalled what had happened to her. Seeing everyone relax and fooling around, Lucy could only look at them in awe since she had briefly witnessed them ''playing'' with Alex when she poked her head back out earlier. "How can you all do it?" She asked suddenly in a low voice, getting everyone''s attention at once despite how quietly she spoke. "How can we do what?" Anne asked curiously, making Lucy look at her seriously, a silent plea in her eyes. "How can you all love the same man, and share him like its nothing while also being so happy?" Their relationship with Alex, their interactions with each other, and how casual they could be about the entire thing, she couldn''t understand any of it no matter how much she tried. Her question however made everyone look at each other curiously, before Rias suddenly said, "Well polygamy is pretty common in the world''s we came from, so none of us thought about it too much." Moka nodded in agreement at her words, and continued, "While Alex''s harem is more than a little ''excessive'', with literally several hundred women vying for his affections, he genuinely tries to make sure everyone who wants to be with him is happy instead of just taking them for granted." The rest of the women around them nodded in agreement at Moka and Rias''s words, as they all briefly recalled their own backgrounds and circ.u.mstances. Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka had come from a supernatural society where it was a common rule of thumb that anyone with power was bound to have numerous women at their beck and call, with Rias''s own father processing his own harem that was managed by his official wife, Venelana. Yue on the other hand was originally royalty of the feudal world of Tortus, where once again it wasn''t strange for people with power and influence to process multiple wives. While Shia was also from the same world, she however didn''t put much stock into things like wives as long as she could be with the man who had saved her entire clan from enslavement and death, a sentiment shared with her entire clan. Moka was similar to Rias in that her own father was polygamist, while Kurumu was a succubus who''s entire being revolved around ''love'', which meant she''d literally follow Alex into death without any hesitation should it ever happen. Then there was Lala who was also aware of the existence of polygamy in the universe she came from, which prompted her to repeatedly suggest both her and her best friend Haruna marrying Yuki Rito when he was alive, so that both women could be happy. Then finally was Anne, who came from a primitive world that harbored many dangers for its people, which meant there was naturally greater mortality rate for the men who had to hunt to provide food for their village, while also defending them from any threats that there might have been. Amongst the girls present the odd ones out were Shizuku, Sun, and Yami, who all had their own circ.u.mstances for joining Alex''s peerage. Shizuku had essentially sold herself to the devil in exchange for power to help her friends, a deal that wasn''t anywhere near as hard for her to make as most might think. Sun had initially been invited by Alex to join his peerage, which she originally refused, but when she saw how peaceful the world of Asora was under him she had changed her mind, deciding to put her powers to use helping him defend that peace. And finally Yami had been ''forced'' to accept Alex''s ''Pawn'' piece after he beat her in a duel, which he had done in an effort to help her recover from the heartbreak she suffered from losing her first love. One by one the girls recounted their experiences with Alex, both leading up to them joining his harem and after, which made Lucy go wide eyed at their stories. They had already informed her about their not originally coming from that world earlier that morning, as there was no point in trying to hide it with people like the Dark Emperor running around, and so she was greatly interested in learning more about the places they had come from. Eventually though, Grayfia then said, "While our own experiences might not be informative due to our ''unique'' circ.u.mstances and backgrounds, I think what is most important is that you ask yourself what YOU want." Lucy was silent as she contemplated Grayfia''s words, as she also asked herself ''what do I want?'' She thought back to her childhood after her mother died, leaving only her father and their servants to look after her. Though the servants had taken care of her as best as they could, whenever she tried to make her dad happy or proud he had instead yelled at her for neglecting her lessons for ''nonsense'', ultimately leading to her running away from home before joining Fairy Tail. Though they eventually reconciled somewhat after he lost his entire fortune, her father, Jude, had died while Lucy and the rest slumbered on Tenrou island, meaning that there only the one moment that she recalled in her life where he had truly loved her as his daughter, and not just as an asset to his company. And then there was Natsu, who had brought her to the guild that she had previously only dreamed of joining, and asked her to form a team with him to take on requests together. Though he had primarily asked due to the specifics of his current request, which required a ''beautiful blond maid'', the duo had maintained a partnership throughout Lucy''s entire career as a Fairy Tail Mage, going through thick and thin together repeatedly. After experiencing several hardsh.i.p.s and battles together it was only natural that a guy and girl begin to cultivate certain feelings for one another, as evidenced with Levy and the two guys that had been a part of her team until Gajeel showed up. However, despite everything they''d been through together and even several teasing remarks from the older members of the guild, Natsu hadn''t shown even the slightest hint of being a little bit more interested in her. Instead his interests apparently aligned purely with fighting, causing trouble, and apparently bugs. Lucy''s clenched fists trembled when she thought of this, as she muttered to herself, "I just want to know what it''s like to be loved, is that so bad?!" The rest of the girls around looked at her with pity at her words, each wondering what kind of life she had lived up until now. Of course Lucy wasn''t trying to say that she was completely unloved by those around her, everyone at Fairy Tail cared for her and had even readily gone to war with their rival guild, Phantom Lord, in order to defend her. Even when their guild hall was destroyed, their master grievously wounded, and several of their members viciously attacked, none had blamed her. Instead, they had directed all of their anger against the ones responsible, effectively destroying the rival guild in the process. What Lucy craved was genuine affection, to be able to genuinely love someone and be loved by them in return. Was that truly too much to ask for? Though none of the other girls could give her an immediate answer, they were surprised when Kuroka slowly slid up to her, and wrapped her arms around her while saying, "Believe it or not~Nya, I know of a way for you to be loved." Lucy looked up at Kuroka suspiciously at her words, already having an idea of what she was referring to. Before she could say anything though, Kuroka whispered seductively into her ear, "Did you know~Nya, that as members of Alex''s peerage we hold a special place in his heart, and at his side?" Though Lucy was about to tell Kuroka she didn''t care, a part of her made her pause as she silently wondered, ''what was Kuroka implying?'' She didn''t even need to ask though as the Nekomata continued, "No matter if anyone else in his harem eventually moves on, those of us in his peerage will remain at his side for eternity, and we alone are strengthened by our bond with him." Lucy was silent for several seconds when she heard that, before hesitantly asking, "What do you mean?" Kuroka smirked as Lucy nibbled the bait she dangled in front of her, before saying with a bit of her own demonic charm mixed into her voice, "When Alex grants someone one of his evil pieces, then they get access to some of the same abilities that make him so unique, abilities that will continue to make them significantly more powerful. And since the evil piece reincarnates the one who uses it into a devil, their lifespan increases almost indefinitely and they gain the ability to use demonic powers, a type of magic unlike anything this world has seen." Lucy''s eyes widened when she heard that, but she wasn''t quite sure what to think about what Kuroka was implying. Meanwhile Kuroka continued whispering sweet things into Lucy''s ear as she tried to push her closer into seeking to join Alex''s peerage. Her reason for doing this was, as she mentioned to Grayfia earlier, due to the fact that Lucy had significantly more ''fate'' than Rias, Yue, Moka, and Lala, making her think that it might be worthwhile to have her join them as their comrade despite how weak she appeared. Another reason was that Kuroka was well aware that Alex still had several evil pieces left, and that as long as he still had some to spare he would actively seek out more women to join his harem, something she hoped to lessen if they were taken up sooner rather than later. She also expected that Alex would potentially try to recruit Lucy eventually anyways since he had intended to do so with Shia, Kurumu, and Moka before, all of who were seemingly weak when they first met them, though Moka''s powers were just sealed. With these goals in mind, Kuroka continued whispering temptation into Lucy''s ear, believing this was best way to ensure the girls happiness while also furthering their own goals. Chapter 359 - Archivist While the girls were taking their bath after their earlier fun Alex was relaxing alone in his room, having already cleaned himself off so as not to make Lucy even more uncomfortable than they had earlier. He was taking the brief moment of solitude to consider what to expect from his new opponents based off of what Lucy had told them earlier. From what she said before it was fairly easy to deduce that one of Darius''s abilities allowed him to absorb others into himself to gain their own abilities, which he had used at least on Zeref while Alex guessed that it was also a fair guess that the same fate had been enacted in the vanished Laxus and Jellal. Other than that his remaining abilities from the system were a complete mystery to them, something that was almost as dangerous as that one ability alone was. And then there was the four generals. The first to make their appearance was someone Lucy said was called Calvin, who could bend almost any part of the earth and nature itself to his will, and was considered the Dark Emperor''s right hand. Then there was Alice, a woman who would use what Lucy described as ''beams of light'' to wipe out entire cities instantly if she moved; but the most terrifying part about her was her tendency to kidnap any man that caught her fancy, and somehow bend them to her control and turn them even against their own family and friends. Then was the newest addition to the generals ranks, Hyato. Very little was known about him other than his appearance, due solely to the fact that whenever he took to the field he ensured that no one lived to tell the tale. What little was known was that he always wore a curious red and white armor while in combat, and his actual appearance had never been seen in combat. Last but certainly not least was perhaps the most terrifying of the four, someone known only as ''The Ghost''. Only a few people had ever met him face to face besides the other generals and the emperor, but all who have apparently couldn''t even recall what he looked like, or any discernible details regarding his existence such as his name, if he really was even a ''he''. Apparently The Ghost''s contribution was running the Dark Emperor''s information network across the world, acting akin to a spy master and assassin when his services were needed. As he thought about his five newest opponents Alex frowned slightly, as he wasn''t sure about taking them on in a direct fight. Sure, he had worked his ass off for years to build his strength exactly for this, but there was no telling what remaining abilities they had or if his powers would even be affective against them. With his lack of information in mind, taking all five of them on at once could only be considered suicide until he knew more about them, and Alex would never allow any of his women to get close to them to help him due to Darius''s ability to absorb others. Alex was swearing that he''d find a way to investigate everything he needed to know about them t the first available chance, when he suddenly noticed a presence behind his closed door. What was surprising about this was that the presence was none other than Lucy, dressed in a set of pink cotton pajamas, who was fidgeting slightly as she worked up the courage to open the door. After a few seconds of deliberation, Alex sighed and used his ''Telekinesis'' to open the door for her, making Lucy jump in surprise even before he asked, "What can I help you with Lucy?" She fidgeted there in the doorway a few seconds longer, before mumbling, "I was wondering...." She then trailed off and said the rest in a voice so low that now even Alex could hear it, making him arch a brow and ask, "What was that?" Lucy clenched her fists irritably at his question as she built up her resolve, before saying in a firmer voice, "I was wondering, if I could join your peerage." This time both of Alex''s brows raised in genuine surprise at her request, as he started wondering who exactly had told her about that. Of course his immediate thought was Kuroka, since he had seen the two of them speaking earlier, but he couldn''t place why exactly she''d share that kind of information with Lucy. Though it wasn''t exactly supposed to be a secret, he still didn''t want people getting the wrong idea of what it meant to receive one of his evil pieces. With that thought in mind, and knowing Lucy''s relationship with Natsu, Alex sighed and said, "I don''t think you understand exactly you''re asking for-" "But I do!" Lucy exclaimed as she stepped closer, and continued, "Your evil pieces give power to those who get them, power that could help my comrades!" Alex closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, before saying, "Yes, they could. But you would also have to join me on my travels, leave everyone you know behind, including Natsu." Lucy flinched when Alex mentioned Natsu''s name, before saying angrily, "Natsu...will be fine without me, just like he was before...." He didn''t think it was possible, but Alex found himself increasingly surprised as the seconds ticked by, curious as to what Natsu had done to piss Lucy off so much. Though the two arguing over something wasn''t that uncommon throughout the series, mostly due to Natsu and Happy constantly invading Lucy''s house, they were still thick as thieves the entire time while it was fairly obvious that Lucy would feel the occasional heartthrob for him. However Natsu''s obliviousness that rivaled even Goku''s had always gotten in the way, preventing any actual development between the two despite literal years going by. Before he could put too much thought into what the slayer had done wrong though, Lucy suddenly began to slowly approach Alex while saying, "I understand that I''ll have to leave Fairy Tail behind, for now, but Kuroka assured me that you''d never make me quit entirely, and that in the future if be able to visit almost whenever I wanted, no matter where we went!" Alex nodded slowly when she said this, before replying, "True, but you''d also have to participate in battles at a scale the likes of which no one in this world could even conceive, plus, my evil pieces come at a price entirely different than simply leaving those you know behind to join my travels." As he finished speaking Alex was once again surprised when Lucy stopped right in front of him, and, after a brief moment of preparing herself, she crawled onto his lap to straddle his legs. With her breathing becoming more ragged with each second, and her cheeks becoming increasingly red, Lucy said, "I know, you require those you give your pieces to to love you, and you give your love to them too... That is.....all I want....." This time Alex frowned when he heard that, and, after a brief check on her mental state with Spirit magic, was for once unsurprised to see that she was under the effects of someone''s demonic charm. Demonic charm was an ability that almost any devil could use in order to help entice people into making deals with them, however the only one amongst his peerage that had actively acquired it as a skill and trained it was Rias, up until Kurumu had joined them. Though he wasn''t too surprised that someone had been able to use the demonic charm, Alex was now wondering why they(Kuroka) had gone so far to try and make Lucy join his peerage. He then turned his thoughts to what exact role she would play in his peerage. Though some of his peerage members may seem weak in some aspects, they more than made up for it in others due to their specific abilities, such as Sun. Lucy however was primarily a summoner, which he wasn''t even sure if she would be able to summon her spirits outside of Earthland. Of course he then reached the next logical idea for Lucy''s future, that of both a summoner AND tamer. If he granted her Alteration magic like he had given Spirit to Kurumu and Creation to Lala a while back, then Lucy would be able to use it to both tame and improve upon any monsters she encountered almost indefinitely. Though any of them who already had Alteration magic could do the same thing, none of them really intended to devote the time and energy needed to be an effective tamer. As such, Lucy could then have the capability to deploy literally an entire army of monsters that they encountered in the various worlds at a whim, adding to their numbers if they ever needed it. There was also the act that, despite how she looked and acted, Lucy was a giant nerd. Her love of books specifically was so great, that she was not only writing one of her own, but had even refused to destroy a book she and Natsu had been contracted to retrieve and destroy once she realized it was written by an author she was a fan of. As such, Alex was confident that she would be very useful in researching any information they needed about a new world that he didn''t already know. Before he thought too much about that though, Alex placed the tip of his finger in the middle of Lucy''s forehead and dispelled the charm that Kuroka had placed on her. In an instant her eyes became noticeably clearer as she blinked a few times in response to the effects of the demonic charm being removed. Though he half expected Lucy to freak out after the things she''d said and due to the fact that she was still straddling his lap, he was once again surprised when she only asked in a subdued tone, "Why?" Alex resisted the urge to sigh yet again, as he gently put a finger under her chin and said, "Lucy, just tell me this without the charm, why do you want to join my peerage so badly?" Lucy was silent for several seconds, before eventually saying, "Because back at the guild I always saw how happy my friend Levy was when she found someone she liked, as well as another guild member named Juvia. Even though I had someone so close to me, why couldn''t I get him to look my way as well?" At this point tears started forming in Lucy''s eyes due to the frustration she felt, which Alex gently wiped away before saying soothingly, "Even if he isn''t looking at you now, Natsu is bound to notice your feelings eventually, most boys tend to be a bit dense about these things." As he spoke Alex got a faraway look as he recalled all of the dense anime protagonists who could quite literally have a woman strip n.a.k.e.d in front of them while begging him to f.u.c.k them, and still not get the hint. Lucy however laughed condescendingly and remarked, "I thought so too before, but do you know what Natsu asked me when he heard about me coming to the mainland for supplies?" Alex slowly shook his head at her question, already doing an internal face palm at whatever stupidity Natsu had said this time. He almost actually did one when Lucy continued, "He didn''t tell me to be careful, or that he''d miss me. He didn''t say anything at all about me or my wellbeing while I was away, he asked me to get some BEETLES from the mainland for him." When he heard that Alex''s jaw literally fell open from how utterly gobsmacked he was at Natsu''s stupidity, and he had thought he was prepared for whatever Lucy was going to say. She then looked him firmly in the eye and continued, "While I was being molested in that cell I pleaded that Natsu would somehow instantly cross the ocean and rescue me when I needed it, but he didn''t. Instead YOU saved me from Bora, and if you hadn''t then I could''ve very well been on my way to the Dark Emperor right this moment to be tortured or worse, and the last thing Natsu would have ever said to me was about beetles." As Lucy finished speaking Alex was completely silent as he processed what she had said, something that still took him a few seconds to do. When he eventually did though, Alex lightly shook his head before looking down at Lucy once more with a type of fire in his eyes. Before she could react, Alex slipped his left hand down the back of her pajama bottoms, where he was once again surprised for about the tenth time that night to find out she wasn''t wearing any panties underneath, to get a firm hold of her ass to pull her closer. Lucy let out a small yelp when Alex grabbed her, before her body started shuddering slightly as his middle finger then snuck its way between her butt cheeks and started to lightly stroke her precious place from behind. More than a little surprised at Alex''s sudden eagerness, Lucy was about to ask him to slow down when he used his free hand to lightly grab her chin and make her face him, putting them in a position where Alex was firmly holding her ass while stroking her, something increasingly hard was poking her through both of their pajamas, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed firmly against his own chest, and their faces were less than an inch apart. Lucy''s words were caught in her throat as they stayed like that for several seconds, her body becoming increasingly heated as Alex''s finger continued to act up, until he finally said, "So that there are no illusions regarding what is about to happen-" He then released her chin and, with a snap of his fingers, a small red object appeared in Alex''s hand as he continued, "If you accept this Lucy, you are my woman, my servant, my property. For the rest of eternity, I will own you. You will be mine to use, and love, as I please, and there will be no going back. Do you understand?" Lucy gulped when she heard Alex''s words, as she tried to comprehend the severity of what she was about to do. Though she hesitated for the briefest of seconds, she then reached out and took the ''Pawn'' piece in her hand before activating it. There was a slight exclamation from outside the still open door when Lucy became enveloped in a small flash of demonic light, before the wings of a devil sprouted from her back. Alex however ignored them, and lightly grabbed Lucy''s chin a second time before saying, "Now, you are mine." Before she could respond he closed the small remaining distance immediately, and sealed her lips in her first ever kiss. Lucy m.o.a.ned lightly in Alex''s mouth as their tongues began to dance together, and the finger on his left hand became more proactive in exploring her secret garden while his right unhesitantly sn.a.k.e.d its way into her pajama top to seize and start massaging one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. *** When the sun began to peek through the cabin windows the next morning, Lucy was the first to start twitching due to the light in her eyes. "Nnn..." She groaned as she made to get up, feeling exceptionally sore down there for some reason, as well as tire due to the strange dream she had. It wasn''t until the blanket that had been covering her fell to reveal not only her n.a.k.e.d body, but that of the man''s next to her, that Lucy suddenly recalled that everything she had ''dreamed'' had actually happened. Her face instantly turned completely red as she recalled the feeling of something unbearably hot and large burying itself deep within her, and her mouth sealed with another''s as he passionately made love to her. It was only then that she glanced around and saw a practical sea of n.a.k.e.d female bodies that were either sprawled out across the great bed, or entwined in the final throes of their own passion, a passion she had also received her fair share of. Lucy then recalled that Alex wasn''t the only one that had stolen her lips, or had brought her pleasure as the lingering phantom feeling of their tongues, lips, and fingers exploring places they shouldn''t passed through her body. With the realization that the events of the night before weren''t actually some kind of strangely e.r.o.t.i.c dream, Lucy almost started to panic as she began wondering what to do, incidentally waking Alex next to her while she was at it. Without even a moments hesitation Alex reached up to her head, and pulled her down to his for a quick peck on the lips, stunning her to stillness as he then said as they separated, "Good morning Lucy." There was a moment of silence as Lucy took in what Alex had just said, before a radiant smile spread across her face and she answered with tears of happiness formib at the corners of her eyes, "Good morning, Alex." Later, after everyone had woke and eaten their breakfast, they were all gathered on Zenith''s deck once more, except this time they were fully clothed and looked serious as they gathered around their newest comrade. Currently Alex was explaining the specific abilities of the ''Pawn'' piece to Lucy, before Grayfia went on to explain about her new demonic powers. Once that was done, Alex then went on to explain the specifics of the status she now had access to, as well as the job function. "Let''s see here, ''Whip Apprentice'', ''Archivist'', ''Summoning Apprentice'', "Celestial Magic Apprentice'', and Taming Apprentice''." Alex muttered as he examined Lucy''s available jobs, making her mutter quietly, "There''s not that many, are there.....?" Alex smiled wryly at her words, and explained, "There usually aren''t at first, just as you get stronger and get more skills, the amount of jobs you can take will go up, while once you accept a job it''s usually replaced by a better version if you qualify for it." Though she wasn''t entirely assured at his words, Lucy still felt a little comforted by what Alex said as she looked once more at the jobs available. According to Alex she needed to chose one since it would either improve one of the skills she already had, or even give her a new one. That was why she was carefully scrutinizing each and every job available, weighing her options carefully before choosing. The majority of the jobs were fairly straightforward, improving on her summoning, whip skills, or celestial spirit magic. However there was also one that she didn''t know the purpose of, ''Archivist''. She was wondering what it could possibly do, when Alex suddenly said, "Why don''t you choose that one?" Lucy''s brows shot up as she asked, "Do you know what the ''Archivist'' job might do?" Alex shook his head lightly and said, "Not exactly, but one reason I decided to make you my ''Pawn'' was to have you study and do research whenever we go to a new world, maybe the ''Archivist'' job would help with that?" Alex himself was curious about this particular job due to the fact that he hadn''t even heard of or considered it before, and so he couldn''t help but wonder what its effects were. He wouldn''t make her take it if Lucy truly didn''t want it though, that wasn''t a problem however as she promptly accepted the job and then heard the notification, [NOTICE! The skill ''Archive'' has been added!] Both Alex and Lucy went wide eyed in surprise when they saw the new skill she had acquired. Archive was a type of magic in this world that functioned more less like a magic computer in a world where technology was practically nonexistent, a type of magic that seemed exceedingly useful, yet for some reason was never brought up more than once or twice. It was capable of mapping and tracking everyone within a certain area, friends and enemies alike, and the user could not only store and access information from the Archive freely, but could also download that information directly into the minds of those around them. Now that he thought about it, Alex decided that it was a fitting ability for Lucy who would mostly stay in the back of any conflicts they got into, while her spirits did most of the fighting for her. A sentiment Lucy seemed to share as she eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Wow! I''ve seen Hibiki use this magic a bit ever since we brought Blue Pegasus to Tenrou, but I never thought I''d also get to use it as well!" As she said this Lucy recalled one of the times that Hibiki showed her his magic, by downloading a powerful Celestial spell into her mind for future use as thanks for helping them. She then activated her new skill to try it out, creating several screens of light in front of her that displayed a variety of information, with one even showing a complete map of Zenith with several green dots in each of their locations. Though as she played with it a bit Lucy was soon disappointed to find that there wasn''t very much information on there, due to the fact that it''s entire information network was currently based solely on what she knew herself, making her swear that she''ll start studying as much as possible when they returned to Tenrou. "That''s it?" Kuroka asked from the side, before continuing in disappointment, "It''s just a computer~Nya..." Though she didn''t know what a ''computer'' was, Lucy still deadpanned when she heard Kuroka mocking her new skill. Instead of saying anything though, she instead pulled up some of the information that was on it, a detailed map of the continent, and proceeded to download it directly into Kuroka''s mind. Everyone watched as a bar appeared over Kuroka''s head that slowly filled up, before giving a small ''DING'' and vanishing once it was full. Kuroka however went wide eyed as she started registering every detail of the map Lucy just sent her, before she suddenly asked excitedly, "Wait! You can learn something and send it directly to us in an instant~Nya?!" Narrowing her eyes slightly at Kuroka''s sudden eagerness for her new skill, Lucy slowly nodded before Kuroka practically leapt in the air and shouted, "Yes~Nya! Now I never have to read to learn anything ever again~Nya!" Everyone around her deadpanned when they realized that Kuroka''s excitement was due to her innate laziness, while the cat in question ignored their looks. Shaking her head slightly, Lucy dispelled the screens while saying, "I''ll test it some more later, but now I have something else I want to try!" Lucy then pulled out one of her keys, Loke''s, and stated, "Open the gate of the lion, Leo!" There was a flash of light before another figure was standing on deck alongside them, as the suited man they had met a couple days prior appeared. Though he pointedly avoided meeting the eye of any of the other girls around them, Loke nodded respectfully to Lucy before turning to meet Alex''s gaze. "If you ever hurt Lucy then you''ll have to answer to me, no matter how strong you think you are." Alex smiled at Loke''s promise, before replying, "If I ever hurt any of my wives or women, then I''d have to answer to the full fury of my entire harem. No offense, but that thought alone scares me more than you do." Though Loke narrowed his eyes at Alex''s provocation, he didn''t say anything else as he turned back towards Lucy and asked, "What do you need Lucy?" Lucy however chuckled awkwardly at how Loke and Alex were behaving, before turning serious and saying, "Well, I''m sure you''re somewhat aware of the things that have been happening, so I wanted to test if there''s been an effect with my summoning now." Loke nodded in understanding and stood at the ready should he be needed for anything, while Lucy then retrieved another key. One way to gauge a summoner''s capabilities was by how many spirits they were capable of bringing into the human world at one time, a question that could spell life or death for those who weren''t aware of their own limits. A prime example had been Loke''s previous master, a summoner from the Blue Pegasus guild by the name of Karen Lilica, who had been unable to summon more than a single spirit at once. Because of this, when Loke protested Karen''s cruel treatment towards another spirit of hers by staying in the human world against her will, she had ended up losing her life on a job due to being unable to defend herself by summoning another spirit. Lucy on the other hand was able to summon multiple spirits at once, even going up to three if the situation was dire enough. However what she did next surprised Loke as she proceeded to summon not only himself, but even two other golden zodiac spirits, Aries and Cancer, as well as the minor silver key spirit, the Canis Minor, Plue. Aries, a cute girl with ram-like features and wool wrapping around parts of her body, grabbed Lucy''s hands while exclaiming, "Congratulations miss Lucy!" Cancer, a good looking man with crab-like hair and legs protruding from his back, nodded in agreement while saying, "Indeed-ebi. Even Aquarius was surprised to find out you got a boyfriend-ebi!" "Puuuuuuun~!" Agreed Plue, a short white thing with a large bulbous head and carrot-like nose, however Lucy didn''t appear happy at their congratulations. Instead, a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she demanded, "You mean to say that after I even got a major power up, all she cares about is wether or not I have a boyfriend?!" With the four spirits she had just summoned nodding in unison, Lucy grit her teeth in frustration before hugging Alex''s arm into her b.r.e.a.s.ts and declaring, "Well fine then! At least my boyfriend is a hundred-no, a THOUSAND times better than hers!" The four spirits deadpanned at her declaration, before Aries hesitantly raised her hand and said, "Um, miss Lucy, even if you''re irritated at Aquarius, I think you should be nicer to Scorpio." The rest of the spirits nodded in agreement at her words, while Lucy paused as she did recall the fact that Scorpio was Aquarius''s boyfriend, and felt a bit bad from talking bad about him. She didn''t worry about it long though as Loke muttered, "To think though, you can summon three zodiac spirits, and even a fourth minor spirit, without even breaking a sweat now..." Lucy puffed out her chest with pride as she declared, "Yep, and this isn''t even all I can do now!" Lucy then took in a deep breath, before declaring, "Promotion, BISHOP!" Instantly Lucy''s magic power soared to the point that her hair started waving slightly around her body, while the four spirits could feel even more power being funneled through their still active keys. Lucy then held up two more golden keys, and continued, "Open the gates of the goat and Twins, Capricorn, Gemini!" Instantly three more spirits joined them on the increasingly crowded deck, a man with his entire body covered in fur, as well as other goat-like features, that was dressed in a suit, as well a couple of what almost appeared to be living paper dolls. "Lucy-sama." The goat man said respectfully. "Piiiriii piiiiiiiiii!" The two paper dolls greeted her as well, bringing the total number of summons Lucy currently had to six, with her appearing none the worse for the wear. "Amazing....." Loke muttered dumbfoundedly as he looked over his companion spirits, while one of the surrounding women, Sun, stepped forward and asked eagerly, "So what can they all do?" Lucy smiled proudly and proceeded to go down the list of describing what each spirit was capable of, before finally arriving at Gemini and saying, "And Gemini here can mimic anyone they touch, while also perfectly replicating their skills!" As she finish speaking the two spirits put one of their hands up and shouted proudly, "Piiiii piiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Curious, Shia stepped forward and asked, "Really? Can they copy me?" The moment the words were out of her mouth the two spirits looked directly at Shia before one touched her, and suddenly there was two of her standing there looking at each other. ""Wow! There''s two of me!"" The two Shia''s said while examining each other in perfect sync, before they both got a mischievous smile. They then rapidly shuffled themselves for several seconds, before posing in front of everyone and asking, ""Ok, which one is the real me?"" Unsurprisingly no one was able to tell which was the real Shia, except the other spirits that could instinctively sense each other, until Alex unhesitantly pointed at the one on the right and said, "You''re the real one." The Shias jumped in surprise as Alex effortlessly pointed to the real one, before they demanded, ""How did you know?!"" Alex smirked at her question, and replied as if it was obvious, "It''s simple, I would never mistake identifying any of my women." Shia smiled widely in response to Alex''s words, even as she also rubbed the back of her head bashfully. After that she and the rest of the women proceeded to play around with Lucy''s spirits, while also introducing some of their own familiars to them at the same time. *** Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, well over a hundred sh.i.p.s and airsh.i.p.s plowed their way through the waves and clouds, a dark atmosphere hanging over them like a fog as they eagerly anticipated the slaughter that awaited them. In the airship that led the way forward though, a group of people had gathered around a map detailing Tenrou island from Hades''s previous attempt to attack it. In their center was Hyato as he poured over their charts and maps, before saying, "First I''ll lead the foot soldiers from the minor guilds in an frontward assault, no matter what defenses they have we''ll break through them with sheer numbers and force. As we bring the majority of their focus onto us in the front, our best assassins will flank them to take out the important people in the back, starting with the sky slayers. Once the healers are out of commission they''re to remove as many of the guild masters and S-class mages as possible before being overwhelmed." At this point one of the surrounding mages, a beautiful woman with long flowing dark purple hair, brown eyes, wearing a pure black dress asked, "Will they be willing to readily go to their own deaths like that?" Hyato looked at the woman, Ultear, and stated plainly, "They were trained specially by the Ghost, and conditioned by Alice''s ability. They''ll fall on their own blades without any hesitation should I ask it of them." Ultear''s brows rose in surprise when she heard Hyato''s claim, while she also shuddered inwardly at the mention of the most terrifying aspect of the general Alice. Though her disasterous strength and ability to wipe out entire cities within seconds was already terrifying, Alice also apparently had the ability to completely bend those she had managed to sink her claws into to her will. She readily turned lifelong friends and families against each other, and all of her ''boy-toys'' into her obedient slaves. Keeping any remarks she might have had about Alice''s ability to herself, Ultear quietly listened as Hyato continued, "Once the assassins have done their jobs and thinned out the ranks of the guild masters and S-class mages, I''ll pull back and we''ll employ scorched earth and carpet bombing tactics. All of the magic weapons and remaining mages that are able to employ such magic will bombard the island with the intent to destroy it, wiping it from the face of the earth and removing the last of those that can truly oppose us." There was several seconds of silence that stretched as those around Hyato absorbed his plan, before Hades hesitantly asked, "What of the men we''d already sent ashore?" Hyato gave him a grim look, before saying, "They''ll be caught up in the attack, but it''ll be a worthy sacrifice to ensure that our enemies are wiped from existence." Once again there was silence at his words, before Zancrow snorted and asked, "Why don''t we just pick one plan or the other? I don''t see the point of bombing the place when we have the numbers, or storming it when we''re just going to bomb them anyways." Hyato gave Zancrow a deadpan stare, before saying with undisguised exasperation, "Because, if we simply stormed them then the members of Fairy Tail will just steadily power up from fighting the grunts before eventually taking even us on. And to bomb it we need to be within a certain range of the island due to its defenses, which they''ll know somethings up if we just sit there without attacking. We need to keep them distracted while simultaneously weakening them before dealing the final blow, which is also why some of the primary targets are the sky slayers and the guild masters." Silence followed Hyato''s words as those surrounding him begrudgingly accepted that his plan to keep Fairy Tail preoccupied while they dealt the final blow did make sense. However one of the surrounding people, a tall muscular man with a thick beard and oppressive aura, stepped forward and stated, "I''m going ashore too, I need to ''greet'' those weak little shits that ran me out of my own guild before we blow them to hell." Hyato''s brow twitched when he saw the former guild master of Sabertooth, Jiemma, and resisted the urge to sigh. He was an excessively aggressive person who practically worshipped the idea of ''strength'', and would unhesitatingly kill or run out anyone who had even moderately displeased him. These traits of his had only become more extreme ever since he joined Tartarus after being kicked out of Sabertooth, and underwent demonification to become even more powerful. Standing behind him was his daughter, Minerva, who had definitely inherited her father''s cruelty, yet was more cunning and manipulative than him. "It would be good to send some of us elites with you as well to charge the front lines, lest the sacrificial pawns catch on to the fact that we''re going to dispose of them anyways." Hyato''s brows furrowed at her words, as he had already been planning to do exactly that, but the ones to lead the charge alongside him were going to either be those that no one would particularly care about if they lived or not, or those that had the ability to withdraw at the right time. With Jiemma easily falling into the first category, he had no problem saying, "Ok then, just remember that it''ll be up to you yourself to escape before we begin bombing the island." Jiemma snorted at his warning, but didn''t say anything else as Hyato sighed in relief and turned towards Hades. "How much longer until we reach Tenrou?" Hades made his way to the side to check some things with the person who was actually piloting the airship, before answering, "Five days if the wind doesn''t turn against us since we have to keep pace with the ship''s below." Hyato frowned at the information, before saying, "Make it three. I don''t care what we have to do to make it happen, but I don''t want to take longer than we absolutely need to get there." Hades''s brow twitched at the command, as the only way he could think of to get there that quickly with the sh.i.p.s on the sea was by having any wind based mages use their magic to blow more wind into the sails, which would tire them all out before they even saw battle. He didn''t say any of this though, instead bowing respectfully to Hyato and saying, "As you command, general." Hyato nodded and turned to leave as they carried out his orders. He then made his way to one of the balconies on the outside of the airship that allowed him to look down while the wind blew through his hair. Hyato felt the sudden lurch as the airship picked up speed, and smiled into the salty breeze. He couldn''t explain it, but something was telling him that he needed to hurry and get to Tenrou Island as soon as possible. As he thought about the people there though, a pang of guilt surged through him before it was promptly stomped out by Hyato''s resolve, his resolve to collect as many experience points and sacred gears possible to free the one he wanted to meet most. "Rias..." He muttered into the wind, as he eagerly awaited the day he could finally defeat the ''fake'' Red Dragon Emperor and save her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Lucy Heartfilia Race: Human Titles: Friend of the Spirits, Friend of the Spirit King, Princess of Heartfilia Job: Archivist: 1 Passive skills: Whip Skill: Level 3 Celestial Spirit Magic: Level 4 Enlarged Magic Pool: Level 1 Magic Sense: Level 2 Active Skills: Summoning Magic: Level 5 Urano Metria: Level 1 Archive: Level 1 Alteration Magic: Level 1 Unique Abilities: Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece Chapter 360 - Introductions The night after Alex made Lucy his newest ''Pawn'' everyone slumbered peacefully in the hours before dawn broke, as Zenith slowly drifted towards their destination. That was one of the best things about Alex''s favorite mode of transportation, since it was his contracted familiar, it''s power, size, and speed were determined on himself and his own strength, making it a superior vessel compared to almost any others in the sky or sea. This, combined with the second magic compass that Hajime had installed next to the helm, helped them to continue their journey even through the night as Zenith happily steered herself towards their destination. However, there was something going on with her that even Alex wasn''t aware of. "Teeheeheehee!" A small figure giggled as they ran too and fro along the ship''s deck, fixing various things or putting them back into place with a wide smile on their face. The slight pitter patter of their feet was the only noise in the otherwise silent night, as they ran around performing various tasks. Soon the figure appeared back at the helm to look at the compass, frowning slightly when they saw that it was pointing slightly to the right instead of straight ahead. A slight adjustment to the helm though, and they were back on course as they slowly drifted towards Tenrou Island. Satisfied, the figure then slowly made its way into the interior of the ship as they silently crept towards the main bedroom. Inside was Alex, n.a.k.e.d and fast asleep alongside several n.a.k.e.d women after a rough night of fun, all with looks of contentment on their faces. The figure smiled mischievously as they tiptoed silently up to Alex, and lightly brushed aside a lock of his hair before gently kissing his brow. "Sleep well, my master..." She said affectionately before sneaking away just as quietly. For the next couple hours she snuck around tidying various things up, or putting some things in a different spot that she just felt more comfortable having it there instead. Occasionally she''d return to the helm and make sure they weren''t drifting off course before resuming her activities under the nearly full moon. It wasn''t until the horizon started to light up that the figure entered the crows nest and peeked through the telescope to see what lay ahead. Though she didn''t see anything at first, the figure then noticed a shape coming into focus on the horizon that seemed to be shaped almost like an hourglass. Her mischievous smile from earlier returning, she then picked up a small hammer that was also in the crows nest while turning her gaze towards the small bell near her head. RIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNG!!! The sound of metal ringing loudly rang out across the the entire ship, making Alex and several of the girls jump up in alarm. "What was that?!" Shizuku asked despite still being half asleep, while Alex immediately examined their surroundings through his ''Domain'' only to find that everyone was still in bed, both in his room and the one next door, and that there was no one else present on the ship. Without a single word, Alex then used Spatial magic to teleport directly to the top of the crows nest where the bell was still humming slightly after being struck. "What is going on?" Alex muttered to himself when he saw that there was no one around, making him wonder who could have struck the bell that he couldn''t even detect, and why. Just on a hunch, Alex then peered through the telescope and was surprised to find that it was set exactly on an hourglass shape in the distance, which was unmistakably their destination. "Did you find anything?" Rias called up as she and the rest of the girls exited the cabins to help find the source of the loud noise, in various states of undress. Alex nodded slightly as he looked away from the telescope, and said, "It was the bell up here but I still don''t know who rang it, there is some good news though." At his words the girls stopped looking around and glanced up at Alex curiously, before he continued, "I see Tenrou Island, we''ll be there within the next couple of hours!" *** Meanwhile on the island itself, at the top of the massive tree that dominated the middle of the island and the sky above it, a lone figure stood watch for invaders. He had relatively short cut black hair and his most notable features was the the magic rifle sitting next to him, and the woolen poncho he wore. He was none other than the sharp shooter of Fairy Tail, Alzack, and he was the one on the lookout''s night shift. "All quiet tonight too..." He muttered to himself as the horizon started to brighten, signaling the end of his shift in about another hour. He was contemplating wether or not he would go straight to sleep or stay up to spend time with his daughter, when the sound of flapping wings drew his attention to the side. A glance in their direction showed him Panther Lily, a pure black exceed in his combat form, along with his wife and daughter in his arms. "Good morning daddy!" The little girl with dark green hair and a cowgirl hat, Asuka, called out as she landed and ran towards him, making Alzack smile widely before saying, "Good morning Asuka, did you sleep well last night?" The little girl nodded energetically as she then went on to detail how exactly her night was, while Alzack glanced at his wife, Biska, in amus.e.m.e.nt. She was dressed in a short skirt that had a leather belt with two revolvers hanging from it, a leather vest that was little more than a bikini, boots and a cowgirl hat similar to her daughter''s. Sharing in her husband''s amus.e.m.e.nt, Biska turned to Panther Lily and asked while holding up the picnic basket she had brought with her, "Thank you for the lift Lily, would you like to stay and eat breakfast with us?" Panther Lily, who was no longer in his six foot tall muscular combat form, and was instead in his usual small and cuddly feline form, answered politely while shaking his head, "I appreciate the offer, but I don''t want to intrude on your family time." Biska however shook her own head and stated, "You aren''t intruding if I invited you, and besides, I made some extra for you anyways." Sighing in exasperation, despite the smile on his face, Lily said, "Very well, I could use something to eat after my morning training anyways, thank you." Together the three people and the black cat sat down and munched on the breakfast Biska brought, while Alzack occasionally looked around through the telescope used for the lookouts. It was right when he was preparing for his replacement to arrive that Asuka picked up the telescope to look through it as well, before suddenly asking, "What''s that daddy?" Alzack turned to look at what his daughter had sighted, believing that she had just seen something in the island or maybe a pod of whales, but he froze when he saw that the telescope was pointed in the sky. "Let me see that...." He said tensely as Asuka obediently handed over the telescope. "Alzack? What is it?" Biska asked worriedly when she noticed her husband''s tense state, before he froze when he saw what was approaching them on the horizon. It hadn''t been there when he checked just a few minutes prior, but now he could make out the shape of a great ship on the horizon sailing through sky directly at them. Without a single word, Alzack immediately grabbed his nearby rifle and pointed it directly at the approaching ship before loading a certain round that he had been given previously. KABOOOOOOOOOM!!! After he pulled the trigger there was a conclusion of sound accompanied by a giant shower of red sparks, lighting up the morning sky with the color of blood. There was a beat of silence after the shot was fired where those that were already up, and those that had still been asleep a moment prior, looked up at the glowing red sky. "ATTAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, prompting everyone around them into action as they continued, "ATTACK! EVERYBODY GET INTO POSITIONS AND PREPARE TO FIGHT!" There was no argument from any of those around them, no hesitation, everyone jumped to perform their duties. The noncombatants, such as the wives and children of various guild members, were directed to the Fairy Tail building where an underground bunker had been made for them to hide in. Meanwhile the guild masters made their appearance as they marched solemnly in the direction that the signal pointed, the same direction as the mainland. "It appears our time to fight has finally come..." Said one of them, a heavy set and elderly bald man wearing a purple dress complete with makeup and even a pair of wings attached to his back, the guild master of Blue Pegasus, Bob. The shortest amongst them, another elderly man with graying hair on his head and face that stood only a few feet tall, nodded and stated, "Indeed, now it''s just a question of who exactly our opponent is." As if to immediately respond to his words, Alzack suddenly fell from the sky as Panther Lily dropped him before turning around to retrieve Asuka and Biska. "Master!" Alzack stated respectfully the second he landed, to which the guild master of Fairy Tail, Markarov, asked, "What did you see Alzack?" "A solitary ship sailing through the sky. I couldn''t make out any distinguishing features, but it''s headed straight here and no one that I''m aware of has the resources to be able to send a flying ship to us." Markarov nodded in agreement, the only remaining ''allies'' they had being the royal family residing in the Capitol city of the kingdom of Fiore, who didn''t have the capability to properly fight back against the Dark Emperor''s forces, save preventing the collapse of their own walls. "Lyon, Gray, Jura, start preparing the defenses!" The older woman of the group barked out in a commanding tone, Ooba Babasaama, guild master of Lamia Scale. At her command a trio of individuals leapt out and began charging towards the beach that would be their battle ground. ""ICE MAKE-"" Two of the figures shouted while simultaneously removing their clothing in sync until they were just in their boxers, before placing their hands against the ground and continuing, ""TOWERS!!!"" A stream of ice surged from the point where their hands contacted the ground, before growing into a pair of mighty towers standing at nearly fifty feet in height. "Not bad Lyon, but you could stand to improve the quality and strength of your structures a bit." The dark haired figure said with an undisguised smirk, prompting the white haired figure to respond, "I specialize with creations based on living beings, what''s your excuse you second rate molder?" A tick mark appeared on Gray''s forehead when he heard that, before he snarled, "Who''re you calling second rate you punk?!" This time Lyon appeared annoyed as he spat back while butting his head against Gray''s, "Who''s the punk? To me you''re still nothing but a snot nosed brat!" The two put their hands together as they prepared to cast more magic, but suddenly both of their heads were hit by a new figure who then stated, "What do you two think you''re doing?! Learn from Jura and properly help set up defenses!" Lyon and Gray both rubbed the lumps on their heads while looking over to see the aforementioned Jura using his earth magic to create earthen walls and even more towers almost instantly. They both then glanced back at the person who hit them, her metallic b.r.e.a.s.tplate gleaming in the rising sun as her scarlet hair rustled slightly in the wind. It would have been a beautiful image, if she hadn''t been glaring daggers at them due to their never ending rivalry. The knight, Erza Scarlet, continued glaring at them until, seemingly enraged at how neither of them moved at that instant, she shouted, "GET GOING YOU SLACKERS!" ""YES MA''AM!!"" The duo cried out as they fearfully ran away, neither one wanting to risk earning the S-class mage''s wrath. As the minutes slowly and painstakingly crept by the defenses were applied one by one. After Gray, Lyon, and Jura created several walls and towers made of earth and ice, another member of Fairy Tail, a regal looking young man with green hair named Freed Justine, used his mastery over letter magic to fortify the impromptu defenses while also creating several traps on the outside of the walls for the attackers to trigger. Each trap was governed by a series of ''rules'' that were decided by Freed, which would entrap those caught within until they completed what was required to leave, even if that condition was killing one another or to take their own life. With the defenses erected and traps laid, the various members of their mages guilds got into their positions to help defend what little they had left. It was at this moment that Panther Lily returned with Biska and Asuka, right as one of the guild members, Macao, was arguing with his young son, "Romeo, you need to join the others in the bunker!" "No father!" Romeo shouted with passion in his voice. "I''m a member of Fairy Tail too, I want to fight with the rest of you!" Macao groaned in frustration as he tried to find a way to reason with his son, when Biska suddenly said, "Romeo! Please take Asuka with you to the shelter!" Without giving him time to argue Biska handed her daughter over to the young boy, to which he tried to say, "But I want to stay and-" "ROMEO!" Biska interrupted as she grabbed him by the shoulders, and continued, "If the rest of us fall you will be the only one standing between those that can''t defend themselves, and the enemy! Please, please go Romeo!" Romeos eyes widened at her words as he looked down at Asuka, who looked as if she might start crying at any moment with everything going on around them. "Fine..." He muttered before hurrying off to the shelter, making Macao sigh in relief before nodding his thanks to Biska. She then nodded briefly to him in return, before the duo set out to join the front lines. One by one the members of the guilds capable of fighting arrived at the makeshift walls and towers, and prepared for the impending attack. "Finally!" Natsu proclaimed as he made his way to front of the line. "Time to roast some assholes!" A harsh laughter met his declaration, as nearby a man with piercings all over his body and long dark hair asked, "Shall we make it a competition Salamander?! Let''s see who can kick the most ass, and the loser is the winners slave for a day!" Natsu''s brow twitched at Gajeel''s provocation, before a nasty smirk appeared on his face and he declared, "All right then, but don''t complain when you have to be my slave for a day!" "I think you''re a bit mistaken on who''ll be the slave Salamander!" The two then butted head threateningly as they started telling the other all of the terrible things they''d make him do as their slave. Meanwhile, nearby, a man with spiky white hair that towered over the majority of those nearby was headed towards the very front of the defensive line, while dragging two others behind him. "How can you two ever be real men if you don''t go to the front of the line?!" The man, Elfman Strauss, demanded, to which the two he was dragging, Jet and Droy, sobbed, ""We''re not real men! Please let us go!!!"" Elfman snorted and declared, "Never!!! I''ll make real men out of you, no matter what!" ""Please, noooooooooooo!!!"" Here and there other discussions were taking place as everyone prepared for the coming fight, while Erza approached Markarov and said, "Master, the preparations are nearly complete and the enemy is close enough that we can confirm the presence of only one ship." Markarov nodded grimly at the news, before directing his attention to Alzack in the highest tower they had erected. "I can''t make out too many details yet, or see who''s on board, but I can see that the main sail has the design of great red dragon on it!" Markarov glanced at the rest of the guild master, Ooba of Lamia Scale, Bob of Blue Pegasus, Sting of Sabertooth, and Kagura of Mermaid Heel, who was standing in after losing their own guild master in the last battle before fleeing to Tenrou. All of them shook their head to the unasked question, none of them had heard of that symbol before, meaning that the newcomer was almost assuredly an enemy. "Now we just need to know how exactly they managed to find us...."Markarov muttered to himself, as the only way to find Tenrou Island was to have someone bearing the mark of Fairy Tail with you, which was one of the biggest reasons why they had been safe there until now. At that moment a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air that caused an air of awe to descend upon the guild masters. Though she was fairly youthful in appearance, she carried about her an air of dignity, wisdom, and knowledge, making you feel as if she had completely seen through you the second she laid eyes on you. The figure, who''s wavy blond hair reached clear down to her bare feet, wore pinkish-white robes, and had wing-like ornaments in her hair was none other than Mavis Vermillion, the founder and first guild master of Fairy Tail. "A member of Fairy Tail is on that ship..." She muttered silently, yet her words were heard by everyone around her. Immediately a certain celestial spirit mage''s image entered everyone''s mind, causing several expressions of anger to form as Natsu snarled, "If they''ve so much as laid a single hand on Lucy, I''ll rip them to pieces!" As he spoke Natsu''s hands caught on fire, prompting everyone to back away from him cautiously before Erza smacked the top of his head and stated, "Calm down! We still don''t know what exactly is going on, or where Lucy is, so it''s useless to get ourselves worked up before they even get here." Though none genuinely believed that Lucy wasn''t on that ship, the people around them nodded in agreement in order to keep Natsu from rampaging too much before the fight actually began. The truth was that even Erza herself was angered by the mere idea of Lucy being captured, yet she herself was trying to maintain her composure as one of the S-class mage''s present. Sharing this line of thought was Markarov and the other guild masters, especially with the rumors regarding what one of the generals was capable of. The minutes that passed as everyone watched the flying ship approach seemed to take an eternity, as the features of the ship slowly came into view. With the tension increasing with each passing second, it was a miracle that no one attacked before Alzack suddenly shouted, "Wait!" Those who had been preparing to launch their magic for a preemptive strike paused at the shout, while Markarov asked, "What do you see Alzack?" The magic sniper was silent for several seconds as if he was confirming what exactly he was seeing, before hesitantly saying, "It''s Lucy! She seems to be waving us down!" A ripple of surprised voices went through the crowd at his words, as if Lucy wasn''t a captive then that must mean those she was with were allies, right? It was as this seed of doubt was planted in the minds of those gathered, that Lucy''s voice finally drifted to them, "WAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!! DOOOOOOOOOOON''T ATTAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Her words made everyone hesitate for a moment, as the ship descended to the beach in front of them and Lucy surprisingly leapt off of it to the sand below. "LUCY!" Erza cried out, as Lucy was no where near as physically able as most of them. However, as she quickly approached the beach, Lucy slowed down to little more than a graceful hover as she lightly landed on her feet. She then raced forward as the ship behind her finished landing in the surf, past each of the gathered guild members and even Natsu and happy, who she completely ignore, straight to the guild masters, where she immediately declared, "Master, I''ve returned from the mainland with grave news, and some new allies!" Markarov''s eyes widened in surprise as whispers surrounded them at Lucy''s news. Their attention then tuned back towards the ship as several beautiful figures appeared from it, elegantly floating down from it similarly to the way Lucy had until they lightly landed on the beach. At their appearance yet more whispers filled the surroundings, as every one that had appeared were all in ordinarily beautiful women, while the vast majority of the men couldn''t help but gulp as their gazes were drawn to Rias, Kuroka, and Grayfia''s chests in particular. They then quickly looked away awkwardly as the girls glanced directly at those who had inadvertently been staring, before the final figure leapt from the side of the ship. Unlike the women before him though the sole man didn''t float down gently, instead he crashed into the beach with enough force that he created a small creator, while simultaneously causing the entire area to shudder from his use of Gravity magic on himself. As he stood tall though everyone gulped at his towering presence and imposing demeanor, while he then strode forward as the women fell in either at his sides or behind him. They had only gone a few steps though, when Freed''s eyes widened in realization as he called out, "Watch out! There''s a trap there!" Too late the newcomer stepped onto the hidden trap and activated it, causing a line of runes beneath his feet to come to life as they then trapped him within a confined square. "Please wait a moment, I will free you immediately!" Freed cried out as he hurried to erase the trap, which was designed to trap those within until they took their own life. The stranger smirked though, and, before Freed could take more than a single step, raised his hand and slammed it into the invisible wall that had sprung to life around him, shattering it instantly. Freed and those around him could only gape at the raw power the stranger possessed, as not even the guild master Markarov could break through his traps, however the stranger merely smirked as he continued unperturbed. When he went to pass Freed though, he stopped and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder before saying, "Not a bad trap, if you got a bit creative with the conditions though then even I would probably have a hard time breaking out of it." The green haired man could only gape in shock at how easily his trap was destroyed, and couldn''t bring himself to answer the stranger''s words. Shrugging, the stranger silently continued on his way escorted by the veritable herd of women until he stood directly in front of Markarov and the rest of the guild masters. "Master," Lucy suddenly said as she casually slid up to the stranger''s side, grabbing his arm in an affectionate manner that wasn''t missed by anyone. "This is Alex, who is also known as the Dragon Emperor. He saved me from Black Collar when I was captured and about to be taken to the Dark Emperor, and says that he''s here to defeat him and the four generals!" A wave of hushed murmurs went through the crowd at her declaration, while Markarov''s eyes widened in shock, even as Alex held out his hand to drastically shorter man, and said, "It''s a genuine honor to meet you Markarov, guild master of Fairy Tail." Chapter 361 - First Impression After everyone had been properly introduced, they had all found themselves crowding into the Fairy Tail guild building as Alex and Lucy sat down to talk with the guild masters. Meanwhile around them the members of all five guilds gathered at the various tables while the sole waitress Mirajane, a beautiful woman with white hair that extended to the middle of her back while her bangs were tied up with a band, rushed to bring them all drinks. Naturally Grayfia went to help her while even Yami and Shia lent a hand due to how many people were crammed in the single building, for which the white haired woman was extremely grateful. While that was going on though, Lucy shared her entire experience ever since she left the island with the guild masters up until the point that they left Hargeon, most of the stuff after that was private. She went over how she had been drugged by her contact, stripped and locked up while she was asleep, and how she could only tolerate the ogling, prodding, and groping until Alex arrived to save her. It had also been during her imprisonment that Lucy learned of the forces on their way to attack Tenrou, and completely wipe them out. When she finished recounting what happened Markarov sighed heavily, before turning his gaze to Alex and asking with a not so subtle edge in his voice, "So how do you fit in to all of this?" Alex, who had been drinking ale from the mug Mirajane had brought him, c.o.c.ked a brow at Markarov''s question since he was sure he could sense some hostility in it, something he didn''t quite understand. Seeing the way Alex was looking at him, Markaraov stated, "I''m having hard time believing that you just so happened to show up just in time to free Lucy, and then to come aid us right when we are about to be attack while also claiming you intend to defeat the Dark Emperor. And with the way Lucy''s been acting, you can''t blame me for being at least a little bit suspicious." When he got to the last part Lucy''s entire face turned red as she tried to look away embarrassedly, however Alex didn''t even flinch as he plainly stated, "I don''t know what to tell you regarding the timing of all of those except to blame fate. As for Lucy," Alex then made Lucy practically yelp as he suddenly pulled her into his lap and and gave her a passionate kiss, making her turn even redder due to everyone watching in dumbfoundment around them. It was only after several seconds passed that Alex drew his lips away from Lucy''s, and said as she tried to hide her face from embarrassment, "She fell for me naturally along the way here after I saved her life. It probably didn''t help that the person she originally wanted was too dense to even notice, or care, about her feelings." When Alex said that everyone turned as one towards a certain person, Natsu, who immediately declared, "What?! Lucy had some guy she liked and he didn''t like her back?! Who was it? I''ll kick his ass!" There was one large collective sigh at Natsu''s declaration, as it was fairly obvious who Alex was referring to. (A.N. If anyone finds Natsu''s density weird, just remember this is the same guy who heard that someone in the guild was pregnant in the continuation, and automatically asked if the kid was his due to basically having no clue how that works.) Markarov couldn''t help but to sigh in acknowledgment of Alex''s claim, as it was fairly obvious to everyone present just how dense Natsu could be, before nodding to Alex and saying, "Very well I''ll welcome you now, but betray our trust or hurt Lucy and I''ll make sure you''re sorry." As he spoke the room around them started rumbling as Markarov''s magic power started increasing and bearing down onto Alex, making him smile widely in response before saying, "Now that I''ll take more seriously than when Loke said the same thing." Markarov snorted when he heard that, but didn''t do anything other than take a deep drink from the mug in front of him. Alex then proceeded to do the same as he drained the entire thing, before saying, "I don''t know how you want me to go about earning your trust, but how about a gesture of goodwill?" As he finished speaking Alex proceeded to toss a ring to Mirajane, making everyone deadpan at him before he explained, "Thats a Spatial storage ring, inside you''ll find enough food to last all of you several years of need be, all of which will remain perfectly preserved inside the ring." Just as everyone''s eyes widened in awe at the ring, he then proceeded to toss another one at her while saying, "That one has about one thousand barrels and jars with different types of alcohol in it, all of which have magic circles on them to chill them if you wish." Alex then proceeded to toss yet another ring at someone else this time, a woman with long brown hair that wore only a bikini top and a pair of pants that were cut shortly past her knees. The woman, Cana, looked at the ring expectantly after what Alex had said was in the other two, and wasn''t disappointed when he said, "That one has a few hundred barrels of alcohol as well, to keep you from draining the rest away from your fellow guild members." As if she didn''t hear the second half of what he said, or the collective sigh of relief from everyone else, Cana smiled widely and proclaimed as she pulled out one of the barrels, "Now there''s a man who knows how to treat a lady! Better be careful Lucy, or I might try to steal him from you if he keeps this up!" Though Cana started laughing boisterously at her own joke, Lucy only gave her deadpan in response. Though she didn''t actually believe that Cana would, or even could, ''steal'' Alex since she was a part of his peerage, Lucy had heard all about the ridiculous number of women waiting for him back at his home. Again, as a member of his peerage she wasn''t too concerned about them, but she also couldn''t help but imagine Cana somehow joining his harem in some way after her earlier comment. Not knowing how seriously her friend took her joke, Cana continued laughing as she poured some of the ale from the barrel into a mug to sample before getting right to guzzling the rest down. As she raised the mug to her lips though, Cana paused slightly once the ale touched her tongue before slowly lowering her mug. Her face was an expressionless mask as she slowly made her way towards Alex, every single person around her wondering what was going through her mind. She then surprised everyone present by getting down on her hands and knees before performing the perfect dogeza, and declaring, "I may be inexperienced but please take care of me husband!" CRASH! The moment those words left her mouth, every single person in the guild hall fell to the ground in astonishment as Lucy alone stood and demanded, "What''s with that Cana! How do you go straight to husband just from drinking beer!?" Seemingly unperturbed by Lucy''s tone, Cana looked at her seriously and asked, "How else can I repay someone who gifted me several hundred barrels of such wondrous alcohol than with my own body?" This time Lucy was genuinely at a complete loss of words, as, while she did think think that the alcohol Alex had given her before was good, it surely wasn''t good enough to sell yourself off for. Even Alex was dumbfounded at Cana''s reaction as, while he did think that the alcohol brewed in Asora was better than the vast majority that was available in the worlds he visited, he didn''t think it was good enough to sell yourself for. Before he could say as much though, there was a sudden crash as someone roared, "LIKE HELL I WOULD ALLOW THAT!" Everyone turned to see the strongest member of Fairy Tail, Gildarts, stand suddenly while directing a murderous glare at Alex, making the latter sigh in undisguised exasperation. Knowing there was probably no way to get Gildarts to stand down though, Alex stood while taking one last swig of his drink, and said while facing him, "I don''t typically have a habit of fighting cripples, but I think I''ll make an exception for the strongest member of Fairy Tail." Gildarts face twitched notably when he heard Alex''s words, as he snarled, "Who you callin a cripple?!" Alex c.o.c.ked a brow but didn''t say anything, instead glancing pointedly at Gildarts''s left arm and leg, both of which were prosthetics after losing them in a battle with Acnologia. Getting even more annoyed at Alex pointing them out, Gildarts lunged forward with his right arm raised to attack with his signature Crush magic. As he did so everyone was quick to get out of his way since Crush magic, combined with Gildarts''s own thick-headedness, was a very dangerous combination. Though Crush magic could be considered fairly harmless to other people unless he deliberately wanted to destroy them, the entirety of Fairy Tails home city of Magnolia had been remodeled specifically with Gildarts in mind, due to his tendency to accidentally walk right through buildings and destroy them. Instead of worrying about Gildarts''s charge like those around him though, Alex simply smirked before sidestepping fast enough that he left an afterimage, and sweeping his good leg out from under him. Finding himself suddenly trying to catch his balance on his prosthetic leg, Gildarts''s eyes widened in surprise as Alex placed his hand on the back of his head, and planted Gildarts face first into the floor beneath them. The next several seconds were filled with complete silence as everyone took in the fact that one of their strongest fighters was instantly defeated, while Alex kept his hold on the back of Gildarts''s head without uttering a single word. Eventually Gildarts slammed his hands into the ground on either side of himself, and started to push himself up while stating, "Let. Me. Up. Damnit!" Alex smirked at how Gildarts hadn''t seemed to notice yet, and released his hold on the back of his head before backing away suddenly. Gildarts them jumped up and spun around suddenly while jabbing his left hand at Alex and demanding, "What''s the big idea you bas...tard....?" It seemed as if Gildarts, as well as all of those within the guild finally noticed what was different after a moment, while Alex simply retook his seat with the same smirk on his face as he grabbed his mug once more. "What...did you do?" Markarov asked with an incredulous expression on his face, as he stared at the regenerated left arm of Gildarts while he also stood on his newly regenerated left leg. Alex however simply finished off yet another mug of ale while Gildarts proceeded to lift his shirt to examine the scars that no longer existed. It was only after Alex drained his mug completely that he said, "It''s a type of time manipulation magic called Regeneration magic. Unlike Arc of Time it can influence even living beings to be used to ''heal'' their injuries by rewinding time on them until the point before they even existed. It can even be used to revert a person''s age to make them younger." With Alex pointedly looking at him when he mentioned the last part, Markarov''s eyes widened when he understood the implications. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Markarov suddenly let out a boisterous laugh that surprised everyone in the guild hall after the previous tense atmosphere, before declaring, "Thanks for offer, but I''ll have to turn it down! As inconvenient as it is, old age suits me more than becoming a young buck again! Besides, how could I hold my head up around my guild members if I suddenly became younger than half of them?" His piece said, Markarov proceeded to laugh once more while Mirajane filled another mug of ale for him, except this time it was some of the stuff Alex gave them. Alex and the girls were then treated firsthand to a welcoming party from one of the loudest and most rambunctious guilds in the kingdom of Fiore, an affair that quite surprised those amongst them from more proper noble backgrounds. Several hours later, when the sun had already set, people finally started filing out of the guild hall in drunken stupors, singing and laughing as they went even though several of them had marks and bruises from any fights they had partaken with each other. Amongst them Alex and the girls also left, with him taking care of most of them along with the few that didn''t drink, Yami, Lucy and Yue; while Rias, Shizuku, and Moka only had a little bit, and a single sip had been enough to take Sun out for the entire night. Meanwhile Grayfia had been tricked into taking a drink by Kuroka, which led to its own brand of trouble while the naughty cat also drank her fill, and then there was Shia, Kurumu, Anne, and Lala, who had all decided to cut loose for once as well. With Alex supporting most of those who drank with his ''Telekinesis'', they said goodnight to the rest while the white haired Mirajane led them through the dark night. "I''m sorry that we don''t have enough rooms for everyone, we didn''t expect anyone else to join us out here." Alex waved away her apologies and said, "It''s ok, we never travel without thinking at least that far ahead. Is this clearing taken?" Mirajane showed some confusion at Alex''s question, as when he mentioned thinking ahead she thought he was referring to simply staying on their ship. Nodding slowly she said, "That''s just an empty area that we use for training, but with the impending attack I doubt it''ll get much use in the next few days. You can use it as you want." Alex nodded gratefully as a small object suddenly appeared in his hand, which looked to be a a large pill. Mirajane looked at it carefully as Alex suddenly pressed the button-like thing at the top, before throwing it right in the middle of the empty clearing. POOF! There was a cloud of smoke a second after it hit the ground, and when it cleared Mirajane lightly exclaimed in surprise when an entire house now stood where there was nothing seconds before. Alex turned back to her with a smile and explained, "It''s a portable home that we''ve been working on for a while. I explained the idea to Lala along with a few other improvements that I thought could be made, such as keeping it in a ''capsule'' form when not in use, and she immediately jumped on it. Even I''m constantly amazed at her progress when creating things." As he said the girls that weren''t drunkenly unconscious nodded in agreement, while Lucy joined Mirajane in staring dumbfoundedly at the portable house. After opening the door and using his ''Telekinesis'' to bring the girls inside, Alex turned back and asked Mirajane with a teasing tone, "So, are you going to stay there all night, or should I invite you in as well?" Mirajane''s eyes narrowed at Alex''s in invitation, as she felt that if she accepted she''d be like a small rabbit walking right into the lions den for dinner, unknowing that she was actually the main course. She then plastered a large smile on her face before saying, "Thank you for the invitation, but I really must be going to see to my brother and my sister, good night." Without another word Mirajane turned to leave as she headed back towards the guild hall, while Alex''s gaze wandered down to admire her nice ass as it shifted from side to side. Suddenly there was a slight pain on both of Alex''s sides as both Lucy and Yami pinched them, before the petite assassin said, "Lewd thoughts are not allowed..." Lucy nodded in agreement before saying, "Yeah, I don''t want you making passes at my guild mates!" As she said that Lucy thought back to Cana from earlier, who thankfully hadn''t seriously pursued her earlier declarations. Alex however didn''t seem to take their words seriously, as he suddenly grabbed both girls and tossed them up onto his shoulders before saying as they yelped in surprise, "Well, I guess I''ll just have to take out my ''lewd thoughts'' on the two of you then!" He then proceeded to drag both girls into the bathroom to clean up while getting dirty, leaving Rias, Shizuku, Moka, and Yue to get everyone else changed and in bed for the night. *** The next morning Lucy awoke to find almost everyone else gone from their large bed, with only herself, Kuroka, and Shia being present. Releasing a large yawn as she sorely got up after the abuse Alex made her body go through the night before, Lucy made her way through the house, admiring everything she didn''t get a chance to look at the night before, until she found Alex and the others in the kitchen. "Good morning." She said somewhat cheerfully, to which Grayfia, Sun, Anne, and Lala could only groan in response from their seats around the table. Meanwhile Alex, Rias, and Shizuku expertly danced around each other in the kitchen as they prepared breakfast, while Yami was using her transformed hair to help set the table up for everyone to eat. At first Lucy wasn''t quite sure where to look, what with the group that were nursing a hangover, Alex and the two others who were cooking while still completely nude save an apron, and then there was the various appliances they used that, from what Lucy could see, didn''t even use magic to function. She didn''t get to admire the view too much though, as Alex suddenly said, "Moka, can you give Lucy a tour while explaining the modern appliances to her a bit? And Yue can you go and get Shia up already? I want her to ''See'' when the dark guilds will arrive." Nodding in affirmation, Yue quickly disappeared the way Lucy had come from, while Moka approached her and said, "Come on, I''ll show you around." Without giving her a chance to say anything, Lucy suddenly found herself being pulled along as Moka went to show her around the house. She soon found herself in awe of the various machines and inventions within the portable house, but what he found most amazing of all was the surplus of books they had available. Moka then ended up having to literally drag her back to the kitchen when breakfast was ready, where everyone now was except for the still sleeping Kuroka. "Nnnnnnnnn..." Lala groaned as she held her head tightly. "I never want to drink again..." Her words made Alex and a few others chuckle at her expense, making her groan once more at the noise as he placed a plate full of food down in front her along with her favorite black matter seasoning. "Maybe I should send a recording of you last night to Sephie, I wonder how the former queen of Deviluke would react to her daughter drinking and partying like that?" Alex teased her, making Lala look up suddenly before exclaiming, "Please don''t! Oww.." The sudden movement, combined with her shout, made Lala suddenly groan once more as she tried to grab a nearby glass of water. "I can''t even remember what happened last night..."Grayfia groaned as she massaged her temples, to which Moka smiled evilly and asked, "So you don''t remember taking your top off in front of everyone and dancing on the table?" The words were barely out of her mouth when Grayfia''s head shot up and she demanded with a pale expression, "Did I really?!" Not expecting such a reaction from the usually calm and collected maid, everyone who didn''t get completely drunk the night before had to suppress their laughter while Alex calmly said, "No you didn''t, Moka''s just messing with you." Grayfia let out an audible sigh of relief at Alex''s words, before sending a not so subtle glare at Moka for even joking like that, something that was quite a surprise to everyone present. Eventually, as Anne handed out a hangover cure she concocted from some of the plants she found during a walk around their temporary home, things started getting more lively around the breakfast table until even Kuroka woke up and joined them. Eventually Rias asked, "So are you going to create a portal now that we''ve found a relatively safe place?" Alex however shook his head and said, "We''re going to wait until a few days after the attack in order to prevent anyone from accidentally finding their way inside Asora." Though Rias looked partially dejected that she couldn''t see Ryoto just yet, she nodded in understanding since his safety was her number one priority. It was then that everyone turned their attention to Shia, who had recently rejoined them after excusing herself to perform the divination Alex asked for. With every pair of eyes on her, Shia rolled her own before saying, "If everything stays the same as my vision then they''ll be here late tomorrow afternoon." Alex nodded in affirmation and said, "Then we have a little over a day to help them prepare, more than enough time." Kuroka, who had been in the middle of drinking her own portion of hangover cure, looked up at his words and asked, "Why don''t we just go out and defeat them right now~Nya? We can easily find them with the magic compass~Nya." This time Alex shook his head and stated, "I don''t want to become as involved in this world as we have been. Though we will undoubtedly fight as well, let''s focus more on supporting the people of this world from the background after we eliminate the other reincarnators and those in their inner circle." With how powerful Fairy Tail''s ''fate'' and ''power of friendship'' was, Alex saw no need to do all of the fighting himself this time unless something drastic happened, as the infamous mage''s guild was more than capable of taking care of the vast majority of their opponents if given the chance. Though the rest of the girls nodded in affirmation, Lucy however looked concerned and asked, "You aren''t going to fight beside us?" Again Alex shook his head and explained, "In the world''s I''ve been to I was the one leading the charge in pretty much every conflict, while those who were supposed to fight ended up being lost in the background. Instead of becoming widely known in this world as well, it''s better if guilds like Fairy Tail and the rest are the ones who beat back the dark guilds to help reestablish a sense of normalcy, while we silently support you from the background. This is also better so that the Dark Emperor and his generals won''t learn more than they should about me before we actually fight." Though Lucy wanted to argue about Alex''s logic, she couldn''t deny it since he could be facing up to five powerful opponents at once if things went wrong, which would only make things worse if they knew what he was capable of beforehand. She also thought back to his actions in Hargeon, which he had completely credited Fairy Tail with despite the fact that they would''nt be able to accomplish such feats even with everyone in the guild cooperating. Eventually she looked up at him and said, "As long as you don''t keep me from fighting alongside my guild mates as well." Alex surprised her then by nodding in agreement, and saying, "I''d expect nothing less from one of my ''Pawns'', especially since you''re already personally invested in this fight." With everyone else looking at her expectantly or saying something similar, Lucy couldn''t help but get pumped as she hurriedly shoveled down the rest of her breakfast, and declared, "Then let''s go!" Chapter 362 - Preparations: Part 1 With the news spreading that the attack would come the very next day, the entirety of the island was busy preparing for their arrival. At its center was Shia as she recounted the details of her brief vision to the others so that they knew where to defend, though she kept saying that her vision wasn''t absolute. Shia''s visions depended on the choices of certain people to be realized, meaning that if someone made a different decision for some reason then the entire outcome could change. It was for this reason that Alex never placed too much emphasis on Shia''s visions to begin with, only opting to use them in situations such as this. This was a decision that both Markarov and the Exceed Carla, who also possessed the ability of precognition, strongly agreed with. Around them everyone was hurrying too and fro to prepare defenses that made the ones from the day before look pathetic in comparison. Large amounts of earth was being moved to create trenches and fortifications, magical traps were being laid, even Anne was helping by planting some of the seeds she kept in her storage before using the power from her last system purchase to make them grow. Meanwhile those that couldn''t help prepare were either doing some last minute training, or were running food and other supplies back and forth to help those working. Alex however was sitting cross legged while levitating a short distance away from the Fairy Tail building, and was using his ''Domain'' to place various trap spells across the island in the event that some of the attackers tried to circle around them. After a few minutes, Alex cracked open an eyelid to see Lucy approaching him with a chilled drink in her hands. "I thought you might be thirsty." She said while holding out the drink, which Alex gratefully accepted as he stood back up. "Such a thoughtful wife..." Alex said teasingly as he took a sip, making Lucy blush and fidget slightly from embarrassment, even before Alex quickly leaned forward and stole a kiss. "Get a room you two!" Macao suddenly called from the side while a few other passing guys started whistling or cat-calling, making Lucy turn even redder as she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her face. She was then given a reprieve when the guild master of Blue Pegasus, Bob, fluttered over with his wings and asked, "Lucy~, can we ask you to help with the fortifications? If I recall right one of your spirits is good at digging, right?" Grateful to escape the embarrassment, Lucy practically leapt over to Bob''s side and said while grabbing one of the keys on her belt, "Yep! Open the gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" There was a flash of light as Lucy channeled her magic power through the golden key, before it cleared to reveal a beautiful young woman with pink hair, dressed only in a black bikini with white ruffles at the edges with a matching band through her hair, and a pair of metallic shackles on both wrists that had a length of chain attached. "Is it time for punishment princess?" Virgo immediately asked with an eager gleam in her eye, to which Lucy retorted, "Why is it you always ask about being punished?! And what is with that getup?!" Seemingly unperturbed with the way Lucy reacted, Virgo assumed a s.e.xy pose with her butt and chest being emphasized before plainly stating, "It''s fan service!" Lucy could only facepalm as the guys around them exclaimed in awe at Virgo''s appearance, while Alex couldn''t help but chuckle at the scene. Eventually Lucy released a long sigh before tiredly saying, "Let''s just get to work..." She then started discussing with Bob the areas that Virgo would need to dig for the trenches to help slow down the enemy, completely unaware that Virgo herself seemed to notice something interesting and walked away. "How''s that sound Virgo? Virgo?" Noticing that her spirit wasn''t behind her like she thought, Lucy looked around before adopting a deadpan when she saw where Virgo had gone. "Will YOU give me punishment master?" She asked to Alex, making him c.o.c.k a brow as he wondered why she was suddenly referring to him as master. Instead of spending time wondering about though, a sadistic smile formed in his face. Virgo shuddered when she saw that smile, even before Alex placed his finger under her chin and leaned down until his face was mere inches from her own before asking, "Are you sure you want my brand of ''punishment'' Virgo? It''s quite intense you know?" Again Virgo shuddered when Alex said that his ''punishments'' were intense, before she pleaded, "Please punish this worthless maid..." Alex''s sadistic smile widened as he leaned in even closer, blowing lightly into Virgo''s ear to make her body shudder in anticipation for the third time, before he suddenly backed away. "Eh?" Virgo muttered in confusion, to which Alex smirked, "Well you see, I''m not sure about ''punishing'' someone when they haven''t even done their job yet. I might consider it though if you finish all of the work needed before nightfall..." Though everyone who was still spectating wanted to comment that you usually punished someone for not doing their work, not the other way around, their words caught in their throat as Virgo promptly leapt up into the air, before performing a beautiful swan dive into the dirt below as if it was water. She then immediately began burrowing through the ground until she reached the area that Lucy and Bob had been discussing before, and started creating a series of trenches and tunnels through the earth at a speed that left everyone dumbfounded. Alex however continued smirking as he made his way to the flamboyant guild master, and said, "I''d make sure she has plenty of areas to work on to get as much work as possible done before night, something tells me that she''ll make sure every single bit is done." Bob could only nod slowly in agreement as he watched the fervor in which Virgo worked, while Lucy approached Alex and asked while pinching his side, "What was that all about?" Alex returned her question with an awkward smile, before leaning in close and whispering into her ear, "A title that I gained after ''taming'' a well known S is ''Super Sadist'', which I''m guessing Virgo sensed due to her own masochistic nature. So what do you think, wanna give it a go sometime?" Though Alex was only joking, Lucy still couldn''t help but to get the image of the two of them bound tightly in leather outfits in her head, making her nearly pass out in response as steam started rising from her head. Alex chuckled lightly to Lucy''s response at his teasing, who now looked as if she was about to pass out from over stimulation. He then wrapped his arms around her to keep her standing straight, until the next task that she needed to help with came along. *** Meanwhile, inside Fairy Tail''s building, another group was taking brief break as Mirajane brought them some chilled drinks. They included Shia and Mirajane''s younger siblings Elfman and Lisanna. "So the three of you use a form of transformation magic?" Shia asked curiously, her eyes sparkling as Lisanna nodded and said, "Yep, it''s called ''Take Over'', and let''s us assume the forms and powers of specific beings!" She then demonstrated by suddenly sprouting rabbit ears and a tail while short white fur spread over most of her body. As she struck a pose Lisanna continued, "The ''Take Over'' I use is called Animal Soul, it allows me to take the forms of various animals to power up my physical abilities!" Lisanna then pivoted on one foot while the other swung up into the air, and she proceeded to demonstrate what she meant by kicking the empty air at such speeds that most of those around them couldn''t even follow her foot. "Wow!" Shia exclaimed with stars in her eyes, before she then turned towards Elfman with an expectant look. Smirking confidently, Elfman stated, "I also use ''Take Over'', but my transformations are a bit different." He then held out his right arm, which changed into a monsters arm with fur and several nasty looking talons on each finger. He then explained, "I use what''s called Beast Soul, it allows me to take the form and abilities of monsters I''ve defeated in combat, until recently however my transformations were only limited to my right arm..." When she heard his explanation though, Shia didn''t appear as impressed as she was with Lisanna''s. Instead she adopted a thoughtful look before asking, "Isn''t that just the same thing as Alteration magic? Someone I know called Ryutarou can already do that..." Though Elfman frowned slightly when Shia mentioned someone else apparently managing a full Take Over, he and Lisanna still asked at the same time, ""Alteration magic?"" "Yep! It''s a type of magic where I come from that''s an Age of Gods magic, dealing with manipulating living beings. Another use is taming and strengthening monsters, but the one I''m referring to allows you to take the same form as monsters that you''ve subjugated, like your Take Over." Both Elfman and Lisanna listened to Shia''s explanation with growing interest, while also wondering if it would be possible for them to be able to learn this Alteration magic as well. Before they could ask about it though, Shia then asked, "So the two of you use Take Over, what about your sister, Mirajane?" An awkward silence descended over the table as Shia asked about the oldest of the Strauss siblings, before Lisanna eventually began, "Mira-nee also used to use Take Over, but after a certain incident se became unable to use it properly anymore..." Elfman nodded and, with pain visible on his face, continued, "The version nee-chan used though was called Satan Soul, which, similarly to my Beast Soul, allowed her to subjugate and take the powers of even demons, which also resulted in her nickname of ''Demon''. Because of it she was even able to become one of the guild''s S-class mages at a really young age, but now she could only use some basic magics outside of combat..." With a fairly somber mood settling over the table Shia internally cursed at herself for bringing up such a subject, and then tried to change it by telling the siblings about the type of magic she preferred to use, Physical Reinforcement. Meanwhile, on the other side of the guild hall, Sun was sitting by herself as she tried to find the courage to interact with someone. Due to her powers Sun had spent most of her early life being avoided by other children, and was only really able to socialize with her own club members throughout high school. Though she had made leaps and bounds in interacting with others since she met Alex, started training to use her voice without her powers, and had so many ''sisters'' around her to talk with, it was another matter entirely to talk to groups of new people on her own. "U-um, do mind if we sit here?" A timid sounding voice drew Sun''s attention to the side, where she saw a pair of young looking girls standing there. The girl on the right had her long blue hair tied up into two long twin tails, and was wearing a flowing white and yellow dress that went down to her knees, while the one on the left had her pink hair tied up into short bushy twin tails with orange bows, and was wearing a sleeveless pink t-shirt with a light blue short skirt. Immediately Sun exclaimed, "Of course, it''s your guild after all!" The two girls smiled and sat down next to her, before the blue haired one said, "I''m Wendy, Wendy Marvell. And this is Sherria Bendy, of Lamia Scale." Sun offered her hand to the two girls, and said as they shook it, "Sun Otonashi. I''m not part of a guild, but I am a siren." The two girls tilted their heads cutely in confusion, as Wendy muttered, "I think I might have heard that word before, but what is a siren?" Sun smiled somewhat sadly at the innocent question, as she didn''t think she''d have to explain what sirens were to them, and said, "Sirens were infamous Youkai that would lure sailors to their death with their songs." When Wendy and Sherria both turned pale at her description, Sun quickly added, "B-but I don''t do that! I prefer using my songs to help and protect my comrades instead of fighting, though I will when I need to." There was a barely audible sigh of relief when the girls heard the second part of Sun''s explanation, before Sherria said, "You look like a normal person though?" Sun smiled at Sherria''s question, and replied, "Well we primarily learned how to take human form in order to avoid conflict between humans and Youkai, but my ''true'' form isn''t much different than what you see now." Immediately there was a sparkle in both Wendy and Sherria''s eyes, as they asked, ""Can we see your ''true'' form?"" Taken aback by the sudden request, Sun was about to say no when she stopped herself, and reconsidered. After several seconds of thinking she figured that showing them couldn''t harm anything since her true form wasn''t horrendous or anything, and slowly nodded her head before getting to her feet. "I''ll need to make sure that no ones immediately around me first." After making sure that no one would be affected by her transformation, Sun looked back at the two young girls who looked like they had stars in their eyes as they eagerly awaited her transformation. After taking in a quick breath, a pair of beautiful white feathered wings spread from Sun''s back before wrapping around the table to cover it with feathery softness. Wendy and Sherria both stared at the wings in awe, as the former muttered, "They''re just like a bigger version of Carla''s...." Sherria however said to herself in voice just barely loud enough that Sun could hear, "Its like you''re an angel instead of a Youkai...." Sun blushed at their words as she made her wings vanish, only to notice that she had become the center of attention in the guild hall due to her transformation. With her cheeks turning a deep Crimson at the attention, Sun quickly returned to her seat while trying to avoid everyone''s gazes as she coughed lightly and tried to change the subject, "Ahem! So anyways, that is my ''true form''. What about you two? What kind of magic do you use?" Startling slightly from the sudden question, Wendy quickly said, "I use Sky Dragon Slayer magic, and Sherria uses Sky God Slayer magic! After we started hanging out though people started calling us the Sky Sisters." With Sherria nodding in affirmation, Sun asked while looking at Wendy, "So you use the same type of magic as Anne?" Wendy looked confused for a second before exclaiming, "One of you is a Sky Dragon Slayer too?!" Sun nodded and said, "Yeah, Anne is. She''s the one helping down on the beach, and one of the reasons we came here was even for her to try and learn more about it as well." Wendy adopted a look of concentration as she tried to recall which of the many women that accompanied Alex she was talking about, before she finally recalled which one was Anne. As she did Wendy shifted to a complete deadpan as she recalled Anne''s very voluptuous figure, dressed in very revealing clothing. Though she wasn''t judging Anne''s choice of attire, Wendy couldn''t help but to look down at her own nonexistent chest and figure in comparison, before suddenly saying to Sun as she took her hands with slightly teary eyes, "Sun, I''m so glad there someone in your group who''s around the same age as us!" Though she was confused for a brief second at the abrupt subject change, this time it was Sun''s turn to deadpan as she asked, "Wendy, Sherria, how old are you two?" The duo looked confused for a brief second before Wendy and Sherria replied respectively, "I''m thirteen!" "I''m fifteen!" Sun shuddered in realization at how the duo thought that she was the same age as them, before looking down depressingly. "..." She muttered something that neither girl could hear at first, prompting Wendy to apologetically say, "Sorry? We couldn''t hear you?" Slowly, Sun turned her gaze back to them and said with tears shining in her eyes, "I said, I''m in my twenties..." An awkward silence settled over the table as the duo realized their mistake, while Wendy also developed a secret fear in her heart that the woman siting across from her would be her in ten years. Their similarities in hair color, dress, and figure only deepening this newfound fear. *** While Alex and most of his peerage, as well as Anne, were either helping prepare for the battle or visiting with various members of the guilds, a solitary figure was lounging in the sun at the highest point she could find on the island, Kuroka. N.a.k.e.d as the day she was born, the black haired Nekomata rolled over while releasing a contented ''nya'', her tails swaying gently in the breeze. She didn''t see he point in helping prepare defenses with how powerful she and the rest of Alex''s peerage were, let alone Alex himself. It wasn''t as if she didn''t understand why exactly Alex was taking the back seat in this conflict, except where the other reincarnators were concerned, as she herself was glad that they weren''t the ones who were doing all of the fighting this time around. But, she still didn''t understand why he was helping these weaklings prepare to fight when he could end it all with a snap of his fingers. Kuroka then lifted her head slightly when she sensed a group of people approaching her, despite he fact that she was currently laying on a branch at the very top of the great tree covering the island. A quick look around and she noticed those who were approaching her, a decent sized group of small beings flying up to her with a pair of white wings on each of their backs. When she realized that they were those strange cats she had noticed the night before though, Kuroka''s brows shot up in curiosity as she quickly equipped her usual black Yukata before they arrived. "What brings all of you here~Nya?" She asked as the cats landed in front of her, while the black one that was as large as a person set down the girl he was carrying. One of the cats, a blue one with a silly look to him, then approached her with a smile before saying, "We just wanted to meet you. I''m Happy!" With him starting the chain, the rest of those before her began introducing themselves one after another. The black cat, which had assumed his usual form that matched the others, introduced himself as Panther Lily, then there was a red furred cat named Lector, a green one wearing a pink frog outfit named Frosch, and then finally the white female one named Carla. When they had all introduced themselves the girl that had come with them, who had styled her appearance to resemble that of a cat, eagerly said, "It''s nice to meet you, I''m Millianna of Mermaid Heel~Nya!" Though she introduced herself normally, Kuroka noticed a sharp gleam in Millianna''s eyes as she focused on her ears and tails. Ignoring it, she then said, "I''m Kuroka~Nya, Alex''s ''Queen''!" Though they didn''t know why exactly Kuroka me at by introducing herself as Alex''s ''Queen'', a few of them still ''oohed'' and ''awed'' in admiration, until Kuroka asked, "So what are you all really doing here~Nya? Surely you wouldn''t have flown all this way for a simple meet and greet~Nya?" There was a short silence following her question, as none of them seemed to know how to answer her question, before the white female cat, Carla, stepped forward and said, "None of us know why, but something about you seems to draw us in and makes us want to be around you." As she finished speaking the rest of the cats nodded in agreement while looking at Kuroka curiously, while Millianna piped up, "I just wanted see if your ears and tails were real~Nya! So, are they?!" Ignoring the excitable girl for the moment, Kuroka smirked at them and said, "Well, I am working on becoming a goddess~Nya! Perhaps you sensed that as fellow felines?" Everywhere Kuroka went she drew cats as if she was a walking catnip plant, but this was the first time she had drawn cats that could actually talk. What she didn''t expect was for Carla to frown at her words, and say, "Don''t joke about such a thing! You aren''t any more a goddess than the Exceed of Edolas were!" While her declaration made everyone shift awkwardly, Kuroka tilted her head in confusion and was about to ask what exactly an Exceed was, when a new voice suddenly cried out, "Such a pungent and wondrous aroma! This Nichiya is coming my goddess!" The rest of the Exceed there groaned as they glanced over to the side at the newcomer, another Exceed who seemed to have an overly large head with a strangely defined facial structure. As he approached he cried out, "Please allow this Nichiya to serve you my goddess of aroma, who smells so wonderfuuuuuuuuuul!" As Nichiya approached them Kuroka smiled warmly and held out her hand, seemingly allowing him to approach her despite his strange attitude. When he actually tried to approach her though, Kuroka curled back her middle finger before smashing it into his forehead to deliver a flick so powerful, that it sent Nichiya flying into the jungle below while crying out, "My goddessssssssssssssss!" The rest of the Exceed and Millianna all felt a cold sweat run down their backs as Kuroka sat back down in front of them, before suddenly grabbing Frosch and pulling him into her lap. Unlike Nichiya though, Frosch was soon purring contently as Kuroka pet his head and scratched him under his chin, before glancing back at the rest of them and asking, "So, what exactly is an Exceed anyways~Nya?" Chapter 363 - Preparations: Pt 2 In one corner of the Fairy Tail guild hall, on the second floor, a solitary petite figure with long flowing blonde hair was reading her book alone, Yami. Unlike the other members of Alex''s peerage Yami didn''t care about making friends with the people of the mage guilds around them, content with only Yuki Mikan as her friend outside of Alex''s peerage. That was why she didn''t even look up as a couple people sat down at the table with her, before one of them said, "U-um, I''m levy Mcgarden and this is Gajeel Redfox, it''s nice to meet you." Yami glanced up from her book to see a petite girl with light blue hair, and thuggish looking man with long black hair and piercings all over his body sitting across from her. Closing her book after marking her place, Yami said, "It is nice to meet you Levy, Gajeel. I am called either Yami or Golden Darkness by those around me." Her introduction done, Yami then proceeded to reopen her book to start reading it again, making Gajeel''s brows twitch in irritation as he snarled, "Hey! Aren''t you being a little too rude there?!" However when she heard him Levy stated, "Gajeel! It''s ok since we interrupted her reading! I know I get a little cranky when someone makes me stop a good book!" When he heard that Gajeel snorted again, as Levy getting ''a little cranky'' meant that she usually pouted until she was left alone to continue her book. Meanwhile Yami continued to ignore the duo until Levy then asked hesitantly, despite also mentioning that she didn''t like being interrupted while reading, "So what kind of book are you reading Yami?" Realizing that the two of them weren''t just going to go away, Yami sighed as she once again closed her book and showed her the cover of it while saying, "It''s part of a mystery series that I''ve been reading recently, this is the sixth book in the series, but I also have the first if you want to look at it." As she spoke Yami produced another book that she had stored in the storage ring, making Levy beam at her as she accepted the offered book, while Yami also mentioned, "It probably has several things you haven''t heard about before, so let me know if you want me to explain something." Since the technology on Earthland wasn''t anywhere near the level of what she was used to, Yami didn''t think that Levy would find the book too interesting once she started to look at it and found it full of terms and items she was unfamiliar with. She was quickly surprised though when Levy started flipping through the first couple pages, before adopting a serious expression as she quickly became engrossed in the story. Though she did end up having to ask Yami a couple questions every now and then, Levy seemed to interpret most of what the various new terms and machines mentioned in the book were through context alone, and soon stopped asking her anything entirely as the pages drew her in. Eventually Levy then even produced a pair of what seemed to be normal reading glasses before putting them on, and what happened next stunned Yami as Levy began to flip through the pages at an abnormal speed. Her own book forgotten, Yami could only stare in awe as Levy quickly finished the book in minutes when it had taken her a couple days to finish reading it. When she had finished reading it Levy slowly closed the book covers, before looking at Yami with stars in her eyes as she declared, "This. Book. Is. Amazing!!! Do you have the next one on you as well?!" Stunned, Yami waved her hand and produced several stacks of books from the storage ring, before saying, "I''ve already finished all of these and there are several copies of them back home, help yourself...." After a moment of thought Yami then produced yet another book, before adding, "This is a dictionary as well, in case you find any terms you don''t know and none of us are around to explain them to you." Levy''s eyes sparkled like a kid''s on Christmas morning as she looked through the veritable mountain of books, before glancing towards the silently watching Gajeel and asking, "Can you help me take these to the storage room?" Without waiting for a reply, Levy picked up a stack of the books herself and balanced them on one hand, before suddenly grabbing Yami''s hand with her free one and continuing, "Come with me real quick!" Though she furrowed her brows slightly, Yami didn''t fight it as Levy dragged her back downstairs, through the rest of the guild members, and to a room set behind the counter that was covered with bookshelves, that were all filled to the brim with books. Looking around with more than little curiosity, Yami focused on one book in particular as Levy explained, "This is our guild''s record storage area, as well as where we keep the informative and miscellaneous books that people bring back. Though I can''t give any of them to you, please help yourself and look through them, I''m sure there are a few that you''d like." Surprising Levy by picking up a book that recorded one particular member''s various dead and accomplishments, Yami then said as she flipped it open and started looking through its pages, "Thank you, Levy." The blue haired Mage faltered slightly at first when she heard that, before smiling radiantly even as Gajeel tried to squeeze his way into the room with several stacks of books balanced on his arms. In another room of the guild, out of sight of everyone else, a trio of women were skillfully working around each other as they worked to prepare enough food and drink to keep everyone going through the day. Naturally one of them was everyone''s favorite Fairy Tail poster girl, Mirajane, while the other two were a certain silver haired maid and her Crimson haired younger sister, Grayfia and Rias. "Can you bring me some more mugs?" Mirajane asked as she prepared yet another barrel of beer to open up, while Rias helped prepare enough meat to feed an army and Grayfia helped. With everyone moving around each other like it was a dance they had practiced for years, Mirajane suddenly said, "Thank you all so much...." Rias and Grayfia looked up suddenly from their respective tasks, before the silver haired maid said, "Don''t think anything of it. We are more than happy to help you out after the hospitality we have been shown." Mirajane however shook her head and said, "I''m not talking about this. Saving Lucy, warning us of the attack, healing Gildarts, and now even helping up prepare for a battle that seems entirely un-winnable, none of us could ever thank you enough for this." To punctuate just how grateful she was, Mirajane then bowed at both Rias and Grayfia as the two simply stood there. "The one you should be thanking is our lord, he was the one who brought us here and wanted to get involved in this fight. All any of us intended by coming with him is to support him while we are away from our families." Grayfia said while Rias nodded in agreement, before adding, "As for me specifically, I''m just counting down the days until I can see my baby boy again..." Mirajane looked up at Rias curiously before she asked, "You already have a son Rias?" The Crimson haired woman nodded while an affectionate smile formed on her lips, making Mirajane mutter, "You look so young too..." This time both sisters smirked with more than a little humor, as Rias explained, "We are capable of changing our apparent age at will, though I look like this it would be more accurate to say I''m closer to my thirties." As Rias said she was several years older than she appeared due to the amount of time she''d spend in the space-time orb, an increasingly common occurrence amongst those who had made it their home. Appearance wise though she still looked as if she was in high school due to the fact that she wasn''t exactly comfortable with looking older than her own mother, who''s typical appearance was only a few years older than her own. She then demonstrated what she was talking about by willing herself to age several years until she matched her actual age, turning her into a very seductive milf, before proceeding to reverse the process until she looked like she was about ten years old. She then ended by changing back to her usual appearance as she also pulled out a small photograph, and held it out to the stunned Mirajane while saying, "This is my son by the way, Ryoto." Mirajane hesitantly accepted the offered slip of paper, which she thought was a really small painting made with magic, and smiled as she looked upon the trio on it. Taking up the center was Alex of course, except, instead of looking ahead at the camera, his gaze was directed at the Crimson haired infant boy that Rias held in her arms along with the beautiful woman herself, making them look like the ideal happy family. After nearly a minute she handed back the photograph to Rias and said, "You have such a lovely little boy, I actually feel a little envious after looking at such a happy family." Rias smiled warmly as she accepted the photo back, before she said, "Ask Alex about them and he''ll show you all of his children, and his wives as well." Though Mirajane looked at them weirdly when Rias mentioned Alex''s wives, neither woman noticed it as they got a far off look in their eyes. Instead Grayfia eventually pulled out another picture of Millicas as well, before Mirajane went to ask one of the guild members, a magic painter called Reedus, for some paintings of Lisanna and Elfman when they were little. *** While Yami and Levy were discussing books, and Rias and Grayfia were helping Mirajane, outside a certain woman was helping direct the others in preparing their defenses. She had long scarlet hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a metallic b.r.e.a.s.tplate with matching gloves, a blue skirt, and black boots. S-class Mage Erza Scarlet narrowed her eyes slightly against the glaring sunlight, as she called out, "Jet, Droy! I thought I told you to move that boulder an hour ago!" The duo she had called out, one a relatively thin man with his orange hair tied back, while the other was heavier set with his black hair styled to resemble an antenna. Both were crying while one exclaimed, "Don''t ask for the impossible!" The other nodded and declared, "We''re not strong like you Erza!" Erza sighed and walked towards the duo, making them shiver in fear until she simply grabbed the giant boulder, and easily lifted it over her head with one hand. The duo watched in awe as she then effortlessly walked to the edge of the beach, and tossed the giant boulder into the ocean and out of their way. Erza then dusted her hands off like it was nothing, before turning back towards Jet and Droy and asking, "How do you expect to become great mages like Jura if you can''t even solve such a simple task?" The duo couldn''t help but to look at Erza with more than a little blame as they shouted in synchronization, ""WE ALREADY RECOGNIZE THAT WE''LL NEVER BE GREAT MAGES LIKE JURA!!"" Erza went wide eyed at their response, as it was the first time Jet and Droy had ever actually talked back to her. Instead of being pleased though, her expression turned from one of surprise to one of a demoness as she muttered while cracking her knuckles, "So, the two of you have grown enough of a backbone to talk back to me, huh?" Realizing their mistake too late, Jet and Droy immediately grabbed onto the other in sheer terror as Erza approached them slowly and menacingly. Suddenly, at the last second, a figure with a long black ponytail stood between them and Erza, and said with a casual smile, "Rather than picking fights here and now, isn''t it better to just give them jobs they could use their magic to do better than things that they''re too weak for?" Though the duo originally looked at Shizuku as if she was their savior, their expressions fell when she called them weak before they collapsed to their knees, while Erza said, "True, but any great Mage can use whatever powers they do have to conquer any problem before them, no matter how difficult it may seem." Shizuku nodded in agreement while silently shooing Jet and Droy away, now that Erza''s attention was on her, to which the two thankfully crawled away. She then asked, "Are you a Mage though? I can''t say I''ve seen many mages who wear armor like a knight." Erza smiled proudly, before she made a sword appear from nowhere and said, "My magic involves the use of swords and armor." She then instantly changed her armor to one that was dark red with bits of orange that were pointed to look like flames, while her scarlet hair was instantly styled into a set of twin tails. In her grip was a large dark red sword with silver and orange accents, which she slung over her shoulder casually before continuing, "I use what''s called Requip: The Knight. It''s a storage ability that I use to store over a hundred different sets of armor and two hundred different weapons to use in combat, which I can change at a moments notice. This particular armor is called Flame Empress Armor, and the Flame Sword. It allows me to incorporate fire in my sword attacks, while also halving any fire based attacks I receive." Erza then released her grip on the sword, making it hover in the air behind her while another one appeared next to it, and then another. Soon the air was filled with several dozen swords that were simply hovering while awaiting their master''s command. "I can also use my magic to remotely control all of my weapons to effectively wield several at once." Shizuku couldn''t help the awe that overcame her when she saw Erza''s magic at work, as she pulled out her own black katana that Alex had given her so long ago, and said, "I don''t use an entire arsenal of weapons and armor like you do, but I do have a set of swords, daggers and tools that I use in partnership with my speed and stealth." Once she finished speaking Shizuku then demonstrated her speed, by instantaneously appearing behind Erza faster than the scarlet haired knight could react, or anyone around them for that matter. Erza turned to look at her with a glint in her eye before she said, "Not bad. If we weren''t preparing for the battle tomorrow then I would want to challenge you to a match." Though the her of the past would wanted to avoid fighting an opponent like Erza as much as possible, after spending so much time as Alex''s ''Knight'' she had long come to terms with the idea of pushing herself and fighting others. That was why she simply gave a small smile to Erza''s words, and replied, "So would I." There was brief moment where the two locked eyes, and an unspoken understanding of respect passed between as fellow students of the sword, before the front door of the guild was suddenly thrown open. "Well then let''s test which one is better between Physical Reinforcement and Take Over then!" Shia cried out with a large smile as she led Elfman and Lisanna, who both had game faces on as Elfman declared, "If a man gets a challenge, it''s his duty to answer it no matter what!" Lisanna nodded in agreement before saying, "And I have to help defend the name of the Take Over Siblings!" As everyone turned their attention to the trio Shizuku''s expression fell as she muttered, "Uh oh...." Erza looked at her questioningly as she shifted back to her usual armor, and asked, "They just going to have a sparring match, so what''s wrong?" She was then surprised when a new voice said from behind her, "What''s wrong is that Shia has a hard time holding back her strength." Erza jumped in mild surprise and turned to see Alex standing there with Lucy right next to him, both looking at the developing situation with grim expressions. She then snorted though and said, "He may not seem it, but Elfman has the potential to become an S-class mage if he applied himself correctly. He shouldn''t be underestimated." Alex however shook his head and stated, "I''m not underestimating him, it''s just that Shia is too strong." Erza frowned at that, as it appeared to her that Alex was looking down on her guild members too much, but before she could say anything else Grayfia suddenly appeared and sternly said, "Shia, remember to not hurt them too much." The rabbit girl laughed lightheartedly at Grayfia''s warning, and replied nonchalantly, "It''s alright, I''ll make sure to be careful!" Though they weren''t entirely reassured, Alex and Grayfia released a sigh as they stepped back to watch the fight, and intervene if need be. However the members of Fairy Tail were around them were mostly frowning as, like Erza, they felt as if Alex and his women were looking down on them too much. Before they could say anything about it though, magic power started radiating from Elfman as his form started growing to a massive height and he cried out, "Beast Soul!" As the clothes covering his upper body tore with his growth, Elfman''s skin started turning red while his white hair started elongating and flowed down his back, and two matching sets of curved yellow horns grew from his shoulders and forehead. Once his transformation was complete Elfman opened his mouth to reveal the rows of now razor sharp teeth within, and let loose a mighty roar that alerted anyone who hadn''t heard about the match yet. "I can''t just leave this all to Elf-nii!" Lisanna stated as she too activated her transformation, except instead of the rabbit form she used earlier a pair of cat-like ears sprouted from her head, along with a set of whiskers, a tail, and claws on her hands with a light blue color and black stripes. Along with the change to her physical appearance, her regular clothes also disappeared as they changed to a matching patterned bikini with even a choker that had a bell. With the siblings before her prepared, Shia flashed a fearless smile as she cried out, "Yoooosh! I guess I should prepare as well!" What happened next shocked everyone present, as a torrent of light blue magic power suddenly started radiating off of Shia as it grew to even surpass Elfman''s new size, and was comparable with even the giant trees around them. Despite the massive amount of magic power she was displaying, which made those around them stare in awe, Alex, Grayfia, and Shizuku let a small sigh of relief from how much Shia was actually holding back, as her goal was to one day match Alex''s Super Saiyan transformations in raw power. Of course, this was a small tidbit that they decided not to mention to Erza, or anyone else around them. Though the power Shia was displaying was far from what he thought she would capable of, Elfman didn''t try to back out of the match as he released another roar of challenge at her, before bringing one of his massive claws back to swing at her with all of his strength, while Lisanna stepped back to avoid being caught in the attack. Shia''s smirk widened though as she didn''t make any movements to avoid the powerful attack, or even to defend herself as the massive and dangerous claws approached her in what appeared to be slow motion. KABOOOOOOOOM!!! The entire island seemed to shudder with the impact of Elfman''s attack as a cloud of dirt and sand rose from where his claws had impacted, covering everything from his elbow down from view, including Shia. "W-what is this?!" Elfman groaned with his now monstrous voice, confusing many of those around them until the dust cleared a few seconds, later, to reveal his giant claws wrapped firmly around Shias body, yet she hadn''t even budged a single inch. Instead she simply stood there with a casual smile as if his attack had been nothing but gentle breeze, before asking, "If that''s all then I guess it''s my turn?" Before Elfman could have the time to say anything, Shia then grabbed onto his giant hand with both of her own, before she began to slowly turn. Despite the fact that he put all of his strength into maintaining his footing, it meant nothing as Shia effortlessly dragged him along by his arm as she started spinning, making him spin around her like a massive wreaking ball. Everyone quickly cleared the area as Elfman''s massive body began to snap any tree that was around them while Shia spun him around, until they eventually started to become a blur. Then, when she was spinning fast enough, Shia released her grip on him suddenly, sending Elfman flying out over the ocean until he couldn''t even be seen anymore. "HAVE A NICE TRIP!" Shia called out cheerfully after she sent the man flying, further stunning everyone around her from how casual she was after displaying such strength. They didn''t get time to gawk though, as Lisanna suddenly appeared behind Shia with the enhanced speed from her own transformation, and cried out, "You''re wide open!" Shia however didn''t even flinch at Lisanna''s sudden appearance as, despite being a ''Rook'' that specialized in strength and defense, her strength also allowed her to move at speeds greater than most of those around her, with only people like Shizuku and Rias''s own ''Knight'', Kiba, surpassing her. Instead she mimicked her earlier move with Elfman, grabbing Lisanna''s arm as she tried to use her claws to pierce through Shias defense, and throwing her in the opposite direction, right at Alex. There was the briefest of seconds where Shia made a very noticeable ''oh shit'' look on her face, right before Lisanna crashed into both Alex and Erza, sending all three of them tumbling to the ground. As per the the rules of the ''Lucky Pervert'', neither Alex nor Erza could react to Lisanna flying at them, or control their fall on their way to the ground. Instead, the end result of their fall was Alex sitting with his back up against a tree, while on his left side Lisanna ended up with her back against him while his hand had somehow ended up inside of her bikini top; and Erza was in a similar position on his right side, except that Alex''s hand had somehow ended up inside the front of both her skirt and her panties. There was dead silence as everybody around them froze, dread filling their hearts. Around the time Loke had first joined the guild he made the mistake of trying to ask Erza out, and as a result she had nearly killed him at the time. As such the only thing anyone might have heard at the moment was the thundering of their hearts, and their nervous gulping as they awaited how the scene before them would play out. Alex however was focused on the softness he held in his left hand, and the increasing dampness in his right. Having been in too many similar situations to count before, there was no panic in Alex''s face. Instead he absentmindedly gave Lisanna''s b.r.e.a.s.ts a gentle squeeze, while the middle finger of his right hand traced the line of Erza''s crotch up and down. "What....do you think you''re doing?!" Erza demanded with obvious anger, except her cheeks were almost as red as her hair, and Alex could tell that her breathing was becoming increasing ragged as he slowly stroked the entrance to her honey pot. He then said with complete seriousness, "I''ve been looking for another ''sheathe'' to my ''sword'', interested?" Erza mind blanked when she heard a phrase she was familiar with from the various e.r.o.t.i.c novels she''d borrow from Levy, until she was brought back to the current situation as Alex''s pointer and ring fingers spread her open slightly, and his middle finger began to slowly move inside her. "Ngh..."Erza groaned at the increase in stimulation, which was even better than when she pleasured herself. Meanwhile Lisanna was also shifting and groaning on the other side as Alex expertly massaged her b.r.e.a.s.t and pinched her n.i.p.p.l.e. "Oh my goodness, how lewd!" A voice suddenly said, snapping both girls back to the fact that they were currently being watched by several dozen people. "Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!" Lisanna suddenly cried out as she rushed away from Alex''s side in embarrassment, while Erza silently jerked away from Alex''s grasp before awkwardly trying to fix her skirt and panties. Thankfully no one had been able to witness what exactly was occurring within their confines, however that didn''t make the situation any less humiliating as Erza tried to get some control back over those who were just gawking. "T-that''s guy''s a monster..." One guild member muttered, while another said, "To think he beat Gildarts so easily yesterday, and now he''s even doing whatever he wants to Erza of all people..." Again Alex was the center of attention due to the fact that he had, in a way, now laid hands on three of the guilds girls, Lucy, Lisanna, and even one of their only two active S-class mage''s, Erza. The man himself ignored them of course, and instead turned to Shia and asked, "So what about Elfman? He''s kind of needed for the battle tomorrow." Shia however waved away Alex''s question and said nonchalantly, "He''s fine, I didn''t send him that far away. If need be we can just use Regeneration and Spirit magic to ensure he''s not too tired to fight tomorrow!" Alex could only sigh as he shook his head in undisguised exasperation, before sending a message to Kuroka asking her to send one of her familiars to keep an eye on Elfman. Of course, when Natsu then tried to make Shia fight him as well and got sent out even further than Elfman did, Alex wasn''t too worried about him. Chapter 364 - The Founder Later, shortly after the sun had set, the sound of giggling coupled with the occasional sensual m.o.a.n could be heard coming from the bathroom of Alex''s temporary home. Within he could be found playing with a certain pink haired alien as she sat on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, her tail dancing happily behind her. "You''re being so naughty today~" Lala said playfully as Alex played with her soapy b.r.e.a.s.ts, before he said, "Of course, I gained a new toy to play with later, and I got a taste of a couple new beauties bodies." Though Alex was obviously talking about other women in front of her, Lala wasn''t bothered by it in the slightest since she never cared about such things to begin with, and because she was currently the one having fun in their stead. "Ahn..." Lala suddenly m.o.a.ned as she felt Alex twitch inside her, making him smile as her insides instinctively squeezed him momentarily. One thing he had come to learn about Lala and her family, was that Charmians, such as Sephie and even her daughters, were practically their universe''s version of succubi. Though the lacked the same skills and abilities as a typical succubus like Kurumu or Ageha, Sephie and her daughters possessed the same inherent seductivness that succubi had. There was also the fact that pure blooded Charmians, such as Sephie, were capable of driving members of the opposite s.e.x insane with desire for them with a single glance. Another difference though was that Charmians didn''t require the same ''love'' that succubi did to survive, Of course Alex wasn''t thinking about that at this very moment, instead he was enjoying the slow and steady rotations of Lala''s h.i.p.s while he played with her soapy tits, their tongues entangled in an equally passionate embrace. Soon however the the door to the bathroom burst open, and in came the rest of the girls after they had finished visiting and helping set up for the attack. "Man I''m so ready for a bat-what are you two doing here?!" Kurumu demanded the moment she entered the baths, and saw Alex and Lala playing around while everyone else was working hard doing this and that. Without any hesitation, Lala turned towards her and happily said while making her b.r.e.a.s.ts sway side to side, "Playing with my soapy titties!" Kurumu''s brow twitched when she heard that, before her face transitioned into an adorable pout at being left out. Only adding to the image was the dash of flour that had gotten onto her nose at some point in the day, due to her spending the entire day baking various snacks for everyone while they worked. Before she could say anything else though, Anne charged right by her and said as she eagerly sat down at one of the washing stations, "The only thing better than working the soil all day, is scrubbing it off at the end of the day~!" As she said Anne''s arms were coated with soil up to their elbows, while there was also patches of dirt here and there on her body and face. She had spent the entire day planting and growing various seeds with Warrod, one of the founders of Fairy Tail that escaped to the island with them, and Droy once he escaped from Erza''s radar. "So what do the plants you planted do? Are they anything like Momo''s plants?" Lala asked Anne as she was cleaning herself, the image of giant Venus flytraps, restrictive vines, and even plants that shot seeds at speeds similar to bullets entering her mind. Anne however giggled mischievously and coyly said, "You''ll just have to wait and see~." Shaking their heads at her behavior, the rest of the girls started washing themselves while Kuroka slowly approached Alex and Lala. Though Lala hadn''t noticed Kuroka sneaking up behind her, Alex made a face as he watched her approach before Kuroka suddenly seized Lala''s tail as it happily swayed behind her, making Lala''s entire body seize up as her insides suddenly tightly squeezed him. "Ahhhhn! N-not my tail....." Lala whimpered as she turned to look at Kuroka, making the naughty cat''s mischievous smile widen as she slowly and sensually ran her fingers up and down the black appendage. "Oh, and why not~Nya? I just wanted to help you feel good~Nya." Lala was unable to say anything back as she quickly lost strength in her body from the increase in stimulation, collapsing against Alex''s chest weakly as Kuroka continued to tease her. Meanwhile Alex felt as if Lala''s insides had gained a mind of their own as her walls squirmed and wrapped around his member, seemingly trying to draw him even further inside her. With both of them being stimulated in such a way, it wasn''t long until they both reached their respective climaxes, Lala shuddering with pleasure on Alex''s lap while he pumped her w.o.m.b full with his seed. After taking a moment for them both to recover, Alex then picked Lala up and, while pointedly ignoring Kuroka, went to the overly large bathtub before getting into the hot water with her. Feeling a little left out, Kuroka came up to Alex as he sat down and asked, "Hey, what about me~Nya?!" Alex however looked at Grayfia and asked, "Did you hear anything Grayfia?" The silver haired maid smirked at his question, before replying, "Of course not my lord." This however made Kuroka even more desperate to get his attention, especially since everyone else jumped on board and pretended as if they couldn''t see or hear her. Normally Kuroka would use this to do something drastic to get them to acknowledge her presence, but with Alex seemingly already punishing her for interrupting his time with Lala, she didn''t want to do something to further annoy him. Instead this continued until Shizuku changed the subject by suddenly asking, "So are you considering Erza as your other ''Knight''?" Immediately the atmosphere changed as everyone paused whatever discussions they were having with each other to listen in on Alex''s answer, which he didn''t even hesitate to say, "Yeah, but in not sure how things will turn out with everything going on right now." When he said that everyone considered what Alex meant as they thought about current state of the world, and Erza''s position within the guild. Not only was she one of the only two S-class mages they had in Fairy Tail, but her personality made it hard for any of them to imagine that she would readily accept any power Alex had to offer her, especially with the terms that joining his peerage entailed. And, with her strong sense of responsibility, it was also hard to imagine Erza willingly joining them on their travels and leaving the guild behind for unknown lengths of time. In all, Alex felt that recruiting Erza was going to be a challenge unless something drastic happened, especially after what had happened earlier that day. Recalling the feel of her lower lips on his fingers, Alex inadvertently directed his intent towards Erza right then through his ''Domain'', making him deadpan when he saw what she was doing. He began considering using his ''Telekinesis'' through his ''Domain'' in order to mess with her, when Lala suddenly asked from his side when she sensed his attention was elsewhere, "What''s wrong?" Alex was brought back to the bathroom suddenly by her innocent question, which made every gaze focus on him curiously. With a wry smile at the situation, Alex didn''t answer directly, instead he used magic to create a live projection of what he had accidentally stumbled upon. "Haa...haa....." Everyone was stunned as the image of the same exact scarlet haired woman they had just been discussing appeared in front of them, however her current appearance was very different to the one they had seen earlier. She had on a pair of fishnet stockings that went up to her mid thighs and were topped with a pink ribbon that matched the panties covering her bottom, with only a small white apron covering her upper front, while a pair of armored gauntlets extended up from her hands and ended with a heart at her elbows. In her hands was a ''sword'' that didn''t even seem to possess a proper edge, with the words ''Come On Boy'' on it. Currently she was laying on her back with her legs spread, and was using the tip of said sword to rub the just barely covered area between her legs, while the apron had been shifted to expose both of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. The girls, and Alex, were staring at the image with more than a little interest before Lucy jumped up and declared, "W-w-we can''t watch this kind of thing! It''s too rude to Erza!" Alex however smiled wryly, and said, "It''s not as if I can actually help it. One of my skills constantly allows me to ''see'' and ''hear'' everything within a certain area, while also letting me interact with it to a certain extent." To prove his point, Alex then rubbed his thumb and forefinger together as if there was something between them right as Erza released an even louder m.o.a.n, which she quickly tried to suppress before someone overheard her. That became progressively harder for her to do though, as Alex then raised his other hand and started moving a couple of its fingers in a slow rotation. "Ahn!" Erza m.o.a.ned as she suddenly felt even more stimulation coming from one of her n.i.p.p.l.es and ''down there'', the idea never even crossing her mind that someone might be messing with her. ''This....is just like earlier...." She thought to herself as she recalled what had happened with Alex earlier that day, something she considered the most humiliating thing to ever happen to her. Erza had never had much of a sense of shame, even going so far as to regularly bath with male guild mates like Natsu and Gray, seeing them more as energetic little brothers than members of the opposite s.e.x. However, that was very different scenario than someone she had just met the day before actively rubbing her slit in front of everyone, before even going as far as to spread her open and to put his finger into her. ''Erza.....'' In an instant Erza''s entire face turned red as for some reason she suddenly imagined Alex himself with her, watching her pleasure herself as he whispered in her ear. Though it was impossible, the thought of someone witnessing her in such a shameful state, along with what happened earlier, immediately sent her over the edge as the strongest climax she ever experienced wracked her body. It was at this point that Alex ended the projection, while Lucy directed a look of blame at him for messing with one of her guild mates. "So-" She started with more than a little anger in her voice, "Is this skill of yours only useable for perverted reasons?" Alex seemed completely unfazed by her anger though, as he casually explained, "No. I can use it for a variety of things, such as placing magic circles, watching enemy movements while undetected, gathering information, and so on and so forth. The problem is that I can''t filter the information that this skills gives me, and it works alongside another skill of mine to ensure I''m always ''stumbling'' onto s.e.xy situations like that." To prove his point once more, Alex then proceeded to produce images of several scenes he was currently witnessing on Tenrou Island. First up was of course yet another female guild mate pleasuring themselves, a woman with her blue hair flowing past her shoulders with a Snow White complexion, Juvia Lockser. Unlike Erza though Juvia was laying on her front with her butt sticking up in the air, allowing them to see everything, while she had sn.a.k.e.d her arm through her legs and worked herself with her fingers. In front of her face was a small doll with spiky black hair that directly resembled a certain ice crafting Mage, which Juvia even confirmed by muttering under her breath, "Gray-Sama...." Instead of staying to spy on and mess with her like he did Erza, Alex then closed the image before opening another one for the already bright red Lucy. This one was relatively tamer though, as it showed the guild masters meeting to discuss the specifics of the defenses one last time before heading to bed, while also talking about Alex and his girls after the display Shia had put on earlier that day. The next scene however kept up with the theme of perversion, as it showed Bisca completely n.a.k.e.d as she eagerly bounced on her husband''s h.i.p.s. Alex made an expression of appreciation as he watched her b.r.e.a.s.ts bounce every which way, before the angle of the projection suddenly changed to give them a view of her intimate areas that Lucy thought she never would have seen before. That was only the beginning though. As Alex once told Moka''s younger sister Kokoa, the most common thing people would do the night before a big battle was to spend it embracing their loved ones for what could possibly be their final time. Though Alex wouldn''t let any of those fighting on their side actually die, they had no way to know that. And so, they spent what they thought could be their last night the best way they could, and Lucy witnessed it all firsthand. One by one Alex showed her the scenes that he was currently having to deal with through his ''Domain'', which more often than not showed various couples together in the heat of passion. Thankfully after Bisca and Alzack there didn''t seem to be any other members of Fairy Tail involved, however she was still forced to watch various people she knew in positions that she never would have, or even should have, seen like this. There were a few ''safe'' scenes that Alex showed her, such as what the various single guys discussing the upcoming battle, or making last minute preparations. However these were few and far between compared to the other scenes Alex showed her before getting to the final one, which was both milder yet several times worse than the ones before it. The female baths. It seemed as if every woman on the island that wasn''t currently locked in the throes of passion with their significant other was using the baths at this very moment, allowing Alex and the girls to witness the garden of beauties in their amazingly n.a.k.e.d forms. Even Erza and Juvia arrived shortly after they started their spying, both women looking fairly refreshed despite the still visible flush on their faces. "NONONONONONO! THIS IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS!" Lucy declared suddenly as she seemingly tried to block the image from Alex''s view with her own body, making him deadpan in response before saying, "You know, I brought the image up for your benefit to get an idea of what I was seeing. Even if I closed my eyes and plugged my ears I could still ''see'' and ''hear'' everything going on in there." Lucy made a complicated expression when she heard that, before asking, "Can''t you just...filter them out so you can''t see them or something? I really don''t like the idea of my guild mates being spied on like this....." Alex however shook his head and explained once more, "While I can try to focus my attention on something else, I can''t properly filter anything within my ''Domain'' out entirely." He then created a miniature image of himself, before adding a large bubble around his mini and said, "My skill is like a giant bubble that constantly feeds me information on everything within it, like another sense or something." He then made the bubble enlarge and shrink before continuing, "While I can change the size of the bubble up to a certain point, I can''t actually turn it off entirely. Because of this I usually keep it to about the same size as whatever room I''m in, or within a certain area specifically to avoid situations like this. For right now though I''m making an exception due to the impending attack, in the off chance they send scouts ahead of the main force to spy on us." As he finished speaking Alex smiled bitterly as he recalled the various instances in Asora, where his ''Domain'' encompassed the entire world and he was unable to shrink it. Instead, the slightest mention of someone would usually snap his attention right to them in an instant, resulting in Alex accidentally witnessing several scenes that he probably never should have. Then there were the various ''accidents'' that would occur almost daily while he was teaching in Youkai Academy, something that made Alex actually shake his head as he recalled them. Lucy was still trying to decide between wether she was ok with Alex spying on her comrades, or helping protect them, when a new voice suddenly said, "Since you''re helping to keep an eye on things, then I''ll have to thank you." Everyone turned in surprise towards the new voice, which none of them sensed their arrival, and found who appeared to be a girl who physically looked around the same age as Yue standing there in the buff, but her eyes and expression betrayed her actual age as she gazed at all of them intently. With everyone''s attention on her, the girl bowed slightly and said, "Mavis Vermillion, first guild master and one of the founders of Fair Tail. Pleased to meet you!" After she introduced herself Alex stood from the bathtub and made his way over to her, neither he nor Mavis seeming too concerned with their nudity in front of the other, before offering a hand to her and saying, "Alex, otherwise known as the Dragon Emperor. It''s a genuine pleasure, and honor, to meet you Mavis." Nodding her head in approval, Mavis reached her own hand towards Alex''s, making a show of them shaking hands, but as a spirit her hand only phased through his own. Once they were done with that Alex returned to his previous place at Lala''s side in the hot water, while Mavis followed closely before taking a seat right beside him. After a second of relaxing in the water he asked, "So what brings you here Mavis?" The petite woman gave Alex a sidelong glance before saying, "Well, with everything going on, I wanted the chance to observe you somewhat before the battle tomorrow." Alex c.o.c.ked a brow at her words, before asking, "So you decided to do so while we were in the bath?" Both of Mavis''s brows shot up at this, before she glanced pointedly at the image that still floated in the middle of the bathroom displaying the interior of the female baths, where Cana was trying to interrogate Levy regarding her still budding relationship with Gajeel. Alex chuckled and said, "If you''ve been listening in then you''d know what that was all about." Mavis nodded slowly in acknowledgement at Alex''s words, before saying seriously, "True, but what I''m curious about is this ''Knight'' thing that you were talking about before." Mavis''s eyes gleamed with interest while her expression morphed into a victorious smirk, while Alex chuckled lightly and said, "It''s no great secret, I planned to explain it to Markarov and the others anyways after the battle. Especially since we''d need to explain Lucy leaving with me after this is all over." Mavis''s eyes widened when she heard about that, before she looked at Lucy pointedly for an explanation. It was Alex however who continued, "Those granted what are called Evil Pieces are bound to the one who gave it to them, as master and servant. Though she won''t be forced to leave Fairy Tail entirely, Lucy, and anyone else who I might give my Evil Pieces to, will travel with me in the future." Alex then went on to explain the specifics about who he was and what he intended to do in the future, as well as what his Evil Pieces were capable of. Though he had yet to divulge the full details regarding his own background and intentions to Markarov and the others, due to his direct relation to the other reincarnators, Alex told Mavis everything. As she listened to tales of other worlds and magics that she''d never heard of, and the various peoples that lived there, her eyes grew increasingly wide in wonder and awe. Throughout Alex''s entire explanation Mavis only stopped him once to ask about fairies in these other worlds, to which Alex nodded with a smile and said that they did in fact exist in some worlds. Despite the awe and wonder she felt at Alex''s words, Mavis eventually adopted a slightly sad and wistful expression as she muttered, "It''s too bad I''ll never be able to see such worlds...." As a spirit Mavis''s entire existence was tied to Tenrou Island as her birthplace. It was the source of any power she was capable of displaying, which was why others that weren''t a part of her guild were capable of seeing and hearing her here. Though she could leave if she truly wanted, if she left the world entirely then it was very possible that she would quickly, if not immediately, disappear. "Well that''s complete and utter horseshit." Alex snorted suddenly, making Mavis look up at him in surprise, as he said, "One of my abilities allows me to interact with things that are ''intangible'', such as spirits. I can easily take your spirit and place it within a new vessel to house it, and, with one of our doctor''s ability to create artificial bodies, you can be given the chance to live again. Unless of course you''d prefer your real body?" For almost a minute Mavis just stared at Alex as what appeared to be tears welled up in her eyes, before she finally asked with a slightly shaky voice, "Are you serious?" Alex nodded and looked down at her in complete seriousness before saying, "Of course. You deserve to have another chance to live a happy life Mavis, to live without the burdens and hardsh.i.p.s that you never should have had to deal with." To punctuate his words Alex reached out, and used his Spirit magic to wipe away a small tear as it started rolling down her face before placing his hand on the top of her head, stunning Mavis as she felt the first real physical contact she''d experienced ever since she had died so long ago. Mavis''s story was among the, if not the most tragic within Fairy Tail. Orphaned at a young age, she lived the early years of her life almost like a slave for the guild her parents belonged to due to the debt they left her, while she endured an almost constant stream of both physical and verbal abuse from the guild members. Then, after another guild attacked and destroyed them, Mavis had been left all alone on Tenrou Island with nothing but the guild''s library, and an imaginary friend she had created with magic to keep her company. Several years after the destruction of her guild, a trio of treasure hunters named Precht, Warrod, and Yuri arrived on the island searching for a famous jewel that was supposed to be there, but had been stolen in the raid several years prior. Mavis then set out from the island with the treasure hunters to recover it, which they had only managed to do after learning magic from none other than the dark Mage Zeref, and engaging in a hard fought battle with the entire guild, and an undead dragon. Afterwards Mavis was forced to say goodbye to the imaginary friend she had accidentally created so long ago, but the sad parting was soon followed the one of the happiest moments of Mavis''s life, the creation of the mages guild Fairy Tail. For an entire decade the guild''s name grew as they became increasingly popular, however no matter how much time passed Mavis herself never seemed to grow older as well, due to a side effect of the magic she had use during the battle. Eventually however their activities came to a halt as war broke out on the continent, and Fairy Tail was hired by one of the factions in it to help. Mavis then quickly made a name for herself as a brilliant tactician in the following battles, with her tactics ensuring victory for her allies before the war was brought to a close, and a law instated banning Mage guild''s from becoming involved in wars in the future. It was at this time that Mavis encountered Zeref for the second time, during which she excitedly told him about everything that had transpired since they last met. It was then though that Zeref noticed something wrong with Mavis that she herself hadn''t realized, that she was inflicted with the same curse he was, the Curse of Ankhseram. The Curse of Ankhseram made the lives of those inflicted with it a living contradiction, due mostly to their own disregards towards life and death. On top of granting them immortality, the more the person valued life the more their very existence became a poison that killed any living thing around them. Whereas if the person didn''t value life, then they wouldn''t involuntarily kill anything around them, instead doing so of their own free will. It was due to this curse that Zeref''s name was so infamous, as after living with it for so long he was either actively destroying everything around him, or desperately trying to find a way for himself to die, resulting in his most diabolical creations. Mavis had refused to believe him though, and fled back to her guild as fast as she possibly could, not knowing that she''d quickly learn the truth of Zeref''s warning. Soon after the wife of one of her coldest friends, Yuri, gave birth to their son, after which Yuri asked Mavis to name him after naming her his godmother. Naming the newborn Markarov, Mavis looked down on the baby and marveled at the miracle and beauty of life, only for Yuri''s wife, Markarov''s mother, to suddenly die. While everyone else rushed to help her while assuming it had something to do with the birth, Mavis alone realized the truth. She then quickly fled the guild building without telling anyone what actually happened or where she was going, her only thought being to get away from everyone she cared about before she killed more of them. For over a year she lived in seclusion in the middle of forest, becoming a shell of her former self and even trying to end her own life through starvation, to no avail. It was then that she met Zeref for the third time, and that the two decided to act on the budding feelings they had cultivated during their two previous encounters, and as fellow sufferers of the same curse. The moment Zeref''s lips touched hers though, the curse activated to take the life of the one he now valued the most, despite her own curse. He then delivered her body to the new acting master of Fairy Tail after Mavis''s disappearance, Precht, who immediately sealed her body in a massive crystal to preserve it as he tried to save her, and then continued to study her for several years while also attempting several experiments in order to try and wake her. Not only did he learn that this was nearly impossible, but he also learned of her curse and, after numerous experiments in his attempt to resurrect her, accidentally created the most powerful magical weapon to exist in Earthland, an infinite source of magic power, Fairy Heart. Knowing all of this, Alex couldn''t help but to caress the top of Mavis''s head comfortingly as he recalled Miledi when they first met in the Raisen Great Canyon. The duo were alike in more ways than just being a spirit when he met them, such as they continuously tried to make others around them happy regardless of the suffering they endured in the past. Even now as she intermingled with the latest generation of her guild, Mavis always had a smile on her face as she genuinely enjoyed interacting with them day after day, with the image of the cursed woman in the forest nowhere to be seen. Though the rest of the women around them deadpanned at first when they saw Alex making such promises to Mavis, when they saw how she reacted to his treatment any disagreement they had vanished before several of them also approached her to get to know her. *** When the sun started rising over the water the next morning, a certain figure stood solemnly at the front of the airship, his eyes scanning the horizon for their target. "Sir!" Someone suddenly called out as they rushed towards him, telescope in hand. They offered him he device while pointing forward, "Just there, the island is just barely coming into view now!" Taking the offered telescope, Hyato looked through to see what appeared to be little more than a microscopic hourglass figure at the edge of the world''s curve, causing the edge of his lips to curve upwards just ever so slightly as well. "Finally..." He muttered as any signs of exhaustion immediately faded in his excitement. They were about to arrive at Tenrou Island. Chapter 365 - Song of Victory As the sun started climbing in the sky the ground on the island below was buzzing with activity after the lookout had sighted the massive fleet of sh.i.p.s in the distance, except this time the same sense of urgency wasn''t there as before. Since they already knew that the fleet would arrive that day, and had spent the previous day erecting their defenses, the people on Tenrou Island were mostly just trying to organize themselves while also adding any finishing touches to their defenses before the fleet arrived. Among them was Mirajane as she made her rounds waking people up and spreading word about the fleet being sighted, until her rounds brought her to the house she had watched instantly appear two days prior. After hesitating for a brief second, Mirajane made herself knock on the door before calling out though it, "Excuse me, but is anyone awake in there?" "...." Only silence answered her, making Mirajane consider what the best course of action was for several seconds since Alex and the other were evidentially still sleeping. Eventually she just grabbed the door handle to see if it was locked, before throwing the door open and hurriedly making her way inside to wake them. The second she took a couple steps inward though and left the entryway, Mirajane was greeted with the sight of n.a.k.e.d Alex and Shizuku, along with the sound of flash smacking and the two panting and m.o.a.ning. With her long black hair falling in front of her face due to being out of its usual ponytail, it took Shizuku a moment to notice Mirajane standing there staring at them in sheer shock. "W-wait...stop!" Shizuku cried out in alarm as Alex continued to pound her, and she reached down to grab one of the couch cushions to cover herself with. Alex on the other hand continued to f.u.c.k her as Shizuku''s inner walls squeezed him harder due to someone watching them, while he also turned towards the still shell shocked Mirajane and asked as if nothing was wrong, "What''s up? Did you want to join in?" Finally recovering from the shock of the scene she had inadvertently stumbled upon, Mirajane immediately turned and fled while crying out, "Please excuse me!" Completely forgetting what she had come to say to begin, the front slammed behind her as Alex continues to thrust into Shizuku as if nothing happened. "You''re horrible..." Shizuku groaned as she struggled to regain her grip on the back of the couch, letting the cushion fall back onto the couch after Mirajane fled. Alex smirked and whispered into her ear, "And who was it that decided to try and seduce me before everyone got up this morning, my naughty little Kunoichi~?" "Th-that wasn''t my intention at all...." Shizuku muttered in protest, but she was unable to put any real effort into refuting Alex''s question as, if she was truly that against him attacking her, then she would have just gotten completely dressed instead of going to start making breakfast in nothing but an apron, which was now laying forgotten on the floor behind them. Alex then gave her even less room to fight back, by suddenly grabbing Shizuku''s left leg and bringing it up so that her ankle rested on his right shoulder, putting her in a perfect split as he continued to pound the tight little slit in the middle. With all of her balance now being on her right foot, all Shizuku could do was hold onto the couch as tightly as possible while Alex brought her closer to her inevitable climax, during which he also made sure to cream pie her as much as possible. With both of them glistening a little after their morning exertion, Alex put Shizuku''s leg back down before gently wrapping his arms around her and rolling over the back of the couch with her. Together the duo just laid there contently while enjoying the other''s presence, until Shizuku absentmindedly said, "I wonder what Mirajane wanted..." As she recalled the scene from earlier, her cheeks became slightly red once again at showing such a thing to someone they had met just a couple days prior. Alex however didn''t mind it as he said, "She probably came to let us know that they spotted the enemy in the distance, and are getting ready for the battle." Shizuku was silent for a few minutes after she heard this, before saying, "We should probably get up and ready then...." Alex only nodded slowly while saying, "probably...", but neither of them made to get up from the other''s embrace. Instead they continued laying there together on the couch until someone else woke up and went to get something to eat, Moka, wearing nothing but a lacy black thong. The moment she saw the duo on the couch she c.o.c.ked an eyebrow and said, "Really? After everything in the baths and spending most of the night with that masochistic maid, you''re still going at it?" Alex smirked at her question and grabbed both of Shizuku''s asscheeks while saying, "When I''m presented such a nice piece of ass first thing in the morning, how can I possibly refuse?" Moka just rolled her eyes at him before saying, "In that case then you won''t mind if I have a ''bite'' then, right?" This time it was Alex''s turn to role his eyes, since he knew that both Moka and Yue would want to feed on him in preparation for the coming battle. Instead of answering he just simply tilted his head to the side to expose his neck, allowing Moka to sink her greedy fangs into him while he absentmindedly continued playing with Shizuku''s butt. This went on until they heard a sudden commotion from the other room, and a half n.a.k.e.d Lucy appeared in complete panic as she cried out, "It''s morning already?! There''s so much we have to do!" She then began to run too and fro trying to get ready without even seeming to notice the presence of Alex, Moka, or Shizuku. Eventually Alex motioned for the two girls to let him up, before he went to the frantic Lucy and lightly chopped her on the top of her head. "Ow.. What was that for?" She asked with slightly tears eyes, to which Alex only said, "Breath Lucy. In, and out. In, and out. Better?" After over a minute of her taking in slow and steady breaths, Lucy finally seemed to calm down as she slowly nodded her head. Alex smiled and quickly stole a kiss from her before saying, "Good." He then glanced back to Moka and Shizuku before asking, "Can the two of you go and make sure everyone else is getting up? We should probably start getting ready." The duo nodded and headed back to their room, while Alex looked back to Lucy and said, "Can you go and tell Markarov and the others we''ll be out shortly?" Lucy nodded slowly and went to leave, but before she could Alex gently grabbed her hand and said, "Hey..." Lucy turned to look back at him curiously and he continued, "I won''t let anything happen to any of your guild mates, understand?" Lucy paused slightly when he heard him, before a large smile appeared on her face as she said, "I know!" Lucy then turned and left the house to help her comrades, while Alex smiled affectionately after her departure. A little over an hour later, everyone filed out of their temporary home to find almost every other person on the island buzzing around like a bunch of bees as they prepared for the inevitable battle. Of course when Markarov noticed them he immediately made his way over and said, "About time you all decided to join us! Now we need to know, how exactly did you intend to participate in this battle?" They needed to know exactly what kind of help they could expect from Alex and his comrades during the upcoming fight, so they could plan their own movements accordingly. What he didn''t expect was for Alex to say, "Actually we''re going to mostly stay out of this battle. We''ll help with healing and other magical support, but for the most part this is your battle, not ours. You can expect me to wait until one of the generals show up before I myself move, unless the situation is just that dire." Though Markarov initially frowned and furrowed his brows when he heard that, he eventually sighed in acceptance since they couldn''t honestly expect Alex and his girls to do all of the fighting for them. Of course his acceptance was then tested as Alex proceeded to go to a certain shady area that overlooked the beach that would become the battle ground, before producing an entire dining table set large enough for Alex and each of the women accompanying him. Afterwards he summoned enough cutlery and dishes to cover the entire thing, before Rias, Grayfia, and Shia all started piling some of the food they had been preparing onto it. "Help yourself," Alex said as he started loading up his own plate with food. "What is all this?!" Markarov asked incredulously, even as more people started looking at them curiously. Alex however simply shrugged and replied, "I thought it was obvious, we''re having our breakfast." Markarov''s brow twitched in irritation as he fought the temptation to go off onto Alex and the others, and instead he tried to focus his attention on the more important matters, only for Natsu to suddenly arrive and say, "Don''t worry master, we can beat all of our opponents even without their help! I''ll bet I can even take on the general by myself!" As he declared so Natsu punched his open palm with his other hand, releasing a small burst of flames as he did so. Suddenly, another new voice cried out, "What are talking about Salamander?! If anyone''s gonna beat the general it''ll be me!" Gajeel announced as he entered the conversation, making Natsu glare at him menacingly before challenging, "Wanna bet metal head?" The two then began butting heads and looked as if they were about to come to blows, before Markarov''s own head suddenly enlarged as he activated his Giant magic and shouted, "GET TO WORK YOU TWO IDIOTS!" Without another word the dragon slayer duo immediately took off to escape Markarov''s wrath, leaving Alex and co to chuckle at their expense as they watched them flee. As for Natsu or Gajeel being the ones to try and fight the general, he didn''t really care. Either they saved him a fight with a troublesome opponent, or he''d be able to get a chance to see what kind of powers this particular general had before he inevitably stepped in to save them. The day then slowly passed as those on Tenrou Island anxiously awaited the start of the battle, while the line of sh.i.p.s on the horizon grew ever larger and ever darker from their numbers. Despite his carefree attitude as he ate and relaxed through the day, Alex kept his eye on the horizon as he wondered at the sheer numbers of the force they were about to fight. As he watched the sh.i.p.s appear Alex couldn''t help but recall the one fight that still left a bitter taste in his mouth, his slaughter of of the remainder of the followers of Ehito. Over ten thousand people had died to his hand that night, not that Alex regretted it. Instead the part that haunted him was that they had burned and slaughtered their way through several villages before he had put them down, capturing and raping the women as they pleased in order to insult the new ''goddess'' he had tried to introducers their world, Gabriel. "What''s wrong?" Anne asked him suddenly, shaking Alex from his thoughts as he looked back over the water and said, "Nothing, just trying to figure out why they haven''t attacked yet." Though the first of the sh.i.p.s had been sighted right as the sun rose, they hadn''t yet made landfall despite it already being past noon. Instead they were apparently waiting for the entirety of their forces to gather and recuperate to attack at once, rather than to steadily fall upon them like a great unending army. When their airship at their head did in fact start moving, Alex sat up noticeably as he stared out over the water. "They''re coming." He said out loud, alerting all of those around whim who hadn''t noticed yet. "Finally!" Natsu declared as a hint of flames danced across his skin, while the other mages started moving. "GET INTO YOUR FORMATIONS!" Erza cried out as she led the way to the stretch of land between them and the water that would serve as their battleground. In the forefront were the mages like Natsu, Gajeel, and Erza, those who were experts in close quarters combat that seemed more like magic warriors than mages; while the rear lines would be those like Lucy who weren''t good at close combat, but could support or cover those ahead of them. Meanwhile the towers that dotted the areas around them and the wall had any mages that were skilled with long range magic such as marksmanship, like Bisca and Alzack. While they were getting into position, the endless wave of sh.i.p.s steadily approached as they dyed the blue expanse black and brown. Once they got close enough a volley of fire, ice, wind, lightning, and even earth went up from them towards the beach, but never even made it to the impromptu wall. Instead they collided against a previously invisible wall that shimmered with runes in each place it was struck. "''No magic cast by our enemies shall pass here.''" Said a noble looking man with light green hair flowing past his shoulders, Freed Justine of the Thunder God Tribe, as he simultaneously pulled out a rapier. With its tip glowing in case he needed to draw more runes, Freed carefully scrutinized his walls for any signs of damage as they endured attack after attack without faltering, while the first of the sh.i.p.s started unloading their passengers. The second the dark mages and mercenaries felt solid ground beneath their feet, they shot off towards the wall with malicious grins while shouting all manner of vicious jeers and insults. However they quickly encountered the first sets of traps as walls of runes suddenly sprung up around them to seal entire groups in. "''To exit only one must be left standing.''" "''Once activated all oxygen will be removed for ten minutes.''" As the traps activated one after another entire groups of people either started fighting to death, or fell to their knees as they desperately tried to take in a breath. Those who somehow managed to avoid the traps, quickly found their way to the invisible wall that was stopping their attacks. "''None who do not bear the marks of Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel may pass!''" As Freed declared, anyone who didn''t have their respective guild marks was unable to get past the rune wall, resulting in a bit of a pileup of bodies as they tried to force their way through. It was at this point that Erza, who was now equipped with a silver armor that''s top was akin to a metallic bladed bikini, with a long blade and cloth skirt and had what appeared to be metallic blade-like wings on her back, shouted, "THIS IS WHERE WE FIGHT! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!" On her command wave after wave of magic attacks were unleashed upon the sitting ducks that were piled in front of the wall, while Erza herself led the charge with a storm of swords swirling around her to cut down her foes. The plan was for her to lead the close combat fighters, like Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Leon, Elfman, Lisanna, and so on, just past the wall that Freed had created to directly fight the opponents while the mages in the rear spammed as many attacks as possible since their magic could pass through the wall. As he watched the mages surge forward and magic start flying everywhere, Alex turned towards Sun with a meaningful look, making Sun nod in acknowledgment as she stood and stepped forward. She then summoned her white feathery wings as they spread wide, and opened her mouth to produce the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard. "W-what is this?!" Markarov and the other guild masters asked in astonishment nearby, as they suddenly felt as if they were overflowing with magic power and energy. Meanwhile out on the battlefield the effects of Sun''s song were even more noticeable, as she used her ''Vocal Layering'' skill to sing several songs at once to best benefit them. Among them was her ''Healing Hymn'', to heal any damage the mages might take, ''Melody of Mystery'', to boost their magic, and ''Battle Cry'' to boost their strength. Mixed in with these songs was also her signature ''Siren in the Dark'', a song that was secretly dealing minute amounts of damage to the interior of the opponents bodies. With her song slowly but surely weakening their opponents bodies without them knowing, it was that much easier for the allied mages to defeat them when they actually fought them. As Sun sang her songs, Kurumu also stood as she began setting up a powerful illusion around them, preventing anyone from being able to spy on them either normally or magically. With them cloaked from any prying eyes, and Sun providing more than a little assistance, Alex and the other sat back and watched the battle unfold with sharp eyes until, SWOOSH! KABOOOOOOOOM! An mass of dark energy zipped at them from the the flagship airship, making the entire battle pause as the rune wall that Freed spent hours building the day before shattered almost instantly. Silence settled over the battlefield as everyone took in what happened, before a resounding cheer went up from the attackers as Freed muttered in disbelief, "Th-that can''t be...!" He and the rest of the allied Mage guilds didn''t have the time to be distracted though, as the attacking dark guild members and mercenaries immediately seized the momentum of the battle after the annoying barrier blocking their way was destroyed. "That won''t do." Alex muttered suddenly as he stood up, surprising those around him as he closed his eyes and took in a slight breath. *** Shortly before the battle began, hundreds of miles away from it, a trio of individuals sat in a lounge as they awaited a certain moment. The only movement was when the person sitting in the middle of a luxurious couch lifted his hand to inspect it, as it shifted from a normal persons to the pitch black scales and claws of a dragon. Changing it back again, Darius muttered to himself, "Interesting..." As there was nothing else to be heard in the room except silence as they waited, Alice couldn''t help but to look over at him and ask, "What''s so interesting?" Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Darius considered ignoring the s.l.u.tty Saiyan until he figured that she''d just keep annoying him until he gave in and answered. "What I find interesting is that now I not only possess the knowledge and magic of Zeref himself, but even his Curse of Ankhseram and the immortality that comes with it. Not only that but I also acquired Fairy Heart and, with Zeref''s knowledge, am able to use the infinite magic power within to fuel myself. On top of all that I now possess the strength and power of the most disastrous being to ever exist in this world, Acnologia. Now I can''t help but wonder at my own strength, and how I''m supposed to best improve on it." After he managed to defeat and absorb Acnologia, Darius had reached the next milestone to acquire a brand new power from the system, but he was having a hard time trying to decided what to get due to how powerful he already was. A notification stating that Hyato was trying to contact him put the thought on hold though, as he immediately answered and asked, "Are you ready to begin?" Hyato nodded in the image he was projecting to them, and stated, "We waited so that our men could regroup and recuperate after working so hard to get here so soon, but now they''re all rearing and ready to go." "Good." Darius said after a moment of contemplation, deciding that it was better for the army to fight at its peak than to rush immediately into battle with those who typically bullshitted their way through battles with the ''power of friendship''. With nothing else said, Hyato then returned from his private quarters to the command room of the airship where Hades and the others were waiting for him. When they saw him arrive, Jiemma, the former master of Sabertooth, eagerly asked, "Is it finally time?" Hyato nodded slowly and said, "It''s time, begin the attack." At his command those in charge of communications sent out the word to attack, through magic artifacts that Darius had created and distributed, and even a user or two of Archive, and shortly after dozens of sh.i.p.s that were heavy with their soldiers started moving forward. As they did Jiemma''s daughter, Minerva, stepped up to Hyato''s side and asked curiously, "I thought you aid you''d be leading the charge yourself? Pray tell what changed?" Hyato''s brows twitched in irritation at her obvious implication, before he stated, "Only a fool would willingly be the first to step foot onto a battlefield in which the enemy has had enough time to set up numerous traps for us to fall into, especially so when those traps were undoubtedly set up by none other than Fairy Tail''s Freed Justine. Not even you or your father would be able to easily escape from them." With both the father and the daughter appearing more that little miffed at his words, Minerva snorted while saying, "They''re just a handful of those pathetic little Mage guilds, I''ll never understand why you or the Dark Emperor seems to take them so seriously." With roughly everyone within the control room, including the present members of Grimoire Heart, nodding or murmuring in agreement, Hyato just shook his head without saying anything. This was the biggest problem with working with people from dark guilds, as they were all exceedingly arrogant and didn''t realize the drive people could have when they were forced into a fight for their life. The best example of this was Natsu and Erza, the former of which was largely considered the weaker between the two, yet he regularly surpassed her whenever he needed to fight any ''final bosses'' that had appeared, aka plot armor. Without bothering to either explain this or argue with Minerva, Hyato simply turned back to watch the events unfold before them. With the giant windshield of the airship acting somewhat similarly to a magical computer monitor, they were able to use it to zoom in and watch the battle as if they were a lot closer than they actually were. What they saw was, as Hyato predicted, their men getting trapped in various traps placed by Freed, as well as a few other more rudimentary traps such as pitfalls and such. What surprised Hyato was that when some of their men tried to go around the traps, and the giant magic wall preventing them from attacking properly, they were then attacked by a multitude of plants of all things, giant Venus flytraps, vines that constricted them and slowly squeezed them to death, and even a few poisonous plants or fungi that kill them almost instantly. Hyato frowned as he watched their people either kill each other, suffocate, fall into holes that had who knows what at the bottom, and even collapse while bleeding from every opening in their face from whatever toxin they touched or breathed in. While he wasn''t particularly worried about deaths on their side, the fact that they were dying without gaining any ground was worrying. With the mages of the allied guilds now cutting through their ranks like they were nothing, Hyato decided that they needed a push to gain at least a little bit of ground before he personally entered the battle. "Balance Break!" He muttered to himself, summoning both his Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing armor at once. Covered head to toe in a mixture of deep red and brilliant white armor, along with a pair of blue and white wings, Hyato solemnly stepped out onto the balcony of the airship where the winds were howling at him. He then summoned a magic mass of dark magic power in his outstretched hand, before his armor suddenly shouted, The mass of black magic suddenly started swelling in size until it was several times larger than when he first created it, before Hyato suddenly sent it flying past the point where the fighting was happening, into the great magical wall preventing them from advancing. In an instant the wall shattered, and the moral of their troops went through the roof before they once again began their rush forwards. Satisfied with his work, Hyato returned to the interior of the airship before smugly saying to Jiemma, "You can join the troops now if you want, since I went ahead and cleared the way for you." The former master of Sabertooth snorted before responding, "I could have done that myself if I was out there, but now I''ll finally get the chance to show those shitty brats what for!" Without another word Jiemma left to go join the fight, making everyone present, his own daughter included, let out a sigh of relief that he was finally gone. Their relief was short lived though, as everyone suddenly felt what seemed like a wave of energy pass through them from the island that continued until it had passed by each of their sh.i.p.s. "What was that?" Hades asked in confusion, before everyone went wide eyed as the lower grunts that were in the room suddenly collapsed while foaming at the mouth. "Is this some kind of wide range sleep spell?" Ultear asked incredulously as someone went to examine those who were unconscious. However Hades quickly said, "I''ve never seen a sleep spell with these effects before, let alone covering this wide of an area and affecting this many people..." While Hades discussed the phenomenon with the other members of Grimoire Heart, Hyato felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest. ''Impossible! Here?! Now?!'' He mentally shouted at himself in shock at the sudden event, as never in his wildest dreams did Hyato imagine that another reincarnator would have already met up with Fairy Tail, especially right as they prepared to wipe them all out. The worst part was that their goal was to recruit any reincarnators they encountered to their cause, meaning that Hyato couldn''t just mindlessly grind experience on the people here. ''That''s not necessarily the case.'' A voice suddenly said in his head, making Hyato look up instinctively before he realized it was Darius speaking to him through the system. ''This could just be type of magic with a similar effect as Conquerer''s Haki, there''s no need to immediately jump to conclusions about something like this. Continue as you planned unless another reincarnator does appear.'' With his emperor having spoken, Hyato could only follow his decree as ordered his men to redouble the attack, and for those who hadn''t fallen unconscious to also join the fray. Chapter 366 - The Offer As they watched roughly half of the enemy forces suddenly collapse, Alex smirked as he took his seat once more before Grayfia hissed, "I thought you were trying to maintain a sense of secrecy?" Alex nodded in agreement and replied, "True, but I also said I''d help when the general started showing himself. That attack obviously came from him, so I needed to do something to balance out the favor he gave to his own troops. Besides, it''s practically guaranteed that they''ll learn about me before the end of the day, and even if we met face to face I doubt Conquerer''s Haki would affect any of them too much." Realizing the truth in what he said, Grayfia remained quiet as she continued watching the battle unfold until Markarov approached them and asked, "What was that magic you used? It reminds me of sleep magic, yet it''s also different." Alex smiled wryly at the question, before gave Markarov a quick rundown of Haki and how it wasn''t actually magic. Meanwhile, back at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Darius, Alice, and Calvin were all deathly silent as they contemplated what they just saw. Do you think it''s really ''that''?" Calvin asked Darius, to which the emperor could only say, "It might be, but then again it might not be. It won''t do us any good worrying about something we can''t change." Despite how impassive he seemed on the outside though, and what he had said to Hyato before, both Alice and Calvin felt a cold sweat go down their backs from how furious they knew Darius actually was. A reincarnator allying themselves with Fairy Tail now was the worst possible scenario to happen at the worst possible time, since it meant they could help the allied guilds gain the momentum needed to be an actual threat to them before they could leave Earthland. The biggest problem though would be trying to get the reincarnator to join them. The first other reincarnator Darius encountered he attempted to use his ability to absorb them and their cheats to add to his arsenal, only to learn that that particular ability didn''t work on other reincarnators. Of course he quickly realized that it was understandable with how unbalanced things would be if he could simply take all of the cheats of the other reincarnator''s for himself, so he simply killed him. It was then that he learned of the chance to gain one of the abilities that any reincarnator possessed after you kill them, but all he got at that time was a few levels instead. It was then that Darius arrived at the conclusion that instead of just killing his competitors and risk losing their powers forever, why not force them to submit and make them join him? The friend function of the system prevented them from openly backstabbing each other whenever the opportunity presented itself, making it perfect for gathering a group of allies under him. In the current situation though it was more than obvious that, if there was a reincarnator amongst Fairy Tail, they had already chosen to be their enemy to the end. Releasing a large sigh, Darius muttered to himself, "This is why I can''t stand wannabe heroes...." *** As the battle continued the allied guilds steady gained ground as they used the fact that half of their opponents suddenly collapsing to their advantage. "HOLD!" Erza suddenly shouted out, her voice carrying unnaturally across the battlefield, making the rest of the fighters pause as she continued, "REGROUP!" As she commanded the allied mages gathered back around the opening in the wall, including Natsu and Gajeel once she gave them a death glare. As they regrouped the enemies forces similarly tried to reorganize themselves near their sh.i.p.s after half of their number suddenly collapsed, and Erza began, "Those of you who are getting tired move back and take a rest, those of you can keep going move up!" As she ordered a few of the older mages started moving back to take a break, while a few that had yet to actually partake in the battle stepped forwards. Though their numbers were severely lacking compared to their opponents, Markarov and the others weren''t dumb enough to send their entire fighting force out at once to begin what would undoubtedly be a very long battle. Instead they kept several their mages in reserve to switch out with those that would get too tired or injured, despite Sun''s songs, so that they could have a chance to rest while Wendy and Sherria tended to any wounds they had. Then the final reserves for if things got too desperate were composed of the most powerful mages that would dominate the battlefield if they fought, such as the guild masters themselves and the most powerful S-class mages such as Gildarts and Jura. And for a final resort, if the need ever arrived, then Markarov was even prepared to use one of Fairy Tail''s three supreme magics, Fairy Law, a powerful area of effect spell that would specifically target anyone the user considered an enemy in their heart. Incidentally, it was the original version of this spell that granted Mavis her curse, before she modified into the form that could be used today. It was also at this moment that Lucy stepped forward alongside another young female Mage with short-cut white hair that look similarly to Lisanna, Yukino of Sabertooth. They weren''t going to fight on the front lines themselves though. Instead, both Lucy and Yukino reached for the keys on their belts before they held up four and two golden keys respectively, Lucy having already promoted to a ''Bishop''. "Open the gates of the Goat, Lion, Archer, and Scorpion!" "Open the gates of the Scales and the Paired Fish!" At their commands there were six flashes of golden light, before it faded to reveal Loke, Taurus, and five new spirits. One was a dark skinned man with red and white hair split down the middle, wearing long red trench coat with a giant scorpion''s tail protruding from under it with a gun in its tip. The second was a man who appeared to be wearing strange horse costume with a second horse head atop his own, and held a bow in his hands. Another was a beautiful dark skinned woman dressed in green and yellow dancer''s attire, with her face hidden behind a veil and her hair tied up into two extended buns. The last two were a mature woman and young man duo that made up the two fish Spirit, Pisces. The woman had long dark blue hair that almost appeared black, with a shirt that was left open in the front to expose an ample amount of her cleavage along with her stomach; while the youthful man, her son, had darker skin that was left mostly exposed due to him being shirtless, while his spiky light grey hair fell to middle of his back. Glancing to the side at how Lucy was able to summon twice as many spirits as her without any discernible effort, Yukino looked forward once more before saying, "Go Pisces, and prevent as many people as possible from reaching the shores!" As one, the mother-son duo suddenly changed into giant eel-like creatures as they set out to the waterline, before the ocean around the island suddenly started twisting and churning as most of the boats attempting to reach land suddenly found themselves being thrown about like they were small toys. Meanwhile the dancer Libra used her form of gravity magic to make as many enemies as she could float into the air, before Sagittarius unleashed a storm of arrows onto them once they were clear of their allies. Of course Capricorn, Loke, and Scorpio all headed down into the thick of the fighting themselves to help act as a part of the relief. With her spirits now participating in the fighting, Lucy took the chance to summon a series of glowing screens as her ''Archive'' activated, projecting a giant map of the area that indicated not only the positions of their allies but their enemies as well. "Gray! Macao needs some help now, he''s about to be overrun!" She stated as she watched a group of red dots converge on the green one that indicated Macao. Though there was a brief moment of confusion in which Gray tried to figure out why he was suddenly hearing Lucy''s voice in his head, the ice Mage didn''t stop to think as he immediately went to assist Macao. She then similarity proceeded to direct her allies to points where they were needed the most, or direct them out of situations where it seemed as if they were about to be overrun. As she did this her comrades that were nearby couldn''t help but to watch her in both amazement and confusion, as they couldn''t figure out when she had even managed to learn the magic. Lucy didn''t pay them any mind though as she continued directing people as best as she could through the fight, until a sudden notification caught her attention. [NOTICE! Loke has leveled up! Sagittarius has leveled up! Capricorn has leveled up! Scorpio has leveled up!] Not just Lucy, but even Alex and his girls showed some confusion when they heard the notifications coming across Lucy''s ''Archive'', before a page popped up that had an image of every one of the spirits she had summoned since becoming Alex''s ''Pawn''. With the exception of the four spirits she had currently summoned, every image was greyed out to indicate that they currently weren''t in use, and they all had a bar next to their name with the words EXP above it. "Curious..." Alex muttered as he watched the bars fill bit by bit with every person that the spirits killed, recalling similar mechanics from games he had played in the past. Kuroka then muttered, "Our familiars don''t level up as well, do they?" Alex was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "I think it has to do both with Lucy''s connection to my system, and the fact that the majority of her powers rely on summons to begin with." As he said, none of them actively used their familiars to fight their battles for them, so it made sense that, similar to her having a job available specifically for taming, Lucy would be an exception. "W-what is this?!" Loke exclaimed as he felt his strength increase out of nowhere after he defeated yet another opponent, while he noticed that both Scorpio and Capricorn seemed to feel similarly. Lucy''s voice quickly entered his head though as she excitedly exclaimed, "It''s the power of my connection to Alex, the power to help those who fight with me to become stronger!" Naturally those around her looked at both Lucy and Alex in confusion when she mentioned her ''connection'' to him, as the way she said it implied more than her simply becoming one of his women. There was no time to think about it though, as the battle continued and those that had acc.u.mulated wounds that Sun''s songs were unable to quickly heal arrived to Wendy and Sherria for treatment. Of course, Alex had Yue and Grayfia assist with healing any injuries the two sky slayers couldn''t with Regeneration magic. At that moment Alex suddenly looked up as something caught his attention, before he said, "Yami, Shizuku, we have some guests that decided to be more discreet about arriving on the island. Go, and figure out what their trying to do if you can." The two girls nodded and turned to leave, but then Lucy suddenly piped up, "Wait! Take Gemini with you!" She then pulled out yet another of her golden keys, and then the Twins suddenly appeared after a flash of light, stunning everyone at how she had managed to summon a fifth zodiac spirit without seeming even the least bit fatigued. Before they could think about it too much though, Yami and Shizuku suddenly disappeared alongside the Twins as they went to investigate the intruders Alex was talking about. They didn''t have to wait very long for their return though, as, with their speed after Yami promoted to a ''Knight'', the duo quickly returned with a man who was wrapped in dark cloths and had his face hidden. Obviously he was Gemini transformed into one of the intruders, who Lucy then asked, "What was their purpose?" Gemini unhesitantly answered, "They were trying to assassinate Wendy and Sherria to prevent us from being able to heal anyone who got injured. After that they planned to take as many of the guild masters and S-class mages with them as possible before dying." Everyone showed grim expressions when they heard Gemini''s words, while Wendy and Sherria even turned a little green from the knowledge that assassins were sent specifically for them. However a moment later both girls felt a large and heavy hand plop gently down onto their heads before ruffling their hair gently, as Alex said, "Don''t worry. As long as I''m here you have nothing to fear, ok?" There was a brief pause after his words, before Wendy lightly slapped her own cheeks to perk herself as, and declared, "You''re right! I have to do what I can to help my guild mates!" She then resumed her work as if nothing happened, however this time there was a fire under her like there wasn''t before. Meanwhile Sherria hesitated for a moment as Alex continued ruffling her hair, before suddenly saying as if she just realized, "Ah! I have to go help too!" She then quickly tried to follow after Wendy, but ended up tripping over a root accidentally in her rush. "Owee....." Sherria groaned as she tried to push herself up, while most of those around her chuckled lightly at her expense and Alex shook his head from the view that his ''Lucky Pervert'' gave him when she fell. For a moment you almost would have forgotten about the battle going on as Sherria quickly ran off to rejoin her friend, those who watched her chuckled lightly, and Alex''s wives glared at him pointedly after he cheered the two girls up. Reality however was unforgiving, as a sudden explosion drew their attention back to the beach just in time for the dust to clear and reveal a figure that a good number of the allied mages didn''t want to see. "STIIIIIIIIING! WHERE ARE YOU YOU LITTLE SHIT STAIN?!" Jiemma Orland, former guild master of Sabertooth, had entered the battle. The moment he saw his former guild master''s face, the current master of Sabertooth, the White Dragon Slayer Sting Eucliffe, shook with rage as he made to take a step forward to meet his former master in battle, only to be stopped my Markarov. "I know you want to defeat him Sting," Markarov said slowly, "but you need to trust in your comrades if we are to have any chance of victory." Sting''s clenched fist shook in irritation from both Markarov''s words and Jiemma''s appearance, but he forced himself to calm down before saying in resignation, "Very well. I''ll stay back, for now." Nodding in approval, Markarov and the rest of the guild masters turned back to watch the battle unfold, each one feeling more anxious than they''d ever let on. Jiemma was strong to begin with, there was no point in denying that, but his strength had only increased even further after going through a demonification process in order to join one of the dark guilds making up the Balam Alliance, Tartarus. Even as this thought crossed their minds, a series of explosions rang out as Jiemma unhesitantly used his Blast magic on those around him, regardless of if they were friend or foe. "That''s quite enough, demon of Tartarus." Jiemma turned towards the one who spoke to him, and a nasty smile spread on his face when he saw them. "Rogue Cheney. I''ve been looking forward to this almost as much as I''ve been looking forward to seeing Sting again!" Rogue stepped forward to face his former guild master unflinchingly, his one visible eye glaring at him. Without a single word the shadows around them started convening onto Rogue, eager to do his bidding. Jiemma chuckled nastily when he saw that, before he suddenly made the entire area start rippling with minor explosions as he built up his own power. For a brief moment there was no noise as even those around them anxiously paused their own fighting in order to witness the battle about to take place, before the duo suddenly rushed each other. "RAAAAAAAAAAH!" "HAAAAAAAAAAA!" With a great shout they quickly closed in on each other, before Rogue suddenly disappeared right before they collided. Without missing a beat though, Jiemma immediately swung his fist around in a wide arc to impact Rogue as the Dragon Slayer appeared from the shadows behind him, resulting in an explosion that sent him flying back before crashing into a tree. "Pathetic and predictable. I''m so disappointed that my guild has degraded to such a state under that brat''s direction, but then again what can I expect from those who readily betrayed their own guild master instead of pursuing real strength?" Rogue spat out a small bit of blood as he quickly regained his feet before facing his former guild master, and spat back at him, "We didn''t betray you instead of pursuing strength, we just weren''t as cowardly as you when you decided to beg the dark guilds to let us-" Whatever he was going to say was suddenly cut off when Jiemma suddenly appeared before Rogue faster than he could react, and sank his fist into his gut. "WHO''S A COWARD YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT STAIN?!" Jiemma roared in fury louder than even the explosion that sent Rogue flying back through several more trees. What followed was a scene that made several of those who were watching unable to look away from either sheer horror, or pure glee, as Jiemma then proceeded to one sidedly beat Rogue even after he had activated his final trump card, Dragon Force. Naturally several other members of the allied guilds tried to intervene, especially those from Sabertooth, but Jiemma skillfully kept them at bay by using his explosions so that he specifically take his time torturing Rogue, promising that he''ll get to all of them in due time. This continued until there was a sudden crash behind Jiemma, prompting him to turn around to find Elfman Strauss standing behind him. With Lisanna getting him past Jiemma''s explosive barrier with her bird form, Elfman directed a fierce glare at the ex-guild master before boldly declaring, "What kind of MAN beats up on someone who''s already lost? How PATHETIC!" Letting Rogue''s limp and bloody body fall to the ground, Jiemma turned to face Elfman properly before asking with a sneer, "And who exactly are you supposed to be little man?" Elfman''s glare intensified as his body started enlarging as he assumed the same form he fought Shia with the day before, before roaring in challenge, "Elfman Strauss, of the Take Over Siblings of Fairy Tail!" Once his transformation was complete Elfman slammed his massive hands against the ground before him in challenge, making the entire area shake from the impact. With Jiemma either not noticing or not caring as Lisanna then used her bird form to retrieve Rogue''s body to take him back for healing, he sneered at Elfman before saying, "Very well then, I''ll take care of you before moving onto the rest of those little shits over there!" With the dark mages and mercenaries now working to keep any of the other mages from intervening in Jiemma''s fight with Elfman, the duo glared at each other in silence before rushing the other similarly to how the fight with Rogue began. Meanwhile, back at the area where Wendy and Sherria were treating the wounded, Lisanna arrived with Rogue in her clutches as the two girls immediately tried to see to him. Instead Yue forced her way to the front, before demanding, "......Leave him to me...." Having already witnessed the miraculous power of Yue and Grayfia''s healing magic, the duo could only nod as they returned to any other patients they had, while Lisanna returned to help her brother. Off to the side Alex frowned as he watched the ongoing fights, and started wondering if they should get involved earlier than he thought since Jiemma and other more powerful dark mages were beginning to make an appearance. Before he could decide though, Alex noticed Mirajane standing off to the side by herself to watch the battle taking place below them. With a certain idea suddenly coming to mind, he stood and went to join her just in time to hear her say, "Please, keep everyone safe..." Obviously he could tell that she was praying for everyone''s safety, however who exactly she was praying to he couldn''t say. Instead, he simply said, "Kinda strange for the Demon to be praying, isn''t it?" Startling slightly from not noticing Alex had joined her, Mirajane looked sad after a second and said, "That''s not who I am anymore, and I couldn''t do more than this to help anyways, no matter how much I wish otherwise..." Alex nodded slowly at her words, as he also turned to see Jiemma pressuring Elfman as if he was simply playing around. With Mirajane''s anxiety going up at the scene, he asked, "If I said that I could save your siblings, would you ask me to?" The moment she heard that Mirajane looked to Alex with hope as she pleaded, "Could you really?!" Alex nodded slowly, before he replied, "Yes, but would you be happy with that?" Mirajane looked confused at his question, so Alex elaborated, "Would you be happy relying on others for the rest of your life? To have to be the one protected by others, especially your own baby siblings, while you do nothing but pray and beg others for their safety?" Mirajane''s fist clenched at Alex''s words due to him hitting a sore spot, before she said, "What else is there for me to do though? I can''t use my magic to fight anymore, no matter how much I try..." Alex nodded slowly before saying, "Indeed. But if given the chance, would you return to the battlefield to protect those you care about with your own two hands, or would you rather stay back here to be protected?" This time Mirajane turned to face him with angry tears in her eyes as she declared, "Of course I would fight to protect my brother an sister if I could! I hate being stuck here while they endanger themselves!" "Good." Alex said to her declaration, surprising Mirajane somewhat before he continued, "But you seem to have forgotten something, you are a demon. Gods don''t care about demons in the slightest, and would probably be more willing to harm them than ignore them, praying will never do you any good." Mirajane was again about to demand what Alex thought she should do instead, when he suddenly said, "Instead, didn''t a demon like you ever consider making a deal with the devil?" The way he said that made Mirajane pause since it seemed as if Alex was trying to imply something, but before she could ask Mirajane thought she noticed something red flash between Alex''s fingers. Chapter 367 - Return of the Demon (A.N. So if anyone hasn''t noticed WN is automatically deleting comments that have any inappropriate language, such as f.u.c.k, shit, s.e.x, hell, bitch, ect. I noticed this a while back but wasn''t going to mention it, but then someone else started talking about it so I thought I''d bring it up.) "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IS THIS REALLY ALL THAT A FAIRY TAIL MAGE CAN OFFER?! PATHETIC!" Jiemma laughed and taunted hysterically as he lifted the bloody and beaten Elfman into the air by his throat, his transformation having already been undone after being rendered unconscious by his opponent. As he prepared to use his Blast magic to blow Elfman''s entire head off though, a new figure shot down at them from the sky while shouting, "LEAVE ELF-NII ALONE!" Lisanna shifted from her bird form to her rabbit form as she swiftly brought her foot down right onto Jiemma''s elbow, surprising him enough that he instinctively released his hold on Elfman''s throat. Lisanna then took up a defensive position between her older brother and Jiemma, her leg lifted up in a stance to make use of her enhanced kicking capabilities. The ex-guild master turned demon however didn''t even seem to register her intentions to fight, instead sneering in contempt, "What? First I have to fight that mere beast over there, now I have to fight a filthy animal? You shits are really looking down on me, aren''t you!" Rather than retort to his obvious contempt towards her, Lisanna used her enhanced legs to shoot herself forward at Jiemma as quickly as possible. Naturally the former guild master responded with a quick and powerful punch, which caused the area surrounding it to ripple with minor explosions to cause more damage. Instead though Lisanna dropped to the ground to slide under the massive fist, and through Jiemma''s legs to end up behind him. "Hya!" She cried out cutely as she quickly pivoted, and leapt up into the air to deliver a powerful kick to his back. THUD Despite the added power her legs had due to her rabbit form, Lisanna dumbfoundedly watched as her kick did nothing to Jiemma''s tough body. Before he could react she tried to use her foothold on him to gain some distance, only for Jiemma to swing around faster than she thought possible and grab her by the ankle. Lisanna''s pupils contracted to pinpoints as Jiemma''s nasty smile widened victoriously, before she suddenly found herself being swung over his head directly into the ground below. "HAHA!" Jiemma laughed viciously, before repeating the process a second time, and then a third. After the forth time that he slammed her into the ground, Jiemma lifted up lisannas limp body as if to scrutinize her, before sneering as he switched his grip so that he had his hand wrapped around her neck, "If you like pretending to be a filthy animal so much," he then reached out with his other hand, and proceeded to rip the clothing from Lisanna''s body while declaring, "THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL GO THE FULL DISTANCE, HAHA!" With Lisanna''s n.a.k.e.dness on display for everyone around them to witness, a great cheer erupted from the dark mages and mercenaries as several started wolf whistling and shouting, "LOOK AT THAT ASS!" "DANCE BABY DANCE!" "THOSE TITS ARE GORGEOUS!" These comments and more assaulted Lisanna''s ears as she weakly squirmed against Jiemma''s hold on her neck. The man himself however didn''t even seem to notice her weak struggling, as he shouted out to the crowd of excited attackers, "DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?!" """YEAH!""" The crowd roared their pleasure for all to hear, alerting the rest of Fairy Tail to their comrade''s plight. "Damn it.... I''M COMING LISANNA!" Erza cried out when she noticed the uproar. "HOLD ON LISANNA!!!" Natsu cried out as he released a torrent of powerful flames at those around him, only to be immediately surrounded once more since Hyato had identified him as ''extremely dangerous''. All around the battlefield members of the allied Mage guilds tried desperately to reach Lisanna, but the dark mages and the mercenaries meticulously worked to keep them out of the way as Jiemma proudly displayed his nude prize. Even the exceed, who were working to help bring back those who couldn''t return for needed medical treatment by themselves, were unable to reach her as mages fired spell after spell specifically at them. With his sneer rising at he chaos he had created on the battlefield, Jiemma couldn''t wait to see the expression of shock the stupid fairies would make as they watched their own comrade be brutally ravaged before their eyes. He even used his foot to flip the barely conscious Elfman over so he could witness the ''show'' as well, before declaring, "IF YOU ALL WANT HER, THEN YOU CAN HAVE-" BOOOOOOOOOM!!!! A sudden explosion of noise and magic power interrupted Jiemma''s declaration, as he and every other person on the battlefield turned to see a swirling vortex of purplish-black demonic power near the guild masters. Everyone could only watch in awe as the vortex started to steadily grow larger and stronger in power, before the barely conscious Elfman muttered in disbelief, "Nee....chan.....?" Meanwhile Lisanna flashed a fearless smirk despite her current situation, and struggled to get out, "You guys...are in so much trouble....." Jiemma however continued staring at the vortex as if he couldn''t hear her, as two glowing red orbs formed that seemed to be peering even through his soul. ''W-what is this?'' Jiemma thought to himself, as sensations he''d never once experienced in his life worked their way into his very being. ''That...is fear...'' A voice seemed to hiss in the back of his mind, a voice that Jiemma immediately tried to dismiss as he had never once in his life felt fear. Soon the vortex started to slowly vanish until it disappeared completely, leaving a lone figure standing in its center glaring directly at him menacingly. She had long white hair that now stood straight up on its end, elongated pointed ears reminiscent of an elf''s, and a jagged black line running down the right side of her face from her hairline like a long scar. Her hands had also changed into a set of large scaled claws that resembled gauntlets, while a set of fins protruded from her arms further up. The only thing covering her upper body was what appeared to be a dark colored skimpy V swimsuit that extended up from her crotch to the outer edges of her b.r.e.a.s.ts and over her shoulders, leaving her stomach and the middle of her chest exposed. On her legs were a pair of dark red tights that came up halfway to her thighs, leaving the upper half of her thighs exposed to reveal more jagged scar-like lines, while on her feet was a pair of sharp high heels. Two of the most eye catching differences though were the pair of large leathery wings and the long stocky tail that were coming out of her backside, the latter of which was covered in large scaled plating. Gone was Mirajane''s signature warm smile that had greeted the members of her guild whenever they returned from a request. Gone was the warm atmosphere that usually surrounded her as she happily served her guild mates their mead and food. Instead, her beautiful face was warped with fury. Instead, there was only the Demon. Her eyes were cold as they scanned the crowd of people staring at her slack-jawed, until they centered on the man holding her sister by the neck, displaying her n.a.k.e.d body to everyone as he offered her up to them. Mirajane took a single step forward when she found her target, before spreading her wings and launching herself forward with such speed and strength that the area around her feet turned into a crater as dirt went flying. Before he could even blink Jiemma found himself looking down at Mirajane''s furious face, as she demanded, "Who the f.u.c.k said you can lay a filthy f.u.c.k.i.n.g finger on MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G FAMILY, YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G F.U.C.K?!" At her last ''f.u.c.k'' Mirajane proceeded to slam her fist into Jiemma''s stomach so hard that he ended up releasing his grip on Lisanna''s neck, before being sent flying back out of the battle. Without a second''s hesitation Mirajane spread her wings and took off after him, while Lisanna was suddenly caught by someone new. "You''re ok now." Alex said to her soothingly as he held her bridal style and brought her in close to his protectively, while simultaneously activating Regeneration magic to heal her wounds. Lisanna blinked once at the sudden shift as she registered who was now holding her, before the false bravado she showed to Jiemma disappeared instantly and her eyes began filling with tears. "I...I was so scared!" Alex held Lisanna closer as tears began streaming from her eyes, and she weakly clung to his shirt as she began desperately crying. Even when she had ''died'' several years prior, Lisanna had never been as scared in her life as she had been when Jiemma prepared to give her to the men on the opposing side. In response Alex simply held her even closer while saying comforting things to her, and summoning a blanket to wrap her in before using Spirit magic to put her into a dreamless sleep. With Lisanna peacefully sleeping in his arms, and Mirajane keeping every pair of eyes on her and Jiemma, Alex stood and turned towards Elfman before using Regeneration magic on him as well. "Thank you...truly...." As his wounds quickly recovered Elfman stood and bowed respectfully to Alex as best as he could, his entire being filled with gratitude to the man who had saved his sister. Alex however waved away Elfman''s thanks, and said, "Don''t worry about it. After all we''re practically family now, and I always watch out for my family." Though Elfman tilted his head in confusion about Alex''s remark, he didn''t get a chance to ask what he meant when a voice suddenly piped up, "HEY! That bitch is ours!" With Jiemma and Mirajane moving their fight in the air and over the ocean, the dark mages and mercenaries that had once surrounded the former guild master started returning their attention to them once more. As they once more assaulted Lisanna with their l.u.s.tful gazes, Elfman readied himself to defend his little sister from their clutches. Alex however didn''t pay them any mind. Instead, he began channeling the concept of ''death'' that he used to create his scythe, and simply looked up at them with cold eyes before saying a single word, "Die." There was no pulse of magic power. No flash. No difference in anything around them whatsoever, except that a second after Alex said that word, well over a hundred men around them collapsed dead. With everyone around them that had been targeting his sister suddenly dropping like puppets with their strings cut, Elfman could only look around in horrific awe until Alex suddenly said, "Let''s get back. You can follow me, right?" Without another word Alex turned and left to return to where the girls were waiting, prompting Elfman to follow behind him as he casually walked through battlefield. Meanwhile the sky above the ocean and several dozen of the attacking sh.i.p.s was filled with constant concussions of noise, as Mirajane repeatedly sent Jiemma flying from a kick or punch before catching up to him to deliver yet another in an endless barrage that sent him flying in every direction. "What''s the matter little bitch, I thought you were supposed to be a lot stronger than us?!" She spat at him as she sent him flying yet again. However once she got in close once again, a vicious smile appeared on Jiemma''s lips as he had prepared to use that moment to retaliate. What he never expected though was that, instead of the usual attack, that time Mirajane sent her high heeled foot directly between his legs. "..." Unable to do anything besides desperately gasp for air after the superpowered kick to the nuts, Jiemma slowly fell back down to the ocean below while Mirajane watched impassively. This gave the hundreds of mages on the sh.i.p.s below the chance they had been waiting for, as a veritable tidal wave of spells started rising up to meet Mirajane now that she had stopped flitting around the skies at high speed. Instead of seeming concerned at the incoming attacks though, Mirajane wordlessly raised one of her hands and formed countless dark purple magic circles in the sky. Not only did they stop the incoming spells before any of them reached her, but afterwards a storm of similarly colored demonic lightning rained down upon the sh.i.p.s and their passengers, shredding the vessels of wood as if they were paper and vaporizing any unfortunate enough to be struck directly. "Wow...." Shia muttered in awe as she watched the display of power and brutality, before continuing, "Nice call adding her to the peerage as well!" With several other girls nodding in agreement, Alex smiled wryly and explained as he put down the cup of tea he had just finished off, "Don''t expect this level of power constantly right away. You have to remember that the majority of her powers have been bottled up for the last several years, and she''s also currently fueled on rage with what just happened to her brother and sister." The rest of the girls glanced at Elfman and Lisanna when they heard him, the latter of which was resting on a bed Grayfia conjured while her brother watched over her. However, as the sounds of destruction drifted towards them, he looked up at the destruction his older sister was causing with growing concern. Grayfia then asked as she prepared another cup of tea for Alex, "so how exactly do her powers work? And will she be able to properly grow them?" Alex nodded as he accepted the fresh cup, and explained, "From what I understand her magic is a form of Take Over like her siblings, except her specialty is called Satan Soul. This is more or less her basic combat form, but as she gets stronger and absorbs more demonic beings she should be able to gain new forms with their own set of unique powers." Grayfia c.o.c.ked a brow when she heard this, as several annoying old Devils from back home came to mind when she thought of potential beings Mirajane could absorb. With his smile becoming slightly wryer from guessing what was going through Grayfia''s mind, Alex turned his attention back to Mirajane as he again thanked the fact that his gamble with her had paid off. With her powers sealed he had hoped that the demonic energies in the evil piece would be able to ''jumpstart'' her own dormant demonic powers. If it hadn''t worked, then they would have had to wait until after the battle to use Spirit magic in order to try and unlock her powers since Mirajane''s block was psychological, with Lisanna ''dying'' in her arms being the catalyst. It also seemed like a good idea since Mirajane seemed to be adapting to her new powers at an amazing pace, as the purple demonic lightning she was currently wielding wasn''t one of her original abilities, but something he was willing to bet she created with demonic energies. (A.N. A reminder for anyone who might have forgotten, demonic magic power can be wielded in literally any way you can imagine as long as the image is strong enough, which was how Issei managed to create magic to strip girls and talk to b.r.e.a.s.ts.) Once the downpour of demonic lightning ended, there was only one person left alive in that area that was desperately trying to claw their way onto the beach despite only having one leg and arm left after being subjected to the lightning storm. Once Jiemma finally managed to painfully crawl his way through the surf until his fingers felt dry sand, he was once again subjected to intense pain as a heeled foot planted itself in the center of his back. "Where do you think you''re going little bitch?" Mirajane snarled as her scaled tail coiled around Jiemma''s neck, and lifted him into the air before her. She then adopted a stance similar to a boxer''s, before her arms turned into blurs as Mirajane proceeded to deliver a series of speed powerful punches to his stomach and chest. "Gah!...." Jiemma spat out a large mouthful of blood due to the continued abuse his body was suffering, while Mirajane''s expression slowly morphed into an increasingly sadistic smile from the pain she was inflicting onto him. This continued on for nearly an entire minute, before suddenly, ''MIRAJANE, DODGE!'' With Alex''s voice screaming at her in her head, as well as her own instincts warning her of danger, Mirajane just barely managed to tuck her wings and dodge to the side as a brilliant white lance passed by, grazing her shoulder as it did so. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Mirajane cried out as the most terrible physical pain she ever felt assaulted her from the scratch on her shoulder, while the lance that just barely grazed her impaled Jiemma in the middle of his chest. "Gah! Ha! Y-you f-f.u.c.ker....." He just barely managed to curse as yet more torrents of blood burst from between his lips, before the point where the lance was impaling him at started glowing with a powerful divine light. Shielding her eyes while simultaneously recoiling from the hateful divine light before her, when Mirajane opened them again Jiemma''s body had completely disappeared after being burnt to ash from the holy power of the lance, which continued to simply hover there for a few seconds. When it started to slowly fly backwards the way it came, a new voice said, "The True Longinus, one of the most powerful holy weapons ever created. A single scratch could kill weaker demons, or inflict unimaginable pain upon the stronger ones such as yourself. A direct hit however will completely erase you like it did Jiemma though." Mirajane slowly turned until she was facing the speaker, who had the lance pointed directly at her while a majestic golden battle axe was slung over his shoulder, and a large black dog paced behind him, it''s eyes glowing with a fiery light. Though the man''s brilliant red and white armor concealed any distinguishing features, and his expression, Mirajane knew exactly who she was looking at as he said, "Mirajane Strauss, aka the Demon. Your powers are supposed to be sealed." The way the man said it wasn''t as if he was asking a question, but more of a matter of fact that she shouldn''t have been able to unlock her powers once more. Instead of giving her a moment to wonder at this though, the divine lance suddenly started inching closer as he said, "You must have had help to regain your powers, tell me about them and I might spare you." Mirajane''s glare intensified at his question, and, right as she was about to tell him to f.u.c.k off, something else caught her attention as the wound on her shoulder started closing, and she suddenly felt her energy returning. ''Don''t worry, help is on the way.'' Alex''s voice echoed within her head once more, making Mirajane laugh out loud at the confused general. "I''m not telling you shit." She spat at him as she started to stand, not paying any attention to the lance right in front of her face. Though she couldn''t see it, Hyato glared at her through his helmet and was about to simply skewer her right then and there, when a a pair of blades suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pushed the True Longinus back. "She doesn''t need to tell you anything." Erza snarled as she suddenly appeared, equipped in her strongest armor, Armadura Fairy, no less. With the pink metal with wing-like attachments gleaming under the sun, Mirajane smirked as she too prepared to fight, "What took you so long you damned knight?" Erza smirked in return at Mirajane''s attitude, before replying back, "Well what about your attitude when I just saved your life, huh?" Mirajane''s brow twitched when she heard that, but as she was about to snap that she didn''t need Erza''s help another new voice suddenly said, "Ladies, this can be discussed later cant it? We kinda have a pressing matter to attend to." Everyone turned in shock to see none other than Gildarts casually approaching them, an eager grin on his face as he looked at the general. Hyato however looked at all three of them as they prepared to fight, and remarked, "Well well well, all three of Fairy Tail''s strongest mages barring the guild master himself, I''m honored." After he said that though Hyato noticed something that should''ve been impossible, making even the other reincarnators watching the battle through him straighten up. "You!" Hyato said suddenly as he pointed at Gildarts, his tone entirely different from a moment ago. "How did your body get healed?!" Gildarts''s brows shot up in surprise since he didn''t know that the Dark Emperor and his lackeys knew about his injuries, however he responded by flashing a smirk and saying, "Who knows, maybe some of that booze I drink is miracle booze or something! HAHA!" Hyato''s expression darkened under his helmet when he heard Gildarts''s remark, prompting him to ready his sacred gears before saying, "No matter, I will learn everything I need to know soon enough." And with that, the battle between one of the generals and three of Fairy Tail''s strongest began, while Natsu and Gajeel were both still desperately trying to make their way to them. Chapter 368 - Joining the Battle *A few minutes ago* As Jiemma''s body turned to ash from the divine power of the True Longinus, Alex and the girls quickly rose to their feet in shock. "I always knew it was possible, but I didn''t think I''d actually see one..." Alex muttered as he got his first look at the reincarnator, who was wielding five different Longinus sacred gears. However, while he was at most more than a little annoyed that one of them was the Boosted Gear, his skin started prickling as Rias, Grayfia, and Kuroka started radiating dangerous levels of murderous intent. "To think that bastard dares to copy my mate!" Kuroka practically growled, her verbal tick forgotten in her anger. "Someone needs to go and teach this little shit a lesson." Grayfia said in a deathly clam tone, which, combined with the fact that she actually just swore, made anyone around her slowly edge away out of fear. As for Rias, well currently she was glowing Crimson red from her surging demonic power, which was making her clothes and hair flap from the output as she stood there, silently seething. Even within him Alex could feel Ddraig stirring from the knowledge that there was a ''fake'' Red Dragon Emperor running around. Well, it wasn''t as if Alex couldn''t understand their reaction. His entire identity in the DXD world was based off of his status as the Red Dragon Emperor, though he was now the Dragon Emperor after making Vali submit to him. Someone else trying to be the ''Red Dragon Emperor'' was nothing short of an incredible insult, just like if someone else tried calling themselves the ''Crimson Haired Ruin Princess'', or the ''Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation''. If Vali, Sairaorg, Cao Cao, and Tobio were all there though, Alex had no doubt that, rather than being offended or angry, they would all be more interested in fighting someone who could use the same sacred gear as them. Alex himself couldn''t deny having a similar feeling himself though, so, instead of wasting time and energy being upset about another Boosted Gear user, he went to step forward to challenge the newcomer himself, only for a hand to appear before him. "Let me go first." Gildarts said as he looked at the general with undisguised excitement, while also flexing the muscles in his left arm in anticipation. Alex smiled wryly while gesturing forward and saying, "Go right ahead, but be especially careful of that lance of his." Gildarts nodded seriously despite his excitement, before rushing down the hill to help Mirajane out. Alex then sent her a telepathic message that help was on the way, right before none other than Erza herself showed up as well. When he saw her Alex frowned slightly, before turning to Kurumu and asking, "Can you use your illusions to send a message to Erza without the reincarnator finding out?" When she heard him Kurumu smirked confidently and said, "Can I?" *** As the three of them prepared to face one of the most infamous people in the entire world, Erza was slightly startled when a string of words suddenly began floating in front of her face out of nowhere. MAKE SURE THAT LANCE DOESN''T GET ANYWHERE NEAR MIRAJANE. IT''LL KILL HER INSTANTLY. Though her expression otherwise didn''t react at the message, Erza''s eyes did widen slightly as she resisted the urge to glance at Mirajane nervously. Their minor rivalry aside, there was no way she''d let one of her comrades face such a dangerous weapon when it was obviously such a bad matchup. She never even got the chance to worry about such a thing though, as something happened that Erza, Gildarts, or even Hyato couldn''t have predicted. "PROMOTION-" Mirajane cried out as she recalled one of the new abilities Alex said she''d have, which neither Erza or Gildarts knew about, while Hyato''s eyes widened in pure shock under his helmet. ''It can''t be.....'' He thought to himself in denial, before she finished, "-QUEEN!" It was. As power suddenly filled Mirajane once more, none of them were prepared for what happened afterwards. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Before any of them could react, power surged through Hyato''s body as he shot forward and pinned Mirajane to a nearby tree, despite the strength she gained from her recent promotion. "HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT ABILITY?!" He roared at her while Mirajane was still trying to process what was happening. "What do you think you''re doing?!" Gildarts demanded as he tried to help Mirajane, only for the giant golden battle axe that Hyato had been carrying only seconds before to start glowing. "ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!" As the light dispersed it revealed that the axe had changed into a giant metallic golden lion, which loudly challenged Gildarts while simultaneously baring its lethal fangs. "MIRAJANE!" Erza cried out as she tries to rush to her comrade''s aid, only to have her path blocked by a great black dog. "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-" The dog released a thunderous guttural growl as it blocked her path, while several blades began forming along its body. With her and Gildarts both occupied with fighting weapons that were capable of allowing one to fight on par with gods, Hyato remained unmolested as he demanded once more, "HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO USE PROMOTION?! WHO GAVE YOU THE EVIL PIECE?!" When Hyato mentioned the evil piece Mirajane''s eyes widened in surprise, as she accidentally glanced in Alex''s direction for the briefest of seconds. Of course Hyato noticed this tiny slip, and immediately turned his attention in the same direction Mirajane glanced at, only to feel as if everything stopped around him. Her crimson red hair was flowing lightly in the wind, and her posture radiated both elegance and confidence. Her sharp green eyes were staring down at him intensely, watching his every movement. "Rias....." Hyato breathed out in awe and disbelief, not yet accepting the fact that the very person he''d looked for for over twenty years was right before him. However he quickly realized that this was reality when he noticed some minor movement right next to Rias, and he saw who it was. "YOU!!!" Hyato cried out in grief and rage when he saw Alex''s figure standing right next to HIS waifu, knowing that this sc.u.m had long since been defiling her and any other woman unfortunate enough to fall into his clutches. Alex however looked confused at the other reincarnator''s shout, and awkwardly looked to the left before looking to right, and then when he didn''t see anyone else he''d be shouting at he pointed at himself and mouthed ''me?'' Under his helmet Hyato''s expression contorted into complete rage as he completely forgot about Mirajane, and sent his True Longinus flying at Alex faster than the speed of sound. Without batting an eye Alex watched at the divine lance approached him at sonic speeds, before it suddenly stopped less than an inch away from his heart. Ignoring the burning pain he felt in the two fingers that had stopped the deadly lance right before it skewered him, Alex c.o.c.ked his head to the side in confusion as Shia asked, "He looks really mad...what did you do to him?" Alex simply shrugged and said, "Who knows. I saw him mouth something earlier, but it was so quiet that I couldn''t even hear it through my ''Domain''." The rest of the girls then shrugged alongside him, while Rias suppressed a random chill that she felt. A tugging sensation drew Alex''s attention back to the lance he currently gripped between two of his still burning fingers, as its owner frustratedly tried to recall it. Instead of just letting it go though, Alex slightly adjusted his grip on the divine weapon before lightly ''tossing'' it so that it flew faster than it was when he caught it. KABOOOOOOOOM! The next thing anyone knew a massive explosion rocked the entire island as the True Longinus impacted one of the airsh.i.p.s surrounding them, and sent it crashing into the waves below. For several moments there was complete silence as everyone took in what just happened, while Alex casually rolled his shoulders before saying, "I guess that''s our cue to join the fun." When they heard him the girls showed various levels of excitement at finally being able to join the fight, instead of simply watching from the sidelines. He then turned to Grayfia and said, "I want you to focus on helping the allied mages retreat while also treating any serious wounds they might have. After that defend the line at the wall they created to prevent any stray dark mages or mercenaries from coming after them." Nodding her head in understanding, Grayfia then promptly went up to Markarov and the other guild masters before saying, "I need you to sound the retreat, from here on out all any of you will be is in the way." The response she got for saying that was several looks of outrage and protests as the guild masters lambasted her for completely disregarding their mages. While Grayfia tried to talk some sense into them, and Alex told the rest of the girls what he wanted them to do, another discussion was taking place in a place far away as the other reincarnators watched the events unfold. "You''re shitting me...." Calvin muttered in disbelief as Hyato focused on the destruction of the airship, that Alex caused with barely a twitch of his wrist. While he was looking on disbelief though, Alice''s eyes were practically starry as she recalled the newcomer''s figure in her mind, before it was filled with thoughts of all the hot s.e.x they''d do once he inevitably joined them. Darius''s expression was the hardest to read though, as, of everyone they knew to be out there, he never expected that they''d see the same exact reincarnator that Hyato wanted to find so badly so soon. The biggest downside to this though was that Hyato wanted to kill him for ''stealing'' his ''waifu'' before he could try and woo her himself. Of course Darius didn''t actually believe that was the case, as every magical recording of his ''nemesis'' that Hyato had brought with him from that world showed that he wasn''t actually that bad a person, unlike Alice who used her powers to ensnare whoever she wanted. That didn''t mean Darius wouldn''t keep his promise to help Hyato be with his ''waifu'' though. Instead, they''ll have to give her to Alice to work her ''Bewitchment'' on for a few days until she was the perfectly loving girlfriend he wanted. The main thing on Darius''s mind though, was an idea he had formed shortly after he first met Alice, which he quickly dismissed due to how impractical it was at the time. Breeding a Saiyan army. Yes, it did sound stupid. However saiyans had the potential to become some of the strongest fighters in the entire universe before they were even ten years old. That meant he wouldn''t even need to wait until they reached full maturity before sending them out to battle. The reason he originally dismissed this idea though was due to the fact that all they had was a Saiyan woman who would only realistically be able to give birth to one child a year, if they could even convince Alice to do such a thing. Now however, there was a perfectly good breeder right in front of them. A Saiyan that Darius believed wouldn''t mind having any beautiful woman they could possibly want brought to them to be bred, including maybe the women of Fairy Tail. However, trying to recruit the newcomer would become increasingly difficult if the first person of their group they met tried to seriously kill them based on imagined offenses. That was why he didn''t hesitate to to activate the chat function of their systems and say, "Hyato! Use the stone I gave you and return right now! We''ll leave the reincarnator and Fairy Tail for another day, but we don''t need to lose one of our own here and now!" All he received for his warning though was Hyato shouting out loud, "SHUT UUUUUUP! I''LL KILL HIM! NO MATTER WHAT!" By this point Hyato had completely forgotten Mirajane, Erza, and Gildarts, every single bit of his attention and focus on destroying the man who ''stole'' the woman he ''loved'' from him. His declaration though drew Alex''s attention back to him right as he finished giving Kuroka her job, making him look down at Hyato incredulously while the nekomata deadpanned at him behind his back. Having heard what he said this time Alex was again confused on why this reincarnator seemed to hate him so much, yet he was even more concerned about something else. The fact that there was no one else around the reincarnator meant that he was obviously talking to someone else through some kind of communication device, or his system. If that were the case then he needed to be careful about fighting this guy since the others would obviously be able to watch and learn more about him the entire time, and it complicated his plan to try and use this guy to get more information about the other reincarnators. With these two thoughts in mind Alex went to take a step forward before his figure disappeared and he instantly reappeared right in front of his opponent. "Wha-" Hyato had just enough time to barely begin saying something, right before Alex ''gently'' pressed his open palm again his armored chest. BOOM! Without being able to do anything, Hyato was suddenly sent flying backwards out over the ocean while the armor that covered his chest started fragmenting and peeling off of him. "Gah!" Hyato spat out mouthfuls of blood as he skipped across the surf before finally falling into the water. Alex watched this happen impassively before turning to the stunned Mirajane and saying, "The allied Mage guilds are retreating and we''re taking over the battle, I want you to keep fighting with us though to gain some more experience." With Alex''s tone leaving no room for argument, Mirajane could only acquiesce and trust her siblings were alright after he left with them. Thankfully she listened to Alex''s explanation of the evil piece''s abilities before actually accepting it and joining the battle, so she already knew about the jobs and gaining experience for them. However, she had been in such a hurry that she still didn''t know what the ''price'' was for the evil piece, and she didn''t care as long as she could keep her family and guild members safe. "Very well, but I trust my siblings are safe?" Alex nodded and said, "They''re both resting now after I treated their wounds, don''t worry." Mirajane sighed in relief before turning her attention to the dark mages and mercenaries left on the island. "Now you will personally experience what happens to those who mess with Fairy Tail!" She cried out while simultaneously powering herself up, before launching herself at them. Meanwhile the living sacred gears of Regulus Nemea and Canus Lykaon turned away from their own battle with Erza and Gildarts, and went into the surf to rejoin their master. "I won''t make the two of you go back with them others, but make sure you don''t get in our way if you stay." Alex said to them before he took off to continue his fight with the general, leaving them down there to watch his departure. "He seriously thinks we''d be in the way?" Gildarts asked incredulously, while Erza also frowned at Alex as he departed. "...Excuse me..." A new voice suddenly said, making both Erza and Gildarts turn to the speaker only to find no one there. "...Down here..." The same voice said with obvious tones of irritation, making the duo look down to see none of there than Yue looking up at them, annoyance in her blood red eyes. The petite vampiress then pushed past the duo as she approached the oceans edge, before pointing her hand at the next wave of sh.i.p.s approaching them. "...''Ice Age''..." In an instant the entire portion of ocean with sh.i.p.s still on it froze over, simultaneously coating the trapped sh.i.p.s in ice and frost while even some of their passengers froze in their place. For a moment the duo could only stand there and gape at the the scene, until they noticed the rest of the girls fighting. Shizuku was seamlessly disappearing and reappearing at random points across the battlefield to deliver a single killing blow to those around her, before disappearing once more for another target. Meanwhile Yami was akin to living whirlwind of death and destruction, as her hair came alive to form almost any weapon imaginable to kill any that came too close. Then there was Lala, who was bringing out one contraption after another to deal with anyone around, in increasingly ridiculous ways. In comparison the ones creating the most noise were Moka and Shia, the former of which was dashing around the battlefield to take out entire sections of opponents with her swift and destructive kicks. The latter on the other hand was on the beach looking out over the water, with her giant hammer casually slung over shoulder while she hummed a tune that Alex would recognize as ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game''. She then proceeded to remove a metal ball from her own storage ring that was about the size of a fist, and was made of the densest metal they had yet to encounter, Azantium. Shia then tossed the ball high up into the air while she readied her hammer, and when it came hurdling down at high speeds due to being enchanted to weigh several tons, she swung with all of her might. GOOOOOOOOONG!!! A great sound rang out as the hammer impacted the ball, before it was sent flying across the water towards the first of a line of sh.i.p.s. KABOOOOOOOOM!!! As the ball impacted it the ship exploded into a ball of fire as the ball continued through it and onto the next one, and the one after that. "Who are these people...?" Gildarts muttered in amazement as he watched the girls deal with the entire army with ease, and understood why exactly they hadn''t gotten involved until now, because if they had there would have been nothing left for them to do. This fact was hammered into the duo once again as they watched Rias approach another section of beach before holding one of her hands out in a similar way that Yue had. "Disappear..." Rias muttered quietly, before a gigantic mass of reddish-black magic power shot out from her hand towards the sh.i.p.s, erasing everything in its path without leaving a single trace. Meanwhile, high above them, the crews aboard the airsh.i.p.s were hurrying too and fro as the captain shouted at them to go even faster. Their job was to prepare their magic cannons for when the time came to rain fire and destruction upon the island, but, as they watched the battle suddenly turn below them, the captain was now trying to ready what could be considered their only defense/weapon against those monsters below. "Whatcha doing?" A cutesy voice suddenly asked, making the captain tense noticeably as he slowly turned around, only to see what was perhaps one of the most beautiful women he''d ever laid eyes on sitting on the railing. Kurumu giggled as the man prepared to attack her, before adopting a slight pout and saying, "Please don''t attack me..." Though he hesitated for the briefest of seconds, the captain quickly canceled his magic and asked, "What do you want?" Kurumu smiled innocently at him, and said cutely, "I want you to kill the rest of your crew." Without any trace of hesitation the captain turned back towards his crew, and fired a bolt of magic directly at one of them, killing them instantly. "What the hell are you doing captain?!" One of the men shouted as they gathered at the source of the commotion, and found their own captain killing them. "She needs you all to die." The captain said with a weirdly blank yet fierce look in his eyes. Kurumu however then turned her gaze on the rest of the crew, and said, "Can you all kill each other for me please?" As her ''Charm'' took hold the deck of the ship immediately became the scene of an indiscriminate slaughter, and the crew that had sailed and flown alongside each other for years began to kill each other. Kurumu giggled again at the scene before she sprouted her succubus wings and proceeded to the next airship, all of which Alex had told her to capture while minimizing the damages to sh.i.p.s themselves as much as possible. All of course, except one. On their last airship, the one Alex told her not to worry about, Hades and the rest of the members of Grimoire Heart watched in horrific awe as their entire army rapidly dwindled in number, from a mere handful of women. Of the original forces that they had been fighting, only Mirajane, Lucy, Erza, Gildarts, and a couple of mages that refused to retreat like Natsu and Gajeel remained. "I think we need to sound the retreat..." Minerva said grimly, not even remotely concerned with passing of her father. Of course Zancrow sneered and immediately replied, "Why? Because a bunch of weaklings are getting their asses kicked?" Rather than Minerva though, this time Hades responded, "No, because those women are powerful enough to eliminate hundreds of mercenaries AND dark mages within seconds, and the man leading them is strong enough that he''s going toe to toe with one of the Emperor''s generals, and seemingly hasn''t even broken a sweat doing so. There''s no point staying here just to join the rest of them." "It''s too late for that though~Nyan." The new voice made everyone tense up as they slowly turned and saw a newcomer on the bridge, one of the very same women that was part of the group that was now eliminating their army. While everyone else tensed up noticeably at the intruder''s appearance, Hades instead approached her and asked, "Are you sure about that young missy? Because that would mean that you think you alone could take us all on." Kuroka smirked at him and replied, "I''m not the one overselling myself you know~Nya." Hades smiled wryly at Kuroka''s attitude, but before he could saying anything else the view outside their airship suddenly changed completely. Instead of being in the air above an ocean with an island nearby, they were now suspended in the middle of a dark space. Around them floated dozens of larges objects that appeared to miniature planets, while in the center of them was a ball of fire like a miniature sun to go with the planets. "W-what is this?" One of the mages demanded while everyone else tried to figure out where they were. Kuroka smiled widely and sadistically at their reaction, even as Zancrow immediately turned towards her. "Whatever it is it''s her fault, so let''s take her out!" He declared as his hands lit with eerie black flames. Rather than seem worried though, Kuroka just shook her head as if she was disappointed, before pursing her lips and blowing as if she was blowing out some candles, extinguishing Zancrow''s flames instantly. "Eh?" The god slayer exclaimed in confusion, not understanding why his flames suddenly went out, before Kuroka tiredly started explaining, "This is my own personal realm, meaning I literally created everything here and rule it based on my whims~Nya. You can''t use magic unless I even LET you~Nya." When they heard that Minerva and the members of Grimoire Heart paled as they hurriedly tried to use magic, only to learn the truth of Kuroka''s claims. The only exception was fairly chubby man with oddly grey skin that tried to sneak up on Kuroka, only for her to turn and face him directly before asking, "What do you think you''re doing~Nya?" The man jumped in surprise when Kuroka talked directly at him before he awkwardly shuffled away and said, "I just thought that I''d try to take one of your hairs to use Mr. Cursey on you..." As he said that the man gestured to a doll he held in his hands, making the rest of his guild mates face palm at him directly explaining what Mr. Cursey was to her. Kuroka however lit up when she heard his explanation, and asked, "Is that what I think it is~Nya?" The man lit up when she asked about the doll, and happily explained, "It''s a lost type of magic that lets you control someone when you put on of their hairs on its head! Here, try it for yourself!" The man then eagerly pulled out one of his own hairs and stuck it onto the doll, before handing it over to Kuroka to try out. As Kuroka excitedly tried out the doll, by making the man perform a series of acrobatics that he never otherwise would''ve been able to, Hades demanded, "Well, you''ve got us trapped here and unable to use magic, what now?" Kuroka didn''t even look up from her fun as she said, "Now I torture and kill all of you one by one for information, and if I think you''re holding out then I''ll just repeatedly kill and revive you to get the information I want~Nya." Dead silence greeted her words until Kuroka looked up as if she just recalled something, and she pointed at the three women present, Minerva, Ultear, and another woman at Ultear''s side with long light purple hair, Meredy, and continued with some irritation in her voice, "Except for you three~Nya. My mate wants the three of you for something~Nya." Kuroka then decided it was probably time to get started, even though she had adjusted the flow of time in case the extraction of information took several days. And throughout the process many of those aboard the airship would try to resist and attack her, only to realize time and again how fruitless their efforts were. *** Right after Kuroka disappeared with the Grimoire Heart airship, Alex was floating above the great sea of ice Yue had created, waiting for his opponent to resurface so they could resume their fight. Despite assigning Kuroka to information gathering, he still needed to find a way to use this reincarnator to increase his understanding of the other since only they were likely to know the specifics of each other. He was still thinking of how to do so when the ice suddenly exploded below him and the newly armored figure of his opponent flew up opposite him. Though he couldn''t see him under the armor, Alex could tell that his opponent was seething in rage to the point that he was slightly surprised he wasn''t breathing fire. With the True Longinus, Canis Lykaon, and Regulus Nemea all surrounding him, Hyato tuned out Darius''s voice in his mind as he continued telling him to escape, and charged forward while yelling at the top of his voice, "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!" Alex didn''t even bother trying to figure out what he did to earn the copycat''s wrath, as he casually dodged the quick thrust with the lance and the follow up as the large black dog summoned numerous blades from any and every shadow available to try and skewer him. With his own instincts combined with Observation Haki, avoiding every attack was practically child''s play for Alex before he then used a single finger to block the great golden battle axe that was Regulus Nemea. KABOOM! Despite stopping the axe with his finger, it''s affects were still felt as the ocean below them parted in a seemingly never ending jagged crack. Alex couldn''t help but let out a low whistle when he saw it, as Ddraig''s voice suddenly chimed in, Alex frowned when he heard that as, at least in his current mindset, it seemed all too likely that his opponent would do exactly that without even a second thought if it might help him win. Instead of letting that happen, Alex used the brief pause in attacks to try and disarm his opponent. First he used his current situation with the axe to flick it away, ripping it from his opponent''s hand and sending it back into the surf below. Then, in the same millisecond, Alex turned and placed his hand on the entirely bladed body of Canis Lykaon, which was able to sprout blades anywhere on its body and from any shadows around it, and sent it flying off into the distance with a howl. He then grabbed the shaft of the True Longinus, and, ignoring the burns the divine powers inflicted on his hands, proceeded to hurl it as far away from them into space that he could. Once that was done Alex placed his foot against his opponents chest, and, using just enough force that he wouldn''t injure him too much, sent him flying away as well, back to the island and in a different direction than where he sent his sacred gears of course. With his impact creating a large crater in the sand of the beach, everyone now focused on Alex and the general since almost the entire army was already destroyed despite it only being a few minutes since Alex and the girl joined the fight. Hyato however gritted his teeth as he activated the healing stone Darius had given him before leaving, which began healing his internal injuries for the second time within minutes. "DAMN IT HYATO, LEAVE NOW!" Darius roared at him through the system for what seemed like the umpteenth time, to which Hyato promptly replied, "NO! I WILL KILL HIM AND PROVE MYSELF TO BE THE ''REAL'' RED DRAGON EMPEROR! NO MATTER WHAT!" As he said that Hyato crawled out of the crater and watched as Alex slowly descended to join him on the ground. Hyato then took in a deep breath to steady himself, before the red segments of his armor shouted, At once Hyato''s strength and power skyrocketed beyond any levels he had ever pushed himself to before, while a series of miniature white wyvern type things began separating themselves from his armor. As he landed in front of him though, Alex didn''t seem particularly worried about the sudden increase to Hyato''s strength as he instead asked, "Why not use ''Divide'' to take my energy and weaken me instead of using ''Boost'' to try and get on my level?" To him that was the fist obvious solution to fighting someone stronger than you, however the reply he got was something so stupid he never expected. "Because, my goal is to remove a filthy ''fake'' like you and become known as the ''real'' Red Dragon Emperor. It''ll be counterintuitive if I use the powers of the White Dragon Emperor to do so!" He snarled as if it was obvious, and Alex was an idiot for asking such a thing. Alex however simply shook his head slightly at Hyato''s words and actions, still thinking there was more to his actions besides simply wanting to be the ''real'' Red Dragon Emperor. Instead of mulling over the intentions of someone who clearly wasn''t all there in the head, Alex prepared as the general charged him while kicking a massive cloud of dirt and sand. This time Alex didn''t even need to use his instincts or Haki to tell exactly where the punch was coming from as his opponent''s fist approached him, as his gauntlet shouted just to fly right by him. Resisting the urge to shake his head at his opponent''s rough and sloppy movements, showing that all his might came from his power ups and not actual skill, Alex grabbed onto the general''s wrist and shoulder before giving it a tug. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hyato screamed bloody murder as Alex proceeded rip his entire right arm off at the socket, spraying the ground with his blood as the armored man fell to his knees in agony. Resisting yet another urge to smack the man with his own severed arm, Alex swatted away the miniature wyverns that were trying to attack him before grabbing the enemy by the back of the neck and planting his face into the ground. He then leaned down, and whispered to him, "I just wanted to thank all of you for this gift." Not just Hyato, but Darius, Alice, and Calvin tensed when they heard what Alex said, even before he continued, "Thank you for handing me the perfect source of information I needed before coming for you. And make no mistake, WE. ARE. COMING." His words sent a realization through all four of them at once. The worst Darius and the others considered was Alex killing Hyato and them being out one of their reincarnators. However they just realized that what he intended was a lot worse, he was going to use Hyato to get all the information he needed off of him. Their plans, powers, numbers. Everything. Anything that he might only suspect due to rumors or speculation could be either confirmed or denied in a second, and he could use the item Darius gave him to infiltrate their base of operations without a moments notice. Without any hesitation Darius stood and drew on his connection to Fairy Heart, and the power of Arc of Embodiment that he gained when he absorbed Rustyrose. "Hyato get him off of you, I''m going to transfer you straight to us right now!" Though he would normally try to argue, in his current state all Hyato could think about was the pain and getting Alex off of him. Surprisingly though, when he started thrashing and flailing to escape, the elbow of Hyato''s remaining arm caught Alex right in the face, stunning him and getting him to release his hold on him. Hyato then shakily tried to get to his feet as he felt the space around him start to distort, and Darius tried to force him back to their side. Alex on the other hand rolled onto his back crying out in pain as he covered his bleeding nose, raising his hand to it to cover his smirking mouth. His plan was to let Hyato ''escape'' via some form of teleportation, which he assumed he''d have since he''d been arguing about escaping earlier, and then have Kuroka send one of her familiars through the lingering distortion in space to spy on them at their leisure later. What Alex didn''t expect though, was for two figures to run up right before the enemy escaped as one cried out, "HE''S MINE!" "BACK OFF SALAMANDER, HE''S MINE!" Both Natsu and Gajeel tried to use this chance when Alex was ''down'' to rush at the enemy general and prevent his escape, and, before he could even try to say anything to them, all three of them vanished in a flash of green light. "Gajeel...?" Levy uttered in disbelief, as other members of Fairy Tail stared at the spot where two of the comrades just vanished, while Alex also looked on before muttering, "Well shit..." Chapter 369 - Uh oh As the room they were in filled with a brilliant green light, Darius, Alice, and Calvin were all stunned when the light faded and they didn''t find just Hyato there like they thought, but Natsu and Gajeel as well, both of which were looking around with undisguised confusion. "What the hell?!" Natsu cried out as he looked around, before noticing the three newcomers and smirking once he realized who they were, "Looks like I''ll get to kick all of your asses today!" As he began getting fired up all over again despite the lengthy battle he''d just fought, Darius simply sighed and looked at him and Gajeel before saying, "Tell me Natsu, do you know where we are?" Natsu sneered at him and responded, "Who cares! I''m gonna kick your ass anyways!" As he finished speaking Natsu jumped at Darius with flames appearing along his arms and legs, a massive grin across his face as he anticipated beating the Dark Emperor himself. Darius however shook his head before saying, "This is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a giant flying castle that is currently in the middle of the ocean. In other words, a mode of transportation." The second those words reached Natsu''s ears, the pink haired Dragon Slayer instantly lost all of his momentum and fell to the ground at Darius''s feet, his complexion green with motion sickness. Shaking his head yet again, Darius turned toward Gajeel only to see that he too was down for the count, except he had a large welt on his head courtesy of Alice. He then said to the s.l.u.tty Saiyan, "Do as you want with them, but I want them to tell us everything they know about our opponent tomorrow. His women, powers, intentions, I want everything." Alice''s lit up with excitement when she heard that, before she proceeded to eagerly toss the two over her shoulder as if they weighed nothing. Just before she left though, Darius suddenly remembered something and called out, "Wait!" Alice turned back with more than a little annoyance in her expression as she demanded, "What is it?!" Darius''s brow twitched at Alice''s reaction, but he didn''t say anything as he instead held out one hand before covering it with the other, and then removing it to reveal a couple of pills in it. "Give these to them before they wake up, it''ll cure their motion sickness for about a week before they need another one." In an instant the annoyance in Alice''s eyes vanished as she happily took the pills and took off to her little s.e.x cave, where all of her boy-toys were kept. Darius rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention to Hyato on the floor, who''s armor had disappeared and was leaking blood onto the floor from the stump of his arm. "Ng..."Hyato groaned and whimpered as he rolled around and clung to the bleeding stump, not yet accepting the fact that he had lost to his most hated enemy, and fled in such a way. Darius knelt down next to the whimpering Hyato and placed his hand in the middle of his back, again activating his Arc of Embodiment to heal all of his wounds, including his arm. "It''s ok." Darius said comfortingly until Hyato stopped whimpering, and tried to use his newly grown arm to push himself up. "All better?" Darius asked him, to which Hyato nodded slowly before Darius flashed him a smile. "Good." He then grabbed Hyato by the neck and flung him up against the wall, before grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face through the stone. He then flung him back against the wall on the other side of the room before sinking his fist into his stomach, making Hyato vomit another mouthful of blood before Darius sent his next fist into his face. Calvin however acted as if he didn''t notice the beating going on around him as he took his seat back, and poured himself a drink from the bottle of whisky in front of him. He was on his third cup when the sound of Hyato''s beating finally came to an end, and Darius threw him into another of the armchairs after healing all of Hyato''s fresh wounds. Afterwards he grabbed Hyato by the chin and forced him to look at him, and snarled, "Don''t you ever ignore my orders again Hyato, or I will serve your head up to that other reincarnator on a silver platter as a peace offering. Do. You. Understand?" Though he didn''t say a word, Hyato slowly nodded as well as he could with Darius''s hand on his chin in understanding, prompting him to release him and say, "Excellent! Now that that''s out of the way, let''s have a drink." When he heard that Calvin used a small device that was nearby to call for one of the help to bring more booze, before taking a long swig of the last of the bottle he had started with. After the next round of alcohol came the three men simply sat in silence for a few minutes as they drank, well, Darius and Calvin drank, Hyato simply swished his drink around his glass for several minutes until he asked, "What now...?" Darius didn''t answer him right away, instead finishing off his own glass before saying, "Now you tell us everything you know about this man, his powers, and how we''re supposed to make him submit." Hyato was silent for several minutes before he finally said, "I don''t know more than what I managed to collect from the DXD world before leaving. For his powers I know he''s a Saiyan, and he chose the same Boosted Gear as me. We also know he has Haki since he used it during the battle, but I couldn''t tell you if he had it to begin with and just didn''t use it, or gained it later. The only other thing I know of is that he has the powers of the Devils from that world, meaning he possibly used someone''s Evil Pieces to reincarnate into one." Darius and Calvin slowly nodded together as they took in everything Hyato told them, stuff he''d already told them before with the exception of the Haki, before the latter muttered, "The most troubling thing is his strength as a Saiyan, which obviously dwarfs our own by quite a bit..." When he heard that Darius groaned, as Alice''s strength was a far cry from what it could be if she actually trained and tried to get stronger. Instead, all she cared about was her never ending orgies and adding to her ever growing collection of boy-toys since she already managed to attain the Super Saiyan transformation. In comparison, the brief exchange between Alex and Hyato showed them that he hadn''t slacked on his training at all. Instead he most likely constantly challenged himself and drove himself to become stronger to the point that there was no telling exactly how powerful he was. After several minutes of sitting there in silence as they contemplated their newest foe, Darius finally said, "Starting tomorrow we are going to go over every one of those recordings you showed us before, as many times as we need to learn everything we can about how he moves, what he can do. Everything. Once Paul returns from his mission we''ll have him start looking into everything we can find to use against this Devil-Saiyan." With the other two nodding in agreement, Darius and Calvin downed their last glass of alcohol while Hyato continued to stare at his own reflection in the dark liquid, before his expression became fierce as he down his in a single drink as well. He then stood and silently left the room, not to collect the recordings he''d brought from the DXD world, but to go and start training himself anew for when he next faced his enemy. *** (A.N. TRIGGER WARNING!) "Ngh!" "Ahh!" "Yes!" When Gajeel and Natsu began stirring from the darkness of unconsciousness they were greeted by several unusual sounds guttural grunting and groaning, accompanied by the occasional smacking of flesh. "What the hell?!" Gajeel cried out when he opened his eyes and saw what was occurring all around them, while Natsu just gaped in horror. The duo were handcuffed with chains that were dangling from the ceiling, which were obviously sealing away their magic to keep them from resisting. On top of that though, the most frightening parts about their current situation was not only that they were both completely n.a.k.e.d, but that they were completely surrounded by n.a.k.e.d men locked in the throws of passion. "Where the hell is my scarf!" Natsu demanded when he noticed that even the cherished article of clothing, a momento from the dragon that raised him, had also disappeared. "THATS WHAT YOU''RE WORRIED ABOUT SALAMANDER?!" Gajeel roared at Natsu incredulously, alerting everyone to the fact that they were awake. One of the men, a tall good looking man with black hair and nails, and a magic circle carved on the top of his hand, then stated tiredly to the rest of the men around them, "It''s is time for our new brothers to meet our mistress." Though there was a noticeable reluctance in his demeanor as he said that, neither Natsu or Gajeel cared as the groups of men parted to reveal the only woman in the crowd of n.a.k.e.d flesh. She was still in the throes of ecstasy as one man pressed his body against her front and thrusted into her, while another did the same from behind as they cooperated to time their thrusts into both her holes to maximize the pleasure she felt. "HEY! THATS MY SCARF!" Natsu shouted when he noticed the pink scaled cloth wrapped around the woman''s neck, drawing her attention to him as she smiled widely with amus.e.m.e.nt. She then ignored his continued protests to focus on the two c.o.c.ks inside her, rubbing up against each other through the thin wall that separated her w.o.m.b from her ass. The rhythmic pounding continued with increasing intensity until the two men let out harsh grunts, and the woman practically screamed with pleasure as they both filled her with their seed. As the two men collapsed from exhaustion, the woman crawled to the edge of the bed she was on before approaching them with an anticipatory smile on her face. As she made no attempt to cover her nudity, the duo were able to take in every detail of her body. Alice''s body look as if it was sculpted by the gods as her developed muscles shifted and moved noticeably, yet she appeared to have just enough fat to keep from looking too lean and muscular. And even though her b.r.e.a.s.ts and butt looked to be on the slightly small side, they still jiggled with each of her steps as she approached them, while a brown monkey''s tail swayed behind her. Her black hair went halfway down her back like an unkempt mane, which seemed to bounce and curl with every one of her steps. As her shocking blue eyes focused onto them, Gajeel thought he saw them gleam for a brief moment, but dismissed it when she said, "Welcome Natsu, Gajeel, to Yaoi-topia!" As she named the place they were in Alice swept her arms out to the side in a grand gesture, indicating to the groups of men who had resumed their animalistic rutting from before. Without minding them at all though, Natsu declared, "I don''t care where we are! Give me back my scarf and let me go so I can kick your ass!" It wasn''t until this moment that Gajeel truly lamented the fact that he was restrained, as he desperately wanted to smack Natsu upside the head for that comment. Alice however smiled widely when she heard that, before slowly sliding closer to him. "Oh Natsu..... Poor simple Natsu... If only you were as smart as you are cute, then you''d be the perfect man..." As she spoke Alice held out a single one of her dainty little fingers as she slowly dragged it across Natsu''s chest seductively, making him shudder involuntarily at the touch. Alice''s finger then continued down, over Natsu''s abs and further still until it reached his nether regions, where she playfully tapped the tip of his exposed manhood. Natsu shuddered once more at the foreign sensations assaulting his nether regions, having never felt such things before. Seeing this Alice smirked as she continued teasing him just barely, keeping her ''Bewitchment'' active all the while. Bewitchment was akin to Charm in that it helped one bend others through their will, with a heavier effect on those of the opposite s.e.x. The difference though was that Charm was instant and made others behave akin to the user''s slaves, yet was easier to break out of and had to be reapplied every so often. Bewitchment on the other hand was like slowly reprogramming a person until they believed that they followed you of their own free will, and as such was significantly harder to break. Through continuous visual contact with their eyes, touching, and speaking constantly, Alice was capable of exerting her will onto others in a way that made them think that was what they themselves wanted, with very few exceptions. "Get your filthy hands off me and give me back my scarf." Natsu growled in a dangerously calm tone, despite the fact that his body was still reacting under Alice''s touch. Instead of appearing shocked or insulted at him though, Alice''s smile widened as she muttered, "As one would expect from Zeref''s greatest creation..." She then stepped back suddenly and turned towards Gajeel, however Natsu cried out as she did so, "Wait! What are you talking about?!" Despite his sudden protests though, Alice ignored him as she approached Gajeel and said, "Natsu''s own history aside, I''m much more interested in what you can do Gajeel!" As she said that Alice grabbed Gajeel''s nether regions suddenly and held them in her hands, giving them a light squeeze as she did so. With Gajeel''s main way of fighting being to change parts of his body into metallic weapons, not too dissimilar from Yami''s ability, Alice was very eager to get him into bed. Before they could get to that however, she needed him to fall completely into the mold she created for him. Even as Gajeel tried to recoil from her touch and yelled at her to get off of him, Alice smirked as she pressed her n.a.k.e.d body against his and said between the light kisses she planted on his chest and neck, "Don''t worry. In time you will grow to love the touch of another man, and you will forget about that pathetic little attention whore, Levy." As she said that Alice leaned up and sealed Gajeel''s mouth with her own, even as he tried to bite her lips and tongue. He quickly realized that he had more to worry about, as a significantly rougher hand started making its way down his back. *** "Well shit..." Alex muttered after he watched both Natsu and Gajeel splendidly tag along with the enemy general as he teleported away. He then stood up and wiped away the fake blood from under his nose as he started thinking about what to do with the two of them, as he couldn''t just readily ask their guild mates to abandon them. That much was evident when he saw Wendy and Levy worriedly coming towards him, as the latter shouted, "What happened to Gajeel?!" Alex sighed and said, "My guess would be their base since the enemy general was pulled out in an emergency, eh this turned into a complete shit show..." Though he probably could have come up with a better plan, Alex was in somewhat of a hurry in order to limit what the other reincarnators could learn about him and the girls, since they were most likely able to literally see and hear everything his opponent did. "Do you think Natsu and Gajeel will be ok...?" Wendy asked him with concern, to which Alex could only shrug and say, "Well they can either be raising hell right now, which would save us a lot of trouble down the line, or they got captured and will probably be interrogated for information about me..." Both Wendy and Levy looked depressed when they heard that, before the former looked up as if she remembered something and asked, "Oh yeah! Are you ok? It looked like you got hit pretty bad there!" As there was still a bit of a red smear under his nose, and Alex had pretended he was hurt to avoid the enemy suspecting his real intentions, Wendy thought Alex had actually gotten injured before. He flashed her a warm smile before placing his hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit as he did so, and said, "I''m fine, it was an act so they wouldn''t suspect that I let him go on purpose. Thank you for worrying about me though." Wendy blushed slightly as she felt Alex''s hand caress her head, before she quickly took off to rejoin Sherria and help heal any of those remaining that might need it, even though both Grayfia and Anne had already removed all of the more worrisome injuries. The duo in question approached Alex as he got closer, followed closely by Lucy, before Grayfia said in a stern voice, "You let him get away." Alex nodded and explained, "Yeah, I realized a way that we can learn more about them by letting him get away, though Natsu and Gajeel tagging along wasn''t planned." Grayfia furrowed her brows when she heard that, before stepping in close to start dusting him off and fixing his shirt. Alex was about to ask what was wrong when she suddenly said, "You need to start considering your position more from now on." This time Alex''s brows shot up at her words, before she continued in a quiet version of her lecture voice, "You are the ''Dragon Emperor'', slayer of gods, and regardless of wether you want to acknowledge it or not you are THE emperor of Asora and any other worlds that we take in the future. No matter any other reasoning, every single person there is there to follow you. When you cheapen yourself by pretending to be weak, no matter how inconvenient it may be otherwise, you make everything you''ve built and everyone who follows you look bad." Alex seriously considered her words as Grayfia finished fixing his shirt, before he gently grabbed her by the chin and pulled her in for mild, yet very affectionate, kiss. When he finally pulled away from her nearly an entire minute later, Alex said, "I understand, I''ll be better from here on out." Seeing how seriously he took her words, this time it was Grayfia who flashed a radiant smile as she pulled him closer and whispered, "good", before sealing his lips once more. This time Alex wasn''t the only one surprised as Grayfia was usually dedicated to her role as a maid in front of others, and had almost never initiated any intimacy with him in public unless it was her day off. The moment didn''t last long though, as the second they separated Lucy went, "eh-hem!" Alex and Grayfia turned to look at her to find Lucy practically glaring as she asked, "Why didn''t you stop Natsu and Gajeel before they disappeared?" Alex just sighed before saying, "I didn''t notice them coming until it was too late." Lucy deadpanned at him as she asked, "And weren''t you the one showing off to me how you were ''omniscient'' last night?" This time it was Alex who deadpanned at her before saying, "Not necessarily. My focus shifts between various things so that, while I can technically see and hear ''everything'' at once, I can''t actually process it all without putting my focus directly onto it." As Alex usually had his ''Domain'' suppressed in order to respect the privacy of others, he had done next to no training to actually be ''aware'' of everything within it at once. In fact, the few times he truly tried to do exactly that, his mind had practically overheated due to the insane amount of information flooding it at once. The only reason he was ''aware'' of all of those s.e.xy activities the night before was due to his ''Lucky Pervert'' hijacking things as usual, while he had actually only detected the earlier assassins due to them accidentally activating one of the magic traps he had laid the day before. Lucy however didn''t seem to believe him, so Alex said, "Ok then, pull up your map." She then did as he asked, which showed them several lingering red and green dots from those few still fighting nearby. "Now focus on one of the dots in the top left corner, and don''t look away no matter what." Lucy did as he asked and focused on a pair of dots at the upper left edge of her map, while Alex made sure he was still in her line of sight to the right side before making a series of gestures and faces at her. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked, as she could tell he was doing something stupid, but didn''t know exactly what it was. Alex stopped what he was doing and smiled wryly before saying, "Making a point. At most you could tell I was doing something, but not exactly what I was doing. If we were still fighting and you were watching those dots like your life depended on it, I doubt you would''ve even noticed I was doing something even though I was in your line of sight." Lucy was silent as she processed this, before she ultimately released a sigh while simultaneously dispelling the map she had called up. (A.N. This is a clarification about Alex''s ''Domain'' and how he actually uses it since I feel like I might have made it seem like he''s more capable with it than he actually is.) With all of that said, Alex continued making his way towards the still waiting guild members as Mirajane also appeared and transitioned back into her normal form, before hurrying to Elfman and the still unconscious Lisanna. "Nee-chan!" Elfman cried out as the two embraced each other, before mirajane turned her attention towards Lisanna and asked, "How is she?" Elfman looked conflicted before saying, "Truthfully, I don''t know after all that. Thanks to him though she''s sleeping peacefully for now." When she heard that Mirajane looked noticeably relieved before turning back towards Alex, and bowing deeply while saying, "Thank you again, for everything. I don''t even know how to begin repaying you for helping us." Alex however looked somewhat awkward at her words, making Elfman and the rest of her guild members look at him suspiciously, before he said, "About that, there''s the matter of your payment for the Evil Piece to discuss." When he said that Mirajane righted herself, and gave him a resolute look as she prepared for whatever the price was for the power he gave her. What she didn''t expect was for Alex to suddenly step in close, before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her up to him, making her exclaim in surprise as he said, "I only give my Evil Pieces to women in my harem, so that means that, from now until the end of time, you are mine." Understandably Mirajane''s expression blanked as she muttered a small, "what?" Elfman however was the first to react, as he roared, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Everyone besides Alex and Mirajane quickly backed away as Elfman transformed his right arm into that of a large metallic bull''s, before he rushed Alex in his anger. Alex himself however didn''t even have to lift a finger, as Mirajane adopted a look similar to the one she had earlier as the ''Demon'' before saying, "Stop it Elfman." In an instant Elfman''s attack froze less than an inch from Alex''s face, as he angrily said, "But Nee-chan, he tricked you into agreeing to become one of his women! Don''t tell me you''re ok with this?!" Surprisingly Mirajane nodded slowly before saying, "He didn''t trick me, I simply didn''t care about the price I''d pay for the gift he''d give me. Even if we were to go back in time, with you and Lisanna in that position and I knew then what I know now, I''d make the same choice without any hesitation if it meant being able to protect the two of you." "Nee-chan...." Elfman muttered in defeat as he canceled the transformation in his right arm, before he turned to Alex and said threateningly, "If you hurt her in any way, it won''t matter how strong you are. I WILL find a way to kick your ass." Alex smiled widely at Elfman''s declaration, before saying in a teasing tone, "Understood, little brother." Elfman''s entire face twitched when he heard that, though a few of the people that were watching snickered as they watched the exchange, except a few of the guys were despairing at Mirajane now being claimed by him. Markarov however didn''t seem to find the current events humorous, as he approached and asked, "So I''ll take this to mean that you''re taking both Mirajane and Lucy from us? And that Lucy also received one of those so-called ''Evil Pieces''?" With Mirajane suddenly becoming able to use Satan Soul again after making a deal with Alex, it didn''t take much to deduce that something similar must have happened for Lucy to suddenly become so much stronger, and able to use Archive. Alex nodded to both of the guild master''s questions, and said without trying to hide anything, "I planned to tell you all about it after the battle was over anyways, I just figured you didn''t need even more on your plate with everything going on. Just ask Mavis if you don''t believe me." Though Markarov''s expression remained fierce to the first part of what Alex said, he blanked when he mentioned Mavis knowing what he was talking about. As if on cue the petite ghost girl sudden appeared out of thin air as she said, "You rang?" Alex nodded and said, "Impeccable timing. I was just about to explain the Evil Piece thing to Markarov since Mirajane accepted one as well, before moving onto the other thing." Mavis''s eyes widened when she heard that, before a wide smile formed on her face as she excitedly said, "Let''s go back inside then! I''m sure everyone is tired after that fight, and itching to get some food and drink down while listening to what you have to say!" With everyone around them muttering in agreement as they suddenly realized just how hungry they actually were, they all went to file into the Fairy Tail building for the second time since Alex''s arrival. The man himself though sighed as he prepared to drop what would undoubtedly be several bombshells onto the large group, before asking Grayfia to go get Erza and Gildarts as well since they''d probably want to hear what he was about to say as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Mirajane Strauss Race: Human Titles: Demon Job: Demonic Mage: Level 23 Passive Skills: Housework: Level 5 Enlarged Magic Pool: Level 5 Superhuman Strength: Level 3 Superhuman Speed: Level 2 Poison Resistance: Level 2 Seduction: Level 2 Active Skills: Take Over(Satan Soul): Level 5(Allows the user to possess and control beings that they ''know'', which in Mirajane''s case means beings of demonic origin.) Transformation Magic: Level 3 Sleep Magic: Level 2 Soul Consumption(Demonic): Level 1(Allows the user to consume souls of demonic beings to gain their powers for herself, which would also help her acquire new forms to use in battle.) Satan Soul: Level 6(Mirajane''s main ability that she uses in combat, which enhances her speed, strength, and endurance to extreme levels, while also granting her access to powerful darkness magics.) Satan Soul-Haphas: Level 1(An anime only spell that increases Mirajane''s capabilities so much, that she was able to destroy an entire city effortlessly with it, leading to it being forbidden by Markarov.) Satan Soul-Sitri: Level 1(A powerful demonic transformation which greatly enhances the users physical attributes, while also granting her mastery over powerful fire magic.) Unique Abilities: Demon Element Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece Chapter 370 - Knight of Asora As everyone settled within the guild Mirajane and Anne quickly set about trying to get some food and drink to everyone, while a few other people even went to help them. As could be expected everyone was so hungry that they dug in the second that the food was set before them, however they still kept one ear open to listen in on what Alex was going to say. It was only after Mirajane finally rejoined Alex, as she was a big part of the reason for this discussion, that Markarov finally said, "Ok then, now that everyone is sated for the moment why don''t you begin with why the enemy general seemed to know you, and hates you so much." When he heard that Alex issued a brief condescending laugh, before saying, "Of course the first thing you''d ask about is one of the only things I can''t answer with any certainty." Markarov frowned at that, and asked testily, "Can''t, or won''t?" This time Alex looked at him with complete seriousness and said, "Can''t. I never met him before, so I can only guess why he hates me based on a few context clues, this for instance." As he said that Alex summoned the Boosted Gear on his left arm, making everyone jump as they recognized it from the very same armor they saw earlier. Alex then went on to explain who he was and the world''s he had been to, as well as the fact that the Dark Emperor and his four generals had similar backgrounds. The entire time Markarov and the others listened silently and attentively, none of them being too surprised about other worlds due to having already heard about the trip Natsu and others made to the world called Edolas. Instead several more of his questions were answered as Alex spoke, until he finally said, "As for that particular general''s hatred for me, I can only speculate that he wanted to go to the world I started in to live his dream life, but I ruined that by getting there first. Even if that is the case though, I don''t understand the intense hatred he seems to hold towards me instead of simple dislike or aggression." Though Alex could assume one of the reasons the copycat didn''t like him was due to his relationship with Rias and the others, his attitude was more like Alex was his mortal enemy that killed his entire family or something. Even the other reincarnators he encountered that wanted Rias and the others for themselves were simply agitated that he ''laid hands on their property'', and didn''t show the level of rage and hatred his newest opponent had. The only thing he could say for sure was that he must have already been to the DXD world, which made Alex feel as if he should return home as soon as he could since there was no telling who had gone there after he left. Just as he had decided to have Hajime focus on getting the portals working, Markarov asked his second question. "So what are these ''Evil Pieces''?" Alex turned his attention back to him and said after a second of contemplation, "Glossing over their history and creation, Evil Pieces are used to reincarnate chosen individuals into Devils. Based around the game of chess, sets of fifteen pieces are given to the master, the ''King'', and then those who receive an Evil Piece from the ''King'' will become a part of their peerage." Markarov nodded slowly show he understood what Alex was saying so far, before clarifying, "And so now both Lucy and Mirajane have joined your peerage, which means they are now both Devils and your wives?" "Yes. If the ''King'' so chooses, then they can choose to give their Evil Pieces to those they fancy, turning them into their own harem. Lucy was already aware of this condition, and came to me anyways in order to receive the power she needed to help her guild mates. Meanwhile Mirajane didn''t care about the condition for receiving the Evil Piece, as long as she could protect her brother and sister." Instead of saying anything to him, this time Markarov turned his attention to Mirajane before asking with genuine care and concern in his voice, "Are you really ok with this?" Mirajane glanced at Alex briefly before turning her attention back to Markarov and saying resolutely, "I was the one who didn''t care about the price for the power I asked for. And like I told Elfman earlier, even if I could go back knowing what I do now, I wouldn''t change a thing if it meant being able to help my family and guild mates." The members of Fairy Tail let out a collective sigh at Mirajane''s words, as it meant she had pretty much sold herself just to be able to help them fight once more. Markarov also sighed before turning his attention back at Alex, and saying, "Only a couple more things, how did you know your Evil Pieces would give Mirajane her powers back? Was it possible for you to do so without an Evil Piece, and did you simply take advantage of the situation for your own benefit? And then finally what will happen to Lucy and Mirajane from now on?" Alex silent for a second before saying, "The Evil Pieces use demonic energies to reincarnate their users, I suspected that since Mirajane''s abilities were already demonic in nature it would jumpstart them. As for if we could have helped her without one, I couldn''t really say. "If it was a physical injury holding her back then I could''ve simply used Regeneration magic like I did on Gildarts, except Mirajane''s powers were being suppressed due to psychological trauma instead. We do have access to a form of magic similar to Regeneration called Spirit magic, which could be used to work on someone''s mind, but I''m not sure if it would work in this specific case unless we actually gave it a try, or how long that process would actually take." Finding Alex''s honesty acceptable, Markarov indicated for him to continue regarding his last question, to which Alex explained, "As for what will happen to them from now on, of course the two of them will travel with me to new worlds to fight by my side, but I will never make them completely abandon Fairy Tail. Once we figure out the technology and magic for it, we''ll open a permanent portal to Earthland so that they can return and visit whenever they want, after we deal with the Dark Emperor and his forces of course." There was a collective sigh of relief when the guild members heard that Alex didn''t plan to take Lucy and Mirajane from them right away, or for good. What they didn''t know though, was that once they could permanently open up portals between the world''s Alex was planning to either move some of the guild''s to Asora, or establish branches of them for Asorians and people from the other worlds they connected to to join and post jobs. Out of everyone though Markarov appeared to be the most relieved, as to him the majority of the younger guild members were akin to his own children. Many of them had lost their families or otherwise ended up on their own at very young ages before eventually finding their way to Fairy Tail, where he took them in and taught some of them how to properly use their magic. Mirajane and her siblings were one specific example, as the kind and motherly woman was once forced to question her own humanity after she awakened her Satan Soul. It was Markarov who taught her that her demonic abilities were simply a form of magic known as Take Over, and who presumably helped her siblings learn their own forms of Take Over as well, which was what helped convince Mirajane to stay with them at Fairy Tail. It was right as everyone started calming down regarding Lucy and Mirajane''s fate though, that Alex suddenly dropped a bombshell by saying, "Now then, saying all that, what do you think Erza?" As he asked that, Erza didn''t need to ask for clarification when she looked at him and noticed a red horse chess piece in his hand, a ''Knight''. "Is this what I think it is?" Erza asked for clarification, to which Alex nodded and said, "Yes. I have one ''Knight'' piece left out of the two, and I would like to offer it to you." With her loyalty to Fairy Tail, and knowing that such an offer meant joining Alex''s harem as well, normally Erza would immediately reject it like she had rejected several offers she''d gotten to join other guilds over the years. This time however, she hesitated. With refusal on the tip of her tongue, Erza couldn''t help but recall the overwhelming power displayed by Alex and the women that followed him, including how both Lucy and Mirajane seemed to have become noticeably stronger almost immediately. While she wasn''t THAT dedicated to becoming stronger, the current situation of the world and their guild forced her to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. She knew from the beginning that Alex and his wives didn''t intend to fight all of their battles for them, as he had already expressed several times that his main concern was the Dark Emperor and his generals. But what about the rest of his forces?" "If I accepted this, would I still be able to fight the dark guild forces alongside my comrades before you leave this world?" She was slightly surprised when Alex nodded and stated, "Of course. One of the abilities granted by my Evil Pieces is something called a status, and through it you''ll be able to gain what''s called experience points. The idea is that as you gain experience points your level and various attributes, such as strength, agility, ect, increase, and the way you gain experience is through killing opponents such as monsters and people. As bad as it sounds, fighting the dark guilds is too good of a chance to gain experience to have you, Lucy, and Mirajane pass up." (A.N. Before anyone mentions it, yes attributes still exist in their system. Alex just hid them in the first chapter to keep them out of the way, basically I didn''t want to deal with them.) Erza nodded in affirmation as she stared at the Evil Piece in contemplation, while everyone else around them held their breath, and Markarov stared at them intently. As much as he wanted to tell her not to accept it, Markarov had always encouraged freedom to his ''brats'' in their pursuit of strength and magic, believing that one wouldn''t become a stronger if all they cared about was following the rules. Naturally of course there was a difference between the freedom he encouraged to them, and the actions of heinous individuals like dark mages. That was why he could only sigh in acceptance as Erza took the offered Evil Piece, and glowed with a dull demonic light before a set of leathery bat-like wings sprouted from her back. After she took a moment to adjust to her new powers, Erza turned towards Alex and knelt before saying seriously, "I, Erza Scarlet, hereby pledge to devote my everything to serve you, mind, body, and soul. To rid our world of those who would invade and destroy it, and to fight alongside you against similar threats in other worlds." Though Alex didn''t care for such stuffy pledges and formalities, he recalled Grayfia''s earlier chiding about how he should act more like the emperor he technically was, even if he was never formally crowned. And so, in the face of Erza''s pledge, Alex stood, and summoned a golden sword that shone so brightly with divine light, that the majority of the people watching had to shield their eyes, while Erza, Lucy, and Mirajane all felt their skin crawl in the face of the intense holy/divine power of Ascalon. "Erza Scarlet, as the Emperor of dragons, yuuki-onna, and all who call my domain their home, I hereby knight you!" After he spoke Alex lightly tapped the point of Ascalon''s blade on each of Erza''s shoulders, before saying, "Rise, knight of Asora!" At his command, Erza rose from her kneeling position to stand tall as everyone in the guild hall applauded her, despite not knowing what exactly Alex was talking about. Meanwhile, Grayfia watched from the side alongside the rest of Alex''s peerage, sans Kuroka. Their expressions were filled with pride as they watched their husband/master properly act as Asora''s emperor for the first time. What followed was rounds of congratulations to Erza from her fellow guild members, but without Natsu and Gajeel the atmosphere seemed more subdued than usual. Of course leading the congratulations from Alex''s side was none other than Shizuku, who welcomed Erza wholeheartedly as her fellow ''Knight'' of Alex''s peerage. It was only after night had fallen that Alex seemed to be able to talk to Erza once more, during which he explained to her how to use her new status. "Status!" Erza ordered her status to appear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Erza Scarlet Race: Human Titles: Titania Job: Jobless: 100 Jobs Available: Knight, Sword user, Lance User, Great-sword User, Axe User, Staff User, Hammer User, Dagger User, Shield Maiden, Heavy Armor user, Light Armor User, Cloth Armor User, Templar Knight, Dark Knight, Flame Knight, Water Knight, Earth Knight, Wind Knight, Lightning Knight, Naughty Knight Passive Skills: Superhuman Strength: Level 5 Superhuman Speed: Level 5 Enlarged Magic Power: Level 7 Heavy Armor Skill: Level 7 Light Armor Skill: Level 6 Cloth Armor Skill: Level 3 Sword Skill: Level 8 Great Sword Skill: Level 7 Lance Skill: Level 4 Axe Skill: Level 3 Staff Skill: Level 3 Hammer Skill: Level 2 Dagger Skill: Level 2 Shield Skill: Level 5 Active Skills: Telekinesis(Weapons): Level 7 Requip-The Knight: Level 8 Unique Abilities: Reincarnated Devil: Knight Evil Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As she looked over her status Erza asked Alex all of the basic questions that the girls usually had about the system, before she eventually chose the ''Knight'' job to start with. "And so I can get stronger with just this?" Erza asked as she received the notification that several of her skills increased in her head. Alex nodded and said, "Yep. As you kill opponents you''ll gain experience points to whatever job you currently have, and once it maxes out you can choose a new job that would either increase your current skills, or even grant you entirely new ones. And as long as you keep maxing them out, there''s no limit to the amount of jobs you can have." After his explanation Erza respectfully bowed towards him yet again, before saying, "Truly, thank you. It seems that no matter which way we turn you''re helping us time and again. Once all of this is over, I don''t think any of us will ever be able to thank you enough." Alex however waved away her thanks and said, "Even if it doesn''t seem like it I''m still getting more than a fair amount of compensation. For each one of the other reincarnators I kill I''ll get the chance to acquire one of their powers for myself, and in the short time here I''ve already gotten three more incredibly beautiful wives. Any man in my position would consider himself the one who''s benefiting the most." When she was reminded that she was technically Alex''s ''wife'' now, Erza''s face turned almost the same color as her hair as she simultaneous recalled the scandalous events of the day before, and her private actions later that night. This reaction only worsened when she also recalled that both Lucy and Mirajane were Alex''s ''wives'' as well, making her wonder if they''d be expected to ''perform'' together like some of the books she''d occasionally borrow from Levy. Before Erza could slip even further into her embarrassment, and Alex could try and tease her for it, Anne suddenly appeared as she asked, "So what was this ''great idea'' you had to gain information about them anyways? You haven''t told any of us." Alex looked at her and said after a second of thought, "It''s an idea that we need Kuroka for, but she hasn''t gotten back from what I gave her to do earlier. I''ll wait until she returns before I explain it." Though Anne looked as if she was about to pester at him to explain then and there, she didn''t get the chance to as a new voice suddenly intervened, "You were talking about me~Nya?" With everyone''s attention focusing on the sudden appearance of the nekomata, Kuroka suddenly jumped into Alex''s arms and said, "It felt like I was gone for so long~Nya, pamper me!" Alex could only smile wryly as he obediently started scratching his ''Queen'' behind the ears, making her purr despite everyone watching them. Though she was only gone for a few days from her point of view, that didn''t mean Kuroka would pass up a chance to get Alex to cater to her if she could help it. After nearly a minute of pampering though, Alex stopped and asked, "So, what did you learn?" Though she was annoyed that Alex wasn''t scratching her behind the ears anymore, she still looked up at his question before flashing him a mischievous cat-like grin. Chapter 371 - Fate and Heartbreak "WHY!" Markarov roared as he smashed his fist into the table in anger, shattering it instantly. "What did the poor furniture do to you?" Alex asked jokingly as he used Regeneration magic to repair it, though under his casual appearance he too was annoyed. Kuroka had just told them what she had learned from the members of Grimoire Heart, including the Dark Emperor''s plan to leave the world with the army he built and why he wanted Fairy Tail destroyed. "Even if they hadn''t attacked, it''s not like we would have been able to try anything against them anytime soon anyways!" Markarov stated angrily, while the other guild masters nodded in agreement. While it was true that they had been training and preparing for the day they''d try to remove the Dark Emperor from power, every one of them with a brain had already bitterly swallowed the fact that they were far from ready to try. If anything, they probably wouldn''t have even noticed they were gone for a long time afterwards. As everyone was grumbling and cursing Darius though, Alex suddenly noticed Lucy out of the corner of his eye, before realization struck him. "Of f.u.c.k.i.n.g course!" He swore out loud, gaining everyone''s attention as he continued to Markarov, "Even if you guys weren''t ready, you still would''ve gone to fight the Dark Emperor and his forces soon anyways, I''m just not sure in you would''ve been able to win." With everyone looking at him in confusion, Alex pointed at Lucy and asked, "Where were you when I found you Lucy?" Though it took a brief second of thought, Lucy quickly realized what Alex was getting at before she banged her head against the table and groaned, "Are you kidding me?!" With everyone else continuing to appear confused though, Alex started to explain, "When I came to this world I specifically chose Hargeon to appear at since it was the place Lucy and Natsu met, ok?" With everyone slowly nodding to show they followed, Alex continued, "Within minutes of me appearing there though I heard about a ''fairy bitch'' being held captive by the Black Collar guild, and went to rescue her, before we made our way here together and fought the combined forces under Grimoire Heart. Well what if I hadn''t rescued Lucy? What would have happened then?" Though it took a couple of minutes for everyone to catch on, once they did a series of smacks echoed throughout the guild hall as people began facepalming themselves in realization. If Alex hadn''t already rescued Lucy, then they most likely would''ve found out about her capture either during or after the attack. Following that they would''ve immediately mounted a rescue mission despite the overwhelming odds due simply to the fact that the members of Fairy Tail would never leave their comrades behind. Even now, with Natsu and Gajeel''s disappearance and possible capture, Markarov planned to move out within the next several days in order to save them. However, the old man was thinking of something else though as he muttered, "But still, I can''t wrap my head around the timing of all this... We''ve been here for over a year, why would this happen now when they''re about to leave?" While several other people nodded or murmured in agreement with his question, as the timing was too coincidental, several of his girls glanced at Alex with knowing looks in their eyes. "''Fate''." Alex said eventually, making everyone look back at him curiously, to which he again explained, "Fate is a mysterious force that drives the events of almost every world into motion, through one way or another. Even if they''re unaware of it, many of the people within this room have connections through fate, or have experienced its pull in some way." There was silence as everyone contemplated what Alex said, before someone from one of the other guilds asked, "How can you be so sure that something like ''fate'' is involved in stuff like this?" While everyone looked to Alex for clarification, the man himself smirked and asked in return, "Do you think it''s merely coincidence that some of the people in Fairy Tail are there at the same time? Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Erza, even the founder herself, Mavis; it isn''t coincidence that they all ended up in the same place, even if it was years after Mavis died. Then look at the fact that, even if they''re a part of a different guild, both Sting and Rogue are here too." Though there were other examples of people with strong ties to ''fate'' within the guild, such as Gray, Alex simply listed those immediately relevant to his current point. Naturally Lucy immediately jumped up and asked, "What do you mean us being here isn''t a coincidence?! The only reason I got into Fairy Tail was because I accidentally met Natsu in Hargeon!" Alex however only smiled knowingly to her claim, before asking in return, "And why exactly did Natsu go out of his way to bring you with him?" Though Lucy wanted to retort that Natsu had simply brought her along because she said she was interested in joining, she paused slightly as the smile on Alex''s face widened. Even after she joined the guild Natsu always seemed to stick around her as if something was drawing them together, so much so that people began questioning whenever either of them took a job by themselves. Alex then surprised her by turning towards someone else, and saying, "Wendy, Sting, Rogue, do any of you have anything to say regarding Lucy?" His question made everyone turn to look at them as well, makings Wendy fidget nervously under everyone''s gazes as she awkwardly said, "Uh, I think Lucy is a nice person who I greatly respect and admire..." Alex nodded at her and asked, "And? Anything else?" This time Wendy''s cheeks went a bit red as she timidly continued, "She, um, smells really nice and familiar, and I always feel comfortable around her...." When Wendy said this Lucy''s eye twitched slightly as she hesitantly tried to smell herself, even though she knew that a Dragon Slayer''s nose could put even a dog to shame. What was surprising was that Sting and Rogue also chimed in, "I didn''t want to say anything, but I never really understood it...." "She''s always felt like someone I know from somewhere, but I can never place who...." With everyone now questioning Lucy''s apparent relationship with Dragon Slayers, they turned towards Alex in confusion as he activated his Regeneration magic. Though it took over a minute due to how far back it was, he eventually found the scene he was looking for as a miniature Natsu and Gajeel suddenly appeared in the guild, arguing of course. "What did you say to me metal head?!" Mini Natsu growled threateningly, before mini Gajeel snarled, "You heard me fire breath!" The two then began to butt heads as they prepared to fight, with a mini Sting and Rogue cheering them on in the background. "Go Natsu!" Mini Sting called out excitedly. "Kick his butt Gajeel!" Mini Rogue countered. "Natsu....Gajeel...." A girl younger than the rest of them blubbered. "Y-you shouldn''t f-fiiiiight!" She then began sobbing from seeing Natsu and Gajeel fighting each other, making all four of the pint sized Dragon Slayers stop what they were doing as they tried to get her to stop crying. "W-what is this..." Wendy asked as she stared at the image with wide eyes, along with everyone else in the building. "This is your actual past. Up until the day you all thought your parents left, you would regularly meet and interact with each other and this was your teacher at those times, Anna." As Alex said that the image shifted as an entirely different voice called out, "Natsu, I have something for you." "No way...!" "It can''t be!" As one everyone''s eyes turn towards Lucy, even as the girl herself stared transfixed at the image, which showed a woman who looked almost exactly like her, only older. They then watched as Anna handed Natsu the scarf she had been knitting, the same pink scaled scarf he always wore and cherished. "That is Anna Heartfilia, Lucy''s ancestor and the strongest Celestial Spirit Mage to have ever existed." There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone took in the appearance of Lucy''s ancestor, before Alex went on to explain, "Anna, the dragons, and another person created a plan over four hundred years ago in order to defeat Acnologia, the greatest threat to world that ever existed. However the environment of the world back then was unsuitable for their plans, and so Anna activated the Eclipse Gate to send herself and the five children four hundred years into the future, where the world would be more suitable. And so, a book was passed down through her family until the year 777, when her descendant Layla Heartfilia opened it." "My mom...?" Lucy asked as some tears formed in her eyes, especially when Alex used Regeneration magic to show them the scene of Layla opening the gate. Alex nodded and continued, "It requires all twelve of the Golden Zodiac keys to open the Eclipse Gate, but Layla was unable to acquire the last key and ended up using her own life force to substitute it and open the gate. As a result she ended up passing away not long after, but had succeeded in bringing the five Slayers and Anna here where they then separated by happenstance. "By the time Anna managed to locate them several years later, each of the young Slayers had integrated well into the world of the future, and she decided to leave them be to live their own lives." There was dead silence as everyone took in what Alex had told and showed them, with Lucy specifically coming to terms with what had actually happened to her mother, while Wendy, Sting, and Rogue were trying to come to terms with the fact that they were actually over four hundred years old. "Im a granny, and I still look like this..." Wendy muttered in self deprecation, as she reached up and gave her almost nonexistent b.r.e.a.s.ts a pitiful squeeze. She didn''t notice it, but Yue gave her a pointed stare while her eye twitched a little at her words. Even if she could change into a mature form whenever she wanted, that didn''t change the fact that her ''real'' form was that of a girl who appeared the same age as Wendy, despite having actually lived for several centuries. Before she could say anything though, someone suddenly asked, "So how does Erza fit into all of this?" As they said this everyone turned their focus onto both Erza and Alex, while the former also stared at him pointedly as she waited to hear what he had to say. She never expected the words that came out of his mouth next though, as Alex asked her, "What do you know about YOUR mother Erza?" Needless to say she was more than a little surprised that the topic suddenly shifted to her own nonexistent family, before she said, "Nothing. I spent the first few years of my life as an orphan in a small village, which was then attacked by the cult of Zeref before being enslaved to help build the Tower of Heaven. After escaping I made my way to Fairy Tail, which was the guild that someone who had helped me on the island belonged to. If my mother is still out there somewhere then I suppose I''d be grateful towards her for giving birth to me, but that would be about it." As Erza finished speaking those who hadn''t known about her circ.u.mstances before joining Fairy Tail looked at her with sympathy for the life she lived up until that point, while nearby Millanna also hung her head as she recalled spending most of her life building the tower, and trying to kill Erza. Erza herself of course didn''t care about their looks as the events of Paradise Island, where the tower was built, was a thing of the past. Alex however didn''t say anything, simply nodding slowly in affirmation as he held out his hand and conjured another image, this time of someone who was the spitting image of Erza. "This," Alex said as everyone focused into him once more, "is Irene Belserion, one of the Spriggan Twelve, and the former queen of a nation that existed during the Great Dragon Wars over four hundred years ago." There was complete silence as Erza took in the image of her own mother for the first time in her entire life, as there was no denying the connection based on appearances alone. Eventually Lucy asked, "How is she still alive if she lived so long ago? Did she also come through the Eclipse Gate?" Alex shook his head and began, "Irene was a powerful enchanter who ruled a kingdom that lived in peace with the dragons of the continent of Ishgar, until other dragons set their sights on them. This began the Great Dragon Wars, which slowly began to favor the dragons that wanted to destroy humanity due to several dragons of Ishgar switching sides as well. For a time the war looked hopeless as humans couldn''t possibly help due to the the difference in strength between them and the dragons, until Irene had an idea. What if humans were able to wield the powers of the dragons themselves?" As Alex paused for dramatic effect, everyone in the room was completely stunned at bombshell he just dropped. Eventually Wendy muttered, "Erza''s mom, was the first ever Dragon Slayer?" Alex nodded and said, "Yep. Not only was she Erza''s mother, but she could also be considered the mother of every Dragon Slayer in history. However this story didn''t have a happy end. "During the fighting the dragon that Irene was closest to, and had even taught her the first Dragon Slayer magic, fell in battle. She then took his name Belserion for her own surname as a sign of respect, but everything soon fell apart afterwards. The dragons were quickly wiped out as a powerful Slayer appeared, who stole the powers of the dragons they killed. Soon the dragons were no more, and the Slayers also fell one after another until it was finally Irene''s turn. "Shortly after she discovered she was pregnant with you, a part of Irene''s face began to turn to scale as the process of dragonification started." "What do you mean by ''dragonification''?!" Sting demanded suddenly, as he, Rogue, and Wendy stared at Alex intently for information. The man himself twitched his eye subtly, before saying, "I was just about to explain that..." Sting looked a little sheepish as he realized he was the one who delayed things, which could be considered somewhat understandable considering what Alex had just said. Taking a breath, Alex continued, "What Irene didn''t realize when she created Dragon Slaying magic was that only a dragon could use their magic, and by using it themselves Dragon Slayers allowed something called the Dragon Seed to develop within them. As the person continued to use Dragon Slayer magic the seed would continue to develop, until finally they themselves turned into a dragon. "In your case your parents were aware of this and took certain steps to prevent it, but Irene had nothing. Once the process began she could do nothing to stop it as she was immediately thrown into prison by her own husband, your father Erza. Using her magic to preserve and protect the life within her w.o.m.b, Irene then endured three years of imprisonment, torture, beatings, and even public humiliations. "The people who once idolized her cheered as she was marched and strung up n.a.k.e.d in the streets. Those who once followed her into battle began to eagerly beat and abuse their own queen, all while her transformation slowly progressed. Finally her husband appeared and told her that her execution had been decided, which prompted Irene to beg him once again for mercy for their child. "Your father refused to accept that Irene even carried his child though, as she couldn''t possibly be able to carry you for over three years. To further prove his point he then tried to cut you out of Irene''s body then and there, only for Irene''s transformation to suddenly complete itself due to her desperation. "Leaving destruction in the wake of her transformation, Irene fled deep into the mountains, farther than any human dared to venture. There she hid for the next four centuries, until someone surprisingly came." As he got to that point, and the images Alex showed them through Regeneration magic showed who found Irene, the atmosphere around the guild hall became especially tense as those that had met him recognized Irene''s visitor. "Zeref..." Markarov growled as Mavis also appeared nearby, her brows furrowed as she gazed upon the man she once loved, and had now supposedly left this world. They watched as Zeref used his magic to return Irene to her human form, before Alex continued, "Despite having been returned to her true form though, Irene''s hell still continued. She quickly found that she could neither taste the food she ate nor sleep, showing that, while she did appear human now, she was still technically a dragon. She then devised a plan to gain the human body she so desperately desired, to enchant her entire being into the body of her own child. "When it came time to do so though, Irene hesitated as she watched her newborn daughter smile at her, despite the fact that her own mother planned to erase her for he own needs. "Unable to carry out her last hope for obtaining a human body, Irene left you in the village you were raised in before the attack by the cult of Zeref. She then journeyed across the sea to join the man who gave her back her life, and became one of the Spriggan Twelve of the Alverez Empire." As Alex fell silent everyone focused on the last image he conjured, showing Irene as she was now. Her long red hair was separated into several thick braids, two of which came forward over her shoulders, and her outfit was reminiscent of witch''s, except a lot more risqu¨¦. In her hands was a large wooden staff that ended in several points, which, in the hands of a master enchanter like Irene, could be considered one of the deadliest weapons in the world. As everyone took in everything they had learned that night, Markarov muttered, "So Wendy, Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue are all from the past, Lucy''s mother and ancestor are the ones responsible for bringing them here in order to defeat Acnologia, and Erza is the daughter of the world''s first Dragon Slayer, who is also one of our opponents as one of the Spriggan Twelve. Did I miss anything?" "Alex smirked at his question before saying, "Rather than consider Irene one of our opponents, I would think of her as someone who needs to be brought back on track after everything she''s been through. After all, Irene herself isn''t bad, she''s just a victim of circ.u.mstance like Zeref." At that several people made a face at Alex, while Gray spat at him angrily, "How in the hell is that monster a ''victim''?!" When he was younger Gray''s entire village and family was slaughtered by one of the demons created by Zeref, Deliora, before his magic teacher gave her own life in order to seal, and eventually kill the great beast. Though technically Gray''s father was alive as a member of the dark guild Tartarus, he himself didn''t know that and Alex''s wasn''t planning to mention it just yet. Instead he just slowly nodded his head and stated, "When he was only a child Zeref lost his family as well to hostile dragons, his parents and his baby brother." While everyone else was stunned at the thought of the world''s most evil Mage actually having a family, Mavis looked thoughtful and muttered, "I do recall Zeref mentioning his brother before, but the way he talked implied he was still alive..." Again Alex nodded and continued, "I don''t know when he joined them, but after his family was killed Zeref lived at an academy where he was hailed as a once in a lifetime genius. The problem though was that Zeref was focused on only one subject, bringing back his dead baby brother. It was during this time that he designed the Tower of Heaven and the Eclipse Gate, but fearing him bringing down the wrath of the God of life and death upon them, the higher ups eventually decided they had no choice but to expel Zeref from their institute, but they were too late. "Right as Zeref was informed of their decision he was struck with his curse, instantly killing everyone within the academy. So now he had lost his family in a dragon attack, and the closest thing he had found to it since due to his curse, but that wasn''t even close to the end of Zeref''s story. "Due to his curse Zeref was now immortal, giving him literally all of the time in the world to complete his research. He then eventually turned his attention to even more taboo topics to delve into, Demonology. This led him creating the demons that later became known as the Books of Zeref, the Etherious. "He spent years perfecting his craft with each demon he created, making them stronger and better, until he finally poured everything he learned into his brother to make him his strongest demon yet while simultaneously reviving him, E.N.D. Etherious, Natsu, Dragneel." BANG! The second these words left Alex''s mouth, Gray''s hand slammed into the table in front of him. "Bullshit!" He snarled with a murderous expression on his face, which matched almost every other person''s that was from Fairy Tail. This included Erza and Mirajane, while even Lucy was glaring daggers at Alex for daring to say such a thing. The man himself was seemingly unconcerned about the looks he was receiving though, as he casually emptied an entire tankard of alcohol to wet his throat after all of the talking he''d done. Happy however looked as if his entire world came crashing down when he found out the truth regarding his best friend, while surprisingly the only one who seemed to have kept his cool was Markarov, who simply asked him, "Is this true?" Alex smirked at him and replied, "I don''t have a reason to lie about this, yes Natsu is Zeref''s younger brother, and E.N.D." As he said this Alex searched for and conjured a new image for everyone to see, one of Natsu and Zeref playing when they were children, with a beautiful woman that had tied up long black hair and a man with short messy pink hair watching them, obviously their mother and father. Watching the scene for several seconds with a heavy heart, Markarov then asked, "Why tell us this?" It was obvious he was referring to the large amounts of people that suffered as a result of Zeref''s actions, like Gray, finding out about Natsu''s true identity. Alex however said, "I''m not the only one aware of this information, it''s safe to say the Dark Emperor and his followers probably are as well. If they truly are gathering strength, and they manage to make Natsu completely fall to their side, then it''s possible they''ll try to awaken the demonic nature within him that was destined to destroy Zeref, and then himself." When he said the last part Lucy''s glare disappeared, and was instead replaced with a look of concern. "What does that mean?!" She demanded anxiously, as, despite Natsu''s stupidity, she still didn''t want him to die. Alex however sighed and explained, "It''s a part of the effects of Zeref''s curse, also known as the Curse of Contradictions. This was probably the greatest example of the living contradiction that Zeref became, as his whole objective that led to his curse and his rise as the most evil dark Mage to ever exist was to bring his brother back, yet he also designed Natsu to perish once he accomplished his destiny of killing Zeref. Though, I doubt that would happen now." As Alex said Zeref was already no more, yet Natsu still lived. Though this could just be that the target of E.N.D.''s destiny changed to Darius, who had absorbed Zeref, he doubted that was the case. Naturally the next thing that came out of Markarov''s mouth was, "If that''s the case then shouldn''t we hurry to try and rescue Natsu and Gajeel before it''s too late?" This time though Alex shrugged and said noncommittally, "If you want to then go right ahead, but I''m not going to jump right into things without first gaining some Intel on our opponents. I don''t doubt my own capabilities, but I still don''t know what exactly they''re all capable of, and I''m not going to risk everything I''ve built because of a couple of dumbasses that got themselves caught." Being unable to argue Alex''s point about Natsu and Gajeel being the ones who got themselves captured, Markarov held his tongue about them despite his own feelings and instead asked, "So when exactly are you going to gather Intel on them?" Sensing that the conversation regarding ''fate'' bringing Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Wendy, and Erza together was over, Alex smiled widely and leaned over to whisper something into Kuroka''s cat-like ear. The mischievous nekomata flashed an unsettling grin when she heard Alex''s plan, before she suddenly disappeared into thin air without a trace. She was barely gone for a few seconds before Kuroka reappeared on Alex''s lap, a small crystal in her hands. "All done~Nya! Shall we watch the entertainment~Nya?" Before anyone could ask what she meant, the crystal Kuroka was holding flashed, and it began projecting the inside of what appeared to be a castle. "What is this?" Erza asked curiously, prompting Kuroka to happily explain, "I used my mastery over Spatial magic to send one of my familiars through the distortion caused by that stinky man from earlier, very sloppy teleportation by the way~nya, and now we can see and hear everything my familiar does through this crystal~Nya!" While everyone else was watching the image and looking at Kuroka in awe, Anne turned towards Alex and asked in a deadpan, "So why did we need to use Kuroka and let him get away to do this? We still have the magic key, right?" Instead of justifying Anne''s questions with a verbal answer, this time Alex returned her deadpan stare as he wordlessly pulled out the magic key, and used it to open a portal to just outside of the guild hall. WHOOOOSH! The hall was filled with a brilliant flash of white light that slowly condensed before fading to reveal an aged wooden door with an arch. KERCLUNK! As if it was unlocking a loud clunk echoed through the guild hall before the aged door slowly began to swing open on old hinges, which groaned loudly the entire time. All of this was unnecessary of course, but they were all ''features'' that Hajime had added later for ''aesthetic''. Seeing that using the key was unsuitable for ''subtle'' situations such as this, Anne''s cheeks turned a little red before she muttered, "understood..." She then looked away embarrassedly while waiting for everyone to resume watching the feed Kuroka was providing as Alex also dispersed the door. While the key itself was unusable due to being too loud and noticeable, Kuroka on the other hand was not only able to peer through the remaining distortion in space to see if anyone was present on the other side, but she could send her familiar through so seamlessly that no one would notice it''s arrival on the other side, even if they were in the same room. Regardless though they didn''t need to worry about that, as the room that they saw was already empty. Instead however it still bore signs of a fight with even one of the walls having a head-sized hole in it. "Looks like Natsu and Gajeel were definitely here." Someone muttered while the rest of those watching nodded, before the cat who''s eyes they were seeing everything through proceeded to jump through the hole and continue exploring. They quickly saw though that the destruction was restricted to the one room, meaning that the duo must have been subdued before being able to leave it. Instead, the hallway they found themselves in seemed to be in pristine condition with its overly dark and malicious looking decor intact. As if the dark, almost black, colored carpets weren''t bad enough, there were also several matching banners hung up and down the halls while vicious looking sculptures and violent paintings were dotted here and there. "I''d make a comment about how we''re apparently up against edgelord supreme here, but then again what should I have expected from someone with a title like the ''Dark Emperor''?" Alex muttered quietly, earning him a few snickers from those that heard him. Slowly but surely Kuroka''s familiar made its way through the halls, investigating anything it found interesting along the way, before it finally slipped through a door that was just barely cracked open. Within was another lounge where a completely bald man was relaxing with his feet up on a table and a bottle of alcohol in his hand, while leering at a pair of maids in front of him. Normally watching a couple of girls clean wouldn''t be that entertaining to watch, but these two girls were wearing maid outfits that were so short that almost each and every movement they made allowed one to spy the contents of their skirts, while the white portion of cloth covering their b.r.e.a.s.ts was see-through. They both also had black bands around their necks that identifies them as slaves, which explained their current circ.u.mstances completely. At once the atmosphere in the room changed as Alex suddenly felt himself being surrounded by murderous auras, to which Mirajane explained while emitting her own, "These two were girls that we knew in Magnolia before it was destroyed. One ran a shop that most of the guild members would frequent, while the other was a waitress at a cafe." When he heard this Alex''s expression darkened as well, since this was the first he''d heard about the inhabitants of Magnolia after it had been destroyed during the seven years Markarov and the others slept. "I never knew they were enslaved..." Macao muttered with pain in his eyes, as he had been the one in charge of guild in Markarov''s absence and blamed himself for failing to protect the city. "That one''s name is Calvin, one of the Dark Emperor''s general''s." Everyone turned and looked at the speaker, Jura, who continued, "I fought him once when we were trying to escape to Tenrou Island. Not only can he control the earth like me, but he can control fire, water, lightning, ice, and air in ways I never imagined. He also always carried two katanas on his h.i.p.s, but I''ve never seen him draw them." Though Alex couldn''t help the sense of familiarity he felt when Kuroka''s familiar gave them a view of the katanas, he dismissed it for now and asked Jura, "How were his abilities strange exactly? If I know a bit more then I might know what it is he can do." Jura was silent for a moment as he recalled the details of their fight, before saying, "The way he moves is like a dance or fighting stance, and as he moves whatever it is he''s controlling at the moment moves as well. Plus there was one point when I saw his eyes start glowing with a weird light, which made him significantly stronger instantly. I barely managed to get away with my life at that point." When he heard that Alex went "ah-ha!" while Anne also tilted her head and muttered, "Why does that sound so familiar...?" Alex leaned over to her and whispered his conclusion in her ear, making Anne''s eyes widen in realization as she exclaimed, "So that''s where I knew it from! I knew it sounded familiar!" Alex nodded and asked, "So you want to call this one?" Anne looked at him curiously once more before he elaborated, "I''d say I''ve already claimed the Dark Emperor and what''s his face from earlier, but nothing says I have to be the one to fight all of them. Do you want this one?" Though Anne initially wasn''t sure, as she watched Calvin begin to drunkenly harass the two women she frowned before saying, "Ok, I''ll take this one. And if I can get his powers then I''ll have another method to heal with anyways." Alex nodded in affirmation before indicating to Kuroka that they could leave that current room, which she only made her familiar leave after a quick twitch of her finger. With even Alex not noticing what she did, Kuroka smirked while also silently lamenting that they wouldn''t get to watch Calvin''s reaction when he found out he could no longer get it up after she used magic to disable him, since she already had a medium to channel her magic through in the room with them as well. Keeping silent about her ''prank'', Kuroka directed her familiar about where to go next until they found their next target, the same copycat from earlier. The room they were in was quite large and filled with numerous pieces of equipment that was meant to help one train. The man himself was attired in his armor once more as he trained intently against a giant sandbag, which had an image of Alex''s face attached to it. "Next time...next time for sure I''ll win!" The reincarnator muttered to himself over and over again like a mantra as he repeatedly punched the paper with Alex''s picture on it. Again everyone turned their attention to him as the sound of the sandbag being hit echoed throughout the room, to which Alex''s simply shrugged before they heard him mutter something else. "Wait for me Rias, we''ll be together soon..." This time everyone turned towards the Crimson haired beauty, who then proceeded to cover her own mouth before saying, "I think I just threw up a little..." Her words were met with a few chuckles, while Alex grabbed her by her ass and pulled her closer before giving it a squeeze and saying, "This piece of ass belongs to me and only me. Anyone who thinks they can lay hands on it will lose them." Though her ears turned a little red from Alex grabbing her in front of everyone, Rias also couldn''t deny she found it kind of hot when he ''claimed'' her like this. Though that didn''t keep her from whispering to him playfully, "Wait until later or you might lose your hands as well." Smirking slightly, Alex gave her ass one last smack and squeeze before letting her go, promising himself that he''ll enjoy her ''assets'' as much as he pleased later. For now he turned his attention back the live feed Kuroka''s familiar provided them, which was already once agin on the move since all they had to learn from him was how far his delusions went. As the stealthy feline continued exploring though, the next room it slipped into cleared Alex''s mind of any dirty plans he might have had for later that night. "OH MY GODS!" "MY EYES!" "KYAAAAAAA!" The next room the familiar had entered was filled with n.a.k.e.d men who were lined up behind two figures that they were eagerly humping, who anyone could confirm to be Natsu and Gajeel if they bothered to look closely enough. "I think I''m going to be sick..." Markarov muttered, even as several other people did lose their dinner while Cana tried to cover Wendy and Sherria''s eyes from the sight before them. "Get us out of there cat." Grayfia growled as she too tried to avoid looking at the disturbing scene before them. Though she usually wouldn''t pass up a chance to mess with them, Kuroka also didn''t care for what they were seeing so she quickly tried to make her familiar leave the room. "Wait!" Alex said suddenly and seriously, making everyone stare at him like he was some kind of loon before he continued, "Focus right over there!" With Alex pointing at one specific area in the image Kuroka did as he asked, which revealed the sole woman in the room, n.a.k.e.d with her legs spread wide as she buried her fingers in the hole between them. However that wasn''t was Alex was focused on. Instead his gaze was centered on the brown monkey''s tail swaying behind her. "Another Saiyan...!" Alex muttered with evident excitement, as his blood suddenly started thundering in his veins and the entire guild hall started shaking and rumbling from his sudden battlel.u.s.t. "Dibs! A hundred time dibs!" Alex exclaimed as his eyes never left the woman in the image, his desire to do battle another Saiyan overriding everything else at that moment, including what else was going on within the room around her. Alex was so overcome with his desire to fight her, that he didn''t even notice what his excitement was doing to the surroundings until Shia smacked the back of his head and said, "Sheesh, pay attention a little would you!" Looking around Alex saw everyone looking at him as if he was some kind of monster from the way his excitement had affected his surroundings. "Sorry.." He said in an apologetic manner, however his excitement to fight the other Saiyan hadn''t been curbed in he slightest, he just held in check better. "So what are you planning to do with her?" Grayfia asked him curiously, as he usually had a tendency to draft enemy women into her combat maids. This time though Alex said without hesitation, "I''ll kill her. Aside from her Saiyan bloodline we know she apparently has the ability to bend others to her will, slave mark or not that''s too dangerous an ability to keep around when another reincarnator is involved." Grayfia and their others nodded in understanding, all silently relieved he wouldn''t try to keep this particular woman around. Having seen everything they needed to about this particular opponent, and several things they didn''t, Alex motioned to Kuroka that they could finally leave the room, when, "That''s enough, come here Gajeel~" "WAIT!" The moment she heard Gajeel''s name Levy called for them to stop, as she also rushed towards Kuroka to see exactly what the Saiyan woman wanted with him. The latest of the long line of men that had been f.u.c.k.i.n.g the unfortunate Dragon Slayer backed off at her command, allowing Gajeel to stand up himself once more. With her legs already spread as wide as could be, Alice then used her fingers to spread the pink folds of her flesh as well so that her soaking hole was completely visible. "Are you ready Gajeel?" She asked in a sultry tone, as he slowly lumbered to her while saying slowly, "Yes mistress..." Though he hadn''t fallen completely yet, Alice knew it would only take a little bit more before he was completely hers, and then she could focus her attention entirely on Natsu. "DON''T GO NEAR HER GAJEEL!" Levy cried out despite the fact that he couldn''t hear her. Levy continued to plead and beg Gajeel to stop as he slowly shuffled closer to the Saiyan woman, before he placed the head of his c.o.c.k at her entrance. "Wait!" Alice suddenly said, making Gajeel pause as she smiled gleefully and ordered, "Tell me Gajeel, what is Levy to you?" Not knowing that the very person in question was actually watching this scene, Alice wanted to test the effectiveness of the nights activities so far. Levy however anxiously held her breath as Gajeel muttered, "Levy...?" Alice nodded eagerly and repeated, "What is to you Gajeel?" Though it took him several seconds to answer eventually Gajeel began, "levy is....." With the woman in question at their head, everyone in the guild watched with bated breath at his answer, before he finished, "...nothing but an annoying and pathetic little attention whore, who means nothing to me..." "No..." Levy whispered as she fell to her knees, her eyes empty. "Good boy!" Alice smirked as she wrapped her legs around Gajeel''s waist and forced his entire length into her at once. "Yes!" Alice cried out as she felt Gajeel fill her, before the duo began their passionate lovemaking. "Gajeel..." Levy whimpered as she watched the man she had grown to deeply care for, and possibly love, eagerly thrust into another woman as if his life depended on it. "YEEEEEEESSSSSSS!" Alice screamed in ecstasy as she and Gajeel eagerly f.u.c.k.i.e.d, before she asked in her excitement, "Who do you love Gajeel?!" "You mistress Alice!" "Who do you worship Gajeel?!" "You!" "Who do you devote your everything to?!" "YOU!" "PROVE IT TO ME GAJEEL, FILL ME WITH YOUR LOVE!" "YES MISTRESS!" As he declared his love to her Gajeel let out a great m.o.a.n as his body came to a standstill, and he filled her with his seed. "Gajeel..." Levy whimpered once more as tears fill her eyes, before she then fled the guild hall crying her eyes out. "Levy..." Lucy whispered as she watched her friend flee. She was about to go after her when Alex stood up and said, "This is my fault so I''ll go talk to her." As it was his idea to spy on them in this way despite what they might have been doing to Gajeel and Natsu, and he was the reason they stuck around long enough for Alice to call for Gajeel, Alex considered it his fault that Levy witnessed what she did. It was also him letting the reincarnator go that resulted in Gajeel and Natsu getting captured, though it was mostly their own stupidity, so he figured worst case Levy could take out her frustrations on him. It was easy enough to find her as, aside from the crashing of the waves and rustle of the leaves in the trees, the only sounds one could hear outside the guild was that of Levy''s crying. Finding her sitting on the beach, overlooking the waves that sparkled in the light of the almost full moon, Alex sat next to her and said, "I''m sorry, you shouldn''t have had to watch that." Instead of answering or hitting him like he thought, Levy only continued sobbing over Gajeel''s fate. Always having hated seeing women genuinely cry, Alex did what he would''ve done for anyone in this situation, and put his arm around her comfortingly. (A.N. Sorry for the delay, we''re back to the season where work constantly kicks my ass, plus this chapter took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would have to to write.) Chapter 372 - Planning "Ngh..." Levy g.r.o.a.n.e.d as she slowly regained her consciousness, her head feeling like someone had used it as a drum while her body felt heavy and sluggish, and the inside of her mouth felt dry and rough. "What happened...?" She g.r.o.a.n.e.d groggily as she tried to recall the events of the night before. The first thing she recalled was of course watching Gajeel being taken by that bitch while he called her a ''pathetic attention whore'', and then running out to cry by herself. Though it was almost a blur after that, she recalled Alex coming out to comfort her before eventually heading back to the guild, and grabbing the nearest bottle of alcohol she could find. With everything else after that a blank, Levy pushed herself up from the bed with the intention of going and getting herself a glass of water, but she quickly forgot about that when she noticed her current situation. Firstly she was completely n.a.k.e.d under the covers, which was secondary in her mind when she realized she wasn''t alone in the bed. "Oh. My. God..." Levy muttered as she realized that she had been hugged up uncomfortably close to Alex''s b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t with her n.a.k.e.d body, so much so that even as she pushed herself up one of her hands was against his impossibly hard abs. "What the hell did I do last night?!" She cried out in not-so-minor panic. *** *The night before* "Gesh meh more boosh!" Levy slurred heavily as she demanded yet more alcohol, earning several looks of both pity and sympathy at her plight. The ones who seemed the most upset about Levy''s behavior was Lucy, Jet, and Droy, the latter two of which had been a part of her team, Shadow Gear, before her and Gajeel started getting closer. It had been a while since she and Alex returned, and as they continued using Kuroka''s familiar to explore the enemy stronghold Levy had downed as much alcohol as she could, slurring Gajeel''s name every so often. No one could blame her of course after what they had witnessed earlier. Those who weren''t worried about Levy were focused on the image Kuroka projected for them, where she explored almost the entire castle that was their opponents base. What surprised Alex the most was that their hideout didn''t appear to be at a specific location, but the entire castle was situated in the middle of the ocean itself. "No wonder no one could ever figure out where they were based at..." Bob, guild master of Blue Pegasus muttered to himself in realization. Naturally when Darius and the dark guilds started gaining power there had numerous teams sent to try and defeat them, but either they couldn''t find a single trace of Darius''s seat of power, or anyone who might have never returned. The information obtained through Kuroka''s familiar had answered a lot of questions that they had been asking for years, and then some. The most crucial piece of information they gained though was the last one, when Kuroka''s familiar finally discovered the throne room, where Darius himself was waiting. "Hm?" Darius stirred from sorting through all of the information he had gained from absorbing Acnologia when he noticed a presence, only for no one to be there. "Must be my imagination..." He muttered to himself, before closing his eyes once more. "That was close." Kuroka said as her familiar quickly escaped from the throne room where it had almost been discovered by Darius, despite its stealth capabilities. Deciding to leave it at that for the night, especially with how late it already was, she then called the familiar back to her side. "Nyan?" The black cat meowed cutely when it found itself back in it''s mistress''s arms, before Kuroka began scratching it under its chin as a reward for a job well done. "Who''s a good kitty?" Kuroka cooed at the cat, before Alex said, "You both are." He then began to scratch Kuroka under her chin like she was her familiar, resulting in two cats filling the guild hall with the sounds of their purring. While the few remaining members left in the hall were staring at them, lucy and Mirajane were trying to take care of the very drunk Levy. "Come on levy, it''s time to go for the night..." "I shtill wansh to shrink though..." She slurred heavily, making both girls sigh as they tried to get her to cooperate. "Just bring her to the house with us, then you can keep an eye on her until she sobers up." Lucy nodded and tried to get Levy to go with her, but Mirajane and Erza paused before the latter nervously asked, "Does that include us?" Alex nodded and said, "Yeah, I want you two to take this time to get to know everyone a little better while I talk to the guild masters about a few things real quick." Though the duo initially nodded in understanding, when they then thought of Alex ''getting to know them better'', their faces turned completely red as they wondered if he''d try to ravage them that very night. Seeing this, Alex shook his head in exasperation before saying, "Don''t worry, after what we saw earlier even I''m not in the mood tonight. Tomorrow however.....I can''t make any promises." Punctuating his words with a suggestive smile, the girl''s embarrassment returned in full force as they quickly followed the rest out of the guild, with Levy in tow. It wasn''t until about fifteen minutes later that Alex himself finally left the guild hall, exhaling a tired sigh as he did so. It had been a fairly long day, and with no ''fun'' planned that night he was looking forward to snuggling up with Sun as she hummed him to sleep. Naturally things wouldn''t go so smoothly, as, the second Alex opened the door to the temporary house, a pair of still warm p.a.n.t.i.e.s hit him in the face while catching onto his wild hair. "Heehee, goaaaaaaaal." Levy cried out before stumbling to the side, completely n.a.k.e.d. "What''s going on here?" Alex asked as he pulled the p.a.n.t.i.e.s off of his face, only to see that Levy wasn''t the only one n.a.k.e.d. "Uh- um, welcome back...." Mirajane struggled to get out as she also tried to get the still drunk Levy under control alongside Erza and Lucy, despite the fact that the former two were also completely n.a.k.e.d. Lucy, the only one still wearing clothes, then tried to say while also struggling with Levy, "I went to try and get a bed in one of the spare rooms set up for Levy, but when I came back the two of them were already n.a.k.e.d for some reason and Levy began stripping as well when she saw them." As she too began to pointedly look at the duo as if to ask why they had stripped, Erza awkwardly said, "Um, Ms. Kuroka said that you always expect some of your servants to welcome you home n.a.k.e.d, and that it was our turn as the newest members..." Though Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow when he heard Erza refer to Kuroka as ''Ms. Kuroka'', he remained silent for a moment as he unabashedly took in the view of the two pieces of art exposed before his eyes. Erza and Mirajane squirmed slightly under Alex''s gaze as they also fought the urge to cover themselves, neither one having felt such shame before. Mirajane had worked several times as a gravure model in the past as part of her being Fairy Tail''s poster girl, but all of her most private areas had always been covered in one form or another, meaning this was the first time she was laying everything b.a.r.e for a man. Erza on the other hand seemed to typically have no shame, regularly taking baths with Natsu and Gray even recently, however as fellow guild mates she had never actually saw them as anything more than her troublesome little brothers. Alex on the other hand was someone she knew for a fact she was going to enter into a s.e.x.u.a.l relationship with due to her accepting his Evil Piece, making her exceptionally conscious of their positions as man and woman. As he took in Erza''s appearance, from her b.r.e.a.s.ts that rivaled Lucy''s in size to the neatly trimmed strip of scarlet hair crowing her pubic area, Alex couldn''t help but imagine the various plays he could do with her later due to Erza''s role as a knight. Then there was Mirajane, who''s activities as a gravure model ensured she remained fit and perfectly proportioned, while the adventurous side of Alex couldn''t help but imagine what s.e.x with her transformed state was like, though he kept in mind that he''d have to keep her sadistic tendencies in check as well. Only taking a second or two to admire the view and fantasize a little bit, Alex then said, "Unfortunately Kuroka was just messing with you since I don''t have a such a rule in place, buuuuuut-" He then stepped towards them suddenly and reached out to smack their asscheeks, before grabbing onto them and pulling both girls closer while continuing, "-maybe I should make such a rule." Erza struggled as she resisted the urge to smack Alex''s hand away when she felt his fingers methodically knead her a.s.s, while Mirajane just continued to fidget embarrassedly under his grip until, "Whash about me?" A slurred voice suddenly asked, making the three of them look over before all the tension and embarrassment evaporated on the spot. Laying with her face against the ground and her a.s.s in the air, Levy wiggled her b.u.t.t back and forth inviting towards Alex, making him shake his head before saying firmly, "No Levy, I''m not going to take advantage of you like that." The entire time he had ogling Erza and Mirajane, Alex had been pointedly ignoring Levy''s n.a.k.e.d figure as well since he didn''t want to feel as if he was taking advantage of her current situation. The girl herself g.r.o.a.n.e.d at his excuse, and slurred, "Why not? I''m noshing but a little shomthing shomthing whore, aren''t I?" Struggling to recall what exactly Gajeel had called her, Levy focused on him referring to her as a ''whore'' as she then reached back with one hand and spread her b.u.t.t cheeks apart for Alex. Refusing to even look at the offer more than he had to, Alex walked around her until he was above Levy''s head, making her look up at him with tears of confusion in her eyes. Alex then knelt down and placed his palm again her temple, before saying in a firm voice, "Sleep." In an instant Levy''s eyes closed as she collapsed to the side on the floor, before Alex gently picked her up and held her out to Erza. "Take her to the spare bedroom and stay there with Lucy and Mirajane for tonight, we''ll talk more in the morning when she''s sober." Erza nodded solemnly as she followed Lucy''s lead to the room she prepared, before the summoner used the dial on the outside of the doorframe to set the room for four people, thanks to Lala installing the same tech used for the Love Room in the house. With the rest of the girls in their own spare bedrooms for the night, Alex made his way to the main bedroom where a certain siren was waiting for him. Opening the door, Alex found Sun sitting up on the bed in a matching set of sky blue pajamas with clouds on them. Greeting him with a large smile, Sun patted her l.a.p and asked, "Ready for bed?" Alex smiled warmly at his little siren, and replied as he stripped off his outer clothes, "You have no idea." With only a pair of shorts remaining, Alex crawled onto the bed as well before gently laying his head in Sun''s l.a.p. "You were amazing today." Alex said as he laid down, referring to her role in the battle to help the allied guilds. "Hmm-" Humming lightly and soothingly in response, Sun smiled as she began to play with Alex''s hair slightly with one hand while the other started to lightly rub his c.h.e.s.t. This was their usual ritual whenever Sun would sleep with him, as her role was more to help Alex feel comfort and relax without the usual s.e.x.u.a.l activities. And as usual, as Sun continued to lightly massage him Alex''s breathing eventually became more steady as his eyes also started closing, until Sun believed that he was completely asleep. Smiling slightly at his sleeping expression, Sun moved a strand of her hair out of her face before she quickly leaned over and lightly planted her lips against Alex''s. Unlike the first time she did this, when she acted as if the brief intimate contact had shocked her, Sun drew out the kiss for several seconds before slowly drawing away from Alex''s lips with a small smile on her face. She then began to the slowly and carefully extract her legs from under Alex''s head, replacing them with a real pillow before she snuggled up to his side. "Goodnight." She whispered before closing her eyes as well, right as the edges of Alex''s own lips curled up in a minuscule smile of his own at her actions. Soon though he returned to the realm of dreams as his consciousness drifted away, until he was roused a couple hours later by someone entering the room. Thinking it was one of the girls trying to get in a midnight visit, Alex was about to tell them to back to bed when he noticed that it wasn''t actually any of them that had intruded, but Levy. Groaning softly at the cliche of getting lost or mistaking beds when half asleep, Alex was about to use Spatial magic to return her to her room as she started climbing into his bed, but paused when she quietly whimpered, "Gajeel...." Faltering slightly, Alex eventually canceled his magic before muttering in the best impersonation of Gajeel he could muster, "I''m right here short stuff." Immediately Levy smiled in her sleep as she snuggled closer to him, making Alex sigh as he tried to go back to sleep himself. *** "What the hell did I do last night?!" Levy cried out as she desperately tried to recall what she did through her headache, but only drew a blank. "Morning." Alex g.r.o.a.n.e.d as he woke up from Levy''s shout, while Sun still slumbered at his side. With her being covered by the blankets, as well as the shorts Alex was still wearing, all Levy saw was the two of them sharing a bed together n.a.k.e.d, which could only mean one thing. "Nonononononono, this can''t be happening-!" As she tried to deny what was assumed from the evidence before her, Levy also began trying to back away from Alex until she inevitably reached the edge of the bed, and fell backwards. "Ow...." She g.r.o.a.n.e.d as the sudden movement and impact sent another throb of pain through her skull, making her ignore the fact that she had landed with her legs spread in a perfect M. Shaking his head at her, Alex summoned a glass of water and offered it to her while saying, "Drink. Now." With her head throbbing and her mouth and throat practically burning, Levy didn''t even argue as she accepted the glass of water before downing the entire thing. For the next minute or so Levy focused only on the water she was chugging, as Alex handed her another two glasses before eventually asking, "Better?" Levy nodded slightly despite the fact that her head was still throbbing, before Alex continued, "Good, and you''ll be happy to know that nothing happened between us so there''s nothing to feel guilty about. However if you continue to show it off then I''ll have to take it as an invitation though." As he said that Alex''s voice adopted a teasing tone as he looked down at her with a gaze as if he was appraising art. Realizing once more about her lack of dress, Levy hurriedly buried her hands over her exposed p.u.s.s.y before crying out, "Don''t look at me!" Shaking his head yet again, Alex said, "Down the hall three doors on the right is the room that you started in with Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane." The words were barely out of his mouth before Levy was out the door running, giving him a perfect view of her a.s.s as she left, which he didn''t hesitate to admire since she was no longer drunkenly trying to get his attention like she had the night before. He then turned his attention to the surprisingly still sleeping siren, making him wonder if she was more tired than she let on after using her songs for so long on so many people. Deciding to let her sleep in, Alex stealthily planted a kiss on her lips this time before sneaking out the door, and sent a message to Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane before deliberating which of the girls he was going to drag into the bath with him. Meanwhile Levy was panting as she tried to calm down from having ''escaped'' a man''s room n.a.k.e.d, where her three guild mates were stirring from their own sleep. "Levy? What happened?!" Lucy asked once she saw that her friend was leaning against the door as she tried to catch her breath, while completely n.a.k.e.d again with the pajamas she had painstakingly put on her the night before laying discarded on the floor. "I-I don''t know Lucy... I just remember being so sad about Gajeel, picking up a bottle last night, and then I just woke up in another man''s bed..." As if she hadn''t heard Alex''s confirmation that ''nothing happened'', tears began forming at the corners of Levy''s eyes as Lucy went to comfort her friend, while she simultaneously checked the message she received from Alex telling her not to tell Levy about her trying to seduce him the night before. His message had also explained why Levy was in his bed, so Lucy just tried to get her friend to calm down while Erza and Mirajane also woke up. Eventually the trio managed to get her to calm a little bit, during which Lucy managed to get a robe out for her to wear from the impossibly large closet. Then Erza stated, "Maybe a bath will do you some good. Even after everything that happened yesterday we didn''t get a chance to clean off, so some warm water will help us all out." With Lucy and Mirajane agreeing with her, the former led the way to the large baths before she suddenly froze right outside the door, and said, "Wait a second!" With Levy, Erza, and Mirajane all tensing up at her alertness, Lucy just barely cracked open the bathroom door to peek inside. "Of course." She sighed while closing the door, after seeing the orgy taking place within. Shaking her head, Lucy led them back to their original room while saying, "Sorry, I don''t think you''d want to go in there right now." Since some of the sounds had escaped the bathroom when she cracked the door, all three of the other girls were red faced as they silently thanked Lucy for checking before they had just walked right in. Arriving back at the room they had stayed in that night, Mirajane asked, "Was there a bathroom in this room? I didn''t see one before?" Lucy smirked proudly at her question, and stated, "Watch this though!" She then operated the little dial besides the door until it was set the way she wanted, before opening the door to reveal the drastically changed inside of the room. "Woah..." Erza muttered when she saw the luxurious bathroom that had replaced the room they slept in the night before. The entire room was tiled with ivory colored tiles with a gold trim, while here and there amongst the different pools elegant statues dotted the bathroom that, with the push of a button, would pour water into the pools themselves. It was obvious that with the large size and number of pools to bath in, and no less than twenty wash stations to use, the bathroom was designed with a lot of people in mind. "Is it really ok to use this?" Mirajane asked hesitantly as she looked around, feeling as if the extravagant room should belong exclusively to royalty. Lucy however was already stripping out of her pajamas as she said, "Yep. Alex apparently has several high class women as a part of his peerage and harem, ranging from noble ladies, to former princesses, queens, and apparently even a goddess. Facilities like this are apparently commonplace in his home and whenever he travels so they''ll never be without any comfort." Though she hadn''t seen his home for herself yet, Lucy had already heard from the others what to expect when they inevitably returned to Asora. With how luxurious and comfortable the temporary home and Zenith was, she had no problem believing their claims in the slightest. Of course Lucy wasn''t fazed by this in the slightest due to her own upbringing, with her father being so wealthy that she had treated akin to royalty until she ran away from home. Erza, Mirajane, and Levy were different though. They had all more or less grown up in the guild and the facilities it had provided, which weren''t lacking by any means, but were still a far cry from the extravagance they were seeing now. "To think-" Mirajane muttered quietly, "-this is our lives now..." Erza slowly nodded in agreement as she took in everything around them, while Levy felt the most out of place since the other three were technically a part of Alex''s harem now, and she had just been dragged along due to being drunk. "What are you waiting for? Come on!" Lucy urged them to join her, as she already began scrubbing herself at one of the wash stations. Within moments Erza, Mirajane, and Levy had stripped and joined her, in which the latter was glad to finally start scrubbing away the faint scent of booze that lingered on her. For a few minutes there was silence as the group scrubbed themselves while also trying out the different varieties of soap available, until Mirajane suddenly asked, "So Lucy, is there anything else we need to know about our new master?" It was obvious they were in for quite the drastic changes with what little they''ve seen so far, so Mirajane couldn''t help but ask Lucy what else to expect in order to lessen the impact. With both Erza and Levy also listening intently, Lucy was silent for several seconds as she thought before saying, "Not that I know of. I only knew everyone a few days before we arrived on Tenrou Island so there isn''t much more than you that I''d know, except...." As she suddenly thought of something Lucy''s cheeks started turning red as she started rubbing her knees together, before eventually muttering, "You better prepare yourself before he decides to eat you up..." When they heard that both Erza and Levy''s minds immediately snapped to the collections of e.r.o.t.i.c novels they''ve read, before the former asked, "Prepare how?!" Lucy was silent for several seconds at her question, before eventually admitting, "You should be prepared to be broken both physically and mentally once he finally has his way with you, since you''ll never be the same afterwards." As she said that Lucy felt the increasingly familiar itch start between her legs, as she suddenly wished she was participating in the ongoing orgy. She then shook her head to try and rid herself of such thoughts while also cursing Alex for turning her into a pervert, which was of course noticed by her three guild mates. Erza and Mirajane then began to grill her about every single detail of what to expect when their time inevitably arrived, while Levy listened in with a mix of fascination and embarrassment. *** When they finally left the bath after grilling Lucy for every single detail regarding her s.e.x life, the quartet found Alex and the rest of the girls gathered in the kitchen as Rias and Shia busied themselves making breakfast. It didn''t take much to guess why everyone looked exceptionally ''refreshed'' as they waited patiently for their food, with Mirajane, Erza, and Levy all avoiding eye contact after hearing the details from Lucy while the latter one also recalling what had happened earlier that morning. "Good morning." Lucy greeted everyone before they greeted her and the others in return. "That was rather.....quick, wasn''t it?" She asked hesitantly while referring to what she had spied on earlier. Alex didn''t even hesitate to nod and explain, "After the four of you went back to your room from last night, Kuroka used her mastery over time so that we could indulge ourselves all we wanted without wasting the day away." "Of course..." Lucy murmured as she took her seat at the large table. "Um..." Mirajane started as she stood awkwardly to the side along with Erza and Levy, not sure about what was expected of them. "Go ahead and sit, breakfast shouldn''t be much longer." Alex told them casually, even as both Yue and Moka proceeded to sink their fangs into either side of his neck to drink while they waited. It was only after they took a seat on the opposite side of Lucy that Alex told them, "While officially you may be my ''servants'', I prefer to treat my peerage members as my wives. So instead of constantly trying to figure out your position, please act as you always have." With his piece said some of the tension in Erza and Mirajane''s bodies seemed to vanish immediately, as their biggest concern was that neither was sure if their roles as Alex''s ''servants'' meant that they had certain responsibilities they were supposed to be doing. However Mirajane had always been the one waiting on others for years, and wasn''t used to being on the receiving end. So, with Alex telling them to act as they always have, she didn''t hesitate to stand once more to help Rias and Shia prepare breakfast and set the table. Within minutes everyone had a plate of food before as they quickly began eating, with Alex''s group having worked up quite the appetite with all of their previous ''exercise''. When they were about done eating Lucy finally asked, "So what now?" Alex finished chewing the last bit of food in his mouth before answering, "Now that the battle''s over we''re going to spend the day fortifying the island and making sure that there''s no more lingering members of any dark guilds around, but tomorrow the three of you will be returning home with us." Immediately everyone perked up around the table as Rias piped up, "We''re going home?!" Alex nodded and continued, "Yeah. I''ll discuss the details with Markarov and the others today, but when the island''s secure I''m going to create a permanent portal to Asora here to provide them support." There was a veritable buzz of excitement as everyone excitedly talked of going home, while Rias and Grayfia were both happy that they''ll get to see their sons soon. "So what about the three of us?" Erza asked curiously. "After properly meeting everyone you three will start training. We have something called the space-time orbs that will extend a single day into an entire month, and within the one we have several biomes that are home to several different environments and monsters of every kind. You and Mirajane will focus on leveling up and changing jobs as much as possible, while Lucy will work on using the Alteration magic I gave her to tame every monster she can." When they heard him the trio''s expressions hardened as they wondered exactly what kind of monsters they''ll be facing in the near future. They didn''t get long to dwell on it though, as Alex stood and dismissed everyone once they were done eating. As he instructed, Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane went to go collect their personal belongings and say goodbyes to their friends and guild mates since quite a bit of time will pass from their perspective before seeing each other again. Kuroka, Yue, and Kurumu all set to applying the protective formations around that would not only protect it from those with hostile intentions, but using Kurumu''s illusions it would also be hidden from their senses completely. The entire time they worked on this Mavis eagerly watched, studying their every move and each of the spells they used intently. Meanwhile Shizuku, Yami, Moka, and Shia all searched around and in the waters surrounding the island to make sure there was no surviving members of the dark guilds left stranded or adrift. Though it was fairly ruthless work, Yami, Moka, and Shia managed it alright, while Shizuku couldn''t help but wonder if she was becoming increasingly numb to all the killing, something she couldn''t tell was good or bad. While the two groups were working on securing the island, Rias and the others were working on their own projects. Lala was in her portable lab as she worked on some new invention, Anne was talking with Warrod about the different varieties of plants on the island, and Sun was visiting with Wendy and Sherria after she eventually woke up, both of who were telling her how much they admired her singing voice and songs from the day before. As for Rias, the Crimson haired beauty was on the hunt to find candidates to fill some of her own remaining Evil Pieces, five ''Pawns''. She already had an person or two in mind after watching them fight the day before, but just in case she decided to talk with as many people as possible in order to make sure she didn''t pass over any hidden gems. (A.N. I already have at least one person in mind, but I''m open to other suggestions as well.) While everyone else was busy with this or that, Alex spent most of the day in a meeting with Markarov, Sting, Bob, Kagura, and Ooba as they discussed their plans, with Grayfia accompanying him to give advice and provide refreshments. It was pretty much unanimously decided that they couldn''t just leave Natsu and Gajeel in the hands of the Dark Emperor and his generals, so the decision was made to set sail within the next few days to save them. This was where Alex stepped in, saying that since he could simply transfer everyone to Hargeon instantly that they could use the time that they''d be sailing to train for the upcoming battles instead. It was then that he brought up his intention to open a portal to Asora the following day after they ensured the island was secure, through which they could provide the allied guilds with supplies and reinforcements. Though Alex had said that he didn''t intend to take the battle away from the allied guilds by doing all the fighting themselves, that didn''t change the fact that they were severely outnumbered. So Grayfia had agreed with Alex when he mentioned sending alternating groups of Valkyries and peerages to help bolster the ranks, something that the various guild masters were very relieved to hear. After that they discussed specifics of the plan of attack, mainly that they make landfall at Hargeon before trying to find the location of Darius''s floating castle from there. Though they had been tempted to ask Alex to use his magic compass to find the island to begin with, none of the guild masters wanted to be the one to ask him to do even more than he had already done for them. The conversations and planning continued until it started getting dark out, at which point they finally called it quits for the day. As he and Grayfia slowly walked back to the temporary house the silver haired maid said, "I''m sure that Rosswiess and the others will be grateful for the chance to fight while we are in this world." Alex nodded and replied, "Yep, even if most of our opponents aren''t as ''strong'' as we''re used to, there''s several different types of magic in this world so even someone like Vali should find someone interesting to fight." As Alex said there were users of various interesting types of magic in the dark guilds that one wouldn''t necessarily think they''d fight against, such as a guy who would use his magic to lower the speed and perception of his opponents, making himself seem super fast in comparison. There was also a person who was capable of copying almost any and every magic that was performed before them, making them the worst possible opponent for any Mage. As they walked Alex and Grayfia discussed who should be brought first until they finally got to the house, where they found an exhausted group waiting for them. "That was so exhausting!" Shia cried out from where she was sprawled out on the floor, a growing puddle of sea water spreading from her. "Did you go swimming?" Alex asked jokingly, to which Shia frustratedly declared, "Don''t even! One of those left over bastards apparently had a type of magic that let him breath under water, so I had to keep diving down until I finally got him!" There was a small round of chuckles at Shias woes, while Grayfia scolded, "So you decided to just get sea water everywhere instead of cleaning yourself up?" This time Shia sat up and surprisingly glared at Grayfia before saying, "What did you want me to do? Strip down out there in front of everyone?!" Grayfia then surprised everyone by snapping her fingers, and making all of Shias clothing disappear so that the bunny girl was suddenly n.a.k.e.d in the living room. "Maybe not, but you certainly could have once you came inside, instead of getting the mess everywhere else." Grayfia said plainly before turning to go and prepare a round of refreshments. Shia simply huffed at her before flopping back down without a singe care about her sudden n.a.k.e.dness, before Alex suddenly seized her by the ankle. "Kya!" Shia cried out in mock surprise as he threw her over his shoulder, before looking back and saying, "Bath time!" When they heard that the rest of the girls stood and eagerly followed Alex as he made his way into the bath, sans Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane since they were still spending time with their guild mates. "Ahhhhhh... I feel so refreshed!" Shia cried out happily as she washed away the remaining salt and sea water on her skin, which made Lala seem to recall something as she declared, "I know! I have a new invention that''ll make all the bubbles you could ever want to get clean with!" Before anyone could stop her, Lala used her almighty wand to summon an invention that looked like a miniature elephant. With everyone focused on the elephant as it sprayed bubbles from it trunk, no one noticed a small metallic ring that had also appeared when all used her wand, which bounced and rolled until it stopped against Alex''s feet. Looking down at what touched him, Alex immediately recognized the band as its started glowing, and had just enough time to say, "shit..." before he suddenly disappeared. "Woah!" Alex cried out as he suddenly reappeared in a new location, before he fell onto down on top of someone. "You''ve got to be kidding me..." He muttered to himself, before realizing that there was curiously familiar warm and wet sensation enveloping him ''below''. Opening his eyes, Alex looked down to see the acting guild master of Mermaid Heel, Kagura, under his, her eyes also wide in surprise while her lips were wrapped around the base of his c.o.c.k. "I''m so sorry!" Alex cried out as he hurriedly jumped up to get off of her, though he couldn''t help but inwardly remark about how good her mouth felt. With her mouth free, Kagura began a fit of coughing from having his entire manhood suddenly shoved inside her mouth, a feat that actually surprised Alex considering how big he was and her lack of experience. He didn''t have time to dwell on that though, as he looked around for the first time and noticed where exactly he had ended up, though he had already somewhat expected it. The girl''s bath. With just about every(good looking) female member of Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, and Mermaid Heel arranged before him n.a.k.e.d as the day the were born, Alex could only awkwardly joke, "So, does this mean it''s time for the fairy orgy?" "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Chapter 373 - Farewells "Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" As the day turned to night, when all was supposed to be quiet, a series of screams sounded from the baths that was shared by all of the women who currently resided on Tenrou Island. Within the girls scrambled for towels or used their hands to try and cover their n.a.k.e.d bodies, while a sole man stood awkwardly in the middle of all of it. "What are you doing here?" Lucy asked Alex tiredly, as she, Mirajane, and Erza were all bathing with their guild mates for the last time for the foreseeable future. Alex simply shrugged at her question, and replied, "Lala tried to use one of her inventions in our bath, a small bracelet rolled across the ground towards me, and next thing I knew I was here. As sad as it is to say, you know all about my skill by this point." Lucy deadpanned at Alex''s explanation, and, despite believing him regarding his claim that the skill itself was at fault, still couldn''t help but think about how ''convenient'''' it was for him. Meanwhile Kagura finished coughing and sputtering nearby as she turned to fix Alex with a murderous glare, her n.a.k.e.dness forgotten as she focused all her attention on erasing the humiliation she just suffered. Without another word, Kagura grabbed her sheathed sword, Archenemy, that she carried with her even in the bath, before thrusting her empty hand at Alex to activate her magic. In an instant Alex felt the gravity around him suddenly intensify as Kagura genuinely tried to crush him, to which he barely even flinched even as the ground beneath him caved in sightly. "You know," Alex said as he fought the urge to yawn at her attempt to crush him, "if you want to crush me with Gravity magic then you''d have to increase the gravity around me by more than a few hundred times to even make me flinch." Her expression twisting at his words, Kagura canceled her magic and snarled as she reached for the hilt of her sheathed katana, "If you''re saying that then you wouldn''t mind if I got completely serious then?!" When he saw her motion as if she was about to draw her sword, Alex''s brow twitched as this particular sword, Archenemy, was something that could be considered an ultimate weapon of destruction that can be wielded by a single person. A single swing of the unsheathed blade was enough for the wielder to destroy an entire section of a city, a weapon which could be said is capable of causing a cataclysm. Though Alex wasn''t worried about facing the might of the weapon head on, it could still destroy quite a bit of their surroundings or harm anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within its path. Knowing she was simply acting rash due to the humiliation of what he had accidentally did to her, Alex didn''t try to stop her as he simply asked, "Can I take you trying to draw that sword to mean you intend to try and kill me?" His words made Kagura hesitate for a second, before she eventually snapped back, "Even if I killed you, you kept saying that you lot could even revive the dead, right? So then there''s nothing wrong if make you die once or twice for humiliating me!" When he heard that Alex could only frown, before asking right before Kagura unsheathed her blade, "And if you can''t?" His question made her pause slightly, before Alex continued, "If you can''t kill me with even your strongest attack, what would you do then?" As he asked that Alex took a step closer to her before going on to say, "If even your strongest attack couldn''t stop me, what could you do to keep me from pushing you down and humiliating you even more in front of everyone here? Maybe even making you finish what was started?" As he asked that Alex gestured to everyone around them, who had remained within the baths in order to see Kagura punish him for his intrusion. These words made her pause even more, despite the fact that Alex didn''t even mean them and only asked it hypothetically to keep her from attacking. What he never expected was for Kagura to eventually say, "Very well then. If I cannot kill you with my attack, then I will willingly service you with my mouth until you are completely satisfied. How is that?" Not just Alex, but Lucy, Erza, Mirajane, and every other person within the baths was gaping at Kagura in shock at her declaration, none of them ever expecting that she herself would offer to ''satisfy'' Alex. This was the conclusion she had come to though after deliberating between possibly fighting back fruitlessly only to be f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y humiliated even more, or gracefully accepting her defeat and facing her punishment with honor. Shaking his head at Kagura''s reasoning, Alex barely had enough time to move Lucy and the others out of the way before the guild master proceeded to unsheathe her sword. The second the blade became exposed to the world Alex felt the intent of the sword hurdling towards him with one goal, to destroy him. Archenemy was also known as the ''Blade of Resentment'', meaning that the higher the users resentment towards the target, the more powerful the strike. With the humiliation she had just endured still very fresh in her mind, Kagura''s attack was far more powerful than any she would normally be able to employ. Alex however didn''t even flinch as the attack carved a path of destruction tight to him, before he caught it in his hands. Everyone watched in awe as, slowly but surely, the attack started shrinking in Alex''s hands as he employed his ''Energy Nullification'' skill, until the attack was completely erased without a single trace. Dead silence. That was all there was as Alex seemingly effortlessly blocked Kagura''s most powerful attack, before he then proceeded to use Regeneration magic to instantly fix the damage her two attacks had caused to the bathroom. As he did so the mind of the woman in question was in complete turmoil, as she had never expected that her ultimate attack would be effortlessly blocked without harming even a single hair on its targets head. Her mind was still racing when Alex eventually said, "So, now that I''ve proven that you can''t do anything against me, can we put this whole farce behind us?" Kagura looked up as Alex began telling Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane goodbye, since he intended to leave them to their bath, before she asked, "What about our agreement?" Alex looked back at her curiously before replying, "I never intended to do anything you know. I was just trying to use that as an excuse to prevent you from attacking me due to the destruction your attack could have caused, to the building and anyone unfortunate enough to also be caught in its path." It was at this point that Kagura realized the truth in Alex''s words, as she never even considered the possible collateral damage in her anger, her only thought being to make Alex pay for humiliating her. Her hands clenched into fists, Kagura stepped towards him before saying, "I was wrong to needlessly risk the lives of anyone caught up in my attack, and I thank you for stopping it. However I still have my honor, and I made a promise if you managed to block my attack." Stopping right before Alex, Kagura then surprised everyone as she then lowered herself to her knees so that she was staring directly as his flaccid manhood, pausing slightly as she recalled how it tasted in her mouth. Though she hesitated for a brief moment, Alex decided to see how far Kagura''s resolution would go, so he took a seat on the tiled bench behind him as he waited for the black haired beauty to start fulfilling her promise. After a little over a minute to work herself up to it, Kagura finally swept her hair back as her head descended towards his c.o.c.k. Rather than trying to take him in her mouth immediately Kagura began by hesitantly l.i.c.k.i.n.g the head, before slowly bringing her incredibly soft tongue up and down his shaft. As the seconds slowly ticked by Kagura''s efforts made his flaccid manhood steadily grow, stunning her more than a little when she finally beheld its might in all its glory. With everyone else besides Lucy witnessing Alex''s ''might'' for the first time, Kagura paused her service and asked with a red face, "I-is it supposed to be so.....large?" Alex smirked proudly before saying, "Not everyone''s is, but my theory is that it''s a trait of my race, Saiyans. Well, it''s either that or I just got extremely lucky." With how proud of himself Alex seemed to be at her question, Kagura promised herself to ''keep her mouth shut'' from here on out, figuratively of course. She then parted her lips and wrapped them around the head of his c.o.c.k, before she got the idea to twirl her tongue around it. Though she really didn''t want to make him feel good, Kagura had promised to do so until he was ''completely satisfied'', meaning she had to make sure he felt good enough from her mouth that he managed to climax. The toughest part about this though was her complete lack of experience. As she continued working him with her mouth though, Alex couldn''t help but be surprised at the speed with which she was improving. Soon Kagura began to take even more of his length into her mouth, until Alex felt his head begin to hit the back of her throat. Though she paused when she felt his, Kagura hesitantly continued to allow Alex even further into her mouth, and down her throat. Not just Alex, but everyone watching was surprised to see her take him in so far, as anyone who knew a thing or two knew that it was incredibly hard for a newbie to deepthroat a man without gagging on their first try. Alex resisted the urge to smile at his luck of finding someone who was able to deepthroat him without issue, not counting of course people like Kurumu, a succubus, and Akeno, a fallen angel, both races of which were genetically designed to be seductive. He didn''t think on it too much though, as with each passing second Kagura''s skill at giving him head seemed to increase, until he was finally nearing his climax. Sensing something from the way Alex was twitching within her mouth Kagura took him out right in time, to be sprayed in the face with his hot and sticky c.u.m. "This....is s.e.m.e.n?" She hesitantly asked with a mixture of both disgust and curiosity. Kagura used her fingers to scoop up a bit of the ooze to look at, but as she did so she noticed Alex smirking as he admired the view of a beautiful woman covered in his spunk. Frowning at him, she then stood and said, "Now then, I hope we''re done here!" Kagura then turned to walk away, not seeming to care about the fact that Alex had an unobstructed view of her b.u.t.t as she did so. "Hold it!" Someone suddenly spoke up, making everyone turn to look at them. Sherry, Sherria''s older cousin, stepped forward and said, "You promised you''d go until he was ''completely satisfied'', right?" Kagura frowned at Sherry''s question, and said, "Yeah?" Sherry then pointed at Alex''s still towering manhood, and continued, "Men are only ''completely satisfied'' when they go completely soft, he''s still hard as a rock!" As she said that Sherry glanced at Alex''s c.o.c.k once again, briefly comparing it to her own husbands before shaking any funny ideas out of her head. Kagura however glanced at Alex''s still hard c.o.c.k with obvious reluctance, before another voice declared, "You just want to make Kagura humiliate herself even more, don''t you!" Everyone turned to see a chubby dark skinned woman with an Afro pointing angrily at Sherry, Risley Law. Sherry however put her hands up defensively, even as her towel fell to the ground, and said, "Not at all! I just want to keep miss Kagura honest about her promises!" Risley glared at Sherry and was about to lay into her even more, but Kagura stated mechanically, "It''s fine Risley, I did promise." As she slowly turned back towards him with empty eyes, Alex however stated, "It''s really fine Kagura, my stamina is so great that it might as well be endless. If you truly tried to keep going until I was ''completely satisfied'', then we''d be here all night." Kagura clenched her fists when she heard that, as, despite the fact that she really didn''t want to service Alex once more, she also hated having to go back on a promise, especially one she instigated. Seeing her remain conflicted about this, Alex sighed and said, "Ok then, let''s focus on this at another time then. Instead of making someone service me who doesn''t want to, I''d prefer it if my partner was more willing." As he said that Alex used his ''Telekinesis'' to pull Lucy to his side, who he had noticed was fidgeting since a while ago. With the itch between her legs growing ever more intense, Lucy didn''t fight it as Alex grabbed her behind her knees, and lifted her with her back to him as she faced everyone else. "Wait...." Lucy gasped as the last bit of her resistance fought against doing it in front of everyone else, however that little bit vanished when she felt his c.o.c.k pride her entrance before it finally entered her, making Lucy let out a loud m.o.a.n as she finally received the thing her body had been aching for. "AHHHHHN!" Lucy cried in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e out as she was finally filled to the brim with Alex''s c.o.c.k, regardless of who she was currently in front of. The bathroom was then filled with the sounds of smacking flesh and Lucy''s m.o.a.ns as Alex pounded the blonde summoner for all that he was worth, amazing everyone who was watching in the process. Of course the ones who were watching the closest were Erza and Mirajane, as the same question floated in both of their minds, ''Are we next?'' Their hearts then skipped a beat as Alex looked over at them pointedly, a wicked smile dancing across his lips. He then released his hold on the back of Lucy''s knees, allowing her to fall forward suddenly before she grabbed onto his own knees for support. Using their new angle, Alex began to slowly and methodically grind the head of his c.o.c.k against the entrance to Lucy''s w.o.m.b, while she herself was grinding her b.u.t.t against his waist to try and push his last couple inches in even deeper. Alex then glanced over at Mirajane and Erza, before using his finger to gesture at them. "Mirajane, Erza, come over here." He said to them provocatively, making the duo hesitate slightly before looking at each other, and nodding in affirmation at each other at the same time. They then started walking towards Alex and Lucy, neither covering their bodies as they fought to keep their legs from shaking in nervousness. When they did reach him, Alex pulled them to either side close enough that their n.a.k.e.d bodies were pressed up against him, and similarly to the night before he grabbed a firm hand full of their asses to keep them from backing away. With his fingers shamelessly slipping into the cracks of their butts to explore the most intimate areas of their bodies, and their b.r.e.a.s.ts pressed up against him, both girls began to breath heavily as their faces inched ever close. "Is this what you want?" Alex asked with a smile, as he slowly drew closer to Mirajane. Before she could ask what he meant, the white haired woman found her lips sealed in her first ever kiss. Mirajane practically melted as Alex''s tongue traced her lips to taste the remnants of her cherry lip balm, before invading her mouth where it began a wrestling match with her own while his fingers traced the line that no other person had ever touched. The kiss lasted for so long that when their lips finally parted Mirajane was more than a little breathless, her eyes glazed over slightly as his fingers continued to bring her increasing amounts of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. She then shuddered as his middle finger suddenly slipped inside the increasingly wet crack, before probing to see just how far it could go. Alex then shifted his attention to the scarlet haired woman on his left, who was shivering with both excitement and shame as his fingers played with her in front of everyone. "Are you ready Erza?" He asked in a low voice, startling her slightly due to being distracted by the thing probing her depths. Instead of waiting for her to answer though, Alex quickly sealed her lips as well. "Mph!" Erza g.r.o.a.n.e.d into their kiss, as Alex''s tongue began exploring her strawberry tasting lips as well, before gently invading her mouth. Instead of a wrestling match like Mirajane''s though, Alex was surprised when Erza''s lips seemed to close around his tongue before she began s.u.c.k.i.n.g on it. Smirking against her lips, the kiss with Erza continued for roughly as long as it had with Mirajane before Alex finally managed to free his tongue from her mouth, and remarked with amus.e.m.e.nt at her pout, "Don''t worry, I have something even better for you to suck on later, once Lucy''s done basting it of course!" Alex then punctuated his words by removing his hand from Mirajane''s backside, and giving Lucy''s a crisp slap. SMACK! "Ngh!" Lucy g.r.o.a.n.e.d as her insides squeezed and squirmed around him from the contact, making his smirk widen as a result. "Wanna make Lucy feel really good?" Alex asked Mirajane and Erza with an impish smile, making both of them blush when he whispered what he wanted them to do in their ears. "Wha-?!" Lucy cried out as a couple of hands pulled her back into Alex''s c.h.e.s.t, before they roughly seized and started kneading her b.r.e.a.s.ts. "W-wait Erza! Mirajane! What are you doing?!" Lucy demanded as both girls began to skillfully attack her b.r.e.a.s.ts, massaging and kneading before they started to flick and play with her n.i.p.p.l.es. With Alex skillfully attacking her insides, and Erza and Mirajane attacking her b.r.e.a.s.ts, Lucy lasted less than a minute before she let out a great cry as she climaxed, amazing everyone who was still watching. Seconds after though they were again amazed as Alex let out a grunt, and filled Lucy to the brim with his seed. "No way..." "He did it inside just like that?" "What if she gets pregnant?" "I think I heard that he already has several children..." "It''s like he''s some kind of harem lord or something..." These and more whispers were traded as the gallery watched in amazement, even as a trickle of white fluid began leaking out of the place where Alex and Lucy were connected. He then turned towards Mirajane, and whispered to her, "I have an idea Mira...." His voice then got so quiet that not even Lucy or Erza could hear what he said, but Mirajane''s face turned completely red at whatever he told her to do. "O-ok..."Mirajane muttered shyly before she got up, and kneeled down in front of Alex and Lucy. Lucy''s eyes widened as she watched Mirajane, one of the people she admired and respected most since joining Fairy Tail, lean forwards until her still bright red face was just inches from her and Alex''s most intimate areas. She then watched as Mirajane hesitantly stuck out her little pink tongue, before she began l.i.c.k.i.n.g Alex''s balls. Mirajane slowly ran her tongue across Alex''s family jewels before parting her lips to take one of them into her mouth, where she s.u.c.k.e.d on it slightly. Alex g.r.o.a.n.e.d as Mirajane s.u.c.k.e.d on him while swirling her tongue around his sack, making him silently compare her raw talent with Kagura''s. Soon however Mira let his balls go, and slowly began tracing her tongue up the underside of Alex''s shaft, where she began to slowly l.a.p up the white fluid running down it that was combined with Lucy''s juices. The blonde haired summoner watched in shock as the woman that she respected and admired licked up Alex''s shaft until she finally reached the point where they were connected, where she began probing her folds with it. Everyone watched in amazement at the scene, several even noticing Mira''s fingers slowly sliding down to her own sacred patch, where they began to dig and move at an increasing tempo. "Disgusting...." Risley muttered as she and the other members of Mermaid Heel tried to hurry up their own bath, no longer caring about Alex and his antics. "...yeah..." Kagura muttered as she still tasted Alex''s c.o.c.k in her mouth, before she reached for something to rinse it out with. *** The next morning Alex awoke with the three beautiful women in his bed, all slumbering peacefully after the demanding physical activities he put them through the night before. Smiling warmly at their sleeping faces, he simply laid back, and waited patiently for them to wake up on their own. The day began relatively simply, with some breakfast before some of the girls began to clean the temporary house, preparing it for when Lala reverted it to its usual pill-like state, while a few others went over the defenses they prepared the day before. Finally it was a little after noon when Alex and the girls gathered for their goodbyes, a rather tearful situation when it came to Wendy, Levy, Elfman, and Lisanna. Of everyone though the saddest one to see them go was of course Happy, who was still depressed over Natsu''s imprisonment, and now both Lucy and Erza were leaving as well. "Argh! Stop bawling like a baby." Carla stated irritably, to which Happy could only blubber, "B-b-b-but first Natsu was taken and is being tortured, and now Lucy''s leaving too!" As he finished speaking Happy completely broke down into tears, making Carla''s annoyed expression vanish on the spot. It wasn''t like she wasn''t sympathetic to him, as she could never even imagine what she''d do is something similar happened to Wendy. But, instead of trying to help find a way to rescue Natsu, Happy had spent the last two days constantly on the verge of tears since he had never been in this kind of situation before. The duo had literally been together ever since Happy was born, and had never actually been apart for more than a day or so since. "I won''t be gone for long Happy." Lucky said gently, as, despite how often Happy got on her nerves, she still cared deeply for the blue cat as former members of the same team. And as she said Lucy planned to enter the space-time orb Alex told her about to train, meaning that while a lot of time will pass from her perspective, for Happy it wouldn''t be longer than a few days, a week at most. Sniffling at her words, Happy then rummaged through the little pack he carried around with him, and pulled out a small fish before offering it to her. "I-I-I was saving this, b-b-but I want you to have it Lucy!" Lucy fought the urge to grimace as Happy offered her the fish, accepting it and saying through a forced smile, "Th-thank you Happy, I''m sure it''ll be tasty." Happy sniffled again before saying, "Think of me when you eat it!" He then turned around and dejectedly walked away, leaving Lucy kneeling down with a fish in her hands. Storing it in the spatial storage ring Alex had given her, Lucy then stood and turned towards everyone else before saying, "Everyone...thank you all for everything." Every member of Fairy Tail was present for the goodbyes, and they all shouted various wishes of farewells to Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane. The scarlet haired knight then stepped forward and said to Markarov, "Master..... Thank you..." When he heard that Markarov sniffled as he fought back his own tears, before saying, "Someday every little chick has to spread its own wings, but I''ll never be able to get used to seeing them fly away...." When she heard this tears began flowing from Erza''s eyes as well, due to Markarov being the closest thing to a parent she had ever had, and Fairy Tail being the only true home she ever had. She then surprised everyone there as she got down on her knees, and pulled Markarov into an emotional hug so hard that his head even clanged against her b.r.e.a.s.tplate. "..." Everyone was speechless as they watched ''that'' Erza show weakness and emotion, though it wasn''t necessarily that shocking to those who were in the baths with them the previous night. Of course the most surprised was Markarov, both because of Erza''s actions and the hit he took to his head. He didn''t let it bug him though, as the tears also began streaming down his face as he recalled the day that a scrawny little scarlet haired girl first walked through their doors, a patch covering her ruined right eye as she informed Markarov what happened to one of their missing guild mates. He then recalled watching Erza grow up and become increasingly stronger and famous until people began calling her by a certain moniker, Titania, meaning Queen of the Fairies. As all these and more memories welled up within him, Markarov sniffed before gently pushing her away and saying, "Enough, it''s not as if this is goodbye forever. If anything, from what I understand it''ll only feel like a few days to me." Erza nodded before she released him from her hold, allowing Mirajane to step forward with tears in her eyes as well. With Markarov being the one who took her and her siblings in when they had nowhere else to go after their parents died, and assured her of her own humanity when her demonic abilities started awakening, he was akin to a father to her as well. He was a father to all who joined Fairy Tail, no matter what their past was. She too was about to give him a hug, but Markarov suddenly said, "Now who''s going to serve me beer all day and be our eye candy?" Mirajane''s eye twitched when she heard that, before her tears instantly dried up and she adopted her usual business smile when dealing with troublemakers. ".....Master....." Mirajane uttered with an illusionary demonic aura swirling around her as a paper fan appeared in her hands. "Mercy!" Markarov cried out playfully as she swung the paper fan at him, making the spectators around them laugh at his expense. With the formerly somber mood gone thanks to Markarov''s antics, Rias took the chance to step forward and ask, "Before we leave, is there anyone who considered my offer?" With those who didn''t know what she was talking about looking around in confusion, a few that did started shuffling around awkwardly before someone stepped forward. "I have." Freed Justine said, surprising everyone present, but none more than the other two members of the Thunder God Tribe, Evergreen and Bickslow. "What are you doing Freed?!" "What is the meaning of this?!" The duo cried out in shock, to which Freed explained, "Miss Rias offered me a position amongst her own peerage, and I am considering accepting." The duo could only gape at him in shock, before Bickslow demanded, "W-what about Laxus though?!" Of the three of them Freed''s loyalty towards their leader, Laxus, was the strongest, so neither of them could ever imagine him choosing to serve someone else even though Laxus was no longer here. Surprisingly Freed said, "I''m doing this for Laxus." He then turned towards Alex and asked, "Can you be sure that he was killed by the Dark Emperor?" Alex nodded and glanced towards Markarov hesitantly, before eventually admitting, "Yes. Not only am I aware of past events, but also what was originally supposed to happen in the future as well." Ignoring the shock at his most recent revelation, Alex continued, "Originally after Erza and the others returned from the Tower of Heaven, Laxus would''ve attempted a coup during a festival. With the three of you at his side he would''ve instigated a battle royale between the members of Fairy Tail to weed out the weaklings, until Natsu and Gajeel teamed up to stop him. "Afterwards he would''ve been excommunicated from the guild by Markarov, though the three of you would''ve stayed since he shouldered all of the blame on himself. After traveling for a bit though he would eventually make his way to Tenrou Island to visit Mavis''s grave, where he would caught up in the battle with Grimoire Heart. "Then once you all woke up Markarov would''ve tried to make Gildarts guild master, who would immediately take off after reinstating Markarov as master and Laxus''s guild membership. There''s plenty more that I could say, but you get the general idea, right?" Complete silence met Alex''s admission as everyone digested what he told them, and realized just how much Darius had messed with their lives. Markarov himself was practically shaking in fury at the confirmation that his own grandson was taken from him, something they had always suspected, yet had never been able to confirm. Freed was in a similar state as Markarov, with the person he had dedicated his life towards serving having met such a fate. He then turned towards Rias, and asked, "If I agree to join you, will I become strong enough to help avenge Laxus?" Rias smiled confidently at him before saying, "Darius is Alex''s, along with the rest of the generals. However, if you join me I''ll give you the chance to become stronger than you thought possible, depending on the amount of effort you put in of course. You can then use this strength to help your comrades fight through the forces that Darius has amassed, paving the way to the Dark Emperor''s defeat." Freed was silent for a moment as he thought on Rias''s offer, before eventually saying, "Very well, I accept." Rias smiled widely and held out one of her remaining ''Pawn'' pieces to him, which Freed readily accepted. Though his chivalric disposition and skills would qualify him as a knight, Rias only had ''Pawns'' left and she felt his skills would be better benefited by that piece than a ''Knight''. The reason was that on top of his sword skills and his ability to plant traps with runes, which could be used to completely dominate any Rating Games they participated in, Freed also had the ability to use his runes in combat to enhance his or others abilities. Using them he could make himself and his allies stronger, faster, while also using one to mimic Mirajane''s Satan Soul and demonize himself. On the other hand he could also use the runes to attack his opponents, even being able to use them to inflict instant death upon them. Freed unhesitatingly activated the Evil Piece, before a pair of demonic wings spread from his back. Once the transformation was complete he kneeled in front of Rias and said, "From this moment on I pledge myself to lady Rias of the house of Gremory, and swear to defend her and hers until the day that I perish." Rias smiled in satisfaction at Freed''s oath, before adopting a formal expression and saying in return, "Rise Freed Justine, servant of Gremory." Freed stood at Rias''s command, before falling in behind her like a knight awaiting her orders. With no one else stepping forward to accept her offer of an Evil Piece, Rias nodded to Alex to indicate she was done with her business. Turning back to Markarov, who''s brow was twitching from having yet another member of their guild swiped from them, Alex said, "Well then, we should probably be leaving then. I''ll send someone later once I have the chance to arrange for your people''s training." Markarov nodded and said, "Thank you. I''m sure everyone will appreciate the chance to get stronger as soon as possible." With everyone else voicing their agreement Alex and co turned to leave, heading for an area that Anne had been working at earlier that morning. Waiting there for them was an arch that was made of tree trunks, limbs, and vines that Anne had carefully arranged for their portal. Nodding in approval, Alex stepped forward and held his hand out at the arch, forming a wall of mist within it that grew to fill the entire archway. Once it was filled Alex then stepped through the portal before everyone else followed him, emerging on the other side to see land filled with various greens and budding flowers. Though it had only been about a week since they left the previous world, it appeared that the long winter that they had been experiencing was completely over with all of the snow already melted. Once the rest of the group appeared alongside him, on a hill overlooking the city that was home to most of Asora''s residents, Alex made a wide sweeping gesture and said, "Welcome ladies and gent, to Asor-" As he made his greeting Alex suddenly cut himself off, becoming slightly alert in an instant. With his ''Domain'' instantly growing to encompass the entire world of Asora Alex had instinctively tried to suppress the sudden surge of information, but before he could he noticed something. Down in the city everyone was hurriedly moving too and fro with an obvious anxiety, alerting him to the fact that something was wrong. Before he could try and figure out what though, a voice he hadn''t heard for several days called out, "ALEEEEEEEX!" Looking up Alex saw the beautiful figure of Gabriel hurriedly flying at him, making him even more alarmed when he saw that her face was covered in tears, snot, and a small trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth. "Gabriel-!" Alex began before the archangel rushed into his embrace, clinging to him desperately while fighting back her sobbing. "What happened?" He questioned seriously while also rubbing his hand up and down her back comfortingly. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I''m s-s-so sorry!" Gabriel wailed before breaking down all over again, making Alex even more worried about what was going on. Though it took several minutes to get her to calm enough to speak, Alex eventually managed to get three words from her through her hysterics. Three little words that made his blood run cold as his mind numbed, before both feelings were replaced by pure rage. Chapter 374 - (Title at bottom) *Earlier that day* A lone figure stood at the railing of a ship that bobbed up and down in the surf, silent and contemplative as he took in the sight of the seaside town before them. Paul recalled the last time he had been to Hargeon, the destroyed and boarded up buildings, the injured and filthy looking people with dead empty eyes as they fought against starvation and disease. Now however the town seemed to have been completely revived. The buildings looked new and pristine, the people happily went too and fro as they tried to reestablish their livelihoods, and children ran up and down the streets laughing and playing. The only place that seemed the same as the last time Paul was here was the harbor, then again that was to be expected since they needed to use it, but now there appeared to be several people hauling in lumber and other supplies as they tried to rebuild and repair some basic fishing vessels. "Hmmmm, curious." Paul muttered as he stole a glance at the crew mates of the ship he was on, their own shock telling him that the town wasn''t like this when they left. He didn''t need to look at them to confirm this though, as the pole that formerly bore the flags of the Dark Emperor and the Black Collar guild no longer had them. Instead was a flag with the crest of the royal family of Fiore at the top, and a flag bearing the crest of Fair Tail under it. "Curiouser and curiouser..." He muttered to himself while trying to figure out how the guild was involved in the restoration of Hargeon. He had heard from Darius about the attack on Tenrou Island failing, but the Dark Emperor had decided to save the majority of the details of what happened for when Paul rejoined him. This meant he was currently in the dark about the arrival of another reincarnator, but, with Fairy Tail apparently being on Tenrou to fight, and it being around that time of year anyways, Paul suspected that the guild was more than likely not the ones responsible for the change here. His thoughts were interrupted though when someone suddenly shouted in his ear, "PREPARE TO FIRE THE MAGIC CANNONS!" """AYE AYE!""" With the captain of the ship giving the order the crew began to ready themselves to attack, only for Paul to suddenly say, "Belay that order!" His voice made everyone around him jump from not noticing his presence, while the captain who''s orders he had just said to ignore demanded angrily, "And why the hell would we do that?" Paul just looked at the captain as if he was seeing him for the first time, and asked, "Well, why would we just randomly attack them?" This time the captain looked at Paul as if he was the idiot before pointing at the flag pole and shouting, "How about blatant disrespect towards our emperor!?" Paul rolled his eyes at him and said sarcastically, "Yes, because these people are definitely in the wrong for not properly respecting the man who''s responsible for destroying their lives, killing or enslaving their friends and family, and who''s men have made it their own little game to ensure they''re as miserable as possible every single day." When he heard this the captain was completely red in the face with anger as he slowly demanded, "Are you criticizing his imperial majesty?" Paul deadpanned at him since he was well aware that the only reason dark mages, like the crew around him, followed Darius was because they were able to obtain power over the common people by doing so, not from loyalty. "No, I''m just pointing out how it''s obvious that people will never respect a person who directly caused their suffering, instead they will only fear and hate him. So why wouldn''t they take the first chance they get to try and rebuild their lives?" Paul didn''t necessarily care about the civilians circ.u.mstances, but he did understand how people behaved to an extent, and why they''d do the things they did. So he considered it only natural that those who had suffered under Darius''s control would try to rebuild their lives once the chance presented itself. However the captain and the rest of the crew didn''t see things like that. They were mostly made up of the Black Collar guild, so they couldn''t help but get angry when they saw the people they had lorded over going about their business without a care in the world. Paul however couldn''t give a damn what they thought, they were there to escort him to Hargeon and nothing else. However, proving their own hypocrisy regarding respect, one of the crew mates suddenly leapt forwards and thrust his hands out while summoning a large blast of fire, making Paul sigh as the flames made their way towards him. "They never learn..." He muttered to himself as he held out his own hands at he oncoming flames, only to ''catch'' them before they reached him. Time seemed to slow then as Paul''s hands started blurring slightly and a strange membrane seemed to form around the flames, preventing them from escaping his grasp. The rest of the crew watched in awe as the flames he held seemed to slowly diminish, until they vanished in his hands altogether. Silence descended upon them as everyone held their breath in anticipation of what Paul would do next, before he simply said, "Thank you for the energy, but I''m afraid I''ll have to return some of it." With the aura around him becoming exceptionally sinister at the second half of his statement, Paul held up a finger before a small mass of energy formed at its tip. Without a single sound it traveled faster than anyone could see before it imbedded itself in the c.h.e.s.t of his attacker, leaving a golf ball sized hole in his body with singe marks around it. Everyone then watched in horror as the hole started spreading across his c.h.e.s.t in every direction, every place it spread to turning to ash and dust. Within seconds the man''s entire body and clothes crumbled away into nothing, before the small patch of dust that was left blew away in the wind. "Now then-" A voice said from behind the captain, making him and everyone else around him jump, except the back of the captain''s neck was firmly gripped in Paul''s hand. He then continued, "-shall we discuss the terms of our time together again captain?" The captain shuddered at the question, the image of his crew mate turning to ash fresh in his mind, before it turned briefly to the same thing happening to him from the back of his neck. Taking his silence as agreement, Paul then continued, "I needed you and your crew to ferry me to Hargeon because you told us that you had captured Lucy Heartfilia and were holding her here, however I have my own way of returning with my quarry if need be, meaning that now that we are Hargeon I no longer need any of you. "From this point forward there are two scenarios that can play out. The first one is that I kill you and your entire crew, sink your ship, and then use my alternative method to return once I verify the situation in town. The second scenario is that you all shut up and do as I say, when I say it. Then, when I return to the Gardens, regardless of method, I can report to the Dark Emperor about how skilled and capable sailors you are, and that you are a very valuable asset to the empire. "So, which scenario should we go with?" Obviously the captain didn''t hesitate to choose which option he preferred, but he did hesitate to voice it out loud lest he anger Paul some more. Sensing this, Paul flashed a vicious smile before whispering to him, "Smart choice." Paul then released his hold on the captains neck, before turning back towards shore and saying, "Now then, shall we head to shore?" Though it took a second, the captain quickly gave the order for them to enter the harbor. Paul smirked as they jumped to make sure he didn''t revert to the first option that he had given them, a scarily possible scenario considering the majority had already lost track of him thanks to his second ability. Paul then made his way to the railing of the ship once more, and placed his hands on it before activating this same ability once more. Though nothing seemed to happen at first, the effects of his actions was noticeable when no one seemed to notice the ship that had inspired fear in the citizens of Hargeon for years pulled into port. He then turned back towards the captain and the crew before saying, "I''ll be going to shore alone, remain ready to cast off when I return since I shouldn''t be too long." Without waiting for their reply, as the majority of the crew mates were flinching from suddenly seeing him again, Paul casually stepped down onto the gangplank before going ashore. With his ability to completely conceal his presence no one even noticed him as he casually began walking amongst the people there, or even when he stole a cloak to disguise himself as a refugee. After dirtying himself up so that he looked as if he had spent several weeks on the road, Paul wandered from person to person to ask them questions about the town''s revival. Very quickly he confirmed his original conclusion that the ones responsible for Hargeon was not Fairy Tail, despite the people''s insistence that it was the famous guild that helped them. First of all was due to the fact that no one at Fairy Tail was capable of the things the people told him about, instantly restoring the entire town to its prime in seconds, instantly healing the myriad of wounds that had afflicted the people for years, and supplying them with everything they needed to rebuild their lives. The second clue was that no one in Hargeon had even seen a single member of Fairy Tail, which Paul knew would''ve been impossible if anyone from the guild had been there. Lucy aside, every single member of Fairy Tail was extremely conspicuous in their actions, to the point that Natsu alone would often destroy several buildings during almost every job he took. To try and learn even more, Paul then decided to head to the place where all of this supposedly happened, the former guild hall of Black Collar. The people he questioned had already informed Paul that the guild hall that had represented the oppression they suffered under for years was completely gone, and was instead replaced with what appeared to be a great stage where all of the food and supplies they were given was left. When he arrived though the great stage had been transformed into a place where refugees that had heard about Hargeon''s restoration were staying, and was covered in tents and various other temporary homes. Frowning at the sight, this time Paul closed his eyes and focused for a moment, before opening them to see the world around had taken on a duller grey look. Along with his concealment ability and being able to absorb and use any type of energy, Paul was what could be referred to as a ''Greywalker''. Greywalkers were people who from a certain world that were considered to be powerful spirit mediums, but their abilities were far more than that. According to the laws of that world ''ghosts'' were simply lingering echoes of people when they were alive, ''memories'' that were rarely able to take on a consciousness. Greywalkers were not only able to interact with these echoes, but were even able to do the same things they could to some extent, and each time they ''died'' the Greywalker could come back with a brand new ability, up to a certain number of times of course. One example of what they were able to do was that they could voluntarily travel backwards through the echoes of time to see things and possibly interact with the people there themselves, to a limited extent of course. This was also what allowed ''ghosts'' to do things like walk through walls, as in the echoes they still existed in there was a door or something there instead of a wall. Paul primarily used his ability to gather information or infiltrate places that should''ve been impossible to get into, as he simply needed to find a point in time when the door was open, or the defenses were down to enter any place unimpeded and unmolested. He did the same thing now, slipping through the echoes of time until he arrived at the point right before the stage went up, and the guild hall of Black Collar still stood. Paul then walked through the stage that still existed in the present as if he himself was ghost, before slipping through the opened door to find a muscular man sitting at the bar while surrounded by several very beautiful women. Though it was a recent event Paul could barely make out what the group was saying as they talked, their voices sounding muffled and dull. That didn''t mean he couldn''t hear everything they were saying though, as the man turned towards the silver haired maid at his side and said something, during which Paul caught the word ''Asora''. With this particular word catching his attention for some reason, Paul waited as several other things were said between them, as well a dark skinned woman, before the maid was suddenly enveloped by a cloud of mist. Seized by a sudden suspicion, Paul didn''t hesitate as he too stepped towards the cloud of mist, only for him to find himself standing in the middle of an entirely new place. Looking around at the place he found himself in, Paul smiled widely as he muttered to himself, "So this must be Asora!" He then began to wander around as he started to explore to learn even more about this strange place. *** "Edith, be careful!" Gabriel called out with a warm smile as she watched her daughter excitedly play with the other children, her white sundress billowing around her while her blond pigtails bounced as she ran. Currently they were at a park that had recently been built in Asora, which was the first time Edith had ever been able to go out and play with other children due to how young she was. Gabriel''s smile widened as she watched Edith run around excitedly, along with her siblings Mai and Myuu. Beside her was Koneko and Remia, both of who were also happily watching their daughters play. By now Edith and Mai were both about three years old due to the amount of time they would spend with Alex in the space-time orb, while Myuu was approaching her sixth birthday. All three were excitedly awaiting the day that Alex came home, but until then their mothers were trying to keep them preoccupied by bringing them to the new park. "So do you have any ideas Gabriel?" Remia asked suddenly, making Gabriel glance at her before sighing slightly and saying, "Grayfia said she wasn''t sure when they''d return, but hopefully it''ll be soon." The other two women nodded in agreement as they anxiously awaited the day their husband would return, along with those that went with him of course. Together they he trio chatted while their daughters happily played until it was about time for lunch, when they got out the picnic basket they brought with them. "Edith, Myuu, Mai, time for lunch!" Gabriel called out as she helped set the food out on a picnic table with Remia and Koneko. When only the two latter ones came running though Gabriel frowned and asked, "Where''s Edith?" Mai tilted her head cutely and only replied with cute, yet confused, "Nya?" Myuu however frowned and said, "I thought she was just here...?" When she noticed Edith wasn''t around Myuu showed a worried expression, as, despite her young age, she took her role as a ''big sister'' very seriously. "Edith!" Gabriel cried out a little bit worriedly, to no avail. "I-I sure she''s fine somewhere Gabriel." Remia quickly tried to reassure her, while Koneko closed her eyes and began trying to find Edith''s aura from those around them. Gabriel however had a bad feeling and was growing increasingly panicked with each passing second as she cried out even louder, "Edith!!!" By this point the other parents at the park started becoming alerted to what was happening, and also began looking for Edith. Soon Gabriel had grown worried enough that she closed her eyes as well, and pulled on her divinity as ''Goddess Gabriel'', even though she hated being considered a goddess. With her image being geared towards being the ''mother of all'' in Tortus, that meant Gabriel could easily find her own children anywhere in the world, no matter how far. However as she tried to sense Edith she couldn''t feel a thing, meaning that either Edith was no longer in Asora, or someone was cloaking her from her senses. There was a third option as well, but Gabriel refused to even consider it as she became increasingly panicked. "Have you seen Edith?!" She demanded of an angel who had simply been walking by, making the angel adopt a serious expression as he said, "No lady Gabriel, is she missing?" Gabriel however didn''t bother to answer him as she moved onto the next person, and the next, all stating that they haven''t seen her daughter. With word spreading soon more and more people were joining the search, while Remia contacted Serafall, Yasaka, and Barakiel about the situation. Soon all of Asora was alerted to Edith''s disappearance and began helping to search for her, while Gabriel steadily became increasingly frantic as she tried to locate her missing daughter. "Edith!" "EDITH!" "EDITTTTTTTTTTTTTTH!!!!!!" She cried out at the top of her voice, even going so far as damaging her throat from how much she screamed, as a bit of blood trickled from the side of her mouth. Gabriel paid it no mind though as she continued to desperately search for her daughter. *** Meanwhile a certain figure was once again walking through Hargeon, still in disbelief of his luck as he explored that place referred to as ''Asora''. "Where''s daddy!" His new companion demanded with all the attitude of a child her age, making Paul look down at the little girl in his arms that was dressed in a white sundress, her blond hair styled into pigtails. Paul adopted the warmest smile he could muster as he said comfortingly, "Don''t worry, you''ll see your daddy soon. He and I are about to become the best of friends!" He then eyed the long brown monkey tail hanging from her backside, taking it in his hands as he did so. Ignoring her squirming from the discomfort she felt at someone handling her tail, a vision floated before Paul''s eyes. He saw an army of tailed warriors arrayed and awaiting his orders, all bred and raised within something else he had discovered in Asora, the so-called space-time orbs. Imagining the power they''d wield compared to the pathetic dark mages they were currently allied with, Paul couldn''t help but smile as he repeated quietly, "The best of friends..." He then resumed his walk to the ship he had arrived on, which he''d send back by themselves while he''d use the thing Darius had given him before leaving to instantly return with his prize. (A.N. Title- The Ultimate F.u.c.k up) Chapter 375 - Abducted (A.N. I am genuinely amazed at the response from the last chapter, the amount of people trying to create issues that didn''t even exist was truly staggering. First of all the whole ''it''s impossible to enter Asora'' thing, I don''t recall saying anything of the sort. As far as the people in the world''s they visit it''s ALMOST impossible for someone to break into Asora, but anyone with enough power and know how regarding Spatial attribute magic can do it. The only one that could have even had a chance of pulling it off so far is Ehito though, but he couldn''t even leave his own domain. Plus with the system there could be other reincarnators with the power to literally go anywhere they want or something who could easily enter it like its nothing. Secondly the ''time travel'' thing. HE CANNOT INFLUENCE THE PAST! Paul can view the past and go through open doors that are closed in the present, but he cannot actually change anything! Anyone he talks to is like talking to a ghost, not actually going back and talking to them in person to change things! And as I said above anyone with a proper ability could have entered Asora, which was why the MC didn''t want to use it too much to keep them from finding out about it. It wasn''t that he ''conveniently'' had an ability that allowed him to enter. There''s plenty of other issues people made up, such as Edith being abused or them putting her into a space-time orb when they don''t even have the capacity to make one(and they''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g impossible to steal since they can''t be moved), and so on. I''m not even going to bother getting into those ones, but seriously people?) "Ahhhhhhhg...." Alice g.r.o.a.n.e.d as Hyato droned on yet again about how their newest adversary, Alex, MUST have mind control as one of his abilities due to the amount of women around him. As none of them could one hundred percent say that wasn''t the case though, and Hyato was technically the one who knew the most about him, they couldn''t tell him to shut the hell up. Currently Darius, Alice, Calvin, and Hyato were all gathered for the second day in a row to study and discuss their newest foe. Sadly all they had to go off of was the recordings Hyato swiped from his time in the DXD world, which were all already several years old so there was no telling how strong he was now. As Hyato continued to drone on though, Calvin decided he had enough as he turned to Darius and asked, "So have you heard from what''s-his-face yet?" A hint of a smile showed itself at the edge of Darius''s mouth as he replied, "Paul? Not since yesterday when he told me they should be arriving at Hargeon today. We should hear from him about the situation there soon though." The words were barely out of his mouth when a new voice said, "You rang?" Everyone jumped as they turned suddenly and saw none other than Paul himself standing there, a c.o.c.ky smirk on his face. "You used the teleportation stone?" Darius asked in confusion, wondering what prompted Paul to use it instead of simply taking the ship back with his captive. Paul''s c.o.c.ky smirk widened though as he said, "Yes well, I felt that time was of the essence after all." He then shifted to the side to reveal someone standing behind him, a little girl in a white dress and her blond hair styled up into pigtails. For a second everyone just gaped at her in shock, before Alice suddenly declared as she leapt to her feet, "He''s finally f.u.c.k.i.n.g did it! The creep kidnapped a child!" With everyone else jumping up and glaring at him, Paul tiredly said, "Yes I kidnapped a child, but look closer at her you idiots..." Though she was about to berate him once more, Alice glanced at her for the smallest fraction of a second, and blinked when she saw the brown monkeys tail extending from the girls backside, a tail that was identical to her own. Paul''s smirk widened as he helped himself to a drink and took a seat while saying, "I happened to make the most extraordinary find in Hargeon today. A new reincarnator that not only restored the entire town and its people, but has access to what I can assume to be a pocket dimension called ''Asora''." He then went on to explain everything he learned during the short time he had been there, especially the space-time orbs they had, before he happened upon the park where he found the girl before them. "Amazing..." Calvin muttered awe, while Hyato said, "So that''s what happened to them all..." He recalled that not just Alex and the girls, but several other people from the DXD world such as Vali, Sairaorg, Gabriel, Serafall, and so had also disappeared as well, which he had been wondering about for a while now. Of everyone there though, Darius had barely heard a word that Paul told them. Instead his gaze was on the little girl he had brought with him, who''s appearance reminded him of his own daughter, Stacy. Technically the two looked nothing alike to each other besides their blond hair, and on top of that Stacy had been several years older than the girl in front of him when they had died. However Darius couldn''t help but make the comparison in his head, until Alice suddenly asked, "So what''s her name then?" Paul shrugged in response to her question, making Alice''s brow twitch in annoyance before she angrily demanded, "So you kidnap a child, but you don''t even bother learning what they''re named?!" Paul only deadpanned at her in response, before saying sarcastically, "Next time I decided to kidnap someone right under their parents nose, I''ll make sure to stop and ask them their kids name first." Alice snorted at his sarcasm, before going to the little girl and kneeling down so she could be closer to eye level, and ask, "What''s your name sweetie?" The girl however didn''t answer, only glaring at her as if annoyed for some reason. Alice g.r.o.a.n.e.d as she wasn''t used to dealing with kids, before turning towards the four guys as if for help. "Trust you to be one of the only women out there to be unable to talk to a child." Calvin smirked while even Hyato grinned at his comment, annoying Alice quite a bit. She was about make a bring remark at them before Paul interrupted, "Since she won''t tell us her name, maybe we should come up with something to call her until we learn what it really is?" Though she was annoyed at being interrupted, Alice immediately suggested, "How about Amanda?" "Denied." One of the guys said, before they then supplied their own name idea. This happened back and forth between the four of them until Darius finally said, "Stacy." Everyone paused and looked at him confusedly since he had yet to actually say anything since Paul arrived with the little girl, before he continued, "We''ll call her Stacy. And before anyone says anything else we need to bulk up our defenses, since Paul decided to kidnap this child it probably won''t take too much for them to figure out who has her. We also need to remember that saiyans aren''t exactly the smartest bulbs in the box, so he probably won''t stop and listen to reason." Everyone looked at each other before they nodded in agreement, and the three men took off to make sure their defenses were prepared. Alice however lingered and said, "I''ll keep an eye on little Stacy here since we''re both girls-" "No." Darius said, cutting her off. "You''re the last person I''d entrust a child to, so I''ll look after her myself while you go and help prepare the defenses." Surprised at Darius claim that he''d watch after ''Stacy'' himself, Alice could only gape at him for several seconds before his glares sent her hurrying to do as he ordered. With everyone else gone Darius turned his attention back to the little girl before him, who was staring at him with unamused eyes as if she was silently judging him. After a moment Darius sighed before using his Arc of Embodiment to create a stack of children''s books and toys to keep her occupied while he watched over her. *** Later the four generals made their way to the dining room after spending the entire afternoon preparing for Alex''s inevitable arrival like they had been ordered, to which Alice w.h.i.n.ed, "Man this work is so tedious and boring, I wanna do something more ''fun''!" As she thought of the two newest toys she''d gotten the other day though Alice smiled in anticipation for the coming night, making the other three look at her in undisguised disgust. "And she tried implying that I was the one unsuitable to be around children..." Paul muttered as he recalled the false accusations Alice tried to slander him with. When they arrived in the dining hall though all disgust towards Alice evaporated on the spot when they saw what was taking place inside, as Darius personally cut up ''Stacy''s'' food into pieces as small as possible before putting them on her plate. The little girl herself then picked up the food in her fingers, and eagerly stuffed into her mouth until her cheeks were puffy like a little squirrel''s. "W-what happened to him...?" Hyato muttered quietly, as the current Darius was like the complete opposite of the man they had all been serving for a while now, appearing more like a doting father than a ''Dark Emperor''. "What are you all waiting for? Sit." Darius suddenly said at them in a stern voice, leaving no room for arguments as everyone took their seats. His attitude then switched once more as he prepared some peas for ''Stacy'' to eat, while also mentioning how she needed to make sure to eat them all. That didn''t seem to be a problem though as she quickly cleaned her entire plate, before looking at Darius pointedly as if demanding more. "Is she a hostage or a guest?" Calvin muttered this time, to which Darius replied without hesitation, "There is a very fine line between the two, but if you think that I''ll throw a child in the dungeon and feed her moldy bread and water then there is something seriously wrong with you." Calvin''s brow twitched when he heard that, as he hadn''t been implying anything of the sort, but it was still too weird to see the most powerful person there doting on their hostage like this. Eventually Alice couldn''t help but ask, "So where is she going to stay for tonight then?" Darius looked up at her as if he didn''t understand why she was asking such a question, and replied as if it was obvious, "She''s staying with me of course. If her father comes in the night then I''m the most suited to protecting her as the strongest here, plus I''m not sure I could trust any of you with properly looking after her." Everyone''s brows twitched when they heard his reasoning, the first half of which was hard to argue, however they felt the other part was unnecessary. Once dinner was over they all went their separate ways for the night, with Darius calling a couple of the maids to take ''Stacy'' into the bath for him. After she was clean and dressed in pajamas he made with his Arc of Embodiment, Darius laid her down in his bed for the night before he pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. "Is it comfortable?" He asked her as the little girl kept staring at him, before he continued, "It should be, I had the most comfortable bed that I could find imported to the Hanging Gardens to help me sleep, but it didn''t help at all. Then after I got the Arc of Embodiment I used it to make and even more comfortable bed, but it didn''t help as well. So you''re technically sleeping in the most comfortable bed in this world." Even as he continued talking ''Stacy'' only stared at him without showing any signs of going to sleep, making him sigh deeply before looking out the window at the moon and stars. "You know," He started suddenly, "you remind me of my daughter, maybe too much..." Darius then used the Arc of Embodiment to create a projection of a girl that looked only a few years older than the one before him, but with similar blond hair. Darius smiled sadly at the image, and said, "Everything I''ve done and will do is for her, to see her and my wife again someday. My greatest failure was not being able to keep her safe in my previous life, before I was sent to this world." Blinking the tears from his eyes from talking about his daughter out loud for the first time in this life, Darius stood and said, "Let me go get you some warm milk or something." Though he could have conjured a glass with his Arc of Embodiment, Darius left to take a minute to ready himself and try to resume his role as the collected Emperor of darkness he was supposed to be. When he returned to the room though Darius paused slightly when he saw someone standing over by the bed near ''Stacy'', making him drop the glass of warm milk as several golden chains appeared around the stranger. "Who the hell are you?!" He demanded angrily, to which the stranger casually turned to face him before putting a finger to his mouth to make a shushing motion, not seeming to care at all about the pointed ends of Enkidu that were less than an inch from his face. "Shhh, she asleep." Darius''s eyes widened when he saw that the intruder wasn''t Alex like he suspected, but an old man with a long beard, though the clothes he was wearing made it look more like he was on vacation more than anything. He then glanced at ''Stacy'' to see that she was in fact asleep like the old man said, however Darius didn''t back off in the slightest as the chains began to coil around the old man''s body. "Last chance before I gut you here and now, who are you?" The old man shook his head at Darius as if he wasn''t concerned about his threats, before he suddenly appeared behind him and said, "I''m just an old man that was passing through, nothing more." Darius whirled around to face him, his mind racing at how he not only managed to escape Enkidu, but moved without him sensing anything. Realizing he couldn''t afford to mess around, Darius was about to use his connection with Fairy Heart to attack with everything he had, but before he could he suddenly found his connection severed. He didn''t get any time to wonder what happened when Enkidu also suddenly disappeared around them, as if it never existed. The old man shook his head at him and muttered to himself, "Young people rarely have any respect nowadays, and all I wanted was to give some advice." Darius glowered at him as he considered his options, but after effectively being disarmed instantly he could only growl, "Say what you want then!" The old man shook his head again before saying, "This rash and domineering attitude is exactly what''s going to end up costing you everything if you continue down this path. You''re so determined to see your wife and daughter again, you won''t stop to properly consider things along the way." In an instant Darius''s anger vanished as he asked, "How do you know about my wife and daughter?!" The old man smiled at him knowingly, before saying, "How indeed?" He then walked around Darius slowly before saying, "Rather than asking how I know them, perhaps you should be asking what''ll happen when you see them again? Will they recoil at what you''ve become? Will they call you a monster? Murderer? "Or maybe they''ll be perfectly fine? Little Stacy will see her daddy and readily jump into his arms, while your wife will welcome you with another little bundle in her arms. The four of you will be perfectly happy for all eternity without a single care in the world." The old man then trailed off slightly, letting Darius imagine such a future, before adding, "Or maybe it''ll be completely different? Maybe you''ll kill them yourself in your rise to power? Maybe they''ll completely forget about you and form entirely new lives? Maybe this or that will happen, who knows?" The old man then turned to face him directly before saying, "There are an infinite amount of variables and outcomes that can happen in the future, who''s to say any one of them will come true? Why should the outcome you d.e.s.i.r.e most happen?" When he heard that Darius was confused for several minutes, before he demanded, "Then what should I do?" The old man then shrugged before saying once again as he started walking towards the door, "Who knows? Who knows what actions will bring us to the outcome we want? Destroy everything? Save everyone? Watch on in indifference? I couldn''t tell you anything other than to make sure your path leaves you with no regrets, regardless of the outcome." With his piece said the old man then walked through the bedroom door before closing it behind him, which Darius then threw open only to see empty space beyond it. Confused about everything the old man said, Darius quickly put it out of his mind when he heard ''Stacy'' tossing and turning in her sleep, before muttering softly, "...mommy.....daddy...." Darius''s expression melted as he took his previous seat next to her, and said as he moved a strand of hair off of her face, "I''m right here..." Though he was trying to comfort her, ''Stacy'' seemed to know even in her sleep that he wasn''t the one she wanted. Furrowing her brows at him, the little girl then turned over and eventually fell back into her slumber. Darius sighed as leaned back in the chair, now determined not to leave it for the entire night, and pondered on what the mysterious old man said to him. *** The next day everyone was gathered together as they discussed what to do from here on regarding ''Stacy''. Obviously the plan was to use her to force Alex to submit and prevent him from acting against them, but that also hinged on how he would react once he discovered his daughter was missing. There was always the chance he would just go berserk and attack them without a single care for anything else, in which case Paul taking her would''ve just been him shooting them in the foot instead. "Should one of us travel to Tenrou Island to meet with him?" Paul asked with boredom in his voice from having had to listen to everyone else talk all day. Darius however shook his head and said, "That won''t work because he could just end up saying ''screw it'' and kill whoever we send anyways. So either we should send someone we don''t care about, or somehow send him a message saying we have her and to cooperate if he doesn''t want her to be hurt." Hyato, Paul, and Calvin all nodded in agreement with Darius''s decision, before Alice''s voice suddenly pipped up, "Come on ''Stacy''! Play with me!" The older Saiyan was whining as she desperately tried to get the little girl''s attention, who was still giving them the silent treatment from the day before. They knew this was the case because Paul did confirm she could speak before they arrived, so it was obvious she was just choosing not to say anything to them. "Hmph!" Alice harrumphed, before saying, "Well I''ll get you to say something to me eventually, we''re going to have a lot of time together tonight after all!" Her words made everyone else look up as Hyato demanded, "And why the hell would she stay with you tonight? Who knows what you''ll try and do to her!" Alice however smirked and stood before making her way towards Hyato slowly, swaying her h.i.p.s seductively as she did so. It was when she was right in front of him that Alice slowly turned so that her back was towards him, before she slammed her a.s.s into his face and demanded, "You see this bitch?!" Everyone looked as Alice pointed to her proof as a Saiyan, the monkey tail coming out of her backside, before she continued, "The runts got one too and there''s a full moon tonight! So unless you want an Oozaru running around tonight then she needs to stay in a room that doesn''t have any outside windows for moonlight to get into! A room like mine! Unless of course we stick her in a broom closet or something." At that part she glanced towards Darius questioningly, to which he only glowered back as he silently said to himself that ''Stacy'' would only stay in the same room as Alice over his dead body. He then started thinking of how to best block the moonlight in the room he was preparing for her, when something caught his eye. Looking at his teacup, Darius stared at it as he noticed some small ripples forming in the tea. He frowned as for some reason seeing it gave him a bad feeling, before something on the shelves above them started cl.i.c.k.i.n.g lightly. "What''s that?" Paul asked as he looked in the direction of the cl.i.c.k.i.n.g, before Calvin frowned and said, "The entire castles shaking, like it''s an earthquake or something..." Everyone deadpanned at him before Alice said, "Calvin, were on a flying castle in the middle of the ocean..." Calvin looked at her in annoyance as he stated, "I didn''t say it is an earthquake, just that it''s like an earthquake. I have no idea what''s-" before he could finish speaking then entire castle started shaking to the point that things began falling off of shelves and everyone struggled to keep their feet. "W-what the hell is this?!" Alice demanded as she took the easy way out, and simply hovered in the middle of the room as everything continue to shake with an increasing intensity around them. "Of everyone in the room though, only one person wasn''t panicking or wondering what was going on, before a large smile spread on her face. "Daddy!" Edith cried out happily as she ran towards the window, before Darius came up behind her and said, "It''s dangerous over here Stacy, stay back!" Edith however didn''t listen to him, as she just kept saying over and over in her excitement, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" It was then that Darius looked up through the window, and paled as he noticed what Edith was evidently focused on. "Oh. My. God." He muttered in awe as everything continued shaking around them, drawing everyone else to the window as well, where they saw a large crack forming in the sky above them. It was as if reality itself was fracturing as the crack widened and enlarged, the sound of the sky tearing reaching them as it grew. When it finally stopped growing Darius and the others held their breath as they waited for what came next, before the sky seemed to shatter like glass as a massive hole suddenly appeared, easily large enough to swallow the entire castle. With everyone slamming their hands over their ears due to the deafening roar of the sky literally falling, Darius looked up to see three figures appearing through the hole that they had made. On the left was one of the women they had briefly seen during Hyato''s fight on Tenrou Island, the one with dark skin that wore the very exposing dancers outfit. The one on the right however was someone that only two of the people there had seen before, Hyato and Paul, a very beautiful woman with long golden blond hair that matched ''Stacy''s'', twelve golden wings, a halo, and white divine robes covering her body. Between the two of them was someone they were all familiar with by then, his expression one of pure murder as his rampant energy made his clothes and hair whip around his body wildly. After he appeared the energy that was making the entire castle shake suddenly increased, as the waves below them began to toss and churn wildly and the winds picked up to insane levels. Naturally while everyone else was pissing themselves at the sudden appearance of Alex and two of his wives, Edith was happily bouncing up and down from finally seeing her daddy again after what seemed like so long. "Mommy! Daddy!" She kept crying out over and over again, even as Gabriel raised one of her hands and shrieked, "GIVE. ME. BACK. MY DAUGHTEEEEEEEEEEERR!!!" As she spoke a massive spear of light formed in Gabriel''s hands, growing in length until it dwarfed event the greatest of skyscr.a.p.ers before she finally threw it. For a moment silence filled the world as everyone watched the massive spear of light descend in awe, before it impacted a fleet of sh.i.p.s headed for the Floating Gardens and vaporized everything in sight. A concussion of sound and force seeming rocked the entire world as the power from the spear of light vaporized everything it touched, the sh.i.p.s, the people on them, and mostly the sea water around them. Darius and his allies watched in dumbfoundment as Gabriel''s attack vaporized all of the water from the point it impacted all the way to the ocean floor, creating a giant cloud of steam that engulfed everything before the energy Alex was releasing forced it away. The man himself then fixed his gaze upon the exact location Darius and the others were with his daughter, before saying in a loud but deathly calm voice, "Return my daughter to us, and I''ll ALLOW you to die easily. Refuse to do so and I will prolong your suffering for as long as possible. Now, make your choice." Chapter 376 - Shaking the World As the water roared and filled in the gaping hole Gabriel had created all the way to the ocean floor, Darius and the others could only gape in awe as Alex''s demand rang in their ears. The first to recover was Hyato, as he glanced at Gabriel above them before rounding into Paul and spitting as he pinned him to the wall, "You could have told us that her mother was f.u.c.k.i.n.g Gabriel!" Paul''s eyes widened slightly in surprise as he said, "I failed to see what use there was was to learn her mother''s identity, who is Gabriel though?" With everyone else looking at Hyato pointedly for information, he spat, "Only an arch-f.u.c.k.i.n.g-angel, that''s who!" Realization then seemed to dawn on Hyato as he sacredly glanced at their little hostage like she was a live bomb, even as she simply jumped up and down happily without a single care. They had only looked at her as a Saiyan up until that point, but with the realization of who her mother was Hyato now considered her one of the most dangerous existences there was, no mater her age. His worries were then proven right when Edith, who was eager to reunite with her parents, began to slap her open palms against the stone wall separating her from them, and made it cave in slightly from the force her tiny hands created. With everyone''s eyes widening at the display, Calvin muttered, "Super baby....ok then..." Darius however glanced between Edith and her parents, who were still waiting for their reply, and said, "We''re doing this now then. Paul, I want you to stay here and man the defenses in case they try to get close. Alice, ready your boy toys to help him defend the Gardens and keep them from retaking Stacy if they try something, then you, Hyato, Calvin and I will go up there to ''talk'' with them. Now go!" At his orders everyone leapt up to do as Darius commanded. Alice quickly ran to her quarters to have Sebastian, who was training their two new recruits, ready everyone else, while Darius handed control over the Hanging Gardens to Paul, which mainly included its defense system. Once they were ready, Darius used his Arc of Embodiment to fly up towards Alex while Hyato, Alice, and Calvin all followed him with their own various forms of flight. They had just barely stopped at twenty feet in front of him, when Alex stated, "I don''t see Edith anywhere, does this mean you want the prolonged torture route?" Darius''s brows furrowed when he heard Alex''s question, amazed that the stupid Saiyan still thought he was in control. "You seem to be misunderstanding something." Darius began with irritation. "If you so much as twitch a single muscle, then your daughter will pay for it, slowly and painfully." He then paused to let the threat sink in, before continuing, "Whereas if you willingly submit yourself and everything you have to me, then neither of you would have a thing to worry about. You''d be able to indulge in all the l.u.s.t you d.e.s.i.r.e, with ANY woman you d.e.s.i.r.e as you breed us a Saiyan army. And STACY will live peacefully and happily as long as you cooperate, never wanting for anything." Alex''s glare intensified when he heard what Darius had to say, as he spat back, "First of all it''s EDITH, not ''Stacy''. And secondly the only things that''s for sure going to happen today is that I WILL get my daughter back, and all of you WILL die. The only thing that needs to be decided is the order. " Darius frowned when he heard that since Alex spoke as if there was no changing either of those two outcomes, and that no matter what they did he''d still kill all of them. "You''re an arrogant one, aren''t you?" He said with obvious disdain, which made Alex roll his eyes before retorting, "Says the one who thinks all it''ll take to steal everything I have is to hide behind the skirts of a little girl." Darius and the rest of his entourage visibly flinched when they heard that one, before Alex startled them by suddenly flying closer to him. "And you don''t seem to realize that you backed yourself into the worst corner possible." Alex snarled once he was only a foot away from the Dark Emperor. "The only reason I haven''t torn you apart yet is because you''re using Edith as your shield, so go ahead and give me all the threats you want. The second that a single hair on her head is touched, I will bring the powers of creation and destruction themselves down on you to erase everything you''ve built." Darius paled as he realized the biggest error they made in this plan, which wasn''t Alex going berserk or rampaging like they thought, but him gambling the safety of his own daughter to ensure that he destroyed them. What he didn''t know was that no matter what they might do to Edith to get at Alex, he''d be able to fix with his Age of God Magics like it was nothing, not that he''d want to have to do that of course. Wth the two currently at an impasse the two emperors simply stared at each other for over a minute, both trying to find a sign of weakness in the other. This went on until suddenly Hyato snarled, "F.u.c.k this!" Then, before Darius could stop him, Hyato readied the True Longinus while his armor shouted, [PENETRATE!] With the blade at the tip of the True Longinus gaining a reddish tint, it was suddenly sent flying at Alex with the obvious intent to kill. Alex snorted in disdain at the attempt to kill him, before simply dodging the divine lance with ease and redirecting Hyato''s immediate follow up punch. "So this is your answer?" Alex stated to Darius, while paying next to no attention to Hyato even as he tried repeatedly to kill him. Though the Dark Emperor seemed indifferent to Hyato''s actions, he was inwardly furious at him for attacking. Knowing that it was too late to stop the coming conflict, Darius simply flew backwards a ways and said to the other two, "It appears that this so-called ''Dragon Emperor'' needs to be taught how things will be from now on, enlighten him." Calvin sneered nastily at his emperor''s orders, while Alice flashed Alex a disarming smile, her eyes immediately traveling down towards his nether regions as she recalled the part of his match against Typhon when he ended up n.a.k.e.d. Alex however didn''t mind either of them as he effortlessly deflected, blocked, and evaded every single one of Hyato''s attacks, infuriating him more and more as the seconds slowly creeped by. Before Alice and Calvin could move to help him though, Anne''s figure blocked the latter''s path as she snarled, "Your opponent is me!" Instead of appearing annoyed at her blocking his path, Calvin looked Anne''s body up and down as he took in all of the exposed skin due to her dancers outfit''s high exposure rate. "You don''t need to tell me twice baby!" He said excitedly as he controlled the vortex of air holding him in the sky to move away from Alex''s fight with Alice and Hyato. Gabriel however flew back a bit to watch the fight since she was mostly there for Edith and as support, Alex already stressing that she wasn''t to get anywhere near Darius. Alex however continued to hold back Hyato with ease, even as Alice turned super Saiyan and joined him in trying to attack him. He then frowned when he felt the level of power coming from her and her attacks, as despite the fact that she was still currently ''stronger'' than him in her transformed state, she was still weak enough that Alex could easily take her without needing to transform himself. There was also the fact that all of her attacks were projected by her energy, so that each time she tried to even punch him he basically received a warning well in advance, without even needing to rely on his Observation Haki. Despite the rage that still filled him at Edith''s kidnapping, Alex still couldn''t help the pang of disappointment when he realized that THIS was the Saiyan that he had been so eager to fight. Though he resisted the urge to shake his head in disappointment, Alice still seemed to sense something as she angrily demanded, "What?!" This time Alex did shake his head at her even as he used a finger to redirect a strike from Regulus Nemia, which then proceeded to split the ocean below them in half. Feeling that Alex was looking down on her, a tick mark appeared on Alice''s forehead as she charged in while simultaneously knocking Hyato to the side, and fired off a barrage of various high speed attacks at him. "You''ll need to try harder than that." Alex said as if disinterested in the fight after dodging or redirecting every single one of her attacks, angering Alice even more as she began to attack him with renewed vigor. With each passing second though Alex grew increasingly disappointed in his opponent, as it was obvious that aside from obtaining Super Saiyan she hadn''t done any actual training to strengthen herself, or hone her skills. "STOP ACTING LIKE YOU''RE BETTER THAN ME!" Alice roared in anger, her initial d.e.s.i.r.e for Alex''s body forgotten from the way he seemed to regard her with a condescending attitude. The madder she got though the more Alice''s golden aura grew in intensity, due to the Saiyan ability to truly channel their emotions into their own strength. However it didn''t help her skills, though Alex could tell that she was slightly improving as she fought against him, and so her further increase in strength didn''t change a thing until he felt a slight disturbance in the void. The next thing Alex knew a length of golden chain appeared from nowhere before wrapping around his right wrist, and pulling his arm straight out to restrain it. He then didn''t fight it as a series of golden chains appeared out of nowhere to bind his other arm, both his legs, and even his abdomen to lock him completely in place. Though he wasn''t really resisting, Alex still tugged at the links to find that they were sturdier than he thought, not that they''d completely hold him if he truly tried to escape. Alex glanced at Darius before sneering, "You wanted them to ''teach'' me, yet had to step in yourself when all they did was make fools of themselves?" [PENETRATE!] Before Darius could reply a gauntleted gist suddenly impacted Alex''s face, with its force blowing through all of his defenses as the inside of his cheek shredded itself against his teeth. Alex didn''t even flinch at the attack though, as he simply looked at Hyato and said, "Not only do you hit like a bitch, but you have to wait for me to be restrained like one too." Hyato snarled at Alex''s provocation as he immediately directed one of his feet up between his legs. This time however he didn''t use ''Penetrate'', and so Alex negated all of the potential damage with his Armament Haki. "MOTHER F.U.C.KER!!!" Hyato cried out in pain while cradling his possibly broken foot, to which Alex replied in a fake lighthearted tone, "Which mother are you referring to? I''ve f.u.c.k.e.d quite a few so you''ll have to be specific." Under his helmet Hyato''s face contorted in rage at Alex''s taunting, even as Alice''s fist sunk itself into his gut. Darius watched the beating take place with an impassive expression on his face, but inside his mind was in a frenzy as he tried to understand the reasoning for Alex''s current actions. Despite the obvious anger he felt towards them, Alex had not returned a single attack of his own at them. Instead he had simply dodged or redirected every one of their own attacks, and seemingly didn''t even try to resist as Darius bound him in the chains of Enkidu. On top of all of this, even with the hits he was currently taking and his snide remarks, it was obvious that Alex still full heartedly believed that he''d recover ''Stacy'', and kill them all. This much was clear when his and Alex''s eyes briefly met, and all Darius saw was a patient seething fury, tempered by an incredible focus. Then there was Gabriel, who was simply hovering in the back watching everything, seeming neither concerned or agitated about Alex''s current predicament. "It''s as if they''re waiting for something..." Darius muttered quietly to himself, before he suddenly realized that none of the other women they had confirmed to be accompanying Alex were there. "They''re stalling for time!" Darius cried out to Hyato and Alice as he turned back towards the Hanging Gardens, only for an eerie chuckle to escape Alex''s bloody lips as he said in a voice just loud enough to carry to him, "Too late." Darius slowly turned back to look at Alex, who was smiling viciously as his numerous wounds began to quickly heal, and Shizuku''s voice telepathically said in his head, ''Alex we have her! We have Edith!'' The moment Alex heard those words all of the murderous intent he''d been holding back exploded forth at the trio before him, and the chains binding him began to creak slightly. Meanwhile Gabriel vanished into a beam of light as she quickly returned to Tenrou Island, where she''d use the portal to return to Asora and her daughter. As she fled the trio were busy sharing horrified looks as they watched the illusion Kurumu cast over the Hanging Gardens disappear, only to reveal that their headquarters and home had been ruined, with several of its spires and towers destroyed while multiple fires raged. Alex interrupted their shock as he snarled at them, "Did you really think it''ll be that easy? That you''d be able to win just by taking a single little girl?" Darius was about to retort when another voice said in his head this time, ''Finally your majesty! I''ve been trying to reach you, we''re under attack!'' ''I can see that!'' Darius snapped back through the telepathic communication device he had been distributing to those who didn''t have access to the same system as him, only to hear back, ''No your majesty, I mean were under attack everywhere! Oraci¨®n Seis, Tartarus, Alvarez, EVERYWHERE!'' Darius''s expression became increasingly pale as the messenger explained that every one of the people he had sent telepathic communication devices to were reporting attacks, while several of the smaller dark guild and similar organizations had already been destroyed or were requesting aid from them. "You know, in a way you were right, that is all it took." They all looked at him with various expressions and thoughts as Alex continued, "One little girl, that was all it took for an entire world to move. That was all we needed for an entire world to go to war." The second the last word left his mouth a metallic bird suddenly appeared next to Alex before opening its beak, conjuring a series of projections for them to see. The first showed what was once an entire fleet of sh.i.p.s, that was now nothing but a bunch of debris and bodies that floated in the ocean. The next was a similar scene of and entire fleet of sh.i.p.s destroyed, except these were all airsh.i.p.s whose wreckage was strewn across a series of mountains. Then one showed the Capitol city of the Alvarez Empire destroyed and on fire, even as the fierce battle continued. Another showed the destroyed headquarters of Oraci¨®n Seis, and then the battle still occurring at the headquarters of Tartarus. One after another the images showed them all of the various organizations that were allied with them either already destroyed or in the process of being ruined, with several even showing the attackers themselves still fighting the dark guild and mercenary forces. Amongst them they could see figures with white feathery wings, black feathery wings, black leathery bat-like wings, Youkai, a type of merpeople, rabbit eared men and women, women that appeared and disappeared within sudden blizzards, an army of women wearing silver armor, and even legendary creatures like dragons and phoenixes. Every single one of the races that called Asora home had rallied in order to punish those who would would trample upon their peace, who would stoop so low as to even kidnap their own little princess. However their own rage that compelled them to march to war, despite the fact that they had all moved to Asora for peace, paled in comparison to Edith''s own father. With his daughter as well as the other innocents within the Hanging Gardens safely removed from the line of fire, Alex could finally rampage to his hearts content. Instantly the rage he had been suppressing ever since he first heard about Edith''s disappearance filled him, fueling every part of Alex''s body with power despite Enkidu''s ability to seal the strength of those trapped within its coils. As he slowly became surrounded by his signature golden aura, Alex looked directly at Darius and the two others before growling, "Now, it''s my turn." The trio were dead silent as they watched in awe while Alex''s golden aura intensified, until finally they were able to behold his Super Saiyan form in all its glory as his aura alone pushed them further back. Both Darius and Hyato couldn''t help but look at Alice incredulously when they saw Alex''s transformation, which was exactly the same as her own, but the two were incomparable. However Alex wasn''t done yet. CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE Electricity started crackling through the air as his power continued to climb, and Alex''s already oppressive aura intensified by several times as the oceans below them tossed and churned as if subjected to a great storm. "HA!" Alex cried out as his hair elongated and became sharper and spikier, while a single strand fell in front of his face. "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me...?" Alice muttered in both horror and awe as she personally beheld the SSJ2 transformation for the first time, while both Darius and Hyato were simply speechless at what they were witnessing. However even as the air around him crackled and the power surged from his body, the chains that held Alex in place remained firm. This didn''t bother him though, as Alex''s power continued climbing without any discernible pause to force the three of them back even further, and even disrupted Anne''s battle with Calvin off to the side. As it continued climbing Alex became wrapped in a giant sphere of golden aura as it continued growing in intensity, as if he was the core of a brilliant golden sun. As his power continued increasing a savage yell escaped Alex''s throat as their surroundings began trembling once more, except this time it wasn''t limited to just the Hanging Gardens. "Father?! What''s going on?!" A young woman with tied up dark green hair cried out as the world around them started shaking, Hisui E. Fiore, Princess of Fiore. Next to her was a man short enough to give even Markarov a run for his money, who desperately clung to his daughter''s skirts for support even as he cried out, "I-I don''t know!" This man was none other than the king of all of Fiore, Toma E. Fiore. Together the father-daughter duo could only cling to the other as they tried to stabilize themselves, even as they felt the terrible power growing in the distance, accompanied by the golden glow that reached even them. Everywhere in the world the same thing was occurring as everyone felt the power that inspired both fear and awe as the entire world itself seemed to shake, while even the gods of Earthland themselves trembled in fear. For nearly a minute this continued, until an sharp CRACK rang out across the world, and the terrible power seemed to finally be settling down. While those who hadn''t witness Alex''s transformation were wondering what was going on, those who did either directly or indirectly could only gape at the sight before them. As the vortex of golden power encasing him subsided, Alex was revealed looking vastly different from before. His spiky golden hair now flowed down past his b.u.t.t like a great mane, while his eye brows seemed to have vanished only for the ridge they were on to extend out over Alex''s eyes noticeably. Also different was that Alex''s muscles seemed to be much more prominent, but not to the point of interfering with his speed like the bulky SSJ grade three transformation. Of these changes though the one Darius was most focused on was the broken links of golden chain that were dangling from Alex''s arms, legs, and abdomen, with his newfound strength having shattered Enkidu like it was nothing. Without even bothering to admire his new look, Alex turned towards the trio of spectators and uttered in low growl, "Here I come." Chapter 377 - March of the Valkyries *Earlier* STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP Within Asora the sound of metallic footfalls echoed as a literal army of beautiful women marched, their faces stone cold as their hair flowed majestically around them and their silvery armor gleamed in the spring sun. Through the streets the Valkyries marched to their destination as a message to the people who watched from their door was and windows, a message that said ''we will not take this lying down!'' A sentiment shared by every resident of Asora, as from the homes of those who watched their march men and women joined the growing procession behind them, all volunteers like Alex had specified. When he discovered that his own daughter had been taken from what was supposed to be their most secure haven, Alex had immediately given the orders for the Valkyries to prepare for battle, along with any who wished to join them. They had then spent the entire night preparing as they used the magic compass and various other techniques to gather as much information on their opponents as possible, and now it was time for them to go to war. From one of the homes that the Valkyries were passing, a man and woman watched them march by with solemn yet fierce expressions on their faces. They both had the trademark golden-blond hair that identified them as angels that were created by God himself before his death, meaning that they had already existed for several millennium before following Gabriel into Asora. The duo watched the army of Valkyrie march past them before the man finally looked at her and said, "It''s time." The woman didn''t say anything as the man stepped back and shone brilliantly for a brief second, before he was attired in the battle gear worn by angels for millennia. As he turned towards the door to join the procession of volunteers following after the army of Valkyries, the woman suddenly said, "Make them pay for stealing little Edith." The man turned back towards and took in the image of his wife, another warrior of God that had fought by his side for centuries before they inevitably fell in love. However, due to the system God had created, they were unable to truly consummate their love for fear of becoming Fallen Angels. Then however they were approached by the lady Gabriel, who offered them to live in peace in a land untouched by the influence of God''s system. Though skeptical and hesitant at first, the couple still accepted and soon learned the truth of Gabriel''s claims when she herself became pregnant and gave birth to a little girl, Edith. Now Edith was akin to the princess of all the angels in Asora, proof that they no longer needed a system like the Brave Saints for more angels to be born after God died and was unable to create more. Now more and more angels were experiencing the joys of parenthood themselves as they managed to conceive their own children. The man then looked at his wife''s belly, which hadn''t started to bulge yet, but still contained the budding life they had created together, the result of their love through the centuries. He then approached her and placed his hand stop her belly, and kissed her gently before saying, "We will." The man then turned and left his home to take his place amongst the volunteers, right between a Devil and a Fallen Angel. The angel glanced at the duo on either side of him, both individuals he might''ve fought against on the battlefield at some point in the distant past, but none of them cared about that. The procession finally stopped right before the portal leading to Tenrou Island, where Sairaorg and Rossweise were waiting for them. As Asora''s appointed head of military affairs, Sairaorg was there to oversee the forces that would be leaving Asora to join the attack. "VALKYRIES!" Rossweise suddenly called out as the army stopped before her. "WHAT IS YOUR DUTY?" """TO DEFEND ASORA AND ITS PEOPLE!""" The gathered Valkyries chanted back, to which Rossweise asked, "AND HOW HAVE YOU PERFORMED SO FAR?" """WE HAVE FAILED!""" Without hesitation the Valkyries announced their failure to protect Asora and its people, which ended up resulting in Edith''s kidnapping. It wasn''t truly their fault, however as those charged with the protection of the people of Asora they couldn''t help but feel responsible. Rossweise nodded slowly at their response, before saying slowly, "Correct, WE have failed. Our job was ensure the safety of our people at all times, even more so when our lord is not present. However not only did we fail at this, we allowed one of the the children of our own lord to be taken, WILL WE ALLOW THIS?!" """NO! WE WILL NOT!""" "Good." Rossweise said before stepping aside and gesturing towards the portal. "THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Without hesitation the Valkyries rushed forward to the portal at Rossweise''s insistence, while the volunteers that joined them followed, where Grayfia was waiting to send them to their various destinations on the other side. *** A fleet of sh.i.p.s was sailing uneventfully through the open ocean as they made their way to their destination, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Though the majority of the crew and the mages that they were transporting seemed bored, the captain couldn''t help the feeling he was getting that something bad was about the happen, the same feeling he''d get right before a sudden storm or sea monster attacked. "Stay alert!" He called out irritably at those who were lounging around, right before the lookout cried, "Captain, ahead!" The captain looked out over what was supposed to be open ocean, but instead was stunned when he saw a beautiful woman standing there on the open water. Her long violet hair flowed around her as her sleepy looking eyes glared at them. "What do you want?" The captain called out to her, before his question was followed up by a series of jeers and catcalls from his passengers. Ingvild didn''t answer though. Instead she simply lifted one of her small hands to gesture at the sh.i.p.s, and the sea truly became alive around them. Waves swelled and crashed at such sizes that the fleet bucked and sh.i.p.s even ended up colliding a few times, but none of the people aboard the sh.i.p.s paid any attention to that as a massive scaled head rose up from the waves, causing a literal downpour as water flowed off of its head onto them. With a sea monster large enough to swallow at least one of their sh.i.p.s whole glaring down at them menacingly, the majority of the people aboard the sh.i.p.s emptied their bladder on the spot, even before the sea monster opened its mouth, and let loose an ear shattering roar. The dark mages and seamen all collapsed to the ground as they clapped their hands over their ears, which did nothing to drown out the deafening roar that assaulted them. It was only when the monster stopped roaring that they were able to stand once more, only to see that several sections of the sea monster''s body had been raised above the water to reveal numerous men and women standing on it, tridents at the ready. "We have several other fleets and harbors to move onto after this, so ATTACK!" Ingvild declared in an uncharacteristically authoritative voice, triggering the assault that would become the worst nightmare of any seafarer. *** "Hahaha! You guys are insane!" A man declared as he left their guild headquarters to take a leak, which was located in the middle of the forest. Stopping in front of the same tree that was usually frequented by any members of their guild who needed to empty their bladder. "Haaaaaaaa..." The man sighed in relief as the stream started flowing against the tree trunk, before a figure dropped down silently behind him and thrust his wrist at the man''s back. "!" The man let out a very brief and silent gasp of pain as his attacker''s hand covered his mouth, before they pulled him to the ground beneath him. "Requiescat in Pace.(Rest in Peace)" The attacker said as the light began leaving the man''s eyes, the last thing they saw being the hooded figure who attacked them. Once the man was dead the figure pulled his wrist away from his back, where his wrist-blade had buried itself as it passed through the man''s ribs and into his heart. The figure paused long enough to close the eyes of the man he killed, before standing and turning towards the building that the dark guild operated out of. "For the boss." The figure muttered, as several other hooded figures appeared from the shadows to converge on the building. *** In another location three petite figures suddenly appeared as if rising from the darkness itself, before the leading figure looked towards the fortress that was currently occupied by the dark guilds, and said, "Let''s have some fun, shall we?" The moment the words left her mouth the entire world seemed to plunge into darkness, though it was actually just the area surrounding the fortress, and within seconds the entire area was sent into a state of panic. Nyx smirked as she watched their enemies desperately try to light the area after she plunged it into darkness, and remarked with a sneer, "So much for them being so-called ''dark guilds'' I mean who can say they''re ''dark'' if they''re scared of darkness?" Nemesis snickered in agreement behind her, while Eri watched on indifferently, only waiting for when they''d start slaughtering those who dared to anger her master. After several minutes of watching the fools flounder around in the dark, Nyx finally said, "Ok, I guess you can go and kill them all now." Nemesis smiled widely as she disappeared into the darkness, while Eri''s disinterested expression morphed into an insane and sadistic smile. "Let''s go my little toys!" She said with more than a little insanity, summoning hundreds of corpses at once that began to lumber slowly towards the fortress walls. Naturally a panic arose once the inhabitants noticed dozens of corpses approaching them, which the giveaway was how Eri had begun to experiment recently, so several of her ''toys'' had tell-tale stitch marks where she had attached a new limb or two. The mages and mercenaries within the fortress could only despair as they watched the attacking monsters steadily approach them regardless of the damage their spells and weapons did against them, before they began to systematically tear down the walls and gates. Meanwhile, inside the fort''s command room, the master of the dark guild was meeting with his most powerful mages as they tried to figure out what was going on, and how to deal with it. Angry and scared voices filled the room, until a young feminine voice asked, "Are you big bad men really that scared of the dark?" Everyone froze when they heard the voice, before slowly turned to see what looked like a young dark skinned girl standing there in the shadows, a vicious sneer on her face. "Who the hell are you brat, and what do you want with the Black Skull guild?" The guild master demanded angrily and haughtily, however Nemesis could see the tell-tale fear in his eyes. Her sneer transitioning into an amused smirk from the way the guild master was acting, Nemesis said as she reached her hand back towards the shadows behind her. "My name is Nemesis, and we''re here to kill all of you." Though a small part of her wanted to turn the people before her into her ''servants'', their orders were to kill all of the enemies they crossed paths with. So Nemesis channeled her power of Transformation into the shadows around her, along with the ''blessing'' Nyx gave her, willing the darkness within them to take the form she d.e.s.i.r.ed. Even though the group were prepared to fight if needed, they all paused when they saw the shadows around Nemesis coming alive, before a monstrously clawed hand stepped out. "Kill." The petite girl ordered ruthlessly, before the room was filled with the blood curdling screams of the victims inside. *** In another location a fleet of freshly made airsh.i.p.s had just departed the facility charged with making them, when the lookout suddenly cried, "CAPTAIN!" The captain, an unusually young man for such a position, replied with a little annoyance, "What is it?" Possibly not noticing the annoyance in his captain''s voice, the lookout cried out with undisguised panic, "D-d-d-DRAGONS!" The word hung over the entire deck of the ship in complete silence, before the entire crew, captain included, burst into uncontrollable laughter. "''D-d-d-dragons!''" One of the sailors mocked while another said between tears, "Doesn''t he know that all the dragons are gone? They were wiped out centuries ago!" The laughter continued at the poor boys expense, until a monstrous roar echoed in the distance. In an instant the atmosphere on the ship changed as several crew members ran to the side of the ship the roar came from, only to see a literal swarm of giant creatures coming right at them. Immediately they turned towards the young captain and asked, "Captain, what do we do?!" The man himself however froze, and the only thing that could be heard from him was the quiet muttering, "Dragons don''t exist.....dragons don''t exist.....dragons don''t exist....." Over and over he muttered that dragons couldn''t possibly exist, and even that he must''ve been dreaming to see them coming at them. His delusions continued even as the lead dragon, a pitch black specimen that dwarfed most of it''s brethren following it, cried out in a surprisingly feminine voice, "KILL THEM ALL IN THE NAME OF MINE MASTER, THOU''S LIEGE! KILL!!!" Tio led the thunder of dragons as they thundered towards their pitiful prey, blood and death in their gaze. While Tio''s countrymen counted themselves as an honorable and righteous people, the kidnapping of Edith and the deeds of the various dark guilds under Darius''s rule had removed all doubt of their current course of action from their minds. Meanwhile the various dragons that Alex had subdued in the Rosario Vampire universe had all undergone numerous treatments with Spirt and Alteration magics, making them more intelligent, powerful, and completely loyal to their emperor. That was why there was no hesitation whatsoever as the thunder of dragons tore into the fleet of airsh.i.p.s, burning, chewing, and clawing their way through the numerous mages and mercenaries onboard. Tio however had resumed her human form and watched over the slaughter from above, her still reptilian eyes scanning every detail to make sure nothing untoward happened. She was filled with a strong sense of pride as she watched her kinsmen and the other dragons tear into her master''s enemies, before shuddering as she recalled the look in her master''s eyes from before. Though she understood the gravity of the current situation, the raw fury in Alex''s gaze still sent shivers of excitement through her body when Tio recalled it. Her butthole tightened around the plug that was lodged within at the thought, and Tio''s mind wandered to her master ''punishing'' her with the same expression. "This one thinks I may need to change mine p.a.n.t.i.e.s..." Tio muttered a moment later as she glanced around awkwardly, before magically changing her u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r for the fifth time already that day. While Tio led the dragons and dragon tribe in their assault, the sounds of the battle carried all the way to the the shipyard where they were created, built within the cliffs of a set of massive mountains. "What''s going on?" One of the shipbuilders asked worriedly, before the ground beneath them began to shake. All of the shipbuilders looked down in concern, before a massive glowing tear formed under their feet. "Oh shit..." One of them muttered, before they were engulfed by the massive plume of magma that erupted from the crevice, and flooded the entire place to burn them all. "FOR MY LEIGE!" Bova roared as his massive and magmatic form emerged from crevice, before spreading his wings to cover the entire mountain under them as droplets of magma rained down onto them. The few survivors could only scream in terror and try to flee, only to be engulf in the tidal wave of volcanic magma that chased them as if it had a mind of its own. *** Meanwhile a group of beautiful women with delicate features were seen walking towards a town, their pale hair and white kimonos flowing lightly in the wind. "I still don''t see why we ourselves need to fight, we''re not warriors!" One of the Yuuki-Onna complained loudly, making the one leading them, the Snow Priestess herself, turn to face her angrily. "The Dragon Emperor has given us everything! We no longer have to hide ourselves from the world, or wonder if our race will go extinct!" The Snow Priestess then turned towards all of the gathered Yuuki-Onna, and declared, "If we cannot repay his kindness when he needs assistance, then we do not deserve it in the first place!" As her words hung over them, the Yuuki-Onna that hadn''t wanted to fight looked down in shame as they realized the truth in them. Because of Alex they were no longer ''trapped'' within their own village, waiting for any of the few men to wander close enough for them to seduce them for the night. Now not only were they able to interact with others without worry, but there were already several dozen of their people who were expecting children soon. CL.A.P! Breaking up the somber mood that had descended upon the group, Tsurara clapped her hands and said in a cheerful tone, "Well that''s enough of that for now! Let''s prepare, shall we?" Once the words were out of her mouth Tsurara surprised everyone by suddenly producing enough firearms to arm a small army, before handing them with the same smiling expression. Mizore accepted what appeared to be an assault rifle and a shotgun from her, before asking with a deadpan expression, "Where did you get all of these mother?" Tsurara cupped her cheek with her hand and said with an innocent motherly smile, "I heard about how little Hajime apparently really likes his guns, and asked him about making me some. Imagine my surprise when he handed me a storage ring filled with thousands of weapons, several of which I''m more than a little eager to try out." As she said that Tsurara then summoned yet another weapon from her arsenal, a mini gun mounted on a pair of large wheels, before summoning a rocket launcher that she slung over her back. She then turned back towards the Snow Priestess and asked, "Shall we then?" The Snow Priestess shook her head before taking her previous place at the head of the Yuuki-Onna army, conjuring a blizzard as she did so. *** While Darius''s allies, sh.i.p.s, airsh.i.p.s, and fortresses were being systematically destroyed, all of the people that had been rounded up and turned into slaves were working at production camps. It was at these locations that they produced any necessities that Darius and his armies needed when they couldn''t be taken from the already stripped cities. "GO FASTER!" CRACK A mercenary barked at a young kid before skillfully cracking his whip, making the kid cry out in pain as the whip left a bloody line running across the kid''s back. "You useless piece of shit!" The mercenary cried out as the kid fell to the ground, before he proceeded to continue whipping him to make him continue working. Each crack of the whip was followed by the sound of the kid crying out in pain, which was then followed by the child sobbing until yet another crack shot through the air. The bystanders could only watch or try to ignore the child crying before them as they were whipped repeatedly, knowing that they''d only receive even worse if they tried to intervene. All any of them could do was continue working as if nothing was happening, until they suddenly heard a screech in the distance. "What was that?" One of the mercenaries asked out loud, before the sound of thunder began to tear through the air rhythmically. Suddenly the sky in the distance lit up like the sun, except that it had two wings extending outwards. With each of its wings downward movements the air thundered as it moved closer, letting loose another great screech as it approached them. "R-r-RUN!" One of the mercenaries cried out as they began to flee while also making sure that none of the slaves were able to do so as well, turning them into a distraction for the monster that was rapidly approaching them. However, with a single flap of its wings as it bore down on them, the Phoenix bathed the entire area in its flames to instantly turn all of the buildings and mercenaries to ash before they even had the chance to scream. Instead, all of the screaming was done by the slaves that had been laboring endlessly as they too were engulfed by the hungry flames, only for them to feel a warm and light tickle instead. "W-what is this?" One of the slaves asked, before their ragged clothes and the collar identifying them as slaves burned away, leaving hordes of n.a.k.e.d men, women, and children standing there once the flames burned away. Having endured numerous ''humiliations'' during their tenure as slaves for the Dark Emperor and the mercenaries that served him, none of the people were too concerned with their current lack of attire. Instead all of their attention was focused on the group of people that had suddenly appeared after the flames dispersed, a beautiful blonde haired woman with bright green eyes at their head. "Don''t worry everyone, we''re here to help!" Asia Argento declared as the other members of the emergency response team spread out to clothe and organize the former slaves, while Asia herself was enveloped in a green light as she began using Regeneration magic to heal every wound and scar that she saw. Meanwhile on a distant mountaintop Ravel was magically watching the events transpire while a Phoenix that was significantly larger than the others flying around stood next to her. "To think...." Rho-Dan said slowly as he too watched the events unfold, "...I would see the day that we Phoenixes would put aside our ''pride'' to work alongside other beings..." Ravel snorted at Rho-Dan''s statement and retorted, "It''s not too surprising when Alex is as pissed as he is. None of them want to risk making him even madder." Rho-Dan couldn''t help but nod in agreement when Ravel mentioned how angry Alex was, which had terrified all of the Phoenixes even more than when he destroyed Shi-Lan before their eyes. Ravel then began communication with the other healers and doctors that had been dispatched to help the former slaves, Valerie, Kaori, Mikado with Oshizu, Wendy, and Sherria. Together with the help of the Phoenixes and the members of the emergency response teams that Anne had formed, they began to undo the damage that Darius''s forces had done to them, little by little. (A.N. I know people probably wanted to get right to the beat down, but I wanted to give some of the other characters a bit of screen time first, as well as showing the other battles.) Chapter 378 - Update Sorry but the next chapter is going to be delayed a bit due to all of the stuff that going on here right now. For the last week I''ve been fighting a cold, had a birthday, been helping someone move, taking care of sick animals, and working on firewood on top of keeping my full time schedule during our busy season. Hopefully I''ll have the next chapter out in the next few days. Chapter 379 - The Dragon Empress Within the hanging gardens, in the same room that Darius had beaten Hyato in just a few short days before, a minor ripple in space appeared that three figures walked through, Shizuku, Kurumu, and Kuroka. The nekomata used her touki to quickly scan the area for enemies, her expression unusually serious as they prepared for the rescue mission. In an instant she used Spatial magic to seal the area immediately around the Hanging Gardens, preventing any kind of communication from leaving or entering, while Kurumu quickly placed a powerful illusion to prevent anyone outside from realizing that something was going on in the castle. Their preparations complete, the trio then headed out to accomplish their mission, to retrieve Edith so that Alex could be able to fight without having to worry about her getting caught in the crossfire. As they wandered the halls they passed several people hurrying as they tried to ready themselves for an attack, none of which even noticed them thanks to the trio being the best amongst Alex''s peerage at hiding themselves. Eventually Kuroka turned her attention someplace above as she appeared as if she was looking through the walls, before she said, "Found her." With Kuroka''s lack of verbal ticks indicating exactly how tense the current situation was, both Kurumu and Shizuku readied themselves as they prepared to face whoever would be against them. Space then rippled around them once more as Kuroka brought them directly to the room where Edith was being kept, bringing them face-to-face with a group of four men gathered around her, two of which were familiar. "KITTY!" Edith happily cried out before anyone could say anything, earning her a smile from Kuroka before she said, "Don''t worry Edith, we''ll take you to see mommy and daddy now~Nya!" Purposely adding her verbal tick at the end, Kuroka also winked at the little girl to help keep her happy before the battle for her began. When he heard that the red haired flamboyant man began to snicker and was about to tell Kuroka to stop dreaming when something happened that none of hem were expecting. "Such grace, elegance, and feline beauty! Please, tell me your name!" Sebastian declared as he suddenly took one of Kuroka''s hands into his own, his gaze filled with infatuation as he focused on her multitude of tails and cat ears. Kuroka''s brows twitched in obvious annoyance, as she spat at him, "Kuroka...." Sebastian gasped at her voice dramatically, before saying as he looked into her eyes, "Kuroka, will you please marry me?" SLAM! When they heard those words several people in the room fell to their sides in shock, while the flamboyant man quickly ran up to Sebastian and demanded, "You''re cheating on me little Sebas?! I thought we had something special!" Sebastian directed a look of blatant disgust at the man, Grell Sutcliff, and stated without any hesitation, "What we ''have'' is my mistress''s orders, nothing more. If it wasn''t for her then you''d never have even gotten close to me to begin with!" With their contract making all of Alice''s orders absolute to him, Sebastian had no choice but to act out every single boys love e.r.o.t.i.c fantasy she could come up, making her his least favorite contractor to date. If it wasn''t for the fact that he knew her soul would be more delectable than any other he had ever had, or would ever find, he probably would''ve voided their contract long ago. That was why Sebastian had no problem verbally abusing the crestfallen Grell, before turning his attention back to the most amazing being to have ever crossed his path, Kuroka. Seeing his sincere gaze and pleading eyes, Kuroka flashed Sebastian the sweetest smile she could manage before saying in an even sweeter voice, "Get your filthy f.u.c.k.i.n.g hands off of me." Before anyone even had time to register what she said, each of Kuroka''s nails on the hand that Sebastian was holding extended into long and lethal claws, piercing through his suit and c.h.e.s.t as if they were paper. "Gah!" Sebastian coughed up a mouth full of blood as Kuroka''s claws literally shredded his heart and lungs, before she used her hold to slowly raise him up to a standing position once more. She then slowly raised up her foot until it was level with his sternum, before planting it onto him and sending Sebastian flying into the wall behind him, caving in the stone on impact. "Yay! Go kitty! Go kitty!" Edith cheered happily after Kuroka sent Sebastian flying, while Grell quickly rushed to his side despite Sebastian''s cruel words less than a moment before, and cried out, "My darling Sebas! You''ll pay for that you hussy of a thieving cat!" As he shouted at her the other two people in the room began moving as if to fight, Natsu and Gajeel, the former''s arms flickering with a dark demonic flame. Both of them looked at Kuroka and the others with unwavering hostility, and no sign of recognition in their eyes. Kuroka just eyed them as both Shizuku and Kurumu readied themselves beside her as well, the latter holding back her laughter from the previous scene, and said, "Time to teach all of you a lesson~Nya!" Meanwhile, in the shadows nearby, Paul was watching the entire thing play out, his gaze cold and calculative. He had already tried, and failed, to reach the Dark Emperor and alert him to the intruders, which told him they had severely underestimated their opponents if they were capable of instantly blocking telekinetic communications. With their response being completely outside his expectations, instead of trying to secure Edith, Paul decided that it might be in his best interests to wait this battle out and see who the victor was. After all, he specialized in assassination and intelligence gathering, not direct combat. His Energy Absorption ability was only for a last resort against opponents like these, and the last thing he wanted was to bring the ire of someone who was as powerful as Alex directly down onto he himself. Without another thought regarding the safety of his supposed ''comrades'', Paul then turned around and made to leave the Hanging Gardens as he awaited the battle''s conclusion. *** "Tell you what, become my woman now and I won''t have to beat you into submission." Anne''s eyes narrowed at his proposal, before she held up her left hand to show off the golden band on her ring finger and replied, "I''m already happily married, so screw you!" Calvin''s brow twitched just ever so slightly when he heard that, before he snorted back, "If it''s the guy back there, then you can forget about it. Once Darius is done with him he''ll have no choice but to obey anything we tell him, even if it means giving up some of his so-called ''wives''." Since the plan was already to have Alex give up Rias once he inevitably joined them, then there''d be no issue with making him give up another one or two of his women along with her while the rest would still be used for breeding. Naturally, Anne''s expression darkened when she heard that as she recalled the one man''s apparent infatuation with Rias. Though she wanted to go off on the man regarding his pig headedness, Anne ultimately held her tongue since there''d be no point when the other party willingly practiced and took advantage of commercial slavery. Instead, she then began to draw in a long drawn out breath, putting Calvin on alert even before she cried out, "SKY DRAGON''S ROAR!" Calving wyes widened as he watched the destructive cyclone of wind rapidly approach him, forcing him to immediately release a blast of fire from his hands and feet in order to move out of the way fast enough, but even then it wasn''t enough. "Ngh..." Calvin let out a muted groan as the cyclone just barely grazed his upper right bicep, shredding the clothes over it and even going as far as sending him back a short ways before he was able to stabilize the vortex of air he used to fly. Glancing back at Anne once he was stable once more, Calvin smirked before remarking, "Looks like my bending is gonna be useless here, good thing I always had a plan B and C prepared!" As there was always the chance of encountering someone who wouldn''t be effected by the power of the four elements at his disposal, Calvin had prepared for this with the two swords on his hip. Though he technically still could''ve used fire or water, there was no telling if Anne had other slayer elements at her disposal as well as sky, so it was best to use a weapon that didn''t rely entirely on elements instead. He then grabbed the handle of the old looking katana on his hip before drawing the sword out, making Anne''s eyes go wide as she recognized the sword he drew. "Tessaiga...." She breathed in an barely audible voice, nostalgia filling her despite the current situation as she recalled one of the few animes she had ever watched, Inuyasha. The sword itself was impossibly deceptive compared to how it appeared when it was sheathed. Extending as long as a person was tall, the blade itself was curved to resemble a dog''s fang while the guard between the handle and blade was covered with some moderately long ivory colored fur. Calvin smirked victoriously as he watched Anne''s reaction to his Tessaiga, his upper lip curling up slightly to reveal his teeth as he declared, "Last chance, submit now or I''ll have to get a bit nasty with you." Looking back at the man himself, Anne''s expression hardened once more while she also retained her alertness towards the weapon before her. Though not as powerful as certain other weapons, Tessaiga was still a powerful sword in its own right while also being able to gain new attacks to become even stronger after defeating certain opponents. Despite recognizing the sword and knowing its initial attacks, Anne had no idea what the sword in Calvin''s hands was actually capable of, making her even more alert than she was before. Taking her extended silence as yet another refusal, Calvin shrugged and said as he used both hands to ready the massive sword, "Very well, I gave you a chance so don''t blame me for your suffering." Then, without any hesitation, Calvin swung the great sword in the empty air at Anne''s general direction, while also crying out, "''Wind Scar''!" Just barely escaping the path of the ''Wind Scar'', Anne didn''t have any time to rest as Calvin quickly fired off another attack at her, before following that one up with yet another attack. Anne''s brow twitched in annoyance as she realized that, unlike Inuyasha when he had first started using the ''Wind Scar'', Calvin was able to use it repetitively without the conditions that had originally been required to use it, which Inuyasha had only been able to do once the blade was reforged. Of course she didn''t have much time to think about how to counter the destructive attacks being aimed at her, each of which were claimed to have been able to eliminating one hundred Youkai with a single strike, as Anne began a dangerous dodging game while Calvin lazily fired off ''Wind Scar'' after ''Wind Scar'' at her. She was only able to weave through the destructive attacks carving their way through the air, until she noticed a very brief opening in calving barrage of attacks. Taking this moment to strike, Anne quickly took in another deep breath before crying out for the second time, "SKY DRAGON''S ROAR!" As yet another dangerous cyclone of razor sharp wind hurtled towards him however, this time Calvin didn''t even try to dodge. Instead, a victorious smirk appeared on his lips. Waiting until the cyclone was right about to hit him, Calvin quickly raised his sword once more and prepared to swing it, making Anne realize her mistake too late. "''BACKLASH WAVE''!" Calvin cried out as he used what initially appeared to be another ''Wind Scar'', except, with his impeccable timing, the normally destructive attack combined with Anne''s own roar as both were reflected right back at her as a series of devastating twisters. Anne could only watch as a cyclone of wind and energy more powerful than any she could use bared down on her. Mustering up every single bit of her will and strength, Anne reached out her hands and ''grabbed'' the cyclone of power with them, using everything she had to try and hold the attack back while the other twisters closed in on her. Her mind began racing as she desperately tried to figure out what to do before the series of twisters ripped her to shreds, until Jenny''s voice suddenly shouted in her mind, ''ANNE, REMEMBER THAT YOU''RE A SKY SLAYER!'' Anne''s mind temporarily blanked at the words, before she recalled that yeah, she WAS a sky slayer. She then opened her mouth, and proceeded to try and consume the twister fighting her hold. Calvin however was smirking confidently and victoriously as he watched his attacks close in on Anne, his victory already confirmed in his mind. She may end up battered and beaten, but as long as she was alive though Darius would be able to heal up her wounds without any issue. The thing Calvin was excited about though, was the fact that Anne was obviously another reincarnator like Alex. Though they did toy with the idea that others might''ve been with him when discussing strategies, none of them could confirm if that had actually been the case until now. Calvin was lost in the thoughts of his good fortune, until he suddenly noticed something that was going on, there was no sounds of destruction to accompany his ''Backlash Wave'' like usual. Instead, if he strained his ears, he could only hear the sounds of ravenous chewing. Turning his attention back to Anne, Calvin watched in shock as Anne ''ate'' each of the twisters formed by his ''Backlash Wave'', until none of them were left. Normally this would be impossible since they were filled with her own energy, as slayers couldn''t eat their own magic, however since the ''Backlash Wave'' was combination of both of their energies she was able to circ.u.mvent this to eat it all. What happened next was something neither of them could predict though, as after she swallowed the last little bit of Calvin''s attack, Anne felt a pulse of power surge through her body. THUMP! THUMP! With her body pulsing with energy, Anne opened her eyes to direct a fierce glare at Calvin, who paled when he saw that her pupils had changed into reptilian slits, while a series of scales had formed on her face and her hair began transitioning to pink. Calvin couldn''t even react as Anne suddenly appeared right in front of him, and slammed her hand into his gut while it was shaped like a claw. "Sky Dragon''s Claw!" Anne cried out as the full force of her enhanced strength and wind slammed into Calvin, sending him flying back as blood spurted from his mouth, and the vortex of air that he was using to maintain flight was dispersed. The hit was so intense, that Calvin was sent all the way down to the ocean, while his Tessaiga slipped from his grasp, and began sinking into the dark waters below. Though he could easily retrieve it, Anne didn''t give him the chance to. Instead she pressed her attacks continuously, each of her movements generating massive waves in the ocean each time she would try to bombard the area that Calvin was in with powerful wind based attacks. Naturally Calvin tried to use his water bending to try and negate as much of the effects of her attacks as possible, before he tried to send a series of ice spikes at her. Anne practically snorted at Calvin''s attempt to attack her, as each of the ice spikes froze in midair from her ''Telekinesis'', before turning them to face him instead. "Oh shit..." Calvin muttered to himself before he forced the deadly spears of ice to melt right before they could hit him. Realizing that his decision against using the other elements earlier had been the correct one, Calvin then figured that, in the face of Anne''s newly awakened might, he might have to resort to his plan C. Slowly the currents around him began to freeze until he had created a sizable platform of ice to stand on, where he became an easier target for Anne to attack. Though it was fairly obvious that he was up to something, Anne didn''t seem to care as she swiftly approached him once more for another round of attacks. Calvin took a deep breath and waited, time seeming to slow from his perspective as Anne approached him, his hand gripping the handle of his second katana in a tight yet loose hold. Then, with instincts he had trained while learning to master the four elements under his control, Calvin quickly unsheathed his sword and swept it in a quick attack, earning him a quiet cry of pain due to having managed to hit Anne''s hand with it. "Gotcha!" Calvin muttered, now one hundred percent convinced of his victory, no matter what other cards Anne possibly had. Anne meanwhile was clutching her hand with a pained expression, which had a small cut on the palm that was green with what appeared to be infection. She then glanced up at the sword that was still in Calvin''s hand, which had runes running along the blade and glowed with a peculiar green light. In an instant her Dragon Force transformation came undone as the green infection in the cut on her hand began to slowly spread, painfully dissolving any flesh it came into contact with. Calvin however, while battered and bruised, slowly paced around her victoriously before explaining, "My trump card, Bakusaiga. It''s a sword that dissolves all organic matter that it comes into contact with and nullifies any and every regenerative or healing ability. The only option left available if you want to live is to remove your arm before the infection spreads, and then plead with Darius to restore it later. So, what do you think about my offer now?" Wholeheartedly believing that he had already won, Calvin looked down on the still kneeling Anne with a victorious smirk as he awaited her answer, fully believing that she''d accept becoming his woman with her own life now forfeit otherwise. Anne however hadn''t lost hope yet, as she desperately tried using every form of healing available to her to try and slow the infection dissolving her flesh, despite how painful it was. However, true to Calvin''s gloating, nothing she tried worked. Sky Slayer magic, Regeneration magic, the stores of God Water on her, Phoenix Tears, nothing. Instead she slowly and painfully lost her fingers one by one, before the infection began crawling up her arm, and was almost to her elbow. As Calvin said before, there was only one way to stop the spread, but after that Anne''s ideas differed from his. Gritting her teeth, Anne held out the stump that use to be her right hand to the side, making Calvin think she accepted his offer to cut it off. But, before he could approach her, he suddenly found his entire body being f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y restrained by some invisible force. "You can stay right there!" Anne snapped at him forcefully, before she then began to use her ''Telekinesis'' to pull on her own arm at the shoulder. What followed was the most intense pain that Anne had ever experience, even dwarfing the infection making its way up her arm, as she felt the muscles in her shoulder tearing, the joints popping, and the skin ripping. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The pain was so great that Anne cried out like a dying animal even as she continued the exceedingly painful process of ripping her own arm off, before the limb was finally removed with a spray of blood and bits of her flesh dyeing the ice platform that Calvin had made red. The man himself though could stare in horrific awe at the scene, never once imagining that Anne would choose such a painful route rather than accept his terms. Though it took several minutes, eventually Anne stood up and turned to face Calvin, her expression showing pain and exhaustion like she''d never felt before as her bloody stump continued to bleed freely. Then, in a show of how little Calvin''s previous offer meant to her, Anne lifted her left hand towards the stump that used to be her right, and began using what little energy she had left to channel Regeneration magic into it. Calvin watched with increasingly wide eyes as the torn flesh of Anne''s arm slowly began to regenerate from the shoulder down, muscle, bone, and skin growing without a single blemish, right down to the fingernails. Though her injuries were healed, Anne still felt the occasionally phantom sensations of pain as her body tried to adjust to the fact that it had just regained the arm she had f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y removed. So, despite having healed all her injuries, Anne still looked like hell with drops of blood dotting her brown skin, and sweat running down the majority of her body. She ignored it though as she look back at Calvin, and said, "Now, I''m going to do something to you that I probably should''ve started with, but never wanted to do to another person." Before Calvin could ask what she meant, he suddenly let out a blood curdling scream as each of his fingers started bending backwards until they broke, one by one. Anne then slowly and meticulously used her ''Telekinesis'' to break and crush every part of Calvin''s body that she could, before slowly ripping the limbs off once they had been destroyed beyond repair. By the time she had finished, Calvin''s body was left in numerous bloody and pulpy pieces scattered across the ice sheet, before they eventually began to crumble into dust and fade away in the wind. "Never mess with the Dragon Empress..." Anne muttered to his vanishing remains, before she suddenly felt a massive amount of energy in the distance. Knowing that Alex was starting to move since Shizuku had alerted them to their retrieval of Edith as she was killing Calvin, Anne unhesitantly transferred herself to Asora to let her husband take care of the rest. There she found those who hadn''t gone to war gathered under a giant projection that showed the various battles that were still taking place, with the center screen showing a chained Alex in his SSJ2 transformation. Most of the people''s attention though was on a certain scene taking place in the middle of the crowd, where Gabriel was clinging onto Edith while fighting back her hysterics, a profound sense of relief filling her that her daughter was safely returned home. "What''d I miss?" Anne asked with tiredness evident in her voice, alerting people to her presence as they quickly cleared a path for her, awe in their gazes. Everyone knew her of course because she created the emergency response team and ran the hospital of Asora, but the fight they had just witnessed had changed many perspectives on her as no one knew just how brutal Anne could be if pushed far enough. The silence stretched for a moment or two, before a voice suddenly spoke up, "Are none of you going to answer your empress?" Everyone parted as Barakiel approached Anne, who had stayed behind to help organize everything. He then directed a glare to those around him before barking, "We''re you all also planning to just leave her there after the battle she''d just been through?! MOVE!" At his final command several people began moving to get Anne a seat to rest, as well as something to eat and drink. Snorting at them, Barakiel then turned his attention back to Anne and said, "Edith has been returned and most of those who went out to fight have returned as well after eliminating their targets. Now there''s only Alex and a few groups left fighting, like the ones who went to the Alverez Empire." Anne nodded in acknowledgement at Barakiel''s briefing of the situation, while busy trying to get a drink of water after some was brought to her. It was at this moment, when the tension finally started leaving her body, that she along with most of those around her were suddenly thrown to the ground as Asora started shake. "Earthquake?!" Barakiel cried out in astonishment, due to none of their sensors having detected seismic activity in the immediate area before. However he quickly learned that wasn''t the case when he suddenly received a call from one of his subordinates. "SIR! OUR SENSORS ARE DETECTING SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN ALL OF ASORA, NOT JUST THE SURROUNDING REGION!" Barakiel''s eyes widened in shock at the information, before the subordinate then continued, "WE''RE ALSO READING THAT THE MIST BOUNDARY HAS BEGAN EXPANDING AT AN ALARMING RATE! ASORA''S ALREADY GROWN TO MORE THAN DOUBLE THE PREVIOUS SIZE!" Barakiel was silent in shock at the information as he slowly turned to look at the screen showing Alex''s battle, along with the few others who weren''t desperately trying to maintain their footing. In it, Alex was completely engulfed by a massive golden aura that almost looked like a miniature golden sun, concealing what was evident to be a transformation within until there was finally a brilliant flash of bright light. When the light finally cleared, and everyone could see what was happening on the other side, they all gaped in awe at what they saw, with Alex''s figure having undergone several subtle changes, and the only drastic one being that his golden hair now flowed down past his b.u.t.t. Obviously, he had finally obtained the form he had been trying to achieve for a long time, the Super Saiyan 3. "OH COME ON!" Shias voice suddenly rang out, drawing everyone''s gaze to her location where she had just arrived with those who had also gone to attack the Alverez Empire, along with the unconscious forms of August, Brandish, and Irene. Instead of appearing pleased with their victory though, Shia only looked at the image of Alex''s new form with despair, knowing exactly who he was going to choose as a sparring partner as he tried to master it. The tension there reached an all-time high though, as Alex''s voice suddenly came through the projection, "Here I come." *** "Here I come." Alex told the trio before him, before there was a concussion of sound as both Hyato and Alice were practically blown away just from Alex suddenly moving between them, until he was in front of the Dark Emperor. Darius didn''t even have time to widen his eyes in surprise, before he suddenly felt an incredible pain in his stomach, and looked down to see Alex''s hand literally buried in his guts. He then shuddered as he felt Alex''s hand move inside him, wrapping around his spine before the man himself said, "That''s interesting, I didn''t think someone that had to steal another man''s daughter would have a spine..... I guess I''ll have to remedy that." While simultaneously using Spirit magic to temporarily sever the connection between Darius and Fairy Heart to extend the time it''ll take him to heal, Alex then proceeded to literally rip Darius''s spine out through his stomach. The Dark Emperor then fell to the churning surf below them, his limp body struggling to heal after being forcefully severed from his source of power for the second time in less than 24 hours. Alex then turned his attention towards the duo left as they watched him in horrified awe, before saying, "Next?" Chapter 380 - Brutality "Next." Alex said as he directed his attention towareds Hyato and Alice, making both of their bladders threaten to empty after watching him literally rip the spine out of the man they had followed. Several tense seconds slowly crawled by as the duo tried to decide what to do next, before Hyato eventually said, "Stall him..." Alice jumped at his voice before looking at him and demanding, "''Stall him''?! ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G INSANE?! HE JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G RIPPED OUT DARIUS''S SPINE LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!" Despite the super Saiyan raging at him though, Hyato''s gaze never left Alex as he calmly said, "I have a trump card that''ll allow me to take on even gods on more than even footing. The problem is that it takes time activate, and it''s essentially a suicide technique since it uses up my lifespan whenever I use it. So after I use this, I''ll pretty much be a dead man." Alice went wide eyed at him when she heard what he said, surprised that he apparently still even had a trump card. However that didn''t make her feel any better since she was the one that had to act as the distraction. With literally no other option available to them though, against an actual SSJ3, Alice gritted her teeth as she summoned every single drop of power at her disposal. She then turned back and said to him, "Pull this off and you might actually look a little bit manly." After she spoke a great golden aura exploded around her as her golden hair flapped violently in the wind, which would have been an awe inspiring spectacle if it wasn''t for Alex''s own transformation earlier. Meanwhile, behind her, Hyato had gone into a trance-like state as he began to chant in a voice that sounded to have dozens of others layered onto it, As he began chanting Alice suddenly surged forward with every bit of momentum she could muster, putting every little bit of it into her fist as she delivered the greatest punch she had ever thrown right into the middle of Alex''s c.h.e.s.t. It was a punch that could level mountains and clear seas, one that could rearrange entire landscapes and destroy complete ecosystems. Thud... Alice could only gape in shock as her fist thudded anti-climatically against Alex''s c.h.e.s.t, before his arms suddenly blurred. CRA-CRACK! Faster than she could react, Alice suddenly found her elbow bending backwards while her forearm was suddenly bent in a place it shouldn''t have been, in the other direction. She didn''t even had time to draw in a breath to scream at the sudden surge of pain, before Alex suddenly grabbed her head with both hands to bring it down while his knee came up, slamming the two together with just enough force that he shattered her nose along with every single bone in her face. Then, with his foot still raised, Alex proceeded to bring it down directly onto Alice''s right knee, snapping it backwards so hard that her tibia and femur ripped through the muscles in her leg to stick out the back. He then ended things by aiming a series of high speed light punches at Alice''s c.h.e.s.t and stomach, turning her ribs and sternum into small shards of shrapnel that shredded whatever wasn''t turned into pulp by his punches. By the time Alex was finished with his high speed barrage of attacks, Alice''s body was limp and bloody as he supported her in the air with his ''Telekinesis'', and kept her just barely alive with his Spirit magic. Everything was silent as even Hyato had stopped his chanting just from the shock at the sheer brutality of Alex''s actions, as it was stupidly obvious he had held back against Alice just so he could prolong her torment. Alex himself then turned towards Hyato and said, "Go ahead, finish your chanting. I''ll wait to deal with you until you''re finished. Until then I''ll ''play'' with her, after all, I did say that you''ll all only die quickly if you voluntarily returned my daughter to me. Instead, you''re all going the slow and torturous route." As he spoke Alex used Regeneration magic to return Alice to pristine condition before he began to resume his beating, in increasingly cruel fashions. Hyato however was left to restart his chanting. CRACK! <-am the draconic beast that embodies domination and supremacy-> "HELP ME!" <-I will exhaust this body and soul to exterminate the ''Infinite'' and raze the ''Dream''-> "P-please stop....." <-I shall become the draconic beast of supreme domination, ruling with great imperial authority-> "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" <-AND I SHALL DANCE AS I SLAY THOUSANDS OF MORTALS AND PRINCIPLES, BEFORE BRINGING ALL TO PURGATORY!> As soon as the final word left his lips, Hyato''s entire armored body glowed with contrasting red, white, golden, and dark energies that cocooned around him in a way not too dissimilar to Alex''s own earlier transformation. When the energies cleared they revealed the still fully armored Hyato, except now the red and white armor''s had undergone numerous changes as they looked sharper, and more sinister. It''s size had increased notably while the hands and feet looked as if they possessed lethal talons, while the helmet looked more draconic with more pronounced teeth. It''s wasn''t just the two Heavenly Dragons gears that adorned Hyato now though, with various pieces of his armor being replaced with brilliant golden plates, while a lions mane flowed down his back to further imitate Alex, while a dark aura radiated from his entire body and a sinister looking scythe manifested in his left hand. All the while the True Longinus hovered around Hyato, awaiting its master''s will. When he finally turned to look at him, Alex sneered contemptibly at the copycat before releasing his hold on Alice''s once again limp and bloody body, allowing her to fall into the surf below. By this point the only thing keeping her alive was her incredible vitality as a saiyan, but even then she wouldn''t continue to survive for more than another minute or two. And even if some stupid ''plot'' bullshit happened to save her life, she still wouldn''t live long since Alex inscribed a small magic circle into her to explode five minutes from then, ensuring her death. As he took in Hyato''s appearance though, Alex fought the urge to laugh at how ridiculous he looked with so many different types of armor on him. Obviously there was the Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, and Regulus Nemea, while the dark aura and scythe were courtesy of Canis Lykaon. Alex''s thoughts were then disrupted when Hyato threw back his head, and let a layered beastial sounding roar. Hyato then disappeared from his current position as he immediately moved behind Alex, his scythe raised high as if to reap his neck, only for Alex to casually flick the blade of the scythe with enough force to literally rip it from his opponent''s hands. Undeterred, the beastial Hyato then began throwing a series of high powered punches and kicks that caused a series of shockwaves each time, due to his enhanced strength from the Regulus Nemea and the boosts from the Boosted Gear. Alex however snorted before unleashing a series of flicks that shattered entire segments of Hyato''s armor, along with the bones in his body. He didn''t even seem to care about his injuries though, with the energy flowing through him and the berserk-like state of Juggernaut Drive driving him to continuously press his attacks, despite his injuries. Then an entire army of shadowy clones began forming around Hyato, all resembling the current him with the sole exception that they appeared to have more defined canine features than draconic, while they all also wielded sinister scythes similar to the one earlier. Alex''s only response as they all closed in on him, was to bring his hands together suddenly. CL.A.P! With just the simple act of clapping his hands, Alex created a shockwave powerful enough that it caused the army of shadowy clones that Hyato had created to dissipate instantly, leaving Hyato to face him by himself once more. With yet another attack being dealt with with ease, Hyato then proceeded to spread his blue and white wings wide before they declared, Alex smirked as his opponent tried to half his strength to add to his own, but apparently even when in the Juggernaut Drive mode he was unable to take even half of the SSJ3''s power. Alex then glanced skyward towards the massive amount of divine power that was building up above him, due to the True Longinus preparing to unleash the most powerful attack it had ever dealt before. Alex only shook his head as he held up a single hand, and summoned a sphere of Ki energy so potent and powerful that it resembled a miniature sun that Alex could hold in the palm of his hand. "Penetrate." The Ki sphere was blur at it shot skyward at the god slayer, impacting it right as the divine weapon was about to discharge its own attack. For a moment the entire world went silent at the two energies collided, before an explosion that made an atomic blast seem like a little firecracker rocked everything around them. The blast swallowed both Alex and Hyato as the seas below them boiled and the ruins of the Hanging Gardens were instantly vaporized along with anyone else that was still alive and unfortunate enough be caught up in it. For several minutes the world was dyed white from the power of the two energies exploding, before it slowly began to fade to reveal the only two things to survive the discharge, Alex and Hyato. The former was still floating in sky looking as well as he had before the explosion, after using abilities such as his ''Energy Nullification'' to protect himself, while the latter looked as if he had been keel hauled. His armor had been shredded in multiple areas, while the exposed parts of his body had been seared right down to the bone and most of his hair had been burned away. Despite all of this though Hyato himself was still hanging onto life with the power of four sacred gears surging through him, though once that power ran out his life was definitely forfeit. This was the reason why Alex had never even considered trying to use or master the Juggernaut Drive transformation, as, even with his extended lifespan as a reincarnated devil, his own life would still be forfeit as well if he tried to use the technique. Though he could try to cheat like Vali and substitute the drain on his life force with magic power or energy, Alex didn''t feel like copying him. Another thing that made him look down on his opponent was that fact that, instead of trying to master the sacred gears he possessed, he had obviously just focused on gaining to levels to acquire as many as possible. Any one of the people who possessed the real version of his sacred gears, Vali, Cao Cao, Sairaorg, and Tobio Ikuse, would''ve given Alex a much better fight with their one than Hyato did with his many, though the end result would''ve been the same. <...> Alex was stirred from his thoughts as Hyato tried to say something to him, but appeared to be unable to due to the extreme amount of damage done to his body. He then decided it was time to end the fight since Hyato was already finished, and with his energy reserves already starting to burn out from the SSJ3 transformation, Alex didn''t have the time to prolong Hyato''s death like he had Alice''s. In the blink of an eye Alex was in front of Hyato''s barely conscious form as he grabbed him by the face. <.....ou...> Alex paused as he actually heard something escape Hyato''s bloody lips this time, making him ask, "What was that?" Hyato then used what appeared every single ounce of his remaining strength to glare at Alex, and spit at him, Alex narrowed his eyes at him as Hyato continued with his last breaths, With his last declaration a dangerous amount of blood flowed from Hyato''s nose and mouth, soaking Alex''s hand and running down his front in an unsightly manner. In the face of his declaration though, in response to the curses his opponent sent at him, Alex only asked, "Who were you again?" As he had only regarded Hyato as the copycat after their first clash, Alex didn''t bother regarding him with any importance whatsoever outside of being one of the people he needed to kill, he couldn''t even recall what his name was. The only reason Hyato even lived after their initial meeting was because Alex considered him useful for helping to open a Spatial door directly into the heart of their stronghold, a duty he performed admirably. Hyato meanwhile blanked at his opponents question, before more rage and humiliation than he had ever experienced in ether of his two lives surged forward. The very person who had stolen everything he ever wanted, who he had dedicated his entire being to defeating, and who he had sacrificed even his life to destroy, didn''t even place enough importance in him to remember who he was. This revelation filled him with so much anger, that Hyato could only issue a gargling yell as he tried to force his destroyed limbs to move, to which Alex responded by slowly tightening his grip on Hyato''s head. Hyato''s scream of rage slowly transitioned into one of pain as Alex''s fingers slowly began to cave in his skull, his eyes bulging until they popped out entirely in a sickening manner while blood also started coming out of his ears. After what seemed like an eternity to him, Hyato''s life was finally extinguished as his head eventually popped like a gory balloon. Shaking the gore off of his hand, Alex watched uncaringly as Hyato''s body plummeted towards the ocean like Alice''s had, though his turned to dust before it ever reached the water. With the notifications for both reincarnators dying ringing in his head, Alex turned his attention to the only remaining one of the three that he had faced, who apparently had already restored his ripped out spine, Darius. The Dark Emperor glared at Alex with an intense hatred, which Alex actually deserved this time due to him being responsible for everything Darius had worked towards for the last eight years being destroyed. The two traded glares for several seconds, before Alex eventually asked, "What, cold feet?" Darius snorted and replied with a nasty sneer, "Of course not, I''m just waiting for your transformation to wear out. You shouldn''t be able to maintain it for much longer, should you? Whereas my power is infinite...." Darius trailed off dramatically after he said ''infinite'' as if to let the word sink in, to which Alex snorted this time since he''d already proven that Darius''s connection to Fairy Heart was nothing before him. However he wasn''t wrong about how Alex wouldn''t be able to maintain the SSJ3 transformation for long. Even now he could feel his energy quickly draining away despite the fact that he wasn''t actively using it to fight. Before long the only thing that would be sustaining Alex''s transformation was his raw emotions, which wouldn''t get him very long before he was completely tapped out. Regardless though he wasn''t worried, as Alex''s only goal with the SSJ3 transformation was to stretch it just long enough, which he fully believed he could do. The duo floated there in the air staring at each other, neither moving as the sun slowly started to disappear beyond the horizon. Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder as Alex''s figure suddenly vanished and reappeared right in front of Darius, before the Dark Emperor was sent flying with an even louder boom. Any clouds that hung around them were instantly dispersed by the force of Alex''s movement and kick, while the ocean below them split under Darius as he flew, all the way back to the mainland. There his body flew through several ranges of mountains before finally coming to a stop in the side of a particularly grand geological monument, where he formed a giant crater upon impact. Broken and bloody within the crater, Darius''s body began to painfully reconstruct itself before he saw Alex above him suddenly with his fist c.o.c.ked back. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! In an instant the entire mountain was blown into dust, while around the entire planet volcanoes began to erupt as the shockwaves from Alex''s punch stirred the magma below, and the plates began to shift to trigger numerous earthquakes across the world. These would only be the first of many though, as Alex unleashed a full on barrage of attacks that turned what was once an entire mountain range into a brand new canyon. By the time Alex had finished with his attacks there was a bowl sized hole in the ground comparable in size to the Grand Canyon, and at the bottom of it was a badly mangled pile of flesh that had once been the Dark Emperor. Regardless of his current state though Darius was of course still alive due to his immortality from the Curse of Contradictions, along with his connection to Fairy Heart boosting his inability to die. Of course what Darius didn''t know was that Alex used Spirit magic to permanently bind his spirit to his body, meaning that as long as he had enough magic power to regenerate Darius was unable to die unless Alex allowed it. And as he himself pointed out earlier, Darius had an infinite amount of magic power to draw on. This meant that Alex could pummel on Darius as much as he wanted without worrying about him dying too quickly, and the only time restriction they had was however much longer Alex''s transformation was. What followed was the repeating scene of Darius desperately trying to retaliate against Alex, however every single attempt he made was easily suppressed by him. Wether it was trying to use Fairy Heart''s infinite magic power to spam impossibly powerful spells, or even using Acnologia''s form to increase his strength and use his breath attacks. Alex However simply batted it away as if the country destroying attack was nothing more than a fly in his eyes. Each attempt to fight back though was met with yet another round of attacks from Alex, which in turned triggered numerous natural disasters around the world from his strength. Earthquakes ravaged the surface of the planet while eruptions turned entire ecosystems into molten death traps. Meanwhile the aerial shockwaves from Alex''s attacks echoed around the entire planet, displacing entire storm systems while making those that heard them think that the world itself was ending. Of course Alex was completely unaware of this as none of those from Asora wanted to interrupt him to tell him, instead they focused on trying to minimize the destruction from his rampage as much as possible. Despite his world ending might though, Alex couldn''t beat the time limit he was under. As time went on his attacks started to become noticeably weaker, while a layer of sweat had formed along his extended brow. Of course the first one to notice this aside from Alex himself was Darius, who formed sinister smile as he patiently bided his time until he''d return Alex''s beating several times over. All too soon that dreaded moment finally arrived, when Alex went to give Darius yet another punch, and instead his hand was gripped in a powerful draconic claw that stopped his momentum. "That''s quite enough." Darius snarled in a guttural draconic voice, his lips curling upwards to reveal his razor sharp teeth before they parted to reveal a bright glow from the depths of his gullet. Alex''s eyes widened in surprise before the breath attack impacted him, sending him flying backwards through the air while burning his skin from the intensity of the attack. Before he could recover Darius then appeared next to him with speed that didn''t match his giant dragon form, before using his tail like a bat to hit Alex into the ground. What followed was Darius''s turn to barrage Alex with attacks, as he used the infinite supply of magic from Fairy Heart to spam the most powerfull spells he could think of into the ground at the person who had been doing the same to him. By the time he had finished, and the dust cleared, Alex was lying battered and beaten in another crater, however this one was nothing compared to the rearranging he had been doing to the landscape around them. Within it he was struggling to maintain his transformation as his hair tried transitioning back to its usual short black self, while Alex fought it so that it was transitioning between black and gold repeatedly. Darius then landed on top of Alex and planted his giant clawed hand over him, pinning Alex to the ground with claws on either side of his head as he growled, "Now let''s discuss the terms of your defeat, shall we?" Despite the sudden reversal of their positions though, Alex maintained his confidence as he smirked and asked, "Who said I''m already defeated?" His question stupefied Darius as it was already apparent to him that Alex was done for since he was already struggling to maintain his transformation. As he was about to point this out though, Alex looked at something behind Darius that he just barely make out from under his draconic body, before his smile became more pronounced. "Yep, this is definitely my win." Alex said to Darius, before his mind suddenly went blank as his body stiffened within his grasp. Confused, Darius was about to demand what he was doing when he noticed a silvery white light reflecting off of Alex''s eyes, and a chill went down his spine as he suddenly recalled something Alice had said right before Alex appeared earlier. Slowly, Darius turned his great head to look behind him, where he saw the silvery pale disk that was the full moon behind him, which had finally risen for the night. "Oh f.u.c.k me..." Darius muttered to himself, as he felt Alex''s figure start to squirm against his hold, before he began growling and growing within his grasp, golden fur sprouting everywhere on his body. Chapter 381 - Battles End Within Asora, where the majority of the people were still viewing the fight between Alex and Darius, everyone from Hajime''s earth that had watched Dragon Ball when they were kids began to fan-girl as they watched Alex''s form grow. "I-it''s an oozaru transformation?! AN ACTAUL OOZARU TRANSFORMATION?!?!?!" Hajime himself squeed in excitement, while his father, Nagumo Shu, began foaming at the mouth before he eventually passed out. Not everyone was excited to see the transformation though, as Rias and the others who had witnessed it before had worried expressions on their faces, before Shia curiously asked them, "Is something wrong?" Rias sighed before explaining, "We''ve seen him transform like this a couple times, but each time he does Alex rampages without being able to even discern friend from foe, even worse than you when you use ''Berserk''. And what''s worse is that this time the transformation is different..." Shia paled when she heard that, as she also secretly thanked whoever was listening that Alex didn''t try to have her help him train his transformed self. Instead she, along with everyone else, watched in awe as Alex grew a layer of thick golden fur all over his body, and his size grew until he threw off Darius''s grip, and quickly dwarfed even his draconic form. As they watched his grow into a giant ape, even Rias muttered incredulously, "Isn''t he even bigger than usual?!" Those who had also witnessed Alex''s oozaru form in the past nodded slowly in agreement, while also noting that another difference was his fur''s brilliant golden color, compared to its usual dull brown. Once the transformation was complete, the great golden ape turned its attention to the still transformed Darius, and opened its mouth. "ROOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!" Alex roared with enough power to make the world tremble in awe, or perhaps fear, before he proceeded to beat his c.h.e.s.t with his massive fists in an act of intimidation. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM Over and over the sound of him beating his c.h.e.s.t echoed and deafened Darius, filling him with a reluctant awe at the scene. However he knew that beast would be coming for him, and sure enough once he lowered his fists, Alex''s glowing red eyes focused on him with murderous intentions. There was a brief moment of pause as the two great creatures glared at each other, before the oozaru Alex and the dragonfied Darius charged each other only for Alex to bring one of his giant fists down onto Darius''s head. KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! An explosion unlike any before it rocked the world as Alex slammed Darius''s draconic figure into the ground once more, his giant fist creating an even greater impact and crater in the ground that any one of his punches before. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! One after another the great ape delivered powerful punches to drive Darius even further into the ground, before he paused to once again pound his c.h.e.s.t and let loose a mighty roar, except this time it was victoriously. When he was done the transformed Alex turned to find his next opponent, only to suddenly clutch its head and grunt in pain. "RHAAAAAAAG!" The great ape roared loud enough to shake its surroundings, behaving as if something was giving it an intense headache. The ape shut its glowing red eyes due to the pain, before opening them a second later to reveal Alex''s usual dark brown ones. Everyone in Asora then watched in awe as the great golden ape slowly began to shrink, and it''s fur transitioned from the brilliant gold to a bright red. Slowly the ape''s figure shrank until Alex was back down to his usual size, except there were some very noticeable differences that were evident due to him now being n.a.k.e.d. First of which was that Alex''s hair, which was usually black while going wild everywhere, or was golden during his super Saiyan transformations. This time however Alex''s hair seemed blacker and wilder than usual, while a couple strands of it came down over his shoulders to dr.a.p.e across the top of Alex''s c.h.e.s.t. Along with that though, a thin layer of red fur covered most of Alex''s body, with one of the only exceptions being his c.h.e.s.t and head along with other ''s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e'' areas that were now exposed. As if that wasn''t strange enough, the areas around Alex''s eyes had also turned red to match the fur covering him, giving him quite the unique look. After a second Alex opened his eyes before looking down to examine his new appearance, which made him smile widely. As he was doing that Darius had finished regenerating within the freshly made hole that the giant ape fist had created, and was gaping at Alex in disbelief as he transitioned back to his human form. If he had to put it into words, Alex would say that rather than ''SSJ4'', instead this was the ''perfected'' super Saiyan form. Every form before it was based around an increase in energy that also boosted the users physical abilities, similar to performance enhancement drugs, while only a few minor physical differences appeared. Meanwhile this form had the energy boost from the SSJ3, as well as the physical might of the oozaru, making it a genuine physical transformation unlike the others. This line of thinking gave Alex an idea, an idea regarding something he''d been trying, and failing, to do for a long time. "BALANCE BREAK!" He cried out suddenly, summoning his Boosted Gear armor onto his body, with the sole exception of his head. As he did that Alex''s already suffocating power intensified drastically, however he didn''t feel any of the usual issues that he would whenever he tried combining the super Saiyan and the Boosted Gear in the past. Instead, Alex''s body seemed to readily accept the sudden influx of even more energy, even after what he did next. In an instant Alex radiated with so much power that the space around him struggled to maintain itself, his every physical action threatening to shatter reality around them. He fought the urge to laugh out loud, fearing that he might cause irreparable damage to his surroundings if he did so. Instead, he pointed his finger up towards the sky to create a giant orange magic circle above them, and then an entire group of them around that one, and then an even bigger group to surround those. The number of magic circles quickly grew as they spread to encompass the entire world, bathing those below them in the eerie demonic orange light. Darius could only gape in awe at the spectacle above them, before Alex pressed two of his fingers together and, SNAP! That one snap of the fingers echoed unnaturally through the void around them, before Darius watched in pure disbelief as the landscape started changing around them. Mountains began reforming, knocked over trees righting and re-rooting themselves, streams and rivers realigned while lakes began to refill themselves, as if time itself was rewinding. All around Earthland the same exact scene was playing out as all traces of the effects of Alex''s battle with Darius began to disappear. Lakes of molten lava receded back into the volcanoes that spewed them out, fissures that had opened in the ground started to close, and buildings that had collapsed or were destroyed reformed almost instantly. Meanwhile anyone who possessed any injuries, either recent or long term, found themselves suddenly healed as if it was never there. People who had gone blind suddenly regained their sight, and those who had debilitating conditions or wounds found themselves free of pain for the first time in years. Darius watched with undisguised awe as everything rewound around them, before he eventually asked once it had finished, "Wh-what did you do?" It was only at that moment that Alex looked at Darius once more, before replying in a casual tone, "I just rewound time across the entire world, it''s nothing much." When he heard that Darius''s mind blanked momentarily before he started to grind his teeth in frustration, while his hands dug into the ground beneath him. How? How was Alex able to accomplish all of this as if it was nothing? Darius had to work for years to unite all of the dark guilds under his banner, and even then he had to constantly keep them in line. Meanwhile Alex apparently had an entire army that marched at a moments notice, and had unhesitantly attacked any he considered an enemy. To gain strength, Darius had to challenge and subdue hose who were considered the strongest in this world, making each of their powers his own along with their knowledge. Alex on the other hand had pulled off two major transformations within a matter of hours, while he could also use his Boosted Gear to close the gap between himself and any future opponents. And most frustratingly of all, how come Darius was unable to find his family once again, while Alex could live a happy carefree life with his? As all these questions and thoughts swirled around in his head, Alex approached Darius while raising his hand to deal the final blow, only for Darius to put his thoughts into words and ask, "How?" Alex looked at him curiously, as he wasn''t quite sure what Darius was referring to, before Darius continued, "My magic power is infinite, I''m immortal, I possess knowledge and theories from some of the greatest minds in this world, how is it that me and my armies lost against yours?" Alex narrowed his eyes at Darius question, before answering, "I have no ''armies'', only men and women who wanted to live in peace. Before you and yours ruined it by invading, and stealing my daughter from us." Darius momentarily blanked when he heard Alex''s answer, as it was nothing like he was expecting. He had genuinely thought that Alex must''ve hidden armies within those so-called space-time orbs when Paul visited them before, and therefore he hadn''t noticed them. As this thought crossed his mind though, Darius quickly checked his system to see something. Once he confirmed it, he then turned back to Alex and said, "You got a couple things wrong though you know, I never invaded Asora, and I wasn''t the one who stole your daughter." *** On a beach a fair ways away from where Alex and Darius were, a certain man laid stretched out on the sand, a relaxed expression on his face despite the current situation. "I wonder how much longer they''ll be?" Paul muttered quietly to himself, as he watched the full moon steadily rise higher over the horizon. He had just barely managed to escape from the Hanging Gardens when Alex and Hyato''s attack collided in the sky, but it cost him several of the emergency ''batteries'' that he had stored away, a sore loss since they were difficult to fill without making them explode in his face. With it taking several ''batteries'' just to make sure he was clear of one attack from a SSJ3, Paul was doubly sure he made the right call staying out of the fight until there was a victor. On one hand it was hard to imagine a SSJ3 losing against someone who wasn''t even capable of putting anywhere near the same amount of power out at once, but on the other hand Darius was immortal and had access to an infinite amount of magic power. With the world around him trembling from the intensity of the battle, Paul couldn''t determine which outcome it would be until everything went quiet. A quick check on his system''s friends list told him that Darius was still alive, surprising Paul a bit more than he''d care to admit, before something happened. The entire sky lit up and was covered by magic circles, bathing the entire world in orange demonic light. Paul stared up at the sky in awe, part of him longing to get his hands on the sheer power contained in just one of those magic circles. He was so distracted by the brilliance of the magic above him, that Paul almost missed it when Darius''s name in his still open system disappeared a few minutes later, meaning that he''d been killed. "Well that''s disappointing..." Paul said as he immediately stood up and turned in no particular direction. "Let''s seeeee...how about the Fate universe?" Paul muttered to himself as he recalled all the interesting things Darius had used in the time they had known each other, such as Enkidu, the Hanging Gardens, and even a certain weapon he had almost never used that was meant to kill immortals. As Paul thought about that particular world a portal appeared before him that would take him there, curtesy of his ''angel''. Paul smirked as he went to take a step through it, but instead of moving forward he suddenly felt as if he was moving farther and farther back from it. "What the...?" Paul muttered, before his vision went black. ... "Ngh..." Paul g.r.o.a.n.e.d as his consciousness slowly started coming back, before he realized that something was seriously wrong. He was completely bound to a table with metallic manacles, which, even with his Greywalker powers, Paul was unable to slip away from. "What the hell?" Paul swore as his movements became more frantic, before a voice suddenly spoke up, "I wouldn''t bother. A little birdie told me all about how your powers work, so I came up with a method or two to counter them." At this point his captor strolled into Paul''s line of sight, making his eyes widen as he caught sight of a SSJ4. "Hello Paul." Alex said with obvious malice in his voice as he stared down at his captive. "H-how did you find me?!" Paul demanded as his mind began racing and he tried to consider the different ways his concealment could have been seen through, before Alex held up what appeared to be compass and said with a nasty grin, "Once I learned that you even existed, it was easy with my magic compass. Before Darius spilled the beans though, I have to admit that you probably would''ve gotten away Scott free since I even forgot there were supposed to be five of you." As Alex said, he hadn''t even registered the existence of the one that had been infamously known as the ''Ghost'', and would''ve accidentally let Paul get away if Darius hadn''t informed him otherwise. He had also told him about how Paul''s only orders at the time were to pick up the captive they''d heard the Black Collar guild had acquired, Lucy, but had instead returned with Edith while also telling them what he had learned of Asora. Of course Darius hadn''t handed Alex the information with the expectation of preserving his own life, but because he didn''t want the one responsible for bringing Alex''s wrath down onto them to slip away. And so now Paul found himself strapped to a table in some underground location, with a very pissed off Saiyan slowly circling him. Alex slowly fingered a set of tools that Paul could see as he walked by them, as if he was deliberating which one to use first before continuing, "But now we can get to know each other quite well, and since I placed a time manipulation spell on the room we have all the time in the world to do so." For the first time in his second life, Paul felt genuine fear as he watched Alex deliberate between the various implements as he tried to decide which one he would use first. Of course it didn''t matter since Alex would make sure to try each and every single one. *** Back in Asora, the people were gathered around the giant monitor as they watched the destruction that had been wreaked upon the world reverse itself, before the connection cut off suddenly. "W-what happened?!" Someone asked with confusion, as they had all been absorbed with Alex''s sequence of transformations, and newfound strength. No one had an answer though as someone else tried to go figure out what went wrong, before another voice asked, "What are we all looking at?" Everyone turned to the speaker in surprise, when a little girl''s voice squealed, "DADDY!" Edith happily made her way through the crowd into her father''s open arms, where Alex eagerly scooped her and held her close. "Edith..." Alex said slowly as he held her close, while also ignoring the looks he was receiving from those around them due to the fact that he was still in his SSJ4 form. In fact, as he held her Edith ran her little fingers over his layer of red fur, and said, "You''re so soft daddy!" Alex chuckled at her actions before saying, "Maybe someday you''ll have fur like this as well, if you train and get strong enough." Edith flashed him a cheeky smile before saying, "I''ll be stronger than everybody, except for daddy!" When he heard that Alex flashed Edith a smile that matched her own, before pulling her in closer for a tighter hug. As the duo were enjoying their father-daughter moment though, Rias hesitantly approached Alex''s side before asking as she gently placed her hand on his fur covered arm, "Alex? A-are you ok?" Alex turned to look at her and immediately replied, "Of course, why do you ask?" Rias''s look of hesitation turned to amazement as she said, "You used the Boost Gear earlier along with your new transformation, nothing happened?" With everyone else listening intently as they awaited his answer, Alex smirked confidently as he briefly explained, "This form is quite a bit different from the others, so there''s nothing to worry about if I used the Boosted Gear with it, though of course I still shouldn''t overdo it." As he said that Alex finally decided to cancel the transformation despite having remained in it for literal days from his perspective, resulting in his red fur disappearing while his hair and eyes went back to normal, and surprisingly he even shrank by a few inches when he reverted back. With the cancelation of his SSJ4 transformation though, Alex suddenly felt a surge of fatigue since he was still technically tired from using all of his energy during his SSJ3 transformation earlier. So, he did what anyone in his situation would do. Alex then proceeded to hold Edith in one arm while he hooked his other around Rias, and turned to head to the Misty Manor while saying, "I could however use a nice bit of R&R with my children and wives, how about you?" This time Rias was the one who smiled as she leaned into Alex''s embrace, and said, "That sounds lovely." Together, they led the way as any other of Alex''s wives in the crowd quickly followed them as they went to retrieve the rest of the children, before retiring to the space-time orb for a well deserved rest. Chapter 382 - Rewards "KANPAI!" A cheer rang out in the Fairy Tail guild hall, for the first time in years since Markarov and the others disappeared. Tonight they, along with the rest of Earthland, were celebrating the defeat of Darius and the annihilation of his armies. After Alex retired with his wives, Barakiel had led the restoration efforts around Earthland with the Emergency Response team that Anne had established. Though they weren''t revealing themselves to the world just yet, it was enough for them to simply provide aid to those who needed it while they spread the word of Darius''s demise. The members of Fairy Tail however were doing what they do best, which was celebrating their victory over the Raven Tail guild and their allies. Naturally the star of the party was, "AND THREE CHEERS FOR ERZA, WHO SINGLEHANDEDLY TOOK OUT AN ENTIRE ARMY!" """YEAH!""" Everyone raised up their tankards at Cana''s declaration, and released a great roar even as the person they were cheering watched over them with a scowl on her face. Despite her ''less than jovial'' attitude, Erza still nodded in acknowledgement to their cheers before she took a drink from her own tankard. She then glanced at their master, Markarov, who looked deep in thought and had yet to take a single sip from his own mug. Erza couldn''t blame him though, after the battle between himself and his son. She didn''t know what he had done to Ivan, but Markarov had barely said two words since the battle ended. That, combined with the absence of Natsu and Gajeel, meant that the party wasn''t nearly as lively as it usually was, but the present members of the guild seemed to be trying to make up for it since part of the news they received was that the duo had been retrieved, and was undergoing treatment. Naturally the ones that were the happiest to hear this were Happy and Levy, the latter of which was politely refusing any drinks after her last bend. "You guys!" Kurumu exclaimed as she approached them, making them turn to her in alarm at her sudden appearance. "Kurumu, what''s wrong?!" Lucy asked with concern when she saw the look on Kurumu''s face. The s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s then fueled their concern when she said, "I-it''s Alex!" *** The group of women hurried their way through the villa within the space-time orb, Lucy, Erza, and Mirajane all worried about whatever Alex might be going through, as Kurumu hadn''t explained what was going on. With each step they took towards what they assumed was Alex''s bedroom, their apprehension grew as they wondered what could have possibly happened to him. They finally reached a grand looking door that was at the top level of the villa, where Kurumu stopped them and said worriedly, "Now please, don''t let what''s inside alarm you..." Her warning worried them even more as they anxiously waited for her to open the door, but when she did their minds blanked entirely. Within the room was well over a hundred writhing n.a.k.e.d bodies, all of which were female with the exception of the sole man present, Alex. There were women with their faces buried into other women''s crotches as they eagerly ate each other out. Women locked lips, both upper and lower, as their hands explored each other''s bodies in passion. And others had even implemented the use of various toys, their flesh smacking as they used strap ones and double ended dildos on each other. While the numerous women p.l.e.a.s.u.r.ed themselves, and each other, as they awaited their turn, Alex was in the middle of them while holding a petite fox-girl in his arms. "Are you ready Kunou?" Alex asked her cautiously, to which the fox-girl said with obvious heat in her eyes, "Yes....please take me!" Within her diminutive c.h.e.s.t, Kunou''s heart was pounding as the moment she had waited for for years finally arrived. Ever since the time Alex had arrived to warn her mother of the danger towards her by the Chaos Brigade, Kunou had begun to harbor feelings of admiration towards him. Quickly those feelings of admiration turned into affection, which most would dismiss as a first crush, however as time passed Kunou''s feeling never wavered, only strengthened. Even when Alex and her mother, Yasaka, became involved together her feelings hadn''t wavered, as Kunou instead tried to will herself to ''grow up'' like her mama so that she could be with him as well. Instead her body seemed to mock her d.e.s.i.r.e to become more m.a.t.u.r.e. As the years passed and she steadily became older Kunou''s appearance didn''t match how old she was actually becoming. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts peaked at a low B-cup, she wasn''t tall like her mother, and overall she looked several years younger than she actually was. That was why when she heard about the orgy the girls were planning after the battle was over, once the kids left the space-time orb, Kunou firmly insisted that she''d participate in it as well. That was why she was here now, being lifted in the air above Alex''s towering c.o.c.k, as he prepared to impale her upon it to cement her status as one of his wives. Seeing the d.e.s.i.r.e in her eyes, Alex didn''t hesitate as he slowly lowered Kunou until his c.o.c.k brushed against her soaking wet lower lips, before it pushing into them to feel her incredibly tight walls wrap around him. His push continued until he felt the fragile barrier within her, which he promptly broke through before continuing his ceaseless charge. "AHHHHHHHH!!!" Kunou cried out with equal parts p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and pain as Alex forced his way inside her, claiming her mark of purity for himself and spreading her insides with his giant c.o.c.k. His charge continued until they both felt his head hit something, the entrance to her w.o.m.b, and Alex pulled her head closer before whispering into her fluffy fox ears, "I''ve completely filled you up Kunou." Kunou shuddered both from the sensations she was feeling in her lower half and Alex''s words, and indescribable happiness filling her that she was now officially one of his women. A feeling that only grew as Alex used his grip on her body to pull her away until only the head of his d.i.c.k was left inside her, before he slammed it back into her suddenly. "AHN!" Kunou''s cried quickly made their way amongst those that were already taking place in the room as Alex gradually began to thrust into her with an increasing pace and fervor. Quicker than she thought possible, the pain began to disappear and all Kunou began to feel was p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e as Alex pounded away at her precious place, meticulously hitting spots that felt amazing that even she didn''t know about. Alex meanwhile was enjoying Kunou''s tightness as her lower body protested both his intrusion and escape from her depths. By this point he was both moving Kunou''s body and thrusting his h.i.p.s, making each intrusion into her body that much more intense for the petite fox-girl as she reached her inevitable climax, which was quickly followed by several more. It wasn''t until her fifth climax surged through her body that Alex felt the familiar stirring in his loins, and whispered to her once again, "I''m almost there Kunou!" In an instant Kunou seemed to regain her focus, albeit barely, as she panted, "Inside me! Spray it inside me!" As if worried he wasn''t going to do exactly that, she then gripped his forearms with every bit of strength her hands could generate, while her legs tried to wrap around his waist as if to prevent him from pulling out. Alex never had such an intention though, and when he felt the pressure in his balls reach it''s peak he quickly pushed as far as he could into her until his head was once again kissing the entrance to her w.o.m.b. "C.u.m.m.i.n.g!" Alex alerted Kunou right before he too finally reached his climax, pumping his seed into her fertile depths as the greatest climax she had experienced yet rushed through Kunou''s body. Kunou''s consciousness threatened to disappear as her eyes rolled back and her tongue hanged out of her mouth helplessly while the rest of her body went limp, giving her a perfect ahegao. Despite the waves of his own climax surging through him, Alex made sure to hold Kunou''s body close as the prolonged waves of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e continued to torment her, until he noticed a certain m.a.t.u.r.e woman approaching them. "Ufufufufufu, are you satisfied now Kunou?" Yasaka asked as she gently embraced her daughter from behind, so that the petite fox-girl was being embraced from both sides like a sandwich. Though she began to stir at her mother''s voice, it still took nearly a minute for Kunou to recover enough to the point where she could actually look at her mother and ask, "Mama?" Yasaka let out another ''ufufufu'' as she gently kissed her daughter''s forehead, before a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she whispered in her ear, "I wonder what will happen first, will you give me a grandchild or will I give you a little brother or sister?" Clarity returned to Kunou''s eyes in an instant at her mother''s question, before she turned her attention back to Alex and declared as she tried to move her still weak h.i.p.s, "I won''t lose!" Alex however could only smile wryly at the mother-daughter duo''s antics, but he didn''t let that stop him from enjoying the company of the two of them for quite a while. While this happened before them, the trio of Lucy, Mirajane, and Erza couldn''t help the sense of amazement they felt at the scene, which had transfixed them enough that none of them had noticed as Kurumu magically removed their clothes. The mischievous s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s then surprised the scarlet haired knight as she quickly sealed her lips, her tongue invading Erza''s mouth to wrestle her own. For nearly a minute the duo locked lips, as Kurumu''s hands eagerly traveled over the Knights perfect body to explore every nook and cranny. Normally Erza would never permit such a thing, but from the moment Kurumu sealed her lips her inhibitions had quickly started to disappear, and was instead replaced with an intense heat that quickly spread throughout her body. When their lips finally parted a thin trail of saliva kept them connected for a second longer before it too broke, but Erza barely registered that as Kurumu teasingly traced her fingers into the crack of her a.s.s to tease her p.u.s.s.y and anus. The s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s flashed her a disarming smile as her ''Aphrodisiac Secretion'' took hold of the scarlet haired knight, before she began to lead her to the rest of the women around them, while someone else got Lucy and Mirajane into the mood. No one knew how long the orgy ended up lasting, but with the majority of the women having missed Alex while he was gone, and several spending the entire time in the space-time orb, it easily went on for days after Kuroka used her ability to manipulate time on the room. Her mastery over time had grown to such an extent that she could even layer a time formation on top of the one that already existed in the space-time orb, making a single night within extend into several days until everyone finally collapsed from exhaustion, with the sole exception of Alex and the succubi of course due to their ''Endless S.e.x.u.a.l Stamina''. As he recalled the battle though Alex remembered that he now had five lottery drawings from killing Alice, Hyato, Darius, and then Paul, as well as ''that man'' that he killed while still in the Rosario Vampire world. Though the thought of gaining a skill from ''that man'' soured his previous contentment, Alex knew he still needed to risk it if he wanted to roll the other four as well. So, resolving himself, Alex asked Lauren to do the roll for him as he closed his eyes to go to sleep, leaving the result for him to find out when he awoke the next morning. *** With Kuroka removing the time formation before she fell asleep, Alex awoke the next morning to the sun peaking through the windows onto him. Slowly sitting up to as not to wake the still sleeping Yami, Alex glanced around to see that he was the first to wake up, which wasn''t surprising when he thought of how tired everyone else must have been after the previous ''night''. Though she g.r.o.a.n.e.d when Alex gently laid her down and pulled out of her, Yami still slept as he silently left the bed and made his way to the bathroom, where he would do a quick wash before heading down for breakfast since he was starving. Without glancing at the mirror, Alex went to the shower to rinse off the after effects of all the s.e.x the night before, and think on what was going to happen next since they threw out all of their plans with Edith''s kidnapping, and now also had several prisoners that they needed to address. They were all people that had been on ''the list'', who were individuals that ha the capacity to be ''good'', but due to one circ.u.mstance or another ended up ''evil''. People on ''the list'' included Silver, August, a young woman named Brandish, Erza''s mother Irene, most members of Oraci¨®n Seis, and a member of Raven Tail called Flare Corona(A.N. Feel free to offer other suggestions for ''the list'' here as well). Alex was still thinking about them when he finished his shower and made his way to the counter while drying his hair, the towel preventing him from seeing what was in front of him. When he finally did put it down and look into the mirror, Alex''s mind blanked before he suddenly demanded, "WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!" *** Down in the kitchens of the villa, Haruna hummed to herself lightheartedly as she prepared breakfast for everyone, knowing that they''d be especially hungry after the previous night. As she thought about it Haruna felt a pang of regret not taking part after spending months away from Alex(in the space-time orb), but dismissed it quickly as she tried to focus on her work. Of course that didn''t mean she wasn''t prepared if Alex did suddenly decide to attack her, as the only thing on her body was an apron. It had been decided a long time ago for that to be the official uniform in the kitchen whenever the children weren''t around, which Alex had yet to voice a complaint about it since he always got a good show whenever he came down to eat a meal. That was why Haruna was only partially surprised when a pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her close as Alex''s voice whispered into her ear, "We missed you last night." Haruna closed her eyes as the tension disappeared from her body, and a feeling of contention filled her as she leaned back into Alex''s embrace. He then reached his head around and claimed her lips before she had a chance to say anything, which Haruna reciprocated happily until Alex pulled away a minute later. "I wanted to make sure there was enough food for everyone when they-" Haruna started explaining why she wasn''t there the previous night, but when she opened her eyes anything else she was going to say was caught in her throat as she took in Alex''s appearance. If she had to put it into words, he was perfectly ''beautiful''. His hair looked silky and rich while his eyes had a sparkle that wasn''t there before, and his skin had become flawlessly smooth while the wry smile he showed flashed teeth so perfect that Haruna was surprised they didn''t gleam as the light caught them. All of this, combined with Alex''s ''Seduction'' skill made Haruna feel a sudden sensations in her nether regions that made her inwardly curse Alex for turning her into a pervert. Alex''s wry smile continued until he eventually explained, "I gained some new abilities after killing the other reincarnators, and apparently one of them was the ''Peerless Beauty'' that the other Saiyan had..." After he trailed off Alex didn''t say anything else as he quietly waited for Haruna to recover from her shock, understanding her completely after his own surprise when he had seen himself in the mirror earlier. Now he couldn''t help but think that whenever he took his women out for a date that he''d need some kind of disguise for himself as, while he usually garnered quite a bit of attention to begin with, Alex could easily imagine swarms of women attacking him due to his new appearance. Even Haruna, who had already been with them for several years from her point of view within the space-time orb, could barely register anything Alex said as she took in his appearance. He still looked like himself, but every single ''imperfection'' in his appearance had simply disappeared, while everything else appearance-wise had been enhanced to the highest degree. "Earth to Haruna!" Alex said playfully, snapping the blue haired beauty of her temporary reverie as she blushed embarrassedly. Alex smirked playfully at her bashfulness, before sealing her lips once more as he tightened his grip around her abdomen. As their kiss got longer and increasingly passionate, Haruna continued to get heated up even before Alex''s hands started making their way from her belly, up towards her b.r.e.a.s.ts. "Mmmmm..." She m.o.a.n.e.d into his mouth as Alex slipped his hands under her apron to massage her b.r.e.a.s.ts, which weren''t the largest, but were extremely s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e. She then felt something hard and hot make its way between her legs to prod at her increasingly wet slit, and Alex broke the kiss to teasingly say, "You better stay focused on breakfast." Haruna almost pouted at his teasing, but before she could say anything her eyes widened as Alex began to move his h.i.p.s forward so that his large c.o.c.k began to enter her. "Nnn..." Haruna g.r.o.a.n.e.d this time as he invaded her insides, while his hands also swiftly undid the strings that allowed her apron to stay on, letting it fall to the floor. Now Haruna was completely n.a.k.e.d in the kitchen as she struggled to make breakfast, while Alex''s c.o.c.k invaded further and further into her p.u.s.s.y. "Mm, you''re so mean..." Haruna pouted as she struggled to focus on her duties, while her legs even threatened to give out from the sensations in her lower body if Alex hadn''t been holding her up by her h.i.p.s. Alex smirked at her pouting though and said, "You''re the one who skipped out on the fun last night to focus on work, so now you can just try to multitask." Haruna was about to complain at Alex''s reasoning when she heard that, but before she could Alex suddenly trusted forward so that the tip of his c.o.c.k scr.a.p.ed against her G-spot, making her cry out in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e as a rush of fluid ran down her legs. Alex smirked as he pulled out just a little bit, before he began to repeatedly hammer into the same spot to fill the kitchen with the sounds of Haruna''s cries of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. It took the poor woman everything she had to not let her body go limp as she fought from face planting into the bowl of pancake batter she had been mixing, while Alex''s hold on her h.i.p.s was the only thing keeping her from collapsing onto the floor. Even when Alex got to the point before his own climax and his c.o.c.k began twitching inside her, Haruna was unable to tell until he gave one last thrust, and pumped his potent seed directly into her w.o.m.b. Haruna let out one last silent gasp as the sensation of Alex''s hot seed filled her, before she collapsed limply back into his embrace. After pumping every last drop of his spunk into her, Alex held Haruna gently in his arms as she tried to recover from her repetitive climaxes. The thing that stirred both of them back to reality though, was when someone else entered the kitchen and said, "I hope the two of you are finished now, and if not then can you leave so that I can finish cooking?" Alex turned to see none other than Yuuki Mikan standing there, looking at the two of them with a less than pleased expression on her face at what they had been doing in her kitchen. Though it was far from the first time Mikan had caught Alex f.u.c.k.i.n.g someone in the kitchen, he couldn''t help but feel like something else was bothering her as she harrumphed at them before turning to continue her task of preparing them breakfast. After making sure Haruna was ok to resume what she had been doing before he interrupted her, Alex then turned to Mikan and asked while unashamedly taking in the view of n.a.k.e.d rear, "Is something wrong Mikan?" Since she lived in the space-time orb full time several years had also passed from her point of view ever since she first arrived, taking her from the tender age of twelve or thirteen to her late teens. However despite this she still looked to be in her mid-teens due to an artifact that she had requested at the time. With Yami using her ''Transform'' to maintain a petite and youthful appearance, and Kunou''s body seemingly refusing to m.a.t.u.r.e, Mikan had requested such an artifact so that she wouldn''t be the odd one out in her friends by looking older than the two of them. The young woman herself hid a smirk as she felt Alex''s gaze on her backside, which she suspected he had pointedly ignored ever since she too began wearing a n.a.k.e.d apron when she was younger. After all they all already took baths together almost every night, so what was the point of feigning embarrassment? She then glanced back and harshly remarked at him, "I don''t know, did you finally remember I existed after ''greeting'' everyone else already?" While he was gone Mikan missed Alex quite a bit more than she''d ever let on, but after he returned he had spent every single moment he could with his children, before engaging in a massive orgy with everyone else while no one even bothered asking if she wanted to join in. Though she didn''t really care for being part of an orgy, Mikan was admittedly more than a little annoyed that he never seemed to consider ''greeting'' her along with everyone else. Though this was also partly her fault for never trying to express interest in him since she considered their union an eventuality, Mikan still couldn''t help feeling annoyed at Alex. Smiling wryly at the realization that she just jealous, Alex stepped up behind her before whispering huskily into her ear, "How would you like me to make it up to you?" Mikan fought the urge to smile at his question, though the corner of her lips still twitched upwards, and said after a brief pause, "Hmmm.... I guess you can give me a taste of what you do to drive everyone around here crazy." To puncuate her words Mikan then reached back and used one of her hands to spread open her b.u.t.t cheeks, indicating she wanted him to do something then and there. Alex smirked as he whispered back to her, "As you command." He then sinking to his knees behind her until his face was level with her a.s.s, giving him an up close view of her already moist p.u.s.s.y and twitching little butthole. Though he paused for the briefest of seconds to lightly blow upon the secret garden, making Mikan just barely shiver at the sensation, Alex then made her gasp as he unhesitantly buried his face into her a.s.s. "..." Mikan just barely managed to contain her voice as Alex''s tongue eagerly began to explore every single fold of her lower lips, before it began to push further into her. She had always thought that the girls that slept with Alex were over exaggerating when they described the experience, however Mikan quickly learned that they had been telling the truth as Alex expertly poked and prodded every single spot that would bring her ever closer to her eventual climax. Her legs began to shake as the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e she was feeling increased to levels she never experienced before, even if she compared them to when ''that man'' made her his plaything. "Hiyan!" An unexpected voice suddenly escaped her throat as Mikan felt Alex''s tongue suddenly leave her p.u.s.s.y, travel across her taint, and begin circling her asshole a few times before returning to its previous location. Alex smile into Mikan''s mound when he heard her cry out in surprise, but he focused instead on bringing her to climax as quickly as possible as his tongue then flicked the little bead that was her c.l.i.t as it made its appearance. He also made sure to l.a.p up every single drop of fluid she was producing just for him, making Mikan squirm even more from underestimating his tongue technique. Mikan was unable to fight it as eventually she experienced the greatest climax she ever felt in her entire life, flooding Alex''s face with juices as her voice filled the kitchen, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Keeping a hold of her h.i.p.s that her legs couldn''t betray her, Alex then stood as Mikan tried to catch her breath from the experience, before stealing her lips so that she could taste her own juices on his. When they eventually separated she then heard Alex''s voice as he said, "Come to my room tonight if you want more than a ''taste''." Without waiting to hear her response, Alex then turned around and left the kitchen to go wait in the dining room, leaving Mikan to try and calm herself after the intense climax. Alex then sat at the head of the grand dining table as both Haruna and Mikan tried to recover from his earlier actions, a mischievous smile on his lips as he started making a mental list of those he intended to visit that day that weren''t there the night before. As he did so Alex began munching on some nearby fruit as he waited for the food to be ready, by which time the first of those who had spent the night with him made their appearance. "Well good morning." Alex said to them in a cheery mood, making Mirajane blush as she muttered, "Good morning..." Having had her first ''harem'' experience the night before, one could obviously see that the white haired demoness was more than a little overwhelmed. And with no one in the room besides herself and Alex, who was completely n.a.k.e.d, Mirajane quickly excused herself as she went to help Mikan and Haruna prepare breakfast. After that though there was a gradually increasing trickle of women making their way downstairs as they started waking each other up, all in various states of n.a.k.e.dness. While most of them came down completely n.a.k.e.d, those that did wear something wore only p.a.n.t.i.e.s or thongs, while only the more ''reserved'' women amongst Alex''s harem, such as Shizuku, her pupil Rin, Sona, Tsubaki, and a few others wore proper nighttime attire. Naturally when they arrived every single gaze was focused on Alex due to his new look, to which he simply said to them that he''ll explain when everyone finished coming down for breakfast. So, rather than sit around curious as to why his appearance had changed so much, several of the girls made their way to kitchens to also help the trio prepare their breakfast(though they also had to fight to keep Sona out after the last time she tried to make them food). Finally, after another half hour, everyone had arrived to the dining table as the dishes with their meals were being telepathically brought to them courtesy of Alex''s ''Telekinesis''. The second the thud of the plates hitting the wooden table echoed, Alex and the majority of the ravenous women immediately dug into the food before them. As they eagerly dug in though, those who were still staring at Alex waited for his explanation before Kuroka demanded, "So, are you going to tell us what happened or not~Nya?" Alex smirked even with a bite of syrupy pancakes in his mouth, before swallowing them and finally saying, "It''s the ability ''Peerless Beauty'' that I gained after killing Alice, which I only got last night after everyone else fell asleep." When they heard him everyone nodded slowly while muttering in realization, with more than a little jealousy filling them that Alex got such an amazing ability. After explaining the little bit he knew about the ability, Alex then continued, "I also got a few others as well though, so altogether I got four abilities from the five other contestants, including ''that man''." The moment the last two words left Alex''s mouth a tense atmosphere descended upon the room, as those who had been ''his'' victims briefly recalled being under ''his'' control. With Mirajane, Lucy, and Erza not yet knowing about ''that man'', they looked around in confusion at the sudden change in atmosphere before Alex said, "Thankfully what I received from him wasn''t the bad ability, but a type of robotic armor called ''Heart Hybrid Gear'' named ''Eros''." Yami looked up when she heard that, before muttering quietly, "I recall that one, ''he'' had me help him try it out. After using it I was suddenly filled with energy while ''he'' was able to use my Transform for a while..." Alex nodded in affirmation at Yami''s words, before adding, "Correct. The armor itself has no actual combat ability initially, but by engaging in s.e.x.u.a.l activities with women I can apparently not only ''recharge'' them, but also temporarily use their abilities as well." Alex paused for a second to let his words sink in, before he began to give a bit of the background knowledge of the world the armor originated from, and it''s purpose there. According to Lauren, the Earth that Eros originated from had developed a type of armor/weaponry that combined machine and magic, and was used to fight a type of foreign threat that was steadily wiping out humanity, which had mostly retreated to living on giant futuristic raft cities. Naturally, the only ones capable of using these weapons were women, while Eros was the only one that existed that could be wielded by a man. Apparently these weapons were powered by the life force of the ones using them though, and Eros was the only thing capable of quickly recharging their ''batteries'' by performing what was called ''Heart Hybrid'', while the alternative was to let them slowly recharge naturally over time. It was also capable of temporarily boosting their abilities, while also giving them access to unique weapons and abilities, which varied depending on which form of the Heart Hybrid they did. Meanwhile the user of Eros would have access to some of the abilities of their partner for a short while after performing the Heart Hybrid, which were usually their only means of fighting. Of course such equipment would be useless outside of the world it originated from, so it had been modified so that the wearer could reenergize their partners ''stamina'' as well when needed, while also granting them any unique abilities they also possessed. If Alex used it with Rias then he''d be able to use the power of Destruction for a while, Holy Light if his partner was an angel, and of course Transform if his partner was Yami, Mea, or Nemesis. After Alex finished his brief explanation of the same things Lauren told him, Lala raised her hand and asked with noticeable excitement, "So does that mean that we''ll go to this world as well to see all the cool inventions and stuff there?!" Though she wasn''t too keen on doing anything like what ''he'' wanted, the bad was outweighed by the fact that Lala loved anything mechanical, and as such was understandably interested in these armaments from another world. Alex however was silent for a moment as he pondered her question, before eventually answering, "Possibly in the future, but for the moment I have no plans to since I don''t know much about that world, other than what Lauren already informed me of." Lala pouted somewhat but didn''t say anything else as she sat back down, understanding that what world''s they went to was ultimately Alex''s decision. Deciding that he should pick a world with interesting mechs for their next one, as a brief stop with Anne''s portal if nothing else, Alex then returned his attention to their previous topic of his rewards for killing Darius and the others. Instead of saying anything though, Alex secretly opened his system up before doing a little ''this and that'' on it, and suddenly Shizuku looked up as her own system dinged at her. "What''s this?" She muttered almost inaudibly to herself as she opened it up, and saw a notification saying she had mail. Curious, Shizuku opened it without checking the contents beforehand, and suddenly a puppy with pitch black fur and red eyes materialized from nothing before landing on her l.a.p. "Eh?!" Shizuku exclaimed in surprise at the sudden appearance of the puppy, as every single eye at the table turned to her. "What is that?!" Someone exclaimed at her, though Shizuku was unable to answer as her system rang in her head, [NOTICE! The Sacred Gear ''Canis Lykaon'' has been acquired! The skills ''Shadow Walk'' and ''Shadow Blade'' have been acquired!] "Is that what I think it is?!" Kuroka demanded, her verbal tick forgotten in her surprise, to which Alex nodded and explained for everyone else, "That is the ''Canis Lykaon'' Sacred Gear, a Longinus that takes the form of black dog, which is capable of producing blades on it''s body and from within shadows capable of slicing even gods." It was at about this point that Shizuku recovered from her stupor, before she demanded, "And why did you give it to me?!" Alex simply shrugged at her question before casually saying, "I don''t really need another Sacred Gear for myself, and I can''t just offer it up like I did the Magu Magu No MI. Items like that are a part of you and can only be transferred through the system itself, and amongst those I could send it too you were the only one I could think of that would genuinely benefit from having it." Shizuku pouted at Alex''s reasoning, with her being more annoyed that he didn''t check with her before sending it, even though she was the one that opened it without checking what was inside first. Truthfully the abilities that the small black puppy possessed and gave her would benefit her greatly, however Shizuku couldn''t help but feel that they also made her seem more like a ''chuuni'' than the abilities and skills she already had did. As she looked into the puppy''s wide red eyes though, she found any sort of argument against possessing it fading away as her weakness to cute things fought against her, before she eventually said begrudgingly, "I guess I''ll accept it..." The puppy''s tail started wagging happily when it heard her words, before it let out a tiny bark to vocalize its p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. With most of those around her looking at the adorable small puppy longingly, Shizuku instinctively hugged it to her b.r.e.a.s.ts as if to protect it, while she considered what to name the little thing.(A.N. Any ideas?" Smiling warmly at her as she started cuddling the small puppy, Shia called for Alex''s attention as she stated, "So? What''s the last ability you got?" With his ''Peerless Beauty'', ''Eros'', and the ''Canis Lykaon'' all accounted for, everyone was curious about what Alex''s final ability was as they recalled both Darius and Paul, whose abilities were a complete mystery to them since Alex hadn''t explained what he could do. Contrary to their expressions though, a wide smile formed on Alex''s face as he said smugly, "My last ability came from Paul, and it allows me to absorb any and all forms of energy before using it in almost any way I want." (A.N. For those asking, I will NOT be going to the Fate universe since I haven''t actually seen anything from it. Everything I know about it came from looking them up on the wiki, and from reading EPIC on here.) Chapter 383 - Visits As he paused for dramatic effect, Alex let his words sink in before Grayfia this time hesitantly asked, "You can absorb ''any'' type of energy now?" Alex nodded and said, "Yep. Kinetic, thermal, demonic, holy, divine, magical and any others you can think of, I can probably absorb them all." Even if one could consider every other ability he got from the others busts, this one gain more than made up for it due to how over powered it could be. This meant that Alex now had a form of near invincibility from almost any type of attack using some kind of ''power'', with the only ones he could immediately think of that could still affect him being attacks based around ''cutting'', and attacks that didn''t use energy suck as ice or freezing attacks. Of course there was still bound to be several others out there capable of affecting him, it was just a matter of putting some thought into it. Deciding to do so later, Alex returned his attention to his wives just in time to see a group of them conspiring, no doubt discussing ways to test his claims. Deciding to let them be since it''d be interesting to see what they came up with, Alex focused his attention on finishing his breakfast along with most of the other women around him, while Kurumu and Akeno snuck under the table and made their way towards him for their own ''breakfast''. Once they finally finished eating, Alex stood and said to them, "I''m going to go around and visit for the day, don''t wait up." Ignoring the various eye rolls he received when he said that he was ''visiting'', which his continued n.a.k.e.dness made it obvious what types of ''visits'' they were going to be, Alex then turned and headed out towards the courtyard, where he took flight and headed directly towards a certain floating island. The second he touched down Alex looked around to admire the alien flora and fawna surrounding him, courtesy of the Deviluke twin''s handiwork. Running his fingers over some leaves as a few cute creatures played nearby, Alex directed his attention to a nearby stream, where he knew his ''quarry'' was. The girls in question, Nana and Momo, were currently splashing each other playfully in the pleasantly chilled water after they had washed off the sweat from making their early morning rounds. Eventually though Nana crawled on top of a nearby rock, and said as she proceeded to strip off her soaking wet garments, "Geez Momo, you soaked me clear through right down to my p.a.n.t.i.e.s!" As the elder twin removed said u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.ts, Momo smiled mischievously before saying teasingly, "Who says you''ll need them? Maybe Alex will stop by later~?" The moment she heard Alex''s name Nana visibly tensed up, before she spat back at Momo while not sounding fl.u.s.tered at all, "S-s what if that beast stops by?! M-my p.a.n.t.i.e.s have nothing to do with him!" Momo''s mischievous smile widened as she hung her own soaked p.a.n.t.i.e.s on a nearby tree, before she said, "Really? But what about that time he-" "THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AN AC-CI-DENT!" Nana roared at her with crimson red face, as she recalled the time she had lost her reacquired v.i.r.g.i.n.i.t.y to Alex. Momo giggled at her sister''s reaction to her teasing, before she continued with, "Really? But what about all those other ''accidents''?" Nana paled when she heard Momo''s question, before shouting angrily, "HE TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!" Unperturbed by her sister''s outburst, Momo just chuckled softly to herself before answering, "Nope, you did just now." Nana''s expression went from frantic to downright furious before returning to frantic again as she quickly tried to explain, "I-I-it''s nothing like you think! Th-th-that BEAST pushed me down and took me by force! I h-h-had no choice in the matter! THEY WERE JUST ACCIDENTS!" Momo directed a warm gaze at her sister as she desperately tried to explain away her and Alex''s trysts, as, even if anything she said about being pushed down was true, she knew that Nana had still enjoyed it more than she''d ever admit to anybody, or herself. Before she could say something to tease her further though, Momo''s eyes widened in surprise as the bushes behind Nana parted to reveal none other than Alex himself, who then asked, "Are you ready for another ''accident'' then Nana?" The petite Devilukian froze as any and all color drained from her face, and she slowly turned around to see him standing there, where he had obviously overhead everything they had been saying. Nana didn''t even get the chance to form a single sentence in her head to retort back at him, when Momo suddenly pounced onto her from behind. Alex smirked as he admired the view of two n.a.k.e.d beauties wrestling before him, until Momo eventually pinned Nana to the top of the rock and used her knees to spread her legs, presenting the twin''s snatches to him. "W-what are you doing?!" Nana demanded to her sister, to which Momo smirked as she answered, "I''m just preparing a welcome home present for Alex." She then threw a l.u.s.ty look behind them at Alex, before saying as she wiggled her b.u.t.t back and forth invitingly while her tail danced above it, "Go ahead then Alex, your pick of any of the four holes." Nana tensed when she heard that as she demanded again, "w-w-w-WAIT! What do you mean by ''four holes''!?" Though she suspected exactly what Momo meant, Nana tried to deny such a painful implication with everything she had until she felt something hot and hard start rubbing against her most precious spot, making her shudder involuntarily. "Now then, which one to choose?" Both girls tensed as they tried to look down to get a glimpse of which one would be getting filled first, until Nana felt the head of Alex''s c.o.c.k directly prod her drooling opening. "W-wait-!" Nana tried to stall, before Alex thrusted his entire length into her in one go. In an instant Nana''s attempts to plea with Alex turned into cries of ecstasy, as the forest around them became filled with the sounds of her m.o.a.ns, the slapping of flesh, and the steady trickle of the nearby stream. ... Later, shortly after the sun within the space-time passed its zenith, Alex was reclining against the trunk of a nearby tree with two beautiful pink haired twins laying against him. Momo sat while straddling his l.a.p, flinching occasionally as she felt his nethers twitch inside her, while Nana had her nonexistent c.h.e.s.t pressed against Alex''s side as he gently played with her limp tail, a massive erogenous zone for Devilukians. "That was amazing..." Momo breathed in a voice that was just barely audible as she traced her fingers over Alex''s c.h.e.s.t, while her sister pouted silently to the side. When Alex didn''t respond to her praise though, Momo looked up at his face curiously to find him in a bit of a daze until she said, "Alex!" Snapping back in an instant, Alex looked down at Momo and asked with a warm smile, "What?" Seeing nothing seemed wrong with him Momo let out a small sigh of relief, before saying, "You looked like you were in a trance or something so I got kinda worried!" Alex blanked briefly at her words, before his smile returned as he said gently, "I''m alright, I was just listening." Momo tilted her head cutely as she wondered at Alex''s words, while the man himself simply closed his eyes as he continued to listen to the area around them. Though he didn''t know he exact reason, wether it was because they were twins, their abilities were so similar, or because they had just had a threesome; thanks to Eros Alex had acquired both Momo''s ability to communicate with plants, and Nana''s ability to communicate with animals, allowing him to listen in on the symphony produced by the forest around. Wether it was the tree he was reclined back on, the brush around them, the grass under them, or any of the thousands of small creatures like birds, small mammals, or even insects, Alex could hear them all. Instead of being overwhelming though, like when he tried sensing ''everything'' through his ''Domain'', Alex found the drone of everything around them slightly pleasant as he learned more about the world''s creatures and life than he ever thought he would. When he finally did open his eyes again, Alex found Momo and even Nana looking at him with slight concern, to which he smiled wryly and explained about the new abilities he had acquired. Though both girls had tensed when he brought up ''that man'', Momo practically beamed when he said that he could gain the same abilities as them after sleeping together now. "So you can hear the plans around us right now?!" She asked excitedly, to which Alex nodded and said, "I thought it would be exhausting listening to everything at once, but it''s surprisingly ''soothing''." Momo nodded in agreement as she too closed her eyes and listened to all of the voices around them, which only she and Alex could hear. On the other hand Nana furrowed her brows since whenever she tuned into what everything around her was saying, all she ever seemed to get was differing variations of ''WANNA F.U.C.K?!'' Of course Alex was getting the same thing, but since he was hearing both plants and animals he could tune them out. Despite this going through her mind though, Nana couldn''t help the giddy feeling welling up within her at the thought that someone else could talk to animals like she could. Before she could work up the courage to say something about it though, Alex suddenly went to stand up while saying, "As much as I''d like to stay and ''listen'' to everything with you two, I have others I need to pay a visit to today. I promise that we will do this again, and that I''ll take the both of you on a date on Earthland once things start getting back to normal there." Though he was leaving them, both Nana and Momo perked up when Alex promised to take them on a date on Earthland. Despite this being the fourth universe they''d been to, every single one until now had been some alternate version of earth. For them, and the rest of those who had been picked up by ''that man'' in the To Love Ru and Freezing world''s as well as those from the Rosario Vampire earth, this was first fantasy style world they had been to, and so they were pretty eager to get to explore it. Sadly though they would most likely still have to wait a while since the people here were still recovering from the damage done by Darius''s forces. "I''ll look forward to it then~." Momo said happily, while Nana quickly adopted an indifferent expression before saying in a low voice, "Who says I''d want to go on a date with a beast like you..." Alex smiled warmly at her as she said this, as nine times out of ten Nana usually meant the opposite of whatever she said when it came to him. So, instead of taking her words at face value, Alex then shocked Nana by quickly stealing her lips before taking off into the sky, leaving the Devilukian girl stunned on the ground below. Just as Alex was about to take off though, he paused as he noticed a small voice through his ''Domain'', like it was lost on the wind. "Wait..." Focusing on the source of the voice, the edge of Alex''s lips curled up as they continued, "Come to me..." Us using Spatial magic, Alex appeared right in front of the person calling for him, which was none other than the mother of Lala, Nana, and Momo, Sephie. "Well this is a pleasant surprise." Alex said as he took in the beautiful milf''s appearance. Her long pink hair flowed freely while the veil and artifacts that she usually wore to keep her Charm in check were nowhere to be seen, and the only thing on her body was a long red satin robe that was open in the front, exposing the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.ts and her completely smooth pubic mound. She flashed a disarming smile at his words before crooning, "Is that so?" Alex nodded slowly as he reached up, and gently tugged at the robe so that it fell from her shoulders, and pooled on the ground to reveal ever bit of her n.a.k.e.d body to him. Though he had seen her n.a.k.e.d several times in the bath, Alex had intentionally tried to avoid looking at Sephie too much due to her complexes about her beauty. Now however he shamelessly admired everything before him, from her face down to her b.r.e.a.s.ts with their erect n.i.p.p.l.es, and eventually down to her most private place. "So what brought this about?" Alex asked curiously after taking a second to admire her body, to which Sephie said, "I just wanted to completely welcome you back, and show how much I missed you." As she finished speaking Sephie surprised Alex even more as she stood up on her tip toes, and planted her lips against his own in their first ever kiss together. Throughout their time knowing each other Alex had intentionally made it clear that he would keep their relationship purely platonic, unless Sephie herself wanted to move things forward. The reason for this was due to the fact that she had spent her entire life fleeing those who wanted her body after catching a glimpse of her face, while ''that man'' had even gone as far as chaining her to his bed to use whenever he wanted. This, combined with the fact that Sephie had been the one to kill her own husband on ''that man''s'' orders, had made Alex hesitant in trying to push a relationship with her. Now however Sephie herself was the one trying to initiate progress between them, which Alex considered a major step in the right direction for her after the things she''d been through. As the kiss continued on for over a minute, Alex surprised the milf by suddenly grabbing her h.i.p.s and pulling her closer so that their n.a.k.e.d bodied were pressed against each other, allowing him to feel her hardened n.i.p.p.l.es pressed against his own c.h.e.s.t while she felt something excessively large and hot press against her belly. There was only the briefest of pauses as the two broke off their kiss to look into each other''s eyes, before Alex slowly and gently pushed Sephie back onto the bed behind her. As she fell back Sophie''s b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggled and bounced hypnotically, while her legs ended up spreading just enough to give him a clearer view of the treasure that lay between them. "Why don''t I show you just how much I missed you as well." Alex said as he sank to his knees in front of the bed, before he proceeded to bury his face into that same beautiful treasure mound. *** As the sun sank and night began to fall, Kotegawa Yui released a long sigh as she closed the doors to her room, as if she were trying to let go of the tensions and frustrations that had been building within her all day. Firstly he was once again having to deal with the stress of being around Kuroka all day, who was quite literally the most shameless person she had ever met, as she cleaned her personal floating island as a part of her duties. On one hand the job was like heaven due to the hundreds of cats that occupied it, but on the other hand Kuroka would intentionally go out of her way to try and antagonize her with her shameless actions. And then there was Alex, who had returned to the space-time orb days ago yet hadn''t paid her a single visit. "Shameless idiot..." Yui swore under her breath as she started removing her maid uniform, and prepared to take her bath for the night. Usually she would bathe with the others in the large open baths, but with Alex''s return and the children''s absence, there wasn''t a doubt in her that a simple bath would turn into yet another massive orgy, just like the one she knew took place the night before. As she thought about that a surge of annoyance at their shamelessness surged through her, as well as a pang of jealousy. Of course when she thought about it it was only natural Alex would prioritize spending time with the others over her, as, compared to the rest of them, Yui''s relationship with Alex was ''unusual'' to say the least. "A strip show just for me? You shouldn''t have." Yui jumped as a startled yelp escaped her throat, and she spun around to see Alex standing there as her blatantly admired her n.a.k.e.d form before she hurriedly used an arm to cover her b.r.e.a.s.ts while her other one went down to cover her exposed p.u.s.s.y. "W-W-W-W-W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" She stuttered frantically as she tried to make sure her private areas were covered, a fruitless endeavor considering his ''Domain'' and how much of her body Alex had already seen/felt. Instead of saying anything though, Alex simply admired the tantalizing view before him. Currently Yui had her p.a.n.t.i.e.s down around her knees as she desperately used her arms to try and keep her private areas hidden, which was much more of an arousing image than if she were simply n.a.k.e.d. It was only after he made a show of examining every single inch of skin that was visible, that Alex finally said, "Since you weren''t there last night I thought you might be feeling a bit lonely, plus I figured that it''d been long enough that you''d want to ''try again''." The moment the last two words left his mouth, Yui''s face turned completely red as she pointedly avoided eye contact with him. "L-let me wash first..." She eventually muttered in a subdued voice, before turning and shimmying into the bathroom as well as she could with her p.a.n.t.i.e.s still wrapped around her knees, seemingly forgetting that doing so gave Alex a perfectly good view of her jiggling b.u.t.t. After the door to the bathroom slammed firmly shut, Alex couldn''t help but to issue a light chuckle at Yui''s contradictory nature. Despite formerly being the Public Morals Committee president when she was at school, Yui was prone to having delusions regarding being pushed down, and being i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.ed. That was what Alex was referring to by ''trying again'', as, instead of directly joining his harem, Alex was simply helping Yui to start her own family. It was an ''interesting'' relationship to say the least, as despite desiring a child of her own Yui refused to rely on Anne''s serum or ''Penetrate'', meaning they presumably had a large number of lovemaking sessions ahead of them until she finally got pregnant. While he waited Alex proceeded to lay back onto her bed, and close his eyes as he used his ''Domain'' to admire the view of what she was doing in the bathroom as Yui desperately made sure to clean every single nook and cranny of her body. After the little bit of time it took to clean herself, Yui desperately tried to think of something else to take a few more minutes to steel herself, but with Alex literally waiting right outside(and most likely spying on her as well), she took a deep breath before wrapping herself in a towel and exiting the bathroom. When she exited Yui''s mind blanked momentarily when she saw Alex laid back casually on her bed, his erect manhood standing straight up ready for her. A blush crept into her cheeks as she realized what Alex was implying for them to do, but, having already made up her mind, Yui simply release her towel so that it dropped on the floor, and started to climb up onto the bed. "Pervert..." She swore silently, though Alex still heard her clearly, while she desperately tried to keep certain areas of her body hidden as she climbed up over him. Despite her best efforts though, Yui couldn''t hide the sway of her b.r.e.a.s.ts as she moved, or the contours of her body as she tried to maneuver herself above him. Finally, as Yui positioned herself on her knees right above Alex''s towering c.o.c.k, she paused slightly since she had only ever been on the receiving end of his advances, and never the one initiating. After a few seconds of thought, Yui gritted her teeth as she used the same hand that had been trying to hide her steadily moistening slit to peel apart the tightly closed lips, revealing the pink flesh within to him. Alex''s smirk widened as the usually strict and proper Yui lowered herself until the tip of Alex''s c.o.c.k brushed against her opening, making her body tense up noticeably. The seconds ticked by as Yui steeled her resolve, before she finally began to impale herself upon Alex''s manhood. "Ngh..." Yui g.r.o.a.n.e.d as her nether regions were being spread open, while Alex stifled his own groan as he intruded deeper into her amazingly hot, wet, and incredibly tight hole. Slowly she continued to lower herself as more and more of Alex''s c.o.c.k inched further into her, until it finally came to a stop at the mouth of her w.o.m.b. Alex''s smirk widened when he felt the entrance to her w.o.m.b, and saw Yui flinch at their contact, before he said teasingly, "I can feel your insides squeezing me, Yui." Yui flinched once again when she heard Alex''s teasing remark, as well as when she heard him say her name out loud in such a familiar way. "...don''t say that..." She pouted cutely while trying to simultaneously adjust to the large thing invading her body, which she couldn''t help but feel slightly frustrated that she couldn''t fit its entire length into her. With nearly a minute passing without any movement on her part though, Alex couldn''t help but to tease her once again, "Aren''t you going to move, Yui?" Yui shot Alex a teary eyed glare at his words, before she slowly started trying to shift her h.i.p.s. As she was still trying to maintain her image of propriety, Yui''s movements were stiff and mechanical as she slowly moved herself up and down Alex''s shaft, as she tried as hard as she could to not give into the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e she was feeling. As watched her try and fight the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e though, Alex''s smirk widened even more. As she slowly brought her h.i.p.s up once more, Alex surprised her by suddenly grabbing them, and thrusting upwards. "HIYAAAAAN!!!" Yui cried out as Alex suddenly hit her G-spot, making her knees buckle as she fell down even harder on his d.i.c.k. Before Yui even had time to catch her breath and register what happened, Alex proceeded to start thrusting his own h.i.p.s up into her with a vigor that wasn''t there previously. "W-what are you doing?!" She cried out in panic between her gasps, to which Alex replied, "I just thought I''d help you enjoy this more." Yui''s mind blanked at his response, before Alex suddenly flipped her over and plunged into her depths once more. In an instant, the awkward mechanical lovemaking that had been taking place before became a wild animalistic f.u.c.k-fest, as the room filled with the sounds of Yui''s rough panting and the slapping of Alex''s h.i.p.s against her t.h.i.g.hs. As he f.u.c.k.e.d her Yui tried to protest as much as she could manage, but no coherent words were able to escape her lips due to the intense p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e that was surging through her body as she experience climax after climax. It was only after several intense minutes of rutting and numerous climaxes that she finally received what she was initially after, and Alex pumped her w.o.m.b full of his burning hot seed. As she came down from the high of her greatest climax yet, Yui looked down to see a thick white fluid leaking from the place where the two of them were connected. Instantly a wave of relief surged through her that this embarrassing and shameless act was over, before Alex once again flipped her over so that she was on her hands and knees in a d.o.g.g.y style position, and resumed his thrusting. "Why are you still going?!" She cried out the first coherent words she could utter in the last several minutes, to which Alex replied, "Well Devils like myself have a hard time reproducing, to the point that it could take decades or centuries. So we should make sure to do it as much as possible until then!" Punctuating his statement with yet another thrust, Yui was unable to respond as a fresh wave of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e surged through her. *** As the days slowly slipped by within the space-time orb, Alex spent almost the entire time indulging in the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es of the flesh. Moving from one wife to another, Alex spent the rest of his time until morning arrived in Asora either f.u.c.k.i.n.g, or simply relaxing and cuddling as they spent some time together. Of course, Alex was only able to make sure everyone got their fill of one-on-one time when Kuroka decided to teach him the spell to alter the flow of time within a single room; he might not be anywhere near as skilled as Kuroka when it came to altering the flow of time, but if it came to simply giving himself a few extra hours in a small enclosed space then that was doable. However, regardless of time shenanigans, all good things must come to an end, and as the sun started to peek over the horizon on Asora, Alex and his wives emerged from the space-time orb looking remarkably refreshed. Naturally, the first thing Alex did after emerging was to make his way to the kitchen, where he found Remia and Myuu preparing breakfast for him and the children. "PAPA!" Myuu cried out when she noticed him, before she dropped whatever she was doing and raced over to leap into his arms. "Good morning Myuu! Did you sleep well?" Alex asked as he picked her up for a hug, to which Myuu eagerly nodded and replied, "Yep! I slept really well since it was papa who put me to bed last night!" Once again Alex felt a little guilty for having left his children for so long, as they were still too young to understand exactly what he was doing compared to his wives, but he tried to suppress the feeling since he was well aware that having to do so in he future as well would most likely be necessary. Alex then planted a small kiss on Myuu''s forehead before saying, "Well don''t worry, I won''t be leaving again for quite a while." Though Myuu pouted when she realized Alex probably would leave again in the future, she didn''t get a chance to voice her complaints before Remia made her way over and planted a much less tame kiss on Alex''s lips before saying, "Good morning husband~, breakfast is almost ready if you want to go get the children." Alex was about to respond to her when he noticed Myuu at the side, who started pouting cutely after watching them kiss each other before she closed her eyes and puckered her own lips up like a fish. "Pft-" Remia stifled a laugh when she saw how her daughter was acting, while a few of the other girls started turning red in the face from how hard they were fighting not to laugh. Alex however ignored them as he planted a second kiss on Myuu''s forehead, making her open her eyes to pout angrily once more before Alex said, "Those kinds of kisses should only be for the man you plan to marry Myuu." Surprisingly, Myuu''s pout deepened when she heard that before exclaiming, "It should be fine then since Myuu will marry papa!" Alex''s brow twitched when she said that, while several of the girls had to excuse themselves from the room due to how much they needed to laugh, which Alex could clearly hear even after they left. Sighing deeply at Myuu''s behavior, Alex handed her back to Remia while saying, "Please help her understand what it is she''s trying to say, I''m going to get the other children up." Though he wasn''t sure if he trusted the gleam in Remia''s eyes as she handed Myuu to her, Alex still left things to her as he turned around to leave the room. As he made his way through the halls Alex soon came to the wing that the children stayed in, where he found Mizore and Tsurara waiting for him. "Good morning dear." Mizore said as she planted a quick kiss on his lips that tasted like cherries, before her mother quickly followed suit and added, "I couldn''t help but wonder when I''d get the chance to go on an ''outing'' again dear, I quite enjoyed feeling the recoil of my babies, and the pungent smell of gunpowder in the air." Mizore''s brow twitched when she heard her mother''s question, which the gentle motherly smile and tone of voice made it simply sound like she was asking about their dinner for the night, and not if she could go slaughtering something with her guns soon. Alex however didn''t look the least bit perturbed as he replied, "Of course, though it may just be the monsters in the space-time orb." Though it wouldn''t necessarily be a real ''outing'', Tsurara still looked happy as she said, "I''ll look forward to it dear." Seeing the two of them flirt, Mizore only shook her head and was about to suggest they get on with waking up the children, only for the bedroom door to suddenly fly open as a disheveled blond head poked itself out. "Daddy!" Edith cried out happily when she saw her father, before leading the charge as Alex''s older children followed her out of the room. "Good morning Edith, Mai, Alec, Anna, Regal, and Lizzy!" Alex said as he picked up all of them in one big hug, making them all laugh in glee. Mizore and Tsurara smiled warmly for a brief moment as they watched Alex interact with his children, before they too went to get their daughters up and ready, both of which were still fairly young compared to their older siblings. By the time Alex and the others returned to the kitchen, they were quite the sight. Alex was holding his four youngest in his arms, Yuki, Aurora, Ryoto, and Shuri, while Alec and Anna had claimed his shoulders as their own spot, Regal and Lizzy were clinging to his legs, and Edith and Mai were both hanging upside down from Alex''s tail with their own, which he fully encouraged since it helped to train what would otherwise be a major weakness for the young Saiyans. Their appearance though instigated yet another round of giggles in the kitchen, which were only amplified by those coming from the children themselves. However, as Alex carefully tried to put his children into their chairs so they could eat, he noticed one person who didn''t seem to even register the happy mood around them. "What''s wrong Ophis?" Alex asked curiously once he put Ryoto and Shuri into their high chairs. Alex was then stunned as the petite dragon God looked at him with the saddest expression he had ever seen on her, and said something he never thought he hear from her lips, "I failed Alex." Chapter 384 - Examination Back when the Earth was first created, and the other worlds such as the Underworld and Heaven came into existence, a seemingly infinite space between these different worlds also came into existence, the Dimensional Gap. A place not unlike space where most life forms would be unable to survive direct exposure to for prolonged periods of time without protection, except for one being. As time passed the void that was the Dimensional Gap spawned an entity unlike any other in the world''s that were connected to it, a being that embodied the concept of ''infinity'' while taking the form of some of the most powerful beings that existed in the other worlds, the Ouroboros Dragon, Ophis. For endless years Ophis wandered the Gap aimlessly, innocent and curious about everything around it, until the day it decided to enter one of the world''s connected to the Gap. There, it encountered the only ever living beings it had seen besides itself, as well as others that were like it, dragons. Compared to the rest of the great beasts though Opis was unconditionally the strongest, which led to it being recognized as the God of all dragons. However, unlike others gods who were actively worshipped, Ophis''s position was more of a matter of respect and status than anything else. Using its status, Ophis eventually established the rankings of the two Heavenly Dragons and the five Dragon Kings, dragons who were more powerful than the majority of their brethren. Regardless of how much time it spent around the beings of earth however, or what form it took amongst them, Ophis had constantly been regarded with a mixture of fear, and respect. Many treated it like a bomb that was about to go off at any given moment, destroying everything around it before going on it''s way. Eventually it had made the decision to return to the place that had birthed it, the Dimensional Gap, but something else had already made it it''s home, Great Red. Around the time that Ophis had again changed their form to that of a young girl, she also created an organization designed to help her deal with Great Red before she could return to her home for the silence she had grown to d.e.s.i.r.e, the Khaos Brigade. With exiled Devils, magicians, and humans bearing Sacred Gears filling its ranks, the organization became feared by every major faction almost overnight due mostly because of her backing. However, despite the Devils being powered up by her and possessing the descendants of the former Maou in their ranks, despite the humans who called themselves Heroes possessing numerous Longinus Sacred Gears and the blood of heroes of the past, and the collected knowledge of the mages association, the Khaos Brigade was experiencing setbacks in almost all of their endeavors by either one of two people, the Heavenly Dragons. As she continued hearing about them, Ophis couldn''t help but to become increasingly interested in the current possessors of Albion, the Vanishing Dragon, and especially Ddraig, the Welsh Dragon. When she finally did meet the one who currently possessed Ddraig though, Ophis had been surprised when he didn''t seem to fear her. At first she was simply curious about him, but as time went on Ophis grew to like Alex''s company since he always gave her snacks and didn''t treat her like something to feared. Then, after he even protected her from the one thing that could harm her, Samuel, he brought her to the place he called ''Asora''. In a word, she considered Asora to be ''amazing'' as it was untouched by anything or anyone, a perfect Eden where she wouldn''t be surrounded by the fear of others, for a time. Eventually Alex began bringing more people into Asora along with Gabriel, Yasaka, Barakiel, and Serafall. At first the people that were making Asora into their new home regarded her with the same fear and wariness as everyone else, while also threatening to devolve into fighting amongst themselves due to their past as Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels. Then, something unusual happened. Gabriel, Yasaka, Serafall, and Barakiel all reminded their people of the things they''d lost due to their fighting, and why it was that they came to Asora to begin with, leading to their respective people reluctantly putting down their weapons to build their new home. Overnight an entire forest of Asora had been cleared, and in its place was enough modern buildings to house the hundreds of new inhabitants. What surprised Ophis though was that one of the first places to be built after their own homes was a building dedicated to her, her first ever shrine. It was almost immediately after that something else happened that had never happened to her before, a devil woman visited her with her young son, and some fresh cake she had just made. Despite the woman''s nervousness, Ophis accepted the cake and ate it right in front of her before telling her it was delicious, making the devil woman almost faint in relief. However, the most shocking thing to occur happened after she finished eating the cake, and the young devil boy innocently asked Ophis if she wanted to play, since they looked similar in age physically. From that point on her life once again changed drastically. With the children not having the same apprehension as their parents regarding the world''s undisputed strongest being, they quickly warmed up to Ophis and would regularly come see her to play. And then, as the days slipped by without incident, the others too began to relax around Ophis as they occasionally brought her ''offerings'', which they quickly learned that Ophis had quite the sweet tooth. Soon the ''offerings'' started coming daily, and as they brought them the people would genuinely smile at her as they asked how her day was going. With everyone warming up to her, and Alex considering her their last line of defense of Asora was ever attacked, Ophis was soon regarded by many to essentially be the Guardian Deity of Asora, a role she readily accepted. Though Alex had explained to her how fighting was bad, which she had in turn said to Crom Cruach when he requested a fight with her, he had also told her how fighting to protect those you had grown to care about was good. With everyone in Asora essentially becoming her ''friends'', Ophis would readily fight if someone managed to get in that would harm them. Or so she thought. When Alex had only been gone for a few days to explore whatever new world they were in, a stranger had intruded into Asora, and Ophis had never even noticed. She never noticed him entering their world. She never noticed him as he blatantly wandered around their home unchecked. And she never even noticed as he took one of Alex''s children, and left with her in his arms. When the realization that all of this had happened on ''her watch'', a feeling unlike anything Ophis had ever experienced filled her, and she even began leaking a little bit of fluid from her eyes. It had even taken everything she had not to participate in the battle to wipe out Darius''s forces, as then she wouldn''t actually be fighting to ''protect''. Even now, when Edith was safely brought home and Alex had returned, sitting in his kitchen, despite the happy atmosphere around her Ophis was still filled with the same feeling she had felt before. This time however, seeing Alex face to face, the feeling felt even worse right up until Alex asked her, "What''s wrong Ophis?" Looking up at Alex, the feeling grew as all that escaped her lips was three words, "I failed Alex..." Panic immediately seized Alex''s mind when the petite dragon God looked as if she was going to burst into tears any second, making his previous happy mood evaporate in an instant as he tried to console her. "What?! Not at all! Why do you think you failed me?" By this point tears really did start forming at the corners of Ophis''s eyes as she said, "I was supposed to protect Asora, to protect Alex''s family, and I failed..." As she trailed off Alex hurriedly grabbed some paper towels to wipe away Ophis''s tears as he said, "No you didn''t! The man this time was someone who had a stupid ability, there was no way you could have known he was here unless he intentionally made himself known." Rather than being consoled by his words though, Ophis shook her head and said, "But I am Ophis, infinite God of dragons. I should have been able to tell he was here...!" With her saying much more than she usually would, Alex tried to think of something to reassure her when Ophis suddenly added, "I will get stronger...!" Everyone except the children stopped what they were doing and looked at Ophis in surprise at her declaration as the petite dragon God turned and left the kitchen with a resolute expression on her face, before leaving the manor altogether and taking flight into the sky and space beyond. While everyone else was trying wrap their heads around the terrifying idea of Ophis becoming even more powerful, Alex felt a chill go down his spine. TECHNICALLY, as a deity representing the concept of infinity, Ophis SHOULD have been at least as powerful as the Omni-King from Dragon Ball Super, if not even more so. However, for reasons unknown, that didn''t seem to be the case. The only reasonable answer Alex had been able to come up with during the occasional times he thought about this, was that since the scale of power between DXD and DBS were so drastically different, Ophis had been severely nerfed since a being capable of wiping out entire universes wasn''t necessary to the plot of DXD. Another way to phrase or think about it was that since Ophis had never even considered using so much power, due to everyone in DXD being so much weaker than her, she had never even tried to push her abilities to see how far they could go. Regardless of the reason though, Ophis wanting to try and become more powerful was a very terrifying thought. Everyone had yet to wrap their heads around it when Barakiel made his appearance, and was going to ask what was up with Ophis when he caught sight of Alex. "What the hell happened to your face?!" He exclaimed loudly, to which Alex looked up and immediately shot back, "What the hell happened to yours?" Though he wasn''t actually referring to anything on Barakiel''s face, the fallen angel paled as he quickly reached up and rubbed a particular spot, before grabbing a nearby spoon and using it to look at his reflection. Seeing that Ririko hadn''t left a mark like he feared, Barakiel sighed in relief before looking up to see everyone deadpanning at him. "What?" He asked defensively, before a chill suddenly ran down his spine this time. "Ara ara, father, are things really getting so intense between you and miss Ririko? I wonder when you will give me a baby sister? Ah! But then I might end up having to share my husband with her in the future. Hmmmm..." While Akeno was thinking on what she said, Alex''s brow twitched at what she just implied, but before he could say anything Barakiel roared, "THERES NO WAY! Even we end up having a daughter together I''ll never allow her to be with HIM as well! Besides, for all we know, when we finally do get to that point Kagome and I could end up having a boy." As he said that a peculiar look showed itself on Barakiel''s face as he pictured having a son this time, before Moka muttered out loud, "Aren''t all lamia women though?" In an instant all of Barakiel''s earlier thoughts vanished as this one point echoed within his head, that chances were his and Ririko''s child would probably be a lamia like her mother. As Barakiel despaired, and the women gave him looks of pity, Alex couldn''t help but internally remark, ''why''s it already assumed that I''d just take any other daughters Barakiel might have as well?'' ''...'' With both Ddraig and Lauren choosing to remain silent at Alex''s internal question, he decided to ignore it and instead ask out loud, "So what brings you here Barakiel?" Looking up at his name, Barakiel gave one last sniffle before switching to his professional mode and saying as he stood up, "Along with seeing Shuri, I came to give you a report and check up on you since you used the Boosted Gear and your transformation at the same time. So, how are you feeling?" Though he was momentarily surprised that Barakiel would come to check up on him, Alex quickly answered, "I feel fine, really." Though he was genuinely fine, everyone gave him a skeptic look before Barakiel said, "Well I brought someone to give you a once over just in case." As if they had been waiting for their cue, Mikado, Tearju, and Oshizu all walked in with the former dressed like a doctor, while the latter two were dressed like nurses. "D-do we really have to wear these?" Tearju asked with a red face as she desperately tried to pull the short nurses skirt down further, to which Mikado replied with a smile, "No, but I think Alex would enjoy them a bit more than your usual clothes, don''t you think?" Tearju''s face became even redder when she heard Mikado''s reasoning, and even noticed Alex appraising the three of them without even trying to hide his wandering eyes. CHOP "No l.e.w.ding Tear." Yami said suddenly as her hair came alive and chopped down onto Alex''s head, making him look at her incredulously since he hadn''t been the one to make Tearju wear such a thing. Before he could say anything though, Mikado cut him off by saying, "Alright then! Now can you remove your shirt Alex and take a seat on that stool next to you?" As she asked him to remove his shirt Mikado produced a few medical instruments from the handbag she had been carrying, seemingly intent on doing the examination right there in the kitchen. The examination then proceeded about how one would expect, Mikado used her instruments to check on the various parts of Alex''s body, such as his breathing and heartbeat, while he openly flirted with her, Oshizu, and even Tearju despite Yami''s piercing glare. Meanwhile, off to the side, the children were still eating their breakfast as they watched their father with interest, until Remia hastened them so they could get ready to go outside. Eventually the examination ended with Mikado using a specially made machine to measure Alex''s internal energies, before drawing a small vial of blood to examine later. "That about does it, he really is perfectly healthy." Mikado finally said after finishing everything up, to which everyone who was still there let out a sigh of relief. It wasn''t that they didn''t trust Alex when he said he was alright, but it was always better to have the word of a professional. Meanwhile the man himself was simply smiling wryly as he said, "I told you all before, the SSJ4 transformation is fundamentally different than the others so there was no need to worry." Barakiel looked thoughtful when Alex said this, before asking, "How exactly is it different though?" Rather than refuting what Alex was saying though, Barakiel was simply curious about what made this form so special compared to the others, especially since it was obviously much more powerful. It was at that moment that the red gauntlet appeared on Alex left arm, and Ddraig''s voice sounded out, Everyone listened intently as Ddraig explained how the previous three SSJ forms were based around using Alex''s own energy to fuel his increase in strength, which followed the same principle of the Boosted Gear. Basically, when Alex used both he was over saturating his body in energy so much that it would cause the side effects in his body, such as the Boosted Gear being unusable for a time. Meanwhile, the SSJ4 transformation was a direct physical transformation while also increasing his energy, making the form much easier to maintain, train, and even allowing Alex to use the Boosted Gear while it was active. After listening to his explanation, Mikado then asked what was everyone else''s minds, "Can you show me the transformation?" As she had spent the night using her medical expertise to help those who needed it on Earthland, Mikado hadn''t witnessed Alex''s transformation during his fight with Darius, or his transition back when he returned. With everyone else looking at him expectantly, Alex smiled wryly before closing his eyes and focusing his energy. (A.N. Before people started mentioning it, I''m not including the full moon requirements for the SSj4 since most characters that had it seemed to bypass it in some way(I mean what was the point of a restriction if it didn''t apply to anyone?), and since someone brought it up before I''m not doing the whole ''SSJ4 transformation creates pants for the user'', because I''m fairly certain that was just so the creators wouldn''t have to deal with characters being n.a.k.e.d after the Golden Oozaru transformation.) Everyone watched with bated breath as Alex''s body began to radiate a massive amount of energy before his black hair started to grow longer and even darker, and a layer of bright red fur began to grow all over his body. While that was happening, surprising those who hadn''t seen it before, Alex''s body also started to grow in size until he was several inches taller, and his muscles were much more defined. The stool Alex was sitting on even started groaning as his size increased, along with apparently his weight. Though he was worried that it wouldn''t hold, thankfully the stool never collapsed under Alex as his size and weight stopped increasing. By the time the transformation was over, Alex opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him in awe, from both the power radiating from his body, and his physical appearance. Smirking at them, he then asked in a gruff voice, "What? Cat got your tongue?" Startling them out of their reverie, Mikado directly started looking Alex up and down before saying, "Interesting, on top of growing larger you also seem to have become a lot more dense and heavier as well..." Mikado trailed off as she began to look over Alex''s body with a professional gaze, before she began to lightly tap Alex''s c.h.e.s.t and arms to test the firmness. She then retrieved some of the same instruments she had already put away to test for any other differences in Alex''s body, ranging from things like muscle and bone density, to his new height and weight. She had even attempted to draw some more blood to try and do a before and after comparison, but the needle broke as she tried to insert it. As Mikado was finishing up her examination, Barakiel then asked, "Could you also come to the Grigori institute later? I want to show you the maps after your new transformations influenced Asora last night, and we could probably also do some performance tests regarding your new form." After a moment of consideration Alex nodded and said, "Sure, I have a few different things that I want to test as well so that works for me. But I also have some things I need to take care of today as well so we''ll have to do it later." With all of the prisoners they had acquired from being on ''the list'', Alex wanted to go and try to talk to them at some point that day before they started getting the wrong idea about why they had been captured. He also needed to pay Hajime a visit to discuss his progress with the gates to other worlds, since that copycat made Alex slightly anxious to return to DXD. The moment he thought about Hajime though, Alex''s consciousness brought him to the man in question, who was currently busy banging his two wives. Acting as if he hadn''t just witnessed Kaori''s bouncing t.i.t.s or Yuuka bent over with her cheeks spread, Alex kept a straight face as he stood and departed to start working on the things he mentioned, while the rest of the women went to work on their own duties as well. While they weren''t directly repairing the damage done to the various countries and cities of Earthland by Darius and his followers, Anne was still ensuring that the people were fit enough and had the basic necessities needed to rebuild their lives. The actual rebuilding would have to be done by them though, like the people of Hargeon, who had already began opening what few businesses they could and building new sh.i.p.s to use for fishing. Meanwhile Mikado and Kurumu had gone to Natsu and Gajeel to try and undo the damage done by Alice while they were her toys. Though her influence might have disappeared after her death, they still recalled everything that had happened while they had been held prisoner by her. Alex on the other hand headed straight to their prisons, complexes underground where they could seal the powers of those within and even manipulate the time inside if they wished. This had been useful for prisoners like Cattleya, where the idea had been to break her over a long period of time without actually waiting for her to break. The reverse was also possible though where they could set the time in someone''s cell to go really slow. This time however neither of these were being used since everyone they imprisoned were those Alex intended to try and give a second chance. Opening the door and entering the first cell he arrived to, Alex found a beautiful and m.a.t.u.r.e scarlet haired woman glaring at him, Irene Belserion. "What do you want?" Irene demanded testily after Alex closed the cell door behind him, locking the two of them in together. Instead of appearing annoyed at her attitude though, Alex simply conjured a chair to sit in across from her before finally saying, "I want to make you an offer Irene, working for me here in Asora." Irene''s brow twitched when she heard Alex''s offer, before she spat at him, "And why exactly would I want to accept that offer?" Alex simply shrugged at her her before saying, "I don''t know, maybe because I can revert you to being a human instead of a dragon, because I can give you access to magics and artifacts the likes of which you''ve never, seen, I have your own daughter with me, and the fact that even if you don''t accept I can simply mark you as my slave and make you work for me regardless." Irene gapped at Alex as he finished his list of reasons for her work for him, all of which she ignored except for one. "And why exactly should I care that that useless failure is here?" She asked as she turned up her nose to him, making Alex''s brow twitch in irritation for how she talking about her own daughter despite knowing she didn''t actually mean it. Irene carried the unborn Erza within her for over four hundred years before finally giving birth to her, with the intention of transplanting her own consciousness into Erza''s body. When the time came though, she had been unable to bring herself to erase the tiny existence that she had carried for so long. When the two of them fought in the original series though, Irene had repeatedly told Erza that she was a ''failure'' with no capacity for enchantments, and that had been the reason she abandoned her. Now however Erza already knew the truth, as well as Alex, so no matter how much Irene tried to convince him she didn''t care about her daughter, he didn''t buy it. That was why, instead of trying to convince her, he simply stood and said, "I''ll let you sleep on it." Irene opened her mouth to tell him something offensive since she couldn''t sleep, but before she could her consciousness suddenly went dark as Alex used Spirit magic to put her to sleep. Instead of collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut though, Alex used his ''Telekinesis'' to lift her body into the air, before he began to channel Alteration and Regeneration magic onto her. *** In another cell three other people were imprisoned as they awaited their captors to come and speak to them, Silver Fullbuster, August Dragneel, and Brandish. The trio were a sitting in silence, waiting for whatever hell their captor had in mind for them when they arrived. Of the three though, when the door to their cell finally opened both Silver and August barely glanced up while Brandish jumped as a man who looked more ''beautiful'' than any other she''d ever seen walked in, even though he was covered in bright red fur. As they looked up at him though neither August or Silver showed any major reactions, except for the former saying, "I''ll assume you''re this so-called ''Dragon Emperor'' I heard about, though you remind more of a monkey than a dragon..." Alex smirked at August''s inquiry, but instead of answering it he said to them, "The Dark Emperor is dead." In an instant all three tensed up, while Silver uttered, "What...?" Alex nodded before he did the same thing he had done in Irene''s cell and conjured a chair to sit on, before continuing, "So are the generals, three by my hand, and one by my wife''s." The trio gaped at Alex as he revealed that those who had practically ruled the world were now dead, before he continued, "Now I have an offer for the three of you." *** Back in her cell, after who knew how many hours, Irene awoke feeling more refreshed than she had in centuries. "T-that can''t be...?" She muttered in confusion, as, ever since she had begun turning into a dragon more than four centuries prior, she had never gotten a single wink of sleep. It was then that she noticed an amazing smell wafting though her cell, drawing her attention to the plate of steaming food sitting nearby. "What is this?" She asked out loud as the mouth watering aroma filled her nostrils. However she fought the urge to dig into the food, as another part of being a dragon was not being able to taste anything. However as the amazing smell continued to assault her nose Irene''s will crumbled as she reluctantly grabbed an apple and took a bite. As she bit into the flesh of the red fruit though, Irene''s eyes widened as sweet juice ran into her mouth, before flowing down her throat as she instinctively swallowed. For several seconds Irene just stood there still as a statue as she savored the first thing she had tasted in four hundred years, before she took several more ravenous bites out of the Apple. When all that was left was the core, she immediately turned her attention to the plate of still steaming food on the table, which had a large juicy looking steak with a couple buttery rolls. Practically tearing a chunk of the steak off instead of cutting it with the knife she had been given, Irene hurriedly put it in her mouth only to close her eyes as the taste of gristle, meat, and fat danced across her tongue. Instead of ravenously devouring it like she had the apple though, Irene closed her eyes as she savored the taste of the meat, before a stream of tears began to run down her face. Chapter 385 - New Recruits When she had finished eating Irene could only sit there, and silently contemplate what she was experiencing as well as what Alex had said to her earlier. To make her human again was something that not even Zeref had been able to do, as he had only been able to change her form from that of a dragon to a human, however Alex had seemingly accomplished it as if it was nothing. Though he had already given her one of the things he had promised during his earlier offer, Irene couldn''t help but wonder about the other things, such as magic and artifacts like she''d never seen before. If he''d been able to do this like it was nothing, then what else were they able to do? It was only as an afterthought that Irene recalled the other thing Alex mentioned, something she had tried not to think about for nearly twenty years, the baby girl that she''d abandoned named Erza. As she recalled the baby she''d left behind Irene felt a series of conflicted emotions, since in the back of her mind she felt as if she didn''t deserve to be a mother after trying to erase the soul of her own baby for her own convenience, and then abandoning her to prevent doing so later. Irene''s turbulent thoughts were then disrupted where her cell door suddenly opened, and Alex stepped in once again. "So, have you considered my offer?" He asked the moment he entered the cell, to which Irene sat quietly as she contemplated somethings before asking, "What did you do to me?" Not surprised that was the first thing she''d ask about, Alex retook his seat from earlier and explained, "Some of the types of magic I was referring to earlier are called Regeneration and Alteration magic. The former is a type of time manipulation magic that I used to return your body to the point before you began to turn into a dragon, while the later allows one to magically manipulate living matter in any way they want. I used it to cement the changes I made to your body, turning you into a human that can change into a dragon, or a dragon who''s main form is that of a human, whichever you prefer." As he stopped speaking Irene was silent as she absorbed what he told her, before one point occupied her mind. "So," she began slowly before looking up at him with a murderous glare. "YOU''RE SAYING I''M STILL A MONSTER?!" Irene then tried to lunge at Alex in rage for leaving her as a monster, only to find her body suddenly stiffen as something invisible held her back. Using his ''Telekinesis'' to hold Irene and move her back to the bed to sit, Alex fought the urge to sigh in exasperation at her actions. Though he could understand her reluctance at becoming something other than a human, one thing he could never understand was her thought that she was a ''monster'' due to transforming into a dragon, despite ruling alongside and befriending many dragons. After a few seconds of thought though, Alex concluded that the main reason was probably the mistreatment she received from her own subjects and husband after she began the transformation process. With an unperturbed expression on his face as Irene struggled against his hold, Alex sat there and waited until she either gave up or tired herself out. Only a couple minutes later Irene hung there limply from where Alex was holding her, before he asked, "Are you finished?" She looked at him with a tearful glower before demanding, "I thought you said you''d make me human again, not ''this''!" Alex c.o.c.ked an eyebrow as he asked, "And how is this not ''human''? You look like a human, you walk like a human, you talk like one. To anyone else around you, you''re simply a human that has the ability to transform into a dragon, so what''s wrong with that?" Irene''s glower darkened as she spat back at him, "And how would you feel to be a monster like this instead?!" Alex only c.o.c.ked a brow when he heard that, as he was still in his SSJ4 form and obviously not human. Instead of retorting however, he simply canceled his transformation so that he returned to looking more human-like, making Irene''s eyes go wide, before saying, "This is what I normally look like. I''m not exactly human, but close enough to it. And don''t go around thinking you''re the only monster here." As he finished speaking Alex closed his eyes, before opening them to reveal reptilian slitted pupils. Irene froze when she noticed that, and her body began to tremble when Alex stood and slowly approached her. "The vast majority of Asoran citizens aren''t even human, regardless of how close they look it, so I''d watch who or what you call a monster around them." As he finished speaking Alex''s skin shifted to a scale-like pattern, while his teeth and nails sharpened into pointed claws and fangs. Then, in an instant, the draconic features vanished and Alex turned to return to his seat, resuming his SSJ4 transformation once more. "W-what are you...?" Irene asked Alex slowly after he sat back down, to which he smirked before answering, "Depends on the day. Some I''m a dragon, others I''m a devil, and very rarely I''m a god. Most days however I''m just a Super Saiyan with enough power to destroy entire planets." Acting as if he hadn''t just casually said he could destroy entire planets, Alex then conjured a cup of pre made tea to drink, which created a ridiculous image with the small cup and his increased size. As she watched him drink Irene couldn''t help but wonder if she was somehow dreaming everything that was happening, as it was simply too ludicrous to consider reality. *** When he finally left the prisons Alex released a sigh of both exasperation, and relief. He had finally convinced Irene to sign a magically binding contract preventing her from acting out in Asora after her release, and in exchange she was free to wander around Asora at her leisure while a lab was also being prepared for her. After adjusting to life in Asora, Alex was also planning on talking to her about teaching at Sona''s academy. Before the dragon wars broke out in Earthland four hundred years ago, despite her status as Queen, Irene had personally been teaching her people about using enchantments. Naturally her capabilities and knowledge had only increased since then after she became a Sage Dragon Slayer, and after she spent nearly two decades serving as a member of the Spriggan Twelve. Speaking of the Spriggan Twelve, surprisingly August had agreed to the proposition Alex gave him and Silver, along with the Ice Demon Slayer as well. Brandish however had refused his initial offer, and was drafted into the slave maids alongside another member of the Spriggan Twelve called Dimeria, the member of Raven Tail that had been captured, Corona. Recalling all of them, Alex then remembered the first three prisoners they took after arriving in this world. He then used his ''Domain'' to check on Hajime again to see if he was finished with his previous ''activities'', only to get an eyeful of him pounding Yuuka from behind while Kaori was shaking her a.s.s for him. "And people say I''m bad..." Alex muttered in disbelief as he focused on someone else. "Kuroka..." He uttered quietly out loud, before the black haired Nekomata suddenly appeared at his side. "Yes~Nya?" She purred while batting her eyelashes at him seductively. Alex smiled wryly at her behavior, before saying, "While I wait for Hajime to finish up, I want to go and see the three we captured when Grimoire Heart attacked Tenrou Island." Immediately Kuroka made a face when she learned that Alex wanted to see Minerva, Ultear, and Meredy, who she had captured when she annihilated those weaklings before. "Ok....but you have to pamper me lots later~Nya!" She declared with a wide smile, fully intending to monopolize the rest of Alex''s day. With his brow twitching from the fact that he could literally give her all of the attention she wanted from time shenanigans that they were both capable of, Alex simply shook his head before saying, "Alright, once I finish up the things I need to do then I''ll pamper you for as long as you want." Beaming like it was Christmas, despite the fact that Alex would always give her extra attention to begin with, the space around them then fluctuated very mildly as Kuroka transported them from Asora to her own space. "It''s gotten bigger since I last came here." Alex said as he looked around at all of the floating islands around them, which were all populated with literally thousands of cats by this point. How Kuroka kept them all sustained, Alex would never understand as he looked at them all lounging around. Kuroka however smiled smugly at what he said before saying proudly, "Of course~Nya! Soon it''ll even rival Asora in size~Nya!" Seeing how proud Kuroka was of how her own dimension was coming, Alex didn''t have the heart to tell her how big exactly Asora was getting with each transformation he was achieving. He then followed her as she entered the only actual building that existed within her personal dimension, which was a small shrine on the outside, but was actually larger than a castle on the inside. Alex was busy examining everything around them as Kuroka gradually led him deeper into the interior, when she finally opened the door to their destination, and Alex paused and gaped at the scene before him. """C.U.M.M.I.N.G!!!!!""" The very three women he had come to see cried out as one as they all simultaneously experienced their respective climaxes, courtesy of the set ups Kuroka had apparently hooked them up to. Minerva was laid on her back with her legs shackle to the corners of the table under her, with a pair of clamps on her n.i.p.p.l.es and pair of large dildos mechanically pumping in and out of both her asshole and p.u.s.s.y. Meanwhile Meredy was also similarly strapped to another table, except she had a massager propped up against her c.l.i.t, and a different type of rotating toy sticking out of her butthole. Taking one look at the three of them as they twitched and m.o.a.n.e.d from the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e they were being forced to experience, Alex turned to Kuroka and asked in a deathly calm voice, "Kuroka, what the hell is this?" Seemingly unconcerned with Alex''s tone, Kuroka walked up to the girls and said as she examined them to make sure her set ups were still working properly, "Well I just figured you''d turn them into slave maids and they''d eventually join your harem anyways, so I decided to skip a few steps and cut out the unnecessary drama~Nya! Don''t worry though, I set up a formation in the room so that to them only a few hours have passed, not several days~Nya." Kuroka was then about to tell Alex about how she also picked up a trick from Meredy, who''s magic was linking the senses to share physical and emotional sensations. Deciding to try and emulate it, she had used Spirit magic to accomplish the same feat and linked all of the three girl''s senses so that they were each receiving the same stimulation that the other two were receiving, heightening the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e they were feeling to new extremes. Before she could say anything though, Kuroka let out a gasp as Alex suddenly and roughly grabbed her b.u.t.t. "Nyaaa! Did seeing this get you into the mood~Nya? Don''t worry, next to no time is passing outside so you can do whatever-" "Bend over." Alex suddenly commanded, cutting Kuroka off as her body suddenly did as he ordered against her will, and bent over so her b.u.t.t was pointed at him. "W-what...?!" Confused, Kuroka tried to ask what was going on, as Alex simply lifted her black kimono to reveal her pale b.u.t.t, lack of p.a.n.t.i.e.s, and the brand new slave brand that he had just engraved onto her left b.u.t.t cheek. "I just branded you with my slave mark, but don''t worry, I''ll remove it tonight after you learn your lesson. Now spread them." "W-w-wait!" Kuroka tried to protest as her hands reached back, and spread her b.u.t.t cheeks so that Alex had a clear view of her moistening slit and twitching anus as her tails danced above them. He then retrieved a couple more of the egg vibrators like the ones currently torturing Ultear, and proceeded to insert them into Kuroka''s asshole and p.u.s.s.y before turning them to the highest setting. "NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Kuroka cried out as an intense vibration suddenly assaulted the inside of her butthole and w.o.m.b, making her legs feel weak almost immediately as she threatened to collapse. "Now then," Alex whispered into her violently twitching cat ears, "I want you to keep those in until tonight, and until I say otherwise you are not to try and p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e yourself or find relief besides what they give you, do you understand?" With the slave mark forcing her to answer through the sensations wracking her body, Kuroka could only barely get out, "Y-yesh~nyaaaa...." Nodding in approval, Alex then set about removing the shackles and toys torturing Ultear, Minerva, and Meredy before using Spirit magic to put them all to sleep. The reason he had gotten mad at Kuroka was because each of the three women had originally become ''good'' in the original content, with minimal to no interference from the main characters, and didn''t deserve this kind of treatment at all. Ultear was the only daughter of the woman who taught Gray ice crafting magic, Ul, who had brought her as a baby to see a healer due to having too much magic power for her tiny body to handle. Instead of healing her though, they stole Ultear away before telling Ul that she had died, breaking her heart. Ultear had then grown up believing that her mother had abandoned her and, after learning about Gray and Leon, replaced her with the two of them. It had taken her seeing her mother''s memories firsthand for her to realize that she had truly loved her, and had honestly believed her to be dead instead of abandoning her. Meredy had grown up thinking of Ultear as a surrogate mother after the destruction of her village and deaths of her family(at the hands of Ultear though she didn''t know that), and as such would do whatever it took to make her happy. When they landed at Tenrou Island the first time Meredy''s primary goal had been to find and kill Gray due to how he ''stole'' Ultear''s mother from her, and made her sad. When Ultear found out the truth though, and left Grimoire Heart as a result, Meredy followed her and later helped form a group who''s goal was to fight dark guilds and to fight against Zeref. Minerva on the other hand had grown up being mistreated by her own father in the pursuit of strength, to the point that he''d abandon her in the woods or force her to strip n.a.k.e.d and walk home alone if she''d disappointed him. Though they both joined dark guilds and ended up becoming artificial demons in the original as well, Sting and Rogue had both eventually brought her back to Sabertooth where she ended up becoming not only a better person, but also significantly happier than she had been before. With their histories and personalities in mind, Alex didn''t consider any of them deserving of this kind of treatment despite the fact that they had met as ''enemies''. So, with Kuroka still writhing from the intense vibrations within her a.s.s and w.o.m.b, Alex collected the trio of girls, and said to her before leaving, "Don''t worry, I''ll keep my promise about pampering you a lot later on tonight. Akeno and I will make sure you''re thoroughly taken care of." With that said, Alex used Spatial magic to exit Kuroka''s private dimension with Ultear, Minerva, and Meredy as he took them to Grayfia. After making sure the three girls were being taken care of(properly this time), Alex finally made his way to Hajime''s since a quick peek told him that he was finally finished with his two wives, both of which were napping in their bed while the man himself was downstairs enjoying a light snack. With a thought he appeared in front of Hajime''s house, and rang the doorbell. "I''m coming!" Hajime called from the other side of the door as he hurriedly dressed, before opening it to behold Alex''s SSJ4 figure. "Holy shit..." Hajime uttered in undisguised awe, though he also felt a sense of incongruity since he didn''t recall the form being so....good looking. After a few seconds of Hajime gaping at him, Alex smiled wryly before asking, "Can I some in?" Hajime started slightly as he recalled that Alex must''ve come for something, and quickly moved to the side before saying, "Of course, come on in." As he stood to the side politely to let him in, Alex was tempted to ''let slip'' that he had seen Hajime with his wives earlier just to get him to act normally and stop fangirling. He almost didn''t have to though when Hajime suddenly remarked, "Pretty convenient timing though....." Keeping his poker face active, Alex only asked, "How do you mean?" Hajime then waved away his earlier remark and said as they sat down in the living room, "Nothing, so what did you want?" Since Alex usually came by when he needed something or to discuss an ongoing project, Hajime rightfully assumed that he had a reason for dropping by. Instead of refuting Hajime''s assumption, Alex got right to the point and asked, "How long would it take to get the inter-dimensional gates finished?" Hajime c.o.c.ked a brow at Alex''s question before he adopted a thoughtful look, and said as he began pulling out several diagrams from nowhere, "I just managed to get the magic circuitry right to channel the magic power from the core to keep the portals active, but the main problem is activating the portal to other worlds to begin with." "What do you mean?" Alex asked eagerly, more excited than he thought he would be at the thought of going ''home''. Hajime however pulled out another diagram and continued, "We can open and maintain a gate to the world we''re currently in well enough, but when it comes to opening one to a world we''ve been to then it''ll take an impossible amount of energy to gather and maintain long enough to both open a portal, and build a gate on the other side to keep it open. If we can do that though, then it should take the same amount of energy as the other gate to maintain permanently though." Alex was silent for a moment before a wide smile spread on his face, and he asked smugly, "You mean energy like if I combined the SSj4 and the Balance Break on my Boosted Gear?" Hajime paused when he heard that, before an evil smile spread on his face as well when he recalled how much power Alex had when he had done just that. The two then began to eagerly discuss the specifics on when they''d build the first gate connecting them to Earthland, which they planned to complete within the next two weeks while the one connecting to DXD would be done in a month. The two got so into their plans, that neither one noticed someone entering the room until the still sleepy Kaori muttered while rubbing her eyes, "Hajime....do we any...-" There was a pause, as Kaori realized that Hajime hadn''t just been talking to himself like he usually did, and Alex unashamedly took in her still n.a.k.e.d form. "Nice titties." He eventually said while giving her a thumbs up. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Kaori screamed as she fled back up the stairs in a hurry, while Hajime immediately pulled out one of his trusty custom-made sidearms and unhesitantly pointed it at Alex''s head. "FORGET EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAW!" He roared before firing off several shots directly at Alex''s face, on which the bullets simply stuck without doing any damage whatsoever. Peeling the flattened pieces of metal off of his face, Alex muttered, "You know, I think that was actually the first attack I''ve taken as a SSJ4..." Of course Hajime didn''t even see to register what Alex said as he proceeded to try and make him forget seeing Kaori''s n.a.k.e.d body. *** As the next several days passed Alex steadily grew increasingly familiar with his new transformation while also taking care of various things around Asora. This included spending what ended up being an entire day at the Grigori performing various tests regarding his new form''s strength and durability, and getting some of their new residents, like Irene, properly settled. The most ''interesting'' part though was the first night Alex spent in the space-time orb in his SSJ4 transformation, when he and the girls found out that all of his ''muscles'' had increased in size. With both his girth and length increasing quite a bit after his transformation, many of those who had gotten used to Alex''s size were now starting to think he was genuinely trying to break them. (A.N. If he gets them pregnant while a SSJ form is active, do any of you think it impacts the baby at all?) Outside of Asora though people seemed to be quickly working towards rebuilding their lives after being able to return to their cities and homes. What helped the process exponentially was that all of the damage done to the cities had been undone by Alex during his battle with Darius, while all of the people''s wounds and illnesses that they had developed during their time as slaves had also been treated. Of course the horrors they had experienced wouldn''t vanish overnight, but with their bodies being healed and their home/businesses being repaired, they were able to throw themselves into their work to keep themselves occupied. Of course though, the ones who were busiest were the only five remaining mages guilds that were active. Each one of the guild''s was seeing an ever increasing amount of work being posted on their notice boards as people sent in requests for help in various aspects of rebuilding their lives, hunting monsters for materials, using their magic to help with day-to-day stuff, or just needing extra hands for work. Naturally the majority, if not all, of their clients weren''t able to actually pay them at the moment, so the guild masters had worked out a discount/repayment system for when their clients were able to get back on their feet financially. After each day of performing various jobs around the city of Magnolia though, every member of Fairy Tail would gather at their repaired guild hall, raise up a toast to another day of hard work. They didn''t party or get overly rambunctious since they''d have work the next day, but they would at least take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge the city getting ever closer to returning to normal. "Well we''re going to call it a night." Droy said as he stood up from his chair and stretched, before his friend, Jet also stood and tiredly said, "Yeah, I''ll probably be running everywhere again tomorrow so I need my rest." As Jet had mostly been using his Speed magic to literally run everywhere to deliver messages, packages, and other similar jobs, no one doubted how tired he probably was. When the duo went to leave the guild hall though, CRASH! Suddenly they were sent flying as the doors exploded inwards, making everyone leap to their feet in an instant with intense gazes until they noticed who it was. "Yo everyone, what''s up?" Natsu asked with a wide smile, while Gajeel followed him into the guild with his usual glower. For a moment no one said anything, before a certain blue cat rushed them while crying out, "NATSUUUUUUUU!" With tears streaming down his face, Happy threw himself into Natsu''s arms while also wrapping own small arms around him as much as he could reach. Natsu''s smile became noticeably warmer as he returned Happy''s hug, and said, "Hey buddy, I''m back..." As if that had been the trigger, both Natsu and even Gajeel found themselves being rushed as the entire guild approached them excitedly. The only ones not participating in their welcome home was Markarov, Mavis, Gildarts, and then the trio that had joined Alex''s peerage. As they had visited them as Natsu and Gajeel were undergoing treatment the last several days, they had elected to stay out of the veritable pile of people surrounding them as they welcomed them back, while both Gildarts and Markarov were simply waiting for things to settle down before they welcomed them back. It was then that they noticed Alex approaching them as he sidestepped the dog pile, before he raised his hand in greeting and said, "Yo." Mavis smiled brightly at him as Alex approached, while both Markarov and Gildarts simply raised their hands similarly to Alex, and returned his greeting. "Haven''t seen you in a while..." Markarov said as Alex took a seat on a stool next to him at the bar, while he and the other two eyed him up and down. While Lucy, Mirajane, and Erza had all warned them about Alex''s new form, this was still the first time they had seen it since they hadn''t actually talked to Alex since before the attack. Alex however just nodded before saying, "I''ve been busy, spending time with my kids, catching up with all my wives, and dealing with the after effects of the battle. Speaking of which I have a few things I need to discuss with you." Alex then gave Markarov a very quick rundown of the inter-dimensional gates they were planning to install, and how he wanted to put the one connecting to Earthland in Magnolia. Naturally Markarov and Gildarts were both surprised to hear that Alex wanted to install a permanent means of entering Asora in their city, but that paled to when he mentioned wanting to either move Fairy Tail to Asora, or establish a guild branch there. "Why would we do that?" Markarov asked incredulously, to which Alex explained, "Because, it would open up clientele from any world''s we link trough Asora, opening up the amount of jobs available, places where your mages can go, and possibly even recruit new members from other worlds as well. But I can also understand that you''d probably be reluctant to leave the place where your guild was founded, so that''s why I mentioned building a guild branch there instead." Markarov was silent as he contemplated what Alex said, as there were several good points in his argument, however that would require sending several members of his guild to Asora as well, splitting them up even more. Knowing that it wouldn''t be an easy decision for Markarov to make, Alex stood suddenly and said, "It''ll be another week or two until the gate is finished, so you can think about it until then. In the meantimeI have a couple potential recruits for you, since I''m stealing two of your S-class mages and all." At this the trio looked up at Alex in surprise, along with Lucy, Mira, and Erza since he hadn''t mentioned new guild members to any of them. Without waiting for them to say anything, Alex let out a whistle and the doors to the guild opened once more, revealing a pair of men. The moment Gray noticed the man with the darker hair color, his face paled as if he had just seen a ghost, before uttering a single word, "Father....?" Silver Fullbuster smiled warmly at his son, before saying emotionally, "Gray...it really is you....." Even as Silver slowly approached him, Gray could only tense up as his mind raced to explain what was happening. His father had died years ago with the rest of their family when the demon Deliora destroyed their village, leaving Gray the only survivor until his teacher Ul pulled him out of the wreckage. However here he was now, whole and healthy as he slowly approached his son. Before Gray could try and wrap his head around what was happening, someone shoved him from behind as Natsu''s voice called out, "Just go already!" Before he could catch himself, Gray found himself wrapped up in familiar and nostalgic embrace as Silver caught him, before saying to him with shaky yet teasing tone, "What''s the matter boy? Cat got your tongue?" Ignoring Happy getting huffy at the saying, Gray could only ask one thing, "How?" This time Silver''s smile turned sad as he released his son, and began his tale. After being killed by Deliora along with the rest of their family and village, Silver had been resurrected as an experiment by a passing group consisting of members from one of the guild''s making up the Balam Alliance, Tartarus. Being turned into an artificial demon as a result of his resurrection, he was then drafted into the ranks of the dark guild and made to fight for them. However the magic that Silver learned was none other than Ice Demon Slayer magic, which he then used to secretly hunt down and slay demons as retribution for his family whenever he was able. Slowly the years passed as Silver fought to avenge his family and eradicate any demon he could, until the battle against Yue and the other vampires, where Mirajane consumed the souls of the rest of the Tartarus guild and he had been captured. Of anything he could have imagined after being captured and held prisoner, being informed of his son''s survival was not one of them. Though Silver had felt that he didn''t deserve to face his son after everything he had done throughout the years, Alex had convinced him otherwise, stating that Gray would grow exceptionally with his father in his life. After a little bit of coaxing, Silver eventually came around to the idea of joining Fairy Tail, and teaching his son the same Demon Slayer magic he used. When Silver finished his story silence had enveloped the guild hall as everyone took in what he had said, before Markarov leapt off his seat on the counter and slowly walked towards them. Silver tensed as he walked the guild master approach them before stopping right before him, and suddenly saying with a wide smile, "Regardless of the things you might''ve done in the past, you''re Gray''s family, and by extension our family. Welcome to Fairy Tail brat!" """KANPAI!!!""" The moment Markarov greeted Silver as one of them, cheers rang out throughout the guild as everyone toasted his joining them, making Silver gape in awe as tears threatened to leak from the corners of his eyes. "Welcome to the family pops, now you''re stuck with all of us forever." Gray said as he handed his old man a drink, before taking a swig of his own as he joined his father''s welcoming toast. Though it took several minutes the noise eventually settled down as Markarov pointed out the second man to come in after Silver, and said, "Alright! Now there''s someone else here to join us, lets hear his introduction so we could properly welcome him as well!" As he shouted everyone settled down before turning their attention to the second person, a man who looked to be in his early twenties with bright blonde hair and matching goatee. The man however shuffled back and forth awkwardly under everyone else''s gazes, before his eyes focused on the petite spirit floating back at the counter where Markarov had been originally sitting. Mavis tilted her head cutely as she observed the newcomer, as he shouldn''t have been able to see her without already being a member of Fairy Tail, unless there was something else about him that she didn''t know about. With the man staring at Mavis in awe, Alex smiled wryly before stepping forward, and saying while gesturing at the man, "This man is someone who is actually much older than he appears, but due to certain circ.u.mstances I used Regeneration magic to return him to his twenties. As for his name, we also decided to change his surname to hide his identity and as a sign of respect for his mother, so you all can call him August Vermillion." The second the last word left his mouth, every single eye in the room went wide before centering on a certain blonde spirit, who had frozen in midair as a single word escaped her spiritual lips, "Eh?" Chapter 386 - Mother and Son "Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait....." Mavis muttered over and over again as she tried to absorb what Alex just said, before looking at August once more with numerous conflicting emotions showing in her eyes. "I....have a son...?" Alex nodded slowly while August looked away awkwardly, concern filling his heart that his mother would reject him. Rather than rejecting him though, Mavis was trying to wrap her head around the fact that she apparently had a child, let alone one that was already an old man before being returned to his youth by Alex. As she tried to reason through her mind how this happened, Alex began explaining, "It was when you last met Zeref before ''dying'', and while Precht was trying to find ways to awaken you from your comatose state he eventually discovered you were pregnant." Mavis was silent as she contemplated what Alex said, which made the most sense for how she would have a child and never even knew about their existence. Then, surprising her and everyone else, August spoke for the first time as he explained, "When I was born I possessed a massive amount of magical power and memories that weren''t mine, which was how I knew who my mother and father were despite never having met either of them...." Everyone was silent as August recounted the story of his youth, being abandoned in the forest by Precht and struggling to survive each and every day, until by chance he encountered the one person he thought he''d never meet, his father. Recognizing the magical talent that August had, Zeref invited him to come with him as he formed the Alvarez Empire, and later the Spriggan Twelve. Despite the literal decades he spent in service to his father though, regardless of if Zeref had been there or not, August had never once informed him of their relation. Even in the original he had never told either of his parents of his existence, right up until he tried to use a self destruction spell to wipe out Fairy Tail and the entire kingdom of Fiore. Right before the spell fully activated though, August had caught his first ever glimpse of his mother, causing him to reverse the spell so that all of its destruction was focused on him to avoid catching her up into it. The end result was him dying without the truth of his existence ever even being known to either of them, before they too met their end shortly afterwards. When August finished recounting his story the hall was silent as everyone contemplated just how his life had been up until that point, the suffering he must have gone through. Mavis though was going several more emotions than everyone else as she listened to what her son had to say. On one hand she felt devastated that her own child had grown up in such a way after one of her closest friends had abandoned him, but on the other she couldn''t help but feel a small amount of pride from how powerful he turned out and the things he had accomplished, despite his being a part of Zeref''s personal guard. While all of this was going through her head though, Mavis was still trying to work through the fact that she was in fact a mother. As time went on and August continued to talk, it got harder and harder for Mavis to deny the fact that he was her son. The longer she looked at him, the more Mavis could see herself and Zeref in August, such as their hair. Now that he had finished though, she struggled to say anything as her mouth repeatedly opened and closed for over a minute. With Mavis being genuinely speechless, and August slowly becoming more panicked from how his mother was reacting, Alex then said loudly, "Well then! Maybe it''s time for August and Silver to get the full Fairy Tail experience while I go talk with Mavis and Markarov!" Taking the cue, Lucy, Mira, and even Erza all raised up their tankards, and shouted, """WELCOME!!!""" Following their lead, everyone else quickly got swept into yet another festive atmosphere, which they had a lot to celebrate with the return of Natus and Gajeel, and their two new guild mates. With August being swept along into his new comrades momentum, Alex was able to drag both Markarov and Mavis into a back room, where he closed the door to give them some quiet and privacy. "What do I do?!" Mavis demanded the moment the door had closed, her expression one of genuine panic from having the news of her being a mother being sprung upon her out of nowhere. Before Alex could answer though, the door suddenly opened again as Gildarts of all people stepped in before saying, "Yo, I thought I''d say something to the first real quick." With Alex stepping to the side so that they could talk unimpeded, Gildarts approached Mavis''s spectral figure before saying in one of the most sincere voices any of them had ever heard from him, "I know what you''re going through first, I can honestly say I experienced the same exact thing not too long ago. All I can tell you is that, while things may be fairly awkward at first, you''ll quickly forget about all of that once the realization sinks in." As he spoke Gildarts pulled out a photo that he started to always carry with him recently, of his own daughter Cana. Though he had never known for all of the years that she was with them that she was his daughter, Cana had finally told him right before Achnologia attacked Tenrou Island. At first he had been filled with confusion and panic as he tried to figure out which of the many women he''d bedded was her mother, but now he was only filled with pride and love for his daughter. Recalling the scene when Cana told him the truth, Mavis calmed down slightly before looking Gildarts in the eyes and saying, "Thank you Gildarts." Nodding at her in affirmation, Gildarts then gave Alex and Markarov a brief wave before going to rejoin the party outside. After he left Alex turned towards Markarov and said, "A couple things and then I''ll need to speak to Mavis alone. Firstly, regarding Natsu and Gajeel-" Alex then explained how the duo had been treated as best as they could manage, which was saying a lot with their access to Spirit magic. However, similarly to the Pandora and the girls from the To Love Ru world''s, they left their memories in tact in order to avoid future issues. In pretty much every case when someone had their memories wiped, they''d desperately try to regain said memories even if they were the one that wanted to have them erased to begin with. With the entire guild, as well as four others, having witnessed the abuse Natsu and Gajeel suffered, they would have to erase the memories of every single person who saw what they had gone through to avoid future troubles, and even then it wasn''t a guarantee. He had also explained that, while Alice had activated Natsu''s demonic powers when he was held captive, they had undone them and restored him to his previous state with Regeneration magic. As an extra, they had also placed several barriers within him with Spirit magic to prevent his demonic nature going out of control again until the day he decided to try and master it. Finishing with asking Markarov to keep an eye on the duo in case they started relapsing in the future, the elderly man had a look of relief on his face as he said, "Once again, thank you. I don''t know where we''d be or what we''d do without the help from you or your people..." Bowing to Alex to express his gratitude, Alex nodded back seriously as he said, "Seriously, don''t worry about it. Me doing all of this could be considered doing my duty since none of this would have happened if it weren''t for us..." Though he himself had no part or responsibility in the actions of Darius or other reincarnators, Alex still couldn''t help feeling responsible since he was one of the same people who had caused such unnecessary suffering. Though a part of him wanted to lambast the worthless ''God'' who gave such people that kind of power to do whatever they wanted with, he also couldn''t find it in himself to be able to. The more time went on the more Alex was learning that things such as ''morals'' or ''right and wrong'' didn''t apply to those with so much power, all that mattered was if they properly performed their duties or not. This was a rather disheartening realization as it meant that, even if they were genuinely the most ''evil'' person who had ever lived, they would still be able to gain the seemingly infinite power that came with winning the competition. Instead of dwelling on such a thought though, Alex turned his attention to his immediate concern, which was Mavis. As Markarov excused himself to go and keep an eye on the ''brats'' as they partied, Alex was left alone with the petite spirit. Instead of immediately saying anything though, Alex once again surprised Mavis by pulling something out his storage, which then crashed into the floor beneath them with its great size and weight. "Th-this is-?" Mavis stuttered in shock, as she saw her own n.a.k.e.d body suspended in a giant crystal. Alex nodded slowly before explaining, "I went to go and look for it during the last couple days. Though Darius had kept in his throne room, somehow it ended up at the bottom of the ocean after our battle. How it got there I couldn''t tell you though." As he said Alex and the others had seen Mavis''s body when they were using Kuroka''s familiar to spy on Darius and the others, and, while their look into the throne room was very brief, it had been really hard not to notice the giant crystal. What was curious though was that it didn''t show any signs of damage from the battle that had destroyed the entire floating castle. What Alex didn''t know was that, after being f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y cut off from Fairy Heart by the mysterious old man the night before, Darius had tossed the giant crystal into the ocean shortly before the battle began to keep him and anyone else from getting their hands on it. This ended up being the right decision though since it kept Mavis''s body safe from being damaged during the battle. The woman herself though had a conflicted expression on her face though, as her body was still carrying the Curse of Contradictions, meaning she was deadly to everyone around her. Alex noticed her hesitation though, and said, "Don''t worry, before putting you back into your body I plan to use Spirit magic to look at it to try and remove, or at least modify the curse''s affects. I just thought we''d try this before moving on to creating an artificial body." Hearing that Mavis let out a small sigh of relief and said, "Thank you..." Instead of replying to her thanks, Alex used Creation magic to make the crystal encasing her body melt before using his ''Telekinesis'' to lift her body and place it on a nearby table. Mavis then watched anxiously as he diligently worked on her body with the types of magic at his disposal. ... "It''s getting kind of late isn''t it? Shouldn''t we start settling down?" August asked one of his new guild mates as they continued to party, to which the reply he got was, "Of course not! Natsu and Gajeel are back, and we got two new guild mates! We''re going until the sun comes comes up!" Despite the veritable mountain of work they had the following day, all of the guild members shared his sentiments as they continued to party, until the back door opened. Gradually the noise settled down as they watched the petite figure of their founder and first guild master ''walk'' out of the back room, the air around her noticeably different. Mavis however didn''t seem to even register any of them as her eyes scanned the crowd before focusing on her son, and she slowly made her way towards him. August was deathly silent as he watched his mother approach him, before she stopped right before him. "Welcome home son." She whispered into his ear, making August''s eyes widen in surprise, before tears began flowing as he returned his mother''s embrace. Everyone watched as the mother-son duo embraced for the first time, while August fought back his sobs from feeling the first ever affection he had received from either of his parents. *** After restoring Mavis in her original body and making sure there was no issues, Alex watched quietly as she embraced her son and joined the party. Though he could have removed the effects of the curse entirely, Alex had only removed the parts that had directly caused Mavis suffering, such as taking lives involuntarily. Now she was left only with her immortality, and the infinite magic power that was still being generated by her body as a result of Fairy Heart. Though she was hesitant to keep the immortality at first, Mavis relent when she heard about how effectively everyone around Alex would probably live forever in some way or another. As for Fairy Heart, well there were always benefits of having access to an infinite amount of magic power at hand. After watching over them for a few minutes, Alex decided to leave the guild to their celebration as he quietly left since he still had other matters to attend to. Using the magic compass and key to open a portal, Alex then headed to his next destination of the guild hall of Lamia Scale, then Blue Pegasus, and then Sabertooth. At each place Alex spoke to their masters Ooba, Bob, and Sting, about the possibility of them either moving to Asora, or establishing a branch guild there. Similarly to Markarov they were hesitant about either moving or splitting their guilds, so Alex told them to think on it until the day they actually opened the gate. Of course the highlight of these visits was yet another family reunion, when he brought Sorano(Angel) of Oraci¨®n Seis with him to Sabertooth, where her younger sister Yukino was. Naturally Sorano was really awkward at first around her sister due to her past as a member of a dark guild, while Yukino was simply happy to see her older sister once again. After finishing up his business at the first four guilds though, Alex now had one last destination for the night, Mermaid Heel. A sigh escaped Alex''s lips as he recalled the last time he had been in close proximity with Kagura, Mermaid Heel''s guild master, a lovely encounter to be sure, but also troubling considering Kagura''s personality. So Alex''s wasn''t surprised by her assumption for his visit after recovering from the shock of his sudden arrival, and new look, in her office. "I assume this is about my previous promise?" She asked automatically with a dark look, to which Alex''s eye twitched just ever so slightly before he sighed once again and said, "No, this is about an opportunity for Mermaid Heel." Alex then explained to Kagura about the gate being built, and the offer he had made to the other guilds about either moving or building a branch in Asora. When he finished speaking Kagura was silent for several seconds, before finally saying with narrowed eyes, "This could be a good opportunity....I will consider your proposition...." Alex c.o.c.ked a brow when he heard her answer, as Kagura was the last person he thought would accept his idea given their past experience together. She didn''t disappoint however when she suddenly asked, "So what about our agreement?" Alex''s eye twitched this time as he said, "What agreement? I just remember trying to make a point and you took me literally." Kagura scowled at Alex before saying, "Regardless, I take my agreements seriously." Seeing that she wasn''t going to go back on her previous promise of ''using her mouth to p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e him until he was completely satisfied'', Alex said, "Very well, let''s try a new bet. If you win then our previous agreement is canceled." Kagura narrowed her eyes suspiciously and asked, "What if you win? And what is the nature of the competition?" To the first question Alex suddenly stepped closer to Kagura and pulled her in close so that their bodies were pressed up against each other, before he genuinely surprised her by sealing her lips with his own in her first ever kiss. When he pulled away after several seconds, Alex then whispered into her ear, "If I win, you''ll join my harem and become one of my wives." With the combination surprises of Alex''s sudden kiss and proposal, Kagura''s mind understandably blanked as she tried to process what he was saying. As for Alex, the reason he gave Kagura this offer was because it was quite literally impossible for her to fulfill her previous promise to ''completely satisfy'' him. With that being the case, then he might as well try to make things more official between them to try and make her happier. Once she finally wrapped her head around what he said, she then asked for the second time with a neutral expression, "And the nature of the competition?" Alex smiled wryly as he again whispered into her ear, "Using only our mouths and hands, we compete to make the other one finish faster, the one that takes the less time wins." Kagura glowered when she heard the perverted nature of the competition, but didn''t reject it. She had already humiliated herself once to satisfy Alex, and had prepared herself to do so again due to her promise, the only difference now though was that he would be doing the same to her as well. While she didn''t like the idea of letting Alex anywhere near her privates, Kagura fought back such sentiments since she''d be free forever if she could just gain a win here. With a fire in her eyes Kagura nodded and said, "Very well, I agree!" Alex''s smile widened when he heard her response, before he released his hold on her and snapped his fingers. Following the crisp ''SNAP'' his pants and u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r then fell to the ground to pool at his ankles, making Kagura''s eyes widen in surprise when she looked down and saw that his thing had grown even larger than the last time. "D-do they all just get larger like that?" She could help but ask while trying to look away from the giant rod of meat, the tip was which was only dangling a few inches from the top of his knees. Though she knew enough that men grew bigger when they got excited, she didn''t think their size was supposed to change the way Alex''s had. Another tell of the unusual situation was the smirk on Alex''s face as he proudly explained, "My current form increases the size of my body to better accommodate the difference in muscle and strength, but apparently it also increased the size of all my ''muscles''." Kagura''s brow twitched in annoyance from Alex''s explanation, and though she wanted to ask him to return to his usual form, his persistent and proud smirk told her that was very unlikely. Resigning herself, the usually ice cold Swordswoman slowly sank to her knees until she was eye level with his meat, where she fought the urge to gulp nervously at the idea of taking such a thing into her mouth....again. Just as she was about to part her lips to start though, Alex suddenly said, "Oh yeah! You''ll need this first to keep time!" He then summoned a stopwatch out of thin air for her, making Kagura''s mind blank from the realization that they hadn''t even started yet. Seemingly aware of what was going through her mind, Alex adopted a teasing smirk on his face as he playfully asked, "What? So eager to suck it you weren''t even going to bother keeping time?" Kagura''s expression darkened at Alex''s implication, as she also fought the urge to bite into the meat in front of her to teach him a lesson. Knowing how fruitless that would be though, Kagura just focused on winning the competition at hand to free herself from Alex(even though he hadn''t actually done anything to ''trap'' her). Determined to see this end though, Kagura reached out to softly grasp the base of Alex''s still flaccid manhood, while her other hand started the stopwatch before setting it to the side. Once the time had started Kagura used her other hand to slowly start working the base and shaft of Alex''s c.o.c.k, while she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out. "Ahhhhhhh..." Alex sighed in contention as she circled her tongue around his s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e head, before opening her mouth as wide as possible to try and take it inside. As she did so Alex couldn''t help but to recall the rest of his women as they also tried to deep throat his new size, of which only those with genetics geared towards seduction such as the Fallen Angel Akeno, succubi like Kurumu and her mother, and Charmians like Sephie and her daughter''s had been able to accomplish it. Of course he quickly banished thoughts regarding other women from his mind as Kagura slowly tried to engulf his growing manhood, while her spit started running down its length to lubricate it as her hands slowly moved up and down. "You know, you really have a gift with your mouth Kagura..." Alex said suddenly, startling her since the last thing Kagura expected was for Alex to compliment her skill at giving head, when this was only the second time. Again, she fought down the urge to use her teeth since she needed to make him finish as quickly as possible, and proceeded to focus on trying to take as much of his length into her mouth as possible to accomplish that very goal. Alex was then caught between p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and pure amazement as he watched Kagura very slowly inch her way down his shaft with her lips, until she had engulfed even more of his length than most of his girls. ''She really is gifted with her mouth and throat...'' Alex thought to himself as he felt the proud swordswoman''s throat squeeze and massage his c.o.c.k''s head, while her tongue shifted and moved pleasurably under his shaft. Unfortunately for her, as a human with ''very'' limited experience, Kagura could only go so far until she had to stop, which was a surprising half way down his shaft after Alex''s c.o.c.k finished growing hard. Instead of letting the defeat get to her though, Kagura then proceeded to slowly moved Alex''s c.o.c.k in and out of her mouth while one of her hands continued to move up and down the remaining half of his shaft, and the other started fondling his balls. Kagura was so engrossed with trying to bring Alex the most p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, that she didn''t bother trying to keep track of time as the seconds slowly ticked by, and turned into minutes. After what seemed like forever though, she finally felt Alex''s c.o.c.k start twitching within her throat, before it was followed by Alex letting out a soft grunt and a torrent of thick fluids started pouring down her throat. Fighting down the urge to cough and spit every drop of the fluid being pumped down her throat though, Kagura instead focused on grabbing the stopwatch to mark her time, at ten minutes exactly. Frowning as she slid Alex''s c.o.c.k out of her mouth, Kagura couldn''t help but feel there was something fishy with the exactness of the time it took to make Alex c.u.m. However, she also couldn''t help but think that she only needed to endure ten minutes under Alex''s attacks before she wouldn''t have to worry about ''satisfying'' him ever again. "That''s strange..." Alex said suddenly, startling Kagura out of her thoughts before he continued, "Usually I can last quite a bit longer than this.....I wonder if that means you''re just that good?" With him smirking during the last part of his comment, Kagura fought the urge to grab her katana from nearby, the only reason she succeeded being that she already knew it wouldn''t affect him. Instead, she remained silent as Alex said, "My turn now, let''s hope I can beat ten minutes!" While Kagura hoped for the opposite result, she still couldn''t shake the feeling that Alex was up to something. She didn''t get any time to think on what that might be though, as he then said, "Now then, please drop your pants and spread your legs." Glowering from the way Alex put it, Kagura continued glaring at him as she undid the buttons on her pants, and hesitated ever so briefly before hauling them down to her ankles along with her p.a.n.t.i.e.s. Naturally, Alex leaned back and c.o.c.ked his brows as if he was admiring the view of her now exposed pubic area, which was crowned by a neatly trimmed patch of black hair. Though she wanted to hide her private place from Alex''s prying eyes, Kagura decided to let him look all he wanted since, after tonight, he''d never see that place ever again. "So how am I doing this?" She asked irritably to try and get this whole ordeal over with, to which Alex said without removing his gaze from her slit, "Well, you could bend over and spread your cheeks so I can take you from behind, or if you prefer to see what''s going on, then you can simply sit at the edge of your desk and spread your legs open for me. Either way works for me." Her brow twitching at his words, Kagura decided to go with the latter option since it allowed her to see what he was doing, plus she didn''t feel comfortable with showing her ''back door'' to him. Resigning herself, Kagura then proceeded to step backwards towards her desk, place her b.u.t.t on its edge, and spread her legs into an M shape. "Just get it over with..." She g.r.o.a.n.e.d at him in resignation, while also painfully aware of Alex''s burning gaze at the spot between her legs. Without another word, Alex proceeded to get down on his knees before her, and used his fingers to spread open her clam to properly see inside. Of course the second his fingers touched her Kagura both fought the shudder that tried to go through her body, and started the stopwatch the second time. Though he knew this, Alex didn''t seem to mind his time already winding down as he took in the view of the proud swordswoman''s spread p.u.s.s.y, before looking up directly into her eyes, and saying shamelessly, "Thank you for meal~!" Before she could try to snap at him for his actions, Kagura promptly bit her lips as Alex''s mouth descended to her spread clam, his tongue immediately probing her depths to feel for her p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e spots. "...ngh...." Kagura immediately bit her lip to keep any noise from escaping her as electricity surged through her body at the probing of Alex''s tongue, before she slapped one of her hands over her mouth as an extra measure. Since she had never even masturbated before, the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e Kagura was feeling was all new to her, and she quickly realized that she had drastically underestimated Alex''s skill with his tongue. Kagura then glanced at the stopwatch, and felt her heart sink when she saw that only ten seconds had passed. Suddenly ten minutes seemed much longer than she had anticipated. ... Slowly the seconds ticked by, before they turned into agonizingly long minutes that felt like an eternity, and the entire time Kagura was more miserable than she had ever been in her life. Technically she was actually feeling more ''p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e'' than she ever had before, however Alex was purposely dragging things along torturously. Kagura knew this since every time she would almost c.u.m from his tongue, he would suddenly do something to prevent her from c.u.m.m.i.n.g before beginning his assault anew. She didn''t know why, but Kagura was able to determine that Alex was prolonging her suffering intentionally for some reason, sadly though her mind was so occupied with her arousal that she was unable to try and reason why. As the seconds slowly and tortuously ticked by, the only reason Kagura could think of was that Alex was trying to make her beg for him to let her c.u.m, as with each passing second she was fighting the urge to do just that. Instead, Kagura was currently biting her lip so hard that she had long since drew blood to prevent any sound from escaping her lips, a progressively harder task to accomplish as the seconds slowly passed. Finally, after the hardest ten minutes in her entire life, the final few seconds started ticking down. As they finally approached the final leg of the competition though, a surge of fear shot through Kagura''s heart that Alex was purposely extending things done until the very last second, letting her have hope of her victory only to make her taste defeat. With each passing second this fear grew. Ten seconds left. Nine seconds left. Eight seconds left. ''What''ll I do if he makes me lose?!'' Kagura thought to herself desperately. Three seconds left. Two seconds left. One seconds left. TIME! As the stopwatch showed ten minutes and one second, a brief surge of relief filled Kagura, before something unlike anything she ever experienced surged through her instead. "SOMETHINGS C.U.M.M.I.N.G!!!" She screamed to the heavens reflexively as her mind exploded with the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of her first ever climax, making her squeeze Alex''s head between her t.h.i.g.hs as her b.u.t.t even lifted off of the desk when she arched backwards. As Kagura''s body jerked and twitched from her intense climax, Alex gently held her in place by her h.i.p.s without worrying about her seemingly trying to crush his head with her t.h.i.g.hs, a small smile on his lips as her pubes tickled his nose with every jerk her body made. With nearly two minutes passing since the start of her climax until she regained control of her body, Kagura eventually looked down at Alex with his face still buried in her crotch, and said between the deep breaths, "I w-" before being able to say she won though, Kagura stifled yet another m.o.a.n as Alex''s tongue began to move within her once again. "S-stop! I-I wo-!" Though she tried repeatedly to tell him to stop, each and every time Kagura was interrupted as Alex expertly toyed with her body as if he already knew everything about how to p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e her, preventing her from speaking out against him. She then tried to use her hands to push his head away from her crotch, but was unable to match the strength in his neck. As the minutes crept by, and she forced to experience climax after climax, Kagura slowly stopped fighting the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e Alex was going her as her protests turned into m.o.a.ns, and the hands that had been trying to push his head away became tangled within his hair as she unconsciously tried to pull him closer. Eventually, after completely losing track of time, Kagura passed out from the continuous climaxes Alex inflicted upon her. ... When she awoke the next morning Kagura felt a brief sense of incongruity from waking up while wrapped in her blankets in her comfortable bed, before she suddenly recalled the nights events. Throwing her blankets off in a hurry, she found herself still completely n.a.k.e.d from the night before, though thankfully her body looked and felt as if it had been cleaned before being put into bed. The relief quickly faded though as she started to really recall the details of the night before, her unrestrained m.o.a.ns, running her fingers through Alex''s hair, grinding her pelvis into his face to make his tongue go even deeper, and how at one point he even stuck one of his fingers up her b.u.t.t. As she recalled these and more specific events, Kagura''s entire face turned Crimson as more shame and humiliation than she had ever felt filled her. Not only was it painfully obvious that Alex let her win their competition, since he was evidently able to send her over the edge whenever he wanted; but she was ashamed that all it took was him wiggling his tongue and she turned into little more than a bitch in heat, begging for more to the point that she even almost gave him her chastity then and there. Even more heat filled her face at the thought as Kagura recalled just how big Alex was down there, before she quickly banished the thought entirely. Glancing around her room to try and think of something else, it was then that she noticed her clothes from the day before folded and stacked neatly on the stand next to her bed. Kagura''s face became heated once again as she noticed that the stack was topped with her neatly folded p.a.n.t.i.e.s, and she probably would''ve exploded if she hadn''t noticed the folded up piece of paper next to them. Snatching it before her thoughts could run wild any more, she nearly tore the paper as she unfolded it before finally being able to inspect its contents. ''Kagura, Well, you won our bet. Now you won''t have to worry about ''satisfying'' me ever again. I quite enjoyed our time together last night though, you have a gift with your mouth and your voice was really lovely once you finally let loose with it. If you ever want to cut loose or are feeling pent up again let me know, and I''ll come running. Until then so long. -Alex. P.S. I''ll be back in about a week or two regarding the matter with Asora that we discussed before.'' Reading how Alex would ''come running'' if she wanted him to, and how she''ll see him again in only another week or two, Kagura balled up the paper in her hand before trying to use her Gravity magic to crush into as tiny of a ball as possible. "See what I''ll do to you when I see you again, you BASTARRRRRRD!!!" She cried out in anger at him, before following up with a series of profanities that would have shocked anyone who knew her to death. *** While Kagura was busy cursing Alex, Mirajane was busy trying to clean up the guild hall with Lucy and Erza after everyone had a wild time the night before. Even now there were several members of the guild passed out drunk on tipped over tables around them, until Erza slapped them awake with her gauntleted hand and sent them on their way to find work. Surprisingly one of the first ones to leave for work was Natsu and Gajeel, who left together as if they close friends when they got along like fire and water before. As curious as this was, the girls could only speculate that it had to do with the things they experienced together, giving the two men a new view on the other as men who suffered the same traumatic thing. The trio''s work continued well into the morning while Mavis and Markarov talked in private, until a group that they were more than a little surprised to see walked through the door. "Morning everyone!" Alex declared as he walked in, flanked by Grayfia on one side and Ravel on the other. Though the silver haired maid accompanying Alex wasn''t anything new, Ravel rarely left the Misty Manor, let alone Asora, so Lucy couldn''t help but ask after greeting them, "What are you doing here too Ravel?" The Phoenix girl puffed out her impressive c.h.e.s.t proudly and said as both her b.r.e.a.s.ts and drill styled hair bounced, "I''m coming along with Alex to make sure negotiations go smoothly, since the Phenix family has quite a bit of experience with matters regarding trade." As she said, the Phenix family was one of the wealthiest and most influential within the underworld due to their smart business sense, such as trying to make peace with Alex after he killed Raiser instead of simply trying to continuously antagonize him. Of course though, the biggest reason for their success was due to a substance that couldn''t be produced by anyone except them, Phoenix Tears. Their confusion not at all sated, Mirajane couldn''t help but ask, "What negotiations and trade?" This time Alex answered as he looked at Erza and supplied, "The same reason we wanted to have Erza act as our escort, both because of her status as my knight and because of her fame in Earthland." He then paused for a bit of suspense, before finally finishing, "We''re going to see the royal family." Chapter 387 - The Flower Blooming Capitol "Wow..." Ravel muttered in awe as she looked around curiously, drinking in the sights of Fiore''s Capitol city, Crocus. The buildings around them were built in the typical fashion that worlds in these types of time periods adopted, with exceptionally pointed roof tops peaking above them. In the distance, on a cliff overlooking the city, was a massive coliseum that was built to host a tournament between the Mage guilds for publicity and prestige, the Grand Magic Games. Instead though, almost immediately after the grand structure was finished, Darius''s forces attacked and the colosseum was instead filled with the refugees that had fled to the Capitol city. ?? The attention of Alex, Grayfia, and Ravel however wasn''t on the great colosseum that was surrounded by several great statues, or even the majestic castle located in the center of the city. They were looking at the numerous crops that were growing up and down the streets, and in every available plot of soil within the city, instead of the many flowers that had given Crocus its nickname of the ''Flower Blooming Capitol''. "So this was how they managed to keep from going hungry during the siege...." Erza muttered as she looked around, where even now many of the women and children were working on the crops within the city, while the men worked to replant the fields outside the city walls. While Darius had prevented the forces of dark mages and mercenaries from sacking the Capitol cities as well, each kingdom on the continent had been forced into siege conditions due to being unable to send their citizens out to work the fields and grow food. Though many had found various solutions with varying results, Crocus had done the best out of them due to the numerous plots of well maintained soil they used to grow the flowers up and down their streets. Even if that was the case though, they still had their fair share of struggles since even then they could only provide so much food to their people, while the number of residents in Crocus had significantly gone up due to the amount of refugees they had taken in before closing the gates. However, as Erza led them through the city, Alex couldn''t help but notice they weren''t the only ones staring at something in awe. "Is that...?" "It is!" "It''s Titania!" "What''s she doing here?" "I heard that Fairy Tail were the ones that fought the Dark Emperor!" "Do you think she was the one to fight him herself?!" Everywhere they went gazes and whispers followed them, or more specifically Erza. Even though no one knew that much about her anymore after the last eight years on Tenrou Island, whispers had started circulating after ''Fairy Tail'' liberated the port town Hargeon. It didn''t help that during the battle the only known groups that participated in the battle were the few surviving Mage guilds, as even after all the help they provided no one knew about Alex or the Asorans. This had been a part of their plan before Edith had been kidnapped and things went sideways, now however Alex planned to reveal them first to the higher ups of Fiore, and through them the citizens. Afterwards, the plan was to become Fiore''s allies and business partners, and through them Asora would become more widely known and influential throughout the continent. Currently, as she led Alex through the city with Grayfia and Ravel, Erza was attired in one of the new armors she had acquired from Hajime that wasn''t designed for typical combat, but was created to appeal to those around her. In video game terms, it was an outfit that drastically raised her ''Charisma'', drawing the attention of everyone around her while also making them more susceptible to anything she had to say. The armor itself was a shiny silver that had a scarlet trim to match her hair, which was current braided and wrapped into a bun on the back of her head. Meanwhile a majestic scarlet cape flowed from her shoulders down to the back of her knees, which bore the Fairy Tail emblem in the center while flapping despite the lack of wind, yet another example of Hajime quality. Meanwhile Alex was also dressed up in a dark purple suit with golden trim and accessories, while Ravel was dressed in a formal gown that resembled orange and yellow feathers, and Grayfia was in her usual maid attire. So even though Erza was the one drawing most people''s attention with her reputation and new armor, everyone''s gazes was drawn immediately to Alex and co afterwards as they wondered who they were. The fact that Alex and Ravel even had a maid with them meant that they must''ve been fairly important people, right? Their curiosity was stoked even further when one of the kingdom''s knights soon approached them, and declared, "Lady Titania! King Toma has requested your presence in the castle for an audience!" Rather than to immediately follow the knight''s lead as he turned towards the castle though, Erza stated in an authoritative voice, "Please inform his Majesty we will visit the castle in just a little bit, but currently I am escorting the Dragon Emperor around the city." Though his brows twitched at Erza''s initial refusal, when he heard the words ''Dragon Emperor'' the parts of the knight''s face that was visible under his helmet paled as he looked upon the only person who could possibly fit that title, Alex. Glowering down at the suddenly tongue tied knight, Alex said in a low voice, "I believe my knight asked you to do something." Jumping in fright at his words, the knight quickly stammered, "R-r-r-r-right away! I-I-I-I will immediately report to his Majesty!" Without waiting to see if Alex had anything else to say, the knight quickly ran off lest he offend someone claiming to be an emperor even more. As they watched him flee their line of sight, Alex suddenly felt someone nudging his side and looked over to see Ravel gently elbowing him with a smirk. "Way to act all authoritative and important~. Keep this up and I''ll end up being all hot and bothered by the end of the day." Alex simply rolled his eyes at her teasing before he continued after Erza, while Ravel chuckled at his expense as she and Grayfia followed. They then continued to follow Erza through the Flower Blooming Capitol for well over an hour as she pointed out various places she''d visited in the past, either from escorting Markarov when he visited the Capitol on business, or when she had taken a job from here and met with a client. It wasn''t until nearly two hours had passed since the knight left them that the group finally found themselves approaching the palace steps, which the guards who saw them immediately stood at attention to avoid giving the visiting Emperor the wrong impression regarding their city. Without even so much as a sideways glance though, Alex and the rest walked right by them as the knight they had met earlier quickly approached them, and declared, "His Majesty is waiting in the throne room, along with the Crown Princess and the ministers of defense and finance. Please follow me!" The knight then turned and nervously began to escort their group through the castle, during which Alex noticed numerous whispers following them as they went, the word that an Emperor had come to visit having already spread like wildfire. They quickly arrived at a grand entranceway that beyond, was the throne room filled with hundreds of important and influential figures from not just the city of Crocus, but all of Fiore. They had been regularly meeting with the king and his advisors to discuss getting their country back on track, but currently they were all incredibly tense with the arrival of a so-called Emperor. With every eye focusing on him the second he entered the throne room, Alex completely ignored them as he kept his gaze on the incredibly short man currently sitting on the oversized throne, Toma E. Fiore, the current King of the kingdom of Fiore. Standing next to him to the right was the Crown Princess, Hisui E. Fiore, while on his other side in full armor except for his head was the chief of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron, Arcadios. The king was dressed in various robes that one might expect a monarch of this era to wear, and was also adorned in various matching finery while his already white hair was only a few inches long and parted down the middle, with a small matching mustache. His daughter was wearing a fairly short purple dress that was adorned with several floral patterns, coupled with white gloves that extended up to her elbows and matching leggings, while her green hair was tied up in a short bushy ponytail with two strands of it framing her face and a small tuft covering her forehead. As they studied Alex and the rest of his group, along with the rest of the officials in the throne room, a page stepped forward and loudly declared, "Introducing his royal majesty of the great nation of Fiore and his heir, King Toma E. Fiore, and his daughter, Crown Princess Hisui E. Fiore!" As one the crowd within the throne room bowed respectfully to their king and Princess, before rising like a great wave of people while their king and Princess kept their piercing and curious gazes on Alex and his companions. With their introductions finished this time Erza stepped forward, surprising everyone within the throne room, and declared, "Introducing the slayer of gods, Devils and everything in between! He who commands even dragons and phoenixes! He who personally ended the Dark Emperor and three of his generals in direct combat! I present to all of you his imperial majesty, ALEX, THE DRAGON EMPEROR!" Her introduction finished, Erza immediately kneeled before him alongside Ravel and Grayfia, before even Alex was surprised as the entire throne room, sans Toma, Hisui, and a few others, followed suit. As they watched their own people bow to this foreign emperor, the king and his daughter couldn''t help but worry. *** "So what was that?" Alex asked Erza after being escorted to a private room to speak with Toma in after they had formally met one another, and now they were simply waiting for the aforementioned king to arrive. Erza however furrowed her brows before saying, "I''m.....not sure.... I only did what I felt was required for my role, but then the next thing I knew everyone else was kneeling.... The only thing I can think of is this armor." Surprisingly, Grayfia was the one who then said, "That is the most likely explanation. When wearing it you should never underestimate the power of ''Charisma'' and ''Influence'' on other people, as with it you could sway entire nations to your whim." Having already witnessed Alex do exactly that in the world of Tortus, turning almost the entire population against the god they had believed in for millennia, Ehito, there was no doubt in her mind that such an ability was extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. Thankfully, they wouldn''t have to worry about such a thing with the righteous Erza. Though they were going to continue their conversation, Alex shushed everyone when he noticed Toma appear outside the door with several others. "Please pardon the delay, I needed to send my people to work on various projects throughout the city. There''s...so much to do right now..." As Toma thought on how much work needed to be done to essentially rebuild his country after it had been destroyed by Darius, Alex simply nodded in understanding until the short man asked as he seated himself, "So, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?" With Hisui taking a seat next to him while the ministers of defense and finance stood to the side and Arcadios stood attentively behind them, it was obvious that they were ready to start the discussion. Surprising them though, Alex''s response wasn''t anything like they feared it''d be. "I wanted to officially establish peaceful relations with the kingdom of Fiore, and discuss the possibility of trade between our two nations." When they heard that Toma and the others were of course more than a little surprised, as they couldn''t imagine that someone powerful enough to supposedly take on Darius and his generals simply wanted to trade. Hisui was the first to recover first as she asked, "Where exactly is the nation you come from? Is it accessible by boat or train?" Alex however shook his head and said, "Not yet, but I would assume that you''re aware of Edolas?" While Hisui didn''t know what Alex was referring to, Toma nodded his head and said, "Indeed, I became especially concerned about them after the entirety Magnolia disappeared for a short while, but as I''m sure you''re aware other matters needed my attention." Alex nodded in understanding before he went on to explain, "Well the nation I rule over is similar to Edolas in that it is not of this world, but I also have the ability to travel back and forth at will. In the very near future I intend to open a gate there in Magnolia, through which we will hopefully be able to lay down a track for trains to run through." While Toma and the others were somewhat relieved to hear that this Asora wouldn''t be too far away to trade with, there was something else in what Alex said that concerned them. "So part of why you came here is to request permission, and go through the proper procedure to build on foreign soil, right?" Darton, the minister of defense and a shriveled elderly looking man asked warily. His heart practically froze though when Alex shook his head and stated, "Nope, we''re going to build regardless of what you have to say. We just came today to let you know about the opportunity that''ll be available, and to give you a slight heads up." As he finished speaking Alex accepted a teacup from Grayfia before taking a sip, and complimenting her on the excellent tea. Normally when two monarchs meet they maintain their own sense of status while also giving the other at least a little bit of face for the sake of propriety. Evidently, Alex wasn''t even doing that. Instead, he was apparently just doing whatever he felt like doing, and expected everyone to go along with him, regardless of their own status. While this would be considered unacceptable if it were anyone else, Alex was supposedly the slayer of Darius and even three of his generals. If he was anywhere as powerful as he claimed to be, then Alex was the last person anyone on Earthland would want to anger. Wanting to test this particular claim, Toma then hesitantly asked, "And you say that Darius died by your hand?" Without even looking up from his teacup Alex nodded and said, "Yep. While we originally planned to quietly support Fairy Tail and the other remaining Mage guilds from behind while they did most of the fighting, Darius and his generals did something to piss me off. So we ended up wiping them out in a single day." Hearing Alex talk as casually as one would regarding their day over dinner, a cold sweat started running down the backs of Toma and the others, reinforcing their idea that Alex was a someone they did not want to antagonize. From there their talks continued as Ravel and the minister of finance, a bespectacled man with straight black hair and a sharp suit, discussed the specifics of their trade. Firstly was that the area around the gate would be converted into a bazaar of sorts, where Magnolian merchants would be able to sell goods from Asora that they had acquired via contracts from suppliers in Asora. It would also be through them that customers from all over Earthland, not just Fiore, would be able to make requests for specific items or bulk orders. From there they discussed the specifics regarding things such as the exchange rate for money, regulations for travelers through the gate from Earthland, and how to handle any other countries wanting to trade with Asorans through Fiore. As the discussions continued though, Toma couldn''t help but to become increasingly worried regarding their relationship with the Dragon Emperor. Throughout the discussions he managed to learn certain specifics regarding Alex''s circ.u.mstances, such as how he was building the gate in preparation for when they ''moved on'' to the next world in a little less than a years time. And that the reason for building the gate, was so that he and those who joined him in Asora could be able to return to Earthland to visit whenever they felt like it, as well as to acquire any materials or so on that were only available there. The thing that Toma was becoming increasingly worried about though, was that there was nothing about the kingdom of Fiore to tie Alex''s good graces to them. He had helped those who suffered under Darius due to a sense of responsibility at the injustice, but if something happened to them in the future would he be so willing to help them out again? If the other countries on the continent of Ishgar decided to declare war on them would he intervene? Or what about if there was a significant disaster? Or even the appearance of a second Darius? From what he had learned about him, Toma deduced that Alex would readily help those he was close to that needed it, such as apparently the mage guilds, but was unsure about them as a kingdom. If the situation was another war with the scarcity of resources, then would the Mage guilds participate to help defend them, or will they continue to honor the old magic councils''s decision to ban Mage guilds from participating in their wars? And if that was the case with the mages staying out of any possible future wars, would Alex simply sit at the sidelines to watch the battles unfold? All while preparing a new contract with whoever the victor happened to be? With his scouts and informants sending troubling reports back from the neighboring countries, these and similar such theories plagued Toma''s mind even as the discussions continued, and he desperately tried to think of a way to tie Alex to them. It was then that Toma caught a glimpse of his daughter''s green hair out the corner of his eye, and he mentally whispered, ''Gods forgive me...'' He then waited for the proper moment, before saying to the emperor sitting across from him, "As gesture of good faith between our two nations, would you be willing to accept the hand of my daughter, Hisui, in marriage?" ... "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?!?!" Arcadios bellowed at the tiny king in rage, his face completely red while even one of his eyes was splotched with red after he burst a blood vessel. Despite the drastically larger man yelling at him though, Toma didn''t even flinch as he calmly asked, "And do you have any better ideas for tying the Dragon Emperor to us for protection if the need arises?" The great knight only continued to fume angrily at his King, even as Hisui, Danton, and the minister of finance watched anxiously from the side. After Toma suggested the marriage of Alex and Hisui, naturally the mood of the room was completely disrupted and destroyed as Arcadios exploded onto him, making Toma call a temporary break as they left to discuss his sudden proposal in private. While Hisui herself was red faced and anxiously fidgeting at the side, and the ministers watched on silently, the king and knight repeatedly went back and forth. "There''s no reason to tie them to us to begin with! Darius is gone, as well as his generals, and the threats that plagued the world such as Zeref and Achnologia!" Toma nodded in agreement at Arcadios''s point, but then added, "What about the threats from the other countries?" Arcadios was silent as Toma held his hand out to the Danton, who silently handed his king a thick stack of doc.u.ments before Toma then held them out to Arcadios. Confused, the knight quickly began looking through the doc.u.ments as Toma said, "One of the first things I did after hearing about the defeat of Darius was sending my scouts out to investigate the status of the other countries of Ishgar, and these are the reports they brought back. Of the nations that have started getting back on their feet, many have began preparing their militaries to march due to the lack of available resources in their respective lands. War IS on the horizon." Arcadios gripped the papers as a flood of emotions surged through him. On one hand he felt conflicted that his king hadn''t yet mentioned these reports to him, while on another he desperately wanted to argue against offering their own princess as payment for security. Before he could say anything though, Toma cut him off and continued, "Hisui is my daughter, and as such she is the heir to my throne and will inherit its responsibilities, and duties... Even if not the Dragon Emperor, then she will have to take a husband someday for the sake of our kingdom...something I''ve had to struggle with ever since the day she was born." The great knight was silent at his king''s words, as for the first time he recalled that this must have been harder for Toma to decide than it was for him to hear. At the same time he was also filled with gratitude for serving such an understanding king, as any other would''ve had more than enough grounds to imprison him for his previous attitude. As a last resort he turned towards the princess herself, who had simply been watching from the side, and asked her in soft voice, "And you princess? Are really going to just accept this? Taking that man as your husband is the same as signing yourself, and the entire Fiore kingdom over to him..." Disheartening him even further, Hisui nodded slowly as she said, "Yes, I will accept it if it will help secure the safety and well being of the people I will one day rule over. Such is the duty of one who will call themselves king or queen." Even if it meant signing over her kingdom to Alex, Hisui would readily do whatever it took to secure their future from those who would seek to do them harm. ... While Toma and his group were discussing his offer in the room they had moved to, Alex was doing the same with Erza, Grayfia, and Ravel. "You''re not going to accept it, are you?" Erza demanded as soon as they were left alone, to which Alex shook his head and replied, "Of course not, I don''t do one sided arranged marriages." When she heard that though, Ravel adopted a teasing look on her face as she playfully asked, "Oh? So what about what you did to that swordswoman last night?" Alex c.o.c.ked a brow at her before he stated, "That was different. Even if Kagura didn''t realize it, I helped her more than anything." Despite her pride compelling her to resist Alex''s continued pleasuring of her the night before, once she experienced the sensations Alex''s tongue could give her the proud swordswoman caved pretty quickly. Not only was he able to get her to completely drop her strict and cold demeanor during their time together, but Alex''s skill ''Lover''s Embrace'' had also helped to relieve the majority of the tension and fatigue that had built up in Kagura''s body. (A.N. For those who forgot, ''Lovers Embrace'' can be considered a form of hygiene that''ll improve the health of those who sleep with someone who has it(or does s.e.x.u.a.l stuff), increase their lifespan, and even help their descendants ''prosper''.) Though Ravel rolled her eyes at his excuse, whatever she was about to say got cut off as Grayfia uttered, "I think you should accept the offer." Dead silence greeted her words, before Alex said, "Can you repeat that? I''m not quite sure I heard you correctly Grayfia." Though her brow twitched at being asked to repeat herself, Grayfia looked Alex dead in the eye before saying, "I think you should accept his offer, and take Hisui as one of your wives." Again silence met her words, though Alex noticed Ravel nodding in agreement beside him, before he asked, "And why do you think that?" This time Grayfia sighed before explaining, "Aside from the fact that you''ll probably end up bedding her eventually to begin with? Because through marrying her we can essentially guarantee that complete control of Fiore in the near future since she is the crown princess, and possibly later the entirety of Earthland." As she finished speaking Ravel then piped up, "The best way to avoid future conflict is through ruling over them to begin with, but as ''outsiders'' we will probably always be met with suspicion if we tried to do so, or simply be considered the next Darius. The princess can not only become our perfect ''puppet'', but the children you two will eventually have together can ascend to her throne without any issue, before moving on to subdue the rest of the world for us." With each word the two uttered Alex''s frown deepened, before he finally asked, "And what makes the two of you think I''d agree to such a plan?" Not only had Ravel blatantly admitted that Hisui would be their ''puppet'' in ruling Fiore, but she also directly stated that she''s readily use his own children to pave the way to dominating the entirety of Earthland. If there was one thing Alex couldn''t stand, it was parents using their own children like they were nothing more than convenient tools for their own gain, which was exactly what she was suggesting he do now. The answer she gave him though stunned Alex, as Ravel simply replied, "Because it''s what we''re already doing." With his face morphing into one of disbelief, Ravel sighed and continued, "You were entirely aware that most of us were planning things like this with our children, so don''t act so surprised." As she said, Ravel, Rias, Serafall, and even Gabriel were already planning to use Regal, Ryuto, Lizzy, and Edith to help spread the influence of Asora once they returned home. Ravel in particular intended to use Regal to help cement her position as head of the Phenix family once she managed to claim it from her brother, while Rias and Serafall planned to use their children, along with Shuri and Mai, to raise awareness for how Asora was able to help resolve the devil population issues. Gabriel on the other hand was intending to use Edith to show the angel populations that they too could have children without the fear of ''falling'', as well as to use the fact that Edith was both angel and devil to try and smooth any remaining tensions between the two races. Despite knowing this though, Alex couldn''t help but to shake his head as he said to her, "There is still a difference between that and telling someone they were literally born to be king one day, and take over an entire planet for their father." Surprisingly Ravel nodded in agreement as she said, "Of course, it''s not like we''ll make them do so regardless of their own wishes, that is simply the most ideal outcome in this situation." With her ending her remark with a shrug of the shoulders as if to say ''what can you do?'' Alex''s brow started twitching as he realized everything she and Grayfia had been saying was a simple ''what if'' of the most optimal outcome. Though he had quite a bit to say regarding their way of phrasing things and explaining it, Alex simply decided to ignore it since he knew their objectives and personalities wouldn''t change as ''Devils'', and instead looked at Grayfia before saying in a slightly teasing tone, "I''m quite surprised though, to think the ''Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation'' would actively try to expand my harem~." With even Ravel smirking at her expense, since Grayfia had been somewhat infamous due to her refusing to allow Sirzechs to have more than one wife, the silver haired maid simply shrugged and explained, "My goal was to further extend our reach of power while also taking the future into consideration, not just needlessly adding to the number of holes for you to screw." With Alex and Ravel both nodding slowly as if in understanding, Grayfia''s brow twitched in mild irritation before a sudden idea entered her head. Surprising the duo and Erza, Grayfia then made her way around the couch she had been standing behind, before slowly and sensually crawling into Alex''s l.a.p until she was straddling him. Successfully peaking Alex''s curiosity regarding what she was doing, Grayfia then leaned forward while linking her arms around Alex''s neck until her face was less than an inch away from his. Hovering there for a second to make him wonder if she was going to kiss him, Grayfia then turned her head to the side as her luscious lips approached his ear, and whispered, "If it was that surprising, then perhaps I should demand compensation?" His curiosity rising by the second, Alex''s hands disappeared into the bottom of her long skirt to slowly rise up her smooth legs, before he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her p.a.n.t.i.e.s and slipped his fingers under them to massage her fleshy behind. Ignoring the slightly painful sensation on the back of his neck as Grayfia pinched him for his behavior, Alex smirked before he whispered into her ear while exhaling his hot breath, "What did you have in mind?" Shivering from his touch on her backside and his breath in her ear, Grayfia then whispered something else into his ear so quietly, that neither Ravel or Erza had been able to hear any of it despite being so close to them. Though he paused slightly at the contents of her request, Alex''s smile widened before he put more force into the hands gripping her a.s.s as he said, "Deal!" Before she could say anything about his hands squeezing her b.u.t.t, Alex suddenly sealed her lips with his own while she tightened her hold around his neck. The two''s kiss continued for several seconds until, "EH-HEM!" Toma once again coughed to get their attention, forcing Alex and Grayfia to break off their kiss as she suddenly realized that their host had rejoined them. "Oh? How long have you been standing there?" Alex asked without moving his hands from her b.u.t.t. "Well over a minute..." Toma replied with undisguised annoyance, along with Arcadios Danton, the minister of finance, and a very red faced Hisui. "Can you come back in about an hour or two?" Alex asked shamelessly, making the newcomers even more red faced while Grayfia simply stood up from Alex''s l.a.p as stone faced as could be. "Please excuse our disgraceful behavior, and especially that of my master''s." She then bowed respectfully to those who witnessed such an improper scene, which incidentally gave Alex a brief glimpse of the Crimson tips of her ears. While smirking from how embarrassed the usually cool, calm, and collected maid was, Alex watched as Toma hopped back up onto his previous seat before coughing lightly to regain the serious atmosphere from before. "So," He began eventually. "Have you put any thought into my previous offer?" Instead of answering the tiny king before him, Alex instead turned towards Hisui herself, who was still red faced from embarrassment at what they had walked in on, and asked her, "What is your opinion Hisui?" The princess jumped slightly when she realized that Alex was talking to her, before she adopted a slightly serious look and said, "If it is for the sake of my people, and kingdom, then I will do whatever it takes for their future." Though he was tempted to point out that her attitude was reminiscent of a soldier marching off to war, Alex nodded before returning his attention to Toma and saying, "I accept then." *** Several hours after the meeting with Toma and Hisui ended, and the details regarding their engagement were decided; Alex was sitting high in a tree with a very young boy in his arms, who''s untamable black hair was extraordinarily like his father''s, while his skin was healthy shade of brown like his mother''s. "Now remember Alec, if mommy asks I didn''t spoil your dinner." Alex said as he handed his oldest son yet another of the many fruits that were growing around them, which the young boy greedily accepted before biting into it excitedly. Alex smiled fondly as he watched his son devour the fruit, which was comparable to a peach in appearance and texture, but was a dark green color and had a more earthly aroma and taste. Currently they were seated in a tree that was growing towards the peak of one of the many mountain ranges within Asora, watching the sun as it sank lower and lower in the sky. Though Alec was only a little over three years old by this point(thanks to all of the time he''d spent in the space-time orb), Alex was still incredibly happy to get to spend time with one of his sons like this. However, a three year old Saiyan boy was still a three year old Saiyan boy. Instead of remaining still in his father''s arms, the tiny monkey boy squirmed his way free, before he began to expertly make his way through the tree to collect more fruits. Alex smiled warmly as he watched Alec swing and leap around the tree with his hands and tail, with all the agility and skill that a three year old shouldn''t possess. "Your mom would kill me if she saw us now..." Alex muttered to himself as he watched his son wrap his tail around a tree branch to dangle from, before he started to leisurely pick fruits from the one below him. He then nearly jumped when he suddenly received a call, making Alex think that Anne had somehow known what they were doing, before he answered it to see Shizuku''s face pop up. "Shizuku? What''s up?" Alex asked somewhat worriedly since Shizuku rarely called him unless something was wrong. He never would''ve guessed the first words to come out of her mouth though. "Ai-Chan just went into labor! Vali''s baby is about to be born!" Chapter 388 - Little Lucifer After dropping Alec off at the Misty Manor(and making sure his face was wiped clean of fruit juice), Alex promptly headed towards Asora''s hospital to wait for the birth of Vali and Aiko''s child, the Lucifer of the next generation. There he was unsurprised to find quite the crowd of people also waiting for news regarding the baby, namely Aiko''s father, Hatayama Tetsuo, her students that had been sent to Tortus, the high class Devils residing in Asora, Lavinia, and the members of the Vali team. With her father and Hajime giving Alex a curt nod at his arrival, which he returned, he then turned his attention to the person who was obviously the most anxious in the room, and perhaps even the most scared, Vali. ?? The silver haired Lucifer was anxiously pacing back and forth through the waiting room as he awaited word regarding Aiko and his child, until Alex said to him, "You''re gonna make a hole in the floor if you keep pacing like that." When he heard Alex''s voice Vali stopped and looked up him with an undisguised glower, before he resumed his nervous pacing. "Don''t mind him." Tetsuo suddenly said to Alex, before continuing in a subdued voice, "He''s happier than he''s letting on that you''re here, but we just got word that there''s been complications due to Aiko''s size, so we can''t help but be fairly nervous..." Alex nodded slowly at his words, while also watching the older man anxiously wring his own hands as he awaited news about his daughter and grandchild. Though they could use Spirit and Regeneration magics to prevent both Aiko and the baby losing their lives, that didn''t mean that there still couldn''t be certain complications during the actual birthing process. And Aiko''s petite size that was comparable to Yue or Mavis would definitely be a factor that would cause some problems. However Alex wouldn''t be any help whatsoever with complications that arose with Aiko at the moment, so he decided to focus on something he could help with. Casually throwing an arm around Vali''s shoulders, earning him another glower in the process, Alex then said to him, "Don''t worry, Anne would never allow anything to happen to either of them." When he heard that some of the tension in Vali''s shoulders loosened as he said, "I know, it''s just that this is the first major problem I''ve encountered that I couldn''t just fight my way out of, it''s frustrating..." Alex nodded slowly in understanding, having already experienced several times the anxious wait for his own children to be born, and no matter what that feeling never changed. Instead of trying to come up with a way to sooth Vali''s nerves though, a hint of a smile showed itself at the edge of his lips as he said, "You know what I find helps the most in these situations though?" When he heard that Vali look at Alex curiously before saying, "No, what?" This time Alex''s smile became more prominent, alerting Vali that something was about to happen, but before he could do anything Alex''s hand suddenly gripped the back of his neck loosely, while a ripple appeared in the space before them. "I always found that being by my woman''s side was better than waiting outside like this!" The next thing Vali knew he was being sent forward into the distortion in space, only to appear in Aiko''s hospital room instantly. Alex then watched through his ''Domain'' with a markedly warmer smile as Aiko''s mother, Akiko, began to verbally tear into Vali for waiting outside to let Aiko experience this without him, while the woman herself only felt a profound sense of relief that he was there with her, despite the pain she was currently in. "Thanks for that." Tetsuo said to him suddenly, to which Alex nodded in affirmation before saying, "No problem, but we need to be a patient with Vali when it comes to these things due to his own circ.u.mstances." This time it was Tetsuo''s turn to nod in agreement, as Vali had already long since informed them of how his own family had treated him growing up, and his fear of becoming like his father and grandfather. Then began the long wait as they awaited word for the child''s birth, which Alex provided the occasional update as he kept an eye on things through his ''Domain'', of which Tetsuo and the rest of those waiting were really grateful for. This continued until Alex suddenly jerked his head up in alarm, followed quickly by everyone else when they sensed the same thing he had. "W-what is that?!" Tetsuo asked in alarm as, despite being a regular human, he too had felt the sudden powerful force coming from Aiko''s room, to which Alex said to him, "That, is the birth of a super devil. Congratulations." With confirmation that the baby had finally been born, a sigh of relief went through the room before a series of excited voices filled it as everyone eagerly began discussing things like if the baby was a boy or girl, and potential names Aiko would decide for it. Meanwhile, off to the side, a certain monkey-like man, Bikou, was shaking his head as he questioned, "What the hell is up with this? I thought the powers of super Devils weren''t genetic?" With the rest of the Vali team silently contemplating what he had pointed out, as none of the other confirmed super Devils, Sirzechs, Ajuka, or Rizevim, had super devil children, Alex suddenly said, "I''ve been thinking about that since the birth of my own children. My two most likely theories though is that it was either the way Vali and the others became super Devils, as they weren''t born as them, or it had to do with our other powers increasing our children''s own power and potential, as Heavenly Dragons along with my Saiyan bloodline." When he explained his best theories for why so many super Devils had been born from him and Vali, the members of the Vali team and the gathered high class Devils nodded slowly in contemplation, but before any of them could say anything the door that led to Aiko''s room opened, and Asia appeared in her cute nurses outfit before saying, "It''s a girl!" When she said that many of the female members of Hajime''s class let out excited voices while the guys became momentarily dejected, before they too jumped into the discussion. However, when someone mentioned going in the to see them, Asia stated in an uncharacteristically stern yet cute demeanor, "You can''t go in just yet, both Aiko and the baby need to rest! Come back tomorrow and you''ll probably be able to see them though." Despite being somewhat dejected that they couldn''t go and see Aiko, the former students still filed out of the waiting room as they then began to discuss potential gifts that they''d bring for her and the baby the following day. Alex had been just about to take his leave as well, when Asia quickly said, "They said that the three of you can go in Alex, Lavinia, and Tetsuo." While the latter two quickly followed Asia''s lead to Aiko''s room, Alex briefly wondered why he was included as well. Tetsuo was Aiko''s father and Lavinia was Vali''s adopted older sister, so the two of them were understandable, but why him? Instead of standing around wondering about it though, Alex simply followed Asia''s lead as she brought them to the room that Aiko and the baby had been moved into. Within, Aiko was lying on her bed looking exhausted, but content as she struggled to stay awake for a little bit longer, while her mother sat at her side comfortingly. Meanwhile on the other side of the bed stood Vali, who was holding a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket while looking down at it in awe. Alex traded a knowing look with Tetsuo when the duo saw that, as they both knew what was going through Vali''s head at that moment, the realization that everything was going to change for him. While the older man and Lavinia approached Aiko to check on her, Alex approached Vali before asking, "Still worried you''ll end up like your family?" Instead of answering him though, Vali could only ask, "How?" Alex smiled wryly at the single worded question, knowing exactly what he meant. ''How did someone like me, help create something as beautiful as this?'' That was the exact question going through Vali''s head as he looked down at the face of his newborn daughter, disbelief filling him despite the fact that he was currently holding her in his arms. It wasn''t for well over a minute that Vali even seemed to notice Alex standing there, before he surprisingly, and reluctantly, handed the tiny bundle over to him. Surprised, Alex carefully accepted the bundle while looking at Vali curiously, to which the silver haired man simply said, "We named you the godfather..... Aiko insisted..." Looking away pointedly as he said that, Alex glanced at Aiko to find her smiling at him warmly. "Thank you..." Alex said seriously as he looked down at the little girl sleeping in his arms, before Vali continued, "It''s nothing. I only agreed because if something happened to us I wouldn''t want someone weaker than myself looking after her." Smirking at his rival, Alex remarked as he turned to walk towards Aiko''s bed, "Such a tsundere..." Naturally Vali frowned at him as he walked away, but didn''t say anything since he''d then be called defensive. Looking back down at the sleeping girl one last time while he was holding her, Alex asked Aiko, "What did you name her?" Despite her exhaustion Aiko suddenly looked a little sheepish as she said, "I didn''t know very much about devil culture, so I gave her the only actual devil related name I knew of for girls, Lilith." Alex c.o.c.ked a brow as he gently handed the newborn to Akiko, before turning towards Vali questioningly. In the DXD world Lilith was the wife of the original Lucifer, and the ex-wife of Adam. She was also the one responsible for birthing the Devils that existed in the DXD world, until doing so put her in a comatose state of near-death. She was also coincidently Vali''s great grandmother. Of course the man in question simply shrugged his shoulders, as he had left most of the major decisions regarding their child to Aiko. Since Vali didn''t have anything else to say about it, Alex murmured, "Lilith Lucifer... I like it." Aiko smiled at Alex''s praise as he gently handed the small bundle to Tetsuo, before making his way back to Vali. "Azazel would be really proud." He said to him, making the usually cool man tear up a little as he recalled his adoptive father. "You''re going to get them out of there when we return, right?" Alex immediately nodded and replied, "Of course! I''ve got unfinished business with that f.u.c.ker to begin with!" As he recalled Trihexia, who Azazel was trapped with along with so many others, Alex''s heart started thundering as he anticipated their rematch. (A.N. Before people ask when they fought, it was during the time skip I did in DXD before the Azazel Cup. That''s why you wouldn''t remember it.) Alex''s thoughts regarding the apocalyptic being were then disturbed when he heard Lavinia suddenly remark, "Hmmm.... Va-kun suddenly has such a cute daughter~.... I order if it''s about time for me to settle down and have children as well...?" Alex then pretended not to notice as she sent a glance in his direction, lest the serene atmosphere be ruined by Vali thinking he was trying to make a pass at Lavinia. *** After saying goodbye to Vali and the others, especially his new goddaughter, Alex returned to the Misty Manor to give everyone else the news before retiring to the space-time orb for the night. Within, he promised Grayfia that he''d fulfill his promise to her soon, before finding the room his children usually slept in and joined them, creating a small pile of monkey-tailed bodies as they snuggled up to him for the night. Chapter 389 - Planting a Seed In the days following Liliths'' birth, and leading up to to creation of the gate, Magnolia, Ishagr as a whole, and even Asora underwent several changes. In Magnolia an entire section of the city was being remodeled to make room for the gate, and the bazaar that was planned to built around it, while numerous citizens were excitedly preparing for the day the gate would be activated. Normally it would be the citizens of an area that would be the most against such a different new addition, but after having to rebuild their livelihoods from scratch the citizens of Magnolia welcomed the help that Asora offered them. ?? With Ravel acting as the middle-man, many of the citizens of Magnolia had already established contracts with Asoran suppliers to sell their goods at the bazaar, and were in the process of dividing up spaces for the bazaar as they prepared for the day the gate was finished. Meanwhile Toma was one of the hardest working people in his entire country, as currently he was trying to reestablish their entire economy, planning for his daughter''s wedding(which would take place about a week before they planned to open the gate to the DXD world), and he was also working to prevent war from breaking out. The day after he met with Alex for the first time, the first thing Toma did was send out messengers to every other kingdom on the continent of Ishgar to inform their respective leaders about the potential trade opportunities with Asora. As he had hoped, when the Kings or other rulers learned that they would be able to trade with Asora for the resources that would need, many of those who had been preparing for war quickly stood down. For the most part the various rulers of the countries of Ishgar had respected each other as equals, and hadn''t wanted to fight each other after the horrors they had all shared in over the last several years. Necessity had forced them to consider extreme courses of actions though, as, unlike Fiore which was peninsula surrounded by oceans with plenty of fish and fertile lands to grow crops, many of them didn''t have the resources or environment needed to sustain their people through the next few months. And even with the benefits that countries like Fiore had, they knew they wouldn''t be able to trade in the immediate future. However, there were always those who simply wanted an excuse to go to war. Not all the leaders of the different countries had gotten through the attacks from Darius''s generals and followers unscathed, and as a result their entire country had gone through a series changes in the short time since their death. The kingdom of Seven was one such example, as the entire population of the kingdom that was able to mobilize was now gathered below their new king''s castle, as the man himself appeared before them. "My people-" The portly man started as he looked down at them from his great balcony. "Many years ago we lost our great king, and with a heavy heart I stepped forward to try and fill the void his magnificence left behind, despite the threat we faced from the so-called ''Dark Emperor''." When he paused briefly to let the people recall those dark days, which had only ended very briefly, the man then continued, "No matter how bleak those days were though we eventually saw the light, and the ''Dark Emperor'' himself met his end!"at this point the crowd below him let out a deafening cheer as they celebrated Darius''s death and the chance to return to their lives, before, "HOWEVER-" The man added loudly, silencing their cheers as he continued, "Now I have just received word of a new threat, a different threat, ''Asorans''." Whispers spread as the people began to discuss what their king meant before he continued, "Supposedly they are otherworlders that were the ones responsible for killing Darius and his armies, and supposedly they intend to open trade with Ishgar through the kingdom of Fiore; through which they will help us receive what we need to survive, like the food and supplies they had already given so many of our people! Well who are they kidding?!" With the people below him showing surprise at their new king''s sudden shift in tone, he quickly added, "They expect us to believe that they came to our world and killed our greatest enemy, simply because they wanted to ''trade'' with us?" As he said that the people began to whisper and murmur amongst themselves, agreeing with their king regarding the suspiciousness of the actions of these ''Asorans''. He then regained their attention as his speech went on, "First they supposedly killed Darius. Well, I ask you people, does the sheep question the farmer when he fights off wolves and other predators for them?" Seeing the people mutter and whisper amongst themselves, a hint of a smirk appeared at the edge of his mouth before he continued, "And now they send out word about their d.e.s.i.r.e to trade with us after Darius destroyed our way of life! Again! Does the sheep question the farmer safely leading it to plentiful grass, or giving it good grain?" This time the people''s expressions and voices became noticeably angrier as several of them even shouted, """NO!!!""" The Kings smirk widened as he delivered the finishing blow, "And does the sheep question the farmer at all, even when it feels the blade of his knife against its throat?" """NO!!!""" "THEN TELL ME, ARE YOU SHEEP!? OR ARE YOU WOLVES!?" """WOLVES!!!""" The people shouted as one, making the King''s smirk widen so much that there was no hiding it any more, but he didn''t care as he declared, "THEN MY FELLOW WOLVES, INSTEAD OF BEING LED TO THE INEVITABLE SLAUGHTER, MARCH! MARCH, AND TAKE WHAT THEY HAVE FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR FAMLIES!!!" His declaration was followed by a deafening cheer as the people hurriedly swarmed in the direction of Fiore, wielding and wearing whatever they could find for makeshift armor and weapons as they marched, following the lead of their country''s soldiers as they went to fight this enemy. Seeing this, the king began to laugh boisterously as he went back inside from the balcony to see his advisor waiting for him, an equally large smirk on his face as well. "To think that worked so well!" He snorted with laughter as the king sat across from him, the table between them piled high with the food that their people had received from Anne''s emergency response team. Instead of responding immediately as he sat down though, the king began to wolf down as much food as he could before following it with a generous amount of wine before finally saying, "Of course! The Knights have no choice but to follow my orders, while the common folk are dumber than rocks! They''ll probably march straight through the night to reach Fiore for me." The fat king cackled loudly at his own words, before he proceeded to dig back into the food before him. Meanwhile, off to the side, a young man with features similar to the new king watched on with growing irritation and concern, until he finally erupted, "Do you really think that they''ll be able to fight off those who managed to defeat Darius though?! We might as well have just sent those men to their deaths!" The king looked at the man with undisguised annoyance and anger, before pointing a fork at him and saying, "Don''t think that just because you''re my cousin you can just spout whatever you want whenever you want. If it wasn''t for the fact that I don''t have any brats to act as my heirs already, you''d be out there marching wth them!" He then proceeded to start stuffing his face once again, before adding, "And besides, even if those ''Asorans'' did defeat Darius and his army, there''s no way they''re ready for an attack this soon. Darius was the most powerful force this world had ever seen, so no matter who took him down they should have suffered loses and injuries of their own. I''m willing to bet that our men will not only be victorious in this battle, but will bring back tons of this delicious food and whatever magic or technology they used to fight Darius and his men!" Cackling at his own boasting, the king then proceeded to continue stuffing his face as if he was a bottomless hole, while his advisor did the same across from him. Disgust evident on his face, the King''s cousin could only retort, "And if they don''t?!" Rather than appear insulted at his cousin''s outrage, the king simply pondered for a second, before a nasty smirk appeared on his face. "Then that just means we''ll have less mouths to feed!" The king then began to laugh loudly despite the topic being the slaughter of his own people, making his cousin scoff in disgust before storming out of the king''s room angrily. The guards outside only shook their heads as they watched him go while listening to their king''s laughter, knowing full well the feelings that currently plagued him. Knights were the protectors of the people, while they served their king unwaveringly. Yet their previous king had led most of his knights in a charge to protect some of their citizens from one of Darius''s general''s, and as a result they had all been wiped out. Now only a handful of Knights were left, and much of the nobility had gone with their king to his death, leaving them with a cruel and fat drunkard to assume the throne. However none of them would dare take the risk of trying to claim the throne themselves to try and lead the nation to a better future, as it would only lead to infighting and political collapse. Those outside their king''s chamber could only stand there and listen to his insane laughter, until the door finally closed and cut him off. Within the room though, the king continued laughing for several minutes until he finally seemed to think of something, and said, "Heirs.... Perhaps it is time I consider having been some whore push out a brat or two, but which one? They would still need to have the right lineage..." The king and his advisor pondered for several seconds before he suddenly thought of someone, and said with a disgusting sneer, "I wonder how that princess Hisui is now? She was just a little brat when I last saw her, but now she aught to be a real looker! And who better to bear my ''royal'' children than a real princess!?" Again, as if he thought he was the funniest man on the planet, the fat man began to howl with laughter as he imagined bedding the beautiful princess. He was so distracted by his own laughter, that neither him nor his advisor noticed a robed figure step from the shadows, their hood drawn to hide their face and rabbit ears. And his booming voice made it so their neither had also been able to hear the whispering rasp of metal on metal, as the assassin''s blade slowly slid out from within their sleeve. ... Meanwhile the men he had sent out had continued to march for hours on end, until the sun started to hang low in the sky, and they arrived at the mouth of the mountain pass that led to the kingdom of Fiore. This area was just one of the many mountains and craggy slopes that made up the northern country of Seven, and were a part of why they were able to do little more with their region other than ranching, or mining. However, as they entered the mouth of the pass, the small army of peasants froze as they encountered the most bizarre sight any of them had ever beheld; several grand tables laden with delicious looking food, while at the center sat a solitary man as he ate from his own plate. "About time you all got here, I thought the food was going to get cold. Sit." Rather than immediately do as the man bid, one of the few knights present stepped forward and declared, "We are here at the command of our king, state your business or we will remove you!" The man shrugged at the knight''s warning, as if to say ''oh well'', and used a napkin to wipe whatever crumbs of food there was around his mouth before saying, "My name is Sairaorg Bael, and I am in charge of the military affairs in Asora." When Sairaorg introduced himself many of those making up the pitiful army immediately brandished their makeshift weapons, trying to make themselves appear threateningly as they all but attacked him. Rather than appearing perturbed at their behavior though, Sairaorg simply took another bite of his food before saying, "I am here at the command of our emperor, to personally tell all of you that we harbor no ill will towards the people of this world." Instead of being relieved, the knight at the head of the army tensed even more before demanding, "And why should we believe you?! You are aliens to our world, with motives and powers far beyond anything we are obviously capable of! Why would we believe that you simply came here to trade with us?" Sairaorg only shrugged at the man''s accusations, and said, "We originally came here and created the gate for entirely different reasons to begin with anyways, opening trade was simply an opportunity we decided to take since we were opening a permanent route into this world." As he finished speaking, Sairaorg wiped his mouth clean once more and continued as he stood, "With Darius gone we have no more cause for conflict in this world, but we will answer in return if someone seeks us harm." Sairaorg then paused momentarily, as the entire mountain pass around them began to tremble in response to his threat. The people cowed and stumbled in the face of Sairaorg''s overwhelming presence, before he concluded as the rumbling began to subside, "Now then, you can either lay down your weapons and have some of this food we''ve prepared, or you can persist in trying to go to war with us, and I can slaughter you all here and now. Make your choice." *** While Sairaorg was dealing with the people of Earthland, Asora itself was in an entirely different mood as its people set up what appeared to be a festival. "We really should do stuff like this more often!" The always bubbly Irina exclaimed happily as she ate her shaved ice, before her closest friend Xenovia replied from within her pile of prizes, "Too bad there aren''t more games for me to beat you at though Irina..." The twin tailed angel rounded on her friend at her provocation, and declared, "Geez Xenovia! Not everything has to be a competition you know!" Xenovia simply dead panned at her friend before saying, "Aren''t you the one who kept challenging me though?" Irina suddenly looked away at her words, and said sheepishly, "I have no idea what you''re talking about..." Xenovia''s stare intensified at her words, but before she could say anything there was a sudden buzz of excitement around them as people spread the word, the main event that they had all gathered for had finally begun. Far from the edge of the festival tents and canopies, the people gathered around Alex and Anne as they made preparations for the day''s main event, planting the great tree seed that Anne had acquired back at the Haltina Sea of Trees Labyrinth. They had been waiting for this day for quite some time now, the event being postponed due to Anne''s pregnancy and then the year-long winter they had while Alex was in the Rosario Vampire world. Now however it was finally time to plant the seed, and officially establish the great park that Anne and the others had wanted to create. "Are you ready?" Alex asked Anne, who was filled with nerves as she replied, "As I''ll ever be!" Anne was quite nervous since she had been waiting for this moment for a long time(what with how much time she''d spent in the space-time orb and all), and she was hoping the great tree would live up to the expectations they had placed on it. With Alex by her side to support her though, Anne confidently stepped forward to the middle of the clearing that they had decided to plant the tree in, giving it plenty of room to grow as it needed. There they found a small hole that had been prepared beforehand, where Anne knelt down and pulled out the small seed. "It''s time..." She said to it, knowing that tiny seed had literally been waiting several millennia to finally be planted. She then gently placed it into the hole, and pushed the dirt back into it with her recently acquired earth bending. Stepping back with Alex as the seed was planted, Anne then called upon the power she had that gave her control over plants, and funneled energy into the tiny seed. For a moment nothing happened, before suddenly a green and brown shoot erupted from the ground. The ground rumbled as the tree''a roots spread and thickened, supporting the massive trunk as it extended ever upwards, and out. "Ngh!" Anne g.r.o.a.n.e.d as her power rapidly drained into the ever growing tree, before she suddenly felt a rush of relief as Alex placed his hand upon her shoulder. "Transfer!" He declared, sending another rush of energy into her to fuel the tree''s growth even further, as it continued to tower over them. On and on the tree grew ever upward and outwards, as Alex continued to pour his own energy into Anne, and her into the great tree as it simply continued growing. It wasn''t until the tree dwarfed even the greatest of skyscr.a.p.ers in both height and width that it''s growth finally seemed to start slowing, until it finally stopped. At its base the tree was over two hundred feet wide, much, much larger than their original estimates, while its canopy was crowned at over three thousand feet in the air, and was spread more than two thousand feet across. All across the festival the people of Asora stared up in awe of the thing that now towered above them, before they began to notice the changes in their surroundings. Around them the grass and leaves on the bushes and trees had become noticeably greener and thicker, while a slightly sweet fragrance hung in the air. Unknown to them, the same effect was happening for hundreds of miles in every direction of the great tree, as it''s very presence brought an increase in life around it. The only ones to actually notice the depth of the great tree''s influence though was Nana and Momo, as their gifts to speak with plants and animals told them of the changes already taking place around them. The plant life around them was practically singing with joy as the great tree''s presence filled them with energy, while various small creatures and birds eagerly raced towards the great tree to find a new home. Even the Yuuki-Onna, who could barely tolerate the spring warmth away from their village, couldn''t help the awe they felt at that moment, while also feeling indescribably small. The dragons and phoenixes also couldn''t help the feelings that swept through them, as the branches of the tree were even large enough that they could easily perch upon them with plenty of room. As he gazed upon the tree before them, Alex turned towards Anne while he also supported her slightly after expending so much energy. "This is amazing." He said to her, before giving the beautiful brown skinned woman a kiss. Anne smiled against his lips before murmuring back, "WE are amazing." This time Alex smiled against her lips before he broke off the kiss and turned to look at those gathered behind them, beginning with his wives and children, to each and every one of Asora''s residents. Seeing Alex turn towards them, the Asorans let loose a great cheer at the planting of the great tree, and the official creation of their park. ... Later Alex and Anne were sitting atop one of the branches of the great tree, overlooking Asora spreading out below them while Alec and Anna slept in their arms. Currently the little girl was hugging Alex like a little spider monkey, her chin resting on his left shoulder, while Anne was hugging Alec into her b.r.e.a.s.ts while he was still small enough to do so. Anne herself was resting her head on Alex''s other shoulder, while she absentmindedly played with her son''s hair. "To think..." Anne began suddenly in a soft voice that barely concealed a hint of a chuckle. "-the great Dragon Emperor brought down by a group of children." Alex did chuckle lightly at her jest as he recalled playing with his children earlier, taking care not to wake the little girl drooling on his shoulder, before saying, "Well they are my children you know, gotta let them win every now and then before I begin training them." Despite the good mood they just had, Anne frowned slightly before asking, "Do you really need to train them to fight?" Alex nodded slowly and lightly, before saying, "Yes. They need to know how to defend themselves if necessary, and how to control their own strength." Anne''s frown only deepened as she looked down at her sweet baby boy and girl, and said, "Still, what if they don''t want to learn how to fight? Did you think of that?" Alex smiled wryly as Anne tried to dissuade him from training the children, and explained, "That''s fine, as long as they are able to protect themselves then I''ll be content. After the scare with Edith, I would prefer them resenting me while being able to protect themselves, than something happening to them that I know I could''ve prevented." As he said that Alex tightened his hold on Anna slightly, as if afraid that something would happen to her then and there despite his presence. Anne however was silent as she forced herself to imagine going through what Gabriel had, and similarly tightened her hold on Alec. She still wanted to protest Alex''s training their children, but she also couldn''t refute his concerns. There was also their innate strength to take into consideration, as there had already been a few incidents with the children destroying their toys and even crushing metal and wooden furniture with their grips. Even if Anne and the other mothers didn''t want them to learn to fight, they would still need to learn how to control their own strength. After several seconds of silence Anne finally said, "Fine, but you can''t start right away and you have to take it easy on them!" Alex chuckled lightly at her demands, and said, "Don''t worry. I don''t plan to start right away, just in the near future. And keep in mind that they''re Saiyan children, they''ll be able to take everything I throw at them and even more." As he said that Alex recalled how quickly Gohan, Goten, and Trunks had grown in Dragon Ball Z, the former achieving the Super Saiyan transformation by the age of ten or eleven, while the latter two achieved it at the age of seven and eight respectively. Of course Alex fully expected that his children would quickly outpace all three of the half Saiyans from the series, even if Trunks did start training from the moment he could walk. The reason was due to the fact that he had already mastered the first form of the super Saiyan transformations when Edith had been conceived, and had only grown stronger since, while each of his children would also have the power of dragons, Devils, and whatever their mother was. Edith for example would posses the strength of a Saiyan, the power of a dragon, the magic capabilities of a devil, and the holy powers of an archangel. Meanwhile Mai would also posses the innate powers of the Nekoshou like Koneko, Regal would have Ravel''s immortality as a Phoenix, Lizzy and Ryuto were both super devils, Yuki and Aurora were both Yuuki-Onna, and Shuri would be able to use the same holy lightning as Akeno. In short, even if their mother was regular human like Kotegawa Yui, Yuuki Mikan, or Haruna, all of Alex''s children would have an unbelievable potential compared to normal Saiyans or half Saiyans, it was just a matter of teaching them control. Though he had no intention of forcing them to fight, Alex still shuddered as he imagined what his children would be capable of in the future when their powers awakened. Chapter 390 - Notice I was planning to try and get this next chapter done faster than I had been lately, but I suddenly need to spend the next several days working on getting firewood for winter(I knew I needed to but didn''t know when we''d be able to work on it when it suddenly got sprung on me yesterday). I can''t say I''d be too willing to write after working all day then working on firewood, but I''ll try to get the next chapter out when I can. Thank you for the understanding. Chapter 391 - The Dragon Strikes "Nn..." Levy ?r??n?d after many, many, hours of lovemaking, both rough and gentle. As promised, Alex had thoroughly ''violated'' and ''corrupted'' her to the point that she was now convinced that, even if she ever did make up with Gajeel, he would never be able to satisfy her. Instead, she was entirely convinced that Alex had molded her insides to perfectly fit only him. Now though they were currently in the dorm''s baths, sitting in the hot water with Levy sitting on Alex''s ??p while his rock hard p?n?s was still inside her, creating a noticeable bulge in her abdomen. "...you''re such a brute..." She uttered at him quietly, making Alex chuckle as he lightly traced his fingers up and down her sides. "Maybe, but dragons and Devils aren''t usually gentle when they ''steal'' the beautiful maidens, are they?" Levy just stared at him through half closed eyes at his remark, knowing he was just claiming to be an ''evil dragon'' and ''devil'' to justify attacking her, not that she had actually resisted much. Her expression then turned slightly melancholic as Levy wondered if Gajeel would have been the same way, rough due to his usually aggressive nature, yet at the same time gentle towards her. Her thoughts were disrupted though when Alex suddenly pinched her n?pp??s with his fingers, and hissed into her ear, "You''re not ''allowed'' to think of other men when you''re with me anymore. Remember, you''re mine now until the end of time." With him rolling the s?ns?t?v? little nubs between his fingers, Levy couldn''t only groan lightly instead of replying to his domineering statement, which she knew was just him trying to keep her from feeling sad by thinking of Gajeel. He then kicked things up a notch by nibbling on her earlobe, before trailing his mouth down to her neck while peppering it with kisses. Meanwhile his right hand had released it''s captive n?pp??, and had started to slowly ''walk'' it''s way down her abdomen, making her twitch as Alex applied a little extra force on the spot that had bulged due to his being inside her. Stopping his fingers at a spot right below her belly bu??on, Levy''s entire body began to squirm against her will as Alex began to slowly rub the spot, pressing it against both his finger and the ???k inside her. This continued for the better part of a minute as he persisted in teasing the beautiful blue haired woman, until Alex subtly swapped the finger that was teasing her with his thumb, and lightly flicked her exposed ???t with another finger. "Ahhh..." Caught somewhere between a gasp and a silent scream, Levy''s body spasmed as a powerful ?r??sm shot through her, making her instinct fully throw her head back where Alex''s had been moments prior, while her insides practically came alive as they squirmed and tightened around his ???k. Alex ceased his teasing as he gently held Levy''s body until she came down from the high of her ?r??sm, after which she only glared at him teary eyed before muttering, "You bully..." She then pinched his leg as Alex smirked at her remark, irritated that he apparently already knew everything about pleasuring her body that even she didn''t know. She was about to lash out at him once again, when the door to the baths suddenly opened and several voices reached their ears. "So you can not only control any body of water, even oceans, but also dragons?" Cana said in amazement, to which Ingvild replied, "Yep, but I don''t use the dragon one very often. All of the dragons in Asora are nice, so it''d be mean to take away their wills without any reason." As the girls continued talking while undressing in the changing room, Levy began to panic at the thought of being caught with Alex in the baths, especially since men were strictly forbidden from entering the girls dorms anyways. Jumping off his ??p, Levy quickly spun around and moved her fingers to form a word that stuck to Alex''s ?h?st, before her magic took effect. ''Hidden'' Alex glanced down at the word just in time to notice his body suddenly shifting in color and tone so that he looked just like whatever was behind him, like a human chameleon. "That''s cool." He remarked casually, before the owners of the voices they had been hearing walked out of the changing rooms into the bath right as Levy tried to make herself look natural. "H-hey guys! What''s up?" Speaking in a slightly higher tone of voice than usual, Levy desperately tried to keep the group from noticing something was amiss. Within the group though was Mavis, Cana, Lisanna, Evergreen, Juuvia, Wendy, Sherria, and Ingvild since she was still trying to talk the two sky slayers into joining her peerage. Though everyone else didn''t seemed to notice anything amiss, both Mavis and Ingvild immediately centered their gazes on Alex, who simply waved at them like nothing was wrong. Mavis just shook her head slightly as she went to a wash station, while Ingvild was experiencing a serious case of dejavu as she recalled the time when she first met Tamao and the other mermaids, which then led to an orgy in the girls locker room. Wondering if the same pattern was recurring, the tired looking beauty simply made her way to the station next to Mavis as she waited for the events to play out, as wth Alex involved ''something'' was undoubtedly going to happen. Instead of trying to prevent said ''something'' though, both just focused on washing their bodies to be prepared for it. Left to his own devices as Levy desperately tried to prevent the other girls from figuring out something was amiss, Alex slowly and carefully exited the large bathtub before trying to make his way towards the exit. Though he could have simply used his magic to teleport himself away, Alex had already experienced numerous mishaps that had undoubtedly been caused by his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill making his teleportation and Spatial magic malfunction. Trying to play it safe, Alex quietly tiptoed his way towards the door and his freedom, when Juuvia suddenly hopped up from the seat she had taken at one of the wash stations, and said as she hurried towards the exit, "Juuvia almost forgot the special soap she got to impress Gray-Sama!" Rushing towards the exit before Alex could quietly move out of the way, the two inevitably ended up crashing into each other and falling to the ground. "Kyaa!" "What the...?" Cana exclaimed when she heard Juuvia yell, only to turn and see her entangled with Alex after the crash wiped away the word Levy wrote on him. With Juuvia landing on top of him, the first thing Alex registered was the softness of her body, and the smoothness of her n?k?d skin. The second thing was the warmth he felt around the head of his ???k, and the cautionary ??r?ss of Juuvia''s tongue on it. The third and final thing Alex noticed was when he opened his eyes after falling, only to be greeted by the sight of Juuvia''s quivering pink insides, and her puckering bunghole. With her lower body less than an inch from his face, all Alex could see was the most private areas of the unfortunate girl''s body, while her untrimmed blue pubic hair lightly tickled the tip of his nose. For a moment no one moved as the women who had been unaware of his presence realized that Alex was there, while the man himself and Juuvia took in their current predicament, his hands on her plump posterior to spread her open while her mouth and tongue ??r?ssed the tip of his ???k. This went on until the warmth of Juuvia''s mouth suddenly disappeared, and the bathroom was filled with high pitched scream. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Pressing her snatch into Alex''s face this time as she got up, his tongue briefly pressing into her slit to taste her, Juuvia then fled from the bathroom while screaming, "GRAY-SAMA, JUUVIA HAS FAILED YOU!!!" Without even bothering to grab her clothes first, Juuvia then proceeded to leave the dorm itself and flee down the street to Gray''s house as fast as possible, where she intended to rectify this accidental mistake. Meanwhile Alex slowly stood up as every single eye in the bathroom focused on him, and his still towering erection. Instead of shying away from their gazes though, he simply raised his hand in greeting and said, "Sorry for intruding on your bath ladies. I''ll take my leave now." Alex then turned towards the exit to the baths as if nothing was wrong, only for someone to suddenly grab his hand. "Correct me if I''m wrong, but weren''t you the one who mentioned a ''Fairy Orgy'' the last time you intruded in our bath?" As she spoke Cana''s hand slowly stroked him as she inched closer to Alex''s body, before pressing her incredibly soft br??sts against his arm. His expression morphing into an equally mischievous smirk, Alex grabbed and squeezed Cana''s left ?ss cheek as he asked, "Is that your way of saying you wanted to join my harem?" Though she had proposed to him before, no one had taken it seriously(except perhaps Gildarts), however her current tone implied that she had been completely serious about it. Her smile widening, Cana practically purred, "Well of course. Where else am I going to find such an amazing boyfriend that''ll show me such a good time and give me good alcohol?" As she spoke Cana''s hand sped up its stocking of his shaft, before she placed her lips onto his neck and lightly bit him. As she did that Alex responded by sliding his fingers in the crack of her ?ss, and started to slowly stroke her moistening ?unt in return. He then turned towards the rest of the women gathered, who had been staring at the scene with wide eyes, and said, "Sorry but I''ll be high jacking your bathroom for a while. Anyone who doesn''t want to join in is free to leave though." With his words seemingly rousing the other girl''s self awareness, Wendy and Sherria quickly hurried from the bathroom with crimson red faces. Watching them go was the ever cool Evergreen, who simply harrumphed and said as she casually started walking towards the exit, "If you s?uts want to stay then that''s fine, but I''M not going to simply be another flower in some collection." Not caring at all about Alex''s eyes following her jiggling ?ss as she walked out the door, Evergreen departed to leave him with Cana, Levy, Lisanna, Mavis, and Ingvild. Realizing what her staying implied, Lisanna also quickly rose to leave, but stopped when Ingvild placed a hand on her shoulder and told her, "Alex''s has a tendency to ''collect'' women within the same family, so by leaving now you''ll probably only be delaying the inevitable." Lisanna looked at Ingvild with more than a little concern as she asked, "W-what do you mean?" Ingvild sighed as she explained, "Alex already several groups of sisters and even mother-daughter pairs in his harem, so it would stand to reason that you''ll be on that list as well since Mirajane is already his." As Ingvild told her this Lisanna thought back to the incident involving her and Erza back on Tenrou island, where Alex had fondled her br??st in front of the entire guild. Her heart started pounding in her ?h?st as she recalled the feel of Alex''s hand on her n?k?d flesh, the sensations his expertise made her feel as he kneaded the s?ns?t?v? area. Her mind wandered so far, that Lisanna nearly jumped out of her skin as Alex gently placed his hand on her other shoulder. Lisanna blushed fiercely as she fought the urge to cover her n?k?dness, while Alex''s hand slowly trailed down her arm. After slowly grasping her hand, Lisanna gasped as Alex led it to something hard and hot, which she slowly grasped alongside Cana''s as both girls proceeded to stroke him, one smiling widely as she did so, and the othe blushing furiously. "Are you for real right now?" Levy asked in undisguised exasperation as she beheld the scene before her, of the man who had just ''claimed'' her as his own was being jerked off by two other guild mates, while Ingvild and Mavis watched on alongside her. "I know right?" Mavis replied with mild irritation, before continuing, "and here I thought he''d try to claim me first after going on about taking me to see the fairies of other worlds!" Levy stared at her founder and first guild master in undisguised shock, not even considering in a thousand years that she''d have been willing to join Alex''s harem herself. However it appeared Alex heard her as well, as he then whispered into Cana''s ear with a smirk, making her snicker in return before saying, "Kinky." She then released her hold on his p?n?s and walked behind him, until she was facing Lisanna''s back. What Cana did next surprised the white haired beauty, as the brunette slowly knelt down until her face was level with Lisanna''s pale bu??, and placed her hands on her pert behind to slowly spread her cheeks. Be holding her guild mates moistening lips and puckered anus, Cana licked her lips before delving into meal before her, making Lisanna gasp as she felt the slimy tongue ??r?ss her most precious place. Closing her eyes in shock, Lisanna found herself facing Ingvild when she reopened them, who closed in on her and said, "Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg." Ingvild then knelt before Lisanna, and began to p???sur? her front while Cana covered her back, filling the bathroom with her quivering gasps as she insticfully dig her fingers through Ingvild''s hair. Meanwhile Alex slowly approached Mavis, the petite blond smirking widely as she watched his approach with her hands on her h?ps. "Took you long enough. I was stating to wonder if you were all bravado." She remarked to him as Alex stopped right before, just close enough that they could b?r?ly feel the heat from each other''s body. Alex however only smirked in response to her remark, and asked as he gestured to his elongated manhood, "Are you sure about this? Once you taste the dragon then there''ll be no going back to being normal." Mavis ???ked a brow at Alex''s claims, before remarking, "Well, I mean you made it to where I''ll have to be alive for eternity. So I''ll have you take responsibility by accompanying me for all that time." As she said that it was Mavis this time who seized Alex''s ???k, her hand slowly moving up and down it. His smile widening, Alex quickly cast the time spell Kuroka taught him on the bathroom, before gesturing at Levy to join them. He then said to Mavis, "Well, you asked for it." *** (Later that night) Hisui could only sit there in awe, her mind refusing to believe what she was seeing, as she stared up at the space above the villa in the space-time orb in awe. Currently Shia was up there sparring with Moka, Kokoa, Akua, and Akasha, all of who''s strength was enough to make the air around them vibrated almost constantly with their force of their movements and attacks. Despite the ferocity of their attacks though, absolutely no damage was being done to the villa itself as they trained to prevent their strength from impacting their surroundings. "What is this...?" She uttered in her awe, having never expected that there be people who were THIS powerful out there. She knew Alex and his people were strong, but imagining someone''s strength was one thing, seeing it for yourself was another thing entirely. Next to her Anne smiled wryly as she explained, "This is just some light combat training. You should see what happens when they get serious." Hisui looked at dark skinned beauty in surprise, before a blast from outside the villa echoed, drawing her attention to Rias and Yue as the two repeatedly and easily threw around spells that could drastically alter the landscape of the entirety of Earthland. It had been several ''days'' since Hisui first entered the space-time orb, all of which were filled with seeing Alex interact with his children and wives like one, excessively large, happy family. With his children having returned to Asora to spend the rest of the night though, the princess was thunderstruck with what went on after they left. As she watched the girls train though, Hisui couldn''t help but to think about how insignificant she was in comparison. When Anne noticed the shift in her demeanor, she asked, "Is something wrong?" Hisui appeared to be growing somewhat depressed as she slowly said, "Every single one of the girls around Alex help him in some way, either with their strength or simple day-to-day things. Meanwhile we''re just trying to cling to him for our own protection..." Feeling ''dirty'' at the realization of the differences between herself and the rest of Alex''s wives, Hisui was beginning to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Anne meanwhile sighed as she realized what Hisui was thinking about, and turned away while saying, "Follow me. There''s something I want to show you." Confused, Hisui quickly ran after the Dragon Empress as she made her way to one of the other sub-space orbs, the one with an endless expanse of sand and rock within. One touch of her hand against the surprisingly warm glass surface and Hisui immediately found herself on a rocky outcrop within the blisteringly hot sandscape, the hot wind blowing sand against her face. Within seconds Anne appeared right next to her, and said, "Try not to panic at first." Hisui b?r?ly had time to look at Anne in confusion, before she lifted into the air by an invisible force. "WAAAA!" Hisui cried out in a shrill voice as her hands went to hold down her skirt, only to accidentally flip forward for the back to flip up and expose her jade green p?nt??s to Anne''s deadpan eyes. "I said not to panic..." Anne told her before she too slowly lifted off the ground. She had been practicing with making other people fly, but if they moved too much then their movements would become unstable like Hisui''s currently were. After several minutes of trying to get Hisui under control, the duo were soon soaring through the air like it was natural. "This....is amazing...." The princess muttered as she watched the landscape change around them, giving way from rocky outcrops to endless dunes. However something else soon caught her eye, several large sleds loaded with weights being slowly dragged across the sands, which were connected to a lead figure by a series of massive chains. "Is that Alex?" Hisui asked, to which Anne nodded and explained, "Whenever his children aren''t in the space-time orb Alex dedicates his time to either training, or us. The fact that he''s in his base form right now shows how much he''s trying to improve himself and become stronger." Hisui was silent as she took in Anne''s words, while also looking out at Alex as he struggled to drag the massive weighted sleds across the sands, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts under the burning hot sun, and even as his feet sank into the burning hot sand up his knees. With her again wondering if she deserved to be one of Alex''s wives, Anne preempted anything she was going to say by continuing, "No matter how small it is we all have our own roles to play in supporting Alex as he works towards his goals. I''m his empress, Rias and the others are a part of his peerage, Gabriel, Serafall, the Snow Priestess and Yasaka all help to keep Asora working alongside Barakiel with the help of others, while ''normal'' women like Mikan and Haruna do what they can to keep our home running." Hisui was silent as she listened to Anne speak, before she eventually muttered, "And my role will be to spread my legs just so Alex will help keep my people safe..." Anne rolled her eyes before saying, "No it''s not." Hisui looked at her in confusion as she continued, "your ''role'' will be to help keep the peaceful relations between Asora and Earthland intact. There has already been one instance of a group wanting to attack us for being different, we need someone in place to ensure good relations remain between us and them. We need a person who will be able to keep one entire world on friendly terms with another, and in the future possibly many more." Hisui was silent as the enormity of what her future held hit her for the first time, and how her responsibility once she ascended as Queen wouldn''t just be limited to Fiore, but all of Earthland. Just as this realization hit her though, Hisui was distracted as a small bottle suddenly appeared in front of her. "What''s this?" She asked while taking it hesitatingly, to which Anne explained with a smile, "That''s a vial of extract I made from a type of flower that increases libido and fertility. Basically, if you have ?nt?r??urs? after drinking it, it''s almost guaranteed that you''ll become pregnant afterwards." When she heard those words Hisui''s entire upper body became completely red as illusionary steam rose from the top of her head, "W-w-w-w-w-why do I need this?!" Hisui demanded as she nearly threw the little vial away, before Anne snatched it from her with her telekinesis, and explained, "Well I never said that you had to use it right away, there''s a preservation spell on the bottle so the contents will never spoil. I just know that humans care about the line of succession and all that, so if you wanted to use it the night you get married, or even several years from now, then you can guarantee and heir whenever you wanted." Hisui''s far was still beet red as Anne explained all of this, and she asked hesitantly while shyly pressing her fingers together, "D-don''t Alex and I j-just have to have s-s-sex to have children...?" This time Anne sighed as she explained, "The trouble is that, as far as I can tell, the more power a being the harder it for them to produce children. That''s why the birth rates for races like Devils are so low, so I created this to help them increase their numbers and bring happiness to those who have been trying to have children for centuries." "C-centuries?" Hisui asked in awe, surprised that simply trying to make a single child would take some people so long. Anne however nodded in affirmation as she went on, "If left normally then it might take years or even decades for you to be able to conceive a child, this is so that you and any other nobles won''t have to worry about that." Knowing that Anne had been thinking of her position, Hisui carefully put the vial into the spatial storage ring that she had purchased at the bazaar. She then turned her attention back towards Alex and asked, "If Alex is already so strong, will just dragging a few weights around like this really help him get even stronger?" Anne smiled wryly at her question, and replied, "Not exactly, but there''s more to Alex''s training than meets the eye." To punctuate her words, Anne then pulled out a massive Boulder that had been stored in her inventory, a habit she picked up after gaining the bending abilities of the Avatar, and sent it flying in Alex''s direction. At first there was nothing unusual about the boulder''s flight, but as it got close to Alex and the weights it suddenly picked up speed, and crashed into the sand below with a large explosion. Covering her ears from the explosion, Hisui cried out, "What was that?!" Anne smirked at the princess''s reaction, and began explaining the details regarding Alex''s use of Gravity magic, while the man himself looked up at them incredulously. "Some wives bring their husbands sandwiches or lemonade while they work under the hot sun, mine chucks giant boulders at me...." He muttered to himself before he resumed dragging the giant sled across the desert sands. Currently the weights he was using were a new compound that was created by the scientists of the Grigori after experimenting with the various metals of different worlds, which was several times denser than metals like iridium and Osmium. On top of that they, along with himself and the massive chains connected to his arms and abdomen, were being weighed down even more with the Gravity magic array that he had activated on top of the sleds, increasing the gravity in the general area around the sleds to also encompass the chains and Alex himself. Keeping a wary eye on Anne and Hisui, in case the latter started to hurl more boulders at him, Alex continued to haul the sleds behind him through the sand, until he finally managed to crest a particularly large sand dune, his designated stopping point for that particular exercise. Once the sleds had reached the top of the dune, Alex released a long sigh as he unshackled the chains from his body and dropped them to the ground, where they landed with a loud thud before their weight started to drag them under. They didn''t get far under the sand though, before all of them disappeared as Alex returned them to the storage ring he kept his training equipment in. Afterwards, a magic circle appeared above Alex that dumped an excessive amount of freezing water onto him, chilling and refreshing him after spending several hours hauling the sleds under the blisteringly hot sun. Halting the flow of water a moment later, Alex dried off his head with a towel before storing that away as well, and calling out, "Elaine." In an instant the purple haired maid appeared, her expression as cold as ever when she beheld Alex''s exposed body. Instead of reacting to it though, the stoic maid slowly started to float upwards into the air as Alex followed her. Once they stopped going higher, Alex then closed his eyes and focused his energy. "HA!" He shouted as his body''s mass increased, accompanied by red fur growing over most of his exposed skin while his hair turned darker and elongated. Focusing his eyes that now had red rings around them, Alex struck a pose as he prepared to train against Elaine once more. (A.N. Since people keep asking about it, Alex did not get anything from Darius. If he had a would have listed it when I mentioned the abilities he got from the fight with them.) Chapter 392 - Royal Wedding The days following Alex''s ''claiming'' of Levy, Mavis, Cana, and Lisanna became quite hectic as the man himself prepared for his next wedding. Firstly was the difference between Gray and Juuvia, as the latter had basically ran through town n?k?d in her single minded pursuit to get to Gray, before proceeding to attack him despite his father''s presence at the time. The next morning found the two of them sitting together at the guild hall, with Gray looking exhausted from Juuvia''s eagerness the night before, while the now bubbly blue headed girl was discussing things like what to name their children. Meanwhile big changes also happened to the Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, and Mermaid Heel guilds, as the former three decided to open a guild branch in Asora after hearing that Fairy Tail was already going to, while Mermaid Heel was moving their entire guild there. Though she had tried to kill him once she saw him again, Kagura had eventually explained that the reason she was moving the guild was due to the damage that they had received during the Mage guild purge several years prior, at the hands of Alice. With their master and several of their senior members staying behind to hold off the saiyaness, Kagura had been ordered to take the remaining members and retreat while they could. Naturally however, even with the guild master and their seniors members working together, they had been unable to hold off a super Saiyaness for more than a few minutes, and only that long due to her slightly sadistic nature prolonging the fight after transforming. The only thing that had allowed Kagura and the rest to escape was the swordswoman and another Mage, Risley Law, using a Gravity based spell to keep her held down while they escape. With their numbers being the lowest amongst the five remaining Mage guilds, and their guild hall holding numerous memories of their departed members that had lost their lives to Alice, Kagura had made the decision to move their entire guild to Asora in order to restart. While a hard decision for most of them, the rest of the women comprising Mermaid Heel ultimately agreed that a fresh start in a new world would be good for them. Meanwhile mages from the other guilds that would be moving to Asora included Sherria, who wanted to accompany her friend Wendy while also joining Anne''s Emergency Response Team, and the the sisterly duo of Yukino and Angel, who were both interested in the summoning techniques of other worlds. Even along with moving several of the guilds mages to Asora though, Alex was also preparing for his wedding with Hisui. He had already had several weddings by this point, starting with Anne, but this was the first time Alex would be marrying a member of a royal family they were allied with. With the women from the DXD world and Tortus waiting until they returned home to hold their weddings, due to wanting their families to attend, Hisui would be the first woman he married outside of Asora. That meant Alex was also busy researching their customs and expectations of him, while simultaneously preparing the proper attire for such an event. Of course the one that was the most nervous was Hisui, especially after she had witnessed firsthand how Alex interacted with his wives when his children weren''t around. After they left the space-time orb, whenever Alex wasn''t training, he was participating in orgy after orgy as he engaged in almost any kind of debauchery possible. She had witnessed this firsthand after Alex finished his training with Elaine that day, only to begin a massive orgy in the baths with the various Pandora that were in the space-time orb at the time. That, and the numerous licentious activities that had gone on at almost all times afterwards, were plaguing Hisui''s thoughts as the days slowly crept towards her wedding, until finally the day itself arrived. DING! DONG! DONG! DING! """CONGRATULATIONS!""" Everywhere was noise as people cheered and bells rung while Alex and Hisui exited the majestic church, where they had just been wed by the highest religious authority on the continent of Ishgar. Now they climbed into a gilded golden carriage, or rather Alex carefully led Hisui while the green haired princess was in a daze, before said carriage proceeded to drive itself through the city as it brought them back to the castle. There, Hisui''s father Toma had prepared a grand feast with resources from Asora for everyone to eat, along with the dowry that he had prepared to give Alex. Unlike normal dowries that were primarily made up of gold and treasures of some sort, Toma had gifted Alex hundreds of ancient and rare tomes from their library and treasury for Asorans to study. Of course Alex and the various researchers in Asora were more than pleased with this, as the majority of the tomes contained secrets regarding ancient and powerful magics from Earthland. Aside from the feast there was also a series of performances from numerous groups like the Mage guilds, and even several groups from Asora comprised of Devils and youkai. As the gift giving, feasting, and performances went on though, the sun eventually started to creep below the horizon as day gave way to night, and the moment finally came. "IT''S TIME FOR THE CONSUMMATION CEREMONY!" Someone suddenly shouted over the din of the dining hall, bringing things to silence almost immediately as Toma and Arcadios''s faces started to twitch. The consummation ceremony was basically the moment when the newly wedded couple sealed their marriage in the bedchamber, meaning it was the moment the wife was deflowered. So with it being time for that, how could Hisui''s father and the knight that had guarded her from childhood not be irritated. Before either could try and argue though, the majority of the women at the feast dragged off Hisui, while the men dragged Alex away for prepping. Watching the wives Alex already have drag his daughter away to prep for the bedchamber, Toma could only sigh as he sunk back into his own seat, and glanced up at a portrait of a very beautiful m?tur? woman with jade green hair. "Our little girl''s all grown up now..." Toma muttered to the portrait, one of the only images left of his late wife and Queen. "To think..." One young noble uttered in awe, "you actually get to bone the princess..." While the young noble became absent minded at the thought of sleeping with the beautiful princess, Alex frowned at him before applying a ''little'' pressure on him and asking, "Do you really think it''s a good idea to talk like that about someone who is now my wife?" Immediately the young noble paled as he fought to resist the power that Alex was pushing onto him, only to pass out instantly. "Hmph..." Alex snorted at the young noble, disappointed that he hadn''t even really applied any pressure or Haki to him to make the man pass out, before he turned his attention to the rest of the gathered men and stated clearly, "Remember, I may be going along with the customs of Fiore''s nobility, but I will not tolerate any disrespect towards my wives, ANY of them. Are we clear?" Slowly, the group of usually arrogant young nobles nodded as they recalled that under the amicable and carefree surface that Alex had showed for everyone that day, he was still the one who had destroyed Darius and his allies. With the previous carefree mood from before all but destroyed, the young nobles finished prepping Alex in a subdued manner as they helped him don an elegant red silk robe before trying, and failing, to do something different to his hair. Failing to even mess it up more than its usual shape, the young nobles eventually had no choice but to send Alex along to the bedchamber prepared for him and Hisui. Taking care not to ''peek'' at whatever the girls were planning with Hisui, Alex was slightly surprised to find her still in her white and gold wedding gown as he entered the bedchamber, though her face was the reddest he''d ever seen. "You look beautiful Hisui." Alex said after taking a moment to admire her appearance, making the shy princess look away in embarrassment. Smiling in response to her reaction, Alex shrugged off the silk robe so that he was standing before his newest bride in nothing but a pair of tight shorts, prompting the princess to sneak peaks at his perfectly sculpted body. Slowly Alex approached Hisui until he was less than a foot away from her, allowing the both of them to feel the heat radiating off of the other''s body. It was only at this moment that Hisui truly took in just how big Alex''s body was compared to her own, his arms and ?h?st thick with rippling muscles. Seeing her examine him though, Alex smirked as he held out his hands, making Hisui''s body tense slightly as he reached for her, and grasped the straps of her wedding gown. She then stood completely still as Alex shifted the straps of her dress down her shoulders, allowing the entire thing to suddenly fall to the ground to reveal her body beneath it. Until then Alex had deliberately avoided looking at Hisui''s nude figure even while she was in the space-time orb, in order to follow the usual order of events for once. Now however Alex admired the figure she had been concealing until then under her dress, though she wasn''t wearing a bra or p?nt??s, Hisui did have a white garter belt on with straps connected to a pair of matching white stockings that went to her th??hs. In an instant Hisui''s arms and legs twitched as the instinct to cover her exposed figure filled her, but she fought it back as Alex slowly traced his thumb down from her shoulder over her soft br??st. She then shuddered as Alex''s thumb slowly rubbed her s?ns?t?v? n?pp??, while his hand gently cupped her entire br??st. "P-please be gentle..." Hisui muttered quietly, making Alex smile at how cute she was acting. He then used his other hand to gently lift her chin, and seal her lips in their second ever kiss, the first being after they had given each other their vows. When their lips finally separated Alex whispered to her, "I''ll be as gentle as you want." *** As the sun began to creep through the window of their bedroom the next morning, Alex was smiling contently as he laid back against the headboard with Hisui sleeping peacefully against him, a similarly content smile on her own face. As promised, Alex had been incredibly gentle with Hisui as they made love to each other, but he had also made sure that she had experienced the most passionate night of her life. They had gone on without caring about how much time passed or how late it got, until Hisui could go on no longer and fell asleep, only to curl up at Alex''s side contently. Now the sun was slowly rising into the sky, but Alex made no attempt to move to prevent from disturbing his new wife''s slumber, instead he simply held her a bit closer. Of course this wouldn''t go on forever as the light began to shine onto Hisui''s face, and the sleepy princess was roused from her slumber. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Hisui looked up to see Alex smiling down at her, before saying, "Good morning my beautiful wife." In an instant Hisui''s entire upper body turned red as she recalled the events of the previous night, as well as the fact that they were both currently n?k?d. Immediately Hisui tried to cover herself with the blankets to hide her embarrassment, seemingly forgetting that their n?k?d bodies were currently pressed up against each other. Smiling from how cute she was acting, Alex then lifted the blanket and asked, "Why are you hiding after everything we did last night?" Hisui could only look at him meekly before muttering in reply, "B-because of everything we did.... It''s embarrassing to look at you now..." Ending in a pout, Hisui pointedly looked away as she said this, until Alex gently seized her chin and brought her mouth to his. Though hesitant at first, Hisui eventually started to loosen the tension in her body during the kiss while Alex slowly pulled her up so that she was laying on top of him. He then got a little more aggressive as Alex''s hands slowly moved down her body until they grasped Hisui''s pert posterior, making her gasp slightly as Alex began kneading the flesh of her ?ss. He then surprised her by throwing the blanket off of them suddenly, exposing them to the slightly chilled air of the room. "Wait-" She started to say in alarm, before Alex cut her off with a smirk, "If you''re embarrassed, then we just need to get you used to such situations!" Before Hisui could respond Alex had sealed her lips once more, but he was definitely more aggressive this time around as his hands move from her bu?? down her legs, where he used his hold to bring her knees forward. The result was Hisui''s legs being spread on either side of Alex''s body to allow his access to what lay between them, which a gentle prod with the tip of his hardening manhood revealed the slight dampness within. By this point the princess knew better than to fight Alex''s advances, so she helplessly placed herself within his care by allowing Alex to do whatever he wanted while she held onto his shoulders. Soon Alex felt her nether regions steadily increase in both heat and moisture, prompting him to go from the gentle prodding he had been doing to actually putting some force into his movements. Hisui''s entire body then jerked on top of him as she felt the foreign object invade her still sore lower body, making her issue a muffled grunt as Alex''s p?n?s began to spread her open. "It''s still so big..." Hisui muttered in amazement, while also still not knowing exactly how big Alex measured up to other men. Meanwhile Alex similarly ?r??n?d as he once again felt just how tight the princess was around his head, before she slowly began to take in more and more of his shaft into herself. The duo were so focused on what they were doing, that neither of them realized the door was opening until Hisui''s personal maid said, "Princess, sir, the king has requested-" The maid then cut herself off as she realized what exactly Alex and Hisui were in the middle of doing, while the duo looked back at her in surprise. Rather than appearing flustered by the scene though, the maid simply and professionally bowed her head, and stated without letting either of them say anything, "I can see that I''m interrupting something, I will return later." The maid then turned around and closed the door, not caring that she had completely destroyed the mood between Alex and Hisui as the princess tried to bury her head in shame. ... Later, after getting Hisui to calm down, Alex entered the royal baths where apparently the king intended to receive him. Sitting in the hot water, Alex noticed various individuals that he had seen the day before during his wedding, but the only two he actually knew were Toma and Arcadios, who apparently was so close to the royal family that the king even invited him to share the royal baths with him. When they heard him enter the king and the rest of those gathered looked up to greet Alex, only to pause when they noticed the thing dangling between his legs. Seemingly unconcerned with the attention he was receiving from them, Alex simply gestured towards it and asked shamelessly, "Like what you see?" Of course the one who answered was Toma, who, knowing that his daughter had most definitely already experienced such a thing, simply said in a low voice, "No, I do not..." Never one to resist poking fun at his in-laws, as Barakiel very well knew, Alex simply shrugged before saying, "Oh well, your daughter seemed to like it well enough last night though." Understandably, Toma began coughing blood the moment the words came out of his mouth, while Arcadios became incredibly enraged at Alex''s blatant admission as he stood to seemingly give him a piece of his mind. "Why would you say something like that?!" Alex just shrugged and said lazily, "It''s fun to mess with my Father''s-in-law every now and then. This is actually really tame compared to how I treat Barakiel and Cam though." When they heard this the gathered men frowned, and one asked, "Well how would you like it if someday a boy dating one of your daughters treats you the same way?" When he heard this Alex narrowed his eyes before saying, "Bold of you to ?ssume that I''d allow any boys around my daughters, much less dating them." When they heard him the other men in the bath shook their heads, feeling sorry for anyone dumb enough to try and woo Alex''s daughters in the future. Eventually, after Toma recovered from the mental damage Alex had dealt to him, he said, "Anyways...the reason I asked for you was because I wanted to spend some time with my new son-in-law away from the politics." Alex nodded in agreement and replied, "Indeed, I''ll also invite you on the next guys trip we go on. In each world we go to I''ve basically started a tradition that we men go on at least one fishing trip together, and I was thinking of extending the next one over a few days." Toma looked taken aback when he heard Alex''s offer, and, though he had never had much interest in fishing before, smile at him before saying, "I think I would like that a lot." While he didn''t have much interest in going fishing, spending a few days away from the politics and role as king to be treated like any other person seemed nice. With the mood settling down somewhat as they talked, Toma then asked, "So what are you planning to do now?" Surprisingly, Alex''s expression turned melancholic as he said, "I''m going to go home..." Chapter 393 - Preparing to Return pt 1 With Alex''s wedding to Hisui now behind them, there was a mix of excitement and anxiety within the residents of Asora as the time that they''d return to the DXD world slowly approached. Naturally the excitement was because of those who came from that world originally being eager to see any friends or family that they had to leave behind, while those they had picked up along the way were eager to see the world that the Dragon Emperor had grown up in. What made them anxious though was the fact that they now knew there had been at least one reincarnator that had journeyed to the DXD world since they left, and had lasted long enough there to leave. With no idea of what they were going to find waiting for them, those from the DXD world spent the few days left until they returned preparing alongside the girls in Alex''s peerage. Within her private realm, Kuroka could be found floating in place on the island that housed her residence there, with thousands of feline eyes on her. As per the usual when she was alone, Kuroka had shed all of her clothes to practice in the comfort of her nudity, but unlike the usual there was no playfulness in her demeanor. In her mind she pictured the one person she couldn''t stand even more so than Grayfia, Megari. Megari was the oldest and most powerful of the eastern cat Youkai in the DXD world, and was also the leader of all the remaining Youkai after Yasaka moved to Asora. Unlike Kuroka and Shirone(Koneko) though, she was not a Nekoshou, instead she was a different and less powerful species of Nekomata. The last time Kuroka had seen her, the elderly cat had pushed her and Shirone to get pregnant as soon as possible to rebuild their species, but the sisters had refused her command to instead wait for the right time. Now however Kuroka cracked a small smile as she pictured the face the annoying old cat would make after meeting her adorable niece, and realizing the potential she held. Though Mai hadn''t started any kind of training yet, Kuroka had been able to tell that the little girl had an incredible potential when it came to sensing, and manipulating, the energy of others. When she finally started training, it wasn''t too hard to see her quickly surpassing the two of them in that particular practice. While such a thought typically made her happy, this time Kuroka focused on that along with the image of Grayfia and Megari, before muttering to herself, "I am the ''Queen'' of the Dragon Emperor~Nya!" As she spoke the aura around Kuroka suddenly changed as it intensified by several times, lifting her long black hair and six tails up and around her while the ground beneath her started shaking, and the gathered cats quickly scattered. She then opened her eyes to reveal a very brief divine light within her golden irises, indicating how close she was to finally forming her own divine spark, while massive amounts of the energy known as ''Touki'' condensed into her body. Channeling the energy into the formation of her seventh and final tail, Kuroka growled, "I will NOT allow anyone except my ''King'' to be stronger than me~Nya!" *** "Haa, haa..." Millicas panted tiredly as the simulation ended around him, taking him from the alien army he''d been fighting in the deep recesses of space, to a relatively small room located in the academy. While every other side of the room was solid metal, behind Millicas was a wall that was also a window, which then lifted to allow a young girl dressed as a witch into the room with him. "You did amazing Millicas!" Yukari cried out as she handed him a bottle filled with an energizing drink, before using a towel to wipe away his sweat. Millicas, now a little over thirteen years old, looked at the little witch, his girlfriend, and said, "Thank you Yukari, but my strength is still far from mom''s, big sis''s and big bro''s..." Recalling the overwhelming power he felt the time that his big bro Alex had demonstrated his SSJ3 for him, Millicas''s expression darkened slightly as the d?s?r? to try and close that gap welled up within him. He knew very well why he and his mom had to leave the house of Gremory, leading to his mother becoming one of Alex''s wives in the process. Though far from blaming Alex for coming in between his mother and father, Millicas also understood that his mom was definitely happier now than he had ever seen her in the Underworld. However, now that they were going to be returning to their home world, where those bastards who had tried to hurt her and use him against her were, Millicas wanted to gain enough strength that his mother never needed to worry about him again. The resolve he felt at that moment however paled in comparison to the d?s?r? to become stronger that he felt when he recalled what he learned when he last entered the space-time orb to see her, which now drove Millicas to his feet as he looked at Sairaorg outside the training room, and said, "Cousin Sairaorg, can I go again?" Smiling wryly, Sairaorg nodded and replied, "Of course, just remember not to push yourself to the point that it''ll do more harm than good." Nodding to show he heard Sairaorg''s warning, Millicas steeled himself as Yukari exited the simulation room once more. Through the window, they then watched as the room darkened to once agin look like the deep was of space, as numerous figures then began to appear around Millicas before they started to attack him. Watching the young Crimson haired boy fight, Sairaorg sighed, "I wish we could use these as well..." The simulation rooms, which were developed by Lala using the same tech she used to make the Love Room Alex used, had been installed in the academy and training center for anyone who needed to to use them, but unfortunately Lala hadn''t figured out how to keep them from crashing when people as strong as Asora''s elites used them. As such, Sairaorg, who often taught strength training and combat classes in the academy, couldn''t use them either. However, at the moment, he knew no one in their previous world, barring existences like Trihexia or Great Red, would be a match for the current him after the years of additional trading he''d done after becoming a super Devil, especially when one took his Regulus Nemia transformation into consideration on top of that. Sairaorg''s body then began to radiate an intense pressure as he thought of seeing the people who had tried to oppress him back home, even going as far as trying to take his peerage from him. His own father and clan had even turned so against him, that they had issued warrants for his arrest right before that had left that world. Resolving himself to at least punch his father in the face once when they returned, Sairaorg then turned his attention back to the children he was supposed to be teaching. While one Gremory was training in the Academy''s facilities, another was actually in the deep recesses of space as she faced a certain petite dragon God. "Are you sure about this Ophis?" Risa asked hesitantly, to which Ophis nodded and said simply, "Yes, if you can truly ''destroy'' me then I cannot be ''infinite''." Hearing Ophis''s declaration, Rias nodded her head in affirmation, an action that made her hair bob through the empty space and her br??sts jiggle due to the complete absence of gravity. Said br??sts were then soon exposed as the power of Destruction began to gather within Rias''s body, destroying all of the clothes that she was wearing as her skin began to turn the same crimson red as her hair. Once the transformation was complete Rias''s entire body had been turned red from the power of Destruction, she had a red tail reminiscent of Kurumu''s, and a pair of short red horns protruding from her head. She then turned her eyes toward the petite dragon God floating across from her, and raised her hand to summon more demonic power and Destruction than she ever had before, firing enough at Ophis to almost erase an entire planet. *** Also in space was another pair of Alex''s peerage members that were sparring on the surface of the planet they had stolen from the Rosario Vampire world, Mars. What was once a red rock filled with nothing but barren expanses of dirt and sand, was now a lush fertile world filled with greens and blues. Kuroka''s time manipulation had helped transform the entire planet in a surprisingly short time after they covered it in water, and dumped billions of seeds of every kind they could onto its surface. However, with a concussion of noise and power a part of that landscape was destroyed as a certain golden haired young girl was sent flying through it, followed by a second figure who appeared to be wearing a black body suit with her white hair flowing behind her. "...That form is annoying..." Yami muttered as she made sure her black leather dress wasn''t too disheveled, before turning to look at Mirajane as she hovered in sky above her. Currently the usually docile and kind woman was training her newly acquired ''Satan Soul: Mirajane Alegria'' form, which she had obtained by consuming the demonic souls of the members of the dark guild Tartarus. Now alongside her ''Halphas'' form it was the strongest in her arsenal, giving her the strength to wipe out entire cities with ease, and soon even more than just that. Yami on the other hand specialized in direct combat and ?ssassination, meaning she wasn''t too suited for dealing with the power Mirajane now had.....well, the current her at least. "Damn...." Yami swore as only one realistic solution entered her mind to overpower Mirajane, one that she hated due to how draining it was and the difference it had on her mentality, yet she still knew that she needed to train it to try and bypass these side effects. She then closed her eyes and tried to empty her mind, focusing only on how ''content'' she was now. Mirajane however realized what Yami was up to, and, instead of trying to stop her, waited patiently as the ?ssassin focused on her transformation. After a longer amount of time than she would''ve liked, yet another thing Yami needed to work on, there was a sudden shift in her mentality as Yami''s power began to skyrocket. First her appearance began to change as Yami''s dress began to vanish until it resembled a swimsuit with high exposure rate, with her br??sts just b?r?ly being covered by her top with the black cloth from them descending in strips before fanning out behind her like a form of cape. Meanwhile her bottoms consisted of little more than a matching black thong, which wedged into her crotch so much that anyone who was looking would be able to see its outline clearly. Two of the most noticeable physical differences though were the black horns protruding from the sides of Yami''s head, while black bands wrapped around her forearms until her hands, which were now tipped with claws on each of her fingers. It wasn''t just her appearance that changed though, as Yami''s personality, which was usually against anything perverted, shifted so that all she could think of was having Alex''s rough and skilled hands all over her body. She shuddered at the thought of him poking and prodding every single intimate area of her body, his heat as his amazing ???k thoroughly violated every inch of her depths before pumping her full of its spunk. The thoughts were so overwhelming, that one of Yami''s hands even started moving downwards as she appeared to fight the urge to play with herself then and there. Most terrifyingly about her Transformation though, was the ungodly amount of power she was now radiating. Around her, strands of Yami''s hair seemed to come alive as they formed numerous rings which became wormholes that completely encircled Mirajane, with one even being formed within the lining of her p?nt??s to reveal her crotch on the other side. Along with the wormholes though, several strands of Yami''s hair also formed a series of sinister looking blades, each one capable of cutting an entire planet cleanly in half. As for said planet though, with her newfound power Yami''s Transformation began to even influence her surroundings and numerous constructs began to emerge from the ground around her, either looking like Alex or giant p?n?s''s. It wasn''t just limited to the ground though, as trees, rivers, lakes, and even the entire planet itself began to shift to transform according to Yami''s whim. Mirajane gulped nervously as she beheld the power Yami wielded whenever she activated her ''Darkness'' Transformation, which was designed by the scientists who built her to be a weapon to singlehandedly destroy the peace of the entire universe. Her nervousness only increased as Yami finally directed her attention to her, and crooned while placing the tip of one of her fingers against her lips, "I feel ecchi~" *** Within the space-time orb, on one of the islands floating around the villa, a flurry of metal strikes echoed loudly as two blurred figures fought while several women watched. "Shadow strike!" Shizuku muttered quietly, before several blades sprouted from the shadows around them to strike at Erza. Despite the fact that Shizuku and her attacks were several times faster than her though, Erza''s abundance of experience and raw skill allowed her to deflect each and every one of the shadow blades with ease. Immediately after, seven different Shizukus suddenly appeared from the void around her to deliver a series of strikes, to which Erza was only just able to use her ''Telekinesis(Weapons)'' skill to prevent any of the blades from impacting her. She then followed up by summoning dozens of small dagger-like blades that Erza then shot in every direction at the shadow clones around her. Several bursts of smoke erupted around her as the shadow clones dissipated, while the blade that struck Shizuku herself was also enveloped in smoke, which cleared to reveal a leaf that had been stabbed through by the blade. Seeing this, Erza smirked as she took a more relaxed stance and said, "Now I wish I''d met you a lot sooner Shizuku, it would have been nice to have someone around to help me push my limits like this." Though she couldn''t see her, Erza heard Shizukus voice coming from every direction around her as she replied, "Indeed, I feel as if my skills would''ve improved a lot faster if I met you sooner as well." For a moment the two Knights paused their fight as they made their admiration and respect of the other known, but then Erza''s expression hardened once more as the atmosphere coming from Shizuku changed once more. Slowly, the ponytailed ninja emerged from the shadows of a nearby tree alongside her new companion, Jin. She then focused her gaze on Erza, and said, "Now, I''m going to try something new." When she heard her Erza took a defensive state, as there was no telling for her what Shizuku was about to do. What came next was completely outside her expectations though, as Shizuku cried out, "BALANCE BREAK!" In an instant the aura coming from Jin exploded in darkness before beginning to merge with Shizuku herself, which when the darkness finally cleared Erza and the spectators were finally able to behold Shizuku in her new form. She appeared to have embodied darkness itself as her entire body turned to the pitchiest of black with glowing red eyes, while her form had changed to resemble that of a feminine werewolf with six tails. She wasn''t the only one that experienced a change though, as Jin itself became noticeably larger and more ferocious looking, turning its bloodthirsty red eyes towards Erza. Along with Shizukus physical change though their surroundings also differed drastically, as the shadows around them became darker and more pronounced, and the daylight sky also darkened noticeably. Erza b?r?ly noticed this though as she kept her gaze focused squarely on Shizuku, until she growled at her, "Are you ready Erza?" Without waiting for Erza to respond though, the transformed Shizuku made a series of hand signals before there was suddenly eight of the transformed Shizukus standing there. Alongside Jin, the eight Shizukus then charged Erza while the shadows around them came alive to produce hundreds of shadowy blades to attack her with. *** Within one of the sub space orbs, a certain duo were waiting in a thickly forested area as the ground rumbled beneath them, and a massive cloud of dust approached them. "Ok that''s every single on I could find!" Kurumu declared as she rejoined the duo, Lucy and Sun, the latter of which nodded and said, "Alright." Lucy and Kurumu then watched as Sun sprouted a pair of pure white feathery wings and took flight, making the former sigh due to how beautiful Sun''s wings were. However the beauty of her wings paled in comparison to her voice, which then filled the air when the stampede of monsters was almost upon them as she attacked. In an instant the air was also filled with the sounds of grievously wounded creatures as her ''song'' tore through their bodies to shred their muscles and organs, incapacitating the entire stampede in seconds. Both Lucy and Kurumu watched in awe as Sun drifted back down to them, before she turned to Lucy and said in her same beautiful voice, "It''s ok now, you can approach them." Though her expression was kind of sad from having to hurt so many creatures, Lucy nodded and hurried forward while simultaneously activating the Alteration magic she got from Alex. Currently she was having Kurumu and Sun help her tame more monsters on a massive scale in order to bolster their numbers before they entered the DXD world. Lucy was very much aware of the fact that, amongst Alex''s peerage members, she was actually the weakest since her focus was on summoning and taming monsters. Instead of dwelling on this though, she was putting all of her efforts into taming even more monsters and helping them grow even stronger before the gate was opened. So, after using Alteration magic to tame them, Lucy then sent them back into the virtual space that Lala had created for her like she had for Nana and Momo. The difference between them though was that the twins needed a special cellphone-like device to call upon their friends, while Lucy simply needed to call them with magic. While Lucy was doing that though, Kurumu was hanging back with Sun as she looked at the petite siren, and asked, "Are you ok?" Though she looked slightly pale, Sun nodded and said, "Yes, I just don''t like hurting others like this, even monsters. But, this is for the sake of achieving Alex dream!" As she said that Sun regained come of her color as she resolved herself to help Alex and peerage as much as possible. Though he himself would completely deny it, Sun felt as if her claims about Alex being a ''good person'' were only strengthened as time passed. His actions regarding ''that man'' and the people of Earthland had practically cemented that thought into her head, so, even if she didn''t like fighting or hurting others, she would do whatever she needed to to help him and his followers. Seeing the resolute expression on Sun''s face, Kurumu smiled before she went to approach Lucy, intending to ask her if she would need to go and find more monsters to Charm. She too wanted to grow stronger, but since her powers were focused around mental manipulation there was only so much she could do by herself, until Lucy asked her to help Charm a bunch of monsters to attack them. And so, the three of them continued working to become stronger, Lucy through acquiring and training her tamed monsters, Kurumu through Charming massive amounts of monsters, and Sun through using her ''songs'' to incapacitate them so Lucy could tame them. Chapter 394 - Preparing to return PT 2 CLANG CLANG CLANG On one of the floating islands within Asora, a metallic banging echoed throughout someone''s workshop as a certain Devilukian labored away on her next invention. Dressed in a comfortable pair of cotton short shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt, Lala was so focused on her newest creation that she almost missed the door to her workshop opening as her mother and sisters appeared. "What are you working on now big sis?" Nana asked curiously, making Lala jump as she hurriedly tried to cover her latest project with a sheet and said suspiciously, "H-hey mama, Nana, and Momo! I-I''m not working on anything!" Whistling then as if to try and avoid suspicion, all three of them looked at her with deadpan stares while mentally commenting how Lala should never try to play poker. Then, in an attempt to divert their attention, Lala suddenly seemed to recall something as she hurriedly looked around and said, "Oh yeah! I have something for you Nana!" Quickly finding what she was looking for, Lala then held out a familiar device shaped similarly to slimes from RPGs, which caused both Nana and Momo to make a face when they saw it. "Introducing the Booby-Booby Kun-MK2! I fixed the issue so that it wouldn''t make those with big boobies flat, and the effects would last longer!" Despite her reassurances though, both Nana and Momo continued looking at the machine with suspicion. When Nana tried it before it had indeed increased her bust to match Momo''s, but it had also taken Momo''s br??sts, something Nana didn''t have any issue with, while the effect had only lasted for maybe a minute before wearing off. That was why both twins looked at the machine with suspicion, with Momo not wanting to lose her prided br??sts a second time, while Nana didn''t want to finally graduate from being a pettanko, only to have them being snatched away once again. However, with their big sis waiting for her to take the machine with obvious anticipation, Nana sighed before reluctantly accepting it. "Here goes nothing." She muttered more to herself than the others, before she activated the machine. There was a burst of smoke as she pushed the bu??on, which cleared momentarily to reveal the results of the machine. "I-it worked!" Nana cried out as she immediately grabbed the melons now attached to her ?h?st, which were now about as big as Momo''s. However, her elation was short as said twin muttered, "Umm, Nana...." Nana looked up while half expecting to see Momo''s ?h?st having disappeared again so she could tease her for it, but instead the expression on her face froze as she beheld the scene before her. Instead of swapping the b??bs like it had before, apparently the machine had increased the busts of everyone caught within its area of effect, which unfortunately included both of her sisters and her mother. Now Momo''s ?h?st was even bigger than their mother''s had been, while both Sephie and Lala''s had grown to a similar size as Rias or Akeno. Tearing up a little, Nana then fled from the room while crying out, "Big sis you dummy!" As she fled from them both Sephie and Momo tried to follow her, the former to comfort her, while the latter intended to rub her new bust in her unfortunate twin''s face. Lala sighed as she was filled with guilt for messing up yet again with her machines, though she secretly felt relieved that she managed to distract her mother and sisters from her secret project. Lala then looked down at her own enlarged br??sts, and muttered, "They never really bugged me before, but boobies this big really do seem annoying..." As she said that Lala unhesitatingly took off her shirt to allow her b??bs to flop out, where she then began to play with them as if testing them out, while also noting how heavy they seemed to be. Roughly a minute after Lala started to innocently play with her enhanced ''assets'', a new semi-robotic voice spoke up, "Lala-Sama, were you not working on a project before miss Sephie and your sisters arrived?" Suddenly seeming to recall what she was doing before, Lala said, "Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me Peke!" before hurriedly removing the sheet she had used to hide her newest inventions. Sitting there on the table was a trio of cutesy wands with different colors and designs. The one to the left was green and black with a pair of devil-like wings spread out to the sides, with an emerald colored leaf topping it off. The one on the right was black and red with wings that match the first, but the topper was an animal paw print. Finally the one in the middle was black and pink with wings that matched the previous two, but it was topped with heart. Smiling widely, Lala declared excitedly, "I can''t wait to give Nana and Momo the ''Mecha Magical Girl'' wands I''m making! But I have to make sure they''re completely finished first!" Eager to finish the surprise she was preparing for herself and her sisters, Lala then set to work once more without even bothering to put her shirt back on, simply working while topless as she waited for the effects of the Booby-booby Kun-Mk2 to wear off. *** "...Elemenhilde..." Yue called out from her throne in her castle, summoning the young vampiress to her throne room as she replied, "Yes Yue-Sama?" Yue looked at her and asked, "...you came from this next world, right...?" Elmenhilde nodded and said, "Yes I did Yue-sama, there is a community of vampires in this world that is divided into two factions, the Carmilla faction, and the Tepes faction. Though the tensions eased shortly before we departed from our world, I do not believe that they ceased altogether simply due to how long they have been against each other." Yue nodded and closed her eyes as she thought on the information Elmenhilde provided her, before saying, "...I see... Then they should be ripe for conquest..." Though she was speaking in her characteristically soft voice, Yue''s words were anything but as she began planning how she would make the vampires of the DXD world submit, and be the first of the vampire nation she planned to establish. Unlike the vampires of the Rosario Vampire world, which had formed numerous communities scattered all around the world, the vampires of the DXD world were centered in a single location in the country of Romania, making them significantly easier for Yue to take over. So while Moka''s father, Issa Shuzen, did all of the heavy lifting for her in his home world, she would be able to put her focus in bringing the vampires of this one under her heel. Instead of the Carmilla and Trpes factions, she would unite them under the ''Moon Goddess'', Aletia. Aletia was of course the name her parents had given her, the name she used for her entire life up until she had been sealed away in the depths of the Orcus Labyrinth, and then freed by Alex three hundred years later. And soon, it would be the name that vampires across the multiverse worshipped as she brought them under her control. KABOOOOOOOM!!! "Not bad!" Alex cried out as he sent Shia flying, right after the rabbit girl had managed to land a decent hit onto him. However, the words were b?r?ly out of his mouth as Moka suddenly appeared behind him, before she delivered a normally lethal kick to his neck. Unfortunately, with the layers of muscle provided by his SSJ4 transformation, Alex didn''t even flinch as he reached up and grabbed her ankle. "Nice try, but sadly not enough." He told her playfully, before using his grip on her to send Moka flying into the waves below them after Shia. ''They sure have come a long ways...'' Alex thought to himself as he waited for the girls to resurface, which thankfully Moka had acquired the ''Water Resistance'' skill a long time ago. Shia had gone from a scared little bunny girl to a berserker capable of going toe to toe with a Super Saiyan, and was quickly closing in on Alex whenever he fought her in his SSJ2 form in terms of sheer brute strength. Meanwhile her defensive capabilities had grown to the point that Alex had to genuinely try to hurt her just to phase her during their sparring matches. Moka meanwhile wasn''t focusing on brute forcing her way through any problems like Shia, but instead aimed for specific full power attacks on her opponents weak spots to cripple or kill them instantly. Even if that didn''t work, she was even capable of weaponizing her own blood to attack her opponents along with her kicks, protecting her, or even seeping into their pores to attack them from within if her blood ever got onto them. Just a bit more fine tuning, and Alex hoped that they''d be able to hold their own against the majority of the opponents they''d face in the Dragon Ball world. Not necessarily people like Majin Buu or Beerus, but people even as strong as Cell should be nothing to them. Further proving his point, the sea below Alex suddenly started to practically boil before exploding from the force of the light blue magic aura being exerted underneath, revealing Shia with blood red eyes. "SHORYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "Well that''s interesting..." Alex muttered to himself, as he watched Shia grow even stronger before launching herself at him from the bottom of the sea at full force. The downside of her entering berserk mode though was each and every one of her attacks became incredibly easy to predict, even without ?ssistance from abilities like Observation Haki. "RAAAAAAAAA!!!" Shia shouted with primal fury as her fist closed in on Alex''s face, only for him to just b?r?ly shift out of the way to watch it go right by. To her credit, Shia then responded by sweeping her arm in a wide arc in an attempt to try and recover her attack, but Alex responded in kind by bringing his own arm up to catch hers, and delivering a swift kick to her abdomen. Though the physical defense of her body increased with her power up, with no awareness to defend herself Alex''s light kick did much more damage than any of his usual semi-serious attacks did, creating the rare moment when Shia actually took damage. As she got sent flying away once again though, Moka suddenly appeared once more to deliver yet another kick to him, except this time numerous blades of blood coated her foot and shin. "Try this!" Moka cried as she aimed her kick at Alex''s unprotected side, but the moment the blades of blood tried to cut into him her foot stopped, and Alex mused at her stupefied expression, "So in this form I can even tighten my muscles around bladed weapons to stop them.....interesting!" With Moka twitching her brow at his musings, her current position left her wide open for a return attack from Alex as he hit her hard enough to send her flying, before she started skipping across the waves, and finally she became embedded into the base of the structure supporting the villa above them. Though her impact had created a crater in the base of the support, as well as a spiderweb of cracks that would normally worry someone, the cracks began to close themselves almost immediately as the regenerative formations within the structure activated. By this point Moka had several broken bones, lacerations, and was bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. She ignored all of this though as a series of sickening popping noises began to emanate from her body as it started to heal itself, and looked back up at Alex challengingly. Wrenching her limbs from the concrete support, Moka spread her bat-like wings as she once again approached Alex, while Shia also already charged him once again regardless of the danger doing so, or the wounds she already possessed. *** While everyone else was preparing to return home one way or another, Sona Sitri slowly wandered through the halls of her school, the one thing she had yearned for in her life. As she turned her thoughts to home, a feeling of excitement filled Sona''s heart as she thought of all the new students they''d have from the Underworld, as well as those from the Yokai, Fallen Angels, and any group from the allied factions that would be interested. As she d?s?r?d from the beginning, Sona''s school was one where there would be no prejudice. It wouldn''t matter your race, background, status, or wealth, any who wanted to learn from them would be welcome and treated equally. As she thought of the future of her Academy though, Sona also felt a sour feeling rise in her nose as she recalled those higher ups back in the Underworld that had tried to ensure her dream would never come true due to their own corruption of the Rating Games that her school was intentionally intended to revolve around. Now however those old bastards had been stripped of their authority after the former champion, Diehauser Belial, revealed the corruption that had ruled the games for so long. And not only that, Sona firmly believed that anyone who might disapprove with her school''s lack of discrimination would be silenced when the new games were unveiled, featuring fighters and abilities from multiple worlds. A bell then suddenly rang lightly around her, alerting Sona to this period''s classes ending as the classrooms quickly emptied. As the students saw her though, many happily called out to Sona as she too returned their greetings while referring to every single one of her students by name. For those that had only met her once or twice, or not at all, this simple gesture was enough to prompt them to try even harder so as not to disappoint their headmistress. Seeing this Sona, readily encouraged their eagerness while also reminding them to keep up in the subjects that they had been falling behind in, showing that beyond simply knowing their names, she had also taken the time to personally check on and remember how each and every one of her students were doing in each subject. Truly, this was a feat that only someone with a supercomputer-like mind like Sona was capable of achieving. Meanwhile in each of the classrooms, each and every one of the teachers greeted their students with a smile before starting their lessons. Unlike most teaching institutions where the faculty was either only there for a paycheck/authority over students, each and every one of the teachers at the Academy was truly passionate about teaching the next generations. Among them was Aiko, who usually had little Lilith in a rocker nearby nowadays while Vali hovered silently out of sight, Tearju Lunatique, who seemed to have recovered from her previous traumas to the point that now she had several boys in her classes, and the members of Sona''s peerage(minus Kiryuu), who all had worked alongside their master for years to make her dream come true. Aside from them and the other teachers they had, several other people would occasionally come by to help teach various other subjects that they didn''t usually cover, such as Seekvaira teaching mechanics using the various mechas she had collected, and Sairaorg teaching classes regarding martial arts and strength training. Reaching a window and looking out over the Academy''s grounds and lake, Sona recalled everything she and her peerage had been through before they finally reached this point, the ridicule and the numerous humiliations showered upon them for their ideals of equal treatment. She also recalled the large amount of support they had though, from Rias, her sister Serafall, her parents, and many others who also wanted to look towards the future instead of remaining in the past. Most of all though, she recalled Alex. He was the one who brought her to Asora and gave her the tools she needed to build her Academy. He was also the one who supported her ideals of equal treatment and opportunity for the entirety of Asora, and all of the world''s they traveled to in the future as well. As she thought about him Sona then thought about her niece, Elizabeth, and how quickly the adorable little girl was growing. Recalling Lizzy then made her think about Regal, Ryuto, and Shuri, all Alex''s children that he had with people she had known growing up, though she hadn''t known Ravel closely. Thinking of this made Sona place her own hand against her abdomen, as she silently mused out loud, "I wasn''t necessarily in a hurry, but maybe I should reconsider having my own child after everything settles down?" With the image of her own bundle of joy filling her with even more warmth, Sona continued wandering around the Academy as she thought more on returning home. (A.N. Again, sorry for the short chapters and the delays. It seems like anytime I plan to just sit and write after work someone calls me for something else. Thankfully though there''s stuff that''ll be going on at my work which means that we won''t have things nearly as hard for a while soon, and hopefully I''ll be able to put more time to this. I won''t make any promises though since that''ll just pretty much guarantee that I won''t be able to.) Chapter 395 - Trial With the sun peaking through his window and shining down onto his face, Alex stirred slowly from slumber before his thoughts caught up to him. Today they opened the gates to the DXD world. With Hajime having finished the next pair of gates the day before, nothing was stopping Alex from trying to open them once the first one was anchored into place. With anticipation filling him, Alex reached out and smacked the closest one of the four pale rumps around him. "HIYA!" Kokoa cried out while jumping up from the pain in her bu??, waking her sisters at the same time as they looked around sleepily. The moment she saw Moka though, Kokoa readily launched herself at her and buried her face into her sister''s n?k?d br??sts before crying, "Big sis! Protect me from this brute!" Her brow twitching in mild annoyance, Moka was about to tell her to get off when Akua suddenly cried out this time with blood dripping from her nose, "No fair Kokoa! I also want to bury my face in Moka''s br??sts first thing in the morning!" She then proceeded to start scuffling over Moka while Alex and the fourth Shuzen sister, Kahlua, watched from the side. "Are we a part of Alex''s harem or Moka''s?" Kahlua muttered out loud, as, while she did love her little sister dearly, she wasn''t infatuated with Moka like the other two were. Shrugging in response to her musings though, Alex then suddenly grabbed Kokoa and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he headed for the bathroom. "H-hey! What are you doing?!" She demanded angrily, before being answered with a crisp, PA! Again Kokoa cried out in surprise as Alex delivered another sharp slap to her rump, before he followed it up with another, and then another. A smirk on his face, Alex played with Kokoa''s ?ss cheeks like they were a set of bongo drums as he went to wash off, while the other three sisters hurriedly followed. They all then enjoyed a(only slightly ?r?t??) bath in the girl''s herbal treated water, as unlike Moka they hadn''t yet managed to find a way to make the other vampiress''s from her world immune to the effects of water. After their quick bath, the group then made their way down to dining hall to join the others for their breakfast, though each of the four vampires made sure to sink their fangs into him during their bath. Sitting down at the table, both Mikan and Haruna hurriedly filled his plate with food while Alex felt Kurumu, Ageha, and Akeno fumbling with his waistband under the table, allowing him to eat his fill while the three women eagerly blew him. It was only after he finished eating that Alex looked around while adopting a serious expression(despite Kurumu''s lips still being wrapped around his ???k), and began, "Today, we''re finally going to attempt to go home." Dead silence met his declaration, as everyone one of his wives, lovers, and s?x toys listened intently while he continued, "I don''t know how it''ll go, but chances are it''ll be hard since I''ll essentially be punching a hole through reality itself to do so. That''s why, I''ll probably need help from some of you, to keep the hole open after I make it, and to help set up the gate on the other side after its open." The words were b?r?ly out of his mouth when Mirajane said, "Of course! After what you''ve done for us, we will do whatever it takes to help you achieve what you want." With Lucy and Erza nodding in agreement, Rias quickly followed up with, "And I think I''ve kept my parents waiting for me to take over the Gremory Family long enough, plus it''s about time they finally get to meet their grandson." With Akeno and Koneko both nodding in agreement due to the Gremorys being akin to their second family after their troubles in be past, the rest of the girls started adding various other things they wanted to do as soon as they returned home. An affectionate smile on his face, Alex listened to them talk excitedly for a while as everyone discussed going to favorite stores and restaurants they visited frequently before leaving, certain landmarks, family and friends, and much more. Knowing they wouldn''t get anywhere just by sitting around talking about it though, Alex clapped once to regain everyone''s attention(since he couldn''t stand for obvious reasons), and said, "As excited as we all are, I would like to remind you all that one of the most frustrating opponents any of us has faced will still be there, Trihexia." As he said that the women from the DXD world adopted pensive looks as they recalled their former foe, while those that hadn''t faced Trihexia before asked, "I know you''ve talked about it before, but is this Trihexia really that powerful?" Smiling wryly, Alex explained, "Though it is quite powerful, I was actually stronger than it when I faced it. The problem is its vitality. If I compared it to a video game, it''s like it''s health is almost unlimited, and each attack, no matter how powerful, only deals one point of damage at a time. That was why to deal with it we had to seal it in another dimension with some of the most powerful figures from our world, so they could keep it from destroying the world while slowly wearing it down over the course of the next ten thousand years or so." When they heard this the other girls adopted a pensive look this time, as they tried to imagine a creature so unkillable that even Alex couldn''t destroy it. seeing this, Alex smirked and continued, "Hey, remember this was before I got things like Spirit magic and the skill ''Soul Break''. When I see it again I''ll probably be spoiled for choices on how to deal with Trihexia." Hearing this, Rias nodded and said, "Of course, none of us are the same as when we left!" When she said that the rest of the girls from the DXD nodded in agreement, a fire in their eyes. They had all spent the majority of their time since leaving training to become stronger, to the point that they would easily be able to compete with the old monsters that had been around for millennia, if not stronger. As this thought crossed everyone''s minds though, a weird chuckle started emanating from Serafall as she uttered in an unusual tone, "Ufufufufufu...I''d like to see any of those old farts try and bully my beloved So-Tan now!" A intense killing intent then began to radiate from Serafall''s body as she recalled how her beloved baby sister had been treated prior to their departure. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her attitude, though he understood her completely, Alex then said, "Alright, that''s enough talking, let''s get ready to go." Immediately the girls got up and started to either make their way to the exit or begin prepping to do so, while Alex remained seated a moment longer until he once again filled Kurumu''s mouth with spunk. Despite their eagerness, it was only after Alex spent a few hours getting his children ready, and making his usual rounds, that everyone finally gathered at the place where the gate had been built. Around it, quite the crowd had gathered sue to the curiosity of Alex''s home world, as well as the excitement of the former residents of the DXD world. The crowd quickly made way though as the hulking figure of Alex in his SSJ4 transformation arrived, allowing him to approach the gate and those that were waiting for him. "About time you got here." Hajime said when he saw him, his tone carrying traces of mock annoyance. Alex however snorted at him and replied, "Some of us have families to take care of." Hajime''s brow twitched when he heard this, as Kaori and Yuuka had both been bugging him about that exact topic recently. So, instead of continuing such a discussion, he simply produced an old beat up looking bronze key that had a skull crafted onto the head, which he offered to Alex wordlessly. Alex ???ked a brow when he saw the(formerly crystal) magic key, which he had left in Hajime''s care overnight so he could upgrade it to handle the amount of energy Alex was about to channel through it. "An actual Skeleton Key?" Alex asked incredulously, to which Hajime replied while almost sounding genuinely offended, "It''s a key thats been modified to open anything and takes you anywhere you want! Why wouldn''t it be a Skeleton Key?!" He then began to go on one of his prepared rants regarding a man''s romance and why each and every one of the decorations he had added were necessary, while simultaneously pulling out a forty page power point presentation to support his claims. Knowing he was about to go on for hours, Kaori quickly stepped in and seized her husband by the ear, before dragging him off to the side for his own lecture regarding his rants. With Hajime being taken care of, Alex and the others were finally free to continue their preparations. "BALANCE BREAK!" With his already powerful aura skyrocketing even more, many of those who were surrounding Alex backed off as the ground below them began to rumble, and small stones began to levitate slowly, even without Alex trying to exert his energy. Ready, Alex pulled out the Skeleton Key that Hajime gave him, and pointed it at the keyhole in the side of the gate. "Is everyone ready?" Alex asked one last time, only to be met with firm gazes and cheers of confirmation. Smiling, he then put his focus on the Skeleton Key. Over and over Ddraig''s voice sounded from the jewels of the Boosted Gear as Alex built up more and more power, before finally the last shout echoed out, Instantly the key began glowing as more power than Alex had ever summoned was transferred into it from him, before he put it into the keyhole and focused intently on one of the mountains in the Gremory territory. "...come on...!" Alex muttered as he willed the portal to open, while the world and the portal itself fought him just as hard, if not harder. That was to be expected though since Alex was literally trying to force open a hole through reality itself, an easy enough feat for the ''Angels'' when it came time for them to change world''s, but infinitely harder when they tried to do so themselves. It was only when the energy Alex had built up had almost ran out that a small spark appeared in the arch of the gate, symbolizing the beginning of the opening of the gate. ''Ddraig...I need to build up more energy...'' Alex told his partner despite the strain he was currently feeling, to which Draig replied, Despite the warning Alex smirked fearlessly as he internally remarked, ''So, just another Tuesday then?'' His comment earned him a boisterous laugh from Ddraig as the great dragon remarked, With both in agreement, Alex''s armor soon rang out once again with a series of ... Meanwhile, within the Gremory territory, a servant was hurriedly walking through the manor in order to help prepare for the event that the Duke had planned after the conference. Currently Zeoticus and Venelana were in the Underworld Capitol city of Lilith to attend the conference between the factions of the alliance, at which every head of the major noble houses were attending to welcome the leaders of the other factions. While the servant had full confidence in the capabilities of his master and lady, he still couldn''t help but feel nervous regarding the current state of affairs in the Underworld. It happened when he was walking by one of the many grand windows while recalling the most recent events, and a brilliant flash of light temporarily blinded him. "What the hell?" The servant muttered to himself as he looked towards the source of the bright light, which came from one of the one of the many empty mountains surrounding the castle. However, before he could even think of reporting the phenomenon to one of his superiors, one of the most powerful, and terrifying auras he had ever felt started to emanate from the source of the light. *The next day* In the grand city of Lilith, named for the first Lucifer''s wife and the mother of all Devils, in a grand and brand new hall built just for such occasions, the conference was going on for the third day in a row. The reason for the conference was for the leaders of the greatest factions in the world to meet and discuss certain topics regularly, but with the world currently at peace after the sealing of Trihexia, it was more of a casual meeting between the faction leaders to maintain good relations. At least, it was supposed to be. Currently an entire faction of the Devils that had started regaining power were staring down at a certain duo was was bound in the center of the hall, making it feel more like a trial than a peaceful meeting. As a matter of fact, that was exactly what it was as the man was forced to kneel bloody and beaten, while his wife was next to him after being stripped completely n?k?d and chained in a way that spread her legs while preventing her from covering her exposed body. Amongst the Devils leering down at the duo, a certain woman had a particularly vicious sneer as she leered down at them and took an exceptional amount of p???sur? from the woman''s shame being exposed to all. Meanwhile her husband tried to catch his breath and glare up at the woman, despite his swollen face and the blood dripping from his already Crimson hair. Practically holding back her cackling from glee at the scene before her, Katerea Leviathan then asked, "Zeoticus and Venelana Gremory, how do you plea to crimes you''ve been accused of?" The husband and wife duo looked up at Katerea, the women who until recently had been locked up after being defeated by Alex during the peace conference years ago, and the only remaining member of the Old Maou Faction that had joined the Khaos Brigade. Meanwhile in the seats reserved for the Maou, Ajuka Beezlbub sighed as he watched his closest friend''s parents being humiliated, the feeling of failure welling up within him once more. This all began even as far back before Trihexia was released, when Diehauser Belial revealed the corruption within the rating games and the names of those involved, including himself. What had followed was a drastic attempt to restructure the entire Underworld government, which would have worked if not for Trihexia''s release. As a result, two of the four Maou had been sealed along with the apocalyptic beast, leaving just himself and Serafall to run things. Unfortunately Serafall was busy with some kind of important project, leaving just Ajuka to manage all four of the Maou''s responsibilities while also trying to completely restructure the government and the Maou system as a whole. This is where things began to go wrong, as the Devils who had been forced out of their positions began to try and use the political instability to try and regain their lost authority. At first the worst they were able to do was harass Grayfia regarding her past and Millicas, something Ajuka didn''t even bother trying to intervene in since he only felt pity for those who got on her bad side, but then something happened that none of them saw coming. Overnight, Alex had disappeared along with Rias, Sona, Seekvaira, Ravel, Ingvild, Vali, Roygun Belphagor, Gabriel, Serafall, Yasaka, and Barakiel, along with all of their respective peerages. Meanwhile, Sairaorg had disappeared several days prior with his own peerage after the house of Bael tried to move against him and his mother. This meant that the Underworld had lost its most promising youth overnight, while Ajuka lost five of the candidates he intended to try and make into the next generation Maou, which also included himself and Diehauser. After their disappearance, there was nothing preventing those same bastards from taking advantage of Ajuka''s insane workload to regain the same authority they once had. That wasn''t where they stopped though, as time went on they became greedier as they tried consolidating more wealth and power while simultaneously spreading as much slander as possible regarding Alex and the others. No one believed it at first of course, but after several years of hearing the same message over and over without any of the people themselves around to disprove them, some people had started to doubt the Dragon Emperor. Anything they said and did before though paled in comparison to their latest move, which was freeing Katerea Leviathan from prison. While Ajuka was planning to rally people behind Alex due to his status as the ''Dragon Emperor'', those who had been plotting against him decided to make Katerea their own figurehead after the ''New Maou'' faction ''failed'' them. Katerea of course was more than happy to go along with them, as, if everything went their way, then she would be able to unite the Underworld in the name of the Leviathan clan. Of course, the best bonus was the one before her, Zeoticus Gremory, bloody and beaten as he kneeled at her feet; while his wife Venelana was stripped n?k?d for her shame to be displayed for all to see. As the one who defeated her and caused her to be imprisoned, Alex was almost at the very top of Katerea''s list of people to get revenge on, with the only one above being the man who killed her beloved Creuserey Asmodeus, Sirzechs. Since the man himself was currently out of her reach though, then Katerea decided she''d settle on destroying any semblance of respect his parents had. At the moment, it definitely seemed to be working as many of those who supported her shamelessly leered at Venelana''s exposed snatch and br??sts while muttering ?bs??n? comments to themselves. Despite the blatant disregard for her modesty, Venelana didn''t give them the satisfaction of seeing her being uncomfortable with their stares, instead retaining an impassive expression as if she was bored with the whole affair. She only appeared interested in what was going on when Katerea asked how they pleaded to their ''crimes'', to which her husband, Zeoticus, unhesitatingly said in a calm, clear, and steady voice despite their current situation, "We plead not guilty." Unsurprisingly, no one was surprised by Zeoticus''s denial of his and his wife''s guilt regarding the current charges against them, which were ludicrous to say the least. Of course this included Katerea herself, but instead of talking about it she simply stated, "I see.....you admit your guilt and plead guilty!" Declaring so for the recorders to write down, there was a mild uproar as it was clear to everyone that Zeoticus had pleaded ''not guilty'', yet Katerea was acting as if that wasn''t the case. Unable to watch this farce go on much longer, the current governor-general of the Fallen Angels, Shemhazai, stood up and asked, "Lady Katerea, perhaps you''d be so inclined to remind us what exactly the crimes that the lord and lady Gremory are accused of! Surely whatever it is doesn''t warrant such treatment!" Katerea looked at Shemhazai with undisguised annoyance, and was about to tell him off for meddling in their affairs, but when she saw almost everyone else around them giving her similar questioning looks, she sighed and explained, "They are being tried for aiding and abetting the so-called Dragon Emperor, a person who''s blood thirst and and murderous tendencies are notorious through all of the world''s, yet has remained unchecked until now." Naturally, before the words were even out of her mouth Katerea''s claims were met with the greatest uproar yet as the entire ?ssembly protested what she said about Alex, even including those who had humiliated by him in the past. Ignoring the uproar, as even the elderly Sun Wukong threatened to teach her a lesson, Katerea then practically shouted over the sudden noise, "Plus there was the massive pulse of energy felt from the Gremory territory just yesterday! Not only are they refusing to elaborate on what it was, but every one of the men we''ve sent to investigate have gone missing! They''re obviously planning something!" While everyone doubted the latter half of her declaration, they couldn''t say anything about the surge of power they all felt the day before. It had been so overwhelmingly powerful, that event he gods present had shuddered in awe while people in the human world, the different divine realms, and even heaven all sent messengers to demand to know what had happened. In the end though, there were only more questions than answers since, as Katerea already said, none of the people sent to investigate what was happening in the Gremory territory had returned, and there had been no word from anyone who was still there either. Every faction in the world was still in the dark regarding what had happened in the Gremory territory, and, instead of really trying to figure out what was happening, Katerea had used the situation as a pretense to have Zeoticus and Venelana arrested the night before, where he was then beaten while she was stripped n?k?d and left in a compromising position for their jailers to leer at all night. Katerea then took advantage of the silence that had settled over the hall to declare, "No matter what it is they''re planning, I will not tolerate traitorous actions or intentions under my rule!" This earned her several more looks of incredulity, as technically Ajuka was still the only active Maou, while Diehauser was the only other person who was even being considered for the role. Seemingly unaware, or uncaring of this, Katerea continued, "As the only living member of the original four Maou clans, I WILL take the Underworld out of the deteriorating cesspit that it has become, and return it to its past glory! No matter the cost, or who gets in my way!" As she declared the latter part Katerea purposely looked out over the gathered clan heads that she specifically knew would resist her the most, before then looking out over the gathered allies until her gaze settled on Ajuka himself. The message was exceedingly clear, Katerea would not hesitate to break up the alliance and declare war on the other factions just to inflate her own ego and sense of self worth. This was the reason for the creation of the New Maou Faction to begin with, as well as why the family members of the Old Maou Factions clans had been wiped out, they were simply too stupid. If Katerea and the other members of the Old Maou Faction had their way, then the entire devil civilization would have been destroyed in their pointless war with Heaven. They only cared about their own sense of entitlement due to being born as the successors of the previous Maou, believing that they would never suffer consequences for their actions while their own arrogance was simply too extreme. Even now Katerea didn''t doubt her own superiority, as she readily implied that she''d go to war with any of the factions simply to prove her point. That wasn''t where things ended though, as Katerea directed her attention back Zeoticus and Venelana, and declared, "I''ll start with the two traitors here and now! Venelana will be detained and ''questioned'' at our leisure, for any and all information regarding the Gremory family''s plots and the current whereabouts of their daughter and the Dragon Emperor!" Though her hard expression didn''t shift in the slightest, Venelana''s complexion paled a bit when she heard her sentencing. Devils were notorious for being exceptionally cruel when it came to any prisoners they might have, to the point that while they were at war it was common place to use captured angels as s?x toys to see how long until they gave in to the p???sur? and fell. With the way Katerea was intent on shaming her, Venelana knew that she would only have a similar future to look forward to if this continued. However, any concern she had for herself instantly vanish as Katerea looked to Zeoticus with a particularly sinister smile, and declared, "As for Zeoticus, he will be of no use to us. He is to be executed immediately!" In an instant the hall was in an uproar while several people even began to try and make their way to Zeoticus to free him and Venelana, but, showing that they had planned this beforehand, a powerful barrier prevented them from doing so. Venelana herself had thrown away all sense of dignity and stoicism, as she desperately threw herself against her bindings to reach her husband while one of Katerea''s men slowly approached him. Rather than panic or act dishonorably though, Zeoticus simply looked back towards his wife and said three words to her. "I love you." At this point genuine panic set in on Venelana''s face as she did everything she could to get to her husband, while the executioner approaching him readied their sword to take off his head, and Katerea watched with growing excitement. Then, it happened when the executioner was only a step away from Zeoticus, his sword raised to make the final blow. BOOM! The doors leading outside were suddenly blown inwards, sending numerous people flying in the shockwave, while the debris from the destroyed door impacted several others, coincidently, all Katerea''s men. "WHAT NOW?!" Someone roared as they tried to figure out what the newest development was, only for their breath to suddenly catch in their throat when they saw who walked in through the destroyed doorway. As more and more people noticed who had arrived, silence settled in the previously chaotic hall as a series of emotions swept through them. The figure, followed by an entire entourage, then said to the now deathly silent hall, "Sorry for the delay, punching a hole through reality itself was a lot more draining than I''d hoped it''d be. Had to spend the last day recuperating before we arrived." Despite him addressing them, no one replied to the newcomer''s remark as he casually approach the still captive Venelana and Zeoticus. Unlike the others who had been stopped at the barrier though, the man simply raised his fist, and shattered the barrier as if it was glass with a single punch before continuing on his way to the couple. "Sorry we took so long. If I''d known it was this bad, then we would''ve been here sooner." He told them while snapping his fingers, immediately releasing their restraints and healing their injuries while simultaneously dressing both in elegant clothing that matched what they usually wore. Nether one seemed to register the clothes though, as Venelana could only breathlessly utter, "...Alex...?!" Alex smiled wryly at them, and said, "Yeah it''s really me, and I brought some people with me as well." Turning, Venelana and Zeoticus saw a certain duo standing at the head of Alex''s entourage, their long crimson red and silver hair making them stand out quite a bit compared to everyone else. "Rias...? Grayfia...?" She uttered, to which Rias returned a sad smile as she said, "Hello mom." Of all the ways she imagined the reunion with her parents going, Rias never pictured them being bound, beaten, bloody, and humiliated while one was about to be executed. This was an issue that Alex was going to fix immediately though. With Rias leading Venelana and Zeoticus aside and out of the line of fire, Alex used Creation magic to make a majestic throne grow out of the ground beneath him, before it continued growing up on a platform surrounded by steps until there was no one else seated higher than him. He then took a seat on his newly created throne, before turning towards Katerea and asking in a deathly calm voice while his b?r?ly suppressed energy made the entire hall rumble, "So, who would like to explain to me what the hell is going on here?" (A.N. Before people start making ?ssumptions or asking if I wasn''t clear enough about it, Venelana was not r?p?d) Chapter 396 - Saiyan Rule Number 1 For several seconds there was only silence within the hall as everyone took in one simple undeniable fact, Alex was back. Though he had almost no actual political presence or power, Alex himself was almost like a force of nature that disrupted everything in his path, leaving those around him only the choices of going along with him, or getting caught up in his path. Now, the only questions on people''s minds regarding his return was ''how powerful had he become'', and ''what was he going to do next?'' With no one answering his previous question, Alex''s brow twitched in annoyance as he then used Spatial magic to instantly teleport Ajuka to his side, a feat that surprised the Maou until Alex then remarked, "You look like hell Ajuka...let me fix that real quick." With another snap of his fingers, Ajuka''s appearance, which had become gaunt and unhealthy looking from all the stress he was under, was quickly reverted back to the healthy way he looked when Alex saw him last, stunning him even further. Before he could say his thanks though, Alex cut him off by ordering, "Now, explain to me what has been going on while I was gone." For a moment Ajuka didn''t say anything as he looked Alex over in awe, feeling like the man before was a completely different person from the Alex that disappeared more than two years ago. Though he wanted to ask where they''d been and what they were doing, Ajuka decided to focus on the more immediate concern and explained, "Ever since you disappeared those who were involved with the corruption of the Underworld have been trying to regain their lost authority by any means necessary. Before, they had been nothing but a mild annoyance, but after you disappeared they started taking more radical steps." Ajuka then explained some of the methods that Katerea''s supporters used to regain their authority, ranging from things such as simple slander and bribery, to even blackmail and hostage taking. This was the biggest reason for Ajuka''s lack of taking action, as if he did then he risked another civil war and the lives of everyone they had taken hostage, even those of the civilians. Katerea and her supporters cared nothing for ''inferior'' beings that were the low and middle class Devils. As such, the only real options Ajuka had were to either go against them anyways regardless of the casualties, or try to wait things out until Alex and the others returned. At least, that had been the case until Zeoticus and Venelana were arrested. As Alex listened to Ajuka''s story, he couldn''t help feeling both irritated and responsible for the current situation. He was irritated at Ajuka for allowing things to get this bad, but he also knew it was mostly his own fault for disappearing the way he had when Ajuka''s plans were centered on him and the rest of the younger generation Devils. While there were talking though, Katerea and the Devils that supported her were nervously sweating, as now the very person they never wanted to see again had returned with the most promising youth the underworld had ever seen, excluding Super Devils like Ajuka and Sirzechs of course. Katerea in particular felt an annoying itch in her guts, where Alex had once stabbed her with the holy sword Ascalon, with the only reason she even survived the holy wound being her powerful bloodline. As the sensation of fear filled her body though, it was quickly replaced with anger as she thought to herself, ''How dare this filthy dragon try to intimidate me!'' With all her fear evaporating on the spot due to her arrogance(and stupidity), Katerea then declared, "How kind of the Dragon Emperor to show himself here, so that we may immediately arrest him for his numerous crimes!" With her voice booming through the hall once more, and many of of guards under the control of the Ultimate class Devils that freed her surrounding him, Alex turned towards her with bored and slightly annoyed expression as he said, "I don''t recall giving a criminal like you permission to speak, so hold your tongue before I remove it." Then, without any other shifts in Alex''s expression, every single one of the guards that had surrounded him dropped to the ground unconscious, their mouths foaming while only the whites of their eyes showing. Though she momentarily paused at the display, Katerea haughtily continued, "Obviously your information is out of date. My release and pardon were granted by-" "Maou Beelzebub?" Alex cut her off suddenly, making Katerea look at him in confusion and ask, "What?" "Maou Beelzebub, did you authorize her release?" Without any hesitation whatsoever, Ajuka answered, "No, I did not. Her release came about from the rouge faction of High and Ultimate class Devils." Turning back towards Katerea, Alex then said loudly and clearly, "Katerea Leviathan, your so-called ''release'' was not authorized by the highest level of authority in the Underworld, which is Maou Beelzebub. Instead it was perpetrated by a rouge faction of Devils who''s authority was stripped from them due to their corruption. As such, your criminality status has only increased since you''ve now not only attempted to murder the leaders of the three factions while committing other terroristic actions, but now you''ve unlawfully escaped from your containment." When he finished speaking Katerea looked as if she had been slapped across the face, while many of the Devils that supported her began to raise an uproar. With a look at the girls behind him though, Kuroka quickly laid out a spell that forcefully silenced all of them, even as their mouths continued to open and close without making any sound. With the hall quieting down once more, Alex looked at Katerea and said clearly, "Not only will Katerea be punished for unlawfully escaping prison, but those who helped her escape with similarly face punishment as well as for their actions against their liege, Maou Beelzebub." Though Ajuka looked momentarily concerned due to the threat that Katerea and her supporters posed to general populations, he never got the chance to voice them as Katerea then smirked, "And how exactly do you plan to impose such a ruling?" Suddenly there was a flash of demonic light as half a dozen of the Ultimate class Devils supporting Katerea teleported around Alex, before they then began to activate some kind of spell. "This pattern...a sealing array?!" Ajuka uttered in shock before he began to use his own special magic, ''Kankara Formula'', to hijack the attempt to seal Alex. Katerea however sneered at him, "Surprised Ajuka? They''ve been working on this formula for years since the sealing of Trihexia! We even prepared a few upgrades to the original version!" Though he didn''t pay attention to her at first, Ajuka frowned slightly when he noticed that the sealing formula that the Ultimate class Devils were using was constantly and rapidly shifting, as if to prevent his magic specifically from analyzing it. His specially developed magic, ''Kankara Formula'', was a type of magic that allowed him to control any and all phenomenon around him as long as he could analyze it, but the magic circles around them at the moment were more complicated to analyze than he expected, showing just how must Katerea''s supporters prepared for this moment. The object of their attack though, Alex, simply smirked as if he found their attempts to seal him humorous while he then said to Ajuka, "Don''t bother, I''m kinda curious what their best effort to deal with me is." Then, before the Maou could look at him in surprise, Alex use Spatial magic to send him back to his original seat while he patiently waited for the Ultimate class Devils to finish their attempt to seal him, his entire entourage similarly seeming amused by their actions. Seeing this, Katerea couldn''t help but feel that something wasn''t right. The sealing formation they were using was based off of the one used on the most powerful being in existence aside from Ophis or Great Red, Trihexia, except that several altercations had been made to make it even stronger specifically for Alex. Yet he and those with him, who all should''ve known enough about the technique to see what it was, were acting as if it was humorous. Neither she nor Ajuka had any time to worry about why this was the case though, as a second later Alex was enveloped within a bright flash of demonic light, before he suddenly found himself someplace different altogether. Alex looked around the six foot by six foot cement room he was now in, which was completely b?r? without even a seam between the floor or walls. "They didn''t do a half bad job on this." He casually remarked as he took in his prepared jail cell, which was a sealed room created within the Dimensional Gap. Ddraig said with humor in his voice, while even Lauren chuckled lightly in the back of Alex''s mind. The Skeleton Key not withstanding, the current Alex had so many ways to leave this trap, that the biggest issue was trying to figure out which one to use. Eventually Alex recalled a particular scene from Dragon Ball of how Gotenks and Piccolo escaped from a similar situation, and a wide smile spread on his lips. "Saiyan rule number one..." He muttered as his figure grew and red fur started to cover his body. "When in doubt, shout it out!" ... While Alex was busy in his prison, the hall that everyone else was still erupted with laughter as Katerea howled from how well their plan worked. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TALK ABOUT ARROGANCE!" She screeched victoriously while several of her supporters chuckled along with her, and everyone stared at her blankly. While she and the others had been momentarily worried with how casually Alex had been acting, the fact that he was now sealed told them that his attitude had been purely his own overestimation of his own abilities. Only a few were still cautious as they watched the reactions of Rias and all of those behind her, who were all still acting as if there was nothing to worry about. Instead, their expressions were saying that they found this situation fairly humorous, something that confused everyone around them. "Now then!" Katerea began after she had her fill of mocking Alex. "How shall we deal with the rest of these little traitors?" She cackled gleefully, as she imagined all of the ways that she''ll torture and humiliate those who had aligned themselves with Alex and Ajuka. Naturally all of the women would be used as s?x toys, both for the humiliation it would bring them as well as so that they could be bred to continue on their high class devil genes. The men however would be tortured extensively, before finally being executed in the most horrendous ways possible. Her daydreaming was then interrupted as Shias voice suddenly filled the hall. "I know you guys said they were arrogant and stupid, but I never expected it was this bad..." With everyone turning to look at Shia, and wondering who the hell she was, Katerea demanded, "What did you call me you filthy animal?" "I said that you were stupid and arrogant, should I have added a few others in as well though?" With Shia once again blatantly insulting her, Katerea snarled, "I don''t know who you think you are, but I''ll have you tortured in the most horrendous ways imaginable for talking to me like that, starting with those ludicrous ears of yours! TAKE HER!" At her command more Ultimate class Devils started to move towards Shia menacingly, prompting her to take out her massive hammer as she sung it around threateningly. Though surprised at first at the sudden appearance of Shia''s hammer, the Ultimate class Devils still prepared to attack until a new a voice calmly said, "Let me take care of this one Shia." As one, everyone turned to look at the new speaker, none other than the infamous ''Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation'', Grayfia. The moment Katerea laid eyes on Grayfia the most intense wave of killing intent yet filled the hall, as she recalled how Grayfia betrayed the Old Maou Faction for Sirzechs, which helped cost them the war against those worthless ''fakes''. Then, as if that wasn''t bad enough, she had also been one of the two women to compete to become the next Leviathan against Serafall. "The nerve on to appear before me, traitor! Or do you prefer whore?" Following Katerea''s words, numerous supporters of hers began to call Grayfia a variety of names regarding her past as a defector from the Old Maou Faction, or how she had almost immediately clung to Alex after Sirzechs left, which she had only done because of the corner they had forced her into. Rather than taking offense to the barrage of slurs she was receiving though, Grayfia only smirked before remarking, "If that all the ''great'' Katerea leviathan and her faction are capable of, then it appears as if we arrived grossly over prepared." In an instant all of the slander and name calling stopped, as Katerea started turning completely red in fury before sneering, "You''re nothing more than another worthless fake, and a servant who''s ambition outweighs their capabilities!" To punctuate her declaration, Katerea then began to exert a massive amount of demonic energy along with the majority of the Ultimate class Devils behind, all to pressure Grayfia and show her the difference in their status. After all, while Grayfia was exceptionally powerful, against so many High and Ultimate class Devils she would of course be overwhelmed since she was no Super Devil... "Is that so?" What she did next stunned and terrified every single one of the beings, including divine, gathered in the hall as the demonic power radiating off of Grayfia''s body began to increase at an alarming rate, while the whites of her eyes began to turn pitch black. Her skin began to gain a silvery metallic sheen while a foot long horn grew from the center of her forehead, and five sets of pitch black wings spread from her back that were comprised solely of demonic power. When her transformation was complete, all of the Devils before trembled in fear as a certain realization washed over them, Grayfia had somehow become a Super Devil. Normally this would be a good thing, as it meant that it would be possible to turn all Devils into Super Devils, but the fact that they were now against her automatically erased any positives in the current situation. Grayfia meanwhile directed a fierce glare toward Katerea and her supporters, and growled in her demonically distorted voice, "You threatened to take my son away from me, ruined any real hope I had for happiness or peace in the Underworld, tried to execute my father-in-law, and then humiliated the woman I respected more than anyone else." As she spoke thousands of magic circles formed around Grayfia as she prepared enough attacks to level an entire continent without any discernible effort, before concluding, "I am fed up with it!" At that moment the power Grayfia radiated easily dwarfed all of the hundred or so High and Ultimate class Devils before her, making them all realize that there was no chance of victory against her as she stared them down. Katerea meanwhile had collapsed backwards out of sheer terror, while a puddle of piss spread under her from her bladder emptying itself. Just when the tension in the hall had reached an all time high, something else began to happen that left everyone that hadn''t arrived with Alex speechless. "..." "What is this?!" Ajuka demanded in both awe and exasperation, while also wondering if this was a side effect of Grayfia''s transformation. However, the woman herself looked similarly exasperated as she muttered, "Of course he shows back up now..." She then canceled the thousands of magic attacks she had prepared, as well as her transformation as she returned to her previous place. While her action confused many of those around her, they didn''t have time to think about it as the spatial vibrations around them intensified until the point where it felt as they were experiencing a spatial earthquake. They continued to intensify until the space around them began to fracture, cracks spreading around them like a fractured window as some kind of muffled noise met their ears. Just as some people began to panic from the phenomenon though, a hole was blasted through space itself before a hulking figure appeared, covered in red fur with a wild mane of pitch black hair. "...Alex...?" Ajuka muttered when he saw Alex''s current appearance, which was unlike any of the forms he had seen before. Alex smirked at his, and everyone else''s, reaction, and said, "Yep, this is the most recent transformation that I acquired by mastering my golden ape form. Along with multiplying base my energy by several hundred times, it also drastically multiplies my physical strength." As he explained his new form, Alex returned to his previous seat upon his throne, which had appeared to be a bit large beforehand, but was now the perfect size for his enlarged figure. He then looked out over the hundred or so Devils behind Katerea, and began, "Now then, as I was saying before, Katerea and those who helped her escape from prison will be punished. Now however their sentencing will be decided and carried out immediately." His voice booming across the hall, no one questioned or argued against Alex''s declaration since the actions of Katerea and her supporters made it abundantly clear that something needed to be done, plus this was also a good chance to see what Alex himself was capable of. Before that happened though, the tense mood in the hall was mostly ruined when Shia approached Alex with a less than amused expression as she asked, "Hey, why''d you take so long? Did you decide to just play around while we did the fighting or something?" Rather than be annoyed at Shias question, Alex adopted a smug expression as he simply recited, "Rule number one in the Saiyan handbook, ''when in doubt, shout it out''. Or in this case, it would be more accurate to say ''shout your way out''." Though Shia was going to make a remark regarding Alex''s method to escape a trap, Sun Wukong this time interjected, "You mean you escaped from such a powerful sealing formation, just by shouting?" Turning towards his old teacher, Alex adopted a respectful expression and tone for the first time since his arrival and answered, "Yes, it''s something I''ve actually wanted to try for a while now. also, it''s good to see you again teacher Wukong." With Shia and those who only joined him after Alex left the DXD world looking at Sun Wukong curiously, as Alex very rarely actually spoke respectfully to someone, the man himself looked towards Katerea and her supporters before continuing, "As I was saying, Katerea will receive a different punishment as she is one of two remaining descendants of the house Leviathan. For the rest of you however, for the crimes of conspiring against your Maou, releasing high security prisoners, falsely arresting the Duke Gremory and his wife, and humiliating her while trying to murder him, I sentence you to immediate execution." The moment the word ''execution'' left Alex''s lips, the Devils in question tried to raise an uproar as they tried to protest his ruling, but were immediately silenced as Alex raised his hand. All that filled the hall then was sound of over a hundred people choking as the Devils were slowly raised up from their positions, their hands at their throats as if they were being choked. Meanwhile Alex''s hand was positioned as if he was choking someone, making it obvious to everyone that he was somehow choking over a hundred Ultimate and High class Devils at once, while also apparently preventing them from using magic after a few failed to send spells his way. For several minutes nothing could be heard except the suffocating choking sounds coming from the Devils, as everyone else around Alex watched in awe as he effortlessly killed so many powerhouses at once. It was only when the last one stopped twitching completely, that Alex flicked his wrist and the hall was filled with the sounds of over a hundred necks snapping for good measure. Letting their bodies fall to the ground, Alex then produced a plain looking glass jar before pulling the cork from it. Waving the bottle in the air, eerie purple light began to rise from the bodies of the Ultimate and High class Devils before flying into the bottle, filling it with the same eerie light before Alex placed the cork back into it. He then looked back at the beautiful Mirajane, and tossed the bottle to her while saying, "I made this for you not too long ago, to store demonic souls to devour later at a more convenient time." Mirajane looked at the bottle briefly in surprise, before giving Alex one of her characteristically warm smiles and saying, "Thank you Alex." Judging by her attitude, bearing, and dress, one would never think that Mirajane had just received a bottle filled with over a hundred High and Ultimate class devil souls to devour, a fact that made many of those around them look at her in terror. Neither one paid any of them any attention though, as Mirajane pocketed the bottle to consume the souls later and Alex turned to look down upon the only person left before him, Katerea leviathan. Glaring down at her, recalling the things she did to Venelana no Zeoticus, Alex barked a single word to the woman who was still shuddering in fear, "Strip." "Wha....?" She uttered, looking up at Alex in confusion, before he ordered once again in a firm voice, "Strip. Completely n?k?d." Katerea''s eyes widened in surprise before she glanced around to see no one standing up for her, defending her from whatever Alex had in mind. While a large part of her wanted to refuse Alex''s order, to spit in in his face and spout any number of profanities at him, her hands were automatically moving to undo her clothing as quickly as possible. This wasn''t the result of Alex using some kind of control or technique on her, but simply from the fear he and Grayfia had ingrained into her as a result of their respective transformations. Not even Sirzechs or Ajuka had demonstrated the amount of power Grayfia showed off after she had transformed, while Alex had easily broken his way out of one of the most complex and powerful sealing formations set up in the history of the races, just by shouting. As such, her body moved in autopilot as she instinctively did what Alex ordered. Quickly Katerea stripped off each of her outer layers of clothing, until she was left in nothing but a black lace bra and matching thong. As per the DXD world standards when it came to women''s br??sts, Katerea''s were also excessively large in comparison to the women who came from other worlds, making them click their tongues as she removed her bra, and allowed them to bounce free. As could be expected there was more than a few wolf whistles when her br??sts were exposed, making Katerea''s cheeks turn red as more shame than she ever felt filled her. This helped her ''come back to her senses'' a little bit, but, as she raised her arms to cover her br??sts, Alex barked out, "I didn''t say you could cover yourself! But I did say ''completely n?k?d''." Naturally, Katerea jumped as Alex barked at her, giving her exposed br??sts a slight jiggle as her arms moved back downwards. She then gritted her teeth before looking down at the last piece of clothing she was wearing, her urine soaked thong. Taking a deep breath, she then slipped her thumbs under the bands at the side and moved the cloth down her legs, prompting another round of cat calling as her neatly trimmed puss? came into view. Alex however remained expressionless throughout the entire ordeal, and when Katerea finally removed the last piece of fabric, he commanded, "Now crawl to me on your hands and feet, kiss my feet, and beg for mercy." Though her face momentarily twisted as she was about to tell him to fu?k off, Katerea recoiled as Alex applied a tiny bit more pressure to her, sending her down to her knees so that she was already part way there. Then, slowly but surely, everyone watched as Katerea leaned over to put her hands on the floor in front of her, resulting in her sticking her bu?? out in the process, before she began to crawl towards Alex at a snails pace. Alex however didn''t tell her to hurry up, as the longer she took, the longer her humiliation would last. Normally Alex wouldn''t resort to public humiliation to punish a woman, as even the Pandora who rebelled were isolated in the space-time orb, so the only ones who reveled in their shame and n?k?dness were those they had once tortured. This time however he had made an exception, due to Katerea''s own useless sense of pride, and mostly because of what she did to Venelana. That was why Alex made no attempt to make her speed up her crawling towards him, nor to quell the numerous wolf whistles and cat calls that the gathered gods sent her way, humiliating Katerea even more. Any time she thought about teaching them a lesson though, a single glance at Alex was enough to douse such thoughts for the moment. Eventually she reached the base of the stars leading to Alex''s great throne, and began to climb them until her face was level with Alex''s feet. Pausing before the b?r? appendages, which were now had a patch of red fur on their tops, Katerea momentarily tried thinking of a way to escape having to kiss them when Alex''s voice sounded from above her, "Well? I''m waiting." Wanting nothing more than to kick him off his throne to take it for herself, Katerea was tempted to use the the short distance to attack before he could react. She was just about to summon a power blast of magic in her right hand to strike him from point blank, when Alex''s left foot suddenly came down on her hand before it could even twitch. CRACK! "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Katerea screamed in pain as he mercilessly shattered every bone in her hand with his foot, before snorting and saying in boredom, "Did you really think that such a pathetic attempt would work on me Katerea? I saw your attack coming before you even considered doing it." Rubbing his foot onto her hand a little bit more to get his point across, Alex then lifted it before placing it back with his other foot right in front of her face for her to kiss. Though she remained in place for a couple minutes whimpering from the pain Alex inflicted upon her, Katerea eventually bent down further to place her shaking lips upon the top of his right foot, before doing the same with the left. She then said in a shuddering voice through her sobs, "P-please grant me mercy..." With her small voice echoing throughout the hall, Alex was silent for a moment as he adopted a contemplative look, before turning to someone and asking, "What do you think Venelana? As one of the primary victims of her actions." As he called out to her, Venelana stepped forward proud and tall, as she looked down at Katerea in contempt. As Alex said, she could be considered the one who suffered the most from Katerea''s actions, as with a bit of healing Zeoticus would be good as new, however her image was irrevocably ruined. So, for a moment, she allowed herself to picture any number of outcomes for Katerea, from a quick and clean execution, to having her tied up outside and left as she currently was for ''public use''. These thoughts only filled her mind for a second though, before she said to Alex, "Do with her as you will, she''s not worth my time." Venelana then turned back and rejoined her husband, who put a comforting arm around her shoulders as he held her close. Alex however turned back towards Katerea, and declared in a stern voice, "Very well. As I mentioned previously, as one of two remaining members of the clan leviathan, it would be a waste to simply execute you here and now." For a brief moment relief filled Katerea as the thought that Alex would spare her appeared in her mind, but it was quickly extinguished as he continued, "However you still deserve to be punished. As such, from this moment forth you will be branded a slave, and forced to labor for others for the rest of your life." Punctuating his decree, Alex immediately knelt down and placed his slave mark upon Katerea''s shoulder blade, marking her as his slave before saying, "Now stand!" Immediately Katerea''s body moved to follow Alex''s command, filling her with horror as the realization that she would be forced to follow his every command dawned upon her. "Looks like you have another one to train Grayfia." One of the girls behind them remarked, making the silver haired maid adopt a contemplative look since she never thought she would one day have an actual descendant of one of the Maou working for her. Alex however was already moving onto the next topic, as he then used magic to make his throne rotate to face the rest of those gathered before saying, "I apologize for high jacking the ?ssembly the way I did, but I hope you all would see the necessity of my doing so. With that being said, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we should break for the day after everything that''s happened, and meet again tomorrow to properly discuss everything, especially since there''s several other people that need to be present that aren''t here." Though at first every one of the important figures gathered agreed with Alex, as his return and the strength of himself and those with him was something they all needed to discuss with their relative people, everyone was confused at the latter part of his words though, as every one of the most important people currently active in each faction WAS present. speaking for them, Ajuka hesitantly asked him, "Who are you talking about Alex?" To his question, Alex smirked humorously as he then seemingly changed topic and asked Ajuka in return, "Do you know the worst part about becoming as powerful as I am now?" His confusion only growing, Ajuka shook his head before Alex continued, "It''s that it becomes harder to find anyone able to properly take out any irritation I have on." Alex then stood and pulled out the Skeleton Key before pointing it at an empty area, and saying, "I''ll be right back, I''m going to go bully Trihexia for a bit." Chapter 397 - Reunions Abound DOGAAAAAAAAAN!!! "ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!" Within a certain sealed space, located somewhere within the endless expanse that was the Dimensional Gap, a colossal beast was fighting with some of the most powerful beings that had once ruled the factions of the world. At a glance it appeared to be the most demonic chimera to ever exist, with a gargantuan primate-like body covered in dark fur and red scales, four large limbs to make it quadrupedal, and seven long necks that ended with a variety of different types of heads, lion, dragon, Leopard, Bear, etc, matched by seven different tails extending from its rear. Accompanying the beast''s demonic visage was the most intense bloodthirsty aura that any of the millennia old beings had ever felt, which was enough to lay low even entire nations of warriors without the beast itself actually needing to do anything. It was an aura worthy of a beast destined to bring about the apocalypse. "Try some of this!" A certain figure cried out, who looked pitifully small when compared to the great beast, as they summoned numerous gigantic pillars of light to rain down upon the monstrous being. "My thanks Azazel!" Another figure cried out as the great beast turned towards the former Governor General of the Fallen Angels, their entire body covered in an eerie red as they called upon the power of Destruction. With the beast focusing on the black winged pest, it left its back open to receive an attack powerful enough that it erased roughly sixty percent of its body before it knew what was happening. Despite the powerful attack though, within seconds the great beast had completely regenerated as it turned its attention towards Sirzechs this time, who was in his Super Devil form. As it did so though, several figures appeared behind it as the area around them filled with brief flashes of brilliant light. "No matter how long it''s been, I never thought I''d one day be working with the likes of you..." One of the figures, a middle aged looking man who was wearing a toga, said to the other man next to him, a gruff looking man with a long braided beard and a hammer in his grip. Smirking at his Greek counterpart, Thor thundered back at him, "Work with me more often, and maybe you''ll be able to join me in the ranks of the world''s strongest! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Laughing heartily despite the glower on Zeus''s face, the duo then unleashed a massive lightning attack that vaporized large sections of Trihexia''s body, while arcs of electricity continued to crackle around them for a short while. This was how the fight had been going ever since they had all been sealed together years ago, a constant game of ''cat and mouse'' where if Trihexia managed to get a lucky hit on any of them, it could very well mean certain death. Regardless though, Azazel and several others had casual expressions as they watched the great beast recover from its wounds, having already witnessed this exact phenomenon thousands of times by now. "I know we planned to be here for at least ten thousand years, but it still seems hopeless every time I watch that fu?ker regenerate..." Azazel muttered to himself, which, though he didn''t expect a response, someone responded, "While I understand exactly how you feel Azazel, please refrain from using such profanity." Azazel glowered as he turned to see none other than the former leader of Heaven after the death of God, Michael, fresh from taking his turn to rest. Though Michael''s return to the battle meant it was his own turn to rest, Azazel couldn''t help but snarkily remark, "I''ll fu?k?n? say whatever I fu?k?n? please Michael, and if you have a fu?k?n? problem with that, then I''ll fu?k?n? go whenever you fu?k?n? want!" Wincing at every one of Azazel''s uses of profanity, Michael was about to say something else to him, when both men suddenly paused. It wasn''t just them, all across the battlefield the different fighters paused as they sensed the same disturbance, including Trihexia amazingly. Though they all felt it was familiar for some reason, Trihexia was the first to recall where it had felt the origin of the disturbance, as the most intense bloodthirst any of them had felt yet started radiating from it. "What''s going on?!" Micheal asked in alarm as the space around them began to shake violently, while Azazel was in deep thought as he tried to determine why the distortion felt so familiar, and why Trihexia was reacting the way it was. Though it took him a moment, Azazel suddenly looked up in realization to see Sirzechs looking the same way as they both reached the same conclusion at the same time. Neither got the chance to voice their conclusion though, as suddenly a weathered and ancient looking doorway appeared out of nowhere before slowly opening with a very audible creak, to reveal two very familiar faces on the other side. "Azazel, Sirzechs, it''s good to see you two." Alex said with a smile, as if he was completely ignorant of the gigantic beast currently showering him with bloodlust. Meanwhile every one of the beings that had been sealed with Trihexia could only stare at Alex in awe, and even a little bit of fear. Though it was undoubtedly him, Alex''s physical appearance was drastically different from when they last saw him, as his hair was darker and wilder, while his body was covered in a layer of bright red fur. What really caught everyone''s attention though was the massive aura coming off of Alex''s body, which dwarfed even Trihexia''s. Before anyone could wrap their head around Alex''s return, the second figure poked her her head out from behind him and said in a sing-song voice, "Hey hey hey everyone~Nya!" Naturally Kuroka''s playfulness stunned them even further, as who would even be able to remain playful when faced with the living embodiment of destruction and chaos? Being the first to recover from the shock of the duo''s sudden appearance, Azazel then asked almost frantically, "Alex?! What are you guys doing here?!" Even if it was ?ssumed that Alex would eventually join them in the battle against Trihexia, Azazel and the others hadn''t expected to see him again in person for centuries, if not millennia from now. Seeing him again so soon, especially after he and the others had been missing for the last couple years, they couldn''t help but to worry. Alex however didn''t seem the least bit concerned as he replied, "We''ll talk later, but first I have to deal with something." He then turned his attention to the titanic beast that was still eyeing him angrily, as it still remembered the results of the last time it fought him, which the only reason Alex ''lost'' was because of its regenerative abilities. Now however it could also sense the changes in Alex as the two eyed each other, with every single one of Trihexia''s heads facing him to prepare for their clash. It knew that out of everyone present, Alex was the only real threat towards it. With his smirk widening, Alex suddenly vanished from his place before reappearing on the other side of Trihexia, after which a massive concussion of sound buffeted everyone present as powerful shockwaves swept through the sealed space. Despite bracing themselves, many of the fighters found themselves being sent flying by the shockwaves while noise roared in their ears, deafening them for several seconds before they could recover. When they did, everyone saw a gaping hole through Trihexia''s gigantic body, while the giant beast itself seemed to be struggling for a moment before the large hole began to close. "What the hell...?" One of the spectating gods uttered in disbelief at the scene, while Alex turned back to look at Trihexia tauntingly. "Is this all you''re capable of now Trihexia? Azazel and the others must have weakened you more than I thought if that is the case." He said to enrage the creature further, the taunt working as the great beast then lunged at Alex in an attempt to devour him, while several of its heads began preparing massive amounts of energy to blast at him. "We have to help him!" Micheal declared while the members of his Brave Saints also began to rally to his side, only for Kuroka to taunt as she finished constructing a series of spells, "You''ll only end getting in his way~Nya. It''d be best if we all simply made our exit~Nyan." Then, before any of them could argue, Kuroka waved her hand and all of them suddenly vanished from within the sealed space, leaving Alex alone with Trihexia as the doorway he had created also closed. Without feeling any concern though, Alex quietly muttered, "Alone at last. Finally, I can try out some moves I''ve been itching to use." As he spoke Alex held out his hand, where he summoned as much fire and Gravity magic as possible until he was holding a miniature ball of fire, which he then ''tossed'' at Trihexia while muttering, "Let''s see how you do when trapped in the center of an actual sun." *** While Alex was dealing with Trihexia, Kuroka and the others suddenly appeared back within the great conference hall, stunning them for several seconds as they tried to register everything that was happening. "Welcome back sir." A voice suddenly said, drawing Azazel''s attention as he turned and saw the face of a subordinate that he hadn''t seen for several years. "Barakiel? What the hell is going on?" He demanded while also growing slightly angry and impatient, to which Barakiel only smiled wryly before saying, "It''s a very long story, but I promise we''ll explain it all in due time. For now, but be ?ssured that you''re all free from the sealed space where Trihexia is, and Alex is taking care of him as we speak." Though the continued lack of any kind of explanation was annoying him, the sounds of numerous and unexpected reunions around them drowned out anything Azazel might have said. Around them gods, Angels, and Devils all celebrated as they reunited with those they never thought they''d be able to see again. As the only Fallen Angel to enter Trihexia''s seal Azazel was the only one of his kind to be welcomed back, but that didn''t mean that his return was any less celebrated as Shemhazai stepped forward and said, "Welcome back sir, I can not possibly express how happy I am to see you again." With his former subordinate expressing the rare emotion instead of his usual strict demeanor, Azazel smirked as he pulled him in for a sudden hug, and said, "I''m happy to see you too..." Though he tensed slightly at the sudden embrace, Shemhazai relaxed as he awkwardly returned his former boss''s affections, being equally happy to see him once again after several millennia of working together. Meanwhile, off to the side, another reunion was taking place between some parents and their son, as Venelana and Zeoticus approached Sirzechs. "Son, we''re so happy to see you safe and sound." Zeoticus said as he too pulled his son into a manly hug, before quickly releasing him so that his wife could embrace their son as well. While normally such public displays would be considered ''overly affectionate'' amongst the devil aristocracy, but with the same scene playing out everywhere around them with so many people essentially ''coming back from the dead'', no one cared. It was only after Sirzechs was released from Venelana''s clutches that he noticed the other Crimson haired figure there, Rias. "You look even more m?tur? and beautiful than the last time I saw you Rias." The sister-con that was Sirzechs said shamelessly as soon as he saw her, making Rias''s brow twitch subtly. Rather than retorting though, Rias just shook her head lightly before embracing her brother and saying, "I missed you too." As the siblings embraced Sirzechs was about to insist that Rias tell him everything about what she had been doing ever since they had disappeared. Before he could though, he then caught sight of a certain silver haired figure that made his ?h?st hurt, while longing filled him. Despite similar sensations briefly filling Grayfia''s heart, they quickly vanished as she turned away from her former husband before a scene was made right then and there. She knew they needed to talk, but, despite feeling as if she was just putting things off, she knew that in the middle of such a crowd of the most important and powerful beings in the world wasn''t the place to do it. Though Sirzechs still intended to call out to her, he was cut off as a shrill voice cried out over the din of the many discussions taking place around then, "MOMMY!" The hall quieted quickly in response to the childish voice, and everyone turned towards the source at the same double doors that Alex had destroyed upon his entrance, where they found an adorable blond haired girl standing there. Instead of appearing bothered by the hundreds of pairs of eyes turning towards her though, the little girl quickly made her way through the crowd as she beelined right to a certain woman who everyone automatically ?ssumed was her mother, Gabriel. Two things regarding the current situation brought everyone''s mental facilities to screeching halt when they saw that. One was that Gabriel, unanimously considered the most beautiful woman in all of Heaven, was now a mother, something that the vast majority of men present seethed with jealousy from. And the second was that the little girl''s monkey-like tail was a clear indicator for who the father was, and if she was anything like him, then their future just got a lot more complicated. Any thoughts they were having though were interrupted as the little girl cried out, "Mommy mommy! The sky is purple here!" In the face of her daughter''s sudden appearance, Gabriel adopted a radiant smile that seemed to blind everyone present as she explained to her daughter, "Yes it is Edith, that''s because we''re in the Underworld right now." The little girl tilted her head cutely at her mother''s explanation, and asked, "Underworld?" Gabriel nodded and added, "Yes, it''s where your big sisters like Rias and Grayfia came from. While mommy is from a place called Heaven, somewhere that I very much want to take you." Gabriel then started to patiently explain the differences between Heaven and the Underworld to Edith, who listened intently while also being unaware of everyone''s eyes on her. "Speaking of Heaven, there''s some people I want you to meet Edith." She then gestured to the three other Great Seraphs, and continued, "This is Raphael, Uriel, and Michael, your uncles." When she heard that they were her uncles, Edith''s eyes went wide as she looked the three men over curiously, before Michael kneeled down hesitantly, and said with a kindly smile, "H-hello there Edith, I''m Michael. It''s nice to meet you." Through Edith regarded Michael suspiciously for a minute, she apparently decided he could be trusted and said to him, "Hello, I''m Edith! My daddy is the strongest person in whole wide world!" Adopting a cheeky smile as she immediately praised her father, Michael looked somewhat taken aback at her attitude, but soon smiled back at her. Before Edith could get to know her uncle a little more, there was suddenly a lot more of a ruckus being made at the entrance to the hall. Looking over, everyone saw two of Rias''s peerage members that hadn''t shown up with everyone else, Akeno and Koneko, Grayfia and Sirzechs''s son, Millicas, a beautiful dark skinned women that none of them had ever seen before, Anne, another petite woman no one knew, and a small horde of children who eagerly rushed towards their mothers. Of course, the main thing everyone noticed was that they all had tails similar to Edith. With a little boy that had the Phenex family''s characteristic orange and golden hair running right up to Ravel, another little girl wearing a magical girl outfit with her black hair tied up in twin tails running up to Serafall, and a Crimson haired little boy excitedly waddling up to Rias, everyone thoughts were the same. ''Alex has been busy.'' Of course none of the girls seemed to mind those surrounding them as they eagerly scooped up their children, and presented them to the members of their family. Meanwhile Anne approached Gabriel while Akeno and Koneko approached Rias, and said to the Seraph, "I''m so sorry! She just suddenly took off and my arms were full of the other children!" Gabriel however waved away Anne''s apologies and said, "It''s fine, I''m not as worried anymore since we''re back in our home world. Besides, if something did happen to Edith again, I''m sure that Alex wouldn''t hesitate to destroy anyone and anything in his path to rescue her." Though she was smiling warmly, Gabriel''s words hovered ominously over those around her as they imagined the fate of one stupid enough to lay hands on one of the Dragon Emperor''s children. They were soon distracted though as a certain silver haired young man approached the former Governor General of the Fallen Angels, the petite woman that had arrived with Akeno and the others before at his side. "Azazel, there''s someone I''d like you to meet." Vali said as he stood before the man who had raised him, the man he considered to be his father. Azazel however gave Aiko a once over before a playful smirk appeared on his lips, and he remarked, "So this is your ''type'' huh? No wonder all those busty onee-sans I tried to introduce you to never caught your attention!" Azazel then began to laugh boisterously at his joke, while Vali and Aiko both turned as red as Rias''s hair from his teasing, the former in anger and the latter in embarrassment. "Don''t make me blast you full of holes old man..." Vali uttered angrily, to which Azazel put up his hands placatingly as he said, "Ok ok. Really though, I am happy that the rambunctious little trouble maker I took in all those years ago finally went and found himself a girl." With a ''warm'' expression forming on Azazel''s face, Vali calmed down somewhat as Aiko awkwardly stepped forward and said, "I''ve heard so much about you from Vali-kun, it''s nice to finally meeth-" Biting her tongue from nervous she was, Aiko''s hands immediately went to her mouth to try and cover it while her eyes watered, making Azazel struggle not to laugh while Vali tried to see if she was ok. While all of that was going on, another figure approached them with a small bundle in her arms as she said, "Mind if I interrupt?" Vali and Aiko looked up to see Lavinia Reni approaching them with a smile, a small bundle wrapped in her arms. In an instant the duo completely forgot about Azazel teasing them and Aiko accidentally biting her tongue, while almost every single pair of eyes in the room focused on them as theories swarmed people''s minds of what the bundle Lavinia was carrying contained. Their theories were quickly proven correct as Vali gently took the bundle, and turned towards Azazel to show him the infant girl with tufts of silver hair within. "Azazel, this is my daughter Lilith Lucifer." Unlike the mild surprise he felt when Vali introduced Aiko to him, Azazel''s mental facilities slowed to a halt when he saw the infant in Vali''s arms. Meanwhile a low buzz filled the hall as those around them began to furiously whisper amongst themselves, and word of the next Lucifer spread. Slowly and carefully, Vali held the infant girl out to Azazel as the former Governor General accepted her with even more care than Vali showed, his body seemingly moving by itself while his mind tried to process what was happening. At the same time, Millicas similarly approached his mother with another bundle in his arms, which she gently accepted when he got close enough. She then looked down at the bundle affectionately for a moment before an expression of uncertainty marred her face as she glanced at the Gremory family. After a moments deliberation, Grayfia slowly approached Venelana and Zeoticus as the duo gushed over their second grandson, who had the same beautiful crimson hair that the Gremory family was know for. When Venelana noticed her approach though, she adopted an expression of interest when she saw the bundle in Grayfia''s arms, which she presented to the duo while saying respectfully, "I have someone else that I would like you to meet, if you are willing lord and lady Gremory." Instantly Venelana''s eyes lit up as she said to Grayfia, "Of course Grayfia! No matter what, you will always be our daughter!" Glancing pointedly at Sirzechs for the briefest of seconds as she said this, Venelana then approached Grayfia to examine the bundle in her arms. Within was a infant baby girl with a tuft of short silvery hair, her bright red monkey-like tail clutched in her tiny hands as she slept soundly. Immediately Venelana gushed when she saw the baby as she asked, "What''s her name?" Though she hesitated for a moment, Grayfia then answered to her, "Lana. I named her Lana Lucifuge." Venelana then paused before looking up at Grayfia questioningly, recalling what she said earlier about ''the woman she respected more than anybody''. After the brief moment though, Venelana smiled warmly as she said, That''s a wonderful name." Venelana then carefully accepted the bundle from Grayfia as she looked over her new ''grandaughter'', who she adored every bit as much as her two grandsons. Meanwhile Sirzechs watched from the side, an uncomfortable bitter feeling surging up within him from having his own wife ignore him, and present another man''s child to his mother. Of course Venelana made sure he knew about Grayfia joining Alex since shortly after they disappeared, but that hadn''t made the current situation any easier to bear. Though he could understand why Grayfia had done what she did, that didn''t mean he had to approve of it. *** And so, despite Alex saying that anyone who wanted was free to leave for the day, the next several hours went by with the hall being used for everyone to celebrate the return of not only Alex and those who left with him, but also those who had gone to fight Trihexia. During this time not only did the families of the girls get to reunite and meet their new relatives, but the girls themselves also learned of the most recent going ons with their families as well. Among them was Sona and Serafall as they learned that their father had fallen victim to the sleeping disease that had preyed on many Devils, and as such their mother had accepted the role of the head of Sitri house until Sona or Serafall returned. While their mother had ?ssumed at first that one of them would ?ssume the role of the clan head, she was surprised when both girls instantly turned her down. Serafall explained that she was too busy with her usual day to day duties, along with the fact that she had to take care of Lizzy on top of that. Sona meanwhile took the chance to bring up the Academy and her plans regarding it with the Underworld, how she was planning on accepting tons of new students along with numerous new teachers to go with them. While many only listened half-heartedly as she gave the same speech regarding the equality of the social classes, their interest quickly increased though when Sona mentioned asking Alex to awaken their father when he returned. Though many found it hard to believe that Alex could also undo the sleeping disease that has claimed so many devil lives up until this point, the proof showed herself to them when Sairaorg''s mother, Misla Bael, arrived to the party, looking healthier than she had in years. While those who had family that were still victims of the sleeping disease began to see hope at her sudden appearance, one particular person could only quietly sulk in the corner away from everyone. Unlike everyone else around him, Lord Bael was borderline frantic as he tried to figure out how to avoid his connection to Katerea and her followers being found out. He had been the one to push for Venelana and Zeoticus to be arrested to begin with, before convincing Katerea to sentence Venelana to being a worthless s?x toy for the the rest of her life. Of course, he hadn''t had to push too hard since it was just the kind of thing Katerea wanted to do anyways in order to punish Sirzechs. He had hated his older half-sister ever since he was a child since she was famous for being the most powerful female member of their house of all time, as well as being extremely intelligent in matters of business and politics, which ended up casting an incredibly long shadow for him to grow up in. Thankfully she was only the daughter of a second mistress, and as such had no right to inherit the clan unlike him. However Venelana''s constant humiliations of him didn''t end with her leaving the house of Bael to marry Zeoticus, instead she then went on to give birth to one of the only Super Devils in the Underworld, before giving birth to a daughter that went on to inherit her moniker of the ''Brunette Ruin Princess''. As for himself, Lord Bael''s first son was a worthless defect, while his second son was a spineless weakling who was interested in nothing but plants. But now any chance he had of ruining his sister''s life like she had his evaporated the second Alex broke down the double doors and took complete control of the situation, with his own traitorous son and wife in tow. Now he was trying not to draw any attention to himself, while secretly communicating with his men to destroy any and all evidence of his cooperation with Katerea and her people. He, and everyone else within the hall, suddenly looked up as spatial vibrations started to fill the hall that were similar to the ones Alex created when he escaped from the sealing array Katerea and the others used on him, several hours ago. Everyone fell silent and held their breaths as they waited for what they ?ssumed was Alex''s reappearance, before a series of fractures also began to form in the empty space before them. Many of the more powerful beings present however stood ready in the event that what was appearing wasn''t Alex, but a resurgence of Trihexia itself. Their worries were for naut though as space itself continued to distort and fracture until a hole big enough for a person formed, through which Alex appeared looking exhausted and tattered, but no worse for the wear. Of course the thing that stood out the most was the beginnings of a full red beard coming from his chin, indicating that somehow more time had passed than they thought possible. For a moment nothing happened as everyone took in Alex''s appearance, as he was still in his SSJ4 form, before a shout rang out, "IT''S DADDY! GET HIM!!" Like a swarm Edith, Mai, Lizzy, and Regal all surged towards their father with happy expressions on their faces, while Ryuto and Shuri slowly waddled after them as quickly as they could, despite having just learned to walk only recently. His own face breaking out into a wide smile, Alex disregarded everyone else present as he dropped to one knee and held his arms wide open to receive his children. Instead of going in to hug their father though, the children readily tackled him before trying to pin him to the ground, their laughter ringing through the halls. Everyone then watched in amazement as Alex proceeded to ignore everything and everyone around him as he happily played with his children, despite the fact that he had just fought one of the most powerful beings in the world. For several minutes everyone watched as Alex played with his children without minding them, their focus being on the children themselves the entire time. Though children rough-housing with their fathers was nothing new, what was was that when Edith''s fist accidentally missed Alex and impacted the floor, a spiderweb of cracks spread out around it. "Nooooooo! I''m being attacked by a pack of vicious, bloodthirsty, and extremely silly monkeys!" Alex cried out in mock despair, making his children howl with laughter as they tried to pin him down. Even Ryuto and Shuri tried to help as they both clung to Alex''s legs, and proceeded to plop right down onto his feet. Eventually Alex slowly and carefully toppled over with his children still on him, as he ''collapsed'' under the intensity of their ?ssault. "Oh no! These silly monkeys are too much for me! I....am.....defeated!" Alex cried out dramatically as his shoulders hit the ground, before closing his eyes and playing dead. With Edith acting as the ringleader, she then proceeded to stand up on her father''s body, one foot on his stomach while her other was on his ?h?st, and threw up a peace sign while posing as she shouted, "VICTORY!!!" With her siblings also celebrating their victory over their father with her, everyone watched on with warm eyes and conflicted expressions since they still wanted to know about what happened with Trihexia. Again, before they could ask, Alex suddenly got up and grabbed Edith as the rest of his children quickly scattered, and she squealed in surprise. "HAHA! Got you now you mischievous little monkey!" Alex cackled at Edith as he then began to tickle her, filling the halls once again with hysterical laughter. Of course his other children didn''t get too far while Alex was dealing with Edith, as he used his ''Telekinesis'' to grab each of them to being them back. As a result, several children looked as if they were desperately swimming in midair as Alex slowly dragged them back, while the younger Ryuto and Shuri simply giggled as they enjoyed the ride. He then pulled them all in close for a giant bear hug while saying, "Ahhhhh, I needed this after so long away from my little monkeys!" While his children didn''t register what he meant, the people around him didn''t understand Alex''s words as is sounded like he hadn''t seen them for a long time. Not caring about the questions in the head of those around him though, Alex continued to squeeze his children affectionately until Mai wrinkled her nose, and said, "You stink daddy...." Pausing at her criticism, Alex hesitantly loosened his hug before trying to sniff himself. What met his nose was an ?ssault of pungent body odor that made himself, and even the children with noses less s?ns?t?v? than Mai''s, recoil slightly. "Well....." Alex began awkwardly, "I had been battling Trihexia for a while, and it was so annoying I couldn''t refresh myself all that much during that time..." With the children once again bursting into laughter at how silly their daddy was, Azazel finally approached him and said, "You were only gone for a few hours Alex. What do you mean by ''for a while''?" Instead of immediately answering though, Alex turned to look at Kuroka and said, "You didn''t tell them?" Kuroka however just shrugged lazily and replied, "No one asked, so I didn''t see any reason to say anything~Nya." Shaking his head at her, Alex turned his attention back to Azazel and explained, "Before pulling you all out of the sealed space she modified it to withstand any attacks that Trihexia and I might use, while simultaneously altering the flow of time within. I don''t know how long it''s been out here, but I was fighting Trihexia for about a month." His words sent another wave of murmurs through the hall while Azazel adopted a thoughtful look, as he recalled the way in which they had to fight Trihexia in turns just to get some rest themselves. Alex meanwhile had been fighting against the great beast for a month by himself, a feat Azazel knew none of them could replicate. As for why it took him that long to deal with Trihexia, Alex simply took his time in order to try out some new attacks and various other things he''d been considering, but wasn''t able to test. At his current level Alex was easily able to destroy entire planets with nothing but his fists, something that made it hard for him to try new things even when he had an opponent strong enough to test them against. Trihexia was like a golden opportunity that had been specially gift wrapped just for him, as he could beat up on the immortal creature all he wanted before finally killing it, and he wouldn''t have to worry about their surroundings since they were in a sealed space. So of course Alex had milked this opportunity as much as possible, until he had started to get bored while also missing his wives and children. So he hurried up and killed it before heading back without bothering to freshen up or rest, as he had no idea what Kuroka had set the time flow difference to, and Alex wanted to get back without wasting any more time. Seeing as only a few hours had passed outside though, Alex realized he should have taken the chance to at least rest and refresh himself before returning. Since there was nothing to be done about it now though, he just shrugged and went with the flow as Azazel then asked, "So is it over then? Is Trihexia really and completely gone?" Every single being in the hall hanged into his every word as they anxiously awaited Alex''s response, which ended up being a simple anticlimactic, "Yep. Trihexia''s gone." (A.N. Like I''ve been doing so much recently, I apologize for the delay in chapters. Every time I think I''ve got one pile of shit done and over with, an even larger one seems to appear out of thin air. As such, any free time I''ve been getting I usually just crash physically and mentally until the morning. Again however, hopefully things will slow down once the snow starts falling. It''ll be hard to have projects to work on when it''s only 10-20 degrees outside, and everything is covered in 4-6 feet of snow. Not to mention things will slow down at work for me as well this season due to stuff that is going on there. Once again though, I make no promises, so thank you all for being so understanding.) Chapter 398 - Alexander Morningstar After Alex''s announcement regarding the fate of Trihexia, literally every one of the different realms connected to the world was buzzing with news. First the message had been sent out that Alex had returned with the others that had disappeared alongside him in tow, along with several new faces. Then he instantaneously dealed with the rogue faction of Devils that had been causing trouble in the Underworld recently, and were causing unrest in the other realms since they were headed by the insane Katerea. Then after that the leading figures that had been sealed with Trihexia, and were considered akin to being dead because of it, had returned while Alex killed the great beast himself, all within a matter of hours while the others were supposed to be gone for tens of thousands of years. It was an understatement to say that all the realms were in a veritable uproar over the rapidly occurring chain of events, which was still ongoing even now as the leading figures of each faction, and those who had been sealed with Trihexia, retreated to the Gremory castle for the rest of the evening. Originally the Gremory''s planned to host a party for the friends and acquaintances they had amongst the factions after the meeting had ended, now however they were playing host to the most important political figures in the entire world. They were quite pleased to find out upon their return home that Rias had spent her time before crashing the meeting preparing for exactly this. First their kitchens were working on numerous dishes that contained ingredients they had never seen before, while under the guidance of those who had come from Asora to make sure all the exotic ingredients were handled properly. Then Kuroka had used her mastery over space to expand their largest ballroom to the point that it went from only being able to house a few hundred people, to thousands in anticipation of the amount of people who would inevitably attend the party after Alex announced their return. Finally, Rias had brought out all of the spoils that she had claimed throughout their time in other worlds in order to decorate it with works of art never before seen by their guests.. Most of it though came from the headquarters of the church and divine realm of Ehito after they killed him and completely wiped out his supporters. While the first arrivals and her parents were admiring the never before seen works of art though, Rias herself was with Alex and the rest of his wives who would be attending the party as they got ready. Rather than hurrying though, the man himself was currently soaking in a burning hot tub of water for the first time in a while, while his mind started dozing off slightly. "This is so nice..." Alex muttered as his eyes started drooping, before the person sitting in the tub across from him splashed some water into his face. Startling slightly, Alex opened his eyes to see several slightly concerned women looking at him, while Grayfia asked, "When was the last time you got some sleep?" Since he still hadn''t gotten a chance to actually rest since returning from his fight with Trihexia, she and the others knew that Alex had to have been more tired than he was letting on. They were all surprised though when he answered after a minute of contemplation, "I think it was about a week or two ago.... After using some different methods to stall Trihexia so I could get some rest it began adapting to them far more quickly than I thought it would. Eventually I wasn''t able to get any sleep at all while fighting it." While Alex easily dismissed his the sleeping problems that he had while fighting Trihexia, the girls couldn''t help but to glance at each other in worry. "Do we need to postpone the party until tomorrow night?" Rias asked as she seriously prepared to cancel the party, regardless of how the guests would react to such a thing. Alex however shook his head and stated, "Nah, I''ll be fine on my feet for a bit. It''s just that soaking in this hot tub of water is too relaxing....or maybe I just need something to keep me awake!" With a mischievous grin, Alex directed a look to the one who had splashed him awake, Yami. Instantly knowing what Alex was referring to, a blush crept into Yami''s cheeks even before he used his ''Telekinesis'' to pick her up and place her in his ??p at just the right angle so that his p?n?s readily slid into her tight hole. "Ngh..." She ?r??n?d lightly at the sudden intrusion within her body, before Alex''s p?n?s came to a stop after the entire thing went inside of her. Having long since used her ''Transform'' abilities to mold her insides to the shape and size of Alex''s p?n?s, Yami was easily able to take the entire thing while squeezing it tightly for him. "Hentai..." She then pouted cutely at him, even as the adorable ?ssassin began to slowly grind against Alex''s h?ps to stimulate him. While Alex was enjoying Yami''s company, one of the Gremory servants poked her head into the bathroom and announced, "Um, lady Rias, Lord Dragon Emperor, the Maou Beelzebub would like to see you..." Sighing at the announcement, Rias stood before Alex could and said, "I''ll go take care of it. Just stay and relax Alex." Not needing to be told twice, Alex simply sank even further into the hot water while simultaneously grabbing onto Yami''s tight bu??, making her twitch her brows even as she continued her gentle rocking motion. *** As the guests arrived the Gremory ballroom was filled with the drone of voices as everyone discussed the recent happenings, and what was going to happen in the near future. For many, such as those who had been sealed with Trihexia, they just wanted to rest after all of the excitement of the day. But, similarly to Alex, they felt the need to persevere and continue going to see what he wanted, and to hopefully finally get some answers to the questions everyone had about his whereabouts the last couple years. Those who were discussing the Dragon Emperor and his wives though were also in awe of the numerous works of art around them that they didn''t recognize, while several of them had even been created with materials that they didn''t even know existed. With their questions growing in number, all any of them could do was patiently wait as Alex and his wives busied themselves getting ready. It was only when everyone began to get impatient that a voice rang out, "Introducing the guests of honor for tonight''s event!" As one everyone turned to see Rias''s knight, Kiba Yuuto, standing at the bottom of the grand staircase with a lengthy roll of paper in his hand. After verifying that he had everyone''s attention, Kiba then began, "Firstly, hailing from Tenrou Island of the continent of Ishgar, founder of the Mages Guild Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermilion!" The moment her name rang out Mavis slowly began descending the grand staircase, dressed in a brilliant golden gown while appearing only slightly nervous as all eyes curiously turned to her as their heads swam with even more questions. Tenrou Island? Ishgar? Fairy Tail? No one present had ever heard of such places or organizations, and as such there was b?r?ly any scattered applause as she slowly descended the staircase, and took her place at the side of the bottom step. Of course, one other thing that everyone was wondering was why she was b?r?foot. Before any of them could ask about any of these things though, they were cut off as Kiba announced another beautiful woman whose name and background didn''t make sense, and then another. Slowly the staircase behind him filled up with amazing beauties who each took their place on the next step going up after they were announced. Amongst them of course were women that the guests knew of, Gabriel, Ingvild Leviathan, Serafall and Sona Sitri, Ravel Phenex, Yasaka and her daughter Kunou, Roygun Belphagor, and a few others. However the rest of the grand staircase was taken up by beauties who no one knew the identity of. There was the human crown princess from a kingdom apparently called ''Fiore'', a trio of sisters who were daughters of the ruling vampire lord of Japan(when there was no such thing), a set of twins and their mother who were supposedly the former princesses and Queen of a galactic empire, a dragon princess, an elven princess, a ''demon'' princess, and yet another pair of human princesses from what was called the ''Heiligh Kingdom'' and the ''Hoelscher Empire''. Then there were women who just didn''t make sense, like the two ''Yuuki-Onna'' named Mizore and Tsurara, who looked like delicate pale and beautiful women instead of the gorilla-like beasts that Yuuki-Onna actually were. With the already incredibly long list of questions everyone had only growing longer as the minutes ticked by, and beauty after beauty was introduced, they finally saw the end of the lengthy introductions as Kiba declared after most of the staircase had been filled, "And now presenting the Dragon Emperor and his peerage!" Though the people felt almost relieved when Alex''s own arrival was announced, once again confusion filled them as everyone knew Alex had rejected the Evil Pieces when Ajuka offered them to him, Ingvild, and Vali. With the Maou himself being more confused than anyone else at that moment, Kiba then called out, "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s seventh ''Pawn'', the ''Demon'', Mirajane Strauss!" With scattered applause echoing within then ballroom, many of the Devils present inadvertently took in breath when Mirajane stepped out, and they realized that she had been the one Alex gifted the Ultimate and High class Devil souls to earlier. Mirajane herself was wearing a strapless silky purple dress that flowed down to her ankles, but had two slits that ran up to her upper h?ps on both sides of her legs, while her white hair was pulled up into a pony tail that then fanned out to give it a more flowing look. Of course the part everyone was focused on was her eyes, as the normally homely woman scanned the crowds below her with a slightly predatory look, instilling fear into those of a demonic nature since they had never once experienced something considering them mere food. Ignoring the borderline terror that Mirajane''s mere presence had inspired in the demonic beings within the crowd, Kiba then moved onto the next person on the list. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s sixth ''Pawn'', the ''Celestial Tamer'', Lucy Heartfilia!" As Kiba announced her, Lucy this time made her appearance to the masses below as they took her in, making the confidence she had in her looks swell. She was wearing a spaghetti strap dress that flowed down to her calves, but also had a great slit running down her front in between the valley of her br??sts only to stop just short of her belly bu??on, while the back was similarly missing as the cut went down until it stopped just short of the top of her bu??. Meanwhile her hair was done in several strands of long curls that went halfway down her back, covering the upper portion of skin that was exposed. What everyone''s attention was on though, in a strange twist, was the dress itself, due to the fact that it looked like it was made of genuine starlight upon the night sky. Satisfied with their reactions, and the title Rias and Grayfia had decided to give her, Lucy then took her place opposite Mirajane on the same stair as Kiba continued, "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s fifth ''Pawn'', the first princess of the Deviluke Galactic Empire, and one of the smartest people in service of the Dragon Emperor, Lala Satalin Deviluke!" As she was called Lala suddenly appeared at the top of the grand staircase, but, instead of donning the dress that had been prepared for her, she was wearing the default outfit that Peke often turned into, a large round hat coupled with an alien looking dress and accessories. "HII EVERYBODY! IT''S NICE TO MEET YOU ALL!" Lala then happily called down from her place at the top of the staircase, stunning the guests even further at her lack of awareness and apparent innocence. Leaving them all wondering if they were joking about Lala''s supposed intelligence, the pink haired princess happily skipped her way down the stairs until she was standing directly above Mirajane, and Kiba continued unaffected, "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s fourth ''Pawn'', the woman capable of bisecting even entire planets in half, the ''Golden Darkness'', Yami!" Contrary to everyones expectations with such an introduction, a petite doll-like girl appeared with long flowing golden hair. Similarly to Lala though, Yami had disregarded the formal wear that the fashion masters Crystabel and Ringo had prepared for her, instead simply donning the usual black leather skirt and top she typically wore. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s third ''Pawn'', the ''Siren'', Sun Otonashi!" At her introduction, another doll-like girl appeared as Sun showed herself at the top of the staircase, blushing furiously as so many eyes fixated onto her. Desperately wanting to disappear since she wasn''t used to dealing with such crowds of people, Sun made her way to her position above Lala as quickly as her dress allowed, a shorted one that only went down to her knees, and had been layered with discarded white swan feathers. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s second ''Pawn'', the ''Seductive Succubus'', Kurumu Kurono!" Again there were several intakes of breath as Kurumu made her appearance this time, adorned in a pink multilayered dress with numerous black lacy frills on the edges. Instead of focusing on her dress though, everyone was focusing on Kurumu herself as many of the men in the room found themselves suddenly falling in love. With her heritage as a su??ubus, Kurumu''s body was automatically proportionally perfect for any man who saw her, excluding those who had other, very specific, preferences. Meanwhile her facial features appeared flawless despite the fact that she had applied absolutely no makeup, having long since decided that doing so at all shamed her su??ubus heritage entirely. Her lips curled into a smirk, Kurumu fought the urge to ''Charm'' every man before her just to show off her skills, as she then seductively sauntered to her place across from Sun. With her performance, even the ever chivalrous Kiba had a bit of trouble focusing his attention on his role before he eventually continued, "Introducing the first of the Dragon Emperor''s ''Pawns'', the ''Silver Haired Queen of Annihilation'', Grayfia Lucifuge!" Stunned silence was all that greeted Grayfia as she made her appearance, with her long silver hair flowing freely behind her that matched her silvery dress, which glittered as if it contained thousands of diamonds woven within its threads. As they watched her take her place amongst the members of Alex''s peerage, and his wives, the hall quickly filled with whispers with the latest pice of information, which had been long debated after Grayfia''s disappearance, but was now confirmed(since only a couple people even saw Grayfia present Lana to Venelana). Before the whispering got too heated though, Kiba''s voice then rang out once more. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s second ''Knight'', a woman whose strength and noble heart earned her the title of ''Titania'', Erza Scarlet!" Following her introduction, Erza appeared before the masses wearing a dress that was nearly identical to Mirajane''s, except hers was the same color as her signature scarlet hair while also glittering similarly to Grayfia''s. Slowly Erza descended down to her place at the step above Grayfia, all while maintaining her dignified and heroic expression as she desperately tried to prevent anyone from noticing just how nervous she was in front of so many high ranking people. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s first ''Knight'', heiress of the Yeagashi clan, Shizuku Yeagashi!" As her name was called Shizuku stepped forward at the top of the grand staircase, with her black hair done up in its signature ponytail, and a matching black dress concealing her figure. What drew everyone''s eyes though as the most furious round of whispering yet broke out in the ballroom, was the menacing looking black dog that padded up beside her, it''s glowing red eyes carefully scanning the crowd below it. "What the fu?k?!" Azazel swore once again that day, as he and every one of the more important people present instantly recognized the black dog at Shizuku''s side as one if the Longinus sacred gears, Canis Lykaon. The problem with this though was that Canis Lykaon was currently possessed by a Grigori agent called Tobio Ikuse, code named ''Slashdog''. The fact that someone else possessed it as well, combined with the man who attacked the Underworld previously while possessing several other Longinus sacred gears, was concerning to say the least. Rather than acknowledge the commotion she and Jin had caused though, Shizuku silently took her place across from Erza as Kiba continued, "Introducing the Dragon Emperors second ''Bishop'', the princess of a vampire kingdom wiped out by the malevolent God Ehito, Yue!" At her introduction another petite doll-like girl appeared with flowing silvery-blond hair, and crimson red eyes. What really caught everyone''s attention about her though(besides her introduction as yet another princess), was that Yue was adorned in a pure white wedding dress, giving everyone the impression that she was there for a wedding instead of a regular ball. She then smirked as if she was victorious for some reason, while taking her place on the step above Erza. Without even a backward glance at her though, Kiba''s voice rang as he puffed up slightly in pride, "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s first ''Bishop'', the Heiress of the Gremory family known as the ''Crimson Haired Ruin Princess'', Rias Gremory!" Again there were scattered applause as mutterings filled the ballroom, as many had suspected that Rias had joined Alex''s peerage when she wasn''t announced sooner, but now their suspicions were once again confirmed as the crimson haired beauty made her appearance. Rias herself though appeared with a momentary scowl on her face as she directed a very brief glare at Yue, before ?ssuming her place across from the still smug vampire princess. As if to contrast her even more, Rias''s dress was composed of swirling red and black patterns that anyone connected to the house of Bael immediately recognized as the power of Destruction. This caused many of them to be stunned as no one in the history of their house was daring enough to actually garb themselves in pure Destruction, making them wonder just how powerful and skilled she had become in her absence. As many people also began to wonder if Rias as well had become a Super Devil like Grayfia, Kiba''s voice once again rang out to announce the last few members of Alex''s peerage, "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s second ''Rook'', the first daughter of the vampire lord of Japan, as well as the daughter of one of the Three Dark Lords, Moka Akashiya!" Again a silver haired beauty made her appearance as Moka stepped out wearing an elegant black dress with silver trims, captivating many of those below them as she silently took her place above Yue. From there she could see many in the crowds staring at her, some with intrigue, others confusion, while several of the men she saw looked at her with d?s?r? and ?ust. Moka snorted lightly when she saw this, and mentally remarked, ''overzealous fools, they ought to learn their place.'' Without anyone knowing what was going through Moka''s mind, Kiba continued announcing the girls. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s first ''Rook'', the heiress and future head of the Haulia Rabbitman tribe, Shia Haulia!" As Shia appeared many people once again began to mutter amongst themselves, as they recalled her from earlier when she tried to fight Katerea and her supporters. Currently Shia was wearing a sky blue dress with white patterns on it that resembled clouds, matching her sky blue hair and long fluffy ears. The peppy rabbit girl then quickly made her way to her place across from Moka, where she waited as Kiba announced the last member of Alex''s peerage. "Introducing the Dragon Emperor''s ''Queen'', one of the two remaining Nekoshou of their kind, master of Space and Time, Kuroka Toujo!" As she was announced Kuroka strutted out where everyone could see her, instead of her usual black kimono with gold trim, Kuroka had adorned something almost identical, yet several times more regal looking. Woven with threads made from real gold, and cloth that looked as it was threaded from darkness itself, Kuroka''s kimono flowed around her in a nonexistent wind while the golden beads that adorned her further jingled lightly against each other. To further add to the majesty of her appearance, Kuroka radiated an oppressive aura from her body while time itself seemed to slow for her, and space trembled with her every step. Angels, Maou, even gods couldn''t help but to inwardly tremble at the power Kuroka was radiating towards them, a confident smirk on her face as she took her place in the middle of the stairs slightly above Shia and Moka. The rest of the girls in Alex''s peerage gave her exasperated looks as she joined them, but none of them said anything since they were technically using this chance to try and show off a little. However they were all distracted as Kiba finally announced, "And now we finally introduce the Dragon Emperor himself, and the Dragon Empress, Anne!" Immediately everyone forgot about Kuroka as they straightened up for Alex''s arrival, while the man himself appeared at the top of the grand staircase with the dark skinned woman they saw earlier on his arm. Rightly ?ssuming she was the aforementioned Anne, those who hadn''t seen her yet gasped lightly at how beautiful she was, along with how much of her body was exposed due to the outfit she was wearing. Currently she was attired in a very regal looking set of dancer-like garments, that had several flowing golden bands and veils attached to it. Accompanying her outfit was also several golden accessories on her fingers, wrists, ankles, and hair, making her appearance very similar to the day that she and Alex reunited in Tortus. Alex meanwhile was attired in a sharp looking black suit that had a red trim and tie for his Boosted Gear, and his fur when he used the SSJ4 transformation. Though one would normally think that a person with Alex''s build would look awkward in a suit, the fashion masters of Asora had apparently figured out a way to make the formal wear look completely natural on him while also emphasizing his muscular figure. With his and Anne''s appearance though, Kiba continued as he practically shouted, "Bane of gods, slayer of Trihexia, the Dark Emperor, and Alucard! Ruler of Asora, champion of Tortus and Earthland! Presenting the Dragon Emperor-" At this point Kiba paused slightly when he read the next part on the roll of paper given to him by Rias, prompting him to look up at her briefly for confirmation. Seeing her nod back to him lightly in encouragement, Kiba then concluded, "-the Dragon Emperor, ALEXANDER MORNINGSTAR!" Chapter 399 - Miracle "-the Dragon Emperor, ALEXANDER MORNINGSTAR!" As his voice rang out throughout the ballroom for the final time, Kiba then proceeded to kneel before Alex as one would their liege-lord, and was quickly followed by every one of the girls on the staircase before every person from Asora in the crowd below similarly kneeled. While this was almost to be expected, what caught Alex by surprise(aside from his apparent new name) was that Ajuka kneeled to him as well, prompting all of the Devils below to follow awkwardly their Maou''s lead. Meanwhile Alex was preoccupied with trying to wrap his head around the way Kiba had introduced him, ''Alexander Morningstar''. ''That kind of has a nice ring to it though...'' Alex remarked mentally as he pondered the name, to which he suddenly received the notification that his name had been changed precisely to that, while Anne ?ssuredly received a similar notification. Alex then began to wonder why exactly he was given such a name, though it didn''t take long though for him to reason that it probably had something to do with Ajuka intending to make him a Maou after the other two were sealed, to which Ddraig and Lauren both voiced their agreements. Though it felt like Alex was thinking and conversing with Lauren and Ddraig for a while, no more than a couple seconds passed until he told the masses kneeling before him, "Rise." Slowly the Devils and Asorans rose to look up at him, the Devils expressions still showing confusion as they looked towards Ajuka for an answer.. Instead however, the one who spoke was Alex as he began, "Thank you all for attending this last minute get together, and I apologize for the long introductions. While I''m sure everyone has a multitude of questions for myself and my lovely complains, I hope that what I''m about to say to everyone will answer the majority of them." Then, to stunned silence of the crowds below, Alex explained his own origins. How he acquired his Evil Pieces, Asora, where they had been the last couple of years, and some specifics of the world''s they had been to. Of course he left out some of the more s?ns?t?v? details, such as how he was trying to become the ''supreme'' God, his knowledge of certain events, and that some of his abilities were cheats chosen from a system. Instead, Alex simply said that he and the others were basically part of a inter-dimensional battle royale, and that his Evil Pieces were one of the ''gifts'' he had received as a part of it, along with the personal dimension that was Asora. And once they turned twenty, then they''d be able to travel to other worlds in order to meet and compete, like he had with three others right after he turned twenty. Alex then went on to summarize their adventures in the other worlds, such as challenging the church and God of an entire world, Ehito, visiting two worlds that were almost identical to their own version of Earth, one of which had next to no supernatural existences on it, while the other shared the planet with Youkai. He also mentioned that this was where he had encountered the fourth reincarnator(not counting Anne), who had attempted the attack that very world with a galactic army that he acquired in a different world. Then, after killing the other reincarnator and destroying or subduing his entire army, they then remained in that world until the time came to move on, and proceeded to move onto another world called Earthland, where they encountered five more reincarnators that had essentially taken over that world. Using magic to project images to go along with his story, Alex wrapped things up with his marriage to Hisui before he then punched a hole through two realities, and managed to return. Once he finished his story only stunned silence filled the ballroom as everyone tired to take in the surplus of information he had given them. On one hand it obviously sounded insane to be able to go to other worlds, but on the other it made perfect sense for why no one had been able to find them for the last two years, and for all of the strange people and titles of those who arrived with him. Instead of giving them time to absorb all of this though, Alex continued, "Now, many of you might be wondering why I readily explained all of this." As could be expected, numerous people began to nod or murmur in agreement when they heard him since, if they were in his place, any one of the greedy Devils would''ve kept such information to themselves. Alex however only smiled wryly at this, and explained while simultaneously creating an image to give them a visual aid, "Rather than to monopolize Asora and the world''s I plan to visit for myself, I intend to turn Asora into a nexus that links the world''s we visit in order to form a never before seen system. One that stems into numerous universes to allow the various inhabitants to share knowledge and materials with each other, prompting them to grow in terms of strength and technology in ways never before seen in any world." As Alex paused in order to let his words sink in, many of those below him began to mutter amongst themselves regarding Alex''s claims, most of which sounded quite enthusiastic. Almost everyone in the ballroom was a being that had lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and one thing they couldn''t resist was something new to occupy their attention with. With Alex offering them several different worlds, all filled with new races, cultures, technologies, magics, and many more interesting things, all of them couldn''t help but to be excited. Of course Alex wouldn''t just let them run wild in these new world either. He and the other Asoran officials had already discussed a set of rules that anyone planning to interact with the other worlds had to follow, such as the limitation of technology that could be introduced to certain ''underdeveloped'' worlds(like Tortus or Earthland). The reason for this was to allow them to develop a their own pace, and in their own way due to magics and technologies specific to them. Another obviously involved the spread of religion, as any being that belonged to a specific faith would want to spread their influence. While Alex wouldn''t mind them peacefully trying to gain followers, the amount of bloody and violent conflicts that had resulted from gods and their believers trying to spread their faith were uncountable, and that was just in one world. Though there were a few other rules and restrictions that would have to be followed after opening the different worlds to each other, these were two of the biggest ones Alex and the their officials were worried about. But, deciding that he''d explain all of these later, Alex continued, "And as a small teaser of what to expect when we open this world to others, please enjoy this banquet!" Finishing off, Alex clapped his hands twice and great platters of food appeared on the long tables that were scattered around the ballroom, each piled high with delicacies that varied from familiar favorites, to brand new foods that none of them had ever seen. With Alex having already given them leave to try the food, many of the people before him immediately gravitated towards the tables in order to try something new. Alex meanwhile took a few more steps down the stairs until he was level with Rias, and asked with a ???ked brow, "''Alexander Morningstar'', really?" Rias smiled wryly and replied, "It was Maou Beelzebub''s idea. It''s about time you had a clan name of your own, and I thought it had a nice ring to it." Alex couldn''t help nodding in agreement, as he doubted the system would''ve changed his name as well if he didn''t approve of it, but he also couldn''t help saying, "You could''ve at least given me a heads up." This time Rias''s wry smile transitioned into a small smirk, as she remarked, "And where would''ve been the fun in that?" Alex only shook his head at her teasing remark, before looping his left arm through hers so that he had Anne on his right side, and Rias on his left as they made their way down the stairs. Around them people began to eagerly discuss the things Alex had told them while also excitedly speculating what these other worlds he''d open were like. Meanwhile several others were quickly trying to greet those who had actually come from those other worlds, intending to form a good relation with them before anyone else could. Of the princesses Tracy, Hisui, and Liliana were the ones who were able to best interact with the various powerful figures that tried to meet them, but Francesca and Altina were both more than a little overwhelmed. This was to be expected since the demon race in Tortus had been united under one ruler, and the Demi-humans had been completely isolated due to the persecution against them, compared to the human race that had several kingdoms and had been deeply involved in politics. Of the princesses though, Tio was the one that everybody found the most interesting. Even though there were dragons of different types everywhere throughout the DXD world, none of them had the inherent ability to turn into humans like Tio''s people could. There was also the way Tio acted around others as they curiously asked her questions, to which the dragoness respectfully and politely answered each and every time. Her manners were so perfect and courteous that no one even suspected her true perverted nature, or even what was really taking place beneath her elegant kimono. And then there were meetings that were bound to be inevitable, but would undoubtedly create headaches for everyone else. One such meeting occurred when Azazel was making his way through the crowds towards Alex, after having piled a plate high with the new delicacies. He was intending to talk to Alex regarding the policies he planned for worldly travel, as he had been the one pushing for peace the most amongst the factions and didn''t wish to see a fresh war break out. On his way to him however, something caught Azazel''s eye that distracted him completely as he approached a certain young man. "Excuse me, but might I have a look at your arm?" The man turned to look at who was talking to him, only to see Azazel staring at him wide eyed like a child on Christmas morning. "Excuse me?" The man asked, to which Azazel quickly explained, "Sorry, but your right arm is the best prosthetic I''ve ever seen! I''d love if you could allow me the chance to examine it!" The man''s brows shot up when he realized that Azazel was interested in his fake arm, and, without a single word, he proceeded to remove it right then and there from the shoulder, and hold it out to him. While others around them showed various forms of shock or revulsion, Azazel happily accepted the arm as he began to scrutinize it, and mutter to himself about the small details. To the untrained eye the arm looked exactly like a normal arm, right down to the feel of skin and muscle. However Azazel had been working with machines since before humans even discovered gunpowder, and as such he identified that the arm was a fake from the moment he saw it, but was unable to see through how it worked. Eventually he had to ask, "How did you get the arm to look and feel this way?" The young man smirked proudly as he began to explain, "It''s made of the hardest mineral I could find, but then I used Creation Age of Gods magic to alter the look and feel of it to mimic a normal arm. Despite this though I can alter the shape of it at will with that same Creation magic, while there''s also a shotgun in the elbow, rockets in each of the fingers, and several mini guns located around the wrist." Then, as if to show off, the man took his arm back from Azazel and put it back on, before the shape began to shift to form various different weapons right before everyone''s eyes. While the other onlookers didn''t seem too thrilled with it, Azazel''s eyes were sparkling as he recalled a prototype artificial arm he designed with similar features, except they were all mechanical instead of magical. "Kid, you should definitely come by my lab some time! I would love to see some of the other things you''ve made, plus I have a few toys myself that I''d like to show off!" Azazel then began to trade notes with the man as they both became increasingly excited, which only exasperated the two women that the man arrived with. The only speed bump in their budding friendship though was when the young man said, "By the way, my name isn''t kid, it''s Nagumo Hajime." Azazel smiled widely as he replied, "Azazel, former Governor General of the Fallen Angels." And like that, the most unholy friendship ever began. Though, that is a story for another time. *** As the party continued Venelana wandered here and there throughout the ballroom, greeting and conversing with her fellow High and Ultimate class Devils as she did so. This may have been Rias and Alex''s party, but as the current lady of Gremory she still intended to make sure all of their guests were enjoying themselves. As the evening ticked by though, she was becoming increasingly annoyed with the looks she was receiving from those around her. Remembering when Katerea had her n?k?d body placed on display for everyone to see, many of the men around her looked at her while silently undressing her with their gazes, ?ust just b?r?ly showing within the otherwise calm and professional expressions they had. Meanwhile the women around her regarded her one of two different ways, half regarded her with pity and treated her as a victim, while the other half regarded her akin to a s?ut, and would readily slander her for trying to ''seduce'' their husbands when they thought her back was turned. While most women would feel complete shame and humiliation at hearing this after going through what she had earlier, Venelana only felt annoyance and irritation at their blatant hypocrisy. Concepts such as ''shame'' and ''modesty'' were a relatively new thing to Devils, which was to be expected since they were originally beings of sin and d?s?r?. It was perfectly normal for Devils to engage in polygamy, cheat, lie, seduce, and Venelana even recalled a trend almost a thousand years back where devil women would go about their daily lives topless or even completely n?k?d, just because they felt like it. Though she had always been a bit more prudish than her fellow female Devils, Venelana herself even recalled posing hundreds of times for a new painting or sculpture to be made of her, several of which were either nude or had her engaged in graphic moments of intimacy with the other members of her husband''s harem. So, rather than the shame and indignation that those who bad-mouthed her wanted her to feel, Venelana only kept a mental tally of the culprits for later, while also musing on sending her son-in-law after them on her behalf. Her musings were then interrupted when someone said next to her, "They are truly disgusting." Venelana turned to see her longest and closest friend standing beside her, Sona and Serafall''s mother, the lady of the house of Sitri. Wearing a simple elegant black dress with her matching black hair flowing straight down, Lady Sitri looked around with undisguised disgust at those who were badmouthing Venelana, who remarked to her, "You''d think they''d be a bit more cautious considering what my son-in-law did to the last person who shamed me." At that both women recalled the image of Katerea being forced to strip n?k?d, and kiss Alex''s feet before all of the most powerful people in the world, forever ruining any chance she had of them taking her seriously. However a second later lady Sitri replied, "You mean ''our'' son-in-law." Venelana smiled wryly as her friend continued, "And here I thought Serafall wound never settle and have a child of her own." Both women then adopted notably gentler expressions as they thought of their new grandchildren, who were now sleeping upstairs in one of the many spare rooms of the Gremory castle. Venelana then added, "Just imagine your husband''s face when Alex wakes him up from his coma, only to suddenly see his granddaughter sitting in his ??p." Lady Sitri''s smile widened as she anticipated her husband being woken up, and his own reaction to little Elizabeth. Though she was still worried that whatever Alex''s treatment would be wouldn''t work, it was buried by the hope and warmth of seeing her daughter''s again. The duo then discussed various things regarding the current situation, such as how their houses would be moving forward from there, when something seemed to catch Venelana''s eye. "Excuse me, there''s a certain matter that it appears I need to tend to." Recognizing Venelana''s ''business'' look, the Lady Sitri silently sent whoever caught her eye her regards as Venelana made her way towards them. "We are lady Rias''s retainers, and as such we have the obligation to present ourselves accordingly so as not to shame our mistress!" Despite his argument though the duo quickly shook their heads as Suzu quickly piped back, "We''re not used to this kind of environment though! We thought it wouldn''t be that bad after Tortus, but here it''s completely different!" With Ryutarou(and the unseen Endou) nodding at her side in agreement, the trio fondly recalled their time in Tortus where they first had the titles of ''god''s apostles'', before becoming a part of Rias''s peerage and being considered part of the group that brought down Ehito(despite not being a part of the actual final battle). There they were akin to heroes and were widely respected and admired, but here the atmosphere was completely different. People were still regarding them highly as members of Rias''s peerage, but with it they could feel judgment in the eyes of those around them as they tried to scrutinize what they were capable of, which it was also made different since the ones scrutinizing them were beings like powerful Devils, Angels, and gods instead of regular humans. Freed was about to say something else to try and get them socialize, when a new voice suddenly said, "And what do we have here?" Suzu and Ryutarou''s eyes widened when they suddenly found themselves face to face with none other than Rias''s mother, who''s expression darkened as she looked down on all of them. Freed meanwhile bowed politely to her while saying, "Greetings to the lady of the Gremory family. How can this lowly servant ?ssist you?" Venelana''s glanced over freed as she scrutinized him for several seconds, before a small smile formed on her lips. "Well, at least one of my daughter''s new servants isn''t completely hopeless. Tell me Freed, how goes your studies of our society and customs?" Without missing a beat Freed reported to her, "I have been studying the customs and letters of the Devils society for the past several weeks after the defeat of the Dark Emperor Darius, and hope that my progress is considered passable for what my station requires." Then, to display his progress to Venelana, Freed proceeded to show off his word magic as he wrote several sentences and words in midair for her. Nodding in approval, Venelana stated, "Excellent Freed! I look forward to seeing my daughter''s future with amazing people like you supporting her!" Bowing towards her again, Freed crossed his arm over his ?h?st in a salute while saying, "You honor me greatly lady Gremory, and I swear to you that I will do everything I can to support mistress Rias." Nodding in approval, Venelana then turned her eyes towards Suzu and Ryutarou, who both felt like rabbits under the gaze of a very hungry wolf as she asked, "And yourselves? How goes your progress" Suzu and Ryutarou both began to curse Freed in their hearts for making them look so bad, when neither one could bear to look Venelana in the eye and say that they had been slacking in their studies, while Endou was thankful to inborn ability to be ignored for once as he desperately willed himself to blend into the wall behind him. Acting as if their lack of answer was to be expected, Venelana sighed and stated, "Very well, I shall educate you since my daughter had apparently been too distracted to do so." She then seized the ears of both Suzu and Ryutarou and began to drag them away, not heeding the wincing and cries of pain from both of them. As he watched her leave Endou let a small sigh of relief that he had been overlooked, only to jump a moment later when Venelana''s voice reached him once again as she asked in an unamused voice, "Well? Do I need to drag you as well?" Looking at her in alarm, Endou found Venelana staring directly at him with a stern glare, while Freed, Suzu, and Ryutarou all jumped in surprise from seeing him there, while Ryutarou even demanded, "Endou?! When did you get here?!" Though he didn''t want to answer, Endou slowly said as he joined Venelana and the other two, "What do you mean? I got here before any of you did..." Ignoring the stupefied looks Suzu and Ryutarou gave him at his answer, Endou reluctantly followed along as Venelana led them away, and Freed rejoined the party. By the time the party ended that night, all three of them agreed that they would have rather dealt with the Devils, Angels, and gods than another one of Venelana''s lessons. *** As the night dragged on and the party continued, Alex and the girls felt as if they were finally getting to the point where it was time to call it a night with how late it was getting, and with how much Alex''s himself just wanted to drop into bed. It was at this point though that Azazel finally managed to pry himself away from Hajime and his creations to talk to him, as he made his way up to Alex and asked, "Hey kid, how have you been?" Alex smiled at yet another one of his old teachers, and replied, "I''ve been good, busy of course, but I enjoy every minute of it." Azazel nodded and asked, "Even with those ''other'' people you were talking about?" Alex''s expression darkened slightly as he replied, "They''ve been more of a problem for the people in the world''s they go to sadly. Even the world we''ve been to most recently, Earthland, is still going to be rebuilding for years after what they did to them." Azazel nodded slowly as he recalled the destruction and devastation that every war would leave in it''s wake, which was one of the primary reasons why he''d fought so hard for peace. Having spent the majority of his long life fighting, it was only natural that people like himself and Michael would eventually get tired of it. Going off of that, he then asked seriously, "Speaking of which, have you considered what you''re really doing by opening different worlds to each other? Certain people might try and take advantage of that." Alex however nodded seriously, and replied, "We''ve already created a rough draft of a set of rules and regulations for people to follow when it comes to worldly travel. I can have a copy sent to you tomorrow if you want to look over in case there''s anything we missed." Azazel nodded in acceptance to Alex''s offer, despite the fact that he was retired, as he would feel much better about such things after looking over it himself. Then, to change the subject, a mischievous grin formed on Azazel''s face as he asked, "On a different subject, you managed to even get Gabriel pregnant huh?" With Gabriel being the most desirable woman in Heaven, Azazel couldn''t help feeling both incredibly jealous and proud of Alex for landing her, to which Alex replied, "Watch yourself Azazel. That''s the mother of one my children you''re talking about." Though he might have entertained Azazel''s curiosity in the past, that was before Alex and his wives began to move things to the next level by beginning their own families. Putting his hands up placatingly, Azazel quickly said, "Alright, alright. But seriously, is your little girl ok? No problems with Heaven''s system despite being part Angel and Devil?" Alex''s expression softened at Azazel''s concern as he replied, "None, we tested it shortly after deciding to wait a day for me to recover from opening the hole. Gabriel mentioned that it was possible that, since Edith was born in a different world, she isn''t connected to God''s system like the other Angels are." Azazel''s brows shot up when he heard that, as he recalled Alex saying when he first told them about Asora that it was separated from God''s system, and that Angels wouldn''t fall while there. However what truly caught him off guard was what Alex said next, as he continued, "Though if she did end up ''falling'', then I would''ve just turned her back into an Angel before severing her connection to God''s system entirely so she couldn''t ''fall'' again." Not just Azazel, every single Angel and Fallen Angel within earshot reacted at those words, to which Azazel testily asked, "What are you talking about?!" Alex, either not aware or not caring about the stir he just created, replied simply, "Just that I would have reversed the ''falling'' process on Edith so that she was an Angel again, before making it so that I wouldn''t have to worry about her ''falling'' again." As he said, Alex already decided that if Edith had ''fallen'' he would''ve used Regeneration magic to turn her back, before using Spirit magic to sever the spiritual connection she had to the system located in Heaven, which they had already tested to an extent. With both types of Angels around him just gaping at him in disbelief though, Azazel practically demanded, "Show me!" Though he had no d?s?r? to regain his grace and return to Heaven, Azazel couldn''t resist his curiosity at the idea that it might actually be possible for Alex to turn Fallen Angels back into regular Angels, something that should have been completely impossible. Alex, not caring about the concern and interest of those around him, placed his palm onto Azazel forehead and channeled his Regeneration magic into the Fallen Angel while he summoned his twelve feathery wings, which appeared to be the blackest of black. For a second nothing happened as Alex channeled his magic power into him, and many people started to think his claims were simply a bluff, but that changed a moment later when a bright light began to radiate from Azazel''s body. Everyone watched in dumbfoundment as Azazel''s black wings began to shift from the blackest of blacks to the purest of whites, while a halo began to flicker to life above his head. By this point the entire ballroom turned to witness the ''miracle'' as Azazel was turned from a Fallen Angel, to a servant of God once more, and holy light began to radiate from his body to fill the entire chamber. Chapter 400 - Rise After the party finally ended, and Alex was at last able to collapse into bed alongside his children, many of the most important beings in the world gathered in one of the Gremory family''s many lounges to discuss the day''s events. Among them was Azazel, Barakiel, Michael, Gabriel, Sirzechs, Ajuka, Serafall, Sona, Ravel, Rias, Sairaorg, and the Gremorys themselves. For a while nothing was said as those who had either been sealed with Trihexia or left in the DXD world remained silent, and those who had been traveling with Alex waited for them to say or ask something. Azazel however was only staring at a single pure white feather, which he had plucked from one of his own wings before making himself ''fall'' once again. Though he had asked Alex to revert him back into a servant of Heaven, Azazel had no interest in remaining a pure angel longer than confirming if Alex could do it or not. As such, after he was returned to grace, Azazel showed off his pure white wings for several minutes before grabbing one of the female Fallen Angels that he''d had a few trysts with over the centuries, and dragging her into one of the spare bedrooms to ''fall'' once more. Now he was pondering on what Alex had actually done, which was directly competing with, and beating, the most powerful force that existed on their world, the will of God. This was a feat that wasn''t just impressive, it was completely unheard of as God was one of the most powerful beings that ever existed(barring beings like Ophis and Great Red), and was presumed to have only died due to his efforts to seal away Trihexia. However the most concerning thing about this and his many revelations was Alex''s future place in this world, as many would now see him either as an obstacle, or a threat to be removed. This would undoubtedly place himself and anyone around him in danger, especially his children. Repressing a shudder at the thought of what might happen if someone was stupid enough to target Alex''s children, Azazel suddenly looked up as Michael said, "Perhaps this would be a good chance for the Angels of Heaven to be able to break away from the system of God..." Everyone looked up at him curiously as Michael continued, "If Alex truly is able to sever us from the system of God, then perhaps the Angels should enter a new era where we can try to multiply without the fear of ''falling''." While normally Michael''s suggestion would be met with agreement, since they had been trying to increase the populations of the Angels without the risk of ''falling'' for a while, instead both Azazel and Gabriel said at the same time, ""That''s a bad idea."" Though everyone looked at Gabriel pointedly, it was Azazel who continued, "All you stuffy guys in Heaven have to keep you in line is the system of God. Because of this there''s no need for any kind of law enforcement or punishment, if you''re bad the system makes you ''fall'', and you''re kicked out of Heaven. While this may seem like enough of a punishment for those of you still up there, that means that WE have to deal with angels who are experiencing real ''freedom'' for the first time in their existence." As he trailed off Azazel recalled the numerous Fallen Angels that he''d had to deal with over the years after they were ''free'' from the system of God. While a number of them, such as Barakiel, did reflect on what caused them to be kicked out, it was much more common for newly created Fallen Angels to go on a rampage of sorts as they reveled in the taste of ''freedom'' from God''s influence. It was mainly because of these rampages that the Fallen Angels had such a bad reputation, while Azazel was the one keeping the rest of them in line despite being known as ''the most sinister Fallen Angel''. Focusing back on the conversation they were having, Azazel continued, "If we free the Angels of Heaven from the system and leave them be, then we may have a disastrous problem of an unprecedented scale since Heaven won''t be able to keep these Angels in line." As he spoke Gabriel nodded in agreement as she added, "I experienced something similar with the Angels of Asora when the realization that God''s system didn''t affect them anymore eventually hit. Thankfully though we already established a series of laws for all of the residents of Asora to follow, but I shudder to think of what would happen to Heaven without any kind of preparation." When she finished speaking Barakiel, Yasaka, and Serafall all nodded in agreement as every one of them recalled the first few months of living in Asora with their people, in which there were numerous skirmishes and arguments between the different factions. Within a shockingly short amount of time though, as none of them were a part of any of the factions any longer, a sense of unity began to grow amongst the residents of Asora until they willingly marched into battle against Darius''s forces side by side. Now they were one people, united under Alex along with the others he''d brought to Asora over the years, which was becoming increasingly apparent to Michael and the others. "There''s more." She then produced a single tiny vial with a heart shaped symbol on it, and asked, "Do any of you have any idea what''s in this bottle?" Of course those not from Asora shook their heads while looking at the bottle curiously, before Rias stated with smug smirk, "When ingested, the liquid in this bottle acts similarly to a an aphrodisiac, increasing the arousal of the person who ingested it. This is just a side effect though." Their curiosity increasing, everyone listened intently as Rias stated, "The main effect of this solution is to temporarily increase the fertility rates of whoever drinks it, almost ?ssuredly guaranteeing them a child." Her words brought the room to a dead silence as the higher ups took in what she just said, and the implications of it. "Rias..." Ajuka eventually got out. "Are you saying that this little bottle can help cure the population issues currently plaguing the Underworld and Heaven?" As the Maou gave voice to everyone''s suspicions, Rias nodded in confirmation as she then tucked the small bottle between her br??sts and continued, "But that doesn''t mean that anyone who wants a child will automatically get a dosage. Those who receive one get screened at our hospitals before they''re allowed to have one, and even then in most cases one won''t be given to a couple for at least a hundred years after the last child they had." This was the biggest issue with the usage of the elixirs, as they could easily lead to a massive overpopulation if misused by races that were as long-lived as Devils and Angels. As such, numerous restrictions had been put in place to prevent this such as a limited number of elixirs that would be available per year, and the time limit between children that the long-lived races would have. Despite the restrictions in place though, all of the higher ups knew that any one of the factions that would have even minor access to such a thing would benefit greatly from it. Seeing their expressions, Rias and the others smirked lightly as Ravel added, "And this is just one of the advantages of being under the authority of the Dragon Emperor. Imagine what other benefits there are, or what would appear in the future." As her words hung over them, Michael, Azazel, Ajuka, and Sirzechs all looked at each other pointedly, the hidden meaning in Ravel''s words being fairly clear to them. *** In the shadows of the night, a figure appeared in the room that began to creep slowly towards the sleeping Saiyans with murder in their eyes, and a sinister looking knife in their hand. The ?ssassin crept towards them silently as they formed their plan of attack in their mind. They''d start with Alex as the biggest and most obvious threat, before moving on to each of his children as quickly as possible before they woke up and alerted someone with their cries. With no notable flaw in their plan, the ?ssassin was about to reach the bed when suddenly something sharp and metallic was pressed against their throat as a voice just b?r?ly whispered in their ear, "I wouldn''t do that if I were you, now back away slowly unless you want to wake the Boss and his children, and go through a hell worse than anything you can imagine." The ?ssassin paused as they considered their options in the current situation, which were either to try and fend off his attacker and definitely wake Alex up as well, or he could simply do as his captor said and try to escape after they weren''t in danger of waking the Dragon Emperor. After all, while an ?ssassin''s own life was usually worthless, the most important thing was making sure no one found out about their employer. What the ?ssassin didn''t expect though, was to suddenly feel space distorting around them until they came face to face with two very angry and scary looking women. "How many does this make now Kuroka?" The silver haired maid asked her companion. "Too many for my liking~Nya." The angry aunty practically growled while her cat-like eyes narrowed. The would-be ?ssassin gulped, before noticing numerous other hooded figures nearby along with a small pile of bodies, who were obviously other would-be ?ssassins. Despite the daunting sight though, the ?ssassin said to them, "Do whatever you want, I''m not so petty as to give up my employer that easily." When they heard this Kuroka and Grayfia shared a look before both girls smirked at each other. "Did you hear that? He thinks we need him to talk to find out who hired him~Nyahahahaha!" The ?ssassin''s heart sank when they heard that, and even more so when Grayfia made the air shimmer to show them a scene of their employer hiring them, and what they asked them to do. Seeing that Cam narrowed his eyes before asking, "Are we going to go deal with them too?" Grayfia however shook her head and replied, "No, we''ll let Alex deal with him specifically. You''re all free to deal with the rest as you see fit." When they heard that sinister smiles broke out on the faces of the Haulia members who were gathered, before they promptly vanished into the shadows to eliminate the rest of those who dared to send ?ssassins after their beloved boss and his children. By the time morning arrived, almost every underground organization within the world had been wiped out. *** The next morning an unprecedented gathering took place as members of every faction gathered together in the same hall as the day before, except this time those who had been sealed with Trihexia were also in attendance, as well as representatives from factions that had been isolated and silent for hundreds and thousands of years. On the Norse side it appeared that Odin had resumed his command from his son, Vidar, while Zeus had done similarly on the Greek side with his son, Apollon. Even beings that didn''t normally attend such functions, such as Indra or Shiva, arrived to see and judge Alex''s claims and abilities for themselves. Meanwhile especially reclusive and ancient gods made their first appearances in centuries, or even millennia. One such being was a hawk headed figure that had a beautiful woman at his side, who was wearing a headdress with cow horns and a golden disk between them. Another duo consisted of a giant of a man with thick dark mane and matching beard, while a woman with long black hair walked beside him, who looked positively tiny in comparison. They were the pairings of Horus and his wife Hathor of the Egyptian gods, and then the Dagda and his wife Morrigan of the Celtic isles. Both were part of mythologies that had been isolated for so long, that they were often forgotten about compared to the Norse or Greek. But, like almost everyone else present, they had come to see Alex and those with him. His presence was so great now that even such infamous recluses had made their appearances to see what it was Alex wanted from all of them. The man himself only made his own appearance after everyone else was seated and silent, as he strode into the hall while being flanked on both sides by numerous women and several men who represented all the parties related to Asora. With Anne at his side as his ''Dragon Empress'', Hisui was there for her father and the kingdom of Fiore, Tio for the dragon-kin, Shia for the Haulia, Altina for Verbergen, Liliana and Tracy for their respective kingdoms, the Snow Priestess for the Yuuki-Onna, and surprisingly Myuu''s mother Remia had been elected as the new representative of the Dagon race. "Now then, if anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask." Immediately Alex was bombarded with numerous questions regarding the world''s he''d been to, and the others like him that they might need to worry about. Again Alex didn''t withhold anything other than the extra s?ns?t?v? information, and through their questions he learned that there had been another reincarnator that entered the world after the copycat, an apparent Slayer that had stacked different attributes like the copycat had Longinus Sacred Gears. It was only then that Cao Cao stood up and told them that his colleague, Georg, had trapped said reincarnator with his Dimension Lost after he battled the former Dragon King Tannin. While the former Dragon King did end up sustaining several injuries, he was able to overwhelm his opponent through his extensive experience and long history of harrowing battles. The thing Alex found most curious about all this though was the fact that, according to Georg, the reincarnator was still imprisoned in his Dimension Lost instead of using their shared ability to transport to other worlds to escape. Filing that tidbit away for later, Alex continued the question and answering session for a while as the gods of this world learned more about Asora and its people. "You mean to tell us that there are other gods out there that not only share our names, powers and legacies, but could even be stronger than we are?" One of them asked testily, to which Alex nodded and replied, "Of course. There are even universes where the gods are beings that regularly destroy entire planets as a part of their duties, and the average ''mortal'' makes even Shiva look like a pathetic little bitch." His words caused a mild uproar as everyone looked fearfully at the aforementioned God, who held the undisputed position of the world''s strongest being barring exceptions like Ophis and Great Red. With him possessing enough power to destroy the entire world if he felt like it, Shiva narrowed his eyes at Alex''s claim before asking in a slow and steady voice, "Are your claims true?" While everyone else was still scared of Shiva blowing up at being insulted in such a way, Alex however smirked as he used magic to project images of Goku, Vegeta, and Beerus using their powers. "The two with spiky hair similar to mine are ''mortals'', meanwhile the cat is a God of destruction of that universe, capable of destroying not only entire planets with a tap of his finger, but even his entire universe as well." Shiva ???ked a brow as he heard that, before looking up at the projected image in silent contemplation. Meanwhile everyone else was shuddering at imagining numerous universes with such powerful people, and couldn''t help but to wonder why Alex could possibly want to go there. Of course that question was answered when one of the gods actually asked him, and Alex responded with a large smirk, "For the challenge of course." Dead silence met his words as Alex continued, "There''s no telling how powerful any of those others will be, and the best way I can guarantee myself even more strength is to go to a universe with such powerful people. Besides, it''s not like I''m not already at that level myself." When he said that Alex let just a little bit of his own aura out for everyone to feel, making the entire hall rumble lightly while the gathered gods, youkai, and other powerful supernatural beings shuddered, some in fear, and others in excitement for the things Alex offered them. There was more than a few battle maniacs gathered in the crowds, and as they imagined a universe filled with beings on the level of Shiva and beyond, their minds quickly transitioned to forming brand new training regimens for when they returned home. Of them there was of course Cao Cao, Typhon, numerous dragons, gods, and other Longinus and Sacred Gear possessors. It was also at that moment that Ajuka, Sirzechs, Serafall, and Falbium Asmodeus, all four of the most widely recognized Maou, stood up and approached the foot of Alex''s throne. Ajuka, as the only Maou that had been active while Sirzechs and Falbium were sealed, and Serafall was with Alex, then stated in a loud and clear voice for all to hear, "We Devils have always followed the strongest, the original Lucifer and his Maou, and then the four of us. It is obvious that that title now belongs to someone else, regardless of if they''re pure blooded or not." Serafall nodded and added in her chipper voice, "Yep yep! Hubby here is one of the most powerful people I know, if anyone''s qualified to lead the Underworld it''s definitely him~????!" Of course Falbium and several others rolled their eyes at her, before the third Maou gave voice to what they were all thinking and said, "And the fact that he''s your husband and the father of your child has nothing to do with it?" Serafall simply stuck her tongue out at her fellow Maou playfully while Sirzechs remained silent at the side, his feelings regarding his ''brother-in-law'' still very mixed. Ajuka then got things back on track as he said seriously, "We four have reached an agreement, and have decided that the Underworld will prosper under the Dragon Emperor''s rule. HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!" Though Alex was actually surprised at the rapid development, he didn''t get any time to let it sink in as the current Governor-General, Shemhazai, also stood and proclaimed, "We Fallen Angels have the lowest populations of the Three Factions, it is known by all. Our numbers have only dropped even further after the Dragon Emperor''s disappearance with a large number of our people, who I''m happy to report have not only been doing well, but have been thriving. As such, after a lengthy discussion with my fellow Cadres at the Grigori, we too have decided to pledge ourselves under the banner of the Dragon Emperor. "HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!" """HAIL TO THE EMPEROR, AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!""" With the rest of the present Fallen Angels following Shemhazai''s lead, yet another faction bent the knee to Alex, sending a fresh wave of muttering through the hall. Meanwhile the masses outside and around the world in each territory were practically going insane, as, for the first time since the first Angel ''fell'' from Heaven''s grace, the entirety of the Underworld was united under a single ruler, but the excitement didn''t stop there. The most shocking thing was when Michael then stood along with the other three Great Seraphs, and the remaining six lesser Seraphs, and proclaimed, "Since our creation the servants of Heaven have remained loyal to our lord and creator, God himself. He was our father, our guide, the light that cut through the darkness! But alas, it was not meant to last. After using the majority of His power to craft the seal to hold Trihexia in place, our Lord and creator perished in the following battles between the Three Factions, leaving us lost and alone." As Michael paused his speech, the entire world went nuts at the massive bombshell that he just dropped that dwarfed everything else that had happened so far that day. God was dead. These three words echoed across the entire planet many times over as the one truth that no one, not even the followers of Heaven, was allowed to know about was revealed. Until this point only a select few had known the truth regarding the fate of the Lord, and every single one of them were key figures in the Alliance that formed in the wake of the Three Factions declaring peace with each other. This was to prevent any more damage being done to the Holy System left behind by the Lord, which would destabilize Heaven even more than the loss of their shepherd had done. But now it was apparent that Michael was going all in as he not only revealed the death of God to the entire world, but then continued to say, "Since that dreadful day we have been struggling to continue on as He willed, guiding our flocks as He wanted and trying to maintain what was left of Heaven. However the loss of our creator would have far reaching consequences that echo on even until only recently, as His death meant that no more Angels could be born, and that the power of Heaven would steadily become weaker over time. It was then that we took a leap of faith and joined hands with the same Devils and Fallen Angels that we once fought against, and as a result were able to create the Brave Saints system that has once again allowed us to replenish our numbers, much in the same way the Evil Pieces helped the Devils." Michael then looked directly at Alex and stated, "I and my fellow Seraphs wish to take another leap of faith for our people, and our flocks." He, the nine other Seraphs behind him, and all of the attending Angels then got down onto one knee and lowered their heads before declaring, "We of Heaven offer ourselves to thee, Dragon Emperor. We pledge ourselves as your shields, your swords, your teachers, healers, and heralds. So long as our faith in thee is not misplaced, we pledge to follow thee to the ends of every universe, and beyond.. We of Heaven kneel before the Dragon Emperor, long may he reign." Chapter 401 - Promises [NOTICE! The titles ''Demonic Emperor'', Fallen Emperor'', and ''Holy Emperor'' have been acquired!] After the meeting had ended, and each of the Three Factions had officially become a part of Asora under Alex, the man himself was sitting in a private room in the hall while massaging his temples. While he understood the need to ''play'' emperor, all Alex really wanted to do was to explore other worlds, fight strong opponents, and spend any time he wasn''t doing either of those with his wives and children. Knowing this, Rias smiled wryly at him before commenting, "You should''ve figured that this was going to happen sooner or later." Alex only ?r??n?d in response, making Rias''s smile widen while the rest of Alex''s wives around them similarly smiled humorously. Sun however, being the pure angel that she was, slowly started to massage the tension from Alex''s shoulders to help him relax. After several seconds a sigh escaped Alex''s lips as he felt some of the tension easing away, prompting him to pull Sun into his ??p and say, "You''re too good to me Sun!" He then kissed the petite siren on the top of her head, making Sun''s cheeks turn a shade of red as she looked away bashfully. This time it was Alex''s turn to smirk as he snuggled with his adorable siren, until the door to the private room opened and Ravel stuck her head in. "Alex, they''re ready for you." His good mood from cuddling Sun evaporating on the spot, Alex put on his serious face and stood to enter the hall once more. There he found only the the members of the Three Factions present, along with the representatives of the Youkai faction. Unlike the Underworld or Heaven, the Youkai groups were more loose and unorganized, with only a few powerful individuals to keep the order like Yasaka and Magari. As such, there wasn''t a formal declaration of allegiance towards Alex like the Three Factions had done, as if Yasaka followed him then the rest would go along with her. The only person present who didn''t belong to the four groups though, was the elderly and frail looking Odin, who was sitting calmly in his seat as he waited for Alex and the rest to finish their business. While curious about the old god''s intentions, Alex decided to focus on what was more important as he approached the members of the Three Factions. "While I didn''t want to do it like this, there is something that I want to address before anything else. Lord Bael, step forward." With Alex''s expression darkening as he called for the current head of the house of the Great King, who approached with his second son and heir, Magdaran, and his ancestor as well as the founder of house Bael, Zekram Bael at his sides. "To what do I owe this ''honor'', your ''imperial majesty''." The lord Bael asked, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm while his eyes betrayed his silent indignation and fury. It wasn''t too hard to figure out why though, as the Bael clan had been the actual rulers of the Underworld until the revelation of the ''King'' Evil Piece, and the corruption that had been taking place behind the scenes. Now here he was, paying respect to a new ruler that possessed even more strength and power than he ever had, with his own defect of a son beside him. Ignoring the fact that the man before him would kill him in less than a heartbeat if he were able to, Alex stated dryly, "Rather than an ''honor'', it would be more accurate to ask what you stand accused of." In a second the entire ?ssembly tensed as they realized what exactly was going on, while the Lord Bael''s expression darkened. Alex then continued, "In an effort to display leniency though, I will give you one chance to confess your crimes before the Maou and other lords of the Underworld, after which your punishment may not be nearly as severe." While a very large part of him simply wanted to smash the Lord Bael''s face in and call it a day(which may or may not have been his original intentions before being declared the emperor of the Three Factions), now Alex had to make a show so as to not appear like a bloodthirsty tyrant. Of course, instead of heeding Alex''s leniency, the Lord Bael adopted a look of ridicule as he sneered contemptuously, "So you have nothing to accuse me of, and want me to accuse myself, is that it?" Alex however slowly shook his head and stated, "Your crimes and guilt are already determined, this is all simply a formality and a chance for you to admit your guilt for the possibility to get some leniency. Now however, you can kiss that goodbye." Then, before the Lord Bael could say anything else, Alex looked to an empty space and called out, "Katerea!" Instantly the same woman who had been helping to spread discord in the Underworld appeared next to him, but what shocked everyone was what she was wearing. Black stockings going up to her th??hs topped with white ruffles, a black garter belt that was attached to them, white gloves that went up to her elbows, a black headband with iconic white ruffles, and absolutely nothing else. With her holding a feather duster in one hand, it appeared that the exceptionally proud and arrogant woman was currently engaging in a form of ?r?t?? dress up, which prompted a number of nosebleeds from many of the men gathered, including a certain perverted and elderly God nearby. Though Katerea''s hands twitched slightly as the urge to cover her exposed br??sts, ?ss, and puss? overcame her, Alex''s commands preventing her from covering her shame as a punishment kept her from doing so. Instead she could only glare at him with complete loathing as she spat out, "What do you want?" Though he had the sudden slight urge to smirk at Katerea''s current appearance, which was undoubtedly decided by Grayfia''s right hand, the dragon-kin Venri, it disappeared pretty quickly as Alex plainly asked, "Was the Lord Bael one of the devil lords working with you until yesterday?" Directing an angry glare at that same Lord Bael, who was currently turning slightly pale, Katerea sneered, "Yeah, he was. He was even the one who wanted Venelana arrested the most, and pushed for her to be humiliated as much as possible. Zeoticus was just an added bonus." Lord Bael''s expression turned murderous as Katerea blatantly revealed his involvement in his older sister''s treatment, while numerous people within the hall turned their own murderous looks towards him as well. In response to the looks he gave her, Katerea just casually shrugged(causing a really appealing jiggle to go through her n?k?d br??sts) in response since she no longer cared about him, and decided that since she went down she might as well drag him down with her. Even as Alex sent her back Katerea sent a smirk towards the increasingly angry Lord Bael, who probably would have attacked her if Alex delayed sending her back. He then looked at the Lord Bael and said with narrowed eyes, "Even disregarding your involvement with Katerea and her allies, I was going to turn my attention towards the Bael house due to its long standing history of corruption and abuse of power, however you apparently wanted to ensure that I''d come after you no matter what." With both Zekram and Magdaran looking confused at Alex''s words, Lord Bael however paled slightly as his already shaky figure became even more unsettled. Without another word though, Alex then proceeded to summon another figure, who looked beaten and bloody compared to Katerea. He then said in a loud and clear voice for everyone to hear, "This is one of the ?ssassins sent to the Gremory residence last night to kill me and my children in our sleep, except this one had a different employer than the others." He then fixed the Lord Bael with an intense glare that sent shivers through the man''s body before continuing, "This one was sent by the current Lord Bael to not only kill me and my children, but to take my youngest daughter to groom in order to bear him a new and ''proper'' heir." To prove his point, Alex then conjured a projection that showed exactly what he had told everyone, which was the Lord Bael directing the very same ?ssassin to kill Alex and his children, before taking Lana to do as Alex said. Beside him Magdaran appeared betrayed as he stepped back and stared at his father in horror, while Zekram similarly stepped back in shock and disappointment. He was in shock because he had specifically ordered his descendant to keep his head down until the issues regarding the Rating Games blew over, and he was disappointed because he had been caught. Alex however, after sending the ?ssassin back where he was summoned from(the Haulia dungeons used to polish their torture skills), slowly approached Lord Bael while growling, "There''s a lot I''d be willing to overlook in someone, but you can be guaranteed that I''d never overlook any intentions towards my children." With each word that escaped his lips, Alex''s murderous aura continued to grow until Lord Bael began to feel as if he was suffocating under it while his son and ancestor backed away even further. Alex then surprised everyone present as he backed off and lowered his aura before finishing, "You''re lucky someone else already has a claim on your life, otherwise I''d be forced to get exceptionally ''cruel and unusual''." As he said that another figure stepped forward threateningly, their muscles tensed and ready to explode at any second. "Father..." Sairaorg practically growled, as he glared at the Lord Bael with enough intensity as if he was trying to bore a hole through him. Meanwhile his father glared back at the ''failure'' of the house of Bael, who the Lord of Bael blamed all of their issues on. If Sairaorg had been a ''proper'' heir, then perhaps they''d been able to avoid all of the issues they''d been suffering from. For several minutes the duo glared at each other, both itching to either start swinging or throwing around Destruction, when Alex sent both away with Space magic to resolve things. Not even a minute later the entire Underworld shuddered as Sairaorg activated his Super Devil transformation, and began to battle his father. "I hope I don''t have to mention how this reflects on all of house Bael." Zekram''s eyes practically glowed with fury at Alex''s words, though if it was directed at his descendant, himself for letting this happen, or Alex specifically, no one would know. Instead he replied, "No, you do not your imperial majesty." Nodding in approval, Alex then said for everyone to hear, "With the repeated issues stemming from the house of Bael, I have decided that they can no longer be trusted with the rank of the Great King. As such the family will be demoted in rank to Duke, and along with this demotion their lands and the wealth they had acquired over the centuries will be forfeit." Zekram''s entire body began to shudder in near uncontrollable anger at Alex''s words, as all of the work he''d put in to build up his family''s name and influence was suddenly flushed down the drain within seconds. Wealth was akin to status in the Underworld, so, with Alex simultaneously confiscating all of their acquired wealth and land, he had destroyed any and all influence the Bael house had, aside from their name and history. Despite this though, Alex then stepped in closer to Zekram and whispered to whim, "If there are any future issues within the house of Bael though, I may have to take ''drastic'' measures against its older members. Do you understand?" With Alex threatening to essentially kill the entirety of their house(sans Magdaran) if they acted out again, Zekram didn''t even have to think before his head began to slowly and mechanically nod up and down, lest they lose even the chance to build their power and authority back up. "If any of our house have any issues with this, I will ''personally'' deal with them Dragon Emperor." He uttered in a low and robotic voice, obviously seething in fury at the turn in events, but still thinking about the future of his house. It was obvious that Alex would be keeping an eye on them to ensure there was no issues with the house of Bael in the near future, so he intended to ensure there was nothing he could use to attack them further. Nodding in satisfaction, Alex then turned towards Magdaran, and said, "Congratulations Magdaran, you are the new lord of house Bael. Lead them well." Alex then turned away from the Bael duo to address the rest of those gathered, but paused when Magdaran stated, "I''m sorry your majesty, but I don''t think I''m fit to become the next head..." Alex turned towards Magdaran curiously at his outburst, before asking, "Oh? And why is that?" Though the feeling of shame and humiliation washed over him, Magdaran continued, "I am weak compared to my father and big brother, and I never had much skill in terms of politics or ruling...." When he heard this Alex surprised everyone by issuing a small smile, as he added, "You prefer to study plants, don''t you?" thought Magdaran looked surprised Alex knew his hobby, he still nodded slowly and said, "Yes, but it isn''t a worthy pursuit of a lord, or a Bael..." This time Alex''s smile turned wryer as he turned towards Anne, and asked, "Do you hear that Anne? Your studies aren''t ''worthy'' of someone like a lord....I wonder what that means for you?" This time Anne smiled wryly as she too stepped forward, while Magdaran paled as he realized what he had said. Before he could try to apologize though, Anne pulled out a small bottle and held it up for everyone to see, before asking, "Do you all know what this is?" With everyone who already knew what the contents of the bottle was keeping quiet, Anne continued as she held the bottle out to Magdaran, "This bottle is filled with a solution that would nearly guarantee pregnancy in anyone who tried to conceive a child after drinking it. I personally developed it after studying a curious little flower in one of the world''s we visited, which was used by that world''s Yuuki-Onna to ensure their tribe''s survival despite the circumstances driving them towards extinction." With Magdaran hesitantly accepting the small bottle from her in dumbfoundment and awe, Anne then said with a kind smile, "Keep it, and when you look at it remember what good your studies could do for your people and beyond, despite what others might say about it." Her piece said, Anne then turned back to rejoin Alex at his side, while Magdaran stared after her in awe with notably reddened cheeks. "Eyes up kid, she''s already taken." Alex smirked as he pulled Anne in for a kiss, making the beautiful brown skinned woman melt in his arms. They then prolonged their kiss just long enough that those around them started to get slightly uncomfortable, before Alex finally released Anne from his clutches and she was able to return to her previous place. Alex then turned back towards the gathered Devils and stated to them, "The circumstances regarding the Bael family not withstanding, one change I intend to make in the Underworld is to try and reestablish old families that were once considered to be extinct." The gathered Devils held their breath as Alex then looked between those he was referring to, and finished, "Coriana Andrealphus, Misteeta Sabnock, Liban Crocell, Ladora Bun¨¦, Ingvild Leviathan, Grayfia Lucifuge, and Vali Lucifer, step forward." After he called them the seven individuals quickly approached Alex before stopping in a line before him in the order they were called in. The first four were members of Sairaorg''s peerage that belonged to extinct Devil houses from the original 72 pillars, who''s bloodline persisted through human descendants like Ingvild''s had. Meanwhile both Grayfia and Vali''s houses had fallen from power due to the rising of the New Maou Faction, which won the Devil civil war and took control of the Underworld. Looking each of them over, Alex then declared, "While moving forward for the future is important, it is also important to honor the past. As such, I would like to recognize these Devils for their strength and contributions towards the Underworld in times of crisis. Does anyone object?" While no one directly rejected Alex''s decision, there were still numerous mutterings and angry expressions amongst the various Devil lords and ladies. They were of course a race that placed emphasis on class and blood purity, even in cases where Alex or descendants of the ancient Devil houses were involved. The only reason no one had ever directly gone against Alex after he revealed himself to the world was because of his power and the advantage the Underworld had with him on its side. Had he been even the slightest bit weaker, or without the backing of the Gremory family, Alex could very well have been torn apart by the bullshit politics of the Underworld. Meanwhile the members of Sairaorg''s peerage were directly discriminated against due to their mixed-blood heritage, and Grayfia had faced years of scrutiny and political aggression due to her former allegiance towards the Old Maou Faction. As the mutterings persisted for nearly a minute Alex then stated in a clear voice, "As always when it comes to disputes in the Underworld, anyone who has an issue with my decision is welcome to come forward to use their own strength to contest it. If you don''t have the balls though, then I''ll kindly ask you to keep your opinions to yourself." While many of the Devils appeared to be taken aback at Alex''s vulgarity, none did as he said and tried to contrast his decision, something that made the corner of his mouth curl upwards in humor. "In one week after things have become more stable we will hold a ceremony to properly ?ssign you your titles, and grant each of you a portion of land along with a set of Evil Pieces if you wish." The group nodded in affirmation and chanted their gratitude towards Alex for giving them the opportunity to restore their family names, before they then returned to their previous places. Finally, Alex turned towards Shemhazi and the rest of the Fallen Angel representatives, including Azazel, and said, "When it comes to Grigori, I will invite those who wish to move to Asora due to their low population. However, all of Asora''s rules and regulations will be followed, and we will not tolerate criminal or malicious acts towards its citizens, or allies." Nodding in understanding, Shemhazi stepped forward and replied, "We are thankful for the Dragon Emperor''s offer, and I will personally work to ensure that all of Asora''s laws and regulations are followed to the letter." At his sides Barakiel nodded in indication that he''d help Shemhazi as much as possible, while a goofy grin spread on Azazel''s face as he imagined all the fun ''toys'' he''d find in the Asoran research labs. Ignoring the thoughts of the future mayhem Azazel would definitely cause, Alex then turned towards Michael and said, "After I can settle properly over the next couple days I will visit Heaven, and personally see to God''s system to try and modify it." While the work of Michael and the other Seraphs had been frustratingly slow going at working on God''s system, and trying to fix some of the more ''problematic'' elements, with his Age of Gods magics Alex was sure he would have more success than they did. Having already witnessed numerous ''miracles'' being performed at Alex''s hand, there wasn''t a single doubt in Michael''s mind that he would do exactly as he promised and modify God''s system so that the Angels could thrive in the future. "My humblest thanks to the Dragon Emperor, and I will endeavor to ensure that stability has returned to Heaven by the time of your visit, after the chaos that today''s events have induced." As he spoke Michael suppressed a minor wince as he once again felt the effects his actions had on God''s system(which he was still connected to), as thousands of their followers had their faith completely rocked by his earlier revelations. With hundreds of Angels already mobilizing to try and mitigate the fallout, it was Michael''s hope that faith in Heaven would be mostly restored by the time Alex visited them. Nodding in affirmation to Michael''s gratitude and promise, Alex then promptly dismissed everyone present before allowing the tension to leave his body as they dispersed. "Not so fun being in charge, is it boy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Turning towards the cackling, Alex found himself face-to-face with an frail looking elderly man with long gray hair and matching beard, along with an monocle covering one of his piercing eyes. Forcing a smile in response to the elderly man''s teasing, Alex asked, "To what do I owe this honor, Odin?" The chief of the Norse faction stopped cackling at Alex''s voice and sized him up and down momentarily, before eventually saying, "I just stayed behind to pass on our decision. While the various godly factions will maintain our alliances with the Three Factions and their new ruler, we will NOT submit ourselves to your rule...just yet." Rias and the others narrowed their eyes at Odin''s words as the Crimson haired beauty asked, "And what do you mean by that?" With her brow twitching as Odin blatantly took a second to admire Rias''s curvy and bodacious figure after her question, he then answered, "It means we''re not as accustomed to change as the rest of you. God and lucifer are dead, and the Fallen Angels never had anything similar after they turned their backs on their creator, so it''s understandable that each of you would readily cling to the best available option, but the rest of us aren''t like that." With an unusually serious glint filling his one eye after saying that, Odin(reluctantly) turned back towards Alex and continued, "If you want to ''rule'' any of our factions, then you''ll have to visit us yourself and ''make'' us proud and arrogant gods submit, through force. You''ll have to show us the power of these other universes you were talking about, and just how outclassed we are." As he finished speaking Odin adopted a slightly thoughtful expression as he recalled all of the new types of magics and abilities Alex and those with him had used, which his left eye had been completely unable to see through like it was supposed to be able to. That alone was proof enough that Alex''s claims were not to be taken lightly. What Alex offered them was indeed new opportunities and chances in new worlds, but the opposite was also true, and there was no telling just how outclassed they would be against the people of other worlds. With the image of the other God of Destruction that Alex showed them filling his mind(who looked annoyingly Egyptian), Odin turned and started walking away while saying, "I''ll see you all soon then, goodbye." Without another word the elderly God then vanished as he departed, leaving his earlier words hanging over them.. Of course, while everyone else was concerned about having to essentially go to war with the other factions, Alex''s heart started to pound in anticipation at the prospect of fighting so many gods. Chapter 402 - Divine The next several days were some of most hectic Alex and the girls experienced in recent memory, which was saying a lot. First on Alex''s list was waking Sona and Serafall''s father from his coma, which anyone with Spirit magic was able to do, but it was unanimously decided amongst his wives that Alex doing so himself would create the biggest impact. Naturally after awakening the Lord Sitri''s brief relief turned to mild annoyance when he learn that Alex had taken both of his daughters, which changed to full blown irritation when he learned that neither daughter intended to follow in his footsteps and accept the mantel of the lord of Sitri house from him. Of course that all changed the second he saw his granddaughter, Lizzy, who immediately lit up at finally getting to meet her grandfather after her mother and aunt told her so much about him. In an instant the Lord Sitri became a completely different person from the serious and irritable man he appeared to be, to a warm and doting grandfather. He had also been impressed after his daughters showed him everything they had been doing in Asora, from the Devils that were living there, to Sona''s academy and the hospital that Anne ran, which was something the Sitri territory was known for. Eventually, though he acted annoyed about it, the Lord Sitri relented in resuming his lordly duties so that his daughters could focus on their own duties in Asora; something that earned him a kiss on the cheek from both, and a ''big'' hug from Lizzy. After that came the seizing of the the Bael family''s territory and wealth, the former of which totaled to an area of land that was even greater than the combined size of Europe and Asia. By the time Alex was done with them though their territory was only just b?r?ly the size of the country of Germany, making it smaller than a number of other noble houses. When it came to their wealth though, Alex had to make an effort to keep his entire face from twitching when the doors to the Bael family vaults were opened, and he saw what exactly laid inside. As well as the literal mountains of gold, jewels, and various other treasures one would expect to find in a vault, there was also almost every artifact that had gone missing throughout the centuries stored within as well. Amongst them was not only several powerful weapons or armor''s, but even legendary artifacts like the Arc of the Covenant, and the Shroud of Turin. Alex then ignored the protests and outrage that many of the Bael family ancestors displayed at his plundering of their vault, and proceeded to loot almost everything within, leaving only a small pile of gold and jewels left for them. What Alex did next stunned everyone in the Underworld, as, instead of keeping the treasures and artifacts for himself, Alex returned the stolen relics to their rightful owners as a gesture of good faith, keeping only the truly dangerous ones to make sure they weren''t misused. He then divided all of the remaining treasures and wealth amongst various groups that needed it in the Underworld, human world, and the Church, mostly orphanages and other charitable groups that would help those who needed it. When asked why he didn''t keep all of the treasure and artifacts for himself, Alex simply replied that he didn''t need any of the wealth and treasures for himself, so why not give it to those who did? As for the powerful weapons and artifacts, Alex could literally create all the powerful objects he wanted with Creation and Conception magic, so why bother? What he did take though was a small portion of the land he seized from the Bael''s, which he then used to build his own palace in the Underworld in case he needed to receive anyone there, or simply to stay in for a few days. In the former case, the castle already got quite a bit of use as numerous individuals came to pay their respects to Alex early on, despite the fact that they were annoying him quite a bit by doing so. Meanwhile Alex wasn''t the only one busy as Rias prepared to take over as the Gremory family head from her parents, to which they were exceptionally grateful since they had been waiting to retire ever since Sirzechs was chosen as one of the new Maou. Of course she intended to do things a little bit differently than them, such as running the Gremory family mostly from Asora, and because she''d also have almost complete control over the inter-dimensional gate since it was located in the Gremory territory. Then there was Ravel, who had already issued a challenge to her older brother, Ruval, for the right to inherit the position as the next lord of Phenex house. Normally such challenges would be resolved in a Rating Game so that the two could show off their leadership skills as well as their strength, however Ravel was already known for her skill as a tactician and ability to successfully run things such as businesses and households. So instead, the duo would go head to head directly in order to show off their own personal strength, to which Ruval declared that he wouldn''t hold back, even against his own little sister. They weren''t the only ones of Alex''s wives who were busy though, as Anne as well had her work cut out for her as there just as many, if not more people who wanted to meet her due to the fact that she was Alex''s ''main'' wife and Empress. While most of her attention was on trying to turn the area around Alex''s castle into another garden, where she could grow any plants that could only survive in the Underworld, Anne was similarly being constantly distracted by the continuous flow of guests who wanted to meet with and talk to her. Then there were several other members of Alex''s harem who were hustling back and forth, doing this and that, helping either Alex, Anne, Rias or Ravel, while Gabriel and Irina were constantly going back and forth between Asora and Heaven, helping Michael prepare for Alex''s arrival. When he did arrive in Heaven to fulfill his promise to Michael, Alex paused as a slight sense of awe briefly overtook him at the sight of the cloudy landscape, and the great golden gates before him. "Beautiful..." He uttered to himself, to which a new voice replied, "Isn''t it? Thousands of years pass, but not a day goes by that I don''t appreciate what our father created." Alex turned to see Michael standing before him along with Gabriel, Irina, and the rest of the Seraphs as they gathered to greet their new Emperor. And as he looked at them the Seraphs bowed and chanted, """Greetings to the Dragon Emperor!""" Alex simply nodded lightly to their greetings while directing a genuine smile to Irina and Gabriel, both of which rolled their eyes at him humorously. With Michael also giving him a wry smile, he then said, "Please, we will escort you to the seventh layer of Heaven." Nodding, Alex silently followed Michael''s lead as they departed the first layer of Heaven, which was the residence of the lower leveled Angels, as well as Heavens first line of defense. After that was the second layer, where Heaven''s prison resided, the third layer, where the souls of their followers went after dying, the fourth layer, which contained the garden of Eden, the fifth layer, where their research institutes were located, the sixth layer known as Zabel, where the Seraphs lived, and then finally the seventh and last layer of Heaven. It was here that God of the bible resided when He was alive, and where the systems controlling Heaven and the Sacred Gears were located. Now Alex beheld a grand manor that looked to have been made entirely from solidified cloud, which still swirled and moved as if it was still floating through the skies instead of being used as walls. Then, as if reacting to his demonic presence, Alex watched as the white and tranquil clouds turned dark and violent before flashes of angry lightning began to arc across its surface. Contrasting the temperamental and violent mood the manor had apparently taken, surrounding it was a beautiful garden of various plants that Alex had never seen the like of before, which more than likely came from the garden of Eden that they passed on the way here. Smiling wryly at Anne''s reaction when he''d return and tell her about the ''Heavenly'' garden, Alex turned back towards Michael and the others as the Seraph said, "This was the residence of our lord, but as the current ruler of Heaven it, along with the entire seventh layer, belongs to you now." As he said that Michael bowed again in respect towards Alex, to which the rest of the Angels with them followed suit. Resisting the urge to shake his head at them, as Alex recognized that he''d just have to get used to the Angels basically worshipping him since he was technically their new ''God'', Alex asked Michael, "Did you live here after God''s death?" This time it was Michael who smiled wryly again as he replied, "I did not. Personally the idea of taking our Lord''s quarters as my own felt too overwhelming since I never truly intended to take His place, only to keep what He had built from crumbling. We did however keep the entire grounds maintained in order to prevent His personal sanctuary from going to ruin, and made sure to touch everything up for its new resident." Nodding slowly in affirmation as he took in his surroundings through his ''Domain'', Alex then looked to a point far off in the distance where he sensed something. Realizing where Alex was looking, Michael quickly said, "That is where the systems governing Heaven and the Sacred Gears are located." Alex''s expression became serious as Michael confirmed what he already suspected, and, wanting to start on what he had planned, said to them, "I''ll go deal with them now, wait here." Without giving anyone a chance to respond, Alex then used Spatial magic to bring himself directly before the two systems, leaving Gabriel and the others behind. ''Are you ready?'' Alex asked mentally, to which Lauren replied, ''Always.'' ... Michael and the other Angels could only blankly stare at the place Alex had been standing at mere seconds before, before a violent shudder ran through all of their bodies of the Angels. "W-what was that?" One of the Seraphs, Metatron, demanded anxiously, but no one had an answer for him. Instead, all any of them knew was that ''something'' within them was reacting to whatever it was Alex was doing, along with every other angel that was tied to God''s system. As the seconds passed a a sense of fear began to grip the hearts of the Angels as the sensation only grew progressively worse, until they were all doubled over from pain. "What did you do Michael?!" One of the Seraphs angrily demanded, now believing that Alex was causing irreversible damage to Heaven''s system, and to them. Michael however could only gasp while Gabriel and Irina both glared at the Seraph in question, neither one believing that Alex would ever intentionally do something to hurt them. Before anyone could say anything else though, they immediately forgot about the pain and discomfort in their bodies as the distance lit up with a brilliant and divine scarlet light, which slowly dyed their surroundings in the same brilliance as Alex''s aura washed over them. Slowly the discomfort they were feeling began to fade and was instead replaced with a warmth that seemed to be filling them from the inside, while the divine red aura warmed them from the outside. With the pain fading, Michael led the other Angels as they rushed to the place where God''s system was located to see what exactly Alex was doing, only to see him standing there before the system. With the red glow surrounding him fading, Alex slowly turned towards the gathered Angels while some briefly lingering red light shone in his eyes, and said, "I finished modifying the two systems." Later Alex was seated in his new manor with Gabriel and Irina at his sides, while the rest of Seraphs continued to gape at him in awe. With all of Asora having seen Alex''s God form before the two girls weren''t surprised, but the rest of the gathered Angels were still trying to wrap their head around a being that wielded both divine and demonic powers. Alex however was calmly sipping some tea that had been made for him, before saying, "Now I''m in complete control of both the systems governing Heaven, and the Sacred Gears." While Michael and the others started slightly at the sound of Alex''s voice, Gabriel looked at him and asked, "So what does that entail?" Alex smirked as he explained, "I bound them to my own unique system and powers, meaning that I have a general control over them, but the systems themselves are still mostly autonomous. The only difference is that I altered the system of Heaven to overlook Angels engaging in s?xu?? acts so you can reproduce without the fear of ''falling''. Of course if they tried to [email protected] or otherwise force someone to have s?x with them, or become over indulgent, then they can still fall." When they heard the latter half of Alex''s explanation the Angels directed a series of pointed looks at him as, if anyone was over indulgent in s?xu?? activities, then it was him. Of course he didn''t mind their looks as he continued, "And then for the Sacred Gear system I modified it to prevent potentially harmful Gears being granted to certain hosts." When they heard that Dulio, who had arrived later to investigate what was causing so much trouble in Heaven, looked up in uncharacteristic alarm as he asked, "You''re sure you fixed it?" Knowing that his fellow Longinus user had intended to use the wish from the Azazel cup to fix the Sacred Gear system, Alex nodded and said, "It''ll take a while to make sure that there''s no remaining kinks or issues, but hopefully now children won''t be given Sacred Gears that''ll be detrimental to their health." When he heard that a look of relief filled Dulio''s expression as he eagerly grabbed one of the prepared snacks, which Alex had brought from Asora. Realizing that Alex had already fixed everything he had promised to within a matter of minutes, Michael couldn''t help but ask him, "So what now?" As Alex was essentially their new ''God'', Michael was hoping Alex would tell them what they were meant to do now that the Angels no longer had to focus on just sustaining what they had left. He was surprised though when a maniacal smile spread on Alex''s face as he replied, "Now, I get to go toe to toe with the gods of various factions!" *** As Alex planned to ''attack'' the first faction later that night to give them time to prepare, he decided to spend the time until then the same way he did before every major battle, having a massive orgy in the space-time orb. Currently he had Mirajane sitting on the edge of their dining table, her legs wrapped around his waist and her claw-like nails running up and down his back as he violently fu?k?d her tight snatch. Even after all the s?x he had, Alex had yet to understand how women seemed to turn their nails into the deadliest claws that existed once they got their hands on his back. Meanwhile both Lisanna and Levy were bent over the table on either side of Mirajane, their eyes rolled back as Alex managed to eliminate any strength in their h?ps and legs from two of his fingers drilling their soaking wet ?unts, and his thumb buried in their ?sses. With his fingers moving at speeds and in ways that put even vibrators to shame, it was unsurprising that both girls seemed to have lost their consciousness, only to weakly groan in protest if he tried to remove his fingers from their bodies. While Alex gave attention to the three women, all around them was the image of ?ustful indulgence as the girls readily p???sur?d or flat out fu?k?d each other. Lucy was similarly sitting on the dining table with her legs spread, while her summoned spirit Virgo eagerly ate her out as Cana fu?k?d her up the ?ss with one of the specially made strap-on dildos. On the side was was Yami experiencing a dual attack from Mea and Nemesis, the former having her head buried in Yami''s crotch, the latter with her head buried in Yami''s ?ss, both of which were using their Transform on their tongues to expertly attack all of her weak spots. They had both at one point suggested using their Transform to mimic Alex''s ???k to use on some of the other girls, but the idea was immediately shut down as, while they didn''t mind using strap-ones or didlos shaped like his ???k, the girls refused to have someone elses actual d??k inside them, female or not. Instead they simply made due using their transform on things like their tongues and fingers to help bring p???sur? to Alex''s women, something the upright Yami would never do. As the sounds of p???sur? surrounded them, Alex sealed Mirajane''s lips with his in a very passionate kiss that involved lots of tongue, and a fairly ''mild'' amount of biting. They then separated as Mirajane flung herself back onto the table she was on, allowing her bountiful br??sts to shake back and forth violently each time Alex ''cock punched'' her cervix. Seeing her fun-bags shake, Alex would''ve been really tempted to grab and play with them if his hands weren''t otherwise occupied at the moment. He instead opted to watched the hypnotically moving t?ts until he finally trusted into Mirajane one last time, and filled her burning hot ?unt with his even hotter seed. "..." Mirajane could only issue a silent gasp as she felt the hot fluid filling her, any concerns about getting pregnant far from her mind as the most powerful ?r??sm yet wracked her body. Smiling in satisfaction, Alex pulled his fingers from the girls at his sides, who could only weakly groan in protest, before leaning over Mirajane and giving her another, significantly tamer, kiss. "Do you still think it''s such a ''burden'' being my servant?" He teasingly asked, referring to the day she first joined and acted as if she were being sacrificed to him, to which she teasingly replied once she managed to catch her breath, "Of course it''s a burden, on my body that it." Alex smirked with pride as he stole another kiss from the white haired demoness, before slowly backing out her as he glanced around for his next ''victim'', with his gaze settling on a certain scarlet haired knight. With Erza simply standing there awkwardly to the side in full armor, Alex smirked as beckoned her over and said, "Come here Erza." ... "So this is how our great Dragon Emperor spends his free time?" Someone said out loud while Alex was busy fu?k?n? Erza from behind, as she cleaned Mirajane''s ?unt of his oozing seed. Unlike the rest of the girls around them though, Erza was still wearing her suit of armor and skirt, which Alex had simply flipped up over her rump before shifting her p?nt??s to the side to get access to her own burning hot hole. Though she twitched at the sound of someone else''s voice, Alex and Mirajane didn''t allow Erza to move from her position as he turned to look at the speaker behind them, only to see Venelana along with the ladies from the houses of Sitri and Phenex. "Oh? Did you ladies come for your share of ''fun'' too? I''m sorry but I''ll need to finish with my own wives before tending to someone else''s." Leaving the three milfs to gape at him in shock, Alex then proceeded to continue plowing his ''Knight'' right in front of them, while Mirajane held Erza''s head down between her legs to keep her from ''escaping''. It was only when he finally cream-pied Erza and left the ''cleanup'' to Mirajane this time, who pouted when Alex made her return the favor to Erza, that Venelana said in an irritable tone, "We didn''t come here for ''that''! We originally came to see our grandchildren, but they''re asleep. So we came into this orb to discuss some important matters with you." Cocking a brow at her, Alex then gestured at the dining table for them sit while talking before taking his usual seat at the head of the table. The three women looked pointedly at the spot where Mirajane had been sitting no more than a minute prior, before pointedly taking their seats on the opposite side. While they did this Yue and Mavis both raced to Alex in order to stake a claim on their most coveted prize, using his ??p as a seat. Against the master of illusion that was Mavis though, Yue suffered the rare defeat as the former just b?r?ly placed her shapely bu????ks on Alex''s legs a mere second before she did, leaving Yue to sulk until Alex made it up to her later. Mavis then situated herself on Alex''s ??p so that she was facing him with their bodies pressed together, while his ???k acted akin to a backrest for her as it pressed against her back and bu??. Alex then asked in between the light kisses that she tried to shower him in, "So what did you want to discuss?" With Venelana and the lady Sitri dead-panning at Alex and the girl''s behavior, and the lady Phenex looking at his exposed ???k with interest, Rias''s mother finally said, "We wanted to discuss what you planned to do-" Alex maintained eye contact with Venelana as she spoke, and he proceeded to flip Mavis around so that her upper body was on the table this time and her spread legs in his ??p. "-regarding the various divine factions that refused to submit-" Alex then held up his two index fingers pointedly before using them to poke, prod, and otherwise tease Mavis while Venelana continued speaking. "-to your supreme rule, and the challenge they dared present to yourself." Mavis then had to clap both of her hands over her mouth to muffle her m??ns, as Alex expertly dug his fingers at her tiny puss? and bu??hole to find each every one of her p???sur? spots with expert precision. "The entire Underworld is always ready to move at your imperial command-" Tears then started forming in the corner of Mavis''s eyes as one of Alex''s unoccupied fingers discovered her tiny bead, and then proceeded to flick it lightly in time with when he stimulated her G-spot. "-and I''m sure that Heaven will similarly be ready to move against a differing divine faction-" "CUMMING!" Mavis suddenly cried out in a voice so loud her throat hurt afterwards, as one of the most powerful ?r??sms she ever experienced surged through her body, cutting Venelana off as the brown haired milf directed a look of anger at her and Alex for ignoring her. "Perhaps we should come back later..." She uttered while sheathing with anger as Alex then proceeded to lift Mavis up by the backs of her knees, and impaled her tiny body in one swift movement on his stall towering ???k, making her eyes role back into her head. "No no, I''ve been paying attention. Heaven and the Underworld helping me in the battle and so on." Alex said dismissively as he continued moving the limp Mavis up and down his ???k, his movements seeming incredibly slow due to how tight she still was despite the foreplay. He then followed up with, "Thanks for the consideration, but they won''t be needed." Alex then stopped paying attention to the three milfs as Mavis recovered herself just enough to start moving by herself, allowing him the chance to start playing with her n?pp??s, leaving the three of them stunned as Venelana uttered, "Excuse me...?" Alex didn''t even glance up as he said, "I said none of them will be needed when I fight the other factions. If that was all then the three of you are free to leave or join in, it''s up to you." Alex then proceeded to ignore the trio completely as he devoted all of his attention to the petite women in his ??p, who was struggling to maintain her consciousness as Alex forced her to suffer wave after wave of intense p???sur?. Seemingly indignant at being ignored this way, Venelana then demanded, "What do you mean you won''t need any of our or Heaven''s forces when you fight them?! They''re some of the strongest factions to ever exist! Not just one or two gods, but entire pantheons that consist of hundreds of them, and they''ve been increasing their numbers for centuries! What kind of plan do you have for that?!" As Venelana said, while each faction could be said to be in a state of decline until they joined the alliance, the various divine pantheons were different from Heaven, the Underworld, or the Grigori in that they didn''t suffer from the same leadership or repopulation issues they had. Instead many of the gods had continued siring and birthing demigods throughout the centuries, no where near the strength of their predecessors during their faction''s height, but still exceptionally powerful compared to normal humans, even before adding Sacred Gears into the mix. Alex however seemed mostly indifferent in the face of Venelana''s outrage, the only change being that he seemed even more excited even as he reluctantly explained, "My biggest promise to my people is that I won''t force them into any battles if they don''t want to participate, and that goes for anyone who''s sworn allegiance to me. The only ones who''ll fight in the upcoming battles between the factions will be me and possibly my peerage, and if we need help even then there''ll be Sairaorg and Vali. Besides, I''ve already sent Olympus a letter of challenge stating I''ll be attacking them later today." Though she appeared surprised at everything else Alex said, Venelana was stupefied when she heard the last as she quietly uttered, "What did you say?" Alex genuinely had to fight not to roll his eyes at Venelana''s question, as he turned towards her and repeated, "I said that I already sent Olympus a letter of challenge stating that I''ll challenge them later today, that should give them just enough time to prepare their fighters before I show up." Venelana''s entire face twitched as Alex revealed his lack of intention to use any kind of tactics whatsoever, and instead apparently already told them when he was coming so they prepare as much of a challenge as possible for him. CRASH! Gripping the table with enough strength that she eventually crushed part of it, Venelana then proceeded to storm off while saying, "Fine then! Maybe you''ll grow a brain after you see firsthand how bad an idea it is to face an entire pantheon of prepared gods firsthand! Let''s go!" With the last part directed to her two companions, the ladies Sitri and Phenex both rushed to catch up to the angry Venelana as they fought the urge to giggle at her expense, as it was very rare to see Venelana lose her cool like this. As they were about to leave though, a certain duo that were completely n?k?d except for several types of s?x toys and dress up approached them, both smirking lecherously as the one with her brown hair tied up in pigtails quickly said, "You look a little stressed there miss, perhaps you''d like to test a certain product that we hope to expand into the Underworld~!" Though Venelana was almost tempted to blast the duo in her anger, she managed to forcefully calm herself as Aika Kiryuu and her newest partner, Momioka Risa(Suzu was hiding from Venelana after the party incident), revealed a series of certain dubious s?xu?? objects. (A.N. If it''s not one fu?k?n? thing it''s another.. We finally started slowing down at work so I thought I''d be able to write more, but now I have the fu?k?n? covid! The good news is that I''m under quarantine so hopefully I''ll be able to write more, but you know how that goes by now, and I''m still experiencing the symptoms of it. Here''s hoping I''ll be able to post a bit more often, and thank you for the continued understanding!) Chapter 403 - Gathering of Legends While Alex was busy enjoying his orgy, high above the land of Greece, above the peak of their highest mountain, sat the literal home of the gods, Olympus. There the architecture looked to be a mixture of swirling cloud and stone pillars, while the residents dressed in white sheet-like togas as they went about their business, unaware of the meeting taking place at the highest place in Olympus, the hall of the gods. Zeus was currently there along with all of the other twelve Olympians who ruled Olympus as they sat around a great horseshoe shaped table, and a certain young looking girl that was tending to the great fire in the middle. With Zeus having reclaimed his place at the head of the table, to his right was his brother Poseidon, and his sons Ares, Hephaestus, Apollon, Hermes, and Dionysus. To his immediate left at the head of the table was his wife Hera, and then past her was his sister Demeter, the goddess Aphrodite, and then his daughters Artemis, and Athena. For the longest time none of the gods and goddesses said anything as Zeus glared angrily at a piece of paper before him, his typical easy going demeanor long gone as he slowly read it out loud once again. "To the CURRENT rulers of Olympus, I am writing to inform you that I will be attacking Olympus with the intention of taking control of it from Zeus tonight at eight pm sharp, and that I wished to give your forces ample time to prepare(not that it''ll help in the slightest). As such, when I arrive please make sure that all of the most important people are gathered in a single location to give me ease in beating all of you, and make sure your bu??s are all clean for when I proceed to spank your divine ?sses. Sincerely, the Dragon Emperor. P.S. Please send Hera my regards, and tell her I''ll see her soon." Thunder boomed around them and the skies of Olympus as a fresh wave of anger filled Zeus from reading the letter again, before he proceeded to chuck it into the great hearth before him to get it out of his sight. He then rounded on his wife next to him, who appeared to be hiding a chuckle at the post script Alex included as he demanded, "Is there anything you''d like to tell me, ''wife''?" Instead of appearing troubled at her husband''s tone and attitude, Hera''s smile just widened as she enjoyed every second of his anger, as for the first time he had an inkling of how he''d made her feel hundreds of times throughout the millennia. While they were technically husband and wife, Hera had only married Zeus after he made her lower her guard by turning himself into a swan, and then raping her. As the goddess ?ssociated with marriage she would never be able to wed anyone if she wasn''t pure, so she had reluctantly married Zeus and bore him two sons, Ares and Hephaestus. As if that hadn''t been insulting enough though, Zeus then proceeded to cheat on her every chance he got while also siring hundreds of bastards over the millennia with other women, several of which were now seated with them as the twelve Olympians. While she herself was a victim, people hated Hera almost as much as they disliked Zeus due to the fact that she never tried to punish her husband for his philandering, instead targeting the objects of his ?ust and the innocent children they ended up birthing. The most infamous example of this was Heracles, who she tried to murder with two snakes while he was baby, and then she drove him to kill his own wife and children with his b?r? hands in a fit of insanity. That was why she was enjoying the current situation quite a bit, as her divinity as the goddess of marriage prevented her from being similarly unfaithful to husband, and showing him how it felt. Now, despite the fact that she had never actually met Alex before, Zeus was seething with anger and jealousy at the implication that there was something going on between himself and his wife, which all of the other gods knew was impossible. Regardless, Hera couldn''t help the smirk on her face as she honestly replied, "I have no idea what he is talking about husband, perhaps the Dragon Emperor simply wished to rile you up even more. I have heard that he is quite the battle junky." While Hera''s logic was sound to Zeus and the others gods, that didn''t appease his anger in the slightest. Instead, he then declared, "If he wants me ''riled'', THEN HE''LL GET ME RILED!" Zeus then looked at Hermes and ordered, "Rally all of the minor gods and heroes! I want every single force under Olympus ready to fight within the hour!" Standing to attention, the messenger God, who appeared quite small compared to his fellow divines, then vanished as he left to carry out his duty. ... As the remaining time until the battle slowly slipped by, all of Olympus became active as they prepared for Alex''s arrival. The minstrels and muses that filled the skies of Olympus with serene and pleasant music were replaced with warriors and heroes that were armed with a variety of ancient weapons, such as swords, shields, lances, ect. They were the current generation of demigods that were the result of a god''s union with a mortal, and as such were also born with several powers that they inherited from their godly parents, along with the rare few that were also born with sacred gears. They weren''t the only ones gathering though, as many of the heroes suddenly looked up when they heard the flapping of wings, accompanied by a horse''s neigh. "PERSEUS!" One of the heroes cried out, before the air was filled with the chant, """PERSEUS! PERSEUS! PERSEUS!""" As the pure white Pegasus touched down onto the ground, everyone watched the figure on its back in awe, a genuine legend from history that all modern heroes took inspiration from. As he dismounted the Pegasus many of those around gathered around roared their excitement from having him join them in battle, as Perseus had been living in Elysium ever since his death all that time ago. In preparation for Alex''s arrival, even the heroes who had died and retired to their own version of Heaven had emerged for battle. This was even more evident a moment later as the ground beneath their feet began to shudder, announcing the arrival of none other than THE greatest hero in Greek history, Heracles himself. Unlike Perseus, who''s appearance inspired an uproar of excitement, Heracles''s appearance caused a silence of awe to descend upon the crowd as everyone took in the appearance of the legend of legends, the greatest hero to ever exist. While everyone else silent in awe though, Perseus readily approached the hulking figure while laughing lightheartedly as he said, "Brother! It appears that we''ll have the honor of facing the Dragon Emperor himself this time, what do you think of him?" Heracles was silent for a moment as he pondered his brother''s question, before answering in his characteristic deep rumble, "He will be a worthy adversary, I will be honored to help the one to defeat him earn such glory." Perseus smiled widely at his brothers words, as he too felt the same way. Their time had passed and they only emerged from Elysium when Olympus itself had dire need of them, it was time for the new generations to earn all of the honor and glory. Truthfully, if Heracles had one regret about facing Alex, it was that his fool of a descendant was off who-knows-where with the rest of those self-proclaimed heroes instead of being here for his own share of glory. However someone else interrupted his musings as they said, "The honor will be all mine Heracles, after I defeat the Dragon Emperor of course." Heracles and Perseus both fought back a groan as they turned back to see none other than Achilles approaching them, causing another wave of excitement to pass through the crowds. ""Achilles."" Both brothers said flatly as they greeted their fellow hero, who responded by nodding slightly at them in return before proceeding to flip his long flawless golden hair back, while a nearby light glistened off his pristine armor. Needless to say that neither brother cared much for the infamous glory hog, who continued to pursue it even after death. Thankfully though they didn''t have to suffer his presence alone for long, as a familiar and welcome cry echoed over the crowds. """AWOO! AWOO! AWOO!""" This marked the arrival of an entire crowd of figures dressed identically in leather straps with red patterns, another famous figure at their head who had led them into a glorious battle, and death, Leonidas. "''Leonidas."" The brothers greeted the famous king respectfully, unlike Achilles, as Leonidas had been the one to lead a mere three hundred soldiers to the Hot Gates in order to hold back the approaching Persian armies, holding the gates for three days against tens of thousands of enemies before ultimately sacrificing themselves to give the armies of Greece a chance to mobilize. They had been one of the few instances of an entire army being allowed into the fields of Elysium, instead of just the single famous hero. Naturally Heracles and Perseus respected someone who had given their life in exchange for the freedom of the entire Greek world, more than a man whose only ambition in life and death had been to obtain as much personal glory as possible. While Leonidas, Heracles, and Perseus all discussed various plans for when Alex arrived(and Achilles made sure his weapons and armor were in good shape), several more heroes joined them in the planning and waiting. These included Theseus, Jason with his Argonauts, Hector of Troy(who merely glanced in Achilles''s direction once before joining the planning), and many others. Their presence both reassured the current heroes of Olympus due to their myths and legacies, but at the same time made many of them nervous due to the thought of fighting alongside their idols. But they would have to get over any discomfort real quick when Zeus himself suddenly appeared in the skies above them, accompanied by a thundering boom as lightning crackled around him. Surrounding Zeus was ten of the other Olympians dressed for combat in their own respective attires, while Zeus himself was dressed in pure white toga that flapped in the increasingly violent wind. Slowly Zeus''s cracking blue eyes scanned the literal millions of warriors and heroes that had gathered below him, before his voice boomed down at them, "You have all gathered today because we face an unprecedented threat. The Dragon Emperor has fought and even killed gods, Devils, and any number of enemies that none of us have ever even conceived of existing or fighting; and now he had done what none have ever thought possible, and United Heaven and Hell under his banner!" As his voice echoed out over the armies of Olympus, many of the gathered soldiers and heroes felt their blood pumping at the thought of fighting such a powerful and infamous figure, their d?s?r? to win glory and make a name for themselves dominating the daunting fact that Alex was simply too powerful for them to beat. Seeing this, Zeus then continued, "Now the Dragon Emperor is on his way here, presumably with the armies of Heaven, Hell, and his Asora at his back, with the intention of ''conquering'' Olympus for themselves! Well, WILL WE LET THEM!?" With the sky roaring along with Zeus''s shout, the millions of warriors roared back their willingness to meet the challenge despite the odds against them, building up the hype as the seconds counted down until Alex''s arrival. *** While Zeus and the armies of Olympus were prepared to meet him outside, inside the divine hall there was a brief spatial distortion before two figures appeared out of thin air, Alex and Nyx. As he looked around in awe Alex uttered, "So this is the seat of power in Olympus..." Nyx nodded in affirmation as she said, "Yep, this is where those annoying Olympians are based and hold their meetings." As she had been one of the dark gods that sought to end the stability of the world, Nyx was very much looking forward to seeing Alex humiliate the entire pantheon by himself. While he himself was smiling wryly at her eagerness, something else grabbed Alex''s attention as he focused on the sole occupant in the throne room, a young looking girl who was silently tending the great hearth that sat in the center of it. As she turned to look at him Alex knew instantly who she was due to only one Olympian fitting her profile, Hestia. Hestia was the oldest of the Olympians and was the first-born child of the Titan Cronus, who''s latent power and potential instilled so much fear in the King of the Titans, that he then began the trend of eating his own children to prevent them from rising up against him. Though this trend ended up backfiring on him when Zeus rose up and freed his captive siblings, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Despite her own power and potential however, Hestia had always been similar to Anne in that she was naturally pacifistic, except that Anne would fight when she needed to, while it was nearly impossible to get Hestia to mobilize. As he looked at her though, Alex could honestly say that this was good thing as even her passive aura was sending shivers along even his skin, telling him that if she ever decided to use her strength, the rankings of the world''s strongest would be completely rearranged. As the youthful looking girl then directed her attention to him for the first time, Alex got his first real look at the strongest Olympian. Her eyes were a deep charcoal black that glowed orange at the center like they were live coals, while her long smooth charcoal black hair cascaded down her shoulders gracefully. Despite her appearing to be in her early teens like Yue or Mavis though, true to DXD world logic, Hestia had some of the largest br??sts Alex had ever seen on someone with her figure, appearing even slightly larger than Nyx''s. "It''s a p???sur? to finally meet the famous Dragon Emperor, and I''m glad that you managed to save your daughter." Though he approached with complete confidence before, Alex paused at Hestia''s words, as they hadn''t said anything regarding Edith being kidnapped at one point, yet Hestia looked and acted as if she knew all about it. Seeing him pause, the goddess continued, "I see a lot in the flames and coals of the hearth, but always within our own world. So consider me surprised as well when one day I saw the missing Dragon Emperor welcoming his own children into the world, and then one of them suddenly being taken." Sensing genuine sincerity from Hestia''s tone and words, Alex nodded to her slightly and said, "Thank you for your sincerity, and it is an honor to meet the first Olympian." Smiling warmly back at the sincerity that Alex returned to her, Hestia returned to tending her hearth without giving him another glance, fully intending to stay out of Alex''s fight with her family since she had a fairly good grasp of his character by this point. Knowing that Hestia wasn''t going to interfere with him, Alex then proceeded to make his way to Zeus''s throne, before planting his bu?? right in it as he decided to wait for the Olympians to join him. Meanwhile Nyx then proceeded to act in her role as his slave-maid, and started bringing Alex refreshments from the Olympian table while they waited. In the silence of the divine hall though, aside from the constant crackle of Hestia''s hearth, the pitter patter of feet on the stone floors drew Alex''s attention, revealing a surprising visitor. Chapter 404 - War As the minutes slowly and painfully ticked by, Zeus began to feel something was wrong as Alex never arrived. Zeus didn''t believe Alex wouldn''t show based on his attitude in the letter, so with every minute that ticked by passed eight, he began to grow increasingly uneasy. As the armies and heroes below him also grew increasingly restless at how quiet it was, Athena then called out urgently, "What if he showed up somewhere else instead?!" Zeus then paled as he realized Alex never said exactly where he would attack them at, and, based off of the attitude he displayed in his letter, a horrible idea crossed his mind. "OLYMPIANS! WE ARE RETURNING TO THE DIVINE HALL!" His voice boomed across the sky once more, before he then turned and started flying back towards the hall at the peak of Olympus, the other ten gods right on his tail. The second he stormed into the hall though, Zeus was filled with both shock and outrage when he saw Alex casually sitting back in his throne, snacking on their ambrosia and nectar while there was a suspicious movement in his ??p. Ignoring the growing anger his presence had caused though, Alex threw his arms open in a welcoming gesture as he declared, "Welcome! I came to fight like I promised, but imagine my surprise when I found out all of you ran away like cowards before I even got here! So, until you worked up the balls to greet me, I decided to enjoy some refreshments while admiring the look of my new throne room. At least one of you knows how to properly greet your new emperor though." As he trailed off Alex gestured to the figure bobbing up and down in his ??p, which, when they moved to see who it was from around the grand table, they saw it none other than the goddess Aphrodite, completely n?k?d with Alex''s ???k in her mouth. The entirety of Olympus began to slowly rumble at Zeus''s indignant fury from the current situation, from Alex defiling his throne and eating their ambrosia and nectar, to even one of their own welcoming him so ''openly''. "Aphrodite..." He growled in his most threatening tone as the stone columns, floors, and ceilings around them began crack and fracture. "...what is the meaning of this...?" Alex watched Zeus''s anger in amusement while also anticipating the fight to come, but then he fought an involuntary shuddered as Aphrodite ran her incredibly pleasurable tongue up the bottom of his ???k one last time, before she said as her incredibly skilled and soft hands began to stroke him, "Isn''t it obvious Zeus? How could you ever expect me to ignore such an amazing and perfect specimen of a real ''man''? Especially when it''s one who has such a reputation when it comes to members of the opposite s?x?" As she spoke Aphrodite then crawled into his ??p as she eagerly positioned her smooth and glistening entrance over his ???khead, before slowly penetrating herself onto him. "..." As the goddess of love and beauty herself impaled herself on him, Alex actually had to fight back the urge to climax then and there as the most pleasurable sensation he ever experienced ?ssaulted him, making him almost feel like a teenage boy again experiencing his actual contact with a girl. He was able to resist the urge though with every single ounce of self control he possessed in his body, making Aphrodite even more excited since almost every single one of her lovers over the millennia would''ve ?um by now. Of course, Alex had an easier time resisting the p???sur?s of Aphrodite''s body a second later when a new voice bellowed, "GET OFF OF MY WIFE!!!" He then looked up to a horribly disfigured beast of a man charging at them, hammer raised high while flames swirled around him, none other than the smith God, Hephaestus. While Alex did feel a bit bad about fu?k?n? the man''s wife, he got over it since Aphrodite had never actually wanted to be with Hephaestus to begin with, instead she was given to him by Zeus in order to prevent infighting amongst the gods to have her for their own. So, Alex then proceeded to grab Aphrodite''s bu?? with his left hand to support her, while she wrapped her arms and legs around his neck and waist, and dodged as Hephaestus destroyed Zeus''s throne. Ignoring the molten slag that had once been Zeus''s throne, the rest of the gods then proceeded to follow up Hephaestus''s attack with their own, finally signaling the start of the battle. First Alex had to either avoid or deflect a series of weapon strikes that came from either Ares, Athena, or Hermes, the former two of which had divinities related to war and battle, while the latter one was fastest amongst the gods. As if that wasn''t enough though, at the same time the twin archery gods of Apollon and Artemis began to fire several volleys of arrows at him with such speed and precision, that they put both ?ssault rifles and snipers to shame. Even with Aphrodite covering the entire front half of his body, and with her arms and legs wrapped around him, none of the arrows or weapon attacks were in danger of hitting her as Alex instead had to defend his eyes, sides, balls(shudder), and other exposed vulnerabilities from them. Meanwhile Zeus took the chance to build up enough power and lightning that he risked vaporizing the entirety of Olympus, while Hephaestus had generated enough fire and heat by this point that anything around him started to melt as he slowly limped towards Alex and his wife, fury in his eyes. Of course, one of the only places not being damaged by the battle was Hestia''s hearth, but no one except Alex noticed the youthful looking goddess giving them all pointed glares. "Why doesn''t the ''great saiyan'' try this on for size!" Zeus cried out as he released his blast of lightning directly at Alex, who was surrounded by the other gods to try and prevent him from avoiding the blast. Instead of doing so though, the corner of Alex''s mouth twitched to form a smirk as he raised his hand as if in slow motion, Apollon and Artemis''s attacks suddenly seeming to just b?r?ly miss him as he stopped focusing on them, and backhanded the massive lightning attack away as if was but a fly to him. KABOOOOOOOOM!!! All of Olympus jumped as Zeus''s attack tore through every single protective layer and formation encircling the throne room, and tore apart the sky itself beyond in a spectacular light show. As everyone else was momentarily stunned by the light show, Heracles voice suddenly boomed out almost as loud as the thunder had been, "TO THE GODS! TO BATTLE! AND TO GLORY!!!" """FOR GLORY!!!""" With literal millions of warriors echoing his battle cry as they rushed towards the throne of Olympus, both the earth and sky rumbled as the battle raged on ahead. Meanwhile, back in the throne room, Alex was still fighting each of the gods singlehandedly, while simultaneously making sure to fu?k Aphrodite like she''d never been fu?k?d before. Aphrodite had always had a thing for ''manly'' men, men who could fight, men who would bathe in the blood of their enemies and be a terror on the battlefield, and knew how to treat a woman. Unfortunately, her husband wasn''t any of that. While Hephaestus was a loving husband that regularly showered her with gifts that he forged himself, Aphrodite had never been able to genuinely love him like he did her, instead her attention was usually taken by men like Ares, or Alex. Take the current moment for example, never in her long existence had Aphrodite ever been fu?k?d by a man who was simultaneously fighting several opponents at once. Not only was Alex expertly defending against and retaliating against the other god''s attacks, but he was also expertly using his impressive ???k to p???sur? her in ways no man had done in centuries, and that was even before the finger on his left hand started to get involved. "Oh my! Those are some naughty fingers you have there~" She whispered into Alex''s ears as she felt them dig into her bu??, so that Alex was now pleasuring both her holes while fighting off eleven major gods. "Are you sure you''re not some kind of s?x God~?" Alex smirked at her question, and only responded with a "No comment." While Aphrodite pouted at him mockingly, her eyes suddenly widening as Alex decided to kick things up a notch. "Let''s have you all experience the overwhelming power of a SSJ4!" He uttered with a wide smile, making those that heard him pale as they recalled his previous fur covered form. "DON''T LET HIM TRANSFORM!" Zeus shouted with undisguised panic as he desperately tried to power up an even bigger shot than last time, while the rest of the gods quickly rushed in to prevent Alex from transforming. Instead of being deterred by their interference though, Alex''s maniac smile widened as an intense aura began to radiate from his body, preventing gods such as Hermes or Dionysus from getting close to him. Athena and Ares both fought against Alex''s increasing pressure though to attack with their swords, only for a sharp metallic clang to ring out as Ascalon and a brilliant golden staff appeared to block them. "What the-?" Athena swore when she saw the two weapons, the first of which Alex was controlling with ''Telekinesis'', while he was wielding the golden staff with his tail. The staff was one of the weapons he had created in his downtime, replacing the original staff that Sun Wukong gave him all those years ago since it was more durable, and he had managed to make it like Wukong''s in that it expanded and extended. Of course, like Wukong''s it was so heavy that no ordinary person could wield it. Alex however twirled the golden staff around with his tail like it weighed nothing, deflecting each and every attack directed at his back with it regardless of if they swords or arrows. Meanwhile Ascalon flashed with its golden divine brilliance as it deflected every attack in front of Alex, seemingly moving as if it had a mind of it own through the air. Meanwhile Alex''s power continued to soar while the gathered gods tried to prevent his transformation, to no avail. Slowly his muscle mass started to increase, as bright red hair began to sprout all over his body while his black hair seemed to turn darker as it extended down to his shoulders. Aphrodite too reacted to Alex''s transformation, as she gripped his new fur as if she were trying to rip it out as she felt his already large member grow even bigger inside her. It still wasn''t the largest she ever had, but, feeling the ???k that Alex had already been fu?k?n? her like a god with growing bigger, she certainly wasn''t complaining. Everyone else was more focused on the other aspects of Alex''s transformation though, namely the power that now radiated from his body along with his increased size. While still moving to keep Aphrodite satisfied, Alex glanced over the other gods before saying, "Let''s try this again, shall we?" Before any of them even had a chance to respond, Alex suddenly appeared behind the fastest of the twelve Olympians, Hermes, and delivered the messenger God with a merciless flick to the back of the head that sent him flying, the whites of his eyes showing. "...oops..." Alex muttered when he saw the Hermes was lifelessly falling to the earth below, his expression paling as he continued, "I held back enough to not pop his head like a melon, but was that really enough...?" Though he was worried about if he had accidentally killed the messenger God, Alex didn''t have time to be too concerned as Zeus finally unleashed his attack at him. Unlike the previous attack Alex didn''t bother retaliating though, instead allowing the insanely powerful blast of lightning to strike him directly in the face without defending against it whatsoever. The entire throne room was then enveloped in a bright flash of light as the power of the blast blew out the rest of the walls and pillars, exposing them all to the night skies. "D-did that do it...?" One of the gods couldn''t help but ask as the bright light began to die down, the only sound breaking the silence around them being the beating of pegasus''s wings as Perseus approached. "Don''t you know anything about flags? Saying something like that after a flashy attack guarantees that the villain didn''t take any damage you know." Alex''s voice suddenly called out as the intense light began to die down, revealing him standing there without even so much as a scuff on his face. Instead he had a casual stance while Aphrodite hung limply in his arms after he had finally allowed himself to ?um inside her, the potent energy from his s?m?n also pushing her over the edge despite her authority as a goddess of love and s?x. As the seconds ticked by and everyone took in the scene of Alex standing there perfectly fine while in shock, while Aphrodite slowly recovered from her ?r??sm. "That was....truly amazing! Next lets-kyaaaa!" Just as she tried deciding how to have s?x next, Alex then proceeded to unceremoniously(though gently) dump her on the ground before equipping a plain pair of pants on his lower body, and saying, "It truly was amazing, but that''ll be all since I''m not into sharing with other guys. If you want a next time, then you''ll have to get the approval of my harem." Aphrodite''s mental facilities slow led to complete stop as she watched Alex turn away from her to put all of his attention on his fight with the other gods, the reality of what he said sinking in as he did so. ''I....was rejected...?'' Over and over these three words repeated themselves in her mind, trying to process the reality of what they meant. Never in her thousands of years had a single person, man or woman, rejected her. The only possible exceptions to this rule were literal children, someone whose heart was completely claimed by another, or those who were completely pure of heart, however Aphrodite had never actually encountered the last one. Alex obviously didn''t fall into any of these categories, he wasn''t a child, and he had a harem so the last two definitely wouldn''t apply. There was also the fact that he had already indulged in her body and abandoned her after the fact, adding to unrealness of the situation. This was a part of the reason Alex had been so ''cruel'' to Aphrodite, as he was well aware of how her personality was, and, while she herself was used to having as many partners as she pleased, she had next to no experiencing sharing a man with other women. Was it hypocritical of him? Yes it was. Did Alex care? No he did not. He had done the same thing when it came to Kurumu''s mother Ageha, he was fine with have a tryst with her once, but that would be it unless she dedicated herself to him. So for him it would be the same with Aphrodite, though if the end result was the same or not would depend on her. For Alex at the moment however, Aphrodite was getting further and further from his mind as more and more of the heroes of Olympus began to arrive, starting with hero King, Perseus. Looking between the gathered heroes and gods that were gaping at the raw, unbridled energy coming off of his body, Alex cracked his knuckled threateningly before asking, "So, who''s next?" KABOOM!!! All of mount Olympus shuddered once again as yet another explosion thundered, and another figure went flying, this time being Hephaestus as he once again tried to make Alex pay for fu?k?n? his wife. Meanwhile Alex himself appeared in the skies above Olympus, the gods Dionysus and Poseidon hanging limply in his grips. Dropping the portly Dionysus unceremoniously to the ground below, Alex then instead tossed Poseidon towards the seas that he could possibly recover, and display the true power of the God of the seas. The second both gods crash landed though, there was a crash as a new figure suddenly leapt up towards Alex, using their own explosive strength to propel themselves forward like the world''s deadliest cannon. Alex''s maniac smile widened as he watched the hulking figure wrapped in a lions pelt speed towards him through the skies, while another figure sped towards him on the back of a pure white Pegasus, one hand clutching his sword while the other was inside of a burlap bag. Putting on the glasses that Azazel had given him so long ago, Alex then reached up and caught Heracles in mid-air right before he could impact him, arresting all of his explosive momentum instantly. "It''s an honor to meet history''s strongest hero, too bad we couldn''t meet under better circumstances though." Alex said playfully to Heracles, to which the great hero growled back with just the b?r?st hint of his own smile, "Indeed. I would have liked to swap stories with you sometime." Though the two muscle heads shared a brief moment of respect for one another, Alex then sent a powerful punch directly to Heracles''s gut and sent him flying off into the distance. As Alex watched the greatest hero in history fly away, he then directed his attention towards the pure white Pegasus that steadily and warily approached him. On its back was Perseus himself, with his right hand raising his sword while his left was gripping something inside a bloody burlap sack. "Let''s see how the great Dragon Emperor deals with THIS!" Perseus cried out with a victorious grin plastered to his face, any thought of leaving the glory to someone else gone from his mind in the face of Alex''s overwhelming might as he pulled the bloody head of Medusa from the sack. When the scaly green head was pointed at him Alex watched as Medusa''s eyes opened on their own as she seemed to come alive once more, her snake hair coming alive as well to hiss and b?r? their elongated fangs at him while her serpentine eyes dyed everything within their field of view green. Despite making contact with Medusa''s eyes though, nothing happen to Alex as he and Perseus stared at each other for several seconds, until he then proceeded to tap the side of his sunglasses lightly to indicate to the demigod why exactly he hadn''t turned to stone. "Are you kidding me...?" Perseus muttered to himself as he slowly put Medusa''s head away, never having thought that Alex would have a tool on him to filter out visual based elements. He then instead pulled out his shield, which was reflective enough to use as a mirror in order to allow him to fight Medusa without directly looking at her. "Then let''s settle this like some real men!" He cried out towards Alex, intending to draw him into a direct one-on-one battle while the rest of the Warriors and heroes around them closed in. Unfortunately for him though, Alex had no intention to draw things out. Instead, Alex''s hand began to blur as he used Spatial magic to reach through the void, where he grabbed the back of Perseus''s armor and pulled. Less than a second later the hero King found himself falling as Alex pulled him through space, and sent him careening away from his Pegasus through the open air. Alex himself then dropped down to the ground so that he was surrounded on all sides by enemies, while any remaining gods filled the skies above them, each one nursing some level of injuries from their earlier clash. "Why is it people always think they have the advantage when they surround me? All it means is that it''s harder for them for them to avoid MY attacks." As if to prove his point, Alex then raised his hand before creating a white hot ball of fire, before throwing it to the ground to spread and swirl around him. "SPARTANS! SHIELDS UP!!!" A sharp voice cried out before every single Spartan soldier, no matter the time period, raised their shields in unison to form one solid makeshift wall. When they did a shimmering hexagonal wall formed before them from where Leonidas was standing, extending to cover entire squadrons in a protective layer of magical light. "A barrier type sacred gear huh? That explains a bit." Alex muttered as he watched the king of Spartans piggyback on their shield wall to increase their defenses even more, while the flames he generated rushed up against the defensive line. Thankfully for them Alex''s intention wasn''t to smash their defenses and burn them all, instead the flames he generated began to condense and form concrete shapes, until there was another army gathered there of demonic looking fiery beings. The armies of Olympus stared at the fiery beings with a mix of horror and fascination, horror at the fact that Alex could generate entire armies at a whim, and fascination at how Alex had apparently created that for all intents and purposes, were living beings from nothing but fire itself. Their fascination didn''t last long though, as Leonidas then cried out, "SPARTANS! ATTAAAAAAAAACK!" In an instant the gathered Spartans broke their shield wall and surged forward in a wave of shields and lances, leading the charge against Alex''s creations of fire. The sole exception was a certain blonde haired warrior who was wearing a set of pristine silver armor, who rushed Alex faster than anyone else could move. "You will become a part of My legacy, Dragon Emperor!" The warrior cried out in excitement as he aimed his sword at soft flesh between Alex neck and his shoulder, where he landed to plunge his sword to get an easy kill with a single strike. Instead, Alex sent him a punch without even glancing in his direction that sent the warrior flying away, without him even knowing the man''s identity. The person Alex did pay attention to however was another armored individual that quickly sped towards him from the ruins of the Olympian throne room, his expression one of anger as he cried out with his sword raised, "You''ll pay for what you did to Aphrodite!" Alex''s expression was calm as he raised Ascalon to catch Ares''s sword on it''s guard, and he replied, "What exactly did I ''do to her''? She wanted to fu?k so I agreed to do so once, and then I rejected her when that one time was over. It''s not my fault that she can''t handle rejection well." Of course Alex''s words only angered Ares even more, as the war God loved the goddess of love more than anyone else. Unlike Hephaestus though he understood her free and unrestrained nature, he didn''t see her as simply a beautiful bird that needed to be caged. Seeing her the way she had been after Alex rejected and turned away from her broke Ares''s heart, so the war God intended to do the only thing he could do, smash Alex''s face in as retribution. Unfortunately Ares underestimated just how skilled Alex actually was with a blade, plus there was Alex''s raw physical ability to contend with. Ares may have had millennia to hone his own respective skills, but he had never considered fighting beings on the physical level that Alex currently was. The only time he came even close to striking Alex was at the one point that Alex didn''t even bother using Ascalon to guard against one of Ares''s strikes, instead catching the blade on the palm of his hand. Alex was then surprised as Ares''s sword blade began to slice into his flesh just ever so slightly, just enough to draw his blood before Alex tightened the muscles in his hand to prevent it from cutting even deeper. Surprised that Ares managed to do even that, Alex then said to him, "I didn''t even think anyone on this world could damage my body with this transformation, you have my acknowledgement Ares." Though he praised the God of war, Alex then proceeded to send him flying a second later after he planted his fist in his gut, shattering Ares''s armor as the war God was sent flying away at high speed. Ares hadn''t even landed yet when there was a flash of light and Alex was surrounded by the few remaining gods, Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollon, and Artemis, all of which were nursing various injuries as they prepared once more for battle. Zeus then glanced around them to see the battle raging as Alex''s creations fought with the armies they gathered, as he took in the destruction caused by one man. "Let''s settle this." Zeus said in a deathly calm voice, now prepared to do whatever it took to egg out a win against Alex. The man himself however just grinned at the resolve of Zeus and the other gods, before his figure blurred as he zipped around, and rendered the rest of the gods unconscious instantly. With just the two of them left, lightning began to crackle around Zeus menacingly while Alex''s aura soared once again to dwarf Zeus''s, displaying to anyone who was watching just how much of a gap there was between the two. CRACK! CRACK! BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! One after another Zeus fired bolts of lightning directly at Alex to try and force him back, but Alex simply took every attack as he slowly approached the thunder God, his expression never flinching in the slightest at the attacks he took. Finally Alex and Zeus stood mere inches before each other, staring the other in the eye as Zeus''s crackled with lightning, and Alex''s red ringed eyes stared down at him unflinchingly. Then, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Alex delivered a series of high speed and powered punches to several different parts of Zeus''s upper body, obliterating most of the toga covering his body while doing untold damage to the inside of Zeus''s body. Meanwhile the thunder God sacrificed any form of defense to grab onto Alex himself, before sending all of the lightning he could muster directly into Alex''s body at point blank. While normally this would be a sound strategy, what Zeus didn''t know was that Alex had recently gained the ability to absorb any and all forms of energy with his body, meaning that all Zeus did was recharge any energy Alex might have lost during their fight, and then some. Of course Alex didn''t actually say any of this, instead, he simply grabbed Zeus by the face and swept his leg under the thunder God to knock him off of his feet, sending him crashing to the ground. Slowly the battlefield entered a state of hush as they watched the chief of their gods fall on his back, before coughing up a frightening amount of blood from the earlier damage Alex did to his body. Looking out over the battlefield though, Alex then looked at Zeus and said, "No matter how you spin it, this battle is over. I know you have your own pride and all, but is it really worth forcing your followers and family to undergo unnecessary suffering just to prolong the foregone conclusion?" As Alex said, this entire battle was little more than a farce for the Olympians to officially try to prevent him from taking them over, just like the other divine factions. Unlike Heaven or the Underworld who had lost their leaders and were in a period of accepting change in order to survive, Olympus had no need to change to survive, they had been doing so perfectly fine for millennia. They technically didn''t even need to join the alliance, only doing so so that they weren''t being left out of any planning and scheming that might have been going on, just like the other divine factions. This whole battle was simply for Alex to display his strength to those who would be against joining the growing Asoran Empire, and to show them how strong people in other worlds could be compared to themselves. Alex however overdid things in an attempt to get an even better fight out of the situation, due to the challenge he had been hoping an entire pantheon of gods would present. To show just how he genuinely meant no harm to the Olympians, Alex then proceeded to cast a large scale Regeneration magic to restore the fighters, and all of Olympus itself, back to its original state before the battle had started, all while only seemingly snapping his fingers to do so. Then, despite the fact that Zeus had yet to answer Alex''s request for submission, he then called out, "I have already beaten the best that Olympus has to offer, all either by myself or using my powers to do so. Now you all have a choice, you can fight and I can kick your ?sses again as many times as it takes for you all to get the message; or you can all submit here and begin training in order to face your REAL opponents, heroes and monsters from other worlds! "Beings that no one from THIS Olympus had ever faced before are out there waiting to be conquered for honor and glory! Creatures more fierce than the Nemean Lion, more tenacious than the hydra, stronger than the cyclops, deadlier than a gorgon! All of these and more await heroes to kill them in other worlds, along with champions of these worlds that believe themselves to be the strongest! So what do you say?!" As he trailed off Alex looked around at the gathered heroes and warriors intently, waiting their decision while Zeus silently got to his knees from his back, staring up at Alex even more intently. Now that he had experienced Alex''s strength firsthand he knew that Olympus could not continue the way it had been, but not every other God would''ve been willing to agree. Now that they too had experienced Alex''s strength, and knew that there were beings out there even stronger than him, many of them were terrified of him opening the world, while others were excited at the prospect of new monsters and opponents to face. Though he did so with a heavy heart, Zeus made his way to one knee, and began, "I Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods, do hereby-" Suddenly the thunder God was cut off as he, the rest of the gods, and the all of the gathered warriors and heroes vanished in a powerful spatial distortions leaving Alex momentarily stunned at what happened before he heard something that caused a wry smile to form on his lips. He then looked northward as a muffled sound met his ears in the newfound quietness on Olympus, the sound of drums and weapons being beat on shields as warriors prepared for battle, but not warriors from Olympus. "Now it''s a party!" Alex said in excitement as he watched the sails on the horizon slowly grow larger, while the millions of warriors in the longships flying through the air underneath proceeded to bang their drums and beat their weapons, swords, axes, and hammers, against their shields while also blowing their war horns. CA-RACK!!! Suddenly the sky seemed to come crashing down as lightning more intense and powerful than any Zeus threw at him tore it open, allowing a new surge of gods to come forth alongside Zeus and the others, who were now rejuvenated thanks to Alex''s Regeneration magic earlier. In one chariot being pulled by a couple of boars was none other than one of the ten most powerful beings in the world, Thor, while at their lead was an eight legged horse being ridden by a certain figure that Alex was both unsurprised and surprised to see, Odin. Unlike the frail looking elderly God that he had come to know though, Odin looked several centuries younger as he sat straight up in his saddle while wearing his gleaming Nordic armor, his great spear Gungnir gripped in his hand. Surrounding him was the rest of the Nordic gods that were attired for battle while surrounding them was hundred of women dressed in matching silver armor, the Valkyries. Meanwhile Alex then glanced towards the sea as he sensed something large stirring the waters, something draconic. It was there that he noticed numerous other newcomers coming from the south, more chariots flying through the sky that held numerous animal headed figures, that were surrounded by their own flying Egyptian ships that housed many cloth covered warriors that Alex would later learned were the medjay. A series of cries then drew his attention west, where a series of shindig lights signaled the arrival of the Dagda, who had the rest of the Celtic gods, the Fae, and even their own following of Druids with them. Meanwhile to the east Alex noticed numerous powerful eastern gods arriving, along with their own warriors with Indra at the lead with his vanguard. This included not only old enemies such as Cao Cao and other old members of the hero faction, but even a very familiar face that made Alex smile wryly as none other than the green Dragon King Yu-Long appeared, with Sun Wukon riding on his back. Above the eastern gods and warriors was none other than Shiva, who apparently had come to test Alex''s claims regarding the strength of himself, and the fighters of other worlds. Now surrounded by hundreds of millions of the greatest warriors and figures that had existed in history, Alex''s blood was pounding so hard in excitement that he thought it matched the Nordic warriors in terms of noise as everyone surrounded him, and Odin''s voice boomed out over Olympus, "WE HAVE COME TO HONOR OUR ALLIANCE WITH OLYMPUS, TO HELP DEFEND THEM IN THEIR TIME OF NEED!" Alex chuckled lightly to himself as he fought the urge to say that they obviously had some help preparing all of this, as he then began to wonder who used Regeneration magic on Odin to reverse his age. His musings were then interrupted when Odin''s voice boomed out once more, "GODS AND WARRIORS, WE ALL COME FROM DIFFERENT FACTIONS, DIFFERENT MYTHOLOGIES, YET ODAY WE COME TOGETHER IN ORDER TO FACE A BEING THE LIKES OF WHICH WE NEVER HAVE BEFORE! SOMEONE WHO CAN OPEN THE WAY TO OTHER WORLDS, AND POSSESSES STRENGTH TO FIGHT EVEN THE GREATEST THREAT THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN SINGLEHANDEDLY!" There was a rumble of murmuring as the other gods and warriors muttered their own thoughts at Odin''s declaration, while the Nordic warriors roared out their excitement until the one eyed God continued, "TODAY WE GATHER TO DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF OUR WORLD! TODAY WE GATHER TO DEFY THE DRAGON EMPEROR AND HIS GOAL OF EXTENDING HIS POWER OVER THE REST OF US!" As Odin''s continued his speech, Alex watched as the ocean nearby exploded to reveal not only the previously battered and beaten Poseidon, but also the largest dragon that he had ever seen, large enough that it''s smallest movements created tsunamis and whirlpools as it turned to face him. And then, as Midgardsormr, the Dragon King that was said to sleep until the end of days arrived, roared out his challenge to Alex, Odin declared, "ON THIS DAY WE FIGHT TO PRESERVE OUR WAYS OF LIFE, TO KEEP THINGS THE WAY THEY HAVE BEEN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. I PROCLAIM TODAY TO BE, RAGNAROK!" Chapter 405 - Ragnarok As Odin declared the start of Ragnarok, Alex''s heart felt as if it was going to beat out of his ?h?st from excitement at the current situation. Now not only was he facing the might of the entire Olympian pantheon, but every single other major faction that wasn''t already under his control had gathered for one large blow out. What hot blooded Saiyan wouldn''t be excited at such a thought? Unfortunately, before Alex could get too excited, several magic circles appeared around him that flashed before revealing the members of his peerage(minus Yue), each and every single one geared up for battle. Alex''s expression morphed into a mock pout as he stated, "I suppose you''re all here to ruin my fun, aren''t you?" A few of the girls giggled at Alex''s pouting, while Grayfia dead panned at him and said, "Count on you to consider facing every single one of the most powerful beings in the world at once as ''fun''." Without any hesitation Alex responded, "Of course, what else would you consider such a line up?" Grayfia then started to massage her temples at Alex''s attitude, while Lala said in her typical carefree tone, "This does look very ''fun'' though! There''s so many people out here to ''play'' with us!" With yet another round of giggles coming from girls like Lala, Lucy, Mirajane, Kurumu, Shia, and Kuroka, no one appeared intimidated in the slightest at the daunting sight of the armies gathered around them, while even Typhon, King of the monsters, made his appearance as he finally finished climbing up mount Olympus. Shaking her head yet again, Grayfia muttered to no one in particular, "Our idea of ''fun'' is getting too warped..." Ignoring yet the third round of giggles in response to her exasperation, Grayfia then looked at Alex and asked, "So, is there at least a plan?" Alex smiled wryly at first in response to her question, as his original plan had been to just dive right in to the fight and do as he pleased. But, knowing that wouldn''t fly with Grayfia, he instead said, "How about... Shizuku, Lucy, Lala, Kurumu, and Yami work on crowd control, keep the masses busy so that they can''t overwhelm anyone with numbers. Meanwhile Grayfia, Shia, Moka, Mirajane, Rias, Erza, and Kuroka will target the heavy hitters such as the legendary heroes and gods. Sun will stay back with me and work on support, and where is Yue?" As Alex ended by asking where his second ''Bishop'' was, the rest of the girls looked around awkwardly while Rias said irritably, "That worthless chibi said she had other things to do, but I couldn''t tell you what exactly is more important than this!" Rias then continued to rant while the rest of the girls just shook their heads at her, though it wasn''t as if they didn''t understand how she felt. Anything else that they wanted to say or do was cut off as Odin began to amass a massive amount of divine power, which he then channeled into his Lance, Gungnir, before throwing it directly at Alex. As the divine weapon flew through the air it split the skies while homing in with deadly precision towards its target. Normally the enchantments in Gungnir made it impossible for the divine weapon to miss its target, however all Alex did to defend himself was stick his finger out, catching and halting the divine weapon without any discernible effort on the tip of his finger. With a smirk on his lips, Alex then proceeded to grab the body of the Lance before spinning it to face Odin this time. The old god''s one eye widened in shock, before Alex then chucked it at him with even more force than he had. Instead of merely splitting the skies, Alex''s throw split the air above and the earth below, while simultaneously tearing a hole through to the Dimensional Gap as it raced with deadly accuracy towards the chief of the Norse gods. Odin couldn''t even react in time with the speed in which Alex threw his own weapon at him, only being able to sit there in his saddle as his own weapon approached him almost instantaneously. There was then a horrible crunching noise that churned the stomachs of everyone nearby where Odin was sitting, until they actually saw that he was fine after Alex''s attack. Well, mostly fine. Instead of being skewered like everyone thought, Alex had instead thrown Gungnir slightly to the side to avoid an actual fatal hit on the elderly God, instead ripping off and destroying Odin''s helm while also inflicting a nasty cut down the side of his face. With the sound of Odin''s helm being destroyed ringing out everywhere, the girls decided to take that as the signal to start fighting. As one the girls surged forward while fanning out, Rias leading the charge against the gods as she transitioned to her Super Devil form and approached Shiva himself, while Shizuku created several shadow clones as she lead the charge against the heroes and warriors, with Jin at her side. Meanwhile Sun''s beautiful voice soon began to fill the air as she layered her songs to have multiple effects, one to slowly wound any enemies that heard it, and a couple to buff the girls as they fought. Lucy meanwhile stayed behind alongside Sun and Alex as she opened her ''Archive'', before she pulled out three golden keys. "Open the gates of the Lion, Archer, and the Bull! Leo, Sagittarius, and Taurus!" After a flash of golden light three figures stood there as they prepared to go into battle, all of which looked marginally different than the first time Alex met them. With Lucy''s connection to Alex''s system any creature she had a contract with could gain experience as they fought, though of course they didn''t have access to the job part of his system. Now they, alongside the monsters that Lucy had tamed, could grow stronger along with her as Lucy traveled between the worlds. This became evident when Lucy then proceeded to pull out a custom made key that opened two portals besides her, through which a small army of powerful monsters appeared around her. A commotion broke amongst the warriors on the other side as they got their first look at monsters from another world, some of which appeared to simply be monstrous versions of regular animals, while others truly appeared to be monsters. The most monstrous specimen out of all of them though was a great seven headed hydra, a beast that was Hajime''s attempt to recreate the boss creature at the bottom of the Orcus Great Labyrinth. With the girls and monsters charging forwards into battle in front of her, Lala trailed behind them with her usual bright and carefree self, making one think she was going to play or something instead of fighting some of the most powerful beings in that world. Unfortunately for her her ??pse in attention was taken advantage of by none other than Typhon, who moved much faster than his giant frame should have as he proceeded to smack the Devilukian Princess with the tip of his serpentine tail, laughing as he did so. "HAHA! RULE NUMBER ONE ON THE BATTLEFIELD, NEVER LET YOUR GUARD DOWN FOR EVEN THE SLIGHTEST SECOND!" While most people would have at least some reservations about blindly attacking someone like Lala, Typhon ?ssumed that, under her innocent and naive exterior, there had to be a reason that she managed to become a part of Alex''s peerage. Contrary to his expectations though, when Lala picked herself out of the pile of rubble that had fallen down onto her from the building he had sent her flying into, she had tears in her eyes while her lower lip quivered like a child about to throw a tantrum. "You''re not supposed to be rude to girls, you big MEANIE!" Shouting that word like it was the most horrible thing she could think of, Typhon and the other gods got the surprise of the millennium as Lala''s voice tore across the sky like a shockwave, tearing apart any remaining clouds and the constant chain of storms that always raged around Typhon in seconds, while the king of monsters had to cover his ears due to the ?ssault towards his eardrums. While he was the one distracted this time, Lala then used the enhanced speed from promoting to ''Queen'' to approach the king of monsters as he was still reeling from her shout, and proceeded to punch him as hard as she could in his face. Those who were watching felt their hearts turn to ice as they watched the king of monsters, one of the ten most powerful beings in the world, get sent flying from the punch of someone who, by all appearances and attitude, was no more than a little girl. Not caring about what was going through the minds of those around her, Lala stuck her tongue out and made a face towards him before saying, "That''ll teach you to pick on girls!" She then turned around and took off in search of her next opponent, not at all aware of the impression others now had of her, or that she was growing ever closer to her father in terms of power and strength. ... While Lala was teaching the king of monsters how to treat girls, Shia was rushing through the air as she leapt from longship to longship looking for her own opponent, destroying each and every one in the process with the force of her leaps. Instead of bothering with the millions of small fries that Odin had brought with him, all of the Nordic warriors that had managed to earn their way into Valhalla, Shia was instead looking for the strongest opponents she could find to fight. Though Typhon also qualified, she didn''t want to fight someone that was essentially just a giant target for her fists and hammer. Instead, her opponent found her when something impacted her from the side this time, moving faster than sound so her ears were unable to pick it up until it had already hit her and sent her flying with a burst of lightning. Righting herself almost instantly, Shia turned around to see a fairly large hammer returning to the hand of the man who threw it at her, a giant of a man with a long mane of blonde hair, riding in a chariot pulled by a pair of giant evil looking boars that looked at her hungrily. "You are one of the Dragon Emperor''s ''Rooks'', are you not?" He boomed down towards her, making Shia feel as if he was looking down at her despite the fact that his attack hadn''t damaged her in the slightest. Instead of answering him, Shia used her explosive strength to rocket herself next to the god, Thor, faster than he could blink as she reached back with her hand distorting space itself. "I don''t know who you are, but don''t think you''re the only one with a special hammer BITCH!" Thor didn''t even have time to react as Shia pulled her own beloved hammer, Dorykun, out of thin air and slammed it into him and his chariot, sending him and the boars flying while his chariot was smashed to thousands of pieces from the force of Shia''s hit. "If he was that easy to send flying then he couldn''t have been anyone important, let''s go find someone else to fight!" Not knowing or caring that the man she just sent flying away was also one of the ten strongest beings in the world, Shia swiftly began looking for her next opponent until her gaze settled on one parson in particular, who was rippling with enough muscle to rival even Alex with a lions pelt draped across his shoulders. Sensing her gaze, the man looked up at her and rumbled in a deep voice, "Are you just going to stare, or are you going to come down here and fight?" Sensing the man was powerful, Shia''s heart began to pound in excitement at the thought of truly testing her strength against another muscle-head besides Alex. Shia quickly put away her beloved hammer before launching herself to the ground in front of the hulking man like a rocket, where the two glared at each other with undisguised excitement at their impending battle. "I am Heracles, son of Zeus. Will you honor me by giving me your name as well?" Shia smile widely and fearlessly as she responded, "Shia of the Haulia tribe, wife and ''Rook'' of the Dragon Emperor!" This time Heracles flashed a fearless smile as his excitement made itself evident on his face. For him and Shia both Alex was too stupidly strong, to the point that it was almost impossible to gauge their own strength when they fought him. With both of them flashing fearless grins, Shia and Heracles then both threw a punch at the other at the exact same moment, their fists colliding in midair to create a shockwave so powerful that the ground below them caved in, while anyone around them was blown away. ... "COME ON MEN! FOR ASGARD, AND VALHALLA!" One of the Norsemen shouted as he led his fellow warriors to battle against Alex and his wives, earning him a roar from his countrymen in reply as they charged forward, only to suddenly collapse as a group of identical women with their long black hair tied back in a ponytail appeared behind them. "Has it truly become that easy for me to cut down another person...?" Though she was only talking to herself, another one of the women replied, "I know, it seems like it was only yesterday that we would get queasy just from the thought..." "And now here we are facing down an army like no other like its nothing..." The three women, all shadow clones of Shizuku Yeagashi, then sighed as they turned to look towards their original, who was currently in her Balance Breaker form as she tore through the battlefield and cut down any who opposed her with tendrils and swords of shadows. Despite her seemingly ruthless actions though, all of the clones knew that the same concerns were floating through their original''s mind. Though, if anyone else knew of the concerns going through her mind, they would only sigh in exasperation as Shizuku was one of the last people who needed to worry about becoming a cruel and malicious person. She then got a glimpse of someone who truly did fit that bill though, as a certain figure approached her swiftly through the crowds of people around her, cutting down anyone who stood in his way regardless of if they were friend or foe. With his arms flailing about like whips with a pair of swords in each hand, the figure quickly approached Shizuku while cackling, "HAHAHAHAHA! You seem like quite the warrior maiden little missy! COME! LET OUR STEEL MEET IN BATTLE AND KNOW THAT IVAR THE BONELESS WILL BE THE ONE TO COLLECT YOUR HEAD!" As if to punctuate his declaration, Ivar then proceeded to lick the blood of his fellow Norsemen off of his blades before pointing them at Shizuku, showing his intention to defeat her. Though her face was hidden by the darkness of her Balance Breaker transformation, Shizuku narrowed her eyes in distaste at Ivar''s behavior. The next thing the Nordic warrior knew, he was on his back as a cold and familiar chill crept through his body. "...done....already...?" He uttered in a last attempt to provoke Shizuku further, unaware that she had already moved on to her next several opponents as she and her clones slowly and methodically made their way through the entire army. Though this would usually be difficult even for one of Alex''s girls to manage, Grayfia wasn''t even breaking a sweat since she had transitioned to her Super Devil form, allowing her to fight with unparalleled magical strength while also seizing control of any magical attacks her opponents directed towards her. Using her skillful control over magic power, Grayfia then began to make all of the excess magic and demonic powers around her swirl like a massive demonic typhoon, which buffeted and attacked anyone foolish enough to get too close to her. The energies surrounding Grayfia paled in comparison to what Rias was doing though, as she too had transformed into her Super Devil form, and was battling Shiva directly above them. Not only was the scale of their battle enough to strike fear into the hearts of the warriors, heroes, and even some of the gods blow them, but the swirling vortex of both divine and demonic Destruction that surrounded the duo promised a swift and horrible end for any foolish enough to venture too close. ... While some girls like Shizuku or Shia were working methodically through their opponents, and Grayfia and Mirajane were using large amounts of magic power to fight, Yami quickly established herself as yet another terror on the battlefield with her Transform. No matter how many opponents tried to surround or overwhelm her, Yami''s hair would turn into a variety of weapons that easily held them at bay while other strands of her hair would finish them off, leaving an ever growing pile of bodies around her. Though she was quickly becoming a terror amongst the lower ranking warriors, many of the stronger warriors and gods quickly reached the conclusion that Yami wouldn''t be able to fight them as easily. While normally they''d be correct since she wasn''t using her Darkness transformation(due to it''s rather ''lewd'' side effects), none of them could confirm if that was the case or not due to a certain silver haired vampiress keeping them all at bay. With Yami dealing with the small fries below her, Moka had activated her own Shinzo transformation and was currently taking on any one else that tried to approach her. With a bloodthirsty grin on her face, Moka was surrounded by a growing vortex of blood from both herself and her enemies as each drop cut anyone around her like a blade, while anyone who managed to get close enough to her only ended up getting their faces smashed in by one of her feet. Moka wasn''t the only one that taking on the gods though, as Erza used her favorite armor, which amplified her telekinetic control over weapons, to carve her way through the battlefield without opposition as she turned the weapons of her opponents against them. Her charge went seemingly unimpeded until a certain individual approached her purposely, hatred in his gaze as his mere presence made all of the weapons around him tremble. Sensing the man''s approach, Erza halted her advance as she turned to face him, and all of her instincts began screaming at her about how dangerous this man was. "Who are you?" She demanded as even the numerous warriors around them began to clear an area, confirming that her next opponent was no ordinary person. Glaring at her with an unmatched hatred, the God stated, "I am the God of war, Ares. Your ''King'' broke the heart of the person I love most, so it is only fitting that I do the same to him by presenting him with your corpse!" Finished with what he had to say, Ares suddenly shot towards Erza at such speeds that even she had a hard time managing to block his attack. CLANG! The sound of metal on metal rang out like a bell over the din of battle around them, drawing all surrounding attention to them as one of the greatest mages from Earthland prepared to fight the literal God of war. Though, Erza knew she would need to utilize ever weapon in her arsenal if she wanted to secure victory. ... While his wives battled around him all of the enemies around him, Alex sat back on another throne he created as he watched, obviously bummed out that he wasn''t fighting himself. As the battle really got under way though, Alex was surprised as he suddenly received a notification through his system. [NOTICE! Aphrodite''s curse has been inflicted!] Curious, Alex looked into what the curse he apparently received entailed, and was surprised even more when he saw the description. [Aphrodite''s curse: turns any and all forms of affection and positive opinions towards the inflicted into disgust and hatred.] Alex''s jaw dropped when he read that, only to see both Sun and Lucy suddenly look back at him with disgust and hatred in their eyes just like the curse''s description said. "That won''t do at all!" Alex said as he used his powers to dispel the curse from himself immediately, making both Lucy and Sun suddenly blink in confusion. Before either could ask what had happened though, Kuroka''s voice roared in all of their heads, ''WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?'' With Kuroka conveying all of their confusion with her swearing and lack of verbal tick, everyone made their outrage evident when Alex explained, ''Aphrodite apparently didn''t take my rejection well, and tried to inflict a curse on me turning any positive feelings towards me negative. Don''t worry though, I already dispelled it.'' Rather than the relief that he expected from them, instead all Alex felt from peerage members was anger at having someone, albeit momentarily, mess with their emotions. ''I''M GONNA FUCKING KILL HER!'' Kuroka roared once again in their minds as she immediately turned her attention to where the goddess of love was on the battlefield, however someone else said, ''No. I''ll deal with her.'' Though her words were deathly calm, most of the girls shuddered at the underlying fury contained in Kurumu''s mental voice. Succubi were creatures of love, all of Kurumu''s power literally came from her love towards Alex, and as such she was the one who was the most furious at the thought of some ''lowly'' goddess trampling on the very foundations of her existence. The next moment they all witnessed just how serious Kurumu was when she honed in on exactly where Aphrodite was in the mess of fighters, and a massive swirling pink vortex formed around her. Unlike the vortexes of power that had been formed by Grayfia, Moka, and Rias though, Kurumu''s didn''t actually hurt anybody. Instead, anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the vortex felt an uncontrollable heat enter their bodies, which then prompted them to quickly shed any layers on their bodies before they grabbed the nearest person(man or woman) to act on the d?s?r? now filling them. Not caring about the massive orgy developing around her, the blue haired Succubus focused her attention on the goddess of love that had now made her way to the battlefield, intending to get revenge on Alex for rejecting her. "Out of my way bitch!" Aphrodite snarled when she saw Kurumu approaching her, to which Kurumu sneered back as her perfectly trimmed and maintained nails began to extend, "I don''t think so." As she approached Kurumu''s tail flicked back and forth in agitation, while her ears elongated into points and her pupils changed into a heart shape. "If you think you can mess with MY love as you wish, then YOU have another thing coming you little pest of a ''goddess''!" *** Odin''s expression darkened as he watched the battle progress, with things painfully evident that Alex''s side was winning. Even if they were vastly outnumbered, each of Alex''s girls was tearing their way through their forces with ease while their master simply sat back and watched. With the powers imbued in his ''bad'' eye, Odin could ''see'' just how well Alex''s girls complimented each other with their fighting styles. While not as ''powerful'' as the others, the girls such Lala, Shizuku, Yami, Lucy, and Sun were all scary in their own rights. Through his eye, Odin could see the tendrils of power connecting Lucy to her summons and tamed monsters, suggesting to him that there was more to her summons than the usual contracts summoners had in this world. Shizuku on the other hand was like most ''Knights'' from the underworld, lacking in terms of explosive and flashy power, yet was scarily proficient and deadly with what she had to work with, while her ''fake'' Longinus only added to her deadly arsenal. Lala on the other hand had quite a bit of power, but her innocent nature made it obvious that she wouldn''t use it like Shia or Moka. Instead the terrifying thing about her was the numerous machines that she constantly used during the battle, each of which were so unpredictable(and ridiculous) that her opponents would never know what to expect from her. Then there was Yami, who appeared to be capable because of her ability to fight so many opponents at once along with her apparent versatility in the way that she could seemingly Transform her body into any perceivable weapon, but Odin knew better thanks to his eye. Within her body Yami was hiding a tremendous amount of power that, terrifyingly enough, seemed to rival even Shiva''s, meaning that Yami had the potential to dish out attacks on a planetary scale like the God of destruction. Why she wasn''t using it Odin couldn''t say, wether because she couldn''t control it or because there was some kind of unspeakable side effect, but there was no doubt the power was there. Most terrifying of all though, was perhaps Sun. When he looked at the petite siren Odin could actually see the monstrous amount of Youkai energy that was swirling around her, which had only grown larger after Alex helped her learn to speak and move on from suppressing her voice. More than that though, he could see the sound waves of her voice and what effect they had on the battlefield. Not only was Sun ?ssisting her allies by buffing them with her ''songs'', but he could even tell that she was slowly, but surely, damaging each and every one of those who were standing against them, all on a level that the recipients themselves couldn''t even notice. As a result, even some of the most powerful beings present were being defeated with less effort than anyone would''ve thought possible, as all of the gradual damage they had acquired was inflicted upon them as soon as they took a single attack. With Sun''s song bringing down the potential of every single one of their allies, Odin didn''t hesitate to point his finger at her and say to the chief Valkyrie at his side, "Brynhildr, that siren needs to be taken out as soon as possible! If she continues singing then none of us will be able to put up any kind of fight!" The aforementioned Valkyrie slammed her gauntleted fist into her br??st as she saluted her chief God, and shouted, "At once my liege!" The light blue haired valkyrie then turned towards the several hundred similarly armored companions that had followed her to this battlefield, and declared with a raised fist, "FOR ODIN, AND ASGARD!" Nearly a thousand Valkyries shouted back at her as they prepared to enter the fray, and charged after Brynhildr as she made a beeline straight for Alex. "Chief, isn''t it suicide to attack the Dragon Emperor?" One of Brunhildr''s most capable Valkyries, Helmwige, asked as they sped up towards her, to which the chief Valkyrie only slowly nodded as she explained, "That''s why he isn''t our current opponent, the siren is. If we directly charge her though, then they''ll be able to properly prepare for us." Helmwige nodded slowly in understanding after hearing her chief''s reasoning why they were charging Alex directly, but she still couldn''t help but to worry due to how close to Alex they were going to be. Before they could even get close though, Brynhildr felt a familiar presence approach as the sky was suddenly filled with hundreds of magic circles. "HALT!" Brynhildr called out to all of the Valkyries around her, before they all looked up to see none other than one of their former comrades, Rosswiese, floating above them in a nearly identical, yet distinctly different, set of silver armor. While normally the sight of her former subordinate wouldn''t worry her like this, Brynhildr felt her skin crawl as she sensed the power coming from Rosswiese while she easily maintained hundreds of magic circles, no doubt her own creations since none of the Valkyries were able to properly read them. "Surrender, or our hands will be forced." Seeing her confidence and power as she spoke down to them, Brynhildr couldn''t help but wonder what happened to that shy and anxious girl she once knew. Rosswiese had always been talented and powerful, as evidenced by how she had been chosen to act as Odin''s ?ssistant and body guard, but the biggest problem with her was her lack of confidence and attitude. Now however it was like she was a completely different person as Rosswiese stared down at them, waiting for their answer. Instead of being cowed though, Brynhildr stared back at her former subordinate and declared, "You know we can''t do that Rose, the All-father''s orders are absolute!" Nodding as she expected nothing less, Rosswiese then surprised them as she said, "I know.... VALKYRIES!" Thinking she was talking to them, Brynhildr and the rest readied themselves for an attack from their former comrade, but they never expected what came next. Instead of being some form of attack like they expected, every Valkyrie present was shocked when the magic circles Rosswiese had created shined before fading to reveal an entire army. Several hundred women adorned in matching silver armor, half of which appeared identical with their silver eyes and light blue hair, while the other half were all different yet still beautiful women. While they were still struck silent, Rosswiese then shouted, "VALKYRIES, WHO DO YOU SERVE!?" The sky roared with metallic clangs as each and every one saluted just as Brynhildr had earlier, and each one roared back, """WE SERVE THE DRAGON EMPEROR!!!""" Nodding slowly in silent pride in them, Rosswiese then declared, "GO THEN! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF THE EMPEROR''S VALKYRIES! SHOW THEM THE MIGHT OF ASORA!" Immediately following her declaration, the sky was filled with light as each and every one of her Valkyries prepared to attack, the former apostles of Ehito either drawing their twin swords or preparing some form of powerful magic, while the Pandora all summoned their specialty volt weapons. Chapter 406 - The Monkey King While Alex and the others were busy fighting the greatest war the world had ever seen, a certain figure appeared in the skies above Romania, homeland of the vampires. It was woman who''s figure and bearing would inspire ?ust and devotion in even the most stalwart of men, with her long silvery blonde hair that softly fluttered around her, her luscious full Ruby-red lips, complimenting the blood-red eyes that scanned the area around her. The only thing covering her body was a dress that appeared to have been woven from the inky darkness of night itself, which perfectly hugged her body to match and show off the various contours and curves she possessed. Confined within was a pair of massive mammaries that seemed to be pushing the very limits of the fabric containing them, rivaling even Rias''s in terms of size. Further down was a set of wide h?ps that led to a pair of long pale legs that peeked out from under her dress. The woman''s luscious lips curled up into a half smile as she gazed down at the city below, which was locked into a perpetual night for its nocturnal denizens. Around her several other women also began to appear out of thin air, one with her red hair tied into bushy twin-tails that a small pig nosed bat sat between, another wearing a black Chinese dress while her own matching black hair was similarly tied up into twin-tails. Next to them was a notably more m?tur? duo of women, one of which was dressed up in a skimpy black leather mini skirt and bodice, with the only thing protecting her dignity below the skirt being a tiny black thong. That was more than the other m?tur? looking tanned woman though, who was dressed in a short and skimpy maid attire, while she had nothing on under the impossibly short skirt to keep the sharp eyed vampires below from seeing her pale lower lips. In front of all of them and acting as their guide was another woman, dressed in a black gothic Lolita outfit with delicate doll-like features, Elmenhilde. Even as she looked down at her homeland Elmenhilde didn''t feel the slightest bit of attachment as she had long since decided that her home was Asora, and all of her devotion directed towards Alex and one of his wives in particular. Said wife raised her upper lip slightly as the stared down at the vampires below her, who were steadily taking notice of the presence of herself and her comrades. Then, despite speaking in little more than a whisper, her voice echoed out to all of the vampires in Romania as she announced, "My name is Aletia Galdea Vesperito Avatarl, I have come here for one reason and one reason only." As Aletia(AKA Yue) paused in her speech to let her words carry as more and more vampires noticed her and her entourage, she then continued after a moment, "We are here to bring all of the vampires of this world under my control, the control of your new goddess." At once there was a wave of murmuring at Aletia''s declaration, the vast majority of which was more than a little angry at how presumptuous her claims were. Though they currently had a somewhat uneasy peace, the vampires of the DXD world had spent centuries at odds with each other over wether or not their ancestor was the male Tepes, or the female Carmilla, splitting into two differing factions in the process. While numerous remaining supporters of the Carmilla seemed excited at the prospect of worshipping a female vampiric goddess, most of the other vampires and remainders of the Tepes faction grew increasingly angry. Knowing that gaining control of this world''s vampires wasn''t going to be that easy, Aletia began to radiate a terrifying aura that cowed the majority of the vampires below her, before, suddenly, she plummeted to the ground below her alongside her attendants. Now surrounded on all sides by her future subjects, Aletia then declared, "If any have a problem with my rule, then you are free to come forward and contend me for it, after they get past my attendants of course." As she spoke Aletia''s aura spiked even higher, suffocating anyone unfortunate enough to be too close, before the auras of Kokoa, Akua, Akasha, Gyokuro, and Elmenhilde suddenly shot up as well. They weren''t as powerful as Aletia''s, but they easily dwarfed every single one of the vampires present in Romania. *** Back at the battlefield, a demonfied Mirajane sighed as she dropped the unmoving body of none other than the Dagda after she singlehandedly defeated the entire Celtic pantheon, and the army of Druids they brought with them. She had honestly gotten more than a little excited after hearing that Druids were also able to shapeshift to take the forms of animals, but was now disappointed because they weren''t as strong as she hoped. Of course, while a large part of the reason for this was because Druids didn''t use their transformations like Mirajane did, the biggest reason was because Mirajane herself was quickly becoming too powerful after consuming only a few of the Ultimate class Devil souls Alex gave her. While one hadn''t given her a new form just yet, each one she consumed had multiplied her physical and magical capabilities by several times, while also granting her a few new abilities. One such ability suddenly activated as one of the Druids that still had a bit of consciousness left in them tried to send one last attack at Mirajane''s back after she seemingly let her guard down. Instead of the attacking hitting her however, right as the roots that the Druid had conjured and controlled to attack Mirajane were about to hit her a giant ''hole'' appeared in the empty space behind her. The Druid watched in disbelief as the roots were su?k?d into the hole behind Mirajane, before it closed to cut them off at the base. "W-what are you monster...?" The Druid gasped out at her, making Mirajane look back at him sadistically before asking coyly, "Monster?" The Druid paled as Mirajane began to saunter up to him with a seductive sway to her h?ps, her demonic tail swaying as her high heeled boots clacked on the ground. As she slowly approached him the Druid tried to hurriedly crawl backwards while keeping his eyes on Mirajane herself, though they kept drifting to her br??sts that threatened to spill from her jumpsuit, and the part where the bottoms wedged deeply into her crotch. Stopping right before the Druid, Mirajane continued, "I''m no monster-" Her sadistic smile grew larger as she slowly raised her foot, making the wedge in her crotch even more eye catching, before sneering, "I''m a motherfucking QUEEN bitch!" She then dug the heel of her boot directly into the delicate area between the Druids legs, making his screams echo across the battlefield. ... Too far to hear the poor Druids screams, Kuroka smirked as she faced her own set of opponents, all of the eastern factions of gods and heroes with none other than Indra at their head. "We don''t have time for small-fry, best to get out of our way little missy!" Indra told her ???kily, making Kuroka''s tails twitch in agitation as she practically growled, "Oh this is going to feel reeeeealy good with how I feel right now!" Still very much pissed after the thing regarding Aphrodite''s curse on Alex, the last thing Kuroka needed or wanted was to be belittled by someone like Indra. Unfortunately for the eastern God and his entourage, none of them knew just how unfortunate they were to have Kuroka as their opponent until it was too late. As numerous individuals began to rush her, they all seemed to slow until every single person around the battlefield was standing completely still, as if they were all frozen in time. Then, as if without a single care in the world, Kuroka leisurely approached Indra and tapped him with her finger, before moving onto the next person. Though it didn''t appear as if she was actually doing anything, Kuroka was in fact using her mastery in control over the energies within another person''s body to make it so none of them were able to use any form of energy within their bodies, let alone do things like stand or even move their bodies for the next few hours. "I''ll teach you to belittle the ''Queen'' of the Dragon Emperor~Nya!" *** While Kuroka was taking out her frustrations on all of the eastern factions at her leisure, high in the air above them, almost to the stratosphere, Destruction raged as Rias and Shiva battled each other intensely. "You may indeed have power, but I have had numerous millennia to master my abilities. Just give up." Shiva said as Rias glared at him, her ?h?st heaving as she breathed heavily from using so much of her energy, cursing herself for her lack of training. It wasn''t Rias''s fault though, as her Destruction made it incredibly difficult to actually train in combat since she would run the risk of killing most people who she could train with, with few exceptions like Yue. Instead most of her power was developed through self training and theory, meaning she had little chance to go all out in most battles. Shiva on the other hand, like he had told her, had had numerous millennia to hone his abilities on top of the numerous wars Indra had started against him. Even in her Super Devil form she was at a complete disadvantage against him. "Haaaah..." Rias sighed deeply, making Shiva look up at her as he asked, "Do you realize the fruitlessness of your efforts now? If so then call the Dragon Emperor up here so he can fight me himself." Rias''s brows twitched in irritation when she heard that, before she asked, "What are you talking about? I''m just annoyed because I know I''ll never hear the end of this from that stupid midget." For once Shiva actually appeared confused at Rias''s word until he suddenly became alert as the hairs on his neck and arms started standing up. While Rias''s powers as a Super Devil were in fact suffocating to the average person, Shiva wasn''t the strongest person in the world(barring existences like Ophis and Great Red) for no reason. However what he saw next would haunt him for years to come. Out of nowhere the aura surrounding Rias suddenly began to multiply in size and intensity, while the power coming from her exploded until even he felt oppressed by it. "W-what is this!?" He demanded with the closest thing to panic he had felt in thousands of years, to which Rias explained, "One of the types of magics we learned in another world is called Evolution magic. Using it directly on our bodies, Alex turned us Devils into Super Devils, but it has a far more practical use. Forcibly, albeit temporarily, elevating our power to the next level." When he heard that Shiva paled at the implications of what Rias had said. What she was describing was akin to the most basic function of the Boosted Gear, it''s ''Boost''. Using it one could simply continue ''Boost''ing their strength until even a relatively normal person possessed the strength to challenge gods, which was exactly why it was considered a Longinus. The idea of people already on the scale of gods being able to do so as they wished was truly...terrifying. Shiva witnessed this firsthand as Rias''s power exploded until it far exceeded his own, making her the first person he had ever encountered that genuinely made him feel a sense of urgency and danger. *** Sensing the sudden increase in Rias''s power, Alex looked upwards towards where she and Shiva were before muttering to himself, "So she''s using that, huh? Let''s hope she doesn''t end up destroying the whole world in the process." Also looking up right next to him, Nyx similarly could help but to mutter, "The fact that I once thought I could go against you all makes me realize how stupid I was..." Alex smiled wryly at her as he once again turned his attention towards the battlefield below them, where the girls were slowly but steadily carving their way through all of the combatants that Odin and the other gods had brought. Despite the large number of opponents that they had already defeated, there were still hundreds of thousands of combatants left, if not more. Deciding to....speed things up a bit, Alex waved one of his hands to create numerous magics circles that shone brightly for a moment, before fading to reveal a number of new individuals dressed in maid attire. "How may we be of service, great Dragon Emperor?" The head maid, Venri, asked while respectfully bowing towards Alex. With all of his maids(and the still mostly n?k?d Katerea) awaiting his orders, Alex stated, "I want you all to go and help the others to wrap up this battle. Don''t worry about the big hitters, just help clean up the cannon fodder." While several of the maids displayed an eager smile at getting to join the battle, the most worrying one was a certain petite girl with a small pair of horns protruding rom the sides of her head. "Does that mean I can cut them all up as I want?" The little one, Routier, asked eagerly while breathing heavily and holding up her new chainsaw, the one they looted from the battle with Darius that the Shinigami Grell Sutcliffe used. Deadpanning at the little oni, Alex said, "Only if you get permission from Grayfia or Venri." Though she looked noticeably sad at his answer, Routier had long since learned not to argue with Alex or the two aforementioned maids, otherwise she''d be the only one feeling the ''pain''. With Routier being cowed and everyone else seeming excited to leap into battle, Venri then said as patch of green scales flashed across her skin, "Well then, let''s not keep our master waiting ladies!" With her receiving a series of cries of agreement, the combat maids launched themselves into battle as they threw themselves at the enemies. Given permission to join the battle, the battalion of maids eagerly rushed forward towards their enemies. On their side the Pandora Stella, Arnett, Attia, Rana, Ticy, Chiffon, and Creo led the charge while Elizabeth supported them with her long range volt weapons. Meanwhile the former apostle Noint led the charge in a different direction with her eleven sisters in tow, half of which were carving a path forward with their blades, while the other half constantly spammed powerful spells thanks to the infinite supply of magic power from the cores in their hearts. Leading the way up the front though was none other than Eri, the only one who could rival Lucy in terms of being a one person army as she summoned entire legions of monster corpses, that she carefully maintained in order to do battle. Marching within the legion of zombies was the gorgon Ishigami, the mixed breed youkai Mako, Yami''s ''sisters'' Mea and Nemesis, the demon race princess Francesca, the elven Princess Altina, and Grayfia''s three newest recruits before Katerea, the mages Minerva, Meredy, and Ultear. Of the maids though, the one most excited to join the battle was Nyx since she wanted to fight most of the gathered gods herself. In an instant an inky black darkness spread across the sky as Nyx''s presence grew to encompass them all, and her voice boomed, "FEEL THE POWER OF THE GODDESS OF DARKNESS! FEEL THE STRENGTH OF SHE WHO SERVES THE DRAGON EMPEROR!" As if to punctuate her declaration, the dragonfied Venri then let out an ear shattering roar as she breathed a massive amount of fire out over the crowds. The sight of so many maids tearing their way through the battlefield was an awe inspiring sight for many, especially certain men of ''culture'', but one thing that ruined it was the woman who had even been forced to join the battlefield almost completely n?k?d, Katerea. Unfortunately for her Katerea was still suffering her punishment for what she did to Venelana and Zeoticus, which usually wasn''t that bad since she spent the majority of her time now in the space-time orb away from prying eyes, but the handful of times she had to leave the orb had been the most humiliating moments of her life. The current moment for example, no matter how many opponents she defeated, or how powerful her attacks were, all Alex and pretty much every single guy who noticed her could see was her violently shaking br??sts and ?ss. There had even been one moment when she had to perform a certain maneuver to avoid someone else''s attack, allowing Alex and hundreds of other men to notice the ocean blue jewel tucked between her bu?? cheeks, making Alex wonder if Kuroka had been behaving mischievously behind his back again. Whatever the reason for Katerea''s sudden d?s?r? to play with her ?ss, something else called for Alex''s attention as he noticed two powerful beings approaching him. Though he thought this was weird due to how they seemed to be approaching him while being unimpeded by any of his women, Alex realized why this was the case as soon as he noticed who exactly it was that was approaching him. "Teacher Wukong." Alex said as she stood and bowed his head respectfully to his former teacher, despite the fact that they were obviously about to do battle. "It''s nice to see that despite your position you''ll still show respect to your teacher, usually this isn''t the case when someone suddenly gains so much authority." Having witnessed this exact scenario happen numerous times, Wukong was genuinely glad to see Alex had not yet become as corrupt as some others might have in his position. Alex however smile wryly, as he seemed to know what was going through his teacher''s mind, and replied with a shrug, "I''m plenty corrupt, just not when it comes to power." Wukong chuckled at Alex''s remark as he looked out over the hundreds of women that were now fighting for him, all of which he didn''t doubt his student was sleeping with. Though that was partially what he meant, what Alex was referring to specifically was how he didn''t actually seek political power and authority. However they weren''t there to talk politics and personal corruption. Though wasn''t any noticeable signal both men readied themselves while the Dragon King that had arrived with Wukong, the Mischievous Green Dragon Yu-Long, wailed, "Are we really doing this old man?! I don''t want to fight the Dragon Emperor you know! This guy made even THAT Albion admit defeat!" Sighing in exasperation, Wukong looked down at his cowardly mount and asked, "What kind of Dragon King are you to be so easily frightened and cowed?" "A SMART ONE!" Yu-Long retorted indignantly, making his partner roll his eyes in annoyance, before a new cold yet sensual voice asked, "So what does that make the rest of us then?" "HIYAAAAAAAA!" Yu-Long shrieked when he saw the newcomer that he hadn''t noticed approach, none other than the strongest of the five Dragon Kings, Tiamat. "W-W-W-W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" The now genuinely scared Dragon King exclaimed in terror, making Tiamat give him a cold smirk as she remarked, "The other two Dragon Kings that aren''t aligned with the Dragon Emperor are here to do battle with him, did you really think I would miss out on such an opportunity to humiliate Ddraig?" With her smirk shifting to a sinister smile direct at Alex, the Boosted Gear materialized on his arm as Ddraig''s voice sounded, As Ddraig said, Tiamat''s grudge against him had to do with the fact that he had borrowed numerous treasures from her for his battle with Albion, and ended up losing them after he had been sealed into a Sacred Gear alongside his rival. Tiamat then hounded him and any possessor he had at the moment for centuries until Alex used the wish granted to the winner of the Azazel Cup to return them to her. The light-blue haired Dragon King shrugged at his question and replied, "Why not? I mean, you''re even going around calling yourself the Emperor of all dragons now instead of just the red ones. Do you really think the rest of us wouldn''t want to challenge you after that?" As she spoke an intense aura began to radiate from Tiamat''s body, far surpassing the aura Alex had felt from any other dragons he had faced. Meanwhile an earth-shattering roar deafened the entire battlefield as Miegaresormr sounded his intention to join the battle, before directing his massive head at Alex and the others that were together. Despite the overwhelming opponents arrayed before, again Alex flashed a fearless smile as he prepare to fight against the three Dragon Kings present, and the Monkey King himself. Unfortunately, once again, there were apparently other plans as another new figure appeared, yet another dragon, but this time one from Alex''s side. "FOR MY LEIGE!" Bova roared as he appeared, before fearlessly turned to face Yu-Long, Miegaresormr, and even Tiamat, the ground beneath his feet glowing as it began to melt below him. Tiamat however looked slightly bemused at his appearance, and remarked, "Bova, son of Tannin. So you intend to fight us as well?" Rather than appearing cowed by Tiamat as any other dragon might have, Bova met her gaze as he declared, "If I can not ?ssist my lord here, then I do not deserve the honor of serving him!" Tiamat''s smile widened at Bova''s declaration as her own form began to grow, blue scales forming on her skin as a set of wings and a tail sprouted from her backside. "SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE DRAGON!" She roared as she ?ssumed her own draconic form, before taking off after Bova as he flew towards Miegaresormr along with Yu-Long, where he intended to fight all three of the Dragon Kings at once. As Bova departed with Tiamat and Yu-Long in tow Alex and Wukong turned their attention back towards each other, both noticeably anxious to start fighting. Before either attacked though, Alex held up a finger and said, "One second. I don''t want to fight the ''old man'' Sun Wukong, I want to fight him at his strongest." Before Wukong could ask what Alex was talking about, he was surprised when his student snapped his fingers and a miraculous change overtook him. Wukong watched dumbfoundedly as his body began to quickly grow larger, taking him from a wrinkled little old man, to someone in their early middle age in seconds. Along with his outward change though, he also felt his physical strength soar until it was akin to when he was in his prime. No, even then he was even stronger now than back then due to him retaining all of his energy training ever since his body began to deteriorate. With Alex conjuring a mirror for him to look in, Wukong saw a face staring back at him that he hadn''t seen in centuries, one with noticeably less wrinkles and golden-black hair instead of gray and silver. Meanwhile the baggy robes that he usually wore now seemed to fit properly instead of hanging loosely around his body, due to his muscle mass having increased notably. "Is this for real...?" He asked in awe, to which Alex answered, "Yep, it''s a simple enough spell with one of the types of magic I''ve picked up. If you haven''t noticed, someone did the same thing to Odin." Though they were supposed to be fighting, Wukong couldn''t help but to admire his newfound youth for a few more seconds, until Alex continued, "Soooo, you ready to fight yet? Or did you want to spend a few more minutes admiring yourself?" Jerking his attention away from the mirror, for a moment the old Monkey King resurfaced within Alex''s teacher as Wukong flashed him a cheeky smile and remarked, "Of course! Prepare for a spanking boy!" Both flashing cheeky smiles, the two monkeys had a brief second where they stared off against the other before they suddenly moved. Instantly Wukong''s own staff was in his hands as he extended it to deliver a series of high speed thrusts at Alex, only for the Saiyan to summon his own golden staff in turn. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The area around them was buffeted by a series of shockwaves as Alex used the end of his staff to perfectly hit the end of Wukong''s staff during each of his thrusts, using the same exact amount of power Wukong used to deflect them. While that happened though, another Wukong appeared behind Alex to swing his staff at him from his blind spot, only for Alex to tilt his head at just the right angle to avoid it, without even looking back. With his surprise attack failing to do anything to Alex, Wukong then halted his series of attacks before reaching up to rip out a handful of his own hair. Throwing them up into the air around him, Wukong then said, "Let''s see how you deal with an army of ''me''s''!" As promised, the next moment each of the hairs shined brightly as they all turned into individual Wukongs, each one just as powerful and skilled as the original. Instead of appearing daunted though, Alex flashed yet another fearless smile as the fifty or so Wukongs descended upon him. KACRASH!!! As if the din of battle and chaos around them wasn''t already bad enough, the combined might of roughly fifty Sun Wukongs delivering a full powered strike with their staves made the entire area around Mt Olympus shake violently, while the mountain itself began to crumble. Those around the mountain, and especially those who called it home, watched with undisguised horror as massive shards of rock splintered off the sides of it, while most horrifically was when the mountain itself split into several different sections. At the center of the destruction of the now splintered mountain was Alex, standing tall and proud with his own staff raised to defend against them, despite the fifty or so Wukongs gaping at him in blatant shock after he took a full power strike from every single one of them at once. "Truly a monster..." Wukong uttered in disbelief, making Alex''s brow twitch as he remarked, "You helped to make this ''monster'', remember?" One of the Wukongs smiled at him when he said this, and replied, "Indeed I do, and it is one of my greatest achievements." For a moment nothing happened as the two of them fondly recalled the days where Alex was Wukong''s student, before they put their game faces on once more. "My turn this time!" That was all the warning Wukong got before Alex''s staff and arm suddenly blurred, and the next thing he knew he was surrounded by dozens of concussions as each and every one of his clones was destroyed before any of them were even able to react. Buffeted by the shockwaves of Alex''s attacks, it took Wukong all that he had not to be blown off of what remained of Mt Olympus as each of his clones were destroyed, only to open his eyes and see the tip of Alex''s golden staff less than an inch from his nose. "I win." Alex remarked with a cheeky smile, making Wukong stare blankly at him for a moment, before he too broke out in a smile. "So it seems. Though, I dare say that neither of us are too surprised by this outcome, Monkey King." The moment the final two words left his teacher''s lips Alex froze, before he asked incredulously, "Are you serious?" Wukong nodded and said, "Indeed, as my pupil you certainly have to right to inherit my title, and I dare say no one else is worthy enough to do so." Though his title as the ''Monkey King'' had been passed on to his descendants centuries ago, as the original Wukong he still had the right to bestow it onto whomever he deemed worthy of it. As if to show that was the case, Alex then received a notification stating that he had received the title ''Monkey King''. Normally when Alex received a title with word ''King'' in it it would update to ''Emperor'', but Lauren quickly explained to him that since it was a specific title and not a generic ''King'' one, that wasn''t the case. "I am truly honored teacher." Alex said to Wukong, who waved away his sentiments while saying, "I''d save the honors for later if I were you, or have you not noticed?" As he spoke, Alex looked up at the gathering of gods that had managed to avoid the brutal beating most of their brethren had received, and were preparing a massive amount of divine power with Thor at their head, despite having only recently recovered from Shia''s earlier attack. "Oh I''ve noticed alright, I''m just waiting for them to finish charging up." Rather than appearing stunned at Alex''s words, Wukong instead began to laugh boisterously before he decided to lay down, and watch the next scene play out with complete faith in his best pupil. Alex of course was eagerly awaiting what the gods had planned for him, which appeared to be them channeling as much divine power as possible into Thor''s hammer Mjolnir for one decisive attack. CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE! RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE! Overhead the sky crackled and rumbled as the amount of power being gathered into one area seemed to be reaching a breaking point, and yet they still poured more power into the divine hammer. "THIS IS IT! OUR LAST CHANCE TO WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF OF HIS FACE!" Thor roared along with the sky as he unleashed a blast of lightning so intense, so powerful, that it blinded everyone while also sending minor jolts of electricity arcing through the bodies of every single person present, despite the attack not even being anywhere close to them. The earth shook while the sky sounded as if it was being torn asunder, and while no one could see what was happening to Mt Olympus through the blinding light of Thor''s attack, there was no doubt that the remains of the great mountain itself and all of the land around it had been vaporized under such an attack. Or so they thought. For several seconds the blinding light persisted, much longer than it should have, until confusion about the attack began to grow within those who couldn''t see what was going on through the light. When it finally did start dying down though, what everyone saw stunned them more than anything else that happened that day. Standing exactly where he was until the bolt of lightning was loosed, Alex seemed to be ''holding'' the raw energy from the attack in his hands, but as the seconds passed they noticed it was steadily getting smaller. While no one else was able to tell what exactly Alex was doing, Odin''s eye told him exactly what was happening as he watched the energy from the strongest attack they could muster flowing into Alex''s body. "You have got to be kidding me..." The elderly God muttered to himself, any thought of continuing trying to beat Alex and his wives now gone from his mind. Of course, that was even before he witnessed what happened next. As Alex absorbed every last drop of the divine power in the attack, every single cell in his body felt as if it was full to the point of bursting with power, until he felt as if something within him changed. "You might want to get some distance." Alex said to Wukong suddenly, making the old monkey quickly move away as the energy surrounding Alex began to intensify to frightening proportions, and took on a ruby red hue. The spectators then watched in awe as winds began to pick up around Alex, blowing a cyclone into existence that encompassed only him, hiding Alex from everyone''s view. Disembodied choir music began to play in some foreign language as the storm picked up in intensity, first freezing the area into snow scape before melting it, and then sending the surrounding temperature up as lightning arced around the storm once more. Overhead the darkness of night suddenly gave way to the light of day, before night covered them once more, beginning a cycle that repeated itself several times over the next several minutes until the light overhead seemed to be moving in a blur. Suddenly the cyclone around Alex began to collapse inward on itself as all of the phenomenon around them began to end, except for the disembodied music. When the clouds surrounding him finally dispersed they were all treated to a firsthand view of the affects of Alex''s new appearance. The most noticeable thing was that Alex''s previously bright red fur had transitioned to a glowing shade of brilliant blue along with the rings around his eyes, while his pitch black hair was now a deep red that seemed to glow with a divine light. On a subtler note though, all of the extra bulk and height that Alex usually had whenever he used his SSJ4 transformation was gone, instead he actually appeared somewhat slimmer than usual. Even with the choir music still blaring though, Alex shocked everyone from their stupor as he said in a fairly soft voice that still reached every corner of the battlefield, "In case anyone doesn''t understand what the Latin boss music meant, it roughly translates to ''you''re all royalty fu?k?d''." Chapter 407 - The End of Ragnarok As Alex''s softly spoken words echoed across the battlefield, he ran his gaze over everything around him. Many of the gods quickly averted their gaze when his eyes met theirs, but their minds and the minds of every single entity watching the battle had the same thought running through their head, ''a devil had obtained the divine power of a god''. Demonic and divine powers were exact opposites of each other, completely incapable of coexisting within the same ''vessel'' unless the being in question had been created with such properties, like Hades, or so they thought. While this had been true for Alex in the past when he first used the SSJG form during his fight with Ehito, ever since then he had been slowly cultivating the spark of divine energy he then possessed in his body, nurturing it to coexist with his demonic powers. Now, unlike the time with Ehito, Alex had achieved a full God form while also retaining his demonic skills, while a voice within his head announced that he had also fully attained the ''Divine Commandment'' skill, compared to when he had only temporarily acquired it before. However Alex wasn''t thinking of most of this aside from brief acknowledgement, as his eyes scanned the entire battlefield. Then, as the entire world was holding its breath in anticipation for what he would do next, Alex finally opened his mouth once more, and declared, "This battle is over." Then, before anyone could even blink or think to respond to him, Alex snapped his fingers and the world around them all suddenly changed. Olympus again stood tall and proud as it did only a few short hours before, every single bit of the damage done to the home of the Olympian gods erased as if it never happened, while the magical defenses had not only been reestablished, but strengthened. All of the armies that had gathered for the battle had been fully healed of any injuries they sustained during the fighting, while those who had even died had been brought back to life(Alex even threw in a little extra and erased the ''side effects'' of Kurumu''s battle with Aphrodite from everyone''s minds). Meanwhile the higher ups and leaders of each and every faction found themselves in a kneeling position directly before Alex himself, with the members of his peerage around him while the maids and Asoran Valkyries surrounded them. Looking over and and every one of them, Alex then said once more, "Now then, I''m just going to point out the elephant in the room and say that each and every one of us here understands that this was all just a farce." Surprisingly, this didn''t seem to be the case as the leaders of various divine factions looked away awkwardly, while the other gods or their subordinates looked around with confusion "What is he talking about father?!" The goddess Athena demanded angrily to Zeus, who ?r??n?d before admitting, "It was fairly obvious that none of us would actually stand a chance against the Dragon Emperor if he decided to seriously come after us, but we all knew that certain members of our respective factions wouldn''t accept joining the Asoran empire so easily." Odin nodded before he piggybacked off of Zeus and continued, "So we decided to orchestrate a ''war'' to give you youngsters a chance to experience the Dragon Emperor''s might for yourself. However I''d say things might have gotten a little ''too'' extreme." His words made all of those who hadn''t known the real reason for this ''war'' directed angry glares at their respective leaders, who merely shrugged away their anger since it didn''t change anything. Nodding in affirmation, Alex then added, "That being said, there''s no reason for any perceived animosity to result from the day''s events." As he said that Alex directed a pointed look towards three people in particular, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and finally at Ares. The moment he laid eyes on the war God though, Ares suddenly lunged forward from his kneeling position as a sword materialized in his hands. "Fuck that, AND FUCK YOU!" Ares roared as he put every bit of his divine strength and authority over weapons into his one strike, only for his sword to shatter in his hands before it even came close to Alex''s skin. Before Ares could even be surprised at his own weapon being destroyed in his hands, Alex suddenly stepped forward and raised his own hand until it was less than an inch from his ?h?st. "This is just a small taste of what awaits anyone foolish enough to earn my ire." Without any further ado, Alex gently pressed his open palm against Ares''s ?h?st, and the next thing the war God knew he was suddenly hurtling away from the planet itself. "Wha-!" He began to exclaim, before realizing that he was unable to even breathe due to being in the endless vacuum that was space. Despite this though, Ares was otherwise unharmed even as he watched the little blue ball he called home quickly disappear while hurtling further and further out into space. Then he suddenly passed a second great ball, except red this time. Fear began to creep into Ares''s heart as he flew further and further into open space and away from the comfort and safety of his little blue home, until he suddenly noticed another bright light flashing past him, followed by another. Soon there were thousands of flashes of various bright lights as Ares flew by star after star, until he reached the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy itselfand continued going even further. Eventually Ares arrived at a point in space where there was absolutely nothing around him for as far as he could see, no light, no planets. Nothing. The God felt as if his stomach froze as he drifted there, in the nothingness. How much time had passed since Alex sent him hurtling into space? How far had he been sent to reach the point where he couldn''t even see any light itself? Slowly genuine fear like he never felt before began to set in, as Ares wondered if he''d ever get to see that beautiful blue rock he called home ever again, when suddenly a force began to pull him in the direction he had originally came from. Slowly light returned to Ares''s vision as he returned to the Milky Way Galaxy, before eventually passing the shattered remains of Pluto as he quickly returned towards Earth. CRASH! Suddenly a sense of relief filled Ares as he literally crashed directly into the same exact spot he had been launched from on Mt Olympus, right in front of Alex. His relief was shortly lived though as Alex''s voice reached his ears, "Welcome back, ready for another trip?" Looking up in fear, Ares was about to beg not to experience that hell again, only for Alex to quickly send him flying to outer reaches of space once more. While the trip felt like another eternity to Ares, in reality he was only gone a few short minutes before landing directly in front of Alex once again. Alex sent Ares flying three more times before finally allowing the God a chance to speak as he pleaded, "P-please... Not again..." Alex however ???ked an eyebrow at him and asked, "Why? So you can try to kill me again? So you can try and target one of my wives because of an issue Aphrodite started? Maybe I should just leave you out there this time to rot?" Ares paled at the thought of spending an eternity in the hell of nothingness, before literally begging, "Please no! I''ll never do anything against you or yours ever again!" For several seconds there was silence as Alex glared down at the pleading figure of the war God, before finally saying, "Very well, but if there is even the slightest hint of you or anyone affiliated with you targeting any of my wives or children again, I WILL inflict upon you a fate worse than what you just experienced." As he spoke Alex''s aura began bearing down threateningly upon Ares, making the God shudder in fear of what Alex might do to him if he ever did target him or his wives and children again. Satisfied with the look of fear in Ares''s eyes, Alex lessened his aura as he turned to look at the rest of the gathered gods as he materialized yet another throne to sit upon. Once he was comfortable, Alex then began by saying, "Now then, my first act as this world''s new emperor will be to reinstate Prima Nocta-" SMACK! The moment the last two words left Alex''s mouth a large paper fan suddenly smacked him on the head, courtesy of Grayfia as she asked with narrowed eyes, "Are you planning to singlehandedly populate this world with Saiyans or something?" Rather than appearing to take her words seriously, Alex instead ???ked his head slightly before muttering, "That actually sounds like a good idea..." Another large paper fan suddenly impacted his head, this time courtesy of Rosswiese as she and the rest of Alex''s wives narrowed their eyes at him. Smiling wryly, Alex then said, "It was just a joke, obviously I would never actually implement such a law. Even I''d feel bad for all the husbands that would never be able to satisfy their own wives after that." While several of his wives ?r??n?d at Alex''s remark, the rest of them, along with many of his maids and the Valkyries, snickered in amusement at the truth contained within his words.(A.N. For anyone who doesn''t know what it is, Prima Nocta was an ancient law granting various lords the right to claim a bride''s first night on the day of their wedding.) Coughing lightly to return to the topic at hand, Alex then said to the various gods, "In all seriousness though, I have no intentions of changing much of the current state of the world. Until such time as I believe you may be unsuited, I intend to leave each of you in charge of your various factions with the most immediate difference being that you will all now report to Asora." Nodding in understanding, as that was along the lines of what they expected to begin with, the tension seemed to leave the leaders of the various factions as Odin then stood and said that perhaps that was a good point to stop at for the day. They then lingered only long enough to confirm a date for every one of them to travel to Asora to properly pay tribute to their new Emperor, before Alex prepared to send them all home with another snap of his fingers. Before he could though, once again time seemed to slow to a crawl as Kuroka stepped towards the gathered gods with malicious intentions in her eyes as they focused on a certain goddess of love and Beauty. "My mate may be able to let go of what you tried to do to him, but I won''t~Nya." While any number of possible punishments to inflict upon Aphrodite played out in her head, Kuroka settled on one that she believed would hurt such a ''frivolous'' goddess the most. Kuroka then placed one finger in the middle of Aphrodite''s forehead as he used Spirit magic to impose the first half of the goddess''s punishment, before moving behind her to place her hand on Aphrodite''s back and using her control over another''s energy to inflict the second half. Her task complete, Kuroka then hurried back to Alex''s side as if she hadn''t moved before resuming the usual flow of time, as Alex teleported them, and all of the gods to their respective homes. Returning to the Misty Manor after dispelling his God transformation, Alex was immediately greeted by a emerald haired cannonball that launched itself into his stomach. "PAPA!" Myuu cried out with tears in her eyes as she squeezed him as hard as possible. It wasn''t just her though, as every one of Alex''s children that were able similarly came running, each one as upset as Myuu as they tried to rush to Alex. "What happened Myuu?" Alex asked seriously as he tried to juggle all of his children trying to hug him, to which Myuu answered tearfully, "Earlier I suddenly hated papa more than anything in the world! I-it scared me..." With numerous similar comments coming from his older children, an indescribable feeling welled up within Alex as he realized the Aphrodite''s curse had gone further than he thought. Though a part of him wanted to go right back to Olympus to give her a piece of his mind, Alex forced the urge down as he prioritized comforting his children. What he didn''t notice was a hint of a smirk appearing at the edge of Kuroka''s mouth, though a certain silver haired maid did. Rightfully ?ssuming that Kuroka had done something to Aphrodite without any of them noticing, Grayfia stealthily held up a fist towards her that Kuroka bumped with her own, a brief moment of understanding passing between the two. It was only after several minutes of comforting them that Alex managed to get his children to calm down, before bringing them into the space-time orb to spend a few days together. *** In a small peaceful looking village, nestled in the heart of China based on its architecture, everything was quiet save for the trickling of water, and the wind rustling through the trees. Despite how relatively ''normal'' looking the village seemed, there were two distinct things about it that would set it apart from other villages. The first was the complete absence of any life whatsoever despite the village looking like it had been active just moments ago, and the second was eerie wall of white mist that was on the mountains surrounding the village, preventing any access to the outside world. "FIRE DRAGON''S BRILLIANT BLAZE!" A voice roared before the entire village was completely engulfed in a raging inferno, turning the buildings to ash within a minute from how intense they were. Anything that might''ve survived though was instantly vaporized as a brilliant blast of holy light suddenly impacted the center of the village, spreading in an explosion that destroyed anything in its path. When the light began to die down all that remained of the tranquil village was scorched and blackened earth, which reached all the way up to the wall of mist. In its center was a single man who was dressed in only tattered scraps of cloth, with long, wild and unruly hair that had grown halfway down his back. As his ?h?st heaved from him breathing hard, the man then roared, "JUST WAIT! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I''LL KICK ALL OF YOUR ASSES!" As if to punctuate his declaration, a terrific cyclone of air suddenly erupted from the man''s mouth that made even the most fierce-some tornadoes and hurricanes pale in comparison, as he roared his defiance to the heavens themselves. "You keep saying that, yet you can''t even escape from ''Dimension Lost''.... No matter. The Dragon Emperor will be able to deal with you soon anyways." The man then pictured the disembodied voice shrugging as he said that, before fixating on the latter part of what he said. "Oh? Who is this so-called ''Dragon Emperor''? Hopefully he''s not another puss?footing chickenshit like the rest of you!" As he said that fire, water, wind, demonic, and holy energies began to swirl around him in anticipation of what he hoped would be a good opponent. Chapter 408 - Pride As Alex spent the next few days relaxing with his children and wives, the entire world began to move due to the new status quo. While Alex had said that he didn''t intend to change much, that didn''t mean that the current rulers of the world''s factions could rest easy just yet since Alex said that he''d replace them if need be. Many of them had numerous skeletons in their closets that had built up over the centuries, and they needed to clean them out if they wanted to ensure not to end up on the Dragon Emperor''s bad side. At the same time they were also preparing to visit Asora to pay respect and tribute to their new emperor, as well as his family. Of course, given Alex''s personality, the ''tribute'' many of the gods were preparing was quite similar. On Olympus all of the Olympian gods were gathered once again as they discussed their future under Asoran rule, until Zeus stated, "Now our biggest priority is gaining our own representatives within Asora itself." The rest of the present gods became quiet when they heard this, as they all understood the importance of such a task. While Alex technically already did have someone from the Olympian mythos amongst his personal entourage, Nyx was a goddess hostile towards Olympus and its residents, and would more than likely seek its destruction rather than helping them. That was why Zeus believed it was important they had someone there to ''properly'' represent their interests, and make sure Alex never turned hostile towards them. What he said next stunned them all as the thunder God said, "Athena, Artemis." The two goddesses stood as their father called out their names, before he continued, "When we go to Asora, I will give the two of you to the Dragon Emperor to become his wives-" Instantly the two goddesses, as well as several other Olympians, raised an uproar as they tried to protest Zeus''s decision, however he immediately silenced them all as he roared, "SILENCE!" With the sky literally booming with the sound of Zeus''s voice, which shook the entire throne room, the ten other gods present quieted down until there was no noise besides the steady crackle of the great hearth, which Hestia quietly tended to. He then looked at each and every one of the gods present one by one, before continuing, "Now, as I was saying, the two of you will be given to the Dragon Emperor to become his wives, and eventually maybe even bear his children. As an added bonus, Artemis will bring her huntresses with her to add to the Asoran population and might." Again Artemis and Athena slammed their hands down on the great table before them all as the latter demanded, "I thought you swore you would never force me to marry father! Or did you forget?!" Zeus cloud only sigh before responding to Athena''s accusation, "No I did not forget, but I did make that promise as the ruler of Olympus. While it is still technically under my control, I can not truthfully claim that I still rule it while under the control of the Dragon Emperor." Athena seethed at her father''s reason for going back on his oath, but before she could say anything else, Artemis spoke up as she demanded, "What about me?! I''m the literal goddess of chastity! My followers and I didn''t preserve our virtue for centuries just for you to give it away like we''re some common whores!" As both women began to argue against his ruling once more, Zeus again slammed his hand against the table while roaring, "SILEEEEEEEEENCE!" Again the throne room fell silent at Zeus''s voice and bloodlust as he glowered at his two daughters, until they silently sank back down into their seats. Even as the room silently waited for Zeus to continue, his glowering expression persisted until he eventually continued, "I expected better from the two of you, especially you Athena as the goddess ?ssociated with wisdom." While confused, neither of the goddesses said anything as Zeus continued, "Athena is the goddess that has the most experience in matters of politics, meaning she is the best candidate to try and prevent the Dragon Emperor from making any decisions that would negatively affect Olympus. Meanwhile Artemis and her huntresses have the sharpest eyes, ears, and instincts in all of Olympus. There are none more suited for the task of protecting the interests of Olympus from within the Dragon Emperor''s own court." As much as they didn''t want to admit it, it was hard for Athena and Artemis not to agree with their father''s logic, except for the part where they had to marry the Dragon Emperor of course. However, with Zeus''s piercing glare and menacing aura bearing down on them, neither goddess could muster the will to further defy his order. Seeing this, Zeus sat back down with a grunt before he added, "Now then, until we travel to Asora the two of you will train with Hera and Aphrodite in order to learn how to properly behave in the bedroom once you''re married to the Dragon Emperor." When they heard that both goddesses showed an undisguised look of disgust, as most of the Olympian gods were still angry with the goddess of love for her actions during the battle against Alex. This prompted several glances towards the place where Aphrodite usually sat when they had their meetings, except that she wasn''t there. While no one had cared earlier, now that she was relevant to the conversation several gods couldn''t help but wonder where Aphrodite was. ... At that moment, within a hidden chamber somewhere on Olympus, a number of giant one-eyed humanoid figures were stripped n?k?d while eagerly stroking their massive ???ks. In front of them was two more of their brethren that were similarly n?k?d, but unlike the rest they weren''t stroking themselves. Instead, one had a pair of dainty little ankles gripped in each of his massive hands that he kept lifted and spread, giving him the perfect angle to thrust his massive ???k into the woman''s incredibly tight and pleasurable ?unt. The other one meanwhile had each of the woman''s wrists held within his grip, as he mimicked his companion in making sure he too had the perfect angle, to shove his ???k into the woman''s mouth and down her throat while his balls repeatedly slapped her in the face. The ''unfortunate'' woman was of course none other than the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, who many would still claim was still the most beautiful woman that existed, even as they watched both her stomach and throat repeatedly inflate from the truly gargantuan ???ks that were currently filling both. For several minutes the room was filled only with the sounds of the unintelligible grunting of the cyclopses, and the wet squelching of Aphrodite''s ?unt and throat as both were brutally fu?k?d by the monstrous duo, until they both let out thunderous groans as they climaxed. True to their monster natures, both cyclopses pumped gallons of ?um into Aphrodite''s body as they climaxed, causing her belly to inflate dangerously due to the amount of fluid that was quickly filling her. True to HER role as a goddess ?ssociated with s?x though, Aphrodite''s body quickly began to absorb the s?m?n inside her until there wasn''t even a single drop left, let alone a single drop that leaked from either of her used holes. Unfortunately for Aphrodite though, both of her partners were completely spent as they just b?r?ly managed to pull out of her and make their way over to the side, before collapsing in exhaustion. "What do you two think you''re doing?! I still haven''t ?um yet!" Aphrodite roared in frustration, to which the two cyclopses could only reply, "Too tired..." "Rest now..." Aphrodite snorted in disgust at the duo as they promptly closed their singular eye and went to sleep, annoyed that they were tired after only ?umm?n? seven times apiece. "Useless trash..." She swore as another figure entered her mind, someone she instinctively KNEW wouldn''t leave her dissatisfied. SMACK! "Stop it!" Aphrodite exclaimed to herself after slapping herself in the face, cursing herself once again for thinking of Alex. Ever since that day she had been unable to get the Dragon Emperor out of her head for more than a few moments, instead she compared him to the dozens of people she had ''devoured'' since then, both men and women. That brought her to the second thing wrong with her, no matter what(or who) she did, Aphrodite was unable to ?um. At first she had simply called on a few of her favorite ''toys'' to move on from the rejection she received from Alex, but she quickly realized that there was something very wrong with her. Now several days had passed, and throughout that time Aphrodite had summoned an ever increasing number of lovers to her private chambers, yet no matter how many she had, or how much they p???sur?d her, she was unable to ?um or get Alex out of her head. That wasn''t going to stop her from trying though. Looking the rest of the gathered cyclopses up and down, Aphrodite''s gaze eventually settled on the one that had the largest ???k amongst them. "Get on my fu?k?n? bed!" Aphrodite practically growled at the cyclops, who quickly moved to do as she said as he laid back onto the bed behind her. His back had b?r?ly hit the blankets below when Aphrodite was readily climbing on top of him and positioning herself above his towering ???k, which was bigger round than even the thickest part of her arm, and was so long that there was no way it would possibly fit inside any other ''normal'' woman. That didn''t stop her though. Without even the slightest hint of hesitation, Aphrodite slammed her h?ps down to take the entire monster ???k inside her eager snatch all at once, filling her with ecstasy despite the fact that she couldn''t ?um. Immediately the goddess began to buck and rock her h?ps regardless of the worrying bulge in her belly from the massive ???k inside her, as she desperately fought to make herself climax on it. Knowing that it would still take more than just that one cyclops though, Aphrodite cast a quick look behind her where the rest of them were eagerly waiting their turn, until she found the second biggest ???k amongst them. "Cum here." She said seductively to the cyclops, who shuffled forward excitedly as the goddess leaned forward, and spread her ?sscheeks to present her tiny puckered sphincter to it. Not at all concerned with if its giant ???k would even fit in the tiny puckered hole, especially with another one already in the front, the cyclops eagerly pressed the head of its ???k against Aphrodite''s back door, before slamming itself inside her until it was balls deep, making the goddess scream in p???sur?. Even with all of this though Aphrodite couldn''t ?um, and even as both cyclopses seemed to determine to destroy her insides her mind couldn''t help but wonder to Alex, and how expertly he made sure to p???sur? her even as he fought the rest of the Olympians.... *** Meanwhile, in the north, another meeting of the gods had just concluded, and now the entire northern pantheon was enjoying a boisterous feast as music played and women served them. "HAHAHAHA! WHO''S GOING TO FILL MY GOBLET NEXT LADIES?!" Odin cried from his place at the head of the table, before several beautiful northern women eagerly came forward to fill the chieftain god''s cup. "He''s really hamming it up, isn''t he?" Vidar said while shaking his head, recalling the days when the girls would flee from his father in fear due to his old age, and creepy attitude. Odin was still creepy, that much was true, but thanks to a certain someone he now looked over a thousand years younger, meaning that the girls didn''t react the way they had previously towards him. If they hadn''t known better, all of the northern gods within the hall would''ve thought that Odin was different person entirely now, but all it took was a single glance to know that he was the same perverted geezer they all knew. Of course, Vidar and his oldest brother Baldur had something else to occupy their attention. "I got beaten....by a little bunny girl...?" Next to them Thor was still hung up on how easily Shia had beaten him, taking him out of the battle until he recovered enough to deliver their final strike against Alex. While his two brothers were about to try and comfort him, a new voice suddenly said, "You''re lucky that''s all you got from her. She''s called the ''Berserker Bunny'' for a reason you know." Everyone who heard the voice immediately turned and saw a certain silver haired individual slowly walking towards them, his two companions flanking him on either side. "VALI! Come to feast with your family for once?!" Odin cried out excitedly, making Vali''s brow twitch as he turned his attention to his adoptive father. He had never put much interest in Odin adopting him after the charges of him joining the Chaos Brigade were dropped, but the Norse pantheon seemed to have welcomed him with open arms judging by how warmly he was always welcomed by them, despite his cold attitude. Odin however then glanced at Arthur and Bikou on either side of him, and asked with disappointment a second later, "You didn''t bring your wife and daughter with you?" Vali scowled at Odin''s inquiry, and retorted, "Aiko would probably faint if I brought her somewhere like this, and there''s no way in hell I''m bringing my daughter around such a rowdy and careless bunch." His words were met with a series of boos due to his adoptive family looking forward to seeing little Lilith, however Vali ignored them as he instead asked Odin this time, "How''re you liking having your youth back again." Any dissatisfaction Odin might''ve felt at Aiko and Lilith not being there vanished on the spot as he happily said, "I love it! I haven''t felt this good in centuries, and as you can see the ladies can''t keep their hands off of me! You''re truly the best son a man could ask for!" Odin then began to laugh boisterously as his goblet was again filled with more mead, leaving Vali to roll his eyes as numerous Norsemen began to thank him for helping them prepare for the battle against Alex, not that it helped their chances by much, if at all. "I shudder to think of what we would have gone through if you didn''t convince us to attack when we did." While it was true that all Norsemen enjoyed battling strong opponents, it was a different matter entirely if it was a one humiliating sided slaughter, especially if Alex acted the same as when he faced the Olympians. Of course, besides Vali and Arthur there was one other person who wasn''t enjoying the feast, as she glared at the All Father silently. Her angry gaze didn''t leave the older god even as someone else sat down beside her at the long table, and said cheerily, "You know, for a Norse woman you seem a lot less spirited than everyone else here. Perhaps I can help with that?" The woman turned her attention towards the man who had sat next to her, the monkey youkai Bikou that had arrived with Vali, and flashed him a disarming smile. "Is that so?" Every word that came from the woman''s lips were like honey as Bikou found himself entranced, his mind dulling as she until she said something that immediately snapped him back to reality. "Even if I''m to be betrothed to the Dragon Emperor?" In an instant Bikou paled as he uttered in disbelief, "Wait...what...?" The woman narrowed her eyes in anger as she said, "I am Freya, and I will be given to the Dragon Emperor as a part of our ''offerings'' to him, along with a hundred barrels of the best mead Asgard has to offer..." Bikou''s face turned even paler when he learned exactly who the woman was, none other than the Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, battle, and death. And if there was one type of being that Bikou didn''t want to mess with, it was beings that had a direct authority over death itself. Quickly excusing himself, Bikou left Freya alone as she again directed a glare towards Odin, who pointedly ignored her as he enjoyed the feast as much as he could. (A.N. For the record Hades didn''t have any authority over ''Death'', he RULED over the dead.) *** As the world around them began to move in its own ways, two dragons were standing in the middle of a barren stretch of land in the Underworld, while dozens of other dragons gathered around them to spectate what was about to happen next. "Are you sure you want to do this Tiamat?" Bova asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice, making Tiamat smirk as she remarked, "I''m surprised Bova, usually a dragon would relish the chance to test their strength against a worthy opponent. Or perhaps you''ve grown so strong, that no longer applies to even me?" The surrounding dragons whipped up a frenzy of talk and murmuring at her words, making Bova sigh as he withheld his own remark that this just seemed much more troublesome than a typical sparring match. Tiamat then took advantage of Bova''s silence as she continued seriously, "Besides, while it was true that we didn''t fight for more than a couple minutes, the fact remains that you did manage to stand your ground against three of the Dragon Kings by yourself. You can''t blame all of us for wanting to see just how powerful you''ve actually become, son of Tannin." While numerous other dragons around them uttered their agreements, Bova''s father, Tannin himself, watched on silently as he detected the telltale signs of anger and irritation in his son''s expression. While Bova did in fact love and respect his father, there was also a large amount of resentment due to the way people treated him. Growing up all he had heard was that he was just like his father, which made him proud when he was a child, but soon became a curse as he grew older. No matter how strong he was or what opponents he beat, all anyone said was that he was ''his father''s son'', and any credit for his feats would go to Tannin instead. Soon Bova began to act out, earning himself his reputation as a delinquent as the fights he started became increasingly frequent. It was only after joining Alex that Bova began to enjoy fighting again, as Alex credited himself with his feats, not his father. Of course, he wasn''t only satisfied with the strength he had then. Not only was Bova constantly training himself nonstop, but was soon also taken under the wing of Dragon God herself, Ophis. On top of even that, Bova even went and challenged each of the seven Great Labyrinths of Tortus during their time there, instead of just the few that would benefit him the most. Now with strength and an arsenal of new abilities that he''s been cultivating nonstop, Bova was ready to carve a new name for himself in this world from the ground up, even if he had to start with a powerful dragon like Tiamat to do so. Taking to the skies above them, Bova called down to her "Come on then if you''re so eager to fight! Just don''t be surprised at the outcome!" Her draconic maw curling up into a smile, Tiamat quickly took off after him as she prepared to fight. For a moment the two western dragons hovered there in the sky as they analyzed each other, one sleek and slender while covered in azure-blue scales, while the other was thick and rippling with muscle, his powerful wings creating a steady beat as they flapped in the air. Bova simply hovered in the air as he waited for Tiamat to make the first move, knowing she would be more agile than him, and that if he tried to attack first she could just turn their match into a game of cat and mouse to tire him out. Tiamat was similarly scrutinizing Bova as she prepared to attack, but was hesitating to do so due to the fact Bova wasn''t defending himself at all. As the microseconds slowly ticked by, Tiamat was becoming increasingly confused due to all of the openings that Bova was leaving for her in his defense, as if he wasn''t going to bother defending himself at all. During the brief time they fought against each other during the battle, all Bova showed them was his ability to breath magma, an amazing and enviable ability to be sure, but it didn''t explain his apparent lack of regard for defense to her right then and there. The only thing she could think of for this was that Bova must have also gained some ability that made him impervious to most physical attacks. Tiamat snorted when she recalled all of the dragons she''d fought over the centuries that possessed similar abilities, wether their scales were so hard they were practically impenetrable, or they had some kind of barrier type ability. Each and every time though she had completely shattered any confidence they had in their defensive abilities, all with nothing but her own claws and strength. Confident in doing so once again, Tiamat charged Bova as her fastest speed as she disappeared from the other dragons point of view. Contrary to her expectations though, no barrier formed around Bova as she approached, and his scales didn''t even resist her claws as they pierced him, and they instead dug into his flesh like it was warm bu??er. Without stopping to try and figure out why this was the case, Tiamat instead allowed her momentum to carry her as she dragged her claws through Bova''s vulnerable belly, from the base of his neck, down towards his groin. The entire time Tiamat felt Bova''s burning hot blood splatter her back and wings as she tore him open, confusing her even more as she thought she was in fact damaging him, which wasn''t an issue due to the stockpile of Phoenix Tears and other restorative treasures she had built up over the centuries. None of them would be needed however, which Tiamat only realized when she blew past him and turned around. Despite the long gash that appeared to be ''bleeding'' profusely along the underside of his body, Bova was still completely calm as Tiamat, and the surrounding dragons, realized that the fluid-like substance dripping from his ''wound'' wasn''t blood at all. "Is that.....lava...?" Tiamat questioned with an incredulous tone, before glancing at her own claws and back to see that the former had been heated until they were a nice cherry red, while the latter was splattered with what she ?ssumed had been blood from Bova, but she now realized was actually drops of magma. Even more shocking was when Bova''s ''wound'' began to rapidly close before their very eyes, without Bova apparently even doing anything or using anything to make it do so. "What are you?" Tiamat questioned with equal parts awe and uneasiness, to which Bova answered casually, "One of the world''s my liege is interested in is home to things called ''Devil Fruits'', mysterious fruits that can grant those who eat them an ability from a wide range of possibilities. Though we hadn''t visited it, my liege was still able to acquire one of these fruits before offering it to whomever wanted it, the ''Magu Magu no Mi''. This particular fruit grants whomever eats it the ability to not only create and control magma, but it also turns their body into magma itself, granting them a limited form of invincibility against the majority of physical attacks." As Bova stopped speaking the dragons around them began to buzz with this new info, several of which found it hard to believe even after seeing the proof for themselves. Tiamat however glared angrily at Bova when he finished speaking, and demanded, "So you were GIVEN power from an outside source? What about your pride as a dragon?" Bova frowned when he heard that, before declaring proudly, "My pride as a dragon is meaningless compared to my pride as a vassal of the Dragon Emperor! If I am unable to serve or defend my lord or his family because of my own pride, then I do not deserve the faith he placed in me when he accepted me to begin with!" Bova then punctuated his declaration by spreading his wings and intensifying his aura while releasing a mighty roar, cowing the rest of the dragons around them as his aura bore down onto Tiamat. Realizing that the fight was about to resume, Tiamat was able to just b?r?ly ready herself before Bova''s figure slammed into her at a speed that easily matched her own. His claws pierced her scales and flesh as he locked onto her to prevent her from getting away, while her own claws sunk into his flesh once again, only to be trapped as he hardened his magmatic body around them. Trapped within Bova''s clutches, Tiamat could do nothing as he then started dragging her down towards the ground below them at breakneck speeds. Unknown to her, Bova also took the chance while she couldn''t get away to cast Gravity magic onto her, making each of her limbs, including her tail and wings, noticeably heavier to prevent her from moving as she wished. On top of that Tiamat''s increased weight meant that they were hurtling towards the ground at a faster and faster pace, until Bova suddenly disappeared and she was slammed into the earth below. CRASH! The entire area shook with the weight and force that Tiamat impacted the ground with, which also created a giant crater beneath and around her. Then, while Tiamat was still recovering from the impact and unable to move due to the Gravity magic he cast on her, Bova took in a deep breath above her before releasing it as a great plume of lava that quickly filled the crater around Tiamat. "HIYAAAAAAAA!" Tiamat shrieked as she was submerged in the burning magma, while it wasn''t destroying her like it would most other living creatures, Tiamat was still in a great deal of pain from the magma burning her scales. For several minutes Tiamat thrashed in the thick molten liquid, while growing increasingly hindered due to how heavy her body was, and the magma growing thicker with each passing second as it rapidly cooled around her, until her thrashing began to slowly calm down. Eventually, the surface of the blackened pool of magma was eerily calm as Tiamat seemed to stop moving entirely within it. "ROAAAAAAAAR!" The earth suddenly shook as Tiamat''s form broke through the surface of the magmatic pool despite the Gravity magic still affecting her, spraying semi-molten globules everywhere as a mighty roar escaped her maw. She then directed a fierce gaze in Bova''s direction, before opening her maw once more and unleashing a brilliant azure blue inferno that gushed forward, turning anything it touched to ash as it rushed towards Bova. (A.N. I originally wanted to write the entirety of Bova''s fight with Tiamat to finish this chapter, but I was unable to do so because every time I sat down to write the last several days I would suddenly have to get up to do something.. So I decided to just leave their fight here so I can post the chapter.) Chapter 409 - Monkey See, Monkey Do As the days slipped by and they got closer and closer to the day that the gods of the DXD world acknowledged Alex as their emperor, a day that was also being considered the day of his coronation since Alex was never ''officially'' crowned emperor of Asora, the man himself was becoming increasingly annoyed with the whole affair. What he originally had in mind for the entire thing was that the visiting gods would say their vows, and he''d make a show of accepting them before they moved on to the feast, which Alex wanted to make a fun affair similarly to the Norse. However it was quickly becoming an increasingly formal event that would require everything Alex hated about royalty and politics. So naturally, when presented with an opportunity to bail on the preparations, Alex was immediately gone as he tried to escape the hell of politics. That was how he ended up in Earthland after Hisui invited him for some big announcement her father planned to make, which was simply the king declaring to the people of Fiore that they were ''officially'' swearing allegiance to the Dragon Emperor, and becoming a subsidiary nation under Asora. Surprisingly, at least to Alex, almost none of the citizenry argued against their king''s decision due to how much Alex and his people had already done for them, along with the fact that many considered it forgone outcome with Alex''s marriage to their princess, Hisui. Not only had they destroyed the Dark Emperor and his followers, but they had also helped the people of the continent get back on their feet and repair the damage done to all of them, bit by bit. The only ones dissatisfied with this development were of course the surviving self-serving elites, who considered Alex and Asora as a whole very bad for their own businesses. The truly surprising development though was when Hisui stood a moment later, and announced to the entire kingdom, including her father, the captain of the Knights Arcadios, and even Alex, that she was pregnant. Immediately the entire city began to shake as the people roared their excitement at the news, while her father, Arcadios, and every one of the servants who had watched Hisui grow up burst into happy, yet hysterical, tears. Alex''s expression meanwhile morphed into one of extreme joy as he unhesitatingly pulled Hisui into his arms to plant a chaste, but love filled, kiss onto her lips in front of the entire kingdom, raising even more thunderous cheers at the scene. Later the group then retired to the interior of the castle, where they discussed the plans for Hisui while she was pregnant. Unlike the majority of Alex''s wives though, she didn''t intend to stay in the space-time orb for the duration of her term. Instead she said that she wanted to remain with her father and the people that helped raise her until their child was born, which Alex agreed to after he summoned Noint and five other former apostles to serve and protect Hisui when he wasn''t there. Sadly Alex didn''t get to stay in Earthland long until one of his wives came to drag him back to Asora, where he was once again thrown into the hell of political planning. There he was forced to ?ssist with boring things like scheduling, seating, decorations, preparing a list of who to expect, and much much more until he received a call from a certain someone. "Sorry, gotta go! Bye!" Alex quickly said before disappearing, leaving a stunned Ravel behind to explain to Grayfia and the others why he had gone. Traveling to America, Alex quickly found the place that the other party told him to meet them at, a hamburger joint of all places. Not just any kind of burger joint though, an actual American rustic looking place that most people would probably go to for the ambiance until they tried the food. "It became a small party of sorts before I knew it." Though he was shaking his head as he took his seat at the opposite end of the long table from the ''hero'', Alex also had a large smile since it had been a while since this particular group had gotten together, almost every male possessor of the Longinus Sacred Gears. Once he had sat down down though, Alex couldn''t help but to ask, "So why here of all places?" Again Cao Cao shrugged and replied, "Why not? I like hamburgers, and Dulio said he hasn''t really tried any before. So what better place than America to have some good burgers?" Though he was incredulous at the fact that Dulio, the man who scoured every inch of the earth looking for good food, had not yet tried a hamburger, he also couldn''t help but to agree with Cao Cao as memories of going to those old fashioned burger places with his friends in his previous life briefly resurfaced in Alex''s mind. Though he enjoyed the brief trip down memory lane, Alex quickly returned his attention to the present as the waitress came to take their order, and Cao Cao said, "I''ll pay for it, so order whatever you guys want." While everyone else expressed their thanks, Alex flashed a malicious smile as he said, "I''ll take you up on that then." Cao Cao and the others, including the poor waitress, were then treated to a firsthand experience of a full grown Saiyan''s appetite, as Alex ordered at least two of every burger on the menu(except for the veggie burger of course), as well as an order of fries to go with every single one. With everyone giving him weird looks, Alex smirked and stated, "Word of advice, never offer to pay for a Saiyan''s meal." Cao Cao''s brow twitched in annoyance as he muttered, "I see... And is there any particular reason you felt the need to try and bankrupt me?" Alex simply shrugged and replied, "Just consider a small form of payback for all of the headaches you used to cause us." Though his brow twitched yet again at Alex''s words, Cao Cao didn''t say anything else as Georg quickly changed the topic. "Anyways, about why we called you here." Immediately everyone became serious as Alex muttered, "The other reincarnator, huh?" Cao Cao nodded and explained, "He first appeared in Heaven where he battled the Great Seraph that was still stationed there, before disappearing and reappearing eventually in the Underworld. Though we managed to keep track of his movements with the machine you left behind, not even the holy energy of the True Longinus was able to harm him..." As Cao Cao trailed off, Georg picked up, "After Tannin battled him to standstill we managed to trap him within Dimension Lost, and thankfully he''s been restrained within ever since." Though he followed everything else so far, Alex ???ked his head to the side in confusion as he asked, "You mean he''s still in there? How long ago was he trapped?" Georg and Cao Cao glanced at each other before the latter answered, "I''d say a little over a year by this point? He''s locked within a replica of a rural Chinese village, so no matter how much he rampages he can''t escape, and anything he destroys within is restored after twenty four hours when we bring him food." Alex''s confusion only grew when he heard this, as even if the other reincarnator was sealed within Dimension Lost, he still should''ve been able to leave when his cooldown to change worlds ended. Deciding that he''d wait until actually meeting the man to figure out why he hadn''t escaped yet, Alex then asked, "What about his abilities? What was he able to do?" For a moment no one said anything as they tried to find the right words, until Dulio eventually said, "Well, he seems to be able to ''eat'' the majority of attacks we sent at him." While the rest of them grimaced from the way Dulio''s description sounded, Alex, Vali and Sairaorg all made expressions of understanding as Sairaorg said, "So he''s a Slayer then." The other looked confused at the quick acceptance Alex and the two other showed at the reincarnator''s abilities, which he quickly explained, "''Slayers'' are a type of Mage that come from the only other world that Asora is currently connected to, Earthland. Though there are three types, the most common seem to be ''Dragon Slayers'', who''s abilities are geared towards hunting dragons." When they heard that it appeared that a lot of the questions Cao Cao and the others had were immediately answered, as Tobio even said, "That would explain why he was so eager to fight Tannin..." Alex nodded and continued, "One specific trait of ''Slayers'' is that they are able to ''eat'' the element they use, such as fire, iron, lightning, or even poison, and turn it into their own energy to continue fighting. If he ''ate'' pretty much all of the attacks that were used against him, then he must have the variety of elements that he can use." Knowing what Alex was bound to ask next, Georg quickly said, "So far we''ve seen him use fire, powerful winds, water, holy light, and darkness, which we believe is simply demonic power since he was able to ''eat'' any attacks that the Devils used against him." Alex nodded as he digested what Georg told them, and said, "Well, if that''s the case then he chose the right world to rampage in since the majority of the beings here use pretty much all of those elements to fight with." For a moment no one said anything as they all silently agreed with Alex''s statement, until he surprised them by saying, "Alright, let''s get this over with. Send me to him before our food gets here." Everyone present looked at him with surprise, before Georg asked, "Really? Right now?" Alex nodded and said in a casual tone, "Yeah, why not? A small pre-meal ''workout'' doesn''t sound bad." Shaking their heads at what Alex considered to be a ''small workout'', Georg wordlessly waved his hand so that the mists of Dimension Lost enveloped Alex, transporting him to a rural Chinese village. "I take it you''re this so-called ''Dragon Emperor'', right? You better not be another worthless puss? like the rest of-" Even while he was smack talking those who trapped him there, the other reincarnator, scruffy looking man with dark hair, and tattered clothes, paused as he noticed the brow fur-covered appendage swaying behind Alex. His already large smile widened excitedly as an oppressive aura began to emanate from his body, and he finished slowly, "I guess I don''t need to worry about if you''re up for this or not, do I mister Saiyan?" Despite the eagerness of his opponent as fire, water, wind, light, and demonic energies began to whip around them, Alex almost sighed from exasperation as he began to wonder if he expected too much from the other reincarnators. He didn''t get a chance to wonder for long though, as the reincarnator continued without letting Alex say anything, "Well, it doesn''t matter what you are anyways, cause all you are in the end is the ''boss battle'' of this world before I move onto the next one for more experience points!" Alex''s brow twitched when he heard that, and he finally spoke for the first time as he asked, "Is that why you haven''t used your ability to leave worlds yet to escape from here? To face me?" This time the other reincarnator snorted as he replied, "No, but as the ''main character'' of this story it wouldn''t be right for me to use such a cowardly tactic, would it? If I''m going to escape, it''ll be with my own strength, and not such a cheat-like ability!" The more Alex heard from the other man the more he couldn''t believe what he was hearing, as he was speaking as if they were in nothing but a typical game or isekai story, and he was the protagonist. As the man''s aura and bloodlust reached an all time high, there was suddenly a deafening clap of thunder as every bit of power the slayer had suddenly vanished, and a second Alex appeared behind him with the sword Ascalon in his hand. Slowly, Alex turned around as he dispelled the sword and walked back towards the slayer, his expression completely calm as he did so, while the slayer seemed to be struggling to catch his breath and the after image he had left behind began to fade. Once he was right beside him, Alex slowly said, "You are NOT a shonen protagonist." "This is NOT your ''story''." Lines of blood began forming around his body as they slowly creeped down his skin. "And this was NOT a great ''boss battle''." By this point large chunks of the slayer''s flesh began to slough off and fall to the ground, only to turn to dust before they even impacted the earth below. "This, was an execution." Alex finished as the slayer''s entire body collapsed into over a hundred pieces, only to explode into a cloud of dust as they impacted the ground, and spread in the slight breeze. Before returning to the others Alex ran the lottery he got for killing the slayer, which rewarded him with the ''Gale Dragon Slayer'' abilities. Neither needing or wanting them, he instead forwarded the prize to Anne since she already had Sky dragon slaying, and adding Gale to her arsenal would make her significantly stronger since ''Gale'' Dragons were more focused on offense, while ''Sky'' dragons on support. All of that done, Alex then found himself back in the restaurant where the others were waiting, where they had evidently been watching his fight with the slayer based off of their expressions. "Hope the food gets here soon, I''m famished." Alex said as if he didn''t notice the looks the others were giving him, right as the waitress brought over the first of many platters of food. Suddenly feeling parched, Alex asked as she set the food down, "Hey beautiful, can we also get a few pitchers of beer to go with our burgers?" Punctuating his request with a quick wink, the waitress blushed heavily as she noticed just how good looking Alex was, despite him using many, many, spells to try and dampen the effect of his ''Peerless Beauty'' ability. Only returning a shy nod to Alex''s request, the waitress hurried away to bring them everything else they had ordered, while Cao Cao had a fairly irritable expression from Alex ordering yet something else at his expense. ... As the afternoon turned into night, Alex and the rest continued to eat, drink, and otherwise be merry as they simply relaxed and swapped various stories until day became night, and the restaurant eventually closed for the day. Making sure to leave behind a VERY generous tip for the poor cooks and waitress, Alex used the magic compass and key to send everyone else home since his ''Poison Resistance'' skill prevented him from getting drunk on something as weak as their current drinks. The exceptions were Sairaorg and Vali since he took the two of them home personally, where Aiko was fairly irritable at Vali for coming home drunk, but since it was first time she even heard of Vali drinking, she didn''t get too mad at him. Sairaorg on the other hand went to Seekvaira''s instead of his own home, which earned Alex a mild glare despite her red cheeks as she accepted the drunk Sairaorg. Then Alex had no choice but to return to his own home, were he found a small army of angry wives waiting for him. While he was able to pacify them regarding his leaving in the middle of their preparations, since it involved another reincarnator who had rampaged in their world a bit, none of them were too happy about him then spending the rest of the day drinking. Of course, they only knew Alex had been drinking due to the girls with more s?ns?t?v? noses smelling the alcohol on him, since Alex himself wasn''t even the slightest bit tipsy. Despite him not even being the slightest bit drunk, Alex was still forced to endure a VERY long lecture about dodging responsibilities to go drinking, and how he needed to set a better example as both an emperor, and a father. The night was already almost gone by the time Alex was finally let go by the angry wives, and he quickly retreated to safety of the space-time orb to spend what few hours were left of the night with his children, who were currently fast asleep. First he had a quick wash in an ice cold bath with Mizore and Tsurara, to wash away any remaining alcohol smell, before he could finally crawl into bed with his children in his second bedroom. Once there, Alex could feel the numerous small bodies stirring as each of them seemed to snuggle up to him, instinctively sensing the arrival of their father even in their sleep. *** When he awoke the next morning the first thing Alex heard was the whispering and giggles of his children as they waited for him to wake up, only to hush down as he stirred. "Ahhhhhhh!" Alex yawned loudly as he stretched exaggeratedly, before saying happily, "Good morning my mischievous little monkeys!" What greeted him was the sight of every one of the elder children, so excluding Ryuto, Shuri, and of course Lana, mimicking him as they stretched exaggeratedly while yawning, before parroting, """Good morning daddy!""" Cocking a brow at their actions, Myuu maintained a perfect poker face at Alex while her younger siblings erupted into a series of giggles at the game they were apparently a part of. Rather than calling attention to their actions though, Alex decided to go along with their game as he got up to get the three youngest children up for the day. Ryuto and Shuri were both old enough that they were able to craw out of bed after Alex woke them, while Lana was only a few months old by this time(due to spending quite a bit of time in the space-time orb), and so Alex had to personally get her up and change her diaper before making his way to the bathroom, the rest of the little monkeys quickly following behind him. Though nothing really happened as Alex helped the younger children strip off their pajamas, he noticed that the children were trying to perfectly mimic him as he washed and rinsed his face and body, before sinking into the warm water with a sigh of contention. """Haaaaaaaaaa...""" The children sighed as they too sank into the warm water, making Alex''s smile turn wry as he leaned back and closed his eyes, even as he used his ''Domain'' to keep an eye on the younger children as they splashed around in a much shallower tub. Though usually they would play and splash around in the tub while Alex watched over them, today his children didn''t do any of that as they instead mimicked him as he enjoyed the warm water that he was submerged in. This went on for a little over twenty minutes, until Alex decided it was time for them to get out and ready for the day. After dressing himself in a plain pair of shorts and a t-shirt, Alex was then unceremoniously pushed out of the giant closet by Myuu as she declared, "Out papa!" ''Helpless'' against his eldest daughter''s wishes, Alex allowed her to forcefully remove him from the closet, leaving her and her siblings to dress themselves. And, as Alex suspected, all of the children shortly emerged from the closet dressed in shorts and a shirt that matched his own, though some of them were were inside out or backwards, while Alec''s shirt was both. Wryly shaking his head at their actions, Alex then gently took Lana from Myuu''s arms as he led the train of Saiyans down to breakfast. Once down there every single one of the women already there began to gush at the adorableness of all of Alex''s children dressed just like him, while Shuri and Ryuto hurriedly waddled behind them. Pretending as if he didn''t notice the matching attire, or why his wives were gushing, Alex passed Lana on to Grayfia who immediately set her in a highchair to feed her her breakfast, while Rias and Akeno did the same with Ryuto and Shuri respectively. He then said to Haruna and Mikan, "Can I get a large stack of pancakes with some bacon and fried eggs?" The two girls hurriedly prepared Alex''s food for him while the children watched with wide eyes as the largest stack of pancakes they ever saw was set in front of their father, before they excitedly, and politely, asked for the same thing. As he waited for the kid''s food to be brought to them as well, Alex also silently promised Mikan and Haruna a private date in the near future since it had been so long since they had ''gone out'', mostly due to the lingering trauma they had from ''that'' man. With both girls in notably better spirits, they brought the children their food with various little differences based on the specific child. Myuu''s had so much extra syrup her pancakes might as well had been swimming in it, Edith''s meanwhile was topped with numerous types of berries, while Mai''s was covered in a layer of whipped cream. Then there was Alec and Anna, who had piles of strawberries and blueberries respectively, Regal, who took most of his food borderline burnt, Lizzy with the piles of chocolate chips for her sweet tooth, while both Yuki and Aurora had ice cream with theirs. As for the youngest three, Ryuto and Shuri both still had to have theirs cut up by their mothers and fed, while Lana was still on a diet of baby food as they tried to wean her off of br??st milk. ... Once breakfast was finished, and every one of them had full bellies, Alex then led the troop of Saiyans through the villa, and down to the underground weight room. There, Alex began a ''light'' workout as he watched his children try as best as possible to mimic his movements, while Alex used his ''Telekinesis'' to fix any mistakes they might have been making with their posture. This was mostly a for fun thing as Alex figured that since his children wanted to mimic him, he''d do some of the things he''d typically do when he wasn''t playing with them, the pg version of things at least. However, as Alex watched his children adorably try to lift weights the same way he was, he couldn''t help his mischievous side that wanted to have a little fun. Taking a short intake of breath, Alex suddenly exclaimed, "HA!" As he did so, he became enveloped in a brilliant golden aura while his black hair turned golden as it stood up on end. Their eyes widening in surprise and awe, all of the older kids suddenly adopted VERY serious looks as they tried to focus. "HA!" "HA!" "HA!" One after another the children shouted as they tried to go Super Saiyan, while their mothers secretly watched on disapprovingly, obviously to no success. After nearly a minute of this Alex began to feel bad for the frustrated little Saiyans, and especially for the depressed looking Myuu, while some of their faces turned red from concentration, and he was sure from the smell that someone might have pooped their pants... "Ok, that''s enough." Alex said as he tried to get them to stop trying to go SSJ, though several of them wanted to keep trying. Eventually the only one that was still trying to transform was Edith, who was nearly purple in the face by this point as she desperately tried to mimic her dad. "Ok Edith, that''s.....enough........" Alex began to tell her, before something began to happen that stunned him. "Grrrrrrrrrr..." CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE! As Edith growled Alex noticed an intense energy slowly begin to envelope her, as her already golden hair began to slowly stand up straight, and turn rigid. "GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Edith continued to growl and force herself to try and transform, while arcs of energy continued to crackle around her and a small line of blood trickled from her nose. Moist amazingly though was that as the seconds ticked by torturously slowly, Alex noticed the brown fur covering Edith''s tail beginning to shift to a brilliant gold before changing back. But as the seconds passed her tail was staying golden longer, until a concussion of golden energy exploded from Edith''s body as her hair stood completely straight up, and her tail turned completely gold. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Edith shouted with all the intensity her little lungs could muster as the energy from her transformation continued to grow around her, until she ended up completely out of breath and the effects of her transformation disappeared entirely. "Daddy..." Edith muttered lightly as she looked up towards Alex, before becoming unstable on her feet. "I''ve got you!" Alex said as he flashed forward and caught his daughter before she could collapse, wiping the trickle of blood from her nose as he did so before saying, "I''m so proud of you Edith.." The little girl smiled cheekily at his praise, before closing her eyes as she passed out from the energy usage. Chapter 410 - Training Begins SMASH! "WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?!" Gabriel demanded with the angriest expression anyone had seen on her face, after Edith being kidnapped of course, while the table that was between everyone currently gathered was smashed to pieces in the wake of her fury. Alex however, the source of her anger, simply sat there in thought even as Grayfia fixed the table, and Gabriel continued, "Edith isn''t even ready to start manifesting beams of light yet, let alone handling the power of the Super Saiyan transformation! What do you think is going to happen now that she can use it?!" As she paused to give Alex a chance to explain himself, he instead slowly said, "I think, I''ll begin training her a few others..." Shocked silence met his words, while Gabriel''s eye began to twitch noticeably, before she said with an eerie calmness, "I see, you say it''s time to begin their training." For a moment nothing happened as Gabriel smiled at Alex, and he continued to sit there with his thoughts. CRASH! This time Gabriel threw the entire table so that it crashed against the far wall and shattered, making Grayfia''s brow twitch this time as she set about fixing it once more, and Gabriel shouted, "THEY ARE NOT TINY SOLDIERS FOR YOU TO SEND INTO BATTLE! DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN CHILDREN AT ALL?!" The moment those words left Gabriel''s lips though, she immediately realized what she said as she covered them with her hands, and this time Alex was the one who''s expression began to morph. BOOM! This time the table shattered into thousands of pieces as Alex''s fist came down onto it, even as he tried to force a calm expression on his face despite the anger coursing through him. Anything else Gabriel might have wanted to say to him was lost at that moment as Alex displayed genuine anger at her for the first time, and he growled, "''Do I even care about them?'' They have been the most important part of my life since the day they were born." Despite his deceptively calm demeanor and lack of expression, every single person there knew that Alex was completely furious at Gabriel''s implication. There were a thousand different things that the girls thought Alex might do at that moment, but instead he turned towards a certain rabbit eared berserker, and ''calmly'' said, "Shia, use your ability to look into the future for me." Shia jumped at his voice before asking, "What am I looking for exactly?" "Look for Super Saiyans based around my decision on wether or not I''ll train my children." Nodding slowly, Shia then stood as she prepared to use her foresight ability. When she first met Alex, Shia had only been able to use this particular ability once a day due to it consuming all of her magic power at once. Now however, with access to Alex''s system, she had trained her ability so that it didn''t completely drain her from using it once, and she was currently able to use it several times without issue. Unfortunately though, the way she activated said ability hadn''t changed in the slightest. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Shia then began a very strange dance that involved flailing her arms about wildly while she chanted in a strange language. Watching such a spectacle, it became increasingly hard for anyone to keep a straight expression in the tense atmosphere. "HAAA!" Shia then shouted as she completed the strange ritual required to use her powers, before she came back to them with a pale expression. "What did you see?" Alex asked, her, to which Shia awkwardly replied, "I saw Alec and Anna playing in the schoolyard..." Several people glanced at Sona when they heard this, as it meant that Alec and Anna had already started attending the academy. "That''s good, isn''t it?" Gabriel said hopefully, however Shia slowly shook her head as she continue, "Until a snot-nosed brat tried to take a toy from Anna and made her cry, only for Alec to turn into a Super Saiyan and turn him into paste by accident..." Dead silence met Shia''s words as that very image appeared in their heads, until Alex asked, "And what ''decision'' was that vision based off of?" For a moment Shia said nothing as she anxiously glanced between Alex and Gabriel, before finally muttering, "Not training them..." No one said anything for several seconds as Alex allowed that revelation to sink in, before he began, "While one can technically attain a Super Saiyan transformation with different methods, the most effective is feeling intense emotions, usually anger. And the more powerful the Saiyan parent is, the easier it would be for the child to attain Super Saiyan." Still, no one said anything as Alex stood up and used his magic to project an image of Goku, before continuing, "This is Son Goku, another Saiyan. Compared to the rest of the Saiyans that existed in this universe when he grew up, he was the weakest. Despite this though, within the span of a couple years he managed to attain what they considered to be the pinnacle of Saiyan might, the Super Saiyan transformation." As he paused Alex showed the image of Goku in his SSJ form, before continuing, "After this the only other full blooded Saiyan that existed, a Saiyan prince named Vegeta, trained himself to the verge of death for several years until he too attained the form. Right before he did though, Vegeta conceived a child with relatively ordinary human woman, Bulma. "While both were already ?du?ts with children by the time they attained their first SSJ form, Goku then rigorously trained his own son, Gohan, until he also attained it at the age of ten, before going on to master the first form soon after. Gohen was then the first to attain the SSJ2 form at the age of eleven, allowing him to surpass both of the other Saiyans that were more than double his own age." Alex then paused once again as the image of Gohan disappeared, and was instead replaced by the image of two different children. "These two are Goten and Trunks, the second son of Goku, and the first child of Vegeta. Being trained by his father since the moment he could first walk, Trunks managed to attain and the first Super Saiyan form around the age of seven or eight. Goten meanwhile was conceived when Goku had completely mastered the first SSJ form, and only received moderate training from his mother in his early years before achieving the first form at the age of five or six, purely by accident without even knowing what it was. And coincidently, his mother was only a bit stronger than the average human on their world." Again, silence was all that met Alex as everyone took in what he said, until Anne asked, "So what does that mean for our children?" Alex sighed as he contemplated for a moment, and said, "Well, Edith is my oldest, and she was conceived when I was around the same level of strength as Goku when Goten was conceived. Add in the fact that her mother is a Great Seraph instead of just a normal human, and I''d say it''s not too surprising that she would''ve made her first transformation any day now with the right trigger, even if I didn''t goad her into it." Ravel then immediately asked, "What about the rest of them though?" Once again, Alex sighed before finally saying, "As the child born when I was at my ''weakest'', Edith will probably be the one with ''smallest'' potential as a Saiyan out of my children. The rest will probably begin transforming in the coming days and weeks, meaning that there''ll be an entire group of mini Super Saiyans that have no idea how to control their strength soon." Realizing that there was quite literally no other choice than to let Alex train their children, Gabriel and the other mothers could only slowly nod their heads before she reluctantly said, (A.N. He''s not saying she''ll be the ''weakest'' of them period, just that Alex''s other children would have more potential as Saiyans due to him being stronger when they were conceived.) "Very well, just promise you''ll go easy on them." Alex smiled wryly and said to her, "That kinda defeats the purpose of training though." When Gabriel fixed him with another glare at his teasing, Alex relented, "I won''t go too hardcore on them....yet." Though his quip earned him another glare from Gabriel, neither of them said anything else as the meeting came to an end, allowing Alex to begin preparing how exactly he would train his children. *** That night several people were very busy as they helped Alex prepare for the big step his children would take the next day, while the man himself had shut himself up in his secret workshop to prepare a little something extra for his children. As the sun within the space-time orb began to rise the next morning, Edith, Mai, Alec and Anna were all suddenly roused from their sleep by none other than their eldest sister, Myuu. "Wake up, papa has a surprise for us!" Myuu said, making the four of them bolt straight up as Alec asked, "Really?!" Myuu nodded and gestured for them to follow her, which the four quickly did as they wondered what the surprise their daddy prepared was. Surprisingly though, the ones waiting for them wasn''t their daddy like they expected, but were instead their own mothers. "What''s wrong mommy~Nya?" Mai asked as she walked up to Koneko, sensing that her mother was conflicted about something. Truthfully Koneko WAS feeling quite happy that Mai was starting her own training, but at the same time sad that that day had already arrived. Kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her daughter to pull her into her impressive bust, Koneko emotionally uttered to her, "Nothing...you''re just growing so fast...." Sensing the fluctuations in her mother''s energy, even as Koneko tried to calm them, Mai tried her best to endure the suffocating hug until Remia, Myuu''s mother, eventually said to her, "Now now Koneko, you''re suffocating the poor girl. And it''s not like she''s leaving you, you know?" Releasing Mai from her embrace, Koneko nodded slowly while saying, "I know....." For a moment no one said anything as every one of the mothers gathered had the same thoughts going through their minds, until Edith asked, "So where''s daddy with the surprise?" Coming back to reality at her query, Gabriel said to her, "We''re going to go see daddy now, so hold on tight!" Summoning her wings, Gabriel then picked up Edith while Koneko, Anne, and Remia did the same, though the Dagon mother was being supported by Anne''s Telekinesis as well. Out over the ocean they flew away from the villa at a startling pace, but, having gone flying with Alex practically since birth, none of the children were scared as they watched the waves pass by under them. For several minutes the children enjoyed the wind in their faces and the scenery below as they were flown through the air, until they saw what they were heading towards on the horizon. "Oh wow!" Edith exclaimed in awe as she watched the great island steadily get bigger as they got closer, which had several mountains reaching up towards the sky, all of which were covered in a layer of misty clouds with dark greenery underneath. Any place that wasn''t covered in either thick fog or dense greenery however showed giant creatures that slowly meandered across the grassy terrain. Flying over the island, they soon approached a small walled located in the center, where their father was waiting for them. "Welcome-" Alex called out as they approached. "-to Jurassic-wait, wrong series..." Though his joke went over the kid''s heads as they took in their surroundings with awe, the mothers however rolled their eyes at him with wry smiles. "What is this place daddy~Nya?" Mai asked curiously while she and her siblings continued to look around, which Alex answered, "This is the place where I intend to begin your training, which was built last night." None of the children heard the latter part of Alex''s words though, instead they only heard the first part as Edith excitedly exclaimed, "We''re going to train to be as strong as daddy?!" After a second of thought Alex began to slowly nod before carefully saying, "If you train hard, then yes you could get as strong as me one day. But it''ll take a long time, and it won''t be easy." Despite his warning though, the children''s excitement only seemed to grow as they almost literally began to bounce up and down in front of him. Smiling at their enthusiasm, Alex then said, "Firstly though, close your eyes." Quickly they did as their father bid them, clamping their eyes shut as if their lives depended on it, while Alex snapped his fingers and a flash of light enveloped them. When it faded, Alex then told them, "Ok, open them now." When the children opened their eyes they all gasped at what they saw, which was the new individualized uniforms he had made them to train in. Starting with Myuu''s, hers was a dark green with golden trims on the edges, and Alex''s symbol across the back. Edith and Mai''s clothes matched Myuu''s in almost every way, except instead of dark green theirs were white and black respectively with golden trim, while Alec and Anna had matching uniforms of pure gold with black trim. For the moment these five were the only ones that Alex would start training, but in the coming days and weeks he suspected that Regal and Lizzy would also join their siblings in their training, with Yuki and Aurora joining them as well soon after. Until then though, Alex intended to focus on the group before him as he then told them sternly, "Now remember, training isn''t a game. Any fooling around could get yourselves, or your brothers and sisters hurt. And because of that, I have something else to help make sure you all stay safe." As he said that Alex held out his hand to conjure up the items he had been working on the night before, five simple looking golden bands. "These will tell me if any of you are in danger, or if you are hurt in any way. I want you all to promise me that you''ll never take them off." As he fastened the bands to their little wrists, each of the children declared that they would never take them off, which relieved Alex quite a bit due to the hidden functions he had added to the bracelets. On top of alerting him and their mothers if any of them were hurt or in danger, they also helped to act as a limiter to the children''s strength so that they could control it better while also helping their growth, and they also prevented them from accidentally activating the Super Saiyan transformation unless Alex allowed it, to prevent situations like the one Shia saw in her vision. When they were all wearing the special bracelet Alex stepped back and asked, "Ok then, are you all ready to start training?" """""YEAH!""""" They chanted back excitedly, before Alex then had them all following his lead as they began their warm ups. What followed was a new type of training regimen that the mothers had never seen before, as Alex led them all in an unusual series of exercises. First they lightly jogged until they reached the top of a nearby mountain, and then Alex had them skip down the mountain until they reached a small lake, and then the next unusual exercise began. This continued until Alex finally led them back to the area where they had began, a walled courtyard with several gazebos and small buildings within. Though the exercises they did, and distance they covered, would have been too much for any other first timer, as Saiyans each of Alex''s children were able to at least complete their first real exercise, before collapsing from exhaustion as they returned to the courtyard. And then there was Myuu. "It''s ok Myuu, you can grow stronger at your own pace." Alex tried to console her as he set her down at the courtyard, to which the little girl just pouted adorably. Before he could say anything else though, Remia approached them and gently took Myuu''s hand as she said to him, "Don''t worry, I''ll talk to her a little bit while the others rest." Remia then led the sulking Myuu away to talk with her, allowing Gabriel to approach him as she muttered with narrowed eyes, "I thought you said you wouldn''t go too hard on them just yet? And what is with this ridiculous training regimen?" Alex ???ked a brow at her as he remarked, "I''m not. And this portion of their training isn''t ridiculous, it''s to help build up their endurance and stamina." This time Anne was the one who ???ked a brow as she approached and asked, "But shouldn''t it still be a little lighter for them?" Alex shook his head and stated, "It may seem like too much now, but in a matter of days, a couple weeks at most, this will probably be nothing to them. Do NOT underestimate how quickly a Saiyan can grow in strength, our greatest talent is our limitless potential and capacity for combat." Though Gabriel and Anne wanted to say something else, they didn''t get the chance to as Edith, Mai, Alec, and Anna all started getting up as they prepared for whatever Alex had planned for them next. "We''re ready daddy!" Edith said with determination, to which Alex flashed a smirk at Gabriel and Anne before approaching his children to direct them in the next part of their training, while Remia approached them with a newly determined Myuu at her side. *** Meanwhile, in an entirely different universe, a man proceeded to disentangle himself from a pile of limbs as he crawled out of his bed, and wandered over towards the great window before him. He was devoid of a singe stitch of clothing, with the only thing on his body being the green, black and white watch on his left wrist, which had a diamond shape on its face instead of numbers. As he reached the great balcony before him, the man sighed as he stared out at the view that stretched out below. What he saw was an endless expanse of skyscrapers and metalwork extending well beyond the horizon, dotted here and there with massive statues that stood taller than any of the buildings around them. While each statue seemed to depict a different figure at first, all of the residents of that world knew that they were actually the same man, the very person who was staring down at them all at that moment from his palace that floated thousands of feet in the sky. While he was taking a few minutes to admire his kingdom, and all of his willing servants, a voice suddenly said in his head, ''You''re finally up.'' He ?r??n?d internally before replying out loud, "Good morning to you too Viktor. To what do I owe this lovely chat?" Viktor sneered at him before replying, ''Don''t get snippy with me Markus, especially when I''m talking with you to give you a heads up.'' This caught the man, Markus'', attention, as he asked, "Oh? A heads up about what?" For a moment Viktor didn''t say anything due to Marcus'' attitude, but he eventually said, ''I''m warning you that there''s another reincarnator out there that can be a major threat to you.'' Intrigued, Markus asked, "Isn''t it against your so-called ''rules'' to tell me about other contestants?" Markus then had the mental image of what he thought Viktor looked like nodding slowly as he said, ''That''s true, but I''m not giving you anything specific. Only giving you a heads up since he''s already killed nine other reincarnators, and has two more on his side.'' Markus'' thought process slowed to a halt when he heard that, before saying, "Are you serious?" Viktor nodded and replied, ''Yes, the first three he killed at once, before brutally slaughtering the fourth, and then he took on an alliance of five with one of the other reincarnators on his side. The last one he just butchered instantly hours ago, and each time he killed one he either gained several levels, or one of their powers.'' For a moment Markus didn''t say anything, before a great smile spread on his face. "So what?" There was suddenly a flash of green light around him and his relatively normal human form was replaced with one that was covered in fire, with plates of semi-molten stone underneath. "For every power he has, I have a thousand." He said in a more guttural voice, before flashing again to reveal a red skinned figure with four arms and four yellow eyes. He then flexed each arm and declared, "For every limb he has, I''ll double it!" Then he flashed once again so that he was in his original form, but then power seem to start gathering around him as he began to levitate off the ground, and his eyes started to glow, "And matter how much strength he has, it won''t do him any good!" Then, to punctuate his point, Markus then proceeded to fire a blast of red energy from his eyes that tore through several of the skyscrapers below, causing them to collapse into a heap of burning rubble and metal. As he did this, Markus also grabbed the railing and ripped it out of the foundation it was in, and crumpled it into a ball of steel no bigger than a baseball. "No matter what he has, I say bring it on!" He declared finally, waking up those who hadn''t already been woken by the explosion outside. "What''s wrong my lord?" One of the women, a beautiful looking girl with purple skin and yellow eyes, asked with concern in her voice. Markus however looked back at her with an excited and eager expression on his face as he said, "It''s nothing, but the engineering department will have to repair the eighth district later. Now, where were we?" The gaggle of women, who were composed of numerous different species that had joined Markus and his intergalactic divine empire, then began to giggle happily as he returned to their bed. Meanwhile, within his own private mansion that dwarfed even the grandest of castles in size and extravagance, Viktor leaned back as he cut off the sickening feed of his contestant. Instead, on his monitor were the images of Alex and Lauren, side by side. "Soon Lauren, my ''puppet'' will slaughter your contestant, and when he ''wins'' I''ll make you regret ever refusing and crossing me.." His mouth then curled into a cruel and malicious smile as he thought of all the humiliations he''ll inflict upon her in the future. Chapter 411 - Tribute As the last couple days remaining until morning passed within the space-time orb, Alex''s claims regarding the potential of his Saiyan children were proven correct several times over. Firstly, as he told Anne and Gabriel, the children managed to adjust to the first stage of training that Alex gave them within a mere couple days; going from collapsing due to being completely exhausted after it, to only mildly winded. Of course the most convincing evidence of Alex''s claims was when he tried teaching Edith how to properly maintain and control her transformation, only for Alec to attempt and make the transformation himself after only a couple days of training, quickly followed by Anna and Mai. The group then made quite the image when they all went super together, filling their mothers with both pride and sadness from how quickly they were growing. None were more proud though than their father, who relished every single moment he spent training with them. Of course, unlike Piccolo who began teaching Gohan in order to turn him into a weapon, and Goku who mistakenly believed that Gohan had inherited his love of fighting, Alex''s priority in training his children was teaching them how to control their own strength before moving to the actual combat practices. What was surprising was that a couple days after Alex began training the children Gabriel, Kuroka, and Anne also got in on their training as well. Gabriel had started teaching Edith the basics of manipulating light so that she could learn more about the angelic side of her powers as well. Mai on the other hand was learning the basics of the various types of magics and techniques that Kuroka knew, such as Senjutsu, Youjutsu, and Touki. As for why Kuroka was teaching her instead of Koneko, it was because Kuroka was significantly more skilled with such techniques than her younger sister. On the other hand, Anne was also teaching both Alec and Anna about Dragon Slayer magic, but due to the potential of their demonic powers she was trying to teach them to use elements other than wind, unless they wanted to. And then there was Myuu, who used the time that her siblings were learning from their mothers to try and increase her own physical abilities in an attempt to keep up. Another plus about the children needing training, at least for Alex, was that when morning did arrive he was reluctantly exempted from the preparations for his coronation, something that he tried not to act too happily about it when his wives told him. *** With him spending the last couple days/months until his coronation within the space time orb with his children, Alex had what he considered to be one of the most enjoyable times of his life in recent memory. He''d spend his mornings running the children through their training, which would finish by lunch so they could practice the various skills they inherited from their mothers. Then, while his children were either resting after their training or practicing with their mothers, he would take the chance to go around and visit his wives and lovers to spend some time with them. Once with them, Alex would then use the time spell he learned from Kuroka to spend several hours doing various ''this and thats'', or just simply laying there cuddling as they enjoyed a good book or movie together, or simply enjoyed each other''s presence. Of course, Alex also made sure he didn''t neglect his own training, either any one of his strength regimens, or his sparring with Elaine. Meanwhile everyone outside the orb was exceptionally busy during the day as they prepared for Alex''s coronation, and the arrival of so many guests. First they had to remodel the entire inside structure of the meeting hall that Alex and the officials of Asora usually met at, then they needed to make arrangements regarding where each of their guests would stay during the duration of their visit, and then much, much, more. While everyone else was busy preparing for the coronation though, Sona was extra busy as well with her own work. Ever since the battle Sona had been personally traveling to the homeland of each faction in order to discuss the possibilities of any youth from their factions joining the Academy. Naturally, a lot of the gods and various higher ups of each faction were extremely interested in having some of their youth attend school in Asora both due to the various skills and types of magic available there, and because of the potential connections that could be made with the people who lived there themselves. They had gotten even more excited when Sona mentioned wanting more teachers to teach at her academy as well, which she insisted on personally interviewing and approving to ensure no one with ''unfavorable'' tendencies or intentions were approved. The busiest person of all though appeared to be Ravel, who was juggling both the preparations for Alex''s coronation, and her new position as the head of the house of Phenex after she one sidedly defeated her oldest brother in a duel. One benefit of her new position however, was that all of the wealth and resources of the house of Phenex were now at her, and by extension Alex''s, disposal. It was the same with Rias and the resources of the Gremory family after she took over, however they unfortunately didn''t have the same pockets the Phenex family did, due to the latter being the only ones capable of producing Phoenix tears. And so, everyone was busy in their own ways until the day Alex''s coronation finally arrived. ... "Would you look at that!" Odin exclaimed as he looked out one of the windows on the luxury train car, where he and the rest of the hundred or so VIP guests of Asora were riding as they took in the sights of the new world for the first time. What had caught Odin''s attention though was the great tree that Anne had planted and helped grow, which reminded him of the life tree Yggdrasil. "That tree is descended from one in the land of Tortus known as the Great Tree Uralt, which is home to the Haltina Great Labyrinth, and resides within the center of the Sea of Trees that is home to the Beastmen, Elves, and Dwarves of Tortus. "Fun fact! Within the Sea of Trees is a dense fog that hides numerous threats, and makes navigating the forest itself impossible for those who aren''t being guided by one of the forest''s inhabitants! Thankfully, our tree instead seems to only encourage the growth of wildlife around it, as indicated the notably greener vegetation, and slightly larger than normal fauna." As Miledi spoke those who were interested in such things, mostly any present deities with divinities related to nature, moved to see the great tree and the forests around it for themselves. While they had yet to leave the train car since they passed through the portal to Asora, all of those related to nature that had arrived were amazed at how vibrant and ''unpolluted'' life in Asora seemed to be. All thanks to the efforts of Anne, Momo, and Nana. They train then took them away from the great tree as it turned to a different direction, towards Sona''s academy, where Miledi pointed out the various buildings and gave them all tidbits of information on it. The train then turned towards the frozen land of the Yuuki-Onna, otherwise known as Yukiguni, where Miledi gave all of the VIPs an explanation of how the snow women came to reside in Asora, as well as a little bit of info of them as a species. Looking down at them through the windows, the various gods saw people wandering too and fro through the city as more and more men began to settle there and form relationships with the snow women. Now there was at least several dozen Yuuki-onna with increasingly swelling bellies, as they prepared for the biggest population boom their people had ever seen. After showing them Yukiguni, Miledi then took the train to the coast that the Dagon now called home, New Erisen. There they saw people with emerald hair and fin-like ears happily going about their business as they secured a steady supply of seafood for Asora, and played Blitzball when they had a free moment. Again Miledi told the gods about the Dagons and how they came to reside in Asora, as well as the fact that Alex''s oldest daughter was a member of their race that he had adopted after saving her from underground slavers. Again the train turned out to the open ocean, taking them further and further away from land until they soon saw smoke rising up on the horizon. Soon the smoke was replaced with rising peaks as they arrived to what was often described in Asora as the Ring of Fire, home of the dragons and most of the Phoenixes of Asora. While several of the Phoenixes had gone to seek solitude within the distant volcanoes and deserts of Asora, most had stayed within the Ring of Fire Bova had created for his own personal haunt. There, they often worked to increase their own strength alongside Bova and the dragons he led, while the strongest Phoenix, Rho-Dan, watched on silently. Again the train turned from the sight, as it headed towards its next and final destination, the Capitol of Asora. As they reapproached the city Zeus muttered out loud for the rest of the car to hear, "Even seeing it all with my own eyes, it''s still hard to believe..." The rest of the gathered gods nodded in agreement as they thought back to Alex''s claims, and the evidence of his success. While it wasn''t unusual for people in power to show off the fruits of their success to others, the results of Alex''s success were more than a little staggering. His was now the first empire any of them had ever heard of that had grown to not only actually encompass the entire world, but even other worlds beyond it. And not only had he done this, but the people Alex ruled over were noticeably happy and apparently lived marginally better lives than they did in the past. However someone then snorted at the thunder god''s words, Athena, as she snarkily remarked, "It''s not like he himself actually did any of the hard work. From what I''ve heard he leaves the actual work to those who serves him, and spends his days aimlessly fooling around." Athena''s remark earned her numerous glares from those around her, most notably Zeus and Miledi as the formers eye started twitching, while the latter just b?r?ly managed to hold her anger in check. Miledi had been trying VERY hard to behave herself in front of the gods so as not to make Alex look bad, something that was made even harder due to her negative opinions about divine beings in general. With Athena''s remark though, it took every ounce of her willpower to stop herself from making a fool of the bitch of a goddess right then and there. True, Alex didn''t personally handle every single thing like most rulers did, however it was hard to expect him to when there was so many other things he needed to be doing, most of all increasing his strength even more for future threats, and personally addressing any prominent issues regarding the world they were currently visiting. Thankfully they were already arriving at the place where the VIPs would disembark her train, so Miledi didn''t need to hold herself back for much longer as she finally brought the train to a halt, and opened the doors to allow her passengers to leave. Of course, when Athena went to step down from the train she ''accidentally'' tripped and fell face first onto the dirty ground below, right in front of the hundreds of passengers currently disembarking the train. "Pfft..." Miledi snickered at the sight of such a proud and arrogant goddess falling on her face in front of everyone, along with many of the hundreds that had also witnessed such a thing. When she leapt to her feet Athena glared at everyone round her that dared to snicker at her predicament with a scratched up face, until she felt a slight itch as something healed the mild damage done to her face. This time it was Miledi who snorted as she remarked to Athena, "You''re lucky Alex is a big softy, if it had been me I would''ve left you like that for badmouthing your host." The moment Athena heard that she almost rounded on Miledi in fury, only to be stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder as her father''s voice rumbled, "Stop it." Though she wanted to argue, the subtle crackle of lightning behind her told Athena that it would be best not to test her father right then, as she reluctantly turned away from Miledi and the train. Of course, the moment the angry goddess turned her back to her, Miledi the proceeded to stick out her tongue at her. ... Over the next couple of hours the visiting gods made their preparations as the time for them to acknowledge the Dragon Emperor approached, and made sure that everything was in order with all of the tribute that they had brought. When it finally came time to approach the Emperor Morningstar they were all brought to the same hall where Alex and the rest of the Asoran officials would meet, which looked fairly plain on the outside, but once the dual doors leading inside were opened, the various gods couldn''t help but to gasp at what they saw. Inside was a great throne room, not unlike what any other King or emperor would have, except on either side of the great hall was a row of massive pillars that all had differing designs, each one based around the different factions and people who followed Alex. For example one pillar looked to made of pure ice that never melted for the Yuuki-Onna, while another was made of brightly colored coral for the Dagons. Each one stretched upwards towards the great domed ceiling, which was covered in intricate carvings and murals that depicted Alex and his wives in various scenes, such as when they originally fought Trihexia, or when Alex fought Ehito in his divine realm. The pillars and ornate ceiling both paled in comparison however to what lay at the end of the hall, where Alex and Anne both sat upon great gilded thrones at the top of an elevated platform. Alex however was dressed quite unlike any other emperor when they received their audiences, in a simple pair of linen shorts while his upper body was left completely exposed, though it didn''t appear that way. What drew every eye to him though was the fine layer of brilliant blue fur that covered his body from his waist up to his shoulders, and down his arms to his wrists, leaving only his pecks exposed. His hair meanwhile was a brilliant red that matched his divinely glowing eyes, which were both ringed by the same blue that covered his body. Almost matching the brilliance of the emperor and his empress was a pair of great banners that fluttered in the nonexistent wind behind them, one depicting a great golden ape while the other depicted a great red western dragon, locked in what appeared to be combat as many of the visiting VIPs almost swore they saw the amazingly lifelike banners actually move. The second that all of the gods and other legendary figures entered the throne room the doors behind them slammed shut, and an oppressive aura like none they ever experienced began to bear down upon them, as if trying to bend them all to Alex''s will. His voice then boomed out as he declared, "Gods, Devils, Angels, and everything in between, welcome to Asora." As he spoke Alex spread his arms wide in a gesture of welcome, to which the various visitors knelt respectfully while Odin replied, "It is our greatest honor to be welcomed to the home of the Dragon Emperor." Odin''s greetings were followed by nearly a hundred others as the visitors greeted Alex and gave compliments to either him, his family, his achievements, or Asora itself. When the hall fell silent once again a certain figure stepped forward with an almost comically short stature, Toma, King of Fiore made his way to the foot of Alex''s throne and knelt as he said, "I, Toma E. Fiore, pledge myself and the kingdom of Fiore to the Dragon Emperor, long may he rein!" Alex fought the urge to smile wryly as Toma rushed to be the first to pledge him his support, which he technically already had. Unlike the others though he didn''t have any tribute to offer to his new emperor, due to Alex already being wed to his only daughter, and the fact that Fiore was still recovering from the damage that the Dark Emperor had inflicted upon them. As the tiny King stepped away from Alex''s throne, one of the eastern gods stepped forward and said their own vows, before presenting their tribute before him. They were then followed by more of the eastern gods who swore Alex their allegiance before presenting their own tributes, which consisted of various things such as the highest quality fabrics, spices, jewels, rare metals, and much much more. The first ''major'' tribute was when Shiva stepped forward and declared his vows, before going on to swear that if Alex ever needed it, his strength was at his disposal. As the undisputed number one most powerful being in the DXD world this was no small promise, especially since Shiva was known for being fairly passive and actively avoided combat unless directly challenged to war. After him though was Indra, who could only grit his teeth as he swore his allegiance to Alex, before giving him tribute in the form of several members of his vanguard. This of course included Cao Cao and the remaining members of Hero Faction that were still loyal to him, who Alex thought was perfect to appoint to the position of the representative of the humans of Asora. The reason he thought this was because of Cao Cao''s Pride of fighting powerful beings as a ''mere human'', while Hajime would often complain to him regarding how tired he was of the humans of Asora treating him as if he was their representative. The next big surprise was when the falcon headed Horus stepped forward and said his vows, before clapping his hands twice. BOOM! The doors to the great hall were thrown open as a hundred young women exactly flooded within, each one carrying a tray with different items on it that the Egyptians were giving to Alex, and each one without a single stitch of clothing on their bodies. Instead, each girl paraded themselves before their new emperor while completely nude, with only golden paint adorning every single inch of their b?r? skin. "Each and every woman were chosen from amongst the most beautiful in all of Egypt, all between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, and the ''virtue'' of each and every one has been confirmed. And each tray that they carry is laden with various treasures from our land, from treasures going back thousands of years to the first Pharaohs, to scrolls containing details on the use of Egyptian magics." As Horus spoke the women he was presenting to Alex performed various actions such as jiggling their br??sts or shaking their bu??s to try and catch his eye, making him fight to resist the urge to sigh deeply at the current situation. It was quite obvious that instead of a marriage arrangement like Alex was already expecting from more than just a couple of the factions, Horus was simply flat out giving him a hundred girls to use and abuse however he wanted, even if they were willing. Even if he disregarded their ages, the fact was that Alex had no intention of taking in so many ''servants'' due to the fact that he literally had hundreds of women from former apostles and Pandora that were already ready and willing any time he wanted them. After taking a moment to consider how to best craft his response, Alex then said, "I thank the gods of Egypt for their more than generous tribute, however I''m sorry to say I can not truly accept even such an alluring offering." Horus'' predatory eyes blinked in shock at Alex''s words as many of the gods around them began to murmur in surprise, before Alex directed his attention to the stupefied young women themselves. "In Asora there is no serving or upper class, as such I will instead send each of you to our academy for the next year. During that time I want each of you to learn more about Asora, make friends, and otherwise integrate into our people. After this year is up you will be free to pursue whatever paths you wish, wether you wish to become warriors, scholars, mages, or even if you still wish to find employment as my maids." As he said this Alex sent a look to Sona nearby, who nodded briefly in acknowledgment of his unsaid words. Obviously Alex wanted her to subtly guide these young women onto a different path, and open up possibilities for them that didn''t involve a life of being someone else''s servants. Though Horus was more than a little irked that Alex didn''t truly appreciate his gift, he didn''t let it get to him since ultimately the girls were Alex''s to do whatever he wanted with. Moving back to his original place, Horus was then replaced with the hulking figure of the Dagda, with his ashen skinned wife, the Morrigen, at his side. Behind them came two more figures, one with hair as red as fire that flowed freely down her back and emerald green eyes that drew any who saw them in, her curvaceous body being hugged by a white gown that had muted floral patterns sewn into it. The other woman meanwhile also had red hair, but hers was darker with hints of brown that matched her own eyes, while she wore a vibrant green gown and carried a gnarled wooden staff in her hand. As all four kneeled before him, the Dagda then rumbled in his deep voice, "It is an honor to pledge myself and my people to the Dragon Emperor, and to show my sincerity, I offer the hand of my own daughter, Brigid." As he said that the Dagda gestured to one of the women behind him, the one with the fiery red hair, and white flowing gown. "I am Brigid, goddess of spring, fertility, healing, poetry, and smithing. It would be my greatest honor if the Dragon Emperor would accept me as his wife." Brigid said as she stepped forward, taking the chance to pose somewhat provocatively for Alex to scrutinize her body. Taking a second to do just that, admiring the various curves visible on Brigid''s body, Alex then said, "It would be my p???sur? to accept Brigid as one of my wives, so long as she is truly willing to join their number." With even his wives constantly telling him that he just accept any offers regarding political marriages, Alex didn''t even bother trying to worrying about accepting any marriage offers he would receive today or not, his only remaining concern being if the woman in question truly accepted being with him or not. Unsurprisingly, Brigid''s smile widened as she said, "Of course I am, tales of the Dragon Emperor''s ''prowess'' are legendary. Plus I believe that being wedded to his imperial majesty would grant me the inspirations needed to craft items the like of which I have never been able to before." As a goddess related to smithing, Alex was unsurprised that Brigid would be interested in the techniques, ideas, and materials that would be available to her in Asora, and naturally her status as a goddess of fertility were what drove her to seek a marriage with him specifically. Rather than calling her out on that though, Alex then directed his attention to the other woman that had been beside her, and asked, "And who, might I ask, are you?" The woman then stepped forward and declared, "I am Mirana, one of the three Arch-Druids that lead our order." Alex nodded slowly at her introduction, before asking, "I see, and you supposed to be a part of Brigid''s marriage to me?" Knowing that it wouldn''t be too unusual for numerous marriage proposals to be laid at his feet, Alex didn''t hesitate to ask so but was surprised when Mirana answered back with a ?usty gaze, "If his imperial majesty wishes for my body, then I would be more than happy to provide it. My purpose in being here however is to request permission for a branch of our order to be established within this world, so that some of us may be close to his imperial majesty should he ever have need for us, and so that we might care for wild areas of the world that he rules over, though from what I''ve seen so far that might not be necessary." Alex smiled as Mirana praised the state of Asora, and how little they had polluted the world around them. He then gestured to his empress beside him and stated, "You should take that up with my empress, Anne. She is the one who has personally overseen our efforts to maintain, and help, the nature around us to ensure that we do not bring this world to ruin like so many others." Mirana''s eyes widened as she looked to Anne, who smiled warmly at the Arch-Druid before saying to her, "I have heard about the Druids before, and of their connection to the world around them as well as their sacred duties to preserve and protect the earth herself. It would be my p???sur? to work alongside an order such as yours." Mirana returned Anne''s smile as she bowed deeply and said, "Then when I return I shall inform the other two Arch-Druids, and we shall ?ssemble a delegation to station here." Though nothing within her words or mannerisms betrayed such a thing, Alex had a sneaking suspicion that all of the Druids that Mirana planned to bring would be amongst the most beautiful of their female members. Knowing the futility of trying to call her out on this as well though, Alex said nothing as Mirana moved back to take her previous place alongside the Dagda and the Morrigen, while Brigid moved to the side to stand amongst his wives. Their place was then taken by Odin and the Norse gods, who knelt before Alex before the elderly God said, "Great Dragon Emperor, from now until the end of time the swords, shields, and axes of Asgard are yours to command! And to commemorate our union, I have prepared some small tokens of our fealty." As Odin spoke the great doors opened once again as numerous massive barrels were rolled in, followed by a certain golden haired goddess. "I present to his imperial majesty a total of one hundred casks of the greatest mead Asgard has to offer, and the hand of the most beautiful goddess within our realm, Freya." While Alex happily accepted the casks of Asgardian mead, he frowned slightly as he noticed the expression on Freya''s face, one of somber resignation unlike Brigid''s eagerness. Before he could say anything though, one of the Norse gods kneeling with Odin seemed to notice the slight frown to his lips and, mistaking why he was frowning, remarked quietly as Freya passed them, "Looks as if the Dragon Emperor isn''t so fond of having someone so ''broken in'' as a part of his collection." His remark earned him a round of snickering while Freya''s expression of resignation morphed into one of indignation, and her arms began to shake slightly in fury. True, she was the Norse goddess of love and beauty, and it was true that she had had numerous s?xu?? partners over the millennia, however unlike other goddesses possessing similar divinities she still possessed a sense of self respect and pride. Freya was not as frivolous as goddesses such as Aphrodite, who typically flitted from fling to fling due to their divinities and self indulgence, however that was exactly the treatment she received from the other residents of Asgard who considered her to be little more than a sort of outlet for their ?ust. She had even had numerous men flat out call her names such as ''whore'' or ''slut'' as they raged at her if she refused their advances for whatever reason, seemingly convinced that her divinities meant she would readily sleep with anyone and everyone who approached her. Feeling more shame and humiliation than she ever had before, Freya was on the verge of storming out of the great hall before Alex''s voice boomed, "If anyone has anything to say to Freya, then they can stand and say it to her face in front of all these people rather than skulking amongst the masses!" Immediately the snickering ceased as Freya looked up at Alex directly for the first time, and noticed the anger on his face as he looked down at the person who had spoken before. With no one willing to step forward and do as Alex demanded, he himself then stood up before slowly making his way down the steps his throne sat upon until he stood directly before Freya herself, and said to her in a voice that reached everyone around them, "When it comes to women who possess divinities or traits such as yours, I do not hold their pasts against them Freya. You are you and the things you have done will never change, all that matters in my eyes is the future and how we go forward. No matter how many men you''ve been with throughout your life, I would happily take you as my wife and endeavor to make you happy, if you are willing. All I would ask for, is your faithfulness from this point forward." To punctuate his declaration Alex took one of Freya''s hands and brought it to his lips to kiss lightly, as he awaited her answer. Freya meanwhile was completely speechless, as most, if not all, who pursued her saw only a beautiful thing they wanted to keep for themselves like a trophy. For the first time she was left unsure of how to respond to a man''s proposition, as she instead stole glances towards Alex''s wives as if to see how they reacted. Instead of the scorn, jealousy, or disdain she usually received from members of the same s?x, she only saw warm gazes as the women around Alex seemed to support her with their eyes, while a few threw dirty looks to the man who had spoken previously. Taking a breath as if to steel herself, Freya then said to Alex, "If you are willing to accept a ''dirty'' woman such as me as your wife, then there is no reason for me to refuse you''re proposal lord Dragon Emperor." Alex smiled at her as he kissed her hand once more before saying, "It''s Alex now, wife." Gesturing to the side where the rest of his wives waited, Freya took a place next to Brigid as Alex returned to his throne, and Odin awkwardly backed away. Finally they were on the last group to pledge themselves to Alex, the Greeks, as the Three Great Factions had already made their backing of Alex publicly known. Zeus then stepped up towards the base of Alex''s throne with his wife by his side, and the rest of the attending gods behind them, minus Aphrodite for some strange reason. Though a few of the gods directed dirty looks to Alex after the way he had humiliated them before, no one paid any attention to them as Zeus stated, "We of Olympus find ourselves humbled and in awe of the Dragon Emperor''s greatness, and wish his forgiveness for any past transgressions as we subject ourselves to his whims." As he spoke, Zeus and the other gods then knelt to Alex as he said, "I have forgotten all about what has transpired before, just remember not to earn my ire in the future." Nodding in affirmation, Zeus then stood as he said, "And as a show of our sincerity, I offer the hands of two of my daughters to the Dragon Emperor, both of which are a part of what many people call the ''Three Maidens'' of Olympus." As he spoke both Athena and Artemis stepped forward, both dressed in pristine white togas with a wreath of flowers in their hair, and simple golden bands adorning their otherwise b?r? wrists and ankles. With Athena being known as a great warrior and tactician, and Artemis being known as a great huntress, all who were gathered gasped in awe of the twos beauty in the simple togas they wore. Athena''s golden brown hair that usually tied back in a warrior''s braid or confined in her helmet was allowed to flow freely, her stormy gray eyes scanning the room analytically as she felt exposed without her usual armor. Artemis meanwhile usually had her silvery hair tied up in a bun, and wore leather armor made from the hides of creatures she herself had hunted over the millennia, but now hers was flowing similarly to her sister''s, and her own silver eyes focused on Alex due to her also feeling exposed and vulnerable in such free-flowing clothes. Alex looked each goddess over carefully and didn''t say anything for nearly a minute, before he finally said, "I''m sorry Zeus, but I don''t think I can''t accept your offering." The hall immediately erupted in a series of whispering and murmurs at Alex''s words, while both goddesses were torn between relief and indignation as their father struggled to keep his rage in check as he demanded, "And may I ask why you can''t accept them?" Alex sighed as the situation turned, before he stated flatly, "I can''t accept Athena because she is rightfully known as one of the most prideful and arrogant goddesses in your entire mythos. Why should I accept someone into my family when she is liable to take offense and possibly even curse any one of my other wives, or even children, at the slightest provocation?" Athena looked as if she had been slapped in the face at Alex''s accusations, and was about to refute them when he continued, "As for Artemis, she is literally the goddess of chastity. I will not plunder her virtue and give her cause to despise me and my family simply out of a sense of obligation due to her being one of my wives." While Athena was seething at the way Alex spoke of her, Artemis gave him a weird look as she had been the intended victim of many, many, attempts to plunder her virtue through even [email protected] over the millennia, several of which had even been orchestrated by her fellow gods themselves. Zeus however looked as if he had been slapped in the face, as he appeared to be torn between screaming at Alex for refusing his gift, or exploding at his daughters for their various faults that now made their entire mythos look bad. Before anyone could say anything though, a new voice suddenly said, "What if I offered myself alongside them? And promised to keep the two of them in check myself?" Anything Zeus or his daughters were about to say or think instantly vanished on the spot, as everyone in the hall turned towards the newcomer with varying reactions. While almost all of the gods and different beings from the different factions looked confused at the newcomers appearance, the Olympians looked nothing short of stupefied while Zeus paled noticeably as an indescribable look appeared on his face. The only one who seemed to react positively to their appearance was Alex as he smiled towards her, and the woman said as she performed a curtsy before Alex''s throne, "It is an honor to see you again, Dragon Emperor." Alex then replied to her wholeheartedly, "It may be your honor, but the p???sur? is all mine, Hestia." Chapter 412 - Coronation ''Who is Hestia?'' That was the question going through almost everyone''s minds as they watched her and Alex greet each other, with only a select few gods and beings known for knowledge even having heard her name before. The only thing they were able to tell, based on that particular faction''s reactions, was that she was Greek. The older Greek gods, namely Hera, Poseidon, and Demeter, all paled when they saw her, while all of the younger generation gods, namely Zeus''s children, looked at Hestia with undisguised disgust and scorn. Zeus himself had the most drastic reaction though, as he turned ashen pale and looked as if he was going to be sick. He was the primary reason that almost no one knew who Hestia was, or what she could do, as after their war with the Titans he had personally destroyed any records of her to keep Hestia''s existence secret. The reason he did that was so that none who might conspire against him could try to use her for their own gains, and so that Hestia could remain as Olympus'' secret weapon. This however had the unfortunate side effect of generating a negative opinion of her on Olympus, as the majority of the younger gods saw her as nothing more than a worthless shut-in. Of course, he also knew firsthand that if he ever actually crossed his ''big'' sister then he would pay for it, just like the last time. As Zeus recalled that terrible and day and the humiliation he suffered, he suppressed a shudder as Alex and Hestia continued talking. "So why do you want to join my harem?" Alex asked bluntly, as he was aware that Hestia was the third of the ''Three Virgin Goddesses'', and was confused on why she would suddenly want to become his wife after only talking once. Her answer surprised him though as she replied, "After our previous discussion I arrived at the conclusion that our fates must be connected. Why else would I have been able to see you and your family in my hearth, even as you were in a different universe?" Though he wanted to bring up her rather flimsy reason of ''fate'', Alex then glanced at so not-so-discretely panicking Zeus before asking, "What about your brother''s opinion on this?" If the surrounding gods weren''t already surprised enough to learn that Hestia was Zeus''s sister, they were even more shocked to hear her snort before saying, "What about it? If Zeus has a problem with it then I''ll spank his bottom until it''s black and blue again." Alex ???ked a brow at that before he uttered, "''Again''?" Hestia nodded as a small smile appeared on her lips, and she recounted to Zeus''s increasing horror, "Back during the formation of Olympus he tried to make me his wife and Queen, and didn''t take my refusal well until I showed him the ''error'' of his ways." The hall filled with muted laughter at the thunder god''s expense, as they all imagined the petite woman bending him over her knee, and spanking him. The ones who were most impacted though we''re the younger generation Olympians, who had no idea that Hestia was so much stronger than their father due to his efforts to hide her existence. Zeus of course wanted to rage and rampage at the laughter due to his hurt ego, but his bu?? suddenly felt a surge of pain as he recalled the last time she spanked him, making him suppress his growing agitation. Alex himself issued a small chuckle before returning to his serious demeanor as he glanced back to the other two Maiden Goddesses besides Hestia. "And what about them? Why do you think I should accept them as well after hearing all of my concerns?" Hestia looked to her two nieces for a second, recalling all of the interactions they had over the millennia, and replied, "They are troublesome, that is true, but I believe that is the very reason you should accept them. Give them the chance to see more of this world and beyond to allow them to grow as both women, and goddesses." Alex didn''t say anything as he continued to scrutinize the two goddesses, as if considering if it would be worth it to do as Hestia suggested. Seeing him hesitate, Hestia then repeated as she had said earlier, "I would also be more than willing to keep an eye on them, and personally ''discipline'' them should they act out." As she spoke Hestia began to emit a ''little'' bit of her pressure to show how serious she was taking her promise, making the vast majority of those within the throne room sweat due to how powerful she was as the entire throne room began to rumble. Alex however appeared to be completely unfazed as he nodded in affirmation and said, "Very well, I''ll take your word for it. I welcome the three of you into my family." Hestia simply responded to Alex with a warm smile as she moved over to the same place where Freya and Brigid had gone to stand, while Artemis and Athena both looked at each other awkwardly before slowly going to join her. With all of the pledges and ''tributes'' out of the way, it was finally time for Alex''s coronation. As a hushed silence descended upon the throne room, everyone within began to move towards the edges as they awaited what came next. They didn''t have to wait long though, before the doors at the end of the throne room opened to reveal two petite figures. The first one was Myuu, dressed in a sparkly emerald green dress befitting the princess she technically was, and with a small pillow in her hands that was covered with a regal purple cloth. The one that surprised everyone though was the person who walked in after her, none other than the dragon god them-self, Ophis. There was a sharp intake of breath when everyone saw Ophis enter the throne room, many having long believed that Alex was hiding the infamous dragon God, but none being able to confirm it until now. No one was willing to comment on this, both because of Alex, and because of Ophis itself. Instead they silently watched as Ophis and Myuu slowly made their way to the dual thrones, and climbed the steps until they were directly in front of Anne. Ophis then removed the cloth from the pillow in Myuu''s arms, revealing what lay underneath. "As Asora''s guardian deity, I, Ophis, name you Dragon Empress of Asora, Anne Morningstar." As she spoke Ophis lifted up a golden crown from the pillow, which looked perfectly like a series of branches woven together with golden leaves and flowers mixed in. Ophis gingerly held the crown in her fingers before she then placed it on Anne''s lowered head, completing her look as the thing Anne used to decorate herself with the most was gold, due to her upbringing and status as a ''goddess'' in the world she came from. When she raised it once more, cheers greeted her as the people of Asora specifically celebrated the crowning of their empress. They quickly became muted though as Ophis and Myuu moved towards Alex, who lowered his head similarly to Anne before him. Ophis then lifted the second item on the pillow for everyone to see, a circlet instead of a crown due to Alex''s untamable hair preventing a crown from resting atop it, before saying, "I, Ophis, name you the Dragon Emperor of Asora and all the lands beyond that are joined with it, Alexander Morningstar!" As she spoke Ophis slid Alex''s circlet onto his forehead so that it nestled snugly on his ears, and rested right at his hairline. The cheers this time were practically deafening when compared to the ones Anne got, though more out of obligation than anything, as the two then rose to stand from their thrones to look out over the gathered gods and rulers. As if on cue, everyone then ceased applauding as they lowered themselves to kneel before Alex and Anne, including his own wives at the side, showing their loyalty once more to the Dragon Emperor and his Empress. "I am honored to serve you all as Emperor, even if there was next to no choice otherwise." At this several of the gods started to shuffle awkwardly as they recalled Alex stating that the battle had only been a formality for him to ''officially'' defeat them, as he then continued, "Now at this point usually one would give a long drawn out speech of some kind, maybe regarding the changes they''ll make, or how great they''ll be." When they heard this many people looked at Alex questioningly, while many of his wives shot him incredulous looks due to him going off script of the speech they had prepared beforehand, before Alex concluded, "I however am tired of these formal this and that''s, so let''s just get to the part where we stuff our faces already!" As he declared so, Alex simultaneously clapped his hands to conjure several long tables that ?r??n?d under the platters of delicious and mouthwatering food, making the bellies of numerous attendees roar in anticipation. Having already received permission from their emperor, they all then began to dig into the prepared food with relish, leaving Alex to face his wives as Sona said bluntly, "We prepared a speech for you..." Alex sighed and responded, "That boring thing? I was getting tired of all this formality and just wanted to get to the part where we simply get to eat and have fun." Though his remark earned him several snickers from the less ''noble'' of his wives, those brought up amongst nobility and royalty gave him reactions ranging from simple head shaking, to twitching eyes that promised him paying for his actions later. Instead of worrying about that though, Alex quickly made his way over to the food as well, where he began to intermingle with his guests as they sampled the Asoran cuisine. One of the first people he approached though wasn''t any of the guests, but a certain thuggish looking young man with a purple Mohawk swept to the side, matching eyes, and black leather clothes. What stood out about him, aside from appearing like a thug in a royal throne room, was that he had an incredibly beautiful woman with long silky blue hair on his arm, who appeared to be the very image of elegance to contrast her partner. While no one seemed to have an idea of who the thug was, they knew who the woman was and kept a wide berth until Alex approached and said, "Bova! What''s with appearance? I never thought I''d see the day you''d adopt a human form as well!" The thug then betrayed his rough look as he quickly stood up straight and awkwardly bowed to Alex before saying, "My apologies my liege! But someone insisted I take human form for occasions such as this..." As he trailed off Bova ignored the numerous looks he received when people realized it was him, as the woman at his side, obviously Tiamat, declared while tightening her hold on his arm, "Of course you''d have to start taking a human form for all these official occasions ''darling'', they''re so much more convenient for them than the wings, scales, and tail are, even if you''re in mini form." By this point Alex ???ked a brow at Tiamat referring to Bova as ''darling'', making the thuggish looking dragon mutter, "She''s been like this ever since I beat her at a duel. If I''d known she''d be like this beforehand I''d have just let her win..." Tiamat appeared dismissive of Bova''s remark as she stated as if it were obvious, "Of course I''d want to be with the dragon who managed to best me in combat! Hell, I was beginning to think I''d have to settle for any one that would even have the balls to accept my challenge, let alone beat me!" Alex chuckled lightly when he heard that, as Ddraig cringed within him as if he thought Tiamat''s remark was directed at him personally. He then congratulated the couple despite Bova''s pleading gaze, and continued to wander around to visit with his guests. He wasn''t the only one mingling though, as numerous gods and visiting VIPs tried to discuss various things with any one of Alex''s wives or other important figures in Asora, if Alex himself was too busy with someone else at the moment. The conversations ranged from topics like what kind of resources were available in Asora, technology and magics from other worlds, what the academy was like before they sent their young there, and if anyone was able to use Asoran tech and magic to become stronger. On and on the afternoon continued as Alex and his wives entertained their guests while the occasional incident occurred to amuse everybody, such as when Thor tried to challenge Shia to an arm wrestling match only to have her smash his hand through the floor below. She then went on to invite anyone who dared to challenge her, leading to queue of visiting gods and warriors eager to test their might against the infamous Berserker Bunny. As the hours dragged on and night began to fall, Alex had to excuse himself for a few minutes too cool off and get some fresh air. Instead of heading to the gardens that were open to their guests though, he went to one of the many unoccupied rooms around them to lean out an open window as the cool spring night air blew against his face. After a moment of this Alex then closed his eyes and, like he tended to do whenever he had a moment of rest, and sent out his intent out to explore Asora and see how his citizens were doing. Naturally his intent first went to the Misty Manor, where he found those who weren''t attending the party preparing his children for bed for the night. After checking on them though, Alex then sent his intent throughout the streets below his manor, where he found the people of Asora going about their business like usual. Couples were out on dates, venders were trying to sell their goods, and some stores began bringing their stuff in for the night as they prepared to close. Like Alex though, several citizens seemed to be enjoying the nice spring night as they leisurely strolled around without a care in the world. He then turned his attention to the Academy, where he found the few hundred students currently attending it similarly enjoying their night in various ways. Some were simply hanging out with friends and discussing things like the veritable horde of new students they were about to get, one boy was anxiously trying to confess to a girl he liked(prompting Alex to use Spirit magic to calm his nerves and help him out). He even came upon the scene of one Dagon youth who was using his Ki to float a few feet off the ground, only to freak out and celebrate with his friends after he landed since it was apparently his first time doing so. Alex then turned his intent to the village of the Yuuki-Onna, where they were in the middle of closing down their winter fun activities for the day, and instead Alex got an eyeful of numerous men, and even women, enjoying the snow women''s ''hospitality'' in their exclusive hot springs. Chuckling to himself, Alex quickly moved his intent away to give them at least a little bit of privacy, and he instead turned his attention towards the Dagon settlement of New Raisen. There he saw various fish vendors also closing up for the night, while numerous Dagons began to gather on the beaches around bonfires to visit and have their own party. Several even climbed up onto the stage Ingvild often performed on and began to sing and dance themselves, making the casual atmosphere even more lively as the night progressively got darker. Of course everything Alex ''saw'' wasn''t entirely tame, thanks to his ''Lucky Pervert'' skill. Naturally he had ended up coming across numerous couples going at it either within the safety of their own homes, or even in some more ''risqu¨¦'' locations as well. At the Academy he had also noticed several of the students getting a little too frisky, something he intended to report to Sona later, while of course he saw what he saw at Yukiguni. Meanwhile several Dagons at the beach even found a secluded area where they eagerly stripped off their clothing, and went skinny dipping in the ocean. Alex''s intent was then brought right back to his body as something was wrapped around his eyes and a sultry voice whispered in his ears, "Guess who." The first thing Alex noticed aside from his eyes being covered was a slight fragrance tickling his nose, the second though was a pair of incredibly soft pillows being pressed into the middle of his back, with rock hard points pressing into him at their centers. "No idea." Alex lied as he grabbed the thing covering his eyes, which ended up being a pair of black lace p?nt??s with a small pink bow on the front. He then turned around to see a completely n?k?d Nyx, that was pouting cutely that he didn''t guess it was her. "Well this is a nice surprise." Alex remarked, cheering Nyx up slightly as she pressed her arms together to emphasize her already impressive bust. "I just thought that after a long and tiring day of dealing with pointless politics that great Dragon Emperor might want to ''unwind'' a little." She said provocatively, leaving no room for misinterpretation for what she meant by ''unwinding'', as if her already being n?k?d wasn''t hint enough. Alex simply smirked at her as he grabbed Nyx by the bu?? and pulled her into his embrace, smooshing her overly large br??sts into his ?h?st as she snaked her hands down the front of his pants. The short statured goddess then lifted herself up on her tip toes to press her lips against his own, beginning a passionate kiss as she slowly stroked his hardening shaft, and Alex kneaded her bu?? while also using the grip to lift her higher. He then pressed Nyx against the nearby wall as the goddess tried to wrap her legs around his waist, and began to run her fingers through Alex''s divine blue fur, a habit that all of his wives and lovers enjoyed quite a bit. While her fingers entangled themselves within his fur, Alex''s ran down Nyx''s th??hs from her bu??, before making their way back up and roughly gripping her upper th??hs. Alex then shifted his h?ps until the head of his p?n?s was met with the hot and wet surface of Nyx''s hairless slit, which was more than ready and eager to have a large piece of meat thrust inside of it. The head then forced her hot and wet lower lips to part as it prepared to enter Nyx''s honeypot, only to ''slip'' at the last second as Alex thrusted upwards. Instead the underside of his shaft ran up the length of her slit, making it significantly wetter as he did so. Nyx''s response to this was to bite Alex''s lower lip hard enough she drew blood, though her slave crest didn''t respond to this since there was no ill intent behind it, before she practically growled at him, "Don''t tease me, put it in now!" Alex smirked at her desperation as he once again used the head of his p?n?s to spread her lower lips, preparing it to penetrate her once more. This time however he didn''t prolong Nyx''s suffering as he thrusted upwards and filled her completely all in one go, making her scream in ecstasy as the first ?r??sm of many surged through her body. For a moment Nyx was able to ride the high of her ?r??sm with the tip of Alex''s p?n?s passing up again the entrance to her w?mb, before he quickly pulled out of her vice-like v???n? and slammed his entire length back in. As Alex roughly thrusted in and out Nyx experienced ?r??sm after ?r??sm, making him wonder about her apparent increase in sensitivity until Nyx suddenly conjured something in her hand. "G-guess what this is!" She said as she held something up for Alex to see, which made him pause when he realized what it was. Of course at that moment Nyx locked her legs around Alex''s waist while also utilizing her divine power to try and keep them there. In her hand was one of the vials that Anne used for the serum she developed to help induce pregnancy, which was already empty. Alex ???ked a brow at her questioningly as Nyx stated, "I am your first goddess." Alex only arched his brow higher as he waited for her to continue, prompting her to go on despite her increasing arousal, "Every one of those new goddesses will prioritize having your children... I was here first, and I''m not letting any of THEM get the jump on me!" Alex only stared at her for a moment before a smile spread on his face, and he thrusted once more to press up against, and open her w?mb. "Then I better not disappoint." He muttered unto Nyx''s ear, filling her with relief before she once again began to cry out in ecstasy. For several minutes there was only animalistic grunting and m??ning as Alex fu?k?d the goddess'' extremely tight and s?ns?t?v? hole, making her ?um over and over again due to her enhanced sensitivity. As a result her v???n?? walls constricted and squeezed around him with an increasing intensity, as if desperately trying to milk his seed from the phallus within. With such an intense stimulation on his own lower half, it was only a matter of time until Alex''s own climax rushed over him as he looked Nyx in the eye, and filled her w?mb with his thick seed. Having finally received what it was she was after, Nyx leaned in to gently kiss Alex as he gave a few last slow thrusts, making sure every drop of his ?um entered her. When they separated Nyx was taking deep breaths as the realization that she was pregnant sunk in, of course she didn''t count Hypnos, Thanatos, and Oneiroi since they were just beings she created through combining her power with her brother, Erebus. After a moment she tried to find something to say in response to the gift Alex gave her, when the door to the room they were in opened and a certain trio barged in. "See, I told you he was-" Athena began haughtily to Artemis and Hestia, before she noticed the position Alex and Nyx were in and promptly cut herself off. Not bothered by their presence in the slightest, other than the fact that they ruined a perfectly good moment, Alex and Nyx both seemed to sigh as he gently let her down. Nyx then began to collect her discarded clothes, finding it made the situation more arousing when she actually stripped compared to just magicing her clothes away, and put them back on before promptly leaving Alex with the trio of goddesses. Alex however didn''t bother covering himself as he took a seat on a nearby chair, his towering erection staring back at them intimidatingly, before he asked, "So, what did you need?"