Beyond the Outer Gates Lies...Plans and Perils (part 2)?

I was the last one down to breakfast in the morning; I took a few minutes to lay out everything I would need later. By the time I reached the conference room, the rest of our sightseeing team was already assembled. Ise was wedged tightly between Asia and Irina. The Pawn and Angel both blushed when they saw me, but I ignored them. I also noticed, to my dismay, that once again I was going to be trapped between Aika and Motohama.

After eating, we caught the subway to the northeastern section of Kyoto. After the first two stops, we let the crowd separate us from Aika and the Duo, promising to meet up with them at the final stop. Then I threw up a perception filter veil over us, so those three would lose track of us without noticing, and we wouldn't be trampled by the crowd.

It also had the advantage of protecting Asia and Irina from the gropers, and the gropers from Xenovia.

We got off at the next stop, and took the train back to the hotel. None of the Devils in our group could waste the energy to teleport me back, not before going into battle. So we did it the old fashion way. As a result, for the second time that day, I was the last to arrive. Though at least this time I was not alone.

The meeting was in the same conference room we had been having our meals in. All the tables had been moved to the side. The chairs were arranged in a small circle, with an additional semi-circle on either side. All but three of the chairs in the inner circle were occupied. Az was sitting with his back to the door, and Momo was seated at his left. In the chairs behind them were the rest of the Sitri Peers, though Rossweisse was immediately behind Az. And Kiba was next to her. The seat on the Fallen's right was empty, but the chair next to that held Oakley. The hopefully former Hero was now dressed in blue jeans, a white blouse, and a brown canvas vest. The chair on her right was also empty, but the next one held Serafall, in her business suit. The first person I didn't recognize was to Serafall's right.

She was a young looking woman, probably in her early twenties or early two-thousands. Her body size and shape were virtually a clone of Sona, as was her hairstyle. But her coloring was almost the opposite, blonde hair, bright green eyes, and light brown skin. Her face was also different than the younger Sitri sister, her eyes were much larger. And her nose and mouth were wider, though her lips were narrower. She was definitely attractive, and given her proximity to the Leviathan, I guessed she was probably Behemoth. I had spoken the Serafall's Queen on phone a number of times, so I knew she was female. But I hadn't met her in person, so did not know what she looked like. Though if it was her, she was not what I was expecting.

'Too much time catching up on the Final Fantasy games has colored your opinion, my host,' Lash commented.

The next person around the circle was also unknown to me. Between the blonde and Kunou was a man who was built like a brick. And I don't mean barrel chested and thick armed and legged like Kurama (who was in the second semi-circle behind his princess and charge). Though this guy did have that going for him, too. No, I say he was built like a brick because every single line of his body was perfectly horizontal or vertical, and they came together at perfect right angles. It was like he was made out of LEGO bricks, without the benefit of angled blocks or the skill to taper the levels. Beyond that his skin had a color and texture like baked clay. He had black hair in a crew cut, and was wearing an expensive, black, fitted suit. He gave off a military impression, so I silently dubbed him General Block.

As I already noted, he was next to Kunou, and Kendra was on the kitsune girl's right. Or I suppose I should call her Takako, to avoid confusing the others. Behind the three of them were the youkai bodyguards. Six of them, three kitsune including Kurama and two tengu I recognized from yesterday, though I only knew the big guy's name. The one kunoichi I did not recognize was a Nekomata, unless I missed my guess. Despite having an adult build, she very much reminded me of Koneko, though not as powerful or intimidating.

Between Ken… Takako and Momo was the last empty chair, rounding out the inner circle.

As the majority of the Gremory group, Irina, and I entered the room, they all turned to look at us.

"Sorry we're late," I said, "Had to ditch our classmates and take two trains."

"You're last, but you're not late, Harry-chan," Serafall said happily. Then she patted the chair next to her and added, "I saved you a spot."

I obligingly sat down. Asia and Xenovia sat in the chairs next to Kiba, but when Ise tried to sit in the outer circle, he was instead directed into the chair between Azazel and Oakley. And Irina separated from the rest of us and took the last empty chair in the inner circle.

"Now that we are all here," Azazel said, "We should probably start with introductions. I am Azazel, the former governor-general of the Grigori, and current administrator of the Kuoh Accords and chemistry teacher at Kuoh Academy."

"I am Hanakai Momo, Bishop and acting representative of the Sona Sitri Peerage. My Peers are Kusaka Reya, a Bishop; Yura Tsubasa, a Rook; Meguri Tomoe, a Knight; and Saji Gen..shirou, a Pawn."

I noticed she just stopped herself from calling him Gen-chan like usual. I also noticed that even though they had both spoken Japanese, Oakley did not seem confused. After a subtle probe, I detected a translation spell set up over the room. I guess it made sense, since we had multiple people who only spoke one language.

"Hiya," Irina started, and then forced herself to tone it down, "I am Shidou Irina, Michael-sama's Ace and the acting representative for Heaven here."

God help us all.

"I am Senju Takako, head of the Senju clan and chief bodyguard of Kunou-sama. My comrade bodyguards are Yuuichi, Kurama, Sado, Bob, Kohaku, Yorunii."

"Bob?" I could not help but interrupt, glancing sideways at the female, tengu, kunoichi who bore of that name.

"I know," she grimaced, "My parents are fans of an American folk singer. And I murder them in effigy every night in my dreams."

"Yes, well," Takako smiled in mild chagrin. I guess being named Hawkgirl in your native tongue wasn't the worst thing in the world. Kendra resumed the introductions by gesturing to her young mistress. Kunou nodded.

"I am called Kunou. I am the daughter of Lady Yasaka, administrator of Shadow Kyoto and the Kyoto ley line nexus."

"I am Nobushide Iwao," General Block rumbled, "I am the Chief Commandant of the Shadow Kyoto Police Department."

"Greetings," the blonde woman bowed her head slightly, and I realized she was speaking in Greek, "I am Nike, and I will be representing the Greek Pantheon this morning on behalf of my Lady Pallas Athena."

"Hi! I am Serafall Leviathan, Maou and Foreign Affairs Director of the Underworld, and one of Harry-chan's lovers! You can all call me Levi-tan."

My friends and I all just looked resigned at Serafall's antics, though Reya blushed a little. Takako chuckled while General Block looked mortified. Nike also grinned. And Kunou, well…

"Wandering Wizard is the lover of Miracle Levia-tan?" she cooed, "What a spoiler!"

I wondered if Serafall's TV show had a fan forum, and if I would have to track down and fry its servers. But first, I tried to put the fire out.

"You can just ignore that," I told the girl, "That's just Levi-tan trying to lighten the mood and being silly. And for the record, I'm Harry Dresden, Wizard and wage slave to the Maou, Heaven, and anyone else who needs to hire me. And I'm mainly here for my tracking skills and ability to break into Dimension Lost."

"Mah name is Bethany Winchester, though Ah prefer to go by Oakley. Until yesterday Ah was tricked and brainwashed into being a foot-soldier for the Hero Faction."

"Oh, that leaves me, I guess," Ise realized, "I am Hyoudou Issei, Pawn of Rias Gremory, and I apparently her acting representative. My Peers are Knight Kiba Yuuto, Bishop Asia Argento, Knight Xenovia Quarta, and Rook Rossweisse. Oh, and Rossweisse is also our civics teacher, so I suppose she is in charge of us, too."

"Now that we know each other, let's get down to business," Az said, "Two days ago, Tuesday, December 2nd, at roughly 9 AM, Yasaka-sama was kidnapped by the Hero Faction of the Chaos Brigade. She was visiting the focal points for the Winter Solstice Ritual, and had just left Nonomiya Shrine, when they were ambushed by what we estimate to be Georg, Siegfried, Heracles, Jeanne, and one or more Annihilation Maker Beasts. It is unclear if Leonardo was with them or just sent his creation with the others. Jeanne spared Kurama, and Georg captured Yasaka-sama. The other Zeros killed her remaining bodyguards."

"Yesterday morning, Kunou-dono encountered Ise-kun. Due to the energy residue of Siegfried's demonic swords, she believe Devils were involved in the attack. Fortunately, Dresden was able defuse the situation, and upon talking we learned what had happened here, and were able to offer proof of our innocence. Then we agreed to help find and rescue Yasaka-sama. Dresden-kun was able to track down one of the anchor points and take us into Dimension Lost. But the Hero Faction was waiting for us. It is unclear if they were monitoring the city or were just able to detect our intrusion."

"Either way, we engaged them to a functional stalemate, when a member of the Vali faction attacked. Her distraction enabled Georg to banish us and collapse the anchor point. But in the process, Ise ended up saving Oakley. And Dresden and the Devils were able to removing the element of the True Longinus that was controlling her. After we told her what the Heroes were doing, and how far they would go, she agreed to tell us everything she knew. And with that, Oakley, would you care to take over."

"Yah," the sniper said nervously, "Georg is gonna…"

"Excuse me," General Block interrupted, "With as little offense as possible to all of you, how do we know we can trust this girl? She could be a plant, preying on Hyoudou-kun and Dresden-kun's documented kindness and weakness to females. She pretends to be rescued, lets you remove the 'brainwashing', pretends to be grateful, and then feeds you false information."

"Now, now," Azazel said quickly, glancing at Oakley. But the girl shook her head.

"He ain't wrong," Oakley agreed, "Ah could be a plant. But Ah'm not."

She looked directly at the cop.

"Mah papa always told me that the strong must protect the weak, and the wise need to gently guide the foolish. He was a proud member of the US Marine Corps, 'til mah mama died. Then he took an honorable discharge so he could take care of me. Because of him, Ah always wanted to be a Hero. And he was the one who taught me how to shoot."

"Then he died, too. Not quite two years past. I ended up in the foster system. And it was tough on me, on account of mah Sacred Gear, though I didn't know what it was at the time."

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the sclera and iris of her right eye were a deep purple. The pupil was also much larger, and had a glowing white glyph in it.

"Lens of Truth lets me see through illusions, and also when people are lying, Mr. Iwao Nobushide," she told him pointedly, "Even when it's in passive mode. Frankly this active mode don't do much of nothing."

It seemed like General Block had not given us his real name. Interesting.

"Since I could see when the other kids and the foster parents were lying, and Ah didn't much cotton to it, I got bounced out of a bunch of foster homes. Ah even got one shut down for using us as unpaid labor. There was one good home, where the lady seemed to genuinely care about us, and weren't just using us for a paycheck. Then one of the boys she took it burned her house down. Since she didn't have a place for us anymore, we all got shuffled back into the system. Not much later Ah ended up in the worst place. The guy there…"

Oakley trailed off and looked at Kunou.

"… well, let's just say if the Siegfried hadn't found me and rescued me, Ah'd probably be in an unsavory line of work right about now."

My knuckles whitened on the arms of the chair. And there was the creak of cracking wood. Except I realized it was coming from Serafall's seat, not mine.

"So yeah, Ah ended up joining the Heroes. They rescued me, told me what my power was and how Ah could supposedly control it and improve it. They gave me guns, and told me Ah could be a real Hero, Ah could fight monsters and save people. That was right about five months ago. They started training me right off…"

"And yet you did not know they were lying to you?" the cop sounded unconvinced.

"Who says they lied?" she frowned angrily, but shrugged, "They gave their opinions, said things that were partly true. Until Harry pointed it out to me last night, I never really thought about stuff like that. I saw the truth as black and white."

"Besides that, Cao Cao stuck a bit of magic in mah head, that twisted up my brain," she grimaced, "At first Ah trained a lot and went on missions. But when I couldn't reach Balance Breaker, Ah ended up doing more chores and babysitting Leo, and less of the other stuff. 'Cuz of that jerk's power, Ah didn't even notice, until again last night. Ah started thinking back, and realized what had happened. But when it was happening, I didn't notice or care."

"Ah think the only reason they brought me along this time, was so I could make sure the big fox lady weren't lying to them. And when Ah got knocked out in the fight, my so called allies just left me lying there, and Cao Cao was willing to catch me up in friendly fire."

"To be fair, I don't know how much Ah trust all of y'all either," she concluded, "But after hearing everything that might go wrong with the Heroes' fight, and how many innocent people might get hurt, Ah decided to throw in with y'all and try to help save as many lives as possible."

"And beyond all of that," I interjected, "When we questioned her last night, she was sitting in Takako's clan's interrogation chair. And Ise was using his own… unique… lie detector spell. If she can beat both of them, then we probably won't be able to figure it out if she really is a plant. But if you'd like, I'm sure Ise would be more than happy to cast it again while Oakley tells us about the Zeros' plan."

"That won't be necessary, will it Chief?" Kunou asked, her voice impressively firm. My female classmates and Kendra all looked relieved at that.

"Great, then can we get back on track?" Serafall prompted before he could answer.

"Man, if Serafall is the one asking that, you know you are being disruptive," I said in mock awe. Levi-tan turned and stuck her tongue out at me. And for a brief instant I had this image of her surprised face as I gently bit that tongue. Then pulled it into my mouth, until her lips were pressed against mine, and her body was also…

'Not the time, Lash,' I growled silently.

'That was not my doing, my host,' she barely held back her giggles, 'Which would make this is the part where you complain about your hormones.'

"Please continue, Oakley-chan," Block grumbled, giving me the perfect chance to ignore her and not drop what in retrospect was becoming an unspoken catchphrase.

Stupid TV Tropes, and damn Lash for introducing me to it. How did she manage to find the site without me noticing until she was ready?

"Right," Oakley seemed a bit more relaxed now, "Well sunset today starts at 4:44 and ends at 5:12. All the magic types seemed to think the sunset was the best time to summon things, and that 444 was a good number, too. Georg is gonna start the ritual at about three PM. He said it would only take about fifty minutes, but he wants the extra time so he can extract out Ms Yasaka's power more slowly and so he can adjust the circles if he has too. The whole thing is going down at Knee-Joe Castle."

"Most of us… them… are going to be there to fight the Big Red…"

"Great Red," Ise corrected. Since the Dragon God of Dreams had saved him and Rias, I guess he didn't want him being compared to chewing gum.

"Yeah, him," she agreed, "But Leo and a couple of bodyguards are gonna go out into the city, so Leo can unleash his beasts. They want to distract the youkai. Plus the fightin' will get the magical energies flowing or something. Ah was supposed to be on that team, 'cuz Leo's pretty comfortable around me."

"Given that," Azazel took up, "Our tentative plan is to attack them at noon. Dresden can get us into Dimension Lost if we know the anchor point; which Oakley had provided; and back out again. I will go, along with the Gremory and Sitri Peerages. We are hoping we will catch them eating lunch, and thus be able to take them down before they can properly react."

General Block had been frowning the entire time Oakley was talking. But as Az started talking, Nike also looked unsure and unhappy.

"This plan will not succeed," she announced suddenly. Nobushide bobbed his head sharply in agreement.

"You must expect that these false Heroes will have changed their plans," he insisted, "They know you captured their agent and extracted their location and timeline from her. They could have moved up the ritual…"

"First of all," I cut him off, "We don't know that they know that. There's a chance they haven't even noticed Oakley's gone. It's a small chance, though after hearing that she's been a glorified babysitter and lie detector for the last few months, I've upgraded it from a tiny chance to a small chance. Even if they know she is missing, they might think she is dead, or wandering around Kyoto, naked and unable to speak Japanese. Unless that brainwashing spear is a tracking device or hacked her senses, in which case they would know we saved her. Even then, they can't be sure we know anything. From what I've seen, Cao Cao is arrogant enough to believe that we couldn't get rid of his brainwashing, and that Oakley wouldn't come back to the Light Side even if we did."

"Even if Dresden-san is wrong," Momo said thoughtfully, "There is only so much of their plans that they can change. Summoning the Dragon God of Dreams would be exceedingly difficult even if Yasaka-sama were a willing participant and they had additional magicians. They must use the window between when the sun touches the horizon and when it completely sets. Otherwise it will fail. And as you indicated, time is not on their side. If they do not execute their plan today, they give us more time to prepare, to investigate, and to gather reinforcements. As a point of fact, there were riots in the Underworld yesterday, caused by the Heroes' allies, the Old Maou Faction. Were that not the case, both our King, Sona Sitri, and Issei-san's King Rias Gremory would be here with additional forces. Though they have things in hand, they will not be able to arrive until tomorrow at the earliest."

"My Peers are helping wrap things up, and talking to the Fallen reinforcements that are on their way," Serafall added, "That's why they aren't here yet."

"Michael-sama is also gathering the Host to help protect the city," Irina told us, "But he and Uriel-sama are just returning from dealing with Loki's latest mischief, so they won't arrive until later this evening."

"So they can't afford to wait, and we have to assume they won't," I said, trying to sound too smug, "Unless you have information you are not sharing? Like a way to track Lady Yasaka's power, or maybe an inside source?"

Block shut his mouth tightly, but Nike shook her head.

"I am not refuting your information," she said, "Just how you choose to use it."

'Remember, my host, that was General Block's complaint,' Lash pointed out, 'Nike merely said our plan would not succeed. And when the Goddess of Victory provides such a warning…'

"What would you suggest, then?" Azazel asked politely.

"I would suggest launching our attack shortly after they launch theirs," she said, "Wait until they have divided their forces, and their magician is locked into the ritual."

"That boy may be able to manipulate his Sacred Gear while casting the spell," Takako said, "Based on what I saw of him in the battle yesterday."

"Even so, it would be better if he had to split his focus two ways," Kiba noted.

"It would give us more time to plan and hope some more reinforcements get here," Azazel agreed, "For the sake of discussion, what do you suggest, Lady Nike?"


"No way," Tsubasa said firmly, "The original plan was for all of us to go. No way are you leaving us behind, not if you are still sending Har… Dresden-kun in."

"Yura-chan," Azazel tried to placate her, "Dresden's spell is our only certain, stable way in or out of the Heroes' pocket dimension. We know you want to protect him, but someone must also defend the city."

"This is not simply Tsubasa's complaint," Momo said, "Dresden is also our assigned commander, he has authority over our Promotions."

"The Pawn Saji will be going with him," Nike reiterated, with a slightly confused look.

"Actually, due to a mutation, Reya and Tsubasa also have Promotion powers," Serafall explained. The Greek goddess inclined her head in understanding.

"In addition," Sona's Bishop continued, "the four of us have more experience fighting the Hero Faction than the members of the Gremory group. It may only be by one battle, but even that small edge may be crucial."

"Let them go, and you stay, Az," Serafall said, "Once Behe-chan and Shizu-chan get here, the four of us should be enough to help the youkai protect the city from Annihilation Maker and a couple of mooks. And they'll need number on their side."

"And it will be the five of us," Nike said, "I did not come here just to observe."

The Fallen considered that for a second, and then nodded.

"We'll go with that," he said, "Dresden will take the Gremory and Sitri Peerages into Dimension Lost. Their primary goal will be to rescue Yasaka-sama. If that proves impossible or they run out of time, they are to stop the ritual, by destroying the circle or Georg. And, if it can be done without interfering with the first two goals, they will capture or kill as many members of the Hero Faction as possible."

"Serafall and her Peerage, Nike, myself, and whatever other reinforcements arrive will remain in the city. We will work with the youkai to deal with Leonardo, his monsters and guards. Senju-dono will liaise between youkai forces and the other factions. And Nobushide-san will take Kunou-sama back to Shadow Kyoto."

Kendra looked displeased at the honorific Az used for her. And Kunou was definitely unhappy that she was not being allowed to fight.

"Anything else we need to talk about?" Ise asked.

"Not really," Az said, and Kendra nodded, "Why?"

"Just it's getting close to lunch time after all the arguing," the Dragon Pawn said sheepishly, "And Dresden and Ken… Takako-san at least need time to change and get ready."

Kendra raised an eyebrow at him. Then in a puff of smoke her formal and expensive yukata was gone, replaced by the same form-fitting, dark grey shozoku she had worn yesterday. Except this time she also had a black steel breastplate and bracers.

"Show-off," I groused.

"The young man has a point," Nike said with a small smile.

"Yes," Kunou agreed, one hand moving unconsciously to her midsection, "We should…"

Gur-rak. Her stomach rumbled with a volume that defied her station and size.

"On that note, let us adjourn," Az said, amused, "We will meet up at our various staging locations at 2 PM."

The youkai all but vanished from the room. And Irina and Asia grabbed Ise with surprising synchronicity and dragged him off.

"And here I was thinking I would finally get to meet Behemoth in person," I turned to Serafall, "And who is this 'Shizu-chan'?"

"Shizukesa… she is my new knight," Serafall paused oddly as she said that, "Yeah, they were too busy between the stuff in the Underworld and talking to the Fallen about this. You'll probably get to meet them after the battle."

"Oh," she suddenly brightened, "And speaking of meeting people…"

She scooted her chair back.

"Harry, this is Nike…"

"The Winged Victory," I picked up, "Commander and right hand of Athena. Goddess of awesome cross trainers."

"Right," Levi-tan looked a bit surprised, either because I knew so much, or because I was willing to snark at a full god, "And Nike, this is Harry Dresden…"

"Wizard and Private Investigator for the Kuoh Alliance, he whose talent for magic is only exceeded by his height and his inability to keep his mouth shut."

"Okay, I like her," I told Serafall, extending a hand to the Greek woman.

"And I am very impressed by your anti-Beholder techniques," she returned the compliment, ask we shook hands, "We have been trying for centuries to do what you did in a matter of weeks."

"Well, I had considerable motivation," I deflected with all the humility I could muster, "Plus I had a lot of research to build on."

"So why are you here?" I asked her, "I thought the Greek and Egyptian Pantheons were postponing the meeting here in Kyoto."

"The majority of our respective envoys did remain behind," Nike confirmed, "But I spoke with Lady Athena, and we agreed that I would still come to offer my support. To show the youkai of Japan the benefits of joining the Kuoh Alliance, and leave them in our debt. Isn't that why you and the Christian Factions are doing this?"

"No," I said firmly and with more than a hint of annoyance, "That's not why we are doing this."

I noticed Oakley looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"I mean, okay, the thought had crossed my mind. And I can't really speak for anyone else, but I can tell you on my list of reasons, that ranks at the very bottom."

"You have a list?" Nike prompted and Serafall smirked at me.

"Yes."

"So if putting the youkai in your debt is at the bottom," the goddess asked, "What's at the top?"

"Top three?" I countered, and Nike nodded.

"Number three would be to protect the people of Kyoto from the multiple Apocalypses that those idiots are potentially going to unleash. Number two is because it is the right thing to do. And the main reason is because a scared, sad little girl begged me to save her mother, bawling her eyes out. And there's no way I could say no to that."

"Excellent answer," Nike told me. And Serafall's smirk became a genuine smile.

"Alright, I better get going," I told them. As I stood, Serafall surged out of her chair, and glomped onto me.

"You be careful out there, Harry-chan," she instructed.

"You too, Levi-tan."

She kissed me on the cheek, and then released me. As I started to leave, I heard Nike's voice again, though she was not addressing me.

"So that is your boyfriend, my young friend," the goddess said.

"Yup," Serafall said brightly.

"I approve,"

As the elevator closed, cutting off my hearing, I hit the seventh floor button.


"Umm, Miss Serafall?" Oakley queried nervously, "Or should I call you Lady Serafall?"

Everyone else had left, except for the wannabe Hero, the Leviathan, and Nike. Though the two divine ladies could sense Azazel waiting right outside.

"Just Serafall is fine," the Maou answered openly, "Or even better, call me Levi-tan."

"Alright, Serafall," the sniper said with a bit more confidence, "You are supposed to be taking me into protective custody, Ah hear."

"Yup, that's right," the petit Devil agreed.

"Ah was wondering…" Oakley struggled to find the right words. Then she clenched her hands and did her best to speak firmly and erase her accent, "No. that's not right. I want to help protect Kyoto. Ah… I might have been the weakest member of the Hero Faction, but I know them. I know how they fight. Things that would take too long to explain, or that I might not remember until I see them. So please, let me fight with you."

The goddess and the Devil considered the girl thoughtfully.


After eating, getting changed, and gathering up my supplies, I headed up to Ise's room. I asked for one more, quick meeting, just our squad, before we headed out.

"What did you want to discuss, Dresden-kun?" Rossweisse asked, once the Gremory and Sitri Peerages were fully assembled. And I guess Irina, too. I naturally tended to lump her in with Rias's Peerage, since she was a member of the ORC. And maybe more so now that I had witnessed her entrance into Ise's Harem.

"So here's what I'm thinking," I said.

'Ahem!' the voice in my head prompted.

"Well, Lash and I," I confessed, "Kind of a basic plan of attack, to start us out, until everything falls apart like usual."

"Then why bother?" Xenovia asked.

"Gives us a framework," I told her, "So we don't have to call targets or shout out orders right away, since we don't have access to Communicate. Plus, it gives the forces of bad luck something to work on, so we have an idea what will go wrong. And silently plan to fix it."

"You really think the universe is out to get us?" Saji asked condescendingly, "Not one of the gods, but some mysterious force."

"Of course not," I shook my head, "It is out to get everyone. And by acknowledging it, it has to ignore us, or else prove it is real."

"I'm not sure if you are serious or just being sarcastic," Momo told me.

"It's about sixty forty," I admitted.

"Which one is sixty and which is forty?" Kiba pointed out. I just smirked.

"Anyway, here's what I'm thinking. Freeing Yasaka is our goal, but the Zeros are not going to take it lying down. So my plan is that Saji, Reya, Tsubasa and I will handle the rescue. Saji's Absorption Line can weaken Yasaka, and Tsubasa and Reya can hold her down with their respective Promotions. That should give me time to perform the extraction. Now that I've experienced it with Oakley, I should be able to do it again solo. But if not, Reya and Tsubasa can do that weakening Demonic Power thing again."

"Meanwhile, the rest of you hold off the Zeros. Irina and Xenovia are practiced as a team, so they should be able to take out Jeanne. Tomoe was doing the best against Sieg yesterday, and Kiba your Sword Birth should help keep up with all those swords of his, so you two take him on. Georg will supposedly be tied up with the ritual, but Momo can keep an eye on him while she handles any of the Mooks. And Rossweisse, your magics are our best chance to hurt Herc, while your Rook powers will keep your safe. And since the two of you specialize in long range, you can hang back a little more and protect Asia. Asia, you'll need to heal us, of course; but I might also need your help with the extraction."

"Ise, that leaves Cao Cao to you," I told my buddy, "You're our biggest gun, and are least likely to be instantly wiped out by that Spear. Can you handle it?"

"I can't say I'm not worried," Ise told is, "But I really want a shot at that guy."

"I figured," I said, "Of course, like I said, this may change at the drop of my proverbial hat. Especially depending on if they break out their Balance Breakers, and what they can do with them. Until we know that, or someone is in trouble, we stick to the plan. Any protests?"

"No," Tsubasa said aloud, "But I think you and Asia should designate the Dimension Lost as enemy territory as soon as we arrive, so no-one has to ask to Promote."

"Good call," I nodded, "Then if there is nothing else, I think we should head out."

"I have one stop to make first," Xenovia interjected.

"Right, everyone should go potty now," I closed my eyes and bobbed my head with mock stern agreement. Before I could open them, a half-dozen pillows walloped my head and chest.


I groaned as the window to reality snapped shut. We were a good mile from where we should have been. It was just me and Ise, and Kunou who had latched on to Ise like a parasite as he stepped through the portal, the last one through except me. And 'surrounding' us were an unfamiliar boy and girl in unfortunately and increasingly familiar school uniforms.

"Hell's Bells."


Next: Beyond the Outer Gate Lies... A Storm Gathering?