Back to the present, the gang got the chance to set out and enjoy the view of Rome. Takashi and Chisato got the chance to be together and takes a trip to the colosseum. Kazuya and Milena also wish to take part of this, but in secret, decided to give Chisato alone time with Takashi and have the two of them by themselves in different areas. In order for both dates to be private, Chisato would use her magic to make it just the two of them, by using her power to order the people outside to make it close for the time being. With nobody inside, Chisato could use her power to slow time for a year, just like when she was training with Takashi, but instead of staying in here for another year, she and Takashi could only remain here for a short period of time, while the outside world only lost a few seconds.
Takashi was amaze to gaze upon this place and found the perfect place to see the whole inside of this place. He stands on the third level, looking outside of the colosseum and can see the Arch of Constantine in the distance, but when moving to the right against the black railing, he finds the Temple of Venus and Rome just further away. After checking the sights outside the colosseum, he turns around to check back at the inside to see the full arena and can see the south entrance into the arena floor where he was standing.
"This place is amazing… I never thought I could ever come to a place like this."
Chisato smiles as she follows Takashi, delighted to see Takashi with a smile like he was a kid and entering this amazing place for the first time. She follows beside him and replies "So glad you liked it."
"Hey, I can see Kazuya and Milena down there. I hope we can stay here for much longer."
"Stay as long as you want." Chisato comes closer to stand next to him "I made sure that it's only us seeing this place, so take your time and look at everything here."
"You use your illusion spells on the people?"
"And other things. I thought it be better like this. Don't worry, they'll have the time they want in this place."
"I guess so." Takashi looks back at the view. "It's amazing."
Chisato smiles when looking at Takashi and asks "Would you like to see another surprise?"
"Huh?"
Chisato makes a change inside this place and uses her illusions to make it so that she was reversing time. She recreates the colosseum to what it once was, filled with over fifty thousand people that are screaming out for blood and battle in the arena. Takashi's eyes widen, astonished to witness going past into the past and felt like he was actually standing there among the crowd. Both of them stands together among the crowd, hearing them screaming out, as two competitors arrive to the arena to do battle and show the crowd an amazing time. With so many people and fans standing next to them, Takashi held his hand against Chisato's, which surprises her and made her smile. One more thing that did surprise Takashi more was that during that time, the wielder of Ddraig would meet his match and challenges the wielder of Albion to a fight. This arena was the first time the two of them fought in front of a crowd, to see two champions face one another in the arena, both wearing the dragon armour and ready to lock horns.
"I remember this place." Ddraig calls out to Takashi and made him look down at his right arm. "This was the day I would become a true emperor."
"True emperor?"
"Before the collapse of the Roman Empire, the wielder of Ddraig ended up rising through the ranks and became an Emperor of Rome." Chisato replies "He ruled over the Roman Empire, even created a special military unit that would have the symbol of the dragon and serve him."
"Huh… The Roman Empire and the Red Dragon Emperor…" Takashi laughs and looks back at his right arm "I can't believe you were an Emperor of Rome."
"I have taken many titles over the ages." Ddraig replies to him "I actually enjoyed becoming an emperor to you mortals."
"But no matter how powerful he was, Rome would eventually meet its end." Chisato said
"I can't believe that all that power and you couldn't really stop Rome's downfall."
"Rome was going to fall eventually." Chisato said "The fate demanded that Rome would fall at a certain date and was correct. However, someone did change fate and tried to keep Rome intact for as long as they can. The wielder of the Wheel of Shadow at that time, used the power of time to keep Rome alive. However, no matter how many times he tried, Rome collapsed, the host was killed by the Angelus and she finally help bring the empire to nothing."
"And now… Look at it now." Chisato waves her hand through the air and finally turns off the illusion and reality returns to show what the colosseum looks like today. When it was over, Takashi notices it now that he was holding onto Chisato's hand and looks down at it. He looks back at her, keeps his hand holding against hers and looks back at her to see her smiling back at him.
"Thank you… Chisato."
"It's okay."
"So… What about the other's? The Witchblade and all of them?"
"They played many roles during the time of the Roman Empire." Chisato replies "As a goddess, there have been true stories where many chosen fighters would wield the artefacts and use them to fight in the war. While Rome had the Red Dragon Emperor, there have been tales that the barbarians from Britannia and other locations would wield the power of the Witchblade. The other weapons, such as the Blood Sword, Ember Stone, Glacier Stone and other powerful Sacred Gears took part. They all became a major role in society."
"That's unbelievable."
"I can tell you more if you like."
"Yeah. This little history lesson has gotten more interesting." Takashi replies "I want to know more?"
"Just… Give me a little time and I'll try to remember some of the events that happened in the past."
So while Chisato was giving a history lesson, Kazuya and Milena was also nearby and somewhere else in the colosseum. Both was on the other side of the colosseum and did wish to join them, but they go somewhere else to give them some privacy. The two was together, alone on the arena floor and can see them from where they stand. Kazuya was holding onto his phone and filming the whole area, while Milena was just taking pictures and remains quiet until Kazuya finish filming. When he finally puts the phone down, Milena looks back to him and asks him.
"We'll be fighting the Khaos Brigade again."
"I know. We'll be okay."
"What makes you say that?" Milena asks when she turns her body towards Kazuya and leans her hands against the railing behind her.
"Marius will take care of Rizevim, while we take care of the weaker ones." Kazuya looks to the side and looks up at the sky "I wonder if the Hero Faction will join the fight."
"Still wishing to fight Siegfried?"
Kazuya looks back and replies "Siegfried is one of the top two swordsmen in the Khaos Brigade. Fighting him and defeating him would make me the best." He smirks
"So that's what this is all about."
"Surely you have something that you want to –"
"I want you and only you." Milena replies, which surprises Kazuya and did not expect she would actually say that out loud in front of him.
Kazuya smiles and mutters her name "Milena…"
Milena turns her eyes away and crosses her arms under her breasts, while leaning her back against the railing behind her. Despite already loving Kazuya, confessing such things to him does make her feel embarrass to say them to him and ends up looking cute to make Kazuya like her more. Kazuya would end up coming closer to her, wrapped his arms around her waist and made her look back to him to see him lean closer to kiss her. Her eyes widen of surprise, but she closes her eyes and wraps her arms around him to keep kissing him back.
Kazuya finally moves his head away from Milena and asks "Should we pay a visit to a hotel? They might have amazing views."
Milena smiles and replies "Yeah. I'd like that." Then leans her forehead against his and moves her head to lean on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Marius travels with Rias, Akeno and Shiori to the Trevi Fountain. Kazuya and Milena wishes to be alone together, so they teleport in the Vatican City and spends some time with the food and some sightseeing later.
"Come on, big selfie!" Akeno calls out and brings out her phone.
Marius laughs and stands in between Rias and Shiori, while Akeno stands next to Shiori when taking the picture from her phone. After they smile and she took the picture, both Rias and Shiori does the same thing. Only Shiori wants a selfie with only her and Akeno, same with Rias that wants only Marius in the shot. Each one took turns taking a picture in front of the fountain and when they were done, they could finally sit back and relax.
"So Marius… What's your relationship with Carmilla anyway?' Rias replies
Marius smiles and keeps his face looking out at the fountain. He lowers his head down a bit and looks to Rias "Was waiting for you to bring that up."
"Yeah, what is your relationship with her?" Akeno asks
"Let's just say that I knew her long before any of you were even born." Marius replies "There have been some attempts of asking her to join my ranks, but she ends up refusing the proposals."
"Did you sleep with her?" Akeno asks
"Wha – Seriously?"
"Just wanted to know." Akeno replies and looks to Rias that stares back at him
"Well… Let's just say she did crave for my blood, but that was a long time ago."
"Did you plan on asking her to become your queen?" Rias asks
"Hey, don't go down that path. You'll get a little jealous and upset."
"I'm not upset." Rias replies and looks away from him "I'm just curious about Carmilla. She looks beautiful and powerful to become your queen."
Marius sighs and wraps his arm around Rias' waist "Rias, you're not the first to have taken my position as queen… However, it has been many decades since I decided to allow someone to serve me that way."
"You never told us about the previous queens." Shiori replies
"Yeah." Akeno replies and looks curious "Who were the others?"
Marius looks back to Akeno and raise his right hand in between him and Akeno "I… Prefer to not think back of the past."
"It's just…. Am I going to be replaced if I died and not you?"
". . . . ."
"Maybe we should let them talk in private." Shiori replies and stands up first before Akeno does. Both walks together to sit somewhere else so they could not hear what they talk about next.
Marius touches the side of her face to make her look back to him "Rias… It'll be a very long time before I could ever recover from this. The other queens maybe special, and they all died because I failed to keep them alive..." Marius' eyes turns to the right and was unhappy when speaking about his previous queens. He looks back at her and continues "But right now, I want to be closer to you than ever before and I don't want you to die on my watch. I want you to be strong and live a very long time with me."
"Hmmmmm…" Rias leans her forehead against his and left her eyes half open.
Marius closes his eyes and whispers "I love you."
"I love you too."
"I tell you what… If Carmilla still doesn't wish to join us, then I'll leave it be and find someone else to play bishop for the team. Perhaps I'll find a male to do that job."
Rias smiles a little and closes her eyes "That be nice."
"I wouldn't mind looking for another male." Akeno replies
"Well, I don't really know anyone in particular who can play bishop. However, if Nora decides not to return to my ranks, I may know someone else who can help fill in the role for rook. Come on, let's get something to eat." Marius rises up and lends his hand to help Rias get up as well. Together they join the others and go on to find the nearest place for fine dining to eat together.
After long hours of staying together, as well as a long and pleasurable makeup time later, everyone finally reunites together to talk about how everything went during the tour through the city. They remain here during the night until Marius finally transport everyone out of here, while Carmilla was ready to open the doors and begin the party at her castle. Hundreds of vampires came from her faction and others that supports her rule. There have also been some signs of devils who heard that this was happening, so mostly the noble families decide to take part of this before it is too late and could be the last time a party such as this would happen again at her home.
Before Marius and the others came to the party, they return to the mansion to wear something proper to a formal party. While both genders went separate ways in the mansion to try some outfits, Chisato had to use one of Rias' dresses and try to find the perfect dress that would make Takashi blush.
Inside the room, Rias already got her dress ready, just needs to put it on and was just sitting on the bed with only her underwear, while she watches Akeno put on her indigo-coloured mini dress with matching heels and thinking of wearing this boa, feathered scarf, but decides to just leave it here. Shiori was nearby, took her time to get dress and was too focus on Akeno getting dress. She went over to wrap her arms around her from behind, moves her arms a bit high to lift her breasts up and gives Akeno a kiss to her cheek. When Akeno asks to let go, Shiori sighs and did what she was told and allow Akeno to finish putting her dress on.
Rias looks to Chisato that was in front of the wardrobe and looks back to Rias "You've got so many dresses."
Rias replies "Got to look pretty. You know that."
"Yeah." Chisato looks back and takes a black dress.
"That suits you." Rias said and stands up off the bed to step closer to Chisato "You trying to impress Takashi?"
Chisato smiles when leaning the dress against the front of her body and replies "Maybe."
"How is Takashi anyway?"
"It's going alright. He's gotten interested in history lesson from me." Chisato looks to Rias "I'm a nurse and yet I know a lot about history."
"So why did you become a nurse and not a teacher?" Milena asks
"I just felt like I could do better to help others as a nurse." Chisato replies "But during my time there, many girls ask for some advice about men, which was difficult for me back then because I had no experience with men."
"You have Takashi."
"Yes… Takashi."
"So what did Takashi say about these feelings you have for him?" Milena asks
"Well, despite having true feelings for me and knows how I feel, Takashi decides he wishes to take time from this. I will give Takashi as much time as he wants, while caring for him more than anything else."
"You keep going with the dates then I'm sure he'll be ready to be with you." Milena replies
"You really are in love with Takashi." Rias replies with a smile on her face
"He really has changed me for the better." Chisato turns back and goes to the bed to drop the dress against the side of the bed. "I could've returned home to perform my duties, but right now, staying here with Takashi and taking care of him… I now have a reason for being here and I want to spend my eternal happiness with him."
"That's so sweet." Akeno replies. "Think you can dance with him?"
"That's why we'll be there."
"By the way… Any news on what happen to Raynare?" Milena asks and things went quiet when mentioning her name.
Rias looks back to Milena and replies "Wherever she is, I hope she's alright."
"Perhaps she finally found peace." Chisato said "But I am unsure if she'll ever return to confront me and Takashi again. If she were to return…"
"It might delay your chance with Takashi." Milena responds and Chisato nods to her.
"Well anyways, we better get a move on. They're probably already downstairs just waiting for us." Rias looks back to her dress and finally starts putting it on.
And they were right about the men, who have been waiting for a while now on the first level and just waiting for them to show up. Kazuya was just sitting on the stairs, while Marius stands nearby with his hands in his pocket and looking at Takashi. All three wore the proper black suits with different colour ties, except Marius and Kazuya had blue ties and Takashi was red.
"Quit stretching that tie." Marius replies
"Sorry… Feels weird wearing it." Takashi said when moving his tie around to loosen it up
"First time?" Kazuya asks
"Yeah… Didn't think I'd wear this. I expect it'll happen at my graduation."
"Guess the only thing you'll be graduating is learning the power of the Red Dragon Emperor." Marius said and steps closer to touch Takashi's shoulder "But you also need to prepare for something far bigger than that."
"Which is?"
Marius turns his head to the left and looks up at the top of the staircase to find the women ready for the party. Kazuya got off the steps to look back, astounded to find Milena in a blue dress with some light blue feature linings on the lower part of the dress, left her sleeves and shoulders expose and kept her long purple hair right up to the back of her head. Akeno kept her dress, the indigo-coloured dress, while Shiori wore a light bluish colour and appearance was different than Milena, since it was short to reach to her knees with some white linings on the bottom of the dress. As for Rias, she wore her darker red dress with a V-shaped on her chest that shows her cleavage, black long gloves that reach past her shoulders and black long stockings. Chisato finally came through to show herself last to show Takashi her black dress with similar design like Rias, except it was less revealing and did not show much of her skin on the front of her chest.
"Chisato…" Takashi mutters her name and his eyes remain staring back at Chisato for the rest of the time. Same thing goes to Kazuya to Milena.
As Rias comes walking down the stairs first, Marius steps closer, placed his right foot on the second step and replies "Rias… You sure do know how to excite me."
"Really? That look on your face doesn't look like you're excited."
"I'm trying to act as calm right now. You know how excited I can be when I see you in a dress like that."
"I know." Rias lends her right hand out with the top of her hand facing up.
Marius takes her hand and leans forward to kiss the top of her hand "It's been a long time since I saw you in a beautiful dress like that."
"And you didn't even get to see my wedding dress." Rias walks around him, but keeps her hand holding against his and made him turn around to keep staring at her.
As the others comes down the stairs, Chisato approaches Takashi, embarrassed look on her face and held her hands together in front of her. Despite being a goddess, she still shows a cuter side of a human, since after all, this was the first time she ever develop these feelings towards someone before and is unsure what to react in this situation. But she was not the only one, as Takashi was speechless, blushed and kept his mouth slightly open, but remains saying nothing until he finally had the courage to say it.
"Chisato… You… You look amazing."
Chisato was relief to hear him saying that to her. She replies "Thank you, Takashi. I'm glad you like my dress."
"I hope you know what you're doing Marius." Kazuya replies and wraps his right arm around Milena, while looking towards Marius "Because I don't think your pal is going to sit back and let us enjoy ourselves at the party."
Marius looks back to Kazuya and replies "That's why we are there to begin with. Let's just hope that we can enjoy ourselves there before we have to take off these clothes and get into battle gear."
"Not everyone here is wearing battle armour like you." Shiori laughs
"True, but everyone else we'll be fighting aren't even wearing battle armour."
"Or revealing armour…" Kazuya mutters and still got Shiori to look back at him
"Does that armour you wear even protect you?" Takashi asks Shiori
"Of course it does." Shiori touches her chest and continues "When I activate my armour, it doesn't just protect some parts of my body, but also creates a harden skin over the exposed areas. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"You know what they say… The less armour you wear, the stronger you become." Kazuya replies then looks to Marius "But the rule doesn't apply to the males."
"I didn't make the rules here, the ones who invented that logic is to blame."
"Can we get a move on?" Rias asks
"Yeah, let's enjoy ourselves before we have to remove these clothes and turn into battle ready."
And so with everyone set and ready, Marius brings up his symbol underneath them all and brings them all back to the castle at night. As they arrive, surrounded by vampires that came through the night to take part in this, but inside was some signs of others that heard and decide to take part of this.
Vali had plans on joining the castle with his team the moment he heard that something was about to go down with his grandfather. He had a choice of either going after Rizevim, the man he shows deep hatred towards him and has been training his whole life just to fight him. He had hope of going after the Wheel of Shadows, but since she has gone into another time and the Darkness remains hidden, so the only choice is to go challenge Rizevim the moment he shows up. Unfortunately, Vali remains in Japan with his team for the time being and the moment he hears the news, he will show up with the team to get sweet vengeance.
But during the night, another event was happening and it was between Azazel and Director Silver. During the night, Director Glorianna Silver, wielder of the Stone of Ember and researcher into the power of the Witchblade. She was in her office during the night, finishing off the last things on her computer before turning it off. While she remains there, sometimes drinking her glass of wine that she left next to a bottle that she brought to keep herself focus, she would soon have to take a break and deal with the other problem in the room. She stops and drops her glass on the table, looks up towards Azazel that stands on the other end of the room in front of the door.
"I figured you would come." Director Silver replies when saving everything she wrote on her laptop and closes the top of it.
"It's been a long time… Glorianna Silver." Azazel replies and starts taking a few steps towards her. "I see you're still a relic hunter after all these years." His eyes lowers down to her necklace and she lowers her eyes down too to look at the Ember Stone.
"I figured you would know what this is." Silver touches the Ember Stone and holds it in front of her face. "You know its full potential?"
"I do. You shouldn't be surprise, as you already know that I too desire great knowledge and power to invent such interesting things. I also know you are creating the Cloneblade to counter the Witchblade."
"So you know…" Silver said it quiet for him not to hear it. She rises from her seat, finish drinking the glass that still had some wine in it and moves around the table "You have peeked my interest. Are you here on behalf of the Witchblade? Or did you come here without her consent?"
"I came here to speak to an old friend that is going after my wife. You are going after the wrong people."
Silver scoffs and leans back on the front of her desk. She smiles and replies "Are you sure about that? You are the one responsible for the Witchblade to fall into the hands of demons. You manipulated that woman, brought the Witchblade out of the facility and made her the chosen host for it."
"You are wrong. We are not what they say about us in the bible." Azazel takes two more steps towards her and continues "Reina Soho is my wife. She wanted to chase after the Witchblade, not me. She wanted to research into it and create the Cloneblades, which she and you actually succeeded." He then sighs and turns to the right to take two steps to the side, while looking back at her. "We didn't intend on ruining your research, but there is someone who is going after your personal stuff. The Ember Stone."
"Is that so?" Silver touches the stone again and plays around with her fingers touching it.
"Are you familiar with the Glacier Stone?"
"Of course. The owner didn't wish to surrender it to me, despite offering millions of dollars for it and he still refuse."
"He will be coming for that stone and he's bringing some friends. I had ask Reina to help you defeat them and make sure they don't take that stone off your body."
"An alliance? How do I even know this is true? If Reina comes any closer to this building, she'll be met with a serious force of a hundred Cloneblade warriors."
Azazel pauses and looks surprise at that number she said about her warriors. He raise an eyebrow and tries to speak "A hu –"
"You may have kept the secret ingredient, but I still have what I need to perfect the Cloneblade. So as far as I'm concern of… You've been my enemy the moment you manipulated me and my company."
"The wielder of the Glacier Stone will be coming and so will the ones that want the same thing. You're going to need more than just a hundred rip offs of the original."
"Hmmm, I tell you what…" Silver takes a few steps towards Azazel and continues "You allow me to keep the Glacier Stone and I'll stop the hunt for the Witchblade."
Azazel grinds his teeth, while his mouth remains close. He soon shakes his head and replies "Can't do that. It's too dangerous to have two of these stones in one place."
Silver scoffs and turns back "What is this, the Infinity Stones?"
"Not exactly that powerful. Look, I'm not asking you to trust me, but I am asking you to allow me and my friends to help make sure that the enemy doesn't get their hands on that stone you wear. When this is over, you can continue with the Cloneblade Project as much as you want, but don't lay a finger on the Witchblade."
Silver looks back to Azazel and remains silent when looking back at him. Her eyes looks away when just thinking about this, but looks back to Azazel when he comes closer to her and ends up walking past her. He replies "Think about it." And then takes his leave by moving along the side of the table, creates a symbol underneath him to teleport himself out of here. Silver stands by and watches in surprise to witness magic like this in front of her eyes, but she knew this exists and does wish she could wield such power.
Meanwhile, back inside the castle, many vampires came here and even signs of devils that heard about this, decided to take part of this entertainment. Most of the vampires wore formal clothes and go to the grand room where most of the vampires are, while everyone else just went other places.
Inside, the whole team was all together and walks through the crowd of vampires and devils alike. They would soon meet with Lady Carmilla that wishes to make a short talk to her people and lifts a glass of blood during her chat. She also remain wearing the same set of dress when she first met Marius' team when they came through here.
Carmilla brings everyone's attention towards her, showing a smile on her face, delighted to witness this many people at her home and speaks out to everyone who was with her in the room. "I welcome you all to my humble castle. Please enjoy yourselves and be sure not to eat the new guests. Tonight, we will enjoy ourselves and celebrate this long peace we once had together between our races." Suddenly, during this point, she changes her expression to serious and anger when mentioning about her enemies. She continues and says "However, tomorrow, we will spill blood against our enemy that wishes nothing but the complete destruction of the Carmilla Faction. When they come to us, we'll be ready to drive these traitors into the light and watch them burn until there is nothing left of them whatsoever." After that she puts on her straight face and finishes it with "Do enjoy ourselves."
And so the party starts and Carmilla moves to the side to allow the couples to take the dance floor. Everyone else moves along the edges of the room to give the dancers some space, but the rest would go off into different areas of the castle to relax and chat with others. Carmilla would soon turn her attention towards Marius' team when she saw them approaching her.
"Well, you look tasty to eat."
"Thanks. I could say the same thing to you, Lady Carmilla."
"I want to remind you that this place should be under siege, do be sure to fight outside. This place is centuries of years old, so be sure not to cause trouble that could destroy centuries of work."
"As long as you stay closer then everything will be fine." Marius looks back to Rias and asks "Shall we dance?"
"Absolutely."
Everyone went ahead to go together to dance together, while Takashi remains where he was with Chisato standing next to him and was pretty nervous to dance with Chisato, as this was the first time to dance with someone.
"Takashi, you alright?" Chisato asks and holds onto his hand to get his attention
"I'm… Do you think we should get a drink first?"
"You can't dance is that it?"
Takashi looks forward and scratches the back of his head "Well…. Yeah…"
"Come on." Chisato moves forward and keeps a hold on Takashi's hand "I'll help you."
Takashi stands where he was and soon to have to step forward when Chisato pulls him "I uhhh… You sure you don't want to dance with somebody else?"
Chisato stops and replies "I can't believe you said that. There's no one here I would want to dance with. I want to dance with you."
". . . ."
After that he finally gives into this and had to join the others on this. He tries to take a deep breath, as just one mistake would end up stepping on Chisato's shoes and did not want that to happen. As they stand ready, he had to wrap one arm around her waist and the other holding her hand. Takashi did look down a couple of times and avoids stepping on her toes, but Chisato touches his chin to make him look back to her, which made her laugh at Takashi.
"Focus on me, Takashi."
"R-Right."
So while the two eventually try to dance and keep sync with the rest of the people, Marius was somewhere in the middle with Rias. Marius kept Rias close, kept smiling with her and so does she when enjoying this moment with him.
"I can't remember the last time we danced together." Marius replies
"It was the day when you finally proposed to me."
"I bet you were waiting for me to propose to you the moment I saw you."
Rias remains silent for a while and turns her eyes to the left when just thinking about it. She eventually replies "… Yes."
Marius chuckles, but keeps his mouth close, but he will be using that soon on in a moment. He stops dancing for a moment, lowers his right hand down her face to make her close her eyes, made her mouth slightly open and he just leans forward to kiss her. She would open her eyes a second later the moment she felt his tongue overpowering hers, while also keep both arms around her waist to keep her pressing against his chest.
As the night goes on, Marius remains by Rias' side and the same goes with Chisato and Takashi. While the others would enjoy themselves, eventually, Marius would stop dancing with Rias and notice Carmilla in the distance talking to others, but she remains by herself to watch the others in the distance.
Rias notices him looking away and finds him looking at Carmilla. Marius looks back to her and asks "Mind if I ask her out?"
Rias sighs and looks back to Marius "As long as you don't go anywhere else but here."
"Don't worry." Marius gives her a soft kiss and touches both sides of her face "This will be just a chat with her. I'll come back for you."
"Alright." Rias lets go of him and turns away to walk off the dance floor.
Marius turns back to Carmilla and comes over to her to bring her full attention. As he approaches her, she looks back with him with a cold look on her face, crossed her arms and lowers her eyes when he offers his hand out for a chance to dance with him. He replies "May I?"
"And if I say no?"
"Come on… It's a dance you want and you can't be in that mood at your own party."
Carmilla took her time before she gave him a respond, but eventually she lends her hand out to touch his and gave Marius the smile on his face. He turns away and walks with her into the middle, there he turns to face her, still holding onto her hand and begins to dance with her the moment the orchestra is ready to play a different tune. The two steps back from one another, both leaning hands together and begins moving together circle around. Everyone else nearby did the same thing, and when move around in a circle only once, the males move behind the females, moves the right hand down around the woman's waist and place the left hand around the females left arm. As they move together, both Marius and Carmilla remain eye contact to one another the whole time. Carmilla twirls away from Marius, but his hand still holds against hers and when she turns to move back to him, he lowers his right hand around the back of her waist and pulls her closer to him to give her a slight gasp from that pull.
"You know… I can smell the tense on Rias right now." Carmilla whispers to him and turns her eyes to the side to see her in the distance, noticed her looking back at them "She is uncomfortable about us."
"I know. But can you blame her?" Marius asks and ends up suddenly bending her upper body back to make her face the ceiling. "We've known each other for a long time now…" Then pulls her back up straight, keeps his left hand against her hand and his right around her waist. "Except I've lived longer than anyone here."
"Some say we are perfect match, but yet there is something wrong here."
"This isn't about me killing your husband, is it?"
"No." Carmilla replies "He was a fool to challenge you and turn against me. He got what he deserved and so did the rest of them that you defeated. Perhaps the reason why I never wanted to join you was because I knew what I would get myself into."
"That's true." Marius then smirks and replies "You know… Of all the people who was willing to join my ranks, you are the only one to actually refuse proposal to join me. Maybe that's the reason why I see you special."
"And yet you'll be marrying Rias when this is all over, won't you?"
"Yes. When this is all over, I'll probably spend as much as I can with Rias, but this has nothing to do with Rias. You could've joined me long before Rias was even born."
"Hmmm, you know, I haven't decided whether or not I want to join you or not."
"It's alright, Lady Carmilla." Marius suddenly stops and let's go of her "I figured that when this is all over, these people are going to need you more than I need you. I know I can't claim you, but whatever happens here, I'll keep my word on helping your people in what is come next, no matter wat decision you make."
Carmilla looks surprise and asks "You won't leave if I reject your proposal?"
"I said I'll be helping you defeat my uncle and I intend to see this through the end. I will accept your refusal and search for someone else that can take the role of bishop."
Carmilla stops and smirks at Marius "Such a noble man you are. Before you didn't care about touching me and facing my wrath."
"I was dancing with you just then. And I can be a gentleman anytime I want." Marius smirks and lends her hand up so he could kiss the top of it.
Carmilla smiles from the kiss, but hides her smile the moment he looks back to her face "You're doing reverse psychology on me, aren't you?"
Marius lowers her hand and raises an eyebrow "Am I? Or am I not? Perhaps we'll both find out later tonight then."
After that, the two depart from the dance floor and approaches Rias that remains watching them. Akeno did approach her with Shiori and asks "What do you think they're talking about?"
"I don't know. They're coming over now."
As the two approach them, Marius replies first "Rias."
"What were you talking about?"
"Nothing important." Marius looks back to Carmilla then to Rias and asks "Say… How about the both of you dance together? Perhaps you might learn something between one another."
"I'm not dancing with her." Rias replies
"I agree."
"Well… You got one thing in common."
"Hmmm, Rias, perhaps we should discuss somewhere else and not on the dance floor." Carmilla replies
"Yes. I'd like that." Rias turns to the side and Carmilla approaches her to stand beside her. Together the two take their leave from Marius and leave him with only Akeno.
Akeno giggles and replies "Letting them talk about you behind your back?"
"It's fine." Marius replies and keeps watching them "That gives them time to talk to each other and probably make fun of me behind my back." He looks back to Akeno and asks "I don't suppose you want to dance with me?"
"Really? You want to dance with me?" Akeno comes closer and smiles to him. She ends up pressing her hands against his chest and made Marius move his arm around her. However, before he could touch her waist, Akeno surprises him when she slaps his hand off of her and replies "Sorry, I've got someone else to be with." Then ends up moving away from Marius and walks away from him.
Marius laughs and shakes his head. He thought to himself "Oh yeah… I pulled that move on her." He turns away and goes to find the nearest servant with the wine.
Meanwhile, Chisato and Takashi goes off somewhere private again and away from anyone. Takashi did find this quite an interesting date between him and Chisato, as they went into the colosseum together in private, dance together and now they have time together. Despite knowing that Chisato only did all of this was to see him smile and to bring the feelings he had for her when he was with her in the time world. He cannot ignore the fact that Chisato deeply cares for him, so no matter how long she has to wait, she will spend all of it with only him.
Takashi walks with Chisato on the balcony and place both hands against the edge of it. He replies "Thanks for the dance, Chisato." And looks to the left at Chisato that comes up next to him.
"That wasn't so bad now was it? I thank you for never hitting my shoes. I told you, you can dance well if you just tried."
Takashi smiles when looking away and feeling embarrass "Well… I've learned a lot from my teacher."
"A teacher?"
"Well, you've done so much for me for today and in the past as well. You really helped me so many times and I wish I could repay you for everything you've done for me."
Chisato smiles to him and asks "Then how about you do something for me then?"
"Right now?"
"Could you hold me?"
". . . ." Takashi blushes and nods "O-Of course. Yes." Then would move behind Chisato and wraps his arms around her. Chisato closes her eyes and smiles to Takashi, but she faces forward and keeps her smile from his sight.
Chisato looks out at the view and asks "Been a while since you held onto me like this."
"Yeah."
"But you don't need to repay me with anything. As long as you are alive and by my side, I'll be happy. You have already made me so happy for being me with me and dancing with me, so repay me, you must stay with me."
Takashi leans closer with his head against her shoulder and turning his head towards her. He whispers her name "Chisato…" And she looks back at him. Both stare close together and very soon, Chisato makes the move first by placing her right hand against his head, pulls him closer to kiss him. Takashi was not surprise, as he desires this the moment he moves his face closer to hers and so he closes his eyes, kisses her back and held onto her for a while. But after a while, the two finally break the kiss, Chisato turns her body towards him to press the front of her body against his, while he keeps his arms around her and kisses her more. It was a night to remember here, the two only care for the other one's happiness and being together made them happier.
After a long while, Chisato moves her head back from Takashi to break the kiss and whispers in his ear "You know… I could teach you other things if we go back into the time field again. Perhaps somewhere specific where we can be alone for a day… Like a bedroom perhaps?"
". . . . ." Takashi slightly left his mouth open when she mentions that. He knew exactly what she meant by it, which made him think about back when he spend the whole year with her in the private time world and will never forget about what Chisato did for him.
Chisato looks back to his cute face, touches the side of his face, kisses him softly on the lips and replies to him "I love you Takashi. I always will."
"Chisato…" Takashi whispers her name back and leans his head forward to kiss her more. When he stops kissing her, he replies "I love you too." Which made Chisato smile.
As the two embrace each other on this balcony in the middle of the night, things are starting to look up for the both of them and could finally return to the relationship they had when they were together in the time world.
Of course… There's always going to be that cliché where somebody ends up interfering with this relationship.
When the two begin to move off the balcony and come back inside, an unknown individual would come out of hiding to introduce himself to the both of them. He steps forward with a smile on his face, his eyes close and introduces himself. "Takashi Kyouichi I presume?"
"Uhh, yeah. Who are you?"
"My apologies for not introducing myself earlier to you. I was hoping to speak to you earlier, but I didn't wish to ruin your dance with the goddess herself, Chisato Hasegawa. My name is Diodora Astaroth, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Astaroth? Isn't that familiar."
"He's a noble." Chisato replies "Correct?"
"For someone who is a goddess, you do recognise nobility in the underworld. But anyways, I do wish to speak to Takashi alone, regarding on Vali and Marius Lucifer."
"I… See no problem having a talk with you."
"You sure?" Chisato looks back to Takashi
"It's alright. If it's about Marius and Vali then I'll see you when were done here."
"Okay. Do come find me when you're done talking. Or I'll come find you." Chisato laughs a bit and takes her leave from the balcony to leave the two to themselves.
Diodora looks back to watch Chisato leave and stares with his eyes half open, showing a darker glare that the both of them did not see. Takashi would ask "How is it that you know of me?"
Diodora looks back to Takashi, eyes close and smiles back to him "Everyone knows the one who fought Kokabiel and defeated him in battle. You've got yourself quite the reputation in the underworld, which intrigues me. However, I the rumours didn't mention about your name, only the Red Dragon Emperor was mentioned that he defeated Kokabiel."
"What does this have to do with Marius and Vali?"
"That? Oh that's just a means of getting that goddess off the balcony and giving us time alone to ourselves." Diodora says when walking past Takashi and coming up to the edge of the balcony.
". . . . ." Takashi looks back in suspicious towards Diodora. He remains where he was, kept his distance from him and asks "Diodora… What do you want with me?"
Diodora looks back to Takashi, takes out this photo with the picture facing the floor and lends it to Takashi. "I thought you would like to have this."
Takashi lowers his eyes down at the back of the picture, hesitated to even take it from him and waits a few seconds until he slowly lends his hand out to take it. The moment it turns it around, he froze all the sudden, eyes widen, mouth open and takes a step back from this sudden discovery that shocks him. Of all the things that happen on this day, this was probably the worst thing he would ever witness and see this would bring another delay between him and Chisato. The picture was none other than Raynare, chained up against the wall, arms spread out, legs tied together and her clothes was torn up with serious injuries across her body. She was still alive with her eyes open to stare at the camera with a sadden look, a look that almost made Takashi in a depressing state and even shed tears for her. It has been a long time since he last saw her, but seeing something like this ends up ruining the entire day for Takashi.
While he holds onto the picture with both hands, shaken by the sudden discovery, he looks back to Diodora and finds him just smiling at this state of him, even shows his glaring eyes at Takashi. That angers Takashi, as he sees Diodora happy to see his misery happen, so he drops the photo onto the floor and summons the Boosted Gear on his arm.
"You son of a bitch… This better be a joke!"
"It's not a joke." Diodora replies and changes his voice to a serious tone. "And you better do what you are told, filthy dragon."
Takashi steps forward and grabs onto Diodora with the red gauntlet of the Boosted Gear. He pulls him back with his upper body leaning back against the stone railing of the balcony. Takashi replies "Where is she!?"
Diodora just smiles at Takashi and ignoring the incoming threats that is coming his way. He replies "You don't want to hurt me. If you even think of laying a finger on me or even call for your friends, then she'll die."
". . . . ."
"You see, we don't have much time and neither can she hold out for much longer. I found that little bitch –" Diodora stops when Takashi grips him tightly when calling Raynare a bitch. He tries to continue "When she was such in a depressing state. She was vulnerable and weak, didn't even put up much of a fight. However, it was pretty easy when I was interrogating her about you. She told me all about you so quickly, I didn't even need to peel off the skin."
"What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
"I hate your kind so much and anyone else that is in league with you. That woman brought the death of someone I hoped to claim and bring her to my collection. But enough of that… This should be the time when you ask 'what do you want from me' and I'll respond 'do exactly as I say and she'll live'."
". . . ." Takashi's grip on Diodora starts to shake and knew that he was right at this part of the negotiation. He would finally moves his arm off of Diodora, lowers his arm down, vanishes the Boosted Gear and lowers his head down.
"That's a good boy." Diodora stands up straight and fixes himself up "Now then, were going to take our leave from this party right now, so it's better that we leave without saying any goodbye to anyone." He then begins to create his symbol of Astaroth onto the floor around him for transportation. He looks back to Takashi, waiting for him to step forward and he actually does it without any problem.
Takashi looks back, depressed returns to him again and thought to himself. "I'm sorry Chisato…" And then the two vanishes.
Things did not end here though, as other plans are going into play and the Khaos Brigade was behind in all of it. Not just an attack on the vampires, but also an attack on the Lucifer's and the dragons. It did not end here though, as another individual would also be taken and the opposition was too late to stop it from happening.
Back in Japan, Vali Lucifer and his team joins Kuroka on a search for her sister Koneko, who she believes that something terrible has happen to her. The team arrives at one of the luxury buildings that belongs to any noble form the underworld, a location for those that wish to come to Earth must come here. Koneko was with Alexis Lucifer here, as well as a friend of hers, named Latia Astaroth. Latia is a year or two older than Alexis and is next in line of the throne if Diodora ends up dying in battle for this sudden betrayal. Latia was a good friend with Alexis, even plan on becoming her right hand as queen, but that never happen at all and before Alexis could make her own team, disaster strikes at this household. Vali and the others would find the whole place in ruins, the outside was fine, but the inside was in a terrible state and Kuroka would end up finding her sister on the floor nearby with a table on top of her.
"I knew it... Koneko…" Kuroka rushes over to help her sister and throws the table off of her. She finds her still alive, but badly hurt from all the fighting she had to do to protect Alexis.
While Kuroka tends to her wounds, Vali and the others looks around to find if anyone was around, but they found no sign of anyone else. Bikou replies "They probably left a long time ago."
Vali shakes his head and looks back to Koneko "Grayfia isn't going to like this."
"You think Alexis is dead?" Arthur steps closer to Vali
"I don't know…"
"She… Isn't dead…" Koneko speaks out to get everyone to look back to her. Her eyes half open and still sore from the battle she fought.
"Sister…" Kuroka calls to her and gets her to look back to her. "I can't have you dying on me. You're still special in my life."
"If she's not dead then where is she?" Vali asks and steps closer to the two
Somewhere in the underworld, Raynare was still stuck in chains and was stuck in this temple with members of the Khaos Brigade, as well as all members of Diodora Astaroth. Before Takashi and Astaroth arrives, Latia and Alexis was kept alive by the enemy and sent together in one of the rooms of this temple. Alexis was unhappy about this, threatened the enemy to let her go, but they show no fear to her, as they have seen people far worse than her wrath.
"You're all going to pay dearly for this, do you hear me!" Alexis says to them when watching them leave the room "My mother is Grayfia Lucifer and she will destroy anyone who lays a finger on me!"
"Oh, but I beg to differ." Someone from inside the room speaks up to get both their attention towards him. He comes forward and reveals himself to be Rizevim Lucifer. He comes closer to the two with a smile on his face and looks at Alexis. "Hello little Alexis. I've been waiting a long time to see you."
"It's you…."
TO BE CONTINUED….
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[I know I'm jumping around a lot from different areas but just trying to fill in the gaps with other characters. You just got to have to wait for the next chapter for the big battle. That filler help give me more time on what to add in this chapter, so now I now know what to do in the next chapter now.]