Beyond the Outer Gates Lies... Schools of Thought?
I woke up, but not because of my alarm (a.k.a. Mister). A glance at the clock slash my backup alarm told me it was about fifty minutes before the boss would have roused me to fetch his breakfast. Still, I wasn't particularly tired or anxious to grab a few more winks, since I had gone to bed early last night. Speaking of...
My right arm was warm. It was enveloped by a heat and softness not based in my bed linens. I turned my head, and saw a pair of ice blue eyes, bright against the dark of the room. They studied me with affection, curiosity, and more than a little thirst. My arm was pinned against her body, my bicep buried deep in her cleavage. And I couldn't really move my hand without starting the 'experimenting' we hadn't gotten to last night.
"Good morning, Serafall," I said simply and evenly.
"Good morning, Harry," she answered in a similarly neutral tone.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Better than I have in a while," she admitted, happiness creeping into her voice, "Though I was surprised and a bit confused to wake up in your bed. With you. And in different clothing. I vaguely remember going topless, but I was pretty sure I still had my leggings on."
"Well, firstly," I teased, "I did tell you, when I opened my wards to you on Christmas, that if you wanted to pop over occasionally to sleep together, that would be fine. If it was just to actually sleep. Which is all you did in here last night."
She tilted her head and pursed her lips as she remembered.
"And beyond that, I wasn't sure if you would be comfortable, sleeping in you leggings. And I was sure I wouldn't be comfortable with you sleeping in just. your panties. So I got you one of my emergency t-shirts, and then took your leggings off after you were covered."
"Hmm," she studied me.
"Serafall, can I have my arm back?"
"I don't know," she said sarcastically, "I was supposed to get some action last night."
"I'll tell you what," I offered, "You let go of my arm, and I'll give you the best good morning kiss I can. Even though you didn't brush your teeth last night. And then, since waking up this early only gives me a little extra time before I have to get ready for school, we can talk about why you were so worked up that you needed real stress relief instead of stress relief. Okay?"
Serafall squeaked and turned away from me. I saw the glow of a mandala, and smelled a burst of mint. I cast my own breath freshener (a fae circle), though I generally preferred the mundane way. She turned back towards me, and I turned towards her. I pulled her close, and our lips met.
"So what's got your panties in a twist?" I asked her a few minutes later.
"Besides my boyfriend being coy and not taking my panties off?" she shot back, with a little more heat than simple teasing.
"Serafall, I'm worried," I told her, "If you were a Human, with as tense as you were last night, you would have given yourself a migraine and an ulcer. Assuming Devils can get either of those, you still might be."
She sighed.
"Do you remember what you said last night, back in Rias's place?"
"Technically it is Ise's parent's home," I argued, "But I remember most of the many things I said. You'll need to be more specific."
"You said that you don't care about Devil politics, or the promotion exams. You just care about us, and what we want."
"I did say effectively that," I agreed thoughtfully, "Which means something related to Devil politics and the promotions are what is weighing on you."
"Yes, and no," Serafall waffled, "More politics is weighing me down, but the promotions could help. Which in turn makes them another weight."
"Okay..." I motioned for her to continue.
"It's back to the Brigands," she explained, "There have been protests, negative press, and near riots in the Underworld. People complaining that the government, the Maou aren't doing enough to stop the terrorists. Both people who are legitimately worried, but also far too many people using this to gather fame or power."
"Do you think the latter groups are affiliated with the Brigands," I said, "Especially the Old Maou faction. Stirring up unrest while claiming their political rivals aren't doing anything to stop the terrorism that they are secretly a part of?"
"The Beelzebub has been pursuing that angle," she said, "But hasn't been able to prove anything yet."
"Okay," I thought a bit more, "But I don't get it. Unless there have been more attacks in the Underworld I haven't heard about, most of the Brigands plans have been stopped. Hell, pun intended, Wukong may have stopped more minor plans, but all the big ones have been stopped by us."
"Kokabiel..." I frowned, and asked her, "Was he a member of the Chaos Brigade? I'm not sure."
"No," she told me, "He was at least honest in his racism. But there is some evidence that he was being manipulated by the Brigade. Mittelt has identified a Fallen with Koki's ear we now know is a Brigand."
"So, Kokabiel, and in that case Argus, too. Loki. Diodora Astaroth. The Heroes' plans in Kyoto. The attack on the Three Powers Summit. The disruption of the familiar forest. We stopped all of those..."
Then I trailed off, and Serafall smiled sadly and nodded.
"Harry-chan. The Gremory Peerage. The Sitri Peerage. The friendship and alliance between these three forces, in some combination, has stopped all of the major Chaos Brigade plans to date. A Human, and two teams of reincarnated Devils, most of them originally Human. The protesters, at least the ones who bother to acknowledge that anything is being done, point out that most of the work is being done by a Buddha, and a bunch of commoner children."
"So that's why you and Sirzechs are pushing those seven forward."
"Ise-chan is arguably the most important," she agreed, "since he has done the most work, and the most high profile work. But most reincarnated Devils take more than thirty years to reach Middle Class. Even most natural born Low Class Devils don't make it until ten to twenty years after they reach adulthood, if they make it at all. So if those seven can all pass on the first attempt, all having been Devils for less than a decade, most for less than five years, and all as a teens? That will show that they are special. That not just anyone could take down the Brigade, and that your... our friends are an asset. And once they have titles, no-one can complain about them being commoners with no link to the Underworld or the government."
"Do they know?" I asked, my voice brittle.
"I don't like this any more than you do," she said, "Both using them, and sullying the advancement process with these politics. But yes, Sirzechs was going to tell Ria-chan and So-tan, so they could make sure the others know. I can understand if they decide to back out."
"They won't," I exhaled harshly, reigning in my temper. It wasn't like I hadn't seen the same games in the White Council, or the Fae Courts. It wasn't Serafall fault.
"And I won't either," I assured her.
"Thanks Harry," she whispered, "That helps. And so did the massage."
I forced a grin, "Then I guess I'll have to work out my hands a bit more."
I didn't say 'because this won't fix everything, so you will probably need more of them.'
School Thursday was mostly normal. Other then a smattering of nervous tension in six second years (myself included), four of the third years, and one teacher.
After class we reconvened in the top floor of the Hyoudou House. Rossweisse would be arriving later, so for now it was our seven candidates, plus me, Sona, Rias, and Ravel.
As the students got settled in to our makeshift classroom, I addressed the Kings.
"I'm hoping at this point you have both talked to Sirzechs?" I prompted them.
"We have," Rias said.
"And did you tell them?" I hiked a thumb at Ise and the others.
Sona nodded, and her trio looked grim.
"Tell us what?" Asia asked innocently. I fixed a disappointed glare on Rias.
"I didn't want everyone distracted during class," she said defensively, "Also, I was waiting until we were all together, so I wouldn't have to repeat myself to you."
"You didn't think Serafall would tell me?" I shot back.
"Well, no," the red-head admitted, her cheeks starting to match her hair, "I was under the impression the two of you would be otherwise... occupied."
She glanced sideways at Sona.
"Ah," I calmed down. A little.
"That's understandable," I told her, "Unfortunately, Serafall was so stressed out the only action she got was a scalp and shoulder area massage. Which put her to sleep, so I lent her one of my beds. And this morning grilled her about why she was in such a state."
I deliberately omitted how far down Serafall's 'shoulder area' was, or which of my three beds she slept in. Sona and Tsubasa gave me looks, but the others didn't catch on.
"That explains it," Rias nodded.
"Explains what?" Akeno looked at her friend and King suspiciously.
Between the three of us, Sona, Rias, and I explained about the civil unrest in the Underworld, and how it tied to the seven of them suddenly being candidates for promotions.
"So they are only being offered this chance for political reasons?" Ravel's tone could have cut glass. And Akeno looked similarly mutinous.
"Not exactly?" I said uncertainly, "I mean, Serafall basically said she expected everyone might want to back out when you heard this. And she was really torn up about corrupting the whole promotion process."
"Lord Sirzechs assured me," Sona said, "That all of you were legitimately and properly considered for promotion. Normally it would have been for the next test, whenever that might have been. To give you more time to study. But slotting you into the exam on the 28th instead, that was for political reasons. Both for what we told you about the Brigade, and also, I suspect, as a favor for the families or Peerages of the other ten nominees. They otherwise would have had to wait if the minimum fourteen applicants was not reached. It may be a small favor, but such things can add up."
"Does this really change anything?" Reya said, "We all have fought the Brigade, all want to see the Underworld stable. If they asked me to fight the Brigade or even just give a speech on their behalf, I wouldn't say no. Would you? And this way we benefit from it, too."
"We are Devils," Tsubasa smirked, "A bit of harmless corruption, double dealing, and not-quite-equivalent exchange is par for the course, isn't it?"
Asia nodded. Kiba shrugged. Akeno huffed, but seemed to calm down. Ravel still seemed unconvinced.
"If you want to back out, Akeno..." Rias offered earnestly.
"And allow my darling juniors to surpass me?" the mischievous... more mischievous Queen smirked, "Perish the thought."
"Well then we should get to work," I told them sternly, "Because we have four subjects to cover, not three."
Everyone looked at me.
"I went over the Math & Science and Earth tests, too," I said, "As we thought, what passes for math and science on this test is something any Japanese middle-schooler should ace without breaking a sweat. But the Earth questions... They are a bit dated, and more America and Europe focused. Like there was one pair from last year that stood out to me. One of the early questions was 'Despite dying before completing the journey, what ship captain is credited with being the first to circumnavigate the Earth? A) Eric the Red, B) Ferdinand Magellan, C) Amelia Earhart, D) James T Kirk, or E) Han Solo'. Then twelve questions later it ask 'Which famous ship captain claims to have completed the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs? A) Eric the Red, B) Ferdinand Magellan, C) Amelia Earhart, D) James T Kirk, or E) Han Solo'."
I paused and looked them over. Asia and Kiba both looked confused, but thankfully the rest didn't seem to have an issue.
"I would hope you could all get that," I said, "But maybe Asia was paying more attention to Ise than to 'A New Hope'. But one of the free answer questions from the older test was 'Name five bands from the British Invasion'. Can any of you name one?"
That stumped most of them, but Reya raised her hand. I pointed to her.
"I know The Beatles and The Who," she said, "But not any others."
"Probably the Stones," Tsubasa said, "The Rolling Stones that is. My grandma talks about them a lot together with The Beatles."
That reminded me that Tsubasa's grandmother was a repatriated Canadian of Japanese heritage. So my Rook might have a bit of an edge there.
"You are both right," I said, "which means you each would have gotten four of those ten points. Serafall and Sirzechs told you the scores you needed. 75% over all, and at least 40% on each test. But they didn't say that each test is 60 multiple choice questions with five answers, and four short, free style questions worth up to ten points apiece."
"So we definitely should cover the Earth topic as well," Rias mused.
"I've got a plan for today for that," I told her, "But yeah, I'm going to go over the questions again, and asked Serafall if she could get me the other three exams since they added the Earth section, so I can go over them with Lash and try to come up with a question pattern for what to cover."
"In that case, Dresden-sensei is correct," Sona said firmly, "We should definitely begin."
She waited a second for everyone, including me, to get settled into our seats. Rather than proper school desks, it was couches and folding tables. I got stuck with Ise, since Reya and Tsubasa might not concentrate if I was next to them. And ditto for Ise with Akeno or Asia. Tsubaki took the opportunity to sit with Kiba, but I didn't think either of them would have a problem; Tsubaki would want to disappoint Sona or be a bad example for her juniors. And Kiba was still oblivious to Tsubaki's crush. Or at least he pretended to be.
"Hell, as the portion of the Underworld controlled by the Devils is commonly called, in bounded by the Gehenna Sea to the north..."
We spent a few hours going over the basic geography of Hell. The territories of the major houses, the largest cities, major features like mountains and rivers. About the time Sona (with help from Ravel) finished the lesson, Rossweisse returned and it was time for dinner. An excellent sukiyaki prepared by Miki and Mittelt.
"So, before we start our magic lesson, I have a special Earth cheat sheet for you," I addressed the class, "But first a question. Who can tell me the capitols of the US states of New York, California, and Florida?"
I gave them a second to consider that, and Ise raised his hand.
"And if you say New York, Los Angles, and Orlando," I said without calling on him, "You would have lost three point on the second to last exams."
Ise lowered his hand.
"And the last exam had a free form question asking for any ten US states and their capitols," I told them, "Don't feel too bad. Even a lot of US citizens would struggle with that. I had to memorize them all in elementary school, but forgot more than a few after that. Though for the record, the answers are Albany, Sacramento, and Tallahassee. But yeah, chances seem pretty good for a similar question this time."
"So then, a cheat sheet?" Kiba prompted.
"Correct," I hooked my laptop into the moderately large TV, "Or maybe more of a mnemonic. As teachers have done since the late sixties, I will drill this into your heads with a combination of bright colors and catchy music. Take it away professor Wakko."
An animated character appeared on the screen, and the familiar bars of 'Turkey in the Straw' started playing.
"Baton Rouge Louisiana, Indianapolis Indiana, and Columbus is the capitol of Ohio..."
"I personally suggest you each watch that at least once per day between now and the 28th," I said when the video concluded, "Unless you have a photographic memory, or I come back tomorrow and tell you the last two tests seem to be flukes. There is also one for names of countries, but given how flexible the global map has been over the last century, might be better if we skip it. Wouldn't want a Prussia vs Germany vs East and West Germany vs Germany again issue. The questions seem to be based in the later 70s early 80s from what I've seen so far, but better safe."
That got a round of nods matched with annoyed looks. Or confused in Asia's case.
"So, magic." I switched to my second teaching topic.
"The exams seems to cover a combination of magical theory, and rote memorization of common spells from the Devil and Black magic schools," Rossweisse picked up for me.
"Right," I agreed, "For example..."
I closed youTube and opened a picture on my laptop. It showed an incomplete mandala, with three runes missing. To its right, there were five sets of three runes, labeled A through E
"Like the captains questions I brought up earlier, multiple questions using the same set of answers," I explained, "In this they use this base seal, commonly referred to as the 'Core of Ruin'. And then ask you to pick the sets of runes that will complete the seal to create the spells 'Bolt of Enduring Flame', 'Bolt of Ringing Thunder', and 'Bolt of Caustic Sharding'. Of course, since the answers can't be repeated, if you know one or two, it makes it easier to guess the rest. But that last one is what makes it tricky. If you know the elements of the spell, but not the specific name, you might be tempted to pick the acidic runes in 'C'. But the answer is 'A', because the spell is actually a bit of frozen acid that melts inside the target, and as such the 'Re' rune, which deals with ice, is also part of it."
Some of them seemed to get it. Others did not. Particularly my Rook, the Oppai Dragon, and to a lesser degree, Kiba.
"Since you can give a spell any fancy name, regardless of what it actually does," I explained, "It makes the memorization more critical. So for your lessons, we will be going over both magical theory, and a number of the most well known mandalas from those two schools."
We started with some of the basics of magical theory. This was a refresher of the training the magic types had before the tournament. But it was mostly new to Kiba, Tsubasa, and especially Ise. Rias's Knight and my Rook were aware of some of it, but Ise seemed to be completely lost.
We divided up. My three girlfriends and I worked together, answering Tsubasa's questions, and also the few Reya had. Rossweisse helped Kiba with Tsubaki working both sides of the student teacher equation for that trio. And Rias, Ravel, and Akeno reviewed with Asia and mostly Ise.
Then we got back together, and talked about each person's questions with the group, in case anyone else had the same issue, but hadn't realized it. Then I started up again.
"So, going back to this," I brought up the Core of Ruin question set again, "What I didn't mention earlier, is that all five of the answers are common spells from the base circle. And..."
I held up my hand, and eight nearly identical circles appeared in the air in front of me. Everyone, except Sona, looked surprised.
"There are actually eight common variations of this spell," I said, "Making it prime question material. So we'll start practicing this one."
"Practicing?" Asia asked, slightly nervously.
"Yeeaah," I drew it out slightly, remembering her trouble learning attack spells.
"Practice," I confirmed, "Because... Well, I should probably talk to Serafall to confirm, but I'm guessing that some of the spells will come up in the practical."
"What do you mean, Harry?" Reya asked.
"Sirzechs didn't say much about the obstacle course," I said, "just that it replaced the one on one duels. Plus, I didn't think to ask Serafall about it. But I was thinking about it today during gym and lunch. If I were designing it, I was thinking about something like a powers restricted Sasuke style course, followed by a shooting gallery with a specific set of allowed spells, and finish it off with a simulated battle against some kind of monster."
'You aren't going to tell them about your plan to duplicate the obstacle course and cavalry battle from Boku no Hero Academia,' Lash needled me.
'Just a passing idea,' I mentally waved her off, 'Besides, the Sports Fest is still ongoing. Don't know what's going to happen after the second round, even if we know the third round is tournament, just like in Naruto.'
"Yes," Sona mused, "It would be good to confirm both the physical and magical prowess of the participants. One could memorize part of a seal, so as to identify it, without actually being able to use it."
"That's pretty much what I was thinking," I agreed, "I actually have a mnemonic to remember the names of these, so we could reverse it to identify the circles, and that would be good for the written test. But if you had to cast them in the practical, that's a horse of a different color."
"Ah!" Ravel exclaimed.
"What?" Ise asked, and we all looked at her.
"Just... I understood that reference," the phoenix turned away, blushing.
I glanced at Tsubasa and Reya, wishing I could meet their eyes and struggling not to chuckle.
We spent another hour going over those eight spells. Everyone made pretty good progress on all of them. Even Ise. The fact that they were simple spells and the octet were virtually identical helped.
Except for Asia. We broke the spells down to a very technical level. Gave the former nun wooden targets. Then made the wooden targets into the shape of beholders. Assured her she would never have to use them on a person. But even if she could get the circles to appear, they just didn't work. Just to test, we had her fire magical missile at the faux eye tyrant. Then a bunch of her debuffs. They worked fine. The block had to be mental. It almost made me want to try teaching her a different attack spell while lying about what it did. But that was potentially dangerous. Besides, I didn't want to mislead the most innocent person, Devil or otherwise, I knew. And it probably wouldn't help in the long run.
At a bit after nine, we called it for the night. Asia promised to keep working, and Ise and Rias promised to help her.
Friday at school was normal again. Until Serafall met us at the gate as we were leaving for the day. I started grilling her about the practical, as we walked. While my idea wasn't exactly right, she was able to confirm that there was a portion of that test that did require using specific spells from the two schools.
When we got to Ise's house, his mother recognized Serafall from her show, and fangirled over Levi-tan. Miki admitted she had grown up on Sailor Moon and Pre-Cure, and was still a fan of the genre. I wondered how she had missed Serafall on Wednesday, only for my Maou to point out she had been in her suit. And Mrs. Hyoudou had been more focused on Sirzechs and Ravel.
Our studies on Friday went well. Other than Asia's issue, we were making good progress. Serafall turned out to be a much better teacher's assistant than I would have suspected. I wouldn't leave her alone in charge of a class, but she was helpful, knowledgeable, energetic, and good at intuiting what both the teacher and the students needed.
Which brought us to today. Saturday morning. We were studying again, this time sans either of the Great Satans. And also sans parental supervision; Miki and Gorou took advantage of the fact the Sona and I (mostly Sona) were going to be here to keep everyone on track. And so they went on a day date to Tokyo proper.
Which was definitely for the best. Because just as we were starting to consider pausing for lunch, Mittelt burst into the room like Kokabiel was on her tail.
"Draco-perv," she panted, "Switch Princess. You need to come down now. Everyone else, too. We have... guests, I guess."
She looked genuinely uncertain and frightened.
"What is it?" Rias eyes the Fallen maid nervously.
"Uh... You wouldn't believe me," the blonde admitted, "Fuck, I'm not sure I'm not hallucinating. But come on. We can't keep... her waiting."
I began compiling a list of entities that identified as female, that might make her panic like that, even as we filed down the stairs.
Mab was the first one that came to mind, but that was my old universe's Mab. Bizarro Mab shouldn't be a blip for Mittelt. The Fallen should have been used to Serafall by now, so probably not my Maou.
Maybe Gabriel? Shiva? Hera, if Mittelt wasn't aware the queen of Olympus had chilled out?
As we exited the hallway on the ground floor into the open floor plan kitchen slash dining room slash living room, I felt us pass through a shield. And I was hit by a power that nearly brought me to my knees.
There were four entities seated on the couches. I knew Azazel, of course. And I recognized Le Fay Pendragon from our quick meeting in Kyoto and the files on the Vali Faction of the Chaos Brigade. Said files were also how I recognized that what appeared to be an Alaskan Malamute shedding on the couch was in fact the Norse god-monster Fenrir.
But none of them were the source of the power that frankly eclipsed the times Mab and Uriel had shown off to intimidate me. The fourth guest appeared to be a girl of maybe twelve to fourteen years. Her skin was the palest white and both her hair and eyes were darkness beyond blackest pitch. She was dressed as the picture of a gothic lolita; frills all over her purple accented black dress and headband. Knee length black stockings, and a hint of white pantaloons visible at the hem of her dress. She was calmly sipping water as the rest of us lost our shit. In a few cases, possibly literally.
This was the current form with which Ophis Ouroboros, the Dragon God of the Infinite, chose to express themself. Or I understand, herself in this state.
"Azazel, are you betraying the Accords?" Sona snapped before anyone else could speak. I just started powering up silently, regretting that most of my gear was next door, save for my watch, my best ring, and my earring. Oh, and I guess my duster wasn't at home, but it was in the coat room here, and not on my person. My fragile, fragile person.
"Perish the thought," he waved it off, talking a bit more posh than normal.
"You brought members of the Chaos Brigade into our home," Rias was trying very hard not to scream. Probably more to avoid setting off Ophis than an actual desire to remain in control.
"Without any warning or invitation," she continued, "Members of the Vali Faction, somewhat neutral and reasonable though they may be, are still bad enough. They are a battle and a political incident waiting to happen. But to bring that Dragon, the leader and focus of the Brigade here? This could break all the alliances that you have been trying..."
"Stars and stones. That's it isn't it?" I prompted as she trailed off, "You brought Ophis here to try to break up the Brigade. You have something she wants, and if you can get it for her when they can't, it will pull the glue out of all those jackasses who would normally be fighting each other as much as us."
He just nodded sagely.
"So what can we offer the Dragon God of the Infinite?" Sona asked carefully.
"Him," Ophis said simply, and pointed at Ise. Rias was instantly back to DEFCON 2, and Asia and Akeno were close behind.
"To clarify," Azazel said was a haste that defied his formal words, "Ophis wishes to speak to Y Ddraig Goch and Hyoudou Issei. She is both interested in and confused by the changes in this incarnation of the Red Dragon Emperor. She has requested an initial conversation, with further negotiations potentially possible based on the result."
"And these two are here as Ophis's bodyguards?" Tsubasa eyed Le Fay and Fenrir.
"More or less," Azazel agreed, "Kuroka wanted to come as well. But Vali has another test for her, and thought she just wanted to play."
He paused, and looked directly at Rias, "Now then, will you allow this conversation? I am given to understand that you are all dealing with important studies and a time crunch. However I feel this is also important, and may be a one time only chance."
Ophis's expression was blank, neither confirming or rejecting Az's statement.
"I will allow it, if Ise does," the red-headed King sighed.
"I'm fine with it," Ise sai.
"I'm not," I stated firmly.
"Dresden?" Sona switched back to my last name, both for seriousness and so Ophis and her entourage wouldn't know about our semi-secret relationship.
"Have you scanned her?" I asked Azazel, "Are you even confident enough to try? Did you even think of it?"
Lightbulbs went off around me.
"Ah," He grumbled defeatedly, "no."
"Do we need to?" Reya asked, "Would Cao Cao be able control her?"
"I'm not sure where Ophis falls compared to Yasaka and the God of the Bible," I admitted, "But we also never fully confirmed if Cao Cao can see through the spears or detect them. We do know, because of Mulan, that he can influence someone without full control. If any of those are true now, having her here with on or more of the Longinus fragments in her is even more of a risk than her just being here."
They all thought about it. Well, except Ophis, who didn't seem to care, and Le Fay who looked a bit lost.
"Lady Ophis," Azazel addressed her, "The Wizard Dresden would like to scan you for the influence of the True Longinus. I have seen this process before and am learning to perform the process myself. He can also remove the influence if it is found. Will you allow this?"
"If it helps, I'm willing to agree to do this while you talk to Ise and Ddraig," I offered a compromise. Ophis turned to look at me. Directly in the eyes, before I could turn away.
There wasn't a Soulgaze. That almost would have been preferable.
Empty Night. Literally. I had heard the curse for years, and had thought I understood it. But the War of the Gate had proven me wrong. The pure lack of light and matter and hope and life that was the Outsiders goal was beyond simple description.
That was the inky depths of Ophis's eyes. No emotion. No thought that I could detect. 'Eyes are the windows of the soul.' Not with this dragon goddess loli. No windows. No soul. Barely eyes. She just stared at me, and it felt like she was filtering my very existence though a meta-divine food strainer. She didn't blink. It felt like she wasn't capable of blinking.
"It is fine," Ophis said.
"Is it okay if I grab one of the dining chairs?" I asked.
"Perhaps we should move this to the top floor," Sona suggested, "Some of us can resume studying, while Hyoudou-kun and Ophis-dono talk, and Dresden scans."
She didn't seem to be expecting Akeno, Asia, or Rias to be paying much attention to their studies, wither.
'Lash,' I said silently, 'I'm going to need your help this time.'
'Yes, my host,' she confirmed, 'You very much will.'
Harmonizing with Ophis' true nature was simpler than anyone I had ever scanned before. Her body was perfect. Not perfect like Ise would have meant. More like she was a perfect representation of the ideal Human form, rather than a real, living person. She had no scars, not a single bacteria or virus in her body that wasn't part of a balanced microbiome. Every bone and organ was the perfect shape and placement. There wasn't even a hint of plaque, on her teeth or in her arteries. I didn't measure her pulse or blood pressure, but they didn't deviate at all the entire time I was scanning her.
All in all, it made the physical portion of the scan easy. And also unnatural and more than a little creepy.
The spiritual side was similar. Her magic was a uniform field of pure black. No deviation of desire, of regret, of personal affinity. Of course, the raw power and light sucking void of her soul (or whatever it was, since I couldn't 'Gaze her) would probably have destroyed my mind, if Lash hadn't done double duty filtering it and shielding my mind.
'I have a migraine,' she complained, 'Since the beginning of time, my source has never had a migraine. I don't have a physical brain or nerves to experience pain, but I have a migraine.'
'Are you done?' I asked her. I felt bad that she felt bad, but she was definitely milking it.
'Also, I think the two small toes on my left foot froze and fell off.'
Yeah, definitely milking it.
After a few minutes to calibrate the scan, we found that Ophis was clean. Mostly.
There were no signs of Nemesis in her body. But there were some old and faded scars on her spirit. The marks left by the touch of an Outsider. An attack designed to rend both the body and the soul. Not many could have survived a hit like that, but Ophis was a lot more than most. And that might also be why she left the Dimensional Void, to heal.
There was a shard of the True Longinus in her. Or the remains of one. From what I could read, the cocktail spear sized replica had been shattered into a couple dozen pieces (whereas I, with the power of darkness of four Devils, could barely break one in half), and then sublimated by her. Only four motes of light remained in her brain, each one the size of a grain of sand. I doubted Cao Cao could do anything with them, and they would probably be gone in a week.
The whole time we were examining her, Ophis and Ise talked. Even Lash, normally so good at multitasking, only caught snippets of the conversation. Ophis questioning Ddraig about why and how he shifted from 'red' to 'crimson'. And Ise trying to explain what it felt like to grow stronger and overcome an enemy. There was also some talk of breasts that I probably would have tuned out even if I wasn't focusing.
"Well?" Azazel asked when I came out of my trance.
"There was a Longinus spike in her brain," I told him, and more than a few of my friends looked my way.
"But it looks like her body already destroyed it," I finished, "So yeah, she's fine."
That got a round of sighs of relief.
"I guess that means she can stay," Rias conceded.
"Huh?" I grunted.
So I guess part of the conversation that Lash and I missed was that, if I said she was safe, Ophis would stay at the Hyoudou House for the immediate future, to continue her observation of the Oppai Dragon.
Oh, and also having her call him that was a near fatal hit to Ddraig.
With that decided, we kicked out Az and returned to our studies. Ophis moved to the northeast corner of the room, and watched Ise. Without moving. Including blinking. It was Shining level creepy, but we did our best to ignore her.
Ise's parents returned. They brought us snacks, which Mittelt delivered. Rias left briefly to confirm that Ophis could stay. In what I was coming to understand was normal behavior, they allowed a creepy, Children of the Corn adjacent Dragon to stay in their house without flinching.
But it turned out they were not quite as easy going as they seemed. After dinner, I volunteered to help Miki and Mittelt with the dishes, since I was technically a guest.
Wanting to have a few minutes away from Ophis had nothing to do with it. Jedi's honor.
"Harry-kun," Miki asked me hesitantly, "Do you know anything about this Ophis girl?"
I handed the plate I was rinsing to Mittelt to dry (since I didn't know where everything went), and then let out a deep breath.
"I do," I said, "But I'm not sure how much I can tell you without breaking confidences."
The Fallen maid gave me a sideways glance, and then asked, in character, "How could Dresden-kun, a high school student, know about a foreign girl?"
"I am a private investigator and a wizard," I countered, "You would be surprised by the breadth and depth of my knowledge."
"Then what can you tell us?" Gouro asked from the other room.
"Well... did Rias tell you she was a distant relative, who is in a bit of trouble?" I parroted the red-head's lie.
"Yes," Miki nodded.
"Well, I would say two more good words to describe her are rival, and sheltered," I told them, "Though that rivalry are less from Ophis herself, and more from the people who placed themselves around her."
"Oh dear," Miki said.
"Where they trying to use that girl to take over Rias-chan's family?" Gouro asked thoughtfully.
"I did not say that," I said evenly, "But I'm also not denying it. Anyway, Ophis recently started to doubt her 'retainers', so she left them and sought out Ise."
"What?" they both asked.
"Apparently he caught her eye," I said in a dull tone of annoyance and disbelief.
"Another one?" Gouro barked in amusement.
"So young..." Miki sighed.
"No, to both of you," I countered, "When I said sheltered, I meant in the most extreme way. She can probably tell you the dictionary definitions of love, affection, lust, and sex. But I doubt she has any real understanding of the emotions behind them. That is part of why she wants to observe Ise. To try to learn why girls flock to him."
"And you shouldn't judge her by her appearance," I told Miki directly, "She may look like she's thirteen, plus or minus two years either way. And a man doesn't divulge a lady's age without her permission. But Ophis is older than either me or Ise. If I had to pick between ten and thirty, she is closer to thirty."
Of course she was a couple millennia or more past the double digits, but she was still closer to thirty years old. It wasn't my fault if they assumed I meant she was in between those two numbers.
"Oh," Ise's mom exclaimed, "I don't know if I should feel bad for her or jealous."
"Both is acceptable," I said, inclining my head deliberately at Mittelt.
"I will take that as a compliment," the now second oldest person in the house brushed me off.
"We will just have to out best to help her acclimate to Japan," Miki said kindly, handing me the last glass, "And a normal life. For as long as she is here."
I chose not to comment that living in a nine story mansion with your son's harem and a live in maid was not normal almost anywhere on Earth. Except it was still a better example for Ophis. And I kept thinking about things in the Underworld, and how this was pretty normal down there.
The rest of Saturday went fine. As did Sunday morning. Ophis stared mostly at Ise, occasionally switching to one of the rest of us for a minute or two. Before ultimately returning to the Sekiryutei. We just let her do as she wished.
Until lunch.
"You shouldn't just eat the snacks," Asia said, "Have a sandwich. And some tea."
"Sandwich," Ophis looked at it, "And tea. Those are new."
"I'm surprised you can be so casual with her, Argento-san," Reya noted.
"I was a bit nervous," the former nun admitted, "Until I saw Irina play cards with her last night. Then I realized she is like me. She has been kept away from the world. There is so much she doesn't know, but also so much new for her to experience."
"It makes me wonder what the Brigade was feeding her," Ise said protectively, "If Asia had to explain that chips weren't the only food here."
We decided to wind down early Sunday. We had still spent much of the day studying or teaching, so we wanted to give everyone time to mentally rest and digest. And get ready for normal life and classes tomorrow. Which made me wonder what would happen with Ophis.
'Well, not my responsibility,' I stupidly tempted fate, even if it was silently.
"You are different," she was suddenly right next to me. Staring at me.
"I'm not a Devil, I'm a Human," I told her, but inside I was wondering if she knew something else, "Also, I'm a wizard and an American. So, yeah, I'm pretty different from everyone here. And from the other Humans you might have met in the Brigade."
She seemed to accept this.
"I will observe you," she announced. And the room froze.
"I... I am leaving here," I said, "So you won't be able to observe Ise."
"He will be here when I return. Time is not a limitation."
Hell's bells, why couldn't that work.
"Fine," I said, "I don't mind if you come over to my place for a couple of hours. As long as you agree that you'll come back here when it is time for me to go to bed."
She looked at me.
"That is acceptable," she said after almost a minute.
"Harry... san," Tsubasa said, "Do you want me to come over too?"
"No," I said as nonchalantly as I could, "We'll be fine."
All three of my girlfriends present frowned. I quickly packed up my bag and slung it over one shoulder.
"Shall we go?" I offered her my free hand. Which, not by accident, was my gloved left hand. She took it.
We took the elevator down. I explained to the Hyoudous that Ophis was coming over to my house for a while. I walked her out, and next door.
"A wall impedes me," she frowned as we approached my home. She raised a hand and said, "I shall blow it away."
"No need," I said quickly, "Those are my wards. I can make them let you in. And if you destroy them, I wouldn't be safe in there."
My defenses were tough. Serafall let me know that she could destroy them, if she put her mind to it. That almost certainly applied to Sirzechs, too. But it would leave her tired. And also freeze most of the greater Tokyo area in the process. I doubted my shields would even slow Ophis, and worried about how much of Japan would survive.
So I quickly parted the wards, and led Ophis inside.
"So, what do you want to do?" I asked her.
"Observe."
"Well, I was just going to play some video games to relax," I told her, "Would you like to join me? It might be more fun than just watching."
She considered it with her standard unreadable expression.
"I will play," she agreed.
"This is not enjoyable," she said.
"Well," I hemmed, "You did pick a character I just unlocked, so I haven't had time to increase her level or unlock her skills."
I was pretty sure she had blindly chosen Perona based on their similar attire.
"She is weak," Ophis decided.
"For now," I agreed, "But again, that is because she is new. That is part of the challenge. So how about this; I'll take one of the other new characters, and we can work together on leveling them up."
"We can give them our blessing," she said, "So that they can grow. So they can dominate."
"Exactly."
"This is acceptable," she said.
"That was unique," Ophis said, as I took the controller from her and put it on the charger, "I believe I understand growth and domination better. One must learn the skills and build up the combos."
"And save you super meter for the right time," I repeated. It had been tougher getting her to understand it that she didn't have to launch an ultimate attack as soon as the glowing bar was full. But by the time the clock struck ten, she was getting pretty good with the Ghost Princess. And I thought I saw her smiling, out of the corner of my eye. Though whenever I looked directly, her expression had not changed.
"My gratitude," Ophis told me, "That was new."
"Well, depending on how things go, maybe you can come over and do it again," I suggested.
"It will not be new," there was the first emotion I had heard in her voice. Just the tiniest sliver of doubt.
"There are lots of characters you haven't played," I told her, "And we could have some other people come over for four player."
"Alternative forms and powers," she mused, "Social interaction via entertainment medium. I will consider it. There is still much to observe from the Oppai Dragon."
I put on my shoes, and grabbed my duster
"What are you doing?" she asked, "Are you going somewhere else to sleep?"
"No. I was going to walk you home."
"Unnecessary. I will extend these defenses until I reach the Hyoudou House. If anything penetrates them, I will destroy it."
'All the more reason,' I thought silently, while aloud I told her, "As a gentleman, it is my responsibility to escort a lady home and make sure she is safe. I'm sure Ise would agree with me there."
She paused, and then nodded.
'And you are not worried about the Dragon God of the Infinite casually reshaping your wards, my host?" Lash asked softly.
'I'm trying not to think about that,' I admitted to her, 'But lets plan to check on them when we get back.'
'Indeed.'
Next: Beyond the Outer Gates Lies... Only a Test?