Chapter Twenty-Three

Daichi sat meditating in the Grove of Barri, centering himself in the flows of nature. He could feel Yggdrasil's presence peeking out at him, almost as if she was keeping him in sight through the corner of her eye as she continued with… whatever universe supporting metaphysical trees did. He had been here for days adjusting his control and fine tuning his abilities after breaking through to his seventh tail.

Unlike previous tails, this one had been a qualitative change in the state of his energy and the power within his grasp. All the ones previously could have been compared to multiplicative increases in power while his seventh was more in line with a sudden large exponential increase in his combat capability. Once he finally finished acclimating, he would return to Kuoh to maintain a watch over the devil scions until Kokabiel made his move. The news of an entire devil family being wiped out had yet to spread but it was only a matter of time before the suppression of the Satans would no longer matter and spies would begin reporting to other factions. This was a key moment for Kokabiel's faction within the Grigori, it was too good of an opening, a golden opportunity to spark a full-blown war.

If he succeeded in slaying either of the siblings of the Satans, there would be no chance for reconciliation. Even if Azazel offered the offenders up on a silver platter, the devils would be forced to go to war to maintain an appearance of strength to the greater paranormal world. The only reason Daichi was able to take such an extended leave was because Grayfia was currently standing in for him and making herself a visible presence and deterrence under the appearances of educating Rias on her responsibilities as an heiress now that she was no longer engaged to Riser until he could take back over his duties.

Instead, she was now to be wed to Daichi as part of his winnings during the wedding "festivities".

Not. Daichi had shut that down immediately, ripping the marriage contract to shreds before incinerating it in his fox fire and spreading the ashes to the winds. Rias had actually looked a bit hurt by his intense refusal but that wasn't his problem. However, other than the contract, Daichi had received a substantial amount of wealth, most of which was in bottled phoenix tears that he immediately stashed away.

The one other big-ticket issue was that Daichi was now technically the 'King' of Riser's peerage with no easily discernable path to simply give them back or get rid of them, so he now had fifteen random women that filled various fetish roles just chilling at an estate on the outskirts of Kuoh that he had been required to quickly establish until something could be figured out. He was honestly tempted to just send them to the Valkyries, that way if he was forced to keep them, they would at least be better than the cannon fodder they currently were. The only decently powerful one was Yubelluna and even she was only slightly more useful than the other members of the peerage at his current power level.

Daichi let out a sigh, a flex of his tails pushing himself from his lotus position up to his feet. If he was able to contemplate the mild irritations of recent days instead of focusing on his energies, then he should be capable enough to no longer procrastinate returning to his duties. He pulled a talisman from a pouch at his waist and tossed it forward, the paper floating before him. With a brief flex of his yojustsu the paper lit up, shredding itself but creating a rip in space that Daichi passed through. With a shwip the tear knit itself back together instantaneously as Daichi cut off the flow of his power holding it open. With a sigh, he flopped onto his bed in his apartment. Like hell he was going to live in the same house as fifteen other light suddenly lit up his room, Grayfia and Rias both materializing at the foot of his bed.

Daichi covered his head with his pillow and groaned.

"I haven't even been back for two whole minutes…"

If he had his eyes uncovered, he would have seen a satisfied smirk briefly grace Grayfia's face before returning to its typical neutral cast. Rias on the other hand made no attempt to hide her amusement, giggling lightly at Daichi's ears as they twitched in mild irritation.

"There are three exorcists roaming around your territory claiming they know you."

Daichi groaned again.

"Already…? Fuck."

He let out a long sigh, not giving either of the women a chance to contemplate his words.

"Alright, are they up at the church?"

"Yep!" Rias popped the 'p' of her answer.

"Cool, let's go get this out of the way." Daichi popped to his feet next to Grayfia and Rias. "If you don't mind, Lady Lucifer?"

Grayfia stared at him for a beat longer than necessary to appropriately express her feelings on being used as a taxi service but, nevertheless, the surroundings lit up in silver light as her magic circle pulsed to life beneath them, whisking them to the church entrance. Daichi wasn't sure who had replaced the doors or when it had happened since it definitely wasn't him., but apparently, they had been. He was rather proud of how utterly demolished the old doors had ended up, so he was only slightly disappointed to see the doors creak open and a bright green eye peek out at them.

That disappointment lasted all of a heartbeat as a blur of golden hair flung itself into his arms and a rapid fire of Italian came out of the little exorcist's mouth.

"Daichi! Mi sei mancato tanto! Come sei stato? Ti manca la punta dell'orecchio! Stai bene? Ricrescerà? Hai ucciso i cattivi? Domanda stupida, certo che l'hai fatto!"

Daichi chuckled as he squeezed Asia in a tight hug and pulled out a translation talisman, sticking it to his head where it dissolved. Grayfia had a bemused expression, an eyebrow cocked, while Rias was somewhat taken aback by the soft expression on Daichi's face.

"I've missed you too, Asia. Let me guess, you're with Irina and Xenovia?"

Even as Asia was nodding with a bright "Un!", the previously cracked doors slammed open, Xenovia's foot coming down as she simultaneously drew Excalibur Destruction from its sheath at her back.

"Bastard! You're finally here!"

Daichi scooped up Asia and slid to the side, avoiding her thrust through his previous location.

"Still a brute I see, Xenovia. Attacking your dear teammate, what would Mother Quarta say? Should I call and ask?" One hand flicked out a phone while the other kept a firm grip on Asia, keeping her hoisted under her legs and butt as she hung on his shoulder. Xenovia let out an audible choking sound as she stopped her forward swing in an attempt to bisect Daichi. Irina chose this moment to poke her head around the frame of the door and waved.

"Hi Daichi! Long time no see! Why are you here with two devils?"

Daichi rolled his eyes, hoisting Asia up further onto a shoulder as she grinned and giggled.

"Hoping Xenovia succeeded this time so you didn't have to talk to me, Irina? For followers of God you're both rather cold hearted."

Xenovia stomped past him to stand next to Irina, Excalibur Destruction sliding into its place on her back.

"The Lord's love is boundless but it's still our duty to remove evil stains upon creation that lure man into temptation. Now answer the question, evil spirit. Finally decided to show your true colors and teamed up with devils?"

Daichi shook his head with a smug smirk.

"You always did have an overactive imagination. I can still remember as if it was yesterday, that time we walked in on you roleplaying as a Knight of King Arthur's round table." Daichi's voice hit a mocking falsetto. "Oh, my king, my blade is forever pledged to your service!" Xenovia was already crimson, various hues of light purple slowly creeping into her face from embarrassment and anger but Daichi stopped, Asia tapping his head with her knuckles in admonishment, so he turned back to Irina to keep Xenovia from pulling her weapon out once again.

"I've come for the tithe and to discuss your business in my domain." Daichi stated, all business as the group selectively chose to ignore the bluenette as she visibly decompressed and brought her temper back under control. Irina flinched, hand going to the back of her head as she sheepishly chuckled.

"The, uh, the tithe? Right, right, the, uh, the tithe…"

Daichi simply shook his head and sighed.

"You spent it already."

Irina's continued awkward laughter was his only answer.

"Fine, whatever, I'll just abduct Asia for a bit and call it even, just tell me what you're doing in my territory. As much as I love seeing Asia again, I know you three wouldn't be here if the church hadn't sent you here for a mission." Irina finally straightened up, prepared to answer but Xenovia beat her to it.

"We aren't telling you anything, you bastard."

Daichi tossed a talisman out so fast it was a blur that only Grayfia could have intercepted. The paper slapped onto Xenovia's face, sealing her mouth shut. Irina just gave a wry smile as muffled noises started flowing from Xenovia as she tugged at her face.

"Our intelligence operatives have found evidence that Kokabiel, a member of the Grigori that orchestrated an attack on, and theft from, the church is operating in this area. We've been sent to retrieve the stolen artifacts."

Daichi hummed in acknowledgement.

"What artifacts? I need to know what I'm dealing with." He knew already, of course. Meta-knowledge was the biggest cheat.

Irina hesitated, casting a glance at the two temporarily forgotten devils behind him. Daichi waved a hand negligently in their direction.

"Don't worry about them. Rias is one of the devil faction representatives operating in my territory and Grayfia is her minder. She'll actually be leaving back for the underworld within the next day now that her business with Rias is concluded, or so I've been led to believe. I would share whatever information you're about to give me with them anyway, so go ahead and spill the tea."

Rias mouthed 'spill the tea' behind his back in confusion but Irina simply nodded in acceptance.

"Kokabiel's group stole three fragments of Excalibur: Rapidly, Nightmare, and Transparency. We have no idea what they plan to do with them, but it can't be anything good, especially with tensions as high as they are between the three factions right now."

Again, Daichi knew, but until Kokabiel made his move it was a moot point. Daichi would be ready when he did though.

"I have an idea about what he may be planning, but nothing concrete." Daichi gave a shrug. "Nothing we can do about it though. You guys can continue to operate in my territory as long as you don't stand out, and don't cause issues, especially with the devils. Unlike you, they actually pay me to be here." A ping in Daichi's detection net chose that moment to go off around the warehouse district. "What the fuck is it with this town…" he muttered under his breath. Irina was too busy looking relieved to hear his words, while Xenovia was just glaring murder at him, though both Grayfia and Rias caught them, as did Asia still perched on his shoulder who simply cocked her head cutely.

"I have to go. Something just came up that requires my attention. Irina, your old friend, Hyoudou, he's a devil now under Rias, so don't be surprised when you go visit him later. Xenovia, stop being such a stick in the mud. I'll bring Asia back in a day or two, but if you two get hungry feel free to stop by my place… y'know, since you spent all your money already." Xenovia's binding disintegrated at the same moment that Daichi turned and tossed out another teleportation talisman, sliding Asia down onto his back to walk through the portal. Grayfia and Rias followed him through, leaving the two exorcists standing in the dark.

Xenovia immediately started cursing Daichi's existence, though Irina continued to simply stand there in concern until Xenovia finally broke her from her thoughts.

"How can you stand that egomaniacal asshole?!"

"Hm? Oh. He's not egomaniacal, he just likes to rile you up. Your personality makes it really easy for him."

Xenovia grumbled for a bit as the pair returned inside.

"He's still an asshole though."

"Oh, of course. He has the power to be arrogant though. Did you notice?"

Xenovia gave a grimace in response.

"He's grown even further beyond us than he already was. We need to report this to the church."

Xenovia snorted.

"You mean we need to report this to Mother Quarta."

"Of course, it'll drive her even more insane than it does you."


The group of four reappeared back in Daichi's apartment where he placed Asia on his lazy boy chair.

"A stray devil just showed up on my wards. Grayfia, I know you have places to be, but I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon." Grayfia simply nodded at the dismissal and teleported back to the underworld. Daichi turned to Rias as Asia sat luxuriating in the comfiest of chairs. "Do you want to handle the stray with your peerage, or should I take Asia and take care of it?"

Rias blinked in thought for a moment.

"Can… can I bring them to watch you?"

Daichi shook his head.

"I wouldn't be the one dealing with it. Asia would." Rias glanced over at the Italian girl skeptically as her feet rocked back and forth on the footrest of the chair in time to the tune she was happily humming, all while stroking two of Daichi's tails that had somehow ended up in her lap.

"I think that would still be a good idea. It'll let them see how trained exorcists operate in case we ever have to go up against any excommunicated members."

Daichi gave her an amused look at the flimsy excuse but acquiesced regardless.

"Quickly gather them then and meet us in the warehouse district."

A red circle flashed to life on her palm as she immediately relayed the instructions.

"They'll be there within the next five minutes. Issei was thankfully already in the area."

Asia was already latched onto Daichi's back, his tails cradling her as she clung to his neck.

"We really need to find a way to boost that idiot's magic reserves so he can at least teleport." Daichi sighed. "Let's go then." Another talisman later, the trio stood waiting for the remaining members to gather, and Rias decided to fill the relative silence with questions, since Asia was still humming happily next to them.

"So… how did you meet a bunch of exorcists?"

Daichi glanced down at Asia fondly.

"I spent some time a few years ago with the Church as a delegate of both the Yokai and Norse factions to build some connections with the mortal side of Heaven. I met Asia, Irina, and Xenovia while I was there. I actually met Xenovia first, since she was with, at the time it was Sister Quarta. She's her direct disciple, but Irina received almost as much training under that crazy woman as Xenovia did. It's why they're being trusted to hunt down a cadre level threat. Asia came later after I saved her from some pathetic devil's schemes to get her excommunicated."

"I see…" She didn't see.

Thankfully, the crew all managed to show up at about the same time, rapidly trickling in as they finished their respective business, with Issei riding in on his bike shortly after Kiba teleported in.

"Alright my cute family members, pay attention. Daichi's friend here is a member of the church and is going to demonstrate some of their abilities and tactics for us while hunting down a stray devil in the area." Kiba's eyes noticeably narrowed and Akeno upped her guard slightly. Issei simply stared at Asia with wide eyes and a perverted grin on his face while Shirone was remarkably indifferent. Asia simply continued humming happily while holding onto Daichi's tails. Rias turned towards the pair expectantly after her little speech, prompting Daichi to roll his eyes. Still, he turned and nudged Asia who pouted up at him.

"Don't give me that look, finish this up quickly and I'll cuddle you all night."

Asia gave him a big grin and a cheer as she took off into the surrounding area. Issei just about had an aneurism from jealousy, squawking unintelligently as the girl zipped away.

"Come along then, keep up or you'll miss it." Daichi took off at a jog, the group of devils casting glances between each other before following along. It took Asia all of two minutes to sniff out the stray's location, her hand shooting to her waist where a silver cylinder dangled.

"In the name of our Father, God Almighty, in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, in the name of the Holy Spirit, Yahweh, devil, I command you, present yourself before this holy warrior that I may send your soul to be judged by Him!"

Daichi looked on with an incredulous face as Asia spewed a chuuni's worst nightmare from her mouth. His face met his palm.

"You've spent way too much time with Xenovia recently."

Asia just shot him a blinding smile over her shoulder and giggled as she skipped inside the warehouse, the silver cylinder in her hand lighting up her surroundings as a blade of holy light condensed.

"Found you~!"

If Daichi didn't know her better, he'd probably be a little disturbed by how happy she sounded. A shriek echoed out of the building, Daichi and the devils entering in order to see what was happening inside. A massive Arachne styled devil was flitting around the upper catwalk of the warehouse as Asia took potshots at her with a holy pistol she pulled from… somewhere. Daichi was actively masking the peanut gallery with senjutsu so as not to distract either of the combatants.

Asia let out a small "Mouuu." Pouting as her pistol ran out of juice. The spider woman, thinking she was taking advantage of an opening, took the perceived opportunity and sprung forward, looking to bury her claws and fangs into the girl. It's to their credit that Issei, Kiba, Rias, and Akeno moved to intercede, not that Daichi would have let them, tendrils of senjutsu having long since been threaded into their essence to keep them from interfering. Shirone simply cast one glance at Daichi's lack of concern and had settled in to watch.

Not that Asia needed help.

Before the devil could even place hands on her, Asia's body began to glow with a white outline. Anyone not in the upper tiers of middle class in power or higher would have seen nothing but a white blur as Asia jumped, her body and holy lightsaber spinning rapidly as she bounced around the warehouse using the support pillars to rapidly carve several massive gouges throughout the stray devil's body before she could even hit the ground.

The stray landed heavily, tumbling against the ground as her legs gave out and sent her sprawling. Asia lightly stepped down in front of the heaving devil preparing to deliver the coup de grace. In the moment before the blade descended, the stray's face shot up, acid spraying from her mouth and in an impressive display of reflexes, Asia twisted out of the path of the majority of the acid vomit. Speckles and small splashes of acid peppered her clothing and dotted her skin on the left half of her body but all she did was give a cute growl. Using the momentum of her dodge, she spun, the blade flickering in her hand as the devil's head, neck, shoulder, and part of an arm slid from the rest of her body.

Asia gave a humph of irritation as she turned, her offhand glowing green as she passed it over the damaged skin, the small splotches were replaced as if the wounds never happened. Once she was back in tiptop shape, she skipped over to the newly revealed group, Daichi passing her his jacket as part of her clothing had been melted and left her very apparently exposed, much to a pervert's obvious guffaws of delight.

"Did I do good?" She looked up at Daichi with big green doe eyes, like a puppy begging for their favorite treat.

"Next time don't try to finish them off from the front. You should have just used the wall and sliced through her skull from behind or the side, so she didn't know which direction you were attacking from." Asia's eyes were looking a bit wet and teary, and Issei was looking like he was about to try and punch Daichi in the face. "But other than that, it was a very good job. You made her burn some energy and stamina avoiding your shots, then baited her into attacking. Your touki is coming along nicely, you had minimal waste, and ended the fight decisively. Good job." Daichi gave her a smile and patted her on the head as she grinned up at him. Daichi turned to the devil peerage.

"Asia is a bit of a special case amongst the exorcists, but she's not too far outside of the wheelhouse of the average exorcists' abilities for now. Once she has some more practice and real experience, she'll probably be hitting at about high-class level strength with just the abilities she's using now." They could hear the pride in his voice, Asia turning pink and hiding her face in his tails at the obvious praise.

"Most exorcists have some kind of holy weaponry, the more dangerous ones wielding actual holy swords, while all of them have some kind of physical enhancement and combat training that allows them to punch much higher above their weight than you would typically expect from a normal human. The spark notes version of this is to simply remember not to underestimate anyone." Daichi punctuated his statement by patting Asia on her head as she peeked through his tails. "With that, I'm going to take Asia home. I'm sure I'll speak to you all again soon. Good night."

The devils all gave various farewells, Asia giving them a bright smile and wave as the pair left through a talisman portal.

Issei stared after them for an extra moment, Kiba and Shirone noting the oddly serious look on his face.

"You alright, Issei?" Kiba asked, finally breaking the boy from his thoughts.

"Kiba." Issei stared him directly in the eyes. "That smile must be protected."

Kiba simply looked confused while Shirone gave a grunt of disgust.

"Pervert."