Chapter 9 - Calm Before the Storm

Mori locked the door to his apartment and made his way down to the streets. Street lamps were turned on and along with the light of the full moon, they illuminated the world below. Mori checked the time.

[23:45]

"15 minutes," the boy whispered to himself and slid the phone back into his pocket.

The ten days had come and gone, and today or technically tomorrow, was the day of the Rating Game. Despite not being eligible to participate as he wasn't a member of Rias's peerage, he was told by Grayfia recently that he was allowed to spectate the match in a private room somewhere, and that the silver-haired maid devil would be the one to transport him there. But first, he had to get to the clubroom as that was where everyone was going to gather before heading to the battlefield.

The boy looked both ways down the street and saw no sign of life apart from a couple of wandering cats, one hissed at him and he hissed back. He checked for people again just in case, before taking off towards the Academy at full speed.

As usual, Mori cleared the high, brick wall surrounding the school and slowed down as he approached the Old School Building. Without hesitation, he opened the doors and entered the Clubroom. He was the last one to arrive and the rest of the group was spread across the interior.

Apart from Asia who wore her old robes, the rest of the club donned their uniforms, as was suggested by Rias. Her reasoning was because as members of Kuoh Academy's Occult Research Club, their combat outfits would be the school uniform.

"Glad you could make it," Issei walked up and greeted him with a fist bump.

"Hey, it's the Club's first match," said Mori, accepting the gesture, "You guys trained hard for this and I wouldn't miss watching you all crushing that yakitori,"

"We accept your support with open arms Mori," Rias smiled as she stood up from the couch.

Just as she was about to speak again, a silver magic circle appeared next to Mori and Grayfia stepped out from within.

"The battle begins in 10 minutes, is everyone ready?" She asked with her usual stoic expression. Without saying a word the Club members who were spread out across the room gathered in a semi-circle around the maid.

"Yes, we're ready," Rias confirmed confidently.

Grayfia nodded, "When the Rating Game starts, all of you, except for Mori will be teleported to the battlefield via magic circle. The battlefield itself is located in a separate dimension where nothing resides, there you may fight with all your power without worrying about collateral damage as the battlefield can be reconstructed later,"

"Anything else?" asked Rias.

"This unofficial Rating Game will be viewed by members of both Households and close associates in separate locations through a live broadcast. This automatically includes the Maou Lucifer, do not forget that,"

Upon hearing the maid's words, Rias's face lit up in shock, "W-What? S-So...Onii-sama will be watching the battle,"

"Onii-sama?" said Mori and Issei simultaneously in confusion.

Yuuto, who was standing next to the duo and had noticed their bemused faces, immediately answered them, "The Maou Lucifer is Buchou's blood brother,"

"Wait, what!?" The duo cried in unison and looked to the crimson-haired heiress for confirmation, who simply nodded.

"Ohhh, I can feel the pressure multiplying by a hundred more times," Issei mumbled to himself as he gripped the sides of his head while staring at the floor, "Now I'm even more nervous than before. Mori help,"

"Uh, well...um," Unsure of what to do he began to lightly tap Issei's back awkwardly, "...Good luck, out there?"

Ignoring the duo's antics, Grayfia walked to a fairly spacious part of the clubroom and on the floor, a white circle started flickering to life.

"3 minutes remaining until it begins. Everyone participating please head to the teleportation circle,"

"Well, we don't want to be late for our first Game, come on," said Rias who stepped into the circle first, followed by the rest of her peerage.

"A final thing, unless knocked out or near death, the dimension will prevent you from returning to this world until the outcome of the battle," Grayfia informed.

As soon as she closed her mouth the circle began glowing a bright light as the young devils were transported to the battlefield. Mori shot the group a dual thumbs-up and an encouraging smile just as they disappeared. A second later, the light dispersed and the only ones left in the clubroom were Mori and Grayfia.

"Sooo," the azure-haired boy looked towards the silver-haired maid, "Where do I go?"

"Follow me," was her simple reply, as another white magic circle began to form between the two of them, albeit smaller than the one that transported the group.

Grayfia walked to the center of the circle and Mori stood next to her. Suddenly a flash of light filled the boy's vision and a strange tingling feeling shot through his body. That sensation and light were gone as quickly as it came, and Mori started to blink rapidly so he could regain his normal vision.

"So that's what it's like," he murmured as he rubbed his eyes. He had never traveled through magic circles before, consciously anyway.

When his sight cleared, he realized that he had no idea where he was. It was a rather large, dark, room, the same size as the clubroom if not slightly bigger, in the middle there were two long desks parallel to each other. By the tall windows at the end of the room, was a smaller but bulkier desk that looked like it belonged to the headmaster. Two rows of bookshelves lined the walls behind the two long desks. Hanging from the ceiling was a large, and expensive-looking chandelier.

"You will be viewing the Rating Game from here," said Grayfia who stood next to him, "If there isn't anything else you need then I'll take my leave,"

Mori looked around the room once again.

"Excuse me, where exactly am-," before Mori could finish the question, the silver-haired maid had already teleported away, "...Well then, this works too...I guess,"

With his curiosity taking charge, the boy strolled around the mystery room, looking and poking at whatever he found interesting. He had made his way to the tall windows and was thinking of sitting at the big desk that oozed out a sense of authority just for fun when the door to the room swung open.

Two people walked inside, and from what Mori could tell from their silhouettes, they were female.

"I see you've accustomed yourself to the place," the girl in front said. Her voice sounded a bit like Rias's, only much more stern. Even though the two girls stood in the shadows, he could see two laser purple eyes piercing into him. It felt a bit like when the Chemistry teacher glared at him for dozing off in class, not the most pleasant feeling.

'Quick Mori! Think of an excuse or something!'

He couldn't exactly say that he was teleported here by a devil maid, that would most definitely weird the two out and potentially make things worse. So he went with the next best thing his brain offered him.

"I was looking for the bathroom," Mori quickly spat out, his hands pointing in separate directions.

…

…

…

"I'm assuming that you are Dan Mori, correct?" the purple-eyed girl asked as she stepped out from the shadows revealing her bespectacled self along with her slim figure, black hair styled in a bob-cut, and a familiar-looking uniform. From behind, the second girl walked up beside her, similar to her friend she also wore glasses and had silky ebony hair, however, hers flowed down to her knees. She was also slightly taller than the first girl and had a more mature body. Mori noticed that the second girl's most interesting feature was that she was heterochromatic, her left eye being violet and her right eye was a light-brown

"Yeah, I'm Dan Mori," the boy shifted his feet slightly to be ready to either run or fight at any moment, "Do I know you?"

"You don't but Rias does, she's talked about you several times," the shorter girl told him as she slowly walked towards him with her companion by her side.

"You know Rias?"

"Yes, for 18 years now," The two girls were now standing within an arm's length of the boy, "But it's not a surprise that she hasn't introduced you, Hyoudou, and Argento to us yet, the three of you are still new to this,"

'New to this? ...That means'

"...You two are devils," said Mori.

"Correct," the purple-eyed girl adjusted her glasses, "My name is Sona Sitri, the heiress of the Sitri Household, but you may be more familiar with my other alias, the President of the Student Council, Shitori Sona,"

"Oh! You're the President!?" Mori exclaimed with a surprised look on his face, "I sure am meeting a lot of celebrities these days. By the way, did you know that your fans are kinda scary,"

"Of course, we monitor student activities through the entire academy on a daily basis, and I can safely say that your fans are even more out of control Dan-kun," Sona replied.

"Mori is fine, you don't need to be so formal with me Council Prez," Mori sheepishly waved his hands out in front of him, then his lips curved up into a playful smile, "Unless you're addressing me as 'Your Majesty' or 'My King' or something like that,"

The boy's light laughter echoed through the room but came to a quick stop when he saw that the two girls didn't look too amused and he cleared his throat in hopes to quench the awkwardness that circled them.

"So where am I exactly?" he asked.

"In the Student Council's Office, and before you ask you will be viewing the Rating Game with us from here," Sona informed, then a subtle smirk appeared on her face, "And as for addressing you as 'Your Majesty', you will have to earn and prove that you're worthy of that title, no?"

"R-Right," Mori grinned and rubbed the back of his head, 'I was just kidding though'.

"I almost forgot, this is my queen," Sona gestured to the taller girl beside her, "Please, introduce yourself,"

"Good evening Mori, my name is Tsubaki Shinra, Vice-President of the Student Council and Queen to Sona Sitri," Tsubaki greeted herself with a bow that looked way too professional and business-like, for Mori to not recuperate the gesture.

"We should take our seats, the Game is about to start," said Sona as she moved behind Mori and sat down at her desk. Tsubaki turned, drew out a chair from the long table, and sat close to Sona at the end of the table. Mori looked around unsure of where he was supposed to sit. Thankfully, the Sitri heiress noticed and gestured to the seat opposite of Tsubaki.

"Thank you," the boy quickly whispered as he made his way to his spot.

The moment his behind touched the chair, a small magic circle appeared on the floor between the parallel desks. From it, a light beamed out and spread into a large rectangular screen that displayed a countdown with the life-sized replica of Kuoh Academy in the background. On the left of the countdown timer was a portrait of Rias, and on the right was Riser's face. There were only three seconds left and Mori quickly adjusted his seat to be more comfortable.

As soon as the timer hit zero, the two portraits disappeared and were replaced by a smaller portrait of Grayfia in the top right corner. The camera started to float around the battlefield at a moderate pace, allowing the viewers who aren't students of the Academy to get a sense of the location where the two teams will be fighting.

[ Hello everyone. I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory, and will be the arbiter of this match between the Gremory Household and Phenex Household ]

"Ooh~ that's nice, they have subtitles," Mori happily pointed out. The two older girls quickly shushed him, causing the boy to throw his hood on and focus on the screen with his head resting in his hand.

[ In the name of my Master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will be keeping a careful eye during the match. By using the opinions of both Rias-sama and Riser-sama, we have constructed this battlefield which is a replica of the school, Kuoh Academy, which Rias-sama and her peerage attends in the human world ]

'Wow~ Devil Technology sure is something out of this world...wait'

[ Both teams had been transported to their base a couple of minutes prior. Rias-sama's base is the Occult Research Club's clubroom in the Old School Building. Riser-sama's base is the Student Council Office in the New School Building. For the Pawns to use Promotion, please head to the enemy's base to activate it ]

'Did she say Student Council Office? Like right here?' Mori's dark eyes flickered around the room, 'This is a bizarre feeling, it's like I can beat Riser right now...but I can't'.

[ The time for the commencement of the battle has come. The match will have a time limit of 5 hours. Contestants, Ready...Begin! ]

Along with Grayfia's announcement, the replica school bell rang at the same time, signifying the start of a long battle.

They lost.

They fought with all they had for three and a half hours, but in the end, they still lost. With her main and only offensive units, Yuuto, Koneko, and Akeno being severely injured and Issei in a near-death state, Rias forfeited. Despite everyone spending every hour awake training, the lack of manpower paired with Riser's seemingly impenetrable regeneration cost them the match.

After the match, Mori immediately left the Council room and headed back to the Old School Building. When he got there, he didn't find anyone in the Clubroom and figured out that they must've been transported to the Underworld or some other separate dimension for the healing process, after all, aside from the first-aid kit in the corner, the Clubroom wasn't equipped with any medical equipment, especially ones that are specifically made to deal with combat wounds.

His mind was balancing on a thin line between the emptiness of not knowing what to do, and scrambled with exaggerated what-if thoughts. The boy sat against the wall between two windows and gazed down at his feet.

"...Why does it feel like...that I failed them?" he whispered to himself, "I did everything I could didn't I? I mean, I helped them train for ten whole days...whenever I could anyway,"

"...Did I spend too much time training myself? Should I have focused more on helping them improve instead?" Mori started to fiddle with his shoelaces while sorting through his thoughts, "...Did I indirectly cause their defeat?"

"Or would they have lost even without my interference, just like what that maid said," Mori murmured.

The boy dug a hand into his pant's back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of black, crumpled paper. Mori unfolded it and rubbed his hands against it a few times to flatten it out. Then Mori looked down at the contents drawn on it, it was the Gremory House's magic circle.

2 Nights Ago

In a small, empty patch of grass in the middle of the woods, the azure-haired boy spun the staff around his body faster than the eye could see. With the others back in the mansion either in the bath or playing chess to strengthen their mind and bonds, Mori had snuck out and ran off into the mountains for more training. Luckily, he quickly found this tiny clearing that looked similar to the normal training meadow, only much smaller.

In the middle of an aerial attack, a short sharp burst of pain in his wrist suddenly flared up, startling and distracting Mori which caused him to abruptly drop the staff as he fell onto his back.

"Agh, seriously, again?" Mori hissed as he sat up, rolling and stretching out his hurt wrist.

Ever since the sparring session with Yuuto, his right wrist would have these quick bursts of pain at the most random times. After a week of this, he went to see Asia and she agreed to heal him, however, aside from temporarily making his hand warm and tingly, it didn't have any effect. It was strange and he couldn't really figure out the catalyst to the problem, assuming that maybe this was the recoil that Gunseng warned him about, from using one of the skills in the book that he apparently wasn't ready for.

With a couple of vigorous shakes of his hand to get the blood flowing back in, Mori stood up and used his foot to flick the staff back into his grip. It was best not to think about this too much, and the short break-time was over anyway. The boy moved to the center of the small clearing to start again.

Just as he was about to leap into the air, a silver magic circle formed on the ground. When the light dispersed, Mori recognized the person within as the silver-haired maid from the other day that somehow knew his name.

Relaxing his muscles, Mori took a couple of steps forward, "Excuse me, can I help you?"

"I believe this is the first time we've talked, Dan-kun," said Grayfia.

"Yes it is, also just Mori is okay, I don't like formalities,"

"Very well then Mori. Without wasting any more time, I'm here to tell you that the Maou Lucifer as taken a minor interest in you and has a request for you,"

"Really? Someone of that high-class?" Mori looked surprised and Grayfia nodded.

"You can thank Rias-sama for that later, she has spoken only good words about you to him,"

'Why would she do that? Is it like a Devil thing where they have to report back to their leader every week or something?' thought Mori, he then brushed off his thoughts and asked the maid, "And what was the request?"

"The Maou believes that Rias and her peerage will not be able to defeat Riser in two days," Grayfia started.

Mori broke her off with a tinge of anger in his voice, "That's impossible! They've been training extremely hard for the past eight days, and they've all grown immensely. I know that they'll be able to beat him and his team,"

Grayfia stared at Mori for what felt like an hour then began to speak again, "Perhaps that will be the case, however, there will have to be a miracle for that to happen,"

Mori was just about to retort when Grayfia handed him a slip of black paper from inside her sleeve.

"If they do end up losing, and you still want to save Rias-sama and the rest of your friends from having a mistreated life being under Riser-sama for the rest of eternity. Use this and you will be brought directly to the Maou Lucifer himself to sort out the details to prevent that from happening," informed Grayfia.

The azure-haired boy took the paper and inspected it, seeing the drawn white magic circle in the middle.

"Teleportation?...To the Underworld,"

"After the Game, you will have up to 3 days to make your decision," At Grayfia's feet the silver circle that brought her here appeared, "If you do not want to see them lose you should spend these remaining 2 days helping them to improve their abilities faster instead of training by yourself in the mountains. Good Night, Mori,"

Then she was gone. Mori gazed at the spot where she once stood, his eyes flickered back to the black pamphlet in his hand.

…

…

…

"Don't tell me what to do," he subtly growled.

He stuffed the paper into his pocket and continued training until the break of dawn.

Present

With the teleportation pamphlet in his hand, Mori slowly got to his feet.

"I don't have any other choice," he said with gritted teeth, "This is the only way to save them now,"

Nodding with determination, he clenched his fist around the pamphlet and pumped his fist into the air, yelling, "Teleport!"

…

His loud voice bounced around the walls of the clubroom like a pinball.

…

"Okay, that didn't work… How do I even use this thing?" Mori mumbled, glaring down at the pamphlet with visible confusion, "Right, let's try again,"

He cleared his throat, and pumped his fist in the air again while yelling, "Activate!"

Still, nothing happened, but the boy kept trying, using the same motion each time with different words.

"Transport!"

"Go-Go Circle!"

"Up-Up and Away Mori!"

"Shazam!"

"Magic Circle on Black Paper Activate!...Please?"

"...I don't know… Boost?!"

"Expand!"

"Kame! Hame! Haaa?!"

After a few minutes, Mori couldn't think of any more phrases or words to shout. He let out an annoyed huff and stared at the paper with narrowed eyes. Without a second thought, he poked the center of the circle.

Suddenly, his body was engulfed in a bright light and had disappeared from the Clubroom a second later.

Mori reappeared with his finger still on the pamphlet, in a long, wide, and dim hallway. The ceiling stretched to the height where one could stack two giraffes upon each other and there would still be a reasonably sized gap to touch the said ceiling.

"They can build an entire replica of Kuoh Academy in another dimension, yet the teleportation papers they make requires touch activation instead of voice?" Mori looked down judgmentally at the pamphlet in his hand, "Aren't there some new model phones that can do that?"

Stuffing the piece of paper back into his pocket, Mori walked up to the large windows lined up on the other side of the hallway. Peering out, he saw the signature purple sky of the Underworld and a full moon that looked near-identical to the one orbiting the Earth high in the atmosphere. Basking under the moonlight was a large bustling city, seemingly stretching all the way to the horizon line.

"So this is the Underworld," Mori placed both hands on the glass panel as he observed the world beneath with curious eyes.

"...I wonder what their food tastes like,"

At the end of the hallway, a tall pair of double doors slowly began to creak open. Creating a slight screeching sound and kicking up some dust as the doors scraped across the marble floor.

"Dan Mori," a deep voice poured out from behind the doors.

"Y-Yes?!" the boy yelled as his attention was shifted to the doors.

"I've been expecting you, please, come in,"

"Ok," Mori simply replied and began to trek towards the room, 'This Maou Lucifer guy sure sounds kinda scary, well I guess it's because he is Rias's older brother, so it's to be expected'.

When he reached the destination, the azure-haired boy poked his head into the dimly lit room. It was in the shape of a large semicircle with tall bookshelves against the walls. A crimson carpet lined the center with two large recliners on each side. Beyond that was a short staircase that leads to a large expensive desk with multiple piles of paper sprawled out across and behind that was a long window panel where one could gaze down at the city comfortably. Candles and a single chandelier served as the lighting.

"Hello? I'm here," said Mori as he walked in and stopped at the bottom of the staircase, " Lucifer Rias's Brother-sama?"

From behind the multiple stacked towers of paper, the boy saw a large leather chair spin around, at least the tip of it anyway.

"Welcome to the Underworld, Mori," the Maou greeted him. The boy couldn't deny that he felt a little less nervous when he heard the devil leader's true voice, being much less monstrous than what he heard only seconds ago.

"My adorable little sister has told me many things about you," he continued.

'Does he realize that those piles of paper are blocking his face?' Mori wondered, 'All I can see is half a dome of red hair'

"My name is Sirzechs Lucifer,"

"Hi I'm Dan Mori," the boy instinctively replied.

The Maou chuckled, amused at the boy's response, "I hear you're stronger than you look, Mori,"

"I'm...I'm not bad," Mori sheepishly replied.

"No need to be so humble," Sirzechs smiled behind the paper towers, "Ria told me of your physical abilities and skill in combat. Even though you're not a devil, you're stronger than most of her peerage including my sister herself. I'm interested in your potential Mori, I want to see you grow,"

"And I want to save my friends from working under Riser, isn't that why you gave me the teleporting circle?" said Mori, and added in quietly to himself, "Which also really needs to be updated with a voice activation mechanic,"

"Of course, Rias's situation takes priority at the moment," Sirzechs agreed, "Come sit, down and we'll discuss the details,"

Mori complied and took a seat on the recliner on the right, not expecting to fully sink into it.

"Now, do you know the reason why my dear sister is in this marriage arrangement?" Sirzechs asked.

"Something like, Pure-Blood population being low and you all want to bring those numbers back up," replied Mori, who was pushing himself out of the depths of the squishy seat.

"Close enough," the Maou playfully smirked, "Although I do respect this reasoning, I want Ria to be happy above all else. She belongs to the post-war generation of devils, the newest generation. Things have changed since the days of the old and will continue to do so in the years to come. This includes the idea of arranged marriages,"

Mori finally found an angle to sit comfortably and started to listen properly.

"Unlike my father and mother, I believe that they are too hasty due to seeing our race decline significantly only a few centuries ago. I understand their sentiments for rushing things as I myself fought in that war, but Rias should have her own choice in who she marries," Sirzechs explained, "However, I do not want to bring embarrassment to my family and disrespect the elders by abruptly tearing off this wedding due to what would sound like a petty reasoning to most ears, I need to do it in a way that will be widely accepted by our community,"

"Is that where that Rating Game idea between Rias and Riser came from," Mori asked.

"Exactly, in the past, the Games have been used many times as a way of bargaining and the one today was no different,"

"...But they lost," the boy pointed out, "So...am I gonna be participating in a rematch game or something?"

"No, our current system doesn't allow non-devils to participate in any form of Rating Game, be it official or not," Sirzechs stated, "But there is another… less 'legal' way but the system allows it,"

"And that's where I come in?"

The Crimson Maou nodded, "In three days there will be an engagement party, and the day after will be the wedding, but the latter will not exist if you succeed at the party,"

"So what do I do?"

"As Maou and the elder brother of the soon-to-be bride, I'm expected to show up and host something entertaining for everyone invited, and that's when you'll show up along with Hyoudou Issei,"

"Issei?" echoed Mori, "He's in this?"

"But of course, although he is currently healing from his injuries, the moment he wakes up I'll send Grayfia to inform him. His visible desire to save Rias from Riser is very noticeable even more so than yours, thus you will not be alone in this task, if that comforts you at all,"

The azure-haired boy thought for a moment and smiled before answering, "It does, even if he's not the strongest devil in all of history, I know Issei won't back down from anything until he brings Rias back to Earth. I look forward to working alongside my friend,"

"That's what I want to hear. Now, listen closely,"

Mori leaned forward and listened intently as Sirzechs explained the entire plan to him, including several what-if scenarios that could potentially happen.

3 Hours Go By ~

"Now, do you have any questions or objections?" the Devil Leader asked the boy as he slumped back into the recliner.

"No, well I can't think of any on the spot anyway," said Mori while releasing a quiet and fatigued sigh, 'I feel like I just used up my entire vocabulary list today...and now my mouth is dry'.

"Very well," Sirzechs nodded and stood up from behind the pile of papers, "Just like we discussed, I'll have someone escort you to your temporary residence until the day of the engagement party,"

The Maou walked out behind his desk and approached Mori. The boy quickly got to his feet.

'Huh, he really does look like a male version of Rias' he thought as the taller male offered him a handshake.

"Good luck to you, Mori," he said with a grin.

"I'll do my best," Mori replied as the two shook hands. "I'll see you at the party, Maou-sama,"

With that, the boy turned and walked out of the room while waving goodbye. The heavy doors closed loudly behind him. At the end of the hallway, a short blonde maid started to walk towards him, Mori presumed that she was the one to take him to wherever he was staying for the next three days. The boy stuffed his hands into his pockets as he approached her. They met halfway and after a quick introduction, Mori started to follow the maid, weaving through the many halls of the enormous castle. But his mind was still on the plan Sirzechs created that he was to take part in.

'So a Tag-Battle. A tournament style fight between the representatives of Rias Gremory: me and Issei. And the representatives of Riser Phenex: Riser himself, and someone else… I wonder who it is... Ah, I shouldn't think about it too much, I'll know on the day, for now, I'll just focus on training'

Nine fluffy golden tails swayed around gently. Dressed in a shrine maiden attire, was a beautiful, elegant young woman with long, light blonde hair that reached down to her calves, and a voluptuous figure stood in the middle of a large traditional Japanese garden. The open white coat draped over her shoulders was tied closely together by a scarlet red ribbon. Her pair of golden fox ears flickered on top of her head.

The cool breeze of a clear night in Spring blew by, rustling the leaves of both trees and plants. Yasaka, the leader of the West Youkai Faction, remained rooted to her spot on top of a small hill in her large garden behind her luxurious palace. The woman's glowing amber eyes closed temporarily as she let out a yawn. She was seemingly waiting for someone.

Suddenly she felt something piercing through the wind, interrupting the flow of the breeze, and had landed softly on the emerald grass to her left. If it wasn't for her Fox blood and the power and experience gained through decades of training and ruling, Yasaka would never have noticed the possible intruder appearing next to her.

"Yasaka-sama," the newcomer spoke in a calm but feminine voice. Her body was covered by a long gray cloak that had a white-furred hood that obscured most of her face, but from the shape of her chin and lips along with her glowing pale complexion, one could tell that the mysterious female underneath could rival the Youkai Leader in looks. Two long tufts of raven-colored hair that framed her face hung out from underneath her hood as she gave Yasaka a respectful greeting bow.

"I have returned,"

Yasaka turned to face the cloaked woman with a smile, "I'm glad you're back,"

The golden fox stepped down from her spot on the hill and stood in front of the hooded girl. She raised her hands and cupped the girl's face as she gently lifted her until she stood straight. The cloaked girl's head reached the kitsune leader's eye line.

"You don't need to keep your hood on, there's no one around at this time, and it's not like we're strangers," said Yasaka with a light giggle.

"Yes, Your Highness," the girl obeyed her order and pulled back the hood that hid her face.

The light of the full moon did nothing but enhance the girl's natural beauty. Her face was small with delicate features and her long, silky, midnight-black hair that flowed down to her waist also framed her face while several loose bangs covered the majority of her forehead. She had big golden eyes that seemed to glow in the night along with what looked to be three thin, crimson whisker marks on each cheek. The pair of black fox ears on her head was also revealed from underneath the hood. The rest of her body, however, was still covered by her gray cloak.

Yasaka gave the younger fox demon a warm smile, "After a year, I'm happy to see that you have returned safely, Ahri. Kunou will be ecstatic once she finds out, she kept nagging me about when you would be back. Aside from that, I take it that your mission was a success?"

"I'm happy to be back Yasaka-sama, and I can't wait to see the little vixen again. But as for my mission...I wouldn't call it a full success, 10% at the most and that's me being generous to myself," Ahri replied with a slightly weary smile.

"Oh?" the fox queen looked slightly surprised by this, "Please, fill me in on what had happened,"

Ahri nodded and the two Youkai began to stroll around the spacious, moonlit garden as the younger of the two explained the reason for her self-proclaimed failure in her task.

"When I left a year ago, I was so sure that I had found a lead on when and where the next Gate of the Rift would open. But it turned out, they were just fake signals created by some unknown source without a traceable origin. It feels like I ran around all of Eurasia for nothing," Ahri gave a deep sigh at the end as her ears slightly drooped. Seeing this, Yasaka placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"What about the 10%?" the fox queen asked.

"Well," Ahri began, slipping her hand underneath her cloak and pulled out her phone, "I did find something that might be of interest when I was crossing Baekdu Mountain," the raven-haired girl handed her phone to the Youkai Leader.

The blonde-woman looked down at the picture on the screen, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the photo for what felt like an hour, when finally, she turned to Ahri, "Mt. Baekdu, you said?"

Ahri nodded.

"Strange…," Yasaka put a finger on her lips as she entered pondering state, "What could possibly be there that the Grigori would want,"

The photo on Ahri's phone was of an entire squadron of around thirty Fallen Angels, hovering in a large circle above the center of the lake at the summit of Baekdu Mountain. Their arms were stretched out with an ominous green glow shining from their palms, and at the same time, a similar light was illuminating the surface of dark water below. A violently bubbling whirlpool had formed and something seemed to be emerging from the depths of the lake, something that seemed very, very heavy.

"What do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure, I only took the picture because I thought you would know. That and because I didn't want to stay long since, because, y'know at the time I was still following the...fake Gate signals, and I didn't want to risk them seeing me,"

"Well then, let's just hope it's not something that would endanger our kind," stated Yasaka and Ahri hummed an agreement. However, after seeing the photo, the Golden Fox Queen couldn't shake off the sense of ominosity towards whatever the Fallen Angels were retrieving. Even through the screen, Yasaka felt as if she could feel a dangerous and haunting aura emitting from the mysterious object.

"Come on, let's go inside," said Yasaka as she tried to ignore the feeling, "You must be tired from your travels,"

"Yes, Yasaka-sama,"

Once they were inside the palace, the Youkai Leader led Ahri through the halls, the moon was the only source of light that illuminated the windowed areas of the palace, but thanks to their genetic night-vision, navigating through the dimmed palace interior wasn't a problem.

As the two fox demons made their way through the hallways of living quarters, Ahri noticed something on the wall that wasn't there when she was last in Kyoto. It was a framed photo of the young fox princess Kunou, laughing while riding on the shoulders of a certain blue-haired boy in broad daylight within the garden they just came from.

Her steps came to a stop and the dark-haired fox-girl stared at the photo, more specifically the boy in it with an unreadable expression on her face. When Yasaka noticed the younger fox's sudden halt, she turned around and made her way to Ahri's side.

"His name is Dan Mori," said the Kitsune, "He was a patient of the Southern Neurological Hospital who got lost and somehow stumbled upon this side of Kyoto. Until the day he left, he always found time to sneak back in to play with Kunou, and she treated him like the brother she never had,"

"...Dan...Mori?" Ahri echoed, her golden orbs never leaving the framed photo.

"A cheerful boy with a good heart, despite his amnesia condition," Yaska explained, "Quite saddening that it happened to someone so young, but during his last week in Kyoto, he seemed to be making progress in regaining his memories,"

"And where is he now?"

"Transferred back to Kuoh, whether he's still there or not is unknown to me," Yasaka's amber eyes flicked towards the Gumiho, "Why the sudden interest in this year-old photograph Ahri?" A playful smirk grew on the Queen's face, "Are you jealous that my daughter replaced you?"

"What? No, it's just…," she began but then closed her mouth when she couldn't find an answer, "It's nothing...nothing at all,"

Yasaka gazed at the girl for a couple more seconds before shrugging, "Very well, you don't have to share your secrets with me,"

"I-I didn't mean to disrespect you Yasaka-sama," Ahri said with a slight panic in her voice.

Tilting her head back the Kitsune smiled warmly at the younger fox, "You don't need to worry about that Ahri. Your chambers are still the same from the day you left, well, maybe noticeably cleaner than before, now go get some rest,"

Ahri bowed her thanks as Yasaka parted ways, the head of Youkais returning to her room. The dark-haired girl continued her journey to her quarters, when she was about to turn the corner to enter a different hallway, she looked back at the photo of Mori.

"His hair and clothing might have changed but there's no denying it. I've known that face and those eyes since before he leaped through the Waterfall to become King… So you're not dead and after all these centuries you turn up here, in this world… Wukong,"

Antarctica, a vast desert of freezing-white slush and tall, snow-capped, stone mountains created from the collision of continents over the course of millions of years. The blanket of snow shined brightly as it reflected off the blinding light of the sun. Towering walls of glaciers tougher than steel surrounded the island of ice acting as the borders. The ocean around it was a deep blue and apart from the occasional splashing of waves, it was eerily calm. Ice caps larger than whole cities drifted close to the mainland while gigantic icebergs littered the waters further out.

From the sky, two figures jumped down onto the ice from the clouds. Their landing barely made a sound, it was as if they were weightless. Gunseng and another warrior monk, who wielded a trident, surveyed their surroundings. With each step, the snow beneath their feet crunched and the duo walked deeper into the vast icy desert, away from the ocean of sub-zero temperatures.

After journeying to the point where neither of them could see the waters surrounding the continent, the two monks rearranged their position to stand back-to-back and crouched down, placing a palm on the iced ground. From their palms, they simultaneously sent an invisible pulse that spread across the land within a thirty-one-mile radius. It was a technique created by the Original Shaolin Monks that was inspired by the bat's natural ability of echolocation, however, instead of using soundwaves, the monks' version was using their chi in a circular pulse that allowed them to discreetly tag any living thing within their vicinity, be it plants, animals, or supernatural creatures.

"You find anything, Gun?" the trident monk asked his companion as he stood back up.

Gunseng shook his head but stayed crouching, "Apparently there were demon energy signals here. If there were, they might've retreated already,"

The staff monk brushed his fingers across the ice, and murmured, "Why would they bother coming to the Antarctic, there's nothing here?"

"Gautama's orders remember. But it must be important if it was on such short notice," Gunseng's companion reminded him, "And last time I checked there are penguins, seals, and other species of birds,"

Gunseng sweatdropped, "Last time we were here it was because we got lost, that was was 500 years ago. Within these past decades, researchers have been coming and going, who knows how many species they've made extinct since then. Thinking about it makes my enlightened soul sad,"

The trident monk snorted when he heard the last sentence.

"But we don't need to worry about them. If they do appear and see us, then we just gotta bop them on the cranium," said Gunseng.

"Lightly,"

"Yes, lightly, we don't kill people who don't deserve it," Gunseng nodded proudly to himself and got back onto his feet.

"You just said they made the animals ext-, you know what I'm not gonna talk about this anymore," The trident monk stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, "We should get this mission done quickly, I had to miss lunch for this,"

"Agreed, I'll take the east and you go west?" Gunseng suggested.

"Screw you, I'm taking the north you go south," The trident monk replied while readying himself to take off.

"That works too, then we'll meet back up in the clouds?"

The trident monk nodded and the two warrior monks shot off the ice, and into the air. Zooming across the frozen continent, searching for anything that seemed off. After an hour, no results were made and the duo decided to leave and inform Gautama of their results.

Unbeknownst to them, under the ice caps, a black and white cetacean swam up to the surface. Its tall dorsal fin breaking through the ocean waves as it sped towards the shore. The Orca built up its speed, breaching out of the water and landing on the thick, icy plateau of the mainland. However, a second before it touched the ground, it was enveloped in a swirling, bright, blue light. Two large, smooth, black feet with four toes, that were the same size and slightly resembled the feet of an elephant, landed heavily onto the ice, sending several cracks through the area it landed along with small pieces of frozen debris to fly from the impact.

Standing nearly thirteen feet in height, was a humanoid Orca. The head still resembled its animal form although smaller, and the neck slightly longer. It grew two long bulky arms with webbed hands and four sharp-tipped fingers. The dorsal fin had shrunk and moved to the back of its thick neck. From the collarbone down to its ankles, it was wearing a silver and navy-blue set of Paladin Armor with reptilian scale patterns that slightly shone under the sunlight.

Dive bombing down from a nearby glacier was a medium-sized bird that was predominantly a coffee-brown color with white details around its torso and wings. A Skua, and just like the Orca, a swirling blue light engulfed the bird and as it landed it was replaced by a humanoid creature with a terrifying appearance. Retaining its avian head but with a much shorter beak, the creature had a slim but muscular body, the front of its torso was featherless however everywhere else was still feathered. Its feet retained the bird-like appearance, only growing in size and sprouting out sharp talons. Similar to its feet, the large, elongated hands had dangerous talons attached to four fingers, three facing the front and one pointing back. A dark scale and fur quilt was equipped around its waist.

"Did you find it?" the Skua demon asked the Orca in an icy, screeching voice.

"No," the armored Orca replied, "But His Majesty said that it was here somewhere,"

"Perhaps it has already been taken, or destroyed by the elements,"

"Unlikely, it is an object of magical origin, we just have to keep searching,"

"Krah! It has already been two days and still nothing! We should at least eat one of those humans that roam around in those vehicles," the Skua complained as its talons scraped impatiently across the ice.

"Patience. If it does not turn up by the crack of dawn the day after tomorrow. We will go back and report this to the King," the Orca told his companion, "And need I remind you, we are not to attack the humans without permission from His Majesty himself. This small change is what made our Kingdom more civilized than the others, and that is what eventually allowed us to survive unbothered all these years,"

"Fine," the Skua hissed, "My claws have been craving human blood for centuries, but all we eat now is fish and squids. Life was much better under the old ways, and deep down, you know that too,"

"It was definitely more comfortable and a more carefree time, but if His Majesty didn't progress our Kingdom's way of life, to evolve our traditions and culture to suit the time, then we would have been destroyed by the Gods," The Orca was about to continue when a low humming sound was detected, "The humans are coming, we will talk about this on a different date,"

With that, the Armored Orca dove into the freezing ocean and transformed back into his animal form. The Skua clicked his beak together in annoyance, but still shifted back into his bird form and flew up to perch on the glacier. Its eyes spotting and tracking the Antarctic Research Convoy that was close by. His talons sunk into the ice as he tried his best to maintain a level of self-control to not charge, attack, and devour the humans.

"I look forward to the inevitable day, the day His Majesty and his eight sworn brothers decide to make their return, and when that happens this world and all the realms will be plunged into an Era of Chaos. Then I can eat as many humans as I wish! And nothing will stop me!"

Chapter 9 - Finished

The title of the chapter says it all, this chapter served as the calm before the storm. I wanted to show that even though the events of the Riser are in motion (with changes of course), other things are happening at the same time across the supernatural world. Which will all lead to a bigger threat? (...Does doing this make the world feel slightly more alive?)

Witnessing the ORC losing to Riser, Mori now has to rise to action to save his friends with the help of Sirzechs. But he won't be doing it alone as Issei will be there with him in the event the Maou has prepared: A Tag Battle. Mori and Issei vs (Refer to Chp 8) and Riser. The rules and system of that match will be revealed in the next chapter.

Down in Kyoto, Ahri a Gumiho appears before Yasaka, and it looks like the duo has been friends for a while now. Ahri has been searching for the Gates of the Rift and knows of Mori's true identity. Claiming that the two of them knew each other in the time before the Monkey King became King. What was their relationship? And, what were the Grigori doing at (the mountain where Taejin found Mori)?...(If you're wondering why Mori was in Kyoto, refer to Chp2).

An Orca and Skua two-demon team has been going around Antarctica searching for something. Their King's identity remains unknown but is a member of The Nine?

Review Segment:

Dxhologram: Six Ear could potentially make his appearance later this year depending on if my schedule allows it.

Kaleidoscope's Beauty: Mori is going to learn Touki?...Was it accidentally implied somewhere? It most likely won't happen since he doesn't need it. But he will be learning...other things.

Suzululu4moe/GrayWolfDen: Reiz will have his backstory revealed in the coming chapters. So more details will be revealed then.

Oran: Reiz looks similar to Lee Chaolan from Tekken, only with his hair being more silver-blonde and spiked to the front. He's also seen normally wearing a waiter's outfit.

Jonrocksthestar: The Nine and Transcended Gods are different. The Nine has 9 members while Transcended only has 7.

Lolmang101: *They* might not be appearing just yet. But Issei will be stronger by then to the point where he might just be able to put a fight for a few minutes.

Anyway, that's all for this time. Due to a busier schedule, there might not be another chapter for a full month and a bit. But the next chapter will be the Arc Ender, so this story will be starting the year off with a bang.

That's all for Chapter 9! Once again hope you enjoyed it, leave a review, and all that good stuff.

Thank You For Reading, and Goodbye!