Guest1: I understand, everyone has their own preferences.
Hollowreaper 93: If my plan goes smoothly, all 9 realms will make an appearance :) Hahaha, yes, the last gift was best gift XD As for Irina and Volody, we will see...
xXwolfsterXx644: I hope the wait wasn't too long. :D
CaedmonCousland: I sent a full reply to your review via DM, I totally understand, never feel obligated to review, only if you want to say something :) Thank you so much for your opinion on your favorites thus far. I must admit making Kuroka and Irina unlikely friends was super fun to do with how different they are. And I totally understand what you mean, and I am honored you have been enjoying my story despite romances/paths not going a certain way. I hope to never disappoint as I continue :D
AxelLord20: Awww :D I am so glad, wholesome chapters are perhaps the funnest to me to write.
theLawbringer: Hehehehe, Dorian didn't see it coming ;)
Dragonx411: Poor Bikou lol, pining for a woman like Thrud (who wouldn't) but no chance of her looking at him the same. Indeed, I never imagined getting this far when I started back in 2018. But the fun of writing, the developing story and knowing there are people enjoying it like you make it so worthwhile to keep going. Going for 100 chapters and beyond ;)
Gan315: I sent a DM for the full reply to your review, thank you so much :D Worldbuilding is perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this story, as you said there was so much potential in canon. I would love to hear about your OC idea, helping inspire others is part of why I got into writing. You can be sure there will be much more development between the various characters. If they're going to be together full time, they'll start to learn even more of one another ;)
Famond: Ooooh, good choices for your 3. They are most certainly on my favorite canon character list as well. Indeed, Dorian cherishes Rossweisse, that true love between them was an aspect I hoped to get right in this story. Thank you :)
OBSERVER01: Exactly, they don't know HOW she came back but they now know the nightmares are from an actual place. Since the world is still intact, the future is the most plausible explanation. And thank you! I've been wanting to get to Vanaheim for quite some time. The party was the perfect place for some good old fashioned reunions. No matter where we go in life, those who were with us before will still be there :D
Uday Sra: Thank you!
TheHiddenLettuce: Exactly, Dorian never seeks a harem. Considering how normal he was raised, a single love was all he looked for which is why learning about Thrud was new to him. I know exactly what you mean. Imo there is nothing inherently wrong with a harem by anime logic...but only if you make time and development for each girl to explain not only why they love him but why they don't mind sharing. Imo, DxD barely answered the first question and never touches on the second since being now in double digits there just isn't enough time. Canon put in far too many with Issei by the latest Shin volume.
TheLycan2026: I am so glad you enjoyed it :D It makes me glad I brought Despoina back in some capacity with her being part of your favorite pairing. And if Zepar is your favorite, I had another artwork of him on a volume cover made if you haven't seen it yet on Deviantart.
fanficcyberman: Thank you on his behalf for the birthday wishes :D Precisely, Freyja and he are basically family already and they are a treat to write for. And Issei helped to give those women of Diodora's peerage a place to call home. It truly means a lot that you have been enjoying the flow all this time for the characters, I know I've probably said this before, but no reason to ever stop developing even in the downtime portions. We are in complete agreement on favorite male canon character...Sairaorg is just so darn charismatic lol. I have been doing very well, thank you for the well wishes and I hope the same is true for you ;)
WinterRuneWolf: Lots of good choices :D Sorry that Hecuba never really took to Dorian XD It's so tempting to want to go full out of control harem XD I am so glad you got caught up, never any rush to read though ;) I hate to break it to you, but the kiss is what they had planned...until Dorian is back to his normal age, they don't want to get into anything too...physical...
gskama131: Thank you very much! Well...I can't answer that directly, that is a pretty big spoiler for later. I will say that Iggy saw more than she remembers before she bonded with Dorian and that put a subconscious fear in her. I hope you have a wonderful day too! :D
therealsonofposeidon: Depending on my work and life schedule, I try to update every 2-3 weeks. I hope the wait isn't too long :) It means so much you've been enjoying it so much!
J0ker981: Not quite yet lol, the kiss was all for now. Until he gets back to his normal age they are hesitant to do anything like that...but when he's all better...
Spectrvs: Good Afternoon! I hope you have been doing well :D As usual, I sent a full reply to your review via PM. As for your questions...oh god...I never imagined what kind of drunk Seekvaira would be lol. I'd hope she can hold her liquor, or maybe just hide it and she is more robust when drunk XD In regards to Migdalia, I will say she won't be on Dorian's team. Rather, there is a certain peerage group with a missing Bishop slot who will give her a good home in the Underworld she's grown attached to. Fun fact about the Excaliburs, in canon they have merged all 7 together as of Vol. 19...but it's Xenovia who has it. It felt a little greedy to give her Durandal AND Excalibur so felt Irina was a more fitting candidate. As always, I am so glad you are liking the path of the story, all the manly hugs :D
And with that...ONTO THE SHOW!
"You didn't have to come with me," Rossweisse asserted as she and Dorian stood before the gates to a set of doors familiar to her. The pair were adorned in their Crossroad uniforms, Dorian's green undershirt meshing surprisingly well with her silver. "I intended to come alone."
"I wanted to, you never mention them," he squeezed her hand a little tighter to show his determination. "You said your grandmother raised you and they were always busy, but not much else."
"She did. My parents were often working in service of Vanaheim or Asgard on one mission or another. They had little time to raise me, so I was sent to granny in the countryside. I only saw them a half dozen times at most growing up. The last time was the day I was appointed as Odin's bodyguard. They were able to stop by for a few minutes."
"And these trials of theirs, is there any reason they wouldn't allow them?"
"Only if they felt I wasn't worthy," the crux of her uncertainty came to light. Dorian couldn't imagine her worry that after these years they may not consider her even worthy to attempt it. "I told you how years ago I failed them, my cousin taking the family head title. It was because I couldn't master the abilities my family was known for. Spirit magic."
"Spirit?" Dorian had heard the word but not looked into it any. "Is it so different from other schools?"
"Considerably," she admitted as the gate opened silently allowing entrance. "I just could never synchronize with the spiritual energies. Speaking with the dead, seeing into the future, but I mastered the offensive magics of seals better than any of them, even granny."
They never blamed her for not tapping into their family specialty but were disappointed. He read the situation. So, she wanted to face them alone. Dorian and the others had been fitting costumes for the new High King series and script reading when he noticed how nervous she was acting. She tried to slip out, but he confronted her. They could not lie to one another, she told him everything. After some convincing, she finally agreed to let him accompany her.
"What can I do to help? Do they know about us?"
"Just be here," she kissed his cheek gently. "I am sure granny kept them apprised of our…" she paused, her face reddening as she strove to think how to word it, "…progress. But I have not told her everything." Dorian sighed in relief; they didn't know about Kyoto. Despite the steamy birthday gift, she and Thrud had gone no further that night with all agreeing such things should wait until he was full healed to his own age. "I'll need their approval, but it will be nice to see them again."
The manor loomed in front of them as they approached the front doors, still not a person in sight. The building was large but dwarfed by the Gremory castle they had seen before. It was just what he expected from Rossweisse's family; large enough to denote their higher position, but small enough to be more practical. No wasted space. Before they could even ring the doorbell or use the impressively ornate knockers, it swung open to reveal a blue-haired woman in an official suit akin to others Dorian had seen and worn by Rossweisse herself in service to Asgard. She bowed politely without her stoic expression wavering for even a moment.
"The Lord and Lady of the house welcome you. Upon hearing your coming, they were able to set aside several hours to dine and speak with you today. More time than they have used for personal business in the last month."
They are workaholics! And to be so official and professional even with their own daughter.
"Thank you, Kana," Rossweisse bowed equally as serious. "I am honored they could take such time. How have you faired; you look like you've hardly aged a day since I was a little girl."
"You are too kind miss," she beckoned them inside. "And this is the young man your esteemed Grandmother spoke so highly of?" She looked Dorian up and down with all the scrutiny of a job interview. "The Lord and Lady are QUITE interested in meeting you in person."
Underworld Conference…
There are so many people, Kiba scanned the room full of reporters. With the final match of the Young Devils coming to a head, a press conference had been called to interview both sides. It makes sense, the other matches weren't as huge, even Diodora's had half as many.
Camera's flashed and voices overlapped trying to vie for the first up to ask questions. Above their heads, a huge curtain had been prepared with the words 'Sairaorg Bael vs Rias Gremory.' Issei had a place of honor at Rias' left, Akeno on her right. Kiba did not mind and understood, they were arranged to gather attention and with the recent popularity of the Oppai Dragon along with their recent victories, they wanted Issei at the forefront. Sairaorg had arrayed his team similarly with his Queen to his right and surprisingly Hikari to his left. The young woman shuffled a little, nervously muttering seemingly to no one.
He looks quite serious, the confident expression emanating from the Bael heir could be felt across the room. Even with how uncomfortable Issei looked, it was evident he could sense it too. To him, even this conference was a battle.
"Is this what it feels like to be the center of attention?" Gasper muttered to the knight's side. "Everyone is looking."
"It's not much longer," Kiba assured him. "They seem more occupied with the others anyway."
"Not everyone," Gasper motioned out towards the crowd. In the far back, to their surprise a group of young women were clearly disinterested as Sairaorg and Rias discussed their aspirations for the fight and were wholly focused on the two blondes. They giggled and glanced away upon realizing they were noticed. The old Gasper would have hidden, tried to get out of their gaze. Instead, while still looking uncomfortable, he only muttered in embarrassment but held his ground. Even Issei noticed it across the way and couldn't have been prouder of his underclassman.
"Do you feel as a fallen angel you may give your team an advantage in the match to come?" A reporter asked next. "Your powers are especially strong against our people!"
"I am a devil too," Akeno answered with all the grace and maturity expected. "I will do all I can to win this coming match but hardly think my abilities would ensure a victory on their own."
"So humble," many of the younger men in the audience audibly sighed before moving on. The hosts continued with basic information on the match, revealing it would take place within the floating city of the Agares family with considerable Rating Game options and venues. Rias and Sairaorg both gave their opinions on their odds, each one expectedly determined to win. The loyalty of Sairaorg's team was inspired, each one hailing from a different house thought to be extinct from the 72 pillars; Sabnock, Andrealphus, Crocell, Furcas, Buné and Balam. Only his two Pawns and Queen stood as exceptions, the Bael heir willing to take exceptional talent wherever it was found. Oddly enough, his second Pawn, a young man named Regulus, was nowhere to be seen. "Ms. Hikari! You only recently joined Lord Bael, do you feel your skills are up to such a level of competition?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" The dark-haired girl half slammed her hand down. "I've trained just as hard as the rest. Just you watch, I'll eliminate at least two of them, maybe the cute Rook."
Koneko perked up as the young woman's eyes met hers, the Pawn's cheeks growing flushed realizing what she had just said before quickly taking a seat.
"Your doubts are unfounded," Sairaorg stood in defense of his friend. "Her talents are superb and more than a match in such a contest." Hikari looked as if she were about to shed a tear at his words.
"For the Rook in the back, how…?" The announcer paused as he realized Honda was sitting up straight without a head, the details of how he could ask a question only then hitting him. "H-how has your time been among the Gremorys as the first devil-Dullahan?"
Honda cupped empty air where their chin would have been as if deep in thought. After several seconds its hands started to move fast making use of the sign language it had been trying to master. Issei couldn't understand it yet, still wrapping his head around the method of communication, but it was clear that many in the room did. Even the host removed their glasses to shed a single tear, Issei and Kiba sharing a mutual head tilt, uncertain what was said.
"That was…a beautiful sentiment," the host finally addressed at last. The questions continued down the line to all of Sairaorg's team, finally reaching Rias' with many more asked of the woman and Kiba who were quite popular with the opposite sex. Even Gasper was called out on if he had improved since being unsealed. Catherine was nervous but looked to her friends for support as she spoke of how she cherished her new team and the old, her dedication unwavering to Rias despite her time with Diodora.
At last, their gaze fell upon the shoulders of her own Pawn, Issei. The young Red Dragon Emperor had spent much of the conference hastily drying the sweat from his hands focused on not embarrassing Rias. It was painfully obvious to everyone who knew him he was utterly focused on keeping his face straight and body in check, his arms locked at his side sitting up straight as a board. He turned his fair share of heads just like his allies.
"Mr. Issei Hyoudou, aka the Oppai Dragon. Your popularity in the Underworld has soared in the recent weeks, you unlocked great power at the gathering some time back by poking Rias Gremory's breasts as you do on the show. Will you do so in this situation as well?"
Having expected relatively normal questions like the others, the Red Dragon Emperor's brain promptly crashed.
"Th-that was just to unlock it," he did his best to hide the fact he was currently imagining having to poke her breasts again in front of the massive audience sure to be watching. "I can still…"
"However!" The reporter interrupted to continue his question. "We received information that you recently grew far stronger without Lady Gremory nearby. Our viewers must know, will you be stronger fighting at her side or from afar?"
"At her side!" He shouted quickly while carefully trying to prevent himself calling her 'President' on reflex. "Even when not around, she inspires me. She wasn't there when I powered up the second time, but she was in my mind and heart!" Through his words, Rias had somehow found an unheard of middle ground between appreciation and embarrassment.
"And your hands?" The host pushed harder as if trying to draw the premise of the Oppai Dragon show to the forefront. "What image did you see of Lady Gremory in your mind?"
"I-I…" Issei fumbled for words again at the uncomfortable string of questions.
"Lady Gremory, will you be allowing your Pawn to hold your breasts during the fight to assure victory?" It was Rias' turn to turn the color of her hair, hands rising to cover her face in a futile attempt to escape reality.
"I-I don't know"! She blurted out, Akeno barely able to contain her laughter to the side along with others in the room starting to snicker.
"It did unleash your Balance Breaker," Sairaorg suddenly added looking as if he were taking the questions with utter seriousness. "If such a power can be tapped into, it would make us unstoppable. Kuisha!" He turned to the blonde Queen at his side. "Perhaps we shall test this method in the fight to come should it prove fruitful."
"Y-yes Lord Sairaorg," Kuisha Abaddon agreed to his ridiculous statement far too readily with a soft smile on her face. "If you believe it is best, my body is at your service."
"Hey!" Issei found his voice as he challenged the Bael heir head on. "You can't go using someone else's technique! That one is mine, go find your own!"
"Issei!" Rias tried to reign in his outburst, but Sairaorg continued to counter, the reporters eating up the back and forth they were clearly hoping for.
"Do you fear I will surpass your skill at it?"
"My Lord can use whatever he wants to win," Hikari joined in, pointing towards the Gremory Team.
"Ara, perhaps he has other intentions to attempt the same technique as our Issei?" Even Akeno joined in to tease her foes, Honda furiously signing in its own form of argument as Sairaorg's team leapt to defend their King's honor. Issei had become quite bold firing back at the hulking devil who could only laugh confidently at the idea.
Well, Kiba smiled awkwardly as the camera shutters continued to click. It seems our competition started before we could even reach the match. If this is a prelude, this truly will be a Rating Game match for the ages.
Vanaheim family estate…
"It is so agreeable to see you again Rossweisse," the silver-haired woman sitting at the head of the table beside her husband commented. "How many years has it been?"
"Indeed," the man with a grizzled brown beard agreed. "We had heard you were visiting but could not get away, imagine our delight at your invitation. Surely your new schedule would be as hectic as ours."
"We had some free time between shoots," Rossweisse spoke to them with a proper tone while simultaneously cutting a slice of the ham in front of her. "We were able to streamline our schedules and make an opening."
Are these parents or bosses? Dorian sat awkwardly beside her picking at the assortment before him. The platter was very generous with helpings of meat and various vegetables. Wine had also been provided which he and Rossweisse abstained from in place of some simple tea. Her mother seemed quite fond of the drink while her father had a small glass of it in front of him he had yet to touch the whole meal. The food was not the oddity but rather the unnaturally professional atmosphere between Rossweisse and her parents.
The pair had already been seated upon their entering, only standing to introduce themselves before sitting again. The woman, Rossweisse's mother, had introduced herself as Helmwige and the family resemblance between herself, Rossweisse and Göndul made it apparent she was the daughter of the elder magician. Her silver hair shone with all the radiance that Rossweisse's did everyday though was tied into a single enormous braid that trailed down her back seemingly made of smaller loops the entire way. Her skin was flawless as expected with a tone slightly paler than her daughter. The greatest difference between them was her eyes, a deep green that stood out like gemstones.
Her father, a strongly built warrior named Hengst, on the other hand could barely have been believed to be related to her. He had dark brown hair with a matching beard, skin tanner as if he'd been out in the sun many times during his youth and chiseled features which made him a fine specimen of Nordic masculinity. The sole attribute which could not be mistaken for anything but Rossweisse's were his eyes, the same aqua blue orbs that the silver Valkyrie looked at Dorian every day with were held by him as well. Clearly, they were his greatest contribution towards his daughter's appearance.
"Let me open discussions," Rossweisse had advised him. "I know how they think, granny taught me that much of them at least." Dorian agreed, remaining silent since entering and was starting to worry as normally he'd imagine wanting to meet your child's beloved would be a priority of conversation among family. The silence leading up to the end of the meal was agonizing.
"Mother, father," Rossweisse dabbed her lips at long last. "I am afraid my desire to come here is not wholly for a reunion or just to meet Dorian. I have resolved to attempt to take our family trials again so that I may obtain the crests and powers that accompany them."
"I see," she folded her hands over the table as the maid took their plates away. "You do realize you cannot seek to claim the family title again? Your cousin continues our family name off in Valhalla."
"I am aware my time has passed, but I have realized in recent weeks that my powers are insufficient against the foes we face," her brow furrowed as she recalled Forcas' strength, her poisoning from Kuroka and savage beating of Heracles. Her skills hadn't been enough, with the extra abilities reserved for the most skilled of her family, she could expand her knowledge further. To Dorian's shock, she told these events to them in great detail, her honesty absolute in the face of her parents. "I am..." she paused while glancing at Dorian, "...happier than I have ever been with the Crossroads and want to do everything I can to help. I can't fall behind. How else will I be able to work with Dorian to teach the next generation of Valkyries from other myths?"
"And that brings us to young Dorian," Helmwige and Hengst focused now wholly on the young Einherjar. "We have of course heard of your interest in Rossweisse from mother but would like to hear it for ourselves. What are your aspirations, your plans for the future and why you feel you would be a suitable husband?"
Is this a family introduction or a job interview?
"Rossweisse is more important to me than anything," he started strong, adjusting his uniform slightly to straighten it. "When I was brought back, I didn't really have a plan. I just wanted to serve Lady Freyja for all she and Lord Odin did for me, but after Olympus that changed."
"Yes," her father pulled out a thick document that Dorian had no idea where he could have been hiding it. "You were appointed the leader of the Crossroads with VERY little previous experience. I hardly think…"
"I was made leader as a symbol, not based on experience," he interrupted quickly, taking a last sip of his tea before laying down the cup. "My gear can use the powers of many myths working as one, that is what the Crossroads embody. I understood, but didn't want to be an ineffectual leader just for looks. I have been studying since then, but did not consider needing to bring a resume' to visit the parents of the woman I love."
A silence settled over them as the father slowly put away the stack of papers, subtly nudging his wine glass a little closer.
"Very well, this is hardly the place. Before we answer Rossweisse's request, however, I would know more of this group she fights so passionately for. More specifically, you. You are currently majoring in education, but you must admit that working as a schoolteacher would be a rather considerable waste of your abilities."
How did they know Dorian wanted to be a teacher? Have they been watching us? Rossweisse had always believed her parents were too busy to look in on any aspect of her life. To see them having been knowledgeable of such recent events made her chest feel a little warmer.
"Not necessarily, it could still give skills that can help me later," Dorian admitted freely. "But there is more than one way to teach others than in a classroom. I can do that from the Crossroads, Rossweisse teaching other groups how to train their own Valkyries and expand their knowledge. Why, even Sona Sitri offered at me a place a school she is forming."
"That is all well and good," her mother swirled her drink while leaning closer with a slowly growing coy expression. "But the true question of the day is, do you love her?"
"I do," he said with iron resolution in an instant. "I have told her, and I mean it. I've known that for a long time," he gripped her hand under the table, a flush growing on her cheeks she tried to hide, but the smile of joy made that impossible.
"Well then," her father smiled, leaning back away from his wine glass. "That settles that, it means more than I can express that your feelings are genuine and not more basic urges. From the time she was little, it seemed that only Thrud spent any amount of time with her from what Göndul told us. Eat up Dorian Held, you passed." The Einherjar sighed with relief, only then risking another bite of food. Her father's stern expressions having softened with his honest pronouncement towards Rossweisse.
"I won't disappoint you sir," he continued. "I can certainly see why the two would be inseparable, they are amazing women."
"Best watch complimenting other women," her mother teased. "Lest we get worried you may fancy her too."
"But I do love her." Only a clack of metal from Rossweisse and her father both dropping a utensil simultaneously shattered the silence that followed.
WHAT DID I JUST SAY? WHY DID I SAY THAT?
"Could you…repeat that again?" Hengst leaned forward towards his cup once more. "You love who?"
"I love Rossweisse sir," Dorian tried to hold back his words, but something forced him to keep speaking despite the look of sheer horror that the silver Valkyrie was giving him. "But I love Thrud as well, I didn't realize it until recently and she confessed to me in Kyoto. I…"
Dorian leapt to his feet, a detection seal forming in his hands as he realized immediately what was going on. The readings led him right to the very meal he had been enjoying.
I am being compelled to speak without lying! This is… He seized the empty teacup at his seat, flipping it upside down to reveal a glowing rune that forced the target to speak truthfully for the duration. It was a powerful one, he had spoken so truthfully about Rossweisse at first that he hadn't realized its presence until actively trying to withhold information or lie.
"This wasn't an interview, it was an interrogation," Dorian accused, his every thought now bubbling to the surface he had to say against his will.
"Well, we couldn't very well trust the man who is with our daughter just on his word," Helmwige tutted. "You were doing quite well until that last part. Harems are rare, though not unheard of among our people. Lord Vidar for example. Unfortunately for you, my dear husband has always been the tradiitonalist. He is normally quite the cordial one, unless he samples a taste of alcohol of course."
"…What?"
"Mr. Held," Hengst picked up his cup of wine with a twitch of his eye, a raised hand preventing Rossweisse from objecting to their plan. "I will ask you one more, and ONLY one more question to decide your fate considering you are trying to besmirch my daughter's name with talk of this harem…"
"I'm not seeking a harem!" He was still able to shout albeit to deaf ears.
"…but you WILL tell me," he downed the glass of wine in a single gulp. "Have you, or have you not, already been intimate with our daughter?"
All the blood drained from Dorian's face, his hands already shaking from his vain attempts to resist the power of the magic coursing through his body. He looked to Rossweisse who appeared equally baffled on how to handle the situation. As he felt his mouth opening, the Einherjar of the Crossroads gave in to inevitability, the words starting to come just a little less forced.
"Well sir, you see what happened was…"
High King Set…
"These are quite well made," Hecuba complimented as she clacked wooden swords with Irina. Despite not desiring to take part in the series itself, she was more than comfortable checking the safety and effectiveness of the prop weapons provided. Irina was maneuvering surprisingly well considering she was wearing a fur-shouldered blue gown provided while she narrated the scenes.
"Can't I change first?" The young angel asked as she blocked while hopping over her own skirt. "This is not proper fighting attire!"
"An opponent can attack at any time," Hecuba educated as she swung again. "You must be ready for all contingencies. Now jump!" The two continued their dance while the stage crew watched on with glee taking bets on the potential winner.
"Aww, and here I zought to vind Dorian," Irina turned after parrying an especially complex flourish. Volody emerged from behind the curtain with a small blonde woman, Le Fay Pendragon, accompanying him. The pair stopped their spar, not having known members of Vali's team were present.
"He's at Rossweisse's family home and won't be back until first shoots tonight. Don't tell me you are in this too."
"No, no," he held his hands up. "I have no dezire to act onstage. Mistress Le Vay on the other hand…"
"Is that one of their props?" Her eyes showed a bit of the glimmer they had back in Kyoto. "I can't believe Mr. Vali was able to arrange for us to stay here. There were still tickets left for the first High King episode! But I too was hoping to speak with him."
"And if he is not here," the third newcomer approaching offered. "I would be more than happy to 'test' these props to pass the time."
"Vali," Hecuba gripped her sword a little tighter while nodding politely at the approaching challenge. There was just something in the way he stared at her that made the young Spartan more anxious. Irina was quick to pass her wooden sword to him, the White Dragon Emperor swinging it several times to get a feel for the weight. "I never did thank you for the help against Fenrir."
"But you still don't trust me," he deduced as he made his first swing which Hecuba easily deflected. "I wouldn't either, though I don't regret fighting against your people before. I saw you even then, a normal human battling amid the rest."
"Not exactly that normal," Hecuba pirouetted around his counterattack, clashing with him briefly. "I am sure you know my family heritage."
"The Norse gods could barely stop talking about all of you, if the goddess Freyja gave one more bit of praise to the Einherjar it may have turned my stomach. And you remain fighting despite your limits. It is either admirable or stupid."
"They seem to be angry at each other," Le Fay muttered from across the room as Hecuba and Vali's back and forth became more heated. "Should we be worried?"
"Vali iz alvays angry," Volody sighed, his gaze glancing over to Irina. "Have you…ever…?"
"Ever what?" Irina looked at him quizzically, not quite certain what he was getting at.
"Have you ever walked ze roads? Ze roads your Einherjar constructz?"
"He doesn't construct them, it is an entirely different realm alongside ours," Irina explained. "And yes, they are stunning, a forgotten world that took part in creating ours. If there was more time, I could spend ages there."
"You owe me a coke," Le Fay smiled cheerily as Volody grumbled, handing her a wad of money. "I knew that something to traverse the world couldn't be manufactured as needed. Did you look over the magical composition of the air?"
"Um…" Irina backed up as Volody and Le Fay advanced, the mages no longer paying attention to Hecuba and Vali's escalating spar.
"Or ze ecosystem," Volody was next to generate questions. "I heard zis vas where Odin learned to master runez. What other magics are found vithin?"
"No, no and I don't know!" Irina blurted out, forcing the two to step back. "Dorian is the one who goes there most often, I've only seen it when passing through. You will need to ask him."
"Oh, we will," Le Fay spun with a cool hum. "There is so much more to learn, five years may not be enough."
"Five years?" Irina tilted her head, their vague assertions starting to grate even on her saintly patience.
"The standard length of time for a contract," the Pendragon girl explained further. "It's quite simple, in order for a magician to learn more or gain prestige they will make a contract with someone. Like a business deal, the mage will teach the one they form the pact with while that person does something in return. It's a pretty common occurrence, devils especially will jump at the chance to learn something and in return provide the mage with power, wealth, whatever they are seeking."
"And ve zertainly have zat in spades," Volody agreed. "Mr. Held'z Roads Between Realms are an unknown any mage vould zell their zoul for a chance to study."
"And don't forget the Oppai Dr…I mean Issei Hyoudou!" Le Fay covered her tracks. "One of the Heavenly Dragons! Just imagine what we could learn from his powers, Vali too, but he wasn't very interested. If only we could contract with more than one at a time."
They are so interested, Irina sweat dropped a little. Their team used to be in the Khaos Brigade, but they did help us before, Volody especially…
"I don't think Dorian ever mentioned looking for Contract Mages," Irina gazed up in thought. "If you want to ask, I don't see why there'd be a problem."
"Skill isn't enough!" Vali's rising voice broke up their conversation. "Relying on that alone will get you nowhere."
Back across the room, the spectators could not help but notice the White Dragon Emperor had the young Spartan on the ropes. She could parry, riposte, and dodge his attacks but it was clear she was tiring. Even without his Sacred Gear, Vali had the stamina and strength of a devil and dragon. Hecuba was coming up short.
"Strength is a boon," Hecuba gasped slightly as she brushed sweat-soaked hair from her eyes. "But the lack of it in overwhelming quantity does not disqualify one from combat."
"Is that what you told yourself when Cao Cao dominated your fight in Kyoto?" Hecuba's next blow was faster, coming closer than ever before to striking him across the face.
"I'm already better than I was then," she assured him. "I am improving every day, training with the others much as I imagine you are. That will never stop." Le Fay blinked, swearing for a moment she thought she saw a smirk on Vali's face.
"Admirable," he pressed forward with his strength driving Hecuba back and to a knee as exhaustion got the better of her. "But not enough!" He moved to follow-through with the blow, Volody stepping forward to stress restraint, but it was not necessary.
A loud crack and pop of wood forced those watching to cover their ears, rubbing them to work the ringing out of their heads. Vali staggered backwards into a wall behind him as Hecuba was up in his face, the shattered remains of her wooden sword pressed to his throat. It took a moment for the spectators to realize what happened. Just as the White Dragon Emperor had moved to strike with an overwhelming blow, Hecuba tilted her sword to catch the weapon at its weakest point, her position of leverage causing the wood to splinter and shatter knocking the young man off balance from his own power. Her weapon had been mangled in the exchange, leaving naught but a jagged hilt. Even so, it was all she needed to get in his face, the two able to feel heat from the other's breath on their skin.
"Strength and skill," Hecuba huffed out of breath. "Rely on one and the other will claim you." Leaning back, she held out a hand to help Vali off the wall, though it was not necessary. "Thank you for the test, clearly these are in need of reinforcement," they held up their respective mock weapons, utterly destroyed.
"Had this been anything but a wooden sword, you couldn't have done that," Vali pointed out, his stoic pride only slightly marred by the setback. "If I used my Sacred Gear, this would be over in an instant."
"I know," she admitted, wiping away the sweat from her face, the light fixtures above catching her features in such a way she could have been mistaken for a model. "But each situation differs from one to the next. One fight can be a certain defeat, the other a distant victory. I don't know how, but I will defeat Cao Cao next we fight. Trust that."
To find that opportune moment, that moment that I can prove my resolve.
"I-I almost do," Vali looked away with a humph acting as if he'd not seen that glistening side of her. Despite the destruction of his sword, he was unharmed and standing strong, the fight barely taking a toll on his body. "If you had a strong teacher…"
"GUYS!" The shrill voice of worry from Ratatoskr broke up the moment as the squirrel crashed between them. "Stop undressing each other with your swords and get over here! We got a BIG PROBLEM!"
"Rat?" Hecuba tried to ignore his insinuations. "What's wrong?"
"No time! Get Bennia to make us some portals. Boss man may have let his tongue roam a bit more than usual and is in WAY over his head!"
Hyoudou Residence…
"How could I get so out of hand?" Issei sighed from the giant bath located within the basement of the upgraded Hyoudou mansion. He was so embarrassed after the conference that he had jumped into the water as soon as he got back hoping to improve his mood. The second-year student looked so alone in the room big enough for twenty people at least. "We almost came to blows right there over poking breasts, what will the newspapers say?"
The renovation had led to many changes including the extreme enhancing of the bathrooms. There was another smaller one on the first floor which had become exclusive to his parents. For obvious reasons, it was decided that separating the one used by the students and adults was a good idea. A divider had been set up due to the inclusion of Kiba and Gasper among the residents of Issei's home. It wasn't enough, Issei seldom able to get the image out of his head of all the girls bathing at the same time in the pool, possibly washing each other. Even with his thoughts falling back on what made him smile, he couldn't get the anticipation for the coming match out of his head.
A fight with our dreams on the line, of course I can't calm down! Maybe the sauna will help.
Getting out of the soothing water, he slipped a towel on and closed himself within the sauna next door. Letting the sweat just drip from his body was helping, but only a little. The Red Dragon Emperor was so relaxed thinking of the cold drink that awaited him afterwards that he didn't hear the door open once more behind him shortly after he finally started to calm down.
"I thought you might be in here Issei."
"P-P-P-P-Pr-" Issei couldn't finish his sentence as he realized Rias had entered the sauna. Unlike himself, she was completely naked not even having brought a towel in with her. She approached with a boldness he hadn't expected without even trying to hide herself in the slightest. "Um, I was just finishing!" He scrambled to cover himself and hide his excitement at her arrival as he went to leave, her hand seizing his and halting the retreat.
"I don't mind Issei, stay with me for a bit, please."
I can stay and look at you all I want? Oh, thank you! Issei sat next to her praying to any deity that could hear, the two looking at one another as his eyes wandered all over her body. He had seen her naked before, but never so openly, his love of breasts pushing the imagination to new levels of what could happen next. Did she just take a bath too? It can't be all from the sauna how her hair clings to her. She's crossing her legs? How seductive can she be? Her breasts are so alluring, I could stare all day. If I were braver, I would go further!
"Just the two of us," Rias leaned towards him, pressing her chest out a little further with purpose. "Perhaps you can be a bit more honest this way?"
"H-honest?" Issei's brain was frying as he looked at her taking in all she was, he didn't know what she was referring to, the Gremory heiress being more than willing to elaborate.
"Mother's question, your dream of a harem against just looking at me. Only me."
"Only…you?" Issei swallowed hard as she drew closer. "B-but I am your Pawn."
"You are my Issei," she corrected. "The only man who'd I'd let push me down in this very room if you wanted. You who are so familiar with my body and I yours. How many nights have we shared together already?"
She always teases me, we've even kissed many times, Issei frantically sought to understand the situation. But this is different, she seems so passionate, she's never looked so alluring while doing it! Does she want an answer this bad, but my dream of a harem in exchange for the President?
"Your body is the best," he blurted out, it was the absolute truth and one statement he could say without thinking. With a smile of perceived victory, Rias raised his hand, placing it over her sweat-soaked breast. The sensation of her nipple pressing into his palms was unmistakable, causing his jaw to drop open with no hope of closing it.
"If that is your final answer, then come Issei, do what you will right here. "What am I to your dream? Your desire for a…"
"You are part of it!" Issei shouted at the top of his lungs at last, startling her out of her sultry tone. "You told me how wonderful the devil world was allowing that sort of thing! I made that my dream to be a high-class devil and make all the women of my peerage my harem, but I want that to include you Pres!" Rias looked at him shocked by his words, his resolve holding through her best efforts with a determination behind his eyes she saw only when he was being himself in the face of adversity or battle. "If you don't want to be part of it, that would break my heart!"
"Why?" She asked, her voice holding back trembling lips. "You can have me like this, every day, but instead you want more women even ones you haven't met. Why?"
"All the breasts. To be surrounded by as many as I can get my hands on!" His mind returned to that old man who had told him such stories of their beauty when he was little. "With so many…"
"Tell me honestly." She didn't order it, knowing there was more than what he was saying but Issei could never lie to her. Slowly, he started to tell something he hadn't thought on in years. "Please."
"I…wasn't my parent's first attempt at having kids," he explained at last fumbling for the right words. "Twice before things just...didn't work out. I heard them talking about it sometimes when they thought I couldn't hear, dad prayed to the gods and everything when she had me, and I made it. Anytime they bring it up they look so sad, but then so happy."
Rias' turmoil at his choice started to subside as he continued. It was clear he wasn't wholly able to bring his point across and may not fully understand it himself, but it was becoming clearer all the same.
"If they were so happy that I survived," he tried to articulate, "just imagine how happy she would have been if the others had too. With a harem, not only could I have more breasts than I know what to do with but maybe, just maybe I could make all my wives happy with the biggest family! Mom could have as many grandkids as she could handle to love, dad too."
He wants to be loved, loved more than anyone has before. Rias started to realize, easing up on her cold demanding stare. And I wanted to make him choose me over all that. No wonder Raynare's actions shook him so, she was his first taste of that wish coming true. And what she did to him…
"Issei," she pushed herself against him, their bodies pressing together, her hair cascading across his shoulder and back. "Is that your answer?"
"Yes," he could not resist wrapping his free hand around her, gripping her waist to hold her comfortingly using actions where he felt his words weren't enough. "I won't give it up, I can't but," he let a tear slide down. "I would want you there, I want…"
"We both want a lot it would seem," Rias admitted, her mind awash with what her newfound knowledge would mean. She had finally confronted Issei but was just as uncertain as before. She had intended to show him what life with just the two of them could be, but realized now even if he had said yes, the guilt of forcing him away from his dream would have haunted her. "This doesn't have an easy answer. We should focus on the upcoming match first, but for now we can have this."
Just this? We were so close to doing it, taking that next step. Her skin is so close, I could just reach out and…
"Yes, President," was all Issei could muster despite the longing in his limbs. With a sigh, he leaned more into the woman he loved and had kissed many times, spent many nights in the same bed and owed his survival. The two sat there against each other staring into the slowly burning rocks, nothing on their mind but one another. Despite the somber ambiance, he only barely realized how similar the feeling of contentment in his heart was to that lone night he spent beside Asia Argento in Kyoto…
Vanaheim manor…
"This the place?" Bennia asked as her portal deposited the group outside an impressive mansion. "I hope so cause whatever they got going on here is blocking my spells, I can't teleport any closer."
"This is it," Ratatoskr confirmed with a quick dash up to her shoulder. "We need to get in there before Dorian gets melted or pulverized!"
"Melted?" Thrud eyed their companion with a hint of uncertainty. "This is the most peaceful of the Nine Realms, what could possibly have Dorian in such dange…?"
The group ducked as the wall immediately across from them exploded throwing chunks of debris and rubble across the immaculately groomed lawn. Everyone scattered narrowly missing the destruction before realizing that a body had followed the blast, currently staggering to his feet with a wheezing cough and smoke rising from their body.
"Dorian!?" Thrud rushed towards him but he held up a hand to bid her stay back. "Is the Khaos Brigade here?"
"Not quite," he gasped, his face smeared with bruises and soot as he turned to face the coming storm that had been assailing him since admitting the closeness he and Rossweisse had shared in Kyoto.
"HOO DAR YOU DEVILE MY LITTLE GURL!?" The slurred speech of Hengst, Rossweisse's father whom Thrud recognized, appeared before the gaping hole in his own house. Raising his hands, dozens of seals formed all around him that were among the most complex she'd ever seen. The scene was reminiscent of Rossweisse's own outburst on the bridge.
Now I know where Rossweisse got her tolerance for Alcohol, Dorian thought as he generated his own defensive runes. What kind of man weaponizes his own shortcomings like that, he was just waiting for an excuse to drink that wine!
"I shtudeed fer years to imprezz Gondool," he continued as projectiles of magic rained on the area. "How doo my zeals taste?"
"You would be so proud sir," Dorian could not help but jab in return during the heat of the fight as he avoided the attacks, wiping the soreness from his jaw. "Your daughter's seals hit harder."
The silence that struck everyone was all encompassing, none more shocked than Rossweisse herself. After a moment of respite, the burly patriarch blasted forward, slamming into Dorian's seals with his own. The momentum drove the pair towards a wide-open pavilion around the side of the house.
"Oh snap. Critical hit boss! Another one of those and his pride will never recover!"
"We have to help him!" Thrud rushed forward, thinking that his aging would be preventing his fighting at full power. Before she could advance, she found herself unable to move, the others as well.
"Now we can't have any of that," the gentle voice of Rossweisse's mother informed them as she emerged from the hole next. "This is a private match, if you interfere, he'll never accept Dorian into the family."
"Dorian isn't healthy," Rossweisse implored her mother. "He still suffers from…"
"We are well aware," she cut her daughter off. "All the same, you must understand that honor needs to be sated here. Your Dorian Held has eyes for," she glanced at Thrud with a raised eyebrow, "others beyond yourself. Considering you have already shared the same bed; this is quite unacceptable to your father.
"We share the same bed for Sage Arts," Thrud tried to disarm the situation while hiding the confession of the previous days and misunderstanding the woman's words. "There is no reason for him to try and kill Dorian!" Helmwige turned her gaze to the daughter of thunder next, her head tilting while trying to determine if she were trying to lie or was truly so unaware.
"Rossweisse and Dorian have done more than that darling," she finally admitted, her daughter's face reddening by the second. "Do not try to deny the feelings between you as well, the young man already told us and it is plain on your face."
"More than…that?"
"Way to go Dorian," Bennia got a word out before Hecuba resisted the spell just long enough to clamp her hands over the young reaper's ears. The two grew quiet, noticing the look of contemplation that had grown upon Thrud's face.
"We can let the boys talk it out," her mother took another sip from her glass she'd saved from the destruction of the dining room. "I haven't seen your father show such emotion in years." Rossweisse didn't know how to take that with how long it had been since she'd seen them. "How they decide to settle this, that I am quite interested in seeing."
Not Far…
Dorian slid back as the gravity runes pulled him towards the nearby wall, slamming into it with a crunch of his bones. Rotating his fingers, he generated a counter rune, shattering the hold on him. In an instant, seven seals generated before him, colors of the entire spectrum erupting towards the older Asgard warrior. An eighth attempted to appear, only to flicker and sputter out with a curse from Dorian's lips.
Slow down Dorian, your body can't keep this up.
If I slow down, one of those attacks will take my head off! He's good, at my best I could keep up, but now…
He barely had time to layer two of his seals together to form the kinetic barrier he had used to repel Fenrir back at the devil gathering. Hengst's shoulder impacted the symbols with a resounding boom, the arm moving painfully out of its socket from the force of his own blow rebounded back. Amazingly, without losing a step, he rolled over Dorian to a safe distance, his arm hanging limply at his side.
"Is this necessary?" Dorian called out hoping to not harm him further. "I love Rossweisse, believe…"
He didn't finish as, to his astonishment, while still holding eye contact his opponent gripped his useless arm and popped it back into place with a painful groan and echoing crack. Within a matter of seconds, he was flexing his fingers once more, a simple mending seal slowing setting everything right.
"Ish that all? I vhas the top warror of my division. The Dark Berserker who won the heart ov the fairest in de land!"
"Oh shit."
Impressive enemy resolve is no excuse for language Dorian. The sheer nonchalant nature of the motion struck both Dorian and Iggy speechless.
"He always had such a way with words," Helmwige bragged to the other women at his praise towards her. "Even when inebriated, I hear he and Mr. Held have that in common."
The older husband closed the distance in an instant before new seals could be reconstituted, delivering a crushing blow to Dorian's stomach. With no time to even gasp in pain, he was kneed in the jaw sending him skyward only to meet a seal that had been generated ahead of time. Just as he recognized the details of the formula, a burst of condensed air rocketed Dorian earthbound, leaving a significant crater upon impact.
I can't keep up in direct seal combat, I can barely do half of what I could before. He cursed his weakness, even with Thrud and Kuroka's ministrations, he was running through his energy fast.
"Fine, if this is what it will take to convince you," Dorian got up, no longer seeing his foe as the father of his love, but as another opponent to be defeated. He reformed the gauntlet on his arm, the simplest construct of his gear he could do from almost instinct and charged. Seeing his opponent used no weapons, he abstained from drawing his own.
The pair clashed in the middle, punches landing on one another simultaneously with thunderous results. Both had augmented their strength either through seals or the golden light of Asgard, the statues and other topiaries around the garden suffering the devastation of their battle. Despite his best efforts, the sheer ferocity of Hengst's attacks were overwhelming him as his energy to continue fighting dwindled.
"Sche wash my little gerl," he slurred his speech as their back and forth continued. "I trushted only Goondal to protect and raze her. I zhought better of yuu, but to also lust avter the daughter of Thur, how many more do you seek?"
"I never sought more," Dorian asserted with each blow uncertain if it was he or the truth spell talking. "Even Rossweisse I thought was beyond me when we met but then everything just went so…perfect. I love your daughter, but I won't lie any more. Thrud said she loves me, and I realized I care for her too. I love them both and that in no way diminishes the meaning to either!"
Dorian chose his moment, swinging a hard right hook and bringing his now-artificial hand into contact with Hengst's face. The tip of a warhead from the missiles stored within protruded just enough to set off an explosion that sent the older man flying. With the opening he needed, he leapt upon him, his mechanical prosthetic allowing him to punch with incredible force into his face over and over again like a jackhammer. Even with that pressure, it wasn't over as Rossweisse's father seized him by the throat and hoisted him into the air.
"Ish that so?" His grip tightened. "Then what would you do if you had to choose between saving Rossweisse or Thrud? Who would you save?"
"Both." He barely wheezed out as he found difficulty to breath. "No matter what it took."
"Like killing?"
Dorian paused, for once unable to find the words. The memory of Heracles was fresh in his mind, dead eyes staring back after his breakdown had ended. They were so similar, too similar to the dead eyes of his father he had seen from the safe distance after the crash. He had seen death more since joining the supernatural world, all the same, the thought of creating those eyes himself sent a chill through him he did not want to consider. Hengst saw his hesitation, finally tossing him to the side with a single fluid motion.
"Look at you," he continued. "You saved her, protected my only daughter's life and the act tore you in half physically and mentally. Yet you try to tell me that you could do it again and again if faced with it for multiple loves? I don't believe it."
I…I'd do it again, wouldn't I? Yes, if they were ever in danger…
Dorian only then from his new position could see the others near the front entrance of the manor still immobilized by the spiritual magic of Rossweisse's mother. They were close enough to clearly have heard every word. The group, especially Thrud, looked concerned for him though no longer solely for the outcome of the battle. She had known Dorian did not like killing, hoping to shield him from it as long as she could, in that moment she decided that she could no longer do it without hindering his growth. She made her choice.
"You fear becoming a monster?" Thrud asked during the slight lull in the battle. "You don't want to become like those we fight?"
"Yes," he weakly muttered. "I know it can't always be helped, but just the thought of killing someone, even Heracles…"
"I killed Echidna," Hecuba interrupted from the side, her eyes locked on his. "Had I not, she would have slain many more of my men, my friends. I did not revel in it despite the rewards as a result, but it was necessary. Do you think me a monster?" Dorian's mouth dropped open, but he did not get a chance to answer.
"I killed Forcas to protect you," Rossweisse was next. There was no malice in their voices, merely trying to help Dorian through the moral quandary that had his mind torn. "I don't regret it for a moment, am I a monster?"
"You could never be," Dorian answered quickly, bringing a smile with welled up tears to her face. "I didn't finish him when I could, and you nearly paid the price." Dorian's eyes were looking closer to their previous self, but it was the next words that finally caused a line to snap into place in his mind.
"I killed Diodora," Thrud admitted at long last. "I found him in the rubble after the fight still breathing. I've seen his type; he was already planning how to get revenge on everyone involved despite how torn up he was." None had been aware of this secret, the group utterly silent at her confession. "Either I killed him, or he'd kill others before coming after everyone in time. It was a simple decision; one I didn't want you to make at the time. But you will have to, Heracles was the first but won't be the last. Does that make me a monster Dorian?"
None of them are, not even a chance of that. He shook his head in response.
"You killed where you had to, to keep others alive," his strength returned as he stood back up, Hengst giving him the opening out of courtesy. "You went further than you intended, but if you take into account having to kill again, you can see clearly when it is a necessity. Do that, and you will be no more a monster than any of us."
Like how I can say 'I love you' more than once without it losing meaning, so too can I kill in necessity without marring my soul. To protect my friends, Lady Freyja, Rat, Thrud, Rossweisse, everyone, a necessity I pray is not too often required.
Dorian was back on his feet as his mind settled, he wasn't a monster, none of the others had become one from taking a life. He COULD do what was necessary to protect them all regardless of how many he cared for. He loved Rossweisse with all his heart, and now he knew there was room for Thrud as well. All hesitation was gone as he turned to face the hulking man before him.
"Thank you for the respite, sir," he balled up his fists, adrenaline spiking as he took a renewed stance, his voice booming with confidence and certainty. "I WILL protect your daughter for as long as I live, and Thrud too during the times they can't protect themselves. It doesn't matter what I will need to do, I WILL!"
"There is the spark we were looking for," Rossweisse's mother giggled as she released the others from her spell. "Now we may see if that fire is in his belly as much as his lips."
"Then come Dorian Held," Hengst readied himself, tearing his suit a bit to let his chest breathe. "Now with a clear mind, how will you proceed next?"
Kuoh Town…
Huh, not bad. Maybe I should customize my own office like this. Azazel mused while leaning back on the top floor of the Crossroad Tower. With the team away in Vanaheim for their recovery and improvement, he had taken a post in Dorian's office filled with documents and paperwork detailing their recent missions. There was no sign of the ominous shield he had heard of Dorian carving months earlier, assuming it must be hanging in the more private portions of his room.
He had especially grown fond of the personal touches scattered around from their various adventures. From the fang of Fenrir dangling from a pin to the oddly mesmerizing ship in a bottle that rode the tiny waves within its glass prison, it added a flair the fallen angel was loving. A few missions had been sent in that he'd allocated Grigori agents to complete, Tobio heading out last to oversee distribution of their anti-Khaos Brigade strategies to the Hindu mythology.
The location of the staff Ms. Leviathan procured? Even she didn't know where it was found and been given it through their internal contacts. Once Tobio finishes the exchange, we'll have a location. Who knows, it could yield more than we even thought.
A beep signaled him that the meeting was about to begin. Pressing a nearby button, the crackling voice of Ajuka Beelzebub filled the room.
"Holding down the fort?" The elder Satan asked the former angel.
"Well enough," he sighed while putting his feet up. "I actually thought we could go a few days without missions, but I guess not. They may not be anything special yet, but they'll eventually need more manpower to keep up."
"That is actually part of the itinerary today," Azazel could hear the shuffling of papers. "Serafall could not make it today, unavoidable obligations."
You mean making sure her girlfriend is still as pampered as ever? Azazel knew full well how overly doting she was to the Old Satan leader. He held his tongue but not the sly smile picturing the two together and how near to murdering her Katerea must be. At least the pregnancy is going fast, can't be much longer now.
"But Baraqiel left an addendum today regarding Crossroad staffing concerns. We have a third party calling today to discuss."
"Who is the lucky sod who gets to slog through the roster choices?" He teased, taking a deep sip of the cup of coffee still steaming at his side.
"That would be me."
The soft, sultry voice that joined the channel caused him to almost cough up his coffee from the unexpectedness. Breathing deep, he put on his best diplomacy face and replied.
You set this up didn't you Baraqiel, you clever bastard.
"Lady Yasaka, a pleasure as always. Have you recovered since the attack? How is the family?"
"Never better, Kunou has not been so vibrant in some time," she assured him. "I have been asked about a Crossroad agent from my people, Suzaku as well. We've been meaning to get around to it, but you have been so hard to get ahold of. We must coordinate after all, that is the appeal of such an alliance. Is there a policy against more than one?"
"None per se," Azazel gritted his teeth at the clear playful nature oozing from the youkai leader. "We do hope for them to be much larger one day."
"That can help matters, we have had a few volunteer requests along with our own chosen candidates. When Mr. Held returns from their excursion, we can go over them all with him."
"That sounds…" Azazel started but didn't get a chance to finish.
"But until then, I suppose we'll have to narrow down the list. Perhaps we could discuss them in a more intimate setting?"
Azazel could not help but smirk at the thought, his natural attitude towards beautiful women kicking into overdrive. It took thinking of her recent loss and daughter who may not appreciate a new man so soon that kept him from such flirtations. There was something so familiar about Yasaka that made him want to make a move, but he couldn't put his finger on it which caused him to hesitate.
"I must decline," Ajuka answered first. My assistant and I will be working on the nekoshou piece system this week. I believe we may have hit a breakthrough and will be moving to practical tests."
"It's a date then," Yasaka pushed forward without directly hearing Azazel's answer. "In addition to that bit of information, you will be pleased to know that Khaos Brigade activity in Kyoto has dropped to a standstill."
"The same is true in our territories," Azazel eased back into the topic he had planned to discuss, opting not to mention to her he hadn't actually agreed to meet up. "I don't like it, either they are reeling from our recent victories, which I doubt, or they are gearing up for something big."
"Bigger than Kyoto?"
"Anything is possible, those Longinus Heroes of theirs are truly dangerous. We only stood a chance due to a combination of their youth and arrogance. That Annihilation Maker user in particular…"
"We would need an army to face a fully realized wielder," Yasaka grew more serious, the current possessor having been the one responsible for the death of her husband. "But if these creatures are bred to counter each of us…"
"Then our own army must be appropriately mixed to respond." Ajuka's practical mind finished the thought for her. "The Crossroads aren't a true military force."
"Not yet," Azazel stood up for them, leaning forward towards the two other leaders. "But we're working on it. Lady Freyja didn't intend the Crossroads to remain a small task force forever after all."
"But they grow too slowly," Ajuka sighed. "We never imagined the Brigade moving so quickly in only a few months."
"They're good kids," Azazel defended them with a grin that only endeared his character to the kyuubi leader on the other line. "Not just the Crossroads, but all of that next generation that are extraordinary at such a young age. It's been a while for me, but we can have some faith, at least a little that they are exactly what our people all need for the future."
Vanaheim…
A black wave of demonic energy washed over Hengst, shattering his seals as Dorian took towards the skies on bat wings. Certain he could not hope to win in straight up combat with Norse seals in his enfeebled state, he had decided to rotate between his now-sizable repertoire in hopes of wearing the man down. Spears of holy light, bursts of devil power, Olympian lightning, each was brought to bear on the father of his first love. Even so, the man hit back seemingly without loss of strength, and Dorian was getting tired.
"Your versatility is to be commended," the older warrior pushed forward despite the burns to his skin, grabbing Dorian by his skull. The young student gripped his wrist with what strength remained in him to resist the crushing grasp. "But you don't have the reserves." Channeling a mighty blast into the center palm of his free hand, she shoved it into Dorian's chest.
The Einherjar flew backwards, the women he loved, and allies forced to watch. A moment before he would have impacted the wall behind him, time seemed to slow for him calling back to what had occurred during a familiar moment against Modi months earlier.
"I'm not slowing time," Iggy explained, able to know his next question. "Your body is moving at the same rate as before; our thoughts just move a lot faster than our limbs.
"I need more energy," he grasped at every option in his head. "I can't channel enough to obtain Balance Breaker, and barely enough to keep up this rotation of powers." As he pondered more ideas, a dark, booming laugh interrupted their thoughts.
We have this pact you were so clever to forge and yet did not consider me?
"Of course he did!" Iggy scowled a bit at Midgardsormr's insinuation. "He can't add your power onto his right now, the sheer force of it would tear him apart from the inside!"
"I need to stabilize myself before I can add your might onto mine."
You are smart, think harder! The dragon's judgmental gaze locked squarely on him. I refuse to believe I made a pact with one so short-sighted. Since we struck our bargain, you have tacked my power onto your own, stacking it atop like a mountain upon a base of glass, I had hoped you would think more three-dimensionally.
"Stacking?" Dorian took the dragon's words into account, picturing the mental image. It was true when tapping into the dragon's power, he did so to supplement his own, adding it to his reserves. It was the reason he had aged so quickly from overuse as his own bodily strength was mixed with the overwhelming power between the World Serpent and Ley Lines of Kyoto. "So, if that glass base was taken out…or better yet rearranged."
That a boy. Your life energy is twisted from trying to command such tempests alone. I believe your friends always say to not rely solely on yourself, how about you adapt that logic more literally? My own energy reserves are to yours as the ocean is to a pond.
But if I can't access them, they might as well be the same as a puddle. Dorian's mind raced in frustration. If my own core energy can't harness it then…
There you go, Midgardsormr grinned in pride from his sleeping place in the Roads. Now you get it. Take it for a spin, see how you do.
Dorian flipped as time resumed from his perspective, landing softly on the wall horizontal to the ground. Hengst paused, along with the others at the new expression on Dorian's face, one that had been missing from his battles since the fight in Kyoto.
A look of utter confidence bordering on arrogance.
He took off, angel wings erupting from his back as the gauntlet shone with the light of Heaven he had learned long ago through Forcas' stolen attack. Yet in his hands were not light spears, but Nordic seals lined with a color matching that of his Sacred Gear.
"He's layering seals with powers of other realms?" Rossweisse's face grew flushed at the sheer mathematical options available when expanding the limit of runes. "But that would be incredibly unstable at the best of times!"
"Sounds like Dorian then," Bennia grinned as Thrud boxed at thin air in support of him. "Kick his ass!"
"Elemental offense, Heavenly energy, one of barrage, layered into a diagram of…" Dorian muttered under his breath as one half in a trance, the constructs in his hands becoming something wholly unique. Based on the designs Rossweisse had shown him, he had taken the concepts and made them his own. "Element of Light!"
Spears of Holy Light erupted one after another, but they were new, each one shifting colors between the various elements. Each one was not one element, but many with Holy might at the center. Erupting from the new seal, they bent midflight towards Rossweisse's father who finally looked worried. Swinging again and again, he struck them from the skies, the stream seemingly endless.
"Your reserves were empty!" He roared at the near-endless cascade. "Where did this come from?!"
"I removed the base of glass," he answered in a way only he and Iggy could understand. It had been so simple he was ashamed he hadn't considered it before. The pact with Midgardsormr and even the Ley Lines of Kyoto he had added their power to his own, causing it to buckle from the strain. All he had to do was shunt it appropriately within him, with Midgardsormr guiding him as he attempted it. Instead of adding their power to his own, he added his to theirs within him. Suddenly, his tower built upon glass instead was now of steel standing tall and resolute. The disrupted core of his life no longer held back his potential, for it was no longer bearing such a mighty burden on its own.
I still need to heal back to my age, but at least now I won't be a burden in a fight.
Hengst withstood the attack as bruises formed from each impact, dropping to all fours like a beast he charged towards Dorian, the Einherjar holding his ground. He stretched his hands out, a strange green-yellow flame generating within his hands none of the women recognized.
"Haven't gotten to try Foxfire," Dorian struggled to control the foreign energy in his hand. "Iggy learned a thing or two in Kyoto! This stuff can be on par with Saji and Issei's flames!" Finally, once it was large enough, he launched it at his opponent.
Hengst stopped at the oncoming attack, he had heard of the fires of the youkai and the grave threat it meant. Crossing his arms, he braced himself, sacrificing his offensive and physical defense seals for those of elemental resistance. At last, the attack struck, the experienced Berserker realizing too late something was wrong.
This fire is barely hotter than normal. This is not the foxfire of legends; a child youkai could produce hotter flames.
He had no time to move as Dorian appeared behind him having used the moment to get around his foe, right fist pulled back as far as he could muster. With a roar of frustration, he buried his fist into Hengst's side, twisting it like a drill to go deeper.
"I may not know how to use Sage Arts," he gasped, the strain of the attacks clearly evident as sweat dripped from his forehead. "But Thrud taught me a few good pressure points!"
Hengst turned, a sharp pain paralyzing him from where Dorian had struck. It only delayed him a second, just a second, but that was all he needed as Dorian's armor formed upon his chest. The gem within swirled with light from the Nine Realms as it focused solely on Rossweisse's father.
"Balance Breaker Bifrost Barrage!"
The resounding blast consumed the area reverberating out in all directions. Rossweisse joined her mother in protecting the spectators as their pavilion and surrounding stonework was utterly ruined. At long last, they were able to see the results of the battle. Dorian had been blown backwards by the force of his own attack and was currently panting against a shattered wall, his armor utterly spent as he gasped for air. Rossweisse's father was less well off, flattened into the ground a good deal away covered in bruises and blood. The winner appeared clear; he was not moving.
"Dorian!" Rossweisse and the other rushed to his side as her mother approached her husband seemingly unconcerned with his condition. "Are you alright?"
"I…think so," he took a step forward. "The one downside of not using my own strength to start is that once I power down…" he fell, barely being caught by the gold and silver Valkyries on either arm. With the power no longer in use, it took a moment for his own to take over again. The two helped him remain on his feet, grips clinging to him a little tighter than before. For the moment, he was as weak as a child. "Sorry about the house."
"It can be repaired quickly enough," Göndul's daughter assured him as she leaned her husband up against his own wall, the man still breathing. "What do you say dear? He seems to have more bite than you believed."
"He is…not what I presumed," Hengst admitted with a cough, only then Dorian noticing his drunken slurs had vanished halfway through the battle. "You are a worthy warrior if nothing else to court Rossweisse. But if you attract others as you have already, never forget her place. Your first love, your High Queen." With that last word, his head slumped forward, unconscious.
They do watch the show, Rossweisse couldn't help but gush internally.
"You rest dear," Helmwige leaned him over so his head rested on her lap stroking his hair. "We seemed to have gotten a bit sidetracked. You may attempt the trials as you asked, you cannot lead, but our power will be open to try again. We will prepare them so that you may undertake them in the coming days."
"Thank you, mother," she bowed politely, her mind awash with plans of what she would do. She had failed the trials miserably in her youth and even in the many years had barely managed to learn Spiritual Magic any better than back then. She would have been more focused on them, were it not for the fact she realized Dorian too had passed out in her arms.
"Attend to your love, both of you, and I shall do the same for mine."
The group nodded, the two women hooking an arm around their necks so they could carry him. Already Bennia was preparing a portal back to their rooms.
"Ya did good boss," Ratatoskr patted and ruffled his golden-blonde hair. "It's a rite of passage you have to beat the tar out of your girlfriend's dad at least once. That's one down," he glanced over to Thrud, "one to go…gods help you in that regard."
Back at the House…
Once the group had disappeared through the Grim Reaper's portal, another opened beside where Helmwige cradled her sleeping husband. An older woman very much resembling the silver-haired mother herself stepped through.
"How long are you going to act the fool?" Göndul kicked Hengst in the side, prompting the man to instantly sit up and stretch his arms as if taking a nice nap.
"Mother," Helmwige bowed politely.
"Mama," he refused to give up the nickname he had adopted her since taking her daughter's hand in marriage. "Did you have to do that? It's been ages since I got to lay in my wife's lap."
"I was done watching my son-in law pretend to be so weak. What purpose was there in the deception?"
"Not murdering my daughter's beloved for one. I saw what I needed to; you learn more about someone by fighting them than with a million words."
"Spoken like a true Berserker, had you used your beast form, it would have been over in an instant."
"Aye, but I wouldn't have learned what I needed. He loves her, and while his heart may accept the advances of another, that didn't affect his gaze to Rossweisse in the slightest. I did not lie when I said I would still watch him, however."
"That ideology explains why I know you so well. Indeed, he will be a fine husband for her," Göndul nodded, looking off as if she could still see them.
"A husband? I feel that is quite far off indeed mother," Helmwige chuckled. They are only just courting.
"Just courting?" The matriarch of the family turned with a suspicious gaze. "Did they say nothing?"
"Say nothing of what?"
Göndul furrowed her brow, recalling the image of Rossweisse wielding Twilight Star into battle at Helheim, a sure sign that Dorian had granted it for her use as per their tradition gifting a family heirloom as a wedding proposal. To hear that the topic had not been brought up during the first time seeing her parents again in many years caused the cogs in her mind to spin, something was off.
"I think," she muttered at length more to herself than her daughter and son-in law. "I will need to have a long talk with those two soon…a long talk indeed."
Dorian simultaneously reinforces his body to make better use of the depths of his power as he also hardens his mind for what must be done ahead. The same young man who entered the world of the supernatural exists, but now understands the gravity of what may be asked of him. With the blessing of her parents, he claims a victory in intent of not in martial arms. Days of peace in Vanaheim continue next time, until then I hope everyone stays safe, Reads and Reviews...but most of all Enjoys! :D
