Minato x Ophis snippets

by Angel of light darkness

wrote a couple omakes/snippets that shipped Minato from Persona 3 with Ophis from DxD. Figure I'd repost them from DaD Forum Omake section. MessiahXDragon snippet series: ongoing.

7. Modern Summoning War

Author's Notes: First of the Three Omakes that I wanted to write and grew into their own chapters.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if TCG anime collided / merge with other anime? Well, I thought about it and this was born. Please go to the following Forum [Forum_Misc_Anime X-over (Go directly to the last page for the latest Forums) Card Games are serious business ] to ask questions or to look for more information.

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Long Title: Modern Incarnation of Summoning Magic Systems and their applications in Interdimensional and Temporal warfare.

Shortened Title: Modern Summoning War

Aka, Card Games are serious business.

Late May – Early June 2011

"What is this?" Ophis asked.

"I have no idea" Minato answered as he joined Ophis in starring at the large box filled with wrapped boxes.

Minato and Ophis went to visit the game shop Aika brought Minato to the other day to see what else they had available, Ophis herself was in the mood for trying a new deck to help expand her critical thinking and decision making skills to better her chances against Great Red while Minato was mostly there due to the pleasant atmosphere of the store.

"It's our surprise Vanguard draw" the young woman working at the store explained as she approached the two "We gather up unsold card stock from our and other stores to build these surprise decks that people can buy at a reduce cost" the woman smiled as she looked at the assembled decks that she and the store manager worked on so they were all viable to play right out of the box "One of the manager's better ideas, after he ordered too much stock one week"

Ophis gave the stock of decks another look, considering buying something from it if what she wants isn't available here. "Do you have any dragon themed decks?"

The woman smiled at Ophis's questions "If it's dragons you looking for then you'll be spoiled for choice, is there any style in particular you want-"

-!

Minato looked into the box of card decks as he felt something calling out to him for a moment, looking around the store for a moment Minato saw he was the only who noticed that odd feeling or anyone else was ignoring it.

-!-!

Feeling that thing again he knew for certain it was coming from box filled with Vanguard card decks, holding back a sigh Minato reached his hand out to the decks 'If this goes horribly wrong better me than some kid being dragged in'

With those thoughts Minato's hand reached deep into the collection of decks, once his hand was completely submerged he waited for whatever was calling out to him to do so once more.

-!-!-!

Feeling a deck box rise up to brush against his palm Minato narrowed his eyes as he grasped and pulled out what was calling to him, he looked it over trying to see if anything was off but found nothing. Shrugging Minato took the box over to pay for it as Ophis was in the middle of examining several structure decks and reading the cards listed on the back, once Ophis made her decision the two bought the decks in question.

"Thank you for your patronage" the woman said with a neutral expression, coming off more natural than the forced smiles usually seen in costumer service, she pointed to several free tables around the store "Feel free to use one of our tables to look over or play with your new cards"

Minato pocketed the strange deck of cards intend on leaving the store and investigating what they actually are, however as he looked over at the tables where several people were playing a troubling thought crossed his mind.

'What if this strange deck isn't unique?' as he thought that Minato noticed how several of those playing seemed rather intense in their playing, more so than what should be in a trading card game.

Taking the card deck out of his pocket Minato gave it a thoughtful look to decide what to do, he looked to Ophis and saw her giving him a worried look 'With Ophis here we should be able to contained whatever is happening with these cards'

Going over to a free table Minato told Ophis about what happened moments before, frowning she took the strange deck in question and gave it a look over "I don't sense anything odd from this" Ophis hands the deck back to Minato "Are you certain that strange feeling came from this deck?"

Minato nodded confident that the deck in his hand was the one calling him, if not due to it rising up to his palm then by the fact it stopped calling him. Using a finger Minato traced a squiggly on the table to sign to Ophis, seeing this Ophis nodded knowing what Minato was planning.

"Let's have a good game, Phis" Minato and Ophis shook hands, as they did Minato could feel one of Ophis's snakes snaking up his arm before coming to a stop as it rested on his shoulder. Minato still wasn't used to having one of Ophis's snakes on him, the only other time he had one of Ophis's snakes was during his short trip to Devil territory in the Underworld, though an odd sensation he didn't dislike it.

Minato could feel the snake's hold becoming slightly more firm as the head nuzzled his neck, affectionately telling him the connection was stable.

"Let's have a good game" Ophis replied as the connection between her snake and Minato solidified, if whatever was calling out to Minato popped up again Ophis will be able to experience too and protect them both from outside interference.

Opening their new deck of cards, Ophis removing the standard packaging while Minato unwrapped the cloth around his before opening the cheap deck box, it didn't take long to see what was wrong with the cards calling out to Minato.

Each and every card in the deck was blank.

The cards were the same quality of regular cards with even the same Vanguard TCG design on the back of the cards but where the information and art was suppose to be was not but a white surface, a blank canvas.

As Minato and Ophis were looking over each and every card searching for whatever was calling out to him several other people were looking over at them, their eyes focused on the pile of blank cards the two were sorting through.

"What in the-?" the woman from earlier came over to Minato and Ophis having noticed the blank cards as well, she looked at the blank cards alarmed and confused.

"He opened one of those surprise decks and found all the cards blank" Ophis said, having an idea of what the woman's unasked question was "We've been looking through them all and not one has a piece of card art"

"This… can't be right" the woman looked through all the cards on the table herself for a moment before her look of concern grew, she turned to Minato and Ophis with an apologetic look "I'm sorry, can you two wait here for a moment while I get the manager"

The two didn't have a chance to respond before the woman ran off, with not much to do in the meantime Minato collected up the blank cards into the deck holder they came in while he looked over Ophis's new cards along with her.

After several minutes a man with glasses and green hair arrived and asked to look over the cards before bowing towards Minato.

"I am so very sorry, I have no idea how this could have happened sir" the man stood up straight before continue "As the store manager I take full responsibility for this, we can refund your purchase right away"

Minato looked down at the deck box before pulling out one of the blank cards "Actually, if it's alright with you I'd want to keep these"

"Are you sure, you can't play with blank cards" the woman said, confused at what Minato was thinking.

Nodding Minato held up the blank card between his fingers "True, but the cards are good quality. I can use them as flash cards to help me study"

"Huh?" the two workers paused for a moment, not expecting Minato to say that.

-?

Feeling the same thing from earlier now giving him what Minato thought was questioning look Minato put the card on the table and began tracing his finger over the surface of the card as if he was writing on.

-?!

"I have exams to worry about so having spare flash cards to help me study are always welcomed" Minato said, continuing to pretend write questions on the card. Ophis taking one out herself to fake draw on to see if all the cards would have a similar reactions.

-!? -! -?!

Apparently they did.

"Would you two stop it already" the woman said with annoyance clear in her voice, she gave Minato a hard look "They may be blanks but those cards deserve more respect than being used as flash cards"

The manager pushed up his glasses, letting Minato and Ophis get a clear look of his eyes and their sharp gaze "I agree with on this, while their exterior is a blank canvas it doesn't mean their interior is the same" the man looked around the store at the various cards on display "While many look the same, each and every one has a special connection waiting for their Vanguard to tap into"

Minato made sure not to let his suspicion show, the two store workers becoming more and more suspicious the more they went on "From what your saying, it sounds like your suggesting these cards are alive. Or, rather, these cards hold some form of link to a living creature"

"In a sense, they do" the store manager said, sounding wise despite his words sounding delusional "Each card connects to it's unit on Planet Cray, so when you ride or summon them your fighting alongside them as well through your imagination"

Ophis gave the manager a puzzled look (?) "Isn't that, the backstory for the game?" looking through the package her deck came in Ophis pulled out a small booklet that detailed the rules of the game and found a section going over the lore of the card game, word for word it lined up with what the manager was saying.

Minato and Ophis shared a looked with one another, not sure if what the manager saying was true, he and the store worker were under the influence of whatever was affecting these cards or something much more mundane like they were acting to build an atmosphere for the store.

"Stand Up, Vanguard!" "Stand Up, The, Vanguard!"

Looking over Minato saw two middle school students playing the card game the mysterious cards came from, as he watched the two playing he could feel something happening as they played.

They were affecting something as they played, but what Minato didn't know. Ophis followed Minato's eyes to the two people playing, sensing nothing off with her own senses but only being able to detect what was happening due to her snake on Minato.

Seeing this the manager smiled as he saw a chance to show what he meant "How about you two watch over their match over there, they happen to be one of the best players around and should be able to show you the bonds between a Vanguard and their cards" the manager turned to the store worker with his smile not leaving his face "I'll handle the till, can you stay with them and explain things if they have any questions Misaki?"

The store worker, Misaki, agreed and went with Minato and Ophis to explain things as the match went on. As she explained what the units the two players were using Minato focused in on that feeling the match was giving off, remembering the manager's mention of Imagination Minato tried visualizing the match between the two.

As if a switch had been flipped Minato was able to see an arena where warriors of light and shadow clashed with one another, looking down Minato saw a shimmering projection of his body with Ophis's black snake wrapped around his arm.

'Astral Projection?' Minato thought as he looked around the arena along with Ophis's snake, her snake being the only thing allowing Ophis to see what Minato was seeing.

Ophis's snake extended forward to point to the duelling warriors at the centre of the arena leading the two sides 'Look at their faces'

Looking at their faces Minato saw they were the two middle schoolers playing the card game in the store, at they broke apart the one in dark armour dissolved as a shimmering projection of their real body appeared for a moment before it merged with a massive black dragon.

'It matches up with the player playing that creature's card as his Vanguard' Ophis said, looking as the two middle schoolers played. Ophis wasn't sure if they knew they card game they were playing was connected to an astral battle taking place.

As Minato looked over the arena trying to figure how this was possible he began to hear something very faint in the background, beyond the sounds of battle there was a faint ambient noise that seemed ever present yet barely there.

Tapping into Orpheus's power Minato's astral fingers moved as if they were playing a stringed instrument, he tried several notes trying to match that of the ambient background noise.

As he got closer to matching it the noise Minato saw the Units the players were leading reacting to it, looking around before they found Minato. Eventually even the players began to notice, their possessed units looking around confused.

"Huh, where's that music coming from?" one of the players asked as he looked away from the table and searched the store for the music he heard a moment ago.

His opponent looked to him with surprise "You hear it too, I thought I hearing things but I wasn't sure"

Minato stopped playing the music and withdrew himself the astral projection he was experiencing, as he came back he saw Misaki giving him a knowing smile "I see you really got into it"

Minato answered with a small smile, not sure how much the woman next to him really knew and not wanting to making he just played along as if everyone was normal "You could say that, there's a lot more to this game than I first expected"

It wasn't long before Minato and Ophis left the store, as they walked Minato used Ophis's snake to communicate with her telepathically.

'What the hell was that?' Minato asked, mostly to himself and not really expecting an answer back.

Ophis looked at the deck of cards in her hand with a sharp gaze 'It would appear there's a card game connecting it's players to another world, and so far it seems to be only affecting humans' Ophis glance to Minato as they waited to cross the street 'This wouldn't have anything to do with Persona, would it?'

Minato shook his head slightly as they crossed the street 'No. Persona is an interior power, whatever that was is an exterior one. However…' Minato frowned as he thought back to what he saw, how the two player possessed units and replaced human faces with their own as if they were masks 'I can see some minor similarities'

'What do we do then?' Ophis asked, not entirely sure how to approach this. What do you do when you learn a trading card game had a supernatural side to it.

Looking at the bag he was carrying filled with decks for each clan of Vanguard along with the deck of blank cards Minato considered what steps to take 'We need to investigate what's going on, see if we can replicate what happened back at the store and how far it can go. Not to mention where these blank cards really came from' Minato placed his hand over his shoulder where Ophis's snake still rested 'If something goes wrong, I need you to pull me back'

Minato could feel the head of Ophis's snake rubbing against his palm 'I won't let anything take you away, I promised we stay together after all' Ophis replied back with a smile.

With a smile on his lips Minato shared a look with Ophis.

-=-][-=-

Back at the Arisato Residence Minato and Ophis unpacked the various clan decks Minato got from the store at a discount due to the whole blank cards business, as they looked over the cards they had to work with the two started brainstorming ideas on what was going on.

"Sympathetic Magic could explain how these cards connect to beings on this Planet Cray" Ophis suggested as she looked over the cards on the table "With their likeness and a belief that it connects them to another world it's not impossible, though even so the effects would only be minor"

Frowning at her previous experience looking into Sympathetic Magic, her plans to use it to cause damage to Great Red ending in failure, as she looked over the cards to see if there was anything off about them.

Minato looked over a card from the Zoo nation, a flowery princess of Neo Nector, before putting it down to face Ophis with a frown "With the game's encouragement of using the player's own imagination to picture their units battling on Planet Cray they might using that same imagination in place of belief, the make believe of controlling these units giving the Sympathetic magic something to work off of"

As the two kept spitballing ideas they began running into obstacles into how a card game was connecting players to another world.

While Sympathetic magic using the power of Imagination to maintain a connection was their best guess they had no idea HOW that connection was made in the first place, someone needed to know the likeness of the various units for it to work and that opened up a whole new mystery unravel.

Was someone receiving visions of these beings and decided to make a card game out of them, was there travel between the two worlds, an impossible one trillion to one chance of a card game's creatures matching up to beings from other worlds or were more nefarious motives at play like some large scale experiment.

Minato had already dispatched several Personas into various vessels to look into the company to see what they could find, so far it seems like those behind the game don't know what's going on with the supernatural side of it.

For the time being, until Minato's Personas could learn anything new, Minato and Ophis got to work testing the connection the cards held. Placing a finger on one of the cards, one of the Royal Paladin Clan, the two nodded together as they were ready to start the experiment.

Feeling Ophis's snake give Minato's arm several small squeezes Minato searched for the same music that opened the connection the first time, dozens of his Personas readied to act once the connection was established for whatever was needed.

The same ambient noise from before returned, Orpheus played a few notes to match that noise and a moment later the once ambient noise grew much more prominent as Minato felt himself astral projecting once more. This time instead of an arena Minato found himself flying through space, the Earth behind him, as reality shifted before he found himself approaching a world he guessed was Planet Cray.

As he neared Cray Minato found himself falling towards a city before finding himself in what looked like a throne room, looking around the expansive throne room he saw warriors and scholars discussing something with a man sitting on a throne where the raised floor left him above them.

Checking his arm for Ophis's snake he saw it was still there, along with the glow from the astral projection missing 'Can you hear me?'

'Yes, everything is fine on this end' hearing Ophis's voice gave him some relief, right now he was essentially deep sea diving in an uncharted region of the ocean with possibly only one life line to get back.

"You there, how did you get here?"

Minato was forced out of his thoughts as he noticed the room full warriors and scholars were all looking in his direction, Minato looking behind himself while Ophis's snake looked upwards with neither spotting anything.

Turning back the people starring at him Minato pointed to himself "I'm sorry, you can see me?"

A scholar took a step forward "Yes, we can see you"

'This, is unexpected' Ophis said through her snake as it rose with it's eyes scanning the various individuals in the room.

'Yeah, best to roll with the punches for now' Minato thought back before he considered his options after suddenly appearing without warning in a throne room where likely high ranking officials were having a meeting.

"Sorry, didn't mean to intrude" Minato said as he bowed apologetically to who he recognized as units from the Royal Paladin Clan "I was experimenting with something and found myself here"

Raising his head he saw those of the Royal Paladin clan looking at him warily, following their gaze he saw they were all looking at Ophis's snake wrapped around the entire length of his right arm with the head so close to his neck. With his free hand Minato used a finger to rubbed under the snakes chin, earning happy snake noises.

"She's a bit protective and possessive but a real sweetheart" looking back over to the Royal Paladins Minato saw they had eased up, now just looking at him confused with several of them looking over him closely "I wasn't interrupting something, was I?"

One of the scholars stepped forward "We were nearing the tail end of the meeting, going over a few small things" the scholar looked back to his colleagues for a moment, wanting to make he wasn't stepping on anyone's toes before continuing "If I may be so bold to assume, but your a Cardfighter from Earth. Aren't you?"

Minato and Ophis looked at the scholar shocked, looking around they saw none of the other Royal Paladins showed no reaction to the mention of a Cardfighter from Earth. Not even the more laid back amongst them.

Meaning they all had exceptional poker faces or they all knew about Earth already.

'This, complicates things' Ophis said through her snake to Minato, her eyes back on Earth scanning the other clan cards wondering if they all knew about Earth and the card game played on it.

"You know about Earth?" Minato asked as he looked around the various Royal Paladins.

"Yes, the fate of Planet Cray and that of Earth has been linked since as long as Cray has existed" a powerful voice answered, looking up Minato saw the man who sat upon the throne answered. An aura of royalty and power surrounding him as his eyes were set firmly on Minato "I am Alfred Early, Prince of the United Sanctuary and acting leader of the Royal Paladins"

Minato bowed his head again but before he could say anything else Alfred spoke again "There's no need to bow your head, one can't have a proper conversation when one is facing the ground and I rather we talk face to face" raising his head to Alfred Minato saw a smile on the prince's lips as he looked up "Much better. Now then, how did you as a card fighter from Earth find yourself here on Cray?"

"Truth is, I felt a connection to this world when I was watching some people playing Vanguard" Minato paused as he considered how to explain the card game of Vanguard to the apparent real life units of the game, however he recalled they refer to him as a card fighter so that must mean they themselves were aware of the card game to some extent.

Tapping his ear Minato continued on "During this I could picture the match between them, far too clearly for it be be normal along with instantly visualization of the units, and I could hear a noise in the background" lowering his arm Minato glanced to Ophis's snake for a moment before continuing "A dear friend of my helped me investigate what was happening, I got in tune with that background noise and that's how I found myself here"

Looking around Minato could tell the Royal Paladins were accepting of his answer, as he looked around he noticed one of amongst them had a hopeful look in his eye.

"Fascinating" the scholar that first spoke walked over to Minato and gave him a look over, the scholar adjusted his glasses as he did so "There are stories of those from Cray visiting Earth but this is the first instance of someone from Earth arriving here on Cray that I'm aware of"

"Beings from Cray came to Earth?" Minato asked as Ophis's snake perked up at the new piece of information, if the scholar before him was startled at all he didn't show it, instead they took a step back before answering.

"Legends and stories only I'm afraid, I don't have any evidence to make up such claims. However, one could say the link our worlds share is proof enough to not rule them out as falsehoods" a grin and a sparkle in the scholar's eyes was enough to tell Minato him the scholar was excited for something "If you don't mind, I would happily share what I know in exchange for information about life on Earth. There's only so much we can learn during the battles with our Vanguards about the world they come from"

Minato gave the scholar an apologetic smile, the idea from the start was to test the connection and see how far it could go and this was far beyond what either Minato or Ophis had expected "Maybe some other time, I have a feeling my time being here is running low as it is" to further his point Minato let his focus on his free hand to lessen slightly, enough to show it fading in and out before stabilizing.

The scholar gave the fading hand a concerned look along with the other Royal Paladins before realization it was just Minato's projection on Cray fading and that he himself was alright.

"Wait" One of the Royal Paladins said, one of the warriors approached "If you don't mind, I wish to ask something of you?" Minato nodded to let the warrior know he would hear him out "We of Cray are all aware of the card game you play on Earth, as well on how it's games can have minor effects on our own and vice versa. Through these battles we have formed connections with card fighters, those we form a particularly strong bond with become our Vanguard"

"Blaster Blade" the scholar said under his breath as he gave the warrior, Blaster Blade, a concerned look.

Blaster Blade closed his eyes for a moment "My Vanguard, Aichi Sendou, while only a feeling I fear misfortune may have befallen him" opening his eyes Minato saw the earnest look in the warrior's eyes "If you can, search for Aichi and see if he's alright"

As he felt Ophis pulling him back Minato answered as he faded away from Cray "I'll look for him" the relieved look on the warrior's face was the last thing he saw before he found himself back on Earth with Ophis giving Minato a blank look.

"That was, more than I expected" Minato said as he slumped forward a little, the effort of astral projecting himself into another world being less straining than he thought.

"You didn't have to agree to search for the warrior's 'Vanguard'" Ophis gave Minato a questioning look "How exactly are you going to find him?"

Minato shrugged "Start with people with the family name Sendou and work from there, besides having goodwill with the denizens of the other world would be the best for us long term, especially with their possible ability to arrive here"

The knowledge that the beings of Cray knew about Earth and had legends of those from Cray arriving on Earth was alarming to say the least, Minato looked to Ophis for answers but she shook her head. She didn't know anything about beings from other worlds arriving on Earth, with the exception of Minato himself.

The two repeated the process again with each clan, everything from dragons ruling over volcanic lands, to hyper intelligent animals and to wrestlers from outer space alongside giant robots.

And throughout the different clans they all said the same thing, they knew of Earth, the Vanguard card game and several also mentioned that their 'vanguard' met misfortune like Blaster Blade's own.

Making a list of potentially missing people was something neither Minato and Ophis ever wanted to do.

Eventually, the only cards left to test were the blank ones. Despite lacking artwork the connection the cards held would be enough for Minato to meet whatever it was that was calling him.

This time, however, instead of finding himself on Cray Minato found himself floating in space with Planet Cray a fair distance away from. Looking around Minato tried to see if there was any being around that was connected to the blank cards, a part of him wondering if Planet Cray itself was calling out to him.

'Minato, behind you' turning around on Ophis's word Minato saw Earth behind him, finding himself in the middle of Earth and Cray with nothing around him he prepared to make his way back.

And that was when he saw it.

Half rings of silver covering both Cray and Earth, like the globes found in classrooms showing a map of the world the arching silver seemed to keep the planets in place as they spun through space.

Looking downward both Minato and Ophis froze at what they saw, a massive creature of silver connected to the silver half circles. A creature of cosmic scale dwarfing both worlds, carrying the weight of both on it's shoulders.

"I must say, I didn't expect our first meeting to be like this. You are truly full of surprises, my Vanguard"

Minato felt a sharp yanking on his right arm as he found himself back on Earth, Ophis getting on the table and scatter the cards as a result as she rushed over to look over Minato after using her snake to pull him back to his body. Holding up his head to get a better look at him Ophis checked him to make sure whatever that thing was hadn't affected him.

While size didn't always denote power, Ophis herself was proof of that, fighting something larger than a planet was something she rather avoid unnecessary contact with. Going over the encounter with whatever that thing was there was something that bothered Ophis, it called Minato it's Vanguard.

Vanguard being a title those from Cray, and likely those who play the card game, gave those as a sign of respect. Effectively being made someone's Vanguard was the same as being partners with one another.

In a way, Minato was Ophis's Vanguard. Both due to them being rather close and him proving to be the best chance she had of defeating Great Red.

And that thing tried to claim him as it's Vanguard.

With that thought Ophis wrapped her arms around Minato, keeping him close as if he could disappear at a moments notice. She won't let whatever that thing was claim Minato as it's Vanguard, he was already her Vanguard.

"What have we just stumbled into?" Minato asked both Ophis and himself, while in the corner of his eye he saw one of the blank cards gaining colour as the full form of unknown creature was visible on the card for a moment.

-=-][-=-

Minato made a small x on the last name on the list and sighed, while hoping it was a simple matter of the people on the list not playing the card game anymore it turns out they all were actually missing.

A quick search online showed Aich Sendou had been missing for weeks with his family regularly appealing to the public for help finding him, a little research into Aichi himself showed he was a minor celebrity in Vanguard tournament circles with his signature card of Blaster Blade.

Checking the other names on the list led to similar results, young people of various ages and locations all going missing with the only thing connecting most of them was that they played Vanguard. What was even more troubling was that there were more missing people than those on the list they got from Planet Cray, nearly a hundred young people going missing around various times that lined up with tournaments of all sizes across the entire planet.

Whatever was happening the people in charge of these tournaments had noticed as most small time tournaments had been cancelled and those that went forward had their security ramped up as much as possible, some on message boards even mentions how they had to carry a special ID badge that tracked the movements of those competing.

Minato wasn't sure was more incredible, the company pushing forward tournaments after they knew on some level people were going missing or people still wanting to compete despite the risk.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose Minato checked the time on the computer and saw it was almost time for school, he hadn't slept at all as he started looking into the Vanguards of Planet Cray as soon as he got over seeing that. He was able to go without sleep due to Ouroboros's power keeping him physical energized and Ophis keeping him mentally energized.

Speaking of Ophis, she was sitting right next to Minato as she kept watch over the Vanguard cards. They had quarantined the cards so that whatever that thing was couldn't influence them through it, hundreds of different Personas offered their expertise in constructing the quarantined area with Ophis having one of her snakes super charging it.

Picking up his phone Minato searched his contacts for a certain number before calling it, after several rings the person on the other line picked up.

"Hello?" Sona's voice came through, the tiredness in her voice well hidden but still present "Mr Arisato, is there something I can help you with?"

'Mr Arisato?' Minato raised an eyebrow at the formal greeting but chucked it up to Sona having to put up a more professional air and not showing favourites in front of others "Just calling you let you know something major came up recently and I won't be able to make it to school today"

"Do you need help?" Sona asked, his voice more of a whisper then before.

Looking over to the cards for a moment and the memory of that thing between worlds he honestly considered telling Sona what he and Ophis had uncovered, he refrained from doing so until he could get more evidence to back his claims "At the minute no, but that could quickly change. I'll keep you updated"

"Alright, be safe and don't hesitate to call for aid. Take care"

Ending the call Minato could feel something was off, before he could give much more thought a strange sensation fell over him, everything felt wrong as a malevolent force dropped on him.

Flashes of the various places flashed before Minato's eyes faster than he was able to make sense of what those places was, his senses being overloaded as it felt like his body was being tore apart before hastily put back together only to be pulled apart in an excruciation cycle of pain.

'Is, is it happening?' Minato asked as he was filled with dread, the Great Seal coming to the forefront of his mind. The giant door with watchful eyes that searched for any threat, for a moment nothing was on the door before Minato saw himself bound to the seal once more.

Fighting back to regain control of his sense Minato saw he had fallen onto the floor with his legs below the knee completely gone as more of his body began fading away, looking at his hands Minato saw them fading in and out as small lights flew up from his fade body.

Desperate, Minato turned to Ophis to she was in the same position as he was. Her body fading in and out like his, if not a bit more rapidly.

Minato and Ophis held onto one another, holding onto one another with all their might so that they wouldn't lose the other.

"I don't want to go back to that, I don't want to go back. I, I don't want to leave..." Minato said painfully, gritting his teeth as tears began rolling down his cheeks as he fought back whatever was happening to him.

Ophis herself wasn't having any easier time with what was happening, she felt all her snakes being forced into the Dimensional Gap with her being pulled as well. She used her power to fight against the effects but she had never encounter something like this before, brute force power was only slowly it down and the sensory overload was stopping her from coming up with different avenues to fight it off.

Minato was acting as her anchor, giving Ophis something to focus on and giving her a chance to rally against whatever was happening to them. Hearing his tearful pleas lit something inside of Ophis, she was sure what but it pushed her to summoning as many as her snakes as possible and tying Minato and her together.

Even if it wouldn't stop them being pushed out of reality, they'd at least be together.

Suddenly light and a peaceful melody echoed through the room, the force pulling the two out of reality gone as a silver creature appeared from the quarantined cards. The seal keeping them locked up gone, involuntarily destroyed by the malevolent force that just tried to force Minato and Ophis out of the current reality.

The creature's body was snake like with four appendages, two on each side of it's body, as it seemed to be sleeping in a transparent egg. Slowly it opened it's eyes to reveal pools of beautiful solid blue, it's eyes locked onto Minato as recovered from almost being forced out of reality.

Relief emanated from the silver creature's form as he looked at Minato "It seems I came just in the nick of time, my Vanguard"

Minato blinked as he was still recovering from what just happened, looking at the creature that appeared to have helped them his mind drifted to the titanic creature he and Ophis saw between worlds "You, your-"

Ophis, having realized what the silver creature was, did the only logical thing she could think of. Snakes encircled and restrain the unknown creature as she stared at it dead in the eyes "Minato is mine, my Vanguard. Go look for someone else"

Other than some small struggling to test their bindings it didn't seem the creature was bothered much by it's restraints, instead it gave them a curious look before turning back to Ophis "I don't suppose your open to the idea of sharing, Dragon of Infinite?"

Ophis's only response was to have one of her snakes grab the card the creature was using as a gateway and attempt to damage it, attempt being a key word. For whatever reason nothing Ophis's snakes did to the card damaged it and what little they did do were repaired almost instantly, frustration building Ophis let Minato go to destroy the card with her own hands with little difference being made.

Minato looked on incredulous at the sight, not understanding how Ophis could have such trouble with a single card as she resorted to biting it.

"Save your energy, Dragon born of the Space between" the silver creature said a calm and parental tone as amusement dance in their eyes "So long as my connection to the cards remain they are utterly indestructible, even against you"

Ophis glared at the silver creature as she reached into her pocket and took out their backup plan to damage the connection between the card and the creatures of Cray, something that would damage the sympathetic magic in play.

Holding it up for the unknown silver creature to see Ophis saw concern in it's eyes, it's stare fixated on the permanent black ink marker Ophis held in hand. The concern turned into open panic as the lid of the marker came up with a pop and the creature could smell the marker "Wait a minute, don't mark my card! It's my only Grade Zero Unit, if you destroy it now I can't manifest any higher grades and my connection will be cut!"

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't, especially after you tried to take Minato moments before?" Ophis asked pointing the marker at the unknown creature, the memory of Minato distraught at being pulled back to that space between Earth and Cray.

Minato winced "Actually, I'm confident they weren't the one behind that"

Ophis glanced to Minato worried, wasn't he being pulled back to where that giant creature was "But you said"

"Yeah, that had to do with something before all of this" Minato said before starring down the unknown creature "Still, the threat stands. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The silver creature closed it's eyes for a moment as it regained some of it's composer "I am Harmonic Messiah"

'Did this thing just include Messiah in it's name?' Minato thought to himself, not sure if it was the one with an ego or whoever named it.

"And I have come to you to seek your aid as my Vanguard for what is to come, as we speak a force beyond both Earth and Cray work to see both destroyed and I fear they have already started" Harmonic looked upward for a moment, their expression becoming tense.

"Why him?" Ophis asked, ready to mark the card and cut off Harmonic Messiah's connection in a moment "Isn't there anything else you can turn to, if what your saying is true"

Harmonic met Ophis's harsh gaze and spoke plainly "Once, I had those I could put my faith in to save both worlds. Vanguards of two worlds. But, the enemy has already taken them leaving me to search for new Vanguards to lead the charge against the evil to come" Harmonic turned to Minato, it's gaze searching for something it couldn't see "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why I picked you as my new Vanguard"

Minato blinked at Harmonic's admission "You don't know yourself?"

"No. Merely a feeling drew me to you, call it intuition or instinct" Harmonic closed it's eyes as it visualized what it felt from Minato "You are one who can pull the people out of their despair and pave the path to a better world, that is what I can feel from you"

Minato and Ophis shared a look between them as they took in Harmonic's words, however before any further action could be taken the malevolent energy before returned. Instead of washing over them it felt concentrated in a particular area.

Minato ordered one of his already summoned Personas to look for the source of that malevolent energy, it didn't take long before they found it. A massive ring of black energy hung in the sky that slowly grew as the area within it distorted, using simple projection magic Minato showed what his Persona was seeing.

Ophis looked at the black ring alarmed, the same energy that attempted to force her and Minato out of the world was distorting the world. It didn't take long for Ophis to figure out the purpose of the black ring "That's, a portal"

"It has begun" Harmonic said grimly as it's eyes focused on the black ring "Once that portal and those like it are opened the main force of the invasion will begin" Harmonic turned to Minato with desperation in it's eyes "Please, even if it's temporary, become my Vanguard so we can stop them"

Seeing the escalating situation Minato turned to Ophis "If I do this, will we-"

Ophis closed the lid on the marker "I'm, not letting you go off on your own" Ophis looked to Minato with a smile "We'll stay together"

Releasing Harmonic from the snakes they wasted little time in gathering all the Vanguard and constructing Decks with them "Let us go, we may not be able to stop it completely yet but we can delay it if we can get to that expanding portal"

Minato's Persona closest to the portal tracked down where it was, using that information and the link he had with the Persona Minato used a magic circle to teleport him and the others to the location.

[Intermission Card: Neon Messiah looking upset as it's body was drawn by a smirking Ophis]

As the portal expanding overhead the sounds of screaming could be heard in Kuoh Academy, already students could be seen running out of the gates while some looked up frozen in place at the growing circle in the sky. Gritting his teeth Minato rushed forward into the chaos to see what was happening, however he felt something tug on his arm.

Ophis locked eyes with Minato even as screams of terror and laughing could be heard "Be careful, we don't know what their capable of" as she said this the recent memories of them almost being forced out of reality came to the forefront.

"Point, better to not use any powers unless absolutely necessary" Minato said, admitting that whatever was happening the invading force could try forcing both Minato and Ophis out of reality again. They barely survive the first time and there was no insurance they'd survive a second, right now it was for the best not to give the enemy a reason to try it again, glancing at his Persona Minato saw it follow his unspoken will to help the fleeing students.

"Use these then" Harmonic said as two decks of cards floated before Minato and Ophis, grabbing each a strange glow emanated from them "These cards are empowered by the connection Planet Earth holds with Planet Cray, add your feelings to these and as the Vanguards of these units claim victory" Harmonics body turned into light as it flew into Minato's deck, the top blank card gained colour as the name Neon Messiah became visible along with a photo of Harmonic.

Minato and Ophis entered Kuoh Academy's grounds as they saw students holding up Vanguard cards or playing on invisible tables with all them having sadistic grins, in the chaos Minato saw Aika playing on one of these invisible table where her opponent let out a pained yell before falling to the ground unconscious.

Aika took in deep breaths as sweat rolled down her forehead, she gritted her teeth as one of the female students with a sadistic grin stood forward, Aika hastily gathered her cards and shuffled them despite her shaking hands.

"Aika!" Minato called out to the granddaughter of his boss's seeing the state she was in, Minato looked around wondering where the Student Council and Occult Research Club was. For a moment Minato wished Kiyome was here instead of on a mission with her father to the Fey Wilds.

Turning to see both Minato and Ophis Aika yelled out to them "Get out of here! Something is brainwashing everyone here and-" Aika paused as she almost collapsed but managed to save herself by holding onto the invisible table "You, need to save yourself and Phis"

"Well, we were wondering when you'd show up Mr Arisato"

On the roof of Kuoh Academy was Kenichi Matsuda and Hideaki Motohama as they looked down on the chaos below them, without hesitation the two jumped off the roof and landed on their feet without issue. The act alone was enough to tell the change the two had undergone, the fact that everyone made way for the two hinted that they held some authority.

Looking at the two Minato could feel the same malevolent energy above them in Matsuda and Motohama, looking at those that were attacking the other students Minato could pick up the same energy but at much lower levels "What's happening here?"

"They, they came into the school demanding to play games with the other students. Those who lost changed, and it led to this" Aika said, forcing her body to move despite lacking the energy to.

Matsuda chuckled "Hey, we gave them a fair shot so they don't have room to complain" Matsuda turned to Minato as his sadistic grin grew in size "Say, Minato Arisato the aloof Adonis of Kuoh Academy, do you want to play a game?"

"If I lose I turned into one of your… victims" Minato said as he looked over the sea of sadistic grins and terrified looks "But what do I get if I win?"

Motohama frowned for a moment before grinning "You catch on quick, so we'll be frank. Link Joker WILL end this world, but it's no fun unless we give you people a chance to squirm. If you manage to defeat us all those who have joined Link Joker through us will be set free"

"Link, Joker" Ophis repeated the name of their new enemy, dedicating it to memory as she looked upward at the portal and pointed to it "What is the purpose of that?"

Matsuda and Motohama looked to Ophis surprised, not noticing her beside Minato the two look at Ophis wondering who she is before dismissing her as a bystander "It's purpose is to open a connection to this world, once opened the true force of Link Joker will be unleashed and this world will be silenced for evermore" Motohama explained, looking over as those who didn't look up at the expanding portal in the sky in muted horror they fell to their knees in disbelief with a select few able to keep their wits.

Minato and Ophis only reaction were firm frowns as they shared a look before taking out the decks Harmonic Messiah had constructed.

"Seriously, not even the fast approaching end of this world will get you to make some kind of expression" Matsuda said, annoyed at not getting more of a reaction out of Minato.

"Believe me, while I'm not showing it, I'm quite pissed at the idea of some high mighty asshole trying to destroy the world again" Minato replied as he placed his first unit on the board as Ophis did the same.

Ophis looked at the possess Matsuda and Motohama, her stare causing the two to flinch for a reason they didn't know "You and this Link Joker are far too noisy, place your decks so we can shut you up"

The two vs two battle began shortly after, the possessed Matsuda and Motohama looking at Minato and Ophis wearily, Minato calling forth Neon Messiah with Paladins of Gold while Ophis led with Wildrun Dragoon and a Dragon Empire.

The fight was intense as everyone present stopped what they were doing to watch the match, Aika took the chance to get her strength back with Murayama and Katase beside her.

As the possessed Matusda and Motohama were nearly defeated they both fell to their knees with their heads held low, Matsuda slowly raised his head to look at Minato with a pleading look.

"Please, kill me" Matsuda said, using all his strength to speak those words as he seemed to be fighting something within himself.

His words shocked everyone present, even those who were under the control of Link Joker.

Motohama continued "You… need to kill us now, before it takes us over again. Quick, before it takes us over again, do it and set the others-" Motohama clenched his teeth as he gripped his head.

"What the heck are you two talking about?" Aika asked shocked at what she was hearing.

"There's something inside us, wearing our bodies like meat suits. We thought that girl was just trying to sell us on a card game, but when we lost something went inside" Matsuda explained, struggling to stay in control even as the power that took them over was returning "Please, while we're still ourselves -ack!"

Motohama moved his hand to his deck of cards, whether to draw from it or surrender as two wills fought against one another for control of the arm "I, can't go back to just being an observer in my own body"

"No" Ophis answered flatly, the absolution in her voice leaving no room for arguments, her answering drawing the attention of all those present as even the fighting wills inside Matsuda and Motohama paused in their struggle for control "I want to defeat Link Joker, you dying will only take away from it"

Minato smiled at Ophis's words and the confused look on the others faces "In order to truly defeat Link Joker we have to save you both from it's control, anything less would be unacceptable"

Matsuda winced in pain "Don't be a hero"

"What they're planning, you'd need a miracle to win" Motohama finished just as Link Joker retook control.

"A Miracle? In that case we'll make a miracle here and now" drawing a card from his deck Minato called forth a new unit to be his Vanguard "Hear my voice and appear. Dragon Deity of Creation and Order, Harmonic Messiah"

The battle between them came to an end shortly after, the power released from the clash shot upwards into the black ring destroying it entirely. Those who were under the control of Link Joker fell to the ground limp like puppets that had their strings cut.

Subtly using Senjutsu to help everyone recover in under a minute they took time to take stock of the situation. What they learned was troubling.

"What do you mean their gone?" Minato asked, hoping he misheard the teacher.

"I mean their gone, Ms Shitori disappeared without a trace right before my eyes and if what I've been hearing is accurate the entire Student Council and Occult Research Club are gone as well" the teacher rubbed her forehead as she looked over the empty office as the entire staff were out trying to help the students in some way, at least those who had stayed.

Offering thanks for their help the teacher left to support the other teachers, Minato frowned as he turned to Orphis as she was looking out the window "Seems like what happened to us wasn't exclusive"

"No, that glasses girl and her Peerage are likely in the Underworld along with the Peerage with the Red Dragon Emperor" Ophis said, while unnoticeable to most Minato was able to hear the worry in Ophis's voice. Worry for the welling of Vali and his team, they were suppose to be in the Underworld challenging something Ophis couldn't quite remember what during this whole mess.

Harmonic emerged from Minato's deck and floated between the two "It is likely the work of Link Joker, using the connections creatures have to their realm of origins to divide the Earth's defences. Even now I can feel something is very wrong with the connections Earth has to the other realms orbiting it"

"If that was the case then shouldn't Asia be here?" Minato asked one of the facets of the Dragon Deity, while not being a hundred percent with the others he knew Asia was human when he met her.

Ophis kept looking out the window, her instincts telling her something was off "The Evil Piece system turns others into Devils and connects them with their king on some level, that is likely ended with them being pulled into the Underworld with their kings" Ophis's eyes widened at what she saw outside "Another one"

In the sky above Kuoh Town another black ring appeared, searching for where it the centre of it could be Minato balled his hands into fists as he saw it directly above South Kuoh High School.

The two made their way out of the school to make their way to South Kuoh High School, Minato ordering one of his already summoned Personas to check on the situation at the school. He tried calling Satou to know what was happening but the phone call wouldn't go through, Minato hoped Satou merely turned her phone off and that she was safe.

As they neared the gates of Kuoh Academy someone called out to Minato and Ophis, behind them were Aika rushing after them.

"Where do you think you two are going off to at a time like-" Whatever else Aika was going to say was caught in her throat as she spotted yet another black circle in the sky, she looked to the two wide eyed "Don't tell me, your going to that next"

"We're, going to beat Link Joker. What happened here was just the opening battle" Ophis explained, hoping that would be enough for the Nakajima's granddaughter to accept so that she and Minato can go.

"Your making it sound like your going off to war" Aika said, looking at Minato and Ophis it began to sink in that was what they were planning "You can't be serious! This is some kind of alien invasion nonsense and your planning on fighting them head on, and what the hell possessed you to drag Phis into this!"

Minato could understand where Aika was coming from, he himself was still getting to grips with the chaos of it all and was mostly being reactive. If the roles were reversed Minato could see himself where Aika stood, even so "Someone needs to fight back and we have a means so with these cards" Minato held up the deck he used earlier to free Matsuda and Motohama "Aika, I'm not foolhardy enough to go alone. I have complete trust in Phis's abilities, we can beat them"

Aika looked between Minato and Ophis, seeing a determined look in their eyes that told her nothing she said would sway them from what they were going to do. Aika sighed, feeling a strange mix of exasperation, hope and reassurance. Aika gave Minato and Ophis a hard look "I'm going with you, someone is going to have to keep an eye on Phis while your off throwing yourself into danger"

Minato was about to say something before Aika put a finger over his mouth silencing hims "I'm going, end of story. I was able to hold my own against our brainwashed sadistic peers for a long time before you arrived so you know I can handle myself"

"Wait up!" "We're coming with!"

Before another word could be spoken more voices could be heard, from the school Matsuda and Motohama ran out physically fully recovered from their possession earlier.

Aika looked at the two shocked "Wait, shouldn't you two be in the nurse's office?"

Matsuda spoke first as Motohama caught his breath "We came out when we saw another one of those portals appearing in the sky, we wanted to get pay back for the freaks that took us over and made us attack the people here"

"Not only that, we were able to gleam some of their plans while they were possessing us" Motohama pushed his glasses up as caught his breath "Look, I have no idea what are chances are or how useful we'd be. But we want to help"

Ophis looked over the three ordinary humans, humans with no special gifts or blessings that sought to fight against a seemingly insurmountable foe for their own reasons. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't consider having them join, but this situation was anything but ordinary.

"This is dangerous, this isn't a game" Minato warned the three before "I can't promise you'll get through this alive or experience horrible things, if you do this there's a very real chance you'll die"

Their answer was unanimous. Despite fear the three of them were prepare to fight against Link Joker, sharing a nod Minato and Ophis agreed to take them along.

However, before they left Ophis had one of her snakes wrap around the three ordinary students of Kuoh Academy. They tentatively accepted them after seeing Minato accept one, with the snake wrapped around her forearm Aika gave Ophis a confused and concerned look "Phis, what are these?"

"My snakes, they'll help us communicate with one another and offer you protection" Ophis answered even as she sent more snakes underground to track down what elements of the Khaos Brigade were on Earth, while not for the intended purpose she was going to need them to organize a response to this.

Motohama poked the snake tattoo on his arm "Huh, we really do live in an urban fantasy world huh"

"Let's hope they can help us with this, and maybe get together with cat and fox girls~" Matsuda said as the two shared a laugh as they thought of a harem of Youkai girls.

"Not the time to be horny, we can do that later" Aika said snapping the two out of their imaginations. Aika turned to Ophis "So, Phis. What are you really?"

Ophis opened her mouth before closing it again, taking stock of the situation she pointed at the black circle in the sky "I'll tell you later, right now we don't have time for a full explanation"

The group set off to face the future, to fight a force that threatened the world itself.

-=-][-=-

Minato and Ophis's battle against Link Joker would be a long one, battling against those possessed by Link Joker and tracking those first taken by the alien force. With the list of missing Vanguards from Planet Cray they had a list of targets that would hopefully free a large number of people all at once.

However, finding the Vanguards of Link Joker proved more difficult than expected especially once it became apparent that they were searching out those who were first taken.

The Khaos Brigade had fallen into disarray with only a handful answering Ophis's call, the only Khaos factions remaining on Earth were the Hero and Nilrem Factions who saw opportunity in the chaos that had taken the world and thus sought to fulfil their own goals without major interference from Factions from other realms.

However, despite the disappointing response Ophis made good use of those that answered her call. Remembering their faces for later, she assigned missions to track and isolate those leading the controlled masses.

Fortunately, Minato and Ophis got aid from a surprise ally. One who forever remained in shadows but watched over the whole of Earth, Abyss. Abyss was a part of God's system meant to monitor the stability of the Earth various atmospheric and subterranean conditions with the ability to control it to a certain extent.

Abyss's ability to monitor the Earth helped them track down the Vanguards of the invasion, from the heart of Moscow to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to islands hidden in the vast oceans to lost temples forgotten in the sands.

Eventually Minato faced off against the leader of the Earth invasion with cards from the decks of his comrades added to his own (after his Messiah Cards were stolen) and one of Ophis's snake for emotional support.

With the battle broadcasted across Earth and Planet Cray Link Joker intended to sow despair into the hearts of the people, believing Minato couldn't defeat them without the aid of Harmonic Messiah.

Whatever confidence Link Joker held in their plan fell when the musical laughter of Harmonic Messiah could be heard at their declaration 'locking the powers of Messiah'

Minato didn't need Harmonic Messiah's power to save everyone, that power was already his to wield. To prove Harmonic's point Minato used the powers of Messiah and Ophis's power to empower a unit to finish off Link Joker. In an event watched by two worlds the invaders were forced off both, heroes had saved the fate of two worlds.

However, throughout the conflict Minato and Ophis had to use their powers openly numerous times. Just like the rest of the world they couldn't go back to those peaceful days, merely just keep moving forward.

-=-][-=-

Late July, 2011

"Alright class, remember to be safe getting home" the teacher said as class came to an end, everyone began packing their things with more than a few eyes on a certain someone.

Minato ignored their stares as he made his way out of class, reluctantly growing used to ignoring them in the weeks since school reopened after the war with Link Joker. While he did his best to keep his abilities hidden for as long as he could Link Joker and the Hero Faction under Cao Cao forced his hand, what was worse was that as things escalated the more he had to use.

Luckily both Minato and Ophis were able to find a way to counter the effects of Link Joker's reality expulsion together, but that only fuelled more to the fervour that started to settle into the hearts of the people wanting nothing more than a saviour to save them from Link Joker.

While appreciation is nice Minato found being called "The Omni Saviour" a several hundred steps too far, they would have called him a Messiah if it wasn't a part of Harmonics name, in saving the world he inadvertently isolated himself from most others.

"Yo! Minato!"

Minato raised his hand in greeting as he joined up with Aika, Matsuda and Motohama at the school's gate before leaving together "So, how's being back at school after saving the world?"

"I'll admit, it's a bit strange" Aika said as she looked skyward for a moment "It's surreal going back after so much had changed" she narrowed her eyes for a moment as she spotted something "Speaking of change"

"Kenichi!" a Yokai fell from the sky and was caught in Matsuda's arms at the last possible minute, the young man gave the Yokai an annoyed look before kissing her.

"One of the perverted trio getting an actual girlfriend is something most of Kuoh Academy wouldn't have thought possible" Aika said, happy that the notion was proven false.

The Yokai girl grinned "Their lost is my gain" she said forcing Matsuda's head into her chest much to his delight.

Minato smiled as he saw the happy couple getting along, wondering how Issei would react to Matsuda and Motohama when the connection to the other realms was repaired.

As they walked through Kuoh Town they saw how things had changed, one of the biggest changes brought about by the invasion was the reveal of the supernatural or at least what remained of it on Earth.

Magic, Supernatural creatures, Sacred Gears (To which Abyss was administrating until Heaven's System could be reconnect proper) and all fantastical elements were revealed to the public as the age old masquerade fell due to an alien invasion.

Stores began selling books explaining what Magic was and the general properties of them, a debate was being broadcast discussing what steps to take in the future while another screen showed documentaries of the supernatural effects throughout history.

The Tamer Organization and Magician Association were doing a lot to keep the peace and help with the transition between the old and new normal, though the Hero Faction was still trying to gain a strong foothold in the world after they absorbed the Nilrem and Hexennacht Magician Factions into their own.

Once the group arrived at Minato's house they sat down to go over recent developments, namely that of the efforts to reconnect the other realms.

"So, how bad is it?" Motohama asked.

Minato let out a sigh "Good news, with the help of the Zodiac Time Beasts, Gear Chronicles, Dimension Police along with the combined knowledge of both Earth and Planet Cray we can cut down on the time needed to restore the connection to other realms"

Everyone was silent, knowing there was a caveat to the seemingly celebration worthy news.

"But, at the bare minimal it will still be 10 years before a stable connection can be regained" Minato kept a straight face as the news hit all of them, seeing their hearts sink at the news Minato dreaded having to explain the same thing to the families whose children were forced into the Underworld and it would be 10 years before they could hope to see them.

Motohama rubbed his eyes at the news "Well, it's better than the hundred or more years reported earlier"

"Um, isn't it possible to get it fixed any sooner?" Matsuda's girlfriend asked, looking to Matsuda for answers.

Matsuda shook his head "We're already using every method we have to get it fixed, but Link Joker put everything out of whack" he turned to Minato for a moment "How did you explain it again?"

Using simple projection magic Minato conjured an image of dozens of interlocking gears to help explain "The basic idea is that the time axis of Earth and the realms around it were linked together so that time progress relatively the same through all of them, with a few exceptions" the image changes as the various gears broke away from one another with the centre gear moving at the same speed while the others slowed to a near stop "Link Joker knew about the other realms and decided to separate them from Earth, disconnecting the time axis and slowing them all down to a crawl"

Motohama nodded "They only really cared about Planet Earth, if it was destroyed it could have caused the other realms to fall as well and if any survive then they'd be on their own"

"Destroy Earth to destroy it all or even use the planet as a staging area into other Realms" Aika said, remembering the unhinged laughter of more than a few possessed Vanguards "And if we rush the recovery process we risk permanently destroying the connections"

The image changed to show the gears being forced back together, breaking the teeth of the bigger gears and utterly annihilating the smaller ones.

Minato dismissed the image as he made his point "Right now we're using what remains of the connections to realign the various time axis, although sadly not everyone wants to regain contact with the other realms. At least, not in either a decade or a century"

The Hero Faction wanted to keep the various realms cut off from Earth altogether, or as some of their own members had suggested controlling who can and can't move between realms to further their own goals of misguided human supremacy, but they weren't alone in wanting to keep the other realms cut off for a while.

The Vampire Factions had ran wild as soon as Link Joker was forced off world as they tried to take over Europe which led to open conflict with Tamers, werewolves and the Magician Association before the Vampire Factions were scattered to the four winds in the final battle with their remnants still causing trouble.

A number of nature spirits and druids banded together to enact revenge on large corporations that polluted the Earth before moving their ire to the people at large, though some negotiation was enough to stop their rampage for the most part. Instead becoming a very big stick to get big business to clean up it's act.

There was a growing movement of Magicians to have their contracts with those no longer connected to Earth nullified until the realms are restored, while there was significant push back from the larger Magician society the idea has been gaining momentum with the idea of helping to normalize magic to the rest of the world pushing the idea along.

The numerous organizations of the world were so entangled with beings from other realms that it was impossible to find where one began and the other end, the realms being closed off gave people possibly their only chance to untangle and learn from what they find. Grauzauberer, or Grey Wizards, were curious to see how they could handle themselves without the contracted Devil of their Founder to lead them and would welcome him back with open arms when the connection was restored.

Of course, even if the realms were cut off the other realm factions still had some influence through their native allies.

"10 years, by the time we see Issei again we'd be pushing thirty" Matsuda said glumly as he looked down before letting out a deep sigh "Damn, it's going to be weird hanging out with him by then"

Aika smirked as an idea popped into her head "You know, we could put together a little stockpile for when he gets back. Show him the material he's missed"

"Stockpile what?"

A small voice asked from the hallway, there stood a woman rubbing the sleep out of her red eyes with a head of messy blonde hair.

Minato smiled as he saw Valerie up and about "Afternoon, Valerie. Are you feeling better?" Valerie Tepes blushed as she nodded, not realizing the time nor there were others present "In that case I'll get started on dinner, care to join us?"

"Loved to, but I'll have to decline" Motohama said as he got up "I don't want to be a bother, besides someone needs to give Issei's parents the update on him"

"I'll come with, you shouldn't have to give heavy news like that on your own" Matsuda got up as well to help the friend who was like a brother to him.

As the others began to leave Aika looked to Valerie with a curious look "By the way, were you sleeping until now?"

Valerie nodded "Yeah, I don't want to go into too much details but last night Minato nicked his finger on something and used a tissue to stop the bleeding. I found it and…" Valerie paused as her mind went back to that divine experience when she found the tissue with Minato's fresh blood on it, the smell, the taste, everything "It was amazing~"

"Do we add 'blood that's catnip for vampires' to the list of strange things about you?"

"Already added" Minato answered as he threw a wink to the others as they left.

A little while later

Ophis arrived back at the Arisato residence mentally exhausted from the meetings she had to attend, being the last deity on Earth and being among those that pushed Link Joker off world gave Ophis no small amount of admiration from the people of the world giving her the chance to gain power not possible before.

Though there were consequences for this new avenue of gaining allies, the two biggest being she and Minato had to wear disguises when visiting the Nakajimas (Minato wearing a makeup and a wig while working whereas Ophis took on a different appearance) and the meetings she had to attend now.

"Oh, welcome back" Minato greeted Ophis as she walked through the front door, seeing the exhausted look on her face his smile turned sympathetic "Long day"

"The Hero Faction is making these meetings worse" Ophis said, remembering to make sure to double her efforts to find those traitors.

"Well dinner's almost ready and so is the bath if you want it" Minato said before a smile smirk as he channelled his inner house husband "Which would you like first, dinner, a bath or would you like me?"

Ophis considered the question as three scenarios went through her mind. One where Minato fed her at the table, another with them in the bath together and a third where see ate in the bath.

The mental image of her food falling into the bath water was all she needed to make her decision.

"Food than bath" Ophis said as she walked forward to hug Minato, feeling the mental stress washing away as she did "And you'll be with me for both"

"Eh?" Minato said, caught off guard by Ophis's words. He 'offered' himself as a joke not expecting Ophis for wanting him for both.

-=-]Exposition Dump for the following 10 years[-=-

Early August, 2011

While the shadow of Link Joker still loomed overhead all who called the Earth they would once more battle the Invaders from beyond the stars, however it would be on a different world that the battle would take place. A world known as Perim.

Christopher 'Kit' Rauff come forever seeking help to fight off Link Joker as they were invading the world of Perim as they did Earth. Kit was also known as Code Master Crellan, one of the creators of the Chaotic Card Game who, along with his friends from college, uncovered an all powerful object that came from another world known as the Cothica

Through visions the Cothica revealed what Kit and his friends needed to do, lest they collapse a time loop and cause an unimaginable amount of damage to the Time Space continuum.

While taking some time to prove he was being genuine, that it was real and that there was yet another game with an otherworldly element to it, there was still the issue on how to get to Perim.

The Code Masters used the Cothica to create a small pocket dimension called Chaotic between Earth and Perim to match the two's time axis without directly connecting, meaning they were unaffected by Link Joker's effects on tampering with the time axis connected to Earth, but their method of travelling wouldn't be enough to give Perim real help.

Chaotic Players used digital clones of themselves to travel to Chatoic, acting as a hub for players to meet and fight one another, before arriving at Perim to explore and get new scans before returning to Earth with the two sets of memories merging together. However, to get to Perim they needed a code to create the digital clones and while possible to create endless codes for people to use the took time to create.

Luckily, during the war against Link Joker the network of allies Minato, Ophis, Harmonic Messiah and their team forged spanned the globe giving them access to professionals to help them find another way to Perim.

While the supernatural worked on figuring out how to transport from one universe to another with their magic systems it was ultimately a scientist who gave the answer, one Dr Michael Gehabich. Dr Gehabich had been developing a dimensional transporter to open a gate into other dimensions relating to his study of Multiverse Theory, combining the Dimensional Transporter with a Chaotic code was enough to open a door way to Perim.

Thus began the second battle Earth would face with Link Joker.

The tribes of Perim were cautious of the reinforcements from Earth but quickly accepted their aid after it was made clear that Link Joker was their enemies as well. The battles were hard fought and only got worse when a wandering world began approaching Perim, a world known a Brandt.

With Planet Brandt's arrival escalating things the Code Masters of Chaotic shared specially made Code Scanners, not only capable of projecting hard light holograms of creatures that they have scanned but also allowing the user to take on a creatures form and tap into their powers, skills and memories to a lesser extent, to all those willing to fight.

Most Chaotic Players choice to run away not wanting to be part of a war, none could fault them for making that choice, and those that remained took up the new Code Scanners with four Chaotic Players leading the charge alongside the Code Masters.

Thomas Majors using a mix of Perim's OverWorld Tribe and Planet Cray's United Sanctuary Nation.

Sarah Laurence using a mix of Perim's Danian Tribe and Planet Cray's Zoo Nation.

Peyton Touhey using a mix of Perim's Mipedians Tribe alongside Planet Cray's Dragon Empire Nation.

Kazdan Kalinkas using a mix of Perim's UnderWorld Tribe and Planet Cray's Dark Zone Nation.

They led the charge on Perim as Minato and Ophis led an elite to Planet Brandt to defeat their leader and force the Link Joker forces to concede defeat. Instead of a card battle Minato and Ophis faced off against the ruler of Brandt (Wandering Starhulk Deity, Brandt Ringer) in open combat and defeated them without killing the leader.

Released from the influence of Link Joker the people of Brandt admitted defeat and ceased all aggression, after some lengthy talks Planet Brandt and Perim would join with Earth and Planet Cray in a mutual defence alliance in the event of other invaders appeared with Brandt and Perim coming under the protection of Harmonic Messiah as well.

In the middle of the Perim Brandt conflict the movement of Magicians campaigning for the nullification of their contracts grew far larger with it ultimately being decided to null all contracts with those no longer connected to Earth, Dr Gehabich's Dimensional Transporter offering the solution to a major problem being the made factor that pushed the decision through. His success with his Dimensional Transporter bruising the ego of the upper crust of Magician Society, research of all forms were shared amongst many Magicians with the end goal of one upping Dr Gehabich.

One of the new topics of research that came up was the Mugic of Perim, spells used with not with formulas or incantations but with a seven note melody, many Magicians looked into Mugic to figure out how to use it and incorporate into their already existing magic systems.

Tamers were jumping with joy as they had three entire new worlds filled with Flora and Fauna to meet, research and document. With Harmonic Messiah and the Cothica it became possible for digital clones of people to visit other worlds and return with the memories of the experience without worry of the original dying. The Code Masters of Chaotic were drowning in requests for codes so they could explore other worlds, eventually they began hiring new members with Tom, Sarah, Peyton and Kaz being made Code Masters themselves.

After the chaos of Link Joker the future started to seem to get brighter by the day, so bright it began to blind people to the growing shadows plotting to strike.

-=-][-=-

20th December, 2012

Dr Michael Gehabich was running tests on his Dimensional Transporter when he felt a compulsion to look into other dimensions beyond the ones they already knew, inputting what he thought was random coordinates he came across a sight that froze him to his core.

Three spacefaring civilizations were battling one another with large creatures being used on the front-line against the others, the sight was straight out of science fiction as Dr Gehabich stood frozen in place before he began recording what was happening.

News of the discovery was kept secret initially until a course of action was decided, for now they would just observe the conflict not wanting to drag their own healing worlds into another conflict so soon. Merely gathering information to better understand the source of the conflict and the beings caught in the middle of it.

Not knowing that just as they could see those taking part in this war between worlds, one of them looked back and saw Earth and machinations began forming as a being grew stronger from the negative emotions of the war taking place.

3rd January, 2013

Without warning large unidentified flying objects with glass domes struck the Earth and implanted themselves deep intro the ground, from these UFOs the same creatures that were fighting in the other dimension Dr Gehabich found. These unknown creatures began taking control of areas around these UFOs to secure their positions, either forcing people to flee or submit to the new invaders. The Vestals.

In moments Vestal forces had occupied large areas of land across the world, their early invasion meeting little resistance as people were recovering from the suddenness of the attack. The glass domes on the UFOs gradually became less foggy allowing those on the outside to see in them, within the UFOs were full multi levelled cities with skyscrapers and a large tower in the centre of it all.

Once people had a chance to grasp what was happening the counter offensive began, people who were displaced by the Vestal either fled to escape the coming conflict or stayed behind to offer whatever aid they could with many offering heir knowledge of the area to give the Earth Defence Force an advantage against the invader.

However, there were several key issues to deal with.

The Vestals 'cities' had devices that altered reality around it, nowhere near the level of Link Joker but enough to weaken attacks made against them and leaving room for the Vestals to use 'ability cards' to aid their monsters in battle. To add to that, Vestals were sucking the life force out of the Earth for power with Abyss being quick to raise the alarm on the life draining cities as those with connection to the Earth felt the effects.

Those skilled in senjutsu were sent tripping over as the beat and rhythm of the world changed, taking them several hours to get used to the changes, while nature spirits and druids grew weaker and weaker as they felt as if their hearts were slowing down.

The Hero Faction under Cao Cao's leadership ended up joining with the invading Vestals, led by a group of six known as the Vexos with a man known as Spectra Phantom acting as de facto leader. Cao Cao's alliance with Spectra granted the invaders not only information but also access to the various schools of magic to which the Vestals wasted little time in learning to use for themselves, creating device to mind interfaces to greatly increase the ability of Magicians and targeting Ley Lines across the planet to further the siphoning process. The Hero Faction began learning all they could of Vestal technology to combine it with their own knowledge of Sacred Gears, planning to combine alien technology with research notes of God of the Bible's gift to Humanity.

And to make matters worse Harmonic Messiah was steadily growing weaker, whenever Minato or Ophis confronted them on it Harmonic would become defensive about the matter. All either Minato or Ophis could learn was that it began after the three way war in another dimension was discovered and that Harmonic's condition was affecting the link between Earth, Cray, Brandt and Perim, not enough to stop movement between the four worlds but it would cause a notable increase in travel time.

Still, even with the added wait time Brandt, Cray and Perim sent whatever aid they could muster with Minato commanding residences of Brandt that were able to retain some of the powers of Link Joker after being freed from it's influence and Ophis taking control of the Progenitor Dragons of Cray.

Early on a splitter group within the Hero Faction broke away and turned over information to the Cross Dimensional Alliance, handing over information on the plans of the Hero Faction, the Vexos and all information they could gather from Vestal records. Including the Vexos kidnapping of people to brainwash into foot soldiers for their army.

The splinter group were able to liberate a handful of Bakugan along with cards used to empower or weaken enemies and blueprints for gauntlets to use them, it wasn't long before the Vestal gauntlets were merged with the new Chaotic Code Scanners to grant a wider range of capabilities.

Once it came out that the creatures the Vestals were using as front lines soldiers, a species called Bakugan who were divided into six elements, were enslaved Tamers wasted little time on working to free the Bakugan.

One by one, the Vestal's base of operations were conquered, their technology seized and the Bakugan freed. Vestal civilians were left alone and treated well, quickly realizing that the world they were suppose to settle was already inhabited the civilians apologized profusely, with civilians in the dark of what their leaders were really doing several offered to join in the battle against their own homeland. The pre-existing dissidence among the Vestal people boiling over to take up arms at what they saw as an unjust ruler.

After significantly more destruction than the previous Link Joker invasion, with mercifully the same low to non-existent death toll, the Vexos were forced off world with Cao Cao going along with them Cao Cao's most loyal followers went with him while the Hero Faction remnants left behind surrendered having grown disillusioned with what they have been doing.

While the Vexos were repelled whatever celebration that took place was brief as as many suspected the Vestals would return eventually, if not for revenge then for the sizeable population of their people stuck on Earth. While there was hesitation many couldn't deny what had happened, Earth and it's people found themselves involved in yet another war.

Dr Gehabich was suppose to be consulted on creating an early warning system for any movement between the worlds of the Cross Dimensional Alliance and the warring worlds along with the viability of getting to those worlds, however Dr Gehabich was found being possessed by something trying to force summon a number of the combatants in the other dimension before being retrained and entering a coma.

Seeing the comatose body of Dr Gehabich Harmonic knew of what possessed the scientist, knowing without a doubt who is behind this they revealed what was causing them to weaken. Harmonic's counterpart, their twin in a sense, Gyze.

Whereas Harmonic Messiah was a Dragon Deity of Creation and Order who gained strength from people's positive emotions, Gyze was a Dragon Deity of Chaos and Destruction who gained strength from people's negative emotions. The two were born at the same time and act as mirrors to one another, counterparts were one gaining strength leads to the other weakening.

Harmonic Messiah defeated Gyze and it's forces in the distant past and sealed Gyze into unknown space with the way in and out destroyed, Gyze was meant to be sealed away forever but Harmonic growing more and more weak is proof enough that Gyze was returning. Likely using the negative emotions in the three way war, between the Vestals, Neathians, Gundanlians and Bakugan to gather strength before it's nearing revival.

The longer the war raged on the more powerful Gyze would become, with little alternative the Cross Dimensional Alliance joined in to end the war. Not wanting to possible fight three different civilizations it was decided that they would make an alliance with one of the factions, it was between the Gundanlians and Neathians with the Neathians being picked for an alliance due to their less aggressive tactics and they'd be more likely to accept an alliance due to them being on the back foot.

Spies were sent to Neathian home world, Neathia, to test the waters for an alliance. There was some confusion when the spies were mistaken for Vestals, arrested and later met with the Neathian Queen. She question the spies what they were doing there due to them still negotiating their alliance, several minutes of clearing up the misunderstanding and showing proof of their story the Neathian Queen was willingly to accept an alliance as it also meant she wouldn't have to marry off her little sister to the Vestal prince.

As the Neathians got major support from the Cross Dimension Alliance the Gundalians and Vestals gained outside aid as well.

Vestals made full use of the Hero Faction's knowledge who in turn began constructing their own version of Sacred Gears, using the digital clones of themselves made from Chaotic Code Scanners they created weapons containing part of their souls and specially made dragon slaying weapons that they named Messiah Arms.

The Gundanlians came under the sway of Gyze's Apostles who were more than happy to offer aid to the Gundanlians, even bringing in the few remaining M'arrillians from Perim who wished for vengeance against the tribes of Perim and their allies for being sealed before being defeated once they were able to free themselves.

Before long the clash of so many different powers cause the dimensional boundaries of the Neathian and Gundanlian universe to weaken, just enough for another dimension to be found. One that became six as it's core divided, the original realm of the Bakugan, Vestroia.

Vestroia's core divided into two weaker yet still immensely powerful cores. They were known as the Silent Core, filled with Dark Power and Negative Energy, and the Infinity Core, filled with Light Power and Positive Energy. Seemingly mirroring Harmonic Messiah and Gyze, and both sides knew it.

But like all wars, they eventually come to an end.

Harmonic Messiah gave it's power to Minato so he could destroy Gyze with one of the Messiah Arms Cao Cao had created to defeat Minato and all Dragon Gods, however with Gyze's death Harmonic Messiah followed shortly after. Minato held Harmonic Messiah's body in it's smallest form in it's finally moments, content that the battle between them was over and could no longer affect the lives or mortal to allow them to create their own future.

With Gyze gone for good any fight his Apostles was snuffed out, none fighting capture with the Zeroth Dragon's turning to Ophis for leadership as along with Infinite she was also a Dragon Deity of Chaos.

Much to Harmonic, Gyze and Minato's shock Minato could feel Harmonic's power forming a new Persona within him with Gyze forming soon after. What remained of their power was now Minato's to wield.

Internal divisions with the Vestals led to their defeat, descent amongst the populous led to the royal family of Vestal and the Vexos to flee their own home world before conflict between them and the Hero Faction for control of the Vestal's super weapon capable of destroying galaxies (The Alternative) led to the super weapon's destruction. The remaining Vexos were handed over to Vestal for trail while the Hero Faction were taken back to Earth, one of Ophis's snake implanted into them to make sure they behaved.

With aid from the Sacred Core that Neathians held, a powerful source of life that contained not just the DNA record of all Bakugan with power over them but also the consciousness of the Creator Goddess of Bakugan Code-Eve, the Silent and Infinity Core were merged together to restore the Bakugan home world.

At long last, peace had returned. With the small exception of a few minor incidents involving two new species trying to start trouble known as the Hurranians and (weirdly) the Regulars, but they weren't quickly dealt with and settled down shortly afterwards.

A new era of exploration came into being, where beings of all origins would explore new dimensions and worlds. Discovering new worlds and new powers, making discoveries both beautiful and horrific. In a world where universes crossed paths, where the analytical and the mystical intermingle and overlap, it seemed as those endless possibility spread out in all directions for those willing to take the chance.

It would be years before any major events would take place on Earth, and on the ten year anniversary of the Link Joker Invasion it happened.

The once separated realms were restored, as those who experience only hours return to a world with years of differences.

-=-[Info Dump over]-=-

Issei steeled himself as he stood alongside his friends, even as worry threatened to overcome him, they were standing off to the side as Ajuka looked through data with a focus look.

It had been only a couple of hours since they and all other Devils were forcefully teleported to the Underworld, the suddenness of the event caught the entire Underworld off guard with many wanting to know who was behind it all. A lot of Devils were quick to point the finger to the Angels, Heaven and Fallen, for being behind the mass transportation but the Fallen Angels who were in the Underworld had no idea what was happening either with their communication lines cut.

It wasn't just the Fallen Angels, every means of communication to Earth or the other Realms was completely cut off with even the souls that went to the Underworld coming to a halt. It was if the entire Underworld was cut off from the rest of existence with even travel to the Dimensional Gap not working.

Right now they were in the Gremory Manor with Sona and her Peerage waiting to understand what was happening, though very early the investigation was not going well. Issei spent a lot of the time of their surprise visit to the Underworld bonding with Sona's Peerage as they were worried just as much as their families as he was, Issei was the only one in his Peerage worrying about his family as the others didn't seem that worried. Rias was with her family and while Issei didn't know either Akeno, Kiba, Koneko or Gasper's family life the fact they weren't painted a grim picture.

Thankfully, an angry skeleton god brought them some good news when he called asking 'What did you lot do this time?!'

"Lord Hades, is the connection of souls still recovering at the same rate?" Sona's sister, Serafall, asked the Greek God of the dead.

Hades shot Serafall sour look, not hiding his contempt "Yes, whatever you and your Factions did it seems to have been only temporary. I and my Grim Reapers are waiting on receiving the backup of souls this whole mess has caused, rest assured you will be making reparations for this incident"

Saji gritted his teeth and stepped forward before bing pulled back by Sona who shook her head. While she felt the same way as her Pawn Sona knew not to interfere and let her sister handle things.

"Lord Hades, I understand emotions are high in these trying times. But let me reassure you we did not have a hand in this" Serafall said, holding back the frustration in her voice.

"Just because you don't benefit from this, at least not in anyway I can see, doesn't mean you three factions aren't involved somehow" Hades said with barely restrained rage "Or, need I remind you of how you lot and your factions dragged countless others into your war and almost destroy us all?" Hades bent down to be at eye level with Serafell, his empty eye sockets glowing with red rage "Or perhaps how your creators invaded the realm of the dead, where those unable to enter other afterlives, come to find some measure of peace only be denied that peace by-"

Hades stopped, hearing something that the Devils present couldn't hear. Hades nodded, acknowledging the speaker before turning back to Serafall "We'll continue this another time, it seems the connection's repair is accelerating and I am needed with my Reapers"

Ajuka eyes widened "I'm getting a connection with Earth, but" Ajuka frowned as he read over the information he was receiving "This, doesn't make sense. Something's wrong-"

Panic screaming could be heard from the magic circle Hades was using to project his image into the Gremory estate. Looking to the projection they saw Hades was gone while several figures could be seen running around in the project, they called out asking what was wrong until a cloaked figured turned to them.

"There's, there's far too many souls coming through! We were expecting several hours worth of backup, but a DECADE'S worth is flooding in!" The communication was cut off. Their final words causing the stomachs of all those present to drop.

A decade worth of death in only a few hours. Rias, Sona and their Peerages looked amongst themselves as they tried to process what was just said as all others present held grim looks.

"A decade's worth. That would be, over half a billion souls" Serafall said, horror dawning on her face at the sheer scale of life lost in only few hours. Whatever had happened it claimed the lives of a little over 1 / 14th of Earth's total population, and that's not factoring in if even MORE souls were coming through.

What had happened on Earth?

With a great deal of reluctance Rias, Sona and their Peerages would be allowed to check on Kuoh Town so long as Grayfia went with them and they returned at the first sign of danger.

Teleporting into the Occult Research Clubroom they quickly found themselves in darkness and dust.

"Not to sound rude, but when was the lost time you guys cleaned this place?" Saji asked as he coughed out the dust he inhaled along with the others, lifting up his shirt to cover his nose and mouth to protect him from inhaling more of the dust.

"It wasn't like this in the morning" Kiba said, looking around the clubroom to see everything was undisturbed but covered in dust with cobwebs littering everywhere he could see. Dread began forming in Kiba's gut as he thought about what could cause this.

Issei went over to the door of the clubroom to open it, but try it he might he wasn't able to get the doors to budge. He had already summoned his Boosted Gear to augment his strength before Koneko stepped forward and pushed the doors open.

When the doors opened a breeze entered the room through the windows, looking down the hall they saw dust and pests in the hall. They could see a few broken windows with the skeletal remains of birds littering the floor, spiders and other pests eating what little remains there were.

"Something is very wrong here" Grayfia said, voicing what they all knew, she turned to Rias and Sona with a hard look "We're going back to the Underworld, now"

"Grayfia, please" Sona began, keeping her nerve even under the hard yet caring stare of the strongest Queen in the Underworld "At least let us check the school"

While not wanting to take the risk Grayfia knew the others would want to have a better idea of what was happening on Earth, reluctantly she agreed and allowed the young Devils to see the state of their school.

Grayfia wished she just dragged them back to the Underworld before they had a chance to see what had become of Kuoh Academy.

"No, the school is… it's..."

Sona fell to her knees once she saw the ruins of Kuoh Academy, the windows were all destroy as the process of nature reclaiming the land had already began to place. Large sections of the roof were caved in with parts of the walls falling apart, the holes in the walls look as if something was smashing in and out of the building as large claw marks could be seen in the walls.

It was clear the school was the site of a battle, a battle that had left their school to rot in the aftermath.

"This can't be real, it just can't be" Sona turned to Grayfia with desperation in her eyes "This has to be some form of barrier, an illusion by whoever forced Devils back into the Underworld. If we dispel it then we'll know that… that" Sona's voice caught in her throat as she saw the looks on the other's faces. This wasn't a deceptive trick, this was real.

They entered the school to find it devoid of life, improvized barricades were found around the school with no one around. Passing through the front gates of Kuoh Academy they found the rest of Kuoh Town in ruins, many of the buildings had collapsed or were gutted with few remaining up with no light from the ruins of their home town.

And at the centre of town was a thing, it was cone shaped with what looked like a drill at the bottom of it while a dome with lights within sat on top. Grayfia looked upon the towering construct that pierced the heart of Kuoh Town, of Devil Territory even if it was rented by the Shinto Faction, realizing the scale of what had happened was beyond what they could have imagined.

"We're leaving, NOW!" Grayfia ordered as she turned to the young Devils with her, as she turned her attention to them she saw the reincarnated Devils that came from Kuoh Town were already gone. Those remaining took her order to leave as a sign to collect their panicking friends, Grayfia was about to rush after them when a message from her husband was coming through.

They needed to know what happened to Kuoh Town, and Grayfia prayed whatever happened to Kuoh Town didn't happen elsewhere as she answered the call to tell the others the grim news.

Meanwhile Issei ran through the streets of his home town in ruins, memories of it bustling with life overlapping with the current reality of a ghost town, he used Boosted Gear to increase his speed until he finally reached his destination.

His home, it managed to survive the worst of whatever happened but that didn't mean it was completely untouched. Listlessly, Issei took tentative steps into his family home as he searched for any sign of his parents. However, it too was empty. Issei called out to his parents worried as worse and worse fates that could have befallen them grew in his mind.

Asia hugged Issei, bringing him back to reality to realize his parents were gone, he hugged Asia as he fell to his knees and wept.

Issei wasn't sure how long he was like that, all Issei knew was that he was brought out of it when Kiba shook him a little before looking at him with determined look.

"Issei, is there anything in here that your parents would take with them in case they needed to abandon Kuoh Town?" Kiba looked around the abandoned home, looking for something he had no frame of reference for "Maybe they escaped whatever happened here?"

"Well, I think they would grab our photo album. It should be right over-" Issei raised his arm to point to where he remember they kept the photo album, a spark of hoping blossoming in his chest at the idea his parents were still alive.

Light invaded the house through the windows, a sound none of the Devils recognized entered the house as something flew above them. The light dimmed giving them a chance to see what had just showed up out of nowhere, looking up they saw floating white balls with digital display faces looking down on them.

"Statement: This area is under the protection of the Cross Dimensional Alliance. Order: Raise your hands where we can see them and be prepared to be searched. Warning: Failure to comply will result in-" Akeno unleashed a lightning attack on the drones, do little to nothing to them "-Repeat: Failure to comply will result in consequences-" The drones dodged out of the sword swings and punches of Kiba and Koneko "Annoyance: Let this unit finish speaking!"

Knocking could be heard coming from the front door of the house before someone called out to those inside "Yo, security eyes. We'll handle things here, you can head out in search for anyone else crawling around in these ruins"

"Alright then, who are you lot?" One of the other drones said before flying over to the people at the front door, it scanned them for a moment before jerking upwards "AH! Mr Matsuda! Mr Motohama! It's an honour to have you both here, umm" The drone looked back to the other drones and the stunned Devils before turning back to Matsuda and Motohama "Can you sign my chassis?"

"Maybe later, right now we need to catch up with an old friend"

As they walked in and Issei got a chance to get a better look at them, these two adults were his friends. They had changed a bit since he lost saw them, Matsuda had built up a lot more muscle that was put on full display as he wasn't wearing a shirt with his open jacket framing his muscular physique while Motohama wore a heavy long coat with a visor replacing his glasses.

"Matsuda, Motohama. What, what happened?" Issei asked his oldest comrades of Kuoh Academy even while in the back of his mind he already suspected the answer.

"I lot has happened while you were gone" Motohama said, a light moving from one side of his visor to the other and back "Normally that's true for any decade but especially for the one we just had"

Asia's eyes widened "A decade, what year is it?"

"Answer: The Current Date, in regards to the Gregorian Calender of Earth, Friday the 21st of May 2021" The first drone answered, stunning all Devils present "Today marks the ten year anniversary of the assault of Link Joker and the commencement of the first contact war" the drone looked at the disbelief on Issei and cos faces "Addendum: In other words, an alien invasion"

Koneko looked off to the side, while she couldn't see it with her eyes she knew she was starring directly at the unknown alien object piercing the heart of Kuoh Town "Is that cone thing from the alien invasion?"

Matsuda and Motohama looked to each other for a moment before Motohama scratched his cheek "Well, yes. But, it's from the second alien invasion"

""""THERE WERE TWO!""""

"We can go over that later bro, right now you need to talk to your parents. I'll bring them p on video call" Matsuda said as he left his arm up to reveal what looked like a watch, from the watch a holographic display appeared that he used like a computer.

The members of the Occult Research Club only stopped gawking at the sight of advance technology when a window opened up showing Issei's parents, the tearful reunion took over from there.

Meanwhile, with another Dragon Emperor.

Within a forest in England.

Vali waited as Kuroka felt for the life force of the Earth, once the connection between Earth and the Underworld was restored they headed for England so Arthur and Le Fay could check on their family, once they returned Kuroka was quick to mention how off the air around them. Bikou was resting in the shade of a tree out of the sun, though Vali could tell the monkey king was checking things the same as Kuroka.

Kuroka furrowed her brows, a frightened look in her eyes as she turned to the rest of the team "There's no doubt about it, something has been tampering with the planet's life force. It's on a scale I couldn't even dream of being possible"

"What would be the long term effects of this?" Arthur asked, worry for humanity and the fairies growing in his heart.

Looking down Kuroka frowned as she gained a thoughtful look "As far as I can tell, it should be fine as it is. I'm more worried that there was anything that could effect the entire world, it may have been what cut the other realms off from Earth"

"No. The tampering of the Earth's life force happened afterwards"

"Ophis" Vali turned around to face Ophis, spotting the Dragon God sitting on a tree stump with what Vali saw as relief in her eyes. "Wha?" Vali said, an undignified response as he was caught off guard by Ophis's new appearance. While not much different from he last saw her, Ophis appeared more… mature.

Ophis still wore a Gothic Lolita dress but her now more… motherly appearance still took Vali a moment to get used to, if it wasn't for her eyes, voice and the fact he couldn't sense her Vali would have thought it was someone else.

Bikou let out an appreciative whistle "I have to say, I'm digging the new look" Bikou winced as Le Fay stumped on his feet causing the current monkey king to wince "What brought on the change?" Bikou asked.

"The world changed in your absence and I deemed a change in appearance needed, this world has changed a great deal in the ten years you've all been gone" Ophis answered, her words bringing up even more questions and concerns. Standing up Ophis approached Team Vali with a smile "It's good to see your all well, we have a lot to catch up with"

Before they could ask what exactly Ophis meant the sudden breaking of twigs were heard as they sense a new presence has arrived, looking over they saw a young girl holding onto something hidden by a tree. The girl looked to be barely a teenager, long white hair that framed her bright blue eyes. She was wearing a blue and white dress with a blue jacket on top and white boots. Team Vali looked at the girl wearily while Ophis looked to her confused.

"Sofia, shouldn't you be at the house?"

The now named Sofia turned to Ophis with an apologetic nod before turning back to whatever she was struggling with a frustrated look "My apologize, Lady Ophis. But a certain mama's boy refused to wait at home"

Finally, the struggle ended in Sofia's victory as she held up a three year old boy in her hands. The boy wore black shorts with matching socks and brown dress shoes, a white long sleeved gold button shirt with a matching while shoulder cape tied with a purple bow. The boy's hair was long with his left eye already partially covered by a long bang of midnight blue hair with the back reaching his shoulders, at a distance someone could be forgiven for thinking the boy was a girl.

When his grey eyes spotted Ophis the brightest smile Team Vali had ever seen lit up the child's face as he reached out to Ophis "Mama!"

"Ma-Mama!?" Kuroka sputtered out, voicing the thoughts of the others.

Ophis smiled as she walked over and took the child off of Sofia, she held the young boy in her arms as she moved the hair out of the boy's face "My little Ophiuchus, didn't you promise Mama and Papa you would wait with the others at home"

"Uh huh" Ophis's little Ophiuchus admitted with a guilty look "But, I wanted to be with you Mama when you met the people who are going to help us beat up the big red meanie"

"Did he just call Great Red 'big red meanie'?" Albion asked, the entire situation starting to become too much for him.

With a motherly smile Ophis turned back to Team Vali with her child still in her arms, Sofia moving to stand behind Ophis just off to the side so that Team Vali could still see her, as they saw Ophis hold her child Team Vali finally noticed the gold band on Ophis's ring finger.

"Everyone, this is Yuuki. My son" Ophis turned to look her son in the eyes with an encouraging smile "Go, introduce yourself"

Yuuki's previous excitement disappeared as he looked to Team Vali, becoming painfully aware that they were all looking at him. Meekly, Yuuki held onto his mother tighter as he introduced himself "I'm Yuuki Arisato. My Mama is Ophis and my Papa is Minato, nice to meet you"

The whole of Team Vali looked on in shock, their mouths hanging open as their minds worked to process what was happening.

"Um, how did you have the kid? I mean, how was little Yuuki, you know?" Bikou asked, wondering how it was possible for Ophis to reproduce. He thought it was impossible.

Ophis's smile became a little strained "Love and life find a way, love and life find a way" Ophis answered, Yuuki nodding along while Sofia projected a holographic image with the words 'Your going to ask THAT while she's holding her child?'

Vali cleared his throat, looking to move on from that particular topic "So, is there any specific things we need to know?"

"Well, there's quite a lot but if I had to select a few" Ophis paused as she considered what to say and in what order "Ten years have passed since the realms were separated by an alien invasion, Earth has form alliances with several different worlds across different dimensions, the public knows about the supernatural, I'm not longer connected with the Khaos Brigade-"

"Wait, you've left the Khaos Brigade?" Le Fay asked, while she was initially cautious of Le Fay came to realize Ophis wasn't a bad person but could be influenced by others but to what extent she didn't know. Hearing Ophis having distance herself from the Khaos Brigade was a relief to Le Fay.

Ophis nodded "Yes, the Factions that were left on Earth went rogue on me so I had to wash my hands of them. The Hero Faction took over the smaller Factions before being disbanded years back after Cao Cao was arrested" Ophis used one of her snakes to put up to the sky, looking upwards to direct Team Vali to do the same. Yuuki manifested a grey snake of his own to copy his mother "Right now, Cao Cao and those that remained loyal to him are in a prison orbiting the planet"

Team Vali kept their mouths shut, as that was far from the most outlandish thing they've learnt in the last couple of minutes.

"So, does that mean your a free agent again?" Bikou asked, wondering if they could get Ophis as an official member of the team.

Ophis gave the Yokai a knowing smile "On the contrary, you could say I have joined with an organization far more powerful then the Khaos Brigade ever was. Especially with my Twelve"

An ominous feeling fell over Arthur "Twelve. Twelve what exactly?"

"Aunts and Uncles!" Yuuki yelled excitedly, the joy on the young boy's face melt the hearts of Team Vali with Kuroka started to become envious of Ophis.

"Yes they are, my little snake bearer~" Ophis said with a smile before she kissed her son's head repeatedly as he laughed. After the show of affection she turned back to Team Vali "They are Aunts and Uncles, but" Ophis's smile became slightly more vicious before she continued "They are also Dragon Gods in their own right, my Twelve Dragon Gods"

"Twelve…" Vali began, repeating what Ophis said.

"...Dragon Gods" Albion finished, sharing in Vali's disbelief.

Ophis closed her eyes "To me, Progenitor and Zeroth Dragons"

As soon as Ophis spoke her command reality bent as powerful beings took form around them, Team Vail grouped together as twelve dragons appeared from the ether and towered over them.

"Shall I handle introductions, Lady Ophis?" Sofia stepped forward to ask.

With a nod Ophis stepped back and sat on the tree stump she was sitting on earlier, playing with Yuuki as she let Sofia handle introductions.

Sofia stepped forward, unbothered by the power of Twelve Dragon Gods around them, the Dragon Gods looked to Sofia to acknowledge her presence before turning their attention back to their new 'allies' for the upcoming battle against Great Red.

"Around you are twelve Dragon Gods. Six who served Creation and Order, while their six counterparts served Chaos and Destruction" Sofia said, the glancing looks she received from Team Vali was all the confirmation she needed to know they heard her just fine. Vali looked over Sofia searching for something to tell him more about who she was.

Sofia raised her right hand to gesture to the dragons "Those who served Creation and Order, The Progenitor Dragons. Total Purity, Agnos. Lightning Flame, Gilgal. Deep Sea, Balanerena. Horizon Limit, Origorem. Regal Birth, Megaloma and Gloomy Dark, Formido"

'Gloomy Dark? That actually sounds kind of cute' Kuroka thought to herself as she looked up at the massive dark dragon that narrowed it's eyes at her almost as if it could read her thoughts.

Raising her left hand, Sofia gestured again to the dragons "The Counterparts of Progenitor, those who served Chaos and Destruction, The Zeroth Dragons. Zenith Peak, Ultima. Inferno, Drachma. Distant Sea, Megiddo. Destroy Star, Stark. Death Garden, Zoa and End of the World, Dust"

Vali looked up at Ultima, looking at the dragon's feathered wings and battle gear it felt like he was looking at an angelic dragon. And angelic dragon radiating malice alongside the other Zeroth Dragons.

And as suddenly as they appeared they vanished, both servants of Creation and Destruction leaving after getting a chance to see the team Ophis was awaiting the return of.

"Bye bye" Yuuki waved at the empty air the Progenitor and Zeroth Dragons were moments before.

Ophis bounced Yuuki on her knee before looking over to Team Vali to see how they were doing, seeing Le Fay on her knees Ophis smile turned into a worried frown "Perhaps, that was a bit too much too fast"

"The power point presentation is already prepared along with the information booklets, Lady Ophis" Sofia said as she walked closer to Ophis and Yuuki "They should be able to digest the information better at their own pace"

"If I may ask, who exactly are you miss?" Arthur asked as he support his sister, still getting over the shock of being surrounded by twelve Dragon Gods without warning. Truthfully, Arthur was barely hanging on from falling to his knees as well "I have a feeling you know a lot about us, but your a total mystery to us"

"Sofia's our big sister!" Yuuki said, teleporting to sit on Sofia's shoulders as he hugged the older girl's head with his arms and manifesting grey snakes from his shoulders to offer more support.

"...Sofia Sakharov, I am a servant of Lady Ophis and Master Minato's family" Sofia said, unbothered by her head suddenly being hugged by a Demi-Dragon God toddler "I was only three years old when Moscow had fallen into madness during the Link Joker Invasion ten years ago, were it not for Master Minato and Lady Ophis saving me I wouldn't be here today"

Sofia adjusted her stance to account for the extra weight Yuuki was putting on her "Since then I vow to serve them faithfully for saving me, it wasn't until a year ago I was able to make good on my vow to serve them"

"Nah uh" Yuuki said with a frown "Big sis Sofia is part of the family!"

Sofia looked upward at the stubborn looking down on her "No, I'm not"

"Sofia, your literally the only one who thinks your not part of the family" Ophis said as she teleported over to lift Yuuki off of Sofia's shoulders "Speaking of family, how are things with my husband?"

Sofia's eyes began to glow, her watch that was used to project a hologram minutes ago lit up with a pre recorded message playing 'Future Force active'. The light faded after a few moments with her frowning "Master has met up with the returning Tamers and is heading for Kuoh Town. It seems the returning Devils are having a confrontation between the on site security of the Kuoh Town restricted zone. Hopefully Master won't need to lift a finger, so along as Kouji and the others perform their duties"

"Would you go and make sure things don't get too out of hand, I can handle things from here" Ophis said "Used whatever means you deem necessary"

With a bow Sofia left in a flash of light, her exist being a form of teleportation none of Team Vali had seen before.

-=-][-=-

Kuoh Town.

Saji was searching for any sign of life after finding his home abandoned. He noticed flying orbs that seemed to be searching for something in the ruins, he was able to hide from them for the most part but the drones mixed with the strange thing stuck in the middle of town gave Saji a bad feeling, it was beginning to feel like he was trapped in an alien invasion horror movie.

He eventually came to the centre of the shopping district where the remains of a statue he never saw before laid half destroyed, however Saji was more focused on who was in front of the destroyed statue.

Rias, Grayfia, Sona and a few members of her peerage were having a stand off against creatures Saji had never seen before. They looked more like aliens then anything…

"Are those aliens?" Saji blurted out, drawing attention to himself.

Among the aliens one had grey skin with markings covering their necks, horn/bone protruded from their head, while another had light pink skin and solid coloured 'bug eyes' and the one in the centre looked to be the most human. Saji looked closer at the one in the middle trying to see if there was anything to point to them being another alien, not being able to find anything Saji inched closer to where the others where.

Sona's eyes lingered on her Pawn a little longer before answer his question from earlier "It seems we found someone connected to the mysterious object in town"

The one with bone plates / horns on their head shot Sona a dirty look "I don't much care for the accusatory tone with you lady"

"What my friend means is that things are starting to get unnecessarily heated" The light pink alien said, raising their hands palms forward "Can you please come with us now, it will make things easier for all of us"

Saji looked around the destroyed ruins that Kuoh Town had become, despite himself Saji had to ask "What happened to the people here, to the people who called Kuoh Town home?"

The one in the middle, the one that seemed human, let out a long sigh "The people of this town are long gone by now, now can you make this easier for us and come along to our office"

"Perhaps you should come with us, I know pleasant place to have a long talk" Grayfia suggested, as she spoke Saji noticed the three aliens wobble a bit with their eyes becoming a little unfocused as far as Saji could tell. The tell tale signs of someone coming under hypnosis.

"""Yeah, sure…""" the three took a step forward in unison, all three under Grayfia's suggestion.

Rias clenched her hands with her eyes drifting to the large object the towered over them all, the Power of Destruction licked at her hands wanting nothing more to destroy the unknown object that appeared to her as an arrogant declaration of victory.

A flash of light drew everyone's attention to the three aliens as they clutched their heads, from their pockets small balls the size of marbles floated out and unfolded to look like different creatures.

"Now what are those things?" Rias asked, having no idea what the little marble creatures were.

The aliens seemed to be talking to the small ball creatures before turning to Grayfia with horrified looks on their faces, taking large steps back with one almost tripping over due to the uneven ground.

The light pink alien pointed at Grayfia "You just tried to mind control us!"

Grayfia narrowed her eyes "Well, it appears we'll need to do this the hard way.

"And what is the 'Hard way' exactly?" an unknown voice called out from above them.

Floating in the air was a man with long white hair and red eyes wearing a blue dress shirt over a white jacket with black accent and black trousers, his eyes were focused on the group of Devils as he floated down to stand between them and the aliens.

"Are you three alright?" the mysterious man asked, not turning back to look at the aliens as his eyes were focused on Grayfia and the others.

"Aside from that maid messing with our minds without remorse, stressed" The alien with the bone plate / horns said, their eyes drifting to the transformed ball floating beside them "If it wasn't for-"

The mysterious man interrupted the alien's explanation "Maybe don't share that part, yet. They might try it again-"

Grayfia rushed forward, the anger of the destroy Kuoh Town, the frustration of the situation and the utter worry for the others under her care out there in the ruins of was once a town Rias loved pushing her beyond her limit. She needed answers and the four before her now were her best chance at learning what happened.

"Kouji!"

However, before she could get close a ball of light emerged from the mysterious man's breast pocket. The ball of light expanded until it faded to reveal a dragon wearing Magician's attire with a large staff in hand, the sudden appearance of a dragon stopped Grayfia in her tracks.

The Dragon Magician held up it's staff defensively, prepared to act if needed "Okay missy, keep you distance and we can talk this out like adults"

Seeing the Devils tense up, the mysterious man known as Kouji made a decision that he thought would work out the best for everyone. Turning to the dragon wizard with a smile Kouji nodded towards his partner "Thanks for the save, Axia, though isn't it pass someone's bed time?"

Dragowizard, Qinus Axia, looked confused for a moment before the sounds of 'Disaster Force' activate came from Kouji's watch. Feeling her buddy's power mix with her own Qinus Axia invoked a sleep spell on the Devil's forcing them into slumber, all except Grayfia who rushed forward to defend those under her care from those she saw as invaders.

She never got close as Sofia teleported above her and slammed her hand down on Grayfia's head as a holy machine of white, black and dark hung beside Sofia. The sounds of 'Disaster Force' was the last Grayfia heard as a holy empowered sleep spell put her under.

As Grayfia fell to the ground unconscious Kouji looked to Sofia "Thanks for the help, but isn't using Vylon Alpha over kill"

"Perhaps, but it's effective" Sofia said as she looked over the unconscious forms for the Devils "For the time being, let's bring them somewhere that isn't at risk of sinking into the ocean" Sofia looked over to the giant object towering over them.

It was one of the smaller colony ships the Vestal's repurposed to act as mouth a colony ship and a mobile base, the idiot who planned to crush Kuoh Town as a personal attack against Minato knew nothing about the geology in question and couldn't stop what they started. As things stood, the removal of the colony ship was still on going as if it isn't done carefully it could spell utter destruction.

If that were to happen, best case scenario Kuoh Town and the island it was on would sink into the sea without dragging the rest of Japan under, worst case scenario it triggers the fault lines and destroys life on Earth as they knew it.

And having high powered battles near the literal epicentre was a sure fire way to see which would happen, Sofia looked down at the maid she just knocked out to make sure she was staying down. She was under no delusion that the only reason she was able to knock out the Devil maid was due to the element of surprise and a literal angelic machine helping to weaken her, if the maid woke up while they were still in such an unstable area it could mean disaster.

Sofia was ready to call for pick up to take the Devils somewhere secure when the sounds of engines could be heard overhead, looking up Sofia saw the starship that was planned to pick them up.

-=-][-=-

"How long until they wake up?"

"It should be only a few minutes" Sofia answered Minato as she stood side by side with Kouji "Even without my Disaster Force influencing them their minds will still need to go through the process of waking up"

Minato nodded at Sofia's words, Matsuda and Motohama were still with the Occult Research Club and while they weren't happy about what had happened to the others they understood the reasons why after everything was explained. While not ideal it was still acceptable, all things considered.

Kouji bowed his head "I'm sorry, it's my fault for not de-escalating the situation properly"

Minato gave Kouji a reassuring smile "We knew the start of reintegration would be a sensitive one, given the circumstances you and Axia did the best you could" with the mentioning of the Dragon Wizard they looked over to see the current situation Kouji's buddy was in.

The Dragowizard, Qinus Axia, was surrounded by the Tamers who were in other Realms during the Separation who looked at her in wonderment as she transformed into her full size to her mini state that was affectionately nicknamed 'Super Deformed (SD) State' due to how the transformation resembled the SD art style. One of the Tamers cheered before wrapping the now chibi Axia in their arms and hugged the dragon wizard who began to protest the hug after ten seconds.

"Oi! Haven't you heard about personal space?" With those words Kouji went over to help his buddy, as Minato watch Kouji rush over he saw Kiyome looking over the information booklet he gave her earlier and constantly glancing towards him.

Noticing he was looking towards her Kiyome closed the information booklet and turned to face Minato, even though ten years had passed he had barely aged in that time "Minato. Can you tell me what the ten years we missed out on were like for you?" Kiyome glanced towards Minato's hand where a gold ring could be seen "I, noticed you got married"

Lifting up his hand Minato smiled at his wedding ring "Well, the question is where to start. You can tell I got married, to who will surprise you. Despite everything that happened I managed to get into medical school, though I had to drop out due to others responsibilities at the time" Minato admitted with a wince, despite the fact his professors promised him that he could go back at any time the fact he was a drop out still stung "I had children several years afterwards, do you want to see them?" Minato asked, excited about a chance to talk about his kids again. He gathered up copies of their best photos to show them off to everyone.

Kiyome smiled became very strained "Maybe, some other time" hearing the sound of doors opening Kiyome looked over and saw the Student Council and Occult Research Club had arrived to the meeting room "Oh, look Sona is here" Kiyome said, wanting to get away from the topic of Minato being married with children.

"Minato Arisato, why is there a ruined statue in Kuoh Town with an inscription that refers to you as the Omni-Saviour?" Sona asked, not wasting any time in getting to the heart of the matter.

"Wait, the what saviour?" Issei asked as the rest of the Devils who didn't see the statue looked to Sona just as confused as Issei.

Letting out a long sigh Minato gestured at the chairs provided "That's, a long story"

-=-][-=-

Sirzechs sat at a table with Azazel, Governor of the Fallen Angels, and Michael, current leader of Heaven.

They had spent no small amount of time going over the information they have gained, much of it getting over the whole aliens are real.

Letting out a sigh, Azazel looked to his fellow leaders "So, how do we proceed from here?"

"We've lost almost all our contracts and contacts directly with Earth, aside from our allies that remained on Earth and our most secure holdings we're all essentially starting from scratch" Sirzechs said, reminding them of what happened. Most people on Earth contracted with Devils used the Magician's decision to break their contracts as an excuse to break theirs, normally such a slap in the face wouldn't be tolerated but given the world was engulfed in several interdimensional wars all but the most fervent voices demanding reparation from their former contractees were silence.

Or rather, they turned their voices to demanding bail outs from the Devil Government. Namely those who money invested into various companies that either outright didn't exist anymore or things were changed so much they held no more sway or gained the money they had before.

Azazel turned to Michael, an unreadable expression on his face. Heaven was still receiving faith from Humanity, no in small part due to Minato Arisato summoning copies of Archangels to keep people's faith strong, however that faith was also came with the caveat Minato being seen as a messianic figure.

Speaking of which…

"So, how do you feel about the guy whose the closest thing to Father coming back marrying and having children with the Ouroboros Dragon?" Azazel asked, figuring it was better to deal with things now and not to let them simmer.

"Did you know father was friends with a Creator Goddess known as Code Eve, it seems they were close friends since father literally named Eve after her" Michael said, turning his mind away from the notes that appeared after the system adjusted to the many different worlds becoming connected to Earth "It appears we have an Aunt"

Azazel opened and closed his mouth as what Michael just said hit home for Governor of Fallen Angels "I have an aunty?" Azazel shook his head "Hold on, we can discuss that later"

Michael nodded "True, I assume you all receive these as well" the leader of Heaven pulled out documents and placed them on the table "Since the supernatural is known, it seems they want to treat the various realms as separate sovereign nations"

"Serafall had a look at that, I have never seen her more conflicted on an issue in my life" while he hadn't read it personally yet, from what Sirzechs understood from Serafall's explanation was that while Devils would gain benefits they wouldn't have before any benefits that came from their previous anonymity would be gone if not outright illegal.

Michael looked over the papers with a distant look in his eyes "The world has changed again in ways we couldn't have foreseen, we'll just have to deal with the consequences of the change as usual"

Author's Notes:

Why did I write this? I thought about how a card game anime could possibly kick the legs out from under an urban fantasy setting, which DxD is, and I just ran with it. Not necessarily overpower it or even stand on even footing, which to be fair there are a couple that can do all that and more, but changes things so much the setting is almost unrecognizable.

Card game series involved in this:

-Cardfight Vanguard, used to set in motion everything else. First evidence of psychic abilities is made public, PSYqualia. Astral Projection is researched along with copying the abilities of another.

-Chaotic, offering first steps into other worlds and hammer out cross dimensional, time and space travel. Psychic abilities on put on display as people begin to better understand this power. Chaotic system of taking control of a data copy of a creature is researched and combined with Astral Projection copying to allow it anywhere with special items.

-Bakugan, interdimensional warfare with Earth being briefly occupied by invading humanoid aliens. Psychic powers amongst different species are research, psychic powers turn out to be an evolutionary counterpart to magic. Technology from other worlds are mixed with research into ability copying and psychic abilities.

-Yu Gi Oh!, this is based around the duel terminal lore and not the general Duel Spirit World. Mainly because it seemed like the easiest to incorporate. Brings in Fusion, Synchro and Xyz summoning methods with Pendulum being developed later on through time space research.

-Future card Buddyfight, helps expand this card game multiverse and provides an end result of other worlds being connected through a card game. Heavily inspires the world the Supernatural find Earth in. Psychic abilities are divided into two all encompassing groups known as Future Force (think White Magic) and Disaster Force (think Black Magic).

Why did I have the Underworld, Heaven, Valhalla the Fey Wild and other such other realms close off from Earth for ten years? A mix of wanting to simplify things, giving the new worlds a chance to shine on their own and have most of the supernatural of DxD experience their own little Island in the Sea Of Time (meaning instead of one person being inserted into another setting it's a whole group / place / nation, planet) moments.

For more information please look for the 'Mass Transportation' trope.

In regards to Time Zones, when the realms were rejoined it was 10 pm in Japan while it was 2 pm in England.

In this, Yuuki (Son of Minato and Ophis) is a recolor of the child form of Ryuzu Myoujin from Cardfight Vanguard G.

Worlds that have become connected to DxD Earth are:

-Planet Cray [Cardfight Vanguard]

-Planet Brandt [Cardfight Vanguard]

-Perim [Chaotic]

-Vestroia [Bakugan]

-Vestal [Bakugan]

-Neathia [Bakugan]

-Gundalia [Bakugan]

-Numeral Tilde / Duel Terminal World [Yugioh!]

-Various worlds [FutureCard BuddyFight]