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.

22. MessiahXDragon: Prelude to the Storm

Author's Note: Please read the notes at the bottom, I have some stuff written there as answers for possible questions after some confusion near the end of the previous chapter

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Picking up one of the pawn pieces that appeared in his hand Minato gave it a closer look to see it was made out of crystal, it was clearly magic in origin but seemed to have become inert.

He and the Nurarihyon boy had moved over to a fallen tree to figure out what was happening, Minato having to help the Yokai over due to them feeling fatigued. Minato glanced at the male Yokai to see he was doing better than before, after placing the pawn piece on the ground beside the four others Minato leaned against another tree as he faced the Nurarihyon.

"Right, I think it's best we go over what happened just now. I'm Minato Arisato, nice to meet you" Minato introduced himself to try and break the ice with the unknown Yokai.

"Um" The Yokai looked at Minato uncertain for a moment, he straightened his back and bowed his head "I'm Kenzou, just Kenzou. Thank you for freeing me from the Evil Pieces Mr Arisato, I am forever in your debt"

Minato glanced back to the area he came across Kenzou for a moment "If it isn't too much to ask, what were you doing here?"

Kensou flinched when Minato asked "We, we were to meet with a curse spirit that had overtaken a home nearby. I'm wasn't told the exact reasoning for why, I have had trouble keeping my sanity and experiencing intense pain for the past week with those Evil Pieces changing me" Kensou swallowed before he continued, mostly keeping the stutter out of his voice "I'm not sure what to call the change I was going through"

"Metamorphosis or mutation" Minato suggested for the young Yokai "They mean the same thing, change, though the context between them can be wildly different" the discussion between his many different Personas on the matter made that point rather clear "Do you know anything about the curse residents you were going to?"

Kenzou shook his head "No, I was in a barely functional daze"

Minato frowned "I see, because there's only one house I know about around here that was cursed and I just got finished cleansing it of evil" he looked around the forest with a cautious eye "I may need to search the local area to be sure"

Kenzou raised his head with his eyes wide with shock "There's, there's only supposed to be one house in the area. Are you a Priest?"

"No. I just have a lot of teachers" Minato ignored the chuckling from some of his Personas and focused on Kenzou "If you don't mind me asking, what led you to becoming a reincarnated devil?" Kenzou stiffened, refusing to meet Minato's gaze. The yokai was silent for a long moment "I understand if you want to keep that information to yourself, you don't need to say anything" Minato did his best to reassure the Yokai while he kicked himself, thinking up a means to backtrack the conversation away from Kenzou's past.

"I am, was the second son of a Yokai of some social rank" Kenzou said slowly, his voice low as he kept his eyes locked on the ground "That's mainly due to being Nurarihyon, descendents of the first Daiyokai, we hold some sway over other Yokai weaker or rivaling our own strength. There are means of enhancing this power and countering it but many never learn such things" Kenzou closed his eyes "I'm a particularly weak Nurarihyon, barely as strong as a normal untrained human, I heard more then once of whispers that had my father not been there for my birth or I not a spitting image of him in his younger years there would have been talks about switched children or unfaithfulness"

Minato walked over to sit beside Kenzou on the fallen tree, sitting for enough away to try and convey support and a respectful distance.

"I; I needed to get stronger and as if hearing my wish one day, SHE appeared" Kenzou tightened his grip on his knees "She offered to make me a Devil, to join Devil Society as part of her family to gain power and prestige so I wouldn't be a mark of shame for my family" Kenzou turned his head upwards with his eyes remaining closed "I'm such an idiot, I should have known it was a lie"

Minato was about to say something to reassure the yokai but held himself back, seeing tears streaming down Kenzou's face it wasn't long before he gave the abridged version of what he went through. Being treated as simple slaves, on the best of days, and suffering all manner of humiliation and torment.

"The only reason she even approached me was for the Nurarihyon ability to command lesser Yokai, screaming at me for 'wasting' her pawn pieces weekly if not daily when I couldn't control any powerful Yokai or get any political use, I'd be dead now if it wasn't for her Queen finally being able to kill our King" Kenzou spoke the word as if it was a curse, his voice dripping with venom and fear "We had become stray devils then and there, those of us who managed to avoid capture or death escaped back here when we began mutating"

An uneasy feeling passed over Minato, he looked back to the area he had killed the devil beating the Yokai "And the one with you earlier?"

"The Queen who killed the King" Kenzou said with a tired voice "They were just as bad as each other, we joked about one killing the other someday" he grimaced "Somehow, he got worse with the mutation"

"What can I do to help you?" Minato asked Kenzou, he gestured to the direction his new house was "You could stay with me for as long as you need, it's not much but it's better then nothing"

Kenzou gave Minato an uneasy look, inching away from him as he asked "You'd shelter a Stray Devil?"

"What Stray Devil? You're a Yokai, not a Devil"

Kenzou looked over to the pawn pieces on the ground before looking down to his hands, looking at them in a new light as the fact he was no longer a devil began to sink.

"Are you genuinely offering me a place in your home?" seeing Minato's nod Kenzou smiled weakly "I may never leave if I take you up on your offer"

"It's your choice to make, I can only offer help where I can" as he said this a part of him began planning on how he would explain bringing the Yokai back home with him.

"Thank you for your kindness" Kenzou stood up and turned to Minato, his smile more genuine "But, I'm afraid I can't accept. If I do I'd be running away from what I need to do, dreams of what I would do if I could be freed, starting with setting what I can right with my family"

Kenzou left soon after thanking Minato again, he stopped Kenzou from kowtowing, and making his way to his family's home in Kyoto, vowing to keep the miracle Minato performed a secret as best he could.

Standing alone in the forest Minato fixed his gaze to the Evil Pieces on the forest floor, he knew about them from his earlier meeting with the 'Occult Research Club' and asking Ophis what she knew about them, he understood the spoken and unspoken use for them was and the potential for abuse it could have.

It did little to quell the rage within him, his Personas shared his anger with Demons disgusted on how Kenzou's master went about bringing about another's fall. With an impassive look and an outstretched hand a blast of power struck the Evil Pieces destroying them along with a portion of the forest floor, he looked at his hand as he considered how different Bael's power felt.

In the trees a black serpent watched Minato and through it Ophis frowned.

---

Ophis ate her breakfast as she thought over the previous night's events, namely Minato being able to reverse the Evil Piece transformation. She had placed one of her snakes onto the former Devil that fled with the intent of tying up loose ends if the Yokai broke it's vow, still it did little to ease her concerns.

"So, Miss Abe, how did you and senpai meet?" Satou asked as she sat beside Minato at the table.

She'd openly admit to not being all knowing about matters in the various Realms, anything irrelevant to her goal of reclaiming the Dimensional Gap and defeating Great Red was either ignored or readily forgotten, but she knew more than Minato and was able to use that to be a trusted source of information.

"Oh, well I lost one of the dogs I've been taking care of for a relative and Minato helped it when it got injured" Kiyome said with a smile as she sat across from Minato with Ophis.

And she knew enough that having the ability to reverse Evil Piece Transformation was something many would fear and despise, it would be only a matter of time before others would begin searching for him and while sharing a common enemy could endear her to him it was not worth the risk.

Which of course brought another issue, that of others learning of Minato's power.

"It was nothing major" Minato said after finishing a mouthful of food "After that, the little pup led her to me and found out we're both third years at Kuoh Academy"

"Speaking of school I haven't seen you around at the Academy, Satou" Kiyome looked at the pink haired girl with a curious expression.

Ophis knew it was something new as she never came across a power quite like Minato's own, there were similarities to several Sacred Gears of varying strengths, and while she didn't fully understand it she knew others would think his power was from a Sacred Gear due to him never seeming to use traditional magic.

'Hmm, that should be dealt with soon' Ophis thought as she finished her breakfast.

"I don't attend Kuoh Academy I actually go to South Kuoh High School" Satou smile widened slightly as she glanced to Minato "If senpai hadn't began working at the same cafe as me I fear we never would have met"

"Gente Etiquette, right. Minato told me he lived in the dorms they have and I'm curious what the rooms are like, though judging by his plants" Kiyome looked over to a window to see several potted plants.

Once breakfast was over Kiyome left soon afterwards due to having to attend tennis club training, Satou left shortly after helping Minato with the dishes and promising to come back later that night to help him clean his new house properly.

Ophis turned to Minato with a blank look "We need to talk, now"

Minato looked away from the calendar on his phone, flipping it closed before he pocketed it "Is something the matter?"

"You reverted a reincarnated Devil's transformation, how?"

"To be honest, I didn't plan on doing it" Minato looked to his hand as a familiar green glow emanated from it "I saw they were suffering and I reached out to them, from that point on it was instinct that carried me through it, and when all was said and known the yokai was restored to their previous state" Minato frowned as he clenched his hand, the glow fading as he did so. While Dia and other such skills were used for healing it could be argued they were closer to restoration than healing, though he and SEES only really gave it more serious thought after Aigis had joined and all the healing skills worked just as well on her then anyone else.

"I see" Ophis frowned "There will be many Devils that will take offense that you are able to reverse Devil conversion, especially due to no such other method exists in the world to replicate it"

Minato's frown mirrored Ophis's own "I see, in that case we'll need to add other conversions as well. Because I'm confident this process is not limited to Devils, it may work on vampires, werebeast and other such beings"

"Hmm" Ophis nodded, her mind putting that piece of information and deciding to ask Minato if the process could work for other things "Regardless, you'd best not do that again lest those comfortable with the status quo target you"

Minato couldn't say yes, he couldn't abandon someone if they were suffering before him nor could he stand to break a promise to a friend. Instead, he chose the third path.

"I've been meaning to ask, is there any power in this world similar to the Power of Persona" Minato asked, Ophis gave him a puzzled look (?) "It's something I've been meaning to ask for some time, and your mention of how no other methods of reversing a conversion reminded me of it"

"...There are several that come to mind" Ophis sat back down at the table, Minato followed and sat across from her "There are a number of Creation and Avatar type Sacred Gears able to perform some aspect of what I've seen of your Persona power, if I didn't know any better I'd suspect you wielded a subspecies of the Longinus Sacred Gear Annihilation Maker"

"Longinus? As in the Spear of Destiny?"

Ophis nodded "Yes. It refers to a class of thirteen Sacred Gears able to kill Gods, the class of Sacred Gears was named after the Spear of Destiny. Due to this the Spear of Longinus is referred to as the True Longinus"

Minato frowned at Ophis words, thirteen special things were something a bit too close to him as it reminded him of the Moon Shadows, he put aside the naming convention of the items and pushed forward "So, I take it I'd draw a lot of attention if people thought I held a Longinus Sacred Gear"

"Kill or recruit, this is rarely a middle ground between the two. However" Ophis paused as she considered the idea of Minato being mistaken as a Sacred Gear user, specifically Annihilation Maker. She already held the current wielder among the Hero Faction and having others think Minato held Annihilation Maker will keep the true wielder hidden and disguise Minato's true power "Those who have ample experience with their Sacred Gear tend to be those offered the rare middle ground"

"Is a year considered enough for ample experience?" Ophis shrugged her shoulders, Minato leaned back into his chair "Well, either way I don't plan on sharing what I can do anytime soon" 'Partly because I'm still not certain what else has changed to my Persona ability' Minato thought to himself before he spoke again "Besides, people tend to default to what they understand when confronted with something new or something they don't fully understand"

Ophis nodded at Minato's words, remembering how her early years outside the Dimensional Gap and how many assumed she was some random deity they knew of or held a connection with said random deity.

"That is something that needs to be addressed" Ophis said, moments before a fly flew into the room with Minato giving it a momentary glance before the fly became stuck on a spider's web located at the top corner of the room. Seeing the look on Minato's face he and Ophis shared a look that amounted to 'go ahead'

Getting up Minato took down the spider web with a sigh "It's going to take a while to get this place completely clean"

"Why not call upon a Persona connected to house keeping to handle it?"

Minato gave Ophis a blank look "I won't. It doesn't sit right with me to use my Personas for something so mundane or trivial" a slight sparkle came to his eye "I don't suppose there's magic spells designed around cleaning"

Ophis tilted her head (?) before nodding "I suspect there is, there has been more than a few lazy sorcerers that would develop such magic" Ophis considered her next words carefully "I may know where to find such books, though it will cost favors"

"Wish I knew some of that magic for myself at the minute" Minato could feel the Sea of Souls within him stirring for a moment before he looked down the hallway, he grimaced "There's a chance we might have missed something in one of the other rooms, some foul relic of this buildings cursed past, if Satou comes across it anything could happen"

"Your worried for her safety"

"Yeah, and she can be scary enough as is without being possessed or gaining dark powers" with a conflicted look on his face Minato retrieved his Evoker, he held it in his hands with a reluctant look.

Seeing this Ophis walked over to stand beside him "You need the Evoker to summon Personas, but the Evoker holds meaning that makes it hard to use outside of certain circumstances?"

"More than I can put into words" Minato answered Ophis, his voice little above a whisper.

"Do you have access to the power of gods, such as Hindu?" Minato looked at Ophis curious, he nodded and waited for Ophis to continue "If so, creating Avatars to perform tasks is something many gods do, wouldn't that mean you can create Avatars as well?"

He was ready to flat out reject her suggestion but caught himself and wondered if he could, his power had undergone some change with him still learning about the full extent of it. Even besides that, words from what seemed like an eternity ago resurfaced in his mind.

"It's like the number zero… It's empty, but at the same time holds infinite possibilities"

Remembering Igor's words Minato close his eyes "I have never thought of the idea, much less toyed with such an idea" Minato raised his hand to a mostly empty part of the room "But, nothing ventured nothing gained"

===]|[===

"Well, are you excited for your first?" Kiyome asked as she led Minato through an area he was unfamiliar with.

"A little" Minato answered honestly, making sure to remain close by Kiyome so as to not get lost. Even so, he found his eyes glancing at signs around them.

"It's only natural, don't worry. While I may not look like it but I have plenty of experience in this, so I'll be sure to gently guide you throughout" Kiyome said before she came to a stop and turned towards one of the larger buildings in the area "Now, for your first charge as a Tamer!"

Kiyome said energetically as she pointed to the pet store, earning her some glances but nothing more from the few passersby. Walking inside Kiyome spoke to the store manager who led them to a backroom where a magic circle was hidden in the carpeting, using the magic circle both Kiyome and Minato were transported to a larger building designed for large creatures to go about without issue.

"Ah! Miss Abe, it's been too long" a woman in a lab approached the two, she adjusted her glasses as she neared them.

"I see your doing well Xue Lee" Kiyome gestures to Minato "I'd like to introduce you to my student"

"Oh, you got another person interested in tennis?" Xue Lee said with a smile as she looked Minato over.

"I haven't played much but I am planning to look at the male tennis club at my school to see if they'll take me on" Minato answered, earning a surprised look from Kiyome.

"Wait, really?" Kiyome shook her head and recompose herself with a smile "Something to discuss later. Minato here is a newbie Beast Tamer and we're here for his first, any recommendation Professor?"

"I think we have quite the collection for him to pick from. Oh, where are my manners" Xue Lee turned to Minato "I'm Professor Xue Lee, I specialize in Cryptozoology to aid Beast Tamers in their endeavors so it's likely we'll be seeing plenty of each other"

"Cryptozoology?" Minato asked, having never heard the term before.

"Basically we study Cryptids, meaning pretty much all supernatural creatures. Just keep in mind not all Cryptozoologists are in the know so some are aiming to reveal the existence of them" Professor Xue Lee said, pushing up her glasses, sounding as though she had said those same words a thousand times over.

"Cryptids is the term used globally by Tamers" Kiyome said, raising a finger upwards as she did "Due to how many different people have different name for the same things, and Tamers don't necessarily work with only beasts, it was decided to use a more all encompassing term"

"I'll be sure to have a collection of books readied before you leave, essentials for new Tamers and how to care for you new companion" Professor Lee turned around and gestured for Minato and Kiyome to follow "Have you given any thought to what you're looking for?"

"No, not really" Minato answered as he looked around the area they walked through, seeing a large number of people of different ages, backgrounds and fashion choice interacting amongst themselves and the varying 'cryptids "Though, I was thinking maybe a Fae Folk like a Pixie"

"Any particular reason?" Professor Xue Lee asked as they passed through some doors into another wing of the building.

"Not really" he answered as he remembered his first night into Tartarus with Pixie joining him after defeating a Shadow, a feeling of something he was suppose to do "I know there are fairies that live with human so it seemed like a sensible option, depending on the Pixie in question"

Professor Lee smiled as she turned to Kiyome "I must say, you certainly have an eye for talent Miss Abe. Or, have you been hiding this young man for weeks to months before bringing him here" the professor said, her voice gaining a joking undertone.

Kiyome laughed with a proud smile "Well, I wouldn't take on just anyone as my student without good reason" she turned to Minato with her smile firmly in place "Returning to the question of Pixies, domestic Fae are actually an easy entry level for new Tamer along with some minor Yokais. It'll really come down to which Fae Court your planning on recruiting them from"

Without warning a symbol began blinking on Professor Lee's lab coat, gripping the blinking area she frowned as shouting could be heard from the now solidly glowing symbol.

"All personal be advised, a rescued chimera has broken out and is charging through the area. Be advised that subject is highly aggressive and lethal force has been granted when needed"

"Rescued?"

Kiyome turned to Minato "While most Tamer's relationship with their charges are mutually beneficial and respectful to varying degrees there are those with, let's just amoral approaches"

"Experimentation, eugenics, forcing spiritual beings into special homunculus bodies for breeding, kidnapping, black market dealings" Professor Lee said with a notable edge to her voice "There's a special form of damnation for those wicked souls"

"Target sighted!"

As they reached a hallway that split off from the one they were walking down frantic voices could be heard, from said hallway a three headed dog ran down so quickly it almost crashed into the wall. It was mostly black and white with the outer heads black, the right head having blue eyes to the left's red, while the middle white head looked forward with orange eyes that seemed to analyze the area around it.

The middle head barked aloud causing a wave to wash over everyone near it, Minato narrowed his eyes as he recognized it as something similar to what Shadows used to make him and SEES Fearful in the middle of battle.

Minato rushed forward to meet the three headed dog, much to Kiyome dismay "Minato, stop! Oh, I'm glad little Phis isn't here for this"

Several minutes later…

"Are you sure about this?" Kiyome asked a bandaged Minato as they sat in Professor Lee's office, the escaped three headed chimera that they came across in the hall sitting in front of them "I mean, chimera's are not exactly an easy charge to take care off for even regular Tamers with experience and you want one that you personal fought not thirty minutes ago"

"I think we came to an understanding" Minato said, earning nods and barks from the chimera in front of them "Now, what should we do about names?"

"No names were found in the raid that rescued them, so for now this little chimera in the shape of a three head hellhound doesn't have any names" Professor Lee typed something up on her computer "You'll need to come up with four names, three for each individual head and one shared name"

"Think of the shared name like a family name" Kiyome continued, pausing as she saw Minato with a troubled look as he looked at his hands and to his soon to be first charge "Is something the matter?"

Minato turned to Kiyome, his expression troubled as if he only just realized a terrible truth "They have three heads yet I have only two hands to offer"

The room was silent for a moment before Kiyome barely held back a laugh, Professor Lee shot Minato a smile before turning back to her screen "Miss Abe, I hope you don't mind me requesting you check in on these two once in a while. Make sure he isn't spoiling the little thing too much" Lee glanced at the chimera hellhound out of the corner of her eye just as the three heads merged together into a single three eyed dog, the third eye shuts leaving it practically invisible in the white stripe on its head.

Minato tilted his head for a moment before gesturing his new charge over for ear scratches "So, is this like a merged consciousness or a shared one?"

The now one headed chimera hellhound barked several times, Minato stopping his ear scratching for a moment with a surprised look before continuing.

"Okay, that request for random checks just became more serious. I'll issue you both diaries to keep track of their development" Professor Lee said with a bemused frown.

An hour later Minato and Kiyome were on their way out with Minato's new chimera hellhound wearing a harness, Kiyome stopped when she saw someone she recognized running over to her.

"Kiyome, I'm so glad I was able to run into you here" the unknown person rummaged through their satchel to pull out a letter "A message from your father"

"Oh, thank you" Kiyome answered with little enthusiasm, the messenger gave a polite farewell before running off.

"Is everything alright?"

Kiyome turned to Minato with a half hearted smile "I'm fine, I just haven't really spoken with my father in a while and we've grown a little distant" she shook her and placed the letter in her coat pocket before kneeling down to Minato chimera hellhound "That doesn't really matter at the minute, what does matter is making sure Bridget gets settled in"

The singular head divided into three again, the right head with blue eyes licked Kiyome's hand while the middle sniffed it and the left most just looked.

"I wonder how little Phis is going to react to Alexa, Elda and Dealla when she meets them" Kiyome stood up with a curious eye "I didn't see her with you today, normally she clings onto you as much as possible"

Minato shrugged "She doesn't 'cling' onto me, and she had other plans today"

---

[Elsewhere]

---

"And that should be the last of it"

Ophis looked over the pile of spell books she set out to collect with an almost impossible to notice nod, she turned to the human magician who aided her and gave them a much more noticeable nod. Using her snakes, Ophis runs them all through the books to ensure no means of tracking are present before she leaves with them, double checking each book before being swallowed by a snake for storage.

"Um, may I ask why you're looking for these books Lady Ophis?"

"No" Ophis answered without turning to the human magician, she had every intention of collecting what she wanted and leaving afterwards which meant avoiding whatever politics the members of the Khao Brigade wished for her to be involved in. Which is why she picked this particular human magician to begin with, more or less kept to herself and her small group along with being the most likely to lead her to what she was looking for.

"Gone for months and the first thing you do coming back is collecting books on magic" footsteps accompanied the new voice as two people came towards them, looking over Ophis saw it was White Dragon Emperor and the current wielder of Caliburn and Excalibur Ruler "You had a lot of people worried, especially since you disappeared after taking back and returning the power you've given out. On a more personal note, I've missed the talks we usually have"

"There were things needing my attention, Vali" Ophis turned to the devil human hybrid "something I need to take care of alone"

"I'm going off on a hunch and saying you found someone able to help you defeat Great Red" Vali said with a smile, the smile that grew when he saw Ophis's eyes widen "It's not that hard to connect the dots, the only thing that would draw your attention is something to help with Great Red. Particularly someone seeing as I can't think of any other reason why your collecting these books, or keeping this information secret"

"...It's why I chose her to aid me in collecting them" Ophis said looking to Morgan Le Fay and Arthur Pendragon talking to standing beside one another "I rather keep my discovery secret for now, do not tell anyone of being here or what I'm doing"

"Of course, though I have to ask. Who is it that has gained your personal interest?" a glint passed over Vali gaze "Is it the Red Dragon Emperor?"

"No, it's not" Ophis checked she had everything she needed before leaving, debating on what else to say she decided to give Vali a hint to his rival without outright directing him near Minato "Though in my search, I came across the new Red Dragon Emperor newly turned into a Devil. It will be only a matter of time before he makes himself known"

"And may we ask when we'll meet this mysterious individual you've come across? Arthur asked, his curiosity getting the better of him"

Ophis answered with a smile "The world will know, when he is already mine" Ophis left soon after, no light, sound or fading, merely disappearing in an instant.

"Well. that's a load off knowing she's doing well" Vali turned to the Pendragon siblings to see the troubled look on the younger sister's face "Is something the matter?"

"Is she going to bring those books back?" Morgan asked nervously "Because a few of them I checked out of a library"

---

Arriving back at the new Arisato Residence, Ophis deposited the books onto the floor of her room in the house, as she organized them she could hear music coming from outside. Going to the garden after changing from her normal clothes to casual she found Minato and Kiyome dancing together with a three headed dog, she watched them dance together while none of them seemed to have noticed her.

It was only when the retinue ended that Minato saw her "Welcome back, Phis, did everything go alright for you?"

Ophis nodded as she looked over at the sweaty Minato and Kiyome, who mere moments ago were moving their bodies in rhythm with each other "What are you doing?"

"Dancing"

Ophis tilted her head (?) "Why?"

"It's to help train Bridget here" Kiyome said gesturing to the three headed dog, she developed a light blush and looked away "I'll admit I got interested and decided to join in"

Bridget walked over to Ophis and began sniffing her, she kept her gaze focused on the creature before her as she addressed the two humans with her "Where did you find Bridget?"

"A Tamer office where we recruit and hand off our charges, little Bridget here was involved with experiments designed to 'create' the ultimate attack and guard dog" Kiyome looked over to Bridget and saw her head giving Ophis varying reactions. The right head, Alexa, whined as she looked at Ophis confused and looked between Kiyome and Minato for answers. The middle head, Elda, sniffed Ophis seemingly just as confused as Alexa. The left head, Dealla, was already beginning to bare her teeth.

Minato noticed this as well and began rubbing Bridget's back to ease the confused chimera hellhound, clapping her hands Kiyome drew the attention of everyone in the garden "Okay, let's try something to help Bridget warm up to little Phis. Minato can you sit beside Phis for a moment"

Before long Ophis was sitting on Minato's lap, Kiyome encouraged Ophis to get comfortable, Kiyome looked at the scene with a nod "Okay, since Bridget is familiar with your scent it's just a simple matter of having them connect that same feeling to Phis. Luckily the sweat you worked up will help with that"

Ophis frowned "I don't believe this will work"

Minato looked over Ophis's head to Bridget sitting across from them, Alexa, Dealla and Elda heads looked over to them cautiously as if expecting some kind of trap. With some words of encouragement Bridget came over and jumped up onto Minato and Ophis, causing the two to fall over and come under assault by licks from Alexa, Dealla and Elda. Kiyome came over to get the cryptid off them but soon found herself joining them in the pile, it was only after Alexa, Dealla and Elda were stratified with their victory did they let off.

"Aright, let's train one more time before sitting down for something to eat" Minato turned to Ophis "Want to join in?"

Ophis shook her head, instead sitting on the sidelines with Kiyome as Minato and Bridget worked on their coordination, all the while her feet tapped in time with the music.

-====]\|/[====-

'I recognize this work, that shouldn't be possible'

Merlin's voice echoed through Minato's mind as he read over the magic book Ophis got for him, it seemed like a simple thing to call upon Merlin and other such magic wielders to help him come to understand what was on the pages, the last thing he expected was Merlin having very vivid memories and knowledge of the creation of the magic system primarily used by humans.

Something that shouldn't be possible due to the fact he was NOT from this world, so how was Merlin able to access memories and skills that they shouldn't possess.

Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment as he closed his eyes, he was starting to go around in circles. The only possibility was that he was somehow connecting to the collective unconscious of this new world, and that opened up an all new can of worms, with all the unknowns it meant for him and this new world.

Like so many times before, Minato wished he had access to the Velvet Room. Igor had grown to be like an uncle to him while he and Elizabeth grew closer in a far less familial way, both would have a far better chance of understanding what was happening then he could. He might know some things but it amounted to little more than basic concepts, it was comparable to knowing some term names for quantum physics and having only the vague idea of what they meant.

Minato took a deep breath and carried on with his studying, for now considering the new additions to Merlin being just add on to his core like his later myths, while making a note to search for the works of Carl Jung if he existed in this world and topics connected to the collective unconscious.

Raising a hand into the air Minato focused for a moment before a magic circle took shape, from it a crystal statue of a humanoid being with half its face covered by one of its hands took shape.

Turning the small statue in his hand Minato regarded for a moment before placing it on a nearby shelf "Well, not too familiar with this stuff yet but it should be handy" looking around the room for a moment Minato raised his hand again as another magic circle formed, a wave of energy passed over the room leaving it cleaner than before.

Minato examined the room to make sure everything was placed where it was supposed to be, everything else that he didn't acknowledge as 'not garbage' was all found in the rooms waste bin.

Minato allowed himself a small smile as he returned to studying the magic books Ophis was kind enough to get him, planning to make full use of them before returning them to her so she could return them to the library they came from.

---

"Hmm" Kiyome looked on as Minato and Bridget went through the 'trials' she set up for them, she turned to Minato with suspicion in her eyes "Are you sure you don't have prior experience at being a Beast Tamer? Because your making these trials I made look easy"

"I can't really take all the credit" Minato said as he scratched Bridget's ears of their combined head, earning "Their doing most of the work"

"Well, since things are going this smoothly, maybe it's time I give a taste of some of the other duties expected of Tamers" Kiyome pulled out several pieces of papers and handed them to Minato "That, being quests?"

"Like in a video game?" Minato asked as he took the papers, memories of the missing people reports for those lost in Tartarus came to the forefront of his mind for a moment, seeing details with the names of those who made the request along with the rewards on offer.

"Technically yes" Kiyome said under her breath "It can be expensive taking care of those we take under as our charges. So to help with supporting ourselves various Tamer centric organizations maintain a system for us to earn money and materials, the types of quests are as numerous as those who become charges of Tamers"

Looking over the quests Minato saw they were for gathering flowers, hunting animals and securing the area for an unknown person. He also noted another important detail, they all shared the same destination.

"Is there another purpose for these Quests?" Minato asked, feeling there was something more than what Kiyome had told him. Kneeling down he showed the papers to Bridget "Which one do you want to do first?"

Bridget's head divided into three, each head giving a different answer.

'Barkbark' I wanna secure the area, said Alexa, her blue eyes shining

'BarkBark' No, go for gathering flowers, said Elda, her emerald eyes sparkling

'BARKBARK' Hunting Hunting Hunting, it'll be fun let's go, said Dealla, her red eyes burning with an inner flame.

"You're sharper then you look" Kiyome said with a nod, "Yes, the other purpose of Quests is to keep track of Tamers and those they train. This is mainly to weed out any abuse on the part of Tamer or Charge" she walked over to Minato and took back the papers "Though you'll only be limited to 'Rookie' Quests until you officially get your license, the tests for getting one can be more difficult for most then others so these rookie quests will help us further your training"

"How do you plan on getting there? If my memory serves me well, that location is quite the distance away" Minato's thoughts drifted back to work and his shift for the night.

"Perks of being a Tamer, having charges that can get us places fast" Kiyome said, several of her monsters came forward with her riding with a headless horseman.

Minato looked at the other monsters that came with Kiyome, seeing several of them offering him a ride he considered his options.

A choice taken from him as he felt the air grow significantly hotter behind him, turning around Minato saw Bridget surrounded in flames of blue, red and green that grew in size with her. Before the chimera hellhound was little smaller than a medium size dog now rivalled a horse in height, without warning Elda tossed Minato onto their back before looking smugly at the other monsters.

Without missing a beat both Minato and Kiyome made notes of what had just transpired, before setting off to the mountains for their quests.

As they went about their work, a figure would regularly check up on them throughout the day. One that paid special attention to Minato, especially as Kiyome showed him ways Tamers support their charges in battle.

---

"Is it cool if I stop around your place after school?" Aika asked Minato as they walked to school together "I'm curious of what it's like and Satou isn't saying much"

Minato nodded "Sure, we'll go together. Don't want to risk Bridget thinking your an intruder and biting you" Minato turned to Aika with a small smile "I adopted a dog recently, not sure if I mentioned that before"

"Oh good, for a second there I thought you took in some wild woman foreigner who was living out in the woods" Aika said jokingly, she gave Minato a half lidded look "Though, considering it's you, you might actually do that if the chance came up"

Mianto opened his mouth to reply before closing it, his thoughts drifting back to him offering the yokai Kenzou a place to stay, he looked away from Aika and instead focused on what was in front of him as they neared the school.

"Oi, don't tell me you'd actually do it?" Aika asked, her previously joking tone changing into worry.

"I don't have any rebuttal to that," Minato said with a resigned tone, causing Aika to facepalm.

As they drew closer to the school Minato saw several people waiting by the front gate, what was different however was a small group looking directly at him.

Issei Hyoudou smiled as he waved Minato over with Sona Sitri standing beside him with a tired look, and along with them Asia stood with them beaming. The aura of Devils prominently present on all three.

Angels raged at what had happened to Asia demanding she be made human again, Demons snickered as the sight of another one of those faithful to God led astray. But, even with the many different reactions, one course of action was clear.

Investigate what has happened and to act accordingly, whatever it may be.

"Hey, Minato! Over here!"

A noticeable portion of the students at the gate paused to look over to Issei Aika herself gave the second year a confused look before turning to Minato "Wait, you know Issei?"

"Through reputation and mutual acquaintances" Minato answered as he drew near the group of Devils, Sona scolding Issei for his outburst as the gathered students began whispering. Minato shared a look with Aika "And no, I don't know why he's calling me over either"

"Mr Arisato" Sona turned to Minato as soon as he got close enough "Are you free to speak with us after school, there's an urgent private matter we need to discuss?"

After school Minato found himself at the student council room with him flanked on all sides by Rias and Sona's Peerage, he wasn't sure if the intimidation attempt was intentional or not on their part and even if it was it wasn't very effective.

After all the formalities were done they got to the heart of the matter, training. Namely, Rias had an important match coming up with another Devil and needed help training.

He asked why him? They answered that Beast Tamers were renowned for bringing out the inner potential of others and that was what they needed at the moment, they had planned on asking Kiyome but she had a scheduling conflict and since Koneko saw him with Kiyome working together to secure the area for their training camp it couldn't hurt to ask.

Minato made a mental note to check in with Kiyome to make sure what they were saying were true, he wanted to believe they were being up front with him but it didn't hurt to check.

The obvious question to ask was why him, an apprentice to a Beast Tamer rather than one more experienced, there were many more people far more qualified to help them push them beyond their limits then him.

Because they were short on time and they trusted him, that was their half hearted answer.

He would have walked away from the meeting due to how sketchy it all felt, but it was his best chance to make sure what happened to Kenzou hadn't happened to Asia.

"So you're going with the Occult Research Club to some remote forest, for two days" Aika said as she held onto her tea cup, they sat in Minato's living room as they talked over what the meeting was about. Slightly altered to remove the supernatural elements.

"Was supposed to be a week, but I can only attend two days due to pre-existing responsibilities" Minato replied, remembering how that part of negotiations seemed to drag on forever with both Sona and Rias offering double and triple payment for the whole week with him turning them down each time.

Speaking of which he still needed to review the information on the enemy Peerage they're going up against, Sona already had it prepared for him along with what information they had.

Aika furrowed her brow "That really sounds like the start of a horror story" Aika put on a creepy smile as she raised her hands above her head "Isolated in the woods an Occult School club unleashes an evil many pray never is released"

"Wait, would the Occult club be the monsters or unleash the monsters?" Satou asked as she stole a glance towards Bridget who sat between Minato and her, Bridget returned the stare with her own heterochromia one.

"I am the monster" Minato said in a dark and dramatic tone.

Aika barely held back a laugh "No offense Minato, but you're not scary enough to be a slasher villain. Heck, Satou here is better suited for the role"

Satou looked to Aika wide eyed "What!? Why me?"

"Because I have seen those cold eyes you get when someone tries to harsh Minato in maid mode" Aika said, stiffening slightly as Satou's eyes changed to that cold eye stare for a moment, Aika quickly turned to Ophis who was peaceful nibbling at some sweets before the cold sweat came "So, your going to stay with my Grandma and Grandpa while Minato's gone?"

Ophis nodded "He refuses to let me remain here alone"

"Yeah, I'm confident we'd all be worried if you were left on your own" Aika turned to Bridget to see her yawning "What about your new pop, I'm pretty sure Gentle Etiquette can't house pets so where is she going to go?"

"A mentor of mine agreed to look after her, you know Kiyome Abe from the Tennis club?" Minato asked, his thoughts drifting towards Kiyome wondering how she was taking the news he gave her, especially given the undertone of her voice at the end of their call.

"Oh~ So, the rumors are true then?" Aika asked with a mischievous grin.

---

"Rias, what are your planning?"

Kiyome and Rias stood opposite each other in front of the academy's front gate, the two of them meeting in private after Kiyome called Rias for an urgent matter.

"I'm not planning anything, is everything alright Kiyome?" Rias asked as she looked at Kiyome with a worried look, while they weren't exactly close friends they were on good terms with one another. In all the years she knew her, Rias had never seen Kiyome this upset.

"I know about the training camp you 'hired' my student for" Kiyome answered, Rias flinched at Kiyome's answer "And I know about how both you and Sitri already offered him places in your Peerages and he turned you both down, a two day training camp is not going to make him change his mind"

"It was meant to be a week" Rias answered meekly, looking away unable to meet Kiyome's gaze.

"Rias" Kiyome rubbed her forehead, her eyes closed to keep back the headache beginning to take shape "Do you have any idea of the political nightmare storm this will cause if word got out, heiress of one the thirty two Pillars hiring an apprentice Beast Tamer and isolating him with her and her peerage in order to recruit him?"

Rias sighed in defeat "I know, okay. The relationship with the Three Factions and Tamers has only recently started improving over the last few years, and me doing this can cause all of that to be undo. If not directly, then by having other Kings hiring Tamer to force them into position against their will or even proxy battles"

"And cost Minato any future career of being a Tamer, let's not forget about him in all of this now" Kiyome said, shooting Rias a frustrated glare "Tamer organizations have strict rules for this sort of things, rules making it so a promising new Tamer could be blacklisted before he even got his feet off the ground"

The atmosphere around them grew tense, neither speaking a word as neither due what to say next.

After a long period of silence Kiyome let out a sigh "Rias, I know what you're going through. My father is insisting I marry some stranger I don't even know, there is always this sense of dread in the back of my mind asking if this is the day I get the call where I'm forced down the aisle and my future is taken from me, but I can't in good conscious let you do this"

Rias turned to Kiyome in wide eyed shock, this was the first time she was hearing of the Beast Tamer being in a similar position as her. While a part of her doubted if what Kiyome said was true, it was gone as quickly as it came due to the tone in Kiyome's voice "Kiyome?"

"He and I may be classmates, but I am also his mentor and teacher" Kiyome placed her hand over her chest as she closed her eyes, recent memories coming to the forefront of her mind "I've seen him come to learn and love the world of being a Tamer, seeing him take to it like second nature with a well of knowledge that I know will only grow far larger in time" Kiyome opened her eyes and looked to Rias with eyes that held a glint of shame "I'll confess, I have the same intentions as you. Hoping Minato would be the key to freeing me from the unloved marriage others have decided for me"

"Difference being he can go back to how things were before he was a Tamer, he can't do that as a Devil" Rias continued for Kiyome, while a part of her wanted to call Kiyome a hypocrite for calling her out on wanting Minato to get her out of her engagement while doing the same thing, Rias knew that Minato would need to walk very different paths to accomplish what were similar goals.

Even knowing this, her thoughts drifted back to Riser and his peerage in her club room. Unable to do anything as Issei was brutally beaten by Riser's own pawn piece. Her chest tightened, the thought of her own peerage not being strong enough gripping her heart and mind like a vice.

She needed power, and Minato was the only option she could think of using her invaluable unused pieces on at moment. Asia spoke highly of him even if she was made to promise to keep his battle at the church a secret, though they hadn't seen most of his battle with the stray exorcist he was able to hold his own.

"Just, let me ask him again"

"You don't have to ask me permission to try and recruit my student Rias, that's something only he can answer" Kiyome gave Rias a comforting smile filled relief "Just, respect his choice and don't try to force the matter"

Rias nodded, it was the least she could do.

---

At the end of the first day of training camp

---

"Fight me Minato, if I win you join President's Peerage!" Issei said with hot blooded determination, Boosted Gear manifesting on his left forearm as he raised it up.

'Well. things turned sour fast' Minato thought as he stood by the doorway, he was about to leave the dinning room to retire for the night when Issei made his challenge.

Overall the first day of the training camp was pleasant, there was a notable awkwardness in the air with Minato being the lone outsider among a group of friends but it was manageable.

They had made excellent progress over the course of a single day, covering weaknesses and working on their strengths, Asia in particular devouring knowledge on bodies to supplement her previous study on biology the church provided her both mundane and supernatural.

Then it all came crashing down at dinner when they tried recruiting him again, and once again turned them down. A bit more firmly than last time due to what he learned during the day's training, a simple fact they themselves didn't seem to realize.

They want his help, but they did not need it.

They had all the tools they needed to overcome the upcoming battle, all they required was some training to hone their skills and teamwork.

Normally he would have given his perverted underclassman a tired 'no' before going to bed, however Issei's words rubbed Minato the wrong way.

"So, now your going to use physical violence to make me comply"

Kenzou story coupled with Kiyome's warning/lecture from before he came here with the Occult Research Club were still very much fresh in his mind, even if it wasn't his intention Issei's words coupled with the current circumstances made Minato wonder how many fell into traps that were similar to this training camp.

Minato sighed deeply before rubbing the bridge of his nose "If we're doing this, everyone will need to be involved not just you Issei" Minato looked over the Occult Research Club with a keen eyes "Tomorrow the entire Occult Research Club will go up against me at noon, if you haven't defeated me by the time the sun sets over the horizon I win and none of you or those directly connected to you will bother me about joining a peerage again"

He was already planning to have them go through a mock battle tomorrow anyway, only now it was going to be taken slightly more seriously.

Personas made themselves known from the Sea of Souls volunteering for what he had planned.

---

Rias sighed deeply as she led her peerage to the area Minato had planned for their battle, she didn't need to look behind her to know her peerage were tense.

"Um, are we really going to fight Minato?" Asia asked aloud as she looked over the group as they made their way uphill "It, just doesn't seem fair for it to be six against one"

"Arisato himself was the one who made the rules for this, though it might not have come to this if last night went differently" Kiba replied, he spied a glance to Issei to see their pawn's shoulders sink a notable amount.

"I really put my foot in it last night" Issei facepalmed "Giving it a minutes thought after cooling down me challenging Minato came out far worse than I intended" Issei internally reprimanded himself, only realizing after the damage was done that his words could have been misunderstood as them forcing Minato to become a Devil against his will.

"It may cause more problems if we don't act soon" Koneko added, she looked off to the side into the forest before continuing "Abuse of Tamers isn't unheard of"

"Oi, what do you mean abuse?" Issei asked alarmed, he and Asia stopping in their tracks.

"Well" Akeno began to speak, her tone usually serious from what Asia and Issei were used to "To say the Three Factions and Tamers in general have a, let's say, complicated relationship is putting it mildly" she winced on the word complicated "Tamers are usually seen as neutral politically giving them unrivalled freedom of movement between different factions, even embraced by other factions such as Yokai and Celtic Factions, but that had made them targets in the past"

"The Three Factions have made use of Tamers to fight proxy battles for them, often times without even the Tamers involve realizing it" Rias continued for Akeno, the sadness in her voice palpable "Though, even that doesn't compare to some using the system Tamers use to support themselves to trap Tamers or force them to serve them under threat of death" 'even then, Devils could just use an Evil Piece to force them to join as their dying or afterwards' Rias thought.

Asia and Issei's eyes widen at the new piece of information, Issei kicking himself harder as the greater scope of things came into view.

"There you are, I was getting worried you got lost"

In front of them on the trail was Minato, he made a show of checking his phone before turning back to the Occult Research Club "We're supposed to start in less then five minutes, if you don't hurry you'll barely have time to come up with a plan"

"Minato, I'm sorry" Issei came forward, rubbing his neck as he looked towards Minato "I stepped out of line with the whole challenging you to a fight when you made it clear you can't help us with the upcoming match"

Minato frowned "I am helping, I'm here aren't I. While I can't take to the battlefield I can help prepare you all for it" he turned around and gestured for the others to follow "I'll just consider your challenge from the other night the result of emotions running wild and your inner shounen protagonist showing, I may not know you all too well but I can tell you're not the sort who would beat me half to death or outright kill me only to forcefully resurrect me as a Devil"

Arriving to a clearing the Occult Research Club found six cloaked figures standing waiting for them, the devils tense as they prepared for a fight while Minato walked forward to join the cloaked individuals.

"A Tamer never fights alone, I believe your familiar with that saying Ms Gremory" Minato said as he gestured to the people behind him "These six individuals will be fighting with me in this mock rating game"

"I'll be honest" Rias said as she grew slightly less tense "I was expecting a hellhound to show up"

"Bridget still needs a lot more training for this type of fight, I don't want her to kill or be killed" Minato looked at the time and frowned as he saw he was almost noon "Since we're running low on time I'll explain how this is going to work. Rias and I will be the acting King pieces in this battle, all you have to do to win is take this red bandana from me" Minato said as he took out the red bandana to show everyone "However, you have two lose conditions. Either Rias herself is taken out or everyone else is, however you can try again straight away so long as at least one among you wants to try again"

"I must say, your making this sound so easy" Akeno said as she shout Minato a smile "I wonder, are you going to let us win or do you have some devious tricks up your sleeves"

Minato tied the red bandana around his left arm "I want you all to give it your all, even if it's a mock battle. If any one of you holds back then I'll be forced to consider this match and our entire contract to have been made on bad faith, meaning a forfeit and nullifying our contract" looking over the Occult Research Club he saw they were all preparing for the fight "Ready?"

Hearing a series of confirmations Minato looked at his phone for a moment before raising a hand with all fingers raised, slowly counting down. "Five, four, three, two" Minato turned around, his back to the Occult Research club before he began walking away "one" reaching one Minato snapped his fingers to sign the start of the battle.

Kiba rushed forward using his Knight Speed to catch Minato unaware and steal the bandana before he could react, however Kiba was intercepted midway from one of the cloaked individuals who summoned a great shield to force Kiba back.

At once the strangers who stood with Minato removed their cloaks, their appearance shocking the Occult Research Club. In front of them were six identical copies of Minato, each with only different posture and facial expressions useful for telling them apart.

One held a goofy smile as he stretched "OK! Let's do this, you and me Yokai girl" he took in a deep breath before an aura of power developed around him.

Koneko took a step back "Senjutsu"

"AH!"

Everyone turned just in time to see one of the other Minato clones flying off into the forest with Asia in his arms, Issei reached out to her before a hand with a monstrous grip grabbed him by his head and pulled him backwards.

Issei looked up at the Minato clone as he sneered at Issei "Don't turn your back on your enemy worm" Issei was spun around like a ragdoll before being thrown deep into the woods with the Minato clone responsible following behind with a large toothy smile.

One by one Rias saw her Peerage being separated and forced to fight individual battles until it was just her with a clone of Minato with his arms held behind his back giving her a critical eye.

"Blood of both Bael and Gremory, hmm" the Minato clone gave Rias an indifferent look "We must say, we're not very impressed with what you have put on display child"

Rias gathered the power of destruction in her hands as she stared down her enemy

---

"How are they handling themselves?"

Minato looked up to see Ophis looking down at him, he stood up from the shade under the tree as Ophis floated downwards.

"Better than I expected" Minato looked down at several lines drawn in the dirt "They've lost only ten times so far"

It had been two hours since his avatars began battling the Occult Research Club, since then Rias had been eliminated four times with her peerage falling a total of six.

"Thanks again, your fresh point of view made this possible" Minato shot Ophis a smile as he focused on his individual avatars.

He was still getting used to this newly discovered power, creating empty shells for different Personas to occupy and go around without fully manifesting. Though, they were capable of manifesting at limited strength and if the vessel was destroyed they'd be returned to his Sea of Souls, while nowhere near a Persona's strength fully manifested it was preferable to summoning them for things that could be considered overkill.

Ophis just nodded, she looked out into the forest sensing the various fights taking place "Why are you playing with them, you can defeat them easily?"

Minato raised an eyebrow at Ophis's question "I'm not playing with them, I'm training them" checking on their progress Minato frowned slightly "Though I'll admit, some of my Personas are enjoying themselves"

Those who offered aid for Asia smiled as they saw the former nun made steady and consistent progress in the trials put against her, using her new skills to hasten her movement and being aware of her surroundings. There wasn't enough time to properly train her in combat so they settled for strengthening what she had and making her harder to pin down.

Those who stood forth for Koneko were enjoying their sparring as they helped Koneko cultivate her skills and imparting techniques to her, though the frustration of her refusing a part of herself and creating a bottleneck for herself rubbed many a persona the wrong way.

Issei's trainers were helping the young man, but mostly to draw out the Y Ddraig Goch of this world to see how the Welsh dragon compared to his counterpart.

The others were thankfully taking their tasks more seriously.

The warriors who came for Kiba lectured the young man on different forms of swordsmanship and the proper use of wielding a dagger, trapped in a barrier that can only be broken by destroying a shield left the former human little alternative other than dueling.

Akeno's trainers put the Nephilim turned Devil through several mental tests, reinforcing the idea of her being Rias's second in command and opposing her plans does not mean turning against her friend.

Rias's trainers were either silent or criticizing her when it became apparent she wasn't noticing her own mistakes and adapting accordingly, it was this criticism that cause Rias to over stretch herself leading to her defeats.

"How will you explain this to them?" Ophis turned to Minato with a look he considered concern "they will be asking questions"

"Worse case scenario, they contribute my avatars to a Sacred Gear that gained a subspecies" Minato gave Ophis a small smile, internally thanking her again for giving him a more in depth explanation of Sacred Gears "Other then that there are plenty of beings in this world capable of powerful enough illusions to make think they were fighting clones of me, the trick is leaving no evidence of my avatars"

"Your getting reckless, they will keep a closer eye on you after this"

"They were going to be watching me anyway, at least this way I won't be seen as a threat and hopefully won't push if I want privacy" Minato looked out into the forest where a vessel containing two demons wished to know if Rias was worthy of her birthright "Besides, what else was I supposed to do? A classmate of mine was in trouble and I could help"

"You have a soft heart" Ophis said, part of her questioning if she was using the right term, filing away that piece of information on Mianto for later.

Minato smiled "Most of the time. So, how are things with you?"

"There is a matter that I need you for" Ophis said as she looked up to meet Minato's gaze "Something that cannot wait any longer" seeing she had his undivided attention she continued "I want you to teach me how to dance?"

"Okay" Minato agreed straight away.

"You're not going to ask why?" Ophis asked with a head tilt (?)

Minato shrugged "If you want to share, I'm all ears"

"...I've found my mind drifting back to the sight of you dancing with that Beast Tamer, since I've learned that dancing can enhance one's experience with music I wish to learn. But" Ophis looked down "I don't know how to dance, and my attempts to replicate what I could find have met with unsatisfying conclusions"

"Unsatisfying?"

"I was scolded for trying to copy a dance on TV, and created several holes in a wall" Ophis answered earning her a blank look from Mianto.

"Well, if I'm going to teach you we're going to need music" Minato took out his Evoker and placed it against his head "Orpheus!"

The sound of a gunshot and the shattering of glass echoed in the clearing and traveled no further, meanwhile a Nekoshou stumbled earning her a raise brow from her trainer.

Orpheus loomed over Minato, it's eyes fixated on Ophis before it lowered itself to the ground, from the speakers on it's chest soft music could be heard playing. Minato's mind drifted back to when he first discovered his initial Persona doubled as a speaker, his earphones got busted up during a run through Tartarus and Orpheus began playing the music he was in the middle of enjoying. Once that was learnt Junpei handed him several pieces of music to add to SEES's background music, not long everyone started giving him music to add.

Until one song caused the team to stumble during a fight causing them to almost be wiped out, no one was sure who put that song forward but the background music came to a stop soon afterwards.

"You said you didn't like using that for trivial things"

"There's nothing trivial about helping a friend" Minato reached out his hand for Ophis to take.

Ophis looked at the hand, she lifted her own seemingly about to take it when she looked up to Minato "We're friends?"

Minato nodded "Yeah, at least I think we are"

Ophis blinked and took hold of her friend's hand, an explosion further out drew both their attention for a moment "What about them?"

Minato considered Ophis question, his focus turning back to the Occult Research club to see their progress, seeing them having lost for the eleventh time "We have time" Minato took Ophis other hand as he slowly taught her basic dance moves "Okay, first we'll start off slow to help you get an idea of what to do"

Ophis nodded and followed his instructions, keeping her eyes on their feet as they went.

---

"Well worm, you ready for another round. Eighteenth time the charm"

Issei knelt on the ground clutching Boosted Gear close to his chest "I can't go on"

Issei's trainer, Vessel D11 which held the will of several dragons, narrowed their eyes causing the once human gaze to become reptilian "What's the matter, does the little worm need another break?"

"Boosted Gear, it's broken. I-It won't boost" Issei said with a shake in his voice as if he was on the verge of tears.

"Come now, worm! On your feet and quit it with the fibs" the reptilian eyes became human again, the Vessel made in Minato's likeness giving a toothy grin "We still get plenty of sunlight left, if you keep at it you and your friends may even see Minato at sunset"

"Prez. Asia, everyone. I am so, so sorry" Issei choked back tears as he drew closer into himself.

"You can't be serious, that Sacred Gear holds the power of the Welsh Dragon and was forged by the very creator of this world. And you claim to have somehow broken it" Vessel D11 said, their voice changing as several others seemed to overlap at points. Issei,s only response was a whimper "I was calling you a worm, but I see now that's a compliment as worms would be more useful than you" the overlapping voices returned as Vessel D11 "I expect more from the one who came to possess Y Ddraig Goch's power, but if what you're saying is true it means your the worst being to possess that overglorified prison everyone seems to call sacred"

Issei didn't answer, his soft sobbing being his only response.

Vessel D11 growled "Too weak to be either Dragon or Devil, and what I've seen you don't have the cunning of either or the ingenuity of man. Unworthy of being Devil or Dragon and you can't even call yourself human anymore" the growl grew more intense as several voices spoke as one "On your feet, we'll find some use from you-"

Issei spun around slamming Boosted Gear into the abdomen of Vessel D11, it's green gem growing blindingly with power as Issei smiled broadly at the surprised look of Vessel D11.

Vessel D11 smiled once they realized what had just happened "Clever little-"

An explosion rocked the area, larger than the ones before it, enough that it drew the attention of others for a moment.

"Oh right, I finally got a solid hit in!" Issei cheered, he looked to the red gauntlet on his left arm with a thankful smile "Thanks Ddraig, wouldn't have gotten through that without you hiding the boosts for me"

"You can thank me later, you need to run and regroup with the others now" a voice could be heard from the gauntlet, it's green gem flashing in time with the voice "We're losing time, run!"

"Right!" Issei took off running into the forest heading in the direction where he best guested Asia would be, using his boost to increase his speed to cover more ground.

"I'm honestly surprised that the cover story of yours worked, you'd break long before this Sacred Gear does" Ddraig said as Issei ran through the forest, channeling a boost into his speed, as they ran Ddraig felt something stir from behind them.

Once he was gone a low chuckle could be heard, Vessel D11 stood with a toothy grin with it's shirt blown off to reveal scales "Heh, heh. I'll give you a five minute head start little wyrm, then our hunt can begin"

---

"That's great Ophis, you're really getting the hang of it" Minato cheered the Dragon God as she finished her own dancing routine.

"Hmm" Ophis took a moment to perform the basic dance moves Minato showed before a tiny smile graced her lips "I like this more than the other dancing I saw"

"I'm glad to hear it" Minato said, smiling himself at seeing Ophis's own. At the back of his mind he felt the need to ask something "By the way, what was the dancing that you were trying earlier"

Without saying a word Ophis summoned forth one of her snakes, that snake floated into the air before biting its own tail to create a solid circle and began playing something. What it showed was a rather suggestive music video.

Minato nodded in understanding "Yeah, those kinds of dance moves are things people don't normally do. And if they do them it's under very specific circumstances" Minato rolled his shoulders "Let's take a break before we continue dance practice, I have some water with me if you want any?"

"Sweets?" Ophis asked as she followed Minato the shade of the tree she found him under when she arrived.

"No, sorry" Minato answered, Ophis frowned slightly before sitting on Minato's lap as he sat on the ground with his back against the tree. This caught Minato by surprise before realizing that Ophis may not want to sit on the ground and she likely preferred sitting on his lap after what Kiyome had them do to help Bridget get used to Ophis.

"So, besides the dancing and wall destroying, how have things been with you?" Minato asked, not used to someone sitting on his lap.

"I returned the books after you finished them like you asked" Ophis answered, remembering the surprised look of Morgan Le Fay as several books appeared in her room without warning "I was put in a maid outfit with the workers talking about making me a mascot for the shop" Ophis frowned deeply at the strange sounds the workers of the cafe made as they took pictures of her in different outfits, Satou and Aika smiling at her annoyance. She still wasn't sure what a mascot was.

"Sounds like I missed a lot"

"What are you hoping to achieve with these Devils?" Ophis turned her head to meet Minato's eyes.

"Cover what weaknesses that can be covered in the time we have, refining strengths and" Minato paused for a moment before looking up "To show them what they can achieve together"

Ophis considered her own knowledge of Devil Peerages "Won't they already know that"

Minato nodded "I at least hope they do, even if it won't teach most of them something new it'll help Issei and Asia" Minato closed his eyes for a moment "To cultivate one's own self to be better to become a means of support for others and standing together to reach even greater heights as one, that is what I want to teach them"

Ophis looked at Minato with curiosity clear in her eyes "Are you, speaking from experience?"

"Yeah" Minato said softly, picturing SEES with him and those he bonded with over what would the last year of his life "It was because of them I am the person I am now, they helped me grow into a better version of myself and I can never thank them enough for it"

"Isn't the term ideal self rather than better?" Ophis asked, fishing for more information on Minato's past to better control him later on.

Minato slightly smiled "It is, but I prefer chasing after a better version of myself" Minato said 'Besides, as people change so does their idea of an ideal self and to accept oneself of reaching their ideal being is tantamount to accepting no upper feat and becoming complacent in their fall from grace' "I prefer using the notion of an ideal self as a guiding light, one that changes as I do as I grow to be a better person through the trials I face and the bonds I make"

"Bonds?" Ophis questioned, wondering if that was somehow connecting to his strange Persona Powers.

"The connections we have with others, like the one between us or with Bridget, the Nakajimas, Kiyome, Satou and everyone else we come across in our lives big or small" Minato explained, he paused as Ophis stood up and turned to face him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"If bonds can help you grow and be better, then does that mean I make you better?" Ophis pointed to herself, wishing to know if she understood Minato's logic.

Her question earned her a head pat "Yeah, I've grown and improved myself since we meet and I hope it's be the same for you"

Ophis considered his words and thought back on her time with him, her discovering new things and living among those who seemed warm for lack of a better word. She went into music to drown out the more annoying noise of the world with something more tolerable and became fond of the art, which led her to learning to dance to enrich her epenice of it. She couldn't have imagined herself being where she is now several months ago"

"Yeah" Ophis spoke softly "I think it is" Ophis looked to Minato with a smile "I'm glad we met, I never expected these turn of events when I went out hunting for the one who stole my powers"

"Nor when I went to meet with my stalker in a park in the middle of the night" Minato stood up and dusted himself off "Alright, ready to continue?" receiving an eager nod from the little Dragon God Minato nodded towards Orpheus to begin playing another song.

As he did, an unspoken command was given to the master of strings who began drawing upon its power in earnest. In myth Orpheus's music moved the world and the gods, using a little of that power to give a little extra challenge to the Occult Research Club wasn't a tall order by any means.

---

"Ack! Why is there another stone in my shoe!?" Kiba asked as he quickly dug out the offending pebble and easily rejoined the others as they made their way up the path.

The sky overhead was painfully obvious; it was nearly sundown, they were running out of time to defeat Minato and at most had little under half an hour of time left.

Arriving at the end of the path they came to a clearing overlooking the cliffside, they could see the sun already halfway below the peak of the mountains and that it was lowering further by the minute.

Even though their time limit was painful to see it wasn't what they all focused on, instead it was Minato whose shadow seemed to stretch and engulf them all as the setting sun shining behind him seemed to give him a halo behind his head.

He sat upon a large rock playing a lyre with a content expression, the red bandana that was their target bellowed around his neck as wind lifted leaves that had fallen to the ground into the air for a moment. He turned to the Occult Research Club and for a moment it seemed his eyes glowed as he looked to them, a smile on his face.

"Well, you're cutting it a bit close. But after your performance I know for certain that you can beat Phenex in the upcoming rating game" Minato looked over the Occult Research Club, haggard and seemingly nearing their limit, ready to push on to achieve victory.

While not one for pride, Minato allowed himself a moment to bask in the improvements his 'charges' have made.

"Perhaps, but I think it's prudent to assure our victory by having you join" Rias said as she stood in front of her peerage, each and every one of them standing ready for their king's order.

Minato lost his smile "We're still doing that?"

Rias ordered her peerage forward, they rushed forward in a formation to grab the bandana around his neck.

As they drew closer Minato realized his mistake, he gave them too much confidence and it was beginning to change into arrogance. As their Tamer, he had to rectify this problem.

"Look out!" Akeno's words were the only warning they got before several figures made themselves known.

From the ground a large tree sprouted from the ground only to peel open to reveal the Minato clones they had been dealing with over the past hours.

The one who stole Asia and put her through mental trials and obstacle courses had parts of their skin gain a woody color and texture, a crown of flowers seeming to grow from their head.

The one who kicked Koneko through the air like a football held a staff over their shoulders, their mannerisms becoming more animal-like as time went on.

The one who entrapped Kiba in a tiny magic dome to nullify his speed advantage had gained several new weapons after his shield was destroyed, at the moment they were wielding two swords with the left blade held in a reverse grip.

The who placed Akeno in a series of mental trials had notably grown larger, standing a head taller than the next tallest person.

The one who faced against Rias seemed to be the least changed, the only notable difference being it's eyes turning red.

The one who faced Issei was the most changed, it wore dragon themed armor with scales covering its body with hands turned into claws and a helmet styled after a dragon's head whose mouth opened to show a very battle hungry human face.

The battle between the two groups was a grueling dragged out one as what were singular intimidating titans to the group of Devils now stood shoulder to shoulder displaying teamwork outstripping their own, admittedly the teamwork part was mainly due to them being all Personas connected to Minato.

As the eleventh hour neared its end, as the shadows grew longer and deeper, Issei held Boosted Gear above his head as he cried out as one with the Welsh Dragon "Boosted Gear, Over booster!"

Draconic energy erupted from him as a red exoskeleton form with gauntlets, boots, a chest plate and a helmet with a green visor. Pulling back his fist Issei roared as the energy in his hand changed into a dragon's head, punching forward the dragon head flew as it gained the body of a western dragon.

And as it flew it completely missed everyone as it flew overhead, Minato turned to Issei to tell the young man he had missed when he saw it.

Issei, exhausted but smiling.

Looking again, Minato realized Issei hadn't missed his target. The mass of energy in the form of a dragon was headed straight for the mountain the sun had nearly completely been obscured by, that attack was to buy more time not to end the fight in one shot.

Frowning Minato's fingers hastily danced upon the lyre, a barely noticeable green energy washed over him and his avatars, D11 flew into the air and raced to pass Issei's attack. Once in front of it D11 held out their arms to catch the attack, whispering two words to themselves.

"Five Elements"

The dragon deformed and took the shape of a sphere before rocketing back towards it's sender, Issei tried to gather the strength for another attack but found himself too tired as he fell to his knees.

As the attack drew near Rias called upon the power of destruction to cancel the attack only to see her first attempt fail, she tried and found greater success as her power kept the ball of dragon energy at bay even as it left her in a beam struggle.

Rias pushed back harder, the power of destruction flaring around her for a moment before she pulled it back with a flinch.

The clash of energy came to an end with both the power of destruction and the ball of dragon energy dissipating, as everyone began to catch their breath they saw something that made their hearts sink.

The sun had set over the horizon and Minato still wore the red bandana. The Occult Research Club had lost.

---

"Okay, talk to you later" Minato ended his phone call as he collected his things before leaving the training camp. He had already said goodbye to everyone before handing them each letters from their trainers, each one detailing their different thoughts and opinions on the progress of each devil.

Walking outside he found Issei and Rias waiting for him, checking his watch he saw he still had a few minutes before his ride home arrived. Raising a hand in greeting he approached the two.

"Hey. So, you're seriously leaving already?" Issei looked at Minato's bag for a moment, he packed light so he wasn't having any issue carrying his things "I know we made a deal and everything but your seriously not joining-"

In an instant Minato crossed the distance between him and Issei to give the newly turned devil a painful flick to the forehead "Ack!"

"For starters, don't go back deals. It'll make you little friends and create countless enemies" Minato placed the hand into his trouser pocket "And second, yes I'm leaving already. I have a full day tomorrow so I'll need to leave as soon as possible"

"Thank you for your help Mr. Arisato, for as brief as it was" Rias bowed her head "I'll be sure to wire you your payment as soon as I return"

"You don't have to pay me" Minato offered the surprised devils an amused grin "I'm merely a classmate helping out another, so don't worry too much about" Minato looked to the side and scratched his cheek "That, and considering how this could be seen as or twisted into, it'll probably be for the best if we leave as little a paper trail as possible and keep this under wraps"

Rias winced "Still, it feels wrong not to give you something"

"An invitation to your victory party?" Minato suggested near instantly.

Rias smiled lightly "That seems fair, and I suppose if we lose-" Rias was cut off as she got a forehead flick like her pawn mere moments ago "Ow!"

"No more negative talk out of you, give it your all genuinely and you'll claim victory. Besides" Minato said, pausing as a monstrous howl could be heard from the mountains before a ball of flames flew towards them "I'd be a terrible guest at that wedding"

The fireball landed near them releasing a wave of heat that washed over everyone, Rias and Issei jumped backwards to gain some distance while Minato calmly approached the fireball as the flames receded to reveal Bridget in her giant form.

"Hey girls" Minato said before Bridget walked over to him and gave him licks from all three heads.

"Wah-Wah?" Rias looked befuddled at the three headed hellhound before her, she took a step back when the head with blue eyes locked onto her and Issei before growling with what she knew were holy flames dancing around its mouth.

"Easy Alexa, their friendly" Minato jumped onto the hellhound's back and rubbed Alexa's head.

"Minato, what is that?!" Issei asked as he pointed to Bridget.

"My charge, a hellhound" the three heads let their flames dance around their teeth for a moment "a hellhound able to burn things in three different types of fire"

Bridget turned around and began walking away with Minato on her back "See you all back at school" with those last words from Minato Bridget took off in full sprint racing through the darkness and leaving the surprised Devils with their mouths hanging open.

---

"A Hellhound capable of using holy fire" Kiba said, they had all gathered outside when they heard the motrious howl and came ready to fight. What there weren't expecting was for Minato to ride a hellhound back home "It's the first time I've heard of such a thing"

"Heads up, it wasn't just holy fire" Koneko called out, she got closer to the spot Bridget had landed and looked it over even as it made her uncomfortable "I'm not a hundred percent, but I think I'm picking up some fey fire as well"

Issei looked to his smallest teammate confused "The heck is a fey fire, something to do with fairies?"

"Your close" Akeno said "Fey fire is basically regular magic fire further enhanced by druidic or nature power, it just so happens fairies are the most well known users of this power"

"Well, he did say his hellhound could use three different types of fire" Issei scratched his head before turning to Asia to see her deep in thought "Hey, everything alright?"

"Oh, it's nothing" Asia reassured Issei "It's just I vaguely remembered something I overheard from a kindly priest from England I met once about church grim, guardian spirit dogs that guard cemeteries. All the talk about dogs with holy fire made me remember it, though I never heard of a three headed one before"

"No offense to Minato, but the more I hear about his hellhound the more mismatch it sounds" Issei turned to Rias "I mean, isn't hell fire and holy fire polar opposites?"

Rias was about to answer Issei's question when she realized something, it was a bit of a mismatch and something she thought of as impossible to be natural. Meaning it had to be something artificial made from experiments or a sacred gear, her mind drifted back to Kiyome complimenting Minato's knowledge of supernatural creatures.

"Did we ever learn what Sacred Gear Minato had?" Rias asked, the gears in her head beginning to turn as different pieces of information began coming together.

Everyone looked amongst themselves for a moment, caught off guard but the sudden change in conversation "We didn't, even when we took him in to ask him who he was he claimed to not have a sacred gear" Akeno answered.

"We mostly just assumed those fire and ice powers were either magic or a sacred gear he was unaware of or unwilling to talk about" Kiba continued, stepping forward to Rias "President, is everything alright?"

Rias looked over her gathered peerage, her family and friends, and asked them the question dogging her mind.

"What if his Sacred Gear was a creation type, one able to make a hellhound with the powers of three different breeds put together and creating our trainers from earlier in the day?"

With the exception of Asia and Issei the other members of the Gremoy peerage widened their eyes "Is there something like that really out there?" Issei asked.

"Annihilation Maker" Ddraig spoke aloud, a glowing green circle appeared on Issei's left hand "That's what you're suggesting, isn't it"

Seeing the confused expressions Issei and Asia wore, Kiba explained it to them "Annihilation Maker is one of the Thirteenth Longinus, like Boosted Gear, it's widely acknowledged as the most powerful creation type sacred gear"

"The only limit to what it could create is the user's own imagination, for that reason it's been called the sacred gear with the power to end the world" Ddraig continued "Though, I have to ask what led you to thinking this?"

"It's not just the hellhound he rode away on a few minutes ago, it's also concerning those trainers he brought in" Rias thought back the long hours they fought in the mock rating game against Minato "Didn't they seem too well picked for us individually? I understand Tamers can have expansive connections but finding those individuals would have taken more than the few days before the training camp. And" Rias paused uncertain if she should continue.

Seeing her friend and king's hesitation Akeno stepped forward to encourage her to say what was on her mind.

"Before our final fight, I could have been convinced that we were all fighting in an illusion" Rias turned to Issei, causing everyone to focus on the pawn "At least until your Dragon Blast, Issei. An illusion couldn't have reflected it back, nor destroy it"

"But, we all saw you destroy it before it could hit us. If not you, then who?" Asia asked.

Rias folded her arms "When I used my Power of Destruction I let my control slip for a moment, in that moment I pulled it back fearing I could hurt someone. The reflected dragon attack would have shot through if a tiny sphere of destruction barely bigger then a fly hadn't stopped it" Rias looked to the others uncertain "I'm not sure how, but I think he was somehow able to replicate the Power of Destruction with his creations"

"Let's not get too hasty," Kiba said, feeling things were beginning to get out of hand. "Did you see his creation use the power of destruction?"

Rias shook her head "No, I didn't but I felt it. That and the letter I was given afterwards explicitly told me to stop being afraid of my own power, written by another who can wield it"

"Um" Asia spoke up "I'm not sure how useful this is, but when Issei used Dragon Blast I thought I saw Minato whisper something as he played his lyre before Issei's attack was deflected back" Asia looked around everyone "Maybe that lyre was magical?"

"Annihilation Maker can create anything the user imagines, if they have a robust enough understanding it's not impossible for it's wielder to replicate the powers of others. Heck, creating items of power based on that knowledge could feasible be a subspecies for it" Ddraig said, adding more credence to Rias's suspicions.

"Subspecies?" Issei asked.

Koneko looked in the direction she could sense the hellhound took "Meaning we lost our chance to recruit possibly the strongest user of a Longinus sacred gear"

Everyone looked in the direction Koneko was staring at, knowing full well they couldn't offer Minato Peerage after their deal.

"Well, we can't invite him. Nothing was said about not befriending him with the hope of him reconsidering later down the line" Rias said, a plan of action forming in her mind.

'An invitation to your victory party?' Minato's suggestion repeated in her mind, she wasn't considering the idea of a victory party before but that had changed. A smile graced Rias's lips.

Minato sneezed, having the feeling someone was talking about him.

---

When Minato met Issei again a week later the devil pervert held the biggest proudest smile he had seen on him, telling Minato excitedly that they had won the rating game.

He went over to the Occult Research Club to congratulate them all for winning, he was barely through the door before being asked when he was free.

Several days later and Minato found himself with the Occult Research Club and Student Council in the Underworld for Rias victory celebration, he could have brought a plus one with him but the only ones he knew personally involved with the supernatural could be counted on one hand.

Kiyome refused to go under any reason or reassurance, Ophis refused to go and insisted on him taking one of her snakes with him in case of emergencies and Minato didn't think they'd let him take Bridget with him.

The party itself was, for lack of a better word, extravagant. So much so that a part of Minato felt he came under dressed for the occasion with a simple dress shirt and trousers, though the rest didn't even consider it.

"So, are you enjoying yourself?" Minato turned to see Sona coming over to him with a smile, in the sea of unfamiliar faces it was honestly nice for Minato to see one he was vaguely familiar with.

Minato raised his glass of water "Yeah, though I'm not used to something like this"

Sona nodded "Understandable, something like this isn't an everyday thing even among the Devil nobles" Sona smiled as she raised her glass to her lips "You know, part of this is actually a thank you from Rias"

"I had my suspicions" Minato looked around the various Devils around him "Be honest with me, how many Devils did I piss off by helping Rias with this?"

"No one really" Sona said reassuringly "Nearly no one knows your involvement and those who do know don't take it personally" Sona expression softened slightly "And even if one where to have issue with you, both I and Rias will stand with you which will be a detrimental to most"

Minato turned back to Sona "Thank you" Minato met Sona's eyes with a blank expression "You want training too, don't you?"

"You come highly recommended"

"Sorry, I'm not taking on any more training jobs for a while" Minato scratched his cheek as he looked away from Sona "My mentor's lecture on how irresponsible I was even considering my previous job is still ringing in my ear" Minato's mind wandered back to Kiyome's lecture in vivid detail, along with the scroll with teleportation magic to take him back to Kouh "So, we'll need to wait until I get a full license first"

"That's fair. I-" Sona stiffened as a very loud and distinct cry of 'Sona-tan' could be heard "have to go, talk to you later"

Minato watched as Sona briskly walked away to another corner of the large room, Minato looked around trying to spot the Occult Research Club or the Student Council but failed to find anyone. Rias, Issei and Asia hung around him near constantly when the party had begun and right now they were nowhere in sight.

Spotting a glass door leading to an inner garden Minato went over to it to get some fresh air and to get away from the noise and crowd of people, even as a certain set of eyes tracked him.

Meanwhile, in one of the outer gardens.

When Rias learned Riser was among the visiting nobles who came to congratulate her on her victory she was tempted to force him to leave, it was only preventing him from causing a scene that led her to meeting him out of public view with her peerage. She expected many things.

"Riser would like to congratulate you and your Peerage on a spectacular debut performance for your first rating game" Riser said with an earnest smile.

Hearing genuine praise was NOT what Rias expected.

Rias, caught flatfooted, did her best to articulate a proper response and instead stuttered out a "W-What?"

Riser cleared his throat "Riser, wishes to congratulate you and yours on their victory. Riser also hopes we get to fight again in the pro leagues when you enter"

Issei stood forward defensively "So you can beat Rias and force her to be your wife?"

"Of course not" Riser said resolutely "Rias won the rating game fair and square, Riser is merely looking forward to a rematch without the drama behind it" Riser thought for a moment, his hand rubbing his chin "If there is to be a wager, Riser will not accept anything more then a modest meal paid by the losers"

"Aren't you upset you're not marrying Rias?" Issei asked, his bravado giving way to confusion "I mean, look at her?"

Riser looked between Rias and her peerage "Yes, I can see what you mean. Riser could write a thousand poems and not even properly convey the beauty of her entirety"

Ravel nodded with the tiniest of smiles gracing her lips, she moved forward to tell her brother that they've taken up enough of Rias's time and it was time for them to leave like they practiced.

"That, and without that spark it would have been a cold marriage between us"

Ravel pinched her brother's back, her expression slightly strained "Brother, we have taken up enough of their time. Perhaps it's time we were on our way"

"Wait a minute!" Rias called out, her eyes locked on Riser in disbelief "Are you trying to say, you DIDN'T want to get married either, you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Riser let out a defeated sigh "Well, since it slipped out. Yes Rias, I did not want to get married either. Riser would prefer marrying for love"

"Then why didn't you say anything" Rias hiss with frustration clear in her voice "If you did we could have put this whole thing behind us earlier"

Riser and Ravel shared a look between them before looking back at Rias with confusion "Rias, you do KNOW about the difference in our social standing?" Riser asked.

Rias narrowed her eyes "Why should that matter?"

"Spoken like someone secure in her castle" Ravel muttered under her breath, Koneko narrowed her eyes at the youngest of the Phenex Family.

Riser rubbed his forehead "Okay, Rias. Riser is going to describe the political connections you have to his knowledge so please speak up if Riser gets something wrong"

"The Gremory's hold the title of Duke; a title carrying more weight than the Phenex's own Marquis and that's not mentioning your own mother's connection to the de facto ruling family of the remaining thirty two pillars who hold the title of Grand King, Bael" Riser waited for Rias or anyone else to say something, when no one spoke he continued "That of course not factoring in that your own brother holds one of the four highest positions of power in our society, and through your connection with the Sitri heiress you have two Satans backing you"

"I wouldn't use Sona, her family or my own like that" Rias stressed, causing Riser to pause.

Riser gave her a respectful nod "An honorable course of action, though one that would have a chance of failure" Riser gestured to himself and Ravel "In comparison, all we Phenex's have is our powers that have allowed us to amass a fortune through Pheonix Tears and a significantly lower title of Marquis"

"Even so, if you said something we could have stopped this all together" Rias countered.

"Rias, you are heir apparent to House Gremory while I'm the third son of my own family" Riser stressed out "Extra children in royal families are kept around as either spares in case the first child dies or is married off in political marriages, and I'm sure you're well aware Phenex's don't die easily and are more valuable alive due to out Pheonix tears" Riser shoulder slumped "Even then, chances are my older brother would have been made your new fiancée. We all have responsibilities for our families and there wasn't much left for me to take up, other then be married off and saving my sister from the same fate by having her join my Peerage"

"Wait, how does that stop her from being forced into marriage?" Issei asked as he pointed to Ravel.

"With arranged marriage if one of the parents oppose it it can't go through, unless it marriage is for maintaining pure bloodline in which case it goes through" Ravel turned to her brother and offered him a smile "But, if the king of a peerage I'm apart of opposes the marriage as well it's blocked"

"Devil Law, frustratingly rigid with the odd exploitable loophole" Riser nodded "It was a simple matter, my sister is spared my fate and all blame will be pinned on the 'black sheep' of Phenex" he meet Rias's gaze with his own "In truth, you alone held the power to stop this arranged marriage Rias, I myself was more of a prisoner then you know"

Rias lowered her head, she kept a close eye on Riser and Ravel looking for any sign they were lying but found nothing but truth. She was about to say something when a thought crossed her mind "Wait a minute, were you acting to make me dislike you so I would turn to my brother to cancel our engagement?"

Riser stiffened "Riser was being himself" facing Rias's glare he looked to the side "Though, I admit I may have played up an aspect or two of myself that are, what's the phrase, an acquired taste"

Kiba facepalmed "This is getting ridiculous"

"So Riser, have you said everything you want or is there anything else? Akeno said as she looked back to the ongoing party.

Riser stood straight "Beyond giving praise, I was hoping to put our past behind us and burying any particular hatchets. I do not expect friendship rather ceasing any particular hostilities"

Rias and her peerage looked among themselves for a moment, after a silent conversation between them Rias turned back to Riser with a neutral expression "We don't gain anything from keeping any hostilities with you and yours, so starting over seems acceptable for now"

"I'll admit, this side of you is a lot less scary then the one we've seen up to know" Asia said with a smile.

Issei rubbed the back of his head "I was pretty pissed at you from before, but having you be 'eaten' by Dragon Blast and getting to see this side of you" Issei reach out his hand for Riser to take, seeing this the third son of Phenex shook Issei's hand with a small grin "I guess I shouldn't be so quick to judge others"

Riser's grin fell as his grip on Issei's hand tightened "Issei Hyoudou, if you take one thing from this meeting then let it be this warning" Issei looked into Riser's eyes, he saw a flame in them that held the danger and destruction he saw on full display in the rating game and yet it also held a warmth that offered protection from the cold and the dark "Be cautious when dealing with Devils, for just as there are Devils like Rias who offer kindness there are also Devils who will come to you with a gentle smile and a hand of friendship" Riser's eyes seemed to glow before he finished his warning "Before bleeding you like a pig for the slightest amusement"

Minato noticed someone approaching him and turned to the Devil in question.

"I'm sorry, may I bother you for a moment" the young devil offered Minato his hand to shake "I'm Diodora Astaroth, and I need to speak to regarding a private matter"

---

Diodora's Perspective.

---

Diodora Astaroth could barely keep himself from smiling ear to ear as he saw the human that was with Gremory and Sitri walking with Asia into his property, the unknown human hidden by a cloak while Asia was wearing her priestess outfit.

He didn't know anything about the human in question or for what reason he was even there at the Gremory heir's party, perhaps she and the Sitri heir shared a pet secret they didn't want others to know, it honestly didn't matter.

Asia seemed quite comfortable around him, going by how she seemed to stick to his side the most during the party and holding several private conversations he was unable to make out due to the noise of the crowd, so a little nudge was all that was needed to have him bring her to him.

He wasn't entirely sure what had happened at the church Asia was staying at in Kuoh, all Diodora knew was powerful light magic forced him to flee not wishing to draw the ire of whatever angel had made itself known or the potential scrutiny he would be under if he was found there. He truly thought he had lost her to the heavens.

But now Asia was here, in his territory where it would be simple to woo her before breaking her like the others, and in case anything goes wrong he had his peerage with him to take care of any concern.

As Diodora basked in his perceived victory as the doors shut behind the two humans an overwhelming pressure filled the room, it grew more and more intense as all Devils were brought to their knees.

Diodora felt his heart beating a mile a minute as his body worked against him, a primal instinct he had never experienced taking over his body as it groveled on the ground. Clenching his teeth Diodora did his best to raise his head, fighting through whatever had taken him, using the power of Ophis he obtained through the Khaos Brigade to help him.

The sound of shattering glass rang out as the pressure grew a hundred fold, Diodora fell to the ground again as even the power of Ophis's serpent was not enough. His eyes widened as he felt the serpent leave him.

I am Thou, Thou art I

A Great Duke of Hell, one of the Trinity of Evil

Through Laziness and vanity, I lead men astray.

Twenty ninth of seventy two, I am Astaroth

The pressure lessened allowing Diodora to raise his head, as he did he was overcome with awe as he saw what was before him. Even if he hadn't seen the portraits he could tell by some preprogrammed instinct that the one before him was the progenitor of his house, a being beyond a Devil, the Demon Astaroth.

The Great Duke looked down to Diodora with an unreadable expression "I have come to judge the heir to my name, young devil"

"You're an absolute disgrace, unfit to carry my name" Diodora recoiled at the demon's words as if struck, his pride unable to accept those words but unable to refute them as he knew the Demon before him was his better "That is, unless you can prove me otherwise" Astaroth smiled, it's hand raised as if inviting Diodora "peel away your façade, show me the devil you really are"

"At once, my lord" Diodora began to move towards his servants, inteading to put on a display to please the returned Demon Progenitor, Diodora's body locked up before he was forcefully made to turn to Astaroth.

"In front of me, reveal to me your devil self" Astaroth looked to Diodora with a frown "Unless, have you devils been playing around in human form you've forgotten what you truly are?"

"Wha-what?" Diodora asked, not knowing what the demon before him was demanding.

Astaroth shook their head "Pathetic, very well. Let me help you remember" Astarith raised their hand "What a devil is"

A sickening crack rang out before Diodora began screaming, his body slowly changing as each and every alteration done to his body was a new pain he felt. Hands and feet turned to claws as scales spread across his entire body, new wings sprung from his back with his first set of wings reshaping to mimic the new set.

As it seemed to come to an end Diodora looked towards a mirror to see himself, he shut his eyes unable to see his new appearance, new eyes formed on his shoulders forcing the heir of Astaroth to see the misshapen reptile-like monster he had become.

"I'm hideous!" Diodora cried out, Astaroth's laughter adding to his misery.

"What, don't you like how the Devil's of Astaroth look?" Astaroth came over to Diodora with a cruel smile on the demon's lips "Want to know why angels and demons take on human form?" Diodora stood locked in place, Astaroth's arm was around him and his hand gripping his shoulder with such strength Diodora knew his shoulder was ready to be shattered into dust "Angel's take human form so as to not scare humans, only showing their true forms to prophets. Demons, and devils by extension, do it to honor our mother and to mock God"

Diodora cried out again, his shoulder crushed under Astaroth's grip and his newly formed eye filling with blood. A light shone behind him causing Diodora to turn around and see his peerage in a teleportation circle with Asia standing in the center of their unconscious.

"WaIt! tHeIr MiNe!" Diodora reached out, his voice becoming distorted, before being slammed against the wall by Astaroth, Diodora looked to Asia and met her gaze. It was only then that Diodora saw uncaring reptilian eyes, Ophis's serpent coiling around her feet before merging together.

'Ophis!?' Diodora thought before Astaroth grabbed his throat, he looked into the demon's eyes and saw a deep rage.

"You know, you would be dead right now along with everything else for miles around, if it wasn't for my other self holding me back" Astaroth whispered, the human who brought Ophis came over to Diodora with an entire set of Evil Pieces destroyed behind him.

"Other self?" Diodora asked, not understanding what was happening.

"You inherited my name, him" Astaroth turned to the human "He got everything that was important"

'Everything else, what is he?' Diodora asked himself as he looked to the human 'Is, is he Astaroth reborn?!'

The human grabbed Diodora's head, it's very grip burning Diodora as it wielded strength beyond what a human was capable of.

"He won't survive the trail, I already know"

"Then let his last moments be that of a nightmare, a Hell of his own making" the human said, speaking for the first time since arriving. His voice causing greater awe than the Great Duke of Hell, Astaroth laughter followed Diodora as he hell into darkness.

---

Side Story: Returning son.

It wasn't long before Kenzou met someone in his travels, he wasn't even out of the forest before coming across a Hakutaku with several Tengu guards accompanying her.

He was familiar with the powers of Hakutaku, their ability to see events in the past and predict potential futures had made them good candidates for being advisors, and he knew the one before him to an extent.

Hui Hoshino was often consulted on matters from small personal matters, such as the well being of a couple's child, to major political ones, she was even seen alongside the current leader of Yokai from time to time.

He went to her once, asking if there was a future she could see where he was better than what he was.

She avoided the question, refusing to answer either from pity or kindness Kenzou didn't know, her silence on the matter giving him the answer she refused to say. It wasn't long after before it took the devil's offer.

Now, that same oracle stood before him after he was freed from the chains of devilkind giving him the most confused and yet happy expression he had ever seen in his life. It was actually rather cute, Kenzou thought to himself.

They escorted him back to Kyoto, the Tengu guards were silent the entire trip while Kenzou and Hui made small talk with him, keeping vague on what he went through. They had a small detour when Kenzou entered an active church, he told Hui it was to see what it was like when in truth it was a means to test to see if he was free, as he listened to the hymns of the congregation and even held a relic without pain it was enough to bring Kenzou to tears.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Kyoto, the journey back to his home seemed longer than it was as the sights and sounds brought back old memories of his childhood and happier times. Arriving at his old home Kenzou met his father as soon as he arrived, kowtowing before him Kenzou apologized for leaving without saying anything. He wanted to let his family know he was sorry for everything and was prepared to do whatever it took to make things right, understanding if they didn't want anything to do with him.

Receiving a tight hug from his father was not something Kenzou expected.

"Welcome home, son" the relief in his voice broke a damn with Kenzou, crying again as he returned the hug. Thanking Minato for granting him a second chance.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Kyoto.

"He was supposed to die" Mui said as she meet with the leader of Yokai in private, she offered up thanks to the gods that Yasaka wasn't busy at the moment.

"Perhaps what you saw was more figurative then literal?" Yasaka suggested to her part time oracle, Mui had all but begged for a private meeting with her. Once she learnt it was about the missing son of the Maki she was quick to grant her the meeting, while not close friends Yasaka was on good terms with the matriarch of the Maki clan and seeing her worry about her missing son was a pain she couldn't bear to see.

"No, I am confident of what I saw. There were only two ends for him, dying to a monster or becoming one" Mui said grimly, wincing as the memory of those two visits resurfaced in her mind before fading away to the image of Kenzou shaken yet seemingly fine "Furthermore, I CAN'T see what happened to him that changed his fate"

Those words caught Yasaka's attention. "Hui, what do you think saved Kenzou Maki's life?"

"A Wildcard, Lady Yasaka" Hui said, closing her eyes as everything she knew and pondered came to the forefront "A being whose very existence alters and changes the fate of those around it, seemingly passively from what I can deduce, one that can't have it's past nor future seen"

Yasaka looked out the nearby window, knowing in her field of view the Maki home could be found "Has young Kenzou said anything about this wildcard?"

"Next to nothing I'm afraid, but what I learned is promising" Yasaka turned back to Hui, the Hakutaku smiled gentle "He's placed himself under a vow of silence on the matter, no coercion of magic or threat that I can find, though he speaks of his time in that forest more highly than the rest of the period he was missing"

"Meaning he's protecting this Wildcard of his own volition" Yasaka used her Senjutsu to ensure no could overhear them before she continued, opening a fan to cover the lower half of her voice with her eyes looking over it "Is there any credence to the the rumor Kenzou became a Devil in his absence?"

Mui lowered her head "I'm afraid I do not know, when I went out to learn of his ultimate fate and give his family some of closure I was not expecting to find him as well as he was"

Yasaka closed her eyes "curiouser and curiouser" Yasaka closed her fan, a small smile gracing her lips "For now, all we can do is watch" she looked at the window again with her smile still present "And treat this wildcard as a neutral force, with a potential alliance in mind"

"Ken you JERK!"

Yasaka fox ears flattened against her head, Mui looked out the window alarmed at the loud voice "It seems the Maki family reunion is in full swing"

Yasaka made plans to meet with Kenzou Maki herself before she sends a fox spirit to keep an eye on Kuoh for the immediate future, after all the lease the Devil's held for Kuoh's land specifically mentions being able to send agents so long as their not directly spying on the renting Devils.

---

Omake: Another Route, Army of the Elements.

The Occult Research Club gathered at the spot Minato planned for them, they expected a lot of things when fighting Minato.

They weren't expecting this.

"Where did this army come from!?" Rias cried out, looking in disbelief at the large collection of what seem to be golems glowing either red, blue, green and yellow. They stood in formation around Minato.

"I made them" Minato answered, looking over the varying reactions of ORC "What, I have hobbies"

Kiba looked unsure of what was happening "Uh, so we have to defeat your army then?"

Minato made a so-so gesture "Kind of, you need to defeat my Four Heavenly Queens before facing against me. These ones here will be providing most of the fighting and trying to stop you"

No sooner had Minato spoken those words did the golems begin to change, the red took on a more lizard appearance, the blue's became more refined and beautiful, the greens grew smaller and more nimble with the yellow's becoming bulker. All four began diverging into three subspecies each with a sign of the western zodiac engraved on them.

"Best of luck" Minato said before disappearing, his golems standing ready for battle.

ORC stood as one and charged at the horde.

[several hours later]

Minato checked over the progress of the devils under his tutelage before turning to Ophis "Did I over do it with my creations?"

Ophis didn't answer, instead she focused on all the golems fighting the ORC. Transfixed by their ability to pin and lockdown the movement and actions of the devils.

Minato turned back to his project notes as he tried to think where he went too far. In the beginning he decided to make an army of enemies for the ORC to fight, at their base were the four classical elements of Air (Aeros and Sylph), Earth (Erthys and Gnome), Fire (Flaemis And Salamander) and Water (Aquans and Undine) with seasonal powers added in for flavor. He didn't use the powers of the minor Arcana much so it wasn't a hard decision adding Minor Arcana powers to the corresponding element, he even added some powers based on the French Suit of Cards due to their connection to the Minor arcana.

Looking back, he could have stopped then. But he wasn't sure if they'd be enough variety for the ORC so he decided to add in powers for the twelve western zodiac with each element gaining three each. At that point he just wanted to see what else he could make so he created special 'Jack Prince' units who wielded all three of their element's zodiacs, creating the Queens to act as Commanders for his forces was definitely where things got out of hand.

Their connection was a bit less solid but he was able to sort Pawn, Bishop, Rook and Knight powers for each force, he stopped himself after he gave his Heavenly Queens the blessings of The Four Heavenly Kings of buddhist myth and the Four Symbols of Chinese Constellations.

"Ah~ It's a smaller Koneko, one with cat ears~" Issei said as he saw the Heavenly Queen of Earth.

"I'm a tiger! Gravity Punch!" The Heavenly Queen of Earth said before using gravity magic to send Issei flying.

...Though he only did that after granting some degree of power over the four fundamental forces of the universe. He really should have stopped before then.

Still there was one thing he didn't understand, why were all his Commanders cute girls?

Originally he hadn't planned on giving them genders but once it became clear they were going to turn out much more human looking due to the process of making them he chose to make it an even slip, except the ones who were supposed to be male turned female without warning during the final step.

He created two Joker units to see where it went wrong but even with all of his Personas and every precaution they all turned out to be cute girls, if Minato didn't know any better who would suspect he was in a-

Minato paused, pieces of information suddenly lining up as a grim realization began to take form.

A mostly girl school, a guy with an OP power with intent to create a harem, questionable fashion being worn almost exclusively by girls.

"Oh, Axiom. I'm in a battle action harem ecchi series aren't I" Minato said to himself as he fell to his knees, Ophis looked at Minato confused as she offered comforting pats on the back. While off to the side a pair of twins wearing jester outfits were playing with their card before coming over to see what was ailing their maker.

---

Author's note

OVER TWENTY THOUSAND WORDS (+20.000)

Goodness this chapter alone almost doubles the entire word count of this series of snippets, it really got out of hand. One thing led to another and it all spiraled from there.

But, it's done and now to go over some things to ensure there isn't any confusion for what happens in this chapter.

Kenzou was in the middle of transforming into a full on mutated Stray Devil that ORC fight as mooks, his strength of will is what kept him sane where many others would have gone mad.

Just to be clear, I'm not going to bash on the whole Devils and Peerage thing but I won't shy away from how the thing can be abused.

The Evil Piece being Inert is basically due to the process of reversing the transformation causing it to more out less shut down, it will stay that way until someone reactivates it.

Ophis doesn't want people to know about Minato's power so she went out of her way to give him access to magic spells so he won't use Personas too often and is willingly to allow others to believe Minato is Wielding AM as it would better hide his powers and keeping the real user of AM in the shadows.

Ophis's normal clothes is the gothic lolita style she is typically seen wearing while her causual outfit is the one she's seen wearing in this fics pic.

Minato creating Avatars works like this, he creates empty vessels for Personas to move around in. One Persona could use it's power no problem but the more Personas that are in that vessel the more diluted the powers become unless they share a theme (such as warriors) or belong to a group (Arthurian Legend, 72 Pillars). The vessels haven't been perfected as it was made clear with them changing during their fight with ORC

In these series of snippets the origins of Tamers is varied as different branches sprung up all over the world at one point or another before coming together under one banner. Cryptid became a more generalized term to describe the beings Tamers take on to train.

Speaking of Cryptids and Charges, Minato got his first monster. A chimera hellhound named Bridget made up of a Church Grim (graveyard Guardian Spirit), whose head is named Alexa, a Cwn Annwn (a hound of the Wild Hound), whose head is named Elda, and a Black Shuck whose head is named Dealla. And some extra stuff added in.

Minato fought the crossbreed Hellhound himself until they could get her under control, I was debating on what Minato's first monster should be and I thought I'd make it a hellhound due to Minato's connection with dogs and death. That and it makes a nice reference for the beginning of the SMT series back when it was simply a novel called Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei.

Bridget's confusion with Ophis is mainly due to them not getting a scent off her or anything else, it was only after Kiyome had Ophis sit on Minato's lap did the hellhound ignore the lack of anything for now to get along with everyone.

Yes, Minato can understand what his new chimera Hellhound says. It's part of the new powers he gained, think omni-translator for a general idea.

Minato's personas are slowly gaining access to the powers and knowledge of their DxD counterparts, it'll be explored in later snippets but for now just think of it as them getting extra toys to play with.

Minato uses Orpheus's power to cause branches to hit the face of ORC along with stones landing in their shoes.

The playlist Minato and Ophis danced to is as follow:

Persona 3 Tranquility

Persona 3 Portable A Way of Life

Persona 3 When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars

Persona 3 Portable Time

Persona 3 Burn My Dread

Persona 3 The Movie #4: Winter of Rebirth My Testimony

Persona 3 The Movie #1: Spring of Birth More Than One Heart

Persona 3 The Movie #2: Midsummer Knight's Dream Fate is In Our Hands

Persona 3 Mass Destruction

Persona 3 Portable Wiping All Out

Persona 3 The Movie #3: Falling Down "Light in Starless Sky"

Persona Q Maze of Life

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Road Less Taken

Issei did not achieve Balance Breaker with Minato, he was close and gained a psudo balance breaker form that would evolve into scale mail during the Rating Game with Riser

General Advice ORC got:

Issei: BE A DEVIL DRAGON!

Asia: You may not be able to pray anymore, but you can still honor and praise the Lord through your actions. General keep being you.

Koneko: You're not getting much more unless you deal with your issues.

Kiba: You got two flames in you, make sure you pick the one that doesn't destroy you. (Revenge VS his new family and friends)

Rias: Stop being scared and use you natural born talents

Akeno: When your love ones are being stupid, call them out and figure out a better plan. And stop denying who you are.

Who were there trainers?

Asia= Maria and Danu

Rias= Bael and Gremory

Kiba= various warriors but primarily Yoshitsune and Bedivere

Koneko= Sun Wukong and Nekomana

Akeno= Nephilim (Child of Human and Angel), Barchiel (Baraqiel's pre-fall/pure angel)

Issei= various dragons

Five Elements is a skill in Dx2 (SMT Devil Downloader)

Rias and the others thinking Minato has AM is due to them trying to understand how he does things within their worldview, which just so happens to include making Minato possible one of the strongest users of AM. Rias would know about Longinus Sacred Gears due to how famous they are.

I decided to go a different route with Riser which made sense to me, he's still the same character but viewed more from a Game of Thrones political games angle. Rereading some of his lines, yes, he more or least told Rias to check her privilege.

Diodora went to Minato thinking he would be an easy pawn to get Asia for himself, that backfired on him. Things will continue on from the ending, but put simply Ophis disguise as Asia went with Minato to Diodora and after taking one look Minato unleashed hell before freeing Diodora's peerage. Afterward Astaroth used his authority as a Demon to command all to forget they were there and make sure any records that would get Diodora in trouble remain undisturbed.

Hui is an OC like Kenzou, Yasaka doesn't know about Evil Piece being able to be undone and all she knows for sure is that this wildcard saved a Yokai from a grim fate and is living near Devil Territory. And yes, in this the Devils are renting the land Kouh is built on from the Shinito faction.

If your curious what the Four Heavenly Queens and the two Jesters look like search for:

Air: Valkyrie crusade Azure Dragon

Water: Valkyrie crusade Black Tortoise

Earth: Valkyrie crusade White Tiger

Fire: Valkyrie crusade Vermilion Bird

Trickster 1: Valkyrie crusade Joker (Black and White outfit)

Trickster 2: Valkyrie crusade Joker (Blue and Red outfit)