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.

26. MessiahXDragon: Duty and Errand

Author's Notes: Okay, I've been getting several reviews regarding this so I will address it. That being Diodora's former peerage's behavior in the previous chapters.

First, let me clarify their behavior isn't permanent. They didn't trust Minato after he rescued them from Diodora because they didn't know anything about him and were expecting him 'asking for a payment' for rescuing them. Adding to this, Katina was THINKING about killing Minato so while it wasn't attempted murder it was at the early stages of being planned. Not much better I know but I figure I'd point it out.

Keep in mind the events of Minato rescuing them over the last couple of chapters happened over a short period of time, around a week at the very most.

And when he was explaining Persona powers to them and not believing he was from another world is due to how outlandish it sounds, even in a fantasy kitchen sink that is DxD. You rarely find urban fantasy stories where all myths are true suddenly adding in aliens with little to no build up working well or not breaking the setting a little. And for those well versed in DxD lore, yes I know about the existance of ExE.

Second, yes while Minato is being far more lenient with the former Diodora peerage it doesn't mean he will let them away with everything. There is a limit and Minato ready to make them aware of what the line in the sand is.

They will open up and be less hostile in the future, and likely less screen time as they move into more supporting roles, so while they have been less then pleasant in the recent chapters (mainly because I didn't want an instant loyalty/affection from them to Minato because it didn't really make sense in my head when I was writing it and honestly came off as bad writing) it's a temporary thing with the worse of it being over.

---

A Tamer's Duty, a Fool's Errand.

"Take care of yourself, and be careful getting home"

"I will, have a good night" Minato replied back to his work colleague as he began cycling his way home on his new bicycle, as he did he kept an eye on his surroundings to make sure he didn't get caught off guard by something in the middle of the night.

It wasn't long before he felt something chasing after him, not feeling any malicious intent Minato brought his bike to a stop off the main street and out of sight of most people.

He hadn't to wait long before a shadowy figure leapt down from the rooftops, as it landed what little light there was revealed it to be a fox that looked vaguely familiar to Minato.

Trying to remember why it seemed familiar Minato remembered back to his classmates talking in class about foxes being seen around Kuoh Town more often and that he saw four foxes when he was out with Aika the other day, and thinking back further he remembered seeing a fox when he was out walking Bridget with Ophis.

Within moments the fox had transformed with only it's ears and tail remaining as it took human form wearing a modified Shinto Priest attire, Minato gave the Kitsune a cautious look as he waited to see what it wanted.

"You're the Tamer whose been healing the animals in the town, aren't you?" The Kitsune asked, his eyes hidden behind his hair. While caught off guard by the Kitsune knowing about him healing the injured animals whenever they approached him, and unsure whether the kitsune knew about it before or after Minato began using magic circles to perform the healing, there was another aspect of the Kitsune's question Minato focused on.

The desperation and trembling voice was the most immediate thing Minato noticed, taking a tentative step forward Minato answer "I have been healing any injured animals I come across, is something matter?"

"O-our sister, something's wrong with her. Please, we need help and we don't know who to turn too. She isn't responding to us and- and-" The Kitsune said, his voice trembling as he tried to tell Minato what was happening.

"Where is she?" Minato asked gently, even if the Kitsune's distress was an act Minato couldn't turn them away if someone was in trouble. Though that didn't mean he wouldn't prepare himself for an ambush, several Personas were already prepared to act when needed with those Minato already summoned prepared to teleport to his side if called for.

With a relieved look the Kitsune led Minato to the park, both of them riding on Minato's bike to get there, there behind trees and bushes were three more Kitsune. Two of them being identical to the one that approached Minato with the only notable difference being their hair style and a female Kitsune laying on the ground with modified Shinto Priest outfits being used in place of blankets.

It wasn't a stretch to conclude that the three siblings were using whatever they had on hand to care for their sister, unfortunately it didn't looked like they had any medicine with them.

The one with his hair parted turned to see them approaching "Can you help our sister?"

Minato looked over the Kitsune on the ground and knelt down beside her "I'll need to examine her, is there anything you can tell me about how this happened?" taking out his phone Minato used it's light to get a better look at his sudden patient.

The first thing he saw was how pale the Kitsune was, not life threatening but something that needed to be looked at. Checking her pulse Minato took the chance to check the Kitsune's life force, seeing it was drained recently with the amount taken being minute with only short term effects.

She would normally need to rest to recover naturally with possible diet changes, recalling the formula Merlin constructed using dia as a base a green magic circle form beneath the Kitsune to siphon life force from the Earth to aid in her recovery.

"Well, we found some human girls walking in a trance nearly an hour ago" The Kitsune whose hair seemed to be the happy medium between his brothers said, his eyes focusing on his sister as colour slowly returned to her face "She told us to stay back as she scouted things before telling us to follow the girls to make sure they returned home without issue, they looked fine so we're not sure what brought them out here, we were barely gone five minutes before we heard…"

Minato looked over to the Kitsune to see tears threatening to spill from his eyes, desperately doing what he could to hold them back. Without thinking Minato patted the Kitsune's head, surprising him as the Kitsune turned to Minato.

With a gentle look Minato told them what he could learn, that their sister was likely fighting something capable of draining someone's life force and that coupled the actual draining with the shock of the fight likely knocked her unconscious.

[1] Their sister needed rest and would likely wake up by morning, he gave the Kitsune brothers Riku, Rokurou and Ryo his number to call him if anything happened. The brothers wanted to go out to take vengeance for their sister but agreed to wait for their sister to wake up first and share what information she had from her encounter, giving the Kitsune sister a quick examination to make sure she was stable before saying farewell.

As Minato began walking away Rokurou called out to Minato, turning around Minato saw the Kitsune brothers looking at him nervously with their fox ears pressed against their heads.

"Could you, not mention this to the Devils?" Rokurou bowed as he made his request, his brothers following suit "It's just, it'll complicate things and we're not really suppose to be here?"

"When you say 'we're not suppose to be here' are you including your sister or are you just referring to you brothers?" Minato asked, fishing for information on their reasoning for the request.

Ryo crossed his arms and looked away in a huff "We just wanted to help our sister, to prove we're not babies anymore"

"Fair enough" Minato nodded and began to walk away "I'll be sure to keep quiet about this in regards to the local Devils, but I will be bringing another Tamer along to help deal whatever is out here"

"Thank you again for everything, see you tomorrow" Riku said happily, his hair parted slightly to reveal his eyes for a moment. Saying their farewells Minato left the Kitsune brothers, already composing the text message he will need to send in his mind.

-=-][-=-

"You know, you could just tell them you have Tamer business if you want them to leave you alone" Kiyome said as she walked with Minato to the meet up point.

"Tempting, though I prefer to keep that in my back pocket until I genuinely need it. That, and I prefer not lying" Minato replied, giving only a moment thought back to him turning down the Occult Research Club's latest invitation by telling them he had work to attend to "Thanks again for helping on such short notice"

Kiyome gave Minato a small smile "Well, I can't just turn away my only student when they come to me with an urgent matter" the smile fell from her face as she looked around the area Minato told her the meeting point would be "Are we close?"

Directing her to some trees the two Tamers found the four Kitsune siblings, the brothers were sitting together with the same modified Shinto Priest outfits as the previous night while their sister wore a tracksuit.

The sister had an exasperated expression as she looked to her brothers before shifting to a more calm expression once she noticed Minato and Kiyome approaching, the brothers repositioned themselves to sit along side their sister with rehearsed ease.

"Welcome, we are honoured by you joining us" the Kitsune girl bowed her head in greeting as she rose to her feet with her brothers following after "I am Senko and these are my younger brothers. Riku" Riku raised his head, his eyes hidden by his hair that seemed to have an extra bounce to it. "Rokurou" Rokurou copied the action of his brother, rising his head "And Ryo" as the last brother raised his head the sunlight reflected off his forehead and struck Minato in the eyes,

Kiyome returned the bow with her own "I am Kiyome Abe, a Tamer based in this town, and I believe you have already met my student the previous night"

Senko shook her head "No, I'm afraid I was unconscious during his visit though my brothers speak highly of him"

"Minato Arisato, student of Kiyome Abe and recently licenced Tamer" Minato introduced himself to Senko "What can you tell us about what happened?"

Senko recounted the events that transpired the previous night with Senko and her brothers coming across the girls under the effects of an unknown power being drawn into the forest before returning home seemingly unharmed.

"By the time I convinced my brothers to stay back as I looked ahead the girls were already leaving, whatever happened there took less than a minute to be completed" Senko gave Kiyome and Minato a conflicted expression "That little amount of time rules out a lot of things, but I'm not sure what happened to them"

Kiyome thought about the issue before looking over the Kitsune "Do you remember what they looked like? If we can find out who was under it's influence we can learn what it's purpose is"

Using illusion magic the Kitsune created projections of the girls they saw, neither Minato nor Kiyome knew who there were beyond a vague recollection. Using some spare paper and a pencil Minato drew up portraits of them so that he and Kiyome could investigate what happened to them.

"Now then, what can you remember about the previous night?" Kiyome looked to Senko with worry "If you find it hard to tell us for whatever reason don't hesitate to speak up"

Senko tensed up, her hands gripping her trouser legs as she took a calming breath "The truth is, I don't recall much. I went to investigate what was calling the girls and came to a clearing, I looked around for anything unusual but before I could find anything these tendrils burst from the ground and began attacking me"

Kiyome and Minato shared a worried look before turning back to Senko "Can you describe these tendrils in any detail?"

Senko nodded "Yeah. They looked like tree roots or branches, at the end of each one was a mouth that opened up like a flower" Senko winced as she continued "Mouths that spit a fluid that destroyed my clothes"

Minato stopped Senko with a concerned look "Wait, was it acid?" Minato asked wondering if he missed anything while he helped Senko the previous night, seeing the fox girl shake her head relieved Minato of some of his worry.

"I wouldn't call it acid, not really anyway, whatever it was seems to dissolve non-living matter" Senko looked at her tracksuit with a pained look "It's why I'm wearing this instead of my more dignified clothes"

"Big sis Senko needs to follow her own advice" Rokurou said confidently as he stood up to show off his clothes with a little spin "Even when parts of our clothes got dissolved when we were bringing sis to safety we simply changed into our spares"

Senko gave her brother a pointed look "I do have spares, their all in the wash" Senko coughed before turning back to Minato and Kiyome, about to continue with her recollection of events but stopping for a moment looking uncomfortable "Um, after it dissolved my clothes, I did my best to dodge and attack back bur I got caught by surprise and several of the flowers mouths focused on-"

Blushing, Senko looked away from everyone else as she struggled to say what they needed to know.

"-My chest" Senko said softly.

The brothers looked at each other confused for a moment, looking to each other for an answer, as Minato rubbed his chin in thought "I see, it targeted your Heart Chakra Point. Whatever this is must be smarter than I originally thought, it would be the best point for siphoning life force due to the Heart Chakra Point being the centre of one's chakra system"

"Huh?" Senko looked at Minato confused for a moment before answering "No, I didn't mean-"

The three brothers cried out in a blind panic.

"We knew the day would come when someone would try to take our sister's heart, but not like this!" Ryo said with his hands clenched into fists looking skyward.

"Stand fast my brothers, we planned for this day" Riku said as he stood with a determined look, his eye parting to reveal a single eye filled with a steeled resolve.

In the brother's hands fox fire manifested itself, the brothers raised the fox fire into the air as Rokurou declared their shared intent "Inari forgive us for what we must do, we shall protect our sister even if it means burning the forest to ash!"

Not missing a beat Senko bopped her brothers heads, not enough to seriously hurt despite their overly dramatic reactions as they clutched their heads "Would you three stop overreacting!"

Kiyome nudged Minato to get his attention, Kiyome nodded towards the Kitsune brothers to subtle tell Minato what she needed him to do.

"How about I take the brother to cool off at one of the picnic tables" Minato knelt down to be more at eye level with the Kitsune brothers "How about we give the girls a chance to talk amongst themselves"

Senko nodded "I think that's a wonderful idea" seeing the worry and hesitation in her brothers she gave them a reassuring smile "I'll be fine, I won't let it happen again"

The brothers nodded before hesitantly following Minato over to nearby picnic tables as they hid their fox ears and tails, Minato made small talk as he lead them away by asking if they had any particular hobbies.

Once they were out of sight Kiyome turned to Senko, seeing the Kitsune girl more visible tired the two shared a look with one another "Can you show me the effected area?"

Wordlessly Senko unzipped her tracksuit for Kiyome to check on Senko's wellness, as Kiyome examined the affected area the two talked.

"If I may ask, what brings a messenger of the Shinto Gods to Kuoh Town?" Kiyome looked up from Senko chest to meet the Kitsune's eyes "I have a feeling this isn't a family outing for you and your brothers"

Senko closed her eyes as she answered "Around two years again a clan member in Kyoto disappeared and reappeared a little while ago near this town, I've been tasked with keeping a closer eye on this town for the immediate future, to learn of whoever helped the clan member return home after so long and give them proper thanks"

Kiyome stood up "And the reason for not wanting either heiress of Gremory or Sitri knowing about this?"

Senko gave Kiyome a hard look "This doesn't involve them, at least for the time being. Besides, this something better done subtly without arguments of territory being brought up over wounded pride"

After a moment of silence Kiyome nodded "I suppose that's fair, if that's how things will be I offer my services in this mission Messenger of the Gods" Kiyome offered a small smile as Senko's eyes widened at the offer "Don't look shock, this way I can vouch for you if the Devils take issue with you and make sure you aren't causing problems"

Senko smiled with relief as she put her clothes back on "I appreciate it, Kiyome Abe. But first let us deal with the monster terrorizing the young ladies of this town, let's collect my brothers and your student to begin our mission"

It wasn't long before the two found Minato and the Kitsune brothers, as they arrived they found them playing a card game on one of the picnic tables. Rokurou threw himself backwards to be caught by his brothers, the last 'attack' from Minato's forces doing serious damage to Rokurou's own.

"This isn't over yet, I'll break time-space and overcome you" Rokurou said as he dramatically posed with a finger pointed to Minato.

Minato flipped his bang with his hand "That so, my Golden Paladins are without equal and soon I will save this world from itself. Including you, chosen of the three" Minato said, playing along with the Kitsune Brothers over the top actions and imagination.

Kiyome and Senko shared a look at the sight "Well, at least their having fun"

-=-][-=-

After tracking down the girls, learning both attended Kuoh Academy, they found the girls had come down with anaemia according to doctors. After confirming they were still alive with no geass or other forms of magic that could alter them in anyway, the Tamers and Kitsune made their way to where the monster behind it all was after leaving charms to aid in the girls recovery.

It was already late at night when they made their way to the area Senko was attacked, as they moved through the forest Bridget would stop to paw at the ground or one of the trees at regular intervals. Seeing this Minato placed a hand on a nearby tree and used Senjutsu to check on the life force of the forest, the Kitsune siblings followed suit wanting to see if there was an issue.

At first nothing seemed out of place, moving his attention closer to where their enemy could potential be Minato began to see a slightly higher than average consumption of life force, after sharing the information Minato scratched Bridget behind her ears as a reward for the chimera hellhound on picking it up.

Arriving at the clearing where Senko was attacked and the girls were drawn to they come across an unusual tree that appeared to have been planted very recently, the moonlight shinning down on the tree made the leaves on it looking far more like the petals of flowers than leaves on a tree.

"It's coming!" Senko cried out, everyone leapt backwards as tendrils burst from the ground, the Kitsune siblings leapt away together with fox fire alight in their hands whereas Minato and Kiyome got help with their charges. Bridget grabbing Minato by his collar using her centre Elda head while Dealla and Alexa fired out streams of holy and hell fire at any approaching tendrils while Kiyome's Yeti shielded her from the spit of the tendril.

Kiyome looked at the spit with worry for her charge's well-being with the worry only passing when the spit evaporated into the air with no harm to her charge, rubbing the spot the spit landed on and seeing no reaction Kiyome let out a sigh of relief "Looks like that liquid not affecting living matter was spot on" looking over to the tendrils that emerged from the ground Kiyome glared at it with a confident smirk with her allies and charges at her side "Let's finish this thing off before it can do any further harm to the people of this town"

A roar rang out from the tree as it began changing shape, more tendrils sprouted from the ground and from the tree itself as a large head emerged with the flower petals wrapping around the base of it's neck.

"That's a dragon, some kind of chimera plant dragon" Kiyome said with an even tone, looking at the creature with a blank look "I was not expecting that"

"In hindsight, it was pretty obvious" Riku said as he tapped his chin in thought "It would take something like a dragon to beat big sis"

"While I love the high opinion you have of me my brothers we have more serious issues to deal with, namely how do we deal with a dragon" Senko said as she withdrew slips of paper from her sleeves and threw them to create a barrier to block several tendrils from reaching them.

"We can't run now, chances are high more people are on their way here now" Minato said as he slapped his hands together "We'll need to take it down now, let's put the results of our training to the test" separating his hands a magic circle formed between them, throwing it skyward the magic circle expanded as it began to empower Minato and his allies.

"Oh! I can feel my power surging!" Riku said as he looked himself over as he felt his power increase, his brothers and sister having similar reactions with Senko grinning at the increase of power.

Kiyome looked at her hands for a moment before turning to the source of their power up "Minato, when did you learn to cast this?"

"Managed to pick up some ideas from seeing Boosted Gear in action" Minato answered hoping Kiyome would accept that answer, in truth working with Personas skilled in spellcraft Minato was able to create formulas that were able to replicate Persona skills like Tarukaja, Rakukaja and Sukukaja to a lesser extent "It's not perfected yet, but it should help us even the odds"

Kiyome looked over to the unknown dragon to see one of it's flower heads spitting at her, the spit moved slowly through the air from Kiyome's perspective. Easily dodging the attack Kiyome saw another tendril slowly rising from the ground aiming for her, without hesitating Kiyome kicked the flower head and sent it flying backwards with it's tendril being forced out of the ground from the new power of Kiyome's kick.

The plant dragon roared out in pain, recoiling in on itself as it looked at the others with caution.

Minato made eye contact with the plant dragon chimera and saw how it was looking at them, scanning them for an opening to exploit or a new avenue of attack, Minato glanced over to the others to see Kiyome and Senko had also noticed the intelligence of the chimera dragon.

"Bridget, seeing as we're in a forest let's try that technique" Minato said, earning a confirmation barks from the chimera hellhound.

Flames gathered around Bridget with different coloured flames for each head, blue for Alexa, green for Elda and a red flame for Dealla, as the flames covered the chimera hellhound in it's entirety there was an explosion as a mist covered the area.

"This is" Kiyome looked around them as the fog Bridget had turned into flooded the area around them, the memory of Bridget turning into that same vapour when they came to pick up from the groomers resurfacing in Kiyome's mind "Impressive, is there any more to this technique?"

No sooner had Kiyome asked did three dog heads formed from the fog around them and bit into the chimera dragon's tendrils, biting through them entirely as the severed parts fell to the ground. The heads circled around and released streams of fire, the potency of the flames were noticeable weaker than before when Bridget was in her normal form.

"It's the most effective in forests or other areas with large amount of plant life" Minato said as the vapour heads of Alexa, Elda and Dealla encircled the chimera dragon to retaliate if it made any sudden moves "I think that's due to the Cwn Annwn part drawing in power from the environment"

Any further conversation was prevented at the chimera dragon unleashed a roar strong enough to push the fog around it away for a few moments before it began re-converging, taking a step forward with her monsters at her side Kiyome pointed forward "Alright everyone, take it down"

As one the group battled the chimera dragon, the Kitsune siblings running across it's tendrils with the brothers mocking it as they threw fox fire with only one instance of each brother rocking themselves backwards due to underestimating the strength of their new flames. Kiyome guiding her charges as she fought alongside them on the front line while Minato used various magic circles to fire off attacks, bind or trip up the chimera dragon.

The chimera dragon was defeated in less then a minute once they got passed the tendrils, Minato softened the ground around the chimera dragon with a circle developed from a Tera Persona skill for Kiyome's monsters to rip it out of the ground from it's roots and thrown into the air before letting crash down.

"""Woohoo!""" the Kitsune brothers cheered as they jumped with joy """We're the best! We beat an actual dragon"""

"I'll be honest, I was expecting it to be a lot harder than that" Kiyome said as she looked over their defeated enemy's prone form with a confused look "It be may be a chimera but the fact it was spliced with a dragon means it should be no pushover"

Kiyome's harpy landed beside her to look over the chimera dragon "Well, what do we do now?"

Senko walked over to the chimera dragon and kicked it, hurting the creature but not moving it from where it laid "I don't really care what happens to it, so long as it's gone and preferably doesn't hurt anyone else"

Kneeling down to be at eye level with the chimera plant dragon Minato looked the creature in the eyes "Well, it hasn't killed anyone and from we learnt from Senko and it's other victims what it did was non-lethal long term. More of a need for sustenance than anything malicious" Minato reached out his hand to rub the dragon's snout "Hey, can you understand me?"

Kiyome rubbed her forehead "Well, we need to learn where it came from regardless. We can decide what to do with it later, until then we need to keep a close eye on it and make sure it doesn't hurt anyone"

"I know some Senjutsu techniques that could optimize it's passive feeding from the ambient energy, nothing too impressive but it could cut out it need to feed off people" Minato turned back to the chimera dragon to see it's eyes focused on him "Better for you in the long run, you won't need to draw attention to yourself"

[2] The chimera dragon nodded as it let out a rumbling that sounded like an agreement, it's body began shrinking with it's tendrils merging into it's body or becoming limbs for it to use. What was once towering over everyone present just barely reached Minato stomach, standing up Minato summoned a magic circle to use the ambient energy of the forest to heal the chimera dragon and feed it.

The chimera dragon chirped happily, giving Minato an approving look before it turned into a glare to match the one all three of Bridget's heads were giving it.

"I'll leave it in your care for the time being, I'll report this to the-AH!" Kiyome cried out feeling something wet hit her from behind, turning around Kiyome saw one of the severed tendrils sputtering out it's clothes dissolving spit "Seriously, right after it was over?!"

Kiyome's harpy wrapped it's wings around Kiyome to preserve her dignity with her other charges helping out, Senko removed three strips of paper from her sleeve and slapped them over the eyes of her brothers who tried to get a peek at Kiyome as her clothes dissolved away.

Bridget breathed smoke onto the nervous chimera dragon as Minato took off his shirt and handed it to Kiyome to use, as she struggled putting the shirt on she couldn't stop herself from asking a question.

"You don't have any spells able to make clothes?"

"No" Minato admitted "Though I feel I should make that my top priority going forward now"

"Wait, someone's coming"

Looking over to where Senko was pointing, her brothers ripping the paper charms of their faces, everyone saw two figures emerging from the tree line.

Two girls and while no one recognized one of them Minato and Kiyome knew the other.

"Satou, but she doesn't go to our school" Kiyome said, frowning she turned to the now shaking chimera dragon "Did you target South Kuoh Students as well?"

The chimera dragon nodded, without prompting it order the girls to return back to where they came from. Aside from Satou seemingly fighting against it's control for several moments everything turned out alright, saying their goodbyes the Tamers and Kitsunes went their separate ways after exchanging contact information.

-=-][-=-

"Are you going to specialize in chimeras?" Katina asked as she stood several feet away from Minato and his recently gained chimera dragon as the two trained "Between Bridget and this new addition you only really need one more for there to be a noticeable pattern"

Minato shrugged as he rose from his sitting position, the dragon chimera stretched as it retracted it's tendrils from the ground as it held it's head up high in accomplishment "No plans really, it just sort of happened when I came across little Mu here"

Katina gave Minato a concerned look as she pointed at Mu "You know, I can't help but feel you naming it before you even brought it home is going to bite you in the ass some time soon"

"Thank you for the concern, but I'm mature enough to let go of Mu for their own benefit" Minato replied, appreciating the concern being shown to him, looking over Mu Minato frowned as he plucked the fruits that grew on the chimera.

Minato mentally prepared himself for whatever could come from bringing the unknown chimera home with him, what he wasnot expecting was for several of his housemates coming up to him all saying that 'the tree dragon grew breasts'

The sight of hanging fruit that looked uncomfortable close in appearance to a woman's breasts was not something Minato was expecting on any level, the sight alone left him dumbfounded and concerned on what was the purpose of Mu's creation and what was their creator's endgame.

He still wasn't sure if the fact they were grapefruit was a happy accident or by design.

"Seriously, what kind of pervert makes a plant Dragon chimera and have it grow fruit that look like breasts?" Minato asked mostly to himself, petting Mu's head to let it know Minato didn't think any less of them due to their creator.

Katina snorted "You'd be surprised with the type of weirdos in this world" she watched as Minato looked over the plant dragon grown fruit in his hands "are you just going to fondle the grapefruit or are you going to bite into it?" Katina asked, barely hiding the perverted double meaning to her question.

Minato rolled his eyes at Katina's comment "Come on Mu, let's collect everything and send it off for testing"

Seeing Minato walk back to the house to send samples off to the Tamers for testing with the dragon chimera at his side Katina waited a few seconds for Minato be out of earshot before addressing their eavesdroppers "So, how do you feel about this Mu?"

Ophis emerged out of hiding with Bridget at her side, Ophis eyes were focused on the direction Minato walked with the chimera dragon before looking away "Not much, though I won't miss it"

Bridget barked in agreement with Ophis's words, all three heads nodding.

Looking over the two Katina scratch her head, unsure of what to make of the situation "I'll be honest, I thought you'd be glad that Minato brought back a dragon even if it's chimera hybrid. I can understand the mismatch hell beast being displeased with another creature moving in on it's turf, but having something even part dragon could be a powerful asset in your end game of defeating Great Red"

"...Because it's interfering in things" Ophis answered, feeling Katina's questioning gaze on her Ophis crossed her arms over her chest "Normally, Minato and I would listen to music together alone in my room for a certain length of time. Since that chimera arrived Minato and I haven't been able listen to music together, spending whatever free time he has on the creature morning, noon and night" Ophis's face turned sour, thinking back to Minato turning down their music time together leading to Ophis not enjoying her music as much as usual.

The fact the chimera made annoying noises in the middle of the night and Minato having to get up to make sure it was okay and not enthralling humans, hours of comfortable peace stolen by the plant chimera's arrival, made it worse.

"Sounds like someone's jealous Minato is paying more attention to another dragon than them" Katina said offhandedly, seeing no reaction from the teasing Katina titled her head before walking over to Ophis "Chances the Tamers are going to take Mu off his hands sooner rather than later, chimeras are no joke and if they can't find where the thing came from with sufficient information their going to have to take it in for more thorough tests"

Bridget whined a little, thoughts of her own tests going through her minds, Ophis scratched the chimera hell hound's chest and in response Alexa licked Ophis's hand.

"Sorry" Katina apologized seeing how the mention of tests affected the hell hound "You free? How about we do something to get your mind off the plant thing Minato brought back, have a little fun"

Ophis turned to Katina as she considered her words "Alright. I don't have anything for an hour or so, what do you have in mind?"

"Well how about that game about playing as bears to steal honey, though I fear it may take more than an hour to enjoy it. What about that card game I saw you and Minato playing?"

Ophis considered playing the card game she played with Minato, while fun to play it also had the add on effect of helping Ophis work on her decision making skills, working with limited resources and making use of different assets to get the most out of the whole without high stakes involved, even if Katina herself didn't know how to play it would be a chance to test Ophis's own comprehension of the system.

Agreeing to the card game they went to the house to play a game, however as they entered through the front door they could here Mu roar before it was abruptly cut off. Looking over they saw Minato giving Mu a pointed disapproving look while one of it's tendrils had a trumpet in it's mouth, Mu looked at Minato pleadingly as tears threatened to spill from it's eyes.

"You know the rules Mu, misbehave and you don't get bananas" Minato narrowed his eyes at the chimera dragon, Mu cowered before Minato to show it was sorry for what it had almost done "Puppy dragon eyes won't work on me, you know you did wrong when you spat out the dissolving spit not only in the house but also at someone"

Katina quickly scanned the room for anyone suddenly nude and saw Adelia with a wet shirt on, her bra visible as her wet clothes clung to her chest, but still very much clothed with no sign of it melting away.

Adelia noticed Katina starring at her worried and gave her de-facto leader a thumbs up to show she was okay, holding up a half empty glass Adelia pointed at the juice inside it and at the wet spot on her chest before pointing at Mu.

Looking over to Mu they saw the chimera dragon had begun gravelling on the ground as it looked up at Minato pick up a container of sliced bananas and sealed it shut with magic, the dragon whined louder in response. Minato just gave his newest charge a hard look, the chimera dragon lowered their head onto the ground, the trumpet in one of it's tendrils letting out a drawn out note as it did so.

Minato looked over to see Katina and Ophis looking in on the exchange, Ophis frowned and walked away with Katina following after her. Minato looked at the pair worried, absent-mindedly grabbing one of Mu's mouth tendrils as they reached for the banana box.

A few minutes later in Ophis's room, Ophis and Katina were in the middle of their second game with the first round being won by Katina.

"So, is everything okay?" Katina asked as she looked at Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, starring intently at the cards in her hand and on her side of the playing "You look distracted, pretty sure you would have kicked my ass last game since I have never really played this game before"

Ophis didn't respond immediately, instead continuing her turn before passing it over to Katina "I felt going easy on you due to it being your time playing would make thing fair, that and your tactical mind from leading your" Ophis paused as she wasn't entirely sure what Katina thought about the others who were once part of Diodora's peerage "Friends?"

"Bit more of a found family bonded through mutual suffering, but friends works just as well" Katina answered as she looked over the cards she had available to her.

"Leading your friends in Rating Games has given you a wealth of experience over many years, that is what led you to victory in the previous round" as Katina ended her turn Ophis began her own "But this round won't be the same"

Katina raised an eyebrow at Ophis words, looking at the playing field with the cards in her hand Katina knew she was not going to win this round "So it has nothing to do with the chimera dragon outside that's regularly begging Minato for his banana?"

"Watching a creature demean itself for some fleeting pleasure, why should I care about it?" Ophis played her cards, maintaining a viable defensive option while slowly chipping away at Katina's resources "Why he's wasting his time on it I don't understand, it's obvious the creature is using Minato for food"

"I guess it's because he sees something in the creature, you've known him far longer then I have" Katina began her turn, her eyes narrowed for a moment at the card she just drew "Why would he spend this much time with it?"

Ophis was silent for a moment as she considered Katina's words, her focused completed removed from the playing field before her "He has a kind heart. If he is unsuccessful with training this creature it will likely end up dead sooner rather then later, Minato knows that and wants to believe Mu can be more than a creature that feeds off of women's breasts"

"Ugh, I know there are a lot of weirdos out there but who makes something like that" Katina said with a disgusted look before shaking her head, jumping onto whatever other conversation option there was "Well, if nothing else we know begging can only go so far with him. Maybe you could use that to make him do what you want?"

Katina paused as she let a scene play out in her mind.

---

[3] Minato was watching TV when Ophis knelt on the coach and leaned in forward to Minato with a blank look "Hey, why aren't you paying more attention to me? I'm getting lonely" putting her head in Minato's lap she looked up to him "Let's do something together like we used to, before that thing came here"

---

'Eh, it fits but it doesn't feel right' Katina thought to herself as she repeated the scene again in her mind with some changes.

---

[3] "Minato!" Ophis cried out, kneeling on the ground with tears in her eyes. She looks up at Minato as she sobbed "Why have you been ignoring me for that perverted creature, do I have to be a bad dragon for you pay attention to me?"

Ophis looked away, tears freely falling as she looked away embarrassed as Minato tried his best to comfort her "If, if that's how it is? I'll be as perverted as you want me to be, don't leave me!" Ophis clung to Minato's shirt and pushed him to the ground.

---

'Okay, that's wrong on several levels' Katina thought as she discard that image with a wince, having the Infinite Dragon God acting like a heart broken girl did not fit at all.

---

[3] "Ophis?" Minato asked confused, moments again Ophis had flipped him head over feet and was now straddling him as he laid on the ground.

Leaning forward Ophis lifted Minato's chin so that their eyes met one another, her grip preventing Minato from turning his head "You and I are going to be spending more alone time together, I missed the fun we've had"

Minato blushed, his eyes pupils shaking as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate "Be gentle"

Ophis smirked as she leaned forward to claim her prize.

---

'Hmm, that's more what I'd expect but it still doesn't feel right' Katina thought to herself.

"No" Ophis said sternly, giving Katina a pointed look for half a second before looking away "Such a plan is flawed at it's core. We've been together for months and such a change in behaviour would concern him more than anything, perhaps even thinking I had fallen ill, fallen under some outside influence or that I had been replaced"

Ophis thought about Minato's reaction to her being ill, he would use magic to treat what he could and if he was unable to heal her or it was something minor she would recover easily on her own then he would look after her. Staying by her bedside, tending to her needs, just the two of them together.

'Okay, that's a tempting' Ophis thought for a moment before shaking her head "Above all else, that's not how I want to ensure Minato's loyalty"

"How do you want to ensure Minato's loyalty to you?" Katina asked as she began her turn, drawing the card she needed she laid out her plan to shift the flow of the match into her favour.

"I don't know" Ophis answered softly, surprising Katina as she didn't think she would get a proper answer "I don't know what I want Minato's loyal to be like, but I do know what I don't want it to be" Ophis free hand drifted to her headphones as she touched them with her finger tips "I don't want either of us demeaning ourselves for the other"

Katina looked at Ophis with surprise, never seeing this side of Ophis before. With a gentle smile Katina nodded "Well, I say your on the right path to finding what you want. That being said" Katina separated a card from her hand and held it up with a triumph smirk "Final Phase"

Katina turned over the card to reveal and activate it, seeing the card Ophis activated her own to negate it. Katina pouted as she discard the card that would have would her the match and began plotting her next move.

In the end, the match ended in a draw with one victory for both Ophis and Katina with the third match ending in a draw due to running out of time.

-=-][-=-

"The chimera this Stray Devil created, it wouldn't happen to be made from a plant and dragon would it?" Kiyome asked, putting her cup of tea down as she looked at Rias across from her.

The investigation into where Mu, the dragon plant chimera that grew fruit that looked like a women's breast, came from was not going as well as Kiyome had hoped. They checked in with the usual suspects who crossbred flora and fauna species together when making chimera and found no connections leading to who made Mu, they had stumbled upon several other illegal activities during the investigation especially one alchemist who was creating chimera to be used a weapons, but while they had done good their end goal of finding out where Mu came from still eluded them.

The body altering fruit that grew on Mu's body was a huge clue that both narrowed down and expanded their lists of suspects, narrowing it down as creating chimera that grew specialized food was a niche area of expertize but one that shared their findings the most openly and behind closed doors expanding their list of suspects as anyone could have found one of the shared research papers and worked from that.

Researching the fruit Mu grew along with scrapping samples told them that the plant and dragon were both found in the Underworld, but even so it wouldn't take that much effort to buy materials from both off the market both legally and illegally. Largely they had learnt that Mu was mostly harmless, with some Tamers even looking into selling the fruits Mu grew and keeping it well fed along with a share of the profits made.

What Kiyome was not expecting was to being asked by Rias to help down track down a chimera a Stray Devil, with an obsession with breasts that rivalled Issei Hyoudou's own, created and neither Peerage of Gremory or Sitri were able to track down where it went on their own.

Leading them to reach out to the local Tamers for aid.

Rias blinked in shock, leaning forward as she focused in on Kiyome "Have you encountered it?"

Kiyome nodded "Yes, several nights ago in fact. We have been investigating where it came from ourselves, Minato has been caring for it in the meantime"

Narrowing her eyes Rias crossover her arms as she looked over to her Tamer friend "And why didn't you tell me of this?"

"The incident was already taken care of and we jumped straight into investigating where it came from, afterwards I had every intent of telling you and Sona what had happened" Kiyome sipped her tea before continuing "This is our area of expertise after all, it didn't seem fair to burden you all with something none of you have a great deal of experience in"

Rias sighed "Very well. May we see it for ourselves, I'd rather see the creature with my own eyes before closing the book on this incident for good"

"Perfectly reasonable. I'll call Minato and have him bring it over to the place we found it initially" Kiyome answered as she gave Rias directions to the meeting place.

-=-][-=-

Later that night, the Occult Research Club waited for the Minato and Kiyome to arrive. Some of them looking over the area where the group dipped correctly assuming it was where the chimera plant dragon was originally planted.

"This is where the Stray Devil left the chimera" Kiba said, feeling the ground with his foot getting an idea of the disturbed ground.

"Be on your best behaviour now, first impressions are key here" in the distance the Ocult Research club could hear Minato's voice as he talked to someone.

Minato and Kiyome soon came into view with a Mu walking between them, Mu looked up at Minato and winked at him.

"No worries boss, I'll be the picture of good manners-" Mu began, stopping as it turned over and saw the Occult Research Club. It's eyes zeroing on Rias and Akeno "Hello~ Ouch!"

Minato bumped Mu's head when he saw where the chimera eyes landed on "Seriously, not even thirty seconds"

Mu held it's head low, growing tendrils to rub it's head "You know it's my one weakness, well that and fire"

"That's the chimera?" Issei titled his head as he looked down at Mu "I thought it'd be bigger"

Mu stepped forward with it's head held high "I'll have you know I'm a grower. Names Mu, part dragon, part nature and all awesome" Mu gave Rias and Akeno a charming smile "So, what brings you here this late at night"

"Whether or not to kill you" Rias answered, a cold expression on her face "I can say now your not doing yourself any favours"

"Eep!" Mu jumped backwards and ran behind Minato, Mu's head peeking out from behind Minato's leg "C-Come on, that's a little extreme isn't it?"

"Not really, especially with a Stray Devil's creation" Rias looked away from Mu to address both Kiyome and Minato "How has it been over the few days you've had it?"

"Aside from small hiccups here and there, Mu has been on their best behaviour" at Minato's words Mu moved out from behind him to stand beside Minato and Kiyome "They're a fast learner as well, picked up what I taught them surprisingly well"

Rias looked to Minato and Kiyome with a concerned expression "And neither of you have suffered any lapses in memory, no missing time or finding yourselves doing things you don't remember starting?"

Minato shook his head along with Kiyome, Kiyome scratched Mu's head as she talked to Rias "We did tests and while Mu does possess the ability to entrance people at a distance it's very weak, needing them to be sleeping for it to be effective even on normal humans" Kiyome looked over to Minato before she continued on "I've been checking on Minato and Mu daily and nothing was out of the ordinary"

Looking unconvinced Rias turned to Mu with a cold analytical look, seeing this Minato asked Rias a simple question "Is there a way we can prove Mu hasn't enthralled us so you'd let us handle them going forward?"

Rias paused as she considered the question "Well, there are two methods known to work best. Either questioning the person enthralled with facts about them to look for anything off, different tones of voice or anything that just seems off"

Kiyome quirk an eyebrow "Do you know enough about Minato to even do that?"

Rias opened her mouth to answer before closing it, realization dawning on her that no she didn't really know anything about Minato. She turned back to her Peerage for support and found that they didn't know enough about Minato themselves.

"Well, this is awkward" Kiba said as he scratched his cheek "I mean, you like music right?"

Minato held up his headphones with a 'what gave it away' look.

"Oh my, it seems we'll have to resort to the other method" Akeno said, looking over everyone "Any volunteers?"

"I'll do it" Issei said as he stepped forward, summoning boosted gear as he do so.

Minato frowned as he turned to Rias for answers "And what exactly is the other method?"

"Battle" Rias answered, her gaze moving over to Issei as the green gem of Boosted Gear flashed with power "Most enthrallments have been known to come undone during a fight or losing one"

"Stop!" Mu cried out as they raced forward "What do I need to do to convince you I'm not controlling either Minato or Kiyome?" Mu locked eyes with Rias, it's basic instinct to look down a little lower silenced completely "Please, just don't fight"

"Mu" Minato was stopped from taking a step forward by Kiyome, seeing the look she gave him Minato stood where he was to allow things to play out.

Rias looked at Mu with the same analytical look as she had given it before "So, you will have no complaints of being taken away for testing and research?"

"None at all. Tamers have been looking me over from head to roots, run whatever tests you'd like"

"Even if it means risking your life?" Rias asked, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Mu with the Power of Destruction shimmering her hands "The tests could end with your death, would you accept that?"

"I'll risk my life, but I won't give it up" Mu answered, their voice filled with determination "For the one who had faith in me when I was undeserving of it, who showed me what living was and not merely existing. For boss's sake and my own, I will live"

Rias kept her eyes focused on Mu's own, the two starring down the other for a long minute before Rias sighed before turning to Kiyome "Well, you were right. Mu's nothing like the Stray Devil that made them"

"Of course, Minato has been a good influence on them" Kiyome said with a nod and a proud smile, said smile turned apologetic as she turned to Minato and Mu "Sorry. Rias wanted to give Mu a little test of character"

Minato sighed "Well, so long as everything okay it's fine" Minato turned to Rias with a questioning look "So anything else you want to go over?"

"Just a few things" Rias said as she took out a sheet of paper with a magic circle drawn on it "First off, seeing how the Stray Devil reacts to Mu to make sure it's the chimera he made"

Mu blinked "Wait, I'm meeting my maker?" the magic circle glowed to life as the image of the Stray Devil that created Mu came into focus, the Stray Devil recognized Mu as his chimera and before another word could be uttered Mu cut him off "Damn your ugly"

"What!?" The Stray Devil cried out, it leaned forward so that his face took up the entire projection "What did you call me?!"

"I call you ugly. What, did you make me to grow fruit that looked like breasts cause you couldn't get any?" Mu asked, genuinely hoping that wasn't the reason for the breast fruit.

"I'll have you know I have a very activate romantic life before I started working on you! And no, the reason I made you was-" the Stray Devil went on a maniac speech that boiled down to 'big boobs the best, all women should have big boobs especially flat chested ones'

Hearing Issei praise the Stray Devil's plan Koneko tightened her fists in anger "Maybe we should kill the thing after all"

"Don't put the sins of Mu's creator on them, their having a hard time as it is" Kiyome said, directing everyone's attention to chimera.

Minato gave Mu comforting pats on the back as the chimera curled in on itself and looked on with dead eyes "I suspected I was made by a pervert, but to actually hear it being confirmed" Mu buried their head into the ground to hide away from the world.

"Well, that at least explains the grapefruit" Minato said, turning to the projection of the Stray Devil "But what about the others?"

"Others?" the Stray Devil asked confused, the confusion being spread to everyone in the Occult Research Club.

"Along with the grapefruit we found regular peaches as well" Kiyome explained, as she did the Stray Devil search his memory for the reason why peaches would grown on Mu.

"Oh, I think I know what happened" The Stray Devil said, closing his eyes as he nodded "I needed to make another chimera to grow fruit that grew a woman's hips and butts to get supplies to make my boobie fruit chimera" Mu's painful cries of embarrassment could be heard from beneath the ground "The thing didn't last long and I recycled what I could, I guess some traits carried over when I made the designs for my magnum opus"

"Well, that explains the grapefruit and peaches. Do I want to know what the eggplants are for?" Minato asked, the Stray Devil gaining a haunted look.

"Where the grapefruit and peaches are for women the eggplants are for men" his hung low, the Stray Devil whispered his words "It taught me that some things can be too big"

Learning all that they needed to know, and some they didn't want to know, it was decided that Mu was to remain in the care of the Tamers. With everything seemingly settled Minato and Kiyome were prepared to leave, they still needed to prepare Mu for their trip to a more permanent home, when Issei called out.

"Minato. I know this sounds sudden but" Issei raised up boosted gear "I really do want to fight you, one on one"

Minato's reaction was more subdued than the others around them, merely raising an eyebrow Minato turned back around to face Issei "What brought this on?"

"When we went over the plan for the test of character for Mu it was decided I'd be the one to step forward to fake challenge you" Issei looked down at boosted gear with a thoughtful look "I didn't really think much about it at first, but the more I did the more I really did want to fight you for real" Issei swung out boosted gear so that it was pointed straight at Minato "I want to test myself against you, we didn't get a chance to really fight when you were with us during the training camp"

"Hmm, a battle between student and teacher then?" Minato turned to Kiyome with a frown "Nothing would come of this if I do fight Issei, would it?"

Kiyome shook her head "No, but are you sure about this? I've seen the recordings of their fight against Riser and Issei has powered up a great deal. Especially with him unlocking Balance Breaker" she gave Minato a worried look "You don't have to accept it, your under no obligation"

Minato nodded "I know, but I want to see how strong Issei has gotten for myself. Besides" removing his headphones and MP3 Minato handed them to Kiyome before turning to face Issei "I want to see this Balance Breaker for myself"

Issei looked to Minato uncertain "Are you sure? There's a reason it's called a Balance Breaker?"

With closed eyes Minato answered "I'm sure, I'd rather face you in earnest rather than in a half hearted bout. Besides" Minato opened his eyes, his tone so plain it was if he was discussing the weather or stating a simple fact "It will take more than you exploiting a system glitch to beat me as you are now"

Issei narrowed his eyes, an excited smirk tugging at his lips "I take it that's you saying 'come at me bro' isn't it"

Taking a deep breath Minato gathered his ki to enhance his physical body as several magic circle appeared along his back and shoulders, from each magic circle extended a glowing arms that clenched and unclenched their fists before combining together with one another and into Minato's arms. Slapping his hands together with his newly formed gauntlets Minato got into a battle ready stance "Was I being too subtle?"

"Welsh Dragon Scale Mail: Balance Breaker!"

As red armoured covered Issei entirely a wave of power emerged from him that kicked up the dirt around him, as Minato looked at the Balance Breaker of Boosted Gear the Persona counterpart of Y Ddraig Goch emerged from Minato's Sea of Souls to look get a better look at the one who 'inherited' it's power by chance.

The fight between Minato and Issei began with the cry of Boosted Gear's 'Boost!' starting the match, while Minato was more experienced Issei's Boosted Gear increasing his power forced a time limit on Minato.

The fight between them was leaning in Minato's favour, as Minato landed a solid hit on Issei's chest cracking Boosted Gear's scale mail, Issei jumped backwards before launching a huge blast of draconic energy towards Minato.

Everyone expected Minato to jump out of the way of the attack, instead he stood his ground and formed a magic circle in front of him seeming to most to tank the attack. As the attack made contact with the magic circle Minato needed to use a mixture of Senjutsu and Magic to keep him in place and not skidding through half the forest.

'Visualized vessel. Use momentum as energy to kick start process. Fill vessel with energy. Allow it to take shape. Dominate it and-' Minato thought to himself as Issei's attack grew smaller little by little, as a small amount of it solidified through Minato's magic circle he grabbed a hold of it and pulled.

As he pulled his arm back Issei's attack was gone, the power of it taken and transmuted into what Minato now held in his hand.

A red bladed long sword with a green gem resembling a dragon's eye on it's golden guard, Minato gripped the temporary weapon with both hands as he made a show of breathing heavily to make the others believe he was more exhausted than he actually was.

"Did he, did Minato just turn Issei's own attack into a weapon?" Asia asked shocked at what she was seeing, having no idea such a thing was possible.

[4] "That's rare sight to behold" feeling both Issei and Asia's eyes on her Rias explained further "It's not unheard of for a Magician to covert another's magic power to forge temporary weapons or items for themselves, many seeing it as either parlour tricks or useful for creating simple tools"

Akeno continued on from where Rias left off, her features serious as she looked at the draconic sword Minato now held "However, barely any have succeeded doing that in the middle of a fight as on top of needing a specific formula for specific items and channeling the power of another the Magician's own will needs to be stronger than that of the original magic's wielder"

"Seriously?! That's a thing?!" Issei asked still in shock at what he just saw.

Koneko looked to Kiba to see the Knight looking at the draconic sword with an almost longing look, she turned to Kiyome who looked on at the scene wide eyed "You really lucked out on picking your student"

"Luck may be subjective" Kiyome said slowly, rubbing her forehead as she was sure her student was about to get a direct hit from Issei's Dragon Shot.

Mu jumped up and down as they cheered "You show'em boss, prove who's the dragon layer!"

"I think you mean dragon slayer" Minato answered back as he took a familiar kendo stance.

Akeno giggle perversely as she gave Mu a sideways glance "Well, I wouldn't be oppose if this ended in the former"

As Minato held the sword made from Issei's attack he could feel the power of this world's Y Ddraig Goch emanating from it, the Persona Y Ddraig Goch smiled as it whispered two words to have Minato draw on it's power.

Plausible Deniability.

"Well, as temporary as this may be I feel like it still deserves a name" Minato looked over the sword in his hands for a moment before shrugging "I suppose Fang of Y Ddraig Goch is a decent one, if not very imaginative"

With a few practice swings the power of this world's Y Ddraig Goch within the sword Minato wielded in his hands and the power of his own Persona of the Welsh Dragon started to resonate with one another as the sword began to glow, the green gem glowing brighter and brighter until a single word could be heard.

"Boost!"

"Kiba" Issei said with a monochrome voice, he turned to the Knight of Gremory with jerky turn of his head before asking Kiba a favor "Could I have a sword?"

"I think you're going to need an armoury" Kiba said calling upon his Sacred Gear to make various swords with various abilities and handing them to Issei.

Despite Issei's lack of swordsmanship he was able to make good use of them by boosting the different abilities of the swords, causing each blade to break down soon after as they weren't able to handle the increase in power for long, with every sword destroyed Kiba was able to keep supplying Issei with new ones to replace them as soon as they broke.

Minato looked at the Fang of Y Ddraig Goch in his hands and noticed hairline fractures forming at the base of the blade, the temporary weapons breaking down from the battle and the power building within it, it wouldn't be long until it was gone.

Issei looked at Minato cautiously as he observed Minato for any sort of opening; seeing Minato's eye glance at Fang of Y Ddraig Goch, or Ddraig's Fang as Issei called it inside his head, Issei remembering Akeno's words on the weapon's created by the method Minato used it didn't take much to conclude the blade of his stolen power was already beginning to break down.

"Issei, why don't you try using your Dress Break on him~?"

Issei turned to Akeno with a confused look before shaking his head "What, no way!? I'm not doing that!"

"It's cause he's a guy isn't it" Koneko said, stating a fact rather than asking a question.

"Dress what?" Minato asked aloud, as he did everyone turned to him to see the confused look on his face. Turning to Kiyome Minato saw she was giving him the same look as everyone else "Am I missing something here?"

"You, haven't seen the recording of their rating game yet?" Kiyome asked in turn, believing her student would have wanted to see the rating game himself. She remembered Sona mentioning that she told Minato about a recording of the fight the Sitri heiress held in her possession and offered him to watch it at any time, a part of Kiyome suspecting Sona was looking for some training for her and her peerage.

Shaking his head Minato scratch his cheek "No, I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had the time to watch it"

"Long story short, the perv created a magic skill destroys a person's clothing" Koneko said, pointing a thumb over toward Issei "Left over half of Riser's peerage naked as the day they were born, I should probable mention that Riser's peerage was made up entirely of girls"

Minato looked at Koneko horrified at what he was hearing, he looked over everyone hoping it wasn't true or Koneko was exaggerating for effect but only found resigned nods, looking toward Issei the host of the power of the Red Dragon Emperor nodded his head confirming what he had done.

"Was the rating game private or was it being broadcast?" Minato asked.

Rias was unfazed as she answered "Broadcast live, though I hear most archived recordings will censor or skip over the dress breaks"

Minato took a deep breath, offering a silent prayer for the well being of Riser's peerage, before slowly nodding "Okay"

Issei looked at Minato confused, not sure what his senior / trainer / opponent meant "Okay?"

"I do not condone what you did Issei, not by any measure, but I can understand why you did it" Minato said slowly, even as he felt everyone's gaze settle on him "You were up against foes who had years, perhaps even decades, of experience over your own. While you wield the power of a Longinus Sacred Gear, something capable of killing gods, without the proper training and experience you can only do so much"

Minato paused for a moment as he thought of an analogy to further his point "You could wield Excalibur, one of the mightiest swords known to mankind, itself but without proper training it's little more than a sharp chunk of metal with powers needing further skill and training to make use of"

Kiba's features tightened for a moment as his fists clenched, Koneko, Akeno and Rias glanced towards the Knight to see how he was. Seeing him recover quickly they made plans to speak with Kiba later.

"In that context, it's understandable you would seek any advantage available to you" Minato continued, unsure of himself if he and SEES would have resorted to similar methods if it meant saving people from Shadows, ending the Dark Hour and preventing The Fall "And if what I'm hearing is true than it's something only you Issei, a man who speaks just as much from his heart as he does from his libido, could have made"

"Minato" Issei said, unsure of what to feel about what Minato was saying "Your not disgusted or creeped out by Dress Break?"

"I never said that" Minato quickly answered, waiting a moment before continuing to let his reply sink in "I'm saying that I can't be too harsh on you for creating Dress Break. Just, promise me you'll grow out of using it" Minato glanced over to the others before turning back to Issei "Because it's going to cause problems down the line at one point, and all it takes for someone to make that move useless is by getting over the shame or suppressing it"

"He's a perv, he's not going to give it up that easily" Koneko said said with a deadpan tone and a flat look "Your giving him way too much credit"

Minato gentle smiled as he answered "Sometimes all a person needs to improve themselves is knowing that someone believes and has faith in them"

Mu grew and pointed several tendrils at themselves with their head held high "Boss is right, if he didn't have faith in me I wouldn't be here right now or discovered my love for jazz music"

Issei got a little misty eyed at Minato's words, hearing that Minato had faith in him pumping Issei up with a second wind.

"All that being said, how did you even make Dress Break?" Minato turned to Issei with a curious look that turned uncertain "Do I even want to know how you trained it?"

"Oh, I helped Issei train" Asia said as she raised her hand "I let him test it out on me to help perfect it, we went through a lot of clothes to do it" seeing the alarmed and worried expression on Minato's face Asia acted quickly "I volunteered and insisted to go through with it myself, there wasn't much I could do so helping Issei train Dress Break was something I knew I could do"

Rias looked to Asia shocked "Wait, is that why you bought so many clothes right after the Rating Game?"

Minato did his best to ignore the demands of Angels and Saints to strangle Issei, especially the Archangels Michael and Raphael as they pointed out various weak points and what could cause the most pain short term with minimal long term injuries respectfully.

Martial and Medical advisors could make for dangerous combinations.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for Asia Dress Break may never had come to be. Especially with the sudden breakthrough I had at school "Issei nodded as he said those words.

Minato's expression froze on his face, turning to Issei Minato had to ask the Dragon Emperor's current host "I'm sorry. What happened at school?"

[5] Issei recounted the events that led to his breakthrough with Dress Break, how during one of he and his friends peeping sessions on the girl's kendo team changing room and subsequent chase led to Issei being able to use a perfected Dress Break on Murayama and Katase from the kendo club.

"...after that I went to the club room to show" Issei stopped himself as Minato raised his hand to signal Issei to stop, Minato's hair covered his eyes so no one could see them "What's up?"

"Did you just confess to stripping your classmates naked, in front of the entire school?" Minato asked, wanting to make sure he wasn't mishearing or misunderstanding something.

Issei blinked as he crossed his arms "I mean, it wasn't the entire school, but basically yeah"

"You just confessed to stripping your classmates naked in front of other students during school hours, leaving them as bare as the day they were born, by testing a new magic ability on them" Minato's voice slowly gained a cold edge to it, his grip on Ddraig's Fang growing tighter.

Issei nodded, though his face was hidden due to his Balance Breaker his voice was enough to convey how uncomfortable he felt "It sounds bad, but both Murayama and Katase weren't hurt-"

"Physically. They weren't hurt physically, mentally you in all likelihood scarred them for life" Minato interrupted with a biting tone.

Issei bristled "That's being a bit extreme"

Minato raised his head, showing everyone the sharp and angry look in his eyes "It's literally one of the most common nightmares in the world, and that's just the act of you stripping them. We haven't even begun to unpack the point of you using your own classmates as test subjects without their knowledge or consent"

"Didn't you say you couldn't be too harsh with me a minute ago?" Issei asked, part of him wanting to reason with Minato while another part not wanting Minato to lose faith in him just after telling him.

"That only applies to you using it on enemies in life or death situations and NOT innocents with no knowledge of the supernatural side, it doesn't absolve you of your screw ups or stops me from pointing them out. Especially when you don't seem the least bit repentant for committing an actual crime" Minato fired back without missing a beat. Rubbing his temple and closing his eyes Minato fought back the migraine he felt coming "I'm not asking you to change who you are, you are a pervert without question but that's part of who you are, all I'm asking is to consider the other people around you"

Opening his eyes Minato gave Issei a hard look "Seriously, at least be subtle with your perversion at school and why do you keep harassing the girls when there's suppose to be a ton of x rated stuff on the internet"

Issei pointed a finger at Minato "I'll have you know me, Matsuda and Motohama did try being subtle but it fell apart within the first week, wasn't much point in hiding it since everyone knew so since then we have been loud and proud perverts" Issei pulled his arm back for a moment before shooting it out again with two fingers raised "Second, while there is a lot of x rated stuff online we also want to see real girls our own age and since that kind of stuff is very illegal we went with the lesser of two evils"

"You had that response prepared, didn't you?" Minato asked with a flat tone.

"For months" Issei answered Minato's question before he picked up something odd Minato said a moment ago "Wait a second, why did you said 'suppose to be' when talking about x rated things? It kind of sounds like your trying to paint yourself as someone who doesn't look at it"

Minato felt his migraine come in full force as he saw Issei trying to change the subject "Because I don't. I have no interest at looking at that stuff"

"Ara, ara. Minato has a pure soul, who would have guessed" Akeno said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Kiyome frowned as she turned to Rias "Did you know about this?"

Rias shook her head "Not about the kendo girls, though Issei did come to the clubroom and used Dress Break on both Akeno and I"

Minato covering his eyes with his free hand, taking a moment to process everything and to decide what to do next. He spared a thought of what Murayama and Katase went through, being helped to the changing rooms as those who stepped forward to help did what they could to protect what was left of the two's dignity, likely wearing tracksuits because they couldn't even put on their uniforms without panties especially with how short Kuoh Academy's skirts were.

Having those they trusted bringing them what they needed from home or buying new ones, whether to stay at school or head home and all of that without factoring in the shock, despair and humiliation of the whole thing.

Not sure what to do next, Minato asked himself what the other members of SEES would do?

Other than being horrified. Junpei would openly say Issei went too far, Yukari and Fuuka would keep their distance with Fuuka hiding behind the others with Yukari ready to strike if Issei got any closer, Akihiko and Shinjiro would call Issei out with them then clobbering him, Ken would report Issei to the police, Konomaru would guard the others from him, Aigis would keep her guns locked on him and Mitsuru…

Minato lower his hand from his eyes, holding aloft Fang of Y Ddraig Goch Minato looked at the sword with a blank look "Fang of Y Ddraig Goch. As brief as your existence is lend me your strength here and now, to do what must be done and so that your brilliance shall be forever be engrained into those who witness your power"

Responding to Minato's words the green gem in the cross guard of Ddraig's Fang began flashing rapidly before becoming a solid green light, power exploding from the sword and washing over Minato in the process. Beneath his feet the same magic circles that were used to empower Kiyome and the others against Mu appeared, all spinning as the power of Y Ddraig Goch increased their potency.

Chances were high Issei wouldn't face any real repercussions from what he did, testing magic on unsuspecting innocents and scarring his own classmates for life. There was only one real course of action to take.

Issei held his ground even as the waves of power pushed him back little by little "What the?!"

"Issei. I can't ignore or look over what you did, especially for those you have harmed" Minato's glare was cold, as if Death itself was both mad and disappointed in you "Here and now, for those who will never know what you did to them, I will execute you"

Behind Minato magic circles appeared with clenched fists emerging from them, the arrangement of the arms appearing behind Minato making it look like hundreds of arms had sprouted from Minato's back from Issei's perspective.

"You're, your not going to kill Issei are you?" Asia asked alarmed, giving Issei worried looks as she saw him bracing himself for whatever Minato had planned.

Minato's cold mask broke for a moment, giving Asia a comforting smile "He won't die, I won't let him"

"That sounded far more menacing than comforting" Kiba said just before Minato leapt into the air, jumping higher and higher through the boosts of Ddraig's Fang and summoning magic circles for platforms.

"Looks like it's time for you to face the consequences of your actions" Koneko said to Issei as she watched Minato climbing higher and higher.

Akeno licked her lips as her eyes focused on Issei "I have to admit, I'm curious how Minato is going to execute you. Though I will admit I'd preferred it if he said 'it's time for daddy to get the belt out', execute just comes off as too strong"

"A little help here would be really appreciated!" Issei said, trying to move back but finding his feet caught on something. Looking down Issei saw Mu's tendrils coming up from the ground and wrapping around his legs, Issei gave the dragon chimera born from a man who loved breasts just as much as he a look of betrayal.

Rias gave Issei a comforting smile "If it looks like he's going too far we'll step in, promise"

Panicking Issei looked up towards Minato as he reached the apex of his jump, the crescent moon behind his head almost coming off as a crown, with his eyes locked on Minato Issei barely dodge the first fist launched at him. Despite his best efforts Issei couldn't dodge them all as a gatling gun of fists hammered into him, just as Minato shot towards Issei with Ddraig's Fang in hand.

"Welsh Dragon Slaying, Hell Drop!"

As Minato made contact an explosion of draconic power was release, most hitting Issei with the left over being directed skyward or funneled into the earth to minimize environmental damage.

As the light died down both Minato and Issei slowly came back into view, their silhouettes giving way to show Issei on the ground with Minato standing over him with-

"Are those wings?" Kiba asked as he saw Minato with wings, Asia tensed expecting to see angel wings but instead saw red mechanical dragon wings floating behind Minato with matching knight armour covering his right arm and chest.

Minato looked surprised at the new armour as well, turning his attention to the now fading Fang of Y Ddraig Goch "One last surprise huh" as the armour broke away Minato gave the weapon a comforting smile "As brief as you were, you were a remarkable partner"

As the Persona of Y Ddraig Goch returned to the Sea of Souls, for a moment Minato felt as though the Fang of Y Ddraig Goch was grateful before it's form broke away into the energy it was shaped from.

Minato turned his attention to Issei, while he had gotten a bad beating through their fight it was easy enough for Minato to heal him back up. Minato momentary played with the idea of beating Issei up and healing him before beating him up again like a shounen protagonist before discarding the idea, kneeling down Minato saw Issei was out cold.

Practically seeing cartoon swirls in Issei's eyes Minato looked him over to make sure Issei would be okay.

The following day

Issei walked to school alongside Asia, a little sore from the previous night but overall alright.

'I still can't believe he could turn my own finishing move against me' Issei thought to himself, reflecting on the night before and his own strength.

'I have to say, it's been a while since I someone convert one of my attacks into a tool or weapon to be used' Ddraig said from within Issei's Sacred Gear 'I could count who could pull it off on one hand, so if you get stronger you will be able to avoid something like that in the future'

'Did any of them seemingly steal your power of boosting?' Issei asked, wondering if what happened last night was common with Ddraig's power being stolen or if it had something to do with the Annihilation Maker Sacred Gear the others were convinced Minato had.

Ddraig was silent for a moment before he answered 'Only one. I tried to attack him numerous times to prove how strong I was when I was younger, most of the time he wouldn't even look at me as he converted my attack into some item to tinker with' Ddraig chuckled a little at an old memory from before he was sealed within Boosted Gear 'I still remember the day I got the old man's attention and caught him off guard, after that he paid attention to me when I sent my boosted attacks at him'

'Whoa, seriously. Who was the guy, someone famous?' Issei asked Ddraig.

"Yo! Issei, over here!" hearing his friends brought Issei out of his inner conversation with Ddraig.

'I'll tell you some other time, chances are you'd have a lot of questions and I'd rather not distract you from school' with those words said Issei could feel Ddraig recede back into the Sacred Gear. Knowing he wasn't getting any answers on that anytime soon Issei turned his full attention to Matsuda and Motohama.

As they walked to the school building Issei felt someone give him a light tap on his shoulder, looking over he saw Minato walking on and not looking back at them.

"Morning Asia" Issei turned around and saw Aika standing behind him with a knowing smile "Minato wanted me to pass on a message, he says 'turn about is fair play'. He said you'd know what that meant"

Issei blinked as he turned back to look at Minato and saw his senpai had his arm raised ready to snap his fingers, for a moment Issei questioned what Aika's words meant before a chill ran up his spin. Asia's eyes widened as she came to the same conclusion as Issei.

'He wouldn't, I mean I did it but he wouldn't' Issei thoughts were in turmoil for mere moments before Minato snapped his fingers.

To save what little dignity he could Issei covered what he could with his hands and shut his eyes closed, when nothing happened after several long moments he opened his eyes to see that he still had clothes on.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"N-nothing, just had a feeling something bad was about to happen. Let's go inside" Issei said as he rushed into the school.

-=-][-=-

"So, today's the day" Mu said to themselves as they walked alongside Minato and Kiyome to meet with the Tamers who would be taking care of Mu going forward "Seems like only yesterday we first met and you both kicked my ass in the middle of the night"

Minato rolled his eyes "Says the one who was feeding off of the town's people"

Mu pouted "I took only what I needed to survive, I'm not dumb enough to do serious harm"

Kiyome frowned "Now that you mention it, you've only had two charges so far. Both chimera and you fought them both before they officially came under you care" Kiyome gave Minato a flat look "Please tell me you aren't going to turn out like those Tamers, the one's who wouldn't hesitate to fight a pixie if prompted"

Giving her words some serious thought, Minato could only give Kiyome an honest answer "I wouldn't not fight a pixie if there wasn't any other option"

"Please don't make it a habit of fighting your Charges" Kiyome asked Minato, not wanting him to hurt himself or his charges due to an accident.

"Don't worry, I have every intention of not making a habit of it" Minato looked over everything they had with them as they made their way to the meeting point, several containers of food for Mu if they got hungry, copies of magical legal contracts protecting Mu and ensure they had the rights to the fruit they grew and several surprises.

Kiyome spotted Minato checking to make sure they still had everything for the tenth time and smiled seeing her student fretting over Mu "I can see someone's nervous about their first time letting go of their charge"

"I'll admit I'm more nervous than I'd like to admit" Minato said, finished making sure that they had everything for possibly the last time "Was it like this for you?"

Kiyome nodded with a nostalgic smile "Yeah, difference was my dad was with me at the time. I may not have his decades of experience but I can tell you have nothing to worry about"

It wasn't much longer until they arrived at the meeting room where they were to hand over Mu, after some lengthy discussions and ensuring all the contracts needed to ensure Mu's well being were taken care of Minato took out the surprises he had brought with him.

Mu opened the gifts with barely restrained excitement, removing the lids with clawed hands instead of tendrils thanks to gaining a greater deal of control over their shapeshifting.

In one box were two trumpets, a saxophone and a piccolo trombone. Gently Mu picked up the instruments, the trumpets and trombone being picked up by tendrils while Mu took up the saxophone with their hands, after getting a feel for the instruments Mu played a little tune their remembered from some jazz music they overheard Minato and Ophis listening to.

"Oh! That's amazing Mu" Kiyome praised Mu along with the others present, meanwhile Minato opened the box to take out a hat.

Seeing Mu go wide eyed Minato nodded "You said you liked the hats jazz musicians wore so I tracked down one that I thought that fit you"

[6] Mu looked at their reflection in a nearby mirror, instruments ready and a stylist hat to pull the whole look together. What started out as a way for keeping Mu's tendrils busy and not spitting everywhere had developed into a hobby that helped the dragon chimera find some meaning, even if it was something as simple as a love for music.

"I ain't going to forgot what you've done for me boss" Mu said moments before hugging Minato and Kiyome "I'm going to miss you, my main girl Kiki here, and even that inexplicable yet terrifying dragon loli that hangs around your place boss" Mu whispered as they pulled Minato and Kiyome in closer.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me your main girl" Kiyome said with a frown before looking to Minato "That aside, what happened between Mu and Phis?"

Minato winced "I honestly don't know, whenever she looks at Mu they hide behind me or run outside"

Mu shivered for a moment "Her glare is intense"

-=-][-=-

"Here you go, an uncensored version of the Gremory and Phenex Rating Game" Sona handed Minato case with a dvd visible inside.

Minato nodded as he put it in his bag "Thanks again, sorry it took me so long to collect it"

Sona shook her head "It was no trouble at all, though word of advice you should keep that in good condition" Sona adjusted her glasses with a knowing smile "I hear recordings of Rating Games can be sold for a very high prize, especially those with a Longinus Sacred Gears like Boosted Gear"

"Thanks for the tip" Minato smiled a little, before looking over Sona's desk and the student council room "How have things been around her lately?"

"Busy, as usual. Though far less nerve wrenching without the worry of a chimera running loose" Sona frowned "That being said, what became of it?"

"If you're asking where Mu is, they've been taken in by a more experienced Tamer who works as a medical researcher" Minato smiled, remembering how the medical Tamer was fanning over Mu "They're planning to use Mu's fruits for medical research, everyone involved is really hopeful for it"

Sona narrowed her eyes slightly "I read the updated report, as far as I can tell wouldn't those fruits be only effective with specific body enhancements"

Minato sat down in a free seat next to Sona's desk "That's the first thought we had as well, while no one involves agree with Mu creator's intentions it can't be denied his work can offer a safer alternative to standard augmentation for people who want or need it, but the more we looked into it the beneficial add ons began cropping up"

"Such as?" Sona prompted, wanting to know what was the stray devil's 'magnum opus' was turning out to be.

"Well, the peaches were designed around increasing someone's hips and rear. While looking into it's effects to see if it was possible for medical applicants for women with hips too narrow to give birth, it turns out the peaches can help with healing bone injuries and damaged joints" Minato explained, seeing Sona becoming more and more interested as he went on.

"Really now? Meaning that stray devil could have earned himself some fame and wealth if he wasn't so fixated on breasts" Sona frown as she considered something before continuing "Speaking of fixations on breasts, I heard Issei was very happy once he learnt the purpose of the grapefruit"

Minato sighed as he rubbed his eyes "Please don't remind me of that, while not malicious Issei's words did not help with Mu's case" wanting to change the subject to anything else Minato remembered his brief meeting with Sona at Rias celebration party "Changing the subject to some a little more pleasant, are you still interested in some training? I got my licence so I can take on an official job"

As it turns out, Sona was still very interested in training. While payment could be left for later the more important matter was figuring out what training she was looking for her and her peerage, just simple training for improvement or was there a specific goal in mind.

A specific goal set was defeating Rias's Peerage, while good friends Sona didn't want to fall behind her rival and unlike the Occult Research Club who had little duties with the mundane side of school life the Student Council held significantly more responsibilities.

As they were drafting the details of what Sona wanted out of the training she said added something that she would later come to regret.

"Don't go easy on us, while we may not be able to train as often as the Occult Research Club I can assure you we can handle whatever you can throw at us" Sona said confidently, Minato looked up with a concerned look "Be as harsh as you need to be, we can take whatever you can dish out"

Minato nodded as he accepted Sona's request, knowing she would think twice about what she was asking if she could hear the scheming and laughter of some of Minato's Personas.

Kiyome came with Minato to the training sessions, the training taking place near an old warehouse near the outskirts of Kuoh Town, wanting to see Minato in action herself and to make sure there wasn't another attempted peerage press-gang. She mostly observed but did help Minato to train the Sitri Peerage.

The training would take a week to complete with the first day being something of an easy day, having each member of the peerage working on a weakness of theirs or something they felt they could improve upon along with some dancing for warm ups and determining the peerage's level of coordination.

After ending the first day with improving the Student Council's cooking skills, especially helping Sona's baking ability.

Sona baked one cake on her own to give everyone an idea of where she was at skill wise, it was only due to Minato's experience with Fuuka's cooking that left him being the only able to stay standing. Minato stood along with Sona as he helped her through the baking process, explaining the differences between cooking and baking.

The following day, however, was a different story.

Kiyome looked at the Sitri peerage worried, they pushed themselves forward on an obstacle course Minato prepared, the bands around their ankles, wrists and head drawing their strength and stamina.

"Isn't this a bit harsh?" Kiyome asked Minato, turning to see him with a clipboard in hand as he carefully examined the state of the Sitri peerage "Where did you even get your hands on training equipment that drains someone's strength?"

"Remember those magic formulas I used when we fought Mu, I repurposed them and added some of what I knew from Senjutsu to create bands that draw in someone's strength and return it once an outside trigger is given" Minato answered, not telling exactly the truth as the bands were made with formulas derived from a mix Tarunda, Rakunda, Sukunda with a safe dose of Spirit Drain to round it up, before he turned to Kiyome while pointing to a panting Sona that was walking near them "Besides, Sona wanted the training to be harsh"

"A miscalculation on my part" Sona said as she was nearing her limit, pushing onwards as she knew if she stopped now she wouldn't be able to get going again.

Kiyome looked down where the others should be coming up from "And Saji?"

"Sona wants her peerage to be ready to go up against Rias, and that means Saji will be a key piece" As Minato said this he could see Saji coming close to them with Ruruko offering Saji words of encouragement "Saji is the only one Issei won't use Dress Break on, as far as I'm aware"

Saji, overhearing what Minato and Kiyome were talking about, turned to Minato "Is that why I'm wearing twice the equipment?"

"Pretty much" Minato said without hesitation "Your going to hate me during and after this, but once you put the results of your training to use you'll be glad for it"

Not having the spare energy to respond Saji looked forward as he kept going, trying to catch up to Sona and unknowingly helping Ruruko to keep going as well.

Kiyome frowned as a stray memory came to her "What you just said, about them hating you before being thankful later on, it reminds me of this rather intense Tamer I worked with once?"

Minato raised an eyebrow "How intense are we talking?"

"You will speak my name as a curse now, but when your in the trenches you'll praise my name as if I was your one true god" Kiyome said, in a childish high pitch voice that did not fit the words being spoken "That's what he actually sounds like, got dumped into the fountain of youth for a minute too long and ended up messing up his voice"

Any further questions Minato had about the Tamer Kiyome was talking about was put on hold as distant barking signalled Bridget coming over with another one of Sona's peerage that had reached their limit. Bridget took her over to the others where they were recovering from the exercise.

"Well we'll see how much praise they give me with this is all over, we still have to talk about strategy" Minato said as he filled something out on his clipboard.

"What exactly do you have planned for them?" Kiyome asked, without saying a word Minato show her his training plan for Sona's peerage. Kiyome's eyes widened "Oh, you are being harsh. At least your giving them proper breaks, means they're not pushing themselves for nothing"

---

When the time came for the friendly match against Rias's peerage, Sona and the Student Council were able to win. A notable highlight being Saji using his Absorption Line to draw and stopping Issei from benefiting from his Boosts, what Saji didn't take for himself was dispersed into the ground, giving Tomoe an opening to eliminating Issei.

The match didn't quite end there, but it helped even the playing field as it meant Rias side couldn't rely on a Boost from the Red Dragon Emperor's power if things got difficult, it ended with Rias making a last stand before a mixture of Absorption Line, Sona's water magic and Tsubaki's Mirror Alice Sacred Gear earned them their win.

Once it was over Minato went over to congratulate the Student Council on their victory, as Minato neared the Student Council Room he could make out the celebration taking place inside, several of the Student Council Members were praising Saji on his part in the match.

"You were all splendid out there, and though I don't want to take away this victory we can't become complacent" Sona said "Otherwise, when Rias and the others challenge us to a rematch they may yet retake the lead"

Ruruko fist bumped the air with an eager grin "We'll be ready for them, besides a dodge-ball game is nothing compared to a Rating Game so I'm pretty sure we're in the lead"

Reya scratched her cheek as she thought back to their match "I'm pretty sure Akeno wants another round, I'm pretty sure she took it personally when Tsubaki reflected her lightning back at her"

"I wouldn't say she took it personally, but I do agree that she would really want a rematch" Tsubaki replied to Reya's comment.

Saji gave a toothy smile as he held up a fist "Don't Sona, we won't get complacent yet. After all, if you want to stay on top you have to stay on top of your game"

Sona smiled, her pride in her Peerage growing larger than before, looking over her clubmates and friends Sona had one question for them "So, how shall we celebrate this victory in earnest?"

As they Student Council discussed on they were celebrate their victory Minato smiled and turned around, not wanting to interrupt their victory celebration. Taking out his day planner Minato saw he had the next few days free, seeing this who already knew what he wanted to do.

After the last few days, Minato was really looking forward to spending time with Ophis.

Satou Side Story: A lifting veil.

Satou put on a smiling façade as she usually did at work, but recently she had found it a harder task to follow. An awful dream she had a couple of nights back has been haunting her thoughts, when it seems she's been able to push it out of mind it always seems to come back.

"Ah…" the customer's voice Satou was serving brought her out of her thoughts for a moment to see the tea cup was overflowing, quickly Satou stopped pouring tea and offered a quick apology as she cleaned up what she could.

One of the other workers came over to her to see if she was alright, not being in the right state of mind to come up with a convincing excuse Satou just told her that her stomach was a little uneasy and was taking an early break.

Not stopping for anything Satou went into the break room to collect herself, thankfully no one else was there as she sat down and laid her head on the table. As she sat there the dream that had been haunting her came back, while most of it was hazy she could recall several details.

She was walking through a forest in the middle of the night as something called to her, beckoning her for something she was needed for, even when the voiceless call ended Satou found herself following the path laid out before her until she reached a clearing.

What she remembered vividly wasn't the inhuman creations, or the thing a part of her recognized as what was calling out to her, no it was her senpai and Abe naked.

'Not completely, not completely' Satou said to herself, trying to take away the edge the imagine had with little effect. While Abe was naked with only her senpai's shirt giving Abe anything resembling modesty, her senpai was shirtless but still dressed from the waist down.

While nothing else indecent took place she felt the same force that called her there now ordering Satou to return to where she was, and she refused.

She had to know what was happening, what did Abe do to her senpai, and so many other questions began to surface in Satou's mind that it almost seemed like she was experiencing sensory overload for brief instances with the haze around her fading as everything grew clearer.

Almost as if it was all real.

'Senpai, Senpai wasn't tainted' Satou thought to herself, reminding herself that the pure light she felt from her senpai was still present in the dream and in real life. She confirmed it when she helped him buy all those bananas, some new diet the family living with him were trying out.

Even so, Satou still couldn't get that dream out of her head.

"Satou, is everything alright?"

Satou snapped to attention as Mrs Nakajima entered the break room, Satou looked to the grandmother with a smile "Yeah, just a little stomach ache. I think it was something I ate the other day"

Mrs Nakajima's lips set into a thin line, not believing what Satou was saying, closing the door to the break room behind her and taking a seat across from Satou. Seeing the look Mrs Nakajima usually reserved for her own blood children and grandchildren, Satou having seen her use it when discipling her granddaughter Aika, Satou knew she wouldn't leave until she got an answer she was satisfied with.

'I'll just keep it vague enough she gets the idea' Satou thought to herself, not wanting to share the detail of her dream to anyone "I had this strange dream a few nights ago, since then it keeps coming back into my mind"

Mrs Nakajima blinked surprised, not expecting that answer "Do you remember anything about this dream? Location, people or anything else?"

"I remember walking through a misty forest, being guided by something in the beginning but whatever was guiding me left me to wander aimlessly" Satou told her elderly boss, being truthful with what she said, but not telling anything further.

Mrs Nakajima eyes widened in recognition "That sounds similar to what one of my grandsons dreamt when he was around your age, what was the reason for it?" the elderly woman paused as she searched her memories for the reason her children and grandchildren gave her "If I recall correctly, he was feeling lost in life with no path forward for himself to take. Went on a trip across Japan with his friends and found his answer, maybe not the one he was looking for but one he could live with"

Satou kept silent as she pretended to consider the idea, while the advice was of no use to her Satou still appreciated the token effort her elderly boss offered "Maybe I should take a break, get away from things for a bit"

Mrs Nakajima smiled at Satou's words "I hear camping can be a relaxing, though it's not for everyone. That being said, I happened to know some people so if you want to move onto something with better pay I wouldn't hesitate to put in a good word for you"

Satou put on a grateful smile "Thank you, but I don't want to trouble you with my issues"

Mrs Nakajima laughed off Satou's words "Worry not, if we old folk can't help the next generations after us then what use are we" Mrs Nakajima said with a bit of self deprecating humour, calming down she let out a relieved sigh "For a while there, I was worried something had happened between you and your aunt"

'What?'

Satou's mask of emotion shattered for an instant as she heard mention of her aunt, putting her on edge.

The Nakajimas didn't bring up her aunt or family other than knowing the bare basics, losing her parents at a young age and living with her aunt who she had a rocky relationship with. They never even mentioned the existence of her aunt without good reason, so why did Mrs Nakajima mention her.

"What happened?" Satou asked, her voice cold and hollow before she rapdily changed gears as she put on her mask again "I mean, you don't usually mention her, what happened?"

Mrs Nakajima winced at the slip of the tongue "Well, sweetie your aunt stopped by the other day looking for you. We were going to tell you about it but you seemed so out of it over the last few days that we decided to hold off until you seemed more yourself" she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper "She left this here, said she changed phone numbers and couldn't remember if you had her new number"

Satou took note handed to her, looking it over she saw an all too familiar address and phone number.

"Ah, looks like she did change it. I should really put it in while I have the chance" going over to her locker Satou retrieved her phone and began making a new contact for her aunt.

Mrs Nakajima gave Satou a worried "You know, your shift is almost over by now, why not take an early leave and get yourself some rest. Get those dreams and this business of your aunt out of your head"

Satou tried to refuse the kind offer "I shouldn't. I mean, like you said I'm almost done-"

"If your going to be like that, then it's no longer an offer but an order" Mrs Nakajima insisted, smiling in triumph "Can't have you burning our customers with tea"

Satou put on a pout as she did as she was told, after changing Satou went to her room and prepared for bed. However, instead of sleeping Satou took out her mobile to make a call.

"Hello, Matsuzaka Residence" hearing her aunt's voice after so long was more jarring than what Satou wanted to admit, instead of saying anything Satou listened for any background noise to see if any of her aunts 'guests' were present.

Not hearing anything beyond her aunts breathing Satou debated on what to say, her thoughts cut off as her aunt spoke.

"It's just me here, it's been a while hasn't it Satou"

Satou tensed a little "Why were you here the other day?"

"There was a cute boy who came looking for you a while ago, he called here looking for advice after you planned to meet him at the park in the middle of the night" Satou's aunt said, her voice having a quality to it Satou couldn't place "I decided to spy on things, and I happen to spot you with an older boy, he seems nice" she giggled "The butler outfit fitted him like a glove when I stopped by the other day"

Satou felt her blood run cold as she heard her aunt confessed to meeting her senpai in person, Satou bit her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. Chances were she would go after him if pressed, she'd seen enough of what her aunt did in private to know what she was like.

"Well, it's getting late so I won't keep you up. But I feel like a should warn you about something" Satou's aunt, Kosho, voice took on a tone Satou couldn't remember her speaking in before. A serious tone devoid of faux playfulness "I've seen that boy you met in the park around town, the one from your school. He seems out of it, for lack of a better term, and I've noticed him staking out areas around where you work and near Kuoh Academy"

'I told him to stay away from senpai' Satou thought as a murderous urge rose in her chest, pushing it down as there were more efficient ways of dealing with things.

"He seems to be contemplating something, whether or not he would go through with it is something I'm not sure of" Kosho paused for a moment before speaking again with the same eerie calm Satou was all too familiar with "So, stay safe and know auntie is here to help you with anything. Goodnight" Kosho blew a kiss through the phone call, waiting for Satou to end the call.

Ending the call Satou covered her eyes with her hands, slowing lowering them as she looked up at the ceiling with cold empty eyes.

"It seems you've proven to be more of a nuisance than I thought, you should have taken my advice, Haruto Suzuki" Satou said with a whisper, speaking Haruto's name as if it

Elsewhere, the boy who earned Satou's ire held a coin with a collection of small animals in cages in his basement and an unused syringe laying on a table.

Haruto looked over the fliers he came across the other day, each one having a perfect magic circle belong to a Pillar of Goetia. Haruto shook his head still in disbelief some people were seriously handing those things out, taking a deep breath he threw the coin into the air.

"Heads for Gremory, Tails for Sitri" catching the coin on the back of his hand Haruto looked over to the cages with an emotionless expression on his face, hoping he wouldn't need to use the animals if the fliers worked as advertised.

Looking at the results Haruto took one of the fliers and went upstairs to perform the ritual.

Author's Note:

[1] for those wondering, the Kitsune brothers Riku, Rokurou and Ryo are based on the demon dog triples Cer, Ber and Us from Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. No, not the one from Helltaker.

[2] Yes, I'm using the Plant Chimera Dragon from the Season 1 DxD OVAs. Seemed like something fun to add. Like it's canon counterpart it will only be a one off, made some changes so that I had a little more to work with.

[3] Katina imagining different scenes in her mind between Minato and Ophis.

[4] This is less a feat for Minato and more one for DxD Human Magic in general, which Minato happens to know due to Ophis wanting Minato to not be so reliant on his Personas and revealing what he can do to the world at large.

There are several limits such as having a prepared blueprint / formula, completing the process which can vary due to dozens of factors and the Magician in question gaining control of the foreign energy. In other words, Prep, time and Will.

[5] Another dubiously canon element from official releases of DxD.

[6] Haven't seen little shop of horrors personally, but having Mu being a musically inclined due to Minato fits well. Mu would go on to be a wealthy Chimera Dragon and uses it's wealth to further it's music career among other musically talented cryptids, with some of that money being sent to Minato. As for how brass instruments aren't destroy due to Mu's spit, the dissolving spit is kept in sacks the mouths that can be released like venom and having a brass instrument inserted stops the sacks from being used. As for how much Mu will end up earning due to the fruits it would be around 2 to 6 million USD over a month or two, keep in mind this would be around 2010 - 2011 economy so the money would go a bit further than today with inflation.