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.

30. MessiahXDragon: Shadow Strike

Author's Note: I've rearranged the order of chapters to make it a bit easier to read MessiahXDragon. Along with the Future Children storyline.

Future Children begins on chapter number 12 and ends on 14.

Messiah X Dragon beings on Chapter number 15 and continues on from there.

---

MessiahXDragon

The Serpent's Shadows Strike.

In a dark study a man picks up a business card from the mouth of a disembodied head that laid on the desk, on the card was written one word.

Fake.

From the man's finger tips came a dark power that destroyed the card as his eyes narrowed at the head on the desk, he stared at it for several long minutes before using a handkerchief to close the gapping mouth shut and putting it back in it's box. With the box in hand the man made his way to meet a certain someone, one who in his eyes was still just a child.

-=-][-=-

Looking over the reports before him made Sirzechs desire one thing and one thing only, to grab one of the Devils that wanted his job and make them deal with the paperwork. It was somewhat manageable on good days but the previous week had left him with so much it towered over him, filling him with dread as his vivid nightmares of dying due to an avalanche of paperwork seemed more liked prophecies as he craned his neck to look at the swaying heights.

Putting down his pen the Devil King in charge of internal affairs rolled his wrist to ease the cramp that began to set in, his mind wandering back to those responsible for his current position.

An unknown group attacked a gathering Devil nobles were having with their Peerages, something that was only known hours later when the Peerage Kings and Pure Devils who were at the party stumbled their way back to civilization with all their belongings gone along and their Peerages missing.

He went to investigate the crime scene in person, wanting to learn more about what happened and getting out of the office for at least an hour, and they quickly found evidence of fierce fighting taking place throughout the entire estate. After some investigating they were able to deduce that most of the valuables in the location were stolen with the biggest thief being the personal library and the collected works of countless Magicians who the Devil hosting the gathering had contracted with.

Said host was found in his bedroom pinned to the wall by javelins with one in particular piercing his mouth to pin his head to the wall like his arms and legs were with each one missing vital area, each javelin missing vital areas meaning the pinned Devil wasn't in any life threatening condition.

That was until Sirzechs learnt of what said Devil Noble had kept hidden in his secret room, once he knew what he was looking at he almost killed the still pinned Devil Noble himself. Not with the Power of Destruction, that would leave a trail back to him, but by his own hands by twisting the javelins so that they damaged the missed vital areas.

Inside were rows up rows of jars filled with organs and limbs, with labels giving each item a number and from what species their from, with a small lab at the far end where they was clear signs of people being held against their will. The obvious signs were on the bloodied operating table but also more subtle signs of someone being forced to work here as evident by the one half of a pair of handcuffs on the desk with a computer and the partially destroyed chain and collar attached to the ceiling.

If that was it than all Sirzechs would have done is internally sigh and move on without a second thought, this sort of situation wasn't the worst he had ever seen when investigating his own kind and even if he tried to punish the one responsible the courts would let the Devil Noble go free, but the second he learnt from where all the suspiciously small body parts came from children that changed everything.

A bittersweet piece of information they uncovered was that a number of said organs came from pure bloodied Devil children, that was one thing the courts would never overlook, and with that they could bring the Devil Noble responsible to justice after they got the answers they were looking for.

With that as leverage they were able to learn more about what the Devil Noble had been up to besides the harvesting of organs, the biggest being the manufacturing of counterfeit and sub-standard magic items to be sold at unreasonable prices. It started as a noble goal with helping with the creation of magic items for a friend, so he claimed, before seeking to 'carry on the legacy' for extinct Pillar Clans by repurposing those crests to sell knock off magic items only vaguely connected to said families powers.

Of course, a vague mention of the Great King and Old Devil Faction learning about this counterfeit operations made the Devil Noble drop the act before quickly selling out everyone and everything they worked with to save themselves. The already twitching Devil breaking down as he knew it was over.

It was a messy and unpleasant situation all around but it seemed obvious the cause of the attack was someone who took offence to the counterfeit operation and desire retribution, while they still had to learn what happened to the missing Peerages and why their Kings were scattered although out Devil Territory naked, over all it seemed like an open and shut case.

But as they went to speak with the collaborators in the manufacture of these illegal magic items they quickly learnt they were too late, while the attack on the Devil Noble's estate was the first they knew of it was obvious this had been going on longer than they expected.

Libraries stripped bare, Peerages missing, and anyone else found had their memories wiped with Peerage Kings being teleported somewhere else completely nude as insult to injury. It wasn't an isolated incident, it was repeated attacks with the same modus operadi.

By the time they reached anyone on the list they had already befallen the same fate, the only ones who were somewhat spared were those already in custody for unrelated crimes and even then their properties were ransacked with animals being released to take it over.

Despite their best efforts information on the case was leaked to the public causing no small amount of unrest, theories were being thrown around with most putting the blame on the Old Satan Faction, people wanted answers on the whereabouts of the missing reincarnated Devils with both official and unofficial searches being performed on finding them.

And those searches brought up even more questions than answers as they did find the missing Peerage members, or more likely certain Devils playing a sick joke. Those found were Pure Devils and not reincarnated Devils like those who they were searching for, the imposters were given strict warnings to not interfere with the investigation of missing persons before they carried on.

With no small degree of luck they managed to learn about one thing that also connected all the Peerages that had gone missing, that being their mistreatment by their kings and Pillar Clans and said abuse including underground clubs where Reincarnated Devils were treated as second class citizens at best and literal objects at worst.

Abusive Peerages coupled with these Pure bloodied Devil imposters had started rumours that the ones behind these attacks and kidnappings were actually heroic revolutionaries, cutting down those unworthy of their power and turning reincarnated Devils into Pure Devils. While a comforting thought it wasn't one Sirzechs believed in, Ajuka did everything he could to make reincarnated Devils into Pure Devils but his research into that led nowhere.

[1] While the heroic intent in this unknown group was unfounded it has started something, Peerage members being more rebellious to their kings in public, previous business deals coming into question, a general unrest brewing in the cities, and whispers of a Rebellion of Reincarnated Devils being passed around on all levels of society. Something he knew was only a matter of time with the way things were, something he knew he had to act if it wasn't for the paper work all of this has been thrown at him.

Hearing the doors to his office open Sirzechs looked up to see his wife had passed through those doors without more paperwork in her arms, the sight of Grayfia was enough to raise his spirits any time but having her arrive without more paperwork made it all the better.

That was until he notice the folder she was carrying, marking this visit as business rather than personal. Sirzechs placed both hands on his desk as his wife gave him the current situation.

The report was mostly what he expected, unrest in the cities, branch families of the Pillars moving in with their stronger relatives or fleeing to Earth in the hope of escaping any violence that might break out. An increase in Stray Devils that broke away from their kings with the excuse of freedom before quickly disappearing within days or even hours of their defection, most just running away without violence. Establishments that belittled reincarnated devils, something The New Satan Government made illegal, being attacked or changing their practices out of fear of reprisals.

Lesser nobles openly siding with reincarnated Devils with a number of pure Devils from the underdeveloped villages taking sides in the whole mess, the fact many of these Devils from the underdeveloped villages strength ranged from Middle Class all the way to Ultimate didn't help. Turning the situation from reincarnated Devils vs pure Devils into the lower class vs the higher echelon and making war that much more likely.

The only thing that really stood out to him was the message sent to the one's in charge of the investigation.

"The message was sent by the new heir of Astaroth, Latia Astaroth, wanting to know if there's any connection between the death of Diodora Astaroth and his Peerage and the recent actions of this unknown group" Grayfia said as she handed the letter sent to them to her husband.

Sirzechs sighed "I truly wish I knew the answer to that, and hope it is unrelated. Shall we say we're still investigating but will look into that possibility more closely"

"Understood, Lord Lucifer" Grayfia nodded as she made a note of it "Considering how little we actually know of whose behind all of this it's better to act with caution, especially with the biggest moderate voice supporting Reincarnated Devils"

The conversation between the two was cut short by a flashing light on Sirzechs desk, both husband and wife snapped to attention when they saw it. It was a silent alarm to warn him of a certain Devil coming to him, Sirzechs and Grayfia shared a look before both used magic circles to store the excessive amount of paperwork elsewhere for the time being. Sirzechs moved all the paperwork he could whilst Grayfia left a reasonable amount behind to prove to their uninvited guest that her husband was in the middle of work.

Sirzechs tidied himself as Grayfia went to prepare the special tea, several minutes later another Devil entered into the office of the Devil King of Internal Affairs and this time it was a being Sirzechs rather not interact with.

The 'Unofficial' Leader of the Great King Faction, and in many ways could be considered the True hidden leader of Devilkind, Zekram Bael. As his ancestor entered Sirzechs quickly noted two things, the gift in the old Devil's hands and the power of Destruction being barely retrained in his violet eyes.

"Gremory, how goes you and yours investigation into this menace to all of Devilkind? Zekram asked as he walked over to the desk without looking directly at Sirzechs, placing down the gift as he waited for a response.

He knew it would do more harm than good by trying to hid anything now so Sirzechs gave an overview of what they're working with "I'm assuming your talking about the unknown group behind the recent unrest, whilst we're still learning on the extent of their reach it's become apparent that whoever it is behind this is a decently sized organization. We're considering opening investigations into previous deaths of Peerages and their kings, on the off chance they have led other reincarnated Devils to turn Stray"

"And any clues on their possible whereabouts?" Zekram glanced to Sirzechs, causing the younger Devil to pause as the look in his ancestor's eyes were ones he had never seen before. If he didn't know any better, Sirzechs would have said he saw anger mixed with worry.

"We're sure their operating somewhere in Devil Territory within the Underworld, right now we have no solid evidence linking any group to these rogue elements. Thus far we believe this unknown group is made primarily of Stray Devils, though ones we aren't sure of the true extent of their abilities" Sirzechs answered, as he finished Zekram reached over to the gift and opened it to reveal what was hidden.

As the lid was lifted the four sides of the box fell down revealing a severed head, Sirzechs narrowed his eyes for half a second before they opened wide one he saw whose head was in it "By the Abyssal Lords, is that-?"

"A perfect replica of my head, I'm thinking of keeping it as a bust or to gift it to someone" Zekram said, begrudgingly admiring the craftsmanship of the item in silence "The skin and hair are real, mostly, the skin is artificially made with some traces of real Devil skin and the hair came from dozens of different Devils"

Sirzechs wished that his ancestor wasn't gifting him a life like replica of his head "And, to whom had this made?"

"The menace your suppose to be hunting" Zekram said as he gave his descendant a hard look "My private estate was broken into, nothing was stolen nor destroyed, nothing was out of place other than this gift" Zekram glanced back to the fake head, directing Sirzechs eyes back to it "This enemy, I suspect their a greater threat than you think. Brazen yes, but they can back it up considering they bypassed all my security measures"

Sirzechs stepped forward to get a better look at the fake head, trying to spot a flaw in its design but found none. In the back of his mind Sirzechs made a note to check if any dead bodies they find of the missing Devils were real or replicas "And what makes you think the one's behind these attacks are responsible for this?"

Zekram's expression tightened "While it hasn't been reported a number of our members of the Great King Faction have been attacked as well, homes ransacked and Devils kidnapped. Including all our top ranked Peerages" he ignored Sirzechs shocked look and pushed on "We're putting together a quick young Peerage Tournament to buy ourselves time before anyone asks where the missing Kings and Peerages went"

"Have any of the Kings turned up, like the others?" Sirzechs asked, the look in Zekram's eyes told him the answer was no and that they're fate were tied to their missing Peerages "If I may, why haven't you come to us regarding this?"

"We thought we could handle it ourselves, and we still do, but the longer we wait the more grim things appear. Couple that with the raising tensions throughout Devil Territory in the Underworld, the looming threat of a rebellion of reincarnated Devils our enemies would simply love to see and take advantage of, it all boils down to a crisis that could easily see any progress made since the Civil War mean nothing" Zekram reached out a hand for Sirzechs to shake "A crisis such as this demands we join forces once more, while we have not seen eye to eye Sirzechs in the past neither of us want this to go on any further"

His ancestor's words were like a punch in the throat to Sirzechs, the fact Zekram Bael was coming to him for an alliance spoke volumes of the developing situation far more than any report could ever do. The two shook hands, joining forces proper for the first time since the Devil Civil War ended, as they did Grayfia returned with the tea Zekram preferred. As testament to her skills as a maid Grayfia's serene expression only broke a little and the tea unbothered when she spotted what appeared to be a severed head on her husband's desk.

Zekram accepted the tea, as he took a sip a rare smile crossed his lip "So, shall we discuss our plan of attack regarding the one's behind this? What we know of them, or even agree on a name to refer to them as?"

"We came up with a name to use when referring to this unknown group" Sirzechs answered "We call them, Shadow Anarchy"

"Shadow, Anarchy?" Zekram repeated with an unamused tone, even as an adult that made Sirzechs feel self conscious "I'm guessing either you or Serafall came up with that name"

The meeting lasted for a while, ending soon after they ran out of Zekram's favourite tea, after he saw his ancestor off Sirzechs returned to his desk dreading the return to paperwork. As he sat down he checked if he had any messages, and while he had a few there was only one urgent message from Ajuka.

Zechs, come to my lab as soon as possible.

Frowning Sirzechs and Grayfia used a specially made magic circle to travel to Ajuka's secure lab, with the amount of defences Ajuka had in place it was the fastest way to meet with the Devil King who is the Chief Advisor of Technology. The fact the defences in place were designed to keep things out and keep things in only made them all the more difficult to get through.

Sirzechs hid the fake head his ancestor left behind under his desk before leaving, he had no idea what he was going to do with it but he couldn't keep it out in the open for everyone to see nor get rid of it as it might insult Zekram even a little bit.

Arriving at the lab they found Ajuka tinkering away at a side project he's been working on, nothing grand but it did help him unwind due to the ongoing situation keeping him busy most of the day. They made small talk with Sirzechs apologizing for keeping his friend waiting, Ajuka saying it was nothing to worry about before hearing Zechs was stuck in a sudden meeting with Zekram, the Chief Technology Advisor for Devilkind offered his sympathy to his friend before moving onto the matter at hand.

Several screens lit up with data on various Devils, those who were attacked by who they call Shadow Anarchy, Sirzechs read all the information he could but was able to read the sheer mass of what was being presented.

"I collected all the information I could from the Devils left behind from the attacks, mainly to ensure they would recover and that no surprises were left behind" Ajuka said as he tapped away at a keyboard, bringing up even more profiles of different Devils who were accounted for after Shadow Anarchy's raids "And while we don't need to worry about bombs, viruses, or parasitic fauna and flora I did begin to notice an odd pattern"

Several profiles of certain Devils were enlarged with full body scans now being visible, each body scan detailing the injuries they sustained such as burns, bullet holes and only one case of being impaled to a wall.

Looking over the files for a moment Ajuka brought the one for the Devil noble who was the first victim of Shadow Anarchy as far as they know "Even when fully recovered physically they all mentioned how something was off, digging deeper I discovered this"

The profile of the body splint into three, a second window showing the image of a brain and another showing a transparent body "While not fully accurate, these aids will help you get an idea of what we're dealing with. Their injuries are not limited to the physical body, they have also received damage to their mind and soul as well"

At Ajuka's words the injuries on the physical body glowed to become more distinctive, as they did injuries visible on the soul and mind windows glowed as well, the three combining together to reveal the true extent of the injuries the Devil sustained and the ability of the one's behind it.

"Those injuries align perfectly with one another" Grayfia said grimly, her eyes looking over what she was seeing hoping to see something to prove her wrong.

Sirzechs lips settle into a thin line "Ajuka, what do you make of this?"

Ajuka shook his head "I tripled checked everything personally, meaning we have two answers to this. One, whoever is doing these attacks are capable of attacking the body, mind and soul of a being and have such fine control they can make it appear as they are capable of attacking all aspects of a being at once. Or Two, they are capable of attacking someone on every level. I dread to think it may even conceptual"

'And if they were involved with Diodora's and his Peerages death that means this group can alter and control the bodies of Devils as well' Sirzechs thought to himself.

With those words from his trusted friend Sirzechs looked up at the numerous profiles of those attacked, his mind being filled with questions about the once behind it all. He wanted to know what Shadow Anarchy was doing now, in his mind picturing their leadership sitting around a table planning their next move.

-=-]Meanwhile...[-=-

"We must say, we're quite enjoying this little game" Goetia said as he showed his hand to the others.

"You've lost over two million dollars"

"It is not our money and we played knowing there was a real possibility of us losing it all" Goetia replied to Gab's observation of their performance in this little poker game they were having "It's part of having a fun game"

Andree chewed on a mint as she counted up her current winnings and debating whether to push on or not "I'm surprised you're not using your powers to win at this, I almost wasn't going to play because I thought you were going to win every hand"

"Maybe not every hand, but I had similar thoughts as well" Hermina said as she shuffled the deck of cards for another round.

"But using magic to cheat wouldn't be as half as fun, besides we have better use of our abilities. Speaking of which" Goetia's eyes glowed for a moment, raising up a finger a magic circle appeared allowing for communication with their agents "This is Goetia, Grim Reapers under the command of the Greco-Roman god of the Dead Hades have entered Devil Territory on a recon mission. They are non-hostile to us, do not engage and remain hidden from them"

Tanya sputtered, almost spilling her 'black blood of the Earth' coffee as a result "Wait, Hades forces are sneaking into Devil Territory now!?"

"Yes, it appears so" Goetia answered before his eyes glowed again, this time looking into the past for information "It's actually a much more common thing than you'd expect, the god of the dead doesn't trust Devils and has regularly sent Grim Reapers to get an update on the status of the population in subtle non-aggressive surveys"

Whatever response Tanya was going to give was silence as she focused on the words' doesn't trust Devils' "Okay, I can see why. If you don't trust the source of information you have to go elsewhere to get the truth. Will this affect our remaining missions?"

[3] Goetia's eyes glowed once more "It's a minor factor, in all the futures we have viewed only a select few involve the Grim Reapers and Hades becoming major players in the proceedings. Unless certain circumstances are met they are content with being merely observers"

"And what exactly would those circumstances be, you said it yourself your Precognition isn't absolute" Katina asked wanting know what were the chances of them going up against a literal god.

Goetia nodded "True, our Precognition isn't omniscient but for our needs it may as well be" raising up a free hand with the thumb and index finger as far apart as possible "The further one looks into the future the more possibilities can be seen, but as one draws closer to the present the less futures present themselves" the index finger and thumb slowly drew closer and closer together until they were almost touching "And for our goals, all current futures lead to things progressing smoothly" Goetia stood up from the table "Speaking of the future, it seems we have guests"

"Future vision?" Tanya asked as she readied her Persona power.

Goetia rolled his eyes and pointed to his ears, the table was silent for a moment as they all listened as the sounds of rushing tiny footsteps got closer to them. From the open doorway came rushing in several Devil children with huge smiles on their faces, when they spotted Goetia they skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Children, are you not suppose to be having lessons at the minute"

The Devil children looked at each other for a moment as they tried to formulate a response but before they could their teacher arrived out of breath at the door, the teacher in question out of breath and dripping sweat as she looked into the room and gave the children that ran off from her lesson an annoyed look.

However, that look of annoyance gave way to embarrassment once she saw Goetia standing there. Like the children she hadn't realized which room they ran into, she quickly tried to tidy herself to be more presentable but she knew it was already too late as Goetia already saw her.

"How fare their lessons?" Goetia asked, idle using his power to levitate the children off the floor and spin them around to face their teacher.

The teacher in question cleared her throat and straightened her lab coat as she answered "They are progressing nicely, when they can be bothered to sit down and listen" the teacher said, continuing with her report on the children's study before going back to class with the mildly scolded children following her.

"No offence, but you being a responsible role model for children is one of the last things I expected" Katherine said, the former Pawn becoming more comfortable around Goetia and thus more at ease speaking her mind.

Goetia smirked "None taken. The current state of Devils of this world is so abysmal that we felt we should at least try and correct them, give substance and depth where there was none before" Goetia looked off to the side, to the naked eye it would appear as if he was looking at a barren wall when in reality the fused Demon Progenitor was watching the children returning to their lessons "Besides, it keeps the children busy"

"Goetia, whatever happens those children stay safe" Katina said, her words coming off as an order drawing the attention of the fused Demon Progenitor "I know you only promised to keep us safe, but do the same for them. Please"

Goetia was silent for a moment before nodding "Reasonable, while I had no intention of letting them come to harm after the effort I put into them I will ensure their well being is equal to your own" putting on his jacket the fused Demon Progenitor made their way out of the room "We'll be off then, the next collection of grimoires will be here soon and needs to researched for the tome"

"Wait, there coming already" Davina said as she leapt up from the table "Hold on, I'm coming with"

Goetia paused for a moment "You may go to the library ahead of us, we are going check in on our special guests"

The next moment the Progenitor Demon vanished from the meeting room and appearing in an underground dungeon with numerous cells spanning in all directions, in each cell were massive crystals with shadows of Devils imprisoned in them. With a pulse of power spreading throughout the prison Goetia checked out the condition of all those kept here, not finding any issues Goetia looked to one crystal prison for a moment to see the sleeping form of Roygun Belphegor inside.

Looking at her Goetia summoned one of the King Pieces now in their possession.

"I wonder, does anyone know the truth of the power within these Evil Pieces. From whose power they were made from" Goetia said as he looked at the Evil King Piece with a disgusted look "It will certainly add something to the performance. We will be ready, master. It is nearly time for you to awaken"

-=-]Earth, Japan, Arisato Residence[-=-

Minato snuggled closer to Ophis as the two were wrapped up by the blankets of the bed, forcing the two together and maximizing the warmth, Ophis herself closed her eyes as she snuggled closer in response as she enjoyed these moments as much as possible before the start of the day proper.

Adam looked into the room to check in on the two before heading to the kitchen where Eve and Lilith were preparing for the day ahead "Those two are still in bed, I'll be back later than usual due the a shipment of materials arriving later than planned. You need anything sent over Sukuna-Hikona?"

Just entering the house was a short man with shoulder length blue with a pair of goggles on his head and a hoe in hand "Nah, everything's almost done. Just got finished reinforcing the water source and now I just need to put the finishing touches on the actual onsen, I'll wait until after Minato and Ophis have left to get to work. Should be done just after noon if all goes well"

"Do you need help lifting those heavy statues you carved up?" Adam jokingly offered, earning a small chuckle out of the small Shinto kami.

"Oh, don't worry about little old me. I'm stronger than I look" Sukuna-Hikona playfully punched Adam's arm before being drawn to the mug Lilith left out for him, the small kami took a large gulp of the drink before giving an appreciated look "Thanks, with this buff I might be able to get it all done before noon now"

Seeing how late it was starting to get Adam said his farewells and headed off straight to work, his mind going over what they needed to do that day before they could turn their attention to working on the church Minato recently got ownership of.

While it was odd for a number of others that Adam took control of the company soon after he joined many of his detractors were silence when the business started doing better than before, granted that wasn't a high bar to clear as the previous owner was mostly using the business as part of some oddly designed money laundering scheme but they were able to clean things up and make it legitimate.

While not many they had a healthy number of jobs lined up, even managed to hire on extra hands to help push things along with some students and the homeless getting part time work. Over all Adam dealt with very little in the way of issues regarding this business, except for one thing.

"Hey boss, could you give us a hand? Akira called in and his train got delayed, we need an extra set of hands here" one of the workers said as Adam was looking over the current work site they were contracted with.

Adam nodded as he made his way to an office to change "Sure, I'll be over in a minute" as he was changing Adam could sense the Devil on the other side of the street, their familiar flying over head searching for him. He kept up a cheerful facade as he exited the office, as he did Adam knew the Devil in question and her familiar were focus solely on him "Alright, let's get to work. Remember the technique and work together in this"

Looking into a reflective piece of metal Adam spotted the Devil in question, Sona Sitri, she was watching him from the other side of the street watching him. Ever since she spotted him several days ago after school she made it a habit to watch him before and after school personally or using her familiar to watch him indirectly, she hadn't tried tracking him back to where he lived yet but even if she tried to he knew more than enough to lose her.

But that still begged the question of why was she watching him? He hadn't done anything beyond the capabilities of a normal man, normal by modern standards specifically, and made sure not to give off anything that might prove otherwise.

Still, it was something that needed to be dealt with eventually. For now all Adam could do was to march on and let the heiress of Sitri make her first move, till then he had people relying on him to feed themselves and their families.

Sona eventually left on her own, her responsibilities of being the Student Council President and Devil appointed Co-Overseer of Kuoh Town meant she couldn't stay long personally with her familiar staying behind to watch him and only leaving when it's master had other tasks for it.

'What are you after Sitri?' Adam asked as he helped finished off the task his employees needed help with. 'She either wants to recruit me or sees me as an enemy, and I'm not sure which one I preferred'

As she walked through the streets on her way to school Sona took out her phone to quickly look at the photo she had on it, her face growing red as her eyes were hidden behind her glasses. She closed the phone more forcefully than she intended as she did everything in her power to straightened herself up before presenting her to the students of her academy.

'I didn't want to do this, but I may have to speak to Rias' Sona thought to herself, a part of her dreading the idea but having no other choices. This was something she couldn't bring up with her peerage and especially not her sister leaving Rias the only choice, or perhaps Minato 'Minato's an excellent trainer, but I will not go to him for girl talk'

A mental image of Rias with Adam besides her made Sona freeze for a moment as she reconsidered things 'Rias wouldn't do anything if I called dibs, would she? Than again, put a wig on and Minato could pass for enough of a girl for a 'girl talk' though I'd need him to swear to secrecy'

With a possible plan B in mind Sona settled on talking to Rias before showing her any photo of the mysterious man she came across.

-=-]Later….[-=-

Rias's eyes almost bulged out of her head "You have crush on someone!?" Sona did her upmost to fight off her growing blush but to little result, Rias leaned forward excited "Come on, you can't just leave me with just that. Tell me more, does he go to our school?" Rias paused with a teasing smirk showing on her lips "Does SHE go to our school?"

"No, HE doesn't" Sona answered closing her eyes as she tried to play it cool "He's a bit older than us, and while I may have an interest in him I wouldn't go as far as to call it a crush. Merely a… short lived interest that might develop into more if circumstances allow it"

Rias nodded, eager for more "Okay, tell me, how did you meet this 'short lived interest' exactly?"

"Well, we haven't actually met per say. Rather I saw him one day after school and" Sona stopped herself as she realized how it was going to sound "I haven't been stalking his workplace or anything, I just go around that general area to clear my head for a minute or two. Maybe look into the idea of having him in my Peerage to help with building maintenance of my future school, you know how destructive we Devils can be so it is something I'm kicking myself over for not spotting it sooner"

Sona's words gave Rias pause "Wait, Sona, how much older is this guy anyway?"

"Mid twenties, I think" the Student Council President of Kuoh admitted to her friend "He's head of a construction company, I'm thinking we could maybe push through for a little expansion around the town borders for the local economy"

"My, my, out of everyone I never expected you to fall for a construction worker. Though, he would be a far cry from what your use to" Rias said as Sona's many suitors came to mind "If I may, what does he look like?"

Sona had an extremely conflicted expression, if she was to proceed with Plan A or B now was the point of no return for A "I, have a photo on my phone here. I'll show you if you promise me one thing"

That peaked the interest of the Gremory heiress "Name it?"

"You have to acknowledge that I have dibs" Sona said, her voice serious despite the childish words used "Meaning, no sneaking around trying to recruit him"

[4] Rias nodded with a smile "Sona, I acknowledge you have dibs and I nor my peerage will approach this man to recruit him" she kept her smile as Sona brought out her phone to show the photo and once Rias laid eyes on the man she could fully understand where her friend was coming from "Oh, Oh my. That's hmm" she bite her lower lip as she looked over the photo of Adam, dedicating every pixel of the photo to memory as she became entranced by the visage of the man she was seeing "Where have you been hiding~?"

The more Rias looked at the photo of Adam the harder it was to look away, while she and Issei have gotten much closer after the Rating Game with Riser they weren't officially dating yet as Issei was still getting to grips with having just one girlfriend with Asia, she would have to wait to let Issei get reasonable settled before she brought up the idea of herself having a harem of her own.

'Hmm, would even be called a harem if it's just two guys?' Rias thought to herself for a moment as she remembered overhearing debates on the subject.

Sona closed the phone and pulled it away much to heiress's distress "Rias, your drooling"

Any annoyance Rias had for her friend taking away the divine eye candy was momentarily forgotten as she wiped the drool with a tissue "Well, how long did it take you to notice you were drooling the first time you saw him"

"...Long enough a fly flew into my mouth" Sona acknowledged a little bit ashamed of herself "But I have it under control, anyway I was hoping I could poke your brain for advice"

Rias leaned back into her chair "Well I'm not so sure how much help I can be, I'll admit Issei and I are getting closer but we haven't gone on an official date yet. Partially due to other things and partially due to me promising Asia she can go on a date with Issei first"

"Anything will help, it's better than nothing as I can't go to my sister and I'm hesitate to share with the rest of the Student Council due to how they'd react" Sona admitted, a dark grin tugging at her lips "Besides, I have enough childhood blackmail to keep you silent"

Rias playfully gasped with her hand to her chest "Oh you she devil, using the innocent times of our youth against me. Have you no shame" the two burst out laughing at that, it went on for a minute before they calmed down "Anyway, we can talk more after this current training session is over with. I've heard wonderful things about this place called Gentle Etiquette if you want to try it"

Sona considered the offer "I have overheard a number of students talk about it, but I believe not many at Kuoh Academy go there due to it being more out of the way than other options closer to them" she nodded "Very well, though let's just keep it all between us. No offence but I rather not have Akeno giving out vague and cryptic comments regarding a 'mysterious stranger' that's capture my interests"

Rias wanted to refute Sona's comments but she knew her Queen well enough that she would do that, though not often she would let something slip to get a rise out of the others. All it took was for Saji to overhear and there was a real chance the Pawn of Sitri would go directly to his King for answers, something Sona would do but on her terms.

"Fair, although before we head back to rejoin the others I do have one question relating to your current interest" Rias said, her tone a bit more serious than before "Remind me, how many pieces you still have available?"

"Currently I have three Pawn Pieces to spare, I have my remaining Rook and Knight pieces reserved for potential members I'm keeping an eye on" Sona furrowed her brow "Although, I could give him a Rook Piece instead depending on how powerful he would be"

Rias was silent for a moment "Funny, I have an unused Rook Piece as well" Rias looked to Sona with a teasing smirk "If you want, we could both use our Rooks to reincarnate this man together. We could share-"

"Not going to happen" Sona said sternly "Aside from the logistical nightmare that could come from sharing Peerage members, sharing the same Peerage member between us would either be a sign of weakness or declaring you and I are lovers. That, and I don't want to trade Tsubasa just to get this man"

Rias was silent for a moment as she realized something "Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure our families would support us being together like that" she shook her head with a mirthful smile "Still I value our friendship too much to risk losing that"

"I feel the same way Rias, I love you but I don't love you like that" Sona said as they two left the club room to rejoin the others outside, the sounds of intense hectic training echoing through the halls of the old clubhouse.

As they walked together Sona glanced to Rias as something had been bugging her the past couple of days "By the way, did something happen between you and Arisato? I got the impression he was a bit more distant from you than before"

[5] The Gremory heiress couldn't hid her wince "We had a bit of a falling out, yes. But I feel things are steadily improving between us, though he is giving me something of a cold shoulder treatment"

"Ah, so he's being cold to you because you messed up" Sona said as she narrowed her eyes "Rias, why did you do?"

"I wanted to help Issei overcome an issue he was having, I found something that could help him but Minato insisted on more natural treatment would be better for Issei" Rias said as she explained her part of the story.

Sona raised an eyebrow "Well, has Issei changed at all due to Arisato's natural treatment?"

"There has been a notable improvement, yes. I'll admit that my short cut method was not the right route to take" Rias nodded.

The Sitri heiress smiled in relief "Well I'm happy there's finally someone else to babysit you when I'm not around"

The two heiress walked out the door of the clubhouse to find their peerages all wearing their gym uniforms with most drenched in sweat, the area around them was carved up with trees thrown everywhere with one sticking out of the ground upside down. The one exception being Minato himself as he saw on the stump of what was a full grown tree earlier that day, making notes in one hand and scratching his Chimera Hellhound behind the ears. The abomination against nature looked adorable as it enjoyed the affection it's master was showering it with.

"Prez, I've lost all feeling in my arms and legs" Saji groaned as he laid on his back looking to the sky, other members of Sona's Peerage were beside him sharing the same exhaustion as him.

Issei groaned as he tried to push himself up but failed Asia was beside him doing her best to make him feel comfortable "Saji kept using that long tongue of his to wring me dry of my energy, even boosting my recovery didn't help long"

"Ara ara~" Akeno intoned with a sing sung voice.

""Not like that!"" both young men said, the burst of energy leaving them as quickly as it came as they flopped back onto the ground.

Minato closed his notebook "Well, I can report you've both made admirable improvements. Saji's ability to steal energy has increased along with his ability to use it and Issei's accumulation and handling of power have increased as well" he turned his attention to a nervous Gasper and Koneko, the former hiding behind the latter "All that's left is for Gasper and Koneko to show how far they've come"

"Um, can I not fight Koneko?" Gasper asked as he shrunk behind Koneko to hide himself from Minato.

Koneko nodded "Yeah, I'm all for training Gaspy but fighting him is just bullying"

Minato rolled his shoulders "Don't worry, you aren't the bully her Koneko. I am" Minato said as he put down his notebook as he walked closer to his two juniors / trainees "I need to get a firm grasp on how far you've both come, and the best way for that is go up against you both myself"

His words seemed to have raise the Devils around him from their stupor, Gasper and Koneko looked at one another uncertain with both Rias and Sona sharing a look of concern and curiosity.

"Humor me, for the time being" Minato said as he jog in place for a moment "Trust me, your concern for my safety won't last long"

With those ominous words spoken Koneko took up a boxing stance with Gasper standing behind her with his eyes firmly locked onto Minato, the two prepared to act as they waited for Minato to make the first move.

A move they never saw coming.

Minato disappeared from view from where Koneko and Gasper was standing, the sudden breeze Koneko felt along with her instincts told her to turn around and there she saw Minato standing back to back with a frightened Gasper. Koneko looked and saw Gasper's pink tracksuit had four slash marks on the front, looking down she saw she had similar marks on her own shirt, both slash marks were over the stomachs. Almost like some beast had tried to gut them both alive.

"Don't underestimate your opponents, otherwise they can surprise you" Minato said, his tone of voice cold as he turned to them giving both Koneko and Gasper the chance to see the coldness in Minato's voice didn't reach his eyes "For now, I'm not your Tamer. I'm a hunter whose found their prey"

Gasper scrambled away from Minato, transforming into a swarm of bats briefly only to reform behind Koneko who leapt away from Minato as she re-evaluated things. She watched closely as she saw Minato use both Touki and Senjutsu as he took on a strange stance she didn't recognize at first, his legs were bent as he raised the back of his feet so that he was stand solely on his toes. His fingers were kept close together and half closed, the form Minato likely used to cut up their gym clothes.

The longer both Gasper and Koneko looked the more apparent their instinct within them were saying to be careful, as they realized what Minato's stance reminded them of.

"Werewolf…" Koneko said.

Minato nodded "Spot on. The original werewolves were famed as masters of druidic arts throughout Europe, as well as being natural hunters of vampires" Minato smirked "Felt very fitting for this"

Koneko and Gasper shared a reassuring look between them, Gasper began summoning more bats as the shadows from the trees grew longer and deeper as the Dhampir used his ability to control darkness. Koneko took in a deep breath as power she was swore off flowed through her being as cat ears popped up from the top of her head and two cat tails popped out from her bloomers, fire formed in her hands as she prepared to fight.

The two sides stared each other down for a moment, Minato and Koneko rushing to meet one another as the sound flapping bird wings signaled the round.

"Hey Rias, was what Minato said true?" Issei asked, using it more of a jumping off point to begin a line of discussion.

Rias's shoulders slumped "I don't know much truthfully, I had done research into specifically vampires when I reincarnated Gasper. Werewolves and Vampires are natural enemies to one another, like cats and dogs" she said as she kept her eyes on Minato's movements, noting how faster he was then she originally thought "Aside from some isolated cases, werewolves are typically seen in a better light than vampires due to the reputation vampires have due to their main Factions of Tepes and Camilla"

Sona adjusted her glasses as she closely observed Minato's movements, taking special note on how effortlessly it seemed for him to keep up with and toy with two Devils even if it was only training "Werewolves are more wide spread than vampires as well, they can be broken down into two types. Those who willingly become werewolves to hunt stronger enemies such as vampires, or are forced due to a transmittable curse that appeared due to reasons unknown" she said, remembering her own research she had done when she began considering Loup Garou for her Rook.

Whatever further questions Issei had were cut short due recent developments in the match.

"Meow?!" Koneko let out a surprise cry as her attempt to skim pass one of Minato's blows sent her flying skywards, leaving Gasper exposed as Minato charge to grab hold of the Dhampir as he weaved to avoid direct eye contact.

As he was mere inches from Gasper Minato paused as one of Gasper's bats had tagged him, in reality Minato was merely pretending to be under the effects of the time stop so as to not draw attention. The nature energy around him swirled to throw up the dirt to hide him from view, giving Minato an excuse to get out of Gaspers line of sight and move.

Gasper coughed as he looked around to try and pin Minato down again to give Koneko the chance she needed to land a solid hit, however he realized too late that he was right behind him. Gasper froze as he felt Minato's presence behind him, as the dust began to settle the others could see Minato's silhouette as he leaned his head forward right to where Gasper's neck was.

"Bite" Minato said, causing the small Dhampir to cry out and stumble away grasping his next.

"W-What was that!? Why'd you say bite when your so close to my neck?" Gasper asked with a blush on his face.

Minato shrugged "Werewolves use their fangs to bite into the neck of their enemies and I'm replicating the moveset of a werewolf for this mock battle, I don't want actually bite you so I decided just to say bite. That way you can all remember to keep an eye on your vital areas"

"O-Oh" Gasper said as he removed his hand from his neck, giving it a brief look to double check there was no blood. And yet, Gasper could pick up the unmistakable scent of blood in the air. Following the smell he saw a number of the girls watching were sporting blushes with several members of Sona's peerage and Asia having notable nose bleeds, explaining the scent of blood Gasper was picking up.

Thankfully Koneko got back up and rejoined the bout, her expression stoic as ever although Gasper could swear there was a red mark under Koneko's nose.

The mock battle when on for a while longer with Minato taking advantage of the openings his two juniors left open to him to 'bite' them, it seemed to have a greater psychological effect on both Gasper and Koneko than he originally expected as they both noticeable tensed up and stumbled after he uttered 'bite'. Near the end he didn't even have to be near them to make them stumble with the mere utterance of the word bite, seeing this Minato realized that incorporating the biting aspect of werewolf combat was counterproductive.

Once the mock battle was over Minato congratulated both Koneko and Gasper for a job well done, praising them both for their leaps in improvement, the others gave a quick cheer for the two. Although why a fair number of those present were red faced was something Minato had no clue to, at first he thought they were just flushed from training but something told him that wasn't it.

-=-][-=-

'I still say you should have manipulated the nature power to create energy fangs, give them a little extra scare since you refused to use Souffle D'éclair' The Persona of the French Werewolf, Loup-garou, said with the more wide spread interpretation of a Werewolf bared it's fangs.

Minato finished collecting he things and began to leave 'Can't really hand wave away spewing lightning from my mouth, the claws and enhanced movement yes but the enhance bite may be too much. That, and it'll be a nice little thing to have in the back pocket'

Minato gave Bridget a quick scratch behind the ears as they walked together "So, how would you rate my wolf like fighting?"

Bridget's head split into the three of Alex, Dealla and Elda. Each head given the chance to give their answer with a series of barks, Minato blinked at those answers as he tilted his head "Really, I thought I did better than that?"

"Better than what?"

Minato looked over to see Kiyome was waiting for him, he gave his teacher a respectful nod before gesturing to the chimera hellhound at his side "Bridget was criticising my werewolf inspired fighting during training, Alex says I was too still, Dealla saying I was too retrained and Elda mentioned my control of nature energy was sub-standard" he glanced at his charge "And, well, she is the nearest expert on the subject"

Kiyome raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms under her chest "I'm curious about why you were acting like a werewolf in the first place?"

"Mock battle training with Koneko and Gasper" Minato's answer being enough to satisfy his teacher as they both headed on their way leaving the Devils behind, Minato having already given them a quick farewell before he left. Minato's gaze being drawn to the main training area that was practically destroyed nearly an hour ago now looking nothing less than pristine.

The two made small talk about their day as they left Kuoh Academy grounds, once they crossed the threshold of the front gate their conversation shifted to one less than normal "So, how have you been training two Devil Peerages?"

Minato groaned, Kiyome psyched herself for what he was about to say "It's been a hair pulling frustration, especially after someone let slip of the reason why I initially turned down training them"

Kiyome's expression instantly soured "Any idea on who told the rest?"

"I didn't really have time to find out as I was too busy trying to stop two teenage boys with dragons inside them from going out to beat up the guilty party, a certain sadomasochist wanting to 'punish' him with lightning and a certain pretty boy far too ready to murder a student" Minato's eyes met Kiyome's "He was serious, I could see it in his eyes"

Kiyome furrowed her brow "I never pictured Kiba to be that type of person, though to be fair I don't really know him too well. The number of times we've interacted I could count on one hand" wanting to change the subject from the topic of one of their peers perfectly willing to kill another student she decided now was a good time to give Minato an update on the situation "Speaking of our love struck troublemaker, we just got word about how things are going?"

Minato looked around to make sure no one was listening in before turning his attention to his fellow Tamer.

"They did tests and none of the items he had were affecting his mental facilities, beyond the expected power trip, so he's going to be charged" Kiyome said as she pictured the long list of charges that were going to be brought against Satou's ex and decided not to try and list everything "You're likely to get a report on it soon, their planning on putting him under house arrest in his home city with him transferring to another school there with a guardian keeping watch on him along with regular therapy visits"

Minato nodded "So he's getting probation then, what about the animals he had?"

Kiyome gave Minato a comforting look "Their fine. Aside from a bland diet and getting next to no exercise he didn't do them any real harm, some real food and some exercise and they'll make a full recovery, if he do them harm I can assure you he would have be treated much harsher. A few years probation and if he behaves himself it won't go on his record, the judges and jury didn't want one mistake a person made ruining their entire life while their still in school"

"Would he know why his life took a sudden turn?" he asked as he considered them wiping Haruto's memories to sweep it under the rug, but considering they were talking about probation that told him they hadn't. Not knowing why you were under probation defeated the whole point of the exercise.

Kiyome rolled her eyes "We don't mind wipe people willy nilly, not to mention that would undermine the whole concept of probation and rehabilitation. Besides" her tone turned serious as her mind wandered back to the confiscate magical items "He's still the only we know whose had direct contact with the one's behind those items, so he's the key witness in regards to these counterfeit items"

Minato did his best not to show any reaction to the snickering of several Personas, the memories of Goetia and the others meticulously disassembling the manufacturing, supply networks and distribution channels of the magic items and punishing those responsible with a very restrained form of 'Demonic Punishment' before leaving them at the mercy of their own Factions.

"We were able to arrest the Devil who sold him the magic items but the New Devil Government hasn't responded to our messages, or at least I haven't heard any word" she let out a deep sigh "This happens sometimes, we have system in place so we have a plan of action"

"Speaking of plan of action, how do you think we should handle this?" Minato asked for Kiyome's opinion on how to handle things with Satou.

His teacher only gave him a smirk "I'll stay back and let you take the lead, you know Satou better than me and I know you've been checking up on her" They stopped for a moment as their destination came into view "What happens next is up to you and her"

-=-][-=-

When Satou opened her door she was delighted to see her senpai on the other side, once she opened the door fully to see Kiyome her enthusiasm took a notable but momentary dip. The memory of her naked with Minato in the forest was still clear in her mind, even though she had context behind it along with the whys and hows it didn't make it the image in her mind easier to digest. She would be going about her day and whenever her senpai popped into her head Satou would see the shirtless Minato, giving her pause, before the memory expanded to show Abe along with her monsters.

While she had given up on keeping that memory suppressed entirely Satou resolved to instead focus solely on Minato himself, with some positive results in that she saw the naked visage of Abe less but the image of her senpai shirtless was being a consistent distraction.

The three of them sat down and made small talk with Bridget resting her fused head on Minato's lap, whatever small talk was brief as they got to the heart of the matter quickly with Minato ensuring that Satou knew about the type of world she would be entering if she chose not to forget.

"Minato senpai, if I chose to forget there's nothing stopping some other supernatural entity to come along" she said, her unblinking gaze locking with Minato's own "I can see why someone would chose ignorance, but I won't" she gave a determined look "If I live in a world with monsters I want to know about them rather than covering my ears and closing my eyes"

In response Minato nodded, a smile tugging at his lips due to the words Satou used "I understand, we'll help you get accommodated to things along with a general overview of things"

"Our organization host classes with introducing people to the more magical side of our world, along with general classes in teaching you self defence and places to go for safety if your ever in danger" Kiyome said as she handed Satou a small booklet with a picture of group picture of different supernatural beings together with the words lore book on the cover.

Satou tentatively accepted the book, confusion clear on her face as she gave it a closer look "Thank you?" she said as she did a quick read through of the book's content, unsure what to make of an organization that held the secrets of the world in a book disguised as something from a tabletop RPG "Is there any local things I need to know about?" her eyes zeroed in on an illustration featuring a cartoonish devil eating people.

"Well, Kuoh Town is quiet for the most part. While it is Shinto territory, along with all of Japan, it's technically under the control of Devils from the Three Factions so long as they pay their rent" Kiyome didn't flinch as Satou gave her a dead eyed 'what' for a moment before shifting her expression to something less cold and detached "It's sort of like how there are American military bases in Japan"

"The Devil Overseers are two heiresses, one whose a descendant of the Demon Gremory and Bael while the second heiress is a descendant of the Demon Sitri, they both attend Kuoh Academy as students with the names Rias Gremory and Souna Shitori" Minato explained, figuring telling her about the Devils at Kuoh Academy was better done sooner rather than later "The Academy is also under the joint control of the two Pillars, so technically Kuoh Academy is under their control"

"Only one of them bothered to change their true name?" Satou's expression flashed with alarm "You go to a school under the control of two Devils" her attention focused on Minato "Doesn't that mean they could force you to do things for them?"

"They could try, yes. But even if they did nothing good would come of it for them" Minato answered as he did his best to ease his friend's worries "Tamers have a number of protections, meaning they won't try anything as it could very easily end badly for not just them but all Devils"

"That and you leave them broken on the ground almost daily now" Kiyome commented with a smirk, she points to Minato as she explains "Minato here has actually been training them for the past couple of days so we're all on good terms, and even if we weren't I have personally seen Minato take down their potentially strongest fighter in a one on one match"

Satou's worry subsided a little as she turned to Minato with a curious look "Was there a special reason for the fight?"

Minato looked conflicted for a moment before he explained "Originally, no. He just wanted a match to test himself against me. Although after I learnt he stripped two of his classmates in front of the entire school I did get rough with him, nothing permanent but it was better than him not facing any consequences for his actions"

Satou's eye twitch "Devils have different moral compasses than humans, don't they" she took a calming breath as she thought about where to get holy water and other religious items "Will I have to meet them?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to, besides you'll still need time to adjust" Minato said as he gained a thoughtful look "If you want, we could give you a live demonstration on some of the supernatural elements" Bridget sat up, a third eye appear on her head before splitting apart into three with them all looking to Satou "Oh, looks like Bridget wants to show off as well"

The South Kuoh Highschool girl and Chimera Hellhound locked eyes for a long moment with neither looking away "I'm free for the rest of the day if you want to show me now?"

Minato paused for a moment as he considered his schedule for the day "I'm free for the next few hours, what about you?"

"Nothing too important, I can spare a little over an hour. I know a place where we can show off without worry" Kiyome said as she led the group to a place where Satou could get a safe up close look at supernatural elements.

However, there was a slight hiccup.

Minato fought back a groan "Why are they here?"

In front of Gentle Etiquette stood Rias and Sona along with their peerages, they seemed more interested in whatever conversation they were having to pay any notice to them. With little alternative they made their way to a back entryway behind the rooms for staff to avoid the Devils of Kuoh Academy.

"Were they the Devils you were talking about?" Satou asked as she memorized the faces of several of the Devils.

Minato nodded "Yeah, that's them. It's better we avoid them for now, they can be rather" he paused as he considered what phrase to use "Clingy"

Kiyome let out a short snort at Minato's view on the Occult Research Club and Student Council, though if she had to guess she assumed that out of the two the Occult Research Club was the most clingy of the two.

Satou, meanwhile, shot a cold look over her shoulder to where the Devils would be. Unknowingly causing several of said Devils to feel a cold shiver run down their spins, putting them all on edge and mercifully restraining their more quirky behaviour "Are they bothering you?"

"It's fine, really. Although I really rather not interact with Ms Gremory anytime soon, at least not anymore than what I have to" Minato said, letting his distaste of Rias slip into his voice. After attempting to drug someone she supposedly loved into being more to her liking she had shown little remorse in what she'd almost done if she wasn't stopped by blind luck, or rather her lineage to Gremory luck, he'd accepted the heiress of Gremory had airhead tendencies but her willingness to sweep it all under the rug rubbed him the wrong way.

'Maybe it would be better if I talked about it with someone?' Minato thought to himself as he noticed his teacher giving him a worried look.

After showing off several magical abilities to Satou such as Touki, Senjutsu and Human Magic, along with giving in-depth explanation on them, Kiyome confronted Minato wanting to know what Rias had done this time.

With no other choice Minato told her everything. A loud slap could be heard as Kiyome's palm met her forehead with a low growl accompanying it "Damnit Rias"

Kiyome debated on whether or not to confront Rias on the Personality alteration attempt while Satou considered what she would need to get a priest to bless weapons and poison, she vaguely remembered a holy hand grenade being mentioned in an old British movie and wondered if such weapons already existed.

-=-][-=-

Later that night Minato checked up on the exorcists he was leading to save the world, usually he would talk with them, train and general make sure they were alright. They had began hunting Stray Devils in and around Kuoh Town, however they hadn't killed all of them. Those that could still be saved were other reverted back to who they were before or simply nullified the mutation they had undergone, either way Minato sent them to Goetia to either send home or recruit.

Sitting down in the makeshift throne at the head of a round table Minato looked over the room, everyone had gathered for this sudden meeting as their attention fell on the one who called it.

"I just got word from Dohnaseek" Mittelt said as she stood in front of Minato, dressed in his Mi Ainsel outfit, with a grim expression "Kokabiel's forces are on the move, they'll be in Kuoh Town in roughly thirty six hours with them using delivery trucks to hide their movements"

The air grew heavy at her words, the gathered Exorcists tensed with some looking forward to the coming confrontation more than the others. The Sacred Gear users on loan from the Hero Faction were looking forward to the coming battle, especially if it meant they wouldn't have to bodyguard Devils anymore.

'Seriously, the sooner we're done with this the better' Youta thought to himself, clenching his fists as having to see Devils pretending to be humans. Living a part of life denied to him and others because of them and the other monsters that stalk their world.

"Do you know the route their taking?" Masaomi asked as he stood besides Minato, having fallen into a second in command position among their group.

Mittelt nodded as pointed to one of several highlighted routes on a map of the local area "Their taking route B2, from what I could get from Dohnaseek agents from the Church are coming here with the last pieces they need for this to work" the second generation Fallen Angel flinched "We also know what their going to use for the assassination, their planning to kill the Devil Heiresses with the Excalibur fragments"

"I'm sorry, their using what?" Minato blurted out, caught off guard by what Mittelt just said as numerous Personas grew very interested in what was just said. Especially the Arthurian Legend Personas and those connected so said legends, be they mythical beings such as Fairies and Giants or those who sought to model themselves after the fabled court of Camelot.

"The Fragments of Excalibur. They stole Excalibur Blessing, Excalibur Nightmare, Excalibur Transparency and Excalibur Rapidly" Mittelt explained further, wincing slightly "An attempt was made to get Excalibur Mimicry and Excalibur Destruction but those failed, there was apparently talks about going after Excalibur Ruler held by the Pendragon Family but that idea was shot down hard by Kokabiel after the failure to retrieve Destruction and Mimicry"

'I have descendants in the modern era?' The Persona of King Arthur asked as he and his court began discussing the topic amongst themselves.

'Be weary King of the Britons, while they claim to be your descendants that may very well not be true' The Shinto Goddess of the Sun Amaterasu warned King Arthur, having some experience of people claiming to be her descendants for their own gains.

One of the exorcists marked forward "Hold on, does that mean they have a Holy Sword Wielder among their ranks?"

Mittelt nodded "Yeah, they have one. I don't know their name, only really knowing it's a guy, though considering how the 'Genocide Archbishop' is involved I imagine their connected somehow-"

"What!" one of the exorcists exclaimed with a furious expression "Are you telling us Valper Galilei is coming here?!"

"Uh, who is this Valper guy?" the exorcist Matty Ma, or Matthew Mara as Minato learnt the man's real name, asked as he raised his hand. The others around him look to him for a moment before remembering that he was thrown into this life relatively recently and with little prep.

"Okay, you know those human experiments I uncovered that led to me going rogue" the enraged exorcist said, making sure everyone was on the same page "This Valper Galilei was in charge of a team doing research into Holy Swords, the monster experimented and murdered children en-mass to further his 'research'" he spat on the floor, the mere word of research being connected to Valper was like poison to him "He used gas chambers to kill the children who survive his torture but who weren't of any use to him" he tightened his fists until he drew blood "But the reports said he was dead"

Matthew Mara stood slack-jawed for a moment before he turned visibly green "Oh, oh shit" the next moment he turned deathly pale as a heavy presence filled the room causing all those present to shake.

"What" Minato said, his voice drawing everyone's attention to him as they realized he was the source of the pressure they were all feeling. If you were to stare directly into the mirror mask Minato wore at that moment you have seen two blue glowing eyes shining through the reflective mask "Is this the same person as the one allied to Kokabiel?"

Mittelt gulped as she nodded "Y-Yes sir, it's the same person. After the Church learnt of what he'd done they excommunicated him, he went on the run and the Grigori helped him fake his death to escape his pursuers"

Minato was silent for a long minute, the pressure everyone felt gradually decreasing along with the glowing eyes that had appeared on Minato's helmet. Slowly he got up from his seat and turned to look at everyone present.

"All those against targeting Valper Galilei, to be taken in dead or alive, raise your hand" he waited several long moments to see if anyone would raise their hands, but when none did he nodded "Good, than we're all in agreement then" he made a turn to sit back down before stopping for a moment "Sorry for the sudden change of plans at the last minute, but this Valper is something I will not over look"

Masaomi rested his hand on Minato's shoulder as an act of support "No worries, while I can't speak for the others I can assure you your not alone in wanting justice on the matter" Minato replied with a nod before sitting back down "Now then, how shall we act under this information?"

"I say we ambush them, they don't know we know their coming. If your set on protecting these Devils Mi-Fhín than it would be better if Kokabiel's forces don't even reach Kuoh Town" Connla said as he stood forward to look over the map, his eyes tracing over the marked areas before pointing at a stretch of road a mile outside of Kuoh Town "According to this we a have brief window off time where they'll be inside the Devil's assigned territory but still outside of the town"

"Good point, if we intercept them too early it may bring unwanted attention from the Shinto Faction" Masaomi scratch his chin as he considered the plan "The locals aren't much too please with the Three Factions being here as is, any fighting outside Devil territory risk dragging others into this"

"Aren't the Shinto folks hermits, leave them alone and they won't bother you?" One of the gathered exorcists asked aloud.

Weighing his options Minato decided to speak up "Currently there are members of the Shinto Faction stationed in Kuoh Town, they're only here for recon as their looking for more information regarding unrelated events" the image of Senko and her brothers came to the forefront of his mind "While they won't interfere with our fights normally if those fights begin endangering the civilians then things get more complicated"

Mittelt raised her hand "Um, just to remind everyone we do have people on the inside. Once this goes down we need a way to get our people to safety and out of stabbing distance of Kokabiel's forces"

"Oh, that'll be easy. Connla could teleport them away with his shadows" Youta said aloud.

Asuka nodded "Yeah, I can't count the number of times Connla's shadow moving abilities saved our behinds. That's make extraction quick and simple"

Minato looked to the wielders of Flame Shake and Staring Green before turning to Connla "Would you be willing to help with troop movements, I understand it may not be a glorious task but the life of our allies are on the line here"

"Understood, I'll make sure they're evacuated safely" Connla answered, not a fan of using his Sacred Gear as a taxi service but it was role he had gotten used to over the years. He turned to Mittelt, the cold look in Connla's eyes hidden by his glasses "What do we know about the trucks and what their carrying?"

The meeting went on for a while as they went over various aspects of the plan, from who would be dealing with which truck, the placement of forces, the fate of captured enemies, they went over whatever they could to ensure they were as well prepared as they could be but not being too fixed in their way of thinking so they could still adapt their plans as needed.

Once all was said and done Minato stayed to talk with everyone, wanting to check up on them regarding their upcoming mission and wanting to make sure they were at least not in a bad mindset. Soon enough he headed home with the upcoming events weighting heavy on his mind, he was almost tempted to use the precognition abilities some of his Personas had to look into the future to when the operation was to take place but past experience told him the further he looked the less useful the information he got was.

'That's right, the hot spring should be finished by now' Minato remembered, figuring now was as good as time as any to use his new hot spring to relax. He opened the front door and stepped in "I'm back"

"Welcome back" Eve greeted back as she and Lilith sat watching television "The hot spring is ready if you want to use it, dinner will be ready in a little while"

"Ophis isn't back yet" Lilith said as turned to Minato with a teasing smirk "No worries, I'm sure your cuddle buddy will be back soon enough"

Minato looked away from Lilith when she called Ophis his cuddle buddy, instead he decided to change the topic "Have you located the whereabouts of that 'thing' your looking for?"

"Yeah, I'm heading out in a little bit to take care of it" Lilith nodded, her smiling disappearing "It's been bothering me since I noticed it, just need to wait for Goetia to take care of their part before I can take care of mine"

With that said Minato went to take a dip in the hot spring. Stepping into the new extension of the house, opening the door he came into a changing room filled with baskets for people to place their personal belongings. Looking around reminded Minato of his school trip to Kyoto back in Gekkoukan High School as memories of the trip came rushing back to, events that felt like a life time ago but still remained precious to him. In the back of his mind Minato idly noticed there were a lot more baskets than he was expecting, more than enough for a large group of people to use it all at once.

"Wait, Sukuna-Hikona how big did you make this?" Minato asked as he poked his head in to see the onsen himself. He was expecting a humble little thing but instead he was greeted with a massive hot spring large enough to fit dozens of people, showers were off to either side near the entrance with statues placed throughout it with some being in the hot spring itself.

The little kami answered with pride 'Big as it should be, master. I even added in blessings to deal with the smell and harmful acidic properties of a natural hot spring, though keep in mind of the heat still'

Minato looked over the onsen as he scratched his cheek, finding it a bit too large for just him to use. He considered having the others come over to use it, though he would need to put up a dividing wall. That thought wasn't long in his head before the kami that built this hot spring mentioned how there was a prepared dividing wall already installed with divine power that only needed to be activated with the statues located throughout the place, with that issue dealt with Minato considered who could come over.

'Let's see. There's us here, Katina and the others, the exorcists would more than deserve something like this after we deal with Kokabiel, I know many at the café would love to visit an onsen like this for free, and' Minato's thoughts stopped momentarily on the Devils of Kuoh Academy before dismissing the idea. Knowing them they'll get involved in some perverted actions with Issei and Saji trying to spy on the girls bathing, he learnt there wasn't much they wouldn't do in the time he has spent with them.

As he continued to go over a mental list of people to tell about his hot spring Minato got ready to use it, placing his clothes in the basket and taking a towel. Sitting down on a stool at one of the showers he began the process of washing himself before entering the hot spring, using his basin to rinse himself as he was almost done cleaning himself.

While he threw his water over head Minato heard the door open, looking over he locked eyes with Ophis as she looked in to him naked with only a small towel protecting his modesty.

The two stared at each other in silence for a long moment, Ophis for her part wanting to see what the hot spring was like and being caught off guard to find Minato the way he was. Meanwhile, Minato was surprised to Ophis walk in and as he considered what to do next-

Memories from his Kyoto school trip came rushing back, specifically what happened in the hot springs, a shot of fear went through his mind at the thought of what could have happened with Mitsuru and the girls executing them over a misunderstanding.

"Ophis?!" Minato moved back surprised, falling off his stool and using his basin to cover himself. Spotting a nearby statue he teleported behind it putting the statue between him and the Dragon God as he kept his basin covering his private bits.

Ophis tilted her head (?) "Is this, a bad time?"

Minato leaned his head over to look at Ophis "Kind of, I'm in the middle of getting ready for the hot spring"

"You need to get ready?" Ophis looked over to the large hot spring "Don't you just, get in?"

"No, there's actually a sort of ritual for using a hot spring. Makes the whole experience better" Minato answered, calming down as he got over the shock of Ophis walking in on him "It's the same for all hot springs and bath houses"

Looking over to one of the shower stations that were here Ophis went over and looked at one more closely, noting how they were more simple than the showers in the bathrooms with stools much like the one Minato was siting on for each shower "Could you show me?"

It was an innocent request, and one he wouldn't mind telling her about but he had a feeling Ophis wanted a more hands on explanation.

"Right now or would you rather wait for either Eve or Lilith to show you, I'm sure Maria would love to walk you through it?" Minato asked, painfully away of the three mother figure Personas shaking their heads each with a different smile.

The Infinite Dragon God considered Minato's question and gave an answer without really thinking about it "I want you to be the one, right here right now"

"Okay, if that's what you want" Minato said, a blush dusting his cheeks as several of his Personas were encouraging him on "Before we start you need to change out of your clothes, go to the baskets you passed coming in here. You'll find a large and small towel in them, put your clothes into one basket and take the small towel back in with you" Minato paused for a moment as he realized he needed to add something "And hold your towel against you, it's a common courtesy to protect one's modesty"

Thus Minato began showing Ophis the steps one takes before entering a hot spring, even helping her wash her hair and tie it up for the onsen, after they both washed themselves clean they entered the hot spring together. As she settled into the hot spring Ophis noticed that Minato refused to look at her and had his back to her as well, she moved at bit closer to Minato but stopped as she noticed he jumped a little.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she stayed in place as she watched Minato.

The Wild Card in question shook his head "N-No, it's nothing really" he didn't need to turn around to know Ophis was giving him a blank look, not accepting what he just said as an answer. He winced "Okay. The truth is the last time I visited a hot spring things got really tense, and I guess I haven't fully gotten over it"

The Dragon God considered Minato situation as she mulled it over in her head "Meaning, you need time to adjust to being in a hot spring with others" seeing her first friend nod Ophis knew what she needed to do "Okay, I'll help"

Before he had the chance to ask what she meant Ophis teleported over to Minato and sat back to back with him "This way, you'll readjust faster" she said finding their current position not too different from when they go to bed at night.

"Thank you" Minato said softly, finding the sitting position agreeable and steadily got more comfortable as the two sat together as they bathed in the hot spring.

As they neared the twenty minute mark Minato gave Ophis an update on events "Kokabiel's forces are moving, they're moving into Kuoh Town tomorrow night" he turned his head to look over his shoulder to Ophis "I don't know when we'll be done, all I know is that until we are I can't come back here. Meaning you have the run of the place till we've dealt with the warmonger"

"It won't be the same, without you" The Infinite Dragon declared, looking down to the water's surface to see Minato's reflection in it "No turning back?"

Minato shook his head "No, I wouldn't even if I could. But" he closed his eyes for a moment as he allowed himself a small smile "I'll admit that running off with you and leaving all this behind is, tempting. Starting over somewhere just the two of us" he barely had a chance to finish what he was going to say when Ophis suddenly hugged him from behind.

"Make sure to come back, I won't forgive you if you don't" The Dragon god said, her voice devoid of any heat but held and undertone of something Minato couldn't place at that moment.

With a gentle smile Minato raised a hand to Ophis's cheek to offer her some comfort as the two stared into each other's eyes "I promise you, I'll come back"

The two of them stayed like for some time, how long neither knew as they enjoyed the moment they had together before the coming battle, a moment that stretched on and on. Ending when Ophis took notice of how red Minato's face had become, when she pointed it out he laughed it off.

"I must have spent too long in the hot spring, I should get out before I over heat too much" As he got to his feet Minato could feel a familiar weight on his back, with a smile knowing Ophis was riding him again he made his way to the showers to wash off. However as he was about to step out he paused, much to Ophis's surprise.

"Seems like Goetia just picked up a new ally, a powerful one too" Minato said, reaching down into the water causing an image to appear for the Dragon God to see the most current developments. It showed a seedy bar with half dead Devils sprawled throughout it with Goetia standing in the middle of it all with one man kneeling before him, the kneeling Devil looked up to Goetia with determination and a hatred not directed to the fused Demon who smiled a toothy grin.

Looking at the grey haired haired Devil with grey eyes Ophis recognized the man from somewhere, but from where she couldn't remember.

-=-][-=-

"Alright, is everyone here?" Minato asked as he looked over the two groups of gathered Devils, doing a second headcount to double check that everyone was there.

Sona adjusted her glasses "We are, if I may what exactly will today's training consist off because I believe another look at our strategic ability could be warranty a revisit"

With a blank look he answered "You just want to beat Rias in chess with everyone watching again, don't you" Minato tilted his head as he gave it some thought, making a show of him considering it "If we have time we can include matches throughout the day, right now we're just waiting on Kiyome to come over with some of her own charges for a training exercise"

The Student Council President grew curious of what Minato and Kiyome had planned for them, however she didn't have much time to mull it over when she felt a powerful force bring her to her knees.

Sona forced her head up to see what was happening, as she Sona saw Minato on the ground with the same force that brought her to her knees keeping him pinned flat against the ground. She reached out her hand to him but that seemed to only increase the force further "Tsubaki! Rias!"

"Prez, were all stuck" Saji said as he tried to use to call up his Sacred Gear drain the power that captured them but found he couldn't focus, Issei was having a similar problem as just as quickly Boosted Gear manifested it disappeared.

In that moment a magic circle appeared beneath them and swallowed them whole as any resistance was ignored entirely, once it disappeared the only one left was Minato as a large magic circle was burnt into the ground.

Struggling to his feet Minato heard the rushing of footsteps reach getting closer to him, as he got back to his feet he saw a worried Kiyome with her charges not far behind and the symbols for Sitri and Gremory side by side at the centre of the magic circle.

'Alright, that's one issue dealt with' Minato thought to himself as he explained what happened moments before, keeping his involvement out of it. His heart clenched as he saw the worry on Kiyome's face 'I'm sorry it came to this, I hope you'll all come to understand why I did this and that you give me the chance to make things right'

Meanwhile the taken Devils got back on their feet as they found themselves in a place they didn't recognize, once they knew where everyone was they covered each other's backs as they as explored the place they found themselves.

The room they were in was barren with nothing inside but them, there were no windows with the only way out being a large door that didn't have a handle. With a push of power the unlocked door easily opened for them to reveal the sky of the Underworld, as they made their way out they found themselves before a large castle with dozens of box lining the outskirts of the castle ground with both the Occult Research Club and Kouh Student Council realizing they emerged from one of these boxes.

"Do all these boxes have other Devils in them too?" Gasper asked as he hid in his box, flinching as a loud explosion went off in a box not far from them. Looking over they could see an enraged young Devil throwing around his power without a care, being the one responsible for the explosion.

"Just what is going on here?" Issei asked aloud, and almost as if in response screens began to appear for everyone to see.

On the screens were a live broadcast being shown throughout the Underworld with Sirzechs being front and centre.

The ruler of Devilkind who took up the name Lucifer smiled as he addressed those watching him, he was already in the middle of a speech when the screens appear "And it's with great pride to announce the Young Devil Tournament, a competition between the new generation of Devils and their Peerages to show what their made of and earn fame and glory for themselves"

Issei turned to Rias "Wait, so is Sirzechs the one who summoned us here?" he asked, though his King didn't have a chance to answer before another voice could be heard. A voice that made all who heard it pay attention.

"Making the young dance to your tune, to distract your people from the ills that haunt them"

A voice could be heard over the broadcast, Sirzechs surprised expression told them he heard it too before the screen turned to static before clearing up to reveal a young man standing in front of a black background. His black suit almost blended in perfectly with the background as he looked to the viewers with a Devilish smile.

"Not very subtle are you" the young man raised his hand over his heart "Greetings, we are Goetia. And we wager this slapped together 'tournament' is in response to our actions"

The screen split into two to show both the mysterious young man and a now serious Sirzechs, there was fast movements in his background of the broadcast as Devils ran back and forth.

"What are they talking about, do you have any idea Prez?" Saji asked, Sona shook head as she tried to understand what was happening. She hadn't heard anything regarding a sudden Young Devil Tournament, and she wondered what this Goetia could have done to lead to it's creation.

"I take it your the one behind the recent attacks and kidnappings" Sirzechs said, shocking the Kuoh Devil as this was the first they have heard of such a thing "What are you planning now?"

Goetia didn't miss a beat as he answered "You could say that all we have done up to this point has been leading to this moment, we didn't know you would make this announcement per say, only that we needed something big to get the attention of every Devil"

Sirzechs narrowed his eyes "Whatever your planning, we will rescue those you kidnapped and put an end to Chaos Anarchy"

"Chaos Anarchy?" Goetia repeated with a bemused tone, the tense atmosphere shifting "This is the first we have heard word of such a term"

"It's the name we have been using to refer to you and your criminal organization" Sirzechs answered, hiding the wince he received after saying it out loud and seeing the look Goetia directed at him. For a moment he wondered if it would have been better to keep the name as Shadow Anarchy.

"That is the stupidest name we have ever heard, you should fire whoever came up with it" Goetia announced, rubbing his forehead ruffling his silver hair as a result "Truly, even if it's a placeholder one should be more mindful of what they use. Especially if you decide on using what could be considered the same thing or contains the words of a style of government or lack there of in case of anarchism"

Sirzechs, along with Serafall and Ajuka who were watching the event from elsewhere, winced at the words aimed at them for picking the name.

"Than what is your organization called?" Sirzechs said as he sought to buy time for the others to track down where the terrorist was broadcasting from.

"We have no need of a name, but if you insist you may refer to our group as Adversary" Goetia said with his smile returning in full "Short, sweet and to the point" holding back a sigh Goetia sought to get things back on track "Now than, if you would excuse us"

The background of Goetia fell down, revealing it to be a black curtain that hid an arena in the background with lights shining into the sky. Goetia disappeared from where he was before reappearing in the arena where Sirzechs was making the announcement, standing centre field much to the shock of everyone present the fused Demon wasted little effort before pulling a microphone over to him with his power and address those watching.

"Ladies, Lords, all of Devilkin and all others watching this farce of an event. We are Ars Goetia, the fusion of all Seventy Two Pillar's Progenitor Demons" Goetia said as he turned to Sirzechs, ignoring how other Devils were gathering to surround the fused Demon "Yes, we refer to our self in the plural sense. Best deal with that piece of information now, from what we've seen not all Devils would be smart enough to put two and two together"

Sirzechs leapt from where he stood to stand across from Goetia, sensing the positions of his Peerage around them. Grayfia remaining where they were making the announcement to provide battlefield control alongside MacGregor Mathers elsewhere in the arena, his pawn Enku was standing in the shadows with his other Pawn Beowulf, Knight Souji and Rook Surtr Second.

However, whatever plan of action they were enacting was cut short as they lost control of their bodies. Sirzechs doubling over as he slowly trudged forward one step at a time, his expression being a clear indicator of something being wrong.

"Big Brother!" Rias called out as she saw the events unfolding, a number of Devils began to experience a cold sweat at what they were seeing as whatever anxiety they had were magnified.

They tried to get free however whatever actions they were to take was cut at the knees as they were all forced to theirs. The Peerage of Sirzechs fought to regain control of their bodies even as they moved to stand behind their struggling king who was able to regain some control of his own but any further action was stopped once he made eye contact with Goetia and the Devil King knelt before him.

"None of that now, you can play later" Goetia said dismissively before turning back to the viewing audience "Now then, as for our announcement. As the fusion of the original seventy two Progenitor Demons we walked the Underworld to learn of what became of our realm under Devil rule" Goetia's expression became cold as his voice became as ice "We, are not impressed"

Those simple words sent a shiver down the spins of all Devils as shame and dread bubbled within them in equal measure, it was as if they disappoint their beloved parent and because of that a sword was at their throats, the only ones spared this feeling were young children who looked at the adults around them in confusion.

"You have no will, no true guiding force beyond tiny insignificant whims and this lie you tell yourselves in trying to act human" Goetia continued with the cold tone before a warm smile lit up his face "But, you are not beyond help. Which is why we have prepared a special event" Goetia extended out his arms as screens appeared throughout the sky above him "While their 'Young Devil Tournament' was a ploy to avert your eyes to protect a status quo, this shall be a turning point for Devils that will decide the future. Behold, the Ars Goetia Survival Games!"

Among the screens were faces of numerous Devils, Kings, their Peerages and even those not in Peerages were displayed for all to see at information cards at first before shifting to show a live broadcast of the presented Devils.

It wasn't long before a number of the participating Devils raised their voices, demanding answers or to be released from this Survival Game. The number of voices overlapped with one another as their words were lost in the wave of noise their voices coalesced into, the assault of sound put all who heard it on the back foot.

"No, Sirzechs… Rias and Sona are-" Enku said with dread as he saw the heiresses of Gremory and Sitri among those forced into this Survival Game, the words of the Qilin draw the Peerage's attention to two windows that stood side by side each other showing Rias, Sona and their Peerages together as the two groups overlapped with one another between the two windows.

Clenching his hands into fists Sirzechs powered through the compulsion that took over his body and stood to his full height, his own Peerage doing the same after him, an aura of his Power of Destruction gathered round his body as he walked towards Goetia who didn't flinch as he drew closer.

"F*** THIS!"

The voice that rang out was one of the unwilling participating Devils, the same one who threw around his power without a care in the world, he tried using a magic circle to teleport away but when that failed he just flew away from the castle with a growing number of other Devils following sought.

Goetia's smile turned cruel as he watched the Devil fly "We wondered when they would think to fly away, now for a live demonstration of penalties"

All other windows were minimized as the one focusing on the fleeing Devil drew in size, not long after it seemed like he passed through an invisible barrier that put up some resistance to him but not enough to stop him. The Devil smiled confidently before it quickly fell as he felt something was wrong, at once his strength left him as his body began to deteriorate taking on a far more withered appearance.

Scared the Devil turned back around to return to the castle, the barrier around it proving to be more difficult to enter than exit and one he would never have gotten threw had the barrier not shifted to let him through. He tried to make it back to the castle but whatever strength he had left was used up as he fell from the sky part way to the castle.

"They won't die, we shall not allow them to" Goetia said with a menacing tone as imp like creatures flew up from the forest surrounding the castle to catch the withered Devil and unceremoniously tossed him onto the ground were his Peerage stood in shock at what just happened, any Devil that tried to follow the now withered Devil's lead returned before they reached the barrier surrounding them and kept away from the edge of the castle walls with some brave or foolish enough to look over into the forest below to see if they could spot anything down there.

"Now than, we shall explain what we mean by Survival Game" Goetia said, his voice eerily calm even as he was given death glares from a Devil King and his Peerage "Rather than fighting for their lives, they are fighting for power and to prove their worthy to carry on the names and power of their Demon Progenitors" Goetia snapped his fingers moment before cries of pain rang out.

All those who held power from one of the Pillar families were overcome with a dark aura as they floated in the air feeling as if they were being tore apart, from them came out spheres of Darkness with one of the crests of the remaining Devil Pillars emblazoned on them with more than one coming out of a few present. Were Sona only had a black sphere with the Sitri crest on it Rias had two come out with one having the crest of Gremory and the other Bael.

Once the spheres came out of their bodies they were released from the power binding them as they fell to their knees, everyone was either transfixed by the sight of the spheres entering the castle or rushing to the side of those effected.

"In that castle is not only the power of the seventy two pillars but also magic and items to further you aims in this survival game, claim for yourself the power of the pillars be they the Bael's Power of Destruction or Agares's ability to manipulate Time. Whether your a 'Pure Blood Devil' a Half breed or a Reincarnated Devil doesn't matter, claim for yourself power and grow stronger" Goetia smiled as he saw many of the participating Devils gaining very interested looks "And those who have been reincarnated, fret not, for thou shalt not mutate if you go 'stray' as they call those they wish to demean. Betray your kings to your heart's content and take their power for yourself. And now, let the games being!"

A moment of silence passed before one of those present ran to the castle before being quickly followed by others, more than a few striking at their peerage's king with two instances of literal back stabbing as the now withered Devil's own pawn delivered a kick to the jaw before joining the dash for power.

Sirzechs, despite his best effort to retrain his rage, was completely livid when he walked up to Goetia with his power of destruction violently crackled around him. In his heart was worry for his sister and those the person before him had kidnapped, however there was another worry that became apparent quickly the longer he stood before Goetia.

And that was the nonchalant expression Goetia had or how little his power of destruction was actually affecting the self proclaimed fusion of their Demon Progenitors, an idea that Sirzechs feared may not be a total falsehood.

A blast of ice engulfed all around them, his power of destruction destroying everything around himself and Goetia, as a new figure arrived. Serafall Leviathan, Devil King in charge of Foreign Affairs, locked onto Goetia who turned to look at her with a quirk eyebrow.

"Where is my sister?" Serafall said in a cold emotionless tone.

"What is thou wearing?" Goetia replied with a question of his own as he looked at the magical girl outfit Serafall was wearing, he shrugged before answering "We shall not say for that could bring the game to an early end, however we are willingly to make a deal"

The two Devil Kings looked to one another for a moment before turning their attention to Goetia, while they had little hope of any deal struck with the Demon working out hearing him out would at least buy them time to encircle and capture him "What are the terms of this deal?"

Goetia looked to Sirzechs, his peerage and Serafall without a hint a malice or cruelty in his visage "The deal is rather straightforward, a trade" he raised up one hand, causing all those watching to tense "One Peerage worth of Devils" raising up his other hand his next words would cause the hearts of those who knew to stop for a moment "For one King Piece"

"King Piece, I've never heard of such a thing" Sirzechs said with Serafall being quick to agree with him as they didn't want information of the King Pieces leaking out. He sent word to the people controlling the broadcast to end it via a hand sign.

'Lord Lucifer, we've lost control of the broadcast and can't seem to end it. We're trying different methods' one of the operatives in control of the broadcast reported through an ear piece.

Goetia smiled knowingly "Oh, don't be coy with us. We know you know about them, Ajuka told you of them. Prototypes from the early days of Rating Games able to amplify a Devil's power anywhere from ten to a hundred time increase, with the exception they can not have another Evil Piece within them" the fused Demon paused for a moment to look directly at the people viewing the broadcast "I suppose that would disqualify all reincarnated Devils or those Devils serving under another, even if they themselves are kings of their own Peerages"

"Do you have any proof of such a thing existing?" Serafall asked, challenging Goetia's words to sow doubt into his claims.

From his sleeve Goetia pulled out a chess piece that radiated power, something that caused both Devil Kings to pale.

"Proof? We have one, right here" Goetia said, easily side stepping an attempt made by Souji to steal away the piece. All attempts made were seemingly easily avoided by Goetia with the fused Demon flying into the air without wings "Gather the King Pieces possessed by the New Satan Faction and Great King Faction as we know they are the only ones who possess them, bring to us all you have and we shall open negotiations"

Goetia lazily moved out of the way of Serafall's ice attack and met Sirzechs Power of Destruction with his own, the explosion of power halted the fighting for a moment as they lost sight of the fused Demon as the arena was totally erased.

However, instead of escaping Goetia remained where they were as the Devils in the now former arena looked to him in fear before he gave them a smile and a little wave before disappearing.

It would be a little while before either Serafall and Sirzechs noticed the cuts on their cheeks and that them bleeding was caught on live broadcast for the entire world to see as their power was brought into question, and with that potentially the end of the current government.

As numerous eyes looked upon these recent developments countless plans were reworked, a sly Fallen Angel and his grieving Archangel brother looked at their Devil comrade with concern, Devils take interest in this Goetia and a certain mad Fallen looks at the image of Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri with an annoyed frown as his plans appeared to have hit a road bump.

However that frown turned into a mirthful grin at the sight of the Gremory heiress turning into a clumsy mess as she was fretted over by her peerage with their progress being halted.

-=-][-=-

Back on Earth.

Minato split away the first chance he got, once he was sure he was alone he called upon the power of Kirshna to summon a flute. Playing the flute covered Minato in an aura of divine power that covered him entirely before it separated from him to create a clone of himself, assuring everything was in place the original Minato left his clone in his place to carry out his duties as a Tamer and to help keep the others safe.

In a darken forest near a stretch of road Minato arrived wearing his Mi Ainsel outfit, adjusting the sleeves of his coat along with the hood as it covered up most of his helmet with only the front face visible to onlookers. He had used Krishna's ability to duplicate to create a clone to stay close behind and deal with possible Tamer matters and protect others while the original Minato took up the role of Mi Ainsel, coming to the meeting spot Minato found the group he was joining up with.

"Any updates?" Minato asked as he knelt down besides them.

"Trucks are on route as we speak, and we learnt who the mysterious Holy Sword wielder meant to use the Excalibur fragments is" Takumi answered as he looked at his watch before turning his attention down the road where the trucks are suppose to come "One of our own took a gamble and managed to recruit him, so if all goes well we'll have one of the stronger holy swords in the world on our side"

Asuka frowned as he moved closer to the two "Hey, if we do capture the Excalibur Fragments what do we know with them?" he could feel everyone's eyes focusing on him as he asked that making the user of Staring Green a little self conscious "They can only be used by people able to use Holy Swords and those type of people are very rare"

That was a matter Minato had spent a good bit going over in his own mind, one that he had several plans of action for with nothing set in stone. Returning them to either the church or the living Pendragon family if they are truly descendants of King Arthur is high up on the list, the second involving some way to restore Excalibur to it's true form.

"For now let's focus on stopping Kokabiel, we can deal with the issue of the Excalibur fragments afterwards" Minato answered bringing the discussion to an end for now to be continued later. The two wielders of Staring Blue and Green shared a look before retaking their positions.

After nearly an hour waiting the trucks approached. As they got closer Minato prepared to move into action as the first one to head into danger, it was the very least he could do since he was the one leading them into it.

Jumping forward Minato used a mix of the electric skill Zio and gravity skill Gry to attach himself to the side of leading truck, his personal gravity altered so that the side of the truck was the new down letting him roll up to the top. As soon as he was on top he summoned a barrier to isolated the trucks from the normal world and released a built up charge of electricity go act as an impromptu EMP, as they began to lose power Minato heard the first light bullet wheeze pass him as the enemy exorcists started their counter attack.

[6] However they were so focused on Minato that they didn't notice the arrows of Staring Blue and Staring Green, Staring Blue's arrows weaved together amongst themselves as they slowly connected to form a massive net of light that covered the road and halted the trucks in their place as Staring Green's spinning arrows destroyed the wheels.

The exorcists working for Kokabiel barely had time to think before more enemies appeared for them, each one under orders to keep killing to a minimal with Minato knocking out all the enemies he could. However things took a turn after a minute of fighting, fire balls rained down on them all with both sides at risk of being hit.

Looking over to the further trucks people in large robes appeared standing on magic circles that floated them into the air with more magic circles emerging from their hands for another volley.

"Oi! Watch where your aiming, you could have killed-" one of the enemy exorcists yelled out to the robed figures, however before he could finish another wave of magic was sent their way more powerful than the last "Damn Magicians!"

As the magical attack soared over Minato rushed to meet the attack with a hand outstretched, the magical energy exploded with a deafening roar as it appeared to have consumed everything.

"Lowly exorcist, don't assume you have worth beyond a disposable-" one of the leading Magicians began to say, the contempt and sneer very apparent in their voice, before a sharp kick to the head knocked them unconscious and knocked out a tooth filling.

Grabbing hold of the enemy Magician before they could fall after their own magic circle disappeared Minato summoned one of his own before combine several skills to create a flash bang to create an opening, as he knocked out the Magicians that appeared out of nowhere the last of them was able to recover before Minato could deal with him.

"You! Just who the Hell are you?" The Magician asked, panicking as they were on the back foot and his allies were on the ground not moving. Raising his hands for another attack his spell was interrupted as the masked figure before him seemed to teleport over to him and grabbed both his wrists, looking into the mirrored reflection of the mask the Magician saw himself staring back in fear as he knew another set of eyes he couldn't see were looking into him.

"I am Mi Ainsel" Minato answered smoothly without missing a beat "Who are you, it seems only polite to introduce yourself as well"

The Magician gritted his teeth before smiling as he noticed an explosion in the centremost trucks "I see no reason to give my name to a soon to be dead man, by killing or knocking out my fellow Magicians you've broken the seal on our pet monster who shall tear you limb from limb and-"

A heavy meaty thunk was heard not far from them as a badly cut up monstrosity flew over to them, the creature was a mix of human and animal body part with what appeared to be rudimentary designed mechanical parts that required life force to function. Mechanical parts that were very dead.

"-Feast on your inners…" The Magician said in a small voice as he released how screwed his was.

Laughter could be heard from on top of one of the trucks as a familiar man stood with three large carrying cases over one shoulder and a sword radiating holy power while dripping orange blood held up in his other arm.

As Freed looked over the somewhat familiar faces of the other exorcists he worked with not so long ago he opened his arms with a large grin as his red eyes seemed to shine "I'm back bitches!"

"God help us, the Holy Sword Wielder is Freed" One of the exorcists working with Minato said with a groan while both Takumi and Asuka recognized the similarities Freed had with someone they knew, one of the Hero Faction's top swordsmen and a Hero Descendant Siegfried.

They somewhat knew of his past as an artificial human created by the Sigurd Institution to create someone capable of wielding the Demonic Sword Gram, the two shared a look as they realized Freed was effectively a brother of Siegfried deciding to bring it up with the other heroes on whether or not to take Freed with them when they take the Excalibur Fragments back to the Hero Faction.

Once the enemy were captured they stripped the trucks bare of anything useful before Connla to dispose of them into separate locations, as they regrouped after the mission they interrogated the enemies they captured with some of the enemy exorcists willingly to switch sides. Due in no small part to their supposed allies willing to kill them without a moment's hesitation.

Speaking of said Magicians Masaomi took the lead in digging for information with several other others lending their aid, and when they came back they had less than good news.

[7] "It seems the 'Genocide Archbishop' decided to call in some old friends at the last minute to help him with whatever he's planning" Masaomi said as he held up a crest for them all to see detailed symbol that seemed to have a centre pattern that almost looked like a clock face with six overlapping lines with wings on either side of the centre of the main design with a rose up top and a detached arrow pointed down "Those 'friends' being from an Evil association of Magicians known as Thule, who happened to be best known for working with the German Nazi party between the years 1936 to 1945"

"Wait, does that mean we're fighting Nazis now?" Matthew asked, not thinking his life would take this kind of turn.

Freed held a savage grin as he held up a Light Gun "Alright, guilt free murder!"

Masaomi cleared his throat "They insist that while they are still an organization of Dark magic users they are not connected to the Third Reich other than it being a shameful part of their founding, but that's not wholly relevant at the moment" the atmosphere grew heavier as he continued his report "Thule has already sent their agents here with more on the way soon"

"Why are they getting involved in this, did they make mention of that?" Minato asked as he sat in his throne with the Excalibur swords on the table before them, his eyes drifting to them as he could feel how they were able to recognize something in him.

[8] Masaomi sighed "Bad luck on our part, apparently they wanted to contact Valper Galilei for his expertise regarding a holy sword they have been working on and used a Clairvoyant among their leadership to learn when he would be available. Thing is their Clairvoyant wasn't able to see the future in Japan which lead to them getting in contact with Valper directly which lead to them learning about Kokabiel's desire for war, and since the leader of Thule wants to remark the world their seeing this as a good opportunity for them to do that and learn the source of what's preventing their clairvoyant from seeing far into the future"

"I see, so along with a warmongering Fallen Angel and an amoral scientist we're now also dealing with evil dark Magicians" Minato paused for a moment as he considered things, pushing down on his annoyance at running into yet another force wanting to end the world "Well, seems things have gotten a bit more interesting"

-=-][-=-

"I'll go on ahead now, you both remember where we're meeting up in Kuoh Town?"

"We do Father, I still have a vivid memory of my home town so the chances of me and Xenovia are very slim" a young woman with her hair in twintails.

Xenovia frowned as she looked to the older man with concern "Father, I am still convinced this isn't a good idea"

The elderly priest gave the two girls a grandfatherly smile "I am thankful for the concern Sister Xenovia, but this isn't my first stealth infiltration mission. Why, I've been doing this since The Great War" he paused for a moment before correcting himself "World War 1 I mean" he squared his shoulders and bowed his head to say goodbye "Till we meet again, Sister Irina, Sister Xenovia. May God be with you"

""And also with you, Father Bergman"" Irina and Xenovia said as they parted ways with the old priest with Excalibur Destruction and Mimicry with them. As the old priest Father Bergman went on to Kuoh Town to ensure the Devils 'claiming' the area wouldn't get involved before the church's two holy sword wielders arrived.

As he took the taxi over Father Bergman did what he always did before taking in part of negotiations as one of the church's top diplomats and prayed to God for Protection and Guidance. Not just for himself but also the two young women not even two decades old forced to carry a heavy burden.

[7] Reaching into his pocket Father Bergman pulled out a wristwatch, he stared at the underside of it for a moment to look at the Diamond symbol that was split into four sections with circle outlines covering each part, putting it on showing the clock face had the Saint Julian Cross emblazoned on it.

'May we live to see the morning sun of a new day' Father Bergman thought to himself as he made his way to meet with Sona Sitri, unaware of what has happened to the Devil Heiresses.

---

Author's Notes:

Weird bit of Trivia, but Freed is about 160cm tall. Making him the second shortest male character in DxD that isn't a child after Gasper.

Saint Julian Cross (a cross crosslet tilted at 45 degrees), also known as the Missionary Cross.

[1] Fun Fact, the Reincarnated Devil Rebellion is a real thing in the DxD Light Novels (If I could find in which chapter it happened!) and was sweep under rug as quickly as it came. Only instead of it coming about by the villains giving out power boosts that unlock balance breaker it's brought about by Goetia introducing an idea for others to rally behind, being a be more of a natural thing instead of being forced for someone else's purposes.

[2] Latia Astaroth, along with being the next heir of Astaroth after Diodora, is also Ajuka's niece.

[3] Plenty of the Demons of Ars Goetia have the ability to see the past, present and future so it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to give Goetia those abilities. With the expanding possible futures being something to keep it from being too overpowered.

[4] You know how a fair number of supernatural beings are supernatural attractive to humans? Well Adam and Eve are like that to supernatural beings, Devils, Angels, Gods, forces of nature they'll have a hard time trying to look away from such… perfection. Humans are unaffected with them seeing both as parental figures, including those who aren't fully human.

[5] Bit of context here, but what Rias calls a falling out is really her Inverting Minato's Social Link and leaving it alone long enough it broke. She's really not grasping how madly the situation is.

[6] Decided to add something to Staring Blue and Green, give them something to make each stand out and not to be a copy of one another.

[7] Using some elements from 11Eyes, nothing major that would need knowledge of the series. Stuff I have planned involve the organizations [Magic Association of Thule, simply Thule] [The Holy Office of Index] and a certain [Magic Eye]. Stuff will be changed to fit better into the setting so it won't be a 1 to 1 thing.

[8] Remember that part in an earlier chapter that hinted at Minato affecting others ability to see the future, from (Prelude to the Storm chapter) well I haven't forgotten it.