Anything you recognise isn't mine.

"So... let me get this straight." Saeko said, looking across the table at Rias. "All the gods that everyone worships around the world. Shinto Gods, Norse Gods, Greek Gods, the Christian God, all of them, and all the creatures and beings associated with them, Youkai, Valkyries, Angels, Devils, everything... they're all real?"

It had been a quarter of an hour since Rias had brought Saeko back to the ORC clubroom. Rias had brewed tea for herself and Saeko, and patiently waited for her to wake up. Once she had done so, Rias had figured that the best course of action was to come clean about the supernatural to Saeko.

"Yes." Rias replied, taking a sip of tea and offering a cup to Saeko, which she took. The purple-haired Kendo captain paused for a second, before taking a sip of her own.

"And you're a... what was it called, again?"

"A Nephalem." Rias replied. "A hybrid of the Angel and Devil races. I became one when I was made into a servant of my nephew, Roxas, who you know as Mr. Wilson."

"The science teacher?" Saeko blinked, before a light flush came over her face. "I see."

Rias forced down a giggle. She could guess what Saeko was thinking, however briefly.

"I must say, Saeko, you're taking this remarkably calmly." the crimson-haired beauty remarked.

"Well, if I hadn't seen you jump in and kill a monster right in front of my eyes, I wouldn't have believed you." Saeko replied. "What was that, by the way? What you saved me from?"

"A Stray Devil." Rias replied. "Devils who turned away from their masters to follow their own selfish desires. What you were almost killed by was one of the weaker Strays I've faced, so you can imagine that a matter like that is taken extremely seriously among the whole supernatural world, Devils in particular. Strays are killed on the spot, when found."

Saeko nodded, and looked down at her teacup for a second before taking another sip.

"Is there anyone else at this school?" Saeko asked, looking back at Rias. "Who's a... Nephalem, that is?"

"Well, there's Asia Argento and Xenovia Quarta, from the second years who are in Kyoto right now." Rias replied. "They're also among Mr. Wilson, or Roxas', servants. Among my own servants, there's Mirajane Strauss, my best friend from the third-years, Koneko Toujou and Gasper Vladi from the first-years, and Yuuto Kiba and Isane Hyoudou, also among the second-years."

"So, everyone in the Occult Research Club is a Nephalem." Saeko surmised, her expression unreadable as she looked to her teacup.

"Yes." Rias replied. "To tell the truth, the club's just a front for our activities that deal with the supernatural. Taking out Stray Devils and doing contractual work, where we grant the wish of a client in exchange for payment, are the two biggest things that we do."

"That... makes sense." Saeko replied, nodding. "Are there... any other supernatural beings here that you know? Is the Photo Club a front for Youkai, or something?"

"No." Rias replied. "Though the Student Council. All the current members of that are Devils, led by Souna Shitori, or Sona Sitri. Raven Branwen, the PE teacher, is also a Devil."

Saeko nodded, calmly taking another gulp of tea. There was a short silence between the two third-year students, before Rias took a breath.

"By the way, Saeko, I'm counting on you to not say anything about everything I just told you to anyone. It's paramount that knowledge of the supernatural doesn't get out to the rest of humanity."

"No problem." Saeko replied. "Besides, who'd even believe me if I did go and tell anyone?"

"Very true." Rias nodded, a smile on her face. "But still. It'd be easier for everyone if you didn't tell anyone."

"Of course." Saeko nodded, as Rias took her last gulp of tea and set her cup down on the table. She adjusted her position on her couch before looking over at Saeko.

"Also, given who you are, Saeko, I have something else that I wanted to ask you. Well... I guess propose might be the more accurate term?"

"You want to propose to me?" Saeko asked, blankly. It took a second or two for what the purple-haired Kendo Club captain had said to fully sink into Rias' mind, causing the former Gremory Heiress' face to go as red as her hair.

"N-no, of course not!" she replied, slightly indignantly. "Okay, ask it is."

Opening a magic-circle and reaching into it, Rias pulled out the little box of Evil Pieces that she had gotten from Ajuka Beelzebub, and opened the box: there was one Rook piece, one Bishop piece, and one Knight piece inside.

"I wanted to ask you, Saeko Busujima, if you would consider joining my peerage." Rias spoke, looking up. Her eyes met Saeko's as she closed the box. "Given your second-to-none skills in Kendo, you would certainly have the potential to become quite a powerful being if you chose to join me. Definitely powerful enough to defeat and kill beings like that Stray Devil that I saved you from."

Saeko's eyes widened for a second or two before she looked back at Rias, silently listening to her.

"You'd also be able to rise up in Underworld society, and potentially get servants of your own, in time." Rias continued. "As well as that, you would be able to live 100 times longer than even the healthiest humans would be expected to live. Not to mention, thanks to a mixture of both the wealth we were born into, and the businesses that my nephew owns, Roxas and I are both exceptionally rich. Given that we both provide for everyone that serve under us, I'm sure that more than enough of our money to give you a stable financial situation would find its way to you."

"That all sounds... tempting." Saeko replied, taking the last gulp out of her own teacup and setting the cup down on the table. "But there has to be at least some catches to all that good stuff, right?"

"Yes." Rias replied. "You would, I guess, be expected to obey any orders as head, or King, of my peerage that I give you, with the same authority applying to Roxas. If you consider that a catch, then I suppose it would be."

"I see." Saeko replied, getting to her feet. "Can I have some time to think?"

"Of course." Rias replied, standing up herself. "Take as much time as you need to think things over. Just don't hesitate to come to me once you have an answer."

Saeko inclined her head to Rias.

"Thank you, Rias." She replied, before adjusting her school uniform, and walking out of the door that Rias opened with just a small pulse of magic, leaving Rias herself alone in her club room before she warped out as well, back to Roxas' apartment.

Line Break

Achilles thrust his spear forward, not flinching at the sight of it piercing the closest enemy soldier to him.

Said enemy soldier shrieked in pain and reached forward, trying to claw at Achilles' face, but he was quicker, pulling out the spear from the soldier's chest and swinging it to behead the soldier with the spear's blade. After quickly blasting another approaching soldier off his feet with a pulse of demonic energy, he spread his eight Devil wings and lifted up into the air to survey the battlefield he was fighting on.

Underneath him lay the city of Troy, which was currently being invaded by a corps of approximately 50,000 Devil soldiers, which were under his command. From where he was flying, he could see two smaller divisions of soldiers breaking off from the main corps, in order to take and secure the less-protected entrances to the city. It wouldn't, in all likelihood, take too long, as he knew there were no civilians in the city, and the other entrances didn't look as well-defended as the main entrance that his corps had busted through.

Speaking of his main corps, the divisions that hadn't split off were being blocked off by three small groups of enemy soldiers that had arrived, two on each side of the group and one directly in front of them. Every member of each enemy group all poured their respective energies into powerful magical shields, that held fast against the magical attacks that the soldiers under Achilles' command fired at them. Knowing that he and his corps would be at a major disadvantage if such a large portion of his group were to be taken out so early in the fight, even if the other divisions, the ones that had split off already, were to succeed in their role of securing the other entrances to the city (in order to block off reinforcements from outside), Achilles dove back downwards, conjuring a sword out of demonic energy in the hand that didn't hold his spear as he did so.

Choosing to land behind the group of soldiers that occupied a position directly in front of his soldiers, Achilles swung his sword, managing to take out all the unprotected enemies in one swing. As they fell, he took off upwards, watching as his soldiers poured out of the hole in the enemy's defences that he made, and laid waste to the other shield-conjuring enemies, before beginning to split off into smaller battalions and fan out across the city, engaging with enemy soldiers as they did so.

"Achilles!" Achilles heard one of his soldiers calling him via magic-circle, and listened in. "We're having difficulty taking the north-eastern entrance to the city! Reinforcements seem to have arrived early, and most of my regiment has fallen!"

Scowling, Achilles looked up. He instantly saw what his soldier was referring to. She was right: even from as high up and as far away as he was, the north-eastern entrance to the city that he and his corps had invaded did look a little bloodier than the other entrances, which seemed to have been secured without much in the way of resistance from the opposition. He could see the fighting going on throughout the rest of the city... and nowhere else outside it.

"Half of Regiments E and SE!" Achilles called into a magic-circle of his own, to the soldiers in the regiments that had secured the eastern and south-eastern entrances to the city. "Encircle the enemy reinforcements on the north-eastern side! Overwhelm them, don't let them escape!"

From his position up in the air, Achilles saw the soldiers from the eastern and south-eastern regiments rushing out of the city and flying over to the north-eastern entrance to the city, encircling the reinforcements and beginning to take them down. Satisfied with his on-the-fly handling of the situation and confidence that he and his corps would win this battle fully secured, Achilles dropped back to the ground, plunging his spear through the chests of two enemy soldiers in a single thrust, and turning around to briefly clash with a third enemy with his sword before disarming him with a quick flick of the blade, before impaling the enemy soldier through the throat with his secondary weapon.

As he pulled sword and spear out of his enemies' bodies, letting them drop to the ground around him, Achilles looked towards the wall that encircled the inner portion of the city, which comprised mainly of the main fort where, presumably, the guy who was in charge of the city lived. Most of his army was converging on that wall, and the entrances to the inner city that were within that wall, with most of the enemy soldiers pulling back to the entrances in order to fiercely defend them and the wall.

"Offensives, concentrate your fire just below the top of the wall!" Achilles ordered of over half his men, as he dashed forward to aid them. He reached the nearest enemy soldier in just a few strides: a quick punch to the stomach was all that was needed to severely wind his enemy, before Achilles summoned his sword and beheaded the soldier a second later. "Defensives, focus on protecting the offensives! Don't let down your guard!"

Achilles noticed what looked like an enemy commander on top of the wall that the 'offensives' (a term that he coined to refer to those under his command that focused on offense in battle: be it physical or magical) were laying siege to, and how he managed to take out a good chunk of his remaining soldiers with just a single bolt of magical lightning. Getting an idea and summoning his spear back to him, Achilles threw his weapon straight up towards the commander, scoring a direct hit right through the man's eye.

The enemy commander let out a roar of pain and sailed backwards, clutching at the wound that Achilles' thrown spear had made as Achilles summoned his spear back to him again, shaking it a little to get the blood off. He moved forward to assist his soldiers in the ground effort to pierce the inner wall of the city, and was able to do so without much trouble.

Once Achilles was inside the enemy's inner wall, he paused for a second to survey the inner city. It looked a lot like the outer city that he and his corps had just been fighting in, but looked a lot more close-knit than the outer city did. Everything also seemed to live in the shadow of the palace that sat atop a set of steps that Achilles could faintly see.

"Make for the palace!" Achilles called out. "Don't stop for anything! We're so close!"

His soldiers obeyed his commands, dashing through the streets in the direction of the palace and blasting anything that stood in their fucking way out of their fucking way. The enemy soldiers that stood side-by-side with magical shields cast in an attempt to keep Achilles' soldiers back were pretty much completely bowled over by the numbers of soldiers that rushed and blasted them.

Killing a couple of enemy soldiers that thought he would be an easy kill as he ran forward with his soldiers, Achilles was quick to reach the front of the pack making a beeline for the palace. As he and the remaining soldiers in his corps ascended the stairs to the palace, the enemy soldiers that remained didn't even try and stop them. They seemed to know when they were beaten.

"Alright, into the palace! Move, move, move!" Achilles yelled, gesturing to his soldiers that continued to ascend the stairs. "Anyone who surrenders, take them into custody! Those who don't, kill them!" The green-haired Devil watched as his soldiers rushed into the palace, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Nice one, Achilles." The voice of a certain blonde female Devil voiced in Achilles' ear. "You handled that one way better than I figured you would."

"Yea, well making the battlefield the city of Troy was a nice touch on your end, Fianna." Achilles replied. "Given my ancestor's history and all."

"Indeed." Fianna replied, after a small giggle. "One second, I'll pull you out."

Achilles didn't react to the bright flash of light that appeared in front of his eyes, though he did blink a couple of times as he was suddenly transported out of the streets of Troy, and found himself back in the room he had been before Fianna had transported him to a simulation of the famous historical city: a sparse room with a small booth walled off, which had a desk with a powerful-looking computer sitting on said desk, which Fianna was sat at.

As Achilles looked around at the blonde Satan, Fianna waved to him before giving him the "come on" hand gesture, and walking out of the walled-off booth. Achilles followed her through the compound that she inhabited, towards her office, which was slightly cluttered but not enough to look like a messy shithole.

"You've been coming along really well since we started simulation training." Fianna remarked, as she sent a telepathic order to one of her servants to bring drinks for her and Achilles and sat down behind her personal desk. "I wager it won't be long before I can get you on my successor shortlist."

"Thanks." Achilles replied, a smile coming to his face from his mentor's praise. "Nice to know you've got that much faith in me. Though I mean, it's not exactly like everyone else on that shortlist is serious about becoming a Satan, so it makes sense."

Fianna let out a giggle as there was a knock on her office door. Once she called out to whoever was inside to come in, the door opened, and a Devil entered with a pot of tea for Fianna and Achilles, with two cups on the tray as well.

"Your confidence in yourself always amuses me, Achilles." Fianna remarked, as she poured a cup of tea out for herself, and took a sip. "Though, you've definitely got a point. Everyone on the shortlist to become the Satan Asmodeus after I'm gone are either there because of some feat of power or tactical genius that happened as far back as the Civil War-"

"Or even further back." Achilles added.

"-Or even further back." Fianna nodded. "Or they're there because of the insane number of Devil troops they provide, or they're Diehauser. But he's on all four successor shortlists, and he's made it damn clear that he favours the Leviathan seat in the hypothetical event that a Satan seat opens up for him, so he doesn't exactly count."

"True." Achilles replied, taking a gulp out of his own cup of tea. "You know, I'm always half-expecting Diehauser to end up taking the Leviathan seat any week now, since I always got the feeling that Serafall would jump away from her job as a Satan in an instant if she had the chance. Either for her little sister, or for Roxas, or for something else."

"Like her god-awful show." Fianna replied, before she caught the look on Achilles' face. "What? Just because we're best friends doesn't mean I don't get to call Serafall's show out for what it is: saccharine bullshit." she let out another breath. "And though you do have a valid point, I doubt Serafall would just up and resign from her position as Satan Leviathan. She seriously cares about her job, you know: she wouldn't have had a fortnight-long battle with Grayfia over who took the position, or stayed as long as she has up until now, if she didn't care."

"True enough." Achilles shrugged, taking another gulp of tea. "Anyway-"

There was another knock at the door. Achilles coughed as a bit of tea went down the wrong way, while Fianna used a pulse of magic to open the door, revealing Winter Schnee on the other side... with Raven Branwen standing beside her.

"Winter." Fianna greeted her top agent. "And... Raven."

"Forgive the interruption, Lady Fianna." Winter inclined her head to the blonde Satan. "But Raven arrived, a-and said that she wanted to talk with you and Achilles."

Fianna shared a look with Achilles, but nodded, allowing Raven to enter her office as Winter retreated, shutting the door behind her.

"So, what brings you here, Raven?" Fianna asked, conjuring a third cup out of thin air, pouring some tea into it and offering it to Raven, who declined.

"No thanks, I won't be here long." she remarked. "I'll be blunt, I need to borrow Achilles for something."

"And what something would that be?" Fianna asked, narrowing her eyes slightly as she sat back down. "Not saying no, I'm just curious."

"A situation's come up in Kyoto." Raven replied. "That needs strong manpower in order to handle it, and quickly. I've got a team, of sorts, together, to handle the situation, and Achilles would be a good addition to it."

"You make it sound like I'm getting a proposal from the Avengers." Achilles remarked, under his breath in a half-joking way. Raven seemed to hear his remark, and narrowed her eyes at him for a couple of seconds, before she looked back to Fianna after taking a breath.

"I'm also confident that helping out in this situation would help Achilles' case when it comes to getting the Elders to agree to putting him on your successor shortlist, Fianna." Raven added. "That is what you want, right?"

"Well, when you say it like that..." Fianna mused, leaning back in her office chair as she regarded the Branwen Clan Head for a couple of seconds, before looking over at Achilles. "Alright. How long do you expect this will take?"

"A day, at most." Raven replied. "Though if all goes well, you'll have your protégé back in a few hours."

"Then it's alright with me." Fianna nodded. "Achilles, if you want to help Raven with this situation, then, well..."

"Good to know." Achilles replied to Fianna's unfinished statement, as he already had a good idea of what she was going to say. "Lead the way, Raven."

Raven stood up, nodded to Fianna, unsheathed her sword and swung it in one motion to create a red and black portal, which she walked through. After sharing a look with Fianna, Achilles followed after a couple of seconds.

When Achilles stepped out of Raven's portal, he was slightly surprised to see that he had been pulled into a meeting-room of sorts, with some beings sat on chairs at a long table, and others stood up against the wall.

Those who sat included Scathach, Imogen (who raised an eyebrow at the sight of Achilles' presence in the room, but otherwise had no reaction), Gondul and Raven herself, as she took a seat. She silently indicated that Achilles do the same, which he did.

Those that were stood up included Imogen's peerage, Nero Sparda, Isane and Kiba from Rias Gremory's peerage, Xenovia and Asia from Roxas Gremory's peerage, Irina, Momo, Reya, Tomoe, Tsubasa, Ruby and Yang from Sona's peerage, Blake Belladonna, Akame Matsuba, and Rosseweisse.

"I'm glad you were all able to find your way here." Raven spoke, breaking the silence that was wrapped around the room. "I'll cut right to the chase for those who don't already know: the situation that we're dealing with is that Yasaka, the Youkai leader of Kyoto, has been kidnapped. By a group that calls themselves the 'Hero Faction'."

Achilles looked around the room, seeing that no-one (except Rosseweisse, who gasped, and Ruby and Yang, who both widened their eyes in shock) had any reaction. It seemed that everyone else either had already been informed of the situation, didn't care, or were doing an incredible job of keeping their reactions under wraps.

He was betting on the former or latter options, personally.

"Do we know where she is?" Imogen spoke up. "So we can get her back while kicking the asses of those Hero Faction bastards?"

"I'm getting to that, Imogen." Raven replied. "The leader of the Hero Faction, Cao Cao, or Bergin as he's also known, was kind enough to let us know that they're going to be using Yasaka as the catalyst for some kind of experiment, which will take place at Nijo Castle. Tonight."

"So, we're going to head over there and take these Hero Faction guys down?" Achilles asked. When Raven nodded in the affirmative, an excited-looking grin came to Achilles' face. "Sweet."

"Feeling's mutual, Achilles." Imogen asked. "Though I got a question, Raven. Where's Roxas?"

"Recovering from an injury he got during a battle with Cao Cao and the Hero Faction yesterday afternoon." Gondul spoke up in reply. "He should finish recovering in an hour or two, thanks to a ritual that my granddaughter and I devised."

"And as much as I'd prefer it if he was joining us in this battle, we can't afford to waste a couple of hours waiting for him to recover." Raven continued. "Given the possible implications of Cao Cao and the Hero Faction using Yasaka for an experiment. Anyway, moving on." she cleared her throat. "The main force that will lead the charge on Nijo Castle and directly confront the Hero Faction will comprise of myself, Scathach, Imogen, Achilles and Gondul, with the backup force consisting of Tifa, Ayaka, Undyne, Himari and Chifuyu, from Imogen's peerage-"

The aforementioned women of Imogen's peerage nodded. Tifa adjusted the gloves that she wore.

"Nero-"

Nero nodded, scratching an itch that formed on his ass at that specific moment.

"Isane and Kiba from Rias' peerage, Xenovia and Asia from Roxas' peerage-"

Isane, Kiba, Xenovia and Asia showed no major reaction.

"Irina, Ruby, Yang-"

Yang cracked her knuckles and grinned.

"Blake, Akame and Rossweisse." Raven finished. "And everyone else, so Cana, Undyne, Navi, Alphys, Momo, Reya, Tomoe and Tsubasa, will be joining with the Youkai and Magicians that have been stationed around Kyoto's border, in order to make sure that the Hero Faction members don't escape. Any questions before we head off?"

"One." Achilles spoke up. "Mind if I bring my peerage long for the ride? The more, the merrier, right?"

Raven blinked twice. She fixed Achilles with an unreadable expression for a couple of seconds, before nodding.

"Go on, then." she replied. Achilles nodded in return before standing up and turning around, waving a hand and casting nine transportation-circles. Within half a minute, individuals that everyone assumed to be members of Achilles' peerage came out of the circles, one at a time.

The person that came out of the left-most transportation-circle was a young man with long and white unkempt hair that almost looked transparent. As he appeared, he fixed the room at large with a sharp gaze. He wore an impressive-looking set of golden armour that gave off a sort of divine radiance.

The person that came out of the circle that was second-to-the left was a blue-haired, red-eyed man whose outfit was a deep ultramarine: full body tights covered in runes that no-one except Scathach seemed to recognise, grey metallic pauldrons, and a metal plate over his lowest abdominal section. He wore his hair in a rattail that reached his mid-back. He also wore a pair of silver earrings.

The third person was Mordred, who was currently dressed in what looked like a tube top and a pair of short shorts. Raven was quite certain that Roxas would very much appreciate a woman as attractive as Mordred in an outfit like that.

The fourth person was a man in his early-thirties with long, loose, dark-coloured hair. He wore a red coat with golden ornaments on its shoulders, and his face bore a tremendously sour expression.

The fifth person seemed to wear nothing but a black hood that went down to their mid-thighs. The only thing that could be seen of them was long, pinkish-purple hair that went down to their waist, which seemed to indicate that they were female.

The sixth person was a girl with animal-ears that looked like a mixture between cat-ears and fox-ears on her head, as well as a tail. She had long green hair that was stretched out and unkempt, and she wore beautiful green clothing.

The seventh person was a young woman with neck-length lilac hair, lavender eyes and fair skin. She wore skin-tight black armour that resembled an extremely short mini-dress that exposes her butt and reveals her panties. There is a hole that exposes her stomach area. She also wears black gauntlets and boots, a garter on her right thigh, a large cross-shaped shield and she doesn't wear her glasses.

The eighth person was a teenage boy with short auburn hair and golden brown-coloured eyes. He wore a simple white and blue short-sleeved shirt, with slim blue jeans covering his legs, and a black jacket completing the simple image.

The ninth and final person was a beautiful young woman with light blue hair that went down to around her knees, and golden-coloured eyes. She wore a white and blue dress, the lower part of which was blue on the inside, and had a white covering on her head.

"Hey, all." Achilles greeted his peerage. "Sorry to call you all here on such short notice, especially on a day off."

"It's no problem, Achilles." Mordred replied, stretching. "What's up? What do you need from us?"

"I'll explain on the way." Achilles replied. "All I have time to say right now is that Karna, Mordred, Chulainn and Shirou, you're with me. Everyone else, head off with Imogen's Queen and the group she's presumably leading."

The white-haired guy in the gold armour, Mordred, the blue-haired guy with the rune-covered outfit, and the guy with auburn hair stepped over to Achilles, while everyone else moved over towards Cana.

"Alright, everyone." Raven spoke up, as everyone began to stand up. She opened a transportation-circle. "All the attacking force that I mentioned earlier, follow me when you're ready. To Nijo Castle!"

Without another word, Raven stepped into the transportation-circle. There was a second's silence before Imogen, shrugging, became the first to follow her.

Line Break

"Hahhh..." Kuroka yawned, as she stepped out of her transportation-circle into the living room of Roxas' Greek villa. Waving her hand to switch out the erotic cosplay outfit that she had been asked to pose in for her summon for her regular open kimono, that somehow revealed even more of her busty form than the cosplay outfit she was in, she walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a can of tuna from Roxas' refrigerator.

After eating the fish inside and tossing the empty can into the trash, Kuroka placed the item that she had received as compensation for her Devil Job (a voucher for a famous all-you-can-eat-buffet that she planned to visit with Shirone sometime in the future) between her sizeable breasts, stretched and began to make her way upstairs, planning to just relax for the rest of the day. The busty kitty needed her beauty-sleep, after all, and since her King wasn't immediately available to practice making babies with, she would just have to nap alone.

As Kuroka reached the first floor of her King's villa, she was about to turn straight into her bedroom when she saw her little sister, Shirone, coming out of her own bedroom. When Shirone clapped eyes on Kuroka, Kuroka spied a small blush coming to her little sister's face.

"Y-you're back." Shirone spoke, blinking.

"Yup." Kuroka replied, smiling. "Summon job was pretty easy, and didn't take too long." She smirked. "Means more nap-time for me, nya~"

Yeah, sure." Shirone replied. "But, uh..." She shuffled on her feet uncomfortably for a second or two. "I wanted to... talk to you about something, sis."

"Hm?" Kuroka, who was just about to shut the door behind her as she walked into her bedroom, spoke up as she looked back. "Sure, Shirone. Come in."

Kuroka idly held her bedroom door open with her heel as Shirone walked into the room, which was a good candidate for the messiest room in the entire house. There were clothes strewn about the place, the occasional empty can of tuna, and the sheets on Kuroka's bed seemed to be rolled up into a weird creasy ball that had a Kuroka-shaped dent in the middle of it.

"So, what's up, Shirone?" Kuroka asked, positively flopping onto her bed and curling up into the sheets, rolling around for a couple of seconds until she was comfortable. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I..." Shirone's face went a slightly deeper red at the sight of Kuroka's breasts (which had become exposed thanks to her rolling around in her own bedsheets with her kimono still on). She took a breath, calming herself. "I'm jealous. Of how you were able to seduce Roxas so easily."

Kuroka raised an eyebrow. Forcing down the immediate memories of being simultaneously skull-fucked and anally fucked by Roxas and Esdeath (memories that caused her to subconsciously rub her legs together with arousal), as well as the slightly naughty happiness that came with realising that your little sister had the same crush that you did, she looked back at Shirone.

"Jealous?" the older Nekoshou spoke, her voice slightly more serious than it usually was.

"Yeah. I guess that's the most accurate term to describe how I f-feel." Shirone replied, looking down at the ground, before looking over at her sister, and then down at herself. "Has to be because of these." she muttered, frowning slightly at her nigh-absolute lack of sizeable breasts of any kind, let alone compared to her older sister.

"Hm, probably." Kuroka replied, stretching as she sat up. Her breasts, free as they were from her kimono, bounced around with every small movement she made. "I mean, it can't be a coincidence that every woman that Roxas has fucked is well-endowed, nya~" she winked. "Including myself." she added.

Shirone's pout caused Kuroka to giggle.

"But, luckily for you, I think I have an idea as to how to give you the glow-up that you need, Shirone." the busty black cat continued, lifting herself out of the clump of sheets that she called her bed, and leaning over towards her younger sister. "Tell me, have you been syncing your inner Ki with your surroundings? Because judging by how you look, especially compared to me... I don't think you have."

"No, I haven't been." Shirone looked down, a slightly saddened look coming to her face. "After... you know-"

"I do know." Kuroka replied, a slightly more serious look coming to her face as she reached over to Shirone and lifted her head up with a gentle finger. "You don't need to say it, we both know."

Shirone nodded.

"Well, after it happened," Shirone replied. "I was in the mindset that forced me to stop syncing my Ki with my surroundings, as I know I'm naturally supposed to do. It's been so long since I stopped, I don't know if I'll be able to start again."

Kuroka pulled Shirone into a brief, yet warm, hug, one that Shirone returned before Kuroka pulled back.

"You will, Shirone. Don't worry your cute self over it." Kuroka smiled. "I'll help you every step of the way."

Shirone felt a smile coming to her face at Kuroka's words, and unlike a majority of the last three years, didn't fight it.

"Thanks, Kuroka." Shirone replied.

"No problem." Kuroka nodded, pulling off her kimono to reveal her fully naked body (she wasn't even wearing any underwear underneath the article of clothing) and tossing it into a corner, before reaching for Shirone's school uniform. At the look that formed on her little sister's face, Kuroka paused.

"The easiest way to do what you need done, uh... works easier if we're both naked." she explained. "Though if you don't want that, I know other ways that we can-"

"No, it's f-fine." Shirone replied, pulling off the school uniform that she wore. "I was just confused at first, is all." she added, slightly more confidently, as she placed it down in a slightly neater way than Kuroka had tossed down her kimono. Her underwear got the same treatment, leaving the less-endowed Shirone as naked as the day she was born, in front of Kuroka, who folded her arms under her bust.

"Sure, Shirone." Kuroka replied, giggling.

Line Break

Raven was the first to jump out of the transportation-circle, which had silently appeared just outside Nijo Castle.

Imogen was next, followed by her peerage, Nero, Achilles, his peerage, Gondul, Rosseweisse, Scathach, Isane, Kiba, Asia, Xenovia, Irina, Ruby, Yang, Blake and Akame. As with most Kyoto landmarks, there was a large gate that functioned as the entrance. The night was as quiet as anything, you could cut the present tension with a knife... or one of Raven's sword-blades.

"Alright, all." Raven addressed the group of twenty-five. "Let's go."

The group moved towards the closed gate to the castle, which began to slowly open as they approached.

'Guess they're as ready as we are.' Achilles thought to himself, as the group passed through the gate. 'If they're just opening the gate up to let us in.'

Imogen cracked her knuckles as she passed through the gate. Everyone who got a look at the Belial Heiress' face at that moment could tell that she was doing her damdest to keep herself from looking too pissed-off, though her mixed Dragon/Devil Hybrid aura was so intense in that moment that it was making some of the weaker members of the group sweat.

As the main gate closed behind the group, and a magical barrier (courtesy of Scathach) went up around the whole castle, they walked past the gardens of Ninomaru Palace, where the moat around Honmaru Palace could be seen. They then went across the bridge and through the yaguramon gate that connected to Honmaru Palace, eventually coming into an illuminated garden that was so pristinely clean that it almost made Isane laugh, considering what was about to happen.

"Hey, you gathered so many beings to fight us in such a short time? I'm almost honoured." A certain voice that Isane, Kiba, Asia, Xenovia, Irina, Blake and Akame all recognised instantly sounded from behind a tree. Almost everyone drew their weapon of choice as Cao Cao stepped out from behind it, leisurely resting the True Longinus on one shoulder.

"So, I guess you're Cao Cao?" Imogen asked, before Raven could open her mouth to reply. "Where the hell is Yasaka, before you get your ass kicked?"

"The Belial Heiress, huh?" Cao Cao raised an eyebrow. "Half-Dragon, and a fellow Longinus wielder. Not bad. As direct as they say, too."

Black flames began to gather around Imogen's hands as she began subtly shifting into a battle-stance. Isane smiled briefly, feeling admiration for the host of Vritra as she did the same, summoning the Boosted Gear.

"As for the kitsune, she's... right over there." Cao Cao remarked, pointing, almost lazily, with the True Longinus. Everyone turned to where he was pointing, and saw Yasaka, who looked unconscious yet still stood up, with Georg standing beside her.

Imogen, almost infuriated by the state that Yasaka, someone who she could definitely count among the number of beings that she liked, was reduced to, clenched her teeth so hard they almost hurt as she looked back at Cao Cao. She was the first to notice, however, that more people had appeared beside him, in two groups.

The first group, closest to Cao Cao, consisted of Connla, Heracles, Siegfried, a young man with neat brown hair dressed in Greek armour, a slightly younger man with greyish-white hair dressed in a suit, two Chinese-looking guys who looked almost identical apart from their hair colours (one had blue hair tied up in a low ponytail, and the other had green hair of the same length but not tied up) and a young woman who looked to be around the same age as Isane, with short spiky ash-blonde hair.

The second group, off to the side from Cao Cao and the group closest to him, consisted of the two blond individuals that were with Cao Cao on the Togetsukyo Bridge, an imposing-looking man with black hair and dressed in full black body-armour, a gorgeous purple-haired woman dressed in a set of armour that seemed to reveal more skin than it covered, a tall man with short dark-blue hair and purple eyes dressed in glittering-white armour, a man with dishwater-blond hair and aqua eyes dressed in silver armour, a man with shoulder-length hair that was so dark red that it was almost black, and a smaller woman with green hair done up into a ponytail, dressed in light armour.

Cao Cao smirked as the group recoiled slightly from the sudden appearance of so many new faces, as he proceeded to tap the ground with his True Longinus. At that moment, everyone's attention snapped back to Yasaka, who began to cry out in pain and slowly increase in size, glowing with a powerful blue aura all the while.

"Oh, shit." Raven muttered as she watched Yasaka's transformation finish: she had now become a gigantic nine-tailed fox with golden fur. One with an exceptionally loud roar, as she made sure to let everyone know by letting out a roar at that moment, that shook the ears of everyone in the vicinity.

"The hell are you planning, Cao Cao?" Imogen asked, looking like she was ready to go over to Cao Cao and rip his head off, right there and then. Cao Cao's smirk increased in size.

"Man, what is it with people and asking me to tell them stuff?" he muttered to himself, just loud enough for Imogen to hear. The Devil/Dragon Hybrid spread her ten Dragon wings, and prepared to dive at Cao Cao, but Raven put a hand on her shoulder, calming Imogen down that miniscule amount enough for her to restrain herself for a moment.

"Cool it." Raven muttered. "Don't engage him. I told you how he took Roxas down, didn't he?"

Imogen closed her eyes and took a breath. Yes, she recalled, Raven HAD told her how Cao Cao had managed to take down her mate. And Cao Cao could just as easily do the same to her, so engaging him wasn't the best idea.

"Try subduing Yasaka." Raven drew her sword and pointed to the giant nine-tailed fox behind them. "See if you can do anything to get her out of her fox-form. Preferably without hurting her too badly."

"Got it." Imogen replied, turning around and away from Cao Cao, instead lifting up into the air and equipping her Balance Breaker armour, before flying over to Yasaka.

"Well, if you're going to make the first move, I might as well respond in kind." Cao Cao remarked, shrugging, before looking over at Georg. "Georg?"

"Already on it!" Georg called out in reply. He extended one hand out, and a great number of different magic-circles began to appear from his hand, all combining with one-another as they did so.

"That's quite an impressive array of spells from just one human." Gondul whispered to herself. "Norse, Devil, Fallen Angel, Black, White, Fairy, and... Dragon Magic I think?"

"Our Georg's the best member of my Hero Faction." Cao Cao remarked, raising up his spear. "Apart from myself, of course." he added, bringing it down as the tip of the spear began to glow intensely.

"Watch out!" Scathach called, rushing forward with her hand out. The bolt of light that Cao Cao fired out of the True Longinus was caught by the small portal that Scathach created with one hand, completely negating the damage that it might have done to any Devil that it might have hit. In the same motion, she pulled out a long crimson spear with an ominous design and aura about it, as she dashed towards Cao Cao, eyes narrowing as he got into a battle-stance of his own.

"Alright everyone, let's go!" Raven cried, spreading her own Devil wings and flying forward. All twenty-two other beings that were in the group that had accompanied her to Nijo Castle prepared themselves for the incoming battle. As well as that, everyone who had been standing with Cao Cao (seemingly on his order) dashed forward, seemingly prepared for the battle as well.

Neither Scathach or Cao Cao exchanged words as they dashed forward, clashing spears for a split second before Scathach pulled back and attempted to thrust her spear through Cao Cao's chest. Cao Cao swung his own spear, deflecting Scathach's attempt to kill him and dashed forward, slashing diagonally downwards as he did so. Scathach back-flipped away, keeping her distance from the True Longinus wielder as she used the pointy end of her spear, Gae Bolg, to draw a time-dilation rune in the ground that Cao Cao stepped on as he approached her, slowing him down for a split-second before he seemed to break out of the rune's magical influence, just in time to deflect Scathach's attempt to take his head off with Gae Bolg.

'Runecraft, huh?' he thought to himself as he dodged another thrust from the purple-haired warrior-Queen. 'I'll have to keep the pressure on, so this warrior bitch doesn't get the chance to draw any more!'

Cao Cao then dashed forward and began laying down swift strings of slashes, thrusts and other such attacks against Scathach, who, able as she was to easily tank the power behind all those attempted strikes and more, was still placed on the defensive by Cao Cao's constant offensive momentum.

'He's not bad.' Scathach thought to herself. 'Wukong trained him well.'

She rolled to the side of the first swing in Cao Cao's next string, swinging her own spear to deflect the thrust that immediately followed up, and when Cao Cao threw the spear at her once she was back on her feet, she jumped up and kicked it out of her way as she dashed forward, throwing her own spear at Cao Cao, who jumped to the side and caught the True Longinus out of a transportation-circle he had cast in front of the flying spear after Scathach had kicked it.

After doing the same, catching her own spear out of a transportation-circle that she had cast in front of Gae Bolg after she had thrown it, Scathach clashed with Cao Cao again, but was forced to disengage when she noticed shadowy tendrils approaching her out of the corner of her eye.

She barely had time to take in the sight of Connla, who extended his shadowy tendrils towards the hand she was holding Gae Bolg in, before she had to go back into a defensive position to block Cao Cao's next spear-swing. As the tendrils came at her again, the purple-haired warrior Queen was forced to back up as she dodged both spear and tendril.

'Gotta get rid of that shadow guy.' she thought to herself, jumping backwards and trying to draw another magical rune. However, Cao Cao dashed forward before she could even start, forcing her to stop and defend herself again. The tendrils approached her again, but Scathach just barely noticed a flash of blue going in the direction of the guy controlling the shadowy tendrils.

She was too concentrated on Cao Cao to notice what was going on with the shadowy-tendril guy until a loud scream of pain jolted both her and Cao Cao out of the dance of battle. Both looked over at the source of the screaming to see Connla falling on his ass, with one of his arms loped clean off his body, and a blue-haired servant of Achilles Astaroth standing over him, spear of his own in hand.

Not a second later, Connla's head had been removed from his body as well, with his headless now-corpse collapsing to the ground a second later. The blue-haired spear-wielder gracefully backflipped away from Connla's now-dead body, landing beside Scathach.

"That spear..." Scathach remarked, looking down at the man's spear for half a second. "Feels similar to my own... copy of Gae Bolg. I guess you're the descendent of Cu Chulainn I've heard about?"

"That's right, Ms. Scathach." Chulainn replied, twirling his spear in hand for a second or two. "Though I doubt you really need it, I thought you'd still appreciate my help."

Scathach frowned for a second as Cao Cao, an enraged look on his face, slammed his spear into the ground and seemed to summon seven orbs around himself, while calling out "Polar Night Longinus Chakravartin!".

"Your help would be appreciated." Scathach replied, neutrally, as she dashed forward, Chulainn following her after half a second.

Arthur

"Yes, there is opposition here." Arthur Pendragon spoke, into a magic-circle up by his ear. "No, Roxas isn't among them. What are your orders? ...Alright. I understand."

Arthur looked up, the magic-circle disappearing as Raven Branwen exited her bird-form, and landed in front of him, his little sister Le Fay, and his top aide Agravain. In the storm of battle that was quickly starting up around them, Raven, Arthur, Le Fay and Agravain seemed to be the only quiet patch.

"You forgotten where you all are?" Raven asked, drawing her sword and pointing it at Arthur, who did not draw his own Holy Sword. "This is a battlefield, you know, and you're with Cao Cao."

Arthur simply raised an eyebrow as Agravain stepped forward, drawing a massive sword that looked more like a club than anything else. He fixed Raven with a glare that would have made lesser individuals shit their pants as he got into a battle-stance.

"I won't have you threatening the leader of the New Round Table." Agravain spoke, his expression almost a snarl as Raven got into her own battle-stance. "No matter who you are."

Raven made the first move, dashing towards Agravain and doing a jumping slash towards him. However, Agravain raised his sword and blocked Raven's own sword, pushing back with enough force to send Raven back into the ground. Though the Branwen Clan Head landed on her feet, and flipped backwards to put some distance between herself and Agravain, she got into her own defensive stance as Agravain began slowly walking towards her.

Arthur watched him go with a small smile on his face, though that smile disappeared when he saw the next person to approach him and his little sister.

"Mordred." He greeted his and Le-Fay's half-sister, his tone slightly softer than when he had been talking just a moment earlier. "I think I already know the answer, but have you come to join the New Round Table? The offer I made to you is still open."

"And the answer's still no." Mordred replied, her expression hard as she looked at Arthur and Le Fay, the latter of whom looked slightly disappointed. "I just want to know... why?"

"Why what?" Arthur asked, one of his hands slowly moving towards the handle of Caliburn as Modred spoke, just in case she drew her own blade and attacked him or Le Fay.

"Why are you here?" Mordred spoke, her voice louder. "Why are you on... on Cao Cao's side? And why did you even form the whole 'New Round Table' thing in the first place?"

Arthur's hand moved back to his side, as his younger half-sister didn't look like she was going to attack at a second's notice. Though even if she did, he was confident that he would be able to beat her, on the simple virtue of the fact that Mordred was a Devil, and the sword he had at his side was the strongest Holy Sword, and one of the strongest weapons in the supernatural world, period.

"That's... a story I'll tell you." Arthur replied. "Soon after I and Le Fay left the Pendragon household, for reasons I won't get into, I and Le Fay got ourselves tracked down by Agravain. He and the Branwen Head are really going at it, huh?" he asked, nodding in approval at the intensity of which Agravain and Raven battled each other, a dozen or so paces away. The power behind each of their sword-swings could be felt from where Arthur, Mordred and Le Fay stood/floated.

"Anyway," Arthur continued. "Agravain approached myself and Le Fay with knowledge of descendants of the actual Knights of the Round Table. You know, the know the one that our however-many-times great-grandfather commanded?"

Mordred was silent as Arthur continued.

"Well, Agravain said he wanted to find a descendent of King Arthur to give this knowledge to, in hopes that a fellowship as powerful as the original Knights could rise again, headed by a descendent of King Arthur." he let out a small chuckle. "With that much conviction behind his original proposal, I couldn't help but allow him to follow myself and Le Fay."

"It wasn't too hard for my big brother to convince all the Knights' descendants we found to join up with us." Le Fay chimed in, a cheerful smile on her face.

"And that leads us to now." Arthur replied, his gaze on Mordred steady. "Certain... problems, arose, and our little group found ourself unable to have a place to call help. So, we joined up with the Khaos Brigade, and were placed with Cao Cao and his Hero Faction. The fact that I'm in a better position to find opponents worthy of Caliburn is a pretty nice bonus, as well." he finished. "Though the fact that Roxas Gremory isn't here is... a little disappointing." he added, as an afterthought, before looking back at Mordred.

"Mordred, we might be on opposite sides, but make no mistake: I really don't want to fight you." Arthur spoke, a slightly pleading undertone in his voice. "Quite the opposite, actually. Joining the New Round Table would make things easier for everyone here, and I'm sure you'd be welcomed with open arms by everyone. Even Agravain, in spite of his... problems, with women."

"I told you, Arthur, no!" Mordred replied, reaching into a magic-circle and pulling out a sword that Arthur immediately recognised as a clone of the Demon Sword Clarent. "You don't get to stand here and talk so casually when there's a damn fight going on!"

Mordred rushed towards Arthur, letting out a battle-cry as she did so. Arthur simply sighed, and drew Caliburn, as Le Fay readied her magical staff as well.

Remember when I said Camilla was the best Fire Emblem girl when I first introduced her in Chapter 34? Allow me to correct myself: Edelgard is best girl. Also, to everyone who has a Switch and who hasn't played it already: go play Fire Emblem Three Houses. I need a reason to talk about it after a year and a bit of me owning it, but take it from me, it's one of the fucking best games you'll ever play. DO IT. NOW.

Anyway, that's Chapter 48 of Nephalem finally finished! The climactic battle of the Kyoto arc finally begins, with the Hero Faction and New Round Table facing off against those who want to get Yasaka back from them! Also the guy Arthur was talking with... he may or may not be joining the fight in a couple of chapter's time, so if anyone wants to make a guess as to who that might be, feel free to make your guesses.

And Saeko's heard the peerage offer from Rias that you've all probably heard before, and Shirone's gonna get big boobs from her big sister. Yay.

Anything else... oh, yeah! The new chapter of the Lemon Series should be going up at the same time as this chapter. Feel free to check that out if you haven't already.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Whether you did or you didn't, please leave a review and let me know, because I really do love hearing feedback of all kinds. If you fancy letting me know about some possible ideas you might hae for later in the story, or just have questions for me (because I'll be happy to answer them), let me know in a review, drop me a PM or hit me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile)... preferably the latter, because fuck this site's PM system.

Next Time: Vs. Hero Faction

Preview of Next Chapter:

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for?" Roxas asked, stretching. "Let's go get that son of a bitch."

Seeya!