Dance With the Devil

Calm Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved, for if I did there would be a lot more sex.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked in surprise.

"Well, it's like this," she winked at him. "After presenting the fact that you undertook such a dangerous operation to kneecap the leadership of the Khaos Brigade and got us a bunch of information on their operations during that time, plus taking out the Hero Faction and causing the death of two powerful Devils, Sirzechs, Ajuka and myself have officially announced that you are a high ranking Devil to the masses."

"...I'm not sure what to think about this." Ranma muttered, still in shock.

"I do!" Issei stood up and pointed at Ranma, his eyebrows twitching in annoyance. "You cheating bastard! You skipped all the hard work that normally goes into becoming a high ranking Devil!"

Ranma sweat-dropped at Issei's comment. "Not like I did it on purpose."

"Well, all things considered, Master," Lilith spoke up, "the fact that you activated a King's piece while human, got your own peerage because of it, saved the Youkai Association leader and her daughter and saved the two youngest kids of the Phenix family, plus what you did while part of the Khaos Brigade, it would be more unusual for you not to be one." She grinned at him. "So what's the problem then?"

"I think the fact that he became a high ranking Devil so fast is quite shocking." Rias muttered softly. "I can't imagine that everyone was happy about this."

"They weren't." Serafall nodded and walked over to a chair and sat down. "Quite frankly, most of the old farts were quite against this announcement for reasons that I'm sure that most of you can figure out."

"But considering that Sirzechs and Serafall were speaking on Ranma's behalf, I'm sure they couldn't do much." Azazel smirked as she nodded.

"True, but politics are rarely that simple." Serafall sounded annoyed, which caused a few people to tense up. An annoyed Devil King, especially one that was somewhat unpredictable, was a very bad thing indeed. "Fortunately most of the complaints are centered around the fact that Ranma's an unknown who skipped straight to being a High Ranking Devil rather than anything else. So, we made a tiny concession." An apologetic smile graced her face as she said that. "Since they don't know you, they want..."

"A Rating Game, right?" Nabiki spoke up, causing everyone to look at her. "They want to test Ranma's ability as a king, see what he and his peerage can really do, and if he fails to impress it would make you and Lord Lucifer look bad for favoring him and promoting him so fast."

"That's... About the scope of it, yes." Serafall nodded at her. "And it was suggested that Rias Gremory and her peerage be your opponent for this."

"Well, in that case..." Ranma looked at Rias and Issei and could feel excitement coming off of them. Rias hid her emotions better, but he could still tell that she wanted a chance to get back at him for everything that happened when he had gone under cover. "Why not?"

"If that's the case, let's do this with some new rules." Azazel smirked as an idea came to him. "Lord Beelzebub and myself have been working on a new kind of Rating Game for awhile now, ironing out the rules and regulations. As it stands, most of the Moonlight World, even if we become allies with each other, loves to fight and piss each other off. Even Heaven took a shine to the Rating Games when the Devils introduced it to them from what I heard."

"Yes," Irina nodded at him. "The Brave Saint system used in Heaven which allows for Heaven to reincarnate humans into Angels, is also the name of Heaven's version of the Rating Game."

"Plus other mythologies have been getting interested in participating as well." Azazel continued. "The current name is the International Games, though that's just a temporary name. Anyway, the base idea for the International Games will be set up based on the current Rating Games, but with some twists. For starters, anyone can play the role of a King, and with the exception of Gods and powerful Dragons, everyone, regardless if they have multiple pieces or not, will be worth one point."

"Points?" Rias asked in confusion.

Azazel nodded and folded his hands. "Well, there are sixteen pieces on each side of the chess board. Two rooks, two bishops, two knights, a king, a queen and eight pawns. For the sake of simplicity, each piece is worth one point and even if you have multiple evil pieces in you, such as Issei there, you'd only be worth one point."

"So it would be possible to have a team of sixteen." Kiba muttered as he thought about this. "But you said anyone could be a King and that Gods and powerful Dragons were exceptions?"

"Yep. I'll go over the exceptions quickly, but for the likes of Odin or a Dragon King, for example, they would be worth eight points. That Crom Cruach Dragon is also worth eight points." Azazel pointed at Lilith II, who blinked in confusion. "To make things fair, beings like her, Ophis and Great Red, should any of them be interested in participating, would not be allowed on a team. Now, as for anyone wanting to be a King. This is because we're basing this off of the current Devil Rating Game and Heaven uses a deck of cards as their reincarnation system motif instead of chess, since there's fifty-two cards and two joker cards in each deck, and each Seraph has a single suit, well, thirteen potential combatants are less than sixteen. Plus this will be open to other mythologies and anyone who wants to participate, including Devil Hunters and Magical Girls."

Ranma, Lilith and Yohko's eyes widened in shock. The three of them couldn't believe Azazel would have it be this open.

"Lord Beelzebub and myself both believe that by doing this we can mend a lot of the scars and mistrust in the Moonlight World that each faction has towards each other. Friendly competition brings out the best in everyone after all." Azazel chuckled at the expressions he was getting, but he completely understood. "Anyway, for example, let's use Issei here, if he wanted to, he could form his own team under the rules, get anyone he wanted for his team and assign them positions based on the chess board. Of course, it goes without saying, you can't poach people from other teams to be on yours."

"That might not be a bad idea." Serafall nodded as she thought about it. "Oh, but with school going on, it would be hard, I mean all of you still have to catch up on your homework from when you took that trip."

"School's out in a couple months for vacation." Azazel commented. "Winter break I believe."

"That... Might work." Rias nodded slowly. It would give them time to plan for the Rating Game and get everyone up to speed for it.

Issei stood up from his spot on one couch and squeezed his hand in excitement. "Alright, then we'll..."

"No." Ranma interrupted, causing everyone to look at him in shock. "You were just bitching that I got to be a High Ranking Devil without going through any of the steps, right?" Issei nodded and then Ranma looked at Azazel. "These rules state anyone can be a King, right?" Azazel nodded. "Okay then, how about this? Not only do we use this to show that I'm capable of being a High Ranking Devil, but Issei plays the role of King for his team."

"What the?" Issei's eyes widened in shock as everyone else was silent.

Ranma stood up from his chair and looked at Issei. "If you're going to have a Harem as a Devil, you need to have your own peerage, to get that, you need to be a High Ranking Devil, right? Why not use this to show that you got what it takes to be one? You've already shown that you can take charge when you need to."

Serafall nodded at that. "Why not? We can turn this into a promotion test for Issei as well! If you do well enough we might be able to convince people that you can be promoted to a High Ranking Devil as well."

"In that case, how about we spice things up further?" Azazel grinned as an idea came to him. "If Issei just goes and takes on the role of the King, he'd have Rias become the Queen and Akeno would be there as well. So for this Rating Game, you can't have either Rias Gremory or Akeno Himejima as part of your team."

"What?!" Rias, Akeno and Issei gasped at the same time.

Azazel held up a hand. "Hear me out. Since we're going to be using the International Games rules for this, Issei could get anyone he wants to play the role of his Queen for this, plus he would have eight other slots open. And besides," he grinned at everyone. "Don't you have some slots open as well, Ranma?"

"Yeah, I have seven pawns, a rook, a knight and a bishop still open, why?"

"Think of this as a chance for the two of you to find teammates that you can work with and fill the slots left open." Azazel's grin threatened to split his face. "But do try not to choose anyone to overwhelmingly powerful, this is the test run after all, I'd like to not freak anyone out until the real thing starts."

Rias sighed, she didn't like this if she was honest. 'Still, this could be good for everyone involved.'

"I can use this to promote to a high ranking Devil?" Issei asked, his voice showing that he didn't really believe it.

"We'll make it happen." Serafall winked at him. "In fact, I'll head back and inform Sirzechs about the change of plans." Standing up a blue circle appeared under her. "Thanks for the idea, Ranma. Later everyone." She waved and disappeared.

"Well, while we wait for any announcement from them, how about you get back to your homework?" Azazel smirked as the teens groaned at him. 'Ah, it's good to be in charge!'

(-)

Three hours later...

"Hey, Issei, I got a question for ya." Ranma began as he finished putting his stuff away. 'Urgh, note to self, if I ever take time off from school again, get the work done before I leave so I don't have to try and catch up.' Most everyone had already left the room already.

"Sure, what's up?" Issei asked as he stretched.

"I know you meditate with your Sacred Gear, I was wondering if you ever feel out the different forms you have."

"Huh?" Issei looked at him in confusion. "Different forms?"

"He probably means does the Balance Breaker form feel different from the advanced forms you have." Ddrag supplied.

"Oh." Issei took on a thoughtful look as he stroked his chin. "Hmm... Hard to say, really. I mean, I guess if I had to explain it, it would be like the other forms of my Balance Breaker feel like power armor attachments." Ranma raised an eyebrow and Issei chuckled. "I can't really explain it. It's like, when I shift forms I feel like I'm taking parts of my armor off and putting new ones on. Actually, speaking of that, Ddrag, about the Golden Armored form..."

"I don't know if you need Xenovia to initiate it or if you can do it on your own, but you should probably practice it."

Issei nodded, he figured as much. "Yeah, it's way different than my normal Balance Breaker, that's for sure. I guess having an aura that's not mine working while I use it just feels off."

"Which is why you should work on it." Ranma told him. "See if you can get it without needing Xenovia to transform or if you can go from your base or Queen form into it. But thanks, I got my answer." Waving, he picked up his bag and walked out, leaving Issei wondering what he was talking about.

"Um, Ddrag, not to sound like an idiot, but when did I answer his question?"

"Don't worry about it, partner." Ddrag answered him. "Anyway, we should head back and practice the forms. After all, don't you want a trump card when it's time for the Rating Game?"

Issei smirked at that. Oh he couldn't wait for that. "Yeah."

(-)

As Ranma jumped from one roof to the other, he thought about what Issei had told him. "Hmm..." Idly he wondered just how strong Issei's golden armored form was before slapping his forehead. "Idiot, if someone's gone gold they're a lot stronger than anyone else." At least that's what he had gleamed from what people had told him.

Still, now that Issei had given him a clue about it, he knew that he had to work with his own Sacred Gear. "After all..." He pulled it out and looked at it. "My King's piece is in this thing now. Who knows what that's done to it?"

Dismissing his Sacred Gear, he had something else he needed to do after he got home. "It's time to fix that mistake." He just hoped that the other person would show up.

(-)

Meanwhile...

"Rias..." Akeno spoke up as the two walked home. "I'm taking Issei on a date tonight." She kept looking ahead as Rias turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "And... I want you to know that I intend to enjoy him fully." She turned her head slightly to give Rias a neutral look.

"...Don't force yourself." Rias said after a few moments. "Akeno, please, I know you're probably... Very frustrated, but I don't want you to..."

"I won't regret it, if that's what you're about to say." Akeno interrupted her. "I've loved Issei for awhile now. I don't want him to forget me either."

Rias gave her a soft smile. "If you think he'll forget you, you're quite mistaken. Just promise me that you won't force it. I worry about you."

Akeno sighed softly. "It's not just him that I worry about forgetting about me."

Rias gave her a confused look as Akeno walked off. "What was that about?" She asked no one in particular. If Rias were honest, she missed the days where the two of them would argue and fight topless over Issei rather than the tense and confusing atmosphere they had at home right now. "I think it's time I give mother a call, I need some advice."

(-)

A few minutes later...

"Hello, Rias." Venelana smiled as she took the phone from her maid. "It's rare of you to call me."

"I find myself needing relationship advice."

"Oh?" Venelana raised an eyebrow. "What seems to be the matter? Don't tell me that Issei's breaking up with you for one of the other girls or something."

"Or something. First of all, Issei promised to marry Xenovia, so they're engaged." There was bitterness in her voice that couldn't be hid over the phone. "And now Akeno wants to join in as one of Issei's bedtime partners and I was wondering... How do you keep your jealousy in check when it comes to father and his harem?"

"Oh, well that's a tough one, I admit." Venelana sat down, her large breasts shifting as she did so. "Sometimes I have to tell myself that I know your father loves me while he's taking care of the rest of his harem. If I feel like he's ignoring me too much, I tie him down to the bed and ride him until.."

"MOOOOOOM!"

"Sorry, sorry," the elder Devil giggled over Rias's whining over the phone. "Well, a good way to keep the jealosy down, Rias, is to show that you're the dominant one in the harem."

"And... How would I..."

"Oh, that's simple." Venelana smiled brightly. "Dominate the rest of the harem sexually. It worked for me." There was a loud thud and her eyes widened. "Rias? Rias? Are you there?"

"I need to go and think about this, thank you." Rias's voice was flat and monotone as she hung up the phone.

Venelana blinked a few times. "But she wanted harem advice. Who else is she going to ask?"

(-)

"So that's why I've come to see you." Rias said as she sat in front of Lilith at the latter's home.

"You do know that your mom gave you good advice. If you want to be the one in charge you should show you can dominate the other girls that Issei will get in his harem." Lilith gave her an amused look as her face flushed. "Wait, don't tell me that you've never given it a second thought. You sleep naked with several girls and you've had threesomes with Xenovia..."

"Um... We haven't done too much." Rias blushed and looked down as she folded her hands in her lap, which caused her arms to press her breasts together. "We have, but we didn't, um, do much to each other for one reason or another." Namely that both she and Xenovia had found it a little too hard to focus on each other when they were distracted by Issei too much.

Lilith gawked at her. "...Seriously?" When Rias blushed more, she sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Seriously, okay, listen. Being part of a multi-partner relationship is a lot harder than a one-on-one relationship. You have so many more feelings intertwining and interacting with each other for one thing. For another, if you're going to be in a harem, well, hate to tell you, but the most dominant girl tends to be the one in charge." She gave Rias a flat stare. "Have you even kissed Xenovia or Akeno yet?" Lilith sighed when Rias shook her head. "Why not? Don't tell me that you don't look at girls in that way."

"I've not kissed Akeno, just so you know, but I'm not against it, I just never thought about it and the idea never appealed to me too much." Seeing Lilith's look, Rias blushed more. "Well, it's not like I don't know it won't happen, but I've never given it any thought, okay?"

Lilith sighed and nodded. "Listen, even if you love the rest of the harem and they love you and you all love one guy, you'll all be competing for his attention. Even in a single one-on-one relationship your guy can't focus all his attention on you all the time and you have to put up with that. With a harem it's even worse."

"Depending on the size of the harem, obviously." Rias sighed and looked down at her hands. "So what should I do?"

"Have an actual threesome with Xenovia and give Issei a double blowjob and use it to take the chance to kiss her on the lips?" Lilith gave the redhead a grin. "Plus, think of it this way, if you get good at pleasuring female partners you'll never have to go to bed horny." She giggled as Rias blushed hard. "Well, just think about it. Besides, if you don't become the dominant female in the harem, one of the other girls will." She sighed as Rias nodded, still blushing. "Do you need some help practicing with female partners?" Rias looked at her sharply and Lilith grinned at her. "I'm offering to let you use my body and practice so you aren't completely helpless in the harem, yes."

"I... I think I'd like some help, yes." Rias nodded, her face turning even redder.

Lilith looked at Rias and mentally sighed, the girl really needed help, even if she was trying to mentally prepare for being in a harem, she had no idea how to handle it. "So Xenovia and Issei are engaged, huh?" Rias snapped her head up, looking at her in shock. "You mentioned it when you came over." Lilith smirked at her embarrassed look. "So..."

Rias sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I know she asked him and all that, she even got to be his first sexual partner, it's just... So frustrating."

"Even though you're sleeping with your dream man and you know he'll marry you and sire children with you, you're still jealous?" Lilith raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Like you don't get jealous!" Rias snapped at her.

"Succubus, remember?" Lilith smirked at her. "It's entirely different for me. I want Master to have a large harem to deal with his sex drive. Besides, there's only one person I would never, ever want Master to sleep with, and he already did, so that one's out the window." She sighed, and looked down. "You know, Rias, in a way, you're very lucky."

Rias looked at her, silent.

"I don't know the whole Devil politics like you do, I'm sure that things weren't always the best for you, even if you grew up like a spoiled princess." Lilith looked at her, giving her a sad smile. "But dealing with the whole 'need to be a lady' and 'playing nice with your fiance' thing probably sucked. You probably wanted to run around and play in the mud as a little girl, huh?"

Rias gave an unladylike snort at that. "No kidding. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade my family for anything, but there were times I would have rather been outside playing instead of studying up on decorum and other things. It's funny, the opulent envy those with less wealth and those who have less wish they could live our lives."

"Grass is always greener, though having a ton of money is always better than not having money." Lilith laughed softly. "But I say that you're lucky because even if it was by chance, you found someone to fall in love with and unless he gets killed you two will live a long life together."

"...What about you?" Rias asked, concern in her voice. "I thought you succubi lived for three hundred years, plus you're a Devil now."

"It's not that." Lilith sighed softly. "I can feel Morrigan, the other half of my soul. We're going to have our showdown within the year." She continued to give Rias that small smile. "One way or the other, one of us isn't going to survive."

"Don't tell me you'll lose."

Lilith snorted at her. "Whether I do or not doesn't matter. I'm just thinking about how things will change regardless." She sighed softly. "Rias, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry about things too much and try to enjoy the here and now. Issei loves you. I know you love him. If you're so worried about it, why not ask him to marry you?"

"That..."

Lilith suddenly stood up, her eyes wide as she looked straight up. "What is he doing here?!"

"Who?" Rias asked as she stood up in surprise.

"The guy who taught Master and myself magic!"

(-)

On the roof...

"Well..." The old man grinned as he looked at Ranma. "Surprised you called for me. Very few of my students do, unless they want me to make their lives more interesting."

"I don't doubt that, you're not exactly normal, old man." Ranma answered and held a hand up, Excalibur Betrayal forming in it.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "A Holy sword, and one with a powerful curse around it. Desiring blood and destruction."

"It's the remnants of fragments of Excalibur that were fused together, broken and then refused with two cursed swords." Ranma answered him. "And I know you know the original creators of Excalibur."

"BAH! I hate dealing with them. What makes you think I want to see them again?" The old man glared at Ranma. "And what makes you think they'll even help me?"

"Because they wouldn't be able to stand seeing their precious sword twisted and corrupted, even if it's not the one they created." Ranma answered him calmly before flipping the sword over and catching it by the blade. "Even if it's a single edge sword that's closer to a scimitar and it looks like this, it's still an Excalibur. As for why you'll do it..."

The old man raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you want to see if I can use a true Excalibur? One created by them? Even though I shouldn't have any affinity with Holy weapons, I can use this one. My Demonic blood woke up when I was young and now I'm a Devil, I'm as far away from being a Holy being as possible, yet I can..."

"Don't sell yourself short." The old man snorted and walked over to take the sword from Ranma. "You got no Holy attributes my ancient Vampiric ass." Ranma tilted his head in confusion and the old man sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, you'll find out soon enough. I'll see if they'll do something about this sword, no guarantees though. For all I know they'll just shatter it."

Ranma shrugged, it would suck, but that was how it was.

"Bah, don't complain to me if they do destroy it." He said as he pulled out a short, jeweled sword and slashed the air, opening a portal and walking through it.

"I won't. Thanks." Ranma said after he was gone.

"MASTER!" Lilith screamed as she, Rias and Yohko all ran out onto the roof. "What's going on? Why was he here? Are we all going to have Limburger cheese rain down on us tomorrow?"

"Nothing's going on, I called for him to give him something and as far as I know, there's nothing in the forecast for Limburger cheese." Ranma knew that the old man would do that too, just to be funny. "Just in case, I'll ask Nabiki to make sure it won't happen. Rias, why are you here?"

"Asking for advice." Rias answered. "So who's this guy that has Lilith all freaked out?"

"A Sorcerer who taught Lilith and I magic."

Yohko gawked in surprise. "Okay, that explains why I was feeling so much magical power from here, but how come it felt like..."

"Did we ever mention that he was a Vampire?" Ranma asked, getting a slow shake of Yohko and Rias's heads. "Huh, thought we did. Well, he's a Vampire, a really powerful one too."

"The guy who revived me as a Devil has a Vampire as a teacher." Yohko shook her head in amazement. "You know, part of me should be really mad about the fact that I'm a Devil now when I spent my whole life hunting Demons and Devils down. I am seriously confused."

"That happens." Rias spoke up. "It's easier for people who were mostly ignorant of the Moonlight World to adjust, or for those who didn't view Devils as their enemies."

Yohko sighed heavily. "Is it normal to feel like I'm suffering an existential crisis right now?"

"Probably." Ranma told her. "Hey, Rias, could you call Xenovia and Asia and have them come over? They could help seeing as they were both with the Church before being reincarnated, right?"

"That's a pretty good point." Rias nodded and smiled at him. "In fact, Asia still prays to God every night." She ignored the minor headache that she got from speaking the forbidden word for Devils.

Yohko sighed and nodded. "Thanks."

(-)

Twenty minutes later...

There was a knock at the door and Kunou ran over to it. "Who's there?" She asked as she opened it up. "Ah! Xenovia! Asia! What brings you two here?"

"Rias called us." Xenovia smiled at the young Youkai. "She said something about needing to talk to Yohko?"

"Ah, she's in the back training with Daddy and Nuku!" Kunou smiled and led them inside towards the training hall.

"Nuku?" Asia blinked in confusion. "Oh! You mean Atsuko?"

Kunou nodded as she opened the door to the training room. "But that name's hard for me to say, so she said I could just call her Nuku."

The trio entered the training hall and watched as Ranma traded blows with Atsuko before flipping away as Yohko tried to sweep his legs out from under him. "Damn, you're even better than the last time I saw ya." Ranma grinned as he landed in a crouch. "And Atsuko, you've improved a lot too. Oh, Xenovia, Asia, when did you get here?"

"Just now." Asia answered, smiling at them. "Um, where's Rias? She called us over."

"She's upstairs talking to Lilith." Ranma sighed at the looks he was getting. "Trust me, they need to talk about stuff. Or she's whipped out the tentacles and is currently having her way with Rias, but I'm not sensing an increase in sexual excitement from her, so it can't be that." He held back the urge to laugh as Asia and Yohko both blushed while Kunou looked on in confusion.

"Lovely," Xenovia sighed softly. "Anyway, Yohko, what's the matter? Rias said you were having trouble adjusting to being a Devil."

The brunette sighed softly. "You know that I am, or rather was, a Devil Hunter. The 108th generation Devil Hunter in the Mano clan." Yohko nodded at Xenovia's surprise. "There's a good reason for why we've been hunting Demons and Devils for so long. And my ancestor said that saying "Demon and Devil Hunters" was redundant, so she shortened the title to Devil Hunter."

"Uh..." Xenovia was completely confused at this point. "Your ancestor?"

"Oh! Did you travel through time like in those anime?" Asia perked up. "Did you use a flying Delorian? Or a police box from London? Or did you spin really really fast?"

"Kind of..." Yohko wondered what was going through her mind at that moment. "My clan has a long-standing enemy that kept reviving over the course of two thousand years. Well, my unfortunate luck was that he revived after I had fully inherited all of my power, during that time the spirits of every Devil Hunter to ever have the power in the clan came forth to help me out and together we put him down, hopefully for good this time."

"I bet the reapers weren't happy about that one." Ranma muttered.

"Probably not." Xenovia nodded, remembering when she had met Hades. Even if it had been only for a few moments, she felt nothing but animosity and disgust for the Greek God. "I think I understand what's going on. You fought with Devils and Demons your whole life and now you're one of them and you have no idea what to think, huh?" Yohko nodded, glad that Xenovia figured it out. "Lesse, what were the circumstances around you becoming a Devil?"

"Fought against a Super Devil named Rivezim Livan Lucifer and critically injured him but was left for dead." Yohko answered her.

"Lucifer?" Xenovia frowned in confusion. "Is that..."

"Apparently he was Vali's grandfather and the son of Satan." Ranma answered, getting nods from the rest. "I found her badly injured and revived her as a Devil. Anyway, Kunou, Atsuko, I'm going to head downstairs and get cleaned off."

"I'll join you." Atsuko grinned and followed after him.

"I'm gunna go check on the Dragons!" Kunou replied cheerfully as she ran out of the room.

"So..." Asia spoke up after the others had left. "Um, I was in a similar situation as you. I was dying and Rias used her power to bring me back to life as a Devil. I didn't fight a Super Devil or anything like that, but I had my Sacred Gear taken from me when I was still human."

"That's bad, I take it?" Yohko asked as the three walked over to the far wall where a bench was located at.

"A Sacred Gear is bonded to your soul, when it's removed, you die." Asia answered and called up her Twilight Healing rings. "When I was part of the church, this Sacred Gear allowed me to heal any injury people had suffered. I was treated as a modern day Saint. Then one day a Devil by the name of Diodora Astaroth appeared in front of me. He was badly injured and I couldn't help myself, I used my power on him to save his life." She sighed, remembering what happened next.

"Afterwords she was branded a heretic for having powers that could heal Devils and Fallen Angels." Xenovia continued for Asia, "and she was driven from the Church. She ended up here in Kuoh City under the care of Fallen Angels and had her Sacred Gear extracted from her. I was an exorcist for the Church along with Irina Shindou and the two of us came here later hunting down a rogue priest and Exorcist who had stolen several Excalibur fragments. At the time I was a total bitch." Xenovia had a wry smirk on her face. "I was rather terrible to Asia and Issei when I first met them."

"I can imagine why." Yohko smirked. "I wasn't exactly nice to Ranma when I first met him, even if we ended up going on a date later." She sighed softly. "But you two are Devils now, so how do you handle it?"

"For me," Asia smiled at her, "it's because Issei, Rias and the others showed me so much kindness and compassion. They helped me adjust to being a Devil and even living with normal people. Plus Issei convinced Lord Michael to allow Xenovia and myself to pray to God."

"For me," Xenovia spoke up, "I had a crisis of faith after arriving in Kuoh City. It turns out the people who stole the fragments of Excalibur were working with a Fallen Angel known as Kokabiel. During the incident, Kokabiel taunted us with wanting to restart the war between the three factions and revealed that God had died hundreds of years before any of us were born."

"...Yikes." Yohko wasn't deeply religious, but even she could figure out how some people would take that.

"So I turned my back on the Church and willingly became a Devil." Xenovia sighed softly. "I can only imagine how some of the Church took it when they found out."

"You know..." Asia trailed off slowly. "It's been awhile since the whole peace treaty was fully signed, maybe we should contact some of the people we knew from the Vatican?"

Xenovia suddenly went blue in the face and started to tremble. "That would mean... Eh heh heh... I'd rather... No thanks."

Both Yohko and Asia sweat-dropped at the way Xenovia was acting.

"You know... I don't mind the fact that I'm still alive, it just feels like I'm betraying my family, my clan, my life by being a Devil." Yohko shook her head. "I dunno if that makes sense or not." Both Xenovia and Asia nodded, they understood how she was feeling. "HA! I just remembered, the first time I met my cousin, she tried to prove she was the better one of us and deserved to be the true 108th Devil Hunter. Now that I'm a Devil, will she try to hunt me down?"

"I don't think she will." Xenovia answered her and put her hands on Yohko's shoulders, causing the other Devil to look at her curiously. "I mean, she's your family, right?"

"Besides," Asia spoke up, "even if she doesn't accept that you're now a Devil, you have a new family that does. And if you want to talk about things, just let us know."

"Thanks." Yohko smiled softly. "It's still just..." She sighed and looked down. "To me, Devils and Demons were evil creatures that tried to destroy the world, corrupt the innocent and other things. I've actually seen people who were corrupted, possessed and unwillingly transformed into Demons and Devils. I always thought that if that happened to me that it would be best if I were to be killed rather than be a mindless servant. Yet here I am and I don't feel too different. I don't understand it."

Xenovia frowned, what Yohko was describing sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why. "Wait, isn't Rias still here?"

"Ah! Yes!" Asia's eyes lit up. "Ranma said she was upstairs! I'll go get her."

Yohko watched as Asia ran off. "What?"

"Well, I think that if anyone would know about that stuff, it would be sister of one of the Devil Kings, don't you?" Xenovia gave her a wink.

(-)

Minutes later...

"Possession, corruption and unwilling transformations?" Rias asked as she stood in the training hall with Asia, Xenovia, Lilith and Yohko. "That sounds familiar..."

"I can tell you that a lot of Demons would do stuff like that." Lilith nodded as she thought about it. "Most Demons are more amoral when compared to every other species. The strong rule those who are weaker. Demons actually settle down somewhat when they get to a certain level of power, mostly because it's boring to bully those a lot weaker than you. So most of the Demons that go around doing that stuff are generally pretty weak. The stronger Demons are well-known and respected enough that only upstarts and idiots challenge them."

"OH!" Rias's eyes widened as she finally recalled what she was trying to remember. "The Devils that would do the stuff you mentioned, Yohko? They're part of the Old Satan Faction. It's mostly decimated these days, but there's still a few around."

"Old Satan Faction?" Yohko frowned in confusion.

"After the Great Devil Kings died in the war," Rias began to explain, "there was a massive struggle for power within Devil society. The Grigori had pulled out of the war, Heaven had retreated to the safety of their sanctuary and so Devils were trying to figure out what to do next. The children of the four Great Devil Kings wanted to rule as things were done in the past and continue the war, however the more moderate group of Devils, known as the Anti-Satan faction, challenged the Old Satan Faction for control of Hell and the future of Devils everywhere. Thanks to my brother and a few others, the Anti-Satan faction won the civil war and Old Satan Faction was driven out. As far as I know," she cupped her chin as she thought about it, "they should still exist, but almost all the leaders of the various clans that were loyal to the Great Devil Kings are either dead or defected, so they shouldn't have much power left."

"So the Old Satan Faction was the ones responsible for all of that stuff?" Yohko asked, getting a nod from Rias.

"Yes. After the Civil War which saw four new Devil Kings, Sirzechs Lucifer, Ajuka Beelzebub, Falbium Asmodeus and Serafall Leviathan taking over control of Hell. Practices such as possession, forcible transformations, mind control and the like were outlawed, especially after Lord Beelzebub perfected the Evil Piece system." Rias explained. "That happened well before any of us were born, so any Devils that still do that stuff would belong to the Old Satan Faction. Devils, especially reincarnated Devils, prefer to have customers where we basically grant wishes that are within our power or do odd jobs for humans for a small price." Seeing Yohko disgusted look, she quickly waved her hands in front of her. "Oh! No no no! It's not what you think! We don't take souls or anything like that. It's things like money, information, rare artifacts and the like that we accept as payment these days. Taking a person's soul doesn't happen very often and is generally seen as bad form. After all, if you kill your clients you don't have a steady supply of income."

"...So Devils are basically temp work employees?" Yohko asked slowly, wondering if she understood it right.

"Ah..." Rias, Xenovia and Asia all gawked and thought about it. "...That might be right, actually." Rias nodded slowly.

Yohko suddenly broke out laughing. "You know, this actually makes me feel better. Thanks." She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes before smiling. "Thanks, really. I thought that I was going to start becoming twisted, evil, hunt down those I loved or do other things."

"Despite Issei and Master being around," Lilith grinned at the former Devil Hunter, "this isn't like one of those hentai anime. Well, so long as you don't fight tentacle monsters." Everyone looked at her. "You forgot about the ninjas that fight tentacle monsters, didn't you?"

"Yes." Rias, Xenovia and Asia all answered at the same time.

"...Ninjas fighting tentacle monsters?" Yohko asked before shuddering and pointing dramatically with her eyes white and blank in anger. "You lied! That's exactly like a hentai anime!"

The seriousness lasted only a few more moments before Yohko broke out into giggles, followed by laughter that Rias, Xenovia, Asia and Lilith couldn't help but follow along with.

"Thanks, I needed that." Yohko smiled at them.

So, yes, that *IS* Zelretch.

And Rias, your mom isn't wrong.