AN: This chapter was originally going to be a lot longer, but I think I'll stop here for now before covering the end of the competition, then some character development with fluff and some scenes with Gabriel in the next chapter.

Chapter 15

"-and this is my abandoned old workshop. You may pick any one artifact to help you with your journey and as many drugs *cough* I mean, elixirs and poisons you can carry from the Alchemy table over there. Nazica, feel free to grab some goodies as well. If anyone has any questions on what's what then ask away."

I brought the Three Magi into one of my oldest secret hideouts near my parent's home in Tokyo. This underground workshop several hundreds of meters below our family home had acted as my main base of operations back when I had less confidence in my ability to conceal dimensional spaces and preferred heavily trapping my stronghold instead. The sheer number of powerful concealment and defensive measures I placed here would make Kayneth regret his boasting and kowtow to this daddy!

"Why are there so many different types of pills? What happened to standardization?" Nazica complained as she started picking one of everything from the Alchemy Table, then depositing it into her interspatial ring.

Nearly all the round 'pills' were the Cultivation based ones, while most of the bottled liquid elixirs/poisons were created using methods that would be familiar to anyone that has watched To Aru Majutsu no Index and Seikon no Qwaser… okay, maybe not the best example there, but just citing Full Metal Alchemist would be too mainstream.

"Just as it is in your world, Alchemy is also split between Western and Eastern methods. Western Alchemy began with purifying, maturing, and perfecting certain materials for the sake of transmutation and the creation of the elixir of immortality. Eastern Alchemy, or more specifically Chinese Alchemy, focuses mainly on the purification of one's spirit, mind, and body for health, longevity, and wisdom-"

I went into a long lecture about the differences of the Alchemy processes used in the creation of pills and some general tips on how to excel in both fields. Fiore and Radia had split the remaining products of my Alchemy fairly between the two of them, before coming to me with questions for the ones they could not identify.

"What does this red potion do? It looks like it's going to explode at any moment." Fiore asked me while occasionally returning her gaze to the volatile looking bottle.

"That's not actually a potion. That's my special chili sauce mix blended using Abyssal Chilies. With your Cultivation as it is you would probably die if you taste even a little bit of it."

Back then not even I could handle the full extent of that chili sauce…

"We have questions on the potions stored within these strange bottles… every time we try to focus our attention on them we find ourselves distracted and- oh, I saw that artifact before!" Radia showed me something that made me want to groan into the palms of my hands, I don't blame her for getting her attention diverted by the enchantment, even my Divine Senses nearly glanced over the collection of bottled aphrodisiacs there, "It looks interesting, should I swap it for-"

Blasted Xianxia Aphrodisiacs! I got too into making everything that I had read in this one novel many years ago, before I knew it, I ended up making potent aphrodisiacs with masterfully crafted containers that could hide its presence even from my senses!

If I hadn't made my most recent breakthroughs then even I would have trouble keeping track of the damn thing in spite of my perfect memory.

"*Ahem* Yeah, that's a troublesome one. It's basically undetectable super aphrodisiacs."

"Hey, sis, I missed that one so gimme!"

"Nazica! Don't act so childishly in front of everyone! Also, here you go, and here's your share Fiore."

… I guess I have to watch them closely to make sure they don't accidentally drug themselves from now on.

"Moving on… the two of you will get an interactive magical map that can keep track of all locations and beings of interest within the realm, although you will need to input your search criteria yourselves. I have already placed an enchantment that will eject you out of the realm if you are in grave danger, you will have a week to spend inside the realm and another week to create the Sacred Gear with the pre-made component parts I've placed on the table."

I went on to explain and clarify the scope of the competition between Fiore and Radia, including the judging portion that will involve inviting members of the Hyoudou family.

"Your judges will be the users of the Sacred Gear, namely, any one of my brothers and sisters-in-law. I have laid out their combat profiles here, you may ask any further questions about them from me as I know them personally and a lot of funny stories about them from Airi. Otherwise, you can continue your preparations and start your journey whenever you think you're ready."

Radia quickly grabbed Kurenia's profile and continued on her way, saying, "Your brother-in-law is quite the enthusiast in all things magic and Sacred Gears. This will be sufficient."

That's a huge loss flag right there…

In contrast, Fiore took the time to look through everyone's profile and then asked questions on their personality, wants, concerns, and other things before showing a great deal of interest in Robertina.

Looks like I may not have to rig anything in her favor after all.

After the two girls teleported back to my home where the portal leading to the secret realm awaited them I went ahead and brought Nazica back up to the surface, where we spent some time shopping and hanging out with each other as friends.

I ended up buying a new phone for her after she became enamored with the modern communications device. Unlike Rin Tohsaka, it looks like this Magus girl isn't technologically illiterate.

Now if only she can tone down the selfie stops…

After bringing Nazica back home I decided to take my extreme time dilated realm artifact and visit a dead universe that appeared to be unmonitored by anyone other than myself. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to cram my Cultivation and training sessions in compressed time, and head back home as soon as I can.

Fixing the internal stress from utilizing [Unified-Realm, Divine Augmentation] took over two weeks, once I was fully healed, I decided to Cultivate the technique until I got rid of as many flaws as I could perceive.

And boy, there was still a lot of room to improve there. It took nearly six months to get rid of the most glaring flaws, nearly a year to practice all my laws to bring up my minimal Law utilization competency to the point where I could use [Unified-Realm, Divine Augmentation] without burning my reserves away and another half a year practicing the technique until I could use it effectively.

I ended up restarting the universe at the end of my practice so I promptly moved to another dead universe to practice my other trump card.

[Domain Rescindment: Eon Reversal]

… I had to cancel my training early because the technique erased my training realm and a large part of the cosmos upon activation, risking the detection of higher beings that may notice the 'abnormality' I caused.

In the end, I had to destroy that dead universe to leave absolutely no traces of my second trump card. To be more specific, I refined the entire universe into energy, which wasn't much because it was the lowliest realm (no life residing in a universe lowers its energy quality massively) I ever had the displeasure of consuming, but it's better than blowing it up and wasting the scrap of energy it could give me.


Airi POV

She waved Dio's clone goodbye after he finished placing the dining room enchantment, ushering a new era of peace into the Hyoudou household mealtimes.

Airi held Kurobara and Shirayuki back from latching on to the clone and begging their 'Dio-niichan' for more sweets. They will only suffer from a lack of confidence in their cuteness if they tried to get anything from those paper clones, which can only convincingly act as a human if it was given a specific role to do so or if they were controlled remotely.

There were a lot of really stupid stories involving her clone that was left behind in the week that had passed by when she was away.

Sensing a sudden intrusion using the lesser laws of Space and Void, Airi quickly retrieved one of her god-killing gauntlets and was about to message Dio for help when-

"Ara, Ophis-chan! It's been a while!"

-Airi heard Akeno greeting the Ouroboros Dragon and the 'honorary little sister' of the family.

"Nee-chan, why do you have a scary face?" "Shiny gloves…"

"It's nothing. Turns out its just Ophis-chan. Ehe, I overreacted "

On the bright side it looks like all the training sessions, aka, sessions where Dio and Artemis continuously 'styles' on Alfia and herself, are paying off.

Airi almost dodged the speeding black bullet that launched itself at her but chose not to, it's been a long while since she got a hug from the family's 'vagabond playmate', "You're back Airi. Issei asked Idiot Red and I to look for you the first time around… we spent so long in the Dimension Gap together… just the two of us…"

Ophis looked increasingly annoyed as she recalled those times.

Airi could only laugh loudly and took out some sweets, knowing that she was looking for an apology, "Sorry for the trouble. Here you go, I saved up some of the sweets Dio made for me."

"Wha-?! You said there were no sweets!" "Gimme!"

Ophis had already swiped the sweets from Airi's hands before her two cat-eared sisters could steal them, "No! Mine! Rwarrh!"

It was the most unconvincing dragon's roar Airi had ever heard.

Ophis may have existed for a long time and changed greatly from when she met Airi's father, but it seemed that she latched on to the behavior of a human child and had stuck with it for decades… probably because she could get free candy this way.

Honestly, Ophis only ever came by and stuck around when she felt the urge to eat Asia's cooking and treats.

"These are… delicious! Extra tasty! Bring your husband, I must have more!"

"He's busy right now, I can try to get a clone of his on dedicated kitchen duty but you'll probably have to pay for it."

"I can pay in dragon scales. I will go beat up Idiot Red for his."

"Please don't start a fight that could destroy the world for sweets!"

Airi's panicked protest was quickly echoed by the entire Hyoudou family when their 'Ophis is going to do something silly' senses were tingling like crazy.

Ophis had no choice but to give up.

"Why is your husband so busy? He took you on holiday, so that must mean he has a lot of free time."

"It's actually the other way around, I'll tell you some stories later, alright? Things have been quite hectic after Dio went and upgraded Heaven's system."

Ophis had a rare look of surprise on her face and exclaimed, "Ooooh! Is that why the 'noise' from Heaven's stupid system is quiet now? Hmm, I see, your husband too, is a man of silence."

The dragon loli looked so satisfied with herself that Airi couldn't bear to interrupt her.

She had the sinking feeling that Ophis was going to be more than just friends with her husband at this rate…

Airi spent nearly an hour regaling Ophis and her siblings with colorful tales of her adventures in the 'Nasuverse', specifically, the mind-bending strange defensive measures Alfia and her needed to get through just to kill dangerous Magi and Dead Apostles.

"-and then the last door sent me right back to the beginning of the entire labyrinth! What's worse is that a sign appeared with the words 'Are you lost?' right in front of us? Spatial Manipulation is the worst type of trap. Ever. If you ever make your own castle in the future, then please put doorways to different dimensions or ones that would send invaders back to the beginning, make your defenses so frustrating and maddening that any invaders will just leave your home alone and never come back again."

A few of her older brothers and sisters were actually taking notes on the various traps that she had to deal with, while her younger siblings were just laughing at her story. Ophis seemed to be taking a special interest in the 'home defense' measures.

Her father, who had managed to come home early, also joined in the laughter.

"Oh man, if it were me I would have just gotten so mad and blasted everything."

"I know what you mean. Alfia and I were so close to doing it, but if we did, then it will just mean we weren't smart enough to figure the defenses out and we didn't want to give the guy the satisfaction."

"Heh, there's nothing better than to prove arrogant bast-er-en-enemies wrong!"

Airi could admit that she missed doing this with her family, it's nice when they can just talk and share stories of their experiences without getting into any arguments.

"Oh, I wouldn't say nothing… but it's up there in the Top 10."

"Really? Name one thing."

"I can't~"

"Why not?"

Airi chuckled and hugged her father, then whispered, "None of them are appropriate for children to hear about."

Her father looked mortified at the thought, thankfully for him, he didn't need to think about it any further since dinner was ready.

They all sat down at their large dining table and started serving each other food. Dinnertime was a little different with the enchantment in place, but it helped a lot in making mealtimes a lot more 'normal'. Even her father seemed to enjoy the change, it made it easier for people to have their own conversations even when everyone was gathered together, among other things… Airi would really like to selectively filter her senses at times like these, especially when Akeno was rubbing her father's crotch using her feet under the table.

"Pst! Airi-chan!" Ravel 'whispered' from the other side of the table.

"You know you don't have to whisper right?" Airi 'whispered' back since playing along seemed like it would make Robertina's birth mother happy.

"I know, I just wanted to try this out. Anyways, I have great news! We got your Evil Pieces ready and can get the ceremony done by the end of the month."

"Eh, okay? I don't really want them though."

"Heh?"

If it were the past 'her' then she would have been ecstatic about the opportunity, if only so that she could find some 'servants' to help better protect her family with.

But Airi had changed a lot, she was no longer a sheltered girl that only cared and fought for her family. She had spent around a year in a world where gods and mortal races lived together, where her wonderful husband continued to bring great changes to the world, from saving entire countries, revolutionizing the way magic was taught, freeing slaves, lifting the 'ordinary folk' out from poverty and other situations, and preventing future catastrophes.

Watching how he changed an entire world for the better inspired her to do so as well!

The first thing that came to mind had been her own family's racial history.

Airi ended up reflecting on the worst kinds of Familia, how the ruler of the largest Empire behaved, the enslavement of men by the Amazons, and the rampant slavery in the Kalos region until Dio put a stop to it. After doing so, she had started to think about the current situation and direction of her homeworld, and in the end, she found that she could take no part in her race's culture any longer.

Even if the 'servants' of her family were treated like family she still wouldn't have any servants herself because it was not a system she could support and it wasn't one that was necessary.

"Um, Airi, why not? Your mothers and father worked really hard to push it through."

"Thank you for that, I appreciate it, but it would be better if you can give that placement to someone else. I don't want them, nor need them anyway."

"Erm, could you just take them and not use them?"

"Ravel kaa-san, please help me out with this?"

Her other mother shrugged and laughed, "Alright, I can do that much. I figured that you would say 'no' with how you were reacting this morning, at the breakfast."

"E-eh? I didn't say much though."

"You didn't need to. Your discomfort was written all over your face. It's fine, worse comes to worst, the media will just blame it on your husband that 'turned you against the devil race'." Ravel smirked as if imagining a hilarious scenario, "All the rich heirs that have been aiming for you are going to whine and pull out the 'population' excuse."

Airi certainly didn't remember any rich 'young masters' trying to seduce her, then again, her father probably scared them all off. She made a mental note to give him a special present for father's day just for that.

"They can say what they want. Knowing Dio that's exactly what he's looking forward to, he just can't stop baiting idiots so that he can slap their faces. As for the population bit... Dio did say he once pranked a devil noble by using a fertility artifact on him so that his entire peerage got pregnant after an orgy, so solving every faction's fertility problems shouldn't be an issue-"

Ravel dropped her chopsticks and groaned, "Oh, figures. I thought it was weird that your uncle Riser got Yubelluna and the others pregnant all at the same time."

Airi thought back to all the smug grins he gave her whenever he mentioned that story and felt really dumb when she hadn't figured it out. Of course, it had to be someone she knew if he was shooting her his 'knowing grins'!

If this were the week before her father would have already blown up after hearing the conversation Airi had with Ravel, but thanks to the enchantment (and Akeno's footjob) he couldn't hear us at all!

Issei would definitely have blamed Dio for 'corrupting' her just because she had experienced life and cultures from beyond this world and embraced a wider view of how to live a worthwhile life.

Thank Dio for this dining room enchantment!

Wait, what? Oh no, she's starting to sound like those angels… tch, all the 'sect-speak' must be getting to her.