Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.

Chapter 48

—Bal is not like other Princes; he is very patient with his plans and tends to let others do the dirty work before getting involved—

Valerica to Asia during her training.

The night sky was completely clear, allowing one to see the starry sky that had the pocket dimension that was the youkai city of Kyoto.

"Ahhhh…. It really feels good to take a bath outside." Edzard said while he was submerged in one of the hot springs that were in the Yasaka castle. "This reminds me of the hot springs in the Eastmarch."

A smile came to Edzard's face, as he began to remember that in one of the few trips, he had made to Windhelm for his duties as a thane, he had gone with Asia, leaving Marie in Solitude along with Aela and Serana. When Edzard finished the business, he had there, he quickly left with Asia back to Solitude. Although the way back could have been done by boat, reducing the travel time, they decided to walk part of the way and then go on the back of Odahviing to Dragon Bridge. And while they were walking along the road that connected the city of Riften with Windhelm, they passed by the hot springs produced by the volcanic activity of that area.

'Asia was very excited to see them.' Edzard thought with a smile as he recalled how his wife jumped with joy at the sight of them and then she asked him to take a quick bath there. Although he could have refused, it was the happy face of his wife that made him give in and end up accepting. So, both had undressed and had gone into the warm waters of these natural ponds. Even though both had wanted to just relax there, in the end the desire to see each other naked and be outdoors, made them end up having their first night of passion outdoors.

"You seem to be remembering something very interesting, Edzard-dono." Said with a hint of amusement a woman's voice from behind Edzard. "Or at least that's what the big smile on your face says."

"I thought these baths weren't mixed." Edzard answered without turning around because he knew whose voice it was. "Although it seems that I was mistaken, it is not so, Lady Yasaka."

"Well, they're not mixed, but owning the place they're in should give me certain privileges. Do not you believe it?" Yasaka asked as she sat next to Edzard in the hot spring.

"Well, I can't contradict any of that." Edzard replied looking at the woman next to him.

The beautiful Kitsune had her ears and tails exposed, which seemed to move in a funny way. Furthermore, the kitsune's voluptuous body, which was completely naked, could make any man, whether adult or young, uncomfortable. However, Edzard was able to control himself better than other people, so he was able to better control his sight and not gawk at the Kitsune's enormous attributes.

"Mou, it seems that you know how to control yourself better than many." Said Yasaka in an amused voice as she pretended to be disappointed to see that she hadn't been able to make Edzard blush by being naked next to him.

"He, he." Edzard laughed when he heard those words. "Trust me, if it was someone else, I'd be drooling by the amount of skin you're showing, but unfortunately for you, I already have experience dealing with stuff like this. You're not the first woman to try this."

Edzard's words made clear reference to the several times when Aela and Serana had done the same thing to make him uncomfortable when he lived in Nirm.

"Ohh... I see." Yasaka said with a small pout in disappointment.

After those words, they both stayed in a comfortable silence, enjoying the waters. However, this silence was broken when Yasaka spoke again.

"Edzard-dono, thank you for helping me wake up and for helping with the defense of my people."

Edzard opened his right eye, as he had been resting those moments with both eyes closed. Placing his eye on the Kyubi, the young dragon only let out a sigh before speaking.

"You don't have to thank me for helping you. I only did what many would have done."

Yasaka put a subtle smile on her face, then slumped down and rested her head on Edzard's shoulder. This action made Edzard jump a bit, but other than that reaction, the last son of Akatosh did nothing else.

"You know, if anyone sees this they'll get bad ideas." Edzard said as he felt his face redden slightly, as Yasaka had taken hold of his right arm, which was now touching her left breast.

"Maybe so, but so will the kiss you gave me." Yasaka said with a smile on her face.

"H-how…?"

"How did I find out?" Yasaka interrupted as her smile widened at the same moment that she began to see how Edzard began to squirm a bit. "It's easy to convince Kunou to tell me things."

Edzard looked at Yasaka and sighed again, since he didn't expect that.

"And what will you do with this information?" Edzard asked with a little fear, not because his lovers left him, but because they were going to send him to sleep in the kennel. A kennel that he still didn't know why they kept, because they didn't have any dog.

"Any." Yasaka answered quickly, before letting out an amused giggle.

Edzard would have fallen on his face if he had been standing up, but since he was sitting down all he did was sigh and then smile. "I've been told that Kitsunes are pranksters, but I never expected you to pull a prank on something as delicate as that."

"He, he. What can I say, you were being so stiff and the fact that you weren't excited to see me naked made me a little angry." Yasaka said as she stuck her tongue out at Edzard playfully.

The way the kitsune laughed made Edzard laugh along with her.

In a richly decorated room of Yasaka's palace, Edzard, Yasaka, and Azazel were gathered. The three of them were gathered discussing the actions that would be taken now that the invasion of Dagon's troops had been contained.

"So how much of the city has already been rebuilt?" Edzard asked looking at the two leaders.

"We have only managed to rebuild ten percent of the entire city." Yasaka replied looking at Edzard intensely. "That's because someone turned half the city into something similar to a field devastated by a volcano explosion."

"Uh...I'm sorry." Edzard said blushing while scratching the back of his neck with a bit of pity, because he knew that it was his thu'um that turned that part of the city into a burned field.

"Oh…. No, don't apologize. From the reports that I have been told, if you had not done what you did, it was possible that many would have died. So don't apologize." Yasaka said after sighing and putting her hand to her head, it hurt her a lot to think about the number of resources that would be spent on rebuilding everything. Thinking of the resources to spend, the Kyoto leader remembered something important. "Azazel-dono, when will Serafall-dono be back with the answer to the request for materials we made to the devils?"

"Serafall shouldn't take more than two days to return." Azazel replied as he put a hand to his chin. "After all, you already signed the annexation of the Kyoto Youkai faction to the Kuoh pact, so there should be no delay when requesting resources, but the problem would lie in the logistics necessary to move everything. So, yes, I think two days will be the time needed."

Azazel's words greatly reassured Yasaka, who heaved a sigh of relief knowing that she would have resources to rebuild her city.

"Well, rebuilding aside, how's the debris cleanup and damage control going?" Edzard asked.

"Very good, so far almost everything has been cleared of debris. Also, to the surprise of many, a few structures have managed to remain intact." Yasaka said remembering what she had read in one of the reports.

"Seriously?" Edzard asked with a bit of surprise. "What kind of structure?"

"A small circular column in the center of the city."

"A circular column?"

"Yes, a circular column." Yasaka answered as she began to tell Edzard what that column was like.

The last son of Akatosh felt that he had already heard or read about a column with the same characteristics, but unable to remember where, he decided to ignore it for now.

"The refugees are still in the palace, right?" Edzard asked, remembering that there were a lot of homeless people by now.

"Yes. No one has left the palace since you recommended that they not, at least until everything is rebuilt." Yasaka replied.

"Good. I know it sounds paranoid, but we don't know if Dagon will attack again. So, better safe than sorry."

Yasaka and Azazel nodded, as it was the most reasonable course of action. After this, the conversation changed the subject and focused on the daedras.

"So, the Daedric Princes are evil gods from your home world, Edzard-dono?" Yasaka asked looking at Edzard. Although the Kyoto leader already knew about the daedras and the invasion, thanks to the talks she had had with Serafall, she was curious to find out more about them.

"Calling them evil gods is not entirely true." Edzard replied, drawing Yasaka's attention a lot and Azazel's to a lesser extent. "Daedras don't have the same moral compass that we mortals do. So we can not classify them as good or bad. But if you wanted to put it into the words of the beings of this world, well, then they are evil."

"I'm getting dizzy with the explanation." Yasaka said as she put her hand to her head, because she was getting confused with Edzard's words.

"Yeah, every time he explains something about Daedric princes, we end up dizzy." Azazel said letting out an annoyed sigh.

"Well, excuse me for not knowing how to put into words what motivates Daedric princes to do what they do." Edzard said with annoyance when he saw that both leaders complained.

Seeing that Edzard was complaining, both Yasaka and Azazel decided to raise their hands as a symbol of peace, not wanting to have Edzard angry with them. Fortunately, they saw that Edzard just nodded, showing that he wasn't getting angry.

"Edzard-dono. What level are my soldiers compared to Daedric soldiers?" Yasaka asked, as she remembered that a youkai had told her that the daedras were very powerful, so she was curious to know how much difference in power there was compared to the youkais.

Yasaka's question made Edzard put a hand to his chin before answering. "They would be on the same level as a mid-level daedra, well, roughly."

"Roughly?" Yasaka asked confused.

"Nirm's power levels are not measured in the same way as they are here." Azazel replied. "They don't measure their power only by comparing the amount of magic or demonic power, but also consider physical fighting abilities, magical abilities, personal abilities, and more. In fact, it's impossible for us to determine their power level just by looking at them. For example, if you see this brat, you will surely see a mere human, right?"

Yasaka nodded, because Edzard seemed like a normal human from every point of view, well, not so normal, because he had a very strange aura around him.

"Well, he has the same power level as a Maou-class devil."

"The same power level as a Maou?!" Yasaka yelled as her eyes widened at hearing that, since that meant that Edzard was much more powerful than her.

"Yes, the same power as a Maou. Well, that in its current form."

"Current form?" Yasaka asked looking at Azazel and then at Edzard.

"Yes, this little one has another form, which is called «Dragon Aspect»." Azazel replied. "Which transforms him into a humanoid dragon, which is his true race."

Yasaka's brain short-circuited upon hearing that, and her body did what many would do upon hearing this news, that is, she fainted. By the time she came to, the Kyoto leader finished looking at Edzard and began treating him more formally. Fortunately, he told her that he did not like that kind of treatment and therefore, she returned to treating him as she did before learning about his origin. The meeting lasted several more minutes, where Yasaka ended up learning all about Edzard and Nirm.

The sunset painted the sky of the city of Urakyoto orange. It had already been two days since Yasaka had returned and two days since Edzard and Lint had started a love relationship. The young angel was up in the clouds almost every day, and on several occasions her wings had flickered from silver to black, thanks to some rather spicy words from Aika and Mittelt.

Other than that, nothing new had happened, except for the fact that it was the last day that Kuoh's students would stay in Kyoto, since their school trip was already over. While those who studied at said academy were packing their bags, Edzard was walking through the areas that were under reconstruction, because even though Serafall had not yet returned with new supplies, the few supplies that were in the Yasaka Palace had helped to rebuild part of the city.

'Umm…. It seems that it will only be a matter of a week or two before they finish rebuilding their city.' Edzard thought as he saw how several Youkais finished building some houses. When those youkais finished their work, they began to talk and calmly went back to the Yasaka palace, which was still the place where the refugees were staying.

Seeing them leave, Edzard decided to do the same and began to head back towards Yasaka's palace to meet with his group, the ORC, and the members of the Student Council. As he walked through the newly rebuilt streets, he was thinking about the reason why he still hadn't returned to his house on the human side of Kyoto. The reason had a name and that was Marie. And it is that his little daughter had asked Yasaka for permission to stay in the palace or for her to give Kunou permission to go to her house to play. Unfortunately, the Kyoto Youkai heiress couldn't leave the place until she knew it was safe, so Yasaka told her that if she wanted, she could allow them to stay in the palace.

And so, his daughter had gone to ask him to stay, which he accepted, since he and Asia were doing a medical follow-up on Yasaka to make sure that the poison she had in her body had not left her side effects. Therefore, it was decided that both he and Asia would stay in Kyoto for at least another week. That made Marie smile with happiness, and she ran to look for Kunou.

'Those two have been going everywhere together. It seems that they have become almost inseparable.' Edzard thought with a smile since he liked to see his daughter this happy.

Putting his mind off his daughter's relationship with Yasaka's daughter, Edzard continued walking until he entered Yasaka's palace. After entering, he was intercepted by one of Yasaka's maids, who told him that her mistress was waiting for him in the usual room for her daily check-up.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." Edzard said, earning a nod from the shrine maiden.

Seeing the young kitsune leave, Edzard started to walk over to where he was staying to get some magical supplies and when he had them, he started heading towards where Yasaka was. After walking for a few minutes, he came to where the leader of the Kyoto Youkai was.

Entering the room, Edzard saw that Yasaka was sitting on a cushion waiting for him. The youkai was dressed in her shrine priestess outfit.

"Welcome, Edzard-dono." Greeted Yasaka with a flirtatious smile on her face as she got up and began to walk to another part of the room, where there was a futon.

Seeing the smile on the kitsune's face, Edzard only sighed. It looks like he'll have to put up with another physical exam session with Yasaka's innuendo.

'Looks like here we go again.' Edzard thought as he walked towards the futon, where he saw Yasaka kneel and unfasten her Haori, revealing her back and shoulders.

Crouching behind Yasaka, Edzard began to examine her. Passing a hand over her skin, he began to see if it showed signs of color change, wounds, spots, etc. When he finished doing it, he told Yasaka to lie down on the futon.

Yasaka complied and as she turned around, she pretended to stumble and let Edzard get a glimpse of her breasts, which had been covered by the Kitsune's arms. After seeing how Edzard got a little uncomfortable about that, the Kyoto leader giggled and then lay down and let Edzard continue with his examination of her. However, that's not to say that she wouldn't take the opportunity to continue pestering him.

"~Ahhh~" Yasaka moaned as she felt Edzard touch her back. "~Not so strong~"

Edzard was focusing as best he could on his work while trying to ignore Yasaka's moans, which was a clear attempt by her to make him uncomfortable. The revision stopped being so physical and started to become magical. For this, he used magical scrolls, with which he could see how her magical power was flowing and if she had sequelae of being affected by the poison.

"Well, it seems that we can be one hundred percent sure that this poison has not left any sequel." Edzard said when he finished examining Yasaka, since he saw that there was no trace of the poison left.

The Kyoto leader stood up and looking at Edzard, she put aside the jokes and curtsied to thank him for his help, but when she got up, she blinked in confusion when she saw that Edzard wasn't looking at her. She didn't know why he wasn't looking at her, but then when a cold breeze made its way into the room, she knew why he wasn't looking at her. Faster than Edzard's reflexes could follow, Yasaka covered her chest, which had been completely exposed.

The room was left in an uncomfortable silence but being people who had experience in dealing with uncomfortable situations, they both managed to overcome it. After that, they both said goodbye and went to their respective rooms.

While Edzard was with Asia and Marie in the palace garden with Yasaka and Kunou, in the room where Edzard and his lovers spent the night, Aika and Lint were packing their bags.

"Aika! Where have you hidden my underwear?!" Lint yelled at her friend when she saw that her underwear was not in her suitcase.

"What's wrong Lint-chi." Aika said with an innocent smile. "Why do you think I have taken it?"

"I don't know, it's because you and Mittelt have been hiding my underwear for two days."

"Don't mess with me, little dove. I have not taken your things." Mittelt said as she stopped looking at a magazine of Gothic Lolita dresses that she had brought.

Lint just looked at her partner and raised an accusatory eyebrow, making Mittelt smile and then proceed to hide her face in her magazine.

"Yeah, Lint-chi, here they are." Aika said as she used magic and made Lint's clothes appear, which were white in color and very simple in design. "You should get yourself another underwear. The one you have is very bland."

"So what?" Lint asked annoyedly as she put her clothes back into the suitcase.

"Well, if you want to make your future moment with Ed more memorable, you should go for more attractive lingerie. One like this." Aika said as she showed Lint a black lace thong that had a slit down the center.

"If you use one of these, I'm pretty sure Ed will pounce on you like a beast, then tear you apart and mark you as his woman." Aika said as she blushed and began to imagine Edzard having rough sex with her. "~Ahhh~ Just imagining it makes me very excited."

Aika's words made Lint's blood rush to her cheeks, causing her to blush deeply. As she felt her hot face, Lint's mind began to wander, and she began to imagine her first time with Edzard. Fortunately, she managed to regain her composure, thus managing not to become a fallen angel.

Lint's reaction caused Aika and Mittelt to start laughing at her.

The laughter of her friends made Lint start to look at them with irritation.

"Calm down, Lint-chi." Aika said already stopping laughing at Lint. "But there's something we don't understand yet."

"What thing?" Lint asked looking at Aika.

"How long are you planning to delay the inevitable moment when you and Ed break up in bed?"

Lint didn't answer the question, because she didn't want to tell them an exact date, since it was likely that she and Mittelt would try to hide there to see her lose her virginity. So, no, she had decided not to tell them.

"Don't know. I suppose it will be until such time as we are ready." Lint answered as she continued to order her things.

"Ummm…" Aika said starting to approach Lint. "I think you're lying to me. My pervert sense tells me that you plan to do it as soon as we get back to the palace."

"I-I-I…" Lint stammered when she saw that she had been found out.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Even if you don't tell me, I'll find out from the screams you're going to let out and how you won't show up for several days because you're in a coma adapting to your new power." Aika said with a torturous smile, seeing how with the last words she had said, Lint had shuddered slightly.

"Aika, leave the little dove alone." Mittelt said, putting his magazine aside, and then approaching the two. "We must hurry, since dinner is in a few minutes. And I don't think they want to be late."

Hearing Mittelt's words, Aika and Lint remembered that they should go to dinner today, as they would say goodbye to Yasaka. So, rushing their actions, both began to pack their things more quickly.

Edzard was leaning on the railing of a balcony that was connected to his room in the Yasaka Palace. It had already been more than two hours since the dinner they had with Yasaka finished, and at this moment he was looking at the city of the Youkai.

'Tomorrow they will begin to return to their homes, at least those whose houses have already been rebuilt.' Edzard thought as he began to get up to return to his friends and lovers, who were resting in Yasaka's personal living room.

Turning, Edzard began to walk towards the room where everyone was gathered. However, the moment he took the tenth step, he stopped in his tracks. A very big chill was felt in his body, at the same time that he heard a peculiar sound.

'T-t-that sound...' Edzard thought in a panic before starting to run at full speed towards where they were all gathered. 'Damn, this is bad, very bad, that sound and this restlessness I've only felt once in my fucking life. And it was the day I faced Mannimarco in the Crystal Tower.'

The sound that Edzard had managed to hear was very similar to muffled trumpets. A peculiar and confusing sound to many, but to him, it was dangerous. As he kept running, he went through several corridors, passing hundreds of Youkais, who looked at him with uncertainty and confusion, but no one did anything to stop him.

Upon reaching the door, Edzard opened it abruptly, startling everyone inside, as the paper door was shattered by the force Edzard used.

"Ed?" Asia asked seeing her husband startled.

"There are problems! Yasaka, mobilize your troops and send the civilians to safety!" Edzard yelled.

The way Edzard yelled caused Yasaka to stand up abruptly and start ordering her maids who were in the room.

When the maidens left, everyone gathered, who was Asia, Lint, Aika, Mittelt, Rossweisse, Ingvild, Valerie, the ORC, the student council, Azazel, and Yasaka, began to ask Edzard what was going on.

"Edzard-san, what's wrong?" Saji asked, consulsing the doubt that gnawed at everyone.

"We are about to suffer a Daedric attack." Edzard replied as he began to explain everything, he could to them. However, he couldn't even begin to speak when everyone who was sitting stood up, as the wind began to howl with more force. Assuming none of this was normal, they all started running towards the main gate of the palace. When they arrived, the strong wind dropped abruptly and there was a very uncomfortable silence.

"I don't like this silence." Kiba said as he unconsciously used his sacred gear to create his «traitor's sword».

"I agree with the pretty boy." Issei said as he made the Boosted Gear appear.

The rest of those present followed suit and summoned their weapons and sacred gears.

As everyone looked with a mixture of expectation and uneasiness at the horizon, a sound like a bell was heard.

"What is that sound? A bell?" asked Irina looking everywhere to try to find the source of the sound.

A second after the bell, the screeching sound of uncoiling metal was heard, and a second later, several chains descended from the sky and embedded themselves in various places in the surroundings. The chains generated an earthquake, which shook the entire city of Urakyoto.

"By Gabriel's boobs! What is that thing?!" Azazel yelled in astonishment upon seeing the large circular portal that appeared in the sky.

The portal that appeared was so large that it could easily completely cover the entire city, plunging all who saw it into despair.

"It is a black anchor, an interdimensional device that can corrode dimensional barriers to steal territory from other planes." Edzard said to then see how everyone except Asia looked at him with confusion. Having a drop of sweat on his head, Edzard decided to explain it more easily. "It's a portal that will take the city of Urakyoto to Coldharbor."

Everyone's confused face vanished upon hearing Edzard's words, being immediately replaced by faces of fear and concern.

"Edzard-dono… I think I thought I heard that…"

"Yes, you heard that right. That thing will take the whole city and everyone here to the kingdom of Molag Bal. I don't have to tell you what happened to all those captured, right?" Edzard quickly interrupted Yasaka, then looked at his groupmates.

"Girls, there is no time to waste. Unlike Dagon's attacks, Bal's are usually of that type. The longer it takes us to close the black anchor, the more chance there is of this place being dragged into Coldharbor. So, we will have to separate into groups to cover more ground. Aika, you will go with Rossweisse and Valerie. Lint will go with Mittelt and Ingvild. Finally, Asia, you will go with Tiamat, I will summon her shortly."

The girls nodded and started to join their group.

While they were getting organized, Issei and Saji approached Edzard.

"Ed. What about us? How do we organize ourselves?" asked Issei.

"That is your decision. It is time for you to start making decisions. And if I remember correctly, their kings appointed them the temporary heads of their groups. So, make up your mind." Edzard said with a serious voice, but then he put on a friendly smile when he saw that they had doubts. "Guys, calm down. You know your teammates, so you can make the best decision. But if you still have doubts, sometimes trusting your instincts is the best."

Saying those words, Edzard left and summoned Tiamat.

"Wow, what's up boss? I was taking a bath in the palace." Tiamat said as she appeared completely naked while a few drops of water fell from her wet hair.

"We have problems, Tiamat." Edzard said pointing to the black anchor.

"What the fuck is that?!" Tiamat screamed when she saw the artifact, but also when she felt the terrifying aura that covered it.

"It is a black anchor. And we must close it. You will go with Asia."

Tiamat nodded, then summoned a dress. After that, she went to meet Asia.

"Ed-chan." Said Azazel approaching Edzard.

Edzard turned his head and looked at the fallen one.

"What's happening?" Edzard asked.

"What will I do?" Azazel asked as he put a smile on his face.

Hearing that, Edzard rolled his eyes.

"What, what are you going to do?" Edzard asked as he raised his hand to his forehead. "It is not obvious. You will have to fight, especially if one of the two Champions shows up."

Hearing that, Azazel sighed, but then nodded to go prepare to fight.

"Everything is ready." Said Edzard seeing Yasaka ordering her soldiers, while he began to order the refugees. When the leader finished doing everything, she looked at Edzard and nodded.

"Well." Edzard said before looking at his friends. Seeing that Issei had ordered the ORC and Saji the student council, he decided to start with the explanations to close the black anchor.

"Guys, to close the anchor it is necessary to close certain artifacts that are at the points where the chains have impacted." Edzard said pointing to the chains that had fallen. "When you go, be careful, since surely those chains will be protected, because what kind of daedras, I don't know. But don't be careless and remember that a single mistake could cost you your life."

They all nodded in response.

"Well. So, come on. We have to shut down that thing before it drags down this Oblivion territory." Edzard said, before beginning to run towards the portal, being followed by his group, the ORC, the student council and the Youkai soldiers, who had the order to hold back the Daedras that appeared.

The city of Urakyoto, still under reconstruction, was once again being devastated by the hundreds of followers of Bal who were marching towards the palace. These followers weren't daedras, they were vampires, but they weren't full-blooded vampires from Nirm, no, they were vampires created from Earth humans. Despite the fact that these beings were not as powerful as their counterparts from the world of Nirm, that does not mean that they should be underestimated, since they were very powerful, and this was demonstrated in the combats that took place throughout the city.

"Hold the ground! Don't give an inch!" a Youkai yelled as he attacked a vampire with magic, which ended up turning into a flock of bats to dodge the attack.

After dodging the attack, the vampire materialized again and using his hand, he launched a lightning bolt at the youkai. The bolt struck the target, killing it and turning it to ash.

The vampires kept advancing and causing casualties in some places, but in others, well….

Boom!

A huge explosion shook one of the areas of the city and there Asia could be seen running while her body was surrounded by a golden aura, which burned the vampires that approached her. Those vampires who managed to survive Asia's spell, which was called «Stendarr's Aura», were finished off by the young woman's sword.

"Tiamat! How are you doing in your area!" Asia yelled as she created swords of Restoration magic, which flew out and killed two vampires.

"All right, boss!" Tiamat yelled as he used magic to destroy several vampires.

"Good. We must keep moving forward. If we don't close the Black Anchor, we won't be able to stop the enemies from coming." Asia said, to start attacking a group of vampires using her «Holy Ray» to destroy them. The golden sphere of restoration magic transformed into hundreds of bolts of magic, which killed all the vampires unfortunate enough to be in its path.

Seeing that her enemies were already dead, the young ex-nun began to move towards one of the anchor chains, with the mission of disabling it.

While Asia and Tiamat headed towards their respective chain, Lint, Mittelt, and Ingvild did the same. The three representatives of the three factions were rapidly flying through the skies in an attempt to reach the chain that they were to disable. Their progress hadn't been as fast as they'd hoped, thanks to a continuous barrage of spells from the enemy vampires, who kept attacking with fireballs, ice spikes, frost lances, lightning spheres, and many more spells.

"Take this!" Lint and Mittelt shouted in unison as they each hurled several spears of light, which managed to kill some vampires, but not all who attacked them.

The surviving vampires tried to turn into flocks of bats to flee, but they failed, as a magic circle with the symbol of the Leviathan clan appeared above them and a large amount of water began to fall in the form of rain. Thanks to this, everyone ended up drenched. A second later, another circle appeared at their feet and a huge amount of electrical discharges ended up killing the vampires that had survived the first attack.

"Well done, In. " Lint said as she approached her friend.

"Yes, the little dove is right." Mittelt said, approaching and beginning to look at the chain to which they should be heading.

"It's still a long way off, isn't it?" Ingvild asked, seeing how they hadn't covered almost any of the distance that separated them from the chain to which they had to go.

"It seems so and being attacked while flying only slows us down." Mittelt replied as she returned to fly. "But we can't stay here. The longer we delay, the more dead there will be to bury."

Lint and Ingvild nodded, for at this point every second counted in avoiding deaths. Therefore, they flew again and together with Mittelt they resumed their journey.

At the same time as their friends, Aika, Rossweisse, and Valerie advanced, leaving several vampire corpses in their wake, whose hearts had been ripped out by Valerie's claws or mutilated by Rossweisse and Aika's spells.

"How many more of those bloodsuckers will show up?" Aika asked annoyedly, then looked at Valerie and saw her scowl. Remembering what she had said, she realized that she had insulted vampires and her friend was a half-vampire, so, clasping her hands, she began to apologize. "I'm sorry, Val. I wasn't referring to you, but I was saying it for those fourth-class vampires that just showed up."

Valerie, who was looking at her friend with a bad face, sighed, because she understood that the insult was not directed at her, but that does not mean that she was happy to hear it.

Seeing that both friends wouldn't fight over Aika's words, Rossweisse approached them and began to speak. "We shouldn't waste time around here. We have to go quickly to where they sent us."

"Sensei is right." Aika said, mentioning the word sensei with a bit of amusement.

"Yes. But…" Valerie's words died in her mouth as she saw how they were surrounded by some vampires.

"This is your fault, Aika." Valerie said as she prepared to use a darkness spell.

"How is it my fault?" Aika asked as she prepared several fire spells. "If anyone is at fault here it, is you and Rossweisse-sensei. Your huge breasts of yours sure attracted vampires."

Rossweisse blushed when she heard that. "A-A-Aika-san!"

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm sorry sensei, but her breasts distract many people."

Valerie sighed as she watched her friend joke about breasts when they were surrounded by enemies. Narrowing her eyes, the Dhampir cast her spell, which was to summon several tentacles of darkness, which attacked the vampires.

The vampires began to turn into flocks of bats and thus dodging Valerie's attack, they began to approach the three girls. However, this only caused them to fall into Aika's trap, who, seeing them coming, cast several fire spells on them. Most of the spells were torrents of flame, which killed a few vampires. Those who managed to survive the magician's attack were surprised by several magical attacks from Rossweisse, who took advantage of the moment of distraction that arose to finish off the vampires that had surrounded them by launching a barrage of various spells at them.

"Okay, we have a free way for a while. Let's keep going."

Aika and Valerie agreed to what the Valkyrie had said and together they began to fly towards where the chain they had to destroy was.

Along with the rest of the girls in Edzard's group, the ORC and the Student Council were also fighting against the vampires. The ORC had been divided into two groups, one with Issei and Kiba, while Irina and Xenovia made up the other group. The Student Council group split into two, with Momo and Saji being one group, while Reya, Tomoe, and Tsubasa were another group. The groups attacked the vampires using their best abilities to reach their targets. However, unlike Edzard's group, they were having some problems.

The problems they had had had forced them to start working by bringing together a group from the ORC with one from the Student Council.

"Ha!" Tomoe yelled as she used her katana to create several ice spikes to kill two vampires. The ice spikes covered the ground quickly, managing to cross the distance that separated the young devil from the vampires almost instantly. The speed of the attack took the vampires by surprise, but only one was killed. The other managed to escape by jumping or at least that's what he thought, because when he was in the air, Tsubasa appeared behind him and managed to give him a powerful blow to the neck, which sent him flying towards where Xenovia was, who was using her sword «Ex Durandal», managed to cut it in half easily.

"That's one less." Xenovia said, earning a nod from her companions.

"How do you think he fares for Issei-kun?" asked Irina as she began to fly, being followed by her companions.

"I don't know, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He is together with Kiba-kun after all." Reya said as she blushed slightly at the mention of Rias's knight's name.

"I think we should stop worrying if they're okay and focus on us." Said Tomoe to see several vampires appear in front of them.

[Bost] [Bost] [Bost] [Bost]

Issei kept doubling his power while attacking his enemies using his «Knight» form from his balance breaker's illegal triama move. Using the speed boost, he began to move through the surrounding vampires. Next to him were Kiba, who cut down as many vampires as he could, while dodging the attacks of the armed vampires. Some of his enemies couldn't get close thanks to Momo, who used magic to keep them away from them, thus allowing the hand-to-hand combat to not be so heavy.

"Damn, they don't stop showing up!" Saji yelled as he kept hitting the vampires that appeared. He was using the abilities of his sacred gear, which allowed him to use black flames to deal more damage to vampires. As he kept fighting, he saw how one of the vampires was heading towards Momo and using his «Absorption Line», he caught his foot and pulling it hard made him head towards him. When he came within fist range of him, he delivered a powerful blow to the stomach, knocking the vampire out cold.

"Thank you Saji-kun." Momo said walking closer to Saji.

"Don't thank me, it is my duty to protect my companions." Saji said with a smile, causing Momo to blush.

"Saji, damn it! Stop flirting to my face!" Issei yelled as he and Kiba approached the two Student Council devils.

"Hey! But what are you saying?!" Saji asked confused by Issei's words.

Issei was about to respond when several very loud explosions rocked the place. Looking towards the places of origin of those explosions, they saw Yasaka killing vampires using his «Fox Fire» and Azazel doing the same with his light spears.

"It's really amazing to see what they can do." Kiba said as he watched in amazement as the two faction leaders cleaned the floor with the vampires.

"Yes, but what surprises me is what is happening over there!" Saji yelled as he pointed to the center of town, the place where all the vampires spawned from, where Edzard could be seen killing the vampires that kept spawning.

"I knew he was good with swords, but he didn't know he could do that with one-handed axes." Kiba said watching as Edzard used two Dawnguard axes to slaughter the vampires coming out of the portal.

"Yes, but it is thanks to him that many of the vampires have not come near this place." Momo said watching Edzard decapitate three vampires at once.

Momo's words won everyone's assent.

While the battle in Urakyoto was raging, the Kyoto palace was completely protected by a double barrier. The first, which covered the palace was a barrier built by Yasaka, using Kyoto's «Lay Lines» as a source of power, while the second, which was the one that would receive the impacts of incoming attacks from outside was a barrier made with a focus stone, which was powered by a black soul gem. Said barrier had been built by Edzard, but activated by one of Yasaka's maidens.

In the middle of the main hall of the palace were Kunou and Marie, who were surrounded by some of Yasaka's best and closest guards, although not only they were there, as there was also one of the Youkai leader's main advisors. The advisor was an Inu youkai, which had two forms, one was that of a large dog and the other was a humanoid, which was that of a man in his forties, with light brown hair, he also had ears and dog tail.

"Everything seems calm." One of the guards commented calmly, because thanks to the double barrier none of the few attacks that the vampires occasionally managed to send to the Palace managed to cause any damage.

"Yes, it seems so." Another guard said as he kept his guard up.

As the guards continued to chat, in the center of the hall, Marie and Kunou were talking to each other.

"How do you think the battle goes, Ma-chan?" Kunou asked looking at her friend.

The almost three year old girl looked at her friend and clasping her arms over her chest, she began to frown in such a cute way that Kunou was tempted to give her a big hug.

"Surely our parents and the rest are kicking ass left and right." Marie replied putting on a big smile.

The smile on Marie's face was so contagious that Kunou also put a smile on her face. After that moment of laughter, Kunou let out a sigh, which worried Marie.

"What's wrong, Ku-chan?"

"I don't like sitting here doing nothing." Kunou answered playing with his fingers, since she felt a lot of discomfort and impotence. "I know I'm still little, but I want to help defend my home."

Kunou's words conveyed her emotions at this moment, as the little Kyubi felt that she could help in some way in the battle. However, both her mother and Marie's parents had told them to stay here.

While continuing with her concerns, Kunou felt someone touch her hand. Looking ahead, she saw Marie smile at her.

"Our parents don't want us to be in danger right now. When we grow up, we can help them in their struggles."

Marie's words reminded Kunou that her friend's mind was more advanced than her small body indicated. Putting on a smile, Kunou nodded, as she saw that her friend's words contained some wisdom.

The little dragon smiled wider when she saw her friend smile, because she saw that the words that her father had said to her, which had their origin in words that her great-grandfather Eitar had said to her grandfather Roland many years ago, had made Kunou understand that it was not yet the time for her to fight in battles of this caliber.

After those words, the two friends began to chat about their parents. However, their conversation was interrupted when her enhanced senses picked up a very unpleasant odor.

"What is that pest?" Kunou asked as she covered her nose with the sleeves of her miko outfit.

Along with her friend, the young dragon raised both hands to her nose to stop smelling that unpleasant odor, which was similar to a mixture of rotting meat, infected blood, and entrails left to decompose in the sun.

The girls weren't the only ones who smelled that degradable smell, as all the guards did too. As they looked at each other and began to comment on it, several magic circles formed at their feet.

"What-." What that soldier was about to say was interrupted when his body began to tremble, ending up exploding and turning into piles of blood and entrails scattered on the ground.

At the same time that that guard died, the rest of his companions suffered the same fate.

The simultaneous explosions caught the attention of the two girls, who looked at the place of origin of the explosions and what they saw made them jump back with surprise etched on their faces.

"W-what's going on?" Kunou asked with a bit of fear, since she never expected to see that kind of sight.

Like her friend, Marie was also paralyzed with fear, but unlike Kunou, she managed to pull herself together sooner. The recovery speed that the little dragon showed was far above that of a normal person and that was because her father had trained her so that she could react quickly. And it seems that her father's lessons would be put to the test today, since thanks to having managed to come to so quickly, she could see that a shadow was thrown over Kunou, so reacting quickly she jumped and managed to push her friend.

The force Marie used in the blow sent Kunou flying a few meters, knocking her out of attack range. However, due to that fortuitous movement, the little dragon didn't know how to distribute her strength well enough to stay out of the range of the attack aimed at her friend, so she ended up receiving the blow. The blow Marie received was so strong that she made her spit up a bit of saliva, and then she shot out of it a few meters and ended up skidding a few more on the polished wooden floor of the palace.

"Marie!" Kunou yelled in panic as she saw her friend lying on the ground. Without wasting a second, she quickly got to her feet and instantly ran towards her. Unfortunately, she could not get to where her friend was, because the person who had tried to attack her now stood in front of her, blocking the way.

The little Kitsune's eyes widened when she saw how the person who attacked her was her mother's adviser.

"H-Hiroshi-sama." Kunou stammered as she took a few steps back as anger and disappointment began to well up within her. "Why Hiroshi-sama?! Why do you attack me?! Why did you attack Marie-chan?!"

The young kitsune kept screaming, but the youkai dog didn't answer anything. Seeing that the youkai didn't answer her, Kunou continued to yell as he started to walk towards her. Seeing this, the young Kitsune began to throw fireballs at him, which did not cause much damage, as the Inu dodged or stopped them using magic circles.

"HA!" Kunou yelled as she clasped both her hands together and created a large fireball, which she launched at the youkai. Kunou's attack was not only an attempt to stop her enemy, but it also had the secondary function of making enough noise that the guards outside managed to see what was wrong and approached her to help her.

The fireball advanced and impacted on the Youkai, generating a large explosion. When the explosion dissipated, it could be seen that Hiroshi's body was in very poor condition, but it wasn't because of the fire or the explosion, but rather seemed to be the result of some kind of poison or disease, as his skin had turned pale, and it had an appearance of parched skin together with some cracks through which black blood oozed. His footsteps began to become slow and clumsy, but the biggest change was in his eyes, as they lit up like two balls of pale blue fire.

'What's wrong, why isn't anyone coming?' Kunou thought in panic as she saw that no one was approaching despite the huge explosion that had happened a few moments ago.

Unbeknownst to Yasaka's daughter, the lack of guards entering the hall was because the guards in the vicinity outside the hall had also been killed in the same manner as the guards inside the hall.

Turning to look at her enemy, the young kitsune saw him approaching her, so she began to back away in a panic. As Kunou took five steps back, Hiroshi disappeared in a burst of speed and ended up standing in front of her. This action ended up taking the little Youkai by surprise, which made the girl fail to react in time, thus receiving a powerful blow to her abdomen, causing the girl's body to bend in a V.

"Ugh." Kunou spat as she felt the air leave her lungs.

The young kitsune's body went flying a few meters and she ended up falling to the ground with a thud. Kunou tried to get up, but her body felt sore and heavy from the lack of air caused by the blow she received, which caused her movements to be clumsy.

As Kunou struggled to get up, Hiroshi advanced towards where she was. As he advanced, the youkai's eyes began to shed tears, which were not noticed by Kunou, but by someone else.

On the other side of where Hiroshi and Kunou were, Marie was managing to get to her feet. The moment she managed to stand up, the little girl's body began to glow pale green while a small, almost translucent, ring-shaped spectrum was present in her right hand. That ring looked a bit like the one that was Asia's sacred gear, but unlike hers there was a white gem all over the center of it.

Already standing, the little dragon began to move towards where her friend was, but her steps were slow and clumsy, as her body was sore from the blow she had received earlier. The little girl's eyes were full of tears, because she felt a lot of pain in her body, but despite that, she did not cry, nor did she moan in pain. Seeing that her friend was in imminent danger, coupled with the large amount of adrenaline her body was producing, she made her brain ignore her pain, allowing her to move forward to try to help her. With each step she took, Marie's green eyes began to slowly change color. The color change started at the edge of her iris and then moved towards the center, by the time the change finished, her eyes had turned golden and shone like two little stars.

Hiroshi stopped short as he felt a great surge of power and turning his head, he saw Marie slowly advancing towards him. Putting aside his objective for now, he started walking towards Marie and when he took three steps, he used the same tactic he used against Kunou.

Marie's eyes widened as she watched the Youkai disappear and reappear just two meters from her. The way the youkai was positioned after reappearing was a clear indication that he was planning to hit Marie in her abdomen.

Seeing the youkai preparing to strike her, Marie instinctively tensed every muscle in her body in preparation to receive the blow. However, at that moment something happened that she would never have imagined, because the little dragon felt that a great electric current was going through her entire body, from her spine to her eyes, which caused her to blink. After that small blink, Marie was greatly surprised by what was happening, as she began to see Hiroshi move in slow motion.

While this was going on, Kunou began to shed tears of despair and helplessness as she saw how her friend was about to be attacked by Hiroshi. However, what she would see next would end up being etched in her mind for many years.

Seeing how Hiroshi moved his left arm, Marie opened her mouth and began to gather a large amount of energy in her vocal cords. As she prepared herself for what was to come, her mind recalled the words her father told her about the Thu'um. Those words were about how the power and energy impregnated in the shout could greatly influence the amount of power the thu'um would have when it was unleashed.

A small amount of smoke began to rise from Marie's throat as energy built up in her vocal cords. When the little girl felt that her thu'um was ready, she shouted with all the force she could muster.

"FUS! RO!"

When she finished shouting, a wave of blue energy emerged from Marie's mouth, which hit Hiroshi squarely, sending him flying. The force of Marie's Thu'um not only dragged the Youkai's body like a hurricane wind moves a tree leaf, but also ended up tearing his body into hundreds of fragments. Although, that was not the most amazing thing, since that attack continued advancing, destroying everything in its path. When it finally finished advancing, the attack had created such destruction that it had drawn the attention of everyone in the vicinity, both inside and outside the palace. However, unknown to everyone, the destruction of part of the Yasaka palace was not all that Marie's thu'um did, as it also hit the inner barrier that protected the palace. While it failed to destroy the barrier, it did manage to weaken it significantly. Furthermore, even though the barrier should have regained its power thanks to the «Lay Lines», for some reason the barrier was not able to recover at the rate it should have, indicating that something was up. This now made the outer barrier, which was created by the focus stone, the real defense of the palace against outside threats.

When the cloud of dust, which had originated from the destruction caused by Marie's thu'um, dissipated, Kunou stared wide-eyed at the destruction her friend had caused with a single spell.

'I-i-incredible... How much destructive power?' Kunou thought, looking at the destruction of her friend's attack, but then she had to look towards where Marie was, because she heard a thud coming from that place.

"Marie!" Kunou yelled in concern as she saw how her friend was on the ground. Taking quick steps, Kunou approached her and as she crouched down from her, she realized that she was only unconscious. Seeing this, the little kitsune took her in her arms and began to walk towards where all the civilians took refuge, since this place was no longer safe for both.

As the little Kitsune took a few steps towards the door, she staggered as the entire place trembled. Fortunately, she managed to stay on her feet and not fall along with Marie. When the place stopped shaking, she looked up at the sky and saw with horror how the first barrier, the one that had been created by Marie's father, fell.

Author's note:

To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Because being honest, I don't know how to write much in English and I'm relying on Google translators and the dictionaries that come with office 2019.

And chapter 48 is out.

Poor Youkai, they go from the frying pan to the coals getting a second invasion before they recovered from the first. With this we see how Molag Bal's invasions are, he will always try to attack enemies that have already been weakened by third parties. Also, we see the awakening of Marie's powers, both the ability she inherited from Caius (Hero of Kvatch) and a new power, what will this power be? The answer is left to your imagination and guesswork.

Well, I apologize for any misspelling. Do not forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter or if there is something that needs to be improved or if you have any questions about the story. Also, any constructive advice is welcome. With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.