Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
altajir95: Thanks, we've all reached the canon timeline, and things is going to start getting interesting at this point. And thanks, I hope the same for you too.
MaTachin: Well, the Twin Dragons and Magic Knight take place in the same location, and school, so it is kinda hard for Issei not to appear from time to time. I mean, I can understand that you may not like his character, but he's still important in it. But, the Last Amagiri focuses on telling the story from a different point of view compared to an OC being reincarnated, then experiences all the benefits of being a devil.
dinocam3: I'm happy to hear that you like the story. And that's awesome to hear, I didn't know someone added The Last Amagiri to Tv Tropes.
Meeting the Phenex
The next morning, Kensei found himself standing in one of the bounded fields Zane and the others created while standing in the middle of a magic circle. Instead of his usual clothing, he was dressed in the Kibou Alliance's uniform, which seemed like an agency uniform; his having a mixture of black and blue added onto it. All of their uniforms were specially made by Zane's eldest brother, Albert using techniques from the Norse World, granting him various resistances no other clothes would have.
Of course, as the Wayland Household was getting bored without anything to craft lately, the Kibou Alliance felt a lot like a godsend for them.
"Everything looks prepared at the moment boss."
Around him, there were Kibou Alliance members older than himself, dressed in uniforms that looked to be more appropriate for magicians. All of them were working on the magic circle Kensei was now standing on top of, but it felt a little odd for him to be called "boss".
"I still don't know how I feel about being called 'boss', but thanks," Kensei pointed out as he retrieved the paper, which has the Phenex Clan's magic circle drawn on it. "
"Well, that's what you get for leaving an impact."
One of them joked.
"Or would you prefer, Daimyo of Kibou?"
"Don't push it."
Kensei replied to another one of them, realizing that they were referring to the fact that the samurai clan he came from does have Daimyo. It was also something that some people starting calling him as more of a joke since the base was finished. There were other people who were examing the created bounded field, all of them were the people sold by Hagun Island and turned into devils, but now works for Ajuka. Although they did all remain loyal to Ajuka, they can be considered close affiliates to the Kibou Alliance, and could freely do things of this nature. They were all marveling at the creation of this bounded field, which was something that even the Maou was impressed about since it was based on the information of his gaming fields.
"Ajuka-sama was impressed after receiving the data on one of the bounded fields made here."
"I still can't believe those little kids were the same ones we met on Hagun Island."
"No wonder, they were able to break apart the entire group there."
Aside from them, standing in front of Kensei was Zane, Maria, Hisui, Claire, Alice, and Kunou. All of them went there to see Kensei off to the Underworld since he received a request directly from the Phenex Clan.
"Well, joking aside this magic circle is finished," Zane pointed out as he noticed the magic circle was finished. "All you need to do is hold that magic circle your dad gave you, then you'll be teleported to the Phenex Household."
"I still can't believe our first Underworld request came from the Phenex Clan."
Maria pointed out still unable to come to terms with that.
"That just means our group's fame is going to spread out more than before."
Hisui added.
"Well, the Phenex Clan Head might be desperate since his youngest child was poisoned using light. Even if their clan has immortality, their still devils who are affected by light and other holy things. Even if it doesn't kill them immediately like most devils, it's still gotta be painful for her to endure," Zane said before he noticed Kensei reaching from his pocket, then held the paper with the Phenex Clan magic circle drawn on it. "So, are you prepared to be sent off?"
"Yep, I got everything that I need. I even received lunch from a certain group of four girls."
Kensei pointed out thinking back to the bento boxes that he received from Claire, Alice, Kunou, and Hisui before leaving home and coming here.
"Well, that's good. But, I don't see this request as something that you can finish in a single day considering that we all still don't know who attacked her in the first place."
"It'll be sad seeing Ken Ken leave for any longer than a day, but he's got a life to save. And as long as he's the one involved, I can't see him failing this assignment," Hisui pointed out believing in him, but there was something that came to her mind. "Also one more thing, Ken Ken?"
"What?"
Kensei asked wondering what Hisui was going to tell him but didn't like the smile she was giving him.
"Can you please inform us if you may or might not get into a fight with the third son?"
"Why?"
Kensei was now confused about that question since it would be weird that he'd inform them about getting into a fight with someone. As he was wondering the nature being that question, he could see that all six of them were looking a little guilty about something, while being curious too.
"Wait," Kensei realized something, and started becoming agitated after figuring out the reason that Hisui requested that. "Did you all place a bet on…?"
"Well, don't forget what I requested, Ken Ken! Activate it!"
At Hisui's request, one of the magicians activated the magic circle underneath him, which shined the same color as the one that was drawn on the paper. And with that, Kensei was teleported straight to the Underworld causing his friends and fiancées to all glance at each other.
"So, he's going to be mad when he finds out we bet on him, right?"
Hisui asked.
All of them were aware that the third son, Riser who often appears in the Rating Games had a certain personality that might end up clashing against Kensei, which caused all of them to make bets on that fact.
"Well, he'll get over it."
Claire replied crossing her arms, while laughed after noticing his reaction to that realization.
"And if he doesn't, then we'll just have to make it up to him."
Alice added as Maria seemed to have placed a hand on her hip, while Zane seemed to have walked off as soon as those words left her mouth.
"So does anyone need any help?"
Zane asked as he walked towards the people from Ajuka's group, who were still examining things.
"Please, don't go into details about what you all do with Kensei."
Maria requested as she stared at them, and sighed.
"If you're jealous, then I don't mind if…."
"I'm not jealous. Kensei is just a friend and comrade."
Maria said seriously without showing signs of her emotions being any different.
"I don't know, there are a lot of saucy rumors going around school about you and Ken Ken having a secret relationship. I mean, the Student Council has a much closer relationship with the Public Morals Committee."
Hisui added as she and others seemed to have started walking off to do other business.
"I realize that. So does that mean, you're responsible for those rumors?"
"Right, blame the Newspaper Club Chief for spreading rumors first. I'll have you know that I pride my club in just giving the students nothing but the truth."
"Yea, I know," Maria pointed out smirking confidently as Hisui seemed to be hurt about the trick played on her. "I was teasing you for once. So, we can call that even."
"Maria, I didn't think that our own Knight would do something so shameful to a friend."
Even though Hisui sounded hurt, it was nothing but a faux one as the women in their small group soon started to laugh among themselves. Neither of them needed to be worried about Kensei since all of them had the utmost faith that he'll accomplish this request without trouble.
Seconds later, Kensei found himself teleported to the Underworld once again, being sent straight to the Phenex Clan's region through the magic circle. It was still the same purple skies, but for almost a second Kensei was still on the fact that his so-called friends and even his beloved fiancées all placed a bet on them.
"To be honest, I'm not surprised about this since we do things like this to each other a lot. But, I at least hope that they don't have me decking whoever this third son is in a short span of time like an hour or something. Cause it'll be…wow," Kensei finally realized that he was standing in front of the Phenex Clan's residence. "I didn't think that it'd be this big.
Kensei was standing in front of a massive, and beautiful looking castle, which has the symbol of the phoenix on it. It looked as if he stood there for almost over a minute as he was busy marveling at the beautiful structure in front of him.
"Wow, I know that devil households have large houses, but this is a little more than I was expecting. This must be what selling Phoenix Tears for whatever many years or centuries gets you."
As Kensei was pointing that out, noticing that the gates he was standing in front of him started opening while making a loud noise. Seeing the gates opening, meant that he's been acknowledged as being allowed entrance inside of the Phenex Clan castle. Once the gates opened, Kensei started walking inside passed the gates into a garden, in addition, to see that a lot of things did have fire added onto it.
He soon stood in front of the castle entrance, which had a beautiful door guarded by devils soldiers who didn't at all appear weak. He didn't know if this was normal if it was because of the situation itself, but he could think that over on a later date.
"State your business here."
One of the guarded requested, more so demanded after sensing that Kensei was, in fact, a human, and prepared their weapons for an attack.
"I'm supposed to come here to heal Lord Phenex's daughter," Kensei pointed out not being in the mood to get in an argument with some random devil soldiers. He held out the paper, which held the Phenex Clan's magic circle. "Is this proof enough for you to believe me?"
"…."
"…."
Neither of the devil soldiers could disagree that the magic circle was, in fact, authentic, but the guards were still a little bit hesitant. Soon enough, the door opened, revealing a handsome blonde-haired middle-aged man dressed in an outfit fitting for a noble.
"I informed that the person who was supposed to heal my daughter had arrived," the man, who Kensei realized is Lord Phenex looked forward and looked surprised after seeing him. It wasn't from shock about him being human and instead, it looked as if he was reminded of someone else, which didn't take him long to realize who. But, that didn't matter at the moment. "I apologize for the wait, please come in."
Hearing that from Lord Phenex himself, the devil soldiers stepped aside, allowing Kensei to follow behind him as he headed inside of the castle. Entering the castle, Kensei could see that there were several servants, maids, and butlers who were bowing their heads.
"There's a question on my mind at the moment. But, if possible I want for you to heal my daughter as quickly as possible," Lord Phenex said as he continued leading Kensei down a hall, which he believed was leading towards where his daughter was. "We tried all the usual methods for getting rid of light, but all of them appear to have all made her condition worse. If you succeed in healing my daughter, I'll be willing to…."
"I'll be healing your daughter for free," Kensei stopped Lord Phenex for a moment who looked to have been a bit surprised about that answer. "I'll accept payment for the protection request, but I don't want anything in return for healing her."
"I see. I was informed about that already, but it appears as if I was being rude for believing that…."
"Otou-sama, is this the person?"
He and Lord Phenex stopped as Riser and another male stood beside a closed room door, who resembled Riser, and their father. Kensei could tell that Riser seemed to be giving him a scrutinizing look as if he didn't believe that he was the correct person. His brother, he guessed older based on how he carried and dressed, instead stared at him with a curious look.
"Yes, Ruval, this is the person who was recommended."
"My name is…."
"Do you expect for us to believe that some no-name human from the human world can do…?"
"Well, if you'd let me finish. You'd know that my name is Kensei Amagiri," Kensei stopped Riser, in the same manner, he stopped him, causing Riser to glare at him irritated at that. "So, if you don't mind me, I'm going to do what I've been hired to do. Lord Phenex, does this room belong to your daughter?"
Kensei asked as he could sense the ki of two different people inside, both of whom appeared to resemble each a great deal. Lord Phenex was surprised that he could guess that without seeing anything that could have revealed that, but he nodded his head.
"Yes, Ravel is in there with her mother beside her. I could barely get her to leave her side," Lord Phenex worried about what might happen to his daughter if she isn't healed. "Even if you don't plan on being paid for healing her, I'll forever be grateful for this."
He didn't show it much, but Kensei could hear the desperation in his voice over the fact that one of his children is in this state. Seeing this, he placed a comforting hand on Lord Phenex's shoulder as he stared at him with a look filled with nothing but confidence.
"Don't worry, you're daughter will be good as new in a minute or two."
Kensei replied with the same level of confidence as his expression.
Ruval could hear that there wasn't arrogance or baseless confidence in his tone, instead, it was one of the most genuine things he's heard from another person. Riser, on the other hand, didn't appear to believe him at all as he turned aside. He realized it was a decision his parents made, so it wasn't something that he could overturn even if he doubted Kensei's confidence.
Instead of wasting any more time talking about it, Kensei decided to head inside of the bedroom where both Ravel and her mother were. Inside the room, he could see a woman was appearing to be in her twenties, bearing a strong resemblance to her daughter, and holding her hand. Lady Phenex was so focused and worried that she didn't register his presence.
Kensei looked in to see that Ravel was sleeping in her bed with the others over her, but she didn't appear to be peaceful. She looked to be covered in sweat and groaning as the light inside of her was still poisoning her, but at the angle, he could see that there were some markings along the arm her mother held.
"Excuse me, ma'am," Kensei said kindly catching Lady Phenex's attention as she turned around to face him. "I'm the person that was brought in to heal your daughter."
"You're…. I see."
Lady Phenex seemed to have recognized that Kensei reminded her of someone else too like Lord Phenex.
"Ma'am, is it possible to remove the covers so that I can start healing her?"
"Huh," Lady Phenex seemed confused about that for a second due to the situation but realized what he meant about that. "Yes, it's fine. Ravel is wearing sleepwear under the covers, so I'll remove the covers for you."
Lady Phenex said as her husband, and two sons stood inside the bedroom simply watching the entire situation. It could be seen that for the oldest son and father that it was out of curiosity, but for Riser, it was because he didn't believe him at all.
After finishing removing the covers, Kensei could see that Ravel was wearing pink pajamas with both a top and bottom. But, the thing that caught his attention most was the golden patterns across her, which gave off the same feeling as light.
"Uh, would it be possible for me to remain beside her as you heal her?"
Lady Phenex sincerely requested, which was something that Kensei couldn't disagree with, more so since it will not affect anything.
"I don't mind. But, I ask that no one interrupts me when doing this since it's a little bit complicated."
Kensei requested, which neither of them had an issue with considering what he was doing for them, but Riser still couldn't get over his disbelief about Kensei's abilities. Seeing that, he moved in a position on the bed where he'd be able to kneel in front of the bed, and gently lifted her pajamas' shirt so that her stomach was exposed, and nothing else aside from that. Having seen what he was doing, Riser's emotions seemed to have flared up and stepped forward.
"H-Hey, what do you think you…?"
"Shhh, Riser. You didn't react like this when an actual doctor came to check on her condition."
Riser was silenced by his older brother seeing nothing wrong with the situation since Kensei was acting nothing, but professional the entire time. Neither Ruval nor Lord Phenex reacted the same as Kensei even allowed Lady Phenex to remain beside her daughter to give her some peace of mind. Kensei kneeled, placing one hand underneath her neck to lift her a bit, and another one above her stomach.
"…."
A calming breath escaped from her mouth before starting to focus without anything else entering his mind and/or interrupting him. A second later, an aura covered him and his hand, before a fiery aura was wrapped around her too. Seeing this surprised the people standing in the room, but all of them still focused on the situation without a single word leaving their mouths.
"I have to isolate the light inside of her using my ki, and make hers flow in the same direction," Kensei thought as he was doing just that as he could sense the light inside her being moved around, but he could sense that it was attempting to counter it. "Well, this is surprising. Whatever bastard did this want to ensure that no one else can remove the light from her body? But, I'm not an average senjutsu user."
Kensei started focusing more ki inside of her body, as the light seemed to have been unable to counteract the ki and was being forced in the direction that he wanted it to go in. Lady Phenex started looking more hopeful as the golden patterns that spread across her daughter's body started receding and fading, all gathering around her exposed stomach. Soon enough, all the light inside of her started being extracted as light particles from her stomach and started amassing as a small sphere inside Knensei's hand.
"…."
Once all the light left her entire body, Ravel started appearing more peaceful as her breathing was more relaxed. Seeing that their daughter was alright, Lord and Lady Phenex were almost overcome with emotions after seeing that their daughter was alright. A relieved breath escaped from Ruval's and Riser's mouths after seeing that their younger sister was fine.
"Well, I'll finish the treatment after dealing with this," Kensei pointed out interrupting their moment walking toward the window, then opened it much to their confusion. "I'll be back in a second."
"What're you doing?"
Lord Phenex asked after seeing Kensei was preparing to jump out of the window, holding the light sphere in his hands without turning back toward them.
"You'll see in a moment! But, it might be in your best interest not to come over here."
Kensei replied jumping out the window, causing the four grown-ups to stare out in confusion after seeing that he jumped out the window for whatever reason. But, all of them soon received their answers in a second.
Shine! Doooooooon!
Accompanied by a bright flash of brilliant gold light, there was an explosion that occurred at a distance from their castle. Seeing this, Ruval was the first person to move considering that if anything happens, he would have a far better chance at surviving it. Just as he was going to look outside of the window, Kensei seemed to have landed on the window sill laughing lightly.
"What happened?"
"Hah, that jerk rigged that light to explode as soon as someone removed it," Kensei said before looking at his left hand, which was holding it, and noticed that it was injured and somewhat burnt from the explosion. "I was a second late in lessening the damage, but I'm surprised that it hurt me this much despite me not being a devil. Whoever did it is a stronger person than I thought."
"Do you need a Phoenix Tear?"
Ruval kindly offered, seeing the wound.
"I'm fine. I'll heal this up in a second," Kensei casually waved off the concern, not being worried at all about the wound. "Believe, me I've had worse than this. Besides, I still need to heal your sister first."
He stepped inside of the room without showing the slightest reaction from his damaged hand, which was something that further impressed Ruval. He wasn't biased like Riser was, but it was surprising seeing a human who was able to endure that kind of attack. So, it meant he trained himself to endure that kind of attack, begging the question of how strong he was. But, Kensei walked around as if nothing happened, and approached Ravel once again.
"She's going to wake up in a moment. But, this healing method might seem a little bit irregular."
Both the parents and brothers noticed that reddish aura gathered around his hand, then directly placed it on her stomach this time. It remained there for a moment before it started seeping inside of her body, causing the same fiery aura to cover her body fading.
"Ngh."
Ravel seemed to have felt her body being heated up, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling, it instead made her feel the utmost comfort.
"What did you do?"
"I made her ki flow properly so that her natural healing abilities would increase, and then added in the fire element on top of it, since she's more compatible with flames as a Phenex. Due to this, it'll also activate your clan's regeneration, which will take care of any excess damage," Kensei answered Lady Phenex, surprising them about the answer. "I could make it so that she wakes up now, but I think that it would be best if she sleeps for a little bit more. Even then, she should wake up in a couple of minutes."
"Thank you for helping our daughter!"
Lady Phenex said as she grasped his hand using both hers wearing the upmost grateful expression that she could muster, while Kensei could even see some tears formed at the corners of her eyes too.
"It's no problem. I'm just glad that I was able to help."
Kensei replied smiling in response to that relieving the woman of her worries.
"Well, dear, I believe that you should remain besides Ravel until she wakes up," Lord Phenex stated as a weight seemed to have been lifted from his chest. "Kensei-san, could we talk about it over tea?"
"Sure, I don't mind. I believe there are some things that we need to talk about."
Kensei replied as Lady Phenex released his hands, then went back to her seat so that she could sit beside her healed daughter who was sleeping peacefully.
"This is good news. My other brother wanted to be here too, but I told him that I'd contact him if anything serious happened. So, Otou-sama, I'll be leaving to inform him that Ravel is alright."
Ruval respectfully said as he bowed his head, then left after getting his father's go-ahead.
"I'll go inform my peerage and prepare," Riser stated, starting walking off before turning around to stare right at Kensei, then pointed straight at him. "I'll be the one who defeats the fools who dared attack the Phenex Clan."
Kensei didn't respond as he noticed Riser walking off without turning around again, causing a sigh to escape his father's mouth.
"I do apologize for Riser. I sometimes wonder how he turned out different from his brothers despite being raised not so different from them."
"That's fine. I can somewhat understand the desire to want to get the people who hurt your sister."
Kensei said not minding that comment at least, but if it was anything else, then someone from the group would've won a bet considering what the conditions entailed.
He then started following behind Lord Phenex as he seemed to have been leading him towards a place where it would be possible for them to have tea, and talk.
It wasn't long until Lord Phenex led him into another beautiful room, which looked perfect to hold either a meeting or simple conversation. As he and Lord Phenex were waiting for the maids to finish brewing their tea, it had given him time to look around. He could see there were a few paintings hung up along the room's walls, one of them, in particular, caught his attention.
"Do you mind if I asked where that painting came from?"
Kensei asked.
Lord Phenex turned his head to see a painting depicting a forest, with the sunset and clouds in the sky, giving off a beautiful red color. If one looked at it, it made one wonder whether or not it was an actual location, which was painted out in detail and person.
"Ah, my wife found that one in the human world after a client presented to us as a gift. She found the painting an incredibly beautiful work of art and hung it here. I believe that the artist, Amalia D'angelo is a magic-user of some kind since their signature was hidden within it."
"Amalia D'angelo, huh?"
"Have you heard of them? We wouldn't mind finding more art painted by them."
"Yea, I've heard of that artist from before," Kensei replied to Lord Phenex who seemed to have liked the painting too. "That's definitely Alice's pseudonym and her painting. I wonder how she would react to hear that even those from famous devil clans love her paintings? Actually, should I tell them at one point that I live with the painter? Well, I'll see what Alice thinks about it first."
As that thought crossed his mind, Kensei and Lord Phenex noticed that the maids had brought them their tea and snacks to go with them. Once the tea was placed in front of them, both men picked it up from the table, with the older man being surprised about the level of etiquette that a teenager like Kensei was displaying. If most people were to see them, then they would get a rough feeling about him, but since he arrived, he has been nothing less than a proper young man.
"Well, I believe that the first thing that I was wondering," Lord Phenex started after drinking from his tea, then placed it on the table. "I could already tell this after meeting you for the first time. But, you're Tetsuo's oldest son, correct?"
"That's correct. He and I have different last names since I was born into the clan that my mother belonged to, so I inherited her last name."
"I thought that Tetsuo-dono too proud of the person that he suggested could assist us in our situation. He never did mention that he had another child aside from his second son, and later his daughter. But, Tetsuo-dono at one point last year mentioned that he actually had a firstborn son," Lord Phenex revealed. "I apologize, but first when Tetsuo-dono brought it up, I was under the impression that his son was a troublemaker."
"I mean, he's not exactly wrong about that part."
Kensei spoke under his breath about the troublemaker part.
"But, then he mentioned that he didn't have the right to brag about his oldest son. I was surprised to hear that as Tetsuo-dono rarely shows emotions. But, that got me thinking about what his oldest child was like to make him feel like that," Lord Phenex said before giving him a genuine smile. "And it appears as if you were raised into and became an excellent person."
Kensei was surprised as he heard that from Lord Phenex as it was one of the first times that he heard anything like that from another devil aside from Sirzechs and Zeoticus.
"Well, to be honest, my parents were troublemakers themselves when they were my age."
"I'm sure stories about that Tetsuo-dono would be fun to listen to," Lord Phenex laughed imaging someone who's as straight-laced as Tetsuo was as a teenager before letting a breath escaped from his mouth. Kensei could tell that he was becoming more serious at that moment. "But, I believe that we should have a conversation involving the people who attacked Ravel."
Kensei could see that Lord Phenex became nothing less than serious as both the leader of the clan, but more so as a father who witnessed his own child being momentarily bedridden.
"Of course, in situations like this, he's a father and husband first, and a clan leader second," Kensei said placing his teacup on the table before starting. "So, this morning, I heard that Riser had found a letter after Ravel was poisoned using light. Can I read it?"
"Of course, give me a moment."
Lord Phenex said as he pulled the letter from the dimensional storage, then handed it to Kensei.
"Hmmm?"
Kensei started at the letter intently as he read it:
To the Phenex Household. One of the members of our group has poisoned your youngest child using light. So, I believe that a devil such as yourself knows what that means in the long run. If you want your little daughter to reach adulthood, then surrender 50 Phoenix Tears, then we'll remove the light poisoning.
"This can't be their real intentions," Kensei pointed out as he finished reading the short and simple note. "I mean, who goes to the trouble of finding the exact location where your daughter would be just for Phoenix Tears? There are other easier methods than that, and you could just steal them from someone else who has them."
"What else could they want aside from that. I tried racking my head around it since finding it, but there's nothing we could have that they'd desire that much."
Lord Phenex replied trying to come up with several things that they could have wanted that badly.
"Well, I'll hold onto it for now, and think it over. But, I think that the first thing that I need to do is head out to where it happened, and see if I can find anything there. It hasn't been that long until the incident, so I should still be able to sense something there."
"I'll get the location from Riser so that you could go there whenever you're prepared."
"Alright, but I'm going to give you a heads up," Kensei stated picking up one of the snacks that the maid made as Lord Phenex wondered what he was going to say. "At some point, there might or might not be a point where I hit Riser. I've met my fair share of people, and his personality is a lot like there's."
"…."
Lord Phenex almost stopped himself from laughing out loud after hearing that comment from him, but it still came out as he laughed not as hard as he wanted.
"Hahahaha, I don't think that anyone has ever said anything like that to me! I don't think that anyone out actually ever openly states they might punch a member of the Phenex Household! You're truly unbelievably an honest person!"
"Otou-sama, I've come to…."
Ravel, who had woken up moments ago, fixed her appearance, and dressed, wearing a pink dress, which made herself look like a genuine princess. She was now standing inside of the room, where she found her father laughing with Kensei for whatever reason.
"Am I interrupting?"
Ravel looked on confused as her father starting calming down from whatever Kensei said to him.
"N-No, of course, not," Lord Phenex replied calming down, then stood up from his seat to approach his daughter, who he hugged, surprising her. "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, Ravel."
"O-Of course, as if something like that could keep me down for long."
Ravel said in a prideful tone, but anyone could tell that she felt happy being hugged by her father who showed an emotional reaction to seeing her being healed.
"Well, I think that you two should become acquainted with one another since he'll also be acting as your guard. I'll be informing Riser about the situation we talked about beforehand, Kensei-san."
"Sure thing."
Lord Phenex after coming to an understanding in that regard, petted his daughter's head one more time, then headed outside of the room leaving them alone. Ravel could see that Kensei was finishing up the snack that the maid had brought before drinking the tea.
"Okaa-sama said that the person who healed me was the son of one of Otou-sama's partners, Tetsuo-sama. I've seen him before at least once before, but I couldn't really understand him must. However, Otou-sama mentioned he was one of the best people he's worked with thus far. I wonder what kind of person his son is," Ravel thought to herself as she prepared to introduce herself as Kensei was preparing to do the same. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Ravel…Phenex."
Ravel introduced herself as Kensei turned around to introduce himself too.
"Hey, my name is Kensei Amagiri. It's great to see you're up and moving around alright."
Kensei introduced himself, then noticed that Ravel was staring at him for some time as her cheeks looked red.
"H-He's quite…handsome," Ravel thought in her head before recovering from her usual demeanor. "I have come here to thank you for saving my life. S-So, you should feel grateful that I took the time to d so."
"Oh, my God, you're a tsundere! Hahahaha, that's so perfect!"
Kensei joked causing her cheeks to turn red from embarrassment at that moment, causing her to almost lose her composed expression.
"I-I'm not a tsundere!"
Ravel countered.
"Come on, there's nothing wrong with being a tsundere," Kensei said before pointing to the seat where her father had been sitting. "I don't know if I have the right to say this since this is your home. But, could you take a seat so that we can talk."
"I planned on that anyway."
Ravel replied huffing and crossing her arms as she sat down in front of him.
She looked noticing that there was another empty cup that the maid left behind, feeling thirsty since she had just woken up without drinking anything. Pouring herself some tea into the cup, Ravel drunk from it, which quenched her thirst before beginning to speak to her newly hired bodyguard.
"So, the first reason that I came here was so that I could thank you for healing me. And the second reason," she stated as she placed the teacup on the table. "I was quite curious about what you could do. I am already well aware that your father hails from a famed clan."
"She gives off a typical princess vibe, but there's more to Ravel than that. She's not questioning why a human is acting as her bodyguard, but curious about the reason," Kensei said a little impressed about her level of maturity compared to most. "I'm the sole heir to a famous clan of special power users, who also practices martial arts and magic from Shintoism."
"What kind of special powers?"
"Like another clan of special power users, we use the Five Elements too as a part of our techniques. Aside from that, I have also mastered senjutsu a great deal, which goes well with it."
Kensei replied, surprising her.
"Senjutsu?"
Based on her reaction, Ravel seemed to have known or at least heard about it from somewhere else.
"Have you heard about it?"
"A long time ago, there was a situation where a nekoshou, who had been reincarnated into a devil was rumored to have become drunk on the power she gained. She killed her master before leaving and has been classified as an SS-Class rogue devil. Of course, that was simply what I heard. I don't know if that's what happened. But, I had heard that using it allows you to control something called ki, sense others, to list a couple of things I can do. I did hear that it's quite rare, and difficult to learn, so I'm surprised you mastered it."
"Is that so? Well, it looks as if this tsundere is quite knowledgeable," Kensei replied jokingly causing Ravel to give him a glare, which he found cute. He was interested in hearing more about this nekoshou who had become one of the rogue devils. "If I did lose control, and become something like that. I might end up getting a sound beating from the person who taught me it in the first place."
"And that person would be?"
"Sun Wukong."
There was a slight pause as Ravel heard that name, but found herself staring at him shocked, and felt as if she'd misheard the name.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that."
"Sun Wukong, the Victorious Fighting Buddha."
"So, you trained with one of the greatest figures mentioned in one of the famous stories trained you," Ravel said in a tone that seemed as if she didn't believe him as she shook, but later stared at him beaming surprising him by the look on her eyes. "That's amazing!"
"Eh?"
Kensei was almost surprised as her personality seemed to have gone through a complete one-eighty, going from serious to excited in a second.
"It's remarkable that you were able to meet and train with someone as famous as Sun Wukong. And even learn a rare technique from him at the same time. Oh, is there anything else that you've done, like meeting anyone else or going on an adventure," Ravel said before realizing how she was speaking right now. And how she was speaking, causing her face to turn red as she coughed into her hand. "I-I apologize for that, I seem to have shown something unbecoming."
"No, that's fine. I think that I found that side quite cute," Kensei replied causing her to blush. "But, do have a lot of stories to tell if you're willing to listen to them."
"Th-That's fine. But, I hope it isn't anything unappealing."
"So tsundere. But, that's what makes them too cute."
Kensei thought as he chuckled to himself about her reaction to that.
Kensei and Ravel spent portions of their time talking about random things while eating the snacks prepared, and drinking their tea too.
Minutes afterward, Kensei found himself walking about the Phenex Castle to see get the castle layout mapped out on his Oracle Phone. Before temporarily splitting up, Ravel informed him that she was going to talk to all her fellow peerage members, and he informed her he'd be doing this. She did offer to show him around the castle, but he informed her that he was mapping out the layout.
He didn't need to be worried about anyone attacking Ravel in the castle, more so since he could sense her from here. And she seemed to be talking to three of Riser's peerage members at the moment, inside of another room.
"Alright, so using this app, I can get the overall structure of the entire castle mapped out from walking around for a couple of minutes," Kensei said, holding the Oracle Phone in his hand as the app worked on rendering the castle structure. "After finishing this, and getting to know everyone's auras, then I can work on putting up the talismans, and shikigami to prepare for an attack. If whoever placed that light inside Ravel realizes that it had been removed from her, then they might switch up their plan, and come in person."
He had several talismans prepared for this exact situation and had enough to cover the entire area as soon as he found proper locations for them. Kensei thought about quickening his pace to get it done faster but didn't go through with it. Since it meant that the app might be unable to get an accurate structural layout.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
At the same time, he could hear his Oracle Phone going off, then answered it as the app continued walking.
"Hello?"
[Hey, Kensei.]
"Claire? I haven't been gone that long, and you're already checking up on me."
[Actually, I wanted to call in to see if you ended up fighting the third son yet.]
Kensei could clearly hear Claire teasing him on the other end of the phone.
"Hahaha, you're hilarious."
[No need to sound so blank.] Claire spoke on the other end of the phone, sounding as if she was holding herself back from laughter. [In all seriousness, I did kinda want to check-in since it was your first official trip there. And I kind curious, and wanted to hear what kind of person this Ravel-san was like.]
"Well, at first impression, she comes off as a princess, but she is, in actuality a good person. She is also kind of a tsundere," Kensei pointed out causing her to stifle a bit from laughter. "But, I don't think there are that many people in the Underworld her age who can come back from being poisoned with light."
[My Kensei, you aren't thinking of making Ravel your next fiancée, are you?]
"First off, I haven't even known her for over an hour. So, how would that sound me coming to that answer in that span of time? And second, I think that you've been spending a little bit too much time around Hisui."
[First off, that's hurtful. And second, I'd be careful saying that to the person who's often in charge of cooking. You might just find a special meal filled with green peppers.]
"You know, I might just ruin that bet that you all made on me by just cutting to the chase, and knock him out."
Kensei and Claire were having their friendly banter with one another as he continued walking, while both of them just laughed throughout the entire time.
[So, are you planning on remaining there until the job is done?]
"Well, it'd be a shame if someone attacked by the person I'm supposed to be guarding if I wasn't here. Am I going to be missed that much if I'm gone for a couple of days?"
[Well, I'm pretty sure that we can manage that for a couple of days. But, if you need anything, then you know who to call.]
"Yea. Also, tell Alice that her work is starting to appear in the Underworld too. I found one of her paintings inside of the Phenex Castle."
[Really, I'm sure that Alice-nee would be happy to hear that one. Well, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing at the moment. I love you.]
"I love you too, Claire."
Kensei said as he hung up the phone, before realizing that the app finished building a render of the castle.
"So, who were you talking to?"
Kensei was surprised to hear someone behind him because he was focused on talking to Claire, but he already knew who that person was. Approaching him was Riser and Yubelluna, who Kensei already knew was his Queen based on her stature alone. Both of them similarly shared an air of arrogance between them, which wasn't really something that he needed to focus on at the moment.
"Someone back where I live."
Kensei replied, being more focused on the task at hand rather than dealing with Riser.
"Do you know what I think about you?"
Riser asked as he approached Kensei.
"I really don't care. But, I have the oddest feeling you're going to tell me either way."
"You might be confident in your capability to heal, but I doubt that you have what it takes to protect my sister. So, why don't you take your payment for doing that, and leave the rest to me?"
Riser replied arrogantly and cockily, while his Queen remained on the sideline silently agreeing.
"You know, if I were in your shoes, I'd thank the person who healed my sister. And not act like a shithead."
Hearing Kensei's response caused Riser to step forward as flames seem to flicker around him threateningly, but it didn't even bring the slightest reaction from him. Standing in front of Riser, in his own home was a lowly human who had the nerve of looking down on him despite his status.
"How dare you talk to Riser-sama like that?! He's a high-class devil, an individual of a higher status compared to a lowly human like you. People such as yourself from the Human World would be hoping for the chance to be in his presence in any situation."
"Weren't you human once too," Kensei asked, not looking at either of them as he overlooked the castle layout on his Oracle Phone. "You're quite quick to talk down on someone when you were human once too."
"I was given a chance to become something more than a human, and because of that I can live far longer than a normal human."
"Well, good for you. I don't think that I could ever be under anyone like that who refers to me as a servant as just a common daily term. I'm happy with living life as I am now as a youthful swordsman from the Shinto Faction with nothing less than free reign over my own life. I live with people I care about, and travel as I like."
Riser looked irritated as Kensei wasn't paying attention to him, then an idea entered his mind, which happened to be something that most would be jealous of. Without her noticing, Riser moved behind Yubelluna, then started to groping her voluptuous chest from behind.
"Iyah, Riser-sama?!"
Yubelluna was surprised but accepted it as Riser started running his hands across her breasts causing moans to escape from her mouth.
"I bet that you could never experience something like this in that daily life in yours," Riser commented as he was more focused on groping his Queen, who allowed this to happen even in front of someone else. "I have an entire harem of my own composed of some of the most beautiful collection of women and girls around. I can see all the jealous looks of people whenever seeing me with even my beautiful Queen. So, what could a cur like you do…?"
Riser looked to see that Kensei already walked off at some point without showing signs of his departing presence, or footsteps being noticed. Seeing that he had been ignored a second time by Kensei, a tick mark started forming on his forehead as he looked forward. However, that didn't stop him from wanting to grope his Queen's breasts in this situation since he already started.
"Riser, what're you doing?"
"Wah?!"
Riser reacted as soon as he heard that familiar voice.
He turned around to find that his mother was standing behind him sending a stern look in his direction, causing a notable change in demeanor.
"O-Okaa-san, what're you doing here?"
"I was looking for Kensei-san since Ravel told me he was getting a better idea of our castle's layout. So, I wanted to ask if he wanted to join us for dinner later," Lady Phenex replied as she stared at her third son, who was now looking a lot smaller than before under her gaze. "However, what I came across was my youngest son just doing incident things with his Queen in the hallway."
Riser and Yubelluna stood beside each other looking ashamed, after stopping what the two of them were doing with each other. Both of them seemed to shake and buckle down under the woman's gaze as she slowly tapped her foot on the ground.
"Riser, I don't mind that you have with kind of relationship with your servants, but I was certain that I told you not to do these things out in the open. Leaving that aside, your sister had just gotten better after being poisoned, and you're doing these indecent things. I was under the impression that you were making preparations to get whoever was responsible for hurting Ravel."
"W-Wait, Okaa-san, I was just…."
"Yubelluna, I believe that you should leave to join the others, while I have a conversation with Riser about proper manners in this matter."
"Y-Yes, ma'am," even Yubelluna was unable to act arrogant in front of the Phenex Clan matriarch, as she started walking off at a quick pace. Riser was looking on almost begging that his Queen didn't leave him there with his mother, but she was too frightened to remain there. "I'm sorry, Riser-sama."
Riser was left there almost in a state of panic as his mother approached him, almost as if death itself had arrived for him. After arriving in front of her third son, Lady Phenex grabbed a hold of his ear, causing an indescribable pain to spread across his entire body.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, Kaa-san!"
"It's been a long time since I had to lecture you like this. Like the time that Ravel told me the reason that you had allowed her into your peerage in the first place," Lady Phenex said as she dragged Riser along with her toward a private area, where she could lecture him. "Honestly, where did I go wrong when I was raising you. I don't recall needing to discuss these matters with either of your older brothers. It makes me almost want to take Ravel out of your peerage, so you don't misuse her talents. But, I might just do so simply because you're doing nothing more than using her for fashion to make others jealous."
"Argh, but I can't lose Ravel! I'll lose my ideal for a harem! She's the perfect little sister and tsundere type."
"Riser, please don't make me any madder than I already am."
"Ah, I'm sorry!"
Riser was soon dragged off to another location by his mother, where he received the kind of lecture that no even he would be able to recover from. His peerage and Ravel were wondering about what happened to him, but none of them received a single response from him or Yubelluna. At around the same time, Kensei returned from going over the castle's layout and wondered what happened after he left.
Having received the location from Lord Phenex, Kensei returned to the Human World and arrived at the location where Ravel had been poisoned. Arriving there, he found that it was still daytime there, but the sun looked as if it was going to fall soon. There was also the fact that the rogue devil's base was almost completely burned down to the ground. And there wasn't a single sign of the rogue's corpses.
"Well, at least, this isn't surprising considering the Phenex's flames are almost comparable to actual hellfire. And can wound a dragon's scales," Kensei spoke as he looked around, before stopping at a good enough place to stand. "Alright, I've never tried this before, but let's give it a shot."
Kensei knelt on the ground with his hand placed firmly on it, a breath escaped from his mouth as he gathered the surrounding natural ki. In the midst of doing that, he could feel the natural life around him too, from the plants to the animals around him based on their auras. And among them, there were the residual auras from several devils, which he knew came from Riser, Ravel, his peerage, and the rogue devils.
"Alright, I got a basic idea of where everyone was standing around here," Kensei thought as he started retracing all that happened based on their auras. "Aside from them, there was one more person here…it appears as if it was a human with light powers."
Kensei noted as he could sense that a human did arrive at around the same left that Riser and the others left, but that person soon departed to using a magic circle soon after.
"A human with light powers. There's a chance that it's a sacred gear user or even someone who can use magic."
He surmised as he continued surveying the area, which had Riser's and the other's residual auras all around it as a result of their battle. But, he was surprised that he couldn't sense Ravel's much, but that could be because she didn't participate. There was also the person attacking, meaning that whoever did attack must have been skilled at keeping their auras hidden.
"Well, that removes the chance of it being a magic-user. Most of them never practice things like that."
Kensei said as he continued going throughout the situation bit by bit, then noticed that a familiar magic circle had appeared in the location. He turned around to see that Ravel appeared on the scene surprising him as he stared at the princess.
"Ravel, what're you doing here?"
"You might be acting as a bodyguard for me," Ravel pointed out before looking confident, and crossing both her arms. "But, I'm not the kind of person who would remain at home after someone had the nerve to poison me. I'm not leaving even if you attempt to convince or force me. But, I warn you, I'll burn you if you attempt it!"
As if to show that she was serious about it, Ravel allowed her flame wings to come from out from her back, while giving him an unwavering look.
"Geez, I didn't think that I'd hear that from a girl raised almost like a princess. And here I thought that I'd hear that from the girls that I know," Kensei almost laughed as soon as those words left his mouth, causing Rave to send a glare in his direction. "I wasn't planning on sending you back anyway since it does involve you most of all."
"If it was a hired bodyguard from the Underworld, then they would have insisted that I'd return," Ravel noted, and sent unfolded her phoenix wings. "Are you that confident?"
"Well, unless it's an Ultimate-class or Satan-class opponent, then I'm confident that I can fight and protect you at the same time. Even if it was the former, I'll send you back even if you do burn an arm."
Ravel could tell from previous interactions that Kensei wasn't the kind of person to make baseless boats, but that did make her curious about how strong he was.
"So, want to give me a hand with something?"
"Humph, I guess."
"Not helping your case of not being tsundere, if you keep acting like a tsundere."
Kensei joked as she pouted while approaching him.
As she walked toward him, Ravel looked around at the familiar location, and vividly recalled the moments leading to the point where she was struck with the light needle. Instead of being frightened because of that event, Ravel in that instance looked as determined as ever to find the person who attacked her.
"So, here's what I can tell happened here. Most of your group fought against the rogue devils inside of that base, while you and the others maintained a barrier outside. After the battle, you all gathered outside around here, then moments later someone shot a light needle at your neck from…."
"I was right here."
Ravel stood in the same position, where she was talking to Riser about her purpose in his peerage before being struck in the neck. Kensei stood there looking before turning his head in the direction that the wound was on her neck, then glanced at the area where it originated. He signaled for Ravel to follow him as he headed towards the location where it came from.
After arriving there, he could see that there was a place in the tree, where it seemed as if something was stabbed into it. Similar to the method before, he sensed the tree's natural ki and could sense that someone stood on one of the branches.
"Compared to the other places, where the aura was lesser, it was more concentrated here, meaning the person spent more time here," Kensei pointed out as he could even sense minuscule light fragments. "So, whoever was up here spent a longer period of time up here compared to anywhere else. As for the amount of time that I could likely guess is thirty minutes. And compared to the aura signatures that I could feel here, whoever was standing up there before your group arrived."
"Well, that fits the time frame by the time Riser-oniisama, me, and the others arrived here, he was already there waiting. But, it doesn't make sense for someone to know that our group would be here since most extermination orders come straight from the Archduke or the Underworld government. And that information isn't something an ordinary person would be capable of gaining. So, this person might be capable of gaining that kind of information through two plausible methods."
"And those methods would be?"
"First, the person infiltrated either the Archduke's home or Underworld government to steal the information. And second, someone from either gave them the information for whatever reason."
Kensei was surprised about Ravel's insight into that situation after reading this much into the situation at hand. It was something he wouldn't have thought of since he didn't have that complete insight about how the Underworld did its business. A wellspring of knowledge from someone born into the Underworld would be required to figure that part out.
"So, do you think that the Archduke would do the latter?"
"No, the Archduke is a man who often acts as a mediator between the two primary factions inside the Underworld and is a well-respected man. So, there's no chance he would do anything that would put anyone in danger," she sounded more sure about the Archduke not being involved, which Kensei would believe. "So, that leaves anyone in the Underworld Government."
"Are you sure you're willing to believe someone from the Underworld government helped someone poison?"
Kensei asked, wondering about her feelings on the matter since that means someone from her homeland had a hand in what happened to her.
"Is there a perfect government in the Human World," Kensei was surprised about that question from Ravel, which led him to understand her reasoning even before she continued. "There's no such thing as a perfect system in the Human World, and the same thing can be even be said inside the Underworld. I'm sure you know that devils are beings who follow their greed, fulfill it, award it, and desire it. So, there's no doubt that there will be some in the government who does that."
He was once again surprised about the words that were coming from her, which wasn't something that he would have expected to come from someone who was born into it. She had a mature and rational understanding of the world she was born into without being biased about it. More and more, Kensei was finding something interesting about Ravel as he continued talking to her.
"Well, I can say that you're the smartest and most mature person in your brother's group," Kensei started placing his hand on Ravel's head as she stood in front of her. "You're an interesting girl, Ravel."
Because of her height, a little bit shorter compared to Claire's height, Ravel reached his chest, she could clearly see the smirk on his face. It was as if time stopped for an instant from her perspective, before long Ravel seemed to have realized what was happening as her face turned bright red.
"D-Don't pat my head out of nowhere like that," Ravel spoke nervously as she moved away from him, causing a laugh to escape from his mouth. Despite her reaction, she couldn't say that she didn't like having her head petted like that, but she was too nervous to admit it. "W-Well, since there's nothing more to be done here. I'll allow you to escort me back home."
"Well, I guess escorting is also a bodyguard's job."
"Th-That's right," Ravel said returning to her tsundere mindset as she looked proudly in another direction, but she later recalled something. "Oh, Okaa-sama wanted to know if you wanted to join us for dinner?"
"Maybe next time. I got lunch covered this time," Kensei replied politely. "I received five bento boxes from some of the special people I live together with."
"Five? Eating all that doesn't sound good for you."
Ravel pointed out, knowing that eating what could pretty much be five lunches depending on what's inside them could be bad for him. But, Kensei didn't look worried about it at all, and instead wore a confident look.
"Well, you don't need to be worried about that," Kensei stated as he continued. "The Amagiri Clan often have the children start a strict training regimen when we're old enough to build up our bodies from combat. And I learned a thing or two about similar regimens from Sun-sensei, so I'm confident my physique won't lose to that of a devil. Because of my condition and health, I have a metabolism that lets me maintain my physique without needing to be worried about excess weight."
Ravel didn't know what to think after hearing those words, but instead, she started laughing lightly, because it still sounded weird to her.
"I don't think that anyone aside from one person in the Underworld would train their body like that. But, it doesn't change the fact that you're weird when it comes to that."
"I hear that a lot from my friends. But, whoever that person understands that you need a strong body to fight."
Kensei replied crossing his arms behind his neck as he continued walking beside Ravel.
"Well, that I can understand."
Ravel pointed out as she activated a magic circle meant to teleport them back to the Underworld while glancing at the person who was going to be acting as her bodyguard for the time being. And through the entire time, she's been focused on finishing the magic circle, a single thought entered her head.
"I wonder what else I can expect from him throughout the entire situation."
Ravel wondered, actually looking forward to seeing whatever surprises Kensei had in store.
A/N: And there goes the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, this was the second chapter of the sixth volume. It pretty much showed Kensei's first encounter, and interactions with the Phenex Household, all of which was casual aside from Riser, of course. Kensei and Ravel had their interactions with each other, and both of them already finds the other interesting. Riser, on the other hand, isn't that into the fact that Kensei is there acting as a bodyguard. So, we'll soon see how that turns out.
Also, on a hilarious note, Claire and the others appeared to have made bets on how long it would take for Kensei to deck Riser. I wonder who's going to win that bet.
Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr, Rossweisse.