"You want to hunt the vampire yourself?"

Raiza could feel Van's questioning stare more than she could see it, the tall moon outside their balcony casting a long shadow on his side of the royal suite. "I do. I know humans aren't your biggest concern, but… well, I'd feel useless if I just left them to be preyed on like animals."

Being with and living as a devil made understanding her own moral values more than a little difficult, but she was confident enough in herself to know that this was a line she wanted to draw. It made her heart drum in her chest something fierce, having never asked to go against her king's desires before.

And that was what this was, at the end of the day. No matter how close she and Van were, he was still her king. There was an expectation in their relationship that he dictated what they would do, even if he almost never held that fact over her. Even now, despite his desire to see what the vampire was planning before acting, he seemed more confused at her asking him for permission than anything else. "Then go ahead? You're not on a leash, you know? I mean, not at this exact moment anyway."

Suddenly remembering the fact that there was a dog collar and leash in her night table drawer back in the Agares Manor, Raiza pushed back the nuclear blush that threatened to take over her face. "I-I just wanted to make sure you were in the know. I want to do this, okay?"

Again, he didn't get why this was important to her. Instead, he just shrugged and waved his hand. "Okay, sheesh. But don't expect me to bail you out of trouble unless you're actually in danger. You wanna make this bed? Then by all means, lie in it."

…She was gonna have to remember that line. It sounded way too cool to be wasted here. "Thank you, Van. Really, thank you."

"You're welcome?"

Adjusting her beret, Raiza marched out of their hotel room and into the elevator. Taking a deep breath in, she slowly exhaled and concentrated on her senses. Over and over, she tried to remember the tingling sensation of necromancy that she had first felt on that ghoul they had found. It was so much harder than sensing using human magic, which worked as long as you had the right formula down. This was like trying to wrangle a new sixth sense that you had never grown up with, not having the same instincts you have with the other five senses which had been with you since birth.

Devil magic and human magic were almost complete opposites in how they worked. With human magic, you needed logic and a near perfect understanding of what you were doing in order to create new spells. Failing that, a good memory to memorize the exact formulas that other magicians had created. Devil magic was all instinct though. At least, the basis of it was. At least with basic energy manipulation she could substitute instinct with her understanding of elemental magic (or, failing that, her Sacred Gear), but energy sensing was just so different! She never had to do it manually before, just relying on an automated magic circle.

Still, she was too stubborn to give up. So, even as she exited the elevator and wandered the ground floor, she kept her brow furrowed and followed a faint trail of necromancy down the hall and to the café.

There were only a few people in the area, most of them looking beyond exhausted as they drowned themselves in a late-night cappuccino. The depressing atmosphere was honestly kind of a shame, as the café itself was incredibly nice. A large ornate mirror sat at the side of the café, surrounded by flowers and other trinkets as a fireplace burned right beneath it. A soft melody played on the speakers hanging around the room, the walls decked with a decorative wood paneling.

What was even more of a shame was the reeking sense of death all throughout the area. She couldn't even pinpoint where exactly it was coming from, as it felt like the traces were wafting from just about everyone inside.

"Oh, Raiza!"

Everyone, save one.

Momo Momozone smiled as she waved the other girl over, her co-star sipping a tall black coffee while she enjoyed a picturesque croissant and cookie. Her face was full of color, a stark contrast from the people around her. In fact, she seemed even healthier than she had earlier today. But…

Raiza shook her head. There was no way that the Momo Momozone had anything to do with this.

Stopping by their table, she bowed her head thankfully at the offered seat and sat down with the two mega stars. "Th-Thank you for having me, again."

Momo shook her gratitude aside, leaning forward on the table while Rina tapped away on a mobile phone. "Please, don't worry about it. I'd rather it be you than some gross guy with more cholesterol in his veins than blood."

The actress fiddled a silver ring on her pinky finger, sighing as some unwelcome memory flashed in her mind. "Hah, fame has its ups and downs. I couldn't even relax in my room without suddenly having to deal with an impromptu signing because my agent thought it'd be a good idea. At least I got a good tan after."

Right, that was right. Momo had been outside during the day, completely exposed to the sun. A vampire would've been ash in that light, a-and Momo had a silver ring too! Silver burned vampires when touched, which meant that the actress couldn't be the vampire!

Internally, Raiza felt relief flood her veins as she confidently crossed the actress of the list of suspects. She then immediately cringed when she remembered the signing that the older woman had been talking about. "Right, the signing. Sorry for bothering you then, I had no idea you didn't want to be there."

Momo cooed at her, elbowing her co-star while grabbing Raiza's hand from across the table. "Did you hear this precious gem? She's such a sweetie~"

Rina took a sip of her coffee, hand on her chin as she regarded the young devil with a sultry stare. "She certainly does seem rather tasty."

"Meaty too, just look at those thighs."

Face running red, Raiza mumbled something that vaguely sounded like a thank you, her bisexual mind going aflame when confronted with two sexy women fawning over her. So much so that she almost missed Rina's next question. "Say, where's that boyfriend of yours? The stud with the silver hair?"

Raiza's mood wavered a bit as she found herself confronted with the awkward task of correcting one of her idols. "Oh, Van? Well, he's not my boyfriend, I'm just his assistant. And he's in our room getting some work done. Family business stuff."

The two women fixed her with a look, Rina raising an eyebrow as she pointed a lazy finger forward. "Can't remember cuddling my assistant in a hotel lobby like you two were snuggling earlier."

"Y-You saw that?"

"Who didn't?"

They must've passed back around before the panel started to grab something and noticed. Gah, if there was one position where she'd be too distracted to notice the two AV stars, it probably would be on Van's lap. "W-We've just known each other since we were barely teenagers and are really close friends."

"With benefits?"

Her red-faced silence said it all, the two actresses giggling as Momo waggled her eyebrows. "We're not judging, if anything I'm slightly jealous. Most gals have to hoe it up for some old fart if they want a sugar daddy. You managed to snag a handsome twenty-something that fawns over you like a precious gem."

It may have been a compliment, but Raiza couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at how transactional the other girl thought her relationship with Van was. "I'm not with him for the money. He's… he's special to me."

A part of her recognized that the girls wouldn't be able to understand her feelings for him, not without getting to know the real him underneath the bravado and fancy suits. They couldn't see the molten will which burned beneath his easy-going smile, the grandness of his goals and the world he wanted to create for himself. His ambition was inspiring, and his willingness to share that ambition with her so readily…

The sense of awe she felt when he first told her of his ultimate goal, beyond just the bestial desire to breed, was something that she lacked the wisdom to describe.

Raiza glanced to the side, her mood dipping a little as she saw herself sitting down in the mirror across the room. Though she wouldn't call herself egotistical, she would be the first to admit that she was a very beautiful woman, with a figure that was a bit more developed than a girl her age would normally have. Hm, they had called Van a twenty-something. She should probably correct-

Her train of thought came to a halt as she noticed a discrepancy in the reflection. She and Momo were being reflected normally, but Rina was instead just a set of clothes floating over an invisible body. The woman didn't have a reflection. But that meant…

"Hm? What are you looking- ah."

Any warmth that had been on the actress' face disappeared as an annoyed sneer took its place, a potent spike of magical energy swirling around her even as Raiza tried to calm the vampire down. "Rina, before you do anything-"

And then, the café exploded.

The sudden shockwave of raw magical energy sent Raiza flying out of the café, her back crashing into the front desk in the lobby. The clerk jumped, eyes wide as she ran around the desk and knelt by the stunned devil. "Are you okay, Miss? Can you hear me? How many fingers am I-"

A wooden table leg whistled through the air, piercing the clerk's head and sticking the corpse to the desk as blood splattered on Raiza's face. The warmth of the blood shook her out of the surprise she had been in, allowing her to get up with a wince as she focused on a low-level healing spell to mend the damage she took from tanking a mana explosion point blank without raising her defenses.

Rina stepped through the wreckage of the café, a cold smirk on her face as she looked down on Raiza. "What's wrong, devil? Didn't expect that kind of strength from a mere vampire?"

Flexing her magic, Raiza scowled as lightning crackled around her fingertips. "We can talk this out, Rina. There's no need to fight."

The vampire scoffed, hands on her hips as she took a step back. "What, so your master can give me the choice to either join him or die? No thanks. I'll be taking care of you, and then killing your master when I'm done draining you dry. Ghoul Queen!"

Ghoul what?

Raiza got her answer as the ceiling shattered above her, an impish ghoul landing on top of her and using its momentum to crush her against the floor. She grimaced, nose wrinkling as it screeched in her face and got its corpse breath all over her face. The bad smell was almost enough to distract her from the intimately familiar magic radiating off of its body.

Damn it Van.

"Take care of this nobody for me, won't you?"

The ghoul screeched in agreement, muscles bulging as it lifted her up and flew through another wall and into the hotel ballroom. Tired of being thrown around, Raiza grabbed the ghoul with both hands and sent a strong current of electricity through its body.

Letting go of her as the monster screamed in pain, Raiza rolled on the ground and took notice of the many employees setting the ballroom up for the awards ceremony tomorrow. The ghoul did as well, the magic circle on its busty chest glowing as several of the employees began to twitch and moan, their own chests glowing in tandem.

Shit.

Nearly calling upon her Sacred Gear right then and there, she paused. If Van were here, he would take advantage of the situation by using some of his less refined abilities to give them some practice, rather than relying on the old reliable tactics and not learning anything from the fight.

Unarmed it is then.

Raiza fell into a basic boxing stance, lightning crackling around her fists still as ducked under a clumsy swing by a lesser ghoul and slammed her fist into its stomach. The force from her punch was enough to lift it off its feet completely, the electricity following the punch at a slight delay as it blew a hole through the creature's body.

Following through with her forward momentum, she spun around on her foot and slammed her heel into another ghoul's head, flames exploding out from the impact and incinerating the beast's head.

Hopping on her feet, Raiza weaved between uncoordinated blows and strafed around the ghouls in the hall. Getting a few of them to chase her in a line, she stomped her foot into the ground and summoned a line of earthen spikes to impale a good chunk of them.

With the final few stragglers spread out and shambling towards her, she twisted her body and spun in a diagonal through the air. Once her foot hit the ground, a blade of wind shot forward and cut a ghoul in half, giving her the space to rush forward and eliminate the last handful of lesser ghouls with a few normal strikes.

Trash mobs taken care of, Raiza cracked her knuckles and gave the so-called ghoul queen an unimpressed look. "If you're gonna do something, better do it now, Ghoulie."

It snarled, the magic circle on its chest glowing as its body began to shift. It howled in pain as its limbs elongated, the creature transforming from an imp-like creature to something more befitting an amazonian demon.

"Better, still kinda gross though."

The ghoul screeched, its long tongue writhing as it lunged forward with its talons outstretched. Raiza ducked under its attack, attacking its midsection with a few fiery blows with little result as the ghoul simply tanked it and responded with a backhand to her face.

She grunted, taking a step back from the force but not losing her footing. Rolling her jaw, she leveled the ghoul with a disappointed sneer. "Ghoul Queen, huh? I'm not seeing it."

It ran forward in a blind rage, attempting to tackle her only to get thrown on its ass as she went low and tossed the ghoul across the ballroom. Demonic energy pumping through her veins, Raiza grinned as she felt the Evil Piece resting in the confines of her soul thrum with power. "Get ready to see the power of an actual Queen."

Sprinting towards the ghoul with her hand on the ground, she feigned a low blow only to go high and sock the ghoul in the mouth, bits of earth she had picked up from the ground being used to reinforce her attack.

The ghoul stumbled and threw a dazed punch, allowing her to catch the extended arm and twist it back. Lightning coursed from her hand through her opponent's body, the creature's muscles spasming as she grabbed the ghoul by the mouth and tossed it across the ballroom.

Rolling across the ground, the undead beast dug its claws into the ground and stopped its momentum just in time to catch a wind-enhanced knee to the face.

Face blooded and teeth shattered, the ghoul slumped backwards as Raiza stared down above it with a sigh. "You were stronger than the others, but stronger wasn't gonna cut it. Whoever you were, I hope you're resting well."

Pointing at the defeated undead with her pointer and middle fingers, a gout of fire leapt from her hand and consumed the creature with reckless abandon, triggering the sprinklers as water fell from above.

Brushing herself off, Raiza stepped away from the ghoul and stared at the other end of the ballroom. The shadows twisted and took shape, revealing Rina with a heavy frown on her face. "And here I was hoping the beast would do a little better after the modifications to its mind. Your master didn't do much to improve its strength, now did he?"

The unsubtle dig at Van stoked a building anger in Raiza's heart, unwilling to let some emo bitch talk shit about her bestie. "You talk a lot of smack for someone who's been skulking in the shadows since we got here. Wanna come closer and test your game?"

Still high off the previous fight and more than a little pissed, there was no stopping the shift in Raiza's demeanor as her tomboyish nature rushed forward. The vampire was quick to pick up on it, chuckling at the change. "What happened to the sweet girl who couldn't help but worship the ground I walked on? Or were you always this thuggish and just hiding it from us out of embarrassment?"

"Sorry, girlie, my sweet side is reserved for people I like."

Outright laughing at her confidence, Rina licked her lips and bared her fangs. "Well then, why don't I sink my teeth into that neck of yours and see how sweet you really are?"

The vampire lunged forward, significantly faster than the ghoul in every regard. Stiffening her hand until her nails were pointed forward like blades, Rina's wide smile gleamed with malice as she rapidly approached. Raiza, wanting to take advantage of the closing distance, simply raised her arms and readied herself to block the possibly dangerous blow.

A blow that never hit.

"…!"

Rina's attack stopped dead in its tracks right before it could scratch the expensive suit that had appeared before it, her eyes widening as she broke out into a cold sweat.

"You seem nervous for someone so confident, Miss."

Van stared down at the vampire, the water from the sprinklers bending around his body as the woman in front of him trembled in both fear and confusion. "Wh-Why can't I move my body? What's going on? How did you-"

He raised a hand, the vampire shutting up instantly as he yawned. "Because it knows better."

With his piece said, he then spun on his heel and waved at Raiza. "When you said you were going to investigate the vampires, I didn't expect you to be so quick. I'm impressed, and a touch disappointed. This is less climatic than I hoped it'd be."

Relaxing at the sight of her Van, Raiza pushed back some of the wet hair sticking to her face and smiled. "Hehe, yeah. Kinda just ran into them and noticed she didn't have a reflection in the mirror."

"Hm, that's rare. Most mirrors these days use aluminum instead of silver, so the mirror trick doesn't tend to work. Guess it must've been an antique mirror."

Huh, so that was how that worked. Guess it explained how Rina could appear on camera. "Must've been. So, how are we going to-"

"We?"

That threw her for a loop, even more so when Van pulled out an egg timer. "No no no, you misunderstand. I said that I wasn't going to bail you out of trouble, and I'm not. I just wanted to let you know that I'm giving you an hour to clean this mess up before I take care of it. Think of it as a challenge of sorts."

He cranked the timer, putting it just past an hour before tossing it to her. "Beat the hour and I'll get you anything you want within reason. Don't, and I'll be upping your training by a lot. I refuse to let you be weaker than even a single member of Riser's peerage when we face them."

"You got it!"

Satisfied that she knew her task, he then regarded the still frozen vampire with an uninterested look. "Survive the hour against her, and I'll let you leave. But if you try to leave before it's up, I'll just kill you before you can think of getting out of town. Okay? Okay."

With his piece said, he tapped his cane against the floor and stepped through a magic circle, leaving the two women alone in the ballroom.

Now free from his presence, the vampire swallowed thickly confidence thoroughly shaken. "H-He wasn't anywhere near that intimidating before. H-How did he…"

"Because he wanted to."

If there was one thing about Van that she could claim as a defining trait of his, it was that he valued presentation almost as much as he did his cane.

The sprinklers shut down as the two women each found their own resolve to win the fight sharpening with Van's challenge now hanging over their heads. Rina opened her hand, the shadows beneath her converging into the shape of an axe as she sprinted forward. Shadow weapon held high, she swung the axe down with all the force she could muster in an attempt to end the fight in a single attack.

Instead, the axe clanged against a staff that had materialized in Raiza's hands in a flash of magical energy. The staff released a unique aura all on its own, its head topped with a golden star which had blades sticking out from each of the five limbs while its bottom had the sharpened bottom of a spear. A single ring circled around the star, being the point where the five blades connected to the golden limbs of the star.

Rina quickly disengaged, face twisted in frustration as she recognized the staff for what it truly was. "Damn it, a Sacred Gear."

A smirk spread across Raiza's face, feeling her control over her demonic energy skyrocket now that she had a proper catalyst. "Yep. Sucks for you, but I can't risk playing around now that I've got a time limit."

The embarrassment and anger from being duped so easily fueled her power, demonic energy responding to her emotions far more than plain magical energy had when she was a human. Ripples formed in the water which now soaked the ground, spooking the vampire enough to leap into the air just in time to avoid a massive spike of ice which had formed right beneath her feet.

Not about to let the bitch go unscathed, Raiza pointed her staff to the spike and called upon her Sacred Gear's power. "Imbuement: Frostfire!"

Her Sacred Gear, Star Atelier, was perhaps the perfect weapon for an alchemist like herself. It granted access to five unique techniques each related to the basics of alchemical theory, allowing her to enhance her natural talents beyond what she normally would be able to. Though she had only unlocked two of the five techniques, they were still more than enough to take on this wretch.

Imbuement, the second technique of Star Atelier, allowed her to take the properties of one thing and selectively add them to another. Whether that be making glass as durable as steel, making water sticky like slime, or in this case, granting ice the shape of fire.

Freezing blue flames exploded outwards, consuming the vampire and spreading across the ground as the layer of water covering the ballroom froze all the way through. A thick frozen mist covered the area, forcing Raiza to squint to see through it just as a shadow-covered Rina rammed her shoulder into the alchemist and sent the girl flying across the ballroom into the wall.

Raiza grunted, raising her arms up just in time to defend against a massive ball of shadow which crashed through the wall and sent her into the pool area outside. Leaning on her staff, the alchemist grunted as she saw Rina walk out of the hole in the wall covered in a thick shadowy armor. This was going to be a bit more annoying than she thought.

A thick blast of shadow launched itself towards her, the water from the pool rising up and meeting the blast halfway. The water managed to hold it back a little bit, but it wouldn't be able to stop the attack. But that was fine, Raiza had a plan to take care of her defenses for a little while.

She dug her staff into the ground, weaving a strong shielding spell around her while also pulling chunks of earth up from the ground. The innate power of her Star Atelier flared, the first technique of her Sacred Gear now coming into play. "Synthesis: Terra Aegis!"

While imbuement allowed her to add traits to already existing objects or magic, synthesis allowed her to create all new spells or objects by combining multiple components into one new creation. In this case, she combined the natural durability of earth with the power of her shielding magic.

Four small shields made from a strong stone floated around her, all four of them slotted together to form an even larger shield which tanked the shadow blast just as it cleaved through the water. The shields separated, floating in a ring around her ready to react to any threat that came her way.

Fixing the vampire with a stern glare, Raiza gave the other woman one last chance. "Surrender, or I'll have to put you down."

A not-insignificant part of her wanted the vampire to keep fighting, eager to get revenge on the bitch for killing Momo before Raiza could get the actress' number. And it seemed the vampire could sense that, Rina's armor growing long claws as she snarled angrily. "I can't wait to suck you dry, cutie."

"Kinky."

Rina lunged forward, her claw crashing into one of the aegis shields as the stone trembled from the blow. Seeing the vampire's midsection exposed, Raiza grabbed her staff with both hands and pulsed her demonic energy. The blades on the head of her staff began to spin on the ring they sat on, transforming into a buzzsaw which she then smashed into the vampire's stomach.

The blades tore at the solidified shadow, slicing at the armor and digging into it. Using the new hold her weapon had on her opponent, Raiza swung the vampire around and then slammed her into the ground to grind the saw deeper.

Seeing her life flash before her eyes, Rina's body bulged and shattered into a hundred tiny bats which flew around Raiza. Converging onto a single point, Rina transformed back and laid a strong kick to the back of the alchemist's head. The blow was strong enough to stagger Raiza, leaving her wide open for a condensed shadow hammer to break through her stone shields and catch her in the gut, sending her flying through the fourth floor of the hotel.

Raiza landed in a familiar old couple's hotel room, catching them mid-coitus as they screamed in surprise. Their scream was cut short as Rina tore through the wall, turning the couple to giblets as she swung a large shadow blade at the alchemist.

Catching the blade with the shaft of Star Atelier, Raiza grunted as she was pushed into the bathroom. Her head smacked into the bathroom mirror, shattering it while she turned her staff to slide the blade down and smash the head of Star Atelier into the armored vampire's face.

Condensing a ball of air into her hand, she pressed it into the vampire's chest and exploded the ball into a gust of wind that pushed Rina out the bathroom. Taking advantage of the space between them, Raiza held her arm out and lifted the broken mirror shards from the floor with her mind, Star Atelier glimmering as she called upon its power. "Imbuement: Curse of Glass!"

The glass shot out from the air like bullets, hitting Rina's shadow armor and melding into it. Cracks began to form in the armor, the fragility of the glass weakening the armor massively.

Launching herself forward with a burst of wind, Raiza took advantage of the armor's new weakness and stabbed the sharp butt of her staff towards Rina's chest. The vampire was quick enough to catch the staff, both of their supernatural strength competing as they struggled over the spear-tipped staff butt.

"Imbuement: Blessing of Fire!"

Temporarily infusing her demonic power with magical flames, she felt her body heating up as her muscles bulged with newfound strength. The staff surged downward, shattering the armor and piercing the vampire's chest when Rina suddenly shrieked.

Spears of blood erupted from the vampire's body, piercing Raiza's flesh and pinning her to the wall as Rina slowly pushed herself to her feet. The vampire huffed, visibly weakened from being forced to exhume a good chunk of her stored blood to defend her heart. "You… you're stronger than you look, cutie. But strength doesn't matter when taken off guard and given several new holes to ooze out of, does it?"

Raiza said nothing, hand still clutching her staff as Rina continued to gloat. "As much as I'd love to drain you dry, I have a feeling that silly master of yours wouldn't take too kindly to finding his assistant dead. so, I'll just drink enough to replenish my strength and weaken you. Once that hour is up, I'm getting the hell out of here."

Licking her lips, the vampire gave the alchemist a piteous look. "Any last words before I drink you like a juice box, cutie?"

"…A few. Imbuement: Sanguineous Flames!"

The vampire raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by the alchemist's words only for her eyes to suddenly widen in horror as she began to scratch at her skin relentlessly. "Wh-What did you do? What is-"

Rina screamed in agony, her concentration on the blood spears breaking, freeing Raiza who leaned against the wall and grinned. "It's simple, girlie: I used the blood you so graciously gave me as a component in order to target the blood that was still inside your body and give it a little extra kick."

The smell of burning flesh filled the room as the vampire's skin began to bubble, patches of it blackening as the blood in her body slowly transformed into bloody fire. She tried to resist the magic being inflicted upon her but was too weak from her last attack to overpower the fire now circulating through her veins.

One pale and beautiful, Rina was now a charred mess of flesh and bone as her broken body fell to the ground, the cursed life forced upon her now extinguished for good. Or until Van decided to reincarnate the girl for his own uses.

Shambling to the hole leading outside, Raiza winced as she grabbed a chair and sat down. Staring out at the moon above, she pulled out the egg timer and checked how much time was left. "Fifty-seven minutes, huh? Sounds about right."

She tried to heal her wounds with a few spells, but the most they were able to do is stop herself from bleeding out of the dozen or so holes the blood spears had created. That bitch had taken her by surprise, managing to get her pretty good with that last attack. Had she not been a devil, those blood spears would've turned her into Swiss cheese.

Just goes to show that power isn't everything, so long as you manage to catch the other guy by surprise.

Raiza closed her eyes, body sore from her injuries. The fact she was as injured as she ended up was a bit of a smack to the face, a sobering reminder that she was no where near strong enough to face off against Riser and his peerage. She needed to up her training, and by a lot too. As she was now, she likely wouldn't be able to beat the chicken bastard's queen on her own, which was the bare minimum she'd accept for herself.

Opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling, she tilted her head down to get up only to come face to face with the livid eyes of Momo Momozone.

Brain still stuck in fight or flight, her body reacted before her mind could process the fact that a woman who, by all rights, should be a paste on the ground somewhere. She leapt out of the hole in the wall, hands outstretched as she sent a fireball twice as large as she was directly in the hotel room.

Floating in the air with her wings now manifested, her wounds opening back up due to her sudden escape from the room. The flames consumed the room, her anxiety steadying for a moment only for a shadowy blur to rush out of the flames.

Momo snatched Raiza by the throat, squeezing tightly as the two of them plummeted to the ground. Raiza took the brunt of the fall, blood gushing from her wounds as the ground beneath her cracked.

A violent cough wracked her body, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth as she stared up at the pink-haired AV actress. "H-How? You c-can't be a vampire…"

Taking a deep breath, Momo cooled her fury and flashed her pointed fangs at the beaten alchemist. "You're right, I'm not."

It took a moment for that to sink in, the realization hitting Raiza as she cursed her lack of foresight. "D-Daywalker…"

The dhampir smirked, flexing her own magical energy as dozens of ghouls began to walk into the pool area. "Bingo. Now then, onto the main- huh?"

The quiet ticking of the egg timer in Raiza's pocket suddenly began to speed up, minutes becoming seconds and then even less as the timer spun around faster than it was intended to, eventually reaching zero.

It rang, and Raiza stopped trying to hold onto her consciousness as a familiar energy flooded the area. Closing her eyes and allowing her body to rest, she passed out with a smile on her face.

… … …

Nothing was going to plan today.

Momo Momozone sneered as the girl lost consciousness, using a shadow to pull that annoying timer out of her pocket and crush it. This damn convention was just supposed to be one of a dozen, another chance to work on her necromantic experiments. She wasn't supposed to run into not one, but two devils. Nor was her vampiric spawn supposed to die fighting the weaker of the two devils. She was supposed to lay low and perform her experiments in secret while the devils lazed about.

So much for that.

Picking the girl up by the neck, she pressed her sharp nails against the unconscious devil's throat just as her near hundred ghouls began to explode one by one. She couldn't sense what magic was causing it, making her sweat at the realization that whoever was doing it had managed to mask their energy so well that she couldn't even perceive it until it was too late.

"Bold choice of hostage, Miss Momozone."

She spun around, holding the girl in front of her as she glared at the devil standing before her. Despite her keeping his assistant captive, he seemed completely unbothered by the situation. "Only choice I had, Mr. Devil. I trust you understand what I'm about to say."

Sighing dramatically, the devil adjusted his hat and gave her an exasperated look. "Let me guess, you'll let her live if I swear on my pride to let you go?"

"Indeed. Now, if you'd just let me go I'd be-"

An unbearable pressure formed around her throat, choking her out as the devil hummed. "You misunderstand two things. One, I would never promise something that didn't benefit me. And two-"

His blasé attitude fell for just a moment, a sliver of hatred leaking out and freezing her to the bone. "You underestimate how much I adore my dearest Raiza, and how fucked anyone who tries to hurt her will be."

She let go of the girl immediately, the strangling sensation vanishing as the girl's body floated through the air and into his arms. Holding her gingerly, the devil pressed his lips against her forehead and carefully teleported her away somewhere safer. "Smart decision. Let's see if that streak continues."

Giving her a curious look, the devil gave her an ultimatum. "You have a choice now, Miss Momozone. Either fight and try to impress me enough to earn a place in my peerage or die. I'm aware that it may not seem like much of a choice, but I assure you, I'll honor your decision either way."

Death or servitude. Neither were particularly great, but at least one wasn't as final as the other. "F-Fight, I choose to fight."

"What are you waiting for then?"

Turning fear to anger, Momo screamed as she threw both hands forward. A massive wave of shadowy tendrils rushed forward, overwhelming the spot the devil had been in and tearing through the hotel. She didn't let up, conjuring strength that her spawn could have only dreamed of in a desperate attempt to hopefully overwhelm the devil before her.

"Not awful."

The devil stood untouched, the faintest traces of demonic energy around him. Had he formed a barrier to defend against the shadows? She couldn't tell, his energy masking making it impossible for her to perceive what he had done.

"DIE!"

Momo screamed, fury burning her throat as she vanished in a puff of mist and reappeared on top of the barely standing hotel. Taking hold of the corpses of her ghouls, she squeezed her hand and watched with a sick grin as the bodies exploded with enough force to topple the hotel to the ground.

Popping back down in her mist form, she raised the shadows around her ready to strike wherever the devil appeared.

"It's a good thing most of the guests evacuated after the café exploded."

Pillars of darkness rose from the ground, shattering the ground as she wildly destroyed everything around her. Eyes darting around with great panic, she felt her hands tremble as she saw the devil floating above her, wings stretched out as the moon shone behind him.

"…FUCK THIS!"

Transforming back into mist, she flew away from where the hotel once stood and towards the forest surrounding this fucked town. He couldn't touch her as long as she was in mist form, so she just needed to get far enough away and-

Her misty body slammed into something, a dome of demonic energy taking shape and shrinking down until it was the size of a baseball. She tried to press against the barrier, but it was too strong, and she was forced along as it rocketed back to the hotel and towards the ground.

It crashed, knocking her out of mist form as she rolled across the shattered ground. Panting, she could barely move her body as the devil calmly walked towards her with a contemplative look on his face. "A bit rough around the edges, but not without potential."

Right, right. She was being tested. She could live, she could live! She just had to convince him that she was worth it, that she could be trusted. Getting on her knees, she bowed as far she could go, forehead practically slamming against broken concrete. "Y-Yes, exactly! I've been self-taught all my life, a-and with a guiding hand I'm certain I can be of use to you, Master! I swear on my pride, no, I swear on my soul! I'll be a good girl, I'll be a good girl!"

She shut her eyes tightly, body trembling as she heard his footsteps nearing her ear. Something sharp and cold pressed against her cheek, her heart seizing in her chest as it gently pushed her head up to face him. "That's quite the attitude adjustment, Miss Momozone. I'm all for it, you'll make a wonderful bishop."

Good, good. The fear melted out of her body, her mind already calculating ways to come out of this on top. She could take advantage of his training to get strong enough that she could kill him, freeing herself and gaining a hefty amount of power in the process. She'd just need to be patient and-

"That look in your eye… you're already scheming, aren't you?"

His tone was lighthearted, amused even as she paled and stammered out a denial. "N-Not at all, Master! I would never-"

"Ah ah ah, no lying~"

He pointed his finger at her, a magic circle forming beneath her as tentacles rushed out of them and wrapped around her body. She tried to scream, only for a tendril to pop itself into her mouth and begin sawing in and out of her throat. "HMMMPPH!?"

The devil just laughed at her misfortune, watching playfully as the tentacles slipped underneath her clothes and began probing her intimate parts. "Don't worry, I'm sure after a few weeks of reeducation in the dungeons, you'll be loyal. And if not…"

He shrugged as the tentacles tore through her panties and slammed into her pussy, making her scream as they filled her up more than any man ever had. "If not then I'll just kill you, no skin off my back."

Moaning around the tendril fucking her throat, she begged with her eyes for him to decide against this course of action. He ignored her, allowing more of his tentacles to stuff themselves into her ass and pussy, a few of the more exploratory ones groping her tits and pressing against her nipples. "Right, I'll see you later then, Miss Momozone. I hope you enjoy the tentacle rape, I got the idea from your show after all~"

The tentacles began to drag her down and through the magic circle, he screams muffled by the many tentacles now fucking her mouth. Her ass and pussy squelched as she was penetrated in all three of her holes, the tendrils looking to turn her nipples to holes four and five as she was transported away from the hotel and into the Agares Clan's dungeon.

A place she would be raped by tentacles for over a week straight.

… … …

The news would call the destruction of the hotel a grave accident, a gas leak gone wrong that no one could have predicted. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't believe that a gas leak could have done that, but Van found it hilarious how many people were willing to believe that a gas leak was capable of doing all that.

Flipping through one of his ancestor's journals, he mused on the sudden nature of the whole event. To think that a simple slip up with one of the few silver-backed mirrors still around would be what tipped the scales and forced a confrontation. He had been hoping for something more dramatic really, but he supposed he'd be grateful that it didn't drag on for too long at the very least. And, on the plus side, he had a better grasp of his queen's current strength.

Taking a sip of his tea, he glanced out the window of the random café he had found wandering the streets of Kuoh. He stared, watching as a familiar crimson-haired heiress walked up to the café and practically stormed inside, locking onto him with a smile so forced he could practically see the cracks in her face. "Mr. Agares, I see you're doing well after the hotel fiasco."

She sat down, her fingers tapping against the table as she set up a silencing ward to keep their conversation from being overheard. "You have got some explaining to do."

Ah, consequences. His least favorite part about this sort of fun. "It's quite simple really. There was a vampire and a dhampir at the convention, my queen stumbled upon them, and a fight broke out. After my queen took care of the vampire, the dhampir showed up and I took care of her myself."

"And the reason you waited so long to take care of them?"

Damn, she was a bit quicker on the draw than he thought. "Curiosity mostly. It's not every day you run into a vampire, much less a dhampir. I wanted to see what they'd do, and possibly recruit one of them."

Rias pinched the bridge of her nose, mumbling to herself before sighing. "And what possessed you to think that was a good idea instead of, I don't know, taking care of them immediately?"

"Second verse same as the first, I'm afraid."

The heiress was visibly upset, so Van took it upon himself to soften her up a bit. "Miss Gremory, I understand why you're upset. A hotel is destroyed, over fifty humans lost their lives in the destruction and quite a few more from the vampiric duo. I imagine it's quite the mess for you to explain to the higher ups."

Taking another sip of his tea, he offered her an apologetic smile. "I do apologize for that. Please, let it be known that I, Evander Agares, take full responsibility for the mess and will do everything in my power to not only reconstruct the hotel but see that the victims' families are properly compensated."

That did seem to cool her down a bit, but not fully. "The loss is but a part of it. What really frustrates me is your insistence to not notify me of anything and then go through with such a destructive course of action behind my back. It makes me doubt if I can trust you."

Ah, a fair point. "You are absolutely correct. I, in my eagerness, completely neglected to make sure you were involved and aware of my plans."

Rolling his tongue across his teeth, Van took a moment to think about what could help alleviate her distrust against him. A light bulb went off in his brain, something that she must've noticed as the heiress raised an eyebrow. "You're scheming something, again."

Laughing off her brusque tone, he cleared up her suspicion. "No no, I just thought of a way to smoothen over our future partnership."

Putting his tea down, Van rested his elbows on the table and offered her a deal. "I thought it'd be best if I offer you weekly reports of what I do while I'm in your lovely town. That way you can feel at ease knowing that I'm not getting up to any mischief behind your back."

She seemed surprised by his willingness to appease her, though she really shouldn't be. Their relationship benefitted him as well, and it'd be in his best interest to make sure that he was on her good side. If that meant he had to give up a little autonomy for now, then so be it.

More willing to hear him out, Rias thought about his offer before making a few addendums. "Twice a week, once Monday and once Friday. And if you were to plan anything like this hotel fiasco again, you will run it by me beforehand."

"Deal."

Yet again, she was surprised by his easy acceptance, throwing her off her groove momentarily. "Uh, good. Great. Glad you're being reasonable."

Her floundering at having succeeded too easily was amusing, though he didn't let her wallow on it for too long. "Of course. After all, how would I be able to steal your heart away if I couldn't earn your trust?"

That got a laugh out of her, his open desire to seduce her being a breath of fresh air compared to the politics of her current marriage. "You'll have to do a little more than be a smooth talker if you want to do that. Though I commend your dedication."

He gave her a wink, leaning back in his chair as he picked up his tea yet again. "I assure you, my tongue can do more than talk."

Covering her mouth in false disbelief, Rias' eyes darted down to his lips subconsciously as she played along. "How crass of you, Mr. Agares. To speak so boldly to a maiden such as myself."

He almost chuckled at that but managed to hold it together. "It would be quite rude to ravish you thoroughly before your marriage. I can't imagine your fiancé would be too happy to find that his future wife had been ruined before he even got the honor to kiss her."

Rias bit her lip in front of him, leaning forward as she leveled a smoldering look onto him. "Mmm, you would, wouldn't you? Ruin me, I mean? I've heard rumor that the Sallos were unmatched in bed."

Settling forward on the table, he tilted his head as his nose brushed lightly against hers. "Want to find out?"

For a brief moment, he thought she might throw caution to the wind and throw herself at him. But alas, sounder minds rang true, and she reluctantly pulled away. "Later. It wouldn't do for me to put out on the first date."

"Your teasing wounds me. I love it."

Her annoyance long forgotten, the two of them devolved into a more personal discussion as they enjoyed the early morning together.

… … …

Genuinely, I ended the hotel arc early cause I just felt it wasn't well thought out for my standards. I just didn't really give myself enough time or character motivation to set up a proper mystery and blundered through the first half of the weekend. So, I figured I'd just wrap it up here and get to some more canon interactions rather than spend the time meandering about in a hotel. I'm very aware that this is a bit of a sudden and anticlimactic ending, but I'd rather end it early than let it drag out for too long and just get tiresome.

Next chapter will be nearly a two-week time skip, starting the day before the school year begins. Not sure what I'm going to do in it, but it'll likely be the chapter where Evander officially challenges Riser to Rias' hand and sets the date for the rating game. Possibly an introduction to the Phenex MILF and Rias' Mom as well. The milf squad is gonna go so hard.

This has been A Decent Hoonter, and Momo was sent to horny jail lmao.

Post Revision Hoonter: Normally I don't have anything else to say after the revising process, but I do want to impress upon the fact that while I enjoy a lot of the parts of this chapter, as a whole and as part of the narrative, it doesn't provide a very satisfying conclusion to the hotel arc in my personal opinion. However, cutting this short now felt like the smartest decision as anything else might frag the story down. This whole hotel arc was very slapped together, as I wasn't even sure who I wanted the vampire to be until after the smut chapter. So, I do hope you enjoyed the fight scene, and understand that I'll be taking much more care in my planning from now on.