AN: Hello my readers, here is another chapter for you all.

  Won't bore you all with my usual annoying whining, so...

  Question of the week:

  If you had to survive a month in the wilds in a fictional universe of your choosing to get a wish(Holy Grail style), which verse would you choose? (It needs to be fictional and have fantastical elements in it.)

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  After hearing a lot of shuffling and thumping sounds inside the door, it finally opened. What greeted Antares and Biscuit was a very handsome man –golden-blonde hair, emerald green eyes that sparkled with the intensity of a star, a thin mouth that Antares could see was undoubtedly gritting its teeth now followed by a strong nose that looked to have been broken one too many times coupled with a chiseled jawline that matched Antares’ own.

  He wore a simple white tunic with comfortable brow leather pants that did nothing to hide his impressive physique, he was easily 10, perhaps even 20 centimeters taller than Antares, and his muscles –his physique, could easily rival the likes of Yujiro Hanma.

  The very sight of this man exuded power, both physical and magical. Antares felt a rather sudden urge to beat his own senses to a pulp; ‘How could I miss such a massive amount of mana and holy power –and right in front of me at that?’ he admonished himself inwardly.

  Before the man could speak a small–compared to his massive bulk–hand spped him on top of the head, making him flinch.

  “Control yourself, Asn.” a smooth feminine voice admonished, Antares noted it wasn’t either Fusui or Karura.

  “You aren’t some idiotic Devil,” the pointedness in the tone of voice made clear who she was referring to; “to lose control over something as small as that.” the voice jabbed at Antares in a smug tone that made the Devil’s eyebrow twitch. But knowing he was the one cock-blocking and cm-jamming the duo –he wisely decided to shut up and feign she wasn’t talking about him.

  “Fine,” Asn sighed, and suddenly his mana signature and aura were the same as that of a normal human being, heck, Biscuit–who didn’t even know of the supernatural before The Tower–had more aura than him right now.

  Feeling the massive predatory presence before him suddenly disappearing, the Columbian man let out a sigh of relief while Antares just tensed his muscles for a brief moment, his more paranoid side wisely raising its guard at the clear demonstration of skill before him.

  “Look there my Lion,” another feminine voice echoed from the inside, this one as prideful as she sounded sensual; “the little Devil thinks he can fight.” Antares decidedly ignored the cackle that followed it soon after.

  “Vallerica,” Asn spoke in a warning tone with a heavy hint of tiredness, before concluding in a tone of finality; “Let’s get this talk out of the way….” The now-named Vallerica just hummed in agreement.

  Turning back towards Antares, Asn half-closed his eyes; “Enter please, let's talk in a comfortable pce at least.” he then looked at the end of the alleyway, his gaze seemed to be able to penetrate through the stone walls themselves; “And bring your team with you,” he shook his head; “It would be quite discourteous to let guests hanging outside while we talk.”

  ‘As expected, he easily detected them,’ Antares turned back and nodded, prompting Eu, Midna, Pyra, and Neptune to come out of hiding. Biscuit eyes almost popped out of his sockets when he saw the girls, he hadn’t even detected they were there.

  Midna quickly flew towards Antares; “Bit a little more than you could chew, handsome?” she teased in her usual tone, but Antares could detect the hint of worry underneath it.

  “Something like that,” he chuckled a little self-deprecatingly; “So let’s go over it.”

  Eu carefully approached her lover and griped his hand to offer her support, Neptune went to do the same but hesitated for a moment, the fact there were so many strangers around, briefly stopping her. Pyra looked at the handholding a little enviously, her eyes fshing golden for a moment. Midna just cackled at Antares' response, opting to continue being the imp that she is. Biscuit, on the other hand, just stayed quiet, lost in his thoughts.

  Entering the building, Antares stopped and took in the sheer luxury of the Club –U-shaped leather sofas that looked as comfortable as they were expensive, coupled with a solid round table in the middle, creating the core of wooden oak booths that were fancily decorated to the point of being extremely gaudy.

  Looking at the half dozen booths that permeated the first floor, Antares noticed a few signs of a scuffle that should’ve happened not too long ago –a little bit of blood here, a dent in a table there, a small rip on a sofa at the back, it all created a scene of a completely one-sided beatdown on whoever was inside.

  His gaze then went to Asn, who was politely indicating with his hand the biggest and fanciest booth on the floor –so luxurious was this booth that many of its engravings were done in gold, jade, or other precious metals and stones, its leather was a few degrees of quality above the rest, and the oak wood had a more earthly and fresh aroma –even when its appearance was virtually the same.

  But what made Antares narrow his eyes was the table in the middle, it was made of some kind of strange grey-colored marble, and unknown symbols shining in dim white lights were precisely engraved on its cylindrical base and terals.

  Following the instruction of the blond man, Antares and company fully entered the booth, with careful and measured steps, the Devil sat on the left side. Eu sat at his left, Neptune to his right, Midna on top of his head, and Pyra at Eu’s side.

  Asn calmly sat on the right side, his posture, manners, and aura control bordering on perfection. ‘I have to admit this is a tad disconcerting,’ Antares gritted his teeth internally; ‘To see someone clearly my superior… This disgusting feeling of powerlessness…I don’t like it.’

  The golden-haired man showed no signs of wanting to start dialog, he was perfectly content in watching Antares and company squirm while they waited.

  Before long, Antares heard the sound of high heels ccking on the ground, Eu instantly made an awkward face, likely detecting ta ck of skill of whoever was using the heels.

  A beautiful white-haired woman entered the booth –her snow white hair was shoulder-length and silky smooth, her plump and attractive lips being twisted in a half-snarl that did nothing to diminish her attractiveness, it perhaps even enhanced it, her button nose looking a mix of both delicate and tempting; but her eyes –they were like the sky themselves, two beautiful, clear blue orbs more precious than any jewel in the entire world.

  She wore a bck knee-length skirt, followed by a brown pantyhose and bck high-heels that did nothing to hide her wide hips and incredibly sensual legs.

  Her white shirt and leather jacket did little to hide the round and voluminous breasts underneath, and looking at how strong—and yet very feminine arms—she had, it was almost a given there was a pack of sweltering abs underneath it all.

  But Antares wasn’t paying attention to any of that, he slept with a woman that was at least a billion times more beautiful than her daily, his focus was instead on the very heavy Draconic Aura permeating the woman’s whole being.

  “The White Dragon Empress…” he mumbled on reflex. ‘And she looks like a jacked female Gojo to boot…’ he added mentally.

  Albion’s host just smirked toothily at Antares’ slip, before plopping down on the left side of Asn, her head leaning on his shoulder in an instinctual motion, something that basically screamed years of intimacy between the two.

  Silence prevailed once more, the white-haired woman content in simply enjoying the presence of her likely lover to the point she even closed her eyes, then the clicking sound of armored boots hit the ground, making the white-haired human flinch and let out a growl between her teeth.

  The sound of steps got closer and closer until their owner finally revealed herself –it was a young woman with a slender and petite physique, she has finely textured blonde hair that seemed as if it was sprinkled with golden dust, and her eyes were like two pairs of sparkling emeralds holding the intensity and preciousness of legendary jewels, her pouty lips and delicate face showed an adorable and beautiful mix of naivety and elegance.

  Differently from the White Dragon Empress, she wore way more conservative clothing –a shining armor with an old-style dress, the dress underneath the armor was made from an old-fashioned blue cloth with fluffy white borders.

  And while Albion’s host looked like a seductress that would tempt you with all vices of the flesh, the new arrival looked like an earnest and honest farm girl who wishes the best for you and your fellows. A dichotomy of such magnitude that it was like looking at a Devil and an Angel.

  She wasn’t funting her strength like the white-haired woman, so Antares couldn’t exactly get a read on her with his current sensing skills, but her regal and noble aura was clear for everyone to see. ‘And she looks exactly like Artoria.’ Antares sighed inwardly; ‘An Artoria that continued to grow unimpeded by Caliburn. Albeit, she isn’t like her ncer self yet, but can see she is at least taller and more feminine than the Artoria on Fate Stay/Night was supposed to be.’

  The Artoria lookalike elegantly sat on Asn’s right side, but differently from the bolder white-haired woman, she just put her hands above her dress and adjusted her posture.

  Like before, the trio seemed to be fully content with continuing the silence or to simply annoy Antares that little bit more. Intellectually, the Devil Heir knew this was a possible power py on their part, but he honestly was running out of fucks to give quite fast, so he decided to break the ice.

  Looking at the Artoria lookalike, Antares politely asked; “…Pendragon?” It was a shot in the dark because he had no idea if that was true or not. But might as well try his luck in this case.

  The blonde girl raised her eyebrow, “Indeed I am.” Her pin but polite voice with the expert control of her expression showed clear signs of noble training. “How did you know? Asn has the same blonde hair and green eyes that I have. And he is not a Pendragon.”

  Antares chuckled; “Lady…”

  “Pendragon, Allerica Pendragon.”

  “Lady Pendragon, the members of your family have very distinguishable characteristics,” Antares took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself to spew quite a massive amount of bullshit. He then signaled to her hair with his eyes; “While some may say you all have simple blonde hair, that is far from the truth. Likely, or at least suspected, that due to your close retions with the Fae in the past, the Pendragon family’s hair gained a very perceptible identity, so your hair is not merely blonde, but a blonde,” Antares made quotation marks with his fingers; “as if sprinkled with golden dust.”

  “In my life, I’ve never seen blonde hair like yours, al-”

  “Stop with the fttery Devil, her ego is big enough as it is.” Warned the white-haired woman, much to Antares' brief amusement; ‘Is that a hint of hostility that I see? Towards your own companion, oh my… How interesting,’ he then looked at the two women a little bit better, his eyes narrowing for a microsecond; ‘no… not hostility, but competitiveness.’ Antares filled in the information for ter; ‘Very Interesting indeed.’

  “I say let him talk Val,” suggested Allerica, her eyes sparkling with hidden amusement at the situation.

  “It’s Vallerica,” the now-named Vallerica closed her eyes and sighed; “ You don’t have the right to call me Val, yet. How many times do need I tell you that?” her rhetorical question went unanswered when Neptune suddenly burst out ughing.

  Immediately all eyes zeroed in on her, a blue and green gaze with swiftly growing hostility getting more intense the longer the purplette ughed.

  “Sorry, sorry… I simply can’t,” she ughed harder; “Allerica and Vallerica, it is like you two are sisters, but your fathers were way too zy to think of a name for the second one.”

  The trio’s gaze turned outright scalding at this point, so much so that Antares was a hair-breath away from summoning the Cleaver of Shamash, as that would be their only chance of survival if any of the three attacked.

  “Then you two ended up becoming rivals–”

  “How do you know that!?” Allerica hostility turned outright deadly, her killing Intent shaking the whole booth; “The fact I am The Red Dragon Empress is a secret of the highest order, less than a handful of people know that.” Her face turned into an angry scowl, her eyes glowing and turning draconic; “So, spit it out.” She gritted her now sharp teeth; “How. Do. You. Know?”

  Neptune stopped ughing, adjusted her posture, and looked at Allerica’s Draconic eyes; “You just told me girlie.” She pointed out in a deadpan.

  “I-… wha-?” replied Allerica eloquently, her noble training forgotten.

  “Purple got you there, Partner.” A deep feminine and distinctively draconic voice spoke. Looking at Allerica, Antares saw that the very famous red gauntlet appeared on the blonde woman’s left hand, its green jewel pulsing with light and power, lots and lots of power. ‘Wait… Ddraig is a female here?’ pushing his swath of questions for ter, Antares refocused.

  Allerica defted upon hearing Ddraig’s voice, her previous impeccable posture slumped; “Dammit…” She mumbled while plopping down back on the sofa.

  The Dragon chuckled, yes chuckled; “She was probably referring to yours and Albion’s host infatuation with Choir Boy.” Asn tsked.

  “Ddraig, we both know that your host is a precocious one.” Pointed out Albion, also with a distinctively female voice. ‘Of course, Albion is female as well…’ Antares added with an internal roll of his eyes while eyeing the two massive white and blue wings that appeared behind Vallerica.

  “… who ran from home at 8 again?” poked the red dragoness back.

  “… who tried to kill their own father at 11?” countered Albion sharply.

  “Didn’t yours try to do the same as well?” Ddraig made a very good point.

  Albion was a little speechless for a moment –as what Ddraig said was the irrefutable truth.

  “Weren’t we talking about keeping you a secret?” Albion shamelessly tried changing subjects, making Ddraig scoff; “We were… hmm….” Antares could swear he felt the scorching gaze of the Red Dragon Empress piercing right through him –as if her prison was merely a suggestion.

  “We could always kill them,” pointed out the Welsh Dragoness; “you wouldn’t even need Bance Breaker to do it, they’re pretty weak, after all.”

  ‘Now, to diffuse a situation.’ Antares sighed internally. He knew he couldn’t exactly give a weak response, because dragons can smell weakness from a mile away, but he also couldn’t come out too strong because he and the girls were technically in the wrong here.

  “How very civilized of you, Red Dragon Empress.” Antares started with a rather heavy dose of irony in his tone, his hand a single hair-trigger away from summoning the Cleaver of Shamash. “Someone says something you dislike, and you go right for the kill. One would think you are the vilins of this story,” Antares smirked and combed back his crimson red hair with his hand; “and I am supposed to be the Devil here?” Biscuit looked at Antares quite a bit armed.

  “… you are a Devil alright.” Ddraig hummed out loud; “Your species' propensity to spill bullshit—is like always—unmatched.”

  “I’ve killed Gods for less boy,” she continued in a growling tone; “Killing someone for a secret that makes my life a little bit more comfortable… it's barely worth mentioning.”

  “Weren’t you the one that was compining how boring your life was like … 3 days ago?” Poked Albion smugly making Ddraig scoff; “I changed my mind, now I like monotony.” Allerica and Vallerica held back their urge to ugh.

  “Okay, so every Boss fight in The Tower is mine now.” Albion didn’t waste the opportunity, making Ddraig growl. “Fuck off, we already agreed on 50/50.”

  “Didn’t you like your so-called monotony now? Why be so upset?” And Albion continued provoking, making Ddraig’s growl louder before she sighed; “... my host has yet to kill a Devil.” The red dragoness grumbled.

  “Are you still hung up on that bet we made 700 years ago?”, Albion chuckled, hiding her speechlessness. Ddraig just scoffed and said nothing more.

  “Anyway, killing innocents is out of the question,” interrupted Asn with a sigh; “Even if they are Devils.”

  Ddraig came back and tsked, her voice making the gss windows tremble for a moment; “Fine… still think we should use him as a toothpick, or at least eat a few limbs for good measure –to get the message across, you know?” Antares and company instantly raised their guards, they were all a hairbreadth away from summoning their weapons, and even Midna was alerted, Antares looked at the corner of his eyes and saw Pyra’s eyes fsh golden for a moment a bad premotion slowly growing in him.

  Asn sighed once again; “No.” he instantly cut off the dragoness in a very firm tone, making Ddraig grumble and go silent once again.

  “Can we go back to the subject at hand?” asked the Devil while straightening his posture and getting ready for anything.

  Asn sighed–something that he appeared to be doing a lot today– and massaged his temples; “We weren’t threatening you.” he raised his hands as if to disarm Antares’ gre which suddenly rose in intensity. “Look here dude, I don’t want to antagonize you,” he then patted the two Dragon Empress on their heads; “None of us does.”

  “It was that girl,” Asn pointed at Neptune; “That started ughing at my girlfriends' names.”

  Antares winced, while internally he was immensely gd Neptune's out-of-pocket actions managed to reveal exactly who was the holder of the Boosted Gear of this generation, Antares still felt he needed to talk with the purplette a little bit more about diplomatic situations. He is no specialist, but ughing at another rival faction's representant in the face can be a death sentence depending on who she was talking to.

  Neptune lowered her head; “Sorry, I didn’t want to mock you guys, I just thought the coincidence was funny…”

  “I can understand that,” Asn nodded, dispying an amount of patience and empathy to a Devil that left Antares surprised; “If you had really mocked them, we wouldn’t be talking anymore.” He then crossed his arms with a slight smile. “You are lucky they hate the person who gave them their names. So they aren’t that upset with you.” Both girls huffed, tilting their faces to the side, making Asn hide a small ugh at their tsundere-like reactions.

  “So why?” Asked Neptune a little confused.

  Instead of replying, Asn turned towards Antares; “She is rather new to this, isn’t she?”

  The Devil nodded; “She is, I reincarnated her… I think it hasn’t even been 3 days…” he admitted offering a little bit of goodwill.

  The blonde man then turned towards Neptune and calmly expined; “You don’t poke the pride of a Dragon like that.” He gestured to both women Sacred Gears; “They became more upset at the slight at their pride than anything else you said… just be careful, like Ddraig herself said; Dragons have killed worse for far less.”

  Neptune nodded; “Sorry Vallerica, Allerica, I… I didn’t mean to mock you like that.”

  Allerica sighed; “No trouble, it's in the past now.” Vallerica nodded.

  “Is everything okay inside there ~Darling?” Asked a very mature and seductive voice from outside, her tone almost moaning the words out. For some reason, Antares felt chills go down his spine –not the horny ones, oh no, but the fabled ‘I am going to die chills’, and that was just from the voice alone.

  Then a Nun opened the door –she wore the typical Japanese nun garb, a long bck robe, with a white Apostolnik modified to be more breathable, which had the pleasant effect of showing more of her very attractive face, her long robes had a slit on the side that exposed her curvy leg to the outside. Her clothes also did little to hide her absolutely amazing body and curvaceous figure due to how tightly they hugged her frame.

  Around her neck, she wore a golden colr made of small gold pques, something that only helped enhance the beauty of her face –warm brown eyes capable of melting any men or even women who looked too long at them, a long dark brown wavy hair that was sadly hidden by her hood, thin and delicate eyebrow and a mouth with an ever-present seductive smirk.

  Looking at this nun, Antares felt a sudden wave of terror at her appearance, and when Asn spoke, his fears were only confirmed.

  “Kiara? I thought you were helping the others get dressed?” asked a genuinely concerned Asn.

  “I was, but that would still take a while—not everyone has a spatial artifact just to change clothes, you know? But seeing as they didn’t want my help anymore, I decided to join you guys,” she then looked at Antares and, making the chills he was feeling intensify by a hundred times at least; “~Now, who would these be?” she asked in the same seductive tone that seemed to be the standard way she talked.

  Asn stayed silent, he knew who Antares was due to how famous his older brother was in the Supernatural world, but he had no idea about the others. Feeling a sudden pit in his stomach—a reaction mirrored by Allerica and Vallerica—and knowing Kiara would scold them all ter, he just lowered his head slightly; “... we didn’t introduce ourselves.”

  Kiara's smile tightened and then exchanged gnces with everyone in the room; “Now, we are all grown-ups here,” her smile started to make Asn and company sweat bullets; “So why don’t we act like it?” The threat in her tone definitely didn’t sound like a suggestion to anyone, much less to her allies.

  “I am out guys, good luck.” Ddraig shamelessly ran away, making Allerica look speechless at her naked left hand.

  “Sorry, but I have something very important to catch up to,” the white wings behind Vallerica quickly disappeared, Albion’s st words barely a murmur; “I Hope Alejandro finally confesses to Josephina-” hearing such, the eyebrows of the white-haired woman twitched in irritation. She also felt the urge to spoil the novel for Dragoness deu to abandoning her right now, but she wasn’t that cruel.

  The nun then turned towards Antares and the girls and bowed; “I apologize for my husband’s behavior, he tends to get extra petty when he is interrupted.” Asn wisely chooses to stay silent.

  Seeing the way Asn was acting, Kiara scoffed; “... Honey,” Kiara’s tone was very sharp, even when it still recimed outright seductive; “did you skip the diplomacy training, again?” Asn just avoided his gaze, making Kiara sigh and send him a gre that screamed ‘We will talk ter’.

  “And you,” Kiara turned to Allerica; “I expected better from someone who received noble training,” the blonde woman seemed to try to sink on the sofa in shame.

  “Have you offered refreshments?” She then indicated Biscuit with her head. “Or a guarantee that the young gentleman’s teammates are okay? Huh?” With every question the group seemed to shrink more and more, to the point Antares feared they would disappear entirely.

  “From her, I expected something like this,” Kiara gestured to Vallerica who seemed to hide even further in herself; “She was raised by savages and adopted by Azazel ter, so that behavior was expected.” She sighed and sent the three a look of disappointment that seemed worse than any of her previous words; “Do we need to go back to those remedial communication csses, again?”

  The trio flinched but hastily shook their heads, Antares couldn’t help but rex a little at seeing his theoretical enemies being treated like disobedient children.

  Kiara turned back towards Antares and the girls; “Once again, I apologize for our behavior.” She waved her wand and suddenly an assortment of snacks, cookies, and a steaming tea set appeared; “Feel free to partake, and know that you are afforded protection from the Ancient Guest Laws.”

  Antares raised his eyebrows; “I was under the impression that you were invading?” he asked while dismissing his weapon, containing his aura, and calmly sitting back on the sofa.

  Kiara shook her head; “We got it by Right of Conquest, so by all rights and purposes this propriety is ours now.”

  “Right of Conquest?” Neptune asked a little confused, her head feeling slightly wobbly from the whipsh of recent events and Kiara of all people to be in front of her.

  “A w as old as time,” started Midna with a rather serious tone; “They were challenged and won, so they get to keep the spoils.”

  “That’s an oversimplification, but Midna is correct.” Confirmed Antares while still in the process of calming himself more; “Same for the Guest Rights w, it all boils down to basic decency –you shall not attack your guest first, you shall offer food and shelter without tampering, that kind of stuff. Remind me to expin both ter in more detail to you, it’s a very fascinating topic.” Neptune cutely nodded.

  Kiara proceeded to calmly pour tea for everyone, Antares keenly observed just how skilled the woman was at tea ceremonies, it was like looking at a master at work –outright mesmerizing.

  After pouring the tea for everyone, Kiara calmly sat beside Vallerica. “Now, why don’t we start from the beginning,” she threw a pointed gnce at the trio beside her; “But properly this time.”

  Asn sighed—Antares noticed the man liked to do that a lot—and cleared his throat; “Hello, my name is Asn Argento, I am 24 years old and one of the 128 Pope Candidates, nice to meet you all.”

  Antares drew a sharp breath, for someone to be considered a Pope candidate they need to be a Cardinal, the highest ranking aside from the Pope inside the Church. He also felt confused about how a Cardinal, of all people, is married and has a harem of all things. Not to mention how young he is for a cardinal, but he has long since deduced the Church of this world operates by very different rules.

  “My name is Allerica Pendragon, and I am currently an exorcist in training under Pope Vasco Strada.” Antares almost rolled his eyes when the woman didn’t introduce herself as the Red Dragon Empress of this generation, he then picked the tea cup Kiara had served him and sipped a bit of the beavery, signaling a few moments ter—when he detected nothing amiss with it—that it was safe to drink. The girls followed soon after, and Biscuit reluctantly did so as well, the man still feeling a little woozy by the talks.

  “Name’s Vallerica Lucifer-” Oliva instantly spat all the tea that was in his mouth, his widened eyes almost popping out of his sockets. Kiara just chuckled and waved her hand, cleaning everything and dismissing the Columbian man's repeated apologies.

  Clearing her throat, the Lucifer descendant continued; “I am a Half-Devil, The current holder of one of the 13 Longinus; the Divine Diving, and a Commander at the Grigori –working directly under Azazel.” When he heard she was a Half-Devil, Oliva seemed to grow even more armed, he was outright panicking internally until Antares tapped him on his shoulder.

  “Calm down Oliva, she isn’t the Antichrist,” Antares assured the man; “She is only one of his descendants.” The man took a few deep breaths and calmed down; “Sorry Red, but I am a devotee Catholic so-”

  “I can understand. It can be very difficult for people who aren’t aware of our world, you can take your time to get your grip on things.” He patted the man on the back; “Besides, now that your two teammates are involved with one of the Pope Candidates, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a lot of info to share with you in the foreseeable future.”

  “You are quite nice for a Devil…” Oliva chuckled, keenly remembering Antares could be very terrifying if he wanted to. Antares just chuckled.

  “Guess there is just me remaining.” Kiara chirped in a good mood; “My name is Kiara Sessyoin–” This time, it was Neptune who did a spit take, and Antares couldn’t bme her, the name itself chilled his spine enough –he swears he could hear it cracking.

  While he knows almost nothing about FGO, he is aware of who Kiara Sessyoin is. Due to an unfortunate series of coincidences and the fact he had read a lot of material featuring her in his past life, in one particur 3 a.m. Wiki binge –he decided to search for her and to say he exited that page traumatized would be an understatement. Kiara Sessyoin is dangerous, extremely dangerous.

  A little confused, Kiara still waved her hand and cleared the spilled liquid, mumbling a little under her breath; “… was my tea that bad?”

  Clearing her throat, the most dangerous woman in the room continued; “My name is Kiara Sessyoin, I am a nun and the third Inquisitor of the Burial Agency, nice to meet you all.” She waved happily.

  “Kiara-san,” doing her best to hide her fear, Neptune asked; “You wouldn’t happen to have an online cult, would you?”

  Kiara tilted her head, pondering for a very tense moment; “Oh, that!” she excimed; “To spread the word, I was pnning to create one with my friends a few years ago, but Asn talked me out of it.” Suddenly, all the resentment Antares ever felt for Asn instantly evaporated, giving way to a very deep sense of gratitude, and Neptune seemed to be on the same wavelength as him.

  Seeing the two Devils looking at him with such an intense sense of gratitude left Asn utterly confused. But before he could ask about it, Antares proceeded to introduce himself; “I am Razen Antares Gremory, 18 years old, and the Gremory Pilr Family Heir, nice to meet you.”

  “My name is Eu Lawrence, I am Antares’ Knight and the st member of the Lawrence cn in this world.” Continued the Cryo user in her polite and formal tone.

  “Neptune, no surname, yet.” she discretely looked at Antares from the corner of her eyes; “I am Antares’ Queen and I am currently trying to improve my magical abilities.”

  Kiara narrowed her eyes dangerously and cupped her chin; “Are your parents from the Cult of Poseidon?” she asked politely.

  Neptune shook her head; “No, they were pretty normal for all I know.”

  “Pity,” Kiara sighed and then looked at Midna, who had been strangely quiet for quite a while.

  Feeling multiple stares upon her, Midna shook her head and introduced herself; “My name is Midna, Midna Twili, I am ‘I don’t exactly know years old’ and I am currently acting as a Guide for Antares’ team. Nice to meetcha, I guess?”

  “Oh, A guide.” Kira mumbled pleasantly, her voice still sounding quite seductive; “Do you happen to know Bloom?” Midna’s face contorted into a perfect ‘Excalibur face’, and with great difficulty, she gritted out; “…yeah, I do.” She then looked around a little fearfully; “Is she here right now?”

  Kiara shook her head; “No, she went out with Goldie—That’s Mr. Oliva's team’s Guide—and has yet to return.”

  “Good, good,” Midna answered with a great deal of relief in her tone.

  Feeling four very powerful gazes suddenly zero in on her, Pyra suddenly wanted to become a turtle or an ostrich, she did her best to appear as small as possible, but proceeded with her introduction nonetheless; “H-Hello,” she smiled awkwardly; “M-My name is Pyra Homura, you c-can call m-me either, but I p-prefer Pyra. I-I don’t exactly k-know how old I a-am, but I s-should be over 500? My current objective is t-to help m-my team climb the t-tower.”

  Kiara almost cooed; “Awwnn, you are so cute.” She smiled. “It almost makes me want to gobble you up.”

  “Eeep.” Pyra blushed and hid behind Antares, fearfully looking at the scary woman who just chuckled at her reaction.

  “Now that the introductions are in order,” Kiara turned towards Antares, her rexed posture straightening and her gaze turning sharper; “How may I help you today? Heir Gremory.”

  Antares sighed and took a deep breath; “The sole reason why I bothered you today was to help my contractor Biscuit here.”

  “Oh,” Kiara tilted her head slightly; “What would be the issue?”

  “If I understood things right—please correct me if I say anything wrong Biscuit—But earlier today, when we were on the Central Pza observing the Statues of the First Dreamers, we overhead a beatdown occurring, and as upstanding citizens-” Asn snorted, receiving a pointed gre from Kiara. Ignoring such an amusing event, Antares continued; “we decided to help. After defeating the ckeys from the Fabuin Family, Biscuit asked us to help in rescuing his friends.”

  “As you can see, I’ve agreed to his request.” Antares scratched his arm; “Biscuit then guided me towards this pce, and now here we are.”

  “That’s it?” Asn asked speechless, he was keenly waiting for some kind of hair-brained scheme or for the other shoe to drop –but he knew these Devils before him couldn’t lie in front of Kiara.

  Vallerica facepalmed and seemed to be mumbling curses under her breath, Allerica just lowered her head and massaged her temples, Ddraig was likely giving her a headache.

  “See Honey, there was nothing to worry about,” the nun chuckled and turned towards Biscuit; “Karura and Fusui are now in a retionship with Asn, so I guess our team will be quite a bit closer now, huh, Biscuit-san.”

  At suddenly being addressed, Biscuit blinked owlish before finally stuttering out; “Y-Yeah…”

  Antares then turned towards Biscuit, an awkward smile pstered on his face; “So with this, our contract has been concluded.” Antares took a deep breath; “I do not require payment now, but remember… you owe me two favors.”

  Biscuit drew a sharp breath; “Did I just sell my Soul for a misunderstanding?” he mumbled in a half-joking tone.

  Antares chuckled and patted the man on the back; “Don’t worry, Devils don’t deal in Souls Anymore. It’s Illegal now.”

  “… that means you can still do it?” asked a shaky Biscuit while doing his best to maintain composure.

  The Devil Heir just pointed at the three extremely strong exorcists in the room; “I don’t think any of them would let me, even if I wanted to.”

  “Yeah, this guy is a Pope candidate of all things, I almost forgot it…” mumbled the confused man while Asn just smirked at him.

  “Now before I depart, I must know one st thing, those guys locked down there-” Antares briefly looked in the direction of the basement; “Are they Fabuin family members?”

  “Yes,” Asn replied, his face neutral and impassive.

  “Good,” Antares half bowed towards Asn and company; “It was a pleasure meeting you all,” he was quite proud of himself for not including any joke there, no matter how much he wanted to. “Time is running, so I am afraid we must depart now. I wish you all a good evening.”

  He knew he was basically running away at this moment, But Antares was honestly done with this bullshit. Kiara Sessyoin was the st straw.

  “Oh! Going so soon?” Spoke Kiara while getting up; “Why don’t you stay for dinner? I was pnning on making grilled mb. I have yet to find someone who disliked it.”

  “Sorry, but we do not want to impose.” Said Antares while half panicking inside; ‘Dinner with Kiara Sessyoin? No, thank you. I am not that suicidal.’

  The girls also got up and said their farewells while Kiara slowly guided them towards the exit, being the st one in line, Antares turned towards Biscuit; “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Oliva, if you want to find me outside, just hold this flier,” Antares waved his hand and summoned the Gremory Family Contract flier; “And wish for it. Someone from the Gremory Cn will appear and offer their services, but they probably won’t accept you owning them favors as payment.”

  “Thanks… but how do I use it outside of the tower? Aren’t we just Dream bodies right now?” asked Biscuit while suppressing his turbulent emotions.

  Antares chuckled; “You just have to draw the circle described here and pulse your mana through it, it’s pretty intuitive stuff.”

  “And the training? Is it still up?” humbly asked the man, not willing to miss the opportunity.

  “It is on the back of the pamphlet. The reduced version at least,” Oliva flipped the pamphlet and nodded when he read a very detailed expnation on the back “If you want more, you will have to find me in the real world.”

  “You are not going to make this easy, are you?” chuckled the caramel-skinned man.

  Antares smirked, this was his test to Biscuit to see if the tter really wanted to learn from him; “The circle I gave you mostly summons one of the retainers from my cn—who take care of the massive daily influx of contracts—so, it won’t summon me. But with it, you should be able to access the Devilnet, which will open many doors for you.”

  “Why help me so much? I am still neck deep in debt to you and you continue helping, all without asking for anything substantial… why?”

  Antares scratched the back of his head a little awkwardly; “I saw potential –and in the same way when we find a rough diamond and our first instinct is to clean and polish it. I saw you and… Well, you can say I am polishing your talent, or at least giving you the tools so you can do so yourself.”

  “I am just surprised a devoted man like you is willing to even talk with a Devil like me,” Antares stepped outside, Kiara silently observing his talk with Biscuit; “You sort are always the most difficult—for a ck of a better world.”

  Biscuit scratched his head; “I was indeed raised in a very strong Catholic community. Everyone I knew was Christian, but we were always the type to practice what we preach. Samuel 16:7: for the lord sees not as man sees:-” Pain flooded Antares whole being, but he held back any outwards reaction besides a twitch of his eye, this was an important moment for Biscuit and he did not want to interrupt it. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Kiara just looked positively amused at the scene before her, she found Antares' efforts adorable.

  “Among everyone on that pza who heard my screams, you were the only one who helped. So I will not look at the fact that you are a Devil, but at the fact you followed the Lord’s words –when you saw Evil, you did something to stop it.” Biscuit smiled. “You treated your neighbor the same way you wanted to be treated. You, a Devil, are already better than many people of the faith I know.”

  “You forget that I didn’t do anything of that for free, Biscuit.” Pointed out Antares.

  “Nothing is free in this world, hermano. Only God’s love is.” Antares held back another flinch; “So as long as you don’t eat my soul or ask for anything that infringes my dignity or moral code, I am fine with repaying whatever else you ask.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Antares smiled and patted the man on the back; “Till fate allows us to meet again, hermano.”

  Biscuit smiled and patted Antares on the back; “Goodbye.” He then went inside of the ex-cabaret club.

  “You know… I expected a Devil to nurture way more hostility towards the Church.” Commented Kiara who finally decided to break the silence.

  “If it was the church from the past? I sure would.” Antares turned and started walking towards the girls; “But you guys finally started to become decent in recent years.”

  “Hoh? Why would you think that?”

  Completely ignoring Kiara’s question, Antares asked back; “Do you know what is the smartest thing the Church did in the st few centuries?”

  A little confused at the sudden question, Kiara tilted her head; “What?”

  “Making Vasco Strada the Pope.” And Antares simply left, leaving the speechless Kiara behind. The nun tried wrapping her head why would Antares say something like that, but she could never reach a proper conclusion—ever since she joined the church—Vasco Strada was always the Pope.

  ~ Asn Argento ~

  Seeing Biscuit return with a more rexed expression, Asn raised his eyebrows; “Everything alright?”

  “Yeah, we said our goodbyes, shook hands, and parted ways, nothing fancy.” Answered the Columbian man while still standing.

  “He mentioned you owed him two favors, do you want me to clean it for you?” offered the Pope candidate while hugging Allerica with his left arm.

  “Nah, as a man I gotta pay my own debts.”

  “Your choice, I am always open to help, for free,” Asn emphasized the st word, Biscuit just smiled. “There is nothing free in this world, Cardinal.” Biscuit felt quite disappointed when Asn did not correct him.

  After a brief moment of silence, Asn looked quite intently at Biscuit; “You should be careful around the red-haired Devil.” The Columbian just raised his eyebrow questioningly. “No matter what the rumors say about him, he is still the little brother of the current Lucifer.”

  Biscuit said nothing but just directed a questioning gaze towards Vallerica, making the white-haired woman scoff; “Since the Civil War, Lucifer became more of a Title than a name proper—my existence is theoretically a secret—but most higher-ups of the Abrahamic factions know about me.” she closed her eyes and sighed. “ Still… I have his cursed blood flowing through me –but in a way, so does every Devil, I am just from the direct family line.”

  “That sounds overly complicated…” commented Biscuit. Vallerica rolled her eyes; “You don’t know half of it.”

  “I have tons of questions, but that honestly can wait. Right now I just want to eat a pound of beef and drink a cup of wine.” Biscuit then half bowed; “I will then excuse myself and leave you guys alone, thanks for the help and for saving my teammates.”

  “Bah, no need for thanks Biscuits,” Asn got up and patted the caramel-skinned man on the back; “We are friends now, aren’t we?” Biscuit just smiled awkwardly and nodded before exiting the booth and walking towards the exit, on the way he met Kiara returning—who he just greeted with a small nod—and then exited the building.

  “Pity he is in the cws of the Devils, “ Asn shook his head.

  Kiara, entering the booth, harrumphed; “He is not, Biscuit is a man of God through and through, I’ve felt how strong his faith is.”

  Asn raised his eyebrows; “Are you sure? Since I can remember, making contracts with Devils turned you into a heretic.”

  “You know Asn…” Kirara sighed; “That’s the exact reason Pope Strada is so strict with you, things will all be fine and dandy, and then you will let out a comment like that. It’s like you are a diplomatic incident waiting to happen. I love you to death, but you need to stop letting that affect you so much.”

  Asn scowled, his aura controlled momentarily entering an imbance; “I…” his face contorted, the usual handsome beauty he carried with pride turning into an ugly rage; “Can’t. They Killed my-”

  Vallerica suddenly kissed him, leaving Asn stunned, but he quickly reciprocated the gesture. After a long battle, the two separated, splitting the trail of saliva between them.

  “I know how you feel Asn, but control your rage,” she touched her forehead on his; “save it for them.”

  Asn took a deep breath, taking in the smell of his lover, something that helped him immensely calm down; “You are right, on those guys deserve my anger.” He added good naturally. Kiara sighed a little sadly when she saw this scene, two very dear people to her so deep into their vengeance they are almost drowning in it, is a painful thing for the nun to see.

  Allerica, who had been deep into her thoughts until now—likely talking with Ddraig inside her own mind—perked up; “To think the Useless Gremory of all people would help someone like that…”

  Ddraig snorted; “Yeah, didn’t expect the little zy bat to have a spine. Who would’ve thought…”

  Albion, who just appeared behind Vallerica, scoffed; “He didn’t look so little to me, the guy felt like he was at the peak of High Css…”

  “Pffff, as if! That is less than an ant for us,” rebutted the Red Dragoness.

  “… I think he may have used some trick.” Added Asn after a brief silence, earning questioning looks from the dragon girls. “He was a High Css on title only a few weeks ago.” He pointed out.

  Kiara tilted her head; “Didn’t you hear the rumors?”

  Allerica raised her eyebrows; “Which rumors? About his fiancé escapades?”

  “Not that, that’s old news.” Kiara shook her head; “I am talking about his Heirship, the Devils wanted to make it an internal issue—but spies exist for a reason—so we were able to get that he was on the verge of being excommunicated as heir.”

  “Where the Gremory—of all people—going to cut him off from the family?” Asked Vallerica genuinely surprised, the rumors of the Gremory Cn cherishing their family a lot was a well-known fact in the right circles.

  “No nothing that extreme, but with that kind of marriage contract hanging over their heads and the sheer inaction of the acting heir, they had to do something.” Kiara started cleaning the table and sighed; “But he managed to pull off some impossible contract and shut up all the dissident voices, for now.”

  “And you still think he was bluffing?” Asked Kiara incredulously.

  “Yeah… wasn’t it obvious?” Asn tilted his head; “He came way too strong with his bluff, I mean… reaching High Css in what? A Week or Two?”

  “Well, if we go by his family history… Talent is probably something he never cked, he just never applied himself.” Pointed out Vallerica making Asn humm in thought.

  “Majority think his brother pulled off some strings to save his ass.” Asn cupped his chin; “At least that is what some of our spies have been reporting overhearing.”

  “I can’t disagree that has the smell of the Crimson Destruction all over it…” grumbled Kaira, it wasn’t the first time Antares Heirship came into question, only for Sirzechs to save his ass at the end of the day. But apparently, the Crimson Satan learned to be more subtle.

  “Choir Boy,” Asn looked at Vallerica's white wings. “I know what I felt, and that guy is a very strong High Css,”

  Ddraig added her own two cents; “My host still stomps him with a single Boost thought.” mumbled the Dragoness in a zy tone. Asn wanted to retort but decided it wasn’t worth it and just nodded. At the same time, Vallerica seemed to be frowning in thought.

  “Yeah, I noticed he seemed pretty strong, both physically and magically for a High Css. His mana was inordinately high quality.” Pointed out Vallerica, the frown still present on her face; “He also seemed to feel… fear? Can’t say for sure, my emotion sensing is not as sharp as I would’ve liked it…”

  “Fear?” Asn mumbled while rolling his eyes; “That’s kind of expected,” he then pointed out at Vallerica and Allerica; “Two Longinus,” he pointed at himself; “A Cardinal and,” he looked at Kiara; “An overpowered nun.”

  Kiara hummed and nodded, It was indeed a very scary lineup for a measly High-Css Devil and his small team.

  .

  .

  .

  AN:

  Well, there is a lot of stuff in this chapter. We finally learn who are the holders of Albion and Ddraig of this generation, that Asn is a Cardinal, and Kiara finally appears. There is also a lot of information and setups for important events in the future in the dialog, so stay tuned.

  For me this was a rather difficult chapter to write, like I’ve said before, I am very shit at more politically inclined situations like these. But I know if I kept avoiding them, I would never get better, and liking it or not, a more serious DxD verse would have a lot of politics, so I just have to swallow it up and do my best. Hope you guys have been liking it so far.

  And yeah, everyone still underestimates Antares a lot. If they had seen him fighting, no way they would have, but all the impression they have gotten is some rumors passed along by spies in another dimension, and what they were able to feel, so nothing concrete. So they of course will not believe it so easily, our boy has some bad rep to get rid of. Don’t worry, it will be fixed and I already pnned how.

  And yeah, Antares is quite afraid of Kiara, enough that he basically ran away after she appeared, lol. Read her Wiki page if you have some time to waste, you will be quite surprised.

  Well, I won’t say much more to not spoil the fun of the next chapter. But if you have questions, just ask, I am always lurking around, so if it won’t spoil the fun I tend to answer.

  Answer:

  Well, to be completely honest this question made me pause. My first reflex was to answer Skyrim due to my familiarity with the game, but then I realized that Magika is basically radiation for non-magical people, and I probably would get super-cancer and die in less than a month.

  Then I thought about Harry Potter, but I don’t fancy my chances in a normal forest, much less one with magical pnts and creatures.

  The less said about Cultivation verses the better.

  Better go to a pce where they have paradise nd like Mount Celestia and its seven heavens. Yeah, I think that is my best bet for not instantly dying.

  ~ClearSkySage