The Protagonist System

After having supper with my mom and explaining I still had some work to do, I returned to the youkai's lands and set up the extra wards. The main part was easy, since the majority of their normal businesses and living areas were relatively close and a single set of ward stones covered them. I then had to go to the smaller businesses scattered all around Kyoto to ward them as well.

The teleportation spell would drop any real criminals into the nearest body of water, usually at a significant distance from the shore. We didn't want to make it too easy for them to go back for revenge, so I also added in a limited Obliviate spell to remove the event from their minds.

I finished protecting the last of the independent stores at the edge of their territory and felt a small rush of power. I returned to the youkai's pagoda in time to witness the first assailant be pushed away from near one of the market stalls. They started ranting about the horrible service and approached them again, as if to hit the server or to intimidate them, then a flash of light removed the threat completely.

“I hope he enjoys his swim back from the ocean.” I said and everyone turned to look at me. “It's a new feature Queen Yasaka and I negotiated to protect you all from anyone that threatens you unjustly.”

I had thought the looks the cat-people gave me were lascivious, or filled with overt and kind of offensive sexual desire, and they had nothing on the looks everyone was giving me now. Luckily, none of them tried to approach me as I walked by them and entered the pagoda. A knock on Yasaka's office door had the queen herself answer it, since her attendant was still passed out.

“I've completed the new contract stipulations.” I told her needlessly, because she had felt the spike of power between us as well. “They work, too.” I said and let her know about the small altercation and how the new wards had given a warning first and then teleported the criminal away.

“Thank you.” Yasaka said, her voice full of appreciation.

“Would you like for me to examine the wards around your dimension now?” I asked and she smiled knowingly.

“That would be nice.” Yasaka said and stood. “I just need to grab my daughter to let her know we're going home.”

I nodded and sat down to wait. I spent the time thinking about who had given that old man, or I suppose old youkai, the information about Yasaka's movements. I only caught a few glimpses in his mind about the informant before the old man died and I didn't have much to go on. That wasn't going to stop me, though.

I took out a wand and held it up. “Point me to the closest lizardman.”

The wand whipped around and pointed to the corner of the wall. I made myself invisible and intangible and stood up to walk through the wall and followed the wand to where it pointed. Not surprisingly, it led me through part of the pagoda to a small office in the far corner.

A quick prod to his mind and he was one of the people ejected from the dimension and was forced to move into the Oni village and surrounding area. Unlike the others, he knew it was a punishment and hated it as much as he hated Yasaka, and had arranged for vital information to reach those that could use it.

I used Imperio and had him write his resignation letter, apologized for betraying his queen, and tossed him into the sun. I had been tempted to just erase his memory and shrugged. That was a form of killing him anyway, only it left a body behind and possibly another traitor, if he was left to his own devices. It was better to just get rid of him completely and not worry about it.

Thankfully, it was only him and no one else was in on the scheme to put the dark faction leader into power after Yasaka had an accident. There were still plots against her, since her enemies were still around; but, I couldn't really go to each and every person to root through their minds for evidence of their crimes. Not only would that take a very long time, their schemes might actually work if I was so busy elsewhere.

No, I would let the new wards do their job and would handle the aftermath if it was necessary.

I stepped back to Yasaka's office and sat down, after making myself visible and tangible again. I was only there for a minute before the door opened and a little blonde missile launched itself at me and almost knocked me to the floor.

“Issei!” Kunou almost shouted and buried her face into my neck as she hugged me.

Both Yasaka and I softly laughed at her being so clingy after only knowing me for a short while. I stood with her in my arms and Yasaka opened a portal to their home dimension. We walked through and into the front yard of their nice Japanese-style home.

Checking the wards was just a pretense to have me stay over for a while and I did the work in the background while spending time with Yasaka and her daughter. It was kind of a rare thing for them to include someone else in, and both Yasaka and Kunou enjoyed having me there to share their time with.

*

“You are the Satan Lucifer.” Ajuka said with surprise as he read the results of his tests again. “I don't know how; but, you really are.”

“Thank you, Ajuka.” Serafina Lucifer said. “I knew you could verify my claim without too much fuss and bother, while also enjoying the challenge.”

Ajuka smiled only briefly. “How are you here?”

“After a devastating loss of my own, I was given an offer I didn't want to refuse.” Serafina answered and tried to not look at Grayfia. “A replacement was needed here and I've come to fill that need as much as possible.”

Falbium lifted his head from the pillow he had on the meeting room table. “That doesn't explain how you know about the upcoming war with the Norse Pantheon.”

Serafina pulled out several papers and handed them over. “I was given a report about the whole thing, how it came about, and that the Norse just wanted an excuse to fight when they discovered you were down two of the four Satans.”

Falbium huffed as he read through them, then he laid his head back down on his pillow. “Neither Serafall nor Sirzechs would step onto the battlefield, unless they were matched up against someone that could put up some kind of fight.”

“It wasn't worth their time or effort, otherwise.” Grayfia added.

Serafina nodded, since she felt the same way. “In any case, the Norse have declared war on the Devil Race and the time is set for a month from now. It took some hard negotiating tactics by Satan Leviathan...” She said and nodded at Grayfia. “...and the set battlefield will be held in the no man's land well outside the outlying settlements at the edge of the farthest territory.”

“The men have already started construction of the appropriate battlements for a lengthy siege.” Falbium interjected without lifting his head. “We're even sneaking in underground tunnels and foxholes along the front.”

“I'll have my department put together a few surprises along with the siege engines.” Ajuka said. “It's best to prepare for and counter their flyers, too.”

Falbium nodded and snuggled his comfy pillow.

“A few observers have requested some witness stands and perhaps prestige seating to have the best view of the battle.” Grayfia said and produced a few papers of her own to show off the missives she had received when word of the declaration spread. “Both from members of our own race and several foreigners, including our new trading partners, the Youkai Faction.”

“I do remember the reports that you successfully negotiated something that Serafall has never been able to.” Ajuka said and gave her a pointed look. “Have you set aside a list of things my department could be interested in?”

Grayfia pulled out one of the papers from the small pile she had and handed it to him. “These will become available as soon as Yasaka's people finish surveying their repaired and properly anchored dimension.”

Ajuka's eyes devoured the list of different things that would soon be available. “Excellent. This will help improve our work and advance our progress immensely.”

Grayfia tried to not look proud at the compliment.

“We need to make the battle as glorious as possible, as per Queen Frigga's polite request.” Serafina said to get them back on track. “Then both I and Grayfia will reveal ourselves at an appropriate time to spice things up.”

Falbium's bark of laughter was muffled by his pillow. “You mean to give all those battle hungry Norse a heart attack?”

“Yes, I do.” Serafina said with a huge grin on her face.

“I believe this will be the first time we can have a war that's going to be fun.” Ajuka commented.

“Agreed.” Falbium responded.

“Let's do our best to give them a show worthy of being remembered.” Serafina said and the other three Satans nodded.

*

The previous heads of the Five Principle Shinto Clans, and their councillors, were ashes at the feet of the fully powered Vermillion Bird avatar, Shuri Himejima. She hadn't bothered trying to figure out which of the clans had been the one behind her counterpart's assassination and instead had made them all pay for it, because they were all responsible for not stopping the attempt in the first place.

Her rival, the one the clans fully controlled after her counterpart's death and had denied her daughter's birthright by forcing Akeno to become a reincarnated devil, had voluntarily given up her place as an avatar and offered the local universe's Vermillion Bird's power to her, which Shuri gratefully accepted in exchange for not burning the pretender to ash as well.

Surprisingly, the energy was easily absorbed, which made Shuri twice as powerful as she had been. The happy cries of the doubly empowered Sacred Phoenix echoed throughout the Shinto lands. Many of the people living there felt a glimmer of hope that things were going to be better from now on.

Shuri Himejima would make sure of that, or things would be burnt by her righteous flames until it was better. She sat on her throne and appointed the new heads of the Five Principle Clans, then issued her orders. Clean up the mess their previous heads made or she would take the opportunity to cleanse them herself.

Akeno stood beside her mother's throne and her sadistic smile matched her mother's. As soon as she had the chance, she was going to thank Issei for bringing back her mother and giving her the revenge she hadn't known she needed or thought was possible.

*

I stood inside a secret room in the basement of my Underworld mansion and wondered what I was going to do with the woman that was in the stasis chamber in front of me. I could easily heal her of all her ills and overhaul her to become as healthy as possible, which wasn't the problem I was having. You see, I had no clue what kind of woman she was, her personality, or if she would even want to wake up.

I knew of the things she had been through, the centuries of experiments her own son had conducted on her and her womb, as he tried to make another original devil, just like himself. I didn't know if she was awake for any of it, or the failed pregnancies, or the births that ravaged her body to make her so weak and frail that a soft wind could blow the poor woman over and cause her to collapse.

Did I have any right to revive her and cause her to relive some or all of that? To remember what happened to her? Or should I end the stasis and let her finally die like she should have centuries ago?

It was a conundrum that I had no one else to talk to about, because if anyone, anywhere, knew that Lilith was still around, the mother of the devil race, they wouldn't rest until she was found and dealt with. The choices they would have if they did find her, would be the same as mine. Life or death. What would they choose? Did it matter?

I sighed and stepped out of the sealed room into my luxurious kitchen. I took out two previously prepared meals out of my inventory and walked into the dining room where Grayfia was waiting.

“It smells delicious.” Grayfia said as I placed one in front of her.

“It tastes even better.” I said and sat across from her. I poured out some aged and delicious wine for her from my endless decanter and a flex of magic changed it to grape juice for myself.

Grayfia smiled briefly and dug into the food with grace.

“I assume the other Satans accepted Serafina into the role without fuss?” I asked and started eating, too.

“A story will be prepared to explain her female appearance after she makes her debut.” Grayfia said and quirked an eyebrow. “I don't suppose you can grab just anyone from anywhere?”

I shook my head. “I usually spend a lot of time searching for an appropriate version of a missing person before I can make the offer to bring them to where they are needed.”

Grayfia thought about that. “I suppose her being female has nothing to do with it.”

I chuckled. “Not really.”

“No?” Grayfia asked and sipped the wine. She hummed in appreciation and kept eating.

“Like her counterpart, she was obsessively in love with her sibling, except she successfully fought those feelings off after she lost her husband.” I said and gave her a look.

Grayfia blinked her eyes several times as she looked back at me. “Oh. That explains a few things.”

I nodded and didn't mention that I had been hidden nearby when Serafina and Rias had a nice long talk about their feelings and how they both regretted that they had both lost their sibling. They had a lot more in common than they had with those same siblings and had become fast friends with how alike they were, especially their love of cuddling others while naked in bed.

I hadn't witnessed the reunion Serafina had with her parents, since I was busy pounding Yasaka's fluffy ass at the time, so I only picked up a few stray thoughts here and there from the members of Rias' Peerage and Sona's Peerage in the Student Council.

All I gained was an impression that Venelana was shocked and a little jealous over how beautiful her voluptuous daughter was, which might explain why her counterpart had such a volatile relationship with Serafina back in her own dimension.

The Venelana there had grown up with a daughter that was more powerful, more beautiful, and more desirable than her, which she could do nothing about to change it. That mirrored how Sirzechs' father here had felt about his son being more powerful, more handsome, and more desirable than him.

At least here Serafina Lucifer wasn't a part of the Gremory Clan and Venelana hadn't spent years in anger and resentment over everyone ignoring her for her daughter. As a Satan, Serafina had to be divorced from family obligations to operate politically without her family influencing her decisions.

Grayfia and I finished eating and I made the dishes disappear, took her hand, and led her into the sitting room and sat down on one of the couches. Grayfia sat beside me and gave me a sly look without saying anything.

“I received several notices about being hired as a stripper for birthday parties.” I said and Grayfia raised her eyebrows at me. “I performed a contract once and did really well, getting several numbers and requests for future work.” I took out the paper with the list and the rates to give to her.

Grayfia looked at them and then at me. “You're not kidding.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I was pretending my aspect as a devil was lust, so she made the appointments to make sure I was happy and earning a good living for the Peerage and raising my own power level.”

“Are you going to do them?” Grayfia asked and handed me the list back.

“I know I don't have to, since I won't gain anything from them...” I stopped and smiled at her.

“...you've done enough to Rias and you don't want her to suffer anymore for not completing the contracts.” Grayfia deduced and I nodded. “I'll let her know the contracts will be covered for her.”

“Thank you.” I said and leaned in to kiss her, then I pulled her onto my lap and made out with her like she was my longtime girlfriend and I hadn't seen her in a while.

Grayfia let out a soft moan and kissed me back just as passionately, then our clothes were gone and she was all over me. A less restrictive Grayfia was a lot more fun to be around than the stoic maid she used to be.