Prologue Arc

Updates Complete and Meeting with Devils

[The update for -The Gamer (Version 1.2)- is complete. Reloading -Warren Fall- in the last known location...]

[...]

[...]

[Reloading complete]

Blinking away the spots in my eyes and dismissing the text boxes with a thought, I pulled myself up from where I was laying on the grass-wait what?

"Where am I?" I questioned aloud as I gazed at my surroundings...only to have the events that led to my system update hit me over the head like a sledgehammer.

Quickly looking around, I found myself laying on the side of one of the grassy hills set up in my Soul Plane. The "starter town" that I vaguely remembered seeing when I first arrived appeared to be about a solid quarter mile away.

[Welcome Gamer to the Neutral Zone!]

[Within this Zone you will find the "Starter Town" as you've so eloquently called it, where you will have access to different Facilities. These Facilities will have the ability to upgrade and grow via either meeting certain requirements or simply paying for upgrades to take place. Some Facilities will be locked for the moment, and they will either be unlocked via level up or story progression.]

[You have -5 hours and 2 minutes- remaining until the Time Quest -An Appointment has been Set!- will end.]

The time remaining caused me to wince as I really needed to look through my new stats, awaken my new Phantasms, and try and see what all I had available from the Starter Town. Honestly I was just thankful for the fact that the update allowed me to have a decent amount of sleep otherwise I would probably be rather cranky when I finally met with Sona. Even if I didn't really need the sleep it was still nice to do so.

[We would recommend that you look through the update notice in your Mailbox in order to find information about the newest update.]

Blinking in surprise (and a small amount of growing suspicion), I pulled up the new piece of mail and looked through the new information after sitting back down in order to make myself somewhat comfortable.

The changes were really a toss up in terms of good, bad, and annoying.

Firstly, it looks like what Chaos told me about combining Trinity Tuner and [The Gamer] was true. As far as I could tell a lot of my abilities were now created and run through the efforts of Trinity Tuner. This brought a whole new slew of possibilities; however, as Trinity Tuner was a Soul based Sacred Gear which in turn meant I now had a new skill, {Soul Manipulation}, which was already Lv10.

(Though I also pointedly ignored the fact I also now had a {Chaos Manipulation} skill if only because it didn't have a description, and it was currently [Locked]. I could only imagine this was Chaos work, so I ignored it for now.)

Secondly, the change of having my Gamer powers based on my Sacred Gear did change them fundamentally. This unfortunately meant that while {Gamer Body} would make sure I could keep fighting if my HP was high enough; limits had to be made. These limits mainly have to do with things like eating and sleeping since {Gamer Body} was now powered by my Soul and not a concept like it originally was.

Thirdly, a lot of new Sub-Tabs were set up under practically every Main Tab in my [Menu]. Most of them were blacked out for the time being, but one Main Tab had been added.

[Town: This Tab details the Facilities currently set up in your Starter Town. This interface is where you will also be able to choose new Facilities to create or upgrade.]

So yeah that was a thing.

Besides that however the majority of the information left just spoke of new items now made available thanks to gaining access to the Starter Town, and it explained how Chaos Creator would not be made available to me until Trinity Tuner was Lv50 at the minimum.

Which honestly? Far enough.

Once I was finally done with a short preview reading of the new information, I went through looking at my new stats upon reaching Lv26 only to discover something rather interesting when I saw that the Quest Tab was flashing.

[You have completed the requirements for - Time Quest: An Appointment has been Set!] [Would you like to claim Rewards now?]
{YES/NO}

"Uhh yes please," I muttered condescendingly as I clicked {YES}.

Quest Complete!
[Timed Quest: An Appointment has been Set!]
An appointment has been set with one of the resident devils, and you need to be prepared for anything that may happen!
{Objective: Complete Tutorial 4 and reach Lv20 before time is up!}
Rewards: 7,500 EXP, 50,000 Yen, 1 Rare Item Randomizer, and 1 Random Tier II Phantasm
{Bonus Objectives: +1 Uncommon Item Randomizer per Bonus Objective completed}
- Complete Time Quest before time is up (Complete!)
- Reach Lv25 before time is up (Complete!)
Bonus Reward: +2 Uncommon Item Randomizers
{Secret Objective: Complete all other objectives}
- Secret Reward: +25,000 Yen

[Level Up!]

"Now that's what I'm talking about," I gushed while scrolling through my new rewards as well as taking a moment to view my stat increases from my Boss fight. Surprisingly each stat gained no more than five points, but that was around a five point increase each.

Deciding to open the Randomizers (2 Rare and 2 Uncommon) as my first course of action, I quickly went about doing just that. The results of which were very satisfying indeed.

MCM Ingot X 4 {Uncommon} {Item: Material}:
Also known as Magic Conductive Metal Ingot, this material can be used in the creation of magic conductive weapons and equipment.

Dragon's Gunfire {Uncommon} {Item: Skill Book}:
An uncommon skill for the FIRE affinity gained from a Skill Book. The skill is based largely on a dragon's ability to shoot fireballs only improved upon by allowing the user to launch fireballs at higher velocities and from sources such as guns or cannons.
Grants skill: {Dragon's Gunfire}
Requirements: {FIRE Manipulation Lv15} or access to a Dragon Phantasm at Lv10 or higher.
(NOTE: If Dragon Phantasm is chosen as a requirement then the user may only gain access to skill when Phantasm is used or until the user gains access to {FIRE Manipulation Lv15}!)

Medium Mana Lacrima {Rare} {Item: Mystic Code / Material}:
Made from a crystallized form of pure magic, this softball sized orb is a very versatile material that can take in magical energy in order for it to be used later. It can be considered a mana storage device as a result, or it can be used as a material to grant another item the {Mana Storage} skill.
Mana Capacity: 0 / 2500 MP
If used as a material it will grant the newly created item the {Mana Storage II} skill.

Phalanx Pike {Rare} {Item: Polearm / Mystic Code}:
A pike enchanted by a powerful spellcaster in order to be used by spellcasters. It has the innate ability to increase the power of any spell used by the wielder.
Deals a Base 30-40 Physical DMG
+25% increase to all Magical DMG dealt when using pike as a focus.
Unique Skill: {Spell Booster II}

All in all an amazing haul as not only can I use everything I just gained (though learning to use the pike will probably just be a side project for now), the fact that I could make better armor or weapons is a very nice bonus.

That done with, I pulled up the Noble Phantasm Randomizer because I was honestly both really curious but also a little cautious about actually using it.

In fact…

"Hey Chaos?"

[Yes?]

Smiling a little at still being able to talk to the Primordial (and that they actually kept their promise to stick around) I asked, "when I use this Randomizer, am I going to be getting a Noble Phantasm like the ones I make, or am I going to get an actual Noble Phantasm?"

[Why don't you just try it out?]

Anddd my good mood dropped. Staring deadpan at the text-box, I just sighed and pushed the {YES} that popped up like usual. This time I was actually met with a poker table that had a line of cards set up like tarot cards. Choosing at random, the card appeared to take up the text-box for a moment before suddenly spinning absurdly fast. Eventually it became so fast that light began to ignite from its frame until a sound like breaking glass resounded around me, and a weight fell into my palm.

[Congratulations! You have received the Noble Phantasm - Ira Lupus!}

Ira Lupus {Rank: C+} {Type: Anti-Unit} {Item: Polearm / Noble Phantasm}:
A Rank C+, Anti-Unit, Noble Phantasm of the EARTH Element. Originally wielded by Gareth, a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian Legend, this cavalry lance is not the actual Noble Phantasm, but rather the lance is the physical means to use the Noble Phantasm. The Noble Phantasm itself is the complete skill and power Gareth once wielded in their past life as well as an Anti-Unit rank skill that consist of numerous consecutive strikes and one final, powerful thrust.
Weapon deals a Base 150-200 Physical DMG without use of Noble Phantasm
Grants +50 STR and +50 AGI
Mana Capacity: 0 / 10,000
Grants skill: {Polearm Mastery - Masterful Lv1}
Unique Skills: {Ira Lupus: Rampaging Maiden Wolf}, {Piercing III}, and {Mana Storage IV}

"...what?" I whispered in complete and utter shock as I stared down at the massive cavalry lance from where it had pretty much immediately slipped from my lax fingers. The utter absurdity of the weapon innocently laying there (and given to me for free) honestly breaking something inside of me a little.

The weapon itself was actually a little strange looking as you wouldn't figure such an almost mechanical looking weapon to be from the time period of the Arthurian legends. I mean really; the back end of the lance pretty much looked like a mini booster rocket! There was another black section set into the shaft portion of the polearm that I also couldn't figure out if it was for some kind of actual purpose or pure aesthetic. The lance itself was also very unique as it seemed to contain mana crystals of some kind around its middle while being surrounded in white and gold metal with the actual pointed portion being a grayish metal and almost shaped to look like-

"Wait a minute," I muttered as I picked the lance up once again. I was surprised for a moment as I seemingly gained immediate knowledge of how to hold the weapon as well as how to actually use it, but I figured that came with the {Polearm Mastery - Masterful}. Actually focusing on the weapon in my hands, I considered the {Mana Storage IV} skill it had and decided to see what exactly that meant, so I began pushing mana into the lance-

"Now we're getting somewhere," I said happily as the crystals surrounding the lance's top half began to glow a bit as I pumped a good amount of MP into it. Though I became rather surprised when a new series of information soon made its way into my brain, and I pushed mana into the lance in just the right way.

"Oh fuck yes," I said savagely as the pointed portion of the spear began to spin like a drill with blue arcs of magic streaming off it, and mana began to drain first from the Noble Phantasm's own Mana supply and then my own when I continued to power the lance/drill for a solid minute.

"This is going to be fun to use," I chirped happily as I placed the spear on my shoulder almost like it was the most natural thing to do in the world. A quick check also verified the fact that I didn't actually have to use the Soul Plane method to store the polearm, and instead I could place it in my [Inventory] like any other non-soulbound item.

Stepping away from the subject of overpowered lances and their absurd level of ease to use, I decided it was rightfully time to awaken a couple of new Phantasms.

The first of which was the Tier II (DARK) Randomizer as I was more used to dealing with DARK based Phantasms at this point, and if nothing else I could just get Horus over here to "play" with the new Phantasm while I'm busy with the other one.

The small black "lost soul" that exited my chest was about the same as usual, and just as I did previously when awakening Horus, I stared at the soul and looked.

I focused on the black flames that flickered gently. I watched as they slowly shifted to an assortment of tans and dark greys.

I focused on the gentle feel its flames gave off. The almost tired, and dare I say calm, nature it seemed to hold that was so unlike Horus or any other Phantasm before it.

I focused as the flames soon began taking a new form. The flames grew outwards into what appeared to be limbs and a humanoid form. A tan mantle streaming off its form in tattered ends, yet at the same time showing the experiences it had been through. Then a long shaft appeared for a moment. An almost tribal looking staff taking form with the capped head of a skeletal bird. Finally a head of black hair appeared, the flames still present making it impossible to truly see the individual's face yet somehow still conveyed a gentleness that the soul carried in its entirety.

It was as the flames receded for a moment; however, a single second the flames spread just thin enough that a pair of pure black eyes appeared. Eyes so dark in color, yet able to portray such emotion snapping me into true focus as I realized something.

I knew who this Phantasm was.

I knew his name.

"Awaken," I intoned, the words echoing in my own ears and the Boundless Plains around me," Dharc, The Dark Charmer!"

And from the now tan and dark grey flames, a staff first appeared. The same tribal like staff capped with the skull of some bird yet also the horns of a beast. The arms holding the staff appeared next from where they were wrapped in white wrappings and a shackle of all things attached to its wrist. The tan mantle I had seen before taking larger shape as Dharc's entire body finally pushed its way through the flames and entered the world. The Phantasm taking the form of an older teen possibly 17 or older.

Black hair and eyes decorated a pale and calm face as Dharc blinked for a moment as if reorienting himself before he began to gaze around his surroundings in surprise and curiosity.

Personally I was experiencing surprise myself as I had honestly not been expecting to get such a humoniond Phantasm. Especially one seemingly so young.

Finally Dharc seemed to finish taking in his surroundings and instead focused on me. Something in his black eyes lit up at spotting me, and he surprised me by waving good naturedly. A gesture I returned with a smile before I went to speak.

I was thus surprised when Dharc shook his head rapidly before I could even speak up, and he made as if to say something; however, no sound came out.

Realizing what he was saying (or rather not saying), I nodded to him and followed my instincts.

Golden flames leapt into the space between us. Never getting to close yet at the same time simply floating in the air ready to accept the new Phantasm if he would have me.

A good natured, silent chuckle was all I got in reply before black, tan, and dark grey flames leapt into existence as well, and they meant my own.

The two flames mingled in the air for a moment as if testing the waters and the other for something that cannot be put into words. Finally an "agreement" seemed to be reached, and my own golden flames took in another flame into its own like a friend welcoming another.

When the last flare of flames was converted, I could feel it as a place was made for the once lost soul before me. The calm and tired (but also happy and joyful) emotions coming through the bond making me smile in happiness as well. A smile Dharc returned as he closed his eyes and sighed content as he seemingly basked in my inner world as a whole instead of just as a bystander as he had before.

Letting my new Phantasm have a moment to continue his basking, I pulled up the new information I had on Dharc. What I found did not disappoint.

Dharc, The Dark Charmer, Tier II {Lv: 1} {Exp: 0.0%}:
A Tier II Phantasm of the DARK element. This Spellcaster Phantasm was once a member of a family of "charmers" who gained great esteem for their creation of the familiar system as well as their ease at using their chosen element.
[STR: 5] [AGI: 5] [VIT: 10] [END: 10] [INT: 25] [WIS: 25] [LUCK: 10]
Unused Skill Points: 0
Skills:
Darkness Manipulation, Passive {Lv: 1}:
Like all members of Dharc's family, he has gained great mastery over his chosen element. By using him in combat you gain his affinity for the dark arts.
Grants skill: {DARK Manipulation} and if the user already has {DARK Manipulation} then their skill level is increased by 20 as long as Dharc is Active.
Grants a 20% decrease in MP cost for DARK skills.

Summon Familiar - DARK, Active {Lv: 1}:
Like all members of Dharc's family, he has an innate ability in work revolving around familiars. You now have gained one of the most basic skills his family has as a result: Summon Familiar.
Cost: 50-500 MP depending on strength of familiar you wish to summon
Summons a DARK familiar of considerable strength based on how much MP is used.

"Not bad," I said appreciatively while nodding at Dharc who had taken the time to wander over and look at the screen himself. I had been a little surprised at first but quickly got over it in order to continue reading.

I was surprised; however, when in the middle of Dharc giving me a nod in return he just froze in place. His already pale skin going pasty white in color and his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.

"Skrrrrrr." Oh that explained it...shit.

Turning slowly, I soon found myself being stared down by Horus as he stacked towards us with battle-lust blazing in the air around him like a heat haze. Actually, correction, his bloody red eyes were focused entirely on Dharc who had taken my action of looking away as a suitable reason to hide behind me.

Feeling Horus's growing battle and blood lust through our bond (also it is just now occurring to me that I can feel Horus once again. I think I vaguely remember the update saying something about allowing access to my links while in the Soul Plane.), I quickly sent as many feelings of calm and serenity through both bonds as possible in order to try and make them both calm down. When Horus seemed to try and not pay attention to the bond; however, I scowled and glared at him.

"Horus this is our new friend, so I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped wanting to fight him," I said, lacing my words with authority in order to try and get through the haze of battle-lust I knew Horus had let himself fall into. Thankfully my words seemed to snap him out of it as not moments later I felt him back off through our bond, and he ended his stack forward.

Though that didn't stop him from finding some way to making a scoffing sound from his metallic beak and sit down with a huff in a clear case of sulking-

"Yes you are sulking, so don't scowl at me mister," I scolded him as he turned back to me to initiate said action. A tug on my sleeve had me turning; however, and I met the astonished and almost reverent eyes of my newest Phantasm as he repeatedly turned from Horus and I.

Chuckling at his actions I gestured to my first Phantasm," Dharc, I would like you to meet my first Phantasm and friend, Horus, The Black Flame Dragon. Horus this is our new friend, Dharc, so you will not use him as a new chew toy." The pointed look I sent Horus was just met with a huff as he continued to try and settle himself down in the grass-anddd he burned the grass. Perfect.

Sighing in (amused) exasperation, I turned to both of them with a raised brow.

"I'm about to awaken a another Phantasm if you both want to watch," I said glancing from the dark charmer to the imposing dragon, "though if you decide to stay I ask that you don't interrupt me or attack the new Phantasm," I finished while staring directly at Horus. He obviously knew my words were meant for him as he huffed in annoyance, but didn't move to fly away which I took as him wanting to watch. Dharc at least seemed to be openly curious if what I was both seeing and feeling was anything to go by as he motioned for me to go on rather eagerly.

Chuckling at their antics, I pulled up the Tier II Randomizer and started the awakening process once again. Unlike the both of them; however, the lost soul was not one solid color depicting its base affinity. Instead the soul was like a rainbow morphed into a flame the size of a soft ball.

Focusing on the lost soul, I began the process of awakening it-

[Luck Check Occured!]
[Tier II Randomizer has evolved into a Tier III Randomizer!]

"...are you kidding me?!" I hissed out in incredulous denial before I had to quickly focus once again on the lost soul as it seemingly grew to the size of a beach ball and began to leak out flames at an accelerated rate.

So I once again focused and found the flames snapping about quickly and swiftly in the wind. Almost slashing itself to pieces as the flames became more frantic. Flashes of bright steel making themselves known along the edges.

I focused on the masses shaping themselves from the flames. Dark blues and silvers flashed out and almost hardened in their intensity to form what looked like armor. The dark blue flames framed by the silver along the middle and bottom. A streak of silver and black revealed some kind of bladed helmet covering orange hair of all things while another longer streak of silver and black revealed a spiked blade held within the beings grasp.

I focused and found that while the helmet it wore seemed to cover one eye like a clunky monocle that didn't hide its bloody colored eye that stared out from an almost childish face.

It was within that blood red gaze so much like Horus's own yet so different as its entire being seemingly radiated peace and...silence.

And suddenly I realized it.

I knew who this Phantasm was.

I knew his name.

"Awaken," I intoned, the word echoing out once more in a wave of power and command," Silent Swordsman!"

For a moment all was still as the words echoed outward and the lost soul burned bright…

And then a large, spiked sword burst from the now silver, black, and dark blue flames in an explosion of soul fire. The sword then slashed apart the flames holding it in place, and a figure decked out in a dark blue and silver trim overcoat stepped forward. The figure itself was surprisingly rather small at only five feet tall even with the addition to its metal, bladed helmet with its attached monocle hiding one of the Phantasm's eyes. I was actually a little surprised to note that the figure's skin was a light green in color that only slightly clashed with its, kill me orange, hair. The small swordsman was also rather young looking, almost prepubescent in both size and face. Though his young looks were slightly offset by the red lightning shaped tattoos running down from his blood red eye staring at me from where he was standing with his rather large sword leaned on his shoulder in a relaxed grip.

The smaller swordsman stared at me for a moment as if measuring me with his glance alone. The action caused me to have a small flashback to Horus and his own initial reaction to awakening though Silent Swordsman didn't have nearly as much animosity in his gaze.

Rather it was simply a measuring look with no judgement in its gaze. It was almost curious really though not as innocent as Dharc's own had been. It was quite simply the look of a swordsman analyzing a potential ally or enemy.

And so I returned the action by gazing at Silent Swordsman as an equal with clear skill if the relaxed, yet also very clear sword stance, was any indication. A style that my own limited knowledge led me to believe he focused on sweeping strikes mixed with overhead slashes when trying to get through an enemies guard. The spikes along his sword weighed into the possibility as well.

Surprisingly my analysis seemed to garner enough of Silent Swordsman's attention to consider me with a respectful look, and soon enough the familiar sight of my flames accepting his own played in the air between us.

The bonding process over with, I released a small breath as I felt the sturdy and silent (yet swift and sharp) presence settle itself into his (and another guy cool) own little space within my mind and soul.

"Welcome aboard Silent Swordsman," I said, offering my hand in a shake. One he reciprocated firmly before blinking a few times and tilting his head to the side as Dharc made his way over to perform his own welcoming handshake.

"I suppose introductions are in order," I said with a chuckle. "Silent Swordsman, I'd like you to meet Dharc, The Dark Charmer, and Horus, The Black Flame Dragon."

Silent Swordsman (yeah we're gonna have to get him a smaller nickname or something) returned Dharc's handshake politely and gave a stiff nod to Horus which was honestly to be expected since Horus is technically an Evil Dragon. Though Horus didn't seem to be impressed as he gave a huff that I was coming to consider his version of a scoff. Something I noticed earned Horus a narrowed eye from our new swordsman and made me come to realize that some kind of fight was probably gonna happen in the not so far off future.

So I decided to nip this particular issue in the bud.

"As long as there is no maiming or killing, I'm fine if you both want to try and beat the shit out of each other," I said tiredly while waving at the Tier III Phantasms that were staring each other down and tensing in preparation for battle. The vicious and interested (you can probably figure which is which) glances sent my way were the only warnings I got before Horus rushed as the smaller swordsman in a burst of black fire. Thankfully Silent Swordsman proved he was in fact deserving of his Tier III status as he rushed forward to meet Horus in a flash of sharpened steel and howling winds from the force of his kick off.

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, I watched the two Phantasms collide in a crash of steel and fire. Deciding to take care of something really quick, I motioned to Dharc that I was going to walk away for a moment. He was obviously more interested in the slap fight not fifty feet from us, which I completely understood, but he still at least had the decency to make a motion of his own to acknowledge my words.

So walking a good ways away from the quarreling Phantasms, I quickly came to a stop on the other side of a nearby hill...and started cursing out Chaos in some not so nice words.

(I only barely noticed Chaos making a text-box containing a sweatdrop emoji beside me.)

The following five minutes pretty much consisted of me cursing out my newly adopted parent for never telling me that Randomizers could "evolve" into higher tiers via the LUCK stat, and that he had effectively screwed me out of multiple chances to get higher tier weapons or Phantasms.

His response was to send me a message pretty much saying, "[You never asked.]"

Thankfully he did admit in the end to being slightly in the wrong for never explaining such a mechanic and gave me five free LUCK points.

In the end I decided to just take it, and I walked back over to the rather impressive display of Silent Swordsman and Horus playing a frantic tennis match with a car size {Black Fireball}. I also took this time to look through Silent Swordsman's information with Dharc who had decided to join me at a safer distance.

(His slightly smoking and cut up mantle was all I needed to see in order to know why exactly he made that decision.)

Silent Swordsman, Tier III {Lv: 1} {Exp: 0.0%}:
A Tier III Phantasm of the LIGHT Element. The origins of this Warrior Phantasm are unknown to all that met him in life in part due to his inability to actually speak. His mutism played a large part in his most well known title of "Silent Swordsman" with his legendary sword skills only backing up his undisputed title of "Swordsman". It is believed; however, that he is the half-son of a spirit of some kind as a means to try and explain his green skin and orange hair.
[STR: 15] [AGI: 25] [VIT: 10] [END: 10] [INT: 5] [WIS: 5] [LUCK: 5]
Unused Skill Points: 0
Skills:
Silent Sword Arts, Passive (Lv: 1):
Through his experiences in life, Silent Swordsman has become a master level swordsman with any kind of sword. When in combat together you can bring these once lost arts into the world anew!
Grants {Sword Mastery - Expert Lv10}
Decreases MP and SP cost for all skills involving a sword by 20%
Increases learning rate of all sword based skills by 20% when in Active Roster

Silent Sword Slash, Active (Lv: 1):
Considered one of Silent Swordsman's most versatile skills, this slashing technique grants an anti-magic property to any attack the user performs with a sword.
Cost: 10 MP and 10 SP
Adds +25 Physical DMG to any sword skill use in conjunction with it
Unique Skill: {Anti-Magic I}

Magic Resistance D, Passive (Lv: 1)
Through unknown means Silent Swordsman was said to have the ability to shrug off basic magic of any element with ease. Many believe this grants credit to the theory that the swordsman is the half-blood as spirits are said to have natural magic resistance.
Grants 25% DEF resistance from all magical sources.
Grants complete immunity to any magic ranked lower than Uncommon in rarity.

"Unholy shit biscuits," I muttered as I stared at my Phantasm's skills because all of them were going to be incredibly useful. Especially the {Magic Resistance} as having a complete immunity to any magic below Rare in rarity was quite frankly broken as fuck considering almost all my own skills were either Uncommon or Common in rarity. Heck, the only skill I could think of with a higher rarity off the top of my head was {Counter}, and it was only considered a Rare level skill.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. Phantasms are OP as fuck.

Something that was made even more obvious when Silent Swordsman (really need to think of a shorter name for him) crashed not ten feet from us and created a small crater upon impact. Not showing any damage or fatigue, he then proceeded to get right back up to launch himself at the roaring force that was Horus going full tilt in a full body coating of {Black Fire}.

"Manics," I chuckled indulgently at the two, well, manics.

Their little slap fest aside, I looked back at the Phantasm Tab only to notice that Horus's information Tab was blinking. Quirking a brow in confusion, I clicked the Tab only to be surprised by a new interface when it listed Horus's skills. This new interface surprised me further as it not only listed the "skills" I had created with Horus (aka {Black Meteor},{Black Fire Breath}, {Nova},etc.}), but it also separated the skills by naming them either Natural or Created skills.

I was quick to note the pop up that Chaos sent me that informed me that Created skills took almost three times as much Exp to level up compared to regular skills as they leveled up like regular skills instead of needing Unused Skill Points since they were powered by Horus's Natural skills. (Was that a run on sentence?) This was thankfully offset by the fact that I could use Unused Skill Points to level them up by up to 10 levels with a single point.

Blinking in confusion as Dharc tried to get my attention, he pointed rather frantically to where Silent Swordsman and Horus were fighting-

"Oh for fucks sake," I muttered around the hand I had face palmed with. The cause of my action being plain to see as Silent Swordsman and Horus had begun to really get into their pissing match if the utterly massive {Flying Slash} and {Black Fire} condensed {Dragon Breath} were anything to go by.

"Alright I think that's enough," I said with a strained smile before I flared my soul flames to the point that I looked like a large bonfire. Thankfully my quick actions were enough to get the two Tier III Phantasm's attention…

In the worst way possible as they instead launched their attacks at me.

"{COUNTER}!" I down right screamed as I launched my fists forward to impact the two attacks. The swordsman and Evil Dragon quickly getting the hell out of dodge in order to avoid the attacks sent back at them at over twice their original speed and strength.

I on the other hand had to quickly pull out a Health Potion in order to heal the first degree burns and cuts on my hands from using my bare fist to {Counter} the attacks. Thankfully I had learned pouring the potion directly on the injury did a rather good job of healing the injury quicker than if I simply drank it.

Tapping my foot rather in irritation, I waited only semi-patiently as the swordsman and Evil Dragon made their way back to us. Silent Swordsman at least seemed to be sheepish over attacking me on accident while Horus just looked annoyed...which was his usual expression so not all that different than usual actually.

"Have you two got that out of your systems?" I asked with a raised brow while pointedly ignoring the fact they attacked me. Thankfully I was met with nods from both. Even if they were in different "tones" as Silent Swordsman was still sheepish while Horus just continued to be his grumpy self.

Though I did note rather happily that they were sending the other semi-respectful looks at the least, Horus even going as far as to give Silent Swordsman a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Well now that our little getting to know ya portion of the evening is over with-wait it's morning isn't it?" I asked myself before looking in my interface to find it was in fact morning. "Anyways with that all over with, would you guys like to explore the town with me?" I asked while gesturing to the town a ways away.

Horus was the first to respond by giving a scoff and then flying off which I honestly expected from him. Dharc and Silent Swordsman at least seemed interested in exploring with me so that was something at least.

"So Silent Swordsman, I gotta admit that was pretty impressive back there," I started off as we made our way towards the town. Dharc nodded his own agreement from beside us with a thumbs up.

When Silent Swordsman tried to wave off my praise; however, I snorted in a show of disbelief. "I'm serious man. You fought Horus as an equal. Horus who is a dragon as in one of the strongest races to exist. At this point, I very much doubt I could do the same," I admitted easily. Silent Swordsman seemed to surprisingly be the easily embarrassed type as was shown when his green skin gained a bit of a bluish tint along his cheeks, and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Deciding to give the guy some slack, I decided to comment one of the first thoughts I had upon watching him fight earlier. "You know I could actually use someone competent to spar with," I said pulling out Bōnseibā. "Fighting Zombie Warriors is all well and good, and the few swordsmen I have fought were more interested in killing me than actually helping me get better. I'm honestly starting to hit a roadblock on my training." I finished with a grimace.

And yeah hadn't that been a bit of setback considering I still hadn't leveled up {Sword Mastery} or {Firearm Mastery} past their first iterations. After all, even though I had become competent enough with a sword to at least not cut myself by accident that didn't change the fact that my {Mastery} skills weren't going to level up unless I actually gained proficiency with my weapons. In fact the only reason {Sword Mastery} was even Lv17 at all was completely tied into the fact that using skills pertaining to a certain Passive Skill actually helped it gain Exp.

Back to Silent Swordsman, he seemed to consider my request for a moment before nodding at the apparent thought of training with me. Dharc then surprised both of us as he waved his hand to get our attention, pointed to himself, and then created a small ball of darkness that he also pointed to.

"You'd be willing to help me as well?" I asked the dark charmer a little surprised. At his nod I could only smile and accept rather happily as someone tutoring me in magic would definitely help.

Turning back to Silent Swordsman, I decided to finally bring up the idea of a nickname for him. He was surprised by the question at first, but after a moment of thinking it over he nodded his consent.

The next five minutes the three of us "talked" over possible nicknames. At first we attempted to take influence from different languages or cultures and ended up with some rather interesting results as most languages that had words related with 'quiet' or 'silence' were adjectives and thus not the best result for an actual name. Silent Swordsman quickly dispelled the idea that we had to over complicate it; however, and eventually we all decided to follow the KISS method and simply call him Silent.

Finally arriving at the Starter Town, we were met with what could only be called a ghost town. There was no one walking the stone walkways and practically every building stationed along the main town road was empty. In fact the town really just seemed focused along the main roadways as it seemed to be split along four sections via a crossroad. The buildings themselves were rather unique; however, as each one seemed to hold some actual purpose with many of them either following a modern, old, or mixed design.

The first of note was the Farmer's Market which, wouldn't ya guessed it, was an old fashioned farmers market that fed into both a nearby meat and fish market. Different foods of all styles, orientations, and ethnicity decorated the market place, and I practically salivated as I thought of all the dishes I could make with this variety available anytime I wanted.

The second building was the Blacksmith Shop which was designed much like one would figure an 18th century forge would look like. Well the back half of the store, which was separated from the front via a legit brick wall, appeared to be such while the front half of the store was more so a business as it had displays for different weapons and armor.

The third building was the Clothing Shop which was really your typical, modern clothing store. The only thing of real note was that the shop also sold materials pertaining to cloth and string. Both of which apparently helped influence the stats certain equipment could gain. An example of this would be using a piece of Magic Saturated Cloth instead of just Regular Cloth as using the Magic Saturated Cloth would grant any equipment made with it a greater increase to magic based stats. Something I hadn't even been aware of when using it to create my current [Equipment Sets]. The more you learn I suppose.

The fourth building was the Potion Shop which reminded me greatly of what one would picture a modern day witch's brewery would look like. Chemistry sets decorated various walls, cauldrons lined others, and hundreds upon hundreds of glass jars and bottles containing materials and ingredients decorated the back wall of the store from where they were set behind the store's counter.

The fifth building; however, was one of the most unique as it looked almost like a cross between a modern day library and a 19th century clock tower which was attached to the top. This quite obviously being the Library.

Actually making my way inside; however, led to me practically choking on air as the front half of the shop appeared to be rather understocked as it only had probably a hundred or more books actually lining the various bookshelves in an almost sporadic manner. The back half of the store on the other hand was separated from the front half of the store by a wall to wall metal fence with no means for me to get through. The area beyond the fence was the main source of my initial reaction; however, as the space beyond the fence seemingly did not end.

It honestly reminded me of those tropes you see in anime where the main characters discover an impossibly large library that is filled with an almost infinite number of books...though this time it was happening to me.

Heck both Silent and Dharc, who were still exploring with me, flat out face-faulted at the sheer absurdity we were looking at.

So obviously this would be the perfect time for a text box to fly into my face.

[Welcome to the Library!]
[As you may have noticed the Library is rather unique, what with the massive amount of information seemingly not accessible to you and all. In truth this library is actually filled with information that is and isn't yet accessible to you.]
[The Front Half of the store is filled with information pertaining to things you have already discovered. Examples being information about your various Phantasms and their history, or information about different items you have discovered like weapons or materials.]
[The Back Half of the stores on the other hand is information pertaining to things you have not yet discovered. Examples being information about Phantasms not yet available to you, magics you don't yet know, or even more specific info about the different factions.]
[The information within the Back Half of the Library is not completely inaccessible; however, and the information can in fact be bought from the front counter.]
[It should be NOTED; however, that the level of the facility itself will determine what level of rarity certain books will be able to be bought, so keep that in mind.]

Overall the Library was definitely going to be one of, if not the most important facilities I currently had. Especially after Dharc agreed to look through the books currently available in an effort to organize everything.

(We checked, and my Phantasms could in fact write down information which was definitely going to help with the communication issue. Feeling bursts of emotions was alright sure, but nothing beat actual communication.)

My look through the Library over with, I continued through the town to discover many other shops such as the Accessory Shop which contained charms, necklaces, and even key-chains which could be added to weapons to give them small stat increases or even extra elemental affinities. Though apparently the latter only occurred with the more high end key-chains which I could not currently buy.

There was also the Gardening Shop which had both regular and magical plants, and it even had a space set beside it to actually plant the things I bought. There was the Vehicle Shop which sold legitimate vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, or regular bikes, and also had a dual function as a place to buy tools. Heck, there was even a Toy Store which held a wide array of regular to magical toys. (It actually had that Exploding Snaps game from Harry Potter!)

I was a little disappointed to find that while the different stores did offer new equipment and materials; they were only Common in rarity. Looking through my [Town] Tab, I found a solution where I could pay for the different stores to be upgraded. Doing just that I upgraded the Blacksmith, Potion, Clothing, and Accessory Shops to Tier II and the Library all the way up to Tier III which a prompt confirmed would allow me access to Uncommon level equipment and materials, and the Library also providing a small assortment Rare books.

(The total cost was a little over 100,000 Yen though which yikes!)

With this increase in rarity, I actually went about quickly looking over the new equipment to see if there were any decent [Equipment Sets]. Unfortunately the only ones of real note were the sets dealing with the {Knight Series} which, you guessed it, was mainly focused around medieval designed, metal armor. With the large expenditure of upgrading all my shops; however, I decided to save actually buying any new equipment for the time being.

New equipment aside, I also found that I gained access to, dunt dunt daaa, MP and SP Potions! Well Basic Mana and Stamina Potions but still! The fact that I could now buy and even craft them myself by buying the needed materials for cheap was amazing. Especially when I learned I could sell some of the more random materials I had been holding on to for some easy Yen.

(And considering I had well over a couple hundred different materials having to do with undead thanks to my "army slaying" earlier, I was able to get enough Yen to easily splurge later on food stuffs without using even a quarter of my sellable items.)

The final thing of note that was currently available in town was the [Explore] feature. This feature allowed me to send Phantasms out into the fields around the town in order to find either rare items, money, or possible {Ruins} that would apparently function as limited time {Battle Zones}. The only downside being that I could only send Phantasms that were not currently Active.

Thankfully I had still held onto Headless Knight, and I was able to send him off into the distance in the name of new items, money, and adventure!

(He had apparently "set up shop" in the Blacksmith Shop (hehe pun), and I had just missed him both times I went over since he was still organizing the place for my future use. I mean his original purpose was to serve magic users after all; it's not like it's something he isn't used to.)

I decided to finish the morning off by going to the Farmers Market and going wild as I bought more and more food to experiment with later. The fact that it was now required for me to eat most definitely played into my new level of excitement.

Finally done (and seeing I only had 2 hours remaining until the meeting time) I exited the ID after saying goodbye to my new Phantasms and figured I would make myself some lunch.

You know...I wonder if Sona would like some?

"Sona are you sure you don't want to go ahead and eat?" A concerned Tsubaki Shinra asked her (clearly nervous) King as said King stared down at her custom made, blue crystal chess board. A chess board she had been staring at for well over an hour at this point.

Sona was clearly startled by the question as she jerked from whatever trail her thoughts had traveled down this time. The small sigh she gave was enough for Tsubaki to know she had hit a nerve, and her rubbing the bridge of her nose was a definite sign.

"No...I think I'll just have some cake or something when I arrive. Perhaps even go early so that I can determine if he would recognize me on sight," she explained in a murmur as she once again began to go down the rabbit hole that was her mind when overthinking.

Something that caused Tsubaki to sigh as she knew the real reason Sona was becoming so unfocused was because of the young man she would be meeting with in a few hours.

Obviously this wouldn't be the first time that Sona (and by extension her Peerage) would be facing a potential enemy. It was; however, the first time that they would be facing someone in a political esc playing field (read minefield) where they simply didn't have all the information.

Quite frankly, they had practically no information on Warren Fall.

Oh, they had information on his student life of course. They even had information on his home life. How else would they have learned his connection to the previous 5th Strongest Exorcist of their time?

No, the problem was they had no idea of his actual combat capabilities. For Satan's sake they didn't even know if he had any combat capabilities, or if his reasons for coming to Kuoh Town were innocent or malicious in nature. And if he did have combat capabilities, what then? Was he simply a loner that had been able to keep his identity a secret from the world, or was he connected to the church?

They simply did not know.

So really, was it a surprise that Sona was worried for her own safety as well as the safety of the rest of her Peerage?

In the end, Tsubaki supposed it didn't matter. One way or another Sona would be walking out of the cafe safely. Herself and the rest of the Peerage, who would be stationed around the area, would make sure of that.

If that meant taking down a potential enemy who could very well bring about the Third Great War with his death...well so be it.

No one hurt their King.

...Not even attractive young men who her fellow Queen apparently had a crush on.

"Man I can't remember the last time I had onigiri," I muttered around the homemade onigiri I had made not a few minutes prior. The rice for said onigiri had been bought from my Starter Town, and since all food from there seemed to be the equivalent of locally grown food it was even better than usual in my personal opinion.

I had actually made a full bento to take with me to the meeting, but since I hadn't eaten anything that morning, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to make a small snack, aka the onigiri.

I was actually just starting on my way to the meeting with Sona. Though a small problem had arisen as it wasn't until I left the house that I realized I had no idea where the cafe was. A quick stop by the Hyoudou household, and I was able to ask Issei's mom, who answered the door, where the cafe was.

Though I will admit to laughing when she started happily raving over her son, "finally getting a gentleman as a friend who she hoped to set her perverted son straight." And yes, those were her exact words.

So now here I was, standing outside a cozy looking bookstore that doubled as a cafe if the smell of ground coffee beans was anything to go by.

It also seemed to be a devil hot-spot considering the amount of devils Dharc was telling me were surrounding the place. Guess devils really like coffee huh? (Ya hear the sarcasm there?)

Though the obvious precautions were understandable really. Plus, I had no right to complain considering I had Dharc, Silent, and Horus set in my Active roster in case things went pear shaped in a hurry.

Taking a breath to prepare myself, I mentally went over the decision I had decided to make while I had been cooking earlier that morning in order to make sure things don't go pear shaped.

To put it bluntly, it would be completely idiotic of me to not explain my situation to the devils in town. Now before anyone bitches at me, hear me out. (And ya for fourth wall breaking!)

While on one hand it would seem like the better idea to try and pretend to be ignorant of the supernatural in town, and in turn not have to deal with them being weary of me or even seen as an enemy. The simple truth of the matter is that doing such would have zero actual advantages.

The devils in town are obviously curious about me to the point that Rias is having members of her peerage tail me throughout the day whenever I leave my house. This means they are aware that I have some kind of supernatural connection or at the very least have the potential to enter the supernatural scene as a member of Rias or Sona's peerage. This meant that one way or another I am already on their radar, and any attempts to take action in the future would be met with suspicion over having pretended to be ignorant.

Another major point actually occurred to me earlier that morning when I was mentally going over my conversation with Sona, and I remembered that she said she knew my address and personal information thanks to a file. A file I could only imagine had my family's information on it.

So quickly calling up Jack (thanks to him giving me his contact info the day before), I flat out asked him if the devils in town would be aware of who my uncle was.

After answering with a resounding "Well obviously brat!", I found myself really without any reason to not tell the devils in town that I was aware of the supernatural. Heck, Jack actually recommended me to do so in order for no misunderstandings to occur in the future, and if nothing less than to at least inform them that I was neutral as far as the supernatural was concerned. Something Jack himself had done upon the Germory and Sitri heirs taking over ownership of the town.

So walking into the bookstore/coffee shop, I was met with a small bell, the very strong scent of coffee, and a strong suspicion that today was going to be nerve wracking.

Just like the outside, the inside was quite cozy and all but screamed quiet and warmth. Something that thankfully set my slightly frayed nerves at ease. The bookstore portion of the business made up the vast majority of the space while the cafe portion was set up along a back corner where a couple of booths were set up.

It was here that I was met with my first look at Sona Sitri.

She was rather bookish looking in that she looked like a girl you would figure would either be neck deep in a good read or trying to solve the secrets of the universe. The fact that she seemed to have a naturally serious air about her only added to the picture. She was dressed up in the Kuoh Academy girl's uniform which honestly just enhanced the whole stern yet beautiful librarian/secretary look she had going on.

Oh yes she was most definitely beautiful, but unlike Akeno, who had that whole sexy miko princess vibe going on, Sona had a stern beauty to her that demanded both attention and attention.

Her violet, practically pink, eyes were also really pretty.

Finished with my observations-dammit, hold on. '{Observe}.'

[Name: Sona Sitri (Souna Shitori) ]
[Race: Pure Blood Devil (King)][Gender: Female] [Age: 17]
[Titles:] [Student Council President from Hell] [Devil King] [Sitri Heir]
[Bloodline Ability: Natural Water Manipulation]
[Level: 50]

[HP: 2,100/ 2,100] [HPR: 29.5]
[MP: 5,550 / 5,550] [MPR: 45.0]
[SP: 1,250/ 1,250] [SPR: 18.5]

[STR: 22] [AGI: 28] [VIT: 70] [END: 30] [INT: 122] [WIS: 80] [LUCK: 37]

Now finished with my observations, I walked over to the Devil King who was staring at me from over the top of a steaming mug...okay that sounded either a lot creepier or a lot sexier than I intended.

"Shitori-san?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"Fall-san," she returned with the slightest narrow of her eyes and a tension that hadn't been there moments before. Almost as if she was-oh...ohhhh. Yeah I need to fix this right now.

Throwing her a thankful smile, I gave her a nod and took a seat across from her and placed my wrapped bento on the table beside me. "Thank you for being considerate by wearing your uniform Shitori-san. It would have been rather embarrassing if I had asked random people if they were you." A half truth sure, but it was still technically true.

Now the narrow of her eyes was filled with the slightest hint of indecision before it settled on (while less tense) slightly guarded.

"You're quite welcome Fall-san," she said from around the lip of her mug before she took another sip and placed it back on the table. I also took the time to note that she had a small plate beside her.

"Have you already eaten lunch Shitori-san?" I asked while opening the wrappings around my bento which in turn revealed there was in fact two instead of one.

She seemed slightly startled at my question (and wow is she really this wound up?) before her gaze locked onto my two bentos.

"I arrived a little early in order to eat. Though I suppose that was slightly rude of me," she said with the smallest tilt down of her lips.

"No, it's quite alright Shitori-san. I just have a love of cooking you see." Here I started pushing one of the bentos toward her," I hope it's not precipitous of me, but I made you a bento as well since we were meeting around lunchtime."

Only the slightest raise of her brow was enough to show her surprise as she stared down at the dark blue bento. The look passed just as quickly; however, as she began to gingerly run her hand over the boxed lunch.

(Dharc perked up through our link as he apparently noticed something.)

"Thank you Fall-san, I must admit to being interested in trying your cooking after I read your file," she said as we both opened the bentos. The inside revealed they were traditional Sake bentos as they contained broiled salmon as the main dish, a small salad, some rice, some pan fried edamame, and fruit sandos for desert.

"Is that so?" I asked after ordering a cup of green tea to go along with my meal. "May I ask what information was given in my file about my cooking? I've never actually had the chance to look while I was in the process of moving so quickly."

Her gaze turned to me with a hint of something resembling suspension at my question, but she eventually seemed to deem it alright to share. This was proven when she began pulling out my file from a bag next to her.

After taking the file, I actually didn't begin looking through it quite yet. Instead I watched Sona's reaction to trying my cooking. It had been a couple of days since I had cooked anything for someone other than myself after all, and I was a little worried I may have lost my edge.

(It was also at this point that Dharc was able to relay to me that Sona had cast some kind of magic on the bento. The general conclusion was that it was to check for poison which was completely understandable considering who she is, so Dharc went back to his organizing.)

I must admit though that her reaction was a lot more...intense than I anticipated.

Because I was most definitely not expecting her entire frame to lock up, the smallest of moans (which unholy shit was that hot) to exit her slightly parted lips, and the euphoric look that soon spread across her face as she chewed the piece of broiled salmon in a much more sensual manner than I could have thought possible.

Hell, Sona herself didn't seem to realize the spectacle she was creating for a solid thirty seconds which was the amount of time it took her to finish eating the one piece of fish as if to saver the food she was currently having a borderline foodgasm over.

When she did finally decide to come to her wits, it was to see me looking at her with wide eyes, red tipped ears, and no small amount of shock at her complete 180 in character after one bite of my food.

I know I'm good, but dammit I know for a fact I'm not that good!

At least it was nice to know I hadn't lost my edge.

"A-Ahem," Sona cleared her throat while her own cheeks flushed slightly at her realization that she broke character in a rather unladylike manner. "I-it is quite good Fall-san," she stuttered out. Her stutter just made her blush a bit darker.

"Thank you Shitori-san," I muttered back while starting to eat my own meal as a means to try and make the awkward tension Go. Away.

Seeing that I wasn't going to call her out on her loss of character seemed to be just enough to allow her to build her stern exterior back up. That said I couldn't stop myself from blushing every time I heard her moan a little around her fork as she ate her bento. (Because seriously did Sona have a food fetish or something?! My cooking is not this good!)

I did thankfully have my newly acquired file to look through; however, which was definitely a good means to distract myself from the stern (yet most definitely beautiful) devil across from me, and her apparent new love of salmon if the way she was savoring it was any indication.

Damn now I can only wonder how Koneko would react to my cooking.

That mental picture aside, my file was not actually all that helpful really. I mean yeah it talked about my school life as well as my grades and such, but I already knew all this considering it was exactly the same as my previous life's grades and files. The only thing of real note was the fact that it gave a much more detailed account of my tournament days when I went to school sanctioned cooking tournaments-wait...the fuck?

Why does it say I went to a national level tournament? I mean don't get me wrong; I did go to a national level tournament...but I went anonymously.

Yeah I know that doesn't make much sense, but lets just say that at the time I did not want the cooking community at large (which is a legitimate thing and cutthroat as fuck) to know my true identity.

So why the ever-un-loving fuck was my public file stating I went to the adult level competition and won first place?!

...why do I have a feeling Chaos is behind this?

"Is something the matter Fall-san?"

Snapping my head up, I stared back into the slightly startled eyes of my, soon to be, Student Council President. It was only then that I realized just how wound up I was after reading my file. Oh and the fact that I could now feel Horus feeding on my annoyance and fanning the flames like the jackass he was.

'Oi Silent, you mind hitting him for me?'

(A slapping sound, a squawk of derision, and the feeling of a sharp calmness through my bond with Silent was all I needed to know he had heeded my request.)

"Ah sorry," I winced before setting down the file with a sigh. "I hadn't realized that my winning the national tournament was documented in a public file."

That got a raised brow from the Devil King as she sipped some of her drink. The now finished bento beside her sparkling clean anime style.

At her questioning look, I sighed again while deciding that it wasn't that big a deal to explain. "Well as much as it may surprise you to learn, the world of professional cooking is rather cutthroat. The pride of a chef is a fragile thing really, so you can probably imagine what would happen if it came out that a teenager won the national tournament."

Now that got a surprised look out of her and her eyes widened slightly. "Are you saying that the national tournament you participated in was the Masters Level tournament?!"

That drew a wince out of me and a rather bad batch of memories that involved a lot of volatile chefs wielding flaming cutlery. I swear to this day I cannot look at metal spaghetti strainers without going green in the face. Thankfully wooden or plastic ones are fine.

(It also just now occurred to me that my life was weird before I got Isekied into a harem protagonist anime. Once again, Fml.)

Seeing my rapidly paling face seemed to clue her in that this particular road of inquiry was not a favored one. Thank Gabriel.

"Well, pleasantries aside, allow me to explain to you the changes you may encounter as well as the rules you will be subject too at Kuoh Academy."

What followed was an hour long discussion about the rules and regulations of my new high school, an overview of the subject matter that I was going to be instructed in, a review of the different clubs that will be available, and an explanation that since Kuoh Academy was only recently turned into a Co-Ed school some clubs may not allow me to enter on the basis of gender. Sona kinda hinted at the fact that it was mostly the sports clubs with this bias, mainly on the basis of males joining in order to peep on females in the showers, locker rooms, etc. Though she did also hint at the fact that some females were just as bad. The fact that she muttered something about a yaoi club during her overview of the clubs just added to the overall picture that there were perverts on both sides of the line.

She also mentioned that since I didn't have a uniform; I would need to stop by the school before classes actually started. This brought up the fact that she would be happy to either give me a tour of the school during my visit or have one of the student council members do so.

"I believe that is everything of note Fall-san. Though if you have any more questions, don't be afraid to either seek me out or call," Sona finished while referring to the fact that she gave me her contact information. I gotta call ahead when I go to pick up my uniform after all.

"Actually, there was one more thing I hoped to discuss with you Shitori-san," I said sheepishly though on the inside I was a bit nervous. The wave of calm and support I got from Dharc, Silent, and even Horus calmed me down; however, and even made me smile a little at the show of support.

At her motion to continue, I took a breath and forged on. "You see; I was hoping to discuss the exact procedures you employ when different members of the supernatural enter town."

At my words she immediately started to tense up, so I quickly continued on. "I mean don't get me wrong. If I had known who was in charge of Kuoh's territory, I would have contacted you or Gremory-san before moving here. I only learned who you were yesterday; however, so I thought it best to discuss such things today since we were already meeting." Which was all technically true considering Jack told me that particular piece of information yesterday.

"...is that so?" Sona said with a hint of tension in her voice. A tension that was shared by the rest of her body as she stared at me with something between shock and indecision. Clearly she hadn't expected me to state my knowledge of the supernatural outright.

"Yes, you see after you informed me that you had read my file; I came to realize that you most likely already knew of my connection to Masaomi-ji-san. As such, I didn't really see a point of not simply informing you of my neutral standing as far as the supernatural went and in turn stop any misunderstandings that may occur in the future." I finished quickly with a sheepish shrug before grabbing both empty bentos and storing them in my [Inventory] now that she was made aware of my supernatural standing.

"You're neutral?" She stated more than asked as she stared from where I made the bentos disappear back to my similarly tensed form.

"That is correct," I said while wincing on the inside since she was still clearly tense. Though I was the same, so I couldn't exactly blame her. "I don't have anything against devils in particular, though I will attack any stray devils that endanger me or someone else, and as long as you nor Gremory-san try to force me into anything." Here I gave her a pointed look, "I won't do anything to go against you."

"As far as Fallen Angels are concerned, as long as they don't attack me, anyone I know, or have malicious purposes they are fine in my book. The same could be said about any other supernatural group really." Here I frowned, "The only faction I honestly have a problem with is the Angel faction and that's more so the church division than the actual Heaven portion." I explained honestly.

Sona seemed to take everything in like a sponge as she simply stared at me with a far off gaze as if incorporating everything I said. Whether that had to do with me flat out stating that any supernatural was fair game as far I was concerned, or it was over the fact that I actually disliked my uncle's old faction was up to debate.

"I...see," Sona muttered, still a little overwhelmed. Once she seemed to get herself a bit more together she graced me with a thoughtful look.

"From your words about forcing you into anything, I assume that means you are aware of the Peerage System." At my jerky nod she continued," am I correct to assume that you would be against joining a peerage then with regards to your neutral status?"

That actually threw me for a loop as I stared at her surprised. Not because of her claiming that I don't want to join a peerage of course; I had made that pointedly clear not a few moments ago. No rather, it was because she figured that it was because of my neutral status that I didn't want to join.

Which point to her, that actually is one of my biggest reasons for not wanting to join a peerage. Well that and my wish to push myself as far as I can while remaining human.

Though perhaps that's because unlike Rias, who would probably try and convince me to join even if I didn't want to, Sona was actually more open minded as far as peerage members went. After all, Sona actually had regular humans become members of her peerage instead of Rias who either tried to find rare and powerful pieces/members or just had them literally fall into her lap. Thus Sona would probably understand that someone wouldn't want to join a peerage as a simple matter of principle instead of anything some other devil would find as offensive.

"You would assume right," I said with a curt nod. "Like I said before, I personally have nothing against devils in general. A good portion of your race has most definitely grown to accept modern customs and in turn grown to adapt to them in order to meet your goals. Something I can't very well judge you on as otherwise I would be considered a hypocrite considering humans are as much sinful beings as devils are." I grinned as she blinked in surprise at my claim. "That's actually one of the reasons I'm not that big a fan of the Angel faction's church groups. They don't even realize that they're probably some of the biggest hypocrites out there," I finished with a scowl as I remembered some of the discoveries made during my talk with Jack the day before.

I did make sure to give her another pointed look; however, before I continued. "That doesn't mean I haven't heard of the lengths some of your fellow devils will go to in order to get a "piece" they really want. I will reiterate once again. As long as neither you, Gremory-san, or any other devil attempt to push me into joining a peerage, then I will have no reason to go against you and yours."

At my last words Sona predictably tensed as the threat of "as long as" made itself blatantly clear. Truthfully this was a term I believed I had to get out in the open right now as I honestly didn't want Rias or Sona trying to "woo me" into joining either of them. The fact that I also made it blatantly clear that I would retaliate against any devil who tried to force the issue was another major term I wanted to get in the air.

Sona ended up probably staring at me for a solid thirty seconds while being clearly tense for even a hint of intent to act on in the event that I attacked her. I on the other hand outwardly relaxed in order to try and put her at ease.

Not to say that my Active roster wasn't ready to blow the building sky high if the need arose, or that my hand wasn't unconsciously tensing to grab for a weapon if the need arose, but I had to at least try.

Finally the tension seemed to slowly drain out of her as it was clear I would only act in self-defense, and she graced me with a thoughtful look.

"I must admit Fall-san. You have caused both myself and Gremory-san quite some worry," Sona said giving me a mirth filled, barely-there smile. "When we discovered the nephew of the previous 5th Strongest Exorcist was now living in Kuoh well...I assume you can imagine our worry."

I stared at her for a moment before chuckling at the mental image of Rias and Sona running around like a pair of headless chickens. The once tense air surrounding us finally giving way and allowing us to both relax to the states we were before I voiced my initial question. "I apologize for any trouble I caused you and yours Stiri-san."

Her slightly startled look at my use of her actual name was fleeting at best as she seemed to still be processing the fact that I was aware of the supernatural. Though when she then gave a rather put out sigh, I couldn't help but raise a brow.

"It's quite alright Fall-san. Though I must admit to being rather annoyed at the paperwork you're going to cause me," she said with a slight glare that was honestly rather hot on her-no! Bad Warren! You were just prepared to level the place if need be. Do not be distracted by the beautiful she-devil in front of you! (No insult meant of course.)

"Is it really going to be that big an issue?" I asked a little hesitatingly. Say what you will, paperwork is easily the greatest enemy to any leader out there.

She stared at me for a moment, possibly from the understanding and honest worry in my tone, before giving a small sigh. "Somewhat I'm afraid. Truthfully, adding you onto the list of supernatural in town won't be that big an issue. No the problem will stem from Gremory-san's not taking no as an answer."

At my tensing up at the claim, Sona flushed slightly before quickly continuing. "Not that she will force you of course. Far from it! The problem is that Ri-Gremory-san is...well she..." She trailed off probably trying to find words that wouldn't insult her friend while at the same time not upset me since I had made it quite clear on my lack of interest when it came to joining a peerage.

I on the other hand had no issue with such. "She likes shiny things," I scowled at her because while Rias does treat her peerage members well, it doesn't change the fact that…wells she's a bit of a spoiled princess.

I mean don't get me wrong. Rias does fight for her beliefs, and she cares for those that are hers with the viciousness of a lioness. Heck, I don't even have a problem with her not having been preparing for her fight with Riser in a more orderly fashion as the simple truth of the matter is that she thought she had until she finished college, as in schooling that was still years away from being finished. She had a legitimate reason for being unprepared to face the older and more experienced Devil King.

No, my main problem stems from the fact that she let her pride and self-confidence guide her rather than her actual intelligence. An intellect that I was almost positive she had considering she did in fact have a strategic mind. The problem was she didn't let that intelligence guide her, and she let her pride take over in matters where intelligence would have led her to victory.

Case in point, her decision to face Riser one-on-one when she herself had claimed he was stronger than her.

Anyways, I'm getting off track, and Sona looked to be seconds away from either scolding me for insulting her friend or trying to hold in a sigh over my blunt (but truthful) words. In the end she gained a strained scowl before giving a slight grimace and nod.

"Well whatever the case, it would probably be best to inform you that even if I did wish to join either your's or Gremory-san's peerage, I'm afraid actually doing such would be impossible." I said with a shrug as I thought over that little tidbit of information.

At her cocked brow I gained a small smile, and I leaned back as I prepared to explain. "You see even if you or Gremory-san were to use your entire set of Evil Pieces; you still wouldn't be able to turn me."

That got a rather startled look from Sona as she processed my words for a moment before gaining a scowl at what she probably thought was a dig against her. Something I quickly stopped by raising a hand to show I wasn't finished.

"Note that I purposely said it was the Evil Pieces that wouldn't be able to turn me, not yourself or Gremory-san. My soul is simply too big for the pieces to convert." I explained with a carefree shrug and grin.

Thankfully she took a moment to think over the new information before turning pensive. "How is that possible?" Sona asked skeptically though I did notice a hint of curiosity in her gaze.

"My Sacred Gear," I started to explain before stopping a moment to take in Sona's "ah" look at the simple pair of words," is Soul based. Its main function being to add layers around my Soul in order to gain powers and abilities from lost souls or Phantasms if you will." There, that was both vague enough to satisfy her for the moment and not give away just how powerful I was/could become.

Because here's the thing. At this point in time without using Trinity Tuner both Devil Kings as well as their Queens (you know; assuming Tsubaki is around Akeno's level) could beat me based on stats alone, and if I weren't to add in high levels their own magic and such most likely were.

Add in Horus or even Silent into the equation; however, and I would easily equal or outright surpass all four of them without even trying. The latter more likely to happen with Horus mind you since he was now Lv30 thanks to the boss fight and our Chaos Creator moment.

Truthfully, I was just as surprised as her that Trinity Tuner made it impossible to turn me. Heck, I only found that tidbit of information when I had gone over the update again while waiting to come over in order to see if I missed something. Which I obviously did, if I missed that bit of information the first time around.

Sure it also trashed my original idea of using a Devil or even Angel upgrade as a means to possibly survive a fight or something, but in the end I guess the choice was made for me. Not that I was particularly upset by it; in fact it was kinda a weight off my shoulders that the option was no longer available.

Anyways, back to Sona.

"I don't believe I have ever heard of a Sacred Gear like that," Sona said with a pensive look. Her eyes gave away the fact that she was mentally going over the information in her head; however, or the fact that she was slightly unnerved with the revelation.

(It is also just occurring to me that I am reading Sona a lot easier than I would have thought. I remember her being a bit of an Ice Queen, so this slightly flustered version of her was a little weird honestly.)

"That's not all that surprising," I said with another shrug. "The gear itself is actually one of the rare ones that evolves with every user while also taking time to really get to a level that would allow it to be useful which in turn means-"

"That it wouldn't have been as powerful as other Sacred Gears in the past that became infamous from the very start while also making the user a target without the usual boost most gears would grant the user. In turn making it harder for users to survive first contact with the supernatural," She finished, cutting me off with an understanding look.

"Right in one," I said, snapping my fingers and nodding at her.

Taking a moment to think over anything else to talk about, I graced her with a tilt of the head. "You mentioned earlier that I needed to be added to a list of the supernatural in town. What exactly will be needed for that?"

That caused Sona to perk up from whatever rabbit trail her thoughts seemed to go down as she began to explain the process of getting me registered as a member of the supernatural side of town. Sona appeared to have once again relaxed at this point as she leaned into the seat behind her while explaining. Myself doing the same as the atmosphere finally lost the last bit of tension that had lingered, and we were able to make small talk after the more important things were discussed. Before I even knew it another hour had passed, and we were both on our third cup of tea.

Eventually the topic of conversation turned to the two devil peerages.

"So Himejima-hime is a member of Gremory-san's peerage," I said with a nod as if confirming the thought.

"Yes, Akeno is actually Rias's Queen," Sona said with a chuckle after taking another sip of tea.

"Ah, so she's the Priestess of Thunder I've heard about," I said with my own chuckle. I mean obviously I already knew this, but I had to make it seem like I didn't.

"Yes, a title she most definitely earned with her control over lightning based magic," Sona said with a small smile as she talked about her friend's accomplishment.

"From your tone, I can assume you've known her for a while," I said with a smile of my own. One she continued to return with a nod.

"Yes, I've known Rias and Akeno for quite a number of years now," she said with a fond smile that was so unlike her usual stern look that I was honestly captivated by it for a moment. Sona really should smile more.

"Let me guess, the cliche childhood friends trope," I couldn't help but tease as more of my own true nature came out the longer we talked.

Sona gave a light blush at the tease before huffing into her cup, and sparing me a mock glare that truthfully didn't have any heat behind it. The change in her once tense and almost icy nature was honestly a delight to see as the real Sona started to also make its way to the surface.

It was as I was about to voice up about her own Queen that I was startled by my phone going off to signal that I had gotten a message.

Gesturing to the phone with a sheepish smile, Sona nodded with an understanding nod before taking out her own phone. Opening the message to see what exactly the [Gamer System] was trying to inform me about as it was the only reason my phone would go off, I started reading the message-

Only to freeze and reread the text a second time. I then had to reread the message a third time before simply staring at the text for a moment because...seriously...what the fuck?

Who...who the ever loving fuck would…

(Horus began shrieking like a siren as he too realized what exactly the text meant; both Silent and Dharc trying their damnedest to calm him down. At the moment though I wasn't exactly all that interested in stopping him.)

((If I had, I may have realized that Horus's own burning rage was bleeding over and even empowering my own.))

Heaving a sigh (To try and calm the utter rage I felt over someone who would dare-) and putting my phone away, I turned to a startled and tensed Sona as she clearly caught onto my building anger (burning rage howdarethey!?).

"Alright I have to ask for formalities sake. Did you send one of your peerage members to try and break into my house?"

At her look of honest confusion and slight shock, I attempted to rein in my anger a little (motherfuckingrage), and I took a deep breath to help me process the fact that she was clearly as surprised as I was.

"Of course I didn't," Sona said flatly as if the idea of even doing such was idiotic on basis alone which it kinda was. "I am not an idiot Warren-san. Your uncle was the previous owner of your house." She shuddered a little," I can only imagine the anti-devil wards he must have set up around the property."

I gave a small chuckle (ragestilltheremotherfucker) as I knew exactly what she was talking about, and considering the level of power I could make those wards work at for any naughty trespassers. Well let's just say lethal was apparently a gross underestimate as far as my uncle was concerned and leave it at that.

"Well apparently someone didn't do their homework, considering I just got an alert that someone tried to teleport straight into my house and then began trying and failing to use magic to unlock any of the doors or windows. Magic that the wards are telling me is Devil in origin" I said deadpan.

((It was at this point that Silent decided to get Horus's attention off my own area of focus and pretty much bitch-slapped the Evil Dragon. This had the effect of tempering my rage a bit as Silent was finally able to make enough room for both him and Dharc to make their own partial link. Not that I knew this until later of course.))

Sona herself deadpanned and soon shared her reason for doing such as she pinched the bridge of her house and muttered, "Rias you tomato brained idiot."

Huh, I didn't take Sona for the insulting type. The passive aggressive insulting type sure, but flat out insults were not what I expected.

"Well whatever the case, would you like to accompany me to tell off a Devil Princess that doesn't know the meaning of private property? I expect it to be quite fun," I said with a flourish as I rose from my seat to offer her a hand up. The grin of good-natured formality barely covering the savage grin that wanted to appear instead.

Something Sona obviously noticed as she seemed to hesitate for a moment before she gave a slightly mischievous smile of her own (huh, maybe her and Serafall were more alike than I thought) and accepted the hand with only the barest hesitation.

And I can proudly say that I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship...

Or an unholy alliance. Either works I guess.

Going into the meeting with Warren Fall, Sona would admit to being worried.

Not that she believed herself or even her peerage would lose if a fight broke out mind you. The amount of wards and barriers her peerage were prepared to activate on the barest hint that Warren was hostile could have very well held a High Class Devil for several minutes.

And Sona would be able to tell if he were hostile. Truthfully, she was probably the best bet the two peerages had at the moment in determining if Warren was a threat or not.

Because while her older sister may very well be one of the most eccentric (and borderline immature) devils to currently hold the title of Satan; she was also very protective of family. As such, Serafall had made sure to train Sona in the art of being a living lie detector from a very early age. Something Serafall herself had down to an art form.

It honestly amused Sona that most people forgot that Serafall was not just Magical Girl Levi-tan, but she was also the one in charge of the entire Foreign Affairs Department of the whole of devil society. A job that depended very much on Serafall's ability to tell what the people she was meeting with were thinking.

Sona almost constantly had to question how so many people (other factions and devils alike) seemed to forget that Devils were naturals when it came to detecting emotions. How else were they supposed to tell if someone would accept a contract or not after all? Or better yet, why did nobody realize that the reason a Reincarnated Devil's first task to pass out flyers was to start training their natural empathic abilities?

Sometimes Sona honestly questioned her own race's common sense.

Degrading her own race aside, Sona felt like she can be excused for being a little tense when Tsubaki confirmed Warren arrived outside the cafe/bookstore.

She also feels like she can be excused for being frozen stiff (if even for a moment) when the full weight of Warren Fall's golden gaze was settled upon her.

Sona could now understand what Akeno meant when she called his eyes soul searing.

The fact that her earlier assumption that he would recognize her on sight was founded when she saw the recognition in his gaze did nothing to help her tension...

Until he had thanked her for wearing her school uniform to make it easier to recognize her, and in turn make Sona question her original hypothesis. The worst part of it being that everything about his words screamed honesty to her well honed senses, yet the truth of who exactly was sitting across from her just couldn't stop her from being suspicious. Especially since she could also tell that while his words were the truth, they were also not the whole truth.

So when he gave her a bento filled with his own cooking, she made sure to check the food for poisons, and upon detecting none hesitantly tried some...

Well the events surrounding her tasting is better left between the two of them. Though her hopes that he was a non-hostile grew greatly in the mere hope that she would get a chance to try his cooking again.

(The fact that she had a closet food fetish would be taken to her grave.)

Conversation continuing after that was...pleasant. Sona could honestly admit to enjoying her time talking to Warren. He was a rather stimulating conversationalist that she couldn't help but relax even marginally around.

Especially when he just had this...warmth to him. A completely natural warmth that just made him comfortable to be around, and it wasn't magical in nature. She would have felt it if it was. The fact that it wasn't magic also started to make her suspect that perhaps he did not know about magic after all...

Then of course he had to go and throw every assumption and suspicion she had been building around him into the air by outright claiming that he was supernaturally aware. Actually no, rather it was when he innocently claimed that he was neutral with slight leanings against the church that made her question everything she knew for a moment.

Because all of it was said with complete and utter honesty.

And sure, he made a few blatant threats that he would retaliate if pushed too far by herself or Rias to join a peerage, but she had dealt with others who chose the same in the past. She almost wanted to thank him in fact since she had once had to deal with an individual who didn't make their view on joining a peerage clear in the past, and it had very nearly cost her.

Sona could almost mentally and physically feel the moment his words truly registered as the utter weight her tension had become, finally stripped itself off her like a physical thing.

If the conversation before was pleasant, then the conversation now was just plain enjoyable. Especially now that the tension between them was pretty much nonexistent. Though she did gain a bit of insight into his abilities from his previously tense state.

She was able to determine that he was most likely a weapon user as his tensed hands formed to grab something not there. His description of his Sacred Gear, as limited as it was, could also be speculated to be rather impressive if given enough time to mature. Considering his quick move to Kuoh; however, it was pretty easy to speculate that awakening his gear had probably been the catalyst for his moving to a different country altogether. Meaning he most likely had not had time to work extensively with his gear.

A small part of Sona also couldn't help but question how he had made her relax so much in his presence, or how she could give him an honest smile, or how she had willingly given him permission to use her real first name. The thought that he was influencing her somehow wasn't credible; however, as he was not letting out even a hint of magic.

Still, the larger portion of her simply enjoyed being able to bask in his warmth that warmed her to her very bones and set all her tense nerves at ease...

Right up until that warmth sputtered out for a moment upon him reading a text message, and then be almost consumed with something not unlike a wild inferno that promised anyone who entered it to be burned to the ground.

It was a rather startling change if you can't tell.

So now here Sona found herself walking along the path to Warren's home, arm in arm (because even in his anger, he was apparently a gentleman) with her junior who's grin did a pretty decent job of hiding the promised pain he planned to inflict to those who dared trespass in his home.

(Sona couldn't help but think he was acting like a certain species at that moment, but for the life of her she couldn't place it.)

"If it is Rias, or a member of her peerage, who is trying to enter your home. Could I ask that you allow me to question her reasoning first?" Sona asked because even though he was practically flooding her senses with his (whitehotyetsomehowblack) rage she couldn't find herself being afraid of that anger.

Because while she may be worried over what exactly he would do to her friends; somehow she couldn't imagine him actually doing something to hurt them. The natural warmth he projected was still there after all, almost surrounding the raging emotions in fact, and undercurrents of calm showed that while he was angry; he had not succumbed to the rage. It was a rather strange contradiction she realized.

He sparred her a glance from the corner of his eye (were his eyes glowing?!) before looking forward. "If you can provide me with a decent reason why, then of course," he stated calmly. Something that Sona wasn't buying for a second as she had felt the small spike in his inner inferno at the question, but he still contained all the same.

"Truthfully," she began before a small smirk formed," I'm interested to see just how big a hole Rias can dig herself into when she tries to explain away her reasoning behind this stunt. Especially when she agreed to wait on taking action until after our meeting."

She was feeling a little vindictive alright.

Plus the approving smirk Warren shot her was rather handsome.

(And no, Sona was not like some of those little school girls that would blush and stutter around admitting such. She could appreciate a good looking male just like anyone else.)

Turning the last corner to reach the street Warren's house resided on, Sona couldn't help but sigh as she could already see and hear the frantically yelling voice of her childhood friend. The deep crimson hair Rias sported making it all the easier to spot her. Thankfully she appeared to have the presence of mind to place a repelling barrier around the street for any who weren't supernaturally inclined.

Sona would admit to being rather surprised that the rest of Rias's peerage appeared to be present as well. She thought they had more common sense than that.

"Okay what haven't we tried then?!" She could hear Rias shout at Akeno who was kneeling in front of Warren's front door. When their conversation seemed to stem into countermeasures at a lower noise level, she turned her narrowed gaze to the two others present.

She wasn't surprised in the least that it was Koneko who spotted them first as she glanced over her shoulder, most likely from hearing their footsteps on the concrete, only to then freeze as she spotted them walking down the street toward them. Sona did find it rather funny (she swore she heard Warren snort in amusement) when Koneko flailed her arm to the side while never taking her eyes off them in order to get Yuuto's attention from where he stood beside her. Yuuto himself froze in place from whatever he was going to say as he spotted them as well.

"Toujou-san, Kiba-san," Sona greeted lowly in order to not draw the nearby King and Queen's attention too quickly. The pair swiftly returned the greeting with a pair of flinches as she hadn't used their first names. Though that also may have had to do with how their eyes never left Warren's frame from beside her. Warren himself was staring straight at the red and black haired duo who were still discussing ways to infiltrate said young man's house.

"I agreed for you to talk first Sona-san," Warren murmured from beside her; his inner inferno at that moment seeming to almost sharpen as the undercurrents of calm became rivers of emotion that helped further surround his inner rage. Something only the half-yokai of the duo beside them seemed to understand as her eyes became slits for a split second, she paled, and then shuffled behind Kiba slightly from finally seeming to realize they were standing next to the equivalent of a time-bomb just waiting to go off.

"Thank you Warren-san," she murmured right back before slipping from their linked arms and walking toward the still bickering duo.

"I'm telling you Rias; the ward breakers you made simply aren't working! Every time I think they've worked; I go back and check only to find them still there," Akeno huffed out, clearly annoyed with her King at the moment.

"They have to work," Rias snapped right back. "I can feel every time they destroy the wards, so they shouldn't be there!"

"Well I don't know what to tell you, but they are Rias!" Akeno shot back with a lot more force than Sona had seen her use before. Perhaps she was feeling guilty over their attempts to break into her crush's home?

"Have you considered that there is a second layer of wards that are repairing the first level of wards just as quickly as they are being destroyed?"

Rias perked up at that and gave Sona a bright smile. "That must be it! Thank you Sona!" Rias said excitedly as she went to make the adjustments after pushing a frozen Akeno out of the way. Akeno on the other hand stood stock still from where she had been pushed before slowly turning to find both an irate Devil King as well as a clearly annoyed Warren Fall staring at her.

Sona jerked her head to where Koneko and Yuuto were standing stiff off to the side, and Akeno didn't need a second hint as to what she was supposed to do. She practically sprinted over to her fellow peerage members only sparing Warren the smallest of glances-

'Of course she would get off on his anger,' Sona thought tiredly as red soon spread across the Queen's cheeks, and she started panting a little as Warren's inner rage peaked again for a moment. Sona would admit to being surprised that Akeno's posture made her seem almost meak in appearance; however, as it was well known in the two peerages that Akeno preferred to be the Dom when it came to her sadistic tendencies.

"Oh, what is the ward pattern again?" Rias asked herself as she continued working completely oblivious to what was going on. "Sona what was the ward pattern again-wait...Sona?" Finally.

"Yes Rias," Sona stated with a glare that could have frozen lava.

Rias froze up at her voice before chuckling weakly and turning around, clearly about to try and explain her reasons for not following their agreement.

Or well that's what would have happened had she not spotted Warren standing behind her with a scowl on his face.

"Get away from him Sona!" Oh you cannot be serious.

Unfortunately Rias was apparently quite serious as she rushed forward and summoned up her magic in order to point a magic circle at Warren.

Sona couldn't help but inwardly scream in frustration as the rest of Rias's peerage followed their King's example and surrounded Warren with magic primed and weapons drawn.

"Rias," Sona hissed at her friend with the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"Sona his house is guarded by wards, strong wards! He's got to be-" "Completely neutral" "-dangerous! We need...to...wait what?"

Sona couldn't hold in the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose anymore and glared at her (currently infuriating) friend from over the hand clasped to her nose. "Warren-san is neutral as far as the supernatural is concerned." Sona said dryly.

"Yes, though I must admit to finding your actions rather...annoying," Warren spoke up from where he was currently scowling at Rias, not looking worried in the slightest about the four devils currently surrounding him. "Is it common for you and yours to invade the private property of those living in your territory Sona-san?" He asked Sona with a quirked brow.

"No, it is not." Sona ground out while glaring at Rias who was snapping her head from one to the other as she obviously tried to make sense of what was going on. "Rias, we agreed to not take any significant actions concerning Warren-san until after my meeting."

"W-Well your meeting should have ended a while ago, so I just thought I'd...get a head start," Rias said hesitantly before flinching as Warren's scowl became a legitimate snarl.

"Invading my privacy is your idea of a head start?!" Warren snarled out, his eyes glaring at Rias menacingly.

Sona didn't allow Rias the time to answer as she herself bristled indignantly. "Rias, we just finished our meeting," she grit out harshly.

That startled Rias enough to turn from where she was trying (and failing) to match Warren's glare and gap at Sona shocked.

"You just finished?! Sona your meeting started three hours ago!"

Sona blinked a little surprised with that piece of information before shrugging it off to glare at Rias's shocked look. "Well what do expect to happen when after we discuss school matters, Warren-san brought his supernatural awareness to my attention in order to stop any misunderstandings from forming? Like what is happening right now!" She finished with a hiss at her gaping friend.

Thankfully that statement also shook the others surrounding Warren enough to make them share a hesitant glance before lowering their weapons and magic circles.

"W-What?! Well why is he only doing so now?" Rias snapped back clearly trying to take back control over the conversation.

'Not like she ever had it,' Sona thought dryly before giving Rias a flat look. "Because he didn't know who was in charge of Kuoh Town until yesterday."

"O-Oh," Rias stuttered out with a blush before coughing into her fist. "W-Well then I apologize for any offensive I may have-"

"You really think an apology will make up for what you did?!" Warren asked incredulously. "You tried to break into my house, multiple times!" He proclaimed angrily; his internal rage blasting away the undercurrents of calm for a moment and starting to leak out to create a heat haze around him from how strong it actually was.

That got Sona to wince and honestly become a little frightened considering she didn't sense a single ounce of magic power that could be causing such a phenomenon. The others present also tensing at the appearance of such a volatile phenomena.

She too had honestly hoped that an apology would suffice, but considering his anger when first discovering the invasion of privacy, she wasn't really surprised.

"What exactly would you see as equal compensation?" Sona asked quickly while throwing Rias a glare. Rias, who had appeared to be gearing up to make it into some kind of debate if she knew her friend, snapped around to stare at her incredulously.

"My home is off limits, period." Warren said instantly to her question, not surprising Sona in the least. At her nod he finally seemed to settle emotionally enough that his heat haze fell, and he took a breath seemingly pushing away the rest of his anger in the process.

'Mental note: Warren Fall is extremely protective over his home. May branch to his other possessions.' She internally noted with a relieved sigh now that the chance of a fight went down.

She also couldn't help but find it funny that Rias looked like she had bit a lemon with the face she was making. She clearly had an issue with not being able to enter his home whenever she wanted. Something that she was definitely going to have to talk (read scold) her about later.

"Well now that that's settled," Warren said, his previous cheer coming back in full, before moving past the constipated looking Rias. "I believe it is about time I started on supper."

That caused Sona to perk up, and her mouth to water slightly before quickly snapping out of her slight loss in character to stare at the young chef who had stopped beside her with a grin.

"If you'd like, I'd be happy to provide lunch next week when I come to get my uniform." He offered with a smile before his grin turned mischievous, and his gaze moved to the series of houses across the street. "If so, I'll make sure to make enough for your peerage as well."

Sona stared at him for a moment, digesting his words and actions, before nodding her agreement at both his words and his clear 'check' at pointing out that he had known about her peerage being present for the entire meeting.

(If she nodded a bit more enthusiastically than she meant to...well his cooking was just that good. That was all the excuse she really needed.)

Upon smiling at her agreement, Warren began making his way up his porch to enter his house. She was thus surprised when he stopped and turned to look at Rias.

"Also one more thing, just because it needs to be said," he said as if discussing the weather." If you ever attempt to enter my home without my express permission again-"

Suddenly an overwhelming pressure entered the air, one that pressed down on all of them with feelings of promised pain and suffering. The inner inferno Warren's rage had been before now bursting to the surface and almost imprinting itself onto reality as the very shadows being cast upon his house formed into a shape depicting a large bird of prey. The heat haze that he had once created now returning in full and then some as it almost felt like fire was only inches away from burning her. The sheer lust for carnage and battle in the air almost choking Sona like there was smoke in her lungs anditbecamehardertobreath-

"-there will not be ashes left when I'm done with you."

And Sona could finally breathe again. The once impossibly, imposing feelings in the air vanishing like a summer breeze. The only evidence that it was even there being the shaking of her limbs, and the gasp of needy breaths she inhaled like a drowning victim.

Sona barely even noticed the fact that her peerage had immediately joined her side; their own shaking, gasp of breath, and even limp forms showing their own conditions. Rias's own peerage was in just as bad of shape with Rias herself actually on her knees from what Sona could only imagine was a full blast of whatever that was. Akeno was the somewhat sole exception from where she was on her knees as she was instead panting like a golden retriever with glazed over eyes and shaking limbs that were groping at her own chest-and Sona was looking away now.

She only vaguely heard Warren say something about "getting that out of my system" and "see ya next week Sona-san" before making his way inside apparently not worried in the least about the condition he left the two peerages in.

A solid five minutes passed as the two peerages attempted to return to a state of normality. The few that had completely fallen down recovering relatively easily, and eventually everyone was able to stop the shakes that had tormented all of them in equal measure.

"What...what was that?" Tsubaki ended up being the one to break the silence as the two peerages moved to the opposite side of the street from Warren's house as his warning was still ringing in their ears.

Sona herself could not come up with a means to explain the flood of emotions that had almost forced them all to their knees. The sheer pressure that had been in the air being unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

And then Koneko whispered something that grabbed all her focus like a heat seeking missile.

"Dragon," Koneko whispered, no she whimpered out like it was painful to even pronounce the word. The little first year being the sole person still shaking from where she was sat in an upright fetal position. Her pupils constantly changing between circular and slit.

Sona stared at the younger girl for a moment; the whispered word floating in her head as if trying to connect into the puzzle that Sona had started seeing Warren Fall as…

Until her entire frame locked up, she paled, and her mouth went dry as multiple observations and conversations suddenly clicked into a picture that utterly terrified her.

"Its main function being to add layers around my Soul in order to gain powers and abilities from lost souls or Phantasms if you will."

He had the ability to empower himself with "lost souls".

(Sona couldn't help but think he was acting like a certain species at that moment, but for the life of her she couldn't place it.)

'Mental note: Warren Fall is extremely protective over his home. May branch to his other possessions.'

He had started acting like a different species. A species that despises others entering their home (den) or messing with their possessions (horde).

"Rias, under no circumstance are you to attempt to enter Warren Fall's property," Sona ordered sternly as she turned to stare at her fellow Devil King who had taken the time she had come to her realization to try and console her tiny Rook. The glare she had been directing at said property turning to her in exchange for astonishment.

"Sona, are you insane?! We were just attacked!" Rias shouted angrily. The "Gremory Rage" famous in her family when harm was done to those they considered members of their family growing by the second.

"Rias, calm down," Sona ordered so harshly and strongly that whatever Rias was about to say was cut off by her clicking her teeth together. The shock on her face from Sona ordering her so harshly once again thankfully surprising her enough that Sona was able to continue.

"Firstly, you need to remember that we gave our word that Fall-san's home was off limits," Sona started curtly. Her words caused Rias to cringe as Sona knew she took her promises very seriously. "Secondly, you need to consider the state that Fall-san just put us all into with a simple flare of whatever power he used." That drew multiple winces from the two peerages. The harsh reality that they were all rendered near useless with just a single flare of power hitting home rather strongly. "Thirdly...Fall-san informed me of one of the abilities granted to him by his Sacred Gear."

At the words "Sacred Gear", Rias's eyes flashed with something that Sona very quickly squashed in her next breath. "He also informed me that his Sacred Gear makes it impossible to convert him using the Evil Piece System."

"W-What?!" Rias sputtered out in shock; something that her peerage mirrored. Her own peerage only looked away with grimaces as they had been listening in to the previous meeting and thus knew this.

"Apparently Fall-san's Sacred Gear has a side-effect of making his soul larger than a regular Evil Piece would be able to convert," Sona said while mentally wondering if a Mutant Piece would work. Shaking off the random thought, Sona continued. "It is his Sacred Gear's main ability; however, that warrants my words."

Sona turned back to the house before her. The phantom image of the creature that she was almost positive had been present, if not in the traditional sense, causing her to shake slightly.

"Fall-san's Sacred Gear grants him the ability to empower himself with souls. Taking upon himself the powers and abilities of said soul," Sona turned back to a still confused Rias as she was clearly trying to figure out what Sona was getting at.

Sighing, Sona explained it out as bluntly as possible. "Koneko-san just claimed that what we just experienced was the result of a dragon Rias. A dragon who was thoroughly pissed off that someone had just attempted to enter his den without permission." Rias's rapidly paling face showed that she finally seemed to understand what she was saying.

"So Rias, can we both agree that it would be a bad idea to anger the neutral standing young man who apparently has the soul of a dragon?!" Sona asked rhetorically before she and her peerage began making their way down the street, her words ringing in the stilted silence left behind on the unassuming street that held the den of a dragon.