Chapter 74

[|||| =LEVEL 20= ||||]

"No… nononono…" I stopped looking through the records of the Dragon kingdom in Ainz's world and focused on the voice. Taylor. One look through her eyes and I saw what was wrong. A dead body in front of her and cold mist in the air.

I sighed in preparation for some heavy emotions and spoke to her. "First kill?"

"I-I didn't… he was shooting at me and… Why did I never learn how to… to knock people out?" I looked through her eyes and saw somebody in grey fatigues splayed out on the floor, a rifle beside him. His face was covered by a ballistic mask and plastic armor covered most of his body, a ballistic vest over his chest. Through his chest was a spear of ice, piercing the kevlar. Irisai was holding an arrow nocked, her eyes scanning the area. She was likely listening for signs of alarm as well.

"I see that you can make a decent spear now, and throw it as well." This was definitely the wrong thing to say as Taylor shuddered at my voice. "Know that the man you killed is one that condoned the actions of Coil: the kidnapping and drugging of a little girl, the forced conscription of another, the murder of many parahumans or regular humans, and whatever worse deeds he had done in the past. He killed for money. You killed to preserve your life. Lives have been taken for less. That you feel guilt is a sign of responsibility. Keep it but don't let it conquer you. Lean on your friends if you need to. For now, though, move on. You seem to be busy."

As if on my signal Irisai took that time to move onwards. "Lets go," she said to Taylor. I took the opportunity to leave Taylor's mind and do my own work. I was still paying attention, though. I watched as Taylor was much more gentle with the future mercenaries she encountered and Irisai crippled whoever she came across, typically through the piercing or breaking of knees and some sort of fatiguing enchantment on her dagger.

When they came across Coil's office I saw how he was speaking with a blond girl in a skin-tight purple suit, a few eyes over it along lines going over her body.

"What?" he said, seemingly surprised. Neither Irisai or Taylor seemed to notice it but he winced a little a moment after they entered the room. Something happened in his other timeline?

"… I'm sorry," Taylor said, sounding genuinely pained as the room began to frost over. Coil's eyes widened before he looked defiant.

"Because you're going to kill me?" he asked aggressively. Nobody responded. "You don't even know what I want for the bay, what I could do." Still nobody said anything.

"I have eyes everywhere, contacts in the PRT, local government, police, everywhere. I'm influential, far more than you. What do you think is going to happen when I-"

"Kill him. He's bluffing," The blond girl, Tattletale, said coldly. Taylor kept hesitating.

"A bluff?" Coil scoffed. "And what have I done? I'm the only decent villain in the bay, the only-"

"You kidnapped Dinah Alcott," Taylor said stoically. There was a tremble in her voice.

"So I deserve to be executed?! Slaughtered like a dog at the pound?!" He seemed genuinely angry now, probably working himself up to seem more honest with his emotions.

"She's twelve. You drugged her," Taylor argued weakly.

"So take her! Don't you want to be a hero?! Save the princess, capture the bad guy, and everyone will love you! Kill me and you're the bad guy. A villain." Taylor flinched and the frost in the room faded a little.

I decided to help out a little. "Dual timelines. Ask him what he was doing to Tattletale before you got here in the other timeline." Taylor looked between Tattletale and Coil once.

"Dual timelines," she said. Tattletale blinked before her mouth changed to an O. Coi's face darkened. "What were you doing to Lisa in the other timeline?"

"Asking her-"

"Lie," Lisa said immediately. The frost grew again.

"My interests were in-"

"It's something personal. Something he doesn't want you to know," Tattletale observed. "Something that could get him killed? Something villainous. Like, really bad. You killed him the moment you saw him in the other timeline for it… what the fuck were you doing to me in the other… no." Tattletale paled. Coil scowled.

"He was… Taylor, kill him. Please," The girl pleaded.

"What was he doing?" she asked mercilessly.

"He was… He…" Tattletale was turning green.

"Rape," Irisai said simply, a grave expression on her face. Coil swallowed, realizing that he was in a room with two extremely deadly women. They both turned to him. His hand flew into a drawer beneath his desk and-

A chunk of ice, just a malformed mass of it, flew into his head, painting the wall behind him crimson with a nice crater where the ice hit the wall. He fell backwards and slumped against the wall.

"A debt repaid. The base is mine?"

"It's yours," Taylor said hoarsely.

"Good. Leave it and give the mercenaries to the PRT or police. Or leave them, though know that they'll all be dead if you leave them when I take the base. I'm far less merciful than you are."

"We're getting the mercs out of the base," Taylor said.

"They're not dead?" Tattletale asked in alarm. "Fuck, I was kinda hoping for a secret base, Tay."

"Grab what you want. The base is… it's not mine. Or yours. It's somebody else's."

"Abyss'," Irisai said.

"Abyss? Edgy… you owe him? Ooh boy, a lot… hold on. We'll talk about this later. Money now, talk later." Tattletale ignored Coil's corpse and leaned over his computer. I left the scene and gave the crew a half hour, in which time they moved all of the mercenaries out of the base and dragged Tattletale out.

"Mine," I said. And with that I wrapped the base in space affinity and folded. The whole construction site seemed to sink into the earth, the dirt closing up over it, stretched by my magic. It was still there, just buried in-between folds of space.

"Ho-ly fuck," Tattletale said, sounding shaken by the display.

"Yup, that's my god," Irisai said proudly.

[|||| =-= ||||]

The phone rang softly. I rubbed my chin for a moment and frowned at the peach fuzz on it. I was… growing a beard? I supposed it was technically possible. The liquid metal of my body was designed to take after my body's faunus features as a template so-

"Hello?" a high voice asked from the other end.

"Hi Serafa-" I was interrupted by a screeching noise coming from the phone. I held it away from me while my ears twitched quickly, irritated at the noise.

"ABYSS! A-ahem, Abyss! Took you long enough to call me!" the childish woman said to me quickly. The words practically fell out of the phone from raw enthusiasm.

"I've been busy." A total lie. I just got glued to my screen. Taylor's crisis was the most important thing to happen in three days. Otherwise I'd just been handing my work off to my subordinates. "And I finally realized that I could put some work off. Are you free today? Wait, what time is-oh, it's only noon? Do you want to meet up sometime soon?"

"Sure! I'm free now if you want me!" Something seemed off in that sentence.

"I'd love to," I heard a soft squee from the other end, barely audible even to me. "Any ideas? I'm making this up on the fly. I think there's an anime convention somewhere in the world. Maybe an arca-... I have infinite cash. Let's go to an arcade." I realized with a sudden clarity that I could blow hundreds at an arcade and my wallet wouldn't take a dent. What had I been doing all my life?

"I'd be up for an arcade! I haven't been to one since my sister was a toddler. I've always been so busy."

Could I buy an arcade? I could make gold as needed. I could turn fucking New York into solid gold if I used all my mana, and Elsyria could totally sell that. Of course I could buy an arcade.

"Hold on, I'm just realizing some stuff here. It never really occurred to me how rich I am. I'd totally be up to see you at the arcade. Could I get to you later?"

"Um… okay!" She sounded a little confused. A moment later her mood shifted entirely "I'll meet you at Kuoh town's game center, okay?! Magical girl Serafall… Away!" She hung up.

Kuoh town? The place Issei was? Ah well. So long as I didn't act like a dick again I would probably be fine. I still felt a little bad crashing the DxD timeline. That said…

The phone beeped once before my servant picked up. "Lord Abyss, was there something you needed?" Elsyria sounded like she was in a good mood.

"Do we have people who would be interested in buying or selling gold in the cult?" I asked.

"Totally!"

"I need you to buy Kuoh game center. I'll make it rain gold on you if you need it."

"Is it an independent store? Hold on… it's on the market and going out of business apparently. Some old guy doesn't want it anymore. I'll just buy it - and done. Just gave one store manager a heart attack, I think. It's owned by one of our shell companies. Want a certificate of ownership or something?"

"I'm going to give it to Serafall Leviathan, so sure. I just realized that being rich solves a lot of my problems. I didn't actually realize that I could make it rain gold until a minute ago. Thanks, Elsy. I'll see you later."

"E-Elsy?!" I hung up and decided that she'd probably handle all the details now. I probably just made her whole day by calling her that.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Finding Serafall was easy. She wasn't much for hiding her soul, just sitting in a cafe in Kuoh's plaza in a magical girl's dress colored shades of pink, a bit of a rated M one that left a lot of skin showing. She sat back far enough that her feet, covered in knee-high boots, swung idly. Plenty of people looked at the odd sight of a pretty girl sitting alone - in a magical girl's dress no less - so I didn't waste time.

"Serafall!" I said warmly, walking up to her, seemingly coming out of a crowd. In actuality I had just teleported using the people milling about as cover.

"Abyss! There you are!" She beamed and hopped down from the chair. Was she playing up her shortness or something?

"I hope I didn't make you wait."

"Nah, it's only been about two minutes." She grinned and flipped one of her twin-tails casually. Then her eyes locked onto the top of my head. "Ooh! You're in costume too!"

"I suppose so." I was meeting a magical girl to go to an arcade so I didn't bother hiding my ears. I was hardly the conspicuous one here. "Care to get right to it?"

"Sure!" She grabbed my hand and joined my walk towards the arcade, though her steps were much more bouncy than my measured pace. "Say, have you ever been to Kuoh?"

"Only once. I didn't see much of it. I spend most of my time in America or occasionally Europe. You're Sirzechs' foreign affairs manager, right?" She blew a raspberry.

"Foreign affairs manager… you make it sound so boring. I'm a mighty Satan! One of the most powerful devils in existence, in charge of the affairs of a whole nation! Those below me cry in fear at my wrath and bellow cheers whenever I look their way!" People gave us weird looks as we walked. I ignored them. Serafall didn't even notice.

"Nice. I've got this thing called free time."

"What's that?" she asked, looking mystified. I snorted and her expression broke with a giggle. "But what do you do anyways?"

"Delegate," I answered casually. "I tell Elsyria what to do and keep an eye on her. I prefer a hands off approach so as to do as little as possible. Other than that I explore beyond the dimensional gap, though that's more of a hobby since I don't keep a schedule. I do keep tabs on some worlds and get roped into things sometimes. I was a tutor for a few months and then a military advisor and now I'm playing at being a demon. You could call me a part-timer or one of those celebrities that does whatever they please."

"That's your hobby? Part-timing?" she wondered.

"Role-playing. Demon isn't much of a job."

"Hah!" she crowed. "Say, you could try being a magical boy!"

"A dark magical boy," I corrected. "I steal the magic of innocent magical girls and laugh - scratch that, cackle as I run away." I finally saw the arcade coming into sight. Bright multicolored lights flashed from within it.

"Aww, we're not magical friends?" She pouted.

"I make life interesting for you, let's put it like that."

"It's the other way around, silly!" She rolled her eyes and noticed the arcade. "Ooh! We're there!" She let go of my hand and skipped towards the entrance, stopping inside the sliding doors and gazing around. I sped up a little to catch up and was instantly assaulted by blaring noises and dimmer lights. My eyes adjusted instantly but the noise wasn't too pleasant.

"This place is pretty nice! Where do you wanna go?" She asked me, looking at a board across the room with prices on it. I looked at the activities and smiled.

"I haven't been laser tagging in years," I said, already recalling blurry memories of birthdays spent at arcades.

"Sure!" she agreed. She pranced up to the counter, which didn't have a line. "Two for laser tag, please!" The guy behind the counter, a pimply teen in a purple vest, looked at her in annoyance and then surprise. Then he noticed me and paled.

"Of course, miss Leviathan," he said graciously. Serafall was immediately suspicious. The teen noticed. "We were told by our manager to be expecting you and mister Mavros and that you would be dressed as a magical girl and a dark-haired man, possibly with cat ears."

"Great. Two for laser tag, then?" I asked, putting my hands on the counter. He smiled politely and slid two cards to us.

"They're infinite, sir. Help yourself to the games and enjoy your date." I nodded and looked away. He returned to looking busy and inching his way away from us.

"You bought the arcade?" Serafall asked, spinning to look at me. She was smiling, her slightly glittering eyes looking… amused?

"I realized that I had no reason not to," I admitted. She snickered for a moment.

"Alright then. Come on, Kitty-chan! The Dark Kingdom of Lasers awaits!"

[|||| =-= ||||]

Laser tag, a half game of mini-golf, and an hour of various arcade games later Serafall and I finally left the building.

"I can't believe you won the jackpot. Twice!" she complained.

"Luck," I responded blandly.

"I know! If it was magic… But it wasn't! That was bullshenanigans!" she whined.

"Bullshenanigans is somebody who cheats at air hockey. Air hockey, Sera."

"You flipped the puck mid-air and slammed it into my side! Straight into the goal! Of course I cheated! I'm a magical girl, not a muscle girl!" I chuckled at the play on words and glanced to our left.

"So did you notice our tails?"

"Sona-chan? Uh-huh. Her and Rias-chan suck at following us, though." She didn't seem caught off-guard at all. Maybe Sona could tell that her sister was in town by her magical signature.

"Wanna mess with them?" The gleam in her eyes was answer enough. I grinned and knelt down to sweep her off her feet. She giggled, fighting down a wicked laugh as I kissed her on the cheek and walked down an alley. "There's a love motel just past the alley, Sera-chan. Want to stop for a while?" I asked loudly.

"As a magical girl I'm sworn to love all of mankind! I'd be happy to show you." she flirted. I heard a muffled sound and a thud from where the two teens hid behind the corner of the alley.

"Hear that?" I whispered. Serafall nodded.

"Actually, Abyss… could we stop by Kuoh academy?" She sounded truly devilish for some reason.

"Hm? Why?"

"Well… my sister's there. And her wonderful desk! I've always wanted…" She trailed off at a hiss from the alley corner. I held in another laugh.

"You know if your sister's there we could do what we did before. You know how good I am at making us invisible." Sera's eyes widened and she snickered.

"Or we could invite Sirzechs again."

"NO!" a feminine voice yelled. The two of us released our laughter and I saw a furious Rias Gremory storming down the alley, her red hair streaming behind her.

"What did you mean invisibility?! And stay away from my desk!" Sona, Serafall's little sister, followed up. Her blush was worse than Rias'.

"They're messing with us, Sona," Rias told her. Sona's eyes widened and she planted a hand against her face.

"Absolutely. I've never even been to a love motel." I grinned at the two. Sera stuck out her tongue at the two, her arms still wrapped around me and cradled in my arms. She was tiny enough that she actually fit pretty well in them.

"Damn it," she cursed quietly.

"So, anything else you want to do?" I looked down at Sera. She looked at Sona.

"We'll talk later, So-chan!" Sona called to her sister. She looked up at me. "Okay, leave now. Somewhere dramatic." I took a moment to recall a good place and we teleported quickly, fading out of the alley and onto a cliff. A crescent moon shined down on us.

"Whoah," Serafall looked around, seeming a bit impressed. She took a moment to think before she spoke next. "Okay, now kneel down." She wiggled out of my arms and kneeled across from me, smiling a little sadly.

"Sorry, Abyss… I'm not really sure I want to date you," she apologised. I smiled a little sadly.

"I think I knew it would be like that. Mind if I ask why?"

"Nope! I actually like you a lot. You really are a nice guy. I've just… got nothing in common with you. No, that's not really it." A fake magic wand appeared in her hand with a little flash of glitter and she tapped her chin with it thoughtfully. "I like my life," she started. "A lot. I like dressing up as a magical girl and fighting crime or smiting bad guys. I like seeing my sister, meeting new people as foreign relations head, and making my people happy. You're not a really casual guy, are you? Casual dating, I mean."

"I tried it. It didn't work so well." I thought of Vera and Kuroka, how I never really dated. And then there was Pyrrha and our time at the dance. I hadn't wanted to date because I had bigger things to focus on, like Remnant as a whole and my family with Raven and Ruby. Serafall just nodded knowingly.

"If I dated you it would have to be serious. I'm not a serious person. I don't want my life to change, but if I married you, which lets be honest, dating you would lead to, then stuff would change. Keeping all my responsibilities while being a girlfriend or wife wouldn't work out. Is that…"

"I get it," I assured her. "You don't want to commit to anything because you've already got too many commitments."

"Yup!" she said happily. "Glad to know you understand… but…" I blinked at the ominous trailing off and she leapt at me, not that it was unexpected. I reeled back a little and kissed against her while she ran her hands over my abs, pushing my shirt up. We kissed for a moment and her hands stopped before continuing. I broke the kiss and brushed her hands away. She pouted.

"What? You aren't one of those 'no sex before marriage' guys, are you?" She looked almost concerned.

"I know that Ophis, Kuroka, and Esdeath would be fine with it. I just don't want to hurt Ga-"

"Abyss, Gabriel's an angel. They don't do sex," she said, slightly annoyed. I had a feeling she was leaving off 'and I really want to one-up her' but I didn't say anything.

"I'm like… ninety percent sure that I can fix that. Without her falling." Serafall blinked but sighed.

"You sure?" I wavered. She noticed and grinned once more. "Gabriel seriously wouldn't mind, you know~" I didn't say anything. Her grin widened and her hands pulled down the shirt she had on, showing me she wasn't wearing a bra, something I hadn't noticed.

"No! A-Abyss, I'm a magical girl! I'm bound by my laws to keep my chastity forever or I'll turn dark!"

No red blooded man could resist a girl like her saying that.

[Lemon]

"You must be joking." I rolled my eyes, rolling with the fiction. My hands went to her breasts, pulling at her top. "If magical girls and their innocence were meant to be sacred forever they wouldn't wear outfits like yours."

"It's like this so I can vent excess mana through my-" I silenced her with a deep kiss. I pulled a trick I knew and infused some aura with arousal, pushing it into her soul. By how she flushed it was more effective than I thought.

"Magical boys are made dark. There's nothing wrong with a little darkness. Just a taste."

"N-no," she fake-protested weakly. I chuckled darkly and used my affinities. Her skirt turned to a shadowy form and dissipated, getting sent to my soul space. I pushed her top up all the way and pressed myself closer to her. She dropped her magic wand on the grass beside us as she eeped in surprise. My hands went to her breasts and groped softly. We kissed once more as she pretended to be slowly giving in and I whispered into her ear.

"What is it that you love about being a magical girl? The adoring fans? The righteous cause? … The play at innocence?" A small shiver went up her. "Ahh, so it's that. But have you ever had it… taken away?" I slipped a hand into her panties, feeling how wet she was. Judging by how she blushed I was right on the mark about her fantasies.

"Nngh! Never! I fight for justice and kindness, you… you pervert!" I growled throatily, something I knew wasn't quite reproducible by most humans. It went straight to her panties and I raised my fingers to her mouth, putting them into her lips.

"Does that taste like innocence?" I asked her a bit mockingly. Serafall groaned a little as she sucked on my fingers. She was very obviously one of the girls who needed their partner to be a bit forceful, something I wasn't all that good at.

"Horrible. Like… like evil and corruption," she lied. I faked a laugh while wondering just what evil tasted like. I pressed my shaft, hard enough, against her bare stomach.

"Then… why aren't you fighting back?" She was caught flat-footed for an answer so I ignored whatever it might have been and pulled a hand to my bulge. Another hand went to her snatch and fingered her a little. I layered kisses on her while she blushed and looked away while rubbing my pants. I let that lie for a minute before I went farther. I pulled my pants down and she gasped in 'horror'.

"Stroke," I ordered. More of my infused aura merged with her, heightening the arousal that was already there. Serafall's heavy breaths were sign enough. She mumbled something incoherent and stroked me with a firm grip. I couldn't help but notice how dainty her hands were, soft and tiny. I turned my one finger in her to two and rubbed a thumb against her clitoris, feeling her out. She squirmed and closed her legs a little. I growled again and put one of mine in-between hers. Serafall took a deep breath and turned to me.

"Okay, look, this has gone on for long en-" I pinched her clit hard enough to be a little painful and she interrupted herself with a yelp.

"No talking," I ordered. "I want the next thing out of your mouth to be a moan or 'more'." That really did it for her as she swallowed her words down and stroked me a little faster.

"Good. Now, see how nice this feels? Dark doesn't mean bad. Of course, this is hardly dark enough to make you fall. Think of it," I leaned in close, pressing my cock against her and whispering in her ear. "How much fun you could have, being just a little more bad. A little more adventurous, losing that innocent little act of yours. Tell me, how often do you ignore panties when you go out?"

"Not often," she murmured. I slapped her behind hard for that and she squeaked.

"Other words, Sera-chan. I suppose you just haven't learned what I'm trying to show you yet." I debated whether to eat her out or go straight for it. I decided on the second.

I moved my hands away from her and spread her legs, pulling her onto my lap quickly. When she sat on my lap my cock slid neatly into her. She gasped when I used a little mind affinity to make my insertion more pleasurable. It faded quickly but was enough to make her clench a little, coming a little bit from that first thrust.

"Abyss did you-" I silenced her with a kiss and stood up, bouncing her on my waist.

"How is it, Sera? Being a 'dark' magical girl?" I cloaked her outfit in shadow and went a little harder, her thighs jiggling a little with each movement.

"You… you villain," she whispered in faked horror. A hand trailed the blackened fabric of her outfit. I laughed darkly and groped her ass with one hand, a breast with another. Still, I slowed my pace.

"Isn't it easy to lose that innocence? So quickly? And now there's no consequences." I fell back down onto the grass of the cliff. "Move." I used my hands to guide her, as though I even had to. Sera moved of her own accord, rolling on my dick. Each motion was pleasurable. She was tight, almost as much as Ophis, and naturally slicker. Moving in her was easy. Still, I didn't move.

"… More," she said quietly. I growled and pulled her head down to me, kissing her. She used her tongue more this time, taking a more active role. I met her thrusts with my own now, the 'blushing virgin' act she had now tossed aside.

We kissed and fucked quietly, breathily panting and moving instead of talking. When my release was close I groaned and Sera went a little faster, not quite to her own release yet after the one I pushed her into before.

When I came I slapped her ass again and she sighed as she came, kissing me slowly. Her blue eyes closed in pleasure. A moment later, though, I was ready to go again, and I had a plan. I pushed Sera to her knees and stood up.

"I didn't really notice it before but with how short you are that makes this rather easy, doesn't it? But don't worry, I won't leave you to work without a reward." Down in the grass Sera's magic wand floated towards her and teased her entrance. Sera pretended to hesitate before licking at my shaft. I moved the wand farther into her with that and slowly pushed and pulled it with my magic. That and a little aura trickery had her ready to go again in no time. I didn't stop her when her hands went up to fondle her own breasts, pinching her nipples and tracing her own curves.

She went over my dick carefully, kissing herself off of the shaft and sucking my balls for a moment before moving to the head. She tried taking only that in first and I moved the wand in and out of her a bit more quickly. She got enthusiastic then, pushing forwards and backwards, taking all of me without much trouble. A little shake of her head had me get a hint, though.

"A bit slow, Sera." I grabbed her head and thrust into her mouth. She gagged a little but I kept going, something she appreciated in her fondling. One hand came up to my thigh and I used her happily.

Her tongue caressed me even while I fucked her face, being surprisingly long for somebody so small. She was eager to take me deeper, pressing her face deeper against my waist when I pushed her. I went a little rougher and she groaned in approval. I upped the pace until she pressed her lips down on my shaft a little.

"For somebody so innocent you have a talent, Sera," I continued my villainous monologue. "You would be wonderful working in a threesome. I didn't expect your resolve to last this long. Still, you clearly need to be treated harshly. Otherwise you might get ideas about goodness and purity, something you clearly don't have." She growled cutely, sending pleasurable vibrations up my shaft, and I grunted.

"I'm coming. Be sure not to spill." She moved her head a little more herself, sucking harder on my cock with a little clockwise motion. I groaned as I came, filling her mouth. One hard slam with the magic wand had her coming herself and I made sure to spin it around as it continued thrusting in her. She got less tense after a few seconds and I slowed the pace. She seperated from my cock and licked her lips, actually making them a little messier since she hadn't swallowed.

"You've made a mistake, you defiler," she said defiantly. "I've still got one purity left." One of her hands caressed down her thigh to her ass invitingly.

"How terrible," I deadpanned. "We'll just have to fix that." I pushed her down to the ground, twisting her a little in the process, and pressed her face against the wet grass of the cliff. Her ass wiggled at me. I sank inside of her tightest hole and chuckled in amusement.

I never would have thought that I'd ever need to have more women to sleep with. Sera is fun, though.

[End lemon]

[|||| =-= ||||]

"Elsyria can't send some of my followers to handle it? And why is this our problem?" I asked, the sizzling of bacon in the background. I was more concerned with the eggs I was cracking.

"They asked for you specifically. Apparently they think some 'mere humans' would just die. To be fair, they sent one of their legacies across, one of Poseidon's. They died, " Yasaka's voice said from the phone. It was floating next to my ear, suspended by some space magic.

"And our problem because…"

"It's a foreign affairs thing. A helping hand now makes the gods not whine for the next century. The Greek pantheon is a mess but it's a powerful mess. Hades still has a lot of control in the underworld and is even invited to devil rating games from time to time. Poseidon has some deals with us, mostly to make fish more plentiful for the fishermen around Japan. If Poseidon were to get irritated with the yokai, or me, then some of those agreements might get a bit strained. It wouldn't be terrible but it would be easier to just help out. They would owe you a debt too, which in god politics is a fairly big deal."

"So help out or listen to the Greeks get pissy," I summarized.

"You're also the only one with a true connection to the gap. To anyone else it would be magically corrosive. The barrier they have isn't meant to be a long-term solution. Eventually they could figure out a solution, probably through some god of doorways or portals, I think Janus can close smaller tears to the gap, but it would be a pain in their ass. Easier to just fork over a favor and leave it at that. Not to mention how you're still the hottest topic in the supernatural world right now."

"If it takes longer than two, maybe three hours I'm going to take it out on you. Maybe I'll put fleas in your bed or something." Yasaka gasped.

"You wouldn't."

"I'll change your home to a more tropical humidity. I know what that does to fur."

"That would be taking it too far. Kunou is innocent in this."

"She'd be fine. It would be an enchantment on you specifically. I'm not an amateur, Yasaka. Anyways, I'll stop by Olympus around two. Does that work for them?"

"They didn't give a time. Since they requested you it'll probably be fine. If they try a power play like making you wait just walk away. I don't think they're that stupid, though. Zeus maybe, but his wife reigns him in most of the time. Goodbye, Abyss, and stop by sometime. Kunou would love to see you again."

"I'll find some time. Maybe tomorrow or three days from now. Bye, Yasaka." I hung up and shuffled the bacon around a little. The breakfast needed some attention.

Ten minutes later and the french toast was done. I was setting the last plate down when Kuroka stumbled down the stairs. Esdeath came in from the living room at the same time with a cup of coffee.

"Brughhh…" Kuroka slumped down on the table.

"Morning sickness again?" I asked.

"Mrghf," she grunted. I set her breakfast beside her and some iced tea in front of her. It helped, apparently. She didn't get up.

"I visited the Dragon Kingdom personally yesterday," Esdeath said, a simmering anger under her words. Her hand squeezed a bottle of honey over her toast. She preferred it to syrup. "They are a decent kingdom, if a bit boring. They're a cultural and agricultural power that rely on tribute to other kingdoms for defense. Their neighboring country, the Beastmen Country, are more interesting and present more opportunities. They're as bad as the empire in mine and Akame's homeworld. I won't sicken you with the details but genocide is the preferable option."

"Genocide? Really? There aren't any other options?" I drizzled syrup onto my own toast and saw Kuroka groggily sit up a little and sip some iced tea.

"No other palatable options," she said, taking a moment to finish her bite. "They're tribal and only unified by a warchief, Warchief Grauzer. He's mobilized them into a surprisingly effective military and seems to be breaking down their tribal roots to make a more coherent nation. Their goal is to destroy the human kingdoms, enslaving all humans. It's hardly a well made plan but I would guess that Grauzer has more planned. I was only able to interrogate one chief in the horde."

"Tribal isn't bad. Their culture is repugnant, then?"

"Horrible. Cannibalism is common, torture is expected, being able to rape a human woman is a mark of status, human children are considered delicacies -"

"Okay, enough," I held up a hand. "You were right, not at the dinner table." She shrugged.

"At the very least they have a warrior's culture. Honor is important to those sworn in as tribal warriors. There's surprisingly little backstabbing, though there are plenty of tribal feuds and formal duels." She sighed wistfully. "If they were more organized and less inclined towards eating sentient beings I'd approve of them. I could turn them into a competent army in less than a year. Sadly, their culture is too far gone. Better to crush them and gain control of the Dragon Kingdom."

"Do you have a way to do so?" Kuroka took a few nibbles of the toast and seemed to liven up a bit. A few more nibbles and she was taking actual bites.

"Religion would be easiest," she considered. "It would also be the hardest to get started. Transferring some of your followers through to the kingdom would help. Shows of power would also show legitimacy, which as you know is important. Another way would be as an adventurer team."

"Oh, I like that idea," I said, smiling. I had already thought of both of those ways and a few others to boot, from a coup to economically dominating the city through runework and putting the royalty into my pocket, but I wanted to hear what Esdeath thought.

"One of the greatest assets of your cult is in military power, particularly in strong individuals," she explained. "Your followers are strong compared to typical magicians but not too impressive. Some of them, such as one of Elsyria's direct subordinates, Irisai, Akame, myself, or Kuroka are far stronger than the norm. Somebody like Kuroka would be an adamantite adventurer, somebody who stands at the peak among the local adventurers, somebody whose words alone could cripple a nation. Akame would be of a similar rank if she's been practicing with her aura as she's supposed to.

"The Dragon Kingdom already employs an adamantite adventurer's team, Crystal Tear. Another one would turn the war in their favor. If such a team were to prove even better than Crystal Tear the other might leave, finding themselves no longer needed. Through such a position we would have near total control over the nation. Spreading the cult would be easier with such an advantage and we would have the benefits of the kingdom under our thumb anyways. The team would be preoccupied but considering how good Elsyria is at her job I doubt it would take long for the cult to take root in the upper class of the kingdom, which is all you need to control the nation really. Some influence in the lower classes would be a good backup. At any rate spreading religion is Elsyria's job, not mine." Esdeath returned to her toast then, which was getting soaked in honey the whole time she was talking.

"And who would be in this team you're making?" I asked. I noticed Ophis appear beside me, teleporting into her chair, and beginning to neatly but quickly disassemble her toast with one hand while the other drowned it in syrup. The whole meal was going to be gone in under a minute.

"Mmf…" Esdeath chewed for a moment before speaking. "Me, of course. Elsyria if she can be spared. I would give Akame the offer at least. If Irisai believes that she's done with that girl you're fostering to be a champion she wouldn't be amiss, though she might need to be trained somewhat if what I hear about adamantite adventurers and their strength is true. If we're running low one of the less horrible members of the Khaos Brigade might be easy enough to conscript. Lastly it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this as a learning experience for some of your younger associates. Plenty of cult magicians could use this beastman incursion as a way to hone their martial skills. You have military branches of the cult for good reason, you realise. Using whole branches of the cult instead of loaning them to Yasaka would be a wonderful way to earn influence in the Dragon Kingdom."

"That is a pretty good idea. I'd like for my cult to get some combat experience. Training only goes so far." I thought about it for a moment. "And it would be a good way to get a religious foothold too. People are more likely to listen to a religious mercenary outfit than a small group of people."

"I'm all for that idea," Kuroka said around a mouthful of toast. She swallowed and spoke again. "I'm too pregnant for adventuring. I'd love to but I can't."

"You could just let Abyss speed up the pregnancy," Esdeath suggested.

"Again, no. At least for the first kid. After this I'm never being pregnant again. Ever. I might want another kid, though. I would just use magic, then." Kuroka put on a look of determination for her refusal.

"Fine." Esdeath didn't seem to get it. I didn't either but I didn't get a lot of things about women. It didn't bother me.

"How about sending an adamantite party first and having the cult come later, like a scouting group and then the actual army." I pulled us back to the original topic.

"Abyss, how about you leave the military logistics to me," Esdeath suggested sweetly. That was a dangerous tone for her. Had I said something wrong?

"… Alright then," I conceded. "Do you want to ask your potential recruits for the adventuring party if they're up to the task or should I reach out?"

"I'll do it. You have enough to do dealing with your future champion, Ainz, and whatever Yasaka needs you to do. Finding new worlds with opportunities such as kingdoms in need of conquering is also something only you can do. If we ever get into true trouble I'll let you know what continent needs to be wiped off the map." I shrugged, deciding that I'd end up doing whatever I wanted anyways, and looked at Ophis.

"What are you doing, anyways? You can't be sleeping all the time."

"… You know the pink-haired girl?" she said in monotone. I nodded. "I made a friend in her world. A void elemental trying to look like a dragon. He's like Baka Red but even dumber. He also has a touch of void. I've decided that he makes a good pet. I'm training him to do tricks." There was a moment of silence as horrible possibilities passed through my mind. Esdeath had stopped eating. Kuroka evidently didn't care and kept eating her toast.

"Could you describe your new pet for me?" I asked quietly, hoping for the best.

"Big. Dumb. Scaly… void-y." I groaned internally.

"How big and how dumb?" Ophis paused to consider that, putting a hand to her chin.

"Two football fields tall. Five long. And wings. He tried to eat a house once. I flicked his nose but he still tried to eat houses and some people. It took a week before he stopped doing that. It took a lot of flicks." So gargantuan dragon that wants to devour people. But it's fine since Ophis is training it… sorta.

Dear dust, Louise's world must be an utter mess right now. I kinda liked Zero no Tsukaima. I rewatched the first two seasons pretty recently as a part of my 'research'. With some giant dragon rampaging across the land and Louise having a fire elemental as her familiar things must be crazy. How was the storyline going, I wonder? Ah, well, not my problem.

"Try not to kill anyone in that world, would you?"

"Of course not. That'd make you angry," Ophis said plainly. At least she wasn't going to kill anybody. Good enough, I guessed.

"I'm going to go play some games. I'll be out around two to meet Yasaka on a diplomatic thing." I assigned a parallel to clean the dishes and walked off.

"So Abyss kinda smelled like another girl last night, did you notice? I heard him call Serafall yesterday from another room. Do you think they'll go on dates?" Kuroka gossiped the moment I left.

"Good for him," Ophis said uncaringly.

"Is she the one that dresses like a princess? The Leviathan?" Esdeath wondered.

"Magical girl and yes."

"I hope I never meet her."

I would do my best to avoid that calamity.

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